An evil looking Lupe peered into the glass container that held her against her will. "Protest all you want you pathetic Faerie, but you're not coming out of there until you've made me a hefty profit," laughed Balthazar, shaking the container.

Tiffany flew into a rage, trying to break out of the container, but it was no use. She would be stuck here until someone let her out, and she was sure that wasn't going to be Balthazar.

Eventually, exhausted and helpless, she drifted off to sleep. When she awoke she seemed to be on a shelf in a small store. Looking around, she saw a starry Kau getting ready to open up the shop. That must be Kauvara, the magic shop owner, Tiffany thought to herself. There were also many other Faeries crowding the shelves, as well as various other potions of sorts.

Looking across the store, she saw the windows. Tiffany gasped. The windows were completely covered with noses of every kind pressed against the glass. There must be hundreds of Neopians out there waiting to buy her! Tiffany was feeling very nervous as Kauvara went to open the door...

"Watch it! We're alive in here, you know!" Tiffany yelled. But the Skeith paid no attention to her. Suddenly, a blue claw snatched her up and took her to the cash register. When the Neopian got its change, it rushed out of the shop.

"Whew," said a voice. Tiffany looked up to see a pair of gentle blue eyes looking at her. The blue Shoyru clutched the bottle gently, afraid to break it.

"Hi. I'm SweetlingBlue. Will you bless me?" he asked.

Tiffany felt a wave of anger. "Is that it!? We're locked up in a stupid puny jar, and someone comes and buys us, just to get blessed! It's, it's... it's Faerie cruelty, thats what it is!" she shrieked.

The Shoyru blinked back a couple of tears. "S-sorry, I-I'm going to set you free soon, so you don't have to be cooped up in there, okay?" he asked in a quivery voice.

Tiffany's anger left her, and she felt a somewhat guilty for saddening the little Neopet. "Its okay," Tiffany said softly.

They walked on in silence. Soon they came to SweetlingBlue's home. But something was terribly, terribly wrong!

"But, but..." Tiffany trembled. "You can't possibly live here, y-you can't take me in there!" For what loomed over them was...

"Momma! I-I'm home!" SweetlingBlue called weakly. Tiffany looked at him and almost cried at the look on his face. SweetlingBlue was standing as still as ever, with a little tear in his eye. He wouldn't take a step closer to the cave. Is he scared of his mother? Thought Tiffany.

"And where have you been?!" screamed a quite large Shoyru from inside, who now stepped out. "I asked you to take care of your little brother while I went to the Soup Kitchen, and I come home and you're not here! Honey, your brother can't do a darn thing on his own! He's just a baby!"

Tiffany realized why SweetlingBlue was so upset. He had left his baby brother alone against his mother's wishes. They were also poor; the Soup Kitchen gave it away.

"Well, I bought a Faerie momma," said SweetlingBlue shyly holding up Tiffany in her bottle. His mother looked angry and stunned. Before she could speak, he continued, "See, I've been saving up Neopoints and I bought this Faerie half price. I decided that I would have her bless me so that I could fight in the Battledome and win a whole lot of neopoints!" His mother broke into tears and grabbed the little Shoyru and hugged him.

"Honey, you don't have to be what your father was to make me happy," his mother said. Tiffany wanted to cry; now she was determined to give this little Shoyru the perfect blessing, but suddenly...

SweetlingBlue shaked his head.

"Now then, go to your room! No dinner, no breakfast!" she scolded him angrily. "Go to your room, and take this silly Faerie with you!" she said, then looked angrily at Tiffany, and mumbled to herself, "Waste of Neopoints! Waste, waste, waste."

A flash of anger suddenly ran through Tiffany's veins, and she thought, I am not a waste of Neopoints, I've got to help SweetlingBlue!

She thought and she thought. How was she going to help SweetlingBlue? He had put her aside in a little corner, while he was on his blanket, burying himself in tears.

After a while, he stood up and started pacing back and forth. After a while of doing that he said to himself, "How stupid! I disobeyed my mother's wishes... just for my own happiness! How could I do such a selfish thing?" After he said that a couple of times, he sat back down and started crying again.

"SweetlingBlue," Tiffany started, "Thank you." He looked up from his paws in which his face was buried in.

"What do you mean?" he asked in a surprised tone.

"You saved me! I could've been bought by someone evil, who plans to do no good."

They started chatting, and Tiffany could tell that he was starting to cheer up. Just then, the door to his locked up room flew open.

It was his mother, who looked angry; her eyes red, and veins popping. "SweetlingBlue! Your brother... he's missing! Tell to me how this could happen!!!" Yelled his mother. Shocked, SweetlingBlue replied...

"Well, he's not now!" His mother scorned. She stood there, fists planted on her hips waiting for an answer that suited her, anger flaring in her dark eyes like the fiery burn of a thousand suns.

"Um, Miss?" Tiffany spoke up timidly from her tiny bottle. "If I may... I think I might be able to find him with my magical prowess. I'm not very strong yet, but perhaps stronger than others of my kind, and I'd like to give it a shot if you don't mind, ma'am." SweetlingBlue's eyes suddenly lit up as he silently begged his mother to let Tiffany try her magic.

"Well," replied the large Shoyru slowly, contemplating this new suggestion, "I guess it couldn't hurt. Besides it's about time you made that Faerie useful, SweetlingBlue. Alright, go ahead little Faerie."

"Um, I need to be let out first. I promise I won't run away!"

SweetlingBlue's mother nodded and pulled the cork from the bottle to let Tiffany out. Once free from the bottle, Tiffany stretched her tiny wings out and clapped her hands together, closing her eyes so she could concentrate. Quietly she began to hum and after a few moments a bright aura, whiter than snow suddenly flickered into existence around her- but was immediately quelled and dissipated.

"Oh no!" Tiffany gasped in absolute horror. "I forgot that I cannot use magic in here. To be specific, I may no longer be magical at all!" Tiffany suddenly felt more helpless than she had been while trapped inside the bottle. What was she to do without her magic? She would not be able to live without her magical powers.

Tiffany fell to her knees, and holding her head in her hands began to sob quietly, shaking visibly. SweetlingBlue was about to comfort her when his mother spoke up, saying...

"But momma..." SweetlingBlue started, but the larger Shoyru shook a finger at him.

"This is what happens when you leave your little brother alone, young man! It's your fault he's gone!"

"Hey!" Tiffany yelled. Both Shoyrus looked at her, startled; they had clearly forgotten she was there. "SweetlingBlue's been in this room for nearly half an hour! How could it be his fault?"

The mother Shoyru looked abashed. "I'm sorry," she muttered. "It's just that... with their father gone, and times so hard... it's all I can do just to keep trying and hope things will work out somehow." Two great tears fell from her eyes.

Tiffany nodded sadly. "I felt the same way when Balthazar had me back in that jar. You can beat your wings against the glass as much as you want, but it won't break."

"Momma?" spoke up SweetlingBlue, startling the little Faerie. "Maybe if we go out of the cave, Tiffany's magic will come back and we can find my brother."

"That's a great idea!" said Tiffany excitedly. "No one can go all the way through and stay magical, but I've only been partway in. Maybe I still have enough magic left to find your brother."

"I hope so," said the mother Shoyru sadly. "I couldn't bear to lose him- or you either," she added, pulling SweetlingBlue to her in a big hug. "Well, let's go out and see if there's any use left in you, Faerie." She stomped out into the hallway, with SweetlingBlue close behind her.

"I'm not useless," said Tiffany, as she fluttered down the dank hallway behind the two Shoyrus. "And my name is Tiffany, ma'am."

The momma Shoyru barely glanced back. "Excuse me, then, Miss Tiffany."

At last the little group reached the cave entrance, its warm sunlight welcoming after the chill of the cave. Tiffany flew out first, happy just to fly freely in the open air again.

"Well, Faerie-Tiffany, get on with it," said the larger Shoyru, crossing her arms and leaning back against the rock of the cave entrance.

"You can do it, Tiffany!" SweetlingBlue encouraged.

Tiffany didn't feel any different than when she'd been inside the caves, but she was resolved to try.

"Well," she said nervously, "Here goes nothing..."

"There is such a thing as Faerie dust!" SweetlingBlue whispered to his mother, as once again, a white orb, whiter than snow formed around Tiffany, grew smaller, and hovered above her hands. Tiffany closed her eyes. She had to do this for SweetlingBlue and his family. She whispered the well known words for seeking location...

And there in the orb appeared a little blue Shoyru!

He was skipping in a meadow picking daisies and dandelions on the way, and it seemed that he was singing.

SweetlingBlue's mother stepped forward, and started saying over and over again, "He's ok, he's ok," With those big luminous tears in her eyes once again.

Tiffany smiled, but then remembered something horrid. The meadow looked sweet in the morning, but once it got dark, large and ferocious dragonbuds, as well as other creatures would come and pursue after the little Shoyru, keeping him there rooted to the ground. It was known as the Meadow of Nightmares.

She had listened so many times in the Faerie Council meetings that some human or creature had been captured, and the Faeries had saved him or her. But they would have to be quick. SweetlingBlue and his mother both gasped, and Tiffany looked to see what happened, for she was wrapped in her own thoughts.

The sky was darkening...

"What could this mean? What is this..." Tiffany said to herself, still keeping her eyes on the exotic sky. Huge black clouds. Wind. Red Sky. The Meadow of Nightmares. It hit her.

"NO!" she shouted, shocked that she didn't realize it before. "We HAVE to get back NOW!" she screamed.

SweetlingBlue asked "What's wrong? What's wrong?"

"Cover the baby! We have to head back to your home SweetlingBlue! It's a... it's a... it's a" thunder boomed from cloud to cloud. Lightning filled the dark gloomy skies.

It was a Fire Storm. "NOW NOW!" she shouted again, afraid for everyone's life.

SweetlingBlue began walking along with her mother and the baby. Tiffany flew along.

BOOM BOOM!

"RUN! RUN! RUN!" she shouted. It began to drizzle. SPLASH SPLASH! The fire drops came down in big groups. They were running, running their hearts out. They told their hearts to keep pumping. Until suddenly the dragonbuds came out and they wrapped around SweetlingBlue's feet.

"NO NO NO. HELP ME, HELP ME PLEASE!" he shouted back to them all.

"SWEETLINGBLUE!" shouted his mother.

The dragonbuds began circling nearer to them all. It began to rain harder. The rain absorbed into Tiffany's skin, but was burning the others. The dragonbuds came closer and closer. They couldn't last much longer...

"Go now!" Tiffany yelled at SweetlingBlue's mother. She nodded, and holding the baby Shoyru in one hand and pulling SweetlingBlue with the other, she ran.

Tiffany felt her grip that she had on her powers loosening. SweetlingBlue's family had only a minute to get back to the Horror Caverns. Dragonbuds wrapped around her feet. Thirty more seconds. Twenty.

"Run!" she yelled.

SweetlingBlue and his mother ran as fast as they could, their wings too sore from the burns to fly. Tiffany could tell they wouldn't be fast enough. Five seconds. Four.

Just then, a large yellow Shoyru swooped down and picked up SweetlingBlue. Two other Shoyrus came and got his mother and brother. They too flew away. The fire rain pelted down on Tiffany. She yanked her feet out of the dragonbud's grip, and flew as fast as she could to the Horror Caverns.

To her relief, SweetlingBlue and his mother were safe. The baby Shoyru was resting in its mother's arms. The large yellow Shoyru was also there.

SweetlingBlue ran up to Tiffany.

"Thank you," he said. "You don't have to bless me. You've done enough. But c'mon." Tiffany looked down at SweetlingBlue.

"Why?" she asked.

SweetlingBlue smiled the largest smile she'd ever seen. "I want you to meet my dad," he said, pointing at the yellow Shoyru...

Tiffany felt like crying herself, she had never been so deeply touched in her life. However, she was also curious to know why the father had left his family when they needed him so much.

"Why did you leave your family?" she demanded of him. "They needed you so much, why did you go?"

SweetlingBlue's father smiled, and gently replied, "That was exactly why I went. I knew my family needed money, so I left with all the family's Neopoints to pursue a career in the stock market. Luckily, I was prosperous and soon acquired large amounts of Neopoints. I bought a nice NeoHome in Meridell and I was on my way home to tell my wife the good news when I saw you in the meadow."

Tiffany nodded slowly, her cheeks crimson. "I'm really sorry, Mr. Shoyru, sir. I shouldn't have accused you, I just... well, you know."

"I know," he replied, hugging his family close. "And by the way, call me Daniel."

And that was that. The family flew over to their beautiful new home in Meridell, where they had all they wanted. Tiffany's magic was restored to her by the Faerie Queen, when she had heard of Tiffany's heroic deed. And though SweetlingBlue told Tiffany over and over she didn't have to bless him, she did anyway. With his new power to shoot fire balls at will, SweetlingBlue quickly became a top Battledome fighter. And the family was happy for the rest of their days.

The End