The Uber-Light Faerie sat on her Kauvara sofa next to
her daughter. She and her daughter, Starbright, were having breakfast.
The Uber-Light Faerie nibbled daintily at her
Faerie Toast with Butter. "What do you want to do today, Starbright?"
I myself have a meeting with Fyora and all the other Uber-Faeries very soon."
She wrinkled her nose with hate. "And the Uber-Dark Faerie."
"I want to go and visit Aunt Jhudora,"
said Starbright tersely. Starbright was an odd Light Faerie. Most Light Faeries,
as you know, detest Dark Faeries. But Starbright did not. Unlike other Light
Faeries, the Uber-Light Faerie's daughter loved to visit Jhudora the extremely
well-known Dark Faerie.
"My child, why are you so fond of Jhudora?"
inquired the Uber-Light Faerie sadly, finishing her Faerie Toast. "It will
lead to nothing."
Starbright shrugged and gave a sigh of exaggerated
patience. "I like Aunt Jhudora, and she likes me, too. She's nice, you
know, really nice! It's just that everyone - including you - has stereotypes
against her. I mean, how bad can a Dark Faerie be? Just because they're a little
- uh - mischievous doesn't mean they aren't Faeries."
The Light Faerie sighed and shook her head. "Starbright,
trusting any Dark Faerie as much as you do will do you no good. Ah, I am almost
late for my meeting! Goodbye, Starbright!" she said, waving.
"Bye, Mother," said Starbright with
no expression. She was always angry when her mother scolded her about Aunt Jhudora.
She looked out the window. As soon as her mother was out of sight, she smiled
to herself and walked out the door.
Soon she arrived at Jhudora's Cloud. She walked
in. "Hello, Starbright, my lovely niece," crooned Jhudora as soon
as she saw her. Starbright sat down in front of Jhudora.
"I am not ready to give you a quest yet!
Shoo!" Jhudora snapped at a line of Neopians who had been waiting for Jhudora
to give them quests. "Come back tomorrow WHEN MY NIECE ISN'T VISITING!"
As soon as the Neopians were gone, Jhudora smiled
at Starbright. "How was your day, my pretty?"
"It was fine, Auntie Jhudora, but Mother
got a bit touchy about me always visiting you," answered Starbright, grinning
back.
"Oh, really? How sad," said Jhudora,
raising her eyebrows. "Why would your nice Mother not want you to visit
me?"
"Because you're a Dark Faerie," replied
Starbright, "and my Mother thinks you will do something evil to me! Haha,
as if you will, Auntie!"
***
"Our scheme is going perfectly, Darkness Faerie," cackled Jhudora.
"Indeed it is, Jhudora." The Uber-Dark
Faerie fingered a small crystal bottle in her hand. What the Dark Faerie was
holding looked a lot like a normal Balthazar-caught-Light-Faerie-in-a-bottle,
but it was more than that. It was a magical bottle. It was enchanted so that
only a Dark Faerie's magic could open it. Inside the bottle was Starbright.
"By tomorrow Fyora will be forced to give the Uber-Light Faerie to us."
"And then?" breathed Jhudora.
"And then we use the Light Faerie's power,
combined with our own, to take over Neopia!" cried the Dark Faerie.
Jhudora grinned. "I like it. I like it very
much. I even get to have revenge on Illusen!"
"Of course you do."
***
"Dr_Death, sir, may I have permission to take one of your pets in this pound?
You see, we Faeries are troubled and we need a pet to help us," said the Air
Faerie patiently.
"Fine," grumbled Dr_Death in his usual
grumpy way.
Touchy, the Uber-Air Faerie thought, but she
said, "Thank you sir," and flew off to the cages.
She saw a green Ixi in its cage, asleep. "You
are the one," whispered the Faerie. She tapped on the cage bars. The Ixi
awoke.
"What?" said the Ixi sleepily, through
half-opened eyes.
"Ixi," said the Air Faerie kindly,
"I give you a quest."
"WHAT?!" said the Ixi, now fully awake.
"This is the POUND! I can"t just walk off to the Shop Wizard and get
you your makeup! I'm in a cage, Air Faerie ma'am!"
The Air Faerie smiled. "This is a quest
much harder than getting me my makeup. It is urgent. I have Dr_Death"s
permission to get you out of here. What is your name, then, young Ixi?"
she said, unlocking the cage.
The Ixi stepped out. "Ma'am," he said,
grinning "my name is Ixi. You just called me that."
"So I did. Your old owner wasn't very
creative, naming you Ixi," chortled the Air Faerie.
Ixi raised one eyebrow. "My old owner was
the one who abandoned me without a care in the world."
"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean it."
The Air Faerie carried Ixi in her arms and they flew to Faerieland.
When they arrived, Fyora greeted them. "Hello,
Air Faerie. Hello...?" she added, raising her eyebrows at Ixi.
"My name's Ixi," said the green Ixi.
"Oh, right," said Fyora, without laughing.
"Now, we have it all planned out. When the Darkness Faerie went away, we
saw her go into Jhudora's Cloud. So Jhudora and the Darkness Faerie are behind
this all. Correct?" There was a murmur of Yes's and Fyora continued, "Ixi,
I trust you are a brave NeoPet. This is a well-planned but difficult job: You
must go into Jhudora's Cloud and free Starbright, goodness knows how. Here is
the plan. Listen carefully..."
***
Ixi walked around Jhudora's Cloud, wearing a Green Invisihat. "Only Uber-Faeries
can see through an Invisihat," he recalled what Fyora had said. "So beware the
Uber-Dark Faerie!"
The Ixi looked around. He then heard a voice
at the entrance of the Cloud. "Jhudora, keep an eye on the Light Faerie's
daughter for me while I'm gone! I'm going out to see if Fyora and her puny Faeries
have made their decision!" Ixi recognised the voice as the Uber-Dark Faerie's,
and with a sigh of relief saw that she had flew out of the Cloud.
At the end of the room, he saw that Jhudora was
sitting on a golden throne, clutching a bottle that looked like a Balthazar-caught
Light Faerie. That, thought Ixi, must be Starbright, the Uber-Light Faerie's
daughter! He looked around the throne. Next to Jhudora was a shelf stuffed full
of bottles of Dark Faeries. Ugh, he thought with disgust, imagine asking Balthazar
to imprison two dozen of your own sisters! Then he realised the Dark Faeries
in bottles must have been quest items that Jhudora had asked for.
Ixi felt a sharp, ice-cold wind blow across his
tail. It was the Uber-Dark Faerie, flying back into the Cloud! "Darkness
Faerie," Jhudora said fondly, bowing slightly, "what did they say
to you? I see you don"t have the Light Faerie with you?"
"They said they were still deciding what
to do - Oh!" The Dark Faerie spotted Ixi, right in front of the shelf of
Dark Faeries next to Jhudora's throne. "So, they sent you, a little
Ixi weakling, in here to try to stop me and free Starbright, eh? No way!"
Ixi was frozen in terror, while the Dark Faerie
took the Green Invisihat off his head so that Jhudora could see him. The Dark
Faerie taunted him, "Hah, there isn't a chance you can open the bottle
Starbright is in! Only Dark magic can open it!"
The Dark Faerie advanced upon Ixi, and he backed
away, and slammed into the shelf full of Dark Faerie bottles, hard. With the
sound of breaking glass, two dozen Dark Faeries were freed!
"Thank you!" they chanted. They blessed
him with all sorts of dark abilities and evil magic, and flew away. With his
new Dark powers, Ixi willed the bottle imprisoning Starbright to break, and
so it did! More broken glass showered the dirty floor of Jhudora's Cloud.
"No!" screamed the Dark Faerie.
"We planned on this for years! Months! Ages!"
howled Jhudora. "It's all spoiled now!"
But Starbright and Ixi were not there to hear
their complaints. Ixi had already trotted out of the Cloud, with Starbright
on his back.
"My name is Ixi," said Ixi for the
umpteenth time.
The daughter of the Uber-Light Faerie smiled.
"Ixi, I grant you the ability Magic Torch! You can light places up at your
will, and the Magic Torch"s flame never goes out!
***
As soon as the Uber-Light Faerie saw her daughter on Ixi"s back, she burst
into tears. "Starbright, my dear!"
"Hi, Mum," said Starbright happily.
"Look at this green Ixi - he saved me!"
The Light Faerie nodded at Ixi. "Thank you,
my young NeoPet! I give you a million thanks for rescuing my daughter!"
Ixi went red with embarrassment. This was an
odd contrast from his normal green hue. "You're welcome, any time,"
he mumbled.
Fyora turned to Ixi. "As a thank you for
your help, I will grant you another blessing!" The Queen of the Faeries
waved her hands and Ixi turned into a Faerie Ixi! He grew wings and purple fur.
For the first time, he soared into the air.
"Thank you!" he cried.
"You can fly around the skies of Neopia,
free, or if you want, you can live with an owner," answered Fyora. "I
hope you will be happy."
"Goodbye!" Ixi said to the Faeries,
and flew away.
"Mother," Starbright said, hugging
the Uber-Light Faerie, "I promise never to trust Dark Faeries again!"
The End | 
