The Snake of Glass

by pheonix123

The truth about the Snowager

Beyond the sparkling, snow-covered hills of Happy Valley, past the glimmering walls of the caverns in the Ice Caves, and at the top of towering Terror Mountain, is the Ski Lodge. Little is known about the history of this dark and gloomy place, except the memories of an old Chia named Kladestine.

Kladestine, like most Chias, enjoys to tell stories. When asked about the ski lodge, he will launch into an amazing tail of castles and monsters, that goes like this:

Once upon a time, the ski lodge was not a ski lodge, and Terror Mountain was no terror. The ski lodge was, in fact, a beautiful castle, surrounded by the loveliest gardens full of the prettiest flowers in all of Neopia. And within the castle lived a lovely princess and her adoring subjects. The princess’s name was Minoa.

Princess Minoa adored walking in her gardens, smelling the flowers and observing the sparkling fountains. One day while doing so she nearly stepped upon a small, bright emerald snake.

“Oh,” She yelped in surprise, but she stayed calm. The snake cowered and, feeling pity for it, the princess reached down and picked it up. She realized it was not really a snake, but a species of NeoPets. One that had been extinct for thousands of years, or so it was thought. We now know that the snake was, in fact, the last of its species.

Anyhow, the princess took a liking to the small snake, and she named it Morovian, and adopted it as her pet.

One day while Morovian was training in the royal training school, training with the best of all the teachers in Neopia, the Princess approached him. She asked him what he wanted the most in the world because, although he didn’t yet realize it, it had been exactly one year since she had found him. Morovian told her that he had been noticing that many pets were painted, and said that he wanted to be painted too. When asked what color, he replied that he wanted to be glass colored.

Now the princess was very rich indeed. She owned at least one of every item in Neopia, and sometimes thousands of each. So the princess went to the rainbow pool with Morovian, and she asked the stars Uni that was in charge of the pool if he could be painted glass. The Uni replied yes, and the princess gladly handed over one of her many glass paint brushes so that he could look dazzling.

That night however, the princess had to go out of town on a trip. She apologized that she had to go on his birthday, and told Morovian, “Morovian, guard my treasure until I return, and guard it well!” and with that she left, her team of Unis flying higher and higher above the clouds. The princess’s treasure was massive, filling hundreds of rooms, and it included Neggs, armor, and thousands of other things. Morovian was loyal to his master, and agreed to guard it with his life. He even slept on it for better safekeeping.

The next morning, there was a knock on the door. Morovian unbolted it, thinking it was Princess Minoa. Instead, the massive Grundo armies of Dr. Sloth poured into the room, grabbing item after item, and threatening Morovian with their weapons. Finally Morovian could stand it no longer. Raging, he took all that he could of his owner’s treasure, which was less than a third of it, and ran for his life. Down the mountain he was chased, until he was able to find a small, concealed cave within the Ice Caves. Here, he put all the treasure into one pile and lay down upon it, resolving not to move until his Princess returned for him.

Dr. Sloth turned the castle into a ski lodge, however it was not a success because nobody dared venture quite that high up the mountain, which had become known as Terror Mountain. Disgusted with the lack of success, Dr. Sloth abandoned the ski lodge and took to building his Virtual Space Craft.

As for Morovian, he became bitter tempered and violent. He became avoided, and after years, people forgot about his kind heart and loving soul, and he became known as a monster, a beast that was loathed and feared. They dubbed him “Snowager”, and the name has stuck.

Morovian, or the Snowager, has still been guarding his master’s treasure for thousands of years now. The legend says that he may go on guarding it forever, because his princess may never come back. But he does his best to keep his promise, and yet, he cannot. For somehow, curious Neopians still find ways to steal from him. His pile of treasures grows smaller by the day, but the Snake of Glass is determined to keep his promise.

The End