The Extra-unordinary Party

by Phifi

The bell rang and Shamathia went into the entrance hall to welcome the guests which had just arrived. She opened the door and greeted Antanie and Luckypupperoo, two of her very best friends. After they had taken off their raincoats (unfortunately it was raining Aishas and Lupes the whole day) she led them into the the large party room where the other guests were waiting.

It was a very special evening for Shamathia the Aisha tonight, she gave a large opening party for her new house in Faerieland was now completely finished. She had invited all of her friends and the whole neighbourhood, and so about 12 or 14 pets were sitting in the Party room and chatted with each other, others were dancing or looking around in the large house. Shamathia's owner, Andy, or better her keeper for he always claimed that he did not really own Shamathia, had spend about his whole money to build a wonderful house for her, with lots of rooms to invite even more guests, and in the first floor were about four or five guest rooms so that pets from far parts of Neopia could stay over night. The house was so large and pretty that it rather seemed like a Faerie-castle than like a house. Shamathia loved it, it had always been her dream to have a large house full of guests and of joy and fun.

The party was going on pretty well, except that it was raining but that did not matter too much. The plans for the evening were to have a great feast all together at the large table in the dinning hall and afterwards the boom-box brotherz had promised to come to 'rock up the house' a little bit. The boom-box brotherz, two Skeiths, were a very famous DJ-Duo and widely-known for their great music-mixes. They were friends of Shamathia since she had helped them to get some special parts they had needed for their sound mixer.

Shamathia went into the kitchen, to see how far the food was and as she saw that everything was ready, she called all guests into the large dinning-room. After everyone had found a seat at the empty table and it had become quiet for everybody was excited what would come next, Shamathia stood up, looked at the large room and said, "Nice to have all of you here, I am happy that you could come. Before we start the feast, I would like to thank some persons which helped me a lot with building this house. First of all, my own.- I mean, my keeper Andy for his generous financial support, than my special friend Sidolin for he convinced me that a large house is worth far more than a super-strong weapon." Sidolin smiled at her, it was true that he had persuaded Shamathia not to save all of her money to buy a terrible weapon but build a large house instead of. "And of course," Shamathia went on, "Antanie and Luckypupperoo who really helped me a lot by organising me this great piece of ground directly in the center of Faerieland, as well as Nuggettwo and Bungola who were of great help when I furnished the house. Now, let the feast begin !!!" She clapped her hands and suddenly the table was full of food on golden plates. And what kind of food, from each part of Neopia only the best. Lavaberries from Mystery Island as well as snow pizza and slushies from Happy Valley or rainbow Neggs from Neopia Central.

During the feast, the boom-box brotherz arrived and started to build up their equipment. After everybody had eaten enough, they all went back into the party room. The boom-box brotherz had just started with 'rocking up the house' when suddenly the music stopped, they light faded away and it become very quiet in the dark house. Outside on the street it was dark as well, and the only noise was the dripping of the raindrops on the windows.

"Dang, that must be a power-cut or something of that sort," said a voice after some time.

"Has anyone some matches or a candle..?" asked someone else.

Than Luckypupperoo's right paw started to glow and put the surroundings into a pale-blue light. "Someone put up some candles, I cannot go on with this spell too long," she said.

Shamathia quickly fetched some candles and after another couple of minutes, they were sitting in a poor illuminated party-room, still without any music and dancing. "Well, Sammy, we are sorry but now we cannot rock up your house," one of the brotherz said, "But maybe the power will come back in some time."

"So what do we do in the meantime? Anyone to know a good game for situations like this..?" asked Seamaus, one of Shamathia's classmates.

"Here, I got a nice idea," said Antanie, "Let's make a story-bag!!!"

A murmur of wondering ran through the hall. "A story-bag is a nice thing to play with friends in situations like this," Antanie went on, "We take a big bag and everybody put his name in it. Sammy will take a name out and this person will tell us a story. After the one is finished, he reached into the bag and takes out another name."

Everybody seemed to like the idea, so they put the sofas and couches in a circle around a table on which a large pot with all the names in it was standing. When everybody had sat down, Shamathia reached into the pot and took out the first name. "And the first one to tell us a nice story is...oh, it's you Sidolin!" Sidolin went slightly a bit pink, cleared his throat and than stared:

"All right then, I will tell you a story which really happened to me and Shamathia. It is actually a very funny story, though we did not find it too funny when it happened to us. Well, I shall have a start now: Last year, my magic-teacher asked me if I could do him a little favour. I should take a small package from him to the director of the museum. Of course I agreed to do so, for my grades were not too good and I thought it was a nice chance to improve them. However, he gave me that little package and told me to handle as careful as I could. I really wanted to do so, but when I left the school-grounds, I was attacked by a gang of young Grarrls who had to prove how strong they were. We had a little fight and though I could scare them away pretty easy, the package got broken and out fell...believe it or not, but it contained a Staff of Supernova!"

A new murmur ran through the hall. "Are you serious?" someone asked.

"The teacher would never give such a treasure to anybody, and especially not to you for..."

"Stop, let him finish the story first," someone else interrupted.

So Sidolin went on: "After the first shock had gone I realised what treasure I was holding in my paws. Willing or not, it came into my mind, to sell it and run away with the money. But than I had to think of Sammy and what she would think about me than, being a thief... anyway, I also realised that the package was broken and that I had to get it repaired by some way. So I decided to visit Sammy and ask her for some advice. Sammy said, that it wasn't such a big problem to repair the package, but she also wasn't sure if the Staff had not gotten damaged and so we thought, that I would be best to try it. For Shamathia is far better in magic and the use of magic-equipment such as wands or staffs, she took it in her hand and waved it a bit. The result was really extraordinary. I don't know how many of you have ever seen a staff of supernova in action... it's tip started to glow in fiery red, and small yellow and red sparks flew away and than two supernovas appeared and flew around Sammy. Of course, she did not want to hurt me, so she let the supernova fly out of the windows and made them explode in the garden. She told, me that it was really a great feeling, being filled with power by the Supernovas."

"Oh it really was!" Shamathia agreed.

"Well, I wanted to have that feeling too, so I took they Staff and waved it, just like Sammy had done," Sidolin continued, "But nothing seemed to happen. The tip did not glow nor did a single Supernova appear. I waved it again, and again nothing happened. Maybe I got a bit angry, or it was just bad luck, however, I waved it again and banged it on the table, so that the Staff got a big crack just in the middle. Immediately, red, hot flames shot out and singed my paw. I let it fall, but before it touched the ground, it exploded with great noise in a flash of yellow light. Both Sammy and me looked horrified at the small cloud of smoke which was the only thing left of the mighty Staff of Supernova. It's the end! I cried They will finally kick me out of school for this. How shall I explain this to my magic-teacher? He would never believe me when I tell him what happened! Sammy was as shocked as I was, but she had also realised that something had to be done. Hang in there Sido, together we will find a way out of this disaster. Let's see... the staff is gone... it was suppose to be standing in the museum soon, wasn't it?... uhmm... you are quite talented in arts, aren't you? Well than, why don't we make a fake one? But my teacher would see it at the first glance that it wasn't a real one, and we also knew that I had lost the one he gave me. No he wouldn't, for he will only see it in the museum. If he cannot hold it in his hand nor wave it, we will not notice, if we really give our very best."

This convinced me and so we spent the rest of the afternoon making the fake Staff of Supernova. Actually, it was not too difficult because there was a very nice picture of one in our The ABC of Magic. We finished it just in time and I ran straight to the museum. When I was standing in front of the door to the director's office I was sooo nervous. The fake Staff was looking good, but wouldn't the director notice that is wasn't true? Suddenly I realised that we had forgotten something extremely important: I was holding the fake Staff in my paws, but my magic-teacher had given it to me in a package... just that very moment the door opened and out came the director.

"Ah, you must be Sidolin, bringing me the Staff of Supernova, I suppose. Oh, there you got it. Thank you for bringing it. Why did it take you so long? Anyway, wanna see how it works before we put it into a showcase? No?!? Well, than thank you again that you brought it here and please greet your teacher for me." The door closed and I was standing alone on the corridor, shaking from head to toe.

The next morning, after the magic-lessons at school, my teacher called me to his desk. I was feeling as if I were dying, when he said "So, you brought the package to the museum? Great, I knew I could count on you."

I thought I could go, but we I was already at the door, my teacher called me back, "Not that fast, Sidolin. If I were you, I would rather study arts than magic." He seemed to blink at me with his one, remaining eye, the other one he had lost in a battle long ago.

"You may go now."

There was a pause, before Sidolin reached into the pot with all the names on the table and read the next name: "And the next one is ...the next one to tell us a story is Nuggettwo!" Nuggettwo was a very wise, blue Nimmo, the pet of a friend of Shamathia's keeper. She thought for a little while before she started:

"OK, the story that I am going to tell you is not a story that has really happened. It is a fantasy story, but a very nice one: Long time ago, there was a land ruled by a mighty king. He was very powerful but not always friendly. This was also the reason, why he was not very popular among his folk. However, there was a knight living at his castle, who was very popular, because he always helped the folk when they were in danger, even though he was not very brave at all. In fact, he was quite small and corpulent and hated fighting. The king was afraid, that one of his knights might be more popular than himself, and so he ordered the knight, his name was Kuniberg by the way, to his hall where he sat on his throne. He told him to go to the Serpent Forests which were well known for it was said, that a terrible dragon lived there. Kuniberg should slay that dragon and lay it's head down at the king's feet. Up to now, nobody had dared to only enter the forest. The King knew this, and he hoped that Kuniberg would either refuse his order so that he had a reason to dismiss him, or that he would not return from the woods. But for Kuniberg was a very loyal knight, his answer was 'As you wish, my King.'"

Kuniberg took his war-pony and rode straight to the Serpent Forests He had only entered the woods, when he already heard the terrible roar of the dragon. His pony was close to panic, and so he got off and allowed it to ride home. He himself went deeper into the forest by foot.

Suddenly, he heard a noise behind him, turned around and saw the dragon running towards him. Kuniberg had never been in such a situation before, actually, it was his first time to slay a dragon, and so he just threw his sword in the direction of the dragon, but of course he missed.

"This is the end," he thought and closed his eyes.

The next moment the dragon had reached him, but it did not eat him. The only thing it did was to lick Kuniberg's face. The dragon was completely tame! And lonely as well!! If that wasn't a surprise. After a while, also Kuniberg had realized what was going on, and petted the dragon a bit. Than he remembered, that his King had ordered him to bring him the dragon's head.

"But I cannot hurt this poor creature," he thought, "Oh well, I will just take the whole dragon. It can live with me at the castle." And so he did.

The people, who he met on his way to the castle, cheered and waved at him for they thought, that Kuniberg had tamed the dragon all alone. But when he entered the hall of King, the King was not too fond of seeing Kuniberg again at all. When Kuniberg's pony had returned alone, he had already thought that his plan had worked and now this... But there was still a piece of hope for him

"Where do you have the dragon's head?!?" he boomed.

"Just a moment, your majesty, he should be arriving any moment," Kuniberg replied and that moment, the dragon entered the hall, too. When the King saw the dragon, he froze. A scream escaped his breast and the next moment he had rushed out of the hall, out of the castle and was never seen again. The folk made Kuniberg their new King, and for many years they had peace. The dragon lived in the gardens of the castle and was happy, that he was not alone any longer.

Nuggettwo took the next name out of the story-bag. "Oh Shamathia, you are next!" Shamathia was surprised and went pink; she was a bit shy sometimes and did not like it much to speak in front of a big audience. However, after a moment of consideration she cleared her throat and started:

"The story I am telling you has really happened to me, when I was very young. As you all know, I like magic very much, and so I have also always been interested in raising my level to learn more magic-abilities. However, I will always remember how I gained the second level. At that time, it was quite difficult to gain a level, for Mystery Island was not discovered and same the training school and the secret laboratory," Saylabelle giggled, as she had become super-strong by using the lab-ray. "It was a very very nice morning that day... I was awakened by the sunlight, which was shinning through the windows of my bedroom directly in my face. It was already quite late; for it was my free day, I had slept a bit longer than usual. After I got up and dressed myself, I had a good deal of breakfast. Than I decided to go to the river near the evergreen forest for this is a place where one can always meet somebody to play with. Because at that time I still lived in my living-cave in Neopia Central, I reached the river only after a couple of minutes, but for my surprise there were only some Acaras playing a ball-game I did not know. I did not feel like playing ball that morning and so I went to the forest to do a nice long walk. I thought, that I might also find some interesting herbs to brew potions from.

Soon after I had entered the forest, it started to rain, but I did not mind. Some rare herbs can even only be found during or soon after rain. Well, I did find something, something better than all rare herbs together... after I had walked around in the forest for quite some time, I came to a clearing. The meadow was steaming, and in the centre, something shone in a very bright golden light. I went closer, without making any noise and than I saw her... it was the Uber-Light Faerie, dancing in the air, in a ray of sheer golden light. It was the most beautiful thing I ever saw, and so I just stood there enchanted by this beauty and watched her dancing. She had turned her back in my direction so she couldn't see me, after some moments, she turned around and looked at me, not surprised at all. She smiled at me, a smile of love and deep wisdom, and said, Welcome Shamathia, I was already expecting you half an hour ago. Did the Water Faerie trouble you with her rain? Anyway, would be so good as to do me a little favour..? I had heard a lot about Faerie Quests, and how generous they were if one could solve them. This was my first time to get one, and right away a quest of the Uber-Light Faerie!

So excited I was, that I could hardly answer, "Certainly, I would ... love to... I mean, yes sure I want to!"

"Great, then please find my trading card. It is called 'Safyre the Yellow Uni' and one of my favourite ones... unfortunately I lost it day before yesterday."

This seemed not to difficult for me. "How do I find you after I have gotten the card?"

"Don't you worry," The Uber-Light Faerie said, "I will find you," and then she disappeared in a flash of light.

And so I started searching. First I searched the clearing, than the forest, than the riverside and the playing meadows, everywhere I searched but all I could find was a broken shield of reflection. When it was so dark that I could hardly see any longer, I decided to stop for today and continue the next day. When I was already lying in my bed, I had a great idea. Why shouldn't I just go to the trading card shop in town and buy a new card? The Light Faerie would surely like this even more.

And so I went straight to the trading card shop the next morning. It was extremely crowded and I had to wait about an hour or two until finally somebody took care of me. I asked the shop keeper if had a 'Safyre the Yellow Uni'. He looked at me a mixture of amusement and fear, "Thiss card you wish to buy, yesss? Well, I am ssso sorry, but we don't have it."

That really upset me. Having waited for two hours for nothing. The shop keeper noticed that and whispered into my ear, "Oh pleassse, don't look at me like thisss, you're making me sssad. All right, I do have one, yesss, and I can make you a very ssspecial price but you know how rare it isss.... let'sss ssay 19,900,020,100 Neopoints and it'sss yourssss."

I froze. Was this Techo serious? Who in all of Neopia could buy something that expensive? I left the shop. Where had he gotten the card from? I thought. Maybe... oh yes, it must be the Light Faerie's card and he had found it. And now he was trying to sell it... but what should I do about it? Tell the Light Faerie that someone had found the card rather snappy than me??

But then I had a nice idea: I would bake a lovely cake for the Light Faerie, to sweeten her thoughts. Baking is one of my secret skills, if someone doesn't know this. And so I went home and baked a really lovely chocolate cake. And just the moment when I took it out of the oven, the Uber-Light Faerie appeared and smiled at me and said, "Oh how nice of you! This even better than the trading card... uhm, I so sorry that I cannot eat it for Faeries never eat nor drink. But why don't you invite some friends and share it with them? And yes, you will certainly get a little reward."

She put her hand on my forehead, a feeling like great knowledge and wisdom filled me with power. I knew that I had gained the second level. Before I could thank the Faerie, she had already disappeared, as well as one slice of the cake. That evening I had a nice party, just like today, though not that many friends were with me.

Shamathia sighed, "It is a sad thing, that is a really rare event now, that the Faeries ask us for a quest... All right, let's see who is next with telling us a story."

And so they went on and on with telling each other stories. Even when the power was back they continued to tell stories instead of listening to loud music. They excitedly listened when the boom-box brotherz told them how they played a trick on Dr. F. Sloth, laughed with Sher and her messy first school-day and felt sorry for a pet, whose owner had left Neopia forever. It was one of the best parties that ever took place in Shamathia's house but it was not the last one. Now that they had discovered how nice plain stories could be, they sometimes only met to tell each new stories which they had heard, invented or which they could remember.

At the End I would like to thank NeoPets, for being the best game ever, Chrissy G. for introducing me to it and for being my good friend and Kathy, for always reminding me, that peace is the right way. And of course I would like to thank you for reading this story, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

The End