Getting Rid of the Grey: Part Three by lili483
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Well, that was pleasant, if a little odd,
thought Mellie. As she climbed the gigantic staircase, she understood what Crissden
was talking about. While she hadn't realized it before, she now saw that the main
hall was mobbed with tourists. From little baby Kaus to flame Krawks and even
an ice Bori or two, no one seemed to want to miss any detail, especially since
the main hall was only open to tourists once a year.
As Crissden had said, Mellie was unable to miss
the door to her room. Upon walking in, she was stunned beyond belief.
Mellie had always loved the Space Faerie. Her
beauty, kindness, and power had always intrigued Mellie so much, that she had
begged Sandi for as many books about the Space Faerie as possible. This room
was the most beautiful, Space Faerie-tastic thing outside of Kreludor. The walls
were made of overlapping glowing maps of the Neopian sky. In one corner was
the planet, complete with Kreludor and the Virtupets Space Station floating
around it. Every once in a while a comet or asteroid would go shooting across
the walls. In another corner was the Space Faerie. However, the wall across
from the bed was the most incredible of all, showing a map of the sky as seen
from Altador. Mellie found that if she pressed the star in the Space Faerie's
hand, she was able to connect the constellations that she knew so well. Pressing
the star again would make them disappear, but that was the last thing Mellie
wanted. This room was like a little piece of home. As was fitting in Fyora's
palace, the furniture was a Fyora Print Bed, a Fyora Inspired Vanity Table,
and a Queen Fyora Rocking Chair.
After relaxing in her room for a while, when
it was almost 8:00, Mellie went downstairs, and outside. By this time, the tourists
who had been inside had come outside, and were waiting for the parade to begin.
It would be headed by Fyora, followed by magical floats and the finale would
be beautiful fireworks created by Fyora herself.
Squeezing her way through the crowd, Mellie managed
to get a front-row view of the parade. She had made it just in time, because
right after she had gotten herself settled, the musicians began to play, and
the great doors began to open. There was Fyora, in her usual yet elegant gown,
followed by the other High Faeries. Next came a magical float put together by
teams of basic faeries. First the water float, then the fire float, followed
by the air float and the earth float, with the dark and light floats bringing
up the rear. Mellie was disappointed, but not surprised, that there was no float
to honor the grey faeries. After the parade had finished, the moment that everyone
had been waiting for came. The first of Fyora's fireworks went off. They came
in all shapes and colors, and exploded into the most dazzling figures. A Space
Faerie that flew across the sky, a snowbunny that hopped across Happy Valley,
easter neggs and valentines neggs, and beautiful island flowers.
* * *
A few feet away from Mellie stood a Bruce from
the Lost Desert who had come all the way to Faerieland for Fyora Day. At the
start of the parade, he had been quite glum. After all the hype, Faerieland
hadn't been very special to him at all. Not just that, it had been quite awful!
Upon seeing the faellies in the Faerie Petpets shop, his younger brother had
been constantly agitating him to buy one for him with the money they had been
given by their owner for the trip.
Luckily for that Bruce, it was Fyora Day, and
this was the Fyora Day parade. All through the millennia that the parade had
been going on, no one had been able to resist its joy completely.
* * *
Mellie, too, could feel the infectious joy of
the parade. Unlike most guests, she wasn't laughing and having the time of her
life. She hadn't felt this pressure of joy for a long time, and she wasn't sure
what to do. She couldn't say she really felt happy, just that she could feel
herself on the edge. This made her angrier, if anything. Of course, she could
only be on the verge. Never on the other side.
The threshold was better than nothing at all,
at least, and so Mellie savored it. She savored every drop of that almost- joy.
She stood there long after the crowds began to leave, just so that she could
soak up as much of the atmosphere as possible. At last, when the stars were
out in full, and everyone else had gone home, Mellie sighed a contented sigh
and went back to her room in the palace.
That night, she slept soundly, dreaming of beautiful
purple ribbons, and a little Kougra whose favorite lollipop had been moved just
too far away for her to reach.
* * *
Mellie awoke bright and early the next morning,
feeling alive and refreshed. She put on the best clothes she had with her, and
her pendant, and went off to see the Queen.
At the official doors, Brilly and Kindll greeted
her warmly.
"Welcome back, Miss. The Queen's expectin' you,"
said Brilly, and he waved her through.
"Marvelous," replied Mellie, as she passed through
the doors.
Fyora's private audience chambers were at the
end of the hallway that the official doors entered on to. Mellie was once again
amazed by the beauty that this mere corridor possessed. Instead of merely having
a set of images that continued on the wall, the images on the wall were actually
moving, making up a story as they went along. Mellie had a suspicion that somewhere,
in some library, there was a book that was constantly writing itself, and the
story was the one that played upon the walls as Mellie looked at them.
After marveling at the walls for a few minutes,
Mellie gathered her courage and went to knock on the door of Fyora's chamber.
A faerie Kacheek answered the door. After seeing
her pendant, the girl waved Mellie into the room. Sitting on a beautiful purple
chair was Fyora, the Faerie Queen, in the flesh.
"Welcome, my dear," said Fyora kindly.
"V-very n-nice to b-be here, Miss Fyora," stuttered
Mellie. For all of Mellie's courage, meeting this important person face to face
was downright terrifying.
"Good. So, my guards tell me that you're an important
girl from Altador. It's lovely that our two worlds are now so close. Do tell
me, how is old Finneus?"
"He's fine, Miss."
"Oh good. Now, I can tell that you are here to
see me about no trivial matter. What is the reason for your visit?"
"Well..." Mellie was afraid, but she had to do
this. She wasn't going to give up just because of a little shyness. "Well, it's
my color. You know that the latest fashion is for grey pets, with our soulful
eyes and our grey fur. Well, ever since I was painted grey, I haven't been feeling
very good. No matter what I do, I can't seem to be really, truly happy anymore."
"Dear, there's probably a book Finneus has that
will help you with that-"
"No. That's not what I'm looking for. I first
went to Finneus, and he told me how when the first grey faerie came to be, you
High Faeries didn't know what to do to keep the balance of magic. There needed
to be some sort of way to give those faeries power over a color, even though
they didn't have power of their own. So you made grey paint brushes. I know
what they do, how they link the pets to the faerie. And no, I don't want you
to undo it. I realize how important it is that the balance of magic lies undisturbed!
However, I'm tired of this! I'm tired of being tired, and not caring! I'm tired
of never laughing! So I'm going on a mission to find a grey faerie, and cheer
her up, so that I can cheer up. Because that's the only way, isn't it?"
"Dear, it's not-"
"Yes, it is. I don't want anything from you,
except the location of a grey faerie."
"Fine. Do as you wish. If you don't want my advice,
that's alright. Realize that you are a very incredible young Kougra, to undertake
something like this. You can find grey faeries on Terror Mountain. You can stay
with Taelia, while you are there."
With that, Mellie had the last piece of the puzzle.
Mellie felt incredible, that she would finally be able to get her joy back.
"Thank you Fyora. Thank you very much," said
Mellie. "I'll be going now."
"Goodbye, and good luck!" replied Fyora. "I hope
that all goes well for you."
So, Mellie left. She went to her room, packed
up her belongings, and left the palace. She said her goodbyes to Kindll, and
Brilly, and even Crissden. Then she went to the nearest Uni Transportation Authority.
If you didn't have wings yourself, the UTA or ETA (Eyrie Transportation Authority)
was the only way out of the city.
Waiting on the line for the next Uni to become
available, Mellie thought about all of the things that had happened to her in
the past few days. She had actually had fun, for the first time in a long time.
In fact, it had been a lot unlike anything she'd experienced in a long time.
She remembered how she had told Sandi that she wouldn't come home until her
joy was back. And even though she didn't quite realize it, she could have gone
home right then.
The End
Author's Note: I hope you liked reading about Mellie's adventure! I first
got the idea for this story when my friend Rachel (hawtrawker64) and I were
talking about how horrid a week we'd had, one Friday afternoon. It was raining
outside my window, and I was feeling really glum. Suddenly, I thought, "Why
am I sitting here feeling sorry for myself? There's got to be something that
will cheer me up!" That's when I realized that it's always important to remember
that there's joy to be found somewhere. Just like Mellie, you have to go out
and find it. Anyway, feel free to drop me a neomail, whether you liked the story
or not. I'll reply unless you ask me not to, or use chat speak.
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