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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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» Getting Rid of the Grey: Part One
» Getting Rid of the Grey: Part Two



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