The Birthday Party That Got Out of Hand

     "Excuse me," the Poogle said to an older-looking Lenny. "Do you know where the library is?"

     "Sure little one, it's a quick walk over that way." The older Lenny pointed towards Faerieland.

     "Thank you, ma'am." the red Poogle thanked the Lenny politely.

     He picked up his pace towards the Faerieland, hoping to get to the library before noon. He still had a lot to prepare for his party. Luckily, after walking for a little while, he saw the library and headed in. The faerie library was big, there were books everywhere. He saw a faerie sitting behind a large wooden desk, she was beautiful with her violet wings and cute glasses.

     "Hello miss," the Poogle greeted. "Where can I find the copy machine?"

     The faerie looked up from behind the desk, to see who was this young Neopet who came to visit her, as the library had had little to no visitors lately.

     "Hello," the faerie greeted the Poogle back. "It's right over at the back, let me show you." She stood up and guided the Poogle to the copy machine and just to be sure, she also showed him how it worked.

     "Thank you miss Library Faerie." the Poogle said thankfully.

     "You're welcome!" The faerie replied. "What's your name, little Poogle?"

     "I'm Pip."

     "Ah Pip! Nice to meet you, Pip." the faerie said with a smile.

     After having made copies, Pip waved to the library faerie and hurried outside, there were still a million things he needed to do for the party.

     But what Pip didn't notice, was that he had forgotten his original invite inside the copy machine and by the time the library faerie noticed it, Pip had already left. The faerie wanted to return this to the Poogle, but she wasn't sure where to find him, so she read the invite.

     "You are invited to my awesome birthday party at 6 pm on the 15th of November, at 519743 Cairn Close, Kiko Lake."

     "Well, that does sound like a nice party." The library faerie said to herself. "And I haven't been to a party in a while." She got an idea, what if she, the library faerie, helped this Poogle with his birthday, wouldn't that be a nice surprise? She set things in motion by contacting a few of the other faeries for help. She took the invite from the copy machine and handed it to her friend Ursula the Usul. "Hey, what if we helped this Poogle have the best birthday ever?" she said.

     "Sure thing! I'll ask some of my friends to help." Ursula replied.

     "Don't tell too many Neopians, though, let's keep it small." The library faerie suggested.

     "Not a problem." Ursula agreed.

     But one friend told another and on and on it went. Everyone ended the sentence with, "Let's keep it small, don't tell others." But secrets like that have the tendency to get out of hand, like a game of Snow Roller, where the ball just gets bigger and bigger.

     While the faerie had set things in motion, Pip had finally gotten back home with his groceries and the invites had been mailed to his friends. Pip wasn't a rich Neopet, in fact, he had been saving for this party all year, but it still seemed to not be enough. When he opened a cupboard, he realised he only had enough dishes for 3 Neopets including himself.

     "Uh oh. Better see if I can borrow some dishes." He hurried over to his next-door neighbour Mags and knocked on her door. After waiting for a little while, the door opened. Luckily Mags was home.

     "Hi sweetie, how are you?" Mags asked, seeing Pip.

     "Hey missis Mags! Could I borrow two plates and two bowls, please? I am having a birthday party tomorrow but I realised I don't have enough plates." Pip said, embarrassed.

     "Not a worry at all, come on inside while I get you some plates." Mags replied and started going towards the kitchen. Mags was an elderly Kacheek, who had lived in this house all her life. She didn't have relatives and the few friends she had had, had moved to a warmer climate in Mystery Island.

     Slowly she took out some plates (more than two) and some bowls from her cupboard.

     "Here you go Pip," she handed the dishes to Pip. "I put a few extra, just in case. And don't worry about returning them, I don't use them anyway."

     "Thank you missis Mags. I'll be sure to bring you some cake, then!" Pip said happily as he carefully balanced the plates and bowls. Mags just nodded and waved to Pip as he went home.

     Time was flying by, it was already the evening, so he started cooking. He made potatoes and sausages, some salad and snacks. By midnight he was exhausted so as soon as his head hit the pillow, he was sound asleep. When morning came, the Poogle still had lots to do, so he spent the rest of the day decorating the house. As Neopoints were scarce, he had to be creative. He had some balloons, made lots of decorations from paper and used everything he could find in his house. It was around 3 pm when he noticed that he had forgotten to buy a cake.

     "Oh no. Can't have a party without a cake." he muttered to himself and hurried to the Bakery. It was quite far from his house so he had to be quick to make it back in time for the party.

     But what Pip didn't know, was that cake was on the way. And it wasn't just one cake, either. Word had spread around Faerieland and Neopia Central and all over, that one little Poogle was having a birthday party and everyone was invited! So Neopets from every corner of Neopia were coming and they were all bringing something.

     The Poogle finally arrived at the bakery, but unfortunately, everything was sold out. Pip was devasted, and no cake for a party? What kind of party doesn't have cake?! The Bakery Kacheek told him that something big was going down because Neopets have been buying cakes all day. It saddened the baker to see a sad Poogle, though, so he found a small cake from the back.

     "It's yesterday's cake, no one bought it, so I'll give it to you with a discount." the baker told Pip.

     "It's better than nothing, so I'll take it." The Poogle sighed. Luckily the price wasn't too bad, and the cake still looked good. The party was saved! Pip looked at the time and realised he won't be back in time for the party.

     "Thanks again!" he said to the Bakery Kacheek as he hurried back home.

     As Pip was getting closer to home, he started to hear music and the murmur of a crowd. "That's weird, there usually aren't events in this part of town." he said to himself. As he got even closer to home, he started to see the crowd and it seemed they were all gathered near his house. He checked to see if he was on the right street, maybe he had been absent-minded and gotten lost while being worried about the party, but no - it was his street and the crowd was at his house. "Did something happen?" he wondered as he picked up the pace. As the crowd noticed the Poogle hurrying closer, they started to cheer.

     "Happy birthday, Pip!" they chanted and cheered. Everyone was waving to him, throwing confetti and blowing birthday blowers.

     "Whaaa..?" Pip was speechless.

     From the crowd emerged the library faerie.

     "Hey Pip! Surprise!" she said to the surprised Poogle and continued, "It was supposed to just be a few Neopets, but well," she waved her hands towards the crowd and smiled, "I suppose it just got a little out of hand."

     There were banners with the message: "Happy Birthday!" all over his yard and house, and there was a band playing on the stage in the street. The front yard of his house was filled with tables and tables were filled with all kinds of foods from all over Neopia. He also saw a bouncy house peeking from behind his home. There was a pile of presents wrapped in all the pretty colours, right beside his front door. He even saw an elusive Birthday Goodie Bag standing on top of the present tower.

     Pip was still speechless. "Wow." He finally managed to say. "You did all this? For me?" he felt a wave of emotions wash over him.

     "Come on, let's eat cake!" the faerie said and guided the Poogle to one of the tables outside, filled with all kinds of cakes. Over at the cake table were also his closest friends. He also saw Mags enjoying a piece of cake behind one of the tables.

     "When we got your invite, we all came a little earlier because we wanted to help you set up, but we couldn't find you." said Bob the Meerca.

     "But we did see all these other Neopets setting up the party, so we figured we'd help either way." continued Kate the Blumaroo.

     "We figured you'd show up eventually!" said Sam the Skeith with a big smile.

     "I had forgotten to buy a cake!" Pip said and laughed.

     "There won't be a shortage of cakes now, for sure!" Val the Vandagyre replied, pointing to the other two tables filled with more cakes.

     "It's a party now, for sure!" Pip replied and smiled.

     They danced, ate and celebrated all night long and it was the best birthday party Pip had ever had because he had all his friends there and that night he made so many more! Happy Birthday!

     The End.