A Rather Unsuccessful Attempt at an April Fool's Joke

     "That so has to be Teres," the dark faerie thought, looking at the empty bed across her. "That little earth faerie ruined my poster!" Onda noticed several green darts stuck into Jhudora's nose when she examined the poster.

     Onda rolled her eyes, still bored and feeling revengeful. She put the remains of the poster into a drawer, and decided to go out for a walk. But before she left the room, the dark faerie left an unpleasant surprise for her roommate.

     After a few quacks and squishy noises, Onda exited. As she waved her wand, she congratulated herself. The dark faerie wondered how Teres would react to a nice Fake-Real Rubber Quiggle in her bed. She could just picture the scream...

     Onda grinned evilly as she stepped out on the Faerie Academy's grounds. She noticed a few groups of different types of faeries, but none were dark. After all, only the dark ones kept to themselves. The dark faerie called on a portable cloud to take her on a 'walk'.

     She sat on the cloud, feeling the refreshing wind blowing through her hair as she watched Neopia. There were so many people, so many pets... all grasping onto their futile hopes and carrying out their daily duties. All without magic. Onda couldn't imagine how life would be without magic. She continued to watch the world below for a while.

     The world below, the world of Neopia, was a world they weren't supposed to enter. If a student of the Faerie Academy behaved herself well, she might be rewarded with a trip down there. It was a world where everything could happen, a world governed by other rules than here in Faerieland.

     Something caught the dark faeries interest as she was floating by. It was a Chia, carrying a bunch of paper to print. After a few seconds, Onda realized that it had to be... the Neopian Times!

     The dark faerie grinned, revealing her pointy white teeth. She could have fun with this.

     Onda watched as the Chia carefully put the letters and pressed them all onto the paper. She continued to watch for a while, as an idea formed inside her head. When the Chia had finished printing the paper, the idea was complete.

     This was perfect! Tomorrow would be the first day of the new month, and it was April Fool's... Onda grinned evilly as she recited a spell. A misty hand formed from her wand, flew through the clouds and grabbed an issue of the newspaper.

     The faerie cackled as the hand dumped the Neopian Times in her lap. She unfolded the newspaper and noticed that it was Issue 175. Special issue 175... She could definitely play with this.

     Onda tried to recall that spell in one of her dark magic spellbooks. She shook her head and gave up after a few minutes, not being able to remember anything but the title of the spell. The dark faerie was sure this would be fun, though it would take a lot of work.

     Normally, Onda detested hard work. But this was an exception. This was in her spare-time. The Dark Faerie whispered the long forgotten words of a wise person.

     "Work isn't fun. It is something you have to do. The things that are fun are fun because you don't have to do them."

     The dark faerie patted her portable cloud gently, urging it to get her to her room as fast as possible. She hoped that Teres wouldn't arrive until it was time for dinner, otherwise she would have to get a Plan B. Onda jumped off the cloud and ran all the way to her room, clutching that issue of the Neopian Times tight in her hands.

     Safe inside her room, Onda began to search for the spellbook. Soon she found it, under a pile of scorched clothes. The Dark Faerie opened the book with excitement and flipped to page 862, where the spell was supposed to be. She eyed through the text, then started to prepare for the incantation.

     Onda closed her eyes and recited the spell, while making the necessary gestures. She opened one eye just a little bit to see if the Neopian Times was hovering like it should. It was. Just when she pronounced the last syllable, she heard a noise that made her froze.

     The door opened slowly, and a brown-haired faerie poked her hair in.

     "What did you do, Onda? It smells awful in here," Teres commented as she sat down on her bed. Fortunately, the spell had finished just when the earth faerie had entered the room. Onda hoped that her roommate hadn't seen anything.

     She grinned evilly when she heard Teres' shrill shriek. It would seem that Teres hadn't been aware of the spell that had been going on. Onda looked at the Neopian Times, which was now completely empty. There were no letters on it. Everything was going according to plan.

     The earth faerie jumped up and immediately started a yelling fight with Onda about the rubber Quiggle. The dark faerie yelled back and hid the empty newspaper under her bed. She couldn't wait to see what would happen tomorrow!

     Just when the two faeries yelled their loudest, the magical bell rang, signaling that it was time for dinner. Onda used her portable cloud and swooshed past Teres.

     "I win," she mouthed as she flew comfortably to the dining hall.

     "You wish," Teres frowned as Onda hit her head in a chandelier that had been in the way. Since the dark faerie had been teasing Teres, she didn't notice the obstacle before too late.

     "You lose," the earth faerie told Onda as she passed the dizzy dark faerie lying on the ground.

     "Revenge," Onda thought as she called on her portable cloud and tried to make it in time. The dinner was delicious, the evening wonderful. Soon the dark faerie was in her bed, making another moving toy that would scare Teres.

     She stayed up rather late, but had to go to sleep when the lights turned off automagically. Onda fell asleep, wondering what tomorrow had in store for her. She smiled as she remembered the spell. The Dark Faerie couldn't believe that she had gotten away with it! Onda hugged her Jhudora Doll before her eyes closed.

     -

     It was April Fool's Day. Onda woke up with a start, and saw that Teres had already left the room. She looked out through the window. Everything seemed the same, except for the fountain in the Academy's garden. It had been a shade of deep, sapphire blue yesterday, but now there were stripes of pink and brown running across it.

     "Someone's in the spirit," the dark faerie thought as she brushed her teeth, finding her construction on the floor. Onda grinned, imagining how horrified Teres must've been to find that clockwork Quiggle in her bed.

     Just as she finished washing her face, someone screamed. It was a high-pitched scream, filled with horror and the surprise of a discovery. Soon, the whole Academy screamed.

     Nervous, Onda poked her head outside the door. She bumped into Teres, who was screaming like insane with a mirror in one hand. The dark faerie took a close look at her roomate.

     "FOR AUCTION: 1 NP," she read. Onda touched the text on Teres' forehead, wondering where it came from.

     "Get it off! Get it off!" the panicked earth faerie yelled at Onda.

     "Don't know how," the dark faerie said. She took a look at Teres' mirror and was relieved at the fact that she didn't have any weird letters printed on her forehead.

     The mischievous dark faerie left her roommate and took a little walk around the Academy. Everywhere there were odd, funny and weird texts on faeries' foreheads. Onda giggled at some of them, and left the Faerie Academy to see if this hilarious April Fool's Joke had gotten outside the Academy.

     While walking, Onda pondered over the matter of the one that had done this. This was so funny! She silently applauded the faerie that had played this joke. The dark faerie did not notice another faerie coming until she bumped into her.

     "Excuse me," Onda said. She gasped when she saw the faerie's face. It was her number-one idol, Jhudora!

     The legendary dark faerie just frowned and kept on walking, while Onda sat on the ground. For a fleeting second, she almost forgot the words printed on Jhudora's forehead.

     "I AM A STUPID BRAT! KICK ME!" she remembered and giggled. Even though Jhudora was her idol and everything, this was just too funny. Onda wondered if this would last a day or so.

     After sitting there in a moment, the dark faerie realized who had done this joke. She realized that she herself had played this trick. Onda recalled the fine text in the spell. An unsuccessful spell could backfire. This one just changed the target.

     Onda applauded herself out loud, and then she got an idea. If this spell affected every faerie but her, wouldn't it just be too fun to see what Queen Fyora had printed on her forehead? The dark faerie called on her portable cloud to take her to the queen's tower.

     On the way, she saw many faeries pointing to each other's foreheads and laughing. It was so different from the usual Faerieland. Onda smiled, seeing how fun those faeries were having.

     The cloud suddenly stopped outside a non-existent window. The dark faerie jumped in and saw Fyora standing in front of a full-length mirror, looking at herself. When the Faerie Queen turned around, Onda exploded with laughter.

     "SLOTH IS MY HERO," the Dark Faerie read, choking with laughter.

     "Who is responsible for this?" Fyora asked, quite furious about the text on her forehead.

     "Me!" Onda said jokingly and raised her hand. The 'O' in Sloth was moving dangerously as the Faerie Queen glared angrily at the little faerie.

     "This... is... not... funny!" Queen Fyora said.

     "I wouldn't be too sure about that, if I were you," the dark faerie said, grinning. She walked over to the window and pointed down, where lots of faeries were laughing at each other. "Look at the fun they're having."

     "I am NOT going to let this happen to me twice!" the purple-winged faerie said, glaring at Onda.

     "If I recall correctly," Onda told the Queen, "the effects will be gone tomorrow. Have some patience. It is April Fool's today, after all."

     "Out! OUT!" Queen Fyora yelled when she realized that Onda couldn't do anything. The Dark Faerie heard her mutter, "Just like her..."

     The Dark Faerie went outside, just as Fyora had ordered. She released that breath that she had been holding in the whole time at Fyora's. Inside there, she had been like another person. Onda complimented herself at this great joke, and the fact that the Faerie Queen got upset enough to care.

     "I wonder why..." she thought as a group of faeries approached her.

     "This is so funny!" The leader of the group pointed to her forehead. "Though we were mad at first, but then we realized it..."

     "Thanks for pulling this great joke!" another faerie said happily. "By the way, you should look in a mirror." The group left Onda standing there, somewhat confused.

     She used her portable cloud to get back to her room, and rushed to the mirror. On her forehead, there were some letters printed, "I STOLE NT 175 ONTO FOREHEADS." Onda laughed at herself, and looked at the newspaper under her bed.

     This day had turned crazy. Faeries were laughing at each other; the Neopian Times was probably missing... (Who cared about that?) and she had risked Queen Fyora's wrath. But it was still very fun. Onda sat on her bed, wondering how tomorrow would be, when this was all over. She let out a surprised little yell when she felt something nibbling on her legs.

     "Haha! Fooled ya!" Teres appeared in the doorway, grinning at the angry dark faerie. "You should've known it was April Fool's today! You lose!" the earth faerie laughed.

     "Teres!" Onda growled as she made another ten plans for revenge. In middle of all that craziness, there was that good old rivalry again...

The End