The Wrong Wish

"Ruby! Come on!" yelled Buster.

     "What- Oh! Coming!" I said, while galloping over to Buster.

     My name is Ruby, and I'm a red Uni. I have two brothers and one sister. One of my brothers is a red Lupe called Buster. My other brother is a red Kougra called Pouncer. My sister is a blue Kougra called Bibi. My owner's called carys1994, but we just call her Caz. I'm the oldest out of the bunch, then, about two minutes later Buster was born. (Caz says that she couldn't resist!)

     Then came Pouncer. Now HE was a handful. He was so full of energy; we couldn't keep up with him! But now he's gotten used to us. He just acts like a ten-year-old. (He likes rolling around in mud!) Bibi's the youngest ball of fur. She's active and best friends with Pouncer. She likes doing things like chasing petpetpets when nobody's looking (it's quite funny, really!) And she's the best at the Battledome! But she still has to get used to us.

     "Sorry!" I said.

     "Ruby, unless you want to get lost you've got to keep up," said Caz.

     We were walking in Faerieland, going into practically every shop we could find. Buster's Puppyblew, Toby, got quite bored in most of the shops (he only liked the ones that Buster likes and the petpet shops). As we walked on, I saw a few Peophins playing in a pool. I stopped and stared. I loved Peophins. More than anything in Neopia, I wanted to be a Peophin. Their long tails and their tangle-free, shiny manes. Just thinking about staying in the water all day would be so much fun! (Well, you'd never get thirsty!)

     "Uh- Oh! Ruby's spotted some Peophins!" said Bibi.

     "Don't bother, Ruby! You'll never turn into a Peophin, Caz won't ever be able to afford morphing potion!" said Buster, who sounded rather annoyed about me wanting to be a Peophin; well, he's annoying himself!

     "I wish I could," I whispered to myself.

     "Your wish is my command," said a voice behind me.

     I turned around to see a water faerie! But, before you could say "Unis," I was surrounded by water. But something was different. I looked down to see a long, red fin. A RED FIN!? Then I noticed I only had two legs and no horn or wings! It was that moment that I knew I was no longer a Uni, I was a Peophin!!

     "YEEEEESSSSS!!!" I yelled at the top of my voice.

     I jumped in and out of the water, I was so happy! The other Peophins looked at me as if I had gone bonkers!! But I didn't mind one bit.

     "CAZ! BUSTER! POUNCER! BIBI! I'M A PEOPHIN!!" I shrieked.

     My family came racing towards me.

     "Wow! Is that really you in there, Ruby?" asked Pouncer in astonishment.

     "Yes! It is!" I answered.

     I was so happy; I was shouting every word I said! Then, we went home, and I played and played with my brothers and sister in the sea for the rest of the day. That night, I decided to spend the night in the sea (the others got a tent and slept on the beach.)

     In the morning, I woke up somewhere different to where I fell asleep. I saw Peophins everywhere.

     "Where am I!?" I said to myself.

     "You're in the Peophins' herd, where all lost or runaway Peophins live!" said a blue Peophin.

     "WHAT!?" I said.

     "You heard me, if you're a Peophin that's lost, or a neglected Peophin who's run away, you come and live with us! Now, what's your name?" asked the blue Peophin.

     "My n-name is R-Ruby," I answered, in shock knowing that I was far away from Caz.

     "Mine's Seasalt, and I'm the leader of this herd, and you're now a part of it," said the blue Peophin.

     I hardly did anything for the rest of the day. I couldn't stop thinking about Caz and the rest of my family. What would they be doing? What would they be thinking? I hope they didn't think I had run away. I was so upset, I wondered if I'd ever see them again. On the other hand, I was starving. All the other Peophins were eating this seaweed stuff. It didn't look too nice, but I needed food. I took a big chunk out of it and swallowed. It was disgusting. I almost threw up after eating it! A yellow Peophin came up to me.

     "It's delicious, isn't it?" she said.

     "Yeah, delicious," I lied.

     Then, I saw a green Peophin, a spotted Peophin and a starry Peophin playing together. Suddenly, the green Peophin saw me, stared, and then swam up to me.

     "Are you new around here?" she said.

     "Yeah," I answered. I started thinking about Caz then.

     "Well, if you want... you can play with us," said the spotted Peophin. "I'm Spot, the starry Peophin is Star and the green one's called Persephone."

     "I'm... Ruby." I'm always shy around Neopets I don't know.

     "Wanna race?" asked Star. My head suddenly rose. I loved running and having a race, because I'm super-fast and I always won. A big smile grew on my face and I nodded.

     "Great! We have to swim to that rock and back. Ready, set ... GO!" shouted Persephone. Spot, Star and Persephone swam like lightning, making me look like the slowest Neopet in Neopia. I swam as fast as I could and once I got to the finish line (the others had been waiting there since I got to the rock) I was panting like mad.

     "Wow! You're one slow Peophin!" said Spot. "And that's being nice!"

     "Do you want another race? If it helps, we'll swim a bit slower for you," said Star.

     "No, you three go and play without me," I said, sinking my head and turning my back on them.

     I was even starting to get bored of the water by now. The food was disgusting, all of the Peophins were faster than me and I really missed Caz, Buster, Pouncer and Bibi. Suddenly, the herd started moving, and I followed. We moved on and on until we got to the beach on Mystery Island. I saw a few Neopets playing on the beach. I swam up to the shore. I couldn't believe it. It was Caz, Buster, Pouncer and Bibi! They looked as if they were searching for something on the beach.

     "Caz! Buster! Pouncer! Bibi! Over here!" I yelled.

     They all looked up.

     "It's Ruby!!" shouted Pouncer.

     They all ran up to me, splashing the water everywhere.

     "We missed you so much, Ruby," said Bibi, hugging me.

     "We were so worried!" said Buster.

     "I hope you didn't think I'd run away," I said, and then I told them what had happened.

     "Well, at least we're together now," said Caz.

     A few days later Caz went on a faerie quest. Once she had gotten all of the items, she brought them over to Illusen's Glade. But, instead of giving us the gifts she offered to us, Illusen saw my new wish. She saw how much I wanted to be a Uni again. So, she got out a weird looking bottle with red potion inside it.

     "I see your plan as a Peophin failed, Ruby," she said. "Well, we can fix that now that you and Caz have finished the quest." And she handed me the bottle.

     "Now, are you sure you want to be a Uni again, Ruby?" asked Caz.

     "Positive," I answered.

     So, I drank the potion, and with a puff of smoke, I was my old self again. Since then, life has been so much better, even though nothing's really happened, but I never did stop and look at Peophins, wishing I could be one, again.

The End