What is this Thing Called April Fool's?

      But to write a story!

      For April Fool's Day.

      Her best friend, a Christmas Acara named Char, followed after; curious. What was this thing called April Fool's? Who was APRIL? And why was she a fool? AND why did any neopet want to WRITE about her? It was all very strange.

      "Are you going to help me, Char?" Mermaid-Isca asked. She carried a large bag filled with paper, pencils, pens, and a notebook to jot down ideas.

      "Um...I guess so. What am I supposed to do?" Char asked. She looked all around the Archives; after the second turn down a hallway she had already become lost.

      "I'm here for research, so you can help me look."

      "Look for WHAT?" Char felt there was TOO MUCH to look at in the Altadorian Archives!

      "April Fool's stories in the Neopian Times; the Archives, here, has a whole room devoted to every paper issued."

      "Okay...What does an April Fool's story LOOK like? Foolish?" Char wondered.

      Mermaid-Isca laughed. "Close." She expertly navigated through the maze of rooms and corridors, Char was amazed. "Every issue that lands close to, just before, or after Day 1 of Eating has stories and articles that are a big joke. Just for laughs. They're themed on a certain idea picked by a mysterious group of writers."

      Char was trying to follow with what Mermaid-Isca was saying, but it was all rather confusing. Fake articles? How appalling!

      "I wanted to do a silly story, too, this year; based on the chosen theme," the Aisha went on. Char gasped in shock. "But of course, since it's a mysterious group, I couldn't find any information on the theme. So I'm doing research on past ideas. Ah, here we are." She entered a room filled to the brim with newspapers. The very first Neopian Times were rolled-up scrolls.

      "It seems weird," Char said. "And mean to want to fool readers with a fake story. Why would you want to do that, Isca?" Most of Mermaid-Isca's friends called her Isca for short.

      "Oh, Char, it's for fun! It's not mean at all! The stories are usually silly enough to not be truly believable."

      "Still...You're usually the mature one in our group."

      Mermaid-Isca was considered a mothering figure to her three friends.

      "Yes, I know. And sometimes I just want to let loose and have some childish fun! Are you going to help me?"

      Hesitantly Char nodded. "So I'm looking for a theme, right? Articles that have similar plot lines?"

      "That's right. For example, one year there was talk about a Faerie War. Of course, that joke scared a lot of neopets so the theme there after was made more friendly. Like the supposed discovery of a town called Goldrun."

      At that name, a blue Kougra in an adventurer's jacket and fedora jerked his head up. "What!? You mean...it's just...Arg! Goldrun was made up!?! I've been searching for a make-believe town all this time!? A-all the research, a-all the time I spent – for naught! Oh the agony of defeat!"

      "Does that really apply here?" Char whispered to Mermaid-Isca, who shrugged and replied, "I guess for HIM it does."

      "Who sent me this letter from a Sheriff Ellie, anyway? Curse~ them~" the Kougra threw the letter away and stomped off.

      "You know," the Acara sad, "I think that was Jake the Explorer..."

      The cloud Aisha coughed. "ANYway, another theme I believe, was one about mustaches – though that could have been for Evil Twin Day..."

      "EVIL TWIN DAY? Huh? First this weird April and her fools of writers, now an Evil Twin Day?" Char said. She shook her head in disgust.

      "Here," Mermaid-Isca handed Char a pile of papers, "look through these. I'll do this bookcase."

      Char muttered and found a chair to sit in. Flipping through the first paper she noticed right away a theme in many stories and articles. Reading them, she began to laugh. "Ha! Ha! Ha! This one is about an apocalypse of Quiggles!" she giggled uncontrollably. "I guess these fake April Fools ARE pretty funny." She put that one down and leafed through the next. "Ha! This one is about Unis catching a virus that turns them all GREEN! Hee, hee..."

      Mermaid-Isca smiled, glad that her friend was having a good time now.

      A yellow Xweetok poked his head into the room, his name was Arpheo and he loved wandering around the Altadorian Archives. "Isca! Char! Orpheus said you two came here."

      "Hey, Arpheo," Char said. "Isca and I are looking for silly April Foolish stories. Wanna help?"

      Arpheo tilted his head this way and that. April Foolish stories? Then it dawned on him. "Oh! THOSE. Sure, I can help."

      "Great!" Mermaid-Isca said, "you can check that bookcase."

      "Righty-O!" Arpheo was a fast reader, able to spot a theme in the papers by half a minute. He named them off quick as a wink: "Zombie apocalypse, brr~ Vampires that sparkle in the sun instead of incinerating, that's hilarious! Weewoo invasion; paintbrushes that turn neopets into something called a unicorn, wonder what that looks like... a Uni with a corn? Killer plants; some place called Jelly World – as if a place like that could actually exist... Butterfish – oh, wait, that one is actually true, um..."

      "These are all good ideas and themes," Mermaid-Isca said. "Maybe I should do an article about that Mysterious Obelisk and its so-called Oracle, in MY opinion the whole thing about war and cake was a hoax."

      "CAKE?" Char wondered.

      "Pardon me," an old woman's voice croaked.

      The three turned to the speaker.

      And screamed.

      "It's Grandma Boochi! Noooo~!!" all three yelled together.

      The old Acara laughed evilly – then hacked disgustingly. She whipped out knitting needles and – ZAP! ZAP! ZAP~! And then she hobbled off; laughing, coughing; heckling, hacking.

      Now a blue Shoyru in pirate attire appeared. He held a basket of colored neggs. "Surprise! Happy Negg Festival!" He was all smiles until he saw his friends had been visited by the dreaded Grandma Boochi~ "Oh my gosh, everyone! No!" He ran to Mermaid-Isca.

      "Orpheus Draco, is that you, sonny?" the Aisha said, she had become so old and wrinkled. "My eyesight...it's not what it used to be."

      "Oh, Isca~" Orpheus, the Shoyru, moaned in grief.

      "Darn it all!" Arpheo said in a cranky voice. "My joints are all stiff, and I just want to scream 'Get off my lawn!' And we're not even outside, let alone standing on grass. W-we aren't, are we?" His golden fur was now white and his brown fur gray!

      Orpheus shook his head and went to see how Char was doing.

      "This is horrible~" Mermaid-Isca moaned.

      "Get off my lawn!" Arpheo couldn't keep in.

      "Char?" Orpheus asked.

      The Acara beamed happily. "How wonderful! Look, Draco! Grandma Boochi gave me a pretty teacup! Isn't that neat?" Her youthful appearance was gone, replaced by old age, yet she was as energetic as always.

      "Uh..."

      "Oh joy! My very own wearable teacup!" Char hugged the delicate blue cup gently and tenderly.

      "That's...nice...Sigh~ come on you three, we're going to the Rainbow Pool," Orpheus Draco said. He had some basic paintbrushes on hand; blue, yellow, green. They'd have to do.

      As they exited the Altadorian Archives, Finneus the library's archivist was being dragged away by the Oracle.

      "Help! Oh help, you kind Neopians!" the Lenny pleaded when he saw Orpheus and friends. "The Oracle is kidnapping me to be in something called a reality show! What does that even mean!? Oh, my poor archives...my lovely books...Dear me, dear me."

      Orpheus looked from Finneus to his friends, all old and gray. Who was more important? "Um, sorry, I would help if I could, but I can't, so...er...Yeah. Bye. I'm sure someone will save you."

      "I knew I should have done an April Fool's article about that shady Oracle," Mermaid-Isca grumbled. As her now old eyes were fuzzy, she squinted at the Oracle flying away with poor Finneus. "I just bet it's a Kiko dressed up in a gown and a turban..."

The End

And the moral of the story? IS there a moral? Oh, um, well...I guess there isn't! Aren't you lucky?

Happy Reading, Kind Readers!