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For all The Neopian Times Authors that have seemed or chose to retire
Pink Eyes was a normal red Usul and resident of Terror
Mountain. She loved snowball fights, to ski and read. She was named Pink Eyes
because she wasn't born with dull blue eyes, but with glorious, pink eyes. Her
eyes were the color of sunsets or strawberry ice cream and she loved both things.
Pink Eyes loved the color pink and almost everything pink; it's hard not to
when its in part of your name. In addition, the Usul loved to read The Neopian
Times more than anything.
While other books would vanish into a puff of
smoke after she was done reading, the newspaper would never disappear. Pink
Eyes loved to read her favorite stories and get lost in them over and over again.
There were a lot of good writers but her favorite stories were written by K.C.
Arthur. He was known for his magical and medieval stories that would take Neopets
back to a time of green fields, magic, knights, castles, royalty, and beasts
in far away kingdoms. K.C. Arthur was one of the best writers in all of Neopia,
he had such a way with words that were almost enchanting. He would make you
feel you were along side the hero or heroine the whole time. K.C. Arthur was
known for his vivid descriptions and exciting plots full of twists and turns.
Pink Eyes loved the Times because anytime there was a problem in her life not
matter how big or small; she could always escape it for a couple of hours by
reading. She'd close her eyes and imagine the plots of some of K.C. Arthur's
greatest series and pretend she was Princess Greena. She would use her magical
powers, given to her by a famous Earth Faerie, to save her kingdom with a little
help from Sir Lupar, too. Pink Eyes loved K.C. Arthur's stories because they
always had a happy ending and they never ended with any finality. Princess Greena
and Sir Lupar would always defeat the evil and then, the story would just end.
It would always keep you guessing on what would happen and next or who the next
threatening enemy that would appear. Pink Eyes loved to create her own adventures
alongside Princess Greena and Sir Lupar. Pink Eyes imagined she was a lady in
waiting of Princess Greena. Pink Eyes would wear a beautiful gown the color
of the sky and white gloves to represent her magical abilities. She was blessed
with the powers of ice and was able to freeze anything with a touch of her ungloved
paw. She'd set off on adventures with Sir Lupar and the Princess. Always similar
to K.C. Arthur's stories her versions always had happy endings, too.
A blur of pink appeared racing down the snowy
streets of Terror Mountain. Pink Eye's ears bounced in every direction with
every eager stride toward her Neohome. One of her pink ribbons tied around her
ears had united and fallen off in the snow, but Pink Eyes didn't stop. She had
to get home, The Neopian Times was waiting for her. After a long day of skiing
on fresh powder, Pink Eyes heard on the mountain that the Times was delivered
today. Nothing would end a perfect day more than reading the latest addition
of The Neopian Times, especially the finale of K.C. Arthur's latest series.
She just had to find out what happened to Princess Greena and Sir Lupar. Pink
Eyes raced down her street and halted in front of a small brick house covered
in snow. Pink Eyes pulled the icy, mailbox open and grabbed a pile of mail.
She dashed through the white yard to the front door and kicked it open. In a
speed faster than a Poogle racer, she threw off her wet ski jacket and her boots.
The Usul seized The Neopian Times like it was a treasure, stolen from the Snowager.
She tossed all the other mail on the chair by the door. Pink Eyes trotted to
the living room and dive bombed onto the couch. She flipped open the newspaper
with shaking paws of excitement and flipped to the series section.
Pink Eyes flipped through the thin silver pages
to the Continued Series section, where she looked for the final part of the
series. Pink Eyes searched every word of the section but there was nothing mentioned
about Princess Greena, Sir Lupar, or K.C. Arthur. Pink Eyes angrily threw the
paper on the table and stormed to the door. The Delivery Chia must have given
her a defective issue, it wasn't the first time either. One time she only received
an issue with a only the front and back page, the rest of the pages had vanished.
Pink Eyes grabbed her coat and rushed across the icy lane to her neighbor's
cabin. The chimney was puffing black smoke which was a sign that Mrs. Carlson
was home. She was Christmas Lupe and one of the nicest, sweetest Lupes that
ever crossed the mountain. She was always in the holiday spirit, even when it
wasn't the holidays. Mrs. Carlson always received two copies of The Neopian
Times when it was released; one to read and one to put in her scrapbook. Her
son was a writer for The Neopian Times and she had to read every issue. Pink
Eyes rapped on the wooden door and Mrs. Carlson swung it open instantly. The
dark green Lupe was wearing a red apron decorated with various Snowbunnies and
covered in flour.
"Hello Pink Eyes, how are you?" Mrs. Carlson
greeted cheerfully. She was always happy to have company she lived alone except
for her Snowbunny, Ted.
"Hi, Mrs. Carlson," She replied. "The Delivery
Chia gave me another defective copy of The Times, do you think I could borrow
yours?"
"Of course you can," Mrs. Carlson answered as
she disappeared into off into the house and reappeared holding the rolled up
newspaper in her paws. "Dear, keep it my son isn't in it this week so I only
need one copy."
"Thanks Mrs. Carlson," the fretful Usul grinned
as she accepted the newspaper in her paws. Pink Eyes tried to contain myself
from dancing with joy and waved to her as trotted out of her yard quickly and
back to her house.
"I making cookies," Mrs. Carlson called. "I'll
drop some off later for you and your brother."
"Thank you! BYE!" Pink Eyes cried as she headed
toward her house. She quickly unrolled the newspaper and flipped through the
pages as she walked. Pink Eyes looked through the section and noticed nothing
written about K.C. Arthur in this issue either. She turned to the back page
written at the bottom in tiny print that anyone had to squint to read was, 'Goodbye
and good luck to the retiring K.C. Arthur.' Pink Eye's paw flew to her mouth
in horror. Retiring? How could K.C. Arthur retire? She wouldn't allow it, no
one that good of a writer should stop writing. Pink Eyes dropped the paper in
the snow and dashed into her house. She grabbed her backpack making sure her
wallet was secure inside and scrawled a note to leave on the kitchen table.
Pink Eyes strode out the house purposefully and toward the arctic docks in the
distance. She had to stop K.C. Arthur from retiring, she just had to.
The ship Pink Eyes arrived on had docked in
Neopian Central, an hour before nightfall. She quickly stuffed her thick and
heavy jacket into her backpack and pulled out a piece of paper. Pink Eyes had
chatted with a Pirate Kougra and Captain of the ship. The polite pirate had
given her directions The Deep Catacombs and The Neopian Times Offices. The Captain
used to write for the Times himself and even gave her directions to the secret
Staff entrance. Pink Eyes thanked the Captain numerous times before she departed.
Even though Neopian Central was supposed to be packed with pets; the streets
were rather deserted at that dusk. The Red Usul was able to find the Catacombs
and secret entrance with ease. Pink Eyes raced down the stone stairs to a hallway
of doors. No two doors on the hallway were the same, they were all painted different
colors and made of different materials each marked with a different name. Pink
Eyes giggled at a red door that had a ketchup bottle drawn across it and another
door was covered in blue sequins. The young Usul had forgotten that no one that
writes for the Times is completely normal. Pink Eyes searched the long hallway
until she found an oak door with a plaque of gold that read 'K.C. Arthur.' Pink
Eyes squealed with delight and knocked on the door. A middle-aged Green Lupe
who wear a tan jacket, white shirt and black pants opened the door. The tall
Lupe beamed down at her and asked,
"Yes?"
"K.C. Arthur?" Pink Eyes squeaked. She was consumed
with excitement to meet the best author that ever stepped paw on Neopia but
she was also extremely nervous. She wished she could have been more dressed
up than just her pink ski pants and white turtleneck. She wished she thought
of to fix her fur on the boat. Pink Eyes was sure she looked like a mess but
there was nothing she could do about it now.
"That I am," He answered. "What can I do for
you, kid?"
"Well... I..." Pink Eyes stammered. "I... heard...
you..."
"It's all right, kid. You can spit it out,"
He told her.
"I heard you were retiring and I knew I had
to stop you," Pink Eyes blurted.
"Stop me, eh?" The Lupe laughed and waved her
inside, "Come on in, kid."
Pink Eyes entered inside the office with a huge
oak desk in the center with two green chairs sat in front of the desk. Cardboard
boxes filled with papers, books, pens, trinkets, and posters were scattered
all over the office. Bookshelves stood empty with no contents, K.C. Arthur's
normally bright office looked rather dull. "Have a seat," he instructed pointing
to a chair while taking a seat behind the desk himself. "Why do you want to
stop me from retiring?"
"Well, you're the best author and ever and no
one as good as you should stop writing," She told him. A grin formed across
the Lupe's face with that statement and he asked amusement,
"So you think I'm good kid?"
"The best," she answered honestly and leaned
back in the green chair getting more comfortable in the deserted office with
her hero. Her paws were still shaking like mad but it was better than her whole
body and voice.
"Kid, do you have a dream?" K.C. Arthur asked
suddenly.
"A dream?" Pink Eyes repeated a little confused.
"I have a dream."
"What's your dream?"
"I want to be just as good of skier, if not
better, than the boys," Pink Eyes stated and puffed up her chest. Pink Eyes
was quite proud of her dream, she wanted to be the first girl skier that could
really compete with the boys. The truth was Pink Eyes wanted to be the best
skier in all of Neopia but that would come later, right now she just wanted
to show those obnoxious boys that she could do anything they could.
"That's a good dream, you want to know what
my dream was when I was a kid?" He asked and Pink Eyes nodded eagerly and curious.
"I wanted to be a writer and I wanted to see the world. They are both still
my dreams, I've accomplished one and now I have to go do the other."
"What do you mean, Mr. Arthur?"
"I spent my whole life writing, kid. I had a
good career in the Times and I wouldn't give it up or change it for anything
but now it's time to live my other dream. I've been so busy writing I haven't
had any time to leave Neopian Central or have any fun. All I've been doing is
work, work, work. I can't say I don't enjoy my work but it's time for me to
move on and life my other dream. Life is short and there is still so much to
see and do out there. There are snowball fights, tropical islands, sunsets and
sunrises, pirates, farms, deserts, faeries, castles, pyramids, ghosts, and games.
Kid, I love to write I really do but its time for this old Lupe to go travel.
Writing will always be here when I get back and I might even start up writing
again but for now, I'm retired."
"I understand," Pink Eyes mumbled. She knew
how much she wanted K.C. Arthur to keep on writing and wanted to plead for him
to stay but she knew better of it. It was time for him to accomplish his other
dream, and she couldn't really blame him for wanting to live his other dream.
"I'm glad you do," K.C. Arthur answered genuinely
with a smile when there was a sudden knock on the door. Two Unis appeared, wearing
brown jumpsuits that read 'United Uni Movers.'
"The cart is waiting outside, Mr. Arthur," the
Red Uni told him. "You all packed?"
"I am," K.C. Arthur told them as the two Unis
began to collect the boxes and carry them outside. The old Lupe led Pink Eyes
outside into the long hallway of doors while the movers collected his belongings,
he pulled the plaque of his name and handed it to one of the movers with a glint
of a tear in his eyes. "I've been living in a fantasy world which I know like
the back of my paw. It's time for me to explore the real world now," Arthur
explained in the hallway.
"Mr. Arthur?" Pink Eyes squeaked nervously.
"What, Kid?" K.C. Arthur asked, leaning against
the frame of his door watching the movers go by.
"What happened to Princess Greena and Sir Lupar?"
"Mr. Arthur, we're all set to go," a purple
Uni carrying a clipboard grunted. The Lupe nodded and headed followed the Unis
down the hallway. He never did reply to Pink Eye's question and Pink Eyes had
to find out what happened to dynamic duo.
"What happened to them?" Pink Eyes called again
her voice echoing down the hallway.
"That's for me to know and you to figure out,"
K.C. Arthur called back before he vanished out of sight. Pink Eyes would have
to create her own ending for the story and she knew it would have a happy ending;
the way K.C. Arthur would have wanted it. She turned on her paw, heading toward
the secret exit, to the street and to catch the next boat home.
Pink Eyes stared up at the night sky as the
boat cruised through the open sea. Pink Eyes smiled at the glittering stars
that always seemed to sparkle even brighter on the water. During the last hour,
Pink Eyes was able to created an ending to the story but her story just ended,
like K.C Arthur's. There wasn't any finality, Pink Eyes couldn't help but wonder
what would happen next? Pink Eyes yawned from her long day and pulled her coat
tight around her. The eyelids of the Usul began to grow heavy and fluttered
closed. She had fallen asleep and entered the world of dreams.
Pink Eyes stood in an endless field of emerald
grass. In the far distance, she could see mountains with caps of snow. She pulled
off a glove from one paw and touched the grass. The single of blade she touched
instantly turned to ice. She pulled her glove back and watched the tall grass
sway in the light breeze. She enjoyed watching and listening to the sound of
the wind until a voice called to her,
"Lady Pink Eyes?" She spun around to see a Green
Usul, wearing a beautiful green gown complete with a tiara of ivy; at her side
was a noble Lupe knight wearing armor that gleamed in the sun. "Are you coming?"
Princess Greena asked.
"Be right there, your Majesty," Pink Eyes cried
and jumped to her feet. The trio waded their way through the sea of grass toward
the mountains and their next adventure.
The End
Just because the writing has stopped doesn't mean the characters or the
adventures have to end.
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