How Moeioe Got His Wings by Tdyans |  |
Moeioe was a young Moehog, and as you may know, Moehogs are by far not the
most popular NeoPets
around. Moeioe knew that many people thought Moehogs were ugly, certainly not
cute or beautiful like some of the other pets out there. He figured this was
why he had been abandoned once upon a time. You see, Moeioe had been left in
the pound when he was only a few hours old, and although he had been too young
to remember that terrible time, he knew that it must have been because he was
a disappointment to his old owner in some way. But his new owner, Tdyans, had
taken him away from the pound and given him a wonderful home, and Moeioe was
sure he knew the reason for this also. He wasn't athletic or brilliant like
his older brother Achilles81, a cloud gelert, nor was he brave and strong or
handsome like his other older brother MaxKanine, a green lupe. But he did have
one thing--Moeioe was painted fire. He was very proud of his appearance--the
jet black coat with orange flames licking up his legs, the ash grey tusks and
hooves and mohawk to top it all off--and he knew that Tdyans loved it too. She
had spent a lot of Neopoints to buy the brush for him shortly after she had
adopted him, and she often said that it was her favourite colour for any NeoPet.
This, more than anything else, made Moeioe happy. He had something that made
him lovable despite everything else.
Being painted fire, there was only one kind of Moehog that Moeioe envied, and
those were the Faerie Moehogs. He had never actually seen one in person. He
knew the Faerie Paint Brushes were extremely expensive and thought that perhaps
people didn't want to waste that kind of money on a Moehog. But he'd seen pictures
and could only imagine how wonderful it would be to be able to fly.
***
One day, it was a day like any other day really, Moeioe woke up to the sensation
of his hornsby Gil's cold snout pressed against his face. He smiled at Gil and
climbed out of bed, ready to face another day at the training school on Mystery
Island. He left his room and clomped happily down the stairs toward the kitchen.
Achilles81, who was at the breakfast table reading the newspaper just like every
morning, called out as he heard Moeioe's hooves on the stairwell. "Hey Moeioe,
it says here they're giving the Fire Moehogs a makeov--" He stopped abruptly
as Moeioe entered the room, staring wide-eyed at his little brother. MaxKanine
stopped flipping pancakes to stare also, and the looks on their faces made Moeioe
very nervous.
"A m-makeover?" he said. "What do you mean?
Achilles, shaken out of his stupor, glanced down at the paper again and answered,
"Uh, it says here they wanted to make you guys look 'flashier.'" Moeioe gasped,
turned around and headed back upstairs as quickly as he could. He hadn't looked
in a mirror this morning, thinking he would look as he always did. What would
he look like when he got there? The shocked looks on his brothers' faces, as
well as the word "flashier" plagued his already anxious mind. Flashier? Didn't
they know, a Moehog was a simple NeoPet, the last thing he wanted to be was
"flashy."
Finally, he reached the mirror, and his mouth fell open in horror. His jet-black
fur was no longer quite so black as it had been, the flames simply weren't the
same, and worst of all, his grey mohawk was replaced by leaping flames. A Moehog
without a mohawk was bad enough, but this hair-do made him look like a Kyrii
on a sugar-high! Achilles and Maxi, having followed him upstairs, now crept
slowly into the room, afraid of what his reaction was going to be. "Moeioe,"
Maxi said slowly, "It's really not so bad..."
"Tdyans will hate it," Moeioe said dejectedly, turning away from the mirror.
His ears and tail drooping, he walked past his brothers and out of the room,
muttering, "I'm going to school now." Max and Achi exchanged looks, but they
did not know what to do.
By the time he had left their Neohome, Moeioe was sure of what he had to do.
He couldn't stay here. He loved Tdyans and he didn't want to be a disappointment
to her as he had undoubtedly been to his first owner. Most of all he didn't
want to face being rejected by her; he just wanted to remember her as someone
who had loved him once. When he got on the boat that normally took him to Mystery
Island, he instead asked the porter to take him to Neopia Central. He was running
away. He'd never see his family again, but they'd be better off without him.
Moeioe wandered the streets of Neopia Central, occasionally going into a shop
to see if they would offer him a job. As he recieved rejection after rejection,
he began to simply ask for handouts in his desperation, but those were not forthcoming
either. As the sun began to disappear over the horizon, Moeioe watched sadly
as the other NeoPets headed home with their owners, leaving him alone on the
darkened streets. His stomach grumbled, and to make matters worse, a similar
sound echoed from the sky just as it opened up and the rain came pouring down.
Moeioe ran through the rain, searching for shelter, but he had little hope
that anyone would take a NeoPet like him in. Suddenly, he saw a strange building
ahead. It was shaped like a large cauldron, but the windows and door showed
that it was undoubtedly a house. Despite his waning confidence, something told
Moeioe that he would find safety here, so he trotted up to the door and scratched
at it timidly with his hoof. A woman opened the door and Moeioe looked up at
her. Her features and clothes were plain and practical, but then Moeioe noticed
the wings springing from her back. This woman was a faerie?! She swept him inside
before he had a chance to express his surprise and clucked at him as she dried
him off with a soft towel, "Now what are you doing out alone in this weather
little fellow? You're not at all like the pets I usually get around here." Moeioe
looked around the dimly lit room to see that there were plain and thin pets
all around the room, definitely strays. He realised then that this must be the
Soup Faerie. He'd heard of her before, but had never seen her as Tdyans had
too many Neopoints to visit her.
The Soup Faerie cleaned Moeioe up and gave him a warm bowl of soup, and then
she sat and listened as he explained his story. When he had finished, the Soup
Faerie nodded sagely and said, "Well, it's a good thing you left, before you
found out how your owner really felt about you." Moeioe felt this was absolutely
true, but there was something about the way the Faerie said it that made him
wonder if she really did or not. He curled up on a pile of pillows in the corner
with all the other homeless pets, falling asleep even as he continued to ponder
just what the Soup Faerie was trying to tell him.
***
"The scent's strong now, he's definitely nearby!" Moeioe awoke to the sound
of familiar voices from outside the Soup Faerie's strange cottage. He left the
group huddled on the makeshift bed and ran over to look out the window. Staring
out, he saw none other than Maxi and Achilles, both with their noses to the
ground. Max dashed up to the door and scratched at it, remarking to someone,
"He's in here!" And then Moeioe saw that behind his brothers was Tdyans and
she was walking toward the door. With a groan, he ducked from the window and
ran to hide beneath a small table in the corner.
The door opened and he could hear Tdyans talking to the Soup Faerie. She sounded
distraught, but it couldn't be because he was missing. It was probably because
she'd wasted so much money on him. "Well," he heard the Soup Faerie answer,
"You're welcome to look around for him." He saw his family begin searching the
room for him, while the Soup Faerie headed straight back to the table where
he still cowered. Suddenly, as he was concentrating on his searching family,
a small figure ran into him, jabbing him with its sharp horns. Moeioe stifled
a yelp and looked down at the creature that was now licking him excitedly to
see that Gil had apparently come along for the hunt also. "Well," the Soup Faerie
whispered to him, "It looks as though your Hornsby still recognises you."
Tdyans got down on her hands and knees to peer under the table to where Gil
had disappeared. She gasped when she caught sight of the cowering little moehog
and she reached out and pulled him to her. "Oh Moeioe, where have you been?
I was so worried about you."
Cradled in the familiar warmth of his owner's arms, Moeioe wondered himself
what he had been thinking when he ran away, but then he caught sight of his
reflection in a mirror across the room and he hid his face against her soft
shirt. "Oh Tdyans, I'm so sorry. I just didn't want you to be ashamed of me,"
he whimpered.
"Moeioe," Tdyans said gently, as she lifted his face to look into his watery
eyes, "Why would I ever be ashamed of you?"
"Because--because I look like this!"
Tdyans clutched him tighter and began to speak. "Oh Moeioe, that's not your
fault. And it doesn't matter what you look like. I love you, you silly little
Moehog, for who you are, and I only painted you because I wanted how you looked
on the outside to reflect what I knew was on the inside."
Sniffling a little, Moeioe looked up at her again. He saw the sincerity of
her words in her eyes, which were just as watery as his. Suddenly Moeioe realised
that, despite everything that had happened, he was happier than he'd ever been
before. He'd always known his family loved him, but now he truly understood
what that love meant. He smiled up at his owner and she smiled back, patting
him affectionately on the head. The familiar gesture felt different, bringing
Moeioe back to the awareness of his new hairdo. Looking up at Tdyans again,
he said, "Okay, I know it doesn't matter what I look like, but..."
Tdyans laughed. "I understand, you're not too fond of the new look. I agree,
to be honest, it doesn't suit you." Moeioe took this as a compliment. "Well,"
she sighed, "You've always admired the faerie pets, haven't you?" Moeioe gave
her a shocked look, both because he had never actually told his owner about
his secret dreams of flying and because of the suggestion he sensed she was
about to make. "I guess we'll just have to save up until we can get you a faerie
paint brush." Moeioe was about to object--he couldn't possibly ask his owner
to spend that much on him--when suddenly a third voice pulled them out of their
private world and back into the homey room they were sitting in.
"That won't be necessary," the Soup Faerie's voice rang out from where she
stood above them. They both turned to look at her questioningly. "Normally I
cannot bless NeoPets like my cousins the Uber-Faeries, both because I do not
live close enough to the source of our power, Faerieland, and because I use
most of what power I do have to feed the poor pets who come to my kitchen.
But once a year, when Faerieland floats closest to Neopia Central, I am able
to grant one truly deserving wish, and this year I know what that wish was meant
to be."
Moeioe was still not sure what the Soup Faerie was going to do, but he watched
in awe as she raised her wand above him and a light began to radiate from it,
illuminating her until her simple clothes and plain face were eclipsed by the
astounding light. Feeling a strange tingling sensation all over his body, Moeioe
looked down to where Tdyans was still holding him in her arms and realised with
surprise that he was glowing also. Finally, the light began to fade until everything
seemed to be back to normal, but Moeioe still felt different somehow. From the
other side of the room, he heard MaxKanine exclaim, "Moeioe look!"
Moeioe looked down at himself curiously and gasped. The almost-black fur with
orange and yellow flames was gone, replaced by soft light blue fur, and suddenly
Moeioe realised what the Soup Faerie had done for him. He turned his head to
look at his back and saw two intricate blue and green wings sprouting from it.
He flapped them experimentally, and then looked up at Tdyans, ecstatic. "Tdyans,
I've got wings! I--I can fly!"
She smiled and nodded, releasing him from her grasp as he continued to flap,
rising a few feet into the air before flopping onto the ground and landing on
his nose. He looked up sheepishly as Tdyans laughed gently, "Well, you can learn
anyway." She helped him up off of the floor and he grinned at her before turning
to the Soup Faerie.
"Thank you, so much," he said reverently.
The Soup Faerie smiled. "Thank yourself Moeioe; you deserved your wish because
your heart was true. You've learned an important lesson today my dear. Never
forget what really matters, you're very loved no matter what you are on the
outside." Moeioe nodded his head and then turned to face his family, who were
all waiting for him by the door. Joining them, he headed outside into the brilliant
sunlight that seemed even brighter after the raging storm of the night before,
and he practiced his flying as they headed back toward home.
The End |
