"Hey, Alison! Guess what! Somebody bought something from our store!" KiwiBonk
yelled. I put down the Smoothie I had been drinking.
"Really? Who?"
"Some girl. She bought the Baggus for 10,000 Neopoints! We're rich!"
"Okay, let's put it in the bank," I said.
KiwiBonk looked horrified. "No way! We have to spend it!"
"What will we buy for 10, 000 Neopoints?"
"Lots of stuff: a faerie, toys, a Usuki doll....."
We travelled through the porthole in my room and appeared next to the Mystery
Island Trading Post. The place was packed! I saw my little sister and her pet
Mynci and they waved to us. KiwiBonk's pet, Snuffs, came rolling towards us,
like he always does when we enter Neopia. There were people of all different
countries and ages, with their Neopets following behind them.
"Isn't it cool how Snuffs always manages to find us wherever we come out in
Neopia?" KiwiBonk said, as she hugged the tiny snowman.
"Yeah.......come on, let's go to the bank." I started walking towards the
boat that took us back to Neopia Central. KiwiBonk started protesting.
"No, let's buy something to celebrated now that we're rich," she said. Snuffs
screeched in agreement.
"Okay, maybe I'll buy you a toy or something." With my Aisha following behind
me, I wove my way through the crowd. The boatman who owned the ferry was standing
on the dock looking bored. He was a fat man with orange hair and tanned skin,
wearing a grass skirt.
"Hi, we need a ride to Neopia Central," I said politely.
"Yeah, we now charge you de mony for de ride, mon."
"What? Well, okay how much?"
"1,000 for to get there, and 1,000 for them to get here, mon."
"What?" KiwiBonk yipped. "That's ridiculous. You gotta be joking."
"I don't joke, mon."
"I don't have that much money, here, but we have more in the bank..."
"That won't work, mon. No mony, no ride. Now excuse me, I have some customers."
The man shooed us away.
"But, but, can't we pay later?" I said, desperately. The Grarrl behind us
roared, and his owner looked at us smirking. He paid the boatman his 1,000 Neopoints,
and hopped onto the wooden raft.
"Since when did they make up that rule?" I asked.
"We're stuck here," said KiwiBonk sadly. "The 10,000 Neopoints are still in
our shop till."
"How will we get money? This sucks." As we watched, the boatman turned down
several more people who didn't have enough money.
"Where will we get the money to go home?" said one girl, around 11 years old.
The boatman shrugged:
"Try the Trading post to trade the mony," he said.
I checked my purse. I only had 344 Neopoints with me, a blue Fuzzle, and KiwiBonk's
NeoBoy.
"We could trade your NeoBoy," I told my pet.
She shook her head. "It isn't a Neopets item. Nobody will want that for 766
Neopoints"
"Besides," she added, "Snuffs likes it too much."
A passing islander stopped and stared at KiwiBonk. Snuffs shrieked at the
little girl, who, instead of running away, (Like most people do when a snowman
with glowing purple eyes yells at them), began to laugh.
"Oh, we be rich now," she said in broken English.
"What?" said KiwiBonk, "Why are you staring at me? You're making me feel weird."
"Come," she said, "Mama to see you. She want you." The girl motioned for us
to follow her.
"The islanders here are nuts," I said. Nobody else seemed to have noticed
the little girl in her grass clothes, who stood out from the crowd of owners
and their pets. The islanders usually stayed inside their stores.
"Well, we're stuck here. Might as well follow her."
"But we don't know her."
"Oh well. If anyone tries to hurt us, Snuffs will shriek at them, and they'll
leave us alone."
"This girl doesn't seem afraid of Snuffs," I said doubtfully.
"Oh, well. We'll throw the NeoBoy at them." The girl's eyes were shining,
and when she saw we were going to follow her, she jumped around in excitement.
She led us to a mud hut, with a thatched roof, and beads hanging over the doorway.
Inside the store, it was dark and dusty. It took me a few moments to adjust
to the shade. The shelves were filled with bottles of sand, palm fans, and other
island merchandise. There was a woman seated behind the counter. She had dark
eyes and many bangles on her arms. The little girl said a few words in a mysterious
tongue, and the woman stood up, and said to me in perfect English:
"Galdi tells me you are the owner of a pet with a golden tail."
"Yeah, she, uh painted it with a paint brush, but then her pet snowman used
it to paint a sidewalk, so she couldn't finish painting herself," I explained.
KiwiBonk proudly held up her sparkling tail. Snuffs' eyes glowed purple.
"Are you by chance, a friend of a Faerie?" she asked. KiwiBonk nodded.
"Well, I wouldn't really say that," I said, "She just came and gave us our
stuff back. She isn't really...."
The woman clapped her hands, and spoke to Galdi for a moment. Galdi rushed
into a door behind the counter, as the woman, who introduced herself as Impel,
pulled four stools from under a table, and offered us a seat. Snuffs seemed
very surprised at being offered a seat; he was so used to sitting on the floor.
"We are honoured to have you here in our home," said Impel, bowing. Galdi
returned with a plate of exotic food I had never seen before. I didn't want
to rude, so I took a slice of a pink, juicy fruit. KiwiBonk, looking at me strangely,
took a tiny green fruit that looked like a jelly bean. When Galdi offered the
plate to Snuffs, KiwiBonk blurted: "He doesn't eat food." But Snuffs had already
flopped face first onto the plate, and slurped in all the fruit like a vacuum
cleaner.
"Thank you for being so generous," I said, "but could you please tell us why
Galdi, brought us here, and why you wanted to know if we had met any Faeries?"
"There is a legend on this island," said Impel, "about a mysterious girl,
her gold-tailed Aisha, and a snowman that never melts. This is how it goes:
"Once, many many moons ago, Mystery Island was full of snow and ice. The temperature
was always 60 below zero. Anyone, in the world of Neopia, who dared to venture
there, would die of frostbite within 24 hours. There was a girl, who was very,
very poor. She had one pet, a blue Aisha, and the only thing that would make
her pet truly happy was a golden paintbrush. The girl searched all over Neopia
for someone with a golden paintbrush to give away, but nobody was willing to
share. Golden Paintbrushes were very valuable, and very rare.
"The girl tried to cheer up her Aisha every way that is possible. But the
pet cried and cried for the golden paintbrush. A Faerie sitting on a cloud heard
this Aisha cry and cry, and came to comfort the little pet. The Aisha told the
Faerie that she wanted a golden paintbrush so that her owner would be proud
of such a fine-looking pet, and she'd win every single beauty contest. The Faerie
felt very sorry for this Aisha, so she told her of an island thousands of miles
away from Neopia Central, where it was so cold, no living thing could possibly
survive. A horrible monster lived there, the Faerie said, and that monster had
a Golden paintbrush. 'If you manage to defeat that monster' the kind Faerie
said, 'You will have the Golden Paintbrush that you so long for.'
"The next day, the owner and her pet set out to the island. The only means
of transportation they were able to get was riding on the back of a Jetsam,
who do not mind the cold so much. They had to pay the Jetsam all the money they
had for this ride. But, wearing no protective clothes, the creature died as
they reached the icy land. The girl and the Aisha were bundled up in all the
clothes they owned, but, even then, they could not stay on the island for a
long time.
"They soon came upon the monster sleeping in a cave. It was a huge dragon
with long teeth and eyes that covered things with snow and ice when he looked
at them. This horrible creature was the reason Mystery Island was covered in
ice.
"On a pedestal behind the sleeping dragon was the Golden paintbrush. The two
friends pondered about how to get it. Suddenly, the Aisha came up with a plan.
She yelled in the dragon's ear, and dragon woke up. The dragon did not like
being roused in such a manner, so he was in a foul mood. While the human hid
far away from the cave, the Aisha, being careful not to look at the dragon's
eyes, chased the dragon to a large, smooth piece of ice. The piece of ice was
so smooth, that the dragon saw its reflection and was turned into ice.
"As the dragon was being turned to ice, it began to weep. A single tear fell
from his eye, rolled down his cheek, and down his face. As it rolled, it gathered
snow, and began to look more and more like a little snowman. As the tiny figure
landed gently on the ground, the two friends realised it was a snowman.
"The snowman got the paint brush for the little Aisha. The Aisha painted her
tail, but then, in an act of pure compassion and kindness, painted the dragon
gold, because the dragon wasn't really that evil. The kind Faerie brought them
back to Neopia Central again, and they lived happily ever after.
"Over time, the island melted, and became the tropical paradise we know today.
Some say that there's a hidden cave somewhere on Mystery Island where there
is a golden dragon, forever encased in its icy prison."
"Notice that the Aisha was the smart one who thought up the plans, and was
compassionate enough to sacrifice her paintbrush to the dragon," KiwiBonk told
me.
"Yeah, yeah. That legend is just a coincidence. I mean, KiwiBonk painted her
tail, but then Snuffs grabbed it, and the faerie we met was just testing us."
"This legend has nearly been forgotten," said Impel.
"So, we're like holy?" KiwiBonk asked.
"It's just a coincidence," I grumbled. Snuffs shrieked. He liked being in
a legend.
"Galdi was so excited when she saw an Aisha with a golden tail. I am sorry
if this has been an inconvenience."
"Don't worry. We had fun," I said.
"You're a great story teller," KiwiBonk added.
"Galdi has always loved the legend of the Golden Aisha. The moral is 'Not
only did the Aisha have a golden tail, she had a golden heart as well.' "
"Cool. Kinda like me."
Galdi clapped her hands and said something to Impel. Impel translated: "Galdi
wants to see you do some magic."
I looked at my pet, who shrugged. Snuffs looked smug. "Give us a moment to
prepare."
"I'll wave my tail and say some magic words," whispered KiwiBonk,
"And Snuffs will turn into a puff of smoke."
"Got that, Snuffs?" He nodded.
"Okay, we're ready!" KiwiBonk tried to look mysterious as she waved her tail,
and chanted: "Hocus Pocus Diddly Ocus Bing Bang Bong!"
Nothing happened. Snuffs sat there, gazing at the ceiling.
KiwiBonk tried again: "Winger Whopper Binger Popper Doober Wuff!"
After a few moments, a green light came from the ceiling where Snuffs was
staring. It stayed there, hovering, then suddenly, Neopoints came raining down.
Galdi laughed in glee, Snuffs started filling his Tuque with money, and KiwiBonk
looked very surprised.
"Wow!" cheered Impel.
"We're rich!" KiwiBonk yelled.
"Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" screeched Snuffs.
We let Impel and Galdi keep most of the money. I only let us take the 766
Neopoints we needed to get us back home. KiwiBonk waved her golden tail proudly
for the rest of the trip.
As I lay in bed that night, with KiwiBonk curled up on the floor, I wondered
how she was able to make money fall from the sky. "Maybe it was Snuffs," I thought
to myself, "He was staring at the ceiling, but that doesn't seem very likely.
He's just a stupid snowman. Maybe it was the kind Faerie from the legend, but
that was just a legend. Or maybe KiwiBonk does have magical powers. I guess
I'll never know."
The End
Author's note: This story is pretty old. If you read "KiwiBonk
and the Fire Faerie", you will know that KiwiBonk's tail was painted gold
with a desert paintbrush, then Snuffs ruined it so it couldn't be used. KiwiBonk
now has two brothers and a sister, and Snuffs is now Snuffs II. | 
