ONE DAY THORNCLAWS the Kougra was walking through the shops humming a happy
tune. She had always been happy and carefree. Her owner, though not rich, was
pretty well off. Still, there were things she would like to have, like a paint
brush or a pretty new toy to play with. Mostly it took a long time just to for
her to get anything new, so when she did, she cherished it. Today she saw some
of the popular kids leaving the toy store with armloads of new toys. They were
all painted and lived in fine homes in Faerieland. It was sad, but ThornClaws
knew that most of their toys would not be played with in a few days, while they
begged their owners for something new. All she could do was dream of owning
some of the things they had.
She turned away then and began to walk home,
still humming a happy tune. She didn't let little things like that bother her.
The air, sunshine, and flowers were free, but most people forgot to stop and
enjoy them. As she stood by a fountain in the park, she looked down into the
water. She was a blue Kougra, but not your normal blue Kougra Her blue was a
bit darker. It was her natural colour, but because it was just a bit darker,
it gave her a dirty appearance. It was only that people were used to bright
blue Kougras, not dusky blue ones. So people tended to stare at her. She didn't
know it, but her colour was pretty attractive in a way. Some of the kids at
school had teased her about needing to take a bath, but they were really just
jealous. They knew for some reason she was special, but they would never let
her know what they really thought. Because she was teased and looked down on,
she was pretty shy. She had a few friends Crystillinia a red Kougra and Anjeana,
a yellow one. But they were two faced lately and only invited her over when
they were bored and had nothing better to do. Lately they seemed to enjoy trying
to see how gullible she was. They would make up stories and try to get her to
believe them. Sometimes it took days for her to figure out that they had been
lying to her. Other times they were telling the truth about something, but she
didn't believe them. It was always weird and she could never trust them.
One day they invited her over and told her that
they were going on a Dark Faerie quest. Now she had heard of the Dark Faeries
Quest before, so she knew that they were not lying. But she knew they were bound
to play a prank of some sort on her. But she went along with them anyway, because
she had nothing better to do. ThornClaws had rarely ever visited Faerieland.
It was much too extravagant for her. She couldn't afford the food or the books.
But she did enjoy the scenery. When they arrived at the purple cloud of the
Dark Faerie, Crystillinia suddenly seemed scared, which was out of character.
She was usually the ringleader of the group.
"Um... after you Anjeana," she said
"No way, you go, ThornClaws," Anjeana said.
"Come on you guys, I know you are not really
scared. You probably have already been here dozens of times."
"No really, I haven't," Crystillinia said.
But ThornClaws knew they were not honest with her.
"Somehow I suspect you guys have planned something,
but you won't trick me this time," ThornClaws said.
So she went first. The air seemed think and
choking on this purple cloud. And she didn't seem to be able to get a firm footing.
But she slowly approached the Dark Faerie who stood by a pool of purple liquid
that gave off a foul green steam. Her two friends looked on as they conversed.
"Hehehehehe," said Jhudora. "Welcome to my home!"
This wasn't unusual, she always said that. But then she said something unexpected.
"Hmmm... well well well... if it isn't ThornClaws. Let me have a look at you!"
ThornClaws knew something was up, be decided
to play along. Obviously her friends had went through a lot of trouble to get
the Dark Faerie to play into this charade.
"Yes, it is you. Oh my, do I have a special
quest for you! I need you to bring me a Dandelion and Burdock Drink and a Tigersquash
Corn Dog!" Jhudora hissed.
"Haha... this is too easy. This has got to be
a trick. My friends already know I have those items in my lunchbox. I wonder
what they are up to? Well here it goes..." ThornClaws thought.
"Yes, I already have those items right here
with me," she said
"Oh how convenient! Oh how fast. You deserve
a special reward!" Jhudora exclaimed. "You see, you are really special indeed.
I have been waiting for you. The quest was just for fun, but the real reason
you are here is to get a special gift meant just for you. That is why I asked
your friends to bring you here. Now come and take a look," Jhudora said
while beckoning her to the water's edge.
"Take a look at your reflection my dear. Don't
you see, you are different than the other Kougras? And beautiful! Yes you are!
They made fun of you didn't they, but you don't have to take that from them!
They are just jealous. Yes you are special. Now I have your gift!" Jhudora said
in a sing song voice. Here voice was like the voice you would use when you talk
to a cute kitten. It sounded odd coming from Jhudora.
Jhudora held up a necklace. It seemed to be
made of a vine with thorns. There was a heart at the end.
"This is a very special necklace. It is made
just for you. It is called ThornClaw's Necklace. It is the only one."
ThornClaws looked at the necklace, but it didn't
seem real. Her friends could have easily constructed it from an old torn vine
and a heart shaped charm. Maybe they were just trying to make her feel good,
to boost her self esteem. Maybe they were just trying to be nice. But it really
wasn't like them to be nice. There had to be a trick here someplace.
"This is just an old vine entwined around a
heart shaped charm. I'd be a fool to wear it and let my friends make fun of
me for falling for their little joke. I don't know what they paid you, Jhudora,
but it must have been good. But their little joke didn't work, so it's their
loss."
"Foolish Creature, do you really think I can
be bribed by such pathetic excuses for Kougras as they? They are nothing! You
my dear should be wise enough to distinguish for yourself if this a joke. Think
about it for a minute."
But ThornClaws was still not convinced. She
took a look at the necklace once more. The heart, she noticed was not cheap
plastic as she originally thought. Now that she really had a good look, she
saw it was a Ruby. The vines were bright and green and actually seemed to be
living! This thing was unusual, beautiful and hideous at the same time. She
had to wear it.
She put it on and turned to her friends. "OK
I am wearing the dumb thing, now I guess you guys will fall down laughing at
me at any moment," she said
But they didn't. They just stared and were speechless.
"You look Cooool!" Crystillinia finally muttered. When leaving the cloud, her
friends did not whisper or laugh. They just followed her. She noticed that people
were looking at her, but not in the same way. They were admiring her! Then a
faerie krawk, the very embodiment of wealth and beauty, actually approached
her.
"I love the necklace darling. I haven't seen
another like it. I must have it. Tell your people to tell my people the name
of it. I am sure my people can work out a deal with your people," she said
in a snobbish voice.
"It is called ThornClaws's Necklace. I am ThornClaws.
The necklace is one of a kind, and not for sale," ThornClaws said.
"Oh dahling where have you been? Obviously you
are new money. If you had any breeding you would know that everything in this
world is for sale. It erks me to lower myself to do business with the likes
of you. I expected you were of better stock when I first saw you. Now that I
look at you, I see you are quite common, good day. Humph!" The Krawk said as
she stuck her long nose in the air and walked away. She tripped over a bump
and landed in a most unladylike-like position with her feet in the air! She
got up, stuck her nose in the air, said "Humph!" again and walked away.
ThornClaws did not laugh, but her friends did.
"Be quiet you dorks, you are embarrassing me!"
she spat
Her friends just stared. She had never said
anything like this before!
Over the next few days her friends noticed that
her whole personality was changing. It all started when they saw her at school.
Already she was hanging with the painted pets. They kept asking her to tell
her story over and over and each time it became more elaborate. Finally it almost
didn't seem like the same story. And worst of all, she began to make fun of
them!
"Yeah and then after the krawk tripped my old
friends started laughing and even snorting. They are so uncivilized. I don't
know why I ever hung out with them. But thankfully, that's over. Now that I
know who I am, I know I deserve better," she said to her new croud of friends.
Later, when Crystillinia was walking in the
hallway, she accidentally bumped ThornClaws. She walked away quickly. But ThornClaws
shouted "How dare you bump me and then walk away as if nothing happened! I demand
a public apology this instant!"
Crystillinia couldn't believe it. "ThornClaws,
you've changed. I hope you're happy with you're new bad attitude self!"
For a second Crystillinia could see the kind
face of her old friend, the one she knew, but only for a second. "Humph!" she
said just like the krawk had and walked away, but not before Crystillinia noticed
something. She wasn't for sure what she saw, she went to talk to Anjeana.
"Have you noticed how much ThornClaws has changed
in the last few days?" Crystillinia asked.
"How in Neopia could you NOT notice!" Anjeana
said "I said hello to her in the hallway and she just stuck her nose up and
never even looked at me.
"Well I think it has something to do with that
necklace, ever since she got it, she has changed. And today I noticed something
odd about it. The vines that entwine the heart part of it are more entwined
around the heart than before. It is as if they are choking the heart. I think
that is why she is so mean."
"Oh well, I guess you will say we have to help
her. But what can we do?" Anjeana said.
"We have to go back to where this all started,
back to Jhudora.
***
Crystillinia and Anjeana journeyed back to Jhudora's cloud.
"Hehehe," Jhudora cackled. "Welcome to my home.
I see you have been helping my..."
"Can it Jhudora, we are not on a stupid quest!
We have come to help our friend!" Crystillinia said
"Ah! So you have, have you? Well, I am not telling
you a thing, so you might as well leave."
"Oh we already know enough, said Anjeana "We
know that the necklace is choking her heart and making her evil."
"Oh you do, do you? Well, it is all in vain.
For that necklace is made of a special vine and it won't come off, so there
is nothing you can do about it!" Jhudora spat.
"Oh no... well... I'll tell the Faerie Queen
on you!" Crystillinia shouted out of desperation.
"Haha... she won't speak to the likes of
you, she has better things to do! Now be off before I turn you into Tyrannian
dung cheeses!" Jhudora said, waving her arms.
They ran away. All the way to the hidden tower,
which they discovered quite by accident on account of they were in a panic and
not really looking where they were going. They almost knocked over a priceless
everlasting crystal apple! Inside was a Faerie Queen.
"Welcome to my store. Take a look around but
don't click on anything unless you want to buy it," the Queen said like
she always does. But then she noticed something was wrong.
"Tell me what is troubling you two that you
come rushing so quickly into my store," she said, but not unkindly.
"Oh Faerie Queen, we come to you for help,"
said Crystillinia.
"Our friend is under a terrible spell of the
Dark Faerie and is being transformed into something most evil," Anjeana
said. Then she told her all about it, in a rather quick and animated way, with
many interruptions from Crystillinia as well. But in the end, the patient Faerie
Queen understood.
"What the Dark Faerie has said is true, the
vines will not come off, and there is nothing you can do about it. But don't
despair, end the end you may help your friend anyway."
"You Faeries always speak in riddles don't you?"
said Anjeana. "I would ask you what you mean by telling us that there is nothing
we can do about it, then telling us we may help our friend in the end, but that
would just get more riddles I bet."
"Perhaps it would," said the Faerie Queen
with a hint of a smile. "I will say one more thing, have faith in your friend,
that the kindness inside can beat the evil."
But when ThornClaws's friends returned to school,
it was worse than they thought. ThornClaws was now the School Bully. "Out of
my way, they don't call me Thorn for nothing!" she snarled at a poor kacheek
who was just standing there. Then she made a swipe with her claws! The kacheek
ducked out of the way just in time!
"We have got to get that necklace off, but it
won't come off. The Queen said we could still help our friend. But she can't
get the necklace off either. I don't know what to do, it seems quite hopeless!"
said Angina. But Crystalline looked determined.
"I'm going to get a better look at that necklace!"
she said. "Hey ThornClaws, come here!"
ThornClaws came over to where she was. "What
in the world do you want, you sludge!" she spat.
"Well, I never really got a good look at that
necklace. I am just curious. How about you letting me see it?"
"You can see it just fine from where you are
standing!" ThornClaws said.
"Not really... I Reeeally want to take a goood
look. Pleease..." Crystillinia said
"Yeah let her look. Let her look. It'd be so
cool of you to let her look. I dare you!" said Anjeana.
So ThornClaws reached for the necklace, but
couldn't get it off. "Well, it seems to be ensnarled in my fur, but that is
a relief. I didn't want you to touch it anyway, so Humph!" she said. But they
noticed her continuing to pull at it from time to time. She seemed disturbed
with the fact that she couldn't get it off. So that was a start.
"We've got her starting to want to get it off.
Now we need to tell her the truth," said Anjeana
"She won't believe us, she never believes us,"
said Crystillinia
"Maybe because we've lied a lot about stuff,"
Anjeana said
"Yeah... I know," said Crystillinia
But they approached ThornClaws again to tell
her what they knew.
"Listen we've lied to you before, but we are
really sorry. We really are your friends. But we have something to tell you
now and you won't like it. But it is the truth, straight from the Faerie Queen
herself!" they said. Then they told her everything they knew.
"So you see, the necklace is making you evil.
Just look at it, you can't even get it off! And look at the heart part of it,
you can't even see it anymore. It has shrunken! The vines have choked it and
shrunken it. This heart is your own heart! But there is still a little piece
left, so we still have hope that we can help you. We hope now that the little
piece of heart is strong enough to fight against the evil," they said
ThornClaws made a strange face. It was as if
she wanted to tear them apart but something was stopping her. She just growled
instead. "Lies all lies!" she hissed in a strange new voice. But another voice,
her own voice said next "Well... maybe not..." Then the strange voice said,
"I don't really care what you say even if it is the truth. I like my new self.
I am stronger, more self confident. Everyone in school loves and fears me!"
"But you could have had all these things before.
You don't have to have the necklace. The power is in you!" Anjeana said
"I can't even get this thing off," said
ThornClaws in her own voice.
"Yay, that is the first step I think, admitting
you need help!" said Crystillinia.
"I didn't admit nuttin'!" said ThornClaws in
the weird voice.
"Yeah you did! Yeah you did," said Anjeana
"You said I can not even get this thing off! That is admitting that you are
helpless and you know you yourself can not get the necklace off."
"I guess you are right..." said ThornClaws
in her own voice again.
"Yay, keep doing that. I am starting to see the little heart grow! Keep saying
you need help! Say you want to get the necklace off!"
"I'll never say that!" hissed the voice
"Yeah you will... you reeeally want it off...you
reeaallly do!" said Crystillinia
"I... I... I want this thing... o-off!" ThornClaws
managed to say. She tried to pull it off.
"Wait, what am I doing!" the voice hissed
"No I want it off!" she in her voice said again.
So her friends watched her struggle with herself
for a few minutes. But they seemed to get nowhere. The only difference was that
the heart on the necklace had grown to half it's usual size.
"Listen ThornClaws, we are halfway there. I
don't know what we have to do next, but somehow we are missing something. But
keep thinking that you want it off. Don't let the heart shrink again. Let's
go see the Dark Faerie again," Anjeana said
So they went back to the Dark Faerie. But she
just laughed at ThornClaws when she said she wanted to return the necklace.
ThornClaws tried demanding that she take it back, but that didn't work either.
The more she cried the more the Dark Faerie laughed. Then she got mad!
"I'll... I'll... I'll tear you to shreds!" she
said and leaped at the Dark Faerie, but somehow didn't quite make it... and
landed with a thud..
"Hahaha...you can not attack me!!" the Dark Faerie said.
Her friends noticed that the heart was starting
to shrink a little bit.
"No No don't give in to the anger! It powers
the necklace. Think good thoughts!"
ThornClaws tried to think good thoughts and
it seemed to help. She remembered back a few days ago when she was humming a
happy tune. She remembered when she took joy in just looking at the flowers.
She was happy then. Thinking good thoughts seemed to help, but not completely.
They left the cloud because there was nothing more they could do there. On their
way back to Neopia Central, they stopped to rest. As they were resting they
saw a firefly. Or what they thought was one. But it was a little Light Faerie!
"Wait, Light Faerie... we need help!" said Anjeana
"Come back Light Faerie!!" said Crystillinia
"Come back Light Faerie... and... you can have
this necklace I am wearing!" said ThornClaws
The little Light Faerie came back and hovered
before her.
"Take it take it, it's yours, you can have it!"
Anjeana said
"Yeah, take it, we don't want to ever see
it again. Take it far far away!" said Crystillinia
"Pleeeeeease take it!" said ThornClaws
The faerie looked at the necklace for a second,
shed a tear, then tumbled in the air and started laughing and making twinkly
faerie noises.
~twinkle blink~ hehehehe boo hoo hoo...
It was really weird. It was as if she was laughing
and crying at the same time.
"Can't you make up your mind?" said ThornClaws
she felt like laughing and crying at the same time too, which was almost comical
in a way.
"Nope!" the little faerie said "~twinkle blink~
follow me!"
The faerie zoomed away in a twinkle and blink,
with a giggle and a sob.
They followed her but she just kept going faster!
Anjeana and Crystillinia got ahead of ThornClaws. They keep running until the
faerie disappeared into some high grass. But the high grass hid a Cliff! At
the bottom of the cliff were Thorns! A big patch of them! Anjeana and Crystillinia
tumbled into the patch. Thornclaws heard them shrieking below.
"Owwwwwwww! Owwww... I am stuck owwwwwww...
heeeeeeeellp... it hurts bad! ThornClaws heellp... it's cutting me!" they screamed.
ThornClaws couldn't see anyway of helping her
friends but to go into the Thorns after them. She tried to be careful about
it, but the thorns were everywhere. Strangely, they didn't seem to bother her.
She picked her way through to her friends and then tried to clear a path for
them to come out. Finally after a while her friends were able to get out.
"Drat that little mischievous faerie! I'll never
trust another one again!" Anjeana said
"Look at what trouble the faeries have gotten
us into!" Crystillinia exclaimed
But ThornClaws was looking at the thorn vines.
They were the same kind of thorn vines as were in her necklace. Her friends
looked a little closer at Thornclaws and saw she was no longer wearing the necklace,
for the other vines had torn it off.
ThornClaws felt the spot where the necklace
had been and then smiled. She signed with relief.
"Let's get you two to the Healing Springs," she
said. "That is, if you still trust the faeries."
"Um... did I say that..." Crystillinia said.
"I didn't mean it," she blushed.
"Well not all of it," said Anjeana. "We
still don't like the Dark Faerie."
As the three friends left for the Healing Springs
they thought they saw a little Light Faerie zip away into the distance.
The End
Author's Note: The names Crystillinia, Anjeana, and ThornClaws, are not taken
at this moment. Don't they make good names for pets? Well, if you just HAVE to
name your pet that, please take good care of it. Please don't create a pet if
you will never log into your account or feed it. | 
