The Truth About the Dark Faerie

Being the curious reporter that I am, I wanted to get the inside scoop on a subject that no other Neopian had ever dared try. I wanted to interview the Dark Faerie. Of course, I never realized how hard it was to actually talk to her until I needed to. You see, she only ever popped out of her dark lair when she was in search of a plushie or toy to use as her test subjects for experiments.

So, one day as I was walking along trying to figure out how to talk to her (the other faeries had proven no help with trying to locate her whereabouts) and out of nowhere there was a burst of purple smoke and the Dark Faerie herself was standing in front of me!

"Bring me a Green Cybunny Plushie," she ordered me, "and I will increase your pet's endurance."

"I actually wanted to talk to you," I said politely. "I have some questions that I would like to ask you."

"I don't answer questions," she responded hotly. "But, if you were to get me my plushie, then I might be persuaded otherwise." I nodded and ran off to get a Cybunny plushie. After playing a few quick games to afford it, I ran back to where I had left the Dark Faerie.

"I got it," I said beaming happily.

"Sure took you long enough," she said, tapping her foot impatiently. "Now give it to me."

I handed it over. "Now for my first question I wanted to know-" I stopped talking as I saw that the Dark Faerie was gathering purple puffs of smoke around her. "What do you think you are doing?" I asked. "You are supposed to be answering my questions!"

"I said I might be persuaded. Well, I wasn't. Now move out of the way." As I saw that she was about to disappear, I launched myself and landed in the midst of her cloud smoke. And suddenly there was a mini explosion and the smell of sulfur and we both were transported to wherever the Dark Faerie was going next.

We landed with a thump and the Dark Faerie did not look at all happy to see me. "What did you do?" she wailed. Her attitude would have surprised me if my mouth had not been hanging to my knees in shock. For her lair was not dark, dreary, and mysterious as I had previously thought, but filled with...

Plushies!!

And the plushies did not look like they were going to be dumped into a cauldron of boiling water- speaking of which I didn't even see a cauldron anywhere in the room- instead they were lined up neatly on shelves sorted by color and species. The room itself was decorated in light purples and blues, nothing like the blacks and dark purples that I was expecting.

I looked at the Dark Faerie, who was staring at me, looking horrified. "Ummm, I'm not sure how I should say this, but where are the laboratories? The torture chambers? Anything dangerous? And why do you, the Dark Faerie, have mini beds and blankets and on that rug over there?" I finished, pointing toward a corner of the room where plushie sized beds sat comfortably on a braided rug.

The Dark Faerie wrung her hands. "I don't know where to begin. Or for that matter, even if I tell you, you probably won't even believe me!"

"Trust me," I said gravely. "After seeing this. I'm about ready to believe anything. So let's start with this: I thought you used plushies and toys in your evil experiments, so why are you collecting them?" I took out a notebook and pen out of my bag and prepared for the answer.

The Dark Faerie collapsed into a squishy looking chair that appeared out of nowhere and glanced about her room. As if realizing that I was still standing, she waved her hand and I unexpectedly found myself sitting in an identical chair.

"All right. I will tell you." Taking a deep breath, she began. "Ever since I was a small faerie, I have loved playing with plushies. And as I got older it never changed; I still loved them the same. But the other faeries would make fun of me for playing with toys when I was clearly the Dark Faerie." She pulled at a lock of her purple hair for emphasis.

"When we all reached the point in our age where we would become the new quest faeries I knew something had to change. Neopians wouldn't give me plushies if they knew that I only wanted them to play with, even if I did increase their pets' endurance. Speaking of which, I forgot you. Durkey_Durk's hit points have just been increased."

"Thank you very much; he is my battle pet. And he needs all the help he can get." I gave her an encouraging smile to go on.

"Where was I? Oh yes, the whole me playing with toys thing. So what I did then was drastic. I told the other faeries that I had had a change of heart and decided that I hated plushies and toys. I borrowed a large cauldron from my Great-Aunt Toxia and pretended to destroy my plushies. I made the solution in the pot smell like something disgusting and threw my toys in. In truth, however, I just had a strong scent machine underneath the cauldron so that no one would know that I wasn't really hurting them." She turned and gazed fondly at all of her plushies along the wall.

"After that I changed my look to gothic and when I went to ask for quest items and the Neopians found out that the items they were giving me were to be used in experiments, they were a bit horrified, but because I was the Dark Faerie it was acceptable and they handed over the items without a fuss. Because of those lovely Neopians I have been able to build up my collection to one of the best in Neopia."

"Have you ever asked for the same plushie twice? I don't see any duplicates here."

"Well, I never planned on it; I want one of each plushie. Although this one time, I accidentally asked for a Yellow Lupe Plushie twice. But I wasn’t greedy about it or anything. I kindly donated it to the Money Tree and received an avatar. Faeries can collect avatars too, you know,” she said in response to my raised eyebrows.

"Here's another question. Has there ever been a plushie or toy that no Neopian will buy for you?"

The Dark Faerie sniffed and wiped her nose with a black handkerchief. "Yes. As I just finished saying, Faeries do like to collect avatars, especially those that their quests relate to. For example, the Fire Faerie who is always ruining her clothes loves the Uni Faboo avatar from the clothing shop. The avatar that I really want is the Zafara Double Agent one; but I can't get it. And every time I ask a Neopian to buy it, they rush to the quest page and reject it."

“That’s too bad. Unfortunately, many Neopians do not have the neopoints required to buy that plushie. And even if they did they probably wouldn’t want to use all of their hard earned neopoints buying a plushie when you will only give them a few hit points."

“I guess you are right,” replied the Dark Faerie as she dabbed at her eyes again. “But I still wish someone would get it for me.”

“Why do you have a pile of plushie-sized beds in the corner?”

“Well, I do love to play with my plushies and toys so I made beds for them if we stay up late. And sometimes we have tea parties together; it’s so much fun!”

My eyes widened in surprise again. I had been doing that a lot lately since I had reached the Dark Faerie’s home. I was about to ask another question when I was interrupted by a flashing light that sounded like an alarm. Beneath the light was a viewing globe that was showing a picture of a Halloween Bruce Plushie.

The Dark Faerie jumped up and spun around with glee. "Yes!" she shouted. "I can now complete my Halloween set!" Turning to look at me she said, "Well, that is all the information I can give you. I need to go on my plushie quest."

"One more question," I pleaded. "What does that globe thing do?"

"Oh that? Whenever a Neopian gets a plushie that I don't have that they have not put in their shop, safety deposit box, or trades within fifteen minutes my globe lights up to tell me that that particular plushie is available for me to get. It only shows the plushies and toys that I do not yet own. I created it myself with my Faerie magic. It works rather well."

"Thank you very much for your time," I said politely. "This information will make a lovely news article." The Dark Faerie didn't hear me; she was already gone. "And that's the end, __Lyra152__ signing out! Now just how do I get out of here?"