Thyora's Tribulations

Thyora was the leader of Faerieland before Fyora. Many Neopians currently know that Thyora disappeared one day and Fyora was chosen to ascend the throne. However, we still question why Thyora disappeared. Some say she was under too much pressure while others say she just did it so Faerieland would be happy. Only Fyora knew the real truth and she kindly agreed to discuss this with us. She told us she could remember it as if it was yesterday.

     It was a beautiful morning as Thyora arose from her slumber. The birds sang beautiful melodies and the air smelled sweet.

     “Ahhh, what a perfect day!”exclaimed Thyora, as she stretched.

     She went on to enjoy a hearty breakfast before she began her daily duties. Thyora was very fond of omelettes and had tried every single omelette in Neopia, except the rotten ones of course. Today she favored the meat feast omelette and she ate them slowly as if she was savoring every bite.

     However, as she enjoyed her meal she heard two doors open and shut upstairs. Loud voices soon accompanied footsteps. The noises were caused by the daughters of Thyora, Fyora and Jhudora.

     “Good morning, young faeries. You are late for breakfast again. So I guess you’ll have to eat the leftovers,” said Thyora.

     “Well, we would be down here if Fyora wasn’t so picky about what to wear today. She didn’t wake me up because she was too busy,” retorted Jhudora.

     “Picky? At least I care about looking nice in front of the Neopians. All you care about is being the next queen. And since when was it my responsibility to wake you up? You’re supposed to wake up yourself,” argued Fyora.

     “Now now, that’s enough you two. Sit down and eat breakfast.”

     Thyora didn’t worry too much about the bickering; it was normal now and she just decided that it was part of life and they’d eventually outgrow it. The two faerie princesses glared at each other while eating. However, they feared that Thyora would get angry so they kept their mouths quiet.

     “Alright now, go off to neoschool, I’ve got a busy day ahead of me so run along now,” said Thyora.

     The faeries packed their backpacks and trudged out the door without a word to each other.

     “Hey let’s take the shortcut through the alley today. You’re not scared, are you? Scaredy Kad! Scaredy Kad! Fyora’s a scaredy Kad!” taunted Jhudora.

     “Shut up! You’re giving me a headache. Alright, let’s go. Me scared? No way!” boasted Fyora.

     Fyora followed Jhudora into the dark alley. It seemed that nothing was there but trash. Fyora was shocked that any part of Faerieland would look this disgusting.

     “Ewww, this is so disgusting. My new shoes! Ruined! Mom would kill me!” exclaimed Fyora.

     “Awww, you’re so obsessed with your clothing. Princess Fyora, don’t like to get dirty? You always expect to be spotless, don’t you?” snickered Jhudora.

     Suddenly Fyora heard a scratching noise behind her. She quickly turned around but saw nothing. This made her very apprehensive. Fyora slowly walked forward and she heard the scratching again. She looked around and realized that Jhudora had vanished.

     “Umm... Jhudora, are you there? Come hither please,” said Fyora shakily.

     Suddenly she felt something grab her and she let out a high pitched scream.

     “AHHHHHHHHH! HELP ME, JHUDORA!”

     Fyora spun around and found Jhudora laughing.

     “Hahaha! You should have seen the look on your face when I snuck up on you. That look was unforgettable. And that scream! Hehehe. You scream like a meepit. I knew it; you’re a scaredy Kad. Even if you were the heiress, you’d be too scared to rule Faerieland. You’d chicken out,” taunted Jhudora.

     Fyora opened her mouth to speak but quickly closed it. She knew that if she insulted Jhudora, her mother would be angry at her. For the rest of the way to neoschool, neither of them spoke to each other. They didn’t even look at each other. When they arrived late to neoschool, Fyora went through the front door and Jhudora went through the back door.

     “Excuse me, you’re both late,” scolded the old Professor Meerca. The old Meerca never told the students his name so naturally they called him “Professor Meerca”.

     Jhudora began making excuses. “Umm, sorry, sir, but we just had to go back and get our homework; we left it at home.”

     “Don’t make any excuses; sit down and pay attention to class now,” ordered Professor Meerca.

     Soon Jhudora fell asleep since Faerieland History was certainly not the most exciting class. Luckily she was in the back of the room or Professor Meerca would have found out. They were fine until Professor Meerca started asking random students questions. Fyora, however, was listening intently as if she were interested.

     “Jhudora, when did Ethel Eyrie die and where?”

     “Zzzzz!”

     “JHUDORA! Wake up, you lazy faerie! I asked you a question!”

     “Thank you, Professor, for interrupting my beauty sleep,” retorted Jhudora.

     “See me after class, Jhudora!”

     “Wait, Professor, I know the answer!” said Fyora.

     “Yes Fyora, you have an answer?”

     “Ethel Eyrie died in the year 35 B.N. in Mystery Island; her death was caused by Neomonia,” replied Fyora.

     “Show off!” whispered Jhudora jealously.

     When class was over, Fyora decided to eavesdrop on the conversation between her mom, Professor Meerca, and Jhudora.

     “Yes, Faerieland wants a righteous ruler; Jhudora, if you can’t live up to that by following rules, how can we expect you to make the rules for us?” questioned Professor Meerca.

     “Jhudora, if you put another toe or wing out of line, then I will make Fyora my successor instead of you! DO YOU UNDERSTAND!” shouted Thyora.

     Fyora was ecstatic to hear this, but she was also fearful. What would Jhudora try to do if Fyora was chosen to be the next queen? Fyora tried to quietly walk away without being noticed.

     “Fyora!”

     “Yes, Mother?”

     Thyora smiled at Fyora for a moment.

     “Nothing, Fyora, just checking to see if you were still there. I’m worried when you wander off in Faerieland all alone. Come, let’s go home,” sighed Thyora.

     Jhudora was now jealous of Fyora. She could clearly see that Thyora liked Fyora more simply because she was younger, more innocent, and not a dark faerie. From then on Jhudora secretly began to formulate plans to sabotage Fyora. However, Thyora was the only faerie that prevented her from executing her plan.

     “Hey come on sister, I have something to show you!” exclaimed Jhudora.

     “What, sister?” Fyora asked.

     Jhudora lead Fyora down to her room where there was a Rod of Nova. Jhudora picked it up and shot a star at Fyora. Fyora quickly dodged it and the nova landed harmlessly on the floor.

     “Your turn, Fyora, unless you are too scared,” teased Jhudora. Fyora picked up the rod and it shot off involuntarily. The nova slammed into the walls of the tower and the tower began to crumble

     “Ahhh! What have I done!?” Fyora shouted in distress.

     “Muahuahua! Now Mom’s going to kill you!” Jhudora cackled.

     Fyora quickly ran out of the tower, but Jhudora was too busy laughing to notice that the tower was separating from the rest of the castle. When she finally did notice, the tower had already begun to crumble to the ground. Jhudora glided off the tower and gently landed back inside the castle, not noticing that Thyora was standing right next to Fyora. She had seen everything happen.

     “Hi Mom, Fyora was playing with the rod of nova and caused destruction to the tower,” Jhudora said.

     Thyora began to loudly reprimand Jhudora.

     “Foolish imbecile, do you expect me to believe your obviously petty lies? Obviously if you can’t handle honesty, I doubt you’re able to handle the kingdom. The heiress will be passed onto Fyora, not you. You can thank me for not deciding to imprison you for vandalism. Instead you’re going to have to take out all the Neopoints I gave you and use it to pay for a new tower and you’ll be doing sixty hours of community service,” Thyora said.

     Jhudora gave Fyora a look of animosity and stomped away. Fyora stared off to the distance.

     “Fyora, honey, why on Neopia would you listen to your sister when she told you to shoot the nova? You should have known better. I’m sure you know what novas are and what they do. Why’d you do it?” Thyora asked, softening her tone.

     “Mom, I just wanted to receive approval from her. I was afraid that she hated me. Now you just made it worse, she’ll hate me for the rest of my life thanks to you!” shouted Fyora. Fyora then stomped away and slammed the door to her room. She also magically sealed the door to prevent Thyora from entering. Instead of trying to enter, Thyora left her two daughters alone. Thyora had her own problems to worry about. She was now weeks behind collaboration with her council due to her lack of leadership skills. Many of the council members had already begged her to hold a meeting, promising that they’d help her through everything. Thyora, however, did not respond to their beseeching. Therefore, the council members abandoned their efforts. Thyora’s monarchy was growing weaker as each day passed. Many of the faeries had lost faith in Thyora’s efforts to lead the kingdom. Several of them turned away from Thyora and began to turn to practicing evil arts. Things got worse as Thyora went to check on Jhudora.

     “Jhudora? Are you in there?” Thyora asked.

     There was no answer but pure silence. Thyora turned the doorknob and the door swung open. There was nobody in the room and the window was open. Thyora looked out the window and saw nothing suspicious. As she turned to leave, she found a note written in dark purple ink.

     “Mom, you’ve failed as a leader and you’ll regret all your decisions including dismissing me as the heiress of Faerieland. I will come back, but beware; it won’t be a pretty comeback. Farewell, failed ruler of Faerieland --- Jhudora.”

     Thyora looked the note and stared. She pondered the meaning and became very frightened. She ran to Fyora’s room and dispelled the magic that sealed it.

     “Fyora! I really need to speak to you right now!” shouted Thyora, panicking.

     Fyora turned around trembling.

     “Mom, is everything alright?” Fyora asked.

     “No, read your sister’s note,” Thyora said.

     Fyora’s eyes scanned the parchment slowly. Her eyes grew in size as she read and reread the note.

     “Mom, Jhudora wishes to wage war with you. This note was written with a belligerent attitude. I say you prepare your battle faeries as soon as possible,” Fyora advised.

     “No, that can’t be possible; you’ve gone crazy too, Fyora,” Thyora said. Thyora seemed to have fallen into a trance.

     Fyora was quite fearful for the future of Faerieland. Meanwhile, Jhudora was busy making herself a purple cloud in Faerieland. She had gathered quite a large group of followers since her departure. Many of her followers were looking for a more powerful leader than Thyora. Her followers even began to perform dark spells, zapping anybody that wished to oppose the dark forces. Jhudora began training her followers to fight with dark magic. Thyora, however, was apathetic and refused to call her battle faeries into action. Fyora sat and watched sadly as Thyora sat idly, staring off to the distance.

     The Dark Forces were ready. Jhudora was determined to plan an attack the next day at immediate sunrise. Meanwhile, Fyora’s fear grew exponentially until finally she concluded that something had to be done. She went down to the battle faerie barracks and called the battle faeries to gather.

     “Members of the Faerieland Elite Forces, here we stand in a time of crisis. To my knowledge, you see my mother as a failure. Therefore, there’re many faeries out there that don’t know a powerful leader, until now. They have turned their backs on Thyora and began to support the Dark Magic. Even my sister was dragged into the forces of the dark. She is now planning to raise an army and overthrow Thyora. We must prepare to counterattack the dark forces. Who’s with me?” Fyora asked.

     The Faerieland Elite Forces stared at Fyora and several of them choked out a weak laugh. Soon they stopped; however, as they noticed that Fyora was serious.

     “Princess Fyora... you’re not saying that we go to war tomorrow; war is a long process and it’s against the law to go to war if the queen doesn’t issue a formal declaration of war,” a battle faerie said.

     “The law also says that if the Queen is unable to make a decision during a time of crisis, her heiress may make the decision for her. I, unlike my mother, am not ambiguous. I will promise that I’ll make only the correct decisions and will listen to your inputs toward making a decision. But as for the decision to go to war, I will not turn away from it. Please, trust me; I know my mother has failed to rule, but give her daughter a chance,” Fyora beseeched.

     “We, the Faerieland Elite Force, accept you as our leader; it is our duty to protect the life and welfare of Faerieland and its subjects. We’re standing by for your orders,” the battle faeries chanted in unison.

     Fyora then concluded that Jhudora would most likely lay siege to the Faerie City first. Perhaps they’d send in a few faeries to attempt to take the palace guards down. Then they would proceed inside to the West Tower, where Thyora’s chambers were. They would most likely capture the queen and overthrow Thyora’s monarchy. Fyora decided that it would be best to station the battle faeries in the front entrance of the city during nightfall, when Jhudora’s troops would not be active.

     Jhudora was planning her attack simultaneously. She did conclude that laying siege to the city first would weaken the entire faerie population and included that in her plan. Then she picked a few strong dark faeries to enter the city with their powerful weapons and attempt to capture Thyora while taking out several important Faerieland officials. Jhudora decided to position her troops before sunrise. However, Fyora decided to start early and the battle faeries were already in position by midnight. Fyora was shaking with stress. She was thinking about the consequences of failure. Many of the battle faeries tried to calm her, but Fyora refused to calm down. She finally took a sip of essence of everlasting apple and went to lie down for a short period of time. She awoke to the sound of shouting.

     “Fyora, there seems to be a disturbance at the entrance of the city, we’re holding our attack until fired upon,” a battle faerie said.

     “Go tell the faeries to prepare for battle. I myself will be in the front line to help out,” Fyora said.

     “You shouldn’t fight. If you perish, there would not be another heiress to inherit the throne besides Jhudora. I’d advise you to rethink your actions,” the battle faerie said.

     “I assure you I have my secret ways of survival,” Fyora replied, pointing to the rod in her hand.

     “It’s your choice, but I beseech you to be meticulous in all your actions on the battlefield,” the battle faerie replied.

     “I can see you care about me very much; might I ask for your name? When this is all over, I’ll promise to appoint you as my Chief General,” Fyora said smiling.

     “Deepest apologies for not introducing myself. I am Aethia, and I am humbled by your offer and will surely consider it; now go, before it’s too late,” said Aethia.

     Fyora took her troops to the entrance of the city; just then a jet of dark magic narrowly missed Fyora. Fyora turned around quickly.

     “Hahaha! Well, we meet again, sister. It’s foolish of you to back up a weak monarchy. You may surrender now and we can work out some compromise; otherwise, prepare for war!” shouted Jhudora.

     “I won’t let you be victorious that easily. We will fight to the end!” retorted Fyora.

     The two sides charged against each other. Fyora was in the front line casting magic. Her spells froze several faeries which made it easier to push the dark forces back, but Jhudora was also fighting and she was able to bring several faeries in the front line down. At the same time, Thyora heard all the commotion and was pressed against the window in her tower.

     “Alas, it has become a lamentable day where my subjects have engaged in civil war. My daughter was right; I am a failure in my own inaction. I cannot accept the crown of Faerieland any longer. I beseech my own faerie spirit to retreat to a place where nobody will be able to find me,” Thyora said, sadly.

     Thyora took her wand and her book of Faerieland Law and laid it upon Fyora’s bed along with a note that read “My dear daughter, I have chosen to resign as Faerie Queen. I will go to a place where nobody can find me because I have been a failure as a leader and nobody will want to see me anyway. Fyora, I trust that you’ll do better as a leader; you are more fit to be a queen than I am. Well, goodbye, Fyora, and good luck to you and your council.” Thyora then opened the spellbook and searched for the spell of departing spirits and began to chant it. As soon as she completed the spell, light surrounded her and she began to slowly fade from Neopia. Then she was truly gone. She had left Fyora by herself in this fight.

     Back on the field both sides of the battle seemed to be equal in strength. The lines of troops refused to budge either way. The road to victory was a foggy road. Fyora had hoped for a miracle, but a miracle seemed to be nonexistent. Suddenly, she heard a voice shout. She turned around to see Aethia lying on the ground.

     “AETHIA!” Fyora shouted.

     “Turn around, keep fighting. You’ll always see injuries on the battlefield, so you’d best get used to them. I’ll be fine, I promise!” Aethia yelled back. Another battle faerie took Aethia and flew her far away from the battle scene.

     Fyora was distressed to see Aethia wounded but knew that she’d have to wait until victory to tend to Aethia. Suddenly the dark faeries began to retreat. The spirit of Thyora appeared in front of Fyora. Fyora knew it was Thyora as soon as she heard her voice.

     “Mother!” Fyora shouted.

     “Keep your voice down, Fyora. I have some surreptitious matters to share with you. I am leaving you, Fyora; I have chosen to depart from the face of Neopia. You shall not look for me. You have a kingdom to rule,” Thyora said shakily. She then began to cry. As some of her tears shed, they hardened into a beautiful crystal.

     “Mother, don’t go! I’m too young to rule Faerieland. What if I mess up?” Fyora panicked.

     “Fyora, it is time for a strong leader like you to step up to the throne. Now show that you’re strong. My time here has now expired; I shall be going now,” Thyora said. At that moment, she disappeared, leaving Fyora.

     Fyora tried to grab Thyora’s spirit but instead clenched a handful of the crystallized blue tears. As she picked them up, the troops around her seemed grow in strength. Suddenly, the line was pushing the dark faeries further and further back. Finally, Jhudora surrendered to Fyora’s troops.

     “Sister, you have revealed to me your strength as a leader. I hereby surrender unconditionally to you,” Jhudora said.

     “Let all the faeries go, there shall be no more fighting. However, Jhudora must be incarcerated,” Fyora commanded.

     Jhudora was taken and locked up in one of the cells in the Faerieland Dungeon, awaiting trial. As the day of the trial came, she was convicted of treason. However, the mercy of Fyora was upon Jhudora and she was sentenced to permanent confinement to her purple cloud on Faerieland. She was not allowed to venture off the cloud to other areas of Faerieland and a magical charm was used to enforce that. Fyora was inaugurated as Queen on the Month of Hunting, 150 Yr. B.N. Her rule led to the golden age of Faerieland. She became well known for her establishments such as the Hidden Tower, The Employment Agency, and the Faerie Quests Program. Under Fyora, the faeries once again renewed their faith toward the Yora Monarchy and to this day, Fyora is a well known ruler throughout Neopia. Aethia, thankfully, wasn’t seriously injured and was fully recovered in time to accept her inauguration as Chief General of the Faerieland Elite Forces.

     However... Jhudora was able to break the confinement spell and to this day is still secretly plotting against Fyora by sending Neopets to perform her evil deeds while keeping her own hands clean. What can we say? There’ll always be evil in Neopia. It’s the duty of the good to keep Neopians safe.

The End

Other reading related to this: Check out “From Thyora to Fyora” by the same author to see how Fyora was inaugurated.