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April Fools?


by acorna12

--------

This short story is about the April Fools day prank this year. Hope you all like it!

Also by sparkles0788

"Mom?"

     Sandra, an orange Kougra, glanced at her teenaged owner from the stairs, a concerned look in her icy blue eyes.

     "Mom, is everything alright? Say something!"

     The red haired teen slowly turned to her Kougra, and Sandra could tell she'd been crying.

     "Mom!" Sandra cried, running over to hug her owner. As if on cue, new tears sprang to the teen's eyes, and as Sandra looked over on the table, she'd seen what her owner had been reading.

     "F-Five of you..." the teen whispered. "F-Five of you..."

     "Huh?" Sandra asked. She broke away from her owner, and glanced at the table, where an issue of the Neopian Times was. "Did something in the paper upset you?"

     "Five of you have to go!" the owner cried hysterically, collapsing into a chair.

     Sandra's blood turned to ice. She grabbed the paper and slowly read the headline. A look of horror crossed her face.

     "This is awful!"

     ---

     Twenty minutes later, the teen and her twenty Neopets sat in the living room, some crying, others simply too shocked to do anything but stare off into space.

     "Steph?" a faerie Kougra exclaimed, addressing her owner by name. "Do five of us really have to go?"

     "That's what the paper says. Three pets per account." Steph threw the paper on a couch cushion and took a deep breath.

     "All of you, into your quartets. I'm sorry I'm making you do this, but..."

     The pets nodded, and slowly broke away from each other and into little groups of four. Steph nodded.

     "I'll give you guys time to think it over." With one final glance at her pets, she left the room.

     A heavy silence hung over the Neohome.

     ---

     "So who's staying?" Acorna, a pink Uni, asked her three sisters. Sandra looked down.

     "I'd like to stay, but what about you guys?"

     "I'd be best off in the Pound," Lin, a magma Cybunny, explained. "I mean, I've been there once before.

     Finally, the three turned to Susan, the desert Aisha. She'd been awfully quiet...

     "Susan?" Sandra murmured. "What about you?"

     Susan slowly looked up, and pushed a strand of streaked blonde hair away from her face.

     "I'll go to the Pound," she said. "Mom would be heartbroken if any of you had to go. Besides..." Susan looked down again. "Ever since I joined this family I've been nothing but a thorn in everyone's side."

     "Susan, that's not true," Lin said. "Mom adores you. She used her only Fountain Faerie Quest on you."

     Susan's lower lip began to tremble.

     "I'm going," Susan exclaimed, a little more firm. She turned to Acorna, Lin and Sandra. "I'll miss you guys."

     "We'll miss you too," Acorna said sadly, as all three sisters got up to hug Susan.

     "It's for the best," Susan said, as she broke away from her sisters.

     ---

     "Listen, one of us will have to go! If we don't choose, TNT will choose for us!"

     In another quartet, Lia, a cloud Wocky, Lily, a Christmas Peophin, Jen, a camouflage Poogle and Jan, a striped Poogle, argued among themselves, not sure which one should go.

     "I'm not going anywhere without Jan," Jen exclaimed, going to stand next to her twin. "It's just the rules."

     "But that's so selfish!" Lia screeched. "That only leaves me and Lily!"

     "Lia, please calm down," Lily exclaimed. The former princess placed a hoof on her sisters shoulder. "Lia, Jen, Jan, I'll go. I'll return to Maraqua where we all know I belong."

     All three sisters stared at Lily, shocked.

     "And leave me with those two?" Lia shrieked, pointing at the twins. "No, you can't! They'll drive me nuts!"

     Lily laughed.

     "Lia, you'll learn to get along with them." Lily smiled faintly, then nodded. "Yes, my mind's made up. I'll go, you guys stay." Without another word, Lily got up from the floor and galloped into another room.

     ---

     "Justine, you're definitely going."

     Three Neopets, a faerie Xweetok, purple Grarrl, and blue Aisha, stood in a circle around a desert Poogle. Justine stared up at all of them.

     "Good," she said. "I never liked this family anyways. You guys are weird." Smirking, she pushed the faerie Xweetok out of the way and strode away.

     "Good riddance," the Xweetok mumbled under her breath. "I never liked you anyways."

     ---

     "Wayne... what do we do?"

     "The little ones will never survive in the Pound. They're definitely staying."

     "So that means one of us is going..."

     "I guess so..."

     The purple Scorchio and faerie Kougra looked at each other, then down at the baby Poogle and young cloud Acara.

     "I'll go," the Kougra exclaimed suddenly.

     "But Sally..."

     "I know, Mom has abandoned me once before. I know she already readopted me. But this time... it's my decision. I won't let you or the young ones suffer in the Pound like I did." Sally took a deep breath. "Goodbye... Wayne..."

     Wayne nodded, and hugged his sister tearfully.

     "Goodbye, Sally..."

     ---

     In the final quartet, a snow Poogle and fire Wocky were having the same situation.

     "The babies stay," Ashley, the Wocky, said. Kris, the Poogle, nodded.

     "Yeah, but now the question is, which one of us will go?"

     Ashley looked down at the ground.

     "You stay... I'm the cursed one after all."

     Kris shook his head.

     "No way, I've had more experience in the Pound than you have."

     "It wouldn't be fair to you, Kris," Ashley said, looking her brother in the eye. "Mom's had you the longest. I'm the most recent addition to the family." A single tear fell from Ashley's orange eyes. She quickly swiped it away. "Take care of our baby siblings..."

     "Ashley..." Kris started, but it was too late. Ashley was already gone.

     ---

     "Well, have all of you decided?"

     The twenty pets had gathered in the living room once again, along with Steph, who's eyes were red from crying for the past hour.

     The pets nodded somberly.

     "Okay," Steph said. "The pets who are going, would you please come over to me?"

     Sighing, Susan walked away from her crying sisters, up to her mom.

     Lily galloped up to stand next to Susan.

     Justine was pushed to the front by the pets in her quartet.

     Giving her quartet mates one final hug, Sally joined the three.

     And finally, Ashley scurried up to join them.

     Taking a deep breath, Steph turned to the remaining fifteen pets.

     "I know this is hard for you guys," she said. "Some of you have developed tight bonds with these pets; I understand that." She took another deep breath. "But unfortunat-"

     "Mom, wait!"

     Every head in the house turned to face Sandra, who stood near the door, clutching another Neopian Times paper in her paws.

     "Yes, Sandra?"

     Sandra hurried up and thrust the paper in her owners face. Steph carefully read the paper, and slowly, a grin spread across her face.

     Then she began to laugh!

     All twenty pets glanced at each other, for a moment wondering if their owner had finally lost her mind, but then she slowly regained her bearings.

     "None of you have to go!" Steph exclaimed, holding the paper out for her pets to see. As the pets crowded around, they saw the headline in bold.

     APRIL FOOLS DAY PRANK ROCKS NEOPIA! EVERYTHING RETURNED TO NORMAL!

     Slowly, the five pets who had been selected to go looked at each other, then down to the rest of their siblings.

     Susan squealed with delight as she ran back to her sisters.

     Lia let out a sigh of relief as Lily came to join them.

     Three pets groaned as Justine proudly walked back to them, tossing her silvery hair.

     Sally smiled as she flew back over to her sisters and brother.

     And Ashley cried out tears of happiness.

     Steph looked around the once again happy Neohome, and smiled.

     "Well, guys, happy April Fools Day!"

The End

 
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