A Trip to (T)error Mountain

     Halfway through her cup of tea, Clover thought she could smell something burning. "Oh no, the crumpets!" she cried. She pulled the crumpets out of the toaster without thinking, but they burnt her paws. "Ouch!" she cried as she flung the crumpets across the room. Bluebell saw the burnt crumpets flying right at her and cleverly ducked, while the crumpets flew right over Bluebell's head and into Clover's favourite Light Faerie Snowglobe, knocking it to the floor and shattering it.

     "Oh dear!" cried Clover as she ran over to collect the pieces. "That was my favourite snowglobe." Bluebell thumped her tail and looked pointedly at Clover. "Of course," Clover said. "I'm sure Donny would be able to fix this. Let's take a trip to Terror Mountain!"

     Clover pulled her knapsack out of the closet and began packing it with lunch, warm clothes for her and Bluebell, some Neopoints for Donny, and of course the broken snowglobe, which she had carefully wrapped in yesterday's Neopian Times. The pair set off for Happy Valley without further ado.

     "Happy Valley looks different today," Clover thought out loud. It took a moment before she realised – the snow had melted, the sun was shining and it was warm! Clover felt hot in her thick jersey. But it wasn't just the temperature that was different. There was something odd about the Neopians too. Instead of the usual cheer and ice creams and snowball fights, everyone looked glum. "What's the matter?" Clover asked a passing yellow Bruce. The Bruce just looked at her, a tear escaping from his eye. Then he turned around and began walking quickly in the other direction. "Happy Valley?" Clover asked Bluebell. "More like UN-Happy Valley."

     "Let's head off to the Ice Caves," suggested Clover, "I don't think I can stand this much longer, I feel like I'm about to start crying too." Bluebell said nothing, but looked very miserable.

     The Ice Caves didn't seem quite right either. The sun had melted the ice and the cobbled paths between the caves were littered with wildflowers. The Snowager's cave was to the left. "I might as well stop in there on the way. If my watch is correct, he ought to be asleep, and I can always use another negg or plushie," Clover said to Bluebell, who pawed the ground nervously. "And if I get blasted, I packed a few healing potions just in case."

     The pair entered the Snowager's lair, expecting him to be sleeping. But the Snowager was wide awake! Clover and Bluebell began to run, but instead of the icy blast they were expecting, a sugary-sweet voice called out "Wait a minute!" Clover and Bluebell were so shocked, they stopped dead in their tracks and turned around. The Snowager slid over to them. "Here, please take this," he said, offering Clover a large Yellow Negg. Clover was overcome with surprise, but didn't want to be rude, so she nervously accepted the negg and said "Thank you very much".

     "This just gets stranger and stranger," Clover said to Bluebell as they were leaving. Bluebell said nothing as usual, but knitted her eyebrows and looked very confused indeed.

     They began to climb to the top of the mountain, which was steep and not very pleasant in the scorching heat. The Yolkalias and even the Snap Draiks were wilting in the sun. Clover's knapsack felt heavy and she wished she hadn't brought all those warm clothes. At last they reached the top. "Oh, isn't that funny," Clover observed. "The sign is supposed to say 'Terror Mountain', but the 'T' has fallen off." Bluebell stood on her hind paws and sniffed the air.

     It was late in the afternoon and a light breeze had begun to blow, when finally, Clover and Bluebell reached the little shack on the top of the mountain. The number "404" was painted on the door in red. Clover was sure Donny's workshop wasn't number 404, but it looked just like Donny's workshop, so nevertheless, she pulled the broken snowglobe out of her knapsack and knocked on the door. "Come in!" a voice boomed, so Clover pushed the door open and entered. But the red Bori sitting behind the desk looked unfamiliar.

     "Donny?" she began as she unwrapped the newspaper and laid her Broken Light Faerie Snowglobe on the desk in front of the red Bori. "I was hoping you could fix..."

     The red Bori interrupted. "My name's Johnny, not Donny. And I don't fix toys, I break them," he grinned as he tossed a perfectly good Wind Up Tonu onto the floor, its limbs breaking off and its mechanism spilling out.

     This was more than Clover could take. She burst into tears. "I don't understand," she sobbed. "Terror Mountain is green and sunny, the Snowager is giving neggs away freely, and I can't find Donny! What's going on?"

     "Hey there, don't cry," Johnny comforted her. "This isn't Terror Mountain, it's Error Mountain. You must have taken a wrong turn."

     "Error Mountain," Clover repeated. "I've never heard of such a place!"

     But suddenly, everything made sense. "It's like Terror Mountain, only backwards!" Clover said to herself. "The missing 'T' from the sign, the sad Neopets in Happy Valley. But how do I get to Terror Mountain?" she asked.

     "Well, to tell the truth, I don't know," replied Johnny. "I've never heard of Terror Mountain. It's not on my globe."

     Johnny placed his globe on the desk and pointed to the snowy mountain, located to the far north. Sure enough, it was labelled 'Error Mountain'. Clover studied the globe carefully for several minutes, turning it under her paws, but Terror Mountain was nowhere to be seen. Bluebell squinted at the globe and shrugged. "Well, I suppose all I can do now is go back home," decided Clover.

     "I was just about to put the kettle on," said Johnny. "Why not stay for afternoon tea first?" Clover agreed and Johnny brought out some biscuits and hot chocolate, and some tinned petpet food for Bluebell. Bluebell turned up her nose and looked rather disgusted. Clover sat back and began to relax, but the day's walking and the heat had made her feel very tired, and as she sipped her hot chocolate, she felt herself nodding off...

     The day began just like any other. Clover the blue Cybunny hopped out of bed and put on her slippers and dressing gown. She padded into the kitchen where she put the kettle on and made a pot of tea. Clover poured two mugs, one for herself and one for her Snowbunny, Bluebell. Glancing at her Light Faerie Snowglobe in its usual place on the shelf, she thought for a minute, then said to Bluebell, "I don't think I'll have crumpets for breakfast today," as she reached for a box of Sugar Negg Cereal.

The End