Dixie's Wings

      Did you know that faeries are not born with their wings? They have to work hard to earn them. It’s crazy right? When everyone thinks of a faerie they immediately think of huge, gorgeous, colorful wings. In reality, most regular people do not know how much hard work and effort it takes for a faerie to actually earn their gorgeous and colorful wings.

      Let me tell you the story of how Dixie earned her wings.

      It was a day like any other, Dixie was playing with her friends after neo-school. It was bright and sunny, the sky was a clear crystal blue, birds were chirping, children were laughing, everything was great. Then there was a loud, ear shattering scream. It sounded like the world had stopped spinning. All of Dixie’s friends froze, no one had ever heard a noise like that before. They all knew something had to be very wrong.

      “What was that horrible sound?” Dixie wondered, her thoughts were quickly interrupted by another ear shattering scream. She didn’t even stop to think, before she knew what was happening, she found herself running. Dixie did not know where she was going, but she knew that she had to get there fast. She ran for what felt like seconds, but in these moments, she covered a lot of ground. Looking around, Dixie realized that she was running through a forest. She kept running and running, somehow she knew right where she was supposed to go.

      As Dixie kept running she knew that she was close to the place she was running to. Suddenly Dixie saw a rushing river up ahead, with a little blue Poogle standing right beside the river. The Poogle had a terrified look on her face. Dixie ran over to the Poogle and asked her if she was okay. The Poogle said that she wasn’t okay and upon further conversation, Dixie learned that her name was Tawny and she was the one screaming.

      “Why are you screaming?” Dixie asked Tawny.

      “Well,” Tawny replied, “Novi, my Doglefox fell into the river and now he is trapped over there.” Tawny pointed to a big rock in the middle of the river. Sure enough there was a tiny Doglefox crying, sitting on a big rock with the river rushing violently around him.

      “Don’t worry,” Dixie replied. “I will save him for you!” She had no idea what she was going to do, but Dixie knew that she couldn’t leave the little Doglefox out in the middle of the river. “It is going to be okay little guy!” Dixie yelled, “I am coming to rescue you.”

      Dixie paced back and forth on the shore line. Deep in thought, searching her brain for a way to save the poor little guy who was stuck out in the middle of the river. There was no way that Dixie could swim out to get him. The current was way too strong, and it looked like there was a waterfall further down the river. It was way too risky!

      The strong flow of the river also meant that there was no way Dixie would be able to build a raft and paddle out to rescue Novi. This was turning out to be a harder problem to fix than she had originally anticipated.

      Dixie began to look around to see if there were rocks crossing the river that she could jump on to get to Novi. Of course there was not. Then she noticed a tree that overhung the river. It went almost to where Novi was trapped.

      “Maybe,” thought Dixie “ I can climb the tree and scoot out to Novi and get him that way. But, I haven’t climbed a tree in a very long time. When I was younger I used to climb trees all out the time, until one day when I fell out of a tree and broke my arm. Ever since then I haven’t been near a tree. But Novi is trapped in the river and that tree is the only way to get to him. It looks like I will have to get over my fear of climbing trees and be extra careful. After all I can’t just leave him out in the middle of the river, it will be dark soon.”

      So Dixie went over to the tree and carefully hoisted herself up into the branches. It is a good thing the tree had lots of branches to climb. Dixie saw the branch that she needed to get to, so she made her way to it. Once she got to the branch that reached out to where Novi was, Dixie hopped up onto it so she was sitting. Then, very carefully she scooted out until she was as close to Novi as she could get.

      Carefully, Dixie took off her belt and dangled it down so that it is close to him. “Novi, jump up and grab onto my belt,” Dixie said. “I will pull you up.”

      So Novi jumped up and bit onto the belt and Dixie pulled him up. With Novi in her arms, Dixie carefully scooted back towards the tree trunk, and then climbed down. “Here Tawny,” she said as she passed Novi to her.

      Tawny thanks her over and over again, she is so happy that Dixie saved Novi for her. Dixie is proud of the good deed that she has done and that she conquered a fear. Dixie says her goodbyes and heads home.

      The next morning Dixie wakes up to a knock on the door. It is Queen Fyora. “Your Majesty!” she exclaims, “To what do I owe his honor?”

      Queen Fyora smiles at Dixie and says “My dear Faerie, it has come to my attention that you did a selfless act yesterday which also involved conquering a fear of yours. I was talking to young Tawny the Poogle and she told me a tale of how you saved her dear Doglefox. That was a really nice thing for you to do for a stranger. Tawny told me how grateful she was that you happened to come along. She told me how you strategized until you found a way to get to the middle of the river where her dear petpet was. I want to tell you how proud I am of you for stepping up and helping a stranger in need. In Neopia we are all family, and it is nice to see people care for others. For your good deed I would like to reward you with the ultimate gift of thanks. As you know my dear, faeries are granted the magic of wings by doing a great deed to help someone in need. You have proven how kind hearted you are by helping a stranger yesterday, and for that I would like to give you your very own set of wings.”

      Queen Fyora waved her arms and suddenly the whole room was covered in pink glitter. As this happened, Dixie felt a tickling sensation from the top of her head down to the tip of her toes.

      “Thank you for everything young faerie, enjoy your wings!” Said Queen Fyora as she disappeared into a puff of glitter.

      “Wow!” Thought Dixie to herself as she ran to the mirror to look at her reflection. “I can’t believe what just happened, it is like some kind of dream.” Dixie looked the same as she normally did, but attached to her back were the most gorgeous, baby blue faerie wings she had ever seen. Dixie was awestruck. Never in all her wildest dreams had she ever imaged that she would have wings as beautiful as these.

      With a smile Dixie said to her reflection “I earned my wings, all faeries dream of this day for years and years!” Looking in the mirror all she could do was smile, for Dixie knew that this moment, was the best moment of her life.

      The End.