Faerieland Folly

      The day dawned bright and sunny. Not a single cloud lingered in the sky as Prince_Hailstorm, known mainly as Hail to is friends, soared above Terror Mountain. The sun couldn't chase the slight chill from the air but Hail as an ice draik paid it no mind. He was too excited anyways. He was meeting a friend in Faeriland today to try his hand at Poogle Racing and that meant he could stop in at his favorite bookshop Faerieland Bookshop. He usually avoided it on his trips to the land because his other friends weren't book snobs and he didn't want to bore them. Stevens40, a shadow Xweetok he met a few months ago, shared the same love for books that Hail did so he had no problems dragging him into the store.

      Hail banked left and swooped down to land on the grassy knoll outside of Faerieland. Stevens was sprawled across the ground, book in hand, soaking in the sunlight. The Xweetok looked up at the ice draik. He gave him a lazy smile. “Are we ready for today?”

      Hail smiled back and nodded. “Oh yeah. Not a cloud around, homework is done, and I've got Neopoints to spend.”

      Stevens tucked his book away in the bag he was carrying and rolled to his feet. “Well then, far be it for me to hold you back.” He said and the duo started walking towards the gates to the city. They nodded to the kind Faerie pteri sitting outside the gate and made their way into the city. Neopets of all species and color were lined up at the Healing Springs to get healed and the Hail waved at a darigan techo with his arm in a sling and turned to say something to Stevens before realizing the shadow Xweetok wasn't walking beside him anymore.

      “Stevens?” Hail asked and noticed his friend's gaze on the Wheel of Excitement. “Ahh!” He said and gripped the Xweetok by the shoulder, dragging him good naturally towards the giant wheel. “Let's give it a spin!”

      “Are you sure? I always seem to get rubbish when I spin the wheel.” Stevens asked but Hail noticed his eyes light up. Stevens paid the light Faerie 500 NP and gave the wheel a sharp tug. The wheel made a gentle thwack thwack thwack sound as it spun in a circle before slowing down and coming to land on the question mark.

      “Wow! What a spectacular prize!” The light Faerie exclaimed and handed him 120 Neopoints. Stevens accepted the money then burst out laughing when the two were far enough away to not offend the Faerie.

      “I told you ! Always rubbish!” He exclaimed with mirth.

      Hail's laughter cut off as he heard a loud “oof” and a resounding voice yell out in surprise “So many low hanging branches around here.” Hail's eyes flickered to Stevens before sighing.

      “Um that sounds like my friend..” Hail's voice trailed off as a dimensional peophin rounded the corner, rubbing his head.

      The peo spotted them. “Well hello there Hail and.. oh hey I know you. You're that shadow Xweetok.” Bujyh stopped and shook his head, “Well obviously you're a shadow xwee but you're that one from...” He trailed off and looked at Hail.

      Hail rolled his eyes. “Brujyh we met Stevens40 and his friend Farren08 when we went to place Dice-A-Roo a few months ago remember? Farren was the big were lupe that you got into a major competition with?” Hail waited for the lightbulb to go on behind his closest friend's eyes.

      “Ah yeah.. right.” Bru said and extended his hand out to Stevens. 'It's a pleasure to finally meet you again. Where are you two off to?”

      Stevens looked helplessly at Hail who held back a laugh. Brujyh could be loud and overbearing but he was a good peo. “Um.. we were heading to the book store then off to the Poogle Races.” Stevens said quietly, more at ease with Hail and his quiet ways than the brash pony standing before him.

      “Oh.. books. Yeah fun stuff. I read a book once.” Brujyh said with a wide smile. “Let me walk with you? I was on my way to finish this Faerie quest and head to the Hidden Tower. Rumor has it there's a plot happening soon and I want only the finest weapons.”

      Hail looked at Stevens who shrugged. “Sure come along, though you know the Hidden Tower doesn't have the best weapons right?”

      Brujyh laughed. “Of course they do, with those prices the weapons have to be top notch.”

      The trio meandered their way through Faerieland before walking into Faerie City. Hail gave a wistful look at the bookstore then nudged Stevens. “Do you mind if we go along with Bru until he's safely out of the Hidden Tower? My friend has a tendency to get sidetracked.” Stevens laughed and nodded and the draik and Xweetok raced to catch up with the oblivious peophin.

      Brujyh held the door open as the three of them walked into the Faerie Quest building. He handed a book to the water Faerie and collected his stat reward. “One stop done, one to go.. or well two if you guys want me to go to the Bookstore with you?” Both Hail and Stevens shook their head.

      “Nonsense Brujyh, you're more than welcome to go on your way after we're done with the Hidden Tower if you'd like.” Stevens said.

      “Are you sure? I mean I do have a shift at Kelp coming up but I have a few minutes to spare.” Brujyh said tilting his head sideways.

      “Nah, no worries Bru. We'll probably take a few hours in the bookstore anyways.” Hail said and smiled at his friend.

      The three left the building and walked across the street. Brujyh leaned forward, staring intently at a rather ordinary looking brick wall and …

      Brujyh gazed around the store in wonder. Everywhere he looked was magical artifacts of every shape and size.

      Stevens walked over to the book collection and Hail followed him. “Have you ever read any?” He asked the ice draik.

      Hail shook his head. “Surprisingly I haven't but I know for a fact Brujyh has purchased both the Grimoire of the First Order and Grimoire of Prosperity.”

      Stevens gave him a dubious look. “You can't be serious? I thought your friend didn't like reading.”

      “He doesn't. He opened the first page so he could get the avatar then promptly threw both books in the trash and they'd disappeared before I could rescue them!” Hail exclaimed. “Bru hates reading but he'll do anything for avatars.”

      Stevens shuddered at the idea of such beautiful books being casually tossed aside.

      “Hey look at this!” Brujyh exclaimed from behind them. Both turned around and jumped at the sight of Bru in Dr. Sloth's Personal Body Armor.

      “Are you insane! Take that off. That's not going to help you in a battle! Knowing you you'll just trip over the cape and fall on your face.” Hail exclaimed eyeing the price tag warily. Stevens caught the eye of the Faerie Queen lurking at the front of the store and gave her a quick hesitant wave.

      Brujyh grumbled. “Fine” and went back into the dressing room, coming out with a Pirate Captain's Hat on his head.

      Hail sighed. “And what are you going to do with that?”

      Bru shrugged. “I thought it looked nice!” He said and swept his tail back and forth as he checked himself out in the mirror.

      CRASH!!!!

      Stevens and Hail jumped again as Brujyh's tail connected with a Jhudoras Crystal Ball. Water and glass went everywhere and the three friends looked at each other before all three of them slowly turned to the Faerie Queen who was floating down the aisle.

      “Oh no worries! It happens all the time.” She said in a sweet voice and with a flick of her hands the mess vanished.

      “So we're cool then?” Brujyh asked her hopefully.

      She laughed sweetly. “Of course not dear.” She pointed to a sign above their head. “You break it, you buy it! I've got the pieces already all boxed up for you at the front of the store and the water is in a jug right next to it. Not sure what you'll do with a broken crystal ball but that's your problem.” She extended her hand. “That'll be three million Neopoints please.”

      Brujyh frowned but then smiled. “I've always wanted to go to the Toy Repair Shop. This will be a good reason to go.” He handed her his card.

      The Faerie Queen frowned. “They aren't toys!” She thought but decided to let it go since he wasn't putting up a fuss for having to pay for it.

      Stevens and Hail walked out of the store. Brujyh trailing them, balancing a box in his hoofs with a jug of magic water sitting on top of it, whistling happily since he received the Hidden Tower avatar for purchasing an item from the shop.

      Hail and Stevens stopped outside the Bookstore. “Well I guess this is it. It was a pleasure meeting you again Brujyh” Stevens said.

      “Yes it was great seeing you again too. Are you sure you guys don't want me to head into the bookstore with you?” Bru asked.

      Hail eyed the precariously balanced water his friend was holding. “No it's fine, you'd just get bored. But um I'll call you when I get home ok!” He asked.

      Brujyh shrugged. “Sounds good to me. I've got to get to work anyways and I could use the extra time to recount how I'm going to tell my story to everyone at Kelp. You think they'll believe me if I told them I broke the crystal ball while battling the Faerie Queen because she insulted the way I looked in a pirate hat?” Stevens and Hail looked at each other. “Or maybe I'll say I rescued the Faerie Queen and she gave me this present and the special quest saying I'm the only one who can fix the crystal ball. Hmmm or maybe...”

      Brujyh's voice trailed away as he walked further from the duo.

      Hail and Stevens broke out laughing as they walked into the bookstore. An adventure with Brujyh was always guaranteed to be a crazy one.

      The End.