Bubbles

     Named for her bright yellow fur, she’d been the youngest of nine siblings (Cybunnies did tend to have rather large families, after all). Therefore she’d been sent to live with her grandmother when she was still quite young, since their Neohome was getting rather cramped by that point. Still, her parents were only a few streets away, and her grandmother’s place was a nice one. You see, they lived in Faerieland, and even though it didn’t soar above the clouds anymore, the little plateau it now rested on really was pleasant. The hills and dells sprawled outwards for miles, shot through with glittering streams the same blue as the sky, crystal clear and deliciously cold – perfect for paddling in on a hot day.

     In fact, there was very little about Faerieland you could say wasn’t pleasant. Faerie City was always bustling with people, and every weekend there was some special event going on, like a new type of pastry being taste-tested at the food shop, or a cheap deal at the bookstore should you be willing to trawl through the towering shelves. The whole city was never short of interesting people to talk to, as Neopians flocked from all across the world to work for the faeries; the Employment Agency was always a quick way to earn some cash, and others slogged their way to the candy-coloured streets in the hope of completing a bigger quest for some better reward.

     This was the land of dreams, the land where hard work was rewarded and determination was all you needed. They had some of the best schools in Neopia (all faerie run, so if you wanted to learn pretty much anything, this was how), apprenticeship schemes, business courses, the works. You want to run your own salon, your own bakery, your own clothing shop? If you believe, you can do it, because Faerieland was where wishes came true.

     Unless, of course, you were very unlucky.

     Sunny had lots of dreams – mostly, that she wanted to be a Faerie Cybunny. After school, most days, she’d wander up to a nice, shady spot in the meadows behind her home and watch the faeries swooping past, eavesdropping on them handing out quests to Neopians and admiring the ways their vibrant wings seemed to glow in the sunlight. Sunset orange and dusky purple, blossoming indigo and coral pink, their wings looked so frail, yet managed to send them soaring into the air with a few strong beats, blooming out from their backs like the tail on a comet. And maybe one day, she could have that too, with lilac and dusty rose-coloured wings sprouting from her back.

     Unfortunately, by her calculations, a Faerie Paint Brush sold for almost two million Neopoints. Sunny, on the other hand, had around 20,000 Neopoints languishing in her tiny bank account. And that was before all her Food Club bets tanked this week. Still, she was nothing if not determined. She had a dream, and she was sure that she’d be able to fulfil it – someday. Her first venture as a child had been selling small cookies on a stall outside her house, five Neopoints a go. And sure, she’d only made a couple of thousand out of it once you factored in the cost of baking them all, but a small profit was still a profit!

     Her next venture had been restocking books at the weekend, hurrying down to the Faerie Bookshop at the crack of dawn and seeing what new stock they had in, in the hopes that she’d be able to swipe something that would put her back in the green. Unfortunately, her method of “grab whichever book had the most attractive cover,” and hoping for the best rarely paid off – just because her favourite book were ones about Jhudora didn’t mean that her customers necessarily wanted them, even if they were pretty. Starting a faerie-themed gallery and charging a small entry fee hadn’t really worked out either, because that tended to be a very popular theme around here, and if you’d seen one faerie-themed line of clothing, you’d really seen them all.

     So she’d diversified, throwing herself into her work, after she finished school for the summer. At the start of the year, she’d enrolled in some Battledome training classes that the school was offering as an extracurricular club, so an old Shoyru with a beard that came down to his waist taught her how to dodge and weave and hop until her opponents were disoriented and dizzy. That had turned her a good profit for a while since the Codestones she collected sold nicely in the shop, but she’d quickly abandoned the idea after ending up with a nasty black eye from one of the Obelisk skirmish bouts. Faerie Cybunnies didn’t look good with unsightly purple splodges on their faces after all, and besides, her grandmother had forbidden her from doing anything so dangerous again as she dragged her by the ear to the Healing Springs.

     That had given her the bright idea to propose an idea to Marina, since it was a tad difficult for her to fetch all the items she needed for the Healing Springs since, y’know, she didn’t have any legs.

     ‘Hire me,’ Sunny had said, drawing herself up to her full height and putting on what she called her “game face.” ‘And you’ll never have to leave the Springs again. Need a Neggitus Injection? No problem. I’m the fastest Cybunny on this cloud. Need extra bandages? I can portal down to Neopia Central in. A. Flash.’

     (that one was accompanied by several overexaggerated, enthusiastic arm gestures).

     ‘And, y’know, if you ever want someone to grab you a coffee, maybe a chocolate bar every once in a while, you’d just have to say the word,’ she added as an afterthought, pasting on a beaming smile. ‘I’d be the ultimate personal assistant, all for the low, low price of 10,000 Neopoints a day!’

     ‘Sweetheart, how would I pay you when everyone gets healed for free?’ was the faerie’s not unkind reply. ‘It’s a lovely idea, but I don’t think I need an assistant.’

     ‘… Okay,’ was Sunny’s dejected reply, ears drooping as she scurried away. But soon enough, the cogs began to turn, and a new bunch of ideas cropped up.

     Unfortunately for Sunny, her week just went from bad to worse.

     Guiding people to the Hidden Tower sounded great, at first, but the trouble with the Hidden Tower was that it was, well, hidden. Getting lost and wandering around in circles really wasn’t good for business. Undeterred, she took a portal over to Terror Mountain, setting up camp outside the Shop of Mysteries, proclaiming herself an expert guide in finding paint brushes amongst Tarla’s wares. She did make a couple of thousand NeoPoints out of that one, but was chased off by the angry pink Ixi herself before her business really started to take off.

      Finally, she tried the Haunted Woods. Or at the very least, she intended to try the Haunted Woods, but the second she set foot out of the carnival grounds to speak to Edna, her fur started to stand on end. Sure, she was determined to become Edna’s apprentice, but there was something about the eerie whispering of the wind through the tree branches that terrified her. She chalked it up to the universe giving her another rejection and skulked back home to Faerieland.

     ‘It’s no good, Grandma!’ she whined, slumping down at her grandmother’s side. The older Cybunny was at the Faerie Bubbles arena, where she could be found most days, doggedly firing the bubbles from the cannon in the hopes of getting the avatar. ‘Nowhere will hire me! I’ve tried all across Neopia and no one’s taking on newbies! I wanted to get into stocks so Nigel could help me get the avatar! It’s like I’m cursed or something.’ She perked up at that. ‘Hey, maybe I am cursed. Do you think Queen Fyora will pity me and that’s how I’ll get a job?’

     ‘I think it’s more likely she’ll ship you off to Brightvale so the sorcerers can poke at you,’ was her grandmother’s wry reply. ‘Just keep at it, my dear. You’ll get a job when the time is right. You just need the odds to swing in your favour, and that takes time. Neopia’s whims are fickle.’

     ‘Yeah, well I’m sick of waiting!’ Sunny scowled at the row of bubbles in front of her and wondered if it would be considered cheating if she threw a stone at them to burst one. ‘I’ve been trying for months.’

     She kicked the cannon with a strong foot, sulkily noting that it didn’t even budge. Her grandmother followed her movement with a thoughtful gaze and twitched the handles of the cannon so it was facing straight ahead.

     ‘Look at this level, Sunny,’ she said, pointing a paw at the arena in front of her. ‘What do you see?’

     Sunny poked her head over the railing, studying the level before her, the playing field littered with pastel-coloured bubbles that projected gentle rainbow shades on to the clouds nearby.

     ‘Uhhh… three rows of bubbles? You haven’t started this round yet.’

     ‘What else?’

     ‘You’ve got… a row of light bubbles, a row of air, and a row of fire at the top. Not a great level.’

     ‘You don’t think so?’

     Sunny shook her head. ‘Light bubbles are unpredictable, and air will just fill up the arena more. I mean, the fire row will help, but once you’re close enough to get to them, you’ll have made too many shots. Game over.’

     ‘That’s where you’re wrong,’ the older Cybunny replied, a grin spreading over her face. ‘You said it yourself – unpredictable. That’s the beauty of it. It could go wrong, but it could also go right. You just have to have faith that your luck can change in the blink of an eye.’

     ‘Or you could spawn earth bubbles and end the entire game,’ her granddaughter couldn’t resist pointing out. ‘But you never know until you take the plunge and try it for yourself!’

     And with that, her grandmother steadied the cannon, and fired a light bubble at the first row. The arena briefly lit up with cheerful spring sunlight as the combo synthesised, and Sunny screwed her eyes shut to avoid the glare. When she cautiously blinked them open, she felt the heat immediately.

     Sat before her was two rows of merrily crackling fire bubbles, the flames encased in the flimsy shells greedily licking at their fragile prison. Her grandmother’s grin stretched from ear to ear (which was pretty big, considering the height of Cybunny ears).

     ‘All it takes is a little bit of luck,’ she said, readying the cannon and tapping the button to fire, sending the bubbles smouldering away into nothing. ‘And faith, that things will be okay. You’ve just got to keep trying, and one day, luck will tilt in your favour.’

     It was with those words ringing in her head that Sunny set out the next morning, a hop in her step and a smile on her face. Faerie City spawled out before her, shop after shop calling to her in the soft morning light.

     Yes, there was always the possibility that the petpet shop, the furniture store, and Faerie Foods would all say no. But much like those unpredictable light bubbles, there was always the possibility that the dice would fall where she wanted, and they would say yes.

     All you had to do was take the first shot.

     The End.