Skytrie took a deep breath and flew the last hundred feet to the cloudy land above.

"Yay! We've FINALLY made it! FAERIELAND!!!" shouted an excited Stampy as he lept out of the parachute and onto the fluffy, (yet stable) clouds. "I can't wait to see everything! Why, we could even visit Queen Fyora! We could go to the Faerie Caves, and the Poogle Races, the Faerie City... Oh, and the wheel of Excitement and..."

Skytrie wasn't listening though. "Um.... gee, I thought there'd be more... well, Faeries in Faerieland..."

Stampy stopped rambling. "Hmm. Yeah, you're right. There really doesn't seem to be anyone here."

They scanned the cloudy land carefully, but nothing seemed to move except some flags waving in the wind. "Maybe there's a parade going on in Neopia Central?" Skytrie ventured. "They could all be there..."

"I didn't see any big event mentioned in this week's Neopian Times... let's have a look around. Maybe we can find someone that can tell us where everyone went." Stampy began wandering towards the Faerie City.

"Wait for me!" The blue Pteri shouted as she flew after Stampy. She glided alongside her friend as they made their way down the empty streets...

"Skytrie, Skytrie!" he yelled. There was no answer. Stampy heard a clattering down a narrow street. He raced down to investigate. "Skytrie, where are you?" he cried. Skytrie suddenly stuck her head around the corner. She motioned him to follow her. Stampy grinned.

"Where..."

"SHHHH!" Skytrie hissed. Motioning again for him to follow her, Skytrie led the way down the narrow alley. Overturned trash cans, abandoned toys, and a few potion bottles littered the streets. Stampy frowned. It didn't seem right. This didn't look like the Faerieland he had heard about at all. Again, he tried to talk to Skytrie, but she shushed him again. Sighing quietly, he continued to follow her.

Skytrie finally stopped in front of a small cottage. Dragging Stampy by the leg, she led him around the back. Once there, they crouched under the window. It was dirty and uncomfortable. Stampy glared at her.

"What are you doing?" he whispered. "Why did you bring me over here? It's disgusting." Skytrie gently punched his shoulder.

"Will you be quiet and listen to me? I found something." Reaching into her sash, she pulled out an amulet. Stampy gasped. It was gold with purple gems, and looked incredibly expensive. Skytrie took a deep breath. "Have you ever seen those pictures of the Faerie Queen?" Stampy nodded.

"Of course! Who hasn't?" Skytrie nodded and went on.

"Does this look familiar to you? I could have sworn I saw it in one of the more recent pictures of her. It was a present from someone, and I thought she vowed to never take it off." Stampy screwed up his eyes in thought, trying to remember if what Skytrie said was true. Suddenly, the memory came flooding back. He nodded quickly, studying Skytrie's face.

"If she swore that she would never take it off, then why do you have it?" Skytrie gulped.

"I found it. Something bad has happened here. Something must have happened to the Queen. This was lying in the middle of the road, tossed away like common trash. And look around, no young Neopets would ever abandon their toys in the middle of the street, and healing potions are too precious to leave ruined on the ground." Stampy nodded his agreement, and opened his mouth to say something.

Just then, a loud crash came from inside the house, and then a wailing. It sounded like a young one crying. Stampy and Skytrie both leaped up and looked into the window. Their eyes widened as they saw...

"Sooo, there are mooore left!" The thing hissed in triumph. It slid forward with uncanny grace and unleashed an impressive set of claws.

"Stampy..." Skytrie whimpered. Her Chomby friend quivered beside her silently. She clacked her beak and forced out in a weak voice, "Don't hurt us. We'll leave..."

"Yesss, you'll leave!"

Somehow, Stampy mistrusted the way it spoke that. There was underlying malicious glee and a gleam in the creature's cruel eyes.

The two backed up nervously until they realized there was nothing behind them. Stampy risked a glace behind. He shut his eyes tightly as his stomach did flips. It was a long way down. Especially if one couldn't fly.

"Now you shall perish interlopersss!" it screamed and flew at them with stunning speed. Hot breath scorched Stampy's face as he stumbled blindly to the side. Skytrie shot upward, her heart beating a million miles per hour.

Then there was an entirely different noise. The thing howled in pain and shrank back. Somehow, the queen's amulet had fallen from Skytrie's grasp. Thin beams of sunlight bounced off, searing into the creature's flesh.

Then it was falling. Stampy shook his head in surprise. The young puppy that had been attacked was standing at the edge looking down. His blue coat was covered in scarlet stains and he was breathing hard, but his chest was puffed out in success.

He turned to the duo and said, "Hi, my name's Xango. What's yours strangers?"...

"Tyrannia," Stampy replied.

"Oh, I know what that place is, my my mommy read to me about it..." Xango's courageous and inquisitive expression left and his eyes welled with tears at the mention of his mother.

"Xango, what's wrong?" Skytrie asked as she put a wing around the quivering pup.

My mommy, he took her!" Xango howled in despair.

"Who took her?" Skytrie asked, trying to soothe the nearly hysterical Xango.

"The shadow creature! Last night, he took everybody except those who were too young! He sent the creature that you just saw to finish off whoever was left!"

"Who is the shadow creature?" Stampy asked. Xango began to look more frightened than sad as he explained.

"I'm not sure, but I saw him. He was shrouded in a dark cloak. I couldn't see his face... only darkness."

"Can you remember anything else about him?" Stampy asked as Skytrie patted the young Lupe reasurringly.

"I don't think so," Xango said. "No wait, I remember one more thing! He wore an amulet around his neck!"

"An amulet, what did it look like?" asked Stampy, looking at the queen's amulet.

"Not like that one. It hung on a silver chain, it was a jewel of some sort, a black jewel. But it wasn't just any amulet, it was different, it seemed to be... alive. Like it had a life of it's own."

"What do you mean, Xango?" Skytrie piped up.

Well, inside of the jewel, it moved. Purple streams of what seemed almost like electricity whipped back and forth, crackling and hissing." "That's strange," Skytrie commented, "I've never heard of anything like it."

"Now back to the shadow creature," said Skytrie, "why did he take everybody?"

"He said," started Xango, "that he would enslave them, that they would work for him, building his shadowed empire. He said that young pets would not come, because we're too young and weak to work and not worth the expenses."

"So he is going to enslave everybody from Faerieland?" Skytrie gasped, "That's horrible!"

"Now Xango," she continued, do you know where he took them? What was the last thing you saw?"

"The last thing I saw," his voice quivered, "he took all the pets, he had thousands of shadow paint brushes, he took them all and forced them to be painted shadow. They all looked so unhappy..."

"I-i-i don't know. I'm never going to see my mommy again am I?" The Lupe cried. Tears were streaming down his face. Skytrie put a reassuring wing round the Lupe.

"Of course we will find your Mom! Just leave it to us!" she told him.

Xango spoke up.

"I think I know where he may have headed. A couple of weeks ago, me and my friend went exploring. We were wandering around nothern Faerieland, because that's the only direction we had yet to explore. I saw the Faerie Caves in the distance, so, curious as we were, decided to take a look. We wandered deep inside, until we found a strange-looking entrance to deeper caves. When I tried to go through, a purple forcefield stopped me. I banged and banged to try and break the force field, but there was no use. We should go to try and find it."

"Thank you for your information Xango," replied a greatful Pteri.

"Hey!" Stampy butted in. "I was just thinking; how will we possibly get inside? That forcefield; it will surely stop us!"

"That's where this comes in!" Skytrie held the dark amulet up high into the air. Purple light radiated from it and the gold shimmered in the sunlight. "TThe monster had that amulet around its neck, right? I bet it allows the monster to pass through!"

Stampy and Xango nodded, weak smiles spreading across their faces.

Stampy put on Fyora's amulet, as Skytrie carried the dark one and yelled, "Come on then you guys! To the Faerie Caves!"...

"Ow! What'd you stop for Xango?" Stampy asked in an annoyed voice, rubbing his head. Xango put his tail between his legs and slumped down a little. He turned around and blushed, a bright red color on his cheeks. There was also a sheepish look on his face. "Well?!" Stampy said irritated, glaring at the pup. Skytrie knew he had no experience with young Neopets..

"I forgot the way," Xango said, slightly laughing. His bright red cheeks were nothing you could miss, even in the dark cave they were standing in.

"Ohh, well that's brilliant! I'm sure we'll save Faerieland now!" Stampy said sarcastically, raising his hand in the air, and plopping himself onto the ground.

"Let's not give up hope just yet you guys. There's got to be a way to find it." Skytrie said, making Xango and Stampy's heads lift with curiosity.

"But how?" Stampy asked, defeated.

"We'll split up! That way we can cover more ground!" Skytrie said with great confidence.

"But this cave has so many different passages! We had to have walked pass a BILLION different passages already." Stampy said.

"I know! We can all go in one direction! We'll leave something to mark our place here, and we can each go a different way! For instance, I can always go left, Stampy can always go right, and Skytrie can always go straight, and if we find anything, we can yell out to each other." Xango said happily, his voice bouncing off the walls. "That's what me and my friends did!"

"Which friend found the forcefield?" Skytrie asked, Skytrie asked, hoping the little pup would remember something else.

"ME!" Xango said smiling proudly.

"Which way did you go?" Stampy asked, his hopes rising too.

"Umm," Xango began as he looked at the top of the cave, then blushed again. "I forgot." he said, smiling stupidly.

"Oy, he can't keep much in that head of his, can he?" Stampy said, getting up, after he had fallen down because of the remark.

"You know what's funny?" Xango said, leaving the subject. "My friends always called me the smart one." Xango said, beginning to laugh.

"I can't see why." Skytrie said sarcastically, beginning to lose hope.

"But can we try my plan anyway?" Xango asked Skytrie with pleading eyes. It was an unmistakable puppy look, the look that gets all.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to try." Skytrie replied, sighing.

"All right, let's go!" Xango said, pointing the way.

"HEY GUYS, I FOUND IT!!!" Xango screemed nearly three hours later, as he raced back to their starting point. But just as he reached the spot they'd marked that held the arrow made of stones, he heard a terrible scream...

"Mommy, where are you?!" Xango cried desperately.

Skytrie and Stampy raced to him from opposite directions.

"Guys, I found it! Hurry, follow me!"

"Did you hear that scream?" Skytrie breathed.

"Yeah, it was my mommy. It came from the place where that barrier is."

"Well, I guess you're not so dumb after all." Stampy replied. "You found two of the most important things we were looking for!"

"Yeah, well, it was just luck," Xango said, modestly.

Finally, they were at the barrier.

"Well, who wants to try first?" Skytrie asked. There was silence from both of her companions.

Xango piped up. "I could go, I guess. I mean since, you know, I discovered this place."

"Are you sure? I mean, if you don't really want to, I will," Skytrie said.

"No, no. I want to go. I brought you into this mess, and after all, my Mommy's in there!" Xango replied Xango replied.

"Wow," Skytrie whispered. "You're so brave!"

"Well, that comes from being a Faerieland pet," Xango replied heartily.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's move on with it!" Stampy remarked.

"What's gotten into you lately? The little Lupe acting with bravery even beyond OUR years and you go and ruin it by being sarcastic. Man, lighten up!" Skytrie said, harshly to Stampy.

"Sorry." Stampy blushed.

Skytrie placed the amulet around Xango's neck.

"You be careful if we can't come with you, okay?" Skytrie stifled a sob.

Xango stepped forward and through the barrier...

"I-I don't know," Skytrie said sheepishly. "Oh calm down will you? You've been really antsy today."

Stampy was shifting from side to side. He had dropped to all fours again. "What're we gonna do? He just disappeared!"

"I said calm down! Why don't you try the queen's amulet? Maybe it'll work too," Skytrie suggested hopefully.

Stampy had calmed down slightly. "I guess we could try." Without another word, the Chomby stretched his neck and shoved himself into the barrier.

Skytrie stayed close beside him, holding on with her wing, making sure that she also went through if it worked. She felt a strange sensation as she moved through it and then they stopped.

"Woah..." Stampy whispered, staring ahead. The walls had turned from white ice to a black so deep, they couldn't see two feet in front of them. "What happened?"

The Pteri beside him shook her head. "I don't know, but where is Xango?"

Xango broke clear of the barrier, and stared in amazement at the darkness before him, blacker than any night, with the moon or stars. He wasn't used to complete darkness; even his room had a nightlight. Now the darkness enveloped him from every side, and he felt a touch of panic. Then he remembered his mother, and, forgetting to wait and see if his friends were there, pressed on.

"Mommy?" he called hesitantly. "Mommy are you there?" He heard nothing, and smelled nothing. It was as if he were floating in space, and all the stars had been blotted out. He gulped and pressed on. Xango stood up on his hind legs and felt along the wall, his only comfort, and went around a bend.

"Who goes there?" A deep, rough voice barked. "Marchea Krow? I see you have returned. I take it the mission was successful?"

Xango realized it was one of the shadow creatures, and that he couldn't see either, but was going by the amulet dangling from the Lupe's neck. Xango tried to deepen his voice as much as possible. "Yes." He hoped he could get by saying as little as possible. Only one word at a time, yes that's the way.

"Mmmmm." The shadow creature sounded suspicious, but he said, "All right, follow me. You will make your report to the Master."

Xango swallowed his fear. This guard may have been fooled, but for how long? And surely the Master, who he was sure was the cloaked one he saw, would see through his act? He tried his best to follow the shadow guard until the tunnel opened into a large cave.

"Great Master!" the guard said reverently. "Thy servant Marchea Krow, whom you have sent to destroy the children of Faerieland, has returned to make his report."

"Good. Speak up Marchea."

Xango stood, paralysed with fear. Finally he managed to say, "They're gone." And he fell to all fours, unable to stay up in the presence of the Shadow Lord. He could see the Shadow Lord had risen by his amulet, glowing even in the terrible darkness.

"Your voice sounds different," he said in a raspy voice. "It no longer has that screeching quality. What has happened Marchea? Have you been injured on your mission?"

Xango could hear the mistrust and suspicion in the voice. His fear had overcome him and this time, he could not answer. He waited, cringing, as the Shadow Lord took a breath to speak.

"Marchea, why do you not answer?" he said, his voice hissing with anger...

Fool! You thought you could trick me, you insolent little pup? I'll destroy you, and anyone else stupid enough to resist me!" The Shadow Lord tore off his hood, not noticing the faint glow of Fyora's amulet, to revealing the face of what once had been the exiled Uber Death Faerie, now twisted and scarred from the chill beauty of such creatures into a hideous expression of suffering. "No one will oppose me, not even Fyora! Without the amulet, she's as good as dead!"

The Death Faerie had, perhaps, spoken too soon. At the mention of Fyora's name, the amulet pulsed with a brilliant silver light, flooding the room with the energy of light. The monsters serving the Faerie had time to cry out once, before the light blew them away into shimmering motes of snow and ice; the Death Faerie herself cried out, shielding her face from the glow, and crumpled where she stood - the evil cruelty within her no match for the light.

The light reached out, flooding the cave system and burning away the guards. The forced paintbrushings faded away, while the chains and prison cells shattered with a touch.

In the wake of it all, the Death Faerie curled up and stared at the wall, driven into shock by the unexpected loss of everything that she'd worked for, Skytrie turned to look at Stampy. "Did you...?"

"No, I thought you..."

"So that's what he meant when he said this amulet would protect from the dark..." A new, musical voice intruded; Skytrie and Stampy looked up, startled to see Fyora walking in, still looking radiantly beautiful in ragged slave's clothing. "Thank you, both."

"Uhhm... you're welcome - but we'd never have made it if Xango-" Skytrie paused, "Xango!" The Pteri bolted across the cavern to the young Lupe's side, and heaved a sigh of relief that he only seemed bruised.

Fyora nodded at them. "You have done well. Come, let us gather the others and return to Faerieland..."

"We are gathered here today to honor three young Neopets for their boldness and bravery!" Fyora stood on a large stage in the middle of Faerieland. Faeries and Neopets of all colors and types surounded it, all staring up in gratitude at the figures standing high and proud next to the glorious queen.

She continued, "I would like to thank Stampy, Skytrie and Xango for going beyond the call of duty, and saving all of Faerieland from an unthinkable doom."

Skytrie looked at Xango who stood next to a sleek red Lupe that he had enthusiastically introduced as his mother. There was a gleam in his eyes that Skytrie had never seen before. It was a look of accomplishment, of complete happiness and satafaction, besides the fact that his home had been destroyed. She smiled and turned back to the vast audience of admiring faces looking up at them.

"For their heroic act, I present them with this medal of bravery. Now, whenever they wear it no one will forget their noble deed..." Fyora announced.

Skytrie turned to say something to Stampy, but found he was not next to her any more. She looked back at Xango to ask where he went, but immediately found her answer. Stampy was kneeling in an embrace with the little Lupe;, a tear ran down the Chomby's cheek.

I'm sorry Xango, for whenever I was mean to you. I would have never forgiven myself if anything had happened to you," ," he whispered squeezing the Lupe tighter.

"It's okay Stampy, I know you didn't mean it." Xango and Skytrie's eyes met and a wide smile spread across his blue face. The Pteri smilied back and swept her wings out over their backs and joined their hug.

A soft "Awww..." came from the crowd, and the three knew now that not only Faerieland was safe, but they would be friends until the end.

The End