Once every quarter, a special delivery arrived from the ice cream factory, and today was that glorious day. Over the years, Adee had learned a particularly satisfying fact: she and Mr. Chipper were the only Gold Members in all of Neopia at the factory. It wasn’t something she bragged about, but she carried the knowledge with secret pride.

“One down,” she said triumphantly, brushing her hands against the front of her trousers as she headed back to the front of the house. She pulled out a crumpled order sheet from her pocket and checked off the latest additions. As usual, the list nearly filled the page. And as usual, it would take several more trips before everything was properly stored.

One by one, Adee worked her way through the delivery, slicing through tape, opening up the boxes, and carefully ticking each flavour off her list. At last, only one box remained.

Normally, that would have signalled victory and a well-earned treat from the final carton. But today was different.

Because everything she had ordered was already accounted for.

Frowning, Adee crouched beside the last box. It had been buried at the bottom of the stack. When she leaned closer, her suspicion grew: unlike the others, this one didn’t have her address printed on the label.

“Someone must’ve delivered it here by mistake,” she murmured. “I’ll just take it back to the factory later today and –”

But before Adee could finish...

For several seconds, she and the usually inanimate object were at a total standstill, Adee watching it; it...not supposed to be capable of watching her but then, it wasn't meant to be capable of forward movement, either. Or backwards movement, or any sort of movement at all, for that matter!

"Come on, Adee, get a hold of yourself, now," she scolded herself for feeling such unease in the face of...well, a box, of all things. Continuing with more assurance than she truly felt, she reasoned, "Boxes don't move, you silly Mallard!"

After a chuckle that was more nerves than humour, she presented herself with a more rational explanation. "Maybe the freezer's fans sent off a gust of air that was just strong enough to nudge it forward a little, is all."

Yes, of course. That must be it. Nothing else could make any sense, and certainly not the possibility of a sentient cardboard box. Though, in Neopia, you never know what kooky, impossible thing might just truly happen.

After shaking her head as though to rid it of the thought, Adee stood up a little straighter, took in a deep breath, reminded herself that she is no box-fearing coward, and also that she is of sound mind and, both those things being true, she must not entertain these wild imaginings any longer.

Until the box was opened, the mystery would remain unsolved. Adee needed to quickly bring this to a resolution, open up the box, and confirm at once that its contents were, in fact, completely harmless and that, either there was a logical, mundane explanation for what she'd seen, or she hadn't seen it at all and had simply thought she had.

With the reassuring thought of her current reality imminently returning to its normal, ordered state, the one in which boxes are just boxes, and not somewhat frightening mysteries, Adee moved forward with a bravado now less forced than before, reached down, grabbed her trusty utility knife, and cut through the adhesive tape keeping the box sealed, then pocketed her tool and made to open the irritatingly suspenseful parcel.

Just as she pulled up one side of the top panel, however, Adee fell back with little grace as something jumped out of the box and pounced onto her!

To Adee's complete astonishment, it was...

Adee watched, eyes wide, as the nervous critter ran to hide behind the opened box. She carefully approached the Petpet. "There, there," she cooed. "I'm not going to hurt you." She promised gently as she slowly reached out a hand to stroke the Faellie's ice cream cone ears.

"How on Neopia did you end up in that box...and delivered to my home, no less?" Adee pondered.

Adee continued petting the scared creature, offering reassuring words as she looked around for some sort of explanation. The box was empty, no sign of a note. She glanced down at the Petpet and caught site of a thin, collar made with rainbow sprinkles around its neck. At the collar's centre was a shiny, gold tag. She inspected the tag, searching for the Petpet's name and a clue as to its owner. All she found as a simple street address.

"Well, that's not too far from here," she muttered aloud as she gingerly scooped up the timid Petpet. "Let's see if we can find out more when we get you home." Her well-earned ice cream treat would have to wait until this mysterious Birthday Faellie was returned. By then, she would have surely earned [i]two[/i] bowls of ice cream.

Adee set off down the street with the Petpet snuggled up in her arms. By her best estimate, the address on the tag was a manageable walk away. She did get lost a time or two, but she was lucky to run into a couple helpful Neopians who kindly pointed her in the right direction. She slowed her walk as she finally made it to the correct street and carefully scanned each building as the numbers got closer to the one on the tag.

At last, she'd finally arrived. Adee came to an abrupt halt, mouth parting in disbelief. This couldn't be right, she thought. Adee stared down at the Birthday Faellie's tag to make sure she hadn't misread the address. Sure enough, it was correct. She glanced back up at the building before her in shock as she beheld...

It was also maybe a little too quiet for delivery day. She double checked the Faellie's tag. Still the same address. She muttered, "This can’t be right…"

But the Birthday Faellie perked up when she spotted the bright pink door at the front entrance. The Petpet wiggled, trying to free herself. "All right, All right," Adee said, approaching the front entrance. "If this is where you’re from..."

A slight giddiness ran down Adee's spine. She didn't expect to visit the Ice Cream Factory today, but also didn't want to pass up the opportunity to see where her favourite dessert was made. Maybe she could buy some ice cream to eat on her way home before diving into the scoops that awaited her in the freezer.

Pushing open the door, Adee and her new companion stepped into the factory. She noticed a few workers moving about and grouped together. They spoke in hushed tones. A Green Kacheek in a white lab coat stepped away from the group and started heading toward another door, but stopped when he spotted Adee... and the Birthday Faellie.

"Where did you get that?" he asked.

Adee hugged the Faellie a little closer. "She was delivered to me this morning."

The Kacheek frowned and scratched his head. "This one wasn't supposed to leave the factory..."

"That's confidential, ma'am," the Kacheek said. "Thank you for bringing it back, but I'm going to need to take the Faellie."

Adee backpedalled automatically so that the Kacheek's arms closed on thin air where the Faellie had been. "She was sealed in a box," she insisted. "That wasn't an accident. You don't accidentally put a living creature into an otherwise empty box, seal it with packing tape, and put it on a shipping pallet!" Hoping to sound braver than she felt, Adee added, "If you don't tell me what's going on, I'm taking this Faellie straight to the Petpet Protection League!"

The Kacheek sighed. "Ma'am, I realize how this looks. Rest assured, though I can't give you the details, the Faellie was not harmed, and will not be harmed. But we do need her back."

Adee glanced down at the Faellie. She had been excited to see the factory, and even now, she wasn't quivering or crying or giving any other indication that she had been mistreated here. Maybe it was okay after all?

Before Adee could make a decision, however, both she and the Kacheek turned their heads sharply as a door banged open at the end of the corridor...

"...Sprinkles? Is that you?!" The Zafara had crouched to address the Petpet at Adee's feet. The little Faellie peeped cheerfully and waddled to the Zafara, adopting what seemed to be a familiar and comfortable perch on his furry yellow tail. Adee watched this interaction closely: Sprinkles seemed at ease, so she did not intervene. But it was time to put her foot down in another way.

"I demand to know why Petpets are in this factory!" she said sternly. "As a Gold Member and top-two customer, I refuse to leave Sprinkles here without an explanation and I WILL take it straight up to the Chia-EO of the company if you don't tell me what what's going on." Adee's lip quivered and she tried to summon her best angry eyes.

The Kacheek's demeanor changed. "... gold member... you're THE Adee??" She nodded in response.

"My sincerest apologies, Miss Adee!" relented the Kacheek, mortified. "We are deeply honored to have you here at the Factory. Knowing who you are, I can share a few details."

"Over the decades, we've honed our techniques for producing Neopia's finest frozen confections: rich, creamy, bursting with the purest of flavors. Perfectly distributed mix-ins. Never icy or crystally." Adee couldn't help but nod. No one came even close to matching the quality of Ice Cream Factory's pints, and there was a reason her freezer never went empty.

The Kacheek continued, "The key to our success is Quality Control. No shipment leaves this factory without having first been reviewed by the keenest of eyes and noses. And our carefully trained Quality Assurance specialists..."

Adee's gasped. "...they're Petpets!" It made perfect sense, too. Small and agile, the right Petpet could rival even the best Lupe's sense of smell.

"Right you are!" smiled the Kacheek. "We've recently begun sending our most skilled QA petpets to distribution outposts, where they help conduct last-minute checks before ice cream reaches customers."

The Zafara now spoke up. "But as you saw with Sprinkles, we are unfortunately running into this one little problem..."

Sprinkles gave a happy little squeak. “Yes, yes, I know you did an amazing job checking all those ice creams!” The Yellow Zafara cooed, patting Sprinkles on the head before continuing, “Some Petpets have been returned, but some still remaining missing…”

Adee thought of all the lost Petpets being shipped off to all corners of Neopia, tumbling about in the darkness until someone freed them. The thought made me tremble. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

The Green Kacheek and Yellow Zafara looked at each other. The Yellow Zafara nodded in silent agreement. Adee wasn’t sure what was communicated between them but they seemed to have a mutual understanding of something unsaid.

“Ms Adee, you’re our most esteemed customer and we would love to gain your assistance, but only if it’s not too much trouble…” The Green Kacheek spoke up, hesitant.

“Of course! Anything to help those Petpets!” And the ice cream, but she thought it would’ve been best to leave that last part out.

“You see, we’ve started on a secret operation within the Ice Cream Factory…”

“Yes, the Faellie is known for some of its sharpest senses,” said the Zafara, pushing her goggles up like a detective deep in thought. “They’re able to track down other Petpets that may have been trapped in packages to rescue them, and they can also fly across many different types of terrain, which makes them the most suitable candidates for mustering and reconnaissance.” The Kacheek nodded along, listening attentively. “These Faellies were ‘sprinkled’ out all across Neopia, and with the operation named after Sprinkles here as she’s been appointed the recon captain.” Adee glanced at the Faellie, who had now struck a proud pose, almost like a mime acting out the Zafara’s words. The Chia found herself charmed, before returning to the question at hand. “So, how do I help?”

The Kacheek chimed in, “Well, most of our Petpets have now been recovered, all except one. So Sprinkles was sent out again, leading the final search, and her senses brought her to your home, which probably means…” “…That one final Petpet is lost or stuck somewhere near my home?!” Adee gasped in realisation, her ice cream journey suddenly seeming to come full circle back to where she began.

All three: the Zafara, the Kacheek, and Sprinkles, all nodded in unison. “We need your help in this final operation… so let us make haste….”

They ran out together, leaving the now-buzzing, formerly silent halls behind. Outside, the bright Neopian sun seemed too normal after learning of the lost Petpet. The journey back was swift and focused. While the Zafara frantically reviewed notes on scent trails and dairy interference, Adee maintained a strict watch on the surrounding crates and passing shoppers.

Sprinkles came to an abrupt, mid-stride freeze, her ears scanning the air before she pivoted and tore off past Adee’s house. “Hey, come back!” Adee yelled. Sprinkles halted in the alleyway between the houses, focusing on three forgotten morning boxes tucked against the wall. Adee paused behind her. “I thought I brought everything inside.”

There was nothing playful about Sprinkles’ hover; her squeak was a demand for attention. Nearby, the Zafara fidgeted, his fingers trembling as he fixed his goggles. “This is it, no doubt about it.” The Kacheek stared at the boxes knowing one of these containers held their missing teammate.

“Okay,” Adee said while reaching for her knife, “Let’s do this properly.”

Inside the first box was just ice cream. The second box had more ice cream that was perfectly packed. But, when she got to the third box…

How will this story end?

Once inside, Adee put on the fire in her hearth to heat up her home. The Kacheek was holding the Faellie tightly. "You can give her to me, I'll sit with her in front of the fire. She'll be warm in no time." And so they sat and waited. All thoughts of eating ice cream had left Adee's head. She just wanted this little creature to be fine.

"Eep." It seemed like the Faellie was awake now and getting aware of her surrounding." Adee thought she might want to get away. But she just looked at her with her little red eyes and she nestled herself a little better in Adee's arms. "Well, I guess you'll be wanting your Petpet back?" Adee said reluctantly. She already knew she'd miss the little Faellie. The Yellow Zafara answered "Maybe she can stay with you for now? Until she has regained all her strength?" As our loyal customer we know we can trust you with her. Adee's eyes and her heart lit up. "That would be amazing! I'd love to take care of her!" And when Sprinkles, the Yellow Zafara and the Green Kacheek left, Adee and her new Petpet shared their first of many ice creams they would have together.

The End.