Fyora's words still rang in her ears: "You can't leave the palace until you are older! It is very dangerous out there. Jhudora is always lurking about, plotting against me. Who knows what she would do to you if she found you wandering about Faerieland like a commoner?!?

Alundra sighed and hugged her blue Zafara plushie. She looked at its lifeless eyes and sighed. I don't even have a pet to keep me company... most people would think it's great being a princess, but I can't think of anything worse than being cooped up in this palace a minute longer...

It was time for action. She rooted through her closet and found a disco Aisha backpack, threw in a few necessities and peered out her window to check for the guards. All clear. She took a deep breath and stepped out the tower window, beating her small wings as furiously as possible, which only helped to slow her plummet. Her wings still weren't much use as she wasn't fully grown, and the backpack didn't help either. However, there ARE advantages to living on a giant poofy cloud...

She landed softly, bouncing a bit but quickly got up and hurried away from the palace towards the Faerie City...

As she stepped out into the sunny quad of Faerie City, her eyes filled with awe. The Employment Agency stood before her, and many Faeries crowded busily outside, with their pets close at hand. Maybe I'll get a pet, she pondered, that way, if I'm caught and they bring me home, I'll have a friend to ease my loneliness. She walked past the long line examining the pets.

The first pet she saw was of a fierce sort, with large sharp teeth and stern, hateful eyes. "Too mean," she said, and continued. The next one she saw was a cute little Faerie Ixi, prancing around on its hooves merrily. "Too much like me," she giggled to herself. The third pet she saw stunned her the most by far! It reminded her of the cute plushie she'd left back in the palace.

This pet was a small Zafara with eyes full and joy and wonder, very much like her own. It had a humble coat of brilliant blue. She looked around for an owner, and upon seeing no one, Alundra approaced the pet, patting its head softly.

"Hello there, little guy," she cooed, grinning at the tiny pet. The Zafara nuzzled her hand affectionately and responded.

"Hi!"

"Hey... what do you think your doing?!" Boomed a loud voice from behind Alundra. Her heart froze with fear and panic...

"Princess?!?" he asked upon seeing her face. "Pardon me, Princess... please don't send me away!" Then, turning to his Zafara, the boy said, "Stay with this nice young lady," before muttering under his breath, "you stupid pet!" The boy then ran off, without uttering another word. Alundra stood there, looking stunned.

"W-Who was that?" Alundra managed to say.

"That's my owner." the Zafara said, with tears in his little eyes, "He's so mean!" the poor creature squeaked. "Now he says that I should stay with you, but I just know you wouldn't want a boring pet like me..."

"Yes I would!" Alundra said, turning around and smiling at him. Her heart was still beating fast. "How would you like to be my pet?"

"Really?" the Zafara replied. "Oh wow!"

"So, what's your name?" Alundra asked as she began walking down a cloud staircase. Her new pet followed closely behind.

"I'm Sam. That's my proper name, but my old owner used to call me Dung Bombs..."

"That's horrible!" Alundra cried.

"Yeah! But you wont be mean to me will ya'! Your nice to me!" Sam said smiling.

"How old are you?" Alundra asked.

"Two years and four days exactly! My birthday's the 29th of June."

"Oh no!" Alundra cried.

"What?" Sam said quickly.

"The guards... down there!" She said, pointing to three Skeiths about to climb the staircase and enter the palace. "Quick, hide!" Alundra declared, taking the Zafara's paw as they ran up the staircase, hiding behind the Faerie Book Shop. Once the guards had passed, Alundra and Sam jumped back down the stairs.

"We have to get away from here!" she said. "Know anywhere that would be safe?"

"Nope." Sam said, swinging his arms.

Alundra thought for a moment, then said, "I've got an idea! C'mon!" Sam followed her, and they ran towards the Employment Agency...

"Why, if you don't mind me asking, do you want to leave this place so badly?" asked Sam, puzzled.

Alundra looked at him, his big shining eyes looking back. Then she realized that he did not know who she was, or had been.

"Sam," she said quietly, almost in a whisper, "I am a princess." She paused for a reaction, then continued when she saw none. she continued. "I do not wish to be a princess any more. It's so lonely... I'm going to see the world now, with you by my side."

Sam was in shock. He then started to smile at Alundra. He nodded and they walked up to the counter. Sam, being too small to see over the desk, hopped up into Alundra's arms.

"Can I help you?" asked the desk clerk. She was a large Blumaroo.

"Yes, my Zafara and I wish to help. What jobs are there?" replied Alundra.

"Well, there is one in the caves of Terror Mountain. It pays a lot, and there's a great view over that-a-way," said the Blumaroo, who had a surprisingly sweet voice.

"We'll take it!" exclaimed Alundra.

As they walked away from the agency with a card in their hand, something came to Alundra's mind. How will we get there? she thought.

"Sam!" she exclaimed, "How do we get there? Is there a bus? Or a taxi?" Alundra asked cluelessly.

"No, no. You use the 'Uni Express'," said Sam.

"Where's that?" Alundra asked.

Sam pointed towards the edge of the cloud city, where several Unis stood waiting to deliver passengers for a small fare. Alundra took some Neopoints out of her pocket as approached one of the Unis.

"Excuse me, can you take me to Terror Mountain?" the princess asked.

The Uni nodded its head. Soon they were flying through the sky, looking down on all of Neopia. It was the most beautiful sight Alundra had ever seen...

Alundra and Sam landed on the very peak of Terror Mountain. What wonders greeted the excited pair! Alundra spotted several interesting igloos. "Let's take a look at that igloo with the pointed top," she said to Sam while dragging him towards the curious dwelling.

Alundra cautiously knocked on the door of the igloo. When no answer came, she tested the doorknob, found the door to be unlocked, and cautiously poked her head in. She saw a Faerie with closely cropped jet black hair, in a massive blue coat trimmed with white fur. She was completely focused on the large cauldron which stood before her, and she was stirring her brew vigorously.

"Ahem," Alundra cleared her throat.

The noise startled the Faerie, and she looked up from her work. "You wouldn't, by any chance, be willing to help me out with this spell I'm working on, would you?" the Faerie inquired.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but I've been sent by the Employment Agency to do a job down in the Ice Caves, and I really must be going," Alundra said, hurriedly shutting the door before she could be recognized by the Snow Faerie.

"Hummph... the Air Faerie never has this much trouble getting items for her spells!" the Snow Faerie grumbled under her breath.

"Look, Alundra! There's a sign that says, 'Back to the Ice Caves'! We should follow that trail!" said Sam.

The pair winded their way down the steep and treacherous trail to finally reach the Ice Caves. It was at this moment when Alundra finally thought to look at the card she was holding.

"See the Negg Faerie. She has an important job for you." the card read.

Alundra and Sam hurried towards a structure that looked like a large painted Negg. They correctly figured that this was the Neggery, where the Negg Faerie would be waiting for them.

The two approaced the building and stepped inside. The Negg Faerie was indeed wating for them.

"Hi, I'm Alundra, and this is my pet Zafara, Sam," Alundra said, introducing herself, "I have been sent by the Employment Agency to do your important job."

"Yes, yes, I'm glad that agency finally got around to assigning my job," the Negg Faerie replied, apparently not recognizing Alundra. She was always too busy with her neggs to visit Faerieland. "This is very important," she continued, "I need you to..."

"How do I tell which one is the egg?" Alundra asked.

The Negg Faerie sighed. "I have no idea, but Mika and Carassa might have something that would locate it. Go see them and bring back whatever you can find. Here are some Neopoints," the Negg Faerie handed Alundra a heavy pouch with Neopoints inside. "Oh! If the pet hatches before you can bring it back, take VERY good care of it. We don't know what kind of pet is inside, but Fyora wants it for a princess that has been feeling lonely lately."

"Really?" Alundra said, trying not to let her excitment show. "Why would Fyor- I mean the Queen want such a pet for the princess?"

"All I know is this," the Negg Faerie said, stacking some glamour neggs on a shelf. "She said a princess has been lonely and that a pet would cheer her up. Now, hurry off! The Igloo Garage Sale will be restocking soon!"

The Negg Faerie gently shoved the pair out the door. "Good luck!" she said, and closed the door.

"How are we going to get all the neggs out without the Snowager seeing us?" Sam asked Alundra. The Faerie shook her head.

"I don't know, but why don't we go see this Mika and Carassa that she was talking about?" she said. Alundra gathered Sam in her arms and began walking up the mountain.

"This sure is some adventure," Alundra said as they pushed open the door to Mika and Carassa's igloo...

"Get some more! We need more!" Carassa yelled.

"Um, hello?" Alundra said.

Carassa jumped and turned around. "Oops! We just ran out of items. They are going like crazy! But, we restock eight times every hour."

"Well, when will the next restocking be?" asked Alundra, watching a couple of shirts fly past.

Carassa picked up the shirts and folded them. "Should be any second now. Mika just needs to get some more stuff."

"Well, what I need might be very rare," Alundra replied. "Do you think you could sell it to me now?"

"I don't know... we usually don't do that," Carassa said as Mika came down from the attic.

"What, this thing again?" Mika asked. He was holding up some sort of odd device.

"Oh, that's nothing," Carassa said, running over to take the device.

"Wait, isn't that what we use to trick the Snowager?" asked Mika.

Alundra's ears perked up.

"What he means is..." Carassa started to get nervous. "Well, it's really simple..."

"Can I use it?" Alundra said quickly. "I mean, what does it do?"

Mika grinned. "I remember now. You just point this side of it over some treasure," He gestured to the large side of the device, "and it tells you what the item is."

"Does it work on, say... neggs?" Alundra asked.

"Well, of course!" Mika said. "But, it'll cost ya."

Alundra and Sam took the bag of Neopoints and set them on a table, then hurried to the Snowager's cave...

They both sighed and crept up slowly to the pile of treasures.

"Okay Sam, you point the device at the pile, and tell me when you see the neggs, okay? Be very very quiet! If we wake him up, we're toast!" she whispered.

Sam nodded and pointed the device at the pile of treasures. He shook his head once, then twice, then three times, before finally smiling and whispering to Alundra, "I found them! I found them! They're right in that corner, by the Snowager's tail!"

Alundra smiled and cheered silently to herself.

As she crept up and saw all those glorious neggs, Alundra looked at Sam and gave him the thumbs up sign.

"Sam! You've got to help me... I'll carry a few of them, and you will too, so when I pass them to you, hold on tight!" She whispered. Sam nodded and ran up to her.

Soon, Alundra had all the neggs safely in her backback except for one of them, which was too far for her to grab just by reaching out her arm, so she had to move.

Upon reaching it, Alundra quickly grabbed the negg and started heading toward Sam. "Alright! We did it!! We have them all! Now, let's get out of here before he wakes up!"

Sam nodded and, just as he was about to turn around, part of the treasure pile collapsed over to where the neggs had be holding them up.

They both gulped and heard the Snowager arise behind them. Alundra looked at the huge beast and yelled out to Sam, "RUN!!!"...

As they burst into broad daylight, Alundra's feet left the ground. Ascending into the sky, they narrowly escaped as the Snowager made one last furious attempt at grabbing at them. It was too late, though; they were no longer within reach.

"I'm flying!" Alundra exclaimed, "I'm really flying!"

Sam clutched her tightly, burying his face in Alundra's arms as they flew high above the snow towards the Neggery.

"Sam, I wonder which one is the egg. I'm really getting curious what type of pet the queen got me."

"When you get your new pet, are you going to get rid of me?" Sam asked quietly.

"Of course not!" Alundra responded, hugging him tightly, "You're coming back with me, no matter what!"

As they came to a rather hard, but safe, landing, Sam and Alundra saw the Negg Faerie standing outside.

"Well, did you get them?" she asked.

"Every last one of them," Alundra replied.

"Good, then... let's get those out and find the one that's an egg."

Back inside the Neggery, Alundra placed the neggs on a blanket that the Negg Faerie had spread out. As she did so, one of the neggs started to move, and a tiny little nose made a hole in the side. Over the next few minutes, the baby Neopet slowly made its way into the world. Alundra gasped. It was one of the cutest sights she had ever seen; a small red Uni. Opening its eyes for the first time, the Uni's eyes met Alundra's, and she knew she'd have to take care of it.

With their adventure over, Sam, Alundra, and their new friend left Terror Mountain, flying back to the Faerie Palace where they lived happily ever after.

The End