"MIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!"
A high pitched screech echoed through the mountains. A Miamouse war cry! The
mother Skeith shook her head and grunted to show discomfort. Skeiths communicate
in low growls, so they must be sensitive to high-pitched noises, Mystical thought
happily. The mother Skeith gave Mystical one last glare before taking her baby
and leaving on her way. As soon as they were gone, Mystical bounded around the
path in the direction she had came and where she ran into Frisky. She immediately
picked up her Miamouse and hugged it in appreciation.
"Frisky! I've never been so glad to see you. Thank you!" Mystical happily
exclaimed. When she returned the Miamouse to the ground, it frowned and shook
its little paw at Mystical in scolding.
"Lupedog get luck dis time! No more runaway without Fwisky!!!"
Mystical smiled and giggled. Then, she remembered the strange glowing and looked
down at her paws. Nothing. I guess I must have imagined it, Mystical thought.
"Well, let's go back," Mystical suggested. Frisky, still looking stern and
pouting, nodded in agreement, hopped on Mystical's back, and the pair began
to descend the mountain. They walked and walked. About an hour or so later,
Mystical realised she had no idea where she was going.
"Hmmm... have we seen this rock before?" She asked while tilting her head
in confusion.
"Yep. Thwee times!" Frisky squeaked from Mystical's back.
"Sorry... I was guided by my magic on the way here -- I forgot to pay attention
to where I was going!"
The Miamouse sighed.
"Lupedog usee magwic get back!"
"All right, all right. Good idea," Mystical said. She picked the Miamouse
off her back, put it down, and affectionately ruffled it's fur. "Why didn't
I think of that?"
Frisky giggled and fell backwards. It then rolled over on its stomach to watch
Mystical. It had seen her go into her trance to work her magic more times than
it could count, which is why it know something was wrong when Mystical glowed
a bright yellow-white, and then faded away! Frisky immediately jumped up and
ran to where the Lupess had been sitting.
"Lupedog!?! LupeDOG!!!!" When it got no reply, it's ears drooped and it pitifully
squeaked, "Where'd you gow?"
When Mystical usually cleared her mind, her senses, guided by her magic, were
almost boundless. But this time, they were completely blocked and all Mystical
could see was white... blinding white...
***
"Welcome home, young one."
Mystical suddenly felt warm and safe. She opened her eyes to the same bright
light, but soon her vision was adjusted and she could see clearly that she definitely
wasn't on a mountain path anymore. She was in... a cloud? Well, at least it
looked like it. All around her was a surreal white mist with a rainbow sky.
Magic seemed to float through the air everywhere, but Mystical couldn't sense
it. Still, the most unbelievable thing about this place was the source of the
voice that had greeted Mystical. The one and only Light Faerie was standing
before her, and with all the other Uber Faeries, minus the Queen and Dark, in
the distance behind her.
Mystical rubbed her eyes and struggled to stand.
"You poor dear... was the transfer from your world to ours difficult?" the
Light Faerie asked. Mystical acted as if she didn't hear.
"Am I... am I...?" she stuttered in shock.
The Light Faerie smiled and chuckled softly.
"No, far from it young one. You're only VISITING Faerieland."
Mystical let out a sigh of relief.
"Then why am I here?"
"MysticalDreamy, my darling, do you remember the night of the Great Storm
of Darkness?"
Mystical gave a confused look and shook her head. "No, I don't think so."
The Light Faerie nodded. "I'll start from the beginning, then."
A ball of light appeared before Mystical, and she looked into it as the Light
Faerie unfolded the story:
"In the ancient times of Neopia, the Dark Faerie and I had equal powers. Whenever
a new Neopian was born, their heart was filled with either light, from me, or
darkness, from the Dark Faerie. Because of this, there was a great war of Light
vs. Darkness. Eventually, the light prevailed and the Queen Faerie took away
the Dark Faerie's powers so that every Neopian creature would be born with a
heart of light. However, since the Dark Faerie was a fellow faerie, the Queen
Faerie could not take away all her power. So, she allowed that whenever a full
moon came on a Friday the 13th, the Dark Faerie's FULL powers would be restored
for that day. As you may or may not know, MysticalDreamy, your sister, DreamyMoonz,
was born on a day of this sort."
Mystical gasped -- everything was starting to come together. The Light Faerie
paused for a second, then continued.
"DreamyMoonz is what we would call a princess -- as the first-born daughter
of the alpha male and female of a Lupe pack, she would eventually grow up to
lead the pack. If her heart was allowed to be turned to darkness, she would
surely lead her Lupe pack to war across Neopia. However, something happened
that the Dark Faerie wasn't prepared for -- DreamyMoonz inherited a natural
goodness in her heart, which is why she was born with a shimmery blue coat.
Still, because of the circumstances, DreamyMoonz was extremely weak against
Dark powers and I didn't want to take the risk of endangering the lives of innocent
Lupes. Faeries cannot appear in their human forms outside of Faerieland, so
I, as a ray of light, came down into your Lupe den and made a copy of DreamyMoonz's
data. I took the copy and inserted my life force and magic. It was my magic
that made the copy a unicorn Lupe. You were born on that day. In essence, I'm
your mother."
Mystical stared, mouth gaping, at the Light Faerie. She bowed her head and
said, "I get it now... my name is literal. I am a mystical Dreamy." She paused,
and then clamped her paws on her head in disbelief. "My sister by adoption is
actually my clone?!" She moaned. "I'm in a bad soap opera and I'll wake up soon..."
The Light Faerie nodded sympathetically. She put her hand on Mystical's shoulder.
"I'm sorry. I know this may be a shock for you. Shall I continue later?"
Mystical opened her herb pouch and took our her collar with the golden nameplate.
"Were you the one that gave me this .....Mum?"
The Light Faerie closed her eyes, smiled warmly, and nodded.
"Your mission, although you didn't know it at the time because I couldn't inform
your puppy mind, was to protect the princess from darkness. Should the Dark
Faerie succeed in gaining control of her, I would rid her of darkness through
you. That happened one night. The Dark Faerie created a Great Storm of Darkness,
and DreamyMoonz could not resist being drawn into it. I, working through you,
was able to defeat the darkness at the cost of almost all the magic I had trusted
in you. Of course, this is why you lost your unicorn horn on that night."
"I see," said Mystical. A vague vision was coming back to her. Pouring rain...
Dreamy's eyes glowing a red as she snarled... a flash of light... Mystical shook
away the vision and focused again.
"After that, your purpose was complete, so I left you. As long as you were
with your sister, no harm would come to her, and if I ever needed you again
I could find you through your collar." When the Light Faerie mentioned the collar,
she gave Mystical a look. Mystical shrunk and grinned innocently, knowing she
must have caused quite a mess by removing her collar. "I was finally able to
locate you when you were in trouble."
"The glowing!" Mystical gasped.
"That's right. I only needed to wait until you tapped into your--my power before
I could transport you here." The Light Faerie waved her hand over the ball of
light before her. It showed a vision of Dreamy, crying and quivering, as darkness
surrounded her.
"Dreamy!!" Mystical cried out as she tried to reach her sister.
"You are still needed to protect the princess," the Light Faerie explained.
"But I am deeply sorry for using you the way I did. Without my presence, you
felt as if you had lost your purpose, and that, combined with your generally
being different was what drove you to leave. And so, I will grant you one wish.
Anything you want. Think wisely."
Mystical put her paw to her chin and thought. Before this whole experience,
she would have wished to be more powerful. To be the greatest Lupe mage ever.
But now, that seemed worthless. Especially after seeing her sister suffer. My
destiny wasn't to become a Lupe mage! All this time, it was what I least thought
I wanted: to be with the pack, Mystical thought. All of a sudden, Mystical greatly
regretted not going on those hunts and group howls. She missed being with other
Lupes, and most of all, she missed her sister. A sick feeling set in -- a feeling
Mystical had been too busy practicing her magic to pay attention to. It was
loneliness.
"I wish I could go back to living with my pack as a normal happy Lupe; where
I can resume my roll of unknowingly protecting the princess."
The Light Faerie nodded to Mystical.
"You do realise that to do this I will have to erase your memory, right?"
she asked.
"Yes... and I'm ready," Mystical said confidently.
"Wait..." said another voice with the same effect as the Light Faerie's. The
Air Faerie stepped forward from the background. "MysticalDreamy, you distanced
yourself from the pack to practice your magic partly because you were different
and feared losing your individuality, am I right?"
"Yes... I suppose that is true," Mystical said sadly.
"Then I have a present for you." The Air Faerie waved her wand over Mystical.
Mystical closed her eyes and when she opened them, he fur was dabbed in beautiful
cloud pattern.
"Oh, thank you! Thank you!" Mystical enthusiastically yelped to the Air Faerie.
"Now are we ready?" the Light Faerie asked.
"Yes..." Mystical paused for a moment as she thought. Soon she would be back
with her sister, her family, and her... Miamouse!! She'd forgotten about Frisky!!
"No! Wait!"
The Light Faerie, who had been raising her wand, stopped.
"What is it?"
"If I'm going to lose my memory, what will happen to my Miamouse?" The ball
of light then showed Frisky, who was sadly sitting in the spot Mystical had
been before she disappeared.
"The Miamouse may live in Faerieland until a goodhearted Neopian comes looking
for a petpet. Don't worry, it's in good hands," The Light Faerie confided.
Mystical nodded in understanding.
"...May I at least say good-bye?"
The Light Faerie agreed and waved her wand. The ball of light took the form
of a dizzy Miamouse.
"Owow! Bwight lights!" Frisky said. The Miamouse blinked, squinted, and then
recognized Mystical. "Lupedog! You runaway again! Me was so wour'd!" It ran
up to her and hugged her front leg, which was the first thing it saw small enough
to wrap it's arms around. It then looked at at Mystical and was very surprised
to be greeted with a solemn face. "Why sad, Lupedog?"
How could I possibly explain this? Mystical thought. "I'm going to have
to leave for a while..."
"Oh-no. More run-a-wound? Fwisky getting tired of bumpy Lupedog back-widing!"
Mystical, who had been withholding tears ever since she had learned of her
origin, finally let them fall. Just like it had done on the day they met, Frisky
placed it's paws on Mystical's and squeaked: "Me sowwy... don't cry, Lupedog."
Mystical sighed, blinked, and then said in a fast, chittered voice, "No more
run-a-wound! Fwisky go play with faewies! Lupedog comee visit someday!"
Frisky nodded and grinned.
"Lupedog makee sense fo once! Goobye. Myyysssttticale!"
After one last hug, Mystical turned back to the Light Faerie.
"I'm ready now."
The last thing Mystical saw was the Light Faerie raising her wand, and then
there was only blinding white light.
***
"Mystical, wake up!"
The cloud Lupess rolled over without a word.
"Hehehe... c'mon, Mystical!"
The cloud Lupess opened her eyes and found herself staring into the face of
a young adult skunk Lupess -- her twin sister, Dreamy.
"Good morning, sleepyhead! Now let's go, Mum and Dad are waiting for us to
go on the morning hunt!" Dreamy said cheerfully. Mystical smiled.
"Okay, okay, I'm up."
The skunk Lupess and the cloud Lupess ran off side-by-side towards the plains
where they went hunting in the land they were born and raised. When the rising
sun shone down on the Lupess', a tiny golden glint glimmered on Mystical's neck
from the tag which bore her name.
The End | 
