Shelly and the Glamour Neggs by battlesunn |  |
They say that beauty is only fur deep, and that it's
what inside that counts. My owner always said that wisdom and virtue was ten
times more important than beauty and all that stuff, and now, after I've suffered
the consequences of vanity, I'd have to say that she was right.
My name is Shelly. I was my owner's first pet,
so I had always been a bit more spoiled than my siblings had. I had been painted
quite a few times in the past, though at the moment, I was a shadowed Gelert.
We all liked Saturdays, mainly because our owner
was around a lot more. On the other days, she had to go to something called,
oh, what was it? Ah yes, something called school. Our owner also tends
to feel a little guilty since she can't be around much during the week, so on
weekends, she pampers us to no ends!
Our owner is also known to be an impulsive buyer.
So, in retrospect, I suppose the whole incident was sort of her fault... But
anyway, back to the story. Our owner came home from school that day loaded down
with numerous shopping bags. Apparently, she had won a nice sum of Neopoints
from the Scratchcard Kiosk, and had gone on a little shopping spree.
She carried her twelve or so purchases over to
the kitchen table, and dumped them proudly on the shiny stone surface. She dug
around in the bag a bit before drawing out what looked like a shiny pink egg
with eyelashes and lips. My brother, a green Lupe called Mordegan, ventured
close enough to touch it cautiously with an emerald colored paw.
"Wow," he said, in an awed sort of whisper. "What
is that?"
"A glamour Negg," our owner replied, tossing it deftly from hand to hand. "Apparently,
it makes you prettier. I bought you each one."
She then frowned slightly, peering at the rose
colored Negg. "However, there are side effects. I'm not quite sure what they
are though, so you'd each better only have one"
Mordegan had never been the bravest of pets.
He held up his paws in a defensive sort of manner, twitching his bushy green
tail behind him. His chocolate brown eyes filled with worry and concern. "Oh
no!" he sputtered, taking a step back. "I'm not having one of those! I don't
care if it turns me into a beauty king, I'm not risking any creepy side effects!"
Our owner rolled her eyes and sighed, turning
to my other brother, a Halloween Ixi called Zarrelian who was leaning nonchalantly
against the table, a sour expression on his bright red face. "What about you,
Zarrel? Do you want one?"
Zarrel shook his head, eyeing the Negg suspiciously.
"I don't eat Neggs, they give me bloaty belly, remember?" he replied, somewhat
haughtily, as though he had been greatly insulted.
"Oh that's right," our owner said apologetically.
"Sorry Zarrel, I forgot."
My last sibling, a blue Krawk named Ezanna, was
nowhere to be seen. Our owner simply shrugged this off, saying that he was probably
playing Neopoker or Blackjack down at the gaming center. That left me.
Naturally, I was a little apprehensive about
trying the Negg. What if it turned me into a mutant? No, that couldn't be it.
It was supposed to make you prettier, not uglier.
I wasn't too crazy about the Negg, but I knew
that our owner's feelings would be hurt if I didn't try it, so I gingerly accepted
the present. It wasn't so bad, really. It tasted kind of like strawberries and
cream. Smiling foolishly, I polished off the rest of the Negg, and let out a
small, satisfied burp.
Almost at once I began to feel a change. I felt...
Well, prettier! My fur seemed so much more glossy, and my bright green eyes
were sparkling. I giggled slightly as I admired my reflection in the golden
mirror that had been cleverly concealed within the shell of the Negg. I wanted
more. But when I reached for another Negg, our owner gently slapped my paw,
shaking her head at me and giving me the evil eye.
"No, Shelly! Only one Negg per pet, remember?"
Yes, of course I had remembered! It was just
a dumb rule. I didn't say that outloud, though. In fact, I didn't feel the need
to say anything. Who cared what happened? I was one beautiful Gelert! Still,
I wasn't going to let our owner get her way. Why, if one Negg could make me
feel this good, then imagine what wonders two, three, or even four Neggs could
accomplish! I made up my mind to venture down into the kitchen later that night
and eat the remaining Neggs, whether our owner liked it or not!
***
That night, silent as the Shadow Usul, I crept down the stairs and into the
kitchen, taking care not to make any noise. Luckily, the Neggs were still on
the table. If they had been in the cupboards, then I'd have made a huge racket,
opening up doors and all that. Grinning to myself in the dark, I reached up
onto the table and grabbed all three of the Neggs into my arms. I didn't wait
to haul my booty up my room, I just devoured them right then and there.
As soon as I finished them I felt the change
come over me again, I felt beautiful, but only for a few seconds. After that,
I felt nothing. Literally nothing. I was too dim-witted to think; the side affect
of the glamour neggs was that it made you dumber! Groaning in confusion and
frustration at the whole thing, I stamped my shadowed paws on the floor, creating
enough ruckus to awaken the entire household.
It didn't take a genius to figure out what had
happened, between the missing Neggs and my current bloated, unaware state, my
owner was able to put two and two together well enough.
"Shelly..." she said in a dangerously low voice.
"Did you eat the Neggs?"
I merely wailed in reply, unable to speak. With
a heavy sigh, our owner picked me up and carried me over to the den, where I
had the longest reading session of my life! She read me at least twenty books
to get my intelligence back up again. And after all that, I was even more intelligent
than before. But it wasn't necessarily from the books alone, For I had learned
a very valuable lesson. Beauty comes at a high price, at least, when you try
cutting corners and achieving glamour the quick and easy way. From now on, I'll
definitely think twice before letting my vanity get the better of me, especially
since if I don't, I may not be able to think at all!
The End
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