In Her Own Time and Colour

     The Grey Curse had kept the sun away for almost two years, and the dreariness had taken its toll. It was no wonder that citizens now lined the streets, in their best and brightest, in celebration.

     Well, most of them.

     Inside her cosy Neohome on the corner of town, Moon the Blue Acara was groaning into her pillow. She wasn’t unhappy that the colour was back. Far from it, in fact. But the sensory overload? Well, that was hurting Moon’s head.

     She’d become accustomed to the muted grey. Her eyes, too, adapted to the gloom. This morning, when she pulled back her curtains, the sun hit her pupils like a direct blast from the Lab Ray.

     “Ow,” Moon muttered, squinting as she rummaged around her room. “Too bright. Way too bright.”

     Clothes landed in heaps as she dug around in her drawers with one paw and used the other as a much-needed shade from the light. Finally, she felt what she was looking for – the cool plastic of her oversized Acara Rebel Sunglasses. It’d been so long since she’d needed them, she was relieved they hadn’t found their own way to the Money Tree.

     Moon slipped them on and opened her eyes. Ahhhhhhhh.

     The world instantly dimmed into a manageable, stylish amber. Thank you, tinted lenses.

     “Perfect,” Moon sighed. “Neopia is back and so am I – it’s time to see the world.”

     Stop 1: The Rainbow Pool

     Moon figured if she wanted to see colour, she should start at the source. The Rainbow Pool was just down the road; she’d be silly to miss it!

     The energy was electric – and so were some of the pets. Neopians of all shapes and sizes splashed in the waters, transforming into their true, vibrant selves.

     “I’m fire again!” yelled a jubilant Grarrl, whose coat now perfectly matched his roar.

     Moon adjusted her glasses. To everyone else, the Rainbow Pool was a dazzling spectacle of colour. Shimmery. Iridescent. Beautiful.

     To her and her shades, it resembled a highly energetic tomato soup.

     “Excuse me, miss,” a freshly dipped Faerie Uni said, trotting up to Moon with a sympathetic look. “Are you alright? You’re still looking a little down. Did the curse not wear off for you?”

     “Oh, it wore off,” Moon said, tapping the frame of her sunglasses. “I’m just protecting my retinas. If I take these off, that Grarrl over there will permanently burn his silhouette into my corneas.”

     The Uni frowned.

     “But you’re missing all the nuances of my new wings! They’re a gradient of pastels! I’ve dreamed of them for years,” she said, gracefully twirling in the air.

     “They look delightfully sepia from here,” Moon said with a cheeky grin. “Still stunning, I swear!”

     Stop 2: Kiko Lake

     Seeking refuge from the crowds, Moon set out for Kiko Lake. Perhaps a lakeside breeze would be a more soothing re-entry to life in colour.

     But the afternoon sun bouncing off the crystal-clear water was a blinding assault to unfamiliar eyes. The brightly painted glass-bottom boats were practically screaming in neon. The bright inflatable tubes forced her to push her sunglasses so firmly against her face that the bridge of her nose developed an indent.

     She retreated to a quiet patch of grass on the shore, hoping to wait out the glare.

     As the hours passed, the harsh afternoon light began to soften. The sun dipped toward the horizon, and the reflections on the lake dissolved into a gentle glow. Cautiously, Moon slid the sunglasses off.

     She squinted, expecting an optical attack that never came. Instead, Moon was greeted by the rich reds and burnt oranges of a classic Kiko Lake sunset.

     “Wow,” she said, awestruck.

     It wasn’t anything like the overwhelming explosion of colour she’d felt earlier. This was peaceful. Coupled with the sounds of soft water lapping and the last boat tour of the evening on the horizon, Moon felt more at ease than she had since before the Grey Curse turned her world upside down.

     As the reds turned to soft pinks and the oranges faded into navy, a smile crept up Moon’s face – reaching her eyes. They were weary, but she couldn’t pull them away from the sky.

     Stop 3: Faerieland

     As morning broke across the lake, Moon reapplied her glasses and set off south for Faerieland, determined to see her tour through.

     Walking into the shadow of the land’s grand castle, she realised she didn’t need her sunglasses at all in the shade. Moon slowly slid them off, letting her eyes adjust to the soft purple hues of the grounds.

     When she stepped back out into the sunlit city plaza, she put them back on – but it no longer felt urgent, as if her eyes would crumble from the light if she didn’t.

     Through the dark lenses, the pinks and purples of the bustling faerie town were transformed into a gorgeous, deep magenta. Faerieland’s turquoise waterways were a deep green, the sky a shimmery yellow. As Moon saw them, the faeries’ colours didn’t match their elements – but that didn’t matter. They were still vivid, in her own way.

     Instead of hiding from the colour, Moon’s eyes were simply readjusting to it at their own rhythm.

     Home Sweet Home

     The sun was casting long, gentle shadows across her neighbourhood by the time Moon returned.

     She stood at her front gate and took a deep, nervous breath.

     “One… two… three,” she encouraged herself, reaching for the temples of her trusty frames. She kept her eyes closed as she folded them at the hinges, tucking them safely into her pocket.

     And then she did it.

     Moon opened her eyes. Slowly, cautiously, but with a real sense of belief. And then she gasped.

     Her pastel blue gate! The matching letterbox, with a delicate, green floral pattern! An orange butterfly sat atop her yellow daffodils, which had looked greige for so long she’d forgotten that she had a stunning garden. In the sky – so blue! – A flock of Beekadoodles flew by, the purple of their wings glistening in what was left of the afternoon’s natural light.

     Moon thought it was beautiful. It wasn’t painful or frightening, it was just home – restored to its full glory.

     She’d barely made it to her front door when she heard the soft rustle of wings, and her best friend, a Pastel Shoyru named Jax, landed beside her.

     “Moon! I saw you walking back,” Jax beamed, his soft pink scales glistening in the golden hour.

     “I was a little worried about you,” he continued, scratching his head. “While everyone else was diving into the Rainbow Pool and throwing parties in the bazaar, you were walking around like a secret agent with those shades.”

     Moon laughed, the type of warm, relaxed sound that only comes out when you’re completely comfortable.

     “Yeah, I know – I just needed some time. While others were ready to jump right back into the technicolour, I needed a little time to adjust,” Moon said.

     “Of course,” Jax replied. “You had your own timeline, and that’s perfectly okay. I’m just glad I can see my best friend’s lovely eyes again!”

     Comforted by Jax hovering next to her, Moon looked out at the glow of the town beyond her kaleidoscopic front yard. Her journey hadn’t been as loud or splashy as the others, but as she watched the night’s first stars appear in the darkening Neopian sky, Moon knew her ending was just as bright.

     The End.