The Tooth Faerie

      She didn't really feel like she fit in with the other faeries: while everyone else was having fun fluttering and cartwheeling off the bluebells into the lily pond and racing through the rose petaled labyrinth of pink and lilac jewel-encrusted fluff, Pearly stood awkwardly off to the side.

      She didn't have the confidence to express herself, and the poor faerie dreamed of having the power to create worlds of her own.

      She wandered through the woods collecting things like little stones and fallen branches, which she would take home and carve into figurines.

      With practice, her artwork became more elaborately detailed and lifelike, until there were whole civilizations thriving in her castles, forests, mountains, oceans, even revolving planets she would hang on strings from the ceiling in her modest little faerie home.

      One day when Pearly was out collecting stuff, she passed by a house.

      Through the open window, she could hear a human crying; it was a little girl.

      Pearly flew over and landed on the windowsill.

      The girl stopped crying and asked excitedly, "Are you a real faerie?"

      "Of course I am! Why are you crying?"

      "My toof fell out!" said the girl, displaying the adorable baby tooth in her hand.

      "Awww," said Pearly, "I promise it will stop hurting and a new tooth will grow back in its place."

      As soon as she uttered these comforting words, the miracle occurred: the girl's tooth immediately grew back, and the rest of her teeth straightened out and became so dazzlingly white, they sparkled.

      The girl ran to look at herself in a mirror and smiled.

      "I can't believe it!" Pearly exclaimed in shocked amazement. "I do have strong magic!"

      "Of course you do, silly, you're a faerie!"

      Just then the girl's mother burst into the room, saying, "You're supposed to be getting ready for school!"

      "But I was talking to a faerie, mommy!"

      The adult human didn't see the faerie because she didn't believe in them. As she hurriedly helped her daughter get ready for school, the old tooth carelessly dropped to the floor.

      Pearly picked it up and left a piece of gold in its place, worth two hundred neopoints.

      When the faerie arrived back at her home, she examined the tooth and tried to think of what to do with it. It was taking up space in her kitchen, so she sanded it down, and started using it as a table.

      After this incident, she always went out in search of people whose teeth were about to fall out. Not just humans, but pets, so she soon had a nice eclectic variety of teeth, fangs, canines, choppers, etc.

      Some of her neighbors were suspicious of her strange hobby which was turning into an obsession. She had always been a little weird, and now they saw the piles of teeth heaping up in her yard. So they moved into a different neighborhood, for the safety of their children.

      Now there were all kinds of rumors about her; some said she collected bones from haunted graveyards and was using them to cast a dismal spell on anyone who came near.

      Some said she extracted and then ate the children's teeth while they were asleep in their beds.

      There was a whole list of ghastly accusations, and some of these rumors reached the ears of Fyora the Faerie Queen, who decided she would have to investigate this herself.

      So Fyora took some novas and stuffed them in her backpack and set out, armed to the teeth with fancy, glittering purple weaponry, and prepared for anything.

      Just then, her little faellie messenger flew up to her to deliver her mail.

      "It looks like a party invitation," the faellie squeaked happily.

      Of course, the queen had other more important matters to attend to, but she couldn't help glancing at the invitation, with the most elegantly handwritten calligraphy:

      "Your Majesty-

      I would be honored if you would join me this afternoon for a tea party. I invited a lot of other faeries, but I don't think anyone will come because they don't appreciate my tooth collection, though they're all perfectly sanitary; I brush them everyday. I look forward to showing you if you do decide to drop by!

      Sincerely,

      Pearly White"

      "Weird," thought Fyora.

      She shuddered to think of having a tea party amidst rows of teeth. But at least they were sanitary?

      She easily found Pearly's address in a part of town which was deserted.

      The house had been covered in polished white enamel.

      Fyora carefully made her way over the white pebbled walkway leading up to the house and stood on the front porch... She knocked on the door with her orb staff thingy, and it was answered by a big enchanted tooth with arms and legs.

      The tooth smiled charmingly and said, "Welcome, please step inside and have a seat."

      Everything inside the house was made out of teeth, and although there were many beautiful handcrafted objects, the place still had the appearance of being neat and tidy. Tables were set up in the living room with fancy tea sets and refreshments and the fireplaces blazed with warm hospitality.

      Not everything was white; Pearly had experimented with painting some of the tea sets and other knick-knacks in a range of brilliant colors with shiny glaze and lacquer.

      Pearly was sitting at one of the tables with Jhudora, the dark faerie, and the two of them were leaning over the table like they were conspiring together, to plan an elaborate scheme of illegal action.

      "What's going on here?" Fyora demanded.

      Jhudora turned and gave her a sarcastic look and said, "It's called a tea party."

      "It looked like you guys were planning something."

      "You don't even say 'hi, how are you?' You just immediately make assumptions about me as always."

      "I have good reason to make assumptions about you!" Fyora shouted.

      "Why, because I might do this?"

      Jhudora launched a dark nova at the faerie queen, who quickly retaliated, hailing a volley of lovely purple ultranovas.

      "OK now," Pearly had to interrupt her guests, "let's all get along, I want you to feel at home. Fyora, I'm so glad you came. Will you sit down in the 'place of honor'?"

      She indicated the rocking chair at one end of the table.

      So the queen sat down and helped herself to her favorite tea-time snack: Fyora day muffins, first sniffing one suspiciously and taking a small bite of sweetly delightful delectability.

      Soon, the faeries were highly entertained by the performance of the enchanted dancing teeth, which clinked together and made sounds like a xylophone. Everyone laughed with glee.

      Then Pearly gave them a tour of her garden. There were lots of sculptures; even the garden was made of trees and flowers carved out of teeth.

      In the middle, there was a pond with a fountain that sprayed scented mouthwash on the surrounding 'plants'.

      "This is incredible," Fyora was forced to admit. At the end of the day, she was disposed to have a favorable opinion of the tooth collector...

      She went back to her castle, which now seemed dull to her, in spite of its grandness. And she realized it was because... although she like to surround herself with beautiful, glittery things, they were all made by magic, whereas Pearly, a real artist, had made everything by hand.

      It was weird, it was controversial... it was revolutionary!

      Fyora then wrote a letter and delivered it:

      "Dear Pearly White,

      I had a great time at the tea party today; it was very special. Your 'tooth art' has changed the way I look at the world!.. I was looking out my tower window just now and the clouds seem so bare. How would you like to make me a monumentally giant sculpture?

      All expenses will be paid!

      Sincerely, Queen Fyora"

      When Pearly received the letter, she was totally overjoyed by the prospect. The queen was commissioning her to build a public monument! This was too good to be true!

      But where would she find a tooth big enough for it?

      She remembered she had a giant Tyrannian Elephante tusk hidden away somewhere. She had never known what to do with it; it was decaying in a lot of places and would take a lot of work to drill and fill all the cavities.

      After giving it much careful and serious consideration, she decided to leave it in its natural tusk-shape, but decorated it with gold and silver patterned designs and filled the cavities with precious gems.

      Her strong set of enchanted teeth helped her to lift the tusk into an upright position and transport it over to Queen Fyora's castle. Curious crowds gathered to witness the spectacle.

      Pearly stood back and viewed her work with a critical eye; it didn't seem finished yet. It needed more.

      She flew up to the tip of the tusk, and with a small hammer and chisel, carved a lyrically detailed relief of an accurate map of Faerieland, with all its fantastic gardens floating amid the clouds.

      After the carving was done, she painted over it in glittering gem tones: ruby-red, emerald-green, sapphire-blue, and pearly pastels.

      She took a lot of things she had collected over the years, such as stones, seashells, flowers, leaves and curling vines that were dipped in gold and attached in strategic places, to give the composition a quality of depth.

      The crowds watched her as she worked and gathered more and more supplies.

      Some news reporters even came to interview her, so she got to be in the Neopian Times, and gave her famous speech: "I would never hurt a living creature. Quite the opposite; I think of it as my duty to ease the pain of all those who have lost their teeth."

      This was how she became internationally well-known as our modern-day tooth faerie.

The End