National Cupcake Day

      Marina is the faerie who guards The Healing Springs and lets neopets take a dip in the springs when they become sick or weak. For her whole life, she has always stayed relatively close to the springs and has never spent any significant amount of time away from them. Due to this fact, she was unaware of what would happen to her if she were ever away from The Healing Springs for a long period of time.

      One sunny day, Marina was sitting in the crisp spring air near The Healing Springs just watching the clouds go by. She was disturbed from her thoughts when she heard a commotion behind her. She turned around to see Jhudora using a bucket to take water out of The Healing Springs.

      “What are you doing?” Cried Marina, “you cannot take buckets full of water away from the springs.”

      “I do what I want!” Laughed Jhudora, “and no faerie is going to stop me!”

      “I can’t let you do that.” Replied Marina, moving between Jhudora and the water. “Please stop!”

      “Oh, now you’re going to get in my way?” Said Jhudora, “okay, you asked for it!”

      Jhudora waved her arms and a cage appeared around Marina.

      “What are you doing?” Cried Marina.

      “Getting you out of my way,” replied Jhudora. “I didn’t plan on kidnapping anyone today, but things change.”

      With a Laugh Jhudora waved her arms and suddenly she and Marina were in a dark, musty room.

      “Where are we?” Asked Marina.

      “Wouldn’t you like to know,” said Jhudora with a smirk. “I have some things to do, so have fun in this dusty room until I get back.”

      “Wait!” Cried Marina. “How long are you going to keep me in here?”

      “Forever!” Replied Jhudora, and with that she was gone.

      Marina looked around in the darkness. From what she could see, she was in a small room made out of stone. It was cold and dusty, this place was not pleasant. It had to be one of the dungeons in Jhudora’s castle.

      Minutes turned into hours and hours turned into days. Marina was not sure how long she had been in the dungeon, time was blurring together. As each day passed, Marina felt herself getting weaker and weaker. She was not sure why she feeling weak, Jhudora gave her three meals each day, so it was not lack of food.

      Meanwhile, near The Healing Springs, Marina’s friends and family had been piecing together what had happened. By talking to other faeries they had learned that Marina had been kidnapped by Jhudora. This worried Marina’s mother because she knew that the longer that Marina was away from the springs, the weaker she would get. Ever since Marina had been discovered missing, everyone who cared about her was working long and hard to try and find a way to save her from Jhudora.

      Marina’s best friend Tali had been extensively researching everything she could think of. After a lot of time and effort, she had come up with a plan to save Marina. If Tali could somehow get Marina under the same roof as a significant amount of water from The Healing Springs and get her to drink some water from the springs, it should increase Marina’s magic enough for her to escape from Jhudora’s hold.

      Tali was a baker, which provided her with a great excuse to talk to many people and get access to many places in Neopia. One day while Tali was trying to come up with a plan to save Marina, the perfect opportunity fell into her lap. Jhudora came into Tali’s bake shop looking for a birthday cake for herself. This could not have worked out better for Tali. Tali could use Jhudora’s birthday cake as an excuse to get herself into the castle to free Marina.

      Instead of making a cake, Tali set to work on making over five hundred cupcakes, Tali wanted to be extra sure that she had more than enough. Each cupcake was made with water from The Healing Springs inside of it. This provided Tali with a flawless way to get Marina under the same roof as a significant amount of water from the springs.

      After lots of work, the cupcakes were finished and had turned out perfect. Now all Tali had to do was get the cupcakes to Jhudora’s castle where Marina was and find her.

      Tali packed up the cupcakes and made her way to Jhudora’s castle. As Tali was about to knock on the castle door, it swung open.

      “What do you want?” Asked Jhudora opening the door.

      “Happy birthday Jhudora!” Said Tali. “May I come in to set up your birthday cupcake display?”

      “Sure,” replied Jhudora. “I am very busy, I need to get ready for my party. Go into the Living room and set the cupcakes up on the table, then just let yourself out when you are done.”

      The way things were working out couldn’t be any more perfect. Tali was alone in Jhudora’s castle! Tali put the cupcakes on a table in the living room. “Now to find Marina,” she said to herself.

      Tali grabbed a cupcake and began to explore the castle. She knew Marina had to be somewhere. Tali went down a long hallway with many doors, she peeked in each door that she walked by but there was no sign of Marina. At the end of the hallway was a dark, stone staircase that looked like it lead to some kind of basement.

      Tali grabbed a lantern off of the wall and went down the staircase. It looked like she was in some kind of dungeon. There were closed doors lining the hallway. Each door had padlock and a bunch of chains on it, making it impossible for anyone to get in or out. There were small, bar covered windows on each door.

      “Marina must be in one of these rooms.” Said Tali.

      Tali began to peek in each room, most of them were empty. But then sure enough, she saw Marina.

      “Marina!” Cried Tali with joy, “I am so glad you are okay.”

      “Tali!” Cried Marina, “you found me!”

      “I have a plan to get you out of here.” Said Tali. “I did some research and learned that if you are under the same roof a significant amount of water from The Healing Springs and you drink some water from the springs, then your magic will increase. When your magic increases you will have enough power to free yourself from Jhudora’s hold.”

      “How are we going to pull this off?” Questioned Marina.

      “Don’t worry about it! I figured it all out.” Replied Tali. “Right now, you are currently under the same roof as a ton of water from The Healing Springs. Now all you need to do is eat this cupcake that I made for you that contains water from the springs.”

      “I hope this works,” said Marina reaching through a bar in the door to take the cupcake from Tali.

      Marina ate the cupcake and a blinding light surrounded her. She felt a tingling all over and then then light disappeared. Marina didn’t feel weak anymore, she felt stronger than ever. With a flick of her hands, Marina was able to break the chains on the door.

      “I am free!” Cried Marina! “Tali, your plan worked! Thank you so much!”

      “Yay!” Said Tali, “I am so happy you are free, now let’s get out of here before Jhudora finds out!”

      Marina and Tali left Jhudora’s castle and went back to The Healing Springs. Everyone was so relieved that Marina was safe. Queen Fyora marked the occasion by naming it national cupcake day, because after all, it is not often that cupcakes save the day.

      The End.