The Anti-World Unfurled
"Boom!" Timmy yells enthusiastically as he bursts through his bedroom door. He crouches immediately and curls his hands to make them look clawlike. the room is quiet. He pretends to sniff the air hungrily. A smile spreads accross his face as the fishbowl catches his eye. Slinking through the room on all fours, he makes his way towards the sleeping fish.
" mmmm...fish-cabob" Timmy exclaims. He peers into the water, face to face with his next target who yawns and opens his eyes sleepily. Timmy ducks as his victim turns into a fairy.
" Hey Timmy!" Cosmo waves. Timmy snatches Cosmo by the tie, breathes in heavily and blows into Cosmo's face. As if strange behavior was normal after a treacherous day of school, Cosmo smiles casually.
" How was school?" He asks.
Timmy stares at his supposed meal, which is still talking even after being burned to a crisp (or so Timmy had imagined). Timmy drops Cosmo to the floor and jumps on his bed, flapping his arms wildly.
" Roaaar!!!" Timmy yells enthusiastically.
He leaps off the bed with his arms spread like wings.
" Today, we learned about the medieval times!" Timmy says excitedly, "When powerful, malicious, fire breathen dragons were feared above all other creatures!"
Cosmo gets up and wields his wand like a sword.
" Yep, even the bravest of all knights!"
" Yeah! And if I was a dragon, wait, teachers would still be the scariest creatures on earth, but at least I'd be able to get my dragon anatomy worksheet done " Timmy says as he pulls out some homework from the backpack he'd abandoned outside his room.
" Okay! One dragon coming right up!" Cosmo agrees as he raises his wand. POOF!
Timmy finds himself looking down at Cosmo with big blue eyes. He is as tall as the room, with a shimmering blue body, leathery pink wings, and a tuft of brown hair on his head. Timmy twitches a pointy ear and lifts his long, spiked tail.
" Cool!" Timmy exclaims, " Wait till Wanda sees me! Hey, where is Wanda?"
As if on cue, Wanda pops into view.
" There, I got some brain food for Timmy. The teachers always send him home with extra tough homework on Wednesdays", Wanda explains as she holds up some bran bars in front of Cosmo. She looks surprised that he has full attention somewhere else, let alone full attention anywhere. Her gaze rises on Timmy.
" Timmy!" Wanda gasps, " Oh no,nonono..."
Timmy and Cosmo frown at her unexpected reaction.
" What is it?" Timmy wonders aloud. Wanda just shakes her head and throws the bran bars into Cosmo's hands.
" You better take the whole box Cosmo,and I mean every little crumb ", Wanda demands. Timmy starts to laugh.
" Hahaha, what did Cosmo do wrong this time?!" He teases. Cosmo frowns even more.
" Timmy, dragons are impervious to magic," Wanda explains sadly. Timmy's eyes go wide and he looks around frantically.
" What? What? What happens when I want to be a boy again? When my parents call me to supper? Can I still eat pizza?!"
Before anyone has time to say anything, two figures pop into the room, surrounded by a thick blue mist.
" Oh goody, a wish gone wrong," says a haughty voice. Cosmo and Wanda gasp as the two figures reveal themselves as Anti- Cosmo and Wanda.
" What are you doing here?" Timmy asks with dislike. Anti- Cosmo flies up to Timmy so that they're eye to eye.
" There are three creatures that have been claimed as anti creatures. One being dragons, and the other two being ogres and sphynxs " He grins," Anti fairies for anti creatures, and you, young Timothy, are an anti creature."
Anti Wanda follows his lead.
" So if you wanna wish, you gotta ask us," she announces as she raises an ugly black wand.
"No!" Wanda cries, streaking upward and resting defendantly inbetween the unwelcomed arrivals and Timmy.
" Oh yes, you see, the only reason they keep us around is to become the lucky godparents of children that have decided they would much rather be anti, much like Timothy," Anti Cosmo explains happily.
Timmy's eyes widen and he shakes his head vigorously.
" No way!"
He stares angrily into the smug fairy's eyes and bares his teeth threateningly. " I wish Cosmo and Wanda could still be my fairy godparents then," Timmy hisses to Anti- Cosmo, literally.
Anti-Cosmo smiles and raises his unwelcome wand. Wanda and Cosmo bite their lips uncertaintly.
Poof!
Cosmo and Wanda are suddenly surrounded with a ghastly blue haze. As the mist clears, Timmy's jaw drops. With charcoal black crowns and bat-like wings, Cosmo and Wanda are floating there, looking stunned.
" We're Anti!" Wanda shrieks as she looks herself over with disgust. Cosmo laughs at her.
" Hey, your not any better, at least Wanda still has her looks," Timmy mentions. Cosmo stops laughing and looks at himself for the first time.
" My mamma's not gonna like this," he realizes with fear.
" Really, it wasn't all that bad being Anti," Anti- Cosmo (They aren't really anti anymore, but I'm still going to call them that) reassures unhelpfully. Timmy, who had forgotten all about the other fairies, closed his big blue eyes as if afraid to look.
" They're using past tense, that's not good," he says to himself. He opens his eyes hesitantly and spots a flashy fairy with a shiny green coat and a bright smile on his face.
" Look at how sparkly we are!" Anti-Cosmo boasts as he pulls Anti-Wanda towards him to admire his reflection in her shiny crown.
" Now that we're not Anti anymore, I know just what we're going to do!" He exclaims excitedly. His wand is raised and they both poof out of sight.
" Oh no!" Timmy gasps, " You mean the only way for you guys to be my fairy godparents is if you're anti, because dragons are anti creatures and only anti fairies are allowed to take care of anti creatures?!"
Wanda looks at her black wand with a frown and nods.
" We're all one big anti family!" Cosmo says in a singsong voice as he tries out his new bat-like wings by flitting about Timmy's head.
" There's a story behind it too, and I think you'll find it helpful", Wanda explains as she conjures a dusty book with her wand and pries it open. Timmy lays down and rests his head on his bed, listening intently.
And so the story began.....
A long time ago, when there were princessess of beauty, and knights of valor, when the mountains and forests were the homes to many enchanting creatures, and when the rivers bubbled with magic, their lived a wondrous place called The Unicorn's Citadel. This place was home to thousands of mystic creatures, from winged mice to deadly Griffins, but the Unicorns leaded them, being the most powerful and dignified of all the creatures. Even the mighty pegasus couldn't stand up to the power of the unicorns and their supernatural minds. The Citadel was hidden from anything the Unicorns found unworthy, namely ogres, dragons and sphynxes. These three creatures had proved to be the most destructive beasts in land. They didn't care for happiness or rights, just power. These terrors bullied creatures they found outside of The Unicorn's Citadel, and loved to pull apart the forest looking for them.
As a result, the Unicorns, disgusted by the behavior of these deadly beasts, gathered together as a great band and created a new world to banish them to. The Anti World. With every horn upturned and every Unicorn concentrating , they were able to force all ogres, sphynxes and dragons to this new grusome world where they would be banished forever and never seen again. From then on, all three species were considered anti, and they haven't been seen on the Earth since the Midieval times.
"The fairies did the same thing to the Anti-fairies, you know," Wanda explains as she closes the book and poofs it away to find that both Timmy and Cosmo are staring at her, open mouthed.
" The giant pickle did what!?" Cosmo exclaims. Timmy bolts upright, his large reptillian head almost hitting the roof.
" We've got to go to the Unicorns!" Timmy announces," If they have enough magic to make dragons anti, wait, I thought dragons were impervious to magic," he realizes.
Cosmo and Wanda exchange anxious looks.
" Well, unicorns use their minds to create and change. It's a special form of telekinesis," Wanda clears.
" Teleki-whats it?"
" Whatever it is, it isn't magic," Wanda says.
" Okay, " Timmy says, pointing a claw in the air," let's go to The Unicorn's Citadel and ask them to change us back!"
POOf!
meanwhile...
Anti-Cosmo and Wanda streak down the sidewalks of FairyWorld.
" Finally, I've wanted to do this all my life!" Anti-Cosmo whispers to himself happily. Anti-Wanda trails behind him, observing the shops and houses with interest. They come accross a bakery and fly inside. The teller looks up and twitches her wings with glee.
" Have you come for magic-berry pie? If you have, you're in luck! This batch just came out of the wand!" She explains while pulling out a tray of steaming pastries. Anti-Cosmo adjusts his eyepiece and grins.
" As a matter of fact I, wait, what's this? A finger print in the pie?" He frowns, picking up the nearest one and showing her. She gasps and leans over to observe it.
splat!
Anti-Cosmo pushes the pie into her face enthusiastically.
" Hahahahaaaa!" The anti-fairies burst while pie filling drips from the angry teller's face. Anti-Cosmo grabs Anti-Wanda and pulls her out the door as the teller starts to grab random goodies off of shelves and throw them dangerously hard.
" Out! Out you goblins! You fairy disgraces! Out!" She screams. The Anti fairies try and stifle their laughter as they dodge a pan of cupcakes and slip out the door.
" Oohh, this is going to be fun!" Anti-Cosmo grins.
.
Wanda, Cosmo and Timmy find themselves surrounded by lush green forest and bright, welcoming flowers. The air is clear and everything seems to be overlooked by a tall magestic tower, shining brilliantly as if made of gold.
Timmy gasps in awe as a group of winged leopards zip in and out of the trees playfully and a griffin snores from behind a nearby rock.
" Dude, what are you?" Questions a casual voice from behind them. Timmy spins around noisily to find a teenage unicorn looking up at him curiously.
" I uh... I'm a...bat. A really big bat," Timmy begins uneasily," that went wrong," he adds as the unicorn eyes his shimmering scales. After a few seconds the young unicorn nods in approval and turns his attention toward Cosmo and Wanda.
" And we're squirrels, but something went wrong there too," Cosmo explains happily. Wanda and Timmy grit their teeth and pray the unicorn, who is obviously there to judge wether they're worthy to enter to forest or not, will buy it.
" Dude, Dudette, something really went wrong," the unicorn says while giving them looks of pure sympathy," Go ahead, and enjoy your stay!"
Timmy leads them away quickly and pulls them behind a leafy bush.
" Whew, good thing it didn't recognoze me as a dragon. I need to keep a low profile for now. " Timmy smiles with relief, " Hey, how come it didn't recall me as a dragon anyways?"
Wanda taps her anti-chin thoughtfully while Cosmo breaks away to play with a couple of playful purple monkeys.
" Well, remember Aunt Gertrude?" Wanda begins.
" Aunt who?"
" Exactly," pipes Wanda, " A while ago you wished to forget all of your horrible memories of your Aunt Gertrude.The ancestors of these creatures wanted to forget the horrible memories of the anti-creatures, so they probably banned any talk of them."
Timmy blinks at her as a winged mouse flutters by.
" So nobody here knows what a dragon, let alone what any anti creature, is?" Timmy says in astonishment.
A twig crunches behind them and the purple monkeys vanish faster than a sneeze, leaving Cosmo looking hurt. Timmy swings around once again to find another young, beautiful unicorn staring up at them.
" Unfortunately for you," says her smooth female voice," you'll be surprised at how many of us still do."
Before Timmy even has time to gasp in shock, the pearly unicorn closes her bright eyes in concentration. Roots detach themselves from a nearby tree, wrap around Timmy's ankles, wrists, and pin his wings to his sides by roping around his body. Two more roots twist around Cosmo and Wanda like pythons. Timmy loses his balance and falls, squinting as his head smacks the ground.
" How you three got out of The Anti-World, I don't know," She says as she walks around them like a vulture," When me and my family banished you disgusting creatures, I didn't think I'd be seeing another lurid scale again."
Timmy raises his eyebrows at the thought of this unicorn still being alive ever since the Middle Ages.
" Unicorn's never die of old age, Timmy, but it's surprising this one hasn't drowned in her own pride yet," Wanda remarks with distaste. The unicorn steps over Timmy's head and draws closer to Wanda, who is still gripped tightly by a thick root.
" I should send you three straight back to the Anti-World right now," She whispers haughtily," But being the kind unicorn I am, I'll let you stay at my place for a while."
"And you thought we were going to have to rent a cave," Cosmo grins at Wanda. Timmy and Wanda struggle in their roots as the unicorn closes her eyes again in concentration. The world around them becomes a blur of colour. The roots disappear and they find themselves inside a bright, golden building as their surroundings become clearer. Murals and glittering decorations shine before them on every wall. The Murals are of unicorns, some dancing, some staring down at them with piercing eyes, and some concentrating hard with their horns pointing towards the top of the high ceiling. Cosmo, Wanda and Timmy observe them with awe. They were obviously in the magnificent golden tower they had seen previously.
" Come now. Follow me and nobody gets hurt," The unicorn snaps at them. Timmy, with an urge to just grab her and throw her over his wing, trods after her lead. She uses telekinesis to open a dark door and points inside.
" In!"
Timmy crouches and slips inside, staring at her reproachfully.
" Oh and don't mind if I just take these," she cooes as two wands fly towards her at her command.
"Oh no!" The three of them cry as the door slams behind them and locks.
" Well sport, it looks like we're going to have to start warming up to the idea of living in Anti World." Wanda sighs.
" No need for that! Anti World is already warm enough! Look here!" Cosmo exclaims as he points to a pamphlet tacked to the wall.
" Depressed that you're about to be sent to the Anti-World? We've got a few tid-bits to cheer you up!" Timmy reads from the pamphlet, " Due to its volcanic atmosphere, it's always warm."
"And you'll make friends easily if you're into destruction and bullying," Wanda reads.
" And the dragons are always putting on barbeques! You just have make sure you're not the one being barbequed," Cosmo says after reading the last bit.
Timmy sighs as his hope seems to leave him with every breath he takes.
" You can read?" asks a small childlike voice from behind the door.
Timmy jumps in surprise.
" Yes," Wanda answers as she flaps closer to the source of the voice. Timmy spies a small yellow eye peering through the keyhole. The eye closes and the door swings open. A very young unicorn with a stubby horn stands in the doorway and looks at the three of them as if they're the answers to her prayers.
" Hurry! Follow me!" She yells over her shoulder as she starts to prance down a golden hall.
" Perfect! Let's get out of here!" Timmy remarks as he heads toward the entrance of the building, which is in the opposite direction.
" Come on!" The young unicorn pleads.
Timmy looks at Wanda and Cosmo, who seem to be in love with the little creature.
" Let's go with her Timmy, maybe she's trying to help us get our wands back," Wanda reassures him as she and Cosmo fly after the unicorn. Timmy thumps noisily behind them. The unicorn leads them up a wide staircase that seems to spiral upward forever. She finally pauses at the entrance to a round, marble room. Timmy, Wanda and Cosmo peek around the corner hesitantly and spot, much to their dislike, the female unicorn that had already caused them so much trouble.
" Grandma! Grandma! They can read!" The young one says cheerfully as she gallops up to the older unicorn, who whips around at once.
" You can read?" She whispers in shock, her tail twitching with anxiety. Timmy steps into the room and slowly nods.
" Well come in! come in!" She welcomes eagerly. Timmy, Cosmo and Wanda eye her suspiciously and enter the room completely.
" Oh, I hope you were'nt too uncomfortable in that dingy room I had you in. I don't know what I was thinking!" She apologizes, a little too sweetly. Timmy shrugs his scaly shoulders. She trots up to them and admires them just like the young unicorn had done minuites ago.
" I didn't really mean the whole Anti World thing, and, oh, those roots must have been terrible," She says as if lecturing herself. Timmy glances at Cosmo and Wanda, who look just as appalled as he does.
" Forgive and forget, right?" She says. Timmy nods with hesitation.
" So, you can read? You know, it just so happens that I was given a prophecy from an old wizard a long time ago. I wanted him to prove he could prophesy, so he wrote my future on this piece of parchment here," she explaines in an excited voice, " I was hoping, you know, now that I've forgiven you and you've forgiven me, you could tell me what it says."
Timmy's eyes widen and he glances at Cosmo and Wanda with a grin.
" Oh, yeah. Forgiveness is what I'm all about," Timmy says. The young unicorn dances on her hind legs happily as the older female grasps a piece of parchment in her mouth from off a marble table and places it in Timmy's outstretched claws.
" Tell me, good friend, does it say anything about me ruling the world," She asks hopefully.
Timmy reads it over and tries to stifle a laugh. It reads...
Sometime in your future, three creatures will be the first and last to read this for you, but you'll never know what it really says.
"It says that sometime in your future, when you deprive two Anti-fairies of their magic by taking their wands, give the wands back at once, or else the fairies shall go insane and destroy your beloved Citadel," Timmy pretends to read. Cosmo and Wanda smile mischeviously and start to act as if going insane. The unicorn's smile fades and she closes her eyes quickly, obviously concentrating hard on summoning Cosmo and Wanda's wands. Timmy tries to stifle his laughter while getting ready to fulfill his mission once and for all.
"And it also says that you must heal all three creatures so they're not to be Anti anymore! Or else!" Timmy says happily. The disappointed unicorn sends the wands back to Cosmo and Wanda who grasp them eagerly and hover on either side of Timmy.
" I can't believe I'm about to do this, but only heaven knows what 'or else' could do to my beloved Citadel," She whispers to herself while blinking admiringly at the golden walls around them. She focuses hard on the three anti- creatures in front of her and closes her eyes in concentration. A bright jet of light streams out of her horn and splashes upon them. Timmy feels as if a heavy weight has been lifted off his shoulders and he sighs with relief. His dragonlike scales melt together like smooth skin and his wings slowly disintegrate into nothing. The child unicorn gasps as his head takes the form of a small boy's and he shrinks down to his normal size.
meanwhile...
Anti-Cosmo and Wanda observe FairyWorld with pride. The streets are covered with rivers of mud, and cockroaches are falling from the sky like rain. Fairies are flying in all directions trying to avoid the many wildcats on the loose, and almost everyone looks as if they've had a pie in the face. Anti-Cosmo laughs at the riot he's created. Two hesitant fairy scouts fly towards them, dodging pelting cockroaches and playful cat paws.
" We've been told that a couple fairies like you are the source of this mess," Says a scout with many badges along his sleeve," Have you anything to say for yourselves?"
Anti-Cosmo looks taken aback." Balderdash! Who do you think we are? A couple of-"
At that exact moment, Anti- Cosmo and Wanda slowly turn from their bright colours to a bleak, dark blue, with their crowns charcoal black, and wands even blacker.
" -Anti fairies?" Anti-Cosmo says, looking down at himself, then sheepishly at the scouts. The fairy scouts take them by the arms and poof them back to the fairy's Anti-World as Anti-Cosmo sports a ' Christmas is cancelled this year' look.
.
The Unicorns stare at the ten year old boy standing in the marble entrance, being hugged by two joyful fairies.
" You mean there's nothing else! I helped a disgusting human, and there's nothing in it for-"
" Grandma! He's not disgusting!," The young unicorn contradicts her," He's the cutest creature I've ever seen! Can I keep him?"
Timmy raises his eyebrows as the little one trots up to him happily. Timmy smiles hesitantly,
"I'm sorry but he's ours," Wanda says, " and he's got to get home where he belongs."
Timmy nods and points onward with his hand in the air." I wish we were outta here!"
POOF!
Timmy finds himself standing in the middle of his room, feeling dazed.
" Timmy, promise me you'll never wish-"
" I know, I know!" Timmy reassures them," And to think we went through all that because I wanted to get my dragon anatomy worksheet done." Timmy remembers as he picks up his homework.
" Timmy, becoming a dragon wouldn't have helped you understand a dragon's anatomy," Wanda says matter-of-factly. Timmy shrugs and looks at the worksheet for the first time.
" Please answer the following," Timmy reads out loud," Two dragon livers plus six dragon livers, eight dragon tongues minus three dragon tongues and seven dragon toenails times four dragon toenails? What? This is just a cheap way of getting us to practice our math!" Timmy wails.
" Timmy! Dinner's ready!" His Mom calls from the kitchen. Timmy drops his worksheet and zips downstairs. A steaming pizza is placed on the table as Timmy sits down.
" You've been awfully quiet dear, what have you been doing for the past several hours?" His Mom asks with concern while she divides the pizza.
" Oh, you'd only be mystified if I told you," Timmy says heartedly.