Part Thirteen:
The Faerie Queen has just somehow saved Spritzie by means of her mirror, and Sun has mentioned that "it is time." It is time for what?
"How is it that we end up getting sent on all these so-called 'tasks' if you can just pull things out of your mirror?" demanded an angry Spritzie.
"Spritzie!" yelled Lil, "Show some gratitude! She saved your life!"
"If it weren't for her, I wouldn't have been in danger to begin with," Spritzie retorted.
"I didn't get the items myself because I couldn't," answered Fyora, "Now be patient. It is now time for you to know everything." As she said this, she backed up a few paces, and called the Angelpuss to stand a few steps away beside her. Sun then stood on Fyora's other side, the three of them lined up side by side. Fyora held out her hand on each side. A white aura of light began to glow around her. Light shot out from her hands and hit the Angelpuss and the Ixi, causing the same white aura to appear around them.
After a moment, the Angelpuss began to change. Its halo disappeared. Its fur turned yellow. The eyes changed to a fuchsia color. Small horns grew out of its head, and its feet turned to hooves, as its tail changed and wings disappeared. It grew. By the end of the transformation, it had become a yellow Ixi.
At the same time, Fyora began a transformation. Her crown vanished, and her faerie wings shrank into her back. The long armbands on her arms migrated to her hands, wrapped themselves around them, and became hooves. Horns grew out of her head. Her eyes changed color. Her dress split in half and wrapped around her legs, then became blue fur with white cloud shapes in it. The fur spread up throughout the rest of her body, as her hair shrank into her head and her ears grew and moved to the top of her head. As her face changed shape, she shrank. When it was finished, she had become a cloud Ixi.
Sunskyes was the last to shape shift. She grew. Her legs became longer and stronger, enabling her to stand on her hind legs. The back hooves became human feet, as the front hooves became human hands. Her tail shrank, and the horns retreated inside her head. Her ears became smaller and lowered. Her face flattened into a human face. The yellow fur retreated up her body and became her hair, turning lavender. A lavender, sleeveless dress appeared on her, as did matching armbands along her arms. A crown appeared on her head, and lavender faerie wings blossomed out of her back. When her transformation was complete, she had become Fyora, the Faerie Queen. The three of them then stopped glowing.
"Whoa, what's going on?" questioned a very confused Luna.
"My name is Fyora, Queen of the Faeries," answered the one who had previously been Sunskyes.
"I am the Sunskyes of this time," said the cloud Ixi.
"And I am the original Sunskyes... the one from your own time... or, whatever..." said the yellow Ixi.
"Um, ok..." began Lil, "So... the Angelpuss is really our Sun, the Faerie Queen is really your Sun, and Sun is really the Faerie Queen? Suddenly I have a headache."
"How did all this happen?" asked Spritzie.
"When the Great War began, I gave Sunskyes - by then a cloud Ixi - some great powers," began Fyora - the real Faerie Queen, "I needed someone to be my ambassador and help in the war in Neopia - I was too busy dealing with the war here in Faerieland to be able to go below. And we were losing - both here and on the ground. So I picked someone from my Faerie Defense League - made up of my eight strongest and most loyal warriors - to be that ambassador and attempt to turn the tide in our favor. These eight were destined for greatness from birth - for reasons I cannot yet say because it is not yet time for you to know."
"I was the one whom she picked," said the future Sun, "She gave me powers similar and nearly equivalent to her own. By the time she decided to do this, Lunamercurie, Spritzieblue, and myself were the only three members of the League left. By the end of the war, it was evident that the Tri-Union would be the victors. So I took four rare items - a Mystery Island Paint Brush, a Mosaic Negg, a Pirate Paint Brush, and an Ultra Ice Negg - and endowed each with a special power, useless when separate, but when combined they would bring forth a great weapon which would allow its owner to destroy the Tri-Union. I then gave the items to Fyora for safekeeping. "
"Soon after," continued Fyora, "Jhudora, leader of the Darkness Faeries, and many of her followers, attacked, in an attempt to retrieve the items. They succeeded. Fearing for my life, Sunskyes came up with a plan I was hesitant to go along with. She would disguise herself as me, and disguise me as a common Neopian who would live on the ground."
"When Gryffin and I found ourselves in the future after running from Meuka," began the yellow Ixi, "the Faerie Queen recognized who we were and what our futures would hold, so she brought us here. She and my future self explained to us what was going on, and what would happen. With my permission, they then copied and transferred my memories to Fyora, and disguised her as me, then disguised me as a pet Angelpuss. They sent the battle faerie to save you from Meuka - since the sorceress is my future self, she knew that you would come searching for me - and lure you through the portal to the future. She then went back to the Haunted Fairgrounds with Gryffin, where you found them."
"You knew about this the whole time?" Chibi said, looking at Gryffin. Gryffin nodded sheepishly.
"But why did you do all that?" asked Luna.
"I came with you, because you needed someone who knew the future with you to be absolutely sure you were who we thought you were," answered Fyora. "I chose to use my true power with the Monocerous because by then all four items had been recovered, and I knew that you were the ones."
"If you were powerful enough to make those items, why couldn't you just combine them and use them yourself?" asked Chibi.
"When Fyora gave me my powers," began the future Sunskyes, "she wanted to be sure I could not become any more powerful than what she allowed, in case I be forced over to the side of evil in some way. Therefore, she put a spell on me that would cause me to die if I tried to gain any new powers without her knowledge or permission."
"And what about pulling me through the mirror?" asked Spritzie, "Why didn't you just do that with the items themselves and combine them for the Faerie Queen to use?"
"Because we knew you would be coming," said Fyora, "And we knew that you were the eight destined to fulfill the Prophecy. We also knew that Sunskyes alone would not be able to harness the power of the combined objects - even though she is the one who can combine them, because of my imposed limitations, she can't actually use their power. And we also knew that the Tri-Union would also never be able to do anything with them because they didn't have Sunskyes. Besides, I would have the weapon, and it could make me more powerful, but even though I am very powerful, I can't do everything. Even with my strength, it would be outlandish to think that I could single-handedly defeat the Tri-Union. Even if I could, it would take all of my strength and kill me. I can possibly help, but it takes a team of determined, brave warriors to win a war."
"And now, I believe it is time to finally combine the items and harness their power," said the cloud Ixi. She raised her head, looked up, and concentrated. The four items appeared in the air above her, levitating, in a diamond shape.
"Fire!" she called out. As she said this, the Mosaic Negg glowed fiery red.
"Earth!" she shouted. As she said this, the Mystery Island Paint Brush glowed a deep green.
"Water!" she cried out, as the Pirate Paint Brush began to glow aquamarine blue.
"Air!" she cried out, and the Ultra Ice Negg began glowing a beautiful sky blue.
"Light!" the sorceress cried out. She herself then began to glow a brilliant white. Beams of light shot out from each of the five - the four objects plus the sorceress - and intertwined above them, forming a tall, glowing rod. The sorceress and the objects then stopped glowing, and the objects fell to the ground, now once again ordinary Neggs and Paint Brushes. The rod stopped glowing, and fell into Fyora's open hand. It was tall, Fyora's height, and golden. On the tip was a golden, eight-pointed star.
"And now, I will use this weapon, which I will call, the Rod of Light, to bestow upon you eight, powers no Neopian has ever known," said Fyora. "Chibimartian and Lilbasketballbabe will have the element of Fire. Chibimartian, I give you the power to control and create fires. Lilbasketballbabe, I give you the ability to control temperatures, making it hotter or colder at will. Gryffinstormie and EmeraldMount, you have the element of Earth. Gryffinstormie will be able to control animals, and shape shift, while EmeraldMount will control the land, and its plants. Lunamercurie and Spritzieblue will have power over Water. Lunamercurie will control water in its solid and liquid forms, and Spritzieblue will be able to use water in its gaseous forms to create shields and heal people. Gryffinstormie and Koorite will control Air; Gryffinstormie will be able to control the weather, and Koorite will have extreme speed and the ability of invisibility. And Sunskyes will have the power over Light, making it dark and light at will."
After she said this, Fyora aimed her Rod at the eight Neopians. They glowed for a second, and then when they dimmed, they looked different. Chibi was now black, with a flame red mane, fiery orange tail, and yellow flame patterns on his hooves. Lil's feet were now black, and she had red, orange, and yellow streaked fur. Gryffin was now white, with a green fur around his neck. Emerald was now green, with white stripes. Luna was aqua blue, with her stripes being lighter blue and wave-patterned. Spritzie was also aqua blue, with a bubble pattern running up along her legs. Koorite was completely white. Sun was now white, with rainbow-colored streaks running up her legs, and a rainbow-colored tail. Her eyes were also rainbow-colored.
"Now, time for bed," declared Fyora. The group turned to head back to their rooms.
"One more question," started Spritzie. "How can both Suns be here at the same time?"
"We never did touch each other nor have physical contact," answered the cloud Ixi.
"Oh, I guess that makes sense," said Spritzie.
"Now, off to bed," Fyora said, gesturing towards the hallway.
"Goodnight," Spritzie said as she turned around.
The eight have received great new powers, and learned the strangest information ever. Now all that is left is to confront the Tri-Union itself...