The very moment that Dr. Schroeder realized the forever-young Magpie was going to swing by his office and "surprise" him later in the evening, he decided he better well prepare for it. The little fuzzdragon's current obsession was certainly an easy one to appeal to. Even if it wasn't something he'd known in his own childhood, it was easy enough to research! Then all he'd had to do was summon up his courier, Shannon, and send the teleporting dragon-fly off to the first grocery store he could find.

So when Magpie at last strolled into his office, he knew it was her even though she was entirely draped in a black sheet, with her bright blue eyes peering through two holes cut at the front and the luminous globe of her tailtip--the only part of her body the sheet did not cover--shining brightly at her opposite end. And when she cheerfully exclaimed, "Trick or Treat!", Schroeder just smiled and pushed a giant bowl heaped high with candy across the surface of his desk.

"So what are you supposed to be?" he asked, although he knew the answer, as Magpie reared up on her hind legs and merrily started to paw through his generous offering. Milk-Dots, Jupiter Bars, Dig-Dawgs, Andromedas, Pecan Delights, Giggles, and a half-dozen other types of candies sloshed out of the bowl and onto his desk as the fuzzdragon rooted merrily, trying to decide what she wanted to try first.

Though her face was shrouded behind black fabric, the twinkle in her eyes was enough to tell of the beaming grin on her hidden face. Magpie curled her tail up and waved its glowing tip back and forth and up and down, and sending the faint shadows of Schroeder's office dancing in all directions. "I'm a will o' the wisp, of course!"

Schroeder smiled as Magpie at last decided to start with a roll of sugary Clevers candies, and reached into one of his desk-drawers as she unwrapped the treat. There was a second thing he knew she had come in search of, and as she started to enjoy her candy, Schroeder passed a paper across the table and waited for her eyes to light--which they soon did. The "Halloween Takeover" at Nidus Avengaea couldn't have come at a more perfect time.

Magpie was the happiest little fuzzbaby in all existence. Dr. Schroeder couldn't have produced a better place to send her if he'd tried! Which he couldn't have. Dr. Schroeder's clairvoyance told him lots of things, but Magpie's mysterious origin wasn't on that list, which was just as she preferred it. That was a secret too good to spoil.

The haunted house she'd discovered on the Nidus sands had been a little scary at first, which she hadn't expected, and she'd been unable to keep from hiding behind the other candidate that had looked quite a lot like her--if bipedal. But then, after being chased around by spooks for a while, Magpie had been given a surprise even better than her discovery of the wonderful candy-filled holiday called Halloween. One of the masterminds behind the great trick (for a trick it was) was none other than her Auntie KTFE!

Once that discovery had been made, the house had entirely ceased to be frightening to little Magpie. Her Auntie was in charge! That put all the strangeness and creepiness on a level that Magpie could totally understand--and have fun with! So when her Auntie's secret had been spoiled and Magpie and all the other candidates had discovered there were little dragonets to be bonded, of course Magpie had had to suggest some good old trick-or-treating to keep up the fun and games, and then be the first in line!

So now she sat upon the mist-encircled sands of the Nidus, with both trick and treats close at hand. The treats were an overflowing pile of candy in a cute Jack-o-Lantern bucket, quickly being turned into a pile of empty wrappers. The trick was Siriand, her new bond! With that soundness and security that could only be managed by a bond, fuzzbaby and hydrakit were already fast friends, gleefully sharing the candy that had also been a gift from Magpie's Auntie KTFE.

Soon enough they'd decide they were full and Magpie would teleport them both back to the Destiny--and then the real fun would start!