A Unicorn Adventure! (2 page)

Pippa quickly put on the new outfit that had magically appeared overnight especially for her—a denim skirt, a striped T-shirt, leggings, and a sweatshirt—then she hurried down the tower's spiral ramp.

“Excuse me,” she whispered as she made her way to the front of the courtyard. The royal ponies smiled as they parted to let her through. “Thanks,” she said.

Princess Honey was singing next to Stardust, tapping the ground in time to the music with a sparkly pink hoof. She was very pretty, with a shiny, strawberry chestnut coat, but she couldn't quite reach the higher notes, and her voice kept squeaking.

“You sound like a rusty stable door,” Stardust said, laughing at her.

Honey hung her head.

“Hi, Stardust. Hi, Honey,” Pippa whispered, squeezing between them. “What's going on?”

“We're rehearsing for the Royal Concert,” Stardust replied. “We always hold it on Midsummer Day, to give thanks for Chevalia and the magical horseshoes. But Honey won't be allowed to sing if she keeps on making that racket.” She playfully nudged her older sister.

Honey's brown eyes filled with tears. “You're so mean!” she said. Pushing past Stardust, she trotted out of the courtyard.

“There isn't going to be a concert if we don't find the horseshoes,” said Pippa. “But before we start searching for them, you'd better find Honey and say sorry for hurting her feelings.”

Stardust was surprised. “I was only teasing. I didn't mean to upset her—I forgot how much she wanted to sing the solo.”

Stardust was anxious to make it up to her sister, so together they sneaked out of the Royal Courtyard.

Once outside, she whinnied to Pippa, “Get on my back.”

Pippa jumped onto Stardust's snowy white back, and they cantered off to look for Honey.

“There she is,” Pippa said, pointing, as they left the castle over the drawbridge.

“She's heading for the Grasslands,” Stardust said, galloping after her.

Leaning forward like a racing jockey, Pippa buried her fingers in Stardust's mane. The pony galloped so fast that the air rushed at Pippa's face, making her eyes water and her hair stream out behind her in dark, wavy ribbons.

Honey didn't stop at the Grasslands but galloped on across the Savannah.

“Where's she going?” Pippa shouted.

“I don't know.” Stardust sounded worried. “This is the way to the Cloud Forest, but she can't be going there.”

“Why not?”

Stardust's stride faltered slightly. “Because it's haunted.”

Pippa tightened her fingers on Stardust's mane, knowing that if Honey entered the haunted forest, she and Stardust would have to follow her.

“Faster,” Pippa urged.

Stardust lunged forward.

“Honey, wait!” called Pippa. “Stardust has something to say to you.”

They were almost at the edge of the Cloud Forest when Stardust finally caught up with Honey.

“I'm sorry,” Stardust panted. Her sides were heaving and Pippa slid from her back to give her a chance to catch her breath. “I didn't mean to hurt your feelings.”

“I can't sing either,” Pippa confided. “I'm useless at it, and I get so shy I blush.”

“You, shy!” Stardust and Honey exclaimed together.

Pippa nodded. “I'm very shy about lots of things, but Mom says if you pretend to be confident, then everyone will think you are.”

Stardust was impressed. “That's great advice! I never guessed that you were shy about anything.”

“So where were you going, Honey?” Pippa asked. “Have you got a secret hideaway?”

Honey blushed and shuffled her hooves. “Sort of,” she admitted. “If I tell you the truth, you won't believe me.”

“Why won't we believe you?” asked Pippa.

“It's a secret, so you have to promise not to tell anyone,” Honey said. “I was going to see my friend Goldie. She lives in the Cloud Forest.”

“No one lives in the Cloud Forest,” said Stardust.

Honey took a deep breath. “She's a unicorn.”

“A unicorn?” Pippa asked, surprised. “Unicorns are real?”

“Oh, please!” Stardust snorted with laughter, until she noticed that Pippa was glaring at her. “There's no such thing as a unicorn,” she said. “Unicorns are make-believe—they only exist in bedtime stories for foals. Besides, you wouldn't dare go into the Cloud Forest—everyone knows it's haunted.”

Just then a beautiful noise drifted toward them. As they stood and listened, Pippa wished her ears could prick up to detect sounds like Stardust's and Honey's.

“What's that?” she whispered.

“It's the ghosts!” neighed Stardust. “Hop on my back, Pippa. We should get out of here.”

Now it was Honey's turn to laugh. “Oh, please!” she said. “There's no such thing as a ghost. That's the sound of the unicorns' song.”

“It's beautiful,” Pippa said, feeling herself soothed as if by a lullaby.

“It's amazing!” said Honey. “But I've never heard them sing together like that. We must find Goldie and see what's happening.”

“No!” Stardust dug her hooves into the ground. “You can't go into the Cloud Forest. It's far too scary.”

“I'm not scared,” Honey said stubbornly.

“Wait!” Pippa said, as Stardust started to trot away. “If most ponies are too afraid to enter the Cloud Forest, doesn't that make it a perfect place to hide a horseshoe?”

Stardust stopped and stared at Pippa. “You're right,” she agreed.

“Let's go then,” Pippa said bravely. “We can look for horseshoes and singing unicorns at the same time.”

Chapter 2

Stardust hesitated, but Pippa and Honey were already stepping toward the line of trees that marked the entrance to the Cloud Forest. A thick mist swirled around the trees, making it impossible to see more than a tail's length ahead. Pippa took tiny steps, squinting to try to see her way.

“Watch out,” Honey called, tossing her red-brown mane.

Pippa stopped. A thick green bundle of vines, coarse like old rope, wound down from an enormous tree and blocked their way.

“Are they poisonous?” she asked.

“No, just heavy,” Honey said, pushing them back with her nose as Pippa and Stardust joined her. “The first time I came here, the vines took me by surprise and I walked straight into them. You should have seen the bruise I got—it hurt for days.”

“They're very easy to miss in this mist,” said Pippa.

Pippa walked past the vines, holding them out of the way, then let them go when Stardust and Honey were clear.

“Vines like that could knock out an elephant,” Pippa giggled, watching them swing back across the path like a giant pendulum.

“What's an elephant?” Honey and Stardust asked together.

“Well,” Pippa began, searching for the right words. “Elephants are much bigger than ponies, and have thick gray skin. They have long trunks that extend from their faces that they use to drink water.”

“Now
that
sounds like a creature for a bedtime story!” said Honey.

“Not if you want a good night's sleep!” Stardust laughed. “They sound scary.”

As they walked farther into the forest, the mist closed in behind them and seemed to swallow them up. Pippa stared around nervously, half expecting a dinosaur to lumber out of the oversized trees. The ground was springy with a thick carpet of leaves. A huge, green plant grew everywhere, with leaves like airplane wings and vibrant red flowers.

“It's like an ancient forest,” she whispered.

“It is an ancient forest,” Honey whispered back.

“It smells wonderful.” Stardust stopped to take a deep breath.

“Listen.” Pippa tilted her head to one side. She could still hear voices singing in the distance, but now there was a new, burbling noise competing with them. “What is that?” she asked.

The sound was familiar but she couldn't figure out what it was.

Stardust tossed her head. “I can hear it too.”

“It's a stream,” said Honey. “The forest has lots of brooks and ponds. They're partly why everything grows so well here.”

The ground became spongier as they followed the sound of the beautiful voices. Water oozed through Pippa's sandals, making her toes wet. Stardust daintily flicked her hooves, showering Pippa's legs with sparkling droplets of moisture. Pippa couldn't help giggling. The noise sounded out of place in the impressive forest, like laughing out loud in a library.

“That was cold!” she said.

“Sorry.” Stardust hung back so that she didn't splash Pippa anymore.

The ground grew boggier until, finally, they reached a brook. It was small enough to jump. Honey went first, clearing it easily, then turned back and called for the others to join her.

Before Pippa could go anywhere though, something buzzed above her head, producing a breeze that lifted her hair and tickled her neck.

“Eeek!” Stardust whinnied, turning around.

Her eyes were wide with fright and she jumped, her brown hooves pawing at the air.