A Unicorn Adventure! Read online

  A Magical Friend

  A Dream Come True

  The Special Secret

  A Unicorn Adventure!

  An Amazing Rescue

  Best Friends Forever!

  For Iyla, who inspired these adventures

  With special thanks to Julie Sykes

  Contents

  The Pony and Royal Family

  Chevalia

  Early one morning

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chevalia Now

  Will Pippa and Princess Stardust find all the golden horseshoes?

  Copyright

  Early one morning, just before dawn, two ponies stood in an ancient courtyard, looking sadly at a stone wall.

  “In all my life this wall has never been empty. I can’t believe that the horseshoes have been taken—and just before Midsummer Day too,” said the stallion.

  He was a handsome animal—a copper-colored pony, with strong legs and bright eyes, dressed in a royal red sash.

  The mare was a dainty yet majestic palomino with a golden coat and a pure white tail that fell to the ground like a waterfall.

  She whinnied softly. “We don’t have much time to find them all.”

  With growing sadness the two ponies watched the night fade away and the sun rise. When the first ray of sunlight spread into the courtyard it lit up the wall, showing the imprints where the golden horseshoes should have been hanging.

  “Midsummer Day is the longest day of the year,” said the stallion quietly. “It’s the time when our ancient horseshoes must renew their magical energy. If the horseshoes are still missing in eight days, then by nightfall on the eighth day, their magic will fade and our beautiful island will be no more.”

  Sighing heavily, he touched his nose to his queen’s.

  “Only a miracle can save us now,” he said.

  The queen dipped her head, the diamonds on her crown sparkling in the early morning light.

  “Have faith,” she said gently. “I sense that a miracle is coming.”

  Chapter 1

  Pippa woke with sunlight warming her face and the sound of singing in her ears. The music reminded her of her big sister, Miranda, who often sang in the mornings. Miranda was mostly out of tune though, unlike the beautiful voices Pippa could hear now. Curious, she got out of bed.

  “Stardust, are you awake?”

  Princess Stardust’s straw blanket was crumpled as if she’d gotten up in a hurry. A wave of homesickness hit Pippa as she stared around the empty room. Annoying as Miranda was, she missed her—and Mom and her little brother, Jack. Did they miss Pippa too?

  Four days ago Pippa and her family had been on a beach vacation when two giant seahorses had taken her to the enchanted island of Chevalia, a world inhabited by talking ponies. Pippa had learned that Chevalia was in terrible danger. The eight golden horseshoes that gave the island life had been stolen from the Whispering Wall, an ancient courtyard wall in Stableside Castle. If the horseshoes weren’t hanging back on the wall in time for Midsummer Day, their magical energy couldn’t be renewed by the Midsummer sun and Chevalia would fade away. To Pippa’s amazement, she had been asked to find the missing horseshoes. Along with her new best friend, a royal pony called Princess Stardust, she’d managed to find four of them, but Midsummer was three days away and there were still four horseshoes to find.

  As Pippa got up, she remembered something important—Chevalia existed in a magical bubble. No time would pass in her world while she was on the island, meaning that none of her family would miss her. Pippa’s homesickness vanished immediately.

  She skipped to the window to see where the singing was coming from. Princess Stardust’s bedroom was in the smallest tower of the castle, topped with a pink flag, and it had a marvelous view. Pippa glanced at the sea sparkling in the distance before looking at the courtyard below.

  “It’s the Royal Court,” she breathed.

  All the ponies of the Royal Court were gathered together, with the princesses and princes in the front. Their colorful sashes and jeweled tiaras shimmered in the morning sun. Crystal, Stardust’s bossy oldest sister, was conducting the singing with a riding crop, and the music made Pippa want to dance. When she had first arrived on Chevalia, Pippa had been so shy, but now she was starting to feel as if she belonged here and she couldn’t wait to join them.

  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.

  Pippa’s mouth fell open. Dropping down on the leafy ground, she covered her head with her arms. A bird-sized creature darted overhead, red flames shooting from its mouth.

  “Help! A dragon!” neighed Stardust.

  Honey almost fell over her pink hooves laughing. “A dragonfly,” she said. “Stand still and stop panicking. Dragonflies won’t hurt you, though accidents can happen if you get in their way.”

  Pippa’s heart beat rapidly. It was all very well for Honey to tell them to stand still, but knowing what to do and actually doing it were two very different things. She slowly stood up and stroked Stardust’s trembling neck. Stardust whinnied softly. The dragonfly circled above them. In a whirl of electric-blue wings, it spun away.

  Pippa exhaled in relief. “Wow!”

  Chevalia was full of magical surprises. Yesterday she’d met talking horseflies, and now here was this amazing fire-breathing dragonfly. What would she see next?

  The music was growing louder. It made Pippa think of tinkling raindrops and colorful rainbows sparkling in the sunshine. She hurried on, eager to discover where it was coming from. The mist began to thin out. In places it hovered around her waist so that she felt like she was swimming through it. Pippa was so wrapped up in the magical surroundings and the sweet melody of the music that she almost missed the dog crossing the path ahead. It was only when Honey shouted out that she looked up.

  “Goldie!” Honey called.

  The creature bucked, kicking out its back legs, and Pippa realized it wasn’t a dog at all. It looked more like a tiny pony, rose-tinted brown with a flowing blond tail.

  Honey took off, galloping after her.

  “Wait for us!” shouted Pippa and Stardust.

  Pippa’s heart hammered against her ribs as they raced into the trees after Honey. What if they lost her? How would they ever find their way back out of the enchanted Cloud Forest? Fallen branches snapped under her feet and damp leaves were kicked up in her face. Pippa pushed herself to run harder, determined not to be lef
t behind.

  After a long chase, she and Stardust burst into a small clearing carpeted with mossy flowers, their golden petals shining like the rising sun. Honey stood at the base of a tree, its trunk twisted with age. She was speaking softly to someone, and Pippa looked around to see who it was.

  A low branch stretched, like a twiggy arm, from the tree into the clearing. Perched gracefully on the middle of the branch was the strange, rose-tinted brown pony. Its silky tail flowed down like a waterfall. It had soft brown eyes and a blond mane. Pippa couldn’t help staring at the creature’s forehead. She blinked but it was still there. The creature definitely had a gold spiraled horn in the middle of its forehead. Pippa’s breath caught in her throat.

  “A real unicorn,” she whispered, blinking to check that she wasn’t imagining the beautiful creature.

  “This is Goldie,” Honey said, turning around to face them.

  “Hello,” Goldie said, her voice like the tinkle of bells.

  “Hello,” Stardust said, curtsying.

  Pippa curtsied on trembling legs. Her voice stuck in her throat and she couldn’t speak. The unicorn was a smaller, more delicate copy of Honey! Not wanting to be caught staring, Pippa lowered her eyes.

  “Hello, Stardust. Hello, Pippa,” said Goldie. “Honey’s just been telling me all about you.”

  “Hello,” Pippa said, finally finding her voice.

  The unicorn was much smaller than she had expected—not that Pippa had ever expected to meet a real unicorn. But then she had never expected to meet giant seahorses or talking ponies either. On Chevalia it seemed that just about anything was possible.

  Pippa was amazed by the tiny unicorn, her golden horn shining brightly in the patchy light of the forest. Pippa’s gaze flicked to Honey. There was no denying it. Honey and Goldie were almost identical.

  “I’m so glad you came today,” Goldie continued in her sweet, tinkling voice. “Strange things have been happening here in the Cloud Forest. This morning when we sang our waking song, a tree sang back to us.”