Unicorn Princesses 8

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  The Unicorn Princesses series

  Sunbeam’s Shine

  Flash’s Dash

  Bloom’s Ball

  Prism’s Paint

  Breeze’s Blast

  Moon’s Dance

  Firefly’s Glow

  Feather’s Flight

  For Phoenix and Lynx

  In the top tower of Spiral Palace, Ernest, a wizard-lizard, stood in front of a full-length mirror. He straightened his pointy wizard’s hat and furrowed his brow. He pushed his mouth into a straight line. And then he held up his wand as though he were about to cast a spell.

  He froze and studied his reflection. Then, he shook his head. “No, no, no,” he whispered. “I look too serious.”

  He tilted his hat slightly. He widened his eyes and opened his mouth as though he were shouting. He lifted his wand. He paused for a few seconds, and then he sighed. “That’s no good, either,” he muttered. “I look too . . . enthusiastic.”

  Ernest began to push his hat backward when he heard a knock on the door. He jumped in surprise and called out, “Come in!”

  The door opened with a creak. And there stood a unicorn with a glossy pink coat, a shiny pink mane, and a long pink tail. Around her neck, a ruby hung on a white ribbon necklace.

  “Princess Feather!” Ernest exclaimed, dancing across the room. “You’re back! What a wonderful surprise!”

  Feather grinned. “Am I interrupting anything?” she asked.

  “Oh no,” Ernest said, straightening his cloak. “I was just, um, practicing different poses for casting spells.”

  Feather laughed. “I just returned from an amazing adventure in the Aqua Realm, the Witches’ Realm, and the Reptile Realm. You are one of the first creatures in the Rainbow Realm I wanted to see.”

  “I’ve missed you,” Ernest said.

  “I’ve missed you too,” Feather said. “In the Reptile Realm, I met some wizard-lizards who said you might be their distant cousin. And that made me miss you even more.”

  Ernest blushed. Then he smiled hopefully. “Now that you’re back, you don’t happen to need any magical assistance, do you?” he asked. “I’ve been practicing my magic while you were gone, and now I never make mistakes. Well, hardly ever. Actually, maybe occasionally. But really, I’ve gotten much better at it.”

  Feather laughed. “I’m sure you have,” she said. “It just so happens that I was wondering if you could make each of my sisters a pair of magic flying pajamas. I’m celebrating my return home with a sleepover in the Sky Castle tonight, and I want to give my sisters a special surprise when they arrive.”

  Ernest scratched his forehead. “That’s a tricky one, even for a wizard-lizard,” he said. Then he jumped up. “Actually, I know just the spell! The pajamas will only work for a few hours. And they’ll only work in the Rainbow Realm. But I know I can do it! I’ll have the magic pajamas waiting for you in the Sky Castle by this afternoon.”

  “Thanks, Ernest,” Feather said. She glanced at the grandfather clock on the other side of the room. “I hate to say this, but I’d better run. My sisters promised to tell me about their new friend while we eat lunch. They say she’s a human girl!”

  Ernest smiled. “That must be Cressida,” he said. “You’re going to love her. I’ll get right to work on those pajamas.”

  “Thanks, Ernest!” Feather said. “You’re the best!” She turned and trotted out the door.

  Ernest skipped over to his bookshelf and pulled down a green book with the title Enchanting Entertaining: From Bewitching Balls to Spellbinding Sleepovers. He flipped to a chapter in the middle of the book with the heading, “Sorcery for Slumber Parties.” He turned more pages until he found a spell with the title, “Short-Lasting Magic Pajamas (Intermediate Level).” He read the spell several times and pulled out his wand. He cleared his throat. And then he chanted, “Dappledy Doopledy Doppledy Damas! Make Seven Pairs of Magic Iguanas!”

  Ernest waited for a swirl of wind or a flash of light. He waited for seven pairs of unicorn pajamas to appear on his desktop. Instead thunder rumbled in the distance. “Oh dear!” Ernest said, turning toward the window in time to see a flash of purple light in a distant cluster of pink clouds. “Hopefully Feather won’t notice anything amiss before her sleepover,” he said. “I’d better try again.”

  He looked again at his spell book. Then he raised his wand and chanted, “Dappledy Doopledy Doppledy Damas! Make Seven Pairs of Magic Pajamas!”

  Pink light flashed. A silvery gust of wind swirled in circles. And then, on his desk, appeared a large brown paper bag. Ernest stood on his tiptoes and peered inside. “Perfecto!” he said. “I knew I could do it.” He raised his wand and chanted, “Flippity Flappety Floppety Flastle! Off You Fly to Feather’s Sky Castle!”

  Two red, glittery wings sprouted on either side of the bag. It took one little hop, flapped its wings, and soared out the window toward the far-off pink clouds.

  On a Saturday afternoon, Cressida Jenkins sat at her kitchen table and used a spoon to put globs of chocolate chip cookie dough on a baking sheet. Her mother stood at the counter chopping carrots while her father stirred a pot of spaghetti sauce.

  Cressida was so excited she could barely keep from doing cartwheels across the kitchen floor. That evening, her two best friends, Gillian and Eleanor, were coming over for dinner and spending the night. It would be their first sleepover, and Cressida was making cookies in honor of the occasion.

  Cressida scraped the last bits of dough from the mixing bowl and dropped a final glob onto the only empty spot left on the baking sheet. “These are all ready,” Cressida said.

  “Excellent,” her father said, picking up the baking sheet. “I’ll put them right in the oven. You girls can eat cookies in your bedroom together as a special treat.”

  Cressida grinned. Usually, she wasn’t allowed to eat dessert in her bedroom.

  “Can we eat dessert before dinner?” Cressida asked.

  “We’ll see,” her mother said, winking at her.

  “What else should I do to get ready for Gillian and Eleanor?” Cressida asked. She hopped up and down and spun in circles as she imagined her friends arriving in just fifteen minutes with their sleeping bags and pajamas.

  Cressida’s father smiled. “It might be a good idea to change your shirt.” Cressida looked down at her green T-shirt. Smeared butter covered her sleeves, and there was so much flour on the front that it looked white instead of green.

  Cressida smiled. “I guess I got a little messy when I was making the dough,” she said. She skipped across the kitchen, down the hall, and into her bedroom.

  She opened her bureau drawer and chose a bright pink shirt with glittery silver and white feathers printed all over it. She pulled off her T-shirt and tossed it in the hamper. As she tugged her pink shirt over her head, she heard a high, tinkling noise. Cressida’s heart raced as she pushed her arms through the sleeves. She leaped over to her bedside table, opened the drawer, and wrapped her fingers around an old-fashioned key with a crystal-ball handle that was glowing bright pink. The key had been a gift from her friends, the unicorn princesses. Whenever they wanted to invite her to visit them in their magical world, the Rainbow Realm, they made the key’s handle glow and pulse.

  Cressida glanced at the unicorn clock on her bedroom wall. Gillian and Eleanor would be arriving in 11 minutes. Fortunately, time in the human world froze while Cressida was in the Rainbow Realm, meaning that even if she spent hours with the unicorn princesses, she could sti
ll return in time to greet Gillian and Eleanor at her front door. Cressida wasn’t sure if she was more excited to visit the Rainbow Realm or to have her first sleepover, and she was glad she didn’t have to choose between the two.

  Cressida pushed the key into the back pocket of her jeans. She pulled her silver unicorn sneakers from the bottom of her closet and put them on. And then she ran down the hall, through the living room, and toward the back door.

  “Cressida?” her mother said. “Are you going outside? Aren’t your friends about to come over?”

  “I’ll be back in five minutes,” Cressida called out. She dashed out the door, across her backyard, and through the woods behind her house until she came to a giant oak tree. She kneeled and pushed her magic key into a tiny hole in the tree’s base. Immediately, the forest began to spin. First, it was a blur of brown tree trunks, green leaves, and blue sky. Then everything went pitch black, and Cressida felt as though she were falling fast through space. Just when she started to feel nervous that she had been falling for too long, she landed gently on something soft.

  The darkness lifted, and for a few seconds all Cressida could see was a swirl of white, pink, and purple. But soon enough, the spinning slowed to a stop. Cressida blinked and looked around her. She knew exactly where she was: sitting on an enormous lavender velvet sofa in the front hall of Spiral Palace, the unicorn princesses’ horn-shaped home.

  Cressida blinked when she looked across the room and counted not seven, but eight—eight!—unicorns eating roinkleberries and froyananas from silver troughs. The unicorns she already knew and loved were there—yellow Princess Sunbeam, silver Princess Flash, green Princess Bloom, purple Princess Prism, blue Princess Breeze, black Princess Moon, and orange Princess Firefly. There was also a pink unicorn Cressida had never met. The unicorns were so absorbed in their conversation that they didn’t notice Cressida’s arrival.

  “And then,” Bloom said to her sisters between bites of froyanana, “there were quail everywhere. They were eating all the cake and ice cream, and they were playing with all the decorations. I was sure my birthday garden ball was ruined. But Cressida saved the day! She organized a surprise birthday party in the palace.”

  “Wow,” the pink unicorn said. “She sounds amazing.”

  “She definitely is,” Moon said. “She built a new ballroom in the Night Forest when Ernest cast a spell that made the old one disappear.”

  “And she found my magic yellow sapphire in a cactus flower,” Sunbeam said.

  “She even saved the Thunder Dash course from a flood of cake batter,” Flash said.

  “If it weren’t for her, there would still be giant bats sleeping on the kites we use for the Blast,” Breeze said.

  “And I would still be crystal clear instead of purple,” Prism said. “I couldn’t believe it when she found the Valley of Light’s missing rainbow.”

  “We wouldn’t even have a library if she hadn’t come to the rescue,” Firefly said.

  “I can’t wait to meet Cressida,” the pink unicorn said. “Do you think she’ll get here soon?”

  Cressida smiled, stood up, and said, “Hello!”

  The unicorns turned toward her.

  “My human girl is back!” Sunbeam sang as she danced over to Cressida.

  “Welcome to your home away from home!” said Flash, rearing up and galloping over.

  “We’re so glad you could come,” said Bloom and Prism as they trotted toward Cressida.

  Breeze and Moon grinned, swished their tails, and said, “Hello!”

  “Cressida, there’s someone we can’t wait for you to meet,” Firefly said, jumping with excitement. “Do you remember, during your last visit to the Rainbow Realm, when I told you we have another sister? Here she is! She just got back from a big trip. We’ve been telling her about you all afternoon, and she was so excited to meet you that she insisted we invite you here right away.”

  “It’s wonderful to meet you,” Cressida said.

  “My sisters have been talking about you nonstop,” the pink unicorn said. “I’m Princess Feather. After my sisters told me all about you, I wanted to invite you to my sleepover tonight. Would you like to join us? I’m hosting it in my domain, the Sky Castle.”

  “I’d love to,” Cressida said, thinking she was awfully lucky to go to two sleepovers in one night.

  “Fantastic!” Feather said. Her ruby glittered, pink sparkling light poured from her horn, and she flew straight up into the air and did a somersault. “I’m so excited I can’t stay on the ground,” she said, giggling and doing figure eights around the chandeliers.

  Sunbeam, Flash, Bloom, Prism, Breeze, Moon, and Firefly laughed.

  “The palace sure has seemed empty without Feather flying all over the place,” Bloom said.

  “I’ve even missed the sound of her hooves crashing into the chandeliers,” Flash said.

  For a few seconds, Feather’s sisters grinned. Then Prism sighed, and her smile faded. “I just wish we could go with you on some of your trips,” she said to Feather.

  “Me, too,” Moon said.

  “We never get to go anywhere,” Flash said.

  “It’s not fair,” Sunbeam said.

  “I wouldn’t want to travel as much as Feather does,” Firefly said. “But I’d love it if all eight of us could leave the Realm together occasionally.”

  Bloom nodded and frowned.

  “Why can’t you all go on an adventure together?” Cressida asked.

  “The only way we know of to travel to far-off realms is to fly extremely fast,” Flash explained. “Feather is the only one of us with that magic power.”

  “The only exception is the human world,” Breeze said. “The keys we have are a magic short cut. But we only have two—the one you have, and the one we have. So we can’t even all travel to the human world together.”

  “It’s really disappointing,” Moon said, sighing.

  Feather landed on the marble floor. “I’m so sorry you feel left out,” she said. “I wish I could somehow take you with me. I really do.”

  The other unicorns nodded.

  “We know you don’t mean to exclude us,” Sunbeam said, trying to smile.

  Feather took a deep breath. “I was planning to show you all my pictures and souvenirs at the sleepover tonight. Do you still want to see them? I’m so very excited to show them to you and to tell you about my adventures. I even have a special surprise gift for you. But I don’t want to leave you feeling even worse.” She smiled hopefully.

  “Of course we want to see them,” Bloom said.

  The other unicorns nodded and smiled. But Cressida could see in their faces that they all felt at least a little jealous.

  “Great,” Feather said, sounding relieved. She turned to Cressida. “How would you like to come with me to the Sky Castle to help me get ready?”

  “I’d love that!” Cressida said.

  Feather kneeled so Cressida could climb onto her back. But just then, a high, nasal voice—a voice that could only be Ernest’s—called out, “Just a minute! Don’t leave yet!” A few seconds later, Ernest sprinted into the front hall.

  “Hello, Ernest!” Cressida said, laughing.

  “Before you go, I have just the thing for you,” Ernest said. “I’ve been practicing this spell all afternoon, and I’ve most certainly got it!”

  Cressida giggled and braced herself for a magical mishap.

  Ernest pulled his wand from his cloak pocket, held it up, and chanted, “Fairily Merrily Flippity Flings! Please Make Cressida a Pair of Kings!”

  Wind swirled around Cressida. Red light flashed. And then two men wearing furry red robes and gold crowns appeared. Each sat on a purple throne and held a scepter covered in rubies and emeralds.

  “You must bow and curtsy!” one bellowed.

  “And call me ‘Your Highness!’ ” the other demanded.

  “Oh dear!” Ernest said, rolling his eyes. “I thought I’d ironed out that wrinkle. I’ve had kings trying to order m
e around all afternoon. Just ignore them.” Ernest held up his wand and chanted, “Royalty Spoilty Clappity Clings! Please Send Away these Two Cranky Kings! Now Make Cressida a Pair of Wings!”

  More wind circled around Cressida. Pink light flashed. The kings vanished, and Cressida felt something light on her back, between her shoulders. She reached behind her and felt two large, filmy wings.

  Cressida grinned. Ever since she had been a little girl, she had wanted to have wings, just like a fairy. And now she did! “Thank you, Ernest!” she said. “How do they work?”

  Ernest blushed. “I haven’t the faintest idea,” he said. “You’ll have to ask Feather.” He pulled a watch on a long chain from his cloak pocket. “Well, look at the time. I’m afraid I’d better get going!” And with that, he sprinted off down the hall.

  “I can teach you how to fly,” Feather said, winking at Cressida. She kneeled again. “But for now, why don’t you ride on my back? It’s a long flight to the Sky Castle, especially for a beginner.”

  Cressida climbed onto Feather and gripped the unicorn’s shiny mane.

  Feather looked at her sisters. “I’ll send a cloud down to pick you up as soon as we get to the Sky Castle.”

  “See you soon!” Sunbeam called as Feather trotted across the front hall and out the palace door.

  Feather trotted along the clear stones that led from Spiral Palace to the surrounding forest. She began to gallop. Pink glittery light poured from her horn, and Feather and Cressida soared up into the air.

  “Whoa,” Cressida laughed, leaning forward and wrapping her arms around Feather’s neck.

  “The only way to get to the Sky Castle is to fly or take a cloud,” Feather said. “And honestly, the clouds are too slow for my taste. If there’s one thing I love, it’s flying fast!”

  Feather rocketed through the sky. Wind riffled through Cressida’s hair and battered the bare skin on her face and hands. After several minutes, Feather swooped down and landed on a giant pink cloud covered in cotton candy–colored mist. “We’re here!” Feather said, kneeling.