Dave the Unicorn: Dance Party

by Pip Bird

  Raheem directed Mira back to the cliff, and then reached over suddenly to pull the brake. Everyone jerked forward, and Brave groaned. Dave, on the other hand, was whinnying joyfully. He seemed to really like the railway when he could stay awake.

  Raheem pointed straight ahead. Mira looked at the track, which sloped into a steep, steep spiral to the bottom of the Glitter Slime Gorge.

  “Maybe she’s not—” began Raheem, just as they heard someone singing “Glitter Fever’s Gonna Get You” at the bottom of the cliff.

  “If that’s not Darcy, then Dave’s not my unicorn,” said Mira, and flipped off the brake, sending them whizzing down the track like a roller coaster.

  cried Mira.

  shrieked Raheem.

  groaned Brave.

  snorted Dave happily, his muzzle hanging over the side of the railway cart, tongue waggling in the rush of air.

  THUMP!

  They came to a sudden stop by bumping into another cart at the bottom of the gorge. They all shivered. It really was chilly down here.

  “Hooves in the air, like you just don’t care! Glitter fever is comin’ to town!”

  Raheem and Mira clambered out of the cart and turned a corner to see Darcy riding Star, singing happily and clutching two giant Sticky Glitter boulders. Her eyes had a wild look in them. Star was rolling a couple more glitter boulders along the ground toward the carts with her hooves.

  “She looks a bit … strange,” Mira whispered to Raheem.

  Raheem nodded wisely. “She’s got glitter fever.”

  Mira thought for a moment and then turned sideways and held out her hands in front of her, fingers spread. She edged toward Darcy, who was still singing very loudly and didn’t seem to have noticed them.

  “What are you doing?” asked Raheem.

  “I saw this on a TV show about bears,” replied Mira. “When they’re worked up, you have to approach with great caution.”

  Then she said in a soothing voice, “Darcy, it’s okay, you’re not going to be in trouble, just put down the glitter boulders and come back with us.”

  “NO!” said Darcy with wide eyes and a huge smile. “Can’t you see? Sticky Glitter boulders are just what the dance needs! These Sticky Glitter boulders will make the most amazing disco balls. We’ll hang them up and shine lights on them, and it will be EPIC! Woohoo!”

  Star whinnied in agreement.

  “Mira’s right, Darcy,” said Raheem. “We’re not supposed to be here, and we’re not supposed to take anything other than the Warming Crystals out of the mine. Remember School Rule 73: Leave the Forest as You Find It?”

  “Yes, Raheem. Firstly, we are not technically in the forest. And secondly, Miss Hind said ‘only take what you need.’ And we NEED these glitter boulders!” Star was now nudging the boulders toward the train tracks and trying to roll them up into the cart.

  “Darcy, NO!” Mira gave up using her soothing voice. Darcy was being totally selfish! “We’ll ALL get into so much trouble! Leave the Sticky Glitter boulders here and let’s just get back to the quest.” Mira rolled Star’s boulders away from the tracks.

  “GIVE THOSE BACK!” shouted Darcy. “The school dance needs them!”

  “No, we NEED to get back to the quest! The dance really doesn’t matter THAT much,” Mira yelled back.

  “It DOES matter!” Darcy kept tight hold of the Sticky Glitter boulders. “Raheem, you can tell Mira that I’m no longer speaking to her.”

  Mira crossed her arms and turned to Raheem. “You can tell Darcy that I’m not speaking to her.”

  “Well, you can tell Mira that I wouldn’t have to stop speaking to her if her unicorn hadn’t destroyed my meeting AND eaten my committee notes!”

  Mira glared at Darcy. “Well, you can tell Darcy that if she wasn’t being so incredibly annoying about the dance, maybe Dave wouldn’t have felt the need to EAT HER NOTES!”

  As Mira and Darcy kept yelling at each other, Raheem looked back and forth at his friends, his head moving from side to side.

  “STOP YELLING!” he finally shouted, accidentally knocking one of the Sticky Glitter boulders out of Darcy’s hands so that it splattered on the floor in an oozy lump of slime.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  To the Rescue!

  Looking a bit shocked, Darcy let the other Sticky Glitter boulder roll down onto the floor. She wiped her nose on her sleeve.

  “Look,” she said, sniffing, “I’m not the best at anything at Unicorn School. Raheem, you’re so smart, and Mira, you always manage to get medals despite Dave being, you know, different. But I LOVE dancing, and I just wanted to show everyone what a good job I could do with the school dance. Maybe I did get a bit carried away.”

  Mira suddenly felt sorry for her friend. “Darcy, you’re doing an amazing job. You’re a great committee leader! But if we don’t get back to the group soon, Miss Hind will find out you went missing, and then no one will get to enjoy the dance.” Mira paused for a moment and looked at Darcy’s sad face. “Listen, I know we’re not allowed to take anything from the mine, but this Sticky Glitter really is awesome. Maybe you could just take back a few bits that have already broken off?”

  Darcy nodded hard. “I mean,” she said, “when you think about it, we’re really just rescuing it!” She turned to Dave. “Dave, I’m sorry I snapped at you. I didn’t mean it!”

  Dave, who was rummaging around in the back of the cart, turned and shrugged.

  “Can we please just get a move on and head back to the rest of the class?” asked Raheem. He was jiggling nervously from foot to foot.

  Darcy and Mira agreed, and they quickly got back in the carts.

  No one moved.

  “Uh-oh,” said Raheem, his eyes widening.

  “What?” Darcy and Mira replied at the same time.

  “We’re stuck at the bottom of a steep hill,” Raheem shrieked. “We can’t get back up the rickety railway spiral!”

  “There must be a way. We’ve just got to think positive,” said Darcy.

  Raheem tried his deep, calming breaths. “No, we’ve got the two rear railway carts. The front cart is the only one with an engine. We might be stuck down here forever!”

  Brave gave Raheem a hug. Dave gave a sympathetic fart. A colorful cloud appeared behind him. It smelled of marshmallows.

  Mira looked at Dave. Had he just farted out a rainbow cloud? She shook her head. That was pretty strange, but right now she had bigger things to worry about. She really didn’t want to be stuck in the Glitter Slime Gorge forever!

  Dave farted loudly again, and this time the cloud was pink. Mira heard a crunching sound. She looked at Dave, then at her egg carton. Two crystals were missing. She narrowed her eyes. “Dave! Did you eat the Warming Crystals?”

  Dave stopped chewing, then let out another noisy fart cloud, a massive one this time. The cart shot forward a little way, and he jumped in surprise at its power.

  “Dave, eating the crystals is genuinely a very bad thing to do!” said Darcy admiringly.

  “Dave, you’re actually a genius!” said Mira. “Quick, finish the crystals.” Before her friends could object, she fed Dave the rest of the egg carton and shoved his butt over the back edge of the cart.

  Dave gobbled up the crystals, swallowed, and licked his lips.

  Then, with an almighty blast and an extra-large cloud, Dave did an enormous rainbow fart and——the railway carts launched back up the train tracks.

  yelled Darcy, with her hands in the air.

  cried Raheem.

  shrieked Mira.

  Even Raheem was giddy with excitement by the time they turned the last spiral corner and got back up to the main tunnel. He guided the carts down the tracks to the Warming Crystal Cavern. Mira couldn’t believe they’d made it. They’d rescued Darcy and made it safely back to the group. Maybe no one had even noticed they were gone. They could just fill their egg cartons quickly. And then finish the quest!

  “Where have you BEEN?” Jake yelled at them as soon as th
ey crept into the Warming Crystal Cavern. His face was a funny color and he looked really worried.

  “I told you they’d come back,” said Freya. “It’s cool, come on. Time to go.”

  “You’re going to be in SO MUCH TROUBLE,” said Jake threateningly.

  Seb put a hand on his shoulder. “Jake, it’s fine. They’re here now. Let’s just get back to Miss Hind.”

  Jake held up their empty egg cartons from the railway cart. “It’s NOT fine—their special collection boxes are empty! We need to fill every single one. I’m quest leader, remember? I know this stuff!” Jake was really red in the face now.

  Darcy rolled her eyes. “Jake, don’t be so dramatic. Let’s just hurry up, fill our egg boxes, and get back in the carts.”

  Jake scowled and told everyone else to start loading up the railway carts.

  Mira, Darcy, and Raheem headed to an empty cave wall section.

  “Thanks, Jake!” said Mira brightly, as she started feeling for a Warming Crystal pocket in the wall. “Darcy, here’s one!”

  Mira and Darcy grinned at each other. It felt SO good for everything to be back to normal! Jake rolled his eyes and yelled, “Just HURRY UP!” then stormed off to boss around the children and unicorns getting back into the railway carts.

  * * *

  The return journey was very happy. Even Jake cheered up as he led everyone in a loud rendition of the teamwork song. At last they saw a little bit of sunlight at the end of the tunnel and soon were out in the forest again.

  Miss Hind counted the children as they got out of the carts. “Seventeen, Raheem … eighteen, Darcy—WHAT IS THAT?!”

  “What is what, Miss Hind?” said Darcy innocently.

  “The glittery thing poking out of your backpack,” said Miss Hind.

  Darcy gasped, opening her bag. “A glitter boulder!” she said. “Oh no! It must have accidentally fallen into my bag.”

  Miss Hind narrowed her eyes.

  “I mean, I guess it’ll look super cool at the dance, so it’s lucky, really…,” Darcy carried on.

  Miss Hind loomed over Darcy. “That’s not a disco ball, Darcy—it’s Sticky Glitter from the Glitter Slime Gorge. You should not have been anywhere near that gorge! The quest was very clear, Darcy: only collect the Warming Crystals and come straight back. School Rule 73: Leave the Forest as You Find It.”

  A crowd of their classmates had gathered to see what all the fuss was about, and everyone started oohing and aahing at the Sticky Glitter.

  Miss Hind looked like she might explode. She picked up the Sticky Glitter and hurled it back into the tunnel. It took her a couple of tries, because the glitter was sticking to her hands. It really was very sticky. She turned back to the class. Her face had turned a strange shade of purple.

  “Class Red, you disobeyed my instructions and MUST be punished. Therefore, none of you will go to the school dance!” shouted Miss Hind.

  The whole class gasped.

  “B-But, Miss Hind,” stammered Darcy, “it was my—”

  “SILENCE!” yelled Miss Hind. “If I hear one more word from any of you, then you’ll all be in even MORE trouble!”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Disco Disaster

  The journey back through the Fearsome Forest was very quiet. Mira had run out of snacks, so Dave kept veering off the path to try to eat the sparklebushes. Soon they were way behind the rest of the class.

  Mira sighed. “Oh, Dave, I was so looking forward to the dance.” Dave snorted in sympathy. “And I was so excited about the quest! But now we don’t get to dance together, or win any medals.”

  Dave turned his head to try to cheer her up but accidentally tossed Mira into a bush. He licked her face to apologize.

  Mira was brushing leaves off her sweater when she heard someone giggling and saw Flo waiting on the path.

  “What’s so funny?” Mira asked.

  “Oh, I’m just happy,” said Flo. “I know we can’t go to the dance, but wasn’t the quest fun? And my coveralls are so pretty! I’m NEVER going to take them off. And I’m spending time with my BEST friend.” Flo gave Sparkles a big hug.

  Mira smiled and hauled herself back up onto Dave. They trotted down the path together. Flo was right. They had done the right thing by rescuing Darcy, even though it meant they all couldn’t go to the dance. As Dave let out a small, colorful fart cloud, Mira couldn’t help but smile. Whatever else happened, she still had her UBFF!

  * * *

  Back at the stables, everyone took off their coveralls and put them in a big laundry basket (everyone apart from Flo, who smuggled hers back to her room). They led their unicorns into their stalls and groomed them, mane to tail. Mira gave Dave fresh hay in his feed bag and fresh straw for his bed.

  Behind her, Mira heard Jake boasting to some of their classmates.

  “I can’t believe I collected SO MANY crystals. There were actually too many for the boxes, so I had to leave most of them behind. One of them was SO HOT it nearly burned my arm off. I basically aced the quest, before Darcy ruined it for everyone.”

  A few of the children sighed and looked sad. Mira wanted to stick up for Darcy, but she could see how disappointed they all were about missing out on the dance.

  Mira saw that Dave already finished his hay, so she went out to get him some more and bumped into Seb coming out of Star’s stable.

  “Have you seen Darcy?” Seb asked.

  “No, why?” said Mira.

  “She’s missing again. So is Star.”

  Mira felt hot, and her heart started racing. Darcy had been very quiet the entire way home. She obviously felt really bad about making the whole class miss the dance.

  Maybe Darcy had run away with Star into the forest … or maybe she’d gone into hiding … or maybe she had gone back home early through the Magic Portal and they’d never see her again? Mira had only just made up with her best friend. What if she’d lost her again, for good?!

  Just then, Mira heard a familiar clap and turned to see Miss Glitterhorn in the stable yard, standing next to Miss Hind, Darcy, and Star.

  “You didn’t run away to live in the forest!” Mira shouted, and flung herself at Darcy.

  “Uh, thank you, Mira,” said Miss Glitterhorn, and she clapped her hands again. “Class Red, Darcy has something to say to you all.”

  Darcy pushed Mira off (in a friendly way) and cleared her throat. With a solemn face, she said, “I’m sorry that I have caused so much trouble. I only wanted everyone to have a completely and utterly amazing school dance. I explained to Miss Glitterhorn that everything was my fault—I took the Sticky Glitter from the caves and I’m the one who disobeyed the quest directions.”

  Star snorted as if she was apologizing, too.

  Darcy looked around at Class Red. “I said to Miss Glitterhorn that I don’t think you should all be punished for something I did.”

  Miss Glitterhorn nodded her head. “Darcy has done the right thing and taken full responsibility for the Sticky Glitter incident. Therefore I am pleased to say that the rest of the class SHALL go to the dance!”

  Most of the students cheered loudly, but Mira and Raheem didn’t feel like cheering.

  Freya ran over to give Darcy a thank-you hug, and soon everyone followed. Even Jake gave Darcy a high five. Then he and Pegasus break-danced back to the stables.

  Flo sniffed and wiped her nose on her sleeve. “But it’s just so sad you can’t come to the dance, too!”

  Darcy gave her another hug. “It’s fine. You and Sparkles are amazing dancers. You lead the dance for me, okay?”

  Once everyone had headed back to the dormitories, talking about what they were going to wear to the dance, Mira and Raheem went to join Darcy. Mira gave her a huge hug. Raheem shook her hand. “That was a really nice thing you did,” he said.

  Darcy shrugged, but she had tears in her eyes. “Thanks, you two. Come on, Star, let’s get you to bed. We’ve got a long day of picking up poop tomorrow in detention.”

  Mira heard Dave
give an “I’m hungry” snort from his stable—she’d forgotten to get him his extra hay. “Are you sure you’re okay, Darcy? Can I help you groom Star?”

  “I’m fine.” Darcy sniffed. “Dave needs you. We’ll see you in the morning.”

  Mira went to pick up more hay for Dave and watched Darcy wheel into Star’s stable. She felt awful that Darcy couldn’t go to the dance. Even though Darcy had caused all the trouble, she’d only done it because she wanted the dance to be the best EVER. Mira just wished there was a way to help Darcy without getting anyone else into trouble …

  CHAPTER NINE

  Friends Together

  All lessons were canceled the next morning so that everyone could get ready for the dance in the afternoon. Darcy and Star were very quiet at breakfast before they headed out to the stables for their detention of picking up poop and stable cleaning.

  No one was surprised when Jake announced himself the new Chief Organizer of the dance committee for last-minute preparations. But they were surprised when he and Pegasus welcomed them all into the hall with a tray of delicious-looking pastries!

  “I didn’t know Jake was such a terrific baker!” said Mira, scarfing down a large chocolate éclair.

  Raheem fed Brave a chocolate croissant. “It turns out Pegasus is half French,” he said.

  “These are delicious!” cried Mira through a mouthful of pastry. Dave ate five éclairs and gave a happy fart.

  Jake gave out party assignments to all the different students. Mira and Dave were sent to mix the fruit punch, then help make the unicorns’ party outfits. Jake had even prepared a pile of doughnuts for Dave to snack on so he wouldn’t cause too much chaos. Mira had to admit, when Jake channeled all his annoyingness into being in charge, he was actually pretty good at it.