by Rosie Banks
“Whew!” puffed Ellie as she put her heavy caterpillar in place. “I get it, Jasmine. The caterpillars will make the ground slippery, and the Storm Sprites will fall over!”
“Brilliant idea,” Trixi said as she flew overhead. “Those are sugar melons. They’re so sweet and tasty the caterpillars won’t be able to resist them!”
Sure enough, as soon as the caterpillars spotted the yummy-looking sugar melons, they crawled eagerly across the path to get to them, leaving three super-slippery trails behind them.
“Okay, you win,” Jasmine called to the sprites. “We’ll give you the caterpillars. Here, take these ones.”
The sprites laughed nastily, then hopped off their thunderclouds and flew down to the ground, narrowing their black eyes as if they were getting ready to spring.
“Whoa!” shouted the first sprite as he landed. “It’s slippery!”
His foot shot out from underneath him and hit the other sprite on the ankle. The second sprite gave a wail, hopped on one leg, then stumbled his way across the road, waving his arms frantically.
The Storm Sprites had landed right in the slippery caterpillar goo!
Neither of them could find a firm place to stand. First they slid into each other, then they tried to grab each other. Finally they both fell down in a tangled heap among the sugar melons.
“You knocked me over, Slug-Breath,” one of them shouted.
“No, you tripped me!” the other complained bitterly from underneath a squashed melon.
The girls stood beside the road, giggling at the sight of Queen Malice’s henchmen lying surrounded by squashed melons and slime.
The unicorns laughed, too — all except Fleetfoot, Graycoat, and Sleekmane, who were standing over the Storm Sprites, giving them very stern looks.
“You two are coming with us,” Graycoat whinnied. “You can help us tidy up the orchard. That should keep you out of trouble until the Golden Games are over.”
The unicorns marched the Storm Sprites off toward the orchard, with the sprites still bickering loudly and pushing and shoving each other.
“There won’t be any games unless the caterpillars have cleared the track,” Jasmine said anxiously. But when she looked at the racecourse, there wasn’t a weed to be seen! The grass was visible again, and lying sleepily on it, looking fatter than ever, were the slime caterpillars! The one closest to Jasmine was lying on its back, with its hundreds of feet up in the air, snoring loudly.
Suddenly there was a whinny, and Silvertail came racing up to them from the direction of the Great Apple Tree. “Queen Malice’s thunderbolt has broken!” she told them excitedly. “The tree has already begun to repair itself!”
“We did it!” cried Jasmine.
“We will always be grateful for what you have done today,” Silvertail said gravely. “But I am afraid there is still one problem.”
The friends exchanged a look.
“The caterpillars!” they all said at once.
What were they going to do with the greedy creatures?
“We have to find somewhere else for them to live,” said Trixi.
“Yes,” Summer agreed. “We can’t send the poor things back to Queen Malice.”
But as they watched, the caterpillars started to wriggle. After a few moments, they had coated themselves in silk, which quickly hardened into solid cocoons.
“What’s happening?” King Merry asked. Silvertail knelt down and nudged the nearest cocoon with her horn.
“I don’t know,” she said, “but at least they won’t need feeding for a while!”
Everyone helped move the cocoons carefully into the cart, where they’d be out of the way of the Golden Games. It was a lot easier now that the caterpillars weren’t wiggling around!
“Just in time!” said Silvertail, smiling as Jasmine put the last cocoon carefully into the cart. “We’re ready for the opening ceremony. Summer, Ellie, and Jasmine, you must stay and be our guests of honor.”
Silvertail led the girls to the best spot on the hill, next to King Merry. Trixi magicked up floating cushions for them all, and they settled down as the young unicorns made the final preparations for the games.
Once everything was ready, King Merry’s cushion floated up above the spectators, and he nervously read out his speech.
“It is my address to honor you this year… .” he started to say, getting his words hopelessly jumbled up again.
Summer, Ellie, and Jasmine found it difficult not to giggle, but they didn’t want to upset the kindly king. They did their best and managed to stay straight-faced until he had finished.
Then they forgot about laughing as the parade of competitors began. Lots of little unicorns strutted confidently around the track. They all had different ribbons, flowers, and grasses woven into their manes and tails.
The girls all cheered as Littlehorn cantered past proudly.
Finally the unicorns lined up in front of the audience and sang the Secret Kingdom’s national song:
“The Secret Kingdom is a
wonderful land
From frosty mountain to
glittery sand.
Every unicorn, imp, and gnome
Loves our beautiful magical home.”
After they’d sung all the verses, the stadium went quiet.
“Look!” Ellie cried, pointing at the sky.
All the little unicorns had raised their heads, and pink and red sparkles were shooting from the tips of their horns like fireworks! The sparkles swirled and twisted into huge letters that twinkled brightly in the evening sky.
“Thank you, Summer,
Ellie, and Jasmine,
for breaking Queen
Malice’s spell!”
Summer read out loud.
“Wow!” whispered Jasmine.
Then the letters joined and changed, coming together again to spell out:
Let the Golden
Games begin!
The girls oohed and aahed in wonder as they saw one amazing event after another. Some of the graceful unicorns took part in a jumping race, leaping over hurdles made of shimmering magic. Others jumped high in the air to catch golden hoops on their horns. There was so much going on that Ellie, Summer, and Jasmine hardly knew where to look first!
The high point of the games was the Great Race. Summer, Ellie, and Jasmine held on to their cushions with excitement as Silvertail fired a burst of sparkles from her horn to start the race and the unicorns sped off.
“Come on, Littlehorn!” chanted the girls.
At first Littlehorn was in the lead! But a larger, red-dappled unicorn was running on the inside lane, and he was gradually overtaking her… .
Jasmine stood up and shouted encouragement while Ellie cheered and Summer crossed her fingers and pressed them against her cheeks.
Trixi was so excited she couldn’t bear to look, so she hid behind her human friends. “Tell me when it’s over!” she said.
Littlehorn put on a burst of speed, creeping closer and closer to the larger unicorn.
“You can do it, Littlehorn!” Jasmine yelled at the top of her lungs. Littlehorn lowered her horn determinedly and galloped as fast as she could. She caught up to the other unicorn — and won by a horn!
Trixi and the girls watched with pride as King Merry crowned Littlehorn with a wreath of glitterberries and officially named her as his new royal messenger.
Finally all the young unicorns climbed up to the top of the hill and were greeted by their family and friends. The celebrations were nearly over, and the girls knew it was almost time for them to go home. Only one last thing remained — to watch Littlehorn and the other young unicorns get their golden horns!
Silvertail whinnied and the unicorns all fell silent. “This is when we perform the coming-of-age ceremony,” she said, “and when we honor those who help us.”
Littlehorn suddenly looked very serious. She and the other young unicorns gathered in a circle facing inward and slowly lowered their heads. As their horns touched,
there was a tinkling sound, and the air above the circle started to glow. The girls gasped in wonder as the little unicorns’ horns slowly changed from a sparkling silver to a glorious golden color. As soon as the change was complete there was a great roar of noise as all the unicorns neighed and stomped their hooves in celebration. Littlehorn grinned widely, going cross-eyed in her attempts to look at her newly golden horn.
The noise died down as Silvertail moved into the middle of the circle. She gave a long whinny, and all of the unicorns pointed their horns to one spot in the air. Bursts of sparkly magic streamed out of their horns, coming together to form a glittery shape. Slowly the shape came into focus — it was a tiny silver unicorn horn! When it was complete, Silvertail whinnied again and the horn floated over to the girls.
“This is a gift to thank you for saving Unicorn Valley from Queen Malice’s meanness. Without you, our beautiful home would have been destroyed. We will always be grateful,” said Silvertail, bowing to the girls. Behind her, the unicorns bowed their heads. Even Trixi, with a huge smile on her little face, dipped a little curtsy.
Summer realized all the unicorns were waiting for them to take the gift. She stepped forward nervously and carefully grasped the sparkling horn. It was no longer than her little finger, and seemed to weigh almost nothing. It was covered with a beautiful spiral pattern, just like Littlehorn’s.
Just then there was a gasp from the crowd. The girls turned and peered down at the apple carts. The caterpillar cocoons were moving and shaking. All of a sudden, one of them popped open and a gorgeous butterfly with shimmering purple patterns on its wings flew up into the air! The cocoons were hatching! Soon, another butterfly appeared, and then another, until the air was filled with them, dancing and fluttering about on their new wings.
“They’re beautiful!” Summer exclaimed.
“Who’d have thought those slimy caterpillars could become such gorgeous butterflies.” Jasmine smiled.
“I hope they won’t be quite as hungry now that they’re grown-up,” Ellie said.
Everyone admired the beautiful butterflies as they flitted and fluttered above, oohing and aahing at their dance in the sky.
After a few minutes, Silvertail hushed the crowd. “We will be silent for a moment,” she said seriously. “Now, Summer, listen carefully.”
Summer did so, wondering what was supposed to happen.
Then she gasped. Among the flapping of their wings, she could suddenly hear the butterflies calling out.
“Thank you!” they all cried. “We didn’t mean to cause any trouble.”
“I can understand the butterflies!” she said in amazement.
Ellie and Jasmine listened hard. “I can’t hear anything,” Ellie said.
“The silver horn gives you the ability to talk to and understand all animals,” said Trixi, smiling.
Summer handed the horn to her friends so that they could hear the little voices.
Trixi tapped her ring and a sparkly spell in the shape of a butterfly appeared and flew away, leaving a glittery trail. “This will lead you to Flower Forest,” she told the beautiful butterflies.
As the butterflies started to follow Trixi’s spell to their new home, Silvertail turned to the girls solemnly. “You are now honorary members of our unicorn family. You are Summer Kindhoof. You are Ellie Flamemane. And you are Jasmine Braveheart,” she said as she gently touched each of the girls in turn with her horn. “Should you ever need us, we will be there to help you.”
The girls looked at one another in amazement. “Thank you,” Jasmine managed to say.
Smiling happily, the girls said good-bye to the unicorns. Trixi kissed each girl on the nose, then hovered above their heads and conjured up the magic whirlwind that would take them back home.
“See you soon!” was the last thing they heard as they were lifted higher and higher above beautiful Unicorn Valley.
Then, with a flash of light, they found themselves settling softly onto Ellie’s rug.
Ordinary daylight filled the bedroom, and glinted off the Magic Box, which was sitting on the rug between them.
“Oh, wow,” said Ellie, looking down at the little horn in her hand. “What an amazing adventure.”
“I’m so glad we met the unicorns,” said Summer.
“But it’s a shame that time doesn’t pass while we’re in the Secret Kingdom,” sighed Jasmine. “After all that, I’m hungrier than ever — and the cookies still aren’t ready!”
Ellie and Summer laughed.
Suddenly the Magic Box began to glow, and its lid slowly opened. Ellie gently placed the silver horn into one of the compartments inside. “I hope we can go back to the Secret Kingdom soon,” she said.
“You can count on that, Flamemane,” said Jasmine with a chuckle. “We still have to find four more of those nasty thunderbolts. I wonder where we’ll go next. How about the Wandering Waterfalls? Ooh, or the Mystic Meadows? King Merry said the pixies have toadstool fights there!”
“I’d love to see both of those places.” Summer sighed. “But the important thing is to be there for Trixi and King Merry, and to save the kingdom from Queen Malice!”
“That’s for certain,” agreed Jasmine, grinning. “All right — race you to the cookies!”
Laughing, the three friends ran downstairs.
In the next Secret Kingdom adventure, Ellie, Summer, and Jasmine visit
Cloud Island!
Read on for a sneak peek… .
“I wish we didn’t have so much homework to do.” Ellie Macdonald sighed as she walked home from school with her friends. “I’ve got to write a story for English, and I don’t know where to start!”
“Let’s all do our homework together at my house,” suggested Jasmine Smith. “We can put some music on and help one another.”
“Great idea,” agreed Summer Hammond, linking arms with Jasmine and Ellie. “Even homework can be fun when you do it with friends.”
“I wouldn’t go that far.” Ellie grinned, her green eyes twinkling. “But it’s better than doing it on your own.”
Laughing, they all made their way to Jasmine’s house and hurried into the kitchen.
A big bag of chocolate cookies and a note were sitting on the kitchen table. Jasmine picked up the note and read it out loud:
“Hi, Jasmine,
I’m sure you’ve brought Ellie
and Summer back with you,
so share these with them! There’s some
homemade lemonade in the fridge as well.
See you at five.
Mom.”
“Your mom’s so nice!” said Summer.
Jasmine smiled. “I wonder what made her think you’d be with me.”
“Yeah, you would think we spent all our time together,” joked Ellie.
Summer giggled. She, Jasmine, and Ellie all lived in a little town called Honeyvale and went to the same school. They had been best friends since they were little, and they went over to one another’s houses so much that they all felt like home!
Jasmine opened the fridge and took out a big jug of lemonade while Summer grabbed three glasses and a plate.
“Now, let’s deal with our homework,” said Jasmine, putting everything on a tray and leading the way upstairs. “Then we can start having some real fun.”
“Hey, you’ve got the Magic Box on your dressing table!” exclaimed Ellie as they all spilled into Jasmine’s bedroom, which was quite small, but beautifully decorated. The walls were a gorgeous hot-pink color, and red floaty netting hung down over the bed.
“I didn’t want to miss a message from the Secret Kingdom!” Jasmine said.
They all looked at the beautiful wooden box. It was covered with intricate carvings of fairies and unicorns and had a mirrored lid studded with green stones. It looked like a jewelry box, but it was much more than that.
“I slept with it under my pillow last time I was taking care of it!” Ellie laughed.
The girls had found the Magic Box at a school rumma
ge sale, when it had mysteriously appeared in front of them. It belonged to King Merry, the ruler of the Secret Kingdom.
The Secret Kingdom was a magical world that no one knew existed — no one except Jasmine, Summer, and Ellie! It was a beautiful crescent moon–shaped island, where mermaids, unicorns, pixies, and elves all lived happily together.
But the kingdom was in terrible trouble. Queen Malice, the king’s horrible sister, was so angry that the people of the Secret Kingdom had chosen King Merry to be their ruler instead of her that she had sent six horrible thunderbolts into the kingdom to cause all kinds of trouble. Summer, Jasmine, and Ellie had already found two of the thunderbolts and broken their nasty spells.
“I wish we could go on another magical adventure.” Ellie sighed.
“Me too,” agreed Jasmine, taking her books out of her backpack and sprawling out on the carpet. She tucked her long dark hair behind her ears. “Come on, let’s get this over with,” she said, reaching for a chocolate cookie.
Ellie got her English book out and started chewing on her pencil. She was looking around the room, trying to come up with an idea for her story, when something caught her eye. “I don’t think we’ll be doing homework after all!” she cried in delight. “The Magic Box is glowing!”
The girls all jumped up to look. They crowded around the box, watching excitedly as, letter by letter, words started to form in the magic mirror.
“I wonder what mischief Queen Malice is up to now,” said Jasmine, shuddering at the thought of the horrid queen and her wicked plans to make everyone in the kingdom as miserable as she was.
“We’ll have to solve the riddle to find out,” said Summer as she studied the words in the mirror. Then she slowly read them out loud:
“A thunderbolt there will be found
Way up high above the ground.
