A Special Surprise Read Free Page B

Triton’s back. She just had time to grab hold of one of his spines as the seahorse took off. Even though Pippa was worried about the riding school ponies she couldn’t help enjoy the journey to Chevalia. Riding a seahorse was as much fun as riding a pony. After a while Pippa saw a smudge on the horizon. The smudge grew larger and turned into an island fringed with soft, white sand. Pippa’s heart swelled with excitement. It was good to be back in Chevalia.
    Triton and Rosella stopped in the shallows. Triton gently tipped Pippa into the clear blue water and Rosella helped Stardust down from the shell.
    ‘Thank you,’ said Pippa.
    Triton pulled another bottle, green this time, out of his pouch and sprinkled the shell with two drops of liquid. In a flash of green light it returned to its normal size and sank into the sand. Both of the seahorses dipped their heads in farewell.
    ‘Good luck,’ they called as they swam out to sea.
    Pippa and Stardust splashed on to the beach.
    ‘Get on my back,’ said Stardust. ‘It’ll be quicker if you ride me.’
     

     
    Pippa twisted a handful of mane around her hands and gripped on to Stardust with her knees. The Princess Pony galloped through the Wild Forest, across the grassy Plateau and up the twisty path to Stableside Castle.
    The Castle, with its eight tall turrets, was even bigger than Pippa had remembered. They clattered across the wooden drawbridge and rode into the courtyard. Seeing the eight golden horseshoes hanging on the ancient wall, Pippa swelled with pride. Stardust drew up sharply and Pippa nearly flew over her head.
    ‘Mum, Dad! What are you doing here? I thought you’d gone out.’
    A dainty palomino with a golden coat and pure white mane and tail and a tall, handsome copper-coloured pony were standing underneath a horseshoe-shaped glitter ball. Their eyes were sad and their shoulders hunched. The courtyard was decorated with fresh flowers, coloured rosettes and streamers.
    ‘Your Majesties.’ Pippa slipped off Stardust’s back and bowed to Queen Moonshine and King Firestar.
    ‘Pippa MacDonald! Welcome back to Chevalia. And Stardust . . .’ Relief flooded the King’s face. ‘We were starting to worry about you.’
    ‘You were worried about me?’ Stardust looked confused.
    ‘The guests are arriving for your surprise birthday party,’ said the Queen. She straightened a lock of Stardust’s mane. ‘Your father and I pretended to go out so that you wouldn’t guess about the party. But when you ran off so quickly after school we thought we might have been too convincing. Were you upset when we didn’t make a fuss of you?’
    Stardust turned redder than a platter of strawberries. ‘I was a bit.’
    Princess Crystal trotted into the courtyard.
    ‘There you are! And Pippa too!’ She turned to the Princes and Princesses who were following her. ‘See, I told you there was nothing to worry about. Your sister hadn’t run away. She’d gone to fetch her girl friend, Pippa. I don’t know what you’ve been doing. You look like you’ve been dragged through a haystack sideways. Trot along and tidy up before the guests start to arrive.’
    ‘I can’t,’ said Stardust. ‘I’m sorry to spoil my surprise birthday party but I’ve got something more important to do first. Some ponies have gone missing from Pippa’s world. I think Divine might have something to do with it.’
    ‘Divine!’ The ponies gasped with surprise and horror.
    As Stardust told her family all about the missing ponies Pippa couldn’t help feeling impressed. When she’d first met her, Stardust would have hated to miss her own birthday party. She sounded very grown-up as she explained that she couldn’t enjoy herself until all the riding school ponies had been found.
     

     
    As Stardust finished speaking her big brother Jet said, ‘Divine’s been spotted recently near the haunted castle ruins in the Horseshoe Hills. Some ponies say that she’s living there.’
    ‘Really?’