Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO The quiz was great fun but very competitive. At the last question, Diamond and Ruby dorms were tying for the lead. Ms Rosemary smiled round at the sea of tense faces as she asked, "Which bird has yellow, orange and red feathers? Isla?" she added, as Isla from Ruby dorm stuck her hand in the air. "The sun carrot!" shouted Isla. "Noooooo! I mean the sun…" "Wrong!" said Ms Rosemary, barely making her voice heard over the howls of laughter. "Sorry, Isla, I have to take your first answer. Anyone else?" "The sun parrot," said Matilda. "Yay! Diamond girls win!" She fell on her friends, pulling them in for a group hug. But when Ms Rosemary gave

测验很有趣，但竞争也很激烈。 在最后一个问题，钻石和红宝石宿舍并列领先。 罗斯玛丽女士微笑着问：“哪只鸟有黄色、橙色和红色的羽毛？” 艾拉？”当鲁比宿舍的艾拉把手举在空中时，她又问。 “太阳胡萝卜！”艾拉喊道。 “Noooooo !“错了！”罗斯玛丽女士说，她的声音几乎盖过了一阵狂笑。 “对不起，艾拉，我不得不接受你的第一个答案。 其他人?”“那只太阳鹦鹉。”玛蒂尔达说。 “耶!钻石女孩赢了！”她扑向她的朋友们，拉着他们一起拥抱。 但是当罗斯玛丽女士给了

Diamond dorm their prize – a huge bag of sweets – Matilda shared them out with the girls from Ruby dorm, saying, "Because Isla helped us to win and made us laugh." Munching her sweets and looking around at all the laughing, chattering students, Violet felt a tingly rush of happiness. She was so lucky to be at Unicorn Academy. If she could just bond with Twinkle and find out his magic, everything really would be perfect! The following morning, everyone crowded into the stable block for a lesson on bonding taught by Ms Rosemary, the Care of Unicorns teacher. It was a cold day and Violet was glad of her thick woolly socks and snuggly blue Unicorn Academy hoodie. She listened eagerly to Ms Rosemary, wanting to learn all she could. "Any questions?" Ms Rosemary finally asked, when she had finished her talk. Violet hesitated. She had something to ask, but what if her question was silly? She started to raise her hand, but then changed her mind. However, Ms Rosemary had noticed. "Violet, you look like you have a question," she said with a smile. "Don't worry. You can ask anything."

钻石宿舍的奖品是一大袋糖果，玛蒂尔达和红宝石宿舍的女孩们分享了这些糖果，她说：“因为艾拉帮助我们赢了，让我们开怀大笑。” 维奥莱特一边嚼着糖果，一边望着周围那些谈笑风生的学生，心里一阵幸福的悸动。 她能进入独角兽学院真是太幸运了。 如果她能和闪烁结缘，发现他的魔法，一切就都完美了！第二天早上，每个人都挤进马厩，听“照顾独角兽”老师罗斯玛丽女士教的关于建立感情的课。 这是一个寒冷的日子，维奥莱特很高兴她的厚羊毛袜子和舒适的蓝色独角兽学院卫衣。 她急切地听着罗斯玛丽女士讲课，想尽可能地学习。 “有什么问题吗?”罗斯玛丽女士讲完话后终于问道。 紫犹豫了。她有话要问，但如果她的问题很傻怎么办？ 她开始举手，但后来又改变了主意。 然而，罗斯玛丽女士注意到了。 “维奥莱特，你看起来有问题，”她笑着说。 “别担心。你可以问任何问题。”

"Er, I just wondered if there's ever been a rider and their unicorn who haven't bonded?" Violet's face warmed as all eyes turned her way. "Well, that's so rare it almost never happens. Riders and their unicorns nearly always bond within two years." Violet felt relieved. Isla put up her hand. "Can someone force a unicorn to bond with them? Last year, a unicorn was stolen from near my home. My mum said she didn't understand why someone would do that because no unicorn would work with someone else when they'd already bonded. But what if the stolen unicorn was forced to bond again?" "That would be awful!" said Matilda, stroking Pearl's nose. "I couldn't bear it," said Rosa, hugging Crystal. "I've never heard of any unicorn being stolen," said Valentina, who was also from Ruby dorm. She gave Isla a scornful look. "I bet it's just a rumour that someone started to scare people." "Actually, Valentina, it's not a rumour– it's true," said Ms Rosemary. "It was a unicorn called Prancer and it was a terrible business." She shook her head. "I knew Prancer well. Her partner, Lacey, was at the school here when I was a pupil and we

“呃，我只是想知道，有没有一个骑手和他的独角兽没有结缘的？”当所有的目光转向维奥莱特时，她的脸变得温暖起来。 “嗯，这太罕见了，几乎从来没有发生过。 骑手和他们的独角兽几乎总是在两年内结合在一起。” 维奥莱特松了口气。艾拉举起手来。 “有人能强迫独角兽与他们建立联系吗？” 去年，一只独角兽在我家附近被偷了。 我妈妈说她不明白为什么有人会这样做，因为没有独角兽会在彼此已经建立了关系的情况下和别人合作。 但如果被偷的独角兽被迫再次结合呢？”“那太可怕了！”玛蒂尔达抚摸着珠儿的鼻子说。 “我受不了，”罗莎拥抱着克里斯托说。 “我从来没听说过独角兽被偷的事，”同样来自鲁比宿舍的瓦伦蒂娜说。 她轻蔑地看了艾拉一眼。 “我敢打赌这只是一个谣言，有人开始吓唬人们。” “事实上，瓦伦蒂娜，这不是谣言——这是真的，”罗斯玛丽女士说。 “那是一只名叫普兰瑟的独角兽，这是一桩可怕的生意。” 她摇了摇头。“我很了解普兰瑟。 她的搭档蕾西，在我上学的时候就在这所学校，我们

were friends. Prancer was a splendid unicorn with quite the longest mane I've ever seen. It was pure gold. She was very powerful too, a spell weaver – that's a unicorn who can put their magic into any spell." "She can't have been very powerful if she allowed herself to be stolen," said Twinkle, with an unimpressed snort. "No one could steal me away from Violet. I wouldn't let them." Violet blushed at his rudeness. "Well, I'm sure you'd put up a good fight,

是朋友。普兰瑟是一只美丽的独角兽，有着我所见过的最长的鬃毛。 它是纯金的。她也很厉害，会织咒语——那是一种独角兽，能把魔法编成任何咒语。” “如果她允许自己被人偷走，那她就不可能很强大，”闪烁淡淡地哼了一声说。 “没人能把我从维奥莱特身边偷走。 我不会让他们得逞的。”维奥莱特因他的粗鲁而脸红。 “好吧，我相信你会奋起反抗的，

Twinkle," said Ms Rosemary kindly. "But if a unicorn as powerful as Prancer was taken, then no unicorn is safe. However, here at Unicorn Academy, you will be fine, so please don't worry. And, in answer to your original question, Isla – no, no one can force a unicorn to bond with them. It simply isn't possible. A unicorn might be forced to work for someone through dark magic, but not to bond. Bonding only happens when the time is right and a rider and their unicorn become true friends." Ms Rosemary beamed at the class. "Right then, let's finish off here and go out for a ride!" "That was a really interesting lesson," Violet said to Freya, as they headed to their unicorns' stables. "Hmm?" Freya looked miles away. "What's up?" asked Violet. "It's just the name of that unicorn who was stolen – Prancer – I'm sure I've heard it before," said Freya. "Me too!" exclaimed Matilda, overhearing. "I haven't," said Violet, puzzled. "So, where did we hear it?" said Freya, frowning at Matilda.

一闪一闪。”罗斯玛丽女士和蔼地说。 “但如果像普兰瑟这样强大的独角兽被抓走，那就没有独角兽是安全的了。 然而，在独角兽学院，你会没事的，所以请不要担心。 回答你最初的问题，艾拉，不，没有人能强迫独角兽与他们建立联系。 这根本不可能。独角兽可能会被黑魔法强迫为某人工作，但不会被束缚。 只有在时机成熟的时候，骑手和他们的独角兽才会成为真正的朋友。” 罗斯玛丽老师微笑着看着全班同学。 “那么，让我们结束这里，出去兜风吧！”“这真是一堂有趣的课。”维奥莱特对弗雷娅说，这时他们正走向独角兽的马厩。 “嗯?”弗雷娅望着几英里外。 “怎么了？”维奥莱特问。 “这就是那只被偷的独角兽的名字——普兰瑟——我相信我以前听过。”弗雷娅说。 “我也是！”玛蒂尔达听到后叫道。 “我没有。”维奥莱特困惑地说。 “那么，我们是从哪儿听到的？”弗雷娅对玛蒂尔达皱着眉头说。

Matilda shrugged. "I don't know." "I thought Ms Rosemary would never stop talking," said Twinkle to Violet, when she went into his stable. "She went on and on, didn't she?" Violet had enjoyed the lesson but she didn't want to disagree with him. "She did a bit." "It'll be fun going out now with everyone, but we are still going out for a ride on our own tonight, aren't we?" Twinkle nudged her with his nose. Violet nodded. "I'll come here straight after dinner." Twinkle snorted happily. "Yay! I can't wait!" All day, Violet kept thinking about everything Ms Rosemary had told them. Bonding happened when a rider and their unicorn became true friends, so why hadn't she and Twinkle bonded yet? She was sure they were already true friends. They loved each other and they never argued – she always just let him have his way. It didn't make sense. "Is anyone up for a game of Hungry Unicorns?" Ariana asked before dinner. Amidst a chorus of yeses, Ariana went to the cupboard to get the board game out. But as she opened the door, a pile of

玛蒂尔达耸耸肩。“我不知道。” “我以为罗斯玛丽女士会不停地说话，”当她走进马厩时，闪烁对维奥莱特说。 “她说个不停，是不是？”维奥莱特很喜欢这一课，但她不想反对他。 “她做了一点。”“现在和大家一起出去一定很有趣，但我们今晚还是要自己出去兜风，不是吗？”闪烁用鼻子碰了碰她。 紫点了点头。“我吃完晚饭就来。” 闪烁高兴地哼了一声。“耶!我等不及了！”一整天，维奥莱特一直在想罗斯玛丽女士告诉他们的一切。 当一个骑手和他们的独角兽成为真正的朋友时，感情就建立起来了，那么为什么她和闪烁还没有建立联系呢？ 她确信他们已经是真正的朋友了。 他们彼此相爱，从不争吵——她总是让他为所欲为。 这说不通。“有人想玩饥饿独角兽游戏吗？”晚饭前，阿利安娜问道。 在一片赞同声中，阿利安娜走到橱柜前把棋盘游戏拿了出来。 但当她打开门时，一堆