Chapter 1

Lyra and Misty

莱拉和米斯蒂

Chapter one, It was a frosty afternoon and the new students at Unicorn Academy were chatting and laughing as they groomed their unicorns. Lyra pushed her long light-brown hair behind her ears and put down her brush. "Now for your hooves," she said to her unicorn, Misty. "Would you like gold, purple or pink hoof polish?" Misty had been staring into the distance, lost in thought. She blinked. "Oh… um… I don't mind," she said, nuzzling Lyra. "You choose. I'm not very good at making decisions." "Well, I love making decisions, so we're a perfect match!" Lyra said, putting her arms round Misty and breathing in her sweet unicorn smell. "Let's use gold!"

这是一个寒冷的下午，独角兽学院的新生们一边给他们的独角兽梳妆，一边有说有笑。 莱拉把浅棕色的长发捋到耳后，放下了梳子。 “现在轮到你的蹄子了，”她对她的独角兽米斯蒂说。 “你想要金色、紫色还是粉色的蹄油？”米斯蒂一直凝视着远方，陷入了沉思。 她眨了眨眼睛。“哦……嗯……我不介意。”她说，用鼻子蹭着莱拉。 “你选择。我不太擅长做决定。” “嗯，我喜欢做决定，所以我们是绝配！”莱拉说着，双臂搂着米斯蒂，吸着独角兽的清香。 “我们用金子吧！”

Misty was a very pretty snow-white unicorn patterned with swirls of purple and spring green. Lyra had been thrilled when, the day before, Ms Nettles, the academy's strict headteacher, had put them together in the Pairing Ceremony. Lyra picked up the tub of sparkly gold hoof polish and a brush. "I still can't believe I'm actually here at Unicorn Academy," she said happily.

米斯蒂是一只非常漂亮的雪白的独角兽，身上有紫色和春绿的漩涡。 前一天，当学校严厉的校长纳特尔斯女士在结对仪式上安排他们在一起时，莱拉非常激动。 莱拉拿起那盆闪闪发光的金蹄油和一把刷子。 “我还是不敢相信我真的来到了独角兽学院，”她高兴地说。

She glanced around her; the academy stable block was clean and shiny, with stalls for the unicorns on either side of the wide aisles. Automated trollies ran up and down carrying bales of straw and buckets of sky berries, the unicorns' favourite food, while the drinking water came from silver troughs that magically filled with multicoloured water from Sparkle Lake. Lyra had wanted to go to the academy for as long as she could remember. Her cousin, Scarlett, had also been a student a few years ago and she had told Lyra all about the amazing adventures she'd had with her friends and their unicorns. I am definitely going to have adventures while I'm here, Lyra thought, as she painted Misty's hooves. Misty gave Lyra a look from under her long eyelashes. "Are… are you missing your family at all, Lyra?" Lyra considered it. She had thought she would miss her parents and sister loads but there had been so much going on from the moment she'd arrived at the academy that she hadn't missed home much at all. "No, not really," she admitted. Misty hung her head and Lyra wondered if Misty was homesick. She decided it was best to distract her by talking about something different. "I wonder what magical power you'll have," she said, "and when you'll discover it. It'll be so cool to be able to do magic!" Before they could graduate and become guardians of Unicorn Island, students had to bond with their unicorn and each unicorn had to discover their magical power. Sometimes students and their unicorns needed more than one year to complete everything and had to return for a second. "I really hope you have the power to do something super exciting, like being able to fly or turn invisible," Lyra went on. "Those powers would be awesome!" She glanced across the aisle to where Sienna, one of the girls she shared Ruby dorm with, was plaiting her unicorn's mane with blue and purple ribbons. "Hey, Sienna, if Sparkle could have any magical power, what would you choose?" she called. Sienna was tall with corkscrew curls that reached her shoulders. Her brown eyes lit up as she considered the question. "I'd choose for Sparkle to be able to gallop at the speed of light so we could beat everyone every time we raced!" Sparkle, a very athletic unicorn, stamped his hoof. "That would be fun!"

她环顾四周；学院的马厩干净而闪亮，宽阔的过道两边各有独角兽的马厩。 自动手推车上下跑着，搬运着一袋袋稻草和一桶桶天空莓——独角兽最喜欢的食物，而饮用水则来自银色的水槽，这些水槽神奇地装满了闪闪湖的五颜六色的水。 从她记事起，莱拉就一直想去学院。 她的表妹思嘉几年前也是个学生，她把她和她的朋友们以及他们的独角兽的奇妙冒险都告诉了莱拉。 我在这儿一定要去冒险，莱拉一边想，一边给米斯蒂的蹄子涂上颜色。 米斯蒂从她长长的睫毛下面看了莱拉一眼。 “你……你想家人吗，莱拉？”莱拉考虑了一下。 她原以为自己会想念父母和姐姐，但从她来到学校的那一刻起，发生了太多事情，她根本就不怎么想家。 “不，不完全是，”她承认。 米斯蒂低下了头，莱拉怀疑米斯蒂是不是想家了。 她决定说点别的东西来分散她的注意力。 “我想知道你会有什么魔力，”她说，“你什么时候会发现它。 能变魔术真是太酷了！”在他们毕业并成为独角兽岛的守护者之前，学生们必须与他们的独角兽建立联系，每只独角兽都必须发现自己的神奇力量。 有时学生和他们的独角兽需要一年多的时间来完成所有的事情，不得不返回一秒钟。 “我真的希望你有能力做一些超级令人兴奋的事情，比如能够飞翔或隐形。”莱拉继续说。 “那些能力太棒了！”她瞥了一眼过道那边，和她同住一个宿舍的女生西耶娜，正在用蓝紫相间的丝带给她独角兽的鬃毛编辫子。 “嘿，西耶娜，如果Sparkle有魔法的话，你会选择什么？” 西耶娜个子很高，卷发长到了肩膀。 她考虑这个问题时，棕色的眼睛亮了起来。 “我希望闪闪能够以光速奔跑，这样我们每次比赛都能打败所有人！”斯巴克是一只非常健壮的独角兽，他跺了跺脚。 “那一定很有趣！”

Sienna's words gave Lyra an idea. "Why don't we go and have some races? Or, better still, go exploring. Ivy? Evie?" she shouted to the other two girls in their dorm. "What do you think? Shall we go for a Ruby dorm ride?" Evie was carrying a bucket of water towards her unicorn, Sunshine. She looked round as Lyra called her name and promptly tripped over her feet. She cried out as she fell, dropping the bucket and sending water splashing everywhere. "Evie! Are you OK?" cried Ivy. "I'm fine," said Evie, blushing bright red as they all dashed over and helped her up. "I'm so clumsy," she groaned. "Look at this mess." She tried to grab a nearby broom to sweep the water away but her fingers

西耶娜的话给了莱拉一个主意。 “我们为什么不去比赛呢？” 或者，更好的是去探索。 艾薇?伊薇？”她对宿舍里的另外两个女孩喊道。 “你觉得怎么样？”我们去露比宿舍兜风好吗？”伊薇提着一桶水走向她的独角兽阳光。 莱拉叫她的名字时，她回过头来，立刻绊了一跤。 她大叫着摔倒了，打翻了水桶，水溅得到处都是。 “艾维!你还好吗？”艾薇喊道。 “我很好，”伊维说，当他们都冲过来扶她起来时，她的脸涨得通红。 “我太笨手笨脚了，”她呻吟道。 “看看这一团糟。”她试图拿起附近的一把扫帚，想把水扫走，但她的手指被弄伤了

fumbled with the handle and the broom fell into Sienna. She gasped. "Oh no! Sorry!" "No problem," said Sienna with a grin. "But maybe I'll do the sweeping up!" "Yes, you should go and get some dry clothes," said Ivy to Evie. "You're soaked through." "And when you come back, we can all go exploring!" Lyra said eagerly. "There are so many places we haven't been yet– the maze, the cross-country course, the woods—" "What about the safari trail? I want to see that," interrupted Ivy. "There are supposed to be some really interesting animals there." "I've heard there are some incredible creatures in the woods," said Lyra. She'd also heard the woods were dangerous and the thought of checking them out made excitement fizz through her. "Aren't they out of bounds?" asked Sienna. "It doesn't stop us from going to the edge of them and having a look, though, does it?" said Lyra with a grin. "I definitely think it's time for Ruby dorm to go exploring!"

他摸了摸扫帚把，扫帚掉到了西耶娜身上。 她喘着气。“哦,不!对不起!”“没问题，”西耶娜笑着说。 “但也许我可以打扫！”“是的，你应该去拿些干衣服，”艾薇对艾薇说。 “你浑身湿透了。”“当你回来的时候，我们都可以去探险！”莱拉急切地问。 “有那么多地方我们还没去过——迷宫、越野赛道、树林——”“那狩猎小径呢？ 我想看看。”艾薇插嘴说。 “那里应该有一些非常有趣的动物。” “我听说树林里有一些不可思议的生物。”莱拉说。 她还听说森林很危险，一想到要去看看，她就兴奋得浑身冒泡。 “他们不是越界了吗？”西耶娜问。 “但这并不妨碍我们走到它们的边缘去看一看，是不是？”莱拉咧嘴笑着说。 “我绝对认为Ruby dorm是时候去探索了！”