Chapter 1

Lyra and Misty

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!"

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.

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!"

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

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!"