Chapter 9

CHAPTER NINE, Sienna stared, terrified, as the boulder sped towards them, ploughing through the beautiful statues and smashing them to smithereens. It was so huge there was no way of avoiding it. "We're going to be squished!" shouted Ivy, turning pale. "Don't worry– I've got this, Ivy!" Flame cried. He stamped his hooves on the ground, making orange sparks fly up. The cavern was suddenly flooded with the scent of magic and the sparks hit the boulder. A cracking sound echoed around and the boulder shrank to the size of a marble. hoof. It carried on rolling but Flame stopped it with a hoof. Ivy squealed and hugged him. "You saved us!" Sienna breathed out shakily. "That was really close. Well done, Flame. Let's get out of here right now." She didn't want to spend another moment in the booby-trapped cavern. The unicorns picked their way round the chunks of statue that now littered the ground. Evie, Ivy and Lyra were talking about the boulder, but Sienna didn't join in. She couldn't ignore the fact that Sparkle didn't seem his normal self. "Are you all right, Sparkle? You seem quiet." Sparkle sighed heavily. "I feel useless, Sienna," he confessed. "Sunshine used her exploding magic to stop us from being crushed by the moving walls. Misty used bubble magic to help us over the river and

Flame used his shrinking magic to save us from the boulder. What have I done to help? Nothing." "Oh, Sparkle! Don't be like that." Sienna stroked his neck. "Just because they have their magic doesn't make them better than you." He turned his head to look at her. "You wouldn't rather have a different unicorn?" "Of course not!" she said in surprise. "Why would you even think that?" He snorted awkwardly. "It's just you never seem to listen to me and—" He was interrupted by Lyra who had reached a fork in the path. "There's a carving of a dragon here." She pointed to a dragon above the left-hand fork. "I guess we go this way." "I hope it's not a real dragon," said Evie. "Who knows in this place!" said Ivy with a shiver. "Do you and Sparkle want to go first, Sienna?" Lyra asked. "Is that OK with you, Sparkle?" said Sienna. She had stopped thinking about getting to the diamond first to get a wish, but the labyrinth was so dangerous she was happy to go first and protect her friends– as long as Sparkle agreed. He nodded. "We'll lead the way!" He set off down the tunnel. It ended in a wall with an opening in it. Sitting in it was a three-headed stone dragon. As Sienna rode closer to investigate, its three gaping mouths puffed out tiny flames. Sienna took a breath. The dragon didn't look that bad in comparison to the other dangers they'd faced…

Ping! Ping! Ping! A deadly silver arrow shot out from each of the dragon's three mouths and raced towards her head. She shrieked and ducked, only narrowly avoiding being hit. "Go back!" she yelled to Sparkle but before he could turn, three more arrows came firing out. There was no time to escape– only to fight! Holding her torch as if it was a rounders bat, Sienna swatted the first arrow away. She heard gasps from her friends behind her as she struck the second and the third arrow and sent them flying. With the third arrow dispatched, Sienna raised her arms In victory. "Take that, arrows!" "Duck!" shrieked Lyra as the dragon fired another round. These ones were even bigger and faster than those before!

WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! Sienna batted them away one after the other, but she was beginning to tire. Her arms were aching. Sparkle must have sensed her fatigue because he nickered his support. "Keep going. You can do this!" There was an ominous pause and then suddenly a lone arrow shot out. It was much bigger than the other arrows and it flamed with fire. "Get it, Sienna!" Sparkle whinnied. With one last effort Sienna belted it away. It hit the wall and dissolved into sparks. The others whooped and cheered. The flames puffing out of the

dragon's mouths flickered and died. Sparkled twisted his head to nuzzle her leg. "That was awesome," he said. "You were amazing." "I'm so glad that was you and not me, Sienna!" said Evie in relief, riding Sunshine over to her. "Me too. None of the rest of us could have hit all those arrows like that," added Lyra. Ivy joined in, congratulating Sienna and telling her how brilliant she was, but Sienna could barely take it in. She felt very shaky. If she hadn't managed to bat those arrows away, one of her friends or their unicorns might have been badly hurt. She was so glad they were all safe! Suddenly she realised just how much they all meant to her. Ruby dorm and their unicorns were a team and she was part of it. It didn't matter whether she was scoring the winning goal or batting deadly arrows away or telling her friends how great they were– the important thing was being there for them, just like they were there for her. A loud rattle startled her out of her thoughts. The three-headed dragon had swivelled round and gold flames were erupting from its mouths. They hit the wall at the back of the opening and the stones and dragon vanished. All that was left was an entrance to another vast cavern. Sienna gulped. What was waiting for them this time? Cautiously she walked forward and looked inside. "Oh, wow!"