Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10 Star reared up and shook her mane. Yellow, gold, and green sparks spun out from the silky strands and rained down on the bramble bushes in front of the cloaked figure. Immediately, the bushes doubled in size. Star stamped her front hooves. CRACK! The bushes grew up across the mountainside, forming a thorny and impassable wall. Stuck on the other side, the figure shrieked in anger. Star sent one last burst of magic barreling into the bush. The bush immediately grew even higher. "That's awesome, Star!" cried Ava. Star gave a triumphant whicker and then galloped after Rainbow, catching up and racing alongside him as they headed down to where the rest of the school was still searching. "Ava, Sophia! There you are!" As they approached the lower slopes, they saw Scarlett,

Isabel, Olivia, and Layla riding toward them, waving. "We've been out looking for you!" Olivia called. "Ms. Nettles sent us to find you." "We've got sky berries!" Ava called back. The others cheered. "I knew you'd find some!" said Olivia, her eyes glowing. "Let's go and tell Ms. Nettles before she starts looking for you herself." They galloped back to the academy. Students and unicorns were milling about in the stable yard. "Where's Ms. Nettles?" Ava called. "Dunno," said Billy, breaking away from the others. "What's up? You look like you just galloped through a hedge backward." "We did. Long story," said Ava. "Help us get these sky berries into the feed room." "You've got sky berries? From where?" Billy demanded.

"Sky berries?" called another student, overhearing. "Yes!" said Sophia. "Help us share them with all the unicorns." The rest of the students ran over to help. Ava quickly retrieved the cuttings she'd taken. "I'm going to plant these near the stables," she called to Sophia. "With Star's plant magic, they could fruit immediately." Watched by Sophia and Rainbow, Ava and Star

found a patch of land and planted the sky-berry cuttings together. When the last cutting was in the ground, Ava stroked Star's neck. "Time for magic. You can do it, Star." Star snorted happily and then blew out. Sparkles shot from her nose and landed on the cuttings. At once, they started to grow! Leaves and branches popped out until the cuttings were full-grown bushes, with juicy ripe berries ready for eating. "Star, that's amazing," breathed Sophia. "It's magic!" said Rainbow. Ava gave a happy sigh and then hugged Star. "Well done!" "Girls, what's going on? I can smell magic, and I expressly forbade any unicorn to…" Ms. Primrose rode up on Sage. Her hair was tangled and she'd scratched her cheek. "Oh…," she said, stopping and staring. "Sky berries! New bushes full of berries! Where on earth did you find them?" Ava fed sky berries to Sage as she recounted the adventure on the mountain. "Well!" said Ms. Primrose finally. "You have been clever!" Just then, Ms. Nettles rode up on her unicorn,

Thyme, with the rest of Sapphire dorm. "Girls! You had me worried." Her eyes were dark and her hair was full of twigs. "You're very late back…" She broke off. "Sky berries!" she exclaimed. Her glasses slid down her nose in shock. "How…? Where…?" Ms. Primrose smiled. "We have a plentiful supply of sky berries again, all thanks to Ava and Sophia, Star and Rainbow. Once again, Unicorn

Academy is indebted to the girls from Sapphire dorm—and their unicorns, of course. They've saved the day." The rest of Sapphire dorm cheered. "Go, Ava! Go, Sophia!" whooped Isabel. "Well, this is a surprise," said Ms. Nettles, blinking. "Well done, girls. Now, I imagine you must all be very hungry." "I'm starving!" said Scarlett. A thin smile stretched across Ms. Nettles's lips as she turned to Ms. Primrose. "Should I order a picnic supper to have out here by the sky-berry bushes as a reward?" "That's an excellent plan," said Ms. Primrose, her eyes sweeping over the girls and their unicorns. Soon, the girls were sitting on blankets, enjoying a picnic of sandwiches, cakes, fruit, and rainbow punch. The unicorns grazed on the sky berries, their tails swishing contentedly. The setting sun sent red and gold streaks across the sky and the air was heavy with the scent of sweet night-jasmine, which Star had made flower around them. "Ava's so smart," Sophia said, recounting their adventure to the others for the tenth time.