Sapphire's Special Power Read online

  For lovers of sparkles, rainbows, and magic

  1 The Royal Messenger

  Sapphire was so excited that she couldn’t stop moving. It felt like her hooves were filled with dancing beans. She dashed among her fellow first years of Unicorn University, making sure everyone was ready to go. They were all gathered together on the Looping Lawn, under the two tallest oak trees. The large knobbly branches stretched out far above them, covering the rainbow cluster of unicorn students.

  Sapphire noticed that the sun was lower in the sky. She straightened her shoulders and shook her long, braided blue mane. “Okay!” she shouted to get everyone’s attention. “Let’s get into our places. Shamrock, Firefly, you guys head across the field to make sure the banner is high enough so that Fairy Green can see it when she flies in.”

  Shamrock, a mint-green colt and one of Sapphire’s closest friends, nodded so enthusiastically that his large, black-rimmed glasses went crooked. Using her horn, Sapphire straightened them for him and then held out a large conch shell on a string. “I borrowed this from gym class. Just yell into it, and we’ll be able to hear you from across the lawn.” Shamrock slipped his horn through the string and straightened his neck so that the string fell down around his shoulders.

  “Wow, cool, just like Coach Ruby!” said Firefly, a red-and-gold unicorn.

  Sapphire watched Shamrock and Firefly run across the field. She still couldn’t believe they were all going to meet a real fairy tomorrow. Fairies lived throughout the five kingdoms, but as royal messengers they usually only appeared to deliver important notes or news. So you didn’t meet them unless you were someone super important. But when Sapphire’s teacher, Professor Sherbet, had heard that her close friend Fairy Green was traveling through Sunshine Springs for the annual Fairy Gathering, the professor had asked if her friend could stop by to talk to the first-year students.

  Ever since she was little, Sapphire had wanted to travel the five kingdoms. Growing up by the ocean, she’d seen ships travel by from all over the world. She would spend hours at her bedroom window, wondering where they were going and why. But the ships were always just out of reach, close enough to dream about but too far away for Sapphire to talk to anyone on board. So she couldn’t help but feel like this meeting with Fairy Green was the start of something very big. As her good friend Twilight would say, it felt like pixies were dancing in her stomach.

  It was time for stage two of the Welcome Plan. Sapphire turned to a snow-white unicorn with a red-and-white striped mane named Peppermint, and to a three-legged gray unicorn named Storm. “Okay. Is the banner ready?” Sapphire asked.

  The banner certainly looked ready. Sapphire marveled at how Peppermint and Storm had managed to arrange the flowers so that they spelled out WELCOME TO UU, FAIRY GREEN! They used bright flowers for the letters and green plants for the background. Sapphire noticed that all the flowers had the same shimmer. Curious, she leaned in closer.

  “I used my ability with weather to make it shine like that,” Storm said proudly. “I protected the morning dew so it wouldn’t dry up with the sun.”

  “Great work, Storm,” Sapphire said with a nod of approval.

  Peppermint scoffed and flipped her mane. “Well, I used my weaving ability to knit the flowers all together. We wouldn’t even have a banner without me,” she whined.

  “Oh, it’s really glitter-tastic! You guys make a fantastic team!” Comet assured her. Sapphire nudged her rose-colored friend with her flank. Comet was always so positive and encouraging. She always made everyone feel like they were part of things, like they belonged. Sapphire loved that about Comet.

  “It’s absolutely perfect,” Sapphire agreed.

  Peppermint and Storm grinned and tapped their horns together in a high-U.

  “Okay, Comet,” Sapphire said. “You’re up next!”

  Comet had woven fairy’s thread through her mane, and it glittered in the bright afternoon sun. But despite all the sparkle, Comet suddenly seemed rather dull. Her eyebrows were scrunched and her mouth twisted to the side. It was a look that was certainly unusual for cheerful Comet.

  “What’s wrong?” Sapphire asked, her own eyebrows arching with concern.

  Comet hoofed the grass beneath her. “It’s just, well, I’m nervous about my part. I’m sure I can fly up to the top of the trees, no problem, and I bet I can manage to tie the ropes to the trees. Just… what if I can’t get back down again?”

  Comet had the gift of flight, but she was still learning and had a hard time with her landings. She almost never made it back down without a teacher to help. But they had all agreed to enact the Welcome Plan on their own, no grown-ups allowed.

  Sapphire smiled at her sparkly friend. She knew just what to do.

  “Peppermint!” Sapphire called—perhaps a little too loudly. Peppermint was right next to her, after all. “Could you weave some ivy around Comet?”

  “Um, totes. That’s so easy,” Peppermint said with her signature mane flip. The red-and-white strands of her mane twisted and twirled together like a bunch of little candy canes. Sapphire couldn’t help but admire it.

  “Great,” Sapphire said. “How about you wrap ivy around Comet’s waist, and leave a lot of extra so I can hold one end while Comet flies up to the trees. Then, Comet, when you’re ready, we’ll just pull you back down again!”

  A huge smile with bright pink dimples immediately replaced Comet’s frown. “Let’s do this!” she cheered.

  “Woo-hoo!” Sapphire joined in, followed by enthusiastic whoops from Peppermint and Storm.

  Before long the beautiful banner was hung between the oak trees. After finding the right height, Shamrock and Firefly ran over to the group.

  The unicorns admired their work. Sapphire was proud of her classmates for pulling it all off. She thought about her own first day at Unicorn University and the rainbow banner that had welcomed the first year students. She wanted to make sure Fairy Green felt just as welcome.

  “And now for the final step,” Sapphire said. “Twilight, do you have the Spotlight Flowers?”

  Twilight was another one of Sapphire’s best friends, and she had the gift of invisibility. Spotlight Flowers were found only in one patch of field on campus, and from afar you could see their giant heads lifting up and casting beams of different-colored lights. Students loved to go up to the Magic Meadow to watch the Spotlight Flowers in the evening, as the flowers seemed to respond to each other and it was like watching lights dance. But whenever anyone got close, the flowers would curl up and disguise themselves as weeds, making it impossible to tell which was the disguised Spotlight Flower and which was a regular old weed.

  That was, until Sapphire and Comet had hatched a plan. It had taken some convincing to get Twilight and Shamrock on board, but eventually they’d figured out that Twilight’s invisibility allowed her to sneak into the fields so that the flowers wouldn’t know a thing. When Sapphire had dreamt up the welcome banner, she’d known just how to make sure Fairy Green would see the banner even if she flew in at night. The Spotlight Flowers would make the perfect royal welcome. Luckily, Twilight had agreed to gather a basketful of the special plants to replant under the big oak trees.

  But looking around now, Sapphire couldn’t see Twilight anywhere. Oh no, Sapphire worried. Is Twilight stuck invisible again?

  2 Bright Lights, Big Banner

  Sapphire looked to the stables and was relieved to see Twilight galloping toward the group, but when Twilight got closer, Sapphire could see tears brimming in Twilight’s eyes, and her lower lip trembling with worry. “Saph, I can’t find the basket anywhere,” she said when she stopped short, still panting from the quick pace. “I picked the flowers right after breakfast, but I have no idea whe
re the basket went between then and now!”

  A chorus of groans came from the students. Sapphire knew that Twilight hated attention more than anything else, and Twilight’s hooves were shimmering in and out of invisibility, which usually meant she was panicking. Sapphire needed to get everyone to focus elsewhere. And fast.

  She jumped into action. “It’s okay, guys! We just need to retrace our steps. Who remembers seeing the basket after Twilight came out of the Spotlight Garden?” Sapphire asked.

  The whole class erupted like a volcano with thoughts and ideas of where the basket could be. But absolutely no one was listening to the others. It reminded Sapphire of their first day of school, when they’d all been trying to think of a class picture idea.

  Then Shamrock blurted out, “The Crystal Library!”

  At first Sapphire just thought he meant they should go to the library to figure out the problem. As much as Sapphire loved that magical place, she didn’t think the answer was going to be in a book. But when she turned to Shamrock to tell him so, she saw a look in his eyes that she’d never seen before. It was a bit like when he was trying to figure out the answer to a tough question, like he was looking far into the distance. But this look was way more intense. Like he was seeing light-years ahead.

  Then Shamrock yelled, “The Peony Pasture!”

  That made the whole class pay attention. In fact, everyone stopped talking at once. Shamrock was usually a very calm unicorn, certainly not one to just shout stuff.

  Just as suddenly as it had come, Shamrock seemed to jump out of his trance. His face broke into a big, goofy smile that pushed his glasses up to his eyebrows. “Follow me,” he told the group in his usual voice. “I know where the flowers are!” And he dashed off in the direction of the Silver Lining Stables, the students’ dormitories. The class hurried after him, many asking what had happened, but Shamrock ignored them all.

  Shamrock stopped short in front of Twilight’s stall, and Sapphire arrived not long after him. She smiled at the photo that always hung below the shiny golden number twelve. The picture was from their very first day of school, with Sapphire, Comet, Shamrock, and Twilight all posed happily with powdered sugar smudged all over their faces. Sapphire had been so nervous that first day. It had felt like she would never belong. But now, only one month in, she couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. She loved everything about Unicorn U.

  With Twilight’s permission, Shamrock swung open Twilight’s door to reveal a basket full of Spotlight Flowers.

  “Of course!” Twilight squeaked. “We stopped by here to get some string for the banner, and I must have left the basket behind. Thank you, Shamrock!”

  “But how’d you know that?” Storm asked. “Only Twilight and I came by here. Weren’t you still out on the lawn?”

  “I think I’ve developed my ability,” Shamrock told them, his eyes sparkling with joy. “I think I have a special photographic memory! All of a sudden, I could rewind my day like a—” He stopped short and squinted a little, as if searching for the right word. “Like a memory movie! And I remembered that you had the basket in the Crystal Library but not in the Peony Pasture at lunch, but you did have the string. So it made sense that you would have left the flowers when you got your art supplies from your stall!” he finished happily, and slightly out of breath.

  The class cheered and started back up to the giant oak trees, Spotlight Flowers in hand. Sapphire nudged Shamrock on the way, and he looked back at her with a grin. She could tell how happy he was that his special power had finally appeared. And she was happy for her friend.

  Once they reached the banner, Sapphire stood back and directed everyone to carefully replant the flowers and, using Twilight’s string, aim them to light up the banner with soft blues, pinks, and yellows. It was spectacular.

  The dinner bell rang, and Sapphire watched her classmates dash off to the Peony Pasture for apples and oats before bed. But she hung back just a bit to admire their creation one more time. Butterflies danced in her stomach, and she couldn’t help but smile with excitement. She was going to meet a fairy tomorrow!

  3 Breakfast Dreams

  The next morning, Sapphire opened her eyes in time to watch the sun rise from her stall window. The stable was quiet—everyone was surely still sleeping—but Sapphire couldn’t go back to sleep. The dancing beans in her hooves were back in full force. The day was finally here! Sapphire crept softy out of her stall, careful not to let the door bang and wake up the other fillies. The seaweed wreath her sisters had sent from home swung quietly as she slowly let the door close behind her. Avoiding all the creaky planks, she made her way out to the fields. The sun was still low in the sky, and the whole campus was bathed in a warm orange and pink light. It felt like a different world, making the morning even more exciting.

  When she was far enough away from the stables, Sapphire broke into a quick canter. She raced across the Looping Lawn, the fresh morning dew brushing her blue calves as she ran through the grass. She smiled with delight when she reached their beautiful banner hanging between the oak trees. She felt so proud of their work as she watched the Spotlight Flowers’ early-morning light show. Folding her four legs beneath her, she sat down and looked out across the campus. She could see the red barns of the Silver Lining Stables, looking as asleep as its dwellers, and the Crystal Library, the castle-like structure glittering even though the sun was so low.

  The view was beautiful, and she was just so comfortable. Right before sleep overtook her, Sapphire saw a green blur in the sky overhead stop short. Could it be? Sapphire wondered. Did I just see Fairy Green? Or am I already dreaming?

  * * *

  Sapphire woke with a start. The sun was now high in the sky, and she could feel that the campus had come alive, the voices of her classmates chattering in the distance. Have I missed the morning bell? She quickly got to her hooves, blinking the sleep out of her eyes. Her belly rumbled as she cantered over to the Peony Pasture, hoping to make it in time for breakfast.

  She was happy to see her classmates still clustered around their favorite apple tree. She didn’t know why they chose it every day, but it was the first place where they had all eaten, and somehow they had silently agreed to gather there ever since.

  Sapphire wedged herself between Comet and Twilight and plucked a big, pink apple from the branch above her. She tried to catch up with the morning conversation as she munched.

  “I actually developed my ability when I was sleeping,” Peppermint was saying. “I had fallen asleep by the fire after I’d been up late reading. I woke with my mother’s knitting all stitched around me. I guess sleeping me had wanted a blanket.”

  Sapphire laughed with the rest of her class, imagining the sight.

  But the laughter stopped quickly when a group of older unicorns came up to them. Older unicorns almost never talked to first years. Sapphire gulped the mouthful of apple she’d been chewing and exchanged a questioning look with Comet. Sapphire noticed the other first years were fidgeting around her. Clearly everyone was nervous!

  “We just wanted to congratulate you guys on that welcome banner for Fairy Green,” said Flash, a hot-pink unicorn with a rainbow mane. Sapphire couldn’t believe the captain of the senior hoofball team and basically the coolest unicorn ever was congratulating them on her idea. She could feel her cheeks heat up.

  Peppermint tossed her mane with an especially dramatic flair and said, “I wove the flowers together. I was just telling everyone about my special abilities.”

  “And I added the glittering dew,” Storm offered.

  “And Twilight gathered the Spotlight Flowers because she can turn invisible, and Shamrock found the flowers because of his photographic memory!” Comet added, hovering above the grass a little in her excitement.

  “But it wouldn’t have been possible without Comet! She flew up and hung the banner for us,” Shamrock added.

  “And Sapphire—” Twilight started, but she was too quiet for others to hear her.

  Flash had
started talking again. “Sounds like you guys are the dream team. Your abilities are awesome.”

  Flash’s silver-haired teammate, Chrome, said, “Yeah. You guys are totally the coolest first years that Unicorn U has ever seen. Our biggest project was trying to figure out what ability Headmaster Starblaze had. Definitely not as awesome.”

  “Oh yeah!” Flash remembered. “Must be something super top secret if no one has discovered it yet.”

  “You mean you never figured it out?” Shamrock asked.

  “Nope,” said Chrome. “But hey, if anyone can figure it out, it’s you guys.”

  With that, Chrome and Flash headed out, leaving the first-year students in a happy glow.

  Sapphire just shrugged and turned back to her breakfast. Why were they talking about the boring old headmaster when they could have been talking about the royal messenger who was eating with their teachers right now? Sapphire looked over to see a small green figure sitting on one of the low branches at the teachers’ tree. The fairy and Professor Sherbet were leaning in close together, laughing hysterically. Sapphire wondered what they were talking about. Could it be one of their adventures? Sapphire imagined herself sitting at the teachers’ tree, all grown up and laughing about her own explorations. “And that’s what happens when you mistake a mermaid for a sea serpent!” she imagined herself saying, to a chorus of laughter.

  “Hey, Saph,” Twilight said, drawing her friend back to the present.

  Sapphire shook herself loose from the daydream. “Yeah, Twilight?”

  “Did you forget your notebook? I can go back to the stables with you. I have to get my paints, anyway.”

  “Twilight, you genius!” Sapphire hung her long neck around Twilight in a hug. She was happy her friend had reminded her of her brand-new notebook. Sapphire had asked her mom to send it to her when she’d found out that Fairy Green was coming. She wanted to record everything the fairy said. This was the start of Sapphire’s dreams coming true!