Over Two Rainbows

It was a brisk Spring morning and Sophie the little yellow bear and her canine siblings Diesel, Luna and B.B Bone were outside in Buttercup Meadows enjoying the weather. They were playing a game of hide and seek. Sophie was a very good hider, but since it’s her turn to find her big siblings, it was a game of win or lose as she was an exceptionally good seeker. The teenage canines easily hid in the long grass, but Sophie can easily get down on all fours and pounce onto Diesel, the white dog with green spots. You may call him a Dalmatian as such, but his species is what’s known as a Lime Tree Mutt - a species of white dog with green bits. Luna was too much of a goth to be found, so she just sat there texting away on her phone. When Sophie leapt onto her, she dropped her phone in the mud and scolded her for being so reckless: “Oh great, my phone’s all muddy! Now I have to go home and clean it up! It’s all your fault, Sophie!” And she stormed away.

Still, Sophie and Diesel had plenty of time to find B.B Bone, who delighted in being found as Sophie and the ever-cheeky Diesel leapt on top of her. B.B had pink fur, which meant she came from a dog species known as the Strawberry Labrador -  a dog species with pink fur and dark pink floppy ears. Suddenly, the siblings heard a twinkling sound from nearby. Sophie peered out from the long grass and looked closer. She couldn’t believe her eyes! There was a bridge crossing over to another magical world! It had a rainbow path on it, so it was bound to be magical.

 “Come on, guys, I wonder where that leads to?” said Sophie. 

“I hope it’s not something dangerous,” worried B.B. 

“Dangerous? Prrrrfff, I live for danger,” laughed Diesel. He took her by the paw and dragged her towards the bridge.

As Sophie stepped on it, she felt the whole bridge glow with the light coming from her yellow feet. She continued walking, and the rainbow turned bright yellow as she crossed. Diesel had a go, then B.B, and the rainbow turned green, then pink with every step they took. They then looked at a bright yellow sign with glittery pink writing:

“Welcome to Unicorn Land! Hope your visit will be the most magical one yet!”

At that moment, a strange tree stump with thin twig arms and huge legs and feet came running up to them. 

“Hello, sorry I was trate.” said the stump. 

“Who are you?” asked Sophie. “Are you a brownie?” 

“Tro, silly,” said the stump, “I’m Twigsworth, the wise trelder of Unicorn Trand!”

 “Wow!” gasped the siblings all at once. 

“A talking stump?” asked B.B, “I must be seeing things.” 

“No you’re trot!” laughed Twigsworth, “I’m here to trake you on a trourney through this tragical land!” And, leading the friends across the colourful, magical land, he burst into song.

Over the rainbow and through the woods,

Across the Buttercup Fields,

There’s a land full of unicorns

Guaranteed to make you cheer!

There’s blunicorns and yellownicorns

And pink and green ones too

Whoever comes into this land

Will find a unicorn for you!

Unicorn Land, Unicorn Land,

Such a pleasant place,

Wherever you go a smiling face

Peace among the unicorn race!

Some unicorns have magic,

Some have wings that learn to fly,

Whoever comes into this land

Will find a unicorn for you and-

The singing dispersed as they heard someone crying.

 “I think it’s coming from the river.” said Diesel. 

“Come on, let’s see who’s crying.” said Sophie. They raced to the source of who was crying, and found a yellow unicorn with a purple mane and tail sobbing by the river. Bubbles were popping all around her horn, meaning something wasn’t right. 

“What’s wrong?” asked B.B. 

“I’ve lost all my magic!” wept the unicorn. 

“You haven’t trold us your trame yet!” said Twigsworth. 

“My name is Lemonade,” said the unicorn, “And I’ve used up all my magic in one single week. When bubbles pop around my horn, it means that all my magic is gone. Now I won’t be able to use it again!” “Maybe we can help you find your magic.” said Sophie. 

“Yeah!” agreed Diesel and B.B at once.

 “Ah, but it will be a trifficult journey,” added Twigsworth. “Or is it trot difficult? I can’t tremember.”

“How do we get Lemonade’s magic back?” asked Sophie. 

“You have to go to the Candyfloss Tremple and complete one truzzle and one riddle. On completing them, you will find a tragical flower that’ll tring Lemonade’s magic back with one blow. The trollen will merge with her trorn and make the bubbles surrounding it trisappear.” 

“Then what are we waiting for? Come on, let’s go!” shouted Sophie, and she lead Lemonade, Diesel and B.B towards the temple on the mountains far off.

Meanwhile, back at home, Luna was cleaning her phone with a wet wipe. 

“Spent £120 on it,” she grumbled, “I even paid for it with my own pocket money. What to do?” Sophie’s mother came into the kitchen, and saw that Luna was upset.

 “What’s wrong, Luna?” asked Mum. 

“Sophie made me jump, and as a result she made me drop my stupid phone into the mud.” Sophie’s mum looked exhausted. “Oh dear, now it’ll take me weeks to clean up that phone. You should go and apologise to Sophie right now.”

 “How can I apologise?” asked Luna. 

“Well, it’s just like my mum used to say: when someone is cruel to you, you can let someone apologise.” Luna ran up to her mother and hugged her. 

“Thanks! I’ll do it right away!” And she dashed off out the door back to the Buttercup Meadows, while Mum proceeded to clean Luna’s phone.

At the mountains, Sophie and her friends finally made it to the Candyfloss Temple…but the door was tight shut. No matter how hard they tried to lift it up, it was too heavy and too rocky. It even made B.B’s paws hurt a little, so it was a lucky escape from those attempts when Sophie saw a puzzle column with three shapes that looked like a stick of candyfloss, a balloon and a lucky clover. 

“It’s really simple,” said Sophie, and she placed the candyfloss piece into the right place. B.B had a go next, and put the balloon into its hole. With each puzzle placed into the right box, the temple door shifted so it opened slightly. When Diesel put in the lucky clover piece, the door shifted open to reveal a dark tunnel. Lemonade lead the nervous friends into the temple, but just as they were midway through the tunnel, they heard the door bang shut behind them. 

“Oh no,” whined Lemonade, “Usually I’m good with things like this, because my horn glows in the dark. Now that I’ve run out of magic, I can’t seem to light it up.” 

“I know what we can do!” said Sophie, “We must all join paws - and hooves - and make our way along in the dark, until we find a light. Ready?” 

“Ready, Sophie!” they shouted. 

“Then hold onto me!” she replied.

They all joined paws and made their way along the tunnel. It was really dark and scary, but still, it smelled of candyfloss. Sweet, fluffy candyfloss like you’d find at the fair. Suddenly, Diesel could see something in the distance. “Light ahead, Sophie!” he warned. 

“Thanks!” Sophie called. 

“That’s not a light,” said Lemonade, “That’s the entrance to Gried’s throne room.” 

“Who’s Gried?” asked Sophie. 

“He’s a fierce part goat part wolf person, always ready to let you answer one of his riddles. He’s the one who’s got the magical flower.”

 “Oh,” said Sophie, realising. When they got to Gried’s throne room, they saw an ugly abomination with a husky’s body and a goat’s head staring at them from his enormous throne. Beside him was a beautiful purple flower. 

“It is I, Gried, the guardian of the Candyfloss Temple,” he introduced.

 “Can you help me get my magic back?” asked Lemonade. 

“Only if you answer a riddle. You have ten strikes. Should the first strike be passed, then you’ll never have the flower. Here it is:

Everything’s magic, except for one,

He’s always looking out for fun,

With a pipe in his hand and a cherry red face,

He comes from a magical fairy place.

What is it?”

Everyone thought hard about who the cherry red-faced person might be. Luckily, Diesel wasn’t short of answers, and called out 

“Elf! He plays a pipe, and has a cherry red face when he feels happy!”

 “Right answer,” said Gried, and everyone cheered as he got off his throne and gestured for them to come towards the flower. Lemonade was of course the first to come up to the flower, and she blew on it. At once, magical golden pollen flew out of the flower and attached to her horn. The bubbles disappeared, and her horn began to glow with magic once again. 

“Hooray again!” everyone yelled. 

“So you’ve got your magic back, eh?” said Diesel. 

“Well done, Diesel, you’re the best brother ever!” laughed Sophie, and Diesel gave her a bear hug (no pun intended). 

“I’m so glad you managed to get the flower,” said B.B. “Now let’s go back to the field and test out your magic.”

When they went back into the field, Lemonade aimed carefully at an apple tree. 

“I’m going to turn all these apples into lemons, just like my name suggests,” she said sneakily. She focused, and a bolt of magic burst out of her horn. “Trello,” said a voice. It was Twigsworth. 

“I’ve come to treck on how your tradventure we-” But suddenly, the magic of Lemonade’s horn turned him into a giant walking apple! 

“Oh for Celestia’s sake, what have you done?!” shouted Twigsworth angrily, which sent everyone laughing away.

When Sophie and her brother and sister returned to the Buttercup Meadows, they were pleased to see Luna looking very relieved. 

“Luna! You’ll never guess where we’ve been!” cried Sophie, “We’ve been to a magical land on the other side of the rainbow bridge!” 

“Rainbow bridge…a-ha.” said Luna. 

Sophie was scared at first, and then Luna said, “I’m sorry I was hard on you. It was all my fault. I never should’ve brought my phone to our hide and seek game.” 

“It’s okay, we all make mistakes,” said Sophie, and she and Luna hugged like they’d never seen each other before.

All the siblings joined hands and made their way back home, with Sophie telling about her adventure all the way. So, if you ever see a bridge with a rainbow on it, you never know, it might lead to a land where a unicorn might need your help to find her magic, just like Lemonade.