The Naughtiest Unicorn at Christmas

by Pip Bird

  For Seb – LB

  For my parents – RLO

  For Emma – David O’Connell

  Cover and interior illustrations by David O’Connell

  Special thanks to Liz Bankes and Rebecca Lewis-Oakes

  Text first published in Great Britain in 2019

  by Egmont UK Limited

  The Yellow Building, 1 Nicholas Road, London W11 4AN

  Text copyright © 2019 Egmont UK Ltd

  Illustrations copyright © 2019 David O’Connell

  First e-book edition 2019

  ISBN 978 1 4052 9594 9

  Ebook ISBN 978 1 4052 9705 9

  www.egmont.co.uk

  A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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  Contents

  Cover

  Dedication and Copyright

  Title Page

  Chapter One: Snow Much Fun!

  Chapter Two: A Winter Wonderland

  Chapter Three: The Realm of the Theatre . . .

  Chapter Four: The Rehearsals Begin

  Chapter Five: The Christmas Quest

  Chapter Six: A Snowy Surprise

  Chapter Seven: Party Preparations

  Chapter Eight: Showtime!

  Chapter Nine: Wishes, Gifts and Festive Fun!

  CHRISTMAS COOKIES

  CHRISTMAS JOKES

  Back series promotional page

  ‘Look, there’s some snow!’ cried Mira excitedly as she leapt out of the car in the leisure-centre car park.

  Her sister Rani stepped out of the car and peered over, wrinkling her nose. ‘That,’ she said, ‘is slush.’

  Mira bent closer to the small pile of snow, which was a bit slushy. And grey. ‘There’s definitely some specks of white,’ she said. She had been so excited when she looked out of the window the night before and saw snowflakes falling. Mira’s mum and dad said it wouldn’t settle, but Mira was sure that she could find some to play with. It was the week before Christmas, and she had spent days planning fun things to do, ALL of which involved snow.

  ‘You couldn’t even get a snowball out of that,’ said Rani, as Mira reached towards the slushy puddle.

  ‘Time to go!’ said their mum quickly. ‘You don’t want to be late for Unicorn School.’

  And Mum was right – Mira absolutely did not want to be late for Unicorn School! Unicorn School was the best thing ever. You were paired up with your UBFF (Unicorn Best Friend Forever) and you went on quests and magical adventures. And even the ordinary lessons were a million per cent better than the ones at normal school because the unicorns were there!

  Mira, Rani and Mum walked over to the corner of the car park, where the magic portal to Unicorn School lay hidden behind some bushes. There was a queue of children waiting for their turn to go through. Everyone was wearing brightly-coloured festive jumpers.

  Christmas was Mira’s favourite time of year. She loved seeing her breath in the chilly air, the way trees sparkled with frost and being cosy inside with a mug of hot chocolate. (She had a feeling that her greedy unicorn, Dave, would enjoy the hot chocolate, too.)

  Mira quickly looked through her school bag to make sure that she had everything. There were LOTS of pairs of thick woolly socks (added by her mum), treats for Dave, her pencil case, and something very important: The Legend of the Snow Unicorn.

  Every year at Christmas time, Class Red performed a play of The Legend of the Snow Unicorn, and before they went home at the end of the last visit their teacher, Miss Glitterhorn, had given them each a script to learn. Mira knew the whole thing off by heart and she was secretly hoping that she and Dave would get the lead roles of Snow Unicorn and Snow Child!

  It was nearly time to go through the portal and Rani said Mum had to go where the other parents were all standing huddled together, so Mum gave them each a hug and a kiss and told them for about the eightieth time to wrap up warm.

  ‘Will there be snow at Unicorn School?’ Mira asked her sister.

  ‘Only if you do the snow dance,’ said Rani.

  ‘What’s the snow dance?’ said Mira.

  Rani sighed. ‘It’s quite difficult. Only Class Yellow can do it. You probably won’t manage it.’

  Mira narrowed her eyes. She didn’t always believe the things her sister told her, but she also didn’t want to take any chances. Especially when it came to unicorn stuff. Rani had been at school for longer than Mira and had LOTS of medals, as she always liked to remind Mira.

  ‘Just tell me how to do the snow dance,’ she said.

  ‘Fine!’ said Rani. ‘You have to squat like a frog and then stomp around, waving your hands in the air and grunting.’

  Mira shuffled into position.

  ‘Make sure you close your eyes and really get into it,’ said Rani.

  Mira started doing the snow dance. It was a bit slippy and slidey on the slushy floor, but the dance wasn’t hard at all – she didn’t know what Rani was on about.

  ‘Mira . . .?’

  Mira opened her eyes. Her friend Darcy was there, looking concerned. Lots of the other children were backing away.

  ‘I’m doing the snow dance,’ said Mira.

  ‘Oh. I thought you really needed the loo.’ Darcy moved her wheelchair next to Mira in the magic portal queue and they did their usual high-five greeting. Darcy was wearing a coat with rainbow stripes and a matching hat.

  ‘Is Raheem here yet?’ said Mira. She wondered if the snow dance was more powerful if more people did it.

  Darcy pointed over to the bike racks, where Raheem was doing a strange sort of hop. ‘He’s been doing that for a while. And before that he was reading a story about teddy bears out loud.’ She paused. ‘Everyone’s being weird today.’

  There was a small girl clinging to Raheem’s leg. She must be his little sister, Mira thought. Raheem’s dad was there, trying to untangle them as the girl cried loudly.

  ‘He’s only going away for a little bit, Tia!’ said Raheem’s dad.

  The girl wailed even more. ‘I want to go with you!’ she sobbed.

  Raheem looked at his dad.

  ‘You can’t, Tia sweetheart,’ said Raheem’s dad.

  The little girl clung to Raheem’s leg even tighter and sobbed even louder.

  Darcy held out a biscuit and whistled. ‘Tia! Come on!’ She waved the biscuit and clicked her fingers.

  Tia stopped crying for a second and gave Darcy a strange look, before bursting into loud sobs again.

  Darcy shrugged. ‘It works with my dog,’ she said.

  They watched as Raheem continued to struggle. Then Mira had an idea.

  ‘Look!’ she shouted. ‘One of the unicorns has come through the magic portal and into the car park!’

  Everyone in the car park turned to look where Mira was pointing, including Raheem’s little sister. Mira and Darcy grabbed Raheem
and dragged him towards the magic portal, pushing past the queue of children.

  ‘Love you, Tia! Love you, Dad!’ Raheem called back, but his dad was looking around worriedly for the escaped unicorn.

  They reached the clump of bushes.

  Raheem didn’t have the chance to be nervous going through the magic portal. Mira and Darcy were still holding on to his arms, and they pulled him through the entrance.

  Mira would never get used to the magic portal – the way it sucked you through, and then zoomed you along the rainbow like you were on a rollercoaster but a million times faster and not wearing safety belts. Mira gripped her friends’ hands and the exciting feeling grew in her chest until she thought she might burst. Rainbow colours and sparkly stars flew past them – and Mira was sure that this time, she could see flurries of snowflakes . . .

  They all arrived with a thud on the landing haystack. Mira peered around and blinked.

  ‘THE SNOW DANCE WORKED!’ she yelled.

  The snow was more perfect than any snow Mira had ever seen. It covered the whole paddock in a thick, powdery blanket that glittered and sparkled. Mira wondered if maybe unicorn snow was a little bit magical.

  Further away Mira could see the snow-topped turrets of the Unicorn School buildings and the white-tipped trees of the Fearsome Forest.

  Mira jumped down from the haystack. The perfect snow made the perfect crunching sound under her snow boots. She could see lots of different footprints leading away from the landing haystack and – much more excitingly – hoofprints!

  Darcy wheeled down the ramp from the haystack to where her unicorn, Star, was waiting for her in a bright rainbow snow coat with a rainbow hat over her ears.

  ‘OMG, we match!’ said Darcy, throwing her arms around Star.

  They started making their way across the paddock. All around them children and their unicorns were playing in the snow. Some were having snowball fights, while others were taking it in turns to slide down a little hill in the corner of the paddock. They were just walking past a Class Yellow boy and his unicorn making a snowman, when they heard a thundering sound and saw a blur of blue against the white. Raheem’s unicorn, Brave, came galloping towards them. Brave was the biggest unicorn at Unicorn School, and the thundering of his hooves made the ground shake.

  ‘Watch out for my snowman!’ cried the boy, and his unicorn snorted in agreement.

  Brave skidded to a halt. The snowman wobbled but stayed standing. Then Brave stomped his hoof. A big pile of snow slid from a tree branch, knocking off the snowman’s head and completely burying Raheem.

  As they all dug Raheem out, Mira looked around. ‘Can anyone see Dave?’ she said.

  Star snorted and pointed across the paddock with her horn.

  ‘He’s wrestling Miss Glitterhorn,’ said Darcy.

  ‘He’s . . . what?’ said Mira.

  In the corner of the paddock by the gate was their class teacher, Miss Glitterhorn. She was indeed wrestling with a unicorn. And that unicorn was the plumpest, naughtiest unicorn at Unicorn School – Dave!

  When they got a bit closer, Mira realised that Miss Glitterhorn was actually trying to wrap a long, rainbow scarf around Dave, but he kept wriggling out of the teacher’s grip.

  ‘You have to wrap up warm, Dave!’ said Miss Glitterhorn.

  Mira thought they must have been doing this for a long time as Miss Glitterhorn looked very annoyed and sweaty, even though it was a cold day. But Mira was mostly thinking about how great it was to see her UBFF.

  ‘Dave!’ she called out, waving excitedly to him.

  Dave looked up from his wriggling. Miss Glitterhorn looked up too and stopped holding on to him. Dave bolted and galloped towards Mira, snorting happily as he went. The long scarf trailed behind him through the snow as he got to the top of a little hill in the paddock.

  ‘Running on snow is a NO!’ yelped Raheem.

  Sure enough, the scarf tangled in Dave’s hooves and he tripped. He tumbled into a forward roll. And then he kept rolling.

  ‘What goes RAINBOW thump, RAINBOW thump, RAINBOW thump, RAINBOW thump ?’ said Darcy.

  The others didn’t answer as they watched the tumbling unicorn.

  ‘Dave rolling down a hill!’ finished Darcy.

  ‘I don’t think he’s going to stop!’ cried Raheem, as Dave continued to roll towards them.

  They all jumped to the side as the Dave snowball rolled straight through where they’d been standing, showering everyone in white fluff. He smashed right into the headless snowman and finally came to a stop.

  ‘For goodness’ sake!’ said the boy.

  ‘Dave!’ cried Mira as the others brushed snow out of their hair and manes. The Class Yellow boy started rebuilding his snowman, muttering and giving them evil glares.

  Dave trotted over and gave a big shake, like a wet dog, showering them all in snow again. Mira gave her UBFF a big unicorn hug. Dave nuzzled her face and snorted, which tickled and made Mira laugh. And then the whole gang went round doing high fives (and hoof fives for the unicorns).

  ‘This is going to be the best week-before-Christmas ever!’ said Mira.

  ‘Yeah!’ said Darcy and Raheem together.

  Star gave a loud whinny.

  Brave stamped his hoof again, dislodging a fresh batch of snow on to Raheem’s head.

  ‘What do you think, Dave?’ said Mira.

  Dave snorted, frowned, and did a massive, frozen poo.

  They all stared at it in wonder.

  ‘It’s perfectly round,’ said Raheem. ‘Like a football or a globe or something.’

  Brave wrinkled his nose.

  ‘Well done, Dave!’ said Mira, grinning.

  ‘I mean, it is still a poo,’ said Darcy. ‘Let’s not get carried away.’

  The bell in the clocktower chimed. It was time to go to assembly. Mira, Darcy, Raheem, Star, Brave and Dave started making their way across the rest of the paddock and towards the Unicorn School building.

  Mira turned back, realising she needed to find the poo shovel and clean up after Dave. But the poo had gone! Mira was confused for a second, until she noticed that the boy from Class Yellow had finished his snowman. The snowman’s head was a perfectly round, frozen poo.

  ‘Er . . .’ said Raheem.

  ‘Should we say something?’ said Mira.

  Darcy shook her head. ‘The damage is done,’ she said.

  Mira, Raheem and Darcy sat in the gallery of the Great Hall, which was a bit like an indoor riding school with a stage at one end. Today the hall looked extra special. Boughs of holly and garlands of tinsel covered the walls, candles hung flickering from the ceiling, and the floor sparkled with a layer of glittering snow. The children had kept their coats on, and most of the unicorns were wearing brightly coloured Christmas jumpers with woolly hats perched on their heads.

  A hush descended on the hall. Something small and strangely fluffy was climbing on to the stage.

  ‘It’s a BEAR!’ shouted Darcy.

  The gallery burst into shrieking and two unicorns bolted out of the doors.

  ‘It’s just Madame Shetland wearing a furry coat and hat,’ said Raheem.

  ‘Oh,’ said Darcy.

  The teachers ran around getting children and unicorns back in their seats. ‘Darcy! See me after assembly!’ shouted Miss Glitterhorn as she chased after a girl from Class Green.

  Eventually they managed to calm everyone down, and Madame Shetland began the assembly.

  ‘Now this is a very special time at Unicorn School,’ she said. ‘Our Snow Unicorn celebrations will soon be underway.’

  Madame Shetland told them that every class would contribute something to the celebrations. Then she talked them through what each class would do, starting with the oldest – Class Violet – who would be making a Snow Unicorn ice sculpture.

  Mira already knew what her class would be doing. But she couldn’t wait for the head teacher to tell them about it.

  ‘Isn’t this your favourite time of the year, D
ave?’ Mira whispered. She popped her woolly hat on his horn, thinking he was looking a bit chilly. Dave snorted. The horn-hat flew up into the air, floated down towards a unicorn standing nearby, and landed on its bum.

  ‘And last but certainly not least,’ continued Madame Shetland, ‘Class Red will round off the Snow Unicorn celebrations by performing the traditional festive play: The Legend of the Snow Unicorn.’

  Mira let out a squeal, which made Raheem yelp and Dave fart with surprise.

  ‘Quiet please,’ said Madame Shetland. ‘As you know, this special story tells how the bond between unicorn and child came to be.

  This is such a special event that we invite parents and guardians along to watch. So I expect you and your UBFFs to be on your best behaviour – to give it your absolute all, and make us proud.’

  Mira remembered when her parents had gone to see her sister in the Christmas play. Rani had been playing the lead role, of course. Mira had begged them to take her too, but it was parents and guardians only.

  ‘The auditions will take place right after assembly,’ continued Madame Shetland. ‘And remember, there will be a special prize for the most inspiring performance: the Star of the Show medal.’

  Mira gripped her chair. A special medal! Now she HAD to get the lead role. ‘Dave, I know we can do it!’ she whispered to her unicorn.

  Dave burped.

  ‘That would be a week-before-Christmas miracle,’ hissed Rani from the row behind.

  Mira opened her mouth to reply but Madame Shetland gave them both a Look. ‘And finally,’ she said. ‘After the play is performed, you will all leave your special Christmas wishes for the Snow Unicorn. And, if you are very lucky and those wishes come from the goodness of your heart, perhaps the Snow Unicorn might appear and make those wishes come true.’ The head teacher clapped her hands. ‘Now, time for your first lessons.’

  As the children filed out, the hall buzzed as they all whispered about their wishes.