Unicorn Princess

by Honey Henry

  “How could you carelessly take a life like that? Don’t you have any consideration?” I shout, without thinking

  “How dare you speak to anybody like that, let alone the one who is helping us!” Shouted my mum, now also in a rage, but I didn’t care. Her voice was getting quieter in my mind, because I simply wasn’t listening.

  “The bird can be killed 200 times, and wake up unharmed, your majesty.” Said the centaur

  I feel relieved, but soon that feeling of relief is taken over by embarrassment. I feel queasy. It tickles, but in a way that it makes me want to throw up. I stare at that golden eagle. My mind blank. The image goes blurry as the centaur trots over to the golden eagle and plucks a feather from it, then hands it to my mum.

  “Thank you.” Said my mum

  “Anytime your majesty.” Said the centaur

  “Come on Diamond! I’m appalled at your rudeness!” Said mum

  I obey her, and trot forward, closer to the waterfall. I hold my breath, and close my eyes. I feel the cold water on my body, sending shivers down my spine. It was a horrible, yet refreshing feeling. I hated it. No. I loved it. It’s hard to explain. I keep trotting, and I’m out of the water. I see topaz flowers on an emerald field. It was the field of yellow flowers.

  I smelt a beautiful aroma as soon as I stepped on the first blade of grass. It was amazing.

  “I’m sorry mum.” I mumbled

  “It’s not me who you should be saying sorry to it’s that poor centaur. Just don’t do it again.” Said mum

  “Ok” I said

  Mum and I ran freely through the beautiful field, as the cool breeze brushed my golden mane, showing it off, creating a perfect image. We kept running, and I loved it. I wanted it to last forever, but obviously that couldn’t happen, because the tree of happiness was right in front of me. I felt a sudden sting on my body. It was one of the fairies protecting the tree. There were hundreds of them, yet non of them were like how I imagined. They all had brightly coloured body suits, and neatly cut hair.

  “Who are you, and why are you here?” Questioned the fairy in a serious tone, but her voice was so squeaky and high pitched, and she was so tiny that I could stamp on her, I couldn’t help but laugh a little. She stung me again, now with an angry look on her face.

  “We are sorry to disturb you, but we are wondering if we could have a stick from your tree. We have brought you a gift in return.” Said mum, holding the golden eagle feather in her teeth.

  “Deal.” Said the fairy, looking at the feather suspiciously. She then broke off the skinniest twig from the tree, handed it to me and snatched the feather from my mum. I felt so happy. We had completed the first quest. Now we have to get two kindnesses. Somehow.

  Chapter 5

  The second riddle

  “What is meant by two kindnesses?” I asked

  “I don’t know, but I do know of an act of kindness.” Replied mum

  “What is it?” I asked curiously

  “Well, have you ever wondered who your father is?” Asked mum

  “Yes, but it’s never really bothered me.” I said

  “His name is King Leo of Ralinyan. He was an extremely kind and brave unicorn. He sacrificed his life for us. When you were just a young foal, Queen Raven was attacking me, and just as the fire was about to hit me, he stood in the line of the fire so it hit him instead. You and I escaped, but your father didn’t. This all happened in the palace gardens, and ever since, beautiful golden flowers have grown there, so if we pick one of those flowers, it should be one of the answers.” Explained mum. Tears filled her eyes, but she blinked them away. I suddenly got a flashback. A ball of fire and a scream. It was very vague, but it seemed so familiar, now that mum had told me. Tears filled my eyes now, and I tried to blink them away, but they just rolled down my cheek.

  “Are you ok Diamond?” Asked mum

  “Yes mum, I’m fine.” I lied. The flashback replayed in my head, but it eventually faded away.

  “So all we have to do is pick a flower from the palace gardens, and mission complete?” I asked, shocked, but relieved

  “Well yes, but I don’t know how to get the second kindness.” Said mum, but I tried not to worry about the second kindness just yet.

  We went to the palace gardens, and there were thousands of shimmering, gold flowers. I picked one. I got another flashback, and an image of my father swam through my head. He was pure white, with a few gold streaks in his mane. He looked so noble, but the image only lasted a second. I missed him all of a sudden. It was as if I had known him my whole life, yet I didn’t even know his name until now. I didn’t care until now. I suddenly felt strong feelings of love, compassion, and desperation, but how can I love someone I barely know or remember? I so badly wanted him to be here with me. I wanted him to be on this mission with me. I trotted away before I started crying again.

  “Where on Ralinyan are we going to find the second kindness?” I asked

  “Well, I don’t think it’s going to be on Ralinyan at all.” Said mum

  “Where then?” I asked

  “You’re going to have to travel to earth.” Said mum

  “Yay! I’ve always wanted to go to earth!” I said in excitement

  “Wait, but where exactly am I going to go?” I asked

  “To the fields of Northern France, where soldiers sacrificed their lives in World War 1. There’s a story that thousands of soldiers died there, and these red flowers called poppies grew there after the war, so if you pick one of these flowers, it should be the second kindness. I don’t know how true this story is, but it’s worth a try.” Explained mum

  “But how can I go to earth if I’m a unicorn?” I asked

  “You’re not going to be a unicorn.” Said mum, but before I could say anything more, she turned me into a beautiful human princess using the magic of her horn. I had long blonde hair, with distinctive gold streaks, matching my shimmering gold dress. I had emerald green eyes and rosy pink lips. I couldn’t believe that I’m actually a human! I had diamond earrings, a diamond necklace and a diamond tiara to match my name. I twirled around and hugged mum. I still had the powers of a unicorn, but they had to be kept hidden as soon as I landed on earth.

  “The spell only lasts 24 hours, so you must be back within this time.” Said mum

  “Wait, how am I even going to get to earth if I don’t have wings anymore?” I asked

  “You can teleport yourself.” Said mum

  “How?” I said

  “Close your eyes and think of where you want to teleport to. Good luck.” Said mum. It was the 11th day of the 11th month, the same day WW1 ended. I did as mum said, and closed my eyes. I imagined a field full of ruby red poppies. I opened my eyes and there I was. The scent was so strong, and the colours were so much more vibrant than I imagined. I picked one, but there’s so much more time, and I need to make the most of it. I suddenly remembered a story of a princess named Lydia. She was known as the princess of kindness. I needed to visit her while I was still on earth. I close my eyes, and think deeply of Princess Lydia but something doesn’t feel right. I open my eyes and I’m in these large hallways, but nobody else is there. I see a statue of Princess Lydia, and realise it’s a memorial. Princess Lydia is dead. My heart sank. Underneath her statue, there was a book which told of her legacy. I found that her greatest passion was to help others, so she set up a charity. Since I had no money, I donated my diamond necklace. I wandered the eerie hallways, in hope to find someone. All of a sudden, a handsome young man appeared behind me.

  “Excuse me madam.” He said

  “Yes?” I replied

  “Have you mislaid your necklace?” He asked, holding up my diamond necklace

  “No, I wanted to donate it to Princess Lydia’s charity.” I said

  “That’s most generous of you! As it happens, I am hosting a ball tonight to fundraise
for my mother’s charity, and it would honour me if you should attend.” He said

  “Yes, I would love to!” I said excitedly

  “So where are you staying?” Asked the prince

  “I’ve only just arrived.” I said

  “Well would you care to have lunch with me?” Asked the prince

  “I would love to!” I said

  The prince and I had the most amazing feast, and he then took me on a tour of the palace. I thought my palace was huge, but it’s nothing in comparison to the prince’s palace. We ended the tour in the palace gardens. It was an endless field with thousands of colourful flowers. We both shared the love of flowers, and of each other. As we sat in the rose gardens, the prince leant forward and kissed me. It was then I knew I had fallen for him, and it was obvious he felt the same. We spent the rest of the day together, talking about our lives, childhoods, and passions, and although it had only been a day we had spent together, it felt as if we’d spent a year together. Before we knew it, it was evening, and time for the ball. The prince had insisted the first dance to be with me. Everybody surrounded us, and watched as we danced. It felt amazing as I glided across the floor. After the dance, we sat down and had a drink.

  “It’s as if we’ve met before.” Said the prince

  “We couldn’t have.” I said, although I also felt a strong sense of deja vu

  “How can you be so certain?” Asked the prince

  “Because it’s impossible.” I said, awkwardly

  “I must leave, but I promise I will return and explain.” I said

  “Why? Where will you go?” Said the prince

  “I can’t tell you right now.” I said

  “For this relationship to work, you need to tell me.” Said the prince, beginning to lose his patience

  I ignored him, and ran off to the palace gardens, disappearing into the darkness. The prince tried to follow me, but he got caught up in the crowd. I closed my eyes and teleported back to Ralinyan. Not long after, I changed back into a unicorn, and gave the poppy to mum. I strongly missed the prince, but I pushed him to the back of my mind, because although I promised to see him again, I was unsure how true that promise was, yet it was quite strange, because we seemed to meet in our dreams that night.

  Chapter 6

  The third riddle

  The next day, mum and I were working on the third riddle: 3 loves. Luckily, mum had an idea of what the answer could be. She told me a legend about my great great great grandfather, who had paid a ransom of three large gems to an evil rival for the release of his love, who he later married. He did this out of his love for the princess, which is why they’re known as the gems of love. He placed the gems at the entrance of the cave, and when his rival released the princess, and went over to the gems, the dragon who lived in the cave came out and ate him. The gems have remained there ever since, and so has the dragon.

  “We need to travel to the cave. It’s not too far away, so it should be a pretty easy journey.” Said mum

  We soon arrived at the cave, and we needed to think of a way we could trick the dragon, into coming out of his cave. We decided that mum would distract the dragon, since she’s the fastest of all unicorns, and I’ll sneak in, and attempt to take the gems. I hid closely to the cave. Mum made lots of noise near the entrance of the cave, and soon the dragon came out and tried to eat her, I so badly wanted to come out and attack the dragon, but I knew I must stay hidden. The dragon blew fire at mum, but she dodged and flew away. The dragon flew after her. I came out of my hiding place, and entered the cave. There were many skeleton bones scattered around. The cave was dark, and was therefore difficult to walk around. I stumbled down further into the cave, searching for the gems. I then noticed a light in the distance. The light was coming from a gap between two stones. I pushed one of the stones aside, realising it was a lid. Inside the stone was the three gems, amongst a huge amount of treasure. There were gold bars, gold chains, diamonds, pearls, and many other gemstones. The three gems of love were very distinctive. They were ruby, emerald, and sapphire gems, all the same size, together, in an open box. Although I was tempted to take lots of other treasures as well, I only picked up the box of the gems of love. I hurried back to the entrance of the cave. Meanwhile, mum was having a difficult time with the dragon, since the dragon was also fast at flying, but it was not as agile as my mum. Mum flew in and out of the trees, whilst the dragon blew fire at her. She could feel the flames, and knew she could not get away for much longer, and decided the only way she’s going to get away is if she flew vertically, as fast as she could. The dragon chased her, but couldn’t blow flames at her. Although she was very tired, she knew she was flying for her life. The dragon was gaining on her. She flew so high, the oxygen was low, and she began to feel faint. She knew she had to keep going. The dragon fainted, and began to fall to the ground. Mum also fainted, and fell to the ground. The dragon regained consciousness, near the ground. It flapped it’s wings, trying to fly, but hit the ground hard, and injured one of it’s wings. It was unable to fly, but blew great amounts of fire up at mum, who was still falling. She tried to flap her wings, and prevent herself from falling. She could feel the heat from the flames, as it singed her wings. She flapped as hard as she could, and then flew horizontally, away from the dragon. I came out of the cave, as mum was flying away. I followed her with the three gems of love. The dragon was raging, and blew great amounts of fire, burning down the forest. It was a difficult, and painful journey for mum, but at least we had the three gems of love.

  Chapter 7

  The great wizard

  We went back to the palace, and I tended to mum’s wounds. We needed to rest, so we slept at the palace for the night. The next day we set off on our journey, to wizard Radigast. We had to go to the other side of the rainbow, across the lake, and along the pathway. These were the instructions on the letter he sent us, and even though they seemed pretty straight forward, mum and I were confused as to what rainbow, since it could be any rainbow in the world. We went to the library for clues. I found a book about all the great things which are only found in Ralinyan. Luckily, one of these things was a rainbow that was always there, and has been there since the beginning of time, but this wasn’t the only special thing about it. Unlike normal rainbows, there was an end to it, yet nobody ever dared travel to that end, because rumour has it, once you travel to that end, you can never come back, but mum and I had to take that risk. Hopefully, this is the rainbow wizard Radigast meant. It wasn’t too far from the palace, so it was easy to get there. Once we had arrived, there was no question. The colours were so bright, it was as if they glowed. The red glistened like a ruby, the orange and yellow shone like the sun, the green was as bold as the grass, the blue was as deep as the sea, and the indigo and violet were unexplainable. Not only did the fluorescent colours amaze me, but so did the size of the rainbow. It seemed to go right through the clouds. I placed my hoof on the rainbow, and found out that it was solid, so we could trot across it like a bridge, which was great, because mum struggled to fly due to her injuries. Mum and I stepped on the rainbow, and began to canter across it. It was an amazing feeling, but also quite scary as we got higher up, except I wasn’t scared for my self. If I fall, I’ll just fly back up. I was scared for mum. What if she fell, and couldn’t fly back up, and the thought of that rumour was scary, but I tried not to think about either of them, because I was having so much fun. I glided through the clouds, and everything below me looked so small. It was a long journey, but I somehow managed to canter my way through it all, without a problem. We finally reached the end of the rainbow, and the rumour turned out to be nothing more than lie. At least for now. The other end of the rainbow was a desolate field. We searched for a bit, and soon found a lake. I was surprised at how easy that was, considering all the challenges we had to face before. I was surprised but relieved, except that didn’t last for long, because I suddenly remembered mum’s injuries. How was
she supposed to fly across? There were no other options than fly, because neither of us could swim. Before, she could effortlessly glide along, for miles and miles, but now look. Look what that evil beast did to my beloved mother. Her wings are burnt because of that monster. She acted brave, but I knew she was crying inside. I wanted to pretend that everything was ok, and I’m quite sure mum does to, because she hasn’t once spoke of her injuries, or that evil, sinister dragon. Maybe she doesn’t want me to worry. I need to stop thinking about it, because every time I get more and more angry at the monster who caused it, and I’m going to end up- I realised I was thinking out loud. I took a deep breath and calmed down.

  “Mum, how are you going to fly across the lake?” I asked

  “Like I usually do.” Said mum. It was as if her injuries had disappeared, and she had not a clue why I would ask such a stupid question. I wish. I glance over at her wings, and they’re still burnt.

  “But your injuries.” I mumble

  “So? It’s going to cause me a lot of pain to fly across the river, and I mean a lot. It’s going to be a challenge, but I’m not going to let some stupid injuries from some pathetic dragon stop me from doing what I want to do.” Said mum.

  She flew across the river, and although she acted confident, it was obvious how much she struggled. It was painful to watch her in pain. She struggled deeply, but she still done it. She believed she could, so she did. I followed her, lost for words. All we had to do now is trot along the pathway. It was a tree lined pathway, and the trees arched in, creating a tunnel. At the end of the pathway, was a strange, little cottage, and outside the cottage was a funny looking man. It was wizard Radigast. I was so relieved. It was as if he was waiting for us. It was like he knew we were coming just then. He greeted us with open arms.