Evie looked around at the glittering snow walls and shining crystal floor. The tall arched windows didn’t have glass in them and looked out onto the snow mountains. Evie gazed up and saw that there wasn’t a ceiling either, just the shimmering stars and moon shining down on everyone.
But most magical of all were the next transformations – the snow drifts changing into Queen Aurora with her six magnificent Fjord ponies.
The caramel coloured ponies had dark stripes that ran from the tops of their heads and along their backs to their tails, making their flowing manes and tails a mixture of silver and black. Queen Aurora’s hair was the same, and it was so long that it trailed along the floor. She wore a sparkling white dress and a crown of crystal icicles.
“Welcome to the Midwinter ball.” The Queen’s clear voice rang out in the night air. “Let the party begin!”
Queen Aurora, Elva and four other snow maidens mounted their Fjord ponies, who stood proudly in a circle around the crystals that were at the centre of the ballroom.
“Silver and Evie,” said Queen Aurora. “Please come and join us.”
Princess Evie was feeling a little confused as she led Silver to the centre of the ballroom. How did the Queen know her name? What was going to happen next and why did the Queen want Evie and Silver to join in? She had no idea what to do. Elva directed her beautiful Fjord pony to stand next to Silver.
“Don’t worry, Evie, Silver will know what to do,” whispered Elva. “Trust her!”
Soft music blew into the palace on a gentle breeze. The ponies lifted their heads, whinnied and then began to perform an intricate dance. Elva was right – Silver knew exactly what to do and joined in with the other ponies, dancing with them in perfect formation. They trotted neatly in diagonal patterns across the ballroom and performed slow canters to make the shape of a snowflake.
“I didn’t know you were a dressage pony, Silver,” said Evie as her pony performed a three loop serpentine with Elva’s Fjord pony.
Silver tossed her mane proudly while she picked up her hooves in perfect time to the music.
Princess Evie noticed Sparkles was in Trina’s arms, watching the ponies perform their perfect dressage. He was spellbound, and so were the rest of the fairies and animals who stood at the edges of the room. Evie waved to him and he winked back at her.
The ponies spiralled around the crystals faster and faster. The crystals began to crackle and then their colours shot up into the starry sky. There was an explosion of colour that filled the sky with curves of light. The energy of the ponies’ performance had completed the magic, and now the northern lights were beaming up into the sky from the crystals.
The audience went wild, clapping and cheering. The snow maiden riders, Evie and Queen Aurora took a bow.
“What an amazing display,” said Evie, looking up in wonder.
“You helped to make it happen,” said Queen Aurora.
The Queen’s ponies all whinnied and whickered in agreement.
“In fact,” added Elva, “if it hadn’t been for you, Sparkles and Silver, those crystals might still be in the mountain and the display would not have happened at all this year!”
“We’re so glad we were able to help,” said Evie. “We wouldn’t have missed this for the world!”
“We have been looking forward to meeting you for such a long time,” smiled Queen Aurora. “Trina and Sylvie have told us all about you and your brave snow pony Silver.”
“Wasn’t she brilliant in the dressage display?” said Elva.
“I didn’t even know that Silver could do that,” said Evie. “Or that Fjord ponies were so good at dressage.”
“Our ponies are very sure-footed and extremely clever,” said the Queen with a smile. “Never underestimate what your pony is capable of doing. Now, I think it’s time for us all to do some dancing and enjoy our midwinter feast.”
The northern lights shone down, lighting the ballroom with flashing colours. The dance floor began to fill and soon everyone was having fun swirling and twirling to the beat of the snow fairy band.
Sylvie, Trina, Elva and Evie danced together in their shimmering outfits while Silver, Odin and Sparkles enjoyed watching the northern lights.
“All this dancing has made me hungry,” Evie said to her snow fairy friends after some time on the dance floor.
“Me too,” said Sylvie. “Let’s see what there is to eat.”
They went over to the tables that were laden with plates of delicious food.
“I don’t know what to eat first,” said Sylvie. “It all looks so good.”
“It does, doesn’t it?” agreed Trina. “I think that I’m going to try a little bit of everything!”
The friends tucked in and Evie’s favourite was the baked Alaska. The mountain of meringue looked as if it was made of sparkling snow and inside was delicious ice cream with crystal rose and violet flower petals.
“I think I might have to have another helping of that,” said Evie. “And then it’s probably time for us to go, isn’t it, Sparkles? It must be getting late.”
Queen Aurora came over as Evie was finishing her second helping of baked Alaska.
“Thank you for coming,” said Aurora. “It has been charming to meet you all.”
“Promise us you’ll come back,” said Sylvie, giving Silver a kiss on the nose.
“Oh yes!” said Trina, “Come back for our Midsummer party! Now, that’s quite a spectacular party too!”
“We’d love to,” said Evie. “We’ve had so much fun. You were right, Trina. This has been the most amazing party ever!”
Evie mounted Silver and Sparkles jumped up too, but when Evie asked Silver to go, she wouldn’t move.
“I think Silver wants to say her goodbyes too,” said Elva.
“Of course,” said Evie. “I’m sorry, Silver. We can’t go without saying goodbye to your Fjord friends.”
They walked over to the team of Fjord ponies, and Silver said her farewells to them by touching their noses with her own.
“Now it’s time to go,” said Princess Evie. “I’m beginning to feel quite tired!”
With a pretty neigh, Silver turned and trotted out of the snow castle. Evie was amazed how quickly they found the sparkling tunnel of trees. Before they disappeared into it, she turned Silver around so they could have one last look at the snow palace. The northern lights shone down from the sky, filling it with colourful lights. Even though they were some distance from the castle, they could still hear music and laughter.
“I think that this midwinter party is going to go on all night!” said Evie, smiling. “But we need to get back and get some sleep. It’s been quite an eventful day!”
Silver took them through the tunnel of trees and back to Starlight Stables, where there was still a sprinkling of snow that twinkled in the moonlight.
Princess Evie’s ponies were glad to see them back safe and sound, and they whickered and neighed as Evie took off Silver’s tack. Evie gave Silver some warm bran mash and checked her over. When she came back from hanging up Silver’s saddle and bridle in the tack room, Sparkles trotted up to her, miaowing loudly.
“What’s the matter, Sparkles?” Evie asked.
The little kitten trotted across the icy stable yard with his tail in the air, he stopped and turned to miaow at Evie again.
“All right,” said Evie. “I’m coming!”
Evie followed her kitten across the yard and then saw what Sparkles was making all the fuss about. A sledge was leaning against the stable wall. Evie took it into the moonlight to have a better look.
“It’s beautiful,” she said with a gasp.
The wooden sledge was painted light blue and it was decorated with hundreds of snowflakes. Just like real snowflakes, every one was unique! In the centre of each flake was a tiny, sparkling crystal.
“Thank you, snow fairies,” said Evie. “This is perfect. I can use it to help me on those icy mornings and of course, we can have hours of snow play, can’t we, Sparkle
s?”
“Miaow,” agreed Sparkles, chasing a snowflake that had floated down from the sky.
“It looks as if we might be able to use it tomorrow,” said Evie. “I think the snow fairies have sent us some more snow.”
Evie was right! As she and Sparkles walked up to Starlight Castle, there was a thick white blanket covering the castle grounds . . . and some very strangely shaped snowdrifts!
Pony Facts & Activities
Things Princess Evie likes to do on a winter’s day
1. Make a bird cake for the hungry birds at Starlight Stables
2. Eat toasted crumpets
3. Make a hearty bucket of bran mash for all my ponies
4. Snuggle up with Sparkles in front of a warm winter’s fire
5. Whizz about on my new sleigh
Silver
BREED:
Welsh Mountain pony
FEATURES:
Hardy and very pretty
with a small head
and big eyes
HEIGHT:
12 hands
COLOUR:
All colours except
for piebald and
skewbald
Northern Lights
Evie saw the Northern Lights with Queen Aurora, Elva and the other snow maidens. This stunning phenomenon is also called Aurora Borealis, and it is a beautiful natural light display in the sky.
These sparkly lights are normally seen in the Arctic but can appear lower down in northern countries as well. Similar light displays happen in the Antarctic as well but there they are called the Southern Lights.
They come in all sorts of different shapes: swirls, curtains, columns and beams. Some people even say that the northern lights make a noise – like the sound of lots of people applauding.
The northern lights were said to be named after Aurora, the Roman goddess of the dawn. People believed the lights looked like her cloak as she rode through the sky, opening the gates of heaven for Apollo, the Sun god.
Other legends said that the lights were made when magical foxes made of fire danced and ran around, making sparks from their tails fly up into the sky.
Wordsearch
Can you find these words in the grid above.
WOOLLY WELSH SNOW FAIRIES FOAL
DAPPLED MOON AURORA CRYSTAL
ICICLE ODIN REINDEER
True or False
1. Odin is a raven
2. Evie brought crystals with her to the north pole
3. Sparkles is a New Forest Pony
4. The snow fairies make clothes from webs, moss and icicles
5. After the avalanche Evie helped to rescue Elva, one of the snow maidens
6. Evie met Queen Borealis
Evie’s frozen treats
Evie loved the special feast they had at the ice palace. Here’s a recipe to make some frozen treats of your own.
You will need:
A lolly mould
Fruit juice of your choice or yogurt
Fresh fruit cut up (ask an adult for help)
1. Pour your juice or yogurt into the moulds, leaving some space at the top.
2. Add your chopped fruit.
3. Put the mould into the freezer.
4. Remove when frozen and enjoy!
Here are some tasty combinations to try!
Summer Ice
- Apple juice, strawberries and raspberries
Totally Tropical
- Mango juice, pineapples and oranges
Strawberry smash
- Strawberry yogurt and banana
Choconana
- Plain yogurt, honey, cocoa powder and banana (mix the yogurt, honey and cocoa together first)
Berry surprise
- Grape juice and raspberries
Fjord Ponies
Queen Aurora and the other snow fairies rode Fjord ponies in the palace. Queen Aurora and her snow maidens used the ponies for a dressage display.
These beautiful horses are originally from Norway and are one of the oldest breeds of horses. There are records of them from the time of the Vikings.
They are very distinctive looking! One of the things that makes them so recognisable is the dark stripe down their mane. In fact, their manes are often cut to stand straight up and show the dark stripe even more. Sometimes people say they have ‘zebra manes’.
These ponies tend to be quite small but are very strong. Their coat is very thick so they can keep warm in the snowy weather.
PRINCESS EVIE YOUNG FICTION 4 Page 3