Crystal the Snow Pony

by Poppy Shire

  Magic Pony Carousel

  Book 6

  Crystal the Snow Pony

  Poppy Shire

  Illustrations by Ron Berg

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Emily was so excited, she could hardly breathe. The fairground…

  Chapter Two

  The snowflakes faded away and Emily gazed around, utterly confused.

  Chapter Three

  Emily shot a panicked glance at Crystal. She couldn’t ask…

  Chapter Four

  “Wake up! Wake up!”

  Chapter Five

  Suddenly Sasha popped out from behind the wall of frozen…

  Chapter Six

  The girls trotted back down the mountain as quickly as…

  Chapter Seven

  “Oh no!” gasped Sasha.

  Chapter Eight

  “We did it! We did it!” Emily cried. Ivar jumped…

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Credits

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

  Chapter One

  Emily was so excited, she could hardly breathe. The fairground was filled with colors and sounds, and she couldn’t wait to try some of the fantastic rides. She turned slowly on the spot, wondering which ride to go on first.

  “Come on, Emily! Max has spotted an airplane ride.” Emily’s big sister, Jane, was calling her. Jane had brought Emily and Max to the fair as a treat. They’d been looking forward to it for ages.

  “Coming!” Emily called back, running after her sister. The airplanes didn’t look very exciting to her, but maybe that was because she was eight and Max was only five. Jane helped Max into one of the blue and yellow planes. As the ride swooped around he made “neeeoow” noises and pretended to talk to the control tower. He was very disappointed when it stopped, so Emily suggested getting some cotton candy.

  “I don’t want any cotton candy!” Max wailed. “I want to go on the airplanes again!”

  “But this is the only ride we’ve seen! The others will be fun, too,” Emily promised.

  “Noooo! This one, this one, this one!” Max’s face turned bright red as he got ready to have one of his tantrums.

  “Okay!” Jane said. “You can have one more ride on the plane. Just one, remember!”

  Max beamed, and Emily sighed. Max always got his own way because he was the youngest. She had a feeling that just one more ride wouldn’t be enough for her little brother.

  Luckily Max felt so dizzy after his second spin on the airplane that he didn’t protest when Emily and Jane said they wanted to find some different rides.

  Emily led the way through the fairground, holding one of Max’s sticky hands. What should she go on? The superslide? The bumper cars?

  Suddenly she heard a lovely tune playing in the distance. It was almost as if the music was calling her! She pulled Max and Jane along behind her as she followed the tinkling notes.

  “Oh look!” Emily gasped.

  The music was coming from an old-fashioned carousel, painted in sparkling red and gold. The colors flashed as it twirled merrily around. Emily thought she’d never seen anything so beautiful.

  All three of them stopped. “It’s so pretty!” said Emily. “Jane, please may I have a ride on that?”

  Jane laughed. “Of course you can.”

  The carousel slowed down and the music faded away. Emily ran over to look at the ponies. She admired a lovely dapple-gray circus pony with twinkling eyes and a dashing Arabian with a flowing mane. Then she spotted a gorgeous pony the color of caramel ice cream that she recognized from her pony magazines. It was a snow rescue pony! Snow rescue ponies were used in mountain countries for traveling in deep snow. They were Emily’s favorite kind of pony! They looked different from other ponies, with their small bodies. She loved the way they had a cute black stripe running from the top of their head all the way down their back.

  The wooden pony had a kind face. Emily climbed the steps to the carousel and stroked the pony’s neck. His leather bridle had little silver bells jingling on it, tied with bunches of yellow ribbon. His coat looked soft and furry—Emily knew it had to be very thick to keep him warm through snowy winters. She ran her hand down the pony’s mane. It stood straight up, just like a zebra’s. She noticed he had faint zebra stripes on his legs, too.

  A booming voice behind Emily startled her. “Hello there! Are you admiring my mountain pony?”

  Emily turned around to find a sparkly-eyed gentleman in a green velvet suit standing beside the carousel. “He’s beautiful!” Emily said, running down the steps to stand beside him.

  The carousel owner raised his green-striped top hat to Emily and bowed low. “I’m Mr. Barker and this is my Magic Pony Carousel. Would you like to have a ride on one of my ponies?” he asked.

  Emily nodded. “Yes, please!”

  Mr. Barker rubbed his hands together, then blew on them hard. “Brrrr! It’s chilly today, don’t you think? Winter’s on its way.” He opened his hands again, revealing a little pile of pink tickets cupped in his palms.

  Emily stared in astonishment. Where had all those pink tickets come from?

  “Take a ticket, my dear!” said Mr. Barker. “The name of your pony will be written on it.”

  Emily reached for the corner of a pink ticket that was poking out from the pile. She really wanted to ride the snow rescue pony! She unfolded the ticket with trembling fingers. In swirly black writing it read Crystal.

  She looked hopefully up at Mr. Barker, and he nodded at the carousel. “Take a look!” he said.

  Emily climbed up onto the carousel again. All the ponies had a little name plate attached to the pole in front of their saddles. She peered up to read the caramel-colored pony’s name. Crystal! It was the perfect name for a snow pony!

  “Thank you!” she said to Mr. Barker. “He’s exactly the pony I wanted to ride!”

  Mr. Barker smiled, and Emily scrambled onto Crystal’s back. His saddle was made of heavy leather. Underneath it was a beautiful dark red saddlecloth, embroidered with tiny flowers and leaves in twinkling gold thread. Emily felt so safe on Crystal’s back.

  Mr. Barker stood in the middle of the carousel and twirled a golden handle. The tinkling tune played once more, and Emily laughed out loud as she felt Crystal swoop into the air. She waved to Jane and Max, who were watching her, and they waved back.

  The carousel began to spin faster, and the fairground became a blur of laughing faces. Everything started to disappear in a rainbow mist. Emily blinked. She wanted to rub her eyes, but they were going so fast, she didn’t dare let go of Crystal’s reins. Silvery sparkles whirled around her, and the rainbow colors of the fairground changed to dazzling white. Everything shone and glittered with light, and Emily gasped out loud.

  This wasn’t the fairground anymore. She and Crystal were in the middle of a snowstorm!

  Chapter Two

  The snowflakes faded away and Emily gazed around, utterly confused. What had happened to Jane and Max and the fair? Now she was in a valley, surrounded by glistening fields of pure white snow. Huge craggy mountains rose up sharply on either side, their peaks topped with even more snow. It was just getting dark, and the sky was a beautiful deep velvety blue.

  Crystal tossed his head, making the bells on his reins jingle loudly. The sound echoed around the valley: jingle, jangle, ting, ting.

  Emily stared down at her pony in astonishment. He wasn’t made of wood anymore. He was real!

  “What’s going on?” Emily asked in wonder. She ran her hand down Crystal’s black-and-cream mane. Stiff bristly hairs tickled her fingers. When she touched his neck, it felt warm and furry.

  Emily shivered. It was really cold. Her fa
vorite embroidered jeans and pink denim jacket weren’t much use here. But when Emily looked down at what she was wearing, she saw that her clothes had changed! Now she was dressed in thick, warm slacks of cherry-red corduroy. They were tucked into cozy sheepskin boots, tied with strings with gorgeous little bobbles. She also wore a green felt coat, embroidered with cherry-red flowers around the collar and cuffs. Beautiful sheepskin gloves dangled on strings from each sleeve. Emily pulled them on and wriggled her fingers in the cozy fleece. This was a perfect outfit for the snowy weather.

  But they couldn’t stay out here forever. It was getting dark. Emily nudged Crystal’s sides with her heels, and he trotted forward. Once Emily was used to rising up and down to his bouncy trot, she looked around to see where they were going.

  The road led to a little mountain village. Warm yellow lights twinkled in the windows of the sturdy log cabins. Smoke puffed from the chimneys, filling the air with a sharp woody tang.

  “It’s just like a Christmas card!” Emily said in delight.

  The thick carpet of snow made everything very quiet. No one seemed to be around, and Emily wondered where all the people could be. “What should I do?” she said, thinking out loud.

  “I think we should head for the village square,” a voice replied.

  Emily nearly fell out of the saddle in surprise. Who said that? She stood up in her stirrups and stared around, but there was no one in sight. Crystal’s ears flicked back at her. Was someone playing a trick?

  “I must have imagined it,” Emily decided, sitting back down.

  “No, you didn’t!” said the voice.

  Crystal snorted and turned his head to look at Emily. His brown eyes shone merrily.

  Emily leaned forward to whisper in his ear. “Did you say that?” she asked. She felt a bit silly talking to a pony.

  “Of course I did!” replied Crystal. His breath billowed out in a steamy cloud. “Come on. It’s much too cold to stay outside. I’ve got my extra thick coat to keep me warm, but even your winter clothes won’t be enough in this weather.” He set off again at a brisk trot.

  “But, Crystal, you have to tell me what’s happening! Where are we? Why have you turned into a real pony? How can you talk?”

  “All ponies can talk,” Crystal explained. “But you can understand me, because you were given the magic ticket for the carousel. It sent us here for a special reason. We found each other through the magic and now we’ve got a task to do. But don’t worry, you’ll be back before anyone notices you’re gone. That’s part of the magic, too!”

  Emily patted Crystal’s neck. This was so exciting! “What sort of task is it?”

  “I’m not sure yet. We’ve come to help someone, but I don’t know who. We’ll know when we find the right person, don’t worry!”

  There was a crackling noise ahead, and Emily could see showers of orange sparks shooting into the dark sky. They rounded a corner to see a big bonfire in the middle of the village square. There were lots of people standing around it, talking and laughing.

  Emily smiled. “Well, we’ve certainly got plenty of people to choose from!”

  She took her feet out of the stirrups and slithered down from Crystal’s back. “We’d better not talk anymore,” she whispered in his ear, “or they’ll hear us.”

  “It’s all right,” Crystal murmured back. “No one else can understand me. Only you have the carousel magic. Everyone else will just hear me whinnying or see me twitching my nose.”

  It was just as well that no one else could hear Crystal, because at that very moment, someone close behind Emily called out, “Hello!”

  Emily turned to see a girl of her own age smiling at her. She was wearing a blue corduroy coat covered in embroidered flowers and curling tendrils of leaves. Her white-blond hair was twisted into two long braids, tied with bright blue ribbon. A little boy with the same fine blond hair was holding her hand.

  “Hi there,” said the girl. “I’m Sasha, and this is my brother, Arin.”

  “I’m Emily,” said Emily. “And this is Crystal, my pony.”

  “He’s gorgeous! But you look cold.” Sasha sounded concerned. “Why don’t you come near the fire and warm up?” She led the way through the crowd toward the bonfire. Suddenly the little boy slipped his hand out of his sister’s. He dashed off, weaving between people’s legs.

  Sasha gasped a quick “Sorry!” and shot after him.

  Emily shook her head. “Arin’s just like Max! That’s my brother,” she explained to Crystal. “He’s always running off, getting me and Jane in trouble.”

  Emily stepped a little closer to the flames to warm her hands while she waited for Sasha to come back. On the other side of the fire, several children were dancing in a circle. They were holding birch twigs with feathers tied on them.

  “Why are they carrying twigs?” Emily whispered to Crystal.

  “It must be Spring Festival,” Crystal replied. “This is how the villagers say good-bye to winter. The birch twigs have green buds on them to show that spring is coming. And feathers are used to represent flowers because there aren’t many real flowers out yet.”

  “They’re so pretty. Oh look, there’s Sasha!” said Emily.

  Sasha was stomping toward them, dragging Arin.

  “I want to go and play with my friends,” Arin whined.

  “Well, you can’t! Mother told me to look after you.”

  Arin stopped pulling at his sister’s arm and looked as if he was going to follow her quietly. But as soon as she turned around, he snatched his hand away and made a run for it.

  Sasha dived after him. “Arin, come back!”

  Crystal swung his head around into Arin’s path and gently brought the little boy to a stop.

  Sasha looked very annoyed. “Arin! Why do you have to keep running off? You know Mother said you were to stay with me!”

  Arin shrugged, kicking his boot in the snow. Crystal snuffled his hair, and the little boy’s face broke into a smile. “I like your pony,” he told Emily. “What are you doing in our village? Have you come to visit someone?”

  Emily gulped. What on earth was she going to say?

  Chapter Three

  Emily shot a panicked glance at Crystal. She couldn’t ask him out loud what she should tell them. Sasha and Arin would think she was crazy! She thought quickly, and the children dancing around with their birch twigs gave her an idea.

  “I’ve come to visit for the Spring Festival,” she said. She changed the subject before Arin asked any more difficult questions. “Would you like to stroke Crystal, Arin? He’s very friendly.”

  Arin nodded. He dug a hand into his pocket and pulled out an apple. He held it on the flat of his palm, and Crystal crunched it up. “I could get used to this,” Crystal murmured happily, putting his head down so that Arin could scratch behind his ears.

  “It’s getting quite late,” said Sasha. “We should be going home soon before the snow starts again.” She turned to Emily. “Do you have somewhere to stay?”

  Emily shook her head, suddenly feeling worried. It was getting very dark. Would she and Crystal have to stay outside all night?

  “Would you like to stay with us?” asked Sasha. “I’m sure my parents wouldn’t mind. There’s room for Crystal in our stable, and you could sleep in the top bunk of my bed.”

  Emily beamed. “Thank you! We’d love to.”

  “Let’s go,” said Sasha. Still firmly holding Arin’s hand, she started to walk out of the village square. “Look, it’s starting to snow,” she said a little anxiously.

  Emily looked up. The sky had clouded over, and heavy flakes were drifting to the ground. They drifted onto Crystal’s thick coat and melted away almost at once, leaving him covered in sparkling drops.

  Emily blinked as a snowflake landed on her eyelashes. She’d never seen snow fall so thickly before. “I’m glad we’re staying with Sasha tonight,” she whispered to Crystal. The pony nodded and tossed his head, scattering snowflakes from his mane.

/>   Sasha and Arin’s house was on the side of the village farthest away from the mountains. “My parents are cattle herders,” Sasha explained, “so we live close to the meadows where the cows stay.” As they walked through the village, Sasha pointed out different buildings to Emily—the school, the church, and the village hall, which was being rebuilt and looked more like a wooden skeleton than a hall.

  Emily could hardly take everything in. She just kept staring at the mountains towering above them.

  Sasha laughed. “Haven’t you ever seen a mountain before?”

  “The mountains aren’t so big where I live,” Emily said, thinking fast. “But I wasn’t really looking at the mountain—I was watching all that snow. It’s falling so thickly!”

  Sasha nodded. “Yes, we should get home—this is turning into a real blizzard. We’re nearly there….”

  Emily was starting to feel cold again, and the snow was falling so thickly she could hardly see where they were going. Now that they were out of the shelter of the town square, the wind was stronger. Icy snowflakes stung her cheeks and clung to her eyelashes.

  “Shelter behind me,” said Crystal. He was trudging along with his head down and his eyes half closed. His face was almost white from snowflakes, and the saddle was hidden under a crisp, frosty blanket. “I think we’re going in circles, Emily.” He sniffed at the wind. “Sasha must have lost her way in the snow.”

  Just then Sasha stopped, a frightened look on her face. She whispered to Emily so Arin wouldn’t hear. “Emily, I think we’ve gone wrong! It’s such a short distance, but the snow—I can’t see….”

  “I think Crystal might be able to guide us,” Emily said, trying to sound brave and gazing hopefully into Crystal’s face. He stood still for a moment, feeling the wind and tasting the air. Then he nudged Emily gently with his chin. “Put your arm around my neck. Tell Sasha, too. I can follow the scent of the cattle. But this is a bad storm and I can’t risk losing any of you. Arin had better ride—he’s too little to trek through this.”