Flash, Sunbeam, Bloom, Prism, Firefly, and Breeze all began to talk at once, trying to convince Moon to change her mind.
“Excuse me,” Cressida said, politely but loudly. The unicorns stopped talking and turned toward her. Cressida remembered again how scared she had felt of swinging after she had fallen off her swing—and how much she wouldn’t have liked anyone pushing her to swing again before she felt ready.
“Moon,” Cressida said, “would you be willing to help get the bats off the kites if your sisters agreed to stop trying to get you to fly in the Blast? Maybe you could just watch this year. Or, if that’s too much, you could come back to stay in the palace during the Blast.”
Moon thought for a moment, and then she nodded. “I know how much the Blast means to Breeze and my other sisters. If everyone would just stop putting pressure on me to fly, I’d help get the bats off the kites in any way I can.” She looked at Breeze and continued, “I don’t actually want you to have to cancel the Blast. It’s just that I feel much too scared to ride a kite this year. And I don’t like all of you trying to convince me to do something I really don’t want to do.”
“That makes perfect sense to me,” Cressida said to Moon, smiling reassuringly. Then she looked at the other unicorns. “I know all of you really want Moon to fly with you in the Blast, but she’s saying she’s not ready and it won’t be fun for her. If she agrees to help get the bats off the kites, will you agree to stop trying to get her to f ly?”
“Yes,” Breeze said. “I’ll be sad if Moon doesn’t fly with us. But I don’t want to cancel the Blast.” She paused and thought for a moment. And then she looked at Moon. “I really do understand that you’re just not ready to fly this year.” The other unicorns nodded in agreement. “And I’m sorry we all kept trying to convince you to fly with us,” Breeze continued. “I just always think things are more fun when we’re all together. But Cressida is right. I should have listened when you said you were too scared.”
“I forgive you,” Moon said, grinning at her sister. “Now let’s go get those bats off the kites before it’s too late!”
“Great,” said Cressida. “If Breeze, Moon, and I go back to the Windy Meadows now, I think we’ll be able to get the bats off the kites in time to hold the Blast.”
Breeze kneeled down so Cressida could climb on her back, and, with Moon following right behind them, Breeze galloped out the front door. “See you very soon!” Breeze called.
The first thing we need to do,” Cressida said as she rode Breeze through the forest toward the Windy Meadows, “is pay another visit to the metamorflowers.”
“Oh, I love the metamorflowers!” gushed Moon, who was galloping alongside Breeze. “My specialty is making extra-long earthworms!” Moon grinned, and Cressida felt relieved that the unicorn now seemed much happier.
“Cressida and I made an octopus together,” Breeze said.
“It must be pretty neat to have fingers and thumbs,” Moon said.
“It must be pretty neat to have magic powers,” Cressida responded.
The three of them laughed.
Soon, Breeze, Moon, and Cressida stood in the center of the Meadow of Metamorflowers. Breeze kneeled down, and Cressida slid off her back and into the sea of orange flowers. “I bet you need me to make a pile of petals for you,” Breeze said.
“Yes, please!” Cressida said.
“I can’t wait to see what plan you have in mind,” Breeze said as she pointed her horn up into the sky. “You always have the most creative ideas.” Her aquamarine shimmered. Glittery light shot from her horn. And a blue gust of wind swirled and danced through the meadow, sending all the orange petals into the air before they formed a pile at Cressida’s feet.
Cressida picked up a clump of petals and rolled it into a ball. Then, she carefully began shaping the petals into a mosquito.
“What is that?” Moon asked, staring at the bug and scrunching up her nose.
“A giant mosquito,” Cressida said.
“I don’t think we have mosquitoes in the Rainbow Realm,” Breeze said.
“I’ve never even heard of them,” Moon said.
“That’s lucky!” Cressida said, remembering a time she’d gone on a camping trip with her family and gotten covered in bites. “The real ones aren’t any fun to have around. But I’m pretty sure mosquitoes made out of flower petals are harmless.”
When Cressida finished sculpting the mosquito, she didn’t throw it into the air to make it come alive. Instead, she turned to Breeze and asked, “Could I put this on your back?”
“Sure!” Breeze said.
“Thank you,” Cressida said. With the mosquito safely balanced on Breeze’s back, Cressida got to work making seven more. She rested four on Breeze and four on Moon.
“Do you think,” Cressida asked after she finished, “that if you both walked very carefully, you could get all the way to the bats without the mosquitoes falling off?”
“Definitely,” Breeze said.
Moon nodded in agreement.
“I’ll come back and tidy up the petals after the Blast,” Breeze said. “I don’t want the gust of wind I create to knock over and ruin your mosquitoes.”
“Good idea!” Cressida said.
The three slowly made their way under the canopy of elms, across the Meadow of Melodies, through the willow trees, and back to the Monarch Meadow, where they found the gigantic bats still sleeping on the blue kites. Several orange-and-black butterflies perched on the bats, slowly opening and closing their wings.
“Before we wake up the bats, I think we’d better ask the butterflies to leave,” Cressida said. “I don’t want the bats to accidentally eat them.” In school, Cressida had learned that monarch butterflies are poisonous to predators, and that their bright markings were supposed to warn lizards, birds, and frogs to stay away. She figured it
