The Unicorn Princesses series
Sunbeam’s Shine
Flash’s Dash
Bloom’s Ball
Prism’s Paint
Breeze’s Blast
Moon’s Dance
Coming soon
Firefly’s Glow
Feather’s Flight
For Phoenix and Lynx
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Unicorn Princesses, Firefly’s Glow
About the Author and Illustrator
In the top tower of Spiral Palace, Ernest, a wizard-lizard, leafed through a dusty book entitled Formal Wear for Feathered Friends. As he turned the pages with his scaly fingers, a bird with messy red feathers and bright green eyes grinned with excitement and hopped from one foot to the other.
Ernest looked up from a page that read, “Magic Spells for Beginners: Wingtips for Woodpeckers and Spats for Sparrows.” He furrowed his green brow and cleared his throat. “Bernadette,” he said, “let me make sure I’m getting this right. You want me to turn one of your head feathers into a ball gown?”
“Exactly,” Bernadette said. “Last year, I wore an emerald green tuxedo to the Starlight Ball. It matched my eyes perfectly. But this year I want to try a ball gown. I have so many feathers on the top of my head,” she continued, looking up at her thick, messy head plumage and grinning sheepishly, “that I was thinking I could spare one to make the perfect dress.”
Ernest nodded and flipped to a page with the words, “Advanced Spells: Turning Feathers and Plumes into Gowns,” in large, gold letters across the top. He read for several seconds and asked, “You don’t happen to know what a plume is, do you?”
“It’s just a fancy word for a feather,” Bernadette said, shrugging.
“Then I think I’ve found just the right spell,” Ernest said.
“Fantastic!” Bernadette said, twirling on one talon while she kicked the other foot in the air. “I’ve been practicing my dance moves all week.”
Ernest laughed. “Me too! And I’ve almost perfected the spell for my tuxedo.” He blushed and added, “It just needs a few, um, tweaks.” He straightened his pointy hat and pulled his wand from his cloak pocket. “Are you ready for your ball gown?”
“Absolutely!” Bernadette said.
Ernest lifted his wand, pointed it at an unruly feather on Bernadette’s head, and chanted, “Feathery Fancily Pleathery Plown! Turn this Ballroom into a Crown!” He stared expectantly at Bernadette. But instead of a gown appearing, thunder rumbled and a giant bolt of gold lightning tore across the sky.
“Oh dear,” Ernest said, grimacing. “What did I do wrong this time?”
Bernadette peered over at the open page in Ernest’s book. “Well,” she said, pointing with her talon, “I’m pretty sure you read this line incorrectly.”
“Oh dear! I sure did,” Ernest said. “Let me try one more time.” He studied the spell, mouthing the words silently. Then he looked again at Bernadette, pointed his wand at the same feather, and chanted, “Feathery Fancily Pleathery Plown! Turn this Small Plume into a Gown!”
Red light swirled around Bernadette, and suddenly she was wearing a scarlet ball gown with a sequined top and a gauzy skirt. “I love it!” Bernadette cried as she shimmied and sashayed across the room. “It’s perfect for dancing. Thank you, Ernest!” And then she hopped out the door and twirled down the hall.
On a rainy Wednesday afternoon, Cressida Jenkins stood in the middle of her bedroom wearing a black leotard, pink tights, pink ballet slippers, and a turquoise tutu. She glanced at her bedroom door to triple check it was closed and locked. She didn’t want Corey, her older brother, to walk in and see her practicing for her dance recital that weekend. If he did, he would never stop making fun of her tutu or the way she danced.
Cressida took a deep breath. She pressed the play button on her music player. And then, as she counted in her head, she leaped, spun, and twirled across her unicorn rug. At the end of her dance routine, as she prepared to curtsy, she heard a high, tinkling noise. At first she thought it was a part of the song she didn’t remember. And then she realized the sound was coming from her bedside table drawer.
Cressida’s heart skipped a beat and her eyes widened. She turned off her music player and bounded over to her bedside table. She opened the drawer and pulled out an old-fashioned key with a crystal-ball handle that glowed bright pink. Cressida beamed with excitement. Her friends, the unicorn princesses, had given her the key so she could visit them in their secret world, the Rainbow Realm, any time: all she had to do was push the key into a hole in the base of a giant oak tree in the woods behind her house, and she would be magically transported to the unicorns’ home, Spiral Palace. When the unicorns wanted to invite Cressida to join them for a special occasion, they made the key’s handle turn bright pink—just the way it was glowing right then!
As quickly as she could, Cressida peeled off her leotard, tights, slippers, and tutu—the tights were too scratchy to wear all afternoon, and she didn’t want to worry about tearing her tutu, which she would need for her recital, while she rode unicorns in the Rainbow Realm. She put on rainbow-striped leggings, a black T-shirt covered in gold stars, a green zip-up sweatshirt with a picture of a raccoon on the back, and silver unicorn sneakers. The sneakers were her favorite shoes: not only did they have pictures of unicorns on them, but they also had pink lights that blinked whenever she jumped, walked, or ran.
Cressida slipped the magic key into her sweatshirt pocket and skipped out of her room and down the hall toward the back door. She picked up the first umbrella she saw—an old black-and-yellow-striped one—and called out to her mother, “I’m going for a quick walk in the woods.”
“Don’t you want to wait until it stops raining?” her mother asked from the living room.
“I’ve got an umbrella,” Cressida said. “And besides, I’m only going outside for a few minutes.” Fortunately, time
