“See you at the Starlight Ball,” Moon said.
And with that, Cressida followed Moon out the door and down the steps that spiraled around the tree trunk to the ground.
“I can’t wait to show you the ballroom,” Moon said as she stepped off the spiral staircase and into the grassy meadow. “The raccoons, wolves, owls, opossums, frogs, and I all designed and built it together out of rocks, tree branches, twigs, and pine cones.”
Cressida followed Moon past more oak trees and through a jungle of tall, white diamond-shaped flowers. “The ballroom is just around this corner,” Moon said as the path jutted sharply to the left.
As soon as they turned, Moon stopped short. “Oh no,” she gasped.
“What’s wrong?” Cressida asked, looking all around for the ballroom. All she could see was a clearing with a large, muddy circle littered with rocks.
“Something happened to the ballroom,” Moon said, dipping a hoof in the mud and frowning.
“It was here?” Cressida asked, trying to imagine how a ballroom—even one made of rocks, tree branches, twigs, and pine cones—could just suddenly disappear.
“Yes,” Moon said, her voice wavering. “I bet it’s another of Ernest’s magical mishaps. He means well, but he really is pretty terrible at magic.” A tear slid down Moon’s cheek. “Well, I guess we’ll have to cancel the ball. We certainly can’t dance in this mud.”
“I’m so sorry the ballroom is gone,” Cressida said, putting her arm around Moon. “But let’s see if we can think of a way to still have the ball.”
More tears slid down Moon’s cheeks. “It took us months and months to build the ballroom,” she said, her voice shaking. “I don’t think we could possibly make another one in the next hour or two. I’m sure we’ll have to cancel it.”
“I’m not quite ready to give up,” Cressida said, smiling sympathetically at Moon. “I would be pretty disappointed not to get to go to my very first ball.”
As Cressida tried to think of a way to save the Starlight Ball, she gazed out again at the circle of rocks and mud. And then she noticed something shiny right in the middle of where the ballroom had once been.
“What’s that?” she asked, pointing to the shiny thing.
“I’m not sure,” Moon said, sniffling. “Why don’t we go see?”
Cressida pulled up the skirt of her ball gown as she walked toward the center of the circle, but she still managed to splatter mud all over her dress and her unicorn sneakers. She didn’t mind. Life wouldn’t be much fun if she spent all her time trying not to get dirty.
“I just polished my hooves this morning to get ready for the ball, and now they’re getting all muddy,” Moon said. “I guess it probably doesn’t matter now.”
In the center of the muddy, rocky circle where the ballroom had once been, Cressida crouched down to discover the shiny thing she and Moon had spotted: a crown made of thin gold wires, meant to look like vines, that twisted around bright pink, star-shaped sapphires. The sapphires, Cressida noticed, were exactly the same shade of pink as her ball gown. “It’s beautiful,” she said.
“It’s gorgeous,” Moon agreed, though her voice sounded sad. Then, with one of her muddy black hooves, she tried to move the crown. It wouldn’t budge. Next, she tried to pick it up with her mouth. It still wouldn’t move. “That’s weird,” Moon said. “Maybe it’s stuck to a rock. Do you want to try?”
“Sure,” Cressida said. She reached out and put her hands on the crown and pulled up, expecting she wouldn’t be able to lift it. But to her surprise, it came right off the ground. As she held it in her hands, the crown began to glow and hum.
Moon gasped. “How on earth did you do that?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” Cressida said, feeling puzzled. “I just picked it up.”
Moon tilted her head to the side. “How strange,” she said. “Why don’t you try putting it on?”
Cressida grinned and put the crown on her head. It felt light and comfortable, as though it belonged to her. For a moment, the humming noise got louder, and then a magic wand, made of a long, gold vine with a pink, star-shaped sapphire at the end, appeared in Cressida’s hand.
“Wow!” Moon said, looking at the crown and the wand. “Now you look like Princess Cressida. And not just Princess Cressida, but Magic Princess Cressida.”
“You don’t think this wand really is magic, do you?” Cressida asked, turning the wand over in her hand.
“It might be,” Moon said, brightening. “Try waving it and see what happens.”
“Okay,” Cressida said, shrugging. She looked at a brown rock by her feet and waved her wand at it. She didn’t expect anything to happen, but to her amazement, the star-shaped sapphire at the end sparkled, and light poured out. Then the rock disappeared and in its place grew a small, pink vine. Cressida giggled with delight and waved the wand at the vine again, this time holding the pink sapphire above the vine and lifting upward. The vine grew!
“I have magic powers!” Cressida sang out, jumping so that even more mud splattered all over her dress, her shoes, and Moon. Her unicorn friend smiled, but Cressida noticed her eyes looked even sadder and more disappointed than before.
“I’m so glad you have a new crown and a magic wand,” Moon said, “but I have to confess I was hoping your special magic power would be to make a new ballroom appear.”
Cressida put her arms around Moon and gave her a hug. “That would have been wonderful,” Cressida agreed. And then, suddenly, she had an idea. “I think my new magic power might be the next best thing. I have a plan for how to build a new ballroom.”
“Really?” Moon said, looking doubtful. “In just an hour?”
“Yes,” Cressida said, looking at the pink vine for several seconds. “But we’ll need some help from Breeze and Firefly.”
“Well then, we’re in luck,” Moon said,
