“Personally, I prefer to act like a treasure hunter,” Comet interrupted.
“Either way, let’s just be nice to this ghost, and hopefully we’ll learn lots of different things,” Twilight said.
“As always, Twilight knows exactly what to say!” Sapphire said. Everyone laughed. They all knew that when Twilight said something, it was worth saying.
The four friends agreed to be nice and welcoming to the Glowing Horn. No one wanted to upset a ghost!
9
The Sweet Tooth
Like his friends, Shamrock carried sweets in a basket down to the beach. Not only did they bring Comet’s famous cupcakes but they found cookies and seaweed muffins as well. They wanted to bring a feast to tempt the ghost!
Shamrock’s heart fluttered with excitement. He couldn’t believe how wrong he’d been earlier. This was quite the scientific discovery. He thought more about what it would be like to be interviewed. Maybe they would meet a famous writer. Or maybe they would write their own book and become famous themselves! He was kicking himself for not using his ability last night. He had only recently discovered that he had a superpowered photographic memory that could take memory movies of what he saw. He could even access other people’s memories if he tried hard enough. He would have to remember to ask his friends to describe their own experiences with the ghost to him in detail later.
Down at the beach, the four unicorns laid a blanket down and piled all their treats together. Twilight, always the most artistic in the group, made sure to arrange things so they looked as beautiful as possible.
Everyone waited quietly. At first nothing happened, and Comet started shifting on her hooves, impatient to see the ghost again. Then Shamrock remembered they had been yelling about a muffin break when Sapphire had first seen the ghost.
“Wow, look at all these amazing sweets!” Shamrock shouted at the ocean.
Comet picked up on his thoughts immediately. “Wow, so many delicious things to eat!” she shouted.
“Never seen so many amazing sweets!” Shamrock yelled.
The four friends wiggled on their hooves and tried not to giggle as they waited. Each looked in a different direction so as not to miss the ghost, and they continued yelling about their sugary picnic.
After what seemed like a long time but was perhaps just a few minutes, the Glowing Horn was back. And floating toward them!
This time the friends stood their ground. They were going to talk to the Glowing Horn.
“Steady, unicorns, steady,” Sapphire reminded them. “We are going to stay here and welcome the ghost.”
Shamrock felt his heart beating inside his chest as he watched the Glowing Horn get bigger and bigger as it rose out of the ocean. Even though they had decided not to be afraid of the ghost, Shamrock couldn’t help but be a little frighted.
The Glowing Horn was becoming much bigger than your average unicorn horn as it moved toward them. And it had that special glow, more like the stars on Shamrock’s backpack than the glitter of their own horns. Even in bright sunshine, they could see it glow!
Then, suddenly, Shamrock realized it wasn’t a ghost at all.
10
A New Friend
The creature’s head broke through the water, revealing the smile of the young blue narwhal floating toward them. “Hey, guys, do you think I could have a cupcake? All I’ve had is seaweed for weeks!”
All four unicorns just stared back in surprise.
“I’m Ned, by the way,” the young narwhal said. He raised his eyebrows when the unicorns still didn’t say anything back.
Shamrock was the first to find his words. “Hi, I’m Shamrock. Are you a narwhal? We thought you were the Glowing Horn ghost! But it’s strange, right? For a narwhal to be in these warm waters? Are you lost? And your horn is glowing! I’ve never read anything about narwhals having glowing horns.” All his thoughts spilled out so fast, he could hardly breathe. Having grown up in the mountains, Shamrock had never met a narwhal before. Of course, he’d read a ton about them. 1,000 Incredible and Astonishing Facts even had a whole page about how a narwhal horn could grow up to ten feet long. As always when he met someone new, Shamrock found himself babbling and spurting out facts. It reminded him of when he had met Twilight on their very first day of school.
Ned just laughed at all his questions. “No way! I mean, yeah, I’m a narwhal. But I’m not lost. I’m on vacation with my family. My horn is glowing ’cause of the special water in the hidden caves, you know?”
The four unicorns just blinked at him for a beat.
Then Sapphire finally said, “I’ve lived by this beach my whole life, and I’ve never seen a narwhal around here! And I’ve never heard of hidden caves.” She shook her head. Shamrock thought she would have been less surprised if she really had been talking to a ghost.
Ned laughed again. He smiled as he bobbed a little in the water. “Well, we usually stick to the deeper caves and don’t come up here, because the water is so warm and we like the cold. But I kept smelling and hearing about all these sweets, and we’ve had to eat boring seaweed for weeks now. And, well, I had to see if I could have some treats.”
“Totally!” Comet said, sounding like her old self again. “I baked these myself. Cinnamon is the trick to the recipe.”
Comet waved at the blanket with her horn, and Shamrock wondered how Ned was supposed to get a cupcake. He can’t walk on sand, right? Shamrock wondered before shaking his head. Of course he can’t! Be rational. Get a hold of yourself!
“I think you’ll need to toss him one,” Shamrock told Comet when he’d cleared his thoughts.
“Would you mind?” Ned asked a little sheepishly. “They do smell good.”
Comet tossed him two cupcakes in a row, and Ned caught them
