Snow took a long deep breath and nodded toward the puddle. “This is where the ice slide was. But now it’s gone.”

  “Are those the snow leopards?” Clara asked.

  Snow shook her head. “The snow leopards are fluffy and white. I’ve never seen those leopards before in my life.” Snow’s bottom lip quivered and her eyes filled with tears.

  Clara wrapped her arms around Snow and gave her a hug. “I’m going to go find out who those leopards are and see if they can tell me what happened,” she said.

  Clara waded through the giant puddle toward the red leopards. Even though her boots were too hot, she was glad she was wearing them as she tromped through the water. When she was a few feet away from the leopards, she smiled. “Hello,” she said. “My name is Clara.”

  The leopards stood up with a splash and grinned excitedly.

  “I’m Gladys,” one said.

  “I’m Glenda,” another said.

  “I’m Gilbert,” another said.

  “And I’m Gordon,” the last one said.

  “We’re here for ice-sliding,” Gladys explained. The other three leopards nodded eagerly.

  “It’s wonderful to meet you,” Clara said. “Would you mind telling me what kind of animal you are?” She wiped some sweat from her forehead. It was even warmer up close to the leopards.

  Gladys grinned. “We’re glow leopards,” she said.

  “From the Glow Realm,” Glenda added.

  “We got an invitation to come here to go ice-sliding,” Gladys explained.

  “It was exciting because no one ever invites us to do anything,” Gordon said.

  “Everyone always complains it’s too hot to be near us,” Gilbert said, frowning sadly.

  “And everyone complains that we melt things,” Glenda added.

  “We’ve only ever been invited to an ice cream party once,” Gladys said.

  “It was a disaster,” Gordon admitted. “It turns out no one really wants mint chocolate chip soup for dessert.”

  All four leopards nodded with a forlorn look on their faces.

  “It means the world to us to be invited here,” Gladys said.

  “We were so excited, we got here really, really early,” Gordon said.

  “We’ve been waiting for hours,” Glenda explained, nodding.

  “We’re so glad you’re here,” Clara said, wanting to make sure the glow leopards felt welcome. “But, just out of curiosity, was this giant puddle here when you arrived?”

  The glow leopards shook their heads. “When we got here, there was a huge slide made out of ice,” Gilbert said.

  “I have a feeling we accidentally melted it,” Glenda said.

  “Sorry about that!” all four glow leopards said.

  “Don’t worry,” Clara said. “I’m sure we can find a way to still go ice-sliding. If you’ll excuse me for just a moment, I need to go talk to Princess Snow. She’s that white pegasus over there,” Clara added, pointing.

  The glow leopards looked at Snow and grinned. Gladys called out, “Hello, Princess Snow! Thanks for inviting us!”

  From the edge of the giant puddle, Snow smiled uncertainly. She called back, “Hello, um, leopards!”

  Clara fanned herself and wiped sweat from her forehead. And then she waded back through the water to Snow.

  “What did you find out?” Snow asked in a worried whisper. “Who in the world are those leopards?”

  “Their names are Gladys, Glenda, Gilbert, and Gordon. They’re glow leopards from the Glow Realm,” Clara said. “They say they received an invitation to go ice-sliding. They also apologized for accidentally melting the slide.”

  “Glow leopards from the Glow Realm?” Snow repeated, looking confused. And then a flash of understanding came over her face. “Do you think Lucinda accidentally painted the word ‘glow’ instead of ‘snow’ on the invitation?”

  Clara nodded. “I bet that’s what happened.”

  “What a disaster,” Snow said, shaking her head. Her eyes filled with tears. “We have no choice but to cancel ice-sliding and send the glow leopards home. Even if we could think of a way to quickly rebuild the ice slide, the glow leopards would melt it again.”

  “The thing is,” Clara said, “the glow leopards are thrilled to be here. They told me they never get invited to do anything because everyone else complains they’re too hot to be around.”

  “Oh dear,” Snow said. “In that case, I would feel terrible just sending them home.”

  Just then, Stitch pulled up to the archway on a sled. She looked at the puddle and the glow leopards, then galloped over to Snow and Clara. “What in the world happened?” she asked. “And who are those leopards?”

  Clara and Snow explained everything they had learned to Stitch.

  “Oh no,” Stitch said. “Should I fly back and tell the others not to come? Or should we change our plan to some kind of swimming party?”

  Clara took a long, deep breath. “Before we cancel or change anything, let’s first take a moment and see if we can think of a creative solution that will let us rebuild the slide and include the glow leopards,” she said.

  “I’ll do absolutely anything to help,” Snow said.

  “Me too,” Stitch said.

  Snow furrowed her brow and stared down at her hooves. Stitch sucked in her lips and closed her eyes. Clara took another deep breath. She looked at the box of balloons and then at the puddle. She thought about the penguins’ tents and sculptures. She glanced at Snow’s snowflake tiara and Stitch’s scissors, needle, and thread tiara. And then, suddenly, Clara had an idea. She grinned and jumped up and down.

  Snow looked up at Clara. “Have you actually thought of a plan to go ice-sliding with the glow leopards?” she asked, looking both hopeful and disbelieving.

  Stitch opened her eyes in surprise.

  “I think I have an idea,” Clara said. “The first thing we need to do is ask the penguins if we can use their torn tent for a sewing project.”

  “I’ll go ask,” Stitch said. “I’ll fly there instead of riding the magic sleds since that’s faster.”

  “Thank you,” Clara said. “And could you also ask the penguins if they might be willing to come help us?”

  “Sure thing,” Stitch said. She beat her wings and soared up into the air toward the Penguin Artist Colony.

  While they waited for Stitch to return with the ripped tent and the penguins, Clara picked up the box of balloons and carried it to the edge of the puddle. She kneeled next to the box, grabbed a balloon, and held it under the puddle. She stretched the opening with her fingers to fill the balloon up with water. Then she tied the end and filled up another balloon, and then another. When she had filled up all the balloons, she returned them to the box.

  Just then, Stitch appeared in the sky with the ripped tent in her mouth. She swooped down, landed, and dropped the tent on the ground. “The penguins were happy to give their ripped tent to us, especially after I promised to make them a new one later today. They also said they would be glad to come help. They’ll be here in a few minutes, after they finish making a leopard sculpture.”

  “Perfect,” Clara said. She raised her eyebrows and looked at Stitch. “How would you like a sewing challenge?”

  Stitch reared up and whinnied. “I would love nothing more than a sewing challenge!” she said. “Especially if it will mean we can go ice-sliding.”

  “Would you be willing to use this ripped tent fabric to sew four snowsuits for the glow leopards?”

  Stitch widened her eyes. “I have never sewn a snowsuit. And I’ve never sewn clothes for leopards. I can’t wait!”

  “Super,” Clara said, picking up the tent. “Let’s go check with the glow leopards about my plan.”

  Stitch, Snow, and Clara walked together to the center of the puddle, where the glow leopards were floating on their backs in the water with their legs sticking straight up. “Glenda, Gladys, Gilbert, and Gordon, I’d like to introduce you to Princess Snow and Princess Stitch,” Clara said.

  The glow leopards stood up and smiled eagerly. “Thank you so much for inviting us!” Gladys said. “Is it time to go ice-sliding yet?”

  “Almost,” Clara said. “Is there any chance you’d be willing to wear snowsuits while we go ice-sliding?”

  “Absolutely!” Gordon said.

  “I’ve always wanted to wear a snowsuit,” Gilbert said.

  “Me too,” Gladys said. “The opportunity to wear a snow suit honestly doesn’t come up much.”

  “I’m just hoping my snowsuit will be purple,” Glenda said. “I get a little tired of always being red.”

  Stitch laughed. “Four purple glow-leopard snowsuits coming up,” she said. The scissors, needle, and thread design on her tiara sparkled. A giant tape measure appeared in the air. It spun around and then glided over to Gladys. In a flash, it measured her legs, body, head, and tail. Then, it measured Glenda, Gilbert, and Gordon. “Looks like all the glow leopards are exactly the same size,” Stitch said. “That makes this easier.”

  Her tiara sparkled some more, and a giant pair of gold scissors appeared. The ripped tent floated out of Clara’s hands, unfolded, and hovered in the air. In a gold blur, the scissors cut the tent into pieces. Then, in a flash of light, the scissors vanished, and a spool of violet thread and a gold needle appeared. The thread poked itself through the eye of the needle. The needle launched itself into a frenzy of sewing. After only a few seconds, four leopard-shaped snowsuits hung in the air. Each one had a zipper—made from the zippers on the tent flaps—that started at the tip of the tail and ended at the top of the hood. The remaining pieces of fabric folded themselves into a neat pile and dropped down onto Stitch’s back.

  “Those are perfect!” Clara said. She pulled one from the air and held it out for Gladys. “I’ll help you put this on.”

  Gladys stepped into the two front legs and then the two back legs. She pushed her tail through the tail sleeve and her head into the hood. Then, Clara zipped up the snowsuit. Next, Clara grabbed a snowsuit from the air and helped Gilbert put it on. Then she helped Glenda and, finally, Gordon.

  As soon as the glow leopards were zipped into their snowsuits, Clara felt cold. She zipped back up her own snowsuit. And then she exhaled with relief. The snowsuits worked: They were holding in the glow leopards’ heat!

  “I hate to say this,” Gladys said, “but it’s getting hot in here.”

  “It really is,” Glenda said.

  “It feels like August inside my snowsuit,” Gilbert said.

  “Glow leopards love heat,” Gordon said. “But I wouldn’t mind being just a tiny bit cooler.”

  “I know exactly what to do,” Clara said. “Come this way with me!”

  Clara led the snow leopards, Stitch, and Snow over to the box of balloons. She realized that none of the ice packs in her snowsuit were still frozen. And she figured the glow leopards needed them more than she did. She unzipped her own snowsuit and fished out all the ice packs from her freezer and added them in the box. “Snow,” she said, “Could you use your magic to freeze all these balloons and ice packs?”

  “Sure,” Snow said, looking a little confused. The snowflake design on her tiara sparkled.

  A comet of glittery white light swirled around the box. And then the balloons and ice packs froze solid.

  Clara skipped over to Glenda, unzipped her snowsuit, and dropped in several frozen balloons. Then she zipped it back up. “Amazing!” Glenda said. “Now I’m the perfect temperature.”

  “I’m so glad,” Clara said, remembering with a smile that Miranda had said exactly the same thing.

  Clara unzipped Gladys’s, Gilbert’s, and Gordon’s snowsuits and dropped in the rest of the frozen balloons and the ice packs. Then she zipped them all back up.

  The glow leopards grinned. They roared with joy as they leaped in excited circles around Clara, Stitch, and Snow. They rolled on the ground. They did somersaults. And then they sat in a row and looked eagerly at Clara.

  “Now can we go ice-sliding?” Gladys asked.

  “Please?” Gordon, Gilbert, and Glenda said.

  Clara nodded and smiled at the glow leopards. “We can go ice-sliding as soon as we make a new slide.”

  Clara heard a chirping noise in the distance. She turned and saw a parade of red sleds gliding toward them. At least ten purple penguins were on each sled. The sleds stopped by the snowflake archway, and the entire flock of penguins waddled over to Clara, Snow, Stitch, and the glow leopards.

  “Hello again!” Petra said.

  “We heard you needed us,” Priscilla said.

  “How can we help?” Penelope asked.

  All the penguins in the flock looked expectantly at Clara.

  “How would you like a new art project?” Clara asked.

  The penguins began jumping, chirping, flapping their wings, and calling out, “A new art project! A new art project! A new art project!”

  Clara giggled. The penguins got just as excited as she did about new art projects.

  “If you had a very big chunk of snow and ice, do you think you could carve a massive slide?”

  “Yes! Yes! Yes!” the penguins chirped, jumping up and down.

  “Would you like just one slide?” Petra asked.

  “Or a few different options?” Penelope suggested.

  Clara looked at Snow. “What do you think?” she asked.

  “The old one had just one slide,” Snow said. She cocked her head, and her face brightened. “But I’m realizing that now we have an opportunity to make the ice slide even better. How about if there are a few different slides to choose from?”

  “You got it!” Priscilla said. “But how are you going to get us the snow and ice? We’re only able to make smaller blocks of ice appear.”

  Clara looked at Snow. “Could you use your magic to make a big heap of snow and ice?”

  Snow grinned. “I know just what to do,” she said. Her tiara sparkled, and a giant white cloud appeared over the puddle. The cloud flashed bolts of white lightning. And then a blizzard of snow, hail, and freezing rain formed under it. Clara watched in amazement as the winter storm created an ever-growing mound of ice and snow. After several minutes, the cloud disappeared. And rising from the ground was a mountain of ice and snow as big as Clara’s family’s house!

  The penguins’ eyes widened. They jumped and chirped with excitement. And then they waddled as fast as they could over to the mountain. “Don’t forget to sculpt a staircase into the side of it for those of us who can’t fly!” Clara called out.

  “Good idea!” Petra called back.

  In a matter of seconds, all the purple penguins were pecking, chiseling, slicing, and molding the snow and ice. In under three minutes, the penguins had finished sculpting a staircase, a platform with a railing, and four different slides: two twisty ones with tunnels and two steep ones without tunnels that went straight down.

  “We’re finished!” Petra exclaimed.

  “What do you think?” Penelope asked.

  Clara, Snow, and Stitch looked at each other and smiled excitedly.

  “It’s perfect,” Snow said. “Thank you so much.”

  “It looks incredible,” Stitch said to the penguins. “Would you like to join us for ice-sliding?”

  “Yes! Yes! Yes!” the penguins cheered.

  Just then, six sleds glided up to the archway. On each one rode a pegasus princess. Mist, Aqua, Flip, Star, and Rosie were smiling with excitement. Lucinda grinned as she sat on Star’s back. But Clara saw that Dash had a sad, worried look on her face.

  ow!” Mist said, looking at the ice slides.

  “I didn’t know you had gotten new slides,” Aqua said. “What a great surprise!”

  “I can’t wait to try them,” Star said.

  Lucinda flew up into the air and purred.

  Flip and Rosie looked at the glow leopards and furrowed their brows. “Are those the snow leopards? Why are they wearing funny outfits and red face paint?” Flip whispered to Clara.

  Clara smiled and shook her head. “It turns out the glow leopards are joining us today,” she whispered back. Then, in a loud voice, she said, “Gladys, Glenda, Gilbert, and Gordon, allow me to introduce you to Princess Mist, Princess Aqua, Princess Flip, Princess Star, Princess Rosie, Princess Dash, and Lucinda.”

  The pegasus princesses, Lucinda, and the glow leopards smiled and said hello to each other.

  “Shall we start ice-sliding?” Snow asked, looking eagerly at the giant ice slides.

  “We need to do one thing first,” Clara said. She skipped over to Stitch and whispered her idea in Stitch’s ear. Stitch nodded. Clara turned to Dash. “Would you like to try wearing a snowsuit, too? That way you won’t feel the ice while you’re sliding. Snow and I thought you could call it nice-sliding, which is short for not-ice-sliding.”

  Dash looked at Clara’s snowsuit and the glow leopards’ snowsuits. She took a long deep breath. And then she smiled. “Yes!” she said, pricking up her ears and suddenly looking excited. “Nice-sliding, here I come!

  “One pegasus snowsuit coming up!” Stitch said. Her tiara sparkled. The gold tape measure appeared in the air and flew along Dash’s legs, body, and wings. Next, the pile of tent fabric floated up from Stitch’s back, and the magic scissors appeared. In a blur of gold, the scissors cut the material into pieces. The needle appeared and sewed the pieces together with violet thread. Before Clara could count to twenty, she was holding a pegasus snowsuit. She held it up to Dash. “I’ll help you put this on,” she said.

  She held it out, and Dash stepped into the four legs. Clara pulled the snowsuit up over the rest of Dash, including her wings, and zipped it up. Dash’s eyes widened and a grin spread across her face. “I love wearing this!” she said. “Suddenly, I don’t feel the cold air at all!” Dash galloped over to a patch of snow and flopped down into it. She rolled over on one side and then the other. She flipped onto her legs and galloped back to Clara, her sisters, Lucinda, the glow leopards, and the penguins. “It works!” she called out. “I can’t feel the coldness or the slipperiness of the ice through the suit. I can go nice-sliding!”

 

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