Pegasus Princesses 6, page 4
“Fantastic!” Snow said. “Let’s go!” She reared up, whinnied, and galloped toward the ice slides. She looked at the staircase, paused, stretched out her wings and flew to the top. The other seven pegasus princesses all beat their wings and soared up to the platform. Lucinda fluttered right behind them. Clara smiled when she saw that Stitch had designed the snowsuit so Dash could still fly while wearing it.
The glow leopards bounded up the staircase. The penguins waddled behind them. And Clara climbed up last. At the top, Mist, Aqua, Flip, Star, Rosie, Snow, Stitch, and Dash flopped onto the slides and whinnied with joy as they slid down them. Lucinda dived down a steep slide, purring loudly. The glow leopards slid down next, roaring with delight. The penguins plunged down the slides headfirst, happily chirping. And then it was Clara’s turn. She decided to first try a twisty tunnel slide. She stepped up to the top of it, sat down on the ice, and pushed herself forward. She slid faster than she had ever slid down a slide before. At the bottom, she shot out of the tunnel and landed in a mound of snow. She laughed, stood up, and ran back to the staircase.
“Let’s go down one of the steep slides together,” Snow said, galloping alongside Clara.
“Great idea,” Clara said.
Snow kneeled next to Clara. “Get on my back, and we’ll fly to the top together,” she said. Clara climbed onto Snow. The pegasus soared up into the sky, flew in a loop above the slides, and landed on the platform. Snow kneeled, and Clara got off her back.
“How about that slide?” Snow suggested, glancing at the steepest one. Gladys, Gordon, and five penguins were already shooting down it.
“I’m ready!” Clara said.
She and Snow stepped to the top of the slide. “One. Two. Three. Jump!” Snow said.
She and Clara jumped forward onto the slide. They barreled down it, side-by-side, laughing together the whole time.
“That was amazing!” Snow said when they landed at the bottom.
“I love ice-sliding!” Clara said.
Clara slid down the ice slides over and over again. After she had tried the tunnel slides six times each and the steep slides ten times each, she realized that while it had been wonderful to visit the Wing Realm, her hands and her head were cold. She also missed her sister and their snowy mountain game. And she was in the mood for hot chocolate.
Clara turned to Snow and the other pegasus princesses, who were just finishing a round of sliding. “I hate to say this,” Clara said, “but I think it’s time for me to return to the human world.”
“I completely understand,” Snow said. “Thank you so much for joining us.”
“Thank you for saving ice-sliding,” Stitch said.
Snow nodded. “And thank you for thinking of a way to include the glow leopards. Now we’ve made four new friends.”
“And thank you for suggesting Stitch make me a snowsuit,” Dash said. “I thought I was going to have a cold, miserable afternoon, and now I’m having a great time.”
Lucinda purred and rubbed against Clara’s legs.
“I’m so glad I could help,” Clara said. “Thank you for including me.”
“We’ll invite you back to the Wing Realm soon,” Snow said with a wink.
“Goodbye!” Mist, Aqua, and Rosie said.
“Thanks for joining us,” Stitch said.
“It was great to see you!” Dash said.
Flip smiled warmly and swished her tail.
The glow leopards smiled and waved their paws.
Clara pulled the silver feather from her snowsuit pocket. She held it up and said, “Take me home, please!”
Clara smiled as the feather lifted her up in the air, higher and higher. She began to spin, and everything went pitch black. After a few seconds, she found herself sitting on the forest floor under the giant pine tree. The sun shone down at her. And she noticed she was already getting too hot. But then she felt something cold brushing against her hand. She looked down. There next to her was a mesh bag full of purple, penguin-shaped ice packs, all frozen solid. Clara giggled. She unzipped her snowsuit and dropped the cold penguins inside it. Laughing, she rolled and somersaulted on the pine straw to move the penguins around in her suit. And then, when she was the perfect temperature, she scooped up some pine needles to use for snow leopard beds and ran home to her sister.
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Clara raced along the hallway, down the stairs, through the living room, and across the kitchen. She burst out the back door and hopped across the slate stones that led to the woods surrounding her house. As she stepped into the forest, she realized she hadn’t closed the back door. In fact, she hadn’t even heard the outer screen door latch shut. She knew she really ought to go back and close both doors. But she was so excited to visit the Wing Realm that, instead of turning around, Clara kept running.
She leaped over a creek where she and her sister liked to make potions. She barreled down a hill, pulled the feather from her pocket, and skipped into a clearing with a large pine tree. A second later, glittery light swirled. And then there appeared a green velvet armchair with silver wings on its back. The armchair jumped up and down. It leaped over to Clara, spun around on one leg, and nudged her. Clara laughed and patted the top of the chair. “It’s good to see you, too,” Clara said.
She was about to sit down on the chair when she felt something pressing against her calves. Clara looked behind her. No Name Yet was jumping up and pushing her paws against the backs of Clara’s legs. The puppy wagged her tail and panted. “Did you escape from the house and follow me here?” Clara asked, laughing and picking up No Name Yet.
Clara paused and considered what to do. One option was to run back to her house and put No Name Yet inside. But that would leave the puppy feeling sad and lonely. And it would delay Clara’s visit to the Wing Realm. Another option, Clara realized with a burst of excitement, was to bring the puppy with her. Clara kissed No Name Yet’s head and said, “Get ready to meet to meet the pegasus princesses!”
Holding No Name Yet a little tighter in her arms, Clara sat down on the armchair. She grabbed No Name Yet’s collar as the chair jumped up and landed on top of the large pine tree. For a moment the tree and the chair swayed back and forth. The puppy yipped with excitement. Then the chair soared upward, skidded across the roof of Clara’s house, and launched up into the sky. The chair flew higher and higher. It began to spin, faster and faster. Everything went pitch black. And then, in a few seconds, the chair landed with a clatter on a tile floor.
Clara opened her eyes. She knew exactly where she was: the front hall of Feather Palace. The black floor shimmered under the light of the chandeliers. On the walls, painted magenta, hung portraits of all eight pegasus princesses and their silver pet cat Lucinda. Pegasus statues reared up with outstretched wings from marble pedestals. Pegasus fountains spouted rainbow water. The pegasus princesses’ eight thrones formed a horseshoe in the center of the room. Pushed up against Rosie’s pink throne was Lucinda’s silver sofa, with its back shaped like a cat head. In the middle of the cushion, Lucinda lay curled in a ball, fast asleep. Her head rested on the star-shaped pillow Clara had given Lucinda for her birthday.
Clara heard a voice call out behind her, “Let’s practice one more time. We’ve almost got it.” With No Name Yet still in her arms, Clara stood up and turned around. All eight pegasus princesses stood in a tight circle with their eyes closed. Rosie counted, “A one and a two and a one two three four.” The pegasus princesses nodded their heads to the beat as they danced, tapping and sliding their front and back hooves against the tiles in intricate rhythms. As Clara watched, she found herself quietly tapping her flip-flops against the floor and wishing she could join in. No Name Yet seemed to feel the same way. The puppy wiggled and squirmed in Clara’s arms. Clara hugged her more tightly and whispered, “Hold on just a minute. You’ll be able to get down soon.”
When the pegasus princesses finished tapping and sliding, Rosie said, “That time was perfect. Thank you so much for all your hard work and practice. I’m thrilled to say we’re ready for the concert.”
Emily Bliss, also the author of the Unicorn Princesses series, lives with her winged cat in a house surrounded by woods. From her living room window, she can see silver feathers and green flying armchairs. Like Clara Griffin, she knows pegasuses are real.
Sydney Hanson was raised in Minnesota alongside numerous pets and brothers. She is the illustrator of the Unicorn Princesses series and the picture books Next to You, Escargot, and A Book for Escargot, among many others. Sydney lives in Los Angeles.
www.sydwiki.tumblr.com
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Text copyright © 2022 by Emily Bliss
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Emily Bliss, Pegasus Princesses 6
