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be a bit unfit – Twilight looks absolutely fine!’
    Lauren stroked Twilight’s neck. His coat felt perfectly dry. She wondered if Twilight was fitter than Shadow because he got exercise at night as well, when he did lots of flying around as a unicorn. But she couldn’t tell Mel that. ‘Maybe we should spend more time doing trotting exercises instead of always hacking in the woods,’ she suggested. ‘That’s good for keeping ponies fit.’
    ‘Good idea,’ said Mel, as they turnedthe ponies on to the homeward track. ‘It’s tempting to come to the woods every day, but I want Shadow to be as fit as he can be so we can keep on jumping!’
    After supper that night, Lauren went upstairs to her bedroom to do her homework. It was Friday night, so she had all weekend to do it – but she decided it would be much better to get it out of the way quickly. She had to write a paragraph about her favourite hobby, so she described herself and Twilight jumping with Mel and Shadow in the woods. Writing about something like that felt more like fun thanhomework! When she finished, she had just enough time to visit Twilight before bed.
    Lauren pulled on a thick sweater and stepped on to the landing. Her younger brother, Max, was already in bed. His Bernese mountain dog, Buddy, lay stretched outside Max’s bedroom door with his head on his paws. He looked up at Lauren and thumped his tail on the carpet as she passed. She smiled and patted his head. Before slipping downstairs Lauren noticed that there was a light shining from under the study door. Lauren’s mum wrote children’s books for a living, and Lauren remembered that she had a deadline tomeet. She could be busy for hours yet!
    Lauren popped her head round the living-room door, where her dad was watching the news on TV. ‘I’m just going out to see Twilight, Dad,’ she said.
    ‘OK, Lauren,’ replied her dad. ‘Don’t be too long.’
    ‘I won’t be,’ Lauren promised, shrugging on her jacket and heading outside into the cool spring evening. This was the moment she looked forward to every night – the moment she turned Twilight into a unicorn. Twilight was waiting for her at the paddock gate, and whinnied when he saw her.
    Lauren wrapped her arms around hisneck, then led him across the paddock out of sight of the house. Once they were safely hidden by some trees, she stroked his nose, and whispered the words of the Turning Spell.
‘
Twilight Star, Twilight Star,
    Twinkling high above so far.
    Shining light, shining bright,
    Will you grant my wish tonight?
    Let my little horse forlorn
    Be at last a unicorn!’
    There was a flash of purple light, then Twilight the little grey pony was gone; instead, a dazzling unicorn with a silky white mane and tail stood next to her.
    Twilight nudged Lauren’s arm. ‘Are we going flying tonight?’ he asked. When he spoke, his mouth didn’t move, but Lauren could hear his voice in her head as long as she kept a hair from his mane in her pocket.
    Lauren smiled. ‘Of course we are, but we will have to be quick. Dad said not to be long.’ Then she remembered how tired Shadow had been that afternoon. ‘If you don’t feel too tired, that is,’ she added. ‘You and Shadow did lots of jumping earlier!’
    ‘Oh, I feel fine,’ said Twilight. ‘But I’m a bit worried about Shadow. When we were walking back through the woods, he told me he wasn’t feeling very well.’
    ‘Poor Shadow,’ said Lauren. ‘So he wasn’t puffing because he’s unfit, after all. Maybe he’s getting a cold.’
    Twilight shook his head. ‘He said he’s had colds before, but this was different. He didn’t understand it – he said he was just feeling tired out and a bit strange.’

    The unicorn rested his muzzle on Lauren’s arm, and his eyes looked sad. Lauren could see that Twilight was worried about his pony friend.
    ‘Let’s go and see him,’ she suggested. ‘Maybe he’ll be feeling better now that he’s had a chance to