An Amazing Rescue (6 page)
Authors: Chloe Ryder
‘Me too,’ Cinders cried, as Cloud rubbed noses with her friend.
‘Hurry, Pippa! Climb on my back.’ Stardust hovered as low as she dared without touching the ground.
Pippa reached for a handful of mane and pulled herself up on Stardust’s back.
‘Ready?’ asked Stardust.
‘Let’s fly,’ Pippa agreed.
Stardust flapped her enormous, feathery wings. The draught fanned Pippa’s face and lifted her hair as they rose into the air. Cloud and Cinders flew up alongside them, weaving through the branches until they were flying above the trees.
‘There’s Mum,’ Cinders said, pointing with one of her hooves to a tiny pony who was racing beneath them through the forest.
‘After her,’ cried Pippa.
Side by side, the three ponies flew after Divine.
The Baroness galloped through the forest. She kept glancing upward as she weaved through the trees. The satchel swung wildly from her mouth. Once it got snagged on a branch but Divine yanked it free and galloped on.
‘Hurry,’ urged Pippa. ‘She’s getting away.’
Stardust’s wings beat faster, fanning cold air at Pippa and making her eyes stream.
Divine burst from the Wild Forest and on to the vast green Plateau. Head down, she galloped straight across it. As she reached the other side she darted towards a bush and disappeared down a hidden path.
‘Where’s she going?’ Cloud wondered.
‘That’s a secret path to the Volcano,’ Cinders said as she flew after her mother, her wings creaking, her muscles straining with the effort.
‘The Volcano? But why would she go there?’ asked Stardust.
The flying ponies were finally gaining on Divine.
‘Stop her,’ shouted Cloud.
As one, the trio of flying ponies swooped. Stardust and Cloud flew on either side of Divine while Cinders floated down in front of her mother.
With the ground approaching, Cloud called frantically, ‘Hooves up. Don’t touch down.’
Pippa was breathless with excitement and fear. Her knees gripped Stardust’s flanks and her fingers were tightly wrapped around Stardust’s mane.
Cinders hovered in front of Divine. ‘Stop!’ she called. ‘Where are you taking the horseshoes?’
Divine tossed her head. ‘Get out of my way, foal.’
‘Please, Mum,’ begged Cinders. ‘Give the horseshoes back. No one needs to know it was you who took them.’
‘Never.’ Divine’s eyes rolled wildly, showing their whites. ‘I’m taking the horseshoes home, where they belong.’
‘They belong on the Whispering Wall,’ said Pippa.
Divine cackled with laughter. Suddenly she reared up and, thrusting her face at Cloud, she rubbed noses with her. There was a loud crack and a blinding flash of light. Black dots swam in Pippa’s eyes and she rapidly blinked them away. A breeze fanned her face. Squinting at Divine, she saw that the pony was sprouting an enormous pair of chestnut-brown wings.
‘No,’ Pippa breathed, an icy feeling shivering down her spine.
A wicked smile lit Divine’s face. Experimentally at first, she flapped her wings. Her confidence grew as they lifted her into the air.
‘The time has come,’ she whinnied, her shrill voice echoing weirdly as she flew higher above the narrow path, ‘to return this island to its original form!’
Pippa clenched Stardust’s mane, fighting back tears, as Divine flew away triumphantly, the satchel swinging from her mouth.
‘After her!’ ordered Pippa.
‘Yes, hurry,’ said Cloud.
In a whirr of wings, the three ponies gave chase. Stardust’s huge, white wings clapped together as she climbed higher. Pippa could hardly breathe. The ground whizzed away from her in a blurred mix of greens, browns and sparkling blue sea. They flew over Stableside Castle, the eight flags fluttering from each of its toy-sized turrets. Soaring after Divine was like playing a crazy game of tag. Each time Stardust, Cloud and Cinders drew closer, Divine would suddenly change direction.
‘Hold tight,’ Stardust shrieked, shooting left. Pippa slid right and only just held on.
Soon after that Pippa began to cough. Smoke and ash hung in the air, tickling her nose and sticking in the back of her throat.
‘We’re almost at the top of the Volcano,’ Stardust said, coughing.
Pippa stared ahead as a tall cone of black rock rose from the tip of a cloud. Smoke belched from the Volcano. Sweat trickled down her face. She coughed again, clutching Stardust’s mane as she used her other arm to cover her mouth.
Then, all at once, she had an idea.
‘Cinders, Cloud,’ she whispered urgently. ‘Drive Divine higher.’
Unquestioningly Cloud and Cinders did as she asked, but when Stardust tried to follow Pippa stopped her.
‘Hide in the cloud above,’ she whispered.
Stardust’s ears flickered quizzically as she followed Pippa’s instruction.
When the misty cloud engulfed them, Pippa called out again, ‘There’s Divine – below us. Can you fly down and surprise her?’
‘I certainly can,’ Stardust said, dropping straight down.
Pippa kept her eyes on Divine’s broad back as they hurtled down towards her. A dangerous plan was forming in her head. Pippa didn’t share it with Stardust in case the pony tried to stop her.
‘Three, two, one,’ she counted, then leapt from Stardust on to Divine.
‘Pippa!’ Stardust cried in horror.
Pippa smiled grimly as she landed on Divine’s back.
‘Get off, you horrid little girl!’ Divine bucked wildly, twisting in the air to try and unseat Pippa.
With a vice-like grip, Pippa hung on to Divine’s mane with one hand as she swung down to grab the satchel with the other. Taken by surprise, Divine let it go. Pippa threw the strap over her head, then leapt on to Cloud’s back – the Princess Pony had been flying alongside them. Pippa was trembling like crazy but she’d made it!
‘Noooo!’ shrieked Divine. She snatched for the satchel but Pippa held it high above her head. Divine lunged again. Pippa swung the satchel round to the other side. Divine snapped her teeth but Pippa ducked.
Cloud darted away, startling Divine, who carried on flying, almost slamming straight into the side of the Volcano. With an angry screech, she folded her wings back, sticking out her hooves as she skidded to a halt. She was still travelling too fast. Her hooves pedalled the air and, with a crunch, she ploughed into the side of the Volcano. There was a loud
pop
.
‘Aaaaarghh!’ Divine’s furious screams rang out as her wings vanished.
Cinders flew behind Divine, holding her wings outwards and upwards to slow down. Pippa winced, but Cinders managed to stop, her hooves barely a millimetre from the ground. Sweat dripped from her heaving sides.
‘That was close,’ she panted. ‘I thought I was going to crash into the Volcano.’
‘You silly little foal,’ spat Divine. ‘How could you betray me like this?’
‘No, Mum,’ Cinders said, her voice trembling. ‘How could you betray Chevalia?’
‘You don’t understand,’ said Divine, her voice husky with regret. ‘Chevalia needs a change. But it isn’t over yet.’
The words hung menacingly in the air. Divine snorted then, wheeling round, she cantered up the Volcano’s steep slope. Pippa watched until her large, chestnut body was totally swallowed up by the misty cloud at the summit. Slowly she opened the satchel and removed the two golden horseshoes. As she held them up, the horseshoes glittered brightly, their magic spreading hope among the three ponies hovering in the air.
Stardust bucked triumphantly. ‘We’ve almost done it,’ she exclaimed.
‘Almost,’ Pippa breathed. ‘But Divine is right. It’s not over yet. There’s still one horseshoe missing.’
Pippa held the horseshoes tightly as Stardust, Cloud and Cinders flew back to the Castle. They made a magnificent sight, swooping like three huge birds over the island. Word soon spread and by the time they approached the Castle a crowd was waiting to greet them. The ponarazzi were there, pushing to the front of the crowd. Flying in a V-shape, the ponies soared over the clicking cameras, dipping their wings in salute as they flew into the Castle grounds. Pippa blinked furiously – the pop and flash of the ponarazzi cameras were as irritating as a cloud of gnats.
Stardust and Cinders landed in the Royal Courtyard to a gasp of admiration from the watching crowd. There was a loud crack as their hooves touched down. In a flash of light their wings vanished.