Free My Secret Unicorn by Linda Chapman

Chapter One
    The afternoon sun glinted through the trees as Lauren watched her friend Mel ride Shadow towards the gnarled trunk. An old hickory tree had fallen halfway across the woodland path, and it was perfect for jumping over. ‘Come on, Shadow, you can do it!’ Lauren whispered.
    The dapple-grey pony took one longstride, then one short one. He sized up the trunk, tucked up his front feet, and sailed over it.
    ‘Well done, Shadow!’ cried Lauren. ‘That was brilliant!’
    Her pony, Twilight, snorted, as though he was agreeing with her. Lauren smiled. She knew he understood every word she said. Twilight might look like a little grey pony, but he was much, much more than that. When Lauren said the secret words of the Turning Spell, Twilight turned into a beautiful unicorn, with a snow-white coat and a shimmering horn. Since she had first made this amazing discovery, Lauren and Twilight had been gradually finding out about hismagical powers. One of them was that he could use his horn to give courage and confidence, and he had once helped his friend Shadow to become confident about jumping.

    Mel was trotting back to Lauren, her cheeks flushed with excitement. ‘Aren’t you going to have a go?’ she called.
    Lauren grinned. ‘You try stopping us!’ She gathered up her reins and nudged Twilight into a trot, then turned him towards the log and asked him to canter. Twilight surged forward, but steadied as he approached the log. He eyed it up carefully before bounding easily over the tree trunk.
    ‘Brilliant!’ cried Mel.
    Lauren bent forward and patted Twilight as he arched his neck and proudly tossed his mane. She knew he was enjoying himself. Twilight couldn’t speak to Lauren while he was a pony,but she was pretty good at telling what he was feeling anyway. She slowed him back to a trot, then turned and rode back towards Mel. ‘That was fantastic,’ she said. ‘Shall we carry on to the clearing? We can do more jumping there.’
    Lauren smiled to herself. She wished she could tell Mel exactly why Shadow loved jumping now, but one of the most important things about being a Unicorn Friend was keeping all the unicorn magic a secret. She often wondered what her best friends, Mel and Jess, would think if she told them that Twilight was really a unicorn!
    Together, the girls turned their poniesdown the track and trotted deeper into the woods, where the spring buds were just appearing on the trees. The clearing was one of their favourite places. There were banks to ride up and down, and fallen logs and brushwood that were great for jumping over. It was like having their very own mini cross-country course.
    When they arrived, Lauren took a moment to decide which route to take with Twilight. He was used to all but the biggest logs by now, so she chose a course that would be lots of fun, with plenty of twists and turns. Sure enough, he tackled them all with his ears pricked up, springing over every jump withmiles to spare. He even bucked playfully when he’d finished, and Lauren laughed out loud.
    Mel and Shadow followed, taking a different route that avoided a couple of the more tricky jumps. But Shadow seemed as happy as Twilight to be jumping, his tail flying high as he cleared the final pile of brushwood.
    ‘That was great!’ Mel laughed. ‘Let’s do it again!’
    Lauren pushed Twilight back into a canter. This time she decided to try riding down one of the steepest banks. Twilight tucked his hocks underneath him, then slid forward for a little way before jumping down safely.

    ‘Well done, Twilight!’ Lauren praised him. They cantered around the rest of the jumps, then watched as Mel and Shadow took yet another route, weaving a figure of eight around the course. Shadow cleared everything before trotting back to Lauren and Twilight. Hestood there, panting and tossing his head.
    ‘Maybe we should stop now,’ Mel said. ‘Shadow seems all puffed out.’ She patted his neck. ‘He’s quite sweaty too. He must