The Special Secret (4 page)

Stardust hung her head in shame. “I think I could work harder,” she mumbled.

“Don't let us stop you then,” said the queen. “There's enough time to do a bit more before lunch.”

As the queen and king moved away, Stardust began to dig in the mud. Soon she was muddy up to her knees, but her dirt-stained face glowed with happiness.

“Dad was right. This is really fun,” she said, kicking up more mud. “Look at Crystal and Trojan over there. Wouldn't it be fun if they followed in Mom and Dad's hoofsteps and got married?”

“Ssssh!” Pippa giggled. “You're not supposed to say anything about that.”

“Who's getting married?” Crystal called, trotting over. “And what are you doing digging around in the mud, Stardust?”

Stardust tried not to giggle. “We're looking for missing horseshoes,” she replied, and then quickly told her what the horseflies had said.

“Well, don't let me hold you up,” Crystal said, walking off to check on another group of ponies who were working nearby.

Just before they made the ground even muddier.

“Look at Cinders,” Pippa said, as she watched the pony take cover in the barn.

“She's done even less work than me,” said Stardust.

“But she's having less fun than you,” commented Pippa, who loved the feel of the mud and didn't care how dirty she got. “Ouch! What was that?”

Her heart skipped a beat as her fingers touched something cold. Pippa frantically scooped away the mud under her. It was up to her elbows but she hardly noticed it. She was on to something! She could feel the magic tingling in her fingers as they scraped away at the object buried in the sticky ground.

“I'm almost there,” Pippa panted, while Stardust watched anxiously.

Wrapping her fingers around her find, Pippa pulled. But the object was stuck.

“Let me help,” Stardust said, gently taking the hem of Pippa's dress in her mouth so that she could pull her backward.

“One, two, three,
pull
!” yelled Pippa.

There was a loud noise, like water being sucked down a drain, then she and Stardust fell back as the object was suddenly worked free. They landed in an enormous patch of mud.

“Yes!” Pippa shouted, holding up the object in delight. “It's a very dirty golden horseshoe!”

“Hooray!” Stardust cheered, scrambling up onto her legs. “That's three horseshoes we've found now. And there's another one here some-where. . . .”

Just then a gong sounded.

“Lunchtime,” Stardust said. “Let's eat before we look for the fourth one.”

“We should hang this horseshoe on the Whispering Wall first,” Pippa said, even though she was famished.

“Let's eat first,” said Stardust.

“But—” Pippa started to argue.

“We need to keep our strength up,” Stardust said firmly. “Besides, taking one horseshoe back to the castle will waste too much time. Let's wait until we've found both of them.”

“Okay,” Pippa said reluctantly, but she knew that Stardust had a point.

She rinsed the horseshoe in the stream and cleaned away the dirt until it glittered. Then they made their way over to the huge portable troughs that were set out for lunch.

“When we find the other horse-shoe, we'll have found half of them,” Pippa said.

“Oh!” Stardust exclaimed, her eyes shining with hope. “Then let's hurry up and eat lunch so we can find it!”

Chapter 4

The picnic was noisy and fun. Canter's ponies and all the farming ponies were covered in mud, their coats were matted, and their school ribbons were soaked and unraveling—but they were all relishing Harvest Day.

Only Cinders still looked neat—her chestnut coat shone, and her braided mane and tail were still held neatly in place with shiny red ribbons.

“Look at the state of you all,” she said, wrinkling her nose.

No one was listening, though. They were too busy telling stories about their morning and admiring the golden horseshoe that Stardust and Pippa had propped on a tree at the picnic site. Pippa was still a little worried that they hadn't taken the horseshoe back to the castle, and she mentioned her concerns to Stardust.

“Don't worry, the horseshoe will be fine,” the princess pony said. “There are plenty of ponies around to look after it, and it would have been a shame to miss the picnic lunch.”

Pippa had to agree. The castle's serving ponies had sent her a special packed lunch that included a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, carrot sticks, strawberries, and a whole jug of fizzy peach juice. Everything looked delicious and it would be a pity to waste it.

“Okay, but when we go back to work, we should ask a pony to guard the horseshoe for us.”

“Good idea,” Stardust said, lowering her head into a trough of honeyed oats.

They were just finishing lunch when a swarm of horseflies flew at Stardust. The ponies next to her whinnied in alarm and Mucker trotted over, his head down.

“Get out of here, you pesky beasts,” he snorted.

“Wait!” buzzed the horseflies. “We want to talk to the princess.”

Mucker was about to charge at them but Stardust shouted, “Mucker, stop! Don't hurt them. They're my friends.”

“Thank you, princess,” Zimb said.

“You can talk to the horseflies?” Mucker's eyes nearly popped out of his head.

“It's easy. Pippa showed me how,” said Stardust. “All you have to do is listen very carefully.”

By now the rest of Canter's had stopped eating and were listening too. The nursery school foals were so in awe that they couldn't stop looking at Stardust. The only pony not impressed was Cinders.

“If you think I'm going to listen to a horsefly, think again,” she snorted. “They're nothing but nasty pests. Ouch!” Cinders let out a neigh and started dancing around in irritation.

“Ssssorry,” buzzed Zimb. “I didn't mean to bite you on the bottom. I tripped by accident. Honestly, I did!”

He sounded so insincere that Stardust burst out laughing. Cinders scowled and marched away angrily. Pippa bit her lip to stop herself from giggling. Even though Cinders was so unpleasant, she still felt a little bit sorry for her.

“We sssssaw that you found one of the horseshoesssss,” buzzed Zimb.

“Yes,” Stardust said. “And how did you do?”

“We found nothing,” Zimb said sadly, “but we'll keep looking now we know how important it is to have all eight horseshoes back on the ancient wall in time for Midsummer Day. We're just ssssssorry that by accepting two of them from the Mistress we caused ssssso much trouble.”

“It's not your fault. And thanks for all your help,” Stardust said gratefully.

Pippa was deep in thought. Who was the Mistress? The question still bothered her. She looked up and noticed Cinders, who was lying on the ground by herself looking very sad and lonely. Pippa couldn't help but feel sorry for her, and she wandered over to her.

“Please, will you look after this horseshoe for us while we search for the other one?” Pippa asked.

Cinders looked very surprised, but she agreed. “All right,” she said.

“Why did you ask her that?” Stardust whispered angrily when Pippa rejoined her. “She doesn't deserve such a special job. She's done nothing all morning.”

Pippa shrugged. “Mom says you should always give people a chance to be nice. If we're kind to Cinders, then maybe she'll start being kind back.”

Stardust nuzzled Pippa's arm with her nose. “Your mom sounds nice,” she said.

“She is,” Pippa said, feeling a little homesick. But at least Mom and her brother and sister wouldn't be missing her—Chevalia existed in a special time bubble so that Pippa could stay there for as long as she needed, while time stood still in her own world. She pushed the sad feeling away. “Let's get started,” she said.

Pippa and Stardust searched and searched, until their fingers and hooves were sore from digging through the mud and dirt and grass.

It was late afternoon when Pippa said wearily, “Let's stop for a drink.”

“Good idea.” Stardust straightened up. She started to walk back to the stream, where there was a drinking trough with fresh running water, but she slipped on a patch of mud.

“Careful!” said Pippa.

“Ouch!” Stardust whinnied. “I stubbed my hoof on something hard.”

Her eyes met Pippa's and they stared at each other for a split second. Then, wordlessly, they threw themselves to the ground and began scraping the mud away. Pippa's fingers touched something hard and cold. Her heart thudded with excitement. Could it be the other horseshoe that was missing in the Grasslands?

“We've found the fourth missing horseshoe!” squealed Stardust.

“Isn't it funny how sometimes you just stumble across the exact thing that you're trying so hard to find!” said Pippa, delighted. “How lucky!”

“Mom and Dad are going to be thrilled,” said Stardust. “Two horseshoes in one day! Come on, let's go and get the other one and take them both back to the castle.”

Stardust scooped up the horseshoe in her mouth and they returned to the stream. Pippa was so happy, she felt like she was walking on air. But as they drew nearer, they saw that Cinders was hunched up and crying. A cold feeling came over Pippa as she hurried toward her.