Seasons galloping, p.4
Season's Galloping, page 4
“Merry Christmas, Pippa!”
Pippa looked up as Cloud led the sleigh in a final circle above the school. Then, with a waggle of their wings, Cloud and the ponies soared into the sky.
“Merry Christmas!” called Pippa. “It’s been my best Christmas ever, and it’s not over yet.”
JOIN PIPPA AND THE PONIES FOR ANOTHER ADVENTURE IN THE WONDROUS LAND OF CHEVALIA . . .
SOMEONE HAS PUT A SPELL ON THE PONIES, AND THEY’VE FORGOTTEN HOW TO LOVE! CAN PIPPA AND PRINCESS STARDUST SAVE THE DAY?
Turn the page to read a sneak peek . . .
Far away, in the middle of the sea, there is a magical island called Chevalia, where only ponies live. Chevalia is a special place, full of love and happiness. It is ruled by the wise Queen Moonshine and King Firestar from the Royal Court at Stableside Castle.
But on the other side of the island, hidden away in the Horseshoe Hills, there was a half-ruined castle. Its ivy-clad walls had crumbled. Mice scuttled through the silent rooms. Spiders hung from dusty webs, and bats hung in the towers.
Below, in a dark, damp room, Divine, a chestnut pony with a square nose and bulging eyes, was hard at work. Tossing back the hood of her long cloak, she removed a glass container from a bucket of ice. Ice crystals covered the rim and the surface of the sour gray liquid inside. Stirring the liquid carefully, she wrinkled her nose at the bitter smell.
“It’s ready!” Divine poured the freezing-cold liquid into a bottle and screwed the lid tight. The smell stung her eyes sharply and she blinked back tears.
“The ponies of Chevalia don’t love me. All I ever wanted was their affection, but since they won’t give me their love, then I will steal it from them!”
As Divine’s tears dried, a wicked smile lit her face. She tucked the icy bottle of liquid into the folds of her cloak. “With this spell,” she whispered, “the love in Chevalia will all drain away.
The ponies will start to argue as they forget what love means. Then I will swoop in and unify them behind me so that I can take my rightful place as queen of this island.”
Divine moved over to a cracked mirror hanging from a nail on the wall. She stared at her reflection for a long while. “Queen Divine,” she murmured, fluffing up her forelock. Divine pulled up her hood, tugging at the material until her face was covered. “Sweet dreams, ponies of Chevalia. When you wake, the island’s love will start to fade away, until it’s lost . . . forever.”
“Hurry up, Pippa!” called Miranda MacDonald, Pippa’s bossy big sister. She put her hands on her hips and glared as Pippa hurried to get out of the house. “At this rate, Valentine’s Day will be over by the time you get to school!”
“I’m doing my best.” Pippa was struggling to fit all her homemade Valentine’s Day cards into her schoolbag without creasing them. She’d spent ages on the cards, decorating them with her favorite glitter pens and shiny red paper hearts. She’d made one for everyone in her class except for Lucy Langhorn, who’d laughed at Pippa in gym class when she couldn’t hit a volleyball, and Peter North, who was mean to everyone. They don’t deserve a Valentine’s Day card, Pippa told herself.
“I’m leaving without you,” said Miranda in a huff. “Catch up, if you can.”
“But I can’t fit all the cards in my bag,” Pippa said with a sigh. She pushed her wavy brown hair out of her eyes. “Will you help me carry them?”
“Those silly cards are your idea,” said Miranda. “Besides, I don’t have a free hand.” Miranda was carrying her schoolbag, gym bag, and a flute case.
Holding the cards tightly, Pippa followed Miranda outside. More snow had fallen in the night, covering their neighborhood with a sparkly white blanket. Pippa had a sudden urge to run to the park at the end of the street and build a snowman, or better yet, a snow pony. But she didn’t want to spoil the Valentine’s Day cards by getting them wet in the snow. The cold air stung her lungs and her breath came out in smoky wisps as she carefully stepped in Miranda’s footprints.
A puff of wind almost blew Miranda’s hat off. She stopped and squinted up at the sky. “It’s getting darker. Hurry up, Pippa. It looks like it’s going to snow again.”
As if on cue, the darkening clouds released a flurry of beautiful white snowflakes.
“I’m walking as fast as I can,” said Pippa. Each time she took a step, the wind pushed her back. Pippa teetered behind Miranda, trying not to fall on the icy sidewalk. The wind shoved and jostled her until a sudden gust snatched the cards from her hands and tossed them in the air.
“Oh no!” shrieked Pippa. She jumped up but the cards twirled high above her head. Pippa slipped, but luckily she landed on the soft snow covering the sidewalk. Above her, the cards fell like confetti. The wind caught them, and Pippa’s homemade cards scattered onto the road. A stream of cars rode over them, staining the pretty red hearts with black tire marks.
“My cards!” Pippa wailed as she got up, cold and wet. She stood at the side of the road, waiting for it to clear so that she could rescue them, but Miranda reached out and stopped her.
“It’s too dangerous,” she said. “Anyway, your cards are ruined, so let’s just get to school.”
“But I won’t have any Valentine’s cards to hand out.”
“Honestly, Pippa, Valentine’s Day is just a silly made-up holiday. No one’s going to care if they get a card from you or not.”
“Everyone gives cards in my class.” Pippa felt heavy with disappointment. She’d been looking forward to showing her friends how she felt about them. “Valentine’s Day isn’t silly,” she muttered.
Pippa didn’t know why Miranda was so against Valentine’s Day this year. Last year she’d joined in, giving out cards and going to a special Valentine’s dance just for the older kids.
At school, Pippa’s disappointment grew as her friends all exchanged cards in class.
“Cody, it’s beautiful,” said Pippa, opening a huge heart-shaped card from her best friend.
“Do you have one for me?” asked Cody.
Pippa shook her head as Cody’s smile started to slip.
“I lost the card I made for you,” Pippa explained. “I lost them all.”
“Oh,” said Cody. “I was worried that you didn’t like me.”
Cody was one of Pippa’s best friends; she didn’t like to think that Cody would be worried about that.
“What’s up, Pippa?” asked Ms. Tilley, her teacher.
Pippa explained what had happened to her cards.
“I’m just glad it wasn’t you that was blown into the street,” said her teacher.
“I suppose,” Pippa said, sighing. She stared out the window so that her teacher couldn’t see the tears filling her eyes. It was awkward receiving so many lovely cards but not being able to give any back.
“Look at Pippa,” Lucy said to Peter. She giggled. “She’s going to cry like a baby.”
Peter smirked. “Valentine’s Day is for babies.”
Snow whirled against the glass and the howling wind rattled the windows. Pippa watched the dancing snowflakes. They seemed to be arranging themselves into a shape. Pippa’s breath had steamed up the window. She rubbed it with the sleeve of her sweater and pressed her nose to the glass. She could see the shape of a winged pony made out of snowflakes.
“A snow pony!” she breathed. The flying horse reminded Pippa of her special friend Stardust. She smiled at the memory and the snow pony smiled back. Pippa blinked. Was she imagining it, or was the pony beckoning her with a hoof?
She peered into the whirling snow and a flash of red caught her eye. There it was again. A wide grin spread across her face. It wasn’t a snowflake pony. It was her best pony friend, Princess Stardust, after all.
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First published in the United States of September 2019 by Bloomsbury Children’s Books
Text copyright © 2017 by Awesome Media and Entertainment Ltd
Illustrations copyright © 2017 by Jennifer Miles
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Ryder, Chloe, author.
Title: Season’s galloping / by Chloe Ryder.
Description: New York : Bloomsbury, 2019. | Series: Princess ponies ; 11
Summary: Pippa and Stardust must find the thieves responsible for taking the decorations from Chevalia’s Christmas tree before suspicion and doubt ruin the holiday spirit.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019010475 (print) • LCCN 2019013879 (e-book)
ISBN 978-1-5476-0192-9 (paperback) • ISBN 978-1-5476-0193-6 (e-book)
Subjects: | CYAC: Christmas—Fiction. | Ponies—Fiction. | Magic—Fiction. Classification: LCC PZ7.R95898 Se 2019 (print) | LCC PZ7.R95898 (e-book) | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019010475
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Chloe Ryder, Season's Galloping
