After clearing away the lunch dishes, Lauren and Hannah went outside. ‘I love this place,’ Hannah said, looking round at the farm surrounded by the wooded mountains. Mr Foster was working on a tractor in a nearby field. He waved at them and they waved back.

‘I love living here too,’ Lauren said. ‘It’s great.’ She seized the chance to turn the conversation towards ponies. ‘All my friends here ride. There’s a creek in the woods – we take the ponies to paddle in it in the summer – and there’s lots of hills to ride up and down and ditches to jump and some great tracks for cantering on. It’s so much fun!’

Hannah nodded. ‘Yeah, I used to like doing pony stuff too.’

She didn’t sound very interested but

Lauren soldiered on. ‘You’ll have to meet my friends, Grace and Jo-Ann. They’re fourteen and they still love horses. We often get together and go out for rides.’

‘Oh, right,’ Hannah said, not sounding too interested.

Lauren felt a wave of frustration but she pushed it down. ‘Come on, let’s go and tack Twilight up,’ she said. She fetched Twilight’s tack, hoping Hannah would offer to help her saddle up but Hannah just stood back. Lauren decided to tell her about Magpie. Maybe the thought of having a pony of her own for a few days would make her change. ‘Grace, one of the friends I was just telling you about, is bringing a pony over later,’ she said. ‘He’s called Magpie. Mum arranged to borrow him for the next few days so you can ride him.’

Hannah looked uncomfortable. ‘Oh.’

‘He’s lovely to ride,’ Lauren went on eagerly. ‘Quite lively but you’ll have a great time on him. We’ll be able to go into the woods and…’

‘Sorry, Lauren,’ Hannah interrupted. ‘I don’t mean to be horrid but I don’t want to ride.’

‘But…’ Lauren began.

‘No, Lauren!’ Hannah said, beginning to sound cross. ‘I know you’re still into ponies but I’m not. I’ve grown out of them, so stop trying to pressurize me and make me do stuff I don’t want to!’

There was a silence.

Hannah drew in a deep breath. ‘I’m going to go and read in my room,’ she said. ‘I’ll see you when you’ve finished riding.’

She hurried away.

Lauren and Twilight stared after her. Lauren felt awful. She hadn’t meant to make Hannah cross and unhappy. She’d only been trying to get her interested in ponies again.

Twilight whickered uncertainly. Lauren desperately wanted to talk to him. ‘Oh, Twilight,’ she said. ‘Let’s go to the secret glade so I can turn you into a unicorn and we can talk.’

Twilight nodded.

Lauren quickly finished saddling him up and they headed off.

The secret glade was a small clearing deep in the woods. It was hidden at the end of an overgrown path and was one of Lauren’s favourite places in the world. It always felt very magical. Purple flowers dotted the short grass. In summer, butterflies flew through the air and at night-time fireflies lit up the darkness like tiny flashing lights. It was the one place where it felt safe to turn Twilight into a unicorn in the daytime. No one else ever seemed to go there.