The Special Secret (3 page)

It was a long, hard morning. Pippa's back ached and her hands grew sore from gripping her tools and from all the cutting work. In the distance she could see that Stardust wasn't making much progress with her new job of collecting the cut grass. A cloud of horseflies was buzzing around her head, and each time Stardust swatted them away with her tail they just flew at her again.

“Go away, you awful things,” Stardust shouted, angrily stomping a hoof.

The horseflies were becoming even more agitated. Buzzing loudly, they flew in circles around Stardust's head. Pippa ran over to see if she could help. But after swatting repeatedly at the horseflies with her hands, she realized that it wasn't making any difference. She stood still and listened. The horseflies were making the same funny buzzing noise, like whispery voices, that she'd heard earlier. She decided to try something.

“Anyone would think that the horseflies were trying to talk to you,” Pippa said.

Stardust stopped being cross and whinnied with laughter. “Talking horseflies? That's crazy!” she exclaimed. “That's the funniest thing I've heard all morning. Oh, look—there's Mucker's older brother, Trojan. He helps run the farm with Mucker's dad. He must have come to check on us. Let's say hello.”

“Wait,” Pippa said, still trying to figure out if she was imagining things or if the horseflies really were trying to tell them something.

But Stardust was already on her way over to the two brothers. Pippa followed.

“Hi, Trojan. Have you come to help or are you here to boss us around like Crystal?” she asked.

Trojan blushed at the mention of Crystal.

“Mucker and I were just discussing the best way to harvest the grass,” he said gruffly. “But if Crystal's here I'm sure everything is under control.”

Trojan's dark-brown coat still looked ruddy as he hurried away.

“Did I say the wrong thing?” asked Stardust.

“Well, Trojan really likes Crystal, but she barely notices him,” Mucker explained. “Don't say I told you that, though!”

Stardust giggled. “Poor Trojan, liking my bossy big sister!”

“I think we should get back to work,” Mucker said.

“He's right,” Pippa said. “The Grasslands are so much bigger than I expected. We're never going to get all the harvest in
and
look for horseshoes in one day.”

“It doesn't matter if the harvesting isn't finished today, but we do have to find the horseshoes quickly,” Stardust said thoughtfully. “Let's go down to the stream—we haven't searched that area yet. The grass is much shorter near the stream, and we can have our picnic lunch there too.”

“But I haven't finished looking here,” said Pippa.

“We can come back later,” Stardust replied.

“We should finish searching this area first,” Pippa said firmly. “We should search each area properly before we move on to the next one; otherwise we might miss something.”

A mixture of emotions flashed across Stardust's face, but at last she said, “You're right, Pippa. I'm so glad you're here to help—I'm definitely not as organized as you are. Let's search this part of the Grasslands thoroughly before lunch.”

Pippa and Stardust slowly moved away from their harvesting group and put their efforts into searching for the horseshoes.

“We shouldn't make it too obvious that we've stopped harvesting,” Stardust said quietly. “Remember that Mom and Dad want us to carry on as normal so we don't frighten anyone.”

Every now and then Pippa heard Cinders's voice across the field. She was even bossier than Crystal, ordering the younger ponies around and avoiding getting her own hooves dirty.

“Anyone would think
her
mom was the queen and not jusssst a baronesssss,” a tiny voice buzzed in her ear.

Pippa jumped with surprise. “Who's that?” she asked, searching around the field.

“Mmmmeeee,” hummed the voice.

Thinking she must be imagining things, Pippa tapped her ear with her hand.

“Careful! You nearly sssswatted meee.”

A large horsefly darted in front of Pippa and hovered by her nose. She blinked in amazement.

“You!” she exclaimed. “Was that you talking to me?”

“Yesssss. My name is Zimb. Weeee've been trying to talk to Princess Stardust all morning but she just won't lissssssten,” he said, waving his three friends over.

“We neeeeed help,” the horseflies said. “Pleasssse say that you'll help ussss or we're all going to be in great danger.”

Chapter 3

“Two ponies came to see us out here on the Grasslands,” explained Zimb, the largest of the horseflies. “They told us the Mistresssss had sent them on behalf of every pony in Chevalia because she wants to make peace with us and to be friendsss forever. They gave us two golden horseshoesss to prove they meant what they said. We were ssso excited. We've been trying to make friendsssss with the ponies for ages. But then we learned that the golden horseshoesss had been stolen and that this put Chevalia in serious danger. The Mistressssss tricked us.”

The Mistress! Pippa had no idea who she was, but each time they came close to finding a horseshoe her name came up. Pippa wondered whether this mysterious Mistress was behind the disappearance of all the horseshoes.

“Who is this Mistress?” she asked.

“You know, the hooded pony with the big cloak,” the horseflies said excitedly.

As Pippa was taking this in, the horseflies continued, “We wanted to return the horseshoesss to the king and queen but we can't find the place where we left them. The grassss has grown too long. Can you help ussss?”

Something clicked in Pippa's head.

“That's it!” she cried. “So there are definitely two horseshoes here in the Grasslands.”

She quickly ran to Stardust and filled her in on what the horseflies had told her, adding, “That's why the grass has grown so long—it's because of the magic from the two horseshoes.”

Stardust was amazed but she was even more surprised that Pippa had heard the horseflies talking.

“I had no idea that horseflies could speak!” she whinnied. “But then I've never really listened to their buzzing.”

As Stardust and Pippa set about finding the two horseshoes, they grew hungry and even more tired. When they stopped for a short break, Pippa had a thought.

“If the magic from the horseshoes has made the grass grow taller than normal, then they must be buried where the grass is longest.”

“Of course!” exclaimed Stardust. She nuzzled Pippa's arm. “You're so clever.”

“You're clever too,” Pippa said modestly.

Stardust turned pink with delight. Puffing out her chest, she said, “Let's go and ask Mucker where the longest grass is. He knows these fields like the back of his hoof!”

“Good idea,” said Pippa.

They found Mucker with a group of ponies close to the stream and asked him where the longest grass was.

“Over there,” Mucker said, pointing toward the water. “It's very muddy, though.”

“I don't mind,” said Pippa. She ran over to the stream and along the bank until she found an enormous clump of grass stretching high above her head. The ground was boggy and squishy. Pippa was glad her dress didn't have long sleeves as she sank her hands into the mud.

“Ew!” Stardust said, turning up her nose. “Careful, Pippa—you're getting mud everywhere!”

Pippa was too busy scooping up handfuls of mud to hear Stardust. It was only when a deep voice boomed out, “What are you doing?” that she stopped digging.

“King Firestar.” Pippa's face felt hot as she dropped him a curtsy. “We think two of the missing horseshoes might be buried here.”

“Hmmm.” The king looked at Stardust and he stared at her for a long time. “Let me tell you a story,” he said at last. “I was a farm pony once. My family—your grandparents, Stardust—owned a huge farm and everyone had to help out. I remember one Harvest Day in particular, when it had rained for weeks and the fields were even muddier than these are now.” King Firestar poked the ground with his hoof and watched as black mud oozed over it. “Harvesting in the mud was fun, but there was one little pony who didn't think so. She was a pretty palomino princess. At first she was very prim and proper, standing with her hooves neatly together and refusing to help. But after a while she saw how much fun everyone was having. Fed up with being left out, she joined in the harvesting, and to her surprise she loved it. Her beautiful coat was covered in mud by the time the harvest was done but the princess didn't care. She just jumped in the stream to clean herself off. I fell in love with that princess pony and I've loved her ever since.”

“Stop it! You're embarrassing me,” said another familiar voice. “Besides, you tell that story every year.”

“Your Majesty,” Pippa said, curtsying.

“How is the harvest coming along?” the queen asked, her magnificent palomino coat gleaming in the sunlight. “Is everyone working hard?”

Mucker stepped forward. “Yes, Your Majesty,” he said, too loyal to give Stardust away.