The Chronicles of the Unicorn Princess
Chapter 2
by Katagillian
On midsummer eve Astrellia slipped away from the castle as quietly as she could. He hooves made small clicking sounds on the cobbles in the courtyard and she flinched, sure she would be caught. But the entire royal household was busy with preparations for the midsummer feast on the morrow.
The journey to the center of the forest did not take long. Being magical herself, the paths were easy to find. A human attempting the same would take years to travel the same route. Astrellia hardly noticed the journey, thinking deeply on what must be done to make her wish come true.
First she would have to find the fairy queen. That part shouldn't be hard because she was known to live under a golden rock. Obviously the rock would be part of the fairy circle in the center of the forest. Astrellia had no doubts as to her ability to pry the rock out of the ground. After all, unicorns were very strong.
Second she would have to offer the fairy something to work the magic. She had thought long and hard about this and finally had come to the conclusion that it would be best to bring many treasures from the castle. That way the fairy could take her pick.
Third, she would have to find her way out of the forest once she was human. The also required much thought. She was well aware how the magics of the forest would work against a mortal and so had finally made a complete map of the forest so that she wouldn't get lost on her way.
It didn't take long at all before she arrived at the meadow. It looked very eerie in the moonlight. A light fog hovered over the grass giving everything a very ghostly appearance. She frowned briefly, wondering if this was going to make it harder to find the stone. She swished her tail angrily and tossed her head. Well, if she couldn't find it, then that would be the end of it. But while she was here, she knew it would be best to try. So she cautiously stepped forward.
The long grass tugged at her coat, making her skin twitch. This felt unnatural, like fingers struggling to grasp her and hold her back. Her ears flattened against her head, she hesitated. She wondered how much she wanted to do what she came to do. But she could almost hear the music of the minstrel in the wind. The fog before her seemed to form his face, and so, she moved on.
She almost tripped on the golden stone. Rearing back, she cried out in alarm as the stone rose out of the earth on it's own accord. A yawning pit opened at her feet. She tried to back up, but suddenly there was no room. Her hooves slid in the damp earth and with a scream, she fell into the hole.