A Special Surprise Read Online Free Page A

that hung from the ceiling like thick, grey curtains. They found the kitchen, a vast room with a huge stone fireplace. There was a stone feeding trough draped with a few wizened carrots and another for water.
    ‘ Eeew ! I wouldn’t drink from that,’ said Stardust.
    They carried on until they reached almost the end of the building. Pippa had a hard time pulling the ivy from the window slit. She was about to give up and go round to the back of the castle when she heard a noise. She put a finger to her lips to warn Stardust. With extra care Pippa pulled back the ivy. A familiar voice drifted through the air.
    ‘Volcanica was mine . . . stole it from me . . . if I can’t have it . . . so you see . . . pony world . . . here . . . mine . . . all MINE!’
    Pippa stared at Stardust. ‘She’s power crazy. Listen to her, mumbling to herself.’
    ‘What did she mean by “pony world”?’ asked Stardust.
    ‘I don’t know.’ Pippa pushed her face right up against the window opening. It was dark inside and it took her eyes a while to adjust. A sour smell drifted towards her. Pippa’s throat constricted. She swallowed hard, choking back the cough that threatened to give her away.
    ‘Can you see anything?’ hissed Stardust.
    Pippa’s eyes swept the room. It was set up as a laboratory. A complicated piece of glassware, supported with a metal stand and clamps, sat over a small fire. A vile yellow liquid bubbled inside a round bottomed flask. Clouds of smoke billowed from the opening and over to the window slit. Pippa turned her head away, took a deep breath of fresh air then looked through the window again. Her pulse raced as she spotted Divine, dressed in her long dark cloak, leaning over a sturdy oak table. Her lips were moving and suddenly Pippa realised she wasn’t talking to herself after all.
     

     
    ‘No!’ she gasped. ‘It can’t be.’
    ‘What?’ asked Stardust, bumping Pippa as she tried to look.
    Pippa stepped to the side. ‘Mini ponies,’ she breathed. ‘On the table. They look like . . . but that’s impossible.’ She rubbed her eyes with her fists then stared again. ‘Oh no! It’s worse than we thought. That tiny, white pony is Snowdrop.’ She stared at the ponies. They were the same size as the animals in her brother’s farmyard set. ‘Divine has shrunk all the riding school ponies.’
    ‘No way!’ exclaimed Stardust. She stared into the room. Divine stood over the table. Her eyes gleamed with madness as she talked to the tiny ponies huddled together next to a battered satchel. ‘How did she get to the human world? And why would she steal the riding school ponies? What’s she up to?’
    Pippa pulled away from the window. Stardust followed and they crept back to the front of the house where Divine wouldn’t hear them.
    ‘Maybe she followed you,’ Pippa said.
     

     
    ‘But she’d have needed wings to fly after me,’ said Stardust thoughtfully. ‘What do we do now?’
    ‘Confront her,’ Pippa said, boldly, even though she was trembling at the idea.
    A fearful look crossed Stardust’s face then she drew herself up and said bravely, ‘Let’s do it.’
    The front door was locked. In frustration Pippa shoved her shoulder against it but it didn’t even budge.
    ‘We’ll have to climb through a window,’ she said.
    Pippa found one with loose bricks around the opening. With Stardust’s help she prised the bricks away until the window was large enough for her to climb through. Pippa was trembling as she ran along the dusty corridor to open the front door for Stardust.
    ‘Thanks,’ whispered Stardust as the door swung open.
    They crept through the castle, stepping carefully to avoid the rubble littering the floor. A rat scurried across their path and Stardust reared up.
    ‘ Eeek ! I hate rats,’ she snorted.
    ‘I don’t like spiders,’ Pippa said, sympathetically.
    ‘Don’t look up then,’ said Stardust.
    Pippa couldn’t help it and only just stopped herself from screaming