Hopeful Hooves: A Unicorn Friendship Tale

CHAPTER ELEVEN: THE THREE

                                                                           Tropical Rainforests of India

The ride along the Brahmaputra was not an easy ride. There were crocodiles alongside the river, but when Charity touched them with her light blue horn, they swam away. But soon they came to the end of the river, and they were in India.

"Charity, I am so glad that we are here!" Aurora said with happiness. "Soon you'll meet my grandmother, and I am sure you'll like her."

"Is she funny like you?" Charity asked.

"Yes!"

"Is she smart?"

"Yes!"

"Will she accept me?"

"No doubt about it!"

"I can't wait to stay with your grandmother once we get to the mountains. Ugh, I just want to be leave here where there are so many bugs," Charity mumbled, hitting a mosquito that landed on her light blue back with her purple tail. "It's easy when you have a tail to swat the flies, or skin to shake them off." Every equine, including the unicorn, has skin that shakes when a fly lands on it. When the horse's skin shakes, the flies come off.

"How come so many bugs aren't coming to that one over there?" Aurora asked, pointing her horn to the striped equine, who happened to be Melody, in the distance.

Then all three of them screamed. Charity neighed loudly like a Horse, Melody whinnied with a Zebra tone, and Aurora did likewise in Kiang, although she had no clue on why everyone else was shouting.

"Why is she screaming crazily? And that blue light, oh, it is hurting my eyes," Charity moaned, covering her eyes.

"It can't be you!" Melody whimpered, glowing a neon blue. "Not the Princess from the Northeast! Only the worst things come out from there!"

Charity, upon hearing what Melody said, cooled down and said calmly, "Not everything that comes from the Northeast are bad. There are few good things and good horses. My parents, they are wonderful people, and I am not here to harm you. I am looking for my parents."

Melody, taking deep breaths, answered shakily, "First, I-I am really sorry for that light. Whenever I am stressed, I, um, glow bright colors. It's my body's cortisol that helps me defend myself. Second, whatever happened to your parents?"

Charity's eyes filled with tears. "My parents—they were kidnapped. I am looking for them, I don't know where they are."

The Zunicorn Princess felt her eyes doing the same. "I'm so sorry! I know how it feels, my mother was also taken away from me when I was one years old. I am also looking for her."

The alicorn replied, "Maybe we could help you do this."

Out of nowhere Aurora asked, "So what keeps the bugs from landing on you so often."

Melody chuckled from the Kiangicorn's randomness. "That I believe is the reason that Zebras have stripes, because bugs do not like stripes. But I am not a pure Zebra; my mother was a Zebra while my father was a Equinicorn. People call me a Zebracorn, but I prefer to be called a Zunicorn." Remembering her manners, she added, "Pardon me for not introducing myself. I am Princess Melody from the Southwest Unicorn Island."

After Charity and Aurora introduced themselves, the three decided that they should work together to find the parents and to solve Charity's paper. Charity was delighted to add another friend, Aurora was excited for a new adventure with two besties, and Melody was pleased that she hand found a herd.