The Enchanted Woods
Hope Gets Lost

The birds twittered in the willow tree by Hope's cave. A rabbit sat on top of the small hill that the cave was hollowed in. Inside the cave, Hope was still asleep. "Tweet!" A bird called Blueberry sang loudly. Hope opened her eyes and yawned. She got up and said," I wonder what I should do today." She had a bowl of grain and stepped out into the sunshine. "What a beautiful day!" Hope exclaimed. "It's a perfect day to go exploring with my new friends." With this happy thought in mind, Hope galloped to the Fountain of Luck. "Here you are!" cried Sugar, who was dangling her feet in the cold water. "Mistie said we could visit her today." Hope looked around for the light blue cloud. "Where is Mistie?" she asked. "Out looking for you," Sugar replied. "But she should be back soon." Mistie floated into view. "Hope's not in her cave!" she called. "What should we do?" Hope stepped foward and said," Can't we wait to go to your home?" Mistie glared at her. "The rainbow is extra pretty today," she commented coldly. "Going to my home will be a great thing to do on a lovely day like this." "But I had other plans," Hope said icily. "Change them!" Mistie retorted angrily. Hope said," No!" "Well then. . ." Mistie began, but Sugar interrupted," Don't fight. Let's hear what Hope has to say." "Thank you, Sugar," Hope said. "I thought we could explore the Enchanted Woods together today." Sugar looked at Hope, then at Mistie, then back at Hope. "I'm sorry, Hope," she finally said. "I do want to see Mistie's home in the rainbow. Some other time, all right?" Hope nodded glumly and watched them fly off together. "Fine," she said. "I'll go by myself." She turned and trotted into the woods. After a while, Hope was in a part of the woods she didn't know. She slowed down and looked around. The trees' leaves were tangled and Hope could hardly see the sky. She slowly made her way to a large clearing. Stretching out, Hope trotted to the center of the clearing. When she was smack in the middle of it, a large cage dropped over her. A bar hit her head and she passed out. When Hope woke up, she was in a cave. Dead grass was sewn together to make a curtain for the mouth. More dead grass heaped in a corner made a bed. A gigantic pot hung over a fire. A pile of bones lay in another corner, making Hope feel uneasy. She tried to walk to the entrance, but found that she couldn't move. Looking down, she saw that her legs were chained to the wall. Suddenly a rumbling filled the air and the sound of approaching footsteps reached Hope's ears. She whinnied in fright and cowered against the wall. Smoke filled the cave as a dragon entered. He snarled at Hope and dropped two dead rabbits into the pot. Hope got a bad feeling and asked cautiously," Who are you and what are you going to do with me?" The dragon sneered and answered," I am Fireball and I'm going cook and eat you." Hope shrank back as the dragon reached for her. She mustered up the little unicorn magic that she had and put out the fire. Unicorns didn't have much magic in their horns. "If you're going to cook me, you should have a fire," Hope pointed out, gesturing towards what once was fire. Fireball glanced at the ex-fire and smoke came pouring out of his ears. As he went to attend to the fire, Hope sighed in relief. She was safe for a while, at least! Mistie and Sugar came back from the rainbow earlt on account of Mistie feeling guilty about the arguement with Hope. "You should apologize to her," suggested Sugar. Mistie nodded. "I guess you're right," she agreed. "Come on!" cried Sugar. "Let's go and find her!" The two flew around the Enchanted Woods, searching for the for the unicorn. Then Sugar spotted a clearing with hoof prints. They went down and immediately saw the marks the cage had made on the ground. The friend's looked at each other. "Hope's in trouble!" Mistie exclaimed. They followed the prints that the cage made while it was being dragged until they reached a cave. Peeking inside, they saw Hope chained to a wall and a dragon leaning over a fire. "Okay," said Sugar. "If we two pool our magic, we should be able to make the dragon fall asleep." They tried it instantly. Seconds later, Mistie peered into the cave and said," All right. He's asleep." They rushed over to Hope. "Sugar!" Hope cried with joy. "Mistie! You're here! Did you make that horrible dragon fall asleep?" Sugar nodded as she unlocked the chains. As soon as Hope was free, the threesome went back to the Fountain of Luck, leaving the sleeping dragon.

Copyright 1997 by Chantessy