Read Dreams Come True for Free Online Page A

cried, and

    Twilight whinnied in agreement.
    Just then Mr Cassidy reached them. ‘Mel! Oh my goodness,’ he said, his breath coming in short gasps. ‘I thought you weren’t going to get out. What were you doing in the hay-barn?’
    ‘Rescuing Midnight,’ Mel stammered.
    ‘But I told you not to leave the barn,’ Mr Cassidy said, pulling her into his arms and kissing her. ‘I’m just so glad you’re safe.’
    ‘And it’s all because of Shadow,’ Mel said, breaking free and hugging the dapple-grey pony. ‘Wasn’t he wonderful, Dad?’
    Mr Cassidy smiled at Shadow. ‘The best.’
    Shadow whickered proudly, happiness lighting up his dark eyes.
    As the fire crew arrived and began to put out the fire, Mr Cassidy helped the girls make up a special feed of warm bran, carrots and molasses for Shadow and Twilight. Once the two ponies were dry and bedded down in two stalls, Lauren and Mel went inside.
    ‘I can hardly move I feel so tired,’ Mel said, as she and Lauren kicked off their boots by the back door.
    ‘Me too,’ Lauren agreed.
    Mrs Cassidy was waiting for them. She was upset with Mel for taking such a risk but she was so relieved that both girls were safe that she made them enormous mugs of hot chocolate with marshmallows floating on top.
    As Lauren looked out of the kitchen to where the fire crew was saying goodbye to Mr Cassidy, she breathed a sigh of relief. Luckily the flames hadn’t spread to the barn, so Mr Cassidy’s hay was OK.
    In fact , Lauren thought, everything has turned out OK . She and Mel and both horses were safe. Midnight, the kitten, had been reunited with Sparkle and Mel had made the little family a new bed in the stall next to Shadow.
    Lauren shivered as she realized that it could have all been so different. If it hadn’t been for Shadow’s bravery, she didn’t like to think what might have happened. She remembered the way he had hesitated as he’d approached the log. How had he suddenly found the courage that he needed to jump it?
    That night, when Lauren turned Twilight into a unicorn, she asked him if he knew how Shadow had found the courage to jump.
    ‘No, I don’t,’ Twilight admitted. ‘Shall we go and visit him to find out?’
    Lauren mounted and, with a kick of Twilight’s back legs, they rose into the night sky.
    Shadow was grazing near the bottom of his moonlit paddock. Lauren jumped off Twilight’s back and ran over to him. ‘You were amazing today, Shadow,’ she said, as he whinnied a greeting. ‘I didn’t think you were going to do it but you were so brave. What made you able to jump?’
    Shadow neighed.
    ‘He says that when the lightning flashed it made me look like a unicorn,’ Twilight translated for Lauren. ‘He realized that if he was going to save Mel, he had to be as brave as he was the other night when my horn touched him – as brave as a unicorn.’
    Lauren nodded, remembering the look that had come into Shadow’s eyes as the lightning had shone on Twilight’s coat. It all made sense. She looked at the dapple-grey pony. ‘Well, you were wonderful, Shadow, and, best of all, now that you’ve jumped that great big log, the jumps at Pony Club will seem tiny. You’ll be able to jump them easily.’
    Shadow snorted doubtfully.
    ‘He doesn’t think so,’ Twilight interpreted. ‘He says that he could only jump the log because he had to.’
    Lauren frowned. ‘But Twilight wasn’t a unicorn when you jumped that log, Shadow. You jumped that log because you were brave.’
    Twilight whickered in agreement.
    Shadow stared at Lauren as if she’d said something totally astonishing.
    ‘You saved Mel’s life, Shadow,’ Lauren said softly. ‘If you can do that, you can do anything.’
    A new look of confidence began to shine in Shadow’s eyes.
    Lauren climbed on to Twilight’s back. ‘We’d better go,’ she said. ‘Goodnight, Shadow.’
    Shadow whinnied proudly and tossed his mane as Lauren rode Twilight off into the night.
    On Saturday