Twilight began to set upon the bountiful grassy plains of Candii’s unicorn ranch. Twelve fenced-in plots, six hay silos, and one stable all surrounded her idyllic suburban ranch mansion. Each of her thirty unicorn’s magic horns glimmered in the remaining sunlight as she brought them back from pasture.

The unicorns entered the stable and she recognized that she was at peace enjoying retirement as a Unicorn Rancher now many years after her last world tour with the internationally critically acclaimed band The Non-Traditional Key Gullz. It had been many years since their heyday when they rose from relative obscurity to one of the world’s greatest rock cover bands. Candii still found ways to use her bass guitar skills in everyday life such as when she untangled her unicorn manes with freaky fast fingers or shoveled hay into their stalls at a pace that could only be described as rhythmically efficient.

She was ready to close the stall doors, but not before she tucked each unicorn in for the night. She gave each one a gentle pet and a quick kiss on the head.

“Oh dear Charlie, dear Phineas, dear Kevin, and dear Cookie. My good Glitter, good Rainbow, good Twinkle, and good Shimmer. Sleep tight my Dazzle, my Princess, my Spirit, and my Glitzy. Dream well ole Lovely, ole Rosy, ole Sunshine, and ole Starry.”

“Be still sweet Happy, sweet Bright, sweet Bella, and sweet Joy. Rest your heads sleepy Delightful, sleepy Elegant, sleepy Charming, sleepy Prism, and sleepy Vixen. Dance in dream land my galloping Amazing, galloping Silly, galloping Fancy, and galloping Starlight.”

And, of course, there was her dearest of all the unicorns, the beautiful royal purple equine. “Oh Sparkles, leader of my team of unicorns. Thank you for trusting me and helping the other unicorns to do the same.”

Candii glanced back at her team as she neared the stable door. She wept grand tears of pure elation. “I just love you all so much!”

She was known for her intense feelings about everything. She had a true, all-embracing empathetic connection to her unicorns that could not be measured, analyzed, or explained by science. Thad Penguino had once tried. It could just not be quantified.

The unicorns responded in similar neighing and kicking theatrics as the love in the room rose to a joyous limit. Candii stepped out, wiping away her tears of joy, and said good night while she closed the stable doors.

“Unicorns are my life, gosh dog it!” Candii said while fist pumping like a fiend. How lucky she was to have an entire ranch to herself filled with her childhood dream animals. Few little girls ever grew up to be who they dreamed in this shifty, high-speed world where those in power were always looking to exploit the young and talented. She was lucky to find an honest group early in her career that she grew to call her family and achieved their wildest dreams together. Yet, there were many others who were not as fortunate and she did not know what to do about that. What could she do?

While pondering this familiar point of guilt, the presence of pure musical rock brushing past her cheek startled her. Normally such a feeling would elicit a shout of, “Heck yeah!”, but something was wrong. This wind was filled with malice!

Swirling clouds drew her eyes above. The sky turned dreary. An inverse tornado opened a dizzying funnel into the sky and out of its center descended a fabulous being clad in a shimmering black cape and skirt, menacing steel corset, and surfing atop a flaming xylophone. Her full, luscious black hair flowed as if orchestrated by magical forces and her thrilling knee-high boots looked fierce and powerful. This woman flew down and hovered above Candii.

“Behold! It is I, Morgana Malevolent, grand queen and wizard of the rock heavens! Stand back as I take what I want!”

Morgana extended her hand toward the sky. A pair of xylophone mallets flashed into existence between her fingers. With a deft hand, she played a haunting tune on her floating xylophone. The roof of the stable lifted into the air and hurtled into the vortex above.

Rays of colorful light rose from inside the stable and into the vortex. Candii heard her unicorns as they neighed in fright. She swung the door open. To her horror, she saw the brilliant wispy light was emanating from her unicorn’s horns. Their colors drained from their coats and their sparkles faded. Their magic was being siphoned.

Candii ran toward Starry and clasped her mane. The green shine turned into gray within her palm. “What is happening?” she cried.

Morgana cackled hovering above the ranch. ”I have taken the magic of your unicorns to power my evil wizarding ways. Thank you for caring for these unicorns so remarkably well. Their magic is strong! Now, if you could please stop screaming, I need to concentrate as I encase each unicorn’s magic into a powerful pearl casing for safe keeping.”

Further down the line, Sparkles neighed frantically and kicked open his stall door. He galloped through the stable and past Candii as she hopped on his back. They burst out onto the yard Sparkles reared with defiance. Candii held on with fright and patted Sparkles desperately.

She pointed up above at the evil queen. “Jump as high as you ever have toward that witch! I’ll knock that magical xylophone right out of the sky!”

Sparkles leapt majestically into the air but a thick stream of magic flowed out of his body and into the vortex. He neighed madly being unable to muster enough remaining magic to reach her. Together they crashed onto the ground and Candii tumbled through the grass.

Morgana crowed as she fled into the vortex. “You’ll never catch me or see your precious unicorn’s magic again! All hail the Land of Rock, suckers!” She disappeared into the vortex as it shrank into oblivion. The wind stopped roaring, the sun emerged again, and the colors of nature returned to their natural luster. All except for her gray, staggering unicorns.

Candii struggled to her feet. Her mind was swirling and her vision was blinded with rage. She scanned the sky but found no trace of the magical portal. She flung open the stable door and stood before her team. They now lacked their vibrancy and brilliance.

She called to them with fire and brimstone upon her tongue. “My unicorns, mark my words! I will get your magic back and bring justice to our ranch!”

She hurried to her home and packed her bags. From inside her ancient tour trunk, she unfurled a large Non-Traditional Key Gullz World Tour poster from her days far gone as a rock music legend. A sprawling tour schedule spanned the bottom section. She ran her finger slowly over all the locations as she knew she had heard of this place, the Land of Rock, before.

“Eureka!” After an exhaustive search, she learned the Land of Rock was located on the Continent of the Jam Gods. The band briefly toured on that island during their earliest days. The Land of Rock was unique among the other kingdom and provinces on the continent in that it had no uniting government, just a collection of free cities and leaders. She recalled the wildness in the streets, the electrified crowds in the night clubs, and the extreme terrain that made it a lawless place where everyone was free to rock out to the fullest. It was a musical paradise.

Candii rushed into her magical artifacts room and retrieved an old and fraying map of the Continent. She spun her unicorn magic powered world globe and saw that a direct flight to the Land of Rock was all but impossible due to the enchanted weather effects surrounding its oceans. She would need to charter a boat to its shores.

She changed out of her grungy farmhand clothes into her signature not-pants hot pants and tiny black tank top. Before rushing out of her home, from which she had no idea when she would return to, she grabbed her bass guitar. She knew if she were to step foot on the Land of Rock once again that she would need to prove herself in the most rocking way.