Sam’s body was stiff as regained consciousness. So stiff, in fact, that she couldn’t move a muscle. It felt like a weight was on her chest. She couldn’t move the hair out of her face to see where she was.

Hooved footsteps closed in and goosebumps rippled against her skin. She was afraid that the Author had failed and the Nightmares would be after her. Her heart was about to burst out of her chest when the footsteps stopped right next to her.

“Is she dead?” The figure asked.

Whatever it was the creature had breath that reminded Sam of a flower field.

“No, I don’t think so.” A sweet, feminine voice answered. Sam felt a large mass press against her chest. “Humans breathe slower than we do, she must be sleeping.”

“Where could she have come from? Don’t the humans usually get transported straight to the castle?”

“I’m not sure. Let’s wake her up and see what she has to say.”

A long, wet muscle lapped across Sam’s face. Her body instantly felt revived. Sat up and had to rub her eyes because she didn’t believe what was standing in front of her; the two voices belonged to a pair of unicorns!

The pair were about seven feet tall with long flowing manes; each with a horn between their ears.

The one standing to her left, who was the first to speak, had golden-brown fur that turned white above his hooves. He had a chocolate colored mane and tail and had soft, almond eyes. His horn was silver-gray and was outlined with a faint golden light.

The unicorn to her right had lilac fur that covered her entire body. She had a frost-colored mane and tail and had deep, violet eyes. Her horn was a smidge smaller than her friends and was pink, almost white, in color with a faint periwinkle light outlining it.

“See, she's not dead!” The brown one said. They stepped closer.

The feeling in her legs returned so she lifted herself and stood before them. She was amazed to be in with such magnificent creatures and it must have shown because the light-haired unicorn chuckled.

“You must’ve not seen a unicorn before. My name is Jasmine. What’s yours?”

“My name is Sam. This is certainly my time seeing a unicorn! It’s nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you as well.” She pointed her head towards the other unicorn.

“This is my brother Oolong.”

“Nice to meet you.” Oolong said with a bow.

“How did you end up here?” Jasmine asked.

Sam had realized that she was so distracted by the unicorns that she didn’t know where she was. She looked around and was in a forest. The trees looked a little funny though for they didn’t have normal leaves and their trunks were green.

She almost palmed her forehead when she came to the conclusion that they weren’t trees- they were giant pieces of broccoli!

“Where exactly is here?”

“This is Broco Forest. The forest at the base of Rock Candy Mountain. We are crossing through to meet our king for a meeting of the kingdoms. Why don’t you come with us and tell us your story.”

Sam nodded in agreement and the unicorns led her through the rest of the forest. They spent time walking the base of Rock Candy Mountain, which sparkled in the twilt glow of the setting sun. She told them her story. She told of the Author and how the castle fell and how she longed to reunite with her brother.

“That’s a sad tale,” Jasmine remarked. “You need to tell the king about this. Maybe he could even help you get home.”

As they chatted, a figure of a man came walking past them. The figure was covered in bandanas and patched denim. He carried a sleeping bag on his back and had scraggly hair and beard that covered his entire face. As the figured passed them he flashed a wide smile from behind his hair and Sam saw that he had diamonds for teeth.

Sam gasped.

“That strange figure is back. He shows up at random times and walks around the mountain a few times before disappearing for a while. He’s always muttering something about finding crystal water; we try to leave him be.”

Sam shrugged her shoulders and they continued on. On the other side of the mountain stood a wooden entrance sign with a symbol of a crown made from two triangles. As they passed underneath the sign there was a strip of flowers of various colors. Silver streaks of wind occasionally appeared, picking up a rainbow of flower petals and sending them sailing across the field.

They followed the flower path as it winded across the rolling fields. Slowly the flowers vanished and the grass grew higher and higher until Sam could no longer see the unicorns. She rushed in the direction she believed they were and shot out of the grass like a rocket. She ran right into the side of Oolong and fell on her bottom.

“It’s a good thing you didn’t do that in front of the king.” Oolong grunted.

Sam picked herself up and the three of them walked towards the group of creatures in the meeting. They were in an area boxed by four stones of different shapes and sizes. At the center was a ruby table, pressed deep in the ground.

Around the crystal stood two unicorns, a cat standing on its hind legs and -Sam couldn't couldn't believe it when she saw it- two living pieces of pizza.

“That's Mungo of the Cat Kingdom.” Jasmine told Sam whilst nodding toward him. The tabby was sleek and stood proudly. He had black fur on most of his body save for the white fur that covered his paws and the tip of his tail. He had a brown belt around his waist that housed a royal purple scabbard with the insignia of a golden lion.

“Usually their king is with him.” Jasmine continued. “I wonder why he's not. It is known that sometimes the king comes and goes as he wishes, but he does show up to the important meetings.”

Nodding to the pizzas she said, “That is King Topping and his Queen, Sicilia. They lord over the Food Kingdom, from which we just came. They're a silly bunch and quite over-dramatic at times, but they are just as important as we are so we treat them as such.”

Topping and Sicilia were covered with cheese and green peppers and had large animated eyes and black squiggly arms and legs, much like one would expect of a cartoon character. Topping was speaking eccentrically, flailing his arms about until red pepper flake tears came out of his eyes.

“That's our King and Queen.” Jasmine pointed out. “Earl and Lady Grey. They rule over the entirety of the Mythical Realm and weigh in on issues concerning other kingdoms.”

Earl Grey was a unicorn true to his name; his fur was all grey except for a little bit of white just above his hooves. His mane, a lighter shade of grey with faint white tips. His horn, longer than Jasmine's and Oolongs, was made of transparent crystal with golden leaves that floated around it.

Lady Grey was a pure white unicorn. Her mane was also white with orange tips. Her horn was like Earl Greys with the exception of the gold leaves. Instead, her horn emitted faint rays of rainbow light. Both unicorns had a grand pair of fluffy, white wings. Earl appeared to be doing his best trying to calm King Topping

“The Mermaids used to attend, but I haven’t seen them in a long time. The Author used to attend as well, while the castle was still on the ground.” Jasmine told Sam.

“The castle used to be on the ground?!” Sam exclaimed. “What happened?”

“A long, long time ago when children came to visit, they were free to explore all the kingdoms of this realm. It was quite a time.

Then a monster called Insomnia came and ruined everything. Insomnia was eventually defeated but the Author still feared for children’s safety. Him and his brother used their magic to lift the castle high into the air. The Mermaids filled the crater with water and took over the habitation of the lake. The Author created magical boats to ferry the children safely straight to the castle.

With all that to say, you are the first child we have seen in quite awhile.”

“Oh, wow. I’m sorry.” Sam hung her head.

“It’s alright. It was in the name of safety and we all understand that. I’m glad the first child we met was as nice as you are.”

Sam blushed. She and Jasmine had been too wrapped up in their conversation to notice that the meeting had been stopped and all eyes were now on them. Sam blushed again.

“Are we interrupting?” Early grey asked sternly, but gentle. He smiled as Jasmine and Oolong bowed. They introduced Sam and she repeated her tale once again. Topping and Sicilia put on long, dramatic, sad faces forcing out paprika tears.

“This is grave news indeed. With the Author gone there may not be any hope to stop the Nightmares from taking over. We must all return to our kingdoms and warn our people. Oolong and Jasmine, please find a way to get in contact with the Mermaids and tell them to meet me by the Great Pool in our kingdom.” Earl Gray commanded.

The two unicorns nodded, bowed and took off to the west.

“We will do all that we can.” Topping choked. The two pizzas left and headed east back to their kingdom

As Earl Grey was about to address Mungo a leopard-spotted cat huffed and puffed as he ran towards the group. The cat wore a green pointed hat with a blue feather in it.

“My lord,” He bowed to the unicorn. “Due to the situation at hand, your presence has been requested by King Nyal.”

A small flame was lit inside of Earl Grey’s eyes. Sam thought it was strange that such a majestic creature could hold an emotion like anger. The unicorn gave a snort.

“Is that fat cat still posing as your king?” He scolded. “I can not wait for Lionheart to return and give that myopic feline what for.” He snorted once more and dug his hooves into the ground, kicking up dirt.

“Very well. I will go to see him.” He turned to his wife.

“Alert the mythical denizens and get them to safety. Stay hidden until you hear from me again.” He nuzzled his nose into her neck affectionately.

There was a pain in Sam’s chest as she thought of her mom and dad. Then Lady Grey took off in a gallop, unfurled her wings and took off into the sky. It was a beautiful sight to behold.

“Sam.” The unicorn broke from her stupor.

“Come with me. I'll keep you safe until we can figure out what to do with you. Here, climb onto my back.”

Sam did as she was told. Her heart jumped with excitement. She was getting to not only ride a unicorn, but the king of the unicorns!

“We will meet you there. Please aid and warn anyone you meet on the way back. Until then, godspeed.” He said to Mungo and the other cat.

Earl Grey’s wings wiggled beneath Sam and she scooted forward so that they could be released. It was a sight watching them spread to their fullest span. The unicorn galloped west Sam held on tightly to Earl Grey’s neck as they took flight.