Chapter One: Doc Gives His Thanks

It was warm. The golden sun shone brightly on the
multicolored grass of the small Alnilam meadow. Two
figures slowly walked hand-in-hand toward edge, where
tri-colored trees marked the start of the forest.

“This is…incredible!” commented one of them, roving his
liquid-chocolate eyes all around and wishing he had about
eight more in order to take in everything at once. “What
makes the sky lavender?”

The second shrugged her shoulders, smiling. “Magic. You
get a lot of it when the majority of the population is, you
know, what they are.” Her wings fluttered as a warm
breeze blew past them, carrying a scent of unfamiliar
flowers. She pointed. “There he is, Doc.”

Standing at the border of the meadow and forest stood
something rarely – if ever – seen by a human: a unicorn.

He was a tall stallion, standing an easy 18 hands high from
cloven hooves to blue-furred withers, an equivalent of 6
feet tall, just an inch shorter than Doc himself. His entire
body was different shades of blue, and his long horn
glowed with an inner light and power. Although he looked
quite old – even for a unicorn, a species that is very long-
lived – his bright blue eyes held an undying, youthful
sparkle.

“Great Scott,” Doc whispered, in awe. “Lisa, that’s a
unicorn!”

The blue stallion whickered, sounding like he was
chuckling, and made a little bow. He said, speaking in
perfect English, “Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Dr.
Brown.” His long beard quivered as he spoke.

Doc’s dark eyes widened. Lisa had to laugh. “Yep,” she
said. “Almost all of ’em know a lot of languages, human
English being one of them.” She reached out her hand and
stroked the unicorn’s velvety nose, then gently elbowed
Doc in the side. “This is Aislin. He’s the one who made this
possible.”

The scientist hesitated for the briefest moment, then
mimicked Lisa in patting Aislin’s nose. The stallion neighed
softly in appreciation.

The barest of whispers escaped Doc’s lips as he squeezed
Lisa’s hand with his free one. “Thank you…thank you for
bringing her back to me.”

Aislin smiled a unicorn smile. “You’re welcome.”

He shut his eyes and Alnilam wavered and disappeared.

End chapter one.

Back *~*~* Chapter Two