Chapter One: A New Magical Adventure It was a normal day in Unicornia. Well, as "normal" as it ever gets in a city where you can soar through the skies on unicorns, eat flying cupcakes, and go to school at the Unicornia Academy of Magic. Let's try again. It was a magically normal day! This meant Pippa, Sara, and Claudia had homework. Did you know that even magical homework can be a bit boring sometimes? It's true! Unless, of course, you do it with your best friends. That makes EVERYTHING more fun. That day they'd arranged to do their homework at Pippa's house because they had the place to themselves. Pippa's grandma was working late at the unicorn shelter, and her parents were away from Unicornia on a secret mission.

You might imagine this means that Pippa's parents were top secret spies or something, but in fact they were . Unicorn Rescuers! Yes, really! They worked for the Unicorn Rescue Unit, where their job was to search for lost unicorns around the world and bring them back to Unicornia. Their rescue missions were incredible! Could there be a cooler job? Pippa's dream was to become a Unicorn Rescuer herself. But in order to do that, she'd need to get into the Academy of Unicorn Rescuers when she was older, which meant studying really hard to show that she knew absolutely all there was to know about unicorns. And it was never too early to start, so Claudia and Sara were helping her review with a quick-fire unicorn quiz! Before they could check the answers in The Unicorn Encyclopedia , a flock of multicolored butterflies fluttered in through the window. Magical Messenger Butterflies! It was their job to deliver the mail in Unicornia. And sure enough, they were carrying a letter! But who was it for? "Thank you!" Pippa said as they dropped the envelope into her hand. As soon as she caught it, Pippa realized it was no ordinary letter.

For one thing, the envelope was sealed with the official stamp of the Unicorn Rescue Unit of Unicornia, and for another, it had the word URGENT written on it in big, bold capital letters. "The letter must be for your parents. When do they get back?" Claudia asked. "I don't know." Pippa shrugged. "Their mission's taking longer than expected and there's no way of contacting them." "Then we'd better open it, don't you think?" Sara asked. "I'm not sure .

" Pippa murmured. "It looks urgent!" said Claudia. It did look urgent. Pippa opened the envelope and took out the letter. The three friends read it in silence--a lot more focused than they had been when they were studying! The friends all looked at one another. "There's a unicorn in danger, and my parents aren't here to help!" Pippa exclaimed. "But someone has to rescue him!" said Claudia. "It isn't as simple as that--it's a Level 12 mission," Pippa replied.

"And what does that mean?" "Basically, that it's really dangerous and difficult." The girls looked at one another again. It was risky, maybe too risky, but there was nobody else around to rescue the unicorn. No one except them. "Maybe we should accept the mission?" Sara suggested. "Oh, my parents will be madder than a hippo in a tub of glitter glue," said Pippa. "It's not like we've even trained at the Academy of Unicorn Rescuers. But I think we have to do it.

Don't you?" "Lost unicorn, here we come!" exclaimed Sara. 3, 2, 1 .Mission accepted! All they needed to do was get to Mermaid Land and rescue the unicorn. The only question was . how?.