Mandy And The Twisted Tale

• Sandani Vithanage, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2007

Once there was a girl called Mandy who liked riding her horse called Dandy. One day while riding Dandy, Mandy saw a luminous white fairy with a pink tiara. Filled with curiosity and amazement she decided to follow it. While flying the fairy had been sprinkling fairy dust wherever she flew, some of this fairy dust had fallen on Dandy. Mandy was so delighted that she wished her unicorn would fly after the pretty fairy.
Without warning her, Dandy spread his wings and flew after the fairy. They followed the fairy over the mountains, beyond the sea and into a mysterious hole in the clouds. They were flying above a soft white feathery cloud, but as soon as Dandy landed………it turned into a daunting black cloud. The dazzling fairy city in the distance turned into a terrifying gloomy castle. As she was staring at the dark castle in shock, somebody grabbed her from behind. She screamed in horror. The person turned her around to face her. It turned out to be the fairy that Mandy had been following. As she looked at it, the fairy turned into a vile witch.
The witch dragged her in through the gates and into the castle. Once inside she was towed down a dark stinking stairway and pushed into a dark cell which gave a reverberating sound when the witch locked it. While she stood there she looked around and tried to get her bearings but couldn’t figure out where she was. It was then that she realised that Dandy was gone. While she was thinking she saw out of the corner of her eye, a skulking figure crouched in the shadows outside the bars of her cell. She called out but the person got startled and fled up the stairs.
The next day Mandy woke up to an undertone, she opened her eyes and walked to the front, to find the person she had seen last night was standing outside her cell. The person said that his name was Andy and that he was here to help her. Andy opened the door with the key that was hung on the wall, led her down a passage and out into a clearing where Dandy was grazing. Andy explained that he had already freed Dandy from the stables where he had been held. Andy then led her to an adorable little cottage in which lived a good witch whose name was Candy. The witch told Mandy that Dandy was a wishing unicorn therefore to go home she had to say “I wish I could go home”. Mandy said goodbye to the witch and Andy and wished herself home.
When she opened her eyes she saw Dandy eating grass with a horn sticking out of his forehead, but when she blinked the horn had disappeared. She wondered if it had been a dream.