Let’s begin.
GiGi the giraffe was trying to catch a falling leaf on her nose.
She was very tall and very strong. Catching leaves, however, was proving to be a different sort of skill.
The leaf landed on her forehead.
“Nearly,” said Starlight.
Her unicorn friend stood beneath a gold tree in the Enchanted Glade. Starlight's gray-purple coat sparkled in the autumn sunshine. Soft rainbow colors ran through her mane and tail.
GiGi tipped her head. “Your turn.”
Starlight reached toward the leaf with her horn. A tiny curl of light lifted it into the air.
Then the leaf turned gray.
So did the tree.
“Was that you?” GiGi asked.
“No.” Starlight looked at her tail. The rainbow was disappearing from it, one color at a time.
Across the clearing, yellow flowers faded. The blue sky became pale gray. Even GiGi's brown patches looked like shadows.
The friends stared at each other.
“I liked your spots better before,” Starlight said quietly.
“So did I.”
A thin ribbon of violet slid over the ground. It flowed between the roots, followed by a ribbon of gold.
Starlight turned toward the sound of distant water.
“I think I know where it's coming from.”
They followed the ribbons toward Rainbow Spring. Starlight knew a small keeper named Iris who tended the enchanted colors there. Her colors usually stayed in the spring, making rainbows in the spray above Silver Falls.
Today, something had gone wrong.
“Can your horn catch them?” GiGi asked.
“Maybe. I can gather little things with light. But I've never gathered a whole rainbow.”
She touched her horn to a violet ribbon. The color curled around its tip.
“I've got some!”
The ribbon tugged free and slipped onward.
“And now I haven't.”
They hurried after it.
At the woodland bridge, a small troll called Brindle stood across the path. His mossy hat was gray. His usually red nose was gray too.
“Nobody crosses,” he grumbled.
“We need to reach Rainbow Spring,” Starlight said.
“I need to see where the edge of my bridge is. All these gray stones look alike.”
GiGi stretched her neck. From above, she could see a dark gap where one stone had slipped out of place.
“There,” she said. “Your edge has a hole in it.”
Brindle looked down. “Oh.”
GiGi pushed the loose stone back with her strong shoulder while Brindle guided its edge. Starlight marked the repaired corner with a glowing loop.
“Now the bridge has a bracelet,” she said.
Brindle's mouth twitched.
“A very fashionable bridge,” GiGi added.
He laughed, just a little, and stepped aside.
“Bring back my red nose, if you can.”
They promised to try.
Beyond the bridge, Rainbow Spring had become a swirling pool of color. Red, blue and yellow spun together. A shallow channel carried the colors toward Silver Falls.
Iris sat beside an empty bowl.
“I knocked it over,” she said before they could ask. “I was making the biggest rainbow I've ever made. I didn't notice the bowl tipping.”
Her voice wobbled.
“I tried to fix it before anybody saw.”
GiGi looked at the rushing channel. The colored water was nearly at the falls.
“Well,” she said, “we've seen. What do we need to do?”
Iris blinked at her. Then she stood up.
“The colors need to come out together. If I scoop one at a time, the others slip away.”
She dipped her little bowl into the edge. A bit of red came up. Yellow flowed past it.
Starlight tried gathering the red with her horn. It shone brightly, but the blue and gold still hurried toward the channel.
“It's working,” GiGi said, “but only on the part you can touch.”
“The middle,” said Iris. “You need the middle of the swirl.”
The spring lay below a broad stone ledge. GiGi could reach over it, but Starlight couldn't. The nearest spot on the shore was too far from the center.
GiGi lowered her head.
“What if your horn could reach as far as my nose?”
Starlight looked at the spring. Then she looked up GiGi's long neck.
“Oh,” she said. “That is a very giraffe-shaped idea.”
GiGi knelt on the flat grass beside the ledge. Starlight climbed carefully onto her back. GiGi stayed still while her friend crept forward along her lowered neck and settled behind the little tuft on her head.
“Comfortable?” GiGi asked.
“Your hair is tickling my chin.”
“That isn't a yes.”
“Yes.”
GiGi rose slowly. Her strong legs stayed planted on the broad, dry ledge. Then she leaned her long neck out over the spring.
“Left a little,” Starlight said.
GiGi moved left.
“Down a little.”
Her neck lowered. Starlight stretched her horn toward the swirling colors.
The tip touched blue.
A bright ribbon climbed around it. Then red joined the blue. Gold wound around them both.
Starlight gasped. “It's heavy!”
GiGi braced her legs. “I've got you.”
The colors pulled toward the channel. Starlight squeezed her eyes shut and tried to hold them tighter.
“Wait,” Iris called. “Don't squeeze the rainbow. Let it turn.”
Starlight opened her eyes. Instead of making a tight knot, she guided the colors into a wide, gentle spiral.
The tug softened.
“GiGi,” she whispered, “up.”
GiGi lifted her head slowly. A ribbon of rainbow water rose with them.
“Now toward the sky,” Iris said.
Starlight tipped her horn. The spiral opened above Silver Falls, spreading into a shining arch.
Color rushed through the clearing.
Gold returned to the leaves. Purple filled the flowers. GiGi's patches became warm brown again.
Starlight's mane glimmered pink, gold, green and blue.
From the bridge came a delighted shout.
“My nose!”
GiGi laughed so suddenly that Starlight hugged her forelock.
“Please save the giggles until I'm down.”
GiGi knelt, and her friend climbed back onto the grass.
Iris set her bowl in a hollow between three stones. This time she asked GiGi to check that it couldn't tip. Starlight drew a little glowing ring around its place.
“Not quite so big a rainbow next time,” Iris said.
“Or a bigger bowl,” said Starlight.
On the walk home, a gold leaf floated toward GiGi's nose.
She caught it.
Both friends cheered.
“What do you think our next adventure will be?” Starlight asked.
GiGi smiled beneath her leaf.
“I don’t know… but whatever happens, I’m ready!”