Brisa, Kona, and Sumatra hovered in the air, clustered closely together. They could feel the tips of their wings brush against each other.
“What just happened?” Brisa quavered.
“I think the moon hid behind a cloud,” Sumatra said.
“No, I think the cloud floated in front of the moon,” Kona corrected her.
“Oh, really, Miss Bossyhooves?” Sumatra replied. “Well, what do you think, Sirocco? Is this the moon’s fault, or the cloud’s?”
She waited for the colt to jump in.
“Where’s Sirocco?” Sumatra neighed.
“He must have been too far ahead of us when the lights went out,” Brisa said.
“Listen,” Kona assured her friends. “Let’s just stay put. When the moonlight comes back, Sirocco will find us easily.”
“I guess that sounds like a good idea,” Brisa said with a sigh. “But it’s still not very fun, being stuck here in the dark.”
“At least we have each other,” Kona said. She reached her nose out into the darkness to touch Brisa’s nose.
“Um, why are you poking at my flank with your nose?” Brisa asked politely.
“Whoops, sorry,” Kona said with a giggle. “It’s hard to snuggle in the dark. Maybe we should just hang on to our sleep buddies.”
“Ooh, I almost forgot Brisina was here!” Brisa said happily. Nosing around in the blackness, she found Brisina dangling off her magic jewel and plucked her up with her teeth. Immediately, she felt a little better.
Sumatra, too, reached around and pulled her ribbon-y blanket off her back. She held it between her teeth and stroked it with her foreleg.
And Kona twisted around to nuzzle her teddy bear, who was still propped on the back of her neck.
“Don’t worry, Charles,” she whispered to the fuzzy bear. “We’ll be just fine until the lights come back.”
* * *
Meanwhile, Sirocco couldn’t have felt less fine. He flew and flew and flew—calling out his friends’ names all the while. But it was hopeless. Nobody answered.
“For all I know,” he said to himself, gloomily, “I’m just flying farther away from Brisa and Kona and Sumatra. For all I know, I’m flying upside down! Oh, and by the way—I hate the dark.”
Sirocco shook his head. He was babbling.
And he was flying off to who knew where.
He was losing it!
“Because I’m all alone!” he said, babbling more.
Then suddenly, he heard a voice. But not with his ears. The voice was inside his head.
It was Kona! With a start, Sirocco realized he knew just what she’d say if she were there.
“Stop and take a deep breath,” she’d tell him in that cool, motherly way of hers. “Just clear your mind and calm down.”
So Sirocco did. He hovered in the air and breathed in the cool night air.
Sirocco blinked. The deep breath had helped. A little bit, anyway.
“Think of something pretty!”
That was Brisa’s voice in his head, now. Sirocco smiled a little and pictured the Wind Dancers’ apple tree house covered with juicy red apples.
Finally, he heard the imaginary voice of Sumatra.
“Look around,” said the resourceful filly. “You can see more than you think.”
At this, Sirocco snorted—but he also followed the filly’s advice. He squinted into the blackness.
“Nothing here,” he declared. He turned slowly. “And … nothing there.”
His voice began to shake again as he continued to spin around. “I see nothing, nothing, noth—hey!”
Sirocco gasped.
Because he’d suddenly seen … something!
It was a light! And it was (Sirocco was pretty sure) too low and steady to be a star.
“Yaaaaay,” Sirocco neighed and began flying as fast as he could toward the comforting glimmer of gold.
In only a minute, he arrived at the light and discovered that it was coming from the front porch of a house! In its glow, he could see that the house was yellow and that it had a screen door and big windows next to it.
Sirocco recognized this place.
“This is Leanna’s house!” he cried happily. “Which means I’m still in the dandelion meadow. I thought I’d flown miles away!”
Sirocco darted around to the side of the house and smiled as he peered inside Leanna’s open bedroom window. There, he saw a soft glow coming from a night-light, and Leanna fast asleep.
Then, his happiness vanished.
Because Sirocco’s friend looked almost as unhappy as he felt—even though she was sleeping. The slumbering girl tossed and turned, and rubbed her closed eyes.
“She must be having a bad dream,” Sirocco said to himself. “Too bad she doesn’t have a sleep buddy to keep her company.”
Jeepers’ fuzzy face appeared in Sirocco’s mind.
“I know just how that feels,” he added with a sigh.
After a few minutes of gazing at Leanna, Sirocco cocked his head thoughtfully.
Huh! he realized. I kind of feel not so awful anymore.
Maybe it was being near Leanna that had comforted him.
Or maybe it was imagining his buddy Jeepers.
Or maybe, Sirocco thought, turning to gaze out at the dark dandelion meadow, it’s knowing that I’m not really all alone. Kona, Sumatra, and Brisa are out there. Waiting for me.
Sirocco straightened up suddenly.
And not just waiting. They’re probably worrying, too! Unlike me, I bet they’re still lost in the dark.
Sirocco pictured them.
Sumatra, who liked everything neat and tidy, surely hated not knowing where she was.
And Kona was probably struggling to comfort everyone, despite her jitters.
And what about Brisa? Sirocco wondered. In the dark, she can’t look at her pretty magic jewels or her long blond mane. Brisa without her beauty? She’ll go crazy!
Sirocco reared back on his hind legs and kicked at the air with his forelegs. Once again, he’d shaken off his shivers and forgotten his night fright.
“My friends need me!” he whinnied.
Sirocco pictured himself flying to the fillies’ rescue.
He imagined them crying with relief as he guided them back to the safety of Leanna’s night-light.
And then, he imagined Sumatra saying, “Sirocco, I never knew you could be so brave!”
Sirocco grinned.
“Forget being a scaredy-horse,” he declared triumphantly. “I’m going to be a hero!”
Then, he dashed from the comforting glow of Leanna’s bedroom window—and was quickly swallowed back up by the dark!