Never Let a Unicorn Go Trick-or-Treating

9 pages · 9 min · ages 5+

Everybody at Rumble Ridge knew the rule: never let a unicorn go trick-or-treating. Nobody had ever told Dazzle why. It was Halloween, and tonight she wanted one thing: a truck full of sweets, with a mountain on top. “Vroom!” said Dazzle. She was the truck. She had a cardboard box round her middle, paper plates for wheels and a space at the back for sweets. Her tail swished. PLING! The pumpkin lantern on the gate turned into a cabbage. It still had its face. “Not now, horn,” said Dazzle. When Dazzle got excited, her horn went pling, and things turned into other things. Nobody knew what. Not even Dazzle. And sweets were the most exciting thing in the whole world.

At Rumble Ridge, nobody went from door to door. The monster trucks parked in a big ring round the Big Mud Pit and gave out the treats. It was called the Monster Treat. The grown-ups had chosen the name at a meeting. It was a very long meeting. Rocco the rhino did not like Halloween. He said so every year, from the top of a ladder. This year his truck was dressed up as a giant spider, with wobbly legs, googly eyes and a fog machine. Rocco was taking Dazzle round. He said somebody had to. At the meeting, he had put his hand up first. He switched on the fog. Then there was hardly any Rocco. “Can I eat my sweets on the way round?” asked Dazzle. “We'll see,” said a voice in the fog. Dazzle knew that one. It was a no, dressed up as a maybe.

The first truck belonged to Big Tortoise. He was munching a lettuce. He had bought far too many chocolate coins. He always worried about running out. He never did. “Trick or treat!” said Dazzle. Big Tortoise dropped a chocolate coin into the back of her truck. The meerkat lifted his big microphone. He announced every sweet at the Monster Treat. Nobody had asked him to. “And the unicorn receives… a chocolate coin!” Dazzle's eyes went big. Her tail swished. PLING! “And the unicorn receives,” said the meerkat, much more quietly, “a sprout.” Trick or treat? Dazzle's horn had picked trick. Her ears went hot. Big Tortoise's lettuce stopped halfway to his mouth. “Nice sparkles,” said Rocco.

Dazzle tried to pling the sprout back into a sweet, on purpose. It had worked once, with a snail. She thought very hard about lollipops. Pling. Now it was a slightly bigger sprout. So Dazzle had a new plan. She put on her Rocco face. It was very bored and a tiny bit grumpy. “Last truck,” said Rocco. Truck. Sweet. Bored. Truck. Sweet. Bored. Not one pling! The back of her truck began to fill up. At the Mudhoppers' truck, Big Warthog held out a rainbow lollipop as big as her face. Dazzle didn't even blink. It was working. It was really, really working. It was the most exciting thing that had ever happened to her. PLING! Every sweet in her truck turned into a carrot. And the lollipop was broccoli. On a stick.

Rocco had a plan too. Rocco never got excited about sweets, so he would fetch them. Dazzle turned her back on all the trucks and stared at a fence, right where he could see her. It was a very boring fence. That was the whole idea. “Last truck,” said Rocco. Every truck was the last truck. Off he went, and back he came with the biggest sweet at the Monster Treat: a chocolate pumpkin as big as a football. Then Rocco looked at it, and Rocco smiled. Dazzle looked round, just for a second. She had never seen Rocco smile at a sweet. Her tail swished. PLING! Rocco was holding a real pumpkin. He could only just see over the top. “Nice sparkles,” said Rocco, from behind the pumpkin.

Dazzle checked the back of her truck. Carrots. One sprout. One broccoli on a stick. And a pumpkin that wouldn't fit in any truck at all. Everybody else had a mountain of sweets. Dazzle's ears went hot, and she whispered, “Never let a unicorn go trick-or-treating. Now I know why.” Rocco felt in his jacket pockets for something to cheer her up. All he had was a spanner, a bolt and a very old tissue. He offered her the bolt. Then Dazzle saw Big Tortoise. His lettuce was all gone. He was looking at her broccoli the way she looked at sweets. Dazzle looked down at her costume. She was a truck. And at the Monster Treat, the trucks gave out the treats.

So Dazzle reversed into the ring of trucks, very slowly, and parked herself right next to Rocco's spider truck. “Trick or treat?” said Dazzle. Big Tortoise looked at the broccoli on a stick. His eyes went shiny. “Trick, please,” said Big Tortoise. He held out one chocolate coin. “We'll see,” said Dazzle, just like Rocco. She had always wanted to say that. Then she saw Big Tortoise's face. “Yes,” said Dazzle. Big Tortoise did a slow, happy broccoli dance. The meerkat lifted his microphone. “And the unicorn receives… a chocolate coin!” Dazzle's tail swished. PLING! “And the unicorn receives,” said the meerkat, much more loudly, “a sprout!” Big Tortoise looked at the sprout. His eyes went shiny again.

The meerkat climbed up onto Rocco's spider truck. This time, Dazzle had asked him to. “Sprouts! Carrots! Horn-made by a real unicorn! Get them while they last!” By eight o'clock, everybody wanted a trick. Even the little ones. Somewhere, a grown-up cheered, and quickly turned it into a cough. Big Warthog came over, just to look. By half past eight, one sprout cost five chocolate coins. Big Warthog paid it anyway. He had only come to look. Big Tortoise came back for more. He still had far too many chocolate coins. Every swap made Dazzle excited, and every time Dazzle got excited… PLING! The coin he had just paid with turned into a sprout, so he bought that one too. And the next one. And the one after that. “Nice sparkles,” said Rocco, for the third time. “Thank you,” said Dazzle. Her ears did not go hot at all.

“Last customer,” said Rocco. Every customer was the last customer. But at nine o'clock, the customers really did run out. Dazzle was all excited out. Her truck was full of sweets, with a mountain on top. On the way out, they passed the cabbage. It still had its face. “Can I eat them all before bed?” asked Dazzle. “We'll see,” said Rocco, without even looking. Then Dazzle spotted one last sprout, right on the very top. She had sold sprouts all night, and never tried one. “Can I eat this one?” asked Dazzle. “Yes,” said Rocco. “Please.” And Rocco smiled. At a sprout! Dazzle's tail swished. PLING! The sprout was a chocolate coin. This time, her horn had picked treat. Rocco stopped smiling. “We'll see,” said Rocco.