The Last Moonicorn, Part One of Six

THE FIRST SLICE

(in which a Star Girl meets a Moonicorn)

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On her way to the Earth, a green girl from the stars

paused for a pie on a moon around Mars,

and while she was munching, that mild Martian morn,

she saw from her saucer a horse with a horn.

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‘Good day,’ said the creature, approaching, serene,

‘From where have you wandered? I see you are green.’

‘Up there,’ said the alien girl, dripping sauce,

‘And who might be asking?’ she asked the strange horse.

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‘Alas,’ said the creature, face fallen, forlorn,

‘I fear you’re addressing the Last Moonicorn.

Alone here on Phobos!’ he sobbed, through full eyes,

‘The Martians have made all my friends into pies!’

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The Star Girl looked sheepishly down at her crumbs,

and said (as she twiddled all three of her thumbs),

‘My dear Moonicorn, what a tragical end

for such magical creatures! May I be your friend?’

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They walked for a while through the Moonicorn’s land,

past the Pacifist Pools to the Solitude Stand,

and they stood there in silence, and gazed at the flame,

until darkness descended and Phoban night came;

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Then he finally parted his lips to reply ...

... when a terrible tumult tore open the sky!

And into their crater, with almighty CRASH!

rammed rickety rocketships made out of trash!

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‘Run!’ cried the Moonicorn, eyes filled with dread,

as Martians belched forth from the junk hulks ahead!

And nuts and bolts flew as the deluge debarked,

and their Space Spears they threw, and their Arc Pistols arc’d!

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Blond Martians, blue Martians, Martians of puce;

plum, pink, and peach Martians, barfing abuse;

Martians of every colour you’ve seen!

(Except that not one of the Martians was green.)

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‘But how have they found you?’ she squealed as they fled,

‘I thought you’d implied that they thought you were dead!’

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‘Keep pace!’ puffed the horse, ‘but behind you’ll see how:

I’m found from afar by this horn on my brow!

Its Astral Reflection Intensity’s denser;

they home on our horns with their Moonicorn Sensor.’

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And sure enough, trundling in front of the horde,

raced the Horn Tracking Truck, with the Sensor on board.

Its misshapen aerials poked through its shell.

(It made ‘bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep’ noises as well.)

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‘Quick! Climb up upon me!’ the Moonicorn cried.

The Star Girl clung tight to his gold-speckled hide,

and they sped to her ship, and they dived through the hatch,

and the girl, with a whirl, locked it fast with a latch.

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None too soon!—for the Martians were hot on their feet,

haranguing the hull as they slavered for meat,

but the Star Girl had leant with full force on the throttle,

and up shot the ship like a cork from a bottle!

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BUT ...

... their sudden ascent took a terrible toll,

for the saucer was tumbling out of control,

and rising up, rapidly, blocking the stars

was the devilish disc of the Mad Planet, Mars,

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while, hurtling behind them, eyes squished in their sockets,

the Martians pursued in their ramshackle rockets,

and formed a formation which forced her to founder!

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(She crashed in a crater, with Martians right round her.)

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--> to The Last Moonicorn, Part Two of Six

<<- to the Introduction