Once upon a time there was a little girl who believed in magic.
In fairies and unicorns and trees that could speak.

It didn't matter to her that she had never experienced any of these
for herself, for she was absolutely sure that these things were real.

Time passed, and where once the other children had shared in her
wonder and accompanied her on expeditions along the forest path
to find a unicorn, now they called her dreams childish and stupid
and excluded her from their games.

So she stopped speaking of magic and fairytales and spoke instead
of makeup and boys and celebrities.

In her adulthood, she had become the same as the others, and in
that sameness she was not criticised.

One day, she returned to the town of her youth, to the forest trail
that she had run through laughing so many years ago.

Lost in her memories, she almost missed him.

In the path before her stood a unicorn.

She reached out to touch him, to reassure herself that he was real.
but withdrew her hand before she had.

Instead, she wrapped her arms around herself and asked of him
one question: "Why?"

He tilted his head to one side, and she continued.

"Why come to me now, when I'm like this? Why couldn't I see you
when I was young?" Her voice broke.

He took a step toward her, as tears ran down her face.

He nuzzled at her chest, lipped at her hair.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and sobbed into his silvery
pelt.

Through the tears, his voice came to her, soft and kind.

"As a child, you didn't need to see me. I was as real to you as the
sunshine and the wind, as birdsong and as rain.

"I come to you now as a reminder, because you have almost
forgotten who you are."