The Unicorn Princess
Marinette was in school on time, well, barely, running up the stairs of the Francois Dupont College, carrying a box of croissants, just as her BFF Alya decided it is time to climb up the stairs and enter the building, Nino and Adrien following her. This was a small miracle, considering her usual after school activities included finishing some designs for the 'Kitty section' band, tonnes of homework, helping out in the bakery and fighting akumas.
So there she was, fighting supervillains on a daily (and nightly) basis, but facing ger crush in school squeezed all the bravado from her. Except she knew that her dreams would never be, they were to be friends. When treating him as a friend, she would not stutter or trip over the thin air, so she decided she could do this.
"Hey girl" sad Alya, hugging her and sneaking a hand into the box.
"Hi Marinette" from Nino, his hand sneaking into the box together with Alyas, when both hand got out holding a single croissant, there was an exchange of looks between the two, until Nino let go, and sneaked a hand again to get another one.
"Good morning Marinette" from Adrien was met with blushing Marinette, spinning quickly with the box towards him and offering him the contents (no words, just a shy smile and pushing the box towards him). He smiled and helped himself with one that quickly disappeared in his mouth, within a few bites. She is his friend. He is her friend. They are friends. She can do it.
Alya is not asking anything, suggesting to go for Adrien, pushing her towards him nor suggestively pulling Nino away leaving the two alone, as they all reach for the box in turns. This is good, she can do it, if it means having enough treats from the bakery every morning dan make it easier to survive, she can do it.
They quickly emptied the box and ate the contents while chatting before entering the classroom just as the bell rang. Alya leaned over to Marinette and whispered something about the way to man's heart through his stomach that made Marinette blush even more. "I texed you, we are just friends, he loves some other girl" she whispered to Alya. Adrien decided it is excellent time to turn around and face Marinette and thank her for the pastries one more time (and check if there are any more left).
"Thank you Marinette, these were delicious" he spoke, but then noticed the colour in her face intensified as Alya was elbowing her under the desk. Marinette's vocal chords were not able to produce any meaningful output so she just nodded and wished that sometimes Alya would be less eager in encouraging her romantic wishes, as now it was perfectly clear, they are to be 'just friends'.
Therefore, a friend that she is, she is going to be the best friend to Adrien one could ever wish for.
Miss Bustier called everyone in the class and announced that by the end of the morning classes they will get their assignments to be completed in groups of four, Alya, Marinette, Nino and Adrien made one group, and they were to cover history, art, literature and modern aspects of the subject that will be assigned. Four aspects, four people, no real need to work in a group, but it was obvious several students in their class were eager to divide the work differently.
After covering several works of literature and important events in history (and the fact that the literature works also covered these events in history was more or less helpful to understand the chain of events in the minds of young adolescents with hormones and attention span of a goldfish). Quarter of an hour before the bell announcing lunch break an alarm on Miss Bustier's watch interrupted her talk. She announced that one student from each group should come to the box on her table and take one piece of paper with a subject for the group.
Adrien, as the closest and possibly the most agile at the moment, got there first, put the hand into the box that contained more pieces of paper than there were groups in their class, put his best modelling smile and pretended to mix the pieces of paper until he got one into his hand. What is it? Julius Caesar and the Roman empire? The Greek tragedies or Gods? Egyptian rulers and deities?
Adrien gave the piece of paper to miss Bustier, who read it out loud: "Unicorns". Alya facepalmed, Nino was cool as ever looking back at his girlfriend a bit surprised by her reaction, Marinette was on cloud that nine, she was on the group project with Adrien. It could be about the sewers or the catacombs for all she cared. She was just looking at Adrien, as he was standing in front of the class, he was smiling towards her and she kept her shy smile, blushing and barely registering what was their subject. Adrien returned to his seat, but leaned over to Marinette
"You designed those unicorn inspired outfits for the Kitty Section, I guess we have the art covered". She smiled and blushed a bit more.
"I … I think this is not the art Miss Bustier was thinking of when she designed this assignment ..." was her reply, almost no stuttering, the word order correct, she was proud of herself, if only she could talk to him like that when she was not thinking of him as her eternal just friend. But that was useless, he loved some other girl.
Other groups also got similarly broad subjects (elves, dwarfs, fairies and mermaids) and miss Bustier distributed worksheets with a list of questions and particular assignments, Marinette looked at the list of questions and there it was "Name a work of art, painting, music, or other non literature that features your subject" and pointed that to Adrien. Alya quickly snatched the list and decided that it would be the best to spend the lunch break going through the list of questions to see how to distribute the work between the four. Adrien quickly sent notification to Nathalie.
The lunch bell rang, the four of them went out of the school, waited for Adrien's car, driven by his bodygouard, who brought Nathalie who delivered Adrien a box of his father and nutricionist approved tasteless and calorie-less meal in a plastic grey box. With a stern look on her face, Nathalie reminded Adrien of his diet and upcoming photoshots and other events where she should look his supermodel self. Strange and a bit disgusted looks toward the box from Alya and Nino made Marinette even more determined. They walked over to the bakery.
"Hi maman, hi papa, we are going to work on a group project together, it is nice outside so we will go to the park and have the lunch together there …" she recited while she collected a box of food from her father who was in the back side of the bakery preparing the next tray to put in the oven. Alya and Nino have greeted Sabine and without any word asking for permission or explaining their actions grabbed few more items and added to the box Marinette was holding. Adrien just stood there with his grey box, Sabine looked through the transparent lid of his grey box, eyed him from head to toe, grabbed a few tarts and pies, put them in another box and simply put this box on the top of Adrien's grey one. This time he was smiling shyly and blushing. Alya and Nino thanked Sabine, and with a small nod and "Thank you" Adrien was pushed out.
They continued to the sidewalk on the bank of the Seine, sat on a bench, chatting on the way. Nino and Alya were walking in front, turning regularly and taking different items from the box in Marinette's hands. She held the box with both arms doing her best not to trip and fall. Adrien was just admiring the food he got from Sabine.
"My father and Nathalie should never learn that I eat this, especially with the forthcoming summer collection photoshoot " he whispered to Marinette, she looked at him, looked at the food and
"Eeerrr if you do not like this, … you can take anything from this box, if you like it, … maybe I can run back for something else?" Marinette offered.
"It is fine, I will definitely like it, I just do not remember eating some of these treats, like ever" Adrien answered and Marinette was determined, as his fried she is going to feed this boy! At least she has resources for that. She just hoped he will not get into trouble with his father and Nathalie for that, she will talk to him about it later. Then she focused on the food he had in the box and explained what it is, then started explaining how it is done … and Adrien could not resist any more, he just took one piece out of the box and started to eat it while carrying the other two boxes in one hand. After eating several pieces they reached the embankment.
Meanwhile, on the embankment of the Seine, a mother and her five year old daughter were waiting. The grls blonde curls were tied with a pink ribbon with printed unicorns on it. The pink t-shirt had a large glossy picture on the unicorn in front, her grey tights had prints of unicorn heads and her pink shoes had a picture of a unicorn over the toes.
"Is grandpa going to bring me a unicorn" the child asked the mother.
"Yes Patricia, this is what you asked your grandpa and he told me on the phone he god one unicorn for you" the mother answered patiently, but the tone of her voice made clear she repeated this sentence already a number of times.
"Is it going to be a big unicorn?" the girl asked excitedly.
"He said it was the biggest he could find" the mother answered, clearly annoyed by the fact that that is true "I just do not know where we will keep this unicorn of yours".
"Is it a pink unicorn? With wings? Coloured in rainbow? And stars? And long eyelashes?" the questions just pored from the little girl.
"You will see when your grandpa gets here ..." the mother trailed off, not trying to finish the sentence since she was interrupted by even more questions from her daughter.
Soon, an elderly man approached from their back carrying a large box wrapped in light pink wrapping paper with violet unicorns printed on it, tied with a pink ribbon. The man plastered an artifical smile of a car salesman on his face and kissed the girl on the cheeks and gave her the box and then kissed her mother on the cheeks.
"Sorry I am a bit late, but this was the last one in the shop, it is really big, but it is inflatable, she can use it to sit or lay on it as if it is a piece of furniture, it is pink as she asked, and it has wings, but the tail was not in all the colours of the rainbow ..." the man was rambling further explaining his shopping experience " … and it was really crowded and I was waiting in a long queue and then after that I was waiting for the box to be wrapped and ...".
"Why did you not come to our house for her birthday?" the woman asked, obviously collecting courage to continue with this "all family was there, we could have met in the park or ..."
"I can't be seen in public with that husband of yours, and you were surely taking photos during the birthday and probably posting them over social media" the man responded to the woman sternly.
During that time, the gril has unwrapped her present and inside she found a cardboard box containing … a pink inflatable flamingo.
"This is not a unicorn" she said. The mother just said "Oh no..." and her hand reached for her head.
"This is a very nice pink unicorn ..." her grandpa started.
"This is not a unicorn" the girl said a bit louder. Her mother held her head a bit tighter, the other hand on her daughter, already anticipating what is going on next.
"… the largest they had in the shop … " the old man continued.
"A family argument" Hawk Moth said in his lair, fetching one white butterfly "this is a sure source of many negative emotions" he spoke as he turned the white butterfly into a purple one "fly away my little akuma, and be ready to evilize".
"This is not a unicorn" the girl was almost screaming. Her mother held her daughters shoulder tightly and did not let go of her own head just closed her eyes.
"… and the most beautiful pink unicorn ..." the old man continued.
"This is not a unicorn" the girl screamed louder. Her mother not moving.
"… look, it even has wings, pink wings ..." the old man continued.
"This is not a unicorn" the girl screamed even louder. Her mother let go of her own head and held both her daughters shoulders.
"… and you can sit on it ..." the old man continued.
"This is not a unicorn" the girl screamed even louder.
"… and ride it ..." the old man continued.
"This is not a unicorn" the girl screamed even louder.
"… and all the girls love it!" the old man finished, huge artificial and insincere smile plastered on his face.
"This is not a unicorn" the girl screamed stomping her feet on the ground.
"Please Patricia, grandpa did not mean anything bad, he got you a toy to play with ..." the mother continued, but thinking, probably the largest pink toy he could grab in any shop on the way …
"Look, it is a unicorn, there is a horn, over there" the old man said and pointed to the beak.
"It is not a horn, it is a beak, that is not a horse, that is a large pink bird" the girl screamed.
"It is a horn, the horse is just … looking upwards!" the man looked at the girl with a smile of a man selling used cars.
The girls face was red in anger, she looked at the old man "Grandpa, I am not stupid! This is not a unicorn!"
"Do not be ungrateful child" the old man keeps looking at her with the same smile "it is the best and most popular toy on the market".
"This is not a unicorn" the girl screamed "you promised me, you told mommy you got it!".
The man straightened his back and said "you are a naughty girl, ungrateful and disrespectful of your grandpa", then he just turned around and left without saying goodbye.
The mother sighed, took the girls hand and went in the opposite direction.
"Ooooh I feel anger of a little girl" said a purple man and he caught a white butterfly, turned it into purple and released it "Fly away my little akuma and evilize her".
A purple butterfly lands on the box the girl held in her arms. A purple mask appears in front of her eyes and a sweet voice tells her "Unicorn Princess, you were promised, you were cheated on what will you get, I give you the power to turn everyone into a toy you wish and all I ask in return are Ladybug's earrings and Chat Noirs ring, will you give that to me?".
"Do the earrings and the ring have unicorns on it?" the girl asks.
"No" was the Hawk Moths answer with a smile but wandering why the girl would ask such a question.
"I want the power to turn everyone I see into a unicorn, as soon as I see them" Unicorn Princess demanded.
"As you wish, Unicron Princess" Hawk moth answered with a wicked smile "you will be touger to beat with such a strong power".
"Then, OK, I will play with you and everyone I see will become unicorns and they will play with " the girl answers.
And the box with the toy inflates into a giant pink unicorn with a golden horn, rainbow tail and hair and large wings and long eyelashes and blue eyes and the little girl was riding it holding the unicorns hair.
"I am the Unicorn Princess" was echoing the street as Ayla, Nino, Adrien and Marinette were approaching the embankment.
"An akuma" all four of them pronounced at the same time. Alya pulled Nino with one hand, the other already holding the camera and ran forward. Adrien quickly pushed the piece of food he held in one hand into his mouth and pushed Marinette to the relative safety of some shop they were just passing by. They alerted the people in the shop of the akuma and started frantically to look for cover to transform.
They left their boxes on some shelf and Adrien whispered "It is probably safe to stay here right now, but I will check if it is safe to go out the back door" and left towards the back end of the shop. As she found herself alone, she ducked behind one shelf, then another, until she was out the front door, since she was afraid of surveillance cameras inside the shop, and transformed between two cars in the street since the street was already abandoned. Adrien exited through the back door, stood behind the dumpster and transformed.
Ladybug and Chat Noir met on a rooftop of the same building. They saw a girl riding a huge inflatable unicorn just looking around but did not see what was below here, so they approached closer and landed in the street. There were many unicorns around, they were not so much shaped as horses, but more just like large stuffed animals shaped as cute fluffy horses with horns, some with wings, in different colours, walking or jumping around.
"This is just uniquely corny" Chat Noir said.
Suddenly, the girl turned around and said "oh, Ladybug and Chat Noir, you are already here" and the moment she saw them, Ladybug turned into a cute fluffy unicorn, red with black spots, with wings, blue eyes and long eyelashes while Chat Noir turned into a black fluffy unicorn with green horn, wings, and several green paw prints on his side, while his tail was long and moved almost as the Chat Noirs tail. Ladybugs earrings were on the unicorns ear just as Chat Noirs ring.
"Ladybug, you are even cuter in this shape" Chat unicorn said to the Ladybug unicorn "I can't believe it my Lady, you must be the cutest unicorn here" wiggling his eyebrows and grinning.
Ladybug rolled her eyes, but asked "You can talk?" surprised a bit that she also had her own voice,
"How do we get ourselves from this situation?"
"Oh, My Lady, you mean" Chat unicorn smiled widely, "How do we get ourselves from this unique-corn situation?" he stopped fo her reaction, then continued with a wink " with your brains and my looks … well our looks, we will do it in no time" Chat answered reassuringly.
Ladybug worried "How much of our powers do we have left?" she said.
"Ladybug and Chat Noir, you are now unicorns and you will play with me, of course you have voices, I like to talk to you while we play" the Unicorn Princes said as a matter of fact.
Chat Noir unicorn just had a same smirk on his face as in his usual boy-cat form, looked at the girl on the unicorn, winked and asked "If an adult is called a unicorn, are children then called puny-corns?"
The girl answered "I am not a pony, I am a Unicorn Princess!"
Hawk Moth was angry "Do not make jokes with them, take their Mraculous!".
Then Chat turned to Ladybug, referring to all the unicorns wandering around and asked "How do you catch so many unicorns? Simply, herd them into uni- corn-er!"
Ladybug rolled her eyes again, then just watched the surroundings .
A group of small unicorns run around happily, screeching with joy and admiring each other looks "you have pink wings" "you have a golden horn". Several unicorns watched their reflections in the shop window nearby commenting on what they see "I like my rainbow hair better than your pink one" "why do you have hearts on your side and I have a rainbow?".
"Most of the people just kept strolling around and chatting as if nothing had happened" noticed Ladybug while Chat continued "there are several groups of smaller unicorns covered in more glitter than the others running around and cheering happily, it seems some of them are happy with the transformation".
One man entered the street carrying a large trumpet. The girl turned to him and the man immediately transformed into a unicorn with a horn in a shape of the trumpet.
"That is quite a unique horn" Chat said. The girl on the unicorn smiled and continued.
"Do you know anything about unicorns?" Ladybug asked Chat.
"Not much, but I am about to learn today" (in more ways than one he thought for himself) Chat answered.
However, the girl has overheard the question and started "Unicorns are magical creatures, they are always good, they are not misbehaving, everything they do is right!"
Soon, a group of girls exited one street, one of the girls had a hairband with a pink horn and ears, others had a t-shirt with a unicorn, or a bag with a unicorn print or tights with small unicorns and other clothing items and acessories with unicorn themed decorations. Unicorn Princess just looked at them and they all turned into cute fluffy unicorn stuffed toys, glossy, with wigs and different decorations on them. The group started cheering in excitement and running around in a circle.
"See how I bring happiness" the Unicorn Princes said proudly.
Ladybug quietly talked to Chat "It seems this akuma is a dream come true for some!".
The next person to be turned into a unicorn was Andre, the ice cream man, he just looked at himself and replied "What do you call a one scoop of ice cream? A uni-cone!"
Chat was annoyed "You stole my line".
"This is becoming really difficult acuma to deal with" Ladybug complained to herself. "Chat, we are not making any progress here and this akuma is rather popular".
"Uni-corn? I thought that would be a single grain of maize" Chat shouted. He had to maintain his level of puns through the battle, there was no way that an occasional bystander would out-pun him. Then he turned to Ladybug "What a scary villain we have here today, all the little girls seem eager to confront her".
"Do we still have our superpowers?" Ladybug was turning and shaking and discovered that she still had her yoyo, it was on her back, attached to her back, she shook it down and grabbed it with her teeth. This was good she now had her yoyo, she could throw it in the air and call for Lucky Charm or use it differently.
"Most unicorns start as poor hunters until they can really horn their skill" Chat said as praise to Unicron Princess.
Ladybug concluded that the downside of carrying the yoyo in her teeth was staying quiet. She looked at chat and noticed that his baton was still attached to Chats back. She nudged him a bit on the side and raised her yoyo to show him.
"Oh great, you have your yoyo, so you can call your lucky charm" Chat was relieved.
She pointed to his back, but he turned completely, did not see anything interesting behind him, so turned back to Ladybug unicorn "Do not see what you mean".
Ladybug rolled her eyes, turned to him, dropped her yoyo to the ground and fetched his baton with her teeth and dropped it before Chat unicorn. They both felt clumsy in their new bodies, not sure how to use them not how many of their powers they have left. Well, at least the insecurity in her physical abilities is nothing new to Ladybug, at least her civilian self, but this was different.
"Oh, I see, why, thank you Ladybug!" Chat said gratefully and grabbed his baton with his teeth. He immediately realized that this means he cant talk while holding his baton and gave Ladybug unicorn a knowing look. Ladybug just smiled and took her yoyo. She tried to throw it, it caught up on one lamppost and she was soon below the lamppost. She pulled the cord that was somehow attached to her back and the yoyo dropped to the ground for Ladybug to retrieve with her teeth.
"Great, it still works" Ladybug noticed. Relieved and encouraged, she beamed forward, blue eyes focused on the Unicorn Princess and the whole situation, the wheels in her head started moving.
Chat pressed his baton and it extended a bit, he jumped biting his baton harder and then softer ad in one jump he was beside the Ladybug unicorn.
"My Lady you really look cute and fluffy in this new outfit, but I did not know unicorns know how to play with yoyo" Chat teased. Ladybug fluttered her eyelashes (probably unintentionally as it was followed by her surprised facial expression, her body features still new to her).
One look at the side revealed one brown unicorn with orange hair and a phone around her neck and another brown unicorn with red hat and glasses looking at Ladybug and Chat unicorns. The unicorn with the camera. Probably Alya, yelled questions and encouragement while the unicorn with the red hat, probably Nino (ladybug assumed) tried to keep her from disturbing the action, not that there was much action from our heroes, but he at least understood that it is not so simple to get used to this new and substantially different body shape, especially if you are a superhero and supposed to act like one.
Ladybug just asked Chat "Do you have any idea where the akuma is? She is turning people to unicorns by looking, there is no weapon, there are many items on her, but none of them is glowing purple".
They were both standing still as Unicorn Princess was moving away.
Hawk Moth was angry "Unicorn Princess, stop turning everyone to unicorns, get me the Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miracoulouses".
"What are miracoulouses?" asked the girl.
Hawk Moth was desperate "Ladybugs earrings, Chat Noirs ring".
"Oh, OK" Ladybug Princess replied calmly and turned around towards the place where she last saw Ladybug and Chat Noir unicorns.
Ladybug and Chat Noir were watching Unicorn Princess turning around.
"The akuma might be in the unicorn she is riding, it has some glowing purple marks" noted Chat.
"I am not absolutely sure but I trust you this time." replied Ladybug unicorn "do you have any idea if you can activate cataclysm? Perhaps you should raise on your back legs when doing it."
"I will do it, but your lucky charm might help us" replied Chat.
Ladybug grabbed her yoyo from the ground, thrown it to the air and called "Lucky Charm". In a swirm of ladybugs appeared – a stuffed animal – a red unicorn with black spots.
"Well, I guess we did not have enough of these" Chat said.
Ladybug was first puzzled "if I knew what to do with these, I would not need one in the first place " then she looked around, everything was grey, but in her vision Chat and Unicorn Princess appeared red with black spots.
The wheels were turning behind her blue eyes. "OK, I have a plan" Ladybug said and explained to Chat "It is very simple, I will play with her, you just cataclysm that unicorn she is riding".
"Got it" Chat answered. But does he have the power of cataclysm? He did not know, and he can activate it only once. so no test, and he is using all four to walk, so really no early activation, perhaps he could devise some way of moving by using his stick in his mouth and other three legs? He was trying, clumsily, without much success, and the amount of attention received from other unicorns and the unicorn princess made it clear to Chat that this is definitely not a way to sneak on someone.
Unicorn Princess was approaching and Ladybug asked her "Look what I got here Unicorn Princess, would you like to play with me?" and showed her the unicorn she got as lucky charm. The eyes of the Unicorn Princes were glistening with joy, "Finally, I get to play with Ladybug", she was hoping up and down on her unicorn with joy.
Hawk Moth was angry "No, Unicorn Princess, it is a trap! Take her earrings! And watch Chat Noir!".
But Unicorn Princess just smiled "Ladybug unicorn! You got your baby Ladybug unicorn! She looks just like you! Is she your baby? Lets play with her, lets feed her and put her to sleep!".
Ladybug was a bit puzzled how to do all that in her shape, so she pushed the toy around a bit.
"No, you do not know how to do it, let me!" Unicorn Princess protested.
"Excellent, my little Unicorn Princess, now stop horsing around, get of your horse and take her earrings!" Hawk Moth was glowing (pun intended by author but not Hawk Moth).
"This is not a horse!" Unicorn Princess protested "This is a unicorn"
Hawk Moth just facepalmed.
Ladybug grabbed her yoyo threw it at her lucky char unicorn and the with the yoyo tried to throw her unicorn to the Unicorn Princess was sitting high on her unicorn. First time it did not reach, but Ladybug was trying and Unicorn princess was encouraging, but also worried:
"Yes, give small baby Ladybug unicorn to me … nooo … not to hard, it fell it will hurt, poor baby Ladybug unicorn … careful, ..." Unicorn Princess was giving instructions and Ladybug was trying.
Then, behind the Unicorn Princess, Chat extended his baton in his teeth to raise himself to his back legs, dropped it from his mouth just enough to pronounce "cata.." and then the unicorn carrying the Unicorn Princess flapped its wings and she took off in the air, only few meters up, but sufficiently for Char unicorn to hit only thin air and land on his all four legs, still unnoticed by the Unicorn Princess.
"I can fly! My unicorn can fly" Unicorn Princes screamed in happy smile on her face, looking gleefuly at the Ladybug unicorn she ordered "Fly to me Ladibug and bring me my toy".
Hawk Moth facepalms first but then looks with hope "This is great, make them come to you" even sound encouraging.
Ladybug unicorn managed to get a few clumsy flaps with her wings. Chat unicorn noticed and with few violent flaps he was in the air too, but overshooting the Unicorn Princess and this time noticed by her.
"See how Chat is flying" Unicron Princes pointed provocatively, but Chat was spinning without much control, but a smug smile on his face showed he enjoyed every moment of it. Flipping, turning, even upside down, apparently everything worked as flying, except there was apparently not much control of his movements, while every move seemed to bring more fun and joy to the boy's, well in fact unicorn's, face.
Several small unicorns around had wings and began flapping immediately, rising in the air and started zooming around cheering with joy "look at me, I am flying" "I am faster" "I am higher" "let's go over there" and the few without wings who stayed on ground were dissapointed "why she got wings and note me?". Their movement in the air resembled the whirlwind while the unicorns tied to the ground jumped up and down forming a circle below them.
One big unicorn with no wings tried hopelessly to catch a small flying unicorn nearby "Please baby, come byck, get down, you will hurt yourself" the big unicorn was talking to the small one "But momy, I am flying" the small one answered.
Ladybug unicorn managed to grab the toy unicorn with her teeth and with a few flaps raise to the level of the Unicorn Princess, then she flew around her to get her attention. Other winged unicorns started to float around, some small specimens flying around quickly and bouncing off each other.
"Stop playing around and get the earrings from Ladybug and the ring from Chat Noir" Hawk Moth was loosing his patience.
Ladybug looks at Unicorn Princess, trying to get her attention, going up and down, left and right, waving the toy unicorn in her teeth. She gave Chat several pointed looks and he managed to lower himself to their level, behind the Unicorn Princess and this time pronounce "cataclysm" his right front leg started to radiate black energy. While falling forwards, he hit the unicorn that the Unicorn Princess was sitting on, it disintegrated and a purple butterfly flew away.
Ladybug pulled the string of her yoyo, it unwrapped from the toy, then grabbed the toy with her teeth and said "Miraculous Ladybug". Everyone turned back to normal, she grabbed her yoyo, captured the purple butterfly and released the white one with "no more evil doing for you little akuma".
In the meantime, Chat was jumping around fetching the akumatized girl and other small girls that suddenly materialized from the flying unicorns as they began to fall. Several were caught by adults nearby and none got injured. one
Hawk Moth was angry "the akuma was winning over people of Paris by popularity but by luck you defeated her, Ladybug and Chat noir, I will get your miracoulouses tne next time
Ladybug recognized the girl as a friend from Nadia Charmack's daughter Manon, but said nothing. The mother of the little girl, who transformed from one of the unicorns nearby, quickly run to the girl. Ladybug and Chat Noir looked at each other and approached closer "Pound it" and a fist bump for the celebration were followed by Ladybugs slightly puzzled face, several girls around were severely disappointed that they were not unicorns anymore "I lost my wings" "I had sparkly hair and tail" "My hair was a rainbow and I had stars on my sides" they complained.
"Well, as much as I love horsing around with you My Lady, my lunch break is almost over and my timer is activated" from Chat
"and my timer is even lower, Bug out!" from Ladybug.
Both of them quickly flew and vaulted away. They were not far from the shop so Chat vaulted quickly to the back door of the shop where he left Marinette and de-transformed behind the same dumpster, while Ladybug hid behind a van on the street as her earrings were beeping the last warning and entered the shop from the front door as Marinette.
Marinette and Adrien met in front of the boxes with food they left in the shop, picked them up and started towards the exit.
"Were you ok?" Adrien asked.
"Yes, the streets were full of unicorns" Marinette started.
"We needed them for our project in school, we should have kept some!" Adrien exclaimed dramatically.
"Yes, what a waste of perfectly good akuma" Marinette replied and both of them were laughing.
Adrien just took one more piece of food from the box Sabine gave him and smiled to Marinette. They were friends.
Marinette smiled to him back, he was looking at her with those green eyes, she could just stare at him and smile and everything was right in this world, she could just be his friend like this forever.
They found Alya and Nino on the embankment, Alya was frantically checking her phone, apparently she took a few photos of Ladybug and Chat Noir as unicorns but the photos were taken randomly, accidentally and they were barely useful, but in the absence of better ones, Alya finally picked a few and posted on the Ladyblog.
"Can we use these photos to cover the contemporary part of our unicorn project?" Marinette and Adrien were talking almost simultaneously.
Alya just smiled "Well then, Marinette and Adrien can cover the history and literature and Nino and I will look through the other arts".
"Adrien, is there some classical music related to unicorns?" asked Marinette.
"I have no idea, but I can ask my teacher during the practice this afternoon." replied Adrien.
"Great, then there are just paintings left to search for and perhaps Alya and Nino could go through literature?" proposed Marinette. Her plan was to ask Tikki for the help with history.
"Right, the lunch break is almost over, let's go back to school!" Nino was checking his phone.
"You two could go to the library and work on this together" Alya said turned to Marinette and Adrien wiggling her eyebrows. Marinette's heart sunk a bit, blush on her face, the gift of speech forgotten.
"Actually I can stay in the library for about 20 minutes this afternoon, I have fencing after that" Adrien proposed.
They continued walking towards school, Adrien turned to Marinette "we could talk on the phone this evening and exchange our findings?"
"Sure" Marinette smiled, biting her lower lip to prevent herself from keeping talking any nonsense.
"I will text you first, to check if you are not busy with something" Adrien concluded.
Marinette's phone rang, it was Nadia Charmack, she showed the ringing phone to Adrien and noted "I do not know how much will I be working on the project, I might be babysitting" and then answered.
"Hi Nadia … yes she is righ here … I will give her to you … Alya it is Nadia Charmack … " and gave her phone to Alya.
"Hello Nadia " Alya answered enthusiastically " I have the pictures from todays akuma, not fantastic, but I was there, turned into a unicorn, … yes … yes … ok … I will give you Marinette back" Alya returned the phone a bit disappointed.
"Yes Nadia, it's Marinette back … ok … yes … I can do it … thank you … see you soon!" Marinette stopped the conversation a bit confused, then slumped her shoulders and exhaled tiredly.
"I thought she wants me for the news" Alya was talking not hiding her disappointment "but all she wants is to give the photos of Ladybug and Chat Noir unicorns to Marinette so she can design and make the toys in that shape as gifts for Nadia's daughter and her friend!".
"Are you going to make them?" Adrien asked Marinette, hopeful look in his eyes.
"Well I said yes to Nadia already" Marinette answered.
"Could you make one Ladybug unicorn for me?" Adrien asked, the green eyes beaming at her with hope. How could she say no? But how could she speak while those eyes look at her that way? She is just staring at him. "that is if you have the time, and when you have the time, and they can be small and .. " Adrien continues, hope in his voice. Finally, she can do it, she is his friend!
"O...of course, o...one Ladybug and one Chat Noir unicorn for you!" Marinette smiled.
She got a huge grin from Adrien and a quick side hug "Thank you Marinette, I am sure they will look amazing".
They had little time for the project and with a little help from Hawk Moth, the project was rolling out already.
The afternoon lessons were a bit lost for Marinette, they got an assignment and she finished it as soon as she could and started to design the toys in her sketchbook. Adrien turned around as they were supposed to check each others work, noticed what Marinette was doing and decided to help her with her schoolwork.
"Marinette, if you are designing the toys during classes I will have to show you how to solve these tasks in the library, these will be in the exam next week!" he whispered.
Marinette blushed since caught by her crush and even felt a bit criticized for her actions "S…. sorry, I … I w...will try to do better" and took back the assignment sheet trying to concentrate on the questions. Adrien took her design sketchbook and studied her very detailed picture of Chat Noir unicorn and then noticed that Ladybug unicorn had much less details.
"I did not notice that Alya had more useful photos of Chat than Ladybug from the last battle" Adrien whispered, then pretending to go through the photos on Marinettes phone that Alya sent her "here, Ladybug had larger spots and less of them, one was here on the head, the others were here and here" pointing with his finger as Marinette made notes, her hand holding the pencil shaking a little from occasional touches with Adrien's hand, blushing severely and just nodding to his suggestions.
The final bell rang and the four friends headed towards the library, they found a desk where all four could sit. But, as soon as they left their bags on the floor aside, Marinette and Adrien pulled out their notebooks and a sketchbook to the desk, Alya winked and pulled Nino away with a remark of "going to look for some literature" (and leave you two lovebirds alone was unsaid but unfortunately understood by Marinette, making her nervous).
Adrien proposed to search the internet for some clues and Marinette quickly started through a list, adding a few items after every search and making notes, trying really hard not to look at Adrien (too much) and definitely not talking. She was so determined to focus on the research subject that she completely missed how he took her sketchbook and a sheet of paper from his notebook and started making notes on the look of the Ladybug unicorn. He remembered vividly all the details of the Ladybug unicorn but he could only describe the details, propose a list of corrections. He wanted the toy to be perfect, his Lady deserves it, and he wants a small toy in that shape, to remember her. Adrien was so concentrated on the task that he completely forgot to pretend that he is looking at the photos of Ladybug unicorn, but Marinette on the other hand, was trying so hard not to notice, that it was not even needed. Then an alarm on Adriens phone went off.
"I am really sorry Marinette to leave you to work on this alone, I have my fencing now, I can come back after the training to check with you how far you got but then I will have to head home right away … " Adrien started to ramble but Marinette was a bit impatient to head home and start working on the Ladybug and Chat Noir unicorns.
"A...actually, I should head home, my parents … design, homework, dinner. " she was lowering her head a bit disappointed that she would miss a few minutes with Adrien "can I send you my notes in a message and a list of items to continue searching for?" The prospect of exchanging a few messages with Adrien having surprisingly little effect on the girls self control.
"OK, great, I will probably not start before dinner anyway, due to my schedule" (my fathers schedule actually, Adrien thought, but there are details he preferred to leave out from time to time).
Later, in her room, Marinette was cutting pieces of red and black fabric. She looked at her designs of the unicorns in her notebook. "Adrien is very observing" Marinette said "look at how many details he noticed on Ladybug unicorn" she showed the page with the notes Adrien wrote to Tikki. Tikki smiled knowingly and nodded.
"I never noticed these details while I was watching Alya's footage" Marinette said, "it was not her best, good thing I could remember most of the details of Chat Noir as unicorn from my memory," Marinette smiled ."Alya's film is mostly blur and shaky" Marinette waved her head "but I needed it for the Ladybug unicorn. I was searching to see how it really looked frame by frame," she sighed "I will just create something using Adrien's description" Marinette finished. Tikki just looked and nodded the whole time, keeping herself busy eating her cookie.
"Tikki, it was so nice talking to Adrien today" she sighed.
"Yes it was" the little goddess chirped from her cookie.
"I almost did not stutter" Marinette remembered "and did not get flustered so much".
"Yes, Marinette, you were great!" Tikki chirped.
"And we spent lunch break together" Marinette smiled, but then frowned "well almost" and smiled again "and we have a project together" her eyes wandered on one of the pictures of Adrien above her wall "And he asked me to make him these unicorns" Marinette continued arranging red and black pieces of cloth and sewing them together by hand. "And all I had to do is to treat him as a friend"
Marinette spent the rest of her afternoon chatting with Tikki and making the stuffed unicorns in the shapes of Ladybug and Chat Noir.
Adrien was in his room sitting at his computer desk. The screen showed pictures from todays akuma battle, Ladybug and Chat Noir as unicorns.
"Aren't you supposed to work on your project?" Plagg asked from his piece of cheese on a plate on the end of the same huge desk.
"I am" Adrien smiled "but internet search brings me to these results" he waved to the screen and smiled mischievously. Then he turned back to the screen and browsed through more pictures..
"You promised your girlfriend that you will work on the project" Plagg was teasing.
"She is not my girlfriend, Plagg" Adrien responded.
"No?" Plagg asked "Really?"
"No we just hang out, and go to school together and she is my friend" Adrien smiled.
"And she is making you some stuffed toys" Plagg said mockingly.
Adrien opened one of the pictures of Ladybug as unicorn on the screen, it was mostly blur, but he sighed with a smile on his face "Most of the pictures from today are low quality, it was good that I could describe all the details from the Ladybug unicorn to Marinette from my memory"
"Yes, it was really swell" Plagg responded and took another bite of cheese.
"But she managed to resolve many details of Chat Noir as unicorn from these photos, she is really good!" Adrien continued.
"I need more cheese for this" Plagg said and put the whole chunk into his mouth.