In a vibrant, fluorescent green grassland, where hills rolled and curved like a roller coaster track and a rainbow stretched across the sky, an honest-to-goodness joyland was singing with excitement. As the sun cast its cheerful yellow glow over this kingdom, the streets of town came alive as its inhabitants raced excitedly onto them, ready to have loads of fun and bask in the lovely weather. The boundless jubilation of the land was especially reflected through its young ruler, Princess Unikitty.

Today, the feline princess, who was renowned for her blue unicorn's horn and charming demeanor, was playing with her fun-loving younger brother, a dog with a yellow horn named Puppycorn. Every book Puppycorn had been asked to read from fall to spring by their adult friend Richard was in the trash bin, and Unikitty had forgotten to make her bed and clean her room. With so many parties waiting to be thrown and so many adventures waiting to be had, tidiness wasn't something she'd take a second to consider.

"I'm coming to save you, Peacock Jade! Chhh! Neeeeeeooooow!"

Puppycorn hoisted a toy biplane as high into the air as he could reach and let it fly around his room, giving it life with his own sound effects. Inside the plane sat one of his action figures, a toy snowman with a bandaged arm. The snowman bravely piloted his plane through the hot summer weather, simulated by the sun's rays blaring through Puppycorn's circular window. It wasn't an easy mission; it required him to maneuver between steep plateaus, represented by the hamburger ottomans, and over a boiling hot sea of lava, which was the ball pit. His objective was to hack the computer, which kept up the barrier of stood-up books guarding a rectangular fortress made of building logs. A peacock doll, played by Unikitty, had been imprisoned within it by a terrifying stony monster. Just when the courageous snowman was deciphering the mysterious code of the keyboard to find the password, Puppycorn and Unikitty heard a low, monotone voice from outside the door.

"Hello, guys? Are you in there? Please come out..." it said.

Unikitty put down the toys she'd been holding and went towards the door. "Yeah?" she asked. "What is it, Richard?"

"Sorry to interrupt your playtime, you two, but we have to go..." Richard told the siblings.

"Oh, sorry, Rick! We're a little busy right now," the feline said to him. "Can we finish up first? Blizzard still needs to break the Mega Fortress barrier to save Peacock Jade."

"Princess, he can do that later. Are you going to come out or just play all day? Remember the summer festival we're planning?" he asked, a bit impatient.

"But not while THAT happens! Thanks for reminding me, Rick!" Unikitty exclaimed, her eyes lighting up with glee.

To her, there was something to celebrate every day, whether it was a holiday like Christmas, Halloween, or Valentine's Day, or just an average day, on which she felt like bringing all of her friends in the Unikingdom together. She also loved to throw a party when the first chills of winter coated the land with rime, or when summertime weather began to heat things up. This year, as everyone enjoyed their much-needed relaxation time after many long, stressful work hours, Unikitty and her friends were cooking up something special for all of them. It was nothing too wild- just an epic kingdom-wide celebration to ring in the summer in style. So far, the outdoor dance floor was all set, the fireworks machines were ready to go, every swimming pool and beach was pristinely clean, and Unikitty had found the perfect recipes for fruit salads, smoothies, and ice cream floats.

Unikitty grabbed a pair of rose-colored heart-shaped sunglasses and took Puppycorn by the hand. The two raced out the door and down a flight of stairs to the kitchen, where Unikitty's avian-reptilian bodyguard, Hawkodile, sat at the table waiting for his lunch. Richard, a floating gray brick, hovered to the fridge to serve himself a glass of water.

"Hi, Hawkodile!" Unikitty greeted him.

"Hey, Princess!" Hawkodile greeted back. "How's it going?"

"It's going WONDERFULLY!" Unikitty replied excitedly. A bunch of little sparkly things, like stars, music notes and rainbows, popped out of her head.

"Okay! I've got some cheeseburgers! Who wants one?" Dr. Fox, the vulpine resident scientist, came into the kitchen holding a plate of fresh, warm burgers in her hands. She took a pair of tongs from the kitchen counter and worked her way around the table to serve them before taking her seat. Noticing the flustered expression on Hawkodile's face when she served him his, she smiled warmly at him.

Unikitty and her canine brother giggled silently- not because this was silly to them, but because it was adorable. They'd once seen him literally get crushed under the weight of his feelings for a certain special someone of his. But even after Hawkodile said he'd confessed, sweat dampened his feathers every now and then, and his yellow beak was shaded with a vivid red from time to time. At least they didn't know who it was- that is to say, who it really was. Did they still believe he had feelings for a flower vendor in town, like he'd told them that day? He had to swallow that since there was a lot of work ahead of them.

As Unikitty nibbled on her burger, Richard took out his clipboard. "Okay. Today, we'll be going to the caves outside of town. We need to collect some rocks to make fuel for the electric parade floats- Princess, are you even listening?"

"So... why does your fur look shiny today?" Unikitty asked Dr. Fox while examining the fur on her head.

"I've lately been using different types of fur conditioner to study their properties and effects," she explained. "I highly recommend the one I most recently used. It came out great, don't you think?"

"I LOVE IT!" Unikitty yelled as hearts from her mind scattered across the floor. "It looks so much prettier now!"

"Yeah. Way prettier," Hawkodile said under his breath.

"If you ever go shopping for it, look for 'Glow from the Moon," Dr. Fox told her.

"Will do," said Unikitty.

"Princess, this isn't the time to talk about fur," Richard interrupted. "Before we go to the caves, why don't we help some citizens prepare for the festival?"

"That's what I was about to do right now!" Unikitty eagerly hopped off of her chair with a wide grin on her face, and then, she jumped right out the window.

A half-eaten burger remained on her plate. "It's okay. I'll finish it for her!" Puppycorn said, stuffing it into his mouth.

The Unikitty-shaped castle that she and her friends lived in stood proudly atop a hill, and the water in the moat was sparkling like always. The sky was void of clouds and as blue as a robin's eggs. The petals of every single flower in town were wide open. Banners with a sunny beach setting painted on them hung on the brightly-colored, uniquely shaped buildings by the brightly-colored, uniquely shaped people who lived or worked in them. Yard ornaments of surfboards, beach balls, seagulls, and sea turtles decorated the lawns. One citizen even poured sand on their front lawn to complement the ornaments and enhance the beachy theme. All around, Unikitty could hear jovial chatter and groovy, danceable music. She considered herself a friend to all of her people, so she stopped to happily chat with some of them, initiating each conversation by waving and giggling. They talked about how they just couldn't wait for the summer festival to begin, how the bees were buzzing in Flowery Park, how business was booming for the toy district, how Doki Diamond Funland was crowded with parkgoers, and how Unikitty and Puppycorn's parents were off on a cruise. When hearing about this, Unikitty wished that her mom and dad could be here to join the festival, but this was a cruise to a fabulous resort, and they were guaranteed to have just as good of a time there.

As she hovered beside a shop that looked like a giant birthday present, Unikitty could hear some rough hollering coming from inside that she could only make out as the harsh sounds of a disagreement. Ever so ready to solve it, she entered the shop, landing right in front of the checkout desk. The two clerks each held a box in their hands- one in the regular shape of a cube, and the other flatter and in the shape of a heart.

"Hi, you two! Is there a problem?" she asked them sweetly.

"Oh, hello, Princess Unikitty! We heard about that summer party of yours, and we thought we'd contribute by selling our trademark gift boxes!" one of them said, her irritation lifting for a quick second.

"So, I suggested to Val right here that we should sell the classic cubical boxes," the other added, holding the box close to his face, a four-cornered face with a bow up on top.

Val carefully looked over each box on her side of the desk. She dragged her hand over heart-shaped chocolate boxes, spitting images of her chocolate heart box for a head, to the screwable spherical containers to the deconstructable pyramids. "That's a bit too old school, don't you think? Besides, like I said, these have more variety."

Ribbon gave Val a dirty look. "No it's not," he told her, getting more heated as he spoke. "They just so happen to be our most purchased, and for a good reason. You can fit more things in them than in any other box."

"It's okay. Don't get mad. I can help you!" Unikitty said, continuing to offer her perspective on the situation. It always worked every Problem Fixy Day. "I think you shouldn't have to pick which ones to sell. Every box will have a nice present that'll perfectly fit in it! Why don't you just sell all of them?"

"That works! Thank you, Princess! You're the best!" Val cheered.

Ribbon took a pink rectangular box from off the shelf. In the middle of it was Unikitty's head, the Unikingdom's prominent symbol. "Here! Take this as a thank you," he told her.

"Glad I could help!" she said joyously.

She took to the air again and continued along the path leading outside of town. As she was overhead, she could spot the bindle-like Bim-Bom jogging down the sidewalk, bouncing up and down on her round bottom side in place of putting feet in front of each other. She'd been looking more vivacious every day she went for this kind of run. Right off the 134, FeeBee buzzed around her watering can floral shop, preparing a big sale of her own. And yet, she shot a furious glare at anyone who came to browse and chased them out like a bear from a cave. One of the windows had been barricaded with wood planks, and it was only a matter of time before the door was boarded up next. Further down the way, Dino Dude was spinning his wheels at the ramps with his prehistoric skater crew, practicing sick moves to show off to their friends at the party. Near a tranquil pond, Really Old Edith sat on a bench, hand-in-wing with her on-again, off-again drake, Ted Butter. Though he'd once tried to steal her jewels, he'd called her up one fateful night, quack-begging to her, promising her he'd be a better duck. Unikitty, with an eye roll, just kept flying. Outside a coffee brewery, a few bubble machines were blowing away. The bubbles encircled Unikitty, and she stopped to pop a few. 

"Wheeee! Bubbles!" she laughed.

"Princess, are you done yet? We really should get back to our agenda for today," Richard said, as if he'd appeared out of nowhere.

Unikitty landed next to him. "Oh, hi, Rick! Sorry about that. I almost forgot."

Puppycorn, Hawkodile and Dr. Fox caught up to her as well. Dr. Fox had a red wagon in tow, stocked up with pickaxes, brushes, shovels, burlap sacks, and mining helmets. Puppycorn's snout was stained with the sticky residue of orange sherbet.

"I can't wait to see the caves!" he said as he licked his lips. "I hope there's some really cool stuff in there."

"I've actually discovered a soda fluid chamber running beneath the ground," Dr. Fox told him. "There are tiny holes that shoot out a soda-flavored steam you can eat."

Puppycorn, hearing this, was bursting with excitement. "There could be some side effects, though..." murmured Dr. Fox.

"Come on, gang! Let's go!" shouted Unikitty.

They all went together down the path, which brought them to the northern end of town and on the trails to the caves. Somewhere inside of them, the temperature was dropping drastically, and a coat of ice was spreading across the walls. A person rummaging through the glittering stone was sucking in breaths, struggling to hold back their tears.