That afternoon the sky was grey, covered with puffy clouds like little balls of cotton. Ziggy, Lily, Skye, and Dash were in the garden playing a funny game: who could stand the longest on just one leg, like flamingos.

Dash, who was fast and never stood still for a moment, hopped from one foot to the other. "Look at me! Look at me!" he laughed. And then, whoops, he plopped down on the grass, laughing and laughing.

"You're always in a hurry, Dash," said Lily, looking at him with her big blue eyes.

"I run because it's the most fun thing in the whole world!" he answered, and off he zoomed again like a rocket.

Just then, from behind the clouds, came a happy, familiar sound: "CHOO CHOOO! CHOO CHOOO!"

It was Toby the Magic Train, with shiny wheels and a whistle that sounded like a party. He stopped beside the garden, puffing steam, and said:

"Choo choo, good day, my darlings dear,
today a special place is near!
A cave that shines with silver light,
come climb aboard, the time is right!"

The four friends clapped their hands and jumped onto the train. "Where are we going? Where are we going?" asked Dash, who always wanted to know everything right away.

Toby whistled and added:

"A race awaits you far below,
but do not rush, just take it slow!"

Then off he went, choo choo, over the clouds and the hills, until the window filled with a special light, silvery and magical.

When the doors opened, the children's mouths fell wide open. They were standing in front of the Moon Cave: a huge cavern, with walls covered in crystals that sparkled like a thousand little lights. Up high, a hole in the ceiling let in the full moon, big and round, filling everything with silver light. And on the ground there was snow, fresh and deep, soft as a white blanket.

"How beautiful!" whispered Skye, calm as always, with her little nose pointing up.

Waiting for them was a wooden sign with some strange, big, wide shoes. "Those are snowshoes!" explained Lily. "You put them under your feet, and they help you walk on top of the deep snow without sinking."

"And what's that?" asked Ziggy, pointing up high.

At the top of the cave, far, far away, glowed a Crystal as big as a ball, sending out sparkles of light. Below it, lots of tunnels opened in the rock: one, two, three, ten tunnels, all the same.

Just then, out of nowhere, a feather appeared. A golden feather that fluttered in zig-zags and tickled you when it passed close by. The feather began to write in the air, with letters of light: "WELCOME TO THE SNOWSHOE RACE!"

"A feather that writes!" laughed Dash.

"I don't just write," said the Feather in a ringing voice, "I do the play-by-play! Just like on television! Ladies and gentlemen, here are our four champions! Whoever reaches the Crystal at the top first will win the race! Ready? What a fearless start awaits us!"

The children looked at each other. "What does fearless mean?" asked Skye.

"Fearless means brave, with no fear at all!" explained the Feather, and it rubbed out a badly written word with a funny "poof." "Now put on your snowshoes! Find the right tunnel! But be careful: the snow has covered all the signs, and no one knows which way leads to the top!"

It was true. Where the arrows used to be, now there was only white snow. Nobody knew which tunnel to choose.

"Easy!" said Dash, who already had his feet inside the enormous snowshoes. "I'll run and find it first!"

"Dash, wait!" said Lily. But he had already zoomed off.

And here came the funniest disaster of the whole day.

Dash dashed off like lightning, but the snowshoes were as wide as two frying pans. One foot landed on top of the other, his legs got all tangled up, and, whoops, Dash did a somersault in the air and landed upside down in the deep snow, with only his two feet poking out, wiggling like the fins of a fish.

"OOPS!" went Dash, with his face in the snow.

And the cave, which was magic, took that little "OOPS!" and bounced it from wall to wall: "OOPS! oops! oops! oopsss!" It sounded like a hundred little voices all laughing together. The children burst out laughing.

"And what a dive, folks!" shouted the Feather, writing "SPLASH!" in the air in big letters. "Little Dash has tucked himself into the snow like a tiny carrot!"

Ziggy and Lily ran to help him. They pulled him by the feet and, pop, Dash came out all white, with a tuft of snow on his head that looked like a hat.

"I'm not giving up!" he said, laughing. And off he went again, running.

But the more he ran, the more he sank. One step too fast, and zap, the snowshoe stuck in the snow. Dash spun like a top, slipped, tumbled, and every time he went "OOPS!", and every time the cave answered "oops oops oopsss!" with its funny echo.

Far away, meanwhile, a deep rumble was heard. Rumble, rumble.

Skye made herself very, very small. "What's that?"

"It's only a faraway storm," said Ziggy. "Hear it? It grumbles like a hungry tummy!"

And indeed it sounded just like the stomach of a giant who hadn't had his snack. "Ruuumble," went the storm. "It's hungry!" giggled Lily, and everyone laughed, and they weren't scared anymore.

But now there was a real problem. It was cold. A sharp, biting cold that crept under their jackets. The four friends started to chatter their teeth: tick tick tick. And Dash, all wet from the snow after all his running, was shivering the most of all.

"I'm c-cold," he said, and for the first time he didn't feel like running anymore. He sat down on the snow, tired. "And I still haven't found the right tunnel. The more I run, the more I get it wrong. The more I run, the more I sink."

There was a moment of silence. Even the golden Feather stopped its play-by-play and gently landed on Dash's shoulder.

It was Skye, the calmest one, who had the idea from the heart. She went up to Dash and hugged him. "If we stay close, we'll get warm," she said in her gentle little voice.

Lily nodded. "Let's make a circle! All snug together!"

And so they did. Ziggy, Lily, Skye, and Dash squeezed into a circle, shoulder to shoulder, and slowly they felt warm again. The shivering stopped. Their teeth stopped chattering. In the middle of the circle, the smiles came back.

"There," said Lily. "Now let's think. Dash, you go fast, but the snow is deep. If you run, you sink. But if we take one step at a time, the snowshoes float on top of the snow. Look!"

Lily lifted one foot slowly, set it down in front, then the other. One step. Another step. And the snowshoes stayed on top of the snow, without sinking.

"One step at a time," Dash repeated. "But that's so slow!"

"Slow, but always moving forward," said Ziggy. "Better one step that gets there than ten runs that fall down!"

Dash thought about it. Then he smiled, his clever little smile. "All right! But the right tunnel? How do we find it?"

And here the golden Feather fluttered happily. "Ah, that's what I'm here for! Just ask me kindly, instead of running off! I'll show you the right way!" And it began to write a golden, glowing arrow in the air, pointing to the third tunnel. "This way, champions! One step at a time!"

So off they went. But not running. All together, snug in their warm circle, with Dash in front setting the beat: "One step... and another step... and one more."

The snowshoes floated on the snow. The Feather's arrow guided them into the sparkling tunnel, and the crystals on the walls shone like stars. Every now and then Dash wanted to dash off, but he felt Skye's little hand in his and he stopped. One step at a time.

The path climbed higher and higher. The full moon came closer and closer. And the storm, far below, kept grumbling with its hungry tummy: "Ruuumble!" But now it only made them laugh.

Then, all of a sudden, the tunnel ended. And there before them appeared the Crystal, big and bright, filling the cave with silver light.

"We made it!" shouted Dash.

They took the last steps together, all four at the very same moment, holding hands, and they touched the Crystal all together.

The cave burst with light. The golden Feather fluttered up high and wrote in the air, in enormous letters that filled the whole cavern: "FINISH LIIINE!"

"And everybody wins! All together!" shouted the Feather. "The most wonderful race ever! The fastest one didn't come first. The ones who stuck together did!"

The children hugged each other, laughing and jumping. Dash looked at his snowshoes and said: "You were right, Lily. One step at a time really does get you there. Even when you're as fast as me!"

Just then, from the back of the cave, came a familiar sound: "CHOO CHOOO! CHOO CHOOO!"

It was Toby the Magic Train, come to take them home. He opened his doors, let them all climb in where it was cozy and warm, and as they set off again among the sparkling crystals, he said:

"Choo choo, what a race, what fun and cheer,
one step at a time and never fear!
Who rushes too fast can sink and fall,
but close together, joy fills us all!"

The children fell asleep, tired and happy, while the moon cave shone behind them and the storm, far, far away, grumbled one last "ruuumble" from its hungry tummy.

And Dash, before he closed his eyes, smiled. He had discovered something new: that the fastest way to reach the top, sometimes, is to go slowly, one step at a time, together with your friends.