Foxy: Rivalry at Summer Camp

by Belinda Rapley

  “Any news on Foxy?” Rosie asked.

  Amber shook her head. “Sorry I snapped earlier about the photo, Rosie. I wasn’t feeling myself.”

  Their conversation was interrupted as Watty, closely followed by the rest of the blue team, ran noisily into the paddock, keen to tell Amber what she’d missed out on. Amber sighed.

  “I’ll have to catch up with you later,” she said.

  The Pony Detectives left Amber to it with a sympathetic shrug, knowing she’d probably be stuck with the blue team for ages. They caught a glimpse of Holly in the stables, chatting with Destiny, then they hurried inside their tent and went into a huddle.

  Rosie chomped noisily on a cereal bar as Mia flipped her notebook open. She tapped the book with her pen, pointing to a couple of clues that she’d written down earlier in the week.

  “Before we start, do we need a lookout?” Charlie asked.

  “I can stay by the door,” Alice offered. She got into position, then Mia began.

  “Okay, so we all agree that finding Pony Mad in the muck heap, with part of the Lily Simpson article missing, suggests someone at camp knows something about Foxy’s disappearance, right?”

  “Right,” the others nodded.

  “At first everything pointed to Freddie,” Mia continued, “but now it seems seriously unlikely that he’s the culprit.”

  “So who does that leave us with?” Alice asked, chewing her lip. The Pony Detectives sat quietly for a moment, thinking hard.

  “What about Holly?” Rosie asked, tentatively. The others looked at her, waiting for her to continue. “I mean, some of the things she’s done don’t quite add up – like her going missing on Sunday. She wasn’t in the tent or the stables when she said she was.”

  “And she returned from wherever she’d been with chestnut hairs on her,” Charlie added.

  Mia nodded, her thick ponytail falling over her shoulder as she started to make notes.

  “And Holly knew where my Pony Mad was,” Rosie said. “She was late coming to our welcome talk on that first day – she could have taken it then!”

  Alice lit up, forgetting to listen at the tent door as she thought of more clues. “And do you remember on that first hack Holly said she knew all the paths that led from Chestnut Grove.”

  “So?” Charlie frowned.

  “So, she knows exactly where Chestnut Grove is, for a start,” Alice explained.

  “Maybe she knows all the paths,” Rosie suggested, “because she’s been hanging around there loads?”

  Mia wrote the clues down, but didn’t look convinced. “This does all look a bit odd, but it doesn’t add up. Holly is Lily’s biggest fan,” she frowned. “There is no reason why she would want to steal Foxy.”

  The others sighed, knowing Mia was right – there was no reason.

  Charlie read through the clues once more. “Well, look,” she said, “we haven’t got anything else to go on, so maybe we should keep a closer eye on her for the next couple of days.”

  Suddenly they heard a tiny sneeze outside the tent. Charlie held up her hand and the Pony Detectives fell silent. They heard a light patter of footsteps moving away from them. Alice scrambled to the door and shoved her head through the flap. But when she looked out, there were lots of riders milling about. It was impossible to tell who, among them all, might have been listening.

  Once the ponies had fed and the haynets were hung up, everyone headed over to where the instructors were lighting a campfire, ready to cook sausages and veggie burgers to go with the mountain of salad that was waiting to one side.

  As the light started to fade, the whole camp sat around the fire on their sleeping bags and pillows. The flames and smoke snaked up into the inky sky, spitting and crackling. The instructors rubbed butter on the outside of potatoes, wrapped them in foil, then poked them into the ashes around the base of the campfire.

  Melissa and Beth organised everyone into their teams. They handed out a pencil and sheet of paper with numbers down the side to each team. Holly went back to the tent to fetch her purple ink pen and notebook, so they could scribble notes if they needed to.

  “Okay, guys, listen up!” Melissa called out over everyone’s chatter. “It’s time to start the quiz, so pens at the ready! Some of the questions will link into the stuff you’ve been taught in the last few days. Now we’ll find out who’s been listening!”

  As everyone groaned jokingly, Freddie called out the first question.

  “At shows, what are the colours of the first- to sixth-place rosettes?”

  “Dancer wouldn’t know what a first-place rosette looked like!” Rosie joked and Alice giggled.

  As the other teams discussed the answer in urgent, hushed whispers, Mia neatly wrote down the purple team’s answer. Silence fell again, then the next question was asked.

  “What are the principles of feeding?”

  “For us or the ponies?” Rosie called out.

  Mia rolled her eyes, as Charlie joined in the giggling with Alice. As Amber sat, racking her brains, Holly flipped open her notebook and quickly scribbled a few points down. She showed them to Mia who copied them silently from the purple-tinted paper.

  “Next question,” Beth said. “This is a picture round.”

  Melissa and Beth handed round pieces of paper with pictures of four different sets of horses’ teeth drawn on each.

  “You need to match each of those pictures with the ages I call out,” Lara said, as the smell of burgers and sausages cooking began to drift across to where they were sitting. “One of those pictures is of a two-year-old’s teeth, one is of a five-year-old’s, one’s an eight-year-old’s and one’s a sixteen-year-old’s.”

  Before the rest of the purple team even got a chance to discuss it, Holly had written an age against each picture.

  “Next question!” Melissa called out.

  The questions came thick and fast about stable management and riding, including some technical ones about approaches to different cross-country fences, and skin conditions they’d been taught about. But yet again, before the others had even begun to think about the answers, Holly was already scribbling them down.

  “There’s no point doing this if you’re going to take over,” Amber muttered grumpily, sitting back on her sleeping bag and feigning disinterest.

  Holly flushed pink and looked awkward. She kept quiet for the next question. It was about which essential nutrients a pony needed each day and none of the others knew the answer. Finally Holly bobbed forward and shyly listed them.

  “That’s awesome,” Charlie said. “So, official rule – you’re forbidden from being quiet from now on, Holly!”

  Amber glared at Charlie. “We don’t know if her answers are right yet, though,” she pointed out.

  Charlie frowned but didn’t say anything more.

  When they’d finished, the teams all swapped sheets. Freddie read out the answers to a mixture of cheers and groans.

  “I don’t believe this!” Emily called out at the end of the marking. “It must be a fix!”

  “What?” Destiny asked, looking over.

  “The purple team have got nearly every single question right,” Watty said, as Beth began to collect the sheets and some of the teams got up and began to mill around. “They must’ve cheated.”

  “We’re just lucky to have an equestrian super-brain on our team, that’s all,” Charlie grinned. “Holly.”

  “I wouldn’t be surprised if she had cheated,” Amber said, half under her breath but just loud enough for Holly to hear.

  Holly looked upset. She stood up awkwardly, and moved to sit with Destiny and the rest of the red team on the other side of the camp fire.

  Charlie tutted. “I don’t understand why you’re picking on Holly all the time,” she said. “I thought you’d be happy that she knew the answers – it helps our team score, after all.”

  Amber rolled her eyes. “It isn’t about the team score,” she said, “or anything to do with the stupid camp competition.
”

  “Really?” Rosie said, sceptically.

  “Oh, forget it,” Amber said, getting up. “You probably wouldn’t believe me if I told you, anyway.” With that, she stormed off .

  “Do you think we should go after her?” Mia asked.

  “Um, can we do that after we’ve eaten?” Rosie asked.

  The others agreed. They quickly shovelled in some food, then went to look for Amber.

  They found her in the stables, sitting in the semi-dark with Copper. As they approached, she fished something out of her pocket and handed it to them.

  “There, look at that,” she said. Mia took the envelope that Amber was holding out. “Aunt Becca gave me this today. She said it was hand delivered last Sunday, the day after we started camp.”

  The writing on the envelope was in purple ink.

  “Lily gets lots of fan mail and we all open it to help her out,” Amber explained as Mia pulled a pale purple sheet with faint ponies down the side from the envelope and unfolded it. “Fans often want a signed photo, or an autograph, that kind of thing. This one stood out because it was written in purple, so I opened it … This is what I found.”

  Mia’s heart started to thud as she read it out loud.

  Dear Lily,

  I’m your biggest fan – you’re the best rider in the world and I’d love to meet you one day. You’re my inspiration, and I want to get to Burghley just like you have. I don’t live far from you. I’d love to help out at your yard, sweeping up or tidying the muck heap – anything. It ’s my dream to have a lesson with you – and I’d do anything to make that happen. Maybe one day!

  I know you must get lots of letters all the time, but I hope you have time to read this one. I’ve got something I’d really like to show you – it’s something I think you’d want to know about, and something you’d be really happy to see , too!

  Please reply to me to find out about what I’ve got – who knows, you might think it’s worth a lesson!

  Your biggest fan,

  Holly Benwell

  xxx

  “See?” Amber said, prodding the letter. “Everything you need’s right here.”

  “Everything we need for what?” Charlie asked, confused, wondering if she’d missed something.

  Amber rolled her eyes. “I thought you said you were detectives. Here, read it again. Look – Holly would do anything to have a lesson with Lily, and she’s got something that might be worth a lesson in return. I’m convinced Holly stole Foxy to get a lesson with my sister – if she finds him, Lily will be really grateful, and a lesson would be the least she could do to say thanks. But actually all Holly’s done is wreck Lily’s chances of becoming the youngest ever Burghley winner. That’s why I’m off with Holly.”

  At that moment they heard Skylark whicker. They all turned to see Holly standing by his stable. She stroked his inquisitive big nose, as she looked over at the girls.

  “Melissa’s just rounding everyone up for bed,” she told them. “Are you coming?”

  “In a bit,” Mia replied, guiltily wondering how much she’d overheard.

  “Okay, well, I’ll see you back there,” Holly said. She lingered, looking between the Pony Detectives and Amber. She gave Skylark one last kiss, then left the stables.

  “What will you do about it?” Amber asked.

  The Pony Detectives looked at each other.

  “Did you say it was hand delivered on Sunday?” Rosie asked. Amber nodded. “That was the day Holly disappeared for ages. And came back with chestnut hairs all over her.”

  “I reckon we should tail her,” Charlie suggested. “That way, if she does disappear from camp again, we’ll find out exactly where she sneaks off to.”

  “And that might lead us straight to Foxy,” Mia said, pocketing the letter.

  They said goodnight to the ponies, then crept back into the tent, grabbed their wash bags and headed to the bathrooms. On the way back, Amber realised that she’d left her toothpaste behind, and said she’d catch the others up.

  When the Pony Detectives ducked back into their tent, Holly was lying in her sleeping bag, her face to the canvas. Holly didn’t move once, but Alice had a feeling that she wasn’t asleep.

  “I can’t believe it’s got even hotter,” Charlie said, sweltering in the heat as she finished mucking out the next morning. She put the wheelbarrow away and began to head for the Hall to get breakfast.

  Mia, Rosie and Alice walked with her, already feeling sticky after morning stables.

  “We’re definitely going to melt in our body protectors,” Rosie grumbled.

  They walked into the dining room. Holly had been up and out of the tent before the Pony Detectives had woken, and she was already sitting with Destiny. She looked up when the girls walked in, and gave them a small, uncertain smile. Watty was in her usual position by the score sheet, shouting out the marks.

  “Holly’s even further ahead, by sixteen points now!” she announced. “Unless something disastrous happens, I don’t think anyone can catch her!”

  “Unless everyone gets inspired by Lily Simpson starting Burghley today,” Emily added, winking at Amber. “Then there might be a gazillion points being scored!”

  Amber studied the score sheet, then went to sit with Watty and her gang. They got into a conspiratorial huddle.

  Mia looked back at the scores. Watty was right – there was nothing Amber could do now to claw back the lead from Holly. It looked like her ambition of winning first prize for the week was officially squashed.

  Alice sat down with her cereal, and noticed that the murmuring in the hall was suddenly getting louder.

  Destiny looked round. “Sounds like Watty’s getting a bit wound up at that end of the table, just for a change!”

  Alice followed Destiny’s gaze to see that the huddle had broken up.

  “There’s no way we’d do that,” Watty said in a loud whisper, looking shocked. She got up. “Not even to meet your sister. Come on, blues, let’s go.”

  The team marched out, leaving Amber sitting alone at her end of the table. A few seconds later, she got up too, and walked quickly out of the dining hall with her head down.

  Alice gave a nervous shiver as she scratched Scout’s warm, damp, dappled neck. The purple team were out on the cross-country course. They’d walked, trotted and cantered their ponies, then Freddie had walked with them over to fence sixteen – the telegraph poles and hill. The riders had to jump one telegraph pole at the base of a small hill, canter or trot up the hill and through some flags at the top, then back down the hill and over another telegraph pole at the bottom. They’d warmed their ponies up by flowing over the bottom fence one after the other, and then the next – the shark’s teeth – followed by the pheasant feeder. Now they were standing in line, facing a broad-topped jump with rolled edges.

  “At fence twenty you’ve got two options,” Freddie explained, slapping his hand on the flat top of the solid jump. “When you get to this point in the course you can either jump the smaller option just over there, called the hog’s back, or you can take on this fence, the Joker. Anyone who decides to jump the Joker and clears it will get an extra twenty points.”

  Amber looked up sharply.

  “But let’s start with the hog’s back,” Freddie said, as Alice, Mia and Rosie let out a collective sigh of relief.

  Alice gathered her reins and popped Scout into canter, following on behind Phantom, Copper and Skylark. Scout cantered confidently into the round-topped fence, adjusted his stride slightly, and flew over. Alice balanced on top, starting to feel less nervous. She turned after she’d slowed Scout to a trot to watch Wish jump elegantly, tucking her oiled hooves up neatly and looking picture perfect, if slightly slow. Rosie had got Dancer really fired up and she stormed up to the fence, and had a little look before ballooning over in a flurry of hooves.

  “Okay, so who fancies tackling the Joker?” Freddie asked.

  “Me and Phantom are up for a challenge,” Charlie said, putting up her ha
nd at once.

  “I could probably go under it with Dancer,” Rosie suggested.

  Freddie grinned at Rosie, shaking his head. “Anyone else want to have a go?”

  “Can I try with Skylark?” Holly asked Freddie.

  He smiled, then nodded. “He can do it,” Freddie said confidently.

  Amber glanced over, then raised her own hand uncertainly.

  “Are you sure?” Freddie asked.

  Amber gulped, and nodded.

  “Okay, well, let’s see how we go,” Freddie suggested. “Right, let’s start with Phantom.”

  Freddie talked the riders through their approach. “This fence is much scarier for the riders to canter up to than it is for the horses,” he explained. “You need to make sure you’ve got an energetic canter. Don’t chase your pony into it, but don’t let the canter get too slow either. And let him stretch over it, because of the width. Charlie, off you go.”

  Charlie took a deep breath and set Phantom going. He bounded into a forward canter, his slick ears flickering back uncertainly as he sensed Charlie’s tingle of nerves.

  “We can do this, Phantom,” she whispered, as much to herself as to him, and she turned and approached the table. It loomed up, broad and vast, and she held her breath. It didn’t seem possible that they could reach the other side. But she kept her legs on Phantom’s sides as he took his last stride and together they flew up and over the wide jump. It felt like they were suspended in the air for ages before Phantom stretched out his fine front legs and landed, to cheers from the watching riders.

  Charlie cantered him back, catching her breath. “That was huge!”

  Holly went next on Skylark. His big hooves marked a rhythmical beat on the grass. Holly’s expression was one of pure focus. She set him up perfectly, so that he didn’t get too deep or stand off too far. He sprung up boldly with a grunt, trying his hardest to reach for the far side. His hooves touched down again and the group gave another cheer, while Holly grinned from ear to ear, leaning down to hug Skylark. Amber sat in the saddle looking pale.

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” Freddie asked her gently.