Foxy: Rivalry at Summer Camp (14 page)

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the moment they climbed out of their tents the next morning, everyone was rushing round like crazy, getting ready for the
cross-country
competition. There were no stables to muck out, but the ponies had to be groomed to perfection, and their tack polished.

The Pony Detectives hardly had a minute to themselves to catch up from the night before, but over breakfast they managed to huddle together at the end of one table.

“So, Holly can’t have had anything to do with Foxy’s disappearance,” Charlie whispered, “not now her letter to Lily’s been explained.”

“But I don’t get why Amber would try to frame Holly,” Alice said.

“Or why she’d be wandering about with devil’s claw in her wash bag,” Charlie added.

“Unless…” Mia said, her eyebrows pinching together, “unless she’s feeding it to one of the ponies here?”

Rosie gasped. “What if Amber’s been sneaking off to the feed room every night?” she whispered. “It would have been the perfect opportunity to add it into one of the feeds without anyone seeing her. They’d be made up ready for breakfast.”

Alice noticed Amber look over at the four of them. Her pale eyebrows furrowed as she stood up and carried her plate over to the side. Alice saw that her hands were shaking.

“Come on, everyone,” Melissa said, as the instructors stood up to leave the hall, “time to start tacking up!”

“Well, there’s not much we can do right this second,” Charlie said to the others in frustration. They still had no clue where Foxy was, and they
were rapidly running out of time left at camp to find him – the holiday was nearly over and they’d be going home the next day. “We’ll have to wait until after the cross-country now.”

They headed outside. The ponies, sleek coats shining in the early morning sunshine, were tied to the paddock fences as their riders buzzed about. Holly and Destiny were both outside, helping the riders by fetching water buckets and sponges or sprinting to the hall to fetch ice-cold drinks.

“Okay, first team ready?” Melissa called out, as the reds made last-minute adjustments to their tack. They jumped on board, then rode over to the warm-up area.

Once they were ready, riders would set off every three minutes. The blue team started to tack up, getting their ponies’ boots and saddles on. They left the bridles hanging on the paddock rails next to them. The ponies stood, their eyes half closed, one back leg resting. Their tails
casually swished the flies away and they shook their heads, stomping a front hoof.

Copper was restless, not standing still for a second as Amber tried to groom him. As Amber returned from the tack room, carrying her own saddle and bridle for once, Charlie made a face.

“He looks like he might be handful today,” Charlie said.

Amber gave a weak smile. “I know,” she replied. “I’m going to get on him in a second so I’ve got loads of time to warm him up before we start. Then hopefully I can get some of the fizz out of him.” She pulled on her riding gloves and clicked her body protector into place, then glanced round at the riders bustling to and fro. “Oh, by the way, I bumped into Holly and Destiny near the tack room. Holly said she had something to tell you. I think she was heading into the feed room.”

“What, now?” Alice asked, glancing over to
Scout and wondering how much time they had before they were due to mount.

Amber nodded.

“We’d better be quick, then,” Charlie said, starting off in the direction of the feed room. The others followed and stepped out of the sunshine into the cool shade. They’d just got inside when they heard footsteps approaching.

Alice was about to look and see who it was when the door suddenly swung shut in her face. Before she could react, the big key was turned in the rusty lock. She tried the handle, rattling it desperately. The door shook, but wouldn’t open.

“Someone’s locked us in!” she cried as Charlie rushed over and started to bang on the door. “We’re trapped!”

“It’s no good,” Mia said. “No one will hear us from the paddocks – they’re all gearing up for their cross-country starts.”

“If this is one of the boys having a laugh,
I swear I’ll bury them in the muck heap!” Charlie said, banging the door again crossly.

“Somehow, I don’t think it is them,” Mia said, staying calm. “But whoever it is, we need to find a way out of here, quick.”

“Well, maybe there’s a spare key somewhere,” Alice suggested, looking round at all the tins on the shelf. “We’d better get searching.”

While Alice and Mia checked the shelves, Charlie and Rosie searched around the feed bins.

“There’s something under here,” Rosie puffed. She grabbed a wooden mixing spoon and poked around.

“Is it key-shaped?” Alice asked hopefully, moving onto the next shelf.

“I can’t tell yet,” Rosie grunted, trying to reach further under with the spoon. “I’ve nearly got it… oh!”

Rosie gave a final flick with her spoon and a copy of
Pony Mad
skidded out from underneath
the bin, bringing with it a collection of
screwed-up
sachets. Alice grabbed one of the sachets, and flattened it out. “Devil’s claw,” she said grimly as Rosie ducked back down and fished under the bin again.

“There’s something else caught under here,” Rosie said, before a second magazine came sliding out. “Another
Pony Mad
! That makes two copies – these must be the ones from the shop!”

As Rosie flipped open the pages, looking for the article on Lily Simpson, Alice frowned. “But no one from camp could have bought them. We were all at Hilltop when the shop sold out.”

“Apart from Amber,” Mia suddenly remembered. “She said she went to see her aunt, but she could easily have nipped into the village too. And these were under the feed bin in the same hiding place as the empty sachets. It has to be her!”

“She knew everyone wanted copies of
Pony Mad
from the village,” Rosie said, “so there’s got to be something in this magazine article on Lily that she didn’t want any of us to see.”

“Yes, but what?” Charlie asked, impatiently.

Rosie turned the pages, almost ripping them in her haste.

“Hang on, here’s the fact file on Lily’s top horses and ponies,” Rosie said, skimming through the article. “Foxy… here we go… So, he’s sixteen, he loves his chin being rubbed and he has one devil’s claw sachet in his morning feed. It helps keep him pain free after retiring through injury two years ago!”

“Well, I guess that explains how Amber managed to get a stash of it,” Alice said, “she must have taken it from Chestnut Grove.”

Rosie suddenly gasped. “Look! There’s a picture of Copper in the magazine!” The others quickly looked over her shoulder.

“But the caption says it’s Foxy, not Copper.”
Mia frowned, double-checking. “They must have got it wrong.”

They all stared at the picture of a pony with the same white blaze as Copper, spread slightly over one eye, and an identical pink patch on his muzzle. The only difference was that the pony in the picture looked roughed off . His mane was longer and fluffier, and he had whiskers under his chin. But it still looked just like Copper.

“And look,” Alice pointed out, “it says there that Foxy’s the only pony on the yard with a freeze mark. But Copper’s got one too, hasn’t he?”

Mia’s heart raced as fast as her mind. “If that’s right, then all this information can only mean one thing… Copper must be Foxy!” she gasped. “Amber was so desperate to win that she sneaked one of Lily’s top ponies into camp and tried to pass him off as her own!”

“That means Foxy’s been here, right under our
noses, all along,” Rosie said, shaking her head.

The Pony Detectives looked at each other, amazed by Amber’s reckless plan.

“So where, then, has Amber hidden the
real
Copper?” Alice added.

“How did she ever think she’d get away with swapping ponies like this?” Charlie asked.

“And why would she go to such lengths,” Mia said, still feeling stunned as Rosie carried on reading the article, “just to win a Pony Camp competition?”

“Oh my goodness,” Rosie whispered, her heart starting to race. “If that is Foxy out there with Amber, he’s in serious danger. Listen to this! Fact number seven: Foxy retired through injury. He damaged the ligaments and tendons in his near fore. He’s come back into work, but he can’t do anything too strenuous because if he injures his leg again, his tendons could be damaged beyond repair. The injury would then be life-threatening!”

“But Amber’s about to jump him round a whole cross-country course!
And
she’s planning to take on the Joker! I can’t believe she’d be willing to risk Foxy’s life, just to get to the top of the leader board!” Alice cried. “We’ve got to get out there now! We have to stop her!”

All the time Rosie had been reading out loud, Charlie had been searching the feed room. She’d been about to give up when she suddenly had an idea. She quickly grabbed a broken whip from the bucket in the corner, tugged off the flappy end bit, then prodded the exposed fibreglass shaft into the key hole.

“Er, what are you doing?” Rosie asked, frowning.

“Trying to get us out of here,” Charlie puffed. With a clink, the key dropped to the ground outside. Charlie quickly lay on her tummy on the ground, then slid the broken whip through the gap under the door. She scooped the whip, carefully teasing the key towards her.

“Bingo!” Charlie cried, as it slid through the gap. “Let’s go!”

She grabbed the key, turned it in the lock and the four girls fell out into the sunshine. As they raced to the paddocks, they looked over to the start of the cross-country course.

“Where’s Amber?” Charlie called over to Holly, who was standing next to Phantom, a concerned look on her face.

“Never mind Amber, where have you four been?” she asked. “It’s nearly your turn on the course! Me and Destiny have been looking everywhere for you!”

“You could have tried the feed room!” Rosie cried. “Just tell us, has Amber gone out onto the course yet?”

“She started a few minutes ago. She’ll probably be nearly at the end by now.” Holly frowned. “Why?”

But the girls didn’t stop to explain. They grabbed their bridles, quickly put them on
their ponies and leaped into their saddles.

“Sorry, Phantom,” Charlie said to her horse, who skittered sideways as she shoved her feet into the stirrups. “But we’ve got to fly!”

The four girls cantered their ponies past the tents and out onto the estate grounds. As they reached the end of the trees that lined the paddocks, Amber and Foxy galloped into view. They were in the distance, but the girls could see that Foxy was flying up to the steps, his tail spread like a banner behind him, and every muscle under his copper-coloured coat was taut.

Amber was standing up in the stirrups, trying to steady him, but it was clear that she’d lost control of the chestnut gelding. He skidded coming into the first step, suddenly realising what was in front of him. He bunched up and scrambled over the first couple of steps. Amber was unbalanced, but somehow she managed to cling on. Foxy took one big stride on the top
then bounded down the drop. Amber almost tipped over the front. With all the weight over his shoulders, Foxy stumbled as he moved away from the fence and for the next few strides his steps faltered.

On top, Amber looked pale and grim, but determined. She pointed her gutsy pony at the tiger trap and flew over, and was quickly onto the telegraph poles. They sailed over that combination and the shark’s teeth, too, but when Amber tried to turn him towards the pheasant feeder, Foxy started to prop, putting in short strides and raising his head. He spun round once, trying to edge towards the trees that lined the brook around the boundary.

“He’s trying to get back home to Chestnut Grove!” Mia said as they pushed their ponies on.

But Amber wouldn’t let him. She raised her stick and gave the little gelding a half-hearted slap on his rump. Foxy leaped forward, shocked. His stride got faster, his head up. Amber tangled
her fingers into his mane with one hand as she yanked on the rein with the other, turning the recklessly galloping pony towards the pheasant feeder. They flew over. As Foxy’s speed got even faster, Amber hauled on the reins to turn the pony towards the Joker fence.

“Amber!” Charlie shouted. “Don’t jump!”

Melissa was jump-judging and she looked over to the Pony Detectives, then to the out-
of-control
pony. She immediately got on her radio.

Amber was locked on the fence. Foxy’s head was high and he only saw it in the last few moments, suddenly adjusting his stride and launching himself into the air. He scrabbled over it in a muddle of hooves before landing awkwardly on the other side. He stumbled onto one knee, and looked like he was about to fall, but somehow he righted himself just in time. But Amber was shot out of the saddle and, free of her, Foxy suddenly turned and began to bolt back to the brook.

“He’ll end up on the lane!” Mia called out. “Quick!”

The gelding’s strides were uneven. His reins tangled round one leg as he raced on in a blind panic. The Pony Detectives squeezed their ponies into a fast canter, and set off in pursuit, flying past the table, the pheasant feeder and the shark’s teeth. The trees weren’t densely packed and the girls could see Foxy splash down into the brook, then spring out the other side. They had just ducked into the woods after him, sliding with their ponies into the brook when they heard it. A clatter of hooves on the lane and a squeal of tyres. A sickening thud followed, then silence.