Foxy: Rivalry at Summer Camp (7 page)

Alice shook her head, totally confused. “But what on earth is your
Pony Mad
doing buried in the muck heap? I thought a Lily Simpson fan had taken it!”

“Me too,” Mia said, “but at least this means we’ve finally got some more information on Foxy – and a photo!”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Rosie gulped.

“What are you talking about?” Charlie asked, leaning closer over her shoulder.

“Part of the Lily Simpson article’s gone,” Rosie said, looking up. “The competition preparation’s still here, but the facts page about her other ponies, including Foxy, is missing.”

“Why would anyone take just that bit?” Alice frowned.

The girls were silent for a second. Then they looked over to the other campers sitting around on hay bales, drying off in the sun and cleaning their tack. The green team’s instructor, Lara, was standing nearby, checking their work and joking with them. But when the Pony Detectives saw Amber look over to where they were standing, they noticed that she wasn’t smiling. In fact, she looked thoroughly fed up. She couldn’t get near her own tack. The blue team had all argued over who was going to clean what of hers, and she’d been left with nothing.

“Something weird’s going on here,” Mia said. “I’m going to grab my notebook. We need to have a proper think about this.”

While Mia rushed to the tent, the other three squelched to the hall to grab drinks. When they got to the open back door, Charlie suddenly held up her arm, and the others stopped. They
could hear Freddie’s lowered voice, talking in hushed tones just inside the hallway.

“Amber’s really upset, too,” they heard him whisper. Then he paused. “I know, but we’ve got to stick to the plan. You’ll just have to trust me. I’ll look after everything this end – you just concentrate on winning up there. Okay?”

Charlie stood, open-mouthed, as she stared at Rosie and Alice, who were straining to hear. She peeped round the doorway just as Freddie ended his phone call. The next second Melissa’s voice rang out.

“Freddie, can you come in here a sec? We need to go through the list for the treasure hunt tomorrow.”

Charlie saw Freddie jump and hastily drop his mobile on the side table as if it were on fire. Distracted, he disappeared into the lounge.

“Come on,” Charlie said, pulling Alice and Rosie into the hallway. From just the other side of the lounge door they could hear the
instructors chatting. Charlie sneaked closer to Freddie’s phone. She peered at the swipe screen. It was still lit up – Freddie must have forgotten to lock it when he rushed off . Charlie looked back at her friends with a doubtful expression. “Should I?” she asked softly.

“You have to!” Rosie whispered dramatically. “Foxy will thank us if it helps us solve the case.”

“
Just be quick!
” hissed Alice, nervously looking around her.

Charlie checked the phone to see who the last call had been made to, and a photograph of an eventer filled the screen.

“Georgie Belle…!” Rosie gasped.

Suddenly they heard footsteps coming towards them. The three girls turned on their heels, raced along the hallway and skidded breathlessly out of the back door.

H
ETTIE
the sheep kept her distance, nibbling the grass around the roots of a tree while the ponies wandered over to see the girls. Even Phantom came near, huffing gently down his silky nostrils over Charlie. He ran his muzzle over her hair, then stepped lightly away to graze near Hettie. Charlie smiled. It wasn’t that long ago that he’d hated to be in the same stable as Charlie. Now he was seeking her out in a big paddock, making her feel like the most special person alive.

The Pony Detectives sat down under the shade of the tree. Wish stood near them, sleepily whisking away the odd fly with her creamy tail, and nodding her head. After Scout
and Dancer gave up rummaging the girls for treats, they stood head to tail, swatting flies and giving each other a lazy groom.

“So, let’s look at what we’ve got,” Mia said, opening her notebook at a clean page. At the top, she neatly wrote,

Lily Simpson’s Missing Pony – Foxy

then continued, “Let’s start with the facts.”

“First off, it doesn’t look like Foxy escaped from Chestnut Grove by himself,” Charlie said, leaning against the thick, rough tree trunk. “He’d have turned up somewhere by now if he had.”

“So that means that he must have been taken by someone deliberately,” Alice concluded.

“Amber reckoned he was most likely taken by a rival,” Rosie said.

“Someone at camp took
Pony Mad
,” Mia
said as she wrote, “then hid it in the muck heap. But
only
after they’d ripped out part of the article that had a few facts about Foxy in it. Do you reckon there was something in that article they didn’t want anyone to see?”

“Well, if that
is
the case,” Alice said, starting to smile, “then someone here knows more about Foxy’s disappearance than they’re letting on.”

“Yup, and we think we may have an idea now who that might be,” Charlie said, feeling excited. Between them the girls relayed the conversation they’d just overheard to Mia.

“So, hang on,” Mia said slowly, “Amber thought that a rival who wanted to ruin Lily’s chances of success at Burghley might have stolen Foxy. But, if we’ve understood what you heard correctly, maybe Freddie’s trying to scupper Lily’s chances, leaving the path clear for his girlfriend, Georgie Belle, to win instead!”

“Freddie saw me with
Pony Mad
, too,” Rosie added.

“And he’s local, don’t forget,” Mia said, hastily scribbling. “So he must know the area like the back of his hand.”

Charlie gasped. “Remember the hack on our first day? We all rode off to search the lanes and fields. But Freddie said immediately that he’d check out the estate.”

“And if Freddie wanted to hide Foxy, it would have to be somewhere that he could easily keep an eye on him!” Rosie joined in. “Like right here! And, now he’s supposedly checked the estate and said Foxy’s not here, no one’s likely to go poking around, are they?”

Charlie, Mia and Rosie grinned at each other.

“Now all we have to do is find where he’s hidden Foxy, and that’s it.” Charlie smiled. “Our first celebrity case will be wrapped up!”

The girls stood up, stretching their aching legs. Scout walked purposefully over to them and the girls made a fuss of him, scratching his
withers as he stretched out his neck, his upper lip wobbling in pleasure.

“So what do we do next?” Rosie asked.

“We’ve got the treasure hunt tomorrow afternoon,” Mia said, checking a copy of the camp timetable she’d tucked into the front of her notebook. “And that’s the perfect excuse to search every corner of the estate. If Foxy’s here somewhere, the Pony Detectives will find him!”

Alice patted Scout, then the girls headed to the post-and-rail fencing, climbing over it on their way back to the stables.

“I never thought I’d say this,” Charlie grinned, “but I actually can’t wait to get our first session of cross-country over with tomorrow. Then we can get on with the treasure hunt! This time tomorrow, Foxy’s mysterious disappearance may be solved!”

“And that might cheer Amber up at last,” Mia said. “It doesn’t seem like she’s enjoying camp much…”

At breakfast on Tuesday morning, Amber stood staring at the updated score sheet pinned up above the cereals. She was still at the top, but her lead had decreased, and Holly had risen to joint third with Charlie. There were only twelve points in it. Mia was still ahead of them, because her turnout points were so high.

“Awesome, we’re joint fourth!” Destiny beamed at Alice as she grabbed some toast. Alice grinned back. She’d risen a few places, but Dancer’s jumping display hadn’t earned Rosie many points. Yet, even with Rosie’s score, the purple team had gone into first place, ahead of the reds by just three points. Watty and the blue team were still at the bottom, which she groaned about all through breakfast.

After they’d finished eating, everyone got ready for the ten o’clock inspection. Once they were tacked up, they rode onto the cross-country
course at staggered times. That way there wasn’t a huge bunch of riders all trying to jump the same fences. The purple and blue team stood together, watching the green and red teams head out. Destiny’s pony Topaz was a handful, spinning and half rearing, but Destiny did well to sit to her and stay on while they warmed up.

Charlie circled Phantom as the morning grew hotter. He knew something different was happening and he’d started to sweat on his neck as he grew increasingly edgy, waiting for the off. Alice shifted uncomfortably in her tight body protector as she waited on board Scout, who was standing next to Skylark.

“I wish I was in your team,” Watty groaned to Amber, “then I could watch you fly across all the huge fences and pretend I was watching Lily Simpson!”

Alice glanced sideways and noticed Amber grit her teeth, staying silent in her saddle.

But Emily carried on, unaware that Watty’s
comment had made Amber bristle. “Copper looks like he was born to do cross-country,” Emily added, admiring Copper’s light frame.

“Unlike some
other
ponies,” Watty said, nodding towards Holly’s cobby pony. “Skylark’s such a lump. I bet you wish Freddie had chosen a different pony for you this week, don’t you, Holly?”

Mia, Alice and Rosie glared at Watty, but Charlie gave a small smile. She realised that Watty had no clue how to judge a good pony, even when one was standing right in front of her!

Holly looked flustered for a second. “I wouldn’t swap Skylark for the world. My Grammy always says ‘handsome is as handsome does’.”

“Your Grammy can’t have seen Skylark, then.” Watty guffawed at her own joke, turning back to Emily who was snorting too. Beside them, Alice caught Amber making no effort to hide a smirk either.

Holly looked hurt as she reached forward to gently pull one of Skylark’s big ears. The heavy pony turned his head, giving a soft whicker. Holly found him a Polo from her jodhpur pocket, which he lipped from her hand. He stood for a second with his face turned to her, like he was checking Holly was okay.

“Grammy says it’s not about what a pony looks like on the outside,” Holly continued in a quiet voice, “it’s what’s in their heart that counts. And I reckon Skylark’s heart is huge.”

At that moment Freddie called for the purple team to start warming up. Leaving Watty and the blue gang behind, he walked them over to the start of the cross-country course, carrying a long lunging whip with him. Then he got everyone riding in the cross-country position – short stirrups and raised out of their saddles. Alice felt her nerves tingle. But as Freddie talked them through the lesson ahead, he filled her with such confidence that she couldn’t wait
to send Scout over the first few inviting fences.

“Remember,” Freddie called out, leaning on his long whip, “this should be fun for your pony, and for you. Right, let’s jump!”

There were two different height options at each fence. Freddie said that anyone from his team could start over the lower options, then move up to the bigger height when they felt ready. Freddie sent Copper out first over the fences as the trailblazer. Amber immediately pointed her pony at the bigger of the two options. The rest of the ride watched in awe as he powered effortlessly across the grass and jumped quickly, barely breaking his stride over the solid fences. Amber didn’t look like she was in charge, but her pony took good care of her, making all the decisions.

Alice followed Freddie’s advice and started off over the smaller obstacles. She picked up canter and Scout flew over them bravely. Mia, not wanting Wish to get any knocks on the
fences, jumped the smaller options at a steady canter. Holly did the same with Skylark. As Alice pulled Scout up, she turned to watch Holly. On the approach to the first fence, Skylark looked unsure, but Holly squeezed with her legs, her eyes fixed on the fence. She filled her pony with confidence and after just a moment’s hesitation he soared over it.

“Good, Holly,” Freddie called out, smiling as Holly proudly patted Skylark.

Rosie aimed for the lower option, too, then groaned as Dancer ground to a halt in front of the smallest log pile at fence one.

“She’s so embarrassing,” Rosie said, shamefaced.

“I’ve come prepared for Dancer today,” Freddie announced, lifting the long whip. He waved it behind the strawberry roan cob on the approach next time round. Dancer’s eyes goggled, Rosie grabbed a handful of mane and the pair launched over from canter. After the
same approach at fences two and three – the tree trunk and the brush fence – something clicked in Rosie and she began to ride into the fences more firmly.

“Wow! Dancer’s verging on energetic!” Rosie puffed, red-cheeked, as they regrouped after fence three.

Freddie then sent them out over the next three jumps – the hay rack, sloping rails and the stone wall. The ponies all flowed over them, one after the other, with Copper leading the ride once more. With each fence he was getting stronger and Amber was having difficulty holding him. He took off on the approach to each fence and jumped so enthusiastically that Amber was almost unseated at the sloping rails.

“You can always jump the smaller fences until you get your eye in,” Freddie shouted, cupping his hand to his mouth. “Come round again, everyone.”

But the second time round, Amber still stuck to the bigger options, ignoring Freddie’s advice. As Copper sped up into the stone wall, he took off a stride early. Amber only just stayed on over the fence and landed back in the saddle with a thud. Copper flung up his head, ears back, charging forward until Amber yanked on the reins and finally got him back under control.

“Remember what I said yesterday,” Freddie called out. “If your pony takes off early don’t use his mouth for balance!”

Phantom showed his massive scope as he tackled the bullfinch. It had tall brush, which the ponies were meant to skip through, but the first time round Phantom cleared the full height of it, taking Charlie by surprise. She kept her balance – just – and slipped her reins, allowing Phantom his head.

“
Very
well ridden,” Freddie said, patting Phantom. “Now take him round again at a faster canter so that he doesn’t try to showjump it.”

The second time round Phantom was hoof perfect as Charlie squeezed him and he picked up his speed, skimming through the top of the brush.

Next, Mia took Wish round sedately, despite Freddie trying to get her to move into a faster canter. Mia wanted Wish to have fun jumping, but she was still anxious about letting her go too fast in case she bashed the solid, fixed fences. If Wish picked up any knocks or bumps on her legs – even with tendon boots on – they might count against her in the show ring. There was no way Mia would let that happen.

Alice felt butterflies for a second as she turned Scout towards the bullfinch. Riding down to it, it looked ridiculously huge. Alice half closed her eyes in the last stride, but Scout could see through the tall, thin reeds and he jumped over the solid bottom section, brushing through the top. Alice felt the reeds knock against her painlessly before they
landed safely on the other side.

“That was awesome!” Alice laughed. She turned in time to see Skylark jump. He was far springier than she’d expected and the expression on his face changed from one of surprise, to one of delight. As he landed he even squealed and put in a playful buck.