Flame the Desert Pony

by Poppy Shire

  As soon as they had finished eating, they headed out to the stables to tack up the ponies. Flicker looked so pretty with her new saddlecloth. The blue silk and gold and silver embroidery gleamed against her chestnut coat.

  Chloe put on Flame’s saddle and bridle and led her out of the stable. She stopped dead in the doorway.

  “What is it?” Chloe whispered.

  Flame scraped her hoof on the ground. “Look down there,” she said.

  Chloe frowned. Flame was pointing at some sunflower seeds scattered on the ground by the door.

  “Well spotted, Flame,” she whispered. She turned to Mina. “Mina, do you ever feed Flicker sunflower seeds?”

  “No,” said Mina. “Why?”

  “There are some on the ground here. I don’t remember seeing them yesterday. They must have been dropped by the person who locked the stable door!”

  Mina stared. “That’s a great clue!” she said, her cheeks turning pink with excitement. “All we have to do is find someone who’s been eating sunflower seeds!”

  “It would be a good start,” Chloe agreed. She patted Flame’s neck gratefully.

  The two girls mounted their ponies and trotted out of the yard. “Hanna lives in the next street,” said Mina.

  But when they got to Hanna’s house, her mother told them that Hanna had gone for a ride in the desert with her brother.

  “I know where they’ll have gone,” said Mina. “It won’t take us long to catch up. We can gallop through the dunes.”

  Chloe felt a bit nervous. She remembered how fast Flame had been galloping when they arrived from the carousel. Just from looking at Mina in the saddle, Chloe could tell that she was a much better rider. She hoped she’d be able to keep up without falling off!

  “You won’t go too fast, will you, Flame?” she whispered.

  “You’ll be fine,” said Flame with a chuckle. “I’ll tell you what to do.”

  Mina led the way to the edge of the town. In the distance were the rolling sand dunes. These dunes were higher than the ones Chloe had seen before, all different shades of yellow, gold, and orange, sculpted into gentle waves by the wind.

  “Let’s go!” Mina cried. Flicker gave a playful buck before leaping into a gallop, his heels kicking up the soft sand.

  Chloe grabbed the pommel of her saddle in case Flame bucked, too!

  “I won’t buck,” Flame called. “Just sit nice and still and let your hips rock in time to my movement.”

  Then she tossed her head and galloped after Flicker. Soon she was going faster than Chloe had ever been in her life. She twisted her fingers in Flame’s mane and clung on tightly.

  “You don’t need…to grip so tight,” Flame puffed. “You won’t…fall off. Just…relax. Put your weight…into your stirrups.”

  Chloe did as she said, and to her surprise, she found that she felt much safer in the saddle. She laughed out loud as the wind whipped through her hair and sand flew up around her. She remembered her blue kerchief and pulled it up over her mouth to keep out the gritty sand.

  The girls raced side by side until a little clump of palm trees came into sight. There were two other ponies there already, one gray and one black.

  Mina slowed Flicker to a canter, and then a trot. “That’s Hanna and her pony, Ebony,” she said to Chloe, “and Hanna’s brother Abdou with Cloud.”

  As they got closer, Chloe saw that the black pony had a pretty white blaze. Hanna was standing beside him, holding his bridle. Chloe slowed Flame to a walk behind Flicker, and they made their way around the clump of palm trees. A young boy was holding the gray pony’s reins. When he saw Mina, he handed the reins to Hanna and ran toward them with a big smile.

  “Hi, Mina!” he called. “Are you ready for the pageant?”

  Mina stopped and smiled at the boy. “Hi, Abdou,” she said. She swiveled around in her saddle to look back at Chloe. “This is Hanna’s little brother. Abdou, this is my friend Chloe.”

  Abdou fished in his pocket. “Hello, Chloe,” he said. He pulled out a packet of sunflower seeds and held it up to her. “Would you like some sunflower seeds?”

  “Where did you get those?” Mina gasped.

  Abdou looked puzzled. “Hanna gave them to me,” he said. “She bought them in the market yesterday.”

  Chloe stared at Mina in dismay. Surely Hanna couldn’t be the culprit! “Er, thanks, Abdou,” Chloe said. “You keep the seeds for yourself. We’ve just had breakfast.”

  As they rode on toward Hanna, Chloe hoped that they were wrong. “Surely Mina’s best friend couldn’t do such horrible things to her!” she whispered to Flame.

  Flame twitched one ear. “If she did, I expect she had a reason,” she said.

  Chloe followed as Mina slid down from Flicker’s back and led her toward the black pony.

  “Hello, Hanna,” Mina said, sounding slightly nervous. “I thought we’d find you here.”

  Hanna shrugged. “I’m surprised you bothered looking for me,” she said. “You didn’t come over last night, even though you said you would.”

  “I’m sorry, Hanna,” Mina said, looking very upset. “When I got home we found that my saddlecloth had been ruined. So we had to spend hours and hours making another one. And then someone locked us in the stable!”

  Hanna looked at the ground and said nothing.

  “We wanted you to help us find out who did it,” Mina went on. “We found sunflower seeds outside the stable…but then…we just met Abdou and he was eating a packet of them and he said…” She trailed off.

  When Hanna looked up, her eyes were full of tears. “I didn’t touch your saddlecloth!” she burst out. “I promise I didn’t!”

  “I didn’t say you did,” Mina said in surprise. Flame nudged her arm and whickered, and Chloe guessed she was trying to get Mina to stay quiet. Hanna still had more to say.

  A tear rolled down Hanna’s cheek. “I didn’t spoil your saddlecloth, but I locked you in the stable. I came over to find you last night, and I brought the sunflower seeds as a present. But you and Chloe were asleep on the hay. I was so jealous…” She scrubbed her face with the back of her hand. “So I locked the door and went away again.”

  Mina looked bewildered. “Jealous of what?” she said.

  “You and Chloe, of course!” said Hanna. “You’re always making new friends! Nadia and Amira play with us all the time, and now Chloe, too. Sometimes I think you don’t like me at all.”

  Mina threw her arms around her friend. “Of course I like you!”

  “I don’t know why.” Hanna sniffed. “I’m too shy to make friends the way you do. I end up feeling left out all the time.”

  Mina looked amazed.

  “You were right, Flame,” Chloe whispered. “You thought she might be feeling left out.”

  “Yes,” the pony agreed. “I don’t think she meant any real harm. She’s obviously very sorry about locking the stable door.”

  Chloe stepped forward. “Mina told me that you like detective stories, Hanna. We still don’t know who ruined her saddlecloth. Will you help us to find out?”

  Hanna hesitated. “You mean you don’t mind about the door?”

  “Let’s forget about it,” Mina said. “Chloe got us out with her lucky barrette. But you won’t do anything like that again, will you?”

  “Of course not,” Hanna said.

  “Well then, that’s fine,” said Mina, linking her arm through her friend’s. “We’ll always be best friends, I promise.”

  Hanna smiled. “Good,” she said. “I’m really sorry about the door.” She turned to Chloe. “I’m glad you had your lucky barrette with you.”

  Chloe smiled back.

  “Come on,” said Mina. “We’d better get back into town if we’re going to find out who really ruined my saddlecloth!”

  Chapter 7

  The girls trotted back across the dunes with Abdou and Cloud following them. They were trying to figure how to discover the culprit.

  “Maybe there are some cl
ues on the saddlecloth,” Hanna suggested.

  “Clues?” Mina echoed. “It’s totally ruined. How could there be any clues?”

  But Chloe agreed with Hanna. “Detectives look for tiny traces of evidence,” she said, stroking Flame’s soft neck and thinking of the sunflower seeds. “I think Hanna’s right. We should take a closer look at it!”

  “I guess so,” Mina said thoughtfully.

  They made their way to Mina’s house and took the ponies into the stable, where they showed Hanna the ruined saddlecloth.

  Hanna frowned. “It doesn’t look as though the threads have been cut,” she said, turning the cloth over in her hands. “It looks as if they’ve been scratched or picked loose with something sharp.”

  Chloe peered over her shoulder. “And are those black hairs clinging to the silk?” She pointed.

  Mina looked at Hanna. “That’s definitely a clue! Who do we know with short black hair?”

  Chloe inspected the hairs more closely. “I don’t think these are human hairs,” she said. “But I think I know what they are….”

  “Cat hairs!” Hanna exclaimed. “Of course!”

  Suddenly Flame gave a whinny, and Chloe turned to see what she wanted. Mina’s black cat was curled up in the hay rack, fast asleep.

  “Let’s have a look at his claws,” said Chloe. “There could be evidence on them!”

  She stroked the cat’s head and then picked him up. Hanna took hold of his front paws and peered at them. “Look!” she said. “There are tiny bits of silver thread caught in the claws!”

  “Pasha, you naughty cat!” Mina scolded.

  Pasha gave a loud meow and wriggled out of Chloe’s hands. Then he scampered out of the stable with his tail held high.

  Mina smiled broadly. “I know Pasha didn’t mean to upset me,” she said. She gave Hanna a hug, then Chloe. “Thank you so much for helping me, both of you!”

  “I can’t imagine anyone wanting to hurt you, Mina,” Hanna said warmly. “Everyone likes you too much.”

  Mina blushed. “Well, I’m just happy that we’re going to the pageant after all,” she said. “But we’d better hurry up, or we’ll be late!”

  “I’ll fetch my saddlecloth,” Hanna said. “We can all get ready together!”

  Mina fetched her grooming kit so she and Chloe could comb Flame’s and Flicker’s manes and tails. Hanna came back with Ebony, and they oiled the ponies’ hooves and checked their saddlecloths to make sure they were straight.

  “I think we’re done,” Mina said, giving Flicker a final pat.

  Suddenly Flame whinnied. “You’ve forgotten something, Chloe!” she said.

  Chloe thought for a second. “The ribbons!” she cried. She ran into the tack room to fetch the bag of ribbons. There were lots of different colors, and she laid them out to see which would suit each pony.

  “Blue and yellow for Flicker,” she decided. “Red and gold for Flame.” She looked at Ebony, whose saddlecloth was a lovely olive green with silver tassels. “And silver ribbons for Ebony!”

  Chloe had never braided manes so fast in all her life, but she concentrated hard, weaving the ribbons in as she went.

  “Our ponies have never looked so beautiful,” Hanna declared. “Thank you, Chloe!”

  The pageant took place just outside the town. As the three girls rode through the streets, Mina told Chloe about the races that took place each year.

  “Everyone who has a pony joins in the pageant before the start of the races,” she explained. “It’s really good fun. Everyone who doesn’t have a pony comes along to watch! Once the pageant is over, there are lots of exciting races. The fastest horses from all over the desert join in.”

  Chloe felt her stomach flip over in excitement.

  The girls made their way to the starting point for the pageant. Chloe sat up tall with her back straight, remembering all Flame’s lessons. She felt confident enough to look around at all the other ponies. They had pretty dished faces, just like Flame’s, and they all had spectacular saddlecloths and bridles. Some of the riders wore flowing fabric headdresses over their long embroidered gowns.

  Chloe noticed that one man was walking around, looking closely at the riders. Then he stopped to talk to another man. They looked up and pointed straight at Chloe and her friends.

  “Those men seem to be talking about us,” Chloe said to Mina and Hanna.

  “He’s coming our way!” whinnied Flame, as one of the men came over.

  “Hello there!” he called. “You have the prettiest ponies here. Would you like to lead the procession?”

  “Lead the procession?” Mina exclaimed. She looked at Chloe and Hanna, who both grinned in delight. “We’d love to!”

  The man showed them where to stand. “Let the pageant begin!” he called. Chloe nudged her heels against Flame’s side, and the palomino walked forward with her neck proudly arched and her ears pricked. Flicker and Ebony walked beside her, looking just as beautiful. The route was lined with people, and a huge cheer went up as they trotted past.

  “I can’t believe it,” Chloe murmured.

  Flame tossed her head. “Oh, I can,” she said. “You’ve made us look magnificent.”

  Chloe beamed until her cheeks ached. She felt as if she was going to burst with pride!

  As they reached the end of the procession, Chloe gazed around at the colorful scene. Not far off, the golden sand dunes looked mysterious and inviting. Chloe longed to explore them. She looked at Mina and Hanna. They were surrounded by their friends who were congratulating them. She caught Mina’s eye, and gave a little wave. As Mina waved back, Hanna turned and saw her, too, so Chloe smiled at them both.

  Quickly she trotted Flame away from the crowds. As they drew near the dunes, a gust of wind lifted little eddies of sand that swirled around Flame’s hooves. Chloe noticed that the sand was beginning to shimmer and the swirls were turning pink and glittery….

  “I think it’s time for us to go,” said Flame.

  Chloe gazed around at the desert one last time. She wanted to remember this adventure forever.

  Flame speeded up until she was galloping over the sand, but Chloe didn’t need to hang on to her mane now. Flame had helped her become a much better rider, and she felt a lot braver.

  The last of the sparkles disappeared, and Chloe looked down. Instead of a real golden mane, she saw a glossy wooden neck. Flame was a carousel pony again, rising and falling smoothly as the carousel slowed to a halt. Chloe’s blue cotton robe had vanished, and she was wearing her cardigan and her denim skirt again.

  Chloe leaned forward and stroked Flame’s neck. They had shared an amazing adventure!

  “Hey, Chloe! Did you enjoy your ride?”

  It was Chloe’s dad, waving at her from the steps that led up to the carousel.

  Chloe waved back and slid down from the saddle.

  “Good-bye, Flame,” she whispered, patting her golden neck.

  As she turned to go, she noticed something poking out of the pocket of her pink cardigan. “That’s funny!” she said. She put her hand into her pocket.

  With a gasp of delight, she pulled out two of the ribbons that the stall owner had given her—a red and a gold one, entwined prettily together.

  “Now I’ll definitely remember my adventure forever!” She laughed.

  She glanced back at Flame one last time, and was sure she could see a twinkle in her lovely brown eyes.

  Acknowledgments

  With special thanks to Gill Harvey

  About the Author

  POPPY SHIRE lives in the English countryside. She loves ponies—and writing about ponies—more than anything else in the world. Every time she goes to a fair, she looks for a Magic Pony Carousel! Unfortunately she hasn’t found one yet.

  Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.

  Credits

  Cover art © 2008 by Ron Berg

  Cover design by Sasha Illingworth

  Copyright<
br />
  MAGIC PONY CAROUSEL BOOK #5: FLAME THE DESERT PONY. Text copyright © 2008 by Working Partners. Illustrations copyright © 2008 by Ron Berg. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  Adobe Digital Edition July 2009 ISBN 978-0-06-196662-0

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