Moonlight: Star of the Show

by Belinda Rapley

  Alice racked her brains as she jumped down and loosened Scout’s girth, pulling off her black jacket and tie while Mia fed Scout almost a whole packet of mints. There must be something more that they could do, something that they had overlooked in their evidence! Alice went over it in her head one more time, but her mind drew a blank. Rosie offered Scout some water from her replenished bucket, which he sloshed around before drinking deeply, slurping and dripping it all over Alice’s white shirt, not that she cared.

  “That cup’s as good as yours,” Charlie said as the bell rang for Daisy’s round.

  They watched as Shadow cantered towards the first fence and jumped it so big that Daisy landed up his neck. She managed to cling on, pulled the reins and aimed him at the gate. Again, Shadow over-jumped, alive now that he was in the ring. This time Daisy got left behind, almost being bumped out of the saddle onto the pony’s black rump.

  But it was at the third fence that the drama really began. Daisy leaned to the left to help turn the charging Shadow. As she did so, her whole body began to lean and it became obvious that her saddle was slipping. Typical! She hadn’t remembered to tighten her girth, even for the Fratton Cup! The crowd let out loud oohs and ahhs as Daisy miraculously stayed on for another three fences until, as she approached the double, she turned Shadow and gravity took over. She slipped further and further as Shadow cantered eagerly around the edge of the ring, unchecked, before he finally deposited Daisy on the grass with a heavy thud. Daisy let out an audible sigh, then lay there watching the sky, leaving Shadow to thunder out of the ring, scattering the crowd in his path.

  Alice couldn’t help noticing as Shadow shot past, stirrups flying, that there was something unusual in the way that Daisy had parted company with her pony. Normally Shadow was crafty, and he bucked, dropped a shoulder or ducked out of a fence in a deliberate attempt to dislodge his rider. The loose girth merely added to Daisy’s problems. But today Daisy had only fallen because the saddle had slipped. Shadow was still going straight as a die and had almost looked surprised when he saw Daisy disappear beneath him.

  While Alice tried to work out why that bothered her, there was still the matter of Shadow running riot around the showground. A crowd had gathered around Daisy, thinking she might have drawn her last breath. But Alice had seen her fall like that a hundred times and knew that she’d be fine. She’d be lying there contemplating the cloud formation before getting up with a sigh and carrying on as if nothing had happened, so Alice decided to go and catch Shadow.

  She threw Scout’s reins to Rosie and sprinted off in pursuit of the black pony. Alice wasn’t quite sure why she was so determined to be the one to catch him, but she was determined nonetheless. And she wasn’t the only one. Alice looked to her left and noticed the Major, red-faced and puffing, racing her. Alice accelerated and noticed the Major try to do the same. She frowned and sprinted ahead. She was sure the Major would be less than happy with Shadow when he caught up with the black pony, and she wanted to make sure she got there first. She glanced over her shoulder and saw the Major come to a puffing halt, bending double with his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath.

  Alice raced over to the far corner of the field where Shadow had pulled himself up. She prepared herself for the pony being a weasel, remembering him crunching her finger between his lightning-quick teeth last time she’d tried to grab him. But instead he let her catch up his reins without even attempting the smallest of nips or flattening of ears. In fact, he nuzzled her. Maybe it was the heat, but this pony wasn’t acting like Shadow at all, Alice thought as she started to lead him back to the others. His first few steps were reluctant, and then she remembered the saddle hanging under his belly. Alice undid the girth and caught it before it fell to the ground.

  She wiped her hand across her face, boiling hot after running in the heat, then put the saddle back on. She took the reins again and jogged Shadow over to Charlie, Rosie and Mia, who had run to meet her halfway across the showground.

  Alice was about to tell them about Shadow’s transformed nature when she noticed Mia looking disgusted.

  “What on earth have you been doing?” Mia asked. “What’s all that black gunk smeared over your face, and your shirt come to that?!”

  “What gunk? What are you going on about?! All I’ve done is get Shadow!” Alice retorted, wiping her face and inspecting a darkly smudged hand.

  It suddenly dawned on her. Alice turned slowly to the pony she was still holding and gave him another pat. Alice looked at her hand. It was as black as her boots, and her heart started to race.

  “Yuk!” Rosie squealed. “What is it?”

  “I don’t believe it!” Mia added, taking off her brown gloves and sliding a finger down the pony’s neck before inspecting it. “It’s dye!”

  “What, you mean…?” Rosie stuttered.

  Alice and Mia nodded wildly, as Charlie whooped. But after their last mistake, they had to be truly sure that it was dye and not some mad mix-up with shampoo and boot polish that Daisy had made while grooming. Mia flipped open her notebook with shaking fingers and studied the photo from the missing ad.

  “Right. We know that Shadow’s all black, he hasn’t got a hair of white anywhere on him. Moonlight, on the other hand, has a black head but there’s a white star on his forehead.”

  With that Mia stepped forward and amazed the other three when she pulled out the end of her precious pink tie and began to wipe between the pony’s eyes. The pony dropped his head and blinked softly, leaning into her and enjoying the fuss as the other three danced on the spot impatiently.

  After a few minutes, Mia stopped rubbing and held the pony’s forelock out of the way. They all gasped. There, in the middle of his forehead – it was unmistakable! It might have been murky, but it was definitely a white star.

  “Moonlight!” Rosie gasped.

  “We’ve found him!” Charlie laughed, hugging Alice.

  “They must have been seriously desperate to win,” Alice said, laughing in disbelief.

  “I thought Shadow’s coat looked patchy when we bumped into Daisy on that ride the other day,” Mia said. “It wasn’t because her grooming skills were shoddy after all – she must have been riding Moonlight, with this gunky dye over all his white bits!”

  “And Daisy’s house is close enough to Hawthorn Farm, Moonlight’s yard, for her and the Major to walk him back there in the middle of the night,” Charlie added.

  They heard a cough and turned to see the Major, puce and still out of breath, stalking towards them.

  “Ah, now, I’ll take Shadow from you if you don’t mind,” he said, trying to sound friendly.

  He made a lunge for the reins. Alice moved them quickly out of his reach. The Major forced a smile.

  “Come on now, hand him over, be a sport, he is my daughter’s pony, after all,” the Major said through gritted teeth.

  “Dad, forget it, they’ve worked it out.”

  The Major whipped round to see Daisy standing behind him, looking at the ground, her black jacket dusty but otherwise apparently none the worse for her fall.

  “Stop talking nonsense, Daisy,” the Major bluffed, edging towards Moonlight. “You must have had a knock to the head! We’d better take the pony and get you home quickly so you can have a lie down.”

  “I spend most of my life lying down after falling off Shadow, in case you hadn’t noticed,” Daisy pointed out crossly, finally squaring her shoulders and standing up to him. “I don’t need to lie down again now! And I won’t go along with your plan any more. Do you realise what you’ve done? You wanted me to win so badly, just so I could be more like you, that you stole – yes stole – the one pony you thought would guarantee me victory around the Cup course. I couldn’t believe it when I discovered Moonlight hidden in one of our stables. But it wouldn’t have mattered which pony you’d put me on. I still wouldn’t give a stuff about competing or winning.”

  The Major tried to speak but Daisy silenced him. Mia nodded her approv
al.

  “Face it, Dad, I’m just not like you,” Daisy said, jutting out her chin defiantly. “I’m me.”

  The Major glanced uneasily at the girls, then turned to Daisy. “Really? You’re sure you don’t like competing,” he said urgently, in a hushed voice. “Not just a little bit? Because I’m convinced that with more drilling over fences you’ll turn into a fine show jumper yet!”

  “Dad!” Daisy exclaimed, going slightly pink. “I never want to jump another fence again! Ever!”

  The Major looked seriously disgruntled and his moustache twitched irritably. He hummed and hawed awkwardly for a few seconds, then puffed out his cheeks and thwacked his shiny boots with his stick.

  “I see,” he finally tutted, clearing his throat and adjusting his tie. “In that case, I suppose I have some apologising to do.”

  At that moment one of the judges bustled over to them, looking slightly cross.

  “Come on, dear,” she said to Alice, pulling her arm. “It’s very good of you to go gallivanting off after the loose pony, but we have to make the presentation for the Cup. We’ve been calling your for ages. Chop chop.”

  Alice hurried along behind her, leading Moonlight. The others followed, trotting their ponies in hand. Daisy was behind them, smiling triumphantly as she walked alongside the red-faced, grumbling Major. As they reached the main ring, Alice looked over and could see the Fratton Cup set out on a trestle table nearby. It was so nearly hers. She caught the others all looking at her, wondering what she would do. But Alice knew there was only one thing she could do. She quickly dodged to the judges’ cabin, the others following. She held on to the end of Moonlight’s reins as she ducked inside. After she’d had a quick word with the judge, the tannoy crackled into action. Alice cleared her throat and the sound system whined.

  “The class isn’t finished yet,” she announced, desperately searching for Poppy in the sea of people as she spoke. A murmur rippled through the spectators, sending a buzz through the crowd as they wondered what the hold-up was. “There’s still one more rider to jump in the first round!”

  Alice whispered something to the judge, whose eyebrows shot up in surprise. As Alice ducked back out to join the others standing by the cabin, the judge leaned forward towards the microphone.

  “And that rider is…” the judge hesitated for a moment, then took a deep breath and continued. “That rider is Poppy Brookes.”

  Poppy started as her name echoed round the ring. She stared at the girls, who were waving wildly at her to come down, then pointing towards the black pony. She shaded her eyes from the late afternoon sun, leaning forward to get a better look. Suddenly her face lit up and she gasped, her hand coming up to her mouth. Quick as a flash, she dodged her way through the excited, confused crowd then raced as fast as she could, skidding to a breathless stop in front of the black pony. Alice held the reins out to her. Poppy started to laugh, but it turned into a cry as she stepped forward, hardly daring to believe what was happening.

  “You’ve still got to jump your pony,” Alice said, trying to keep her voice steady. “You’ve still got to jump Moonlight.”

  POPPY saw the black dye on Mia’s tie and Alice’s face. Moonlight nickered excitedly, his nostrils fluttering as he stepped forwards and rubbed his head against her. She threw her arms around his neck, burying her head in his mane. The crowd stood in stunned silence as they watched the pony turn his head and encircle Poppy, as if he were hugging her back, then a collective ‘ahh’ rang out through the stands.

  With a sniff, Poppy took a step back, shaking her head and laughing as if she still couldn’t believe it. She was covered now with the black sticky dye, but she didn’t care. She set the saddle straight, tightened the girths and jumped up. She was wearing jodhpurs already, and Mia quickly took off her riding hat and passed it to her. Reunited, Moonlight and Poppy cantered into the ring as if in a dream.

  “Well, it’s a bit unconventional, I must say!” the judge announced over the blaring tannoy. “But we now have the last competitor in the ring for the Fratton Cup. Please give a very big hand for Poppy Brookes, riding her very own Moonlight.”

  The crowd gave the pair a roar of approval. Poppy and Moonlight, both looking as excited as each other, flew over each fence, one by one, until they’d cleared the last with inches to spare.

  Alice was clapping wildly until Charlie looked at her ruefully and shouted over the din, “You know what that means, don’t you?”

  “Jump off!” the judge declared over the crackling loud speaker. “Alice Hathaway and Scout to jump first.”

  In all the excitement, Alice had forgotten about the fact that there was still a competition going on. Despite all Charlie’s motivating advice, Alice was all over the place as she tried to memorise the new, shortened course, which was going to be against the clock. Once the fences were rearranged and she’d warmed up Scout again, they rode back into the ring.

  But as the bell rang, her mind went blank and Alice cantered a whole lap of the ring before she heard Charlie shouting out “Gate!” and the course flooded back. Alice turned Scout on a sixpence and he obligingly took off neatly, then raced on to the double, clearing it easily before turning back to the parallel and twisting to the wall, then charging on to the triple bar. Scout flew it, and this time Alice managed a more dignified landing.

  She rode out to loud cheers, patting Scout over and over, pulling his ears gently. He bounced underneath the saddle, his ears pricked, full of beans and pleased with himself.

  Alice knew but didn’t really care that she’d dithered about at the start while the stopwatch was ticking. When Poppy came in and whizzed round in half the time, she received a burst of foot-stomping applause from everyone, none more so than the four girls standing by the entrance. As she lined up afterwards in the centre of the ring to collect her rosette, Alice turned and beamed at Poppy, who walked Moonlight over to her, leaned over and gave her a tight hug. Even though Alice had dreamed of winning the Fratton Cup, she couldn’t have wished for anything more special at that moment than coming second.

  “Congratulations!” Alice shouted above the standing ovation as Poppy was presented with the big silver cup. She wasn’t sure whether she meant it for Moonlight or for winning the Cup, but she meant it nonetheless.

  They set off at a fast canter around the ring, with Scout’s blue second-placed rosette streaming from his bridle. Normally the winner leads the victory parade, but Poppy dropped back so that Moonlight and Scout were racing stride for stride alongside each other, the two girls laughing as the ponies galloped with their ears pricked, clearly enjoying themselves.

  After two circuits of the ring they both charged out, and Alice finally managed to pull Scout up by Charlie, Rosie and Mia. Alice quickly jumped down from the saddle and loosened Scout’s girth. As Rosie held out a bucket of water for Scout, the other two patted Alice on the back. After Scout had made them all squeal by dribbling over everyone, they heard hoof beats and looked up.

  Poppy was leading Moonlight over, holding the cup. She lifted it towards them.

  “I want you to have it,” she said, looking from Alice to the others. “I couldn’t have won it without all of you. It belongs to you. I can’t begin to put into words how I feel about having Moonlight back here safe again when I thought I’d lost him for ever. I just can’t thank you enough for finding him.”

  Alice looked at the cup. It was her biggest ambition to win it, but she wanted to do it properly. Besides, she was over the moon with her second place – her jumping round had gone better than she could ever have dared to dream of when she’d woken up that morning. And seeing Poppy standing there beaming, she knew that restoring Moonlight to her was more important than any cup ever could be. Even the Fratton Cup.

  “No, it’s okay. It’s yours, you keep it. Moonlight was the star of the show. You both won it fair and square,” Alice said.

  Poppy beamed.

  “Okay, but on one condition,” she replied. “You tell me all about how
you found Moonlight and how he got into this sticky mess!”

  The girls hastily filled Poppy in. Just as they finished, they heard someone clearing his throat behind them. They turned to see Daisy standing next to the Major, who was looking rather red and awkward. He blustered for a second, suitably shamefaced, before Daisy elbowed him.

  “Poppy,” she said determinedly, “Dad has got something to say to you, and your parents.”

  “We’ll leave you to it,” Mia said, smiling at Daisy just as Poppy’s parents walked over to join Poppy, Daisy and the Major.

  As they walked away, Alice glanced over her shoulder and saw Poppy standing with her arm over Moonlight’s neck, her pony relaxed and contentedly cropping some grass. Her blue, second-placed rosette ribbons fluttered in her face. She wanted this day, this show, to last for ever, but it was time to get the ponies back. The girls tightened their ponies’ girths, mounted and headed for the show exit. They rode back to Blackberry Farm feeling exhausted but happy.

  “How amazing was that? We well and truly solved that mystery!” Alice said, feeling quite professional and important as they turned off the lane into the woods. “We were like proper detectives!”

  “Pony detectives, more like,” Rosie replied.

  “That’s what we should call ourselves!” Charlie exclaimed. “The Pony Detectives!”

  The four girls looked round at each other, suddenly excited.

  “It’s perfect!” Mia said. She couldn’t help smiling, even though she wished she’d been the one to have come up with the name.

  “I wonder what our next case will involve?” Alice sighed happily as they walked their ponies through the wooded path on long reins, their feet dangling out of the stirrups.

  “Kidnapping and ransom notes?” Charlie said hopefully, leaning down to give Pirate a hug.

  “Or a world-famous dressage horse who’s vanished without a trace?” Mia added, closing her eyes as they wandered along.