Bat Duck Episode 3- Return of the Bat Duck

Bat Duck – Episode 3

Return of the Bat Duck

It was a lazy afternoon on Farmer Maddock’s farm, in Auroville, India. In the cow shed an alarm blared suddenly!

“Bat Duck, Piggy!” called a black and brown cow wearing glasses.

“Coming, Professor Boofey!” called a duck, running towards the cow with a piglet hurtling along behind her. These were historical heroes- Bat Duck, with her super sonic quack which could drive anything away from her, and Piggy, with his nose, which when wagged, produced a smell that made people run away from him. Prof. Boofey was their friend and helper, and the maker of the time machine they used to travel back in time and save history. They worked for an organization called as the HSH- Historical Super heroes, from a hundred years in the future, who worked to stop their rival organization, HHH- Haters of Historical heroes, from destroying history and taking over the world.

Just then, they were running to the unused cow shed that was their time machine.

“Prof, what is it?” asked Bat Duck.

“It’s me, that’s what it is!” called a voice from the video screen. It was Dave bull, CEO of the HSH, AKA D.

“I’ve got a new mission for you lot, if you’ll accept it…” he said, grinning.

“Of course we will, D. So what is the mission?” asked the Professor.

“Well, the HHH have been sending agents to Provence, France, on  9^th August, 1944. We’ve already sent an agent there, I’ll send the coordinates to your time machine to land where she is- she will be helping you. Prof, the HHH are helping the French resistance and the Nazis, both.” He shrugged and the screen blinked off.

“Here are the coordinates. Ok, Bat Duck and Piggy get ready, because we are going to France in the middle of the Second World War!” smiled the professor and they were whipped back in time.

“Here we are. Now, to get our disguises on…” said BD. Walking to the disguise closet. She pulled out a black dress with a white jacket, white hat, and black gloves. There were also rubber shoes.

“Well, Prof, give me my Blender, will you? And put it in flower mode- I’ll wear it on my hat. And why did they wear such boring shoes in this time?” She said, pulling on her clothes, and the HSH badge which enabled her to change to Super Hero mode. She stuck her blender on her hat and turned to the professor, who was wearing a khaki suit, a white shirt, a black bowler hat, and black shoes and socks. He was wearing his blender as a khaki colored tie. The blender was a device which allowed them to look human (hence the name-‘blender’).

“Well, they were taking all the wood for the war, so obviously there were no heels or wooden shoes. And they didn’t use so much plastic at that time” said the professor. Piggy had transformed into a cat and was wearing his blender as a collar and his HSH badge as a tag on the collar reading ‘Paws’. They walked out of the shed when a lady who obviously owned the building whose garden they had landed in, as she was wearing a badge that read “Owner” with a logo that matched the one on the building, a star with ‘Star’s bakery’ below it walked up to them; with a  little girl, presumably her daughter, trotting behind her. She was wearing a blue dress with an apron over it. The apron’s pocket held a spoon and a whisk, and she was wearing a white chef’s hat with a smiley badge on it.

“What are you doing here-“

“Mommy, they’re wearing the same badge as you! See!” cried the little girl interrupting her mother.

“Oh. Are you Professor Boofey, Bat Duck and Piggy?” she asked, pulling off the smiley faced button. She changed on the spot to another of the HSH agents, as she had an HSH badge.

“Good Morning. I’m Star and this is my daughter Nina,” she said, adjusting her daughter’s hair clip. “D sent me here to find out what the HHH are doing. I’m running the bakery as a cover- my hobby is baking. Just call me Fleur in front of my customers- they don’t know that I’m an HSH agent, obviously. And the invasion of Provence, which is this town, by the British is planned 6 days from now. The HHH are helping the French Resistance, and the Allies, but also the Nazis. I think they plan to make both sides invincible so that finally when they are tired of fighting and start getting weak, the HHH can take over Europe.” She finished.

“Whoa. What a plan…” sighed the Professor. Meanwhile, Nina was tickling Piggy.

“Mommy, look what a cute little cat! Can we keep it?” she asked.

“No, dear, see, it belongs to the Professor and Bat Duck.” said Star gently.

“She can play with him if she like” said Bat Duck kindly. Just then, the phone rang inside the bakery.

“Nina, go see who it is” said Star. Nina ran into the garden, and ran down the pathway which went to the back door.

“She likes the longer way around the house” smiled Star. After a while, they began to wonder where she was. As they went towards the house to investigate, she called, “Mommy, its D. He wants to speak to you.” Star went off and there were muffled sounds and she came back out.

“He just wanted to see if you reached safely” said Star.

“Star, why did you change your Blender? It’s a pin now” asked Bat Duck curiously.

“Oh-uh, just for a change, you know? Come on, we need to get going to the Nazi fortress. Nina, stay here!” called Star as she walked down the path.

“Are we walking all the way?” groaned Prof. Boofey.

“It’s very close, so we are walking as a vehicle may make noise” replied Star. Soon they saw giant grey walls with spikes, surrounding a grim, grey building with almost no windows.

“How are we going to get in? I and Piggy can fly in superhero mode, but you and the Professor?” Bat Duck asked Star. 

“Oh, I have a pass to get in” said Star, flashing a square piece of paper at a guard.

“Huh? But won’t they see that we’re HSH agents?” asked the Professor.

“No. they are too stupid to realize that!” said Star airily. Bat Duck and the Professor exchanged glances. Star led them towards the door and then down a staircase.

“Star, where are we going?” asked Prof. Boofey.

“Oh, to the dungeons” replied Star.

“Why the dungeons?” asked Bat Duck, puzzled.

“To imprison you, and keep you from getting in our way, you stupid HSH agents!” she said turning around.

“Quit joking, Star, we’re on a serious mission. Where are we going really?” said the Professor sternly.

“Oh, but I am serious, we are really going to the dungeon. GUARDS!” she clapped her hands thrice.

“Star, are you crazy? You’ll get us imprisoned!” said Bat Duck, trying to pull her and run as they heard footsteps.

“Oh, but that is exactly what I want. And by the way, a correction to your sentence. I am going to get you imprisoned, not myself!” said Star. Then blue uniformed guards pushed open the doors and grabbed Piggy, Prof. Boofey and bat Duck!

“Take them away and lock them in the deepest dungeon!” commanded Star.

“Star? You’re a double agent?” said Bat Duck unbelievingly.

“What more proof do you want? Guards, take them away!” cackled Star, turning and walking off. The guards grabbed them ad took them to an underground corridor where there were jail cells on either side. The guards locked them in a large, grey room with one tiny window in the side. There were three beds of straw, and a table, and a door in the side to a bathroom. The Guard grabbed they’re blenders.

“These will go to the storage room. Right. Carl, get me the chores list!” the guard called to another one, who ran and gave him a long piece of paper. “Names?” asked the guard.

“Bat Duck, Prof. Boofey, Piggy” replied Bat Duck. The guard wrote them down.

“Now, each of you have one chore to do. You there, duck; you will clean the windows on this floor. And the pig, you will clean the walls of your cell. And you, cow, will clean the floor in this corridor. And its wood, covered in wax, so clean properly. Your chore time starts in 10 mins and you have 45 minutes to do it!” the guard said, walking off. A guard pushed them into the cell and locked the door. The Professor groaned.

“To think the HSH had a double agent! I must tell D as he may send more agents and they shall also be caught in this manner!” he sighed. “Six days from now, the British shall invade, and the Nazis will fight back. They shall keep fighting, however, as the HHH have made them both invincible! Then the HHH will take over and the world shall be doomed!” sighed Bat Duck. Then a guard came and opened their door.

“Chore time starts now!” called someone. He handed bat Duck a cloth, soap and water, and piggy got the same. The Professor got a mop and a bucket of water. Soon they finished their chores and went into their cells. Piggy looked out the window and the Professor and Bat Duck played 20 questions. After a while, it became dark and a voice called. “Lights out!” and everyone lay down on their straw beds, shut their eyes and almost immediately fell asleep. Later in the night, the Professor awoke to strange tapping sounds on the wall. He put his ear to the wall.

“Hmmm… Long, long, short, long… Morse code! It says, ‘Robert Cahill Henderson.’ Oh, yes! Now we can escape! I understood!” murmured the Professor, grinning. He tapped back a thank you in Morse code on the wall and went back to sleep.  The next morning, he woke Bat Duck. “We are going to escape! It will take around 3 days, but we’ll manage.” He said happily.

“How?” Bat Duck said puzzled. The Professor told her about the Morse code message.

“Robert Cahill Henderson? How does that help?” said Bat duck, still puzzled.

“Well, you see, I read about him in a book. This guy got imprisoned for trying to assassinate Mark Twain in the 1800s. In jail, he got the same duty as me- cleaning floors. Every day, he scraped a little wax off the floor. After he had enough wax, he made the impression of the key of his jail cell on the wax and used it to escape!” said the Professor.

“Excellent! But who sent you that message?” asked Bat Duck.

“I don’t know but we’ll free them the night we escape. And when we’re free we’ll take a trip to their experiment room and try to stop the HHH!” finished the Professor. So for the next few days the Professor scraped wax off the floor every chore time. After three days, he felt he had enough wax.

“But how to get the key for the impression?” he mused to Bat Duck.

“I have a plan. See, you keep talking to the guard while piggy goes around the back and gets the key!” she replied.

“All right!” said the Professor. Bat Duck whispered the plan to Piggy, who agreed. As the guard came their way on his rounds, the Professor went up to him.

“I’ve heard the Nazis have amazing technology and weapons! Is it true you have weapons to destroy a million people at a time?” asked the professor.

“No, but….” Soon the Professor and the guard were engaged in conversation. Then piggy went towards the guard. He grabbed the key off a hook and winked at the professor, which was the signal that he had got the key. Then he passed Bat Duck the key behind his back. Bat Duck made the impression and passed the key to piggy again, who put it back on the guard’s hook and winked at the professor twice. This was the signal for the professor to stop talking.

“Thanks for the information! It was very interesting to know all of that!” said the Professor.

“Any time!” said the guard, continuing on his rounds.

“That was great! And I learned that they keep their weapons in a shed in the south corner of the fortress grounds” said the Professor, high fiving Bat Duck. They finished their chores and at night, used the key to open the door of the cell.

“Freedom!” cried Bat Duck as they tiptoed into the corridor. They walked towards the next cell. And pushed open the door...

“You!” cried the Professor.

“Yes, me...” said the voice. A figure moved into the light.

“Star! So they imprisoned you, too! Professor, lock her back in!” said Bat Duck angrily.

“Wait! Listen to me! I am Star! The one who made them imprison you is my twin, Sky! She is part of the HHH and is identical to me. The day you came here, when Nina ran into the house, they kidnapped her and replaced her with Sky’s daughter in disguise. When I went in to check on her, they grabbed me also and got us here. Then they locked us up, and sent Sky to lure you here so they could imprison you too. I saw you coming in and saw the guard giving the professor floor cleaning duty. Then I sent you the Morse message. And you did follow the instructions?” finished Star.

“Yes. Now come on, we need to destroy the HHH’s plans here once and for all!” said Bat Duck.

“For the HSH!” they cried, running out the door of the fortress, which, surprisingly, was open. They ran into the shed, which was huge. The door of the shed also was open and it seemed empty. As they walked in, a voice came out of the darkness.

“Ah, HSH agents! You have fallen into my trap! Didn’t you think that the great doors of the Nazi fortress would have at least some security? No? And then the shed where the most powerful weapons ever made are stored and from where a whole fortress is controlled would simply be left empty and unguarded? You are stupid, HSH, and now we HHH shall rule the world from this point in time onwards!” said the voice, laughing. Then the lights suddenly came on and there, in plain sight, sat a large bull with a purple shawl and a badge reading: ‘Codename:   Kill M, Rank: Xow. Code: 002KMX.’ The Xows were the HHH’s most high ranking operatives, the Xows and Zucks. 

“Well? Hah! The HSH’s agents caught and at the mercy of the HHH! Tell me your director D’s plans and you may live!” commanded Kill M, sneering.

“Never! You evil HHH shall never rule the world!” said Bat Duck loudly.

“And you will be first to die, insolent Duck!” shouted Kill M, raising his sword. Then, suddenly in a lightning movement, Nina ran forward and knocked Kill M’s sword out of his hands.

“Mommy! Get his sword!” she cried, running away.

 “You little-“Here!” Star grabbed the sword and threw it to Bat Duck and Kill M was cut short. Bat Duck threw the sword at a big red button in the controls where Kill M had been sitting.

“NO! THAT WAS THE SELF DESTRUCT BUTTON! THIS FORTRESS AND SHED WILL EXPLODE IN 18 SECONDS!” cried Kill M. He started to run out the door and block up the entrance, but the Professor was too quick for him. He caught Kill M.

“RUN!” he cried and pulled everyone out of the door and through the gate. “Bat Duck! Use your Quack! Get everyone away from the shed! Piggy, you get everyone out of the fortress with your smell!” shouted the Professor.  So as people ran out of the fortress, Kill M was trampled in the rush of soldiers and guards running out of the building. The prisoners had been freed and were running, too, as a large red alarm was blaring: “SELF DESTRUCT!” Everyone soon ran out of the gate, including Kill M. Then the whole building and the shed blew up and there were only ashes left. Kill M tried to run away, but Star caught him.

“You are gong straight to the future, to D!” and she pressed something on a remote she had. Soon, everything was quiet again and the professor, piggy and Bat Duck were on their way home again.

“What about you, Star? Should we drop you home?” asked Bat Duck.

“Oh, I have my own time machine! I’ll be fine! Bye!” said Star, waving along with Nina. Then they were swept away and landed up in the Farm again, and the video screen blinked on.

“Good work, agents! You stopped the HHH once again! Prof, I’ll be sending over your future blend coffee. Star is also back, safe and sound along with Nina. Sorry about Sky and getting imprisoned and all that… Also, I’ll be sending your rewards over! And, today’s date and time will be the same as when you left- time in the present freezes for you when you go back in time. See you next time, I hope!” said D, and started to switch the screen off.

“Hang on, D! You’ll need to send us new blenders- ours got burned down in the fortress!” said the Professor.

“All right! Good Work once again, agents!” said D and the screen blinked off. A flap opened below the screen and deposited 3 boxes, each labeled with one of their names. “Ah! D has sent first rate coffee powder this time!” said the Professor, smelling the powder. He also pulled out a blender.

“Great! D has sent me a cool gadget! It’s a round button which can detect any other agents of the HHH or HSH around!” said Bat Duck. “It’s called the Detector3000!” she added. Peggy’s gift was a coupon for a lifetime supply of Pig Feed from the nearby department store. He snuck into the kitchen and planted the coupon where Molly Maddock, Farmer Maddock’s niece, who fed the animals, would surely see it. Soon, Piggy had a trough full of feed and was munching on it happily. Professor Boofey had made his coffee on a coffee machine hidden in time machine, which was his cow shed. He had made the machine himself, so that whenever he wanted coffee he wouldn’t have to sneak into the kitchen of the farmhouse for it.

“Here’s to many more exciting missions like this ahead of us and to future blend coffee!” said Professor Boofey, raising his coffee mug.

“Yes! And to may more defeats of the HHH by the HSH like today’s!” agreed Bat Duck. And so continued another lazy afternoon at Farmer Maddock’s farm……

Green Earth

GREEN EARTH

Heya! I’m Candy.

 I’m a Chestnut, with a white mane and tail and I live in Green Earth Riding school, Pondicherry, India! Oh, Come on, obviously I’m a horse, don’t be silly! So, want to know more? Well, I’ll tell you an interesting story, or maybe some interesting stories, but for that, you have to meet our gang. So, let me tell you about Green Earth. It’s owned by Jackie Lanes, she’s Swiss, and she’s won the National Dressage competition of India on her horse, Caliph, who’s very nice, but we don’t see a lot of him- he lives separately in a special stable. Then theres Brigette, she’s a trainer from France, and owns some of the horses. Her Daughter Rita is a rider, she rides the most cunning and snooty horse in the stable, Lazark. His rider is also cunning and snooty; you’ll see just how cunning and snooty, as she is in this story. There’s also an English trainer, Anne.  So those are the people around here. Then there are some of my buddies’ owners, some of the horses here are owned by other people, but stay here and are taken care of by the people here, and their owners come only to ride them and sometimes give them treats like sugar and carrots, and only the owners can ride them. I’m not privately owned though, I’m a school horse, I belong to Jackie, and anyone can ride me. I was born here, so I’m one of the oldest horses around. 

So let’s get going, to my buddies. There are 36 horses in Green Earth, and the stables are square, with the saddle and changing rooms in the middle, so six horses per side. I live at the end of one, so on my left are the brothers, Dollar and Euro, my best mates. Dollar is a bay; dark brown, almost black with a black mane and tail, and a white star on his forehead, and his left hind sock is white. His owner is Devika, she and her dad come every Sunday and Thursday, and Dollar sure looks forward to them, mainly for the treats! Euro is the same as Dollar, but with no star, and his right front sock is white! His owner is Isha, she comes every Thursday and sometimes Saturday. Next to them is Wet Wicket, the only horse in the stable who loves getting wet.  He’s a bay with a black mane and tail, and a black star on his forehead. He’s not owned by Shruti , but is almost always ridden by her. His best mate is Magic, aChestnut like me with a black mane and tail and a white star on his forehead. He’s the most stubborn horse in the stable, but the only rider he likes is Alex. He loves jumping with Alex. Then there’s the last horse on this side, the beautiful Zara Zara, who’s twin is next to her, Zindagi, but on the next side.  They are both identical, Black with white in places, and the same Black and white streaked tails. The only difference is Zara Zara is darker and Zindagi is a little lighter. Then the last member of our gang, Estagon, whom everyone says is the most beautiful horse in the stable. He’s pure white with a white mane and tail, he’s a great dressage horse, he can do the side trot an everything! So, now you know the gang. 

Oh, also, you should know the Rita’s sidekicks, Caroline and Cathleen. They both are from France and go to Rita’s school. Caroline rides Nuclear, he’s as snooty as Lazark, and Cathleen rides Rocket, Nuclear’s brother. Nuclear and rocket are grey and have black socks and white manes and tails, but Nuclear has a Black star and Rocket has a white star. So now, finally, we begin the story…

 The gang was chomping grass in a peaceful place in the Lake Grazing ground, far away from everyone else.

 “So, tomorrow’s the competition. That Lazark reckons that Rita’s going to win the fun round for kids again! The nerve! Isha and Devika are much better at canter, she bounces in her seat!” snorted Euro.

 “And he’s always going on about the fact that he’s taller than all of us!” said Magic. 

“But, listen to this- I know the plan for the fun races- First the rider has to trot over poles and go around barrels, then they have to- this is the funniest bit- eat a piece of biscuit which will be hung on a string,  still seated on their horse! Then they dismount, do the activities, then mount again, and go as fast as possible past the finish line- even canter! Now do you get how Lazark’s going to lose?” said Wet Wicket. We were puzzled. 

“How, WW? That makes no sense!” said Zara Zara.

 WW grinned. “Oh yes it does. You see, the contestants will be timed, and whoever does it fastest, wins the first prize, then the second fastest, gets the second prize. And so everyone will canter past the finish line, right? And Rita bounces in canter, so he does not like canter, and so he will probably do a fast trot- get it? It will slow him down. And then comes the  biscuit part. As he is tall, Rita will take time leaning back or lying down on Lazark to get the biscuit, as she will be too high to get the biscuit if she sits normally. But, as Lazark himself says, we are shorter- So, we will take less time and win the prizes. Good, eh?” he finished, out of breath, and started on some grass

.

 “Good one, WW. Now this will be fine as long as that Rita doesn’t try any tricks. Who’s going to be riding you, Candy? I’m being ridden by Tara.” Asked Zara Zara. 

“Me? Oh, I think it’s Tasha.” I said vaguely. 

And so we continued chomping grass and playing tag till they took us back to Green Earth. We were pretty confident that one of us, atleast, would win the next day.

The next day, Isha, Devika and Shruti arrived. Rita also walked in with Cathleen and Caroline, and her brother, Pinkesh, who was always eating something. Today it was a packet of chips.

“I’m going to eat the low biscuits, and we don’t even have to lean back on our horses to get the biscuits!” said Isha. 

“Hey, you lot? Don’t you know? The lower ones are for the kids on ponies, and you’ll have to try for the higher ones, maybe stand on your teeny toes if your little horses are too short! Right Pinkesh?” said Rita.

 “ Umm…. Yeah. Whatever you say, Rita!” said Pinkesh, staring into his packet. Devika and Isha looked at each other. 

“Oh god, now what?” sighed Devika. 

“Whatever. We’ll manage. Maybe Dollar and Euro will eat them for us!” joked Isha.  I looked at WW, who looked angry. 

“That Rita’s lying! There was no such rule when Anne was reading out the rules to Brigette yesterday when I heard!” he hissed.

“Now what? Devika, Isha and Shruti are going to be trying for the bigger ones, we’ll lose, as they are the first in the line, so they can’t even watch the people ahead!” groaned Dollar.

 “Oh no. But at least Tara and Tasha will win something?” said Estagon. 

“No, Devika and Isha will probably tell them too, or Isha will!” sighed Euro. 

“Now what are we going to do ??”,moaned Magic. 

“Hello, young horses. I couldn’t help hearing your conversation, and I believe I have a solution.” Said a voice, And a stallion whiter than Estagon and more beautiful than Zara Zara and Zindagi, stepped in front of our stalls. It was Caliph.

“Hello, sir. You’re my hero, I’ve heard so much about you.” Said Dollar.

“An honor to meet you young folks. I hope you are participating in dressage and will live up to the name of Green Earth?” smiled Caliph.

“Oh, yes sir. A-At least I believe we are.” Said WW. 

“So, to the problem. The solution was in your owners’ conversation. Think about it.” He said calmly. 

I could tell Dollar was really thinking hard because he was stamping his hooves, Euro appeared to be gazing into space, Magic was flicking his tail back and forth and Zara Zara and Zindagi were pacing their stalls. Finally, WW spoke. 

“Sir, I think none of us know. Would you tell us?” Caliph looked around.

“ Fine. Do you remember, Isha said, “Maybe Dollar and Euro will eat them  for us?” So, you follow their advice. Simple.” Said Caliph.

“Y-You mean, s-s-sir, that you want us to eat the biscuit?” said Dollar unbelievingly. 

“Why, yes.” Was Caliph’s simple reply as he trotted off, then he turned. 

“Good Luck, youngsters! Beat the rival riding schools and live up to Green Earth’s name.” And he walked back towards his special stable. 

That afternoon, we were all nervous. Euro and Isha were first in line. Euro winked at us. 

“Hope the plan works!” he winked as he trotted into the Ring. 

When they reached the Biscuit rope, we all held our breaths. But, no one noticed him and not Isha eating the Biscuit! All they saw was him bucking. Isha saw and just pretended to munch on something, and the crowd was fooled. Devika caught on and let Dollar do the same thing. Soon all of us had finished, I felt, very well. And then it was snooty Lazark and  Rita’s turn. Lazark had seen us, and bucked up like us, but as I told you earlier, Rita wasn’t as good a rider as Devika or Isha and Shruti, so she fell off but Lazark ate the biscuit. The crowd saw him eating the biscuit, too! So Rita had to really race through the rest, but even I have to say, she did pretty well. Devika and Isha were still worried about the fact that she might beat them. Rita came up after the competition, towards us. 

“My mom knows the results, but she can’t tell you what they are till the announcement. The fun prize has gone to… well, I won’t say!”  she said with a smirk . 

She looked at Pinkesh, who was now clutching a bag of nachos. He was too busy eating, Finally Cathleen nudged him. 

“What? I’m not giving you any nachos if that’s- 

“You idiot, what are you supposed to say?” whispered Rita, but we horses have good hearing, I heard. Pinkesh looked up. 

“Oh, Yeah. Mum said it’s Rita who’s won.” He said, and went back to his nachos. Isha caught Pinkesh by the collar. 

“Which Prize? In what section?” she asked him. 

“Umm… The…” he said uncertainly. 

“Fun, stupid!” whispered Rita. “Oh. Fun!” he said. 

“And what do you do in the Fun competition?” asked Devika. 

“Umm.. Eat? Because I think that’s the most fun thing ever… You can eat all you want! That’s it, right?” he said confidently. 

Devika and Isha started to giggle. Rita pulled him away. 

“Huh! She’s lying! She is- of course she can’t have won.” Said Devika, slightly uncertainly, as if to assure herself. Then Anne went on Stage and took the mike. 

“And the Winners for the Intermediate Dressage competition are Shaira Sharma, Green Earth 1st  , Mina Bhatt, Chennai Central, 2nd, Asha Salodia, Bangalore Official, 3rd . Beginner’s Dressage- Liza Fulton……..” she went on, handing a gold medal and a gift to 1st, A silver medal and a gift to  2nd , and just a bronze medal to 3rd.  Rita won 2nd in the Beginner’s Jumping, for which even Isha, Devika and Shruti cheered, as she was the only competitor for Green Earth in that section. Then, the Fun Section was announced. First the adults fun section was announced. When the Kid’s section came, Jackie took the mike. 

“This section had many excellent competitors. So, we have decided, that as there were too many good riders to change the number of prizes. We have changed the parameters you were marked on, making it easier for us to decide the winners.” She said looking around at all the kids. 

“So, let me tell you. In this section, we give awards to……” That five seconds for which she paused were tense. So tense you could feel the pressure in the air - even us horses! Caliph trotted up behind the stage, too. He smiled knowingly at us. 

“…ALL OF YOU!!! We decided that all of you were extremely good. However-” Jackie was drowned out in the cheers of what seemed like a thousand kids, all shouting, yelling, whistling, clapping, jumping, cheering, hugging each other- The usual stuff people do when they are happy- also known as going mad with happiness, which certainly fits what happened there. Isha, Devika and Shruti were jumping, cheering, screaming, and we horses couldn’t stop smiling. Caliph looked happy. He came a bit towards us. Rita, Caroline and Cathleen were the only ones simply standing there, looking slightly disappointed. Even Jackie stopped, as she could not be heard any more, and she started smiling. Brigette and Anne gave her thumbs ups, and the Chennai Central and Bangalore Official trainers were grinning. Jackie’s eyes looked a little wet .

“ATTENTION!” she fnally said after about 5 minutes of the hullabaloo. 

Everyone turned back to her. 

“However, We would like to give some Honorable mentions- The first being Isha Srivastav, Green Earth !”

 Isha, blushing, went up on stage for her certificate. Euro was stamping his hooves. 

“Next, Rita Shastri, Green Earthe, who managed the time limit though she fell off her horse at the 3rd obstacle!” and so Rita walked up on stage. Lazark smirked, too. 

“Masha Mandela, Chennai Central!” and a girl walked up on stage.

“Devika Vajpai, Green Earth!” Devika went up on stage, blushing. Dollar was stamping his hooves like Euro now. 

“Laura Olster, Bangalore Official!” And another girl, whom I recognized as the one in line behind Shruti, walked on stage. 

“Tasha Ruhia, Green Earth!” and my rider walked on stage. 

“Shruti Rathodia, Green Earth!” And WW Reared up in joy! 

The next day, we all ended up back in the orchard. 

“That was good, eh?” grinned Estagon.

“Yeah, and we beat Lazark, kind of, and it was-“

 “No, I was talking about the grass!” said Estagon, interrupting Euro. Everyone grinned. “But seriously, it was-“

“Fantastic!” 

“Awesome!” 

“Great!” 

“Wicked!” and half a dozen other exclamations of delight interrupted Dollar! And yes, our adventure, at least by horse standards, was all those things and more!