Equestrian Reunion Event

A Kick-Start To Riding

Gage opened the front barn doors. As soon as they had slid open, Gage and their family saw almost pure chaos, along with Tien and Mysie watching it with blank expressions. Fries was smearing butter all over the floor, Cassie was swinging from the ceiling like Tarzan and pretending to be a bat, and Alex was throwing confetti all over the place.

"Why are you late? You're the second last person here." Mysie asked the nerd.

"I'm not late, I'm late for my generic timing. I had to... Deal with something." Gage explained.

"Well now you have to calm these elastic hamsters down." Tien said, pointing to the chaos trio.

Gage sighed as they entered the tack room, trying not to slip on the buttery floor. They searched a secret compartment that hid in their tack locker, pulling out a book, Noni the Pony Goes To The Beach. They dragged a saddle stand out of the room, sitting on it.

"Oi, you wasteful tennis rackets! Look what the nerd has!" Tien shouted at the chaotic equestrians.

The three turned their heads, seeing the Noni the Pony book. Alex and Fries instantly dropped their things and slid in front of the nerd. Cassie dropped herself onto the floor, rushing over with the others. They all looked up at Gage as they opened the book and began reading.

"Noni the Pony is friendly and funny, and loves to go down to the beach when it's sunny..." They read out loud, the chaos trio listening and Carbs secretly listening from afar.

As they continued to read, Charles snuck over to them, sitting with the chaos trio and hearing the story. Dorothy giggled at him acting like a child.

"... Then the friends head for home, up the road from the bay, happy and tired from their wonderful day." Gage closed the book.

Alex threw some confetti at them. They brushed the confetti off, standing up with the others doing the same. Alex went closer to Gage, hugging them. She took out a piece of paper from her pocket and attached it to the back of their riding jacket without them realising.

"What's this for, chap?" Gage questioned.

"You're a good reader!" Alex responded, pulling away from the hug.

Gage shrugged it off, going to Prancer's stall. Charles noticed a 'Kick Me' sign on Gage's back, quietly chuckling with Alex. He snuck up behind them as they were walking. He then kicked them in the back, sending them forward and faceplanting. They slid along the buttery floor and hit the wall.

"Bloody hell, Charles! What was the reasoning behind that? That was incredibly excruciating!"

Charles, Alex, Fries, Cassie, and Alfred started laughing at them. Charles held his hand out to Gage, helping them up and taking the 'Kick Me' sign off of them.

"I'm not sure, something was just telling me to kick you." He said, handing the sign to them.

As Gage realised that Alex had only hugged them to place the sign onto their back, Katelyn entered the barn.

"There's my lovable sticker book!" Tien exclaimed, hugging Kate. "Now that all of you muddled clocks are here, we need to groom Florian!" She declared, pointing to his stall.

She walked up to him, placing a halter on him and tying him up to a hitching post. The students all grabbed a brush each, starting to clean his shiny coat. Florian raised his head high as he was getting groomed, using his body language to tell everybody that he was better than them. After a few moments of flicking every last bit of dust off of Florian, he was finally completely clean.

"Good job, you wretched street lights. Now tack up so we can ride." Tien demanded, everyone instantly following her orders.

Once they had tacked up, they all led their horses down to the jumping arena, the guests following and sitting on the seats. The jumps were arranged the same way as the written test for the event. Once the students were lined up, they all mounted their Friesians.

"All right, you illegal bags of cotton balls, the course is the same as the one in the show. I hope you filthy televisions have it memorised. We all know that the stupid nerd already has." Tien said, Alfred and Charles giggling at her targeted statement toward Gage.

"Which of yous have memorised it?" Mysie questioned. "Not including you, Gage."

All of the students, except the nerd, raised their hands to their instructor's relief.

"Okay, good. Nerd first." Tien instructed, Gage walking Prancer along and into the arena. "Whenever you're ready.

Gage took a deep breath in, hiding their internal panic at the sight of the orange jump. They lowered their heels and commanded Prancer to speed his gaits up, transitioning into a smooth, flowing canter. They both leaped over the first few jumps with ease. Gage lined Prancer up to the orange jump, keeping their body language as calm as possible and hoping Prancer would ignore the obstacle's colouring.

As they both approached it, Prancer's ears pinned back as he suddenly stopped in his tracks and knocked the poles down, sending Gage flying over his neck as their antlers impaled the sand flooring. Prancer trotted away from the hurdle as Gage tried to pull their antlers out of the sand, failing their attempts.

"Nerd down!" Hippo screeched.

"I-" Zari gasped.

"... Are they stuck?" Cassie asked.

"Precisely! May I have some assistance?" The nerd requested.

Mysie went in the arena to retrieve Prancer. Tien and Alfred went to help the nerd. Tien tried to push Gage's head out of the sand.

"Bloody hell, your antlers are buried well, aren't they?" Alfred laughed.

"Indeed, chap." Gage sighed. Alfred began to take his phone out, taking photos of the nerd. "Are you photographing this bloody embarrassing moment?"

"Yep!" Alfred chuckled. Charles entered the arena too, posing in front of Gage for Alfred.

"Bloody hell! Quit photographing me, chaps!"

Charles took his phone out as well, starting to take selfies of Gage with their head still stuck in the ground. Dorothy, Martha, Alma, and Emelda all face palmed at the sight. The chaos group was giggling at Gage's dismay. Charles and Alfred put their phones away after a few more photos.

"All right, I'll help now." Alfred started to help Tien pull out Gage's antlers.

Gage's head got free from the ground. They got flung backwards a bit before dusting themselves off and locating Mysie and Prancer. They grabbed Prancer's reins from her and pat him. Alfred and Charles went back to the seats, making fun of Gage once they sat.

"Potato and Miracle, go up next." Mysie announced, Fries entering the arena.

Everyone watched as Fries guided Miracle over each obstacle, gracefully leaping over each jump. Tien, Mysie, and Gage were counting each stride that Miracle cantered. Once the pair had jumped their last fence, they slowed down as everybody gave them a round of applause. The rest of the students performed their rounds, one by one, being judged by the instructors, with all of their small mistakes being corrected.

Once everyone had finished their rounds, Mysie and Tien led everyone back up to the barn. The students began to untack their Friesians, releasing them into the paddocks and stalls. When Carbs came inside after turning Rubix out, she saw her mother signalling for her to approach. She walked up to her.

"Carbohydrates. You need to come by the hotel later today." Joyce mentioned.

Carbs nodded, walking to her car to go home and get ready for the hotel visit. The nerd overheard Joyce, growing worried for Carbs as they continued to do the paperwork that Tien gave them. The rest of the Cocoas went to their limo, heading back to the hotel.