Read Online Stormchaser and the Silver Mist by Belinda Rapley - Free Book Online

Scout. He turned his liquid brown eyes on her, listening to her voice. “I bet you’d like them both.”
    Scout lifted one front leg, tucking his hoof under and waving it slightly. Alice smiled. “I’ll see what I can find.” She scrabbled in her pocket and pulled out a mint. Scout bobbed hishead up and down. Alice had damped his mane down; it had been lying neatly, but had now sprung back up again. Unconcerned, Scout lipped the mint and crunched noisily.
    Alice gave her pony a huge hug, then slipped his rugs back on. They were still warm from his body heat, and she almost wished she could wrap them round herself, too. With one last kiss on the softest part of Scout’s muzzle, she went to see how the others were doing.
    Alice looked over Phantom’s door. “He looks amazing – as ever!” she told Charlie.
    Charlie shoved her escaping fringe back under her bobble hat, smudging a dirty streak across her forehead. Alice grinned. Charlie was always scruffy, but she made sure that Phantom, with his sleek black coat, looked immaculate. His skin was so thin that he was really ticklish, especially by his back legs and under his girth, so Charlie had to use the softest body brush for him. His coat glistened like satin under the bright stable light. His mane was exactly the same length all the way down, and his oiled hooves finished off his look of perfection.His arched neck looked powerful and Charlie still couldn’t believe that he was really hers to ride. Phantom was tied up, but still danced at the end of his lead rope until Charlie folded his rugs back over him and he was snugly tucked up once more. He gently nudged her arm.
    “You’re welcome,” Charlie grinned, and she and Alice bobbed their heads over Wish’s stable. Mia was putting the finishing touches in place. Her mare stood calmly, her eyes blinking contentedly as she soaked up the attention, loving every second of being pampered by Mia. Mia had a wide selection of brushes, and she used every single one until Wish stood fit for any judge in any show ring.
    As Charlie and Alice admired Wish, they could hear grunts and squeals coming from Dancer’s stable. They giggled to themselves, as silently as they could, until Rosie came to join them, looking red faced.
    “She’s tried to squish me with her bottom three times now!” Rosie puffed. “All because I wanted to plait her tail. Well, she’ll have to go without.”
    “I wouldn’t worry,” Charlie smiled, as Mia dropped a kiss on Wish’s cheek and let herself out of the stable. “Christmas puddings don’t normally have plaits, anyway.”
    Once the girls were finished they spent the afternoon in the kitchen. They wrote Christmas cards to give out at school, which Pumpkin walked all over with his damp, muddy paws. Then they decorated the stables by trailing little coloured lantern lights under the eaves, and hanging their ponies’ stockings on the outside of the stable doors.
    Back in the cottage, they helped Rosie put the finishing touches to her fancy dress outfit, which mainly involved shoving lots of stuffing into it. Then they sliced carrots, apples and oranges, and mixed them with chaff, treacle and banana to make two sticky Christmas cakes – one for their ponies, one for Frostie and Cracker. Most of the mix seemed to end up on the table or the floor, where it was gobbled up by an ever watchful Beanie. After a vigorous stir from Charlie, one spoonful even flipped out and thwacked the back ofMrs Honeycott’s oversized artist’s overalls. The girls fell into silent hysterics, as Mrs Honeycott looked behind her for a vague moment, then wandered off to her painting studio humming a Christmas carol.
    Once the cakes were made, they realised that Cracker and Frostie wouldn’t be there on Christmas Day. So they took two big, messy chunks straight out to the far field. The two horses slurped and licked their lips, rummaging around the ground for any spare, dropped morsel. Then they came back and licked