Free Horse Capades by Bonnie Bryant Page A

without Max or Red noticing. She just hoped they didn’t notice it was missing until she was finished with it.
    “Voilà,” she told herself out loud. “The magic pitchfork.” The magic pitchfork was the enchanted object that the magical talking lucky horseshoe would conjure up to allow Cinderella to finish her stablechores in time to go to the royal dressage ball. It was an important prop, and Stevie was glad she’d finally finished it.
    Stevie left the pitchfork drying on the newspaper she’d laid out on the floor of her room and hurried over to her desk. It was almost bedtime, and she still had a lot to do. Her film was due on Monday—just six days away. And with the Pony Club competition coming up on Saturday, Stevie knew she would be lucky to finish on time, especially since she hadn’t shot a single minute of the movie yet.
    She sat down at the desk and checked the list she had made. “Magic pitchfork—check,” she said, crossing it off the list. She had already finished making several other props that evening, including the sign announcing the royal dressage ball and the cellophane-covered flashlight that would give the lucky horseshoe a magical blue glow.
    The next item on the list was to come up with some kind of veil for the wedding scene. Stevie had toyed with the idea of asking Max’s wife, Deborah, if she could borrow her veil. But then she had decided that a piece of white netting and a little lace attached to a riding hat would work just as well. The only question was when she was going to have time to make it, especiallysince she still had half a dozen other things on her list.
    Stevie sighed and scratched her chin, where a little bit of glue was drying. She was running out of time. If she wanted this movie to be perfect, she wasn’t going to have any time at all to practice for the hunter competition. She hadn’t ridden Belle at all for the past week except in rehearsals and today’s lessons. And when the rest of the class had been clearing each fence in perfect form—except for Prancer, who was still hesitating before every jump—Stevie had been trying to remind Belle just what jumping was all about. The mare had been too frisky to pay attention to her rider’s instructions, and Stevie knew it was probably because she hadn’t been exercised enough lately.
    All things considered, Stevie wondered if she should even bother taking part in the competition. Not only was there little or no chance she could place in the competition, but she could really use the extra time to work on her movie. Besides, she didn’t relish the idea of watching Veronica diAngelo ride away with the blue ribbon.
    “Poor me,” she whispered, feeling very much like Cinderella herself. There was so much to do, and nobody was willing to help her. She had to do it allherself, even if it meant missing the ball—or, rather, the Pony Club competition.
    “Stevie?” Alex poked his head through her open doorway.
    Stevie looked up. She was in no mood for her brothers that night. “What do you want?”
    But instead of answering, Alex just grinned. “Say cheese,” he cried. Then, before Stevie could move, he leaped into the room and snapped a picture.
    Startled and partially blinded by the flash, Stevie let out an outraged shriek. “What do you think you’re doing?” she yelled.
    “Remember how I joined the staff of the school newspaper this term?” Alex said gleefully. “Well, I just snapped the picture that’s going on the front page of the next edition!”
    “What?” Stevie cried. She jumped up and ran to the mirror over her dresser, blinking her eyes to get rid of the spots the flash had caused. Peering at her reflection, she saw that in addition to the spot of dried glue on her chin, she was sporting a red sequin right in the middle of her forehead and a splash of poster paint on her left cheek. Her hair was a mess, and a pen was stuck behind each ear. Worst of all, she was wearing her oldest pair of pajamas,