June 2009 Story Contest
Pony Surprise By Sham_Slam
All of the ponies in this story have their own account! (Rayna's is in process.) We love visitors, and would love to be your friends! The accounts are:
Madison and Faith: Sham_Slam
Maya and Rain: Cinnamon
Emily and Peanut: Emily_Kline
PB: PonyInTraining
Honey: PonyTwin
We love new friends and take every friend request!
“I win!” Emily Kline patted Wiggles as she galloped past the two trees that marked the finish line. The three Teller sisters- Madison, Rayna, and Maya- groaned. Since Emily’s horse, Peanut, was pregnant, Emily had been riding Wiggles, the three sister’s shared pony. Emily’s hyper attitude combined with Wiggles’ non stop energy made them a winning combination. “Sorry,” Emily said with a grin. “I guess it’s just my outstanding riding skills.” With that, Emily straightened her legs and bounced up and down on the little black Welsh pony’s back-the picture of terrible riding. The sisters laughed. Emily also happened to have a great sense of humor, and “did all her own stunts.”“Let’s head back to the barn,” Rayna suggested, “Before Emily kills poor Wiggles.” Emily straightened up with a laugh. After the four friends put their ponies in the paddock behind Emily’s barn, they went inside to check on Peanut.
The small appaloosa pony looked as if she was about to burst. Her barrel bulged to almost as wide as she was tall. It was a miracle she could stand, let alone walk.
“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Madison asked, leaning over Peanut’s door. “I mean, how much room just one little baby pony takes up.”
“Yeah,” Emily said, breathless. “Just think, in a week Peanut will be a mom. And I’ll have two horses.” Noting Emily’s worried expression, Rayna jumped in.
“You’ll be a great owner to the new arrival,” Rayna assured her. “You’ve read every book every made on foaling, and the vet’s come out sixteen times this month to check on Peanut and lecture you about what to do in case of an emergency.”
“Yeah…but it worries me so much that neither of my vets have taken an ultra sound yet. We haven’t even seen the baby. What if it’s in the wrong position? What if something goes wrong??”
“Emily. It will be fine.” Rayna looked at Emily sternly.
“Oh!” Maya squealed. “I can’t wait till next week when the baby comes! It will be so cute!”
“Yeah… Alright, enough chit-chat,” Emily said. It was a well known fact that Emily couldn’t sit still for long. “Let’s go inside for dinner. Race you!” Emily spun around and bounded toward the house. The girls were having a sleepover, and they were all excited for whatever surprises Emily might manage to spring on them.
After their traditional peanut butter and honey sandwich dinner, the four girls played board games, card games, and word games. Eventually, Maya announced that she was tired.“She has a good reason to be,” Madison said, glancing at her watch. “It’s almost eleven.”
“I’m not tired,” Rayna said with a grin.
“Me neither,” Emily said with an evil smile.
“Have a great time staying up then,” Madison said, before crawling into her sleeping bag. Maya did the same, and soon both girls were dreaming happily.
“MAYA! MADISON! WAKE UP!” Madison rolled over tiredly to be met by a panicking Rayna. “Peanut’s having her baby and-”“WHAT?” Madison and Maya exclaimed in unison.
“Emily just went down to check on her but then she was acting strange, pacing and stuff, and then she remembered that this was exactly what the vet had said to look for, and that sometimes foals come early, and now she’s at the house trying to call the vet, but the Dr. Crandal isn’t answering, and the vet’s assistant person is saying that the he’s at some life or death call, and won’t be available for the rest of the night, and now her father is saying that we’ll just have to deal, and that he has been at a real actual birth before, and the only chance we’ve got is to try our hardest because Dr. Crandal’s the only vet I know of!”
Rayna finally paused for breath. “Let’s go!” Madison said, leaping out of her sleeping bag. All three girls ran down the isle way to find Mr. Kline with a foaling book open, trying to wrap an agitated Peanut’s tail. When he finally got the wrap on her tail, he rubbed some disenfectant on her haunches. He didn’t do it a moment too late- as soon as he took his hands off of her, she was lying down with a groan.
“That should be all she needs if she can give this birth by herself,” Mr. Kline said, backing out of the stall. “We want to let her try on her own before we interfere.”
“So now what?” Maya asked, watching Peanut.
“Well, since she just went down,” Emily explained, “it should be about fifteen minutes of labor before she can push the baby all the way out.”
“So now we wait?”
“Now we wait.”
Just as Emily thought, about fifteen minutes of painful labor passed. Emily had tears running down her face as she watched her pony struggle, but everyone knew that Peanut was doing well. Finally, out peeped two tiny hooves. Emily’s face melted as she saw her pony’s new baby. Another push and the ankles appeared; with another, and another, the knees were apparent. The baby appeared to be a light chestnut, it’s tiny legs the color of creamy peanut butter. With another heave, a nose poked out. Emily’s expression was of utter joy as she watched the pony birth healthily. After minutes of hard work, the new pony suddenly came all the way out and lay on the shavings. The only marking on the baby was a small star on it’s forehead.“Okay, now she should get up and break the bag around the foal,” Mr. Kline explained. But she wasn’t. Peanut stayed on the ground, still heaving.
“What’s going on?” Madison looked at Mr. Kline and Emily.
“I don’t know,” Emily said. Her panicked tears made rivers in the joy that had just been over her face. “If that bag doesn’t come off, the new baby can’t breathe. We have to do something!” Emily opened the stall door carefully as to not scare Peanut.
“Emily, be careful,” Her dad said over the door.
Emily kneeled down by the baby. She pushed her black hair behind her ears and gently grasped the sac. With a slight tug, the sac ripped, and the foal could breathe. All of the onlookers gave a sigh of relief. The baby was alive. But what about Peanut? She still appeared to be in labor.
“Emily, come back out,” Mr. Kline urged. Never looking away from Peanut and the new baby, Emily backed out of the stall quietly.
“Wait,” Rayna said suddenly, turning to Madison. “What was it that you said earlier today… that it’s amazing that just one baby could take up so much room.”
A look of realization crossed Emily’s face. “Just one…”
“Is it possible?” Rayna asked, panicking.
Emily slowly looked at Peanut in shock. “It… it… it is,” Emily stuttered. “She’s never had an ultra sound, and this baby is so small.”
“What are we talking about?” Mr. Kline looked at Emily.
“Peanut… Peanut is giving birth to twins.”
“It’s so rare, though!” Mr. Kline was now stressed. “The first was so healthy, and there just… how could we not have known…”“Dad, time to move on,” Emily said firmly. Everyone was surprised at Emily’s sudden tone. “She can do this. It looks like in another fifteen minutes, we’ll have another healthy twin.”
Mr. Kline looked at Emily’s tear streaked but stern face. “What about the other baby, though?”
“It’s trying to move, see?” Emily pointed at the wiggling foal. “That’s normal. Just let them be.”
After a long pause, Mr. Kline spoke. “Okay.”
In just ten minutes, a sigh of relief waved over the onlookers. Two tiny front hooves slid out- a good sign that the baby was straight. A few more heaves, and the tiny black nose was visible. The legs were a honey golden color, as was the hair above the black muzzle. After much effort, a second twin was safely delivered, an event that called for quiet screams of victory. Now Peanut stretched out her front legs and stood, even after her huge effort to deliver not one, but two foals. This time, the mare was the one to break the newest baby’s sac, revealing what looked to be a healthy palomino foal. By this time, the slightly bigger light chestnut was wobbling on his long baby legs. As Peanut nosed the palomino, the first arrival walked unsteadily over to his mom to nurse. As he did so, Madison could make an announcement.“Guys! The chestnut is a boy!”
The girls squealed with delight, and Mr. Kline smiled.
As the palomino wiggled around, positioning its long legs to try to stand, it became apparent that it was a girl!
“Brother and sister!” Emily squeaked happily.
The girl had light spots on her belly, a sock on her right hind leg, and a star just like her brother. “What should we name them?” Emily asked.
“Hmm…” Madison thought for a minute. “Wait… the boy is the color of peanut butter, and the girl is the color of honey!”
“Just like our favorite sandwich!” Emily clapped her hands as they watched the girl try to stand.
“So maybe PB -peanut butter- for the boy, and Honey for the girl,” Rayna suggested.
“I like it,” Mr. Kline said.
“Me too,” Maya said. “But it’s up to Emily.”
Emily looked at the babies. “PB, Honey,” she called. Both foals turned to look at her. “I think they like it.”
The next morning, Dr. Crandal came speeding into the Kline’s driveway. “I’m so sorry,” he exclaimed as he ran into the barn. “I heard Peanut was having her baby, and- oh!” Dr. Crandal saw the two new foals in Peanut’s stall.“Surprise,” Emily said as she watched Mr. Crandal’s shocked expression.
“They look fantastic!” He exclaimed. Both foals were sleeping, and Peanut was watching over them wearily. “Healthy and everything.”
“We named the chestnut PB and the palomino Honey.”
“I like it. Well, I don’t want to disturb them, but they look positively wonderful.”
All four girls looked at Peanut and the two dozing babies. “Yeah, it all worked out in the end.”