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 Posted: Thu May 30, 2013 9:15 am
 Ikebana couldn't help but let out a sigh as he looked trotted toward the track.
It was the Phonyland BabbenCare Field Day, and Ikebana had been (against all odds) looking forward to the triathlon that was on the schedule. It was a silly triathlon, made for babbens of all skill levels: the first stage was an egg race, where babbens had to hold a spoon in their mouths and balance an egg at the other end of it as they ran. The second stage was a simple bobbing for apples game. And the third stage was the six-legged race, where two babbens had their legs tied together and had to romp off to victory. It seemed like so much fun!
When all the babbens arrived, they were sorted into two teams -- the red team and the white team. Ikebana had been given a white ribbon as he entered, which he tied dutifully around his foreleg. Surveying his team, they all seemed to be relatively sporty phonies. He felt they had a real chance at winning!
Then, well...
Almost half of the white team dropped their eggs in the egg race. Only a fourth of the red team did. Then, one overeager white-team member had tipped over the barrel during the bobbing-for-apples stage, disqualifying a remaining fourth. By the time Ikebana trotted up to the track, ready to be fitted with a partner for the six-legged race, he realized their chances of victory were slim-to-none. He had managed to finish the egg race among the top ten, and felt he could have taken that egg with him all day if he needed. And, seriously, how hard was it to just bob for one apple?
He heaved a sigh, and looked for his partner. There weren't very many white-team members present on this, the final stage.
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Posted: Thu May 30, 2013 7:28 pm
The Field Day at Phonyland BabbenCare was going so well! Candy Dandy was practically vibrating with excitement as she went from game to game. Finally the main event: the triathlon. An egg balance leg, bobbing for apples and a six legged race. Candy could feel her joy into her very bones, and when she was picked to join the white team, she tied the ribbon around her forehead like a bandanna and ran over to her group. Unfortunately, her team wasn't doing too well. She personally had trouble with the egg race. It simply wouldn't balance! But eventually she managed to cross the finish line, and joined the line waiting for the bobbing for apples leg of the race. Now THAT she was good at! Almost immediately she had an apple in her mouth, and running to the last leg of the race. The rest of her team seemed to have trouble with the first two games though; one phony even managed to knock over the entire barrel of water and apples, soaking hooves and disqualifying half of their team. She sighed, trotting to where her partner was waiting. He looked very nice, and just as annoyed as she. As the BabbenCare worker began to tie their front hooves together, Candy turned to her partner and said "Hi! I'm Candy Dandy! Let's hope we do better in this than our teammates!" She wanted it to sound like a joke, but it only came out slightly bitter.
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Posted: Thu May 30, 2013 9:30 pm
Ikebana turned, and was pleasantly surprise to see his partner coming up. He was happy to see that she seemed as disappointed by the day's turnout as he did. He vaguely remembered seeing her come up to the apple-bobbing section, and snatching an apple instantly from the barrel -- it was impressive! Ikebana's stern expression relaxed into a faint smile on hearing her speak.
"Hi, Candy Dandy," the colt replied. "I'm Ikebana. It's nice to meet you. And I ... I hope we do, although honestly at this point, it's not all that high of a standard." He looked back over at the apple-bobbing station, where almost ALL of the remaining foals were white-team members. Ikebana resisted the urge to roll his eyes.
While they waited to get their legs tied together at the start line, a few red-team members galloped up, ready and raring to go. Instantly, Ikebana perked up.
"We can beat those guys," he said quietly to Candy Dandy, nodding at the new rivals beside them.
However quiet he thought he was being, it certainly wasn't enough. One of the red-team duo beside them lifted his head.
"Beat US?" the new colt snorted. "No white team member is beating ANY red teammers today."
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Posted: Thu May 30, 2013 9:48 pm
It turned out that her partner was just as frustrated as Candy was, which strangely, made her feel better about the whole ordeal. Fully tied up now, she tested the tie carefully, finding it taut. "I am SO ready to go!" she said, pointing competitive words at the red-team members next to them. "We can definitely do this!" It was all about the rhythm after all. If her and Ikebana could just get the rhythm down, they could blow past these foals.... "Let's go!" she shouted, rushing forward at the same time as the other duo and one other group. She felt herself falling forward immediately, and she groaned as her face hit the ground. There was laughter as the other team hobbled off.
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Posted: Thu May 30, 2013 10:02 pm
Ikebana narrowed his eyes at the other team and began to gallop forward with his partner. But a six-legged race was not the same as a walk in the park. Almost instantly, their rhythm didn't match up, and the two landed in a huddle only ten meters from the start line. Ikebana immediately spit out the dirt that got into his mouth and helped up Candy Dandy as the red duo went by them. "Easy now," he said. "Easy does it. We'll get it right." And he began walking slowly with Candy Dandy at first, getting the timing of their steps and the lengths of their strides right. One of the red team-members turned his head back toward Ikebana and Candy Dandy. "Why are you guys even bothering? It's not like it means anything!" The other member called back with his partner: "You should just quit!" And he stuck out his tongue at Candy Dandy and Ikebana.
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Posted: Thu May 30, 2013 10:24 pm
Apparently rushing into the race wasn't a good idea. They both ended up in the dirt with laughter around them. After being helped up, and with a grateful smiles, Candy lifted her leg with Ikebana, bringing it forward and placing it on the ground in tandem with the champagne colt. The other team was ahead of them, and taunting all the while, but Candy Dandy pushed their faces out of her mind. "We can't quit! If we don't try, who on our team will?" Most of their team was waiting for the barrel to fill back up with water behind them. Her team was slow, but they could get the hang of it right? The red team members laughed cruelly, and picked up the pace. Candy Dandy suspected that they had practiced this before.
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Posted: Thu May 30, 2013 10:44 pm
As Candy Dandy seemed comfortable pushing the pace, Ikebana gritted his teeth and pushed them up even higher. Their annoyance with the other team, their stride length, their rhythm was all clicking now. Perhaps it was the taunting, or the laughing, but it seemed to drive both of them to run faster in better sync than they were before. And all that looking behind and laughing wasn't making the red team go any quicker.
"Hey!" One red team member cried as the two began to gain on them. "No fair!"
Ikebana snorted at him and nodded with a grin at Candy Dandy. He was glad she was pushing just as hard as he was to catch up. "Even if we lost all the other stages, we're not gonna come last on this one, that's for sure."
Behind them, some white team stragglers, still waiting for their turn at the apple-bobbing, began to cheer them on.
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Posted: Thu May 30, 2013 11:26 pm
Candy Dandy was beginning to feel like they were clicking. She and Ikebana were gaining on the enemy teams, and they were not happy about it. "We gotta go faster!" one said, nudging his teammate. They started to wobble and weave in an attempt to gain speed. Candy saw this and whispered "They aren't doing so hot over there. Maybe we can beat 'em after all!"Now that there were teams reaching the end of the race, a crowd had begun to gather around the track. They were cheering for both teams, and some of the foals that had been disqualified or had simply given up were jumping up and down
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Posted: Fri May 31, 2013 8:50 am
Ikebana nodded as Candy whispered to him, watching one of the red-team pairs start to fall out of sync. Their footfalls began to go in weird patterns, and one of the duo made the mistake of looking back at C.D. and Ikebana as they were supposed to focus on their rhythm. They landed in an ungraceful heap, one of their red headbands flying off of them as they went.
"Come on," said Ikebana, a faint grin breaking over his face. "I think you're right! We're in the top three now!"
The white finish line was so close in front of them! They wouldn't be first, and maybe not second, but they could definitely break third -- the best finish for their poor white team all day! And the crowd was reacting like they were setting a new world record. They hadn't given up, even though their team had done so poorly, and it would have been so easy to just slink back, tear off their ribbons, and walk away.
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Posted: Fri May 31, 2013 9:00 am
It was working, really working! Instead of quitting when she saw her team fall behind, Candy stuck with it, and now she and Ikebana were in the top three! She cheered, and then focused on maintaining her rhythm. If they were going to win, they had to be in complete sync. One team fell, and Candy stuck her tongue out at them as the white team members passed the pile of phonies. They deserved for being such jerks at the beginning of the race. "C'mon Ikebana, we can do it!" she said, encouraging her partner to try his best as well.
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Posted: Fri May 31, 2013 9:04 am
Ikebana pressed forward, his tongue between his teeth, kicking it up a notch at Candy Dandy's encouragement. With a final burst of speed, the two managed to outrun the next red-team members ahead of them, and crossed the finish line a wonderful, awesome, if surprising, second place. The two slowed down after they crossed, and then stopped, and it was all Ikebana could do not to just sit down in a bundle of nerves and energy, his breath coming in fast. He smiled brilliantly as the white-teammate foals jumped up and down all around him and Candy Dandy, happy to have finally finished in good standing. Even the parents were stomping their hooves and cheering.
"Great job, Candy Dandy," Ikebana huffed to his partner. "Great -- great job. We really showed them."
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Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2013 6:45 pm
Candy Dandy felt elation when she crossed the finish line with Ikebana. She cheered with her teammates, raising their wrapped hooves into the air. They seemed to be celebrating more than the team who had actually won, and the filly's face was alight with pride. "Hooray! We did great!" An older phony untied their hooves, and she shook hers out before offering a hoof bump to her white haired friend. "Thanks for keeping me going!"Another adult phony brought over silver medals and placed them over the two foals' heads. Candy looked down at her medal with pride that made her glow.
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Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2013 8:07 pm
Ikebana stood and returned the hoof-bump, his usually stoic face unable to keep from smiling brightly. The silver medal seemed to shine so much brighter even than the gold that the (slightly confused) red team duo were wearing. Ikebana looked down proudly at his. He was glad he and Candy Dandy had remained steadfast and loyal to their team. "Thank you," said Ikebana. "You're a heck of a teammate, Candy Dandy."
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