Team Challenge by Janet Rising Page B

sheep had spent the night there, we took the ponies back to their stables, and I handed Epona to James when no one was looking.
    “Your turn to have a word, find out Moth’s take on it all,” I told him. Five minutes later and James was back.
    “We’re good,” he said. “Moth’s jumping faults were genuine, but I could be a bit more thankful, too, apparently. She said we have to remember we’re a team.”
    I felt so utterly guilty. How awful to be reminded by our own ponies about how we were supposed to get the most out of them. In our excitement and nervousness about the Sublime Equine Challenge, we’d overlooked the fact that ponies, just like people, respond to praise and encouragement, not negativity. We so totally had to remember that and stop whining all the time.
    Drummer and I practiced our routine again, and I made sure I was much more polite and asked his opinion on certain movements. He even had some good suggestions. Tiffany and Bean did some schooling (minus the noseband!) with Katy, and James offering useful advice from the fence and they made a real fuss over Tiff. Both ponies were cooperation personified. It was so great! In the afternoon, we all went for a fast, hard ride in the woods to let off some steam. The ponies loved it, and so did we!
    “OK,” said James, pulling an overexcited Moth up after we’d raced one another to the lake, “we’re good to go allout at the next qualifier. Let’s go for it!”
    We all gave a high five and whooped with delight. Bring it on! We were so going to do better the next time around. The ponies’ pep talk had definitely straightened us all out!
    We rode back to the yard with Tiffany, now thoroughly excited, going sideways and setting Drum off. It took forever to settle them down, and as we walked through the woods, Katy brought up the subject of our team name, insisting it would help the team spirit.
    “I don’t get Cat and Leanne’s team name,” said Bean. “I mean SLIC, what does that mean?”
    “It’s their names—Scott, Leanne, India, and Catriona,” Katy explained.
    I thought that was clever—and lucky that it worked.
    “Well, we could do that. How about we’re Team BPKJ?” suggested Bean.
    “That’s gibberish!” snorted Katy.
    “That’s it, Team Gibberish!” yelled James.
    “I think we need to come up with something snappy. Something that sums up what we’re about,” Katy said.
    “So we’re back to Team Useless,” said James. Katy glared at him.
    “Or we could be ironic,” James said. “How about the Fantastic Four?”
    “That’s not ironic,” said Bean. “That’s just lying.”
    “But maybe if we give ourselves something to live up to, it might not turn out ironic at all,” suggested Katy.
    “As long as we don’t have T-shirts,” I said. “I don’t want to walk around with that on my back.”
    “Can anyone think of anything better?” asked James.
    No one said a word.
    “That’s it then, the Fantastic Four it is!” said Katy, as we rode into the yard.
    “Excuse me,” said a voice. It was Drummer and he wasn’t very happy. “There are eight of us in this team. I can see our little pep talk has had very little effect.”
    “What’s your point?” I said confused. I could see Katy and Bean looking at me. James had ridden off to Moth’s stable and was out of earshot.
    “Yes,” added Tiffany, “what about us?”
    “You’re doing it again,” said Bluey, shaking his head.
    “What’s wrong now?” Katy asked.
    “We can’t be the Fantastic Four,” I told her. “There are eight of us.”
    Bean’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh, no, we’re in trouble again!” she cried.
    “Oh, sorry, Bluey. You’re right!” exclaimed Katy.
    “Can we be the Fantastic Eight, then?” I asked. It didn’t sound as catchy.
    “Hardly,” said Drummer, in disgust.
    “We can be the Great Eight,” suggested Bluey.
    “Perfect!” I said, and told the others. They agreed, and Bean trotted Tiffany over to tell James