Dear Friends of the Happy Days Circus, Some of our readers are pretty good writers themselves. Dylan, Red Tabby and I have been sharing some of their work with you...  

 

You'll find one of Grace Fletcher's great stories further down this page.

And now here's Martha Chapman to tell us a bit about herself:

"Hi Katherine

I am 11 years old, I started writing proper stories at the age of 7 but I've always enjoyed reading books. Before i started writing proper stories i wrote paragraphs of things that interested me.

When I first read Born to Dance it inspired me to write some stories of my own.

My story is called THE MAGICAL NIGHT RIDE!!!

 

THE MAGICAL NIGHT RIDE!!!

 

Once upon a time there was a girl called Becky. She owned a 14 hand pony called Ollie. Ollie was cheeky and strong, but nice and gentle. Becky’s best friend, Martha, owned a cute 14 hand pony called Kizzy, also with four white socks. Kizzy had a kind nature and trusted Martha.

 

One day Becky and Martha were going on a hack. They planned to camp overnight in a meadow. They were cantering through the lush green grass with tulips, vines and roses growing all around.  The hedges were neatly cut back and everything was quiet and peaceful.

 

Night began to fall and they stopped under a fine old tree. They quickly set up their tents, made the fire, and sorted out the ponies. It was full moon and every star shone brightly. Surely this meant that something magical would happen that night. Each girl felt a tingle going through her body… and another… and another. Then, all of a sudden they felt something flapping behind them and they were whisked off the ground!

They spun round but nothing seemed to be there. They looked again, and this time they realised what was happening. They had wings. They had become fairies.

 

Becky reached out to grab Martha but, instead, vines went through her hand and wrapped themselves round Martha. They pulled her close. Becky was gob smacked. She had powers.

 

From then onwards, every night at midnight both Becky and Martha turned into fairies with magical powers. Becky’s powers were to do with nature whereas Martha’s were to do with fire and ice.

Every midnight they’d ride to the fine old tree where it all happened and enjoy working their magic.

 

But one dark, crispy midnight they went across the meadow to their tree only to find builders and tractors everywhere. The girls didn’t know what to do. The builders were going to cut down their magical tree and build a village in its place. The tree still stood, tall and leafy – but for how long?

 

Suddenly there was a flash and everything lit up. They could see all around them except that there was no sign of the tree. They saw someone walking past a café.

‘Excuse me, sir, but do you know where we are?’ asked Becky, pulling her mobile from her pocket.

‘You’re in Henlade,’ smirked the man.

‘What?’ screamed Martha. ‘They’ve renamed our field.’

‘Wait a bit,’ said Becky. ‘Martha, we did see our tree before everything lit up.’

‘So we did,’ said Martha. ‘Someone must be playing a trick on us.’

‘Anyway,’ said Becky. ‘This can’t be Henlade. It must be Stoke,’ and she put her phone back in her pocket.

‘Well done ladies,’ came a voice.

‘Who said that?’ asked Martha looking puzzled.

Becky recognised the man. It was Stan - the man who had stolen her family car. He was trying to trick them. Stan had weird eyes – one was brown and the other pale blue. He had blond hair.

‘What have you done?’ Becky asked him.

‘Would you like to hear my evil plan?’ Stan asked.

‘Yes please,’ the girls said together.

Stan thought he had Martha and Becky trapped so he might as well, but he was wrong.

‘I have made your tree invisible, and used my projector and screen to make a village.’

‘So our tree’s still there?’ asked Martha.

‘Yep.’

Martha whispered an idea to Becky. She ran round the houses while Becky distracted Stan.

Becky started to ask Stan questions about his life like: ‘Are you married?’, ‘What’s your job?’;  Who do you work for?’; ‘Why are you a thief?’ and so on. Being boastful, Stan told why he did that.

While Becky kept Stan talking, Martha unplugged the projector then, using her magic powers, she froze Stan’s village and set fire to the screen in front of the tree. Still using her fairy magic, Martha shot a fireball leaving a trail for Stan to follow. If he did so, the she and Becky could finish him off.

Instead of following the fireball trail, Stan ran at Martha intending to stab her. But Becky came running from the distance and shot out a tower of vines which grabbed Stan and pulled him to the ground. Then Martha froze him so Becky could finish him off.

But in the end they decided the law should deal with him instead, so Becky reached for her mobile.

Martha began to unfreeze Stan so the police would not know she had powers. Luckily it was a dark night so the police would not notice her fairy wings. The squad cars pulled up just as Stan had thawed out. He made a run for it but they were too quick for him.

Just as the squad cars drove off, the girls hear galloping hooves. Ollie and Kizzy came galloping up to give them a ride home.  As the girls rode away from the tree they felt their powers begin to fade.

 

When they got back home they were starving. They were making some tea when Martha’s mother came in and asked

‘What have you two been up to?’

The girls didn’t answer but just looked at one another. Then they started to giggle. They had loved every second of that night.

The next night the girls were riding to their tree when, once again they both felt a tingle. It was happening yet again. What adventure would they be having this time?

 

The End

Martha Chapman.

 

 

Now for a powerful story  from Grace Fletcher:

I am Grace Fletcher.

I am 11 years old. I love ponies and frogs! My favourite colour is blue.  One of my favourite books is Horse and Pony Stories for Girls. I also enjoy Harry Potter books, myth stories and anything to do with horses, such as Born to Dance and Safe for Life by Katherine Reynolds.

 

Playing flute and keyboard is one of my hobbies. I also have ballet and swimming lessons each week. I enjoy writing and have been doing so for as long as I can remember! With my family I enjoy going out to the theatre. The Lion King; Joseph; and Sister Act are amongst my favourite shows.

 

I wrote this story because I want people to see what animals have to go through because of us.

 

Trapped!

 

Aubrey Snicket was foraging about his mouse hole, trying to find some food. Jemima came in and looked sternly at her husband.

‘You’re not stealing food are you?’ she asked. ‘You know we’re on rations, now the new mouse king is in charge.’

Aubrey sighed and stopped rummaging.

 

‘Mum!’ screamed Josie from upstairs. ‘Mum! Liem has stolen my lipstick.’

 

Suddenly a low grinding noise filled the house and everybody froze. Just then Jemima saw a flash of luminous yellow, and understood what was going on. The human family had been talking about it for months. They were moving house and the building people were turning the whole street into a factory! She started to shake. She hadn’t thought they were really going to do it.

 

‘Jemima dear?’ asked Aubrey.

‘Pack some clothes and a few luxuries – no arguing,’ Jemima whispered shakily.

 

Once everyone had packed Jemima started breaking open the grate that separated their house from the neighbouring one. After what felt like a year the grate broke and they scrambled through, just as the ceiling collapsed behind them.

 

‘That was too near for comfort,’ gasped Aubrey.

Jemima didn’t say anything. Just stood there hyperventilating.

‘Mum,’ said Liem timidly. ‘Josie’s not here.’

Aubrey and Jemima tensed. Josie had been left in the old house.

Aubrey took charge. ‘Liem, help your Mum to walk.’

‘What about Josie?’ asked Liem. He faltered under his father’s quelling gaze.

‘Josie’s dead,’ Aubrey whispered. Jemima stumbled and fell. Aubrey and Liem rushed over to her to find she had stopped breathing,

‘We’ll have to leave her,’ Aubrey sobbed.

Liem’s eyes widened in shock. His dad never cried!

Aubrey had already started to walk towards the next grate but, as he neared it he saw something was terribly wrong. He’d never be able to move the grate because of all the rubble behind it.

‘We’re done for,’ Aubrey said faintly.

 

Suddenly toxic fumes poured from each side of the grate.

‘Dad,’ whispered Liem before he slumped to the floor.

Aubrey grasped his son’s paw before slumping down beside him.

 

THE END

 

Now that you have read these tales maybe you’d like to e-mail us at borntodance@dsl.pipex.com  to talk about them. Or send us stories of your own.

 

Katherine, Dylan and Red Tabby.