Finally, the horses stopped practicing and it was time to get in the stalls. 3 of the stallions went up to the 2 new rookies and wished them luck. Macy blushed deeply and whispered a thank you while Felana winked at them and wished them luck too. Ella, the older spotted mare, talked to both of them as well and even Macy was able to easily talk to the kind middle-aged horse. Ella was one of the easiest horses to be around.
The 2 last mares, however, were not easy to talk to. Every horse around them nicknamed them the divas of the horseracing world. Taking more pride into their looks than their speed, one was a very sleek gray color and had long eyelashes. She was 27, 7 years older than either Macy or Felana. Her name was Ashley. The other diva was Linda, another stunningly beautiful horse that was 30. She had the sexy voice that easily could overpower any stallion to do exactly what she wanted…except for the other racehorses. They knew her too well. She was just as black as Anderson was, but with a very feminine look to her.
Felana stuck her tongue out at the 2 divas and both of them made a loud“humph!” and fluffed their tails as they turned around. Ella laughed, wanting to do what Felana did for years at those 2. Hearing the announcer’s voice, her eyes steeled up. “It’s time. I wish you 2 the best of luck, just don’t expect anyone to go easy on you. This isn’t a game either young ones…what you do here will decide your fate in the racing world.”
Both Felana and Macy gulped, but they were also determined. Having fire in their eyes, they got to their correct stall numbers and waited for the announcer to finish talking…even though he had at least 5 more minutes of talking left in him. Anderson, at stall number 1, of course, neighed his eagerness. He also eyed the buzzing sound close to him and saw Zips and 8 other flies start to move. They seemed to be even more eager than Anderson was. Practically every horse ignored the announcer, but the horsefly, who had not taken off yet because he was left out of the plan, listened carefully to what Mr. Packer said. “The annual judging committee has selected that Miss Kathy Swarm will be this year’s judge. Contestants, please remember that any foul play will result in disqualification no matter which place you are in. Let’s begin this race!!”
As the crowd of 50,000 cheered, the horsefly thought harder than he ever had before. Miss meant girl, and girl meant female…instantly a light-bulb popped into his mind for the first time ever in his life. He had to do the plan! Taking off, he slowly made his way all the way across the long arena to the judges box where Kathy would be watching very carefully to see if her sharp eyes could detect any foul play. She was a mix of white and gray and was about 50 years old.
“Horses! Take your positions! The countdown will start in 30 seconds! May the best horse win!!!!” In unison all the horses in the stalls got their long legs in position, their breathing calm but strong. Samson muttered under his breath, saying that of course he was the best horse. Unknown to all the contestants, the 9 flies made their move. Zipping under the horse’s bellies and around their long legs, the flies felt the breaths of the horses pound at them, but they were strong flies and they maneuvered around the powerful winds and buzzed right on the tips of the horse’s noses. Zips made absolutely sure that they all had gotten on the right horses.
The plan was simple yet brilliant. The mares were too focused on staring at the gates of their stalls to notice anything wrong or different, and that was exactly where it would lead to their downfall in this race. Zips loved a challenge, so he made himself take on one horse alone. He sent the other flies in pairs of 2 to go on the other mare’s noses and wait. Pure instinct would take over from there…if there was anything a fly knew how to do, it was to make a larger animal sneeze.
Zips landed on his victim, Macy. He was fascinated by her beautiful white coloring and the nostrils were so different looking from the darker colored horses that he couldn’t resist. Getting on a different position than the other flies, he made it so he was right inbetween the nostrils instead of on top of them. Zips waited in eagerness, knowing exactly when to start his teasing on these large nostrils. He could feel the skin around the nose contrast and expand with each breath Macy took. He was pretty certain the other flies felt the same thing with the other mares.
“The countdown will begin starting now! 5…4…”
That was the time. Each fly on Felana, Ella, Ashley, and Linda’s nostril (each fly had their own nostril on those mares
) made their moves. Time slowed down for the horses as each one closed their eyes for the brief second of calmness before the storm. Unfortunately for Linda and Ella, their flies decided to waste no time at all. Those four flies zipped inside each nostril and buzzed the heck out of the walls, their rapid wings sent shivers both up and down the walls of the nostrils. Both mare’s noses gave a sharp twitch, nostrils flared, and Ella had the worst of it. Her nose was naturally itchy, and the flies were moving in opposite directions in each nostril, so when one went deeper into one nostril, the other fly was tickling the lower parts of the other nostril. She was distracted and the middle-aged mare sniffled. “Haaah…” Her nostrils flared more, and the flies buzzed around faster each nostril and let their whole bodies rub against different sides of the walls (one fly was doing the outside wall while the other fly was rubbing against the inside wall) as they felt the wind from the breath signaling that they were irritating the nose effectively. “Haaaaah…HAAAH…”
The stallions on either side of Ella looked in confusion. What? A sneeze? Now? Opening their eyes, they too were distracted. Seeing Ella’s nose have shivers and shudders confirmed their suspicion. Talk about horrible timing. They felt sorry for her severely, especially when her nostrils flared in and out more rapidly. It was a sure sign that she would sneeze.
As Ella hitched her breath in those countdown seconds, Linda felt her own nose have a huge itch all of a sudden. She took a different approach, shattering her own desire to run and rubbed her nose instead. The flies were having a party in there, instead of buzzing up and down the walls, they focused their wings on special parts of the nostrils that looked to be the most ticklish. Indeed, the spots they had chosen were very ticklish, and they jiggled as the wings zoomed in on those parts of the nostril. Both nostrils reacted, flaring slightly at first, then continued to grow larger as the flies continued their assult on the ticklish parts inside her nostrils. While they weren’t rapidly flaring yet, the flies could hear and feel Linda’s dainty breath get more and more active in those nostrils. “Ha…hah…haah…”
She continued to rub her nose with a hoof, but this did nothing to stop her nostrils from flaring and contracting. Matter of fact, the dusty dirt from the stall on her hoof got inside her nostrils, and this set her over the edge. “Haaaaah!” Her large nostrils suddenly flared to their breaking points, and they were stuck that way as the flies deviously stopped tickling the spot they were on, and each fly watched the flared nostril freeze up and shudder as the sneeze got stuck.
For the other contestants, time was still slow as Mr. Packer’s voice said “2…1…” Muscles tightened and the horses reared up their heads and let their bodies get ready to spring forward. Ella’s sneeze ‘suddenly’ burst out of her, sending her to take a few steps backwards. “HAAATSHOO!”
The 2 stallions on either side of her jumped a little in shock. What absolutely horrible timing for a sneeze! The announcer shouted “GO!” and the gates were opened. Ella and the 2 stallions next to her had to recover, the stallions recovering 2 seconds before her, but Linda was frozen in her stall with the stuck sneeze. The flies in either nostril decided to act now, each one buzzing around the inside of her nostrils and head-butting against the hairs of the nostrils, making her whole nose scrunch up. “Haaaah…HAAH…HIICHEOO!” The flies barely made it out of the nostrils by the time the sneeze burst out. The flies were laughing as Linda still had flared nostrils, and another sneeze was threatening to burst out with the nose hairs still flailing around inside her nostrils. “Haah…HAAAH…” Her nostrils reached their breaking point again as the sneeze grew in intensity. “HAAKCHEOO!”
The black mare stomped in total frustration and neighed in protest. This wasn’t fair! She demanded a restart…to no one in particular. Every other horse, including Ella, had stormed out of their stalls.
With Ella a full 5 seconds behind and still gathering up speed and the 2 stallions 3 seconds behind and at full speed, Anderson was totally happy. Not only did the flies do their job, but they did better than he expected…Anderson was only ahead by a few feet, but as he looked backwards, he could tell that the one closest to him, Ashley the sleek gray mare, had her nose running as she ran. She was running with her eyes half closed even! Anderson focused on her nostrils for a second and discovered that they were flaring in and out uncontrollably, way faster than her long fast strides her legs were going. Anderson saw 2 flies fly out of each large nostril and Anderson saw that whatever they did in there, it was working beautifully. “Heh…HEEH…HEKSHEW! HICHEW! Heh…HANKSHEW!”
Ashley sneezed right on a stallion next to her, and both of them slowed down and shook their heads, the mare trying to shake a tickle out of her still sensitive, flaring nostrils, the stallion trying to shake off the spray he had got right in the face.
The judge, Kathy Swarm, narrowed her eyes as she saw the peculiar sight. A sneeze? In the middle of a race? How odd…still, nothing against the rules. No foul play from what she could see. She failed to notice the 2 flies fly out of Ashley’s nostrils…and she also didn’t see a large fly heading straight for her…
