Chapter 4: Land of Sweet Candy
"Get that light out of my eyes!" The cows continued to watch as a familiar small reindeer kept its shining nose straight at Crystal. The nose kept on glowing until she transformed herself into a blizzard tornado and disappeared into the woods. "I'LL BE BACK FOR YOU COWS. ONE WAY OR ANOTHER I WILL BE BACK!" they heard her call out.
"Yeah well when you come back, we'll be waiting to stomp on your toes!" Maggie called back.
Grace still had her eyes on the red-nosed reindeer. From the looks of it, it could only be…
"Rudolph!" Ester shouted in delight. "It's great to see you, but how did you get here so fast?" The light from Rudolph's nose diminished as he walked toward Santa's sleigh. Grace, filled with excitement had pushed her friends aside to have a better look at him. She fluttered her eyes repeatedly to make sure she wasn't dreaming, but he was still there, just as the song described him.
"Well," began Rudolph, "I was taking my usual walk in Christmas Tree Forest singing merrily with other reindeer until I saw some rabbits run up to warn me that the forest animals were trapped in blocks of ice cubes. I hurried to melt them out with my nose before some of them warned that Crystal was up to no good. So I flew over the forest as fast as I could to find you before she did. And I'm just relieved to see that nobody was seriously hurt." When he finished, Grace had lost her head completely from too much excitement.
"Howdy there Rudolph! She cried out merrily, "My name is Grace and this here is Maggie and Mrs. Calloway; it's really an honor to meet you here in Christmas Tree Forest. We all heard about you in a song that goes like this." Grace cleared her throat and was about to sing the song, but the other two quickly covered her mouth before she had a chance to do so. Reluctantly, they grinned at Rudolph in embarrassment.
"Sorry about her," Maggie was still trying to keep her mouth from singing. "Our friend always gets carried away from too much excitement in a place like this, especially around Christmas time."
"Oh that's alright," Rudolph let out a slight giggle. "You can trust me and all the other reindeer here. You know their names don't you?"
"Sure I do," Grace jumped out of the sleigh ignoring Mrs. Calloway's order to get back in and ran over to the eight reindeer. "That's Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, and Vixen. That there is Comet, Cupid, and Donner, and Blitzen." Of course, the reason why she could tell who they were was because of the metal name tags under their collars.
"AHEM!" Grace could hear Mrs. Calloway clear her throat loudly signaling her to get back in the sleigh. After doing so, she turned to the reindeer. "Forgive me for interrupting this merry introduction, but shouldn't we all get a move on before that incompetent ice woman shows up again?"
"She's right you know," Ester had just remembered what he was supposed to do. "We better hurry."
"But where are you all going?" asked Rudolph before Ester snapped the reins.
"We're on our way to Candy Land. With all the bright lights, Crystal won't be able to enter through there."
"How about you let me light the way," Rudolph suggested. "I mean just until we get there." Ester nodded his head in response. He just couldn't say no after the good-natured reindeer had saved the cows' lives from that ice woman.
From behind one of the trees, Crystal watched as Rudolph moved up in front of the eight reindeer to light their way through the foggy snowy blizzard to make it easier for Ester to ride better throughout the forest.
"There must be way to catch those cows without the risk of becoming shined on by that pesky reindeer's nose," She whispered in the breezy wind blowing amongst the trees and kept on plotting until an idea popped into her head. "Well I'll catch up to them later. Right now, I must concentrate on how I'm going to swipe off the Star, without the risk of being blind." In truth, Crystal had always been afraid of bright lights and the warmth of Christmas cheer and would do anything to avoid all of that at all costs.
Outside the entrance of Candy Land
The sleigh skidded to a halt in front of a bridge that had been made of shining lemon drops as bricks and iced frosting for cement. The bridge lead to a gate made of polished peppermint candy canes. The cows hopped off the sleigh and were dazzled by the sweet scented atmosphere surrounding them.
"That is the entrance to Candy Land," Ester advised. "From here I shall leave you, for I have just remembered that I should be helping with getting the reindeer ready for Christmas Eve night."
"How about I go with them, in case Crystal comes back?" Rudolph suggested, knowing that it might not be a wise choice to leave the cows journeying alone without any special guidance.
"Good idea, Rudolph will be able to help you girls out, he's been here plenty of times and knows the way around," He snapped the reins a moment before the sleigh took off into the air and evaporated behind the pink cotton candy clouds.
"Come on, this way," The cows followed behind Rudolph along the lemon drop bridge.
"Remarkable young lad isn't he?" Mrs. Calloway spoke in disbelief. Although she had become enchanted by the sight of Christmas Tree Forest and relieved for being saved, she was still concerned about being far away from Patch of Heaven in a world unlike any other region they ever visited in the real world. It was still unbelievable; and yet they were here being lead by a supposed-to-be fictional character.
"Halt, who goes there?" the four travelers were stopped at the peppermint gate by a gingerbread soldier only five inches tall holding a cookie sword in hand. "Oh Rudolph, it's only you, but who are these other three?"
"Don't worry, they're with me. I'm taking them to go see Santa so that he can get them back home to a dude ranch in Colorado." The gingerbread soldier took one look at the girls and smiled.
"Well any friend of Rudolph's is always welcome here in Candy Land. I'll open the gates for all of you." Pushing it open, the cows were blown away by the sparkling sight of a magnificent gold fountain of a pink foaming liquid spewing out at the top like a geyser. But that wasn't the only surprise; around them were gingerbread houses decorated with chocolates, gumdrops, bonbons, and frosting. Down the lemon drop streets were little gingerbread people waving hello to whoever passed by their houses.
"If any of you are wondering what that is, it's the Lemonade Fountain," Rudolph said cheerfully. Lemonade Fountain? Grace moved closer to the gold fountain to stare at her reflection in the running pink fluid. She and the girls had heard of yellow lemons, but definitely not pink lemonade. Without warning, Grace had her entire head splattered and soaked by a splash of lemonade from the fountain above. Although she was surprised, there were a couple of minimal drops that entered her mouth allowing her to taste the flavor. It was the sweetest, sour, and fruitiest fluid she had ever tasted; even fruitier enough to leave her desiring for more as she dunk her head into the foaming liquid.
"Grace, what do you think you're doing?" Mrs. Calloway coaxed furrowing her brow. "You know better than to eat sugar." But Grace wasn't listening. She was still slurping down gulps of the sweet lemonade fountain.
"Well now that's what I call a saccharine appetite," Maggie joked while watching the heifer keep on going. "Hey Grace, save some for me why don't you!" Soon Maggie dunked her head into the foamy lemonade taking big gulps creating a few bubbles underneath. Mrs. Calloway winced from having to hear the unsatisfying gurgling coming from her. That cow's manners were at most times revolting.
"Boy you girls sure don't get a lot of sweets in your town, am I right?" Rudolph asked Mrs. Calloway surprisingly by the looks of the two girls still slurping away.
"No we don't, and there is a good reason why we shouldn't be allowed to eat a single one," Mrs. Calloway began stomping over to the fountain with a stern look and her lower lip sticking out. Standing on her hind legs, she placed her front hooves under each scarf and pulled their lemonade-soaked heads out of the fountain. "That's enough pink lemonade for the both of you. If you want to make it through without a stomach ache, we still have a long way to get to the North Pole."
"But you haven't even tasted it Mrs. C, it's still running," Maggie tried to encourage her to try it herself.
"Oh please, with all that ill-mannered slurping, I wouldn't bother to taste a single drop," Mrs. Calloway used her tail to hold on to Grace's pink scarf in case she were to think about running back to the fountain for another drink. But Grace still knew there would be other satisfying sweets in Candy Land to taste besides the pink Lemonade Fountain.
"See there you go again with that stiff tone, why not try something new for once?" Maggie asked feeling a little drunk and walking in an imbalanced position. "I promise it will definitely have you feeling merry…BBBBBUUUUURRRRRRPPPPP!!!" Maggie had unexpectedly blown an enormous belch straight at Rudolph, Grace, and Mrs. Calloway causing the hairs on their hides to frizzle. Each of them had stared back at her blankly while blinking. "Oops, excuse me, I needed that," Maggie had her hoof over her mouth blushing. "Hey Grace, why don't you sing a Christmas song, I'm sure these two would love to hear it now won't you?"
"Really? Ok then…" Grace cleared her throat and sang. "…Have a holly jolly Christmas, it's the best time of the year, I don't know…" Grace continued singing as Rudolph was once again leading them down the lemon drop road. Mrs. Calloway's eyes narrowed from having to listen, yet this time it was a drunken Maggie who suggested that she sing. But once the effect wears off, she'll be irritated as well.
"Oh brother, just what I need," she whispered sarcastically.