The next morning, Izzy's legs trembled as she marched across the yard. Oozol waved to her friendly, but Izzy tried to ignored him. The experiences of yesterday were still deep in her bones, she could even feel his rough hands on her breasts -- at least that's what she imagined, and that was just as bad in the end. How could he be so relaxed after seeing her naked, touching her and washing her, she wondered. But it was of no use, politeness commanded her to go to him and talk to him. Grall was nowhere to be seen anyway, and she certainly didn't want to just stand aimlessly in a yard where she had been seen naked by everyone yesterday. "Come to me, Isabel. How are you?" he asked in a good mood. So, he was serious and made a strict distinction between Isabel, the girl, and Buttercup, the horse, she thought.
"Good, I think," Izzy croaked, her voice cracking and she almost choked on her own tongue. "Beautiful day... right?"
The old goblin smiled. "You could say that. Anyway, warm enough that you would like to run around naked, am I right? But that's only for ponygirls." Izzy nodded embarrassed under his sharp gaze. "How are things going for you at school, apart from the school holidays. Are your grades good?"
This questioning irritated Izzy deeply. Yesterday she stood naked in front of him, as nature had created her, while he and his son kneaded her breasts, and now he wanted to know something about her school, as if none of it had happened? Goblins were sometimes strange; No, most of the time, actually. "Quite good, I think. This is my last year, then I'll be done."
"Very nice, a good education is important, that's why we always train our ponygirls so well. Ah, here comes my son."
Like Izzy, Grall also seemed a bit overwhelmed. He didn't look her in the eye, instead he studied the exciting pebbles on the floor. "Hello Izzy," he said and coughed. "Do you want to ... go riding today?"
Izzy swallowed. Of course, he had to ask. But after yesterday's experience, that wasn't something she really wanted right now. Especially not when it led to her being washed naked by Grall again. It wasn't even the humiliation that stopped her, it was more the question of whether she might like it at some point. "Maybe we'll just walk?" She looked embarrassed at his cast and ignored his disappointed look.
"There you see, you've overworked her. Now she doesn't want to do it anymore," warned Oozol, who was probably blind to the truth. "Ride her a little more carefully in the future. Well, you two certainly have a lot to discuss, I'll go to the other horses. But I would like to tell you one more thing: This whole situation is visibly uncomfortable for you. That's silly, though, it's quite simple: Isabel is a human, and Buttercup is a ponygirl. You must learn that humans and ponygirls have nothing in common, at least not for us goblins. You can only be one or the other at a time. In the end, this has brought us peace with the humans; do not dilute this line, that would be dangerous. Isabel here is a human for me, there's no doubt about that. But if you put the saddle on her, I will treat her as a ponygirl, and I recommend that you do the same, my son." He didn't want to know Izzy's opinion on this, before she could say anything, he got up and went to the stables.
"Where are we going?" asked Izzy. She followed Grall through the dense undergrowth.
"You didn't want to ride today, so we have to spend the day differently." His voice sounded a bit reproachful, but yesterday's experiences were still too deep in her bones, and she needed some distance. Grall kept grimacing as he walked - he limped slowly over the forest floor with his broken leg and avoided the branches and bushes.
"Have you always been so slow?" Izzy asked cheekily and ran ahead. Grall called after her, but she didn't listen. Since her rides - she shivered at the thought - Izzy hadn't been used to running so slowly. She got faster and after a few meters she almost ran. The wind blew through her long straw-like hair, and she only looked ahead, into the distance -- whatever might be there. Her mind paused for a moment, and she ran straight ahead without even looking to the side. A large tree appeared in front of her, but she made no move to run around it - she didn't even slow down when the tree approached dangerously; why doesn't he steer me around him, she thought, but she woke up too late from her little dream. She ran into the tree with full force and fell backwards to the ground. She lay breathless on the withered leaves for a moment before rubbing her head and sighing loudly. Had she just kissed a tree because she had forgotten that she wasn't ridden by Grall? That's exactly why she had to take a break, it all just became too normal for her!
It took Grall a few minutes to catch up with her. He looked at the bump. "What was that about?"
"Don't ask," she hissed, but Grall grinned dirtily - he could probably read minds.
"Come on, Buttercup, we're almost there."
She grumbled angrily, but she had probably earned the name through this nonsense, but it still brought back unwelcome memories. The experiences of the last few days had changed a lot, even now the dress felt unfamiliar on her skin, even though she had only been a ponygirl for a few days. Could she have gotten used to it so quickly? She had even chosen a very short dress so that at least her legs remained free, she usually only wore it when she was alone - it was quite provocative, even her buttocks were not completely covered by it. Now that she was walking next to Grall, she also realized that it wasn't a good choice in this case: the hem was still above his head, and it wasn't good for hiding anything from the prying eyes of such a small goblin.
"We're here," he said when they arrived at a small clearing with low grass. He reached under her dress and patted her on the buttocks. She was shocked, he hadn't done anything like that before... but he hadn't washed her between her legs before either; he must have believed that he now had the right to do so.
She slapped his hand away anyway and shook her head. "I'm not your ponygirl, don't forget that" she said sternly, and he just nodded.
"But we're still friends, aren't we?"
"The best. But keep your fingers to yourself. Look, there's a nice spot up there." She spread a blanket directly into the sun and lay down lengthwise on it. Grall walked next to her on the blanket and pressed himself against her. That was also new, but Izzy just sighed and scratched his head, which he acknowledged with a pleasant hum. "Do you sometimes think about the future?"
He closed his eyes and enjoyed her crawl. "Every day. My father doesn't give me a choice either. He absolutely wants me to take over the horse farm. He never asked if I wanted to do that at all."
"Isn't that a good offer? It's the biggest farm in the whole area."
"Yes... but it's also a lot of work," he sighed.
"What else would you want to do?"
Grall did not answer immediately. She saw him chewing on his lower lip. Finally, he found the courage. "Ride on you through the world."
Izzy didn't stop scratching him. They were best friends, and honesty was important. "Why does it have to be me? You have a lot of other ponygirls." Now she had described herself as a ponygirl...
Again, Grall thought for a long time. "You're better than them. Better than all of them. As a ponygirl and as a friend. You're faster than them, you have more stamina, and you look better." Izzy blushed, and breathed faster, which Grall didn't miss. "I can't talk to them either. If I rode out with them, I would still be all alone. With you, I always have my best friend with me. It's the best of both worlds. Under my saddle I have the best horse, and after that my best friend.
