"Come in, you are completely frozen." Izzy opened the door for him, and her father had also woken up.
"What's going on, Isabel?"
Grall swallowed. "My sister Saxea has disappeared. It's probably because of Sunshine, after... " He bit his tongue and his gaze darted briefly to Izzy. "We have to go and find her.
"Does your father know about this?" asked Izzy's father, Matheus.
"He and the others are about to ride out but they don't know her hiding places as well as I do."
"Then help them!" Izzy snarled at him. "Then what are you still doing here?"
"I want to, but I can't do it without you, you have to... support me. I can't get far with my leg. Please!"
"Of course Isabel will help you, am I right?"
Izzy looked desperately at her father, who couldn't understand why she was hesitating - it was Grall's sister, after all. She swallowed and nodded slowly. "Alright, I'll help." Even if that made me a ponygirl again, Izzy thought desperately. The ground seemed to give way beneath her feet.
Matheus helped Grall to his feet. "Can I help, too?"
Grall nodded. "Stay here, maybe she'll come round. She's run away many times, but never at night. Besides, she took Sunshine with her. Hopefully they won't get far." He took Izzy by the hand and pulled her out the door behind him, where she took him in her arms - unseen - and ran with him to Oozol's yard. The night was particularly gloomy, and Grall had to stop her from running straight into a tree several times.
"Why don't you take one of the other ponygirls," Izzy asked breathlessly. "You have dozens of them!"
"Most of them are still untrained, the other goblins have taken all the good ones. Besides, I've only ridden you so far. We have to find my sister before something happens to her. I can't do it without my own horse." Izzy snorted, but said nothing. She didn't believe a word he said either, with so many ponygirls on the farm there was bound to be one left for him to ride out on. No, he just didn't want to ride any other horse but her. If it hadn't been for his sister - and Sunshine, for which she felt guilty - she would have sent him to hell for it. But they could talk about that later.
The farm was brightly lit, torches were burning everywhere and goblins were running around wildly. Ponygirls were saddled by the dozen and goblins rode along the streets and into the forest in all directions. It was a great hustle and bustle in which no one paid any attention to her until Oozol called her name - or what was now being used as her name here. "Very well my son, you have fetched Buttercup. Saddle her at once, you will investigate the coast." Again, Izzy realised that she was only seen as a horse, and only Grall was given the job. Grall nodded and Izzy was dressed faster than ever. It was strange how routine it was for both of them, she even opened her mouth before Grall had the horse bit in his hand. Izzy was a little ashamed of it, but in this case it was necessary; she couldn't see enough that night without Grall. It was true, they were a good team, she just had to give up her humanity, her freedom and everything that had meant something to her so far... she sighed.
Grall led her back to the yard, climbed into her saddle with the help of the stirrups and had his father explain the way. Izzy listened carefully. The destination was the sea to the south, quite an impressive distance at night, but as Saxea also had a ponygirl with her, they had to assume that she had made it there. As Oozol explained, they had already investigated the immediate surroundings, now they were all riding to places Saxea knew. "Did you understand everything?" asked Oozol, and they both nodded, even though Izzy hadn't been asked. "This is important. If you have to, you'll ride down the whole beach, do you understand?" They nodded again. "Go on then!" He gave Izzy a firm slap on the bum and shooed her off.
The ride went past the stables and out the south gate, which Grall didn't usually took. The first few metres led steeply down a path to the lake, but Izzy wasn't in the mood for a swim. They rode around the lake and crossed a bridge into an unspoilt forest that neither of them had yet explored - partly because they were generally convinced that there were no interesting ruins waiting for them there. Instead, the mighty trees stood close together, their canopies shielding the forest floor from the faint light of the stars. For Izzy, it was an impenetrable black wall, through which Grall pushed her onwards with small kicks. Here and there he pulled on the reins and Izzy could almost feel the trees against her skin as she narrowly missed them. It was a scary ride, and it required a lot of trust between rider and horse, but thankfully the two were well-aligned. Still, it was a long way through a dangerous darkness where even a small mistake could cause a painful fall at this fast pace. Despite the cold, Izzy was sweating with exertion and fear, and Grall was also shifting nervously in the saddle. The farm was already far behind them when Grall stopped Izzy.
"There's something in the darkness," he whispered, his arm pointing into the blackness to her right. Izzy couldn't see anything, but she felt Grall tremble. "RUN!" he shouted, his voice echoing throughout the forest. He kicked her with all his might and slapped her hard on the bottom. "RUN! FASTER!" Izzy heard a loud panting behind her. She didn't have to turn round to know they were being chased by a pack of wolves. Her legs flew over the uneven forest ground; one misstep and they both wouldn't reach the farm alive. Her heart pounded like a drum in her chest. What she wouldn't have given for a lamp, but this way she had only Grall to rely on as she charged blindly through the forest, hooves pounding the dirt floor in quick time. "We've almost lost them, there's only one left behind us!" That was just fine with Izzy, her legs were starting to get tired. He led her in a sharp right turn around a tree as he brought her to a halt with a sharp pull on the reins. "A dead end!"
Izzy was breathing heavily, but even without seeing him, she knew the wolf was behind them. He too was out of breath and rattling as he came closer and closer with heavy steps.
"You have to kick him!" Grall demanded. Izzy didn't understand, what good would a kick do against a wolf? "Your hooves are made of metal, you can hurt him badly with them!" She nodded and got ready. She stood sideways and gathered all the strength she had left. Her leg was bent and she waited for the command.
"NOW!" All the strength of her trained legs was in that kick. Her leg was almost fully extended when she felt something hard under her hoof. The loud crack echoed through the forest and the wolf fell to the ground, not moving. "You broke his neck," Grall said admiringly. "Move, before his friends arrive." He led Izzy out of the dead end and rode on southwards. Izzy followed the reins, but her mind was still a few minutes behind. Had she really just run away from wolves and killed one with just a kick? She shuddered. She had never thought herself so strong - or dangerous, if looked from the point of view of the goblins who often worked right next to ponygirls legs. She swallowed. So that was why they were always tied up, for the goblins it had to be a game of death if a ponygirl was ever in a bad mood. Grall urged her on, but they were spared wolves the rest of the way, but Izzy sensed that Grall had become even more nervous. She couldn't blame him either, if they had both narrowly escaped the wolves, what chance had Saxea had? Izzy pushed the thought aside, there was no reason to believe that the girl had come this way.
The forest opened up and a long cliff with a beach deep below appeared in front of them. It was a fantastic sight, especially on this calm night, but neither of them was in the mood for it. Grall led Izzy slowly along the edge, and at first it seemed like they were wasting their time, but then they saw someone in the distance, hiding behind a tree. Izzy ran off even without Grall's command - which he acknowledged with a grumble. It was Sunshine! The ponygirl was tied to the tree and tugged at its reins. It was a sad sight, but as soon as Sunshine noticed them, she didn't try to hide again but jumped around excitedly.
"What happened," Grall asked, and she looked towards the cliff. Izzy's heart stopped. Grall limped to the edge and looked down. "She's alive!" Izzy ran to him and leant forward on wobbly legs. Saxea laid unconscious on a small ledge just two metres below them, but from there it was a 30 metre drop. The ledge wasn't much wider than the girl, she only had to roll to the side once and her life was over. "You have to lower me down!" ordered Grall, but they didn't make it. He hung on to her reins, but there was still almost a metre to go. Izzy moaned, his whole face pulling at her head, but it just wasn't enough. She backed up slowly and heaved Grall back onto safe ground. Grall hurriedly took the ponygirl clothes off her, but even so they had nothing with them to overcome such a great height. Grall could of course just jump down, but then there was no way up.
"I have an idea," said Izzy and ran to Sunshine, who was staring at her with wide eyes. "Please help us, we can only do it together." Sunshine nodded without hesitation. Izzy took the ponygirl gear off her, too, a freedom she clearly wasn't used to anymore. She stretched out her arms, moved her mouth and looked longingly at the forest for a moment. "If you run, Saxea will die," Izzy warned.
Sunshine took a deep breath. "Good," she said in a voice she probably hadn't used in years. Izzy was momentarily caught off guard to hear her talk, but then she shelled herself for the thought. Of course they could talk!
"Why did Saxea ride off with you in the first place? You manipulated her, didn't you?" asked Izzy sternly.
"It was her idea, I just gave her a little nudge to make her do it. You can't blame me, it sounded like a good idea. The girl is very stubborn, when she wants something, she won't give it up - including me, I think. But now I feel sorry for her, I didn't mean for something like this to happen..."
Izzy nodded. "And I'm sorry about your punishment."
Sunshine walked past her. "It's okay, I was an arsehole. I didn't want Grall at all, I was just jealous. But..."
"But what?" Izzy pressed on.
"The others were all caught if they didn't come from a breeding programme. Nobody else is a ponygirl by choice. But you are. It just felt wrong... like you were a traitor. That was silly of me, you can do whatever you want... even something so stupid." She winked. "Just make sure you don't get in too deep. The goblins will never give you up once they have you. You can take my word for that."
The two of them tied the reins together and let Grall down.Even now there was still a stretch missing.
Izzy grabbed Sunshine by the legs and let her down a little over the edge. It took a lot of trust, but it was enough for Grall to reach his sister. He took her in his arms and Izzy pulled as hard as she could. She moaned loudly; she had strong legs but her arms were average at best - the long hours under the saddle hadn't made it any better. Her loud cry cut through the silence on the cliff and she managed to pull Sunshine, Grall and Saxea to the safety of the ground. The four of them hugged each other and it was quite a while before they let go. Saxea was also slowly waking up. She had an injury to her head, but it didn't seem too bad.
Sunshine looked towards the forest again. It must have been the first time in years that she wasn't tethered, Izzy thought. It was her chance to escape, to live without the goblins. At least in theory. Izzy's gaze travelled down Sunshine's body, from the registration number on her chest to the brand on her bottom. Here, in this part of the world, even many humans would heed those markings and return a runaway ponygirl to her rightful owner - for a reward, of course. The ponygirl's eyes continued to dart back and forth between the forest and Saxea. Finally, Sunshine shook her head and took Saxea in her arms. With a slow trot, she made her way to the yard. Grall dressed Izzy again and the two followed her.
