The goblins' school was hidden by a small hill behind the forest on the edge of the village; it was a flat building made of mud bricks and an old thatched roof that blended in nicely with the landscape. A low hedge framed the school grounds and also enclosed a stable and a couple of sheds belonging to the school.
"You're doing well," Grall praised Izzy, who didn't have much trouble keeping close behind Albaea. The bred pony was visibly excited and pleased to be in the lead in this little race. With every other stride, she took a small jump, which of course only slowed her down. Luckily for Izzy, Grall also refrained from using the whip, but he didn't want to win anyway; nevertheless, it was a relief for her battered bottom to get a little break.
The main gate was on the other side of the school grounds and Izzy followed Albaea down the hill. They had almost reached the bottom when a loudly screaming Kreks whizzed past them. "You're too slow, Grall!" he shouted, spurring Lisande on with hard blows. One of the blows hit Izzy on the rump as she rode past, who howled angrily.
"I'll show you!"
He kicked Izzy in the side, who immediately took off running. As soon as she started moving, she was hit with the first blow of the riding whip, motivating her to gallop faster - the time for recovery was over. She stormed past Albaea and took up the chase. "Faster. We'll catch him!" But that was easier said than done; Kreks had a good head start and the path was narrow and ran close to the hedge. Small branches protruded and cut open Izzy's arm.
They were rounding the last bend when it happened: a mole had dug a hole in the ground and Izzy stumbled halfway into it. She was lucky to avoid a fall, but her foot twisted painfully despite the sturdy ponyboot. Izzy groaned and Grall immediately jumped out of the saddle.
"Calm down, Buttercup, let me have a look first," he said, feeling her leg through the boot. Izzy whimpered at the touch.
"Nothing seems to be broken.We just need to take it easy on you and I'm sure it will heal soon." He led Izzy by her reins into the school grounds. They were both limping. "You can rest for the next few hours. We'll have a closer look when we get home." Izzy gave him a dirty look, but then she nodded. There was nothing more they could do anyway.
"It wouldn't have happened with a real rider," Biscuit sneered patronisingly. He obviously had no sympathy for Izzy's pain.
"That wasn't a fair race, you had a head start." Grall gritted his teeth.
"She's wasted on you. Now she's even limping because of you," Kreks sneered. His voice left no doubt that he still didn't really care about Izzy. Through it all, he held the whip in his hand and, even standing up, slapped Lisande's butt if she moved too much. Izzy's eyes burned with anger.
"Look how well I've already trained Lisande, soon I'll be doing the same with Buttercup." Lisande looked pleadingly at Izzy, who was almost heartbroken. Kreks looked mockingly at Izzy's bottom. "Have you finally understood how to train an animal?
Perhaps you're not a lost cause after all." Izzy growled angrily, but unfortunately that didn't impress Kreks.
Mexi had also arrived by now and pushed her way between the arguing boys. A fiery glare met Grall's eyes. "You wanted to let me win. I know Buttercup is fast, you didn't have to trick me."
Grall blushed. "No, I just wanted to ride with you for a bit. There's nothing wrong with that, is there?"
"Don't ever do that again, or else..." said Mexi and rode past him. Albaea also snorted angrily, which seemed rather comical in her case. It was hard to take offence at the white mare.
Saxea, who had so far kept to the background with Sunshine, trotted up slowly. "What a disaster," she mocked. "Do you like her? Admit it, you're in love!" The little goblin girl grinned and winked at Izzy, but Grall just rolled his eyes.
Until now Izzy hadn't thought about the fact that Saxea had to go to this school too - but it made sense, there was only one goblin school in the neighbourhood after all. Sunshine seemed a little nervous like Izzy, of course it was her first ride to school as a horse too. The two nodded knowingly to each other, waiting anxiously to see what happened next.
A goblin teacher with big glasses and a walking stick came out of the school, ringing a small bell in his hand. "Come in quickly. Tie the ponygirls to the post, the caretaker will look after your animals." The pupils tethered their horses as instructed, with Grall briefly informing the caretaker of Izzy's problem.
"Nice horse," a boy called out to Grall. "So it's true, you're finally riding. Congratulations!" Several other goblins also looked at Izzy, Sunshine and Albaea with interest before the teacher herded them into the school with a broom. Apparently new horses were not common, and three in one day was probably very unusual. Yet Izzy would have gladly done without the attention, it still made her nervous when new goblins only saw her as an animal - even if it was true.
The beginning of the first lesson not only marked the start of a new school day, it was also the dawn of a whole new day for Izzy. While the children of all ages studied hard for their future, she and the other twenty ponygirls would have to wait for their riders until the end of school. Izzy guessed that it was a daily routine for most of the ponygirls, but for her it was unfamiliar, and it wouldn't be long before it became a mind-numbing routine for her too.
The caretaker turned out to be a very small, wrinkled and, above all, stone-aged goblin, who walked towards them bent over with a short walking stick. Izzy watched him with interest as he took the first horse. He seemed to be very experienced as his first move was to bandage the ponygirl's legs - making escape unlikely. He took the horse with him and led it into the stable. Soon most of the other ponygirls had gone - including Sunshine and Albaea - and it took a while before it was Izzy's turn. That gave her enough time to take a closer look at the school building. It was an old building, older than her own former school, and had no glass windows, but there were shutters to protect the students and teachers from the weather. Thanks to the glorious sunshine, all the shutters were wide open, allowing Izzy an intimate view into one of the classrooms. The floor was made of solid clay - as always, the goblins loved to be directly connected to nature - and the students were perched on small mounds of earth with their writing utensils right on their laps. They sat in a large circle and the teacher stood in the centre and told them about the cities of the humans. Most of the students listened with interest, but Grall only seemed to have eyes for Mexi. His chin was propped up on his arm and he stared at her without blinking, which some of the other students commented on relentlessly.
Izzy rolled her eyes; once this boy was obsessed with a girl, he forgot everything else in the world. Her stomach clenched and a thousand emotions swirled around in her head. Anger, joy, jealousy, hatred, love... how many thoughts could one actually feel for a single goblin? The whip, the chastity belt, the night in the stables, his mischievous grin, the rough fingers and the realisation that he was meant for Mexi and not her...
Izzy sighed.
The shackles on her legs dragged Izzy back to reality. The caretaker untied her reins and led her slowly into the dark stable with small steps, careful not to strain her aching leg. Once there, he untied her leg restraints, opened her pony boot and applied a little ointment to the joint. "Don't put too much weight on it, it'll take a few days to heal. Don't look at me so surprised, I know you're not a bred pony. You're a girl from the village, I recognise you. Strange to see you here now, but we'll take good care of you, don't be afraid." Izzy nodded gratefully, yet she felt horribly uncomfortable that she had been recognised once again.
She lifted her gaze and looked around after her eyes had adjusted to the dimness. The stable was a small building with barely enough room for all the ponygirls. The windows were small, and the roof was low. It was not a nice place, especially not as pleasant as the classroom, and to make matters worse, although he took off her saddle - under which her hands were now additionally tied as usual - Izzy was now, like all ponygirls, almost completely naked. Only her chastity belt gave her some privacy, and she was almost grateful for this terrible construct. There was some food and water in a corner, but as the horse bit remained in - as did the ponytail - eating and drinking wasn't much fun.
But Izzy had another goal, and it was already looking at her for help. Lisande was waiting at a window and neighed with relief when Izzy pressed against her. Shaking hands was out of the question anyway, even a normal conversation was impossible. But they both knew what it was all about: Kreks and the suffering that Lisande had to endure at his hands. Sunshine also joined them and gave Lisande a friendly nudge. Despite the horse bits in their mouths, they soon found a common language of neighs, deep looks and the occasional letter that they drew in the straw with their hooves.
It turned out that Lisande's reality was even worse than Izzy had feared. Her stall was tiny and bitterly cold at night, plus Kreks' riding gear was deliberately uncomfortable and his riding style harsh and cruel. It was obvious he wasn't just trying to make her compliant; his aim was to break her completely. Lisande begged Izzy in every way she could to help her, but what could a ponygirl do but feel pity? It was the fate of horses to be at the mercy of their owners and riders.
Another thought slowly but relentlessly crept into Izzy's mind: despite everything that had happened, she had been very lucky with her owner - the thought still felt wrong - after all. Grall was young and wild - and he often didn't think before he acted - but he never acted out of cruelty. The whip was unwelcome to Izzy, but even she recognised how useful it often was, but apart from that he cared for her lovingly. And yet, above all, he was now her owner, or soon would be officially; and her rider, who had once been her friend.
The remaining ponygirls spread out in the communal stable and dozed off standing or sitting. Izzy marvelled at this ability to completely surrender to doing nothing, but she quickly became bored. She looked out of the only window and watched the birds in the trees as time passed at a snail's pace. Only Albaea provided some diversion. She kept joining Lisande, Sunshine and Izzy like a playful puppy, where she was often completely blind to when she was interrupting. She seemed to have chosen Izzy as her new big sister and absolutely nothing could change that. Sunshine in particular seemed deeply irritated by the bred pony; her naive playfulness didn't fit in at all with Sunshine's rather rebellious nature, who accepted her life as a ponygirl, but certainly didn't view it with the same devotion as the snow-white ponygirl did. Sunshine always turned away from her, but Albaea seemed to see this as a game and gave the grumbling mare even more of her undivided and highly energetic attention.
The school break brought new life to the courtyard. The goblin students fled noisily from the actually very nice classrooms and filled the courtyard like a green plague with laughter, teasing and a real playfulness that Izzy wouldn't have believed some of the goblins had. Grall also came storming out with Mexi, but Kreks was hot on their heels.
"Leave us alone!" hissed Grall. Izzy pricked up her ears.
