Izzy's Ponygirl Journey

"Good morning, sleepyhead," Grall said over the edge of the door and smiled at the sleeping Izzy. The rising sun was behind his head, giving him the appearance of a halo - which, in Izzy's opinion, he certainly didn't deserve. She blinked in confusion, tossed and turned a little and managed with difficulty to sit up, but to her shock there was straw stuck all over her body; not that she was entirely surprised, she quickly remembered the wild and long night that lay behind her. Titan, for his part, was snoring away in a corner, clearly not yet re-energised for the day ahead. Izzy came to the stable door on shaky legs and Grall removed some straw from her face. Her eyes stared at him uncertainly. "Don't worry about it, it's nothing to be ashamed of. A little fun never hurt any ponygirl... well, it won't hurt you. I hope."

Izzy lowered her eyes and whinnied softly with the horse's bit in her mouth while Grall scratched her behind the ears. This was new, but she liked it.

He opened the stable door and led her by the hand to the washing area, where he secured her to her breast rings with a lead before taking everything else off her - including the bit. Only her arms were secured behind her back again, as was the rule. "Zhrak!" She went to her knees on instinct. "How's your leg?" he asked as he poured a bucket of warm water over her head. It was strange to Izzy how normally he talked to her while treating her like a horse. The duality of such situations was still hard for her to grasp - especially when her whole body was covered in dirt due to Titan's sticky love.

She swallowed quietly. "It hurts again, the night was a little rough." His wide grin was no help to her.

"You've really pushed him, I've never seen him so tired. Usually he's only with the mares for a short time, a whole night with you must have satisfied his hunger for days." He playfully slapped Izzy on the bum, who neighed out of habit, which amused Grall even more. As a human she would have been terribly embarrassed if Grall had even thought such a thing, but as a ponygirl it seemed strangely unimportant who knew. The love of horses seemed more public and less private. "We'll give you some new medicine right away and your leg will be better. I'll take it easy on you until the race, you'll stay in the stable. I'll walk to school, that used to work too."

"I didn't want to go there anyway," Izzy grumbled, but of course she knew it wasn't her decision. While she was thinking about it, Grall undid the chastity belt and her gaze drifted briefly to Titan's stall.

"Don't even think about it, as long as you're a horse, it stays on. You clearly showed why that's necessary that night." There was a certain sternness in his voice.

"You promised that you would find a solution after the race. Then I can decide for myself again!"

He nodded slowly. "I promise. When we've won, we'll go on a trip, just like before. But you can forget about Titan, no human is allowed in his stable. I'm sorry, but stallions are for mares." She noticed his intense gaze, he must have guessed her thoughts. While he washed her between her legs, he continued: "If you still want to be my horse from time to time, I might forget the ponytail occasionally. Purely by accident, of course..."

Izzy's mind split in two at this offer. One side was desperate to be human again, but the prospect of a night with Titan was promising. As so often, Grall held the door to life as a ponygirl open for her, and that no longer surprised her. But what was more important now was whether he would really keep his promise. Once she was halfway free, she could make a new decision for herself without coercion or influence.

The day alone in the stable was hardly more exciting than waiting in the school stable. Although there was more to see in the yard, it was still lonely without direct contact with other horses. As was to be expected, Saxea came back first with Sunshine after school, and to Izzy's great surprise, the little goblin girl led her ponygirl straight to Izzy's stable.

"Here, Sunshine, you can keep Buttercup company for a while," the girl whispered and even took the horse bits out of their mouths. "But no talking!" She winked and closed both halves of the stable door to give them some privacy.

Sunshine stretched her jaw. "How are you?"

"I'm bored out of my mind. Besides, my leg still hurts. How am I supposed to win a race with that?"

"You should have kicked Grall's ass for that. A little kiss from your hooves would make him think twice."

Izzy grinned and nudged Sunshine playfully. "You wouldn't do that to Saxea either."

"She's not as stupid as your owner."

"Oh, so Miss I'm-a-special-horse doesn't have an owner. Nonsense, you belong to Oozol and he's going to gift you to Grall."

"Still, Grall isn't my owner yet," said Izzy grumpily. "How is Lisande?"

Sunshine paced around the stable and seemed to avoid the question, but Izzy followed her until Sunshine realised that silence was pointless. "She wasn't there. Kreks was missing too, his father excused him. I'm sure they're practising while you're just standing here with a damaged leg. How about I give Grall a little kick? I don't mind a few smacks on the butt."

"If you try that, then..." Despite all the fun between them, Izzy's look left no doubt as to what was meant. Sunshine's eyes travelled back and forth between Izzy's powerful thighs and her own rather meagre legs.

"It's okay, I was only joking. But it's bad at school without you. Albaea never leaves me alone, she's so..."

"Cute?"

"Annoying!" scolded Sunshine, but Izzy just giggled.

"She's just a breed pony, she can't help it."

"But she's so... naive! She wouldn't even run away if you forced her to." Sunshine rolled her eyes. "You're some kind of breed pony too and you don't act like it!" She bit her lip. "At least not in the same way."

"What are you saying?" Izzy looked Sunshine straight in the eye, clearly uncomfortable with the subject.

"It's like this... you're the only volunteer ponygirl in the whole area. Besides..." Sunshine swallowed. "We all overheard your night with Titan. You weren't exactly quiet. He's handsome, no question, but he's an animal. A stallion, and not a man."

Izzy blushed slightly, then arched her back. "So what? Most of the ponygirls have been with Titan."

Sunshine tilted her head. "Actually, no. Usually the goblins take him to the mares that are tied up the most. You're the first one to spend a whole night in his stall."

"Oh." That was all Izzy could manage. She had suspected it, but hearing it like that felt different.

"Don't worry about it. We all do what we have to do to survive as ponygirls. You're registered and, like us, you have no choice, so don't get upset."

"What if I did have a choice?" asked Izzy uncertainly. Grall had promised her a piece of freedom that Sunshine would never have again. Was that unfair?

Sunshine took a step back. "You'd be crazy to stay a ponygirl by choice. You felt on your own bottom how stupid that was of you. Do you want to be whipped again? Or wait until Oozol sells you? Breed pony or not, don't throw your life away." There was real fire in her words. Sunshine took a deep breath and swallowed. "But maybe that's just the difference between a captive ponygirl and you." Izzy felt those words deep inside her. Even though Izzy had only slipped into this life herself, this fact seemed to put a wedge between Sunshine and herself. "Cheer up, you'll make the right decision, whatever that means. You'd better concentrate on the race. Lisande is inexperienced, but fast. You'll still win. Why should she do her best and then stay with Kreks? She'll probably stumble on the first lap by accident and let you win."

"I hope so," said Izzy and grinned - but a small but intense spark of doubt blazed inside her. It couldn't really be that easy. Kreks was a monster, but he wasn't stupid.

"You need to tell me a bit more about your night with Titan, I can even smell him on you. Grall still needs to practice washing," Sunshine joked, and Izzy was only too happy to share the night's experiences with the other mare, who was yet to have her encounter with the magnificent stallion. Although Sunshine clearly didn't appreciate life as a ponygirl, she didn't seem completely averse to Titan.

There was only one day to go until the race and Izzy's leg was still not fully healed. The tension could be felt throughout the yard. Pexo and Grall came to her stable every hour to check her leg - as if anything would change that quickly - but with the heavy hoofed boots, a clean trot was simply not possible, let alone a fast gallop.

"An injury must be enough reason to cancel!" shouted Grall across the yard, but Oozol, who was walking slowly behind him, just shook his head.

"She was already injured beforehand, that was your mistake. You have to make the best of the situation."

"And if we lose? Am I going to go to her father and say: sorry, but I lost your daughter?" grumbled Grall.

"But that's exactly what you did. Besides, he probably won't be back for another two or three days. Let's hope we have better news then. This is your fault, my son. But in this family, we honour bets. No matter how the race turns out, one of you will lose a ponygirl in the end."

Grall turned round on the spot and looked his father straight in the eye. "Even if it's Izzy?"

"Even if it's Buttercup."

It hadn't escaped Izzy's notice that they both couldn't agree on her name, but in the end it didn't matter. She was Oozol's property, and he chose Buttercup.

"There must be a way! You have so many books, isn't there something in any of them?"

The old goblin crossed his arms. "Don't look at me like that, I don't want to lose her either. But she's a registered ponygirl, and you bet her. That's how life works. But look through the books if you think you can find anything. How's her leg?"

"Not good, the boot makes it difficult to walk. But there's not enough time to get another one. All the other boots we have here are too small for her. Hers were the only ones that fitted. Her breeding line is just very different from the other horses." Izzy snorted in her stall. The thought of being nothing more than a bred animal still angered her deeply, even though she knew it was the truth. The humiliation was just too deep. Oozol lowered his eyes and seemed to be thinking. "Maybe I have an idea after all." Izzy tried to listen carefully, but the old goblin whispered the rest.

"What are we doing here," Izzy asked as she followed Grall. He led her behind him on a leash by the breast rings. It was far from pleasant, but Oozol had insisted if riding wasn't an option. She looked at her father's house and a sting ran through her heart. Not long ago she would have described it as her home, but even to her that no longer seemed right. Her home was the stable at Oozol, she knew that. "What did your father whisper to you?"

"I didn't want to get your hopes up, but maybe there's something in the barn that can help us," Grall replied, tying Izzy to the front door of the barn out of sheer habit.

"Untie me, or are you afraid I'll run away?" she complained. "There's no one here to see us!" Grall nodded hurriedly and freed her, also untying her arms. "What are you looking for?" It was an unfamiliar but extremely welcome feeling to be able to use her hands freely again. She stretched and the blood finally circulated properly through her whole body again.

Grall pushed some straw aside and opened the secret door in the floor before climbing down the rickety ladder without saying a word. "There they are!" he called loudly after searching for a while. Before he was more than halfway back up, Izzy grabbed him by the collar and lifted him out with ease. "Hey!" he shouted in surprise, almost dropping the pony boots in his hand. He hung wriggling in the air and looked at her with wide eyes. "Put me down!"

"What's the magic word?" Izzy grinned broadly. She had actually only wanted to help him up, but holding the squirming goblin in her hand felt strangely good. After the hardships of the last few days - and the power he had gained over her - a little role reversal did her good.

The little goblin flailed his arms and legs, but eventually gave up. "Dear Butter-... Izzy, PLEASE put me back down."

As he had asked, she carefully set him down on the straw and stroked his head. "This way we could become friends again," she mocked, but Grall didn't seem satisfied.

"That was mean, I only want to help you!" he grumbled sulkily and threw the pony boots at her feet.

"Don't be so overdramatic," Izzy said, pricking him with a finger. "You hit me with a riding crop, but if I lift you in the air, the world is about to end."

"That's not the same at all. You're much bigger and stronger than me."

Izzy snorted. "You know damn well I would never hurt myself."

"That's not the point. Never mind. Let's go check on the ponyboots instead. My dad told me they're your mother's. Unlike the other things, they really are from the royal family and not imitations. They are of such high quality that no shoemaker in the whole area could make anything comparable. What's more, they only fit your mother - and with any luck, you."

The shoes were made of the finest leather, and slightly larger than usual for ponygirl boots; just what Izzy needed. They were unusually light, although they seemed even sturdier than her usual boots. There was not a seam to be seen, and the material appeared to mould perfectly to the skin: it was robust on the outside and soft as a cushion on the inside. Izzy put her old boots to one side and slipped into her mother's ponyboots. Her leg immediately felt a little better. The boot supported her and still gave her the freedom of movement she needed to run long distances as a horse.

Grall took a closer look at her leg. "Looks good. Fits perfectly, you must really look a lot like your mother. Try it out!"

Izzy took a few steps through the stable, but the pain had not completely disappeared. Nevertheless, she felt a warmth rising in her body that had nothing to do with the material. She had taken another step closer to her mother, shared a bit more of her life and was now almost literally following in her footsteps. The shoes must have accompanied her mother for hundreds of kilometres, and now they would hopefully lead Izzy to freedom - or at least spare her a life under Kreks. New courage drove her out of the shed and before Grall could stop her, she was running in a wide circle across the yard, her arms behind her back as if by habit, as if she had long forgotten how to run with her arms swinging. She stopped in front of Grall, who looked at her uncertainly. "What's going on? Did you think I was going to run away from you?"

"No, of course not!" he lied badly. "You just left so quickly all of a sudden." They were both silent for a moment. The possibility of running away was not completely off the table for Izzy, she would rather try her luck in the forest than suffer under Kreks; nevertheless, it surprised her how much Grall already seemed to be suffering from the thought.

Izzy looked across the yard and noticed a strange symbol in the mud between the imprint of the horseshoes. "The hooves leave the coat of arms of a king," she said in amazement. She didn't know the coat of arms, but as it was her mother's pony boots, it could only be the sign of royalty.

"My father had the hooves made especially for her. It was a stupid idea, but he probably wanted to make her happy." Grall shrugged his shoulders. "Don't worry, no one will notice on the racetrack." He closed the trapdoor to the secret cellar and pushed some straw over it again. Before Grall could say anything, Izzy got down on her knees and opened her mouth. But the goblin waved her off. "How about we take a little trip just as friends? You'll get your horse bit back soon enough." He smiled at her and they both went for a walk through the forest before Izzy slipped back into the role of horse.

"Are you ready?" asked Grall after he had saddled Izzy. His fingers were trembling slightly, which Izzy couldn't help but notice. He also looked tired, which was no surprise as she had seen the light from his room through the boards of the stable during the night. He must have hardly slept, although she didn't understand what he had been doing there all this time.

"Not really, but I guess it doesn't matter, does it?" replied Izzy, opening her mouth so that Grall could insert the horse bit. From here on, she was just a horse again, albeit one whose future was uncertain. She felt the wet ointment on her ankle as her mother's soft pony boot nestled against her leg. This little piece of family on her feet gave her at least a little support for the challenge ahead.

"Good luck to you both," Pexo said as he walked past, patting Izzy lightly on the bum. Izzy neighed gratefully.

"Don't worry, you can't lose at all," Grall assured her, wearing his riding clothes again. "Besides, I have a plan." That was all he told her. He climbed into the saddle and steered Izzy to his father, who was mounting a horse. "We're done."

"You have to forbid this," Saxea scolded, riding up on Sunshine. "Why should Buttercup suffer because of my stupid brother?"

"A true goblin honours debts. Besides, nobody forced him to make the bet, did they?"

"And if he loses?"

"Then he no longer has a ponygirl."

Izzy neighed unhappily and Grall wasn't happy either: "That's not right, she's not like the other ponygirls."

Oozol crossed his arms and looked sternly at his son. "She has a registration number on her breast and my name is on the register. You'd better hurry. You can lose if you're late, too."

Izzy swallowed through the horse bit. Oozol was completely serious, there was no doubt about that. Her only hope was to win the race, or she would be a tortured beast of Kreks for all time. She stamped lightly, but the familiar pain returned immediately.

The six - or three, if you counted only the goblins Grall, Oozol and Saxea - rode through the strangely deserted village; even the grey goblin women who usually sat in front of the huts were nowhere to be seen. A faint wind swept through the streets, banging the shutters on the abandoned houses. Izzy shuddered, where was everyone? It was almost spooky. She neighed nervously, not helped by Grall's occasional stroking; how could he understand her feelings, after all, it wasn't his freedom and entire future at stake! It was bad enough to be the pet of a - former? - friend, but a life under the whip of Kreks could not be good; the beating with the branch had been enough to make her hate him for the rest of her life, and she could see all too clearly in Lisande what was in store for her too.

They turned onto a small avenue at the end of the village with a wide line of trees that led them straight to the place where Izzy's future would be decided. Although Izzy lived not far away, she had never been here before - what was the point, she never wanted to watch poor young women being driven and humiliated by their owners for the entertainment of others. The racecourse was a place where no human normally strayed - except with a saddle on their back.

The racecourse turned out to be an ancient arena from a dark past, of which only two overgrown grandstands and a well-maintained circuit in the form of a gravel track still bore witness today. Centuries ago, half-naked ponygirls had to be driven round the bends with whips to entertain the green masses. There was an air of eternity about it all; the stone borders at the bends were decorated with weathered goblin runes that no one could decipher today, but alongside them were drawings of young women being ridden hard by goblins. Before long, Izzy would join the long line of horses being raced around the track for the fun of the greenskins.