Izzy's heart was racing. 'You might as well have lit the fire for the brand,' she thought, biting her tongue. Grall, on the other hand, was still beside himself with joy, but he hadn't exactly given away his entire future either. He jumped around like a little bouncy ball and fell into the arms of anyone who didn't dodge him fast enough. His happiness was infectious, but Izzy didn't catch on to it, partly because he kept pointing at her bottom and making burning noises, which really annoyed her. Her friend just never knew when he was going too far.
But she couldn't and wouldn't blame him, this was her own fault. Once again, her stupidity had set off an avalanche that was now dragging her down into the valley - whether she wanted to was no longer important. She could only wait and watch, but in this case, she knew what was waiting for her at the end of the journey: a branding iron with Grall's mark, which he himself would press onto her arse with a broad grin so that it would proclaim for all time that she belonged to him.
To make matters worse, the goblins gave their friend a lot of good advice, which made Izzy even more nervous: 'Don't be shy, it has to smoke!', 'She'll be a bit loud about it, but you have to keep it steady until it takes effect' and 'Make sure your mark isn't too small. She needs to feel it well, so she knows you're her master.' Izzy grumbled. Goblins... 'She's submitted to you, now make sure she stays down,' said a goblin in dirty armour.
But here, at least, Grall clearly disagreed. 'No, she's not like other ponygirls, I won't do that!'
Izzy nodded silently, but it didn't change anything. Even as her friend, she had submitted to him and now he was going to do what was natural for goblins in such situations. She was already his property, of course; after all, she bore his number on her bosom, which was also filed in an official register with her horse's name, but this mark was even more personal; above all, more painful. The idea that he would press a burning hot metal mark into her skin with his own hands so that it would leave a scar made her stomach revolt. To make matters worse, she would soon be wearing his gold nose ring, making it impossible to hide the truth about her status.
She felt slightly nauseous again. It wasn't that she didn't feel love for Grall, and she had to admit to herself that it felt good to show him her own affection so clearly, but the price was too high. Until now, she had had at least some hope of being able to be human occasionally, but there was nothing left of that after the kiss. Besides, she still had the taste of his feet in her mouth.
She looked around; the world was divided in two.
The humans stood at the back and kept as far away from Izzy as possible - their faces showed nothing but disgust and sometimes even hatred. That was unusual even for the people in this village, but no girl had ever been stupid enough to allow herself to be humiliated and domesticated voluntarily before. Allegedly, a few young men had occasionally allowed themselves to be turned into stallions, but that didn't surprise Izzy, as it offered the men their own special appeals. Besides, they were virtually invisible to the human world later; quite unlike the ponygirls who walked half-naked through the villages every day. Without a doubt, the kiss was just the last straw that broke the camel's back.
She raised her nose in the air rebelliously; this wasn't all her fault after all; Grunhilda had provoked her to the brink, as she often did, and had given her the idea in the first place, but no one seemed to care.
The goblins, on the other hand, still reacted completely differently; they cheered and celebrated; the voluntary devotion of a girl as a ponygirl for a goblin was seen as a great honour, and it was celebrated thoroughly. It had to be a good precedent for them, one they hoped many would follow. Izzy knew by now how expensive ponygirls could be; they were beyond the reach of some goblins. The prospect of getting one for free must have seemed like a godsend. Of course, it didn't matter to the goblins that a girl would have to give up her dreams and her freedom, they were only thinking about the benefits.
Izzy couldn't even blame them, who would refuse a gift? Apart from the comments about the brand, the goblins were kind to her, stroking and praising her incessantly; there was hardly a spot on her that wasn't patted, even those that made her blush. There were also all kinds of treats, which Izzy was only too happy to devour. She felt like she was at the centre of this celebration, which was slowly and steadily taking her away from life as a human. Her colourfully painted face, reflected in the windows of the houses, left no doubt about it, too.
'That was wonderful,' Mexi whistled, jumping around almost as excitedly as Albaea. The playful mare kept trying to get down on her knees, but Mexi stopped her. 'Don't do that, sweetheart, you just want to copy her. That doesn't count. Besides, you're too immature for that.' She gave her pouting horse a little kiss and then turned to Izzy. 'You're a good horse too. Grall is very lucky you like him so much.' She stroked Izzy's head the way Izzy used to pet dogs. It was humiliating, but at least Mexi obviously meant it nicely.
Grall gave Mexi a kiss and hugged her. Over her shoulder, he gave Izzy a strange look, as if his neck was aching and his eyes were twitching. He turned Mexi round to face Izzy and kept looking at her feet. 'Oh, I'm sure she likes you just as much.'
Izzy breathed in heavily. So that's what he wanted. It was almost cute how desperately he bobbed his head, but at least it wasn't an order, she had to give him credit for that, just a plea between friends. It was a pitiful sight, how much he wanted to impress his crush, and Izzy rolled her eyes. 'What could possibly happen now,' she thought, 'It doesn't get much worse than with Grall.' She smiled at Mexi, got down on her knees, looked up at the surprised girl once more and kissed both of her clean shoes. It was an impressive sight, not least because the difference in height between the two of them surpassed that of Izzy and Grall. It was like an elephant bowing to a human.
Just as soon as Izzy was back on her feet, Mexi jumped around Grall, squealing and cheering. 'That was so great, that was so great!' she shouted, stumbling into his arms and their lips locked. Only Albaea whinnied unhappily, as if a toy had been taken away from her. 'I've never seen such a well-trained horse.' Izzy grumbled softly. 'I bet your brand will look great.' She tapped the spot on Izzy's bottom and Izzy flinched under the touch. 'Do you think she'd like my brand too?'
Grall was clearly still in a good mood and before Izzy could object, he said, 'I'm sure she'd love it.' Izzy would have liked to kick his ass, but there was plenty of time for that later.
The humans still hadn't come any closer, with one exception: a little girl had squeezed past the goblins and was looking at Izzy with wide eyes.
'You're beautiful,' the girl said, beaming.
