Puzzle: The Runaway Pony

by Belinda Rapley

  “I CAN’T believe I ever thought for a second about stabling Wish there!” Mia said as they rode back up the drive and out onto the lane.

  “What?!” Rosie asked, alarmed. “Did you really want to leave Blackberry Farm?”

  “No, of course not, not seriously,” Mia laughed, “but it did look totally amazing when I saw it online.”

  “Exactly – I mean, everything looks perfect, and you’d think anyone would be over the moon about being there,” Alice agreed, “but instead they’re all miserable.”

  “I guess all you need is the people in charge to be horrible,” Charlie said, “and it has a knock-on effect on everyone.”

  “Just like Blackberry Farm,” Alice joked.

  “That’s it, Alice Hathaway, you’re out!” Rosie laughed. “Right, let’s go home!”

  As they all turned their ponies onto the lane, heading back in the direction they’d come from, Charlie jogged Pirate to the lead.

  “If we turn down this little side lane, rather than carrying on along the main one,” she said, pulling the scrap of paper on which she’d drawn the route to Compton Manor from her pocket, “we should find a bridleway a bit further up on the left, leading into the woods. It looks like a good one, so we can have a really fast canter to warm up! It’s just up here, I think…”

  At that moment a gust of wind flapped the paper out of Charlie’s gloved hand, spooking Pirate, who danced sideways in a clatter of hooves. They all watched as it fluttered furiously out of sight.

  “Not to worry,” Charlie said uncertainly as her teeth started to chatter. “I’m sure I can remember the way.”

  Silently, the four turned their ponies down the narrow, dank lane. The ponies’ hooves were the only noise as they clopped alongside the thick woods which lined the lane to their left. Rosie pointed out that the raindrops had started to fall more frequently, specifically the ones going down her neck. Charlie saw a narrow gap into the woods and frowned.

  “I reckon this must be the path,” she announced, peering through the gloomy archway of trees. “If we gallop along this bit, we might even make it home before the rain really comes down.”

  At first the bridleway looked quite promising and they managed to have a few strides of canter before trotting for quite a way. Lots of small paths criss-crossed the path they were riding along and Charlie peered down each one. She couldn’t remember if they were meant to turn off, so she decided to keep going on the winding path, dodging between trees and bushes. But they soon faltered to a walk.

  “Are you sure this is right?” Alice asked as another narrow path crossed with theirs.

  Charlie nodded unconvincingly. With every step it was becoming less distinct and more overgrown, and they were forced to ride in single file as she forged ahead on Pirate to clear a path.

  They stepped carefully for a while, listening to the rain plopping heavily on the last of the brown and red autumn leaves that clung to the branches and bushes all around them, and the constant crackle and snap of twigs and branches beneath the ponies’ hooves.

  “Charlie, this can’t be a bridleway,” Mia said, peering down the gloomy, narrow way ahead.

  “I thought you said there’d be a good stretch to canter,” Alice commented as another bramble snagged her jacket so hard that she almost got pulled out of the saddle backwards as Scout kept walking forwards. Thunder rumbled again, only this time louder.

  “No one in their right mind would want to ride down here,” Rosie complained, ducking down onto Dancer’s neck to avoid branches. “Do you even have a clue where we are?”

  “Erm, I think so,” Charlie replied, knowing that, actually, she was totally lost and had no idea where this path was taking them. She rubbed her frozen hands together as Pirate ignored the spiky branches on either side of him. “I think if we just keep going a bit further…”

  Suddenly, the bushes started to peter out and the shelter of the trees overhead thinned, exposing them to the lashing rain and allowing them to see into the distance. Ahead of them the path dipped down into a dense patch of wood.

  “Look!” Mia gasped. “What’s that?”

  The others wiped their faces to get a better look through the heavy downpour.

  “Ooh, I bet I know what it is,” Rosie said, her voice going all quivery.

  “What?” Alice asked, feeling goose-bumpy all of a sudden as she stared ahead.

  “I… I think it’s the Old Forge!” Rosie whispered loudly.

  Lightning flashed in the sky ahead and thunder echoed above them. In the distance, beyond the dip into the woods, they saw a small, overgrown circular clearing. In the middle of the clearing, a stone barn rose up eerily out of the darkness. Its crumbling grey brick walls almost merged with the heavy sky as the rain swept down. One side was overrun with fading ivy and the windows were gaping black holes. Part of the moss-covered tiled roof was missing and one corner of the ancient, isolated barn had collapsed.

  “Okay, so this is definitely not the way I meant to come,” Charlie finally admitted. She shivered, and for the first time that day it had nothing to do with the cold.

  “It’s meant to be haunted,” Rosie announced in a dramatic whisper that creeped them all out.

  “Ghosts aren’t real, Rosie – and that’s a fact,” Mia said, trying to convince herself as much as the others as the thunder rumbled again. “They’re just made up in fairytales.”

  Wish, who was normally totally bomb-proof and responsive to the lightest of aids from Mia, suddenly snatched at the bit fractiously. She started to paw the ground, shaking her head as Mia touched the reins and gave her a pat.

  “They are actually… Real, I mean,” Rosie replied, pushing her soaked straggly hair out of her pink face. “I read about the Legend of the Old Forge in a book at school, for that project about local folklore we did last year, remember? Apparently, a blacksmith used to live all alone in the Old Forge in the days when a cobbled road brought him passing trade like coach horses to shoe. Then about a hundred years ago him and his huge black horse died, right here! The Forge fell into ruin and the rest of the forest closed in around it.”

  “It’s not much of a legend,” Alice said, feeling a bit disappointed in spite of being spooked at the thought of it being haunted.

  “But that’s not all,” Rosie continued in a hushed voice, looking round at the others with her pale blue eyes wide. They all leaned in a fraction closer as Rosie dropped her voice to a whisper. “I read that when the wind’s in the right direction, you can still hear the sound of metal being hammered, as the blacksmith makes ghostly horseshoes for his ghostly black horse!”

  At that moment, darkness rolled in above them. Lightning lit up the skies and a clap of thunder broke overhead. The rain hissed down even more heavily.

  Suddenly, a strange, eerie, spine-chilling neigh whispered through the air around them.

  “What was that?” Alice squealed, her heart leaping as she and Rosie looked desperately at each other, their eyes almost popping out.

  “It was just the trees creaking,” Mia said unconvincingly. “Wasn’t it?”

  The noise echoed out again and Wish, already jittery, spooked and shot forward. Her back hoof slipped on the muddy path and she almost sat down before springing awkwardly back up. Mia was taken by surprise, and before she could stop herself she tumbled off sideways into a bush. Wish shoved past Pirate, clashing stirrup irons with him and squashing Charlie’s leg. Charlie reached forward to grab Wish by the reins but just missed, and the frightened pony took off along the path ahead with a whinny, her ears pricked. Rosie stood up in her stirrups as Dancer snorted, watching the palomino mare disappear along the path ahead of them.

  “She’s heading straight for the Forge!” she cried, as Mia hauled herself out of the bush, completely covered in mud. Pirate and Scout danced on the spot.

  “Come on!” Mia urged, red-faced after glancing down at how dirty she was. “I don’t care if it’s haunted, we have to go after her!”

  T
he others gulped, but they knew that Mia was right. They squeezed their agitated ponies forward as Mia ran ahead, pushing back the bushes and brambles in her way, trying to keep her pony in sight.

  Suddenly, Wish and the Old Forge disappeared from view as the path dipped back down into some woodland. Mia started to panic, worried about how scared her pony would be. She sprinted faster, tripping on tree roots, her long, silky black hair plastered to her neck and shoulders.

  As Mia ran and the ponies jogged up the other side of the dip, the bushes fell away and they rushed into a clearing. The girls pulled the ponies up dead. Beneath their hooves were cobbles, slippery and almost hidden by the tall grass and mud – the only remains of the ancient road that used to run past the Forge. And just beyond the cobbles, as if in some kind of grim fairytale, out of the overgrown, wild grass rose the Old Forge itself. At the entrance nearest to them were two huge black doors. Mia felt her stomach tighten into a knot. There was no sign of Wish.

  “Wish!” she called out. Her voice echoed in the creepy, heavy silence of the clearing. “Wish!”

  “I don’t think she’d have hung about here,” Charlie said, staring towards the gloomy path which led away from the Forge on the other side of the clearing. “If she was frightened she’ll have galloped straight past. I’ll go and check.”

  Charlie jumped off Pirate and led him over to a little path that led away from the Forge. It was hard to make out any hoof prints among the tall grass near the ruin, but she definitely couldn’t see a single one on the woodland path beyond.

  “Anything?” Alice asked, swinging down from Scout.

  Charlie shook her head. “Nothing.”

  Spooked, they all looked around, then Rosie pointed from Dancer’s back.

  “Hoof prints, look, there, they lead right up to…” Rosie gulped, “the Old Forge doors.”

  They all looked nervously at the ruin as Mia crept closer on wobbly legs.

  “But the doors are closed!” Mia whispered hoarsely. “How could Wish have got in?”

  Her heart had started to thump. She felt the blood drain away from her smooth olive skin as she looked round desperately, her dark almond eyes wide with fear.

  “I can’t see her, or hear her out here,” Alice whispered, creeping nearer the ruin. “She must have gone inside.”

  “Maybe Wish went in there looking for shelter,” Charlie said with a gulp as she followed Alice, “then the wind swung the door shut afterwards.”

  “You wouldn’t get much shelter in there,” Rosie said in a hushed voice as she hung back with Dancer.

  “We’d better look inside though,” Mia said, “just in case.”

  She edged towards the huge, wooden doors that led into the ruin. One was almost shut, but was hanging off its hinges at a slight angle, creaking in the wind. The other looked as if it hadn’t been opened for years, with a slimy pile of sodden brown and yellowing leaves blown against it. Charlie and Alice crept up behind Mia. Rosie didn’t dare creep any closer. She scanned the clearing, calling out to Wish in a hushed voice.

  Suddenly, as the wind rose, a metal clunking sounded from within the ruin, a hollow noise which sent shivers through all of them.

  “The blacksmith making his shoes!” Rosie squealed, gathering up her reins, ready to make a quick escape. “Quick, we have to go, like now!”

  Mia’s step faltered as she reached the slight gap between the two big doors.

  “We can’t go without Wish,” she said urgently, feeling her heart race. As she peered into the gloom, terrified of what she might discover, the metallic ringing suddenly stopped. Mia gulped.

  “Wish!” she whispered, as loudly as she dared, into the lifeless space.

  She paused for a second, her legs shaking; behind her the clearing fell deathly silent except for the constant pattering of rain. Squinting through the heavy gloom, she saw a row of wide stables with ancient wooden doors, some closed and others creaking open as the wind whistled through. The far corner stables were cloaked in deep, cobwebby shadows. Mia stared harder into the darkness.

  “Wish?” she whispered again, uncertainly. Suddenly she heard a dull thud coming from the shadows. A cloud of white mist briefly appeared above the end stall, before vanishing into the darkness. Mia gasped and whipped her head back out of the doors.

  “There’s…. there’s the…” she stuttered, her voice failing.

  “The what?!” Rosie demanded.

  “The… the ghost horse!” Mia squealed.

  At that moment a sinister, ghostly whinny cried out, soulless and hollow as it echoed around the Old Forge, filling the air. The girls looked at each other, petrified. None of them had ever heard anything like it before – it sounded like a noise from beyond the grave. At the same second a cold breeze swept past them. All the hairs on Mia’s neck stood on end and her heart froze. There was a sudden stillness in the clearing, followed by a deafening crack as thunder split the sky right over their heads.

  Mia heard a scream as she slipped on the slimy wet leaves in fright. She suddenly realised, as the ponies skittered in all directions, that the scream had come from her. As the thunder rumbled again she heard another whinny, this time much closer and much more real. Wish skidded round from the other side of the Old Forge, snorting and shaking her head. Mia grabbed her reins as the mare was about to barge past her. The ghoulish neigh rang out once more. Without another second’s hesitation Mia leaped into Wish’s saddle.

  The others were already remounted, and within seconds they were trotting at full pelt back in the direction they’d just come from, pushing branches out of their faces with raised arms as Mia urged Charlie to go faster. Alice, still shaking, looked over her shoulder and saw Rosie, at the back of the pack frantically urging Dancer on faster as the roan’s ears flattened and her eyes goggled, looking more frightened than the rest of them put together.

  When they reached the end of the path, in sight of the lane, they were all so relieved to have got out of there that one by one they started to giggle and in a second they were all weak with laughter.

  “Sorry, Mia… Who was it that said ghosts only exist in fairytales?” Rosie managed to say, after she caught her breath.

  “Okay, so maybe I got that a bit wrong,” Mia admitted, smiling, “but now I know that ghosts do exist, I never, ever want to go anywhere near there again! And nor does Wish – I’ve never seen her so scared!”

  The rain started to ease slightly. Rosie claimed everyone else had been far more scared than her, which set them off laughing again as they turned towards the warm and dry of Blackberry Farm.

  TEN minutes later, the Pony Detectives were back on a familiar path, and after cantering around the edges of various fields linked by dirt tracks, gates and small jumpable hedges, they emerged onto a lane they’d ridden down quite a few times. As the ponies clopped along, heads down, they passed an isolated cottage. The girls saw a familiar face at the window and pulled up their ponies by the cottage gate. A second later, the front door opened and a girl with long dark-brown hair popped out and walked carefully down the path, carrying a kitten.

  “Hi Daisy!” Alice grinned.

  They all knew Daisy – she used to have a pony called Shadow, who was dark and devious and deposited her from the saddle at every opportunity when out riding. Shadow had been sold at the end of the summer to someone much more experienced, after one fall too many for Daisy. Since then, they’d bumped into her quite a few times, in town or when she’d been walking her dog in the woods where they were riding.

  “What a gorgeous kitten,” Rosie cooed as the others pulled up too just outside her front garden. “Is it yours?”

  Daisy shook her head. “No, I’ve just started helping out at Hope Farm – the animal rescue place. Rolo here’s the tiniest of the litter, and although she’s been weaned she still needs lots of care, so Fran Hope has entrusted her to me.”

  The girls all exchanged impressed looks. They often went to shows at Hope Farm and knew how fussy Fran Hope was ab
out who was allowed to help with her rescue animals.

  “I go on Saturday and Sunday mornings,” Daisy continued. “I decided that I want to be a vet when I leave school so it’s really helpful. There are vets up there all the time because of the problems some of the rescue ponies have.”

  “That’s amazing!” Alice smiled.

  The others all crowded round to see the mewing bundle of tortoiseshell fur. Daisy nodded proudly, and it was obvious that she was loads happier than she had been at the start of the summer.

  “I want to specialise in horses,” Daisy said, a bit shyly.

  “Please tell me you were not inspired by that menace, Shadow?” Rosie said, flabbergasted.

  Alice, Mia and Charlie all glared at her.

  “What?” she shrugged “I’m just asking.”

  “Definitely not!” Daisy laughed. “Although he wasn’t to blame for me falling off him every five minutes, to be fair. But I do miss having a pony. Only trouble is that now I wouldn’t have the time to look after one on my own, not with all the work at the vet’s. Anyway, I’d better get Rolo back inside before she gets cold!”

  With that Daisy said goodbye and the four girls set off again, trotting along various bridleways in single file until they got to one wide enough for the ponies to canter alongside each other. At least they could have done if everyone had kept up. Alice loosened her reins and Scout put his head down and leaped forward. Next to him Pirate fired along with Charlie balancing easily above him, her contact soft as Pirate poked out his nose, determined to reach the end first. Wish stretched elegantly beside them, easily keeping up as the part arab in her came out.

  “Well, thanks very much for that!” Rosie puffed as she pulled up near the end of the path and slowed to a trot. Alice looked behind her as she patted Scout and started to laugh. Rosie and Dancer were completely splattered with mud; even Dancer’s white blaze had disappeared beneath a layer of it. But, unlike Rosie, Dancer wasn’t frowning. Instead, she shook her head and looked slightly confused, her ears flopping sideways as she skidded to a leg-splaying stop.