she’d flown with Peggy only that morning in case it sounded like she was boasting.
Cloud shyly dipped her head. ‘Would you like to come free-trotting with me?’
‘I’d love to,’ Pippa said, sorely tempted to accept Cloud’s invitation. ‘But we need to find the three missing horseshoes and time is running out.’
‘The missing horseshoes!’ Cloud sighed. ‘I’m still not sure I believe in all that.’
‘Neither do I,’ Cinders chipped in. ‘Mum says it’s all a load of rubbish.’
‘But what if it is true?’ Pippa asked quietly.
Cloud scuffed a hoof on the ground. ‘That old Whispering Wall doesn’t look right without the horseshoes. I suppose we could help you to search for them, just to make it look normal again – not because I believe in all that “horseshoe magic”.’
‘It could be fun,’ Cinders agreed. ‘I bet the wild ponies would help us too.’
‘Would they?’ asked Pippa. ‘That would be brilliant. The more eyes the better.’
Only Stardust looked doubtful. ‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘We’re not really supposed to be here. Maybe we should go back now.’
‘But you’re here now,’ called out a cheeky young chestnut pony with a white blaze. ‘And I’ve seen you and that girl here once before.’
Stardust flushed bright red. ‘You’re right. Pippa and I took a short cut through the forest the day she arrived on Chevalia.’
‘We don’t mind,’ said the wild pony. ‘You’re welcome to come here any time you like. My name’s Clipper. I can teach you to free-trot if you like.’
Stardust’s eyes widened. ‘Really? I’d love that.’
‘Stand back then,’ said Clipper. ‘I’ll jump back over the ravine so we’re on the same side.’
Led by Clipper, the wild ponies, Cloud and Cinders jumped the ravine.
Cloud trotted over to Pippa. ‘Would you like to ride on me while Stardust learns how to free-trot?’
‘Yes, thank you,’ said Pippa.
She slid from Stardust’s back and vaulted on to Cloud’s. The older Princess Pony was taller and broader than Stardust and Pippa almost didn’t make it. Clinging on to Cloud’s grey mane, she pulled herself on in an undignified scramble.
‘Well done,’ Cinders said, helping Pippa up with a friendly nudge to her foot.
‘Missing horseshoes, here we come,’ Cloud whinnied.
Cloud set off at such a high speed it made Pippa’s teeth snap like a crocodile’s.
‘You’re so fast,’ she squealed.
‘This is the one place I can let my mane down,’ said Cloud. ‘If I didn’t have the Wild Forest to escape to I’d go absolutely mad with boredom. I hate living in the Royal Court with all its stuffy rules and traditions. Here in the Wild Forest everyone is equal. I don’t have to keep curtsying and I don’t have to wear that stupid tiara.’
Pippa ran her hand down Cloud’s neck, feeling the Princess Pony’s muscles rippling as she leapt from one obstacle to the next. There were plenty of low-hanging branches to land on and tree stumps to vault over, but Pippa liked it best when Cloud trotted up the trunks to hurl herself out of trees. It made her stomach bubble and fizz with exhilaration.
‘This is fantastic,’ she yelled in Cloud’s ear, making her buck for joy.
A long time later, they trotted into a clearing. Everyone slowed to catch their breath and cool down.
‘Well done – you’re a fast learner,’ Clipper told Stardust.
‘Watch out,’ Cloud said, suddenly swerving left. ‘Quick-stick mud.’
Stardust shied into Cinders, knocking her satchel. ‘Sorry,’ she apologised.
‘No problem,’ Cinders said, shrugging off her satchel. ‘You’ve just reminded me I was supposed to get rid of this old thing for Mum.’
The wild ponies trotted on, but Stardust and Cloud hung back to wait for Cinders.
‘Why does the Baroness want you to throw her satchel in the quick-stick mud?’ Pippa asked, curious. ‘It doesn’t look that old.’
‘Mum’s even stricter than