“Hello,” the pony neighed happily.
Clare gasped, then scrambled down from the tree and patted the pony. His neck was warm and solid. “Hello, boy! You came back!” Clare pulled an apple off the tree and offered it to the pony.
He nuzzled against her. “Mmm, lovely! The apples aren’t too sour in this garden,” he snorted.
Clare wondered how the pony had got into the garden. She went over to check the side gate again. But it was locked.
The pony followed her, his nose nudging against her back.
Clare laughed. “You’re like a shadow,” she said. She stopped and looked at his gleaming dark coat. “That’s what I’d call you if you were mine,” she whispered. “Shadow.”
The pony started to nibble Clare’s hair. She laughed and pushed him away.
Shadow trotted back down to the apple trees. He started to nibble an old apple that was lying on the ground.
“Don’t eat that, it’s rotten,” Clare said, seeing the black skin on the apple. She hurried over to stop him.
Shadow tossed his head playfully and trotted away. He stopped behind a tree and peeped out at her. “Come and get me!” he whinnied.
Clare laughed and ran up to him. Shadow let her get close enough almost to touch him and then jumped away and trotted over to another tree. “You can’t catch me!” he snorted happily.
Clare ran faster and so did Shadow. He broke into a canter, swerving behind a tree, stopping dead and looking back at her before setting off again. ‘This is fun!” he whinnied.
After a while, Clare’s cheeks were pink and she was out of breath. “I can’t run any more!” she called. She sat down on the grass.
Shadow came out from behind the tree trunk where he was hiding and walked over to Clare. Stretching his neck towards her, he blew on her hair. “I like playing with you,” he whickered.
Clare giggled at the feel of Shadow’s warm breath. She stroked his muzzle and wondered where he had come from and who owned him. He must belong to someone. His coat was very shiny and he looked well fed.
“I’d better get Mum,” she said, standing up and hugging the pony. “Your owner might be looking for you.”
But Clare didn’t want to leave him. She wondered if Shadow’s owner might let her come and visit him some time. Life wouldn’t be nearly so bad then. Well, except for school, she thought, her heart sinking.
Clare buried her face in Shadow’s warm, furry neck. “Oh, Shadow, I hate my new school,” she said. “I haven’t got any friends there. I wish I didn’t have to go back!”
Shadow pricked his ears. His owner was always saying how much she hated school too.
“School doesn’t sound much fun!” he snorted. He nuzzled Clare, hoping it would make her feel better. It always worked with his owner.
Clare laughed and hugged Shadow tighter. “I wish you were my pony,” she said. “If you were my pony then even school wouldn’t seem so bad.”
She sighed. She knew she really should tell her mum that the pony was in the garden. “Wait here,” she said, patting his neck. “I’m going to get Mum and she’ll help find your owner.”
Shadow watched Clare run into the house. Suddenly he heard a faint sound in the distance. He knew that voice. Pricking up his ears, he turned and trotted down the garden.
Clare dragged her mum out of the kitchen. “Clare, I’m busy!” Mrs Masters cried.
“But there’s a pony in the garden!” Clare said. “There really is! We’ll have to try and find out who he belongs to.” She pushed open the back door. “Look!” She stopped.
Shadow had gone.
“But he was here!” Clare cried. “He was! He followed me round the garden and we played hide and seek . . .”
Mrs Masters put an arm around Clare’s shoulders. “Oh, Clare. I know it’s hard, moving house and changing schools. I can see why you might want to make up a pony friend, but—”
“I’m not making him up!” Clare cried. “He’s real!” But she could see that her mum didn’t believe her. Tears of frustration came into her eyes. “He is, Mum!”
“Why don’t you come inside?” Mrs Masters said gently. “I’ll make you a chocolate milkshake.”
But Clare shook her head and ran back out into the garden. She knew Shadow was real. So where had he gone? He couldn’t have just vanished. The gate was shut, so the pony must be getting in and out of the garden some other way. If she could just find out how, then maybe her mum would believe her.
Clare checked all the fences, but there seemed to be no gaps big enough for a pony to squeeze through. She ran down to the bottom of the garden, where she’d first seen Shadow. Behind the apple trees and bushes Clare could see a row of tall, dark green conifer trees. Where exactly did the garden end? She decided to explore.
Clare pushed her way through the thick, overgrown bushes, over to the row of conifers. She squeezed between two of the trees to see what was behind them. The feathery fronds of their branches tickled her face.
Behind the trees was a fence. Clare had come to the end of the garden. Suddenly she noticed that one part of the fence had a gap in it – a gap big enough for a pony to get through . . .
Clare’s heart leaped. She scrambled through the gap and came out into a large field. Perhaps this was where Shadow lived!