Matty opened the gate and ran into the field. “Socks!” she called. “Socks!”
But no pony came. “He’s escaped!” Matty said, turning to Clare, her face scared. “What if he’s been run over! Suppose he’s been stolen!”
Clare forgot about their argument. “Quick! Let’s check the fences. There might be a gap where he could have got out!”
They ran round the field, looking for holes in the fence. As they reached the far end, Clare noticed a row of conifers growing nearby. They looked very like the ones growing at the bottom of her garden.
She stopped, and looked at the field again. That’s it! she thought. She’d seen this field before, but from a very different angle . . .
“What are you waiting for?” Matty cried.
“It’s OK!” Clare called. “I think I know where he is.”
“What do you mean?” Matty said.
Clare didn’t answer. She ran towards the conifers and looked along the fence in front of them. Sure enough, there was a big gap – just the right size for a pony. “This way!” she shouted.
Matty saw what she was looking at. Together they went through the gap.
“But where are we going?” asked Matty.
“My house,” Clare said.
“Your house!” Matty echoed.
“My house is this side of the fence!” Clare pushed her way through the familiar yellow-green fronds of the conifers. “And I think I know just where Socks will be.”
Matty followed her. “But . . . but . . .”
As they came out through the trees, Clare stopped. Just as she had thought, there was the pony, standing underneath one of the apple trees, munching on fallen apples.
“Socks!” Matty gasped.
“Or Shadow,” Clare said.
“Whichever you like!” whinnied the black pony. He trotted over and nuzzled them. “Hello!”
Clare started to laugh.
It only took a moment before Matty joined in. “I wondered why he had been getting so fat,” she said, through her laughter. “He must have been coming here every day to eat your apples.”
“And I couldn’t work out where he kept disappearing to!” said Clare. “He must have come here while you were having your tea and squeezed back through the fence when it was time for you to come and ride him.”
“Oh, Socks!” Matty said, hugging him. “You are a naughty pony.”
Clare looked at Shadow nuzzling Matty and suddenly felt sad. She guessed this would mean that Shadow wouldn’t be her secret pony any more.
Matty saw Clare’s face. “Now we’re friends you can come and help me look after him. Maybe you can ride him sometimes too,” she said.
Clare stared at her in astonishment. “You mean it?”
“Of course!” Matty said. “It will be loads more fun if there are two of us.”
“So we’re still friends?” Clare said rather uncertainly.
Matty grinned. “Of course. After all, we were both right in a way. You were talking about Socks all the time – you just didn’t realise it! So . . . friends?”
Clare grinned back. “Best friends!”
Just then, the back door opened. “Clare!” Mrs Masters came hurrying out, looking as if she couldn’t believe her eyes. “What’s going on?” she asked, looking at Matty and Clare and the pony.
Clare and Matty started to explain. They both talked at once, but soon Mrs Masters began to understand. “So there was a real pony after all!” she said.
Clare nodded. “He just kept disappearing to get back to see Matty.”
Matty laughed. “But now Clare is going to come and help me look after him. He’ll like that, won’t you, Socks?”
Socks nuzzled at Clare’s hair. “Sure will!”
Clare stroked him. She couldn’t believe that she was going to be able to help look after him every day. It was like a dream come true.
“You’ll have to get used to calling him Socks though,” Matty said, smiling.
Clare nodded. Yes, she would have to get used to the new name. She kissed Socks on the nose. But he would always be Shadow to her.