Girls and Bridle Ch. 05

"Hahaha! You are amazingly fast! Alright, we arrived. Slow down. It's the tent over there."

"What are we doing?"

"You'll see."

The runner lady entered the tent and immediately called someone who was about to walk away... an unexpected someone.

"Hey! Stardust! Wait! Wait! Just a minute!"

"Cassy? What's going on? Who's your little friend?"

"I was told she is your number one fan. I don't know her name, but she really wanted to meet you."

When she understood what was happening, the young girl's heart skipped a beat. In front of her, walking out of the shade and fully dressed up in her racing pony attire, was her idol, Stardust.

Her hooves made her look twice as tall as she had imagined, and her shiny jet black latex suit matched her long black hair that fell over her shoulder. Her leather harness was tight, and her bridle intimidating. She had no bit for the occasion, but her signature leather mask over her eyes left no doubt about her identity. Tremendous power and charisma emanated from her.

The champion athlete crouched in front of the young girl and placed her two hands on her arms before sliding them down to her wrists, sending a child down her visitor's spine.

"Hey, how are you doing? I'm Stardust."

"..."

"The cat got your tongue?"

Cassy giggled, used to see young girls rendered speechless by Stardust's menacing look. She had become an expert at defusing those situations.

"Stardust, you wouldn't believe how fast this girl is... She kept up with me while I was sprinting."

"Oh, really? Do you want to become a racing pony?"

"... Yes..."

"Good... Do you have a ponygirl name yet?"

"... I don't."

"Alright, so, I'll give you one. If you like it, you can keep it. It was the name of one of my best friends. She was blonde like you, and she was also very very fast. I'll call you Hemlock. You will be fearless and resilient. You'll never give up, no matter what. Do you like it?"

"... Yes!"

"Good. You must tell everybody that it's your name now! You will become famous! Cassy, give me a picture and a pen, please."

Knowing the drill, Cassy already had gathered what Stardust needed and handed it over to her.

"Here is a little gift for you so that you can show all your friends."

"Thank you, Stardust!"

"You are welcome, Hemlock. I have to go now, but give me a big hug before I leave."

"Eep!"

After the firm embrace, Stardust stood up and dropped a few more words.

"Hemlock, we will meet again! I promise!"

***

Hemlock unpinned the picture from the wall and read the faded message from Stardust.

"Never give up. Always take care of your friends. Those are the only things that will make you a true champion. Stardust!"

"Never give up..."

While gazing at her most precious treasure and repeating Stardust's words over and over, she remembered something else. On that day, her father had not managed to arrange this meeting by chance. He had insisted on talking to a member of Stardust's crew. At the time, Stardust had a foundation to help sick kids, and her father had committed to donate a thousand dollars to it in exchange for providing his daughter with an opportunity to meet Stardust.

"That's it... Fans are ready to spend money to meet... me!"

She pinned the picture back to the wall and ran to the kitchen to pull out a paper map from the drawer and unfolded it on the table. Paul's stable was pretty much in the middle of nowhere, and Hemlock didn't know how to drive. She could run, but she had limited time to set her plan into motion.

"This small village isn't too far. I'm sure I can make it if I cut across the land. It's scorching outside, though."

Hemlock bolted out of the house and ran to the barn. She flew past Nightshade's stall and entered hers...

"Sorry, Night, I have to do something to fix this mess. I don't have time to explain."

She quickly put her pony boots on and laced them tightly around her feet and ankles. A few minutes later, she stood up and jogged in place to make sure they were correctly attached to her feet. Not used to putting them on herself, it felt much better when Brittany was the one doing it for her.

"Mmph!"

"I'm going to the nearest village. I need some money, but Paul didn't want to give me any. I'll be back as soon as I can."

Nightshade watched Hemlock run out of the barn, leaving her puzzled inside her stall. The main question she was asking herself was, "Money? Ponies didn't use money!?" She had never seen Hemlock behaving so erratically before. In all cases, confined like this, she could do nothing about anything, so she just decided to place her faith in her girlfriend instead.

***

"Sorry about that, Morning Star... We are just not used to having such famous people around here."

"It's okay. I'm used to it."

"You still have some lipstick there... They really liked you."

Ivory apologized profusely to Morning Star while Moonlight used her long sleeve to wipe a red mark from her neck.

"They will be gone for most of the day for carriage training, so don't worry. We will be able to focus on your training now."

"Carriage training?"

"Yes, we are regularly hired for weddings and formal events. We have to pull all kinds of vehicles ranging from small carts to large carriages with multiple passengers... It's so fun. People love it so much."

Moonlight cocked her head to the side, a bit confused... How could those weak little ponies pull anything bigger than a cart? Her ignorance of the pony world was showing in her face.

"Moonlight? Are you okay?"

"Well... Yes, sorry, Ivory. I was just wondering... I mean... you are small... and..."

"Oh, yes. You racers are much bigger than us. Look at those legs."

Of course, Ivory took the opportunity to walk up to Morning Star, just to touch her a bit more.

"So, you are wondering how we can pull those big things, right?"

"Yes..."

"Teamwork! And that's why you are here, actually. Sophie said that you never pulled anything together, so she asked for my help to show you the ropes."

"Well, we do pull carts already. How is this any different? Two runners pulling one cart will be even easier."

Moonlight was polite, but her questions could easily be interpreted as impatience, so it made Ivory a bit uneasy.

"Look, I know I'm just a small show pony, but I'm also a trainer. I just don't do discipline and stuff like that. I hear it is less common in the racing pony world, but it's common enough for the show ponies. Just let me get you started, okay? It will all make sense very soon. Sophie had a reason to bring you here."

"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to argue. So, what are we doing?"

"Well, first, I want to see your style. Since it's beautiful today, we will work in the outside paddock. Follow me."

The three girls headed to a side door leading outside. Morning Star and Moonlight picked at each other using low voice; they looked quite funny wearing those thigh-high boots. Morning Star had nice black ones, but Moonlight could only fit a pair of pink ones, which was rather embarrassing.

"There, Moonlight, you go first. Give me one lap, and it will give me an idea of how you run."

"Okay!"

There was no need to ask her twice. Moonlight was more than happy to get her legs moving. She initiated an effortless sprint, showing off her unlimited power. But immediately, Ivory arm-waved and started screaming!

"Heeey! Cooome back! That's not how I want you to do it! Come baaack!"

"What? Why?"

Moonlight aborted her run and walked back to Ivory.

"What did I do?"

"Nothing, we are just not here to sprint... just a slow trot will do. Try again."

"... Okay."

This time, Moonlight just trotted lightly, in an under challenging way. To her, this wouldn't even qualify as a warm-up session. As she slowly progressed around the paddock, Ivory observed her and took some mental notes, and also let out a surprised noise.

"Oh! I see. Okay, your turn Morning Star!"

"Sure..."

Once more, Ivory analyzed the second runner's gait while Moonlight came back from her turtle-slow lap, inquiring about her performance.

"So, how was I?"

"She is so amazing..."

"Ivory! How was my run?"

"Oh... It was okay, I suppose..."

"You suppose?"

"Well, I didn't expect any of you two to be as gracious as trained show ponies, but you were very heavy... Morning Star is floating around in comparison."

"... Very heavy?"

"Okay, Morning Star, come back!"

Moonlight had the same expression on her face as Morning Star, who was walking back, and it was saying, "what are we doing here?" But before they had an opportunity to voice their opinion, Ivory presented them with the next weird exercise.

"Good, now hold each other's hand and do another lap at the same pace."

"..."

"..."

Ivory frowned at the lack of enthusiasm from the two racing ponies. She grabbed their wrists and forced their hands together.

"I thought you two were friends. Come on! Trot now! Don't be childish."

Moonlight didn't like being called childish, so she initiated the trot, not even asking Morning Star if was ready, which made her jerk sideways uncomfortably.

"Heeey, Moon! Relax! You almost dislocated my shoulder."

"Well, you just had to be ready!"

"Ah yeah? Are you ready for this, then?"

Morning Star easily bounced ahead of Moonlight; it was her turn to be in the lead and tug the young pony awkwardly. Ivory, watching this scene of horror, placed her two hands on her head and yelled at them with her little voice.

"Guuuys! What are you doiiing? Stooop! That's not the exercise! This is not a competition!"

It turned out that Morning Star won the lap by a nose length because she pulled on Moonlight's arm in a way to make her lose balance just at the right moment, which made her land face first in the dirt. Morning Star, victorious, lifted her arms in the air.

"I won! Ah!"

"Let's do this again! This time you'll see!"

"Guys! It was not supposed to be a race! Haven't you ever worked together before?"

"Uh? No, but I won."

"I didn't win only because of those weird pink boots."

"Oh, my... Okay, come back here. We will try something else."

It must have been the first time that poor Ivory faced two students who had no interest in show ponies. They had no teamwork basis at all and turned everything into a competition.

"Okay, this time, you will be arm in arm, and you'll TROT. It's not a race, so stop running like maniacs. The goal is to learn to work together. I want you to trot around the paddock and stay side by side as much as possible."

"..."

"..."

"Ah, come on. Not again!"

Ivory walked to Moonlight and grabbed her wrist. She led her to Morning Star, who was still not sure about all of this.

"There, Moonlight. You'll be the outside runner and Morning Star the inside one. Come on, arm in arm... And if you turn this into a competition this time, I'll tell Sophie!"

"She is not here..."

"Come on, trot now! Don't make my life more difficult than it is."

For a ponygirl who claimed not to be a bossy trainer, she had a way to say things to show her irritation. Her two little hands pushed the two tall ponygirls' back.

"Go!"

Moon and Star started trotting, but it only took a second before they began whining at each other.

"Stop yanking!"

"I'm not! You are!"

"You are kicking me with your hoof."

"Well, if you were running straight, it wouldn't happen."

Ivory returned her hands on top of her bleached hair, shaking her head in disbelief. The regrets of accepting this job for her friend Sophie started to grow. Maybe it had not been her wisest decision to try to help with this.

The thing with Sophie was that she had an authority position. She would have never allowed this kind of tug of war between her two ponies and would have quickly resolved the matter either with direct words or her riding crop. Ivory had no such tools that she could use to coerce them to listen.

She frowned her white brows and called them back. She would need to use a different approach.

"Okay, that's enough, come back!"

"Let my arm go! Ivory said to come back!"

"Don't tell me what to do! You are the one holding me!"

When the two ponies finally approached, pushing each other, Ivory interposed her small body between the two frustrated ponies and separated them.

"Okay, that's enough! This is ridiculous. Moonlight, go sit over there for now."

"What? She was the one making this impossible, and I'm the one getting punished?"

"You are not punished. I can only work with one of you at a time. I need to make you experience something that, clearly, you have never learned, and I would go as far as saying that you don't even know existed. Go sit. I'll start with Morning Star, and then I'll do the same exercise with you. I promise."

"Mmm! Whatever."

Reluctantly, Moonlight went to sit on top of the wooden fence and just stayed silent while Ivory, who slid an arm around Morning Star's elbow, explained what they were going to do next. However, that instruction set was undoubtedly the shortest one ever.

"Just run..."

"What?"

"Just run the way you want... Don't worry about me. Just don't sprint. I can't go as fast as you, but for the rest, I don't care. Just run. It's up to you. Choose the pace and style."

"O... Okay..."

Morning Star felt very strange having this little white ponygirl holding on to her arm. Ivory looked much more fragile than Moonlight, so she didn't want to do anything that could potentially hurt her. A light trot would probably be a good start.

The elite pony got her hooves moving, slowly, and Ivory started to giggle almost immediately.

"What's funny?"

"Hehe. Nothing. It's silly... I just didn't think I would ever get to do this children's exercise with the best pony in the world."

"That was before my accident. Who knows what I'll be able to accomplish now..."

"I'm sure you'll be fine, and you'll win everything again! Go a bit faster if you want. Change your speed as you like. Let's do a couple of laps together."

Picking up the pace, Morning Star was wondering if Ivory was just doing this to spend intimate time with her. The white show pony was a big fan of her, and running arm in arm like this was probably a nice fantasy fulfilled.

But then, she realized something odd. There was no pulling, tugging, pushing around her arm. She looked at Ivory, who was just there, all relaxed, matching her gait perfectly as if it was an innate thing to do. On top of that, she continued chatting as if there were nothing special going on.

"So, do you really think you can win the Triple Crown? It's very different from what you are used to."

"I... I think I can win everything I want to win, or else I would not be a good racing pony. With Sophie, I feel I can do anything! But... How... How are you doing this? How can you follow me so perfectly?"

"Just run, Morning Star, and don't worry about me. Just go as fast as you feel like going."

A bit mesmerized by what was happening, Morning Star brusquely accelerated as if to test something. She attempted to throw Ivory off-balance, but it didn't work at all. The little white pony was still clinging to her arm, and it felt as if she wasn't running at all.

"So, how fast is this compared to your top speed?"

"I'm not sure... Fifty percent, maybe?"

"What? Really? How can you go that fast? You are so amazing! I'm so jealous."

"Ivory ... How are you doing this?"

"Shhh... Let's just do two more laps, as I said, keep changing your speed as you want."

The small pony leaned her head on Morning Star's shoulder, enjoying the moment tremendously. This exercise was for learning, but to get to do this with her heroine was surely going to make her show pony friends dead jealous.

Morning star alternated from a walk to trot to gallop, and there was nothing she could do to shake off the alabaster-colored creature at her side. After their last lap, they stopped not far from where Moonlight was sitting. Ivory was all smiles and asked for feedback, visibly happy to have finally managed to demonstrate what teamwork was all about.

"So? How did it feel?"

"Incredible... You matched everything I did so perfectly."

"Good. Go sit and tell Moonlight to come here."

"Sure..."

Still baffled by what had happened, Morning Star went to fetch her racing friend, who was staring back at her in disbelief.

"What was that about? Are you a couple or what?"

"Hehe. It's your turn, Moon. Did we look good?"

"You looked like you two did this all your life. Are you sure you didn't know her before coming here?"

"I swear... I knew her name because she is Sophie's friend, but I've never met her before. She did all the work... Go try, you'll see. It's nuts."

"I don't think it's gonna go that well for me..."

***

After jogging for the past hour through the arid barren land to save time, Hemlock finally arrived at the nearest village. It was such a warm day; she was panting heavily, trying to get more air inside her exerted lungs. None of the few people that had crossed her path so far had recognized her, so she started wondering if she should have put her suit and harness on before leaving the stable to be more recognizable. It certainly would have been the nail in the coffin if Brittany had found out; no, not to touch that harness without permission again was the right thing to do.

Her cheap sweat-drenched t-shirt and shorts didn't make her look too attractive, but surely some people would recognize her and give her money in exchange for a picture or a signature; that was the goal of this stunt. She entered the small village, and there were not a lot of people outside. The extreme heat forced people to stay inside their homes today.

There was a little fountain in the middle of the place, so Hemlock trotted to it; her thirst couldn't really wait anymore. She cupped some cool water with her hands and splashed her boiling face with it. After drinking enough to quench her thirst and repeating the face-splashing a few more times, she sat on the fountain's ledge to assess her situation.

"What now? Brittany would know what to do to attract a crowd. Why are they not recognizing me? The last time we did this with Nightshade, we got swarmed by a huge crowd of fans. This place is much smaller, but still. Don't they watch ponygirl races?"

This was not the same, indeed. People were sparsely walking around her, sometimes looking at her out of curiosity, but nobody noticeably reacted to her presence. After fifteen minutes of nothing, she decided to be a bit more forthcoming and went to talk to people around the village. Perhaps if she explained who she was, it would trigger the expected mass hysteria. News traveled fast in small towns after all.

She walked around in search of potential fans. Four men were drinking at a table in front of a tavern, so she chose them as her first target.

"Hello!"

"Yes?"

"I'm Hemlock."

"I'm John, nice meeting you. You are all sweaty. Do you need a drink?"

"..."

They just stared at her, waiting for her next move. She didn't think of hitting a dead end so quickly. They had no idea who she was; at least it didn't look like it.

"I'm... a famous ponygirl."

Self-promotion was not Hemlock's strong point.

"... okay? Yes, the horseshoes gave, you know. Can we help you with something?"

"I... I need a hundred dollars."

"Well, there is a bank over there... It's the second street on your right."

"... T... Thank you."

She turned around in shame and looked at the ground while walking away. Why did asking for money feel so awkward? Paul and Brittany did it all the time, and they didn't seem to feel bad about it; it even made them happy. Why did she feel like shit while doing the same?

A bit farther, Hemlock spotted a small group of women chit-chatting in the street while trying hats from a stand in front of a store. She walked up to them with her best smile.