Chapter 18; It's all downhill from here!

Neither of us had any form of supplies with us and it seemed like a long walk on foot.

''Are we going to walk the whole way across the island."

Not that I was not up for it.

Aereis's skin tone is very light and blonde haired people tend to burn quickly after long exposure to sunlight.

She giggled and pointed at a waypoint. I could hear animals there. By instinct I was drawn to the waypoint.

There was a small cabin from where I heard an old man snoring loudly, a stable and an outhouse.

Aereis took me to the stable and there I saw why she was laughing: we were going to ride on ponies!

Aereis started to saddle up a gray mare for herself. It appeared to be that they knew each other well. Because the gray pony was very calm and affectionate towards her.

I snuggled the gray ladypony in order to get her to know me. After cuddling her and the other ponies in the stable.

I hurried to the outhouse to relieve myself: it was a wooden outhouse with a metal horseshoe nailed to the door.

After I was done with emptying my bladder I returned to the stable. Areis had saddled up a dark brown mare for me. She was very fluffy.

She gave me a quick glance and looked away as I approached her. Aereis came over to me and gave me an apple.

I took a bite from the apple and gave it to the pony, who instantly found interest in the unexpected treat.

I ate most of the apple myself in order to show dominance to the fluffy pony.

She had really big eyes and she was looking intently at the apple core that I still had in my hand. I sighed and gave it to her on the promise that she will be well behaved with me as her rider.

The mare happily stomped her feet as I gave her the last piece of the apple.

Aereis appeared to be impressed by my ability to befriend animals. She mounted her pony who she called Gray Girl. The pony that I will ride upon is called Elf Maiden.

I decided that I would simply call her Maisy. It was not the first time for me on an animal's back. When I was on summer camp with the scouting for disabled kids I got the chance to ride a horse.

It was a lot bigger than Maisy. And I was a lot smaller back then than I am now.

I mounted my wooly, doe-eyed ball made of hooves and fur, and grabbed the leather reins.

After a bit of wiggling and strugglesnuggling I could sit straight and the pony started to walk when I leant forward a bit.

"Why walk when you can ride?''

Aereis laughed and we set out on the Spiral Road. The Spiral Road was.. well.. exactly what it sounded like.

A road that descends downward in a spiral patern, in order to make sure that the slopes aren't too steep for transportation. I could see that we were high up when I looked around me.

It appeared to be a cresent moon shaped island with very sharp features. It looked like it was struck by an atom bomb or something of that magnitude.

Aereis gave me the Lay of the Land; we were on the highest mountain of the Island Chain. The Island that we reside on is the Dolovia Archipelago Capital Island. Which struck me as weird because the island was rather tiny.

I looked at the massive crater in the middle of the island. Areis noticed that I was getting distracted.

And was not having any of it.

''Do you feel confident for a little race, Heiro? You seem to be rather comfortable in the saddle.''

I gulped and Maisy noticed.

She started to get a bit rowdy; she was very much up to the challenge. I decided that I would give it a shot.

''Well, let's see if you can keep up, Heiro!''

She yelled as she gave her pony the spurs. They drove off with neckbreak speed. And I figured out that I forgot how to get a mount to run.

I tried bending over and whispered in her pointy ear:

''The loser will end up as the main course in the evening.''

The pony looked away, it was a very arrogant pony.

She was very cute and fluffy, with tiny ears and tiny hooves. Everything about her was so adorable.

While drowning in the softness and carressability of the pony's fur, I figured out how to get her going.

I pressed my calves into Maisy's sides, and screamed out loud:

"WHAT DID YOU SAY, AEREISTEA?! MY PONY IS FAT?!!"

Well now, Maisy is plushy, but definitely not fat. She is also very vain and absolutely not fat!

I figured that out when I discovered that neither me, nor the pony, were touching the ground:

Maisy had gone in full gallop!

I have never been in a full gallop before. We were going toward the cliff and I decided that dying because of a minor disagreement was not in the cards.

I took the reins and pulled it gently to the right and pushed my tempestuous pony in her side with my right leg. She turned around the corner without losing speed.

We were now closing the gap with Areis and Gray Girl. They must have heard us, because with a fluid motion they picked up the speed and disappeared around the corner of the mountain side.

Now that we were descending off the mountain, the road was becoming less steep and my little snuggleball was getting out of breath; this race could not be won by conventional means.

I got close to Maisy and told her my plan.

She sniffed agreeingly, which was a first for me. And instead of turning the corner we went off road!

Trusting in the abilities and knowledge of my warmblooded transport we slid down the slope. I held the reins as tightly as I could, making sure that I would not pull on them.

Maisy found some even footing and dashed through the undergrowth.

I stayed as low as I could, we were going over a forest path that had not been used for a long time. Keeping my head down and my eyes closed, I could feel the branches pass though my curly hair.

Maisy was breathing loudly through her nose, but she did not let up.

Looking at the forest floor zipping by in front of my face, I noticed that the ground was not as green anymore and the branches were a lot higher from the ground.

We were on the right path at the base of the mountain.