Gigi ran her hand down the soft grey nose of the mysterious horse. She was surprised it hadn’t run away like it did last time. They had been standing in silence for several moments, and it hadn’t run off.

“Who do you belong to?” Gigi asked aloud.

The horse shook its majestic silvery mane almost as if it were shaking its head, and Gigi knew at that moment that this horse was not owned by anyone. How could it be? It was too beautiful to be owned. It was wild and free.

It was perfect.

“Do you have a name?” Gigi asked, but then realized the horse would have no way of answering even if he did. “I think I shall call you Arlo,” she said.

The horse seemed to like this. He let out a soft whiney, which Gigi took to mean his approval.

Succumbing to the emotions that had been bottled up inside of her, Gigi sat down on a mossy rock and began to tell the horse everything she wished she could tell her friends (or friend, as she only had one) but couldn’t because said friend was currently unreachable in Europe.

Arlo listened intently to everything Gigi said, or at least he didn’t run away. Gigi told Arlo all about her time at the stable and specifically about the boy she liked there who currently was hardly talking to her. She didn’t say Colton’s name because she couldn’t stand to say it at first. How had she not known he was a Dartmoor? Everyone else seemed to know.

Gigi talked to Arlo for a solid twenty-three and a half minutes. She practically poured her heart out to the majestic creature who wasn’t owned by anyone or anything. Gigi wished she could be like this horse, wild and free, without a care in the world.

“...and then it turns out that this boy is the Dartmoors’ son,” Gigi said.

Arlo snorted at this.

“Oh, I guess you must have known that too,” Gigi said. “Did everyone know this but me? Wait! Arlo, come back!”

Arlo had started to move away. Gigi called out for the horse to stop, but the horse ignored her. Either that, or he didn’t understand English. Gigi followed after Arlo, going deeper into the woods. The problem was that the horse moved faster than Gigi and was soon out of sight. Gigi kept going, hoping to catch up with the beautiful creature eventually. She knew the general direction Arlo had gone, even if she could no longer see him.

Tromping through the moonlit forest, Gigi went farther than she ever had before through the dark trees. She was so distracted by the thought of finding the horse that she didn’t realize just how far she had gone until the trees stopped and Gigi found herself staring out over a shimmering lake of tranquil water. It was the Dartmoors’ lake. Gigi recognized it from her afternoon rides. She could even see the stables from here.

A shimmer of silver caught her eye and Gigi gasped. The horse. He was standing just outside the Dartmoors’ stables. But Colton had said they didn’t own a grey-speckled horse. What was it doing here?

Determined to find out, Gigi ran down the horse trail from the lake to the stables. When she arrived at the stable doors, Arlo was nowhere to be seen.

Exhausted from her run, Gigi slumped down onto the floor of the stable she had thankfully just cleaned that afternoon. The straw was comfortable and Gigi laid back, just for a moment… just for a moment.

The next thing Gigi knew, she was fast asleep. It was tiring chasing mystical horses, after all. She was awoken what felt like only a moment later by the first light of day. Actually, it was the incandescent lights of the stable, but it was day and the lights stirred Gigi from her sleep.

At first, Gigi was confused as to where she was. This wasn’t her bed. She sniffed and then gagged on the noxious smell of the stable, and she suddenly remembered where she was.

Gigi sat bolt upright only to find that a horse was just about to step on her. Gigi screamed and backed into the corner. The next moment, Sam was at the horse's side, pulling it away from almost squashing Gigi. The horses always listened well to Sam, which was good, especially this morning.

“Sam, why is there a vagabond in the stable?” a woman asked. She stood looking down at Gigi who was still trying to recover from almost being flattened.

“That’s not a vagabond, mother. That’s Gigi,” said a familiar voice that belonged to a familiar boy. Colton stood behind the woman. He also looked surprised to find Gigi in his stables so early in the morning. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

“I just… The horse… It was so free... I followed it…But then...” Gigi felt herself starting to ramble. Her cheeks reddened, and she was painfully aware of the straw stuck in her hair. “I have to go!” she said suddenly, and she rushed out of the stable before she could ramble anymore.

That’s it, Gigi thought as she rushed back home, through the woods. That was the most embarrassing moment of my life, and I’m never going back to the Dartmoors’ ever again.