Shara started walking quickly towards the fence. She felt terrible.

"Who said you could come snooping around while we were out?" demanded Mr. Clegg.

Shara was too far away to answer so she walked faster and climbed through the wires. Mr. Clegg came up to her, red in the face, with a mop of his greasy black hair hanging over his face.

"This is private property!" he said, "If you want to look at the ponies, you either see me first, or make an appointment!"

"Yes sir," said Shara meekly. She was trembling slightly.

"What were you doing in that paddock anyway?"

"Just patting them, that's all."

Mr. Clegg seemed to cool down. He took Shara by the shoulder and pushed her towards her bike.

"You get on home now," he said, "You're welcome to come when I'm here, but not when I'm away. Understand?"

"Yes sir."

Shara got on her bicycle and pedaled away. She was still shaking when she was half way home, but it wasn't so much Mr. Clegg who had frightened her, as the thing she had seen. The beautiful tan pony which she had thought was Zeras, had a mark on its nose. Shara knew there was only one pony with that mark, but it was a brown pony. She didn't understand how it was possible, but she knew she had found Linda's pony.



Tangle

---

There was one big problem with what Shara had found out. Would anyone believe her? She thought about it as she came down the last stretch of road and saw her house in the distance. She had never told a lie, not a big one anyway. When she was younger she'd told some whoppers, but she was eight now. She couldn't get away with it at eight.

She decided the best person to tell was the policeman, Peter. He would know what to do.

"Have a good ride?" asked Mum as Shara came into the house.

"Yeah great!"