This work is copyright 2000-2004 by Xaltatun of Acheron (A Pseudonym). It may be posted on the Internet to any free forum. It may be reformatted to match the forum's look and feel, and the forum editor may make minor spelling and grammer corrections. Otherwise it must be posted in its entirety, including these notices. It may not be sold, or included in any compilation that is sold, or posted on any forum that requires a fee for access, without my written permission. My permission will require payment, terms to be negotiated. For purposes of this notice, sites guarded by Adult Check or similar packages are considered pay sites. Posting on any site must include this copyright notice.
Adult Content Warning - this story contains adult themes, including non-consensual bondage/slavery and forced sexual acts. If you are under the lawful age for such materials (18 in most jurisdictions) or if you would find such material offensive, please go elsewhere.
Safety Warning. This story may contain descriptions of practices that are decidedly unsafe, either in general, or if performed by someone without adequate training. There are a number of good books available on safety in the BDSM scene. Most large cities, and some not so large ones, have organized BDSM groups that will usually welcome a newcomer. I'm not going to point out which practices are safe, and which aren't. Any practice is unsafe if performed by someone with inadequate training and experience, or if performed when not paying attention. Please think before you act. Don't make yourself a candidate for a Darwin award.
There are fifteen stories in the series entitled “Ponygirl Transformation.” At this point, I have no intention of writing additional stories in this series, although I thought that before Engineer burst on the scene. The stories are listed in order of the series timeline, although there are a few overlaps and several continuing characters. The first three set necessary background, the next three cover one formative event from three different viewpoints.
1. Ponygirl Finds Her Place
2. Kinder and Gentler
3. The Sorceress’ Apprentice
4. Raw Material
5. Ponygirl by Choice
6. The Politics of Ponygirls
7. Ponygirls on Vacation
8. Bluebird Grows Up
9. Unregistered Ponygirls
10. Kidnapper
11. Suzie’s Ponygirl
12. Driver
13. Engineer (in preparation)
14. PonyGIRL?
15. Segue to Freehold (in preparation)
Acknowledgements. The setting and several of the characters are taken from a series of books by Sir Thomas (A pseudonym). “Adventures on the Hoof” and “Ponygirls, Inc” are both copyright by the Academy Club. Used by permission of Sir Thomas. These works are commercially available, and should not be on any web site on the internet, except for a short excerpt on Sir Jeff’s ponygirl web site.
Some of the characters and settings have been changed, either due to the different legal environment in the United States, my partially successful attempt to make the setting more consistent, and in one case a simple error of memory that got woven into the plot too deeply to back out by the time I discovered it.
In no case should you infer anything about the prior stories from this one. Sir Thomas has substantially different objectives for his stories.
There are a number of hidden references throughout to obscure (and some not so obscure) science fiction and fantasy stories. This is a game that some authors play. Should you care to look, have fun finding them.
Now on to the story...
Chapter 1. What do you do with a Genius?
Chapter 2. First Trip Outside.
Chapter 3. First Training Episode.
Chapter 4. Loose Lips and all that.
Chapter 5. Susi becomes a ponygirl.
Chapter 7. Leslie and Linnet Meet Team 146.
Chapter 8. Linnet Learns Her New Duties.
Chapter 9. Diana Meets her Ponygirl.
Chapter 10. Excessive Enthusiasm Gets Its Just Rewards.
Chapter 11. The Best Plans are Laid.
Chapter 12. College Interviews.
Chapter 13. Larry and Linnet Meet a BDSM Society.
Chapter 14. How did a String of Sex Workers get into Here?
Chapter 15. Amanda and Connie face a hard choice.
Chapter 16. Official interest.
Chapter 17. Amanda and Connie start training.
Chapter 18. A Ride in the Forest.
Chapter 19. Alice tries to salvage Connie.
Chapter 20. Mistress Melanie’s Stable.
Chapter 21. Space Aliens? Huh, What?
Chapter 23. Amanda starts improvising.
Chapter 25. Linnet Closes a Chapter.
Chapter 26. Boris Badinov and the Space Aliens.
Chapter 28. Recruiting an Academic.
Chapter 29. Linnet Gets Her Reward.
Chapter 30. Amanda’s Ponygirl Stable
Chapter 31. Connie flames out.
Epilog. Another Ride in the Forest.
In the first new Arizona Community story from my pen in over three years, Larry Thompson is assigned to go out to Engineering school. We discover in short order that one of the soon to graduate ponygirls, Linnet, has the same psi powers as Alice, so she’s assigned to Larry, and Larry has to learn how to care for a ponygirl, in addition to his already heavy study load preparing for engineering school. He starts training with Raindance, and then his older sister, Suzi, puts her foot into it. We get to see Suzi “volunteer” to start her two years as a community trainee ponygirl, and then see Larry put a new ponygirl through orientation. Time passes, and Linnet finishes the second part of her training, and is ready to be sold – or so she thinks.
“The last time I was at one of these things,” Laura told her son, “was a decade ago. We were buying a girl for the block association.”
“I think I remember her,” Larry said. “Plumpish little community trainee, what was her name? I was small enough to ride her then!”
“You had fun, too. I remember you waving your cowboy hat and yelling something.”
“Hi-yo Silver, I think. But that wasn’t her name.”
“I don’t think so,” his mother said. “We could look it up, but why bother? They come and go, and it’s best not to remember someone by what they were like as a ponygirl.”
“That’s true,” her son laughed. “You’ve never said anything about your time as one, have you?”
“And I’m not going to, either,” she said in a tone that closed the discussion.
There were forty ponygirls lined up in the display hall, in four rows of ten. Thirty-two of them sported the white tack of community trainees; the other eight were tacked up in various colors, with black being predominant. Of the trainees, though, four of them wore black boots.
Larry looked at the list in the auction folder, studying the codes. “I thought there were only twenty four at auction, why are there forty?” he asked his mother.
“The rest are the community trainees that are finishing up. There’s usually one or two that decides to stay a ponygirl, so they just assign them all lot numbers.”
“I see. So that’s one to sixteen, and then these start at seventeen. “Which one’s Diana I wonder?”
“She is coming out this time, isn’t she?” Laura looked at the list closely. “I think I remember her owner naming her Darling’s Choice.”
“So she’s lot 8. Should we go over and look at her?”
“I wouldn’t,” Laura said seriously. “Community trainees should stay away from their families.”
”Kind of makes sense. What are the gold stars?” he muttered. “Oh, right. Those are the pick of the herd lottery winners.”
“Also your girl.”
They walked up to a petite redhead that was prominently displayed in the center of the row. “This one’s choice,” Laura said. “She reminds me a bit of what I was like back then.” The redheaded ponygirl knelt on her stand, head laying back on its rest. Her eyes shifted back and forth between the mother and son that towered over her.
Larry reached out and touched the five sided fastening in the center of her forehead, just above the line of her eyebrows. Then he traced a finger down to the tip of her upthrust nose, watching her eyes trying to follow the finger. He gave her nose a slight flick; she responded with a muffled snort from around her red ball gag.
“So, what do the stats look like?” he asked.
“Pretty good for a trainee,” she answered as she read the card that dangled from the ’girl’s headrest. “Decent speed on light sulky, good form in fixed positions, adequate on cart if you pay attention, strong as an ox, and might be a bit smarter.”
“She’s not that bad, mom,” her son said. “I remember her from classes. She tends to confuse easily, that’s all. Once she manages to figure it out, she’s ok.”
“That’s not good, either. You see the four ’girls in black boots?”
“Yes,” he said in a puzzled tone. “What about them?”
“They didn’t pass their two years, so they’re up for another two with a different owner.”
“Then if they flunk again?”
“They stay ponygirls.” Laura shrugged. “It’s not a bad deal for the dumb ones; they’d probably wind up moping floors and cleaning apartments anyway. If the troublemakers can’t learn better in four years, we’re better off without them.”
“What about heavy sulky?”
“It’s not listed. It usually isn’t for community trainees; they don’t really have the time to get good.” She walked back a couple of steps and looked at the ’girl. “She might be good on it at that.”
Larry shrugged. “That begging puppy pose gets me every time,” he confessed.
“It does me, too. I milked it for all it was worth.”
“Oh?”
“You can still manage quite a bit of expression with a big red ball stuck in your mouth,” she chuckled.
“This one’s certainly managing it,” Larry laughed. The ’girl in question knelt in front of them. Her main garment was a corset that came up just under her breasts, holding them up and giving them a bit of definition. It came down to the curve of her hips, stopping just above her pubic hair. From there on down, she was almost completely nude, the expanse of flesh being broken by a small red ball on the end of a dildo that was fastened inside her in a way that wouldn’t come out.
Her legs came out straight behind her, ending in mid calf length white boots that held her feet nearly in full extension. The boots ended in a simulated horse’s hoof, shod with hard rubber horseshoes. A short chain connected a small ring on the inside of each ankle to the back of the stand, giving her about an inch of room to move her legs.
She had shoulder length gloves on her arms, which were folded up to her shoulders, with her hands projecting out at right angles. A ring on the inside of her elbows held them immovably against her corset, another ring kept her hands at shoulder height.
Her hips tilted out at a saucy angle that was set by a small hook which came out of the pole and inserted into a butt plug. The plug itself wasn’t visible from this angle. It had a curved metal rod that angled out and fit between her ass cheeks, ending just before her tail.
Her tail drooped down behind her and lay on the floor of the stand, curling a couple of times around the pole. The top of the tail had long, red hair which matched her head, and fell just about to her knees. The rest of the tail, though, looked more like a cat’s tail, with short red fur. Occasionally, you could see the tip twitch.
Her collar was a large part of the reason why she held her head back. It was higher in front than in back, and the top was deliberately roughened to force the ponygirl to hold her posture. The headrest let her relax her neck muscles, and not incidentally let her long red hair fall free nearly to her waist in a crimson tide.
The other function of the headrest was more subtle. It combined with a precisely measured pole length to force the ’girl to arch her spine, thrusting her breasts out.
“Should we bid on her?” Larry asked.
“Why not?” his mother said. “It’s not like she’s falling over her horseshoes.” Larry took the bid sheet that hung from the other side of the headrest, and scribbled his name, with an X after it to indicate that they weren’t actually bidding.
They moved on to look at several other ’girls. He put a fake bid in for two of them. Finally, they came to a brunette outfitted in black tack. As they walked up, a plump matron was frowning at the stat sheet, and talking to her companion. “Sweet and patient is exactly what we want.”
“But she teleports!” her companion objected. “We don’t want another Alice!”
“Would you describe Alice as sweet and patient?”
“Only when she gets her own way.”
“So, there.”
“Well, bid. I can always hope we’re outbid.” The matron wrote her name on the bid sheet, and they walked away, frowning.
“Hi, Linnet,” Larry said, as he drew his finger down her nose. She gave a muffled squeal, and wrapped her tail around his leg for a moment.
“You know her?” the matron turned and asked.
“I was out with her on her first day off,” he answered. “She really is sweet. I think she’d be ideal for children.”
“That’s what I thought.”
“Let’s keep looking,” the matron’s companion said, pulling on her arm.
Larry wrote his name on the bid sheet.
The two of them drifted further around the room, looking more at the outsiders than at the community trainees, until Larry stopped at one of the black booted trainees and frowned.
“There’s something wrong here,” he told his mother quietly.
“What?”
“She’s just not that bad,” he said.
“Oh?”
“Look, mom, I know all of the trainees. Mostly not very well, but they’re only a couple of years older than I am.”
“What’s bugging you?”
“You said that the ones with black boots were all either stupid or troublemakers. She’s never been a brain, but she isn’t stupid, and she’s never made trouble that I know of.”
“Let’s look.” Laura picked up the stat sheet and frowned at it. “Sullen Spring? That’s a horrible name.” She turned it over and frowned again. “Where’s the original stat sheet?” she muttered to herself. She walked over to one of the other black booted trainees and took a quick look at the stat sheet.
“Who’s running this show?” she asked in a loud voice.
“Here, ma’am,” a man signaled from the other side of the room.
“Where’s the original stat sheet on this one?” she asked him.
“It isn’t there?” he asked, walking over and looking. “You’re right, it isn’t.” He punched in a few numbers and had a low voiced conversation. “Here,” he handed Laura the phone. She listened and asked a few questions while she looked at the stat sheet.
“I see,” she said, frost gathering around her voice as she handed the phone back.
“There’s something really rancid,” she told her son in a low voice. “Her training stats showed she’s simply not a runner; she’s much better at set positions and routines. She was also OK on cart work, including fancy steps. Only an idiot would have tried to race her.”
“Dressage and cart? I know dad likes the show stuff. And Diana’s coming out this time.”
Laura nodded thoughtfully at Larry’s comment. “She’ll have a couple of months to settle before trainer’s class, and having her own ponygirl to practice on won’t hurt at all. Edie’s about at the right age, too. I hadn’t really intended to get a community trainee for another couple of years, but with Susi gone and Diana back, it should be workable.”
“There’s a limit on how many we’re allowed to contribute,” she told her son. “You’re father’s one promotion away from the Executive block, and I’m two, and with Diana’s points we’ve definitely got enough left for a trainee. A real cheap trainee. I didn’t want to get one while Susi was still around.”
“That I can understand.”
“You’ll have to work it out with Diana, though,” his mother told him. “I don’t have the time to mediate.”
“We’ve always gotten on well.”
“Thankfully true.”
Laura picked up the bid sheet and studied it, and then she signed her name and entered a minimum bid.
An hour later, Larry sat with his mother and father in the small auditorium that was usually used for dressage shows. The auctioneer walked up to the front of the stage, twenty-six ponygirls arrayed on their stands behind him.
“It’s my pleasure,” he boomed, “to be offering these prime ponygirls to such discerning buyers as yourselves.”
He paused. “Oops! Wrong speech!”
“He always does that,” Laura whispered to Larry.
“Today, we want to congratulate sixteen of our young women on the successful completion of their time as community trainees! First up, we have Dazzling Sunshine!” An attendant pushed a ponygirl stand with a copper-haired ponygirl to the center of the stage.
“She certainly lived up to her name! She’s turned in a dazzling performance on light sulky! If that wasn’t enough, she’s already one of the best on position and movement. And she’s not at all bad on heavy sulky, either! I know Eric and Toni would love to keep her! Do you want to go for it?”
She answered with a rapid triple thump of her left hoof boot.
“Somehow, I didn’t think so,” he shrugged. “So congratulations on finishing your ponygirl experience!”
The attendant unlatched her bridle from the rest and slid the bolt out. Then he unclipped the ass plug, and unfastened the ankle chains. Dazzling Sunshine slid up the pole like a cork out of a bottle, took three steps forward and dropped to one knee. Then she blushed furiously as the audience laughed. She got up and let the attendant remove her gloves, and then she ducked behind a screen.
A couple of minutes later, she came out, properly dressed in a black leather miniskirt and white blouse. It was rather obvious that she hadn’t taken the time to remove the bustier.
“So, let’s welcome Sonia back from her experience,” the announcer said, to a round of applause as a man and a woman came up to the front. Sonia jumped down from the stage, landing neatly on her 5 inch pumps, and hugged both of her parents. They walked back to their seats as the attendant cleared the empty stand out of the way and rolled another stand to the front.
“Next, we have Busy Bee!”
Frank, Laura and Larry watched as several more community trainees finished their transformation from ponygirl back to young woman.
“Next, we’ve got Darling’s Choice,” he boomed as the attendant wheeled a chestnut to the fore. “And she’s certainly choice! I haven’t seen a better performance on the random mazes in a long time, and she’s one of the few that took right to steeplechase. It takes an utterly amazing sense of balance to do those jumps with a rider! She’s not much of a runner, but give her time. The curve shows she’s still improving. Do you want to go for it?”
Darling’s Choice tapped three times with her hoof.
“Well, I don’t seem to be doing very well convincing them to stay ponygirls,” he said in a stage whisper. The attendant released her, and she dashed behind the screen to change.
A moment later, she walked out. “Let’s welcome Diana back among us,” he said as Frank, Laura and Larry came to the front. She jumped off the stage, mane and tail flying, landing on her feet with a small bounce, and hugged her family.
“Glad that’s over?” Laura asked her daughter.
“You bet!” Diana answered. “Now where’s my present?” She giggled.
“You’re keeping your tail?” Larry asked as they walked out of the auditorium.
“Yes,” Diana replied. “I wish I could keep my mane too!”
“Oh?” Frank asked his daughter.
“I almost decided to stay as a ponygirl,” she said, suddenly serious. “I’m going to try to stay in competition for the steeplechase and also position and movement.”
“I didn’t see position and movement on your card,” Laura mentioned.
“
“Why?” Frank asked, puzzled.
“To tell the truth, I didn’t want to deal with Suzi again, and there wasn’t anything else that I really want to do. Don’t tell me she actually decided to become a community trainee?”
“She had a bit of an inducement,” Laura said dryly. “She went way past the line, and Larry got some prod practice.”
“It definitely surprised a lot of people,” Larry added.
They walked back down the lines of ponygirls that still knelt on their display stands, waiting for the auction. “What do you think of her?” Laura asked her daughter as they stood in front of Sullen Spring.
Diana picked up the card and looked at it. “Why’s she held over?” she asked. “This card can’t be right.”
“That’s what we thought,” Larry said. “We were thinking of getting her as a coming out present for you. She should go cheap.”
“Edie’s about the right age too, isn’t she?” Diana answered, shaking her head. “I really would like one of my own.” She frowned in sudden suspicion. “You didn’t mention that you wanted one too,” she shot at her brother.
“Well, there’s a bit of a surprise there. I’m getting one of my own.”
“What?” Diana exclaimed, turning on her parents. “Should I be congratulating you on your promotions?”
“Don’t I wish!” Frank said. “There’s a story behind it, and you’ll hear it over lunch. Just don’t be surprised at anything.”
An hour later, the four of them had taken their seats in the auditorium, looking at the ponygirls lined up on the stage.
He suddenly looked puzzled. “Right speech this time, folks!”
“Oh, get on with it,” a heckler called from the audience. “I want to get out of here today!”
“Lot Ten! This community trainee decided she liked being a ponygirl so much that she decided to go full time! She’s one amazing runner, and not all that bad on cart.”
“You mean she doesn’t trip over her own hooves!” the heckler shouted back. “Send her to transportation where she belongs.”
“What am I bid,” the auctioneer bellowed. “Remember, no funny money on this one. Real cash only! Let’s start it at 25 thousand! Do I hear 25 thousand?”
“Ten,” a bored voice said from the front row.
“I hear ten thousand!” the auctioneer bellowed. “Do I hear twenty! Anyone! Do I hear fifteen? Are you going to let this ponygirl go for a paltry 10 thousand? Ten thousand once, ten thousand twice. Sold for ten thousand!”
“What are you going to use her for?” he asked in a more normal voice.
“Feed!” the heckler shouted.
“The wife needs a runabout,” he called back. “She should do.”
“Lot Twenty-Three. This wonderful chestnut is a full term indenture. She’s so good the owners must have been blind! Let’s start at 25 thousand!
“Who wants a teleporting ponygirl?” the heckler yelled.
“We do,” the matron who had looked at her earlier said. “25!”
“How you going to control her?” the heckler was making a pest out of himself.
“Control?” another man said. “Her training team says she’s so sweet you’ll have her eating out of your hand if you treat her right.” He paused. “35!”
“I hear 35!” the auctioneer said. “35! Who’ll bid 50 on this prime hoofer!”
“50!” Larry called out.
“I hear 50! Fifty once!”
The matron frowned at her bid sheet. A woman sitting next to her pointed at it and whispered. “Oh!” “65,” she called out gaily, getting into the game.
“75!” Larry responded as the ponygirl’s eyes swiveled back and forth trying to find the various bidders.
“I hear 75!” the auctioneer bellowed enthusiastically. “Who’ll make it 80!”
This time nobody spoke up.
“75 once.” He looked around again. “75 twice.” Still no response. “Come on, she’s worth at least 100!”
“75 three times! Sold to Larry Thompsen!”
An attendant came out and disconnected the brake with an economical movement of his shoe, then he wheeled the platform off to the side.
“I’ve got lot 23 and lot 32,” Larry told the attendant.
“Oh?” the man at the desk said, tapping his keyboard. “Right. Laura’s your mother. Where do you want them?”
“I’ve got spaces with training team 146.”
He tapped a few keys and consulted his monitor. “They work with the block associations. Don’t they have your association’s ponygirl?”
“Yes, that’s why I chose them.”
“Good thought. Any special orders?”
“I want lot 23 on the end where she can get in and out in girl mode without disturbing the rest of the ponies. I’ll be over there after the trainers get a chance to settle them. And of course I want them on my control box, and cell access as well.”
“Without training?” the man tapped his keys. “I see, you’re ready to apprentice with a training team. Why not in the training block, though?”
Larry shrugged. “Special circumstances. They only taught me what I need for right now. I’ll do the full course in a few years.”
“Makes sense.” He tapped a few more keys. “All done.”
“Thanks,” Larry waved and walked off, as the next new owner stepped to the front of the line.
Larry walked down the row of ponygirl cells, peripherally admiring the ’girls on their display stands as he looked for the area assigned to team 146. It wasn’t, in fact, that hard to find it; each team worked ten ponygirls, and the numbers said exactly where they were. The 100s were in the Arena complex, row 4, team 6.
All of the cells were on one side of the wide corridor. The other side was mostly wall, occupied with cabinets and hanging tack, as well as the usual signs, calendars, schedules and other stuff that accumulate around a functioning team with other things than sterile neatness on its mind. Each group of five cells was separated by a break and meeting room in the center, an equipment room on one end, and a cross corridor on the other.
He eventually came to team 146’s area. He saw they’d put Linnet in 1469, which was on the end, next to the cross corridor. These were the new style cells, narrower than the cells in the Training Block because they didn’t have the Chair in the center. They were still wide enough to accommodate the sleeping pad, the display stand and a bucking rack while leaving enough space in front of the wall of cabinets so the ponygirl could dress and undress without feeling cramped.
The other difference was the nameplate. It was about five feet off the floor, positioned in front of the cabinets so it didn’t obscure the line of sight, and had his newly issued owner’s colors on top. Then it should have had the ’girl’s name next, but that space was blank. It had the IPC registration number on the next line, with Linnet in parenthesis after it. Then his name as owner, someone named Fred as trainer, and someone else named Ceecee as senior trainer. The bottom line said: “Unrestricted Indenture,” followed by three hand scrawled exclamation marks.
“I hope you’re Larry,” a deep bass voice said from the side. “I’m Terrance, your team leader.”
“Yes, I am,” Larry answered. “Why no name on her plate?”
“We didn’t know what you wanted to call her.”
“Unless it’ll cause problems, I’d just as soon leave her as Linnet. She answers to it, and since I’m taking her with me to college next year, it’ll avoid confusion.”
“Can do,” Terrance said, taking an index card from his pocket. He scrawled something on it and stuck it on the wall. “You should already be in the system,” he added.
Larry slid the cell door open and walked in. Terrance waved at someone farther down the corridor. “Hey, Ceecee!”
Linnet knelt on her stand, head resting back, looking insufferably cute and well aware of it. Her eyes widened as Larry came into view.
“I’m your new owner,” Larry told her, and then touched her nose. “Strewth!” he said in a commanding tone.
Terrance’s eyes narrowed. This was something out of the ordinary.
“Remember our talk after your first outing?” he asked the ’girl.
Her eyes narrowed in thought, and then her right hoof tapped twice in the signal for “yes” as her eyes widened in surprise.
“Good. Get into girl mode. I’ll be back for you in a few minutes.”
Her eyes switched between the two of them in confusion.
“I want to see this,” Terrance boomed as Ceecee walked into the cell.
“See what?” she asked.
“How she gets off of that stand herself.”
Linnet’s mouth quirked around the red ball gag, and then the snap locks holding her ankles to the platform clicked and fell off. The latches that held her hands to her shoulders released next, followed by the ones that held her elbows tight to her corset. Then the latches that held her bridle to the headrest slid open, and the zippers on the shoulder length gloves slid down, letting her shake them off the rest of the way. The bolt popped out of the headrest, lazily drifting down to land neatly next to the pole. There was a pop from underneath her, and then she brought her right leg forward in the prescribed position, and came up halfway. She reached behind her and took the headrest off of the pole, and then stood the rest of the way.
“Ta-da!” Ceecee said.
Linnet grinned and flung her arms up in a victory salute.
“Why take the headrest off that way?” a shrill voice said from the vicinity of Larry’s waist.
“Too heavy for me to lift telekinetically, Kali,” she answered the lobo-ra as soon as she got the gag out of her mouth.
“Well, work on it,” the lobo-ra said. “That pause in the middle completely ruins the effect.”
“Do we want her to?” Terrance asked.
“Yes,” Larry said. “I want to concentrate on show, not running. Also plain and fancy form for one and two pony cart and carriage. If there’s time to keep her running form up to snuff, fine, but that’s on the bottom of the list, and don’t waste time on speed.
“The other thing is that we need to train together on riding.”
“I saw her back’s been strengthened. Your saddle should be here shortly.”
Meanwhile, Linnet had finished stripping off the rest of the pony bondage, and started getting dressed.
“What’s this?” she asked, holding up a gaudily decorated skirt.
Ceecee laughed. “That’s our stable colors. You’ve got a different dress code for inside the Community. You keep your tail on, and you wear the skirt with the stable colors and the blouse with your owner’s colors. Also fishnets and five inch heels. Just be thankful your feet have been adapted so five inch heels are comfy.”
Linnet shook her head. “I’d think they could at least make the colors match!”
“Those are racing colors, dear. They’re intended to be visible, not to be fashionable.”
“I’d say they managed it,” Linnet muttered as she stepped into the skirt.
“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” Larry said. “I have to settle the other pony.”
Sullen Spring was two cells down, in 1467. Larry looked at the nameplate with a frown. “I think I want to change her name.”
“Great idea!” Ceecee enthused. “Any ideas?”
“Not really. I’ve never named my things. What I’d like to do is groom her tomorrow morning and ask her. Either than or have Diana name her.”
“Diana?”
“My sister. We got this ponygirl for her. I really do want to train the two of them as a pair. Also, I want a ban on any serious competitive racing. Outside of that, it’s her and Edie’s call as to what they do with her. We may share her with the rest of the apartment block, too, at least if we can get her attitude straightened away.”
“That makes sense,” Terrance boomed. Larry slid the cell door aside and the four of them walked in. Larry stood in front of the brunette ponygirl in the white tack and black boots, and shook his head at what he saw.
“I think I’m going to break a rule,” he muttered. “Look, Leslie,” he said firmly, and watched her eyes widen. “I think you got screwed over, and both Mother and Diana seem to agree. At least, if mother ever used that tone of voice about me, I’d duck. Fast.
“I’m Larry, and my Mother’s your new owner. She’s giving you to my sisters Diana and Edie.” He saw her eyes narrow, and then widen in recognition. Her hoof tapped twice, and she whinnied.
“Your current name is stupid; I’m going to ask Diana to think up a new one. Would you like that?” She whinnied again, tapping her hoof twice.
“I thought you would.” He ruffled her hair and scratched her behind an ear. “Just to let you relax a bit, the one thing they’re not allowed to do is race you seriously, at least for a long while. You keep Diana happy, and you’ll be out and training your own ponygirls in a few years, hear?”
The ponygirl’s lips quirked around the ball in her mouth, and she tapped her hoof twice.
“Good.” He drew his finger down her nose, and flicked the tip, eliciting a whinny. “Better.” He stepped back.
He walked down to Linnet’s cell and gestured. She rose from her position with that same impossibly graceful movement he remembered from his first sight of her, slid the door open and joined him in the corridor.
“Do you remember how to get in and out of here?” he asked her.
“They had me hooded when they moved me,” she replied.
“That’s usual. You’re in 1469,” he said, pointing at the nameplate on the outside of the cell. “This is the cross-corridor.” She studied the wall for a moment, looking at the map of the arena complex.
“It’s going to take me a while to learn this.”
“You don’t need to learn it all, just how to get back here from outside.”
“Oh, right.”
“Now, where we’re headed is my family’s apartment. There are two parts of your job we haven’t discussed yet. One is that you’re going to be trained as a slave maid and housekeeper, and that starts with helping my Mother with the apartment.”
“Got it,” she said, with a certain lack of enthusiasm that brought a chuckle.
“I said
“Hum…” she said, doubtfully.
“The other part is something we’re going to have to define. You’re supposed to help me on my job, which involves a lot of the telekinesis and clairvoyance you’re so good at.”
“You’re … serious, aren’t you?” she said, flabbergasted.
“Of course. Why do you ask?”
“Because it’s something that I’ve never allowed myself to even dream about.”
“Oh?”
“I got punished as a child for making things fly around. You think the chair is bad? You don’t know what it’s like to be prayed over day and night for a week by preachers in relays without sleep or food, and with precious little water.”
“I’ll bet they didn’t like it when you knew something you shouldn’t, either.” She shuddered delicately.
“I was raised by a bunch of religious fanatics,” she said after a moment. “At least, that’s what the people who tried to rehabilitate us said after they broke in and destroyed our commune. I still don’t know what they meant by ‘religious fanatic’. All I know is, I couldn’t figure out what they wanted me to do. That is, the people that tried to ‘rehabilitate’ me.
“I wanted to be a horse almost as long as I can remember. They respected what the horses could do, and they treated them well.” She took another deep breath as they walked out of the arena complex onto the street.
“So that’s why I think this is heaven. I get to be as close to a horse as I can, I’ve got grooms to look after me, I’ve got someone to tell me what to do, and now I get to play with, what did you call it? Telekinesis and clairvoyance.”
Larry laughed. “So when you ran across someone who could turn you into a human pony, you jumped at the chance.”
She whinnied at him, laughter in the sound.
Larry walked down the corridor to his family’s apartment, one of four on this floor. He pressed the door handle, and walked in, followed by Linnet. “I think we’re first home,” he said, turning.
Linnet was looking around, nose wrinkled.
Larry raised an eyebrow. “What’s wrong?”
“Uh. Nothing.”
Larry put his hands on his hips and mock stared at her. “What’s Rule 1?”
“This place is a mess.”
“That’s Rule 1?”
“Uh. I guess it’s
“Tell me the truth as you see it. And you’re right, it’s a mess. Mother doesn’t have time to keep it the way she’d like, and while Diana can help now, she’s going to be in class full time in a couple of months.”
“Why don’t you…” she dribbled off.
“It’s a woman’s job to have kids, clean and cook,” he said in mock severity. “Seriously, that’s the attitude around here, and while she’d be grateful for a bit more help, she’s not about to accept that a mere man can do an adequate job of cleaning or cooking.”
“Same where I grew up,” Linnet agreed. “I never understood why the rehab people wanted the men to do housework.”
“Different places, different customs,” he answered.
“Where’s the cleaning supplies?”
“Hey, slow down. First I show you around, then I tell you what you do next.”
The spent the next few minutes going through the apartment. “This is huge,” Linnet said in awe. “I can see why she can’t keep up with the housework.”
Finally, they came to the last room. “This used to be Susi’s bedroom,” he said. “Now it’s my project room.” He opened the door, displaying a room that was circled by a bench with shelves on all of the walls and odd looking equipment in various places. “See what you can make of it.”
Linnet looked around, and then walked to one of the pieces of apparatus. “This kind of … itches,” she said, pointing at it but being very careful not to touch it.
He sat down and opened the box. A minute later he pulled out a quartz crystal which was capped on both ends with copper hoods and electrical connectors.
“That’s it,” she said. “What is it? I’ve never felt anything like it.”
“It’s a mechanical TK crystal,” he said. “Alice and Pretty Lemon say they can spot them a mile away, but Black Thunderbolt says she needs to concentrate before she feels it. No one else we’ve heard of feels a thing around them.” He handed it to her.
“Do you feel it?” she asked.
“I don’t really know?” he answered thoughtfully. “I might, but then I might be imagining it. Helping clarify that is something you’ll work on with me.”
“Where do I start?” she asked.
“In a couple of days.”
He laughed at her surprised look. “I don’t have that much time to work on it right now. I’ve got a lot of studying for the exams to get into Engineering school, Raindance is nowhere near done with what she thinks I need to know to support ponygirls, I’m going to start my apprenticeship with the training crew, and I’ve got two ponygirls that are just languishing for their owner’s magical touch. There’s not a lot of time left over.
“And you, my girl, are a ponygirl, and your training team and owner have a lot of things to keep your idle hours filled. Right now, you’ve got dinner to get started. And if there’s any time left, start cleaning.”
Larry walked down the corridor with his sisters Diana and Edie, taking his time so that Edie could keep up.
“This looks like it,” Diana said as they came to the corridor.
“Pick me up!” Edie commanded. Larry chuckled at the tone, but picked the lobo-ra up so that her head was level with his shoulders.
“So this is Linnet,” Diana said, as Linnet recognized Larry and whinnied at him. He waved and said: “Later.” She whinnied again.
“Now where …” Diana mused as they walked down the corridor past the second cell. “Oh, here she is. You’re right; Sullen Spring is absolutely stupid as a name. It gives her the wrong ideas. Now what …” she trailed off in thought.
“Got it!” she snapped her fingers. “Will o’ the Wisp! She always did seem like she was kind of drifting around.”
“Gently glowing,” her brother added.
“But not raising a stink. One thing, though. I wish I could ride her.”
“Later.” She looked at him questioningly. “I’ve put in the request for the riding package. That’ll take a month or so.”
“Oh?”
“It’s no secret. I’m going to be riding Linnet, and I thought that you might want to ride yours.”
“Humph. You’re too smart for your own good!” She tugged at the door, which didn’t move. “Why can’t I open it?”
“You’re not authorized. You need one of your team to let you in, or bring her out for you.” He pushed the handle down and slid the door open. “Introduce yourself and tell her what her new name is going to be.”
Diana walked in and looked down at the ponygirl. “I’m your new owner, Diana. Well, Mother is your new owner, but she gave you to me.” The ponygirl gave a muffled giggle. “And your new name is Will o’ the Wisp. Like it?” Will o’ the Wisp whinnied enthusiastically and tapped her hoof twice. “I guess you do.”
“Can I take her out in a chariot?”
“Sure. Have you ever driven a ’girl outside?”
“Uh. Only in an arena,” she admitted.
“Then we’ll do an arena today, and the traffic course next time. When you’re comfortable with that, we’ll go outside.”
“Can I harness her?”
“You’re pushing your luck,” her brother laughed as he reached over and scratched the ponygirl behind an ear. She whinnied at him. “Have you ever taken a ’girl on and off of her stand?”
“I’ve been taken on and off lots of times.”
“No time like the present to learn. There are six things you do. First, change her ball gag for a bit and reins.”
Diana looked around and spotted the reins on the wall. “I hope the supplies are in the same place,” she muttered. She took the bit and reins over to the kneeling ponygirl and looked at the ball gag. It was a foamed rubber ball with a steel rod through the center lengthwise. The rod attached to the sides of the ’girl’s bridle. Diana studied how the rod attached for a moment, and then unhooked it. A moment later, she had it in her hand, looking for all the world like an overly ambitious all day sucker. Then she tossed it toward the recycle bin.
When she held up the bit, Will o’ the Wisp obediently opened her mouth. Diana slid the bit in and secured it to the bridle. Then she attached the reins to the handles that drooped down on each side.
“OK. That’s one. What’s next?”
“Let’s see.” Diana mused. “Ankle chains next, I guess.” She bent over behind the ponygirl and unsnapped the chains. Will o’ the Wisp promptly brought her right leg forward, knee out and hoof level with the post. Then Diana unscrewed the bolt holding the headrest to the post, unfastened the two clips that held the pony’s bridle to the headrest and removed it. “Up.”
Will o’ the Wisp stayed put.
“Why isn’t she moving?” Diana asked.
“You’ve missed one connection,” her brother said.
“One connection? Oh, right.” She reached under the ’girl and unsnapped the bracket from the ass plug, then she said “Up” again. This time the pony brought her other leg forward and slid up the pole until the two rings on the back of her bustier cleared the top. Then she stepped forward three paces using a high stepping walk and sank to the floor, left knee on the ground and right hoof next to it, knee out front.
“How did I do?”
“Pretty good,” a bass voice boomed from behind her. She whirled to see Terrence. “You should do the anal plug first, and the ankle chains last. That way, she’ll come up in one movement.
“Let’s see you bring her around to the storeroom,” he continued.
She brought the reins behind the ’girl, and said “Up.” The Wisp rose to her feet. Diana flicked the reins and the ’girl walked toward the front of the cell using the same high stepping walk. Diana walked behind her. She put some pressure on the left rein as they entered the corridor, and the Wisp turned left. They passed the rest of the cells in the group, and came to the equipment room that separated the two groups.
“Turn her here,” Terrance commanded, “and bring her to a stop.”
The equipment room was twice as wide as a cell, and ran all the way through to the next corridor. One side was lined with a variety of chariots and carts; the other side had a wide array of shafts, pull bars and other less identifiable stuff either on the floor or hanging from the wall or ceiling. Diana looked at it in confusion.
“Back her into space 3,” Terrance said.
Diana looked around, found the third space, and flicked her ponygirl’s reins to get her moving. A few minutes later, after a lot of backing and filling, she had managed to get Will o’ the Wisp backed between the shafts of the two pony, two person chariot sitting there with the shafts lying on the floor. She took a deep breath. “I hitch her to the chariot next, right?”
“Right.” The girl looked at the shafts and then lifted it, taking the leather strap that came down in back of the ’girl in her other hand. She looked back and forth between the strap and the various buckles and rings on her ponygirl’s bustier. “How does this go on?” she finally asked.
“It goes through these rings,” Larry said, threading the leather through two sets of overlapping rings and finally buckling it to the shaft in front of the ’girl. “We’re going to leave it a bit loose until you get the other one. Then we tighten them together.” He stepped back and watched Diana do the other side.
“Now I’ll get Linnet,” he said as Will o’ the Wisp sank to one knee when it became obvious that they weren’t going to do anything with her immediately.
A couple of minutes later, Linnet high stepped into the storeroom, Larry following and keeping some tension on the reins. He brought her smartly into the other space between the shafts, and buckled her waistband to the traces.
They got in the chariot. “Now get us out of here,” he handed the reins to his sister.
She looked at them and handed them back. “Not after that last fiasco, bro.”
“Can I?” Edie asked. Larry handed her the reins and watched as she stood between the two of them, intently studying the ponygirls in front of her. “Up!” she commanded shrilly. They came up, but not quite together. Edie frowned. “Not good!” Then she looked around.
“Lighten up on the reins,” Larry said. “I want to see how they’ll do to a voice command.” Edie relaxed her hold on the reins. “OK, Wisp, Linnet, out to the corridor and turn left.” The two girls leaned forward to get the chariot moving, and brought it out of the space, all the while doing the high stepping walk. Two turns later, they stopped in the corridor with the chariot facing back the way they had come.
“They’ve never worked together?” another high voice asked from the side.
“No, they haven’t, Kali,” he answered her.
“They need practice,” she said.
Once they were going, Diana asked: “OK. Explain.”
“I thought you knew this,” he said.
“Well,” she said, a bit embarrassed, “I stayed in ponyspace whenever they were working me. I kind of know how things should go, but I’ve never thought about how it worked from the other side so I could explain it.”
“Raindance told me a lot of the ’girls are like that when they come out. They never explain anything to the ponygirls, so some of them understand what’s going on and some don’t. That’s one of the reasons for the post trainee discussion group: you learn the reasons, and of course the experience fits right in there. Then you can explain it to the guys when you start trainer’s class.” Diana laughed at his subtle putdown.
“Anyway, the way she explained it, different ’girls do ponyspace somewhat differently. There’s a lot of similarity, but there’s a lot of differences. For example, could you handle commands with more than one thing in sequence?”
Diana frowned in puzzlement. “I don’t think so,” she said slowly. Then she brightened. “That’s a definite no. Now that you ask, I can remember a few incidents where I thought I knew what I was to do, and then lost it in the middle.
“So,” she continued thoughtfully, “you gave them two commands at once, and they managed it.”
“Linnet managed it,” Edie piped up. “Will o’ the Wisp hesitated and then followed her on the turn.”
So, we’ve got job assignments squared away, or do we? There’s a bunch of loose ends dangling. Trot on to the next exciting episode of Engineer to see one of them neatly tied off.
If you enjoyed this story, please e-mail the author and let him know. He likes to hear from his loyal fans,and it gives him some motivation to keep writing this stuff. Of course, if you're a publisher and you'd like to buy some of these stories, please let him know. The starving author in the garret makes a great story, but it sucks in real life.