Chapter 4

“But…”

She smacked me a second time, bringing the

clipboard down hard across my naked thigh. I howled in pain and

tried to hide behind someone else, but none of the other ponies

wanted anything to do with me. “No talking,” she said again. I

glared at her for a moment and only looked away when I thought

maybe she’d hit me once more out of spite. Animal cruelty, I

thought in a sulk. Someone call PETA.

I glanced at the other ponies, wanting to

share the joke, but the burning welts from the clipboard kept me

quiet. No one looked at me, anyway. Where the hell was Sean at? And

what the fuck was I doing here?

* * * *

For long moments I stood by myself, away from

the other ponies. One of them—a woman younger than me—kept taking

high, exaggerated steps whenever she moved. Her tack looked

custom-made—across her breastplate, the name Pretty Marie

was embossed into the leather. Every now and then, she whinnied

like a little girl playing horse. Turning my back to our guardian

with the clipboard, I leaned down over Marie’s short ponytails and

murmured, “So you’re really into this, aren’t you?”

The look she gave me could’ve cut glass. Two

high steps took her away from me, but I pushed around another pony

to keep beside her. “No, really,” I said softly. “Don’t worry—I’m

not hitting on you. I’m gay.”

She made an annoyed sound in the back of her

throat and tried to move away again. When I followed, she stuck out

one small hoofed foot and kicked me in the shin. “What’d I say?” I

wanted to know. “Jesus…”

Someone out of my line of sight gave a mighty

tug on my reins, pulling me away from Marie. “This one’s trouble,”

Lolita said with a jerk of my reins. I limped around to see a burly

man—fat, of course, Sean would’ve loved him—wearing a studded

collar and matching wristbands, a pair of leather tights, and

nothing else. Sweat rolled over the pale expanse of his belly and

down the dark hairs that circled his belly button. I groaned as

Lolita handed over my reins to him. If I ever, everfound

Sean again…

With my reins in hand, the collared man

pulled me towards him. He was a few inches taller than me. He

would’ve been intimidating if it wasn’t for the fact that he looked

more like the Skipper from Gilligan’s Islandthan the badass

he pretended to be. Shoving his face into mine, he purred, “A pony

with spirit. I like that.” Something thin and hard slid between my

left thigh and the bulge of my crotch, and I looked down to see a

short riding crop in his hand, fat fingers working it between my

legs. With a quick shake to get my attention, he growled, “I break

little ponies like you every day, buckaroo. Act up out there and

you’re mine.”

Before I could ask where out there

was, he released me with a shove that sent me back-pedaling into

the other ponies. The Lolita bitch held the others’ reins. She

handed them over to him once I was out of the way and he folded

them into the hand that wasn’t holding the crop. He had all of us

now, and a brisk yank pulled us along to the exit. I tried to lose

myself among the others, but he kept my reins shorter than the

rest, forcing me to take the lead. When we stepped through the door

onto the sparse grass outside, a smattering of applause made me

duck my head. “Oh, God,” I breathed.

“Prance for us!” someone called out.

Immediately the ponies behind me started walking in that affected

high step Marie had used, raising each leg waist-high with the knee

bent. I lowered my head further, trying to disappear. A jerk on my

reins told me otherwise. Ahead, the collared man said, “You too,

spitfire.”

I dared a look around. We were behind the

rented hall, out of sight from the street. A thin gravel path wound

through brown grass and ended a dozen yards away at another barn

much smaller than the massive hall behind us. We were heading in

that direction—classes were probably taught there, I reasoned, away

from the crowds. But the day was warm and clear, and more than a

few people had escaped the call of the vendors and now milled

around outside, their black outfits standing out like blight in the

bright sun. These were the people the other ponies were showing off

for, and I was damned if I would join in. I shuffled my feet

through the gravel, refusing to even pick them up enough to walk

properly. When I found Sean, I would kill him.