Running Free

Emma glanced over her shoulder a few times, catching Lucky Lizzy's glances as the freckled stable hand, Polly, tugged her away and sent her to the field to join the other mares during grazing time. She caught up to a trio of trainers as they all headed back to the ranch house for lunch.

"Heya Emma. Congratulations on the pony. She's a looker!" Said a girl wearing a set of wire-frame glasses, looking more like a bookworm than a girl who trained ponygirls.

"Yeah, had to make up for Cherry leaving, did ya?" Another girl, one of the ones from the stable during feeding time before, said.

The trio laughed and Emma joined in, a bit of mottled pride welling in her chest. "Y-yeah, I'm going to miss Stella the most though. She made my last year as a stable hand really good... I'll make her proud!"

The others hummed quiet affirmations about the retired champion as they arrived at the large ranch house. It was the second biggest building on the property, behind the stable where the mares slept and lived, though not by much. It had two floors, with the majority of the main floor being dedicated to a simple locker room and communal shower, Rhea Silverstone's office, her bedroom, a cafeteria with dining hall, and a parlor for relaxation with plenty of seating and and a library. Emma had read almost every book in that library. Most of them were dedicated to human pony training, stories of famous mares, and stories of real horses to draw inspiration from. Much of "this world" was secretive and private, but that didn't mean it didn't have the trappings of normalcy.

Emma trotted up the porch stairs ahead of the other girls and held the door open before going in last. The three turned left to go through the parlor to the cafeteria but as Emma looked right, she saw Isabella, the quartermaster, leaning in the door of Rhea's office, likely chatting with the ranch owner. She looked over at the noise of people coming in and crooked a finger at Emma, beckoning the young trainer over.

"I'll... catch up. Save me a seat!" She said to the other trainers as she walked over, stopping a few paces shy of Isabella.

"Hey, sweetie. Rhea's lookin' for ya. Wants to hear yer report on yer mare. And I'll be lookin' for ya after lunch, so find me in my office." She says in that homely Southern accent, giving Emma a little nudge as she excuses herself and wanders down the hallway to her own office on this side of the ranch house, opposite the cafeteria and parlor.

Emma sucks in a tight breath and steps into Rhea's office, the older woman leaning over her desk as she rolls an unlit cigarette between her fingers, clearly thoughtful as Emma comes in.

"Trainer Foxxe." Rhea starts, putting Emma on edge thanks to the formality of things. Clearly, this wasn't a chat between Emma and her mentor... "Your mare, Lucky Lizzy. Talk. What do you think, how did she perform on her runaround?"

Emma walks in cautiously, trying not to appear stiff, and sits in a chair opposite Rhea, feeling like a child in trouble at the principal's office. "It... she's good, miss Silverstone." Emma replies, feeling like her mouth was suddenly very dry. "We... we went around the property, she got to see the major locations, she seemed... actually quite interested in the running rings and bullpens. Admiring, almost."

"She would admire them, she's a fucking exhibitionist with a humiliation streak, Foxxe."

Emma flinches, her cheeks hot as she tries to remain cordial. Getting heated with Rhea when she was like this usually led to a shouting match that, while not harmful in the long run, was rarely productive. "T-true, ma'am... but she wasn't just wet-" Emma pauses. She had had to crop Lucky to get her to focus again when she was watching the mares in the bullpen. "-but she seemed more impressed by the discipline and form of the mares, too. I think she admires the ponies, not just... well..."

"Lusts?" Rhea supplied, her eyes narrow as she stares at Emma across her heavy desk. The trainer meekly nods in reply. The old woman sighs, "I was worried this was the case... I fear that, because she's your friend, you might be a bit biased towards her. I'm letting you try to train her proper, but even still, even if you're appearing to be treating her hard... I worry that she'll only hold out because it's you and not, in fact, because she's learning her lessons properly."

Emma winced again. She looked down at her lap as she rubbed her hands slowly. "M-maybe, ma'am. I... I would hope not. I want her to do well not just for me but because she is capable, and starts wanting to do it for herself too."

Rhea hums gruffly. "The best mares do. They all run for themselves at the end of the day because they enjoy this, not because they're sexually turned on by it, or because they're obligated by their friends, or even because they're driven by the money. Pride in being a pony has to come first. Sex, money, and friendships come second. You think your Lizzy has her priorities arranged?"

Emma shudders. She doubted that her cousin had her priorities in anything even resembling that order. It was likely money followed by the fact that, unbeknownst to Emma, the fact that Elizabeth seemed to enjoy being naked in public, and a distant third was probably the sexual pleasure and then maybe pride in being a mare... as to whether the cousins would still be friends after all this...

"N-no, ma'am... I don't think she does." Emma said, fighting back a sniffle as she felt like she was betraying Elizabeth a bit. "I... I think she'd work hard, truly... I think she's willing to do it for me, and the fact that she'll be compensated..."

"But when the fifth, eighth, tenth week of competitions come along, when she's being run ragged by a charioteer's schedule, when she's sunburnt and pussy-burnt, rope and leather-burnt, flogged, fucked, spanked, whipped, cropped, verbally abused, scorned by losing... she'll crack in half, likely go into shock, and be useless to you and me. You're still an investment here, miss Foxxe." Rhea says, sitting back in her chair and tossing her unlit cigarette on her desk, working her thumb over her lip slowly. "I like you, Emma. You're handy, responsible, show up to work on time, and never complained even when you got the shittiest jobs. Sometimes literally. But... as a trainer? It's a whole different level of responsibility. For you and me. It's your own private room in the house, it's your own mare and a stall in the stable. It's gear, it's transport, it's documentation and licenses... still pending, by the way, they'll be official when your trainer card arrives in the mail. But-" Rhea sucks in a breath and deflates a bit as she exhales, sagging in her aged leather chair. "-but I'm getting too old to truly invest emotionally in another failure of a trainer. Stella was, well, felt like, my last great success here after a few bad apples before her. You weren't here for them. But they took advantage of my good will, picked shitty mares, wasted their training season, tarnished my ranch and its reputation, burnt through my excess cash..."

Emma watched as Rhea seemed to fade into a thousand-yard stare, a few puzzle pieces of why this "famous" ranch seemed a bit more out of sorts than most falling into place.

"And now with Stella finding herself a wife and settling down, with Cherry Pie getting a husband and starting a family-" She looks up, seeing Emma's surprised look and smirks weakly, "What, did you think those two would stop all this for anything short of marriage? No, they're off starting their families and I'm happy for them, but they put me in a difficult spot, even if they didn't mean to."

"And... and now I'm not making it easy with a pony who might... might not even place once this season."

Rhea sucks in a breath, clearly aching for a cigarette and nods. "Correct. Loathe as I am to admit it, girl, I could use a few good wins from my trainers this season. You're my horse in this race, just like Lizzy's your mare. Sure, the others here are technically running for me, under my roof. But..."

"But without someone from Silverstone Ranch, it becomes a-"

"A matter of reputation, yes. They're from Rosewood, Keates, fuck I even have a trainer from Slut Stables, the fucking porn ranch. Ugh... times are harder than I'd like to admit and I need a big win for the ranch, from Silverstone Ranch. Do you understand?" Rhea asks, staring Emma directly in the eye with a little bit of fire returning into her deflated face.

Emma swelters in her seat but finally begins to understand. Suddenly, she really wished Cherry had stuck around another year so she could have run the veteran instead. But then again, a rookie trainer, paired with a veteran pony? Who wouldn't say the pony did all the work-

"You needed me to find a rookie mare to make good on it being your training that produced a competent trainer!" Emma blurts out, sitting forward and planting her hands on her knees. Rhea winces and nods.

Rhea fixed Emma with another piercing stare, though there was a bit of pride in her face this time. "Got it in one, Em. Always were a smart girl. So... secret's out. Do you think Lizzy can do it?"

Emma walked out from the cafeteria, realizing she had lost her appetite and instead just having a bottled juice and a few handfuls of diced fruits in a cup as she looks for somewhere to sit, preferably away from other people right now. She was about to plop down on the stairs to the second floor when Isabella comes by, all Southern charm and short-shorts, having redressed from her time in the barn.

"There ya are, hon'. Rhea gave ya both barrels, judgin' from that glum look in yer eye. Wanna talk about it?" She says, rubbing Emma's shoulder and threatening a comforting hug.

Emma shakes her head, staring at her hands. "N-no thanks, Iz. I just hope I'm doing the right thing here. I didn't think being a trainer would be so... burdensome."

Isabella scoffs, slapping the young trainer on the back and grabbing her waist, turning Emma around and walking the younger girl up the stairs nearly making the relatively petite girl spill her drink and snack. "Nonsense! You've earned this, yer gonna do great! Now come on, Trainer, let me show you what I was s'pposed to show ya. Yer new room!"

Emma's eyebrows raise a bit as Isabella walks her up the flight of stairs to the second floor where the stable hand bunkroom, a large room with space for 10 bunkbeds and 20 dressers took up one half, 12 private rooms for one took the other half, and four individual bathrooms sat in the middle dividing the two. Each bathroom only had a toilet and sink as the locker rooms and showers downstairs were where the ranchfolk were expected to bathe. In winter, Rhea usually rolled out some old hot tubs and kept them running for relaxation and in the heat of summer there were a few pop-up pools, but this year she'd forgone the pools. Emma thought she knew why now.

Isabella walked Emma to the right at the top of the stairs, towards the trainer wing, and straight to a room labelled "12" just like Lucky Lizzy's stall in the stable. She smirked at the girl. "Stella might have left ya some stuff, not sure. She said to leave the room be fer her replacement and Rhea didn' care enough to have me look into it. Go on. Yer the first in there since yer pal left." Isabella said, giving Emma a gentle push towards the door.

Emma had been in here a few times. She'd been all but attached at the hip to Stella for her last year, having been assigned as a sole stable hand for Stella, meaning almost all her duties were exclusively to help Stella, aside from things like pasture-watch or catching errant mares, which was rare but once in a while they'd spook and bolt.

And as she opened the door, it was much like it had been when Stella lived here. A simple room, designed less for precise comfort and more for practicality. It had a single-size, neatly-made bed, a vanity with a mirror and padded stool, a writing desk and chair, in-window AC unit, and a small closet and a dresser. There was also a footlocker at the foot of the bed and a mat and boot-rack at the door for, obviously, Emma's boots and other footwear. The vanity was decorated with old photos from Stella's time here, more than a few of her and Emma together, and of course Cherry Pie featured in a few as well. Emma paced in quietly, feeling like she was on sacred ground when she found a small letter with "Em" written on it. She turned and pointed at it while looking at Isabella, who just shrugged.

"Like I said, nobody's been 'ere since Stella left. It's yers now, sweetie. Bring your things up when you'd like, it'll be yers for the whole season. No more of that bunkroom, no commutin'. This's yer home for the season. Buckle up, buttercup! I'll... leave ya be." Isabella said as Emma silently went for the note, blushing as she fought tears.

"T-thanks, Iz. I'll... catch you later." Emma said over her shoulder as she set her juice and fruit down, grabbed the envelope, and slipped it open to read the short note written in the flowy hand-script of her friend.

"Emma, make sure you don't lose. I'll be checking in on your season, and if you aren't number one at the twelfth race, I'll kick your ass myself! Treat your mare right and do what Rhea says. You'll be alright. And if this is some stranger reading this note, and Emma's your stable hand, kick her ass for me!"

Emma chuckled and sniffled, wiping some tears away as her friend's note felt like a punch to the heartstrings. She slipped the note into a holder on the vanity, clipping it in with a picture of Stella and Cherry Pie after their first win together in their rookie year, both looking younger than when Emma had worked with them. She stood and turned around, heading for the door with a fresh resolve. It was time to prove her friend right and make her proud. She would be alright. She was going to win the crowning race of the season, if not more!

Emma tromped downstairs, going into Rhea's office only to find it... empty? She looked around as if Rhea was going to be hiding behind the curtains or something and poked her head out into the hall, spotting a couple trainers near the parlor entry. "Hey! Did you two see Rhea anywhere?"

The pair looked over, looked at each other, and one replied, "I think she headed out to the pasture."

"Yeah! I saw her grab her crop too. Some mare's in trouble!"

The pair snickered but Emma's blood ran cold.

"Shit." She said as she looked out of the window in Rhea's office which, conveniently, faced towards the pasture. Emma turned and started running for the front door, off the porch, and towards the pasture as fast as her legs could carry her. "Shit... shit shitshitshitshitshi-!"