Pony Renaissance

“Has Sally told you where she lives or works by any chance?” Bob asked as he poured out three coffee’s and passed one across the low table to me. Mandy had excused herself and disappeared as soon as we entered the house. He’d been making small talk for some minutes while we waited for Susan to bring in the tray, and that was the first time he’d said anything relevant to the estate and those involved with it or to me.

I shook my head. “Not that I can recall”, I replied, thinking for a moment and shook my head at the proffered plate of tempting goodies he was offering. “Thanks, but too soon after lunch. I partook of one of Susans ‘feed the five thousand’ picnic hampers! What about Sally? Why?” 

Bob chuckled for a couple of seconds, then looked at me thoughtfully. “You know that I feel very protective towards Sally?”

I nodded. “Mandy told me that and a little about her background when I came over that day”.

Bob nodded again. “Yes, she told me that, and…” he broke off as we both heard the sound of a heavy slap followed by a squeal of pain from somewhere beyond the half-open door. Then Mandy’s “Well do it again, you slovenly slut, and this time do it properly unless to want Mrs Smythe to roast your skinny bottom this evening! Get to it, girl, now!”

Bob got up and quietly closed the door, winking at me as he resumed his seat. “Staff trouble. Well, probably not, but Mandy always likes to remind them of the local pecking order if she’s been absent for a few days. Not that those poor over-worked wretches need it!”

“Sympathy?” I teased, thinking of his collection of captive young ponyboys in the stable, not to mention Samson and Hercules and how cruelly they were used. Did he care?

Bob grinned and promptly answered my unspoken question. “Well, unlike, Madam”, he jerked his head towards the door. “You may be surprised to know that I do have a conscience” The grin broadened. “Only a little one mind you, and somehow it does not apply to pretty ponyboys! Especially the newer ones. They squeal so delightfully!”

“What about the two big boys?”

He shrugged. “Those creatures? Mere brutes, animals in human form now reduced to the appropriate level of existence they were born to endure. Nothing remotely pleasing to the eye about them, but they have their uses about the estate” He grinned again “also more fun than getting the tractor out!”

“In more ways than one,” I said meaningfully.

Bob didn’t even blush merely gave a short bark of laughter and again as he licked his lips. “My wife or Sally have been letting family secrets out of the bag, haven’t they? You’ve no doubt seen that horrible lightweight lengthy implement Sally uses on them so effectively?”

I smiled, thinking of Sally’s long flexible stick like whip. “The rod that is never spared!”

“Hmm, well, much as they hate and fear that thing and all our other nasty toys, it’s my personal rod they detest above all others, the one I keep in my trousers!” He chuckled softly. “Nothing like the feel of their owner's manhood to show the big brutes who their true Master is, who they belong to, what lowly creatures they have become. That is the rod that broke them into the pathetic beasts they are now! Trust me, and not little Miss sadism personified and her fearsome implement!”

I thought back to the two stallions as I’d seen them, and despite his words and all the heavy harness and bindings, I couldn’t quite see them in the same light and said so. “They don’t seem terribly broken nor pathetic, not by the look in their eyes. If they ever got loose?”

Bob shook his head quickly. “That, my dear, will never happen. That harness tack of theirs has substantial flexible steel cords running through it. The leather alone is heavy enough on its own but add that in, and there is no way they can break free, plus everyone treats them with the greatest respect. Belt, braces and more when changes need to be made, no one takes the slightest chance with them. Sarah rules that stable with an iron fist, and it would be a very foolish girl who ignored all the safety procedures! The girls are not stupid and know that even the most long-term seemingly docile beast is still at heart a feral animal!”

I grinned. “I gather young Suzy had a momentary bout of amnesia the other day and got her foot stamped on by a supposedly placid animal!”

“Did the pony escape, get loose?”

I shook my head. “Nope, although I heard Suzy spent a few minutes hopping around the stable on one leg!”

Bob chuckled. “See, that's what I meant. Incidents like that will inevitably happen but nothing major unless someone is exceptionally foolish, and none of them is” He chuckled again. “Knowing Suzy, I’ll bet that particular pony soon regretted such a foolish impulse!”

“Act in haste, repent at leisure”, I murmured as the door opened and Mandy came in or rather bounced in, for she had that sort of energetic way of moving.

“Filling your tum tum again, dear?” she said to her husband as she sat down on a sofa next to him and looked at me. “He hardly ate a thing, you know, after that first meal in Russia, no international palette that's his trouble! Roast beef and two veg, bacon and egg or fish and chips, that's my husband!”

Bob glared at her and looked as though he was about to retort, then changed his mind and turned back to me. “Well, now my dear wife, such as she is, has joined us, time to, to…” he paused.

“Fill in a few blanks?” I suggested helpfully but not without a  discernible edge to my words. “Like why you two, who I might add, I hardly know! Just why are you spending a small fortune on my humble smallholding, why I was virtually hijacked over here, why my relationship with Sally is so important and….” I paused for breath. “Not that I am ungrateful or unhappy in any way”, I added quickly. 

He did have the decency to look a touch abashed at my tone and gave me a sheepish grin. “It does involve your location, my dear. The idea popped into my mind driving home that time I picked Mandy up after her unexpected visit to your establishment, the….”

“You mean the one that scared the shit out of me!” I interrupted.

“I was talking to Sally just now; the pair of you do seem to be hitting it off alright”, Mandy interposed before either of us could say anything else. 

I nodded, wondering just where the pair of them were going with this. True, Sally and I had formed a genuine friendship. I enjoyed being with her, and I sensed she felt likewise. It was also true that I was developing feelings beyond the boundaries of simple friendship for the child-sized woman, part sort of maternal and part, well, very un-maternal! I also sensed those feelings were reciprocal on her part.

“Why don’t we take a walk over to the stable, dear” Mandy suggested to her husband just as he was about to say something to me. “Seeing and even doing is miles better than mere telling”, she giggled. “Finish your coffee’s, and that was a waste; I told you I didn’t want one” she glanced at the third full cup. 

“I forgot. Anyway,” Bob grumbled, getting up, “what's the difference once it's been brewed, whether it's in a cup or stays in the pot. It's not going to be re-used, is it?”

He continued to mumble and grumble all the way over to the stable till Mandy poked him in the ribs and told him to stop, which he promptly did with a sly wink in my direction. I grinned back, I liked the couple, such nice friendly, good-humoured people, and yet, I glanced ahead towards that terrible stable they owned?

*****

“Five!” I gasped. “Five?” I was astonished and couldn’t help myself repeating the number over and over again. “Five, five all in one go! Five?” 

I was standing with my hosts, watching Sarah, Suzy and Maddie methodically stripping the struggling man they had fastened by his wrists to an overhead beam. Sarah was standing with her arms crossed, calmly surveying the two younger girls shredding their victims soiled garments with scissors and a retractable box knife. They both wore the thin blue latex gloves I’d noted as standard when they were busily engaged in the morning mucking out and grooming sessions. 

I could smell those rags from where I stood; I was no fashion expert, but stemming from my assigned meet and greet London office days, I had an eye for men's clothes. Those stinking rags might once have been an expensive suit. That was undoubtedly a silk tie, and those brown leather shoes shrieked expensive quality at me. I also had a sensitive nose, and it told me that whoever he was, he’d been denied a bathroom opportunity for several days!

“Not bad for his age, is he?” Mandy noted, running an experienced eye over him, then raised her right thumb and grinned at me. “Wait till you see his wife though, now that is one high-class mare age notwithstanding. She’d normally have cost a small fortune even untrained”.

I frowned, recalling something Mandy or maybe Sally or one of the girls had told me. “I thought or heard that you were not interested in older ponies, nothing over thirty, or am I wrong?”

Mandy shrugged her shoulders. “As a general rule, that is correct, but I do make exceptions; you should know that you saw my Mamma Thumper and her daughter pair. Mrs Russian Maffiosa will make a splendid addition to my stable, not to mention being such a tasty treat to train. She has or rather had a very high opinion of herself! You know all about my dressage interests?”

I nodded as Suzy unceremoniously ripped away the man's underpants, the last garment to reveal a very sizeable cock, even its shrunken, shrivelled state. The organ large enough to produce a giggle of delight from the two younger stable girls repeated as he flinched in alarm as Suzy maliciously tapped it with the blades of the shears she’d been using.

“There is a special category at a few events for the over forty class. Usually over the hill ponies who’ve been strutting their stuff for many years, but occasionally, you get something fresh, ripe, but still very easy on the eye. I’ve been casually looking for a suitable candidate for a few years now. Anyway, girl, what do you think of your new ponyboy? Think you can tame that handsome brute?”

“What!” I gave a delayed start as her words finally penetrated my eyes, following where her long slim fingerer pointed. I’d been watching Suzy amusing herself, flicking that cock from side to side like a pendulum with an outstretched finger. “You’re kidding?” My mouth dropped open even as a ripple of laughter came from the three stable girls who’d all turned in unison.

Bob was grinning at me, Mandy was smiling rather indulgently, and the three stable girls were all looking toward me, Sarah smiling and the two younger ones giggling. The only one not looking gleeful was the stretched naked male figure dancing on his tiptoes in front of me. What had Mandy just said, my new ponyboy!

My mind whirled. I remember my mother, who had a strange habit of doing jigsaw puzzles blind, never looking at the picture on the box and her delight when pieces began to fit together and the image started coming. A couple of the little grey cells clicked upstairs in my attic; I suddenly felt like that. Unfortunately, the only supporting sound I could produce was a strangled, “eh!”

I felt Mandy take one arm while Bob grasped my elbow again, and the pair propelled me forward, Sarah waving her arm motioning her two giggling underlings out of the way. Suzy skipped nimbly to one side, and Maddie did likewise after scooping up the pile of stinking discards and dumping them in a nearby waste bin.

“Damn strong pair of legs on the beast”, Bob observed as we drew near. “Plenty of stamina in those. Kept itself fit and in good shape, own private gym plus a sizeable indoor pool, so I was told”. He reached forward with his free hand to caress, then heft the struggling man's cock. “Impressive; I hope we have something suitable to contain such a fine specimen in the tack room?” He chuckled.

“If not, I’m sure Sarah can stuff it into whatever she has to hand”, Mandy laughed, releasing her hold on my arm. “I mean, it's not as if the animal will ever need it again for anything bar pissing in the dirt, I expect!” She shot an enquiring look in my direction, but I barely noticed it. 

My mind was whirling things about, but I sensed a few more pieces of that jigsaw fitted together even with a few edge pieces! That hitherto unseen picture on the box was beginning to emerge now if I only had a few more pieces. I was also somewhat piqued and thought it was high time I exerted myself. I shook off Bob’s hold on my other elbow and rather idiotically blurted out a tad too loud, “Corner pieces!” 

Six pairs of eyes swivelled in my direction, five curious and one possessed of raging anger that probably hadn’t heard fully or even recognised what I’d just idiotically muttered. Blame my mother, for I was still part focused on jigsaws and half thinking that if only I had the corner pieces, I might be in a better position to grasp the whole picture.

“What corner pieces, Honey? Mandy queried, looking around, somewhat puzzled.

“Oh, forget it!” I snapped, and then remembering my manners, I shrugged and said, “Look, you two, for God’s sake, will one of you tell me what’s going on, please!” I didn’t stamp a petulant foot, but I certainly had the urge to do so.

Bob patted me on the arm, seemingly a touch concerned. “Now now, don’t take on. Please don’t upset yourself, dear!” He looked toward his wife and said very firmly, “Mandy!”

*****

I took yet another look back at ‘my’ new ponyboy or ponyboy to be, ponyboy in waiting. What was that system the Americans had after the election, the President-Elect? That was it. ‘Comes from a need to take two months trying to fill positions with grace and favour appointments for jobs every other country has professional top civil servants already doing’, my father used to grumble. I don’t know whether there is an equivalent term for an ‘anglophile’, but he was it when it came to being a USA admirer, bar their presidential election system for some reason! Americanophile perhaps. 

Then again, Dad knew next to nothing about British politics and never even bothered to vote in general elections, so I doubt that his perception of the US political system was very accurate. I expect his fascination with the country mainly came from his enduring love of old cowboy movies. Anyway, it appeared my stable now had a ponyboy elect if I wanted him? Only if you want him! Bob had emphasised that last part very firmly after his wife’s gushing and over-enthusiastic explanation. ‘Far too old for my tastes, of course!’

Mandy had reacted as I would have expected her to when he said that, poo-pooing any suggestion that I might not want, said ponyboy. “Oh, don’t be an idiot, Bob, of course, she wants him, who wouldn’t? This angry creature will make a magnificent pony, a fine handsome, powerful stallion! Of course, she wants him!’ 

Judging by the look, she’d thrown at me, I rather gathered that what I might or might not want was irrelevant, that decision had already been made and not by me. She was right about one thing, though, that struggling sturdily built specimen of manhood would indeed make a magnificent captive stallion! A thrill ran through me. Two ponies!

Sturdy was the appropriate word for the beast before me. He wasn’t from the same mould as Sally’s pair of brutes, but he was certainly no weakling wimp. It would be a very foolish man who’d kick sand in his face on the beach! A touch over the six-foot mark I judged comparing him to Sarah whose height I knew because she’d told me the other day when we discussed the practicalities of riding ponygirls as one would a real pony. ‘Too tall and a tad on the weighty side alas’, she’d said a touch wistfully then added, ‘but given the right mount gals like you, Suzy and Sally are fine’.

It was hard to tell with him being stretched like that and standing on tiptoe, but if he didn’t hit the sixer mark, he wasn’t too far off it. Maybe even an inch or two over? Broad, muscular shoulders with bulges in all the right places, no six-pack belly but no middle-age bulge either despite his age which I judged to be early forties or thereabouts? His military-style short-cropped hair was already an iron-grey colour, but his body was covered in a thick matt of fine blonde hair mainly growing in tight little curls giving him an almost golden glow that was quite delightful.

I hadn’t actually said yes or no, but of course, I could not resist the urge to touch that golden hide of his and run first one hand and then the other over his struggling helpless body. The girls had strung him up so high that he was trying to balance himself on his toes to take the strain off his wrists and was not entirely succeeding. Trying to kick out at your captors was not the most sensible thing to do, though if he wanted to maintain his precarious balance no matter how he felt about three pairs of unwelcome hands exploring his naked body.

“Typical male beast’ Mandy had giggled, noticing the involuntary twitch that my hand produced as I did as Bob had done to that impressive dick. “I think it likes you, Honey!”

I ignored her and walked around the animal a couple of times, noting again those broad shoulders, the relatively slim waist, firm tight buttocks and smooth thighs. He was shuffling from foot to foot as he stretched his legs to try and take the weight off his wrists and twisted back and forth as he felt my hands on his body. I moved close enough to feel the warmth radiating from his body to run my hands over his back and that so tempting rump. I felt like I had that first time with my Beauty, only a little different. The same warm quivering rebellious flesh and yet different somehow, likewise my feelings towards the creature I was exploring. That same thrill was slightly different, and I realised I liked that feeling. I liked it a lot! I turned, trying to conceal the grin on my face and winked at Mandy. No, not bad at all, I conceded!

Fifteen minutes later, we were outside a previously empty double stall looking at the new occupant and her owner. Five, they had said, and now the three of us were looking over the door into a stall at the last of the five and a decidedly different one to the first four striking animals I’d just seen. Medusa was the name chalked on the board outside the stall, Sally keeping the mythology name thread going. Damn quick off the mark, I thought as the others were as yet all nameless, although the word ‘gold’ was circulating in my head!

Given the short interval between the pair of us arriving back from our picnic and this moment, the tiny woman had been very busy. I don’t know or remember much about Greek mythology if that's what it was, but I vaguely recall Medusa was something of an ugly woman. Wasn’t she the one with snakes on her head instead of hair? Well, something along those lines anyway.

This Medusa lacked the live snakes, but what she had on her head wasn’t that far off so far as gruesome goes! I could see why the name must have immediately leapt into someone's head, presumably Sally’s. I’d seen some weird hairstyles in my time but never one like that. Obviously, a DIY job, for I couldn’t imagine any self-respecting hairdresser creating that monstrosity!

The big woman’s greasy looking pale blonde hair had been crudely grouped into a series of short twisting plaits all over her head in no discernible intended pattern! They weren’t even the same size or length and stuck out in different directions on the pale scalp, each secured with a rubber band of assorted colours. If that was the latest hairstyle in Russia, I couldn’t see it catching on in the West. Hell, Medusa was so apt!

“Not us!” Mandy quickly assured me, reading my mind. “Hideous, isn’t it?”

“Apt, though,” I said, nodding at the name chalked on the board. “Someone was quick off the mark!”

“Not really”, Sally called without breaking off from her task. “I’d seen some recent photos and knew its mane was like that, so I’d named this animal even before they flew over to collect them. It just popped into my mind the moment I saw her didn’t even think of the connection to the other two beasts in that respect. Convenient, though!” The little woman pulled a strap tight on the ponies bridle, patted it on the head and stood upright. “Magnificent, isn’t she?”  

I nodded, couldn’t argue with her there. They'd strapped the big woman to a frame forcing her to lean towards us; Sally was still standing a little precariously on top of a step-stool as she fussed about adjusting the new ponies bridle and bit. Unlike the other four, this one resembled a female version of Samson and Hercules, not quite so tall or as bulky but equally muscled and radiating that same primal animal aura the other two always exhibited. A veritable Amazon but not of the lithesome variety, nor had she cut a breast off as those in legend had reputedly done the better to use a bow!

I noted that this one had two great fleshy white dumplings of unhealthy looking flesh, both of which had already received a couple of livid red stripes from a discarded crop. A pair of angry red piggy eyes stared at the three of us in a carbon copy of those hostile looks the outsized male team generally regarded those that owned them. That of unadulterated seething murderous rage constrained only by the bindings they’d put upon the new beast, and there were plenty of those I noted. 

Jesus, but she was a big woman, big and muscled but not like a female bodybuilder. Hell, I’d seen pictures of them, and many of them were sun-bronzed and pretty decent looking and damn sexy in a way. Not this pale-skinned shapeless elephantine lump, more akin to a traditional soviet steroid built shot-putter now gone to seed, and that broken zig-zag nose didn’t add anything either. Jeez, had she run head-on into a bus at some stage and smashed her face! If so, I expect the bus would have come off worse!

Not this it mattered; there wasn’t a makeover in the world that could have improved this Brunhilda. I gather she’d been a member of a crack Russian military unit before becoming a bodyguard and, unfortunately for her, deemed guilty by association to my new stallion. Then again, maybe she had also done something to annoy the wrong people, either way, it no longer mattered so far as she was concerned! 

Sally’s lovely eyes, I noted, were not red but bright and sparkling with delight as she took ownership of ‘her ponygirl’, her very own big brute but in female form. She’d once admitted that delightful as Mandy’s other ponies were, they were all a bit too…too ‘delicate’ for her taste, she’d laughed, struggling to find the right words. ‘Mandy pays far too much attention to looks and figure. I mean, easy on the eye is one thing, but she’s not going to sleep with the beasts, is she!’ An interesting comment given another conversation I’d had with Sally a few days later.

I also knew that she’d lusted after a female version of Bob’s big pair, or at least a singleton, and now it looked like she had one all to herself. Well, correction, let's make that plural, we had one to be stabled along with its ex-employer, and I apparently had been selected to be the other half of that ‘we’ along with my newly refurbished stable.

Mandy and Bob had finally given me that long-overdue explanation as they gleefully showed me their latest acquisitions. Bob, I was learning had many business interests and connections mainly of a financial or property based nature. Likewise, his contacts, some of which on a friend of a friend of a friend basis and so forth were not, I gathered, with the most respectable of people. Then again, I suppose taking into account my surroundings thinking along those lines was undoubtedly foolish!

My new stallion was one of those whose father had once had high-level political connections, and when the old soviet regime collapsed, like many of his ilk had become more ‘Catholic than the Pope‘ overnight. They held no religious convictions, their new religion being instant capitalism, and they’d quickly become the equivalent of Bishops and Cardinals in the new order. As the new money men, they soon found that they wielded greater power with less accountability than they’d ever enjoyed within the political rigidity of the previous regime.

The son had foolishly squandered a lot of what his deceased father had acquired and then become far too involved with the more unsavoury elements of the new order. His fall from grace being far swifter than his previous rapid rise through the ranks of the new grandees of the Russian underworld!

The three of us had lingered long enough to watch the two younger stable girls and Sarah measuring the hapless struggling stallion and sorting out suitable pieces of tack and harness, then fitting them upon the beast. “Just to get it started,’ Mandy had told me. ‘Go online tonight or tomorrow; you know our website. Pick what you want, and I’ll order it for you at no charge. We might even have some of it here; our tack room is pretty extensive, as you know. I often use it as a showroom when I have guests staying. Looking at pictures is one thing, but as with ponies, touchy-feely is something else! What's wrong?”

I was grinning. “Context”, I replied. “As far as I know that expression means, well means a sort of kind, loving person, someone that means well but makes the person they are with uncomfortable by being a little bit too much hands-on when it comes to personal contact.”

Bob chuckled. “Well, you certainly are very much a hands-on person, my dear, when it comes to the ponies but not the least bit, what was it, kind and loving!”

Mandy gave us both a dirty look, then said slowly. “Stop teasing me; you know what I meant, hands-on in being able to see and touch stuff in the physical sense! Come on, you two smartasses, time to move on down the bus! Don’t worry about the girls, Honey. They’ll just tack it up, it’s your pony, and no one will lay so much as a finger on it punishment wise unless you permit them”

The stallions mare was already stalled but not harnessed nor even stripped down to bare hide as yet. She was a  tall, slender, seriously beautiful woman with those gorgeous high Slavic cheekbones and a cascading mane of chestnut hair almost to her waist. I’d given an involuntary gasp when I saw her, for the woman was stunning despite her apparent age, no other word for it but stunning. I turned to Mandy and mouthed just one word, ‘Wow!’

Mandy had laughed delightedly and led us into the enclosure for a closer look. The woman stank like her husband of shit and stale urine and had been wearing the wrong clothes for the long and uncomfortable journey she’d had to endure. A filthy white torn blouse covered her upper half while a pair of equally dirty and soiled tight white jeans enclosed her lower half. 

“I told the girls to start on yours,” Mandy said. “Sally, of course, couldn’t wait to get started as you’ve just seen and doesn’t want any help. “This one and her two foals can wait till tomorrow. Bob and I are somewhat fatigued, plus I need to try and head off a migraine. The last thing my ears need is to be in here when Sally gets going on that hideous monstrosity we gave her!”  

“Gonna be a noisy few days around the old corral”, Bob drawled with a very credible Texan accent. Well, it sounded credible to me recalling those days sitting next to my dad on the sofa watching endless cowboy movies. I grinned at him, whereas Mandy merely rolled her eyes and shook her head before turning to me

She saw me wrinkling my nose at the smell and eyeing the angry mare to be who seemed to be following the conversation with a degree of comprehension. I could see that in her wild, angry brown eyes as she struggled vainly to free herself. I wondered what was going through her mind and how long before they cleaned up the poor creature a bit? I mean, I was all in favour of a whiff or two of captive human equine dung adding to my stable’s aroma but madam here stank like, like…well, that reminded me of something I needed to organise soon. 

Like many isolated country properties, I had no mains sewage connection; instead, I had a huge underground septic tank that needed pumping out roughly every eighteen months, which would be due soon. The tanker guy just unscrewed a large cap on the top and thrust one end of the big pipe down into the tank. Sheesh, but that stench! 

Mandy was still in tune with my thoughts. “Oh, don’t worry, Honey. A few more hours won’t hurt her. They’ve all been cramped up in transit boxes for a couple of days, drugged and dozing” she paused and also wrinkled her nose, “and doing other things! She’s not going anywhere, and a dozen or so hours up on her hooves will get the kinks out plus acclimatise the animal as to one prime aspect of its future life” She finished with a giggle. 

I knew exactly what she meant by that. Our captive ponies spent the majority part of their miserable lives standing around waiting for something to happen. The downside is that when it did, it was invariably not very pleasant!

I saw that flash of understanding again in those brown eyes, also the realisation that Mandy was right. No matter how much the owner of those wild eyes struggled, she wasn’t leaving that stall. In fact, given the way they’d restrained the woman, she wouldn’t even be moving from that same spot. Her bare feet were kneading the dirt floor like a restless cat trying to find a place to settle. 

“I didn’t think you’d mind, Honey; that's why I told the girls to go ahead with yours. I know that you’ve had some experience with your splendid Beauty but that new one would likely be a more challenging beast to get tacked up, solo!”

My brain was still in a total whirl, but she obviously expected an answer from the questioning, indeed slightly worried look on Mandy’s face. In return, all I could manage was a nod and a sort of strangled grunt of affirmation, which immediately produced a laugh and a beaming smile before she turned her attention back to her latest acquisition.

“Bob and I like to have, mmm, let's call it the initial hands-on touch with our new arrivals. Owners privilege, you might say. The personal touch before the girls get over-familiar with the new animals, but I think in this case we’ll leave it till tomorrow. A decent dinner followed by a good nights sleep, and then we’ll both be better prepared to enjoy introducing them to their new lives. Anticipation will make the experience all the more delightful,” she chuckled. “For us anyway!”

“Don’t they say Anticipation is the best sauce” I offered, then frowned, “Was that right? Or maybe not!”

Bob laughed. “I think you mean hunger, my dear. But my wife is right, neither of us is as young as we used to be, and the last few days have certainly been fatiguing.” He paused and winked, nodding back towards the third stall we’d visited. “I always like to be in tip-top condition and full of vigour when I introduce a pretty new ponyboy to his ‘Master’, and I don’t spare that rod anymore than my wife does her leather and bamboo ones” he paused and chuckled. “Mind you; the screams are pretty much the same!”.

Meanwhile, Mandy had been eyeing the struggling woman and probably hadn’t even heard a word her husband had just said, so focused was her gaze. “I think”, Mandy spoke slowly, almost purring, “Mama, there needs a little foretaste of the delights to come, perhaps to add a little something to think about overnight?” she shook her head. “Anyway, that silk blouse offends me. I know the brand, made to individual order by a company in Paris, each one virtually unique and costs a bloody fortune and look at the state of it! Whores like her don’t deserve such finery, and that mane of her will make a splendid tail! ”

Bob and I shared an amused glance as Mandy thrust open the stall door and strode purposely towards the struggling mare. She was about Mandy’s age, maybe a tad older and still a head-turner. I sensed a touch of the green-eyed monster perhaps in the elegant ex-model’s demeanour. It was hardly the animal's fault, but something had triggered my beautiful host's ire, and I gained the impression that this unfortunate creature was going to get more than its fair share of her attention in the months to come. I even shivered a touch at that thought.

Made to individual order perhaps, but that exquisitely cut and embroidered silk blouse was far too filthy and tattered to have much value, I thought. Make that none at all after Mandy ripped the garment off the woman in one sharp movement, tossing the remains back over her shoulder to be neatly caught by Bob’s outstretched arm. He looked delighted at his instinctive prompt reaction, then disappeared for a few seconds, and I heard the clang of a waste bin lid somewhere behind me.

My eyes remained fixed on his wife, who was holding the woman by the chin, twisting her head from side to side, ignoring the long skeins of spittle that oozed from the large red ballgag filling her mouth. There was fear now in those big brown eyes, along with other emotions. I saw fear, anger, hate and humiliation, deep, desperate humiliation. That cocktail of emotions you could see in the eyes of every pony save the fifth, that of hopelessness. That one I knew would come in time to this animal just as it would to Beauty and little Fluffy!

“Not a lot to bounce about and titillate the eye on that animal, is there?” Bob chuckled, nodding into the stall as he returned. “Your stallion was evidently a leg man, not a tit man!”

Unable to resist the temptations before her despite what she’d said only a moment ago, Mandy was getting decidedly ‘hands on’ and running both of them over her new mares udders, such as they were! Bob was right, a couple of poached eggs that barely raised the contours of her upper chest, the large areola around the small nipples being the most prominent feature. However, her flat belly was undoubtedly impressive, especially for her age, likewise not a stretch mark or other disfigurement on view.

Apart from the bust or lack of one, the woman had a body any teen aspiring to be a top fashion model would have died to possess, so I wasn’t surprised when Bob whispered in my ear.

“Older than she looks this one. Ex minor dancer with the Moscow Ballet, occasional model and wannabe cover girl, and full-time mistress to a Russian Mafia boss. Mercenary bitch, promptly married the guy’s chief underling, the one indirectly responsible for de-throning and bumping off her older paramour. Mind you, he was about twenty years younger and certainly had a lot more between his legs to offer the bitch as you’ve just seen!”

Mandy hooked her fingers in the waistband of the woman’s tight jeans then hesitated. One hand slipped around to caress and knead at the shapely pert bottom; no sign of middle-aged sag there, I noted. Ex Dancer,  did she work out, attend a gym, I wondered? Not that it counted, for I knew that no matter how fit she was now, Mandy’s whip would ensure that she was maintained in peak condition. That beautiful mare would be strutting her stuff for the next decade, at least!

I heard Bob chuckle beside me and knew instinctively that we shared the same thought. Mandy was clearly on the verge, hovering in momentary indecision, torn between her desire of the of the moment to explore further, one finger already hooked in the waistband of the woman's jeans,  or to do as she’d previously stated and leave such delights till tomorrow. 

“Getting hot under the collar”, Bob whispered. “A tenner says Madam will have stripped those filthy pants off the animal and have a crop in her hand in another minute or so!”

“Make it twenty, and you're on”, I shot straight back. He might be married to Mandy, but I was a sadistic woman just as she was, and I knew what I’d do. I remembered that first time I’d got my two ‘pets’ safely secured for the night on the floor or my old stable. They were still there in the morning, awaiting my arrival, fresh and sweet-smelling from a good nights sleep and a lovely hot shower. I knew that  Mandy would want to be the same when she devoted her full attention to this unlucky creature on the morrow!

*****

“What was that about?” Mandy asked after her husband had opened his wallet and grudgingly handed me two crisp new ten pound notes. I noted with some amusement that he rubbed them between finger and thumb like a market stallholder to ensure there weren’t more sticking together. Typical multi-millionaire cheapskate!

“Nothing that you need concern yourself about, my dear”, he replied a touch grumpily. Hell, he’d just spent a small fortune turning my little empire into a mini Alcatraz minus the surrounding body of water and another one buying five new two-legged ponies in Russia. Well, maybe not buying them but transporting them back here must have cost a pretty penny! I made a mental note to ask Mandy if he’d been a sore loser when playing games with their kids. My dad was like that; no way my mother would ever have allowed me to have any board games for Christmas, not if the spirit of peace and goodwill was to be maintained throughout the holiday period! Hell, he even cheated at snap!

Mandy gave him a long suspicious stare but didn’t push the point, turning to me instead with a questioning look. “Has that little visit answered all your questions then, Honey?”

We were back in the big house in that same small room along with a fresh tray of coffee and cakes brought in by one of Mandy’s hooded minions. My mind was elsewhere, moving on from Alcatraz island to moated castles for some reason. Did any of Mandy’s super-rich associates own such a unique structure? I was wondering. 

“Eh, what? I muttered, “Sorry, wool-gathering”.

“Questions,” Bob repeated. “Mandy was asking if our trip over yonder had answered all your questions?”

I blinked at him. “Hell no!” I emphasised and was taken aback by how surprised they both seemed. I remembered my jigsaw impression and promptly used it to explain my feelings.

“Look, my mind is in a total whirl. I sort of got the gist, and believe me, I am very grateful, and of course, I’m on board with what you suggested and wanted regarding Sally; it's just….”

“Just what, Honey?” Mandy sounded concerned; how sweet.

“It's like a jigsaw,” I said, “I have all the pieces right side up, I have some of them connected and a lot of the edges in place, but I really would appreciate seeing the picture on the box, the whole picture in one go if you understand my meaning?” I nodded in the direction of the stable. “Our trip over there was very interesting and entertaining, too much so perhaps. I doubt if half of what you were both telling me registered, so a summary of the plot a recap would be most beneficial. The whole picture shall we say!” I gave them both one of my best winsome smiles. 

Mandy, I thought, looked a little puzzled, but Bob was laughing. He knew exactly what I meant. “Blame Madam there”, he chuckled, “not me. I was all for giving you a full briefing weeks ago, but a certain person wanted to do things her way, and I’ve learned not to argue!” He paused and became serious. “So from the top then, act one, scene one of ‘From Russia with Lovelies’. Well, excluding that hideous creature Sally is doubtlessly making her mark upon right about now!”

I grinned at him. “Okay, I got the part about Sally. Her desire to own her own pony, a big female version of your massive pair and the fact that her present property is quite unsuitable to stable such a beast being a tiny cottage in the middle of a small village.”

“A charming little cottage”, Mandy interrupted, “She even gets tourists taking pictures of it, but it is tiny. Perfect for her, of course, both in size and proximity to her place of work but with neither land nor outbuildings and even if it had, still hardly the appropriate place to house and exercise a captive two-legged pony, especially one that size!!”

“Be a hell of a lot of curtains twitching, I expect!” Bob chuckled.”It’s one of those places where everybody knows everybody and everything about them!”

I nodded. “So I gathered. Likewise, Sally likes both her independence and her job, and they want her to do more hours at the medical centre, she told me. That, of course, will limit her opportunity to visit you a lot more! So that's where I come in to your grand design?”

Mandy nodded. “Very convenient for her, especially as she does not like driving overmuch, not long distances, and we count as one in her book. We’d love to have her living here full time, but she won’t countenance it. Bob noted that you only live about twenty minutes away, less even when traffics quiet, and I noticed that your stable could easily accommodate a few more ponies. Between you, I’m sure” She paused and pulled a face. “Looking at it now, I suppose I was, indeed am being a bit unfair on you, but…” she trailed off and looked somewhat worried and even a little abashed.

Bob winked and grinned at me, mouthing, ‘I did warn her!’ I smiled back at him, both of us enjoying his bubbly wife’s sudden lapse of self-assurance, such a break from her customary confident, domineering persona. It didn’t last long!

Mandy glared at the pair of us. “Well, are you going to sit there and tell me that you are not interested in extending your stable stock?”

“Not to mention also taking in a mere lodger” Bob chuckled then flinched back in mock terror as his wife swept a threatening hand in his direction.

“Okay, okay”, I quickly reassured her. “I’m very grateful, more than that, completely overwhelmed by everything you have done, are doing for me, and of course, I’d love to have Sally stay at my place, and she certainly won’t be a mere ‘lodger’ as you put it!” I gave Bob a hard look. “I just need the T’s crossed and the I’s dotted, particularly in respect of your new acquisitions. I was a touch brain dead, or maybe brain boggled after you showed me that first pony, that stallion and was told it was mine!”

Bob nodded. “Okay, Honey, from the top. Once upon a time, there was a very silly….oh very well if you want me to knock all the frills off!”

Ten minutes later, I sipped at a lukewarm coffee while considering everything I’d just been told. I was a little uneasy, but then again, looking at my hosts and their sizeable operation, why should I feel concerned. They weren’t. I still wanted some clarity though I decided.

“So, there will be no comebacks?” I asked. “These Russian friends of yours don’t sound like the nicest of people, far from it, and I’ve no desire to wake up one morning sharing my bed with a horses head, or worse, not wake up at all because my severed head is laying alongside someone else’s pillow!” 

“Not going to happen” Bob shook his head. “Trust me, and strictly speaking, they are not friends of mine. I barely had anything to do with them. Like I said earlier, friends of a friend of a friend style business acquaintances. Your stallion became greedy and ambitious as well as careless. He blotted his copybook big time. He had to go along with wifey, who also knew more about certain things than was good for her to know. Trust me; the bad guys are at one end of the chain, and we are at the other end, and it's a very long unbreakable chain! ”

I nodded; I liked the way he divorced himself and his wife from the ‘bad guys’. “ But the other three?” I queried.

“I believe the term is ‘collateral damage’. Somebody wanted to make an example, so the two kids plus that female hunk of blubber and muscle employed as a bodyguard got caught by the shrapnel! No doubt, it serves to send out a pretty basic message to all the other minions of lesser or greater status. Cross the line, and you’re history and not just you! Many of those new oligarchs aren’t just mega-rich but also wield the sort of behind-the-scenes political power that the Sicilian Mafia clans and their derivates can only dream about possessing!

“Hardly cost us a thing either”, Mandy giggled. “As Bob said, a friend of a friend and so on and at the end of the line, my stable awaiting them. Why waste such excellent animals by adding them to the foundations of a new highway overpass or whatever the equivalent is over there! Much better this way for everybody concerned” she paused and laughed. “Well, nearly everybody!”

“One of those things that came up out of the blue,” Bob added, rubbing his hands together. “Received a guarded phone call about some possible ‘merchandise’ of interest, a few more details a day later along with some photos and well, you know the rest more or less? A very satisfactory arrangement all round, I believe”.

I nodded slowly, very satisfactory except as Mandy had hinted, for the five ponies. My new stallion who’s greedy foolishness had initiated his demise along with that of his gorgeous wife and their bodyguard, Sally’s giant Medusa! Plus the two kids, youngsters in their late teens, I wondered just how innocent they were regarding their fathers illegal business activities. Not that it made any difference now anyway.

The daughter was another stunner, an eighteen-year-old version of her mother, albeit with a lot more on offer in the chest department. Her fate was in the balance as Mandy debated what to do with her. A few months earlier, she’d have joined her mother performing as a duo in the dressage arena. Still, Mandy had ready filled that particular slot, plus she’d already assigned mamma in her mind to the mature singleton role. Would the girl end up occupying a stall, or would she be assigned elsewhere or even sold on to someone else?

I doubted the latter. Mandy hadn’t gotten hands-on with her as she had with the girl's mother, but I’d seen her fingers twitching, and the look in her eyes when she showed her to me plus I’d learned from Sally the other day that Bob wasn’t the only one with a penchant for sexual encounters with younger flesh. I had gone upstairs to change and freshen up after taking Beauty for a spin when I saw  Susan coming down the narrower staircase from the top floor carrying a tray of dishes. She’d smiled at me in rather an odd way, or so it seemed. 

I hadn’t thought about it over much at the time and only remembered later when we were in the enormous kitchen preparing supper, Susan having a well earned night off. Sally was standing on a chair in front of the big cooker making a couple of cheese and onion omelettes, and I was prepping salad seated at the big kitchen table.

“Hey”, I called just as she was about to tip her egg mix into an omelette pan. “What gives with the top floor?”

Sally paused. “How do you mean?” She half-turned spatula in hand.

“I saw Susan coming down that other flight of stairs with a tray of dishes and pots, gave me a sort of furtive look and scuttled away. What was that all about? Has Bob got his mad brother locked away in the attic or something? Macabre family secret discovered in country house!” I laughed, quoting an imaginary headline in one of the more sensational Sunday papers.

Sally didn’t say anything but just looked at me while I felt my face colour slightly, feeling a little foolish as I thought about the stables and kennels. Hell, even if that were true, it would hardly be the most sensational thing an intrusive press could publish about Mr and Mrs Montague-Smythe's place in the country. 

Sally shrugged her shoulders. “I expect you’ve realised by now that Bob and Mandy are, Mmm, well shall we say they both have rather high sex drives, Bob especially” she paused and giggled, giving me a mischievous wink. “It runs in the family. However, Bob tends to expend quite a lot of his vigour shafting his ponyboys; they’re both strongly bisexual, you know, Mandy as well as Bob”.

I nodded. I knew about Bob and suspected Mandy was the same, anyway hadn’t she said something about a relationship with Sarah, her stable mistress once. In one ear and out the other as usual, I scolded myself. 

“It's forbidden, well sort of forbidden, like the Hogwarts dark forest!” Sally giggled and gestured upwards with her wooden spatula.

We’d sat side by side on the sofa in the big lounge a few nights previously, sharing a huge bowl of popcorn and watching the first Harry Potter movie on the biggest wall-mounted TV I’d ever seen. I’d read the books but never seen the movie, so Sally insisted we watch it. ‘Bob bought it for watching sport mainly’ Sally had told me.

“The third-floor corridor, out of bounds to all who do not want to die a most painful death or something along those lines”, I quoted and then added, “So why?”

Sally thought for a moment and then shrugged her shoulders as she made her mind up. “I can’t see that it’s that much of a big deal. Hell, it hardly matters given everything else that goes on here!” She muttered, verbally mirroring my thoughts of a moment ago and then added pensively. “You know I’ve never even been up there myself, not once!”

I waited, kitchen knife poised over a cucumber, for her to continue, but we seemed to have reached a control, alt and delete moment, crashed as Sally stood there staring silently into space, not even moving. I casually eyed a tomato, wondering if I should say something or simply chuck the tomato at her. I had just settled on the tomato option when she jerked back into life.

“I don’t even know how many she has up there, you know, none of us girls knows. Susan, I expect, does. After all, she feeds them, not that you’d get a word out of her, far too loyal. Bob probably does, but otherwise, Madam is very tight-lipped about her little sapphic harem on the top floor. I don’t know why but she’s always been like that, and Bob won’t say anything. He can be such a closed mouth grump at times!” She complained and tipped her egg mix into the pan.

“Sapphic Harem?” I exclaimed.

Sally replied without bothering to turn around. “Uh-huh, that's what we call it, me, and the girls” She paused and added. “Except for Suzy, of course, she refers to it as ‘The Attic Clit Club’ Sally laughed. “Or at least she did until Sarah tanned her rump and reminded her that this was the wrong place for cute little girls to get over cheeky!”

On my first visit, I remembered Sandra being in harness for her security misdemeanour and wondered how many times young Suzy had ended up the temporary occupant of a stall? Or had Sarah's warning implied something more long term and perhaps less consensual? 

“Anyway,” Sally continued scraping away at her sizzling pan with the spatula. “Madam spends more nights in the room above the master bedroom than in the marital bed. Very busy nights, I expect, although I doubt whoever she keeps up there is that way inclined, less fun for her if they were, but then the ponies don’t want to be ponies, likewise the doggies, do they?”

“Can’t argue with you there, kiddo!”

“Bob tends to be the opposite, highly active during the day with his ponyboys and then likes an early night. Every so often, the pair of them take off together for a romantic weekend away, no doubt to re-establish close contact. Kind of sweet, I think. Hey, pass me that bowl of grated cheese and chopped onion, will you, sweetie”.

Infuriatingly that was about the extent of the information I’d extracted from the tiny woman! Sally didn’t seem to share my curiosity or at least had gotten over such down the years. All I could glean in addition was that the boss lady kept more than one captive bed warmer upstairs and that she appreciated youth as much as her husband did and tended to refresh her collection as they aged. Of course, Sally had added all of legal age and then spoilt it by saying, ’at least I assume so!’

Yeah, I thought to myself as we turned away from the daughter's stall to visit her brother, I know precisely what that gleam in your eyes means, Mrs Montague-Smythe and what you intend for that little lovely. You’ve messed me about quite enough recently, good intentions aside, and at some point my price will be another of your little guided tours just to satisfy my curiosity!

The girl's nineteen-year-old brother had inherited his father's golden look along with his mother's slender frame but broad-shouldered and more muscularly defined with a very trim waist. There was no question mark hanging over him nor the role he would soon fulfil for his new owner. We both watched as Bob picked up a piece of chalk and then wrote a name on the board beside the stall in an elegant hand.  Bob wasn’t exactly drooling but not far off doing so, I thought, giving Mandy a discrete wink and receiving a knowing grin in return. 

By this time tomorrow, his new master would have him in full harness, nor would that be the only new and humiliating experience ‘Buttercup’ as the newly chalked name board proclaimed would have to endure. I made a mental note, would Bob object to an audience I wondered for that would be an interesting spectacle to observe. 

I just happened to look along the row of stalls at that moment as the irrepressible Suzy exited one of them; our eyes met, and she grinned broadly, promptly making a rude gesture with her hands. She formed a circle with the thumb and forefinger of her left hand and inserted the forefinger of her right hand through it moving it swiftly backwards and forwards. Somehow I got the impression Bobs proclivities were a common sight within the building. So I doubted he’d object to my playing voyeur as his new ponyboy lost its cherry!