Chapter 20

Talib walked through the house to the stable. “I was under the impression that not everyone would be here.”

Adieen shrugged. “It sounded like you wanted to work with us individually, so we picked nights for the first week.”

Talib considered, then stopped and turned to the not-so-discretely following gaggle. “Ok, you can watch, but only if you promise not to distract anyone. Otherwise, I did bring everyone’s gear.”

Everyone stopped for a moment, then the girls nodded. Talib shrugged, and turned back to Adieen. “Ok, lead on. By the way, how are the mods?”

“I felt awkward and off-balance for the first day, but nothing else major. Things look… different taller.” She grinned at him, as they arrived. “I am definitely attracting more attention. Not to much, but enough to notice.”

“Good to hear. Ok, so first off: I’m going to put the harness on you. The boots and the arm-binder don’t count as part of the harness; that’s you becoming a pony, but we’ll help you.” He motioned to Slave, who was carrying a larger case this time. She set it down, and opened it up.

“But I have to be naked first, right?”

“Yep.” He stood there and waited.

Adieen stood there and blushed, than started to strip.

She paused, and Talib spoke up, gently: “Everything, please.” He waited while the last two pieces were removed. “Did the rings take ok? No issues?”

Adieen shrugged. “Not that I noticed.”

Talib raised his hands, then stopped himself and put them back down. “What?”

“Oh, sorry. I just… Most times I would test them, give them a bit of a tug and see how well they hold. But it’d be a bit painful for you, and I don’t want to presume, especially without asking.”

“Go ahead and check. We want to be sure everything’s ok, after all.”

“If you are sure…” Talib’s hands came up again, and he carefully lifted each ring, checked how well it rotated, then gave it a tug.

Adieen reflexively stepped forward. “Ouch, just a bit, yeah. If I hadn’t been ready for it, that would have been… You said these are for the reins?”

“Yeah, they’ll be attachment points. We’ll see how sensitive you are, but it won’t usually be sharp tugs.”

Adieen took a deep breath. “Ok. So, what’s next?”

“Boots. You probably want to take a seat.” There was a bench nearby, probably for just this purpose, which he indicated. “Me and Slave will help.”

“I can get boots on.”

Slave produced one of the boots: Long black leather, shod horse-hoof at the end, laces up the front.

“Ok, maybe I could use the help.”

Talib grinned, and started to help her put them on. They went to just below her knees. “They’re reinforced, and they’ll help make sure you don’t twist an ankle. Even those of you who didn’t take the foot mod.”

When they had finished, Talib helped her up. “How’s it feel? Can you walk?”

Adieen took a few tentative steps. “I pity those who skipped the foot mod. But it feels fine, no problem walking.”

“No tight spots, or anything rubbing?”

“No, I’m good.”

“Good. Now we have the armbinder.”

“So we won’t be pulling the cart with our hands then.”

“No. First off, this will actually be easier, and less stress on your joints, but also it’ll make sure you don’t have any trouble with the conditions of that bet.”

She shrugged, and turned around as indicated. It didn’t take Talib and Slave long to fit her arms into the sleeve, locking hand-to-elbow. “Ok, that feel comfortable? It should be tight enough that you can’t move your arms, but lot pinching or feel like it’s cutting off anything.”

Adieen experimented a moment. “I think you’ve got it.”

“Ok then: We’ll do the harness, and I may ask questions and such, but from now on if you are in this you are to consider yourself a pony. That means all the training I’ll be doing applies, and you should expect me to treat you as an animal, not a human being. Got it?”

“Got it.”

“We won’t be doing more than a bit-gag, so you’ll be able to talk a bit, and at the very least complain loudly if you are in trouble. Do so, if you need it. We aren’t here to hurt you, after all. If you have a problem, speak up.” He paused. “On the other hand, if you don’t have a problem, I’d rather you didn’t speak up. We could spend most of our training time trying to get you to learn to whinny or neigh, but I don’t think it’s necessary. But horses do not talk. Got it?”

“Got it.”

Slave had picked up a crop, and it lashed out quickly to Adieen’s ass. “No talking!”

“She’s the enforcer. That could have been answered with a nod, so it should have been. Understand?”

Adieen’s mouth opened, then shut, and she nodded.

“Good girl.” He ran a hand down her hair. “Ok, next is the harness…”

It was a complicated set up, tying into her arm-binder, and having separate loops going around each leg, but managing to leave the crotch exposed, except for what appeared to be the only ornamental piece: a fringe of beaded leather on the front. The tail fastened to the harness, low enough to appear to be coming out of her buttocks, but not actually impinging on movement.

“Any pinching? Any place where it’s rubbing? Move a bit before you answer, to be sure.”

Adieen took the moment to do so, even taking a couple of high-steps for the fun of it. Which turned into a several more, as she realized what high-stepping did with the beaded fringe.

Talib stopped her, and grinned. “Did I judge the length right?”

She blushed, and nodded.

“Ok. And no pinching or rubbing, right?”

She nodded again.

“Good. Now the bridle.”

It was one piece, but took a moment to tighten. Again, Talib asked if anything was binding.

Adieen shook her head no, then spoke. “But I do have to pee, sorry. I can be right back…”

Talib shook his head, then considered, and turned away to walk to the n-pad programmer. “Slave, make sure she doesn’t go anywhere.”

Adieen looked confused, but waited. It didn’t take long before he was back, and planted an n-pad as low as he could with the harness. “I think you’ll let me get away with this…” He waited a moment for the pad to declare it was done, then put it away.

He pulled up a virtual terminal a moment, fiddled with a setting, then activated it and dismissed the terminal.

Urine suddenly flowed freely from between Adieen’s legs. “Wha? I can’t stop!”

Talib held up a hand to stall Slave’s punishing swat. “Sorry, this was just too much fun. Ponies do not wait to go to the bathroom; they use the ground. That was a simple catheter pad; I set it to open when you are full, and then close back up when you are almost empty.” She’d stopped. “I’ll take it off if you want, and I will set it back to allow normal control when we are done training, but I’ve found some pony-girls find it fun to lose control, or at least the humiliation makes them feel more like a pony. I thought you might be one who would at least accept it. It doesn’t cover the other — I’d rather you held that, and told me.” He waited a moment, to make sure she’d understood. “So, are we leaving it?”

“Uh…”, and Adieen stopped herself, then nodded definitively.

“Good, and thanks. Almost done getting you kitted up.” He held out a bit, and she opened her mouth to accept it. “One last thing.” And he snapped blindfolds on her.

Adieen stepped back instinctively, but Slave was ready with a swat to the rear, and Talib was ready to thread the reins. “Ok, first training is just to follow the reins…”

David pulled the unlaced boot off. “So how was it?”

“Not bad. Interesting. Definitely a lot of work. It’ll take a bit for me to get used to all the commands. It’s harder than I thought.”

“And we haven’t actually started on any of the main cart training yet; that’ll be a whole different set of commands.”

“I see why you wanted so much time.”

He nodded. “So, you think you can convince the rest to join in the training? This week I’d rather do two at once, rather than one at a time. So we can up the schedule a bit. We’ll see how it goes after that.”

“I might be able to talk them into that.”

“Thanks. And, should I remove that catheter? I’ve set it back to normal, but if you let me leave it I’ll set it back to automatic anytime you’re a pony. Your choice.”

“I… Um, I’ll think about it. For now it doesn’t really matter, does it?”

“Not until your next training session, no.” He stood, and stretched. “Well, thanks for the good training session, and I hope your friends are as good at this as you are. Have a good night.”

“Good night.”

And he left her there to get re-dressed.