JUST A LATE SUMMER GARDEN PARTY last part

V
While Pat led me over the table, back to where Shan was standing, she held me with one hand by a very close rein so that with her other hand she could support me a bit by the shoulder and occasionally stroke me over my head. She was so close that I heard her whisper something into my ear: “Just make a funny move each time I’ll pull down your bit. Don’t worry, I’ll do it very gently”. And then she gave a subtle, little pull and I lifted one leg and everybody laughed. Strangely, by now I felt no longer ashamed but just part of the show and I did my best to make them have fun. Later I realised these were the first symptoms of having been effectively “broken”. It must have been fairy tricky on that line of garden tables without me seeing a thing, but we managed without tumbling down. Pat proved a good navigator. At last we got at the other end, because I heard Shan making compliments and felt the two girls now hugging me. Then Pat held the lead again, up tight and said: “Just hold on quietly”. This is when I felt somebody, probably Shan, loosening the strap at the bottom of that poncho I’d got on latest. “You don’t need this any more. I’m sure you’ll be warm enough without. And I’m sure you’ll love to have your arms back”, she said.
After taking off the poncho and fixing something onto my knees she said: “A pity you can’t see it, but you’re now in a beautiful outfit, completely brown and furry”. Again I felt grateful to her and when my arms were free I managed to embrace her. “Now I’ll give you some nice and warm mittens to put on. Just hold”. And indeed, I felt the soft enclosures around my hands, but immediately after Shan had fixed those, Pat suddenly pulled down the rein quite harshly and told me firmly: “Down!”
With that bridle still on there was nothing else for me to do than getting on my knees and hands. If I didn’t the bit would hurt terribly in my mouth. Now I felt that they must have put something quite firm on my knees and also those mittens were quite hard at the outside, as if they were hoofs. Pat made me crawl over the tables and I could hear the `hoofs´ on my knees and hands tapping the table while she carefully took a seat on my back. The guests were cheering happily. When we got to the other end Shan was there again and she complimented me for a job well done. This time she pressed a nice piece of chocolate into my mouth and told Pat to get off. Then she guided my carefully down from the table onto a bench and onto the grass. Some nice and quiet music was put on and she took my reins to make me stand up and dance, making sure that I wouldn’t bump into anything. Together, we danced quietly and elegantly (I presume) through the garden, with me on her lead. When the music stopped the people were cheering at us. Then another piece of music was put on, a polka this time and Pat took over the reins from Shan.
At first she made me dance pretty wildly, but then, applying her reigns quite gently this time, she made me go on my knees. Luckily, she didn’t decide to ride me straightaway, but even without that she didn’t make it easy for me. I had to crawl pretty fast over the grass and tapping away over the terrace while she shouted: “gallop!” or “trot!” But I had no idea how to do that and then she said: “We’re going to teach you, stupid little pony!” And then she jumped on top of me, making me crawl away as fast as I could (which was pretty slow under the circumstances!), away from the party and the music. When I heard the music and the party goers faraway she made me stop, got off and I could feel that she tied the reins onto a tree or so. Then I heard her opening a car door.
Feeling rather uneasy about what Pat might have in mind for me I was glad to hear the reassuring voice of Shan again. “That was pretty good without any training. We’d love to train you getting much better than that, including a tap-dance on your fours! But let me take out that horrible bit and make you see something again. My sister really made you suffer too much”.
And she cuddled me while she gently loosened the halter, took out the bit and turned the balaclava around. Then she put a kiss on my wool-covered mouth.
I really like her! At last I could look around again and now I saw Pat standing next to what looked like a very small pony trailer, inviting me with a sweeping gesture to get in. When I got a bit closer I discovered it was not a normal pony trailer, but one full of soft cushions and lined with adorable hanging blankets. It was all so overwhelmingly inviting that I was about to just jump into it, without thinking. But Shan withheld me from this impulsive move, taking me gently by the arm and making me sit on the back of the trailer. Then she took off the ‘hoofs’ that were still fixed to my knees and hands.
Pat sat down at my other side and then Shan started talking very seriously to me: “We had a great garden party, wasn’t it? And you did so well! Everybody liked your way of dancing and your sweater show. We could see that you had a great time yourself as well. Are your sure you want to go away with us now? We’d take you to our farm where we do train horses and we would very much like you to be one of them. After a lot of training we want to go with you to special, private freak shows all over the world. But you are a free man at the moment. We are not going to force you in any way.” [to be continued?]

VI
I got up and did a few steps, just to check whether Shan was right about me being a free man. I even took off that balaclava, because it felt very hot and itchy. Then I sat down again on the edge of the trailer between the two girls, not quite knowing what to do. I looked inside over my shoulder. Yes I was free and perhaps I should just go home now, thanking them for the nice evening. But I was also eager to dive into their little mohair heaven on wheels and just see what would happen next. Then Pat got up and put herself in front of me, with one foot in the opening of the trailer. While bending over towards me she put her hands on my shoulders and giggled. Then she asked me: “Are you a free man or are you my free little pony? Just say it, right now!” I looked at her, felt overwhelmed by the closeness of her hairy sweater, laid my head on her lap and, feeling a lump rise in my throat, I whispered: “I’m your pony”. Immediately after that uncontrollable, vehement sobs came from deep inside me. But Shan and Pat embraced and kissed me in consolation and together we rolled over inside the trailer where they made me feel so warm and cosy that my sobbing became less. Soon after it had stopped completely and I was overcome by fatigue instead, they gently disentangled and jumped out again, embraced each other in triumph and closed the door to drive me to their stable. Now I really felt happily “broken” by them and thrilled by their cosy trailer I buried my face into the woollen cushions, dreaming about being trained by these wonderful young mistresses as their silly, hairy pony for the rest of my life, doing tap-dances and trotting for them in complex figures.

Postscript:
It’s 10 years later now and I’m still on the farm. Our living together turned out really splendid. The stable they put me in had been prepared like the trailer, not much larger but provided with a shower, toilet and fridge. I remember they just told me to get in and then they locked the gate (there was no door) from the outside. I discovered something to eat in the fridge and soon after fell asleep. Their training began the next morning. Sometimes it was really hard and Pat could be cruel once in a while, especially when I wasn’t ready to do the things she wanted. Then she could really hurt and humiliate me. But immediately afterwards she would be really nice to me again.
After a few weeks of intensive training, during which they always were wearing lovely mohair sweaters of different kinds and colours and gave me different mohair costumes to put on, there came a very special moment I’ll never forget. It was Shan who brought me the cloths I’d been wearing when I went to that garden party. She told me to put those on and join them outside on their veranda. I remember my surprise that I could just freely walk out of that stable that time. When I got there I saw them dressed without any mohair for the first time. Two pretty girls, nice but without that mystic power around them. Then they bluntly told me that they also wanted a normal life with me on their farm. And they showed me around, which was also very nice. It was basically a sheep and goat farm. Guess what wool they were specialized in!
When we got back to the house they said: “Why couldn’t the three of us just form a little commune? There is too much work on the farm for the two of us and we need a strong man like you to take part in the day-to-day operation if we want to generate enough income.” This sounded quite sensible, but they saw my hesitation: what about my mohair dream? I think it was Pat who then said: “Don’t worry my darling. Any time, all of a sudden we can change into our hairy outfits, ha-ha! Then we know you’ll immediately get into your role as our circus pony. This is when we’ll do your regular training and take you to perform with us at the shows. By the way, the first show will be in two weeks time and there is still a lot of work to do. Is that a deal?”
I felt reassured and actually looked forward to a normal life on this farm, next to what was already becoming my alter ego. So I told them: “Yes, it’s a deal” and I remember having kissed them both on their cheeks to consolidate this new dimension to our relationship. Then we had some coffee with nice cakes to celebrate our deal, but straight after that they’d gone inside and came out again with nice and fluffy cardigans, gave me a cuddle and said: “Go and get your pony suit. It’s training time!”
Since then we have been to shows about once every month and I’ve been all over the world with them. During the shows I’m always blindfolded and really have to concentrate on what they want to let me do. The programme is never the same, but the individual components I know very well of course. Sometimes I make a mistake and then it’s always Pat who gets really angry and cruel at me, which the audience seems to like, judging from the noise they make. But I don’t, so I’m still trying to improve all the time.