Part 31: Night-Mare
By Firefly
The longest silence in Tall Tails history. That's what you could call it. Everyone had watched as Aria left, before dispersing leaving Clover and Hayley standing in the middle of the Flower Dressage field. Even Hayley stood there for a long ten minutes, in absolute silence with her eyes trained on the direction Aria had walked off in. If there was one person she was extremely protective of and fond of, it was her. And this pony, this newbie, had just stomped on the woman's heart with both of her hooves.
It wasn't until Clover turned and was beginning to walk off that Hayley seemed to come back to reality. Reaching out and grabbing roughly at Clover and yanking her around. She clipped a lead to Clover's bridle without a word and then held up the bit in front of the woman's lips, "Mouth open. NOW!" She said, in a very firm and slightly loud voice. Clover had never seen Hayley upset before and so without any sort of hesitation, she opened her mouth, to which the bit was roughly and unceremoniously jammed into and locked in place. Hayley said nothing else, leading Clover off towards the barn, giving the leash a rough tug any time Clover lagged behind even a little bit.
It was not up to her, to determine Clover's fate within the facility. But right now, she felt it was her job to make sure Clover understood the scope of her actions and what she'd just done. And in the world of ponyplay and Tall Tails, there was one such punishment that did that job well enough.
Clover was going to become a Mare.
Now. Mare-ing was both a choice and a punishment at Tall Tails. Some guests opted to partake in a mare experience while they were attending. Mare was basically a more restricted pony. Mares were kept blindfolded unless working. At night were fitted with special headphones that played white noise to isolate them, unless training they were often hobbled with short chains between their hooves, along with several other options they could choose from. However, when a pony was mared as punishment. Things were a bit different. It was a punishment after all and being uncomfortable in a way was the point.
In Clover's case, she was tugged roughly into the tack room where Sophie was sitting at her little desk filling out requisition forms. She looked up, "Ah. I wondered how long it would be before you dragged her in here." She said in her slightly heavy french accent.
Hayley pulled Clover to the dressing rack, attaching her collar to the rack to keep her bent over and turning to regard Sophie.
"I've already prepped everything." Sophie said, motioning to a pile of jet-black equipment laying on a nearby table.
"Then get to it, Sophie. She's to be fed nothing but slop. She'll be strapped in so she is not allowed to sit. Full isolation. The works. And she's not to leave her stall until a decision is made. Am I fucking clear?" Hayley asked from between gritted teeth.
"Oh, crystal clear my dearest Hayley. Why don't you relax and go up to the house, I think we all need a breather right now. Including..." She cracked her crop across Clover's backside rather hard.
"...This one."
Clover had let out a sharp, pained cry at the crack of her backside.
Hayley nodded curtly and turned to Clover, grabbing her chin roughly and forcing her to look at her, "Look, Clover. I'm really really not impressed with what you did or said. Aria was just trying to help you. During your time as a mare, you need to think long and hard about what's important to you. Being better than everyone else? Flaunting it like some vain cow? Or is there something better behind those eyes of yours, because for your sake. I hope there is. You came in here, winning us all over with your soft demeanor. Your kind, hardworking heart. And what you just did was SO out of character that I can barely stand to look at you right now. I want to be clear, I'm not sure you can come back from this. But, part of me hopes you do. Because we did love you. Truly." She noted the pain in Clover's eyes and then stood up, walking out of the room without so much as another word leaving Sophie to tend to Clover.