Roger stayed up all night working on his story and drawings of PonyGirl. Somewhere about six a.m. he fell asleep, his head resting on top his kitchen table.

It had been a busy week for Roger. He scraped up the last of his savings and flew out to Los Angels to meet with Lance-Price Corporation. They were the up and coming publishers of off-center stories. They had no niche in the publishing market as they published things most people claimed to never read. Those people made those claims on the questionnaire asking if they read transgender stories. They were also the same people who drove away from home or work, ten miles to the bookstore or convenience store to buy books published by Lance-Price Corporation. For a company that published books noone purchased, an awful lot of Lance-Price books left the shelves. The number of remainders sent back to the company were the envy of every publishing company. The numbers were less than two percent. Those books that noone read were being sold to nobody, obviously.

"There are my preliminary sketches of PonyGirl." Roger set his drawing up on the easel in front of the board members.

The members were all silent as they stared at a drawing. PonyGirl was standing in the desert with a big black stallion beside her. In the distance was a mountain as a backdrop. The whole scene was breathtaking. The woman was obviously PonyGirl.

"If you don’t mind, Mr. Tanner. Please leave the room and let us discuss this idea of yours." The woman at the end of the table looked around at the others sitting there.

Uh oh, here it comes, the old, ‘sorry but it’s not what we were looking for bit. Roger started to collect his drawings before he left as requested.

"No, no, please leave your drawings, Mr. Tanner. You may leave your storyboard and your manuscript too, if you don’t mind." She slid her chair back and stood up.

"Uh, sure." Roger blinked as he turned and walked out of the room. Did they like it or were they going to slice and dice him, like that bitch at Scientific Galaxy did? Roger got mad every time he thought about that bitch. Consequently, he tried real hard to not think about her.

The secretary outside the boardroom looked up at Roger. "Yes…, okay…, I’ll tell him."

"Mr. Tanner, the board has made a decision and would like you to return."

Roger’s insides turned to Jell-O. This was a make or break situation for him. His money was almost gone. He was going to have to sell his property and find a job. That meant a job in some big city, commuting to work every day, sitting behind a desk and drawing sketches for another person’s ideas. That person would be someone like him who managed to sell his or her story.

He closed the door behind him as he walked into the boardroom. No one was smiling but they weren’t frowning or scowling at him either.

The woman had Roger’s drawing lying on the table in front of her. "It’s a little further out then we like to publish…,"

Roger’s heart sank. He knew it. Now comes the part where she says, ‘thank you for stopping, please bring back any new ideas you may have in the future.’

"However, we are not completely without courage to push the envelope. Your PonyGirl is acceptable to us. The story is a little rough and has too much sadism. Can you lighten it up a little? Leave out the sexual playthings? No dildo or butt things. If PonyGirl sells, you can start pushing the envelope yourself. In moderation of course."

"You will buy the story?" Roger couldn’t believe it. Nine months of his life was poured into PonyGirl and he was beginning to believe he had made a mistake going down this path.

"We will buy it." She nodded at the man next to Roger.

The man handed Roger a stack of legal forms. "The standard contract. No plagiarism. No copying someone’s ideas. This is your idea alone or if you had collaboration then the others must sign and agree to the terms. Take it home and read it over. Have your lawyer take a look . Bring it back with a notarized signature and you are the author of PonyGirl series.

Roger got on the plane and flew back to Albuquerque never thinking about the flight or where he was. He had one goal. Get home and work on the PonyGirl story.

Chapter 12.

That night, at his kitchen table, Roger went over the contract. It was a standard publisher’s contract and there was no legalese in there that was couched in vague terms. Roger filled out the forms and stuck them in a manilla envelope. If Ms. Sharon Clawson at Lance-Price accepted his contract, then by this time next week Roger could stop worrying about bills.

He took the contract and walked out to the barn. Pal was no where to be seen. Roger dug down into the bottom of the grain bin and retrieved a bottle of Morgan David wine. It was cheap wine but what the hell, it was wine and he felt like celebrating. He worked the plastic cork out and took a big swig.

Bottle in hand, Roger walked out to the front of the barn and put his tongue up against his teeth and whistled. "Where you at Pal? I need someone to celebrate with me."

Two hours and an empty bottle later, Roger was passed out on the ground. Pal walked up and nudged Roger in the back. He kept nudging Roger.

"Go away. I drank the whole damn bottle myself. You’re too late." Roger rolled over on his back to look up at Pal.

Pal nudged Roger again and again before Roger gave up and in a drunken stupor stumbled into the house. Pal was satisfied his friend would be okay. He trotted back out into the desert.

"Ooooooohhhhh" Roger was holding his head under the sink as water ran across his head and neck.

Finally he had more than he could take and straightened up. Looking into the mirror was of little help. He was looking at seriously bloodshot eyeballs. "Damn horse could have been there to help me drink that damn bottle and I wouldn’t have needed to do it all by myself."

Roger remembered why he drank the bottle and started looking for the publishing contract before he vaguely remembered something about taking it to the barn to show Pal. He pushed open the screen door and stumbled out of the house. When the screen door slammed shut behind him it felt like someone had dropped an anvil on his head. "Ooooooooohhhhhh"

Roger stopped in front of his jeep and laid his throbbing head down on the hood as he bent over the jeep. "Oooooooohhhhhhhh, I am gonna have a heart to heart talk with that damn horse. He wasn’t holding up his end of the drinking. I had to do it for both of us. Next time, no more mister nice guy. I ain’t drinking his share."

Pal was nudging Roger in the back.

"Go away, you Benedict Arnold. I don’t need your help this morning." Roger was holding his head. He didn’t know if he wanted it to fall off or if he wanted it to stay on. Either way would suit him just fine.

Pal nudged Roger again.

"Would you mind? You keep pushing me and I’m going to vomit all over you." Roger slowly, gently, and carefully turned his head to look at his friend.

Pal was holding Roger’s publishing contract in his mouth.

"Good, I see you have looked it over. What do you think?" Pal was shaking his head yes as Roger slowly reached out and took the manilla envelope.

"Thanks, never hurts to have a second opinion. I’ll drive into town and drop it off at the post office." Roger gingerly walked around to the side of his jeep and even more slowly climbed in.

"Oh god…., uuuuuuuggggggggg….." Roger had his head hanging over the side as he up chucked all over the ground.

Roger slid back out of the seat and laid the envelope up on the hood. "Take that to the post office and don’t spend too much at the general store…., Uuuuuuuuuggggggggg"

Roger headed for the bathroom. Things were coming on both ends. He stopped at his front door. "Uuuuuuuuggggggggggg"

Chapter 13.

"Hi Pal. What do you have for me? Is that to be mailed?" Diane watched as Pal stuck his nose up in the door of her store. McKesson’s General Store was a post office, grocery store, feed store, drug store, veterinarian supplies, and not least, the store for everyone to stop at and gossip.

Diane walked over to the freezer. "What will it be today? You want the usual?"

Pal shook his head up and down.

"Okay, one ice cream sandwich coming up." She reached into the freezer and picked up an ice cream bar. She took the wrapper off of it as she walked to the front door. Taking the envelope from Pal, she handed him the ice cream sandwich in return.

"Tell Roger I’ll stamp it and mail it and he owes me." She reached up and scratched Pal behind the ears.

He shook his head yes before he turned around and trotted off.

"Damn horse thinks he a dog." Came from the other side of the room where several men were in a group.

Laughing as she carried the envelope back to her counter, Diane looked over at Lynn. "Pal is a lot smarter than any dog. You know what your problem is, Lynn? You are jealous. You want a horse that is half as intelligent as Pal and you know you ain’t ever going to find one."

Lynn looked up sharply at Diane as she walked behind her counter. "That ain’t true. I had a horse a hell of a lot smarter than Pal. Why…, me and him were out in the cuts one day when this big old rattler attacked me and…,"

One of the other men slapped Lynn on the back. "Yeah we know, Lynn. Heard the story a hundred times already. Is that the one where you were bitten and you horse stomped the snake and raced you back to the doctor?"

"Uh, yeah, that’s the one." Lynn looked around at the faces looking back at him.

Raymond turned his head and winked at one of the other men. "That ain’t the way I heard it. I heard you fell out of the saddle, your horse picked you up and tossed you back on and carried you back to the doctor."

"Well…,"

"Wait a minute. I heard he bit the snake. The horse threw him off and carried the snake back to the doctor." Paul chipped in.

Lynn’s face turned red. "Listen, you guys are getting it all turned inside out. Why my horse was the smartest horse ever born."

"Is that why you sold him? He kept wanting to drive the pickup and you had to hide the keys to keep him out of it?" Paul was pushing the tall tales men always spun when they got started with the yarns.

"Well no, I mean, he could drive and that’s no joke. Why one time…"

Diane shook her head as she stamped Roger’s letter and stopped listening. She had heard these wild fabricated lies too often for them to be worth listening to one more time.

Chapter 14.

It wasn’t sunup yet and there was a light knock on Roger’s door. He started to tell them to go away when he remembered who knocked like that. "I’M COMING!"

Roger rolled out of bed, slid into his pants, grabbed his shirt and boots and headed for the front door, hoping he hadn’t been dreaming about the knock.

She was standing there in the cool morning air looking more beautiful than ever. Pal was standing behind her. Roger shook his head as he opened the door. "Does Pal know you? I’ve never seen him take up with someone like he has you."

She laughed as she headed for the kitchen. "We speak the same language. He likes you a lot. He said you raised him from a colt after his mother was killed. Spent a lot of nights walking the floor with him when he got the colic."

Roger stopped and looked back at Pal who had his head stuck in the doorway. "He told…, No he didn’t. Who told you that story? You been talking to some of the locals down at the store? Who told you that? Ken? Maybe it was Diane?"

Roger followed Sharra into the kitchen. "You had breakfast yet? I can cook a mean egg and my toast isn’t too bad either."

"I’d love some, thanks. Where’s the skillet? I’ll help."

Roger shook his head as she walked over to the stove. Pal wasn’t the only one in love with this woman.

An hour later they were in the barn. The morning sun was beginning to burn off some of the night chill. Sharra had insisted on removing all her clothes and when she did, Roger was shocked. He was wondering who this PonyGirl really was. He thought he had come up with the idea but Sharra seemed determined to go all the way with the fantasy he had drawn. Roger helped her with her hooves and then put the rest of the PonyGirl rig on her. This time, instead of her arms up behind her, they were chained to the nipple rings she had put in the week she was gone.

He wrapped the leather corset around her small waist and cinched it up. He had no idea how she could breathe. It almost cut her in half. She acted as if she might run off. He didn’t mind her running wild like Pal but he was sure she didn’t need to be doing it in the PonyGirl rig. There were silver chains that fastened from her bridle, to her nipples, to her…, And that nose ring had silver chains leading to her breast rings.

Roger wasn’t sure if she could get back up if she fell down. He looped her reins around a stanchion in Pal’s stall to make sure she didn’t run. He uncovered the sulky and moved it up behind her. The rails had been modified to fit into metal latches on each side of the leather corset around her waist. All he had to do was get the rail in position and the latch self locked as it snapped closed. Roger untied the reins from the stanchion and led her out of the barn. He kept looking at her eyes to see if she was in any pain but she seemed to be faring pretty well for the way she was harnessed up. He did notice an extra sway in her fluid walk with the constriction of the leather corset. Later, when he let her out of that PonyGirl harness, they would have a talk about how tight that corset should be.

"You want a drink?" Roger needed her to be comfortable while he sketched her.

Sharra shook her head no and all her chains jangled.

"Okay, we might as well start." He led her several hundred yards out into the desert. He dropped down to his knees and put the hobbles on her ankles. He took the reins back over her shoulders and looped them to the whip that was on the side of the seat of the sulky.

"Be right back." He walked back to the house to get his sketchpad, easel, seat and pencils.

Chapter 15.

As he was walking out of the house the sheriff’s car pulled up. Dale opened the door and slid out. "Hi Roger."

Roger took a quick check to see if PonyGirl was visible from where he was standing. She was almost hidden but if she moved she would stand out for sure. Roger walked over behind the sheriff’s car so Dale would be looking the other way when he talked to him. "What brings you out, Dale?"

"Had to serve this, Roger. Sorry." Dale reached back into his patrol car, picked up an envelope off the dash, stepped up in front of Roger, and put a summons in his hand.

"What is it?" Roger looked down at the summons.

"Some company called Scientific Galaxy is suing you for breech of contract or something. I didn’t read it all but they are claiming you are their author and you are trying to sell their story to someone called Lance Price Corporation." Dale looked apologetic as he told what he knew about the summons.

"SHIT! THAT FUCKING BITCH IS TRYING TO SCREW ME. GOD WHAT DID I EVER DO TO THAT WOMAN TO DESERVE THIS!" Roger tossed the summons down on the ground and stomped off before he came back.

"DAMN THAT BITCH ALL TO HELL! IF SHE WANTS TO SCREW ME WHY DOESN’T SHE COME OUT HERE AND DO IT PROPER LIKE? I’LL EVEN BEND OVER AND HAND HER THE DAMN VASELINE MYSELF." He stormed off again and then came back.

"SCIENTIFIC GALAXY HAS NO CONTRACT WITH ME AND THEY SURE AS HELL DON’T OWN MY STORY! IT’S ALL THAT FUCKING BITCH’S DOING!"

Roger took a couple deep breaths and looked off into the desert for several minutes as his temper settled down. "Sorry Dale, it’s not your fault. But damn it all to hell, she’s going to fuck me over on this. She will take me to court and Lance Price will back up until they see where the legal ball bounces. By the time we get this settled, I’ll be so broke I’ll be too poor to make it into the homeless shelter."

"Dale, I’d offer you a drink but I’m not very good company right now. If you don’t mind, I’d like some time to myself." Roger reached down and picked up the summons out of the dirt.

"Sure, sorry, Roger. I know the feeling." Dale looked over at the Lamborghini parked beside Roger’s jeep.

Roger knew Dale had figured out he wasn’t alone, but he didn’t explain.

Chapter 16.

After Dale left, Roger walked up to the door of his house and tossed the summons on the ground. He kicked his easel and walked out to where he had PonyGirl tethered.

"I’m sorry but I can’t draw anything. I’m too upset. I’m probably finished with PonyGirl. It was an idea that will never bear fruit." Roger reached up and removed the bridle. "I’ll unhook the sulky and pull it back myself."

Sharra shook her head no. "Roger, it’s not a bad idea. Why don’t you play with it a little? I’m still PonyGirl. Let’s go out to the pavement and you get in the sulky."

"I don’t think so. I’ve had my heart and soul removed by a bitch up in New York. It no longer feels right." Roger dropped to his knees and removed her hobbles.

"If you say so." She bolted for the highway that was a couple hundred yards in front of Roger’s house.

"No wait. I don’t want to." Roger reached for the sulky as it passed him.

He was knocked off his feet by Pal following along behind PonyGirl. "Sharra, wait."

Roger got to this feet and ran after her. He could have easily caught her if Pal hadn’t constantly been in the way. He finally caught up with her as she was standing in the middle of the highway. "What did you do that for? I said I don’t want to draw you. In fact I can’t draw you. I don’t have it in me now."

"If you don’t want to draw me then play with me. Put the bridle back on and make me pull you down the highway." She stamped her hooves on the pavement.

"Whatever." Roger fastened the bridle back up in her mouth and climbed up in the seat in the sulky. The rails had stirrups for his feet. Roger picked up the whip and cracked it over PonyGirl’s head as he shook the reins. "Ha, giddy up."

PonyGirl started trotting off down the middle of the highway, her steel horseshoes ringing out a staccato rhythm on the pavement. Roger heard a second familiar clip clop. He turned around to see Pal trotting along behind. "You may have to carry both of us home. You sure you want to come along?"

Chapter 17.

A mile later the highway was blocked by a gate. PonyGirl stopped at the gate. Roger got off and waked up in front of her. "You okay? You want me to take your bridle out or remove any of that, or pull you back in the sulky?"

She shook her head no and nodded toward the gate.

"Yeah, an old missile silo project. After the cold war it came up for auction and I put in a bid for a thousand bucks. Darned if I didn’t buy a missile silo. I guess no one else wanted it or they were afraid they would have to clean it up or something." He shrugged his shoulders.

"You want to go in?" He was looking back at PonyGirl.

She nodded yes.

Roger felt in his pocket for a key and soon had the padlock off the gate. The gate protested with much squealing as he pushed it back. He took her reins and led her through before pushing the gate back shut. "No one ever uses the road because it doesn’t go anywhere but here. I don’t want to be unpleasantly surprised. We are taking a big chance with you running down the highway as it is."

Roger led her around the few paved streets surrounding the silo, her steel horseshoes ringing on the pavement with every step. "They kept it pretty low profile. Not a whole lot above ground but a maze down below."

He walked her over to a concrete bunker and unlocked the door. It was with a huge effort he managed to push it back, as it protested being moved. "There’s an elevator in there big enough to take a truck down. A smaller one for people, I guess. And then there are stairs for emergency if the elevators don’t work."

Roger stopped and stared for a second. "Wish I had that bitch as PonyGirl. I’d bring her in here and run her ass off. Maybe it would work some of the evil out of her. And if it didn’t, it would make me feel a lot better."

"Are you sure you are alright? You want me to do anything for you?" Roger looked back at Sharra as she waited outside the door.

As she shook her head no, her silver chains jangled.

"I guess we better get back. I’ll pull you if you want?" As he was talking, Roger tugged and pulled but he wasn’t getting the door closed. "I’ll come back later with some oil to lubricate the hinges and use the jeep to pull it shut."

Roger took her reins and led her back out the front gate to the highway. After locking the gate he stepped up beside her. "I’ll walk."

She shook her head no which sent her silver chains jingling again.

"You know, you’re more stubborn than me. Okay, this is going to be the last time we get to play so I guess it won’t matter." Roger looped her reins over her shoulders and climbed into the sulky. He put his feet in the rail stirrups and picked up the whip.

"You can walk if you want. Okay, PonyGirl, giddy up." He cracked the whip over her head as he shook the reins.

PonyGirl settled into a trot; her hooves pounded a rhythm on the pavement.

Roger was going to stop where his driveway met the highway but PonyGirl had other ideas. She stepped off the highway and was trotting up his driveway. Roger reined her in. She had no choice but to stop. That bit in her mouth gave no options. When he slacked up on the reins to get off she took off again. Again he pulled back on the reins and again she had to stop. When he slacked off she took off.

"Okay, have it your way." Roger let her have her rein and she trotted into the barn before she stopped.

Chapter 18.

"Headstrong PonyGirl I can tell. Let’s get you out of that rig. I’ll pay you for coming out. You might as well figure on not coming back. I’ll be selling everything to pay for the lawyers before I have to go find me a job." Roger stepped off the sulky.

He was taking the bridle loose. "I imagine you want this off first so you can close your mouth. Do I need to get you a drink of water?"

The bridle was in his hands as Sharra shook her head. "No, I will be okay. I couldn’t stop drooling and having to breathe through my mouth dried my throat."

Roger nodded. "I bet. Why didn’t you let me pull you back or at least let me take that bridle out? I didn’t want to hurt you. Are your feet okay? Walking on your toes like that looks painful to me."

"I’m fine. Did you get a feeling for your PonyGirl?" She patiently waited as Roger dropped the latches that locked the sulky rails.

"I guess. For all the good it will do me. Lance Price wouldn’t touch me if I walked into their office with PonyGirl. Until this lawsuit Miss Lost Ass slapped me with is settled, I’ll be like the plague to the other publishers." Roger pushed the sulky over in the corner and covered it up before returning his attention to Sharra.

She turned her back to him and he unstrapped the heavy leather corset. Holding it in his hands he was looking at the wrinkles in her skin where it had cinched her in. "How do you breathe in that thing?"

Sharra turned to face him and wiggled her fingers.

"Oh yeah, sorry." He unhooked the chains holding her wrists to her nipple rings and then removed the silver bracelets off her wrists.

He set those back in the box and turned his attention back to Sharra. "Be still a second."

He removed the chains from her nose ring. "Is that tender or do you just know you don’t want to pull on that ring?"

She was removing the chains off her right nipple ring. "Take the left ones off, please."

"Sure." He was finished by the time she had the others off.

"The last one is yours. I think I did enough when I hooked them up."

She bent over and removed the chains from between her legs before she sat down on the wooden box to remove her PonyGirl hooves.

Roger squatted down and removed her left hoof as she took off the right one. "Get dressed and I’ll get your money."

Roger walked into the house and retrieved two hundred dollars out of the cookie jar sitting on the kitchen cabinet. He put it in an envelope and sealed it before picking up a glass of water and walking back to the barn where Sharra was petting Pal. He put the envelope in her hand and handed her the glass of water. "Here. This is for today. There is no need of coming back because I won’t be able to sell the story. Ms. Lost Ass has made sure of that."

Sharra emptied the water as she drank it down. "Boy that was needed. Thanks. You are going to fight her aren’t you?"

Roger sighed, as he looked at the nipple rings plainly visible through Sharra’s white blouse. She was the perfect PonyGirl. Too bad it never got off the ground. Roger even entertained the idea of asking her to marry him but he was dirt poor and fixing to become even poorer. She drove a Lamborghini and he drove a jeep. She was probably some millionaire’s wife, or daughter, or girlfriend. She undoubtedly lived in a penthouse and this was just a kinky adventure to her. He wondered what she would do about the rings once she returned to her world? Would she hide them under a padded bra, show them off to a few of her friends, or have them removed?

"You are going to fight aren’t you?" She repeated as she waited for an answer.

"I have to. I’ll win but by then it won’t mean anything. I’ll be broke; no publisher will touch me for fear of getting slapped with a lawsuit themselves. I’ll fight but it will be meaningless. The bitch will neuter me either way. If she wins, she gets my heart and soul but nothing else because the lawyers will own it all. If I win, she still wins because no one will hire me. The only thing she won’t have is my heart and soul if I win." Sadly Roger shook his head.

Sharra walked to her Lamborghini and left.

Chapter 19.

She lifted a dress from the rack and looked at it wistfully.

"It’s a good thing we are in San Francisco and not Dallas or Atlanta. I’m not sure those people are ready for someone like you." Came from someone standing behind her.

"Probably not. I need your help." Sharra replaced the dress and turned to look at the beautiful red headed woman that belonged to the voice.

Donna was looking at Sharra’s breasts. "You plan on keeping the rings?"

"Probably not but they are a lot of fun." She studied Donna for a few seconds. "Will you help?"

Donna reached over and took the young girl’s left hand. "Let’s walk."

They were outside headed for nowhere in particular. Donna caught her breath. "Susan, I want you to remember, sometimes even the best of intentions go awry. Have you considered the consequences if your plan doesn’t work? I imagine Virgina Loseso will be more than a little perturbed at being changed into PonyGirl."

Sharra nodded in agreement. "You can bet your lucky dime she’s going to be pissed. I’m hoping she will change her attitude before it’s finished. That woman is mean and cruel. She delights in killing other people’s dreams and their spirit. She’s climbed to the top of an important publishing company leaving a whole lot of human debris in her wake. If anyone deserved to be changed into PonyGirl then she is the prime candidate."

"And if she doesn’t mend her ways, you plan on leaving her as PonyGirl for the rest of her life? That’s a huge commitment for anyone who has to feed her and take care of her. Is Roger up to that kind of commitment? You know his PonyGirl series will be finished sooner or later. Will he still want PonyGirl around if he’s no longer writing novels about her?" Donna stopped walking and turned her full attention to Susan.

Susan gave it some thought. "Morgan taught me a lot. As Mike, I learned what it’s like to be a man. I also learned life is what one makes it, not necessarily what comes at you head on. Virgina may not change her cruel attitude but then we won’t ever know unless we try. Morgan taught me that also."

Susan studied her friend. "I could give Roger the money to fight Virgina. I could even call up Bridget and ask her to loan us one of her company lawyers. I could also ask you to intervene with Lance Price and make them accept Roger’s story in spite of the lawsuit." She looked into Donna’s eyes. "The fact is, none of those things would change Virgina from hurting people. Will you help?"

Donna took Susan’s hand and turned back to the store. "One of these days you will no longer need help. You can already lifeshift on your own. Tell me, do you like being a boy or do you like being a girl better?"

Sharra smiled. "There’s advantages and disadvantages in both. I’m a little more inclined to be girl since I was born as one. There’s one other favor. Get in touch with Marcella and ask her to put a spell on the bridle Raul made for Roger. I want to change Roger into PonyGirl for a little while."

"Roger? What on earth for?" Donna glanced over at Susan wondering what she was up to.