Chapter 1 – Claudia’s Family – A Trap Is Set 4

Chapter 2 – Claudia’s Family - The Capture Of Four Wild Ponies 10

Chapter 3 – The New Ponies – The Domestication Of Four Wild Ponies 17

Chapter 4 – The New Ponies - Retribution 22

Part 4 – Race Day

Chapter 1 – Claudia’s Family – A Trap Is Set

“I’m sorry. That is all I know. Claudia came to me over a month ago and told me she had a new job and gave me her two-week notice. She finished the two weeks and she was gone.” The man behind the desk looked at the four people sitting across from him.

“Did she give you a forwarding address?” Jon Taylor, Claudia’s concerned father asked.

“No! She said she had been offered a new position overseas and that she would be moving out of the country. She was supposed to send us a forwarding address, but so far, we have received nothing from Claudia. We were sorry to see her go. She was very good at her job.”

“Yes. We provided her with a place to stay while she was working here, until she got settled in. Here is the address and here is the number of the rental agency we got it from. The woman you need to talk to is Cindy. She might be able to help you.”

“Thank you.” The tall African-American man told the man behind the desk as they stood up and shook hands. Claudia’s mother Emma and her two younger sisters Madison and Kathy echoed the sentiment as they prepared to leave the office.

“They were here. I sent them your way. They should be calling you any minute now”

The man leaned back in his chair, put his feet up on the desk, and smiled at the ceiling.

Cindy allowed the phone to ring three times before she answered it. She knew that only one group of people who had this phone number and that after today the number would never be used again.

“Hello. I am the father of Claudia Taylor. She was living in one of your properties.” A male voice came through the phone.

“Oh yes. She moved about a week or two ago. Time flies these days. What can I do for you?”

“We have not heard from her and we are concerned. Do you know where she moved to? Did she leave a forwarding address?”

“No. She gave me her notice and left within a couple of weeks. The house is still under contract with her employer, but it is empty right now.”

“It has been cleaned. However, if you want to see it, I can be there in about two hours. Is that okay with you?”

“Yes!” the desperation in the man’s voice was palpable through the phone. “We can meet you there!”

“Where can she be?” Emma Taylor cried as Jon came over to her and took her in is arms. His daughters stepped forward on either side and hugged their parents.

“We will find her!” the man assured his wife and daughters. “We will find her!”

Cindy looked over to Becky. Becky spared a glance from the road as she was driving towards the house where both Pepper and Almira had lived before going to The Farm.

“I kno-o-o-o-w! I get them to you and you bring them to the plane and we get them to The Farm before Race Day. It is working out pretty well. They got here just in time to make it to the Race Day Festivities and they asked to see the place without my prompting.”

Becky nodded as she kept her eyes on the road. “Yes it has worked out well. I was worried that we would have to do something to get them here on time, but they made it on their own.”

Becky took a deep breath and let it out in a rush. Cindy looked at her with a quizzical look. “I don’t know about giving the mother to George though.” Becky commented.

Cindy looked askance at Becky. “Why not? He has been doing great work for us?”

“I know, but if we keep giving all of the ponies away to employees, we will go out of business.” Becky smirked over at Cindy.

“Oh you!” Cindy glared at Becky, “Suzi-Q needed a pony because of her leg and . . .”

“Oh you!” Cindy continued to glare at Becky until she too began to laugh. “Why? Is there a pony you want?”

“I don’t know, maybe the father. He seems pretty robust and it could be fun to own a stallion.”

“Really? Do you want him? Because I am sure, you could have him. So far, only the mother is spoken for. I am sure the daughters will go up for sale, but the mother and father are simply disappearing to prevent problems with Almira. So if you want him, I am sure Steven would okay it.”

“I was thinking about it. It would be nice to have my own pony. I have worked with them for years, but I never really considered having one of my own until George asked and I thought, ‘Why not?’.”

“I agree, ‘Why not?’. You have certainly earned one. And since papa pony will probably be staying at The Farm anyway, why shouldn’t he be yours?”

Becky shrugged her left shoulder in reply. “Well, if we don’t get them to The Farm, then the issue will be moot. Here we are. Let’s go check the house out and make sure everything is ready.”

Becky parked the car in the driveway and the two women entered into the house. It was pretty much the way Becky had left it about two weeks earlier after she had picked up Claudia Taylor, now the ponygirl named Almira, and sent her to The Farm.

After a quick walk through to ensure all of Claudia Taylor’s possessions had been cleared out, they entered the room with the PONYINATOR system still in place.

“I know it is too late now to get it out of here, but was it wise to leave it here for them to see? What if they call the police or the FBI or something?”

Becky looked at the younger woman. “Steven has that covered. He has contacts in government that will ensure that any investigation will end before it even starts. Like I told you once before, Steven is someone to be careful of.”

“Yes. Suzi-Q might be my dog, but she is still her own woman. I trust her to know what she is doing.”

Becky looked at the younger woman with a new level of respect. Becky realized that Cindy might be a stronger and more intelligent and more willful person than she had given her credit for. Becky was also beginning to see that Cindy might be a more dangerous woman than people realized.

“Yes! Suzi-Q is quite good at managing things. However, you are pretty strong manager yourself. You are doing very well at PONYINATOR.”

Cindy smiled back at Becky. “Thank you. Now what does this thing here do?” she looked slightly dazed and confused as she gestured towards the PONYINATOR.

Becky scrunched-up her eyes at Cindy who continued to look confused and bewildered by the PONYINATOR system. As Becky continued to glare at her, Cindy could only hold her confused look for a short time and she began to laugh at Becky’s penetrating look.

Holding her glare for just long enough through Cindy’s laughter to make her point, that she had understood Cindy’s humor, Becky joined Cindy in her laughter.

“Claudia told me that she had a new job and that she was moving to take it. She gave me her notice and was gone on the day she said she was moving out. Here let me check, yeah ten days ago.”

Cindy looked at the concerned father before as she shook her head. “I don’t think she knew where she would be when she left,” which was true enough, the ponygirl Almira did not know where she was going when she was shipped to The Farm.

“Did she tell you anything?” Cindy could hear the near hysteria in Emma Taylor’s, Claudia’s mother, voice.

“What do you mean, ‘Not really’?” one of the daughters, the one with the curlier hair and darker skin, had caught Cindy’s apparent slip.

“Well, when she gave me her notice, she did thank me for introducing her to the woman who works for company that made a piece of exercise equipment that was left here by the previous tenant, but Claudia did not say why.”

“It is in here.” Cindy led them into a room with the PONYINATOR. The PONYINATOR system was in a hard shutdown, so that neither Cindy nor anyone else without the proper access codes could open the PONYINATOR.

The four concerned family members looked at the PONYINATOR in awe and confusion.

“I’m not sure,” Cindy began. “From what I was able to learn it is like a big treadmill, like you would find at a gym. Apparently, this one has a video screen in it so that you feel like you are somewhere else as you are using it. Like you could feel like you are walking on the beach one time and then in a forest the next time you use it.

“I had contacted the company to come and get it before Claudia moved in, but Claudia got here before the company arrived to take it away. The day Claudia got here, a representative of the company arrived to arrange for its removal and Claudia told me later that she had agreed to allow them to leave it and that she was using it.”

“That does not sound like Claudia,” her mother asserted. Claudia’s two sisters joined in with their denials as well.

“I don’t know how much she used it. All I know is that it is still here and Claudia told me that she was glad I had introduced her to the woman from the company. Maybe she was going to work for them. I don’t know.”

“Her name was Becky . . . something. I don’t think I have her card here with me, if I even have it in the office anymore. Wait! There was a number on the equipment. Here it is, let me call them.”

A few minutes later, Claudia’s father was using Cindy’s phone to talk to Becky’s secretary. “Luckily?”, for Claudia’s family, Becky just happened to have a meeting in another east coast city today and another meeting in the city where they were tomorrow so that she would be available to meet with them the next day. After calling Becky to confirm that she was available tomorrow, the secretary assured Claudia’s family that Becky would meet them at their hotel at noon the next day.

The grateful mother hugged Cindy. “Thank you! Thank you! We have been so desperate about Claudia and you have given us some hope. Thank you.”

Cindy bashfully smiled at the woman as she released her, “I am glad I could help. Good luck. I know you will find Claudia!”

“Thank you,” Claudia’s father gruffly mumbled out, trying to hide his feelings as he shook Cindy’s hand. Both sisters also hugged Cindy with expressions of appreciation.

As they drove away, Cindy smiled ruefully after them. “Yeah. You will see Claudia soon.”

Becky arrived at the family’s hotel the next day right at noon. She had told them what she was wearing earlier; so they recognized her immediately.

They found a secluded corner of the lobby and the family began their interrogations all at once not allowing Becky any time to answer their questions.

Finally, seeing that Becky could not answer any of their questions, Claudia’s father waved his hands in front of his wife and daughters, “Whoa! Whoa! Let’s give her a chance to answer.

Becky grinned at the man. “Thank you and yes I know Claudia and I know where she has gone.”

This comment began a whole new avalanche of questions until the father again stopped them.

“Right now she is probably at or on her way to our corporate headquarters. She has a position with one of our oversea associates or offices and the associate is coming to our headquarters for our annual board meeting and I am sure Claudia will be there as well.”

“Where is it? Can we go there?” were the next questions all four of the family asked.

“It’s in another state and yes you can come.” The family members looked at each other in relief.

“In fact I am flying there in about four hours and I have cleared it with my supervisors to allow you to fly on our corporate jet so that you can be reunited with Claudia.”

As the four family members hugged each other, Becky smiled at them even as she was evaluating their pony potential. The two daughters were both in their early twenties and easily would have been candidates for the PONYINATOR system if they had not already been selected for capture because of Claudia/Almira. They both had very fit and athletic bodies.

The older daughter, Madison Taylor, had darker skin like her father and curly hair. Her dark coloration would earn her a classification as a chocolate bay in the ponygirl world. Madison was slightly shorter than her sisters. She had good legs and a strong body, which would be important to her future as a ponygirl.

The youngest sister, Kathy Taylor, was lighter skinned, much like her sister Claudia. Like Claudia, her hair was straight with only a mild wave. In the ponygirl world she would be classified as a milk chocolate bay.

Both girls had inherited their mother’s European visage and body structure. These inherited physical characteristics combined with their darker colored skin made both girls exceptional ponygirl material.

Glancing to the girls’ dam Emma Taylor, Becky could see why George was interested in owning her. Despite her age, 46, and being the mother of three mares, Emma Taylor was still an exquisitely beautiful woman. At five foot nine inches, the bright blue eyed Emma Taylor would still stand out in any crowd and it would be difficult to guess her age or that she had already foaled three daughters.

The mother’s lightly tanned golden skin and nearly white blond hair clearly marked her as a palomino ponygirl.

Becky figured that George was lucky that he had staked a claim on Emma Taylor before she was at The Farm, because she would definitely have been saleable goods. She might not be top dollar livestock like her daughters because of her age, but she was definitely salable goods and would have brought a decent price.

Finally Becky turned her evaluating gaze to the father, Jon Taylor. Looking at Jon Taylor’s six-foot and two hundred and ten pound frame, Becky could see all types of potential in owning the stud and she definitely wanted him as her personal mount.

Becky’s heart sped up at the thought of the stud bending a knee to allow her to mount the saddle on its back and then the thrill of riding the stud on the trails at The Farm. She could imagine the reins in her hands with the stud between her legs responding to her slightest movement of the reins or the touch of her spurs.

As the family finished their group hug, they turned to Becky, “How can we ever thank you?” Claudia’s mother cried as she gave Becky a sudden hug.

“I am just glad I could help. The company is upset about your distress over Claudia. She is fine, but apparently, there have been some communications difficulties and she was unable to reach you. I am sure she would have called you if she had been able to.”

Becky stayed with the family just long enough to arrange for them to meet her at the airport that evening. She offered and they accepted for her to send a car to pick them up from the hotel at 7:00 that evening.

After some tearful goodbyes, Becky left the Taylor family in the lobby of the hotel. Becky smiled as she walked away from four people whose lives were about to take a very unexpected turn.