‘You must tell her,’ Jonathon Fitzwilliam told his brother Robert. ‘I know I must but I’ve been waiting for the right moment.’ ‘There will never be a right moment, do you want Rachael to open the front door to the bailiffs?’

This conversation, or something very similar, had been going on for weeks now, ever since Robert confided that his business was in very serious trouble. The problem was that Robert had borrowed heavily; having won a large order from an international company he decided that he would upgrade the equipment in his firm. This in itself would not have been a problem had the large order been paid for.

It was with leaden feet that he walked up the steps to his front door, Rachael greeted him brightly, ‘I’ve seen the most marvellous cruise today, I thought we could do it in the summer,’ she tailed off seeing the look of abject misery on Robert’s face. ‘What is it, bad news?’ ‘The worst, we’re broke, at least we will be at the end of the month, Silicon Graphics have brought in the receivers; we won’t see any money for months yet if not years. And if we do get anything it won’t be nearly enough to bail us out.’ He collapsed on the settee and for the first time since he was a child broke down and sobbed.

Rachael was stunned, this was the very last thing she had expected, in fact, being bankrupt had never entered her head. She went into Robert’s study and opened the bureau. In it she found unpaid bills for gas, electricity, phone, and water but worst of all she found a letter from the bank threatening foreclosure on their mortgage.

With tears rolling down her cheeks she went back to where Robert was sitting and demanded; ‘why, why didn’t you say something, we could have worked it out, I could have gone back to work?’

Robert got up and without answering her said, ‘I’m going back to the office to try to salvage something’ and left the house abruptly, without even kissing her goodbye.

It was only after Robert had left that Rachael realised she didn’t even know how much money was owed. She made a decision, she phoned Jonathon, there was no time for pleasantries, as soon as Jonathon answered Rachael came straight to the point and wanted to know whether Robert had confided in him as to how much debt they were in?

Jonathon hesitated, at last he told her that he didn’t know the exact figure but he believed it ran into tens of thousands of pounds. Rachael let the phone slide out of her hand and just sat not knowing what she was doing or even caring at that moment. She was completely oblivious to the fact that Jonathon was shouting down the line.

How long she stayed in that state she wasn’t sure but eventually a sound broke through and she realised that someone was at the front door, ringing the doorbell and banging on the knocker both at the same time. When she finally opened the door she found her closest friend Honor standing there, or to give her full title, Lady Honoria Blackthorn. She rushed in saying, ‘I have just had a rather distraught Jonathon on the phone telling me to get round here at once and see that you are OK’. She looked quizzically at Rachael. ‘So tell me what’s the matter?’

Rachael sighed, took a deep breath and the words just came tumbling out. She told Honor all about the debt they were in, how she didn’t know exactly how bad it was. She didn’t know where Robert was; she had tried ringing the office but the phone had been cut off, this must have been just after she had phoned Jonathon. Her mobile was also closed down.

Honor set to work right away, she gathered up all the unpaid bills and sorted through them, totalling up the amounts as she went. While she was doing this Robert returned home. ‘I’ve been to see the bank, they will give us four weeks to find the money then they will foreclose.’

‘How much is it all together?’ Honor wanted to know. ‘I’ve totalled all these indicating the bills she had been calculating and they are insignificant, about £500 all told.’

Robert took a deep breath and reeled off everything he owed, various suppliers, £25,000, staff wages £5,500, Inland Revenue £3000, VAT and finally the mortgage £200,000. Honor had a quick count up and said that’s just short of £240,000. ‘What I propose to do is lend you £250,000 and you can pay me back when you can.’

Rachael couldn’t believe her ears; ‘you would do that for us?’ Hope was springing up in her. The next moment she felt as though she had been hit in the face. ‘I can’t accept, it is a great offer and I’m, er, we’re really grateful, but we can’t accept’. Rachael screamed, ‘what do you mean? Can’t accept, of course we can accept, it’s a lovely, unselfish offer.’

Honor intervened, ‘I’m sorry if this has caused you any problems, but what if I was to offer you a deal?’ Rachael clutched at yet another straw, ‘what sort of deal? we haven’t got anything as valuable as £2000, let alone £250,000’

Honor hesitated, and then said, ‘you both know what business I’m in, and I will pay you the money in return for Rachael being my Pony girl for one year.’ ‘I’ll do it, when do you want me to start?’ Rachael looked at Robert seeking his approval it was not forthcoming. ‘No, I can’t let you do it, there has to be another way out of this mess.’

It took Rachael almost all of the next two weeks to persuade Robert and finally he gave in to her persistence.

They both went to see Honor to tell her of the decision; she was delighted. ‘I have had a contract drawn up, which I’d like you to sign.’ Rachael signed without even glancing at it let alone reading it.

‘Right, there is no time like the present, it is noon on the 21st July 1997, this contract will expire at noon on the 20th July 1998, so if you’ll just say goodbye to Robert for the present, I’ll deliver you to the stable.’ Rachael clung to Robert, kissing him all over his face and saying one year isn’t that long. Robert gently removed Rachael’s hands from around his neck and whispered, I’ll come and visit as soon as I’m able, and she was gone.

When they reached the underground car park where Honor kept her cars Rachael was a bit miffed when they didn’t get into the BMW but went along to a battered old Land Rover Four-wheel drive which had a trailer on the back.

‘Start as we mean to carry on, said Honor brightly. Strip off your clothes and bung them in the back.’ Rachael looked round cautiously to see whether anyone was there before talking her clothes off. Honor laughed, ‘don’t worry, you’ll been seen naked by plenty of people before your year is up.’ She put Rachael in the trailer and fastened her in with straps going round her waist, arms and legs. Once she was sure that Rachael could not move and hurt herself she raised the tailgate, pulled the blind down got in and drove off.

The journey took around 30 minutes and Rachael had to admit to herself that she was in no danger of being thrown around and all things being considered was quite comfortable.

When they stopped, Rachael was left trussed up in the trailer while Honor went off somewhere. Rachael was just beginning to get agitated at being left for so long when Honor arrived with a young man. Rachael could feel her face getting hot and wished she could sink under ground. Honor was telling the young man that this was the new mare she had taken delivery of. At the same time she explained to Rachael that the young man, whose name was John, was to be her groom, certainly for a couple of months anyway.

John and Honor started speaking to each other and taking absolutely no notice of Rachael. During the conversation John was asked if Rachael’s stall was ready, he said that it was and that the Pony’s name ‘Sapphire’ had been fixed over the door as Honor has requested. Rachael thought to herself, Honor knew that I would agree to this, she had everything ready for me.

John put a collar round Rachael’s neck, undid the restraints and led her from the trailer. Honor came over and said, ‘before we process you there are some things you must know. You are no longer to speak, unless given express permission to do so, (you will communicate by whinnying, nodding or shaking your head or stamping your feet, once for yes twice for no), you no longer have any control over what you will do or when you will do it or what you will eat, you will be given training on how to behave as a Pony girl and you will be punished for any wilful disobedience. You will be raced or put in the show ring at my discretion and any money that you win will be mine.’

Rachael, or we should now say, Sapphire, nodded her acquiescence, not that there was any option. ‘Right, now that is settled, we will begin processing you.’ John picked up her lead and began to walk her towards an outbuilding. Inside the place was covered with leather straps etc. ‘this is the tack room,’ he explained. ‘This is also where you will be shaved and ringed.’ Sapphire must have looked worried because John laughed and told her she had nothing to be frightened of.’ The shaving would be the removal of her pubic hair and the ringing would consist of having her nipples and clitoris pierced and rings inserted. He told her that once the rings were removed the holes would heal over in time.

Sapphire had another embarrassing moment when John had finished shaving her; he was brushing her pubic hair away and massaging moisturising cream into her pubic area, which was stimulating her at the same time. As her juices started to flow she became extremely red with shame. John took no notice. Once he had finished, Honor took over and started fitting the harness. First to go on was the girth strap. It went round Sapphire’s midriff and was tightened quite tight and then when Sapphire felt she could no longer breathe, it was loosened a notch or two. The girth strap had other straps attached to it. Four at the top in the front, these were criss-crossed under her breasts in order to keep them from bouncing when she moved. There was a crotch strap, which hung loose at the start of the harnessing. A posture collar was placed around her neck and locked. This restricted the amount of movement her head could make in any direction. Hoof boots were the next to be put on and Sapphire was given some time to get used to them. A single sleeve glove was placed over her arms and laced up in such a way as to make it impossible to free herself. The glove was further fastened to the four breast straps where they went over Sapphire’s shoulders. Next to go on was the bridle. This was fastened around Sapphire’s head and with blinkers attached; it restricted her sight, making it impossible for her to see except straight ahead. Sapphire was bent forward and a tail plug, well lubricated, was inserted into her anus. She tried to stop it but Honor kept pushing and eventually it passed her sphincter muscles and try as she might she couldn’t dislodge it. As soon as she realised that it wasn’t going to go away without someone removing it for her Sapphire relaxed and decided that the intrusion wasn’t too bad, in fact, after a while she found that she could ignore it. That was until Honor inserted a dildo in her vagina. The sensation of having both orifices filled was something Sapphire had never experienced before. She found that the dildo could be activated by someone with a remote control and could be used for reward or punishment depending on the level of vibration used.

Sapphire was now ready to start her training. She was taken into a paddock and put on a lunge rope, which Honor held in one hand, while in the other hand she held a whip. Sapphire was made to walk in circles while she was taught how to walk, trot and canter. Each time she failed to do the task to Honor’s satisfaction, Sapphire felt the lash of the whip.

At the end of the day, Sapphire was taken to her stall; she found that it was in a block of 12, six stalls on either side. The other mares looked interestedly at her, one or two whinnying in greeting. The next problem for Sapphire was, eating, she saw the other mares using just their mouths to eat with and realised that this was how she herself, was expected to eat. She put her face into the dish her food was in and tried to eat. Unfortunately she ended up with more food on her face than inside her. Several of the other mares were whinnying in amusement. Once the grooms had finished settling their charges for the night and had left, closing the doors behind them, the other mares started to introduce themselves, although Sapphire, looking round could see that their names, like hers were above the stall. ‘Where were you captured?’ Asked a mare called Cleopatra. ‘I wasn’t, I agreed to be a Pony girl, and I have a year’s contract.’

There was a collective intake of breath at this announcement. ‘I have never heard of an arrangement like that,’ a mare called Equuleus said, ‘I thought we were all either captured or sold by family.’ She looked at Sapphire keenly and then exclaimed, ‘Is that why you are not branded?’ Only then did Sapphire notice that all the other mares were tattooed on their left side rump with the emblem of Honor’s Stable. The conversation continued until the lights went out in the stalls and one by one they fell asleep.