The car was a lot bigger close up I noticed as I hurried up to it. I don't drive, failed my test three times during my home-based gap year and gave up trying after that. Total loss of confidence coupled with a general disinterest I suppose, but then that does sum up my driving plus a lack of interest in motor vehicles. I had never felt much at ease behind the wheel, and that came across to the examiners, that and the numerous errors I always made.

Consequently, I had no idea what make it was, Ford, Vauxhall, BMW, maybe even a company I'd never even heard of before. Probably the latter because it was no budget family runabout and had dark tinted windows so that you couldn't see a damn thing inside.

There was movement, and one of the rear ones slid silently downwards a few inches. I stooped slightly to peer into the interior, but my view was blocked by a pair of cool grey eyes that regarded me thoughtfully and somehow caused any remark I was going to make to remain unsaid.

"I presume that your wildly gesticulating arm movements are to be taken as an indicator that you require a lift young man" the woman spoke with a quiet voice with just the lilting hint of an accent. Welsh perhaps. Educated and decidedly very upper class.

"Yes, please."

She nodded "You may use the other door, be careful of the traffic on that side I have no wish to lose my door to some passing juggernaut driven by some East European lunatic watching football on his cellphone rather than the road in front!"

I picked up my little green laptop backpack and scurried quickly around to the roadside passenger door grateful for getting a ride so quickly, especially as the light drizzle was threatening to become a lot heavier.

Luxury was my first thought as I took my seat pulling the door closed. Leather upholstery and lots and lots of expensive-looking wood everywhere and even tv screens built into the backs of the front seats. Wow I thought as I sank deeply into my seat.

"Drive on Maurice, please."

Wow, I thought again. We have a chauffeur. An actual for real chauffeur complete with a grey suit and matching peaked cap. Cool. I turned to my benefactor as the vehicle smoothly accelerated, but she held up a slim wrinkled white hand laden with expensive-looking rings to silence me.

"No need to thank me, young man" she said. "I observed you as we approached, and as the weather is not particularly clement at the moment, I decided to show some compassion.

"Er, er no, it's raining quite hard now" I observed wondering if we did speak the same language!

"Quite, now if you do not mind, I would prefer not to converse. I am prone to rather severe migraine headaches and I that sense one of the more unpleasant ones might be imminent. I find an absence of light assists in deferring or subduing the wretched things so if you do not mind" she raised a finger and made a circling gesture to the driver who must have seen it in his rear-view mirror.

There was a soft hiss, and I saw some sort of dark shades rise to cover both passenger windows and similar ones from the top of the seats in front. They didn't shut everything out, but it did immediately get quite gloomy, and it was difficult to see out of the vehicle. The bulky driver blocked most of my view forward, and I would have had to lean right over towards the woman beside me to try and get a glimpse ahead in the gap between the front seats.

"I would prefer you did not fidget, young man, " she said as if reading my thoughts. "We will be stopping shortly; I have to drop something off with a relative"

I nodded understandingly and sat back relaxing, enjoying the soft luxurious seat that seemed to mould itself around me without clinging or restricting me. I sat still trying not to fidget as requested. It suddenly occurred to me that she hadn't asked me where I wanted to go, where I was heading. None of the usual stuff my lift providers asked. Strange. I turned to say something but stopped.

Unlike me, she was sitting upright, stiff and with her eyes closed as though in some deep meditation. Oh well I thought, she had said something about stopping soon. No problem I could wait till then and the car was going in the right direction. I relaxed a bit more and closed my eyes. I also had a bit of a headache, but mine was a combination of last night's booze coupled with a late night.

That comfortable upholstery was something special. I hadn't been all that tired, but I gave a sort of snorting grunt that woke me, and I looked around in complete bewilderment for a second or so before memory returned. The vehicle was bumping and bouncing that was what had wakened me, and I saw the driver jiggling the wheel quite a bit to compensate.

"Almost there," my companion remarked then added a little petulantly "you were snoring you know, quite loudly in fact"

"I'm sorry" I apologised immediately. "I didn't mean to nod off" I grinned cheekily. It's cost me more than one girlfriend"

"Yes, she told me about that unattractive habit. Ah, I think we have arrived. Pull up near to that big building Maurice please if you would"

The car ground to a halt with the sound of wheels crunching on gravel. The driver got out, and a moment later my door was opened wide, and then he was on the other side opening the door for his employer. The woman paused and waved her hand in the direction of my door indicating I should also get out before accepting the proffered grey uniformed arm and gracefully exited the vehicle. I did likewise but with infinitely less elegance.

The sunlight momentarily blinded me. In the dim interior of the car and the earlier leaden sky, I'd somehow forgotten it wasn't even midafternoon yet. I blinked a few times then stretched to get the lethargy out of my limbs.

I hadn't a clue where we were. We were parked not too far from a large black windowless wooden barn-like building, on the opposite side of the muddy gravelled area was a big house, quite an old one by the look of it and a variety of smaller buildings on the other side. A white painted wooden rail fence surrounded a large grass paddock which filled in the fourth side. I could see some low hills in the distance, and the rough track that we'd driven in by that seemed to continue on over by the far side of the paddock.

There were some scruffy looking chickens rooting about in the dirt and a definite farm like miasma hung in the air. Not at all pleasant to a city boy like me. I glanced around with no degree of interest, hoping that whatever we were doing wouldn't take long. That reminded me, I needed to ask a question as to destinations.

This was the first opportunity I'd had to get a clear look at my kind benefactress who was standing with a look of impatience by the car looking toward the house as though expecting someone. I noted that she was quite elderly, early seventies perhaps, silver hair but still attractive in a delicate aged way. A light dusting of makeup enhancing what had once been a very beautiful face. Petite in stature and yet somehow with a commanding presence that made you feel that she was bigger than she physically was. One thing I didn't like was that sour expression on her face. Evidently she wasn't used to finding herself standing around waiting like this.

Before I could say anything there came, the sound of a labouring engine and a minute later an old battered green Land Rover swung slowly around the corner of the paddock noisily belching blue diesel smoke from a faulty exhaust and pulled up near the big black...big black limousine or whatever it was.

"Aunty" a small buxom blonde woman about forty or so leapt out of the passenger door and ran over to embrace the older women. "Sorry, sorry, sorry she said breathlessly "Bloody bad timing, had a runner would you believe, a damn runner. First time ever. Rotten posts in the corner over there and the fucker managed to barge his way out would you believe!"

"I trust that you have recaptured the wayward beast, Sophie?"

The blonde called Sophie laughed "naturally" she pointed to the Land Rover. "Get that damn animal back on its hoofs girls and bring it here to me. I want a little talk with it! You can put it away after that, and we will make it pay for its stupidity later" she called out.

A tall willowy dark-haired young girl had climbed out of the driver's seat, smiled at us, and a smaller blonde girl emerged from out of the back of the vehicle. Both had long hair, looked attractive from where I stood and were dressed alike. Skintight riding leggings, short-sleeved white shirts and black riding boots. The blonde looked in my direction, grinned and winked at me as she climbed down. Sexy looking little piece! To hell with that awful smell, maybe there will be time for a coffee or something I thought hopefully.

"Get up, get up you useless animal. Up I said" there came a couple of sharp cracks from behind the battered vehicle that puzzled me and a muted animal-like squeal of pain.

"Picked the bastard up two miles or so along the track. Stupid fucker was heading for the hills instead of legging it for the nearest road. Tied him on behind and made him run, idiot fell just before we got here, so we dragged him the last stretch. Lost a bit of skin I expect but that'll be nothing compared to what I'm going to strip off his damn hide later!" Sophie snorted.

A strange procession of three figures emerged from behind the Land Rover, one being dragged along, one leading and the small shapely blonde bringing up the rear. That sharp crack came again, and I gasped as I saw the origin of the sound. The blonde held a nasty looking riding crop, and she'd just used it on the poor wretch that the leggy brunette was dragging forward towards us.

Even as I watched she hit him again, hard, very hard I saw the leather tip sink into his bottom, and he immediately yowled that muted bellow of pain unable to do more because of a cruel bar stretched across his mouth. The man was completely naked other than some crazy leather fetish bondage body harness, he wore strange clumsy-looking boots and walked or somewhat staggered along in them in a funny awkward way. His head was bound up in straps, and the tall girl lead him towards us with her arm raised walking him like...like I'd seen people walk horses at racecourses. Her leather-gloved hand had a tight hold and was twisting and pulling him along so that he had no option but to follow where she led, and she was leading him right to where we all stood waiting.

I turned in amazement with my mouth opening to make some exclamation of protest, but nothing emerged as I looked at the three people nearest to me. The big chauffeur wasn't paying the slightest attention being dutifully engaged in wiping over the windscreen with a cloth and clearly intent on minding his own business. My companion merely looked at her watch a little impatiently then sighed. Sophie, on the other hand, was livid with rage, her small frame bristled with suppressed anger, and it was chiefly the look in her eyes that stifled any outburst I might have contemplated.

"Hold him, Beverley, hold him tight Jacqui, hold the wretched creature" she screamed aloud jumping forward and grabbing the blondes crop out of her hand. "Hold the mutinous disobedient beast tight for me!"

The cute little blonde joined her companion and grabbed the man's face harness on the opposite side standing up on tiptoe slightly but bracing her feet firmly to control the now desperately struggling man. The poor fellow hadn't a chance not with those two vixens holding him, he tried kicking out with a booted foot, but they skillfully avoided his efforts, and I saw that his arms were rigidly strapped tightly behind his back. His head turned in my direction his eyes wild and pleading his near silenced mouth emitting unintelligible frantic grunts of terror and strings of flying drool.

Sophie reached up and pulled the terrified man's head down till his eyes were on a level with hers and regarded him in silence for a few seconds before speaking in a low snarling yet measured tone "So animal you thought you could escape, me did you? Thought you could just up and run after all the time I have invested in you." She suddenly laughed. "What gratitude, eh? Nine months of free hospitality in my stable being cared for 24/7. Fed, watered and groomed by these two lovely girls and you apparently learned nothing in all that time! " she released her hold and started to gently stroke his cheek or a part of it that was visible with a crooked finger.

"Poor pony" she purred. "Poor pony, did your puny atrophied brain think you were still human then? Pony want to go home, eh? She continued to softly caress the man's cheek for a few seconds then brought the finger to her lips and moistened the tip. "Poor pathetic pony" she repeated then ran the end of her finger along the man's upper lip almost as though giving him a remote kiss.

"Well those little remaining human grey cells were wrong if they thought that weren't they Ranger, very wrong indeed" she whispered leaning in close. "No one has ever escaped me before you know Ranger, not a one even tried because they all had more sense. Consequences boy, consequences!" Then she leaned even closer, and this time her lips did briefly touch his cheek before abruptly withdrawing.

"BUT YOU FUCKING FAILED PONY DIDN'T YOU" she screamed in rage spittle flying from her mouth. "You fucking stupid useless animal did you think for one moment you could escape my stables! Did you? Hold him, tight girls"

The man made another frantic attempt to escape, and for the briefest of seconds he did manage to twist his head out of the little blonde's grip but she instantly grabbed hold again and held tight giving vent to a profanity as she did so.

"Idiot," the tall brunette remarked laconically. "Not you darling she quickly assured her companion catching the look that she flashed. Then the air was filled with the terrible sound of that awful riding crop as Sophie remorselessly flogged the captives backside. The air was filled with the sound of its downward whistle, the sharp crack as it bit into his flesh and the agonised muted animal sounds that escaped from his muffled mouth. She must have hit him a dozen or more times with all the strength that she possessed and after the third such stoke blood began to flow from the terrible pounding he received.

I suddenly found myself immobile held by two big vice-like hands that gripped my biceps from behind. My shock at all of this bizarre scene had worn off, and l had made a motion to intervene, but before I'd even completed my first step I was halted.

"Thank you, Maurice" that voice with the slight lilt said quietly and then calmly added "if I were you Simon I'd stand perfectly still and say absolutely nothing, nothing at all. Maurice, you may break both his arms if he chooses to disobey me. They are surplus appendages now anyway"

"Yes, ma'am".

Simon, how the hell does she know my name? How, I never mentioned it in the car, never got chance she clammed up almost immediately all that stuff about her headaches, how then? My mouth opened but the question instantly died, no I didn't want both my arms broken not even one! Almost immediately something else she'd said struck me. What had she said as we drove in here? Something like 'she told me that" when I'd joked about my snoring.

Sophie had returned to the front of her victim now sagging heavily between his two youthful captors all the fight gone out of him; he made little gasping noises like some tiny creature about to expire from behind the bar in his mouth. The woman handed the crop back to the blonde girl and stood for a moment hands on hips surveying her victim then she put a hand under his chin lifting it once again with that gentleness so at odds with her more recent actions.

"Don't think for one single moment Ranger that this matter is now at an end?" she told him softly. "That was just the beginning of the hell you are about to experience, a mere taster shall we say. Once these girls take you back to the stable it will be straight to the flogging bench, not your nice cosy stall that they will take you. You know that bench well, don't you? You can spend the next few hours strapped down upon it helpless and contemplating your folly and what will happen when I come in later to deliver a much more thorough corrective lesson"

She peered closer then gave a cruel laugh. "What's this Ranger, tears, real tears! My my what's happened to my Mr Tough Guy and all those naughty nasty looks you used to give the three of us? She laughed again and grasped a handful of his hair. Hair I noted that was in a sort of ponytail other parts of his scalp showed pale white and baldly smooth through the straps around his head.

Her grip tightened, and he winced as she twisted hard tugging at the roots, "Now for the really bad news animal" she hissed. "You were never much good anyway, and now you have pissed me off for the last time pony, the very last time...no not that stupid, no one puts down a healthy animal, even useless fuckers like you have a high resale value. You remember Mrs Forbes-Hamilton, Yes, pony that's right, the big lady who took such a shine to you a few months back, how could you forget after that beating she gave you, eh? She made me an offer at the time, but I foolishly turned it down, but she hasn't forgotten you. Oh no, I spoke to her only last week, and she asked after you, even upped the price a bit. I am going to call her and tell her that on second thoughts I've decided that you are surplus to requirements after all" she turned to look at her audience, grinned then whispered something into the ear of her captive.

He went white then frantic absolutely frantic and for a second time almost got loose as the two girls were taken by surprise. Sophie laughed delightedly. "Take him to the stable girls and secure him down nice and tight. I'll be along later to give him his going away present then you can tack up the new one and give it the usual 'welcome' taster. You can string it up on the walker as the bench will be occupied by this creature. Won't hurt the newbie to start using its hoofs, eh!"

She stood watching for a moment as her two girls walked or half walked half-dragged their reluctant captive into that big windowless black-painted building then turned to us.

"Sure, you won't stay, not even time for a quick glass or a cup of something?" She asked.

"You know I'd love to dear, but I do desperately need to get a move on, I have an important meeting tomorrow, and this wretched trip has already cost me too much time. I need to head off immediately. Ideally Lucy's call could have come at a more appropriate time but anyway things have worked out exactly as I would have wished. I am sure she will be delighted to hear that.

"Lucy" I spoke aloud momentarily forgetting the threat to the health of my arms. A dim suspicion was beginning to form in my mind. Lucy was the name of an ex, I'd first met her at the freshman's disco the previous year, I'd dumped her a couple of months ago, too damn possessive, too demanding, too expensive not to mention being bloody pig-headed, spoilt, self-centred, juvenile and a thoroughgoing little pain in the proverbial butt. More than easy on the eye and very entertaining and enthusiastic between the sheets but useless for anything else, couldn't even boil an egg!

Being about to start my third and final year at Uni and what with final exams and all I'd decided the selfish little bitch was getting way too tiresome and becoming a liability, so I'd given her the boot, I could still hear her shrieking at me. 'Tiresome! Juvenile! Just you wait fucker!' Just you bloody well wait!" The only thing I missed about her was the fringe benefits from her seemingly limitless credit cards issued from the bank of mummy and daddy.

Only when I'd bumped into her last week, she'd been all sweetness and light again when our paths crossed in the students union bar, and we'd had a beer apiece and shared a burger and fries for old times' sake. She told me how her course was going and about her new boyfriend, miles better in bed than me she'd taunted with a malicious smirk. Bitch! Then I told her how my course was going and how I was now finally getting round to some serious study because of the job I had lined up and about the concert at the weekend, but as I was broke again I was going to have to hitch a....

"How long have I got?" Sophie's voice broke through my sudden growing apprehension.

"Oh ages and ages dear, Lucy's birthday isn't for five months, so I am sure that will be ample time to train it thoroughly" she coughed. "Unless he does a runner of course dear".

Sophie snorted "Be nice Auntie. There's always a first time, but there certainly won't ever be a second!' she finished grimly.

"I have every confidence in you, dear, well, I promised Lucy a pony for her birthday, and now she shall have one of her choosing. Oh, I trust that you will be happy to provide stabling for the next few years. Doubtless she will get tired of it anyway before too long, her interests change by the day being the spoilt little minx that she is!"

"No problem, it can earn its keep like the others have to, always have more customers wanting to hire than I have suitable ponies available. The hiring is the easy part; it's the time the damned beasts always take to recover before I can use them again; that's the difficulty!"

"You should ensure they have enough stamina then."

Sophie laughed again. "Oh, it's not the stamina auntie, it's the state their hides are in when they bring them back to the stable. We have financial penalties of course, but that's of no consequence to my customers, not with their bank balances, they are all quite happy to pay extra for the privilege of flogging some poor pony half to death!" she shrugged her shoulders dismissively. "Not that it matters to me, it's a win-win situation either way financially although my poor animals probably don't see it that way" she chuckled.

I'd listened to all of this with a horrible growing suspicion taking into account all that I had seen since our arrival. "Here" I burst out finally, "here I don't know what the hell this is all about but I, I ...umphf!"

I could say no more because Sophie whipped something out of her pocket and quickly darted forward to ram a hard-round object into my mouth and quickly secured it. I glared at her and cursed like fuck but only muffled noises escaped my indignant mouth nor did the vicelike grip on my arms relax its hold for an instant.

"Well, I really must go now dear, oh just one thing to satisfy my curiosity. What was that you whispered to that wretch Ranger before they took it away?" She made a sudden gesture, and I found myself turned about and propelled forward.

"Umphf! I yelled again against the solid rubber lump filling my mouth as that iron grip on my arms marched me towards that ominous black building outside of which stood the two stable girls as though waiting for something. I realised in horror just what they were waiting for, they both smiled in a nasty way, and both were caressing short coiled whips. The little blonde winked at me again, but this time it sent a shiver straight up my spine.

I heard Sophie giggle behind me and then I heard her say loudly presumably for my benefit "That one's cute if Lucy gets tired of it I dare say she'll give you a reasonable price he looks exactly the youthful type to interest her. I just pointed out to that rebellious animal of mine that the nice Mrs Forbes-Hamilton has a private little stable of her own but does have one teeny little oddity, she's a bit fussy and only keeps geldings in her stalls. Does the necessary chopping off of the bits she doesn't need herself, so they tell me and not the humane way either!"

umphf, umphf, umphf!!!!!!!!!!!!!!