Chapter 1: Two Years Before the Main Story

I don’t know what made me decide to write this story, but I chose to write it in memoir style. I am dedicating it to my daughter Vanté. I have been telling her stories of my life on the Smith, now McMillion, ranch since she was a little girl, so she knows this story already. I think part of it was so she would be able to tell her children about her mother while keeping the facts straight. There is no sex in the story until I was fourteen when I was raped. The only nudity is what the reader assumes when I mention I took a shower or changed clothes.

I have known about ponygirls my entire life. Even though my parents have resisted the lifestyle, I couldn’t help but be exposed to it. I was taught that the laws making the ponygirl lifestyle legal have been around for about twenty years. That was long before I was born. The thirteenth amendment to our constitution only abolished ‘involuntary’ slavery, not slavery in general. However, slavery, both voluntary and involuntary, still exists in secret. Owned by the wealthy and the powerful. In school, we learned that this secret lifestyle consisted of both males and females, however, the new laws only made female ponies legal. There was a lot of uproar in the beginning over the discrimination but it died out when the mostly male-dominated government made it clear they didn’t want to see male genitalia on public display.

That didn’t address the issue of naked women running around dressed up as human ponies. Since the lifestyle existed in the shadows for so long it took time for it to see the light and even longer before it was accepted by the general public. Eventually, you saw racing and other events on TV, then short-range taxi services cropped up. A few years later, an Uber™ service became available. Women would register themselves as self-employed or self-owned ponies. These self-owned ponies still had to have the same licenses as any other business and pay their taxes.

Under the new laws, being a ponygirl was a job as well as a lifestyle. If a girl’s (woman’s) contract was owned by another person or company that person was required to live on company property and was cared for as if she were a beloved pet. An owner was required to provide Room, board, and medical. An owner was also responsible for funeral and burial expenses should the pony die while still under contract. There were still some aspects of slavery in the lifestyle, Ponies were allowed free time. Some of the aspects of slavery that still existed were:

Ponygirls were required to be housed by their owners. (owners of their contract)

Ponygirls ate a simulated hay (extruded vegetable matter) instead of real human food.

Ponygirls were kept naked 24/7 for the duration of their contract.

A contract could be from 5-30 years, except for children born while the mother was under contract. For those children, the term is for life. A woman under contract is essentially a slave and her body no longer belongs to her so neither would her baby. She can be bred at any time at her owner’s discretion.

With parental permission, a girl could sign a ponygirl contract as early as 14.

There was no retirement age for lifetime ponies. Show and racing ponies were typically sold to a working farm or ranch until they were too old to keep working. Some were kept as pets or used for other less physical tasks.

For those that were self-owned, it was a bit confusing. People couldn’t decide if that made them Free In Name Only (FINO) or Slave In Name Only (SINO). Either way, they worked their own hours and had to have at least one employee. This employee was usually a groom trained as an assistant. Even FINO/SINO people were not allowed to bathe themselves or do anything with the tack. Not only that it’s a bit difficult to do anything for yourself when your hands are locked behind your back. FINO/SINO people were also still required to eat the pony feed. The main advantage of this choice was the freedom to come and go as you please when not working. These women could date and even get married if they chose. Their daughters were not automatically ponies for life, they were free people unless the woman transferred ownership of her contract to her husband. In this case, she became a regular pony subject to being punished or sold as her owner desired.

FINO/SINO people could wear clothes as long as their tattoos did not show and they did not show their pony status in public. Think shorts, skirts, and dresses that were longer than knee length to hide the tattoos on her thighs.

This history course is only a semester long but is required for all girls to graduate. Most girls take it in junior high since we are required to wear clothing if we are under fourteen. It is normally taken in either 6^th, 7^th, or 8^th grade, however, there are circumstances where a girl is unable to take it in junior high and has to take it in high school where nudity is required. Each week five girls are randomly chosen to wear a harness and bridle (no boots) all day for a week. Then five more are chosen for the next week until all of the girls taking the course have worn a harness and tack. This is mandatory and is part of your grade. At the end of the course, we have to write a report on how the course affected us and any other experience we had with ponygirls. The main reasons for not requiring the boots are cost and each person’s feet are different. The school would have to keep too many pairs on hand, which comes back to ... cost.

It has become a popular sport but nothing like football. Even considering that the ponygirls are naked, ponygirl events still are not as popular as mainstream sports such as football and basketball. I guess ponygirls just don’t have enough balls to satisfy the men.

My story really began when I was ten. It’s nothing special but it helps set the stage. My parents and I lived in a house with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Theirs had an ensuite bath while I shared a bath with the other bedroom and any guests we had. Since I was an only child the bathroom was all mine except when we had guests.

Despite my desire to walk around nude, my parents wouldn’t allow it. Despite it being illegal for children under fourteen to be naked in public, my parents were prudes in the extreme. They couldn’t understand my lack of any sense of modesty or embarrassment like they felt. When I took a shower I was required to wear at least a towel unless we had guests then I had to either wear an ankle-length bathrobe (too hot) or get dressed in the bathroom. Even in the 21^st century, society was still prudish about public nudity. You should have heard the uproar when the ponygirl laws were passed and naked ponies were making their debut.

After twenty years of seeing naked girls in public and on TV, the uproar has died down considerably but you will still see and hear people making disparaging remarks toward or about the ponygirls. They are ignored unless they do something other than voice their opinion.

Normally, Mom would take me to school. It was only two miles away, too far for a young girl to be walking alone. I agreed with her, I was nine and my neighborhood wasn’t exactly crime-free but my birthday was coming up and I had a plan.

“Mom, you know my birthday is coming up next month. What do you think about getting me a bike? Walmart has a really nice street bike I could ride to school. I can show you which one, it’s not too expensive. I have $100 saved up from previous birthdays if that will help,” I told her just as we pulled up to the school.

“We’ll see, sweetheart. Let me talk to your father and see what he thinks. Maybe we can get the other families to contribute instead of buying gifts and you can keep your money,”

“Okay, Momma. I’ll wait.” I really wanted that bike. I kept thinking that I was old enough that I didn’t need my mom to take me to school. It made me feel like a little kid going to elementary school. Technically, I was still a little kid in elementary school. I wouldn’t be in Junior high until I was 11.

Nothing more was said about the bike or my birthday. I didn’t know what Mom’s decision was about the bike and I didn’t want to get depressed thinking I wouldn’t get it. So I resolved to let it go and see what happened on my birthday.

Mom kept taking me to school for the rest of the month. Most of the students who lived within five miles took a sulky to school. My parents refused to accept the ponygirl lifestyle and refused to use the carts. Mom drove a hybrid car and that was her contribution to the climate. The kids rode the sulkies like a taxi or Uber™. They had numbers printed on their thighs and their company name printed on their chest. I have seen a pony up close once. They wear a collar with a medallion hanging from it, I was told that the name I saw engraved on it was their pony name. I guess that makes sense since they can’t talk with a bit in their mouths.

The day of my birthday arrived, thankfully on a Saturday, and my guests started to arrive. Mom and I put up the decorations the day before. I got excited when my best friend Danica Smith walked in the door. We screamed like little girls and ran into each other’s arms and hugged. Her dad came in behind her. A few more friends and their moms came in and we started the party. The parents sat in the living room while we played games in the spare room. It is normally used for storage but Mom and I cleaned it out so we could have a place to party.

After a couple of hours, a few of the moms came in and set up some tables for us to eat on. We sat at the table while the mom served the cake and ice cream. That’s a lot of sugar to be given to active ten-year-olds. So our moms played it smart and sent us outside.

It was an overcast day and we had only been playing chase and tossing a beach ball around when there was a loud crack of thunder but no lightning so we kept playing while some of the mothers watched from the covered patio. Then as if the bottom fell out of the clouds it started pouring buckets. Our moms called us to go in but we kept playing, daring them to come get us in the downpour.

I was wearing just a bandeau across my flat chest and a pair of spandex biking shorts. I never wear shoes at home and my friends respect that so they always take their shoes off when they visit. We were all playing outside in the rain barefoot and wearing our clothes. We were soaked the moment the rain started but we didn’t care. We were having fun.

I don’t know how long we played but not only were we wet but covered in mud and grass. It was getting late and I still needed to open my presents before the kids left. Mom sprayed us off with the garden hose before we could go inside. Mom had brought some of my clothes to the kitchen where we dried off and put on the dry clothes.

Mom led us into the spare room where she had put the presents. I opened each one. I got CDs, and clothes mostly. From Danica, I got a black choker with a small ring on the front. Embroidered on the front were the words ‘I AM FREE’. Not sure why she got one that said that. The ring was between the words am and free. She put it on me. When I looked in the mirror I smiled. It was awesome and looked good on me.

When I felt the back to see if I could take it off, I couldn’t. It was locked.

“Danica, I can’t get it off. It’s locked,” I told her.

She looked in her purse and said she didn’t find it. Her shorts were in the washer so she couldn’t check them. She said she would check at home and see if it fell out somewhere. I was concerned because of the words but not too much as it did look good on me.