“Take them. Before I change my mind.”

The words came form Aria as she held out a keyring full of all different colored and shaped keys. She kept it on her person always as it included access to every key on the entire property. That included the master key for the locks on tack, in case of emergencies. Aria had all the time been adamant about locks on the property. No lock was engaged or put in place unless she had an exclusive copy of a key.

This might seem a bit over the top but she had been there when a pony was nearly suffocated to death by her bridle, purely because nobody could discover the key to unlock it. Therefore she tended to take safety quite seriously.

“But Mistress…” Hayley said as she took the keyring, rolling them over between her fingers.

“You’ve been saying you want more responsibility, to step up more. Well, this is your chance. You will be in charge here. You know how the facility functions, and have done plenty of intake interviews. You’ve handled the finances more than once while I’ve been sick, therefore all my responsibilities are now in your hands, I expect nothing but flawless ability from you while I…”

“…put on tack you haven’t worn in years?” Hayley said, perhaps a bit sharply.

Aria raised her eyebrow and reached up, running a hand through silken strands of hair, “Watch your tone young lady, however yes exactly that.” She pointed to the green folder, “It’s signed and witnessed, I never end dated this, never had the heart to. Also there is no time limit listed because I’m not entirely sure of the timeframe and I trust your judgement.”

Hayley clasped the keys tightly in her fingers, “Are you sure about this? just to prove a point to a pony who publically disrespected you? She said such horrible things, I would have ended her time immediately and yet… you allowed her to stay.”

Aria looked to the right, staring at herself in the mirror for a long moment as she considered her response. Why was she putting up with such blatant disrespect, however she smiled to herself slightly.

Loking at Hayley she carefully rolled her sleeves up, Hayley watched as the tattoos appeared. “You’ve known me a long time Hayley was I so different when I was younger? I grew frustrated and I got lost in being competitive. Lets face it earning these markings was not all rainbows and smiles, how many times did I bite, kick and curse at the trainers and grooms as soon as my bridle was off, purely out of frustration. Now this ‘public disrespect’,before all that tell me your unbiased feelings on how you felt about Clover.”

Hayley eased herself down into the chair on the opposite side of the desk. “Up until yesterday I really enjoyed her. She reminds me a lot of you, she’s so full of enthusiasm and kindness that it’s kind of infectious. But…she…she hurt you, and she said a lot of horrible things yesterday. How am I to look past that?”

Aria moved up, placing a hand on Hayley’s shoulder and smiling, “We all make mistakes my dear Cloudstep. Even you are not so squeaky clean I seem to recall a very frustrated pony kicking down a fence post. I am asking you to look beyond her behaviour and allow her that chance to prove you wrong. I will show her a better way. Prove that I’m not… some washed-up has been.” As Aria said the last words, an edge of pain slipped into her voice.

“Anyway I do believe this is your chair.”

Aria motioned to the seat beside her, the one she had sat in for the last decade.

Hayley climbed to her feet and shuffled. Opening her mouth to say something and then closing it as she walked around, offered a polite curtsy to Aria and then unceremoniously flopped into the chair.

“Oh it’s quite comfy!” Hayley said, perhaps a bit cheekily.

“Don’t test your luck. Now I’ve got some things to tend to for a few days before my integration. I’ll leave the arrangements to you, I’ll assume my old stall remains untouched?”

Hayley nodded.

“Untouched except for general maintenance and quality of life upgrades that you’ve ordered. I’ll ha…”

Aria raised an eyebrow, “If you’re going to sit in the seat of authority, perhaps act like it.” Aria chuckled a little bit, knowing this was new for Hayley.

Hayley puffed out her cheeks, “Fine. Get out of my office and to the stables then p…pony.”

Aria dipped into a polite curtsey and without a word, swept out of the office. She’d leave the arrangements to Hayley and tend to her own affairs before she slipped her foot into the buttery soft leather of her old hooves.

~I do hope they still fit.~

———————————————-

To say it was a long, dark and dull week for Clover was an understatement. Mare mode was not for the faint of heart, nor the pony who was claustrophobic. Clover’s entire world consisted of white noise, terrible food and incredibly sore feet from standing all day every day.

That wasn’t to say she wasn’t taken care of. Every day, someone would come in, release her from her straps, clip a lead to her collar and tug her off to the groom area. She was cleaned thoroughly, her feet were massaged and tended to and given a rest to keep any kind of permanent damage from occuring and once she was cleaned up she was taken back to her stall.

She couldn’t speak. She couldn’t hear. She couldn’t even see anything. Clover wasn’t sure she liked this level of isolation, but she guessed that was the point. She knew she all the time had the option to safeword, but there was part of her that held her back from doing so. Part of her that accepted the punishment. Part of her had regretted her words almost as soon as she’d spoken them. She knew her emotions had been borne of frustration, but that didn’t make up for what she’d done.

Would everyone hate her now? Were they even now walking by her stall, not even casting her a sideways glance? Doubt was etched into her face behind it’s bondage and occasional streaks of tears slipped from behind the tight blindfold. Today was no different. It had been six days now and she hung in her straps, weaker than she’d remembered, sniffling quietly.

“Good to see you aren’t bereft of emotions.”

The voice came as a complete shock to Clover, enough that she jumped. Though it wasn’t much movement held down as she was. When she recognized who it was, she slumped visibly in her bonds.

“I’ll be clear, I don’t appreciate what you said. However, I’ll accept that we all get flustered sometimes. Perhaps so much so that we need to show people that they’re wrong. But, I am forgiving. Everyone deserves a second chance. Including the pony who until a week ago had been winning the hearts of many here. You’ll be released tomorrow, you’ll have a conversation and decide where to go from there. The choice is yours.”

There was a long pause.

“…Perhaps you’ll see that not all of us are washed-up.”

Then there was a click and Clover was once again sealed away in a world of white noise. Nobody came to care for Clover that evening, the only care given was the slop she was fed before she drifted off for the evening. Aria’s words were a bit concerning, but there had also been a hint of forgiveness in them.

~I still have a chance.~ Clover had told herself as she drifted off to sleep. That was reassuring. She closed her eyes tightly and let herself drift off into a deep sleep that was filled full of all the good memories she had at Tall Tails and for once, not the once where she’d been so sharply harsh to the woman who had been so kind to her.

——————————————————-

The next day came rather quickly for Clover. It was very early morning, she was still snoring in her stall when the headphones were tugged from her ears and her stall was given a rough kick. In front of her was Hayley twirling the headphones around on fingers, looking a little more business-like than usual with her hair in a bun and a prim equestrian outfit on.

“Morning. You ready to sit and have a chat, Clover?”

Clover nodded gently, staring at the woman with still sleep-filled eyes.

“Good, I’ll expect you at the house in…”

Hayley looked at the watch on her wrist and then to the rest of the barn which was dead silent.

“Let’s say an hour. SOund good?”

Clover stomped once and looked around for a groom.

Hayley chuckled, “No no. No groom this morning, I’ll provide the keys and you’ll clean yourself up and be in the office in the house in an hour. And god help me if you stink it up.” Hayley opened the stall door and stepped inside, undoing the numerous straps holding Clover in place and then turning her about. Practiced fingers undid every strap and lock in place holding Clover’s arms and released them with an audible groan from Clover.

“Oh don’t give me that. You’re well used to it by now.” She smacked Clover on the ass, rather hard and then set a ring with five keys on it on the door of the stall as she stepped back, “You can figure out what unlocks what. Don’t be late.” She warned before turning and walking off without further words towards the house and leaving Clover to find out her situation.