It seemed like I had just closed my eyes, when I heard the clink of metal on metal. I snapped my eyes open to discover I was standing in the middle of some sort of magic circle. I assumed it was anyway, from all the weird runes and candles around the edges. I backed up and instantly discovered where the clinking sound had come from.

Someone had locked a short length of chain to my collar. The other end of the chain was attached to a metal stake that had been driven deep into the ground and I had about a foot of play to work with. Straining at my leash, I tried to see anything in the gloom outside of the circle of candlelight and after about a minute, I was rewarded with seeing three figures step forward.

Derpy, Luna and Mara moved out of the gloom around me. They were each wearing dark cloaks with weird symbols on them that glowed golden in the candlelight, spreading themselves around the circle so that they surrounded me evenly, not saying a word.

“Um, ladies?” I asked, nervously. Something was rotten in the state of Denmark and it wasn’t fish. “Can I get an explanation here?”

The three said nothing, at least not to me. Instead they started circling me in a counter-clockwise direction, and began a chant that was a cross between scary sorcery and lewd as hell.

Bind him in both steel and leather,
Make him ours, now and forever.

Get the ropes and use the hobbles,
Let’s fuck him ‘til his knees wobble.

Use the bit and the bridle,
Never let his shaft be idle.

Close the fetters, shut the lock,
Make him use that juicy cock.

Make him cum in all our holes,
Fill our bellies with lots of foals.

Get the harness, pull tight the strap,
At our pussies he will lap.

Touch him, stroke him, make him holler,
Break him gently to his collar.

He will service us for hours,
Remind him that he is OURS.

It was kinky, it was lewd, and either worst or best of all, it was effective. Like some weird orgy summoning magic, every time the trio named a particular object of gear, it appeared and fastened itself to me. Every second line felt like someone was running a hyper powered vibrator down the length of my horsecock.

So, in very short order I was collared, harnessed, hobbled, bitted and bridled in steel and leather. Every buckle and fastener was closed with a lock marked either with bubbles, a crescent moon, or Mara’s sigil. My shaft was dripping I was so eager for sex, and I swear it felt like something was trying to milk me, trying to pull an orgasm out of me.

I held out as best I could, but my bonds ensured I wasn’t going anywhere. The final blow was when my three… owners, stopped their chant to run their hands, hooves and wings all over my body. Lust overwhelmed my… well, everything, and I exploded. I came so hard I saw nothing but stars for several minutes, and when my vision cleared all the bindings were off of me and Mara was sitting in front of me with a glowing jar. Derpy and Luna were nowhere to be seen.

“Mara,” I said, gasping a bit as I caught my breath. “You are a goddess and I’m a mortal, so please bear that in mind when I say, ‘What the fuck?’”

“Liked that did you?” Mara asked with an impish grin. “I’d wondered if you might have some submissive in you.”

“Look,” I said, trying to dial down the snark as I spoke to a being that could squash me like an ant. “I’m young, I’m male, I have hormones, and they work. So long as there’s consent all around, there isn’t a whole lot I won’t do to have sex. So, to repeat my question again, a little more politely. What the hell was that all about?”

“My backup plan,” Mara said, holding up the glowing jar. “James, within the next week you shall either have finished your task and be gone from Skyrim, or you will lie dead upon its soil. I have been taking steps to make sure that at least part of you survives, no matter what.”

“Oh,” I said, getting a small chill at that, though there was something about this whole situation I was missing. “Well, um, thanks for that. But did you have to go about it that way? I mean, just a regular sexy dream would have probably done the job.”

“Maybe it was more fun this way,” Mara said, running her finger over my muzzle. I could feel my hormones surging all over again, but I held them off long enough for my brain to make some connections.

After I’d initially applied to work for Discord and realized what I was getting into, I’d spent a bunch of time watching horse videos on the internet. Especially stuff to do with training horses how to move and walk with gear. A video of this one guy taking an untouched horse and getting them to allow a rider on their back inside of fifteen minutes flashed into my head.

“You BITCH!” I exclaimed, as the lightbulb went off in my head. “This whole time… all those little side comments. You haven’t been teasing me, or playing around at all. You’ve been gentling me! Getting me used to the idea of being owned by you!”

“In part, yes,” Mara admitted, changing her clothes into an equestrian outfit of knee length black boots, tight beige pants and a red blouse that did nothing to hide her cleavage. “To save you, I want to make you my herald. As my property, you would be untouchable.”

“Sorry lady, but my name isn’t Norrin Radd,” I said, firmly. “Besides, I’m already spoken for. Twice as a matter of fact.”

“Derpy and Luna are excellent, wonderful females. But they cannot help you now,” Mara said, and from somewhere she pulled out a curved piece of steel. “Pledge yourself to my service by accepting my collar, and you will avoid the fate destiny has in store for you.”

I just stared for a long moment at the open collar, trying to figure out what Mara was up to with it. The collar was glowing a robin’s egg blue, and she was holding it open at just the right height for me to take a couple of steps forward and place my neck into its adamant embrace. A pendant from one of Mara’s amulets dangled from the collar, swinging back and forth. I started to lose myself in that glowing blue motion. That soothing, undulating movement that offered safety, security and surety of purpose. I took a step forward.

“NO!” I shouted, ripping my eyes and my body away from that seductive motion. I had been annoyed before. Now, I was furious. I didn’t care if she was a goddess and I was less than a worm. This was my head and my life.

“Fuck you, Mara,” I said, raging. “Even after I said ‘no.’ Even after I tell you I’m onto your little game. After all that, you STILL try to pull a fucking jedi mind trick on me?”

“Is it so wrong of me to care for the life of a pony I’ve come to like?” Mara asked, leaning forward deliberately to let me see down her shirt. My anger overrode my libido with ease.

“Don’t give me that shit,” I volleyed back, having picked up some saltiness from my time with Aelinna. “You don’t care about me. You’ve got something else up your sleeve. I know it.”

“Maybe I just like seeing you in tack?” Mara leered, leaning forward a little more, her torso almost horizontal now.

“Like tack do you?” I yelled. “Then try this.” And I flung my hoof in Mara’s direction, my anger blazing outward like a comet toward the goddess.

In that moment, three things worked in my favor. First, and foremost, we were in a dream in my own head. Luna had taught me that if I was strong enough I could use my will to shape my own dreams. Second, Mara wasn’t expecting me to lash out at her. Not with anything other than words, at least. And third, I was pissed, and anger has a way of letting make the impossible, possible.

My comet struck Mara head on, wrapped around her, and covered her in a brilliant light. When my eyes cleared a moment later, they were greeted with a sight few have seen.

Mara, Goddess of Fertility, had been knocked back onto her haunches and was now sitting there stark naked. No, not naked, not entirely. I had been thinking about tack, and when my will lashed out that’s what it had done. Mara was now bound in leather pony tack.

A harness of straps criss-crossed her naked torso, framing her full breasts. One strap was pulled tight around her waist, cinching it in. Another strap dipped down from there, diving between her legs so that it clove deep past the lips there. Struggling with the new and sudden sensations, Mara half rose and twisted to one side. Whatever I had unleashed on the goddess had also bound her arms behind her in some sort of leather pouch, and had created a tail for her that went under the strap between her legs and… oh my.

“So full,” Mara purred, looking back at me wickedly and not even remotely upset. “I never realized you were into dominance. Well, if that’s what it takes—”

“Oh, shut up,” I said, and a bridle complete with bit appeared around Mara’s head, garbling her words. Even through the bit I could hear Mara laugh as she stood up and began to prance around me singing the “Barbie Girl” song, only with the words changed to, “I’m a ponygirl, in a pony world.”

Clearly stronger measures were called for if I wanted to get Mara to leave me in peace, and seeing as we were already in the bondage theme, I figured I may as well go all the way. I created a set of curved metal pieces that Mara took one look and went white.

“That’s right, Lady Mara,” I said, still bubbling with anger. “A chastity belt. I can’t think of a worse thing to lock a fertility goddess into. Now, I’m going to unbind you, after which you are going to leave. If you don’t, this goes on and stays on for as long as I can manage it.” Mara nodded her head in understanding, and with an effort of will I dismissed her bindings.

“Well done, young pony,” Mara said, inclining her head. “I will leave you in peace, until you are either resting in peace, or call upon me.”

“If you can talk to me when I’m dead, I’ll rethink my position,” I said, anger beginning to dissipate. “Now go away, and don’t come back.”

“As you wish,” Mara said, as she began to fade away. “But remember this, mortal pony child. Once your fated end begins, I cannot help you. But even then all will not be lost, for death is a spectrum, not a line.”

With that, I was alone in the dreamscape and left to ponder Mara’s departing words. Their meaning was obvious, but the maddening thing was that I knew I’d heard them someplace before. A sudden jolting gripped the dreamscape, and I knew it meant that someone was shaking me awake.

“Are you alright?” Faendal asked, looking down at me with concerned eyes, his hand on my shoulder.

“Yeah,” I said, groggily. “Why? What’s up?”

“What’s up is the damned pony sex show you’ve been giving us for the past half hour,” Aelinna said, working on some breakfast and I could see it was just after dawn. “What the fuck was that all about?”

“Uh, sex show?” I asked, brain still spinning up to speed. “Wait, you guys saw Mara?”

“No,” said Faendal, stepping back and looking embarrassed for some reason. “We saw… um. That is we saw…” Aelinna snorted in derision.

“Bloody bashful Bosmer,” the Dragonborn snorted. “We watched you humping the air for about thirty minutes. Pony, I like you, but tonight you’re getting leashed to a tree. There’s no way I’m taking the chance of you coming over in the middle of the night and sleep fucking me.”

“Oh god,” I said, hiding my face in my hooves, absolutely mortified.

“I’ll admit, it was a hell of a fucking show,” Aelinna said, relishing the discomfort of the males in her party. “And you’ve got quite a bit to be proud of down there. What really impressed me though, was how you made all that cum of yours disappear afterwards. Must be a pony thing.”

“I came?” I asked, wishing the rocks would swallow me up. “In front of you?”

“I could have drowned in the puddle you made,” the dark haired Nord said, stirring a pot of porridge. “Like I said, impressive. Especially when it all glowed purple and then just disappeared. Must make cleanup easy for your mares.”

“Wait, purple glow?” I asked, looking up. “There was a purple glow?”

Aelinna nodded and I proceeded to tell them about my meeting with Mara in the dreamscape while we ate breakfast. It became clear that the purple jar that had been sitting beside the goddess in the aftermath was my harvested seed. Mara had milked me like a prize stallion in order to collect my orgasm. She’d been working on multiple agendas the whole time.

“Holy shit,” I said, making Faendal stop while he was harnessing me to the cart. We had swung by Falkreath the day before and Aelinna had gone into town and had a harness custom made for me. It fit so much better than the one the Dragonborn had cobbled together I barely noticed it when it was strapped on.

“What’s wrong?” Faendal asked. “Did I pinch you somewhere?”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “I just realized that Mara was quoting Mab.”

“Who’s Mab?” Faendal asked.

“Mab, the Queen of Air and Darkness,” I said, quoting. “Ruler of every wicked fairy and dark spirit in existence. Who always has multiple plots running at the same time, so that if one fails, another has a chance. And Mara was quoting her.”

“Hey, we ready to go yet?” Aelinna asked, as she finished checking her weapons. “I want to check out some caverns off in the hills not too far from here.”

“I’ve almost got James in harness,” Faendal said, cinching tight the last straps. “Done.”

“Good,” Aelinna said, drawing herself up to stand beside me and the tall elf. “Despite the danger of my dying from Bosmer bashfulness or being sleep fucked by a pony, I’ve gotten to like you two. So, let’s stay off the main roads and see if we can’t manage to screw over Fate. Okay?”

The three of us spent a good chunk of the day heading into the hills that formed Skyrim’s southern border, the ones to the south of the big lake. There we found a tomb cut into the base of a stony hill, that was also well hidden by lots of trees. It was the perfect place for both Aelinna to find some good loot and for me, and Faendal to remain out of sight of curious passers-by.

We’d had to travel along the main roads for awhile, of course. During which time my disguise had been enhanced with a halter and a lead rope. I’d complained about them, but both Faendal and Aelinna pointed out that all cart horses wore them, no matter how well-behaved they were.

“And maybe it will remind you to keep your mouth shut around people,” Aelinna said, lifting my jaw to make me look her in the eye. “That sputum stained, shit-brained, tin can bandit chief might have ended as a dishonorable stain on the ground, but he was right about one thing. If you keep talking, no one’s going to believe you’re a simple pack pony.”

“Yes ma’am,” I said, meekly. One does not argue with the Dragonborn.

“Good,” she said, tapping my nose with a finger. “Because the next time you talk around strangers I’m putting a bit on you. Do it again, and it’s the muzzle.”

“Eep!” I said, with a mock shudder. Aelinna chuckled, and with that we set off.

Aelinna had gone into the tomb to explore and loot, and had already come out twice loaded down with weapons, bits of armor and a few pieces of jewelry. Before she’d gone in for her third trip she told us not to expect her back for a few hours. So with nothing better to do, Faendal and I fell to talking.

“Once you finish your deliveries here in Skyrim, do you think you’ll ever come back?” Faendal asked. “Just to visit?”

“I doubt it,” I said, having stripped off most of my disguise so I could cool down. “Don’t get me wrong. Skyrim is beautiful, but it was a pain in the ass to get here, and I’ve gotten involved in some things I’d really rather not.”

“Like Mara,” Faendal said. “And how the Nine seem to be taking a special interest in you.”

“I’m an interloper in their realm,” I said, shuffling a bit in the little hollow in the ground I’d made. “They want me gone as soon as possible, and I’m not sure, but I’m either overdue or nearly overdue to be on my way home by now. I’ve lost track of the days.”

“Skyrim can truly be a timeless place,” Faendal said, in agreement. He frowned and studied some trees off to one side for a moment.

“What?” I asked, noticing his intent gaze and looking over in that direction.

“Thought I spotted something,” the tall Bosmer said, shaking his head. “It’s nothing. By the way, when we were by Falkreath I did a little asking around about the bounty on you.”

“Oh?” I asked, feeling my ears perk up as an odd breeze ruffled them. “Find anything out?”

“Not until I mentioned I was working with the Dragonborn, who it turns out is also the Thane of Falkreath,” Faendal said, shifting his quiver so it sat more comfortably on his back. “Anyway, once people knew who I was with, they told me that the original bounty came on a scroll marked with the seal of the College of Winterhold.”

“The wizards?” I asked, puzzled. “What the hell would wizards want with me?”

“Well, not necessarily—,” Faendal began. Then his face became alarmed and he shouted, “James, MOVE!”

I was just getting up when pain bloomed in my rump and every muscle locked up, freezing me in place. Someone had just shot me with a paralysis poison and I was locked in place for at least the next few seconds. Faendal rolled to one side, and as an arrow passed through where his head had been a split second earlier, he came up with his bow out.

“You!” he yelled, at someone I couldn’t see. I tried to turn my head to see who our attacker was, but the poison still held me in its alchemical grip.

Faendal notched, drew and fired so fast his hand was a blur, and his arrow streaked outwards just as I started to move again. Two arrows impacted their targets almost at the exact same time. Faendal’s arrow hit our attacker, eliciting a grunt of pain. While their arrow hit me square in the back of the head, neatly stunning me and destroying both my sense of balance and ability to walk.

My legs now strands of rubber for all the good they did me, I flopped heavily to my side. Lying there, I managed to briefly focus my spinning vision on our attacker and I realized we were in deep trouble.

Aela the Huntress, an arrow now protruding from her leather armor, moved sideways as she drew another arrow. I assumed she was the one who had shot me, first with the paralysis poison, and then with whatever it was that had my head spinning. I tried to get up again, weaving my way to my knees before collapsing back down to the ground.

“Stay down, James,” Faendal ordered, training his bow on Aela for another shot, but holding his fire.

“Yes, stay down, pony,” Aela said, mirroring Faendal. “Don’t make me shoot you again. I’m not used to capturing prey live, so I may hit something vital with my next shot.”

“What did you hit him with?” Faendal demanded, eyes shifting to see if Aela was alone. “And how did you find us?”

“Something to put him down, and then a blunt to stun him,” Aela said, a thin smile on her lips. “You did a good job changing what he looked like, but you forgot his shoes and hooves. I just followed the hoofprints.” Faendal cursed.

“So, how do you want to do this?” he asked, focusing on our enemy.

“You, me and our bows,” Aela said, while I tried to not barf from dizziness. “No potions, no magic, just skill.”

“And if someone tries to interfere?” Faendal asked, not having spotted anyone with the Companion, but not willing to take a chance

“They stay out of it,” Aela said, and I had to close my eyes to stop the ground from spinning. “I’m alone and I know that tomb. Your other friend is going to be quite awhile. Whenever you’re ready, elf.”

“Fine,” Faendal said, letting out a breath. “Let’s go.”

I forced myself to open my eyes and lay as still as I could so that I could watch the classic archery duel. Arrows hissed and flew back and forth, each archer scoring hits while trying to dodge return fire from their counterpart. As my head and vision began to settle, I tried to belly crawl away. Only for another blunt from Aela to streak past my head and hit me in my left shoulder, numbing the joint and ending my ability to do anything more than be a sitting duck.

The battle raged on, and I could tell that Aela was starting to outshoot Faendal. The tall elf was bleeding from half a dozen hits and I could see his bow arm start to shake. In the game, Faendal was less experienced than Aela, being a woodworker as well as an archer. While Aela, was a warrior and worked at it all the time.

Then I saw Aela start walking sideways in a classic strafing motion. Faendal stood in place, rotating to track her in a turret-like fashion and I realized what was about to happen. By walking sideways, Aela would simply walk her aimpoint into her stationary target, while Faendal had to keep readjusting to track his moving one. Both archers let fly once more.

Faendal missed, while Aela did not. Her arrow struck the elf in the shoulder, passing through the muscle there and pinning him to a tree via the yard long shaft. Yelling, I bounded up to my hooves, and began to three-legged hobble my way over to my hurt friend. I shouldn’t have.

“Oh, no you don’t,” Aela said, tackling me to the ground. I tried to fight back, but in my condition I couldn’t put up anything like a proper resistance, and it only took her seconds to have me hogtied and lying back on the ground.

“Get away from him, you bitch,” Faendal said, in a pained gasp.

“Can’t do that,” the warrior said, getting up and drawing a wickedly sharp blade. “You fought well, elf. So, I’ll give you a quick, clean death instead of a slow suffering one from bleeding out.”

“Please,” I begged, helpless on the ground. “You’ve won, you don’t have to kill him.”

“I leave him like that and his wounds will slowly kill him,” Aela said, still advancing on Faendal. “This is an honorable death, for an honorable warrior. Sovngarde will welcome him.”

“There’s healing potions in the pack by the fire,” I said, and Aela was within reach of Faendal now. “Leave one out for him. He’ll make it. I know he will.” Aela looked back at me.

“Why would I leave behind a witness to the battle?” she asked, sun gleaming from the deadly edge of the blade she held. “One that could point your other companion in my direction.”

“If you give him a chance at survival and he succeeds, he’ll head straight back to Riverwood,” I said, lifting my head off the ground. “The Dragonborn will never know what happened unless she figures it out on her own.”

“The Dragonborn?” Aela said, sucking in her breath. “Your companion is the Dragonborn?”

“You might have been able to take me,” Faendal said, voice tight with pain. “But you’re no match for her.” I decided to use the opening my friend had given me.

“You do the honorable thing, by letting Faendal have a chance, and I give you my word not to fight you,” I said. My heart sunk as I said the words, knowing I was condemning myself to an unknown fate for my friend. But I was Equestrian as much as human now, and both parts of me were in accord on this.

“You’re hardly in any position to fight me,” Aela said, with a snort. “But I admire your spirit.”

“I can bite, I can buck,” I said, my voice resolute. “I can struggle, leave a trail. I can slow you down in a hundred different ways. Especially because I know you want me alive, and there’s one other thing.”

“What?” Aela asked, and I could tell she was willing to accept my offer even before I gave the clincher.

“Despite what some may think, you aren’t some raving, snarling beast,” I said, knowing about the curse of Hircine and the Circle. “You are an honorable warrior. All I’m doing, is asking you to do the honorable thing.” Aela didn’t react, but I knew my words had struck home.

“Elf,” Aela said, turning to Faendal. “If I leave a healing potion out for you, will you do what the pony says?” Faendal nodded, knowing it was his best chance to survive.

“Give me your word, pony,” Aela said, sheathing her blade. “You will be my prisoner, and obey me as best you can.”

“You have it,” I said. “I will be your captive, and make no attempts to escape or draw pursuit down on you.”

“Okay then,” Aela said, digging in the packs by the fire until she came up with not one, but two potion bottles and set them on the ground a few feet away from Faendal. “A word of advice, elf. Break off the shaft as close to the wound as you can manage, then slide yourself off. It will hurt, but it’s the best way.”

Not trusting his voice, Faendal nodded and watched as Aela lifted me up, bound legs and all. She settled me over her shoulders, with the ties around my hooves in front, just like I was a piece of game she’d shot down in the woods. Faendal and I shared a last look of farewell before I was carried off to meet the fate Skyrim had in store for me.

Author's Note

Things are looking pretty grim, aren't they? The next chapter is the last in Skyrim for James. Let's hope he survives.

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