Pony Tales - Clover - Day 11

It wasn't that far a walk to the whip circle for a normal human being in normal shoes. But for a pony in hooves, she'd barely walked in, it seemed a long distance indeed. Her feet were already sore and she winced with each step as Eden cracked into her backside with the whip and grinned a little, "So cute that you think your feet are sore now." She says with a wicked grin. One Clover crossed over onto the dirt path of the whip circle, a rough pull of her ponytail brings her to a stop. Eden points a finger an inch from her nose, "Do. Not. Move." She warns as she walks to the post in the center of the circle, picking up a lead attached to the rotating ring on top of the post, and walks back over, clipping it to the left side of Clover's bridle.

"Now. It seems the breaking in of your hooves and more has fallen to me. How fortunate for you, as I'm the most competent trainer here. Aren't I Clover?"

Clover furrowed her brow. Unsure of how to answer the question. So she simply stayed still.

Eden grinned, "The answer to that question was yes, Clover."

The crop cracked into her backside as Eden spoke, "Now. Walk. Follow the center of the path all the way around the circle and unless I say stop. You WILL NOT STOP. Is that understood Pony?"

As soon as the crop landed she began walking forwards, following the circle and trying to keep from being tugged too much by the lead attached to her bridle. As Eden spoke, Clover managed a stomp mid-stride almost falling over in the process.

Eden chuckled as she stepped out of the circle, flopping into a conveniently located lawn chair and crossing her legs over one another, "Back straight. Chin up. Lift your knees high and focusing on setting each hoof down on the shoe. Eventually, you'll be able to feel when you do it right."

Clover slowed slightly to try and feel her way through each step. But the sound of a whip cracking the air made her squeak and pick her speed back up.

"I did not say to slow down Pony. Keep those knees up! You are a graceful and elegant pony, not some half-cocked mare with broken hooves!" Eden reached into a small cooler next to her chair, pulling out an icy-looking bottle of water and purposely drinking from it each time Clover's lap brought her around in the direction Eden was sitting.

And so it went for several hours. Eden made slight corrections to how Clover walked but never once letting her stop except to clip the lead to the other side of her bridle and making her walk in the opposite direction after an hour. Four hours straight of walking with no breaks.

By the time Eden snapped her whip twice, Clover's legs were shaking and her breath came in ragged gasps. She was lathered with sweat from head-to-toe and her eyes were half-lidded and perhaps she was even slightly dizzy. Eden gave her a slight pat on her flank, opening up another icy bottle of water and tugging Clover down by her bridle. She poured some of the icy cold water on her head, tousling her now soaked hair, and then had her stand up, carefully placing the bottle at the top of Clover's bit and tilting it slightly to allow her to drink greedily at the ice-cold water.

"Just breathe Pony. Take a drink and rest for a minute. You've done extremely well. I imagine you could get most places on the farm now in those hooves with few issues. I'm impressed at how quickly you're getting comfortable in those." Eden did offer a tiny smile then. She was strict, but she also had a softer side when a pony does well at something and works hard.

As Clover drinks greedily at the revitalizing water Eden smiles, "No wonder Mistress Aria has so much vested interest in you. It's been quite some time since she took a personal interest in a pony. You would be wise not to disappoint her."

With her pony watered and warned. She withdrew the bottle of water and stepped back, "Alright Pony. Break time is up! We're going to introduce a bit of a new challenge. You're comfortable on flat ground so let's add a bit of an uneven surface now." Eden walked off to the side and dragged a well-built two-sided wooden ramp. It rose up, went flat for a short time, and then descended to the ground. She dragged it onto the circle and dropped it down.

"Now, you'll have to angle your hooves a bit differently to climb this accurately. Give it a few laps and let's see how you handle it."

She cracked her crop into Clover's backside and stepped back as she watched the pony walk around the circle, her stride slowing a tiny bit as she approached the ramp. Her first few steps had her stumbling forwards, but she made it up, it wasn't until she was on the downwards slope that a hoof slipped from beneath her and she fell to the ground, landing with a hard thud and whimpering slightly. Eden was about to help her up, but Clover, with a determined look on her face forced herself to her hooves and continued walking the circle.

"Good girl..." Eden mumbled under her breath.

Clover made another round and found the ramp again, this time she managed to climb the first half fairly confidently. Going uphill was always easier than down in such restrictive boots. Such was the same with heels. The difference this time was that while she slipped slightly, Clover managed to make it down the other side of the ramp. Eden clapped, "Well done pony! Give me ten more rounds like that, keep your back straight and try not to hunch when coming down."

...And so Clover did. Ten laps came and went, each successive one finding herself significantly more confident as she walked up and down the ramp. As she descended the ramp for the tenth time, Eden cracked her whip twice and smiles, "Beautiful Clover. Tell me in stomps how many minutes you think were late getting to me earlier. One stomp represents a minute."

Clover stared at her for a moment with those bright green eyes and after a moment's contemplation, she raised an extremely sore foot and stomped fifteen times.

Eden rocked her head back and forth, "A good honest middle guess. But unfortunately, incorrect. You were half an hour later. So, give me thirty more laps, and then we'll consider giving you another small break."

Clover groaned softly, her feet and whole body were killing her already.

Eden raised an eyebrow, "Do we want to double that number?"

Clover stomped twice!

Eden chuckled, "Good answer Pony. Now every time you pass the ramp, that's one lap. You keep count and stop when you're done. I'm going to get something in the barn. Do not stop, at any point or I'll add a lap for every stop." She pointed to a nearby camera mounted on a post and then cracked her crop across Clover's backside.

Clover huffed and began to walk. Watching out of the corner of her eyes as Eden disappeared into the barn. She kept up her laps, growing quite confident with the ramp as she continued forcing herself forwards. Every step was painful at this point and her stomach was growling loudly at her. It was early afternoon now and she'd already seen a cart full of bottles of mash being pulled towards the barn by a few ponies, Miss Aria sitting atop it and guiding them with cracks of a whip.

It took almost twenty laps before Eden made her way back to the circle, seeing Clover still walking diligently. She set a bottle of mash and a bucket of water down on a nearby bench and turned to regard the pony, "How many laps so far?"

Clover had no viable way to answer the question without stopping and so she whinnied at Eden and kept walking.

"Ohhh! Someone taught you to whinny. Not too bad. But, stop when you are at thirty. I've got your lunch and some water. Actually, I imagine you're pretty hungry...so how about we pick up the pace a little? I'm going to crack the whip once and I want you to step into a light jog. You may cut to the inside of the circle and avoid the ramp for these laps until you finish."

Eden didn't wait for any sort of response and cracked the whip once.

Clover did stumble slightly but she picked up into a jog, surprised at how well she was moving in the hooves, "Knee's up Clover! Just because you're quicker doesn't mean you can be less elegant."

Clover picked her knees up a bit and kept at the jog. She kept her balance as best she could and pushed through her final ten laps which went by in a blur of pain and sweat stinging her eyes. She slowed to a stop after she passed the ramp for the thirtieth time. She was panting heavily and her legs were visibly trembling. Eden walked over, running fingers through her short black hair and crouching down in front of Clover. She reached out and gave her thighs a slight squeeze and a tiny massage, "Hmn...Sore. But I think you've got some more in you."

Eden shrugged and stood up, unclasping the lead from Clover's bridle and leading her over to the bench, "Water first, go ahead pony." Clover noted that the bucket was the same one from the previous day with the piece of tape and the name 'CLOVER' written on it. She leaned down, pushing her face into the bucket eagerly and drinking greedily as Eden ran a hand softly over her back, sending shivers across her body. She was surprised at how sensitive she was to the touch.

When she'd drained three-quarters of the bucket she lifted her head and groaned loudly.

Eden grinned, "I bet that felt good. Now, some lunch while I lather you up in sunscreen, we don't like to cook our ponies." Eden chuckled and clipped the bottle of mash into a clasp on the fencepost in front of Clover and motioned for her to eat up while she grabbed a bottle of sunscreen from the bench beside the water bucket.

The short post forced Clover to bend over and pressed the steel straw over her bit at a bit of an awkward angle. She drew a few sips slowly at first. Lunch today was some sort of stew-like flavor. A hodgepodge of flavors. She sipped greedily at the mash as Eden smoothed the cool sunscreen over every bit of her exposed skin. She groaned thankfully, the cooling effect was nice and she was glad she'd not be burning for the day.

When she finished the bottle of mash in record time she stood up slowly, Eden took a moment to slather Clover's face in sunscreen, nodding in approval, "Alright then pony! You're fed. You're watered. Back to the circle we go!"

Clover stared at the circle and groaned softly.

"Oh, we are not even close to done for the day Pony. Don't complain to me. You signed up for this. This is the life of a pony. You work hard, you push, you compete with grace and elegance and you have fun doing it. So stop your groaning and get back on that circle, now!" Eden crossed her arms as Clover reluctantly made her way to the circle obediently, letting out a tiny whimper. How long would she remain on this circle today? That was the question.