Meeting with Armenia

When the bells all over the city began to ring out the noon Aeriella went to see Armenia again, this time the other two ladies accompanied her. The woman had returned home only recently but seemed genuinely glad to see the guests; the warm welcome included hugging and kissing on the cheeks.

Armenia was a buxom woman, to say the least, but since she was still young her body was not sagging in any place. To emphasize her curves she wore a corset that not only narrowed her waist, but also lifted her huge E-cup breasts. She was of average height, so was dwarfed by the present company. Her long black hair were tied in a ponytail and her skin remained pale as always; during the summer she had to take good care to protect herself from the sun. Her face was pretty but also rather common, apart from her large round blue eyes no detail of her features stood out.

“In your letter you asked for help, Armenia” said the elf “but before we get to that matter I need to ask you about something. What is that pony racing that everyone keeps talking about?”

“Funny you ask that...”

“Why?” the sorceress was visibly confused.

“Because I need help with that particular event.”

“You need our horses?”

“No, there are no horses in Pony Racing, it’s all done by humanoids. From different races, no pun intended, but all on two legs.”

“You got us intrigued, but you’ll need to elaborate.”

“Long story short: after moving to Witherkeep I thought about offering my magical skills for lease and maybe opening a magical shop. But the competition was fierce and I eventually found the job simply boring, not the high magic all students fantasize about. By the time I realized that, the Pony Racing business was booming. I began by tending to the ponies with my magic and enhancing their diet with potions. In a relatively short time I ran a small stable of my own. And in a time that wasn’t much longer I lost nearly everything. I wouldn’t ask you for help, but even after selling my ponies I’m still in debts.”

“Selling ponies? But slavery is illegal!”

“It’s just a professional jargon. Ponies mean athletes, stables are quarters, selling means cancelling the contract prematurely in which case the new employer pays me a compensation.”

“Oh, I understand. But if it’s the debts that are the problem, why didn’t you just ask for money in the letter? We would’ve sent you some.”

“Money would’ve just paid the debts, but I’d be out of the business anyway.”

“So what kind of help do you expect from us?”

“Well… in order to remain in the game, my stables need to participate in the nearest Race and there’s no way to hire professional ponies on such a short notice...”

“You want US to be your ponies?!”

“I didn’t know that you’d bring such company, Aeriella, but if all three of you could run you’d be saving my life. Figuratively speaking of course.”

“That sounds crazy but before we say yes or no we need more details.”

“Sounds fair. Let’s go to the stables and I’ll show you the harnesses, that is the outfits.”

As the trio followed Armenia she continued the explanation:

“To be more specific the sport is chariot racing, ponies pull the chariots and who comes first DOES matter. There’s a huge gambling market regarding that. There are one-, two-, three-, four- and six-pony rigs, each run on a different day and obviously the larger the rig the more prestigious the race. Three is already a pretty serious league. Here’s a complete harness.”