Standards are Meant to be Kept

36:00 Minutes…

Katie prowled the porch, her eyes locked to one end of the street and then the other. Zoe had been bashfully clear that she didn’t have any control over where she ran – so Katie had no idea from which direction she might appear. But she had to come into view any second… any second now… she just had to...

37:00 Minutes…

Katie felt a growing sense of unease… Any second now…

The wind was picking up; blowing her hair back and the spritely blonde stepped down off the porch, walking anxiously down to the sidewalk. Zoe needed to round the corner now if she stood any chance of beating the 39 minute mark…

Katie held her breath as another car passed the end of the road, but there was still no sign of Zoe… no pitter-patter of her bare feet… Nothing…

A flash of annoyance washed through her… 39 minutes should’ve been well within Zoe’s capabilities as a runner, why was she running so slowly?! But the second the feeling escaped the blonde bottled and suppressed it, trying to keep herself calm.

Katie hugged the phone to her chest, not wanting to risk looking at the timer anymore. All of her complicated emotions were now overwhelmed by a singular sense of worry and guilt.

Zoe was out there somewhere, completely naked. No matter how hot the fantasy of this unexplainably made her feel, Katie chastised herself that it was her best friend she was thinking about – running naked, ****, scared and enslaved…

Still that tiny excited shiver came, and the girl supressed it, burying it in her guilt.

What’s wrong with me…?

She tapped her foot anxiously, now pacing the sidewalk as her thoughts swirled… What if Zoe wasn’t just slow… what if she was in trouble? What if she had hurt herself? Or worse, what if someone has seen that she was naked? What if she’d been arrested?

What if she was just… gone…?

They were playing with magic they didn’t understand - The very possibilities of what could happened to Zoe had changed dramatically... Katie felt sick – the scenarios in her head growing worse and worse with every second that Zoe was missing.

What if she’d been kidnapped…? They never found out what the Paddock was… Where the Paddock was… what if Zoe had already ‘qualified’ and had been taken away? What if she'd turned into an actual pony? What if she never came back? How would Katie even hope to explain any of this to anyone?

“Hello Police? My best friend is a ponygirl and she ran away to the paddock – can you help me find her?”

“There’s still time…” Katie said outload, trying to reassure herself – to shake the imaginary worse-case scenarios from her head. Maybe Zoe could still make it? She tore her eyes from the end of the street and glanced down at the screen in one last attempt at forlorn hope...

38:00 Minutes…

Katie’s eyes were fixed to the timer now, her heart in turmoil as she watched each precious second slipping away...

“The Ponies’ pace is below the set standard – Run faster to avoid punishment!”

I’m trying… please!

Zoe was lost in a world of aching exhaustion, every few minutes another quick flash of the crop on her bare ass would jolt her forwards, her nipples tugging her onwards, closer and closer to the finish line. Her lungs burned, her thighs were aflame, her calves on the edge of cramp.

Stupid… Idiot… Pony…

She couldn’t help it – chastising herself over and over. She should’ve run smarter – she was so much smarter than this, she was so much quicker than this.

But like an idiot, she’d gone too hard too early. She’d let herself get carried away in her desperation to hope of an escape, sprinting the first few miles and destroyed any chance of maintaining her pace.

Now she was paying the price.

Her collision with the older couple and the enforced and humiliating break to her run had killed any chance she had. Not only had it wasted precious minutes, it had given the lactic acid time to build – her body wasn’t tuned to stop and start again like this.

“Nnughh!” Another hot strike of the crop drew a strangled whimper from her tired throat, another yelp, another jolt forwards. Zoe had lost all sense of where she was – she was just running, trees flashing past her naked body in a blur, her vision clouded with pain, humiliation and tears.

Running under 39 minutes should’ve been easy… if she’d just concentrated… just thought…

“The Ponies’ pace is below the set standard – Run faster to avoid punishment!”

Dumb little animal…

No matter how hard Zoe tried to pick up her pace, she couldn’t. Her legs felt heavy, weak – her thighs tender, her calves trembling with effort. Another tug on her exposed nipple, and she obediently changed direction, another smack of the crop...

Where was she now?

“Zo!”

Katie’s shout cut through the anguish as if to answer her question, and Zoe opened her eyes wider, seeing the blonde on the sidewalk up the street – in front of their house… in front of the finish line…

The naked girl clenched her teeth, steeling herself to push the last few hundred yards… it’s nearly over… it’s nearly over…

“What happened?!”

Zoe picked up her pace, finding that extra reserve of power to push her towards the porch – the front step.

Though she opened her mouth to reply she couldn’t find the breath to get the words out of her mouth, she couldn’t even find the strength to look Katie in the eye. After the aching discomfort of the last quarter of an hour, Zoe was singularly focussed on getting to the end… to stop, and breathe… and cum…

Oh god…

She rushed across the front yard, cutting across from where Katie stood, her strides carrying her pace after pace towards the porch. In doing so she turned her back to Katie, and she was sure she heard the girl gasp.

One more step… one more step…

Zoe willed her bare feet onto the wooden boards of the porch, throwing out her arms to grab hold of the door frame, her body braced and ready. She held back a sob, knees weak, knowing Katie was right there, watching her again… that this time she was naked… that this time Katie would see everything…

Zoe didn’t even have the breath left to plead with Katie to look away… it was too late…

... And yet she wanted it... She needed it... Her body begged for something positive... Some pleasure to ease the pain...

“Bad Girl!”

What?

“Required Distance completed in 41 Minutes, 8 Seconds – Minimum Standard Not Met”

Zoe opened her eyes, blinking in confusion – she couldn’t think straight with her every sense bombarded with aches and pains. What was happening? Why wasn’t it making her orgasm?

Do it... Please...

She heard Katie moving up the steps behind her, as though she could read her mind, “You were slower…”

Zoe flinched, unmoving, unable to even bring herself to turn her head as she stared at her pained reflection in the glossy surface of their own front door.

“Talk to me sweetie... what happened?!” Katie’s voice sounded edged with something... judgement? Disappointment?

“I … I…” Zoe didn't get a chance to respond before the sadistic voice from her throat barked out again,

“Minimum Standard Not Met – Bad Ponygirls get Punished”