The Menagerie

Her whole body was sore. 
This was the first thing Lynn felt.
It was Lynn? Her name was Lynn wasn’t it?
Her brain was on fire and she could not think straight.
French club? Private plane?
They meant something and nothing to her.
She opened her eyes to a circular room covered in stark white padding. She was blinded by the mirrors reflecting the light off walls ceiling and floor.
She was in some sort of costume. She focused her mind and things became clearer.

She tried to move but could only in certain ways. Her feet where chained or hobbled together with another short piece between them connected to a bolt into the floor. She was secured to a padded ‘island’ in the middle of the room with mirrors.
She wore some sort of bizarre footwear with a high arch and no heel that stopped below the knee. Her toes of her boots where a polished gold color and looked like goats. Cloven hoof was it?

From the toes up to the knee was soft white downy fur. Her skin was ash white. Her hands where held by padded manacle connected to a waist belt in front of her. Her hands also where stuffed into a glove that separated the first two fingers from the last two giving the impression her had the same cloven hoofs for hands. Two over sized nails that could go the first knuckle added to the effect. The gloves also had the same fur to the elbow. They where gloves? 

Her neck felt stiff. A high collar on her neck made it hard to turn her neck and move it.
There was a waist garment that push up her breasts and tightly pulled in her waist. Her breast never looked this big before or so round. Not huge floppy ones. But firm and round. They seemed just right. Perfect.
A small garment covered her crotch and rear.
Was she dead?
Had she gone to heaven?
Or hell.
She tried to sit up but could only manage a kneeling position. Her feet would not lie flat on the ground she wanted to stand on tiptoe all the time.
Why?
Because it felt right to do so.

Then she caught sight of her face. When looking into the mirror around her island and stared into the face of stranger.
Her face was white and so was her hair. The hair along her side was pulled tightly back while the hair on top was a mane of animal. A horse? There was a bit placed into her mouth. It fit nicely into the gap of her back teeth. There was also something attached inside that forced down her tongue. Her throat was raw and she tried to say something but gruff rasp of a tiny whinny came out. It hurt painfully. Then the clincher came. She really stared at it. Making sure what she saw was what she was seeing.
A horn. A lovely spiral horn emerging at an angle from her forehead. It could not have been any bigger than the length of her fore hoof.
Fore hoof?

That fact came with some clarity. She was dressed a unicorn. No, the word ‘dressed’ did not ‘feel’ right. She was not dressed. She was a unicorn. Another was feeling from behind as he began a more thorough self-examination of herself. A tail. It was right at the base of her spine. Not a horsetail but not a lion tail either. But something of both. It moved a little with a thought and a great deal of effort. She was a Unicorn. There was no doubt of it
No! That was not right.
Something was ‘done’ to her. No! She was born this way. Meant to be this way.
She was getting mixed signals.

She had to prove to herself that this whole thing was either fake or real. Dream or nightmare. She bent over and was just barley able to touch the horn with ‘fingers’. It did not pop off. In fact it hurt to move it. It was actually growing out of her skull. Her horn was real. She was real. The mirror showed her in her splendor. Then a door opened. She never would have seen it was so well hidden. It blended with the wall perfectly. A woman dress in black and gray follow by a man dressed in white. A warm feeling came over her when the woman in the riding uniform came closer to her. She was important to her.
Why? She had never seen her before?

The woman knelt down and looked into her eyes. The woman had nice soft green eyes. She looked down at the white ascot and then caught sight of a button on her lapel. It was a red triangle on a blue circle background. Something in her head clicked into place.  She knew the woman. She was her mistress. She would do anything for her mistress.
“Are you alright Snowflake.”
Yes, that was her name Snowflake. And this was her mistress. Her keeper. Her protector.
Snowflake nodded yes. She tried again to say something but it hurt.
“Shhhh. Now, now. Don’t try to speak. Doctor Vetman says you will soon but not right now. You must be patient.”
She looked at the man behind her. He had a button too. A red cross on a blue background. She then knew him too. He helped her. He makes thing better.

“There, there.” Her mistress said stroking her mane. “I know. It hurts. I was so worried about you snowflake. I was afraid I had lost your after your accident. But if you behave. We will go riding. You would like that wouldn’t you.”
Snowflake nodded her head in approval as best as she was able. Her mistress was always right and what ever her mistress wanted. She wanted.
“Dr. Vetman said you will have to restrained until you are better. You don’t want to hurt yourself do you?”
She moved her head side to side with in the limits of the collar. Mistress and the man knew what was best for her.
She rose and walked out the door.
Snowflake wanted to whimper for her to come back. But could not utter a sound. She shed a tear as the door closed.
But then when she was out of sight and door became part of the room. She felt different. Like she had been robbed of something. Like she was back to normal.
Normal?
She was a unicorn. That was a fact 
But what kind. Not any unicorn she knew of. But no other image felt right. In fact it was the only image that fit was exactly the way she looked. Any alteration in her mind of what she was seemed was wrong.
Her name was Snowflake. That was a fact.

Again somewhere in the back of her mind said that was wrong. Again nothing seemed to tell her that she had no other name than Snowflake. If she did have another name she could not remember it and it did not fit. It was not important to have another name. Snowflake was right. It was the name her mistress chose for her and she was white as Snow. It made sense. 
The accident. Her mistress mentioned she had been hurt. Very badly it seemed. It must have affected her memory. She could not remember anything about the accident or about her life before it.
It must have been very bad to worry her mistress so.

Where ever she looked. Wall, ceiling, or floor. The image of her being a unicorn was undeniable and inescapable.
She lay down to sleep. She was tired. Too much thinking hurt. She needed to rest until she was better. Her mistress said as much. She began to dream. But the dream was of a young girl with blue eye and blond hair strapped down to a table. The room was stark and gray. Another woman in green surgical robes looked at the girl on the table. Then snowflake view point switched. Now she was seeing everything from the bound girl’s viewpoint. She was no longer observing but a surreal part of the dream. “Let me go.”  said the girl.
“No.” said the woman is a very flat tone. Devoid of any emotion. Rather there was stark coldness to her voice.
“What happened? Why are you doing this?” Asked the girl.
“You’re my property now. You and your French club’s plane crash. Or rather believed to have crashed.”

 She held up a newspaper. It displayed a headline of her hometown newspaper. ‘Lost at sea. No survivors.’ Her and other picture of her class mates where shown underneath.
“I arranged for every one to be on that plane. Really. How does a girl with a ‘B’ average suddenly get a round trip to France? Private jet and mysterious benefactor. Please. Do not insult my intelligence and what little you have of yours. Everything has happened for a reason. I now have seventeen young specimens to do as I wish.”
“Why?” the girl cried.
“Because I can. I have wealth and power. My tastes are a bit unique. In six months you as you are now will be a dream. A figment.” 

There was a slight hint of excitement in the womanize voice. Snowflake could feel the girl’s fear. Snowflake was also afraid. Something bad was going to happen if she did not wake up. But the girl would not let her wake up. This was bad dream. Snowflake did not want to have a bad dream. But the girl was making her have a bad dream. The girl was bad. Snowflake began to hate the girl.
“The others are being worked on now but you are going to be my showcase. I want you to know that I have the power to change your mind and body. “
“NO!” said the girl trying to free herself.
“Good. I do so love a challenge.” Then the woman stabbed the girl with a needle.
Then the girl began to make Snowflake see things. Bad things. Faces and places that seemed familiar but also made her head hurt. Each image brought waves of pain. Made her body hurt more. 
 Snowflake fought the girl. Then the image of her mistress came into her mind and she ran to it with the speed of the wind as fast as her hooves would take her. Snowflake snapped awake struggling her restraints. She tried to call out but her throat was still raw. A ghostly painful rasp of a whinny came out.
Mistress. She wanted her mistress.
Some how her cries seemed to have heard and the door magically appeared. Her mistress came in and immediately everything seemed all right. She held her head in her arms and the world seemed safe and normal. She softly hummed and fell asleep in those loving caring arms.

There was no day or night. Time passed with out knowing how much had passed. Her mistress saw her and she marked the moments between visits as ‘days’. Snowflake yearned for the time when she could go with her mistress. The room never got dark. Good. In the darkness bad thing come. Bad things like the girl’s dreams. Snowflake hated that girl. She made her head hurt and she could with little effort make the girl go away by thinking of her mistress. So she made sure she thought of her mistress before she went to sleep. Her mistress would feed her with a bottle and she had to be trained to ‘go’ into another bottle whenever the mistress commanded.

It was when the lower garment was removed that she discovered that something was inserted into her from the front and rear that was attached to the garment. She did not question why such things where inside her the presence of her mistress because she was utterly dumbfound in her and Dr. Vetman presence. But they concerned her slightly for brief moment during her mistress absence. Snowflake was also introduced to her stable boy. The stable boy could wash and feed her. But was allowed to wash and touch her only in certain places.  Other places she was allowed to kick and bite him. 

Her stable boy wore blue pin with a red circle. She seemed to know that meant something. The pins seemed to indicate a status. Her mistress had the highest and the stable boy the lowest. Dr Vetman was special. Her mistress remarked on how well she was doing and how she was going to have to be trained all over again. Mistress never mentioned the accident again and it must have been very bad for it to affect Snowflake so badly. She spent the moment in between her mistress visits making her tail move and trying to stand with in the limits of her restraints. She found by standing a certain way and then bending over she could make her tail curl out of the way. It seem odd that it would do that but the fact that she could seemed to please her mistress when she showed her. There where time she wanted to ask her mistress so many things but the moment Snowflake saw her. The question just seemed to fly right out her head. Not that she had any idea how she was going to ask them. Her voice was still painfully raw and she wondered if she ever could speak. Or ever did!

As ‘time’ went by. Snowflake was allowed only for brief periods to have her fore hooves or rear hooves freed. Snowflake held her fore hooves up bent at the elbow and wrist like a prancing pony. Her mistress only her walk on all fours once and she found it uncomfortable. But she could do it. She liked being up on her hind legs. The room never got dark so she measured time between her mistress visits. Some day seemed shorter than others did. Snowflake spent time trying to stand or move with in the limits of her restraints. She understood the reason for them all too well. Once she had fallen asleep in her mistress arms and the evil girl came to her in her dreams. Snowflake had awaked with such a start that her horn had cut her mistress cheek.
Snowflake was horrified that she had harmed her beloved mistress. Her and Dr Vetman where very cross with her. Her mistress scolded her and if she did anything like that again. She would be punished.

She could stand well enough but walking was another matter. She had to walk up right and not on all fours as she first thought. Her fore hooves where not long enough and the reason why did not seem important. Some where in the far reaches of her mind she knew something was wrong but what was wrong was the problem. She began to accept thing as they where and not question things. But always there was that evil girl in her dreams wanting her to remember things she could not understand.
But where she looked she would see herself as a unicorn. The mirrors seemed to be placed so no matter where she looked she would be confronted with the undeniable truth of who and what she was.
As she got better being given more slack on her restraints rewarded her.

But one day she felt ill or had eaten too much from the bottle and had to go without the other bottle to catch her waste.
She found out what mistress meant by punishment and did not like it all. Her fore hooves where bound tightly behind her to where the ‘knees’ touched. Then her rear hooves where bound together and drawn tightly behind her. Then mistress connected them to her fore hooves. The tail was used wrapped around the binding of both her hooves. Then she had to lie bare breasted on a very uncomfortable blanket that itched terribly all the while having to smell her urine. She did not know how long mistress left her that way but she vowed she would burst before having to be punished that way again.

‘Days’ passed and her length of freedom was getting better. She could stand and walk quite well on her own and the evil girl did not haunt her in her dreams as she once did. Snowflake was getting better. Dr Vetman told her so. She was also starting to eat solid foods and learn how to use a sand box for her other waste. Mistress would let her prance around on a long lead around the room. Her hooves beat out a click clack like tempo on the mirrored floor. Her stable boy would wash her hair and brush it. Give her sponge bath but was never allow touching her in certain places. Once he got to close she kicked and bit like she was told she could. Only Dr.Vetman and her Mistress where allowed to touch her there. She also found out her mistress had a name. She remembered Dr. Vetman addressing her with that name. Mistress Gray was her mistress proper name. Although she still though of her a just ‘mistress’. Only her mistress and Dr Vetman where allow to remove her harness and clothing to give her a very special bath. Her fur was combed and tail where combed. Her horn and hooves where polished. Special soap was used to make her smell like lilacs and lavender.

She loved these times when her mistress paid such attention to her. She wished her mistress would be with her always. She would whine and whimper feebly and her mistress would tell her that she had a lot of important thing to do and Snowflake should not keep her from them. To do so would be wrong. Snowflake interpreted the word wrong into punishment.
She would whine a little and some times her mistress would come back to stroke her mane some more or touch her in all the ‘nice’ places the stable boy could not. When her mistress was gone she would think of happier things. Anything to keep the bad girl away. The controll over her tail was getting better. It moved in the opposite direction of when she twisted her body. So with little side to side movement of her hips she could get it to swish back and forth. She liked that because is tickled the back of her rear legs a little.

She also was allowed to feed her self and could use her fore hooves to push her food, which was grain and dried fruits, into piles so she could eat out of her food tray. She would sip water from a bottle. Snowflake was almost to the point where she would nearly be able to move quite freely on her padded island. She was always chained by either her neck or hooves to the island but could practice prancing around. Her balance had much improved. She liked the sound of her hooves beating out a rhythm on the polished floor. He even beat out a kind of tune but from where she got it from she did not know. Her mistress was very proud and spoke of taking her on a ride and seeing the rest of her friends.

That word. Friends. What friends did Snowflake have? She could not remember any friends. But then there were many things Snowflake could not remember. All the while she could only whinne or let out a throaty grumble but never speak. But at times her mistress acted like she could.
Could she?
It would be so wonderful if she could talk like her mistress.

One ‘day’ Her mistress led her out of the only room she had ever know. Snowflake was told she was going to a new home and Dr. Vetman said she was well enough to go. She was excited and scared to be led out of the only room she had ever known. She needed a little coaxing from her mistress. She gave the ‘recovery’ room as Dr Vetman had once called it, a final glance and went down then brightly lit hallway. It was a slow curving hallway and sloped slightly down. Mistress made her canter the entire way.  Every fourth beat mistress commanded her to whine. She did but her voice was not used to it. Perhaps this way why her mistress made her do so for such a long time. Snowflake was near exhaustion when she could whinny and respond the way her mistress wished her too. She was given a sugar cube for her effort. She suckled on it and even licked off the few granules off her mistress finger when offered.

Although she was extremely tired she notice things on doors as they passed them. What she noticed the most was that she could read what was on them How did she know how to do that? Things like ‘Room b’ or ‘exit’ even longer words like ‘emergency’ she could read and even understand what they meant. She also knew how to count and add. Again. How did she know these things? She could not remember learning them and why would a unicorn need to know such things. Snowflake pushed these questions out of her mind. Thinking of these things tended to invite the evil girl into her thoughts. Like the girl was some how making her know these things. Snowflake concentrated on the beat of her hooves.

She began to smell something. Aside from Dr Vetman alcohol like smell and her mistress perfume along with her food of course. She never smelled anything else. But now an assortment of smells came to her. She did and did not recognize them. And the ones she did recognize she could not put a name to. But she knew them some how. Was this the evil girl doing?
Snowflake held her head up and sniffed around. Her mistress noticed this.
“You smell something my precious.”
Snowflake voice was totally gone and just nodded.
“It is your friends. We get you to your new enclosure soon enough.”
They came to an open door. But there was no light beyond the door. Her mistress tried to make her go in but she balked.
It was dark in there.

In the darkness bad things lived. Pain was there. The evil girl could be in there. Snowflake stained against her reins. No amount of coaxing or encouragement would make Snowflake go in. Only the light would make the darkness go away. In the light her mistress lived. That was where Snowflake wanted to be. Closing her eyes to sleep was different. She could controll her dreams. Sleeping was good. It heals you but walking into darkness was bad. Her mistress seemed oddly pleased that Snowflake would not go in. Her mistress turned on the light and all Snowflake fears vanished. Only her mistress could make the light appear and chase her fears away.
Only her mistress.

But it seemed such a simple thing to do. But she was not allowed to touch or do anything unless her mistress trained her to command her to do so. The switch that brought the light was colored in red. Red was a danger color. To touch or interact with anything red meant punishment. Her mistress told her this once and she always listened to her mistress. 

Snowflake was high steeped into the light. And into a large room with a glass wall. A curtain was drawn on the other side of the wall to block her view. The room looked like a small forest glade with knee high grass and few trees. The trees where strategically placed to hide the place she could go. There was a little pool where she could drink or stand up to her hooves in water in. But never roll or bathe in it. That was her drinking water. Her fore hooves where secured to her waist by a chain threaded through the metal loop. The chain allowed her hooves to be at her sides, which was much more comfortable than when she had a shorter chain. Snowflake could remove her lower part of her harness by sliding it down her legs when she needed to go. She just had to care of her beautiful tail. She found it hard to manipulate the lower harness with her fore hooves but was proud that she could do it. 

Her enclosure was not as big as the recovery room but with out her lead to keep her near her padded island. She did have more room to run. She paced it off; She was in a 60 by 50 hoof room. Snowflake paced off measurement by a very steady measured stride. She counted these paces as hooves. She could smell others. She heard sounds of others. Some growled others squeaked, bayed, and one whinnied.  She tried and did respond. She did not know what she was saying but she was communicating. 

Snowflake measured days by her mistress visits. It was three days of her getting used to her new home and being refitted for a harness so she could go riding. 
“Would you like to see the rest of your friends.” Asked her mistress.
Snowflake nodded and grunted an affirmative whinny. 
The curtain parted as if by magic. She looked out and saw she was in circle of similar looking enclosure. By press her face against the glass being careful of her horn not to scratch the glass. She could see to her left another Four hoofed animal. A female dear. A nameplate said Bambi.
Then to Bambi left was another male dear spouting a magnificent rack of horns was Buck. Then to Buck left was an enclosure that was half full of water. It was a half woman and half fish. A mermaid. Her name was Marina, then and another tank with a male half man half fish called Tydal.

To Tydal's left continuing the circle was an enclosure with a female with a catlike eyes and face with black and white stripes. She made a show of displaying her claws and giving her an evil cat like grin and licking her paws. Her name was Tigress. 
Tigress mate seemed to be lounging in a low branch in his enclosure. His name was Stripe.
Across from Snowflake through an empty cage with a few colored feathers on its floor was another cat person. A female. All covered in black short fur and long twitching tail. Glowing yellow eyes looked at her and she sniffed the air. The black panther person walked on all fours pacing back and forth. She was right across from Snowflake enclosure. Her name was Ebony.
Snowflake shivered. Given a chance Tigress and other Ebony would eat her. Ebony mate also paced on all fours but her was clearly trying to catch his mate scent. His name was Blackie.

Next to Blackie was female horse. Her golden mane shown brightly in the light. She pranced in from of her glass showing off her polished hooves and golden tanned skin. Her sign said Moonbeam.
She could see Moonbeams mate. A hansom stallion called Sunbow.
Then by pressing her face against the glass and looking right she could barely see her mate. She was excited to see that she had mate. His name was Blizzard. 
He was perfect. She was everything Snowflake imagined her mate would be. His snow-white fur and golden horn was perfect. She sniffed and tried to catch his scent. She became excited. And he did too.
Snowflake stamped her hooves in excitement.
“You remember Blizzard don’t you Snowflake.
Actually she didn’t but it did not matter. She wanted him. She came into heat and Blizzard seemed to sense her excitement.
“Now behave. Tomorrow we will go riding.”
Her face was glued the glass as her mistress left.
Then for a moment the evil girl made a final assault. Snowflake could sense her desperation. She showed each person had a different body and face other than what they now had.

Snowflake fought back and the other friends seemed to sense her distress. Snowflake was not sure who they where routing for but snowflake had too much to lose now. She wanted Blizzard and letting the evil girl win would mean losing him.
Snowflake forced the bad girl to go away. She fought with new purpose and being. She is Snowflake a unicorn. Property of her mistress. Mate to Blizzard. She is Snowflake.
The bad girl retreated somewhere and seemed to have given up.
She won and whinnied triumphantly.

Dr. Vetman watched the monitor. Snowflake had taken to her adjustment well. Just like the others. It was a bold move and Lady Grey planned every detail. Not that the entire chess club made the cut. There where one or two set backs but she wanted a mating pair of each member of her Menagerie. Her special zoo that she could show her select friends. And in turn contract her services to others who wanted to have a very special pet. Controll was achieved through a number of ways. Isolation and sensory depravation, and drugs used in the right combination could make anyone believe anything. But the real proof was time.
Time to make any adjustments and eliminate any flaw in the system. Plus there was always the random factor of the human will.
How to beat it. Shape it. Mold a person very essence to mind set that you wanted them to be.
In other words.
Play God.

His only failure was the parrot. Giving a creature full vocal ability prove to be a pain. She looked good perched in her cage and covered in feathers. Except the damm parrot would not shut up. The full ability of speech promoted higher learning and eventual memory recall. She tried to encourage the others in their recall of their former selves. He looked at his fish tank in his office. 
The word fish tank was far from it. The tank was eight feet long and three feet square. Suspended in a rubber cocoon that permitted no movement what so ever was the now defrocked parrot. The complete sensory isolation where every second of her life was controlled. Regulated, monitored. Anything she saw or heard was controlled by him. Right now the parrot was devoid of any sensory input. Her mind would starve itself and slowly be driven mad. It was at the brink of madness where he could take controll of her life. Shape her to his will.

She would be reborn in his image. In a few weeks what ever the parrot remembered would be a bad dream. Positive and negative reinforcement along with drug, Gene manipulation, and psychological conditioning plus surgery to fit her to what ever he wanted would leave her a vegetable to be his little sex toy. Like all the others. The implanting of a simple fear. Noctiphobia. The fear of the night or darkness would cause them to freeze in place. An unknown fear would grip them and they would be afraid of some unknown yet terrible awaited for them in the darkness. So severe a case of the phobia carefully controlled would keep them in line. It would simple to keep them in check. Just turn off the lights. They would go cationic and freeze in place if caught in darkness. But would never go into darkness no matter what the motivation.

The recovery processed reinforced their station in life. Anything that happen before the change was bad or brought on pain. Thus making any attempt to recall their former lives as a bad accident. So bad that they would try to find other means of escape and then in turn mentally hide in there new personas. No matter where they looked in the room they would be confronted with who and what they where. Physical evidence was often the most damming. Hence they would be there own worse enemies by they proof of what and who they where. Another plus was having a sexual partner. The reward of having a mate made the subject more pliable. A reward or brass ring to go for. If one got out of hand deny them there mate and eventually they will comply. Sex was often an excellent motivation for a number of thing.

One other item that was burned into their very psyche was the use of symbols and there meaning. Color and shapes representing a pecking order. Masters and trainers then himself then stable hands or handlers. He looked bank at the tank. He was just tempted to keep her this way. The former parrot was Vetman toy to do with as he wanted. A bonus if you will. She was damaged goods as far as Lady Grey was concerned. But even damaged goods looked good in the tank. Her shapely curves in the tight cocoon reminded him of some of his early work. Like the mermaid, Marina, she could be that. But it seemed like he was lacking originality. He had time before he could make a final decision. After all god had seven days. He could wait that long.
 

Unicorn -Snowflake
Fawn-Bambi
Mermaid-Marina
White Tigress-Tigres
Panther-Ebony
Horse-Moonbeam
Empty parrot cage

Deer- Buck
Merman- Tydal
Unicorn-Blizzard
Panther-male Blackie
Tiger-Stripe
Horse-Sunbow

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14.10.02