“Help Wanted: Carousel Pony”

This was the ad in the paper that Ocean Shores had answered. Since she was in the off-season where nopony really wanted to buy inflatables, she figured a side job to earn some extra money certainly couldn’t hurt…and this carousel job was perfect for her! They even said that experience with latex was preferred, and she had plenty of that! Unfortunately…she never really considered the implications of the request, nor the fact that the job was for a Carousel Pony, not a Carousel Pony Polisher or similar.

The interview had been quite simple. Some questions bounced back and forth, discussion of compensation, and even her term; just a short month. “Welcome aboard,” they said at the end, shaking her hoof and patting her on the back. “You’ll make a fine addition to the ensemble.”

The last thing she remembered seeing before a sickly-sweet smelling rag was magically forced against her muzzle from behind was her interviewers’ wide grins…now much more twisted-looking as she slipped into unconsciousness.

As she came to, she found herself bound quite tightly on a carousel, and dressed in latex from head to hoof, the only holes being around her mouth and eyes. Here, the job was really explained in its entirety.

She wouldn’t have to do anything, per se. But they were going to strap a special latex piece onto her hood…one with no air holes. Not to worry, she was told; it was enchanted to let air through. So all she would have to do is sit there and let passing kinky ponies ride her. She’d be paid after the month had passed. Perhaps foolishly…Ocean agreed and relaxed in her bindings, not asking to be let go because of how they’d decided to set her up.

She soon came to regret it.

As the piece was magically joined into her hood, and an accompanying strap wrapped around her muzzle, Ocean noticed something…she couldn’t breathe in anymore. She could only suck the latex in, deeper, deeper into her maw…with no oxygen getting through. Within a minute, she was already thrashing around, her eyes wide with panic as her heart beat faster and faster. Air…she needed air! She tried to cry for it, but the latex seemed to fill every gap in her mouth, coating her teeth and squeezing her tongue, muffling her speech. Her eyes teared up as her lungs burned more and more fiercely, and her forelegs shook against the straps pulling them down and out. The end was coming…any moment now…

Any…moment…

…now?

Something was off. She still yearned for a gulp of cool, life-giving air. Her body still trembled as her heart shot around in her chest, driven by the lack of oxygen in her blood. Her thoughts raced in all directions, most centering on ‘AIR!’, but some idly wondering why she hadn’t begun to pass out yet, and just a few more focusing on the tight, full-body grip of latex, and the squeaks and creaks she emitted as she reflexively thrashed around, trying to push the rubber from her maw. The scent of latex was overwhelming, and the half-millimeter-thick rubber was unyielding…

Finally, one of her ‘employers’ explained:

She was getting air…but only just enough to stay conscious. That’s how the latex was enchanted. She was to stay like this—tightly bound, wrapped in crinkly latex, made to suck in the same latex so tightly that it almost touched the back of her tongue, and even rode on during all this—for the entire month. It would be a long month, she was told…not that she needed to be. But not to worry! She would be paid handsomely for her troubles. The only challenge would be keeping herself sane while she hovered on the edge of complete airless panic for weeks on end.

That seemed of little consolation to her burning, quivering, ever-unfilled lungs, though…especially as someone turned on the carousel. Soon, she was rotating around, still thrashing and futilely trying to gasp through the rubber suctioned into her mouth. She was probably quite the sight and sound…but that was also of little consolation. Each second seemed longer and longer, especially as her only lifelines—her ‘employers’—walked away.

This was going to be a very long month…