The little gelding was on the verge of hyperventilating as his mother fashioned a noose in the rope she had purchased that morning. His hooves were bound tightly, painfully so.

His mother had not been happy with he and his brother's performance since their castrations. After constant beating and, screaming, and beratings, she had just had enough. They were colts after all, weren't they supposed to be strong? Surely the loss of testosterone hadn't weakened them that much.

As a warning to the young gelding, she had already hung his brother in the tree in the backyard. There his body still hung after a week, swaying in the breeze and gathering more flies by the day. That would be him soon as well.

"Balls or no," the mother growled as she tugged at the knot experimentally, she wanted to make sure nothing went wrong, "you shouldn't have any problem pulling a cart of groceries."

Groceries being the countless pounds of beauty she products she insisted on buying every week. The poor little gelding still had bruises and cuts from went he lost his grip going up hill and went rolling backwards with the cart, ruining all of her weekend plans.

"Stupid colts owe me from ruining my body," she growled as she, satisfied with the knot, threw it over a the limb beside his brother's corpse. "I carry you both for eleven months, hoping for just one sweet little filly, but no, I get a couple useless colts. Weren't even useful as geldings. Such stupid disappointments."

He might have tried defending himself, if not for his bound being bound shut with twine.

"Well, we all know what happens to disappointments," the mare cursed as she came over, grabbed and then dragged him underneath the tree. "Wish I just hung your father as well after giving me two colts, instead of gelding and selling him to the salt mines."

She dropped the noose over the gelding's head and pulled the knot tight, already beginning to strangle him before his hooves ever left the ground. She gave him a swift knock in the gut to double him over and discourage him from running away before she snatched up the other end of the rope.

"Honestly," she spat, looking down at the tears the poured from his eyes, "a real colt would be crying over something so pathetic. It was such a waste of time training you two. Should've thrown you both in the trash the moment I birthed you. Never would have gotten a dime had I sold you. Probably would've been sued for selling defective merchandise."

She was about to grab the rope, when she paused. "Although... the Night Mother... I might... No. You're already too broken and pathetic. To Tartarus with you, tell your brother I wish he was never born."

A moment later, the gelding was kicking against the air, the other end of the rope tied off to keep him aloft. The mare slowly walked away. "Well, I'm off to the market to find a strong gelding that can actually get some work done."

And those were the last words the gelding heard before lack of air rendered him unconscious.