Cyber the War Pony—not his real name—has been involved
in the fetish scene for nearly a decade. In that time, he’s spent
$100,000 to build a dungeon in the basement of his Renton home,
acquired 300 gas masks and a gynecology table, and started an online
pony-play fetish group, Northwest Pony Players (NWPP), which boasts
nearly 700 members. But after two years of running NWPP, Cyber, 51, is
locked in a tense battle for ownership of the group, which has
splintered the pony-play community and sent members stampeding away
from the group.
“They’ve said if I do not turn [NWPP] over, [I] will not play in
this town again,” Cyber says. He claims several former group
members—who are also members of the Center for Sex Positive
Culture (CSPC), formerly known as the Wet Spot—have been
attempting to undermine him and steal away the pony-play group in which
he’s invested years of his life.
Cyber contacted The Stranger to complain about the supposed
hostile takeover of his group, which has apparently caused quite a rift
in the pony-play community.
Pony play is a fairly small subgenre of the fetish scene. As Cyber
explains it, pony play is “a form of performance, a form of animal
play. It’s not S&M; it’s more bondage and role-play.” Members of
NWPP dress up in elaborate leather gear, pull each other on carts, and
act out other scenarios. Sometimes sex is involved, sometimes not.
It’s an expensive fetish to get into, and ponies apparently require
a great deal of space to play. The limited appeal and resource-heavy
nature of the fetish led Cyber to hook up with the CSPC, which hosted
parties for his group.
“I was having people coming from all over the area to get a pony and
fetish group together,” Cyber says. “I had people coming from Idaho,
Portland, and Vancouver.”
At the CSPC, Cyber met several like-minded pony players. Like Cyber,
all of them have code names—like a clandestine group of
superheroes that get together and fuck instead of fight crime.
Over time, one of the pony players, Snakeman, became the NWPP’s
unofficial photographer, snapping pics of group outings for the group’s
message board. Then, says Cyber, Snakeman and other members, including
Sugar Pony Jake, became active in setting up activities for the
group.
In the last year, several NWPP members set up pony-play events
without running it by Cyber. Cyber says these “unapproved” events were
tantamount to a coup, which added to the tension within the group.
Despite Cyber’s insistence that members of NWPP have threatened him
and turned against him, Jake says that’s simply not true. “I don’t
believe I ever recall anyone threatening to shut him down or take away
his mailing list,” he says.
Last September, after Jake and several other members had distanced
themselves from Cyber and NWPP, citing concerns about safety at NWPP
events, photos posted on the group’s private message board began
disappearing. Cyber received a Digital Millennium Copyright Act notice
from Yahoo—where the NWPP site is hosted—notifying him that
Snakeman had requested the photos be removed. Cyber also says he was
told by Snakeman that he would lose the support of the CSPC if he
didn’t give up NWPP. However, Allena Gabosch, executive director of the
CSPC, says Cyber has never been denied access to the center.
Cyber says he has faced harassment from former NWPP members,
including the posting of his personal information online and late night
hang-up calls. “I’m worried about every car that stops in front of my
house,” Cyber says.
But he isn’t the only one alleging harassment. “As the years have
progressed, [Cyber’s] seemed to get more and more agitated about
things,” says Jake. Another NWPP member says she was “outed” to the
group when Cyber posted her real name on the message board. “I told him
at one point, don’t use my real name on the list. He did it anyway,”
says Pony Mistress D. “Not everybody wants to be that out…. [Cyber
has] managed to alienate almost everyone in the group.”
Finally, Cyber’s supposed nemesis, Snakeman, contends that he’s the
one who has been receiving harassing phone calls and e-mails—from
Cyber. “He [called and] said, ‘You killed my group. If I see you, I’m
gonna punch you in the nose,'” Snakeman says.
In addition to the threats, Snakeman says Cyber continues to
trash-talk him and other members on the NWPP list. “A lot of my friends
are being slandered without cause,” Snakeman says.
Cyber, meanwhile, says he is considering filing an antiharassment
order against Snakeman.
Whatever happens, NWPP’s membership remains scattered, and the
ongoing fight has severely disrupted the Northwest’s small pony
community. “The turnouts [for events] right now are a lot thinner than
they used to be,” says Sugar Pony Jake. “There are certain people who
just don’t feel particularly safe coming out.” 
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Ask Nirov,
The owner of the LongHouse. I’m now going to be the third power in King County.
Sweet, a ruse to take over Seattle! SPSC a front for CWP!
CWP
how can i get involved in the pony community?…….im a ponyboy from montana and would like to get involved here in the seattle area..i can be reached at donno265@yahoo.com