Turning A Page

While the first day of the Fall sealed the fates of many mares, others had a chance to flee. In the days following the conquest of Canterlot, the combined military might of the Caribou and Stallions began their march across Equestria. However, some mares did manage to escape before the spreading tide. Their wings left unplucked, horns left whole atop their heads, magical connection still established. Some earth ponies escaped as well, their strong hooves carrying them far from Canterlot. Initially, none knew where to run. A small, unfortunate number had doubled back, expecting the city to have been cleansed by the Elements, or alicorn magic, only to walk into waiting traps, and receive far worse punishment for their attempted resistance. The rest fled to towns across the nation to cry their warning, by land, air, or magical scroll, to tell of the spreading army that had seized their capital. Two such pegasi flew to the small town of Stableton.

The town of Stableton wasn’t as populated as some of the other towns that surrounded Canterlot and supported just a hundred mares and a handful of stallions. The self-perpetuating town found its wealth and sustainability in the quarry just north of the settlement, and the flow of the nearby river to power their log cutters. Set with its south side to the mountains, the residents enjoyed the shelter from the harsh winds of spring and the heavy snow in winter, and the mountain run off left them with an abundance of fresh water for crops. The houses were far behind the architectural advancement of the capital, and further still from Los Pegasus and Manehattan, but they were hardy, strong, and in recent years had even survived the dragons’ migration through their mountain town.

On this sunny afternoon of the Planting Festival, a pegasus named Paige Primrose
happily strode through town, sucking on the tip of a quill in thought. The shimmering feather was of her own creation, and from her own back--a full plush set of periwinkle wings sat upon it. With every step, her mahogany, naturally wavy, shoulder length hair would bounce, obstructing the deep purple eyes behind the bangs. Just above her belt-loops swung a long, well-kept rich brown tail. Adored in a worn and weathered white shirt with a short sleeved jacket, and denim jeans, the pegasus made her way to her corner office for the post-noon work day. A wooden engraving of her cutie mark hung above the door: A perfectly-prepared and wax-sealed letter, accompanied by the ink flowing from a red quill. Managing files, writing, and giving that gift to the rest of Equestria was her driving force in life. Pulling a set of keys from her pocket, Paige headed inside, but soon gave a light sigh as she saw the piles of paper on the floor, spread out just below the mail slot. Casually, she flipped through the letters. While no mayor, she’d handled Stableton’s incoming material requests enough times to recognize what request forms she’d need to pull out.

“The Quarums need… extra obsidian for their tools…” She set the letter on her desk, walking past to the file cabinet to its left. Without looking, her left hand filtered through the rows of yellow parchment, fingers running along the tabs until coming to the proper papers, and with a whisk of paper fluttering, set it down. “Hmm...Timberlands formally request… lump sum… cart materials…”. She sucked on her quill again. The mill mare, Mrs. Saw, already had a large workload on her plate for the coming summer--she couldn’t possibly fill another order of such precisely-dimensioned planks. Nonetheless, pulling out the correct form, she slid it and the order letter into Mrs. Saw’s mailbox. Paige shuffled through the rest of her orders, putting them all into the rear end of the large metal mailbox that took up half her office’s back wall, before sitting down to finish the rest of her work. As she picked up the stack of outgoing mail, a faint ‘boom’ echoed its way across the sky. Slowly, Paige worked her way outside, notepad and quill still in hand as she looked up. The rest of the town was visible in some form or another--some out their windows, some from doors, others having just stopped on the street. A faint shimmering wave of blue azure magic spiraled almost unseen across the sky, whisking through clouds and up into the mountains. A few of the townsfolk, particularly the males, shook their heads, rubbing them with their hands. Some women visibly shuddered, feathers rustling or hooves giving a quick dance back and forth.

“Hey Miss Primrose”, did you see that?” Her neighbor, a slightly taller pink unicorn questioned.

“Yeah…” Paige replied, lowering her hands as the town watched the blue magic fade into the sky.

“What do you think it was?” Mrs. Saw asked, rubbing her hands on her apron. Her arms were coated up to the elbows in sawdust. The whole town began to join together in a large misshapen circle, discussing the event. Some claimed unicorn interference with pegasus weather patrols, others panicked and claimed the Everfree Forest was about to unleash a terror on Equestria. While everyone discussed this, a town which the mares were in the majority, no one noticed the stallions taking ill and returning to their homes with their wives.

“Ooh!” Paige thought, her demure voice breaking through the crowd. “Remember the marriage in canterlot? That rainbow shimmer in the sky for a few hours after?” The rest of the crowd mulled it over, the unicorns quickly coming to agreement.

“Maybe Rainbow just lost her rainbow?”

“Nah, remember the way the rainboom works? Like each corner of Equestria gets its own color depending where it’s performed. That one at the wedding was just special, is all.”

“Yeah! And remember the pegasi were able to fly a bit faster the day after??”

“Nah that was just a placebo. No way the rainboom affects pegasi magic!”

Some remained in the town center to debate and go over the magic shimmer, though the majority, with contented smiles on their faces, returned to their work. Paige smiled, but gasped as she remembered what she was doing just before the magical aura blast. Not the best flyer in the town, let alone Equestria, Paige unfurled her wings and used them to push her quickly through the crowd--over a few marble statues outside town hall, and up the stairs. More in charge of papers than the flow of currency, she’d need the mayor’s approval for a new shipment of ink from Canterlot before the week was out if she was to continue her work. Trotting quickly down the long hallway that led to the mayor’s office, Paige raised her hand to knock, pulling it back as the door creaked open on its own. She called to him.

“Mayor Maurice, I hav--” Paige began, looking down to her notes to confirm her request for a new shipment of ink bottles, but gasped as she took a step back away from the sight before her. The imposing Unicorn mayor had a light brown coat, and well built muscles from his service in the Canterlot guard--all too visible as the stallion was without clothes, his pants around his ankles. The nude lewd sight of a man themselves wasn’t enough to cause the shock. What drove Paige to cover her mouth in sheer surprise was not the long throbbing marbled shaft exposed between the Mayor’s legs, but that it was thrusting without reserve into his secretary, bent over the desk like a common whore. The small pale-red unicorn was moaning with ecstasy, her horn being gripped as leverage in the strong left hand of the mayor, the other firmly planted over the right side of her ass. her clothes had been ripped from her form, the skirt lying in two halves, discarded a feet away on top of a once professional-looking blouse, now missing half its buttons and a sleeve. The pale blonde mane was holding strong in its ponytail, , but as it slipped over her left shoulder showed the face of pleasure she held--eyes rolled back, biting her lip with a dumb smile as she was freely taken by her boss.

Paige found herself staring through the crack in the door far longer than she should have, almost captivated by the sight. It had been far too long since her last sexual encounter, and to see this, this primal urge being let go without reserve had her trembling on her hooves. With the verbal queue of, “Take it like you want it” from the mayor, growled ever so sensually, Paige quickly darted back the way she came, and flew out the door to get as far away from the town hall as possible. Her flight led her back to her office, touching down with the slight displacement of dirt on her dismount. Paige entered her office and slammed the door, pinning her back against it in a panic. Her chest heaved with every panicked breath as she tried to block out what she had just seen. There had been rumors that Mayor Maurice had been sleeping with his secretary, but to see it so open and brash almost brought her to nausea. She told herself it was fine, or maybe she didn’t see what she thought she saw--anything but...that! Desperate to keep her mind occupied, Paige brought herself to her desk and sat down. Paige set about her work for about an hour, writing out and filing replacement forms before she heard a sharp rapping on her door.

“Oh no oh no” She panicked, assuming the mayor had seen her. She was about to prepare a profuse apology before one of the townsmares entered sheepishly.

“Oh, Paige?” She asked with a smile, hoping not to intrude.

“Leslie, good to see you” Paige replied with a smile, sighing as she leaned back in her chair. “What do you need?”

“Oh um… well about that…” She said with a shy smirk. “I want to order something from one of the clothing stores in Canterlot.”

“Wonderful! I’ll get that….” Paige trailed off, taking one of the outer city forms off the shelf, and pushed it towards her. “Just fill out the shop name, how many bits you’re willing to spend, and what you’re interested in, and the mailmare should have a response in about… 4 days?”

“So late?” Leslie pouted. “Oh...m-my husband wanted me to get something as soon as possible. He was so affectionate earlier; the most I’ve seen in months!” Paige smiled with an approving laugh.

“Well, I guess if you put forward a few extra bits I can mark it as a priority request…”
“Could you please??”

“Sure, I can--it’ll be another… 25 bits I think?”

“No problem!”. The mare handed over the small satchel of coins, heading for the door. “I’ll be back in a few days!”. Paige waved goodbye to her neighbor, but couldn’t help but notice the mare’s step was a little off. For a small moment she pondered why she would be walking so funny, but pushed it out of her mind and returned to the work.

The closing hours of her work were uneventful to the day's events, to say the least. Though she specialized in documents, organization and the like, Paige was more of the town's postal-mare. She'd love a job to handle more important documents, to be the one who stacks papers upon letters upon shelves in high-rising libraries or offices, but the job of a post office worker was suitable enough for her. The next 3 hours were routine: she had wrote all the forms she think she'd need for the next day, alphabetized the outgoing mail according to its destination, and did some general dusting of the wooden shelves and cabinets. Heading outside the front door as the sky began to dim, Paige locked up her office for the day. The sun was beginning to set behind the violet mountains in the distance, and she paused for a moment, considering briefly staying just a bit after dark to continue her work. Shrugging, Paige headed to the far edge of town to the bar. The large wooden tavern was a double story building, it’s style reminiscent of old earth pony tribe construction. That atmosphere inside was warm and welcoming, all the ponies inside enjoying the imported ciders from all over Equestria. Going up to the bar, Paige ordered a medium pitcher of Appleloosa Ale and a side of hay fries, and sat down at her table for a light meal before she would head home.

But before the first fry could meet her lips, the town hall bell began to sound, sending the distressing series of rings that signaled trouble through the town. Slowly the tavern’s music dwindled down, conversation ceasing as everyone looked around to one another. The threat was soon perceived real, and with the taps closing, grills switching off, and windows being shrouded by curtains, everyone soon headed out the front door in a hurried panic. The crowd argued with each other, everyone who had once been in their houses file out into the streets--Pegasi flew up to rooftops to get vantage points, unicorns used their magic to embolden the streetlights, and earth ponies kept the crowds contained.
Silence fell over the crowd before the words accompanying the end were shouted above the crowd as two pegasi appeared above them, making their way from the platform surrounding the town hall’s bell. They flew towards the crowd with their warning, shrieking in hysterics:
“Canterlot has fallen! Canterlot has fallen!”