Turning A Page

As the sun shone down on Stableton, the warmth billowing over her wings, Paige dashed across the empty street from the general store, and up the stairs to her house. She took a glance to the east, the events of last night and the morning still swirling in her mind. She paused, setting her free hand on the wooden banister as she looked across the Everfree. Though hard to make out, whatever fires had been set to Bitsburg had been extinguished, expressed by the silver and white smoke snaking into the air. Paige gave a subtle smile, pushing a stray lock from her face, glad to know their neighbors hadn’t suffered too big of a blow.
Taking one last look at the sun as it crested over the mountains, Paige pushed open the front door to her house. Almost the minute her hoof crossed the threshold, she felt the wave of adrenaline that had surged in her earlier begin to drop. Her eyes felt heavy, and her hoofsteps became quickly unbalanced and out of sync. With a yawn, the pegasus glanced down to the six golden quill tips in her hand, smiling with satisfaction with the thought of what they’d be a part of soon. She’d be up for hours on end tonight getting everything just right. But, taking a glance at the pale sunrise making its way through her curtains, Paige decided a few more hours of sleep wouldn’t hurt her. Bracing her left hand along the walls, she shuffled to the back of the house to her room, and after setting the quill tips on her table, faceplanted into the bed. Pulling a pillow close to her chest, Paige quickly fell asleep as the birds began to chirp.

Hours of silence passed. The sawmill occasionally springing to life, or the sounds of rocks tumbling into the quarry were the only disturbances for the short times they lasted, not that they woke the drowsy pegasus. Even the birds of Everfree didn’t break the silence often. Stableton’s streets lay empty, save for the occasional citizen dashing to the tavern, or to a house. The sun had risen to high noon, hanging above the town and sheltering it in its warmth. Paige slowly opened her eyes, blinking away the remnants of a dream quickly leaving her memory. She turned her head, cheek dragging against the pillow, taking a glance to the clock on the wall. It read twelve. Another blink and it read twelve fifteen. In a panic that she had overslept far longer than she wanted, Paige bolted out of bed and stumbled to her closet, whisking out fresh clothes, before tromping to the bathroom. She pushed the hair from her neck and face.

“Good godesses you’re a mess” She grumbled to her reflection. Paige tossed her clothes onto the shelf near the door before picking up her brush, and started working on her mane. Grimacing on and off for 10 minutes, she finally worked through the tangles and knots in both mane and tail. Huffing at her toothbrush, Paige slipped on her clothes without a second thought, trotting in a hurried shuffle to the front door. She reached for the knob, and stopped, a knock giving her pause.

“Hey! Hey mailmare!” The booming voice came.

“H-Hold on I can talk to her!” a second voice replied. Paige opened the door cautiously to see her neighbor Leslie standing on the top of the staircase that served as her porch. Accompanying the small cream unicorn was a larger, white, imposing stallion, arms crossed over his chest. He snorted.

“O-Oh Leslie, Birch, why...what’s up?” She asked, looking back and forth to them.

“What’s up is--” Birch began before being interrupted.

“What… he means” Leslie responded, a correcting tone in her voice as she sat a hand on his arm. “Is that… well, remember the request I put in yesterday?”

“Mmhmm, it should be out for--”

“It’s not” Birch snarled. “The mail didn’t come.”

Paige paused for a moment. The mail-mare normally came at about 10… and even with a detour around Bitsburg...

“I’m sure she’ll come around by 2.” Paige assured, giving a groggy smile. “It happens sometimes. I can refund your bits for the priority request, and still put the request in, if it helps?”. Leslie shook her head and smiled.

“It’ll be okay, no worries!” She responded, taking her husband’s arm in her hands. “Just letting you know, Paige”. Birch reluctantly left with Leslie, their hooves echoing down the stairs, silenced as they hit the dirt of the street. Paige gave a long sigh, having lied through her teeth. The mail had never been this late, in Stableton at least. Sure, farther out mail took longer, sometimes even by train to get there, but to be past noon... It gave her cause for worry as she took the banister in her hand, stepping downstairs. The normally busy street held only a few ponies, most with bags, empty and full, coming or going from shops and homes. One stallion though leaned up against a house’s outer wall, taking a long drag of a cigar, enjoying his ability to do so without reprimand. He raised an eyebrow cockily as he saw Paige, taking a cursory glance to the front of her shop, before going back to his cigar. Paige rolled her eyes, stepping down and kicking over the off-colored rock near the front of the shop to reveal a spare key, too lazy to go back upstairs and retrieve her keyring.

She huffed as she stepped inside, a pile of mail having gathered on the floor near the outgoing mail slot. Paige scooped up the documents in an unorganized pile,and dumped it on her desk. A few letters scattered and fell to the floor. With all of the citizen’s mailboxes probably still full, she had no idea what to do with the excess paperwork that had been dumped at her doorstep; More than a handful of delivery requests for the general store, the Tavern was running low on something--Paige grumbled, shoving everything to the corner of her desk as she sat down, burying her face in her arms. She’d let the actual mail mare handle the disorganized mess. The pegasus sat there for 10 minutes before a subtle grumbling from her stomach pulled her to do something. With an uncaring and almost angry hand, she pulled out a drawer and snatched from it a hidden granola bar and a water bottle, tore off the packaging, and ate in silence. Paige looked over her shoulder, tipping her chair onto its back legs as she reached out and opened the back of one of the town’s mailboxes, seeing a small stack of letters still inside.

“Ughh… damn it” She groaned, rubbing her eyes, almost praying that when she opened them, the letters would be whisked off to the Canterlot post. Of course, they sat there still, undelivered. She’d have to let Maurice know the post didn’t go out and there was a backlog, and, she chastised herself, she still needed to order more ink. Paige stared unwillingly at the front door, pulling away from the seat as she walked over to the wall, leaning on the windowsill near the door. The streets still ran empty, the stallion across the street leaving no trace of his presence other than the ashes floating away in the wind from his dropped cigar. She swished her tail back and forth as she weighed how to get to the city hall; flying would be okay, but after an ordinance preventing ponies from being outside, should she risk it? She could always walk, but even walking would feel like forever in an empty street, and she wasn’t exactly a fan of running or trotting if she could do otherwise. Paige took a deep breath, cheeks puffing as she ruffled her feathers. She danced on the spot before giving a huge sigh, then opened the door, and slipping out between the narrow gap created, whisked off into the sky and headed for the town hall. Half way, however, Paige turned sharply and fluttered to a stop, red in the face as she crossed her arms over her chest; she’d forgotten to put on a bra and underwear this morning. She hurriedly looked around if anypony had noticed, then remembered Birch and Leslie had talked to her earlier--Paige gave a squeak of mental embarrassment, dashing back to her house. She nearly crashed in the front door with her flurry of haste, and reached the bedroom, panting.

“Stupid stupid stupid” she grumbled to herself as she threw off her clothes in a hurry, rummaging through her drawers as she got dressed for what felt like the 10th time that day. Not wanting to put back on the clothes she had slept in, Paige grabbed a worn pair of jeans and a loose fitting shirt from the closet, tugging them on as she hopped out the door into the hall to the bathroom. Nothing flashy, though the jeans had been with her for so long; the knees had holes, the bottoms worn and frayed with cloth strings, and she was sure there was a hole in her back pocket that had cost her more than a fair share of bits...Paige smiled though, seeing herself in the mirror, laughing quietly. “It’s not like there’s anypony around to see...right? Just casual wear. You have this. Just get in and out and back to the store”. She gave a big grin, flipping the hair that sat on her shoulder with her hand before she trotted back outside, taking flight with quicker pace towards the town hall. As she landed, Paige slowly pushed open the doors to the empty hall before her. The red carpet led down the hall, about 4 doors on either side, with a double mahogany set at the end for the mayor’s office. She hurried down the hall, rehearsing what she planned to say in her mind, just in case she got cold hooves and froze. Paige barely set her hand on the knob to the office before it opened up, and she bumped muzzles with the secretary.

“O-Oh!” The Unicorn laughed nervously. “Sorry, I’m in a hurry, I hope I didn’t hurt you!”

“No no, I’m sorry” Paige apologized, scratching the back of her head. “I should’ve knocked. I was going to talk to Maurice yesterday, but it slipped my mind.”

“The order of ink, right? Great; we were starting to run low here too” She added, before gasping. “I-I have to get down to the mill, excuse me!”. With that comment, she dashed down the hall and out into the streets towards the lumber mill.

“Paige, was that you I heard?” A voice asked from within. Paige pushed the door open, closing it behind her as Maurice looked up from a stack of papers. The stallion had been busy this morning.

“Y-Yes, Mayor” Paige replied, walking in and sitting down. She fidgeted slightly, yesterday’s more than surprising event she witnessed flashing back into memory. “I needed to ask you about--”

“The ink vials, yes” Maurice interrupted, pulling out a form from a drawer in his desk. He hastily pushed them towards her. “Now if you’d excuse me I--”

“That’s not all I was here for” Paige grumbled. Maurice stopped his shuffling, a pursed frown on his muzzle. He raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to continue. “The mail hasn’t gone out yet. It’s… never been this late. I’m worried.”

“It… hasn’t…?” Maurice pondered. He tipped back in his seat, thinking as he stroked his chin, before glancing to his side. Magic formed around his horn, and out of a cabinet in the corner floated a single piece of paper, a ribbon pre-attached, and the document decorated with official looking borders and raised text. “If it hasn’t come by tomorrow, fly this to Canterlot no later than noon. We can’t operate without a smooth flow of information coming in and leaving this town.” he raised a hand as he tipped his chair back down, waving the back of his fingers to her. “Now fly along, I’m busy.”

“Mhm… sure…” Paige scoffed, taking the paper.

“What was that?” Maurice snapped, glaring over an envelope he just picked up.

“....Nothing, Mayor” She finished, pushing in her chair before leaving the office. She rolled her eyes as the doors swung shut behind her. “Arrogant colt…” She grumbled quietly to herself as she took off back towards her work. Thinks just because he’s the mayor everyone’s under his hooves… Ooh, it’s for the town’s safety~! If you’d EXCUSE ME. Bet there was nothing wrong, he’s just getting old and senile…

Paige’s mood continued to sour as she stormed into her workplace, kicking aside a old busted quill tip in anger. She unfurled the paper Maurice had given her, her eyes lazily scanning the page.

“Mayor of Stableton… formal request… compliance with regulation… Ah fuck this” Paige sighed, walking to her desk. She took one of her quills from the vial it was standing in, and scrawled her signature as the town’s unofficial ‘mail-mare’ at the bottom, before tossing it on top of a table nearby to dry. All the pegasus could do now was sit about, staring at the walls around her while the day pattered on. Every so often, Paige would glance at the clock on the wall, sometimes vexxed as she swore it ticked backwards with how slow time was passing. She made an attempt to alphabetize the overflow of mail, but failed within half an hour as she buried her head in her arms, resting in silence as hours passed.

Cruising low above Stableton, wings flapping hurriedly, a blue pegasus stallion coasted down towards the end of the street towards town hall. His hooves barely had a chance to touch down before he galloped down the hall, knocking urgently on the office doors before inviting himself in. Maurice looked up with a sharp silent gasp at the intrusion, a look of concern on his face.

“Mayor, Mayor, I think you need to see this. We may need to evacuate Stableton.” he panted, hand on his heaving chest. The other wiped a few drips of sweat from his brow. Maurice sat up straight, squaring his shoulders.

“Calm down… what happened?” He asked. Looking around him, Maurice stacked his papers into a neat pile before standing, and walked to the end of the office to comfort the out-of-breath stallion.

“I saw… it looked like soldiers, sir. Like your old armor” the pegasus relayed. “It looked like they had supplies with them.”

“Hmm… Maybe whatever rabble took hold of Bitsburg is approaching… I’ll go see what these soldiers want.” Maurice clasped a comforting hand on the shoulder of his citizen, giving a smile and nod to him. “Return to your house, I’m sure there will be no trouble with the guard. Cherry!” A door opened down the hall, out coming his secretary, pen in mouth and holding a clipboard as she struggled to keep her papers organized. She muffled a question through her teeth. “Come with me, and hurry up, I don’t want to keep any captains or lieutenants waiting”. Maurice escorted the mare and himself out of the building, gingerly taking steps into the road that weaved around the Everfree.

The Blue stallion stretched, bending his arms across his chest and flexing his wings as he headed out the front door as well, but took a long pause as he looked down the street at all the houses and shops that lined it. Taking the initiative, he started making his rounds.

A loud thumping at the door threw Paige to attention as she snapped up in her chair. It was dusk by now, the clock read, and the mail had never come.

“C-Come in, come in!” She called, rubbing her eyes as she reached for her quill. “Welcome to th--”

“Hey, I need to make this quick” The stallion said as he opened the door. “Remember that dragon that attacked Bitsburg?” Paige nodded. “I think some soldiers are coming to evacuate us. I saw them marching this way when I was flying to the bar.”

“Soldiers…??” Paige blinked, not believing the man’s exaggerated story. “Why would they…”

“Look, I don’t know either” He said, shaking his head. “Point is, after I tell a few more people, I’m going home and packing some stuff. I don’t want to get caught in some podunk hick town without some bits and a change of clothes. I advise you do the same.” With that warning, the stallion hurried back out the door and onto the next building, rapping on its entrance. Paige blinked, taking a few moments to ponder the man’s words. Why wouldn’t the guards just send a Pegasus to fly in and warn them? Did they really need a small group? She jumped to her hooves in a slight panic as she ran out the door and up the stairs to her house. Maybe the threat is closer than they thought. Oh no oh no… She dug into her closet, looking for her messenger bag as her mind raced. What if Maurice knew more than he let on and just didn’t want us to get scared? What about those women from yesterday? Paige shook her head, taking a deep breath. She bit her cheek and shut her eyes tight for a moment as she pushed the negative thoughts from the front of her mind. It was better to be safe than sorry. She fished a large black messenger bag from beneath a box, dragging it with her to her room before she tossed it on the bed, and rummaged through her closet for clothes.

“Is it going to be cold…? What should I…” She wondered aloud, tossing garments fluidly onto to the bag behind her. She whipped around, folding the garments into neat stacks and shoving them into the bag. “Wait!” She turned again and reached out, snatching the six quill tips off the desk on the side of the room, slipping them into the side pocket. Whether or not they got shuffled to a new town, at least she could still practice working with her quills. Paige also slipped the knives she had prepared into a second pouch. Whether they were forced to a new town happened though… she’d need new tips regardless. Paige shuffled around the house for a few more minutes, scrounging up what bits she had lying about; some in the couch, some in the jar in the kitchen, and even one or two in the bathroom. Bathroom! How could I forget a hairbrush?? Paige grabbed it as well, tucking it into a corner of the bag.
She looked through it, satisfied with what she had accumulated, and placed the bag by her bedside. Maybe she’d tidy up the office before any verdict was reached, she wondered as she locked the door behind her and headed back into the post office. What would be the point though? It might be cleaner in the morning when the mail came, or--

“It could save me some time coming back” She said quietly, thoughts spoken aloud as she pondered, but seeing the distraught and overflowing table of papers as she entered the room quickly soured her mood, ears sinking to the sides of her head. “Nah, to hell with this…” Paige sat down in her chair, setting hooves on the desk as the minutes crawled by in silence. It was broken shortly afterwards by the ringing of the town bell. Paige’s ear perked up as she turned her head, rolling her shoulders as she, along with the rest of Stableton headed outside, forming a crowd around the steps to town hall. Maurice stood at the top of the stairs, Cherry nowhere to be seen, whether beside him or in the crowd.

“Citizens, attention everyone, I’ve an important announcement to relay to you all!” His voice boomed, a coy grin displayed on his muzzle. The town murmured to themselves, some silent and wincing as the sun began to set behind the mountains in the distance, trying to gain any sight of their mayor. Maurice shifted in place, a heavy sack of bits on his left hip throwing his coordination off. He patted it lovingly, eyes scanning the edges of the streets, then to the crowd. “There will be… additional changes to Stableton. Permanent… changes.” The crowd’s mutterings grew louder as ponies looked to one another in confusion. Paige sighed, looking over her shoulder at her house as she contemplated going for her bags before the mayor bored them to death with diplomacy.

“What the hell happened then?!” A mare shouted, hand on her hip as she waved her other hand out, nearly striking another mare in the face. “We’ve been sitting in the dark and in our homes all day. What happened now?!” Maurice laughed to himself, resting his hands on the open folds of his coat, raising his head up as a golden aura of magic spiraled up his horn, amplifying his voice to carry through and over the crowd.

“Now?...Now is good.”

A bestial cry and spray of fire erupted from down the street. A hulking, mounstrous four-legged beast with dark oak horns struggled to be free of the large chain that kept it at bay. It roared again as the townspeople cried in shock, unleashing a torrent of hot red fire into the sky. An echoing call, no, a command of ‘Now’ was shouted by another man, and a flurry of gold and brown descended upon the town. Out of the small streets between houses and behind the town hall rushed groups of stallions, all clad in their armor. Each wielded small batons and nightsticks, some with rope, and all with a determined hunger to their eyes. The ponies panicked, breaking off and scattering like roaches from a torch. Paige stumbled over her hooves as she turned to run, screaming and throwing her hands over her head as armored pegasi swooped down over the crowd, some pinning women to the ground as others continued on to grab stragglers. The guardsmen were animalistic in their actions, fingers digging into clothing and shearing it from whatever form it tried to cling onto. Paige froze as she saw a guardsman flip over a mare, one hand pressing against her jaw to hold it back, the other on the length of his cock as he shoved it into her without reserve, hilting her in barely a second. Paige’s first instinct was to shove the man off of her, to do something for her. The mare’s cries matched the pain and desperation of Paige’s thought to run from whatever apocalypse was raining down on them, and flight kicked in over fight. Paige hoofsteps were silenced against the torrent of madness and wailing that had shattered the normality of Stableton, digging into the dirt with every step as she gained enough speed to take off above the crowd. She looked back, the mare lost in the crowd as stallions grabbed what they could: manes, tails, arms, and more as they took down whatever mares they could find. At the top of the stairs to Stableton, Paige saw the quickly shrinking figure of Maurice talking to a much stockier stallion than himself with… antlers?

“GOTCHA” a voice bellowed as Paige felt the air around her distort. A guardsman had flown after her, and reached out, grasping for her. Paige took a sharp roll to the side, sacrificing her flight to save herself as the guard came in victory of nothing but a few strands of hair from her tail. Paige barely had enough time to right herself in the air and ascend a few heads higher than the stallion, panting as her eyes darted around for an escape. He growled in anger, but noticing a unicorn trying to fight back her attackers, decided on more available prey and lunged away. Paige began to notice, interspersed through the crowd of rabid and ill-minded stallions were larger creatures with dark brown and white fur, tall cream antlers adorning their heads. Though the stallions outnumbered them, the creatures seemed to be in charge, standing back and letting the mayhem unfold, hands wrapped in the chains of their hellspawn firebreathing furred monsters.
Paige blinked. Brown. Furred. Horned… these monsters had been the destruction of Bitsburg. Her eye caught the handler of one of the creatures, and his stern face of dominance slowly shifted to anticipation as he saw a mare unheld. Paige gasped and turned, flying down the street at full force, away from the epicenter of chaos. The man dropped the heavy chain, letting his eager beast charge without reservation into the crowd as he raced after Paige. The black hooves beneath him carried the creature with speed, antlers parting the air in pursuit. Paige barely had time to throw open the door to her house as her attacker met the bottom of the stairs, the surge of power and lust in his heart pushing him to claim his conquest. She slipped and slid down the hall, slamming her bedroom door behind her with a defiant click of the lock. Paige rubbed her hands along her shoulders, mind addled and thoughts scattered as she noticed she had cornered herself in the room with a wild beast close behind.

“P-Please, stop! I...I…!” She shouted, looking around for anything that might stop the creature. She reached to pick up her bag, thinking offering it bits in this possible pillage would stop it, but covered her ears in fear as the door was kicked open.

“Come here, you wily little slut” He smiled. He pulled aside what stood to be an armored loincloth of sorts, brandishing his erect marbled length. The tip was wet, desperate to find and leave its mark inside a squirming mare. His steps were slow, intimidating as he worked across the room, cock matching each step with a yearning throb. “If you scream for me, I might finish faster”

“Stay back!” she yelled, picking up a pillow, tossing it. The man swatted the cotton lump away without breaking his stride. Paige took a sharp breath, taking the strap of her bag in hand as she shielded her eyes and swung it. The antlered man took a halt in his step as it swung, anticipating a blow, but the bag found its mark as it slammed into the window, shattering out the glass.

“You dumb marecunt!” he bellowed, bending down to charge. Paige clasped the bag in her arms, protecting her chest as she leapt from the window, spreading her wings to slow her descent onto the house beside her own. The man had already reached the window, giving a mixed roar of anger and failure as the window was too small a gap to pass through, leaving his quarry to continue on. Paige looked around. The everfree was to her left, a town devolving into chaos at her right. Some buildings had begin to bear the mark of fire, silhouettes of mares being forced to their hands and knees blanketing both street and windows.

“Please… You don’t have much time!”
“Fine then, I hope those monsters rape you until you split in two!”

Paige gave a desperate sigh as her breathing quickened, shallow and strained as she fought back tears.

“We didn’t listen…” She whimpered, her knees threatening to give out as she took another step on the rooftop. The sounds of mares being rutted and raped shook her to her core, the desperate cries of help that would never come imprinting themselves into her mind. The mountains that had once provided such shelter became barriers, trapping all of stableton in its final hours. The world had been at peace the day before. There was no war, or pillaging. Just a town on the brink of the mountains, existing in tranquil silence. On the street below, a unicorn backed away from her attackers, each blast of defensive magic weaker than the last until nothing but a pathetic wavering of magic was left on her horn. The stallion before her swatted at her side with a large baton, a banshee wail leaving her as a pained streak of foreign energy coursed through her, sending her to her knees. Her clothes were ripped within seconds, chest pressed against the dirt as the men used her as their newest toy, grabbing what hair they could to jerk her back and forth. The cries of pain and defeat were muffled, only tears marking her agony. Inessential buildings at the ends of the town slowly began to fill with smoke, orange monsters of flame crawling up their sides and consuming the wood beneath them. The antlered monsters spared the mares from the heat, dragging them through the street by the thick black and silver collars now wrapped around their necks, only to punish their squirming and defiance with a hand around their mouth, and a cock buried deep inside them. Other mares had given up, laying there offering no resistance as guards took turns spreading their weak forms to fit their needs; the less they fought, the better off they were.

“You, get her!!” The man in the window ordered, thrusting a thick finger at Paige. The reality of it all flooded back as a white coated Pegasus flew up, blocking her path down to the main street. He offered no words, nor rights of surrender, dashing down and pouncing towards her. Paige took flight again, and in a desperate attempt of escape, held her bag close and soared over the canopy of the Everfree. The guard laughed, loving the idea of a hunt, and took off after her, the pair of wings beating over the Everfree alight with the dying sun.