Turning A Page

“You, pegasus. Are you with them?” The voice asked. Paige’s eyes went wide and her breathing shallow as she tried to turn. Her shoulders and back were locked, trapped by whatever magic had seized them so tightly and efficiently, though while unable to move, her mind raced. With who? Why? But why were her wings held? Wha--

“Are. You. WITH. Them?” The voice demanded again. She felt the longest feathers on her wings begin to be pushed down by the magic, irreversibly bending at their tips. Paige whimpered, biting her lip.

“I don’t know who you’re talking about!” Paige blurted out, keeping her eyes fixed on the ground. She saw from their corners, two sets of hooves step out cautiously from behind the trees before her, one of the set nervously curled behind the other, while the accompanying pair stood apart and rigid. “I-I’ve just been out here hiding, please, don’t… don’t hurt me”. The magic held strong as Paige whimpered. That was it, she couldn’t escape, whatever mares had survived Stableton’s fall had come to collect her and bring her back to those monsters--.

“Oh come on, let her go” One of the mares in front of her huffed. She waved her hand at Paige with a roll of her eyes. “She’s not collared and there are no men around. We’re fine”. Silence hung for a few moments before the golden magic faded into the wind. The mare behind Paige spoke up as she stepped forward, a white colored hand reaching into view.

“Alright, alright, up you go”. Paige took the hand, turning to see a golden armored unicorn with her free hand resting on her hip. A short and wild mohawk of white scored a line down the back of her head. “You a civvie?”

“A… what?”. The woman sighed, impatient.

“A civilian. Run of the mill Equestrian.” The soldier clarified. “Never seen a lick of hardship in your life… until now?”. The unicorn looked the pegasus up and down as she spoke. Paige nervously nodded in agreement, rubbing her arm as she folded her wings against her back. The two mares that were behind her walked around to the sides of the soldier, one smaller than the other two. On the right was an earth pony mare with a long, dark green mane, with lighter green fur, adorned in camouflage pants and a black shirt, and an analyzing scrunch on her muzzle. The smaller mare was a unicorn with light peach fur, and dark maroon hair that hung to her shoulders as it was swept over her brow. Paige couldn’t help but grimace as she noticed a thick crack running up the mare’s badly hidden horn, a deep fissure that nearly split the appendage in two.

“I’m specia--...I… I was, a specialist” The soldier fumbled out of habit. She softened her tone as memories too shortly gone flooded to her. “I was specialist Whitestar of Canterlot.” She looked to her right and left.
“These two are refugees, like you”. The green mare smiled cockily. “Call me Vine” She smiled, “Nice to see more mares made it”. The smaller unicorn didn't want to notice Paige at first, instead averting her gaze and looking at her hooves nervously, and hunching her shoulders as if trying to hide herself from Paige’s view.
“Hey” Paige nervously said, taking a step forward. She extended her hand nervously as a sign of friendship. “I’m Paige Primrose… it’s nice to meet you”. The unicorn took a long silence before slowly extending her hand in return.

“I-I...I’m F-Flora..” She stammered. With every word, her voice shook and her eyes tended to jerk away in protest of looking up at Paige. Whitestar shuffled over, putting a motherly hand on Flora’s shoulder, before she looked at Paige, nodded to the side, and transferred her arm to the Pegasus’ shoulder in private. Vine gave a smile, nudging Flora in the side with her elbow as she gestured to the campfire, and the pair left to attend it, leaving Paige and Whitestar.

“Flora… she took the beginning of the war a little… harshly” Whitestar started with a worried glance back. “One of those monster Caribou had this...” She paused, trying to form an object between her outstretched hands, “Magic… baton… thing, and she got hit with it, right there.” Whitestar traced a fragile line up her own horn. She winced at the thought of any damage coming to it. “I’m not sure how she was before, but she’s really skittery and forgetful. Good mare though. Really reliable when I gave her a few tasks like getting stuff for the fire.”

“What about Vine?” Paige questioned. Whitestar gave a smile and a laugh.

“Vine told me she was one of those ‘preparing for the apocalypse’ mares” she smiled. “After the world went to Tartarus in a handbasket that while ago with the god of Chaos, Vine said she wanted to be a wilderness mare, building lean-tos and living off the land.” Her smile faded slightly. “Though, she wasn’t near her home when we were invaded. Was up in Canterlot with the spring celebration.”

“Where were you?” Paige asked, she folded her arms loosely in front of her chest, arching her back slightly to alleviate the pain in it. “I mean… did you all escape from Canterlot?” Whitestar shook her head before nodding over to Flora and Vine.

“They told me they came from Canterlot, that Vine found Flora near the forest line scrambling through the brush. Once Vine heard the commotion, she bolted out of the city like a fruitbat for an orchard, thinking Discord was up to his shenanigans again. Found her and… a day later found me. Or I found them, one of the two.” Whitestar headed for the fire, talking as she and Paige walked and sat down. Vine gave a look to the guard before trotting off into the forest.

“I was coming back from a new flag commemoration in Vanhoover.” She began, gesturing to the rolled up flag across the campsite. “Was gonna fly that on the tallest peak of the castle next week…” She trailed off, biting the inside of her lower lip. “When we switched trains down the pass from the Unicorn Range, my...the...the other guards started getting aggressive, and it got worse, and worse...finally as we neared Canterlot, we saw droves of these antlered men, and smaller, furrier--” She paused, reaching in front of her and mirroring the shape of an hourglass with her hands, “--brown ones, talking with some of our men near the gates. The train stopped and…” Whitestar shut her eyes tight to force back the tears that threatened to form. “One of them got on and talked to my captain. Then another got on… then some of our own… and the whole train fell apart. One of the lieutenants tried to take a swing at the invaders, but was knocked out cold. Some turned on their fellow guards. One came after me and… I ran. I grabbed my flag and ran.” The mare gripped her fists tight, pressing her hands against her thighs as her knuckles became whiter than her fur. “I ran as fast as I could… and escaped when no one bothered to chase after one fucking guard.” Paige winced, patting the unicorn’s shoulder tentatively.

“H-Hey, it… it wasn’t your fault” Paige said uneasily. “I’m… sure some other guardmares did the same… somewhere?” Whitestar glanced over with a halfhearted glare, sighing before looking back into the fire.

“Hopefully...maybe there are other mares” She mused. “I mean… you three made it out, no offense.” A wider smile grew on her face. “Maybe we can take back Equestria sooner than I thought.”

“....what the heck do you mean?” Paige began to ask, before a flurry of sparks and ashes erupted in front of them. Flora squeaked and hugged herself tightly, turning her head sharply from the surge of heat before pouting at the earth pony. Vine however, laughed as she dropped the rest of her armful of broken twigs and branches into the fire.

“What she means” She interjected, “Is we’re gonna fight back against those monsters, win this war, and free every mare they’ve taken prisoner”. Vine jerked a thumb at herself. “With my outdoor knowledge, Whitestar’s military stuff, and Flora’s…” the mare paused before chuckling, “level headed attitude and your… your…”

“Yes, what...did you do before the war?” Whitestar asked, turning to sit sideways on the log. Paige shrugged.

“I just worked in a post office and made and cut writing quills. Nothing special.”

“Got any knives in your bag?”

Paige pursed her lips, ears bending back with hesitation as she looked at her bag, counting in her mind all her supplies inside.

“I… well… it’s a small exact cutting blade and some quill tips but…”

“Fork them over.”

“What? No!” Paige snapped, scooting away to stand. “Those are mine, I paid a pretty handful of bits for them, I’m not handing them over to you!”

“And what are you going to do with em, huh?” Vine said with a roll of her eyes. “Carve your name into a tree or something? Write a book on some leaves?”

“I was going to save them for when we got out of this fucking forest!” Paige shouted, taking a step backwards.

“Quiet quiet quiet!” Flora whimpered, putting her hands over her ears. “T-They’ll hear us, they’ll get us! I don’t want to, no no!”

The camp fell silent as the three looked to the smaller unicorn, then to one another, sighing in unison.

“Look...she’s right” Whitestar began, “We need to keep it down. Goddesses know who’s out here this time of night. Or what.” She turned. “But Paige… there’s no guarantee we’ll be out of here for a while. Those…’tips’ you said? They might rust out here, be useless when you can actually use them.” Paige swished her tail in quiet anger, but remained silent. “We could use them to cut thick leaves, fashion arrowheads...They can serve a different purpose”. Paige looked down to her hip, knowing underneath in bright red her flank was branded with a quill, a symbol of who she was. Her passion. Her life.

What life now? she pondered. There wasn’t clean parchment or paper for what could be miles, her feathers had gone without proper lathering for days. No use of memorizing districts or postal codes, or even order numbers now. “Useless”, she muttered.

“Just take the damn things then… all but one” Paige sighed. “That last one is mine, no matter what.” The guardsmare nodded with understanding.

“Flora, reach into her bag and find her quill tips and knife, please, and put it near my supplies? Come on, let’s sit and wind down.” Her gaze drifted to the sky. “It’s getting late, the moon’s far along.”

“N-No, I can do it. It’s my stuff anyway” Paige spoke up, shaking her head. “Flora you… you can just sit back. I’ll handle it”. The small unicorn looked quickly to Whitestar, worry in her eyes, before the other soothed her with a small nod as Paige began rummaging through her bag. As Paige dug around, Flora sighed to herself, pulling her hands close to her chest as her ears drooped, sitting without use on the ground.

The four eventually sat and laid down as Paige told her tale of Stableton burning and falling around her, before making her escape. Vine one-upped the pegasus with her own tale, making dramatic gestures with her hands as she described ground zero. Chaos all over the city, fights here and there between guards and citizens, the Elements of Harmony giving a harsh bucking to any male that got near them, and the monstrous Caribou and their gear that, as she described it, could’ve come out of any wilderness survival book. Though, as her conversation drifted to the plight of her fellow mares, Vine’s enthusiasm and attention to detail quickly faded to a remorseful murmuring, before halting all together. Flora reluctantly told how she tried to run from the siege of her town, and as she ran past a Caribou, they had struck her with their baton. Last she remembered, she was hiding in a bush not too far into the treeline of the Everfree, when Vine happened along.

“Why the collars?” Paige asked interjected as she folded her hands on her chest, still running through Vine’s story in her head. She turned her head to the earth mare, cheek resting against the grass.

“Probably the same chaining King Sombra gave the Crystal Empire” Whitestar huffed. “Why they captured only the women though…”

“Too afraid of us.” Vine chuckled. Flora giggled. “With all the Princesses, the new Princess, the Elements? We’re all unstoppable once we get rolling.” Paige kept quiet, pursing her lips. Celestia had fallen to her sister before. Discord turned Equestria on its hooves. The newest princess, according to rumor, nearly destroyed the element bearers in one night, and now with an invading army, where were they now, if they were so unstoppable..?

“Canterlot wouldn’t have fallen so quickly--No, wouldn’t have fallen at all if it was an even battle. They got in, somehow…” Whitestar’s horn glowed a faint gold as magic enveloped the fire, smothering it inside a few seconds. “Let’s get some rest. We’re moving further into the forest to find a better place to camp tomorrow.”

“And get started on taking Equestria back.” Vine added as she squished her hair together into a makeshift pillow under her head. Flora nodded, folding her arms on the grass before resting her head in the nook, while Whitestar rose to her hooves. Mentioning she’d take first watch, and Vine volunteering without hesitation for the shift after, the Unicorn headed a few yards out into the trees. Paige sighed, dipping a hand under her head as she gazed up at the night sky, pulling her legs closer to herself as she wondered.

What have I gotten myself into…?

It wasn’t often Paige remembered her dreams, or would be woken up from one. Nor were they often so vivid and full of colors. The tales told of Canterlot’s siege infiltrated Paige’s mind as she found herself on Mane Street, downtown of the castle, a large, blurry purple and white conglomerate of a structure she had only seen from afar. The sky was alight with purple wisps of magic holding back the blue ocean of sky beyond, pegasi silhouetted against the clouds as black dots. The deformed castle did not draw her attention in the allure of the other events of the dream, however, as she slowly wandered towards the commotion taking place in an alleyway between two Equestrian stores. Grunts, moans, even the bestial whinny of a stallion floated into the air as Paige looked to see a sight so taboo not even Playcolts magazine would let it in its folds.

One burly pegasus guard held a unicorn mare’s horn tightly in his grasp, pulling the woman’s muzzle unwantedly flush with his lower body. His large throbbing appendage made a noticeable bulge in the mare’s throat. Her nostrils flared for air as she tried to pull back, whimpering in reluctant need as the man’s musk flooded her senses, pacifying her as her lungs began to halt their struggle for air. The man pulled out, holding her head back in his vice grip as another guard faded into vision, slapping a loose collar around her neck. It was adorned with a bestial dog-bone tag on the front, as if claiming the mare as a lowly pet. Almost like a leash, a thick rope of the man’s cum connected the mare’s mouth to his slowly subsiding erection. The woman panted, eyes shut tight as tears beaded at their corners; she opened them, turning her head from Paige as the other stallion dragged her away with minimal struggle.

The Pegasus guard slowly turned his gaze to Paige, taking a few calm steps forward. She found her breath short, paralyzed in fear and apprehension as the guard stretched out a hand, taking her chin with a warm smile that would leave any mare smitten. Paige whimpered as the face of the man in front of her slowly shifted into that of the guard she’d attacked after fleeing stableton, and the smile faded to a judging grimace.

“Looks like we got a runner” He spoke quietly. Paige tried to back up, her wings bouncing suddenly against the torso of the Caribou she’d run from. Looking down for anything to help her, the Pegasus whimpered. Like a terrible high-school nightmare, the tattered and dirty clothes she once wore were gone from her body, leaving her and all her assets exposed to the stallion and stag. Shadows of other men began to close in from the ends of the alley.

“So willing, though” the antlered man cooed, taking a firm grip on Paige’s shoulders. “Already unclothed… except…”

“A fitting collar” the guard completed, a unadorned collar forming in his hand. Paige let a squeak of fear escape her muzzle, and kicked her shoulders back to free herself, spreading her wings. But they refused to gain flight, flapping uselessly like a peacock’s. The sky darkened as she was pushed forward, falling onto her hands and knees as the crowd drew closer.

“P-please, don’t hurt me!” She begged, grunting in pain as she felt a hand grip the base of her tail, hiking it as high as it could stretch. “I can help, I kno--” Paige choked and shook as she found a thick hot member shoved into her mouth, stretching her jaw as far as it could go. The whimper of pain drifted into one of pleasure as she felt something else begin to slide over her ass, her sex growing warm and dripping with involuntary lust at the aching carnal urge to be taken.

“Obey and it won’t hurt” The caribou promised, running the tip of his cock up and down her slit. Paige moaned, taking in the guard’s stallionhood deep in her throat. The stag praised her, bending over her back with a phrase that sent a shudder down her spine, her wings quaking with want. “Good mare~”. Her tongue worked to glide over every inch, refusing to stop as the caribou buried himself balls deep inside her, keeping a firm grip on her tail and flank. Other men began to approach, slowly undoing their clothes in anticipation of their turn with the pegasus, a muttering of a thousand different voices impossible to separate. But even as one slowly began to slip a band across her neck, Paige found herself unable to fight back, and unwilling. The antlered soldier had kept his promise.

Obey, and it won’t hurt.

Obey….obey…

Obey.

Paige.

Paige?

PAIGE.

A hand shook her shoulder vigorously, violently wrenching Paige from her slumber. She was on her back, groaning as she winced against the light of the morning sun that filtered in through the trees.

“Hey you alright??” Vine asked, helping her sit up. “You were muttering in your sleep, and looked like you were having a fit… Are you sick or something?” She put her hand against Paige’s forehead, where the pegasus had broken out into a cold sweat near the end of her dream. Dazed, Paige blinked away the sleep from her eyes, bringing herself to shake her head.

“Just… a-a nightmare” She mumbled. Paige took a hand through her forehead, through her hair, and brushed over her ears as she stood up. “I…” Paige paused as the lingering dream quickly faded from her memory. “Something… something with Canterlot…”

“Hey, sorry if I scared ya last night” Vine smiled, clapping a hand on her shoulder. “I just wanted to talk about it is all.”

“It’s... okay. I barely remember the dream anyway”

“Alright. We’re gonna pack up camp soon. There’s a small stream a short walk that way.” She pointed down past them. “Get a drink and do whatever you gotta do, then we’re moving on. We’ll watch your stuff”. Vine helped Paige to her feet, and went to help dismantle the firepit. Whitestar was currently reorganizing her own backpack, while Flora was taking apart nearby foliage to help hide their activities in the camp.

Paige moved through the treeline, turning red in the face as she approached the river. Her thighs slid against each other as she walked, a needing wetness aggravated with every step. Upon reaching the river, without checking if anyone or thing in the forest had turned its glance towards her, Paige leaned up against a tree with a regretful moan, eyes shut tight.

Why… why now…?

Biting her lip, Paige gave in to her urges, if only for a moment as she slid her pants past her shaking knees, and down to her hooves. With little time on her hands, and all her toys locked away back in Stableton, Paige gingerly spread her legs apart just enough to slip her fingers inside herself. The growing redness on her cheeks spurred the mare to pant as she frantically tried to satiate herself. Her hands continued to pump her fingers inside herself. A third finger joined the two already at work, leaving a trail of wetness to drip from her throbbing pussy onto the grass below as she neared a quick climax. Her other hand’s digits gently stroked her swollen clit, sending shivers of pleasure throughout her lower half--even having her tail hike up with every sharp breath.
In the back of her mind, embarrassment and regret yearned for Paige to stop: across all of Equestria, mares were probably being captured, raped and fucked without hesitation, mares like Whitestar and Flora having their horns broken and their necks chained… yet she couldn’t stop. Something bestial in her wanted to finish, to accept the subscious wants and needs shown to her in the misty black dream that couldn’t fully bring itself to memory. Paige began to shift back and forth on her hooves, breath drawing quicker as she felt a warmth building from her hands, shaking as she pushed herself over the edge.

Her hips bucked sharply as she felt the building pressure inside her release, coating the exhausted digits as she came. A quick, loud moan of pleasure left her, shutting her eyes tight as the blackness of her lids almost flashed white with ecstasy. For that moment of bliss, there was no forest, no hunger or exhaustion beyond the self-given climax that painted her hands and thighs, and slowly Paige allowed herself to slide down the trunk of the tree, slowly setting her ass on the turf below her. She panted quickly, biting her lip to keep another moan from escaping her throat, pulling her hands to her side as she relaxed.

“Mmphhh…”

“Hey Paige?!”

Paige jerked up with a start, eyes wide as she covered herself, looking around for the voice.

“Paige?!” Whitestar called, worried. “Paige, where are you?!” Thinking quickly, the Pegasus flopped forward, propelling herself reluctantly towards the river, vaulting over the bank, and landing hoof first in the icy current.

“AAAhhh!--I’m here!” She yelled back. The warmth that had been brought to her vanished into the water, and slowly the river crept into her shirt, seizing her chest. “T-The water’s just reaallllyyy cold!”. Whitestar pushed her way to the break in the treeline, panting as she looked around, cautious for anypony or caribou she’d been anticipating. Slowly the guardsmare calmed down, brushing her hair back.

“Scared the living sunlight out of me” She sighed, slowly bringing a smile to her muzzle. “I’m just glad you’re alright. I thought you were hurt.”

“Ha… ha… nope” Paige half laughed. She squeezed her thighs together, pressing her knees against one another as her tail brushed tauntingly against her backside. “I-i’ll be out in a bit… just cooling off…”

“Yeah, Vine said you were sweating in your sleep… Well, be quick; we’re all waiting.” Whitestar turned and left, slowly blending in with the shadows of the Everfree before disappearing from sight entirely. Paige waited, counting out a full minute after the woman disappeared from view before resting her chin on the soft bank of the river, willing herself not to let her hands drift south as she let the water wash away her shame.

As the morning beams of sun crested over the mountain to set on Canterlot Castle, Kurst made his way down one of the halls, a handful of manilla folders in one hand, a single in another. So distracted by the workload, the Major nearly ran muzzle first into a corner, sidestepping quickly with a quiet grumble as he stopped off to the side. It had been a long, but arguably productive night.

While Lindisbarne had given some indication of the native Equestrians’ initial unwillingness to learn their place, Kurst never had thought his division was to be altered so drastically as to catch mares, rather than keep corralling loose cows. Not that he or his right hand would complain; the thrill was always in the hunt, not particularly the quarry, and the rewards would be constant and hefty. Though as a result of the new classification, the last few days been spent poring over applications of stallions and guardsmen alike, eager to aid the cause and rein-in both escaped mares and the feral ones that still remained out in the wilderness. The stags that had once been under him were now assigned to other duties, posted in towns across the lands for the time being, or heading to them, to help aid in the transitional period. Stallions would be better suited to help capture their own kind for now.

“Hmmm…” the caribou sighed. A small photograph accompanied every folder, clipped onto its corner, it sometimes more than enough for the major to make a decision about the candidate by looks alone. Shaking his head, he returned the application to the bottom of the pile, slid the top one into his free hand, and resumed his trek to the back doors of the castle to head home. A few minutes later, voices caught the stag’s ear.
“....oon slut”

“Dreams….”

“...ophagus tampering”

Deciding that a chance to help put the fallen lunar princess in her proper place would be worth getting home late, Kurst headed down the hallway to his right, taking one final glance at the unicorn candidate he’d selected before lowering the stack of papers in his hand to his side as he ventured on. Rounding the corner, though, Kurst immediately snapped to attention as any lingering fatigue faded away. Quietly disagreeing outside a door with a stallion guard posted on either side, were Ivangir, another stag, and a unicorn with a lab coat.

“My Lord” The unicorn pleaded. “Having no horn to focus her magic, she--”

“Spit it out already” The Lieutenant barked. His left ear twitched in annoyance.

“Her dream walking capabilities are faulty” he explained, moving his hands as he spoke. “We can’t connect to and manipulate dreams if they aren’t based in the immediate area of the capital yet. Her thoughts are muddled, u-unfocused. She refuses to cooperate and and--” The superior stag grit his teeth, pinching the bridge of his muzzle. He leaned down, nostrils flaring at the smaller unicorn.

“See. To. It.” He began, “That cunt slaves over their dreams properly tonight. It would be most… unpleasant, if any mare were tainted with thoughts of an improper life. Or the stars forbid, our women were.”

“Y-Yes, yes my Lord” The man nodded, bowing his head before venturing back into the room with his assistant. Ivangir turned and began to head down the hall, stopping casually by Kurst. The Major quickly clasped his free fist to his chest, giving a quick bow of the head.

“My Lord Ivangir” he greeted. The lieutenant returned the gesture.

“I trust there will be no more delays.” He stated. His gaze slowly looked to the stack of papers in Kurst’s hands, then back up to meet the steely grey gaze.

“Of course not, sir. Should all candidates arrive tomorrow for their training, we can begin correcting mares in their actions and misdeeds within the week’s end”. Ivangir blinked once in conformation, before pushing past the Major, disappearing around a corner to attend more pressing matters. Sighing, releasing the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding in one of the Council’s presence, the major turned on his hooves, electing to find a warm bed rather than a warm snatch for the coming day.