Chapters 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
“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…”
“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.
At first, no one responded to the strange new Pegasi overhead as they coasted to the crowd. From the sight of the village Pegasi mounted on roofs, the capital city shone bright as ever in the sunset beyond. No smoke, no fire--The prince of the Crystal Empire’s shield wasn’t even up. The thought that Canterlot could’ve been seized within a day, without prior warning of troops or nation wide alert was unthinkable on its own, let alone the fall of the two princesses that called the capital their home. Some unicorns of the town prepped their spells however, ready to ward off whatever creatures would stumble from the forest, or perhaps, the intruders to their town.
The two pegasi flew down with such speed, the smaller of the two tumbled mane over hoof, coming to a sudden stop on her stomach and elbows, ripping her long sleeve shirt. The other landed shyly behind a telephone pole, hiding herself from the crowd with blatant embarrassment, and a pained look in her eyes.
“Please, you have to get out of here--What are you all doing?? Run!” the first one shouted, climbing to her feet as she pulled her hands to her chest. The rest of Stableton looked at the pegasi with unbridled confusion, a majority looking to the bare mare behind the lamp. The air was thick with unseen tension as some mares trotted in place, their imagination of the unknown starting to overwhelm them.
“What are you doing?” One mare asked, stepping forward, throwing a hand to the air in the direction of Canterlot. She curled her lip, accusingly. “Canterlot’s fine. Meteors aren’t falling, people aren’t eating each other, the moon is rising and the Everfree is calm. It’s not like it’s on fire or there’s a hydra out and about..”
“Plus there was a sonic rainboom or something earlier!”
“P-Please, listen to her!” the naked mare exclaimed, slowly coming out from behind the post. The pegasus had a dirty dark blue coat, framed by an even darker ebony mane. She put one hand across her chest, the other shamefully covering the spot between her legs, but the mare’s efforts to hide the swollen and well-grasped areas were unsuccessful.Though, the detail that drew everyone’s attention the most was the black leather strip bound across her neck, sporting a shining silver ring at the front.
“The fuck kind of kinky shit scam are you two pulling?!” Another mare shouted, repulsed by the woman’s exposed breasts, collar and the unmistakable clenching of legs together after a very intense session. She set her hand over her own chest, as if to mentally hide the other mare’s taboo form. The gathering of Stableton’s citizens began to talk amongst themselves, their fear starting to subside at the lack of an obvious threat.
“LISTEN!” the first mare shouted, stomping her hoof with a loud crack against the ground. The crowd was quickly silenced as the echo faded past them into the forest.
“Please… please! We don’t… You don’t have much time!” the naked mare whimpered. She shrunk her form away from the taller, larger, and more muscled stallion before her. “The Caribou, they’re coming!”
“She’s obviously hit her head.” A dark blue pegasus stallion commented, putting a hand on his marefriend’s shoulder. “Talking of foreign creatures... Come dear, it’s getting late.” He gave her a smirk, brushing his fingers along her jaw. “It’s much warmer inside.” The mare blushed, taking the man’s arm as the two departed from the group.
“And my dear” The mayor commented, crossing his arms. “You don’t have much time. I would’ve received word from the Canterlot guard should something have occurred. Magic scrolls, courier-stallion, even a fleet-footed guard. You’re spouting nonsense and disturbing my citizens. Now, leave before I take you into custody for disturbing the peace”. He dismissed the pair with a sharp turn, taking a straight walk back to the town hall and to his quarters.
“No, don’t leave!” The clothed pegasus pleaded, looking around the group with panic. A few mares glanced to themselves, muttering, as more of the town began to depart from the group. “Stop, no!”
The mare’s cries went unheeded as pegasi dropped from their alerted posts atop their houses, and the crowd began to disperse. Some mares went off in pairs back to the inn, the rest to their houses. Paige wrinkled her muzzle at the two new arrivals, a slight huff through her nose voicing her displeasure. She took a glance to her left and right, waiting for a bit more of the crowd to head back to their homes, before walking up to the defeated two pegasi.
“Please, whatever you’re here for, we’re not buying it” Paige bluntly spat, and took a quick nod up towards the sign above them. “And get out from in front of my store.” The defeated loss of confidence in the foreign pegasus’ eyes faded to rage, baring her teeth as she grabbed her companion’s wrist.
“Fine then, I hope those monsters rape you until you split in two!” She barked, pushing Paige in the chest as they ran past. Once they had gathered their speed, the pair whisked off into the dimming sky, heading south. With a grimace that she had been so abrasively touched, Paige wiped off whatever unseen contamination the pegasus had left on her shirt, and headed up the stairs to the side of her shop to the apartment above. The upper floor was sectioned off into two parts, the first half of the house being a smaller living room, and the back section the bedroom and attached bathroom. Windows sat on either side of the room, and orange light from the streetlamps below bathed the room in a soft glow. Taking care that the wooden door was closed behind her, and the drapes were drawn over the windows, Paige grunted and stretched, arms crossing over her chest as they grabbed the bottom of her shirt, and pulled it free of her form. Holding the crumpled shirt in her left hand, Paige’s right slicked back her hair, pushing the disturbed mane back into place. Lazily she threw the shirt onto the armrest of the couch to her right, walking down the hall to her bedroom, disrobing along the way. A shudder thinking of the bare mare from earlier, so open about her body in public, Paige felt nothing wrong about being unclothed in her own home--It was invigorating and free not to have to worry if some of her smaller feathers were going to catch her bra, or the intermittent shifting and repositioning clothes required. Besides, she reminded herself with a shrug of the shoulders, it’s not like she would shower or go to bed in clothing anyway, especially after working all day.
Paige placed her hand on the bronze knob, pushing open the door to the bathroom--small, the basic utilities, but enough to suit a mare of her tastes. The scent of a dozen soaps and conditioners wafted past her into the hall, the fragrant mix drawing a deep breath from her as she relaxed into her night. Paige reached out to her right and flipped the small switch, bringing light into the room and checking a bottle of shampoo and conditioner were to await her in the shower, alongside her soap, she set her hooves gently onto the porcelain floor at the end of the room. As she turned the knob at the edge of the shower, she shuddered as the initially cold spray met her exposed fur. While not as physically gifted as some mares, the water had no trouble forcing her to cover her chest with a slight shiver. Her nimble fingers grasped the salmon tipped breasts that swung from her chest, biting her lip hesitantly as the water warmed, and let out a sigh as steam began to fill the air. Her wings ruffled subconsciously, bits of water decorating the wall and curtain as she stepped forward into the pulsing stream; the patches of fur that connected the wings to her shoulders soon became slick and damp, while the long primary feathers below immediately whisked it away.
As she began her showering routine, dragging the translucent cyan shampoo through her rich mane, Paige’s mind wandered through her day. She muttered to herself, keeping a mental checklist of what she needed that she didn’t do today.
“General store… more quill tips…” She began, fingers intertwining as they traveled down the back of her neck. As if in preperation, her wings gave a shudder. It never was the older set of feathers that were plucked for quills, but the newer ones that just had gained the properties of flight. “Place order for more paper…” She opened her eyes slowly, her fingers sitting on her collarbone as a slow blush came to her face. She hadn’t gotten the approval of her order for more ink vials earlier. Her request had been… interrupted by the Mayor’s own acquisition.
Despite the small arsenal of toys, Paige had never been with another pony before, and her untrained body squirmed at every touch; she slid down to the floor of the shower, bracing her back to the wall to keep her steady as she groped her chest. She toyed with herself off and on, edging closer and closer to a release, hooves scraping around the slippery floor of the shower to push herself back with every involuntary extension of her wings. But Paige let out a short huff and grunt of frustration, ears pressed in disgust on either side of her head, hands lying useless on either side of her. She had no idea how a mare was supposed to reach orgasm if their hands wouldn’t continue once her body was alight with pleasure--It was almost too much too keep going. With a grimage, Paige pulled her hands away with a pout and a grimace, letting the fingers slowly uncurl, dragging them across the mound between her legs. It taunted her, unable to reach that plateau of bliss under her own steam.
Letting the shower wash away what perceived shame and self-loathing she had gathered on her hands and thighs from her sexual adventure, she stood up on shaky hooves. Paige set her hand against the walls of the shower, taking long deep breaths in the humid air as her heart slowly began to flutter less and less, and reached for her sponge-loofah. She finished up her time in the shower, before stepping out onto the rug just beside it with a ‘squish’. She took a glance at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, dragging her fingers through her mane to set it straight without the use of the brush, and securing a towel around her chest headed to her bedroom. The ‘salary’ that was assigned to her wasn’t much, and the few bits that didn’t go to replenishing her supplies went to a few carefully-chosen luxuries. Stableton wasn’t more than a decade old, and the small, out of the way town barely exported enough goods to support itself. Nevertheless, smiling at the mahogany armoire, a sturdy desk at the window, and the nightstand by her bed, Paige knew she had made the right choice honing her craft here.
DING A DING A DING A DING A DING
Paige’s sleep was sharply interrupted as the painful sharp ringing of a loud bell echoed throughout the town. Pulling her face from the covers, expecting to wince at the daylight streaming through the windows, she slowly picked herself up to the soft glow of the beginning of a sunrise. The bell in question sounded from the furthest edge of town, one whose ring was rarely called on. Mayor Maurice casually snapped the bell’s rope back and forth, calling the town to gather. Paige fell off her bed in a sleepy stupor as the ringing flooded in through the window, slipping and thudding to the floor in a blanketed bundle--last night's events had been jarring enough, and for a town meeting to be called so early, she assumed something must be up. In a tired flurry, disregarding any underclothes, Paige slipped on a pair of sweatpants, and tugged a shirt over her shoulders as she ran out the door. The rest of the town was shuffling out of their houses in similar attire, unbrushed manes and tails, and heavy circles under eyes. The sun was barely up, the mountains still casting their large shadows over the town and forest.
“Everypony, everypony, may I have your undivided attention!” Maurice boomed, his horn alight with its signature yellow aura. His voice was amplified to carry through the town. Next to him was his Secretary, documenting every word that fell from his mouth. As Paige moved into the crowd, shoulder to shoulder with the growing semi-circle of ponies, the Mayor cleared his throat and began to speak.
“Given last night, and some events that have been brought to my attention” He started, tugging on his coat. “Until the potential threat loosely brought to our attention last night is quelled, no resident of Stableton is to wander without purpose through town, unless they are accompanied.” He gave a passing glance over the crowd, pausing as he came across the scattered stallions. “However… like myself, a few of us are… acquainted with dangerous situations. And as such, all males are free to walk free without escort.” A mumbling spread through the crowd as everyone looked to one another. Some had looks of concern for such an imposing new restriction. Some looked indifferent, sleep still heavy in their eyes, missing their warm beds and sleep rather than whatever rights were temporarily under their Mayor’s control. The males, their marefriends, and the occasional mare though, shrugged with approval, as surely their Mayor knew what was right.
“The restriction will be lifted at midnight tonight, I assure you” Maurice promised, giving a gentle smile. “If there any questions, concerns, comments… or confessions” he added, taking another glance over the crowd, “Please let my secretary, Cherry Blitz, know, and I will get to you as soon as possible.”
“Some backwood yokels from Bitsburg came through Stableton this morning on the way west” Maurice bluntly spat. “Whether it’s some creature or another one of the--” He paused, dragging his index and middle fingers through the air for quotes “--Princess’ magical events, I would rather keep this town on alert.” A murmuring spread through the crowd, most, though wary, coming to the consensus that the new rules were for the best. Some returned to their houses, others to their places of work, and a few even went to the local tavern to make the excuse technically it was 5 o’clock. Paige yawned, taking a weary glance to the horizon. The sun was barely climbing through the tree line and over the plains, obvious shadows from mountains in the distance still dominating the scenery. Taking a cursory glance to the east as she whirled to head to the store, she noticed Canterlot from the corner of her eye, shining like a beacon against the mountainside. Paige thought to herself that Celestia for sure had planned such a lovely sunrise, even if she was annoyed to have experienced it so early.
The small wooden shelves that ran through the store that normally held an assortment of goods--Canned fruits from across Equestria, day to day items like cutlery sets, and more--were completely empty. Even the less-appetizing items had been stripped, with wide, sloppy tracks in the dust telling of the flurried rush of hands desperate to get at the contents.
“Haha, well, top of the morning, Paige” The clerk smiled. His eyes were drooped with bags beneath them, reflecting a long night. “I’d ask ya’ to look around, but there’s barely anything left.” The man leaned forward on the desk with the smile still plastered to his face, a light orange pegasus with short brown hair.
“What the hell happened??” Paige asked, walking down the aisles. She glided a finger on the racks as she came up to the front counter. The clerk shrugged with a tired laugh.
“Freaking beats me, probably about whatever horned creature attacked Bitsburg last night”. Paige nearly choked on her spit.
“W-What?!”
“Yeah, I’m guessing it’s some sort of dragon that missed the migration” He yawned, scratching his neck. “They were all shaky, talking about it breathing fire and such, but it was brown or something, with fur. They even said some of its horned spawn took some of their residents! Can you imagine, a furred dragon?? The princesses are going to have fun with that… Anyway, if you’re here for your quill tops they didn’t bother taking those. They seemed to be looking for critical supplies only.”
“O-Oh...alright...Thanks” Paige muttered, pulling a handful of bits out of her pockets, taking the golden metal tips in return. She couldn’t help but get anxious at the thought of a new species of dragon lumbering through town. “You don’t think that dragon will come here, do you?”
“Even if he does, Maurice knows what he’s doing. That thing will think twice before messing with a man of the guard.” Paige gave a nervous laugh--the Mayor had been out of the guard for at least ten years, and there was no way he could fight a fire breathing monster. Thanking the clerk for his time, Paige scampered out of the store and back to her house. As she crossed it, Paige noticed the severe lack of citizens wandering about. Then again, it was still before six in the morning, but seeing the town so empty made her shiver in the morning sun.
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.
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.
“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.
“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!”
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.
Paige flapped her wings hurriedly as she skimmed over and near the canopy of the Everfree, panting. Trailing a short distance behind, and slowly gaining, was a more than eager pegasus stallion. In the shadow of the setting sun, his shadow kept eclipsing her in her haste. Her violet eyes scanned the trees, desperate to find some opening that would provide solace from her pursuer.
“Just giv’ap ya cunt!” he shouted, his thundering pair of wings quickly closing the distance between them. “Ya know the longah you fly, the mo’ tired you’ll be!”. Paige took a risking glance over her shoulder. While her breath was quick to catch, the muscled, stronger and bigger stallion behind her had barely broken a sweat. They had to be half a mile out of Stableton at this point, soaring over the uncharted thick brush of the dangerous forest below, far enough from any town or pony that what happened out here would be left unknown to the world. She hoped she was making the right choice, and that the guardsman would have some sense of rationality left to not pounce on her.
“Fine, catch me then!” Paige spat, pulling her wings in tight. Air streamed fast her and whipped up her mane and tail as she dove. She gritted her teeth, shivering as the icy night air struck through and stuck to her clothes, barely warded off by her body’s quaking. Finally a clearing next to a river opened up, and Paige dove down to the wet grass, hands on her knees as she dropped her bag. She winced, pulling her wings to her back as they began to cramp; she’d never flown that far so fast before. The guard touched down a bit behind her, rolling his shoulders before cockily putting a hand to his hip, the other resting on his codpiece.
“Thas’ a good mare” he praised. He took his first step forward as Paige turned around, standing in front of her bag. One side of his muzzle rose up in a twisted grin. An unspoiled prize of an uncollared, still-feathered Pegasus would be a rare boast in the coming weeks as males came to their senses, he thought. And so far away from any town or stallion, or even stag, he could have as long as he wanted with her. “Now… you’re gonna kneel on those pre’ty lil’ legs of yours, and beg like a good bitch.” Paige grimaced, her nose scrunching at the thought. As her ears pressed back, she remembered the turmoil probably still occurring in Stableton, mares not getting as good of a deal, and instead being forced to commit atrocious acts as multiple stallions with their thick, long throbbing-- She shook her head slightly, sickness coming to her stomach at the thought. Taking a hard swallow of the breath she’d been holding, she slowly walked over a few paces, lowering herself onto her knees, and placing her hands down on the ground. Reflexively she pressed her tail down against the back of her jeans as she glared up at the guard, biting her lip as she thought. He had pushed aside whatever protection he had been wearing, the once concealed member now fully erect, marbled in color and throbbing with anticipation.
Paige smiled. Her smile turned to a smirk, then that of anger as she pushed forward. Her back hooves dug into the ground, wings giving a sudden flutter and push, and her hands left the ground with a grunt. Her forehead collided with the stallion’s length, forcing the shaft back in an unforgettable bend, and eliciting a pained wheeze from the man. His hands clutched his quivering cock, legs clenching together as he coughed, pupils shrinking to the size of pins as unbelievable pain struck through his stomach.
“Acchchkkk!” He gurgled, dropping onto his knees with rage in his eyes. He could barely choke out a word before the second wave of pain struck through him as Paige drove the top of her hoof between his hands. Another pained scream left his muzzle, shoulders arching in pain as his vision blanked to a white heat, eyes screwed shut, and his wings contorting into a pained cramp. A sudden gong rang against his temple, echoing through his mind as his eyes rolled back behind closed lids, body falling limp before crashing with the sound of clanking metal onto the grass. His wings were splayed out on either side of him. Paige panted, her left hand tightly gripping the furred top of the guard’s helmet, a dent now in the left face guard, catching the sparkling of the nearby river as it swung. Her breathing quickened again as she dropped the helmet, taking a cautionary step forward; the guard’s eyes flicked around behind the shut lids, lights of a thousand colors dancing behind them as his consciousness fought through the blackness. Paige snarled at him, baring her teeth as she knelt down, and spoke quietly, more aloud to herself than the silent stallion. “This doesn’t hurt me as much as it will you… and will keep you here for a while…”. Paige reached out, grabbing the long feathers at the ends of the stallion’s wings, and gave a sharp tug. The skin pulled taut before releasing a handful of nearly a dozen, perfectly preened long white feathers, now broken and smashed in her hand. Paige reached out her pinky and ring finger, taking a few more to leave the man’s now asymmetrical wings incapable of sustained flight. The quills pressed themselves against the palm of her hand, the sharp sting of pain slowly beginning to bring Paige back to her more civilized senses. The pounding in her ears of her heartbeat and the male’s panting were drowned out by the wind and the crashing of water on the nearby banks. Her eyes went wide as she took a few steps back, letting the feathers in her hand fall free as she rubbed her upper arms.
“I…” she muttered, every following sentence catching in her throat. She couldn’t kill him, could she? What would be the point? That…”That guard… probably has a wife… o-or a husband… or a special somepony...”. She’d be destroying more than one life if she hurt him worse. The guard made a deep grunt, fighting back against the pain in his head as the smell of grass flooded his nose, spurring him to wake up. The pain still burned and throbbed deep inside his stomach, a radiating surge of paralyzing uncomfort keeping him glued to the ground. A small shift of his shoulders had his left wing spasm and twitch, eliciting another pained and muffled whine.
“I… I’m sorry” Paige whimpered, taking off towards her bag. She grabbed its strap mid stride, flapping her strained wings with one final burst to carry her over the river, and ducked into the blackness of the Everfree forest. The light of the clearing was swallowed by the tree trunks that grew larger and taller the deeper she managed to get in. Nothing mattered more to her at this moment than to keep getting away from the devastation she abandoned, even if getting lost in the Everfree was the only option.
“Uggghhh...my ‘ead” the guard grumbled, making a great effort to turn his head to the side. A thundering pulse crippled his vision as he rested his injured head on the grass, shutting his eyes as he took in a sharp breath. The air was cold and brisk as a chilled breeze whipped through the air. He pulled his hands into fists as he raised himself to his hands and knees, then to a pair of shaky hooves. Opening his eyes, squinting as he looked in the dark, the guard grabbed his helmet, sat dented and covered in a fine layer of evening dew, and pulled it to his side as he looked around to find the empty clearing before him. Whatever mare he’d been following had gotten the jump on him, through whatever astronomical odds. No matter, he thought to himself as he dusted the water from his helmet. Some mares escaped Canterlot, others probably got a head start, but they’d all be found in the end, just like the Major said.
“Or die in the forests…” He said with a chuckle. The man secured his helmet, tightened the straps on his hoof guards, and took a running start, taking a leap into the air… which promptly ended with a crash and tumble into the grass he just tried to leave. A bout of swearing left the stallion that would have even the most vulgar man blush at as he flung his right wing into vision. The perfectly cleaned and ceremoniously groomed wing was a half plucked excuse for a wing, the long feathers that helped the pegasi keep their flight, missing. The skin beneath, barely visible through the smaller secondary and tertiary feathers was a raw and bruised red.
“That… that stupid cunt of a mare!” He roared, striking the ground with his fist. Should’ve been her wings plucked and savored with every feather removed, the guard snarled. Enough feathers gone to keep him from flying, but not enough to be noticed… for now. He took a glance to the sky as it shone in all it’s brilliance, unsheltered by the lack of city lights. Scanning for the moon, the guard slowly made his way back to the east and where he came from. “Can’t be too far… we didn’t fly that fast”.
About two and a half hours later, the stallion finally pushed himself free of the last bit of vines and shrubbery that kept him from civilization, heading down the back roads into Stableton. His once shining armor, a beacon of the new regime’s power, had been scratched, dirtied, and left largely unpresentable as to befit a male in these new coming times. Smoke still whisked in the high air near the mountains, but the town largely remain unscathed. What few buildings the Warbeasts had been left unchecked on had been stripped to the ground, valuables divided up to the males, while the lumber and any feminine clothing had been tossed into several large bonfires that stretched down the town’s main street.
“I trust these numbers are correct?” The caribou asked, raising his brow. The Caribou’s coat was a dusty grey, the lower parts of his limbs trancending into a faded brown. A grey head of hair had been shaped into a mohawk, a large section near the front falling down and obstructing the top of his right brow, and on his left ear hung a single silver ring. His right eye was covered by a worn and dusty eyepatch in need of replacement, though the judgemental glare in the left more than made up for its loss.
“Y-Yes...sir.” The stallion replied. “May I… go home now?”
“Yes, yes, dismissed” The Caribou replied with a lazy wave of the back of his hand. The Stableton stallion was quick to be rid of the presence of the differently horned creature, and disappeared into the dark. The tired Pegasus slowly approached the group, slipping off his helmet.
“Given your time coming back I’d already written off your mare as a lost cause” He began, flipping over a few papers. Hastily sketched on the third page of his clipboard was a dull yellow script with finely drawn markings, and the imprints of words written on the page above it. “The report was given an hour ago and sent shortly after.”
“What is it then, Sergeant Veihg?--Sir??” The pegasus hastily added. Veihg reached into a fold of his armor, pulling out half of a broken set of spectacles, and sat them on his nose as he read the report.
“Sixty-five percent black collared, twenty-five percent unassigned, three percent red, one percent purple…” Veihg grunted as he looked over at the group of stallions near the furthest campfire, the Mayor of the town smirking happily with a hand buried in the mane of his de-horned secretary slave, while the other fingered the shining silver ring on the violet collar placed around her neck. Two other stallions vied for room at her rear, burying themselves to the hilt in unrestrained lust. Not that the now-mindless fuckmare minded. The Caribou looked back, taking a long hard look at the tired Pegasus, muzzle curling back with severe disappointment. “An unintentional one percent… and six percent unaccounted for. Your squadmate over there subdued the most mares here today, and you failed to capture one. You, one of the finest bred stallions of your guard, failed at catching a female.”
“I understand, sir, but--”
“No excuses.” Veihg snarled. “Your recommendation for you new posting, I believe, is not going to be fulfilled, soldier . Now go find what leftover food there is and take a mare off a building if you want for the evening.” The Sergeant turned back to the group as a few more lesser ranked Caribou strode up, and the defeated tired pegasus stormed off to relieve himself. Some of the canterlot guard also filed off to find somewhere to sleep for the night, some grabbing a mare along the way, while a few others stayed with their new brethren. “The carriers should all reach Canterlot by sunrise, and Major Kurst can start getting an idea formed as to what resistance from females we will be expecting in this new posting.” The caribou familiar with the recently-promoted Major all gave sharp understanding nods, while the stallions mulled about the conversation with uneasier acknowledgements. “While the crystal’s cure will help ease this transition, the coming weeks will not be easy. I expect you all to get a good night’s rest--There is no train tomorrow, and it is going to be a long march. Dismissed”. Veihg turned, rolling his shoulders as he sauntered back to his tent, giving a long tired sigh that his favorite cow wouldn’t be there to greet him.
Paige carefully tiptoed through the bush in front of her, stopping as she heard the dripping of rain above her slip through the trees. Her fur was muddy and matted, her normally curled mane flat against her shoulders and parted along the base of her wings, useless in the dense Everfree around her. Barely enough starlight made its way down to the ground to give Paige any notion of where she was going, but even she couldn’t figure out exactly what she was looking for, just so long as she put as much distance between her and the canterlot guard as possible. Her tired hooves pushed her through the muck to the other side of the bush, revealing a small patch of dry grass between a set of four trees. Setting her bag against the trunk of one of them, she slowly sank to her knees and rested her side against it, leaning her head against the bark and wrapping her arms around her sides to keep warm.
The day’s events started to play through her mind as she finally felt safe from the turmoil. She shuddered, blinking away tears that formed in the corners of her eyes. Paige felt the heat of the flames, the pain in her chest as she flew away. The ache of stumbling through the dark for what felt like an entire night, bruise forming on her shoulder where her bag hung. Hot tears washed down her face and dripped off her muzzle. Her mind felt like static as she cried, buzzing incoherently in a state of hock, the dark of the forest making it impossible to know if her eyes were shut or staring at the black dirt. Paige’s sobs racked her chest, heaving with every gasp as she felt more and hopelessness wash over her.
“What...do I do?” She blubbered, shivering. She didn’t know the first thing about the interior of the Everfree; all Equestrians were really let on to was to avoid it at all costs; the last unclaimed and uncivilized location in the land, home to monsters that people would tell each other of on Nightmare Night. What about water, or food? There was nothing edible in these forests… except for her, she worried. Water would only keep her going for so long, and she could never find her way back to the clearing with the river now. Paige’s breathing picked up, a sickness knotting itself in her stomach, forcing her to curl into a tighter ball against the tree as the world felt like it was dying around her. She finally gave into the exhaustion and the bleakness of her existence, letting the wash of warm sleep envelop her.
Paige stirred, blinking away a dreamless sleep and the uncomforting crick in her neck and shoulders as she forced herself to sit up on her knees. She turned her gaze to the sky, squinting. Stars still hung above her, shifted ever so slightly, the moon letting its light dance across the Everfree. She blinked and squinted harder, not sure how long she’d been out. It could’ve been minutes, or a couple hours--
“Or a full day…” She said, completing her thought. She breathed on her hands, rubbing her arms as she stood. After all she’d been through, running, fearing for her life, subconsciously her best decision was to stay asleep. No one had found her, or discovered her, and a good day’s rest had given her the strength to continue. But now, she wondered, where she would go next. If she went back towards Stableton, the guards and the monsters might be gone, but there was no certainty of that. And the deeper she went into the forest, the less chance she’d have of getting out. “I should have paid more attention in Mare Scouts…’stead of selling bullshit wheat cookies...”
Over the next day and a half, Paige traveled deeper into the woods, running when she could spare the energy as she dared not to fly above the trees, or in the deep thick foliage that surrounded her. What berries and non-poisonous plants she was able to find amidst the brambles and bushes were hastily plucked and scooped into the loose insides of her bag, washed later in the streams she passed over, or hastily scarfed down as the light faded in the sky. For the night, Paige had found a comfy nook in an old dead tree to rest in, the opening facing a thicker section of the forest. A shirt from her bag had been ripped, sacrificed into a makeshift carpet in an attempt to keep the unending dirt from seeping into her fur, clothes and bag, while the bag itself sat beneath her head. Her tired eyes swept back and forth through the opening, ears twitching at the slightest sound, a constant state of panic sitting in the back of her mind.
“Mmph…” she grumbled, rubbing her cheek against the bag as she shifted. Paige pulled her arms closer, rubbing the worn cuffs of her shirt with a sigh before sitting up. Some crackling noise had been scratching at the air for the past… She paused, blinking as she winced. She could barely estimate how fast time passed now. “Can’t be that far though.” Paige moved to the entrance, slipping a hand on the edge of the opening before peering out, darting her muzzle left to right as she searched for the noise. Her ear swiveled before turning again, seeing a small, dancing orange ball pulsing through the trees, clinging low to the grass. She took a quick glance to the sky, still seeing the moon lording above the forest as she pondered. It couldn’t have been the sun . Unless Celestia had to forget about the sun to do… whatever she had to have been doing now with the guard. Or worse...something happened to her and her sister. Paige bit her lip as her ears fell and thoughts went wild. What if the guard made it this far because something did happen in Canterlot? What if the princesses failed? What would happen to Equestria, or the Crystal Empire? Paige shook her head to clear her thoughts, gripping the ground as she focused on the here and now, looking out into the darkness. Curiosity began to outweigh preservation as she slid her hand back, grasped her bag off the ground, and inched her way slowly towards the light, her hooves sinking slightly into the muck. As she silently put her hooves down in the grass and earth, Paige squinted ahead of her with a nervous trembling of her pursed lip. It wasn’t sunlight or a creature, but the light that shone in the dark forest was a young fire, still sheltered by large beams of dry wood that leaned together over it; a ring of rocks held the cheap and quickly made fireplace together, insides burning a deep orange. Around the campfire were a couple bags, a large cloth rolled into a bolt, some torn and damaged jackets and scooped into a pile on another shirt, a pile of wild fruits. Paige set her hand on the tree next to her, stepping into the ecstasy of the warmth of the fire, and up to the pile of random objects.
“What in Equestria...” She thought aloud, reaching down. The edges were a tailored and embroidered gold, almost Canterlot quality of stitching. Why was it out here? As her fingertips brushed the cloth, she gasped as a golden aura encased her wings, and the sound of the whisking aura of a unicorn’s magic dominated the air. The feathered appendages were pulled taut, muscles frozen in place, and by extension, her entire body held down and unable to move. A gruff, female voice spat quickly as it grew closer with every word.
“You, pegasus. Are you with them?”
Multiple sets of hooves, cloven and flat, clopped down the hallways of Canterlot Castle. Every few feet, the noise would lessen as guards and other personnel found their respective rooms, bunks, or temporarily-assigned work stations for the day. The back halls of the castle had been spared much of the resistant mares’ actions during Canterlot’s liberation; windows and doors were left fully intact, rugs and floors unscuffed, though all decor of the previous regime had been hastily removed, leaving small tables bare and benches removed. Veihg became the last one to traverse the long hallway, absentmindedly fixing the strap on his eyepatch as he pushed back his hair. It had been a long, hot, and aching march back to the capital city the past few days, and the Caribou was desperate to take a long time relaxing in the barrack’s shower. Though, work would have to come first, he reminded himself. Duty always came before personal pleasure. The Sergeant found himself in front of a garish purple and pink door. He couldn’t help but grimace at the choice of color, rolling his eyes mentally that a female had probably been tasked with decorating it at some point. Veihg raised his hand to the door, knocking on it by loudly tapping his right index finger, then middle, and finally his pinkie in a quick succinct rhythm. He paused, and then repeated the request to enter.
“You don’t need to knock” A voice called from within. Veihg smirked, reaching down to the silver handle as he pushed it in, stepping inside before closing it after him. The room was long and thin, five rounded triangular windows lining each side, all casting light onto an oblong wooden table surrounded by chairs. At the end, a slightly taller caribou stood in front the chair he’d just risen from, hand twirling the small bit of loose fur that hung from his chin as he was deep in thought.
“So how’s the paperwork been, Kurst?” Veihg asked as he walked over, taking a seat and pulling it next to the Major. He set his hooves up on the desk, sighing with relief to be off them.
“Dull as a cow, and no pleasurable end in sight for now.” Kurst grumbled, lazily flicking his hand at the papers that scattered the end of the table. “Hand me that marker?” Veihg reached over, handing his commander the black-tipped pen.
“Exactly what are we looking at then?”. Kurst flipped over a transparent plastic sheet, setting it down on a grid lined map of Equestria and nearby borders, beginning to draw dashed lines.
“Within this radius…” The Major began, completing a hasty circle around the inner portions of Equestria, striking through forests and towns not far off. “There was reported a nearly zero percent of escaped mares thanks to our quick response. Males, thankfully, were beginning to come to their senses much faster, like we saw here in Canterlot. Whether or not this initial administration of the cure will stick remains to be seen”. Veihg nodded, slipping his hooves onto the floor as he leaned forward. He looked across the paper, to the west where his assigned group had gone. Kurst began to drag the marker in a larger radius, the line striking through Stableton. Veihg’s ears perked up. Kurst looked in the opposite direction. “There are some… deviant towns reported, some with no more than 50 residents that provided a bit of trouble, but they are being handled.” He looked back to the west.
“Here, a slight increase in devious mares” He began with a disappointed sigh. “And since all troops took more than 12 hours to reach this point from the last--” He drew four quick lines connecting the two circles, outlining the cardinal directions. “--the few mares that could escape, or Dainn forbid, stallions, had a chance to drive false fear of the new regime into further towns.” Kurst drew a larger, more unrefined section around the two inner circles, barely extending past the latter.
“Past this point, the… the hell was it called?” Kurst asked, hands outlining a generously sized set or orbs in the air.
“Crystal cock, sir” Veihg inferred, with a slight grin. “You’ve been poring over documents for too long.” The other caribou smiled back, giving a slight knock of his knuckles to Veihg’s shoulder before returning to the map.
“Past this point, the crystal cock’s initial wave of influence faded exponentially.” He said. He pushed his finger along some of the lines to erase them. “Any towns or settlements beyond that, for now, will have a much greater chance of escaped mares as they travel. Your report already mentioned three escaped.” Veihg sighed, biting the inside of his lip on the mark he was forced to leave on the report.
“Yes, yes, I’m aware.” He grumbled. “If it wasn’t for that damned unicorn coming out to meet us and getting his town in a fuss... self righteous, pompous--”
“Veihg”.
“You know they won’t run forever. Can’t, given how weak they are. A handful here and there won’t last a week, once the land starts to fall into the natural order of things, as they realize their true place”. Veihg gave a chuckle, shaking his head.
“Then you and I are out of a job, sir, if they all conform so quickly”.
“I doubt it.” Kurst smirked, sitting back down into his chair. He fiddled with the bracer on his left wrist. “There will always be some black collar whose master left the back door open, or a cow that gets lost at a train station…” He paused. “Or some crystal mare too fucked out of her mind to understand where she is… Equestrians can be so damned complicated.”
“Speaking of…” Veihg transitioned, standing with a stretch, “I’m going to hit the showers and find my Frasha. No one can milk me like her.” Kurst cut in, completing the sentence at the same time as his Sergeant,
“And no one milks her like me”. The two shared a brief laugh. Kurst stood as well, giving Veihg a firm shake of the hand.
“You want in? You know she’s going to be so desperate for cock after the long journey here that she’ll want it anywhere. I’ll let you tug on her piercings if you want, she makes the cutest of noises”.
“I’ll find some cow or mare, don’t you worry” Kurst replied, turning back to his papers. “I just need to make some more sense of this and deliver it to Lord Ivangir by noon, is all. Service first, serviced second”.
Author's Note
Thank you for reading the 4th chapter of Turning a Paige! With her story now out of Stableton, Paige's venture will start to pick up pace. There will be an effort to get chapters out in a more timely manner, now that many slow building and establishing details have been set into motion.
“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.
“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.
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.
“M-Miss Whitestar?” Flora mumbled, playing with her tail. “When...w-hen are we gonna stop for the day?”
“Hopefully soon, Flora.”
“I hope so, my hooves are killing me” Vine complained. “Some of us aren’t so lucky as to have freaking wings.” Paige grumbled something softly to herself as she flittered and glided between the large branches just beneath the canopy of the Everfree. The small band had set out from their campsite nearly 5 hours ago. Soon before their departure, they’d grabbed whatever edible nuts and leaves had been nearby for some semblance of a meal, and each drank as much as they could from the river. After making sure their tracks were covered, they headed deeper into the forest. Whitestar led the group on the ground. She claimed to have seen a perfect clearing for a more permanent campsite when she first entered the forest, and knew the way back. A lush clearing, shrouded in bushes that would be perfect to hide the lights of fires, make a camp, maybe even a small society until they got back on their hooves... Vine constantly looked over their shoulders for any threats the forest could pose, while Paige kept an eye out from above to scout anything Vine would’ve missed. Flora, however, stayed between the two mares on the ground, having little more to do than keep quiet and fiddle with her hair and horn.
“My wings aren’t faring much better” Paige called down. It didn’t look like it to the other races in Equestria, but prolonged flying did take a toll on pegasi that weren’t used to it. Not everyone could be a wonderbolt or weatherpony, the posterponies of the skies, after all. Being just a regular townspony, and without a decent meal and rest, the best Paige could do was hover, glide and coast on a good push, less so with a heavy pack on her shoulders.
“Quiet, both of you” Whitestar hissed. “We don’t want to make any noise.”
Whitestar’s horn glowed a dim white, illuminating the naturally worn paths through the brush while also serving as a minor deterrent to the creatures that called the forest their home. Even with all her training, the specialist was reaching her physical limits, and taking a quick glance at the others who followed her, gave a small sigh at how hard everything must be for them. As she looked around to voice a request to stop for a break, Paige’s voice filtered down from above,
“Hey, look! I think I see a clearing!” She said, pointing ahead and to the right. A renewed sense of hope spurred the mares to start trotting, almost galloping forward with anticipation while Paige broke out of the forest, giving her wings one hard flap to glide down to the vacant spot.
Buried half-way into the ground were the stone remains of an old series of structures, weathered down and broken by the winds of time. Moss and grass grew through the cracks in the brickwork while vines slowly attempted to raze the structure and return the clearing to its natural state. A cracked, circular platform was at the center of the ruins, the crumbled conglomeration of what used to be a statue piled in its center, unidentifiable.
“Not… not what I had in mind…” Whitestar breathed, a wide smile breaking on her face, “But fucking hell, I’ll take it!” The group ran forward as Paige slowly glided down in a circular motion to land on top of the statue’s platform.
“I’ve heard about these!” Vine smiled. A giddy smile had her almost skip over to the largest building. It was no bigger than a one bedroom house, even smaller on the inside as bricks had fallen in, closing off some sections. “This has to be an ancient unicornian outpost, or even from the late earth pony tribes! And it’s still standing; so, awesome!”
“Whatever it came from, it’s beautiful...” Paige mused. She lowered herself to sit, shrugging her backpack off her shoulder beside her. She sat back, folding her wings as she watched the others poke their heads into the buildings, taking a breather as she watched the treeline. Whitestar took a few steps back, hand slowly coming to scratch her chin as she looked at what they had now.
A big building could hold a lot of supplies… or people. Maybe the smaller… huts? Yes, the smaller huts could hold stuff, we could all stay in the big one. Her face scrunched up. But what if something finds us? We’d be all trapped and--
“W-Whitestar?” Flora asked, snapping her from her thoughts. The smaller unicorn held her hands close to her breast, one hoof crossed over the other. “Can… c-can we take a break?”
“Yes… yes, we can, for a bit.” She nodded. “But I think we’re going to be here a while.” She turned, panning from Paige to Vine. “Get a few minutes rest. Then Vine, see if you can’t find a good moving water source near here. You’re quicker on the ground, anyway. Paige, you look around for something, something big, we can start getting food from.” She motioned with her hands. “Large patches of wild grass, some ground vegetables, whatever you can carry, and Vine’ll look over them when you get back to make sure they’re okay to eat or boil.” The guardsmare turned around, walking over to Flora. “You find a good place to sit down and rest for a while longer.” After brushing aside some hair in front of her horn, she suggested they could work together to clean the insides of the buildings, and that it’d perhaps help her magic by working on a smaller task.
After a much-needed half hour break, the mares began their respective tasks. Paige looked over to watch Vine vanish into the greenery of the forest while Whitestar and Flora disappeared into the largest building, the small twinkling of magic the only indication someone was inside. She looked down to her pack, slowly emptying it and setting the contents on the platform beneath her. Clothes, socks--Oh, I did have some! Reaching into the side pocket, she pulled out two small knives she used for cutting her quills. I’m sure Whitestar could use these... She set the knives off to the side, but hesitated before slipping one into her pocket, and continued to rummage through her backpack, setting on top of the clothes a few bits and a hairbrush. Paige scratched her head with a sigh, wondering how bad her hair looked having not been brushed for what was closing in on a week.
Satisfied at the empty bag, Paige slung it over her shoulder, gave a few quick breaths before pushing up with her wings, quickly taking flight to the top of the forest, out, and over opposite the way they came. Without the restraint of her full backpack, the pegasus’ wings gave just enough lift to keep her flying a meter or two above the tallest trees; enough to avoid crashing on a branch, and as she worried, hopefully low enough no one would see her. Paige flew absentmindedly, enjoying the cool breeze against her face and wind beneath her wings. A welcome change from the past few days , she thought quietly. Up in the skies, at least this far out from any city, there wasn’t a care in the world for the free pegasus.
A small break in the treeline caught her eye, leading Paige to descend to the edge of a small pond. Cattails lined the edges, surrounded by other long green weeds, all dancing in the afternoon breeze. As she opened her bag, Paige landed and knelt down next to the pond’s edge, using her knife to sever the long, brown fuzzy pods from atop their stalks, tucking them with care down into the bag. One of the few things she remembered from her youth, other than how to market cookies to stallions and mares, was that the brown little bastards could set a whole forest on fire with a well controlled spark from a unicorn’s horn. At least they’d have another fire tonight. It brought her some glimmer of pride to know she’d help with the fire and be actually contributing to their struggle out in the forest.
Getting up from her knees, Paige began to explore her surroundings. Like a young filly in a flower patch, Paige leaned down and snatched whatever caught her eye in the immediate area; some long wild grass, some short, yellow and red flowers, and even thick conglomerations of roots forming near trees. None of it was as delectable as an outcrop of carrots or turnips but as the hour ticked away and her bag got heavier, Paige began looking up towards the sky with a sense of accomplishment, and minor exhaustion. The sun had coasted along its path, starting to dip below the top of the trees above her. Not wanting to be caught in the wild at night, Paige slowly coaxed her wings to spread before hoisting herself into the air, beginning a slow drift back towards the camp. The return trip took almost three times as long as her initial journey. As she got closer, beads of sweat clung to her fur as her wings beat less frequently, straining with every flap to keep her aloft. Her shoulders began to ache as the strap of her backpack pushed down in the depression between her wings, and her ragged hair kept dipping in front of her eyes and muzzle at the slightest breeze. Finally Paige saw the outline of stone buildings against the dark green bushels of forest around them and landed near the ruined statue’s base; the pegasus skittered and nearly fell over herself at the sudden stop, her bag swaying and nearly tossing her forward. She dropped to her knees, panting as the cease in physical activity overwhelmed her, her body begging for a break.
“Paige are you okay?”
Paige looked up with a weak smile to see Whitestar approaching with a handful of vines that had been stripped from the structure behind her. “Did you fall? You need a hand?”
“Nah” Paige shook her head. “Just… hah… just tired”. Whitestar nodded, looking down to the bag.
“Anything good?”
“Ehhh…” Paige grimaced, pushing the bag in front of her, opening it, before scooting the bag’s previous contents closer to her to put back inside. “I found some grasses and roots that look… edible” she began. “I found some stuff by a pond that’s a great firestarter. Nothing big though.” Paige looked back up, forcing a smile. “I’ll look again tomorrow. There’s got to be something.” The unicorn nodded, helping Paige to a shaky pair of hooves, before they shared a mutual laugh as Paige sat down again. “Gimme a bit, and I’ll get up, I promise… say, where’s… where’s Flora?” Whitestar gave a light sigh, looking over her shoulder.
“She’s inside, using a leaf to scrape some of the moss off the wall. It’s edible. Tastes like the oldest lettuce you’ve ever smelled, but edible. It’s a good task for her. She’s getting a bit more… I guess what she used to be?” Paige gave a sympathetic nod. “Her magic though...”
“What about it?”
“It’s there, but using it… it’s not like it’s causing her pain. It just doesn’t work right, and she got dizzy after less than a minute of using it. I had to clear out all the tough plants while she’s just… scraping moss”.
“And Vine?”
“Not back yet. Maybe she found some decent food too and is bringing it back, but no sign of her. The two mares stood and sat in silence for a few minutes, enjoying the peace and quiet while it was there.
“Anything you want me to do?” Paige questioned. Whitestar looked over the platform and the crumbled remains, then down to the plants.
“You know how to make a firepit?”
An hour ticked by as Whitestar and Paige began to move and shape a firepit from the remains of the crumbling statue on the platform. With a little unicorn magic, Whitestar softened the edges of the fragments, helping them nest together in a circle. Paige gathered hand and armfuls of soil from the outskirts of the camp, tossing the deep brown earth in the middle. A short time later, and a small fire kindled on the platform. The three mares took their time mulling over their short pickings of edible food, making sure to leave some for Vine on her return.
Silence sat over the campground for some time, before the rustling of leaves and quick pattering of hooves alerted them. Eyes wide in fear, foliage in her mane and marks up her arms, Vine came rushing out of the thicket and into the warmth of the fire, panting. The green mare threw herself to the ground in safety, chest heaving in relief. Flora and Paige ran to her immediately, while Whitestar shot up, horn flaring to life with magic as she took up a defensive stance. The forest remained still. Thirty seconds passed… then a minute. Whitestar lowered her shoulders as she turned around to glance at Vine, who had been sat back on her hooves and rear by the other two.
“Are you alright?” She questioned, kneeling down. Raised elongated bruises encircled Vine’s arms and lower legs, with a few on her neck. Her mane and tail were a mess, and the same to be said for the condition of her clothing: dirtied, torn and tousled. Paige tried to remove some of the broken leaves from her mane, brushing the soiled locks from the emerald face, while Flora had stepped back, fiddling with her own hair.
“I… I ah…” Vine stammered, rubbing her arms. “I… don’t know…” The strong visage of the wilderness-inclined mare had vanished in her time away from the camp. She carefully slowed her breathing down as she recalled what had happened. “I found a river but, on my way back I took another path, and there was… were…” She winced. “It looked like they were freshly planted bulbs.”
“Bulbs? Like crops??” Whitestar asked, a glimmer of hope coming to her. “Like from other mares?”
“Goddesses, fuck no” Vine blurted out, gritting her teeth. “Those bastards weren’t nearly as tame as that.” She thrust out her arm, displaying the ringed and matted fur. “Those things had vines… or limbs. They latched onto me, tried to choke me.” Flora squeaked in fear, clinging to Paige’s side. The lavender mare winced herself, continuing to try to comfort Vine. “One… some even…” She reached down to her leggings, brushing at the ripped fabric. “It…” The mare left it at that, a sickness coming to her stomach as she recalled the events in silence.
She had been bright and grinning ear to ear, sprinting back towards the camp with renewed vigor. Her parched muzzle and throat had been satiated a thousand times over with fresh, cold running water, diluting the hunger pains that had plagued her earlier. Her green hooves were a blur against the dark foliage, stepping this way and that to avoid pitfalls and fallen tree limbs. Though the hoofsteps stopped as she screeched to a halt to gaze into a nearby clearing. The treeline had started to thin at this point, the Everfree forest beginning to disperse as it neared civilization, and in a clearing lay carefully planted pods. Her mind fluttered through dozens of books on flora and fauna found all across Equestria, but the large, swollen, green, fleshy leaves that sat upon their thick roots were a foreign sight. Carefully, Vine made her way over to them, setting the scuffed knees of her pants on the ground to look at them, gingerly stroking the outside bulb with a pair of fingers; firm, thick...wet? She blinked, distracted as she looked to the others before her.
A long tendril of plant vine began to inch its way towards her, twitching as it sought a new toy to hold. Slowly the plant began to curl around the exposed left hoof. As it slid across the softer flesh, Vine yelped in surprise, covering her mouth as she rolled to the side, hands in fists ready for a confrontation. The vine had curled on the ground, motionless before it was spotted. Vine panted, looking back and forth for whatever had clutched her foot, slowly turning over to her hands and knees before getting to her feet. As she brushed the dust from her palms, two more firm vines began to snake towards her, and with a surprisingly quick lunge, latched onto and around her calves. They curled around her vigorously, chafing against the fabric. Vine gave a panicked gasp, reaching down as she began to try to pry them off her. A bulb behind her slowly folded open, the bright red interior glistening wetly as a pair of longer, thicker vines extended forth. One raised, gripping the base of her tail tightly, the other wrapping around her left wrist. The smaller pair tugged sharply, bringing the mare to her knees as her hand was forced back, and her tail up.
“The fuck is going on?! Get off!” She ordered. Vine slammed her elbow forcefully into one of the pods beside her, bruising and splitting open the folds of the immature plant. It shuddered, the moisture pooling in the bottom giving a gurgle and sputter before the attached roots and leaves fell slack to the dirt. Before she could thrust a powerful kick behind her, another pod exposed itself. The duo of vines twisted their way up, one sliding over her shoulder to begin coiling loosely around her exposed neck, dripping wet as it slithered effortlessly over the jade-toned fur. Its twin swirled around the thick knot gripping onto her tail, before slipping down into her jeans. Vine froze with shock, her leg muscles paralyzed with fear as the thick pear-shaped end of the tendril pressed itself against her tight asshole, pulsing as it tried the unwilling entrance. The vine holding her neck pulled taught, forcing Vine to fall forward to the ground. Dirt flew into her face and mane, coughing as her breath was further restricted with the heavy stench of plant life.
In desperation, Vine braced herself with her free hand, and with all her earth pony strength, squared her shoulders and thrust herself back. The thick vine around her neck snapped at the sudden resistance, but as she moved, those holding her tail pulled tighter and the thickest root pushed forward into the virgin ass. The tip swelled in the moist, warm cavity, diving in further as it twisted and grinded against the tight walls around it. As it slide inside her it began to secrete a warm, wet liquid to help itself travel further. Vine’s eyes snapped open, wide with a mix of surprise, pain and pleasure as an uncontrolled moan left her throat, echoing in the empty woods; her shoulders quaked, sending a shiver down her limbs as the tendril began to slip back and forth in preparation for more to join it.
“Hnn...gggaaahhhh” She groaned. Her body rocked back and forth, pivoting on her knees as she felt her anus stretch at the pulsing vine quivering inside her. Vine’s eyes darted around for anything to help her, an eternity passing with every second that ticked as a numbing sensation began to spread from her lower body, already leaking towards her hooves and chest. “...n-no I...Get..!” She started to say before the rest of the pods around her began to awaken fully from their slumber. Thick, wet rope of foliage after another found their way to her limbs, pulling her down onto her chest, plump green ass held high in the air as a second, thinner vine joined the thicker one. It slid in without hesitation, spiraling around its parent to further stretch the earth pony’s ass and resolve. Another thick one found its way to her muzzle, tipped much like the first one to have entered her but as it approached, the bulb blossomed into a dripping sanguine flower like the inside of the pods, and latched itself onto her muzzle, petals creeping to cover almost all of her face, sparing her eyes to allow her to watch. Vine’s muffled scream was quickly silenced as a girthy appendage slid past her tongue and deep into her throat, pulling back, and repeating the action with encouraged vigor. The paralytic drippings from the plants had completely immobilized her now, save for the twitching and spasming muscles of her ass and throat, making her all too aware of the violations of her form. One after another, the tentacles began to inject something more viscous inside, hot and heavy secretions filling her stomach and ass as each tendril relieved its pressure inside her in waves. Satisfied to have filled the writhing female form, the pods recalled their extensions slowly, soon leaving Vine to have silent streams of tears leak from her eyes, waiting for her body to be able to move.
Whitestar offered Vine a small leafy plate of her portion of food, nodding with understanding as she saw the trauma evident in the jade eyes.
“It’s okay, you don’t have to say a word. We’re safe here. Nothing will bother us.” And thankfully, the unicorn’s words came to fruition.
Days passed and the campsite flourished, become more clean, organized, productive. The group of mares began to stockpile food, make sealed baskets to haul water back to the campsite, and with the help of Paige’s wings, were able to fix the patches in the roofs of the crumbling houses with swatches of large leaves and branches. Small creatures had learned to avoid the immediate area, thankfully, decreasing their chance of timberwolves, or worse, leading something to them. Though, as they began to near their third week of survival, guests soon arrived at the camp.
One, then two, then three shadows approached the campsite not soon after dusk, the moon shrouded from Equestria as a thick cloud cover kept Everfree in the darkness. All of the intruders were hunched low to the ground, anxious of being discovered first by the potential wild ponies inside. Two were armed with short rod-like weapons, hooves silently parting the thick grass as they stepped closer to the clearing before them, pushing the leaves and branches of a bush aside. A fire burned atop a stone platform, roaring, even, as fresh leaves and branches caught on the licks of flame. They shivered with delight at the warm fire. The residents had to be home, but they had to try.
“On three.” A tentative voice nodded.
“One.
“Tw--AHHH!”
A pre-emptive step snapped a dried vine on the ground, unleashing from above a net, weighed down on all sides with large stones, ensnaring the camp’s invaders.
“By the name of Celestia and the Canterlot Army, I comma--” Whitestar yelled, rushing out from her hut, horn alight with magic and weapon in hand. Her muzzle was pulled back in an angry snarl as she thrust the pike forward, the stone tip coming within centimeters of the bindings of the net. “Reveal yourself!!” All of the ponies inside the net cried out at once.
“P-please, don’t hurt us!!”
“Help us!!”
“We’re sorry!” Whitestar slowly pulled the pike back as Flora, Paige and Vine ran over, each armed with some make-shift weaponry, Flora’s horn giving a pitiful sparking.
“Who the fuck are you?” Vine spat, cocking her head down at the group of mares. Whitestar put a hand out to usher her friend back, shaking her head in dismissal, before kneeling down to get a better look at their uninvited guests. Two earth ponies, one unicorn. The unicorn’s horn had been shorn from her head, leaving nothing but a small stump of the magical appendage among her mane, and the back of her neck glistened with a silver metal collar. One earth pony sported a black collar, while the final one was unclaimed by aggression. All their clothes had been ripped from their bodies, only one of them, the one without a collar, having the decency of possessing a bra and underwear.
“We came from Manesfield!--”
“The caribou came--”
“And we escaped--”
“Been running for days--”
“Do you have food??”
“Please don’t turn us away!”
Whitestar bit her lip as she, with the original survivors’ help, lifted the netting off the naked and afraid mares, who continued to spill their story in broken segments.
“Paige” She interrupted, looking to the pegasus. “Get whatever extra clothing we had for them.” Paige nodded and galloped off, returning a few minutes later with a pair of shirts and pants, which were divided up against the other unclothed mares. Flora and Vine helped them sit around the fire, offering small handfuls of water and leftover nuts, which the ponies eagerly inhaled in their hunger. After their shivering and starvation were sated, the strange new ponies began to recite their tale with coherence.
“T-There was a guardsmare, flying into our town” The uncollared earth pony began. “We’d seen the smoke from Canterlot, but…”
“B-But we didn’t assu--AH” The other grunted, rubbing her collar angrily. “Assume that something this bad… t-this bad…”
“Had happened.” The original mare picked up. “She told us to pack up and run, that there was an invasion of antlered creatures called ‘Caribou’. Before half of us could even get to our houses…” She paused, seeing the ensuing chaos flash along her eyes. “Manesfield was overrun. A bola took her out of the sky, and they pounced on her. One tried to grab me, tore my blouse. I escaped, fled down the street and out of town.” She took a cursory glance to the other mares. The unicorn winced, rubbing her forehead.
“They, t-the Caribou, grabbed the rest of us as we fought back. They bound our wings a-and cut our horns.” She looked up, eyes crossing as she tried to catch sight of the once magnificent horn that had adorned her head. “Took our clothes and threw us into cages… t-those of us who tried to resist.”
“Some didn’t resist?” Vine asked, turning her head in confusion. The third pony nodded, still playing with her uncomfortable collar, desperate to relieve her neck of it.
“Some of the Caribou were aggressive, didn’t care, but others… others didn’t hurt if we didn’t hurt first. They didn’t get caged.”
“All got collared, though…” The unicorn sadly added. The uncollared pony said nothing, looking off into the fire to hide the hot wash of shame that fleeing had given her. The night slowly crept by as the seven mares began to share their own tales of escape from the invasion. From Canterlot, to Stableton, to Manesfield and the valleys and forests in between. Every story, though, was the same to start. Mostly unannounced chaos flooding over their peaceful Equestria as every mare was verbally and physically put down below the rank of anything with antlers or cocks. No magic, no princesses, or elements of harmony were there to save their world this time. After an introductory pass over the camp was given, all the mares retired to their assigned buildings, ready to start a brand new week of continued freedom.
Another two weeks passed, and more mares beginning to join their resistance against nature and dominance. First a solitary mare, then a pair, then a small group… then they trickled in, one at a time, until a week had passed with no new arrivals. A majority of mares coming to join their tribe had received the displeasure of a collar, but no new addition could bring with them the secret of removing the banded pieces of leather and metal, nor any remedy to soothe the ache of those marked with black collars. The dismal ruins had grown into a small community, thatch and wood houses being erected alongside the stone structures to house all the new recruits, store supplies, and to give a sense of accomplishment as what felt like a true community had arisen from the ashes of the plundered. Makeshift clothing had been crafted by what unicorns had kept their magic, pegasi contributing stray feathers for modesty and down for warmth, all anticipating for the fluctuating temperature of the nights in Everfree’s summers. Though, even as their campsite had begun to feel like a safe environment, Whitestar had begun to get antsy. It had been too quiet, their enemies were continuing fortifications of their own. They had to start acting before the Caribou became so entrenched that Equestria would never be free. A meeting was called that evening, each mare dragged from her house into the dim waning sunlight as Whitestar stood atop the ashes and stones of last night’s fire, recently polished set of armor adorning her snow-white fur.
“Ladies, women of Equestria!” She called out, horn amplifying her voice for all to hear. “We’ve been in the shadows of this forest for too long. If the Ever Free Mares of Everfree are to survive, we must begin retaking this land, which belongs to all Equestrians!” A cheer and roar of approval came from the gathered crowd. “Not the antlered menace which has driven us from our homes, our families, our livelihoods! The overmorrow begins a new step towards returning to our lives, to rise out of this primitive station we’ve allowed ourselves to thrive in. By the goddesses, we shall crumble the Caribou’s grip on Equestria, and do what no one else could!” Another round of cheers came from every mare, even Flora bouncing on her hooves like a giddy filly to go back home. “We shall scout our enemies tomorrow, and strike at their places of establishment, to erode their hold on the boundaries of our forest, our towns, our capital!” After bathing in the confident response of her peers, Whitestar stepped down, lost in conversation with mares eager to join the attack against the Caribou. Paige, however, tired after another long day of foraging, stumbled off to her place of rest in the far thatch house. She shifted and stretched her wings for makeshift support as she leaned against the wall, allowing her heavy eyelids to fall as another vivid dream began to plague her, resurrecting a nightmare from weeks ago.
Paige blinked to find herself in a cold, unforgiving jail cell; the bars before her were thick, shining bright and new without trace of rust or deterioration, the floor a hard smooth concrete. Her hands were bound by handcuffs, a bar holding the place of a chain between them, though a chain connected the metal bindings to a now similar metal ring around her neck. As before, her clothes were gone, leaving the pegasus to shiver as her body was exposed to the air. Vine was with her, in the corner of the room, feral burning eyes staring up at the caribou that held her by the wrists without effort, with a single hand as he observed his most recent capture, licking his lips hungrily at the black bar around her throat, another hand poised to shred her tattered, muddy, useless clothes from her. Words fell from his large muzzle, but in her daze, Paige could not decipher a single command, nor any resistant snap from Vine.
Another command, her name, had Paige turn her attention back before her. The world swirled, the bars disappearing as she was knelt on the ground, alone in a room save for the caribou standing before her. His muscled form towered over her, antlers furthering his dominant height over the mare. In the large, cocoa-furred hands was held a thin black rod with leather attached to the end. Paige gave an audible swallow in fear as it was tapped against an open palm. For the first time that night, the words spoken actually reached her ears.
“You heard them… good mares don’t get hit.” He promised, reaching out with the crop. Paige shuddered as she felt the surprisingly warm touch of the tool grace against her cheek, along her jaw and collar, undeniably feeling the strength behind it as it lifted her head. “Just obey, and you won’t… get… hurt…” The spare Caribou’s hand slid around to the back of her head, coaxing the Pegasus forward on her knees, wings twitching in fear. She felt… dizzy, as she stared up the abdomen and chest of the man, breath short and hot. Her thoughts couldn’t form right, but going through whatever motion the man before her presented made things easier. She wasn’t held up like Vine was, or captured, or beaten. Paige wasn’t even cold, or hungry… she could run, if she wanted. But why would she? Paige snapped out of her foggy thoughts to see the man had dropped his leggings, revealing, though flaccid, a massive length hidden behind his zipper, sitting on an impressively sized pair of unattended balls.
“Don’t you want to be a good girl?”
Paige felt the hand cupping her head nod for her, and guide her forward as it pressed her nose and mouth against the shaft. As she pressed her tongue against the underside of his cock, the hand pulled away to allow Paige unhindered exploration. It was invitingly warm, twitching with every stroke of her lips and tongue, as grunts of approval left her superior. She raised her pair of bound hands, straightening her back as she placed her palms on his muscled thighs to steady herself, an unexpected moan leaving her throat. She traveled up, licking the wet dew drops of pre that had already begun to leak from the Caribou’s tip, her tongue tingling with the new sensation. That word echoed in her mind, that mantra that had woken her weeks ago: Obey. Obey. Obey. Paige’s mouth opened wide, inviting the Caribou inside as he slid without effort into the waiting mare’s throat. It wasn’t long before her lips were flush against the man’s fur, gagging suppressed as she circled and ran her tongue’s width against the heavy sack resting on her chin, chains jinling with delight with every bob of her head. Muddled words whispered to her mind, every nod of her head agreeing with them as she closed her eyes, pressing her body forward eagerly to offer it to the man before her.
No, I don’t need to fend for myself...
Yes, I am happier serving than surviving…
I don’t need to run.
Paige’s throat squeezed tight as she felt the warm relief she provided to the Caribou trickle down, stomach filling as the ache of hunger and rarity of meals vanished. Her deep purple eyes, fogged with satisfaction looked up at the caribou, his face impassive. Was he pleased? Disappointed?? Would she be hit??? The long agonizing moment passed as the man nodded his approval, hand stroking her mane affectionately. Paige smiled as she pulled away, allowing herself to breathe with a dazed, dumb smile across her face.
Morning came less than an hour later, reminding the mare once again as she woke to the cold, windy sunrise what kind of luxuries and life she once had before the invasion.
