My Life on a Cassette Tape

I ran around another corner, my breath ragged when I did managed to take it in. Glancing behind myself, I saw it once more - the hulking mass of the entity that pursued me - and dove into a faltering run even as it gained more on me. The air stung in my lungs, my limbs flailing through it like it was thick molasses. I was slow, far too slow, and yet just fast enough that it was always gaining, yet never catching. My eyes flooded in fogging tears as I pushed through the effort. Pain and more pain were my only rewards - a bitter shot to take with a tracer of only my drowning fear as I continued my endeavors.

Suddenly a burst of light above me caught my eye. A wondrous sight in my hellscape, but ripped from me as my pursuer ripped me back, clutching my shoulder in a firm hand, whirling me about to face it. I blinked. No mass. No shadow. Blue with black hair. Eyes. Such hate-filled eyes.

I shot up in the bed, heaving breaths as I processed my flurry thoughts, only to find the veil of dream obscuring the memory I knew was just beyond it. I wiped my brow of its perspiration and took a few calming breaths. I had never had such a vivid, and yet elusive, night terror. I knew I was fearful, I knew it was primally justified, and yet the object of my fear was gone from me.

Looking beside me, my heart lurched to a stop. I was not the sole occupant in the bed I slept in - whose bed I didn't even know yet - but was indeed very much in the presence of somepony. I felt like a drunkard who had an evening that they couldn't account for and a mare in the bed he couldn't recall taking. Well... that wasn't entirely true. I very well could account for last evening in vivid detail. I could recall all too easily what I had done, what had been done to me, what I had watched. It was... well, I had morning wood like any stallion, but the memory amplified the morning wood to morning titanium. This... this was certainly not good.

In the end, I just sighed. I had been right after all. The Empire had moved first and showed a bit more of its hand. To what end, I couldn't tell quite yet, but a move had been made. Standing up from the bed, I walked over to the curtained window, grabbing my boxers from the chair where they had somehow landed as I did so. Slipping them on quickly, I peaked out the window and froze.

The streets were full of ponies. That in itself was not too entirely surprising, it was only a tad bit before noon so ponies would be about, but all of them were unilaterally undressed and most sprawled across the streets unceremoniously. Some were alone, asleep in a puddle of their own splooge; others were paired off with another and in a joint puddle; whilst others still had a few more than two. Some were, much like myself, awake, red-faced, and/or running.

The... the whole town had had an orgy... in the open? The Empire had certainly played its hand and had played it hard. They had made the town dance into post-coital unconsciousness at their whim. It wasn't a targeted strike in that only we were taken in the feverish orgy, but a display of exactly what the Empire could do, would do. No pony was safe, no pony able to resist. My heart sank another inch at the immensity of our foe becoming that much more evident.

Looking down to the front door, I gasped, and rushed out of the room. Through the short hallway into the living room where several ponies lay in their own after-fuck rests, I opened the front door and quickly grabbed the wrists of the two ponies that lay at our steps. Twin entangled forms in sleep, likely having been caught just outside on their way to us as the town-wide fucking had commenced.

I closed the door behind me and let out a breath before rushing off to search the cupboards for glasses. Finding them I quickly set about pouring water, knowing full well everypony would need it. I looked up from my task, looking over the two forms of Applebloom and Sweetie Belle on the floor, wondering how far their clothes might be from them at this point. I didn't know why they were here, but it didn't truly matter as no matter what they were under my care. I had an outstanding offer of them becoming my sexy slaves, and they were related to what I considered my tentative friends.

"Town wide orgy? Not even I've been able to arrange one of those!" Pinkie shouted as I passed her her glass of water, having found her and the rest of the others not in the living room in the master bedroom in much the state we had been. "Did everypony have a good time? Are they expecting breakfast? Any after care ca-"

"Pinkie," I said, popping a squat in front of her, not even once looking at her massive gazongas, I'll have you know, "everypony was under mind control. This wasn't a spontaneous party, it was an attack. Everpony needs after care in their own way, but we have a situation right here, right now, and I need you to not make it worse for them with nonsensical and possibly hurtful disregard."

Somehow that made Pinkie quiet down, if only temporarily. Suddenly I was no longer in the master bedroom in a squat in front of the pink mare, but instead inside of the closet with the pink mare, both of us standing at our full height. Looking at her, she had a very serious look in her eyes that had a vague beam of light across them.

"Look, Buster, I am the premeir pink party pony of Ponyville. It is my job to make pony bust out laughing. I know ponies are hurting and I know they need help, but if I stop helping them they keep hurting. Cool your jets, busterooni, and let me be me and help everypony in my own way, capiche?" I was stunned at this, only to then find myself once again squatting in front of her in the bedroom.

"Okie dokie!" She chirped, downing her cup of water in one gulp before bouncing off to see to the others.

What...

"Cresh!" Double called from the door, breaking me from my long pause at what the frick I had just experienced. Looking over to him as I rose from my squat, I nodded in acknowledgement, having expected him to call for me once he was part way sorted through all that had happened. "Talk for a second?" He asked. I gave a short nod, following him out of the master and into the guest room. Closing the door behind me, I stood expectantly as he faced away from me, his composure obviously on the brink. I had rarely seen him like this, but it was certainly not something I was inexperienced with. I stood silently, letting him arrange himself, knowing that in time he'd be able to voice the tumult in his head in a semi-coherent manner.

"Alright... alright..." Double said in a low tone to himself, his bearing starting to come together. "Okay, we expected this... we expected this. Well, not THIS this, but something approximating this." I raised an eyebrow, having gotten past my own version of this stage a short while ago whilst everypony was still under. It was quite odd to see it from the outside, I had to say. "Alright... so..."

"Wide sweeping power able to snatch everypony's free will out from under them." I provided. "Likely a more general application artifact based on the fact it wasn't used to get us to turn over artifacts. We can also say its on the same side of the Aligned Divide as my artifact since it affected me, or maybe not even on the divide, if it does exist."

"True true...." Double murmured, pacing back and forth. "As far as public plan is concerned we're on track for where we need to go."

"Minor intel gathered by inference complete. We now know one more of their powers, though it doesn't help us as much against the dozen or more powers left unknown to us." I said, plopping down on the bed. "Hey, Dubs, its alright... I mean, between the two of us, I can be the one fearing for my life for last night, you at least didn't plow any fields."

"Yeah yeah... I just... I came close and that scared me. I don't like it, not an inch." He said, continuing to pace back and forth for a short moment before stopping dead in his tracks as realization set in. "Fear for your life?" He asked, cocking an eyebrow at me. I gave a shake of my head and a sigh.

"Yeah... turns out I fucked royalty in the raw last night." I said in a fairly nonchalant tone. "So yeah, if not for magical influence, I'd likely be on a spit by now for what I did to Twilight."

"Oh..." He slumped slightly, but regained his usual disposition fairly quickly. "Well, I suppose that is a... small comfort? Heck if I know." He said, slamming down onto the bed beside me. "Any hint that our target is wise to us?" He asked in a whisper.

"No read on the target as of yet." I replied, eyeing the door for any sign of prying ears. "Our plan stands so far, though perhaps time tables are shifting a tad." I said finally. "Good call during the planning meeting by the way." I smirked, casting my mind back to our planning session in which simultaneously, unbeknownst to the others, two plans were hatched. One vocal, one through subtle signals between Double Time and myself. Our hopes were founded in misdirection a this point. We could only hope our plans were as well-hidden as we thought.

The sight lines on our window were pretty good across the town. The single story aspect of the house the only reason it wasn't ideal. True, there was an attic, but it didn't have a window. Looking around, Ponyville was essentially abandoned as much as the streets could tell. No pony came out to clean up the clothes... or cum. No wonder really, as fear likely was rife as to whether merely being outside might cause a reappearance of the frenzied impulses that drove ponies, strangers and friends alike, into the most intimate of bonds without either party considering that not doing it was an option.

The oddest piece to the puzzle was the absence of the trains. Usually at least a few would've stopped by the lazy station by the time the sun got to its current place above the western horizon. Ponyville was alone, or worst yet, was not isolated in its forced indulgence. The horrifying thought crossed my mind a few times - the vision of every town and city in Equestria and beyond taking part in an unannounced orgy without understanding why the next morning.

To be fair, there was no evidence for that thought, but there was no evidence readily available for why we weren't seeing trains or carts or anything from other parts of Equestria visit us. If this had been any other day it might've been passed off as a slow day, which I heard did happen from time to time. Today, though, it was an eerie lack of activity that only set the mind into a fitful dance of possibilities.

Leaving the window, I turned back to the ponies in the living room. All of us were clothed, finally, after a brief scavenger hunt. Though Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were admittedly both in borrowed clothes from Button's mom. They didn't really fit the two, but the two fillies really didn't have a choice in the matter if they wished to be clothed - and if this was to work they had to be.

"Everypony ready?" I asked, adjusting my shirt slightly, the unusual tightness caused by the hidden plan making me uncomfortable. I got a plethora of answers in a varying range of enthusiasm, very heartening indeed. "Alright, stick to your parts and this should go off without a hitch... few hitches. Just remember the general purpose of your parts and adjust as needed to the response of the enemy."

"Let's do this." Rainbow said, steely determination in her voice, not at all filled with the energetic exuberance from her previous calls to action or denunciations of lack of action. This was purpose set like stone in a pony that had been through one too many things she would've wished to avoid and was now setting themselves like a flint to the cause with nigh emotionless conviction. The sentiment wasn't solitary in the room by any measure. The rest Elements seemed by and large quite ready to end this, Twilight and Pinkie alone seemed detached from that emotion, though only slightly. For Twilight's part, she was simply in a sort of silent, contemplative trance. She had a lot on her mind and gave out little of her attention to me - enough to get her by it would seem, nothing more. Pinkie... well, she made up for any lack of energy.

My mares and the doppelgangers on the other hand, with the lack of experience that had doubtlessly tempered the Elements, were champing at the bit to go, though Raven was fighting back a blush as hard as possible as she stood at the ready. Thyme and Double were both about the same wavelength it seemed, austere expressions belying what emotions were indisputably broiling beneath the surface level. The orgy had taken a toll beyond physical for them, extra measure for the two so committed to each other. The sooner this was all over, the better for them.

Button was antsy as ever, though he seemed a lot better, Brass beside him lending a sort of strength to him by her laid-back state, an apparent serenity of a fully devoted slave confident in her master's orders and her ability to execute them. Mrs. Cream Heart, now fully taken into these plans of ours, seemed much like her son, though her jitters were less withheld by a slave mare, but from some well within herself that I couldn't quite place the source of.

"Alright, let's get to it then." I said, moving over, opening the front door for everypony. One by one they exited, moving to take a position in front of the building. Finally, Raven approached, the last pony to leave. She paused, looking me in the eyes. She gave me a quiet smile that spoke of pain we all seemed to share, and then stepped out of the door. I took a deep breath, my nerves barely held at bay as I finally took my own plunge.

Closing the door behind me, I stepped up to my position, an odd memory flashing before my eyes as I looked off towards the castle that once had been fully Twilight's. A set of eyes boring down upon me filled with an anger deep and endless. Black hair on blue. I blinked, remembering my dream somewhat. Whatever it was my mind in its own hazy way might be trying to tell me, it would have to work on its communication skills before I payed it much more attention. I had a job ahead of me that needed doing. I wasn't about to let a dream take me away and jeopardize it all.

Now was the time to take action against this Empire. It was time to make history worth playing back one day.