Tales from Squawkers

I don’t know why I stayed. Sweet Celestia I have no idea why I stayed. Well… in truth, I do know why, I just don’t know why I try and justify it to myself. I should’ve gotten out when I did, but I remained. I needed money, and, to be honest, a part of me feels I shouldn’t quit. I’m Bangles, one of many victims inside Squawkers. I was very worried about this place early on, and my fears only got confirmed thanks to a group of stallions that wanted to do worse than the current rules allowed. And since then, there were many others, stallions and mares alike, that were too interested in me. I wanted out at that moment, but a friendly griffon helped me get through that horrid event.

I suppose it wasn’t just her that helped though. I felt like I was on the border of giving up right there, and because I lacked the strength to fight back, they were able to abuse me. So that’s why I want to learn to keep on powering through, no matter how strange the stuff I do is. I’ve gotten a little better at staving off certain jerks, but I’m far from perfect at it. So, I need to somehow, someway, get even stronger. Fortunately, there is one strong griffon that I think should help…

“H-hey, Rhapso?” I said, approaching one of the griffons in the changing rooms. This one was that gold-feathered, red-headed griffon that’d saved me when those bunch of stallions had cornered me way, way back when. She rose a brow and turned, seeming to light up as she saw me.

“Oh hey, Bangles!” she greeted. “Patrons serving you well? Anyone need a knuckle sandwich?”

“N-no, not yet,” I said. Yes, we were serving right now. But thankfully, due to an influx of griffons, a few of us were allowed on the bench while the new blood got to learn the lay of the land. Fortunately, certain griffons more proficient in the field are out to keep an eye on things, we just happened to not be assigned. “Actually, speaking of, I wanted to talk to you about that…”

“Hm? Lay it on me, gal,” Rhapso answered.

“Well… it’s been a couple of months since that even way back when…” I started. “And, I’ve yet to really grow out of that shell…”

“You really shouldn’t feel ashamed,” the red griffon assured. “That’s the kind of thing nopony should endure, and the kind of thing very few ever feel comfortable about after the fact.”

“I-I know that,” I assured. “It’s just… I’m still not totally comfortable with this place. I still feel like cowering behind someone or something from time to time, and I desperately need some sort of shortcut into taking this well.” Rhapso stood back and took my words carefully, understanding my issues. She seemed to grimace when I said “shortcut”. And then, she took a deep breath.

“This isn’t an easy line of work for anypony,” she assured. “It takes a lot of strength to come into the business, and a lot more to remain in it for as long as you have. You’ve made it to where few griffons have gone before, you should feel proud of that.”

“But I don’t!” I declared. “It’s been out of stubbornness that I haven’t left! I just imagine jerks like those ponies that one night laughing at me as I’m heading out, telling me not to let the door hit my butt on the way out! And, by Celestia, I wanted dearly to show them that I’m better than those taunts, that I’m worth more than whatever venom they could spit at me! So, before it gets too much, I just want to get strong enough to shoulder it all!” Rhapso seemed to rear back at my outburst, and upon letting it all out, I shied back. Rhapso re-composed herself, and sighed.

“Hm… Bangles, I understand the frustration,” she said. “There’s… there are few things that could really help right now… I guess what’d help is a demonstration of someone stronger than me.” I perked up at those words and looked at her as if she’d grown a second head. “There are a few griffons that’ve been n here for many, many years. And as such, they have access to places that few other griffons do. Us being workers, we’ll be allowed in as spectators. Just know that where we’re going is a very, very strange place, especially to those new to our world. If you come with me, then you’ll be seeing some things few griffons could sleep comfortably with the knowledge of.” It sounded rather threatening, but if she thinks that it’ll help… then I can’t just let the opportunity go to waste. I nodded at her.

“Very well. Stay by me.” She motioned me by her side, and I came in close, where I was reminded she was a couple of inches taller than me. With us side by side, she began to lead us from this changing room to one of these strange, foreboding, metal doors in the back. She opened one up, unveiling a set of stairs that fed into what looked kind of like a pit of darkness. She flipped a switch near the door, and a pink light filled the hallway, making the stairs more visible. The two of us began walking down. The stairs seemed industrial, and the path itself seemed similarly formal, which let me know this was an employee-exclusive path. Or at least, I thought so.

We went down more and more, before seeing three different doors: one’s marked “1”, one’s marked “2”, one’s marked “3”. Each door appeared painted to resemble a cast-iron door, like something you’d see out of a dungeon in a horror movie. We approached the door marked “1”, and she opened it, though only a crack. She stepped aside and motioned me forwards, at which I leaned in to check out the door from the thin eyehole. And when I looked inside, I was alarmed at what was inside this room!

Inside was a room of similar look to the hallway out here, though it also boasted many chains hanging from the wall, as well as what looked like the skeleton to many furniture, bindings in place where the seat/tabletop/other important part should go. I was quick to understand the reason for this, as towards one side of the room were several stallions sitting around a tabletop-less table, akin to the other furniture save for one key difference. There was a griffon where the tabletop should be! She had blue feathers and a white head, and appeared to be a meter taller than me. She harbored a little more gut than most griffons here, though I suppose that was to her… benefit(?) here.

The way that furniture’s straps worked, they had her sprawled out and held in place, while also binding her tail to her back and exposing her backside to any attacks made beneath the “tabletop”. With her being sprawled wide out, she acted as a tabletop, which allowed the ponies around her to place their food and silverware on her. She was clearly uncomfortable, though she fought to stay still while those ponies were eating. I was a little more worried not just because of the humiliating situation… but because these meals also came with forks. Add onto that the tray brandishing various whips and paddles, and we had a recipe for a very bizarre picture.

This only got worse when one of the ponies took up their forks, and began to stab into their food. I could see her quake a little as those prongs sunk deeper and deeper into the food, before she jolted as the silverware nipped her. The pony eating brought the fork off, allowing me to see that no damage had been done. No, those prongs merely poked into her torso. Those ponies seemed to be going about like this wasn’t strange, just catching and eating food off of her. Sometimes they’d spare her from a nip, sometimes they’d stab into her, but never doing any serious damage.

“What the hay is this?!” I declared in shock. “How can anypony put up with this, regardless of griffon or pony?!”

“It’s just a case of doing what you need to do for the job,” my leader explained. “That there is Cleta. When she started, she didn’t get many patrons after her, except for some losers that really like big girls. It took her a while, but eventually her personality was actually able to attract a few ponies. She got more and more popular, and was soon gathering more bits than before. She actually advanced quickly through the ranks and made it to the second floor. When she got there, she was a little uncomfortable with the kinds of clients up there, so she withdrew back to first floor for a little while.

“Eventually, though, she managed to garner the mettle to spend more time in the second floor, before she eventually took to it like a fish to water. Even then, there was still a sizable gap between her and this floor. The owner’s set up a few rules to make sure that the most extreme of our floors is safe for both employee and patron. Employees must spend 5 years here to make sure they’re prepared for the floor, and the only patrons allowed are those that’re given an invitation. Not only is there a required trust within these halls, but also oodles upon oodles of professional experience. That tends to be the same throughout the whole of employment.”

As she spoke, those ponies were eating the whole time. Much of the food was along her belly, which was apparently pretty sensitive, because her body’d give a jolt of shock whenever those ponies dug in too deep. Some others, however, were eating their food off of her thighs, her arms, even her breasts. Her thighs were apparently fairly thick and resistant towards forks, either that or those ponies didn’t stab in too much. Her arms, meanwhile, were very sensitive, especially under her arms, and her breasts… Air hurled through her beak whenever those forks would come upon those, and she’d pant and heave, which shifted the food upon her around.

They didn’t attack the same spot, either. No, they really liked going around to attack still-untouched spots, as if they weren’t just eating but were trying to find whatever spots on the griffon before them were especially sensitive. They were around the edges of the lady’s body at first, but were going in more and more and touching more of them. They rounded her breasts before getting into her cleavage or real close to her nipples. The ones at her legs, meanwhile, kept on searching for some spot of her thighs that were sensitive, to the point where they weren’t even bothering to eat their food. Eventually, they managed to get a jolt run through her legs, all because they managed to hit the backside of her thighs, which harbored less muscle and more meat.

Those forks danced around more and more, never leaving wounds. It seemed like most of the table was content with that, but two of the ponies seemed to find it getting old. Instead, those two would step out of their chairs, before heading over towards that shelf of paddles and whips. One grabbed a black whip boring multiple thick tassels, and one grabbed a dagger-sized thick, leather strip with a handle. They neared the two ponies on either thigh, the two of them scooting away and letting them sit down. The two ponies leaned over to get a good looking angle at her rump, probably capable of easily smothering somepony’s face if they wanted. I then watched the two of them get up, before playing rock paper scissors to see who would strike first. The one with the whip won.

The one with the paddle leaned back, while the other pony scooted his chair away and knelt down, looming close to the griffon’s backside. Once in place, he maneuvered the whip just right, angling beneath her hindquarters… before delivering a swift whip upwards. The food upon the griffon jumped as she bucked, before landing back in place. The many tails of said whip scattered all over her backside, dealing a pretty painful blow. It struck several spots on either cheek, though appeared more focused on her farther buttock than the other. The pony wasn’t satisfied with just that, and instead delivered another whip, now aiming more towards between those buttocks. A few licked the edges of either, while the attack was more evenly distributed between either cheek.

He’d repeat this process several times, altering where the whip hit and subsequently changing just where he struck. He’d end up lashing at her thighs, her hips, and plenty, plenty of her butt. Eventually, I felt the need to rub my own backside, as I swore I could feel the stings upon my derriere. The process would keep on repeating as what sounded like repetitious smacking noises rang out through the room. Eventually, the pony gave pause, and decided he’d had enough. He got up, and the other pony seemed to wordlessly agree to give her sometime to recover.

“It takes time to relax around here,” Rhapso said. “It takes a lot of confidence on either side, and often you find ponies or griffons that have a little too much. And when they have too much, they’re quicker to abuse that. It’s up to us to look out for the bad guys and to keep up the harmony. It’s easy to run away, but if we do that, we give them a bit of victory and let them know that we’re vulnerable. You stayed here because of that reason, right?” I paused and looked up at her as she said that. “Yeah, you didn’t want those guys to know you were scared. You may not feel it, but you are a strong girl.”

I nervously stroked my upper arm as she said that, blushing a little at her praise. I had to admit, it felt kind of nice hearing her say that about me. This moment of reprieve was swiftly interrupted by a loud smacking noise from within the room. My vision glanced back towards that, where now, a few of the food appeared to’ve fallen off of the griffon in response to the last smack. It was a good thing that many of them had finished their food. Still, others seemed miffed and would shove their forks down on her in response to that, specifically targeting the more sensitive spots. The griffon yelped out and shook beneath them, before the pony with the paddle delivered another blow.

They made sure to lift their forks whenever the other pony delivered the spank out of fear of her ramming herself into those prongs. It seemed like there was a strange rhythm to their attack. When she wasn’t being swatted in the hiney, her upper side was raked with forks. It was so surreal, watching this dance of pain yet concern. Those ponies very clearly understood the kind of risk there was to their side, and they’d give her enough space to evade a lot of pain. It was still quite alarming, but this sort of caring edge between griffon and pony… there was honestly something kinda nice about it.

Eventually, Cleta’s blue backside was as red as a cherry, and the smacking pony would give her some reprieve. The ponies sitting around her began to step up, seeming now finished. Her rump was spanked tender and the move was pretty much finished, so there wasn’t exactly much left for them to do. Each pony then went to either strap and began to undo them, releasing the griffon. She rubbed her wrists and ankles, them appearing to’ve chaffed from the device. She was up and on her feet, despite all of the punishment her body had went through. She turned to each of them and gave them each a handshake, as if they’d just gone through a simple business transaction. And then, they started heading in our direction, at which I backed away from the door.

“We should get out of here,” Rhapso said, recognizing my worry. And then, we turned towards the employee hallway we went down earlier, and ran off before either the ponies or that griffon could notice us. Back up the stairs we went, but on my way up, Rhapso flipped a switch at the foot of the steps to shut off the light, probably to limit the amount of evidence that we were here. I’d appreciate the effort in hindsight, but I was too busy hitting my feet against the edges of the stairs. It was a tough climb, but eventually we made it to the top and back into our changing rooms. We sat at some of the benches, and waited. “Cleta herself should be here soon. You can speak with her if you wish.”

“M-maybe…” I said. Eventually, the door itself opened up, and in came that chubby griffon, her stretching her body a little and cracking her joints. It felt so weird to see her so jovial before us right after she’d been used as a tabletop.

“Ah! What a profitable day!” she declared heartily.

“Hi there, Cleta,” Rhapso said. “By the way, you may wanna check the locks of your doors next time.” At that, the rotund lady blushed and stroked the back of her head.

“Eh heh heh… you probably saw that, huh?”

“Miss Cleta?” I said. She turned towards me. “…How’d you get so thick skinned?”

“Thick skinned?” she repeated. She then began stroking her chin curiously while furrowing her brow. “Geez, it’s been a while since I was a meek, little thing… I’ll say that it’s been very touch and go for a while. I wanted to get outta here so many times, but I thought about how those guys that bullied me would probably chide me if they caught me outside, and I wouldn’t be able to take it. So, I stuck it out here, got prepared to take more punishment until I was sure I’d be able to stand up to jerks like that. It takes a lot of experience to be able to stand up for yourself in this field, but just remember, you’re not alone around here.”

I gave pause as she explained. I looked over her, and muttered in worry. I sighed and approached, before wrapping my arms around her. She seemed startled, but hugged back, seemingly happy to support.