Equestria Trainers' Society: Work For Hire

The very moment Anya got back to the slavery facility, she sought out Rubric to tell him the news of her completing the hunter test, and made the minotaur put her on the roster for the raid group. She half expected the minotaur might have been caught off guard to hear she had completed his requirement, maybe even betraying his outwardly ‘honorable businessman’ persona by trying to make excuses to keep her away from the upcoming mission, so he could keep the gryphon around longer to use as a worker.

The stoic minotaur made no action to take back what he had already said, and hearing that she was now a Society approved slave hunter, told the avian “I assumed you’d pass the test. You’ve shown an intellect and rationality that is above most of your kind, and while brute force and athletic skill like Gilda’s has its place, smarts are often more useful for our capture units.”

“Uhhh… Thanks I guess.” Anya replied, knowing that this remark was about as good of a compliment she was gonna get from a minotaur.

She didn’t like being compared to Gilda, not fair for her to be offended by that comment. Rubric was only verbally sorting what department each of his employees should be placed in, and minotaur often spoke their minds without filter. They were the ones handing out the coins for each job, so why would they need to censor their own speech for those who valued the gold they had to offer. In a competition between a gryphon’s self respect and their greedy desires, it was greed that often won out.

“Ok, so I’m in. No backing out, right?” Anya said, pressing the point that she wanted a fast track to the completion of her contract.

“Yes, yes,” Rubric replied, “You’ll get your place in the raid group, but you must be aware that signing up for that is more of an obligation than just the raid itself.”

“As in, you’re gonna want me to participate in whatever training drills you have for us hunters to make sure we’re ready.” Anya said, knowing that further training had to be in order.

As it stood, any gryphons that would join up in this operation would be nothing more than a ragtag group of mercenaries, who had zero coordination or synergy as a group. Unless their target was some poorly defended settlement in the middle of nowhere, like the one specially set up for the hunter test, a bunch of gryphons flying around and doing their own thing wasn’t gonna cut it.

“Not just you gryphons,” Rubric corrected, “But the diamond dogs too. The operation will require a joint effort between minotaur, gryphons, and the dogs if we wish to capture our target.”

“That’s gonna be a hard ask,” Anya said, thinking over a united force of the three species, “Are you gonna put some gryphons in charge of the dogs, or will minotaur be the only ones delivering orders?”

“Worried about the chain of command?” Rubric asked, happy to see Anya considering the operation in full, and not seeing herself as just another grunt, “You are correct in thinking that the Diamond Dogs are better taking orders than giving them, but I’m not sure if I can trust just any gryphons to be in charge of their own pack of them.”

Anya was likewise glad Rubric was listening to what she was saying, as the leadership qualities of most gryphons was yelling at things until things went their way, and that often led to fruitless results. There were reasons besides the national poverty that Griffonstone had no standing military, or even a militia, and a large part of that is that gryphons hate following orders, and only hate it slightly less when money is involved. The most organized group the avian race had was their team for the ‘Equestria Games’, and that team was held together only by the potential of getting the silver or gold medals as a prize for competing.

“Perhaps we’ll need to set up some training sessions with the dogs, to see which gryphons would be best suited for the role.” Rubric went on to say, “Would you like to participate in such a course?”

That Rubric was asking Anya to be a part of this leadership test told her that he had already had her in mind for handling for this little side project. “I don’t see why I couldn’t.” the gryphoness replied, thinking that having some control of this upcoming raid would ease her worries a bit.

Anya had no delusions on how much of a newbie she was to this line of work. This raid would be her first, and intended only, job as a hunter, so she was well aware that danger was involved. No matter how much training was involved to prepare, nothing was a better teacher than experience, and a missing eye had educated her well that even a well trained creature could make mistakes.

“But let me ask you something first,” the gryphon said, knowing that one of her greatest concerns was her current lack of knowledge. For the most part, she knew what she would be doing, and who she would be working with, but there was one detail that had thus far been completely omitted, “When were you thinking of explaining who the targets of this operation are going to be?”

While Anya made it her career to explore the trap laden ruins of Equestria’s past, she wasn’t the type to go into a hostile situation completely blind. The idea that the Rubric had yet to say what, or rather ‘who’, he was after worried her, as there were numerous targets she could come up with that would make the mission suicidal in nature. If it was something like trying to infiltrate the Dragon Lands to abduct some of its inhabitants, then one would have better chances flying through a ravine infested with quarray eels.

“That detail is only for those who need to know,” Rubric said, making Anya think he was going to continue withholding that information. Before she could make a formal complaint about being kept in the dark, Rubric diminished this assumption by saying, “But since you seem dead set on being a part of this, I suppose you are such a person.”

“Ok,” Anya said, relieved this conversation was going somewhere, “Then who is it?”

“The creatures we are going after will not be easy.” Rubric said, serious in tone, “They are one of the few we minotaur worry about going toe to toe with in physical combat.”

“That narrows it down.” Anya replied, not being sarcastic in the slightest.

When it came to ponies, not even earth ponies stood up to minotaur in an exhibition of physical feats. Outside of equine species though, there were a few that would make for an interesting match up. Buffalo were one that came to mind, with both being bovines, as would a chimera, or a centaur, though both those species were unlikely to be the targets, due to how rare they were in the first place. Then there was the subject of dragons again, but outside of the more domesticated ones that resided in Equestria, that the Society already had a good stock of, it still felt like a terrible idea to even try to start trouble with them.

“Though that doesn’t tell me exactly who it is,” the gryphon went on to say.

“I was getting to that.” Rubric replied, “I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to back out of the whole thing once you heard, though. The target for the raid is-”

One month passed after Anya was told the situation, and she and every other gryphon that had signed up for Rubric’s foolhardy plan had spent it preparing themselves for what would be the most difficult operation the Society organized to date, at least from what she had heard. It wasn’t so much a suicide mission, but the kind that could very easily leave the feathered felines with permanent injury and lifelong imprisonment if they failed.

The reward was far too tempting, though, as each capture would result in a payout of two hundred Equestrian bits, sponsored by the crystal mare’s own seemingly bottomless bank account. No doubt, Schorl would be getting her pick of which ones she would be adding to her own private collection, after Rubric and his captains made their own selections of females to keep for breeding with. It was the only reason Anya could think that she would front the expenses for the raid, outside of maybe that it came with a large interest rate, or possibly that she was just doing it cause she found it amusing.

This raid… no, ‘invasion’ was a more apt word, was certainly going to make a lot of gryphons rich if everything went to plan, which was why over a hundred of the gryphon hunters employed by the Society were in a line doing wing ups alongside Anya. Many were annoyed and disgruntled that they had to wake up early each day, earlier than it was for them to do the more typical work in the Society, to do what would amount to a full day of training, but determination was what drove them to keep going forward, with only a few dropping out due to the difficulty of the training.

On what was the last day of physical preparations, Anya might have quit too, if not for her own goals driving her forward. Being no spring gryphon, her wings burned each time she had to lift her body using them alone, the sensation having set in halfway through her set of one hundred. It was just as bad when this all started, when they only had to do twenty-five, and it would start hurting after ten, but now the suffering lasted much longer.

“Come on you weak collection of house cats!” yelled Rubric’s right hand man, Bacchus, who was looking over each gryphon’s efforts, preventing any from attempting to skip a rep or two, “A calf could do twice push ups, and with half the grumbling!”

“Easy for you to say…” Anya said under her breath, arms placed behind her back, struggling to reach wing up ninety, “You block headed bulls could bench press a building if you wanted…”

As much as Anya complained, she was far too familiar with this drill instructor act to actually be upset with him. The comparison between their two species was just a motivating factor, mostly to get the gryphons to push through their pain through sheer spite. There was no delusion that any amount of training would get them to match up to the bovines, but Bacchus was planting a seed of hatred toward him to get those he was instructing to become as good as they could be in their own talents.

Getting another push up in, Anya eased herself back down till her chest touched the ground. She was tired, sweat covered her body from the strenuous exercise of her wings alone, and part of her really wanted to stop, but she knew it was important for her to be as ready for what was to come as she could be. Pressing the tips of her wings into the ground, she felt her body slowly rise, lamenting that the initial lift was always the hardest part. She pressed on, though, intent on doing those last nine wing ups.

Suddenly though, she felt the weight of a hoof touch the back of her head, and push down. “Having trouble, swallow?”

Anya couldn’t turn her head to confirm, but the voice she heard matched that of Bacchus, the minotaur coming back down the line to torment her in particular.

“I could hear your griping from halfway down the line,” said the minotaur, keeping Anya from lifting herself up any higher, “As if any of you lesser creatures had any right to object to anything I say to you.”

Anya’s eye shifted to either side of her, and none of the other gryphons were reacting to the bull’s words. Not a single slight glance of anger was given to the bovine, which actually gave her a feeling of relief. If this were a collection of hardened military officers, then she might have believed they could continue training unfazed by the degrading words of their instructor, but these were gryphons.

There was no way that any of her kind would outright ignore the declarations Bacchus was uttering out his mouth, without so much as a huff or an eye roll. It just wasn’t in their nature, so if they were outright ignoring being talked down about, then it was a clear sign that this wasn’t happening. It was yet another one of Anya’s hallucinations of being dominated by the bulls.

They had occurred off and on all throughout her training, since the act of exercise got her blood flowing and her body heat rising, not helped by the fact that there was always a minotaur around to act as an authoritarian figure during the sessions. One moment she’d be running laps, and part way through she’d envision herself naked, ankles shackled together, with the bovine on duty cracking a whip onto the space between her wings as she hopped along as fast as her bound legs would take her. When she did squats, the common event was that she was lowering herself down upon a dildo that penetrated her pussy, unless the fantasy decided it was her ass that needed to be filled.

Luckily, her body outside of her perverted and shameful fantasy would continue on task, some part of her taking over to prevent an embarrassing event from happening. However, for the duration of the mental illusion she was at the mercy of a domineering version of her instructor, who would stop at nothing to humiliate Anya regardless of the fact it was all in her head.

Of course, there was a way out of it through the use of a splash of cold water, and she had always kept some on her person to deal with the unwanted fantasies as they came, but amazingly they started to adapt. Even now, as she tried to go for the bottle she kept on her belt, Anya found herself stopped by the tension of a chain tightly wrapped around her arms.

“Ah, ah, ah.” The vision of Bacchus said, as if it knew what Anya was trying to attempt, “No cheating. Keep those arms behind your back and lift with your wings, bitch.”

Anya groaned, and complied with her temporary master’s demand, lifting with all her might with her wings. It was much harder with the hoof on her head, but the minotaur illusion only applied enough force to make things harder, not impossible. She managed a full lift, back straight, legs together, wings extended out as far as they would go. In this position, Anya took note that she was once again rendered nude, her clothes vanishing as she played along with the scenario. If there was any remaining doubt that this was not real, then this clarified those up immediately.

“There we go,” Bacchus mocked, “Now let’s see eight more.”

Anya felt a strong application of pressure pressing down on her skull, as the false minotaur put his weight back down upon her till she reached the floor. The gryphoness gave no resistance, since doing that would only prolong how long she had to deal with the fake bull. As she went down though, she felt something press up against the tip of her beak. Anya didn’t need to look to figure out what had happened, but her eyes instinctively directed themselves towards the obstruction, identifying a red rubber phallus that had appeared from nowhere, pointing straight up from the ground.

“Oh come o-guuh!” Anya managed to get out, before her mouth was pushed down around the object.

The rather large dildo stuffed her beak, and pushed down her throat as she was lowered further downwards. It was amazing how realistic the imaginary toy felt, the rubbery texture sliding across her tongue, cramming her neck full.

“I’ll go a little easier on you,” Bacchus said, “You only have to lift yourself up high enough to get the cock head out of your throat. Do that eight times, and you can quit for the day, my little bitch bird.”

Anya, accepting that this was the only way out, gave a light nod while the toy was still deep in her esophagus, and started lifting. While it looked like she was still resisting this delusion, the truth was that she was falling deeply into the role of the submissive. She was giving in, ever so slightly, to this building desire to obey and allow another to control her. The gryphoness could still object, denying all her feelings, while not in her own little world, but here she had to admit that submission was a literal means of liberation. The only way she could continue being herself was to accept this role.

“One,” the image of Bacchus said, his leg lifting as Anya pushed against it, and pressing down as when Anya took a few breaths, “Two”, he said again, repeating the process, Anya swallowing the sex toy down her throat, and then removing it by picking herself up off it. “Three,” The bull commanded, continuing his count as another brief impalement of Anya’s throat took place, “Four.” It was a good thing that the object seemed cemented to the floor, else the size of it would have gotten it lodged in the tight space of the gryphon’s orifice.

The motions of Anya’s wing ups had become steady as she worked under the minotaur’s direct governance, despite this only being her mental depiction of the bull. He was applying more pressure on her, but it felt as if it was easier, because she was enjoying it. Her body, filled with sensations of pleasure, told her to embrace this dynamic between the two, and the only thing keeping her from slipping completely into the submissive underling of Bacchus, Rubric, or any other minotaur was her predetermined notion that she had a dominant will.

“Five… Six… Seven…” The next three wing ups went along smoothly, with Anya having no trouble downing the fake dick, nor heeding each demand for her to proceed. She only found her pace slowed down when he applied a bit more pressure, to time the gryphon’s completion of the exercise with him saying, “Annnnnddddd… Eight.”

The second Anya slipped the rubber cock out of her throat for the last time, she found her arms released, her clothing returned, and both the bull and his sex toy gone. Immediately, she collapsed to her side, the ache of her wings returning now that she wasn’t distracted by the perverse thoughts in her head. Every other gryphon in the line paid little notice to this, believing it to just be Anya’s wings giving out after exerting them for so long. They were all suffering from sore wing muscles, so it didn’t cross anyone’s mind that there might be something more to Anya’s actions. Nor did they question when she took out her bottle of cold water and doused herself with its contents, though they were aware that this was a typical thing for her to do during training. If anything, all they were worried about with her is that she easily got dehydrated.

The one eyed gryphon, now released from her mental prison, gave a weak smile to herself, her senses coming back now that she was back in reality. Anya was so happy that this was the last day of practice, and thus one of the last times she would have to worry about this problem. Once this was all over, she swore to herself that seeing a shrink was the second thing on her list of things to do after rescuing her friends from slavery, the third thing being never to be in the same room as a minotaur ever again.

Rolling herself back to her front, Anya gave herself one last push up, this time using her arms. This alone was not without some pain, as the ache of her wings traveled down into nearby muscles. With a little effort, though, she managed to get herself back up into a sitting position, finally able to relax along with the others who had already finished. Rubbing her wings, her body wet from water, sweat, and a substance that formed between her legs during her daydream, Anya could see that only a few remained who were struggling to do the last few reps. Scanning both ways down the line, she had to stifle a small chuckle as she discovered that one of the other hens had Bacchus standing over her, spouting off some insulting dialog as she stared back at him angrily, the ironic humor of that something only she could understand.

From here, she just had to wait for everyone else to wrap things up, massaging her sore wings the best she could with the time given. It was a soreness Anya could appreciate, though. The number of wing ups she could do now showed the progress she had made, and given a day of rest, she and everyone else doing this intense training would easily be within the top ten percent of fliers among gryphons employed by the Society, and perhaps would outmatch all other gryphons in Griffinstone on top of that. Not getting ahead of herself, Anya recognized that she would still be at the bottom end of this group, and that this placed her nowhere close to ‘Wonderbolt Level’ when it came to flying, but such improvements could not be ignored.

They were also absolutely necessary, as what they were up against would be impossible for even a well trained gryphon to take on hand to hand. That job, if it were needed, would be up to the minotaur themselves, while the gryphons would be doing their best to keep distance with aerial tactics, and diamonds dogs would be doing their thing under the protection of the ground. In a sense, the non-minotaur members of this small army were to stay as far away from the targets as possible, and only provide support in the event that an actual fight broke out. That was if a battle ended up being inevitable, as Rubric was planning for another approach that he hoped would remove conflict all together.

It didn’t take much longer for the final stragglers to finish up their last wing ups, and after that the group was given an extra fifteen minutes to recover, with this of course meaning those who got done first were granted the most break time in between this in the final activity before their training was complete. When time was up, Bacchus made his way to the center of the line, but he did not end up there alone. Rubric, who had been watching the exercise routine with immense scrutiny, had entered the training room, joining up with his second in command so he may resume control of those who would be vital to his operation’s success.

“I see you all have been working up a good sweat,” Rubric said, addressing the group, getting a good deal of groans in return, “Yes, yes, I know that all of this has been tiring work, but I assure you it will all be worth it in the end. So long as everyone does their job, and the raid is a success, everyone in this room will receive their weight in gold.”

It was an exaggeration, but a motivating one, as it set the gryphons minds back to what this was all for, the chance to strike it rich on a single difficult job.

“Now I’m not gonna make some big speech on how I feel the lot of you have improved yourselves, and met the standards I was expecting from each of you.” Rubric said as he continued to address all those under him, “At this point, the only thing you’ve proven is that you're willing to stick to the program, and if I didn’t have some faith in each of you, you wouldn’t be here. However, while I have few doubts that our upcoming operation will be a success, persistence isn’t what is going to make that happen. It’s going to be talent and teamwork, and only when the raid starts will we know if each of you can display that or not.”

Anya didn’t know if the minotaur was talking to anyone in particular or not, but he was right to assume that skills exhibited during the many training drills they did might not be the deciding factor if the mission would succeed or not. Any one of the participants of the raid, be they gryphon, diamond dog, or minotaur, could screw up at a dire moment, and complicate an already sensitive operation. Anya kept thinking about what they were actually up against, and how a single mistake could make an already risky attempt of subduing an entire population into a situation where failure was certain.

“As you are all aware, we are gonna be dividing our forces up into teams, starting with an infiltration unit to open the front gates for us minotaur. At the same time, several groups of gryphon lead diamond dogs will be making their way through the city, subduing and suppressing targets to keep any potential chaos in the streets to a minimum.”

“Potential chaos? Are you expecting someone to raise the alarm?” one of the male gryphon’s, interrupting Rubric’s explanation of the mission.

“It would be nice if everything went smoothly, and the suppression teams could take care of the entire mission on their own, but we expect resistance at some point. This is not a common enemy, and that’s why some of you will be on standby. Those selected for this will be providing air support in the likely event that a battle takes place. This means that you will be fighting alongside us minotaur, along with a contingency of hounds, to force any combatants into submission. While this means you will be engaging in combat, I think that it should be understood by now that none of you are capable of direct conflict with our targets. Even a civilian among them could cause severe injury if you are foolish enough to get close, so you will be provided with devices to allow you to assist us from a distance.”

As Rubric said this, Bacchus walked over to where a few Antlerteans had been standing by in case any of the gryphons needed medical attention from the exercise. Ever since the start of today’s training, they had been hovering around a large crate that had never been present at any other point of the training, and most of the gryphons already assumed it contained something important.

Brushing the deer aside, Bacchus pried open the nailed down lid with his bare hands, tossing it aside and reaching in to pull out a strange object that looked like a miniature cannon, one glowing with magic imbued markings. It was no doubt a device created by the deer themselves, as those cervid creatures dabbled in magical contraptions, usually some sexually based piece of magitek commissioned by the minotaur. The only odd thing about seeing this was that no one expected the minotaur to have them to craft weapons as well. Walking back to the gryphons, he tossed it to Gilda, who had been at the far end of the line.

“Grip it by the handle, point, and then squeeze the triggering part near your fingers.” Bacchus said, instructing Gilda, very poorly, how to use this object.

Gilda fiddled with the thing for a moment, trying to understand how it worked. At the start she had it sideways, but once she positioned it correctly, she faced it away from anything in particular, and found the trigger. Next thing everyone knew, a large net erupted out the barrel of this weapon. The net fired at a high velocity in the open air, making it tens of feet away before its momentum died, and the capture device arched to the ground.

“These nets might not be sturdy enough to contain the warriors with just one, but they should be enough for any stray civilians, and will help us if you focus on a single target with several.” Bacchus said, explaining the limitations of the fiber webs the gryphons would be using. “Just don’t do something stupid like aim it at one another.”

With that thought implanted in her mind, Gilda gave a female gryphon sitting next to her an evil look, and pointed her new weapon, the hen ducking the moment she saw Gilda motion the weapon her way.

Rubric shook his head, having to accept Gilda’s antagonistic antics, as she had his respect as one of his best hunters. However, the gryphoness didn’t get away completely un-scolded, as he said, “I hope each of you display more seriousness than the support team captain when using these weapons, as the ammo is not cheap, and misuse of them will come out of your end pay.”

Gilda went through a series of emotions as she went from enjoying her new toy, to showing annoyance that her behavior was being called out, to being her eyes going wide as it dawned on her that Rubric just announced she would be in charge of the gryphon division of the support team. Of course, when she became aware that her shock was showing, she played it off by returning her expression to a casual smile.

“So I’m gonna be the one running the show when it comes to the skies, huh? That sounds about right.” she said, acting as it had been a foregone conclusion.

The other gryphons were not as happy as Gilda about this decision, as while she was a good hunter, it was pretty well known she didn’t work well with others. Still, if it was what the boss wanted, they had to abide by it. They made no objections, though a lot of them hoped that they would be assigned to one of the other teams.

“As for the rest of you,” Rubric continued, “We’ve made out a paper for each of you that will be passed out now telling you what role you’ll be, and who will be in your group.”

At the mention of the papers, an Antlertean doe stepped forward, carrying the documents. She went down the line of gryphons, handing one to each avian present. As Anya got hers, she saw that the page was personalized with her image, listing that she would be in command of one of the suppression squads, consisting of two other gryphons and Rubric’s personal diamond dog trio, Mattie, Claire, and the great pyrenees that Anya had yet to learn the name of. The dogs were to be expected, as she had spent a lot of her training time with them, getting them used to the idea of being led by her. Mattie didn’t mind giving up her command so much, since her pack’s inevitable gem payment was all she cared about.

“The operation starts sixteen hours from now,” Rubric added, “We will be meeting up six hours before that in the Waystone room. We have already set up a stone far on the outskirts of the target’s territory, so we will have means to get close to their borders without being detected. Any who back out now will be in breach of contract. So show up, or you know what happens.”

The gryphons all nodded, not needing the threat to motivate them at this point. They had their eye on the prize, and tomorrow would be the day that would see them get rich, or die trying.

“Ok, you’re all dismissed. Take the time to meet up with your squad mates and prepare for tomorrow. If you have diamond dogs in your group, I suggest you speak with them as well so they know you will be in charge of them. Aside from that, rest well, eat well, and don’t fail me.”

Rubric and Bacchus walked away, having nothing more to say. The gryphons got up from their sitting positions, and started looking for those they were assigned with. Since Anya hardly associated with the other gryphons, she was instead waiting for those she was paired with to come to her, but when no one came to her, the gryphoness went around to any of the others who looked like they were still seeking out their partners. Unfortunately, no matter how many she asked, she couldn’t find either of the ones named on the list. Not only that, but those she talked to were having trouble finding a partner or two as well.

It was all so confusing, until Rubric addressed the group once more. “Right, I forgot to mention. This is going to be a joint effort between two of the slaver groups that work for the Society, namely me and Titanius.”

Anya knew that name, as he was the minotaur Gallus worked for. Made sense that he would be involved, since he often loaned out his workers to Rubric for the purposes of preparing for this.

“If you see a name in red, that’s our group, so I’m sure none of you had trouble finding them. Names in blue are his, though, so you’re wasting your time looking around for them.”

Anya looked at her paper again, and saw that the names listed were indeed blue. It was something that could have been easily mistaken, as for all she knew when first looking at the names, it was just a color used to make the names stand out more. Relieved that she didn’t have to spend any more time finding her teammates, Anya made her way to the training room exit, and headed back to her quarters. She would find the other gryphons tomorrow, and they’d have plenty of time to work any issues out while Rubric was prepping for the attack.

That was her initial thoughts on the matter, but then she got to thinking about the dogs, and figured there might be some benefit in confirming to them that they would be working together. The diamond dogs that the Society employed were given their own personal kennel area to occupy, which the gryphon heard was a lot nicer than the places they kept the enslaved ponies, those consisting of small cages that were either lined up or stacked upon one another in a fashion that would ironically make one think of a standard dog pound. These kennels were not too far from the gryphon’s quarters, so Anya saw no reason she couldn’t stop by, say hello, and get things sorted with the members of her squad she actually had frequent contact with.

So after a slightly longer walk than she first intended, Anya made her way to the diamond dog quarters, and what she found there was not quite what she expected. Where the gryphons were given a living space that could be mistaken for a military barracks, the space for the dogs almost made Anya think she had finally stumbled upon the facility’s exit. Above her was a sky blue with a bright light source shining down on her, and actual living grass touched her feet the second she stepped inside. Upon a second glance though, she could see the ceiling was just painted and it was one of the Antlertean’s crystals that was casting the light, dangling down from a chain. The grass was still real, though, which meant that this light was sufficient enough to allow it to grow.

Getting past her initial confusion, Anya found that the space was a decent simulation of an open field. There was a large fence painted on the wall, which she assumed was made that was to not confuse the dogs into thinking they could run into some visually endless horizon, and all around were dogs running about, lounging around, and generally acting like what one would expect a canine would if left alone to their own devices. They had been granted many recreational devices, as some ran around with balls or fought each other via tugging on knotted ropes, and even had a large structure set up for them to run through. Some could be seen sleeping in one of many dog houses placed around the area, too tired to join the others in their play, laying upon plush beds granted to them to ensure their comfort.

Anya had to remind herself that these were sentient beings while watching them go about, barking, burrowing, and basking in the artificial ‘sun’. When diamond dogs got like this, it was hard differentiating them from any wild dog, and it was pretty obvious that their displayed simplicity was the most enjoyed aspect of them for Schorl and the minotaur. It certainly made it easier when your underlings could be pleased like any common canine, turning them into more of pets than personnel.

Still, that easy to please attitude got them everything this room had to provide them for entertainment, when all the gryphons got was a bed and a paycheck. Anya wondered if gryphons would have gotten something similar if they played up their avian or feline natures, granting them a room of false mountain crags and perches to build nests upon, where upon mice would be released daily for them to stalk as prey. That kind of playing into those assumed traits sounded like something Schorl would encourage, as the crystal mare seemed to enjoy degrading others to stereotypes.

Anya knew no gryphon would allow her or the minotaur to belittle them like that, and rightfully so, but seeing the dogs being carefree in their own little artificial ecosystem made the gryphoness wonder if this would had been something worth taking a hit to their pride for, if only to not be stuck with a blank chamber of four concrete walls to reside in. The thought quickly passed, though, as Anya remembered why she was here to begin with, and looked about for the trio of diamond dogs she sought.

It wasn’t hard finding them in the herd of hounds, or at least not a particular one she knew would stick out from the crowd. The great pyrenees she had been paired with was far too large to be hidden among the typically smaller dogs, and Anya spotted her immediately once she started looking. The large white dog had sequestered one of the houses that fit her, and had discarded the pillow bed in lieu of a large hole she had dung for herself, with most of her body hidden underground, as her head and front paws rested outside it and the structure.

Anya took to the air, not wanting to navigate around the many dogs running about, all too wrapped up in their leisurely play to pay mind to someone walking through their territory. It took no time at all to get to the pyrenees this way, and once Anya landed in front of the house, she crouched down and gave the dog a pat on the head.

“Hey there, girl.” Anya said, addressing the large dog the only way she had come to learn how, “Have you seen your pack leader around? I wanted to talk to her.”

The pyrenees opened its eyes slowly, and acknowledged Anya’s presence by directing them in the gryphon’s direction. That and a nod was about the extent of any conversation with this dog, so it was unclear what the canine was doing when it allowed itself to slide into the slanted tunnel that she had been laying in. Anya could have taken it as ‘Leave me alone, I’m sleeping’, but she didn’t believe that was the case. Waiting patiently, she was soon met by a new head poking out of the tunnel, that being a familiar face of a german shepherd.

“So iz the traina comin’ to pay uz a visut.” Mattie said, crawling herself out of the tunnel once she saw who it was. Seemed this house had not just been claimed by the pyrenees, but was being used as a small base for the three dogs, with the largest one acting as bouncer by blocking the hole, “Whas gotchu commin’ to our ‘ittle ovel?”

“I just wanted to let you know that it is confirmed we are paired up for tomorrow’s big mission.” Anya replied, “But that was probably a given, since I don’t think you’ve been working with anyone else but me during training. What you might need to know is we’ll have two other gryphons working with us too.”

“Mor’ birds, eh,” Mattie replied, “Well izzint a matah. Theys just be a couple of tag-a-longs then.”

“I’m hoping they won’t just be standing around and profiting off our hard work.” While the only thing that mattered in the end was that the operation was a success, and the minotaur got what they wanted, it wouldn’t sit right for any gryphon if they allowed someone to get paid for their labor, “But I agree that they shouldn’t get in the way of how we do things.”

At that moment, another head popped out of the hole, as the cocker spaniel of the group decided to see what their team leader was doing. “Oh! Hey Anya!” she said, practically dashing out when she saw the gryphon. Of the three dogs, Anya had come to learn that Claire was the most enthusiastic of the bunch, her behavior at times verging on hyperactive when she got excited. The sight of her gryphon trainer had the tiny diamond dog running circles around her legs, since they usually only got together to practice routines and formations, which Claire always treated like play.

“Did the bulls forget to do some drills with us? Maybe some more fetch practice? A race us across the field?” Claire continued to run around Anya as she made her assumptions, until the gryphon finally crouched down and grabbed her by the collar.

“No, I’m just here to talk to Mattie.” Anya said to the dog, having to put a bit of her power into holding Claire in place so she would listen, “You know tomorrow’s the big day, and I wanted to make sure everyone was ready for it.”

“I sure am!” Claire replied, “Is it true we’re going to some place far away?”

“From Equestria?” Anya asked, since she was still unsure where the building they currently occupied was located. “It’s a little out of the way, but not that far. You’ll have plenty of room to run about, that’s for sure.”

“Really?!” Claire said as she jumped on spot, making the gryphon have to increase her efforts to keep her in place.

“Afta wez are dun wit the job.” Mattie stated firmly, “Rememba, dere are lotsa gems at stake.”

“Right!” Claire said, “Gems first, then play. That’s the rule.”

Having come to learn that Mattie had a good command over her subordinates, Anya let Claire go, prompting the cocker spaniel to retreat back into the burrow. When it came to their training, Mattie was the one tasked with keeping Claire focused. The pyrenees had no difficulty understanding that when Anya or Rubric was around, they were in charge, but Claire could get easily distracted when the top bitch of their group didn’t give out the orders.

Anya did her best to restrain her feelings towards Claire’s actions, as she preferred the relationship between her and any other being that were part of the Society, be they employee or slave, on a professional level. Watching the cocker spaniel’s scampering back into the hovel the trio had created for themselves forced a smile on her beak, though, one that didn’t go unnoticed.

“Eaga’ litta pup, ain’t she,” Mattie said, “Spunky and luvs to pleaz. Coudun ask for a betta mate.”

“Mate?” Anya questioned, “You mean you two are-.”

“No, ya git,” Mattie corrected, seeing where the gryphon was going, “Ah partna’, a pal, a fren.”

“Ah, right. Sorry. I’ve been around these minotaur for so long that any talk of mating just makes me think about sex at this point.” Anya replied, feeling embarrassed at her assumption.

“Suppos’ that iz their bizniz,” Mattie said, accepting the reason the gryphon made her mistake, “Boss dozen’ talk too much onnit, but plenny of thos’ unda ‘em do. So eh git it.”

“You’re right though,” Anya said, taking a few steps back in the conversation, “You and your crew are a good team. Makes me wish I had stumbled across you before the Society did. I could have used three dogs like yourselves in some of my tougher jobs.”

The gryphoness wasn’t just being polite, as she had come to enjoy the company of these three diamond dogs. Mattie was a little smarter than the average gem seeker that she had ever met, and while the other two were little more than her muscle and energetic underling, the three together were great at following and executing commands. Of course, they had shown that aspect of themselves as far back when they were first tested by Rubric, but the hands on experience Anya had with them was what it took to really see them as the assets they were.

If she could, Anya would absolutely hire the three of them for a reasonable sum of gemstones, but something told her that their contracts had them working for Rubric for a far longer time than the average gryphon working here. She wouldn’t be surprised to learn that they had been duped into signing into a literal wage slavery, as while Mattie was smart, she was not so smart to be able to understand, or even read, the pseudo legal jargon on Schorl’s documents. The shepherd probably just slapped a paw print on whatever was presented before her, so long as she was promised a pile of gems in return.

“So tell me, bird,” Mattie said calmly, for the first time speaking in a manner where her accent didn’t overpower her words,” Are ya ‘ere cause ya nervous ‘bout tomorrow?”

“No, I was being honest about just wanting to let you know we would be working together, for what will be the last time for me,” Anya answered, “Though I won’t lie and say I’m not worried what could happen. I know you’ve been briefed, so you got to understand that this thing they keep calling a ‘raid’ is gonna be more like a war.”

“From wat ey heard, sound ‘ bout route” Mattie replied, “The boss ain’t goin’ afta sum town outtin’ the mittle ove noware. Iz ah whole bleedin’ kingdom.”

“All behind a single wall,” Anya said, as this nation, like so many of the ones neighboring Equestria, was composed of only a single capital city, “But a kingdom nonetheless. He’s basically asking us to enslave an entire species.”

“Ye, ittle be a foight fer sure iffin some un messes up,” Mattie stated, realizing the risks.

Of course, the diamond dog was ignoring the moral issues of this, which fit seeing that the dogs were not opposed to slavery themselves. Anya, on the other hand, could not be so oblivious to what they were about to do. She had resolved to do it, if it was the only means to get those close to her back, but just like back in hunter exam, she could at least respect the fact that she was trading the freedoms of others to get what she wanted.

“Things ‘ill go fine,” Mattie said, spotting the subtle worry reflecting in Anya’s eye, but not getting that it was about more than just her safety, “Most fights in these lands dun last but a day’er two anyways. So lon as ya watch our back, we ‘ill watch yours.”

“Thanks, Mattie…” Anya replied, deciding it was time to go and prepare for the day to come, “I appreciate that you’ll be keeping an eye out for me.”

The gryphon made her way back to the exit, not looking back once as she left. At this point, the only thing she could do was keep looking forward.

As the following day came, all involved with the raid met up in the Waystone chamber, awaiting deployment. To Anya’s knowledge, the room had never been so full, with the congregation seeping out into the halls. It was bound to happen, with the number of bodies that would be participating in this mission, and this being the only exit from the facility, but it made Anya regret a little about having come early, just to get stuff in like a canned sardine. It would have been much worse if the minotaur participating had been there too, but Anya caught them going through the portal already, in order to prep the area for the arrival of the rest.

As with when she went to take her hunter exam, Anya was wearing the warmest clothing the Society had to offer, and this time was bringing along a thermos full of hot coffee, taking inspiration from the examiner from said exam. Everyone else there was similarly dressed, with gryphons and diamond dogs alike being bundled up in jackals, wool hats, earmuffs, and the like. The location they were heading to was in the Far North, a place just above Equestria’s borders, covered in snow.

It was a pony speculation that these were the fabled lands the Wendigo destroyed before Equestria’s founding, never having recovered from that time. If so, then that territory was eventually reclaimed by a few species since that time, including reindeer, elk, and yaks. Of these three species, one of them were the ones Rubric wanted to turn into a nation of slaves, and it was neither of the cervid races. This small army was heading to Yakyakistan, in an attempt to bring the bovine residents to their knees.

This was the reason Anya worked so hard to be as fit as possible, because just like the minotaur, yaks were natural born powerhouses that could physically overpower most other non-bovine species. In a one on one fight between representatives of the two groups, a minotaur would probably be a bit stronger, maybe a little more maneuverable, but generally they were on even terms.

What tipped the scale greatly in favor of the yaks was the one thing they had that the minotaur could not replicate, the single thing that might have prevented an invasion of the nation up until now, and for as silly as it sounded, that one thing was their hair. Their wool covered bodies acted as a form of natural armor. They grew them out of necessity, since the winter lands they resided in were too cold without them, but a byproduct of them was that they acted as another layer one would have to get through in order to touch flesh, stopping blades, resisting elemental attacks, and absorbing blows to make them into walking tanks. If not for that, the minotaur wouldn’t need a small arm of other creatures to take on the yaks, but in what was surely a battle of attrition, the side that could take a beating longer were the ones who won out.

“This is so nerve wracking,” said a gryphon right next to Anya, one of two gryphons from her team, his voice just barely elevating over the sea of mumbles they were drowning in, “It really feels like we’re about to go to war.”

Anya had to agree. While she couldn’t compare this to how normal hunting contracts were performed, this gathering had a tension to it like no other. She couldn’t count every single creature in the group, but her guesstimate was that there were two-hundred minotaur, consisting of a hundred from both participating factions of this joint effort between two slaver lords, an equal amount of gryphons, and the hundred diamond dogs to act as specialized support. While there could have been more of the canines, as the Society had so many of the misshapen mutts on hand that they could be considered expendable, Rubric was stern on only including the best of the best. Not a single creature among this coalition that could bring this operation down through their individual incompetence.

The other gryphon of her group was there too, as were Mattie, Claire, and the pyrenees. The whole group had arrived fairly early, and at that point those in charge were doing their best to organize by groups. Anya had to assume that plan fell apart once the room got full, but as far as she could see, most were in their respective groups, visible by armbands that were handed out when someone checked in.

“So did you manage to see them take those large crates through the Waystone?” the other gryphon of her squad asked, “I swear I hauled around some of those things months ago.”

“You get a peek inside then?” the first question.

“Yeah, but it was more of that deer tech shit,” the second replied, “Couldn’t even try to fiddle with it, cause it all works off those crystals they charge.”

“I’m sure we’ll figure out what it is once we get there,” Anya said, having to raise her voice to be heard by the two. “It’s probably gear we’ll be using anyways.”

If the net ejecting device given to Gilda was any indication, Rubric and his partner splurged on this event to ensure that it would end up successful. With the amount of hours and money they presumably put into this, they would need to get a return on their investment. Remembering how Rubric bought up a bunch of Abyssians on the premise that their value was based purely on their exclusivity, the gryphoness assumed that was what was going on here. There had been no evidence or talk of any yak slaves going through the Society’s system, and rumors of new species would often reach Anya’s ears from those who worked in that department. If that were the case, and two minotaur slavers gain a stranglehold on the only source of bovine sex slaves, then certainly they would fetch a fortune per head back in the bull’s homelands.

As Anya dwelled on that, the scheduled time for participants to arrive passed by an hour. It was far too long to be fashionably late, and so without any further delay, Rubric and his minotaur associate, Titanius, pushed through the crowd to where the Waystone was stationed, the esteemed leader of the Society following right behind them.

The two bulls and the crystal unicorn took a space right in front of the inactive portal, and faced the crowd, ready to get things started. “Attention everyone!” Rubric yelled, his voice bellowing over everyone else’s, “We are about to depart. End whatever conversations you and your peers are having, and listen up!”

The room became deathly silent, with all eyes locked onto the raid leaders. Everyone knew this was it, and once the portal was opened, they would need to get serious for the sake of both their fortune and health. This might have been the most important thing everyone present ever did, an act that would change history as they knew it, at least as far as the yaks are concerned. They were toppling a small, isolated nation they had never seen prior, all for the sake of another nation that most of them would never visit. Anya wondered if those present even considered that, or if greed blinded them to the momentous scope of this undertaking.

“The other side of this portal has been placed well within the borders of Yakyakistan’s territory, its location hidden among the mountain peaks surrounding their city. Once we arrive there, everyone is to stay within the area and set up camp as me and Titanius plot out how exactly we will engage. We’ve been planning this for some time, so it should not take too long to get things started, maybe by the end of the day, so they have no ability to discover us before we strike.”

“Once the operation begins,” Titanius said, taking over for a moment, “All of you will be expected to perform your roles perfectly, or the closest you can get to that. No slacking off, no mistakes, and any deserters will be hunted down and dealt with, if not by me and my associate, then by the Society itself. You are all far past the point of no return. Don’t let a moment of hesitation stay your hand or change your mind. You owe these people nothing, and have everything to gain from their domination.”

It appeared that the raid leaders at least understood the severity of this attack, and were tempering the wills of those who would be acting as soldiers in this invasion against those they hoped to defeat, imprison, and breed. It still felt to Anya that it was a comment directed solely to her, seeing the overall lack of care her species had for others, but there were probably a few others who needed this reminder that this was their only shot for the kind of riches being offered by these minotaur.

“The crystal mare will now be opening the Waystone,” Rubric stated, taking over again, “All of you should be used to how travel using it works, so I won’t explain it. Just walk on through at a steady pace, and don’t shove to get through to get in before anyone. Everyone will be getting to the same place at the same time.”

As Rubric finished, he looked to Schorl and gave a nod, to which she responded by turning to the Waystone and activating it with her magic. With a wave of his hand to follow, the minotaur entered through the slab of dark crystal, followed by Titanius, before everyone else marched into the portal as well. One by one, gryphons and Diamond dogs vanished into the stone, and as the crowd shrank in size, Anya and her party of six got closer.

Eventually it became their turn, and Anya stepped through the portal with no delay. One second she was in the Waystone room, the next she was outside in the snow, walking through a not yet completely built encampment. Minotaur were still setting up temporary tents, unloading supplies and tools, and creating a perimeter to keep local wildlife away. Some of the earliest arrivals among the gryphons and diamond dogs were being put to work as well, as later ones were standing at the front of the hoard to receive duties.

Anya, expecting to be given a shovel and told to dig ditches, waited in line for her turn, until she was suddenly surprised by Gilda coming up to her from the side. “Hey, you. The boss wanted me to find you and Muttie here as soon as you got through.”

“It’s Mattie,” Anya corrected, unsure if Gilda was trying to mock the canine, or if she honestly didn’t know her name.

“Whatever,” Gilda replied, being as standoffish as always, “Just come on. The boss thinks you two are important enough to get your orders directly from him.”

Anya looked to Mattie, who then looked to the other two dogs of her pack, “Wait ‘ere. Wez won’t be gone lon’.”

Claire and the pyrenees gave nods in return, with the larger of the two dogs picking the cocker spaniel up off her feet right after, walking over to a large tree, and sat down at its roots before placing her smaller associate right into her lap.

“Cute,” Gilda said begrudgingly, walking off without another word.

Anya and Mattie gave a shared smirk to one another behind the gryphoness’ back, both pleased to see Gilda slightly annoyed by the antics of the other two of their group. “Hey, you two,” Anya said to the gryphons of the group, “You might as well go take a seat with the dogs, but if the minotaur ask you to help with setting things up, you might want to do what they say.”

The two gryphons made their way over to the tree Claire and the Pyrenees were at, following Anya’s instructions, if only because they included ‘take a break’ as part of it. They didn’t really respect her authority as group leader, and Anya was aware of that. It didn’t bother her, they were only assigned to her for this mission anyways, so whatever got them to listen was fine.

With their crew taken care of for the time being, Anya and Mattie went after Gilda, who was making their way away from the main camp. “We have to go by foot.” said Gilda, more to complain than to inform, “They don’t want to risk the yaks seeing one of us flying about and getting curious.”

Gilda led the way up a portion of the mountain the base was at the foot of, making the three of them have to climb at some parts, which was likely why Gilda was being grumpy about not being able to use her wings. It wasn’t that long a trek, and before long they found themselves stepping out onto a craggy ledge, with Rubric already seated there in wait.

“Ah, there you girls are,” he said, his head turning towards them momentarily to acknowledge their arrival, before facing forward once more, “I wanted you three to get a look at this.”

Facing the same direction as their boss, Anya, Mattie, and Gilda had no trouble spotting what the minotaur wanted them to see. Down below them, not too far from where they were, was Yakyakistan. The city was huge, roughly matching size with the Crystal Empire, made up of wooden buildings that would be considered primitive to most other species, while making your average gryphon jealous. All of this was surrounded by a massive defensive wall that looked as if it could withstand any blow. It was unlikely that even the minotaur could breach such a thing, at least not before being stopped by the yaks, which was why they needed someone to get from either above or below, and open the door for them.

“Girls, this raid is going to change the lives of everyone involved, minotaur, diamond dog, and gryphon alike,” Rubric said with a stoic confidence, “Tomorrow we will meet face to face with destiny.”