//------------------------------// // 10 - Sunset - Yak-uza! // Story: Tales of an Equestrian Battle Mage // by Babroniedad //------------------------------// Sunset felt the lorry stop. She heard voices approaching her crate, then was shaken around in her container as it was roughly dragged from the lorry and dropped to the ground. She heard the lorry move off, then with further conversation, she was abruptly lifted and jostled as she was carried. She heard a door close somewhere behind her, then was dropped again to the floor. She heard and felt a slam against the top of her crate, then a squeal as the top was leveraged off, nails and all. A cloven hoof reached into the opening, ripping the top of the crate away. Sunset looked up into the blinding light, blinking her watering eyes trying to make out who was there. She saw a large yak, covered in tattoos, his hoof pulled back. He said something angrily incomprehensible to her and slammed his hoof into her muzzle. A wave of pain shot through her as she blacked out. She came too, looking around. It was dark, but there was enough light that she could see the outline of the room she was in. She tried to move, then realized she was tied down. Her original bindings had been removed. She was now tied down on some sort of bed. Looking around, she saw in the dim light that the bed and a chair nearby were the only furnishings in the room. A door in the wall behind her opened, flooding the room with light and temporarily blinding her. Looking over her shoulder as best she could with the bindings, she saw a silhouette of a yak standing outlined in the door, speaking to her in an incomprehensible tongue. The yak moved to the side of the bed and hooved her hard in the side of her head while yelling angrily at her, dazing her and blurring her vision. He moved behind her. She was grabbed by her flanks and felt something pressed roughly up against her dock. ‘Oh sweet tartarus no!’ she thought. The yak moved off, still talking in his incomprehensible tongue and sounding quite pleased with himself. Sunset tried to process what had just happened. The yak left, slamming the door shut behind him, returning Sunset to the darkness she first woke to. Her mind raced, scrambling to process what she had just learned and experienced. The yak had come in to rape her. This was part of their indoctrination of the mares they purchased for their brothels, she realized. She was in a processing location, where mares were trained in how to behave and satisfy their clients. She had been purchased by a clan that called themselves the Yak-uza. They were criminals, but respected in a way that allowed them to function with impunity in their community. She had used forbidden mind magic, learned without permission while studying some of the tomes in the forbidden section of the library. In the yaks mind, she placed the memory of being brutally used by him from the fantasies and memories she had gleaned, then ransacked his memories and thoughts for information about who they were, where she was, what she was to them, as well as any possible sign of the kitsune she was seeking. She also took several memories she thought may be useful to her in understanding the tongue they spoke, as she was clearly at a disadvantage not being able to understand them. She laid there, processing what she had gathered and learned, categorizing the facts and processing the language. So this yak had no recollection of her target. He was part of the clan Yak-uza, and this was where they conditioned their new acquisitions to accept the life the clan purchased them for. Apparently she had this to look forward to for the next week or so until she was deemed sufficiently docile. More concerning was learning they used drugs to keep their mares compliant. She would need to be especially careful with the food and drink they provided, scanning everything. She could not afford to be caught by that and chewed into their system or she would have no chance of completing her assignment. Apparently the clan ran several brothels in this city and the surrounding countryside, ranging from dirty sex sweatshops at the lower end for the entertainment of the locals all the way though higher end establishments catering to the more specific tastes of local aristocracy. As a pony, she was considered an exotic, and was destined for the higher scaled establishments. She gleaned through the other memories she had stolen, comparing the speech in them with the circumstances portrayed. She slowly pieced together the language of the Yak-uza as she worked through the stolen memories. Several days later, she was still tied to the bed, messy, bloody, and exhausted. She had learned a great deal in the meantime. She now had a working knowledge of the Nipponies language, and was able to understand most of the speech of the yaks. What they were yelling at her she realized she could ignore. It was derogatory insults meant to frighten her and break her will, all part of the training she was being subjected to, designed to make her a willing sex slave for thier brothels. Now when they spoke she now just acted as if she were in abject terror long enough to lock onto their mind with her spell, at which point the yak slumped to the floor, continuing on with the experience she provided internally while she made herself as comfortable as possible on the bed, riffling through their mind. She placed compulsions on all of them, a desire to bring food and drink with them to eat and drink in front of her after they had committed whatever acts upon her. She then provided them with the memory of having taunted her by eating and drinking it themselves, while in fact she ate and drank what they had brought. She also placed on them a compulsion to feel marked indifference when she did not eat or drink the food she was provided, all of which she found drenched in mind altering substances when she scanned it. So strong was the compulsion they did not even feel the need to report her lack of eating or drinking, just disposing of the food and drink as they left without a thought. She acted the part of a mind dazed mare, drooling and acting insensate when any were in the room. She had managed to convince them that she was completely docile, so they thought she was far enough along to graduate from her training, though were keeping her for the three additional days allowed to enjoy the fun they were having as long as they could get away with. Her hardest challenge to date had been when five of them had come in to enjoy some shared recreation. Hijacking a single mind was simple enough, but she found managing five of them at once a taxing challenge. She managed to cobble together a shared hallucination that she then led them through where they fulfilled their dreams and desires on her. She was glad for the mental training that allowed her to hide her revulsion at their virtual acts upon her. Unfortunately keeping all five insensate and fully invested in the hallucination left her with no mental resources to get anything from them during that episode. By the time the five left satisfied with the work they had accomplished, she was drained mentally, emotionally, and physically. Say what you will, but it was crushingly exhausting dealing with the sheer weight of working inside another's mind when they had a deep hatred of you and willfully wished your excruciatingly violent death, only held in check by command from one stronger than them. Killing intent was a thing. Dealing with it definitely had a psychic cost. Categorizing the thoughts she had gleaned, she had what she hoped was a decent working knowledge of the brothels and their operation, which she hoped to leverage to survive in them long enough to find her missing kitsune and escape. For now, she thought and planned, all while playing the part of the broken insensate mare, eyes lidded with a blank unfocused stare, laying still upon the bed, drooling on the sheets. Her training completed and the time passed allotted for it, she was unbound and packed roughly into a box. The lid was secured, then she was jostled and shaken as she was roughly carried outside and deposited on a waiting lorry. A short journey later, she was again roughly shaken about as her crate was unloaded, taken into someplace with a door that shut heavily, then after a short but bruising few moments dropped roughly onto the floor. A semi-metallic shriek of nails in wood later, the lid of her crate was tossed aside and she was roughly lifted and thrown onto a bed in the corner of the room, still bound and gagged from her journey. She watched vacantly as the yak who’d brought her in threw the lid back on the box then carried it from the room, slamming and barring her door as he exited. She heard his lumbering steps as he moved off, then looked around the room she was in. It was a small but functional bedroom. A table with a few drawers beneath it was against the far wall. A cracked but functional mirror sat on it with a small lamp, currently lit, providing barely enough illumination to see the room clearly. A pitcher of water sat beside it, with a basin in front of the pitcher. A small slit of a window rode high on the wall opposite the door, light dimly leaking through it from outside. The only other furnishing in the room was the bed itself, covered with rough sheets and her, laying where she had been thrown. Biting down hard, she bit through the rag gagging her muzzle then spat the rag out of her mouth, swallowing and taking a deep grateful breath. Her nasal passages were difficult to breathe through due to the clubbings she endured during her training. It would heal, but the swelling was still present, making breathing while gagged a matter of effort and patience. She imagined they were used to losing a few mares to inadvertent suffocation due to the methods they were using. A while later, two kitsune entered her room, rags draped over them. Shutting the door, one went to the table. Pouring water from the pitcher into the basin, she then poured powder from a pouch around her neck into the water and placed one of the rags into it, moving it around with her paw. An antiseptic smell filled the room, strong enough for even Sunset to smell with her inflamed muzzle. The vixens then removed her remaining bindings, save only the inhibitor ring on her horn, and setting the basin on the bed, proceeded to use the rags to wash the filth and stains from her she had accumulated during her stay in training. Several basins of water later, she was once again looking like the mare she used to be, though a bit gaunt from a lack of proper nutrition. Clean, the vixens used combs and brushes they had brought, working out the knots and snarls in her mane and coat. The second vixen removed a flask of scented oils from the pouch she wore, working the oils into Sunset’s coat and mane, restoring some of the sheen her coat used to possess and providing a fragrance other than the blood, fluids, sweat and stench she had arrived covered in. Their work completed, they again emptied the basin, rinsing it clean and replenishing her water from a sink down the hall from her room. Cleaning up their brushes, rags, and flasks they exited, rebaring the door as they left. Sunset laid on the sheets, grateful for the small kindness shown. A bit later, the door again opened and a fox entered, tools and bags fastened to a belt he wore. Closing the door, he crossed the room and sat on the bed next to Sunset. Taking her head in his paws, he silently worked at the fastenings to her inhibitor, releasing the binding straps then cutting them away from the ring with a small sharp knife. Tossing the ruined straps to the foot of the bed, he proceeded to oil the ring and her horn, cleaning it gently and removing any dirt or particulates from them. ‘Crab nuggets, this can’t be good,’ thought Sunset as he worked. Sure enough, as soon as her horn and the ring were clean and dry, he proceeded to use an organic epoxy to firmly fix the ring onto her horn, cementing it into place, never to be removed and ostensibly removing her magic from her. Once the epoxy was applied, he used an accelerant to aneal and set the epoxy permanently to her horn. He then brought out a bag of small to moderately sized gems, artfully fixing them to the ring and horn above and below the ring, turning the abominable ring into an apparently artfully jeweled accessory worn on her horn, permanently in her case. Finished, he returned his tools and craft to the pouches and pockets of his belt, then carefully lifted her head, showing her the results in the mirror across from her on the desk. “What say you dear, am I not the artist?” he smiled at her reflection. “It’s beautiful,” she replied in Equish, looking in the mirror at the jewel encrusted ring. “As are you, my child,” replied the fox. Giving her a gentle hug, he departed, bolting the door again behind him. Turning back to the mirror, she looked into it and smirked. “Well, at least I clean up nice,” she grinned to herself. Getting up from the bed, she trotted over to the desk, and opened the drawers. They were currently empty. Shutting them, she sniffed the water, and setting a hoof against the pitcher scanned the water with a quick diagnostic spell. There was no trace of the substance they used to drug the mares, comforting her somewhat that she would not have to force herself to thirst to keep from falling into their trap. Using her hooves, she poured a small amount into the basin and lapped it up, letting the moisture ease the pain in her abdomen. Placing a hoof against the wall, she scried, searching for any embedded magics or spells. Finding none, she reached out, spreading her senses through the walls, getting a feel for the layout of the place she was in. Several moments later she pulled her hoof back and sat on her haunches, visualizing the mental map she had constructed of her dwelling. There was very little in the way of enchantments or spells in the workings of the building. A few basic antimagic charms were incorporated into a handful of the building’s sections, but of such a basic design and limited power they were easy to avoid and bypass. Apparently the staff of this establishment put great stock in the rings used to inhibit their permanent guests' magic, not feeling the need to supplement this with much in the way of further protection. That would work to her advantage, she noted. She was apparently in the basement of the building, her room along the back wall. The window seemed to be barely above ground level, accounting for the obscuring of any light coming through it. Her window likely looked out to a hedge or shrub, blocking her view and much of the light that may otherwise have brightened her room during the day. Around her were other rooms like her own, many of which she felt occupied by creatures. A few had enough of a magical presence to stand out to her scry, perhaps other unicorn mares or kitsune advanced enough in their development to register as sources of magical power. There was a larger room at the end of the hallway she was in, containing what seemed to be stalls and tubs. Likely it was the bathroom and toilets for the residents of this back hall. The rest of the building consisted of offices, large furnished rooms similar to hers, a common kitchen and dining hall, and storage, as well as a large and ornate hall at the front of the building that was where she and her fellow permanent guests greeted the paying visitors, she hazarded a guess. There was a second floor,extending around the perimeter of the building, surrounding what seemed to be a large central courtyard in its center. The rooms on the top floor seemed to be entirely furnished bedrooms, but with no creature currently in any of them. As Sunset pondered this, reviewing her memories of the scan and reinforcing her mental imagery of the building in her mind, her stomach rumbled. She realized she had not eaten since early the day before during her last training session with her yak captives. She had been fed again after that but had let her captors dispose of the meal as she had conditioned them to do, as it was full of the mind altering substance she had to avoid at all costs if she was to keep any hope of successfully completing her mission. A while later she heard her door being unbarred. A vixen opened the door, beckoning her to follow. “Come,” called out the vixen, moving back from the door. Sunset rose from the bed and trotted over to the vixen, exiting the door to stand behind her. The vixen shut the door then moved off down the hall, calling out over her shoulder. “Follow me.” Sunset trotted along behind her. The vixen led her up a flight of stairs to the ground floor of the building, then down a hallway to the common dining hall Sunset had sensed during her scry. Sunset observed everything as they trotted, updating and correcting the map in her mind as they traveled through the building. She was smugly satisfied that her scry had been almost entirely accurate, needing only minor corrections and additions as they worked their way through the building. In the dining hall were gathered the other creatures she had sensed during her scry. Mostly vixens, there were a scattering of ponies like herself, one also a unicorn, three pegasus and one earth pony, all mares. She noted the pegasus mares had their flight feathers artfully cut, leaving the beauty of their wings but removing the magic of their flight. The vixen who had brought her in turned to the group. “Everyone!” she called out over the scattered conversations. “Everyone! I’d like to introduce you to the latest member of our household! Madam has named her きらめく太陽 (Kirameku taiyō - Shimmering Sun). She will be entertaining with us from now on.” There was a slight applause, then everyone went back to their conversations. “Have a seat, Shimmering Sun. You’ll find we’re light on formality here. Dinner will be out shortly, then we’ll prepare for the evening’s guests. I’ll step you through it this first time, after that it will be up to you to prepare. Madam punishes those who are not ready most severely, so please don’t invite her wrath,” warned the vixen. She loped off, passing through double doors into the kitchen area behind the dining room. Sunset turned to the nearest vixen. “Who was that?” she asked. “She is the house mother to our leash,” answered the vixen. “We call her only mother. She cares for us and sees to our needs.” “Thank you,” bowed Sunset. The vixen bowed back, then returned to listening to her table mates Their house mother returned pushing a cart of food and tea which she passed out to each creature present. Seated alone at the end of the tables, she passed Sunset her soup, tea, and dinner with a smile. “Wait for me when you are done, and I will return with you.” Sunset nodded, starting on the soup. It was a seaweed soup, made with seaweed stock and bits of fish. While not her normal fare, she found it pleasant enough. The dinner consisted of rice, steamed vegetables, and steamed dumplings with some sort of spiced vegetable hash inside. None of the food or drink had any taint of drugs on them and were actually well made and enjoyable. Sunset ate, the rumblings in her stomach ceasing for a time. The tea was also quite delicious. Her meal finished, Sunset waited for the house mother to return for her. She collected the bowls, dishes, cups and utensils of the others, then returned to Sunset, taking hers as well and placing them in the kitchen. Returning, she instructed Sunset to follow her, leading her from the dining room back to her small bedroom. When she entered, she could see a cosmetics kit had been placed on her table, and a flowing orange robe had been placed over her bed. The vixen entered with her, and together they went over how to use the kit, as well as the look and mannerisms she was expected to affect while working. Once her makeup and poise were prepared and practiced to the house mother’s satisfaction, she assisted Sunset in donning the robe. It flowed over her form, gracefully fitting her shoulders, barrel, and flanks, elegantly trailing down to almost the floor at her backside. She practiced taking it off with grace and dignity, then putting it on as well. When the house mother was satisfied, she led her out and back up the stairs to one of the larger ornate bedrooms, where she was to wait, sitting respectfully on her haunches. The house mother left, leaving Sunset alone, preparing mentally for what was to follow. Sometime later, an older two tailed kitsune vixen wearing fine silk robes and jewels loped in, then settled herself comfortably upon the bed. “So, you are Shimmering Sun. You are now mine. You serve me and this house at my pleasure. Tonight I will test and instruct you on the arts of love. Failure to serve me or any of the clients I see fit to provide you to will be severely punished. Failure to provide satisfactory service to any of my clients will also be severely punished. Insolence, attitude, or resistance to any demand of my clients will be severely punished. Satisfy me, my clients, perform your service well and you will be rewarded. I look out for my own, but I destroy those who cross me. “Now, come to me, Shimmering Sun. Show me what you know of the ways of pleasure, and I will instruct you.” She patted the bed with a paw. Sunset climbed on the bed next to her and looked to her mistress expectantly. Two hours later, she was dismissed and told to return to her room. Sunset returned to her room as instructed. Removing the beautiful dress, she carefully folded it and placed it in one of the drawers, then used one of the rags and soaps left on her table to remove the cosmetics from her face, scrubbing herself clean of them. Taking the spent water in the basin and now empty water jug with her to the sink down the hall, she dumped the water down the drain, washed out the basin, then filled the jug and returned to her room placing them on the table. She trotted down to the communal bath room at the end of the hall. Finding it empty, she used one of the stalls to perform her ablutions, then sat on one of the provided stools, using a bucket of water, brush, and the provided soaps to scrub herself clean, then rinsed herself from using the provided bucket. She trotted over to the common bath, also currently empty. Lowering herself into it, she sat back and enjoyed the first bath she had been allowed in almost a week. Eyes closed, she waited. A while later, three kitsune vixens entered, chatting among themselves as they used the stalls then washed on the stools nearby. They entered to bathe with Sunset. “So, you are Shimmering Sun,” nodded one of them. “I am Radiant Semblance. These are my friends, Pleasant Countenance and Fragrant Flower. What did you think of our beloved Madam.” Sunset opened her eyes, looking at her companions. “I will be honest. She frightens me,” she admitted bluntly. This caused the three vixens to laugh. “She has that effect on everyone,” admitted Radiant. “It is right to fear her. She is wickedly clever with her punishments to those who displease her. While she cannot kill us outright, she can and has brought many to the point of wishing for death when they failed to meet her expectations.” Sunset closed her eyes. “Wonderful,” she groaned. “I’m not sure if I can do all the things she said she expects of me. Guess I’d better find a way, because I certainly don’t want to be another story told to new mares about what will happen when you cross her.” The vixens laughed again. “No, you do not,” agreed the one introduced as Pleasant. “The threat alone is usually enough to keep all in line,” agreed Fragrant. “So what is up with all the Yaks?” asked Sunset. “When I left Madam, I noticed they were all over the house. They all looked at me like I was a piece of meat. It was very unnerving.” “This is their brothel,” answered Pleasant. “The Madam and all of us are their property. And, I can personally attest they are very good at delivering a beating to anyone who challenges or disappoints them. And they are skilled in doing it in a way that does not leave obvious marks on a vixen.” “Or a mare,” nodded Fargrent. “Or anyone,” agreed Pleasant. “So how long do we serve here?” aked Sunset. “What do you mean?” asked Radiant. “I mean, do we live here and serve here for the rest of our lives? Do we get to retire at some point? Is this all there is for us from now on?” clarified Sunset. “Ah, no, there is no retirement. We’re not servants, we’re slaves, to put it simply. But if you impress the clients and the Madam, and are able to handle certain types of requests made by some of the more demanding clients, you might be moved to the exotic brothel. I’ve heard working there you are treated like royalty. But I have never actually met anyone who has been assigned there,” answered Radiant. Sunset nodded. “I see. Hey, I had a friend who worked in the brothels. She was a three tailed Kitsune vixen. I thought I might see her after my, uhm, forced recruitment. That thought kept me going through my training,” Sunset admitted. “A three tailed? Safe bet she works in the exotics brothel. That’s the brothel we were talking about,” responded Radiant. While they were talking, several other vixens and mares joined them in the bath, having finished their assignments for the evening. Making introductions, the talk quickly moved off to topics poking fun at the clients they had been assigned, laughing at their mishaps and mocking their inadequacies. Sunset just smiled, laughed and nodded, listening to her fellow slaves share tales of thier evenings. A while later, everyone excused themselves, leaving the tub and drying off. “Why are we all leaving? Is something happening?” askes Sunset. “Yes, it is nearly curfew. If we are out of our rooms without permission after curfew, we will be beaten. Better to get into our rooms before it’s too late and stay out of trouble,” informed Radiant, drying beside her. “Oh. Thanks! I didn’t know that,” replied Sunset, looking out the large window over the tub at the moon in the night sky. She noted the time, reminding herself to be mindful of it going forward. Bidding the mares and vixens goodnight, Sunset returned to her room, laying down upon her bed to rest. A short time later, a Yak opened her door and poked his head in. Seeing her laying on her bed, eyes closed, he nodded, then shut the door. She could hear the bar being dropped into place behind it. “Guess I’m in for the night,” she sighed. She thought back over the day and what she had learned. She could not snoop or sneak around the brothel with any degree of inpunity. The Yak-uza guarded and monitored their actions closely. If they complied and performed well they were given the illusion of some autonomy, allowed to move through their areas of the house with a reasonable degree of freedom. But anything outside of that was forbidden and would result in a beating. The yaks were also apparently very skilled in painful beatdowns that did not leave damaging marks on their prostitutes. Failing to please the brothels clients would bring painful punishments from the Madam. Pleasing the clients on the otherhoof could result in rewards. The Madam could not kill her outright, but was known to be wickedly accomplished at making those she punished wish for death instead. Her target had not come through this brothel. But, based on what the others told her, was likely already serving at the exotics brothel. She needed to get advanced to the exotics brothel as well for any chance to find her target and save her. And the way to do that was by exceeding the expectations of her clients, and getting a reputation for her willingness to oblige her clients exotic requests. It left a bitter taste in her muzzle thinking of the things she would have to do to be sent to the exotics brothel. But the mission required it, so she quieted her mind and steeled her nerves. There was one last annoying thing she had learned. Her Madam was largely immune to her mind magic. She had tried to skip the unpleasantness of her session with the Madam, reaching out to invade her mind as she had the others during her so called training. Only to see Madam's eyes widen in response, her gaze locking onto Sunset as she entered. She backed out quickly, leaving only the faintest of suggestions that she was just being paranoid, all the while presenting herself as subservient and listening. The Madam had given her a sharp look, pausing in her instructions, then shook her head and resumed. Sunset mentally gave a sigh of relief. All she’d been able to plant was passive thoughts, subtle suggestions loosely tied to whatever Madam was commenting on, then passively watching her thoughts, keeping her presence light and faint to avoid being sensed again. Noticing in Madam’s thoughts her intentions to watch as she practiced the arts just taught, Sunset planted the suggestion that it would waste of her precious time as her slave clearly understood her instructions. By this subterfuge she avoided many of the more egregious activities the Madam had planned. It was still an extremely unpleasant several hours. Sunset laid her head down on her bed, drifting off to sleep in preparation for her efforts starting tomorrow.