Need For Power: Escape
The late evening in the Order headquarters in Manehattan was much less festive, but equally painful. For a certain satyr, that was.
"Owwwwww," Astray's back slammed against the mattress of the bottom bunk bed belonging to Bubbles. Even in his exhausted state, he had the presence of mind not to collapse on Anvil's. He could climb up to his bunk later, for now the world was pain.
He couldn't even appreciate when Bubbles jumped onto the bed as well, balancing on the edges with her hooves and talons trying not to stand on Astray.
"Can we play?" she shoved her muzzle right to his nose, soft rusty hair tickling him. A tennis ball was presented a second after, held by a set of talons.
"Urrgh," the satyr groaned again, muscles weak as strings aching after sargeant Cross' evening weapon training. He hated how in the morning and over the day there were strategy practices and strength or endurance exercises and in the evening, when everypony was exhausted already, came combat. Cross' reason was good enough - enemies would come at you when they see you tired, but it still annoyed the worn out satyr, "Come on, Bubbles, I can barely hold it, much less throw. How come you aren't tired?"
"Cause she isn't a pussy," a smug, gruff voice announced Anvil's return from the shower, "The beastmode changeling wrecked you so hard it made me wince."
Astray learned several things over the past three days. Anvil didn't wear any clothes unless meeting with somepony official, much to his embarrasing and poorly hidden enjoyment. She also apparently hated him and wanted him gone. Deep down, he wanted himself gone as well, so they had something in common at least. The final thing - while she was ridiculously strong and decently fast, Anvil wasn't too agile or good with weapons either. She just used the biggest thing she could lay her hands on, and quickly swung it in wide arcs. How that worked, or precisely didn't work, she learned soon after Contradiction wiped the floor with her.
"Sargeant Cross did the same thing to you."
"I at least hit him once!" Anvil huffed indignantly, opening the expansive window overlooking the Order gardens slash training grounds. Astray heard whistles and a cat call from the outside. He had to admit that Anvil, her short fur still clinging all over to her massive body was a sight to behold. The minotaur growled, marched over to Bubbles, took her tennis ball, and returned to the window.
"Now which one of you little wimps was that?" she mumbled to herself and stretched, showing off her round, big breasts. Another whistle, "Of course, the two unicorns pretending to be fighting."
Lobbing the ball with the speed of a comet, she added in an evil singsong voice:
"Bubbly, fetch!"
Bubbles shot out of the window right after the projectile.
"Hey, that almost hit-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Getheroff! Getheroff!" heard Astray from outside.
"Tripping and falling on him isn't scoring a blow," Astray couldn't stop a grin at the panicked screams down in the gardens.
"Even when I don't succeed, I at least aim to cause damage to my enemy," Anvil frowned at him, "You didn't even touch him."
"Aphain?" Bubbles' muzzle gagged by the ball poked through the window from the outside as she pulled herself up into the room. Anvil looked at the steep mansion wall criss-crossed with talon marks the demon mare scored into it over past few days. Thankfully, she stopped shredding the balls after the fourth one.
"No, I must admit I need a breather as well. That changeling is a terrifying enemy. Go get a shower, little thing."
"Awwww," Bubbles spat the ball out at Astray who sat up and threw it in the air. She jumped upwards and slammed her head into the ceiling, landing slightly disoriented, but unharmed and with the tennis ball. Under Anvil's stern eye, Bubbles let the ball be and walked into the bathroom.
As Anvil lay down on her bed, she caught Astray staring again. The satyr quickly turned his head.
"You couldn't even touch me, skinny."
"Can I at least look?" Astray muttered, preparing himself for something being thrown at him as well, possibly the entire bedframe.
"Hmph," Anvil stood back up, stretching again, and gave Astray a long, unimpressed look, "Take your clothes off."
"What?" his eyes bulged.
"Stand up, take your clothes off, everything. NOW!" the sharp command worked like a charm on Astray's body obeying without any input of his head. His shaky hands stripped his shirt and pants.
He stood in the middle of the room, slightly tanned, skinny upper body with hints of new muscles covered in dark bruises, and lower body covered in grey hair but no less demolished. Anvil circled him, shaking her head.
"On the floor, stomach down," she didn't need to raise her voice again. The satyr was confused, scared, and admittedly slightly curious about her intent. He felt her hands slip over his back, behind, and legs, stopping briefly and squeezing the lower parts, "You're used to walking long distances, but not carrying anything heavy."
"I... I've never really owned anything heavy until recently. I mean the armor from the princess. And yes... I walked from the Crystal Empire to Canterlot on my own."
"It's obvious, runt, I don't need your input."
"What are you-?" Astray thrashed until Anvil's tree trunk of a muscular leg pushed him against the carpet. She was sitting by his side, leg draped over him, and hands groping his bottom and one thigh.
"Alright," she ignored him, "Let's start with what isn't too damaged."
"Aaaah," Astray's half pained, half pleasured gasp cut through the room as Anvil's fingers dug deep into his buttcheek, working in small circles and kneading the overused muscle. She eased on the pressure, grumbling:
"Weak like a twig. A minotaur would barely feel this."
Nonetheless, she focused on his legs, bending, kneading, and stretching them when needed. In the end, Astray felt as if his entire lower body was melting into a warm pool instead of hurting with every movement. His back wasn't so lucky, but she tried to be softer than before and her touches made Astray sleepy until:
"Turn around," she didn't wait for him to oblige and just rolled him over, "Can't have you whining about pain all the time. If the damn sassy unicorn wants us in shape fast, we all need to do our part."
Astray was much more tense this time. Not because Anvil was going a bad job, but becase as her hands worked him like putty. The only thing on his mind was:
Don't get a boner, she'll rip it off and throw it for Bubbles to fetch.
His body failed him, at least partially, but Anvil only gave his lack of discipline a quick, unimpressed look and kept going. That... just that lack of interest, not even being worth a snide remark, relaxed Astray. There was nothing in it. His body worked in a certain way, but that was all it was. He eased himself into Anvil's ministrations, and any unruly thoughts faded away along with his arousal. When he opened his eyes again, the sky outside was dark and Anvil was done. He felt born anew.
No newborn should see somepony like drying Bubbles, though, watching them with wide eyes and even wider smile. That's what nightmares are made of.
Shooting up and feeling everything ache but nothing really hurt, he said to Anvil curiously sniffing her palms:
"Thanks. Both for the massage and for not making anything out of... you know what."
She gave him a quiet stare, and licked her hand from the wrist to her index finger.
"To me, you may as well be a mare."
Astray's mouth opened. Astray's mouth closed. It hit him. She was just stating facts, she wasn't being derisive. She was huge, her... parts were huge. Minotaurs were massive compared to ponies and even him. It hurt, it really did, but what could he do about it? She didn't consider him a male, neither in body nor in heart. And she was right.
Anvil cut into his shock:
"Gotta wash the sweat off," she jumped up and rushed off to the bathroom, "You're going next, you stink."
"Yes," he just nodded and waited for her to finish. For some reason, it took Anvil longer than any day before.
As soon as Anvil was done, Astray darted into the bathroom. The shower felt like a blessing after the massage. If only she could do this every evening. Perhaps he should ask?
"She'll just say not to push my luck, or not to get hurt that bad so that I don't need to waste her time," he shook his head, leaving the bathroom when he was done, dry and ready to end the day.
Anvil was lying on her bed, reading a book, a heavy tome about pony history which nonetheless looked like just a notebook in her hand. Bubbles' muzzle was propped against the windowsil as she watched the dancing lights of nighttime Manehattan.
"Mind if I turn the light off?" Astray asked, ready to dodge any rapidly approaching objects, "I'm completely beat."
Anvil gave him a slightly annoyed look, but shut her book and put it on the bedside table.
"Hey, I know a thing for good rest," Bubbles jumped up, swishing her tail. She trotted to Astray, put her muzzle on the carpet, raised her hindquarters, and flicked her tail aside, "Mom always asked me to help ponies get to sleep like this. Some evenings I helped even four or five of them. She also gave them this riding crop to play with me like miss Contradiction did with her sword. I slept really well after that... unless she gave them the silver crop when I was bad. That one stung."
Astray stared at the presented marehood in shock, working through the implications of what Bubbles had just said. What cut through his stupor was Anvil's:
"The wimp might like it, because no real mare would touch a weakling like him with a long pole."
"YOU KNOW WHAT?" Astray had just enough, completely forgetting about the massage, "YOU ARE RIGHT, I KNOW AM WORTHLESS AND I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN BUT I WOULD NEVER TAKE AN ADVANTAGE OF SOMEPONY LIKE THIS, YOU DUMB UPRIGHT WALKING... COW!" he took a brief breath, his outburst still not over, "Do you know how I know? Nopony outside of the orphanage has ever looked at me as if I was something other than a dumb monster who can't fly or use magic or carry as much as an earthpony. Even the damn Badlands caravan thing that led me here started with the only useful part of me being these," he waved his hands, wiggling his fingers, "They wanted somepony to massage them for food after a day of walking. And... that was just the first thing, then came the... other demands. I had no value to anypony there and if I didn't jack off any stallion who told me to or served a mare wanting something exotic they would have kicked me out in the middle of the desolation without a word. Heck, I got my ASS used by the stallions so much I might as well now be a mare just like you said. I was a pair of hands and a hole that could be discarded at any point. Yeah, the mares didn't consider me male either because unlike a pony I don't have a dick the size of my barrel. Funny, isn't it? Go ahead and laugh! YOU THINK I, OF ALL PONIES, TAKE THIS DUMMY'S OFFER, YOU MUSCLE FOR BRAINS?"
He stared, trembling, at Anvil looking at him with narrowing eyes and at confused, wide-eyed Bubbles leaning away from his raised voice. He couldn't handle this. Breathing raggedly, he stormed back into the bathroom and turned on the shower again to drown his memories, his own noises, and himself if somehow possible.
Bubbles jumped back on her bed and curled under the blanket without a word. Anvil glared at the bathroom door, sat up, walked to Bubble's pile, and rubbed the demon's back through the thin cloth.
"What you just did... is something you should offer only to somepony you really like, little thing."
Bubbles' big ears perked up as she peeked from under her blanket.
"I did. I like you, Astray, miss Contradiction and mister Cromach, even some others. You're all nice. You play with me, don't throw stuff at me unless it's practice, you don't scream when I smile, and-"
"It has to be more than that, much more."
"I don't understand. I liked helping ponies sleep, it felt really good... most of the time."
"It does, I know, but you need to be in charge if you just want to blow off some steam and use them. If you present yourself as an offering, you must trust the pony that he won't hurt you even by accident," Anvil moved her hand to Bubbles' belly and started rubbing the purring mare there.
"Mhm," Bubbles' eyes closed involuntarily, and a moment later she was asleep, snoring lightly while curled around Anvil's arm.
The minotaur knew how things worked. You had to be strong to survive, and the enemy wasn't always some dark wizard. The ones closest to you could stab you in the back the easiest.
Lost in memories of her young life with her clan, she twitched as Astray walked out of the shower again. The satyr ignored her, climbing up on his bunk above hers and throwing a blanket over himself. She heard the heavy, angry breathing.
"Bubbles?" she whispered, leaning in.
"Yes?" the chipper abomination opened her eyes instantly.
"You can help the weakling sleep in another way, like a second pillow," she said quietly enough for Astray to miss it.
"Oooh!" Bubbles' eyes sparkled and she bounced up and down on the mattress, "There was this older cleaning pony who just wanted to hug me. Mom told him he could do that if he didn't say a thing about me being there. He always hugged me for a while and then just left, all smiley and such. I liked him, he didn't use the silver whip even when mom gave it to him," she, on the other hoof, had no idea about hushed tones in her excitement.
Anvil picked her in one hand and shoved her up into Astray's bunk.
"Huh?" the satyr turned away from the wall only to see a smile of thousand needles and a gold-specked rusty blur drill under his blanket and press her back against his chest like a little spoon.
Astray looked at Anvil's stony face still high enough to see what's going on on the top bunk without having to jump. She huffed and turned away.
"Do anything... stallion-like, and I will kill you. Painfully."
Astray looked down on the mare he was spooning. Anvil's tone wasn't threatening, she was merely stating what would inevitably happen if he didn't keep his hands to himself. Well, the hands weren't the real problem here probably.
"Umm," he mumbled nervously and patted Bubbles' side, "If you feel something poking you in the morning... that just happens sometimes."
"Oh, did you forget a back scratcher in the bed? Don't worry, I slept on mine when I had to stay in the cage. It's not that uncomfortable."
The satyr just chuckled and wrapped the blanket around himself and Bubbles tightly.
Anvil, rolling her eyes, shut the lights off, closed the window, and lay down herself, all that while grumbling angrily:
"Weaklings... whining about reality, getting hurt by mere words, instead of growing a spine and working on themselves."
"Divine power answers more to wish and willpower rather than adhering to rules," Twilight Sparkle's voice rang through Cromach's memories. The griffon had only one desire in mind as he watched the two robed thieves walk towards the ballroom exit.
"You... aren't... ruining this FOR THEM!" with an eagle's cry, the griffon moved, the spell finally unable to hold his empowered nature. Cromach reared, and grabbed a huge steel candelabra nearby, leaving the burning candles in. The improvised weapon had the weight and reach of his battleaxe, so the fact that it was blunt was just a minor setback. Spreading his wings for balance on three legs, he charged, "Whoever you are, you won't be here tomorrow, scum."
"What?" Secret Seeker's head turned back so fast his neck cracked, "Go, go, go!" he forced himself to run in the face of what looked like a force of nature gone berserk. Shield and Seeker started running. Unfortunately for her master, Shield was drastically faster and reached the exit just as Cromach smashed his heavy weapon into the unicorn's side.
"Aaaaah!" Seeker's robe caught fire as he flew, crashing into tables and paralyzed nobles alike, "HELP, you dumb- AAAH!" he rolled away as Cromach's blow shattered the tiled floor where his head was an instant ago.
Black Shield's body reacted, rushing at blinding speed at the griffon with horseshoe blades primed. Crom was way too experienced to be caught off guard by the attack, but Shield's strength and speed surprised him. Blood stained the shattered tabled and chairs as Shield's blades scored a deep blow to the griffon's side. She slowed down only for a second to give an evil grin to Secret Seeker trying to douse his robe with nearby platter of drinks. Underestimating Cromach's endurance would have proved fatal to any living pony. Shield, however, only got her skull fractured as the candelabra hit sent her head against a nearby marble pillar.
"Diiiie," Cromach growled.
"A bit too late for that," Shield allowed herself a brief second to recover her senses. She could afford to take the next blow, then carve the griffon's stomach left open after him rearing up to strike.
Crom stood on his hind legs and struck the back of an earthpony who by no means should have survived it. The candelabra actually bent, Shield's legs slipped under the force, but she swung her bladed hoof at the unprotected griffon about to eviscerate him.
Her shoulder crunched and her leg stopped mid-movement, ripped off from the rest of Shield. Cromach jumped backwards as he realized how close to death he was, tripping over a frozen pony and rolling on the floor. Shield quickly turned her head to see...
...Contradiction, wobbling on all fours, air around her horn twisting with pressure of power.
"Hees mine -hic-, bissh!" the unicorn almost bit her tongue. She had no clue what happened, but as soon as her delayed mind realized what was going on, she just pushed with all the mental strength she could muster against the force holding her, "No erfpony whorrs is shovin' anyfin in his crotch but mee."
Shield's separated and levitating leg batted the earthpony away from Cromach, swinging wildly in mid-air. Connie was seeing triple, only double if she focused, but Shield was a big target.
"-" a chant Shield couldn't understand rose from Secret Seeker finally putting the fire in his clothes out. His horn flared with red glow which spread through the entire ballroom. Dozens of spectral shadows of skeletal ponies rose from the floor, punching and biting the defenseless assorted nobility. His hooded head turned to rising Cromach, "It's us or them, griffon. Choose well!"
A unicorn skeleton rammed its horn into the neck of a noblemare who dropped on the floor instantly, gurgling. Zombies arose as well, blindly biting anything warm and living.
Straw Basket saw Leo's horrified expression, and the orphan turned host of darkness turned honorable small town citizen heard a voice inside him that he'd hoped never to hear again. The god of Death - Nightmare.
"For old time's sake, my little toy, just one more time. RIP AND TEAR!"
The imprisoning spell ended for him, stripped away by a force beyond the understanding of any creature alive. The hippogriff felt fire rush through his veins, grabbed the nearest skeleton and slammed him into another one so hard they both shattered. Healthy, clean living with lots of hard work, plus the divine blessing of the god of all end does that to a pony. He felt Nightmare's will extend to Leo and Fortune who stumbled as the spell ended for them as well. Straw needed a more durable weapon now, so he opted for grabbing a zombie like a living, well, undead club.
Leo didn't hesitate. His horn flashed with gold, barrier of the same colour appearing around the bleeding noblemare and carrying her away behind the bar counter. More and more shields appeared around the nobility, separating them from the attackers.
"Honey, keep the undead away from me for a bit, please." he said, shoving a tide of skeletons away from him with new magical protection.
"On it," Fortune tore the side of her flowing dress, revealing brown-coated leg and a sawed-off shotgun hanging under the skirt. She didn't need to aim much, the dias where the engagement happened was in the middle of a circle empty of ponies, but now full of undead. Half of a zombie disappeared in the first blast, "I missed this."
"I thought we agreed on no heavy weapons at the ceremony!" Leo objected.
"Do you see a minigun around?" Fortune barked, obliterating two approaching zombies in one shot, "Rise again, I dare you."
It was going to be one hell of a marriage after all this was over.
In the chaos, Cromach, Secret Seeker, and Black Shield disappeared. Connie saw them run off through the main entrance, but was in no position to follow. She formed a telekinetic cowcatcher in front of her, and galloped as fast as she could outside.
Mansion entrance. Nothing.
Left into the gardens. Noises of battle. Run!
She tripped over something. Then...
I see stars...
She recovered quickly. Black Shield couldn't hit her hard enough without one leg, but for the second blow she had the remaining horseshoe blades ready. Conne saw only a blurry flash of light on steel.
Back in the ballroom, the paralyzed trio of Arcane Hex, princess Luna, and princess Celestia finally broke free. The elderly archmage's horn sent out a pulse passing through the entire mansion proper. The pulse returned a moment later, focusing into one point on the tip of the unicorn's horn.
"BANISH!" Arcane Hex roared.
All undead burst into blue flames completely harmless to any living being, dissipating instantly into dust fading into nothingness and leaving no trace anything ever happened.
Black Shield felt pain for the first time since her death, or at least something very similar, and missed. She stumbled backwards from the devastating magic coming from the mansion, unable to think coherently or move in any focused manner. Contradiction silently thanked whoever caused her attacker to stumble, and her mind formed a blade. She couldn't hold it for long in her completely wasted state, but she didn't have to. Black Shield's backside and hind legs got cleanly cut off with a thought. Shield's body falling on the mess of grass and organs tried to crawl, but couldn't do much with having only one leg and half a torso at its disposal.
"Die, you catbird nuisance!" heard Connie.
Short distance away, a huge ball of magma and flames coagulated above Secret Seeker, dripping molten death around him. The unicorn's robe was torn and burned, but Connie couldn't see much more past the bright, blazing sphere...
... that shot at Cromach.
The monochromatic unicorn mare's world stopped. Her blood turned to ice as she opened her mouth to scream. She felt sharp pain in her forehead, crunching of a bone, tasted iron as blood poured from her mouth and nose, and was blinded when the inferno unleashed by Secret Seeker hit Cromach, so powerful that it singed her mane and coat even from that far.
Her bursting tears evaporated in the burning air.
Cromach saw only white even through closed eyelids. He gasped, but there was no air to breathe. Everything burned...
...and then it all stopped.
Lungful after lungful of air smelling of incinerated grass filled him. He was lying in an untouched circle of green surrounded by smoldering desolation and soil turned to glass by heat. Neither of the two thieves were around, only a black and white unicorn sitting unsteadily, mumbling to herself, and dripping blood from her muzzle. Cromach flew over to her, not daring to touch the scorched ground.
"Ai pooshd and pooshd and pooshd all d air away," swaying Connie repeated, visible dark crack running through her horn from the tip down, "Nuffin' to burn 'n vacuum. Ai pooshd and pooshd-"
Then Cromach said exactly the wrong thing:
"Did you see where they went? Damn Celestia should have sent us a unicorn to be useful."
Connie looked upwards at him, tears mixing with blood.
"I mean wizard recruit," Crom realized what he's said too late, "I mean-" he stopped.
Connie's world shut down.
I must not get distracted like this again.
Nothing would have happened if I was sober.
I could have ripped them both to shreds if I didn't get wasted to seduce him.
Good job I did of that anyway...
I must be like steel.
I can't go for false hope again.
No matter that he grabbed me.
No matter that he's hugging me.
No matter that everything hurts.
I could have stopped this.
I ruined Leo and Fortune's ceremony.
I failed them all.
She felt Cromach put her on his back. Unfortunately, the pressure on her stomach coupled with exhaustion, nerves, adrenaline, and amount of alcohol enough to fell a minotaur caused a chain reaction starting in her belly.
She pushed herself off of the griffon, swayed a moment before regaining balance, and shoved her head into a nearby bush. There was an unconscious guard lying there, who had no idea that meeting Black Shield was just the first part of his misery.
"Bluuuurghh-"
Connie was the other.
Stumbling backwards when she was done, she wobbled into Cromach ready and waiting. She couldn't bear looking into his eyes.
"Aim.. shorry Ai... suck," was all she could say before passing out.
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DAMMIT CROMACH!!!!
7461643 Welcome to the chapter where EVERYONE on all sides gets shafted :D
7462700
Eh, Shield's probably gonna get more shafted in EVERY definition of the word...
7462911 Seeker's gotta be pretty good at stitching to sow all her pieces back together. Secret Seamstress, the real name.
7463144
That's not what I meant and you know it...
...she would get along real well with Fortune...
...here, let me help you with that. *sprays some Cumbucket, by Calvin Klein on him*
Awwww YEAH!
...wow... just... Cro... you screwed up.
...they must make a song about typos. Anvi does make a good name though.
Poor guy... funny though.
7462700
Everyone..? Even Nightmare?
I am enjoying seeing more of Connie's character.
I feel bad for Connie with Cromach's reaction about asking where the evil guys went instead of asking about Connie. Very consistent with Cromach's character, seeing how he has done it before. I can very much relate to Cromach's character defect, because I myself have done it. He makes up for saying or doing something at the wrong time by being very loyal and supportive. 
I really like him and Blaze together and it was kinda sad seeing him and Connie together in latest book in the exercise management ark where Boss beard and his changelings meet the Order of the Silver Sun. I know I am reading these out of order. But started with the Exrecise in Management and read that until I ran out of updates and then started reading the other books. But I have enjoyed all of the books that I have read. Even if they can get a little ruff sometimes. 
I also should have left more comments, but I can't just stop reading the story, I like them to much
9879526
And I enjoy reading feedback just as much .)
I see someone was playing Doom and I approve. Too bad it wasn't enough.