Imbalanced: Legacy of Light

by Nameless Narrator

27-1: A big mistake

It had been three days since the strange Corrupted caught Gem’s group, and everyone was worn out by now.

Quiet sobbing was the only thing audible over the rumbling of the engine of the military bus. By this time, both Gem and Prominence had exhausted every trick they were able to think of that might help them shake off the alien control with zero result. During the first day, the group had passed south of the zebra city Manaewa, only to join a long convoy already headed deeper into the mainland. Who’d been able to drive, drove. Who hadn’t found a place on one of the many trucks, buses, or any other vehicles, walked. Corruption had taken control of everything, dragging its victims like a net towards what had to be the zebra army. The Corrupted behind it wasn’t intelligent, Prominence hadn’t been able to figure out any way to communicate or get into its mind, rather it was obeying accurate orders to the letter. Strangely enough, with all the reports of the brutality of the marauding army, the Corrupted hadn’t left a single soul behind as far as Gem could notice. When a car had run out of fuel, nearby members of the convoy stopped and shared their supply. When a car broke like what happened to the van Gem had procured, the convoy waited until they’d been moved to a bigger transport if possible.

It was clear that casual deaths hadn’t been the objective. That, of course, didn’t mean there’d been any mercy for those in a poor shape. Everyone had kept going despite pain, panic, hunger, and exhaustion. To a skilled healer like Gem it had been clear that there eventually would be reckoning.

Now, as Gem was watching lights in the distance grow brighter, it was clear their forced ride was over. The lights were too close to the ground to be buildings of some city, so her conclusion was that they were arriving in the army encampment. Her suspicion proved correct as the bus passed a checkpoint, and she nervously tapped her hoof against her seat.

She raised her hoof, examining it from all sides, and then she waved it in the air. The controlling presence was gone, and there was one thing Gem had needed to do for quite some time. Opening her mouth which startled the zebra “passengers” by her sides, she raised hoth her forelegs, leaned back in her seat, and stretched.

Her gesture made some of the smarter or less terrified zebras around catch on to the same thing, and one by one, the stretching and turning of heads spread through the bus like a wave.

Gem instantly used the commotion to have the faintest glimmer of green run through her coat, transform chitin into soft, dark grey coat while leaving her brighter zebra stripes on. Her horn disappeared, and before the stretching commotion was over there was one less queen-like changeling, and one more thick, grey-eyed zebra with light grey mane streaked with pink.

The bus slowed down and gradually stopped.

A zebra stallion in the back got ready in front of the bus’ back door, and as soon as it started opening, he rammed his forelegs against it, and barged through.

Gem only sighed when she heard the following volley of gunfire.

“Anypony else about to be a hero in here?” a zebra wearing a khaki camouflage helmet peeked inside with a smirk, “No? That’s a pity. Now get out!”

There was no reason to wait, so Magpie was the first one to stand up and leave. Some of the less terrified zebras near the door followed.

The griffon quickly noticed the lifeless body of the zebra who had run out previously. No one was bothering with taking it away, which to his cynical mind meant that it was left in a pool of blood on the stomped, dry grass as a message for the others. Others, in this case, meant not only their bus, but the long line of other vehicles and pedestrians lit only by their own lamps and the faint lights of the gargantuan encampment in the late evening gloom.

Military zebras were milling around, clearly used to handling the situation of civilians forcibly dragged here, because they’d been measuring everyone as soon as they were leaving the bus, and presumably sorting them out.

Gem - immediately made to join one group of mares as a soldier groped her plot with a predatory smile. Prominence - same thing, but with added fitting of a suppressor. Magpie - one group of stallions. Pack Rat - the second group of stallions. Starry Night - stallions, group one. Harriet - mares, group one, after some thought and pistols aimed her way.

As the groups got filled further, Magpie made a wild guess about the separation process. His group were the drafted soldiers - strong stallions who were quietly looking around in most cases. Packy’s group had to be… workers of sorts - stallions and mares not in the best shape, nervous, but not resisting or a complete burden. Magpie sent a quick prayer aimed at anything listening to help Packy hold on to his sanity until Gem had a chance to give him his fix, since she wasn’t allowed to during the trip. Come to think of it, for this being three days since his last dose, Packy was doing really well. Judging by all that, Gem’s group had to be… relief for soldiers. The more mares were sent to the crowd, the more obvious it was - wide-hipped zebras, anyone with conventionally good proportions. Finally, there was the group of the broken down, wounded, and those resisting who hadn’t been shot immediately, only stallions, though.

Maybe for retraining, some brainwashing, or-

The soldiers raised their pistols, and mowed the final group down to the last creature.

-or useless. Magpie scowled, but he knew there was nothing he could have done.

In the end, the soldiers removed bags of all sorts from everyone, and started leading them off deeper into the camp in small groups.

***

Gem let out a sigh of relief as she nuzzled Harriet’s neck, startling the poor girl who shot her a quick glance.

“It’s me, Gem,” she whispered, hoping that corruption enhanced Harriet’s hearing like it normally did in addition to turning her into a barely restrained breeding machine. Her hope was well-placed as Harriet nodded, “Everything will be okay, honey. I’ll figure something out.”

Harriet allowed herself something along the lines of the beginning of a smile, the research and development phase namely.

“Alright, ladies, listen up!” the stallion leading their group stopped at a second checkpoint where other soldiers were busy rushing around other prisoners with something resembling branding irons, “What happens next is that you’ll be fitted with a special piece of magic before you’ll officially become part of our camp. Your duties will be explained to you later by someone else, but if you want to earn some nice points, then there are few of you I’d love to see later. I’ll find you, don’t worry.”

The soldiers with the branding irons arrived, and Gem could see there was no heat or fire involved as one pressed the iron against a cutie mark of the first mare, and two crossed chains appeared overlaid over her original mark.

“Promi?” Gem leaned to Prominence by her side after they’d both been processed, “I’m not great with magic, what did the mark do? I’m one hundred percent sure that’s not just to show everyone they are slaves. See? The soldiers have them too.”

“It’s a tracking spell with some conditions added to it. It’s minor, but crazy complex, so I cant decipher it fully without time to research those irons. From the magic aura of the camp, I think the main purpose is to set off an alarm if you’re not where you’re supposed to be.”

“So no exploding if we leave the camp?”

“Probably not. I don’t think there’s enough power in the mark.”

“Don’t try to flee,” the zebra soldier continued after majority of the mares were finished, “Those brands will trigger an alarm, some very nasty zebras will come for you, and you’ll be begging to be let go back to serving soldiers. It won’t help you, but you will be begging,” he sighed, “Now, a word from the heart, and I mean it,” he faced all the group’s heads looking at him as well as those of some of the mare and stallion soldiers around, “You pretty mares in here will be passed around for few days, and everyone who can will have their way with you. Most mares and even stallions here,” he nodded to a female soldier standing nearby, “end up like that eventually. Trust me, your backside can take it if your head can, and you’ll get used to the life quickly. There are millions of soldiers around, so you’ll soon be just another number. Hay, in few days you might be standing here instead of me and picking some endowed stallion or pretty mare for yourself from the newcomers. Don’t fight other soldiers unless you’re attacked, obey orders of any higher ranks, and one final word - I meant it when I told you not to try to escape. What follows is… much worse.”

With that, he simply turned around, and walked further into the camp, leaving the mares standing around and staring.

“Get going,” ordered a female soldier in the back, “Next up is few hours in the stocks. It’s not fun in most cases, but who knows? You might get lucky,” as the group started moving, she walked over to Prominence, and softly bit her backside, “My turn first, though, love. You won’t taste as good after all those horny stallions are done with you.”

***

“You look as if you’ve been ridden hard and put away wet,” Magpie commented on the state of the earthpony entering the tent.

“I’m… I’m- promise you won’t tell?” Magpie nodded with a raised eyebrow. Pack Rat sat down and rubbed his temples, “I think travelling with miss Gem and now corrupted Harriet is getting to me. I might be getting tainted too. Last thing I recall is hallucinating that a fit mare wanted to have sex with me while a bunch of other watched. Wait...” Packy rubbed his underbelly, “Ouch… why does my pelvis hurt?”

“Funny story...” Magpie, lying on his back, crossed his hind legs. He didn’t say anything else, just to see if Pack Rat would catch on.

The earthpony looked at him, and his jaw gradually dropped.

“T- that w- was r- r- real?” he sat down and covered his face with his hooves.

“Don’t ask me, I wasn’t there,” Magpie shrugged, struggling to retain a passive look in face of the stunned earthpony.

“Oh princesses...”

“In light of some recent information, if Prominence was involved then that statement might be correct to a degree.”

To Magpie’s mild surprise, that brought Pack Rat to reality harder than a cold shower or his needed fix.

“Oh no… if at least a quarter of what I think happened really did happen, I’m worried about Harriet, miss Gem, and Prominence.”

“You’re worried about a Corrupted, part-Corrupted, and a high-tier changeling...”

Pack Rat stopped covering his face, and glared at Magpie.

“How did you get out of the public use anyway? I mean, the mares did want even someone like me. They should be swarming over you.”

The griffon rolled over on his stomach.

“I appreciate the sentiment, but I’m far from attractive, and...” Magpie sighed, “Look, I’ve never been exactly a chick magnet, even back in the Griffon Empire. After the minotaurs caught me and shoved me into their arena… well, they liked humiliating and torturing their non-minotaur prisoners. Despite what most creatures thing about the wild tribes being simple barbarians, they know how to completely break someone while keeping them in a shape fit for fighting.”

“I don’t understand,” Packy lay down on the second bedroll in the small tent which was barely suitable for camping, much less for any sort of army, “but I’m sorry for bringing it up.”

“No big deal,” Magpie waved his talons dismissively, “It just saved me the effort of having to resist the mares. When I couldn’t get it up for the first two, and the others realized that trying to forcibly ride the face of someone with a beak is a potentially fatal idea, some zebra just showed me the way here. Besides, as far as thinking about mares goes, I’ve got a job to keep my mind on, and when Gem is around, also some eye candy too.”

“I know it’s not my place to speak or even ask, but what do you intend to do after all this is over? If we get out of this alive.”

Magpie shrugged even though Pack Rat was lying with his back to him, under a thin blanket, starting to shake again. He decided it would be a good idea to keep talking in order to prevent Packy from slipping back into some withdrawal delirium.

“Someone will always need a mercenary. It’s not like I can settle down and start a family, so I think I’ll travel around the world guarding caravans until have to face someone faster, younger, better, or just with numbers advantage.”

“That doesn’t sound hopeful.”

“Said the pot to the kettle...”

“Well… yes… I mean...” Pack Rat paused, “I just never thought of you as someone who wouldn’t be drowning in mares with that cool, quiet demeanor.”

“Oh yeah, quiet,” Magpie chuckled, “I’m a good company only if you enjoy long walks on the beach in complete silence, followed by a resounding amount of awkward boredom or, you know, my usual positive vibes I send out all the time.”

“I know how that feels. That’s why I stay behind most of the time, and just haul all our stuff. I just listen to miss Gem and Prominence chatting.”

“Same here, only in the front. You’re lucky, though, you know that?”

“What? How?”

“You get better view.”

Hearing Packy laugh put a smile on Magpie’s beak, at least until the motion of the tent flaps made him sit up.

“At ease, soldiers,” Gem gave them a mock salute as she sat down on the ground between them. Her zebra disguise made that possible, otherwise her horn would have likely made her the central pole.

“Miss Gem!” Pack Rat pushed himself up again, “Are you really here? Wait, that is you, is it?”

“You’re doing pretty well for being one of many town bicycles in this part of the camp,” she pushed herself forward, and pulled him into a kiss afterwards before he could answer, “You know, I might start lowering the dosage again.”

“I don’t want the spider hallucinations back...” pouted Pack Rat after Gem broke the kiss, “Jokes aside, do you know something about Prominence and Harriet? I mean you, as a changeling-”

Gem frowned.

“Trust me, it was no walk in the park for me either, those guys were far from gentle. Speaking of which, how are you two doing after this?”

“Everything hurts, but the potions they fed me helped me get through,” Pack Rat shifted his hind legs.

“Take a wild guess...” muttered Magpie, “Even in an army full of horny idiots, it makes sense that I end up in a tent alone. It’s the university all over again.”

“Oh shush,” Gem shuffled over, and patted his back after taking place next to his head, “Anyway, relaxing chatter aside, we need to figure out what to do next.”

“You still haven’t answered what happened to Harriet and Prominence,” Packy reiterated his concern.

“Sorry, I was focused on my still sore cheeks. Promi and Harriet are in a tent together,” Gem gave them a comforting smile, “Promi is alright, just peeved a bit.”

“Did they do something to her?”

“Other than industrial drilling operation like with us, or the lack thereof?”

“What?” Magpie rolled over, only to find his beak lodged in Gem’s buttcrack, “Mmmph!”

“Promi’s ‘problem’ actually helped me figure out something about this army I hadn’t realized at first.”

“Anything we can use to get out?” Magpie shifted his head away from Gem.

“No escape for you, catbird,” she plopped her thick booty straight down on his chest, “So, what Promi made me realize was that this, in fact, is NOT an army, not in a strictly military sense. This is a huge, travelling city whose members are successfully forced by some sort of militarized minority into staying here and killing others. I know how to navigate places like these.”

“How did you figure that out while getting railed by the same amount of stallions as Celestia has candles on a birthday cake?”

“Promi would tell you old princess fusion glutes doesn’t use candles anymore. I think she has someone write the number on the cake and then has Luna scrub their memory so that they can’t blab. Aaaanyway,” Gem smiled, hearing the pair of snickers from her companions. To think clearly, it was important to ease her friends’ minds first, “I thought of that when I noticed that Promi had the attention of mares mostly, and very few stallions had the courage to try to empty their balls inside someone of her size in front of all their friends, which means they aren’t some cold-blooded raiders who just take pleasure, gold, anything no matter what. Good old shame and penis insecurity.”

“Okay, so this mobile city is comprised mostly of just normal, forcibly drafted ponies. I get it.”

“Plus one incredibly horny and unsatisfied Prominence,” Gem wiggled her eyebrow, “I wish we had someone to give her proper dicking. Until then, she’s bunking with Harriet and her tentacles.”

“Harriet is okay too then, I take it?” asked Magpie.

“Aaaand now we get to the less fun part...” the carefree amusement drained from Gem’s voice, “Obviously, she isn’t, since I left her with Promi. There are two tiny good points to the situation, and one huge bad black tentacle.”

“I’m having trouble following you.”

“Must be just my thighs around your ears,” Gem shrugged.

“Same here, miss Gem, and if you’re taking applications, I’d like to fill a form to get my own thigh,” Pack Rat gave her a weary smile.

Gem looked at him, blinked, and the corner of her mouth curled back up.

“Take a place in the queue, Packy,” she tapped the ground, “Back to Harriet. The good news is that they haven’t fucked her already scrambled brain out completely, mostly for the same reason as with Promi. Harriet might not be as tall as Promi, but damn that booty could now take a real dragon easy, which is why she got more mare attention as well. Plus, she got to tentacle few at the same time. So yeah, she’s not gone completely wild, point one. Point two - with the absence of the assholes masking their cock insecurity with brutality, she didn’t get hurt. However,” Gem rubbed her temples, “I can feel her mind unraveling, and I’m not the one to help properly. Corrupted minds are more physical then mental in the sense we understand them, so Promi is trying to keep her from turning completely through their connection.”

“Can we help?” asked Magpie, and Gem shook her head.

“No, not now. We need to let her rest, and make sure things don’t go from bad to worse before she can gather herself. For now, the best thing we can do is figure out how to survive in this army without drawing attention… or any more attention.”

“And what about our new royal friend?”

Gem shrugged.

“He’s sleeping. The mares swarmed him like the only dildo in a tribe of amazons. If you think Packy here got tail tonight, Starry’s been polished more than a pole in a night club.”

“So, what’s the plan other than letting everyone get a good night’s sleep?”

“I think that, by sheer luck, we might have ended in the right position to do more good than we ever thought.”

“Oh?”

Gem lowered her voice into a whisper.

“If the slaver maps and my orientation skills are correct, then this army will reach Northern Coalition territory within two weeks. I doubt the Coalition army will wait for us to enter their territory, though, so we likely have a bit less time than that. In that time, we either figure out how to escape, or how to destroy this army’s leadership.”

Magpie whistled.

“That’s a tall order.”

“If it was easy, we wouldn’t have ended up here,” Gem looked down at him, smiled, and squeezed his head between her thighs, “One last thing, Magpie. I need you to stay on guard tonight. We don’t know enough to make a clear judgement about how safe or lawless this place is. We’re too far from each other to effectively help, so you guard Packy, I’ll do Starry, and Promi will be busy all night with Harriet’s head anyway.”

“Will do,” Magpie nodded.

Gem patted his head, hopped off of him, and left the tent.

“Do we take turns of something?” asked Pack Rat.

“Yes. You go to sleep, I’ll wake you up in the morning,” Magpie replied firmly, “I’m used to night shifts, and I haven’t been having drugged up sex with everything that moves for the past four hours.”

“Alright, but if you need any help, don’t keep it to yourself, okay?” Packy wrapped the thin blanket over himself, and turned away.

“Yeah yeah, just go to sleep.”

Comments

[Nameless Narrator]

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She's a mare full of surprises... and fire.