FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

There once was a city of magic, a project developed by wizards to create their vision of utopia. In it, they spared no effort in showing the world what magic could do- enormous, impossible golden and silver-laced alabaster buildings towered over the horizon, shining as a beacon to all around. In the city itself, there was almost never any violent crime- the guards possessed magics that alerted them to violent emotions, and were fast to respond. Magic healers made it so people almost never died from bleeding, magic wards made it so almost nobody could break into someone's house, and magic traps killed any pests that would arrive to spread disease or consume crops. Those who found themselves homeless were welcome to work on farms, and would be given training and transportation to become a productive member of society. The streets were clean, pure, and happy.

Before long, people got the message- magic could do wonderful things. But it wasn't just good-hearted people who discovered this. Bandits, marauders, and pirates of all stripes began learning what they could. A magical black market came into existence- Wizard bandit kings frequently rose to power, robbing their subjects of their mana and channeling enormous power into magical assaults on the city state's borders.

The city-state responded with overwhelming force. They hired mercenaries to assault the bandits' forts, teleported poisonous gas into the bandits' lairs, and sometimes controlled the very earth to swallow those who attacked them.

All of this magic came at a high cost, however- and the relentless assault of the barbarian hordes began wearing down the magical reserves. Other energy sources were sought- the sunlight the bounced off the alabaster walls was turned into energy, fuelling the mages' spells. They discovered the moonlight had a power of its own- with so many directions of light between the stars and the moon, the paths that magic took became warped. The city learned how to transform people into destructive beasts, and unleashed captured bandits on their brethren as werewolves, vampires, and other monstrosities.

But the moon and starlight didn't always shine, and the monsters were weak in the day. When the sun didn't shine, energy wasn't available. The bandits learned the weaknesses, and manipulated them. All the progress the city made wasn't enough- they needed something more. And one man, a wizard politician, Vladimir the Tabby, found several ways. Very, very illegal ways.

He used them, and the effect was immediate- energy was produced, and the bandits found their old tactics to be useless- no matter how much energy the mage city used, they never seemed to be near running out. Their shields never waned, their swaths of destructive spells scorched entire forests to exterminate the bandits, and the few agents who made it into the city to report the defenses to their comrades were never heard from again- the mind-scans on the city walls were up all day, all night. Their power wasn't infinite, but they had more than they could ever use.

Vladimir knew that if his methods were ever discovered, they would be stopped. If they were stopped, the city would fall, a victim to its own morals. He respected those who disliked such extreme measures, but until someone could propose an alternative method, the measures would stay in effect.

And those who tried to disassemble them without a plan to put in place would be removed from the equation, swept out with those members of society incapable of doing anything but leech off of the city. Willingly or no, every member would help protect the city- whether that was producing capital to buy weapons for their soldiers, forging new magical spells to efficiently remove the barbarian threat, or going to a farm and making food for the city and supplying energy.

The fat orange cat looked out his office window. Even now, with his policies in place, the only ones taken to the farms were those who sought them. The homeless were never collected or forced there-people were even encouraged to live with their families instead of going to the farm. But some people didn't have the luxury of an extended family. By not forcing anybody to go there, he thought that only those who were starving and desperate would ever be taken there. Someone who would be grateful for food and a roof over their head. Someone... probably like the girl he could see right now.

Down on the sidewalk, a young dog girl named Nal was walking down the road. She had short, jagged brown fur and big blue eyes. She was wearing a dirty jacket, even though the fall wasn't yet cold. The clothes on her back were all she owned. She was looking for the farm office, but she couldn't find it- if she knew how to read, it would have been easier, but her parents didn't know how to either, before they died.

She was tired of living alone, barely getting enough food each night to avoid starvation. Almost all of the other homeless people she once knew had either moved up or moved out- where to, she didn't know. But she did know that if she didn't find work soon, she'd freeze to death in the streets of the city.

A well dressed middle-aged rabbit man was out for a stroll, taking a break from his busy office-life. She stepped out in front of him, trying to get his attention.

He stayed back from her.

"What do you want, beggar?" he asked. "You're not going to try to rob me, are you?"

"No," she said, "I just want to know where the farmer office is, if you know. I've been looking all morning, but I can't read the roadsigns."

"Oh! And here I thought you were going to ask for free money!" he said, smiling at her. "It's so good to know that the young people of the world are willing to work to earn their keep. Just walk down this road here, take a right at that traffic stop. It will be the third building on your right- windows have big blue curtains."

"Thank you, sir!" she said.

"No worries!" the rabbit man said. "I wish you luck on the farm, little coyote!"

She blushed. Even though she mostly resembled the people here, almost everybody could see that she wasn't quite a dog from these parts. Her grandmother told her that her father was a barbarian wolf, but she didn't like talking about him. The implications were... unpleasant.

She found the farm office and walked in. Inside was a small, dumpy poodle lady. She looked up at Nal through a pair of large spectacles.

"Hello," the lady said, "are you here to sign up for a farm?"

Nal gulped and walked forward. "Yes ma'am. This is the right place, then?"

"Yes it is," she said. "Gracious, you look like you've no meat left on your bones. When was the last time you ate?"

"Um... Yesterday, I think," Nal said.

"We'll get you all sorted out," the lady said. "You can call me Miss Tysi, I'll help you get sorted out, and then we'll get you some food and transportation to your new home, okay?"

"Y-yeah, sure," Nal stuttered. Now that she was here, she was nervous. She reminded herself that she didn't have anywhere else to go, though, so all of this was inevitable- it was either go to a farm or freeze, maybe even starve to death.

"Okay. First, what is your name?" Tysi asked her, paper and pen in hand.

"My name is Nal."

"Is that two L's, or one?" Tysi asked her.

"I don't know," she said. "That never really came up.

"Well, it's not like you'll need to read on the farm," she said. "At least, that's what I hear."

"You don't know?" Nal asked her.

"No, I don't," she said. "I actually know very little about the farm. How tall are you?"

"About... fifteen hands," she said. "I think. It's been awhile since I've been measured."

"Education?" she asked.

"Um, home-schooled. Sorta. Not really."

"Any family?"

"No," Nal said, "momma and daddy both died last spring- magic malfunction."

"That's unfortunate," Tysi said, frowning. "When you get to the farm, you make some new friends, okay? Nobody should be alone."

"Thanks," Nal said, grinning a little. It was nice to be reminded that people who didn't even know her cared about her.

"Female, Fifteen decimeters tall, looks about eleven or twelve stone, brown fur, blue eyes, medium length hair, young adult, can't read..." Tysi muttered allowed as she wrote down the information.

"Why do they need to know all of that?" Nal asked.

"I think it's so they know who to look for," she said, "and to have an idea of what tasks you're suitable for. I hear the farms are very expansive- they have highly specialized, well trained people who do a single job, all day long. They produce food on such massive scales that we supply many foreign city-states with almost all of their food."

She sealed the paper up in a small envelope, then put it in a small slot in the desk.

"Well, that's all for that! Would you like to eat while you wait for transportation?"

Nal nodded eagerly.

Twelve hours later, Nal was in a large vehicle with many other homeless people. Those families with children were loaded onto a cart and sent elsewhere, but those who didn't have families were loaded onto this one. She wasn't sure why the distinction was made.

The city had, many years ago, perfected devices that used magic to transport people long distances. Also known as "magic buggies" or "horseless chariots," these devices most often resembled animals or beasts. For the military and the commoners, the vehicles looked simpler. The carriage she was in resembled a large platform with chairs, and was protected from the elements only by large wooden walls with large gaps to let fresh air in.

She was seated in the back. She looked through the cracks- outside, there was almost no light, save for the moon that broke through the black trees. No magical streetlights showed the cart the way- she couldn't even see the white towers of the city past the forests. The only other sign of civilization she could see was the cart behind theirs. It was secured with metal walls, and had several prison guards. She wondered if they were going to the farm to pick some criminals up.

A few minutes later, after several hours of riding down the bumpy road, the carriage came to a stop. She looked up. A large tiger woman holding a lantern with a smiling face opened the door.

"Everybody," she said, "Welcome to your new home! My name is Mistress Garla; if you need help, don't hesitate to ask me. Please be careful stepping off the scaffolding, and form a line by the processing desk."

And with that, she stepped off. As everybody stood up to file out, though, Nal could hear a very different speech being given to someone in the car behind her.

A badger wearing guard armor was screaming at someone inside.

"This is your new home, filth! You will do what you are told to do when you are told to do it, or you will be brought straight back to the prison to rot! Any hardship they can inflict on you here, you just remember we can inflict tenfold back in the prison!"

A murmur of voices responded, and prisoners began filing out of the prison car. All of them had shackled feet and wrists, and were lead away to another processing area. She was surprised to see a pair of unicorns in the mix- they were usually nobility, even only when in tradition instead of practice. Finally, the line on her car had moved enough that she could get out.

Outside, a cool night breeze tickled her nose- the smells of mud, grass, trees and animals filled her nostrils. Ahead of her, she could see a magical glow flash every few seconds. As a person stepped into it, it would glow a color. That person would then be directed to an area that had that color sign above it. After a few people, she began noticing a trend- most of the men were either orange, red, or yellow, whereas most of the women were green, blue, and black. A few people made the circle glow white- she wasn't sure what the pattern was there. Only a male lizard woman and a female zebra were put in that group. Beyond that, there was a mix of each in every category, but the trend was definitely there. It seemed like all the strong people were being put in the red circle, and all the smaller ones were being put in the blue or black ones. Finally, it was her turn.

She stepped into the circle, and the circle glowed black. She was put with the others in that group, and then someone took the groups to other places. Mistress Garla addressed Nal's group.

"You will all be my students," she said, "and it will be up to us to perform the most critical functions on this farm. As such, any disobedience will be punished, and hard workers will be greatly rewarded. Tonight, we are going to get you into your new uniforms and show you where you will be sleeping. And whatever you do, do not get separated. If you do, please locate another overseer, and find us as quickly as possible. This is a very safe place, but that's only because we take appropriate measures."

With that, she began walking the group to their new home. Behind her, though, Nal could hear the prisoners being addressed. She wondered if they would have anybody from their group working in hers.

Her new bedroom was less private than she would have preferred, but it was still cozy. Each one had been assigned a sleeping unit in a large building. It sort of resembled a barn- the second story was less another story, and more a balcony encircling the structure, looking down and inward.

"On that balcony, you can see for miles," Mistress Garla said. "The mountains are beautiful, and you can see Lake Vladimir, named after the family that historically has filled the role of minister of defense. We may take trips there, on the rest days."

Another young woman raised her hand.

"Yes?" Grala asked.

"Can you see the city from there?" she asked.

"No," Garla said, "But you can see where the golden planes begin. The city is on the other side of a small mountain called False Hope."

"False hope?" a skinny male skunk asked.

Garla growled at him. "Did you ask to talk?"

"Er, no ma'am. Sorry," he apologized.

"Hrmph... Don't let it happen again," she said. "Now, to answer your question- the mountain is called false hope because of a gold mine that was started there. Unfortunately, the gold was also tainted with some sort of glowing rock- everybody exposed to it died. Now, the mine is empty and abandoned."

She walked to a desk set up at the end of the barn-like building. "Now, everybody form a line here, and I'm going to give you your assigned bedroom. The quicker we get this done, the quicker we can get everybody cleaned. The sooner that happens, the sooner we all eat supper, and go to bed. We have an early day tomorrow, so the quicker the better."

Before long, each person had gotten their new bedroom number. The bedrooms themselves resembled stalls, really- the walls went to just over the workers' heights, they had no front walls or door, and no ceiling. You could see into every bedroom from the balcony above. The few males in the group were lead to another place to sleep. It made sense to Nal- they wanted to keep the men and the women away from each other to stop people from doing things they shouldn't be doing. As soon as they were finished with that, they went to the showers.

The showers had a curious setup- Nal wasn't sure why, but the showers were all in the same room. In the middle of both rooms, there was a large table with some magical circle scrawled into it. When they asked, the Mistress explained that it extracted energy produced in the showers. Nal didn't know anything about magic, so that explanation made sense to her.

When they were done showering, they had to clean the fur out the drains. The drains were clogged with fur from people who hadn't washed in a long time, mixed with the filth off their hides. There was also a lot of weird clear goo- Nal reasoned that it was some kind of shower mold. It was weird, though- everything else in the shower looked clean. It was hard to wash off her hands.

Finally, they ate supper. It was more food than Nal ever saw before- stacks of meat, vegetables, and fruits, all of them farm-fresh. She ate her fill, and afterwards, the mistress gave them all vitamins. She said it would help keep them healthy.

Soon after, lying down in her bed, Nal was drifting to sleep. Between the warm shower, the huge supper, and the long day, she couldn't stay awake if she wanted to. That night, she had dreams. Usually, she would dream of her parents, or something random. But that night, she dreamed of men. Lots of them. Naked.

They were swimming with her, and she was naked too. One of them grabbed her and put her on his shoulders, putting her crotch on the back of his neck. Another one grabbed her breasts from behind, and pulled her down into the water, dunking her. Underwater, she could see his male parts. She reached up to grab it-

and woke up.

She groaned. She was feeling antsy, and her fur itched. She had a small headache, and she couldn't think clearly. She put her hand to her forehead and rubbed. That was when she noticed the thing on her wrist.

She looked at it. It was a metal band, locked around her wrist. The same symbol that had been scrawled in the black table in the showers had been etched in the band- the one that the mistress said absorbed energy. There was a chain attached to it, too. She followed it- she was connected to her bed. Her ankles and other wrist had the same kinds of bands. She sat up-

and she realized she was naked. She covered herself with her hands and frantically looked for her blanket and clothes. All of them were folded up, placed neatly in the corner. Across from her, she could see a young horse woman in the same predicament. She was looking up at something. Nal tried to see where she was looking.

Above them all, attached to the balcony, was a long platform. On that platform, Mistress Garla stood, like a prison overseer watching her inmates. Seeing that more of them were waking, she began her speech. It would be the speech that marked the end of their old lives, and the beginning of something they never dreamed they would be doing.