Equestria Trainers' Society: Fish Out of Water

Ever since the day that Scylla accepted that she would be a minotaur’s slave, the kelpie found that things became a lot easier for her. Her life was no longer daily sessions of sexual service to the members of the Society, becoming a series of relaxing days and small training practices to prepare her for her future. The training itself had even become sorta fun, as the trainers eased up on discipline, and the exercises themselves became more educational than physical.

This was partially on account that her pregnancy was now unignorable, her stomach swelled up nicely as she approached her second trimester. At this point, the deer monitoring her progress recommended that stress of all kinds be brought to a minimum, which meant no painful bondage positions, no rape sessions, and even things like spankings were to be limited to points where it was absolutely necessary. For Scylla, and her new outlook on her life, “necessary” might as well mean “never”. Now that she had comfortably climbed into the role given to her by her master, Scylla had no reason to fight, and no reason to argue. All she had to do was perform her lessons the best she could, follow the Society’s rules, and obey her master, and everything would be smooth sailing.

That’s why when a pair of minotaur, neither being her master, placed her in light bondage and led her down the maze-like corridors of the Society’s facility with a leash, she simply let them do so without so much as an accidental reflex of resistance. She had gone through the process so many times by now that she understood the process, paraded around completely nude till the fear and embarrassment of the act no longer scared her, and the loose linked shackles and cuffs they used only as a precaution against fleeing were much less restricting than the arm binders, hobbles, mouth gags, and blindfolds they used to make her wear while being transferred from one room to another.

Not to mention she now had a constant travel buddy in the form of her draconic slave sister; Mina. The two had been together for a while now, and with the dragon’s obsession with ponies, she willingly went along with anything that allowed her to spend more time with them. Mina gave no struggles as she received her own bonds, and once the minotaur were done, she and Scylla were in matching ‘outfits’, ready to be lead to their next destination.

“Ready to go?” one of the large males asked, directing the question to the kelpie.

This too had become a frequent occurrence for Scylla, where the trainers and guards would actually consider her input to some degree. While she still had no real control over what she was scheduled by the Society to do, it was a little better that she wasn’t just dragged around anymore. Compared to how it was when she started, this was the Society’s VIP treatment for slaves.

Knowing where she and her dragon companion were going that day, Scylla tilted her head towards her bed, pointing out to the minotaur holding her leash a small bag sitting on top of it. The large bovine male went over to the bag, took it in hand, and looked inside to see what it contained.

“Ah, yeah,” he said after seeing what the bag held, “You’ll be needing these today, won’t you?”

The minotaur gave the bag to Scylla, who smiled from behind her gag as she took it. With her bag firmly gripped in hand, the small group of four had no further reason to stay, so they departed from the kelpie’s living quarters.

Within minutes the minotaur pair lead the two slaves to where they would be spending the next hour or so, Scylla a little excited about the destination. It was one that she had been to before, though not all that frequently. It was also the one place in the entire facility that no slave would object to going, and was only permitted to those who complied with their training.

“You know how this works,” one of the minotaur guards said, as they approached a set of doors, ones that would have looked fairly odd to those who didn’t know what they were for, having a set of deadbolts on the outside of the room, “You get an hour in here, and then you will be taken to your next training session.”

Scylla gave a pleased mumble from behind her gag, letting her guide know she knew the rules. With that confirmed, the minotaurs took a moment to remove all the bindings from the two females, placing all the equipment in a chest kept near the door. Once the final pieces were removed from Scylla and Mina, with the only things left on them being their slave collars and the magic rings Mina wore to keep her in check, the minotaur opened the doors and ushered the two inside.

The males did not enter themselves, closing and locking the doors the moment their wards stepped away from it. “Finally,” Scylla said in reply, happily going through the bag she had brought, “It’s been so long since I’ve been back here.”

“This is the place you were talking about?” Mina said, taking in what little there was to see, “It looks like an employee break room.”

“I think that might be on purpose,” Scylla replied.

The room was not extravagant, nor held the kind of luxurious atmosphere that every other room in the facility seemed to have. It was just a plain room, with several tables and chairs placed around, and a kiosk stand in the back with a pony stationed at it. Of course, that was what was special about this place.

It was not a place set up to entertain the important guests of the Society, it was a place created specifically for the ‘lesser’ residents of the facility, and thus the one place where expenses were actually spared.

The fact that it was plain didn’t matter though, as the appeal of this area was that it was an escape from all the lavish areas the members had access to, and from the more bleak and oppressive areas the slaves were kept when not being used. It was a place to just relax, and not feel any form of obligation was upon you. Even in a place like the pool room, the idea that one had to behave a certain way was ever-present. Here, you could do as you pleased with absolutely no owners, trainers, or club guards around to stop you.

“Come over here,” Scylla said, heading to the kiosk, “Let me show you what we can do.”

Mina followed, having been instructed by her and Scylla’s master to follow the kelpie’s instructions, so long as they didn’t openly defy Rubric’s will. The two slave girls approached the stand, a white, earth pony mare with a blue and pink mane stationed behind it, currently looking through a bit of Society approved reading material, a catalog featuring many bondage items being displayed in use on different pony models, most likely published within the facility.

“Hey there Bon Bon,” Scylla said once she got to the counter, “Been a while.”

Bon Bon lifted her eyes from her picture book, and gave a pleasant, but half-hearted smile to the mare she only somewhat knew. “Hey… Scylla, was it?”

“That’s right,” the kelpie replied, “You managed to remember it this time.”

As far as Scylla knew, Bon Bon had been captive in the Society for a little less time than she had been, brought in at the same time as her girlfriend, a mare named Lyra. The two were used against one another to keep both mares in line, and unfortunately for both this made them compliant enough to be overtaken by the head mistress’ enchantments. Bon Bon was so deeply converted that she was appointed as a ‘trustee’, or slaves that were given active jobs within the Society itself.

While Scylla didn’t know for certain, there were rumors among the slaves that trustees also underwent some advanced level of brainwashing to make them completely loyal to the Society, unable to do anything to act against its goals. If that were true, then Scylla couldn’t tell with Bon Bon, as she acted pretty much like any pony who ran a kiosk might, being fairly bored with the position given to her most of the time, using the vast amount of free time she had to do anything else to take her mind off the mundanity of work.

“You’re looking a little bigger around the belly this time,” Bon Bon noted, the kelpie in front of her showing her pregnancy very well at this point, “I’ve been seeing a few girls around here the same way.”

Scylla didn’t say anything to that, as she wasn’t really allowed to discuss the topic. Schorl didn’t want rumors about her or the others of her group spreading, though Scylla didn’t know exactly why that was. Still, the crystal mare had compelled her and all the other minotaur broodwives to keep quiet, through one means or another.

“I guess that’s not what you’re worried about right now though,” Bon Bon said, detecting that the topic of the kelpie’s pregnancy were off-limits, “You’re more worried about spending all those saved up slave slips.”

“Yup,” Scylla answered happily, both grateful to avoid the forbidden subject, and because she really was here for that reason. She tossed her bag onto the counter surface, its opening spilling out several slips of paper held within it.

For all the work Scylla did pleasing the members, she had been awarded with a fair share of slave currency to buy herself some nice things from the only place that would accept the worthless pieces of paper as if they were bits.

“You got anything new in stock?” Scylla asked, observing some of the items on display.

“Nothing out of the ordinary,” said Bon Bon, looking at her inventory herself.

The slave kiosk provided plenty to choose from, at least for those who had nothing. Makeup, brushes, mirrors made of polished silver, books and magazines, boxed meals made of real food that was normally not permitted to the Society’s captives, toys of the sexual variety, and more utilitary items such as blankets and pillows, which unless earned were not always given as a default commodity.

For Scylla, the books held some interest to her, most of which being the kinds of erotic novels she used to read in secret, while others were more informational literature about sexual techniques, or proper slave behavior. The magazines were no different, consisting of articles on BDSM, erotic positions, and other such articles. Everyone who looked at the selection knew that those books were chosen to keep those being trained in a certain mindset, but having them to read was better than sitting around bored when not being trained or used.

The beauty items were considered by most slaves to be an investment, as few really cared how they looked while being captive, but knew that the Society members cared. If they saw a pony putting in an effort to make themselves look nice, it was often rewarded with more slips in return. It was even assumed that Schorl endorsed the idea that those who worked to please the members should get more, which was why those items were some of the cheapest offered, with expensive name brand perfumes, lipsticks, mascara, and other things of that nature sold for next to nothing, even when it considering they were using fake money to pay for it.

But the real prize for any slave here was the food. While not as good as the things they served the members, what was available would tempt any pony going through slave training. Candy bars, granola bars, daisy sandwiches, apples, raw celery, and quite a bit more things that didn’t need to be cooked to enjoy. Compared to the nutrient rich paste that was normally on the menu, these things might as well have been gourmet meals handcrafted by the chefs of the royal palace. The taste of fresh produce or a sweet snack was simply divine after months of that substance day in and day out.

“So what can I get for you?” asked Bon Bon, ready to fulfill her purpose and sell some of her things.

“Can I get four bottles of apple cider, a box of gumdrops, and one of those salads over there?” Scylla replied, listing off the things she wanted, “Do you see anything you want, Mina?”

The dragon looked over all the things in clear view, but found little she actually wanted. “Do you got any gems?”

“I’m afraid not,” said Bon Bon, “Lady Tourmaline doesn’t allow anything that she thinks could be used for an escape attempt to be sold here, and gems can be sharp enough to cut through bonds. The only thing like it we got are these?”

The earth mare went underneath the counter, and shortly after came back up with a small, dimly glowing crystal in hand. Scylla knew what those were, as they had a general-purpose in the facility as magical batteries for some of the equipment used throughout it on a daily basis. Normally if you wanted to power something like a vibrator, you would have to be a unicorn so you could fill it with your own magic. But with these, anypony could use such devices without having to cast magic themselves. As common as they were to her now, she had never encountered one outside the walls of the Society, as Equestria didn’t have such items, as they were made by the deer kept as slaves there.

“Do they taste good?” Mina asked, bending over the counter, sniffing at the crystal-like a dog might have done to a suspicious piece of meat.

“I don’t know,” Bon Bon replied, “I’m not a dragon.”

“Would you like to try one?” Scylla said, taking one of her slips from her pouch, knowing that was the price for a single crystal battery.

Seeing the kelpie’s gesture, Bon Bon slid the crystal to the dragon, who then picked it up and put it to her lips. With a tiny bit, Mina was able to go right through the piece of rock, breaking off a portion of it before chewing them into slivers in her mouth. This immediately caused the glow it held to die, as the energy inside the crystal dissipated.

“Hmmm…” Mina said after a couple of seconds of chewing, looking down at the crystal in her claw, “It’s not very tasty.”

“I guess that means the crystals they use as batteries are low quality,” said Bon Bon, not really knowing what determines the flavor of a gem, “But maybe I have something else you’d like.”

Going to the candy section of the booth, the earth mare pulled out what looked to be several clear, colored rocks on a stick. “Do you like rock candy?”

“I’ve never tried it before,” Mina replied.

“I’m sure she’ll love it,” Scylla said, “Add three of those to our total.”

Bon Bon added three pieces of rock candy to Scylla’s order, each one being valued at twice the price of the crystal Mina munched on prior, due to it being considered a luxury item for slaves. Scylla still had plenty of slips left after the addition though, so she proceeded to get more things while she was there, including several of the erotic books for reading on her downtime. There was a time when she thought it would be best to save her slips, but after realizing that she had no control over when she got to visit the little shop for slaves, she learned it was better to just spend what she had on the things she wanted there and then.

This especially made sense as she neared the end of her training, when she might be moving to her new home in Minopolis any day now, so she might as well use the remainder of her ‘Society Slave Bits’ before being taken someplace where they no longer had any value. When Scylla finally finished her purchases, her pouch had become empty, but her and Mina’s arms had become full of items.

With that finished, the two headed for the tables so they could enjoy their new treats and toys until they were picked up by the guards. All they had now was time to kill, and they tended to enjoy themselves.

“So, which one are we gonna sit at?” Mina asked, carrying the bulk of the things for Scylla, commanded to do such things for the kelpie if needed, since she shouldn’t be lifting heavy things in her condition.

“Well…” Scylla scanned the room, looking for a good place to sit. She intended to just find an empty table at first, but then she laid eyes on a familiar pink unicorn sitting at the far end of the room, “Oh, let’s go over there! Hey, Charming! Mind if we join you?!”

At the call of her name, Charming Tale, the unicorn member of the Elements of Servitude, looked up from a notebook she had sitting in front of her. Seeing Scylla coming her way, she waved to the mare, and then beckoned her to come take a seat.

“Didn’t expect you to be here,” Charming said, picking up her notebook and writing in it, while maintaining eye contact with her associate, “I don’t think they’ve ever let two of us in the breakroom at the same time before.”

“Maybe they figure that by now we don’t have any intention of trying to escape,” Scylla said, partially joking about their inescapable situation.

“They might be right about that,” Charming said, likewise in half jest, “It’s not like we could get far like this anyways.”

As Scylla placed her items on the table, she could see that Charming’s stomach was just as large as her own. Of course, she already knew this, seeing as all six members of her arranged group usually spent their mornings together being examined, but it was still a little surreal for Scylla that they were all pregnant, and perhaps all with minotaur children inside them.

“So how have things been?” Scylla asked as she and Mina found their seats, “You’re off of club duties now too, right?”

“Yeah, got pulled what I assume was a week ago,” Charming replied, “Right now my master just has me going through vaginal exercises to help make birthing a little less stressful when it happens.”

“My master said he’d have me do those soon too,” said Scylla, “But for now he’s having me learn some new sexual techniques for after I give birth. He said after all he’s put into me, he expects some returns once I’m able to pleasure him again.”

“Guess he thinks that now’s the last chance he has to train you for servicing him.” Charming added, “Since soon none of us will be able to do much of anything.”

As the two ponies discussed their training and upcoming deliveries, Mina chewed on her rock candy and drank some apple cider Scylla had slid her way. It was intriguing to listen to the two ponies talk, seeing how positively they had come to the notion of their impending motherhood. The first time she met Scylla and her friends, they showed some apprehension to the concept of ‘forced impregnation’, but now they appeared to have warmed up to the idea. Mina just considered it a part of a pony’s adaptive nature, and they could usually find some way to overcome problems presented to them, even if the only solution was to stop seeing the problem as a problem.

“So what are you writing there?” Scylla asked eventually, just as she opened up her own bottle of cider and took a sip, “Is it your next big story?”

“Yes, actually,” Charming replied, “I was jotting down a little love story between two earth ponies.”

“Gonna put in some sexy bondage scenes in iit later, as usual?” Scylla asked, being thoroughly familiar with Charming’s works.

“No, not this time,” Charming said, jotting down a few more words in her notebook.

“No?” Scylla replied, finding that awfully strange for the author.

“Yeah, it’s funny,” Charming said back, “The moment your fantasies become commonplace, you start fantasizing about other things.”

“So now you’re wanting a romantic relationship with somepony?” asked Mina.

“It’s not really that I want it,” Charming said, “I’m okay with how my life is, but fantasy isn’t about looking for other things because you’re unhappy. I write because it amuses me to look at the world from a different perspective, and to entertain myself with things that I wouldn’t normally be able to do.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Mina said, “I like comics myself, but I don’t know how much I’d want to be one of the superheroes. Actually, your pony comic heroes are not really all that powerful when it comes to what some dragons can do.”

“Exactly,” said Charming, “What’s special to one creature is mundane to another, and we are always looking for new experiences. I still find all this kinky enslavement bondage stuff incredibly sexy, but I’m starting to find things like simple kissing a little more arousing, just cause I don’t see it as much.”

“I think I get what you mean,” said Scylla, “Actually, I’ve been wanting a little more romance in my life too. That’s why the other day I talked to my master and-”

Before Scylla could recount too deeply about the deal she made with her master weeks prior, the door to the break room opened up, drawing the attention of many residing in it at the time. The doors only ever opened when somepony was being allowed in, or when somepony was being taken out, so some were wondering if it was their time to return to work, while others were curious who might be brought in.

The door opened only momentarily, just long enough to have one of the slaves pushed through, and then slammed behind them. It was an odd event, as the guards would normally allow the slaves to go in on their own accord, but it soon became clear why they had been so harsh with this one.

The slave, a bat pony mare, immediately turned around, just in time to see the door slammed shut, and then threw herself against it. “Come on!” she said, giving the door a single hit of her fist, “I don’t need a break. I could go through a dozen more seasons no problem.”

Both Scylla and Charming Tale recognized the bat pony instantly, though any slave at the Society probably could have done the same. She was one of a few bat ponies present in the facility, and a fairly noticeable personality among them, as she was often excited to be taken advantage of by the club’s members. She was also, like the kelpie and the unicorn, one of the Elements of Servitude.

“Hello Nightshade,” Charming said, greeting the bat mare, “Your master forcing you to take a rest today?”

Charming didn’t have to speak too loudly to catch the bat’s attention, despite being a moderate distance away from the entrance. The sound of her voice was easily picked up by Nightshade’s receptive ears, and hearing a familiar voice, she turned around and smiled at those she considered her slave sisters.

“Scylla! Charming!” she said, walking over to the table, “I haven’t seen you two since… well yesterday morning. Did they force you to skip breakfast today?”

“They didn’t ‘force’ us,” Charming replied, “They had to let us skip it so we could come here today.”

Since the morning routine for the Elements often included a season of minotaur lovemaking, the girls were given a pass that day simply so they could walk properly to the break room, and not be solely focused on the aches they would surely have after being penetrated by their master’s cock for the duration of their stay.

“You two still haven’t gotten used to getting dicked by your masters regularly?” Nightshade commented, while claiming a seat at the table for her own, “You Equestrian girls sure are frail. It only took me a few weeks before I got over those post-sex pains.”

“We don’t all have the same advantages as you when it comes to being a minotaur wife.” Charming replied, since the bat mare had made a point to bring up that unique advantage.

“I guess not,” Nightshade chuckled, “Hey, hold my seat. I got a ton of slips I need to spend.”

The bat mare got up and went over the kiosk, with Scylla looking at her curiously as she walked away.

“You wondering where she keeps her slave slips?” Charming said as she took notice of the kelpie’s stare at the bat pony, “She makes so many tips during work they worked out a credit line for her. It’s amazing what Lady Tourmaline will do to make things easier for those who just comply.”

“That’s not what I was wondering,” Scylla said, “I was wondering what you two were talking about with that mention of an ‘advantage’ she had.”

“Don’t you remember?” said Charming tale, “Lady Tourmaline said a while back when she introduced Nightshade to the minotaur that she comes from Minopolis.”

“Our masters’ homeland?” Scylla said, surprised. She had indeed forgotten all about that, as she rarely interacted with Nightshade outside of group activities. Outside of knowing Nightshade was an eager and willing sex slave, there really wasn’t much Scylla knew about her.

“Yeah, if I’m not mistaken, she was brought here to find a husband, and complete her training as a broodmare.” Charming confirmed, “But some of that might be a backstory I made up for her.”

“But she does come from Minopolis,” Scylla thought aloud, “Do you know what that means?”

“That she was messed up way before coming here?” Charming replied, not seeing where Scylla was taking this.

“It means that she knows exactly what’s gonna happen when we get there.” Scylla said, ecstatic at this opportunity.

Her biggest fear at the moment, as a pony who had never been outside of Equestria, was that she would be thrust into a whole new culture with absolutely no idea of what she was being dragged into. Now she had a source that could explain to her exactly what to expect.

“I guess you’re right,” Charming said, “My master’s been pretty quiet about his homeland too, not that I’ve asked him about it.”

“Then it’s settled,” Scylla said with authority, “When Nightshade gets back, we’ll interrogate her on everything she knows about Minopolis.”

“You ponies get so wrapped up over the strangest things,” said Mina, finding it humorous that Scylla was so interested in the minotaur homeland, even though not too long ago she had a similar interest in Equestria and the ponies that lived within it. Hypocrisy wasn’t a concept that dragons understood though.

Not long after settling on their plan, Nightshade came back to the table with a very plump plastic sack, one so large she had to set it on the floor next to her when she sat down again. “So we’re stuck here for a while,” said the bat mare, not seeing this time unviolated as a reward like most others would, “You girls wanna fuck?”

Had it been months ago, Scylla would have spat out the apple cider she was currently drinking, but now the question was so common it hardly phased her. Her reaction instead was a calm reply of, “I don’t think Lady Tourmaline wants us doing each other without permission.”

“There are no rules against it as far as I know,” Charming added, “But it would probably lead to some sort of punishment if it caused a disruption in the break room. Besides, I’m too exhausted to screw right now.”

“Awww, you two are no fun,” Nightshade replied to her associates, bending down to grab something from her bag, “You got this one opportunity to let loose, and you want to spend it writing and sipping cider.”

“It’s more like a break from the norm,” Scylla said back, “And we have something much more important to talk about with you.”

“Really?” Nightshade said, taking hold of something in her bag and lifting herself back up to bring what she had into view.

“Yeah, we were wondering… Wait, is that a…” Scylla was just about to get into her questions, but what Nightshade held caught her attention, as well as the attention of the other girls at the table.

In unison, the kelpie, the dragon, and the unicorn’s eyes locked onto a fruit Nightshade held, one in the shape of a peach with a deep purple skin. Knowing exactly what it was from their own experiences with the fruit, the three said its name together. “Passion Fruit?!”

“They sell those in here?” Scylla added, seeing as that was the only way the bat mare could have gotten those since she came in.

“Oh, yeah, but you have to have special permissions to buy them,” Nightshade explained, “They don’t want those who aren’t supposed to be addicted to them to become addicted by accident.”

“So they allow those they want to drug to have a way to get their fix through hard work and obedience,” Charming noted, quickly connecting the dots, “Clever use of the slave slip system.” She quickly flipped to the back of her notebook and jotted down some ideas that popped into her head, directly inspired by the revelation that had dawned upon her.

“So you’re addicted to Passion Fruit?” asked Scylla, coming to the obvious conclusion.

“Me?” Nightshade replied, “No. Thestrals, or at least the fruit bat species, don’t get addicted to it like other creatures. I can go weeks without it and be fine, but it just tastes good and gets me in the mood.”

Scylla, having seen the size of Nightshade’s bag, questioned if the bat mare was being truthful, or was even aware that she might be addicted. She didn’t want to pry though, since she had other things she wished to talk about, and increasingly less time to talk about it.

“Ok, but back to what I wanted to talk about earlier,” Scylla said, seeing no better way to circle back to the prior conversation, “We really want to know what Minopolis is like.”

“Minopolis?” Nightshade said, taking a big bite out of her passion fruit, one so ripe that the juices from it dripped onto her chin. She didn’t even finish chewing it before she said with a full mouth, “What do you want to know about it?”

“Scylla’s curious about what it’s like there,” said Mina.

“I’m a little curious myself,” Charming added, “I think that’s only natural when some creature is being forcibly relocated.”

Nightshade gulped down her piece of fruit, “I mean... It’s nice I guess. Not too different from Equestria I assume.”

“You assume?” Scylla asked.

“Nightshade, Equestria isn’t full of creatures trying to enslave other creatures for their own evil goals.” Charming said, but then gave that a little thought, “At least not to the point that it’s commonplace.”

“‘Evil’ is a bit much, don’t you think?” Nightshade said, defending the minotaur. “But I thought you meant the atmosphere. Minopolis isn’t a bad place to live.”

“Can you explain it a bit more?” Charming said.

“I don’t know. It’s hard to compare it to any place else, since I’ve only been away from it one time prior to this. You do remember we are in a building with no windows, right?”

“Ah, right.” Scylla said, a little embarrassed. It might be hard to compare one place with another you’ve never seen. “But you said you’ve been away from Minopolis before?”

“Well, I wasn’t born there,” replied the bat pony, “I used to live on the outskirts of Equestria with my family and a few other bat ponies, in an area beyond its borders, and just before you enter a place called Bone Dry Desert. I didn’t live in a city back then, though.”

“Where did you live?” Scylla asked, believing that was the most appropriate question.

“In some caves with a few other families. I was told once our ‘tribe’, as some of the elders called it, left Equestria long ago, when Princess Luna was banished to the moon by her cruel sister, Celestia.”

“Ummm…” Scylla wanted to say something, hearing Celestia being called cruel, but Charming stifled that attempt with a quick shake of her head, “Ok, so you used to live in caves. Did you like that more or less than Minopolis?”

Nightshade gave Scylla a bemused look, “That’s a hard question to answer. You do realize that in order for me to get to Minopolis, I had to be captured by the minotaur. My whole tribe was, actually.”

“But you seem so well adjusted to it now,” Mina said, bluntly noting on Nightshade’s mostly positive reception to being a sex slave.

Nightshade sighed, but gave a light smile as she took another bite out of her fruit, “Let me explain. Yes, I absolutely enjoy being a minotaur sex slave, being here at the Society, and having my body used by the members. It wasn’t always that way though.”

None of the other three girls said anything to that, each wanting to hear how a pony could eventually come to enjoy enslavement by the minotaur.

“I was a teen when the minotaur came for us. They must have known about us somehow, cause they didn’t just find out where we lived, but also knew that we slept through most of the day. When they came to enslave us, a lot of us woke up to find a minotaur putting us in chains.”

“That awful,” Scylla said, remembering what it was like for her and her father when they were captured.

“I suppose it was, back then,” Nightshade replied, “I do remember being scared when it happened. I was woken up by the yells of my parents, as they had already been chained up and held down, and before I could try to run away I was grabbed by a different minotaur and put into a cage. After that, everypony who lived in our cave was brought to a large area within it, where they proceeded to separate us into three groups.”

“Why did they do that?” Mina asked, this particular ritual being dissimilar to what an elder dragon might do.

“One group were the ‘prizes’ of the minotaur who had participated in the capture. To put it simply, as part of the payment towards a minotaur raiding party, they are each allowed to pick a single creature out of those captured that they like, and they get to keep them as slaves. The selections are done by rank, with the raid leader selecting first, then his second in command, and so on. The minotaur then will have a group of Antlerteans they brought along ready their new possessions for use, and rape them in front of all the other captured slaves.”

“Did that happen to you?” Charming asked.

“No, I was too young.” Nightshade answered, “Minotaur are strict about only using adults as sex slaves, both for personal moral reasons, and because even if they didn’t care about age, the potions the Antlerteans make can’t compensate for the size difference. It’s actually Minopolis law that its citizens can only fuck adults.”

“That’s good to know,” Scylla said, finding a slight glimmer of ethics in the minotaur from that.

“Didn’t stop me from having to watch my mother get raped though,” Nightshade added after, “She was picked out by the raid leader, stripped naked in front of the entire tribe, and forced to become his mate. My father was so pissed, but all his anger did was draw the attention of the second in command, who picked him as his raid reward. By the time the raid leader poured his third load of cum into my mother, my father was begging for mercy with his ass in the air, face pushed into the dirt, and his new master’s cock hilt deep inside him. I was so scared at the time, watching as others in the tribe were picked and dragged into the victory orgy, not knowing I was protected from being picked at the time. When I look back on it though…”

Nightshade’s mind wandered back to that time years ago, seeing the bodies of both bat ponies and minotaur dancing in the light of a bonfire her captors had made. There were few details that she accurately remembered from it all, but there was one aspect of it that the bat mare believed she remembered perfectly.

“I remember that my mother, who had been brought to tears, stopped crying as her master took her body. I never spoke with her after that night, but I think that she was starting to get into it a little by the end of it.”

“Sweet Celestia, what would make you think that?” Scylla said, trying to imagine what would give a young girl the impression that her mother would enjoy being raped.

“You mean besides witnessing plenty of women who enjoy their enslavement in Minopolis?” Nightshade replied, “I don’t know, really. I’ve heard in the past, females who have already gone through birthing have an easier time with the minotaur curse, so that might be part of what happened.”

“Minotaur…” Scylla started.

“Curse?” Charming ended.

“You two haven’t been told about that?” asked Nightshade, “Ok, so you know how it hurts a lot when our masters fuck us? That’s not just because they are too big for us.”

“It’s not?” Questioned Scylla.

The bat mare shook her head, “From what I‘ve heard, the minotaur are actually cursed so that whenever they have sex, it hurts the one they’re screwing, no matter how gentle they try to be. Not all forms of sex, since oral with them can be pretty great, but if their penis goes in anywhere, then there is no helping the pain, no matter what you try.”

This was new information for the other girls at the table, as one could easily assume that the size difference was what cause the agonizing sensations that came with minotaur sex. It was hard to tell if what Nightshade was saying was real, but the bat pony seemed to believe that it was on some level.

“There does seem to be one thing that makes the curse easier though,” Nightshade went on with her explanation, “As rumors say that if you’ve already given birth, it doesn’t hurt as much, and hurts even less the more you have. It’s never supposed to go away completely, but after a while the pleasure you feel is supposed to be much more than the pain.”

Seeing as Nightshade couldn’t have known this first hand, Charming asked the logical question that would come from such an assumption. “And where did you hear about this from?”

“From the deer,” Nightshade said, “And I think you’ll all agree they enjoy minotaur sex a bit more than your average pony.”

The deer did enjoy the minotaur’s attention, but that applied to not only the females, but the males who couldn’t give birth to counteract the curse. Charming hummed to herself as she picked this up quickly, but didn’t say anything to contradict Nightshade. Even if the idea of a curse, and how to ease it, wasn’t true, it was better to let the others think that was the case, in the hopes that one day their burden would naturally become easier.

“So what about the other two groups?” Charming asked to try and divert Scylla and Mina from the thoughts she had formed, “One was for the raiding party, but what happened to the group that you were in?”

“I was in a group that wouldn’t be used that night. Males and females that hadn’t been selected, and the few children of the tribe. We were all set aside, only witnessing what was happening to the others, but not participating. For a successful raid, there has to be a profit, and that comes in the form of slaves who can be sold to the less ambitious of the minotaurs.”

“Less ambitious?” Scylla repeated.

“Not every minotaur is a slaver,” Nightshade clarified, “Some are merchants, constructors, politicians. Those who don’t have the skill or will to go out and capture a bride of their own. Thus the slavers sell the leftovers of their raids to them, but most minotaurs prefer their females to be untouched by other minotaurs, so they can’t sell a slave that was raped during a raid.”

“Probably to make sure that any children the slave has are theirs,” said Mina, “Dragons are pretty territorial of their mates too, and won’t take one if they smell like another elder. Actually, it’s part of the reason we take lava baths, cause stuff removes everything.”

“So you were sold to a master when you were taken to Minopolis?” Scylla concluded.

“No, that doesn’t make sense,” Charming said, “If that were the case, she wouldn’t have been sold here during our arrival ceremony.”

“Kids can’t be sold as slaves in Minopolis,” Nightshade explained, “When fillies, foals, or whatever children of other species are brought to Minopolis, they are taken to a nursery to be raised to understand minotaur culture. Most children in Minopolis, even the ones born there, are not raised by their parents. To allow them to be brought up away from things that might be harmful to a growing child’s development.”

“Like all the sex?” Charming said, taking a guess at the most obvious aspect of the culture that might be a problem.

“Mostly,” Nightshade said, “Minotaur aren’t shy about making their slaves go nude in public, public discipline, or even public sex if the occasion calls for it. They even have a special place in town dedicated to public displays of birth, because they consider every new minotaur brought into the world as something to celebrate.”

“So they hide children away from all that?” asked Scylla.

“For a while,” Nightshade answered, “Like I said, they place all children in nurseries within their kingdom, as soon as they are born if it’s possible. There, they are taken care of by Antlerteans, or other slaves, that watch them around the clock, guided by a few minotaur overseers who are paid by the kingdom to make sure things are run smoothly. Minotaur calves are usually put in their own facilities, while all the ‘lesser’ species are placed together in others.”

Charming gave a sigh at the comment of ponies, and other creatures, being lesser. “And what is life like growing up in one of these isolated facilities?”

“Not bad, really.” Nightshade replied, thinking back on her youth, “Meals, playtime, time outside in an enclosed area with lots of space to run. You’re taught how to cook, clean, given a basic education about topics you would expect in a school. When you reach puberty they teach you about sex, and what your eventual purpose will be for the minotaur, and when you reach adulthood they transfer you to another facility to start training you for your future role as a sex slave.”

“And all children are brought up like this?” Scylla said with a pout, as she was starting to like the idea of raising a family with Rubric, and didn’t want the children she had taken away.

“Not all,” said Nightshade, “Or at least from what I heard. I haven’t seen this, of course, but from what I understand, some minotaur will allow their mates to keep their children as a reward for good behavior. It must be something the mothers want, because minotaur really don’t care much about their offspring, at least not directly. We’re taught as part of our slave training that young minotaur are normally raised by the tribe, and the fathers might not even take interest in them, while perhaps taking interest in another young bull.”

“But I can keep my child?” Scylla asked, wanting confirmation.

“If your master says so, yeah.” Nightshade answered.

That put Scylla’s mind at ease. It couldn’t be that hard to get Rubric to agree to raising a child with her. She already got him to agree to buying a dragon for her, so as long as she was on her best behavior, what would be one more little mouth to feed?

“Hey,” Mina interrupted, “Something’s been bothering me. You said your tribe was separated into three groups. One was slaves for the raiders, one was children and those being sold to other minotaur… What happened to the third group?”

“Oh, the third group consisted of our elders,” Nightshade said, “Those who were too old to be used as sex slaves, or as slave labor. The minotaur didn’t think that it would be worth it to take them to minopolis, and that it could have been cruel to leave them behind to fend for themselves.”

“They didn’t… kill them, did they?” Charming tale asked, that being the only alternative she could think of.

“No,” Nightshade answered pleasantly, quickly relieving the tension the unicorn had created with the question, but immediately caused it to return when she added, “They had them all turned to stone.”

The other girls at the table, even Mina this time, went wide-eyed. Nightshade noticed this, and rolled her eyes at their surprise.

“It’s a practice the minotaur utilize to bestow mercy on weaker creatures that have been captured by them, but can serve no purpose towards their goal of re-population. They use cockatrices that they raised for that particular purpose, and turn those reaching old age into stone statues, before putting them on display as works of art in Minopolis. There is an entire museum dedicated to females who had provided service with their bodies, where they can be admired and preserved for centuries.”

“T-they do this to all their slaves?” Mina asked, suddenly a bit worried about her future

“I’m not sure they do it to all their slaves,” Nightshade said, “From what I hear they’ve only started doing it in recent decades, but it’s pretty popular. I’m sure the masters enjoy the idea of keeping their slaves in some form forever, and I’ve even heard some are doing this so they can de-petrify them years later, and be able to use them a few more times. It’s like putting a bottle of wine in storage, so you can enjoy it in the future.”

“Are the creatures that are petrified… aware of what’s happening through all this?” Charming said, equal parts curious and terrified.

“Who knows?” Nightshade said, “No one has been removed from petrification yet, at least not that I’ve heard of. Still, don’t you think that it would be neat to be frozen in time, put in a place where generations can admire you and the things you’ve done, and you be able to see them enjoy your presence?”

The other three girls gave each other uneasy looks, as none of them felt that this possible future was as romantic as Nightshade was trying to paint it. Being enslaved was one thing, being made into breeders was another, but being forced to stand for all eternity, completely aware but unable to move, speak, or do anything as time passed you by was a whole new kind of nightmare.

“If you’re that worried about it, talk to your masters about it,” Nightshade said, picking up on their discomfort about the idea, “But I was taught that the life of a minotaur slave is a pretty set plan. You grow up in a nursery, you learn what you need to be a part of society, get bought by a master, spend the next twenty to thirty years serving him and birthing minotaur, then you’re given a peaceful retirement as a statue before you have to suffer the aches and pains of growing old, with a possibility of having a few more years of fun if your master wants to reminisce about the good old days with you. Seems like a good life to me.”

There was certainly some brainwashing involved with how well the bat mare was taking the presumed final destination of her life. In Equestria, being turned to stone was a punishment, one reserved for the most evil of villainous creatures to endure. That alone would make most assume it wasn’t something they’d want to experience themselves. Scylla would absolutely talk with Rubric later to confirm if this was true or not.

“Anyways, I’m not even worried about that right now,” Nightshade said as she moved away from the topic, “I just want to have some fun before I become a dedicated minotaur wife. After being raised and trained for most of my life, my time here at the Society is my last chance to really let loose.”

“I guess this would seem like a vacation for you,” Charming said, “You’ve been groomed for a particular role, knowing you were fated to be the breeding slave of a minotaur, and here you can at least have sex with other ponies and truly enjoy sex to the fullest, even if it is through the kinds of ponies that would be patrons of a place like this.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty great.” Nightshade replied, grabbing another one of her passion fruits, “but soon the time will come to say goodbye to this place. Our bellies are plumping up nicely. If I’m right, we might have one month left here, and then we’ll spend the rest of our pregnancies at our new homes.”

“Do you think we’ll be able to keep in touch?” Scylla asked, thinking about the other elements, and how she had grown attached to them, having been made to interact with them on a daily basis.

“If our masters live in the same cities in Minopolis, I’m sure they’ll set up some playdates for us.” Nightshade reassured.

At about this time, the doors to the break room opened up, and in came the minotaur guards that had brought Charming Tale, Mina, and Scylla there before. While the four girls were speaking, other minotaur had come and gone, delivering and picking up other slaves, but it appeared that it was their turn to be retrieved.

“You three,” one of the minotaur said sternly, “Front and center. Your break is up.”

Scylla gathered up what remained of her purchased items, as did Mina with her treats and Charming with her notebook, and the three made their way to face the minotaur. However, as they moved away, Mina stopped to ask the bat pony one last thing in private.

“Hey, you don’t really think they’d try to petrify a dragon, do you?” the dragon asked nervously, finding that to be a breach of freedom that she couldn’t tolerate.

“I don’t see why not,” Nightshade answered, “You might be some of the first dragons the minotaur ever obtained, but they pretty much treat all slaves the same. I wouldn’t worry too much if I were you, though.”

“Why’s that?” Mina asked, a bit terrified at this point.

“They only turn slaves to stone when they get near the age where they are too old to serve. How long do dragons live again?”

With those words, Mina relaxed. The bat mare was right. Dragons lived a ridiculous amount of time, and it was more than likely that her master would die long before she showed any signs of aging.

“Besides, are you telling me that you intended to stay a slave once you become a full-sized dragon?” Nightshade said, believing that she knew something that the dragon was hiding, “The minotaur are strong, but I don’t think even they would be able to keep you restrained once you get bigger. That is unless…” Nightshade gave a devious smile, slightly revealing her fangs, “You would want to still be a slave when you get bigger. Throwing away some of that dragon pride might lead to something you’ll love later on, if you give it a chance.”

Mina blushed as she was given her options, and found that she didn’t disagree with most of the outcomes, even the ones unbefitting of a dragon. Maybe she would enjoy a life of servitude, so long as it gave her the ability to be around the ponies she was so fascinated with. She wouldn’t have to decide on what she wanted to do immediately, so keeping an open mind about her future wasn’t a bad idea for now. She couldn’t help but assume that her even considering such a life was due to some form of mental conditioning placed on her through the Society’s training, but even acknowledging that, she couldn’t help but feel the space between her thighs moisten.

“Mina, come on!” the dragon heard, as Scylla called for her, “If you don’t get over here now, you’re gonna get punished!”

The dragon let out an “Eep!” and joined back with her slave sister.

Nightshade leaned back in her seat as the dragon walked away, admiring the reptile’s backside, wishing she could have had a chance to sample it. The bat mare felt it was a shame that this interaction came down to just talking, but got where they were coming from. After all, she had once been in their position. Being ripped from the world she knew, having questions, wanting answers.

All minotaur slaves experience phases of their lives, where they despise their captors, resist their imprisonment, struggle against their training. That eventually leads to a form of acceptance, be it willfully, reluctantly, or by force. Obviously being a minotaur slave was not the preferred life for every creature, but that all depended on the environment they lived in prior.

For Nightshade, all she had was a small tribe and a cave that she called home where she and her family struggled to survive on the outskirts of Equestria. While the day she watched her loved ones get put in chains and raped was probably the worst thing she ever witnessed, it lead to a much better life for her in the process. At the nursery, she was able to make lots of friends, got three warm meals a day, lots of attention from her caregivers, and an education she would have never gotten had she continued to live the life she had prior.

Sure, it was a shame that her birth mother had been taken, raped, and had probably birthed many brothers and sisters for Nightshade by this point that she would never know, and that her father had most likely been turned into a femcolt cuck that works his ass off in a Minopian crystal mine, but Nightshade had reached a point where she questioned if that was an undeniably bad outcome.

She had endured the worst the minotaur had to offer, and her prize was a life where she didn’t have to worry about her future, because it was already decided for her. It was the classic debate of trading freedom for security, except she really didn’t have a choice in the matter. The only option she had was if she wanted to enjoy the result or not, and even if that choice might have been heavily influenced by those who held her leash, the choice to be happy with her situation was preferable than being miserable all the time.

So with a smile and a chomp of her passion fruit, Nightshade watched those she chose to call friends return to their training, hoping for their sake that they could each gain the same kind of happiness that she had achieved.