After half a day of recovery, another half to stumble her way back to Thicket, and yet another day of rest after collapsing past the city’s gates, Birch found herself before Aspen. She gave her report, telling her king of the minotaur, how one single handedly defeated her and White Rose, and that Blackthorn tried to buy them some time, but she believed that they were both captured.

“Blackthorn… you brave fool…” Aspen said under his breath, low enough that it was barely a mumble to the guard doe’s ears. He then raised his voice to question the doe. “So these minotaur had enslaved deer with them, ones not of this forest, acting as their servants?”

“Yes, my king,” Birch answered, “They were covered in strange markings, perhaps something the minotaur did to them as a sign of their position.”

“No,” Aspen solemnly replied, “From the sounds of it, I know of these deer. They were once a neighboring culture in these lands, able to harmonize their magic with the crystals that are rich in Equestria. They left long ago before I was even born, when ponies came to this land and brought with them the windigo, and sought out a land far away where no one could intrude on their territory again. I didn’t even know they existed anymore.”

“Father…” spoke a buck standing at Aspen’s side, his son, Prince Bramble, “Are these deer allies of ours?”

“Not exactly,” King Aspen replied, “While we once lived in close proximity to one another, we and the Antlerteans never got along. At best, it was a relationship much like the one we have with the ponies. They knew we existed, they respected our territory and our power, but we did not associate our kind with theirs unless absolutely necessary. My grandfather spoke to them before they left, and from his account they wouldn’t even tell him where they were planning to go, just cursing the ponies for encroaching on their lands. That was a thousand years ago.”

“It seems like their plan didn’t work,” Bramble noted, “Something much worse than ponies found them.”

“Yes, and perhaps through them found their way to us,” Aspen dwelled on the thought of the Antlerteans’ return, “Birch, did you see these minotaur carrying any strange items?”

“Strange?” she asked, not sure what he would be referring to.

“The Antlerteans, as I said before, had an attunement to crystals. They could charge the stones with their magic, and use them to power devices of their invention.”

“What kind of devices?” Bramble asked, his curiosity peeking.

“I’m… not sure.” Aspen said, looking a bit worried, “The stories I was told of them didn’t specify, but their magic creations were part of the reason our two cultures both respected and didn’t get along with one another. These devices, while not in the league of alicorn magic, allowed them to make things that we considered anathema to nature. Worse, the crystal batteries and these devices could be used by anyone. Some ponies managed to find some after the Antlerteans left, and only stopped using them when their crystal batteries died out. If these invaders have acquired that power through them, then we might be in trouble.”

“I… didn’t see any strange devices.” said Birch as she reflected on the event, “But the minotaur were acting... strange. Despite being the lumbering beasts they are, they were able to hide their tracks from me until now. They were also aware when we arrived, and what direction me and White Rose were heading when we ran.”

“It’s possible that all could be explained by the Antlertean’s magic…” Aspen said with dread, “Or… no, that would be impossible.”

“What would?” Bramble asked, seeing a moment of fear reflected in his father’s eye.

“There is a third deer tribe, Reindeer. They had more varied magic than the other two tribes. Some can fly, some can create ice formations, but a small few can see into the past, present, and future. It would be impossible for them to have enslaved a Reindeer with the power to see the future though, as they always have avoided trouble using those powers.”

“Every deer I saw was Antlertean,” Birch assured the king.

“I still don’t like this…” Aspen said, “And with this being the first day of snowfall, our magic is weakened. As much as it pains me to say this, I feel that we will have to cease any attempts of rescue for now.”

“Father!” Bramble objected.

“Prince Bramble,” Birch said, looking disheartened, but understanding the King’s position, “The enemy have shown that a single one of them can best several of us at a time in a fight, that they are cunning enough to gain the element of surprise, and have already captured our guard captain, one of our strongest warriors.”

“It’s not that I’ve given up hope,” said Aspen, “With Blackthorn there, he might be able to find a way to rescue our citizens from the inside. However, we have lost enough troops to these raiders already, and what few we have left must stay here to protect Thicket in case they get the nerve to attack our home. It might seem heartless, but until winter passes-”

“Father, that will take months!” Bramble exclaimed, knowing that in that time the minotaur would retreat back to wherever they came from with their prisoners.

Aspen raised his hand to quiet his son, “Until winter passes, no one is to leave the safety of Thicket. That is final.”

Bramble looked at his father shocked. The king was known to act on a whim, and occasionally make decisions based on emotion instead of logic, but this decision seemed far too guided by fear in the prince’s eyes. Blackthorn, capable as he was, wouldn’t be able to do anything while imprisoned. If he could, then he and the other deer would be back by now. Upset with Aspen’s decision, Bramble stormed out of the throne room to return to his chambers.

“Prince Bramble...” Birch said as he passed her.

“Let him go.” said Aspen, relenting to his son’s anger at his decision, “He just needs time to calm his emotions. So long as he doesn’t try to leave the city, he is free to do as he pleases.”

Later that day, when the sun set and the city of Thicket was covered in shadow, the prince snuck out of the castle. This was not the first time he had done this, being the adventurous type and having ventured into the forest many times in his youth. He knew the guard routes, he knew which exits were least guarded, and he kept a set of civilian clothing hidden away so he could blend in with the populous outside of the castle walls. From there, he’d just have to make his way out the gate of the city, which wasn’t too much of a problem with Blackthorn currently gone. The irony wasn’t lost on him that the only person who could have possibly stopped him was the one he was trying to save.

From what Birch said, it wouldn’t be too hard to find the encampment where the minotaur had been found. She said it was at a manticore nest close to the last harvest grounds, a place that he knew of in his explorations of the forest. His plan was to get there, cause a commotion that would distract the minotaur, and then rescue the captured deer while they were dealing with it. How he planned to do this was to use the alchemical plant magic of his people.

Bramble wasn’t ignorant to what his father had warned though, and knew that their magic was indeed weaker in the winter season, when plants shriveled and stayed dormant under the snow. He was old enough to have dealt with this problem of magical impotency in the past, but believed that the best way to solve this was to simply make a stronger batch of their plant growth potion. In the barrel flask he kept hanging from his neck held a liquid that could instantly grow vines to the size of trees, ones that would easily crack through the rock of a cave formation if it were in a warmer climate, but in this cold time should at least be able to hold off a few barbarians for enough time to enact his plan.

It took some time, but Bramble was able to find the cave unhindered by the creatures that took up residence in the Everfree Forest. While the creatures were very often more physically imposing that actually dangerous, he found that there was little sign of anything roaming around as he approached the cave. It appeared that the minotaur had scared them all off, which put a little fear into the prince as he went into what was now their territory. Deep down, a small part of him hoped that the raiders had moved on as Birch said they might during her debriefing, but once he made it to the cave, he could clearly see a light coming from its entrance, along with shadows moving among it to show that something was inside.

The buck steeled his nerves, and snuck his way up to the cave entrance. There were no guards stationed around, not a soul outside except for Bramble himself. He figured the cold of winter must have forced them inside more, and if he were to head in just a few feet that would be where those standing watch would be stationed. Getting close to the entrance, he could hear the gruff voices of the minotaur inside laughing and grunting, as well as… moans? Female moans, that were much more dainty that those of the bovine invaders, pleading and crying, all mixed in with sounds of flesh hitting flesh, accompanied by wet and sloppy sounds of fluids splashing onto the floor.

Bramble had passed into adulthood in the spring, and while he had not experienced it himself yet, he was well aware of what these noises were. The minotaur’s reason for capturing mostly does had become clear to him after a few seconds to piece things together, and it was a revolting revelation. Now, more than ever, he was glad he disobeyed his father to come and rescue them, else who knew how long this would have gone on.

Filled with a righteous fury, Bramble got to work on saving those inside. He would use his potion right next to their base in order to cause a lot of damage while also getting the minotaur’s attention. He just had to set things up first.

“This had better work,” Bramble said, moving some snow on the ground aside.

Underneath was a patch of dirt, all grass stomped flat by the bovines, no doubt. That was ok though, any damage they caused to the forest could easily be reversed come spring, so long as there were deer residing in it to repair it. On some level, that is what the buck was doing when he opened his barrel flask, and dumped all off its contents on the ground. What he was attempting required no subtlety, so he held none of his potion back.

Within seconds the vines sprung up from the ground, growing long and large right before Bramble’s eyes. It was nothing too impressive to the buck, as this was all just part of his race’s magic, but seeing them shoot up from the ground, even while winter was in effect, made him smile brightly. His father was going to be so proud of him once he returned to Thicket with the others, perhaps with the minotaur defeated in the process if these vines could do more than just distract. Now, all he had to do was stand back and wait for the plants to do what they were made for.

The vines kept growing towards the cave, Bramble skillfully having directed his potion splash to make them do so. They grew into tendrils, ones with pointed ends and thick, cylindrical lengths. Every second they got bigger and bigger, and it seemed that soon they would grow out of control as the prince wanted, but then something happened that he hadn’t expected. The plant growths stopped, having come in contact with a large patch of snow between it and the cave. No, not just stopped, they recoiled and shook when coming in contact with the cold substance. Bramble even believed for a moment that he heard the vines shriek when touching it, but that was not something plants made by deer magic did, so he dismissed it as the wind howling in the night.

“No, no, no…” Bramble said as panic set in, watching the vines try over and over to move towards the cave, each time flinching from the snow as if it were a barrier of fire. His plan was going to fail because of a bunch of frozen water flakes. “I can fix this. Just gotta…”

The buck quickly put himself between his plant creation and the snow, shoving away at the obstruction with his hoof to create a path. Bit by bit, he cleared the way, and it was looking as if it was working when the plants started to move forward again, but just as Bramble started to calm down something happened that would seal his fate.

Continuing to hastily push the snow away, Bramble didn’t notice that one of the vines was coming awfully close to his leg. It brushed against the appendage a few times, the buck dismissing it as an accidental movement on his part, until finally the vine latched onto his calf, coiling around it.

“H-hey!” he called out reactively, clamping his muzzle shut right after in realization that he was standing at the mouth of the minotaur hideout.

For a moment he worried if that had revealed himself, but from the sounds of it the minotaur had been too busy violating their captives to notice. Perhaps they thought it was just one of their victims crying out in pain. Bramble thanked his lucky stars, and returned his attention to the vine gripping his leg, just in time to find another plant tendril slipping its way up the other leg of his pants.

“Stop it!” Bramble yelled in a whisper, trying hard to stay quiet during this distressing moment. The vines were choosing to make him a target, with several other large vines wrapping around him, entering his clothing, wrapping his body in their coil so he couldn’t escape.

Bramble didn’t understand. The nature magic of the deer gave them some control over plants, but in the end they were just plants. The way these vines were moving, they seemed semi-sentient, and like they were looking for something on Bramble’s body. Or… perhaps they had already found it.

The plants, having been made in such a cold season, in the middle of the frigid night no less, hated the cold air. The extra powerful potion made them somewhat capable of thought, and when born into a frigid environment that caused it pain, it sought out heat wherever it could find it, and where it found it was with Bramble. The heat radiating off his body helped, but it wasn’t enough. The plant needed to go where it was warmer, and soon found such a spot when it poked at Brambles back passage with the point of one of its vines.

“EEP!” Bramble squeaked out, still trying to stay quiet as a blush was forming on his face. He didn’t want to be heard, but he also didn’t want his virginity, both anal and in general, to be taken tonight, by a plant of all things.

Bramble decided that the best thing to do was to get away from his creations, before something irreversible happened. Using what might he had, he tried to pull away, but his attempt of escaped was not met well. The moment he made any ground, the vines became hostile. They began to bulge, thrash about, and do what they could to keep their source of heat still. They ended up tearing the deer’s clothing at the seams. The cold winter air touched underneath his shirt and pants, thoroughly upsetting Bramble, and his efforts to break away doubled. In his mind, he was going to get away from this monster vegetation no matter what.

This started a back and forth where each side would try harder and harder to obtain their goal, with the plants seemingly winning out at each round. The struggle to escape and stay silent was a bit much for Bramble to balance, and for the plants all they had to do was keep near the warmth. However, the now massive plant started to notice something. The more its prey moved, the more heat it produced, and the deer moved very much when it tore the fabric around him. With that assumed, the vines went to the next logical step, and in a combined effort thrashed around enough to completely tear apart every bit of fabric covering Bramble’s body.

The actions of the plants was disarming at first, but after getting over the initial shock, Bramble’s reaction was predictable, even to a nearly mindless plant. More than ever he thrashed about, trying his hardest to get away, to flee back to Thicket. He didn’t care how much noise he made, just so long as he could break loose. Of course, at this point that wasn’t going to happen. The vines got their simple desire, and the deer was in too much of a panic to do anything but struggle. Just in case though, the plants took an extra measure to prevent escape, and by wrapping an extra large and powerful vine around his torso, it lifted Bramble straight off the ground.

This stole from the deer any power he might have had to escape, he was effectively trapped in the clutches of the very thing he wished to use against his kingdom’s attackers. Worse thing was, Bramble knew it wasn’t done with him yet. If this had been the extent of it, Bramble could have walked away with simply being humiliated, if he managed to still not be seen. Knowing his luck so far, that could never be the case. The plant still wanted to feel more warmth, and it remembered the place that not only felt the warmest, but caused the deer to get worked up in the first place. Now that area was completely vulnerable and exposed, and nothing was going to stop the vines from entering.

With legs pulled upwards and apart, Bramble watched terrified as one huge vine moved up, pointing its tip at his bottom. It froze there for some time, as if savoring the expression of dread forming on the buck’s face for as long as possible, but once impatience set in, it struck. With a simple jab forward, the point of the tendril poked right inside the tight hole, finding heat within that dwarfed that which the fleshy creature was radiating. Greedily it burrowed in, relentless as it shoved inside and navigated around the curves of Brambles now impure rectum.

The mass was thick, dense, and filling, pushing aside anything that couldn’t worm its way through. Bramble let out loud moans of dismay at the intrusion of the vine, and cursed himself for not listening to his father. If only to avoid this chain of events and what was sure to come after, he would have gladly stayed in the castle until spring came around, his thoughts becoming admittedly more self-centered now that he was paying for his hubris.

To make matters even worse, the vine had made it so far inside him that it rubbed against his urethra, and caused his untouched penis to poke out of its sheath, and though he had been turned into a heat source for the plants, it was still incredibly cold outside for him and his sensitive bits. His modestly sized deer cock was forced into full attention, despite the chilling winds that wash over it in the dead of night. It was a painfully stiff erection, that only got worse the deeper the prince got penetrated. In the end, all he could really do in response was to cry out in a strange combination of horror, pain, and embarrassment from everything that was happening to him.

Minutes later, someone finally heard the buck’s howls, and from the cave came a pair of minotaur to make sure everything was still fine outside. When they saw the deer prince bound in a writhing mass of vines, put on full display right in front of their hideout, with his ass completely stuffed and cock being licked at by another piece of vegetation, they were at first completely dumbfounded at how this even happened. The confusion gave way fairly quickly though, as they soon found a great deal of humor in this situation.

“Hey everyone!” one called back into the cave, “Chain up your slaves and get out here! You gotta see this!”

A large amount of bovine bodies exited the cave, along with a few of the missing does from Thicket who were dragged outside with heavy chain leads connected to equally heavy looking throat shackles, none of whom could believe just what they were seeing. One by one the minotaur started laughing at the royal whelp who failed so thoroughly to help his people, as the females began to sob seeing their prince would be joining them in the bonds of servitude, putting the cherry on top of this shameful sundae.

“Well look at that,” one of the minotaur heckled, “Now they are delivering themselves to our doorstep, already presenting and penetrated!”

“Stop laughing and get me down from here!” Bramble yelled at the bulls, feeling his insides being moved around by the contorting and convulsing plant that he was sure had made its way into his stomach by now.

“What’s the rush?” said another minotaur, “You seemed eager to get yourself in that.”

“It’s not like, AH!” Bramble felt a kick in his guts, sparking an unwanted surge of pain through him, “I didn’t want to get in this you bastard!”

Bramble’s outburst stopped the bulls from laughing, but only because they had enough sympathy to just snicker at him instead. “Ok boy, hold your britches.” one said as he approached, “Oh wait, I suppose you don’t have any.”

“Very… guuuuhhh… funny…” Bramble retorted, figuring he was going to be the butt of the minotaur’s jokes for some time. After all, he had no misconceptions that he could escape this, or that the creatures taking and raping his people would take pity on him and release him back to his father. No, this was just the prelude to whatever they had planned for him. Tired and worn as he was, there was no other alternative.

As the minotaur approached though, the deer thought he might get one last laugh out of this, as when the vines sensed a new source of heat, some went to attack it instead. When they grabbed onto the bull however…

“Hmm… So that’s what got ya into this.” he said, getting a vague idea of what really happened.

He didn’t dwell on it long though, before simply grabbing the vines in his massive hands and, using his powerful muscles, breaking them into pieces - a sight that decimated Bramble’s morale. Even if his plan had worked the way he wanted, the minotaur would have just casually destroyed the plants he created. It showed him that everything he had done was in vain, and all he had accomplished was getting himself captured and deflowered by a plant.

“Go get some hatchets,” said the minotaur who broke the vines, seeing that the parts still attached to the earth were still moving, “Let’s get the boy out of the trap he made for himself. Then we’ll see what Titanius wants to do with him.”

Bramble had to endure a great deal of humiliation as the minotaur rescued him from the vines, first suffering the vibrations that traveled through the plants as the bulls chopped them down at the base, then being forced onto all fours in the cold snow as the bovines retrieved the lengths of vegetation out of him. The minotaur took every precaution dealing with the deer’s plot as they removed the plant, tossing each part into a fire, including the roots that they dug out of the ground. By the end of it, there was nothing left of the semi-sentient plant, save for a few holes in the ground that the minotaur covered in snow just to be safe.

After going through that whole ordeal, the prince had his hands cuffed behind his back and was escorted inside, which he eagerly complied with just to get out of the freezing air. He couldn’t have run away in his current condition anyways, weary from his violation and totally exposed to the elements. From the moment that he begged the minotaur for assistance, he accepted that he was their prisoner, allowing them to guide him into their lair with nary an action to oppose them.

Once inside, Bramble could see that the minotaur had made many a renovation to the manticore cave. Not that he had ever seen the inside of one before, but the things he saw were far from natural. The walls were lined with glowing crystals that filled the cavern with a soft, blue-ish white light, allowing the deer to see the interior almost as well as if he had been outside during the day. There were also many small boxes placed periodically on the floor along the wall throughout the cave, each with several smaller glowing stones embedded into their sides. He had to pass by a few as he walked, and each time he felt a jet of hot air blow softly into his thighs. It was these boxes that kept the cave nice and cozy during the cold start of winter, and had the monster plant Bramble created just went a little bit further inside, it would have gotten all the warmth it wanted.

Bramble wondered if these devices were created by the Antlerteans, a few of which he had started to see upon entry of the minotaur’s base. Only does, covered in tribal markings, just as described. They all bore slave collars around their necks, each attending to every need the minotaur could desire from a servant; cooking, cleaning, acting as amusement through song, speech, or sexual favors, and doing each with a smile on their faces. Some of the foreign does even looked to be pregnant, their bellies rounded into large bumps that were much larger than the prince had ever seen on a pregnant deer. There was one doe who had twins once that came close, but Bramble highly doubted that these does had fawns in them in the first place, seeing what the minotaur were doing to the does they had captured from Thicket.

The buck passed by many of the missing females on the way to his unknown destination, some of which suspended by chains from the ceiling, fully nude, releasing exasperated moans as viscous white fluids dripped from their orifices. Some even in use as he walked by, with minotaur males hilt deep in their throats or pussies as they hung helplessly. Others were bound to contraptions that bent them over, spread their arms and legs apart, or forced them flat on their backs, each designed to hold the does in place and prevent them from fighting back as they were molested and raped by their captors. A lucky few were chained to the cave walls themselves, allowed a moment of peace as they recovered from prior violation, as every female in the cave had taken several turns on the devastatingly thick cocks of the masculine creatures that captured them.

Bramble found himself stunned taking this all in, never before having encountered this kind of barbaric behavior. The bulls took whatever they pleased from the cervids, with seemingly no concern for the liberties they were so casually stripping from the deer they enslaved. Yet, for some reason the Antlerteans seemed content, perhaps even happy with their position in this relationship. They too had to have gone through the pain and humiliation of rape, and still they served the minotaur with little sign of objection or indignity. They walked around with no shame as nothing covered what should have been their most personal and private spots, didn’t recoil as said parts were openly caressed by the ones who held the chains to their shackles, and looked delighted while being publicly molested.

As vastly different the Antlerteans were from Thicket deer, Bramble couldn’t help but compare the two races’ similarities. Save for the glowing tattoos, their less slender and more rounded physics, and overly sexualize features, the two species looked very similar. It was very easy for the prince to visualize the does of his city in their place, likewise obeying their dominators with pleasant smiles and alluring coos.

How long did it take for the minotaur to tame these cervid creatures? Several generations? A single generation? Less than that? If they could break and convert these does into obedient objects of lust, would his kind be able to resist the same fate? It frightened him that he could see his own species’ females slipping into that role, but not nearly as much as he was for the males of Thicket. The ones that were captured were present, locked behind bars, but from what Bramble could see, there were none here of the Antlertean variety, and seeing that the minotaur had far more interest in the females, he became nervous of why that was the case.

Overall, the prince was terrified of the fate that could befall his people, and was really hoping that his father was right, that Blackthorn was planning an escape this very moment. From the way it looked, only he could possibly find a way out of this for all of them, or even any of them. As the buck kept moving forward, eyes scanning the holding cages where the males were kept, he searched them all to find the guard captain. He was unable to find him in the cages, but did eventually spot the stag he was seeking once he finally reached where the minotaur were leading him, which was before the leader of their raiding group.

“So this is the intruder I’ve heard so much about,” said Titanius, sitting on a chair made of solid rock.

The large bovine sat with commanding posture as he looked at his newly acquired prize, his dick being attended to by the mouth of the only Antlertean stag in the entire cave, the sight of which dismissed one of Bramble’s fears, though just slightly seeing that this was the only male Antlertean present. At his side knelt Blackthorn, wrists stuck in a stockade that held his arms above his head, cock held within a sheath of metal, his antlers shaved down to mere nubs that matched the other stag that was servicing the minotaur leader. Bramble winced as he realized that it wasn’t only females who could gratify these barbarians’ lustful urges.

“Well then,” said Titanius, “Step forward and let me get a good look at ya.”

One of the minotaur pushed the prince towards the seated minotaur, Bramble stumbling forward into an area with better lighting than the rest of the cave, his body in full view for anyone around him to peer at. Blackthorn immediately recognized him, his face momentarily contorting to one of pure disbelief, until reality set in and accepted the truth presented before him.

“Why, you’re nothing but a boy.” Titanius said, seeing a blush form on the buck’s face.

“I’m not a boy,” Bramble objected, well aware that despite his age, his body had yet to grow out of some of its youthful features. Does in Thicket often remarked at how cute he was, which was somehow on par with his current predicament in terms of embarrassment.

“Really?” Titanius said, “And here I thought we’d have to find you a loincloth. We keep fawns a little more dressed than we do full grown stags and does, but if you’re saying your an adult, then I’ll gladly treat you like one.”

“I’m not just a stag,” Bramble confirmed, “I’m the prince of Thicket.”

Bramble said that as if it would mean something to the minotaur, but the moment he stated his title Blackthorn groaned. The older stag knew that as a prisoner, such a title would do him more harm than good.

“Oooohhh, you’re royalty. You hear that boys, we have a prince gracing us with his presence.”

The other minotaur laughed, and Bramble understood quickly that they didn’t respect his royal lineage one bit.

“I only bring it up because I feel that it would be in the best interest of both our groups that we started some negotiations.” Bramble said, his desperate attempt to get some leniency from the bovines completely transparent, “You have a lot of our people captive, and it’s not hard to see what you want from us, but isn’t there some way to work this all out?”

“My young, royal captive,” replied Titanius, taking great joy from the prince’s feeble, yet amusing, attempts to help his people, “You are in no position to try to bargain, and if I’m not mistaken, it was you who wanted to attack us beforehand. Now that you’ve been captured, you’ve decided it would be best to strike a deal? Besides, the minotaur have attempted to negotiate with the lesser races in the past, and it has never worked out.”

“Bramble, don’t try to bargain with these barbarians!” Blackthorn said, trying to keep the prince from doing something careless, “They can’t be trusted, and they can’t be reasoned wi-!”

“That's quite enough, Domitius,” Titanius said, clamping a hand around Blackthorn’s muzzle, “The boy is old enough to make his own decisions.”

“Domitius?” Bramble questioned.

“Ah, yes, you probably know my slave by some other name.” Titanius said, bemused, “In my culture, we tend to rename our slaves to welcome them into our house. Domitius here is one of my prizes for this successful raid, and will serve me for as long as we both live.”

Blackthorn made attempts to pull himself away from the minotaur’s grasp, but as he resisted the bovine male pulled out a small box with a switch on it. Flipping the toggle on the box, a low buzzing sound could be heard coming from Blackthorn’s direction. Whatever it was, it agitated the stag fiercely, causing him to moan into the minotaur’s hand as he started to move his body about as if it were impossible to hold still.

“In fact,” the minotaur continued, “My king said I may select any three males I found to my liking to keep, regardless of their title.”

Bramble gulped. It didn’t take a master of deduction to understand the implications of the minotaur’s statement.

“However, your friend here is wrong. We are not as impossible to bargain with as he implies, and I can be trusted to abide by my word. Release him from his bonds.”

One of the other minotaur stepped behind Bramble, and did as Titanius commanded. It didn’t take but a second to get the cuffs off, returning freedom of movement to the deer’s arms. Bramble took a moment to rub his wrists, before instinctively covering his crotch when he spotted Titanius eyeing it.

“No need to hide yourself,” the minotaur stated crassly, “I’ve already had enough time to look at that tiny dick of yours. For a second, I was thinking I might have mistaken your sex, and that you were just flat chested with an oversized clit.”

His comment on the prince’s size got some snickering from the other bovine, and renewed Bramble’s blush.

“It’s not that small…” Bramble said, being a little above average for a male of his species.

“Maybe not when compared to a deer, but it doesn’t really hold a candle to this.”

Titanius gently pushed the stag lapping at his cock away, and stood up in his seat to allow the buck a good look at his glory. The minotaur was a towering creature in comparison, tall with muscles that put the well trained soldiers of Thicket to shame, with Blackthorn’s own naked form aside the bull to act as a comparison. At the center of the brick wall of a man was a dick that simply dwarfed Bramble’s puny penis; thick, long, and rigid. At catching a full glimpse of the bovine cock, Bramble’s imagination forced the buck to picture himself at its mercy. Not in any romantic manner, but contemplating the nightmare of his body being wrapped around such a thing as he had seen the minotaur do to other deer.

“So, do you see the obvious difference between my penis and yours?” Titanius scoffed, sensing Bramble’s intimidation before his manhood. Bramble said nothing in response, instead giving a nod of agreement to the minotaur’s boast. “Then you can tell that I am much more of a man than one such as you will ever be. Compared to me, you’d make for a much better doe than a stag.”

“Are you going to… rape me with that?” Bramble asked, knees shaking and heart pounding. The question didn’t need asking, but the words slipped out from his lips.

“Having perverse thoughts about me already, I see,” replied the minotaur, “Not that I blame ya, but no. You might be old enough, but you’re still too young and inexperienced in my eyes to take my dick. So I won’t be stretching out that little deer ass of yours just yet.” Bramble let out a sigh of relief, but it was cut short when Titanius went on to say, “That is… so long as you are a good deer and obey my commands. This is the only deal I will grant you as my slave, and know that it is only out of my compassion that I even offer it. Another raid leader would have bedded you the moment you were presented before him.”

Bramble understood that this wasn’t really an offer, it was an ultimatum. If he didn’t do what this minotaur wanted, or so much as said no at that moment, his ass would be stuffed full of the bull's cock in response. He was afraid to accept the terms though, as Blackthorn was right when he said that none of these creatures could be trusted. In the end though, agreeing to the terms the minotaur presented would at least postpone impalement, so what choice did he have but to agree.

“I… accept.” Bramble said, incapable of putting up a fight against his captor in this instance.

Even unbound, with the amount of minotaur here, his lack of clothing, and the loss of any courage he had in the face of these raiders made it so escape would be impossible. It might have been detestable, but he would have to submit to these vile creatures for now.

Titanius smiled at the buck’s resignation. “Good, then from this point on you will address me as ‘Master’. Understood?” Bramble replied with a silent nod. “Speak up boy, a slave should speak when spoken to.”

“Yes… Master.” said Bramble, letting the minotaur hear him say the title he would refer to him by.

“Good boy. You’ll shape up to be a good house slave yet. Sergius, go give your new brother his new uniform.”

“Right away, Master.” said the Antlertean stag as he approached Bramble with his box of tools in hand, stopping right in front of the buck and kneeling before him so his head was at waist height.

“W-wait, what’s this?!” Bramble asked in a slightly frantic manner, remembering that this was the stag that had spent most of the conversation thus far saturating the minotaur’s dick with saliva.

“Calm down,” Sergius said, reaching into his supply box, “I’m just gonna fit you for a chastity cage. It will make sure you don’t get frisky with the does. They belong to our masters now. So… are you a virgin?”

“What does that have to do with anything?” asked Bramble, watching the Antlertean gather up a bunch of small straps and metal bits.

“Answer the question.” Titanius demanded.

Bramble hesitated, but then looked away in a huff as he said, “Yes”. The royal line of Thicket had a tradition that males were not to have sex until married, and Bramble obeyed his father’s request to follow it.

“Lucky you,” said Sergius, grabbing the last parts of his contraption, “Master punishes those who’ve had sex with a much more uncomfortable version of the chastity cage. For you, it’ll just make sure you can’t get fully erect.”

Bramble grumbled as the other stag got to work fitting him with his new cock cage, believing such a device to be unnecessary. There was nothing about this he found arousing, though he had to admit that he was finding it difficult to control his penis while it was being fondled throughout the process. Difficult, but entirely possible.

Minute’s passed, and eventually Bramble was equipped with his dick restraint, his flaccid sex organ resting on the cool and smooth surface inside of the metal sheath. It snugly gripped at the buck’s privates, the feeling of tightness acting as a constant reminder that it existed to its wearer, no matter how hard they tried to ignore it.

“Very good,” Titanius commented upon completion of the cage, “Now you just need two more things.”

“What now?” Bramble said with disdain.

“Nothing as intrusive as what has already been done to you.” answered Servious, locking the chastity device before repositioning himself behind the buck. “Master just wants you to be presentable around the camp.”

Before Bramble could inquire further, he felt a strap of leather wrap around his throat. He could tell it was a collar, since most other deer were wearing held here one as well.

“Give him a little breathing room,” Titanius said, “That one doesn’t have a leash ring, and I want to be able to grab him by it in case I need to.”

Sergius complied, leaving enough slack in the collar to create a small gap between the material and Bramble’s neck, letting it hang in a fairly cute, loose manner.

“And now for the last part of your ensemble,” said Sergius once he locked the collar into place.

Bramble again tried to ask what it was going to be, but the second he opened his mouth a metal bit was inserted into it, pushed all the way back to the curves of his lips as several more straps made of leather went around the deer’s muzzle, ones thick enough to not break easily, but thin enough to fit reasonably comfortably.

His head was being placed into a bridle, complete with a set of reins that would be used to guide him about when Titanius felt the desire to do so. The surprise of the device being forced upon him caused Bramble to struggle and pull away from Sergius, until he caught the dissatisfied glare of his minotaur master. In fear of a possible anal raping, Bramble allowed the bridle to be put on him properly, though this was the least comfortable part of his dressing, with the bar in his mouth agitating his jaw slightly, and the device prevented him from talking except in slurred words. Like the other pieces of his slave gear, the bridle was fastened together with several locks that one would need keys to in order to remove, meaning that Bramble would be wearing them for as long as Titanius wished it.

“And done!” Sergius announced, stepping away from his finished project.

“Hmmm… yes, he looks very nice.” Titanius said approvingly, “What do the rest of you think?”

The other minotaur present made many comments about how the buck was pretty as a girl, or how he really looked the part of a slave now. He had almost forgotten that they were still there watching, and becoming the center of attention while practically nude and dressed in these fetishy restraints was starting to turn his face a deep color of red.

“Hey, doesn’t he need a proper name now?” said one of the random minotaur.

“I’ve been thinking about that, actually,” Titanius answered, “And I think I have a good one for him. My other slave stag called him Bramble earlier, so I think that Rubus is a good name for him.”

“That is a fitting name for him,” said another minotaur over the group, “Small and cute, just like him.”

“Then it’s settled.” said Titanius, “Boy, from this point on you will answer to the name of Rubus. If you refuse or neglect to respond to it, I will punish you. Are we clear, Rubus?”

Bramble nodded in reply, having no real choice in the matter. The minotaur was going to call him that whether he accepted it or not, and refusing the name would only lead to a shift punishment. It was just a nickname, after all, and he was always going to be Bramble, so it didn’t matter what these bovines referred to him as. The minotaur surrounding him started making remarks using the name, but for some reason, it was actually less embarrassing to hear the minotaur make comments about Rubus and not Bramble.

“Sergius, bring me Rubus’ reins,” Titanius commanded his Antlertean serving stag, to which Sergius presented them to his master immediately, giving the leather straps a hard pull to move Bramble along, graciously handing the prince off to his new master. “I’m going to have some alone time with my new pet.”

Bramble’s eyes went wide when he heard that, assuming that the minotaur was already breaking his promise to not violate him.

“Don’t worry, boy,” the minotaur said, catching sight of the buck’s fear, “As I said, I’ll keep my word, but that only means I won’t stick my dick in you. Believe me, there are plenty of other ways we can enjoy each other’s company.”

Bramble's knees buckled for a moment as the fear in his mind grew. Seeing what these minotaur were doing to the others, he could only imagine that horrible things were in store for him. What kinds of tortures awaited him at the hands of this creature, he would only learn in due time.

“Sergius, take care of Domitius while me and Rubus get acquainted. As for the rest of you,” said Titanius as he looked to his fellow raiders, “Show’s over. Get back to taming those does. They need to be nice and timid by the time they’re back in Minopolis.”

The other minotaur grumbled that they wouldn’t be able to watch the deer prince get broken in, but returned back to the task of breaking their own deer captives to their will. With the others returning to business, Titanius gave the reins in his hand a tug, wordlessly instructing the buck at the end of the lead to follow him with a jerk of the deer’s head. Bramble complied, and followed his master deeper into the cave, further from any hope of escape, and closer to his fate of enslavement and sexual servitude.

Author's Note

Stay tuned for some minotaur on cute femboy deer action, probably in a week or so