Equestria Trainers' Society: Work For Hire

Having parted ways with the crystal mare, Anya followed the minotaur calling himself Rubric, with Gilda following behind. They were traveling down a dark hallway, one different from the one that she had walked through from her room to the meeting place. While that one was well lit and had decorations that must have cost a fortune to acquire, this one had nothing but brick walls to act as scenery. If Anya had to guess, that was because this passage was meant for those who worked for The Society, while the other one was for Schorl’s clientele. That way, the ones paying for the service Schorl provided wouldn’t have to see the workers moving about all the time.

“You will have to walk with a minotaur whenever you go down these tunnels,” Rubric stated, “They are like a maze, and we have an innate ability to find our way around complex places like that. If you try to go down them yourself, your likely to get lost, and then we’d have to come look for you.”

“Is it that way for the slaves?” Anya asked, making assumptions.

“That’s part of the reason,” Rubric answered, “But minotaur also like these kinds of structures. Even our cities are maze-like, and can be hard for non-minotaur to navigate, even after years of living in it. We do have ways of helping our property find their way around without us though.”

Anya was listening, but found the details no concern to her. While she was intending to go to the minotaur lands at some point, she had wings, and thus any maze cities they had wouldn’t cause her any problems. No, there was something else she wanted to know more about at the moment. A certain thing that she needed to know about the gryphon following behind her.

“So Gilda,” Anya said, looking back to the younger gryphon, “You been working here long?”

Gilda grumbled, knowing this moment would come, and not being too happy with it. “For a while,” she relented, “But what’s it to you?”

“Yeah, I heard you were looking for a job from Grampa Gruff. I heard Gallus and Gabby went with you.”

“You think Gabby would want to work in a place like this?” Gilda replied, a bitterness in her tone, “The only way she’d step talon in The Society is in chains.”

“Then what about Gallus?” Anya asked, actually concerned about the male gryphon. He was just old enough to be an adult, and she hoped that he didn’t fall in with a terrible group like this.

“He's been here for a while,” Gilda answered, looking quite pleased with herself, for some reason, “He's been trying to work himself up to hunter status for a while now, but at his age they've got him doing grunt work around The Society. Lifting boxes, moving gear, preparing cages for incoming slaves.”

Anya didn’t like that Gallus had actually signed up to work with The Society, but was glad to know where the young male was, and that he hadn't done anything terrible first hand, at least not yet.

“Then that leaves just one more question I want to ask you,” Anya said, her tone getting darker.

“What’s that?” Gilda replied, not taking notice of the older gryphon’s demeanor turning grim.

“Did you have anything to do with the capture of a brown and white pegasus since you’ve been working here?” Anya asked, being as direct about the question as she could be.

“A pegasus?” Gilda asked, “Do you know how many pegasus pass through here, or the amount I’ve been sent to deal with? You expect me to keep track of each one?”

“This one should be easy to remember,” Anya replied, “He came in with a kelpie.”

That bit of information caught Gilda’s attention, “Oh, yeah, I know who you’re talking about. Yeah, I was part of that capture, why do you want to-”

Gilda was cut short as Anya span around and grabbed her by the collar of her shirt, “Do you know who those two are?!” she yelled, “Maybe you don’t remember, but they’re my friends, and you sold them into slavery!”

“Back off!” Gilda yelled back, knocking the older gryphon’s hands away, “I didn’t do anything to you! If I captured some of your pony friends, then it’s only because I was sent there by The Society, and if I didn’t go, then someone else would have been sent instead.”

Anya was fuming, not really listening to what she considered Gilda’s excuses, but then she felt a large hand land on her shoulder. “She’s right,” Rubric said calmly, “If The Society wanted your friends as slaves, then someone would have gone for your friends, and they would have been captured. It is not Gilda’s fault that it so happened to be her, just as it won’t be your fault when you’re kidnapping someone else’s friends or family to become slaves as well.”

The minotaur’s point reached Anya better than Gilda’s defensive reply had, but she still didn’t like that the other gryphon was a part of this. “I might be working for you, but it’s not for profit, like her.”

“It isn’t?” Rubric said, “You might not be in this for the money, but you are expecting to be rewarded eventually with the return of your friends, even though you don’t even know if their owner is going to be willing to give them up. You might say you’re doing this to free them, but don’t be deluded into thinking you’re not doing it for yourself as well.”

“I don’t need to be lectured about my motivations,” Anya said, pushing the minotaur’s hand off her, “I just need to complete this contract, and you just need to get me to Minopolis once we’re done.”

“If you want to keep our relationship professional, so be it.” Rubric said, turning back to proceed down the hallway, “But if that’s the case, I expect you to act professional. That means no fighting with your coworkers. Got it?”

Anya sent a glare back to Gilda, who was smiling and sticking her tongue out at her. Angry and dissatisfied, but understanding the minotaur was in charge, Anya silently began following Rubric. Gilda quickly caught up as well, passing by Anya, and saying “Can’t wait to see if you back out of your contract”, taunting the older gryphon as she took a place at Rubric’s side.

The two gryphons were led to a chamber deep within the workers’ passage, its door leaking a bright light into the dark hallway as Rubric pushed it open. Anya entered, and once her eye adjusted, she was mildly surprised to see the large room she had entered.From where she stood, it looked like the chamber stretched out for a mile, and had a ceiling at least ten yards up.

“I wasn’t expecting this,” Anya said, making her way in further, seeing many large objects strewn about the room as her eye adjusted further, “I thought we were in some underground base, since I haven’t seen sunlight for a while.”

“You thought correctly,” Rubric said, “This room was constructed far underground.”

“You could make a space this vacant underground without having the whole thing cave in?” Anya said, slightly impressed. She wasn’t that familiar with architecture, but she was certain something like this would not be easy to construct, and would get more difficult the deeper down one got, having to support tons of weight around it.

“The walls of all Society locations are encased in a thick layer of black crystal,” Rubric explained further, “The crystal mare forms it with her magic, and its sturdy enough to withstand the pressure around it. It also has a side effect that most magics can’t penetrate it, which helps when keeping magical creatures captive.”

“That’s interesting...” Anya said, wondering where the mare could have picked up such a spell.

“Now if you’re done asking about how the place is built, let me introduce you to the training area.” Rubric said, walking through the area, “Or at least the training area for flying creatures, like yourself. This is where we have new recruits hone their skills, in order to get them ready for slave hunts. Luckily for you, no new gryphons have shown up for a while now. Think we might have run that well dry.”

Anya was taken aback a little that they were here, and not getting prepared to round up ponies for enslavement, “You mean we aren’t starting my work for you immediately?”

“Don’t worry,” Rubric reassured, “Your contract, and its set time, started the moment you signed that piece of paper. I can’t just take you onto raids and hunting missions untrained though, so this part is basically coming out of my pocket.”

“What’s the matter?” Gilda asked, flapping her wings to lift herself off the ground, hovering herself over Anya, “Think a little training is beneath you?”

Anya might not have been a trained slaver, but she did have some experience when it came to fighting. Not a professional, but she figured that capturing creatures wouldn’t need a high level of combat training. She felt like training was a waste of time, when she could be doing the job she signed for.

“Don’t antagonize, Gilda,” Rubric scolded, “Now go take a seat and watch.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice to take a break,” Gilda said, flying to a bench sitting alongside a wall.

Anya watched the other feline fowl take a seat, still sending smug smirks in her direction, before going to Rubric, “So what is she to you?” Anya asked, “Don’t tell me she’s your second in command.”

“No,” Rubric said, “But she is a fairly decent hunter. Hot headed, but that anger drives her. That, and an apparent grudge against ponies.”

That detail caught Anya’s ear, as if she recalled correctly, she had heard from Grampa Gruff a long time ago that Gilda had made a pony friend in Equestria, during her time learning how to fly in junior flight school.

“I only brought her here today because Schorl said you were looking for her,” Rubric said, “By whatever issues you have with one another can be dealt with on your own time. For now, we will see how useful you can be for me.”

The minotaur looked up, prompting Anya to do the same. Above them was a set of plastic hoops, each suspended by a rod of a similar material that lead up to the ceiling.

“I want you to fly up there and go through all the hoops,” Rubric said, pointing to one that was the closest to the entrance door, “Starting with that one, and ending when you get back to me.”

Anya nodded, seeing that the minotaur wanted to see her display her ability to fly. With a flap of her wings, she made her way back to the first hoop, taking a moment to level herself out, and then shot herself through it. After going through, she took note of how all the other hoops were not positioned directly in front of one another, so she had to adjust her trajectory each time she went from one to the next. At one the curve was just a bit too much for her, and she had to make a complete stop, before changing her angle of approach and slipping through without issue.

It took a little under a minute for anya to get back to Rubric, but when the gryphoness did, she did a short dive bomb to get back to the ground as quickly as possible. Extending her wings at the last second, she flipped her body back right-side up, and gently touched her talons to the floor. “How was that?”

“It was fine,” Rubric said, “At the very least you can fly around obstacles with some precision.”

“Pfft, she might be able to fly,” Gilda said, picking herself up off of her seat, “But she can’t do it really good.” Without prompt, Gilda took to the air, zipping herself over to the first hoop with impressive speed, not pausing for a moment before slipping through it. She proceeded to do the same with each hoop that came along, making her way through each with no problems, not grazing so much as a feather as she passed through them. When coming to the one Anya had to stop at, the gryphon simply twisted her body into a barrel roll, and used her momentum to corkscrew into it and the one following. The feat was performed so well that Anya couldn’t help but be amazed. Had Gilda always been that good a flyer?

After finishing off the remaining hoops, Gilda did a dive bomb similar to Anya’s, but at reckless speeds. Anya thought Gilda was about to crash as she watched her get far too close to the ground, but Gilda pulled herself up in a dangerous curve that barely missed the floor, before landing next to Rubric, completely unharmed, and without any signs of fatigue.

“That’s how you do that course,” Gilda said, sending more smug looks to Anya.

“I didn’t realize this was a competition,” Anya retorted, her awe leaving fairly quickly the moment Gilda tried to rub her skills in her face.

“You’re new here, but I’m gonna let you in on something ahead of time, as a favor,” said Gilda, “For the hunters, it’s always a competition. If you can’t prove yourself, then no one's gonna respect you, and that includes me.”

Anya looked to Rubric, who gave a huff, “Our hunters do like to compare their abilities with one another, and have made a bit of a hierarchy with one another based on the captures they manage. It’s not something The Society endorses, but there is nothing wrong with it so long as it doesn’t get out of hand.”

It sounded like the gryphons The Society had hired took it upon themselves to start flaunting their ill gotten wealth, and create a hierarchy based on bragging rights.

“So how about it?” Gilda said, her tone carrying an attitude Anya didn’t like, “Up for a bit of a challenge? One with high stakes?”

“I don’t have anything to prove to you,” Anya answered, “I’m just here to do my tour, and…”

“Yeah, yeah, get your stupid pony friends back,” Gilda said, provoking the other gryphoness, “But do you really think you’ll be able to get them back if you can’t even beat me in a little competition.”

Anya felt her beak crease into a scowl. She normally wouldn’t have bought into the taunting, but something about Gilda mocking her made the older avian want to shut her up. “Fine, what do you have in mind?”

“Before I set the challenge, let’s talk about the stakes.” Gilda said with absolute confidence.

“Stakes?” Anya asked, not thinking that there would be anything on the line.

“It wouldn’t mean much if the loser didn’t get punished,” Gilda replied, “And I have just the thing.” Gilda took Rubric by the arm, which looked to be as thick as she her body, “How about whoever loses has to be this minotaur’s fuck toy for the rest of the day?”

“Excuse me?” Anya replied, knowing what she heard, but not believing her ears.

“You heard me,” Gilda reiterated, “The one who loses our little game has to give themselves over to this guy here for a day. Full submission, gotta do whatever he wants until Celestia raises the sun.”

“Did you plan this?” Anya asked Rubric.

“No,” the minotaur replied, “Though I’m not opposed to the idea of having one of you submit to me for an evening. It was heading into noon last I checked, so I would have roughly twelve hours with the loser.”

“Well I don’t agree with that bet,” Anya said, not wanting to risk her body in such a way.

“What are you, chicken?” Gilda asked, goading the other gryphon further.

“No, I just have self respect,” said Anya.

The minotaur grumbled. He didn’t care as much about having either gryphon submit to him sexually, but he saw that if this conflict between them wasn’t resolved, it would just keep going. “Look, if it will settle this feud between the both of you, then I’ll toss my own hat into this bet. I’ll set the challenge, the loser will submit to my will this evening, but… Anya, if you win I’ll tell you the name of the creature who owns your friends.”

Anya was shocked to hear the bull say that, “You know who has my friends?”

“I know their name,” Rubric repeated, admitting only that detail, “I was there when they were claimed. It would certainly make it easier for you to find them in my homelands, once you get there.”

The minotaur’s offer was much more tempting than simply shutting Gilda up. She wanted so much to put a name to the person she’d have to deal with once she was done with Rubric.

“But as an aside,” Rubric added, “Once this is done, I want this spat between you two finished. It will only conflict with my business, so which one of you wins is the better gryphon, no repeats.”

“That’s fine with me,” Gilda agreed, “I’m not gonna lose.”

It took Anya a moment to consider the terms, and then nodded, “I accept, on one condition.”

“What?” asked Rubric, “If you’re gonna ask that I tell you the name if you win or lose, I’ll have to decline. Information like that needs to be earned.”

“No,” Anya said, knowing there was a bigger issue to deal with, “I just don’t want either of us to get pregnant if you fuck us.”

“So you know about that,” Gilda said, playing it off as if it were a detail that slipped her mind.

Anya knew about that little detail about minotaur, being a respectively sexual creature. While she had never slept with a minotaur before, she learned their ability to breed with any female and the potency of their semen as a random bit of trivia. She didn’t want to have to deal with something like that, and she knew that Gruff would have been furious if she had let Gilda get pregnant, though from the sound of it, Gilda was already planning to get around that.

“That’s acceptable,” Rubric said, “You two wait here, I’ll go get your challenge.” The minotaur walked off, heading back out the way he came in. “And no fighting while I’m gone!”

Time passed, and the two gryphons had to endure each others’ company, one having an easier time than the other. It really wasn’t that bad, as they did little to interact with one another as they waited for Rubric to return, not saying a word to one another. Anya spent most of her time looking over the other obstacle courses in the room, knowing that she would have to deal with them later for training, whether she won or lost. She also didn’t want to be at a disadvantage if the challenge involved them somehow, believing that Gilda had to be familiar with the layout of this room due to her time here, and that the experience she had was what allowed her to fly through the hoops so well.

Gilda, on the other hand, simply leaned against a wall and watched Anya like a hawk, making sure to hold a smug expression on her face so the older gryphon would have to see it whenever she looked in her direction. Anya didn’t know what Gilda’s deal was, but the girl had always had a bit of an attitude. Anya just never thought it was this bad, but then again, she didn’t really know the younger gryphon well on a personal level, only through Grampa Gruff.

Eventually, the bull returned, coming through the same door as before with a large crate in his arms, and with twelve others following in after. Unable to ignore this new crowd, Anya went over to Rubric to get a closer look at his entourage, discovering that they were a small herd of naked, collared deer, an equal amount of stags and does. Anya was aware of the existence of Everfree deer, but the ones present didn’t fit their description, neither in general appearance, or with the series of tribal tattoos each one of them bore on their bodies.

“Ok you two,” Rubric said, putting his crate on the ground, the object touching down with a heavy crash, “I’ve got your challenge ready.”

“I assume it involved these slaves of yours,” Anya said, not having to work her brain too hard to determine the deer’s status in The Society. Oddly, some of the deer giggled at her comment, finding humor in it, or perhaps the status Anya claimed they were.

“Xenia,” Rubric said, looking down to a grey furred deer in the lineup, “Explain what is going on while I get things ready.”

The grey deer stepped forward, as the minotaur knelt down to search through his box. “Master Rubric has decided to test you both on your capturing abilities.” The deer said, in a fairly pleasant tone for someone who was enslaved, “He is going to have the other Antlerteans here spread out across this training ground, and it will be up to you both to catch and restrain as many as you can in five minutes.”

“You’re not on the menu?” Gilda asked, looking the grey doe up and down, a predatory glare in her eyes.

“I’m afraid not,” Xenia replied, smiling politely at the gryphon, “I’m just here in case anyone needs medical attention. If you want to rent me out later though, I’m sure the head mistress can arrange something.”

“Besides,” Rubric said, “She’d make the number of deer even, and we need them to be odd in order to have a clear winner.”

Rubric pulled out several sets of cuffs from the crate. Not ordinary ones though, but ones made up of linked together zip ties, half of them being red while the other were blue. Once obtained, he got back to his hooves and walked over the gryphons, handing the red ones to Gilda, while the blue ones went to Anya.

“When chasing your prey down,” Xenia continued, “You will have to use these zip cuffs to prevent them being able to move far from the spot you caught them. This will count as a catch, and give you a point. I’d suggest you bind their arms and legs, but if you can thing of other ways to accomplish this, then it will count just the same.”

“However,” Rubric added, “Damaged goods don’t sell as well as those in perfect condition, and I want that reflected in this test. If you hurt one of the deer badly, the point will not be counted.” The minotaur sent a glare over to Gilda, who rolled her eyes at him. “It goes without saying, but the one with the most captures at the end of the contest wins.”

“And the one with the least sucks down minotaur dick.” Gilda tacked on at the end.

A few of the deer made small “ooooooooooo” noises at Gilda’s taunt, acting like a band of schoolyard children. Others shook their heads playfully at the reactions of those who did, as they took to stretching on the spot to limber their bodies. The deer didn’t seem to take any of this too seriously, both the contest or their captivity. Part of her didn’t care, but another part wanted to ask the deer questions. Did they know they were in a slavery ring? Did they think this was all some sort of BDSM club, and they were just normal subs? Were they suffering from Stockholms Syndrome? Maybe a more important question was where did these ‘Antlerteans’ come from, as they certainly weren’t Equestrians, not with that kind of attitude towards being paraded around naked.

“That’s enough,” Rubric said, silencing the deer, “Now get out there, all of ya, and if I catch any of you half assing your part in this, I’ll have that half of your ass turned red.”

The deer ran off to different parts of the training room, some taking up shelter inside or around some of the obstacles. Once Rubric was satisfied with their positioning, he turned to Xenia and tossed her stopwatch.

“Ok girls, on your marks,” the grey deer said, thumb on the device’s start button. The two gryphons got ready, facing the training grounds, while getting ready to bolt off at a moment’s notice, “Get set.” The feline fowls let their wings go out to full span, both knowing that it would be faster for them to fly than to try and outrun each other. “And GO!”

With a shared beat of their wings, Gilda managed to bolt ahead, her speed beating out Anya’s at the start of the competition. Anya noted that Gilda was faster, the advantage of youth on her side, but that factor wasn’t the only one that mattered. Gilda could be as fast as she wanted, but if she could manage to pick her targets strategically, then she could overcome her disadvantage.

First thing Anya had to concede was that it was worthless to go after the closest deer, as Gilda would no doubt be targeting the same one, and fighting over the same target would not be beneficial with the ‘do no harm’ rule in place. It was best for her to go after the next closest, which if she captured them fast enough, it would allow her to have less distance between her and the next target, which would place Gilda even further away from her next possible target.

There’s one, Anya thought to herself, spotting one of the bucks that took up refuge inside a series of tall, thick poles that stood upright, each having several smaller rods sticking out on them all over the place. Anya had no clue what they were for, but she felt she could easily slip through them to get to the male.

As she got closer though, the buck made no effort to flee from them to get away. Instead he bent down, and twisted a few small crystals that were at the poles’ bases, which caused magic that was stored inside them to flow into them, causing the poles to start rotating rapidly. Suddenly the poles became a hurricane of spinning wood, making Anya have to stop before reaching them.

“Sorry miss,” the buck apologized from the center of the spinning obstacles, “But you’re not going to have an easy time getting to me. Better to go after someone else.”

Anya had to agree with the deer, at least at the difficulty of getting to him. Looked like the deer didn’t have any rules not to hurt their hunters, which was probably on purpose, as it would be the same during a real capture mission. Still, Anya could see out of the corner of her eye that Gilda was cornering her first doe, and she didn’t have the luxury to just move on.

While the poles were spinning fast enough to do damage, Anya found it hard to ignore that there was space enough where the buck stood for him to do so without fear, and so there was one obvious way around his defenses. Flying straight up, Anya went above the poles, and flew over the center area where the deer was. Just as she thought, there was plenty of room to get in there, and even the deer knew she had found a work around as he looked up at her descent.

Landing next to the deer, she looked him in the eye, giving the buck a glare that sent a chill through his spine. “Turn these off, now!” Anya demanded, to which the deer complied, giving her a nervous smile as he did. Ten seconds later, the rotation of the poles stopped, and the deer found himself hugging one, his wrists tied together on the opposite side of his body, marking him as a capture.

With one down, Anya continued her plan, spying a doe who had gone out into the open to get a better look at what the gryphon had done with the buck. It would be an easy point, so Anya went right for her, the deer noticing the avian’s trajectory, and taking off to get as far away as she could. Fortunately, the doe wasn’t heading for any structures, so all it would take was for Anya to catch up. At least, that’s what Anya had thought, but while she was closing the distance between them, another body blurred by, cutting the gryphon off.

“Too slow, Grandma!” Gilda called out, spinning back around, catching up with the exposed doe instantly, managing to sweep her up into the air by slipping her talons underneath the deer’s arms.

Seeing that, Anya knew that the point was lost, and made efforts to find another target. There was another doe not too far away, trying to stay hidden in what looked to be a netted jungle gym. Anya zipped over like a bullet, the doe ducking inside when she figured she was the next one to be rounded up.

They aren’t making this easy, Anya thought, feeling herself sweat a bit. Gilda had pretty much decimated the strategy she was relying on, the two gryphons now getting into an area where more deer were congregated, thus making the distance between each one fairly moot. The only way to beat Gilda now seemed to be employing superior skill.

The gryphon landed in front of the jungle gym structure, crawled inside, and quickly spotted the doe within reach. The two stared at each other for a moment, neither expecting to run into the other so quickly, but Anya recovered only a few seconds later, reaching out to grab the deer and get her into a set of cuffs. Seeing the gryphon coming for her, but still being frozen in the gaze of the feathered female, the doe screamed as loud as she could. In response to this reaction, Anya found herself flinching, not expecting the doe to react like that, briefly forgetting that she was supposed to be catching the girl.

Unfortunately for Anya, that short moment of delay was all the doe needed to collect her thoughts, and scramble for one of the exits to the structure she was in. Anya tried to follow after, but the moment the deer reached the way out, a pair of talons nabbed her by the wrists, pulling her completely out of the jungle gym and Anya’s sight. Anya mentally kicked herself as she recognized that Gilda had just stolen another point from her, giving her a two point lead. What was worse was that there were only eleven possible targets, thus if Gilda got just three more, then she’d win by default.

This… isn’t looking good. Anya thought, unhappily making her way out of the structure she was in, somewhat demoralized that she had allowed herself to fall so far behind.

For the rest of the challenge, Anya was stuck playing catch up. Her early game gambit had failed, simply on the merit that Gilda was playing for keeps, not having any qualms in blocking Anya from scoring a catch when she knew she could. She was also incredibly efficient, wasting little more than thirty seconds between each catch. Anya wanted to say that the younger gryphon was cheating, that the deer were letting her catch them, but keeping a close eye on Gilda let her see that the deer were indeed running like their lives depended on it, ducking around objects, and struggling against her once in her clutches, only to be bound expertly but the gryphon. There was no way that anyone in good faith could call what Gilda was doing cheating.

On Anya’s end, the rest of the competition was harsh, not helped with her distracting herself by keeping watch on Gilda. She managed to catch one more buck, but by that time her opposition had gotten to her fifth deer, and the game was pretty much over. There might have been a chance if Anya were able to do as Gilda did, and prevent her from scoring her last point by stealing her captures, but Gilda made a brilliant tactical move by heading to the deer that was furthest from Anya’s location. That gave Anya two terrible options; either follow the faster female in an attempt to stop her, or stay and try to catch the ones closer to her, giving Gilda as much time as she wanted to cement her victory. Basically, the challenge was over, ending three minutes and fifty seconds in.

Wanting to save face, Anya resigned herself to capturing as many of the remaining deer as she could, but when Xenia called out “Time!”, there was still one deer left unbound, Gilda not even bothering to go after that one once she got all the points she needed.

“Gather your captures, and present them for tally!” yelled Rubric, “And be quick! Any not present in a minute will not be counted!”

While there was a given time limit, this part of the contest went along much easier, the deer giving no resistance as they were released, walking themselves over to the minotaur to be counted. Not that Anya would have been satisfied if she won due to the deer having caused trouble for Gilda, but with that not being the case, any hope the older gryphon had of beating Gilda, even on a technicality, was gone.

“Well then,” Rubric said, looking at two groups of deer, and seeing that one was notably bigger than the other, “I think we have a clear winner.”

“Yeah…” Anya conceded, knowing what that meant for her.

“Don’t feel too bad,” Gilda said, “I’m just better than you.”

“Gilda,” said Rubric with a scolding tone, “But she does have a point. Gilda has been working for us for a while now, and she is simply more experienced with capturing creatures. Not to mention she’s gone through enough training in this room that she could probably go through the courses blindfolded.”

Anya sighed, more at disappointment with herself than annoyance with Gilda or Rubric. A lesser gryphon would have tried to say that the challenge was unfair, that it was set up from the start, in an attempt to de-legitimize it. Anya had too much dignity to stoop to that level though, so the only thing left to do was fulfill her end of the deal.

“Then I guess this means I’m your sex slave for the evening,” said Anya, accepting her fate in this matter.

“That’s right, bitch,” Gilda said, walking right up to the other gryphon, “Now strip and show your master what you have to offer.”

“Gilda...” Rubric scolded, ready to tell the arrogant gryphon off, that was until Anya raised her talon to stop him.

“No, she’s right.” said Anya, “If I’m going to be your sex toy, then I won’t be needing clothes.”

Anya, without any further prompting, started to remove each article of clothing on her person. She didn’t go out of her way to make the act sensual or seductive, the display being disgraceful for her, which on some level Anya felt it should be. This was what she agreed to, the fate of the loser, and thus shame should be the reward for the defeated.

Before long, the mature gryphon’s body laid bare, with her shirt cast aside, and pants and panties laying in a pile on the floor. Gilda couldn’t help but show her delight at Anya’s sorry state, but Rubric was a little more respectful, saying “You have a very lovely body,” to it being fully exposed to him, “It will be my honor to have it serve me this evening.”

The deer were also dealing with the situation with a good deal of maturity, not treating it like some schoolyard spectacle like they had before. Most were simply admiring Anya’s body like the minotaur, locking eyes with her form as they made their way over to the wall to form a line along it. They were in no way subtle about it, but they made no effort to make the gryphon’s shaming any worse than that, refraining from making comments, rude gestures, or cat calls, unlike Gilda, who was still snickering at Anya’s misfortune.

The only creature in the room who wasn’t eyeing up Anya in her undressed state was Xenia, who had taken to digging through the crate Rubric had brought in, searching through the box and taking out things as she did. The items she pulled out were things like more zip cuffs, a dental gag, sizable ring made out of what looked to be a wireframe mesh of crisscrossing rods, and lastly a large glass bottle containing a yellowish, green liquid.

“Here it is,” the grey deer said aloud, picking up all the other items, and heading over to Anya, “The master told me of the terms of this challenge, and that while the loser would be offering their body, they wouldn’t be bred.”

“That’s right,” said Anya.

“Then you’re going to have to drink this,” she said, handing over the bottle, “This will make it so you won’t be able to conceive for the next twenty-four hours, more than enough time for your bet.”

Anya looked at the bottle with suspicion for a moment, but then figured that if she didn’t want to get knocked up she’d have to trust what was given to her. Uncorking the top, she downed the whole bottle as fast as she could, suspecting the flavor to be less than desirable, and getting confirmation when something akin to the smell of paint thinner in the form of a flavor coated her tongue. Still, she managed to gulp down a majority of the concoction, even if it put her into a small coughing fit after.

Xenia gave her a moment to recover, but before she was able to do so completely, she went over to Gilda, and offered her the remaining items she held. “The master thought it would be an appropriate prize for the winner to prepare the loser to his liking.”

Gilda looked over the items, and seeing what they were, happily snatched them up. With items in hand, she marched herself behind Anya, and reached out to grab her arm. With the older gryphon still in the middle of coughing, Gilda was able to easily take her by the wrist, and wrench her arm behind her back, slipping her hand through one of the loops in the zip cuffs given to her, before tightening the loop till the hand could no longer escape. With that done, she did the same to Anya’s other arm, and taking mere seconds from start to finish, Anya had her arms sufficiently bound behind her back.

“Hey!” Anya said, realizing what had happened, “I’m not gonna resist, you don’t have to be r-ACK!”

As the older gryphon protested her treatment, Gilda slipped the gag she had into the mouth of the one she had defeated. “Oh, I know, but I’m having fun dominating you.”

Gilda pulled back on the leather straps for the gag, stretching them around Anya’s head so harshly that it caused the restrained female to bend backwards. Resisting the urge to walk Anya around in such an awkward stance, Gilda simply brought the straps together, buckling them together at the back of Anya’s head.

“Like this thing?” Gilda said, pushing Ayna forward just enough to make her stumbled slightly while she righted her posture, now incapable of closing her mouth as several curved steel rods were now lining the inside of it, “It’s called a beak gag, and it’s gonna make sure you keep that pretty suck hole of your open for your temporary master.”

Anya, understanding that she wouldn’t be able to say anything decipherable now, rolled her eyes out of Gilda’s view. She already knew what the device was, having more experience with these sorts of things the younger gryphon was aware of, just not when it came to their use in illegal pony trafficking rings. Had circumstances been the other way around, Anya would have been able to school Gilda on a few things about the device, like how to put it on correctly, as Anya found herself having to use her tongue to adjust the metal bits to make them more comfortable. Then again, seeing Gilda’s behavior, the discomfort might have been intentional.

“And now for your last piece of jewelry,” Gilda said, approaching Anya again.

The older gryphon breathed out a sigh as she watched her get closer, holding that wire frame ring she had seen before in her talon. She still didn’t resist though, standing herself up straight, ready to receive the object, whatever it was. Of the things she had seen, that last item was the only one she didn’t recognize by sight, so she braced for the worst, only to feel the frame brought around her neck.

“I would have gotten you something more restricting,” said Gilda, wrapping the object around Anya’s throat, it having two ends that could be easily separated from one another, and being made of a malleable metal that could easily bend, but returned to its original state once force was taken off it, “But this simple collar will due for the likes of you.”

A collar? Anya thought, looking down to see what was on her, but of course not being able to see the thing that was now on her neck. She would have tried to touch it, to feel what it looked like on her person, but her talons were not available.

“Now just needs the finishing touch,” Gilda said, slipping another small object on the wireframe collar, slipping it into the two ends that met in front.

Hearing a clicking noise, Anya had a good idea what this new item was, and looking down, she found that this time she could see something. It was a heavy lock, put in place to prevent Anya from being able to remove her new collar, but one that was specially crafted to have the appearance of a birdcage. The lock had a heavy weight to it, made of a dense metal no doubt, but the look and feel of it against her feathers told the gryphon that it was coated in some kind of soft rubber. What told her more though was the of imagery the object, as it let Anya figure out why the collar she wore was crafted in the design it was. It was symbolic, that so long as she wore the collar, she was like a bird trapped in a cage, a metaphor winged creatures often employed when they were in a situation they couldn’t escape.

“The bitch is ready!” Gilda yelled to Rubric, lifting one of her cat-like legs, and delivering a paw to Anya’s backside, pushing her towards the minotaur.

Anya was able to maintain balance, but by the end of her short stumble, she found herself in front of the minotaur. She looked up to meet his eye, the minotaur looking down at her in return.

“You look nice,” Rubric complimented, “But now that you are dressed up, it’s time we went somewhere so you can fulfill your end of your and Gilda’s agreement.”

Anya wondered if the minotaur was about to leash her, so he could lead her somewhere else more private, but to her surprise the bull grabbed her by the waste and tossed her over his shoulders instead, the gryphon being given a good view of his back as her stomach rested on said shoulder. With the bound gryphon securely held in place with one arm, Rubric made his way to the training room’s exit with no further delay or explanations of what he had planned. Anya was now in his possession, and would simply have endure what was about to come.

“Hey, wait up!” Gilda called to the minotaur, “There’s no way I’m gonna miss this.”

“Do as you wish,” Rubric replied, “But don’t get in my way, and don’t try to join in unless you want to be ravaged as well.”

“I’m just coming to watch her get humiliated,” Gilda assured, “It’s the least I can do for her, since we were raised by the same person.”

As the trio left, the deer that were used for the competition were casually left behind, no longer needed for anything. This wasn’t a huge problem, as they had their own ways to navigate the layout of The Society’s facility, and they were trustworthy enough that they could be left unattended if needed. They would all return to their appropriately assigned sections eventually, but they were also not so loyal and dedicated to their captors to ignore a moment to take an unauthorized break when presented.

At times like this, the responsibility of the currently unoccupied Antlerteans fell upon the one among them with the highest level of responsibilities, that being Xenia. She waited for the minotaur and the two gryphons to exit the area completely, and then waited about a minute more before turning to those now at her charge. With a simple knowing look accompanied by a nod from her, the entire group were given the go ahead to relax, which they gratefully accepted.

The small herd broke up into smaller groups, consisting of friends and those who worked closely in certain sections of the facility, using the time now granted to them to catch up, discuss the rest of their work day, and talk about things outside of their normal duties. Some even got on the topic of the gryphon’s challenge, and how fun it was to be used in such a way, the buck that used the pole device getting some compliments from those in his group for doing something so cleaver, if not very effective.

One doe in the group though didn’t join the others though, and instead went to Xenia, who went to pick up the things she had to take out of the crate to find the potion she gave Anya. She, like the grey deer, was a slave with medical training, so when Anya was given the potion, the doe was able to spot something amiss.

“Excuse me,” the doe said, joining Xenai to pick up and organize all the unused items, “But what did you give that gryphon to drink? It wasn’t the the same color as our infertility potions.”

Xenia smirked, thinking about the gryphons, and how most of their kind within The Society were greedy slave hunters who captured others for profit. “Well, there was a good mix of that potion in there,” she claimed, “But I’ve been working on a new potion for a while now. Something to help make sex with the masters more desirable for new slaves.”

The doe gasped, “You don’t mean the ‘Ruiner’ potion you’ve been working on, do you?”

Xenia looked at the doe, and put a finger to her own lips to tell the doe to keep quiet. “When Master Rubric sent me to fetch the infertility potion, it gave me a moment to make a fifty-fifty mix of the two. The gryphon still shouldn’t be able to get pregnant for a while, but she’s about to be in for a time she will never forget.”

The doe, was shocked, but in no way appalled by this action. For as much as the Antlerteans had come to accept and adapted to their lives as slaves and breeders, they still understood that it was not an ideal role for any creature to have to be subjected to. So the idea that one of getting back at the slavers of The Society in such an undetectable way as Xenia had just done was something the doe could appreciate, happy to know that the experimental potion was going to give her a taste of what it was like to be bound by sex, if only a small sample. Afterall, the knew enough about the Ruiner Potion to know of its intended effects.

It was not a simple stimulant, amplifier, or aphrodisiac; it was something with much more detrimental and devious, a potion with the ability to even make the agonizing pain of minotaur sex not just bearable, but something the drinker would desire. The kinda thing that could end up putting Anya in the same position as the Antlerteans, as just another breeding slave addicted to the minotaurs’ breeding rituals, without the need of intense training and brainwashing. All that was left to do now was to see if the potion worked as intended, and if the gryphoness had the will to resist it.