The following day was not an easy one for Alice or Bori, knowing that destiny had somehow been twisted to allow a villainous force to gain a powerful hold over the world. Alice wanted to go back immediately to get the clues she needed to prevent this outcome, but Bori insisted that they both at least rest up before the younger doe tried again. The older doe still didn’t know the full extent of what Alice had been through, as the yellow reindeer didn’t felt she needed to keep from her the exact details of how the potion worked, lest Bori see it as too dangerous to try again, but she assumed that using the potion was still taxing.

While Alice’s body had no more fatigue that it would have in the late evening, her psyche had been strained by the events she was put through. She agreed to rest, going so far as to hand the bottle of the remaining potion to Bori for safe keeping. The two went to bed, but both found themselves waking up earlier than normal in order to get to the bottom of this problem.

“We’re going to put gift making on hold,” Bori said, meeting Alice back at her room, delivering the potion back to her. It didn’t happen often, but having a day where every Gift Giver was not making presents was something they accounted for in their scheduling, “I’ll be watching from the living room like last time, in case something goes wrong.”

“Shouldn’t we let Aurora in on this?” Alice said, taking note that she was the only one of the trio who didn’t know about the terrible fate that awaited Equestria.

“She’s still resting from her cold,” Bori replied, taking a second to look in on her with her powers, “It’s best to let her rest for now, but the moment she feels better, we’ll let her know everything.”

“You’re right,” Alice said, having no issues with waiting on that regard. Aurora was older, so it took her longer to recover from illness, so it was understandable to let her sleep. These minotaur wouldn’t be as powerful as she had seen for years, she assumed, so a little patience would not be a problem.

“Okay, I’m gonna leave you alone.” Bori said, heading for the exit, “I’m sure you know what you are doing, but be careful.”

“Got it, I’ll be safe,” Alice said in an outright lie, knowing she was sending herself right back into that horrible future, to deal with her equally horrible future self.

As soon as Bori left the room, the door closing with a click of its latch, Alice got to work. She was going to seek out a moment two weeks into the future from that point, as instructed, but she was going to play it a bit more safe this time. She was going to find a moment where her future self wouldn’t be in a position where Alice would have no ability to get away from the situation she was in. She would need a moment where she was unbound, and outside of an enclosure if possible.

Looking into the future, Alice picked a random moment within the timeframe her future self had given. She landed on a moment where she found herself sleeping, laying naked on a cushion akin to a pet bed, once more wearing only her ribbon bow and the cape Aurora gave her. On either side of her were other female creatures in their own beds, both deer like herself, one being an Antlertean deer like the gray one from the prior session, bearing those strange markings along her body, but younger than Xenia was, about the age of herself in the present, and the other looking like a whitetail deer from Thicket, a race of deer that resided within Equestria, of a likewise similar age.

I guess that minotaur king likes his girls when they just reach adulthood, Alice commented in her thoughts, though then recalled the large, womanly Kirin from before, and wondered if there was some other way for his selection, ugh, why am I focusing on this? I need to make sure this moment is safe.

Everything looked calm in this moment in time, as it looked like a moment of rest, where nothing would disturb the conversation she and her future self would have. Alice was just about to take a drink of her time swapping potion, but stopped herself short. As the future version of herself shifted in her sleep, the chime of chain links rattled, alerting Alice to a length of interwoven metal anchoring her future self’s wrists to a large loop bolted to the wall. Each of the does present were likewise kept from wandering from their resting area in this way, surely to keep them from escaping during a time where the minotaur kingdom would be the least secure.

That’s not gonna work, Alice thought, not wanting to be stuck to one place.

It had already been shown that the future Alice could prolong the time they swapped places by present Alice’s perspective, and there was nothing that would prevent her from keeping her there until something bad happened. In all honesty, there was nothing that stopped future Alice from doing that in any situation, but the yellow doe wanted to have some level of freedom should she be double crossed.

Lets go forward a little further, thought Alice, redirecting her premonition to six hours later.

The older version of herself was no longer in bed, but was still accompanied by the two other deer, as the trio knelt upon a familiar stone floor. Present Alice believed they had returned to the throne room of the minotaur king, or at the very least, they were somewhere within his stronghold.

As she observed the situation, trying to determine if this was the moment she wanted to send herself too, she noticed an odd variety of emotions being displayed by the three. Her future self was wearing her usual light smile, but her fellow slaves did not look nearly as pleased. This probably shouldn’t have come off as strange, as Alice couldn’t understand how anyone could enjoy enslavement, but after the run in with Xenia, Alice had come to believe that all slaves of the minotaur were similarly brain washed.

The Thicket deer looked the most terrified of her situation, the fearful frown on her face the polar opposite of the future Alice’s smile, as she awaited whatever was to come, her eyes locked in one direction. The Antlertean, on the other hand, merely showed an uninterested and annoyed visage, the kind seen by angsty teens. One would think that being a sex slave would get more of a response of anger than this mild display of displeasure, but Alice had no idea what this doe had been through to make her act this way.

Present Alice waited to be sure this was a good time to swap, and as she did the yellow couldn’t help notice that the trio of does shared the same wardrobe theme of ‘next to nothing’, but each were allowed two articles of attire, which was a cloak of some sort, and a neckpiece that acted as a collar. Alice’s own had been seen several times prior, but the other two does had their own unique designs to their outfits that made them stand out from one another.

The Thicket doe’s outfit bore a forest theme, consisting of a green cloak that draped over her shoulders, but had a low cut neckline to keep the throat revealed. Said throat wore a metal ring of brass around it, molded in a design of two long leaves meeting their tips at a loop in the front, certainly used to attach a guiding chain or leash to. The Antlertean in turn wore what looked like a small poncho, decorated with symbols much like the ones adorned on her body, and a simple light blue cloth collar, with an equally plain zigzag pattern sewn into it going all the way around. The neckwear looked like it had been stitched together completely around her neck, as it had no seams to speak of, and looked like the soft fabric was hugging her neck tightly, almost like it had been put around something smaller at one point, which got bigger over time.

As Alice was taking in the details of the doe’s outfits, something from outside the bubble caught their attention, with Future Alice and the Antlertean redirecting their eyes in the direction the Thicket deer had been staring at, while the whitetail deer shrunk her irises down to pinpoints when seeing the thing she had been so scared of enter her line of sight. She didn’t try fleeing from her spot though, so Alice could deduce that this was not a safe point for her to switch places. That didn’t mean that a good moment wouldn’t reveal itself though, so she decided to keep watching, in case her future self would be taken somewhere more suitable for her needs.

As the scene played out, someone entered into view, a creature that was expected by now, due to his frequent appearances thus far. The minotaur king, walking down the line of awaiting deer, with a chain in one hand, and a large, imposing jewel studded rod, whose length looked to be about half as tall as the minotaur himself, in the other. With the weapons rested over his shoulder, he examined his slaves, glaring at them in what looked to be stoic contempt.

As he was about to wander his way back out of the limits of the vision’s bubble, another person was pulled into frame by the chain leading from the brutish bull. It was the kirin woman from a few visions back, being pulled in by shackles on her wrist, and while she wasn’t unexpected, her current condition still managed to surprise Alice.

Her stomach was plumped out, clearly pregnant, and from the size of it could have been ready to birth any day now. She looked very upset about this, her eyes casting a forlorn expression, which had to due since her mouth was currently trapped in an open position due to a gag within it, access to her muzzle unable to be denied by anything that wish to enter it. Knowing what the minotaur was capable of, it was obvious why this object was in place.

“Join the other whores,” the minotaur said to the kirin, tilting his massive mace-like weapon downwards form his shoulder, letting it’s tip rest diagonally on the floor, before lifting it up to give the kirin’s flank a light tap, “Unless you’d like to suffer this object again once you’ve given birth.”

The kirin’s eyes went wide, as she understood the severity of this threat far more than Alice did, and made her way to join the line. It took her a moment to lower herself down gently with all the extra weight she had to manage, but soon she was knelt down next to the Thicket doe, half in and half out of view.

The minotaur, satisfied with the obedience the draconic point displayed, gave a smile to the group. “Look at this pretty row of sluts,” he said, enjoying his unchecked ability to demean his captives, “Prostrate before the might of a minotaur, as all lesser creatures should be.”

The does and their kirin associate said nothing to rebut the minotaur’s statement, as one was incapable to talk clearly with the object in her mouth, the next was too frightened, and the last two were merely sitting in attention to whatever their master had to say.

“I hope you all are ready for your weekly morning service to me,” the minotaur king said, “Especially since we have a fresh new addition to learn how to receive their special breakfast.”

The minotaur lord lifted his rod up to head level to the Thicket doe, and firmly pressed into a spot right in front of the nub-like remainders of her antlers.

“Do not expect me to be lenient on poor performance just because this is your first week as my mate. If I’m not pleased by the end of this, I’ll show you the punishment for my dissatisfaction.”

The Thicket doe started to sob, distressed and confused about how her life had come to this point. She was in no way used to this way of life like the other three creatures, and it disturbed the present Alice to watch her wince in pain from the minotaur’s use of his rod on her. How the future version of herself ever fell for whatever tactics this vile creature used on her was beyond the yellow reindeer.

With his threat given, and his point made, the minotaur removed his rod from the whitetail’s person, setting it back on the floor at his side. “Now, who wants to go first?”

Alice expected her future self to be the one to volunteer herself for whatever it was the minotaur king was talking about, but she stayed strangely silent. Instead it was the Antlertean who made the first move among the enslaved girls.

“Allow me to be the first,” the tattooed doe requested, unenthusiastically.

“Very well, Dianna” said the minotaur king, using the hand holding the kirin’s chain to move aside a loincloth around his waist, revealing the large penis that had already gone semi-erect, “Make sure to give it a good cleaning before you eat. I haven’t bathed yet, and it should still hold the tang of kirin’s snatch.”

The Antlertean shifted herself forward on her knees, gently taking the minotaur’s privates in her hands, opening her mouth so wide that Alice was worried the doe might dislocate her jaw. It turned out that needed the space she was making by spreading her lips as far apart as possible, because the next thing Alice witnessed was the doe pushing the huge piece of minotaur meat she was holding right into the pathway she had prepared for it.

It was an impressive, if somewhat revolting, sight to behold, as the deer took something that looked to push the limits of how far she could separate her jaw from the rest of her skull, but she not only managed it, but was able to make so much of the minotaur’s manhood disappear into her maw that a bulge formed in her throat, further stretching out her cloth collar. When she could get it no deeper, she began to move her head back and forth, Alice spotting a small bump appearing and vanished from within her cheeks, outlining the touch rolling around the bull’s shaft to clean it as he demanded.

The minotaur allowed the doe to go at her own pace, watching her cramp what little about two thirds of him into her throat in a steady motion, repetitive motion. If he was receiving any form of pleasure from the act, he didn’t display it, his facial expressions as still as a chiseled statue. The doe, on the other hand, couldn’t maintain that level of stoicism, her composure faltering as she made moans and loud slurping sounds around the shaft stuffing her oral passage. Alice couldn’t tell if the act was that arousing to the doe, or that agonizing, but she looked to be putting her all into getting captor off, a task that she seemed fairly adept at, as after several minutes of effort, she managed to get him to bellow a low groan, followed by a release of his thick, white semen into her mouth.

The rush of cum was so plentiful that it quickly flooded the Antlertean’s mouth, spurting out the small space between her lips and the minotaur’s dick. The doe tried to chug down as much of it as she could, making Alice realize that this was the ‘breakfast’ the bull had been talking about, but as her eyelids suddenly went as wide as they could, and a burst of jism exploded from her mouth. This forced the Antlertean to lurch forward, the bulls still spurting cock slipping from her muzzle, permitting the contents that had flooded it to spill out on the floor, while the remainder of the minotaur’s climax was showered atop her head, leaving the doe a cream covered mess.

“How sad that after all this time, you still have trouble drinking straight from my cock.” the minotaur said, moving the tip of his club away from an ever growing puddle of his own fluids, “Clean up your mess.”

The Antlertean, still coughing out some excess sperm that made it into her windpipe, made efforts to lower her face to the floor, taking turns between licking cum up and clearing it out of her airway. The minotaur didn’t even stick around to watch as she did it, as he was already moving away from her to address the rest of his victims.

“Next,” he said sternly, looking over the three remaining women.

It was at this time that Future Alice decided to speak up, saying, “I would be honored to drink from your cock next, Master.”

The minotaur gave her a sideways glance, then shook his head. “I appreciate your usual eagerness, slave, but I think there is another one here who needs a full breakfast more than you.”

Without any further warning, the minotaur yanked the chain in his hand, pulling the kirin woman to him by her arms, almost causing her to fall forward, before catching her by the large horn attached to the center of her forehead. Using the protrusion as a handle, the bovine steered the stunned kirin’s face to his groin, pushing his cock into her mouth, held open by the gag she was wearing. Unlike the Antlertean, who he allowed to go at her own pace, the minotaur took full control this time, thrusting himself deeply into the unprepared kirin’s esophagus. With the amount of force he was using, the bull got himself much deeper into the draconic pony’s throat than the Antlertean had managed, pulling all the way until her nose touched the space between his crotch and belly button, smooshing it into a pair of his finely defined abs.

The Alice of the present was glad that this was mostly out of the range of her bubble, but then she watched as her future self scooted closer to the Thicket doe, which gave the future deer’s past self a better view of everything happening to the kirin. While this was not what Alice wanted to happen, it let her know that future Alice knew she was being watched, and also indicated that this must have been close to the time to swap places, just not at this exact moment. It was just unfortunate that this signal meant that she’d have to sit through the rest of this scene, as she waited for the right time.

Accepting this, Alice resigned to watching in horror as the kirin choked on the thick object now stuck deeply inside her, hitting her bound hands futility against his muscular thighs. As she struggled, something strange occurred, as the collar on the neck of the kirin started to glow through the fluff of her mane with a red light.

“Trying to get angry?” the minotaur said, pushing the kirin’s head back, only to immediately trust himself harshly back into her, “You better settle your hot headed ass down, lest you want another session with my rod.”

Whatever the minotaur’s threat implied must have meant something to the kirin, as on at the mention of the rod, she stopped resisting entirely, and the glow in her collar dimmed, a glass ring encircling the affixed object now holding a peculiar red energy within it.

“That’s what I thought,” the minotaur said to the kirin, who’s eyes were now pouring with tears that flowed down into her mane, caused by a combination of the hopelessness she felt and the pain of her throat being ravaged.

For about the same time it took for the minotaur to cum with his first victim, he face fucked the now complicit kirin, harshly manhandling her until he finished in her mouth as well. Unlike with the Antlertean though, he would not allow this mare to spit his seed back out. Plunging himself as far into her as he could manage, he poured the contents of his balls straight down into her stomach, the kirin not getting so much as a single drop in the cavern of her muzzle.

He held her in place until he noticed her eyes rolling back into her skull from lack of oxygen, then withdrew his now saliva slathered shaft from her in a single motion, practically tossing the conquered female onto her back. The draconic mare didn’t even try to get up, rendered incapable of doing so as she was left heavily panting, chest moving with each raspy breath, utterly defeated by the bull’s brutish partaking of pleasure from her body.

With two of the does left untouched, the minotaur glanced between the two of them, and the Antlertean who hadn’t yet finished cleaning up after his initial load. Grumbling as he unraveled the chain connecting him to the Kirin, tossing it to the ground, he then pointed to the Thicket doe.

“You,” the bull said, “Be glad I’m in a hurry this morning. I’ll allow you to skip the thorough deepthroating you deserve, so long as you help this slave finish with her cleanup.” The minotaur said, using his pointing finger to direct the still troubled doe to the one using her tongue to lick the floor clean. With his command given, he then tilted his head to future Alice. “As for you, you’re only being spared because you’ll be coming with me today.”

“Of course, master.” Future Alice replied, “As you will, I shall obey.”

The minotaur king snorted, and turned to exit out of present Alice’s bubble of vision. With him out of the picture, all that remained was the Kirin who was recovering after her oral rape, the Anterltean who was shooting death glares in the direction the minotaur had walked away to, now that his back was turned, the Thicket doe, who looked far too confused of what just happened and why she was spared to move, and Future Alice, who turned to the bewildered doe, putting her lips up to the whitetail’s ear.

“The king talks a big game,” the reindeer whispered, though since present Alice’s vision was focused on her, she could hear what her older self was saying clearly, “And while he can back it up on individual girls, he tends to tire after cumming a few times. If I were you, I’d take him up on his offer, help slurp up what’s left on the floor, and be thankful he didn’t pick you first.”

The Thicket doe looked over to the reindeer next to her, to see if she was being serious, and Future Alice just gave her a nod in return, along with her typical smile. The whitetail, suddenly relieved that any further violation of her person by the minotaur would be postponed, returned the nod and went to join in on sucking up what remained of the semen splattered on the stone floor.

With the Thicket doe convinced, Future Alice picked herself up off the floor as fast as she could manage, so she could follow after the minotaur king. However, the moment she became the only creature remaining in the bubble, she whispered to herself, “That was for you too. The king will not be in the mood to use one of his sex slaves for their intended purpose again for some time, and if you want to swap with me with no fear of being molested, then there will be no better time.”

That message, as quietly as it was said, could have only been intended for Alice to hear. This was clearly the moment Future Alice wanted her to go to, in which she had promised the younger version of herself that nothing would happen to her. While Alice still had many qualms about going back to that horrid future, she couldn’t deny her future self’s wishes if she wanted the information she held. While a bit hesitant, Alice opened the bottle she had been nervously grasping for some time now, and took a sip from it.

Just as before, it took a moment for the future to become Alice’s present, but once its effects took hold, the reindeer found herself once more in her future body, the sickeningly perpetual sensation of pleasure returning to her senses to let her know the swap was complete. Without the bindings from last time holding her body in place, the transfer was a little more disorienting, as she was one second she had been kneeling, and now she was standing. This caused her to stumble a little as she found her footing.

Try to focus, Future Alice said through her thoughts, Start walking as soon as you can, and stay quiet unless spoken to. The king might be spent, but he is more than willing to punish insubordination through other means

It took a second for Alice to get her bearings straight, but once she straightened out the world around her she heeded the warning of her future self, making her way towards the minotaur tyrant who was walking towards an exit to the room they were in. As much as reindeer thought going with him was not something she’d prefer to do, she didn’t even want to learn what these ‘other means’ were.

With a few hastened steps, Alice was able to catch up to the lumbering bull, staying silent as he arrogantly walked with his back turned to her, perhaps not knowing that she was there, or maybe seeing it as a foregone conclusion that she would be there. Whatever the reason, he didn’t bother to look back as he pushed open the doors, leading her to what looked like a courtyard of his castle, leaving behind the three other females to be tended to by a small group of minotaur guardsmen in the room that Alice only noticed as she made her exit.

As the yellow doe stayed close to the beast of a creature that was to be her future enslaver, Alice toyed with the notion of trying to do something to end his reign now, in retribution for not only her enslavement and brainwashing, but the torment he had put who knew how many other women through. The more she thought about the idea, the more she came to realize such an idea was ill fated.

Compared to her, calling the minotaur king’s mass ‘imposing’ was an understatement. His sheer size and physique had him standing roughly three or four feet taller than the doe, his body mass looking like he could hold that many of herself within him if need be. All muscle, with not a sign of fat on his body, unlike the yaks she had seen during gift giving. She assumed that meant this minotaur was stronger than a yak of a similar build, and yaks were already strong enough to be very destructive creatures when they wished to be.

Having second thoughts about trying to harm him, huh, Future Alice said, displaying the omniscience she held from the position of hindsight, There is nothing you could do that would hurt a minotaur of his size. Some minotaur even hand their new slaves a knife to attack them with, just to show that it does no more damage than a paper cut.

I’m sure if I tried, you’d just leave me here long enough for me to get punished worse than last time, Alice replied, relaying to Future Alice that she understood the rules, that her future self was in control of how long she would have to stay in this time period, I’ll play along, but I want the information you promised me

You want to know who caused this future to happen, Future Alice replied, And I know the answer. I’ll even tell you right now, in a show of good faith

Alice’s eyes went wide with surprise, not expecting her future self to be so forthcoming. She almost expected this to just be a trap, but if Future Alice was just going to tell her now, then she was ecstatic to finally get some answers.

The creatures you are looking for are a group known as The Moirai, Future Alice explained, They were creatures powerful enough to alter the course of fate, and they used that power to pay off a debt they owed to the minotaur

Alice was stunned to hear the name of the creatures that caused this, though she had never heard the name before. It felt too easy, but if her future self was being truthful, then this was exactly what she needed to prevent this horrible future from happening in the first place. With this name, she would hopefully be able to track them down and put an end to this plot before it even happened, Alice assuming that whatever they did was only in Future Alice’s past, and could still be stopped in her own time.

Now that I did my part though, it’s time for you to do your part, said Future Alice.

The present Alice expected something like this, but was ready to endure whatever hardship was to come, I’m I going to have to fuck this minotaur?

Oh ho ho ho, nooo, Future Alice said, chuckling through her words, I already said he wasn’t going to want to have sex for a while, but he is going to an important meeting today, and I want you to attend it

Why would you want that? Alice questioned.

Because if you are going to destroy this wonderful world, the least you could do is spend some time in it to see what you are destroying, Future Alice replied, Perhaps you’ll see something that will make you think it’s worth saving

Alice doubted that, but she could see what was happening here. At one point, the future Alice must have been in this same position, and was somehow swayed by something she had seen. That meant that in order to defy this fate, Alice would have to go through the same thing, and be resolute in her desire to prevent her enslavement from happening. She didn’t know how she’d go about that, how one went against destiny without some form of magical interference, but she would find a way.

All you have to do is accompany my master, and take in the sights of his kingdom, Future Alice added, He’s not much of a talker, so you won’t have to pretend to be me. Just do as he says, and follow him, and you’ll do fine

Alice went along with that idea, having no other options other than to comply, and followed the minotaur as he made his way through a castle he must have obtained through ill-gotten means. The place was simply too nice for a brutish species such as his to have created, though certain aspects of the architecture looked modified to accommodate the size of the creatures. The larger doors were a given change they would have to make, but stepping into open area outside the throne room were there was only column holding up small sections of stone roofing to indicate, and an encircling outer wall that the only thing that made it seem like this ‘palace’ supposed to be some form of building, Alice came to understand that the lack of walls was to allow the bulky creatures to move about freely, and the ones in the throne room itself probably only existed to provide some form of fortifications in case of attacks.

That was just her initial intake of her surroundings though, as the more she looked about, she could see that the minotaur king’s palace grounds was more like an encampment, with other small buildings like the throne room scattered about, as well as several areas where other minotaur could be seen practicing their combat skills, eating food on what must have been a meal break, or otherwise doing the tasks expected of soldiers and guards. They were not alone though, as practically everywhere there was one of these monstrous bulls, there was also an accompanying slave.

Usually an Antlertean deer, though there were a small percentage of other species of deer, and even other creatures such as Kirin and Equestrian ponies, both stallions and mares, each in the typical slave attire of next to nothing. This was not unexpected by Alice, but she did find it surprising that none of them were being used sexually, despite the vulnerability their nudity inflicted upon them. Instead they were attending to the minotaur’s less sexual needs, such as acting as servers in the meal area, or cleaning up the stone walkways of the grounds. There was even one earth pony mare made to tote around a bull sized axe like some sort of squire, though it clearly would have been easier for the minotaur to have carted it around himself, than make the mare practically drag it across the ground as she struggled to follow.

All in all though, everything Alice saw was typical servants work, the kind one could see in Canterlot Castle if they paid heed to the staff. Even as they approached the destination the minotaur king had been heading to, there was nothing unusual in the chariot they were approaching, nor the group of six deer stags harnessed into the front of it. It was only the nudity, along with some odd metal objects they all had strapped to their dicks that encased them completely, and the matching set of skin tight leather hoods they wore that covered every part of their head, save for a hole for their noses, that made it look off. Had they simply been clothed, and not bound to the vehicle with gear that fetishized the normal act of pulling a cart, this would be a normal scene one could see anywhere, but that unnecessary eroticism, along with the un-ignorable pleasure that would not leave Alice’s perception, changed this from just another deer drawn carriage, to something that made Alice feel strange seeing.

Upon reaching the chariot, the minotaur king opened a side door, and finally looked back at the doe who had been following him. “Get in,” he said, without the slightest hint of politeness in the way he put it.

Alice nodded, entering without fuss. So long as she blended in, she would be fine, so said her future self. The minotaur entered after, taking up so much room in the cart that his outer thigh pushed into her body, forcing her to get much closer than comfortable to the side. With both intended passengers in the cart, the minotaur closed the chariot door, and grabbed a set of reins draped over its front. With a simple snap of the leather strap, the bucks were urged to begin pulling, and the cart moved.

“Once around the outer wall, then to the front gate,” the minotaur instructed, though as they couldn’t hear him do to the masks covering their ears, he was just saying it for his own satisfaction.

Using the reins, the bull gave them more appropriate instructions via firm tugs on the bits in their mouths, guiding them to a dirt path that went along that outside wall Alice had seen. Without error, the stags guided the chariot along the path, a testament to the bull’s control over the blind and deafened deer men, as well as their own training, which Alice had to recognize was not something they had acquired before being forced into this role as carriage pullers.

As the reindeer doe was taken on what might have been a tour of the castle grounds, had her future self not been a resident of this place already, she tried to avert her eyes from the atrocities that were all around her. She didn’t want to see the enslavement of her kind, or any other species at that, so she guided her eyes to her hooves. Occasionally her eyes would drift over to the minotaur next to her, stoically focused on his own cruel task, but then she’d move them back down to her hooves when she came to the conclusion that she didn’t want to look at the one who caused all this either. Though it had been brought to light who had allowed this to happen, it was still the minotaur and his band that were responsible for this travesty.

However, she just couldn’t keep her eyes locked to the floor of the chariot, so they drifted instead to the stags in front of her, the doe privately lamenting that this was the most acceptable thing that could keep her attention.

Pretty nice view, right? Future Alice said suddenly after an extended moment of silence.

Shut it, Alice replied with her thoughts, I don’t know how you can enjoy the misery being caused to our kind

Ah, yes. You’re still at the point that you think this future is all doom and gloom, Future Alice replied, And I’ll let you continue believing that, as you’re supposed to, but don’t pretend like you don’t know what I’m talking about when it comes to the view

Alice closed her eyes in frustration, as she did know what her future self was referring to. This wasn’t her first carriage ride, not by far, as just like in Equestria, cart pulling was an honored tradition among reindeer. While both stags and does participated in the activity, it was more often the stags who would pull does, in a display of their physical prowess. This would lead to many a doe having wandering eyes, as they got a thrill seeing the bucks exert themselves for their enjoyment, often causing their doe parts to get the kind of tingling sensation one got from infatuation and elation.

You have to admit, these guys have some nice bodies, Future Alice continued, Nice and toned from all the work they do serving the masters. Definite stud material, if they were ever allowed to breed

And you don’t see that as a problem? Alice asked her future self, That our freedom is being taken and we’re being abused through sex.

I did at one point, Future Alice said, But once I learned more about the minotaur, I started to understand why they’ve done all this.

You can’t tell me there is some good reason behind all this, Alice rebutted.

Maybe not a ‘good’ reason, Future Alice replied, At least not by your current standards, but there is a reason

Care to share? Alice asked, certain that nothing her future self could say would be convincing.

You’ll learn, in time, said Future Alice, We’re already the living embodiment of a bootstrap paradox, so I don’t want to spoil everything

Alice didn’t respond this time, not enjoying how her future self was trying to coax her into looking deeper into this forsaken history, while withholding details she already knew. She was probably just following the course fate had dictated for her the first time around, but all of this vague hinting at things that were supposed to be important from this corrupt version of herself, acting like she knew everything while explaining nothing, was infuriating.

Okay, I’m gonna be quiet for a while. Let you enjoy things at your own pace, Future Alice said, the chariot coming up to what had to be the main gate the minotaur mentioned at the start of the ride, But I just want to say… what’s coming up next is pretty amazing

Alice was more than ready to dismiss her future self’s words as nonsense, as she watched as a small group of six minotaur guards opened the solid metal doors that separated this prison from the outside. As they part though, what had been hidden on the other side of them did astound the unsuspecting reindeer, as she realized this place the minotaur king called home sat atop a hill, and that hill was overlooking a city. There was little reason to suspect that this city was anything other than another part of the minotaur’s dominion, which stupefied Alice as she had assumed the bovine lord was some petty minotaur slaver who merely called himself by the title of king.

There it was though… A whole city he presumably ruled over, the size of which rivaled, if not surpassed, the mountain top pony city of Canterlot, comprised of buildings that connected together into what looked like, from her elevated position, a bunch of solid stone masses that weaved within and around one another to form a gigantic maze.

Author's Note

Hey guys. Wanted to give a heads up about what's going to happen with this story.

This was something that I wanted to do for christmas, and at this point it has gone beyond the scope I first had in my head. While I'm not against making this story bigger, and will not be shortening it from the direction I thought it should go, I will need to get back to some of my other projects. Thus, I'm going to probably make two more chapters for this story, and probably an epilogue, and then cut it there, in order to get back to my other stories.

However, that will not be the end of Alice's story, and I'll be getting back to it in time. At the very least, it will be continued next christmas, where the story will be further explored. I hope you all will enjoy what is left, and will bear with me as I take care of other projects.