Corruption of Fate

The carriage was pulled from the castle grounds by the slave stags attached to its front, down the hill, between a walled pathway that connected the minotaur king’s home to the city below. Alice could do little more than take in the sight of what was below, a prisoner of her current predicament, able to see everything not hidden behind a wall that blocked her angle of view. Watching the activity of the creatures within the maze, able to spot tiny creatures moving about with much bigger dots that she could tell were the minotaur citizens of this place, it was hard to deny that this city, unique as it was in its design, wasn’t breathtaking in its own way.

The city below was a literal maze of structures, with many winding paths and dead ends, many of said dead ends looking like they opened up into public areas like marketplaces and other large structures not connected to the overall form of the wall, all of which encircled the location she was leaving, making it the centerpiece of the minotaur’s kingdom, in which one would have to navigate through the streets and connecting buildings to reach, unless one had the ability to fly.

Alice thought about how she could use her own ability to fly to escape this place, if it wasn’t so temperate. While reindeer could ‘fly’, it was more that they ran upon the frozen mists of the winter air. Thus, Alice figured out quickly why fleeing from this place was not an option for her, should she end up in this location, as she’d be trapped within the center of a labyrinth she’d have no means of navigating. Even if she mapped out a possible route of escape from the elevation of the castle, trying to remember the path while within it would not be as simple. If the reindeer ever saw this place within her own timeline, her fate as a slave would be sealed.

As the path leading from the castle reached its end, having another set of guarded doors that required opening to leave, the chariot entered the city proper, giving Alice a much more detailed look at everything that went on within it. As astounded as she was viewing it from afar, this new perspective was a real eye opener, the city being much more than she would have thought a minotaur dominated civilization could run.

The first thing she had to take in were the citizenry itself, as this not some misunderstanding on Alice’s part, wherein the minotaur king was merely some rich, eccentric, and evil resident of an otherwise free kingdom. What the reindeer saw in every direction made it clear that the minotaur were the dominant species of this land. In the lands around Equestria, it would have been a novelty to see even a single minotaur, but here they were so abundant that everywhere Alice looked there was on casually going about some mundane task, removing a tiny bit of Alice’s perceptions of them just being brutish barbarian slavers, especially since a good majority of the minotaur in the city wore more coverings that were more like normal clothing, and not just a loincloth and some leather straps as Alice had seen on the minotaur king and his guardsmen. What instilled the deer’s poorer opinions though was the appearance of every other creature within the city.

For every minotaur, there would be another, much smaller creature to try and compete with their numbers, always wearing bonds that made it clear they were likewise slaves of the bovines here. Usually it would be an Antlertean deer, but as the chariot made its way through the streets, another deer species would be spotted within the peoples of this city, easily identified from one another as they wore the same kinds of cloaks Alice had seen worn by the does the minotaur king owned. Even less in numbers though were non-deer creatures, but every so often a kirin would appear being lead out of a building by a leash, a zebra would be seen kneeling next to a minotaur sitting at a bench, or a unicorn would stroll by the chariot tugging along a small cart. There was also the occasional appearance of some strange pegasi like ponies that Alice had never seen before, that had dark fur, pointed ears and fangs, and wings not like a bird's but like that of a bat. The fact that this species was not one of the common types found in Equestria made the reindeer wonder if they were some lost tribe, or perhaps some sort of breed the minotaur created.

There were a few other odd sightings from races like sheep and cows, but the presence of their kind here didn’t have the same impact as an equine species, since they were considered some of the lower tier of sentient life, often exploiting by farms to utilize the resources both produced naturally. Thus, it really wasn't a wonder how the bovines could get their hands on their kind, as they could have just lured them in with the promise of better living conditions or salaries than what other employers might have offered. What a surprise it must have been when they found themselves pushed onto a cock, used as yet another type of hole to fuck once the minotaur got them into a position they couldn't escape from.

Once Alice was able to look past the people, she could finally take in architecture and public structures around her. Her surroundings were difficult to understand, not only because the buildings seemed to mostly be one large, connecting mass of rock that formed the maze, but because they were interwoven with technology that looked far too advanced for a culture ruled by the bovines.

Machines, with symbols etched into their metal, powered by a blue glowing aura. It didn’t take Alice long to connect this to the device used to fuck her into a stupor during her last visit to the future, but the uses for them here looked more practical for public use, with traffic lights, buildings with automatic doors, and advertisement signs that periodically changes what they depicted by flipping tiles that made up the images to another one on the back. Watching the Antlerteans more closely, some of them even had small, crystal powered handheld devices that looked like compasses, but gave directions by projecting a blue line on the ground, which the deer would then follow as a guide as it navigated them to wherever they were heading. The closest things to any of this in Equestria were some of the machinery found in Manehatten or Las Pegasus, but those machines were in early development, and didn’t seem as sophisticated as these devices.

All of these new things made Alice realize just how little she knew about the minotaur, or the culture they had somehow created without the rest of the world knowing. Wherever this place was, it had to be far away from Equestria.

Minopolis, she heard her future self said, That’s what this place is called. It was formerly the island continent of Antlertis, homelands of the Antlerteans, but my master conquered it in the name of his minotaur tribe

Alice listened halfheartedly to the explanation of this place, as she was more concerned with a pregnant reindeer doe the cart she was riding was passing by. She was sitting within one of a row of booths of some sort, legs spread, struggling with the labors of child birth as she laid within a reclined, cushioned chair. Several minotaur and what had to be their slaves were gathered round, watching the doe as she suffered the pains of child birth. Alice was reminded that she, or rather her future self, had also given birth to children, and that they were apparently the prodigy of the minotaur king.

As miserable the doe must have been, Alice was slightly happier that it wasn’t someone she knew, as her puffed up chest floof and thick antlers indicated she was a doe from Rein, and not her own village. Their tribe had power over ice, and should have been able to fend themselves off from an invasion, but it appeared that not even they could avoid the bovine's tyranny.

What you see here is results of the combined efforts of the two species merged into one, Future Alice continued, Taking the Antlertean magitek and the minotaur’s ability to create strong, complex fortifications to craft a culture that melds them both neatly

It was hard for Alice to accept, but what the minotaur created here was fairly impressive, even if it was through the coercion of a conquered species. She didn’t know anything about construction, but the entire city looked as sturdy as it was advanced. If the minotaur were ever to be attacked in retaliation, it would be very difficult to bring their walls down, or to guide a well coordinated ground assault on the city, due to its layout.

As the ride went on, Alice started to find herself not as unnerved with everything she saw. Perhaps it was the culture shock subsiding, but the more she saw, the more it kinda looked like a normal city. There were things that set it apart, mostly to accommodate the slavery the minotaur citizens participated in, but so much of it looked kinda like things she'd see in any other city. It was not easy to accept that every non-minotaur wore collars and shackles that let it be known they had been enslaved, but many of them looked to be walking about of their own accord, with no restricting bondage to prevent escape, or a minotaur master at their side dragging them along. Few even looked unhappy, or at least not to a degree that it was immediately notable.

Alice tried to fall back on the idea of mind control for this, but the reindeer hadn’t seen anything yet that implied this was the case. Not even the Antlertean magic seemed to possess that kind of power, as nothing like that was used on her when she was at Xenia’s mercy. There had to be some form of explanation to this, something beyond them just accepting their fates, but aside from the visual aesthetic of sexual enslavement outwardly displayed via the public nudity and light bondage of the enslaved, there was little that separated this minotaur run city from any other largely populated city.

As the chariot ride went on, it entered into one of the larger enclosures of the city, wherein the ‘walls’ rounded out into a circle, to create an area where more traditional buildings resided. With all the turns at junctions within the more maze-like parts of the city, Alice was curious if this was some sort of joy ride for the minotaur lord, cause she was getting so lost that she couldn’t figure out how he could be that adept at navigating the streets, but now in this less trafficked space, he headed towards a particular building like it was his destination the whole time.

Pretty neat, huh? Future Alice chimed in, ready to explain this small detail to her former self, Minotaur seem to have this innate ability to navigate complex corridors. They can easily move about to any place they wish to be, unerringly, as easily as walking down a street.

Alice did find the bit of trivia interesting, as it explained a bit more why the minotaur built their city like they did, as they would never get lost, while the city would entrap any other creatures with lesser familiarity with the geography.

The chariot found its way to a parking area next to a building, and it didn't take long before the minotaur king exited the vehicle to tie down the lead attached to the pull stags. He knotted it on a metal bar sticking out horizontally from the outer wall of the building, a place that was designated for this purpose, as a few signs on the wall pointed out.

Alice took this opportunity to step out of the chariot herself, assuming that the bull didn’t intend for her to wait outside with the stags. The king had bothered to bring her along, so it was a good assumption he wanted her by his side, but she as her hooves touched ground she spotted the minotaur watching her exit the cart, not saying a word but giving her a stern glare. Had she done something that upset him? Perhaps she was supposed to wait for permission? If it was a problem the minotaur didn’t say anything to scold her, or do anything to discipline her actions. He only walked past her as he made his way to the front of the building.

While the doe was glad that she didn’t receive some sort of reprimand, the bull’s overall silence for this venture was starting to get to her. He didn’t even tell her to follow, and hadn’t said a word to ‘her’ since the swap. While she probably should have enjoyed his dismissal of her, seeing how he treated women when he paid attention to them, Alice didn’t like being so completely ignored.

“So, who are we meeting here?” the deer asked, as she walked after the minotaur, taking a couple seconds to follow up the question by saying, “Master” when she figured that was a necessary part of slave speech.

“Why do you have to ask?” the minotaur replied, “Can’t you look into the future?”

Alice got a little embarrassed with that reply, as normally the minotaur would be correct, and she’d be able to look into his future to see who it was they were meeting up with. However, she could tell her future sight would not work right now if she tried, which made sense, as it was technically being used at the moment.

Fortunately, the bull didn’t press further, and answered her original question by saying, “We are meeting up with three of my colleges to discuss matters involving their activities, and how they are affecting Minopolis. You’ve met two of them before in person.”

“Yes, of course,” said Alice in a slightly hushed tone, slightly humiliated again, because she probably could have guessed that.

While she had never met any minotaur prior to this, her future self could have encountered the minotaur the king spoke of many times. She suddenly hoped that they would be as dismissive of her as the king, because she didn’t want to have to convince them that nothing was off with her. Alice didn’t know if anything would happen if the minotaur actually figured out what was going on with the king’s deer slave, but it was better not to tempt fate by revealing herself.

The master and slave pair entered the building shortly after that short conversation, and once past the door, Alice discovered that this place was actually a restaurant, with tables and booths just beyond the entryway, a few of which filled with more bovine males who were eating food and discussing things with one another that Alice couldn’t make out, as far away as she was. Some of them were accompanied by their slaves, who had different seating arrangements, having pillows to use as they sat on the floor at their masters’ side, but many of them just dined alone.

“Ah, Master.” said an Antlertean stag, one stationed at the front as host, who lept to action at the sight of the lord of these lands, “My master told me to expect your arrival, and told me to pass on his sentiments about how much of an honor it is that you would chose us again to dine with.” The deer went on to say, grabbing a menu before leading the minotaur king to his table, “One of your party has already arrived, and is waiting for you and the others.”

The minotaur king didn’t give so much as a huff in response to the male deer, but followed him to a large table where a minotaur wearing a leather chest armor that left his arms bare, which let him display the many scars decorating them. As the minotaur king got closer, this new bovine male detected his approach, turning his head just as he stuffed a minotaur sized spoonful of what was on his plate into his mouth.

“There you are, Master,” the minotaur said between bites, “I thought you’d be the last to arrive, due to your morning rituals, but it looks like my expectations were wrong.”

Master again? Alice thought to herself, noticing that both the stag, which didn’t belong to the king, and this minotaur, who was clearly not a slave, addressed the king by that title, Do even the other minotaur call him that?

Alice didn’t have much time to dwell on that detail, as the minotaur king took his seat, while telling her the two word command of “Kneel, slave.” Alice obeyed, placing herself on top of an already awaiting cushion for her to sit on, and once she was in place, the minotaur king shifted his attention from her to the deer that escorted them to the table. “I know that my associate has already ordered for the group, but prepare a small salad mix of vegetables and fruit for my doe.” he said, adding to the original order.

“I’ll get the alteration put in right away, Master,” the host replied with a respectful bow, as he left to fulfill the order.

Alice watched the host as he left, still a little stunned at how normal an interaction it was than it probably should have been. Sure, the stag was brown nosing a bit, but the way it was done felt like typical behavior when a regal figure visited a business. The stag didn’t even seem intimidated by the minotaur tyrant, or slightest bit angry at the king of those who enslaved his kind. It was very off putting behavior, similar to that of her future self, in both tone and how genuine it felt.

She wished she had something to contrast this strange behavior with, like with the other slaves of the king, and as if getting her wish answered, she found it as she looked away from the Antlertean, and faced forward to see another buck kneeling at the other bull’s side across from her.

The buck had to be the slave of the other minotaur, a younger looking whitetail that couldn’t have been older in this time as Alice was in the present, wearing a collar that held a small barrel at its front. Unlike so many others Alice had seen, this deer displayed a quiet nervousness, trying to cover his exposed bits, his face a solid shade of red. It reminded her of the doe from Thicket back at the castle, and how she was terrified. Whatever indoctrination the other deer had gone through hadn’t yet been instilled in this particular tribe yet.

“I see the prince has yet to learn that his body isn’t his own anymore,” said the minotaur king, taking note of the buck’s attempts to maintain modesty.

Prince? Alice thought, finding it hard to believe that this young adult stag was of royal lineage.

Not because he didn’t look the part, though it would hard for anyone to look regal when stripped bare and placed in a slave collar, but because she had heard that Thicket was one of the best fortified deer kingdoms, and she assumed that those captured and brought here were caught wandering outside outside of the sturdy walls that protected it.

“Give the boy some slack,” said the minotaur sitting across from him, “We raided his home only a few months ago, and I am rewarding his complacency by allowing him to adapt at his own pace.”

“So you still haven’t properly fucked him, I take it.” said the minotaur king in assumption.

“If you’re asking if I’ve stuck him, then no,” the other minotaur said, “But we’ve come up with a way he can service me in the bedroom.”

“You go far too easy on the ones you find ‘cute’, Titanius.” the king said, calling his associate by his name.

“Which is my right as his owner,” Titanius rebutted, “Force is not the only way to instill submission, even if it’s your preferred method. Besides, his father has been satisfying me quite well in his stead.”

“Yes, I remember how you displayed him to his conquered subjects,” said the minotaur king, “And It was my hope that you wouldn’t be as lenient with him as you are his son.”

“I have been training him in a more traditional manner,” Titanius answered, “As punishment for his attempt to trick us. It’s a good thing you have that doe of yours around to let us know about these things.”

Titanius tilted his head to look over the edge of the table, his eyes locking on Alice, which filled her with a strange kind of self resentment. It was obvious with that gesture that ‘she’ was the doe that helped them, and thus allowed the minotaur to successfully overtake a deer settlement. She cursed her future self for condemning other deer to a life of enslavement to these beastly bull men, furious that she could ever become so corrupted to be the cause of such a travesty.

“My slave has received enough praise for her contributions,” said the minotaur king, a statement Alice was happy to agree with, “And I would like to keep her from getting a big head due to suggestions that were helpful, but irrelevant when it came to our conquest of such a feeble kingdom.”

Alice bit her lip in order to quiet herself, as she was certain her ‘suggestions’ were the only reason the minotaur succeeded in their plans. At least, she had to believe that, as the alternative was to assume that the events put in place by this enigmatic third party her future self mentioned were so immutable that her involvement didn’t matter. That being the case would mean there was nothing she could do to stop what she saw here, and that belief was unacceptable.

“You really should give her some credit,” Titanius said, “Suggestions or no, they were flawless.”

“Enough,” said the minotaur king, “I’m tired of talking of old business. We are here for new business.”

“Ok, but we’ll need Sartek and Attilius to get here before- oh, I think they’re here.”

Titanius and the minotaur king turned themselves towards the restaurant’s entrance, where two new bulls had just entered, the host deer from before greeting them as he did the king. Alice, curious about these new arrivals, followed the direction of their gaze to see what other vile creatures would be joining them, but what she saw, more than anything else thus far, shot a cold spike of terror into her being that it turned her whole body numb, as a sickening feeling formed in the pit of her stomach, spreading out in all directions, momentarily overriding the pleasure aura of her future body.

The first minotaur lead in was a mountain of a man, even compared to the other minotaur Alice had already seen. Standing perhaps another half a head tall to the minotaur king, the behemoth of a bull wore a similar leather chest armor as Titanius, though while the seated minotaur bore more battle scars, it was this minotaur’s attire that held the damage of whatever combat he partook in. Whether that meant he was a better fighter than Titanius didn’t even have time to enter Alice’s mind, as that didn’t matter nearly as much as what followed in after him.

The massive minotaur, like the others of his party, had brought along with him a slave to show off during this meal with his associates. Not a deer, and not some form of pony, but a creature that was practically as huge as a minotaur itself. With impressive muscular structure, large breasts even for her body size, and two heads sitting atop its shoulders, one that of a goat, and the other a tiger. The creature, or creatures as it might have been, was heavily bound, with steel shackles several inches thick keeping their goatish legs held closely together by short chain of metal links that looked like they would be suited to lift up a small anchor, as their arms were trapped behind their back within a likewise heavy steel box that fully enveloped their hands, lower arms, and elbows, making the appendages form a U shape, finished off with a muzzle around each of their faces of the same sturdy material, finely crafted to fit to form, with open parts for the tiger to let her thick saber teeth stick out.

This beastly creature looked in no way compliant with her enslavement, pulling against her master’s chosen lead, despite it being a set of belt size straps connected to metal rings embedded into the flesh behind her areolas, ones large enough that they could be used as door knockers. As she fought against the minotaur, only to lose ground as he stretched her breasts, a third head appeared from behind her, one of a snake, with a body to match, which joined the rest of the creature at its backside. The snake, while not hindered or restrained like other parts, didn’t make the slightest attempt to aid them in resisting, which might have given Alice the impression that the different heads were not of like mind, if this creature was what had struck the reindeer with the fear that utterly consumed her.

Though the minotaur and this chimeric creature created a very intimidating image, the thing that shook Alice to her core came in after them. There walked in the last of this quartet of minotaur; one that was actually smaller and younger than the other three, with frazzled black hair and beard on his chin to match, wearing a more simple outfit of a cloth shirt and pants. Of course, there was nothing about the bovine that affected Alice, but instead the sight of the pink reindeer doe being pulled in tow behind him.

“Bori…” Alice said in whisper, almost mixing the word with a gasp that superseded it.

There she was, the doe who back in her was keeping an eye on her body in the present, yet another minotaur slave in the future. Alice could have never been prepared to see this, a doe who was as close as family, reduced to a mere slave, no doubt defiled in the same way every other slave was. Seeing her here, collared and exposed, filled Alice with a deeply renewed revulsion of not only the minotaur, but her future self. She supposedly knew about all of this, and yet would still allow this destiny to unfold. It was sickening, and Alice couldn’t let it go without letting her corrupted self know that she rebuked everything about what she had done, and would never see this supposed beauty in this minotaur ran world.

The yellow reindeer tried several times, sending her most hate filled thoughts through time, but all she got in return was silence. The future Alice had to know there was no way to make this look good, and was hiding from a truth she couldn’t deny. There was nothing redeeming about this future, and to believe otherwise was sheer delusion.

With her future self denying her rage, Alice despised that she had to remain silent as the last members of this meal took their places, Bori’s slaver parading the pink reindeer past her fellow Gift Giver as he made it to his seat at the table. While she couldn’t tell by the look in Bori’s eyes, as they had been concealed behind a thick blindfold of tanned leather, a small cringe on her lips as she passed by told Alice that the older deer was just as disgusted about the way the future turned out as she was. Having the honor of being a Gift Giver torn away, to be reduced to the sexual plaything of some barbarian, would be detestable to any reindeer privileged with the powers they had.

These minotaur are so stupid that they don’t realize blindfolding her is pointless, Alice scoffed in her thoughts, knowing Bori better than the bulls.

Even if Bori was blindfolded, it didn’t prevent her from seeing, as her powers could be used on anyone in her present, which apparently included herself if needed. It wasn’t a trick used often, but she had once used it in a little game when they were delivering some presents to a bunch of reindeer fawns, letting them take turns covering her eyes, and then describing their features to them through her omniscience. Bori probably could have picked any of the children to focus on instead, but she found it easier to just look at herself.

No doubt she was doing the same thing now, so she wasn’t as in the dark as the minotaur guiding her was trying to make her. With her shock and hatred simmering down, Alice wondered if this version of Bori, a version she hoped to prevent altogether, utilized her gift in ways that hindered the minotaur, as the yellow doe could see the other reindeer doing that. It gave her a bit more appreciation for Bori’s recent spying on her, as it surely made for good practice when it came to this awful situation, and the pink doe probably knew more about what was going on in this city than the minotaur ever could.

“Titanius, Master, I see you both decided to be punctual today.” said the largest minotaur, taking the spot next to Titanius, forcing the three headed creature down to their knees to take the spot on the floor next to him, “I must be getting old if you two are arriving before me.”

“Or perhaps it’s because you decided to drag your pet monster across town instead of bringing a more sensible slave,” said Titanius, “But I wouldn’t expect ‘The Mighty Attilius’ to do anything less. Tell me, how have the games at the colosseum been lately? I’ve have to miss quite a few events, but I always like hearing about the results.”

“They are as you would expect,” the huge minotaur answered, “I keep getting new contenders from what you three keep pushing into the slave market, but aside from this chimera, many of them are just rape fodder.”

“So am I hearing you finally found a woman worthy of your combat prowess?” the minotaur king asked.

“These three show promise,” the minotaur said, “But they still lost a good amount of their fights. I’ll have to train them even further in gladiatorial combat, if they are going to meet my standards.”

“I suppose we all have our preferences,” Titanius said, poking fun at the minotaur for being so picky, “You want a good, strong mate. I prefer my males, and Master enjoys the company of females of a higher quality.” he shifted his gaze over to bearded minotaur “And what about you, boy? What are your preferences?”

The bearded minotaur had been quiet up until this point, who had to be the one called Sartek since every other minotaur had been identified, his silence surpassing the stoic nature of the minotaur king, but when addressed he was forced to respond. “As the head of the slave market guild, I don’t have the liberty to have preferences. I like my women, and impregnate ones that appeal to me, but then I put them to task at one of the nurseries, or at the project going on in Equestria.”

“Right, the one being headed by that crystal mare you found,” said Titanius, looking to be in the know about what the younger minotaur was speaking about, “I wish you could start funneling some of those ponies into the markets, especially some of those cute pegasus stallions.”

“I agree,” said Attilius, “I would love to have some of the earth ponies myself. They aren’t as powerful as a minotaur, but they are resourceful. I think if anything can give the gladiators a good fight, it would be some of them.”

“Say, wasn’t that another thing the yellow doe helped with,” Titanius added.

“You mean Master’s pet reindeer?” Sartek questioned, “Yes, she was the one who told me where to find the crystal mare. Why do you ask?”

“Titanius is trying to find reasons to praise my reindeer’s talents,” said the minotaur king, “Even though I asked him not to fill her with unneeded pride for doing what she should. I’m sure she agrees with me on that matter, right Alice?”

Noticing she was being addressed, Alice gave a quick nod in agreement. While the minotaur was trying to belittle her abilities, she just didn’t want to be accredited for helping the minotaur with their devious and perverse schemes.

“See, she understands that her suggestions, while useful, have always been heeded at my discretion. If I believed her ideas were invalid, they would be disregarded, because I deemed them to be the incorrect path for us to take.”

Before Titanius could try to argue further at the true value Alice’s powers held, a group of doe waitresses with several plates of food.

“Enough of this talk,” the minotaur king said, “Let’s eat, and then we can discuss all of your proposals and plans. That’s what we are here for, afterall.”

The food was laid out before the four minotaur, along with several large mugs of what had to be strong alcohol from the smell of it, the strength of which went right through the scent of all the cooked pastas, baked breads, and roasted fruits, right into Alice’s nose, the fumes practically intoxicating in itself. It forced the yellow doe into a small fit of coughs, which was shared with the prince sitting across from her, though Bori and the Chimera were tolerant to it enough to resist joining in.

“Here,” Alice heard, as a minotaur hand holding a bowl was pushed before her face. It was the king’s, offering her the salad he had ordered for her earlier, “You missed breakfast, so eat up.”

Reluctantly, Alice took the bowl. It looked nicely prepared, but she really wasn’t in the mood for food. She felt that the minotaur king wasn’t asking her, though, so she decided to pick out some of the lettuce leaves to chew on.

How long have I been here? Alice thought to herself, the crisp texture of the lettuce lost on her, It has to be getting close to an hour now

Alice had to remind that the hour of the potion’s duration was for her body, and not her mind. If the future version of herself wanted, she could extend the time Alice spent here by looking even further forward into time. That could have explained why she went silent all of a sudden, perhaps swapping to a future event the moment Alice got hostile.

I’ll just have to stick with it, I guess… Alice said, tossing a strawberry into her mouth. It was a nice, juicy berry, but again the deer refused to register any of the flavor on her tongue as more than a typical fruity taste.

“Hey boy,” Titanius said, looking down to his princely slave, “Did you ever drink alcohol back in your kingdom?”

The stag stifled his coughs long enough to reply with “Once. My father let me drink a glass of wine from our family’s collection.”

“A glass?” he said, “I’ve seen the small glasses your kind drink from. Not even proportional to a proper ale mug. Here… Try a bit of a real man’s drink.”

The minotaur grabbed a soup bowl he had already emptied, and poured a bit of his drink into it, before handing it to the buck.

“You’re gonna get him sick with that,” Sartek said, “That stuff is powerful, even for our kind.”

“Who hasn’t emptied their stomachs from having a bit too much?” Titanius replied, “It’s all part of growing up. But if the boy doesn’t want to give it a try, I won’t make him.”

The stag looked at the brown liquid in the bowl with a concern, the fumes from it alone causing his nose the crinkle. Alice believed for sure he’d take the opportunity to turn down the offer, even if this turned out to be some sort of trick from the minotaur to create a reason to punish him, but after contemplating it in pause for a short while, the stag placed the edge of the bowl to his lips and tilted it upwards.

“Thataboy!” Titanius said with excitement, though made sure to quiet himself as he expressed his joy in watching the liquid slide down his deer’s gullet, as they were in a public area, “Drink up, and enjoy yourself.”

The praise came with a small reward of a roasted apple, which was handed to the stag after he had finished his bowl. Not yet feeling any repercussions from the fluid he ingested, the prince took the offering, biting into it with much less hesitation.

No other such challenges were given by the other minotaur to their slaves, but the remaining two slaves received their own morsels of food to eat from the bovines’ feast. Attilius fed his chimera via the ungagged snake, who submissively ate what was given to her from his hand, exposing a wicked set of teeth with each opening of her mouth, each looking like a small knife. For Bori, a bowl of warm soup was granted, laid on the floor for her to eat at her leisure. She didn’t look to be as tamed as the others though, as she didn’t so much as budge to take the food, staying mostly still in her knelt pose.

Over time, the food that had been laid out vanished from the table, the minotaur shoving each plateful into their mouths. By this time, the Thicket prince was wobbling about, trying his best to sit up straight, the booze having taken its effect. Alice had eaten most of her salad, fruit and all, while Bori’s bowl stayed as full as it had started. The pink doe did not budge on her initial stance on partaking in this meal, which was something that didn’t go unnoticed by Sartek once he finished his own meal.

“If you don’t appreciate the things I grant you, then I’ll not give them to you.” her master said sternly, taking the bowl from off the floor, “Here Titanius, let your whitetail have it.”

“I think he’ll have to decline,” Titanius said, as the buck had collapsed on the side of his own master’s seat, passed out from his intoxication, “He might be able to keep down a man’s drink, but he’s still a boy.”

“Then how about your reindeer?” he said, offering the bowl to his king.

“Hmmm, are you still hungry?” Alice’s master asked her, willing to allow her a bit more if she wanted it.

While Alice had her reservations about taking the bowl, as she felt it might be a slap in the face of Bori’s protest, she had to admit that she was tempted by the aroma of it. With the alcohol completely drunk, the scent of the still warm soup could reach her, and as she got a good whiff of it, she could tell that it would be delicious. As much as she tried to feign disinterest in the salad given to her, the fact of the matter was that it tasted good, and it was only part of this endeavor that had been slightly enjoyable. She had to debate it in her mind a few times, but in the end she chose to stay loyal to Bori, giving a small shake of her head to the minotaur.

“Then I suppose no one wants it,” the minotaur king said, searching the room to find a waitress doe walking by, “You, waitress slave, come here.”

The doe stopped in her tracks, then made her way to the bull, “Can I get you anything else, Master?”

“No,” the minotaur king said, taking the bowl from Sartek and handing it over to the Antlertean, “But here. Take this and eat it. None of us want it, but I’ll not have it go to waste.”

The doe graciously took the food, thanked the minotaur for the offering, and drank it right there. “It was very tasty soup, Master. I am grateful you gave a lowly doe such as myself such a gift.”

“Save your groveling,” the minotaur king said, far too used to lesser creatures giving compliments, gratitude, and praise over the slightest things, “Just get your fellow slave does over here and clear off our table.”

“Right away, Master.” the doe said, skipping off to retrieve enough waitresses to do the task in an expedient manner.

“Now that we’ve settled that,” the minotaur king said, “Let’s get to what we’re actually here for.”

“Right,” Attilius agreed, “We need to know what the next steps of the Equestria project are, in order to adjust our infrastructure to accommodate them.”

“And we need to know what cities will be raided in order to appropriately allocate extra soldiers to guarantee they are conquered without too much of a fuss.” Titanius added, “The masters of the Slaver’s Guild are only contractors and merchants, afterall, and we can’t allow for a single failure in this sensitive time.”

“If we are to finally claim what should have been our kinds from the start, then every attack needs to end in complete domination.” said the minotaur king, “It’s fortunate that Equestria itself is in a period of political isolation from its neighboring nations, but a single failed attack might lead to the forming of alliances. My reindeer… suggests that our plans will succeed so long as we continue our strikes against the smaller nations first, and I agree that is the best recourse. However, I still have concerns about Equestria itself. Are we sure the members of this… Trainers’ Society will not reveal our plans to the princesses of the pony kingdom.”

“The operation takes advantage of the ego and selfishness of those who the crystal mare brings into her inner circle.” Sartek explained to reassure his king, “She always selects those who see themselves as more important or talented than others, then uses her magic to enhance that feeling of superiority, while also instilling the idea that they would not be spared punishment if her group was brought down. Because of how convincing her powers make her words, members tend to believe this wholeheartedly, seeing the mare as a provider of their desires and their only source of protection now that they are in so deep.”

“And this is foolproof?” the minotaur king asked, “There are no dissenters?”

“I would be lying if I didn’t say there had been a few,” Sartek answered, “But they are rooted out quickly, and then added to the slave stock. The crystal mare’s powers can just as easily deflate one’s ego as much as it can inflate it, and those who don’t have the stomach to dominate others tend to be easily subdued themselves.”

“Have you set up means to evacuate if you’re discovered before the plan comes to fruition?” the minotaur king asked, for a moment sounding concerned more about the safety of those participating in the minotaur scheme than the hopeful results of it.

“We have actions set in place we’ll take in the event that we are found out, and no minotaur ever leaves the grounds of a secured site. The gryphons might have some issues escaping, but that would be their problem to deal with.”

“We should at least try to warn them,” said Titanius, “As keeping some alliance with their, admittedly decrepit nation, would give us more allies than none in the following retaliation we would receive.”

“Agreed…” the minotaur king said, weighing his options, “Though we have plans in place for that inevitable retaliation, so long as we can get our hands on that unicorn prince. Attilius, that is where you and your men come in.”

“You have reason to believe Sartek’s plan will not spread to this newly founded Crystal Empire?” asked Attilius, “Is this some more insight from your reindeer?”

“Whatever the reason, it's important that we have a strong army ready in case we have to take Equestria by force. Your colosseum might be treated as mere sport, but you have the strictest training regime in our empire, and the younger minotaur respect your prowess in strength and combat.”

“Well they also respect your contributions to restoring our kind from the brink of extinction,” Attilius replied, looking to return the compliments, “You have your own band of bulls who see you as an example of what a minotaur should be, as cruel and archaic as some of the senate make your methods out to be.”

“Those within the senate just hate having to admit that I saved our species, while openly taking advantage of what I have created.” the minotaur king said with spite, “If they felt they could get rid of me without causing a rebellion against their established order, they probably would have done so the moment I conquered the Antlerteans.”

“Yes, yes,” Titanius said, knowing well the disdain his king had for those who appointed themselves as the enlightened leaders of their race, “But they do bring some degree of order to our nation. They may be the most hypocritical of our lot, since they still enjoy the slaves gained by our efforts as much as any other bull, but if not for their laws, we would have continued to be the savage barbarians we were when we claimed this place.”

The minotaur king groaned, not enjoying any thoughts of positivity of this separate group of minotaur, that Alice could only infer challenged his power. Aside from that they sounded no different from the minotaur king himself, since it was stated that they partook in the system of slavery the king apparently created.

The four minotaur talked on the matters of Equestria and some smaller raids they intended for a little while longer, but nothing about it really concerned Alice any further. She had heard enough, and had come to the conclusion that even had there been something redeeming about the minotaur and their kingdom, the fact that they wanted to take over Equestria made them enough of a threat that this future had to be avoided, as if they took over the pony nation, there would be little to stand in their way of overtaking every other kingdom as well.

“It’s about time I got back to The Society,” said Sartek, moving to excuse himself from the table, “I had left the crystal mare in the care of two of her members, and I’m sure that she’ll need to me to relieve her from their sadism, no matter how much she enjoys it.”

“Yes, I suppose we’re all caught up by now,” said the minotaur king, taken this opportunity to likewise leave the table, “We’ll bring this meeting to a close, but I would like to hear more about the plans you said this ‘Rubric’ had involving Yakyakistan. It is about time we brought those perfectionists under heel.”

The other minotaur followed by example of their king, lifting themselves out of their seats, and collecting their enslaved escorts. Most were simply made to rise from their kneeling position to follow their owners, with Attilius having to enforce the same amount of strength over his chimera going out as he did coming in, though Titanius had to pick up and carry his sleeping whitetail prince.

The bulls made their way to the exit together, forming a wall of beef with their mass that forced anyone in their path to flee out of it. The slaves, save for the held buck, followed behind, with both reindeer on either side of the chimera. This relieved Alice slightly, as she didn’t know if she could face Bori knowing that her future self caused all this. She didn’t know if the older Gift Giver hated her now, but the pink doe couldn’t have been excited to know she was there. Alice knew that there was only one way to fix all of this, and that was to find this Moirai future Alice spoke of, and prevent them from causing any of this. Hopefully the Bori or Aurora of her time would know something, and from there they could warn creatures of what was to-

Without a bit of warning, Alice felt something sharp enter into her side. Not a single object, but what felt like several dozen. She didn’t even have time to yelp, as the air seemed to trap itself in her lungs due to an immense pain that now overlapped the pleasure aura her body had developed. Stunned, she found it difficult to move to see what had stuck her. As she felt the sharp object leave her body though, and found her legs collapsing under her own weight, the source of her pain presented itself, in the form of a large snake, whose teeth were now covered in her blood.

“Ssso what the minotaur were sssaying is true! You were the one who caused all thissss!” the snake hissed at Alice, clearly more upset about its enslavement than it had previously let on.

It opened its mouth again to go for another bite, but as it shot forward to clamp down on Alice’s face, a large hand snatched her by the neck and pulled her away. Attilius had quickly taken notice of what his chimera had done, cursing that he had trusted any part of the savage, murderous beast as he flung her whole body into an empty corner of the dining room. The massive minotaur followed after, to ensure that the mostly bound creature wouldn’t try to attack someone else, having to fend off the fangs of the snake, as she knew she was about to be punished for her actions, and wasn’t going to allow it without causing some more harm in exchange.

Though the Chimera was being dealt with, Alice had still been severely harmed. While she was still in one piece, several holes had been put into her body, and blood was pouring from them at an alarming rate. Before the other minotaur could turn around to see what had happened, the yellow doe felt her strength fade, with her body toppling over on the other opposite side of the wound. Her vision grew dark as she noticed the hooves of other creatures stomping around her, while the muffled sounds of harsh voices yelled words that she couldn’t quite make out.

Alice felt like she was dying, but she told herself that couldn’t be true. She couldn’t die in this false future, the one that she was intent on preventing. Even as her breathing became labored, she told herself that this wasn’t possible, and that the potion that sent her here would wear off soon. Even if this body was dying, it wasn’t her body, so she should be okay.

As she thought about that though, the reindeer remembered that the only reason she was here was because her future self told her to be here on this day. Had her future self known this attack would happen? Was this some sort of plan to have her past self die in her stead? Surely that couldn’t be how any of this worked, but then where was the other version of herself? How far in the future did she go in order to avoid this pain?

These questions filled Alice’s panic struck mind, as chaos ensued around her. She couldn’t understand most of what was going on, but the doe believed she heard several voices calling for help, though her hearing must have been affected by the blood loss, cause they all sounded deeper… like the minotaur’s voices.

She had no time to question it, as the combination of pain and fading perception was making her slip into the unconscious world. However, just before she slipped away, she spotted a pink body kneel down in front of her, and a pair of matching hands lifted up her head, tilting it upwards. It was Bori, still blindfolded, but looking directly at the presumably dying doe. Bori ran her hand through her fellow Gift Giver’s hair, her face showing no emotion, though that might have been only due to the emotion of her eyes being concealed.

What she said though seemed to convey everything she felt in this moment, as Alice heard the older reindeer tell her “I’m sorry”. These words didn’t come out in a truly apologetic manner though, but in a tone that felt like she was trying to be consoling, but allowed some deep seeded spite to slip through.

Alice’s world turned to black shortly after, and as the last thought she feared she ever had seeped into her consciousness, she prayed to whatever force would listen that she hadn’t been tricked, and that she would live to see another day. She wasn’t even aware that there was some force trying to fulfill the last part of her wish, as it lifted her body up off the ground in powerful arms, to take her to a place that could hopefully save her.