The Pit

Bright Sky was staring at his hooves the whole time. How could he not? He looked guilty, he felt guilty, he knew he was guilty. But even so, he pleaded innocent. He needed those apples to feed his family. He had just been fired from the Cloudsdale weather team and he had no other way to make money. He had tried to ask his brother for some bits, but was turned down. Not even his own parents would help him. And all because he had married a unicorn. He had always knew that his parents were a little bit set in their ways when it came to same-race marriage. But he never knew that they were down right racist! He couldn't help himself when it came to Mystique. She was the most beautiful mare he had ever seen before in his life, and he fell in love with her at first glance.

But look where that got him now. His parents won't help him. His brother is too afraid of their parents to lend him any money. And his baby girl was starving! He had no other choice than to resolve to stealing! The only other alternative was to let his family starve to death!

But that didn't matter to the judge. The way the judge saw it was that he was a deadbeat who couldn't provide for his wife and child. So to the judge, he was a deadbeat, as well as a thief.

Bright Sky took a deep breath to calm himself down. Maybe the judge could see where he was coming from. Maybe he would understand the reason behind this, and he would go free. Even if he wouldn't go free, he might get away with some community service. Maybe, just maybe, the judge would show him mercy.

Bright Sky looked up at the judge with a hopeful smile. The judge looked back at him with a deep scowl on his face.

Just after Bright saw this, the doors that the jury were convening behind opened to reveal the ponies that held his life in their hooves. After seeing that the judge clearly wouldn't show him any mercy, he had to hope and pray that the jury had found him innocent. If they didn't... Well, he just hoped that they did.

Everyone in the court room looked to the jury as a small, brownish-grey stallion walked forward with a piece of paper floating in front of him. He cleared his throat and levitated the paper closer to his face and read the contents aloud. "We, the jury, find one, Bright Sky, guilty of theft."

Almost immediately, Bright burst out screaming his head off. "That's a bunch of shit! I only did that to feed my family! You're all full of shit!"

As he was screaming at them, two burly security guards were hauling him out of the court room. He tried to break free of their grip, but they were too strong for him.

The judge slammed his gavel down. "Guilty! Next case!"

Bight yelled out again to the judge and to the jury. "You're all going to burn in Hell! You here me?! You're going to burn!" Then there was a low humming noise followed by an incredible pain under his wing. He lost his breath and couldn't get it back it hurt so much. His eyes started watering, and he collapsed on the ground in a heap of pain.

"Get up!" barked one of the two guards standing above him.

He tried to stand, but he just fell back down. There was another low hum, and again, another stabbing pain under his wing.

"Get! Up!" the guard yelled again.

Bright tried, he really did. But the pain coursing through his body was just too much for him. "I- I... I c-"

"You what?! What were you gonna say?! You can't?!" yelled the guard.

Bright could only nod. It hurt him to breathe. And it nearly killed him to speak.

"Oh, well why didn't you just say so?" ask the second guard. "He's tired Brawn; I'll have to carry him."

Bright tried to thank the second guard, but a slight clicking noise stopped him. A second later, he felt a sharp pain in his wing, and he was being dragged along the ground. Bright tried to yell out to stop them, but the pain from his wing, mixed with this new pain made it impossible for him to do anything but make small, whimpering noises as he was dragged along the tiled floor, and out of the building.

"Last stop, freeloader," the guard dragging him said as he released Bright from his grip and dropped him to the concrete.

Bright mustered up the strength to look at to look up at the guard, but received a hoof to the jaw for his troubles.

"Stay down, scum!" the first guard yelled at him.

Bright was so out of it from the pain that he didn't even make a noise. Instead, he just lay there, completely still for fear of the guard physically abusing him any further. From where he was laying, he could see a sky carriage. Only this particular carriage was completely made of metal and had bars across the tiny slits that just barely passed for windows. He could also see a group of ponies approaching him.

"Is this the last convict?" One of the ponies from the carriage asked the guards.

"Yep, last one. At least until tomorrow, anyways," the second guard replied.

"Good. We're behind schedule as it is. Load up the convict and we'll give you your money."

The two security guards then dragged Bright Sky towards the sky carriage, and he started fearing for his life. He heard that ponies that broke the law go to jail. But for some reason, he had a feeling that this was something else. He suspicions were confirmed when the two guards opened the hatch and threw him inside. He saw that there were no seats. But not only that; there was a great mess of piss and shit on the floor, accompanied by a horrendous smell. And even some of the mess was smeared on the walls in some spots. But what was most disturbing about the inside of the carriage was that in some spots, it looked like there was blood stained to the metal.

"Convict," said a curt voice from Bright's side.

He struggled to turn his head enough to see the pony before him. A tall, skinny stallion with a black suit and a slicked back mane.

"What's your name, convict?" the stallion asked him.

"B- Bright S... Sky," Bright told him.

The suited pony scowled at him. "Not anymore it's not. From now on, you will be know as Convict No. 22737. Do you understand?" the suited pony asked him hurriedly.

Bright just shook his head.

The suited stallion's scowl deepened. "Well, it doesn't matter now anyways," he said as he took out a large syringe from a pocket in his suit.

Bright's eyes widened, but he still was too weak from the pain to stop the suited pony from sticking the needle into his neck and draining the contents into him.

"Don't worry, 22737, this will make you sleep the whole way," he said. Then a twisted smile spread across his lips as Bright started to lose consciousness. "Sweet dreams, 22737."

After that, Bright was dead to the world. He was now a convicted criminal, and he was on his way to Celestia knows where in a filthy metal cage. That night, Bright Sky dreamed of his family. Maybe for the last time.