Meeting

I stood behind the bars of a small, damp cell. The smell of rotting hay and mildew filled the air as I paced around the crumbling stone floor. My boots waterlogged, my hands cut and hastily bandaged by a fearful horse. I felt like I was dying, my mind reeling to collect the past day's events.

Climbing through a cavern, bursting into a basement, an ear piercing scream, a fight against a herd of horses and now, this. The horses I'd seen were sentient, spoke, and apparently didn't take kindly to my panicked fight for my life. Knocking out a pony that tried to touch me had landed me a spot in a dungeon cell and a court date, all because of my instincts telling me to fight the unknown aggressor.

I grabbed the rough iron bars of the cell door, stepping into a foul puddle of murky water. My arms burning as I leaned against the bars. "Someone!? Anyone!? Marcus, Tanner, come on, someone talk to me!?"

A pink pony with a white striped mane trotted over to me, "Excuse me...can you be quiet?!" she kept a fair distance from the bars. "We can hear you screaming from the conference room, and would appreciate it if you would stop!"

I felt my breath go ragged as I lurched forward, "Fuck you!" I grabbed at the mare, my hands formed into aggressive claws as I swiped at the air, "I can't be here! I need to go back damn it, I need to help my fucking friends!"

The mare took an appalled step back, "Animal! You're a beast, a creature, you have no friends!" She turned her nose to me, walking out of my vision and leaving my arms entangled in the grid door. I ceased my flailing and leaned my forehead against the bars, letting it dig in and cause a rough pain.

I just stood there, slowly falling against the door as I came to terms with my new life. A raiding mission in a burned out port town, a fight for survival once again, friends abandoned to the torn world I left behind. And yet things seemed to get worse. My world, torn apart by famine and war, was now replaced my imprisonment and bigotry from a fearful race of equines.

For a world so full of color, so full of life, it seemed even less forgiving than the ruined earth I was plucked from. But that couldn't be. These were horses, sentient horses. They don't fight, they don't have war, they just run. My home was baked in war, a kiln of violence and abuse created from era's of neglect. How was this land worse than one who had passed its peeked, one that had risen and fallen so rapidly.

I watched as pony after pony came to examine me, all dressed in frilly attire and judgmental stares. I resented them. Their gaze burned my skin, their words tormented my very soul, I wanted to kill them.

A grey maned pony walked over to my bars, "As you can see, this creature was obviously violent. And there is no greater threat to Equestria than a creature that is not only violent, but clearly intelligent."

The small group that followed him bustled their input, "Then what are you suggesting?"

"Banishment?"

"Autopsy?"

"Execution?"

A royal voice boomed over the bustling, parting the crowd, "Enough!" the voice echoed in the hall, forcing apart the crowd and revealing a white mare with a flowing multicolored mane. Gold adorning her chest and hooves as she trotted past the herd and over to me.

She looked me over, a magical force plucking me from the door and setting me on my knees. The mare's hard stare slowly softened, "I know you can speak...you can defend yourself you know."

I looked up at the mare, my resolve iron, my heart burning with rage, "Defend against what? My life is in your god damn hands you freak!

" I pushed off my knee and stood, walking face to face with the mare, "You heard your little fucking minions, you think anything I say is going to change their minds!?"

The tall mare just grimaced, "They shouldn't be the ones you're trying to convince...."

I glared at the mare, "So what...it's up to you?" I set my hands on the bars, getting as close as possible. The crowd bubbled with anticipation as the mare did the same, "You...you called me a fucking animal.... Is that what you fucking want me to be!?" I reached out, grabbing the mare by her neck, "Is that what you think I am!?"

The mare just stared at me, challenging stare unwavering as I tried in vain to strangle her. "Let, go."

I felt my breath catch in my throat. Her voice was commanding, but not condescending. I felt a strange compulsion to listen, and as instructed, I released her. My hands fell against the bottom bars of the grid and dangled limply. "Thank you." She looked me up and down before turning to the crowd, "A moment alone, every pony take recess and reconvene in the morning."

The crowd bowed in unison, quickly melting into the background as the mare resumed her gaze. I grew bitter as she looked at my hands. I flipped them over, revealing a bandaged gash across my palm, "You didn't do this...so stop fucking staring!"

The mare looked me in the eyes for a moment before returning to my hands, "Well...if we didn't do it, what did?"

I shook my head and leaned against the bars, "Glass. A bomb went off and sent a shard of glass into my hand--" I stopped dead as the mare unwrapped my bandages with the same magic that plucked me from the bars, "Fucking stop!"

I tried to pull back, finding myself stuck in place as the mare looked at my bloody wound. "...Is there still glass inside it?"

I tried with all my strength to pull free, managing to gain nothing for all my effort, "It's fine, just- let go! Pain!" I screamed, pulling at my wrist like mad.

The mare just focused her gaze, her horn lighting up and slowly enveloping my hand, "Just stay calm."

I felt my heart start to race as my wound went numb. My breathing slowed as an itchy feeling overtook the pain, my wound closing like a zipper and sealing tight. I let out a few shallow gasps as she let my hand go, "Better?"

I yanked myself inside the cell, staring at my now mended hand, "H-how...why!?" I ran to the bars, grabbing them and holding on for dear life, "Why!?"

The mare just smiled warmly, "See...we're not all bad." She put her hoof on the bars, "How about we start with names...."

I swallowed hard as I relaxed my grip, scratching my palm against the rough metal, "Able...."

The mare just smiled, a warmth rising in my stomach and shooting to my heart as she did, "That's a wonderful name.... I'm Celestia."

I felt myself start to cry, brain overwhelmed by the sudden surge of humanity in the face of absolute bigotry and prejudice, "I'm sorry...." I leaned against the bars, "I- I don't... I can't.... I grabbed you- the one- the one who tried to help me, I fucking tried to strangle you!" the warmth in my chest quickly turned to a hollowness that spread throughout my body, "I'm so fucking sorry--"

The mare set her hoof on my hand, "It's okay.... It's okay to be scared." she rubbed the back of my hand gingerly, "Able, it's okay to be afraid. My subjects are, it only makes sense you would be."

I slowly wrapped my fingers around her hoof, "Please...you have to get me out of here." I looked up to her, my eyes burning, "I'll leave, but you have to give me a fucking chance!"

Celestia's face hardened, "I can't do that...."

"Wh--"

She looked me dead in the eyes, "Even if I wanted to, the way you came is closed. You're stuck here."

I latched onto her hoof, digging my nails against her, "No...god no!" I slammed my head against the bars, "No!" I started to panic, "My friends, my life, everything! It's fucking gone!?"

Celestia just ran her free hoof along my hands, "Listen to me.... I promise you, if you stay calm, if you behave, I will do everything I can to send you home, and keep you safe."

I broke down, losing my composure and holding on to the nearest source of warmth, "Please...for the love of god, let me out of here!"

Celestia frowned hard, "I'll be back. I promise."

She slipped her hooves out of my grasp. "No! Please, please don't fucking leave me in here!" I screamed, trying to grab her through the bars, "I'm going to die in here!"

My pleads were enough to cause her to halt her step for a mere moment, "I'm sorry...I promise I'll be back, I swear it." She sauntered away, lagging slightly as I screamed for her to stay.

The first hint of kindness in a year had just walked away, leaving me in a damp rotting cage, my mind struggling to maintain any semblance of cohesion as I descended into a soft mania. But she said she would be back, and for once, I trusted someone.

I ran my thumb across my palm, "Please...hurry. Please...I need you." I fell to my knees, soaking my shins in the muck gathering at the foot of my cell, "Someone...save me, please?"