Princess Celestia's hoofsteps echoed in the dimly lit hallway. Cell after cell lined the sides, filled with ponies looking dreary and distraught, and devoid of hope.
Celestia refused to let the sadness, regret, and guilt get to her. She had witnessed this scene hundreds, if not thousands of times. This time was no different.
And this was all for the safety of her little ponies - so that these felons would never hurt them again. It was justice, she whispered to herself as she calculated the timing of the rounds guards made so there was no little pocket of time a prisoner could use to escape.
The place was dead silent, with only a rare dry sob or a creaking of the old pillows and beds and blankets made when an inmate adjusted their position in sleep. She reminded herself that this was justice.
An eery sound crept through the hallways. A whine, maybe? She would have identified it as the whine of a depressed foal, akin to the sounds at some orphanages, if it was even possible that a small foal had been imprisoned in the section of the prison for inmates on Death Row.
Without any hint beforehoof, the beat of Celestia's hoofsteps quickened, as though they were playing a newer, faster melody compared to the one before.
She stopped at the cell where the 'whine' had originated. Inside, there was a twisted black shape with holes akin to Swiss cheese, and blue eyes, small white fangs, and a sharp muzzle defined a face.
The face of a changeling.
Her brain simply stopped. It was a changeling - but it was a little changeling, and perhaps the equivalent ... of a foal. Upon realizing her presence, it stopped and fixed a gaze on the large white alicorn on the other side of the reinforced steel bars. "You're big," said the miniature creature with a voice of both wonder and fear.
While the rational part of her mind screamed that this was a trick, some way to take advantage of her, her emotions fluttered like crazy. While in her stupor, she simply said, "Yes. I am."
"Oh, you're nice! The other ponies are mean. They don't say anything to me! Did I do something wrong? OhnoIdidsomethingwrongGrannyIzzyisgoingtobesomad!" the young changeling said, with worry beginning to creep into her voice.
Celestia shook herself out of her stupor, and her mind started functioning again. "Why are you here?"
"Well, Mean Pony - wait - Mean Ponies came into my little cave and everyling got caught except for Granny Izzy. I must have done something wrong! Queen, I swear I didn't do anything bad! I swear!"
Here I am, thought Celestia, watching a filly cry and not doing anything. Am I monster? Or are changelings truly incapable of pony fe-
"I'm sorry! I wanna go back with Izzy Grannie and make everything right! Why can't everything be ri-"
Steeling her resolve, she unlocked the door and levitated the little filly to her side. "Walk," said Celestia.
She started galloping to her bedchamber, the little filly struggling to keep along. She burst through the prison doors and walked up a multitude of spiral staircases and ending with an unelegant barging in through the doors. A few moments later, a shout erupted.
"Change-----" Celestia muted her guard's voice and cooly replied, "Let it in."
The doors opened to reveal the tiny changeling from the prison panting. Beads of sweat could be seen on the gray-black chitin.
"Here, little changeling," Celestia gestured to her large bed. "Let's talk about you, no?"
--30 minutes later--
"-and then Izzy was like, 'Good job, Icheal!'"
"I presume this is 'Izzy' is a sort of motherly figure toward you?"
"Yep! Oh! And this one ti-"
"Princess! Changeling escape! We have to find ... Oh." Shining Armor had bursted through the door, and his voice dropped when he noticed the small black figure yawn at the side of the Sun Princess."
"Yes, Captain?" replied the unmoving figure of white.
The captain's surprise changed to shock as he realized what was happening. "Princess, get away from that ... that thing!"
"Icheal and I are having a pleasant conversation when you arrived.
