My Little Pony: Friendship is Incarceration

Chapters

Welcome to Blackhorn
The Look
Alone
Third Law

Welcome to Blackhorn

The sun did not shine on Blackhorn prison, nor was there night with its moon and stars. Only a dimness that grew and grew as one approached the castle on the high hill. Beneath that dome of gloom were impressions of dead trees and eroded hillside exposing boulders like broken bones and lost teeth. The earth ponies pulling the cart up the worn, cobbled path marched stoicly forward. The cage on the back was flanked by no less than four unicorns, their horns aglow with a magical suppression field. No one spoke. Three unicorns kept eyes on the prisoner, maintaining the field of cancelling magic. The fourth kept his eyes locked firmly ahead. A quartet of pegasi over watched the cart and its occupants.

The first wall was little more than a ring of stone pillars spaced evenly across the hillside, each topped with a purple gem. The sky was that of hot lead, casting a wan illumination on the ancient stone plinths. The Earth ponies trotted through without breaking stride, yet when the unicorns passed through it, four unicorns let out a cry, their horns flickering as dark purple lightning snaked around their horns, making the glow of magic flicker. The fifth made not a sound, even as his own illumination faltered as well.

The second wall was much more fitting the standard definition, cut from ugly basalt stones that loomed into the thin illumination overhead. The crenelation could barely be seen in the dim light, and the earth ponies standing guard moved like shadows overhead. A heavy gate of iron slowly swung open, just large enough to admit the cart. Within the wall, the cart stopped in a little room, and the door behind banged close. Then earth ponies in grim black armor the same style as the royal guards examined the cart. Dogs on leashes sniffed around the cart, low suspicious growls rolling in their throats. "That's right, meat. They can smell evil," one of the earth ponies taunted the figure curled up in the back of the cart.

"Hey," the fourth unicorn said, low and steady, and the earth pony blinked in surprise. "Just do your job."

The earth pony curled her lip but resumed the examination. When clear, the inner doors opened and the cart proceeded further, with torches stuck into sconces atop the cage. As the pegasi flew out, a purple nimbus enclosed their wings and they were brought back to the muddy rocks. No amount of flapping would lift them. The wagon continued a little way, now illuminated more by torches than the thin light above. And as they walked up the hill, the light left completely, and they entered eternal night. One by one, the unicorns' magic went out completely.

Then they reached the final wall. It was impossible to see the size of Blackhorn. It was as implacable as the gates of Tartarus itself. Great lights atop above pierced the darkness like the gaze of an angry Goddess, sweeping back and forth across the smooth, muddy terrain. Towers? There had to be towers. The cart stopped at the front gate and four of the beams converged on the party, washing out the darkness in terrible, blinding glare. Peering through a cracked eye, the prisoner could make out a single word carved into the stone above the doorway, illuminated with its own little light.

'Responsibility'

The doors opened and six black armored earth ponies strode out. One went to the fourth unicorn guard, asking for paperwork. The others went around the back of the cart. "Are you going to be a good pony, or a bad pony?" one of the stallion in black asked as he stared at the prisoner. No reply, of course, was possible when you wore a bridle this tight. She glanced at the guard talking over paperwork and gave a little nod to the guard addressing her. "Come here," he said waving her towards the door. She rose, walking towards him, keeping her eyes low. When she got to the bars, he reached up and clipped a leather strap to her bridle.

Then he yanked her face right into the bars. Something in her nose burst, blood trickling past her lips. The fourth guard turned and snapped, "What are you doing?" as the earth pony buckled down the strap to his foreleg.

"She just slipped. Chill, Goldencoat. We got this," the earth pony said as the doors were pulled open. Normally, such a short hop down would be foal's play, but her head still whirled from the impact, and when the lead was yanked a second time, she fell out on to the hard, cold stones. "Whoopse."

The fourth guard walked over, his eyes glowing brilliantly as he stared right into the earth pony. "You watch it. Your job doesn't entail hurting her for no reason!"

The earth pony, a sort of sickly green under the black armor, licked his lips as he stared into the eyes of the unicorn guard. "Guess I'll have to find a reason then," he said, his lips curling in a smile.

"If I find out she's been hurt by you, the second you step out of here, I'll pay you back ten fold. You hear me?" he challenged.

The green stallion just smiled, his tongue licking his lips again before he said in his low voice. "Guess you won't find out, then."

The unicorn inhaled deeply when a stallion at the gate barked out, "What's the delay?" Stepping into the harsh glare of the lights was a red pegasus. Like the other guards, he was grounded, but not because of some sorcery. Instead, it was because his left wing ended in a scarred stump. Numerous other scars decorated his scarlet hide.

"Just some concern about this guard doing his job," the unicorn said as the pegasus walked slowly forward. He didn't say a word until he was face to face with the unicorn, and kept walking. Step by step, the unicorn gave ground till he halted, the Pegasus thrusting his face right into the unicorn's.

"That's my concern now. You've transferred the prisoner. Your job is done. Mine begins. Is that understood?" the pegasus said, low and steady. The unicorn glanced at the prisoner and swallowed. The pegasus pulled back, turned, and walked back towards the doors. "Bring her."

"Wait! Wait, I need to speak to the prisoner! Wait!" the unicorn stallion cried out as the lead was pulled taut and she was drug towards those gates. She knew better, but she dug in her heels, fighting that pull as she struggled to turn and face him. To wave. To smile. To give him some indication that she was going to be okay. The lead was yanked hard, and two guards moved in to squeeze her between them while the third pulled. The rest of the black armored earth ponies kept the unicorn at bay. "Twily! Twily!" he called after her.

Then Twilight Sparkle was pulled into the looming building, the doors closing with a resounding boom behind her. Instantly she collapsed, tears rolling down her cheek, mixing with the blood coming out her nostril as she heard a few more yells of her name from her bbbff, and then nothing. "We got a sack here," the guard with her lead called out.

"Drag her. The warden's waiting," the pegasus said as he marched ahead.

"I'll get her," one of the stallions next to her said, picking her up in his hooves as setting her across his back. The third guard snickered, but the guard with her leash scowled at the pair. "Wait. It's faster than just pulling her along."

The hallway was made of gloom and dark basalt stone. Purple magic crystals set in the walls provided the faint illumination as she was pulled along. Huge, grim statues along the walls showed ponies, stallions on the right and mares on the left. Towards the gate behind her, they were calm and reposed. The deeper into the prison she walked, the more twisted and tormented they became, soon wearing chains and shackles. They reached another door, into a foyer with more black armored guards standing silent vigil. Each one stiffened when the crimson pegasus passed near. Tapestries depicting Celestia, Luna and Equestria beyond had been glued to the walls. Some of them appeared ancient.

She was carried up the stairs and into an office space where a trio of ponies not wearing uniforms typed away, keeping their eyes on their hooves. The Pegasus stopped outside a door, glanced back at Twilight at her bloody face, then said in a low voice, "Clean her up." Then disappeared inside.

The third guard turned to one of the typists. "Hey, Twinklehooves! You got a rag and some water?" Without lifting her eyes, the unicorn mare dug around the desk and pulled out a simple cloth handkerchief and a bottle of water. She set it on the table, and the earth pony wetted the cloth and then scrubbed her face hard. "There. Nice and clean." Except the rag did nothing for the throbbing pain from her other contusions nor her anguish. The door to the office beyond opened again.

The second guard set her down and the murmured softly in her ear, "The Warden is not your friend." Then her lead was yanked and she was pulled inside. "Prisoner TS0248," he said as she entered behind him.

Once through the door, Twilight blinked in shock. The office was paneled in warm, light brown wood, with a matching wood floor both polished and with a large throw rug in the middle. One wall had a half dozen bookcases filled with all sorts of books, knick-knacks, and oddities. One shelf seemed to be devoted to shackles throughout the ages. A unicorn skull gleamed in the warm lights of the lamps overhead from atop one bookcase. In the fireplace crackled a warm, toasty glow. Then there was the desk. It appeared as if hewn solid from the trunk of some mighty oak, cut with pure authority, lacquered in righteousness, and fully purged of any sense of comedy or levity. Battering rams were less grim than that desk.

So the young unicorn mare sitting behind it was a bit off putting. Her coat was a pastel blue with darker gray mane, and smiled at Twilight as if meeting a new friend or employee, eyes full of bright merriment. Sitting on a couch before the fire were two earth pony stallions and a pegasus mare. One of the pair, much older than the other, casually sipped some tea while the other watched Twilight as if he were contemplating a painting. Only the pegasus mare, peach with a short orange mane, seemed concerned as her citrine eyes shifted from one to the next. The guard leading her trotted out, leaving the one winged pegasus moving to stand beside that battering ram of a desk. For nearly a minute, no one spoke. The logs just crackled quietly in the fire as the unicorn gazed at her.

"Welcome, Twilight Sparkle, to Blackhorn prison. My name is Warden Primrose, and I'll be your host during your stay here. I'd like to think of myself as your close, personal friend here at Blackhorn," she said brightly, folding her hooves on the desk that seemed to dwarf the diminutive unicorn. "I confess, I had no idea that your brother was the captain of the Royal Guard in Canterlot! I'm a bit jealous!" she gushed like they were mares at market. Again, she trailed off to a long pause and just gazed at Twilight for a minute before going on, "Anyway. I understand you had some difficulties outside the gate. Is that true?" Only after she asked the question did she seem to realize Twilight was still muzzled. "Oh! Let me get that for you!"

Her horn glowed and the bridle twilight wore unlocked and slipped from her muzzle. Twilight's mouth, dry and aching from the bit, blurted in astonishment. "You can do magic?" In the corner of her eye, the pegasus mare covered her eyes with a wing. No one else moved. Warden Primrose, if anything, seemed on the verge of giggling.

The maimed pegasus walked beside her and then, faster than she could pull away, struck her in the belly with his wing. One might suspect a grounded pegasus's wing to atrophy, but the impact was like a rod of iron. Twilight collapsed on her side, coughing and struggling to breathe after it had been knocked from her lungs. "The warden asked you a question!" the pegasus snarled in her ear.

Twilight coughed and blinked at the pegasus besides her and then at the smiling unicorn mare. The delicate blue unicorn just watched her sprawled on the floor of her office. "Ironwing, please. Let her answer. I'm very concerned about the conduct of my guards." For an instant, Twilight thought about telling her what had happened outside her gates and what the guard had done to her. Then she caught the sight of the old stallion with the tea cup. He didn't say a word. Didn't even look at her as he contemplated the cup. His muzzle moved barely an inch back and forth.

Rising to her hooves she said, "No, it was an accident."

A second later she was back on her side as Ironwing's iron wing swept out, knocking her off her hooves. "You get up when we say get up," he growled.

"Well, it seems you're some what accident prone, TS0248," Warden Primrose said calmly as she smiled, her eyes crinkling in mirth. "Hopefully, you'll be able to work on that. Accidents can get a pony hurt, you know." She kept her hooves folded on the desk, that smile not wavering an inch. "Now, I have your paperwork here," she said, tapping the folder next to her, "But I always like to ask prisoners coming in here why they're guests at Blackhorn."

Twilight stared at her, her mouth working as she looked at the three, but on this all three were silent. Ironwing's pinions trembled as he stood over her. Not answering wasn't an option. She swallowed and then murmured, "I was convicted of-"

Not a word. Not a nod. Not the slightest gesture. Ironwing's wing snapped down, striking her across the face. Her nose resumed bleeding at once, spattering the floor with crimson. She gaped at the warden and then at the guard. "What did I-"

A second strike that knocked her up and she landed on her back. She groaned as the pegasus moved over her, waiting for the next blow. It didn't fall. Instead, the Warden leaned forward with that warm smile. "Well, TS0248? Why do you think you're here?" The fact that Ironwing wasn't beating her more implied some answer the warden wanted to hear.

She opened her mouth again, then closed it as she said, "It doesn't matter." Tears ran down her cheeks as she laid there, curled up.

Primrose's smile widened, if such a thing were possible. "My, you are a smart one." She sat back in her high backed wooden chair. "Well, I'm sorry that you feel that way. You might have noticed the hard conditions here at Blackhorn. Do you know why the sun doesn't shine here?" she asked. Twilight could think of a few hypothesis, but doubted any of them would be correct, and not wanting to be struck again, she simply shook her head. Primrose's warm smile turned to a grin. "Because Princess Celestia doesn't like to see this place. To her, and Equestria as a whole, guests at Blackhorn are to be forgotten about. She simply doesn't care." Twilight opened her mouth at once to defend the monarch, but then saw Ironwing's flat red gaze staring down at her, as red as the crimson spattering the wood under her hooves. He would strike her for any reason if she gave him one. Primrose, continued, "I want you to know, TS0248, I care about you. If you feel that you are being treated unfairly or wish to file a report, come tell Guard Captain Ironwing your worries. My office is always open to you. Understood?"

She stared at the beaming mare with that mirthful grin and realized three horrifying possibilities. Primrose was crazy, she was evil, or she sincerely loved her job. "Yes... Warden."

"Now, on your feet," she said, gesturing with a waving hoof. Twilight's legs trembled so she could barely stand, but could see those pinions start to twitch and forced herself up. "Now, as to your question, yes. A hoofful of unicorns here can do magic. Myself. Some of the ponies down in medical. A few guards. The majority of the staff are earth ponies, since they're largely unaffected by the nullification field. I suggest you not try to push past it. Many unicorns hurt themselves when they try and do magic here. Nasty accidents can happen." Another expectant pause.

"Yes, Warden." Twilight repeated.

"Good. You're getting the hang of it." She said happily, clapping her hooves as if she were a foal who had just learned some new trick. "There's quite a few rules to this place, all intended to keep you safe. However, I'm sure you'll pick them up quickly. The most important is to follow directions. If a guard tells you to do something, you do it. You don't argue. You don't protest. If it's something bad, bring it to my or Captain Ironwing's attention. Let us deal with it. Do you understand?"

There was only one answer, "Yes, Warden."

"Good," the Warden said evenly, then gestured to the three others. "This is Professor Ox Wheel. He's the director of our education program. I understand you were quite a student once, and I'm sure he'll find some engaging studies for you." The morose brown earth pony just gave Twilight a weary look as he sipped his tea cup. "This is Paperclip," she said sweeping her hoof to the second earth pony. "He's your legal liaison. Any papers, letter, forms, or appeals go through him. All your correspondences go through him. He also handles your commissary account."

The lanky beige stallion with carefully trimmed mane might as well have been a pony suit full of straw for all the reaction he gave. Finally the Warden gestured to the pegasus mare. "This is Councilor Sunfeather. She sees to the psychological needs of our guests. Her office is always open, isn't it, Sunny?" the Warden asked with a grin.

The mare actually gave Twilight a tiny little smile that didn't go anywhere near her eyes. "Y...y...yes. D...day or n.... night," she stammered horribly. Her mouth worked as if she wanted to say more, but Primrose simply gazed at her with a smile that made her stammer worse, till she fell silent, staring at the floor.

"Do you have any questions, TS0248?" Primrose asked. Twilight glanced at Ironwing and saw the tremble in his pinions.

"No, Warden," she replied at once.

"A very smart pony," Primrose murmured, that smile now slipping a little as she seemed to reassess Twilight. Then she turned to Ironwing. "Process her."

Process.

The process in this case began with paperwork, where she had to sign who she was and that she recognized she was the custody of the prison. Every form received her horrible mouthwritten scrawl, and the final one involved her hoofprints being taken. Photos were taken of her from the front and both profiles holding the ID number in view. Then she was escorted to a room where her mane and tail were shaved within two inches of her coat. Her cutie mark was covered with a strange purple patch that stuck to her hide, and inside minutes, completely hid her cutie mark from view. Then, on top of it, 'TS0248' was stenciled in black ink. She wept as her cutie mark vanished from sight, but that was nothing compared to the next room.

Four mare guards walked her into a strange metal stall. Bars swang close before her, and behind her. Bars in the frame next to her curled in, holding her barrel firmly and immobilizing her. Then a mare unicorn examined her mouth, sweeping back and forth with a long metal probe tipped with a small rounded tip. "Mouth clear," one announced. Then they walked behind her. "Lift your tail," was all they said.

What?

Oh no.

No no no no! She cried. She begged. She pleaded for them not to do this. They repeated with the warning that she not be difficult, and to lift her tail.

She was difficult.

Inside a minute, Twilight's legs had been bolted to the frame surrounding her, what remained of tail set in a sling, and lifted up out of the way. Then, trembling and shaking, she lost her virginity to the metal probe. After feeling it moving around inside her pelvis for several minutes, it was withdrawn and forced into her anus. In spite of every she knew she should do, she begged them to stop as it kept moving around.

"Good?" one mare said behind Twilight.

"She's being a pain. Get the specs." Answered the other. Twilight panted and trembled, trying to turn her head, but was unable to see what they were doing. Then she felt the smooth, cold metal against her nethers, gasping as it was pushed in deeper and deeper. She couldn't clench firmly enough to force it out as she sobbed. Then clicking as the tool started to expand. Her body suddenly froze at the alien and shameful sensation. Her mouth moved silently, the pleas not emerging. "Clear," said one mare. It was over. Please let it be over.

It wasn't.

A second cold metal penetration into her rectum. Her silent pleading turned to strained whimpers as she stopped fighting in hope they'd stop. Instead, she heard a clicking, and felt the pressure grow inside her pelvis as the fiendish device expanded inch by inch. Eyes bulging, she trembled as her insides were put in display for everyone behind her. Then something was rubbing and probing deeper inside her than she could ever have imagined.

"Goddess, she's wet. Is she enjoying this?" some mare behind her observed, and the violation was further poisoned with mortification as she felt it moving around.

"Hard to tell. Unicorns are freaky though," another answered her. "Anyway, no contraband in the colon or vaginal passage. Are we good?"

"Yeah. Give her a flush and a wash and we'll move her into population," the other nurse said. She trotted back into view and floated over a potion bottle of brown, rancid potion. The burning pressure in her nethers abated a little, and she felt the intrusive instruments removed. "Drink this," she said, and when Twilight stared at her with tears streaking her face, she added, "We're almost done. This part's nasty, so get it over with quick."

"You'll make me if I don't, won't you?" Twilight whispered. The nurse said nothing as she gazed coolly into Twilight's eyes. She didn't fight it. She drank it, and five minutes later discovered what a flush was. She soiled herself like an incontinent foal.

"It's clean. Nothing in the stool," someone pronounced behind her. "Remember that one stallion with forty two rolls inside him. I thought he was never going to stop! It was like magic," the pony behind her laughed as the other nurse backed off. Then a hose was turned on her. The water was cool, but not frigid, and it felt good on her aching hind end.

She made eye contact with one of the nurses. "How... how could you?" she asked in horror. The yellow earth pony turned and stared, her eyes widening as her gaze bore into Twilight's.

She spat right in Twilight's eyes. As Twilight cried out, clenching her lids closed, the yellow mare hissed. "Don't you ever, EVER ask me that. I know what you did!" she hissed.

"Lemony," another mare behind Twilght murmured in warning.

"You should be glad I didn't keep twisting those till you ripped in two. That's the least you deserve for what you did," she said as she walked out of sight. Eyes burning with spit and tears, Twilight could only hang her head in shame as she was rinsed and then released.

A guardmare stepped in front of her. Earth pony, white with a pale blue mane tied up in a bun. she wore the same armor as the others. "This way," she said as she lead her towards a door, then made Twilight walk in front of her down the long stone hall. Dripping. Humiliated. Violated. Defeated. Twilight proceeded towards a door at the far side. They were half way down the hall when the armored guard said, "Wait," and they paused in the hallway. "You have three minutes to pull yourself together, TS0248," she said as she stood opposite Twilight.

It was a gift. A precious gift. Twilight spent the first simply breathing, trying to get her heart rate to slow down. The second was to process the cavity search. Of course they'd check her for contraband. That was their job. She just hadn't... she didn't... she gave up trying to process. Her whole body shook as she stared at the frowning guard. "Don't thank me," she said, her voice low. "I know who you are and I know what you did. You stopped that Discord guy. This is all you get for that."

Twilight swallowed and looked down the hall. "What should I know?" she asked as she shook. She'd always prided herself on her knowledge of what to expect. Now she had no idea. It was almost more terrifying than what had happened in the cavity search.

"Your name is TS0248. Period. Use a nick name if you have to, but don't give your real name under any circumstance. It'll get you killed. Keep your head down. Trust your instinct and nobody else in there. Keep quiet. Don't join a gang. No drugs. No gambling. Do what we say. Don't cause problems. Serve your time. Go home. Put some kind of life together and never, ever come back to this place." She nodded her head. "Move."

Twilight nodded, but now that she'd pulled herself together a little, she swallowed and nodded and could proceed forward. She'd faced Nightmare Moon. She'd dealt with Discord. How much worse could prison be? They trotted forward and she knocked on the door. A little hatch opened, an eye peered at both of them, and then the door was pushed open by two earth pony mares. More tunnels. More directions. Left. Left. Right. Wait. Door. Left. Right. Up stairs. Door. Where were they? She tried to backtrack. Down. Left. Door. Left. Left. Right. Or was it... No.

The last door opened and the pink hall met her eyes. Everything was tiled white, with pink accents running along the two story hall with its vaulted, barrel ceiling. Lit bulbs cast wan light all over the dirty white tile and sick pink lines. One row of cells ran along the first floor, while a second row ran one story up. A large window halfway up the wall on either end of the cell block had a bored guard positioned. She counted twenty four on her left and did the math. Ninety six cells. How many were full?

Still, this wasn't that bad. The mares within were all sleeping, ignoring their passage. Tomorrow they'd wake up and-

A green pegasus raised her head from her bunk as they passed and looked right at the pair, blinked her eyes and shouted, "Hey! New mare in the cunt!"

The cell block exploded, and answered Twilight's question: most of them. The tile made the voices distort as they echoed again and again off the surfaces, but she picked up a few as they walked past.

"I didn't hear a chain!" one shouted. "Where are the others?"

"Who is she?" a red unicorn mare with a flaming orange mane snapped, then pointed a hoof right at Twilight. "Who are you! Tell me who you are, bitch! Tell me who you are!"

A half dozen pressed their rumps to the bars and began to rub them lewdly side to side. "Hey! Hey! You gonna be my trick pony? Huh? You gonna be my fuck filly?" they shouted at Twilight. "Awww, she's lookin! Claiming dibs! She's lookin!

Others screamed for sleep, or that they didn't give a fuck, paradoxically decreasing the chance that anyone would get to sleep. What disturbed Twilight more than the mares rubbing their butts on the bars were the ones silently watching her pass without a peep.

Nightmare Moon had those kinds of eyes.

She was marched up to cell #42, the number tiled in above the door, and the white mare waved at the guard in the booth. Something in the wall clanked, and the door slid into the wall. Inside was a bunk-bed. A toilet set in the floor. Two little cubicles set in the wall opposite the bunk beds. The only occupant was a black unicorn curled up on her side on the bottom bunk with wads of cotton stuck in her ears. Like Twilight, she had no cutie mark, just a stencil of 'MS0127'." She opened one dark blue eye to look at the pair, then snorted and closed it. "Inside."

Twilight's legs suddenly refused to move. She couldn't. Once she was through that door- She shook her head. This was a mistake. A bad dream. It couldn't be happening!

"In..." the guard growled, and then kicked Twilight's flank with an applebuck that would do Applejack proud. "Side!" she snapped as Twilight was launched into the cell, smashed against the far wall, and ended up sitting in the toilet. The guard backed away, scowling at Twilight, then gestured. The door slid shut with a clang that seemed to echo forever.

The black mare lifted her head again, regarding her flatly as it all hit her at once. Everything. And just like that, she started bawling. She couldn't help it. She knew it was the wrong thing to do, and yet she couldn't stop. Someone in the hall shouted out, "Awww, she's crying!" Another yelled, "Already? I haven't even gotten to her yet!" And "Don't worry, new girl! I got the shit that will make it all better. You'll see!"

With an expression of profound annoyance, the mare tugged the cotton out of her ears. Now Twilight saw her horn was truncated. A rounded off stub half the length of a normal unicorn horn. "Fifty percent," she said in a soft voice. The hall was quieting down, though quiet was relative to the cacophony that had roared out earlier.

"What?" Twilight croaked.

"Fifty percent of your commissary. That's my fee. Every month, whatever gets put in there, fifty percent is mine. You hear me?" she said as she lay on the bottom bunk. "In exchange, I take care of you. I teach you what to say, where to look, and who to stay away from. I won't punk your tail out, unless you cross me. Otherwise you're on your own. Don't bother me none." She stared in a strangely unfocused way, like Twilight were glass. Not looking at her so much as looking through her. "This is a one time offer, cupcake."

"D...deal," Twilight agreed.

"Good." She muttered, pushing the cotton back in her ears. "I don't know what the Warden was thinking bringing you in here in the middle of the night, all on your own. Might as well paint a bulls eye on your head," she muttered sleepily. Twilight extracted herself from the toilet, then clambered up the ladder to the top bunk. She fell back on the stiff mattress, staring up at the tiled ceiling a foot from her nose.

Notes were scratched into the dirty white tile, and Twilight stared at them. 'I miss my family.' 'Mommy loves you'. 'Apex can suck my dock.' 'Celestia's flaming cunt squirts.' Then, directly above her. 'It'll be okay'. For a moment, Twilight gave a tiny smile. Then she saw the tile next to it, with an arrow pointing at the inspirational little sentence. 'NOT!'

The Look

"Hey, Twilight. What are ya'll doin, sleepin' in the sun like that?" Applejack asked, and Twilight jerked her head up and blinked in shock, regarding each of her friends spread out around her. The blanket spread out on the grass was the softest wool she'd ever felt, the pastries from sugarcube corner laying sweet and delectable on their trays. Droplets of condensation crept slowly along the bottles of chilled apple juice. Beside her, Applejack gave her a nudge. "Ya'll tryin' ta get yerself a nasty sunburn?"

"Here, darling," Rarity said gaily, levitating over a sun hat and settling it on Twilight head. "You can have my spare."

"You carry a spare sun hat?" Rainbow asked, then snorted and rolled her eyes. "What am I saying? Of course you do."

"Scoff now if you wish, but we'll see who's coat is all faded and wrinkly in twenty years," Rarity sniffed from her picnic divan.

"Thanks, girls. I was just having their terrible nightmare," she said as she rubbed the back of her head. "I was in this horrible dungeon. It was terrible."

"Oh, my goodness! That sounds terrible!" Fluttershy gasped, hugging Angelbunny to her chest and keeping him from reaching a plate of carrot cake cupcakes. Twilight could smell the cinnamon and ginger.

"Well, of course, silly," Pinkie Pie said. "That's why they're called dungeons and not fungeons!" Then her eyes popped wide. "Ooooh! I could totally make one though. It'd have rides and games and party balloons and it'd be so great no one would ever want to escape!"

"Kinda sure that's not the point of a dungeon," Applejack said with an easy smile.

"Does Equestria even have a dungeon? I mean, I suppose it must, somewhere," Rarity asked with a frown.

Twilight stared straight ahead, hearing the rumble of lightning in the distance. Her mouth was suddenly dry, and she wanted to say anything but what she did. "Yes. It does. Blackhorn Prison."

"Oh, my. That sounds like a terrible place," Fluttershy shivered as Angel Bunny slumped in her grasp, a cold wind blowing through the picnic.

"Yes. It is," Twilight rasped, unable to stop herself from answering.

"Well, don't worry, Twilight. We'd never leave our best friend stuck in some dirty, dark dungeon," Rainbow Dash said brightly. "We'd come and break you our in ten seconds flat."

"Oh, absolutely," Rarity agreed, nodding. From far away, she could hear screaming.

"Easy peasy!" Pinkie Pie said, holding up a cake with a file baked in, the ends pokeing out through the frosting.

Fluttershy nodded as the cold wind blew the bottles over and rolled the treats away.

"Unless..." Applejack said as her smile disappeared as she stared right into Twilight's eyes. "Ya'll deserve ta be there."

The storm clouds rumbled as Rarity laughed coldly, proclaiming, "Oh yes! In that case you should just rot."

Pinkie leaned in and hissed in Twilight's face, "Forever!"

"Please! Don't!" Twilight said as she leaned away. "I didn't know! I didn't think-"

"Think this!" Applejack snapped. Then she reared back her hooves and brought both hooves down in a crushing blow as her friends looked on.

The blow made Twilight flail her hooves wildly as she became aware of hooves booming in the cell block. Twilight hyperventilated as stared at the black unicorn looking down at her. "You're about to miss chow. Again. Come on, Egghead," she said as she backed away from the bunk bed and let her climb down.

"Sorry, Fifty," Twilight answered. Egghead was the nickname that Fifty had given her. No pony here used their real name. Her official name was TS0248, which was how the guards addressed her. Using your real name could make you a hell of a target. Your family could be blackmailed. 'Insurance' it was called. Or worse. She had a brother in the royal guard and had been the student of Princess Celestia, the Person who had sentanced each prisoner here.

No. Ponies knowing she was Twilight Sparkle would be a bad, bad thing.

Names were the first thing Fifty had taught her that first day, where she'd spent every minute no more than three feet from Fifty's side at all times, and most of that was in their cell. You never asked for names. You asked people what they were called. Asking for names marked her as new. New marked her as vulnerable. There were plenty of ponies here who excelled at using and abusing the vulnerable.

Fifty had also introduced her to her herd. They were twenty or so unicorns in the pink cell block, and they hung together. They showered together. They went to chow together. You respected your herd and they respected you; that was how it was supposed to go. You didn't punk your herd. You didn't fuck with your herd. And right now, her herd was going to chow. She did not want to be left behind.

Bad things happened to ponies here on their own.

So it didn't matter if she was tired, disoriented and upset from that dream. If her herd was going, she went. Fifty wandered to the front. Twilight was bringing up the rear. It was the only time they were ever separated by more than a body length; Fifty was important in the herd, and Twilight wasn't.

They also weren't the only herd here. The earth ponies had two, each one larger than the unicorns. One was devoted to city ponies, the other to rural. The pegasi were the smallest herd, and moved in tight formations on the ground that would have impressed Rainbow Dash. They always tried to be first. first in the showers. First out. First to chow. First done. Then the city ponies. Then unicorns. Then the 'hillponies' bringing up the rear. Woe to any of the other herds that were caught by them. Then the roadapples... ponies with no herd. The wretched. The outcast.

"Sleep Bad?" A light blue mare with a darker mane asked beside her. 'Lullaby' she was called.

"Yeah," Twilight answered.

"Well, you'll get used to it. I was a mess my first week," she said with a smile and Twilight returned it.

"Egghead. Button it," Fifty snapped. "Watch your look." Then she said "Lullaby." That was all she had to say. The blue mare stiffened and stared straight ahead as she walked.

Your look. Fifty hadn't let her out of her cell before she'd told her about the look. Where your eyes went mattered. Where your eyes went could get you beaten, killed, or worse. If your eyes went down, prepare to be a trick pony, because that is what you would become. If you looked at someone for too long, it was a challenge or an offer for sex. Powerful ponies got to look at you. But you couldn't just close your eyes either, so you simply gazed straight ahead with the most bored expression you could manage. If someone looked at you, you just gazed at something right behind their head. The divider between the first and second floor of the cell block was a popular target.

"How's Egghead coming?" A rose colored unicorn with similarly blunted horn asked as she walked next to Fifty. Mother hadn't spoken to Twilight yet. Twilight wasn't worth talking to. She lead their herd with regality that would do Celestia proud.

Fifty glanced back at Twilight. "She's smart. Name fits like a horseshoe. She's also an idiot with her questions. We'll see which is stronger," Fifty said casually as they followed the City Slickers out.

Questions like 'Why is your horn blunted? What did you do? How long are you in here for?' These were questions that would get her thumped a lot worse than her face ached right now.

"Coming through!" Snapped a mare and Twilight looked. Nine unicorns marched up in right progression. Half had the tips of their horns painted bright red. The other half had the rounded off nubs painted red. They were fit, predatory, and in a mind to leave the cell block before the herd. And Twilight had the misfortune of matching eyes with a bright orange mare with a deep green mane styled in spikes. It was only a moment.

That was all it took.

"Cunt!" She snapped, and body slammed Twilight into Lullaby, knocking the pair to the ground. Instantly the rest of her herd curled around her as the orange mare lunged, but the herd blocked her from reaching Twilight as she pointed a hoof. "Cunt looked at me! Fucking looked at me!" She snapped at Twilight. "You want somethin? Huh? Do ya? Bring it, cunt!"

"Shh," Lullaby said as she held Twilight. "Let Mother handle this."

Mother wasn't the biggest or strongest mare, but she muscled her way to look into the orange mare in the eye in every way Twilight shouldn't. She didn't say a thing. The other eight red tipped unicorns laughed, egging the orange mare to 'Kick her Ass, Ripper'. Mother just stood in the way, never speaking. A half minute later, the orange mare spat. "Little cunt better watch her place!" She snapped at Twilight, "Or I'm gonna sit on her fucking face!" Then she laughed as she turned and rejoined the other eight as they trotted out.

Twilight had thought in prison you automatically joined a gang. She'd thought her herd was a gang. She'd been wrong, and corrected firmly by fifty. The Red Spears... they were a gang. So too the Broken Stone and the Raptors. All together they were probably less than a quarter of the population, but they were responsible for the vast majority of the prison's violence. Joining involved putting a pony in the hospital, preferably the morgue.

Mother turned and looked down at Twilight, and instantly she was struct by how appropriate her name was. She could see her own mom and Celestia in those disappointed eyes. "Watch your look," was all she said, and all she had to say. Then she turned and nodded. "Let's go. The Hillbillies are coming." The earth ponies filed out of their cells casually, their eyes unfocused and dull, coming together in a mass that would walk over anything in their path. Mother got the herd moving again, and Twilight worked desperate to get her look right.

Having no day or night each of the four cell blocks had a different schedule. Red, her block, yellow, green, and blue, the male block. The round the clock shift kept Blackhorn humming at all hours. They weren't supposed to ever supposed to see the other prison populations. When they ascended the ramp up to the Trough, trustees were cleaning up a massive smear of blood. Twilight's eyes stuck to it as they moved into line behind the city slickers. The pegasi were already at their table, eating quickly. The Raptors kept alternating look outs, half with their heads down, half watching, then alternating in perfect synchronization.

"What happened?" Twilight asked as the line for food filed past the trustee with the bucket and sponge. The trustee, an earth pony mare in an orange jumpsuit, shifted her head to add Twilight to her peripheral vision, frowning as if she couldn't believe the question. There were guards on catwalks overlooking the Trough.

"Who cares, Eggy? That's from the yellows. They're all psycho," Lullaby said with a sniff.

Twilight caught Fifty glaring at her and she struggled to resume her flat stare. She got her tray slid it down after Lulabye's, doing everything she could not to look at the Hillbilly behind her. She sounded... big. So instead she looked at the only ponies you could look at, the Trustees. They all wore the identical orange jumpsuits that allowed them to move to restricted areas of the prison for work.

She'd imagined the food at Prison to be horrible and disgusting, but what it really was was... cheap. Lots of stale baked goods, oats, and hay. There was some vegetable and some fruit, and a desert at the end. Her tray had a half dozen little dips in it, and at each trustee she extended the tray or held it back. Food was deposited in its bowl, and you moved on to the next. At the very end, the largest bowl was filled with water, and then you carried it back to your table with your herd. Twilight was lucky enough to get a seat next to Fifty.

Only then could you drop the look.

"What'd that letter from home say, Socks?" Mother asked with a little smile to a white and gray mare a little older that Twilight.

"Oh, just mom bumping hooves," Socks said with a smile. "Telling me how my sister's getting married in Manehattan. He wants chickens at the ceremony, can you imagine? Right? For dancing! Worst wedding ever, right?" She asked, her eyes darting from one person to the next, her grin strained.

"Sure is," Fifty answered with her own understanding smile. "Might as well have pigs as the bridesmaids."

Socks nodded, some of the tension leaving her. "Anyway, she sent her love and she's counting the days. Only Four hundred and seventy two to go!" She said with forced cheer. "Not long at all, is it? M- might not have a foal yet by the time I'm out."

"Be over in no time flat," Fifty assured her with a nod. "And even if you aren't, you can tell your niece or nephew how silly mom's wedding was with chicken dancing. Won't know any better."

Twilight froze as she saw Mother looking at her, as if Celestia was about to give quiz. "Have you written to your family, Egghead?" the matriarchical mare asked evenly. The other conversations dropped as everypony at their table regarded her.

"N-not yet," Twilight admitted, her ears dropping. "I don't know what to say."

"No letters from them?" Mother pressed. Twilight shook her head. "Then write them telling them its okay to write you. Ask them how they're doing. Family. Friends. Sports. Weather. Anything. There's a whole world outside this place. If you don't remember it, you won't last here," Mother said calmly.

"Just remember, anything you write gets read." Fifty pointed out. "Warden gives a bonus to letter screeners that catch trouble, so they're always looking. So you're fine. You're fine. Your bed is fine. Everything is fine. Otherwise that letter goes in a box and that box might be given to you when you leave, or 'lost'."

"Remember Quiet? Never shut up? Kept writing all the time. All those letters she wrote to Celestia? How many boxes were there? Two? Three?" a mare Twilight didn't know asked the table grinning, then spoke to Twilight. "Last warden put her on incinerator duty. Made her toss every single one into the incinerator, one by one."

"Wrong to do that to Quiet," Fifty said, and the grinning mare's grin faded. "Never spoke or wrote again. Or ate. Got drug out of here by medical. Hear she's in Yellow now."

"Died last week," Mother said quietly. "Suicide in the latrine."

Now there were no smiles, and the mare that brought in up had gone back to the look, as if she'd never said it at all. Mother then smiled at Twilight. "Still. Write. You can't just disappear here and reappear when you're done as if nothing happened."

An earth pony trustee trotted towards the table, and just from her eyes Twilight knew something was different about her. Her bright green coat and tan mane reminded Twilight of an apple, and she wore a casual smile on her face. "Mother, may I?" she asked, actually looking at mother casually, but bowing her head a little and she waved her over. Twilight nudged herself aside so she could wiggle up between Twilight and Fifty. "Hey Fifty. Is it weeks or years?" Fifty's casual smile disappeared and the earth pony moved on. "So ladies, what do you need, what do you want, what do you have?" Twilight stared, and she met Twilight's eye, her smile slipping in a moment of uncertainty. "Hi! New horn, huh? You're that special one, right?"

"Eggheads' new," Fifty confirmed, her posture casual.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Sour. I get things," she said as she tugged out a little notebook with a large ink stain and a toothpick.

"But... can't we just buy things at the commissary?" Twilight asked. Even giving Fifty half her commissary money, she still had enough to afford basics like toilet paper. The mares chuckled as if she'd just cracked a joke.

"You are very new, ain'tcha?" she said with a grin.

"The canteen's not exactly the best run store in Equestria," Fifty explained. "And it's expensive. They sell out all the time, so if you see something in the canteen to buy, snag it."

"So, I get things. People that have things they don't want. People that want things they don't have." She dipped the toothpick in twilight's water bowl, swirled it around the stain to collect some fresh ink, and looked around at the rest of the mares.

"I need hair curlers," one mare offered, her mane a shaggy mess. "I've got some hoofpolish left over."

"Blue paint," requested Socks. "I'll do a charcoal commission sketch."

"You're never going to finish before you go," Fifty said to her with a grin, but Socks merely smiled.

The mares went around the table creating a wish list of things they wanted, and sour took them all down. Fifty wanted a newer pillow. Mother wanted yarn. She then looked at Twilight with that tiny sliver of wood in her lips, her pad covered with some strange, minute code. "Books," Twilight said faintly. "Some I can always have with me."

Sour furrowed her brows, rolling the toothpick to the corner of her mouth. "Any particular books? Also, how are you paying? I can set you up with a line of credit-"

"Sour," Mother said firmly. "No."

Sour gave a shrug. "Just saying, Mother dearest," Sour rolled on. "What about services? You've got a nice, pointy horn-"

"Sour," Mother repeated in a tone only Celestia could match.

"Fine! Fine! But I need something. Nothing only gets you nothing," Sour said with a hapless smile and shrug.

"What about forms?" Fifty asked.

"Forms?" Twilight asked with a frown.

"Filling out legal forms for a pony," Mother explained patiently. "They're very... complicated. Any mistake and a request can get denied."

"They're also annoying as fuck," Fifty growled.

"She smart enough to do them right?" Sour asked. "The Slickers and Hillbillies won't be happy if she messes them up."

"She can't do worse than our 'legal liaison.' I haven't heard one peep on my request," Socks said, ears drooping.

Twilight looked at her, "What do you mean?"

"Paperclip's worth about a pound of roadapples. He's the warden's little pet, looking out for trouble. He's supposed to be on our side, but he knows where his bread is buttered. Lazy too," Fifty said with a glower.

"If we fill them out in advance, he just moves them on. But if you don't check the right box then it gets denied," Lullaby said, mimicking bringing down a stamp. "Bang! Denied." She beamed a smile at Twilight, "I think you'd be perfect for the job, Egghead."

"Lullaby," growled Fifty, and the mare immediately put on her glassy eyed look as if she'd said nothing at all.

"I can try my best," Twilight said to Sour.

The mare then shrugged. "I know Rotten needs forms. I'll put you down for that. Give me some titles and some time and I'll see what I can do." Twilight balked a moment. 'Rotten'? Then she glanced at Mother and Fifty. Mother gave a tiny smile; Fifty a minuscule little shrug. If they weren't alarmed... she took a deep breath and gave her titles.

"Right o!" Sour said brightly as she put the piece of paper and sliver away in her jumpsuit. "Give me a week and I'll see what I can do!"

Sour drew back, and when she did, Twilight's eyes moved to the mare directly behind her: the same orange mare she'd looked at in the hall. She seemed to almost instinctively detect Twilight's stare, and snapped her head to the side to glare at Twilight over her shoulder. "What you lookin' at?" she snarled, twisting in her seat. "What you lookin' at!" the mare demanded. Twilight knew she should use the look, but fear kept her eyes locked on the mare's. "You want somethin'? You want it!" She yelled as she started to rise to her hooves. The rest of the gang was rising as well, and the herd rose too. All around, the other clumps of ponies lowered their conversation, watching at the spectacle unfolding. Somepony was taking bets.

"Egghead!" Fifty snapped, but Twilight couldn't help herself. The sight of the mare's face twisted in rage, the red hoofpolish painting the tip of her horn, and the stress made her give a nervous little laugh as she leaned away.

It was precisely the wrong thing to do.

Faster than Twilight imagined, the orange mare was on her table, and jumped the distance to land on the table in front of Twilight. "You laughin! You lookin! You dyin!" she roared. The guards were running down from the catwalks overlooking the dining area, blowing a whistle sharply. She reared up, raising her hooves for a stomp. 'Rip-her! Rip-her! Rip-her!' chanted the rest of the gang.

Twilight rose; it was the only motion she could do to try to get anywhere that wasn't stomped. She rose up just as the orange mare came down.

Right atop Twilight's horn.

Hooves thumped into Twilight's back as she felt something hot and wet dripping down through her mane, a weight crushing her back down to sit at the table. Twilight shifted to the side, and the orange mare collapsed on the table before her. Suddenly the gang wasn't laughing. They were looking at her with gazes that would melt lead. Ripper, if that was her name, had curled up, pressing her legs tight against the hole that Twilight had punched in her torso. The orange mare's eyes were wide in shock. The rest of Twilight's herd was pulling back from her with expressions ranging from shock to annoyance to disappointment.

She realized why too late. A hoof hooked around her neck and sized her from behind, locking her down in a crushing grip and pulling her backwards, off the seat. The guard hauled her back from the rest of the herd, and she struggled to breathe, her hooves scrapping at the guard's leg. That resulted in one guard on either side pinning her hooves to the floor while a third pinned her flailing hind legs.

"Stop fighting! Stop fighting! Stop fighting!" the guards commanded her as she struggled, as if she could stop as her body tried to fight for its very survival. The commands came with beatings now, with the guards smacking her torso hard as she tried to breath. Things started to go dark in her vision, and finally her struggles weakened. That seemed to satisfy the guards enough that they moved and let her see two earth ponies loading Ripper on a stretcher. She'd never imagined that much blood before.

Then a guard moved over her. Not at guard, the guard. Ironwing stared down at her. "My my. In trouble already?" He then addressed the guard. "Have her taken to medical and chisel her horn. Then thirty days in isolation." His eyes met Twilight's, and for the first time since she'd met him, he smiled. "Go."

Alone

"Now Twilight," her mother crooned softly as she brushed her mane, "I know you don't want to go back to magic kindergarten, but you have to. What kind of pony are you going to be if you can't get along with other ponies?"

"Every pony laughs at me," she sniffed. "I can't even do levitation right."

"Well you know what you have to do. Just keep focused on your studies. Nothing will go wrong if you do that," her mother assured her.

Her mother had been wrong.

She knew that it was stupid to fight. That the accident in the mess hall had been just that; an accident. That fighting was only going to make this take longer and hurt worse. Still, the thought of having her horn chipped off was more than enough incentive for her to try and fight. Ripper's blood dripped in her face and in her eyes as she thrashed against the two earth ponies that drug her by a pair of cuffs clamped to her forehooves. Ripper was carried after her, blood dripping from the hole in her chest, her eyes dazed as she bled on the earth pony's back.

Back in medical, she was forced into the same standing frame they'd used for the cavity search, only this time they put on an extra thick collar that immobilized her head. On a table, Ripper regained her voice, chanting 'chip chip chip chip' as a doctor tried to control the bleeding. She seemed perfectly happy to bleed out, so long as she could watch Twilight get her horn chopped in two first.

The earth pony medic approached with something that appeared like a U shaped chisel, with the inner edge sharpened. He carefully positioned it against her horn tip and raised a hammer. Iron Wing looked on with bored indifference while Ripper kept on trying to sit up and watch.

"Stop," came a calm voice from the door. The hammer hit the end of the chisel, but without enough force to go completely through the bone. Instead, the effect was rather like having lightning shooting right down her spire and into her forehead. Still, every eye turned back to the door way and the warden standing there.

"Stop? What do you mean, stop? I got a hole in me, Warden!" Ripper suddenly wailed, the tough act now replaced by a mewling mare. "She spiked me!"

"Really, BB0210?" the warden said coolly to Ripper. Something about her casual smile was even more offsetting than Iron Wing's scowl. "It looked like an accident to me."

"Accident! Weren't no accident! What, she accidentally stuck her horn in me?" she whined. "Chip the tip !"

Warden Primrose's smile slipped, and her horn glowed. Instantly, Ripper's wound indented and the mare screamed, thrashing on the table as her wound was compressed. Primrose didn't even look at the mare as she kept up the torture.

"Stop!" Twilight cried out instinctively, feeling her own blood drip from the chip in her horn.

To her surprise, the Warden did, but the look she gave Twilight made her suspect the Warden was thinking about changing her mind. "Well, BB0210?"

"It was an accident... It was an accident..." the tough mare repeated as she sobbed, her orange hide streaked with blood.

"My. Another accident. You have so many, TS0248," the Warden purred. "Clean her up and get her into solitary," the Warden ordered as she turned and headed for the exit. Then she paused and said, "Oh, and make sure you heal that chip."

From the stunned silence in the room, the warden might as well have ordered her a hot bath too.

"Ma'am!" Ironwing said sharply. "Policy for 'accidents' like this is chiseling the horn."

The warden pursed her lips as glanced back at him. "I think we can make an exception for TS0248, don't you think?"

Clearly he didn't think it, standing rigid as steel but he saluted and snapped at the nurse, "Get her out of the stand."

Ripper wasn't taunting anymore. The bloody mare seemed to be focused on two things: breathing and staring at Twilight, as if trying to understand just where she came from. A mare smeared a foul smelling, stinging cream on the crack that burned horribly for a minute, but if it mended her horn she'd not complain. In a minute, she was released from the stand and an earth pony picked her up like a sack of potatoes, carrying her from the room.

And down.

She wasn't sure where exactly they were in the castle, but one thing was certain: they were going down. They reached a long hallway with metal doors cut into the solid stone walls. She was taken all the way back into the end. The door opened to a pitch black void, and a kick to her haunches launched her through. Then the door slammed shut, the bolt slid home, and she was left in silence. In darkness.

The cell was precisely ten steps by ten steps. If she stood on her hind legs, she could just touch the ceiling. A rank smelling hole in one corner, covered by a grate, told her were the toilet was. The only air flow was somewhere up above, but it stank of mildew. Thirty days here, alone, with no one to talk to... Thirty days. Seven hundred and twenty hours. Forty three thousand two hundred minutes. Two million, five hundred and ninety two thousand seconds.

In the darkness she licked her lips and whispered, "One. Two. Three. Four..."

Time had broken. In the general population, time was reality. You woke at the same time. Showered at the same time. Ate at the same time. Slept at the same time. All of that was gone. She slept when she slept. Woke when she woke, and there was no difference between the sleeping and waking. She so yearned for the sound of hoofsteps that she'd wake thinking they were echoing down the hall to her. Bowls of cold oatmeal were slid on a rope through a little flap, and she had only moments to eat it all before the rope pulled the bowl out. A second bowl had water. Then that was pulled away as well. She suspected that the guards were inconsistent in the food and water, and counted. Sure enough, she discovered a three and a half hour difference between two events.

She had to do this, because with no books, no clocks, no one to talk to, she could feel things slipping away inside her. Every now and then she was let out, shackled, marched down to a larger room that was three times her cell, and given an hour to walk around. Ironwing himself watched her from the door. The first time she tried to talk to him, he just stared at her as if he were deaf. Not a word. Stone.

After her 'workout time' she was given a cold shower, dried, and put back in the dark. She used these brief windows of time to try and check her injuries. The crack in her horn was mending, though the color was a bit washed out. Everyone would see her horn had been fixed. But that was a worry for another day.

She saw the 'psychologist' once during a break time. He simply nodded and recommended she 'hold on till she was out'. When she asked about Ripper, he just blinked. When she asked about BB0210 he gave an 'ahh' of comprehension.

"I understand she suffered an accident in the shower. Terrible. Terrible. Still, she shouldn't be bothering you anymore, eh?" he said with cheer that made her want to scream as he walked out.

She masturbated too. One time she had a long stream of touching herself in the dark, trying to feel something good in this endless gloom. She rubbed herself so raw that at her next shower, a nurse had to come down and apply an ointment to her nethers as the guards smirked.

Then Twilight was going was back to the hole of timelessness. Had it been thirty days? Twenty? Ten? No pony would tell her. It was just back to the hole. She'd faced Nightmare Moon, and hadn't been nearly as terrified as she was of that yawning portal. But afraid or not, in she went.

"Twilight?"

She jerked her head up. Of course, she couldn't see any different, but her ear twitched this way and that. "Hello?" she asked. Who could it have been? It sounded like one of her friends but... none of them should be here! She shouldn't be here! Twilight rose on her hoof, her ears straining. Nothing.

"Hey Twilight!"

They're not here. My friends would never be in this terrible place.

"Twilight? Twilight! Snap out of it!"

"I can't!" she shouted, her voice echoing in the darkness. "Spike! Spike!" she screamed. She sat down and her eyes burned. How odd to feel so much shame, crying while completely alone. Yet she did, as hot tears rolled down her cheeks. She was breaking. She could feel it. She deserved it.

"My, you look like you had a long night!" the warden said cheerfully as Twilight entered the exercise yard. A fold out table had been set up, and the tiny periwinkle mare sat perched on a stool behind it. "Or is it day? Well, I suppose it doesn't really matter to you, does it? Not much difference in the hole."

Twilight stared at her, her throat burning from her screams. "Am I... done?" she rasped. "Has it been thirty days?"

"Indeed, it has," she replied cheerfully. But she didn't say anything else. She just tapped her hooves together as she watched Twilight like a fascinating new form of bug.

Twilight swallowed hard. The Warden had a bottle of water beside her. Twilight licked her lips. "So... I'm going back to the others?"

The Warden's smile widened, and panic made Twilight's heart hammer. "You can't. You can't!" she shouted in a panic.

"Thirty more days, I think," the Warden said merrily as a wing closed in around her throat and dragged her from the yard. The door slammed shut, cutting off Twilight's scream.

"One four seven six. One four seven seven. One four seven eight," Twilight whispered in the darkness. She hadn't eaten the last two bowls that had been put through. She couldn't seem to summon up the strength. All she could do was count and hear her friends calling for her. Hear Spike...

"One four seven-" she choked. "One four seven... seven. No... eight. No... One four seven zero. No!" She wept, pressing her hooves to her ears. The numbers, her only sense of time left to her, were breaking down too. But covering her ears did nothing to silence her friends.

"I want out," she whimpered, staring into the darkness. "Please. I want out."

Then she heard the tapping, very faint. Was some kind of creature digging into her cell? She'd almost welcome that! But no, it was coming from one wall. She paused and pressed her ear to it. Five taps. Seven. Eleven. Then a pause. One. Two. Three. Five. Seven. Eleven. Prime numbers?

She tapped her hoof once. Once. Twice. Three times. Five times. Eight times. Then she listened. She repeated it and listened again. Was it in her imagination? Was she finally snapping?

Three sharp taps. Then one soft. Two soft. Three soft. Four. A sharp tap. A sharp and a soft. A sharp and two soft. Base five? She tested it, tapping eight times in a row, the giving one sharp tap and three soft taps. That got her the three sharp taps in reply. Did three mean yes?

All her mind focused on those taps, her cheek glued to the wall. Eight. Five. Two twelves. Fifteen. A long pause and the numbers repeated. Eight... H. Five was E. Twelve was L and fifteen O.

'Hello.'

She let out a sob, weeping as she tapped back eight and nine. 'Hi.'

She wasn't alone.

It wasn't the most efficient form of communication, but it worked.

'Who U?'

'Egghead. U?'

'Nopony. Pegi?'

Twilight paused. If they were in a different herd... but if she didn't answer... 'Uni.' Please don't be mad, she thought desperately.

'Cool,' came the reply, and she let out a shaky breath. 'I pegi,' came a moment later.

'Cool.' Twilight answered. With the exception of Ironwing, she had absolutely nothing against pegasi. 'Ward?'

A pause. 'Yellow.' The psychiatric prisoners. As horrible as it was for her, she couldn't imagine what it was like for them. 'U?'

'Red.'

'U mare?'

'Yes,' Twilight answered. 'U?'

A long pause, and she frowned, repeating the question. Then she got her answer. 'No.'

Twilight let out a strange, hiccuping giggle. 'U boy?'

'Staleeon' came an immediate answer.

'Cool,' she answered. 'colpr'? Damn, she needed to be more careful with her taps.

'Green. U?'

'Purple.'

'Hot?'

She giggled again. 'No.'

'Cute?'

She bit her bottom lip. 'Mazbe.' She closed her eyes. 'I go crazy.'

'Leave,' Nopony answered.

'How?' She asked in a frown. 'Locks.'

'In your mind.'

'huh?'

'Leave in your head.'

'How?'

Two sharp taps and then nothing. She frowned, pressing her ear to the stone. Was it her imagination or did she hear a door close? She moved to the door and repeated it. Nothing? Was she losing her mind again.

But where was there to go? She was stuck here, in this horrible place, losing everything that made her her.

But if you could go... a tiny part of her mind asked... Where would you go?

Home.

She could imagine it: Golden Oaks library. All the shelves. The books. Spike's bed in the corner. She hoped he was getting along well with Rarity. Owlowiscious snoozing on his stand in the corner. The slow tick tock of the clock in the corner. She ran her hooves over the spines, taking in each and every title. She pulled them out and reread them. Some of the words were a bit muddled where she couldn't recall what they said, but she had a library in her head she could return to at any time. A pastry shop that she could visit. Even as her mouth craved something sweeter and more filling than the cold bowl, she could taste the Cakes' cake.

But she still didn't go to Sweet Apple Acres. Or the boutique. Or the tree.

She visited Canterlot too. Her tower. Her classrooms. Her home. It was harder to see things there, veiled by a mist of forgetfulness. Still, it wasn't here. For all their power over her body, they had no power over her mind.

The next time she was in her rec time, she took the opportunity to move, sprinting back and forth and counting how many times she could touch the opposite wall in a minute. Ironwing watched her motion, so different from just standing in the corner. She ignored him, just as he ignored her. His frown became a scowl, and he took her back five minutes early.

She just smiled at him.

'I got out.'

'Good for U. Wher?'

'Home.'

'Home is good.'

'Where do U go?'

'Bar.'

'Bar?'

'Preened fether. Cute mares.'

Twilight lay with her head against the wall, trading tap for tap, ear pressed against the solid stone. There wasn't much conversation you could have with taps, but then again there wasn't much else to do. Nopony hadn't told her his real name, or even what to call him. Apparently he'd been in Cloudsdale, thought the Wonderbolts sucked, and liked jazz.

'Why you here?' she tapped after a long pause.

No answer. Then. 'Hurt people.'

'Who?'

'Me.'

'Sorry.'

'Me to.'

'I think U nice.'

'Im not. i hurt people too. wife. family.'

'I hurt someone too. Foals.'

'U bad.'

Twilight shuddered at that. 'Yes. I bad.'

'Don't do it again.'

'I wont.'

'Good.'

She wiped away her tears. That was more psychicatric help than she'd gotten, and it didn't begin to scratch the surface of what she'd actually done. 'Can I leave now?'

A pause. 'Ha ha.' He paused. 'How long?'

'Five years.'

'Theft?'

'Ponyslaughter 2.'

'Lucky.'

Twilight sniffed a little. Considering she could have gotten twice that, she supposed that to Nopony, she was lucky. Lucky Celestia had been her judge. Lucky that she'd been her teacher. If Applejack had her way, she would spend her entire life in here. And she'd deserve it.

'Dont cry,' came a tap.

'Im not'

'crybabe'

'im not.' she scrunched up her nose, but his nagging had gotten her mind off of it. 'How long you.'

'Forever.'

'That bad?'

'No one leave yellow.'

Twilight started to answer, but then paused. The yellow ward was for psychiatric prisoners. A normal prisoner served out their time and then was paroled, but when did a psychiatric patient stop being crazy? And she utterly could not believe that Blackhorn was good for anyone's mental health. How could Celestia tolerate-

How had Twilight tolerated it? She'd been living outside, free and happy, and had never thought about prison. She hadn't even thought of the prisoners in Yellow Ward until just now. She hadn't thought about being locked up. Being in solitary. Being crazy. If someone had forced her to consider it, then maybe she might have, but living in Equestria it was so easy to just... not think about it. In her own way, she was a tiny bit responsible for Blackhorn too.

'Sorry' was all she could say.

'Ok.' Then two sharp taps that he had to go.

She rolled on her back but didn't go to Ponyville. Instead, she just thought. She'd taken so much for granted. People. Places. Things. Friends. Even herself. And when it had all gone wrong, things hadn't ended as she'd thought. For now, she'd just been reacting. It was time to start acting... but towards what?

What was she to do with her time in Blackhorn?

"What do you want?" Twilight asked Warden Primrose as she was marched out before her again.

"What do you think I want?" she purred, folding her hooves on the folded table before her. It wasn't nearly as impressive as her desk in her office, but it had a similar effect. That mare could sure use a desk.

"I think you want something," Twilight said evenly.

"Go on," She said as with that sure smirk.

"Something that you think only I can provide," Twilight went on. Primrose didn't even blink as she smiled over the hooves clasped beneath her chin. "Something... involving Celestia."

"You are a very smart pony," Primrose replied. She reached into a folder next to her and pulled out a blank piece of parchment and a pen. She slid them before Twilight. Twilight just stared at the paper and pen. "I believe you start with 'Dear Princess Celestia.'"

This was it. Primrose wanted her to write good things about the prison. Lie to make her look good. No doubt anything she sent would be screened. Celestia and she didn't have any kind of secret codes she could use to alert her. If she tried to tell the truth, then she'd get stuck in the hole forever. But if she was a good pony, then the Warden would take care of her. At least until Celestia stopped replying. Of course, the Warden would still know she'd be a 'good pony'.

"No," Twilight whispered.

The Warden's smile didn't disappear. It compressed into a single curving line. "No?"

"I'm not writing letters for you," Twilight replied.

"Ninety days-" the Warden began to say as Ironwing marched up behind her.

"Make it a year," Twilight challenged back. "Make it five! I am never writing that letter for you."

Ironwing put her in a choke hold, pulling her towards the door. Then the Warden raised a hoof. "Wait." Twilight still sputtered, turning blue. "Let her breathe, captain." The wing relaxed enough that she gasped for air. The tiny Warden slipped off her chair and walked around to her. "Clearly the hole hasn't been as effective on you and I would have hoped. After six months, most ponies would sell their first born not to go back. I wonder if you had help in there," she murmured.

"Just my own mind," Twilight countered. She knew that if she did go back for a year, they'd be putting her in the Yellow ward for sure.

Primrose's grin returned. "I guess I'm going to need to find more persuasive means," she purred in Twilight's face.

"You are..." the wing tightened, "...a..." she sputtered. "...bad... pony!"

Primrose's eye twitched. "One more day in the hole. Make it a long day."

And it was a day, because there was no walks. No feedings. No tapping. Either they'd put her in a different cell, or Nobody had gone back. She tapped all four walls, and got no answer. She tried to leave herself, but it was more difficult as time went by and her stomach started to gurgle. No water. Her throat worked over and over again. Then the flap opened and a bowl was pushed through. Twilight rushed to it...

Pee. The bowl was full of rank urine. The analytical part of her mind knew that pee was 95% water and mostly sterile.

The sane part of her was repulsed.

A yank on the rope pulling the bowl back in spattered her with the contents.

Soon, she was laying on the reeking floor. No water. No shower. No exercise. No food. No light. No sound. Just stinking waste.

The second time the bowl was shoved through, she ignored it.

The third time, she drank the horrible, salty fluid.

And the fourth.

The fifth.

Sixth...

The door cracked open and Ironwing stared at her. At her slat slides and her mane tangled about her mended horn. Her eyes watered at the light. Still, Ironwing didn't wrinkle his nose at her. He considered her gravely, like a doctor assessing a terminally ill patient. She didn't care. He was real. Not like the random tapping echoing in her head. Gibberish from her own mind.

He stood there as her mouth worked, teeth aching, body reeking. She had to say this, even if she died. "I'm not... writing... her letter." Twilight muttered, her tongue thick and horrid.

Then, for only a moment, the corner of Ironwing's lip curled. It only lasted for a second. The smallest flicker of reaction, and the first she'd ever seen in him. "Can you walk?"

She'd walk out of here if it killed her. And from how weak her legs were, it just might! Still, she forced herself to her hooves, and stepped out. Slowly she walked towards the exercise hall, where she was sure that Primrose waited.

"Keep going," he said, and she blinked as she looked past the yard at the steps leading up.

Out.

Third Law

Twilight didn't know what to expect as she was ushered back into the world of people. Her time in the hole, and her long day, had left her feeling wretched and yet triumphant. She hadn't given Primrose the letters she'd wanted. Some how, writing lies for the Warden seemed an even bigger threat than the hole ever could be.

Ironwing, for his part, said nothing as he escorted her back up to medical. She expected to be thrown in the cage, given a humiliating examination, and then thrown back into population reeking of pee and sweat. Instead she was shown to a shower, where she was washed by a nurse with warm water while three guards watched on. Then, to her amazement, her mane was trimmed evenly, and even a bit of horn polish applied to the crack in her horn. She could barely see it. As Twilight started to question this odd fortune, a cart was presented with food... not just the stale cafeteria food. These smelled freshly made! Twilight's stomach made her tuck in before she could question it.

About halfway through, her cheeks bulging with food, she tried to ask what the deal was, but only came out with 'wa ba da wa'? Gulping, she wiped her mouth and then repeated to the amused guards. "What's the catch?"

"No catch. Warden just wants you looking nice," Ironwing muttered, pinions twitching.

"I'll say she's nice," one of the black armored stallions said. It was then that Twilight noticed something... his penis. Now, she knew stallions had penises and mares had vaginas. She just never really thought about it. It wasn't a thing. It was like saying stallions had hooves or mares had ears. But now she thought about it, because this particular dark blue guard was erect. Very erect. Twilight hadn't ever really thought of sex before. It wasn't a thing. But then, she'd also never thought of being in prison until she was. "Heh," the guard chuckled. "She wants what I go-"

Ironwing's wing shot out. The stallion, a full grown earth pony in plate armor, was swept off his hoof by the blow. The guard let out a cry, legs kicking, member flopping, as he tried to get back on his feet. Ironwing didn't let him. Instead, he pressed his foreknee on the guard's neck, pinning the formerly amorous guard to the ground.

"She is off limits. Understood?" Ironwing said as he stared down at the guard. The guard's legs kicked as he struggled to breathe. "Clear?" Ironwing demanded as something in the guard's neck started to make a crackling noise.

"Please, stop!" Twilight shouted, extending a hoof. Ironwing gave her a chilling stare. "I think he understands..." she said as she looked away.

"Yes sir! Yes sir!" the guard shouted, his eyes wide with terror.

Ironwing didn't move his leg for a second before firmly stating, "Good." He removed his knee from the earth pony's neck as he rose. Then he looked at Twilight... but it was like back in population; his eyes remained unfocused as if she were a ghost. He turned to a nurse. "Get him checked out and then wall duty for a week. Or till thoughts of fucking prisoners is out of his head. Get her back in population. I've got reports to file." He said and then trudged off.

"Like you never do," the guard rasped once Ironwing was out of sight. The nurses saw to him while another a unicorn mare guard wiped Twilight's face and pushed her towards the exit where a mare guard waited. She thought she might be the one that had given her a moment when she'd first arrived, but couldn't be sure. The guard was a step behind and to the side. Every time Twilight glanced back, she got a poke with the guard's baton and 'eyes forward'.

Twilight rewalked the steps back towards red population, passing through multiple gates, when there was a buzz and a white gem in the ceiling turned bright blue. "Shit," the guard behind her muttered. "Go down the hall, now!" she snapped, and Twilight ran to a gate, facing the wall while the mare extracted a key. "Where the fuck is Barrel?" she growled as she unlocked the door and Twilight passed through. The guard slammed the door shut and locked it. The mare pointed down the hall with a hoof. "Just keep going to your population. I got to get to blue! Go!" She shoved Twilight past a gate, closed it, and locked it before running off down a hall. Somewhere there was a deep booming shout of rage. It sounded like a fire.

Glanced around... and not really having anything better to do, Twilight started in the direction of the red cell block. She didn't know what was going on, and while some ponies might try to use this to escape, she didn't even know where 'outside' was, let alone how she was going to get past the exterior wall. Still, Blackhorn had no lack of interesting nooks. Would it really be so bad to take a peak? There were a lot of hooves echoing in the halls behind her.

Then she heard a mare giggle and say, "Better finish soon." Twilight's ears pinned it on a door that read 'supply'. Twilight pushed it open, surprised it wasn't closed all the way. As before, she saw a young stallion guard mounting a familiar green earth pony with tan mane spilling across her face. The yellow stallion gaped at Twilight in shock as he stood there with a pained expression on his face. The mare winced, reaching back to pat his hip. "No no. It's okay. I know her."

"Sour?" Twilight remembered, though she'd only seen the mare briefly before being drug away. Sour nodded with a wry grin, and Twilight had to ask, "Are you... okay?"

"Right as rain and twice as sweet, soon as this stud finishes up," she replied, though her grin was a little strained. The stallion slowly pulled out, sweating, and Sour winced, then relaxed. "Aw, baby, I'd see you though but there's a blue alarm. You should run." She gestured at a blue gem in the ceiling.

"Oh... right," the stallion muttered, staggering past a furiously blushing Twilight. "Next week?"

"You betcha. Remember my shopping list," Sour called after him. As he departed, her eyes swapped over to Twilight, and then she gave a little shrug. "So you're back from your vacation, Egghead? You really shouldn't be trotting around if you're not a Trustee. Get in here and I'll walk you the rest of the way."

"There was a guard but then the gem went blue and... um... are you okay?" she asked Sour. The supply room seemed to have stacks of linen everywhere. Well, the clean sheets had to be stored somewhere, right?

"I see what Fifty meant. For a smart pony, you sure do ask stupid things," Sour replied sweetly as she limped over to her bright orange jump suit. "I'm fine. Just sore. Beer Barrel was in a rush there at the end. Code blues are a big deal. Stallions are rioting again." She lifted a paper sack with a casual fling and set it on her rump with a wince.

"A riot? Seriously?"

"Happens every now and then. Guard shouldn't have just left you, but they're always understaffed and it's all hooves on deck for a riot. The only thing worse than a code blue is a code red." Sour said as she trotted to a counter, pulled out a sheet, and carefully unfolded it. Then she opened up the bag and shook out a few odds and ends: A hoof nail trimmer. Some yarn. A banana. There were other parcels, but she stashed them behind a stack of sheets. "Hope you forget these are here, Egghead. I'd hate to have to cut off Mother."

"Wha..." Twilight started to say, then blurted, "Wait? You think I'd steal them?"

Sour blinked at her, then threw back her head with a laugh. "Oh, you're hilarious. This is prison. What do you think ponies did to come here? A third of us are here for some theft or another. It's why I'm here!"

"It is?" Twilight asked with a frown.

"Yup. I was a embezzler at my firm in Manehattan. All the partners were. My boss was the worst of the lot. But when the shareholders found out, I was the one who took the fall. Because the secretaries are always the criminal masterminds," she said with a wink. "Boss had books that made him look innocent and put all the blame on me. DA didn't look much further than that. After all, better to lock me up than a pony that's skimming off the Realm for thousands of bits a year."

"I see..." Twilight murmured as she glanced over her shoulder at the door. "And you... do that... with the guards so they bring things people want?" That got her a cool look. "Not that I think... um..."

"You are such a fresh fish," Sour muttered then sniffed. "Long as it's not too illegal, sure. I don't manage drugs or weapons. Way too much risk. But a bit of makeup here or mane curlers there...? Some sweets? Spices? Generally not a problem. So long no one in population does anything stupid like attack a guard, it's easier to look the other way." She gave a little smirk. "As for the sex, there's mares that want a safer rut than getting raped by a guard, and guards that just want a little fun without feeling quite like shits. So for a little this and that, I can get most folks what they need. Nopony tells Ironwing or the Warden, and it just stays a 'smuggling' problem." Her smile faded. "And if somepony does get me in trouble, there's an entire prison population unhappy with them."

"I won't tell anyone," Twilight swore, and Sour's amused smile returned. "It just seems wrong. You're a trustee. You shouldn't have to do that..."

"Being a trustee's not a walk in the park. It means the gangs generally don't mess with me, but if someone wants to send a message to the Warden, well, no better way than putting a trustee in medical. Or the hole. It also means I work closer with the guards, and if I want to keep my perks... well... there's expectations..." she said, her smile present, but still, like a mask. "You learn to live with it."

"That doesn't make it okay," Twilight muttered.

"I can agree on that!" Sour said with a laugh, glancing behind her with her tail tucked tight before she regarded Twilight again. "You're strange. What got you here, Egghead, if I may ask?" she asked as she carefully put the sheet on Twilight's back. Twilight blinked but Sour's smile suggested she should go along with it.

Twilight hung her head a little. "I cast a spell. It got a lot of ponies hurt. One... one died."

"Ponyslaughter then? Or is that felonious misuse of magic?"

"Pony slaughter," Twilight said. "Five years, with good behavior."

"That's pretty light for Blackhorn," Sour said as she piled more sheets atop the ones with the contraband tucked inside. "Does it have anything to do with what you were doing for the Warden?"

Twilight bristled. "What? No! I was in the hole! Where did everyone think I was?"

Sour arched a brow. "Honestly, Egghead, we didn't have a clue. It's been almost three months since you left. Some people thought you got let out, or that you've been working with Primrose. Honestly, looking at you, I can see why." She rubbed her chin. "Course, Trustees talk. None of us saw you anywhere in any of her offices, so I knew that was roadapples. I thought you just got transferred to Green." She narrowed her eyes. "Still, you should have your horn chiseled for spearing another prisoner. So something's up."

Twilight blinked and flushed. "She thinks I'm... something." Twilight said lamely. "Useful, I guess."

"Wow," Sour muttered. "I can count on no hooves the number of times unicorns don't get their horns notched for getting caught stabbing. Must be pretty useful."

Twilight closed her eyes. She had to give Sour something. All the pampering at the end now made sense. If the prisoners thought she was working for the Warden, she'd eventually have to just to survive. "I used to work with Princess Celestia," Twilight muttered.

Sour's eyes popped wide. "Sweet caramel! No. Really?" Sour rubbed her chin. "Fuck. Anypony else I'd call them liars, but your horn's not blunted so it's gotta be something."

"I can't talk about it," Twilight said firmly. "She wants me to do this. I'm not going to."

"I don't want you to. Whatever the Warden wants is unhealthy for me. I don't want to get any of it on me," Sour replied with a shake of her head, waving a hoof before her as if to ward off whatever the Warden wanted from her. "So since you weren't holed up in an office, I'm guessing you were in the hole?" Twilight nodded. "Shit," Sour whistled softly. "Ninety plus in the hole is rough."

"Can you help me? Tell them I wasn't helping the Warden?" Twilight asked.

Sour's smile froze as she seemed to be performing a mental calculation. "I want you to do Fifty's paperwork for her next appeal." She went on, "Normally I'd ask you to entertain a guard but you're too hot for that. So first thing's first, go over Fifty's appeal with a fine toothed comb and get her out of here. If you can. That'll be worth my vouching."

"Deal," Twilight said. She would have done it anyway.

"Come on. Let me make rounds," she said as she then went to a cloth basket cart and pushed it out the door. "Blue alerts are great for getting stuff in and out. Long as it's not red," she said.

"Why? What's a red alert?" Twilight asked as she followed, struggling with the weight of the sheets on her back.

"Riot on our ward," Sour said without a hint of a smile.

Sour made the rounds, pushing the basket while twilight carried the sheets. Twilight didn't know what she expected, but what she received was bored indifference. She was carefully to keep her look up as she followed Sour around. Most ponies took their sheets, putting soiled linens in the basket. Every now and then Sour would pass sheets from the bottom on the pile to the recipient. Every now and then, though, somepony would ask Twilight where she'd been. Sour immediately would jump in with an explanation about how she'd been in the Hole and how Twilight had kept her horn with some legal fast talk. Twilight just tried not to look, being Sour's mule.

Fifty and Mother didn't seem happy to see her, but the others did. Especially Lullabye. When she rushed forward, Fifty stomped on her tail and drew her up short.

"Mother May I?" Sour said in a sing song voice. She scooped off the sheets, and Twilight marveled with how deftly she extracted one of the small parcels and passed it under the cover of the towel. "Fifty, you'll be pleased to know that Eggy here agreed to help with you appeal. Today, even."

Twilight gaped from one to the other, then nodded. "Yes. Soon as someone shows me the forms, I'll be all over it!"

"Later," Fifty said, nodding to the cell behind her.

"Thanks, Sour," Twilight said as she transferred the stack of linens over.

"I get folks what they need. For a price," she replied with a grin. "See you around, Eggy."

Twilight trotted into the cell, was sat down on the bunk while Fifty and another mare flanked her. Mother's grim demeanor matched Celestia's so much that Twilight felt the same anxiety that came with the possibility of failing a test. "I have questions," Mother said evenly. She asked, and Twilight answered. Everything from what happened in the cafeteria to where she'd been to why her horn wasn't chipped. Whatever punishment Celestia could met out would be nothing if she was caught lying to mother. She even confessed to attending Princess Celestia's school, though omitted that she'd been her personal mentor.

To her relief, Mother seemed to accept that. "So the Warden's worried Celestia might clean up Blackspire," she said as she closed her gray eyes. A small smile appeared. "Good." The curl disappeared. "Unfortunately, you've caused me a bit of a problem."

In that instant a hoof banged against the bars. "M- Mother!" Lullabye blurted. "Duchess is here."

Mother didn't move a moment, her face a mask. Twilight saw the smallest bead of sweat run down the side of her face before she rose. "Wait here," she said as she rose and trotted out the door.

"Where is she!" a mare snarled in the hall. "That nag spiked one of mine! What's she still doing with her horn? What are you playing at, Meridian?" Twilight guessed that was Mother's real name. She shifted up enough to spot a unicorn with a blunted horn flanked by eight others. She was younger than Mother, and her coat was a washed out green. Her mane and tail. however, were buzzed almost completely gone. She also had constellations of scars all across her body.

"She just got back, Duchess," Mother replied evenly.

"She cost me a pony," Duchess retorted, jabbing a hoof at Twilight.

"It was an accident!" Twilight blurted, and she heard Fifty groan, covering her face with a hoof. The two mares stared at her simultaneously as if the fact Twilight hadn't meant to stab that other unicorn was the most irrelevant part of this discussion. "Sorry," she muttered, dropping her gaze.

"You need to learn respect," Duchess said in a low growl before turning towards Mother. "We're down one. Windstorm's already eyeing us. Give her over. We need her horn."

"What?" Twilight gaped, looking from one to the other.

"Egghead's not a fighter," Fifty stated firmly. Unlike the rest of the unicorns, she met Duchess's gaze. "Warden might have left her horn, but she doesn't know dick about using it."

Duchess's mouth curled into a sly smirk. "Then what about you, Fifty? You want to join us and set things square?"

"You want my horn at your back, Duchess?" Fifty said, cool and even. Duchess smirk lingered a moment, then her eyes widened and quickly narrowed.

"We'll find someone for you, Duchess. You're down a pony. We'll deal with that. We don't want trouble with the Raptors or Stone Hooves any more than you do," Mother stated evenly. That brought back the smirk.

"Before tomorrow, Mother. We'll need to initiate them into the Spears," Duchess said as she turned away.

"Wait!" Twilight said, and got stares from three different ponies that made her want to implode. Still, she asked, weakly, "What happened to the mare I hurt? Ripper?"

A vein in Duchess's temple throbbed. "When you thrust your horn into the heart of my enemy, you'll have the right to ever ask me anything," she hissed over her shoulder before walking away. The rest of the spears filled in with her.

Fifty all but picked Twilight up, scooping her back into the cell. "You know! I once knew this stallion. Name was Tiny. Biggest damned stallion I ever saw," the huge, dark unicorn snapped at her. "I'm hoping the same phenomenon doesn't happen with you, 'Egghead'."

"I just... did the warden do something to Ripper?" Twilight asked. "She was hurt. Bleeding, when they took me away."

Fifty covered her face a moment then sighed. "Guard brought her into the ward. The Stone hooves where there, waiting. She lived, but she's useless to Duchess now."

Twilight wanted to ask more, but Mother entered their cell. "You have complicated my life, greatly," Mother said, the elder mare sitting down and rubbing her temple. "We need to send someone to them. Can you think of anypony?" she asked Fifty.

"Lullabye," Fifty stated immediately.

"Fifty," Mother said with a reproachful smile.

"It gets her gone and Duchess get's a horn. Win win," Fifty replied.

"She's not a fighter," Mother said. Fifty's jaw clenched. Twilight looked out the cell over to the blue unicorn and saw the bright smile and hoof-wave in her direction.

"Lemon Pie?"

"Bad knees."

"Socks?"

"More merciful to just kill her ourselves."

Twilight looked at the pair. "Um, excuse me, but why do you need to send anypony to her at all? I mean, they're a gang, right? Should you really be helping her?"

Fifty groaned again but Mother gave her an even look before she took a seat. "Ordinarily, you'd be correct. This is not an ordinary environment though. I'm sure you're aware of the earth ponies and pegasi have their own gangs, yes?"

"The Stone Hooves and Raptors," Twilight answered, earning a small smile.

"Both would like nothing better to do than hurt unicorns."

"Why?" Twilight asked, and the elder rose colored mare seemed surprised.

"Why, because we're unicorns, of course," she replied, as if it were obvious, like gravity. If Blackhorn didn't suppress magic, Twilight suspected it'd be frozen solid from Windigo spirits. "However, they know if they ever target our herd, that Duchess would target theirs. But if they think Duchess can't, or that Duchess is vulnerable to attack directly, then there's nothing to stop them from targeting us." Fifty grumbled again, and Mother shot her a look that silenced it. "And while there are some who think we could defend ourselves without the Spears, I don't want to subject all of our people to it."

Twilight groaned, rubbing her face. "I wish I were back in the hole."

Mother sighed. "It wouldn't have changed the predicament. Your 'accident' might have started this, but the guards all but signed Pumpkin's death sentence when they released a lone spear into population with a dozen Stone Hooves. I'm astonished she survived."

"But where is she? Shouldn't she be with the herd?" Twilight asked, and the two mares shared a look. "She's a unicorn!"

"Don't worry about her. She's no threat to anypony now," Mother said evenly. "Suffice to say, once you leave a herd for a gang, you can't go back. The gangs wouldn't allow it. The only way out is parole, death, or becoming an outcast. We couldn't take her back if we wanted."

Twilight guessed that meant she'd been moved to the other mare ward, or the ward for medical prisoners. "I hope she's going to be alright," she said and then grimaced. "I need to use the latrine," she confessed.

"I'll walk you. Should be safe now," Fifty said as they walked out of the cell. The latrine was disgusting, little more than a ditch you backed up to and did your business. However, you were less likely to be jumped there, especially if you were with someone. Not like the showers, where it was harder to yell for help. "Oy, apples! Out!" snapped Fifty.

Three road apples ran out. They looked emaciated and feral, running for an overlooked corner. They were the snitches. The ponies that refused to pay debts. The punked. "You too," barked Fifty.

The orange mare's mane and tail were a tangled mess, but that was the least of her worries. She walked as if none of her legs looked right. One eye was scarred shut, the other stared at Twilight in horror. But worst of all, where her horn should have been wasn't a rounded tip but a scarred indentation in her face. She froze for an instant shaking as she stared at Twilight.

"Ripper," Twilight breathed.

"Move, Roadapple!" snapped Fifty.

"Please, don't mind me. Someplace else I should be," she whispered as she hobbled out of the latrine.

Twilight had thought she'd had it bad in the hole. Blackhorn had whole encyclopedias of bad she could barely imagine. But it was going to teach her, Twilight realized. It was going to teach her hard.

Author's Note

Person asked for the next chapter. Sorry it took so long. I'd started a lot of it ages ago and never finished. Here you go.