Damned Are the Guilty

"Well well, I got to say that after four days you've officially been recognized as the quietest inmate in here," one of the guards said to Frank, who was sitting in silence on the bed within his cell. Frank didn't turn to look at the guard and continued to stare at the wall, lost deep within his own thoughts. "I mean, not one threat about how you're going to break out and rain fire upon the world. What a nice change of pace."

"I know, especially considering how Princess Twilight seemed to downright hate you," the second guard in charge of keeping Frank secure said with a laugh. "Then again, you did kill a bunch of criminals and fanatics in a brutal fashion. I can see why she would get mad at that."

"Ah who's going to miss them? They were a blight on our society anyway. If anything we should be thanking you for getting rid of them, but Princess Twilight declared your actions as murder. And once a princess sets a sentence, only another princess can change it. And I bet none of the other princesses would like you much," the first guard said.

Frank once again remained silent, not allowing the guards to bait him into any form of talk. He didn't know if the princesses were trying to worm information out of him by having the guards seem to be on his side, but it wouldn't work either way. If things went the way he wanted to, no pony in this land would like him after tonight. A whistle sounded somewhere off in the prison, the same whistle that Frank heard every evening around this time. Just around the time when the sun was beginning to set.

"Wow, feeding time already. Amazing how quickly these four days have gone," the second guard said before removing the crystal from around his throat and waving it across the doors to Franks cell. The door vanished in a flash of light and that alone got Frank to turn his head to look at the ponies. "Time to go eat, human. Rules of the house, you act good you get to eat with the rest of your well behaved friends. Don't make us regret doing this now."

Frank slowly rose up and walked to the exit of his cell, stopping deliberately to make it look like he wasn't sure. The guards motioned for him to move on with smirks on their faces, smirks that told Frank that they didn't see him as a threat. 'If I had to wager, I figure that Twilight told them all about me and they think that just because I don't have my guns means I can't kill them. Dangerous way of thinking.'

But it wasn't the time to move yet. He knew that much. So without a word he allowed himself to be led to the cafeteria, the only place in the prison that he couldn't see from his see through cell. Along the way he had the chance to look into other cells, seeing the inmates that were held within. Some of them were regular unicorns or ponies, pacing or glaring out at the guards. Some we beings that Frank recognized from mythologies. Others were nightmares that he couldn't begin to fathom. But whenever any of them, even the nightmares, looked into Franks eyes, they realized that none of them were as close to terrifying as he was.

"Alright human, here we are," the guards said to Frank, opening the doors for him and allowing him to enter the cafeteria. Numerous tables were strewn across the place while a small line of prisoners were gathered around a slot on the wall that dispensed food. A water trough seemed to be the only place in the room for refreshments, but even from a distance Frank could tell the water didn't look too clean.

But the water was far from the filthiest thing in the room. The moment he began to walk into the room every eye in the cafeteria turned to look at him. Most of the eyes held him with interest. Some of them saw him as new prey. And only one of the prisoners, huddled in the corner, looked at Frank with fear in his eyes.

"Have fun human, try to get along," the guards said to Frank before they left, sealing the door behind them. Frank rubbed his wrist, glad that he wasn't wearing handcuffs this time. He walked over to the line and waited, not wanting to tip his hand just yet. He couldn't look too suspicious. But even though he tried to act normal, he was still the tallest being in the room and the only human. He knew that would make him a target.

He grabbed a tray and held it out in front of the slot, having to bend over slightly. A moment later what looked to be a mix of apples, carrots and grass was dumped onto his tray. From the way they dispensed the food Frank was supposed to think that this was slop, but compared to other prisons the food here looked pretty good.

He found a table that was unoccupied and sat down by himself, removing the grass before sniffing the apple sauce. He smelled no drugs or poisons, so he ate quickly. By the time five other inmates all sat down next to him, he had already finished his meal aside from the grass. He glanced at the inmates with mild interest, seeing that three of them were regular ponies. One of them had a lot of scars and was a unicorn. He seemed to be the boss. And the other was a black insect that Frank hadn't seen yet.

"So you're the new blood, huh? The one that made Twilight descend from on high to throw your ass in here," the unicorn said with a sneer, one that was met with a cold stare from Frank. "Don't see what all the fuss is about. Don't sense any magic on ya and you don't look that strong."

Frank ignored the horse as he glanced up at the platforms above them, watching as a guard looked at the clock. Almost time for the guards to swap. Almost time for him to get out. The pony said something else and Frank turned his attention back to the horse, an uninterested look on his face.

"What, you think you're better than us just because the princess threw you in here? You think that you're the baddest guy in here? Let me tell you, you're not," the unicorn snarled, but Frank was paying little attention. A door up above opened and a new set of guards walked in. One of them, one that he had been watching for a while, was new and not looking out as well as he should. Frank tensed his muscles, getting ready to move.

"Hoof over here burned down a building. Razer there caused a stampede that knocked over a small town. And me...I'm here because I turned plenty of Canterlot families to stone. Foals and all." Slowly, Frank lowered his eyes from the guards above to the unicorn in front of him, who was smirking at Frank as if he had said something funny. Frank knew better. He knew that he had one chance to get out and he needed to act now. "We're all bad boys in here. We've all ruined our fair share of families. So what did you do-"

Punisher lashed out with his hand and slammed his fist into the face of the unicorn, breaking his nose and snapping his head back. Faster than the others could react Punisher vaulted over the table and drove two boots into the ponies flanking the unicorn, dropping them to the floor. He tackled the unicorn and grabbed his horn, snapping it off of his skull with a grunt. The pony didn't even have the chance to cry out before Punisher drove the horn through the eye of the unicorns.

One of the guards cried out from above as Punisher drove the impaled unicorn into the ground, before turning to face his next attacker. One of the ponies that had flanked the unicorn, Razer, lunged at Punisher, but faster than the pony though possible Punisher got behind him. He grabbed hold of the pony's skull from behind before swiftly moving his arms, snapping the pony's neck in a single movement. He tossed the body to the side and grabbed Hoof by the throat, lifting the pony with one arm and driving his skull into the edge of the table. A few more blows like that caved the skull in, ending Hoof.

Something tackled Punisher from behind and he was driven to the floor, but his greater strength allowed him to roll out of the beings grip and get back to his feet. He turned to see the insect flying in front of him, a smirk on its face as it sized him up. It then raced at him, preparing to strike Punisher in the face. Frank had other ideas. He grabbed the insect out of the air and slammed his skull into its, stunning it for a moment. Punisher grabbed its head and drove it into the trough, holding the head of the insect under the murky water. It thrashed and fought, but Punisher was far to experienced at drowning foes to release his grip. After a moment the insect stopped struggling and went limp. Punisher released the bug, keeping its head underwater just to be safe, before he turned to see that the guards were now on him.

"By order of the princess, stand down!" one of the four guards yelled at Punisher, who saw that the younger one was with them. That almost made him smile. The electricity crackling along the end of one of their weapons got rid of the smile. Punisher moved first, lunging at the first guard and driving a knee into his face. The guard was caught off guard and went down without a sound, but his defeat spurred the other guards into action. Punisher drew the sword that the guard had been carrying and charged the guards, blocking their spears with the blade.

He rolled underneath of a strike and sprang to his feet right in front of the new guard, glaring into his eyes for a moment to unnerve the rookie. A slash of Punishers blade severed the crystal around the pony's neck, getting the rookie to yelp before the butt of the blade made him take a nap. Punisher grabbed the crystal and immediately raced for the exit, drop kicking a pair of guards out of his way. He spied another inmate trying to stay out of the way and he hurled the blade at him, impaling the pony to the wall with his weapon.

He kicked off the wall and grabbed hold of the balcony above, pulling himself up to see another pair of guards racing towards him. A thin smile crossed Punisher's lips as he recognized the both of them. And from the way they glared at him, they knew him as well.

"We let you out and this is how you repay us?" one of them asked as he activated his spear, sending electricity across the tip. "Well you better believe that we won't make that mistake twice!" The guard lunged at Punisher, but he was already in motion. He grabbed the gold part of the sphere and yanked it out of the guards grasp, before he twirled and drove the edge of the staff across the guards face. He dropped the ground, just in time for Punisher to turn to see the other guard lunging at him. Punisher deflected the spear strike with his own weapon, knocking the guard off balance and giving Punisher an opening.

He slipped around behind the guard and wrapped his arms around the pony's throat, slowly beginning to choke him out. It would have been quicker to simply break the guards neck, but the guards had been nice to Frank. He figured that they were good guys. When the guard went limp Punisher released him, spending just a second to make sure he was breathing before he took off. He used the crystal he had taken to open the door in front of him, racing into the halls of the prison.

'If what I've learned is right and this place resembles anything of a human prison, then what I'm looking for should be...' Punisher stopped as he ran to a room that had one word hanging over the door. Evidence. This time a smile did cross Punisher's face as he waved open the door, walking inside to see an evidence locker. He spent only a moment looking around before he found what he had came for.

Numerous firearms. Multiple explosives. And a black, bulletproof vest with a white skull painted on the front of it. He quickly gathered up his items and slipped on his vest, just in time to hear yelling and the sound of dozens of hooves running across the crystal. But that wasn't what bothered Punisher. What bothered him was that he only had a few days to stop the rise of a demon.

"Time to go."