Twilight’s eyes moved all around the gravel that lined the floor. She didn’t dare look up at her escorts. The air was heavy with the smell of gas and the sound of engines rung through the air.

Soon, Twilight was forced to look up at the car she was taken to. It was a green Jeep with large black tires. It seemed to be a bit larger than normal, with a few extra seats. As Twilight looked, a few guards pushed her forwards towards it.

“Keep moving, inmate,” said the guard behind Twilight. She picked up her pace, making for the door of the car. The guard opened the door and allowed Twilight to step in. The car was full of other people, all dressed in orange. Like the door opening in a classroom, all eyes were locked on her. Her eyes darted around the heated interior of the van, locking in on an empty seat between two other inmates. Twilight gulped and pushed herself past the small aisle on the side, plopping down next to the two.

“This it?” called the driver, presumably talking to the officer who escorted Twilight. Twilight couldn’t see or hear the officer’s response, but as the door closed and the car sputtered to life, Twilight assumed that she was the last one. The car was full.

Twilight kept her hands in her lap, twiddling her thumbs to keep herself occupied. The seat was quite tightly packed with other people. She had no room to stretch herself out, which continued to make her uncomfortable. The question of how long the ride would take was stuck on her mind.

“Lighten up,” said the woman directly next to Twilight. As she looked to her right, she came near face to face with a woman with short, rainbow-colored hair. Her eyes were a dull ruby. “What’s your name? What’re you in for?”

“Uh… I’m Twilight.” She extended her hand. “And I’m… I was convicted of murder.” The inmate took her hand but raised an eyebrow at the end of her sentence. “B-But I didn’t do it, I swear.”

“Yeah, yeah, we’re all innocent,” said the inmate. “Name’s Dash. Rainbow Dash.” Rainbow Dash let go of Twilight’s hand

“What are you in for?” asked Twilight. Rainbow Dash laughed, which made Twilight a little confused.

“First rule of prison, kid,” said Rainbow. “Don’t ask what someone is in for.” Twilight frowned a bit at Rainbow’s teasing but did smile after a few seconds. “Look, you’re looking a bit on the nervous side, so lemme give you a few pointers.”

“Uh, okay,” said Twilight, returning to her normal composure.

“First, sleep with your back towards the wall. It’s a must.” Twilight’s eyes grew wide, her jaw dropping to the floor. Rainbow apparently had no problem poking fun at Twilight even more. “Just kidding man, don’t do that.”

“Are you ever going to be serious?” asked Twilight quietly.

“Yeah, okay. You just seem too green to be true.” Rainbow’s smile seemed to put her at ease, which Twilight assumed was her goal the whole time. “Okay, the first rule of prison, don’t start shit. Don’t instigate shit, don’t be around shit, don’t even look at shit, okay?”

“Er, sure,” said Twilight.

“Second, don’t get friendly with the guards, or any kind of gang,” said Dash. “Seriously, people take that as a declaration of war. It’s basically rule number one.”

“Okay…” Twilight made mental notes of what Rainbow Dash was saying.

“Last rule,” said Rainbow, who seemed to be enjoying herself. “Don’t be a bitch. Be a little bit of a bitch, but don’t be a bitch.”

“Uh…” Twilight raised an eyebrow. Rainbow Dash noticed her confusion and rolled her eyes.

“Don’t stand out,” said Dash. “If people see that you’re weak, people are gonna exploit it like hell. Don’t let people know you’re weak.” Twilight pondered the last one. Everyone had some kind of weakness, right? She looked around the van, looking among the female prisoners there. A few other conversations sprung up, but none were audible.

“Hey, Rainbow Dash,” said Twilight quietly so those around her couldn’t hear. “Does everyone have a weakness?”

“Well, I suppose,” said Rainbow Dash. “Oh, yeah. Drop the curious attitude. You’re instigating.”

“Sorry.” Twilight became silent, using the remaining time to think. While Rainbow cracked jokes, Twilight thought of Rainbow’s rules. While the first two raised no questions, but the third elicited some more thought.

Weaknesses were like True Names. Of course, knowing weaknesses anywhere gave you the leg up, but Twilight could only imagine the power they held here. Here, with no escape from people who knew your weakness. Where a whole world was confined in four walls. Twilight could only shudder at what awaited her within the prison.

“I shouldn’t be here,” whispered Twilight, all of the comfort Rainbow Dash gave her quickly fading. After thinking about the events of the past few weeks, Twilight couldn’t help but let her emotions get the better of her. Tears started flowing down her cheeks, and she hid her face in her hands. Before she could even let out a single sob, Twilight felt a sharp pain in her side. She sat upright quickly and flashed a look towards Rainbow Dash.

“You don’t listen, do you?” said Rainbow Dash, whispering and shaking her head. “There are mad people here. You sure you wanna cry right now?” Twilight quickly wiped her face and looked at her lap.

“Sorry,” she said. “And... thank you.”

“Hey, don’t thank me,” said Rainbow Dash. “I only do things for things. To me, joking around with you is what I want.” All too suddenly, the car came to a halt, sending Twilight’s head into the seat ahead of her. Rainbow stayed where she was and broke into laughter.

“Why are we stopped?” asked Twilight, though she already knew the answer.

“Whaddya think?” said Rainbow Dash, coming down from her hysterics. “Time to go through boring ass processing. Then, say hello to prison.” Twilight felt chills go up her spine. She knew that the car ride couldn’t last forever, but she knew she had to arrive sometime.

“Get ‘em out here,” said a faded voice. It sounded like it came from outside of the van. Twilight was too far back to see anything out of the front window, but she did hear the van became silent, for the most part.

The van’s doors opened and the inmate closest to the door slid out of her seat and got out. Slowly, one by one, more prisoners filed out of the van. When the flow got to Twilight’s row, Dash stood and tapped her on the shoulder a few times.

“Let’s go, kid,” said Dash, walking to the door. Twilight followed her to the door and stepped out into the bright light. All of the warmth that the car had provided was ripped apart by the cold, dagger-like wind. It pierced right past her orange jumpsuit. Nevertheless, she kept moving forward like the rest of the prisoners.

She was in a large courtyard, paved with concrete with little tufts of grass here and there. There was a few basketball hoops—none of them with nets— around the courtyard, and about 5 guards in a triangle pattern. The one in the middle and closest to the prisoners wore a hat that covered most of her face as she looked down. Her fiery orange hair was tied up in a way Twilight couldn’t exactly see. The rest looked straight ahead at us as we approached.

“This all of ‘em?” asked the woman in the middle. Another officer, probably our driver, walked up to her and nodded.

“Yes, Ma’am.” He said. The woman finally looked up and finally showed us her face. It was soft and she looked young. Her eyes were covered with sunglasses and she was smirking somewhat, which made Twilight a bit confused. Twilight didn’t know why, but the guard seemed to put her at ease. She glanced over at Rainbow Dash to see how she was faring.

All of the amusement Rainbow Dash had on her face vanished, replaced with and emotionless glare. As Dash looked at her, the guard looked back . Dash averted her gaze and the guard's smile fell. Twilight wanted to ask what was wrong, but she wasn’t sure if she was supposed to say anything. As if on cue, the guard addressed them.

“Welcome to Canterlot State Pen, ladies.” She spoke with a crispness in her voice, as if she had no tolerance for any kind of backtalk. Twilight gulped. “I’m the warden, and I expect nothing but goodness from you. My name is Spitfire, but don’t call me anything but ma’am.” Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. She dropped her glare from earlier, now looking bored. “The guards here will give you your schedules and put you in the system. Other than that, there’s nothing to say.”

“Okay, girls, let’s go,” said one of the guards. “Single file inside those double doors over there.” The crowd was led towards a set of double doors which led into the prison. Twilight tapped Dash on the shoulder.

“Are you okay?” asked Twilight. “That warden back there kept looking at you like she—”

“Don’t worry about it,” said Rainbow Dash firmly. Twilight shrunk back behind her, keeping all of her questions to herself.

The inside of the prison that Twilight entered didn’t really feel like it was a prison at all. The room they filed into resembled a photo shooting room with white walls and clean floor tiles. Also, the room was heated, returning the feeling to Twilight’s frigid fingers. The guards that led them inside took certain positions in the room. One was at the camera, two stood at the door they entered in, one sat behind a desk with a computer. Spitfire was nowhere to be seen, probably entering from somewhere else. The one at the computer called the first inmate who walked over and spoke with him. Twilight could pick out the basic information like name and date of birth. Then, she was given a slip of paper and sent to get her picture taken. Once she sat down, Twilight heard the cameraman speak.

“Face the camera, eyes forward,” he said. The woman did as she was told and had her picture taken.

“Huh,” said Rainbow Dash, apparently back to normal. “They changed it up. It used to be a lot longer process.” Twilight watched as the first person went through another set of double doors into a room she couldn’t see into.

“So this is all processing is?” asked Twilight. “What’s after this?”

“That paper they give you has your schedule and the number of your room,” explained Rainbow. “But these guys are assholes and don’t tell you how to find your room, so you spend a bunch of your first day looking for it.” Rainbow Dash said the last part quietly as not to upset anyone. Twilight found it kinda funny.

“You know how to find it, right?” asked Twilight, watching as the next person went up. Rainbow nodded. “Will you teach me?”

“Sure, but I can’t hold your hand all the time, ” said Rainbow Dash. “I’m not your mom. And this is a prison. Shit just doesn’t work like that down here.” Twilight watched as the next person went up and the line got smaller. Of course, she knew Rainbow couldn’t baby her. Still, she felt that it would be nice of Rainbow Dash to do.

“I understand,” said Twilight. “This is seriously prison…”

“What did you expect?” asked Dash. “A time-out on crack?” Twilight chuckled at Rainbow and almost missed the guard's signal over. When she walked over, Twilight tried to keep her face flat and emotionless.

“Name?” asked the guard, a small smile on his face. Twilight cleared her throat.

“Twilight Sparkle,” said Twilight. The guard looked through the files that sat on his desk and pulled one from it. He looked at the paper and back at Twilight.

“Ah, I see,” said the guard with a dark chuckle. “We don’t see many people like you.” The guard handed her a paper and pointed to the cameraman. “After you get your picture taken, go through the double doors. Then, follow your schedule.”

“Uh… I have a question,” said Twilight. The guard’s gaze lingered over Twilight for a few seconds before dropping to the papers on his desk.

“Make it quick, inmate,” he said. Twilight glanced at the paper she was given. There were different points of the day that coordinated with certain times. In the top right, there was a letter and number next to the words “ASSIGNED CELL”.

“What do this letter and number mean?” asked Twilight, showing the guard the paper and what she was talking about. “This B7.”

“Your cell is in Block B, the seventh cell on your left,” said the guard. “Figures. The person who used to be in that cell is just like you.”

“What do you mean?” asked Twilight, vying for information. The guard shook his head.

“You’re holding up the line,” said the guard. “Go get your picture taken.” His voice was forceful, which made Twilight want to keep her mouth shut. Against her curiosity, she turned away and walked toward the cameraman. She sat down and looked up into the lens.

“Face forward, eyes center,” said the guard. Twilight did as she was told, looking into the lens. The guard looked into the camera and snapped a photo. Twilight blinked a few times after the flash. “Okay, you’re all good. Go on through the double doors.” Twilight got up and flashed Rainbow Dash a look. Rainbow returned a reassuring thumbs up. She sighed, turned, and walked towards the door. With a slight heave, she pushed them open, revealing the large open space beyond.

It looked like a small theater, except there was no elevation in the seats. Everyone turned to Twilight for a few seconds before returning their attention back to the small TV that hung from the wall. Twilight felt as though she didn’t know what to do. The air in here had dropped in temperature from the last room, making Twilight shiver in place. After a few seconds of awkward standing around, Twilight walked toward one of the seats and sat down where no one else was close.

The TV was showing a newscast. It was the normal tale of harsh winds and near freezing temperatures. Since Canterlot was at such a high altitude, this kind of weather was normal. As Twilight watched, she felt herself sinking into the torn seat. It still smelled of fresh leather and brought her a lot of comfort. Twilight didn’t even know if this was what she was supposed to be doing. She glanced at her schedule but realized that she couldn’t tell what time it was. She looked around, searching for any type of clock.

“It’s 1:30,” said a voice next to her. Twilight looked over to find a tall figure standing to her left. She looked down at Twilight with a neutral look on her slightly tanned face. Her eyes were a bright turquoise, and her hair was a mix of yellow and red. “You were looking around for a clock, right?”

“Yes,” said Twilight. “Thank you.” The girl sat down right next to Twilight, which made her uncomfortable. She sat away from everyone so that a situation like this would not happen.

“What’s your name, newbie?” asked the prisoner. She placed her arms behind her head and crossed her legs. “What are you in for?

“I’m Twilight,” answered Twilight. “And uh… I heard you weren’t supposed to tell people that.” The woman laughed, loud enough to draw the attention of a few other prisoners. To Twilight’s surprise, though, no one complained or even turned around completely. They just glanced.

“Sunset,” said the woman, extending her hand. Twilight took it, shook it, and let go. “You’re pretty sharp, newbie. You’re better than a lot of other prisoners just starting out.”

“Um… thanks?” asked Twilight. She looked at the TV screen again, noticing that the tie was displayed in the bottom right corner. The small clock displayed “1:34”. She looked down and read that at 1:45, she would have to report for lunch. Right now, she was using her afternoon free time. In fact, Twilight found that the prison schedule was very lenient. During the entire day, Twilight had 3 hours of free time, one for the morning, the afternoon, and the evening.

“What’s wrong?” asked Sunset.

“I just find it weird that we have so much free time,” said Twilight. “I thought it would be unforgiving.”

“It’s alright. It’s nice to have a few moments to myself, you know?” she asked. Twilight also felt safe around this woman. She didn’t know why Dash told her all of those things about being careful. Twilight thought it had to be some kind of hazing. “Plus, the guards are always here. It’s not like our free time means we can do whatever we want.”

“I suppose,” said Twilight. At the most opportune moment, Rainbow Dash walked up to the two and a shared a big smile.

“Holy shit, you’re still here?” asked Rainbow Dash. “Thought you would’ve fucked off or something already. And you already got your hands on the new girl.”

“Dash? Good to see you back after so long,” said Sunset. “Kinda baffling that you ended up in shit again. What, once wasn’t enough?”

“You know how hard it is out there,” said Dash. “Especially for me. I’m memorable as hell.”

“I know, I know,” said Sunset. “Me and Twilight here were just talking about the schedule. It’s new to you too, isn’t it?” Dash sat down in the seat next to Twilight, on her right.

“Yeah, I see it. We get three free periods?” she asked. “If it was Soarin, we’d be lucky if we got one.”

“It’s the new warden,” said Sunset. Twilight looked at Dash to see how she would react, but she still had the same goofy grin on. “Spitfire is more lenient than Soarin, and she’s hotter.”

“You don’t say,” said Rainbow Dash. “How’s the others? Still fuckin’ around with that little bitch in E3?” Sunset laughed. Twilight didn’t think to keep up with the conversation. Just seeing how buddy-buddy Rainbow Dash and Sunset were made her confused. They seemed to be cut from two different cloths. Thier friendship was weird to Twilight.

Then, the bell rung, shocking Twilight out of her daze. Rainbow and Sunset stood, Twilight following soon after.

“Time for lunch,” said Sunset. “Wonder what Pinks has on the menu today.”

“Eh, Big P is still in the kitchen?” asked Rainbow. “I knew today was gonna be a good day!”

Sunset filed out of the row and let Twilight and Rainbow pass. The three started walking to the cafeteria. Then, Rainbow sucked her teeth and hit her forehead.

“Damn, I forgot,” said Rainbow. “I got to show this newbie the bunk.”

“It’s okay,” said Twilight. “The guard—”

“I bet you won’t be sayin’ that when you’re lost,” said Dash, pulling Twilight away from Sunset. “We’ll catch up in a bit, Sunny.” Sunset nodded and continued walking. Twilight was released after Sunset left earshot.

“What’s wrong?” said Twilight. “You sounded like you wanted to get away from her.”

“You’ve got some of the worst luck I’ve ever seen,” said Rainbow, barely higher than a whisper. “How is it that on your first day, you manage to get together with Sunset of all people?”

“I don’t get it,” said Twilight. “She seems like a nice enough person.”

“She’s a leader of a gang. Of a gang I belong to,” said Rainbow Dash. “She’s probably the most dangerous person in this prison, guards not included.” Twilight looked at Dash. From her slight frown to her boldly staring eyes, everything about her said that she was serious. “All I’m trying to say is that you shouldn’t go and make friends with her.”

“Okay,” said Twilight. “I’ll try.”

“Great,” said Rainbow. “Now come on. If we’re too late for lunch, the guards might kick us out before we finish. There’s no eating ‘till dinner, either.” Twilight followed Rainbow to the cafeteria, wondering all the way what her prolonged time in prison would bring.

Author's Note

I've never really been good with Multi-chaps, but practice makes perfect, I suppose. If you found it interesting and want to read more, remember to give it a track and maybe a favorite if you liked it a lot.

Chapter 2 will come whenever I can get away from doing all the summer homework I've left piled up...