Whatever change Pinkie was talking about, it wasn’t happening soon.

Since that fateful time in the shower, an entire week had already passed. It was now once again Tuesday. The winter temperatures continued to rage outside as Twilight sat down in her bed, looking down at a book. Soon after discovering the prison’s library, she met the enigmatic librarian—a woman who was especially quiet and reserved (and also a prisoner)—and had asked to borrow a book. It was taken down that she had a book and she was to return it anytime before 2 weeks were up.

Most of the books there wouldn’t be found in your average library. They had no tales of exasperating adventure and exploits, or deep love plots with surprising twists. Instead, the books there would make any other prisoner melt from the normalcy and nonuniqueness of them — especially the “How-to” book section. Twilight chuckled, not as she turned the book, but thinking about Rainbow Dash’s reaction if she saw her huddled in her room, seeking nothing but warmth and a distraction as she cracked down on her mopping skills.

“Wow,” said Rainbow. She was wearing her normal uniform, except it was littered with crumbs. Her mouth was in a similar state, but her teeth still shone bright and strong. “What are you doing in here, Egghead?”

“E-Egghead?” Twilight asked, rolling the insult around on her tongue. She decided to let it go and continue. “I’m just reading a book. Finding out how to clean a space effectively isn’t so boring. Besides, it’ll teach me good habits for the—”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m sure,” she said, cutting me off. “Come play cards with me.” Twilight sighed in disappointment, but set a marker on her current page anyways. She slid the book across her mattress before slowly getting off of the bed. She opened the cell and stood a few feet away from Rainbow.

“I didn’t see you this morning for breakfast or lunch,” Twilight commented. “It was kind of awkward with just me and Sunset.” Rainbow Dash chuckled apologetically before regaining her stony expression. She didn’t give an explanation, and Twilight didn’t find it right to pry.

Rainbow led her to the right after leaving the B-Block, which led to a smaller, quieter hallway. Like almost every other place in the prison, the air had the same stale smell to it that would make your headache if you weren’t accustomed to it. Every now and again, a guard would pass, but it was relatively uneventful. Twilight wanted to ask where Rainbow was going, but she came to a near instant stop, bumping into Twilight as she backed up. She had to put her hands on Rainbow’s back to stop her from falling. The muscles were so tense. Twilight moved to Rainbow’s side to see what had happened.

“Rainbow Dash,” said Spitfire, the warden. Her eyes turned to Twilight, imposing her tired and annoyed expression on her. “And I’m not sure I caught your name?”

“Twilight, ma’am,” said Twilight barely higher than a peep. The warden nodded and returned to Rainbow.

“I see,” said Spitfire, returning her gaze to Rainbow. “Just checking up on a few things, and saw you. Well, you two are dismissed.” Rainbow grabbed Twilight’s wrist without a word and began pulling her away. Twilight didn’t resist Rainbow pulling, but almost stumbled a few times because of her speed. After a few seconds and turns, Rainbow slowed herself, still gripping Twilight tightly. She hadn’t even noticed until Twilight tried to physically pry her hands from her wrist. Rainbow let go and sighed.

“Sorry about that,” she said, walking on. “Come on, it’s just up here.” Twilight tried to resist, but the words slipped out before she could think of the consequences.

“Why do you keep acting like that?” she asked. As if Twilight had physically turned her, Rainbow whirled around violently.

“What are you talking about?”

“Every time the warden comes up, you act like you two know each other,” said Twilight, words, spilling from her mouth now. “When we first came here, you seemed… angry to see her. Over the past week, you’ve been scowling at her whenever you see her, and just now you ran away from her like you were scared!” Rainbow got close to Twilight, close enough for Twilight to feel her agitated breaths on her nose.

“I. Didn’t. Run.” With each word, Rainbow jabbed a finger into Twilight, pushing her against the wall behind her. “Now I suggest you do two things. One,mind your own goddamn business. And two, get out of my face before I break yours.” A guard’s hand touched Rainbow’s stomach and pushed her back towards the other wall. Twilight was frozen in fear, her eyes naturally looking everywhere but Rainbow’s.

“Okay, okay, calm down,” said the guard. Twilight was very, very thankful. Her breaths came in rapid pants. “We don’t need trouble from you two, understand?”

“Nothing was gonna happen anyway,” said Dash, seemingly walking away. Her steps echoed for a bit as she traveled down the halls, but faded quickly. Once she was sure that Rainbow had gone, she moved her eyes to where she’d been standing. The guard looked at Twilight before carrying on his business. Twilight took a deep breath before she spoke.

“Sorry…” said Twilight, all too late.

“Hm…” That small hum was all Sunset had to contribute after Twilight told her what had happened between Rainbow and her. Twilight felt bad about making Rainbow so upset, and wanted to apologize, but hadn’t seen her at all since.

“S-So what should I do?” asked Twilight, poking at the food before her. “If I leave things the way they are now… I’m not even sure what will happen.”

“Give her some time,” said Sunset,eating as normal. Twilight had lost her appetite. The grayish meat was nowhere near Pinkie’s food. She was off duty at dinner. “Rainbow is just a little hotheaded.”

“I guess.” Twilight put her chin on her overlapped arms on the table, scanning the large amount of prisoners that occupied that lunchroom. Her eyes finally settled on Chrys’ radiant pink ones. She gave Twilight a tired smile and a wave which she returned.

A thought crossed Twilight’s mind. Sunset was around the most dangerous prisoner here, according to Rainbow Dash, but Twilight had never really seen her do anything particularly dangerous. Maybe Rainbow was just exaggerating; blowing Sunset out of proportion for respect, or something like that — but it still picked at Twilight. She’d been dully staring at Sunset for so long, she barely noticed when Sunset turned towards her.

“Take a picture. It’ll last longer,” said Sunset. Twilight put her face into her arms.

“Sorry,” said Twilight. Sunset didn’t respond, and Twilight was too lost in her own thoughts to ask why.

Dinner moved along slowly from then on. Twilight didn’t eat much more than a bite every few minutes, and Sunset was apparently doing some thinking of her own. Around the time when the bell would ring, there was a click-clacking — a sound that symbolized the loudspeakers sputtering to life. Usually, it’d be a guard reporting small changes like new equipment so that the prisoners (who it usually affected) would know, or calling a prisoner down to the main offices. This time, however, it was the warden herself that spoke.

“Important announcement.” A tap on Twilight’s shoulder brought her attention to Chrys as she sat down next to her. They exchanged a silent hello before Twilight returned her attention to the loudspeaker. “A new assistant warden is being appointed. Most of you know him as Warden Soarin. I expect you all to treat him with the same amount of respect that you treat me with. That is all.”

There was a small blip signalling the end of the broadcast. One look at Sunset’s face revealed that she was not pleased with the news. Before Twilight could say or ask anything, she got up from her position and stalked over to the door. The guards looked as if they were going to stop her, but the buzzing of the bell rang out. Even Sunset seemed a bit surprised, but stopped only for a second to react. She pushed through the guards right after, leaving Twilight’s line of sight.

“Guess Soarin’s back,” said Chrys. “I’m not really surprised.”

“Soarin…” said Twilight, getting a feel for the name. She swore that’d she’d heard it before now — even before Rainbow — it’d had been bugging her. “Why is he back?”

“Dunno,” answered Chrys. “But I was just starting to like the peace. This must be one of those trials that God throws at us to keep us on our toes.” Twilight raised an eyebrow.

“You’re religious?” asked Twilight, getting up. Chrys soon followed. “I-I don’t mean to pry. I was just curious.”

“Yeah,” said Chrys simply. “As much as a gal like me can be, anyways.”

They returned to the large blocks in silence. Twilight’s head was filled with absent thought while Chrys seemed to be striding calmly. She seemed to be taking the news a lot better than Sunset.

Twilight breathed a quiet goodbye as they parted into their cell blocks. She made her way straight to her own room, closing the door behind her. Nearly instantly after she did, a guard came by, looked at her for a second, then clicked something in his hand. Twilight had no time to react. Then, another guard — a woman this time — passed by and repeated the process. This time, though, she pushed Twilight’s cell in, locking her inside. She’d gotten used to the bi-daily prisoner count in the morning and evening, so she didn’t ask any questions.

Twilight sat on her bed, silently contemplating the events that occurred that day. She’d managed to peeve off the one she probably needed the most. And with this whole fiasco about a new assistant warden, Twilight didn’t know exactly how the next week would be.

“Things are certainly going to change around here. And it’s going to be awesome.”

Twilight recalled her time in the shower with the bouncy girl. If the signs of the approaching conflict were true, then she was sure she couldn’t agree with her definition of the word awesome.

Usually, the mornings were a dull blur for Twilight.

She’d get up at 7 or so and wait for the count at 7:15. After being released from her cell, she’d make her way to the cafeteria and meet up with Rainbow and Sunset.

Neither were here to greet her today, though. They’d both been absent from their normal table. In fact, as far as she could see, they weren’t in the cafeteria at all. She sighed in sadness and sat down to eat by herself.

It stayed like this until Chrys walked up to the table, a silent wave the only interaction she offered. Twilight took it graciously.

“Sitting by yourself today?” asked Chrys, taking a place right next to Twilight. “Weird. Something got you down?” Twilight shared her story once more with Chrys, who slowly chewed her toast in response.

“I have a weird, sorta uneasy feeling,” said Twilight, poking some scrambled eggs with a fork. “I’ve seen so much of Rainbow when she’s cheery that her hostile side feels wrong.”

“Maybe she was on her period?” said Chrys. Twilight pushed her lips into a line, then put her fork down. “Weak stomach? My bad.” Chrys watched as Twilight’s already sunken face got worse. She sighed and smiled. “You ever have a boyfriend?”

“Um, one,” said Twilight. “Why?”

“Just making friendly banter.” said Chrys. There was a small pause before Chrys started up again. “You ever fucked?”

“U-uh...” said Twilight in embarrassment. “We weren’t really like that.” Twilight looked up at Chrys, revealing her slight blush. “What about you?”

“Oh, I’ve had plenty,” she gleefully bragged. “Before I got locked up, I was like a very crowded bus.” Twilight stared back blankly and Chrys rolled her eyes. “I mean, I’m really… skilled in certain moves, if you know what I mean.”

“I… I don’t,” said Twilight.

“Er, nevermind.” Chrys smiled and changed the subject. “So, you send out any letters to your friends? Family?” Twilight cringed for a moment before returning to her natural posture.

“N-No,” said Twilight sadly. “I don’t think they’d write back—”

Unjustly, the bell rang, cutting the two’s conversation short. Once the sound stopped ringing out, Chrys picked the conversation up.

“Well, you never know,” she said with a shrug. “Maybe you should try.”

After breakfast was work. Chrys had to stay behind, which she called a drag. Twilight left to travel to her own workplace, which seemed to take her mind off of things. It was only for a single period and only as a library assistant, but just being around books made her feel at ease.

It was on her way back after her work period — her job consisted of delivering and collecting books — when the morning started to go wrong. The loudspeakers coughed to life, and a disgruntled guard spoke in a clear voice.

“Uhm, the following prisoners report to the visiting rooms.” Twilight had never been visited before. She continued pushing the cart uninterested. If they didn't write, why would they visit? She was sure that they'd hate her by now. Lyra, Moondancer and… her mother… She’d put them all down on the list they provided to know who could visit, but she didn't expect much.

“Sparkle.” Twilight stopped in her tracks. She had heard her name on the list. Her heart pounded like it was large boulder in a larger cave. Every beat hit her chest and sent nervous goosebumps all over her skin. She rushed the cart she was pushing back to the library and inside quickly. She didn’t even get in the “Have a good day” to the librarian like she always managed to.

So many things rushed through her. Fear, excitement, curiosity, caution; everything! Her mesh of emotions coupled with her legs led her straight to the visiting room. Other prisoners were already there, and funneling into a small room. It was brightly lit and looked more like a corner than a room, but the prisoners continued walking through a small metal detector. Afterwards, they were patted down. Twilight went through the same process, nervously bouncing on the balls of her feet.

Who would she meet? That was the question that surged through her mind, rattling every part of it to find an answer. She was not going to hold herself back. She went through the open doorway and into the visiting room.

The first thing she noticed was her winning smile.

Her flowing, light pink hair, gorgeous magenta eyes and straightened posture came afterwards.

The way she made the room seem small was incredible. Her radiance and excellence took everything -- significant or no -- and condensed it into her very being, only making herself glow brighter. Twilight felt her mind go numb just staring at her.

Twilight couldn’t help but stand there, mouth agape and mind completely blown. If anything, she was most definitely not expecting her.

“Good morning, Twilight,” said Celestia. “How are things?”

Author's Note

Whew. It's definitely been a while.

Some of this was written on a phone, so please excuse the cancerous mistakes that may or may not exist.

Thanks for reading!