For months (or at least I assumed it were months) I was tortured in a great many ways. After only a week of the usual beatings and whippings, they moved on to worse, more painful ways of torment.

It moved from the beatings to a combination of sleep deprivation, the continued visual deprevation, a constant drip of water on my head to annoy me, and electric shocks to not only induce pain, but also keep me awake. Did I mention they were attached to my one eyed snake? I've had to stay awake for days at a time before in the Marines when I was out in the field. I'd thought I'd been tired then. Now, I was just miserable. The water drop pissed me off to no end. I couldn't get any peace with it. The electroshock really hurt. Imagine your inside boiling inside your skin for what feels like an eternity, just to find out that it was only a second or two and go through it all over again. They could hear the echo of my screams of pain going around the world to meet up with us again. After each session, my throat would be raw.

My shoulder was killing me, but at the very least my recent cuts and lashings healed over. I could've easily killed myself and have the wounds heal over that way, but keeping the scars would at least provide some nice bragging rights if I ever made it out of here. That brought up something strange to me. If my skin developed scars or something, they'd stay if I reset. But everything else went back to the way it was. Strange.

Every time they asked me a question, I told them there was no invasion. If they asked again, I told them my rank, name, and ID number. Then there'd be a slap or punch, and they'd keep going. They still fed me though. Unfortunately, I still had to crap. They left a bucket though.

When they finally let me sleep, Luna would visit for more questions. Even though she never seemed to believe me any more than nights prior, she kept the nightmares at bay, and opened the door to lucid dreaming, where I controlled what happened. Mostly, I fantasized about escaping or being set free to wander through a world of untold wonders just waiting to be discovered. But once or twice, I would think of what I'd wanted when I was a kid. To be a farmer, working the fields to come home to a loving wife.

But Jackie killed the wife part. In those dreams, I imagined only working in peace, away from the ponies that wanted to hurt me. Once or twice, I spotted Luna watching me from afar. Once in a bush, another on the battlements of a prison castle. Like the one from Spongebob when they have a sand castle war, the one Patrick made. Only it was pitch black with rust and chains hanging from various heights.

I hoped to high Heaven that she took this to heart. Meanwhile, my heart would be working overtime trying to keep me alive. Granted it wasn't needed.

*War Room*

Luna, Celestia, and Shining Armor sat around the table, several empty and still full pots of coffee surrounding them. They stared at the map as though glaring would tell them where the humans would be coming from.

"So how goes the interrogation Celestia?" Shining asked, visibly swaying in his seat.

"The same as always. That there's no invasion, his name, rank, and a sequence of numbers that doesn't match any maps. It's been nearly a month, and no other humans have shown up."

"He also claims to not know how he got here, that no military from his world would ever invade someplace they don't know about, and had never heard of Discord until we started saying his name. His dreams are usually nightmares of being tortured by our subjects, and other humans. I believe that when our ponies are torturing him, he is only fearing it since it was what humans did to him. Once we dispel those, he often dreams of him being released or escaping so he can wander or start a farm." Luna added.

"I fear that only the Elements of Harmony would be able to get him to talk now, and they won't be back for another month, at least." Celestia said, giving a long yawn, which quickly spread to the other two, "Until then, we hope that the human will tell us the truth."

*Ed*

I woke up to the door slamming shut, loudly awakening me. For a brief moment, I thought it was a cannon going off, but remembered exactly where I was not a moment later.

"Looks like someone, is awake. Feel like cooperating yet?" That voice sent chills through my body. It sounded just like Heath Ledgers' Joker from The Dark Knight Rises.

"I have been from the start. You people just won't listen."

He hummed, "Looks like we'll need to... encourage you. Let's see what we have here." A cloth was tossed over my face, and the man grabbed my hair, holding my head in place. Water poured over my head, soaking into the cloth. Instantly, I started choking as air made itself scarce. He held me there, thrashing in vain as I felt myself begin to start dry-drowning.

I'd never been waterboarded before, so all the feelings overwhelmed my mental fortitude, and I began to panic. I was going to die like this over and over again, suffocating. My head felt faint as my lungs burned like fire.

When my struggles started to weaken, the cloth was ripped off my head along with my blindfold, allowing me to see for the first time in ages. I was in a fairly large cell, my chains attached to the wall. The floor was made from old, cracking cement, the walls of cinder blocks, and the single, coned light that hanged above me his what the ceiling looked like. I could see a table on wheels just peeking into the light, but I couldn't see what was on it.

"Whoops, better put that back on." The Jokerish pony said, putting my blindfold back on, "So, when is the invasion going to begin, friend?"

"There...*pant* isn't one." I gasp out.

"Mmm, now that isn't what I wanted to hear. Let's try again. When... is it?"

"I told you, there isn't one."

"Ooh, you want some more, don't you. Naughty colt. I like that."

"Ah hell."

A few clops of the hooves towards where I knew where the table was and back, I braced for what was next. What I didn't expect was for me to be suddenly forced into a chair, my arms and legs bound to the arm rest and legs of the chair.

*WHACK-CRACK*

I screamed in agony as something hard hit my shin.

*WHIP-CRACK*

My knee was now busted. Pain lanced through my entire leg. I could feel, in agnonizing clarity, exactly where the bone had cracked and shattered.

"Oooh, looks like that leg won't be useful to you. Now! Are you going to tell me what I want to know, or am I going to need to... convince you further?"

I growled in pain, I was actually considering just telling them some random day, probably that it was a year or so later. But I remembered something my father had told me when I was a kid.

I had come home from school angry. When I had told a teacher about a kid who was bullying me for being Russian, he had called me a liar. I was angry, and of course told the teacher all he had said, but she didn't punish him, spouting some crap about learning to not taking everything to heart. I was still angry when I got home.

When I had came home, and told them why I was so angry, my father took me aside.

"Syn, I know you are angry, but you must not let it bother you. To fix this, you must always tell pravda. The truth. In time, people will learn you do not lie. As for the child who bully you for being Russian? Trakhat yego. Fuck him. You are the son of Russia and America. Rossiya makes you strong in body. Amerika gives you a good, honest heart. Both give you the strength you need in zhizhin'. In life. Remember this, for as long as you live. Myurkov ne lzhet. Murchovs don't lie."

With a renewed fortitude for telling the truth, I gave a smile "I'm not a liar, and I won't become one now!"

"Hmm, not what I wanted to hear."

Two more swings, and my other leg found itself to have a broken shin and kneecap.

The pony that I was now calling Joker, sighed as though he were disappointed, as I heard the clank of metal against metal. Must be whatever he hit me with.

"You know, fingers are quite, useful. They let us grab things, feel the texture. We're luckier than the cows, they're stuck with pointless hooves, and don't have magic like unicorns do. However, they have one drawback..." Something sharp clamped over my finger. A sense of dread flowed over me, "it hurts a lot when it suffers," *SNAP* "trauma."

I screamed again. It felt like someone had driven nails in my stump. "Oh don't worry, you won't bleed out from loosing a finger. Oh nooo! The arteries aren't big enough for that. In fact, you could loose several fingers before you even faint. Want to find out how many until that is?"

"No, please! No! It hurts so much!" I whined.

"Then tell. Me! Tellmetellmetellmetellme! TELL ME!"

"I told you. There is no invasion. Murchovs. Never. Lie."

"I don't believe you." he said low and darkly. "Looks like we get to have some more fun, don't we? Time's awasting!"

"Snap." Another finger was cut off.

"Snap." A third.

"Snap!" He said louder, as the fourth finger on my hand was cut off, leaving my thumb.

"SNAP!" He roared as cut off my thumb.

"There is no invasion! I swear!" I beg.

"Mmm, looks like we're out of time. I'll see you next tomorrow, or in a few hours! Who knows? Think about what you have to lose. What will I take next time? Will it be your other fingers? Toes? Maybe what's left of your teeth? OOOOoor, your eyes." He left me in the chair, making a perfect imitation of the laugh, making me try to shrink in my seat, even though I was still sat down.

I smelled something foul. It was my piss.

"Khotel by ya umeret."

Author's Note

Just for a frame of reference in case you haven't seen the movie, here's this. You'll be hearing it all day.

https://m.