Chapter 1

“Get the buck up, inmate!”

WHACK!

The painful kick in my stomach, a normal morning as usual ever since my imprisonment. I grunted and shakily lifted myself up from my bed, only to be met with a punch to the face, making me stagger backwards on the flat mattress.

“I tipped the boys off to let me have a go at you for a little bit.” The guard snarled as he grabbed my shirt collar and hoisted me up to look at him. “You’re already beat to shit as it is, so what’s a few new bruises here and there, hm?”

I didn’t answer, I couldn’t be bothered, there was no point in speaking since my words always fell on deaf ears.

“Not talking? Good, cause I wanna hear you beg for mercy this time, you hairless freak.” The stallion snorts as he slugged me in the gut.

I lurched as I fell to my knees but no contents came out, probably because they were intentionally trying to starve me as extra punishment for my crime. If it wasn’t obvious, yes, I’m a human in a world of walking talking anthro ponies. As the guard is beating the ever living shit out of me, I’ll explain my situation. I arrived in this world about 4 months ago. Naturally, I was scared out of my mind when one minute I’m out for a fishing trip not too far out from the coast and then some freak storm rolls in and flips my boat over. Next thing I know, I’m in this colorful world without any sense of direction. I had spent almost 2 weeks hiding from everyone when I eventually got caught stealing food from a stall in a town called Ponyville by a mare wearing a stetson. Of course, she too was freaked when she saw me; an unknown creature stealing her merchandise, who wouldn’t be at least a little spooked?

Anyway, after getting hogtied and brought to her friends, I was soon met with one this worlds rulers: Princess Celestia. She was a very kind mare in the beginning, motherly even, and she sympathized for me when I told her what had happened to me. She offered to let me stay in the castle so that I may be granted citizenship in this kingdom called Equestria, to which I had accepted and was brought to the castle. The city of the snob, known as Canterlot, was your typical snobby city filled with snobby ponies, and even reeked of snob, but I didn’t let their stares of disgust get to me. I stayed in the castle for about a week, getting to know my new surroundings better and even conversing with Celestia from time to time. I even had the privilege of meeting her sister, Princess Luna, who was hesitant at first but she soon warmed up to me. All seemed to be going well…until that notorious night, which led to my current situation.

“Tch, still nothing, after all that?” The guard scoffed as he wiped his forehead. “You’re a tough little bastard, I’ll give you that. Either that, or you actually like getting hit, you freak.”

Again, I said noting as I bled on the cold floor of my cell. Pretty sure he cracked more ribs, along with another tooth being kicked out, and yet another black eye.

“Bucker…pick yourself up before I lay into you again. Only this time, I won’t stop until you’re a bloody pile of shit under my hoof.” The guard said.

Trying to ignore the pain coursing through my body, I placed one hand after the other on the floor and lifted myself up from the ground. Slowly but surely, I stood straight up while blood trickled down the side of my head.

“You’re pathetic…” The guard spat as he roughly grabbed my hands and shackled my wrists, making sure they were extra tight to break the skin. Which had already been done since my wrists were already bloody and raw. Once I was properly shackled up tight, the guard opens the door and shoves me out and I almost fall on my face. I catch myself by grabbing the wall and stand up as I began limping through the halls. More guards pass us by and they scowl at me, sometimes intentionally tripping me and making me fall face first into the floor. I reluctantly picked myself up and trudged on, occasionally getting spat on my the guards or a few punches here and there.

“What the hay did you do to him?!”

The guards all stopped and turned to see the stallion in charge of the lot of them, Captain Shining Armor, staring at all the guards with a disgusted look in his eye.

“Well? Speak up! Why does the prisoner look like you all ganged up on him?!” The Captain demands.

“Captain, with all due respect, but why do you care what happens to this piece of trash?” The guard who was escorting me questions. “If anything, he deserves worse off than getting roughed up like this.”

“That’s not for you to decide, soldier! Now go back to your post! I’ll take the prisoner from here.”

“But sir-”

“One more bucking word out of you, and you get a demerit on your permanent record!”

The guard recoils at the Captain’s threat and nodded in defeat as he walked away. Shining sighed as he grabbed my shackles and pulled me along as he looked over his shoulder.

“I better come back and see the lot of you doing something productive or it’s cleaning the barracks with your toothbrushes!”

The guards scramble around out of the room and Shining leads me to the main corridors of the castle. We both said nothing as we walked along the hallways, with Shining occasionally glancing back at me but I kept my gaze to the floor.

“They roughed you up good this time.” Shining said plainly. “Did you even give them the response they wanted?”

I kept my words to myself since I didn’t feel like talking. Shining sighed and shook his head as he looked forever.

“She’s not gonna ask how you got that shiner and why you’re bleeding, you know? She only wants to see you as per your usual visits. For all she cares, even for somepony like her, she’d rather see you rot. And you not talking is only gonna make things worse. The whole kingdom hates you, your former friends want nothing to do with you, yet all you can do is just take beatings after beatings.”

I glance over to a window showing the outside of the castle, how the city looked peaceful in the morning which almost made me smirk a little, almost…

“It’s still a little hard to believe that you were capable of something like this. Are all humans like you in your world?” Once again, dead silence followed by the clanking of my shackles. “You can’t stay silent forever, eventually you’ll have to speak up soon or even her patience will run out. Speaking of which, we’re here.”

We stop at a pair of large double doors, leading to the throne room. This was another routine I found myself in once a week; I wake up, get beat up, and dragged to the throne room. She’d always tell me the same thing every week; why did I do it? How could I do it? It wasn’t right, even for him.

“She’s waiting for you.” Shining said as he stepped to the side. “And by the way, he may have deserved punishment, he didn’t deserve death.”

I didn’t speak or look to him as the doors were opened and I slowly limped through. As I made my way more inwards of the throne room, I saw the one mare who now hated the very sight of me. She glared at me as I made my way towards her throne and I saw her hands trembling as she gripped the armrests of her throne. Celestia, the mare I thought I’d have a bit if a connection with, gazed down at me like I was the worst thing to ever exist. I eventually stop just a few meters from her throne and just stand in front of her as the blood dripping from my head began to crust from not being treated. My battered and bruised body stood motionlessly in front of the sun matriarch as my eyes didn’t have the heart to look her in the eye.

“I still dream of him, you know.” Celestia said in an icy tone. “But every time I wake up I’m reminded of the being who took him from me. I knew he was troubled, we all did, but for you to do such a terrible thing? How could I have not done something to prevent the one who took him away?” I didn’t respond to her rant as she continued. “You stand before me, beaten, bloody, and bruised, yet I feel no more sympathy for you as the day you first came to this world. I never try to have these thoughts, but sometimes I wish you had drowned and not appeared here in this world. Perhaps then he would still be here and you would be dead.”

I had no more tears to shed, none to spare for an empty sounding insult that sounded like a broken record to me, I’ve heard it so much. I continued to silently stand in place, not saying a word to Celestia who was now starting to get more irritated.

“You continue to not speak, but what if I were to make you?” Celestia wonders. “If you do not give me the answer I desire, I shall have you thrown back in your cell without food or water until further notice. That way, you can waste away properly like the filth you are.”

Celesita stands from her throne and calmly walks down the small staircase and towards me. She stops just a few feet away and uses her magic to forcefully make me look up to her. Those eyes, those beautiful magenta eyes, filled with nothing but hate and sadness, stared back at me.

“To think, I wanted to be your friend and you mine. What a disgusting thought to be friends with a creature like you. Now answer me this, human, why…why did you do it?”

“…Regret.”

“Excuse me?”

“…Regret, forgiveness, redemption, closure, answers, truth, lies, revenge, justice.” I list off. “That’s what we humans go through when caught in a situation like this. Regret, to be sorry about and mourn. Forgiveness, to pardon one’s actions. Redemption, to save one from sin. Closure, finding peace for one’s soul. Answers, what we all want in life. Lies, what we do on a daily basis. Revenge, the practical justice. Justice, the fake peace-of-mind. You ask me why I did what I did because you think that it’ll give you closure as to why it happened, despite your newfound hatred for me. My fate was sealed that night when I was caught. I’m now paying for my crime, probably for the rest of my life as long as I remain in this world. You want to know why I did it? Well too bad, I’ll take my reasoning to the grave. You want justice? Then let me rot in that cell where I’ll continue to be beaten to a pulp every day. Even if you did force the truth out of me, I doubt you’d understand anyway. But I will tell you one thing about my crime, Princess Celestia.”

“And what is that?”

“That I have no regrets whatsoever. That if I were to go back and do things differently, I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Because that’s my justice and my closure that I and I alone am satisfied with. No amount of torture, abuse, neglect, or any form of punishment you may try and inflict on me will ever get me to regret my actions or even bother to seek forgiveness when there’s none to spare.”

I take a step forward to look deeper in her eyes.

“I killed your nephew, and I’m damn proud of it.”

Author's Note

But why did he do it?

This is something that just came to me, it’ll just be a few chapters or so long.

Hope you all enjoyed!

~WurkyWilk has left the building…