The air in the box was hot and stifling and smelled like filly B.O. Nonny's legs were cramping. She tried once more to scramble around into a more comfortable position, but there was barely enough room to move. The roof of the box was just low enough that she couldn't stand up. The walls were just tight enough that she couldn't spread her legs out. She was stuck in a permanent crouching position that was absolutely unbearable, and she'd been stuck like this for...for...how long had it been, exactly?
Her tummy grumbled.
Tummy? she thought. No! Don't call it that, you bastard! Call it anything else: stomach, gut, crap factory! You haven't said 'tummy' since you were a kid. Jesus, you're even starting to think like a little filly now!
On some abstract level, Nonny still knew that she wasn't really a filly. She wasn't a horse at all; she was a 27 year old man for crying out loud. In the box, though, that fact seemed pitifully irrelevant. She realized, with a sense of mild panic, that it was getting harder and harder to remember certain details. She couldn't remember her mother's name, or even her own. She had only the dimmest recollections of where she'd lived and who she'd been before she'd come to Equestria. She could scarcely remember a time when she wasn't called Nonny; all she had left was the conviction that she had once had a different name and a different life. In the stifling atmosphere of the box, however, that conviction was beginning to waver.
Nonny's mane was soaked with perspiration. Her entire body felt slimy and sweaty and revolting. She tried to swish her tail around, but the space was too small even for that.
Jesus, it's so hot in here! she thought, on the verge of tears. The stench of her own body was disgusting to breathe.
She yelled in frustration and tried feebly to kick her hooves against the wooden walls. She banged her head against the low ceiling. It was a futile effort and she knew it; she couldn't even move her hind leg far enough for a proper kick. And even if she could, it wouldn't be any use anyway. Even if she made enough noise to wake the dead, nopony would ever hear her.
NoBODY!! she thought stubbornly. NoBODY can hear me!! You're not a filly, damn it!! Stop thinking like one!!!
The box was enchanted, Nonny knew that much. Like most of Purple's tricks, it was as ingenious as it was horrible. No matter how much noise she made inside the box, no one on the outside could hear her; yet somehow, she could hear everything going on outside as clear as a bell. She had no food in here, no water. Purple hadn't fed her once since locking her in. Yet somehow, she never starved or died of thirst, though that certainly didn't stop her from feeling hungry and thirsty. And the air--
She could feel her heart starting to race again. Her muscles tensed; she felt a sharp pain running through her spinal column as adrenaline was pumped uselessly throughout her body. She was beginning to hyperventilate; she felt the old panic beginning to well up inside her again.
Calm down! she reprimanded herself. Just calm down! Do you really want to go through that hell again?!?
She steeled her nerves; forced herself to take long, deep breaths.
You see? There's plenty of air in here. Nothing to be worried about.
This was, of course, another part of Purple's enchantment. The air in the box was stifling and hot, humid from her breath and her sweat, fetid with the stench of her own body. But there would always be enough of it. Purple would never allow her to starve or suffocate. Purple wasn't anywhere near that merciful.
Suddenly, her ears pricked up. Somepony was knocking (SomeBODY was knocking, Nonny admonished herself). Were they knocking on the box itself? Had someone finally come looking for her? No, she realized, that couldn't be it. The knocking was coming from too far away; it sounded more like someone was knocking on the castle door. Still, she felt a faint glimmer of hope. Purple couldn't keep her locked away in here forever without anypony getting suspicious! Somepony would have to come looking for her eventually! (SomeBODY will come looking, she chided.)
The knocking came again. Whoever was at the door wasn't giving up! Maybe it was Equestrian child protective services; maybe they'd finally caught wind of what Purple was really up to. Nonny knew that this was probably a bridge too far, but...
There was now a faint clip-clopping of hooves, coming from some distant part of the castle. It grew steadily louder, passed within inches of the box, and then moved a short distance away and stopped. Nonny heard the loud creak of the castle's enormous front door being pulled open.
"Oh, hi there you three!"
Nonny winced. Even the sound of Purple's voice was enough to fill her with terror and rage. She could feel the adrenaline spiking its way through her spinal column again. Once again, she forced herself to breathe deeply and calm down. What was it Purple had said? "You three." There was something important there, some clue.
Of course! she thought. It was the Crusaders! In spite of everything she'd endured, her heart began to lift. Her school friends had come looking for her! It made sense, of course; she hadn't been to school in...in...
Nonny once again realized that she had no idea how long she'd been trapped in here, but it felt like an eternity. Surely it stood to reason that Miss Cheerilee and her classmates would wonder where she'd been.
She smirked triumphantly. Purple's number was finally up. Not even a Princess could keep a defenseless filly confined in a box like this without consequence, right? That sadistic bitch had had her fun, but now her crimes were exposed! She'd go to jail for this! Princess Celestia might even send her to the Moon! Or better still, a black hole, or the cold depths of space! No punishment could be too cruel for Purple.
"Hi, Twilight." That was Apple Bloom. "We were wondrin' if Nonny was feelin' any better yet?"
Nonny's eyes filled with tears at the sweet sound of her friend's voice. It was true, then. They had come to save her!
"Yeah, she hasn't been at school for two weeks!" That sounded like Scootaloo. "We're all getting really worried about her!"
Nonny felt like she'd swallowed a bowling ball. Two weeks? Had she seriously been in this box for two whole weeks?
"Yeah, Nonny's still a little under the weather," came Purple's voice again.
She cleared her throat.
"Listen, girls..."
Nonny's blood started to boil. Purple's voice was calm and sympathetic; full of motherly concern. The hatred that Nonny felt for that alicorn was indescribable. How could they all fall for such an obvious act? How did this sociopath ever get to be the Princess of Friendship, anyway?
"...there's something I need to tell you about Nonny."
Nonny's heart skipped a beat. Her sense of hope was fading just as quickly as it had come. What horrible trick did Purple have in her back pocket this time?
"What's the matter?"
That was Sweetie Belle. There was genuine worry in that voice. Nonny felt her heart ache.
Purple took a deep breath.
"Well, the thing is," she began, "Nonny is...probably not coming back to school."
"Oh no!" cried Sweetie Belle.
"Is she really that sick?" asked Apple Bloom.
"Oh, no; no! It's nothing like that, girls. She's actually doing much better now!"
Nonny's jaw clenched with rage.
You lying cunt, Purple!
Nonny's filly-brain recoiled, admonishing her for having said such a nasty swear, even if it was about Purple. She savagely told her filly-brain exactly what it could do with the objection.
"The thing is..." Purple sighed heavily. Nonny's teeth began to grind.
Purple hesitated, as if she weren't sure whether or not to say the next part.
"...the thing is," she continued, "Nonny just doesn't like the Ponyville school all that much. She says she doesn't want to go back, so when she recovers she's going to be heading off to a private academy in Canterlot."
"WHAT?"
"OH NO!"
Nonny's heart began to crack in two at the hurt in her friends' voices.
"How come?" asked Apple Bloom. "Did we do somethin' wrong?"
"Yeah," chimed in Scootaloo. "Nonny was a little bit weird sometimes, but everypony liked her. We all tried really hard to help her fit in!"
"Did she really hate our school that much?" asked Sweetie Belle.
Purple sighed.
"Listen, girls. Sometimes, friendships just don't work out. I'm sure you did everything you could for her, but...well...it's like you said. She can be a little bit weird sometimes. She says--"
Purple cut off suddenly with a sharp intake of breath, as if she had started to say something she hadn't meant to say.
Oh, you're good, Purple, thought Nonny bitterly. You've got 'em hooked, and now you just gotta reel 'em in, don't you?
"What did she say?" asked Scootaloo.
"Yeah, if there's somethin' we can do to make things better for her at school, just tell us and we'll try our best!" said Apple Bloom.
Purple sighed heavily.
"Girls..." she began. She hesitated, and sighed heavily again. "She said that she hopes she can make better friends at her new school."
There was dead silence at that. It endured horribly.
Nonny was crying for real now. It isn't fair, she thought angrily. Why does she do this? Why does she hate me so much?
"Oh."
The hurt in Scootaloo's tone cut through Nonny like a knife. There was dead silence again.
"IT ISN'T TRUE!!" Nonny screamed at the top of her lungs. She knew they couldn't hear her, but she couldn't stop herself. "I DIDN'T SAY THAT!!!"
Purple cleared her throat.
"I'm sorry, girls. Did you want to come upstairs and say goodbye to her at least? She's still a little contagious, but if you kept your distance it would probably be fine."
There was another uncomfortable pause.
"N-no," said Sweetie Belle finally. "We should probably just go. If she's still sick we don't want to bother her."
Nonny could no longer hold her head upright. It collapsed against the wooden floor of the box with a soft thump. She felt a sharp pain in her mouth, followed by the coppery taste of blood, and she realized she'd bitten her tongue. She didn't care.
"Um, could you please give her this, though?" said Apple Bloom.
There was a soft rustling of paper.
"We all made her this 'get well soon' card," Bloom continued. "Just give it to her and tell her we're sorry. We hope she does better at her new school."
Nonny heard the clip-clopping of tiny, dejected hooves trotting away. The front door creaked shut.
Another set of hooves, clearly those of an adult, echoed in the cavernous space of the entrance hall as Purple walked to the other side of the room, where the fireplace was. There was a soft whoosh, followed by a crackling noise, like burning paper.
She threw my 'get well soon' card on the fire, thought Nonny, without emotion. The act didn't surprise her. Nothing about Purple surprised her anymore.
The hoofsteps began to echo again, growing louder as they approached the little table upon which Nonny's box was kept.
"I know you're probably angry with me right now, Nonny."
Nonny's teeth began to grind angrily again at the sound of her voice.
If I still had my old body I'd pounce on her, she thought angrily. I'd beat her face into a pulp. Tear those ugly wings off with my bare hands.
But Nonny knew she couldn't do anything. She was trapped in the body of a weak, helpless filly, and even if she were big enough, the box held her in place. She couldn't do anything except sit still and listen. Cramped, sweating, and completely alone.
"You can be mad at me if you want," Purple continued, "But one day, you'll come to see that this was all for the best."
There was another echo as Purple took a few steps down the hall. Then she paused again.
"I still don't think you've learned your lesson yet, so I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave you in there for a few more days. At least until you calm down a little. I can feel your anger, you know."
She giggled; a cold, emotionless sound that sent a chill up Nonny's spine.
"It's part of the spell. Isn't it clever? I can read your emotions every time I walk past the box. Pieces of your thoughts, too. What is it you want to do to me? 'Beat me to a pulp'? 'Rip my ugly wings off'?"
She giggled again. If only somepony else could hear the way she laughs when it's just the two of us, thought Nonny. The Princess, her friends, anypony. If only they knew what Twilight Sparkle was really like.
"Oh, Nonny," she said, as if in response to what Nonny had been thinking. "What am I going to do with you?"
She began trotting off lightly down the hall.
"Yes," she said, her voice fading slowly away. "One day, you'll see that it was all for the best. You don't need friends like them. You just need me.
"Just Mommy."
~End~
