It has been two weeks since Zargan was placed in the Canterlot prison. The dwarf doesn’t really do much most of the day except read and sleep. However, he has taken up carving out small figures of monsters and beings from his own world out of small chunks of rock. He has made three figures now: a rather busty mermaid sitting on a rock with waves crashing around her, a fierce looking dragon knight riding on the back of a dragon with a sword and shield drawn, and a long bearded wizard holding up a powerful staff as rock spires surround him. All being done by his own hands.

He had picked up another small rock and was going to begin carving a necromancer next when he heard the sound of hooves heading his way. He looked at the time on his gauntlet before nodding to himself, and he knew what time it was. “Hey, you.” the guard called out to him. “Yard time, let’s go,” he said as he unlocked Zargan’s cell. The dwarf nodded before placing the rock down on the table for later and showed the guard that his hands were empty before heading outside. The guard simply nodded before escorting the dwarf out into the yard, where the other inmates from his wing were also out getting their yard time.

Unlike most prisons he had been in, yard time was three to four hours long. And you could return to your cell by request anytime the inmates wanted. Zargan stepped out of the darkness and into the light, his eyes adjusting as he walked into the walled off open yard. As the door closed behind him, he made his way further out until he came across the unused weight lifting set. Seems that the only ones in his unit that would use these were him and two other stallions. The three of them had agreed that they’d split up the time when it came to using the equipment, and through a simple game of drawing straws, Zargan was the one to get first pick, so he chose the first hour.

After he had finished pumping iron for an hour, he set everything back the way it was before looking over at one of the two ponies sitting at one of the tables “Oi, Zippo. All yours, lad.” he said as he made his way over to the table, the large burly stallion nodding before fist bumping the dwarf on his way to the weight equipment “Thanks, Archy.” he said with a smile toward Zargan. The nickname ‘Archy,’ short for Architect, was given to Zargan not only for what he did to his own cell but also for the modifications he had done to his fellow inmates’ cells that showed him respect after he had shown them just a bit of kindness while out in the yard, and also the respect he had earned with other inmates whom he had beaten down in a fight with bare fists. Yes, he even removed his gauntlet for those very fights to make it totally fair.

Compared to the prisons he had been in back home, this was more like a minimum security holding than anything. Sure, it was rough by this world’s standards. But these creatures wouldn’t be able to survive the conditions he was in when he was in prison back in his world. Hardly any food, cramped sleeping quarters with eight to ten being in one space, hard labor that masted most of the day, it was truly a much easier life here in these walls than he had thought. These stallions wouldn’t last a week in his world. But, maybe that was for the best that they didn’t have to. At least here, they feed you three square meals a day. It's not the prettiest of foods, but it fills the stomach up and keeps it filled.

Zargan was having a conversation with one of the inmates he had garnered respect with when the door to the yard opened. The dwarf’s head turned to see who was entering when another burly, muscular stallion was led in by the guards who shoved him in. “You little bitch…” the stallion growled before the door was slammed and locked behind him. Once the stallion made his way into the yard, his eyes fell upon Zargan, who simply stared back at him with a raised brow. ” He is small, so he must be the weakest. I am going to make him my bitch.” thought the large stallion before he walked over to Zargan and leaned forward on the table “That’s my spot you’re sitting in…move, sweetheart.” he said with an intimidating smile, or what he thought would be intimidating to the dwarf.

Zargan looked up at him and simply shook his head “There are plenty of tables to sit at lad. And while I am flattered ya called me ‘sweetheart’, I am afraid males aren’t my type mug of mead, if ya get what I am sayin’.” he said with a chuckle. Seeing that his presence alone wasn’t enough, he decides to threaten with violence “If you don’t move, I will lay you flat on this pavement and show everyone in this yard that you are nothing but a weak little bitch…” he said as he baited the dwarf. And the dwarf knew what had to come next. One of the rules of prisons is that no matter what world you came from, you had to defend your manhood, or else you’d be labeled as a ‘punk’ and preyed upon.

The stallion that sat across from Zargan stood up as he watched the dwarf sigh and, remove his gauntlet and place it in his bag. He looked over to the offending stallion and shook his head as he backed away “Bro, you done fucked up now….Archy may be small, but he-...” The stallion didn’t even get to finish before Zargan leaped into the air, grabbed onto the stallion’s shirt, and slammed the crown of his head into his nose before slamming his feet into his chest and kicking off, sending the stallion flying back, grunting in pain as blood flew through the air before he slammed on the ground on his back.

The dwarf wasted no time in jumping back on the stallion and began beating his face with one of his large, meaty fists. In here, he wasn’t going to allow anyone to gain so much as a foothold in a fight. In here, there was no ‘honor.’ When it came to fights. As the one sided fight began, the inmates gathered around and started cheering for Zargan as they watched him beat the stallion mercilessly. But it seems that the fight wasn’t so one sided after all, as the stallion got one good right cross, which made Zargan stumble back a bit. However, it wasn’t enough to make the dwarf fully dazed.

Just as the stallion was about to get up, Zargan smiled wickedly before charging forward and performed a flying drop kick into the stallion’s chest, sending him right back to the ground before resuming the beating until the stallion’s face was nothing more than a bloody mess, and he was out cold. The dwarf stood up and stood next to the fallen stallion, blood dripping from his knuckles while panting heavily before cracking his shoulders and back a bit “Bah, I need to get into better shape if I am gonna be here for a whole year. Bangin’ a hammer on an anvil just ain’t cuttin’ it on the outside. Need to invest in a workout routine when I get out of here.” he said to no one in particular.

One of the inmates who respected Zargan came up next to the passed out stallion and crouched down, examining the brutal beating before looking at Zargan with a low whistle “Daaaamn, Archy. Who hurt you, bro?” he asked in a joking manner before lightly tapping the dwarf’s shoulder before standing back up. Zargan chuckled “Well, it's a long story, lad. Let’s just say it was never meant to be, and the only good thing about her was her amazon’ rack and gave the best head around.” he retorted. A couple of the inmates chuckled at that, and everyone went about their business. Eventually, the guards came in and dragged the stallion off the yard, knowing full well that Zargan was going to be the one to absolutely lay this guy out without causing too much of a fuss.

Zargan didn’t always fight to preserve his manhood. There were some inmates who wanted to fight the dwarf simply because they enjoyed a good brawl. And given how many bar fights and prison fights the dwarf had been in, he was all too happy to oblige. Of course, he didn’t win all his fights. There were a few where the inmate he was fighting had gotten the better of him, and he was willing to accept his defeat. Of course, the next time they came around to fight again, Zargan would end up the victor. And the inmates were totally fine with him beating them when he did.

If you showed the dwarf a bit of respect, he’d become your friend, maybe even make your cell just a little nicer when he could slip out of his cell without the guards bugging him to get back in. But, there are some, like the stallion that was now being dragged out of the yard, who got stuck in their tiny, cramped cell because of how they presented themselves to the dwarf. Zargan had a monopoly in this prison at the moment. He could easily make life a little easier for the other inmates here, and they knew it.

Zargan grabbed his gauntlet from his bag and placed it back onto his hand after having wiped the blood from his hands before taking his seat back at his table. A few of the inmates were sitting next to him as they whispered and smiled as they recapped the fight with the dwarf. Soon enough, yard time was done, and it was time for lunch, a time when all the wings of the prison were in one massive room to eat together. Zargan nodded to his fellow inmates as they stood up and made their way to the mess hall for mealtime.

As they walked along, Zargan noticed that the stallions, who were his friends, stood on either side of him, showing that they had his back, even though they knew he could handle himself. When it was time for Zargan to get his food, he stood in front of the barred off area with his tray as he waited for his bowl of potato soup and roll. He simply smiled at the mare who was serving the food behind the bars, who in turn smiled back “Good to see you again, short stuff~. You hanging in there?” she asked as she placed the bowl on his tray. Zarham chuckled and nodded “Oh, I am doin’ what I can to make it by, lass. Its been only two weeks since I was put in here. But compared to the other prisons I have been in, this is heaven.” he joked before moving on so the other inmates could get their meal.

Zargan had gained the respect of the whole kitchen staff, as he had created a brand new fully functional stove/oven to prepare the food with, as the last one was barely working at all and was on its last leg. The staff had heard of the dwarf’s skills and had begged both the warden and Celestia herself to allow the dwarf to help out, supervised, of course. And the dwarf didn’t even make a deal for it, and he was more than happy to help the kitchen staff out anytime, as long as it made the food just a bit more bearable.

After lunchtime, it was time for the inmates to get back in their cells for the rest of the day, which Zargab was fine with anyway. He would just simply return to what he was doing before it was time to go out for yard time. Once he was locked in his cell, he walked up to the rock he had left on his table before picking it up and resuming carving the necromancer figurine he had in his mind. All was quiet for the next couple of hours until the sound of those daint hoofsteps echoed down the walkway of the cells. Knowing who it was, the dwarf didn’t even look up from his carving as Celestia stood there for a moment, watching him work.

“Wooow, quite a skillful pair of hands you got there indeed, first blacksmithing, now sculpting? I know artists in this kingdom who’d kill to have such a talented and steady pair of hands,” she said as she waited for him to respond, but no words came out yet. “So, I heard you got into another fight. Are you looking to add more time to your stay here?” she asked again, throwing in an idle threat to see if that would get his attention, but she also knew that the prison had its own rules: fight or be marked a weakling and preyed upon.

“Do what ya have to do. Bein’ in here isn’t so bad. Three square meals a day, all the alone time I could ever ask for. And the other fellas ya got locked up in here ain’t so bad either. They are good folks. You just need to treat them like actual people instead of a bunch of caged animals. They may be felons, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be treated like animals. Well, except the heartless murderers and those who prey on mares and foal. Them I don’t care to allow livin’. Ya can cut their cocks off for all I care. But other than that category of scum, the others deserve to be reformed and given a second chance at life.” he said as he lifted the sculp[ted rock to his face to blow off the dust before resuming.

“And what about you, Zargan? Have you killed before? Wouldn’t that put you in the same category as the scum you so despise?” asked Celestia with her arms folded under her heavy bust as she arched a brow and watched for an answer. Without missing a beat, he answered right back, “You see, princess, there is a difference between killing needlessly because you enjoy it and killing to survive or defend yourself. Sometimes…you don’t have a choice, and you can’t see a way out until the deed is done. Until you have lived the life I have lived, you wouldn’t understand. Ya think there will never be a time when ya will have to take the life of someone because ya can simply lock them up somewhere. But killin’ is sadly a part of life. And someone with your kind of power is bound to take the life of someone eventually…if ya haven’t done it already.” he said as he turned the rock over in his hand a few times.

Celestia leaned in as she grabbed the bars of his cell with a look of disapproval on her face at his words, “I don’t know what your world was like Zargan. But you are in this world now. Sure, things are rough here sometimes, we have invasions from time to time and even some cataclysmic events. But we always pull through in the end. So long as we help one another in trying times, we get through it just fine. I don't know how or why you ended up here, But you need to get with the program like everyone else…”.

Zargan placed the rock down on his table before walking up to the bars. He tilted his head up to look at Celestia before he jumped up and pulled at her top’s fabric and brought her down to his eye level, the guards gasping and pointing their weapons at him as the dwarf got in her face “Look here, lass. I didn’t ASK to be brought here. Ya understand? I was happy n’ content with my clan, diggin’ through mines, makin’ money, drinkin’ all the mead and ale I could have ever wanted, and doin’ things my people did to live and enjoy life. Don’t ever think for ya moment I came here by choice. He growled as he glared at the princess, who simply stared back at him before he shoved her away, making her stagger back a bit before he grabbed the rock he was carving and sat back on his bed before resuming his work “Now, leave me be. Unless you want to preach more to me about how life is all sunshine and rainbows.” he said as he scoffed at the idea.

The princess simply stared at Zargan for a while and nodded to her guard “Let’s go.” she simply said before leaving the dwarf to his own devices. She did understand where the dwarf was coming from, she did. But, she had duties as a ruler to her actual subjects. This was a stranger to her lands. And laws must be accounted for.

Author's Note

Just a day in the life of the dwarf's next year, figured you'd all be curious.

May the darkness grant you peace.