chains of the heart

The stallion behind the iron bars

            The mornings run had ended without Strong hoof running into aneypony els. The image of the white unicorn briefly floated through his thoughts as he approached the long light stone building that was the chow hall for the royal guard. At its apex sat the stone figure of a pegasus pony silently keeping guard over those that entered its wings proudly extended outward in a show of how impressive he was.

                 For a moment he wondered if he had acted to inappropriately in front of the sweet looking mare but quickly discarded the thought, Strong hoof had no mind for the social implications of his attitude. He felt only apathy for the cares and concerns of canterlots snooty stuck-up aristocratic residence trotting about without a care in the world, wallowing in their bits and scoffing at the plights of the meager, with that kind of attitude one might assume that Strong hoof made for a terrible addition to the royal guard. Wrong, while it was true that he did have a low opinion toward the majority of the ponies that called canterlot home he would never abandon them when in need, when he was inducted into the royal guard he and his fellow cadets stood before princess Celestia, bowing low and in unison they vowed three things, blood, honor, and loyalty and Strong hoof was a stallion of his word, or at least now he was.

              Ouch! he exclaimed feeling a jolt of pain hit him in his temple signifying another oncoming migraine. Third one this week, he thought to himself. Luckily he had an herb in his room that would help to subside it but first he needed food. The chow hall at this time of the morning was noticeably less occupied. Latter on it would be filled with guardponies cluttering and bringing with them a cacophony of chatting, laughing and the like, ponies would be packed flank to flank at the long wood tables giving Strong hoof no peace and he liked quiet when he ate. Other than the cookponies their was only a small group of stallions sitting at one of the wood tables next to the serving line.

                  The smell of hot oats and fresh apples hung in the air making its way to Strong hoofs snout, his stomach moaned and he realized just how hungry he was. Passing the other ponies on his way to the serving line he grabbed a metal tray from the stack at the serving lines beginning and proceeded to the first cookpony for some oatmeal, the cookpony in his all white uniform globed a scoop of the oats on his tray and continued to place an apple on the tray as well, the next pony an angry looking stallion placed a serving of hay on the tray without so much as looking up at the stallion he was serving. Strong hoof poured himself a glass of water and placed it on the tray as well picking the tray up with his mouth he walked over to his usual eating spot in the corner of the chow hall next to one of the windows.

                         Passing the other guards at their table a snicker floated above the group followed by a phrase obviously meant for Strong hoof as he passed, "dirt hoof" a phrase he had heard manny times in his life most times sending Strong hoof into one of his famous fits of "white hot rage". "Dirt hoof" a derogatory term commonly used by unicorns and pegasus ponies to belittle and insult earth ponies. Strong hoof bite down hard on the metal tray in his mouth pausing for a moment but quickly realizing he was to hungry and tired to deal with this right now, im going to eat go change into my armor then go to duty he told himself but after, when the day was at its end he would wait for the group to return for dinner, then he would re address their choice of words where all could se what happens when you make the mistake of addressing an earth pony the wrong way.

                    sitting at his table he didn't even bother to look up at the group of ponies at the table across the hall. Strong hoof looked on instead at the meal in front of him and immediately began to eat. first he scarfed down the helping of hay which was as always dry and a little crispy, and soon moving onto the red apple, he gorged on the juicy fruit tell only the core was left, taking a long sip on his glass of water something out of nowhere caught his attention it was a smell, coming from the oatmeal on his tray, it was sweet and nostalgic somehow. He stared at the lump of oats trying to remember the smell and its relevance to what he was trying to remember. "Oh of course" he said softly to himself, the sweet smell was vanilla, one of the cookponies must have added the extra ingredient to todays breakfast and all at once memories came at him as lightly as the aroma of the warm oats and Strong hoof was lost in a wash of happy nostalgia from what seemed like a lifetime ago and again a small smile crept across his muzzle and a slight chuckle even escaped his chest.

                  just as he was about to start in on the warm sweet smelling oats the tray suddenly began to jitter wildly, Strong hoof flinched slightly at the unexpected movement of the inanimate object, the tray flew to his right held by an aura of grey magic slamming into the stone wall with a loud clang of metal on stone followed by another clang as the tray hit the cold stone floor oats were splattered all over the wall dripping slowly off the lump of splattered oats. His sweet nostalgic moment now splattered across the wall Strong hoofs eyes took on a cold angry glare and his brow furrowed tight giving him a savage primal beastly appearance. Slowly he shifted his gaze from his breakfast now feeding nopony except the wall to the pony who had dared to take him out of his memories.

                         Before him stood the pony responsible, he was tall maybe a good two or three inches taller than Strong hoof, he was broad and muscular his black coat shined in the light and was in contrast to his flowing blond mane and tail atop his heat rested a black horn below which sat green smug eyes gazing down with a sense of superiority at the earth pony he intended to humiliate. "Sorry about that little DIRT HOOF, guess you cant eat that now huh but hay, theirs some nice grass growing outside, dirt hoofs like that don't they?" His friends erupted into a bout of laughter and snickers from their table across the hall all of them unicorns. Strong hoof simply stared forward coldly as the unicorn and his friends continued to laugh and jeer, "Remember that next time you decide to ignore me dirt hoof." The unicorn proceeded to trot victoriously back to his friends at there table but this was far from over this pony had crossed the line and that in Strong hoofs book meant blood.

                   "You seam to be mistaken." Strong hoof stated to the unicorn stopping him in mid trot, the unicorn looked over his shoulder with an amused smirk and watched as Strong hoof rose to his hoofs and moved around the table to face him. "Oh really and how am I mistaken? If you don't mind me asking." Strong hoof approached the black unicorn keeping him locked in his cold gaze until he stood well in spitting distance looking up at the taller stallion. Silence fell in the chow hall to the point that one could hear a pin brop, "that is not my name." Strong hoof stated to the unicorn as he stood ready for what was to come.

              "Oh, and what are you going to do to make sure that i remember whatever your dirt hoof name is?" Grinning an evil grin at the unicorn he simply stated "I'm going to break your nose." Taking on a look of surprise at the bluntness of the earth pony in front of him the unicorn leapt backwards a good five paces away from Strong hoof his horn glowing to life with an aura of gray magical energy and Strong hoof took a battle ready position in anticipation of the first strike.

                   Lightning erupted from the black unicorns horn almost striking Strong hoof just as he leapt out of the way and began galloping toward his target, a second larger bolt of lightning lashed out at him, Strong hoof leapt to his right barley dodging the bold before it struck the stone floor cracking it and sending a puff of smoke into the air. He had played right into Strong hoofs hoof that last bolt had allowed him a chance to leap so that now he was directly in front of his target, he bucked his back legs launching himself headfirst into the black unicorns head their skulls crashing together in a loud thud that knocked out the unicorns magic and sending the stallion cartwheeling backwards.

                     Landing on his back the wind was literally knocked out of the unicorn, thrashing his limbs now he tried to find a way back onto his hoofs but it was no use for in an instant Strong hoof was on him. Looking up at the earth pony the unicorn was about to plead for forgiveness but instead was met with a hoof across his muzzle the next landed square on his left eye followed by a right hoof across the other side of his muzzle. Blood and loud whimpers escaped the increasingly pulverized unicorn as lefts and rights landed on and across his face. Strong hoof joined his hoofs together now and raised them above his head bringing them both down on the bloody stallions nose, a loud crack came from inside the unicorns muzzle. Standing now sweaty and out of breath Strong hoof looked down at the art he had wrought, the once beautiful unicorns face was now a mass of swollen flesh and black eyes blood covered his muzzle and ran freely from his nasal cavity which was now misshapen, the stallion coughed and whimpered like a little filly.

                With cold gray eyes and his dark brown coat now streaked with his opponents blood Strong hoof felt now was the perfect time to tell the unicorn the name he would not soon be forgetting. Bringing his face close down to the now battered unicorn he simply uttered, "My name is Strong hoof, you will remember it now right?" The unicorn flinched. Trembling now in fear of the earth pony that had turned him into a whimpering filly he nodded his head as best he could in his pained stat.

                  The unicorns friends looked on in utter shock at the fight and beating they had just seen, they had all heard of how savage earth ponies could be but what they had just seen was sheer brutality. Strong hoof whipped blood from his face with a four leg and looked over at the unicorns sitting at the table still, all in shock at the onslaught just witnessed. He cast them a challenging gaze but none of them made a move just as he had thought, in his experience unicorns like them were quick to puff out their chest and even quicker to cower when faced with the prospect of fighting somepony they knew they couldn't beat.

                    Strong hoof left the chow hall behind him the black unicorn still on the floor bloody and now sobbing. The sun shined bright in his eyes blinding him for a moment before he noticed the two bulky armored pegasus ponies that now blocked his path running around them two medical ponies bolted into the chow hall no doubt to tend to the battered stallion on the hard stone floor. "Corpral Strong hoof for assaulting a fellow member of the royal guard and a subject of our ruler princess Celestia you are herby to be detained until a time when your crimes can be reviewed by your commanding officer. Will you come quietly?" The armored guard pony concluded both of them taking one step forward ready to subdue him should he resist. Strong hoof sighed a deep sigh and nodded dejectedly, he knew the drill by now "lets get this over with." He stated flatly as the three made their way to the confinement barracks a short ways from where they departed. Home sweet home Strong hoof said to himself as the metal cell door clanged behind him.

next chapter: Strong hoofs fate is decided