Honor For All

In the darkness, a slow, rhythmic melody voices it’s feelings throughout the halls.

“What will we do with the drunken whaler?

What will we do with the drunken whaler?

What will we do with the drunken whaler?

What will we do with the drunken whaler?

Early in the morning…”

A lone blue unicorn stallion sits against the far wall of a small, narrow room.

“Feed him to the hungry rats for dinner.

Feed him to the hungry rats for dinner.

Feed him to the hungry rats for dinner.

Feed him to the hungry rats for dinner.

Early in the morning…”

The stallion’s voice was deep yet quiet; the song radiated an echo throughout the corridor.

“Way, hey and up she rises.

Way, hey and up she rises.

Way, hey and up she rises.

Way, hey and up she rises.

Early in the morning…”

Only the dimly lit torches gave off the faintest orange glow of light in this dark place. The tall, slim metal bars at the end of the narrow room ceasing slender beams to be shone upon the unicorn’s form.

“Slice his throat with a rusty clever.

Slice his throat with a rusty clever.

Slice his throat with a rusty clever.

Slice his throat with a rusty clever.

Early in the morning…”

Behind the wall, a new voice echoed through the hall, groggily catching onto the song. The sound of whistling accompanied the verse with a complimenting tune.

“Stuff him in a sack and throw him over.

Stuff him in a sack and throw him over.

Stuff him in a sack and throw him over.

Stuff him in a sack and throw him over.

Early in the morning…”

The group of tired, saddened stallions and mares sang out together in one climatic chorus, radiating all their sorrow into a song.

“Way, hey and up she rises.

Way, hey and up she rises.

Way, hey and up she rises.

Way, hey and up she rises.

Early in the morning…”

In the darkness of the corridor, towards a single cell to the left, lays a blue stallion unicorn. Unclothed, scathed and tired. His gaze fixed on the concrete beneath him as his hooves lazily rest on the ground.

The colt was none other than Dust Storm. The once renowned guardian of royalty now lies in his own shame with sorrow and regret. The image of her face stains his subconscious with vengeance, the sounds of screaming and swords clanging ring in his ears like a curse. His golden eyes shift from side to side, half lidded and dazed as voices continue to echo through his mind, plaguing his very sanity.

The faint sounds of hoofsteps radiate through the corridor outside his cell, a pair of heavy ones and a set of much lighter ones. The excessive sounds stop right outside his barred door, ceasing even more light to be shown into his narrow room. The heads of their shadows were painfully recognizable, a small pony with ears that had three points of fur pointed up from the top a long mane draping over her head, concealing further light. It was accompanied by larger pony, wearing a helmet.

“Dust, ya gotta visitor” the deep voice of a familiar guard spoke out to him. The blue unicorn’s eyes slowly drifted upwards to see the mare that would be accompanying him even if only briefly…wait a second, mare? The pony on the other side of the bars was not somepony he would’ve liked to see under these circumstances.

It was a bat pony, she was Strife.

The door opened with a creak as the guard groggily pulled it open with his hoof, allowing the mare to step inside while he stood up on the wall. Strife shared an expressionless nod with the guard before looking down at the blue unicorn, of whom refused to make eye contact.

“Dust…” she began, trying to think of something to say. “…I…just wanted to say I tried, I tried to believe that you didn’t kill the princess…but the evidence is…rather strong…and I-…I’ll always remember you as my friend and not a murderer” she continued as the unicorn remained perfectly silent, not looking at her. “D-Dust…I love you…but I can’t believe that you’d be able to do something like this how could you? We trusted you, I TRUSTED YOU, DUST, SPEAK TO ME!” there was no answer; the blue stallion remained quiet and stoic.

After a while, Dust found himself alone once more, the bat pony he had come to love left him in his depressed state. It was then when he let it all get to him, the unicorn burst into sorrowful sobs, tears streamed down his face as he released the pain that built up. She was furious, she had to be, somepony does not simply continue to like another when it seems that they’ve murdered a princess. He knew it was futile by this point to try and convince anypony of his innocence. By Faust, he wanted to though. Just to try, just to see whether or not they’d believe but the chances were slim.

The next day was all too familiar to everypony that dwelled within the walls of the facility.

“Alright you pieces of dragon shit! Everypony to the yard! Now!” a voice yelled, catching all equines’ attention, mare and stallion alike. The sound of dozens of hoofsteps radiated throughout the entirety of the large concrete room. Dust sigh quietly as he got to his hooves, finding that his prison mates walked groggily by his now open cell door. He managed to join the group, following towards the prison yard. It was small but it worked. The group came through a large archway and split up into their own respected groups in the yard. Dust however found a spot in the corner to call his ‘hangout spot’. Little did everypony know that on several occasions, he’s tried to find a way out of the magically barred facility. The idea was simple, all pegasi wore metal braces around their torsos, preventing them from flying and the entire prison was surrounded by a shield, repelling any magic from being casted within it. Much to the dismay of Dust and the other unicorns forced to be in such a place due to hat society claimed them to be: criminals.

Some occupants seemed quite proud of their actions despite the consequences. Knowing who exactly Dust was, most prisoners left him alone, mostly because he beat the ‘toughest guy in the bar’ as he was called…twice. He had come SO close to finding a way out, thanks to the help of a fellow falsely accused occupant, Dust trusted him as best as he could, finding that he may have just made a friend. He was executed the day they were so supposed to escape. Dust sat in the very same place, thinking in silence, plotting, wondering. It was just another day.

Twas just like any other night, dark, quiet…horrible. It was just another late evening at Coldridge. Yet that didn’t stop the unusual happen.

“Dust Storm! Get up!” a gruff voice called out, the typical tone of a guard. The unicorn lazily complied, rising from his groggy stance. He began to walk towards the now open door. “Hurry up!” the same guard ordered, Dust barely took notice and just kept walking the same pace. As soon as he was out of his cell, he felt a stern hoof placed on his shoulder, he looked down only to be aggressively pushed forward. He staggered before letting out a defeated sigh, the guard took lead, allowing the blue unicorn to follow albeit with little interest.

The guard lead the dishonoured stallion through the corridors, down the stairs up to a door. He shared a glance with the unicorn for a brief second before it opened to reveal…out of all ponies, it just had to be him. There, grinning like a mad mare in the archway, stood Thunder Cracker, the royal spymaster and the bat pony colt responsible for Dust’s imprisonment. It was his silver tongue that convinced Celestia to favour his own argument rather than the stallion that she trusted with her very life. In a way, he hated Celestia for that.

“Ahhh Dust, come in, guard, you are dismissed…” he said through his fangs. The blue unicorn breathed heavily, glaring at the dark pony in his view with hate.

“Thunder…” he hissed.

“Mr. Storm, if you would be so kind, would you step inside?” he replied, smiling evilly at the unicorn. Cautiously, Dust aggressively pushed the bat pony out of the way and stepped into the room only to be surprised by two sets of strong hooves grabbing his shoulders. He struggled and grunted as he felt them lift him into the air before angrily placing him down in a chair. The unicorn felt leather straps wrap around his forehead, torso and hooves. He continued to struggle and grunt, trying to break free but to no avail.

“THUNDER CRACKER!” He yelled before immediately find the exact stallion looming over him as his chair or whatever he was strapped to suddenly tilted forward, giving him a better view of the room. The bat pony was accompanied by a mare and another stallion. The mare was a pegasus with a red coat, sporting a pure white mane and vibrant cyan eyes. The other stallion was an earthpony who wore some sort of clothing over his dark green coat, he sported a slightly lighter green mane with a hint of malice in his dark brown eyes. “What is this?” he asked, suddenly frightened.

“This is your final chance, Dust storm, sign the confession and then be given the rights to put your spirit at ease” the crimson mare said blankly. She nodded to the green colt of whom trotted to the back of the room wordlessly. Dust thrashed as hard as he could, his magic was useless in this place so he had to rely on brute strength to escape, something he didn’t quite have. The stallion returned with a long piece of burning metal in his mouth. He trotted up to the quivering unicorn with a unremorseful look before connecting the heated segment to his right shoulder. Dust yelped in pain, barring his teeth, clenching his muscles to suppress his cries into several deep grunts of torture. He panted heavily as the metal was taken away before looking back up at the mare with a raged stare. Thunder turned to look at the green stallion, causing Dust to focus on the bat pony.

“That’s enough for now, get out!…let’s give the stallion some time…to think” he said, Dust couldn’t see but he heard the sound of heavy hoofsteps trot towards the door before the sound of it closing made him feel a lot more calm than before. That was when he realised that the other two ponies were still in the room with him, his anger flared once more as he looked back at them.

“Dust Storm, the princess is dead, princess Twilight is hidden away and nopony will ever know the truth…” he said, causing the unicorn’s eyes to widen.

“Yes…” the mare started “…Tomorrow, you’ll be executed but it’s for a good cause, this world needs strong leadership now, especially the crystal ponies, somepony to guide the weak…and that…is where we come in” she ended with a sinister grin. Dust just sat there, awestruck and in silence.

“There was nothing personal in this, even though you almost sank our plans but it turned out well, you were in the wrong place at the right time…and somepony has to take the fall…goodbye, Dust Storm…Guards! take him back to his cell!”

It was just another night at Coldridge or rather it would be.

Dust remained completely wide eyed ever since that small ordeal earlier had come to a close. The new information swam around in his brain, refusing to leave him be.

They set me up, it was them the entire time, they hired those assassins, they threw me in here…they’re gonna kill me for something I didn’t do…

“MOTHERBUCKER!!” he yelled aloud, not caring whether he was heard or not, he was angry. That hatred was shortly replaced by sheer sadness, they had ruined his life and now it was about to end. Dust broke into sobs at that point. Hours passed, the last hours he thought he’d have in this world, he tried to cherish them but he was in prison. One does not act happy while at Coldridge. The unicorn continued to weep over his thoughts, thoughts of Strife, of his family, of his title, of the scene that played before him that nopony could care about. Before he knew it, it was well into the night however, he could care less as something caught his attention.

As he sobbed, he heard something. Laughter it sounded like, deep chuckling in the darkness caused him to raise his head from his stance, frantically glancing around for the source. He wish he hadn’t at first. The light seeping into his cell by the dimly lit torches was aggressively and completely blacked out. They didn’t extinguish, no, somepony of something was blocking the light. Even in the near blind darkness, a shadow stood amongst it, just barely outlining the form of a bazaar looking creature. There was that chuckle again, this time it was louder, more direct, more in person. The sound emitted from the shadow, Dust was sure of it. It was then, when he recognised the sound, the voice, the form, he quivered at the thought.

“Poor, Dusty…” the voice cooed with a mocking tone. “…Here you wait for your death and nopony believes your little story of your innocence…breaks my heart” it continued before chuckling once more, the echo creating an ominous, almost frightening tone to it.

“D-Discord?” the unicorn inquired in a shaky voice. He got a response in the form of the shadow quickly moving to the side, letting the light back into the room. He breathed a sigh of relief but was cut off to find something in the cell with him. The shadow was now clearly visible, down to every disturbing feature of the draconequus.

“The one and only” he replied with smug, leaning down and sitting next to the blue stallion with initiative. “Now, Dusty, I’m here to tell you something important…” at that, the unicorn looked back at the chaotic being with intrigue in his golden eyes. “…Over the course of events in the next few days, you ill play a pivotal role in the lives of those around you and the outcome of your little adventure…OOPS, spoiler alert” Discord continued before giggling like a school filly. Dust just sat there, silent all the while being slightly anxious if not confused. “I just came by to tell you…you’ll get your present tomorrow” the draconequus said with a sinister grin, tapping his talon and paws together like a REAL villain. Before Dust could utter a word, he snapped his claws and in a flash of white, he was gone.

The unicorn was barely able to shrug off the event, staring blankly at the space where the god of chaos stood. After a while, he felt tired and decided he could do with one more good night’s rest. The dishonoured stallion lazily retired to his bed with a mind full of thoughts. Dust was awoken roughly around five hours later by the sound of his cell door opening. His golden eyes fluttered open before looking at the guard at his door. His eyes drifted to a small platter he was carrying in his mouth before setting it down on the floor by the bars. The guard looked up at the stallion who was groggily rising to his hooves.

“You should eat, Dust, this meal comes from a friend”