My love is shy.

I sat there in the side seat of the wagon staring at the ground through the floor boards. We soon came to a stop. They pulled me off the wagon. I looked around to see that we were in the middle of nowhere. “Where are we?” I asked completely confused.

“Outside of lospegisus” one of the guards said as she took her helmet off. “Ok. Why are we here?  Shouldn't I be rotting in prison by now?” I asked. “What, that? Oh that was an act. We needed you to do something, but we didn’t think you would say you did” a male Pegasus said with a chuckle. My eye began to twitch as I realized that my captures were just scum who just ruined my life just so I would do them a favor. As the unicorn un-cuffed my hands and ankles I ran over to the Pegasus and punched him in the left cheek.

Before I could continue pummeling the life out of him, two of the ponies held me back. “What was that for?!” he shouted getting up off the dirt filled lifeless ground. “THAT’S FOR RUINING MY FUCKING LIFE!” I shouted struggling to break free. “What are you talking about?” he asked. “When you ‘arrested’ me I was going to propose to my girlfriend!” I said widening everypony’s eyes “and now, thanks to you assholes, she wouldn’t want to see me in a square mile radius!”

“Oh my celestia, I’m so sorry. We didn’t know” the female pony said letting me go. “Whatever” I mumbled under my breath. “How about we go to the nearest bar and talk about what you will do” the fourth pony suggested. They all nodded and climbed back into the wagon. I went back to my seat and closed my eyes waiting for this journey to end.

We entered the city and all around were tall buildings: hotels, gambling joints, and strip clubs. We stopped at a place called “downtown cocktail room.” We entered and the waitress seated us at a booth. She looked a little uneasy by the way she was staring at me. “So what are your names?” I asked ordering a random martini.

“I’m J” the unicorn said. “I’m U” the female pony said. “S” the Pegasus said. “T” the fourth pony said. “Now that we know each other, why do you need my help?” I asked taking my drink from the waitress.

“We have two brothers, I and N, who were a little intoxicated when they were harassing an officer” U said. “And how does that put me into the middle of all this?” I asked sipping my drink. “Since you already broken the law and you can get a job done, we figured that you could break them out on the inside if we took you to the city they were imprisoned in” J said leaning back. “So I’m going to jail after all. Fuck me, but what if I refuse?” I said resting my arms on the table. I finished my drink and T, who was in front of me, stepped out of the booth followed by U, j, and me “then we’ll kill your friends and your girlfriend”

I clutched my hands in a fist formation. “Hey, are you coming S” U asked. “Na, I’ll stick around here” S said staring at a mares flank as she passed by. I rolled my eyes and walked back to the wagon. We traveled to the far west and stopped outside of the city at a large prison that reminded me of Alcatraz.

Before I could realize what the three were doing one of them cuffed my hands back together. “C’mon prisoner, time to get you a cell” U said as they all put on their armor from before. We walked to the front gate and were greeted by one of the guards. “Hey ray, we got fancy tailor’s killer” T said. “Good work. I’ll take it from here” he said opining the gate door.

Ray grabbed my arm and shoved me into a line of other prisoners. He closed the door and yelled “Move it!” We did as we were ordered and walked into the adjacent room. We stopped as a few guards handed us orange jumpsuits and I.D. numbers. “Name?” the guard siting at a desk asked. “Troy newcomer” I stated.

“Your name isn't on the list” she said flipping through the papers that were connected to a clip board. Ray said to her “he just got here. He’s the one who killed fancy tailor.” “Murder huh? Well, welcome to the tank guppy” she said handing me a jumpsuit “your new name is prisoner 156378. Remember it.” I followed a guard to the next room. The door said “wing b.”

The room held about fifty cells; twenty-five on each side. I followed him up the stairs to the third floor on the right. Walking by three cells he shoved me into the fourth and closed the door. “Let me see your wrists” he said. I slipped my hands through the small opining in the middle of the door to allow him to remove the cuffs.

“Play nice you two” he said walking away. I turned to see a pony staring at me. “You take top bunk” he said lying down on the bottom. I climbed up to the top and rested my head on the hard mattress. “Lights out!” a guard shouted as the lights vanished.

I woke to see the cracked, concrete ceiling of my cell. I jumped off my bunk and waited by the door for the guard. “Morning guppy” my cellmate said. “Morning” I said leaning against the cinder block wall. “Hey, my usual spotter got himself a month in the hole, can you spot me?” he said sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Sure” I said as the guard came up to the door and unlocked it. I followed him downstairs and outside to the court yard. He lied down on the bench and wrapped his hooves around the ninety pound bar as I stood behind him. After thirty I asked him “what’s your name?” “Lorenzo” he said motioning his shoulders in a circle.