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// Blind Hate, Blind Rage 
// Story: Diary of a Pony 
// by starshine_dash 
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Waking up was difficult. I quickly came to realize that I was no longer sleeping in a bed. Instead, I appear to have been chained to a wall at some point in my slumber, and my forelegs hung above me in a rather uncomfortable position. I tried to shake off the rest of the cobwebs that I began to believe were caused by some kind of drug when I heard a voice from the other corner of the room.

"Finally awake?" the owner asked. The voice was... odd. It carried itself into my ears across the entire spectrum, with a slight buzz underneath, "Maybe now they'll believe us."

"Who... What?" I asked, trying to clear my vision. I was still seeing double when a creature emerged into the light that hung from the ceiling. It was as tall as a pony, but carried itself with a predatory air. Instead of a coat, it wore a jet black carapace that was filled with holes along its hooves. It had a horn, but it was bent and twisted, and tattered wings fluttered in annoyance.

"Damn vigilantes picked you up last night, thought you were one of us. We told them, several times, that you are not of the swarm."

"Who is... we?"

"We are Changelings. We assumed everypony knew that."

"Sorry, amnesia..." I said, grimacing as a twinge of pain jolted through my shoulders, "Can't remember anything before I woke up in a hospital a year ago."

"Hm, a common story we use. We see how they mistook you for one of us."

"Why are you here?"

"Because we are changeling. The ponies who imprisoned us believe we are a threat to them. We have tried, repeatedly, to explain that we are no threat, now that the Queen has been deposed, but they do not listen. They are blinded by hate, these ponies."

"Where are we?"

"We believe we are located beneath one of the bars in Ponyville. We smell alcohol, salt, and can hear the laughter of ponies when they open the door," the changeling said, returning to the shadows. Out of the corner of my eye I could see it curl up in the corner and almost vanish as it used some kind of camouflage to hide itself, "They approach."

The door at the opposite end of the cell slammed open and several inebriated ponies entered the room, "Well, looks like the little buck is finally awake," the lead earth pony slurred at me.

I swallowed some bile that had risen at the smell and the sheer rage I was holding at bay. I did not want to fight my way out, but I would if I had to. I tentatively tried to use my magic to shine some light on my captors, but felt a shock of pain through my horn that caused me to gasp involuntarily. The trio of ponies laughed, "Looks like he found the ring!"

"Heh, ain't using magic with that thing on, freak." the smaller one on the left said, laughing his flank off. I groaned and rolled my eyes before daring to speak up.

"Look, this is all some kind of mistake," I said, carefully choosing my words, unwilling to let the fact that my heart was about to beat its way out of my chest and bludgeon them all to death be revealed just yet, "I'm just a unicorn. Surely the fact that they let me out of the hospital is enough proof."

"Now lookie here," said the tall, absurdly muscled unicorn on the right, "He thinks he can get outta here with fancy words!"

"Sorry, let me put it some way you'll understand," I said, growing increasingly impatient, "You let me the buck out of here, right now, and I don't bring this cell down around our heads."

Silence greeted my ears for several moments. Apparently, ponies around here weren't used to such violent threats. I looked over into the corner where my changeling cellmate presumably still sat and made a quick jerking motion with my eyes towards my horn. I only hoped it could understand my meaning. I made other random jerking motions to cover it up after, hoping my captors wouldn't notice. I also hoped none of them could see that I was bluffing.

My answer came in the form of a powerful blow to my jaw. I heard a sickening crack and new that I would be seeing Nurse Redheart and Doctor Stitch much too soon. The pain blinded me temporarily, my world turning white, then black as another blow connected with my ribs. My attacker beat me for what felt like hours before letting up. Blood swam in one eye while the other swelled shut from a particularly vicious blow. I could taste copper and it was hard to breathe. The only thing that kept me conscious was sheer, unbridled rage. I was completely unaware of this aspect of my personality.

I could feel something in the back of my mind, like something boiling in my blood. My muscles were twitching, ready for action. I opened my one good eye and glared straight into the soul of the pony who had been beating me, and everything went gray.

The next thing I knew I was dragging the changeling and another pony out of a building that was engulfed in flames. I collapsed to the ground next to my former cellmate and coughed. Firefighters swarmed the building as a group of pegasi flew in a heavy rain cloud to douse the blaze. I was immediately encircled by a group of ponies who began to shout questions at me. I could hear nothing through a dark ringing in my ears, so I simply demanded a promise from the pony I identified as Twilight Sparkle that the changeling would not be harmed before allowing myself to succumb to my injuries and the blissful nothingness of the unconscious world.