Looking Through Windows

by ShadowThePony

Chapter 2: Sharp Knives, Moral Drives, and Multiple Lives

"...guilty."

Silver sighed out of sadness where everypony else of relief. He already knew his sentence would be greater than thirty years, so he let the rest of the verdict subconsciously drone on. The wrongfully convicted murder, the feeling of panic, fear, and insanity, and the darkness the seemed to shroud everything danced in his mind. Something stood out. The feeling of “just let life go”. He didn’t care about what would happen, he simply didn’t, but now he was distressed, and his mind was in a different state. He moved from his uncomfortable position and something rattled. He looked down and remembered his hoofcuffs. His hooves were bound by chains that chafed and clinked whenever he moved. He hated them. As he agian shifted in his seat he heard a crinkling of paper. Furtively looking between his legs he spied an envelope.

From: Somepony who knows

To: The innocent one

He knew it was for him, even if it was vague. He felt it instinctively, and with some hesitation (because of the guards and their ruthlessness) he quickly snatched it up and hid it in between his hoof and the shackle. Something was inside of there (besides a wad of thick paper). It was heavy but thin, getting thicker at the bottom. Before he could decide what to do due to his newfound discovery he was roughly yanked up a walked to the jail. His awkward misstep caused by his manacle’s secret letter seemed to stand out, but no pony noticed. When he was in the jail and no patrollers were around he slid out to envelope, read it again, and tore it open. Inside was a knife and a letter. Silver was shocked somepony would do this for him after all he did, but curiosity burned inside him. He emptied out the folded note and opened on a level cobblestone.

---

Hello innocent one,

I know what happened, and I will later regret this decision, but I will save you. This has happened before. An invasion at the roots. The home. Hang in there. Remember I WILL HELP YOU. Sanity.

Kin~

---

Silver didn't know what to think. Somepony more devoted and insane using the name Kin to send him a puzzling letter, or the previously knife enclosed had appeared to move seven hooftips from where he had dropped it. He wrapped up the letter with the envelope and hid it in his pillow, then inspected the dagger. It didn't look like a fighting knife that one of his comic book heroes hold, but more so of kitchen knife. On the blade he could make out a carefully, mechanically etched note

USE ONLY IN DRASTIC TIMES

That wasn't so bad, but the other one, clearly imprinted by hoof , was much more chilling

AIM AT THE EYES, VISIBLE CLINKS IN ARMOR AND BLIND SPOTS

The last one, barely legible, was cryptic and confusing.

IN TIMES OF DECISIONS, FIGHTS, AND FRAY

THIS KNIFE, THE TELLER, WILL POINT THE WAY

Silver was starting to think that something was seriously wrong with the sender. "When someone gives you a knife, instructions for cold-blooded murder, and a half-insane half-frantic note what do you do?" Silver muttered. He laughed as he imagined a crazed stallion drunkenly staggering around, dropping horror letters onto public places. He hoped that this was a mistake, a mess-up, but something in the back of his mind nagged him. Kin, or so they say their name is, called him “the innocent one”, and it seemed too much of a coincidence to be found at a courthouse. From their field trip there to study public buildings Silver had learned the opening and closing time of the court. They were the first ponies there, so somepony had to sneak in between court opening and the janitor cleaning time. His mind wandered and ambled along his imagination. He made lists of possible suspects, than feasible ponies who would be his enemy if he ever got out, and practical explanations to Red Glory’s horrifying accident. The sun fell and Luna’s domain started. He noticed “dinner” and grabbed it, for he had forgotten how hungry he was. He ate quickly and slid the tray through the slot. He glanced around the room and his eyes settled on the knife. It seemed to have moved again, and now rested in between the mattress and wall, pointing up. “Keep that up and you’ll kill me.” He chuckled, and then noticed he was talking to a knife. “I really am losing it, am I?” He again remembered there was no one listening. He sighed and plucked the knife up. He set it, wrapped up in an extra blanket and stuck it under his bed. He wondered about the knife’s riddle. He seemingly got it when a metallic grind echoed from the hallway. He peered under the slot and saw somepony stepping out from the opposite cell. “FREEDOM!” the ex-prisoner yelled happily. She bounced up the stairs and out of the guardhouse (a dull thud sounded when the jubilant mint-colored pony’s head collided with the top of the doorway, but she seemed to brush it off) . “We got one open.” A guard muttered before trotting off. He remembered his supposed answer. He was supposed to end his own life, before he went insane, felt more pain, did bad things. He shuddered at the thought. Is there life after death, did he really want to? He fell into a troubled sleep.

Coming

---

He woke up to groaning and grunting the the recently vacated cell. Curiosity overtook his logical sense and he peered through his food slot and into the other cell’s broken, open one. Silver spotted a light olive coat and a black, gray-striped mane. Something seemed all too familiar. He swore he heard this name before, one of the elements of harmony went crazy over her. The rainbow weather pony was the one, but this pony...he just couldn’t put a name on. A spark seemed to jump in his head as a gray-green jungle explorer’s hat fell into view.

“You are…”

Author's Note:

Finished! Can you guess the mystery pony?

Comments

[nodamnbrakes]

A colt is brought into a prison for murdering his schoolyard bully. With nothing else to do, he sees what he could learn from looking through windows. When he slowly goes insane, he sees what he could do regain his sanity. Can he stay sane and prove his innocence?

So... you just said he's guilty, and then like two sentences later you establish that the story is about whether he can prove he's innocent?

[Peppy Greyskull]

>he murdered his bully
>he goes insane
>can he stay sane and prove his innocence
are you fucking kidding?

4299528 You're a whore! Stealing my thunder!

[nodamnbrakes]

4299533

images.encyclopediadramatica.es/thumb/0/04/Doublesbackwards.jpg/180px-Doublesbackwards.jpg

[ShadowThePony]

4299533

1. I'm new. I'm not a genius.

2. What I'm trying to say is that society in the story (now) considers him guilty, and he's trying to prove his innocent (chasing after a loss cause)

3. He goes insane and than tries to regain his sanity(subconscious talking "get it together" cliché).

4. Thanks... but you don't have to be mean. You can just point it out and not swear at me for it.

[ShadowThePony]

4299541 4306911

Changed it. Happy now?