//------------------------------//
// Interrogation or Humiliation? 
// Story: Convicted Hearts: The Dragons Stone 
// by SaphireHoyt 
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I groaned as I was forced to endure ropes being tightly tied around my arms, pinning them to my sides in the morning. I was being carted in a cage by a big red horse with a picture of an apple on both of his flanks. I still had my bag and my items in the bag. They hadn't figured out how to unzip the zipper. I looked around and ducked, a look of fear came to my face as I saw an apple hurled an apple at my face. I shrieked and ducked, crouching. None of them wanted to listen to me. None of them wanted to see that I wasn't going to harm them.  I whimpered and shook my head, looking out. There was another apple that hit me in the eye, and there was a cheer from the filly that had thrown it. I cried out and saw the yellow furred and pink maned Pegasus wince back at the sight of the impact. Someone threw another apple and hit me in the nose. I felt something red trickle down my face to my chin. I resorted to crouching over like an animal and whimpering. I sat down and tucked my head between my legs, trying to use my legs to block out sound. I felt tears drip from my hurt eye, and I felt tears stream from my other eye too. The good one. I felt more things hit me, aiming for my head, and some were getting more aggressive because they weren't hitting their intended targets. I felt something soft hit me among everything that could have been thrown. It was a doll. A stuffed animal. I saw a single, sad looking filly standing in the center of the road behind the cart. I felt my tears well up harder and I grabbed it. It was small. I mouthed to her the only way I could, knowing she probably couldn't understand me.

"Thank you." I was hit in the face with something big enough and hard enough to knock me unconscious. I saw stars and whimpered, falling unconscious completely. It was awful. I had a blistering headache, and the whispering voice from the sky did not help.

"What do they want from me?! What did I do to them?! Why do they want to hurt me?! All I did was... Was walk around their town!" I shook with tears as I wailed in sadness, covering my eyes with a blubbering call. I cradled my head and crouched over, crying. I had my hands free here. I didn't want to leave. I was to scared. I was scared of what was happening. I awoke with my body curled into the fetal position. I could move my hands now, having the rope removed as I rested on the ground of a dark and dank cell. The stones around me were awful, barren and lifeless. There was a bucket in the corner, and kindly, a working spigot for water. There as a candle there to illuminate the cell. I whimpered and stood up, looking around. I didn't see a skeleton hanging on the wall, but a ton of tally marks on the walls. I had to stand on my tip toes  just to see out the tiny peep hole that showed everything outside my cell. I whimpered loudly and peeked from side to side. It was dark, lit by only a torch. I could see a set of stairs and a strange pole with a loop at the end, most likely for me. I shook fearfully and looked around outside the door.

"H... Hello?? Is- Is anyone out there? I... I'm scared... Where am I?" The distant clop of hooves was heard along with a confused sound. The stallion looked at me through the window of the cell door, and his eyes lit with fear. I looked back, scared and confused. I backed away from the door, realizing that he would likely throw something at me. "Please- don't throw anything- I'll stop talking- I'll do whatever you want! Just- just please don't hurt me anymore!"

"Hurt YOU?! You're the one that stalked through the town looking for foals to eat!" He scoffed and looked at me with one eye through the peep hole, looking on with disbelief. I teared up and looked at him, holding my head like I was about to die. I doubled over and sniffled.

" You really think I want to eat your children?! I'm a CHILD MYSELF!!"I looked back at him with tears and backed into the corner that was furthest from the door or the bucket. I was hungry. I was thirsty. I didn't know where I was. No actually, I was in a dungeon. Which one? I don't know. I sniffled and looked at him. I cried out loud, wanting everyone to hear. "I don't even know if I have a mother! A father! I can't REMEMBER ANYTHING!" It echoed off my walls and down the hall, carrying further down the hall and up to the cells above. My sobbing was quieter, and my sniffling was too. There was only the sound of my whimpering for a moment. Next was the sound of more clopping hooves.

"I looked up and fear welled in my chest. I grabbed the stuffed animal- whatever it was -and stuffed it under my shirt. I felt my eye begin to hurt a bit as I was fearfully shaking and hiding in the corner. Where was Luna? My beautiful moon? The way she shined through the clouds at night? Please, I begged, let this be a dream. Let my pain disappear and I'd wake up back in the bushes, or the woods... Or... Or even the Dragon's Isle. I never imagined I would want that. I looked at the mark on my chest, and it was glowing faintly. It was flickering lightly. I saw this and wondered, wondered greatly. It was glowing when I paddled my way across the water. It was hard to think. I couldn't think. It was to difficult. The stallion oved aside and his keys and my door clicked. The hoof steps were finished. Silent. My door glowed purple and opened quickly. I jumped when someone walked in.

It was the little unicorn and the yellow Pegasus. They were looking at me with sympathy. I took the stuffed animal out and shakily held it out. My tears were still visible. They were still  there. They weren't going to go away. The tears gently dripped down my face.

"It's going to be OK... We're here to help you, not to hurt. We aren't like the others." It was the yellow Pegasus that was talking, gently approaching. She used her wing to clear my tears, and I felt a tad uneasy. She moved closer, and I hugged her. She was soft. She made me feel safe. I was able to trust all of a sudden.

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