The prisoner’s tray laid upon the ground, long cleaned of his last meal. The bluegrass and wheat bread still stuck to his teeth but he made no attempt to lick them off. His mouth was too occupied breathing in the dank air around him, the sole solution to the fermenting mold upon the walls and the bucket filled with bodily refuse the guards refused to change. Only the water dripping down the stairs to the cell door, their light plunk-plunk upon the stone steps, provided any accompaniment to the prisoner’s ruminations.
At least it’s just a beheading, he thought. One swipe and done. Not like the gryphons. They still did drawing and quartering last I heard.
He stared out the barred window into the night. No, the Night. A majestic force demanding respect like any sovereign. Refuse to acknowledge it, and one found themselves in such a dungeon. The moon stood out in its full glory, filled as it had been the last seven years. But it was the stars, the little suns of faraway solar systems that prompted a small smile upon his face. They were the sole indicators of passing time in a dungeon without clocks or calendars. Even now, he could see Gieneigh shining ten degrees from the last position, an indicator of three hours past.
Somewhere the sun still shines, he thought. Not too far, only a billion million miles away. Could make a fine vacation.
“Vacation,” he said. He’d gotten in the habit of repeating the words he’d remembered from the daylight years. “Vacation.”
The prisoner closed his eyes, trying to remember the vacation. Neighami, capital of Equestrian sun. He could just make out the waves splashing against his skin and the salt filling his nose with each towering wave. The ponies wandering the sand, dripping with overapplied sunscreen and shining in the afternoon rays. Every hotel sticking up from the ground and hoisting itself above a landscape flatter than the western plains.
Dad was there, the prisoner thought. Mom too. But not Silver or Emmy-
“Get up!” a harsh voice called out. The words reverberated inside the cell like a cave.
“Get up,” the prisoner repeated. The words held a certain taste of unfamiliarity, the first in a long time that hadn’t been the prisoner’s own private mumblings.
“Do not talk back! Get up!” the voice said.
The prisoner sat up from the creaking cot and glanced up the stairs. A tall mare with a disapproving look in her eyes stared down at him. A black set of armor sat upon her violet coat, and thin wings stuck out from her shoulder blades.
“What?” the prisoner whined. “Can’t give a stallion a little time alone before his execution?”
The guard jostled the lance in her hoof. “Speak without permission again, and death will be the least of your worries.”
The prisoner chuckled. “You say that like it’s a threat.”
“What are you-? Never mind. Just hurry up. The Princess wants to see you.”
His ears perked up. “Princess? She’s come back?”
“Not that Princess, you imbecile!” the guard growled. “The true Princess, Nightmare Moon!”
Disappointment came across his face. “Ah,” he said, laying back down on the cot.
“What’re you doing? I said get up!”
“Why? I very much doubt such an illustrious ruler like herself needs a dungeon dweller like myself to offer her counsel…”
“It doesn’t matter what you think! The Princess wants you, and she’s going to get you!”
“Oh she is, is she?” he said, a slight smile coming across his face. “I suppose that’s true. Her powers vastly overwhelms the one that’s kept in this little thing.” He pointed toward his horn, a tan brown protrusion sticking out from his disheveled black mane. “It probably is pointless to just keep sitting here and stalling…”
“Then what are you waiting for? Get up here now!”
He looked back up at her, a bemused expression on his face. “You speak in ups, don’t you?”
“What?”
“‘Wake up’, ‘get up’, ‘hurry up’. It seems to be the main building block of your extremely varied vocabulary.”
“Look buddy, I’ve had it up to here with your-”
“There it is again!” His hoof shot to his mouth, desperate to restrain his chortles.
“I’m warning you, Subversive. Make one more crack about me and you’ll be sorry!”
“Not as sorry as your school teacher must be for spawning such an unimaginative pupil.”
He heard the lance hit the ground first, a loud clang ringing through the cell. Then he felt the guard’s hoof in his stomach and his back hitting the stone floor. Hnnng, hnnng, his lungs wheezed while the rest of him curled into a ball.
The guard stood over him, a sadistic grin on her face. “You going to keep mouthing off, or are you going to be a good little pony and shut up?”
He looked up at her. A slow smile crossed his face. “You…said ‘up’…again,” he gasped.
The guard’s smile fell to an annoyed grimace, then she stormed back up the stairs. “I swear, she doesn’t give me enough credit for what I put up with,” she grumbled. “Quartz! Rainbow Dash! Get your sorry flanks over here!”
For a few moments, the hall outside the door echoed with quick hoofsteps trotting, before stopping right outside the door. A red stallion and mare with a rainbow mane stood there, looking intently at the purple guard.
“Yes, ma’am?” the two said in unison.
“The Princess has requested a conference with this prisoner. However, he’s being more than a little uncooperative. Drag him up to the Throne room, no matter how much he kicks and shouts.”
The duo saluted. “Yes, ma’am.”
“And don’t talk to him any more than you need to. The Princess warned he’s a talker.”
The two guards nodded, then made their way down the stairs. The prisoner still laid in a ball, staring up at the window.
“Alright, you,” the pony named Rainbow Dash said. “Get on up.”
“Can’t, I’m afraid,” he gurgled.
“Why not?”
“Ask your Commander.” He glanced down at his stomach. “She apparently decided I was the perfect test subject for her amateur bariatric surgery.”
Rainbow looked back up the stairs to her Commander, gazing down in increasing annoyance. She bent down to the prisoner and whispered: “Look, if you don’t get up, she’s going to tell us to beat you even more. Getting up now will save us both a lot of trouble.”
The prisoner looked up, his eyes squinting up at the light blue mare. “Threats,” he gurgled, “don’t work on a dead stallion.”
“Ugh,” Rainbow sighed. She motioned toward the curled-up stallion, and her partner nodded. Simultaneously, they grabbed opposite sides of the prisoner and forced him up. They then began their ascent up the stairs, hooves under each of his front legs.
“A compassionate response,” the prisoner said. “You’re not cut out for this organization.”
The Commander looked at the display with a strange mixture of amusement and irritation. “Heavens above, you’re a hooful.”
“‘Heavens above…” the prisoner intoned as they reached the top steps. “Another variation of ‘up’, Commander...”
The Commander closed her eyes and brought a hoof to her face. “I really hope the Princess is upping your execution to disembowelment. That, or the Moon.”
“Ah, the Moon,” he said as the duo snapped shackles onto his legs and dragged him down the dungeon corridor, the Commander leading them forward. “Nice place. Looking out the window just now, I could see why Nightmare Moon loved it so much. Always full, all the time. Heck, I heard it was so good, Princess Celestia decided to make it her residence during her ever-continuing vacation from-”
The Commander spun around and grabbed the prisoner’s neck with both hooves. His eyes shot open wide and his body fell backwards. Quartz and Rainbow Dash’s hold stayed steady though, keeping the stallion upright.
“Listen to me, you little piece of trash,” the Commander growled, her eyes staring hard and long into the prisoner’s still-blurry eyes. “You can mutter whatever you want about me, my guards, or whatever else floats into that diseased mind of yours. But if I ever, and I mean ever, hear you mention her name again, I’ll make sure you don’t ever talk again. Understand?”
The stallion looked at her, a shock and fear still displayed on his face. But after a few moments, his eyes went back to their original weary gaze and he gave an uneasy smile.
“Completely, Commander.”
She let go of him and promptly resumed her walking. Quartz and Rainbow Dash gave each other quick looks, then promptly followed with the prisoner in tow.
“As I was saying, great place, the Moon,” he said, the group making their way up the stairs to the main part of the castle. “Always full, all the time. Heck, I hope you’re right Commander, about the Princess banishing me there. I’d like it. Heard the cheese is to die for. In fact, I knew a guy…”