Another day another...
BeYyEeOoOwL...
Aaaand that would be Toby's hangry stomach. Another day, another - 'beyeowl', apparently. It was much longer and more drawn out than the previous day. Which meant malnutrition times two.
Woo-hoo. He was dying. Now that he actually thought about it, how long did it actually take for a human being to die of starvation? Something like forty days? If so, he had a way to go.
Something had been piquing his interest that particular day, though - it was the first day that he had woken up on his own terms. Besides the times he had been aroused by nightmares, of course. But normally that guard - Clearify or something - would come to wake him up, since that's apparently what they like to do to their prisoners here.
But this strange change meant one of two things: either the guard had forgotten (which seemed very unlikely), or Flutterbutt had spilled the beans about what she had gathered from the previous day's questioning. Would it help him at all? These ponies seemed like the kind to overdo it with sympathy. He did not need their sympathy.
He slowly sat up, feeling a sharp pain in his left abdomen. Ah, so stomach cramps were now a thing when you were hungry. Toby didn't really know if this was a normal thing or not; he was focused on other sciences than health.
"Oh - you're up," said a feminine voice said from behind, making him jump. He turned to see the guard, Clarity, escorting some sort of bug-pony into the cell on the other side of the corridor from his own. "That's good."
Toby hesitated. "You knew I was still sleeping?"
Clarity nodded, locking her prisoner away. "Mm-hm. Princess's orders. They're getting much closer to deciding what to do with you."
"That's hardly fair," Toby grumbled. "No sense of justice in this system."
"What was that?" Clarity asked, frowning.
"Nothing," Toby replied quickly. He didn't want to make things worse for himself - he was already on the point of breaking, and that was scary enough in and of itself.
"Er - okay..." Clarity said, raising an eyebrow. "I'm going to go collect your breakfast."
"Have fun."
Clarity hesitated, but then shook her head sadly as she walked back up the corridor. Toby relaxed, contenting himself with plans of how he would creatively turn down his meal this time.
As it turned out, the more habitually he refused to eat, the easier it became to do it - not that he didn't have the physical desire to eat - it just became a mental game for him.
Clarity returned a couple minutes later with a steaming scrambled egg platter balanced on her back. She grabbed the edge of the plate with her teeth and placed it on the floor, proceeding to then slide it under Toby's cell door.
Toby merely just stared at it. After a moment Clarity groaned and walked up to the bars of his cell.
"Oh, for Celestia's sake - EAT!!" she cried, looking slightly desperate.
Toby shook his head.
"Why?" Clarity asked in a strange tone.
Toby looked up, and a shiver of realization ran down his spine. That look on her face - the sad, desperate edge to her tone - she was genuinely concerned about him. She clearly didn't believe he was dangerous.
"I don't want to give the princesses the satisfaction they're seeking," he said with a deep breath. At that moment, he only half-cared about his no-talking rule. "They put me in here without a proper trial. I assume normal citizens - ponies, I mean to say - get fair trials before they get thrown into the slammer."
"Y-Yeah, that's true," Clarity said quietly. "And don't tell anypony else, but..." She stuck her snout through the bars and whispered, "I don't agree with a lot of the traditions the princesses follow around here - they can ruin so much so easily with their stubbornness, and they aren't even aware of it."
"Tch, tell me about it," Toby muttered bitterly, propping himself up against his cell wall. "This whole 'treat him like garbage until we find out who he really is' thing is really grinding my gears - if I somehow get released, I'm getting as far away from you ponies as I can."
Clarity looked offended. "Why!?"
"I thought you'd have figured that out for yourself," Toby deadpanned.
There was a moment of awkward silence during which Toby closed his eyes and leaned back to rest with a soft grunt. Clarity shifted her hooves slightly.
Finally, after a moment later, she chose to speak. "Do - do you hate me?"
Toby looked up. "That's a strange question to ask your prisoner."
"I know, it's just..." Clarity said, trailing off. "You just seem eager to end conversation, and you avoid my eyes all the time. I'm getting a very negative vibe off of you."
"Wonder why that is," Toby growled, patting the floor of his cell. "Besides, I have no idea why you should be valuing my opinion - I'm a prisoner. I don't get a say, especially since I'm... different."
Clarity shook her head. "Do you even care??"
"About what?" Toby asked indifferently, examining his arm carelessly.
"About - about... I don't know - yourself!!"
"An interesting question," Toby replied. "Yes and no, but I'm not going to explain myself, so don't even ask."
Clarity bit her lip and stomped her hoof angrily. "What's that even supposed to mean!?"
"Didn't you hear me?" Toby asked calmly. "I said that I'm not going to explain anything to you, so don't even ask."
"You explained to me why you aren't eating."
"That's different."
"Hardly." Clarity turned to leave, then hesitated. She frowned at Toby. "I was also supposed to tell you that your next interrogation will occur in roughly an hour."
"Whoopee," Toby groaned as his stomach gave a particularly painful lurch.
Clarity stared at him for another moment. "Just one more question - do you even trust those who are in charge of you? You seem very uncertain about everything."
"And why do you say that?" Toby asked nonchalantly, playing with a small piece of chipped concrete.
"Dude, all I have to do is look at you," Clarity answered impatiently. "It's so obvious."
"Alright - fine - you got me," Toby said, pulling himself onto his cot. The floor had been making his malnutritioned buttcheeks sore. "I'll answer you this - so long as the creature in charge is a pony, I don't see a reason to. Although... Miss Fluttershy seemed to - somehow - understand how I felt, and I could tell Princess Evening -"
"I think you mean Princess Twilight," Clarity corrected.
"Yeah, her," Toby acknowledged, nodding. "She seemed to pick up on the fact that I was -" His eyes went wide, and he immediately stopped talking.
"The fact that you were... what?" Clarity asked.
"It doesn't matter. None of your business."
"Actually, it is my business," Clarity said curtly. "But I'm not going to press you for information you don't want to divulge."
Toby looked up at his guard, and with a shiver realized that she was serious. Maybe.
"Stop that," he said suddenly.
Clarity looked at him confused. "What are you talking about? I haven't done anything."
"I don't know what it is, but you're doing it!!" Toby huffed irritably. A long silence followed during which Clarity put a hoof up to her mouth.
Finally it was too much. Her laughter bubbled out of her barrel and out into the empty corridor, echoing off of the walls.
"Heh... sorry," Clarity said, catching her breath, trying not to look at Toby's disgruntled expression. "That was kind of funny."
"Fine! Fine - maybe not all of you ponies are bad..." Toby said, grinning slightly. It kind of hurt - he hadn't used his smiling muscles in a while.
"Well, normally I'd press you for a more satisfying answer, but... that would be a bit rude," Clarity admitted with a smile.
"What do you mean?" Toby asked with an ornery expression. "Go for it. You outrank me."
"Nice try, wiseguy," Clarity said with a smirk. "You're just looking for an excuse to hate me."
"I don't hate you..." Toby said quietly. "It's hard to hate someone who goes out of their way to be kind. That's why I liked Miss Fluttershy. And Princess Twilight. And... you, I guess. Even though you take me to those stupid interrogations."
Clarity smiled. "Thanks, Toby. I really hope you get out of here."
"That means a lot," Toby replied as Clarity made to leave. "And... Clearity?"
"It's Clarity," the guard corrected, turning to look at him.
"Right..." Toby said, looking as if he didn't want to say what he was about to. "I - I trust you, if that means anything..."
Clarity beamed, then walked out of sight.
"Rainbow, are you - are you sure you're the best pony to go next?" Celestia over her pancakes as the questioning company was eating breakfast in the royal dining room.
Rainbow puffed out her chest, placing a hoof on it. "I was born ready, princess!"
"Yes, Ahm sure ya would make a great interrogator an' all, but I don't think you're the kind of pony who should question the critter next," Applejack commented. "Your style is a bit - tempered, don't ya think?"
"Yes, I'd have to agree with Applejack, darling," Rarity added. "You are a bit aggressive - and the poor fellow is hurting."
"According to Fluttershy, anyway!" Rainbow huffed, hovering above her chair out of habit. "I bet that hamine -"
"Human," Twilight deadpanned.
" - Human, whatever - I bet he's acting like that on purpose!" the prismatic pegasus declared. "I don't think he really means it when he says that he's safe!"
"But I saw his eyes," Fluttershy said in a very hushed voice. No one in the room heard her.
Luna sighed. "Rainbow... are you absolutely sure?"
"Pfft! Of course, princess!!" the cocky mare exclaimed. "I was born for this!!"
"But you already said that, silly!" Pinkie chirped.
"Not helpful, Pinkie," Twilight groaned. "This is important!!"
Celestia sighed. "Just make sure you don't go hard unless absolutely necessary, Rainbow Dash - er - Rainbow Dash? Where did she go?"
Sure enough, the over-determined mare had left the room unannounced.
"Should we stop her, your highness?" asked one of the guards by the door asked. Celestia thought for a moment, then looked to Luna, who shook her head.
"Let's see how this plays out, sister," the lunar princess suggested. "Hopefully we shall not have to interfere."
"I hope you're making the right call here, Luna," Celestia replied skeptically, throwing a concerned look towards the door that Rainbow had left through.
Toby had begun to think that the ponies weren't that bad - that maybe, just maybe, he could integrate into their society.
Then the stupid, bloody interrogation happened. Just his luck, of course - when things seem to get better, life poops on your head like an oversized cockatoo. Screw ponies.
That day he was interrogated by a cyan pegasus with a prismatic mane who called herself 'Rainbow Dash' - and he had never met a meaner personality in his entire life. And mean was an understatement, too - she was a straight up jerk. The first thing she had done was hover directly in front of his face and examine him.
After a moment or two, she pressed her snout uncomfortably close to his nose and bellowed, "YOU AREN'T FOOLING ANYONE, YA KNOW!!"
Apparently she thought he was some sort of actor, for she didn't seem believe to believe the genuine look of confusion on Toby's face was true confusion. She settled herself down on the other end of the table and slammed her hooves down upon it.
"Listen here, dirtwad," she said with an over-determined, cocky smile on her face. "I know that you pulled something on Fluttershy yesterday - because she's not the same anymore."
Yeah, right, Toby thought inwardly. She's just looking for reason to scream at me some more, I bet.
"Well, I'm here to find out if you're really the nice guy you say you are," Rainbow smirked standing up. "So, tell me - what are your abilities?"
Toby's mouth fell open slightly. "What - what are you talking about??"
"You're a monster, duh!!" Rainbow scoffed. "All monsters have abilities - so what are yours??"
Toby gave her a deadened gaze in return. Yeah, he was definitely not going to speak - especially if it gave this stupid mare the satisfaction she was seeking.
"Speak, for Celestia's sake!!" Rainbow huffed. Toby raised an eyebrow. Seeing that he was doing nothing, she lunged at him from her end of the table. "I command you to listen to me! Talk!!"
Toby huffed as the pegasus breathed angrily into his face. "Fine - I don't have any abilities. Look at me - you all have magic and can fly, but I've got nothing on me."
Rainbow stepped back, eyeing his form suspiciously. The she smirked. "Alright - yeah, I can see that... you do look pretty worthless."
Toby's eye ticked. Why was it that when she said it, it hurt? He inwardly called himself worthless countless times a day in order to give himself some sort of emotion other than bitterness, and it wasn't really affecting him in the ways he had hoped.
Rainbow began to circle him slowly, eyeing his motionless form in the chair. "Yeah... come to think of it, you look really weak - and slow - and even stupid... what business did you have coming here to Equestria? Huh?"
"I didn't come here on purpose," Toby said quietly.
"A likely story," Rainbow snapped, giving him a queer stare. "So, randomly, you decided to bust open a street in the middle of Canterlot for no reason?"
"Again - not on purpose," Toby deadpanned in a quiet voice.
"Mm-hm... okay," Rainbow said, trotting over to his chair. "I guess I could - whoops."
She pressed a hoof to his chest, pushing him over backward while he was still in his chair. The back of his head connected with the stone floor, sending a splitting pain through the center of his brain. Stars danced in front of his eyes for a moment until Rainbow's head came into focus, which loomed overhead.
"Get up," she said with a stupid grin plastered on her face.
Toby growled. "You're kidding."
Rainbow scowled. "No, I'm NOT! Get up, loser!!"
The clink of shifting armor echoed off of the walls, and Clarity's voice rang out.
"That will be enough, Ms. Dash," she said curtly.
"I'm not even done with him, though," Rainbow whined. "I'm almost there, I can feel it!"
"Pardon me, Ms. Dash, but I didn't see any progress," Clarity said, hoisting Toby up. His head throbbed painfully and slumped forward. "This will be reported to the princesses."
"You don't know what I was trying to do!" Rainbow cried angrily stamping her hoof. "Give me five more minutes."
"No."
"Fine! Two??"
"NO!"
Clarity fumbled with the ropes tied around Toby's wrists, then quickly led him out of the room, careful not to cause him to fall over - he had hit his head very hard on the floor.
When the two had returned to Toby's cell, Clarity gently placed him onto the cot on the floor. "I'm sorry about that," she said regretfully as Toby groaned and put his hands up to his head. "I'm going to go report this to the princesses, and then I will return with some ice for your head." She ran off, leaving Toby to sink into his dark train of thought once more.
Rainbow entered the throne room, feeling really disgruntled.
"Ah! Rainbow Dash," Luna said in a false cheery voice. "Did the interview go well?"
Rainbow grumbled. "No. Your guard stopped it halfway through."
Celestia, Luna, and Twilight exchanged a frightened look. They all looked back at Rainbow with baited breath for a moment, but Twilight was the first to step forward.
"What. Did. You. DO!?" she said through gritted teeth.
Before Rainbow could reply, a voice cut across the room. "Permission to speak, your highness."
Twilight looked around to see a guard that stood in the room. "Er - okay... Clarity, was it?"
"Yes, your highness," Clarity said with a respectful bow. "Ms. Dash here was downright ferocious with the prisoner - she did nothing but dispirit and provoke him, including knocking him onto the ground while he was still bound to the chair. It was a nasty affair, princess."
Celestia looked angry, making the ponies in the room shiver. Rarely was she ever angry. "Rainbow, is this true?"
"I was trying to find out if he was dangerous or not!!" Rainbow protested.
"By calling him worthless??" Clarity pressed.
Twilight narrowed her eyes. "You didn't..."
Rainbow avoided her friend's scathing gaze. "Okay, maybe I got a little carried away... but how else was I supposed to figure out what kind of powers he had?"
"Powers!? Humans don't have powers, Rainbow!! You should have asked me before assuming something like that! I've been to their world, for buck's sake!!"
Celestia frowned deeper. "Rainbow, we all know you are capable of much more - as well as how dedicated you can be to your duties - but there will be an inquiry about this. In the meantime, you are on probation."
"Pro-Probation??" Rainbow asked weakly. "What d-does that mean?"
"You'll know shortly," Twilight replied curtly. "And believe me, you deserve worse - not that I want you to be punished, but you've earned this."
Rainbow looked at her friend in disbelief. "Twilight?"
"She's right, sugarcube," Applejack put in, appearing at her friend's side. "You hafta realize what ya did back there - well, comin' from Clarity, anyhoo - that was downright horrifyin'. That's not who you are, Rainbow Dash, an' you know it. The Rainbow Dash Ah know would've done exactly what she was told."
"To be fair, she never received clear instructions," Celestia said, looking as if she were trying to hide her anger under her calm outer appearance. "Not to nullify what has been done, obviously... but Rainbow, I have to impress upon you how serious a situation you have caused. You barged in - without invitation, really - and proceeded to almost definitely ruin any progress we have made with Toby. Now, Clarity, would you please escort Rainbow Dash to her room?"
"If it pleases her majesty, I was planning to take some ice down for Toby's head," Clarity pleaded, bowing slightly.
The corners of Celestia's mouth twitched sympathetically. "Very well - Twilight, would you and your friends escort Rainbow Dash, then?"
"Of course," Twilight replied. Clarity departed the room immediately after, followed closely by Twilight and her friends, towing along a morose-looking Rainbow.
He fought back some tears. Of course, it had to happen - as soon as he let his guard down with these ponies for five minutes, he ended up paying for it. These ponies had made his life go from miserable to absolute torture in less than a week - perhaps it was time to call the ultimate shot.
No, said a small voice in the back of his head. That's unforgivable! Don't you dare!"
"I can't go on like this," Toby muttered as a hot, wet sensation developed behind his eyes. "I can't."
Rainbow Dash's voice echoed madly through his head, confirming the biggest insecurity he ever had. Now he believed it.
... You do look pretty worthless...
... You look weak - and slow - and even stupid...
... Get up, loser!!
... Worthless...
... Loser...
Coward, said a small voice in his head.
The tears came hot and fast, but Toby made no move to intercept them. Instead, he rolled off of the cot and grabbed the flimsy blanket. Looking up at the ceiling, he saw a thick support beam that held up the rock ceiling - it had small holes throughout it, placed at equal distances, that were probably there for some engineering reason.
Without hesitation, he rolled up the blanket tightly and began to fiddle with the ends it...
How did it go again? The bunny comes out of the hole, around the tree a couple times, then back into the hole...?
When the knot had been almost completed, he threaded the skinny end through one of the holes in the support beam and the tightened the knot. He stood back for a moment to admire his work, then, hesitating slightly, approached it.
The tears still fell heavily from his face as he placed the noose around his neck. He gave a slight tug to test it, and it tightened satisfactorily. He took a deep breath as memories of his life zoomed before his eyes - the time he achieved an all-state academic notice, when he graduated high school, his first kiss with Marietta, his drafting into the army... his cowardly return... his father's words...
Unbelievable! And to think that I believed that I had a truly impressive son for a time...
Toby choked back a sob and let his legs give out, letting himself dangle. It was a curious sensation, really, being strangled... not as bad as he thought...
Clarity hurried down the dungeon corridor with a bag of ice from the kitchens. She hoped Toby would at least trust her enough to take care of him.
As she reached his cell, she fumbled for her key, not looking up. She felt a pair of eyes on her, and turned to see the changeling prisoner she had barred up earlier staring at her with an extremely reproachful, yet horrified expression.
"What happened to you?" Clarity asked.
The changeling changed its stare to something behind Clarity - something that was in Toby's cell. Clarity followed her gaze, and dropped the bag of ice.
"Holy Celestia... TOBY!!" she hollered, doubling her efforts to gain access to his cell.