“You’re insane; you have gone completely insane,” Octavia complained as the train stopped at the prison’s station.
“You don’t have to come if you don’t want to,” Cash replied.
“I’ll be watching from a safe spot, you’re actually going in there; who would even want to do that?”
“Me, I guess.”
She and Cash began walking into the prison.
“But why? All the ponies here are ruthless criminals.”
“They still have feelings, y’know.”
They entered the prison, which seemed like a normal prison back on earth. Cells ran along the walls endlessly, their residents holding the same hopeless, empty look on their faces he had seen before. It was also rather dimly lit, and probably would’ve been worse if sunlight was not making its way through the barred windows.
“This is as far as I’ll go,” Octavia said. “I hope you’ll understand if I’m a bit too nervous to follow; I’ll just watch from a little guard room overlooking it.”
Cash sighed, but more-or-less understood.
“Alright, but you mind if I ask why?”
“Like I said, these ponies are here for a reason,” she explained. “I’m not sure what you plan to accomplish by doing this, but I doubt that I could be of any help.”
She turned to a guard, who proceeded to lead her up a flight of stairs.
“Good luck, though!”
Cash continued on his own down the hall, guitar in hand. When he thought about it, he could see how someone with her personality would fail to understand his idea. Indeed, if he really was the first one from the outside to even visit them, maybe it made since that all the ponies thought he had lost it. But if he could actually reach out and connect with these inmates and show that they have a soul then maybe, just maybe, they would understand, too.
“Johnny Cash?” the guard observed. “This way.”
The guard led him into the prison’s large cafeteria. Having no windows, it was rather dark and sad-looking. The tables were lined with inmates all eating or conversing amongst themselves. Everything went quite as the human entered, which he had become accustomed to.
“What’s that supposed to be?” one of the inmates asked, apparently unimpressed.
“I’m a human; name’s Johnny Cash.”
“Why are you here?”
“Well I heard ya’ll have it pretty rough in here, so I figured I might come visit.”
Before another reply came, the inmate closest to him stood up.
“Cash, you mean that music alien that appeared out of nowhere?”
“That sounds about right,” Cash replied.
“Yea, I heard a few good things about you,” he said, starting to walk over to him.
Before he could get very far, one of the guards shoved him back in his place; pointing his spear at his face.
“Do not approach him or I will be forced to act!” he ordered.
“The hell is the matter with you!?” Johnny yelled. “Back off!”
Johnny grabbed the weapon and pushed it away from the terrified pony. The guard looked at him; part of him was angry, the other part was confusion. Who in Equestria would want to stand up for this scum?
“I don’t think I’ll need an escort,” Johnny said in an irritated tone.
“Fine,” the guard huffed.
“Thanks, why did you do that?” the prisoner asked.
“Because he over-reacted,” Johnny answered.
“No, that’s pretty much how they always are; in hindsight, I guess I should’ve seen it coming.”
“Always?”
“Always.”
“Christ, I didn’t think it’d be that bad.”
“It’s the worst prison in Equestria, what were you expecting?” the inmate asked glumly. “Why exactly are you here, anyways? I mean, you don’t know any of us, and I’m the only who’s ever even heard you’re name.”
“I came to play a few songs for ya’ll,” he answered. “I used to do it a lot back where I came from.”
This caught a good deal of attention, with most of the prisoners looking over at him. Cash saw their faces go from cold, confused, and uncaring to bright and hopeful. That showed him there was something left in them, something that only a real, living being with thought and feelings could have.
“Really?”
“Yea…but you mind if I ask why ya’ll are so excited? You were the only one that’s ever heard of me before now.”
“Well, the guards don’t let us play any music to begin with, so anything that we can get is welcome, which is basically nothing.”
“No music?” Johnny asked, stunned.
“Not a peep of it; we can’t even sing ourselves. Only thing we ever hear is one of the guards yellin’ at us or that…bloody train’s whistle,” he said with venom in every word. “That whistle, it’s a nightmare; all it does is remind us of how easy it is to get back to civilization, and yet we can never get on.”
That just made Johnny angry again; what in the world was the point of banning music? Even if it was just the inmates singing, what could it possibly hurt? And then the whistle; that story sounded pretty familiar to him.
“Well, ya’ll can consider this a little gift from me; you feel free to enjoy yourselves, I’ll take whatever heat the guards throw at ya.”
“Really?” one of the other prisoners asked.
“Really,” Cash assured him. “So, how’s about I get things going; where’s my stage?”
“Over there, I guess,” the pony indicated.
Moving through the crowd toward the front of the room, Johnny saw a rather small stage; if it could be called that. There was nowhere to sit down, and the mic didn’t look like it was properly set for him; the lighting over it was not much different than the rest of the glum room. There was also no cage to separate him and the prisoners, but he didn’t mind that.
He didn’t know if the guards setting up did this on purpose, or were just being lazy because it had something to do with an inmate’s enjoyment. Either way, it would never stop Johnny from going up, fixing what needed to be fixed, and go on with his show. And even in this hellhole, filled with an audience who had never heard his name, the criminals began to cheer.
Finishing off strong, John saw the audience going totally insane with joy. He was glad there was a small light in the back to show the shock on the guard’s faces; they must have thought a riot was going to start, and it was rather humorous. He was far from done, though.
“Alright, ya’ll might be wondering why I was so eager to come here for ya’ll; well, it’s because I did this exact same thing back home. I was the first to go and play at a prison, and I did it because I knew everyone locked up in there was still a citizen, still a living being, regardless of their crimes; they still had feelings, and I think this place here is the same as the one back home.”
And that was that, with those last words Cash walked down from the stage to be swarmed by the thankful inmates. Every one of them was thankful, more than they had been in a long time. The guards themselves were still amazed; the prisoners had never been so active, or thankful, or generally happy. Maybe there was more to each of them than originally thought.
“So, what are you here for?” Cash asked one of the many inmates he was talking with.
“Robbery.”
“Hm, and you?”
“Illegal trafficking; that’s all I really want to say about the details of it.”
“And how long are you here for?”
“Life,” the pony replied depressingly.
“Life? That seems pretty harsh.”
“Crime laws are very strict here, Johnny, and we broke them; we’re all here for a reason.”
“Yea, but you know that it’s bad now, right?”
“Doesn’t matter,” the inmate said. “We’re stuck in here no matter what.”
“No chance, huh? Sounds more appropriate for murder.”
The inmates all seemed surprised by this.
“Murder? That hasn’t happened in…as long as I can remember…I actually don’t think it’s happened in my lifetime. I don’t know what the punishment for it is, but I’d have to guess it’s real bad,” one of the criminals explained. “Does it happen often where you come from?”
“Yea, kinda; you didn’t hear that part of the song?”
“I thought I misheard you.”
“Christ, this place is strict.”
“Yea, but it’s a lot better since you came to visit.”
Johnny had to admit that everything did seem a lot better. The prisoners seemed happier, and even the guards were talking with a few of them. It looked amazingly, and ironically, peaceful; like it was never a prison to begin with.
“Mr. Cash!”
Johnny looked to his side to see Octavia, being escorted by the prison’s warden.
“Could we talk for a moment?”
“Sure, I’ll be back in a minute, boys,” he told the prisoners before following the two outside the cafeteria.
“That was just incredible!” Octavia said. “The way they aced, and the way they look; I didn’t think it was even possible for them to be like that!”
“I have to agree, they all seem rather happy and cooperative as well,” the warden said. “Maybe we were wrong about them, and you.”
“They’ve still got a soul, y’know; I’m just glad I can help ya’ll realize that,” Cash said with a smile.
“Things certainly won’t be as bad, I’m sure,” the warden promised.
“Great. Ms. Octavia, if you just gimme’ a minute to say goodbye, we can get going.”
“Actually, I don’t mind if you stay and talk for a little while longer,” she said. “In fact, I think I’ll join you.”