//------------------------------// // With an iron hoof // Story: Pinkie promise // by Deadcat //------------------------------// Chapter 2 : with an iron hoof I don't remember much after that day. Everything was hazy. Like a dream where you can't tell what's happening. There wasn't much that I could remember. I was scared and alone. I could feel cold, metallic, iron bars between my hooves. I'm pretty sure I heard screaming too. I suppose my mind was slowly processing what had happened in the days before. My memory was slowly eating away... "Pinkamena?" A stern voice and the sound of a gravel being thrust against the wood snapped me out of my half-conscious state. My eyes darted around. I was in a court room. The mahogany furnishings adored the room. Ponies were sat in all corners if the room, there disapproving eyes of fear burning through me. How did I get here? What had happened? Questions flooded my thoughts as I began to breath heavily. "Pinkamena?" the voice repeated. I cocked my head to the side where the judge was sitting. The steely voice was emitted from him. "Do you know where you are?" He asked. I looked around some more. I was at loss of words. My breathing got heavier. "How did I get here?!" I exclaimed. My eyes opened wider and darted around, as my ears flopped up, being alert. Silence filled the room. The judge looked at me and pity filled his eyes "you are in the equestrian court room. You were taken here after a short stay in prison while awaiting your trial," he paused. "Do you know why your here?" My eyes got watery. "No....." I murmured. My words fell to the floor with a clatter as the silence continued. "No!" I yelled slightly louder, the police guards standing in all corners of the room began to slowly advance on me, as I I were a foal about to throw a tantrum. My eyes turned to the judge. "Please tell me I didn't... Please..." I uttered. The judge was a stallion, he looked strong, but yet he seemed full of pity towards me. He looked down at the floor shutting his eyes tight. My pupils dilated. Then I laughed. Everyone in the room stared at me oddly. 'Why is she laughing?' Everyone probably thought that... I didn't care. My laugh got louder and louder. The police guards advanced on me. Trying to calm me down. "I killed my father!!!" I laughed, tears pouring from my eyes. I put my hoof up gesturing for the guards to calm down "I'm okay. I'm okay." I reassured the guards although they didn't look convinced. Silence and confusion filled the room "We are just gonna ask you a few questions okay? Just try and answer them as best you can alright?" The judge said his voice cutting through the silence. I felt mocked, the way he just talked down to me as though I were a foal. The rage in me grew a little bit more. Battling my urge to yell and run away, I conquered the feeling, and went on with what I was supposed to do. A stallion at the far corner of the room stood up. He trotted toward me with a confident grin. He stood in front of me as I gulped nervously. "Pinkameina Diane Pie, did you kill your father?" he scoffed. I paused. My mouth felt dry. I started to shake. I could feel my blood turning cold, and for a second, it was like I had the knife in my hands. The knife I used to kill my father. The question sent a pang of guilt through my mind. That guilt was replaced by rage. The same feeling that filled me before I sliced my father open. "The bastard had it coming" I spat, my words caked in venom. The court room gasped. Everyone sharing looks. I placed my hoof over my mouth. I didn't mean to say it that bluntly. I felt like the rage was splitting me in to, forming my brain into something it wasn't. The stallion looked down, his eyebrow high on his stone face. "What do you mean by that? Did you plan this out beforehoof?" He asked inquisitively. "H- he beat me! He hit me and punched me and cut me everyday! Until I was bloody! Until I was unconscious! My mother would too!!! They would call me names. They would say bad things. They made me feel bad. They had to be stopped." I said sternly, a darkness in my tone. The tall dark stallion walked back to his desk "I rest my case" he said arrogantly as he shuffled the papers at his desk. A mare in the other corner stood up "Judge if I may say something!?" she gasped. Her eyes glued to the judge. The judge simply nodded his head. The mare stood up firmly "It was obviously self defense!" She stated "OBJECTION!" Yelled the other dark stallion who asked me questions before. "Overruled!" replied the judge. Both the mare and stallion sat down. "Pinkamena, why didn't you tell anypony? Why didn't you ask for help" asked the mare. I stared at her. Why didn't I think of that? "There was Nopony around. Only my sisters, b-but they didn't know." I looked down, tears welled in my eyes. It was silent. So silent that I swore the whole court room could hear my heart beating. The judge took a deep breath "hearing both sides of the case, I will now make my ruling towards the punishment of Pinkameina Diane Pie," he said calmly, remaining his composure. My heart began beating faster. "I find Pinkameina Diane Pie guilty for the death of Limestone Pie and sentence you to 4 years in Helping Hoof psychiatric hospital" his words hit me. I was speechless. I was scared. "Please.... No" my powerless words echoed throughout the court room. "NO!! NO!!! PLEASE PLEASE!!!!" I screamed as the police guards grasped ahold of me. I was crying and screaming as they hauled me in the back of a carriage. Blood stained my lip when they threw me into the carriage. A damn cut. What was going to happen to me? Helping Hoof? I've never heard of such a place. Weakly, I crawled to the corner of the carriage and held my hooves close. No home, no family, no friends. Just me. Tears streamed down my face and a whimper escaped my quivering lips. I was alone. I was broken.