//------------------------------// // Why Today? // Story: Jail-House Blues // by little dashie //------------------------------// Jail-House Blue By: Little Dashie Chapter One: Why Today? Luna walked past Celestia with a sullen look. She just didn't want to do anything anymore. Celestia had tried her best to talk with Luna but it was all in vain. "Lulu..." Celestia said trying to get her little sister's attention. "Hmm?" "Something wrong dear sister?" Luna shook her head and continued down the hall at an extremely slow pace. Luna really needed some more exitement in her life. "Luna..." "What Tia?" "When was the last time you ever did something fun?" Luna stopped dead in her slow tracks. She thought about it for what seemed like minutes. She tried to anwer her sister but everytime she opened her mouth she would shake her head and close it again. "Nightmare Night... A few years ago..." Luna had enjoyed her first Nightmare Night back but ever since then she just never got out of the castle to try anything. It took a few months just to convince her to learn modern speech. Luna trotted off trying to sneak away from her sister while she was deep in thought. Sure there was fun things to do around the castle but she had done all of it TWICE before she found it all to become boring. Leaving the castle was no fun because Celestia always had a few guards to follow her whenever she went to find some fun. She had went to a fancy resteraunt and the guards came out of nowhere and ate most of the food to check for poison. Luna went to a festival and played a few games but the guards had ripped apart the bean bags to check for some hidden danger. Soon Luna just stopped leaving the castle. She tried to play games with her sister but she was always busy or said she had a meeting she had to prepare for. It was true most of the time but Luna knew that Celestia just never wanted to spend time with her. Luna sought somepony to just be around but with constant watch with the guards she never got to make a friend outside of the element bearers. Even then they weren't able to come to the castle often enough to spend time with Luna. She went to them one or two times but most of the time they were busy just like Celestia. Luna began to feel as if no pony ever wanted to be around her. If no pony really cared she would just have to show them she doesn't care either. Silver Watch sat on the small cot that the prison had provided. It wasn't so bad. He got food, he got shelter and he got a place to sleep. Sure it wasn't five star quality like the rest of the castle but it was definatly better than what he lived in. The small jewlery store he ran in the middle of the poorer district of Canterlot wasn't his greatest occamplishments. Leaving his parents house to persue his dream was probably his best. Not a bit to his name, he left the house and traveled the world until he wound up in Canterlot. He tried some odd ball jobs here and there and he tried the higher end of the jewelry business. He enjoyed watching the mare comes in and some times dragging stallions along just so they could have a sparkly necklace or earrings. He thought it was funny for a while but he soon found it to be boring. Getting fired for hitting on a few mares wasn't what he expected. Well, more than a few. Okay a LOT of mares. He grew tight on money when he had lost the job. He soon grew behind on the payments for his home and the guards were on his tail in a matter of days. The prison was a nice place. It wasn't ratty like other prisons. It was very nice and clean. They fed high quality food that could have been in resteraunts. The rooms were nice and calming. Each had an extra room with a toilet and a sink. The bed was bunk but with a great matress and a very fluffly pillow. He almost had to sleep in a ball every night. Being a clydesdale pony made it hard to sleep on normal size beds. Some ponies in this prison only wish for the life the prison has to offer. Sure you're isolated from the rest of Equestria but at least here a pony could feel what the rich life was like. Silver was enjoying his stay at the Canterlot prison. Sure he was in jail and that was really gonna effect him when he looks for a new job but that won't be anytime soon. He was stuck in the pen for at least 10 years even on good behavoir just for how much he owed. Celestia hadn't seen Luna since their small chat in the hallway a few days ago. She was getting truely worried. Walking down the hall to Luna's room. The guards stationed outside her door hadn't seen Luna in a few days either. Slowly Celestia knocked on the door. "Lulu? Lulu are you in there?" "Go away Tia..." Celestia was concerned she opened the door with her magic and strode into the dark room. It was day outside Celestia had just raised the sun so there should be no reason for it to be dark in here. She opened the windows and curtains with her magic and gasped in shock. Luna was laying on the floor in a heap. She looked as if she hadn't eaten in weeks. Celestia pushed her gently with her hoof. Luna weakly pushed her sister's hoof away. "What are you doing to yourself Luna?!" "You don't care... So why should I?" "That's no way to talk!" "I don't care..." Celestia motioned for the guards. They rushed to the princess' side. "Take my sister to the medical wing..." "But princess..." "No arguments just do it..." "Yes ma'am! But, the medical wing is full at the moment..." "What? How?" "Food poisoning..." "Then take her to the warden... He'll keep a good eye on her or will know a pony who will." "Yes ma'am!" The guards picked Luna's body up and caried her out the door. Celestia followed the little procession and closed the door on her way out. "She doesn't have to be constantly watched but she is not to leave until I approve of it..." "Yes ma'am!" Celestia sighed as she watched the guards round the corner with her sister in tow. Crystal sighed as she looked at the pile of papers on her desk. She was swarmed these days. There wasn't much more to do than paper work. Not much ever happened in Cell Block C. This block was for the magical. Even then it wasn't that bad. There were three main prisons. The regulars who actually commit crimes, which was in the poor district of Canterlot. The High value criminals who have murdered or even worse, which was deep within the mountain. And then there was this one; it wasn't much but the poor who couldn't pay for their land or pay the bills. Each prison was sub divided into cell blocks. Magical, flying and of course just plain old cells. It seemed like over kill for this prison. A knock at Crystal's door shook her from her thoughts. "Yes? Come in!" A guard opened the door and allowed her guests to enter the room. She steeled herself as they approached with a dark blue pony on their back. "My, my, my. What do we have here?" "Princess Luna of Canterlot! Ma'am!" Crystal jumped back in shock as she hear the name of the night princess. After the initial shock passed she walked closer to examine her. She was in no shape to be here at all. Her mane was a mess just to start with. She was thin enough to see her ribs. Her eyes were closed but when Crystal leaned in close enough her eyes fluttered open and instead of the light teal her eyes were almost black. This sent a shiver down Crystal's spine. "Why is the princess here?" "Apparently her sister isn't happy with her in this condition and wants her to be watched." "Hmmm... Needs a watchful eye? Did you talk to the warden?" "He sent us here... He knew you would be able to take care of her." "That I will... Alright boys... Run her through the system... I got to pay a friend a visit... I'll direct her to her cell myself..." With that the guards exited the room with the dark mare and continued down the hall to the entry room. Sighing once more Crystal walked down the other hall and continued down into the cell block. "Silver you in?" Silver looked opened his eyes from his would-be nap. "Yeah, who is it?" "Oh, come on you know this one..." He heard the slight melotical tone to the mare's voice. "Crystal?" "Yep." Her head popped around the corner into the room. That was another thing he liked. The bathroom blocked the bed from looking out the cell door. "Got a minute?" "I got years..." Crystal laughed and walked in sitting down on the bottom bunk next to Silver. There was no reason to fear almost every single pony in this jail enjoyed it. "So what's on your mind?" "We got a new visitor..." "And this conserns me why?" "She's not a prisoner but she needs somepony to look after her..." "Okay?" "You're a little slow aren't you?" "No I understand what your saying but I'm just wondering why we are still sitting here when we could be 'welcoming' our visitor..." "Not your's at all mine..." "Sounds like this pony is real important..." "She is... She'll be staying with you. I need to to take good care of her..." "Yeah, yeah, yeah... I got you." Silver laid his head back down and closed his eyes. "She'll be here soon... Show her around and do your thing okay? I might even take a year or two off if you can pull off what I hope you can..." Silver's ears perked up when he heard years off his sentence. "Hmmm... You've sparked my intrest... What do you want me to do?" "Just take care of her... Okay well I got a shit load of paper work..." She smiled at him before leaving the cell and returning to her office. Dinner time would be soon and then recreation time would follow that. That was another nice thing about the prison. The food was delivered directly to the cells. Sure there wasn't that many prisoners but hey all the better. 'Colt, this place has more perks than negatives.' Silver thought to himself. *CLINK CLINK CLINK* "Meal time." *TINK TINK* The tray was set down on the reciever and Silver listened as the cart wheeled on its route. 'Mmmmm...' It smelled really good. Silver got up from his bed and trotted over to the tray. The only thing on it was a note. Dear Silver, As you can see you don't get a meal. This is a little cruel yes but since we weren't expecting a new guest yours goes to her. By the way this was planned way before you were notified just a few minutes prior. I'm just that big of an ass, -Crystal Silver smiled and shook his head before heading off to the Rec. room. When Silver got to the large room he looked around. A few ponies sat around playing card games or board games. He sighed. He missed his magic. Eventually they gave back flying and magic after a few years but only on good behavior. He had only been in for one and even then he probably needed at least another before the warden would even think about it. He sat down at a small table with a few chess pieces laid out. He set up a game by hoof and waited for his opponent to arrive. He knew it would probably be a little of a wait before they arrived but that was okay with him. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and toyed with it for a while. He didn't smoke but they worked as a form of currency in here. This pack could get him quite a few things on its own but he really needed it for later. There was a guard lounging at the side of the room and Silver decided he was to bored to sit and wait here. As he aprroached he caught the guard's eye. They knew each other and chatted from time to time. All of the guards were laid back here. It was sort of a paid vacation for them. They chill and relax while watching the prisoners, all in tacky looking black uniforms, and they can pretty much just be themselves without having to be foral or expecting anything from any pony. A guard had told Silver a while back that 'standing around all day can get so boring and sometimes it is just pure tourture when some random pony adresses you because you can't talk back and maybe have a nice chat or make a new friend.' AS Silver sat down he held out the pack of cigarettes. "Got the book?" The guard shook his head. "Well, you'll get the rest later." He promply took the package and put it in his bag. Silver sat back in the chair and sighed. This was the life. Sure there could be better things to do than lounge around all day but at least it was better than starving on the streets. Two mares passed in front of the pair and giggled. The prison functioned in the weirdest way. You were incouraged to rebuild your life from the inside but when you got out it was ten times harder to actually maintain it. Sure some got finacial aid until they were back on their feet but that didn't happen often enough for ponies to slack off. There were only a few rules. They were posted on a sign not but four hooves away. 1) Follow the Warden's orders. 2) Respect the guards. 3) No fghting. 4) No sex. That was broken the most often in the prison. It was co-ed so there was a few affairs here and there but all ponies were careful no pony wanted a foal in prison. It was to much work without the added stress. 5) You MUST do one year of work to get out. 6) Good behavior is rewarded with previliges. This one was pretty ironic. For unicorns it was the gift of using magic again and pegasus ponies got to use their wings. No pony tried to escape before but they disable wings and magic with special clasps that attach to the base of the wings and onto the very base of the horn. Sure magic and flying was a dependency for some ponies but for others just a convieniance. 7) You know this is better than you regular life. Why would you try to escape? To put it plainly this was the only real rule that mattered in this prison. Crystal was sleeping with the high warden just so she could maintain her status. Well that's what we assume. She hates him and it shows when she talks about him. The guards are lazy and very friendly and sometimes even they get laid. Hay Silver knew if you paid off a certain guards she'd go at you for a night. Not many other ponies knew about it and Silver really didn't exploit any mares here. The guard tapped Silver's shoulder and pointed to the door. He looked up to the door and then the clock just above the door. 'Right on time.' He thought smiling as he got up from the chair. They sat down at the little chess table and a little clock was set up for timed play. "She's in your room. Go meet her after we're done then you should try to show her around if you can. Don't force her to do anything but if she doesn't move by morning carry her around. Got it?" "Wait what?" Silver looked up from the clock he was setting to the right time. Crystal had a look of concern on her face. "She doesn't move very often..." "What do you mean?" Silver asked. "She's very depressed and is quite a mess... Treat her well and maybe you can lift her spirits... Geez, I haven't seen a pony that low since my mom was on her coke addiction..." "Druggy?" "No, just depressed..." "Okay, well let's begin..." Silver sat the clock down and clicked down his side starting her time.