//------------------------------// // First Day // Story: Jailed // by ladyanaconda //------------------------------// Fluttershy was abruptly awakened when a loud siren ran and echoed through the cell block, then she heard metal sliding and banding... and hundreds of claws stepping against the ground. When she opened her eyes, she saw her cell door was open-as well as the rest of the cells, and she saw all the inmates going out of their cells and walk down the corridor to some spot. Gasping, the pegasus quickly rushed to hide underneath her blankets as she watched the Temnokt pass by her cell, some of them glancing at them mockingly, while others licked their fangs as they passed, as if indirectly telling her that she was in for a big kill. Fluttershy just hid under her blanket, trembling in terror until she heard the clawsteps fading away. "You! Get your flank out of your cell and to the showers!" Fluttershy timidly poked her head from underneath the blanket and saw a guard staring at her in an unfriendly way. She wished she could reply, or even move, but she was frozen in fear at the idea of sharing the.... shower with those creatures. The guard lost his patience and his horns glowed as he threw the blanket off Fluttershy and levitated her out of the cell, dripping her abruptly on the ground, then painting at a door on the other side of the cell blocks from the way she had come in last night. "Down the hall, then turn right at the first crossing, there you'll find the showers." he growled. "You better hurry unless you want to bath with cold water." Fluttershy didn't say anything. She simply galloped down the cell blocks, through the doors and down the corridor, more to get away from the Temnokt that to actually reach the showers before hot water ran out. As soon as she turned right in the crossing hallways the guard had indicated, she bumped into someone's leg, and was harshly kicked back as the inmate glared down at her. "Zhdat' svoyey ocheredi, kak i vse ostal'nyye, brodyaga!" He snapped in Krussian, pointing at the long line of Temnokt ahead of them. Fluttershy didn't need to speak Krussian to know he was telling her to wait like everydragon else, but she DID need to speak Krussian apologize. That made things harder, and potentially more dangerous. "I-I'm sorry..." she trembled when the drake narrowed his eyes at her. "S-Sorry!" she cried out softly. Oh, sweet Celestia, at this rate she wasn't going to last five minutes. Thankfully, the drake lost interest in her soon, and took a few steps forward as the line advanced. Fluttershy just stood behind the drake, waiting, taking about ten hoof steps for every single step the drakes in front of her took. Surprisingly the line advanced rather quickly than she expected, and as they got closer to the showers more and more inmates walked out and headed back down the corridor and heading somewhere, looking more refreshed, but some of them still dripping a bit with water. She calculated some twenty minutes passed before the line was finally coming to an end, and but she was afraid to step into that place with so many drakes to take a bath. Maybe if she waited for a while until it was empty... Another five minutes passed, and the few drakes still inside, including the one she just had an unpleasant experience with, all walked out. When she saw them turn around the corner, Fluttershy shyly walked into the showers. The room was very, very big, at least in her perspective, but she could tell only about ten drakes could bathe in here at the same time. Speaking of which, she was worried about the sanitary conditions in this place. The walls were surprisingly white, but there was humidity on the ceiling and walls that gave it a disgusting greenish color, the tiles were a silver gray, but they were dull, and a few were missing, with claw marks everywhere, and a bit of moss. The stall-type showers were in no better conditions, they were all rusty and a few lacked the heads, which only sent a simple jet of water down unto the inmates. If Twilight saw this, she would demand to see the warden and give him a lecture on sanitary conditions. Fluttershy took a look at the showers, and walked into the 'cleanest' she could find. Fluttershy managed to open her wings and fly up to one of the handles of the shower, which she had to grab with both her hooves, but she couldn't turn it. It was either too rusty, or it was too big, or she was too weak to turn it on her own; she better be careful unless she wanted to cut herself with this contraption, and cutting oneself with rusted metal was not a nice experience. Fluttershy struggled for a while, but she managed to turn the handle to the left, and a stream of cold, freezing water sent her straight to the ground. She contained a whimper as she quickly jumped out of the water's way, shivering and trembling as she shook the water off her coat. Damn it, it was freezing. She would get a cold with this water! And it poured down too heavily for her to step in the stream of the shower! Out of sudden, she didn't feel like bathing anymore. Fluttershy surrounded the stream of water and flew up again to the handle, managing to turn it the other way around to stop the water. As the cold became unbearable, fluttershy quickly galloped around the room to try and find a towel, but there was none. She was shivering, the air was very cold, and she even let out a sneeze. On the corner of one of the showers, she spotted a white towel, apparently unused and dry. She quickly rushed towards the ridiculously big towel (in her perspective, at least), but as she lifted it she shrieked when she found a large cockroach underneath it. The bug cowered and looked up at her fearfully. "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to disturb you!" Fluttershy spoke soothingly to the roach, dropping the towel in the process. "I was only looking for a towel...!" At the word towel, the cockroach crawled down the floor, motioning her with its antennae to follow it. Fluttershy followed the large bug as it crawled up the wall to a couple of shelves, and motioned with its antennae once again, this time signaling a set of white, dry and apparently clean towels. Fluttershy grabbed a medium-sized towel-in Krussian standards-and flew back to the ground to wrap herself in the towel. The cockroach crawled down the wall again and rubbed its body against the towel. "Thank you, little guy." Fluttershy smiled at the bug. The cockroach waved its antennae amicably at her. "How long have you been down there?" The cockroach lifted three of its legs. "Three days?" it shook its head. "Hours?" This time it nodded. "Poor you, how did you get underneath that towel?" The cockroach stood on its two lower legs and extended out its wings and other four legs, making an intimidating expression. It grabbed a piece of toilet paper nearby-Fluttershy didn't want to imagine how it got there-and threw it on the floor, then crawled underneath it and made whimpering sounds. Fluttershy gasped. "A Temnokt threw a towel on top of you?" The cockroach crawled from underneath the paper and nodded its head. "That was mean on that Temnokt's part! I bet you must be very hungry and cold." Another nod. Fluttershy smiled. "How about you come with me to the dining hall, or wherever those Temnokt eat to have something tasty...? Well, I don't know what they serve in this place, but maybe there's something decent to eat here." The cockroach buzzed its wings enthusiastically, and Fluttershy allowed it to crawl unto her hoof and then to her back. Fluttershy trotted out of the showers, now dry, and headed down the corridor, then rightwards, like she had seen the drakes do. There was a large, gray door at the end of the hall, which she presumed led to the dining hall. "By the way, little guy, do you have a name?" The cockroach made a sound with its wings that she took as a negative reply. "Mind if I name you? I could call you Roachie." When the cockroach fluttered its wings enthusiastically, Fluttershy couldn't help but smile lightly. "Okay. Roachie it is, then." With more difficulty, Fluttershy pushed the door open with a bit of effort, and as soon as she stepped inside Roachie hid in her mane. It was a very large room, filled with large, rectangular metal tables and chairs, white light lamps hanging from the ceiling, and wide but barred windows with magic-proof glass. The dining hall was overrun with inmates from her cell block, and the others from the rest of the prison. A great number had formed a line, holding metal trays in one of their front talons. Fluttershy saw a few other inmates behind the kitchen counter serving breakfast into the trays, then the awaiting inmates left the counter and went to a table with their 'groups', as Twilight said. There were various guards glad in armor guarding the room like hawks, some of them centering their attention on certain inmates. They were all drakes. Oh, sweet Celestia. Fluttershy made her way to the line of the counter, this time trying not to bump into anydragon, lest she wanted another misunderstanding. She flapped her wings to fly up and reach out for a tray.... "NO FLYING INSIDE THE BUILDINGS!" Fluttershy yelped when one of the guards, one of the few who apparently spoke Equestrian, roared at her. Almost immediately, her wings trembled and pressed against her back, she fell to the ground with a loud thud. The dining hall echoed with the laughter of the inmates, some of them muttering mocking words in Krussian. The inmate in front of her looked back at her, snickering, and picked a tray, letting it fall in front of her with a loud clang. Fluttershy cringed at the loud sound of the metal touching the ground and the laughter around her, but she managed to calm down as she picked the tray-very large in her hooves- and advanced behind at the line. When she was at the counter, she called out to the drakes behind it. "Excuse me." The drake thought he heard something as he put a bowl on the last in the line's tray. "Excuse me?" The inmate looked down at the source of the noise, and found a cream-colored pegasus with a long pink mane and tail. She was looking up at him, barely managing to hold up the tray. He stared at her curiously. "You must be the newbie, I guess." Fluttershy was surprised that this inmate spoke Equestrian. He had spiky dark aqua green hair that pointed backwards, with a blonde equally wild bang that was pointing forwards, his eyes were a dark blue color, there were little spines on top of them that looked like eyebrows almost, and he had four pairs of horns, the top ones being the longest and the other three being smaller than the other. There was a pinkish scar across his left eye, contrasting with the rest of his dark scales, she didn't need to imagine how he obtained it. Like most of the inmates, now that she thought of it, there was a ring on each of his horns. "You speak Equestrian?" Fluttershy inquired curiously. "About forty percent of the inmates here speak it, there are Equestrian language classes among other things for killing the time when you're not in your cell or in the exercise yard." the drake explained. "But I'd be careful if I were you. The word's spreading around about you, miss..." "Oh, sorry! My name is Fluttershy." The pegasus was surprised that this drake had not snapped, or growled, or gnashed his teeth at her, not shown any signs of hostility. "I'm Fire Throat, at your service." The Temnokt smiled. "Though you might hear the others call me Dark Wing." "You have two names?" "Dark Wing is a sort of a nickname. My real name is Fire Throat. In a few days the others will think of a nickname for you." "Oh, well, It's not that I don't like the idea, but... Well..." Fluttershy was abruptly interrupted when a Temnokt suddenly pushed her forward with a talon, and behind him there were other inmates who were glaring at her, holding their trays in their talons. "Pereyekhat!" The inmate who had pushed her snapped. "He's telling you to move forward." Fire Throat quickly translated for the pegasus as he placed a bowl of... something in Fluttershy's tray. "Go look for an empty table, there's always one in the corners. But be careful, they have the tendency to play pranks on newbies, and they're looking at you like a snack. Keep your eyes open!" Fluttershy had to move forward to avoid the wrath of the inmate behind her, glancing back at Fire Throat as she walked away, watching as he hastily placed the same bowl of who-knows-what in the trays of the other Temnokt. With a bit more of difficulty in carrying the tray now with the bowl, Fluttershy walked down the dining hall looking for an empty table, or an heisted spot where she could eat in peace. The dining hall was echoing with chattering, and as she passed by the inmates glanced at her amusingly. Roachie crawled close to her ear inside her mane and whispered something to her. Fluttershy saw an empty table at one of the corners. Thank Celestia! Now she had to get there without getting chomped off by one of the inmates. She quickly made her way to the table, trying to keep from the inmates tails or any sort of body parts as much as possible, hearing them snicker when they noticed which table she was heading to. Fluttershy managed to reach the table safely, and placed her tray on the chair to climb unto the seat of the table. When she took a look at the contents of the bowl, her stomach churned in disgust. It was a greenish, semi-dense soup with some white things-she thought it was some kind of meat- and it had a disgusting odor. What was this thing made of?! Roachie crawled out of her mane and unto the tray, then to the edge of the bowl. He didn't seem to find the food as disgusting as her. "You c-can have it if y-you'd like..." Fluttershy gagged, taking a hoof to her mouth in disgust. "I lost my appetite..." Roachie chirped happily and cannonballed into the bowl, devouring the contents happily. Fluttershy couldn't help but smile a bit as she watched Roach enjoy the meal. Suddenly, she felt a shiver running down her spine, and had the sensation of being watched. She looked around, and saw the rest of the Temnokt were apprehensive, as if there was something inside the room that was disturbing them. Even the guards seemed on alert, staring right at the corner near her table... Gulping, Fluttershy turned towards the corner and found a figure in the darkness. Another inmate, but there was something... off about him. He had purple locks of hair, two pairs of horns bending downwards, and triangular Age Marks. She noticed there were four small horns on his chin that almost worked like a sort of goatee. His lilac pupils were shrunken, and his gaze was fixed on her completely. Fluttershy didn't like the way he was staring at her. She tried to ignore him and looked down at Roachie as he continued to eat the mysterious soup, but the feeling of his eyes on top of her was very, very uncomfortable. But as she tried to leave the dining hall, suddenly she found the drake standing in front of her. "Hi." he said, looking down at her with a somewhat disturbed look. Fluttershy was frozen in fear. "H-Hello..." He must be of the few who spoke Equestrian too. The other inmates had stopped eating, and were staring at the scene, all stiffened and anxious, though others snickered at the sight of the newbie being haunted by him. When he just kept staring at her with that.... disturbed look, Fluttershy shivered. "C-Can I h-help you....?" "Are you cold?" the inmate tilted his head curiously, in an almost comical way, and maybe she would have laughed if he wasn't freaking her out. "N-No... I'm j-just..." "Why are you talking funny?" He was leaning his head uncomfortably closer to her. Roachie had a bad vibe about this drake, and almost immediately crawled to the safety of Fluttershy's mane. The drake followed it with his eyes. "Is that a cockroach?" "Oh, ummm... H-His name is R-Roachie..." "Do you want to be my friend?" Fluttershy gulped. She didn't know what to say. "W-Well..." What could she say? She didn't know this dragon, and she didn't like how he was looking at her possessively. When a few seconds passed without her saying anything, the drake's expression started to turn hostile. "Do you want to be my friend?!" he repeated, loudly and more aggressively. Oh, no she had made him angry! And she didn't even know how! She better get out of here. "I-I'm sorry, I have t-to go..." but as she tried to gallop away, he stomped on her tail like a cat would do on a mice's. "WHY ARE YOU TREMBLING?!" he roared. "WHY DO YOU FEAR ME?!" he was hysterical, and the disorientated look on his eyes was even worse. Fluttershy whimpered in terror and hid her face in her hooves. The rest of the inmates flinched and quickly turned their heads around then they heard him screaming. The guards immediately reacted and flew towards. One of them rammed into the inmate and they crashed against the table. Fluttershy quickly crawled away from the scene as she saw the guards overrun the apparently mentally disturbed inmate, who was roaring and screaming something in Krussian. Her little heart was drumming inside her chest and she was certain she would get a heart attack at any moment. She watched, frozen in utter fear, as the guard quickly put a muzzler on the inmate's maw, and another forced a straightjacket on him and tied his wings closed with thick leather straps. The inmate continued to give muffled screams, struggling to get free of the guards' grip as they pinned him to the ground, whipping his tail at them in a desperate attempt to get them off. "Vzyat' yego v odinochnuyu kameru!" on of the guards roared. "I skazhite medsestre prinesti uspokoitel'nyye sredstva!" Fluttershy and the rest of the inmates watched as the guards dragged the thrashing, screaming drake away, but what terrified the pegasus was the fact that the drake eyes never left her. He continued to glare at her even as he was dragged away, until he was taken out of the room. One of the guards that remained behind glared at the rest of the inmates. "Tam net nicheg , chtoby videt' zdes',vy donoschikam! Vernites' k vashim veshcham!" The Temnokt went back to eating, but most of them glanced at Fluttershy, snickering at her terrified expression. She was certain she would get a heart attack in any moment, still shaking. Roachie crawled to her ear and whispered comforting words to her. "Are you okay?" "AHH! DON'T HURT ME!" Fluttershy reacted and quickly stepped away from her aggressor, slipping unto a bit of spilled soup and falling to the ground with a loud thud. The rest of the inmates burst out in laughter, making fun of the creamy pegasus. Fluttershy had to bite her lip to contain her cry, and Roachie hid inside her mane again. Much to her surprise, a talon was held out for her. "Let me help you up." Looking up, she saw Fire Throat's familiar face. She wasn't certain if she could trust him, but right now any kind of friendly interaction was gladly received! She took his talon and was pulled up to her hooves. "T-Thank you..." "You're welcome, Fluttershy." Fire Throat smiled lightly at her. "I must say, you were lucky." "L-Lucky?" "Twister usually tries to gorge eyes out of newbies, but he only yelled at you." "Twister?" Fluttershy glanced at the doors of the dining hall, trembling. She remembered that disturbed gaze drilling into her in such a possessive way, sending shivers down her spine. "Twisted Claw, we call him Twister. He's got...." Fire Throat rubbed the back of his head. "...sort of a loose screw. He's always getting himself taken to solitary confinement." "Solitary confinement? You mean... where they put you in a small, small cell and you don't get to see or talk with any pony?" "Yeah. I actually think that isolating him only make things worse, but well, it's better than having your eyes gorged out, right?" Fire Throat glanced at the doors, then at Fluttershy. "We're surprised he went easy on you." "Easy on me?!" Fluttershy 'yelled' in a very low voice. "He was about to crush me!" Fire Throat chuckled lightly. "Just wait till his bad days." "Bad days?" Whatever that meant, it didn't sound pleasant. "He screams all night long and you can't sleep. He screams something about stopping to hit him, or something like that. It's not like we can ask him, can we? You saw his mental condition is not... normal." He noticed the cockroach in Fluttershy's mane. "Um, Fluttershy... I don't mean to freak you out but... there's a bug on your hair." "Oh, Roachie?" Fluttershy glanced back at the cockroach in her mane with a small smile. "It's okay, he's juts a friend." Fire Throat was staring down at the bug in disgust, though he tried not to show it. "Friend... with a cockroach?" "They're not that bad once you get to know them." Much to her surprise, Fire Throat motioned her to come closer so he could whisper into her ear. She leaned her head and lifted her ear. "Sweetie, If you keep making friends with bugs here, you'll get a nickname in less than five minutes. I'd hide your... friend from the others, most of them don't like roaches." "Oh, ummm..." Fluttershy glanced at the rest of the inmates, and noticed they were standing up and heading back to the counter to pace their trays back on where they grabbed them, before heading out the door. "Where is everytemnokt going?" "The excursive yard. We'll be able to exercise for two hours, before they send us to labor." Fluttershy gulped. "Labor?" "I'll explain later, right now we have to head to the excursive yard before the guards drag us there." Fire Throat placed his wing over her. "Stay close to me and don't call the attention to yourself. The other inmates have been talking about you, they think of you as a snack. If you are not careful in here, well... You can imagine." Fluttershy gulped as she barely trotted at her potential new friend's pace, trying to remain underneath the protection of his wing.