//------------------------------//
// Brokenfang's Survival Guide 
// Story: Jailed 
// by ladyanaconda 
//------------------------------//

The prison courtyard gave her no better spirits than the inside of the prison. It was very, very large and surrounded by tall, gray obsidian walls, and there was a hoof-err, clawball court (nothing more than a clumsy-drawn large square of chalk) , an excursive yard with weights and other kinds of gymnastic things, as well as rows of seats at the side of one of the walls. The numerous inmates had parted ways, each in a particular area, some were exercising their wings and muscles to keep their form, others were playing clawball, or flew in laps around the courtyard under the supervision of the guards posted in the watch towers. In the seats, there were groups of inmates Twilight had told her about. Fluttershy spotted a fenced area of the prison, where there were much more less Temnokt than in the rest of the courtyard. Those had scarier looks to them, and there were iron bands around one of their wrists. Other inmates were removing the accumulated snow from the floor and then salting it to melt the ice that had formed beneath it, all manually, again without using any sort of magic. 

Oddly, when she looked upwards at the cloudy sky she saw no kind of wires or fences that would prevent the prisoners from escaping, and yet she noticed that none of the airborne inmates made an attempt to escape. In fact, they didn't fly higher than the top of the walls nor the watchtowers. Maybe they knew something that she didn't...

Fire Throat apparently guessed what she was thinking. "There's an invisible barrier all around the courtyard, all who have these..." he pointed at the obsidian rinks on his horns. "Cannot go past the barrier, we receive an electric shock that sent us down to earth again, and we earn a week in solitary confinement." He noticed no rings had been placed on Fluttershy yet. 

"So, if I don't have those...?" She quickly shook the idea off her. She wouldn't reach three inches before any of the guards caught her, and she was slow, weak flier anyway, if she panicked her wings would fail her, and she'd fall to her death, or into the claws of one of the guards. Perhaps that was the reason they hadn't placed any of those obsidian rings on her, maybe they could tell she didn't have the stamina-or the courage-to try and escape by air, or to escape at all. "What are those rings for, by the way?"

"Apart from keeping us within the prison's boundaries? It cancels all kind of magic, and they can't be removed except by the one who put them there in the first place, and that would be the Head of the security guard." Fire Throat looked around and noticed a group of drakes was roaming around the courtyard, as if they were looking for.... 

Oh, no.

"Fluttershy, whatever you do, stay under my wing." he said, covering her with his wing completely as he sat down. 

"W-Why?" Fluttershy didn't like the sound of his voice. 

"The welcome committee is looking for you."

"Oh, you have a welcome committee?"

"Not of the type you're imagining, honey. Don't move a muscle, and don't make any noise. If they find you, you'll be in big trouble." 

Fluttershy froze in place when she heard claw steps scratching against the stony ground as a group approached them, and she managed to see their talons. they were sharp, and she thought one of them only had two fingers in the right talon. Fire Throat tried to keep his casual facade when the group of drakes, about ten, approached him. Their leader, a bulky, large Temnokt with sharp bull-shaped horns, crimson eyes and silver spiky hair with scars all over his body, stared at him indifferently. 

"Bullshot, nice to see you." 

"Dark Wing, have you seen the newbie around here?" Bullshot simply said, ignoring the sarcasm and stiffening his expression, though soon a cruel smile replaced the hostility. "We have to receive her properly." At this, the other drakes snickered, one of them-one even larger and bulkier than Bullshot making a punching motion with his talons.

"Which one? I mean, we have had a few newbies these months. there's Trashcan, or Dog Wail, or-"

The cruel humor left Bullshot as he snapped. "The pegasus who arrived yesterday, don't act like you don't know. Some of my boys saw you acting quite frienly with her in the dining hall." 

"Oh, her! I have not seen her ever since, she's probably hiding in some room by now. I mean, It's not like she'll survive for long if she exposes herself."

"Maybe, but it's been so long ever since my boys and I have been near a female..." Bullshot's words were venomous, circling around Fire Throat tauntingly, speaking in Equestrian momentarily. "We might have some... fun with her." 

Fluttershy managed to contain a gasp in the last moment, but she was trembling in fright. What did he mean with fun? 

"Come on, Darkie, why don't you cooperate for once?" another drake, slimmer and with navy blue hair and underbelly, snickered. "Bullshot's on a good mood today, you might get a share yourself."

Fluttershy felt Fire throat shiver at the comment. "Thanks for the offer, but Equestrians are not of my... taste. Too weaklings, they are not such a challenge. I like the harder ones." 

"I'll just say this once, lizard." Bullshot growled, towering over Fire Throat with a threatening expression. "If you're hiding her from us..." He unscathed one of his claws and pressed it against the younger drake's throat in a threatening manner. "... You will share her welcome." He glanced back at his lackeys. "Let's get out of here. Keep your eyes open, she must be around here somewhere.."

"Hehe, with such ridiculous colors she has I don't think it'll be that hard to spot her among all these dark tones." Another drake laughed as the group passed by Fire Throat, some of them bumping their wings in Fire Throat's shoulder on purpose, and stalking inside the prison. As soon as he was certain they were out of sight and earshot, Fire Throat lifted his wing and glanced at Fluttershy. "Are you alright?" 

Her heart was drumming, and cold sweat was trickling down her coat, but Roachie tickled her ear with his antennae to make her react. "Oh, um...! I think... I think I'm okay.." she whispered, but she couldn't get the voice of that drake out of her head. "What was all that about?"

"The welcome committee." Fire Throat sighed. "They're looking for you, you can guess for what."

"Umm, can you tell me... Well, what is this welcome you are so worried about?"

"It depends." Fire Throat shrugged as he started walking down the courtyard, followed closely by the pegasus. "Sometimes they cut off a talon, or break a wing, or cut off horns, it kinda depends on the reason you are brought here. They always come up with new ways to torture newbies like you." 

"That drake you were talking with..." Fluttershy tried to get closer to him when she saw some of the other inmates eyeing her in amusement or half-interested. 

"Oh, that was Bullshot. He's one of the oldest here, he has been here for about five hundred years, he has a life sentence." 

"What did he do?"

"No one really knows. He has so many charges he changes the story whenever you ask him. But the point is that he is much stronger and ferocious than the average Temnokt, so you better not earn him as an enemy. He's one of the big five."

"B-Big five?"

"It's a long story, we should get comfortable first." 

Fire Throat led Fluttershy to a half-isolated corner of the courtyard, near the fences at the side. For some reason the other inmates seemed to be avoiding that part of the courtyard, but well, as long as they could be safe from the 'welcome committee', she didn't really mind where he took her. Fire throat lay down, so Fluttershy did the same. The size comparison was intimidating. Once he was certain he was alone, Fire Throat looked down at Fluttershy and started with his explanation. 

"You must already know this, but Brokenfang is not a picnic. It's where the worst criminals of our country are sent, the vast majority are of level 3, high risk to society with violent outbursts every now and then, a smaller number are level 4, the highly dangerous who must be locked up at all times in a maximum security cell and are only allowed out for an hour a day," He motioned his glance to the fencing next to them. Those were probably the little spaces where these level 4 inmates where allowed to go out during their only hour outside their cells. "Usually the level 1 and 2 inmates go to other, minor security prisons, but if they committed a grave crime they are also sent here. But they don't last long among sociopaths, drug lords or serial killers." 

Fluttershy gulped. 

"There are three ways to survive your sentence in this place. The first is to be very powerful and have lots of dough, those always receive special treatment even from the prison staff. Food and cell privileges, they can have items delivered from outside the prison, and are technically untouchable. Those are the Big Five, the most important Drug Lords in all of Krussia. Even in here their business continues on the outside, and they receive the income. Bullshot is one of the Big Five, the rest are Cloudslicer, Unicorfang, Skunk Breath and there's one in the Maximum security cells, but we don't know his name." 

"The second way is to be a sheep. You become part of a group in here, but you do anything to stay within that group. Loners are the first to be targeted by the Welcome Committee or the Big Five as a prey. You have to remain in the ringleader's good graces for the longest time you can, you have to please him in every way, if he tells you to jump off a bridge with clipped wings, you do it. If he tells you to massage his talons, you do it. His wishes are your orders and his words are your law." 

"The third way is more... disgusting. As you can see, there are no females here apart from you, and to put it lightly, we males have certain.... necessities that need to be quenched." Fire Throat didn't want to continue. "And considering there are no females here, there's only one way to do that. The Big Five, or the ringleaders around here pick the weakest to be their... concubines." He paused at Fluttershy's gasp. "Usually the newbies, or those with the weakest personality." 

"I-Isn't there any way to stay out of trouble without involving having be one of... those?" FLuttershy whispered, trembling.

"Well, if a ringleader or one of the Big Fives in particular take an interest in you, you can pay a protection racket. As long as you give them money, they won't lay a finger on you, but if you don't pay them on time..."

"Can't the guards protect me?"

Fire Throat scoffed. "As if. It's everytemnokt for himself in here, the guards only intervene when it goes too far, like sometemnokt getting killed or critically injured."

Fluttershy yelped in dismay. Then again, the guards that received her hadn't been very kind either, so she guessed they were only paid to keep the prisoners alive if possible, not out of trouble amongst themselves. "What do you recommend?"

"Honey, in your case, since you're both a newbie and a female, everytemnokt here is going to target you." Fire Throat sighed sadly, sitting up. "You're small and weak, you would never stand a chance against a full-grown Temnokt, and I can see you have a very weak character. They'll take advantage of that. Your best option would be to pay a protection racket." 

"But I don't have any money!"

"I'm afraid you'll have to figure that out on your own, honey, I can't help you with that. You can get a job in here, but with your... well, situation I doubt you'll be able to handle it." 

"What kind of jobs are there?"

"Well, most of them include physical labor. There's carpentry, hard labour, sewing-don't ask me why it's included in an all-male prison-, carriage license plates making, and cleaning out snow and the cells." Fire throat pointed at the inmates who were removing the snow with the shovels, and placed it on large carts which when then pulled away by other inmates to dispose to it, then returning with the cart empty so it could be filled again.

"Oh, I think I could take sewing! I know a bit of it, my friend Rarity is a fashion designer and she taught me a bit..."

"As long as you can earn money, sweetie, you can pick any job you want."

"Dark Wing! There you are!"

Fluttershy jumped at the newcomer, nearly making Roachie fall off her mane, and instinctively galloped behind Fire Throat for protection in case the 'welcome committee' had returned, but when she took a peek she saw only one drake. Unlike most of the other inmates, he was very short, not even half the height of a normal Temnokt. His underbelly was a dark fuchsia, but he had a large light pink spot on his head, along with three small tufts of hair that matched the color of his underbelly. His swirly, ram-like horns were big in comparison to his head, and there was a small spike on his nose, and two more on his chin. His eyes were a deep aqua green color, all cold and uninterested. 

"Where have you been, why are you in the corner near the Maximum Security cell yards?" the smaller Temnokt sighed, shaking his head. "You know the Big one who lives there doesn't like any intruders in his 'personal space'..." The drake caught a peek of Fluttershy behind the other drake. "You're hiding the newbie from the welcome committee?"

"Sort of."

Once she was certain the drake was not hostile, Fluttershy slowly made her way forward from behind Fire Throat's larger frame. "Um... Excuse me, Fire Throat, is he a friend of yours?"

"Well, we're more in a sort of mutual agreement." Fire Throat explained, and motioned to the shorter drake. "Fluttershy, this is Swift Tail, known as 'The Dwarf', but don't call him like that if you know what's good of you." Then he motioned to Fluttershy and glanced at Swift Tail. "Swift Tail, this is Fluttershy, the newbie form Equestria." 

Swift Tail glanced down at Fluttershy uninterested. "Nice to meet you." The tone of his voice made her wonder if he actually meant it. 

"H-Hi..." Fluttershy waved her hoof. 

"I heard you had an... unpleasant encounter with Twister in the Dining Hall." 

"Um... Sort off..."

"Has Fire Throat told you the luck you had?"

"Yes, he did." Fluttershy said, she didn't really want to remember the drake's crazed eyes. "Can I ask something... regarding him...?"

"What is it?" Fire Throat inquired.

"Well, if he has... mental problems, why wasn't he taken to... Well... a mental institution?"

Fire Throat obviously had no idea of what she meant. There were still some words in the Equestrian language he didn't understand at all. 

"She's asking why he is here instead of a nuthouse." Swift Tail said curtly, his expression not changing the least, ignoring Fluttershy's cringing at the word 'nuthouse'.

"Oh, that! Well, he kind of comes from a wealthy family, and they thought it'd be less... scandalous to put him in jail than an asylum."

"D-Do they come to-?"

"No." Swift Tail said. "As far as we know, Twister has never had any visits." 

"He used to have, I think..." Fire Throat pointed out. "A drady a few years older than him, if the rumors are correct. Maybe a familiar..." 

"Oh..." Fluttershy looked down in thought. "Wait, you said he used to have." she looked up at him in confusion. "Did she stop coming?"

"Yes. One day, the usual day she came to visit him she didn't appear. At first everydrake thought she couldn't make it today, but weeks passed, then months, and then we knew she would not come back. Ever since she ceased coming, Twister's mental estate worsened. He started to wail at nights to the point that he had to be sedated, he'd get into fights with other inmates and when he was on solitary confinement the guards reported he'd often mumble and whisper incoherent things." 

Fluttershy couldn't help but feel sorry for... Twister now. Perhaps he missed the drady who visited him, but that didn't really justify how he had lunged at her. Though she was still confused as to why he had not hurt her if he was supposedly so violent and disturbed. Fluttershy jumped when suddenly a bell rang, and all the inmates started heading back inside the prison. 

"Oh, time to work." Swift Tail muttered. "Wee..."

Fire Throat rolled his eyes, then glanced down at Fluttershy. "Well, Fluttershy, it's time you choose a penal labour."