Jailed

by ladyanaconda

Negotiations

7:00 A.M.- Cellblock 5

The next day, the effect of Skyler's spell wore off, and Fluttershy stirred awake to very painful, sore sensation on her wing. She tried to move it, but a great stinging sensation coursed down her spine, and she had to retreat her wing. The wings worked with the vertebral column, if her column was damaged, there was the possibility her wings would be deeply affected, including the possibility of permanent immobility. Fluttershy noticed the joint of the wing looked swollen, and there was a blackish hue to it that made her worry. Maybe she should visit Skyler later today, if she managed to convince one of the guards.

The bell rang, and the doors to the cells opened. Fluttershy made her way out of her cell, managing to keep enough distance from the other inmates as they walked out of the cellblock, though she was uncomfortable at the uninterested glances they were giving her. She had never liked to be stared at by multitudes, much less non-friendly multitudes like this. She hadn't taken a bath in days, but she didn't like the idea of sharing a whole bathroom with so many males, especially since some of them looked like they were desperate for feminine contact of any sort. So she waited a a good twenty minutes before most of the other inmates when in and out of the showers, their hair humid and their scales gleaming lightly, though she could tell some of them simply took a quick dip on the water.

When she was certain there was no one else inside, Fluttershy trotted inside and looked for any towels that hadn't been used by the other inmates. She found a small-sized towel, which in her perspective was like a normal towel. She picked it up, but due to her swollen wing she wouldn't be able to fly up to the handle, so Roachie crawled all the way up and with some difficulty managed to turn the handle, but this time she was careful not to be in the way of the water when it shot down. It was still cold, but Fluttershy really needed a shower. Little by little she cooped her hooves under the water to gather some, then she'd splash it on her back, her face, her mane and rubbed all of her body with a bit of soap, but it was very hard to touch the parts that were not filled with Temnokt hair. At the lack of shampoo of any kind, she rubbed the soap in her hair in an attempt to clean it. It didn't work the same way as a shampoo, but it was better than nothing.

When she was done with the soap, she gently poured small scoopfuls of water on top of herself and rubbed again to remove all the soap. When she was free of any soap left, Roachie turned the handle again, this time to the opposite side, to close the water. Fluttershy rubbed the towel on herself until she was dry. As she made her way out of the showers, she walked over to the dining hall, where all of the other inmates were.

When she entered that morning, though, she found it empty, except for a group of five sitting on the center...

Oh, no. She had forgotten, today was when the Big Five had their 'weekly' meeting. But before she could gallop out, the door was closed shut behind her by one of the Guards in turn, who merely snickered maliciously at her.

"Well, look who decided to join us." Skunk Breath snickered. "Flutteroach."

Roachie buzzed his wings at the drake, as if asking him if he wanted a fight, but Fluttershy hid him under her good wing, gulping. "G-Good morning..."

Cloudslicer noticed the uncertain look in her eyes. "I think it's a bit to cruel to leave her in the dark. We should speak to her in Equestrian."

"Why do you care about whatever that pony thinks?" Unicornfang inquired, taking a sip of his wine.

"Well, for starters, she won't be able to do what we tell her to if she doesn't know what we want her to do."

Bullhorn snorted. "Smartscales. You were always too smart for your own good."

"I might as well be the only reasonable drake here."

Warfang coughed loudly, his furry blue eyebrows twisting into a frown, then he glanced at Fluttershy with his unseen eyes. "You. Come closer."

Fluttershy felt she was in no position to say no, so she fearfully stepped closer "Y-Yes?"

"Since you're here, go and bring us some drinks." he said, pointing to the kitchen counter. "Just make sure not to drop them on the way."

Fluttershy felt intimidated by the aggressive air the Big Five showed towards her, and galloped towards the kitchen. There were a few inmates of the less bulky kind, more like they were the type of 'dogs'. They were hurriedly mixing some substances, probably the alcoholic beverages of which the drinks were made of, and were very meticulous in details like a little paper umbrella on Cloudslicer's drink, or the position of the cherry in Skunk Breath's. Fluttershy glanced at the Big Five from behind the counter, meanwhile, and she noticed they were listening to a sort of radio. it was large, and they fidgeted with the antennae until ti caught the frequency, then Unicornfang started to move the button till it was on the station they wanted.

Fluttershy yelped when one of the inmates placed a silver tray on her head, and she struggled to keep it balanced on her head. "Take it to the Big Five, and whatever you do, don't drop it." He told her nervously.

She had no idea of what he said, but she had the feeling he told her not to drop the drinks. Warfang himself had told her not to drop them, so she guessed this inmate meant the same thing. With some difficulty, Fluttershy slowly made her way back towards the table, whimpering every time she felt the tray about to fall off. As she approached, she heard the radio transmission more clearly, but unfortunately she didn't know what they were listening to. However, judging by the loud voice speaking over lots of other, cheering voices, she could tell it was a sort of event.

"Ha! I'm betting everything on number sixteen!" Skunk Breath cackled.

Cloudslicer rolled his eyes. "Go on, waste your money on that old mule. I'm betting on number eight."

"Instead of just betting to the one who looks faster, shouldn't you take other things into consideration?" Warfang spoke. "Sometimes the ones who look healthy hide a sort of defect under their hires, like Silver Antlerss."

Unicornfang sighed nostalgically."Too bad, it was a nice deer."

When Fluttershy was finally next to the table, each of the drakes grabbed his respective drink from the tray, lifting some of the weight from her head. However, before she could walk back to the kitchen counter, a scaly tail stopped her.

"Hey, Flutteroach." It was Unicornfang. "There's a small piece of napkin on my glass. Come up here and remove it."

Fluttershy gulped nervously, her ears flattened against her head. "B-But..." she whispered inaudibly.

"What did you say?" Bullhorn inquired. "Speak louder."

"I d-don't reach..."

"Louder." Cloudslicer snapped coldly, frowning deeply.

"I d-don't reach!"

Unicornfang scoffed. "You are a pegasus, aren't you? Just fly up here, and I might not bite you for such insolence."

Knowing they would get even more annoyed if she didn't obey, Fluttershy tried to open her wings, but as always they stuck to her body and refused to extend when she was under too much stress or fear. She tried a few times, but her wing bones were stiff and refused to obey. And Unicornfang starting to tap on his hind leg made them stuck close to her body even more.

"I'm waiting..." he hissed.

"I'm s-sorry, m-mister..." Fluttershy stuttered.

"What? You don't fly?" Skunk Breath snickered. His grin widened when he saw Fluttershy's expression at his word. "Ah, let me guess. You're afraid of heights?"

"Um... Sort of..."

Fluttershy froze and 'yelled' in fright when suddenly Cloudslicer grabbed her with his talon and lifted her to his eye level, his expression stoic and unimpressed, but she could see the maliciousness in his gaze.

"Is it so hard for you to just extend out your wings?" he asked in an almost casual way. He reached out to one of Fluttershy's wings and forcibly extended it. Fluttershy whimpered in pain when she felt something snap in her wing join, and she felt her fixed wing being pulled out of place again. Her eyes stinging with tears and her sudden stiffening told Cloudslicer what he needed to go. "Oh, so it was hurt? You could have mentioned it, Flutteroach."

He dropped her half-way from the ground, making her whimper again in pain. But Fluttershy's shoulder blade was in too much pain for her to even try and run away, the tears finally trickled down her cheeks as she started to sob in pain. The burning sensation was unbearable, she felt as if her wing had been torn from her body, and it still hung to her back.

"Great, I think you broke her." Bullhorn glanced at Cloudslicer with a frown. "How is she going to tend to my needs now?"

"You don't seriously think you're going to fit in her, do you?" Warfang raised an eyebrow. "She won't last five seconds, from what I can see if she can't bear a simply dislocation."

Unicornfang pushed Fluttershy away with his tail roughly, ignoring her yelp of pain. "Flutteroach! Go to sob somewhere else! We can't hear the race!"

Finally, Fluttershy managed to gallop away, her wing joint burning as it hung from her back. Roachie barely had time to cling to her tail. Fluttershy galloped into the yard, where most of the inmates were gathered, all of them thankfully ignoring her as she went to the corner near the metal seats, and hid just behind them, trembling from both the cold and the pain. Fluttershy glanced back at her broken wing and paled when she saw the horrible purple bruise just on the joint, and which now extended over to her shoulder and back.

"Fluttershy, are you okay?"

Fluttershy continued to sob as she heard both Fire Throat and Swift Tail approach. Twister was absent, she wondered if he was looking for her or if the other two Temnokt had managed to convince him to stay away for a while.

"We heard from the other inmates you went into the Dining Hall with the Big Five." Swift Tail stated. "We thought they were going to eat you alive..." he noticed the large bruise on her wing. "Oh, dear. That looks pretty bad."

"It hurts..." Fluttershy whimpered, wiping some of her tears with her hoof.

"Let me take a look." Fire Throat said gently. He knew she probably couldn't even move it, so he leaned his head closer and examined the bruise. "It's severely out of place. It's going to get worse if we don't get it treated, how did it happen?"

"P-Pulled..." Fluttershy managed to say. "Drink... C-Cloudslicer..."

"Try to speak with more coherence, would you?" Swift Tail frowned. "We can't help you if we don't know what's wrong with you!"

Fluttershy took a deep breath, and managed to speak in fluid sentences. "Unicornfang asked me t-to f-fly up to his d-drink to remove something, b-but... I was too nervous, I c-couldn't fly... Cloudslicer lifted me and-" she whimpered at another stinging sensation. "...pulled my wing."

"Oh, he put it out of place again." Fire Throat concluded correctly. "Explains why it looks like that."

"I need to see the doctor!"

"Sweetie, Skyler won't be able to do much. She's a physician, not a chiropractic. What you had yesterday was a simple dislocation, she could fix it because it wasn't serious. But now that dear old Cloudslicer snapped it out of place again, it got worse. You need a professional."

Swift Tail chuckled. "As if. You think she'll be able to withstand him? She couldn't even bear and accidental hit from Twister, technically that was what cause this whole mess."

Though her pain, Fluttershy inquired. "What d-do you mean...?"

"If we could ask Bonesnap for help. He was a chiropractic, but got arrested for unethical practices and purposely killing two of his patients. And before you ask, we don't know why he killed them. Some murderers simply do it because they like it."

"Anyway, it doesn't change the fact that despite his charges, he's very good in what he does." Fire Throat stated. "He'll probably charge you a small fee, since it's your first time. How much do you have at the moment?"

"I earned two hundred o-obsids..." Fluttershy said.

"That should be enough. Come on, Fluttershy, he's usually found in the old infirmary."

---

8:00 A.M- Old Infirmary

The old infirmary was located in the ground floor, in an old door located in the dark corner of the main building. However, eventually it was closed down since it was deemed too risky for the doctor to work too close to the inmates, and so the new infirmary was built in the off-limits area for the prisoners. The old one was abandoned, but curiously the warden didn't forbid any access to it afterwards, which often turned the Old Infirmary in a secret meeting place when it wasn't being used as an actual infirmary by the inmates who had knowledge about medicine.

Fluttershy felt a bit frightened when she had to cross that metal door, Swift Tail and Fire Throat behind her, but it was oddly illuminated quite well. The walls, once white, had turned a grayish green from years of being unused, with lots of mould growing on the corners, the furniture was mostly covered in dust and being devoured by termites. However, the main table on the center of the room was surprisingly clean, though there were signs of rust on its edges. Next to this table was a Temnokt with black and orange hair, and orangish Age Marks shaped like what seemed to be bones. In fact, this Drake had a small but long bone going through his nostrils, possibly a fashion trend of some sort, or the 'doctor' simply wanting to look intimidating. There was another 'patient' already on the table.

Fluttershy stopped in her tracks when she heard a bone snapping, and she froze as she heard a painful grunt coming from the other inmate, but it lasted for merely a few seconds as he rose, taking a look at his fixed wing, and stepping down the table as he gave Bonesnap a thankful nod. Swift Tail and Fire Throat stepped aside to let him leave, while motioning Fluttershy to go on ahead. Bonesnap stared at her in surprise but guessing she didn't speak Krussian, he spoke to Fire Throat and Swift Tail. "How can I help you?"

"Hey, Bonesnap. Flutteroach needs help with her wing." Fire Throat said, glancing down at Fluttershy. He didn't like to call her that, but that's how most of the other inmates called her, unfortunately. Word had spread quickly about her little 'pet'. "One of the Big Five moved it out of place when she had it fixed."

"Oy vey. That sounds nasty." Bonesnap glanced down at Fluttershy. "I guess you can't fly to the table then?"

Fluttershy had no idea of what he said, so Swift Tail had to translate it for her. "He asks if you can't fly to the table." Fluttershy shook her head lightly.

"Fine, then if one of you could lift her to the table."

Fluttershy whimpered when Fire Throat wrapped his tail around her waist as gently as he could, lifted her off the ground and placed her on top of the table, she started to tremble when Bonesnap stared at the bruise on her wingbone, now a deep purple, and the pain was unbearable by then. She whimpered when Bonesnap's claws grabbed her good wing gently and spread it out, but when he tried to do so with the other she barely let out a cry, and her eyes stung with tears again, which made the large drake release her. After a few more seconds, Bonesnap glanced at Swift Tail.

"Hold her down."

The shy mare had the feeling of what was going to happen when suddenly Swift Tail's talon pressed against her back, pinning her to the table to keep her from moving. She started trembling again when Bonesnap took the tip of her wing gently, and closed her eyes shut-in expectation of what was coming.

Bonesnap pulled.

Contrary to popular belief, Fluttershy didn't let out a piercing, blood-curling scream, but a small, tiny scream that was more like a whisper. However, tears were streaming down her cheeks because of the pain. However, after the few seconds of excruciating pain on her shoulder blade and ringbone, suddenly the pain lessened, and she found herself able to move her wing again, though she felt a small ache on it since it was just put back in place.

"Done." Bonesnap said, though he seemed a bit disconcerted that Fluttershy's 'scream' was that pitiful when most of his 'patients' gave roars of pain . "It will be one hundred fifteen obsids."

"Pay up, girl." Swift Tail translated curtly.

Partly relieved that the pain had diminished considerably, and she could at least move her wing again, Fluttershy placed a small pouch with all her savings, which Bonesnap took, and he slid out the corresponding amount from the pouch, giving the fifty obsids of change for Fluttershy. He just said something else in Krussian, Fire Throat placed her on the ground and she followed after them just as another drake, one of the younger ones, stepped inside, limping one of his hind legs.

As they walked back into the courtyard, Fluttershy felt relieved at finally being able to tuck her wing in, though she still felt a slight aching in the joint.

"Mare, try not to get on the Big Five's bad side again." Swift Tail stated. "You were lucky they didn't pluck the wing off completely."

"He does have a point, my dear." Fire Throat added. "You can't be the lapdog forever! You should start thinking of how to defend yourself!"

"I don't like to mess with anypony." Fluttershy replied. "It's mean."

"What if they start first?" Swift Tail frowned. "Girl, with that attitude you'll be dog food in less that five minutes! This is not your magical land of Equestria, you won't win anyone here by being 'nice to them'!" It wasn't that he had something against the mare, he just was frustrated she acted as if everything was colored pink.

"I already tried acting mean to other ponies to get my way, and I ended up hurting my friends Rarity and Pinkie Pie." Fluttershy looked down in regret when she took the assertiveness class, and she turned into a 'monster' for misunderstanding the meaning of it. She didn't have to be mean and cruel to defend herself. And this was different, it wasn't ponies she would defend herself from, it would be larger, more powerful and much more dangerous Temnokt inmates. She had the feeling they wouldn't feel intimidated in the least, anyway. "I learned that you don't have to hurt others."

"And how come you could talk me down the other time?" Swift Tail stated. "You know, after your first issue with the Big Five we were talking about your... friends, and I made a comment about one of them. I barely recognized you, mare! You changed from being a push-over, weak little mare to a time-bomb! I thought you were going to do something!"

"He does have a point" Fire Throat pointed out. "You freaked us out those few seconds before Neckslicer arrived and you became... you again."

"You were talking ill about my friends, I couldn't let you do that." Fluttershy explained, surprisingly blushing. "You were calling Discord names without even knowing, you judged him just because of his looks, and that was not right."

"Why don't you do that more often? It would gain you some reputation among the others."

"Umm, it doesn't work like that." Fluttershy's face became even redder. "I only use The Stare when somepony's life is in danger or to maintain order, but I don't like to use it... I don't use use it randomly, it wouldn't be nice if I just used it on everytemnokt."

"Stare? Is that how you call it?" Fire Throat shuddered at the thought. "Sounds fitting..."

Fluttershy noticed something. There was no sign of Twister around. It wasn't that she was precisely fond of him, but she was starting to get use to him following her around. "Hey, guys, do you know where Twister is...? I haven't seen him around..."

Swift Tail noticed she was right. They had not seen Twister all day, something of which he was grateful for. "Maybe he went to get some cocaine... He has enough sanity to remember how to do that, I think..."

Suddenly, Fluttershy felt her stomach growling. She recalled she hadn't had anything to eat, since the Big Five had occupied the dining hall for the day it seemed. Asking Neckslicer if he could get her something was the only apparent option, but she didn't like the way he behaved. She was scared of him. "Um, guys, do you think we can somehow get something to eat? I mean, we didn't have any breakfast because the Big Five are in there..."

"Well, you could ask Neckslicer if you want something green." Fire Throat suggested. "You still got fifty obsids, it's enough to get an apple or two."

"I don't think I'd like to bother him..."

"Don't worry, like he often says, 'business is business'. In fact, down in the mines you mentioned he told you that in a rather unpolite manner."

"Well, we should find him before he leaves for the mines. When he comes back from there he will be in a bad mood, which means he will probably put any wares he has on a higher price." Swift Tail said. "At this hour he's probably taking a nap somewhere. He always takes one before his labour."

Fluttershy followed the two drakes across the courtyard, she was glad none of the other inmates seemed to be interested in her anymore, instead they were tormenting the new Newbies, the fresh meat, some of whom had been given their Welcome, it seemed, she had glanced one of the newly-arrived hiding beneath one of the seats, trembling and trying their best to hide from someone. She had even glimpsed the Erik drake being attacked by those from Skunkbreath's group who weren't accompanying him inside.

---

They found Neckslicer, just like Swift Tail had said, taking a nap near one of the walls, his head resting on top of his front legs, the guards on the top keeping an eye on him cautiously in case he was going to do an escape attempt, though frankly at that moment Neckslicer could care less about that.

Fluttershy had the feeling he wouldn't take kindly to being disturbed while asleep. "Should we bother him when he's asleep? I could always wait until dinner..."

"Nah, don't worry. He won't mind." Swift Tail simply said as they approached, but he continued to advance while Fire Throat stopped, and kept Fluttershy from advancing any further. "Neckslicer!"

Neckslicer muttered in his sleep and turned his face the opposite side, grunting in annoyance. However, a few seconds later he was abruptly awakened when a cold snowball came into contact with his face.

"Kakogo cherta?!" Neckslicer growled, jumping to his feet and looking around for the poor idiot who had dared to do that, and when spotted Swift Tail a few feet away. "Why you little-!"

"Before you try to strangle me, and I know you will want to, I wanted to tell you Flutteroach wants to make a deal."

Neckslicer almost immediately settled down at the word 'deal', and glanced at Fluttershy. "Does she?"

Fluttershy almost instantly started to shiver when she felt those lime green eyes on her. She could feel the masked interest in it, but overall his potential hostility should she say something wrong. "Y-Yes... S-See, I didn't g-get to e-eat today and... I was hoping..."

Knowing Neckslicer had little patience for prolonged conversation cause by stuttering, Fire Throat answered for her. "She wants to know if you could spare her one apple or two."

Neckslicer wasn't really surprised. He knew she technically needed him to provide her the food she could actually eat. By just looking at her flat, small teeth, he could tell she was not made to eat meat of any kind, and judging by her weak character he guessed she wouldn't even dare if her life depended on it. And if there was something he had learned throughout the years was to take advantage of chances like this. "It would be thirty obsids."

Swift Tail narrowed his eyes. He had the feeling Neckslicer was putting them more expensive than they really were, he was the type of Temnokt to squeeze as much from a lemon as he could when he got the chance. "Let me guess, fifteen per apple, right?"

"Right."

Fluttershy wanted to ask why they were so expensive, but she figured it must have something to do with it being something the other inmates didn't ask for every day. "Okay..." Besides, she had enough to pay for them. Much to her confusion, Neckslicer spat into his talk and held it out for her. It took her a few seconds to realize what he wanted.

"It's his way to seal a deal." Swift Tail said. "Spit on your.. hoof and shake his talon."

Fluttershy was used to saliva to some extent due to her animal friends often licking her face as thanks, but having to actually shake hooves... or talons, with a Temnokt she barely met didn't seem appealing at all. However, another growl from her stomach made her reluctantly spit a small, tiny amount of her own saliva into her hoof, and she reluctantly held it out, internal wincing when Neckslicer grabbed it and she felt his saliva staining it.

"We have a deal then." he simply said. "Look forward to receiving a note with instructions." with that, he walked away.

As soon as she was sure he was out of sight, Fluttershy gently wiped her hoof against a nearby pile of snow to wipe the saliva off it. If Rarity had been forced to go through this, she would be washing her hoof in three liters of soap and purified water, along with disinfectant. But as mentioned before, Fluttershy was used to saliva to some extent, so she didn't really mind.

"What will he do now?" she inquired.

"He'll talk to his 'contact', and you'll find a note in your cell detailing where to find your 'request', and in how much time you will have to pay him, though judging by how small yours is he'll ask you to pay by the day after tomorrow." Fire Throat explained. "

Suddenly, they heard a ruckus going on. They turned around and found the other inmates were heading off somewhere, and there were yells of excitement in Krussian, which of course Fluttershy didn't understand. However, when Fire Throat and Swift Tail heard what was going on, they seemed concerned, or at least Fire Throat looked like it, Swift Tail merely opened his eyes slightly.

"G-Guys..." Fluttershy poked shyly at Fire Throat's leg. "What are they saying? Is someone in trouble...?"

Fire Throat's voice was serious as he responded. Fluttershy's eyes widened in horror.

"It's Twister..."

Comments

[SudokuBrony]

At last! I am always so happy to see a new chapter of such an amazing story! You don't know how long I've waited for this! So glad to see this updated! I was worried since it's April Fools Day it was all a joke and I would've gone nuts, but I'm glad that wasn't the case! I'll always keep my eyes open for this! Please let the new chapter be sooner.