A Pop Star, a Princess, and a Prisoner

by Raptormon132

Chapter 7 (Part 1): "The Kind and Gentle Guard."

The Next Day...

Twilight Sparkle, Spike, and Lawful Eye were sitting in the kitchen of The Golden Oak Library enjoying breakfast. Spike brought over three bowls and a box of Honey Crunch Oat Krispies breakfast cereal to the table.

Lawful Eye poured some cereal into her bowl and smile. "Honey Crunch Oat Krispies. I've eaten this cereal since I was a little filly."

"Mm-hm." Spike shoved a large spoonful of Honey Crunch Oat Krispies into his mouth and began eating. "It's the best breakfast cereal ever!"

Twilight playfully rolled her eyes and shook her head as she chuckled. "Oh, Spike."

They began to eat their simple breakfast. While nearly finished eating, Twilight could see something was on Lawful Eye's mind, like she was puzzled about something.

"What is it, Lawful?" Twilight asked. "Is something wrong?"

Lawful Eye looked up. "Sorry Twilight. I can't stop thinking about yesterday."

"I know taking Abacus to Sugarcube Corner was a bit much, but it turned out fine in the end. But his outburst of anger towards Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon was a bit of a shock."

"True. I've never seen Abacus as violent before." Lawful Eye adjusted her glasses. "But it's not really surprising for it's the effects of being imprisoned, abused, and tortured. It can cause different behaviors in individuals. Even violence."

"Well, those two fillies provoked him," Spike said. "And that horrible name that everypony in town has started calling him, Abacus Scum. It's like one of the names I gave to Twilight and the others when they all got effected by the poison joke, except it's very mean, and nowhere near as funny."

"Not all ponies in town called him that," Twilight said. "Like Derpy, and Mr and Mrs Cake."

Lawful Eye nodded. "True. It's good to know that there are at least some ponies in town that are happy to see him back."

Spike swallowed the last mouthful of breakfast cereal. "And how about Roseluck, Daisy, and Lily Valley? Did you hear what they were saying about Abacus, especially about his face? And to think that Tiger Lily was the one who started the local flower shop as Fluttershy told us, and was also a business partner with those three."

"I know, Spike," Twilight said. "Those three are so skeptical of anything."

"And despite us talking to the ponies in town that Abacus was proven innocent of his crime, they still believe he's a murderer, and a danger to the whole town." Lawful Eye groaned irritably. "It's like talking to a brick wall."

Twilight sighed. "I know, Lawful Eye. It seems that trying to convince the town that Abacus is innocent, and that he's not a danger to anypony is not going to be as easy as we first thought. And I have not gotten a response from the Canterlot investigation force headquarters yet."

All of a sudden, they were interrupted by knocking at the Library's front door. Twilight got up and made her way to the door to answer it. Lighting her horn, Twilight took hold of the knob on the front door, and opened it up. She was met by two unicorn stallions standing outside on the doorstep. One stallion was average sized and middle-aged, with a very dark grey coat, purple and black patterned mane and tail, and deep emerald green eyes. The other stallion with him was a larger stallion, as large as a royal guard pony, with a vermilionish gray coat, cornflower bluish white and very pale cerulean patterned mane and tail, brilliant yellow eyes, and had a scar on his right shoulder.

"Miss Twilight Sparkle?" The dark grey stallion asked with a deep, but calming voice.

Twilight nodded. "Yes? Can I help you?"

"I'm Warden Rehab of Hoofstrong Prison Centre." He pointed to the larger stallion. "And this is Lock Down."

Lock Down smiled. "A pleasure, ma'am."

"Oh, yes. You're the ponies Lawful Eye wrote to the other day. And run Hoofstrong Prison Centre." Twilight welcomed them both in. "Do come in."

Warden Rehab and Lock Down entered through the door, and into the library. Twilight closed the door with her magic. the two stallions followed Twilight into the kitchen where Lawful Eye and Spike were still sitting.

"Lawful Eye," Twilight said. "The warden's here."

Lawful Eye turned to see Warden Rehab standing next to Twilight at the entrance to the kitchen. "Rehab. You're here."

"We took time off duty the day I got your letter," Warden Rehab said. "Then we caught the next train to Ponyville."

Lawful Eye raised an eyebrow. "We?"

"Yes. I brought one of my best guards along with me." Warden Rehab turned his head towards the door at the same time Lock Down appeared behind him.

Lock Down stopped at the kitchen entrance next to Warden Rehab. Lawful Eye looked at him with a reoccurring feeling, until her eyes shifted to a mild angry glare.

"What is he doing here?" Lawful Eye asked.

Twilight tilted her head. "What's the matter, Lawful Eye? Do you know this pony?"

Lawful Eye continued glaring. "Yes. Even without his royal guard armor, I recognize him. Especially with that scar on his shoulder."

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked.

Lock Down stepped forward. "You see miss Twilight... I was the guard who shocked Abacus on her first visit to him."

Twilight turned to Lawful Eye. "Is that true, Lawful Eye?"

"It's true," Lawful Eye said. "And I don't understand why he's here to help Abacus after what he did to him."

"Well, I think we should explain this over coffee." Warden Rehab turned to Twilight. "If that's okay, miss Twilight?"

Twilight nodded. "Of course. I still have plenty of hot water in the pot. Please, do sit down."

Warden Rehab and Lock Down soon sat down at Twilight's table. Twilight soon levitated a fresh pot of boiling water, a jar of coffee, a jar of sugar, a carton of cold milk, a carton of cold Half-and-Half, and two coffee cups on the table in front of them.

"Do help yourselves." Twilight said.

Warden Rehab nodded. "Thank you, Miss Twilight. It's very kind of you."

Twilight smiled. "There's no need to be formal, Rehab. Just call me Twilight."

"Of course," Warden Rehab said. "My apologies, Twilight."

"That's okay." Twilight sat down at the table.

"Thank you for your hospitality, Twilight." Lock Down said.

Lawful Eye took a sip from her cup of coffee while talking to Lock Down. "So why are you here? Of all the guards, why you? The very one who shocked Abacus?"

"It was my request to come. I wanted to come...because I wanted to help make things right." Lock Down sighed. "I know that you still hold a grudge on me for shocking him, but please understand that I didn't have a choice. I really didn't want to shock him, and I felt terrible for doing it. I even tried to form a special bond with him afterwards. That's why I'm here."

Warden Rehab put his hoof on Lock Down's shoulder. "Lock Down. I think they deserve a bit more of an explanation. How about you tell them the whole story from the beginning."

Lock Down sighed. "Okay. Like Rehab mentioned earlier, I'm one of his best guards. I've been a prison class royal guard for over ten years, and have worked in four prison facilities, three of them were some of the most dangerous prisons in Equestria. The first prison I worked at was Trotzburg Psychiatric Penitentiary, which is how I met Rehab."

Warden Rehab nodded. "Yes. I was the warden of Trotzburg for fifteen years. I was impressed with Lock Down's work as a guard. A guard needs to be not only strong and capable of controlling, enforcing, or subduing prisoners, but also good at communicating with them too."

"Really?" Spike said. "Wow. I didn't know that being a royal guard had to involve all that."

Twilight looked at Spike. "It's more than just standing around protecting things, Spike."

"After I had experience from Trotzburg for the first two years, I got transferred to three other prisons during the other eight year period. While Rehab and I always kept in touch with one another. The most dangerous prison I think I worked at out of the three was Alcatrotz Island in San Franciscolt." Lock Down looked down at the scar on his right shoulder. "You see that scar? I got it from being slashed by an inmate's homemade knife during a prison riot. The knife slipped under my armor plating as the inmate attacked me."

Spike's eyes widened. "Gosh!"

Lock Down nodded. "I know. Sugar Dough is always worried about me for being a prison class royal guard. When she found out about me getting injured in the prison riot, she feared the worst."

"Sugar Dough?" Twilight asked.

"Yes. She's my wife." Lock Down smiled. "We met in our schooldays back in our home city, Carriageston. We have three children, two fillies and a colt. Cinnamon Swirl is the eldest daughter. Straight Arrow, our son, is the middle child. And our youngest daughter is Cutie Cream. She works as a baker in Carriageston. A lot of ponies ask her what it's like for a baker to be married to a royal guard." He chuckled and cleared his throat. "But anyway, I worked in the prisons, but working at Hoofstrong Prison Centre was where I really wanted to be. But every time I requested a transfer there, it was always rejected."

"Because Armstrong and his goons were torturing and abusing the prisoners, and didn't want to be found out?" Spike asked.

"Basically. So when I got the sudden orders to be transferred to Hoofstrong Prison Centre, I was thrilled. The thought of being at the very prison I always hoped to work at, so I'd be close enough to my family to come home to them would be a relief. Like a dream come true." Lock Down sighed. "But after I was briefed on the horrors that was happening there, and that I was going to be part of the raid of that place, my relief on working at that place changed. That place was a real horrible mess. Then when I shocked Abacus Sum on my forth day on the job, I was hit so hard inside."

________________________________________________________________

Three months ago...

Lock Down opened the front door of his home, closed it, and entered the living room. He then planted himself onto the living room sofa all exhausted and stressed.

A very pale amber colored unicorn mare with a brown and white mane and tail, and pale green eyes and wearing an apron peered into the living room from the kitchen. "Hi, sweet heart. You're home early today."

"Hey, Sugar Dough," Lock Down said, waving his hoof at his wife with his head down.

Sugar Dough looked at her husband with a look of concern. She then came out of the kitchen, into the living room, and sat down on the sofa next to Lock Down. "What's wrong, darling? How was your day?"

"It's nothing, honey." Lock Down sighed. "My day was just fine. I'm just a bit tired, that's all."

Sugar Dough gave Lock Down a sideways glance. "Clearly that's not true."

Lock Down dropped his eyes sadly with the sorrowful expression on his face. Sugar Dough placed a caring hoof on Lock Down's shoulder. "Sweet heart. I've noticed you haven't been your normal self for the last few days. Our kids have noticed it too. You know you can always talk to me if there's ever a problem. I can tell something happened that is troubling you. So honey...please tell me what's wrong."

Lock Down sighed. “Alright, but if I tell you, can it stay between us?"

"Of course, sweet heart," Sugar Dough said. "You can trust me."

Lock Down looked up at Sugar Dough. "Okay. I can't reveal too much information for court reasons and they're ordered to be kept classified from everypony, but I can tell you some things. You know how I've always wanted to be a guard at Hoofstrong Prison Centre to be close to you and the kids, but my transfer request was always rejected by that place?"

Sugar Dough nodded. "Yes."

"Well, I recently found out why." Lock Down paused briefly. "It was because there was horrible things going on there."

Sugar Dough tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

"Well, when I was given orders to go to Hoofstrong, it was to be part of a royal guard raid on that place. I was briefed that there was countless acts of cruel torture, and abuse to all the prisoners by all the staff at that place, including the minotaur warden, Armstrong. That monster put steelectric collars on all the prisoners, and he and his men would shock them just for sick, sadistic pleasure. He would even let his guards beat, torture, starve, and even rape them."

Sugar Dough eyes widened. "Are you serious? That's so awful."

Lock Down nodded. "I am. You could not imagine the things they did to the prisoners there."

"What did they do to them?" Sugar Dough asked.

Lock Down sighed. "Well...that's one of the things I can't say for court reasons. But what I can say is that it was things you would only see in your nightmares." He dropped his head. "But that's not all that's troubling me."

"So what is it?" Sugar Dough asked. "Is it something to do with you coming home early?"

"Well..." Lock Down paused briefly. "I shocked a prisoner today."

"Was this prisoner violent and dangerous?" Sugar Dough asked.

Lock Down shook his head. "No. He wasn't."

Sugar Dough blinked. "Well, why did you shock him? Tell me what happened."

Lock Down took a deep breath, and exhaled. "Well, a pony came to visit a prisoner inside today. This pony was a detective from Fillydelphia who was in fact one of the ones responsible for getting that place exposed for the nightmarish place that it is. I escorted her to see a specific prisoner who's her best friend she's been trying to get out. Her friend is an earth pony stallion named Abacus Sum."

"What's the crime he's serving time for?" Sugar Dough asked.

"Premeditated first-degree murder of his wife and unborn child, and arson. And was sentence to life, never to be released." Lock Down eyes dropped. "But they've claimed he's innocent, and that he's due to face court for a retrial."

Sugar Dough put a hoof over her mouth. "Oh my gosh. So that stallion's been wrongly convicted? That's horrible. That poor stallion."

"I know. So we arrived at his cell, and the detective tried to hug Abacus through the bars of his cell, and... And that's when I shocked him. I shocked this poor stallion because he broke the rule of not touching visitors. I've shocked prisoners before, but this one was different. This wasn't a violent, dangerous criminal trying to harm somepony, this was an innocent pony trying to hug his friend. I didn't want to shock him, but I had no choice. I'd never abuse or torture any prisoner, but it felt like I did. And after I shocked him, the detective was furious with me for shocking him, and she called me a monster. Not that I blame her. Then Rehab came to my side, and told me to clock off early and wait in the rec room. He met me in there and told me everything. That further made me concerned about that poor stallion. Seeing him crying on the floor of his cell after being shocked. And the pain...the horrible physical and psychological pain he must have felt and be feeling." Lock Down winced as he held back a few tears from escape his eyes. "It's like his nightmare wasn't over. Not being able to share a hug, a simple hug with his friend after all the pain, suffering, and humiliation he's been through without getting shocked. You could not imagine how hard it was to keep my composure and do that with a straight face. After that, he sent me home early, and said he'd talk to me tomorrow." He sighed deeply and leaned forward with his hooves over his eyes. "That detective was right. I am a monster."

Sugar Dough stroked Lock Down's shoulder to comfit him. "Sweet heart. It's okay. You're not a monster. You were just doing your job, don't blame yourself. I know you wouldn't ever hurt anypony maliciously, and so does Rehab."

Lock Down looked up at Sugar Dough. "I still can't believe I did that. It was horrible to shock an innocent pony."

"I don't understand," Sugar Dough said. "Why can't you just simply take those steelectric collars off them?"

Lock Down sighed. "Because it's not that simple. Hoofstrong is under the high maximum security class act. That means the major protocols, including the major rules, and the steelectric collars being equipped can't be changed without legal processing by legal government policy that takes as long as eight months to even over a year." He groaned with an mix of sadness and anger. "Armstrong! That scumbag! It's like he's still there torturing them. And those of us who are left to clean up the mess he and his guards have made have to suffer too."

Sugar Dough watched as another tear escape her husband's eye, filling her with pity. She reached out and wiped the tear from Lock Down's face. "I'm sure it'll be okay, sweet heart. You're one of the strongest, bravest ponies I know. I'm sure you'd be very kind and gentle to those poor prisoners, especially to that one you shocked, Abacus. You might even be his friend."

"I don't know if I can after that." Lock Down said.

Sugar Dough embraces Lock Down into a cuddle. "I know you can. You're also the most gentle, loving, caring pony I know. I can see that you care about him a lot, and I'm sure he'll see that sooner or later. You're nothing like Armstrong and his guards. You're like a big teddy bear. That's why I fell in love with you."

Lock Down looked at Sugar Dough with a small hopeful smile. "You always know the right words." He returned the cuddle with his wife.

"Now, how about I bring you some of my powdered doughnuts and some coffee." Sugar Dough said.

Lock Down nodded. "I could use some of that. Thanks, my little sex kitten."

Sugar Dough got up from the sofa, and went into the kitchen to get some doughnuts and coffee ready. Leaving Lock Down alone in the living room to think things over.

________________________________________________________________

Back in the present...

Lock Down sighed as he finished recalling the conversation he had with his wife on the day he shocked Abacus. "I've shocked prisoners with steelectric collars before, but shocking Abacus that day...it was the most horrible feeling I had ever felt. According to royal guard prison protocol, it was the right action to shock him, but in my mind and heart, it was wrong. There is a good reason why those steelectric collars are strictly only for the most violent and dangerous prisoners."

Lawful Eye pondered at Lock Down's words of his retelling of how he felt. Not that long ago, she despised him for shocking Abacus that day, but seeing just how, gentle, kind, remorseful, and genuine he really was, and that he truly wanted to help him, she found that she really did believe him.

"So you do care?" Lawful Eye asked.

Lock Down nodded. "Yes."

Twilight turned to Lawful Eye. "I think you should give him a chance, Lawful Eye. I know you're still upset about him shocking Abacus, but he really is sorry for what happened and wants to help him. Please give him a cha–"

Lawful Eye raised her hoof to silence Twilight. "It's fine, Twilight. I see the truth now."

Warden Rehab took a sip from his cup of coffee. "So when I spoke with Lock Down the next morning, I told him not to go near him, until he at least got to trust me."

"I was always worried about him, and even asked Rehab on how he was doing everyday he saw him," Lock Down said. "Until Rehab gave me the task of guarding Abacus during his trip to Canterlot on the day of his retrial."

Continues on part 2...

Author's Note:

This is the first part of the seventh chapter. The second part of the seventh chapter will be up sooner or later...I hope. I plan to make this story into parts for anyone wanting to do a dramatic reading of this. Enjoy!

Comments

[Bronycommander]

Rules are rules but sometimes, you have to disobey to them and Listen to your heart

[Raptormon132]

So true.
You could see that Lock Down didn't want to shock Abacus, and shocking an innocent pony imprisoned for a false crime was the most awful feeling he had ever felt.

[Truthseeker]

Here we see a brilliant illustration of the contrast between Lawful Neutral and Lawful Good.

Lawful Good would have said, "Hmm, the rules of the prison state there is to be no physical contact between prisoners and visitors, but have the prisoners been told that? (Yes) I will remind him, since he's been through so much. He may have forgotten or never been told. (No) It would hardly be fair for me to give him a shock if he doesn't even know that rule, I mean they haven't ever had visitors before, nobody probably ever went over the rules for visitations."

Lawful Neutral, "I am required to do my duty to the laws, rules, and regulations regardless of my personal thoughts, feelings, morals, or ethics. ZAP."

The scene described above shows me a stallion who is weak in his own beliefs. This is somebody who cares more about following the rules and laws than anything else. A person who follows the directions of others regardless of individual case-by-case basis. Actions speak louder than words. If he actually believed what he told his wife, there would have been no ZAP. He speaks like he Lawful Good, but his actions say Lawful Neutral.

[Raptormon132]

8555513
What you say here sounds a bit complicated, but I think I see where you're going at. Lock Down was doing his job, but he regretted shocking Abacus. But I mustn't tell you anything more, or I shall spoil the story for you.