"Hi." Rainbow Dash said almost nonchalantly as she walked up next to the pony she had taken a slight interest in.

"What do you want, Jailbird?" Replied the jet-black maned pony.

"The name is Rainbow Dash. Not Jailbird." replied Dash.

"Well, get used to it, cause that's what you're gonna be known as and not just by me. You're the only new pegasi and it's the nickname pegasi get in this here prison. I would know, I've been here more than enough times to see new pegasi. " The pony finished with a heavy cough.

Dash moved to avoid the onslaught of saliva that flew at her from the stallion. Visible disgust grew across her features before disappearing as quickly as it had come.

"Sorry about that. This is a cough developed over years of smoking."

"Well, 'sorry' is the last word I expected to hear out of your mouth." Dash replied.

"I may be a tough son of a gun who can knock those pretty teeth of yours down your throat with a quick jab, but I do have manners. Now, the name is Smoky Soot, but you can call me Smoky." Smoky said.

"Smoky Soot. What's your cutie mark?" asked Dash.

"A pile of ashes. Which is what my life amounts to. Everything I've ever done, I've managed to either accidently, or on purpose, reduce to ashes. So, I guess you could say I was doomed from the start. Not that what your cutie mark is matters in here. Especially for you, jailbird."

Dash shrugged at this. "Probably not."

"Now, unless I'm mistaken, your name is Rainbow Dash." The pegasus nodded in agreement at this. "So, I'm gonna take a gamble here and say that your cutie mark is lightning, representative of speed."

Dash nodded in agreement again. "Well, my cutie mark is a cloud with a rainbow lightning bolt coming out of it."

"Close enough. So, you're in here for murder." Smoky decided to look for another topic of conversation.

Dash interjected. "Accidental ponyslaughter is a better term. The courts still called it murder because I broke the number one rule of flying and took someone flying. When I asked my friend Twilight Sparkle what the legal definition of murder was, she said it was the 'unlawful and premeditated taking of life from another pony'. I took somepony's life, yes, but it was not premeditated, which she said meant planned. "

"Well, that sucks. Still, you're gonna pay the price for it."

"Yeah, I've been told. My arrogance got me here. I was so confident in my abilities. Little did I know that short morning flight would land me in prison and ground me permanently."

"Being perma-ground bound as a pegasus sounds like hell on earth, to be honest. Being a unicorn, it's not so bad, but having the freedom of the open sky denied to you..." He tapered off with a heavy sigh.

"After I dropped my friend, from the moment I laid down beside her, I've yet to fly. To be honest, I... lost the will to fly. It was like a heavy weight grew upon my wings. When I first got up, I lifted my wings to take flight, to go get help, but before I even got them halfway up, I sighed and tucked them back in. Her death took it out of me, though I guess it's not as bad as being physically restrained by rope." The pegasus lowered her head and closed her eyes as she covered the death of her friend.

"Well, unicorns get this handy little anti-magic brace applied to the base of their horns. It doesn't hurt us to try to call magic, it just stops the magic from flowing, kinda like rope would stop your wings from expanding full mast."

"Where'd you get such a vocabulary?" Dash asked, surprised by some of the language the rough pony was using.

"I may be a criminal, but I am educated. Hardships drove me to crime, and the lifestyle entrapped me in the promise of riches by breaking a few laws. Unfortunately, that was a promise that will forever remain unfulfilled, because this time they gave me twenty years." Another set of heavy coughs racked his muscular form.