I sat in my cell, flipping through a picture book they'd given me. "Yeah...real nice." I tossed the book to the floor of my cell and rubbed my face. "Get me out of here!" I lifted my head and screamed at the ceiling. "Get me out! I need to go home! Let me the fuck out!" I stood up and turned to the cell door. "Get me the fuck out of here!" I bolted over and slammed against the bars. "I know you can fucking hear me, now let me out!"

A loud tapping came down the hall. "Excuse me, can you shut up!" The mare with the strange mane walked back in. She shook her head and looked into my cell. "What's wrong?"

I looked back at my cell. "I'm in a dungeon. Not even a POW camp, a straight up dungeon." I pushed my arms through the grated door. "Shit sucks horse. Shit sucks."

The mare closed her eyes and shook her head again. "Must you--"

"Stop shaking your head at me, Captain Park." I leaned my forehead against the bars. "Christ. Can I get out of here and go home yet? I have things to do!"

The mare's disdainful frown melted into something softer. She looked down the hall. "It's looking doubtful that I will be able to return you."

I felt something shift in my stomach. "I don't care. If this isn't a dream, I got here somehow, you just have to find me a god damn way back!" I pressed my face between the bars. "I was in a war god damn it! They fucking need me!"

Celestia turned back to face me. "I'm sorry to hear that." She turned to the hall and started walking away. "I hope your friends will be alright without you."

I felt my body tremble. "Hey! Are you kidding me!? Talk to me damn it!" I reached out after her. "Please!"

The mare turned to me, her head barely visible from the curve in the hallway. "What?"

I took a deep breath. "My mask, my vest, my coat? Can I get any of it back?"

Celestia frowned and walked back over. "Why do you need it?"

I let out a short sigh. "Maintenance. If I'm not going to be fighting for a while then I can do some maintenance and try to get ready to go back." I hung limply against the door. "I'd really fuc-- I'd really appreciate it."

Celestia hung in my view for a while. She wore a strange expression, one I'd seen far too many times. "You--" She took a deep breath and nodded. "Yes, alright. Your coat."

I sighed heavily. "I just need to do something, I can't be locked in here with nothing!"

Celestia huffed. "You know, I don't normally meet the prisoners directly. And considering you almost killed--"

"I wasn't going to kill anyone!" I stepped back and held my arms up. "I told you what happened! Twice! I wasn't the one with the knife, and how did you expect me to act!? Oh hi! Let me just shake your hand, it worked out so well last time I tried that with someone!"

Celestia's ears fell flat. "You have to understand, you didn't exactly handle it in the most calm of--"

"I wasn't calm! I had just gotten kicked down a flight of stairs!" I walked up to the bars and hung my hands towards her. "Let me see how calm you are after I push you down a flight!"

Celestia sighed and turned away. "I understand, but that doesn't excuse you beating my ponies." She walked out, but before she left me to sit in my cell again, she said one thing. "I'll see if I can get you put under house arrest."

I scratched my head. "What? The hell is house arrest?" I looked back at my bed. "You can't arrest a building, dipshit!" I realized I'd just yelled that at my bed and took a step back from the bars. "Ugh. I wish it didn't smell like shit in here." I rubbed my face and walked over to the cell bed. "Can't sleep, can't live like this."

I laid down on the metal cot and took a deep breath. I reached up and under the rags they'd given me to wear. The welts and bruises from my fighting had started to die down and heal. I took a deep breath and brought my knees up into the air. "One." I crossed my arms over my chest and curled upward. "Two." I had to stay fit. "Three." I had fighting to do. "Seven." I had a family back home. "Fifteen." I was going to go home. "Thirty." These ponies wouldn't stop me. "Thirty-eight." I had to get home. "Forty-three."

"I-- What are you doing?" Celestia's head popped back into view.

My stomach ached like hell as I laid down across the horrid metal floor. "Huh?" I put a hand against my stomach. "What?"

Celestia cocked her head. "Exercise?"

I slid off the cheap metal bed and onto my feet. "Do you really not believe me? About what I said I am, about what I told you?" I lifted my shirt to show her the scars and bruises that weren't fully healed. "Forty-five." I pointed to the biggest scar I had. A large bullet wound across my stomach. "Went right through too." I turned around and pointed to the exit wound, sitting next to my spine. "Close son of a bitch too."

Celestia shook her head again. "Brutality doesn't have to beget brutality. You could have stayed--"

I turned to her and jammed my hand out of my cell, my middle finger extended high. "See this!? Seriously, I wasn't exactly calm or thinking clearly! Even now, I'm not entirely unconvinced I'm not dead!" I shook my head and pulled my hand back. "I've seen some crazy shit, but talking horses and cities made of marble, that's a little far out there."

Celestia cocked her head. "Do you not think you're strange? But we treated you with kind--"

I shook my head hard. "No! Don't even try that shit with me! Your little friends surrounded me, and one poked me from behind! Don't act like I wasn't justified!"

Celestia leaned her head back. "A poke doesn't quite give you license to bash one of my subjects--"

"Princess--"

Celestia's wing shot out and slapped a guard's helmet off. "Ah-- Um." She turned to face her guard. "Apologies, I'm really not used to--"

I leaned against the bars and stared at her. I kept my expression flat as could be. "So you gonna unlock the fucking doors now?"

The guard turned to me. "You know, I'd really appreciate it if you showed some respect! A new creature like you, and not only are you not being thrown on a dissection table, you're being spoken to by the princess herself! Animal!"

I flipped the guard off and kept my mouth shut.

Celestia folded her wings away. "It's fine!" She flapped her wings once, touching either wall of the hallway. "And it has been far too long since I met a new race in person." She looked to the hall, then down to her guard. "What did you need?"

The guard glared at my finger. "The nobles you assembled are ready to hold court. They wait for your decision."

Celestia nodded to her guard. "Good, tell them I'll be there momentarily." She turned to me and levitated something long and white from her side. "And this-" she hung my coat on the bars. "-is going to have to hold you over for a bit."

I plucked my coat from the bars. "Sure." I put it on and pulled my hood up. "Better than this stuff you gave me." I turned to my bed. "You know I--" By the time I turned back to the bars I was alone again. "I uh...fine." I leaned against the wall. I let out a long breath. "Hurry up...please, I just need to get back to fighting." I hung my finger against a hole in my coat. "Please." Next Chapter: Home Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 7 Minutes