Til You Believe In Friendship

4| Runaway Filly

"—No...Please don't...No...No!...AHHHH!...Please stop!...Stop it...Stop it! PLEASE! PLEASE STOP!...AGHHHH!...STOP IT!...PLEASE!...

—Aww, feeling shattered already, sweetheart? But we've just started the fun!

—...Gha.. You're insane!

—Well, what would art be without a little insanity?

—No, no, no, wait! WAIT, NO! AHHHH!"

...

The young mare lifted her terrified expression when the screams of her own voice woke her in the darkness. The nightmares never left her alone. Her sight slowly got used to the poor lighting of the room. Soon, the agony of her most recent experiences showed up in all of their glory, as well as the pain she was already used to. With her front hooves strongly chained to the ceiling and her horn blocked by a magical latch, the filly tried to pay no attention to feelings growing inside her, like a virus at its top. She knew what was waiting for her that day. Today her final tests started. And nopony passes the final tests.

She waited helplessly as the last hours of the night gave way to the morning, and thus, to her calling. The dread of what might happen at any moment kept her idly in the cell. When the usual buzzing noise announced it, the chains opened and threw her down to the floor. She got up slowly, weakened by the lack of a proper meal. As she did so, her jailer opened the lid on her cell's door.

—Oh look; she's awake! Hello there! Are you nervous? Well, you should. After all, the biggest day of your life is just about to start!

The joyful tone of his voice and the lack of any shame or remorse in him made her nauseated. His attitude was incredibly cheery as he opened the door and levitated her out of the cell. This kind of days excited him all the time, and he was always happy to be in front row.

They both got out to a much bigger room with labeled doors leading to other cells. She could overhear some subtle cries as she advanced up the stairs to the upper floor. The Jailor ignored the following doors in the hallway, as well as the examination room. The mare's eyes stared at its door until they turned. He might have read her mind, because he said:

—Oh no, not this time. Today is just too special for it to happen in such a filthy room, don't you think?

At this point she would've been even happy to enter that room and not the one she was heading to. But she knew that whatever she was going to turn into would not get happy in there.

They reached their destination and the Jailor opened the door. It wasn't as dark as she had expected, but yet quite disturbing. With the tiled floor and walls white as snow and more than one light bulb giving a golden glimmer, the room's atmosphere vastly differed from the instruments inside it. With enough knives and shears to wool ten mammoths at once and the sharpest needles she had ever seen, it highly reminisced to a dentist's office; a you-will-most-probably-die-in-here dentist's office.

She was sited down on one of the various steel chairs and stripped of her only clothing. Her seat was cold and a little moist, while the lights above her head blinded her for a moment.

—The Doctress will be here in a moment. Don't you go anywhere! —the Jailor said while immobilizing her with a pair leather straps and copper locks. He left her and all of her misery alone. She lay in the cold seat, shrieking a bit. Do you know that some ponies say that you watch your entire life in front of you when you know you're about to die? Well, it's true; the only lie is that they say it lasts less than a second. Although most of them hadn't been totally pleasing, some of her memories were worth a last effort: her lovable parents, her house, her school, her friends... Her brother... A tear came out of her eyes as she thought of the only moment she ever saw him. He looked so happy! She had never being able to see him walk, or talk; not even to laugh. And now she would never see him again. It was all finally over.