“God dammit Pinkie Pie!”
>Meeting action to words, you snatch your apparatus away from her hooves.
>On examination, there’s no sign of the cunning manufacture or finely tooled parts.
>Quite apart from any ‘master craftsmanship’, it appears crudely put together and of grossly inferior material.
>Angrily grasping it with both hands, you pull as though attempting to rip it apart.
>Without any sort of strain, connecting pieces and tubing fail in the face of your anger.
>Pieces pop off and you toss them about you.
>Rage building, you lose the fine motor control necessary to grasp any further details of the item.
>Seizing it with one hand, you raise it overhead before TOSSING IT ON THE GROUND.
>No sidewalk handy, it bounces as it strikes the forest floor.
>One last bit of frustration to work out, you stomp the remains of your apparatus with your foot.
 
>You slow your breathing.
>Taking another especially deep breath, you seem to grow as you turn to face your unwanted companion.
>Glancing down at pony of indeterminate color, you exhale, seeming to shrink as your shoulders and chest fall.
“Well?”
>The full moon washes out most color, mostly blues and grays, and stark shadows.
>You turn and advance on the dumb-founded pony, wearing a black spy-suit of all things.
“You caught me, right?  Well, let’s get on with it.”
>You begin walking towards the scene of destruction you had cooperatively created.
>”Bwuh?”
”I imagine we’d best leave.  The forest normally isn’t safe, and these aren’t the best of times, right?”
>”Well, yeah but---“
>You ignore her and stride on
>”Hey, don’t ignore me! You said I caught you!”
“Yes, and it’s best that you take intelligent steps to insure my safety lest it be deemed your illegal detention subsequently involved criminal negligence contributing to my death while in your custody.”
 
>You words seemed to disturb her.  She abandoned her hopping in favor of a quick, high-stepping trot to keep up with your long strides.
>She considered the weighty words.
“I’m sure you feel you were justified in confronting, pursuing, and subsequently ‘apprehending’ a dangerous creature, no?”
>You turned to glance at the spy-suit clad Pony to gauge the truth of your words.
>Her eyes opened wide in the mottled moonlight filtering through the trees affirming their truth.
“I’m a ‘dangerous creature’ who emerged from the Everfree Forest, right?  So when the Ursa was destroying your town, having been baited from its home in the forest, did you arrest it?  Hold a trial, hmm?  Condemn it, order restitution, attempt to rehabilitate it with mandatory service hours?”
>”Well, no…”
“It was placated, and sent back to its home.  So why is it then that having judged me a ‘dangerous creature’ that you felt the need to confront and detain me?  Permanently do me harm by taking from me my respiratory filtration system?”
>”Hey, I only had it for a little bit!  You snatched it back without even asking nicely, and threw at fit on your own.  You’re the one who broke it.”
“It was worthless when I got it back from you.  Completely non-functional, and I’d already been exposed nonetheless.”
 
>The two of you were nearing the site of the confrontation, emerging from the confines  of the forest into the moonlit expanse bordering Fluttershy’s cottage.
>Returning, you stood tall.  Without your full-faced respiratory system, and your form obscuring attire now hanging open, you were an entirely different creature than had fled into the Everfree.
“Well, we’re here.  Go find your unicorn friend.  I imagine she’ll have to draft an emergency report for the Princess.  And see if your winged friend I defenestrated earlier is okay.”
>”How do you know the Princess?”
>Pinkie Pie was suddenly suspicious.
“I think I’ve answered quite enough of you questions, and I’ll not be compelled to answer any more of yours until I’m safely detained somewhere else.”
>You sat down roughly.
>”But you didn’t answer any questions…”
”Quite.  Now go.  I’ll not be going anywhere.”
>Pinkie Pie struggled for a moment.  The plan had never been to capture anything.  Just confront and positively identify the periodic visitor of Fluttershy, and the possible connection to other odd occurrences the past couple months.
>Clearly torn, she turned back to address the sitting creature.
>”You’d better not go anywhere!”
>His face was shrouded in stark shadow, so any response written there wasn’t visible.
“Go.”
>His flat response sends Pinkie running.
>”Ooo…Twilight!”
 
>You sat upright as best you could.
>Rainbow Dash hadn’t taken kindly to being defenestrated.
>For whatever reason, being tossed through a window hurt her more than crashing through a wall or smashing into the ground from a stunt gone wrong.
>Well, you had time to wallow in your hurt later.
>Maybe in the dungeons.
>Would they chain you to the ceiling, hanging you by your wrists?
>You ignored that for now.  Definitely not paying attention to your ribs.  Or your jaw.  Especially not your head, which felt as though it should be swollen twice its size.  
>Hopefully if you ignored it well enough, these ponies would ignore it as well.
>No need to give them an easy target.
 
>Fluttershy still had her hooves wrapped around you, wings attempting to shield you as they could.
“I expected things would go badly” you articulate carefully, so as not to upset the shaking Pegasus further.  “Especially now that I’m an ‘animal’ that talks.”
>She just holds on a bit tighter.
>The best you can offer is some non-verbal attempts to sooth an upset Pegasus.
“Shh…shh…shh…” you sub-vocalize, shushing her tears.  “There there.  Yes, yes, yes, it’s alright.”
>She quiets down.
“Can you get some cold packs?  I know I’m not hurt, but it’ll be a nice distraction if you could get some while your friend and I speak.”
>”Oh, of course.”
>And with that, she departs quickly for whatever meager supplies she may have in her home.
“Twilight.  Do you feel sufficiently brave now that your friend has beaten me after I surrendered to your custody?”
>Your swollen face gives mute testimony.
>She ignores that for now.
>”What are you?  You don’t—“
“I think,” you interrupt “that you had best send a message to the princesses detailing what you have done tonight.”
>”And what do you know about the Princesses?  You’re just an animal that talks!”
“I believe it was these things that prompted my previous incarceration.”