Author's Notes:

Huzzah for 5K views!
And boo for this taking so long!

Kestral walked in a slow, steady pace. Every step he took was drowned out by an ocean of hoofsteps. All around him were many of the guards that had come to take him away. They fulfilled their job to a point; every step, every breath, every wayward glance was watched. There wasn't a single second that he wasn't the center of attention. He wasn't sure what would happen if he were to walk too fast or slow; he didn't even try. He matched the exact pace of the Captain, who was only a few feet ahead of him.

He looked up from the ground and over the golden helmets around. He was met with the faces of dozens upon dozens of people. A couple of them ducked as he looked their way, but most seemed less fearful than the panic had let on.

His capture sparked great interest. Instead of idly staring or passing by, the people around launched into conversation. He wasn't sure if it was all about him, but his guess was that most of it was. He was the first human in who knows how long, after all. Surely it wasn't just his pride telling him this?

As the sun beat down on him more, Kestral realized something. The slow pace might not be just for safety. The captain could have just as easily teleported Kestral if his escape was supposed to be a concern.

Maybe he was showing off. Like a hunter making a show of his kill, the Captain was making himself the envy of those that failed. Well, perhaps not for the pride, but for some other reason. It was certainly making a statement. It could have been that the Captain was giving a warning to any allies he had: 'he's ours, now. Don't think you're untouchable.'

A list of reasons ran through Kestral's head, but he could never find a concrete enough answer. He simply accepted that the Captain was making a show of his capture, and moved on.

“Captain Swift!” a mare called out. She wore a feathered hat and held a thick pad and pen in her magic. “Is interviewing the human out of the question?!”

“Yes!” Swift called out. He stared back at Kestral, giving him a look that merely read 'keep your trap shut.'

Another reporter ignored the answer, and called out. “Kestral. Everyone wants to know: why did you kill the changelings?”

“Was it for bloodsport?”

“Were you paid to do it?”

“Is this a holy war?”

“Why did you spare one?”

Like a good little prisoner, Kestral didn't answer anything. He kept shifting his eyes around the crowd, making sure not to break his neutral expression. The reporters kept trying to ask him questions, but they weren't very good at convincing him to speak... or at grabbing his attention, really.

“Kestral! I'm your biggest fan!”

What? Kestral snapped his side to see a young stallion flapping his wings and his mouth equally as fast. He wore nothing more than a black headband to keep back his hair. He floated around, smiling at Kestral with barely contained giddiness. Then, he noticed that his 'hero' had noticed him, and bolted to meet him....

… and was promptly tackled by a pair of guards.

Idiot.

Whatever the stallion was trying to accomplish, he failed hilariously. Had he not been captured himself, Kestral probably would have laughed at the attempt. Still, it did ease him some to know that he wasn't on everyone's bad side. With some luck, he might have some allies yet: hopefully some with social influence. Luna and Chrysalis were good, but were certainly not enough for him to get any kind of word out without some hefty consequences.

That was wishful thinking, though. He couldn't plan on having any more help than he already had.

They began rounding the corner, and moved onto the main road leading straight to the castle. The crowd began pouring in, surrounding the group of guards. Those towards the edge began holding out spears as a threat to anyone that tried to get too close. It worked flawlessly, keeping the other pedestrians out of the formation.

“Anypony that gets too close can enjoy the cold, stone floor of a jail cell!” the Captain warned, swatting away a nosy pegasus with his magic.

Damn. Kestral thought. People are real interested in a close-up. I wonder if I look ugly to them?

He sauntered on, idly pondering useless questions as prison time drew near.

SMACK

A flying ball of mush landed on Kestral's face. He turned his head from the hit, then looked down when the object fell off. It was a rotten tomato. He looked up to the side, and spotted a smiling merchant selling off his otherwise useless fruit. The merchant met Kestral's gaze, and Kestral made a cruel smile, and winked. The stallion's smile dropped, giving Kestral a giggle.

I'll be back for you, you fruit.

He dodged the second tomato, not breaking eye contact. After a moment, he let off the merchant, and focused more on scanning for incoming projectiles. Nearly a dozen more had flown before Swift began catching them and pelting the throwers, funnily enough.

Must be the kind of guy to want order to come before mob justice.

The formation began approaching the castle gates, and the crowd began to quieten. Kestral looked on to see that the population of ponies stopped just outside the gate, and inside was Princess Luna herself. The ponies parted like the Red Sea and the formation got just in front of Luna before stopping. Most of the people present took a knee, bowing down to the stern-faced Luna.

Swift gave a salute, and Kestral merely offered a nod, not wanting to come off as too polite.

“Your highness.” Swift said.

Luna gave him a nod. “At ease.”

At once, the whole of the guards rose from bowing positions and moved out of Luna's way as she approached the two.

“Kestral... Petrovski, is it?”

“It is, ma'am.” He said.

She spoke to the Captain. “Trouble on the way?”

“Not from him.”

“Hmm.” She turned to Kestral again. “You're far more mild mannered than reports have led me to believe.”

“Thank you, ma'am.”

She studied him for a small moment, then looked to Swift. “Skip the usual proceedings. I want him in a cell five minutes ago, and only Sister and I will determine if he may leave.”

“Understood.”

Kestral followed Swift, with only a few of the guards tagging along. The rest of them wordlessly dispersed, a few staying at the gate, a bunch heading towards the castle, and a handful trotting elsewhere.

“Following the current case, court will be cut short for today.” Kestral heard Luna address the crowd. “Castle grounds will be off limits except for staff and those with special permission until further notice.”

He looked back to see the guards pulling the gates shut, to the chagrin of many ponies.

“Lotta' nosy ponies, huh?” He thought aloud.

The guards veered around the castle, towards the opposite side of where the garden stood. Every once in a while, he caught on peering at him, but nobody spoke.

“So, is this standard, or is the silence special treatment for me?”

The group moved along a paved path, passing by several identical buildings, followed by a courtyard. The yard was full of training equipment, ranging from archery targets to track hurdles to dueling weapons. A couple of soldiers were using the field, but most were kicking a ball around at the far end. A pair of guards, presumably on patrol, brushed by Kestral's group, eying him suspiciously.

He shrugged, and kept on moving. Once they passed the main part of the castle, a field opened up around them. From there, there took the very lonely road to a small set of walls. It almost looked like a fortress: guards were patrolling the top, with a few posted at the foot of each corner. The field expanded several hundred feet between the fortress and the nearest other building.

“That's the prison, I assume?”

No one spoke.

“Smaller than I imagined. Does it go underground?”

Silence.

“Of course it does. Why not? It demoralizes prisoners, reduces their ability to escape. Hell, just to top it off, I bet you guys have a mine down there.”

They walked up to four guards at a gate. One of them grabbed a wheel and began turning, cranking some chains and forcing the gate to the side.

“Well, maybe not a mine. I don't know how close to the mountain we are from here.”

“Quiet, prisoner.”

Kestral pursed his lips, smiling at the guard who was now getting a scolding stare from the Captain.

“Every time they get you to react, they win.” He said.

“Yeah. And you don't want a human of all things to win, do you?” Kestral offered a smug expression, watching the soldier jump between pissed at himself and pissed at Kestral.

Swift eyed him again, but otherwise did nothing about it. He turned to the guards as he passed. “Nopony gets in unless they're S-list.”

The guards nodded, closing the gate behind the group.

In front of them was another gate, with the opening mechanism on the opposite side of them. To their right a booth, riddled with all kinds of armor and protection. A frail mare looked down at them, smiling at the Captain.

“Expedient entry for Kestral Petrovski.” He paused. “And, could you get the two from Ponyville and let them know their shift will start an hour early?”

The mare grabbed a random sheet of paper from a stack and looked it over, then scribbled down something. She put her pen down and pulled on a cord.

A small bell rang, and the other gate began opening up. The mare happily waved them on in, not treating them any different than a band of kids going out to play. They passed another four guards, and the gate closed behind them.

“Nice place.” Kestral said, looking around.

Around them was a small, grassy yard, with a few pieces of sport and exercise equipment. Some of them he recognized, but there were several that he had never seen before. He glazed his eyes over them momentarily before setting them higher, on the high walls. A large net made a canopy over the top, trapping in any fliers that might try to escape, Just below the canopy, a layer of the stonework was carved up with symbols.

Probably runes. He thought. I guess going up isn't going to work here.

They continued on, walking to the other side of the yard, where an open gate and a closed, barred door stood next to eachother. They went in the gate, and walked into a stone corridor, lined with bright, crystal lights along the path. At the end, they were met with a staircase leading down and a perpendicular hallway, filled with what looked like office doors with many locks. A couple more guards met them, and they descended.

A couple conversations came within earshot as they went down, but Kestral couldn't make out what anyone was really saying. At the bottom of the steps, the floor split into three halls. To the left and right, a series of cell doors lined the walls. Straight ahead was some more halls breaking up cells, except for some sections that didn't fit the style of the rest at the far end. Opposite of them was another staircase, and they began walking towards it. Conversation began picking up, and the inmates got restless.

“Is that new meat I smell?” A deep voice echoed.

“I smell it too!” A more chipper voice called.

“Holy shit, is that a human?”

“They got that thief? Boy, he didn't last too long, huh?”

“Hey, cute stuff. I can give you some tips on how to make it easy around here. Just make sure to give some tips back~”

As Kestral passed by a muscular, whorish stallion, the stallion gave him a wink. Kestral gave a half-hearted smile, then dropped it as soon as he was out of eyesight. “Sure thing, short-stack. First thing I'll show you is how to last thirty minutes!”

A series of excited whistles sounded off, and he chuckled.

“Excitable bunch, huh?”

The group passed by what looked like a cafeteria and a medical office, then met the next set of stairs, where another pair of guards met them. Kestral's group went down the steps, coming down to another floor.

He looked around as they advanced, but was a little perplexed by what he saw. The whole floor was open and sectioned off by paint on the floor. There were washboards, ironing boards, cloths-lines with strange heaps of metal below them. On the far end of one side, he was sure he saw piles of raw metals stacked near a furnace.

The only things missing are a license plate stamp and a quarry.

There may have been some other tools around, but they were moving too fast, and he was already descending the next set of stairs at the opposite side of the floor again.

“You guys sure don't like having quick access to all the floors, huh?”

Once again, they came down to a three-way path. It was the same as the other floor with cells, but these cells were small, padded, almost like...

“Is this an Asylum?”

Several of the inmates looked at him as he went by. More of them preferred to look rather than speak, and not a whole bunch of them cared enough to look.

“Shit, I remember this place.” One of the guards, a mare, spoke up. The Captain kept an eye trained on her, but said nothing.

“Used to be posted down here?”

“Used to be an inmate.” She giggled.

“Really?” Kestral asked, now more curious. “For what?”

“Oh, it started off as a joke, back when I first joined the guard. My friends got me admitted for a week before the doctor realized that the only words on 'Reason for admittance' were 'vag fag'.”

He snorted. “You sound like a friend I used to know.” He descended the stairs with the group. They came upon another floor with cells. “God damn. How many cells are down here?”

“A whole lot.” The mare remarked. “Each floor is different. The top was just a bunch of holding cells for groups coming in, going out, or just being jailed on suspicion. Each floor lower is for a worse group of people.”

“So what's at the bottom, V?”

“Those convicted of high treason.” She paused. “And solitary.”

“Of course.” He said. “So, which section am I going to?”

“Probably one of those two.”

“Of... course.”

Life is just a big box of chocolates, huh?

Chrysalis paced back and forth. Her chitin hooves clipped and clopped against the stone path. She made a circle over and over, keeping a trained eye on the guards that were denying her what was hers. The one's above paid her less mind, but were no less aware of her presence.

Chick and Chuck, her two lovable, if foolish, personal guards were sitting on the edge of the grass. They knew not to say anything when the Queen came into this sort of mood. The presence of their equine counterparts, however, kept them from straying anywhere. Instead, they decided to sit and count the number of revolutions the Queen had so far made around one particular stone, and perhaps do some math to figure out how long until she put the world into a natural rotation.

It was only moments ago that Chrysalis had received word of Kestral getting arrested. Those precious moments were wasted, apparently, as the time between his arrest and her intercepting the information was enough for the equines to stuff him inside their hole-in-the-ground prison.

She needed to talk to him, and for whatever reason, that idiot didn't have that charm she made for him!

...er, no, wait. That's a good thing. That's incriminating evidence... She shook her head.

She still needed to talk to him. An emergency came up the day before: rogue changelings were found to have infiltrated the Thieves' Guild! She didn't know how long they had been there, but for Kestral, any amount of time was too long. She had to get him the message, so he could clear out the place.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted none other than Princess Luna trotting out from around the other end of the castle. Chrysalis stopped her circling and stood on one side of the stone path, making her personal guards send a worrisome glance down towards Luna. They silently hopped up and stood at her side, hoping the two weren't about to face off again. As Luna approached, she spoke first.

“Chrysalis.” She said. “For what reason are you standing around the prison gate?”

“I demand to see the human.” She hissed. “I've a lot to discuss with him.”

Luna Stopped in front of her. “I assure you, whatever you want to tell him, we'll cover.”

“No. I will assure you that you will not.” She paused. “His actions are a direct threat to my children.”

“Which ones: the blindly loyal, or the runaways?”

Chrysalis lowered her head. “Inciting genocide is no laughing matter, Luna.”

“His actions are cruel and illegal, but as far as I know, he has never coerced others into doing the same.”

“Coerce! Coerce!? He doesn't have to coerce anyone! Others have seen his success and will try to mimic it!”

“Then you may talk to him tomorrow, when we are done with him.”

Luna moved to enter the prison, but Chrysalis moved to block her. “I demand to see him now.”

Luna narrowed her eyes. “Not before the interrogation.” She said. “We need to gather all the information we can before his trial.”

Chrysalis ground her teeth together. “A few hours could mean a few lives, Luna. It is imperative that I speak with him as soon as possible.”

“If you fear a specific threat, then take it up with Captain Swift when he exits here in a few moments. If you are simply being paranoid, then you can wait until Equestrian justice has taken its course.”

Luna walked around a rigid Chrysalis, who stood there fuming. The queen listened to and watched Luna enter the prison without another word. A frown formed firmly on her lips.

Absolutely zero respect. She thought. Fine. I'll wait it out. Her sister ought to be far more sympathetic to my needs anyways.

She pulsed her horn with magic for the slightest amount of time, sending out a single thought towards one of her drones.

“Let me know when Celestia becomes available.”

Another thought came back, affirming the order's reception. With that out of the way, Chrysalis went right back to her circling, hopefully wearing on the otherwise pristine stone as punishment for putting her through such political misery.

Kestral Petrovski, you owe me.