"Where did we go wrong, what is happening to us!?" a red earth pony cried out in despair as he moved with the crowd away from the palace. A strange stallion moved to walk beside the forlorn soul, he had not been in the best vantage point during the speech, he had no idea who this was.
"We haven't gone wrong friend, what could you have done to merit the kind of torture you are no doubt receiving now?" The stranger said, reasoning with him.
"Nothing, but did you see how fired up the princess got? I've never seen her angry... at all." The red pony said in amazement of the memory.
"She fears reason, and fear and negligence spawn hatred." He said thoughtfully while the red-coated listener rolled his eyes.
"You were that guy up on the podium weren't you? I can tell from how you talk, you're one book away from genius aren't you?" he replied with a hint of annoyance. He got a hearty chuckle in response.
"Sometimes i'd like to think so, but that is irrelevant." Vilotyne stated, his face turning serious again. The crowd poured out into the plaza that he had scouted out yesterday. "You've noticed it haven't you? Your faithful leader isn't as she used to be. You and I both know that she wasn't ready for this attack nor will she be ready for any future attacks." he asked the red-coated pony. They stopped and stood in the thinning crowd within the plaza. The grown stallion standing in from of vilotyne bowed his head in shame.
"Three days ago is when I lost my wife, when my life turned into a warped nightmare..." The red pony muttered, tears escaping his eyes.
"And you don't want it to happen again, do you?" he asked in a gentle and understanding tone. The red earth pony's eyes looked into his and the look of anguish vilotyne had come to expect met him full force.
"Mr..." the suffering stallion started.
"Vilotyne"
"Mr. Vilotyne," He continued "If you can stop this from happening to other folks, you're fine by me..." the words were sincere and final, the red stallion walked off into the crowd. Vilotyne was left to ponder what to do next but was cut off as a blackjack impacted on his skull and knocked him out cold.
Vilotyne was coming to, his vision was blurred and his head was slumped to one side. Through the haze he could hear a voice that calm and smooth, and one that was burly as well as scratchy. He couldn't make out what they were saying but he could tell that they were arguing. His vision began to clear slowly and the two figures began to take shape. An intense pain shot across his skull and permeated through it in waves. How? What? The more he tried to understand what was happening the worse the pain got. Through the ringing of his ears he picked up small segments of the conversation.
"...MADNESS, HERES... -your highness, I..." The scruff voice said. One of the outlines raised it's hand as if to speak more but the other voice cut him off.
"...Nothing...about...to us." The more elegant of the two voices said. Vilotyne could now see that he was in some sort of cell or perhaps a dungeon. He made to rub his eyes but couldn't, looking down he could see that he was restrained in a chair with large leather straps. There was a wooden table in front of him with a candle. The gray-coated stallion had had enough, he shouted blindly at the shapes:
"HEY, DID I ANGER YOU CELESTIA? THAT WAS QUITE A SHOW YOU PUT ON FOR ALL OF EQUESTRIA!" He chuckled as the silhouettes made their way towards him. One held a rag to his mouth while the other one whispered maliciously in his ear.
"Stay quiet you retch!"
Vilotyne blinked twice and his vertigo subsided and was now replaced with utter confusion. He was looking straight into the eyes of Princess Luna who held a rag to his muzzle. Seeing the look in his face change, Luna released her grip on the pony. He looked to his left and saw the minister of defense standing idly by. Vilotyne's mind struggled to connect the dots, if he was being taken into custody there would be a plethora of guards and a gloating Celestia. He simply muttered in a cautious tone:
"Well, Ms. Luna and the good minister... nice to see you?"
"As long as you don't raise your voice again, it will be." The minister growled.
"Now..." The dark blue alicorn started. "Who are you, where did you come from, and how are you so good at what you do?" Her voice becoming higher at the last few words she spoke. She saw the look on his face and spoke discerningly:
"Now don't you smile at me. I know what you're thinking, but you're too cocky. Yes, you might be good, but are you good enough to do what it is that you are thinking?"
The imprisoned stallion looked directly into Luna's eyes, his face unchanged.
"I was born in Fillydelphia a mere twenty-eight years ago, to a house of wealthy Bureaucrats. Growing up, I had 375 acres to play in. I did not step foot in any of it, save when I absolutely needed to. I was home schooled but my mother often sent me to town to fetch groceries, said it built character. Well, she was absolutely correct." Luna and the minister listened on, both wondering where this would lead.
"There was a bigger pony that would often knock me down and steal my grocery money. One day I stewed up a way to be rid of him. I set out at my normal time, except this time I had no money. When he tried to steal it from me I explained to him that I had forgot it at my house. He insisted on following me to my house, as I knew he would. When we got to a river I told him to do as I do, I walked across some stepping-stones that I had set up. When he tried, the rocks wouldn't support his weight, I knew they wouldn't. The current dragged him under and drowned him, I watched from the bank."
"Does this answer your questions miss?" He was still staring directly at her, his face didn't contort or change at all throughout the entire time he was speaking. The lunar goddess thought for a moment, sighed, and said:
"Yes..."