“No.”
The words left my mouth before I had a chance to think about what I was saying. It didn’t matter; I would have said the same thing anyway. There was no way in Tartarus I was going to tell her anything.
She had impersonated my mother, my dead mother, and made me think for the briefest of times that she was still alive. She had threatened my well-being, and her keeping me here threatened the well-being of somepony I loved. To top it all off, who knows what could happen if she discovered the existence of powered ponies?
History was full of reasons why I couldn’t let her know. People feared things they didn’t understand- the hatred between the three pony tribes, the griffon’s isolationism, even the events that were happening in the Zebra Lands as we spoke were all proof of this.
“I am afraid you do not understand,” Luna said, her voice low and threatening. “You do not have a choice. Either we get this information from you willingly, or we use more invasive measures.”
I wasn’t sure what that entailed, but the menacing glow on her horn gave me enough information to figure it out.
“No,” I repeated.
Luna stared at me with a scowl. After a few moments, she stood up. I flinched reflexively, thinking she was going to read my mind or throw me in a dungeon. When she turned and left the room, I let out a quiet sigh of relief. Was she just giving up?
I turned to look at my guard. She hadn’t reacted to the princess’ departure. “Where’s she going?” I asked her.
She didn’t respond, stoic as ever.
I tapped my hooves anxiously on the table as I waited for something to happen. I didn’t have time to wait here, doing nothing. I needed to check on my brother.
I was briefly considering an escape attempt when the door opened once more.
“Oh boy, another visit from the princess. I feel so important,” I snarked, eyes on the table.
A new voice piped up. “That’s because you are very important.”
I looked up. So much purple. The Princess of Friendship stood at the other side of the table, smiling down at me.
She was nearly as tall as Princess Luna was, yet not quite. Her mane was dark blue, with purple and pink streaks running through it. It didn’t have the same ethereal quality as Luna’s had— in fact, her manestyle reminded her of my grandmother’s.
She sat down, and her horn glowed. With a small popping sound, like the bursting of a balloon, a bottle of water appeared in front of her. She floated it over to me.
“You must be thirsty. You’ve been here a while, now.”
I couldn’t believe they’d actually try this. It was so cliché!
“Are you really trying the good cop, bad cop routine?” I asked. “You know I own a television, right? I’ve seen the cop shows.”
The princess smiled again. “That’s the first thing everypony asks.”
“Well it’s not going to work. I’ll tell you what I told Luna— I’m not going to tell you anything. I have some very important things to do, and every minute I spend here is a minute lost.”
As I said it, I realized there was a third, important thing I needed to do. I had already decided to find and help my brother, as well as apologize to Pauldron and beg for forgiveness, and I added this new item to my list— I had to tell somepony about Virtue. For all I knew, they had no idea she was the enemy.
“What do you have to do, Cutlass?”
I didn’t respond.
“If it really is as important as you say, maybe I could help?”
I spat on her. I wasn’t proud of it. I didn’t even know I could or would do something like that. She just sat there, calmly, and wiped her face clean with a handkerchief she summoned with her magic.
“You’re part of the problem!”
“I didn’t want to lock you up,” she said after a few moments. “I believe that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. I thought that if we had been kind to you, had let you leave as you please, you’d eventually open up and tell us what we needed to know.
“I sent a guard to bring you to me, so I could try to right the wrongs Luna and I had made, but you attacked him. Please, please understand that after that display of violence, we couldn’t just let you go.”
So I had doomed myself from the start. Wonderful. “So what now?” I asked. “I’m not going to say anything. I can’t.”
“Cutlass, we want to help you, no matter how it feels. When you say you can’t do you really mean that you can’t? Is somepony threatening you?”
I looked down. She was being too nice, and I was being a grade-A bitch. The guilt weighed heavily on my chest.
I shook my head. “Can I ask you a few questions?” I asked her.
“Of course.”
“Will you answer them? Truthfully?”
“I’ll try my best.”
“How many ponies died last night?”
She didn’t hesitate before responding. “One-hundred and four ponies, thirty-nine griffons, and a donkey.”
My head whipped upwards as I looked at the princess, fast enough to startle the lone guard behind me into taking a step forward.
“No diamond dogs?”
“A few diamond dogs were taken to the Royal Canterlot Hospital, and all of them are expected to recover.” She must have noticed the look of relief on my face. “Do you know any of them?”
There wasn’t any use lying now. “I met one last night. I didn’t think he’d made it.” I decided to take a risk. “You knew who I was when you brought me in, so obviously you have my files. Do you have any news on my brother?”
She cocked her head. “Your brother?” she asked, sounding confused. “We didn’t find him among the dead or wounded.”
“How would you know? Were you looking for him?”
“No,” she admitted. “But I was there. I helped patch you up,” she said, pointing towards my leg, “and I have a very good memory. I would have remembered finding your brother when I read your file.”
So Pauldron made it out of the party. With luck, he would have gotten Goldy to a hospital. One of my worries gone, I dared to ask another question.
“Other than the... assault,” I said, the words sour in my mouth. I didn’t want to think of myself as someone who would assault another pony. “...am I being charged with anything?”
“No, no charges, other than the assault charge, which I’m sure we can clear up with a plea of self-defense and some community service.”
Another weight off my chest.
“But your secrecy on the matter of what happened last night isn’t shining favourably on you,” she added.
I took a deep breath. “Can I send a message to someone?”
“Of course.” She summoned a quill and a scroll of parchment with her magic. A bit archaic, but it would do.
I tried reaching for it with my magic, but the guard moved to stop me, and the princess shook her head. “I’m afraid we can’t let you out of your bonds, or give you anything sharp,” she explained, shaking the quill slightly. “I trust you not to do anything violent—or stupid—but it’s against the rules.”
“But you’re a princess! You can just break the rules!”
“They’re there for a reason,” she said, matter-of-factly. “If you dictate your message, I’ll write it down and send it where it needs to go.”
I definitely couldn’t dictate the message I wanted to send. Dear Pauldron, Virtue is a traitor, don’t trust her would just raise questions- and suspicions.
“Nevermind,” I said, resting my head on the table in defeat.
She shook her head. “This is exactly the kind of secrecy that’s making it hard to trust you.”
She was kind. I found it hard to believe that the princess in front of me would do anything rash if she learned the truth. Should I tell her? Could I tell her?
No. That kind of judgement call isn’t the kind I’m qualified to make.
I still had one pressing matter on my mind. I had to warn the heroes about Virtue.
Could I sacrifice my future freedom to warn them? I could try to escape now- I had already formulated a plan. If I did that, I could get away and warn the heroes, but I’d be a fugitive. I’d never again lead a normal life.
Could I live with myself if I did nothing and let Virtue hurt somepony? I had always dedicated myself to doing the right thing, in my own way. Sure, I had never been the type of hero that went out and fought bad guys, but I had done my best to supply the ones who did and keep them safe.
I made my decision.
I shot a blast of magic at the princess. It would do nothing, I knew- I couldn’t hurt a fly with my magic. The spell dissipated as it hit the princess, hardly tickling her, but it had the desired effect.
Ceremonial royal guard armour was full plate- it wasn’t to be used for actual combat. I had noticed during my flight with the guard, however, that the armour they actually used for protection has chain-mail underneath for extra protection, likely enchanted to keep the weight down.
I had been keeping track of the chain mail on my guard throughout the interrogation, feeling it out with my power.
I sensed the guard move forward, quick as a bullet, but I had anticipated it. I moved as far to the right as my bindings would allow, simultaneously breaking the chain that held me to the table. The guard hit the table instead of me.
I lifted my hoof and hit her on an unarmoured portion on the back of her neck, and she fell.
I was strong. I don’t mean to toot my own horn or anything, but I did work in a forge. That kind of work toughens you up. Not that I had ever been svelte.
The princess rose and her horn flared, holding my hooves in place, but like the charge of the guard, I had anticipated it.
I flared up my horn, making it look like I was using magic. The princess reacted, casting some sort of magic-cancelling spell. But I wasn’t using magic.
I sent a small, broken link of chain from what remained of my bindings flying towards her face. It collided with her horn, startling her, and she dropped her spell. I barrelled my way through her and out the door.
Two guards were waiting for me, and I sent them flying into the walls with my power. No time for subtlety. I had to escape.
I ran through the hall, pushing any guards I encountered into the wall and pinning them their with their own armour. Cries of pain and confusion echoed in my wake.
Eventually, I encountered a wooden door and kicked it open, finding myself in a beautiful hallway.
The floors were marble, with a red carpet running down the middle of the hallway. Large windows let in the sun’s light and warmed my fur. I hadn’t realized how cold it had been down there.
Fancy-looking ponies who I presumed were nobles looked at me in shock and fright as I kicked down the door and fled into the hallway.
I’d never been in the palace before, and regretted my first time being under such horrible circumstances.
I faced little resistance as I rocketed through the castle, and before I knew it, I was running through the main doors of the castle and towards freedom.
The streets of Canterlot had a different feel to them when you were on the run. Every corner became a possible ambush, every happy pony sitting on a bench a possible trap. It didn’t help that I had no clue where I was going.
I couldn’t go to my house or my forge to restock on chains- I had no doubt both places were being monitored. I had no clue what hospital Pauldron had taken Goldy to. As I ran through the streets, dirty and with hairless patches on my leg, I felt very small.
My stomach grumbled, and I realized I hadn’t eaten anything since my pastry-binge during the party. An oat-dog stand rested ahead of me, serving a large group of ponies. I considered buying one before realizing that I had no money.
I stood by a wall and stared at the oat-dog stand, considering my options. They were pitifully few. Either I stole one, which wasn’t really an option at all,as I couldn’t afford to get caught, or I went hungry. I chose the latter.
I started to leave when I realized that I had a third option.
I found a discarded Marebucks cup on the sidewalk and sat down, placing it in front of me. I looked up at ponies as they passed, trying my best to look pitiful. I didn’t have to try very hard.
After half an hour of waiting and hiding every time a guard came near, nopony had stopped to drop bits in my cup. I had hoped all my years of giving bits to panhandlers would pay off now that I was in need, but it seemed karma didn’t work that way.
I stood up, dejected, and kicked the cup away from me. What a waste of time.
As I left, the oat-dog vendor seemed to take notice of my disappointment.
“Hey, lady!” he called out as I walked passed.
I turned to look at him, weary.
“Are you hungry?”
I hesitated. “Yes.”
“Well,” he said, “I was just about to close up, and I’d have to throw out any extra ‘dogs. Why don’t you take a couple?”
He floated an oat-dog up to me with his magic, and I took it, nearing closer to his stand.
“Really?”
He shrugged. “You looked hungry, and I’d rather these ‘dogs go to somepony who could use ‘em instead of being thrown out.”
“Well... thank you. You’re very kind.”
He blushed a bit. “I’m just doing what anypony would do. You looked like you could use it.”
I nodded, taking a bite out of my oat dog. “I really could. You would not believe the day I’ve had.”
He glanced me over, taking in the sight of my patchy fur, messy mane, and sweaty everything. “Looks like it.”
I couldn’t help but feel embarrassed to be outside in my state. I knew it wasn’t the time or place to be shy about my appearance, but I couldn’t help it.
“Could be worse,” he said. “You hear about what happened down at that Bleedin’ Heart guy’s mansion?”
“What?” I asked, ever eloquent.
“Some big house fire, or something.”
That was a relief. For a moment, I had feared the truth had come out.
“That’s awful. Bleeding Heart is such a nice stallion.”
He nodded. I finished my oat dog and said goodbye. I had things that needed to be done.
And I thought I had an idea of where to find my brother.And this is not the response you're looking for. I know how you wish to show her as intrepid, but the simple drama you've created is simply meh. Perhaps have her lie?