In Chains

by Dino Days

Arc One - Part Three

I shifted in my chair as my mother poured me a cup of tea. “It’s so good to see you again, dear. It feels like it’s been so long since we’ve had a chance to catch up.”

I smiled as I brought the tea cup up to my lips. I took a sip and placed the cup down once more. Mom made the best tea.

“Yeah, it has been a while, hasn’t it? It’s my fault; I’ve been so busy lately.”

She shrugged, a small smile adorning her face. “I’m just happy to see you again.”

We were in my mother’s kitchen, in her Canterlot home. The home I grew up in. The bright yellow wallpaper—while still ugly—was a pleasant sight that made me feel nostalgic. I made myself a mental note to visit my parents more often.

Mom placed a plate of cookies in front of me, and I pounced on them with gusto. Mom made a small growling noise, and I slowed down. She hated when I ate too quickly. She said it was because I could choke, but I knew it was just because she thought it made me look unladylike. Mom was traditional like that.

“How’s your brother doing?” she asked me between sips of her tea. “He calls me even less often than you visit.”

“He’s in the hos...” I stopped, my answer caught in my throat. A sense of dread overcame me as I contemplated what I was about to say. Where had that come from? Goldy was just fine. Why would I say he was in the hospital?

“He’s fine,” was my belated answer. “I haven’t spoken to him in a little while, though.”

She hummed. “What about your friends? How are they?”

I paused. “They could be doing better. For example, they could start existing. That would be cool.”

My mom looked down at the table.

“It’s just that I don’t really have time to make friends, what with work and all,” I added when I saw her crestfallen face. I hated seeing mom upset.

“Or course, dear.”

I finished my tea, put the cup down, and stood, moving over to my mother’s side. I nuzzled her neck.

“Thanks for caring, though.”

She smiled. I went back to my seat and we sat in silence for a few minutes, enjoying each other’s company. Mom wasn’t much of a talker.

After a few more minutes, she spoke up.

“Did you hear about what happened at that nice Mr. Heart’s place?”

I cocked my head to the side. “Bleeding Heart? Did something happen?” I asked. I couldn’t keep a twinge of worry from showing itself in my voice.

My mother noticed. “Do you know him?”

Something was wrong. Mom knew that I knew Bleeding Heart. We had met him together, four years ago.

The sense of dread returned, stronger than before.

“Yeah, I did.”

“Did you hear about the fire?” she asked me. “It’s been on the news all morning.”

The party. I remembered the party last night. Did something happen?

The attack. Some villains had attacked the party. Goldy had been hurt, and I tried to get him to safety. It had hurt, but I didn’t care, because my brother had needed me. I couldn’t lose another like I lost my-

Like I lost my parents.

I bolted up out of my chair. “You’re dead!”

The mare who looked like my mother looked taken aback. “Dear, what are you saying? I’m right here. Sit down, let me get you another cup of-”

“No! You’re dead! We buried you!”

The mare’s eyes narrowed a fraction, and she spoke in a voice that wasn’t hers.

“We had hoped to do this subtly, but it seems like that is out of the question. Awaken, Cutlass.”

The world faded to black.

For the longest time, an electronic beeping was the only thing I could hear, its tempo matched by the beating of my heart. It took me a while to recognize it as a heart monitor. My eyes fluttered open, the bright light burning at my retinas.

My thoughts were cloudy, and I felt strange. Light-headed. The white-tiled ceiling above me was the only thing I could see.

I looked around the room I found myself in. I was lying down on a white cot, electrodes attached to my chest, their wires leading back to the heart monitor which produced the beeping I had heard. There was a door in the wall to my right, and a window covered with curtains to my left. An IV drip was poked into my foreleg, which was completely healed, except for the areas of pink skin where the fur hadn’t grown back. How long had I been here?

I tore out the IV drip and removed the electrodes. My legs struggled to hold me up as I rolled off of the cot, but they held underneath my weight.

I limped towards the door and grabbed the handle with my magic. It refused to turn.

I was locked in?

I struggled with the door for a bit, but gave up after a few moments. With a grunt of frustration, I hobbled towards the window and opened the curtain. Bars covered the glass.

I was locked in.

What kind of hospital locks in its patients? I hobbled back to the door as fast as I could and pounded on it, shouting. “Hey! Somepony get me out of here!”

Nopony answered my screams. Half an hour later, I gave up on it, my voice hoarse. If whoever was holding me prisoner wouldn’t respond to me, I’d find a way out myself.

I examined my surroundings more closely. Perhaps if I faked a rapid heartbeat on the heart rate monitor, they’re notice and come check up on me? No, I had already taken off the electrodes. If they had a way of listening to the monitor remotely, they would have come when I took them off.

Perhaps I could lift the cot with my magic, and use it as a ram to break down the door? I tried lifting it, but it was tethered to the wall with a chain.

Perfect.

I broke the two ends of the chain with my power, disconnecting it from the wall and the cot. It floated over towards me. I could feel it in my mind as though it were an extension of my body.

I grabbed it with a hoof. When somepony walked through the door, I would throw it at them, propelling it with my power and knocking them out. Hopefully, the motion of throwing it with my hoof would make them believe that I was simply an exceptionally good chain-thrower. I didn’t want to let them know about my powers unless absolutely necessary.

Sitting there, facing the door with weapon in hoof, I waited.

The hours ticked by, and I came to the conclusion that whoever had trapped me in here had either forgotten about me or was trying to intimidate me by keeping me here for longer than necessary. It was working. I was hungry and desperately needed to use the bathroom, but I remained vigilant.

I had a lot of time to think. I thought about my brother, and what had become of him. I thought about Frostbite, a friend I had just met and who had been taken from me in an instant.

I thought about the ponies who did this to us.

I thought about Virtue.

That mare had betrayed us all. Bleeding Heart had praised her, held her up on a pedestal. Spoken of her like she was some sort of example to try and emulate. But as soon as she had seen an opportunity, she had stabbed us in the back. Or maybe she was working with the three villains the whole time.

I worried about Goldy. I hoped Pauldron had gotten him to a hospital in time, but I couldn’t be sure. He had been hurt, after all. The only thing that seemed to be keeping him standing was his armour.

I looked down at the chain I had wrapped around my hoof, nearly identical to the one I had wrapped around the hero’s neck. I pang of guilt shot through me as the realization of what I had done hit me. I had hurt him. He was a hero, only trying to help me, and I had choked him with the chain I kept for self defense. The worst part? The words he had said, about my brother knowing what he signed up for, the words that had prompted me to hurt him? They were true, and that only made the guilt that much stronger.

I had two goals. I needed to make sure Goldy was safe. Then I needed to apologize to Pauldron. We didn’t always get along, but he was kind to me, and I owed him that much.

With a fiery determination, I continued waiting. It wasn’t until another fifteen minutes had passed that the door began to open.

I acted quickly, not bothering to get a look at my enemy. My arm flung the chain forward, and my power directed it to its target. As soon as the door opened fully, the chain wrapped around the neck of the pony who had entered.

The royal guard fell to the floor as the chain tightened, his hooves trying to pull it off. he spasmed in surprise, fear, and pain. My stomach felt queasy. I wasn’t good at this.

“I’m sorry,” I apologized, my voice betraying a hint of panic. “I’m so, so sorry!”

The guard stopped moving, unconscious, and I removed the chain from his neck, wrapping it around my newly-healed right foreleg.

I knew that what I was doing was dangerous. Life isn’t like the movies- you can’t just choke someone until they’re unconscious without risking them getting seriously hurt. But I didn’t have the luxury of being the good guy right now. There was more at stake than just my freedom.

I found myself in a hallway, where dozens of doors identical to the one I just left lined the walls. The wall was stone brick, as was the floor, and I could tell that I was somewhere very, very old. Torches lining the wall provided the only light around.

I rushed down the hallway, taking a left from my door, hoping it was the right way to go. I was distinctly aware of the sound of my hooves clacking against the stone. I wasn’t being very inconspicuous.

I heard more hoofsteps coming from down the hall and ducked into a room before the cause of the noise turned the corner. The door shut in time to block their view of me, the guards on the other side none the wiser.

Until they saw the unconscious guard.

I heard one of them shout, and an alarm went off. My panicking got even worse as I realised the implications. Either they’d find me and take me down, or they’d find me and be taken down. I didn’t know which one was worse.

I briefly considered surrendering, but the thought of my brother dying somewhere while I could have been helping him quickly squashed that idea.

I heard them opening doors, checking each room to find me. I had to think fast. How could I incapacitate however many guards were going to come rushing in here when they found me?

Luckily, the room I was in was identical to the one I had woken up in. I detached the chain that was tethering the bed to the wall, wrapping it around my other foreleg. Two weapons were better than one.

I glanced around my surroundings one more time, hoping to find a better option. Fortune was with me. I noticed the barred window once again, and had an idea.

My chains flew towards the bars of the window, wrapping around them. I strained, pulling on them, and the bars gave a little. Spurred on by my small bit of progress, I pulled harder, and the bars were torn off.

They had heard the commotion and come running. The door slammed open behind me, and three royal guards pulled in. I didn’t give them a chance to do anything- I bolted for the window.

Glass shattered around me as I flew out of the window, piercing my skin and slashing me, drawing blood.

The prison was built into the side of a cliff.

I plunged down, a rushing river my apparent destination. I was too shocked to do anything- I couldn’t even flail my arms, instead letting them wave in the wind as I fell. My breath caught in my throat as I tried to scream.

Legs wrapped themselves around me and I slowed, coming to a stop.

As I regained control of my faculties, I looked up at my saviour. She was a royal guard, her yellow face filling my vision, her purple eyes glaring at me from underneath her helmet.

“You’re under arrest,” she told me, matter-of-factly.

“Okay!” I cried as I wrapped my forelegs around her for dear life.

She flew back up to the shattered window and into the room, landing in the middle. A dozen or so royal guards surrounded us in an instant. I didn’t let go.

A few guards tried prying me off their comrade, but my adrenaline- and fear-induced grip was too strong. They settled on dragging me down the hallway, still attached to the pegasus who saved my life, and into a small, dark room.

Eventually, I let go of my hero and dropped onto the floor. She lifted me and placed me into a creaky wooden chair. Then she attached a shackle to my left foreleg, and attached the other end to the leg of the table in front of me.

My senses returning, I noticed where I was. It was the archetypal interrogation room- a single light bulb hung from a wire from the ceiling, just above my head. One wall was dominated by a mirror, but anypony with a lick of common sense—or who had seen a single crime show—knew it was a one-way mirror. A table sat between me and an empty chair, bolted to the floor. My stalwart protector/jailer stood behind me and to my right, watching me closely.

“Excuse me?”

My guard didn’t answer me. Perhaps she hadn’t heard me?

“Excuse me, miss?”

She didn’t respond. Again. She was probably under orders not to talk to me. That was okay. I could talk to her.

“Thank you for saving me. I didn’t want any trouble; I just have some things I really, really need to do. They’re important.”

“They’d better be important,” she responded, startling me. “You assaulted a royal guard to do them.”

And I felt damn guilty about it, too. I didn’t tell her that. Either my interrogator—who was bound to be watching me even now through the mirror—would take that as a sign of weakness, or think I was lying to get on their good side. Neither of those was a desirable outcome, so I stayed silent.

Time dragged on and I started to wonder if anypony was coming at all. Just as I was about to open my mouth and try questioning my guard, the door opened and the last pony I expected to see walked in the door.

She was tall, and had a dark blue mane, the colour of the night just after the sun had set. She had a flowing, ethereal mane of dark sapphire, which flowed in a wind I couldn’t feel. Eve without the crown and royal regalia, I knew who she was.

Princess Luna sat down. She did not look happy.

“Let us have a chat,” she said, her voice calm, at odds with the anger in her eyes.

“You were the one in my dream,” I responded dumbly.

She nodded. “I had hoped to get information out of you in a more subtle way, but as you know, that did not pan out.”

Now I was mad. I didn’t care who she was; what gave her the right to come into my mind and pretend to be my dead mother?!

I was surprised when I found myself preparing my power, as though to attack the princess. I managed to calm myself and stop the chain before it got started.

What was happening to me? Why was I so quick to violence?

“We have much to talk about,” she told me.

I glared at her. “I have nothing to say to you,” I responded through grit teeth.

“That is where you’re wrong, miss Cutlass. You see, the Crown has an interest in the events that transpired at mister Bleeding Heart’s house. We were wondering why a noteworthy philanthropist’s home would come under attack by a group of strange ponies, and why there were the bodies of several other strange ponies inside. We were also wondering why you were there, unconscious but alive.”

I looked away from her, unable to meet her angry gaze any longer.

“Perhaps you could answer a few of these questions for us?”

“Is Bleeding Heart alright?”

I don’t know why I even asked. I knew he had to have been killed- it was his home. He was probably the target.

“Mister Heart had purchased airship tickets to the Zebra Lands a week prior to the incident. He was last seen boarding a ship.”

What? That didn’t make any sense. Was he fleeing the country? Did he escape?

“I’m sure you can understand why we’re so interested in the information you possess.”

I stayed silent.

“Miss Cutlass. How did the walls of mister Heart’s mansion acquire their odd combination of burns, frozen patches, and holes?”

I didn’t respond. I knew what would happen if the princess learned of the existence of powered ponies. History had set a precedent- if the textbooks were to be believed, even the first Alicorns were discriminated against when they had popped up.

“Miss Cutlass,” Princess Luna stated, her voice hard. “If you do not tell me everything I want to know, I am going to personally see to it you are thrown in the dungeon for the rest of your days.”

I gasped. Where had this come from? Weren’t the princesses supposed to be compassionate, loving, and kind.

She leaned forward, her spiralling horn uncomfortably close to me head.

“Tell me everything.”

Comments

[WingsOnTheBus]

Aaaw snap aw snap aw snap! Gah, more people should definitely be reading this!