“Look,” Spitfire said, fixing her eyes on Sonata with a no-nonsense glare and gripping the edge of the table, “we know you were at the market.”
“No you don’t,” she replied simply, far too confidently denying something they’d firmly established.
Spitfire wound the argument back to things they could incontrovertibly prove. “There’s a written statement from Lyra and Bon Bon here –”
“No there isn’t,” Sonata shook her head. She closed her eyes and lifted her chin haughtily. “I’ve never been to that market before in my life.”
Pinching her lips together, Spitfire paused for a moment to consider how to respond. If Sonata was now telling obvious, provable lies, perhaps that changed the situation legally, and how they ought to approach it.
Princess Twilight stepped in to fill the gap, though, before Spitfire could decide on a new approach.
“I spoke to you at the market two weeks ago!”
“No you didn’t.”
“Yes I did! I was there, you know!”
“No you weren’t. You’ve never been there before either.”
The princess made a strangled noise, looking unable to process the statements which couldn’t possibly be true. Too many years associating with the Element of Honesty, Spitfire guessed, leaving her baffled when somepony so gleefully lied.
“Sonata...” Starlight began, making her own attempt at salvaging something while Twilight recovered.
“Who? I don’t know anypony called Sonata.”
Then Spitfire pounced. Verbally, of course. Physically she remained in her chair, and leaned forwards with her forehooves on the table top, staring at Sonata intensely.
“Your lawyer’s looking very uncomfortable, Sonata,” she said, sparing a glance for Silver Tongue, who cringed further. Spitfire wasn’t certain of the legal technicalities, but his reaction was encouragement enough that she was onto something. “He realises we could charge you for wasting our time.”
“Go on then,” Sonata answered, just as eagerly as before. Her voice held no concern, just a note of certainty as she added, “But you’ll never find your friend. Now you need us, come and heed us –”
“ ‘Nothing can stop us now,’ you sang last time,” Twilight interrupted, planting her hooves in front of her and half rising out of her chair, “and then I stopped you.” Starlight caught Spitfire’s eye, and they shared a worried look.
Twilight held her pose for a moment, staring Sonata down, before letting out a breath and sitting back down. Her resolve appeared to remain, though, as she finished, “Don’t make me bring out the magic rainbow beams again.”
Sonata didn’t even hesitate. She just giggled, “Good luck doing that without Fluttershy,” as if she hadn’t just escaped being flattened by an alicorn. Spitfire couldn’t attribute it solely to stupidity, though; Sonata must have had some idea of the risk. In which case she had nerve like nopony Spitfire had ever seen, and she worked with Wonderbolts every day.
Twilight seethed. Her nostrils were flaring in her reddened face. She said nothing, although Spitfire could hear teeth grinding from where she sat, even over the noise of Twilight’s heavy breathing.
“I remember how it felt, though,” Sonata said after a pause, sounding a lot more introspective. “Like something that had been part of you forever suddenly wasn’t there anymore.”
Spitfire flicked her eyes to Twilight after her teeth fell silent, and noted how the princess’s demeanour had mellowed a little with Sonata’s recollection. Even Starlight’s glower, having been present for several hours, now had a faintly sympathetic cast.
Tapping her chin, Sonata said, “I guess that’s what it would be like if you cut off a unicorn’s horn?” Twilight and Starlight both flinched, then shared a look of dread. Spitfire watched on, unable to really imagine it. She’d never once wanted a horn, always more than happy with her wings. And if I lost those... Her own shudder followed. She was her wings.
“Do you do that here, by the way?” Sonata asked, turning to Silver Tongue with apparent genuine interest for the first time. He seemed taken aback, both by the question itself and by his client actually paying attention to him.
“C-corporal punishment was outlawed in Equestria a long time ago,” he said, spluttering at first but managing to catch up with his presentation mid-sentence, and finishing as smoothly as might be expected of a lawyer with such a high price tag.
As he finished, Sonata gave a polite, enlightened nod, before she nudged him in the side with a knowing raise of her eyebrows. “But when you’re on holiday in another world, then who cares, right?”
Spitfire jumped in her seat as Twilight slammed her front hooves down on the floor, again half rising and leaning forwards. Rage still dominated her face, but there was a touch of guilt there, too. She didn’t quite shout, but it wasn’t far off.
“You were hurti –”
“Princess, this isn’t the time,” Spitfire cut in, rising and facing Twilight, and laying a stalling hoof on her chest. That was probably crossing lines of protocol, and she might pay for it later. Or now, even, if the princess was affronted and wanted to put Spitfire in her place. But it was the right decision, and in the best interest of their investigation, Spitfire was fairly sure, and if that meant she had to face consequences for it, then she would at least do so with her integrity intact. She fought down the urge to swallow.
“Don’t get angry with her,” she counselled, looking into Twilight’s eyes and trying to impress upon her the importance of Spitfire’s words, “it won’t help things right now.” Thankfully, Starlight was on her hooves by that point, laying a comforting hoof on Twilight’s shoulder and rubbing gently to calm her down.
With that established and Twilight restraining herself for the time being, Spitfire quickly moved to take control of the situation so Sonata wouldn’t feel let off the hook.
“ ‘Now you need us,’ you said,” Spitfire said as she turned back towards Sonata. Spitfire remained standing, placing just one forehoof on the tabletop and leaning forwards over it to look closely at Sonata from a similar height to her. “Maybe there are things you need from us, too.”
Before Sonata had a chance to respond, Starlight spoke up.
“Your coltfriend does a lot of business in Ponyville,” she said, and Spitfire took the opportunity to sit back down, “think how badly that would suffer if a princess boycotted his store.” To Spitfire, at least, it sounded persuasive rather than threatening, despite the implied ultimatum.
“Oh please,” Sonata snorted, “he’ll forgive anything if I smile at him the right way.” Silver Tongue somehow managed to look even more uncomfortable at that than he had before. Sonata added, “That’s how I bagged him in the first place.”
“You sure about that?” Spitfire asked, thinking of how she’d do that for precisely nopony.
“Oh yeah,” Sonata said, grinning and crossing her forehooves. “He lurrrrrves me!”
Well, so much for that line of persuasion. Sonata didn’t seem to care enough about anything to put pressure on her, or about anyone enough to apply pressure on her through them either. That said, the last two questions, about her coltfriend, might have been the first two she’d answered honestly all day. Maybe that line of questioning would be worth pursuing, in the hope something else honest would slip out amidst the innocuous answers?
“And... do you love him?” Spitfire asked, thinking on her hooves, trying to sound conversationally interested. It wasn’t unusual for police interviews to include background questions, right? She made circling motions with a hoof hanging below the angle of the table from Sonata’s view, a gesture she hoped Twilight and Starlight would pick up on as an encouragement to stay on the subject.
“Of course I do,” Sonata shrugged and smiled, “he makes me happy.” For a moment, Spitfire was impressed. Rapidly less so, as Sonata continued. “He’s always getting me wonderful little presents, and he buys me anything I want.”
And continuing the conversation along the same lines to keep Sonata talking put quite a limit on the sort of things Spitfire could say in response.
“That sounds... expensive,” she said.
Sonata beamed, “I’m his mid-life crisis.”