The room was dark, the only light was coming from behind her, but that was leaving as the door slowly shut behind her. As soon as it did, lights in the room turned on, blinding her for a few seconds, but she could see what was inside. Surprisingly, it looked like the interrogation rooms police stations would have. She’s never been in one herself, never been stupid enough to get caught with anything. But from the crime movies and documentaries she’s seen, this was practically a replica. Honestly, it was disappointing for her. She was expecting something amazing, or perhaps a torture chamber, not the cliché interrogation room.

It was the normal eight by ten room, with the dim gray colors of the walls and roof. The only thing in the room was a medium sized wooden table, with a wooden chair on each side. The only light source was a hanging lamp above the table, it only gave off a very dim light, enough to see around the table, but the rest of the room was hard to make out. From what she could tell, there weren’t any windows that people from the other side would see through. But, these days, spells could hide the window from the interrogee, or it could be an optical illusion.

She was slowly becoming more and more annoyed, the shackles around her legs were making walking annoying, her body was sore, she was hungry and dehydrated, and she had literally dozens of questions. And somehow, she felt like things were going to get much worse. But, as much as didn’t want to, she was going to indulge them. She needed to conserve her energy for when she was going to escape, and while her pain tolerance was far higher than normal, her body could only take so many injuries. She needed to avoid violence until her body was in better condition. Besides, she was less likely to get answers if she resisted.

Slowly, both because she didn’t want to, and because of the shackles, she sat in the wooden chair on her side. It took longer to get comfortable than it did for her to examine the room, the only way she could get comfortable, was by putting her front hooves under the table, and her bottom hooves almost too close together to move. But that was probably what they planned in the first place, sitting like this meant it would be challenging to attack somepony. But these kinds of precautions and preparations, it excited her. She liked to be challenged like this, to be pushed into situations where she wasn’t sure if she could get out of them. Moments like these were part of why she lived; she loved the thrill, the adrenaline! It was ecstatic!

“Must be thinking of something pretty funny if you can smile like that in your situation.”

A familiar female voice came from darkness, an unidentifiable tone in it. The smile on her face left, surprise replacing it. Pinkamena was a master of stealth and deception, something she’s gained over her years of experience. No one could escape her detection, until now, it seemed. Then again, she wasn’t in the best condition, her sense of perception may be dulled. But still! There must have been some sort of secret entrance or something in the dark, something she couldn’t see.

But the smile returned, as she realized who the voice belonged to.

“Nah, it was just a dash of humor, you wouldn’t get it.”

Pinkamena said sarcastically, the smile on her face spreading wider, as she looked into the corner on her left. And just like Pinkamena suspected from the direction of the voice, Rainbow Dash came out of the darkness of the corner Pinkamena was looking at. And as Pinkamena suspected, she was covered head to hoof in bandages, which was better treatment than she had got. But the most notable feature was what she was wearing, a lab coat. On the normal eccentric Rainbow, this would have looked very strange, almost wrong. But her demeanor was different; she had a different attitude.

Her body language was extremely different; it was more serious and businesslike, similar to a few politicians Pinkamena has met, none she had liked. There may have been a smile on her face, but that look in her eyes, she was livid.

"Come on, Pinkie! We’ve known each other for a long time; I’m sure I could understand your sense of humor by now.”

She was standing behind the chair on the other side of the table; her front hooves were on the back on the chair as she looked down at Pinkamena with a wide grin, Pinkamena looked back with an even bigger one.

“Wow, I wasn’t expecting you to be the one to try to interrogate me. I thought you, being the prideful one, would be sulking somewhere licking your wounds.”

Pinkamena said mockingly, hoping to get her to show some of that anger in her eyes. But she didn’t. Instead, she pulled back the chair and sat down in it, keeping eye contact all the while.

“In normal conditions, probably. But, I both don’t have the time or want. These past few days have been…interesting, to say the least. I don’t want to be sulking somewhere while all the fun stuff was happening, so, I insisted I be the one to do it.”

Rainbow replied, the sultriness in her voice almost matching Pinkamena’s. Which only made Pinkamena smile further, Rainbow doing the same in response.

“Well, I’ve gotta say,”

Pinkamena leaned forward, getting closer to Rainbow’s face, but she didn’t flinch.

“I’m glad you did. It’s going to be so much more fun this way; it’ll be way more interesting to see you get all frustrated when you try to get your answers out of me, than if it was just some random lackey.”

Pinkamena sadistically said, an amount of cockiness in her voice Rainbow both wasn’t used to, and didn’t like. But, she still smiled, she had something up her sleeve.

“Actually, I have an offer for you, one I don’t think you’ll refuse.”

Rainbow said, a smug smile on her face.

“An offer? Ha! What could you have that I could want?”

Pinkamena scoffed as she leaned back in her chair, looking at Rainbow curiously. This time, it was Rainbow’s turn to lean forward.

“Despite everything that’s happened between us, I still think we have quite a few things in common. And after looking into you and your reputation, I believe that even more. And if there’s one thing I want above most, it answers.”

Pinkamena’s eyebrows raised in curiosity, as she leaned forward once again, their faces now inches apart, the tension in the room was skyrocketing by the second.

“And after everything that’s happened, I’m sure you have some questions you’d like answered, and so do we. So, why don’t we make this into a game? Think of it as truth or dare, but with only truth. I’ll ask a question, and you’ll answer it, then you’ll ask a question, and I’ll answer it, understand?”

Rainbow asked curiously, the sadism in her voice sending chills down Pinkamena’s back. Rainbow had thought this through, after what happened, she looked into Pinkamena like a detective. Talking to members of the underground, looking at records, even going as far as to track down her family. So far, everything she had deducted from her was correct, except for the coward part, she was wrong about that.

The smile on Pinkamena’s face left, being replaced with a more serious one.

“How do I know you won’t lie to me? It's not like you haven’t done it before.”

Pinkamena’s tone took a major shift, going from cocky and seductive, to spiteful and threatening. Rainbow flinched, but only for a second.

“Like you have any room to talk. Besides, it’s the same both ways. How do I know you won’t be lying? Well, here’s the solution to that. Try to tell a lie, and you’ll see.”

Pinkamena’s eyebrows raised in doubt, but, she’ll indulge.

“Ok, I’m a giant flying timberw-“

Pinkamena’s head suddenly lunged forward, blood coming out of her eyes and nose. The pain was all over her body; she could feel her body screaming at her. But, she could take it, she’s had worse. Rainbow looked at her with a smug smile on her face, a look of satisfaction in her eyes.

“This room was made to questions employees whose loyalties were shifting or might be holding secrets, it was designed to look like a police interrogation because it was the easiest to make. But, considering who the employees work for, torture may not be the best method. So, we involved just a bit of magic.”

Pinkamena looked up at Dash defiantly, the blood had stopped coming from her orifices, but the pain, while fading, was still there.

“There are some wards in this room this that make blood come out of your body when you lie. But, that’s painless. So, in the area around this table, there’s a spell known as The Circle of Truth. It’s visible only to unicorns, with a few other exceptions. When someone inside it lies, in normal terms, it makes your body feel like your organs are imploding, bones are being crushed, muscles are being torn, etc. But the pain isn’t entirely impossible to ignore, or, at least, not show. Which is the purpose of the blood, in case of an extreme pain tolerance. So, understand? In this room, it’s impossible to lie without the other knowing.”

Pinkamena sat up, her head facing the roof, her chest rapidly contracting as she was breathing heavily. But still, she kept eye contact, anger still in her eyes.

“There’s…. a loophole.”

Pinkamena gasped out, barely able to say anything, her body was still recovering, and what just happened didn’t help. Usually, if there were a loophole, she wouldn’t say anything. But telling about this loophole won’t be able to change anything.

“Oh? And what’s that?”

Rainbow asked quizzically, the smug look on her face never leaving.

“I could simply just not answer, and that wouldn’t be lying.”

Pinkamena said confidently, her head now facing Rainbow, and her chest was now to a more normal breathing rate.

Rainbow smirked.

“Well, yes, you could do that. But if it were an employee, it would just make them look more suspicious, which would force us to do other methods. But, in your case?”

Rainbow leaned back, putting her hooves behind her head, looking daringly at Pinkamena.

“I don’t think you’ll do that; you’d be missing out on too many answers. So, what do you say, want to play a game?”

Pinkamena was silent, she looked into Rainbow’s eyes, seeing a familiar look of daring and anger, she liked it. She smiled and leaned forward again, Rainbow doing the same in response. Once again, they were inches apart from each other, smiles on their faces, with a thick tension in the room.

“Let’s play.”