//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: Questions of the Fork // Story: The Unknown Daughter's Reunion:Part 3 // by Disembodied_Pony //------------------------------// Stirring slowly, Orange Peel could feel the sunlight on her face urging her to awaken. Though it felt too comfy and peaceful to get up just yet. In the city, she was usually more woken up by the sounds of ponies outside, rather than the sun. Opening her eyes, she turned away from the sunlight and faced the inner wall to see what time it was by reading the hanging clock... But there was no clock there. And the wall was farther away than it should have been, and it was yellow; not orange like it should have been. Eyes widening, she sprung up in alarm. Looking around; 'Where am I?! This isn't my bedroom!' She thought. Jumping down from the bed, she looked around in a panic. The room she was in was rather plain, though large. Besides the bed, there was a table in the room with two chairs at it, a door, and a window to the outside. Glancing out the window caught her attention. Walking up to it, she looked out at a bleak landscape. Beyond the glass, was a hazy desert; No grasses, or trees, or buildings. Just a few hills in the distance. 'This isn't Vanhoover! I must've been foal-napped!' Turning away from the window, she ran past the table and to the door. The door.. had no handle. It looked like a door-shaped panel in the wall. "Great.." she exclaimed, before turning around and giving the door a couple of bucks. The door however, didn't show the tiniest dent, just scuff marks made from her rear hooves. "Just wait till the Chief hears about this.. You won't get away with this! Do you know who I am, I'm with the department of Equestrian Order! You hear me!?" She shouted at the door. Silence was her only reward for her outburst. Deafening silence... After a few minutes, she turned away from the door and approached the table. On it was what looked like a covered platter, a couple of odd cups and water pitcher next to it. 'If they think I'm gonna eat whatever is in there, they've got another thing coming' Orange thought angrily. She wasn't going to go along with whatever..whoever's plan was. Roaming around the room, she inspected everything in there; The walls, bed, chairs, floor, even the window again. Though it was quite a drop to the ground outside, she reared up and tried bucking the glass a couple of times as well. Either she couldn't get enough force to break it, or she was weaker than she ever remembered being. Looking closely at the glass for cracks, her eyes were drawn to the empty landscape beyond. 'Where in Equestria is this?' She asked herself. She'd never seen a sky like this before. Turning away from the uninteresting landscape, she paced back and forth across the room; trying to think of a way out of this room she was locked up in. After an uncounted number of tracks pacing back and forth, the door to the room opened. Tensing up, Orange readied to make a break for the opened doorway. Or, she did until her eyes beheld was was blocking the doorway; Striding in, was what looked like a princess, though she had no idea who it was. Big, black, and graceful; she strode through the doorway, which closed immediately behind her when her tail cleared the opening. Finally, Orange had some idea who her captor was, and was little surprised to see it was a princess. Her jaw clenched in response to the unwanted mares' presence. The princess was paying her little heed, as she approached the table and chairs. Without saying anything; she pulled the chair out and sat down, while placing onto the table: a crystal. One that she was familiar with, even noticing the emblem of the Office of Equestrian Order emblazoned on its holding base. Seeing this caused her heart to sink a little, as well as her ire to rise. Pouring a cup of water, the alicorn took a couple gulps before clearing her throat and looking at an object she held in her levitation. "Orange Peel, recently joined member of the office of Equestrian Order of four weeks; I am here to ask you a few questions, as well as answer a few of your own. This object which I have confiscated from your offices, will perform its task as designed, assuring that you answer truthfully as well as promptly. It is also my hope that you will learn something from this experience, which will give you pause before deploying such invasive tools such as these in the future." Moon spoke to the earth pony mare, motioning to the crystal. Receiving no response from the mare, Moon nodded and cast a spell to activate the crystal. As it began to glow, words that Orange was keeping from making their way to her muzzle; bubbled up and spilled fourth. "How dare you! Who are you to foalnap and imprison me here against my will?! And where am I, where is this?!" Orange blurted out. She felt embarrassed and dirty that she had no control over what she was speaking. She then turned her eyes to the crystal and charged toward it, making an attempt to shatter it. Though as her hooves came close to it, they bounced away as a shield around it made itself known. "Even if you were successful in breaking this one, I have hundreds more. All confiscated from your offices... It, must be uncomfortable to find yourself on the other side of the table?" Moon asked her. "Get bucked!" Orange retorted without hesitation. "Indeed, I have been. A few times, in fact. Now to answer your questions; Who I am specifically, is irrelevant in your holding here. By the tenants of your beliefs, I am the pony who holds the power of rule; agreed to by all ponies involved, as well a mass majority. More so that your council held, in fact." "Lies! The council held total majority of all ponies in Equestria!" Orange spoke confidently. "If that was so the case, why were troops being deployed to cities to reinforce your majority? Surely that would be an unnecessarily redundant show of power and force?" Moon asked her. "It was to quell the dissident ponies that would threaten the rest, and they were on the rise." "What were these dissident ponies doing that was so threatening? Were they mugging others, destroying their homes, perhaps worse?" Moon asked the mare. "Much worse! They're rebelling against us!" Orange shouted. "That is true. They defied the offices policies and actions, at least in part" Moon conceded. "Told you, they were bad ponies. And they were gaining support in droves!" Orange admitted. "What do you suppose would happen when they gained majority support, Orange?" Moon asked her. Looking at the alicorn, Orange spoke with venom; "The princesses would come back. We'd be right back to where we were two years ago, stepped on by the hooves of a princess again! Just when we got out from under it, they came back again!" Nodding in understanding, Moon commiserated with her somewhat. "Indeed, the princess you lived under your whole life was... of very poor quality. I met her in her final moments, and I was.. unimpressed, terribly so. Though, she was false; A unicorn that masqueraded as a princess, nothing more." "Doesn't matter, a princess is a princess. You're all misery!" Orange rebutted. "That is a very broad supposition, considering you only experienced a single fraud, much less met a real one. You are aware that the princess you speak of ruthlessly attempted to slay the real ones, yes?" Moon asked her. "Don't care. The fact that I'm here, and you're using the crystal against me, tells me all that I need to know" Orange said matter-of-factually. Moon was silent for a moment, to which the earth pony grinned. Reveling in her perceived victory over a princess. After a couple moments, Moon spoke again; "Are you not doing the same, Orange? With the same tools as well? You are proposing that despite your actions in the now, you will build a better future. One that is somehow the opposite of what you are doing?" She asked the earth pony. "Of course. We're doing the hard work now, and getting it all out of the way. When all's done, all of the problems will be in the past. Ponies will be better off, and won't need princesses to keep it" Orange said. "You are placing all of your trust to your intent, over the reality of what you are doing, Orange. Has there ever been happier future that was built of the foundation of misery? I am very old, yet have never seen it happen. Quite the opposite in fact, and many times..." "Frankly, you're the last pony I'd trust to give advice" Orange rebuffed her advice. "Yes, that if obvious. Perhaps you are correct in your thinking, and could be the first to prove it. Though, I do not personally think so. In fact, I fear for you. However, you are in good fortune for the most part. Where you are now, is very far from Equestria. As you have seen through the window, this is a very different place" Taking another gulp of water from the glass, Moon went on; "Very soon, this land will be made green and suitable for you and yours. Ponies in like mind as yourself, will come to call this place home. Free to conduct yourselves as you will, princesses will never come here, never bother you, nor rule. Your council will reign unopposed, and ponies that already support it will follow. There will be no need for Equestrian Order or whatever you name this land, for it has not been named yet. The next time you wake, you will find yourself in a lovely home built for you, and on lovely land, made. Should it need to be expanded, it will be by the labors of yourselves which will perform the task. Earth ponies as yourself will be in greatest demand. Though I wonder how the council will regard you as you are not represented in it yet?" "What do you mean?" Orange asked. "You are aware that the council is ponied entirely by Canterlot ponies, all of which are unicorns, save one pegasi?" Moon asked her. "N-no" Orange replied. "I am not surprised. More than two hundred interviews such as this I have conducted, and none have ever met the council members. Though they trust them waveringly... I have doubts that the council have ever left Canterlot to see where their food comes from, yet make important decisions regarding it, every day" Moon remarked. "I'm sure they know what they're doing! They've done just fine so far" Orange defended herself. "Growing up on your families farm, you yourself likely learned more through observation, than they have accumulated knowledge as a whole. The vast numbers of Equestria's earth ponies working autonomously, could overshadow any misgovernings coming from up high, even by princesses..." Moon looked at the mare, her expression unreadable. At Oranges fading expression of confidence, the empress added; "This will no longer be the case, Orange. Your job as an enforcer is over, and you will likely be placed on a farm by the ponies you herald so highly, as the need will be great for your magic" Moon foretold the mare's future. "Fine! No problem" Orange blurted, but without enthusiasm. Standing up, the empress deactivated the crystal, and levitated it in her magic. "Excellent then. You shall be united in building your future, together with the others. I wish you prosperity and happiness. Perchance, you will prove we princesses wrong in our skepticism" Moon declared the interview concluded. Turning to the door, she paused to say one last thing; "Whatever comes, this will be the last you shall ever see of a princess. Farewell" the empress spoke. To which, the earth pony returned to her tight lipped self, and said nothing as she watched the unnamed alicorn pass through the doorway; it closing behind her.