The double doors swung open, and Twilight calmly walked into the room, noticing Reach staring at the back wall as she approached. As the doors began to swing closed, he turned to look over at her, giving a pleased, thin smile. "Ah, princess, come and have a seat," he offered, gesturing to the opposite cushion once more.
Twilight felt uneasy, though his calmness seemed to ease her nerves. The smile was still a bit odd, given his fairly cold nature, but she gave it little thought as she rested upon the chair.
Reach also relaxed his own posture somewhat. She noted that he seemed stiff at all times, and even this 'relaxed posture' could be taken for formal in many places. "I take it you've found our facilities to your liking? Interesting?" He asked the question wearing a calm, yet generally curious expression.
"I have found it very impressive..." she trailed off, looking down slightly. This drew Reach's attention, and she could feel his eyes on her, reading every small gesture and every expression change. She figured that she shouldn't try and hide her uneasiness, lest he start taking it to mean anything in particular and get her caught, so she decided to make a pressing concern known, both to get an answer, and to avoid his interrogative gaze.
"Quite frankly, I'm rather tired of all the excessive secrecy. I would like some solid, definite answers about this organization," she said, looking up to meet his gaze, firmly.
He laid back, thinking to himself with no expression change whatsoever. "Alright, princess. I will answer any question you have, unless of course it would compromise my people. Feel free to ask."
She tried to read if there was any deception in his speech, but she could detect none. However, he seemed more adept at charismatic control than even Cadence was, so as a backup plan, she covertly cast a lie detection technique, which would work passively as he spoke. He did notice a small flare of light as she activated it, but she tapped her horn as if it merely was some kind of twitch.
And so, although she was a little surpsised at his sudden willingness, she resolved to start asking questions, beginning very simply.
"Okay Reach... What IS the Trident?"
Reach smiled, and began to explain with a professional sort of pride. "The Trident is an organization designed to maintain harmony between ponies, and ensure that Equines continue to advance and progress. We operate in secret, carefully positioning and/or influencing leaders to make the 'proper' decisions. For instance, we recently helped the media influence the people of Phillydelphia to elect a new governor who greatly supports our interests. That same governor has been approached by professional advisors, who he'll never know really work for us."
His explanation was revealing, but still left out a key detail. "What about the princesses? You mentioned earlier that you have influence over them."
Reach responded with little hesitaton. "Oh yes, we have less choice as to who is royalty, particularly with the addition of you and Cadence. Typically their area of control does not interfere with our operations, but even though it is rare, should the Trident need their services, we can get to them, and they will comform to our ideas."
It was concerning, but it also relieved her somewhat, as that meant that Cadence's behavior was not her fault, and Twilight could forgive her actions with a clear conscience.
"Well, if I'm going to work here, I'll need to know the history of the Trident," she stated inquisitively.
Reach grinned a little more, and told her to relax and have a listen, as he begun to speak. "At the foundation of Equestria, the three original founders knew that harmony would not last, as the tribes were already becoming fairly upset at one another, and the three 'leaders' already had disagreements popping up again. Thus, they thought up a plan to give the government a backbone, and influence the people, without removing the leaders from power. They each headed a branch dedicated to something specific. Smart Cookie headed the R&D branch with a few trusted Earth pony innovators, as they were practical, and would think of new ideas to help the people. Private Panzy believed that stealth-trained pegasi could carry out covert ops, and train secret personelle only for use in emergencies. And finally, both agreed to follow Clover the Clever, who lead the group through strategy, organization, etc. She brought in trusted unicorn tacticians and thinkers, to aid in her leadership."
Twilight found herself recalling the notes she took back in the library, and subconsiously adjusted her bag. That explains why the three founders weren't menioned much at all after the initial founding... Things were finally starting to match up with her research...
"That's not all, of course," he said, drawing her attention back to him. He started again, nodding as he had garnered her gaze once more. "Over the years, the organization grew, planting numerous offices, outposts, and bases all over Equestria. In that time, branches were no longer restricted to just their original founder's species, and eventually, each branch having only one leader didn't work out so well either, thus they moved to a brand new system based on a similar principal. In this new council, instead of only three primary members, it changed to three council members per branch, each technically equal, but one acting as a head. The heads of each branch then meet, with the head of the three being whoever controls the Directive branch."
His speech was long winded, but this suited Twilight quite well, as she drank the information right up. "So just as each branch's council has one head, the full council also has one head?" she asked, simplifying her thoughts.
"Yes! Quite right," he stated, looking at her as if expecting more questions, and she certainly did not disappoint.
There was a big glaring factor that kept bothering her about what she had seen overall. "Many of the people here don't have cutie marks, including you, I see... and neither did the pegasus who killed Straight Arrow. Why is that the case?"
He seemed to be in deep thought at this question, and she could nearly swear she saw the thoughts turning like gears in his head through his otherwise blank eyes. He finally spoke again, slowly. "Although I cannot tell you exactly why we are this way quite yet, I can tell you that we are the Unbranded. You could say that this is the case through... unusual circumstances, but saying any more would be risking the safety of those involved, as would elaborating on the Brander I know you're so curious about... But, I intent to maintain integrity with my people and my word... and you can see how important integrity is around here, princess, I'm sure..." He said that last part in way that really unnerved Twilight, so she quickly blurted out another question in an attempt to shift his focus.
"Was king Sombra Unbranded?"
He looked a little surprised, and she used this brief crack in his charisma shield to try and read what he was thinking. Clearly she had triggered some thought process he wasn't expecting, so either he was surprised that she knew that much, or else Sombra was some kind if hinderance to the organization at some point... or maybe both.
"...He did not have a Cutie Mark, no... but that's unrelated." As he spoke, she felt a slight stirring in her horn, indicating that there was mild dishonesty in his voice, but not a flat out lie. Everything else thus far was the real truth though. She thought it might be dangerous to continue in that line of questioning, so she asked the last big question she had.
"So... what exactly do you do here?" she asked him, genuinely curious.
He seemed mildly pleased at the shift, which in turn relaxed her a bit more. "Why, I am the Council Head. I propose ideas, I set goals, and I preside over reports and ideas from all other counselors." She let that sink in for a moment.
He stared into her eyes with a look that seemed to denote authority, not demanding, but almost like whoever was on the other end of that look should already know that he was in charge. She, an Alicorn princess, looked into the eyes of the Earth pony. He was very likely the most powerful pony in the world at the moment, and what scared her most was that, when she looked into his eyes, she could read one thing very clearly. She read cold ambition: he had power, he wanted more, and he knew how to get it.
They looked at each other for a moment, before Twilight said she ought to go and take another look around. Reach said nothing as she stood and walked toward the door, and in fact looked up at the wall again before speaking the words that made her veins run as cold as ice...
"Twilight, I thought I was rather clear that you were not to enter any door with a red arrow on it."
"What? But how could--?" she started, then looked up at the wall as she saw a small map fade into existance on it, with her whole trail marked upon the three halls.
"You are clever my dear, very clever, but you cannot outsmart that which you are unaware of. You see, each and every one of these black tiles are pressure sensors. And you are registered to have walked through all three hallways. And here I was hoping for a peaceful cooperation," he stated, as the doors swung open and four bald, well built pegasi entered the room, all wearing sunglasses that hid their eyes.
Reach looked over to her with a smug, yet disappointed smile, and spoke only three words: "What a shame."