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// Chapter 9: Interrogation 
// Story: Pandemic: Starting Over 
// by Halira 
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Work. When there was nothing but confusion and angst in my mind, there was always work to distract me. Unfortunately, my work and one of my primary  stresses melded together into one at the moment. My tasks were for the sole purpose of trying to provide care for these foals, and that fact I had to care for them was one of my great stresses. It at the very least let me escape thinking about her and my responsibility for what happened. 

I took a deep breath and dialed one of the many people I needed to contact today. This one would be the hardest, and I wanted to get it out of the way first. From a practical standpoint it needed to come first anyway. I waited as the phone rang, hoping someone else would answer it than who I needed to talk to, just to buy me additional time. 

The line picked up, and a voice came over the speakerphone. "Hello? Mom, is that you?"

Crap, she picked up. She had two different bodyguards, a wife, three foals, and who knew how many random night pony mares that all but were attached to her house, but she was the one who picked up. So much for hoping for more time. 

"Hi, Sweetie." I winced at my calling her Sweetie, as if I ever called her some pet name before. She'd know for sure I was calling just to get something after hearing that, but there was no point abandoning my planned out conversation. "I know I haven't called in a while, though I'm sure you've been watching me. How are you doing?"

Phobia sighed. "Still exhausting myself dealing with many nightmares from last year, although they seem to be calming down some. Those that are still having daily nightmares are still often as vivid as when they started. It is exhausting to deal with those. Other than that, the foals are being privately tutored, Rosetta is taking a year off teaching to focus on her degree, and we are finally getting regular trash service again."

I was a bit miffed she hadn't tended to my nightmares at all, but didn't complain. I continued on with the idle chatter even though she and I both knew I was stalling. "Oh? Well, I hope your wife does well with her degree, and very glad to hear about the trash service...I'd have hoped they'd have already had that back up and running a long time ago, but I suppose they may have been overworked and understaffed- all things considered. Anything else of note happening down there?"

Phobia played along. "We got word from Rosetta's parents that she's going to be getting a new brother or sister- singular, no twins this time. She and the demons are going to take a little vacation over to Equestria to meet the new little one sometime next year, and we are fussing over passports for it. You'd be surprised how hard it is to get them portal crossing permission."

"You aren't going with them?" I asked, slightly surprised. "You really should. I know you're busy, but family is family."

"Mom, I'll only be making one trip to Equestria in my life, and it's going to be a one way trip," Phobia said flatly. "But you aren't calling about that. You want advice and some guidance on foalsitters, correct?"

I hung my head. "Yes."

"I've had reporters trying their darndest to get my opinions about you getting Yinyu's foals," Phobia groaned. "They've even tried coming to the house, despite the welcome wagon outside. Just to let you know, I had nothing to do with the decision for you to get them. That's all Yinyu and Arbiter."

I didn't know if I should be happy about that or not. "I'm guessing you've been waiting on my call."

"You have a night pony colt. Who else were you going to call for advice about dealing with him?"

"You read me well," I replied with a half-smile, then frowned. "It's not that I haven't wanted to talk to you-"

She cut me off. "It's okay, Mom, you don't need to explain yourself to me. I get it. I understand your pain. Are you still using the same private email you had before?"

I nodded, and felt stupid for doing so. "Yes, although I haven't checked it in ages."

"I'll send you a list of reputable foalsitters in your area for night ponies. Psychic drew it up for me, since he also anticipated you'd be calling me about it."

"Thank you, and thank him for me," I said, not needing to fake my gratitude. 

"Mom," Phobia said in a voice that said to listen to her closely. "I know why you chose there to run, even if you lie about the reason to everyone else. I don't need to look into your dreams to guess that either. I think it might be a good idea for you to actually follow through with why you're there."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said quickly. Was the air conditioner on? It was starting to feel hot in the room. 

"Are you going to try to deny the truth to me?"

"I- I d-don't have time for this right now," I stammered out. "Thank you for your help. I'll call again soon!"

"Mo-" her voice died out as I abruptly hung up the line. I laid my head down on the desk. I had enough stress without her saying I should add that to the mix. Who did she think she was, trying to psychoanalyze me? Where had she picked up-

Okay, dumb question. 

Without lifting my head, because that was too much effort, I looked at my notebook that was gathering dust in the corner. A trip to Pony Hope and back would take a full day. That was if I made it short. I'd be more likely to be gone at least a day and a half. I couldn't take off and do that right now. Phobia was out of her mind. I wasn't even convinced that trip was worth making if I wasn't busy with other things. 

I banged my head on the desk. "Lord, give me peace." 

There was immediately a knock at the door to mock my prayers. I groaned, but lifted up my head. "Come in!"

The door opened to reveal Lántiān holding a teacup on a saucer with her teeth. The teenaged filly brought the steaming cup over to the desk and set it down. "I brought you tea, ma'am. I hoped it would help calm you."

I raised an eyebrow at her. I still hadn't figured this filly out. What did she want out of me that she was bringing me things to try to appease me? "Thank you, but it wasn't necessary. Are your brothers and daughter doing well this morning?"

She looked back at the door. "They are feeling- confined, ma'am. I think they would like to be able to go outside. Ponies are not meant to be cramped up in buildings all day, especially young colts."

I leaned back. "There's a fenced backyard to this place. They may go outside, as long as you supervise them. Is there anything else I can do for you, young lady?"

She looked purposefully at the teacup. "You have not told me if you find the way I brewed you tea acceptable, ma'am."

I looked at the steaming cup. The thought crossed my mind she might try poisoning me, but I dismissed that idea as paranoia. "I typically don't drink hot tea. I drink it chilled, with enough sugar in it to give an elephant diabetes."

Her eyes went wide. "Ma'am, why would you do that to your tea?"

A smirk formed on my face as I used my hoof to pull the teacup closer to myself. "It's a southern thing. I spent most of my life in the south, and picked up the majority of my habits there. I'm practically a southern native." I gave the steaming cup a sniff. It had a faint scent of ginger, not my normal cup of tea (pun intended), but not unpleasant. "I will try this after it cools a little. I'm not used to using my hooves for picking up hot items, and I am trying to avoid using my horn at all today."

Her expression shifted from one form of mortified to another. "I apologize, ma'am. I was not thinking."

I tilted my head and tried again to figure her out. I supposed it was time to just cut to the chase. "I'm assuming you are in need of something. What do you need?"

She bit her lip and held her head high and defiant. The sudden shift in mood was puzzling. "I wish to know more about you, ma'am. Your angry words at that traitor to the pony race upset my brothers and daughter. We have a right to know more about our guardian."

I looked at the computer, and thought about how I needed to be checking for that email, and using it to make calls. I also needed to call Wild Growth to make sure I could afford to pay a foalsitter.

"I have tasks that need to be done," I said flatly. "If you have specific questions, ask them."

Her expression shifted yet again, with her ears dropping. She sat down and looked to the floor. "You mentioned a spouse that you killed, ma'am. How?- I would like this explained."

My brow furrowed and a sneer spread across my lips. "Have they taught you nothing?! I refuse to discuss it. The television has a connection to the internet, and you can do a basic search there. Search for information about the Cataclysm of Riverview." I forced a more neutral express. "It is best you keep your siblings from seeing any of it. The images can be disturbing."

She shrank back slightly, but returned to her defiant look. "I have them distracted with your American cartoons and food right now. I will find the opportunity to do this search. I have more questions, ma'am."

"Continue," I ordered in a half-growl. 

Her defiant look didn't drop. "You mention the South, ma'am. Is the South different than here? What is this region referred to then? Is the southern region referring to Texas? I have heard of Texas."

My hostility came up short. It made sense she didn't know much about US geography. I would certainly fail any geography test focused on China, so I couldn't be upset about it. "The South is in reference to the southeastern part of America, and Texas is usually included in that, but is only a portion. I've never lived in Texas. I lived in South Carolina, Florida, and Arkansas out of the southern states, but there are more southern states than those four. They share some history and culture, and are often grouped together."

She nodded. "I understand now, ma'am. You also said things that seem to mean you are not from there."

I frowned. "I practically am from there, as I only spent perhaps a year or two outside the south, but no, I wasn't born there. The hospital I was born in closed back in the nineties, but it wasn't far from where we are now- in a suburb town called Aurora. Returning to Denver is, in a sense, really starting over at the beginning for me. This is considered the Rocky Mountain region, named for the mountains you can see in the distance when you are outside. I'll see that you get learning materials about US geography and history. Do you have any further questions for the moment?"

She refused to take the hint that I was ready for her to leave me in peace. "You were just speaking to some mare that called you mom. Do you have foals of your own, ma'am?"

"They really left you ignorant," I grumbled, but she didn't shirk away. I sighed. "That was Phobia Remedy, a Dreamwarden like your mother, and she is my only daughter. My wife was Ton- is Arbiter, the newest Dreamwarden."

That made her step back in shock. "So… you are our aunt then, ma'am?"

"I'm the person put in charge of your care, no more and no less," I replied in the neutral tone. "I have things I must attend to in order to make sure you get proper care. You seem to be just throwing whatever random question comes into your head at me, and I don't have time for it. If you have more questions, compile an organized list of them, and we can address them later. Right now you are an unneeded distraction. Go attend to your siblings and daughter, and let me work."

For the first time I thought I saw something that might have passed for hurt appear across her face, but it came and went so fast I could have been imagining it. She stood and stiffened her posture. "As you wish, ma'am." 

I watched her walk out and shut the door. I told her I didn't want to be disturbed. So she shouldn't be upset at being told to leave. My work was for their sake, so she should be grateful.

Wild Growth was next on my list to contact. I found her number in my contact book and carefully dialed it on the desk phone with my hoof (it was extremely annoying having to be doing things without my magic). A moment later the speaker phone started ringing, and I waited patiently for her to pick up the line.

"Hello? Is this Sunset, Starlight, or Trixie? If it is Trixie, then no, for the last time, you cannot perform any firework shows on that property. It is against city ordinances there."

I wondered how many times Trixie had asked. She'd only been here a day or two. "It's Sunset."

"Oh!" Wild Growth all but growled over the line. "Well, I needed to talk to you anyway. I had debated just calling federal authorities and having you hauled off for questioning, but I wanted to give you a chance to explain first."

For the life of me I couldn't imagine what she was going on about. "Explain myself about what?!"

I heard stomping and things being thrown around on the other end of the line. She was pissed, beyond pissed. I hoped she wasn't near any walls, or she might bring whatever building she was in down. She might be magically burnt out, but she was still stronger than any living creature had a right to be. 

"I just completed a tour of one of your secret labs. This one is in Nevada. You abruptly shut it down a few years ago, ring any bells?" She snarled over the line. 

I only knew of one lab that had been in Nevada that I shut down. "I'm familiar with it. I shut it down because it's researchers had gone radical Harmonist on me, and started attempting to use our work in temporary transformation research to try to make an alicorn. They didn't get very far, obviously, but I couldn't allow that to operate."

"I see that you cleared everything out, but what about the thing they were keeping in the underground cave!?"

"Underground cave? The whole lab was underground. What are you talking about?"

The ruckus stopped on the other side of the line. "You don't know?"

"If I knew about anything else there I'd say so. What underground cave? What did you find? That place should have been stripped of anything of value."

I heard her taking a long breath. "You really don't know, do you? I suppose you could be lying, but I don't see why you would deny it to me. Where can I find the contact information for any of the researchers who were here? I need to find them. They need to be charged with crimes against intelligent species."

Crimes against intelligent species? "Did you find some sort of test subject? I promise you, I never knew of any such thing. If I had, they would have been arrested, not fired. I shut them down before they could start testing."

"Yeah, there's definitely a test subject, and she definitely ain't an alicorn," Wild grumbled. "I'll be sending someone to question you still, and I will be getting the feds and Equestrians involved in this, so don't be surprised if they show up at your door. I'm not having my tenure as head of SPEC tainted by these kinds of projects. If you're truly innocent you don't have anything to worry about, but I'm going to see that justice is done."

I suppressed my curiosity. Whatever this was, it was from a part of my life that was over. "I was just calling about my allowance. I need to hire a foalsitter for Méng for overnights. I also need to pay for tutors, toys, food, and probably half a dozen things that I'm not thinking about at this moment."

She snorted. "Just send me an email with your budgetary needs and I'll see that they are taken care of expediently. I understand you looking for work was going to be hard as it was, given your notoriety, and it just became harder. I'm not going to leave those foals lacking basic needs because of that. I don't want you to stop looking for your own independent source of income, but I'll make sure everyone is taken care of in the meantime."

I sighed with relief. "Thank you and bless you, Wild. Your generosity is unmatched."

"Save your honeyed words for the foals. I'm just doing the right thing. Now, let me go, because I have a huge shitty mess you left me to clean up."

The phone line clicked, and left me wondering when I would have federal investigators showing up at my door to question me about what went on at that lab. I honestly didn't know what I was going to tell them; the truth as far as I knew it, but that might not be enough to satisfy them. I hadn't even gotten to tell her that the head there was Doctor Rossman, and they'd need to question him about it- although I had no idea what rock he scurried under after I shut him down. I suppose that could be included in my email to her. Calling her back right this second wasn't a good idea. 

I turned my attention to the computer, and tried to remember my old email password. There were still things that needed to be done, and I could worry about being arrested for things I wasn't aware I even did later.