The Timeless Chronicle

The lights dim, and a cloudy night sky comes to view. There are trees around me. Lots of trees. I'm in a forest. I see nothing other than this. I float upwards to check my location. Not far away is the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, but otherwise, I'm wide in the open. It looks deserted, only the sounds of the night creatures hinting at the life buzzing in this forest.

I descend into the forest. It's odd. The previous times I was transported, I reached destinations more filled with ponies. What information could I find in here?

There is rustling in the bushes. A pegasus mare leaps out of them passes through me, and continues galloping through the dense forest. She is going in the direction of the castle, and I follow her.

Flying through the forest one more peculiar thing strikes my eyes. Whenever I, with my friends, went into this forest, it looked messy, unnatural. Weeds would grow all over this place, and there were plants of multitudes of colours, most of them poisonous scattered everywhere. This, and the creatures, roaming freely in the forest, able to take on groups of ponies without breaking a sweat.

As I look around, non of this is apparent. Even the atmosphere is more that of a park, not a murderous carnivorous forest. I look the pony running next to me in the eyes. They are not full of fright. This pony is not running from something. She is running to something. And her smirk tells me, she is excited about it.

We reach the plains before the castle. There's only the ravine to overcome, but there is a great stone bridge stretching over it, so it is of no problem. I remember the first time I came here. We were being challenged, and had more problems than just stepping over a few stones. The bridge was a rope one, and it was cut off, so Rainbow had to go over, and bind it to the posts sticking out at the other side. She did this, but during the time it happened, fog gathered around her, leaving her out of sight. Later she told us the story of how the nightmare came out and demanded our lives, but she held it off kicking its ass in the progress. Or at least, this was one of her versions of the story.

The mare runs around the castle, and behind it I see a small town community has formed. She runs towards one of the buildings. The sign has a scroll on it, a globe and a splatter. I guess a writing supplies shop. No, a print house. The newspaper.

The mare stops in front of the door, straightens herself, takes a few deep breaths and enters. A bell rings above her. Another mare is sitting behind the counter writing on a piece of parchment and, from time to time, counting something on the abacus next to her.

"What may I help thee with, milady?" she says not even raising her head.

"I'm Sky Gazer, the mailmare. I just came here, because of a rumor. I've heard it going around, that—"

She is quickly cut off by a bored voice, "The Princess hath an affair? Yeah we heard these bullocks. What the ponies gossip about nowadays."

Sky is taken aback by the newsmare's outburst. She gathers herself again, and tries, "Well, it may be, but I've heard about a place. I'm not superstitions a mare, and so I decided to check my friends' story. Now I am here, because of what I've found out."

The newsmare looks unconvinced, but looks up, and lowers her glasses.

Sky continued, "For the past few days, I have been going to the South Bridge, having from the accounts deduced this to be a crossing place of all the stories, and today, my efforts have paid off.

"Towards the nightfall when I was once again waiting by the bridge, thinking about giving up on this whole idea, I heard voices. It iseth unheard not that ponies cross the bridge at such times, but I hid myself nevertheless.

"As the voices passed by, I glanced at the figures, and to my surprise, one of them was tall as two mares. As the figure in question was pony like in form, and graceful in movement, it could be not a creature other than a princess herself. However I remained suspicious as to the walk's reason, and from afar continued looking over them.

"It was not until after I saw a kiss, stolen from the Princess's lips, that I verily believed the story. I ran hereto, and the rest iseth known to thee."

Wait, the "Princess" having a love affair? Which Princess? With whom?

Sky looks at the newsmare, who returns a dry smile, and says, "I have written thy account and time will show if thy story will get out or not. Thank thee for coming to us with thy report. Hast a good night."

Sky exits the building with a more bubbly bounce in her trot. The door closes. The newsmare yells  at the backrooms, "Ink, rememberst that Princess affair story?"

There is some commotion, and a whirring sound stops. A voice from behind yells back, "I call shenanigans. Nobles try to undermine rulers all the time."

What? How could a power such as Celestia's be undermined by such trivialities. She is a goddess, but why couldn't she be loved?

"Another report hath come in. A witness she sayeth."

There is a longer pause. Then a question comes, "Art thou sure?"

"We will have to print something on this soon. 'Tis not a rumor anymore. Tellest Block to start writing the text. I'll give her the account."

I look at her gathering up her abacus, her rolls of parchment, and moving to the back.

The lights flicker.