The Timeless Chronicle

The first thing I perceive is sound. A voice shouting. No, scratch that. Exclaiming. Calmly, but loudly announcing.

It says, "Khatlid bin Abdhorzaziz Al Sadl, the Custodian of the Two Holy Temples, King of Saddle Arabia, with wife."

The lights are back, and I find myself here again. Where everything began. Well, at least my death. Where I died.

I'm back at the starting point, in the most frequent of times. Nobles begin filling the throne room. Time is escaping. The clock is ticking.

I feel nervous about this situation, even though I have seen it already, from the beginning to the end. There is something terrible in watching something over and over again, not able to change the smallest thing. At least it ends well... Relatively. I think no one dies. At least not in result of the fight.

What was that Inquisition they were talking about earlier? Inquisition, inquiry, question. Questioning ponies. About what? And why dreaded? Hiding information. Eradicating loose ends. No loose ends. No, that is what the Mistress said. What makes her think she is better than the Inquisition anyway. For all I know they might be a nice organization. Asking questions is not wrong, is it?

Hiding information. Celestia hiding information. Luna's banishment. A time of regret. Celestia hiding information about Luna's banishment. Celestia keeping the ponies quiet, not letting them mention anything lunar. Keeping ponies under pressure. Questioning their motifs. Inquisition.

No, impossible! Celestia would not do this. Oppressing her own kind. But the Inquisition fits. And it would spawn equal, but opposing forces, acting with the same determination undoing the other's work. The Revolution of Truth. Overturning Silence. Silencing. Keeping quiet. Pressing into loyalty.

Maybe it's not Celestia. Some nobles under her nose, covert operations. But what would they gain from it? Ponies' submissiveness. Fear. But also revolts. Ponies breaking and twisting their operations against them. And nothing on this a scale could happen without someone not involved noticing. Celestia can't be allowing this, can she?

Then again, I saw her, saw her eyes during the fight. Hate, confusion, the expression that said, "Please, just leave me alone." Luna was a hard one to loose for her. Her only sister, one who was at her side through all and everything, suddenly gone. Forgetting and acceptance. Grief. Poor decisions. Ruler. Credibility. Not going back on words so easily. She set a trap for herself.

Politics is a terrible thing. But it is her fault anyway. Just as it is Luna's fault she was banished. She took the actions that led to this. Snowball.

This is not my Princess Celestia. She is young and immature. Quick to anger. She doesn't emanate this aura of omniscience that I know her for. Overconfident. And beaten. A very poor looser.

So the Mistress fights for freedom. For abrogation of oppression. For everyone to be able to tell and hear what they want. Not only about the moon, but about everything, without the fear of being watched from over the shoulder. For the cancellation of the Big Sister's watching.

I still cannot accept her methods, but I understand her viewpoint. The question I have now, at last is, whether the Inquisition's  methods are as drastic as hers. If she is only reacting, I forgive her, but if not, if she is acting, despite what she is saying, on her own spite. Faust watch her grave, I will find a way to make her pay for every cent of suffering caused.

I watch the scene before me, this time much calmer. I know what is about to happen, and I know that I cannot change anything. I don't know if I would, now, even if I could.

I see the next noble stepping in. It is a formal celebration of international friendship. Of course it is long. And It will not until after all of them are inside that Celestia will fall into this smaller trap.

In the crowd of peasants I see the hooded figure. The Red Mare. The Mistress. She is continuously looking towards the window, presumably to check the time, looking around, closing her eyes and visibly thinking, rechecking something in her bags and generally acting nervous. I don't blame her. It's not everyday that you plan to assassinate the Princess and come this close.

On the other side of the crowd was the brown pony, also visibly distressed. Right now he was probably in an internal debate, if what the Mistress said was true. Will say. If he knows that he might die, he certainly needs time with his decision. He keeps glancing at the Princess, the door, and the one spot on the floor.

The four ponies, I look for them, scanning the crowd. I find one, not that much away. Another, halfway between Spinner and the Mistress. The grey one, at the front of the folk space, closest to the Princess.

The blue one, it turns out, is just next to the pony, the traitor.

"The Countess of Mount Christian, the representative of Prance," says the announcer, and stopps, kneeing down.

The Princess gets up, and starts walking down the staircase. A drop of sweat flows down Spinner's forehead. The Mistress raises her head, her attention focused solely on the Princess's steps.

The Countess of Mount Christian sits down.

The chair creaks a little.

Another step down, few more to go.

Spinner opens his mouth.

The blue one looks at Spinner, wanting to say something. He is surprised at the—

Another step.

—colt's expression, it looked just as if—

The Mistress grins.

Another step.

—he was to scream.

"It's a Trap!"

The Princess steps down and turns her head. She won't be able to move her hooves again for awhile, of that I am certain.

The Mistress looks surprised and looks in the direction of the sound.

The crowd looks surprised and look in the direction of the colour rising at the Princess's hooves.

The blue pony uses the crowds movement forward to pull himself, and Spinner back.

The Mistress starts pushing through the crowd.

The guard nears the Princess and gets zapped.

The other revolutionaries form a wall around Spinner, for him not to escape.

The guards start evacuating everyone.

The lights start flickering.