The Timeless Chronicle

by somnolentScatterbrain

Rating: everyone
Tags: Romance, Slice of Life, Sad
Length: 15414

After her own death Twilight looks for answers, while being thrown around through time.

A pony died, a soul was lost, and now it's drifting in between life and death. Seeking only knowledge, knowledge that would give it peace, it rummages through the stores of memories, gathers broken pieces, to form the bigger picture. What has happened? What is happening? What will happen? And most importantly, Why?

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-11-22 03:42:27 UTC

Chapter Five

The last lights are setting into their places. The scene before me differs from the one before. I'm still in a castle, but not the royal palace. The architecture seems ancient, even though the materials seem new. The room in itself is poorly designed and even I, just an amateur architect, could have made it seem less cramped and heavy. The stone walls differ from the stone floor and ceiling just by small openings working as windows.

I look outside the window and see that the ground is not so far off, and so isn't the top of this castle. The concept of a hole as a window is  also frightening, the more so that it seems to be fall outside. There is no sign of isolation at all, and I be it is going to be freezing in the winter months. I don't really recognize the outside, but judging by the structure the built is very primitive. Built to last, not please.

I turn back to the room, and in one of the corners, further away from the window I see a desk, with a scribe behind it. The pony, a green unicorn in a robe, was levitating a pen, carefully copying word from one parchment to another. As the young stallion breathes, I see a small cloud form from his breath.  It is freezing. It doesn't seem to bother him much though, which is incredible, considering his meager build.

I try to open the door to the next room, but as I put my hoof onto the doorknob, I touch nothing. I see my hoof, partway through the door. I quickly pull back, trying to gasp. No sound is made, as no particle of air seems to move because of me. I think I am dead. I didn't fully realize this up until now. I am dead. Incorporeal. Intangible. Just a thought, a mind, a soul.

I try summoning my magic. I can feel all of the complex movements of it around me, as well as its concentration inside the castle rather than outside, but as hard as I try, there force is elusive. It seeps through my grasp. I'm naked. Stripped of any medium of influence to  this world. I cannot do anything anymore. There is no more point to me here.

I have waited for quite some while, not doing anything. There is no reason to anyway. Why care? I try to close my eyes. There is blackness. And bits of light start gathering again, filling my vision. My eyes are open again. I haven't opened them, but here they are. I try to open my eyes. I can't. They are open.

There has to be a reason for why I'm seeing this. Otherwise I wouldn't be seeing this. Everypony and everything has a purpose. I just have to find out why. And I won't be able to do it whilst sitting here and complaining about death. Or, actually, I might be able to. It seems that I'm kept aware forcefully, which means, the same force could just give me the answer, and let me be.

I have sat a while and thought. The real problem here isn't why I should be out there looking for clues about my purpose. It is, why not? Curiosity might have killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back. And they can't even kill me now, so there will be no setback.

I carefully stand up, and wobbling a bit, go through the door. I don't feel anything. I'm on the other side. It's a hall, furnished with a long red carpet. The carpet seems worn out and poorly made, but more worthy of my eye are the walls. There are banners in two places of the wall, both showing the same herb. An ornamented bronze pickax, with a bold bar placed across. The herb of the Metal Bloodline. It seems, together with the architectural style, to be around the time of the great migration. Plus or minus a hundred years.

I hear commotion in one of the rooms adjacent to the hall. I quickly float through the wall, in search of the source, and land in a mess. It seems to be some sort of alchemy lab, but most of the tubes and vials are out of order, and just a few don't lack labels. I'm thinking about taking all this and straightening it, when another outburst catches my attention again. It's two ponies, arguing. One of them, a small mare, orange in colour, in a baggy brown cloak, and at the other I try to gasp again. The pointy blue hat sits next to him, but his blue starred cloak jingles every time he makes a move, because of the many bells attached to it. I am just meeting Star Swirl the Bearded, live. Or at least he is.

I start listening in on their conversation. It is mostly Star Swirl bashing this Moony Charm, for not coming to the experiment on time.

"And now, that thou haveth finally decided to crawl out of thy hiding hole and comed," Star Swirl continues, "Thou forgetst to bring thy research! We thought We haveth been clear when We said this was imperative!" Charm looks as if she regretted she had come here after all.

She just peeps out, "I forgot to do it –" at which Star Swirl lashes out even more.

"Not even done! Maybe We should haveth picked another for Our student."

Wait, Student? The orange filly, with a grey mane and pink streak in her hair, the student of Star Swirl himself? Then this has to be Clover. Why is she being called something else?

Moony kneels before Star Swirl and begs for forgiveness. Her mentor stands above her, and looks away in disappointment, but then his stern image breaks, and he relaxes as he tells her not to repeat such a thing, and that the King does not wish for delays on research.

The scene begins flickering, and the lights begin moving again. I'm finished here, but what does it mean? I have no idea if I learned anything here. Maybe it is too early to ask questions yet, but I can't stop wondering. The scene has disappeared.

Chapter Nineteen

The lights gather again. I'm in a bright lit room, floating over the heads of a flood of ponies dancing and talking underneath me. Everypony is wearing masks, but from time to time I see a body that I recognize flashing by in the crowd. It's obviously not the Gala, too small a gathering for that, so it has to be a private aristocratic ball. I wonder what for?

I'm floating, but don't feel any magic working on me. This isn't a levitation spell. I try to use one, to get myself on ground level, but falter at gathering magic. It's the same as before. The magic I can feel, but it's outside of my grasp. I try solely thinking about descending and it works. I see myself falling into the crowd, but immediately feel at unease. Everypony is just walking through me. I think about ascending and thus do so.

As I glance over the crowd, my eyes meet someone familiar who does not disappear in an instant. In the mass of ponies my vision fishes out Blueblood in a lion mask, who actually quite loudly argues with someone at the entrance.

I swoop towards him, but as I come closer, he is not the one I thought him to be. While his visage is exactly the same, his cutie mark does not match the one I have known to omit. However whoever he might be, he is intoxicated and behaves very Blueblood-like. It seems he is talking to the dark-blue earth pony in a dog mask next to him, presumably his bodyguard, telling him that he can take care of himself, and doesn't need nopony to help him. He takes a swing with his hoof in the air, swirls and nearly falls.

A red unicorn mare in a cat mask grabs him just before he hits the ground, and apologizes for her raunchy companion, taking his foreleg over her shoulder. She escorts him to the outside. They walk a while through the rich streets tall houses rising right and left. I recognize most of them, I'm in the aristocratic district of Canterlot.

I  have left the party, and followed the couple. Just now came it to my head. Everything around me seems so familiar here, yet a tad off. I is as if someone turned the saturation of everything up, all the buildings seeming lively, vivid colors shining towards even in then night. Everything looks... just like the stones of the castle from before, new.

I float, a little bit unsteady and uneasy, upwards, to get a clearer view of the city. It definitely looks like Canterlot, with the Royal Palace in its core. What I see doesn't help me as much, and I concentrate on what I don't. The Phillydelphia Bank unit is not present. There are scorch marks on the fire department though. I have to be just a few hundred years behind my time right now. I'd guess the early six hundreds a.n.m.

I float down again and it feels weird, without the feeling of magic that should be involved. The pair I found not far away, walking off to their destination after a wild party, in the bright lights of the street lamps. Then the stallion directs them towards an dark sidestreet. I grow interested, and walk closer both of them disappearing in the darkness shrouding this blind alley.

I get used to the poor lighting conditions of this location, and to my eyes it is unveiled that the stallion is up to something. I don't like his sly grin. I hope the dame has some means of defense.

"Hey, Sweetie," not-Blueblood frees himself from her arm, "We are all alone now, Babe."

He stepps a pace back and, swinging lightly from side to side, flirts, "You must think you're special, Girl, that you're lucky. You'll be able to do it with the great Goldenheart himself. You should be honored."

So Goldenheart is his name. The stallion looks the red mare in the eyes and then starts galloping nearly straight towards her, in an attempt to subdue her. Well aware that the scheme was see-through I'm not surprised the mare manages to buck him square in the face.

Goldenheart falls down, holding his probably broken and definitely bleeding nose, and screams, " You bloody bucking witch! What the buck did you do to me? Do you even realize who I am?" He pulls a knife out of his pocket. "How lucky do you feel now?"

I must say he had it coming. I still cannot believe this isn't Blueblood. They are so alike. Maybe an ancestor? But if so, how did he manage to reproduce?

The mare looks at him with disgust lingering in her ruby eyes, and sweeping back the pink streak in her hair she states, "You have no musing with what might you have meddled Goldenheart. I'm the Mistress of Luck, and for you I mean miserable misfortune. Men, you may maim him."

With those words the self-proclaimed Mistress of Misfortune steps back, and from the alley, two burly stallions, a blue earth pony and an orange pegasus come forth.

They raise their hoofs to their foreheads and greet, "Let the Silencing begone, Mistress."

To which the Mistress responds, "and the Truth emerge."

They make a symbol in the air, and the Mistress orders them to knock Goldenheart out, but bring him to the place alive, for he is still needed. I turn away and hear a muffled scream and a few thumps. The stallions put a bag over the beaten up Goldeheart's head and escort him and the Mistress out of this dark place. I stay, shocked and in silence.

I'm not sure what to think. I'm glad the situation didn't deteriorate, but it did in a sense. Who was the mare? Why was she important to me? So many questions, so little answers and every second in my current state just makes new inquiries arise.

At lest this scene is over. The lights start rearranging again.

Chapter Thirty Three

As everything comes together again I recognize a very familiar face. One that I have died for. In front of me is Princess Celestia. She is looking directly into my eyes, and slowly a tear forms in her eye. does she see me?

"Princess, can you see me?"

She extends her hoof towards me, and I reply with the same. Our hooves touch. Except they don't. Her foreleg passes through mine and I feel a wave cold flowing though my body, as she pierces me through my heart. I see her turn her hoof, and hear a click. She walks through me, and I turn away from the bright room filled with ponies, to go after her. She exits through a door.

On the other side I see her pulling a little lever and suddenly the dark hall is fully illuminated with magic lights. However I cannot feel any magic.

She walks halfway through the corridor, when a door pops open, and a green unicorn mare pops out. She is looking at some kind of image showing device with half of it being covered in buttons and hasn't noticed the Princess yet. Celestia however has been startled by the sudden appearance of another and tries to gather as little attention as possible. The white-maned mare walks on oblivious to the royalty just a few steps away.

Princess Celestia sighs relieved and continues the walk down the corridor. The mare a few paces away suddenly jumps  up, as if cold water has been spilled down her neck. She folds the machine in two, and looks back, seeing the Princess. She runs up to her, tucking the device in her bag.

"Already leaving the gathering, Princess?" She levitates another flat device, this time without any buttons. "Have you managed to talk to D&R?"

Princess Celestia sighs, not really having wanted to be stopped, and replies, "The talk is not over yet, Greenfall," — She is tapping her hoof impatiently on the floor. — "but Luna has generously offered to continue them instead of me."

Greenfall looks over her device, and then checks something on it. Over her shoulder I see a calendar appearing on the screen.

"Oh, I'm sorry to interrupt, Princess," she says backing off. "It's time for your monthly visit, isn't it?"

The Princess just nods. Greenfall turns around and starts going towards the meeting.

"Wait!" Celestia says, "Would you like to accompany me?" She looks tired, worn out, and I can nearly tell her age right now. Her eyes are calm, but in the sense the eye of a hurricane is calm.

Greenfall stops in her tracks and slowly turns around. Seeing a royal in front of herself, on the verge of breaking, she replies, "With pleasure."

They continue down the hall in silence, the tired-out Princess and the compassionate green-coated, white-maned unicorn.

I follow them, and realize I back in the Palace, where I began. Although, the decoration seems drastically different, the walls and floors renovated, and in places substituted by tiles. I'm not when I started. From the devices and the style, which I don't recall from any of my reads on architecture, I'd say I'm in the future.

This means I'm dead already, it dawns upon me. For the second time, I think of the consequences of what this means. I cannot interact with this world in any way. Nothing will change because of me. I will effect nothing.

And the castle, in midst of it's transformation. It is being renovated. Soon all of its old beauty will be lost under new one. Has this happened to me too. For certain buildings hold longer than ponies. I will accomplish nothing, and nothing I have accomplished is of any matter anymore. I am forgot.

Princess Celestia, my mentor. She is shaken by a great tragedy. Was it a war? Maybe some illness. A great villainy having a deep effect on her little ponies. What is one little pony in the face of the misery of thousands.

The pair has stepped into a corridor I recognize. One more bend and the door to my old room will be visible. They make the turn and slow down. As I follow them, I see they have stopped in front of my room. What monthly business could Princess Celestia have in my old room?

As I curiously peek at the slowly opening door, lights begin to flicker in front of me. No! I'm not done here yet. Apparently this part has finished, and I am to move to the next one. Before I can grasp what is inside the room, the lights move.

Chapter Twelve

The lights gather, and from my elevated position I see a line of ponies. I'm in a throne room, but not Canterlot's one. I know the place, but it's name resides on the edge of my mind right now.

One of the ponies exits, and another comes up. I turn around, and see, on the rooms thrones, both Princesses. The farmer mare walks up to the steps before the thrones, and kneels. She is offered fruit, but politely declines, at which point of time they begin talking about this years apple harvest.

I remember where I am. This is the Castle of Royal Pony Sisters, prior to Luna's banishment. Which means that Princess Luna is slowly turning into Nightmare Moon right  now. I look back at the scene before me.

The farmer mare is walking away, seemingly happier than before. The next pony in line comes forth. He seems more like a scribe, in a violet robe, and still organizing a messy pile of paper in his hooves. He too is proposed fruit, but hastily declines.

Princess Celestia takes an apple out of the basket next to her, saying, "Statest thy name and business." She takes a bite of the apple and looks down on her subject.

"Focus Glass, Milady," — he stands up from his knees — "and I have come here to highlight the significance of the upcoming stellar events."

Luna, seeing her sister still eating, inqired, "What is this eve—"

A loud crunch sounds, a bite Celestia has taken from her apple.

"As I stated previously," Luna continues, "Why is it of signi—"

"What is this event of which thou art speaking?" Celestia butts in. Luna's eyes shine light blue for a moment, but it might just be me, having overlooked something.

"The Constellation of Cancer is in a few weeks to be co-linear with the Moon." He seems very excited by this and I know exactly why. "The effects of the Moon will be the strongest in a thousand years. Can ye imagine what effects this will have on our economy?"

Princess Celestia is just eating a next apple, but Luna seems awfully interested in the talk, even though Focus is exceptionally boring.

After hearing of the positive and negative effects of the Moon on the economy, in particular orange and potato farming, and an extensive explanation of precautions to be taken in the ports of Manehattan, Baltimare and Las Pegasus, Luna once again speaks, "Dost thou think there are other areas where the Moon's effect hath landed? What doest thou think the effects on magic would b—"

"Thank thee, we shall take thine words into consideration. Thou mayst go now." Celestia is definitely impatient and, grabbing another apple, asks for the next subject.

I think I know where this is going, but I start sympathizing with Luna. While what she did was unforgivable, although forgiven, I begin to understand how much of a jerk Princess Celestia could be. She obviously doesn't want to be on this meeting, but does she have to show this this ostentatiously. The nervous eating, the tapping of her hoof. She is even looking towards the door from time to time. And during all of that time, overshadowing Luna. Driving things herself, to the quickest end.

A few more audiences have passed and the sun is slowly setting. Just as the pinks and oranges reach the window of the throne room, Celestia stands up and excuses herself to her sister and subjects, telling them that her time has come and she has become tired. The crowd mostly disperses, although e few ponies stay, for an audience with just Princess Luna.

Luna looks at Celestia's back, as the latter exits the room through a side door. She then orders the guards to change to night watch, and takes in the last few ponies remaining.

I follow Princess Celestia, as she is being escorted by her guards, up to her room. They banter on the way, and she laughs with them from time to time. At the door she parts with them, wishing them all a good night. She enters her room's door and I contemplate going after her, but side for going back to see Luna's doings.

Halfway through turning I hear a rumbling, and something falling down, both sounds coming from the bedroom, at which I race to the inside. I see someone clothed in a tall cloak with the hood deep over their head. Not someone, but Celestia. I begin questioning what I am seeing here, but have little time to do so, as the Princess jumps out of the window.

I run up  to it, and look down, believing to perceive a tragedy, but then it hits me. Princess Celestia can fly. I see her gently floating down to the tower, and landing, without any harm, at its bottom. I clumsily follow her, although my descent from such a height incorporates a greater amount of silent screaming. Levitating is one thing. Levitating two hundred meters above the ground is another.

Celestia sneaks through the small city that has built itself up around the castle and then through the forest surrounding it, and as I follow her I finally have some time to think things through.

Some things have cleared up, somewhat. I understand what made Luna take her decision about destroying the world. However I don't understand why Celestia is how she is right now. The question, what she is doing, sneaking out in the night, also arises. What could be so important that Celestia would allow herself to step on her sister's nerves constantly?

Before my questions have any chance of getting resolved, the lights flicker again. I think I'm getting used to this. They start moving.

Chapter Four

The lights surrounding me reform into recognizable patterns again.  I recognize Clover. Among a crowd of ponies. Dancing and drinking cider...

The place I'm in is dark, but the fireplace in the middle provides a homey atmosphere. From the inside the building is wooden and looks like a tavern, this must be the outskirt of the castle. There is a group of ponies around the fire, roasting sausages and toasting bread, and selling it to those around. Those around were whirling around to the sound of the music, which in return came from the corner of the room, where, on a pedestal, a group of farmers stood, with their primitive, homemade instruments, playing swingy country music. I saw such a thing once before, at Luna's first Nightmare Night, when there was a similar ensemble in the town square.

And among this farmer and common folk, Clover the Clever, Moonycharm, is swinging around with a partner. She seems to have a good time, and so is her companion, a tall silver mare, of regal built. The patched dress the silver pony is wearing looks completely misplaced on her, and I can nearly hear Rarity's complaints about not even the colors of the patches matching.

The song ends, and another, much quicker begins. Most of the ponies remain on the floor, but a few, including Clover and the silver mare retire upstairs, where tables have been set up, and a barmare is going around serving drinks.

"To the King's stables, that hath been the greatest experience of my life! Thou needest to get me out more often, Bars," puffs Clover exhausted.

"Come on , this hath not been all thou can do? The party hath only stared, Clover," Bars exclaims, still shaking, full of energy.

The little, orange mare tries to pull herself up to a standing position, but fails, falling back the table. She looks up at her friend, and pleads, "Let us stay here for a while longer. We may converse a while, and then thou can take me back to thy dancing."

Bars grins and the shaking stops. "The deal is sealed. What dost thou wish to talk about?"

Clover thinks for a while, looking through the room for some conversational objects, until her sight falls upon the mare on the other side of the table. "Let us start with formalities. I do not wish to call thou by thy mark all time."

"I will only reveal myself, if thou speakest first," Bars replied her smile wavering but for a second.

Clover considers the proposition, but then her face widens in a smile. "I have taken liking to the nickname thou hast created for me. Let us keep the names then. I also see thou hast a problem with disclosing information on thine own, allow me to try guessing thy past myself."

"This might be entertaining, commence my friend." Bars looks skeptical at Clover, but waits for the events to unfold.

"We have met at an aristocratic ball, have we not? This meaneth thou art of middle or higher upbringing. If middle thy  family is rich, which would fit with your mark. Metal is not a commodity in our times.

"But there is the possibility that thou art higher born, even our royal bloodline now being of minerals. I have not heard much of the royal family, but their child should be our age now, should it not?

"Thou art not her though, she would be much better guarded. Maybe a lesser noble. My heraldry hath I forgotten in this night's beverages. I think the Home of Rust, or of Ruby might be appropriate of thy status."

The mare across starts clapping her hoofs and bursts with a friendly laughter. "Thy powers of observation are terrific. I will not tell thou the truth, but I can tell thee, thou wert close. Now letest me try.

"As thou have mentioned, the place we met in discloseth a lot about us both. What thou have not mentioned is the third option. Thou may have omitted it, because thou knew exactly that I was not in't. 'Tis the scholars, and thou art one.

"Thy knowledge about everything amazeth me, so let us let our conclusions go, and thou may continue entertaining me with the conversation."

Clover seems shocked, and her slack jaw manags to mutter only, "I'm sorry, i have underestimated thou. I see I have met my equal if not better."

"Nothing of this kind, although the flattery pleaseth me verily. I am certain my mind compareth not with that of thee, so the more am I happy being able to help thee by pointing out discrepancies."

"Thou art right, let us set this aside, and continue with our games. I feel the powers have returned to my body once again," Clover says and to prove her words stands up. The pair goeth downstairs, and mixeth into the crowd, swilring to the sounds produced from the stage. I remain there standing and watching them dance the night out, happy to finally get to see a positive memory.

They dance and dance. Many ponies that were is here leave through time. Finally the tavern is nearly empty, and the musicians have their instruments packed away. The place seemeth empty, and the higher floor is, containing only the two mares. Clover layeth on the bench on her back and looketh dead tired, while Bars looketh into the ceiling, not yet asleep, but already dreaming.

Then Clover rises up. She looketh around, and asketh for the time. Bars shrugeth with her shoulders. Clover runeth up to a window. Outside she seeth pink. The pink of a rising sun.

She falleth to her knees and throweth her forehooves into the air.

A loud "No!" soundeth through the air, and it takes several seconds for the ringing noise to stop.

Bars standeth up and runeth to the lying Clover, who looketh like a doll, her strings cut loose. She falleth by her side, and heaveing her head up, asketh, "Art thou all right, Clover?"

There is stunning silence everywhere around them and a chirping of a cricked is heard in the distance. Clover, with heavy eyelids, slowly openeth her eyes and looketh into the deep violet eyes before her. She looketh through them, as if not completely aware of her surroundings.

Then, she speaketh,"I...

"I have...

"I forgot to do...

"My Homework."

She fainteth.

The lights start flickering.

‮Chapter Twenty Two ‭

The lights gather, forming mostly darkness. Then a slit of light appeareth. Wait. Appears. How long have I been thinking this way? The previous scene has rally messed with my mind.

A door opens and in comes no other than the Mistress herself. Backwards? She takes a brass sniffer, and moonwalks, as the younger generation would call it, towards what I imagine the walls of this room are. She stands up on her hind legs and lays the sniffer on a torch. Then she pulls it up. The torch is lit. She proceeds in the same manner all around the room, and soon enough, the room is well lit.

It appears to be a throne room. The Throne Room. This is the place I have died in. Or will. Where I will have died someday. It has only been a few days hasn't it. Time passes differently in the place I am now.

I look at the room. It is ready for the ceremony that is to take place here. I know, I have planned it out myself, and this looks close to how I would have done it. Would have. The ceremony is going to pass as follows: The Princess will wait on her throne. The heralds will announce nobility incoming from different lands. They will be seated at the hoof shaped, with the most important closest to the thrones, and the less important further away. After all will be read off, the gates would open for the common folk to take it's place on the two sides of the table, on the benches. Then Princess Celestia will stand up and recite a speech to welcome the people of all Equestria's allied nations. She will descend the stairs to join the nobles at the feast.

The materials on the next parts were a little bit uncertain on the next account, but there was some unrest, which was to be expected. Foreign dignitaries were presented to the common Canterlot folk for the first time.

I look at the room. It is just as I imagined. No wonder there though, I have researched the event a lot, before beginning to organize it. And now the mare was changing it. Well, maybe not changing, it what I see is the latest standpoint of the chamber.

The temporal shenanigans seem obvious considering what the Mistress is doing. She is going backwards, correcting the position of everything on the tables and then picking it up, from time to time dusting something off with a handkerchief, leaving it more dusty than before. This time is reversed.

The Mistress is taking the tablecloth off the tables, and then picking up the tables putting them down with much more strain than she has been lifting them, in the corner of the room.

The floor is dusty, and full of chalk drawings, concealed just a moment before, by the tables. The chalk lines seem to gravitate towards the center under the room, but most of it is covered by a thin red carpet.

Mistress is finished with taking off the paintings from the walls, revealing even more lines. She turns towards the walls, and moonwalks towards the center of the room.

The carpet is lifted.

Underneath there is a huge entanglement of chalk lines and symbols, most of which I cannot even recognize. However the ones I can send a shiver down my spine. I can see runes imbuing immobility, a huge amount of different wound inducers, as well as a sign for awareness. If chalk could talk, this one was blaspheming in ways I could not have imagined existed. Before me, generalizing, is spelled out the wish for someone to die a horrible and painful death, without even the solicitude of unconsciousness.

The honest-looking mare trots carefully into it's middle, pulls a piece of chalk and starts drawing. Un-drawing. She moves the chalk along the lines present, and they vanish. She is the one who did all of this. She is the one to blame for such a horrible curse. And I know of it, but am in no power to do anything about it.

I know the mare is more than one would suspect, she has shown this already last time I have seen her. Well, last time for me. I wonder when this is for her.

I know she is capable of much more than any pony I know, in matters of villainy. She has goons, she had someone beaten unconscious. She is evil, I get that. But this? Who could have caused her this amount of pain that she has to eradicate in this way. How could anyone sane allow for such?

I silently watch as the patterns slowly foil themselves, as she gets further and further away from the center, up until none of the symbols are left. She steps up, and walks to the middle of the room, stands still for a time and starts putting everything back onto its respective place. The room looks untouched, everything is exactly where it has been before she came in.

Mistress takes the sniffer out once again, and lights a torch in her hand. She makes a lap around the room, and putting the torch to each one hanging on the walls, extinguishes them, one after another. The room is dark again, with the only light source being the open door. She moonwalks towards it, and stops in the door frame, now but a shadow in the light.

The door closes. Lights begin to appear.

Chapter Two

My vision reassembles again showing the increasingly familiar stone of the old castle. However the drastic change is in my location, the outside of the city. I'm just before the main gate which is squeaking with the likeness of a claw against a table, as its bascule bridge lowers before me.

On the inside I see heavy houses, built into the outside walls, and a street. It seems to be the craftsmen district, the signs hanging above the building showing things such as hammers, farm equipment or doors and locks.

And in the background of all this, almost lingering ominously over the street, is the castle. It isn't very tall, although my standards may be astray, me having lived in Canterlot for most of my life, stretching to only the second story, third at most with its towers. The tops were flat, wit—

Something dark appears before me. I'm inside a room, and at my sides are Clover and Star Swir—

The room disappears. In front of me a express carriage works its way up the bridge. I run after it, but cannot catch up, and so try another way. I lift myself up from the ground, and mentally fling myself in the carriages direction. To my surprise it works, and I just barely grab at the carriages curtained window, stepping into the dusk.

Star Swirl is sitting among huge stacks of books, writing something on parchment in candlelight, while Clover lifts the window slightly looking outside, into the grey cloudy sky.

"So... How far away is the city now?" Clover sighs with much diluted excitement.

Star Swirl levitates up another book, another brick in the wall of knowledge isolating him from her. She can hear the sound of scribbling from behind it, and then an answer, "We're almost here."

Clover mutters, "'Tis exactly what thou said earlier." They return to their previous activities, and silence ensues.

More scribbling.

Clover lifts her head, and squints her eyes, as if wishing to see through the barrage of books. "Canst thou at least tell me about castle Monorog?"

The scribbling stops. The carriage is dead silent. All the books, one after another, float two his two sides, forming two perfect stacks, and joining the ones lying next to him. The parchment rolls itself together, and Star Swirl's face appears. He is smoking his pipe, a faint trail of vapor exiting to the ceiling.

"We are here." The carriage stops.

Clover opens the carriage's door, and exits, at first shielding her eyes from the light. Then she slowly lets her foreleg fall, her eyes starting to shimmer. She swirls around and dashes up to every building, absorbing the atmosphere through the bright curiosity of her eyes.

In the meantime Star Swirl is out of the carriage, and floats his baggage behind him. He throws a few coins towards the puller, and dismisses her. Turning towards the castle, he calls, "Child'o'mine, this is the direction we're heading." He walks away.

Soon enough Clovers comes running after him, and catches up. She starts asking question after question, barraging him with inquiries.

"So what is this building?"

"The Iron smith, Moonycharm. The—"

"And the one over there?"

"'Tis the seating and writing utensil shop. It not long willeth last, a very specific nich—"

"And the big building to the right?"

"Oh, thou meanest the theater. Thou willest find out soon enough."

"What is it for?"

"Telling stories."

"Like a wandering bard?"

"Only stationary. We will attend it—"

"And the building"...

I trail off at this point. The built of this place is interesting, but Star Swirl provides only basic information, information I can easily deduce. He is not to blame though, he only barely has time for them anyway, before another pops up.

I'm closer to the castle now. Monorog, wasn't it. I know that it is much lower than all other castles I've seen, but from the bottom of the wall, it still looks as impressive as it looks menacing. It does not help that the sun shines from behind it giving it an eerie glow, making the many windows look like thousands of eyes, towering and judging.

My companions seem to have no such reaction to the colossus in our vicinity, but at least the bombardment has eased. It seems, most of the questions were already answered.

Clover looks around, this time she seeming pumped just as Bars has been a while ago. She looks around as if seeking another output for immense feeling of curiosity.

Her eyes rest on me. She looks me straight in the eyes. She shakes her head. Then continues her search.

Finally she interrupts the silence, "In the carriage, what was it thou wert searching for in those tomes?"

Star Swirl misses a step, but quickly recovers. He looks her in the eyes and rolls up the corners of his mouth."The same thing I was looking for in thee."

Clover rises her brow and asks, "What dost thou mean?"

He just quickens his step, and replies, "Thou art a clever filly. Thou wilst get it someday."

They continue their journey in silence, and soon arrive at the proper castle's gate. With his magic, Star Swirl raises the heavy door knob on the giant door, and lets it go, it sounding with a sonorous thud.

A slit in the gate slowly opens, and a voice from inside asks, "State your names and business."

Star Swirl straightens his posture, and voices, "Start Swirl the Bearded cometh, with his apprentice, Moonycharm. The business is King Bullion's request."

The gate widens it's doors and they step inside.

Lights begin to move.

Chapter Fifteen

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.

‮Chapter Fourteen‭

The lights gather again. The night is young. I'm in a forest. The forest. There are crickets chirping somewhere nearby. I hear a toad croak in my vicinity. Sound of moving water. Solitude.

There is a sound of a stick breaking. I turn my head in its direction and move on, towards it. I arrive at a clearing. A path and figures. It's dark, and both of them are cloaked.

They are whispering to each other, but I can't comprehend anything. However one of them is really tall. The account. Is this a princess?

I walk over and check under the hood. It is Celestia, her ever-flowing mane carefully contained in the cloaks hood. The other mare I don't recognize. A unicorn, black in colour, her blue hair heavily contrasting with the single pink streak of it.

They are walking backwards. It is this again. I try to listen in to their conversation.

The mare gave the Princess a kiss on the lips. ‮"I'm here for thou, Celestia."

‮.seunitnoc dna eram eht ot pu selgguns aitseleC "At least we still have each other to look upon. The night will not be boring if we stay together. I wish these moments have not to end."

‮.nwod skool eram ehT "It is very romantic, art thou sure she is not onto us?—" .yks eht ni gnihtemos swollof ehS "—Lookest, Celestia. Clouds are incoming, the night is going to be worse."

‮.desucof erom emoceb seye reh dna ,yks eht morf nwod skool aitseleC "Lookest up into the sky. Luna hath graced us with a beautiful star spangled night, hath she not?"

‮"I'm really interested in thy work, but let's let it be. So what dost thou wish to speak about?"

‮.htaerb peed yrev a sekat aitseleC "Please, let us not talk of work. I just wish to enjoy a walk with thee."

‮"How hath the meeting been?" ,sdne eram kcalb ehT

The gibberish makes my head hurt. Just hearing this makes me remember Pinkie, in her excited state. The difference is, she talks fast, while the couple here talk with a slow pace, only wrong-sounding.

I walk a few paces away, so that I don't have to listen to the conversation. This is the night of the date, so where is the mailmare Sky?

On the other hand, this incident was reported several times. Why should this one I am in also be the one she reported? Why should it be one that has been seen at all?

I wander around, looking for stalkers anyway.

The bushes in the near vicinity look clean, and I float up the view the larger area. I immediately mentally  punch my fac— Au, bad thing to do if you're a soul. Only the treetops are visible, the trees block my view of anything.

I descend, and return to the conversation, not sure what else to do. Then there is a sound. A breaking twig. The couple turns their heads to look in the sound's general direction, and I go investigate. They dismiss it quickly, and go back to swooning over each other.

The sound came from the edge of the forest, it might as well have been an animal. I look around, check the bushes thoroughly, and give up. There's nothing here.

Then I hear a flap. It came from above. I look up, and see nothing. I float int the exact position I believed something to be. Suddenly, two big amber eyes appear before me. The gray mare in front of me has blended in perfectly with the nightly sky and the trees gray bark. It's Sky.

Her eyes are wide open, scanning the surrounding and looking back to the road. After ascertaining herself that not a soul is out there to see her, she starts descending the tree. She walks into the woods, and flies back towards the castle, as far as possible, but still in range of the path.

She flies backwards and it looks hilarious. I remember one other time I have seen such a thing happen, but the circumstances around that event were a tad darker. Well, Rainbow  got better, and I've gotten a friend in the process, teaching another that no power is superior to friendship.

Floating besides Sky I see myself passing the couple several times. Each time this happensSky stops, flies right into a hiding place and waits for them to pass her. After this she stays for a while, apparently choosing the best hiding spot, she flies away, parallel to the path.

In the repetitive cycle that followed, I have once again time for thought. I dislike this. Every time I try to think things through I break apart. However I cannot stop thinking and ultimately choose to act again, which is a positive side to the issue.

I am being shown the lives of ponies surrounding Celestia. I understand that she was a center around which my world revolved, but why these specific ponies. I've had Moonycharm "Clover" the Clever, the Mistress, Sky Gazer... Oh and Greenfall. The Mistress and Greenfall seem close to the Princess, although in very different ways. Clover and Sky seem more indirect. One wants to destroy her, one wants to help her, one destroys her image passively, the the last, or first, helps her, indirectly, and after years. Focusing on the outlier, the Mistress is the only one who wants to actively kill her. Why? Because she banished Luna? Luna attacked first, and while I saw the reason for it, she destroyed several lives, and threatened to destroy the world. The Mistress was smarter than to pursue the Apocalypse. She named Censorship. Veiling of knowledge. I remember now, that there are not many records of the time period after Luna's banishment. Most were destroyed in the Great Fire of 20 a.n.m, but is this true. Why would anyone hide anything about a whole period of time. And who would do this? What had to happen for this to be acceptable?

Sky arrives at the bridge, her last point on this journey. The couple, the Princess and the black unicorn, trot towards the other side of the forest.

Lights start flickering.

Chapter Twenty Five

Bright lights blind me. The room. The Throne Room seems to recur. The table is filled. Princess Celestia is standing in the middle of the stairs, stopped. I look around, and see everyone's faces, mouths open, eyes wide. Behind me something flickers.

Someone screams, "Look, the Princess!"

A red flame rises from the ground encircling the Princess. It is this time. I was here already.

I look over the crowd most ponies expressions are those of surprise, or fright, but there are two groups that visibly differ. The guards immediately start evacuating the foreign dignitaries from the tables, and then there are the civilians who don't panic, just rather calmly stand there, blocking the way. Some of the latter group are slowly moving towards the door.

Nigh all the nobles are outside, and the guards start coming for the bigger, common crowd. I see a few robed figures in between the folk, but one in particular catches my eye. A red mane, with a pink streak, is hanging out of it. It... She is moving towards the end of the corwd.

I move closer, and under the hood see the Mistress. She is muttering about treason, and pushing through the crowd, as more and more of it escapes backwards, flowing towards the door. She is holding a needle in her hoof, a syringe with its the safety cap still on.

On the other side of the crowd I hear, through the crowds noise, a muffled voice. I float over there. There are four ponies, strong ones, all of them pressing from four sides on a brown earth pony colt. They tower over him, so it is hard to see him, but having a clear overview, I see the colt to have his mouth plugged with a ball of cloth.

About half of the crowd has already left, when the Mistress arrives at the colt. She slips between the towering ponies, and cuddles to the brown one.

She blinks innocently, and then, in a whisper, asks, "Come on, Spinner. Was all of this really necessary?"

The pony in question begins to violently shake, trying to get out of the oppressive grasp of the ponies around him.

"Nuh-uh," she disapprovingly breathes. "You know you cannot escape. Not after what you have done. And I must say, you've made quite a mess."

His pupils dilated, and his brows shaped an "A".

"Spinner." She shakes her head. "Spinner. Spinner. Spinner. You know the procedure now, don't you. There is nothing I can do. I admire your honesty, but you know, sometimes you have to lie to show the truth—" she gently taps him on the head "—and this was one of these times."

She turns to the ones around her and softly speaks, "Listen to me carefully, we need not more mistakes. The plan should be fine, but we need to dispose of him very delicately. The guards cannot know, until the operation is in action.

"You—" the blue unicorn in question nods "—will take him, after I inject him with this," she points at the syringe in her hoof, "to the hospital. He will puke soon after the injection, and will not be able to speak clearly. Go out with the rest of the crowd, and we will contact you again, when it will be safe to do so."

Another of the four, a grey pegasus, asks, "But what of Spinner. Will he not talk?"

The Mistress just points at the tip of the syringe, cap removed, and hisses, "No loose ends."

She grabs it with her magic, and tries it. The fluid flows. She quickly stabs the colt's flank, and presses the piston. The quiet, silenced whinny looses itself in the noise of a panicked crowd. The guards are close. Two of the towering ponies disappear in the crowd, while the blue one grabs the colt under his foreleg, and starts moving towards the main gate.

After a while of moving through the crowd, I hear a screech from blue's position. I float over, and see that Spinner has vomited over another pony. Blue takes his queue, and yells for passage for the sick. They quickly arrive at the gate, and pass through.

Most panicked ponies have already exited, and the only ones left in the room are the calm ones, and the guards. A few guards seem nervous, fiddling around with their gear, and the tension in the room rises.

A pegasus of the guards comes up to the door and tells the ponies on the other side, "All are evacuated, the door have to remain closed, for security reasons."

He closes the door ad grins.

There is a red glow around them, and as I turn around I see the Mistress'es horn glowing. The door is sealed shut. The guards look up, surprised, and a few ask into the room, what the meaning of this is.

The commander of this unit comes up to the guardspony who closed the door.

"Why did you," she asks, "so this? There are still civilians her—" the sentence is stopped by a buck to her head.

Silence rings.

There is a slight hissing sound, and a missile, established by sorcery, crosses the space over the assembly.

A guard is hit, square in the chest by the projectile and is launched backwards. Similarly, the room is launched into Hades.

The images of ponies, hurting and hurt, surprised and knowing, armored and civilian, all begin to blur.

The lights start rearranging.

Chapter Thirty Five

The scenery has changed. Bright fluorescent tubes hum quietly over my head. The floors tiles, and the smooth white walls stand in stark contrast to the stone wall in front of me. It almost looks as if the old building was fighting against the new built, loosing. The flecks of old stone look like ragged cancer on the new skin.

I hear voices approaching from around the corner. A distinct voice I recognize, the Princess's. The other one I do not, but it sounds collected, calm, almost cold.

They emerge. It is the Princess, and her companion is the green mare I have seen quite a while ago. Greenfall? I'm not sure how Pinkie Pie remembered the names of everypony she encountered.

I float after the pair, their conversation having halted for now. They trot through the white, empty halls in silence. As I float by her, I see Celestia has a tear, drying in the corner of her eye, however they have assumed their regal, benevolent expression.

As they stride, the spots of stone become more and more frequent. The tiles give way, and soon I even see the occasional torch in a less frequented side corridor. The castle feels familiar again.

The pair stops, we reach our destination. Yet another closed door. Princess Celestia opens them.

I see light. Bright colours reflected off stone. Windows. And glass panes, colourful ones. I recognize the room, it's the gallery. I look around and see various scenes, telling of victory and defeat, simple life and complex plots, all in simple images, in stained glass.

The Princess stops before one in particular, and Greenfall walks up to her. It's my friends, and me. The bearers of the elements of harmony.

"I," the Princess started, "knew it wouldn't last forever. Nothing does. I did not want it to end this quick though." She sits down, and gestures Greenfall to do the same. "What do you know about Twilight Sparkle?"

The mare politely sits down, and thinks for a while. "My Highness, a lot, I would say." Her expression lightens and she joyfully continues, "She was an inspiration to me. The top of her class in Your School for the Magically Gifted, still being the youngest graduate to date. Then the first in five hundred years to be your private student. She rediscovered and improved many hundreds of Star Swirl the Bearded's spells, and has at least as many on her own account. And that are only the accomplishments of hers in the field of magic, while she improved in all directions possible. One of the most powerful and most talented unicorns, and the most talented generic by far. And all that whilst saving Equestria in times of need." She tells all of this in one breath, and now breathes in heavily.

I look at her and back to the Princess, and feel a tingling sensation in my chest. I am proud of myself. I have accomplished things that last past my death. In this moment, among the familiar walls and windows, the warm feeling spreading through my body and able to see my mentor I feel alive again. Not as alive as if my friends were here, but I take what I can get. My sorrows fade away.

Celestia raises a brow. "Generic?"

"A neologism," Greenfall explains, "meaning someone not limiting their talent to one specific field, but rather applying it to everything they can. One could say, they are the new ponies of Renaissance."

The Princess lightly laughs at that, and closes her eyes, thoughtfully. "A marvelous little pony wasn't she. But she was more. Not a scholar, but mainly a friend. She was the one who made the elements of harmony meet, and who first discovered the bearers. Being in her heart a learner, she also adapted her friends characteristics. She never abandoned a friend in need, showing loyalty. Was always willing to help her fellow citizen in quests of knowledge, in bouts of generosity. Offered anyone knowledge she attained, without asking in return, a honest source of accessible information. Tolerated traditions of others, and their differences with radiating kindness. And all the while she still managed to just have a fun time with those she felt were close to her, in the true spirit of laughter." Celestia looks aside at Greenfall smiling. "And while I would not call her generic, she was definitely an outstanding mare, one like no other."

They sit again in silence and look at the glass.

"No other" Celestia finally breaks, "may have been the wrong words. There are others like her. Strong spirits able to ride the winds of knowledge, for the sake of everyone." The silence returns.

"Can you remind me," the Princess asks, "at what age Twilight graduated and became my student?"

"Princess, at the age of fourteen."

"And who was second?"

"For now, Oxen Bridgeworth, at the age of seventeen."

"How old are you?"

"Fifteen years have passed, Princess."

"And you graduate next year, don't you? Congratulations."

Greenfall kneels up, and thanks.

"You remind me of her. The curiosity of everything around you. The feeling that every answer must be in a book somewhere. Thank you for being here for me. The loss is greatly lessened since you came."

"It is my pleasure. But to her. I do not compare."

"Don't be this humble. Your magical potential is rising by the day. You consume knowledge like wild, especially since the new media have arrived to help. I hear the inter-net is a great resource nowadays. Under proper care, under the right mentor, you will blossom beautifully." The Princess looks at Greenfall, scanning her from top to bottom.

The corners of her eyes rise and she changes the subject, "Your hair, it is not naturally this, is it? Or are you already greying? What is your natural colour?"

Greenfall mutters a silent "Oh" and her face widens too. She answers, "It is actually mostly white, although you have keen eyes my Princess. I have a strand I colour to match the rest of my mane. A pink one."

The lights flicker.

Chapter One

The lights gather. The sun shines brightly through an open window. I'm in a house. A house of clay and hay.

I look around, I have not seen a house like this in my life yet, but I think I've read on something like it. There are two more doors at the hind wall, and two more windows to the sides, but basically the whole house seems to be this one medium sized room. There's a wooden table in one part, and a fireplace next to it, with a kettle hanging over it. By the back wall I see some shelves, stacked with dried foods and herbs. The rooms, upon examination, are small, closet-like in size, but house two sleeping bags each, on different levels. They looked as if someone had heard of the idea of bunk beds, but has never seen a bed.

There is a whistle outside. A pony stands just before the house, and I see others coming, from various buildings in the vicinity, and from the fields. A small group forms, and somewhere in it I recognize Clover. She is hiding behind her family, a bigger green earth pony stallion and a dull-red unicorn mare. There are two more foals, jumping around, by her side, but she seems to be just intimidated, not moving an centimeter, always in her parents' shadow.

The last pony arrives and the group begins to move. They seem to have set out for the bigger, stone building on the other side of this spread out village. It wears the symbol of the sun on its front door, so I can only assume that it is a church.

As they enter, there is some tension in the atmosphere. Some of the ones in the front, the first ones to enter, are not content. However nothing happens and everypony sits down.

In the very back of the church through an open window a ray of light shines, and where it lands, there is a lectern. An old greying pegasus, whose colours are lost in time, slowly walks up to it, and opens the book standing on it.

"Today," he announces, "we will have a shortened Ritual of the Sun, my ponies. The reason is a friend of mine, that hath visited this village, a very important pony whom I wish to introduce to you."

There is a short commotion, but the sound quietens instantly, as the preacher's lips part again.

"Be welcome, oh life giving force, on this day where thou shinest the brightest. Be welcome, and know our thanks, for without thee, we would be nothing. Be welcome, and blest us, for in thy shining fire, we are judged, and we shall prevail. Expungest the evil from our souls, and helpest us in our daily life, and we shall give ourselves to thee, as we have done for ever. Transeat."

Every pony stands up, turns in a circle thrice, waves their forehooves and repeats, "Transeat."

The pressure in the room falls. Ponies relax and the old one goes into a backroom, disappearing from the stage.

Soon he emerges, with a familiar grey-blue unicorn. He presents, "This here is Star Swirl the Bearded, the most powerful conjurer in this land, and the pony to whom I owe my life. If it wasn't for him, my latest travel would have ended much differently, with me returning not to this hometown of mine." He looks over to Star Swirl again, and the latter nods his head. "He is in search for a student, wishing his knowledge vanish not in time, and his search of the most fitting pony has led him here .

"I have myself, after hearing his troubles, have recommended him to look at one particular talent in our community. Moonycharm, could you please step up here?"

I looked back to where Clover is sitting, and see her, sulking into the seat, trying to escape everyone's attention, with little success. Finally, she is pushed out of her seat by what I presume to be her brother. On shaking legs, she walks up to the front.

"Art thou sure this poor thing is capable of magic? Walking seemeth to be a hardship for this creature." Star Swirl looked at her suspiciously.

"I am the one who hath teached her the beginnings of magic. She is certainly a perfect learner, and with a right push, she is capable of amazing feats. Wouldst thou care to share, Moonycharm?"

The mare just manages to squeak out a silent "What to do?" and seemingly foiled in on herself.

"'Tis simple, my dear," Star Swirl says, taking out a scroll from his porch. "Just followest the instructions, and after twenty minutes, showest me what progress thou hast made."

I look over Clover's shoulder and see the instructions to a basic shield spell. Basic, but hard to learn. I needed at least a day of practice before I could stabilize the barrier enough not to let things through.

Ten minutes pass, and most of the ponies leave the church. Clover is still sitting over the paper and slowly grumbling, but soon raises her head. "I think I have it."

Star Swirl looks curiously as her horn begins to glow. She concentrates, closing her eyes, and let's the magic flow. I feel it forming a bubble around her.

Star Swirl looks impressed, but then examines it closer. "Dost thou also think it will last?"

He taps on it once. Twice.

On the third time the field breaks.

Clover looks down, on the vanishing magic shards, and up to the pony magician, and tears start to well in her eyes. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to make it like this."

Star Swirl examines her from top to bottom, and looking away, states, "Thou needest to work on thy mind's stability, and while thou hast power, thou needest to channel it correctly. But thou will have enough time to learn this, if you accompany me on my trip to Castle Monorog. Wouldest thou want to?"

The filly's frown turns upside down, as she jumps up in glee.

The light begin to flicker.

Chapter Twenty Four

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.

‮Chapter‭

Darkness. I see nothing. There seems to be nothing. Is this the end? If so, then what was the point to it all? To find out that Celestia might have been more evil then I thought. Or at least some past version of her. And why have I jumped in front of her then? Was it all to show me my life meaningless? Then why bother at all.

The assumption that all this is meaningless is probable, but does not bring any goal, any logical steps into the field. If everything is meaningless, I might as well try acting as if it was meaningful, or at least search for meaning. All I can do is two things, observe and think, but one of them was taken away from me right now. I'm left with analyzing.

If what was shown to me up until now was meaningful, what did it tell me? There is Clover, in whom I can see parallels with my life. She is curious and talented, albeit may not have one of the characteristics I have been fighting with for quite some time. Scrutiny for every single detail. I would have rather died than disappointed my mentor. Tardy. A word filled with fear.

Then there's Sky, the lesson of which I have not yet quite grasped. She too is curious, but rather looking for the acceptance of the society, not the facts themselves. However, she is determined in what she does, which I respect in her. Going with things from the beginning through to the end. She did not plan it out fully though, and her observations were poor, she is a tad ditzy. She also seemed satisfied with just what she had seen, not really digging deeper. The more I think of it, the more Sky doesn't seem to fit into the rest. She's not like them. Like me.

The Mistress. I shudder for a second. She has her methods, which I dislike. But in general, the power she wields and the finesse she has, standing against the Princess. Extraordinary. And the assassination. She had somehow gotten into the room hours beforehand, and crafted as powerful a hex as the one that confined the Goddess of the Sun. She was clearly a learner, and had she not taken such focus on freeing the ponies, would she have bloomed into a masterful caster. Well, at least if she had access to a source of knowledge. Which was what she was fighting for. I don't know what I would do if access to information was taken from me. I don't want to think about it.

And Greenfall. Close to the Princess. I'm not sure what the timing is, but I feel a little jealous. While I'm remembered, I am replaced already. The next shining star of our group. She is stepping on my heels, and still has a life in front of her. She is to accomplish so much. And I am here, dead, looking from afar. I'm starting to regret going down this train of thought.

I see a light. Is this it? A light at the end of the tunnel. I don't want it to end this way. I don't want it to end at all, not until I have answers. Some answers. Something to ease my mind. The light keeps growing closer. Bigger. I see something in the light. A shape. Words.

'The End.'

Ha ha. This isn't funny. Someone has a very skewed sense of humor here. I am closing the end. It's growing and growing, until it encompasses my whole view. And still growing.

It feels as if I was being pulled. Pulled into a place where I belong. I feel very outside now. I'm slowly being pulled into the ever-growing dot. Then there is blackness again. I'm inside.

Over me single dots of light start appearing. Faint and I nearly miss them, but they are there. Bright dots in the dark sky. By their movement I can see that it's still expanding. But what is "It"?

I'm startled out of my thoughts when a giant boulder passes through me. I'm still not used to the feeling, and look around disoriented. I look around me, and facehoof. I believe I know where I am. Space.

The Ursa Major is over there, beneath me, and I see Orion to my right. There's Cancer. And Sagittarius. And judging by their positions, I shouldn't be far away from—

I see it Earth. Our planet. Earth. I always wondered about the name. Why not something else? Something beautiful. Something without a meaning, so that it would only be the name of our planet. Something unique, as our planet is. But Earth.

It's spinning, and it's doing so at a ridiculous rate. I'm not sure if I get this right, but I decide for it to stop. The sky starts turning around me. It works. The mind is all about the perspective. I'm standing still from Earth's perspective.

I see Equestria. It's changing. The continents in general are moving. Reforming, hitting each other. I realize the day night cycle. It's moving in the wrong direction. From West to East. It's this again, but worse. I'm going backwards in time, at a lunatic-crash-racer rate. Clouds obscure the view of the land, and then the ocean. Then they get sucked up again, by some mountains. Volcanoes. The Earth starts faintly glowing. Heating. Red. Then it starts crumbling. The moon falls into it, and asteroid escaping. It dissolves before my eyes. I begin backing away.

All of existence is starting to disappear in front of me, and I can't feel anything. There is nothing I can do, and this in particular has already happened. It's the past. One cannot change the past. I see stars dying and exploding, reforming and dying. And I see everything shrink. Everything is getting further away. It is as if the universe was sensing my lack of feelings towards it, and is trying to escape me, isolate itself. Every star and planet is condensed into one point. One light.

The light flickers.

Chapter ‮Thirty‭

It is said that at the end of our lives we see our life flash before our eyes. This is true, only the flash being a bit longer, and generally called "living". However if considered from the other side, it is only partially true. Just after the moment of one's death they see life, in flashes. Not always theirs, not always in the right sequence, only fragments of memories, but through them, the clever ones gain insight into the past present and future. Through them, poor souls achieve their longed for peace. Now, it's my turn.

I have just killed myself, or rather sacrificed for the greater good. I knew something was going to happen, I felt it, and I was right. I saved my mentor's life. Everything is fuzzy black now, but I know I'm dead. I felt the magic flow through my body, forcing itself through every vein, every muscle and every hair in my body. It was excruciatingly painful, but now the pain was gone. Every feeling is gone. Just fuzzy blackness.

A light starts flickering in front of me. I'm not sure what it was, but it is joined by another, and then another again. Before me a visage starts appearing, light by light. It's the Throne Room, and there is everybody there. Princess Celestia, Spike and my friends. It was just to be a rehearsal. I had everything planned out. It did not work out as I thought it would.

I realize something peculiar. Nothing is moving. I'm new to this death thing, but it's concerning. I see myself, seeming to start to collapse behind Celestia, but unmoved in this reality. Wait! Something is happening. I'm recovering. The visage of a broken Twilight is regressing, and the deadly bolt runs once again through my past body, this time outwards. My body starts moving again. It is not that I'm not curious about this state, but I welcome the feeling of reanimation.

I would at least. The feeling is not coming, but my body seems fully functional, albeit somewhat floating over the ground. A bit of temporal problems for sure. The bolt of purple magic has fully escaped my body, but is traveling in a inconceivable direction, if it's shape is taken into account. It shows all signs of traveling towards my body, except for the obvious, the motion itself.

It hits me now. The floating body, slowly descending to the ground, the bolt's traveling direction and, as I turn around and look into the room, everyone's trotting motions. Everything makes sense now. Time is traveling backwards. Or I am traveling backwards in time.

I hear a weird sound. Oh, it's just the thump of me pushing against the ground to jump into the bolts path. But this should not have happened yet. Not with this slowness everything is moving at...

Things are accelerating. I see myself running past me, backwards, at normal speed, I see the bolt disappearing into thin air. I can see the group of us, prancing by, at speeds leaving Pinkie Pie and Rainbow in the dust. Everything becomes just a blur.

A light goes off. Then another. And yet another. I'm returning to my former state. I see something else that darkness behind the current lights. Another scene.

I have nothing better to do. I watch.

Chapter Twenty Seven

In their new positions, the lights begin to form a room. This room again. It only suits it, that it haunts me after my demise. I'm in the Throne Room. I feel a tugging in my head. My eyes move toward the middle of the room. I see Princess Celestia.

I feel the magic rising in this room. The floor starts glowing with red light. Lines. Those lines. The curse. The Mistress.

I float over to Celestia, and hear her muttering scrambled sounds. I feel tension. The curse pressing from the outside, and a small force opposing it from the inside. The force grows stronger, by the second, but so does the curse.

There is nothing I can do, but I know the outcome, don't I. I have seen Celestia, she lives. She will have to live through this too, won't she?

The muttering continues. The crowd starts panicking. Single ponies start screaming. Guards calm them down, and order an evacuation, while one of them runs towards Celestia. She touches the red barrier formed around the Princess. The guard is no longer there.

I look around, and see her, still alive, but in an indentation of her shape, in the wall.

Most ponies are outside, but a few refuse to leave. The doors are sealed off. The guards ask for the pony who did this, but no one answers.

Then a pony throws a kick. A magic missile flies through the room and hits a guard straight into the chest. The civilian ponies rage a battle against the royal servants.

The guards are caught by surprise. The situation is tense, and half of them are unconscious before the battle begins. They fight, I say, bravely, but the enemy knows to fight well as well. They are defeated.

The rebellious crowd parts, and the Mistress steps forward.

She quietens the ponies in the room, the rage and fight still buzzing in them, with a lowering of her foreleg.

Then she speaks, "Fellow fighters, feast on this fabulous fresco, for this flash of time is the one we looked forward to.

"The Princess is in our fangs, and will soon suffer the fate she deserves. It is her who banished her own sister to the dark realm of space. It is her, who, more importantly, quietened every word of it. It is her that diminished knowledge and freedom of thought for our loyalty and obedience. Today this all ends.

"The Princess will die. However this is of little significance to us. We don't need dead royals, but we do need is a symbol. We do not simply barbarically murder a pony, we send a message to a world that is deaf to any other medium.

"Today, you must remember we started small, with pleas and education, but this brought no result, only our suffering at the hands of the Equestrian Inquisition. We went through every possible scenario, but no compromise could be made.

"Remember ponies, today is not a day of vengeance. We do not hurt someone for they hurt our own. This is a completely informed, calculated choice.

"Remember that this is the only way we had to restore the freedom of our people, freedom from our thought's oppression, and constant fear.

"But most of all remember this day not as an end of a dark period, but make it a beginning of a new, brighter one.

"This is the day not Silence is gone, This is the day..."

There was a short vacuum of sound. Then everyone in the room blasted, "The Truth will Emerge!"

The Mistress sends a few ponies to barricade the doors further, and gathers the rest around the enclosed Princess, who is still muttering silently to herself. She tells them to them to fortify the spell with their magic, as every bit helps, and turns around.

There is a yellow flash, and a blast. Ponies fly into the walls, and slowly slide down, unconscious. The Mistress turns toward the Princess, angrily whispering about some stallion, gained seconds, and killing something again.

The bottom of the cursed force field begins to glow yellow. The Mistress cusses. I feel her magic reaching out, and carefully checking out the sphere with is. She screams and slides back a little.

The ponies by the door stop helping their fallen companions, and run up to her, helping her stand up. She accepts the help, but tells them to evacuate. She looks at them, with nothing but cold in her eyes, and says, "We have failed this time. The mission is off."

They gather up their fallen friends, and wake those in best condition, then run up to a segment of wall that suddenly opens. They enter, friends on their back, the secret passageway, and disappear, all but three of them.

"Aren't you coming?" one of them asks.

"There is one more chance." She turns toward Celestia and readies her horn. "Go now, fools."

"We will stand by your side," says another.

The curse is nigh completely yellow, and the mare starts accumulating a magical charge.

The curse falls.

The Mistress releases her charge.

I jump in the way. The charge flies through me unaffected.

It passes the lingering curse.

It disappears.

Celestia opens her eyes. They are glowing with the heat of the sun.

The Mistress shouts at the colts to shield themselves. A barrage of rays fall upon them and soon their shield are on the verge of breaking.

The Mistress conjures one herself over all of them, and commands them to escape. She strains herself as hard as she can, to last. They start running, but she cannot.

One of the stallions grabs her, and she holds her concentration in midst of his gallop.

They reach the hidden, now opened, entrance.

She lowers her shield, turns around and yells, "Remember this day, Celestia, for next time you wont be so lucky."

She follows her companions out, and the passage closes behind them.

I remain in the room, by Celstia's side. Her eyes' glow is faded, and she lies at the ground, having definitely overexerted herself. The curse must have been masterfully crafted, and it had a chance of containing the goddess.

I wonder what must have happened, that helped her, for if she hadn't started the counter curse before the curse became visible, she wouldn't have lasted.

I see Celestia on the ground, her features sagging, her eyes full of sorrow. There are knocks on the door. Time flies. Guards finally arrive. A search is announced.

The lights start rearranging.