Chronicle

by Honey Mead

A Scribe Meets a Protege

Chapter 7: A Scribe Meets a Protege

Part 1: An Emperor Ascends

The Griffin empire has been around for the better part of two centuries. To put that in context Princess Celestia has ruled Equestria alone for just shy of a millennium. Before the formation of the empire the Griffins consisted of scattered tribes ruled by chieftains, warlords, and self proclaimed kings. Each jealously guarding their lands and coveting their neighbors.

The story goes that a young griffin flew to the mountain nest of a northern griffin tribe.  He approached the chieftain and told him to step aside. He claimed to be the rightful ruler of all griffins. The chieftain struck out at the young griffin for his impudence. It was his last act in this world. The young griffin, covered in the blood of the fallen chieftain, claimed the mantle of Emperor and challenged any who would oppose him to single combat. Twenty griffins died that night.

With a tribe at his back Highwinds, now The Emperor, gathered all his able bodied warriors and flew to the neighboring tribes. The first three chieftains refused to bow and died by his talons; their tribes, seeing his greatness, joined his cause. His name began to spread.

Tribes began to accept him as the rightful ruler. Wise chieftains bowed to his will and were rewarded. Fools refused and were slain. Soon griffins were ousting their own leaders who would not bow to the Emperor. For a time it seemed that his rise to power would come without war. Until the King of the Aerie called his soldiers to arms and raised the banners of war.

The King of the Aerie was the only griffin who could truly claim the title. The Aerie was a state unto itself. A massive mount in the center of the great plains at the southeastern reaches of the griffin lands it was a bastion that stood as the stop gap against the encroaching Dragons, Rocs, and Wyverns.

King Alric watched the young Emperor fly across the mountains and build his empire. He knew that it was only a matter of time before the upstart made his way south and he prepared. He called upon his neighbors and their neighbors and every tribe that had yet to fall to the Emperor. The call was answered and the armies raised. Subservience was not the griffin way and it would not be tolerated. King Alric did not demand the chieftains obedience only their armies.

Gathering his host in the shadow of the mount the King sent a missive to the rising Emperor. To save the lands and ensure the future of the griffin race there would be no drawn out campaign, instead a single battle. The winner would decide the fate of the griffin nation. The Emperor’s response was simply ‘I come’.

On the eve of the battle a single large tent was erected between the two opposing forces. Six griffins approached and two entered. The two leaders met under the canvas cover. It is unknown what was discussed during the hours they spent secluded and alone. If it was peace, than it was a failure.

The battle was joined and raged for three days. In the final day the two leaders joined the fray, both determined to bring an end to the conflict. When the dust cleared Emperor Horace Highwinds stood with the corpse of his rival clutched in his bloody talons.

Part 2: Sight for the Blind

I woke up to pain. My eyes burned inside my skull. I screamed. A needle pierced my shoulder. Darkness enveloped me.

I felt my eyelids blink, but that is all I know. The whiteness hadn’t receded yet. It was frightening to know that my eyes were open and yet I could not see. It had been like this since I woke up. My eyes still burned, but it was manageable. I had to make sure I wasn’t gritting my teeth too hard. The doctors still had me strapped to the bed. Apparently I had been rather violent when Stars brought me in.

I heard voices outside. I couldn’t make out any words, but one of them sounded familiar. I strained to hear what they were saying. Something about time I think. I gave up, all it did was make my eyes hurt more. The door finally opened and the sound of eight hooves clopping across the floor filled the air.

“I’ll be outside if you need me.” My doctor.

        There was a pause followed by the sound of a pony leaving and closing the door. The only sound I could here was breathing. I turned my head toward where I thought my visitor was standing. Their head was higher than I would have thought.

“Hello, your majesty.” I like to think she smiled.

“Hello, Mr. Chronicle. Are you feeling better?”

“Yes.” I lied, “I still can not see, but the pain is almost gone.”

I felt a hoof on my forehead, “You are a terrible liar, Mr. Chronicle. The Arch-Magi sends her love. She wishes she could have, but-”

“I know. Duty calls and we answer.” I could feel the sad smile cross her lips.

“She also said that if you do not get better soon she will be very upset with you.” I had to chuckle at that.

We sat there quietly for a while. I have never been one for small talk and the burning wasn’t helping in the slightest. For her part the Princess seemed content to sit in silence. Perhaps there simply was nothing that needed saying.

“Do the doctors know when my sight will come back?”

She did not speak for a moment, when she did respond her voice was so soft I almost couldn’t hear it, “They are not certain that it ever will.”

I know I should have been frightened. I should have screamed in rage. I should have cried like a foal. I did none of these things. I turned away from the Princess and back at the ceiling nodding slightly. I felt alone, lost and confused. I was mentally and emotionally numb. My entire world had been ripped out from under me and I didn’t feel anything. Magical warmth washed over me and I fell once again in to the warm embrace of sleep.

I had no concept of time. I slept and I ate only to sleep again. A day passed like a week and a week passed like a season. I had to get up. I had to do something. I pulled at my bindings. Why was I still tied down? I reached out with my magic, but without a concept of their design it simply washed over them. I struggled against the bindings as the whiteness slowly closed in. I screamed and a nurse came.

“Mr. Chronicle, what is the matter?”

“I need to get up! I can’t take it anymore! Get me out of this bed!” I screamed at her as I flailed against the straps.

“Please calm down.” a tint of fear coloring her voice, “I’ll get the doctor.”

I heard her trot out the door and down the hallway. I ignored her, she wasn’t any help. I pulled at the straps some more for all the good it did. It was at least a few minutes before the doctor came strolling into my room and I stopped fighting.

“The nurse says that you want to get out of bed.”

“Yes. I-I need to get up, I need to get outside.”

“Outside? Princess Celestia informed us that you suffer from acute Agoraphobia.”

I stared at him, I think, and looked at him dumbly, I hope, before responding nice and slowly to make sure he understood, “I am blind. How can I be afraid of large spaces when I am BLIND!” I was a little upset.

The doctor reacted more calmly than I deserved. With a hoof on my chest he undid the padded leather straps. Once the last one fell away I tried to push past him. I was held fast as he chided me. I would be allowed out, but I had to agree to a few rules. I had to have an escort when ever I wanted to go for a walk and I had to listen to and follow them, when they said it was time to return it was time to return. I agreed eagerly.

It is harder being blind than you think, or at least it was for me. I tripped and stumbled my way through the hallways when ever they let me leave. I had to stay pressed up against my escort whenever we went somewhere or risk becoming hopelessly lost and I never quite got used to that tapping stick. It helped me avoid walls and such but holes and rocks were another matter.

My little excursions had done wonders for my attitude. The sounds of the birds in the trees, the feel of the sun on my coat, the smell of fresh cut grass mixed with the scent of flowers; it almost made up for not being able to see. I was laid out on one of the benches in the hospitals court yard when Nightrunner came to visit.

I turned me head to the sound of the approaching hooves. “They letting you just walk around now?”

I smiled as I recognized the voice, “No, my escort is around here somewhere.” I scooted over to make room for him on the bench. “So, hows the palace holding up without me?”

“I tell you Chronicle, it’s terrible.” He took a seat next to me, “Celestia is on the verge of a panic attack, nothing is getting done. You need to hurry up and get yourself better or everything will just fall apart.”

“Hah, right. Thanks for the ego boost, but I know things aren’t that bad.”

“Well, maybe not quite that bad.” He trailed off and there was a very pregnant pause before he opened his mouth again. “I need to talk to you about something.”

I turned my head to face him with what I hoped was a questioning face. “Is something wrong?”

He sighed heavily, “The day you had your accident I got this request for prisoner transfer. What do you think you are doing?”

It was my turn to sigh. I had had plenty of time to think about the choices I had made leading up to my sudden blindness and I wasn’t best pleased with the realizations I had come to. I was about to respond when he cut me off.

“Don’t, don’t try to lie. I already talked to Zipp.” The disappointment in his voice was like a slap across the face, “I have been around for a long time and I know how to read between the lines. I am going to go tell the Princess that you want to talk to her. What you do when she comes is up to you.” With that he stood and left me staring down into the whiteness that had become my world.

 The next morning I awoke to one of the most amazing surprises of my life. I could make out vague impressions of colors other than white. I was so excited that I fell out of bed and banged my head on the floor. It didn’t matter though, my sight was returning.

The next few days were absolutely wonderful. The colors slowly began to darken. Then the colors began to form shapes and the shapes slowly coalesced into blurry images. Every morning I would wake up to find my vision just a little better than when I had gone to sleep. Then the Princess came.

I was laying in my bed when the door opened and the Princess walked in. I was immediately caught by a wave of panic. I had been expecting this visit of course, but with the return of my sight I was more than a little distracted and failed to give it any real thought. I watched as the Princess stepped to the side of my bed and sweat formed on my brow.

“Your Majesty.” I said turning my eyes to the ground at her hooves.

“Commandant Nightrunner has informed me that there is a matter of some importance that you wish to discuss with me.” Her neutral tone twisted my stomach.

I swallowed hard. This was not going to be easy. I began to tell her what had happened over the course of the days leading up to my accident. I had to fight my way through each and every word. The Princess remained quiet until I came to the end. When I finished my eyes crept up from the floor to look at her face. My vision was still too poor to tell what kind of face she was making.

“Mr. Chronicle,” her voice was harsh with a hint of anger, “I am disappointed in you. Not because of what you have done, but because of what you did not do. There was nothing you told me here today that I did not already know.

Her voice softened, “I have been ruling Equestria for well over a thousand years. Do you truly believe that anything happens in my palace without my knowledge? I allowed you to play your moves to see just what you would do. If you stepped out of bounds I would have pulled you back in before you could cause any real damage. I had already planned on recruiting Mr. Molding. As for Zipp, he is not the first pony to handle any of the incoming mail.

Her tone lightened, “If you had brought your concerns to me in the first place you would have saved yourself some embarrassment.” I could almost hear a laugh in her voice, “I am actually impressed at how quickly you picked up on things. Your predecessor took almost five years before he began his own meddling.”

I was amazed at my own ignorance. I had thought myself so clever. A master spy unraveling a web of lies and finding a sinister plot threatening all of Equestria. I was an idiot. Of course the Princess already had a network of ponies feeding her bits of information from all over Equestria if not the world.

I felt a hoof on my cheek, “Now I don’t let honest and able ponies go to waste, so here is your choice. If you wish you may maintain your position as my assistant and nothing more. If you choose that then you must forget your inquiries and curiosity, I can not have you stumbling around in the dark. Or you can assist me in running my information networks. If you do this then you will double your work load and you will do nothing dealing with that network without my express permission.” she turned to leave, “I will give you until you are ready to return to your duties to decide.”

“If it is alright with you, I already know my answer.”

Part 3: Mean while, in another part of the castle...

Twilight Sparkle, Dragon Hatcher, Star Pupil, The Element of Magic, Defeater of Nightmare Moon, and Banisher of Discord. She has earned every accolade that has been laid at her hooves, she works harder than any pony I have ever met, and she is as smart and charming as a pony can be. But I am not very good with foals and for the better part of a decade she was a bur beneath my saddle.

My accident, and subsequent stay in the hospital, happened because I had the misfortune to be looking directly at the first Sonic Rainboom in recent history. I, however, was not the only pony to be affected by this event.

For that entire week Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns had been holding open admissions tests for prospective students. During these tests the prospective students are asked to perform a very specific magical feat. Hatch a dragon egg. I find this test to be rather cruel as it is, of course, impossible. No matter how talented a unicorn is only a dragon can hatch a dragon egg, or so it had been thought. The students don’t know this though. The actual purpose is to test the foals magical abilities and creativity, not whether or not they can hatch a dragon egg.

At the same time that I was standing on my balcony a young filly by the name of Twilight Sparkle was in the process of not hatching the dragon egg. When the Sonic Rainboom exploded in the sky she was able to draw on an incredible amount of magical energy that would normally be unavailable to any but the Princess. She was completely caught off guard by this and, besides turning her parents and the exam board into random objects, she not only hatched the baby dragon but accelerated its growth to the point that it broke through the roof.

The Princess responded immediately and brought the situation under control. Everypony was amazed that Ms. Sparkle was completely unharmed by the experience and indeed seemed to be unaware of the danger she had been in. The Princess immediately recognized Ms. Sparkle as the Element of Magic and took her under wing.

I did not find out about any of this until my first day back on the job three weeks after the events. My vision had finally returned to the point that I could read and I refused to be cooped up any longer. The doctors protested of course, they wanted to run more tests, but I wouldn’t hear it. I had enough of hospitals to last me the rest of my life. I returned to the castle in the late afternoon to find a pink unicorn with a bright blue mane asleep in my bed.

Part 4: A Lavender Filly

It was a beautiful sunny day and I had decided to take the day off. I do not do this very often, I enjoy my work more than most ponies. Yesterday was, however, my second day back on the job and my first day with my new duties. I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

The day started with the Princess giving me a run down of the entire operation that I would be directly in contact with. I had always wondered why there were so many scribes working for the Administration department. Fully half of them are ‘Sifters’. These ponies are responsible for sorting through all the information that is provided to the Princess by her eyes and ears throughout the known world, both inside and outside Equestria. The sheer volume of information that comes in on a daily basis is astounding. These ponies have to sift through everything and when they discover some bit of data that may be useful they send it up to their superiors. These ‘Analysts’ are tasked with ensuring that the data that comes to them is actually worth passing on. The next stop for the information is my desk.

When a report hits my desk I read over it and all the notes made by the two ponies who pushed it through. It is then my task to place the file into one of three categories. If it is junk then I will destroy it. If it is viable but non-time sensitive it is filed away and I will bring it to the attention of the Princess at our next meeting. If it is viable and time sensitive then I will bring it to the Princess immediately. Either way any viable data is then sent to [Redacted] to be processed and disseminated as [Redacted] demeans necessary for ongoing and future ops.

That, however, was only the extra paperwork. The bit that did, and would continue to, tax me the most were the briefings. Once a week the Princess, [Redacted], [Redacted], and I were to meet at [Redacted]. These briefings lasted long hours where we would go over all the new information that had been gathered, all the progress reports for the current ops, and the state of any future ops in the works. I took almost no active part in these briefings, but the Princess felt that it was important for me to attend.

After all of that I needed a break. I picked the statue garden on a whim, I had never been out there before and I wanted to try and understand this ‘modern’ art. I gave up after five minutes of staring at a jumble of metal bars fused together with a plaque at the base reading ‘Harmony’. Instead I trotted over to the classical marble statues. Finding an unoccupied bench I laid down.

I lasted an entire five minutes before pulling out my newest copy of ‘Daring Do and the Halls of Tartarus’. With my mothers phoenix quill and a bottle of red ink I began my work. The author held to the high standard of spelling and grammar which I had come to expect from her. She also held to my standard of consistency and knowledge of mythology. The first errors didn’t begin until page twenty or so when she directly contradicted what she had previously written in books four and seven, it didn’t help that books four and seven contradicted each other.

I was deep into the story and writing corrections into my note book when I heard the approaching hooves. I didn’t react at first, this was an open park after all. The hooves clicked across the stone path as they neared. It wasn’t until they stopped beside me that I really took notice. There was a little gasp.

“What are you doing to that book?!” the little voice sounded deeply offended.

I turned to face my questioner. Coming in at just tall enough to look down at the book laid open on the bench was a little lavender filly. She had straight purple hair, with a single pink streak, covering her brow divided by the horn sticking out of her head. Her large purple eyes stared at me somewhere between teary eyed sadness and accusatory rage.

“Huh?” I am not very good with foals.

“Y-you are writing all over that book! You’re ruining it! You aren’t supposed to write in books!”

I was exasperated, maybe it was the stress of the past week, maybe it was my lack of social graces, but in the end I simply did not react well to a filly calling me out. “Aren’t you a little young to be walking around the castle by yourself?”

“Nuh un! I’ve got my Cutie Mark, see.” She proudly turned to the side displaying the large pink star surrounded by five smaller white ones.

I nodded half-heartedly before turning back to my work, “That’s nice, now run along and go play with your friends.”

Dipping my quill back into the ink bottle I brought it around to the open book. The author obviously hadn’t done much research into the lore involved in the story. It is widely known that the three heads of Cerberus are that of bulldogs and describing them as ‘...long snout dripping with drool as its lips pulled back in a growl...” was blatantly wrong.

I lowered the quill closer to the page... the book was missing. I looked up and over to the filly. Floating in the air in front of her face was my book. A new page flipped over every few seconds as she read the book. That was ridiculous, even I didn’t read that fast. I tried to reclaim my property.

My tan aura began to force the pink one off of the book. Before I got halfway it stopped and began to retreat. Her magic was forcing mine off. That wasn’t right, I put more effort into my magic. I regained some ground for a fleeting moment before her aura forced me off completely. I was mad. I put the quill down and focused all my energy on taking back the book. It was a valiant struggle and I was sweating by the end, but I got it back.

She turned away with a sniff, “Your wrong!”

“What?” I asked suddenly at a loss.

“Page thirty four.” I blinked a few times before opening the book to the stated page. “Paragraph five.”

My eyes scanned down the page reading the indicated paragraph. Opening my note book I looked at my notations for that page. My lips moved along with the words as I reread the paragraph again and looked back at my notes.

“What do you mean I’m wrong?” She hadn’t seen my notes, only the red ink underlining the section and the reference numbers for my note book.

“There is nothing wrong with that paragraph.”

“There is everything wrong with that paragraph. It is in complete contradiction with the fourth book..”

“Only if you assume that they were written in chronological order.”

My mouth opened to reply, only to close with an audible click. I started flipping through my note book. I stopped and read a few lines then flipped forward to another page and did the same. I had always assumed chronology. If the books were written out of order that would change everything.

I closed the note book with a slam and began packing my things away. “I-I need to go and check on somethings.” I stood up and began walking away when a thought hit me, “Where are your parents?”

“At home I guess.”

“Who brought you to the castle?” I became a little worried, it was not uncommon for school groups to come to the castle but there wasn’t one scheduled for another few weeks.

“The Princess!” She exclaimed excitedly. “I was taking my entrance exam to get into the magic academy and there was this explosion and I hatched the egg and turned my mommy into a plant and... hey mister whats wrong? Your face looks funny.”

I blinked a few times as my mind processed the words passing through my ears. “You... your name is-”

“Twilight Sparkle!” She said beaming, “I’m the Princess’ protega- protegi-”

“Protege?” I provided.

“Yep, that’s me.” she held out a hoof. “Pleasure to meet you mister...”

“Chronicle,” I said responding by rote to the prompt and shaking her hoof. “Is there someone who is supposed to be watching you?” She just smiled with a big grin on her face and nodded vigorously. “And they would be?”

She pointed a hoof and I turned around to see who she was pointing at. I heard a stifled snicker followed by a thump and quickly turned back around to see Twilight rolling on the floor in a fit of laughter. I didn’t understand what was so funny. I turned around again hoping to spy her escort, but there was no pony outside other than the two of us.

“Oh.”

Part 5: What Do You Do With A Little Sparkle

We stepped out of the castle and into the afternoon light. The sun had reached its zenith half hidden behind the white clouds dotting the sky. The weather crew was just visible pushing the last of them into position.

In the middle of the training yard a group of oddly dressed pegasus guards sat in a circle around two other similarly dressed guards. As we neared I noticed that Nightrunner was one of the two. He turned a full circle as he spoke to the guards surrounding him.

As we neared the group Nightrunner and the pegasus opposite him crouched down and launched themselves into the air. Rocketing up at an impressive speed they disappeared into a cloud. It was a few seconds before they came back into sight. At some point they had broken off and were now flying directly at each other. They crashed with an incredible amount of force and began to tumble to the ground. I heard Twilight mirror my own feelings with a gasp. They tumbled and spun as they plummeted to the earth below and I almost called out for the other pegasi to do something. Then I realized that they were not simply falling. I could just make out their struggle as they fought the other for control. Grappling for position they tumbled closer to the ground. Three hundred, two fifty, two hundred, at one hundred fifty hooves they broke apart.

At about one hundred hooves they righted themselves and began to pull up. Their descent slowed as they regained control of their fall. At fifty hooves they evened out and shot by directly over head. Dust and dirt flew into the air and manes and tails were ruffled at their passing. Their flight slowed as they made lazy turns back towards the training yard.

They landed back in the center of the circle breathing heavily from the demonstration. Nightrunner said something to his compatriot, I was still too far away to hear, and took his leave walking towards me and miss Sparkle. The other pegasus began speaking to the gathered ponies, asking and answering questions. As the Commandant neared the group began pairing off.

“That was an impressive display. I have never seen anything quite like it.”

“Basic aerial combat training.” he turned back to the students rolling around in the dirt. “So what brings you out here today?” I motioned to the filly standing at my side. “What? Oh.” He gasped with exaggerated surprise, “You are a sneaky one aren’t you? How long have you been standing there?”

Twilight gave him a confused look, “I have been standing here the whole time.”

I began to have doubts about my plan. “I was wondering if you could help me out. I have no idea what to do with her.” He gave me a look identical to the one Twilight had just given him. “I have never taken care of a foal before, much less a filly.”

“Have you asked her what she wants to do?”

“Well, no, is that it? Do we just do whatever she wants all day? What about food? What about-”

He cut me off. “You really have no idea what you are doing, do you?” I shook my head, “Just keep her out of trouble. She is old enough to do most everything by herself. If she is hungry take her to the mess hall. If she is tired put her to bed.” He glanced back at the guards practicing behind him before continuing, “As much as I would love to see how this turns out I have my own foals to watch over. You’ll do fine, I look forward to hearing all about it later.”

I stood there a moment watching him trot back to his men. He screamed at one of the pegasi about proper form before physically separating the two and demonstrating just what he expected from them. The poor pony beat at the ground with his hooves as the Commandant bent his leg into a very uncomfortable looking position.

“So, what do you want to do?” I asked turning to the grinning filly.

The door to my office opened easily to the pink aura as the unicorn filly bounced into the room. I followed behind her at a more reserved pace. The air around us was filled with the many books I had collected from my room. I was actually smiling.

I had been concerned about how I was going to deal with having a foal around all day, but she was a unicorn after my own heart. She didn’t want to play games or run around or make noise. No, she wanted to read. More specifically she wanted to read through the books I had edited. This meant hours of quiet time that I could use on the reports cluttering my desk. Sure my day off was a bust, but it could have been a lot worse.

Those were the thoughts running through my mind as I sat down and pulled out my quill. I pulled the first paper from the stack. I remember it clearly. It was a status report from Cloudsdale detailing the last quarters weather numbers. Everything from amount of rainfall in Las Pegasus to hours of overtime worked to the number of clouds visible from any city in Equestria. I remember it because it was the only report I actually managed to read that day.

I had just signed the bottom line and placed it into the outgoing pile when it happened. I should have expected it. I should have seen it coming from the moment I met that lavender filly. I turned to face her with a questioning expression and responded as well as I could. I had hoped that would be it. I was wrong. Just as I was picking up the next document it happened again. I responded again and tried to return to work. It kept happening. I did my best, I tried to be patient, but there is only so much a pony can take before they just give up. For the rest of the day there was only one thought running through my mind. How many more questions can she possibly have?