//------------------------------//
// 10: Trial of Magic 
// Story: The Epochust 
// by GoldenChozo 
//------------------------------//

"Experiri tua magicis abilities in hoc ultimum iudicium, iudicio magicae."

After passing under the arch, I felt a strange sensation along my back. It burned at first, but the burning subsided and I felt a breeze go right along my back. Something I had never felt before... I looked back to see what happened, shocked to find that I didn't have my wings. I looked at Ace, who had the same problem. Then there was a sharp pain in my forehead.

The pain forced me to look downward and close my eyes. It started out as a very sharp pain, but then it started twisting. The pain was great enough that I could feel it going outward away from my forehead, into the air above my face. As quickly as it had started, the pain was gone. I looked up to try and see what had happened, and saw what appeared to be a horn.

"Pepper...?" Ace began. I looked to see he had the same condition.

"We're... unicorns?" I finished the question for him.

I didn't have too much time to think about it, for the ground started to shake. It must have been signalling the start of the final trial, but what could it be? Would we be able to pull it off, even though we don't understand how magic works? This would be a great time for some advice from Stella, the only unicorn who entered the trials with us. Unfortunately, she was dead, and we had to complete the trial on our own to bring her back.

The sacrificial pillar, which was closer to the arch than the other two previously, began to distance itself as a fissure ran in between us and the pillar. It separated, leaving a giant rocky canyon in it's wake.

Ace was already experimenting with his magic, moving pebbles to try and get a feel for levitation. I tried the same.

"I think I know what we have to do," Ace said eventually. He braced himself, and began to lift large rocks up. He brought them together to form a bridge across the canyon. After the last of the rocks were in place, he released his magic. He took a step forward to cross the bridge, but I put out my hoof to stop him.

"Wait," I said. I kicked a small pebble onto the bridge. It rolled along to about the middle. Nothing seemed to happen.

"See? It's fine," Ace said. He made to get onto the bridge until a slight shift along the bridge stopped him. The bridge began to collapse under the weight of the pebble, starting at the center and spreading to each end. "Or maybe it's not."

"Think about it," I said. "It's too simple. This is the last trial, so why would it be easy?"

"Fair enough, but what do we do then?"

I looked around to see what we could use. I noticed two rather flat boulders off to the side. I tried grabbing one of them with magic and lifted it. "Grab the other boulder," I said as I lifted the first one, flat side up, over the canyon. Ace seemed to catch on and lifted the other boulder.

I jumped onto Ace's boulder, expecting him to jump onto mine so we could levitate each other to the end. Instead, he jumped onto the same one. I realized where he was going, and realized that my idea was actually impossible to pull off. I moved my boulder closer to the other end, close enough that we could jump onto it. We jumped across one at a time, and continued the motion further and further across the canyon.

"There's still one more pillar left."

I looked at Ace, wondering what he meant by that.

"There's two of us left," he continued, "and one of us will have to die at the pillar."

"Maybe we can figure something out when we get there," I suggested.

"I don't like this," Ace said. "The position that we're being put in, forcing us to choose which of us will watch the other die and go on alone." Ace's boulder, which we were currently standing on, began to waver as Ace's concentration went elsewhere.

"Ace!" I yelled, snapping his concentration back to supporting his boulder. "Just don't think about it now. We need to focus on the current task."

"Right, I'm sorry." He was silent for a moment. Then he said, "Thunder's worried about you."

"What?" My boulder wobbled a little, but I caught it right away.

"Zephyr said so," Ace continued. "And while I'm not one to spread gossip, she also mentioned that he has a crush on you."

Though Ace appeared angry, I was strangely flattered. I didn't know what to think of this revelation.

"Pepper," Ace said, alerting me to the face that he was on his boulder while I hadn't jumped from mine yet. We continued further in silence for a while.

Finally, we made it to the end. I jumped off my boulder, followed by Ace. A loud and prolonged splash from the bottom of the canyon indicated the terrible bridge had finally finished it's descent. We dropped our boulders and realized then just how much magic we had consumed. I felt very dizzy. After an unknown amount of time, I finally collapsed from exhaustion.

***

I just transformed into Zephyr. The trial hadn't been completed yet. Ace was explaining that Nighthawk was Cres' substitute, and that Zephyr was mine. We went through the trial, Zephyr saving Ace in an amazing way. Nighthawk brought Zephyr and Ace up to the end of the trial when Zephyr's sonic boom ran out. My vision began to swirl.

I noticed I was flying towards Ponyville much faster than I thought possible, even for a Wonderbolt. I came to a very hard stop, one that would kill an average pony. Upon stopping, I was looking down at Thunder.

I watched as Thunder walked along the street, looking around for his lost friend. A flash from behind him made him turn around. Zephyr was lying on the ground. Thunder went up to her.

"Zephyr," he said, "are you alright?" When she didn't respond, he tried to shake her awake. When she finally did awaken, Thunder asked, "What happened?"

"Remember when those four left? Ace, Crescent, Peppermint, and Cherry?" Zephyr asked, standing up.

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, they're doing some sort of tests. They were doing a flying test, and they could call for substitutes. Peppermint wanted me to substitute for her."

"What test were they doing?"

"Something to do with flying. Crescent had a friend of her's substitute, since she can't fly on her own."

Thunder looked confused. "Why did Pepper need a substitute? She's a pegasus, can't she fly on her own?"

"That's what I thought," Zephyr continued. "But Ace said she injured her wing in a previous test."

"What? Is she alright?" Thunder looked genuinely concerned.

"Yeah. Those tests are brutal, so just an injured wing should be considered lucky." Zephyr looked at herself to make sure she wasn't injured from the debris. "Ace said she was protecting Crescent, anyway."

"What were they doing in that previous test?" Thunder asked.

"According to Ace, it was a fighting test."

Thunder still looked confused, appearing deep in thought. "I just can't imaging Pepper or Crescent fighting anything. Even for Ace, that seems a little exaggerated."

"That's what I thought," Zephyr said. "One more thing. Ace said they were almost done. They have one test left before they're able to return."

"That's awesome," Thunder said. "Why didn't you stay with them through that last test?"

"The substitutes were only for that one test apparently, so after Nighthawk brought me to the end, I blacked out and woke up here."

"Nighthawk?"

"Crescent's substitute," Zephyr said. "You know, since she can't fly."

"Right..." Thunder thought for a moment. "So what was the test like?"

"Well, it started out fine. Nighthawk and myself had no trouble getting through, but Ace was struggling a little. I fell back to help him, but when he wasn't looking, he was knocked unconscious by some debris. He fell into the giant chasm we were flying over. I went down to try and save him.

"I managed to set off a sonic boom before being able to catch him. I used the lack of resistance to try and curve around and fling myself back out. I caught Ace, and barely managed to pull up before hitting the bottom, which was nothing but magma. I wasn't quite able to make it back out with the momentum I had. Nighthawk saw me come close and fall back down. He jumped down and brought us both up. Then, I woke up here in the street."

"Wow, that does sound brutal. I'm glad you made it back alive," Thunder said, putting a hoof around her neck. She smiled at the gesture and returned it.

"Me too," she said.

I began to distance myself, moving back into the direction I came from, but not turning away from the scene I just witnessed. Even at an unknown distance, well beyond Canterlot and even Whinniesburg, I could still clearly see Thunder and Zephyr.

***

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was that I no longer had a horn, and I was again laying on my bad wing. The pain caused me to roll over instinctively. I thought about what I just saw while unconscious. Was it real, or just my imagination? And despite Thunder's crush on me, he didn't seem afraid to pull Zephyr into an embrace. She didn't hesitate to return it, either.

They have one test left before they're able to return. That sentence echoed through my mind. Zephyr must not know that Crescent was already dead, or that one of us still had to die.

Something stirred behind me. I slowly looked back to see Ace getting up. He had also returned to his pegasus form. I climbed onto my hooves.

"We need to finish this," Ace said, standing up and heading towards the now open pillar.

"Wait," I said, causing Ace to stop and look at me. "What happened during the second trial?"

"Well, I don't know." Ace answered. "As I said, I was unconscious during most of it. Zephyr apparently saved my life. Why do you ask?"

"When I passed out, I saw what Zephyr did. How she saved you. She pulled off a sonic boom to save you, which was probably what impaired your hearing."

"Sounds like that would do it," Ace remarked.

"And then I saw her return to Ponyville and tell Thunder what happened," I continued. "Did you tell her Cres was still alive? That all of us are going to get out of here alive?"

"I didn't want to worry her," Ace said. "If she knew that Crescent was dead, she would probably have second thoughts about doing the trial. She most likely couldn't handle the truth."

"She mentioned to Thunder that we would all be coming back soon," I said. "Now everypony is going to think we're all alive and well, and that they'll see us again soon."

"But they will," Ace said. "Once we get the Epochust, we can bring back everypony that died here today. We can return to Ponyville, even bring Nighthawk and Stella along with us to introduce to everypony."

I hadn't thought of it like that. I was too caught up in thinking Ace had lied to Zephyr, and that lie had spread, to realize the truth behind it. Even then, nopony would even remember it except for Ace and myself, since we'd be going backwards in time. "I suppose you're right," I said after thinking about it.

We continued down the path towards the pillar. I knew that only one of us could go on, and one of us had to die. I couldn't stop thinking about it. If Ace died, I would have to finish the quest on my own. I didn't know what to expect ahead.

But on the other hoof, if I died, Ace would have to go through the same thing. He could probably handle seeing me die, no matter how much I hated to think like that. He could figure out whatever is left, and bring us all back.

I went up to the pillar. "Recitare haec verba, et reserare cubiculum Epochust."

"Pepper..." Ace began.

"I've made my decision," I said, stepping into the pillar.

"You can't!"

"Don't try to stop me."

"No, Pepper, I--" I cut him off by kissing him. I knew how I felt about Ace. One last thing to do before I die, out of the way. I didn't want the moment to end, but I knew it had to at some point. I broke away and looked him in the eyes.

"You're much stronger than I am," I said. "Whatever's ahead, you can handle better than I can. Get the Epochust. Make it so that none of this happened. Make it so that we're all alive again." I stepped back into the pillar. "And if you can, find out what happened to Luna's father. I promised her we would find out, and I don't want to break that promise just because I'm dead."

Ace just looked at me. He appeared to be trying as hard as he could to hold back tears. He knew that he couldn't stop me. He knew I was right. He looked away, aware of what was about to come. I turned around to read the inscription.

"Ego ipse ut tributum ad Epochust." Time seemed to slow down as the center of the sacrificial pillar began it's descent. I closed my eyes, praying that Ace could handle whatever was ahead. I braced myself as the pillar continued it's short journey down.