//------------------------------// // 6: Ex-King of Equestria // Story: Against Time // by GoldenChozo //------------------------------// "Wait," Stella said. "Can you feel that?" "Yeah, I can," Blaze replied. "There's a lot of magic around here." "I don't feel anything!" Chrys added loudly. "Probably because they're unicorns and we're not," Ace said. "They understand magic." Stella closed her eyes. Between her and her fellow unicorn, she was the strongest when it came to magic. With her eyes closed, she's able to visualize the magic. There's something distinctly familiar about it to her. It almost seems to be her own. "Luna..." she mumbled quietly to herself. The magic responded by surrounding Stella, gently lifting her. "What's going on, Princess?" Ace asked. She didn't respond. "Princess?" He flew to her, intending on breaking her out of her magic prison. Instead, the raw magic deflected him. The change in the magic's flow caught Stella's attention, though. She opened her eyes and saw Ace lying on his side, a light blue aura around him visible to even Chrys. Stella was placed gently back on her hooves. The magic around Ace dissipated. There was a change in the magic, Stella could feel it. It was no longer Luna's, but instead an ancient and much stronger magical entity. A ring of fire spread around the field, marking it as a battlefield. A mist rolled in, but the unicorns could sense that there was something off about this mist... Slowly, the mist began to swirl. It focused in on one central point. At that point, the form of a pony was appearing. It was a very majestic looking white alicorn. Various shawls trailed off of him, held aloft by an invisible wind. His mane and tail looked to be of pure white magic. Right away Ace noticed something; this was the same alicorn that abducted Luna. This was Luna's father. "Adeo ut bene feceris," the alicorn said, his deep voice echoing around. "Natam me gratias debeo uniendi. Adeo ut fortes estis, et praecipue iterum. Paene placet ut sint vobis finalis impedimentum." "Transeamus certe potes, licet," Stella said. "Utinam esset," the alicorn replied. "Donec a Luna Epochust iam non sum in potestate." "Hey, I can't understand you guys. What are you talking about?" Chrys asked. "We have to fight the Lord of the Moon for the last trial," Stella answered. "Fight him? Aw yeah, let's go!" Without warning, Chrys charged the alicorn. Within a second, he was vaporized by the Lord's powerful magic. "Non habebo inquietudinibus," he said. "Iustus mihi et filio meo filiam." Stella was mortified. She was just challenged to a one on one with the old King of Equestria himself. Not only that, she just witnessed him kill a pony without any effort. She was barely able to say "Stay back, you two." "You can't be serious!" Ace said. "You'd have to be crazy if you thought we were going to let you fight him alone!" "It's his choice," she responded. "He want's to fight just me." "That's suicide! You saw what he just did to Chrys!" To stop Ace from trying anything, she teleported him and Blaze to the final pillar and erected a barrier to stop them from interrupting. "Accipere virtutem nimium puella," the Lord of the Moon said. "Autem nos pugnare." Stella took the first strike. She shot multiple bolts, all of which were stopped inches from the Lord's horn. Once he'd collected them all, he sent them all back at once. Stella was knocked off her hooves. Before she could even stand back up, she was knocked further back by the Lord's own bolts. She slowly lifted herself, wary to keep an eye on her opponent. A white serpent was on it's way to her at an alarming speed. Without thinking, she sent a spark through it. This caused it to burst into blue flames, which left a mark on the tip of the Lord's horn. He sent more bolts to wear down Stella. These bolts were a very light blue, as they were partly imbued with Stella's own magic. Because of this, she effortlessly sent them back. The Lord combined them into one shot, sending that to Stella. For a while, the two were in deadlock, a magic bolt gaining power with each return in a game of Deadmans Volley. Finally, a change. The Lord slipped up, and the bolt hit him. The immense power that built up managed to lock him in place, overpowering even his own magic. Stella took the opportunity to draw magic to her horn. The resulting bolt was powerful enough to knock the Lord onto his side. It also took away the last of Stella's magic. Both were on the ground, but only one was victorious. The Lord of the Moon stood up and walked towards the unconscious Stella. He lifted her with his magic. "Eratis dignus adversarium," he said. "Heu perdidimus." He closed his eyes, preparing to use his magic on Stella one last time. Stella came to consciousness. "Nisi forte natam possis." He gently set her back down. He turned to the pillar. He made his way towards it, Stella following right behind him. He stepped into the pillar. "What's he doing?" Ace asked. "I think he's letting all three of us go to the temple," Stella replied. "Instead of one of us dying so the other two can go." "Epochust postquam fuit, tantum mihi fuit," The Lord said. "Nunc restitutus sum, me nihil reliqui mundi. Adepto meus filia domum securius, et destruere templum." "Quomodo id facere putaretur?" Stella asked. "Videbis. Ego ipse ut tributum ad Epochust. Vale, mi filiis." And with that, the pillar came down. From the crack at the bottom, wisps of white magic could be seen floating around aimlessly. "Princess?" Ace spoke up. "You said it was impossible for an alicorn to actually die. So does that mean he's still alive?" "In a way," Stella replied. "Before he did that, he transferred some of his magic into me so that I may keep going. That magic is all that's left of him. I don't know how or if I can return it, though. I will certainly keep some, just in case I can find a way." "We can worry about that later. Right now, Luna's more important. We're one step closer, and one step away." *** "Thunder! Tell me I'm not crazy! You were there with me!" "I'm sorry, Zephyr. I have no idea what you're talking about." "What?" Zephyr seemed furious. "Come on! I know you were there!" "I was where, though?" Thunder asked, well aware of what she was talking about yet unable to discuss it with her. "With Ace! And Stella! And those guards!" "Who's Stella? And what guards?" "Ugh, just, nevermind! I'm done with this!" She flew away angrily. Thunder thought he might have taken it a bit too far, but decided it would be best to leave her to her own business. "Thunder!" He turned around to see Peppermint flying towards him. She landed neatly next to him. "Where are the others?" "I don't actually know. They're probably still going through the trials at the temple," Thunder said. "Weren't you with them?" Pepper asked. "Up until about an hour ago," Thunder admit. "I came home right when we got to the temple's outskirts." "So you don't know how they're doing?" "No, sorry." Pepper was silent for a moment before saying, "You should probably talk to Zephyr. She's been so confused since she came back, and I think you could help her." "Except I think she's angry with me now," Thunder said. "I was told that I can't talk about the Epochust with her. "Who told you that? Ace?" "Crescent, actually. She said it would completely go against what she told Zephyr." "Why would Cres try to lead Zephyr wrong?" Pepper asked. "No idea. She tried the to do the same to me, but she didn't succeed. My guess is that Ace or Stella told her to." "Why would they do that?" "So that neither of us would tell somepony, I guess," Thunder shrugged. "Tell somepony what?" Crescent said, coming up right behind Thunder, and scaring him in the process. "From what you told me and Zephyr, nothing," Thunder replied. "The Epochust, then?" Crescent asked. "Yeah. What are you trying to do to Zephyr, confusing her like that?" Pepper asked. "She appeared out of nowhere from right in front of me, and it looked like Stella's magic. I remember them saying that nopony can know about the Epochust, so I tried to get her to forget about it or think she imagined it," Crescent explained. "A good idea up until the fact that she and half of Ponyville thinks she's going crazy, as well as that she now hates me and that same half of Ponyville." Thunder said. "You didn't think this through, did you?" "Now that you mention it... no." Crescent gave a nervous smile as Thunder sighed. "Come on," he said, starting to walk away. "Where are we going?" "To find Zephyr and fix this." "Do we have to?" "The alternative is to let her drive herself into insanity. I don't think any of us want that." "Okay..." Crescent reluctantly did as she was told. She lagged behind Thunder a little ways, and attempted to slip into an alley to get away. It would have worked had Pepper not landed in front of her, blocking her path. "You lost your chance to get out of this when you lied to Zephyr," she said. "Talk to her." "I know, but I'm kinda scared," Crescent said. "I know she can be violent when she's angry, and I'm pretty sure she's angry with me." "That's why I'm coming along," Thunder said. "To make sure she doesn't hurt anyone." "Well... fine." Defeated, Crescent lowered her head and followed Thunder. They finally arrived at Zephyr's house. Thunder knocked on the door. No response. He tried again, with the same result. "Well, looks like she's not home. I'll just have to come back later, then!" Crescent said, about to leave. "Hold it," Thunder stopped her. The door was unlocked, so he pushed it open and, almost literally, dragged Crescent in behind him. A quick inspection proved that she was indeed not home. A note on the table was left by Zephyr. Thunder picked it up and read it aloud. "'I'm going to prove that I'm not crazy. I'll do whatever it takes. I'm not coming back until I can prove it. Zephyr.' Not good." Thunder threw the note back on the table. "Not good, not good!" He was pacing now. "Look what you did, Crescent! Zephyr's gone to prove she's not crazy! She only thought she was crazy because of you!" Thunder stopped momentarily to point at Crescent. "I've gotta stop her," he said before taking off full speed, out the door and in the general direction of Whinniesburg.