//------------------------------// // 4: Equestria Historia // Story: The Epochust // by GoldenChozo //------------------------------// "Pep, wake up!" The familiar voice said. I woke up to find Crescent shaking me. "Are you alright, Pep?" Cres asked. "Yeah, just a bad dream." I said. I could tell that I was breathing rather heavily. I quickly tried to stop that. "You were thrashing around pretty badly," Cres continued. "Are you sure you're alright?" "I'm fine." I repeated. I got out of bed and put on my bracelets. "What was your dream about?" Cres asked. "Dragons attacking Canterlot," I said, reliving it vividly. I put my right wing out to examine it. I could feel remnants of pain in it, but thankfully it wasn't actually shattered. "Don't take it seriously," Cres said, putting her hoof around me. "There aren't any savage dragons left in Equestria. I don't think we'll have to worry about it." "I hope not..." I sighed. We walked out to find the table covered with a breakfast buffet. Ace and Cherry were already eating, so Cres and I joined them. I didn't eat much, since my mind was still stuck on my dream. It felt so real. I tried to put it out of mind as much as possible, but it was harder than I expected. "So what happened in your dream, Pep?" Cres asked, snapping me back into reality. "Well," I started, "dragons came and attacked Canterlot. You three had managed to escape, but the dragons trapped me here. They completely destroyed the city, even detaching it from the cliff it's on. Before Canterlot hit the ground, Cres woke me." When I finished, they all just stared at me. Cherry, who was scared enough just being in Canterlot, pushed away the food she was about to eat. Clearly, she couldn't think about dragons attacking while we were here. She got up from the couch and went into her corner room. I got up and followed her to make sure she was alright. When I opened the door, I saw her curled up on the bed. She looked up at the noise the door made when I closed it behind me. It looked as if she was trying as hard as possible not to cry. "You doing okay?" I asked her. She put her head back down. "Hey," I said, starting to move towards her. "Don't worry about my dream." Cherry curled herself tighter. I climbed up onto her bed and laid down next to her. "Don't worry. We'll be back home in just a couple hours," I said, putting a wing over her to try and comfort her. "It's just..." Cherry's voice wavered as she put her head back up, "I didn't want to come here at all. And then you mentioned..." Cherry's sentence cut off as she curled up again. It slipped my mind when I said it before, but Cherry was deathly afraid of fully-grown dragons. A quiet "Oh..." came from my lips when I realized what had actually scared her. I tightened my wing's grip around her. "I'm sorry," I said, "I forgot about that," in an attempt to avoid saying 'dragon' again in front of her. "It's... It's okay." Cherry sounded reassured. "It's fine." She pushed my wing off of her and got up. I climbed up after her. "Thank you, Pepper," Cherry said. We walked back out and returned to where we were seated before. The food had been taken away, but there was still a guard at the door. "Now that you're all here," the guard started, "if you could please follow me." He turned and walked out. We did as we were told and followed him out. He led us through the confusing hallways with ease, even bringing us up a floor. We stopped outside a dark purple door, one that had a crescent moon on it. The guard knocked on the door. "You may enter," came a voice from beyond the door. The door opened, and the guard gestured for us to go in. Ace led the way, and we all followed closely behind. The room was very spacious. Similar to the door, the room was covered with black and dark blue. There was a desk near the wall, backed by a large stained window representing Princess Luna raising the moon. Around the corner, there were bookshelves with a lot of books in them. There was also a glass door on the back wall, through which I could see what appeared to be a balcony. The desk had piles of books on it. I paid it no mind at first. It wasn't until they were enveloped in a light blue aura and then magically moved out of the way that I realized what they were concealing. When they moved, they revealed a majestic looking dark blue mare whose mane and tail flowed out brilliantly with the appearance of the night sky. I noticed her horn was also glowing light blue, meaning she was the one who moved the books. It was none other than Princess Luna! We all came to the realization within a second of her moving the books away. As a result, we were all bowing before her in little more than five seconds. "No need for that," The Lunar Princess said, slightly amused. "We're all equals for the moment. Might I ask your names?" "Of course," Ace said as we all stood up. "I'm Ace," he motioned to himself. "And there's Crescent," he pointed to Cres. "And Pepper," he pointed to me. "And finally Cherry," he said, turning to give the Princess a view of Cherry. "Glad to meet you all," the Princess said, looking to each of us in turn. "And if you could please call me Luna, I would appreciate that." "Of course, Luna," Ace said. "So, I've been informed from Twilight that you four are looking for a way to alter time, correct?" Luna asked. "Of course! We want to see the perihelion!" Cres burst out from nowhere, causing the unsuspecting Cherry to jump. Luna chuckled. "Well, I'm glad you feel that way, Crescent." Cres, having just been called by name by the one pony she truly looked up to, could no longer contain her excitement. Cherry had taken to moving away from Cres for her own safety. "Anyway," Ace continued, "is there something you can do to help us, like a spell or something?" "Spells focused around time in that sense can't move ponies forward through time, only back," Luna said. Cres stopped bouncing when she heard that. Luna continued, "However, there is something I can do to help. Follow me" Luna got up from her desk and walked over to the other end of the room. At this end of the room, around the corner from the door, there was a bookcase lined with dictionaries. They weren't exactly alphabetized; the middle shelf had the letters C, E, H, O, P, S, T, and U. Those specific dictionaries were then enveloped in Luna's blue magic. They were rearranged to spell something, but before I got to see what, they had disappeared with the rest of the shelf. Behind where the bookshelf should have been was a small alcove. There was almost nothing in there but a few books. The only thing that stood out was a stand with an ancient-looking tome sitting on it. The tome's title appeared to have been Equestria Historia, though I wasn't entirely sure what that meant. "This," Luna said, "this is the original history book of Equestria. Very few ponies like you ever get to see this, let alone be told of it's existence. This is where all of your myths and legends come from. I was given this book by one of my father's scribes shortly after his departure. It's written in a forgotten language, with only myself and my sister, Celestia, able to understand it." We were all silent, trying to get every visible detail of the tome into our minds. Even Cherry couldn't help but show curiosity after Luna mentioned what it was before us. Then one minor inconsistency dawned on me. "Luna?" I asked. "If that book is the origin of legend, then why haven't I heard of any legends of things that influence time?" "That, Pepper," Luna replied, "is because this tome has more history and accuracy than any legends you may know. Not every detail recorded in here went on to become a legend, but the ones that did appear to have changed over time. "Now, the reason I have brought you in here is because there is a section for time manipulation. Allow me to find where it's at..." Luna flipped through the pages of Equestria Historia carefully with her magic. She stopped occasionally, having a somewhat nostalgic look in her eyes as she did. After a moment, she finally stopped on one page. "Found it," she said. "Now, as I've said, this book is written in a forgotten language. For that reason, I will read to you what it says." Luna cleared her throat. "For ages, there has been a temple dedicated to what is known as the Epochust. The temple itself is guarded by three trials, each testing different skills. No pony has been able to complete the trials and make it back alive. Slowly, over time, the temple was forgotten, and exists outside of Equestrian borders. "Little is known about the Epochust itself. It is believed to grant the mythical title of Time Guardian to those who reach it. The appearance of the Epochust is unknown, as is whether or not it actually exists. The Epochust itself is guarded too heavily for any pony to reach it alive." Luna closed the book. "There you have it," she said to us. "Are you really going to send us on a quest for something like that?" Cres asked. "I'm not sending you," Luna replied. "If you choose to go, I will not stop you. But if you wish to return home, I can call for the Royal Guards to escort you. Now my question is, are you willing to go?" Ace was the one to answer. "Yes," he said. "I don't want a quick answer. You should really think it through." Luna said. She walked out of the alcove and to the door of her study. "If you could return to the room you're staying in, I'll visit later to get an answer from you." She opened the door to allow us out. *** We had spent most of the afternoon trying to come up with a decision. We were still a little unsure as to if we should do it when we heard a knock at the door. "The Princess has requested your presence," the Guard who had knocked said. We followed him back to Luna's study. "I trust you've come up with a decision by now?" Luna asked us. "We have," Ace answered. "Cherry didn't want to come to the Castle in the first place, so we'll let her go back to Ponyville. The rest of us will go for this Epic... whatever it is." "Very well," Luna replied. "Before you leave, however, there is something I wish to show you." Luna then walked out onto the balcony. "If you could please come out here." While none of us thought about how long we had taken to decide before, we saw now that it was clearly quite a while. It was already evening. As Celestia was currently out of Equestria, Luna had to control both Celestia's sun and her own moon. Her horn glowed a brilliant light blue as she faced west, her eyes closed in concentration. The sun answered Luna's request, slowly drifting below the horizon. The stars began to show themselves as Luna turned eastward. Luna's magic became brighter while she lowered her head. She slowly came up as the moon peeked over the horizon, bathing Equestria in it's pale glow. I could tell that the moon was larger than usual, and with more size came more beauty. The perihelion was definitely a spectacle worth seeing. Luna's horn stopped glowing, but she was still radiant in the light of her moon. I noticed Ace had put his wing around me, though I didn't mind at the time. Crescent, who was usually the most energetic of us, was evidently speechless. Even Cherry seemed to be enjoying the serenity of the perihelion.