//------------------------------// // 5: Stellar Allies // Story: The Epochust // by GoldenChozo //------------------------------// Time is nothing short of cruel. Going back to the guest room after witnessing the perihelion, I intended to lay down in my bed for a few minutes. Once those few minutes had passed, however, the room was much brighter than I expected. The lower part of my right foreleg was numb, since I laid on it without removing the bands around it. Things weren't going well right from the start, but I figured that meant the bad things for today were already out of the way. I got out of bed, stretched a little, and looked at the mirror. My mane was also clearly against me that morning, as it didn't want to cooperate. After a few minutes, I gave up and went into the main room. Ace and Cherry were already awake, the former having his back to me. Cherry noticed me limp trying to keep weight off of my now sore foreleg. "Are you alright, Pepper?" She asked. "I'm fine," I answered honestly, "Just a little sore." I pulled the upper bracelet up a little further to reveal the marking it had spent several hours drilling. "Turns out it's not a good idea to sleep with bracelets on." Cherry was clearly a little more cheerful after seeing the perihelion. It was a relief seeing her laugh despite her struggle with fear yesterday. Her joy wasn't disrupted as the breakfast buffet arrived. I decided to go and wake Cres up so she wouldn't miss breakfast. I knocked on the door of her temporary room, but there was no response. I tried again, getting with the same result. I opened the door and entered. The bed was empty. Instead, Cres was perched on the windowsill, sleeping against the window. "Cres?" I said quietly as I poked her shoulder with a hoof. She mumbled something incoherent, and adjusted slightly. Unfortunately for her, the adjustment she made unbalanced her and nearly sent her right down to the floor. She would've hit the floor if I hadn't been right there to catch her. "...just a little longer, mommy? I'm tired," Cres said automatically in her sleep. I smiled a little, a mischievous grin as I was thinking of ways to use that against her. I brought her over to her bed and set her down, carefully covering her with the blankets. She adjusted herself to a more comfortable position. I assumed she was the way she was to gaze at the perihelion as long as she could. There was a problem with this theory, however; her room was right next to mine, and therefore also had a north-facing window. I figured I wouldn't think about it for now, and just ask her when she wakes up later. I made my way out of her room to see Ace and Cherry looking towards me from their seats. "Is Crescent coming out?" Cherry asked when she saw me close the door behind me. "She stayed up a little too late last night," I replied with a laugh. The other two followed suit, and we were all too caught up in laughter to see the door open behind me. "What's so funny, Pep?" I jumped as Cres addressed me only because I didn't realize she was there. I turned around to face her. "Nothing, my daughter," I said, and I struggled to withhold a laugh at the last two words. "What?" Cres asked, confusion showing in her blue eyes. "Don't worry about it," I said, starting for my own seat on the couch. "Though, would you mind telling me what you were doing sleeping on the windowsill?" "I... What?" Cres looked confused while the rest of us tried to stifle our laughter. "Just forget about it," I said, brushing against her playfully. I then took my spot and began to eat. Cres put the conversation aside and did the same. Time passed on, and we all had our share of food. The leftovers were taken away, and a Lunar Guard remained at the door. He was a blue pegasus with a black mane and tail. He told us to follow, and waited for us to obey before continuing. It wasn't the same path we took to Luna's study. Instead, he took us to the entrance of the castle, where a cart attached to a pegasus Royal Guard was waiting. "Any pony who wishes to leave, you may do so now," The Lunar Guard said. This was where Cherry was supposed to leave. Cherry tentatively moved towards the cart before Ace stopped her. He wrapped his hooves around her neck and held her for a moment. When he let go, I did the same. Then came Cres. Cherry was at a loss for words. "Be safe," Cherry finally said, trying her best to withhold tears. "Don't worry about us, we'll be fine." I hope. Cherry stepped into the waiting carriage, which promptly took off towards Ponyville when she was secured in it. We all waved to her as she left. I couldn't help but feel bad for her, since she was most likely going to be bombarded with questions regarding what the rest of us are doing. "This way, please," the Lunar Guard said. We followed him through the castle to the familiar dark blue door which privatized Luna's study. We entered to find Luna in conversation with another Lunar Guard, a full black pegasus this time, sporting the same armor as the blue pegasus. "Nighthawk?!" Came Cres' surprised voice as she rushed over to the new pegasus. He instantly wrapped her in his hooves and wings when she attempted to tackle him. "It's been too long, Crescent," Nighthawk said with a drawl. "I take it you two know each other?" Luna asked them, smiling. "Before I moved to Ponyville, I lived here in Canterlot. Nighthawk was my neighbor and best friend. He was the only colt who didn't make fun of me for my obsession with the moon." Crescent practically buried herself into Nighthawk's embrace, even pushing through the discomfort that his armor brought on. "I'm glad I could bring you back together," Luna continued. "Nighthawk and Darkfire there," She motioned to the blue pegasus, "are two of my best Lunar Guards. They will accompany us for awhile on our journey." Us? Our journey? Ace was just faster than I was at this realization. "Luna, are you coming with us?" he asked. "Of course," Luna replied. "It's been a long time since I've gone for an adventure. Besides, I've got my two best guards to look after us, and I've even worked out a disguise." Her horn began to glow, which spread around her whole body. There was a bright flash of light that forced me to look away. When I looked back, Luna was gone. In her place was a midnight blue unicorn, glowing with the same aura that Luna was just seconds before. Her mane and tail were light blue, with her mane cut halfway down her neck. Her cutie mark was just a crescent moon, which appeared to be faintly glowing beyond the magical aura. When she opened her eyes, they were glowing light blue while the aura collected at her horn. As the aura subsided, her eyes faded to teal. "Luna?" Ace said. "Call me Stella," the new mare replied, sounding much more like a filly than I'd expected. "But Luna, what about your royal duties?" Darkfire asked. "I haven't relieved the regent of power since my return," Stella replied. "I'm sure she can handle a few more days." Darkfire was clearly still skeptical with Stella's plan, but he kept further inquiry to himself. "Now," Stella continued, "if we leave soon, we can make it to Whinniesburg by nightfall. We can rest up for the night there. I've already packed up supplies that should last us for three days. Are you all ready to go?" "As ready as we'll ever be," Ace said. "Let's get going." "Very well," Stella said. Her horn started to glow again, and after another bright flash, we were at the northern exit of Canterlot, the one that leads around the mountain down to the ground below. Stella led the way down, followed by Ace and Darkfire, with Crescent, Nighthawk, and myself bringing up the rear. *** We'd been following the path for a few hours. By now, Darkfire and Ace were leading the party. Stella had fallen back and was walking alongside me. We had taken a break and stepped off the path for lunch, but that was several hours ago. The sun was on the verge of setting. I was about to suggest we take a break and set up camp for the night, but then I noticed something in the distance. It appeared to be a faint glow. I thought I might be going mad from hunger, but then I noticed the glow was coming out of the window of a house. We reached it just as the sun fell below the horizon. There was a sign that read "Welcome to Whinniesburg" on the side of the path. "Here we are. Whinniesburg," Stella said. She led us through the town, the moonlight doing a great job of lighting the place at night. The streets were mostly empty. We stopped in front of a hotel, which appeared nearly empty as well save two attendants, one mare and one stallion. "Hello, and welcome to Whinniesburg Hotel," the mare said. "I'm Silver and she's Summer," The stallion continued. "We would like to stay a night," Nighthawk said. "Of course," Summer said. "If you three fillies could follow me." She started to a hallway and turned, waiting for Stella, Cres, and me to follow, which we did. I heard Silver ask for the others to follow him, but I didn't see which way they went. Summer opened a door and allowed us in. "If there's anything you need, don't hesitate to ask. You can almost always find me or Silver in the lobby," Summer said before closing the door behind us. The room was mostly bare. There were seven beds, each with a nightstand next to them. Behind every other bed was a window, moonlight filtering through each one. Moonlight... "Luna?" I asked. "Please, call me Stella," Stella responded. "Sorry, Stella? If Celestia's currently away from Equestria, and you're here, then who's controlling the sun and moon?" "We've entrusted our niece, Cadance, to take care of that. Aside from the perihelion last night, she's been in control of them. She's also our regent while we're both away." "So was Cadance also the one who allowed us to come to Canterlot Castle?" "Twilight knew Celestia was out of Equestria, but she must not have realized that I was as well at the time. She sent the letter to me, and I alerted the guards to your arrival. Cadance only knew you were coming, and she knew I was almost back in Equestria. She decided to allow me to speak to you myself upon my return." Stella caught herself building a formal tone, and cut it instantly. "She knew it was more in my domain anyway." "What do you mean by that, Stella?" Cres asked, finally deciding to join in on the conversation. "Well, something that Equestria Historia doesn't mention is that the Epochust chamber was guarded closely by the Lord of the Moon, my father." Stella paused for a moment. "He personally guarded it, so we didn't see much of him. We found out after his demise that he had slowly been corrupting the Epochust so that it would fall under control of any who controlled the moon." "Like you," Cres said. "Yes. But from what we gathered, his corruption was what caused his demise. He literally poured his power into the Epochust to make sure it was under Lunar control. He... must have put too much..." Stella just fell silent at the memory, shaking slightly. Even after so long, she still clearly wasn't over it. I put a wing around her to try and comfort her. "You don't need to tell us if you don't want to," I said quietly. "I'm sorry. You shouldn't see your Princess breaking down like this," Stella said, trying to fight back tears. "Right now, you're not our Princess. You're Stella," I said, unsure whether they were the right words. They seemed to be working, though. Stella just sat there, taking in these words under the comfort of my embrace. "And you need friends to help you through your troubles." "It's just... My father..." Stella couldn't get out a full sentence. By this point, Cres had joined in and had her hoof around Stella. "I want to know what happened... What really happened... Why he..." "What's past is prologue," Cres said, "and the past needs resolution. There's no way to change what did happen, but there's always what will happen. We'll figure out what really happened to your father when we reach the Epochust." That seemed to do it. Stella stopped trying to hold her tears back. After an unknown time passed, Stella was finished. "Thank you," she said before escaping to one of the beds. Cres and I got into the beds right next to Stella's. We knew we had to head out in the morning, so it was better to get as much sleep as we could tonight. Ace, Darkfire, and Nighthawk were probably already asleep, since they didn't know the grief Stella had tried to hold off for millennia. I set my bracelets on the nightstand and closed my eyes, ready for whatever tomorrow brought.