//------------------------------// // 7: To the Edge of Equestria // Story: The Epochust // by GoldenChozo //------------------------------// The sun was nearing it's resting place on the horizon, and the horde of crazy fans seemed to have disappeared. We took this opportunity to get to Lila's greenhouse unnoticed. For the most part, it worked. Either Trixie had another show currently going, or her fans were too loyal to her to care for Stella any longer. Lila was sitting on a bench near her greenhouse waiting for us. She stood up and joined us when we neared her, leading us in a direction we hadn't been yet. She led us to her home, which wasn't too far from her greenhouse. It had many other plants in it, which perfectly accented the floral patterns that covered her walls. Lila set up a feast for us in her large dining room, Stella conjuring extra chairs and extending the table slightly so we could all join in. Immediately after the feast, Stella reversed the magic before we started out. "Leaving so soon?" Lila asked, watching us file out, only Stella, Ace, and myself left in her house. "We actually have somewhere to go," Stella said, "and we need to leave before the sun rises in the morning. That way we can make it before m--" She cut off, realizing she was halfway to calling it her night. "Before night can come," Stella put extra emphasis on night to make it sound like a simple stutter, but Lila didn't buy it. "There's something about you..." she hesitated a moment, collecting her thoughts. "You're similar in appearance... Tend to put on a formal tone... And can I safely assume you were about to call it your night?" Stella hung her head slightly, causing Lila to have a moment of shock as she realized her assumption was correct. "I see you figured it out," Stella said, closing the door and shutting the blinds so that it was impossible to see inside the house. "You're much too sharp to be an average botanist." Stella's form was encased in a light blue aura, and she slowly morphed back into her usual form as princess of the night. When the aura faded from Luna's body, Lila dropped into a bow. "You may rise." Lila did as instructed, though she still hadn't fully recovered from her shock. "What are you doing here?" Lila asked after recovering from her shock, completely unaware of how that may have sounded. "I mean..." she stopped when Luna cut her off. "As I said previously, we have a matter to attend to. We stopped in Whinniesburg because it was the most convenient town to stop in, and we stayed longer to fulfill your request." "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hold you back or anything." "It's quite alright," Luna said consolingly to Lila. "There's no particular time that we need to arrive by." Lila gave a sigh of relief at hearing that. "Where are you going, If I may ask?" "Right now, we're heading to the northern border of Equestria. That's where we'll separate and go our different ways." "And you came all this way with just a group of ponies from Canterlot?" "Ponyville," Luna corrected. "And don't think I was oblivious to the dangers along the way. Nighthawk and Darkfire are actually two of my best guards, so there's nothing to worry about." By this point, I began to wonder what those two and Cres were doing and whether or not they realized we're no longer with them. Lila had fallen silent at the revelation, particularly by the fact that Darkfire was a Lunar Guard, I assume. Luna took this to mean that she was done interrogating, and began transforming back into her Stella disguise. "Wait," she said as Luna was halfway through her metamorphosis, "one last question." "What would that be?" Ace asked in place of Luna, as she was mid-transformation. "Can I come along?" Ace fell silent and looked to me, hoping I could help with this decision. Fortunately, Stella's transformation had complete by this point, and she took it upon herself to answer. "No," Stella said plainly. "It's probably not for the best to bring civilians along with us." "But you've got three civilians from Ponyville already with you," Lila countered. "That's because this matter is their own!" Stella sounded much more angry than she should have, and Ace dropped his head as he realized it was ultimately because of him that we're here. I instinctively wrapped my wing around him to help assuage that feeling of guilt, and he responded by pushing deeper into the embrace. Lila seemed to be defeated until she realized she still had an ace to play. "You said yourself that I'm much too sharp to be a simple botanist. Well, this is a chance for me to be something more." Stella realized her own folly after it was pointed out. She stopped to think about Lila's statement. "Very well," she said after a moment. "We'll come by in the morning before we depart to pick you up." Lila tried her best to hide her enthusiasm, but she still let a smile slip. "And sorry for yelling a moment ago," Stella apologized, moving towards the door. "This disguise has a separate personality than my own, some bits of which I'm not entirely proud to admit myself." *** We went back to the hotel for the night. We ran into Darkfire along the way. Apparently, the others were wondering where we had gone, but they managed to get back to the hotel before realizing. Stella filled them in when we returned regarding Lila, being careful so that Silver didn't learn of our plans. The sun went down and we went to bed for the night. In the morning, the hotel had a free breakfast. We helped ourselves to some of the food provided, and set out. We stopped at Lila's greenhouse to find her giving some last minute advice to her replacement. She saw us coming, and hastily finished her tutoring. "Goodbye, Vi!" she called out to her replacement, a younger indigo mare with a dark purple mane and tail. She turned to us and added, "That's my little sister, Violet. She's always wanted to run the greenhouse on her own." "Makes sense," Darkfire said. He, along with Nighthawk, had a renewed air of authority wearing their armor again. There were very few other ponies at this early hour. I figured they must come out at sunrise, as the moon wasn't even touching the horizon to signal dawn yet. We exited Whinniesburg through the north gate. There was a fork just outside; one path leading straight on, and one veering off to the right. A sign posted between the two said the left path led to the Northern Equestria Border, while the path to the right led to a town called St. Hoovers. Without hesitation, the black and blue Lunar Guards led us down the left path, to the edge of Equestria. The journey went on with little conversation. Lila tried to spark something, but gave up and continued in silence. I couldn't help but notice that the amount of trees seemed to drop as we went on. I almost felt sorry for Nighthawk, the dark-colored pegasus that he was, as Celestia's sun neared it's apex. I also noticed that the horizon appeared to be gradually falling. I almost thought I was seeing things until we came close enough to see over that horizon, over the cliff in front of us. There was a plain below, and a side path down the face of the cliff leading to the plain. The major sight, however, was the massive temple. It was a large building built entirely out of what appeared to be sandstone. How ancient pony civilizations managed to do it was beyond me. Around the large temple, there appeared to be three large pillars. The pillars were half the height of the central building, and rather thin compared to it as well. "This," Stella said, "is the edge of Equestria. What you see before you is the Temple of the Epochust. You see each of the three pillars? Those are the ends of the three trials. I'm not sure myself what these trials have in store, but do be careful. And make sure you visit each one. "While I cannot directly join you, I can do this." Stella began to glow her signature light blue, covering her entire body with a near-blinding, yet elegant, radiance. Her backside seemed to rip open, and out sprouted large wings. The rip appeared to spread, splitting her entire body in half. The glowing form of Luna stood between the two halves of the former Stella. Luna backed off and stopped glowing save her horn. The still glowing halves of her shell reformed, and faded back to the appearance of the Stella we know. "As I said, I cannot directly join you," Luna continued. "For now, I can shed Stella and send her with you. She's the same as you remember her, just with a little less princess in there." "Luna..." "Don't worry, Crescent, I'll still be with you through Stella. You'll have my blessing all the way through these trials. "One other thing," Luna continued. "Nighthawk." "Yes, your highness?" Nighthawk responded diligently. "Stay with them and aid them in the trials. I do wish to see them all again safe," Luna finished with a smile to us, which seemed to calm Cres, who appeared close to breaking down at any moment. "I wouldn't give them up even at your orders," he responded, finishing the calming of Cres by placing his hoof around her neck and smiling at her. "Now then," Luna continued, "Darkfire, Lila, let's be on our way." "Actually," Lila said just after Luna turned to leave, "I was wondering..." "Yes?" Luna said patiently, turning again towards Lila. "Well, I came with you here hoping to go abroad, study some of the plants that grow outside Equestria." "As you can see, this isn't the place to study plant life," Luna motioned to the plains that surrounded the temple. "I can see," Lila replied, sounding almost too disheartened. "Tell you what," Luna said. "Why don't you come with us back to Canterlot? We can arrange plans to send you abroad. I'm sure Darkfire would be more than willing to accompany you, isn't that right?" "Yes!" He responded hastily. "I mean, of course." Lila's elation was obvious. "You'd do that?" she managed to ask. "I'm not one to drag you from your home, at your request I might add, to shatter your spirits. Now then, let's return to Canterlot." Luna turned and led the way back down the path, Darkfire and Lila in tow. "Goodbye!" I called out after them. "Farewell, Pepper," Luna called back. "And farewell to the rest of you as well." As they left, Stella seemed to come to consciousness. Her eyes opened slowly, still radiating the light blue color. As the color faded, something in her eyes was different. They were no longer the teal they were when she was Luna. Instead, they were light blue, the same color as her magic. "Hey, guys," she said in a different voice, slightly higher and lacking a regal note. "When do we get going?" "Right now, Princess," Ace said. I assume he called Stella 'Princess' because she was literally shed from the Princess of the Night. With that, Ace made his way down the path on the cliff face. Nighthawk followed, as did the rest of us. We were forced into a line, as it was a precariously thin path. It did it's job, however, and we made it down relatively quickly. I then wondered why we didn't just fly down. Nighthawk could carry Cres, Ace carry Stella, and we would've made it down in half the time. Regardless, there was a sign at the bottom of the cliff, so it wasn't entirely a waste. "Peregri, sequitur statuto viam ad fornicem. Ire per, et incipiunt primum iudicium de Epochust," Ace read the sign aloud. "What did I just read?" "Let's just follow the path to the first pillar," Cres suggested. "I see an archway over there." "What other choice do we have?"