The Epochust

by GoldenChozo

2: Arrival at Canterlot

Waiting for the Royal Guards to arrive, Ace and I went to the pegasus races above Ponyville. Crescent and Cherry decided to visit some of the shops to take advantage of the sales since they can't fly. We were to rendezvous at the library when the evening came so that we could be picked up by the Guards.

It wasn't too amazing seeing only Rainbow Dash or Zephyr Lane win, so the officials made them drop out of the races for a while. Thunder was able to join us, but he didn't race. Zephyr also joined us, taking a seat next to Thunder.

"Nice racing out there, Thunder," Zephyr said. "You were doing well until you crashed."

"You weren't too bad yourself," Thunder replied. He then looked down out of embarrassment from his crash landing.

"So, will you be going back into the races?" Zephyr asked.

"Not right away, my wing is too sore to fly fast," Thunder said. "What about you?"

"They banned me because I was doing so well," Zephyr said, looking almost proud towards her cutie mark, which was a light blue wing that appeared to be moving fast.

"I was wondering when that would happen," Thunder said with a slight chuckle.

I then noticed that Ace was no longer next to me. I didn't even realize he left. While Thunder and Zephyr were still talking, I looked out at the group that was about to race next. Ace was among them. He had apparently slipped out without anypony noticing and entered the race.

The shot signaling the start of the race sounded. As the racers began their laps, Zephyr looked over to where she thought Ace was. Her chartreuse eyes scanned all around where he should have been. She noticed that Ace had gone out to race, but there was no way out of where he was without being seen.

Dumbfounded, Zephyr asked, "When did Ace even get out there?"

I was too caught up watching the race to answer. Ace had taken an early lead, and he was doing a good job maintaining it. He was doing well until a black pegasus by the name of Fyrefly clipped him, and Ace stumbled to fourth. He wasn't able to regain the lead, and finished with a rather impressive third place.

Thunder, not wanting to miss anymore races, went out to join the next one. The shot sounded, and Thunder sped well ahead of all the others. Ace, maintaining second, tried to pull ahead as fast as he possibly could. He surprisingly managed to catch up to Thunder.

Ace was behind Thunder for most of the race. When it was nearly over, Ace pulled up a little, raising himself higher. He folded his wings back and curved downward, pulling ahead of Thunder. Thunder, not wanting to lose, tried to tackle Ace away. Ace avoided Thunder entirely, and Thunder fell back a little. He was unable to catch up to Ace in time, making Ace the winner.

"Are you going to race, too?" Zephyr asked me.

"I don't think so," I said. "I don't like to race."

"Alright, that's fine," Zephyr said. "I think I'd like that better, because then I'm not the only pony who isn't racing."

We both started laughing. Thunder and Ace were on their way back to us. They appeared to be out of breath, which was no surprise considering how fast they were going.

"You two did an amazing job," Zephyr said. "Especially you, Ace. I didn't think you would be able to keep up with Thunder so well."

"You can blame my sore wing for that," Thunder said.

"It can't be that sore if you were still able to go so fast," Zephyr said as she poked Thunder's wing. When Thunder didn't appear affected by this action, Zephyr continued, "See? Nothing's wrong with it."

"That's because it's the other wing," Thunder said. Zephyr went around Thunder and poked that wing. Thunder instantly unfolded his wing at this, which any pegasus would do if there was a sharp pain in their wing. He carefully folded it back to it's proper position. Zephyr poked it again, with a lesser, but similar, result.

"Enough of that," Thunder said, attempting to keep his wing away from Zephyr.

"Sorry, didn't think you were serious," Zephyr said. "So I take it you won't be racing anymore today?"

Thunder was making his way to the edge of the cloud. "No, I'm going to wait until my wing stops hurting." He then jumped off the cloud, heading down to Ponyville.

"What about you, Ace?" Zephyr said, turning to Ace.

Ace, who was still slightly out of breath, said, "Probably not."

"But the current race is the last one that I have to miss, and I really want to race with you."

"Well," Ace pondered for a moment, "I guess I could go for one more." Ace went back down, followed by Zephyr, to be in the next race. I looked out to see that I had a clear view of the race. I could see Ace and Zephyr lined up at the start, easily distinguishing them from the crowd.

The shot sounded. Zephyr took a clean lead. There was a considerable distance between Zephyr and Ace, but it was much less than that between Ace and the rest of the racers. Ace was slowly gaining on Zephyr, and also climbing higher as the distance dropped.

Ace, hoping to pull the same maneuver, folded his wings and curved downward. He came up very close to Zephyr, but she was able to maintain her lead. Ace tried ascending again, but when he shot back down, he didn't have enough time to pass Zephyr before she crossed the finish line.

Ace, having done more racing than he intended, was coming back over to me. "I think it's about time we get to the library," he said to me.

"Nice job, Ace," Zephyr said as she came up behind Ace. She put up her hoof towards him.

"You too, Zephyr," Ace said, returning the gesture.

"Do you plan on racing anymore today?" Zephyr asked.

"No, actually we were just about to leave," Ace said, nodding his head towards me.

"Alright, see you around," Zephyr said. She then went to take a seat to watch more races.

It was, of course, nearing evening. Ace and I flew down to Ponyville, landing near the library. Cres and Cherry had already found their way back and were waiting for us. It looked as if they never actually had a chance to go shopping, since they didn't have anything with them.

"Couldn't get into the shops in time?" I asked Cres as Ace and I landed.

Cres shook her head. "They all closed because they ran out of stock. Even Cherry's shop wasn't safe from running out."

"Turns out my older brother, Chocolate, forgot to place an order for extra shipments," Cherry added with a laugh, and we all joined in.

"So what did you do?" Cres asked as the laughter had died down.

"We went to the pegasus races above Ponyville," Ace said.

"You should've seen Ace racing, it was amazing," I said. "He beat Thunder and almost beat Zephyr."

"I didn't think anypony could beat those two," Cherry said. "I didn't know you were that fast, Ace."

Ace looked towards the ground. "It's not something I usually want to talk about," he said.

"Don't worry about it, Ace," Cres said, putting a hoof around him, causing him to smile.

"Here come the guards," Cherry said, pointing to what appeared to be two Royal Guards with a cart attached to them. They landed right in front of the library. Ace walked up to them.

"We have arrived to retrieve four ponies," One of the Guards said.

"That's us," Ace responded.

"What are your names?" The Guard asked Ace.

"Ace Doughty, Peppermint Splash, Crescent Delight, and Cherry Sundae," Ace said, looking around at us as he named us off.

"Very well. If you two earth ponies would please enter the cart," The Guard said to Cherry and Cres as the Guards turned to allow them in. The two earth ponies followed their directions. The closer of the two guards sealed the carriage door after Cherry stepped in. "You two pegasi can fly alongside."

We took off, Ace on the left side of the carriage and me on the right. The trip was short, but it felt like it lasted forever. At each passing moment, time seemed to slow down further; the exact opposite effect we were going for. Once Canterlot finally came into view after what felt like a few years, it seemed to stay the same distance away.

We finally landed outside the castle gates. Cherry and Cres dismounted the carriage and we all followed one of the Guards in. The other Guard flew off with the empty cart to somewhere behind the Castle. The Guard we were following led us into the castle, taking us through various hallways. Eventually, the Guard stopped outside a door.

"Unfortunately, both Princesses are currently away," The Guard told us. "Princess Luna will arrive within a few hours to raise the moon. She has elected to speak with you on your matter tomorrow. Until then, you may stay here." He then pushed the door open to reveal a guest room, which we were to stay in.

"Thank you," Ace said to the Guard.

We all followed Ace into the guest room. It had two couches surrounding a table in the center, and had six doors lining the walls. Behind each door was what appeared to be a small bedroom; more than enough for each of us. The Guard closed the door behind us. Cherry went to one of the couches and took a seat. Cres took a seat right next to her, while Ace and I sat on the other couch.