The Epochust

by GoldenChozo

6: While in Whinniesburg

The sun peeked through the window, causing sunlight to shine on my face. This woke me up as always, but something was different. The room was a different shape, size, and color than my room. Then I noticed Stella sleeping peacefully in the neighboring bed. I remembered that we weren't in Ponyville, but instead we were in Whinniesburg.

Cres and Stella were lucky. Stella didn't have a window over her bed. There was a tree outside, and it happened to cast it's shadow right on the window above Cres, shielding her from the fate I just met with.

I reached for my bracelets on the nightstand, and accidentally knocked one onto the floor. The result was a rather loud metallic clang. Stella shot upright at the sound, looking around frantically.

"Sorry," I said quietly to Stella as I climbed out of bed. I picked the bracelet back up and put it on with the other one.

"How long have you been awake, Pepper?" Stella asked while she got out of her bed.

"Just woke up."

"We should probably get Cres and the colts and be on our way," Stella made her way over to Cres and shook her lightly to wake her. I wouldn't have thought it necessary, considering my bracelet is a pretty decent alarm clock. Cres stirred and slowly came to.

"Morning already?" Cres asked. "I swear I just went to sleep five minutes ago."

"That's how I felt yesterday morning," I said. "At least the tree let you sleep longer than I was able to."

"Where are you going, Stella?" Cres noticed Stella was trying to slip out of the room.

"Get the colts, then we can be on our way," Stella replied. "You coming?"

We followed her out of the room and into the lobby, where we found Summer sitting behind the desk. "Good morning," she said to us. Nighthawk had already made his way into the lobby, where he sat waiting for us. Although he wasn't wearing his armor, he still managed to somehow cover his cutie mark, so I still didn't know what it was. Cres instantly took the seat next to him.

"Are Ace and Darkfire awake yet?" Stella asked Nighthawk.

"They left not too long ago with a local mare," Nighthawk replied. "She said she needed help with something."

"And you didn't go along?" Stella asked.

"I stayed behind to wait for you three, let you know where they went."

"And where did they go?" I asked.

"I'm... not too sure, actually," Nighthawk looked slightly downward as he said this.

"Lila?" Summer said unexpectedly. "She owns the local botany shop. She commonly comes here to find stallions from out of town willing to lend a hoof. Her shop is right down the street."

"Thanks," Stella said. She led the way out onto the street and followed Summer's directions. Sure enough, a short distance down the street, was Lila's Botany Shop. It was, more or less, just a booth. Behind it was a greenhouse, in which we could clearly see Ace and Darkfire helping a violet mare which must be Lila. Stella walked up to the open doorway and tapped on the glass.

"Can I help you?" The purple mare asked at the entrance, where I could see her clearly now. Her curled mane and tail were a darker shade than her coat, with streaks of a lighter shade through them. Her eyes were light blue, and dark freckles were visible on her cheeks right behind them. Her cutie mark was that of a lilac bud backed by a fully bloomed lilac.

"We're here to pick up our stallions," Stella responded, noting that they had stopped what they were doing to see what was going on. "The ones you just enslaved earlier today," she added.

"Can't they stay a little longer?" Lila pleaded. "They've been so helpful this morning."

"Don't keep them too long, we need to get going soon."

"Well, I'm actually getting a delivery this afternoon, and I was hoping they could help me until then."

"I suppose we could stay in town for an extra day," Stella turned to Nighthawk and Cres. "Any objections?" Nighthawk and Cres both shook their heads. Stella looked at me, and I shook my head as well. "Then they can stay for now."

"Do we not get a say?" Ace asked from inside the greenhouse, assorted flowerpots on his back.

"Nope, now get back to work, you two!" Lila jokingly snapped at Ace and Darkfire. "Could you help, too?" She added, looking at Nighthawk.

"I guess I could, now that we're not in a hurry any more," Nighthawk responded, entering the greenhouse. Lila lingered back until Nighthawk was well out of earshot.

"Nice group of stallions you've got yourselves," Lila said quietly to us. "I'm especially liking that blue one. Which of you mares is he with?"

"Darkfire?" Stella replied. "He's actually the only one available. If you want him, he's all yours."

"Will you be coming back to town anytime soon?"

"We weren't actually planning on returning to Whinniesburg. We could possibly arrange a time for Darkfire to return here."

"Stella!"

"Yes, Crescent?" Stella was starting to adopt her formal tone, but she seemed to realize her mistake after Cres called her name. She dropped her formal voice afterward with her response.

"We can't just arrange a date for Darkfire like this, especially without talking to him about it first."

"Right, I'm sorry," Stella apologized, then turned back to Lila. "We're not just going to leave Darkfire here. If you were to move to C-- Ponyville, then you could probably see a lot more of him." The stress she put on Ponyville, after almost saying what I assume was Canterlot, appeared to make Lila suspicious. She didn't have time to dwell on it, however, as a short series of loud crashes sounded from within the greenhouse.

Darkfire had apparently tried to use his wings to carry more flowerpots than he actually could. About half of the pots slid off of his wings, and a third of those pots broke on the ground. He looked down at the mess he made, his wings still outstretched with several flowerpots on them. He noticed Lila running up to him, and tried to apologize.

"It's quite alright, dear," Lila said to Darkfire, "it was bound to happen. I'm impressed with how long it took for the first pots to break today." Lila started for the storage shed at the back of the greenhouse, but stopped when she noticed the broken bits of the flowerpots were enveloped in a light blue aura.

"It looks like you could use the help of a unicorn, as well," Stella said, her horn glowing with the same blue aura. She brought the flowerpot shards to the shed, accepting Lila's gratitude as she went. The fading of the blue aura told me that she dropped the shards somewhere in the shed, most likely in a garbage bin inside.

***

A once unused table in the greenhouse now had a couple hundred flowerpots, each one filled with a special soil that helped plants grow. We all chipped in to help, and afterward the seven of us went to a nearby restaurant for lunch while waiting on Lila's delivery to arrive. We returned to her greenhouse just as the delivery arrived. It was just a small wooden crate, about as tall as any of us.

"What's in it?" I asked.

"Various seeds," Lila said. "I'm sure you're familiar with lilacs? Well, I've always wanted to grow some here in the greenhouse, but there's nowhere to plant a bush. A florist from Manehatten managed to cross some certain flowers, and came up with a seed that grows just the bushels of lilacs without the actual bush. I asked her if she could send me some seeds, and as you can see, she agreed."

"How many lilac seeds did you buy to get a crate this big?" Cres asked.

"Actually, around a week ago, some thieves broke into the storage shed and stole about half my supply of seeds," Lila explained. "I called in an order for all the seeds that were stolen, which were sent to the florist I mentioned before. She added in her lilac seeds and redirected the shipment here."

"Why didn't you contact the authorities about the thieves?" Stella inquired.

"Well, there are no local authorities here in Whinniesburg. What we're supposed to do is contact the Canterlot Royal Guard. I sent a letter out a couple days ago, but I haven't heard back since." Lila looked a little disappointed before adding, "But it's fine, I've got the seeds that were stolen, plus a little extra. It turned out alright. Anyways, you mind helping me bring the seeds into the shed?"

Nighthawk opened the crate to see large bags of seeds, the lilacs that Lila mentioned right on top. He took out two of the large seed bags and carried them on his back to the storage shed. Ace and Darkfire did the same. Stella magically lifted the rest and brought them to the shed.

"Again, thank you for your help," Lila repeated. "Do you think you could come back this evening? Have dinner and some friendly conversation?"

"I see nothing wrong with that," Stella said.

"We'll be here," I finished for her.

"Great, see you tonight, then."

We left for the Whinniesburg hotel, exploring various booths and exhibits along the way. One such exhibit was a magic show led by a blue unicorn, wearing a purple hat and cape, who constantly referred to herself in the third person as The Great and Powerful Trixie. We all unanimously agreed that she was nothing more than a showoff, and that there were better unicorns back in Ponyville. She apparently heard us.

"You think you can find better unicorns than the Great and Powerful Trixie?" she said as she stood up on her back legs and fireworks shot up from the stage.

"Yeah. We've got one right here," Nighthawk said, lightly hitting Stella.

"Get up here, you." Stella didn't hesitate at the chance to put this showoff in her place. As soon as she was on the stage, Trixie continued, "What's your name, filly?"

"They call me Stella."

"Well, Stella, do you think you're better than the Great and Powerful Trixie?" More fireworks, which were caught by a magical blue aura.

"I don't need to think so, I know I am." The crowd gasped as Stella morphed the fireworks into the shape and color of her crescent moon cutie mark before letting them fizzle out.

Trixie recovered quickly from her unnoticed shock with a laugh. "It'll take more than that to outshine the Great and Powerful Trixie." Her horn glowed as she brought back the shape of the crescent moon, altered the color to a light blue, and traced the shape of a star-tipped wand with her horn. She then merged them together into a shape that I assume matched her own cutie mark. She touched the suspended pyrotechnics with her horn, and it dispersed over the crowd in a shower of harmless cyan sparks, making them go wild.

Stella, entirely unfazed by her adversaries move, took the next step up. She conjured more sparks, this time the color of her midnight blue coat, and morphed them into the shape of a full sized unicorn body. The marionette reared up, preparing to fight.

Trixie accepted the challenge by summoning her own persona. A sky blue unicorn borne of sparks materialized in front of her, preparing itself for battle. They both fought diligently before they rammed headfirst into each other and exploded, sending a multitude of sparks to shower the crowd.

"I must say, Stella, that you're nearly as good as the Great and Powerful Trixie!" A roar erupted from the crowd, followed by chants of Stella's name from the crowd. "I will call you my equal. Won't you come back soon?"

"I'm flattered by the offer, but my friends and I are leaving town tomorrow." The audience gave protest, but Stella stepped down from the stage and came back to us. We went straight back to the hotel, so as to get away from the crowd of ponies who were suddenly fans of Stella.