Against Time

by GoldenChozo

Epilogue

"Ace!"

He was expecting it, but he had hoped he would go a little longer without it. Crescent was running up to him full speed, likely ready to pounce him. Ace had been gone for over a week, so it's only natural that Crescent would do that. When she was close enough to pull it off, Ace jumped in the air to avoid it. He landed behind her and continued walking.

"Ace, what's wrong?" she asked, following right beside him.

"I'm not ready to talk about it," he said. "I need some time alone right now."

"Okay." Crescent started to walk away. "When you get a chance, you should go see Pep. She's been in the hospital for a few days now."

"Maybe later." Ace continued walking, leaving Crescent to stand there and watch him.

"Ace, you're back!" He had almost made it home. He was actually right outside his house before he was interrupted again.

"Not now, Cherry," Ace said. He opened his door.

"Have you seen Peppermint yet?" Cherry asked.

"Not yet. I just got back, and I wanted some time alone first," Ace said before closing the door and locking it. He laid down on the couch and closed his eyes. While he had nothing better to do, he thought about what happened.

Nighthawk must have been destined to die, as he witnessed it happen twice, both times being eerily similar to one another. What about the time he lived? He died because he thought Crescent was dead. What about the time he didn't know if she was still alive at all?

And then Lila. Ace felt absolutely terrible for allowing Lila on the team. Especially since she was the first to die. It all went downhill after he accidentally called her by her name. If he could have just held his tongue, she would probably still be alive, awaiting that shipment of seeds she ordered that was due that evening. Something else about her stuck out to Ace. Why did she want to go? The first time, she only went to find foreign flora. She even turned back at the edge, instead going abroad with Darkfire. What was different this time? Unfortunately, he would never know.

Then there was Chrysoberyl. He was close to retirement. If he hadn't tried to attack the Lord of the Moon, then he would have definitely been able to leave alive. Ace didn't know him well enough to know what he would have gone back to. That only made it worse. He could have a family that will never know what happened to him. A son waiting for his dad to return, but he never will.

Ace opened his eyes and sat up. He decided that he might as well go see Pepper now.

***

The nurse opened the door and let Ace in. She closed the door behind him. Pepper was asleep on the bed, the lone occupant of the room. Ace sat down beside the bed.

"I don't understand," Ace said quietly to her. "Last time you were hospitalized, it was because of the Epochust. But that's gone now. It shouldn't be affecting you anymore." He looked at the ground.

Pepper slowly woke up. She saw Ace sitting there. "Ace?" she called.

Ace looked up. "Glad to see you're awake, at least," he said.

"Ace!" Pepper reached out and grabbed Ace, pulling him over the bed. They sat there a moment, simply embracing. "I thought I wouldn't see you again," Pepper continued, letting Ace go. "Did you get the Princess back?"

"Yeah, we made it," Ace said.

"What's wrong?" Pepper had caught the sadness in his voice.

"We went in with six, but we came back with three, including Luna," Ace said. "Four ponies died there that day, and it's all because I told you about the Epochust."

"Don't blame yourself for it," Pepper said. "There isn't anyone to blame. Nopony could have known what would happen."

"I know, but still. If I hadn't told Crescent to see Twilight Sparkle, then none of this would have happened.

"Stop blaming yourself, Ace. You wanted an adventure, and you got one. No adventure can have a perfect ending." When Ace didn't respond, Pepper continued. "Why are you so sad about the ones that died, anyway? Can't you just go back in time and get them?"

"I haven't had any control over time since we got Luna back," Ace said.

"What about Stella? Can't she control time, too?"

Ace closed his eyes. "She was one of the four," he said.

"Oh... I'm sorry, Ace. I didn't know."

"Don't worry about it." Ace stood up and started towards the door. "You have your own problems to deal with. I'm sorry I bothered you with mine."

"Ace, wait!" But he had already closed the door behind him.

***

Ace walked through the door. He closed it behind him. Something caught his attention. There was a scroll with the Royal Canterlot seal on it and a bright red feather sitting on the table. He opened the scroll and read it.

"Dear Ace,

Remember what I said at the castle infirmary? Well, there's something that I would like for you to witness. If I haven't given it away yet, then I will keep it a surprise. I will be visiting you tonight, at which time I will reveal the surprise to you. I hope you won't mind such a sudden intrusion, but I feel you would rather wish to see this happen as soon as you can. I eagerly await tonight's meeting, and you should too.

Yours truly,
Princess Luna"

Ace read the letter several times. He unrolled it further, but that was all that was written. Such a large bit of parchment for such a short letter, but Ace put that thought aside. What could this surprise be? He tried to think back to his conversation with Luna, but nothing really stuck out. She could have been more specific as to what she meant. He would find out soon enough, though, as it was currently dusk.

Sure enough, not even ten minutes later, there was a knock at the door. Ace opened it, expecting to see Luna. Instead, a dark blue pegasus walked in. "Uh... who are you?" Ace asked the mysterious mare.

"Take a guess," the pegasus replied, following a short giggle, in a familiar majestic voice.

"Luna?"

"That's right," she said. She became enveloped in a bright blue light, where her shape changed. The light faded, and there stood Luna in her full glory, minus the breastplate, shoes and tiara. "Good guess."

"So what's this surprise you mentioned?" Ace asked.

"Quick to cut to the chase, aren't you?" Luna asked playfully. "Very well, then."

For a second time, Luna's body was glowing bright blue and her shape changed. The light faded, and where Luna once stood was Stella, but with one minor difference. Her eyes were teal instead of the light blue they should be. Her horn was still glowing.

"Stella?" Ace said slowly.

"Not yet," she said, "but almost."

Again, her body was glowing blue. Her backside split apart, wings coming out of the gaping hole. They pushed against the shell, pushing it farther apart. Soon, her body was split in half down the middle, the two halves apart with Luna's figure in between. She backed up and stopped glowing. The shell came back together perfectly, the glow fading into Stella.

"She should wake up soon," Luna said. "She may not be <i>exactly</i> as you remember her, but I tried my best. I couldn't give her the abilities the Epochust gave her, but I don't think that's possible anymore, since the temple's destroyed."

"Does she remember me?" Ace asked.

"When she gave her life to me, she gave everything to me. I kept her mind and mine separated as best I could, so it should be as if she simply fell asleep and will awaken in a moment. Of course, there may have been some intertwining between our minds, which is why I can't guarantee she's exactly the same."

"What about the others? Lila, Nighthawk, and Chrys?"

"Unfortunately, I don't know if I'll be able to do the same for them. Stella was my creation from the beginning. I had nothing to do with the birth of the others."

"Ace? Luna?" They both looked at the now awake Stella. "Quid de illo?"

"Ah, whoops! Let me just fix that." Luna touched her horn to Stella's and both began to glow. She backed away and said, "Try now, Stella."

"What happened?" she said.

"Ace will explain it to you later," Luna said. Then she turned to Ace. "Let me know if there's anything else wrong with her." She glowed blue one last time, turning into the pegasus from before. Ace opened the door to let her out. She stopped in the doorway and added, "And if you ever want to stop by the castle, feel free. I could always use some extra company."

"I'll keep that in mind," Ace said. "Bye, Luna."

"Farewell, Ace." And with that, she flew away.

"So what did happen?" Stella asked again.

"Well..." Ace began.

***

Ace hadn't expected to see a flaming bird appear right in front of him. He also didn't expect it to drop a sword and scroll, then disappear into a burst of flames. The feather it left behind was exactly like the one when Luna sent her last letter, so he figured it was from her. The scroll only had a simple note on it.

"I forgot to bring this with me when I visited the other day. And while I'm at it, there might be something you're forgetting as well. If you really don't remember, just think of who first gave this blade to you."

Ace hadn't forgot, he was simply putting it off. He knew what she was referring to. It was Nighthawk's dying wish, to pass his final message on to Crescent. He'd kept her oblivious intentionally, as he knew they were close in the past. But he couldn't just ignore it. He put the sword under his wing and set off to find her.

As fate would have it, she was literally right around the corner. "Ooh, cool sword!" she said. "Where'd you get it?"

"About that..." Ace started. "It was Nighthawk's."

"Nighthawk? Do you mean...?"

"Yes, I do. He gave it to me before he died."

"He's... dead?" Crescent sat down.

"Yeah, and he wanted you to know something." Ace sat down beside Crescent. "He wanted you to know he's sorry. He's sorry for leaving your life. He saw himself as a monster, and he wanted to keep you safe by being as far away from you as he could."

Crescent couldn't hold it. In an instant, Ace found his neck to be the resting place of her head. He put a comforting hoof around her. After a few seconds, he transferred the sword to her back. She looked up, confused.

"I'm sure you'd be better suited to have this than me," Ace said. He stood up.

"Thanks, Ace," Crescent said.

"Don't mention it," he said, taking flight.

***

A few days had passed since Ace's return, and since then, he'd become accustomed to the normal life he had before. In all his time back, though, there was one thing that was bothering him. He wasn't sure what, but he felt one last thing needed to be done before life could truly go back to normal. He finally realized when he randomly passed by the problem on the street.

"Pepper!" He called to her. "They released you?"

"Yeah, I've been good to go since yesterday," she said.

"So what happened that put you in there, anyway?" Ace asked.

"It's a mystery. None of the doctors there could explain it. I just started coughing blood and I passed out. Thankfully Thunder found me and got help."

"You say you coughed blood and passed out?"

"Yeah, why?"

"That happened last time," Ace said.

"What do you mean?"

"You remember what happened at Canterlot the night of the perihelion, right? Well, when I told you what happened, I left one thing out. And that was that this is actually the third time. We went back immediately from the temple only to find that the perihelion was the earliest possible point in time we could go. From then, we went about a week trying to resume life as normal. Stella tried explaining the Epochust to you in a way that you would figure it out on your own, since we weren't supposed to directly tell you. That same thing happened, and you died from it."

"What? But how?" Pepper asked.

"I don't know. We assumed it was from the Epochust, just working backwards."

"There was another Peppermint that passed away the day I went in," Pepper said.

"Another..." Ace trailed off. "That would explain something. Then it was all just coincidence."

"Well, anyway, I was just on my way to see Cres. Wanna come?"

"Not this time," Ace said. "I need to find Stella now."

"Okay, I'll see you around then." At that, Pepper walked away. Ace thought about what she had just told him. One more mystery that would never be solved. Still, he just had to talk to Stella about it, see what she thought, before letting it go. He set off to find her.

The End