//------------------------------//
// Over One Thousand Years Ago: Clover 
// Story: The Pony, the Sphinx, and the Immortal 
// by HapHazred 
//------------------------------//

The snow fell slowly, as if gravity was an afterthought this deep in Winter. Clover wrapped herself in her cloak, staving off the chill as she searched. She had been following rumours for weeks. In fact, when she had first gained tangible information about a pony with the wings of a pegasus and horn of a unicorn.

The mountains of Equestria were tall and jagged, like a row a knives, or teeth. Clover pulled out a small map to try and find her way. What she would have given to travel with Smart Cookie. The Earth pony always had a strong sense of direction.

Clover felt a shiver travel up and down her spine, and it wasn’t due to the cold. She turned around, trying to see what it was sending alarm bells ring in her mind. The mountains were as empty as ever.

She breathed out. Probably a mountain lion. Nothing she couldn’t handle with a well-placed spell. She was nowhere near as experienced as her master, but she could manage a decent fireball in a pinch.

She continued up the winding mountain track, getting closer and closer to the peak.

Whatever was following her had better like the cold.





Rising above the clouds, Clover emerged onto the pristine white snow of the summit. She allowed herself a moment to breathe. It had been a long climb, filled with furtive glances behind her.

But that ascent was over now. Her destination had been achieved.

She ploughed through the snow, knee deep in white. There were no hoofprints around her, either because the previous snowfall had been recent, or because whatever lived up here didn’t bother walking. Clover hoped it was the latter, and since snow rarely fell on the very top of the mountain, she doubted it was the former.

The sun hung in the sky above her, but it didn’t seem to provide much warmth. Only light. 

“What brings you here?”

Clover froze. The voice was big and clear. It commanded respect. A large shadow fell over her, blocking out the sun.

Clover’s eyes widened. Yes, she thought. She could make out huge, magnificent wings. She could see a long, elegant horn. The white coat of the pony hovering above her was as white as the snow she stood on.

“My name is Clover,” Clover said. “I’m actually here to say hello.”

“Mine is Celestia,” the huge alicorn said. “This is our home.”

Clover smiled, letting her success wash over her like a calming wave. She removed her hood, and beamed at Celestia. 

“I don’t suppose you have someplace a little warmer you live in? I’m afraid I can’t feel my hooves.”





Not one alicorn, Clover thought as she warmed herself next to the fire, but two. This was exceptional. Clover had, of course, heard of alicorns, but they were a rarity. Starswirl had done plenty of research on them whilst his library still stood.

“Who are you?” said the darker alicorn, named Luna.

Clover smiled, the wrinkles under her eyes creasing. “I’m a magician,” she said. “And a scholar. I come from Equestria.”

“As do we.”

“Yet you haven’t made yourself known to Equestria or its ponies,” Clover pointed out, rubbing her hooves together. “You seem to like the solitude.”

Celestia nodded. “We like being close to the sun and stars.”

“There’s a bigger mountain near the small town of Canterlot.”

“We also prefer the quiet.”

Clover chuckled. “A wise choice. Ponies can make a fair amount of noise.”

“How did you hear of us?” Luna asked, eyeing Clover suspiciously. “We have not been careless.”

“Oh, you haven’t. Still, all it takes are a few rumours, when you have an idea of what you’re looking for,” Clover said. “To somepony who didn’t know she was looking for an alicorn who could command the sun, stories of blinding lights and large hoofprints would sound like a mountainclimber got snowblinded and thought he saw a yeti. To me, however…” Clover smiled. “My master told me of you.”

“Your master?”

“Former master, I suppose. I’m quite old myself, now, as you can see. His name was Starswirl.”

“We have heard of that name.”

“He’s still kicking around somewhere, although I reckon he likes the solitude even more than you do,” Clover said. She became serious. “He spent many years waiting for you.”

Celestia raised her eyebrow. 

“Waiting?” Luna asked.

“Starswirl has the uncanny ability to know when things happen before they do,” Clover said. “He heard of you before you two were born, believe it or not.”

“I’m sceptical.”

“There is, however, something out there that is also out looking for you,” Clover said. “That’s actually why I’m here. Starswirl wants to give you a warning.”

Celestia and Luna smirked. “We do not take kindly to threats.”

“It’s not a threat. Just a precaution you should take,” Clover said. The two alicorns were more untrusting than she had expected, but then again, why else would they live on the very peak of a mountain? “There’s something that seeks to use you for its own ends. Starswirl… he never made it clear exactly what it was it wanted… I don’t think he liked remembering it… but he always wished he could talk to you about a monster, older than anything he had ever seen, that wanted nothing more than to find you, Celestia.”

Celestia’s wings twitched.

“Whatever it is is welcome to try,” she said. 

Clover frowned. 

“I should mention that Starswirl was never intimidated by much,” she said. “If he took this monster seriously, you should too.”

“Well, tell us about this ‘monster’,” Luna said. “What can it do?”

“It has thousands of years worth of magical knowledge, for starters.”

Celestia’s horn flashed.

“That may be so,” she said, as the heat began to rise inside the little house. “But what, exactly, can it do against two alicorns who can command the power of the sun, the stars, and the moon?”

Clover began to sweat. The snow that was accumulating on the windows began to melt. Luna put her hoof on Celestia’s shoulder.

“It is unseemly to show off,” Luna said. 

The heat died down.

“My point is,” Celestia said, “I’m not afraid of any ‘monster’.”

Clover breathed out. She was getting too old for this.

“Be that as it may,” she said, “I wanted to tell you my master’s warning. I think it’s rather up to you whether you believe me or not.” She became quickly serious. “I’m the sort who would rather make friends than enemies, but still: don’t trust him.”

Celestia, thoughtful, looked out the window. “I will keep your warning in mind,” she said. “And I will remember it.”





Days later, when Clover had the heart to face the cold and snow once again, she left the little house on the mountaintop and began her long descent back into civilized lands.

The icy peak was unforgiving, but thankfully Clover had what little magic she knew to keep her warm. She pulled her cloak in close to stave off the wind, but it seemed to pass straight through the threads as if they weren’t even there.

She couldn’t wait to get back home.

A shiver ran up her spine. Clover’s mouth curled into a scowl.

Her horn flashed.

“Who’s there?” she growled. “I don’t want to fight, but I will melt this mountain down if I have to!”

She looked around. She couldn’t see anything through the snow.

“Rather quick to anger, aren’t we?” came a voice.

Clover grit her teeth.

“I know of you well,” she growled. “Starswirl mentioned you many times.”

“I know. I thought we were friends.”

“He said you didn’t know what ‘friends’ were,” Clover said. “Only tools and obstacles.”

“Semantics.”

Clover’s horn lit up, and a wave of fire lit up the snowy mountainside. “They are not semantics! They are why you cannot and must not be trusted!”

A shadow flashed on Clover’s peripheral vision. The fire cascaded into the snow, kicking up a rising steamcloud.

“Did your master mention how fast I was?” Zerephonzidas said, now inches away from Clover’s face. His one good eye bored into her skull like a drill. His presence made every instinct Clover had scream and bawl. 

Pop.

“He did,” Clover said, now twenty yards away. “That’s why I made a point of learning teleportation.”

Zerephonzidas rose to his full height.

What a monster, Clover thought. He was bigger than the alicorns and faster than a cheetah. He was as strong as a dragon and as smart as a scholar. He could run rings around a regular pony whilst lecturing them on what they were doing wrong.

Starswirl had only realised the danger he had been in around the sphinx only after he had given him the knowledge he had needed. Starswirl had never regretted his time in the library. He only accepted that now, Zerephonzidas was a force to stop.

As Starswirl’s student, that responsibility fell to Clover.

A snowflake landed in Clover’s eye.

In a flash, Zerephonzidas was on her. 

Pop.

“Goodness, what an irritating skill to have learned,” Zerephonzidas muttered.

“You won’t get Celestia today,” Clover growled, and fired a large ball of fire straight at Zerephonzidas.

The sphinx ducked as if it were a lazily tossed tennis ball. 

“I’m not after them today,” he said. “I’m not after them tomorrow. I’m a very patient sphinx. In the end, you can throw all the fireballs you want, but the weapon that will kill you isn’t my claws or my teeth, but time itself.”

Pop.

Another fireball. Clover knew Zerephonzidas would dodge it, but it was more to make a point anyhow.

“Stay away from them. They’re not yours.”

“They’re not ready for me yet,” Zerephonzidas said. “I need to wait until, oh, eighty-something years?”

“Get off this mountain.”

“After you.”





Celestia sat on top of her mountain, pondering a map Clover had given her before leaving. A tool, the old magician had said. 

Luna looked over the horizon.

“It’s fitting Clover arrived when she did,” Luna said. “I was looking into the stars and saw… oddities.”

“Oh?” Celestia asked.

“Yes. They spoke of an ancient being sowing disharmony where he went,” Luna went on. “It seems Clover’s villain was closer than she anticipated. He will be arriving in Equestria soon, and we are perhaps the only ponies strong enough to defeat him.”

Celestia frowned. “Almost too convenient,” she said. “What is his name?”

“His name, the stars say, is Discord. If he vanquishes us, his reign will be long and terrible.”

Celestia held up the map. “Isn’t it helpful, then,” she said, “That Clover has given us directions to a tool that can stop him?”

Luna looked over at the map. “Where does this lead to?”

“Something called a ‘tree of Harmony,” Celestia said. She looked at Luna. “Perhaps it is time we descended our mountain, sister.”





Stumbling from the snow, Clover held her side. Zerephonzidas had a mean swipe to him, and Clover pondered that the cold had perhaps saved her life, stopping the bleeding from being too profuse.

Where the sphinx was now, Clover didn’t know. It would take more than mere teleportation to defeat him, she thought. It would take far more bravery than she could muster.

She examined her injury. It was monstrous. Her coat was torn and bruised by the trauma. She grit her teeth. Teleportation was good for an escape, at least.

She felt a familiar sensation of dread. She looked behind her.

Although his body was hidden by the falling snow, Clover could make out the single yellow eye that stared at her. 

Fighting was no longer an option. Truth be told, it never had been.

Clover’s horn flickered to life.

Pop.