“Ow! Offer mercy. The pain is relentless.” Clover moaned as Twilight tried to put ice on her blush-red forehead. Fluttershy has left, she said she couldn’t be around her, for both their sakes. Night had already befallen Ponyville, so Twilight wanted to escort her to the library. She was just leaving before Clover had awoken.
“I’m sorry,” Twilight said calmly. “You need to hold this ice pack on your head to heal.”
“Must it weigh a thousand hammers to relieve me for even a day?”
“It’s better than living with it for longer.”
“Continuing, I commend thee for thine efforts, removing Fluttershy, the wench. Has she no honor, no dignity, to attack me in that manner, striking me and as if to boast for all eternity, shatter the frame my mirror once rested in? It is irreparable. No magic, not even the absolute deities whom we worship, whose power has no equal, may return it.”
“There has to be some way. Fluttershy needs to get home, and…”
“Lay her body to rest, she will not have empathy from me. I refuse to give her the light of a new day, when she can suffer just as easily the seven nights of silent torture. If her desire was to return, she had no purpose to come here. Why then, must she come and be my burden?”
“It wasn’t just the mirror,” Twilight explained. “She told you what she wanted. She wanted the old Sunset back.”
“There is no “Old Sunset”, only Sunset and Clover. I am Clover, Sunset is a figment, a ruse of unbridled weakness and shrill disappointment.”
“What do you have against Sunset?”
“Nothing, and yet everything. If she exists, then a thousand years will befall me once more; however it will not be so. For she does not exist, thus the only inhabitant of this body, of this life, of every iota of memory and soul, is Clover.”
Clover leaned her head back, amusing herself in the release of pain she is experiencing. Somewhere, she could feel a sting in her head that refused to give way, but she ignored it, assuming it was part of the kick Fluttershy so rudely inflicted upon her.
Twilight looked at her with curiosity and distrust. She didn’t feel it necessary to give her a parting as she continued outside and go with Fluttershy to the library. Fluttershy seemed calm, a little on edge, but calm. She waited until they were outside before she spoke. The cold half-night chilled them as they trotted. Fluttershy looked scared, not from the cold or the night, but the fear of saying something she will regret.
“I’m sorry I lashed out like that. I don’t know what came over me… no, I do. I hate her. She has no right to just steal Sunset from me. Did she even consider what type of life Sunset had before. I mean, Sunset never hated anyone. She was controlling, but even then she had a soft spot. Remember, Twilight, you were standing up for me in the hallway when Sunset had slammed me into the lockers? Sunset wasn’t angry at me any more than she was mad at herself; she needed someone to tell her that. She hated herself because she felt like scum for walking out on Princess Celestia, and she felt even worse for making me feel that way when she yelled at me.”
Twilight watched as her kind, soft face started shifting like the wind that crossed through the streets. Ponies ll around them started disappearing more and more as night grew closer. Fluttershy looked up to see the stars come into view, feeling a striking pain in her heart.
“I was the only one who was there for her,” she continued. “Every time she wasn’t hanging out with Rainbow Dash or Rarity, or even Pinkie Pie, they always teased her and acted like they didn’t trust her. It hurts to feel betrayed, and Sunset was so close to leaving everything behind until I gave her hope. I always took her to the animal shelter so she can be with me as long as possible. She even walked me home. Twilight, do you have any idea what this feels like: to love someone so much that, under any circumstance, you would protect them? Even if it meant giving your life instead of theirs? Even if it meant spending every waking moment in a place you never dreamed existed? I love her that much. I have no idea how to get back to my world, but I refuse to go back without her.”
“I understand, Fluttershy.” Twilight answered softly, “But I want to know how she’s even still alive. I read every book about the history of Equestria. The last story about Clover, The Clever, was in the book about the sirens. Star Swirl locked them away, but Clover disappeared. Everyone thought she was a victim and had a funeral and everything. Sunset said she recalled something like that, right. Rainbow even said that she was once friends with the sirens, and now come to find out they were the founders of Equestria: Princess Platinum, Chancellor Puddinghead, and Commander Hurricane. Each of them were revered for the challenges they overcame. Puddinghead found soil for a new harvest, Commander Hurricane rationed clouds from other nations when our cloud factory stopped working, and Princess Platinum helped rebalance the economy after it shattered almost irreparably. What happened after that, though, that would make them become monsters?”
“Twilight?”
“Yeah, Fluttershy?” Twilight replied, looking around to notice that they had arrived at the library. The towering monument to every book imaginable, or at least in theory.
“I didn’t want to say anything in front of Clover.”
“What is it?”
“Umm… I think we should just go inside. I don’t know how to say it nicely.”
“You can trust me, Fluttershy. What’s wrong?”
“You’ll understand. Just… Come on.”
Twilight followed her into the library. It was dimly lit and there was a strange feeling in the room, like something was hiding and was staring her down through cold, soft eyes. Almost like a ghost had sent a dark shiver down her spine, she trembled as she ascended the stairs to the higher level. She scoured the shelves for an answer to the question that haunts her as it does Fluttershy. Who is Clover? Why is she not the pony history had written her as? Is Sunset able to be saved?
Fluttershy came up the stairs later, following behind Twilight’s running. Twilight was already at the other end of the shelves, upon the ladder to reach a book that might be her answer. She saw Fluttershy and made her way down. Fluttershy looked nervous, anxious to reveal something painful.
“Twilight?”
“What is it, Fluttershy? You’ve been wanting to say something ever since we left. What is it? I want to know.”
Fluttershy hid herself in her hair, but realized it was no time to be shy. She needed to stand up and stare Twilight in the eyes. Twilight stood back at the sudden shift in her posture. If it was anything like the pony Fluttershy, when she stands up for something, it is something she has a desire to do.
“How much do you want to save Sunset?”
“Fluttershy, I want her back just as much as you do.”
“How much do you want to save Clover?”
“Fluttershy… I don’t want to see either get hurt.”
“I really don’t, either. Are you willing to risk it?”
“No. I’m not.”
Fluttershy was quiet. She closed her eyes for a moment, before she spoke.
“Do you trust me?”
“Yes, Fluttershy. Of course!”
Fluttershy sighed. “Do you trust them?”
From behind her, three dark shadows emerged, each significantly larger than the mares. Twilight recognized them immediately and slammed herself against the shelves. They approached the floor and as they did, the impression of a jewel was exposed on their chests. Twilight was scared.
“Well, Twilight?” Adagio asked.
Aria finished, “Do you trust us?”
Twilight was shocked not just at the creatures in front of her, whom she had vanquished once before, but that Fluttershy of all mares was standing with them.
“You know I stand up for what’s right,” Fluttershy said to Twilight. “Clover did this to them. She stole Sunset from me, and I won’t go home until everything is back to normal.”
“Fluttershy…” Twilight started towards her. “Even if you do save them, and even if you can free Sunset, you know inside that things will never be normal. The mirror is broken. Clover said it’s irreparable. There is no way for our Fluttershy to go home.”
“I won’t accept that,” Fluttershy argued passionately. “Sunset told me that she built the portal using the broken glass, she also used The Elements of Harmony, like you did to get back here in the first place after you took both books through the portal. I know, it was a mistake, but it proves there is always more than one way.”
“Elements of Harmony?” Sonata asked. “What are they?”
“No. I won’t say anything. If you want to do this, Fluttershy, do it alone. I can’t help you, not how you’re acting. I want Sunset too, but I can’t risk losing my friends in the process. Goodbye.”
Twilight tried to leave through the large doors she entered through, but Adagio blocked her way, stopping her from leaving. Twilight saw the other two had found a way to block her from all sides. Fluttershy walked down to plead with her.
“Please, Twilight. Why won’t you help us? We’ve all been wronged by Clover.”
“How can I help these sirens, when all they’ve done is destroy our lives. They were bad when Clover was alive, and they were bad when they hypnotized the entire school. I should be commending Clover for saving Equestria.”
“Twilight,” Adagio’s voice rose up to call Twilight’s attention. “You should know our motivations, before jumping to such a low conclusion. Even Sunset gave us a chance to explain ourselves. Those amulets you saw us wearing were why we did what we did. Clover was controlling us from the very beginning.“
One day, when we were friends, Clover called all three of us into the antechamber of the Royal Castle. She said she had a gift for us, some shiny gems. Princess Platinum couldn’t resist the temptation. The rest of us thought it was a nice gift. Then, she showed us this strange snake, deer, antelope thing, and with a snap of his claw he changed us into what you now behold before you. Clover also imbued her life, her energy, her spirit, into the gems that had melded into our bodies.
Like a single mind controlling three bodies, she seeked to control. She wanted to prove she was powerful and that she deserved to be remembered. Star Swirl must’ve found her Crystal Mirror, which he used to lock us away, Clover too. I don’t think he even knew what he had done, sealing away his pride and joy, his successor. She wasn’t his daughter, but it almost felt like it, he would tell me. All the while Clover was controlling us, we could feel her passion, her hatred, her desire to control and to be idolized.
“I want you to know, Twilight, that we don’t want to make people adore us. We just want to be free. We just want to return to the past and take our rightful place in the empty graves where our names were inscribed on the tombstone. Is that too much to ask?”
Twilight looked down at the ground. She was deep in thought, piecing together the story and watching everything fall perfectly in alignment. How foolish, she thought, to believe something without hearing the full story. She was angry at herself for that. One question bothered her.
“Then how did Clover get inside Sunset?”
Aria flew down to the calmed Twilight to answer her.
“Clover was erupting with hatred when you refused to bow to her, refused to let her be remembered, and even destroyed the spell she had casted on the students. You were on her list of people she was willing to murder. She had no remorse, no empathy for the safety of any of your friends. She used every ounce of her magic to make us use our siren magic to destroy you once and for all. You were destined to be eradicated, she believed. She never expected your friendship to overpower the most powerful magic she could muster. She didn’t give up, though. That blast of pure magic was the perfect medium for her to transfer herself. She knew without a doubt that the power of that blast was only because of Sunset. It had to be her to be her source of absolute power. I don’t know what happened after that. Sunset looked like she was unaffected by Clover’s power, or Clover had used so much of her magic, she needed to rest. She is only a spirit, pure magic creating her and maintaining her existence.”
“She never wanted friendship,” Fluttershy said abruptly. “Clover, The Clever, is a monster, deserving of no better a treatment than how these poor ponies were after she made them sirens.”
“She wanted to destroy me… and…” Twilight’s eyes bolted open in absolute horror. It was impossible, she thought, that a mare with so much magic and power could… “we have to get back to the castle. They’re still there! Clover is gonna…”
Fluttershy knew what Twilight was thinking and they both rushed into the sudden night with a mutual feeling that what was about to happen was beyond anything they could have imagined.