//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: Ancient Twilight // by demonbaker //------------------------------// "No." The crackle of the fire is the only sound that accompanies Time's declaration. The deity reclines in her chair and summons a small tea set fit for two, going about making a fresh batch while Clover simply stares at her in shock. A door slammed shut in her face before she could even fully realize the knowledge that resides on the other side. Clover regains her composure when the tea is about halfway done. "What do you mean no? I have plenty of experience learning from masters of magic. I-" Time stops her by holding up a single hoof. "Spare me the spiel, I am not a teacher, I haven't been for a long time. And besides." Time's gaze narrows as she looks Clover up and down. "Your soul is that of the Light, while mine dwells between both light and darkness. It would not be agreeable for you to learn everything I can teach... I Apologize if this is insensitive, but you won't even live long enough to learn even a fraction of what I know anyway." Pointing a hoof a the blue tome Clover is holding Time continues "The single grimoire you now possess will take an average pony their entire lives to learn, be happy with at least that much." When the tea kettle begins to whistle Time pours a few cups of the liquid and stirs some sugar into it with a thought, taking a sip before continuing. "You have but a finite amount of time. That tome will take all of your remaining years to master. What makes you think you could master this" Raising a hoof a glowing orange light forms above Time and begins to climb into the tower. Row after row after row of Grimoires line the outer walls of the tower, stretching high above them. When time returns her gaze to Clover, instead of the disheartened pony she was expecting, she finds a determined gaze set upon Time's teacup. Her gaze changing from the moving spoon to Times horn, to the light glowing above their heads and back. Crap. "How did you do that? I've yet to see your horn light up once when performing magic." Clover's determined gaze is boring into Time's eyes. "Can anypony learn to do that?" Only now does the resemblance between Time and Clover become apparent to the alicorn. The determination to get what she wants, the drive to seek knowledge heedless of the risks. Even the ignoring of problems that get in the way of knowledge. Such as Time's previous denial of teaching Clover anything. All that is forgotten when something new is discovered Honestly, Time's beginning to wonder of Celestia made her play as Clover in that play for a good reason. Bringing her focus back to the question at hoof Time sighs. On one side, it's not exactly a secret of magic, anypony looking at the right things could notice it. On the other hoof...this knowledge is extremely dangerous as it can blow out your bodies mana flow. Not to mention the advantage it gives to the magic user. Seeing that her tea done Time takes a small sip. "The short answer is 'yes', but my refusal still stands." Clover's gaze is just as determined as before. "Well, why the buck not! I'm more than qualified, I can tackle anything you send at me." Time almost misses being that naive. Almost. Floating the teacup back to its saucer Time looks at Clover sternly. "What if I asked you to destroy yourself?" Clover flinches at that but continues staring defiantly at Time. "What if I sent you to end the suffering of someone who trapped themselves in a time loop?" Clover's expression wavers at the thought of ending someponys life. Seeing a way to nip this in the bud Time presses on. "Could you watch with me as a small village starves to death? Could you witness me Kill some foals parents because that foal eventually comes back in time to save them? My role is not pretty Clover the clever, but it is necessary." Gesturing toward the shelves at the top with the black tomes Time presses on. "I am not a good pony. I do whatever is asked of me to preserve time. If that means I have to kill you and every one of your friends to set history on the right course I would not hesitate." Clover's eyes widen in shock, seeing the cold, determined look in Time's eyes she knows with absolute certainty that the alicorn is not bluffing. Thinking about ending another ponies life for the sake of the Timeline fills Clover with dread, and seeing Time's expression is obvious it happened before. Her mind balks at the idea of seriously ending another life. Clover's ears droop as the fight rushes out of her. Opening her mouth to agree that Time is correct a thought strikes her with such intensity she is stunned. Unbidden the Scales that Time showed her move to the front of her mind. She can't teach me because I'm of the light Time's words echo inside Clover's head. What if I ask you to destroy yourself? The golden scales of harmony shine in her mind's eye. Her gaze moving up to the top of the tower locking onto the section of dark tomes. Darkness is a necessary part of Harmony. Her eyes shift to the glowing orb of light hanging above them. But so is Light. Neither can exist without the other. Gasping for air as the pain in her chest grows stronger, a faint glow coming from her as she feels the pain moving through her body, spreading like vines inside her body. Instead of Shrinking away from the dark thoughts, Clover embraces them, making them part of herself. Destroy yourself The last thing she sees before she passes out is her color leaving her body and a purple alicorn moving toward her to catch her as her world is consumed by darkness. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Looking down at the unicorn Time heaves a heavy sigh, casting a quick arcane sight spell her eyes glow a white color as she traces the flow of magic inside Clover's body. Seeing the presence of Dark magic slowly spreading through a system that was dominated by Light up until a few moments ago confirms her fears. "Stupid stupid stupid stupid" Stomping her hoof with enough force to crack the bottom of her spire Time works quickly. Focusing and touching a hoof to the fevered ponies forehead she does what she hasn't done to any mortal in a long time. It isn't elegant, She simply forces the pony outside of time, effectively removing the effects of aging from the pony. There are many reasons Time doesn't do this often. Mainly because if mortals knew she could make them ageless she would be pestered nonstop to make ponies 'immortal' It's happened before. Eventually, Time pulls them to one of her spare planets, laying the unicorn on a soft bed and sighing watching as the pony tosses and turns in pain. Time expected many things from Clover. A shift wasn't among them. "You really continue to surprise me. I haven't seen a mortal of your caliber in a very long time. I probably should have looked harder at those ponies right in front of me." Taking a seat in a nearby chair, she resolves to wait. Many things await clover when she finishes this process. If she doesn't succumb to the darkness inside her first. A few hours later The changes to Clover's body are becoming more pronounced. Her color is now grey, streaks of green mist are coming from her eyes as the magic in her body is at war with itself. Chaos's method of corrupting ponies is simple but effective. this process is similar to what she's going through. Except in his case, he just destabilizes the ponies soul to force the change upon someone who isn't prepared. Clover triggered this change all on her own, whether she's ready for it or not is the important question. A few minutes later Clover Slowly fights her way to consciousness and looks around, seeing Time seated nearby she forces herself to speak, though it takes her several tries before she manages to make anything above a whisper. "What...Is...happening." Looking over Clover's body Time see's that the process is only just beginning. "You triggered a Shift." Raising a hoof into the air Time draws a glowing outline of a pony, filling the inside with lines. The final image is that of a unicorn with a glowing white orb in the center surrounded by streaks of white light that moves through the entire body, focusing on the horn. "A ponies magic stems from their soul, and a soul is...'colored' by a ponies thoughts and convictions." Seeing Clover's Green eyes locked on the image of the pony Time continues. "This means that if your convictions or morals are changed, so does your soul." The White orb inside the image slowly turns red, then black, the flows of white light darkening and becoming tinted green. "Any number of reasons could corrupt a ponies convictions and let them give in to Darkness. A loss of a loved one, witnessing a gruesome crime, etcetera. When this happens their soul fills their body with dark magic, triggering a number of changes." Dispelling the image of the pony Time points at Clover. "Right now your body is fighting a war between Light and Dark magic. Your soul is teetering on the brink between the two. You must resist the call of the Dark magic trying to take over." Time pauses to look at clover, Violet eyes locking onto the green ones. "You have to accept that Darkness is a part of your soul. Acknowledge it, but give it no power over you. If you succeed in balancing out the two types of magic inside you, the result is you will be a being that stands between good and evil. Should you fail, it will be the end of you." Observing Clover as she goes through the various changes caused by her shift Time silently takes notes. If things go poorly She may have to kill the young pony. Time is already dealing with Chaos toying with the strings of harmony like a bad harp player. She's not dealing with another Dark pony like Sombra. Things look bleak in the near future for the foundling Equestria that Clover put into motion. Ugh, Time isn't looking forward to taking Clovers place to keep history on the right track, that's a century or two of constant work. Slowly Clover's changes begin to complete, A shift in the flow of magic is occurring. The dark magic flowing through her system is being absorbed instead of rejected. Finding a balance and merging with the light to form something that is neither fully dark or wholly pure. Good, instead of rejecting her inner darkness, she accepted it's a part of her, That's an important step. Now that her magic is no longer at war with itself the physical changes brought upon by the new type of magic begin to occur. Time probably should have warned her that different types of magic change a pony in different ways. Clover's horn grows a bit longer and becomes slightly sharper. Her small frame Thickening up a little bit as more muscle builds upon her. becoming a bit tougher as well. Documenting the slow changes to Clover as the hours pass is interesting in its own right and when the changes finally stop and Clover seems to be simply sleeping Time is going over the many pages of new notes on this process she has obtained. She learned a great deal. She is so engrossed in reviewing her notes Time doesn't immediately notice that Clover has regained consciousness and is attempting to rise from her bed, much to the protests of her body which is still adjusting to the changes it went through. "Where am I?" The voice cuts through the silence and makes Time lose focus for a moment, nearly dropping a dozen scrolls of parchment she has floating about her before she recollects herself. Looking to an awake Clover Time replies. "One of my spare planets I keep just in case I want to relax. It doesn't compare to Celestia's and Luna's work though." Time sighs. "I never did have the eye for art or beauty that the sisters possess." Curious Clover climbs down from the bed and trots to the door and tries to slowly open it. The door is so much lighter than she was expecting that she ends up ripping it off of its hinges with a loud snap. Looking in shock at the floating piece of wood in her magic she is slow to notice that Time is behind her. "Your magic is a mixture of Dark and Light now. You got a small power boost from the dark magic you absorbed. It will take some time to learn proper control again." Before clover could say anything in apology she is herded outside the small cottage and Time absently rips the door from her magic so forcefully she's left with a minor magical backlash. When she recovers she sees the door slowly rewinding in time to fit perfectly in its frame. Finishing repairing the door Time looks at Clover and gives a small smile. "First things first, Clover the Clever" Time looks at the grey unicorn with a serious expression. "You can now become my apprentice."