CHAPTER VII
“I- I don’t know what happened. One moment she was laying in bed, then she started sneezing! Ne- next thing I know, the roof is on fire!”
Celestia gave a worried frown, still maintaining her regal stature. Amethyst had just given birth to a unicorn filly, and now the scared mother is dealing with a sick unicorn with an excessive amount of built-up arcane energy.
“Oh dear, is everypony alright?” Celestia had reports from her guards of the incident already, but Amethyst needn’t know that. What the mare needed was some reassurance that she and her foal would be taken care of. That, and a little fake ignorance to build a compassionate and caring image. It wasn’t that Celestia didn’t care, but feigning ignorance came easily to the alicorn. It was almost an instinctual response now. When dealing with plenty of ponies that want to take advantage of you, and you can’t just sweep them under the rug, you must take every advantage you can get. And having your adversary underestimate you is quite the advantage, indeed.
“Everypony is fine.” Amethyst let out a shaky breath, trying to calm her nerves. “The guards arrived with water before the fire got too large, but what if Jewel does it again? My stallion is watching her right now, but I can’t keep her safe from herself. Is Jewel alright?” The panic was settling back in.
“I am not very knowledgeable in the field of medicine, but we do have some ponies here in the castle that-,”
“If I’m not mistaken,” a new voice interrupted. A mare with a purple coat. “It sounds like a sign of magic buildup. If I had to guess, there is some sort of blockage in your filly’s magical pathways. If so, a quick examination and plenty of bed rest should be enough. I could take a look at her if you wish.”
A disheveled unicorn mare strode past a line of petitioners, much to the ponies’ disapproval. Her purple coat was sticking out in many places, and deep navy blue mane looked disheveled. Heavy looking saddlebags rested at the mare’s side. Seeing the mare, Celestia’s eyes lit up, a small smile crossing her face.
“Clover, it is good to see you.”
“It is good to see you as well my lady,” Clover bowed slightly. “I answered your summons as soon as I could.”
Almost completely ignoring the fact that Clover was addressing the leader of her country, Amethyst crashed into Clover in a tearful hug.
“Thank you! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!” Amethyst was latched on to Clover, ignoring Clover’s grimy coat, tears streaming. Clover did not look too pleased to be crushed in the death grip of gratitude. Celestia giggled.
“Well, it seems like you have impeccable timing as always Clover. Ms. Amethyst.”
“Yes, your highness?”
“I’d like to invite you and your daughter to the castle on the morrow. We can have her looked at, and you may dine in the castle hall.” Amethyst opened her mouth to speak but was quickly cut off by Celestia with a wave of her hoof. “Please, I insist, that is if Clover is alright with it.”
“I’d be happy to,” Clover said, bowing her head.
“Splendid,” Celestia smiled, clapping her forehooves together. “now if you would excuse me, but I believe with Clover the Clever’s return, the two of us have very pressing matters that cannot wait. I fear I will have to end day court early.”
Several of the petitioners groaned in frustration, a few cried out in anger as they were escorted out by guards. Amethyst practically sprinted out of the throne room to go share the news with her family.
Once the throne room was clear of citizens, the door guards closed the two great doors, leaving Celestia, Clover, and a few guards in the main room. Celestia, on the other hoof, looked back over her shoulder as if she was addressing somepony behind her, but nopony was standing on the raised platform with the princess.
“Nicholas, if you would, take a guard and fetch William. I need both of you here.”
Clover heard the shuffling of… something behind the divider that separated the rear entrance to the throne room from prying eyes. It wasn’t hooves. Hooves made clicking sounds on the stone. This sounded like clothing shifting and the soft taps of non-equine footsteps. There was the sound of a door opening and quickly closing.
“Who is this Nik-oh-las?” Clover said, struggling with the pronunciation herself.
Celestia chuckled softly. “Oh Clover, you should prepare yourself for quite the surprise.”
-~xXXXx~-
Clover sat across from Celestia in the princess’s private dining room. Clover had been here so many times before since it was the favorite meeting place of the royal sisters. The usual teapot sat steaming on the table, filling the room with the familiar scent of rose petal tea. Celestia’s favorite. Normally in these sorts of circumstances, Clover would have liked to at least do her mane first, but she hadn’t even bathed since she had returned to the castle. Her stench must be rancid.
“So are you going to tell me now?” Clover asked, levitating her cup of tea to her mouth, taking a sip. It was refreshing to taste something other than water and trail rations.
“If I did, that would ruin the surprise,” Celestia said, a smirk growing on the alabaster alicorn’s muzzle.
“You know I can’t take the suspense.”
“Trust me, Clover, it will be worth it. Once our other two guests arrive, we can discuss what we require of you.”
Clover nodded but was groaning internally. She sometimes hated these games the princess liked to play. Although, seeing Celestia finding her own fun was comforting, at least slightly so. It reminded Clover that there was a pony behind the political mask. A mare she had been honored to call princess.
A moment later, a sharp knock against the door announced the entrance of one of the guards, his metal armor making a satisfying ‘shink’ sound as the guard stood at attention. Nicholas and William are here, as requested princess.”
From behind the guard, Clover expected to see some foreign dignitaries of a far off land. Names so strange couldn’t have originated from equestrian heritage. Turns out Clover was half right, as she watched two monstrously tall hairless apes wearing clothing that covered their torso, flank, and legs.
“Nicholas, William, meet Clover the Clever,” Celestia motioned to the awestruck unicorn sat on the opposite side of the table.
“Celestia, forgive me, but what in the name of Tartarus are those things!?”
At the sharp sting of Clover’s words, the creatures flinched slightly. Clover noticed that the creature with hair on its face and spectacles on the bridge of his nose would not look her in the eye. Could these creatures understand language?
“Excuse me Ms.” the ape with the strawberry hair glowered. “I’d like our first meeting with you to go smoothly. If you want to make Will here feel like an asshole for no reason, we can just go.”
Oh, so the thing could speak Equish too.
Wait, what?
“Come on Nick,” the creature whose name must have been Will spoke up, “So you’re Clover the Clever, right?”
Clover just blinked owlishly. Her mouth tried to form words for a second, then she turned to Celestia.
“Princess, did you slip something into my tea? If I’m not mistaken I just heard a very tall monkey speak.”
At being called a monkey, Will’s demeanor changed. Where he had once been slightly ashamed for frightening the pony, Will was now contemplating just how quickly he could get around the table and smack-a-bitch with his injured leg. Celestia seemed to sense this as the alicorn spread out a wing, making a barrier between the angry human and the scared unicorn.
“No, Clover, this is no hallucination,” Celestia explained. “I had hoped first impressions between the three of you would have gone smoother, but perhaps I had overestimated you, Clover.” The political mask Celestia couldn’t take off did nothing to hide the princess’s disappointment.
Clover eyed the two ape-like creatures. Starswirl had made notes about a race of creatures like these once, but Clover had never met one in person. Those same notes mentioned a mirror made of crystal. Despite her best efforts, Clover had never been able to find the mirror. She concluded it was either destroyed or forever lost in some far off land. The rest of those notes were destroyed when Master Starswirl had a bit of an accident and lit a portion of his study on fire. Most of the notes were recovered, but others would never be read again.
Dumbly, Clover looked at the two creatures standing above her. They were much taller than her, and it was rather intimidating. It took nearly all of her will to sit and not gallop out of the room screaming.
Her insatiable curiosity also helped quite a bit.
“So are you two extra-terrestrials, or extra-dimensionals of some sort?”
That seemed to take the two humans by surprise, as the comment seemed to lessen the fiery anger and they visibly relaxed. The one wearing spectacles, leaning on a long stick under one arm, shrugged slightly.
“The second one maybe.”
“And you speak our language?” Clover asked. Getting a pair of affirmative nods. Levitating a quill, ink, and roll of parchment out of her saddlebags, Clover’s ears swiveled into focus onto the two creatures. “Tell me everything.”
So they did. Over the next thirty minutes, Nick and Will recounted their first few weeks in Equestria. Well, Nick did most of the talking, with Will filling in some details here and there. To Nick’s frustration, Will seemed more focused on the floating quill as it scribbled notes without Clover looking at it. In fact, her eyes never left the two humans.
Celestia was content to sit back and watch the exchange unfold. When the conversation became the sharing of information for academic purposes, emotions seemed to be dulled. The fear and anger that permeated the room had wafted away as if it was blown away by the draft from an open window.
When they had recounted everything up until Will had woken up in the castle, Clover had them start all over, going over some details in more scrutiny while skipping others entirely. Apparently, those bits were not worth listening to a second time. When Clover moved on to a separate sheet of parchment and took a sip of her tea, she paused thoughtfully.
“Celestia? When we were in the throne room you said you had something that would require my expertise. A task that involved these two. What do you require of me?”
Being brought back into the conversation, Celestia shifted slightly. “Well, I figured since you studied under Starswirl more closely than either Luna or I, you would be better suited for the problem at hand.”
“And that would be?” Clover asked.
“Getting William and Nicholas home, of course.” Celestia’s tone was curt and direct.
Clover couldn’t help but let out a snort.
“What’s so funny?” Nick asked.
Clover shook her head slightly. “Oh, nothing. Just that the ruler of my country just requested me to discover the means for inter-dimensional travel.”
“And that is funny, because?”
“It’s not funny,” Clover sighed. “It has just never been done. I don’t even know where to sta-”
Clover stopped mid-sentence, eyes widening. All the eyes in the room turned to the bookish unicorn as she nearly dove into her own saddlebags. A moment later she sat back up, a piece of parchment in her telekinetic grasp. As she read through the notes, she spoke.
“What did you say was the last thing you saw before the metal carriage was sent flying off of the bridge?”
“A flash of purple light,” Will answered. “Why?”
“I’m getting to that,” Clover waved a hoof dismissively. “And Nicholas, how long ago was the accident?”
Nick thought about it for a short moment.
“A little over three weeks now I believe. It’s not like this place has any written calendars.”
Despite have a thick purple coat to hide her skin underneath, Clover looked pale.
Celestia looked concerned. “Clover? What’s wrong.”
Clover gulped nervously. She didn’t want to say it, not in front of the humans. William was so easy to anger, and Clover didn’t want to have to defend herself. It would be an easy fight if William lashed out, but Clover didn’t want to hurt him.
“I- um…” Clover tried to speak.
Now or never, Clover.
“Out with it,” Nicholas said sharply. Normally, Clover would have taken that as hostility. But she understood why Nicholas was aggravated. It looked like Clover was stalling, and he didn’t trust her. Clover understood that.
Clover breathed in… then out.
“I think I may be the reason you two are here.”
The comment was met with a near-maddeningly long silence.