//------------------------------//
// The Stallion Who Leapt Through Time 
// Story: Family Reunion 
// by MisterEdd 
//------------------------------//

Both ponies gaped at the stallion and he in turn stared at them as if they were mad.

"Doth thou speak the Common Tongue?" 

"Urm, der, aherm…" Starlight stammered before slapping herself. "Are you...Clover the Clever?"

The stallion flipped his hood over. He seemed to be middle-aged though his round cheeks and freckle-clustered face gave him the appearance of being coltish. His eyes were those of an older stallion, one that had seen incredible stress and hardships and combined with his young-looking face, gave him a paradoxical visage that almost bordered on the comedic.     Short, shaggy chestnut-brown hair made up his mane and a tuft of white fur dominated his chest.     

"I was ne'er fond of that particular designation but yet aye, Clover the Clever I am."  

"Starlight...I'm two seconds away from geeking out," Sunburst murmured out of the side of his mouth. 

"I might just beat you to it," Starlight murmured in kind. She then cleared her throat. "Greetings! My name is Starlight Glimmer and let me be the first to welcome you to the future!" 

Clover stared around at his surroundings. "The future, thou say? Say to me, how far along am I?" 

"A thousand years, to be precise!"

"A thou-..." Clover paused in mid-sentence. He approached Starlight and she realized that he stood a foot taller than the average pony, with longer limbs and a slimmer body. "Surely thou jest!" 

"Actually, M-mister the Clever, Starlight is being completely serious. You have, in fact, traveled a thousand years forward in your time."

Clover looked Sunburst over nonchalantly. "And who be yea? Her husband, I presume?" 

"'Husband'?!" The two shouted and looked at one another.

"Me and her...?"

"Oh no, tha-that's crazy!" 

"I mean, we've never even been on a date!"

"We're just friends and-..."

"Enough!"

Both ponies promptly shut their mouths. When Clover the Clever spoke, you bet your bottom bit you closed your pie-hole and listened. He circled them for a closer inspection and then analyzed the conjurer's ring. 

"Thou both claim to hast brought me hither and that a millennium hath passed?" 

"Y-yes...?" Starlight was feeling very nervous. 

"For what intent, may I bid?"

"You see, I recently discovered that you're my ancestor and I wanted to meet you."

Clover halted, his eyes popping open with surprise. "Verily, is that so? Thou...thou are mine issue, my own scion?" 

Starlight nodded happily. "Yes, that's how the spell was able to work." 

Silence overtook Clover as he digested the news. He was quiet for so long that Starlight was getting incredibly anxious. Finally, the stallion nodded pleasantly and bowed his head. "Most well then! Starlight Glimmer, it is a pleasure and an honor to meet thou!" 

"Please, the honor's all mine! Oh, and this is my best friend Sunburst!" 

"Hi. It's really amazing to meet you."

Clover seized Sunburst's hoof and clasped him on the shoulder. "And thou as well, Sir Sunburst! Any suitor of mine blood is kin to me as well!" 

"'S-suitor'! Wait, I think there's been a mix-up-..."

All three turned as the door was thrown open and Twilight came cheerfully galloping in before freezing in place. 

"Um...what did I miss?"

Clover's horn glowed orange-gold. "Who art thou whom so brazenly enters the chambers of mine lady kin? Begone wench!" 

"Actually Clover, this is Princess Twilight Sparkle, the owner of this castle."

Immediately the stallion knelt before Twilight, his hoof lightly holding one of her's. 

"Forgive me, Thy Highness, for mine ignorance. I am thine servant."  

"Erm, thank you?" Twilight then looked at Starlight. "What's going on?" 

Starlight chuckled nervously. "Right. Twilight, this is Clover the Clever." 

"'Clov-...'" Her head jerked from Starlight to Clover. "Clover the Clever? The actual Clover the Clever?!"  

"Clover the Clever I am, Thy Highness. I be amazed at the longevity of mine discretion!"    

"Erm, a-arise, Sir Clover!" Twilight then peered reproachfully at the other two. "Could you please leave the room? I need to have a private discussion with these two." 

"Please, Thy Highness. Merely say the word and I shall obey." 

Twilight waited until Clover left before turning to Starlight and Sunburst. 

"What...were...you...thinking?! Bringing Clover the Clever to the present! Do you have any idea how much of a terrible idea this was?!" 

"It was Starlight's idea! I just helped with preparing the conjurer's ring!"

"Seriously Sunburst?"

"I'm sorry. I don't do well under pressure!" 

Twilight grumbled and rubbed at her face. "Starlight, please, walk me through your process." 

Starlight wrung her hooves together. "I'm sorry! It's just that the presentation got me so nervous that I couldn't think of what to write or how to present it. I thought that if I brought Clover here, he could-..."

"...Do the presentation for you?" Twilight offered up. 

"It sounds really bad when you put it like that, doesn't it?" 

"Starlight..."

"Wait, wait! This is a huge opportunity! How many ponies get to say that they met and spoke to one of the greatest sorcerers in Equestrian history?" 

Twilight tapped her chin in thought. "Alright, fine. He can stay for now but he's your responsibility." 

Sunburst put a foreleg around Starlight. "Not a thing to worry about, Twilight! How much trouble could he be possibly be?"

The sound of an explosion suddenly roared in the distance. 

"Twilight!"

"Spike!" 

The three dashed out of the room but not before Starlight could label Sunburst as a "big mouth." 

Their path took them to the kitchen, where Clover stood defensively in front of a burning pile of wreckage, his horn glowing as he glared at the smoking device. Spike, meanwhile, was huddled under the table. 

"What happened?!" 

Clover relaxed and bowed. "Thy Highness, I was speaking with the young drake when there was this terrible sound and he dupp'd up the white chest of unholy flames." 

"I went to get the cookies out of the oven and he blew it up," Spike deadpanned.   

"'How much trouble could he possibly be?'" Starlight mocked in a nasally, foalish voice. 

"No need to rub it in," Sunburst said pitifully. 

Ignoring the two, Twilight hid her irritation with a large smile. "Thank you for thinking of Spike's safety but he wasn't in any danger. That 'white chest' was merely an advanced version of an oven." 

Clover shrank. "An oven? Oh my, don't I appear the blinking idiot. A thousand apologies to you, Thy Highness and to thy page as well."  

"Yeah, sure, thanks." Spike climbed out from underneath the table and shuffled over to the closet for a broom and dustpan. "Just stay away from the refrigerator."   

"Starlight, why don't you take Clover out for a tour of town while Spike and I clean up here?"

From Twilight's tone, it was obviously an order and not a request. 

"Come on, Clover. Let's take a walk around Ponyville." 

"Y-yes, Methinks an inspection of the kingdom sounds as a good imagining, Lady Starlight." 


~*~


"And over there is the town hall, where all of Ponyville's most important meetings take place. You can usually find Mayor Mare there. Honestly, I think she works too much."

"Yet if Princess Twilight is royalty, then what use is there for a town hall or a mayor. Isn't she 'i charge?"

Starlight paused. "Actually, that's a really good point. I don't know how that works."  

Sunburst decided to put his two bits in. "It's simple. You see, the way this system works is-..."

"Oh my Celestia! Is that a new pony?!" 

A cart erupted, knocking its top off to reveal trumpets, flags, whistles and even a microwave. To nopony's surprise, excluding Clover, Pinkie Pie hopped into view as upbeat music started playing.   

"Welcome, welcome, welcome...!"

Clover turned to Starlight. "This doeth befall a lot?" 

"More than you know."  

"Welcome, welcome, welcome to Ponyville todaaaaay!" 

Pinkie Pie concluded the show with a power slide as flour and confetti burst from the microwave. 

"Weeeeell, what do you think?!" 

Clover chuckled, "Well, I shall say that I forsooth feel welcome now. Grammercy, kind jester!"    

"Yippee! That's one new friend today!" Pinkie zoomed over to Clover. "My name's Pinkie Pie: super pony party planner!"  

"Good day to thee, Pinkie Pie! I am Clover, Starlight's distant forbearer. I hast been brought hither to thy time period by mine issue so that we may get to wot one other."  

"Wow, you're Starlight's relative! Funny, you're way nicer than I thought you'd be. How did you react when you found out about Starlight and Our Town and the time-travel-revenge-plot?" 

"Forgive me, yet could thou repeat that?" 

"Actually!" Starlight hastily interrupted. "We have to go. I was going to take Clover...over to Rarity's! Yep, taking a trip to the boutique. That's the game plan." 

Pinkie leaned forward, her neck stretching impossibly long as she narrowed her gaze at Starlight. She then grinned toothily, "Okie-dokie-lokie! I'll see you later then! Come by Sugarcube Corner!"  

She then bounced away with an audible ponk in her step. 

Starlight waved. "Definitely! See you later, Pinkie!"

"That was strange to say the least," Clover commented and then smiled fondly. "Still, at least she was entertaining. 'I fact, she reminds me of Gusty." 

This had Starlight doing a double take. "Really? How so?"

"Mine beloved was aye the type to hast a smile on her brow. She just loved meeting new ponies and ensuring that they were as fortunate as she was." His face then darkened. "Of course, this was ere the Great War." 

"The Umbrum-Draconequus War?"

Clover stared out into the sky, his green eyes empty and listless. 

“The most like. All of us whom fought ‘i it lost something. Everypony innocent whom went ‘i came out soiled ‘i one way or another. Mine wife lost her smile. ‘Twere not till the birth of our daughter that she rediscovered her joy." 

For Starlight, it was like looking into a mirror. 

"You said that everypony lost something. What did you lose?"  

The life returned to Clover's face. "Join, allow us hie see this ‘Rarity’ that thou mentioned." 

As the two made their way towards Carousel Boutique, it occurred to Starlight that she wasn't the only one keeping secrets.