//------------------------------// // 04- Rätin // Story: The Chalk Prince and the Clover // by FrostTheWolf //------------------------------// “Can you help the two of us try to find a way back home?” If this was a question that was said by any other creature who was struggling to find their way back home, Sandbar and his friends would be more than willing to help them out. However, when that particular was asked by Albedo; an alchemist from another world entirely, they weren’t so quick to answer. Not just because the brief demonstration of what he could do was enough to leave them all at a loss for words, but also because of other factors that had happened before the arrival of both him and his sister. “Um… c-can you excuse us for a moment?” Ocellus was the first to speak as she looked back at each one of her friends. “W-we want to talk it over among ourselves first, i-if that’s okay.” “That’s fine with me,” the alchemist told them, “In the meantime, I’ll be over here with Klee. Let me know once you’ve come to a decision.” As he walked back over to join his sister, Ocellus and the rest of her friends stepped back and gathered around. As she looked back at each one of her friends, the changeling took a moment in order to try and compose herself first. Once her mind was clear, Ocellus was ready to speak. “So, what do you guys think? Should we help them?” “Yona has question,” the yak asked, “Why must yaks friends meet?” “I think Ocellus wanted for us to make the decision together, Yona,” Sandbar tried to help his friend understand, “That way we make a choice that everyone agrees with.” “Yeah, but where would we even start?” Gallus then asked, “How are we supposed to know what could help them go back to their home? This sounds like something that’s way out of our league.” “I’m with Gallus on this one,” Smolder was next to speak as she folded her arms and looked back towards Ocellus, “This sounds like something that Headmare Twilight and her friends would try to help out with, not us. If those two ended up here any other time, we could help them find the right creatures to talk to. Though, given what happened just last week.” “Last week?” Silverstream asked, before realizing what her friends were referring to, “Oh right, Cozy… Wait, isn’t she in Tartarus? I don’t see why that would be a problem.” Gallus let out a sigh as he looked back towards the hippogriff, “A couple of days after everything that happened, I overheard Headmare Twilight talking with that Mayor Mare lady. From the sounds of it, some of the parents of the creatures that were attending the school were concerned that they weren’t doing enough to keep the students safe. Especially since it was a student that caused last week's mess.” “Okay, but how does this relate to helping Albedo though?” Ocellus then asked. “Well, I’m not so entirely sure if she would be open minded to helping a pair of strangers, especially if they would pose a risk to every other creature,” Gallus replied, “I’ve seen the same thing happen all the time in Griffonstone, where griffons think more about themselves and their family rather than help those that really need it. It just feels like that all over again.” “Yeah, but this isn’t Griffonstone though,” Silverstream reminded him as she walked up right next to him, “Surely, there’s some creature that can be open minded and help right?” Despite the hippogriff’s optimism, no creature had an answer to the question at the time. Headmare Twilight was usually the first creature to talk to regarding matters involving magic. Yet, trying to think of another creature who could possibly help them was much harder than they thought it would be. “Yona has idea!” That proclamation from the yak had the other five look towards Yona, curious as to what Yona had in mind. “What were you thinking, Yona?” “If Yona and friends can’t ask headmare, then we ask headmare friends instead!” Yona said confidently. It took a couple of moments in order for what Yona said to sink in, but eventually, one of her friends was able to catch on to what she was suggesting, “I think I get it,” Sandbar added, “We can’t convince Headmare Twilight to help by ourselves. Though, if we get one of the faculty to help us, then maybe they can vouch for Albedo and Klee. Is that right?”  His question was answered when the yak nodded happily. Since many of the faculty members were close friends with Headmare Twilight, it was more than likely that they would be able to convince her more easily. Yet, swiftly afterwards, a new question was asked by another creature. This time it was Silverstream. “Who would be the right creature to ask, though? I mean… there’s so many options.” “We could rule out who wouldn’t work first to narrow down our options a bit,” Ocellus then added. “If that’s the case, then I think Professor Dash is the first one to rule out,” Gallus interjected, “I mean, we know she is the element of loyalty. Though it’s more than likely that she’ll think Albedo and Klee are a threat before they even get the chance to say anything.” “I can agree with Gallus on that, especially with how she interrogated us during Hearth’s Warming,” Smolder replied back, “Also, on a different note, we need to rule out Pinkie Pie as well.” “What? Why?” Silverstream asked, looking back with a rather puzzled expression. “I don’t know about you Silverstream, but based on what we’ve seen with Klee, it would be crazy to even consider leaving her alone with Pinkie for even a minute,” the dragon explained further, “Not to mention that we are trying to help Albedo and Klee. The last thing I think they would want is something to make their situation more complicated.” That was a valid point. Professor Pinkie Pie was known throughout the campus and throughout Ponyville to be rather unpredictable and spontaneous. So leaving her alone with a little girl who saw high grade explosives as toys would not be a good idea at all. “Okay, that rules out two possibilities,” Ocellus scratched her chin, “Who else have we not considered yet? Maybe Professor Rarity?” That suggestion just had Sandbar and Gallus shake their heads, “Might not be a good idea there, Ocellus. Remember when she got fixated with trying to get the costumes right for the school play?” The earth pony brought up a valid point. In the days up to the school play that the students were preparing for earlier in the year, they ran into a complication when Professor Rarity was fixated on having the costumes they were going to use be ‘perfect’. It took a lot of convincing, and help from her sister Sweetie Belle, to actually get their costumes before they could even do their first rehearsal. It was more than likely that if they asked her to help with Albedo, Rarity would be focused more on the alchemist's fashion sense than anything else. “Okay, so Professor Dash, Pinkie and Rarity won’t work,” the changeling asked as she began to think some more, “We do have Professor Fluttershy, but… I think she would be afraid that Klee would try to harm her animals if she learned about what you guys saw at the lake.” “Definitely,” Gallus retorted before the griffon looked back to the earth pony and hippogriff that were next to him and witnessed Klee’s earlier fish bombing charade at Saddle Lake, “So, who does that leave us with?” “Yona and friends ask Professor Applejack?” the Yak then suggested. “That might be an idea,” Smolder said as the dragon looked back towards Yona and folded her arms, “But I see a problem.” “What problem, friend Smolder?” Before she could begin speaking, the dragon let out a small sigh as she looked towards all of her friends, “Well, even though Professor Applejack can tell whether or not some creature is lying and can verify Albedo’s story, it would be dangerous for Klee to be at her family’s orchard. One accident could lead to her family’s whole farm catching fire.” Shortly after Smolder said that, the image of Klee running around in a burning Sweet Apple Acres while saying ‘la-la-la’ was stuck into the minds of her friends. It was not exactly what they wanted to think about, but the dragon had a point. “Well, that’s not good,” Sandbar now spoke up, “We just ruled out all the professors. Who else could we even consider asking at this point?” “Well, if memory serves me right, then we have three options,” Ocellus now spoke, “First, there’s Rockhoof. Though, we haven’t seen him since he stopped by the school and when Headmare Twilight appointed him as keeper of equestrian tales. After that, we have Spike and Counselor Starlight.” “So Yona and friends choose between headmare assistant and counselor?” “Seems like it,” Gallus shrugged, “Personally, I wouldn’t know who to pick. What do you guys think?” “Honestly, I would think Starlight is a better option,” Smolder replied, “Nothing against Spike, but he’s not good at keeping secrets. I mean, when he was going through his molt, Spike was not doing a good job of trying to hide his symptoms.” “I would think Starlight as well,” Sandbar agreed, “I mean, if how Albedo and Klee got here had something to do with magic, then having somepony who’s good with magic wouldn’t hurt, right?” “Yeah! And if she’s able to get Twilight to help, then we would have two creatures that are good with magic!!” Silverstream declared in glee. “I agree with what Sandbar said,” Ocellus replied, “That just leaves us with Yona and Gallus being the only ones that haven’t decided,” Shortly after saying that, she turned back towards the yak and the griffon. “So, what do you think?” “Yona agree with friends,” the yak nodded, “Yona and friends find counselor.” With that out of the way, Gallus was the only one that was left as he looked back at his friends. At first, he didn’t really say what his opinion was. Though, after getting looks from each of his friends, the griffon could only let out a mellow sigh. “Oh, what the heck? Count me in too.” “Alright, it seems like we got somewhat of a plan,” Sandbar said confidently, “Let’s go tell Albedo and introduce him to Counselor Starlight.” As she sat in her office and organized the papers that were on her desk, the unicorn named Starlight Glimmer was in deep thought. It might have been only a week since the attempted takeover of the entire school by Cozy Glow, but everything that happened was still fresh in her mind. It felt like only a short time ago that the filly was in her office, admitting that she purposely failed the friendship test she took in order to let the Cutie Mark Crusaders attend at the school. Yet, with everything that had happened recently, Starlight could only wonder if there was something that she had missed. If there was some sort of warning sign that she did not notice or pick up on that could’ve prevented this from happening.  Even though no creature got hurt, Starlight still felt as if she didn’t do her job properly. The Unicorn was supposed to help creatures in need of guidance, much like how Twilight helped her when she needed it most. Was there not something else they could've done-? Knock Knock! The sudden sound at her door was enough to stop the mare’s train of thought as she trotted to the door. As she opened it, the unicorn found two familiar faces outside. “Oh, hello there Sandbar. Hi Ocellus.” “Hello, Ms. Starlight,” Ocellus was the first to speak, “Are you busy right now?” “Oh no, I’m fine. Just organizing some papers,” the mare insisted, conjuring magic to remove the papers she had on the table to tidy up and make some space, “Please, come on in.” Shortly afterwards, both Sandbar and Ocellus proceeded to step inside and close the door behind them as the earth pony took a seat in front of Starlight’s desk. Though, the unicorn was a bit confused as to why Ocellus had not taken a seat as well. Yet, that was just an afterthought as she took a sip of Hot Cocoa from her mug using a levitation spell, “So, what brings the two of you to my office? Is there something on your mind?” “Well,” the earth pony began to speak, “We wanted to ask if it was possible that you can help a friend of ours that we just met today.” “Oh?” Starlight asked. When the two originally came into her office, she was under the impression that they had some questions regarding their studies or related to something personal that they were going through. The unicorn wasn’t expecting for them to be asking for a friend. Though, she wasn’t one to turn down some creature in need of help, “I think I can try to help-” “Thanks,” Sandbar was quick to respond, just as Starlight noticed his eyes shifting to the windows, “Do you mind if we let them in?” That question caught Starlight by surprise. She was sure that she saw only Sandbar and Ocellus outside her office when she first let them in. “Uh, sure-? Though, as she looked towards the windows, what she saw out there almost had her drop the mug that she was holding with her magic. Outside the window were two human like figures that were standing on a crystalline flower that was elevated from the ground and floating nearby her window. One that was the size of a child while the other was a young adult.  Despite spending time on the other side of the mirror with Sunset Shimmer, these two looked nothing like the humans over there. Before she could even ask anything, Ocellus opened up the window with her magic and allowed the two of them to enter. With the young adult being the first one to speak. “Hello there. My name is Albedo and this is my sister Klee. Apologies if we startled you, but Sandbar and Ocellus said that you could possibly help us.”