//------------------------------//
// Chapter 35: Recollections 
// Story: Return of the Ancient Mage 
// by Zoshe 
//------------------------------//

Twilight's shadow warped and pulled as Spectrum climbed his way out of it. The royal sisters stared at his colorful form, but before they had a chance to comment on it, a flash of green washed over his body as he took on the appearance of Random Fact.

"What?" He looked back at everyone's slack-jawed expressions. "Clover's not using this look anymore, so I may as well."

Twilight felt a little bit nervous with him taking on that appearance, but joined the rest of her friends anyway as they all sat in a big circle. "Now when did this all start?" Twilight asked aloud. "I guess it started when we had a new pony come into town." She shot a look at the changeling that had just taken on that appearance. "That pony, actually," she said.

"I'm quite certain it started when we encountered King Sombra while roaming the dream realm," Luna offered.

"If those are our choices, it definitely started when Clover was traveling outside the borders of Equestria," Spectrum offered while getting a bit more comfortable on some cushions.

That got everyone's attention as they all turned to face him.

"What?" He looked back at them. "I figured with what Twilight saw in her vision, I could give you some background."

"I'm sorry... Vision? I thought it was a memory," Twilight looked confused.

"I thought so too at first," he said as he rubbed his chin. "If it was just a memory though, I wouldn't have passed out from trying to look at it. Nopony's memory is perfect and there were a lot more details in there than a simple memory would retain. I'm sure that what you saw is what actually happened without any of the details being left out and it was too much for me to take in all at once."

"So thou were saying," Luna encouraged.

"So anyway," Spectrum started. "Clover's been spending a lot of time traveling. Seeing what else is happening in the world, learning and developing various magical techniques, and trying to track down the amulet he used to always carry with him."

"You mean the Alicorn Amulet?" Twilight asked. "What exactly is it and did Clover really make it himself?"

"Clover created it so he could blend into pony society without drawing too much attention to himself," said Spectrum. "He told me that there was no way he wouldn't have drawn excess attention to himself without it. So he sealed a large portion of his magic away as a precaution."

"So when Trixie used the amulet to bully her way around Ponyville, she was actually using some of Clover's magic?" Rarity wondered aloud.

"Something like that," he said. "It's a bit more complicated than that but this 'Trixie' actually did us a favor when she started using it." 

"Don't let Trixie hear you say that," Rainbow cut in. "She's got a big enough ego already."

"Oh like yer one ta talk," Applejack jabbed.

"Hey!" Rainbow protested.

"Anyway," Spectrum continued. "Clover could sense it was being used and it finally gave us a proper direction to search for it. Anyway, we're getting off topic. So on one of his many excursions, he was gathering information at a local tavern when he suddenly collapsed without warning."

"Oh my," gasped Fluttershy. "What happened?"

"It was a close call," he said. "But the seal he had placed on King Sombra started to come undone right then and there."

"Wait... What?!" Exclaimed Rainbow Dash, sharing everyone else's shock. "But I though we stopped him. How did he end up wherever you guys were?"

"You've got your time frame backwards," Spectrum said. "He managed to contain him, but it was a close thing. Too close. About a quarter of Sombra's spirit managed to escape." The changeling turned unicorn looked a bit uneasy. "It happened right when the Crystal Empire reappeared.

"Let me see if I'm understanding you," Rarity mused with concern. "That... Thing that was tormenting all those lovely crystal ponies. That was only a small part of the actual King Sombra?"

"Got it in one," Spectrum winked at Rarity, eliciting a small blush. "Anyway, I had to hide Clover away while he recovered. Needless to say, he was a bit restless. He didn't actually calm down until we got the news that the Crystal Princess had banished the darkness or something along those lines."

"So what happened next?" Twilight was on the edge of her seat, eager to hear more.

The sound of a creaking door interrupted their discussion as everyone turned to look in its direction. A maid pushed a cart carrying an elaborate cake through the door, nervous to have everyone looking at her.

She strode in a bit more confidently after receiving a reassuring smile from Celestia. The room grew quiet while the maid carefully served each of them. When she served Spectrum, he leaned in and whispered something in her ear. Whatever it was he said, it caused her ears to perk up and her face to grow flush.

She picked up her pace in finishing her duties and gave a quick bow before beating a hasty retreat from the room. It may have been their imagination, but they could've sworn that she was consciously holding her tail tighter to her body than she had when she came in.

"What did you say to her?" Rainbow asked, a smile breaking out on her face.

"Wouldn't you like to know," he said as a silver glow floated a teacup over.

"Hrm," Luna coughed. "I believe we've gotten a bit distracted. What happened next?"

"Not much more to tell. We made our way back to Equestria and boarded a train bound for Ponyville. That was the direction we last detected the amulet and Clover was eager to finally find it again." He floated over a piece of cake and gave a delighted hum as he ate it. "He ran into Twilight after that.."

"It definitely freaked me out," Twilight said. "The way the tree seemed to suddenly come to life around me. I was just doing some studying when the place started glowing. Spike and I got out of there as fast as we could. That's when we met Random Fact. At the time I had no idea who he really was... What?" She looked over to Celestia who was forcing down a laugh.

"Oh, nothing Twilight," Celestia said, the grin not once leaving her face. "I just remembered that I asked you about bringing him over for dinner. That would've certainly made for an awkward evening."

"Indeed it would have, sister," said Luna. "The animosity between the two of you was legendary in our youth."

Twilight narrowed her eyes at her mentor in annoyance before continuing, "anyway, when we went back inside, a new door had appeared in the library." Twilight settled back down on her seat and took a quick drink, "turns out there's an absolutely massive chamber underneath the Golden Oaks with an even bigger collection of books. It's even bigger than the Canterlot archives down there. With enough space that you could fly between the shelves if you wanted."

Celestia's eyes widened upon hearing this, "it certainly sounds impressive. I may have to come see it myself when I have time. What else happened?"

Twilight thought it over, "aside from meeting the fairy, Whisper, who lives down there, nothing much else happened. I mean Pinkie threw her customary 'Welcome to Ponyville' party, Prince Blueblood showed up and made a fool of himself, but I already told you about that, and we started looking into this pony that was seen wandering the forest."

"Don't forget about that crazy storm that popped up over Canterlot," Rainbow cut in. "That wasn't normal weather."

"Yeah RD, but Ah don't think that had anything to do with what's been happenin," Applejack chided.

"That was not a simple storm," Luna said calmly, having not yet touched the sweets in front of her. "I saw the pegasus that started that storm. "We were enjoying a 'town night' after a rather unpleasant encounter the night before. We heard it was a good way to relax."

"It's called a night on the town, Luna," Celestia said with a chuckle.

Luna rolled her eyes. "We still do not understand this need to make language more complicated."

"Wait?" Rainbow tilted her head at Luna, "did I hear that right? That storm was made by a pegasus? As in one pegasus?"

"We're not completely sure this is relevant, but yes. He approached us while we were visiting a night club and warned us to stay away from Sombra's prison that we had recently found within the dream realm," Luna said, still remembering how horrible that experience had actually been.

"Wait..." Rarity said, unsure of something. "Did I hear that right? You actually visited a night club?"

"It was Tia's idea," Luna huffed, breaking the stoic face she had been keeping up this whole time. "If she hadn't disappeared on us while we were there then we might've gotten some answers sooner. We tried to apprehend him with the assistance of the Wonderbolts we found while we were there, but he easily pushed his way through all of us."

Twilight, having caught something in that statement, looked over at Celestia and struggled with how to word her question. However, Celestia smiled as she caught on to what she was doing and beat her to it. "Yes Twilight, I do get out of the castle from time to time. Magic's a great help if I want to get around unnoticed."

"Wait!?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, catching onto something else. "So he took on the Wonderbolts AND a princess and he still managed to get away?!"

"They stood no chance," Luna narrowed her eyes. "I've never seen a pegasus move like that. One of the first things he did was send Captain Spitfire into a wall with a bolt of lightning."

Rainbow's jaw dropped. "What?! You're kidding?!"

"We are not," she responded. "We tried to stop him ourselves, but a stunning spell only cause a piece of him to break off like crystal."

Twilight perked up at the mention of crystal, "what happened next?" She asked quickly.

Luna gave Twilight a considering glance, "it's hard to explain. We watched him steal all the magic from one of the fallen Wonderbolts and he escaped after that, leaving a storm in his wake."

"He stole his magic? Twi..." Applejack shared a stunned look with her. "That sounds like..."

Twilight nodded to her. "It does," she said. "Also, I forgot to tell you but when I caught Smokey, his body also started to break like crystal."

"That still doesn't explain how a brawl went down in Canterlot and nopony heard about it!" Shouted Rainbow. "I could understand stuff happening in Ponyville getting ignored. We have crazy stuff happening every other week. It would've just been another Tuesday."

"Because after Storm Chaser met back up with Clover," Spectrum stated in annoyance. "Someone had to go clean up the mess he made."

"Wait..." Luna narrowed her eyes at him. "Art thou the one who evaded capture the following night? I'll have you know that I have a particularly traumatized guard after that whole incident."

"I'll send her some flowers or something," he said as he finished off the last of his cake. "So I know you've all been waiting. Would you like to know what I found that was so interesting about Twilight's vision?"

Around the room, the rest of the ponies all slowly nodded.

"All right," Spectrum said as he hopped to his hooves. "So our tale begins a good one thousand years ago when Clover had his first real pupil, Onyx." He looked to Celestia and Luna, "I was told you met him once, before he went and got himself possessed by the demon Sombra. Anyway, you all already know your ancient history. You were there for it after all. Sombra killed the Crystal Princess, rose to power, enslaved the Empire, and then went to war with Equestria."

"Yes," Celestia confirmed. "I'm surprised you know all of that. Almost all of that is forgotten history."

"Clover has shared a lot on top of me doing my own research," Spectrum went on. "However, not even Clover's memory is perfect and he can't remember all the exact details about what happened." He looked at Twilight, "that's where you come in, princess. That vision you had."

"Would you please stop keeping us in suspense, darling," Rarity quipped, clearly getting annoyed.

"Before the war had a chance to start, Clover fought with Sombra and had him at his mercy. That was until Celestia showed up and messed everything up." He had to hold up a hoof to cut the princess off. "However this is who he actually saw."

An emerald flame washed over Spectrum's body, causing all the ponies to jump a bit. When it cleared away, they found themselves staring at a second Princess Celestia. This one, however, had their mane and tail wrapped in flames and the light coming from her eyes were as bright as the sun. Celestia slowly climbed to her hooves and carefully approached her double. They stared into each other's eyes, Celestia looked curiously at the way her twin carried herself. The second princess carried herself proudly as she looked down at them, but not in the way that Celestia looked at them. This was less like the motherly way the princess of the sun looked fondly upon them and more like she looked at them like they were so much less than her, like she was so much more important than them.

"She seems a bit haughty," Luna observed.

"I couldn't have said it better myself," said the doppelganger. The way her voice echoed off the room around them sent chills down everyone's spines, Celestia included. "The way she looked down on Clover was more akin to a parent looking down upon their child without bothering to listen to what the child has to say." She turned her blazing eyes back on the original. "Tell me Celestia. Is this a form you've ever taken? Because I've never even seen Daybreaker act as this one has."

Celestia recoiled at the name her double used. "No," she finally said. "It actually feel like I'm looking at a complete stranger who just happens to look like me."

"That's what I thought," she said as emerald flames once again hid her from view. When they disappeared, Spectrum had returned to the appearance of Random Fact, a pained expression on his face as he held the side of his head. "Ugh, don't ask me to do that again. Changing into larger forms consumes far more magic and leaves me with a nasty headache."

"Are you going to be all right?" Fluttershy looked at him with concern.

"I'll be fine, I just need some sleep," he staggered a bit as he pulled out a blank sheet of paper and began to write something down.

"I think we all could use some rest, my little ponies." Celestia looked to the exhausted changeling, "I would extend that hospitality to you as well. You look like you're ready to collapse."

"I'll take you up on that," he said as he held out a sealed scroll. "Would you do me a favor and make sure that Spike gets this letter to Clover. He needs to know what I've discovered."

Celesita took the letter in her magic and watched as everyone else started to leave the room. "Oh, Twilight," she called after them. "Would you stay with me for a moment, please?"

Twilight turned back and walked towards her mentor, wondering what it is that Celestia could want.





"Are you sure you're gonna be alright, pardner?" Applejack looked at the grey unicorn with concern as he braced himself up against a wall. "Ah don't claim to know nuthin bout changelings, but you look like yer bout to collapse."

"I'll be find as long as I can find a warm body to curl up next to tonight." Spectrum looked at her with a sly grin, "if you're so worried about me, you could offer to keep me warm tonight."

"That'll be a no," Applejack huffed as she trotted away.

"Ooo!" Pinkie cheerfully hopped up and down, "you could come snuggle with me if you want. The beds here are nice and comfy but way too big for just one pony anyway." She made little hops around him, grinning ear to ear the whole while. "C'mon," she tugged on him, beckoning him to follow.

"Just a second," he smiled as he looked over his shoulder at Princess Luna. "I think the princess wants a word with me first."

"Okie Doki," said Pinkie as she hopped away. "Don't take too long."

Spectrum waited a moment until the rest of the ponies had gotten a good distance away before he turned to the lunar princess. "You've been a lot more quiet than I would've thought, all things considering. Something on your mind?"

Luna stepped up to him, worry evident in her eyes. "I need to know," she said. "I've been wondering ever since I found out he was still alive. Wondering why he didn't let me know he was still there. Does he miss... Did he say anything?... About me?"

Anything left of a smile fell from his face as he looked her in the eye, "he's never been that open about his feelings, so I couldn't say for certain." Luna slumped forward upon hearing those words, her ears sagging.

"However," he said, making her perk back up a bit. "There have been times I've caught him spending long hours staring at the moon, and he would be crying every time."