The storm was in full force by the time the train rolled into the station. A sense of déjà vu came over the ponies as they stepped off the train, once again finding their arrival to be greeted by a storm that ravaged the Crystal Empire.
"Where did this weather come from?!" Rainbow shouted over the wind.
"Clover must've moved ahead with the plan!" Spectrum, still disguised as Random Fact, shouted back.
"What exactly is he planning?" Celestia braced herself against the storm. She was keeping her wings pressed down against her sides, lest she suddenly find herself airborne.
They caught a flash of orange in the snow as a pegasus guard ran up to greet them. "Your Highnesses," he bowed as he recognized the three alicorns. "My name's Flash Sentry, I've been sent to see you safely to the castle."
"Huh?!" Twilight shouted as the wind whipped part of her mane into her face. "It's usually my brother who greets us at the station. Is he all right?"
"Prince Shining Armor is just fine, princess," he said as he stepped a bit closer. "He's just busy with the preparations."
"Preparations for what, exactly?" Luna asked as she stepped up to join them.
"They didn't tell me," Flash shook his head as he started towards the city. "I'm just supposed to escort you to the castle."
They pushed through the storm, guided by Flash Sentry. Unlike the first time when Twilight and her friends were here, the storm didn't stop at the edge of the city. They could barely make out the edges of the road through all the snow and many of the buildings that lined the street were already collecting large snowdrifts. Despite the bad weather, many of the crystal ponies that lived here were still running around the streets, busy with securing their homes against the fury of the storm with the help of the city guard.
Eventually they made their way to the center of the city, passing beneath the castle as they moved towards the entrance. Twilight was the first one to notice what was wrong. "The Crystal Heart is missing!" She exclaimed. Sure enough, the pedestal that usually held the Crystal Heart, the magical artifact that protected the city from disaster, was bare. "That's why there's this awful storm. The city's protection is gone."
The other ponies in their party began to look uneasy and a couple of them were starting to panic when Spectrum spoke up. "Seriously, do you ponies freak out over everything?" He looked over to Twilight, who was at the center of the growing hysteria, "you're a smart girl, Twilight. I know that you have enough of the pieces to figure out why the Crystal Heart isn't there."
She looked back at the disguised changeling and thought over what he said. What did he know that she knew as well? She let out a gasp when it clicked. The vision!
I thought I'd have to rely on that piece of myself I left within the Crystal Heart to keep me anchored to this plane.
Her breathing steadied as she looked back at Spectrum who was smiling at her.
"See, that wasn't so hard," he said. "Keep it to yourself until we're inside though. The fewer who know, the better."
"Oh, are we done panicking now?" Pinkie asked mid-jump before floating back to the ground.
The inside of the palace was just as lively as the streets with guards constantly running back and forth. Twilight's brother, Shining Armor, was at the center of it all as he directed the guards.
"Shining Armor," Twilight called out as she ran up to him.
Upon hearing his name, the large unicorn turned to face her. "Twily!" He scooped her up in a hug and frazzled her mane before setting her back down. "How's my little sister? Are you getting taller?" He lifted a hoof to do a half measure of her height. "It won't be too much longer before you're taller than me."
"Oh Shiny," she giggled. "You'll always be my big brother though."
Shining Armor looked over to Flash as he stood at attention to their side. "Thank you soldier. Continue helping with preparations."
Flash gave a quick salute and a "at once, your highness" before turning and heading back out into the cold.
Shining turned back to face his little sister, "it's been a bit hectic around here ever since Clover the Clever showed up. I'm still having a hard time believing that it's really him."
"How did he convince you?" Twilight asked curiously.
"He didn't really have to," Shining rubbed the back of his head. "All the crystal ponies recognized him right away. Apparently he was a big deal around here before they vanished along with the empire.
"So he's here, then?" Luna hovered over them while appearing anxious.
The prince looked a bit nervous with the way Luna was suddenly standing over him, "yeah, he's here all right. He's got everyone running around making preparations for some spell he's going to cast. Something about making sure King Sombra can never return. I didn't quite understand it myself. I thought we defeated him."
"It seems the situation has gotten a lot more complicated than any of us first thought," Celestia said as she shook free the snow that had clung to her wings.
"Well you can find him up in the throne room," Shining Armor stepped towards a few more city guards that were approaching him. "He said that he wanted to see you all when you got here."
Luna immediately began to move away from them at a rapid trot. She soon slowed down to a canter before she stopped and began circling the ground with her hoof.
Celestia fought down a grin as she watched her sister's antics. She looked down to Twilight and her friends, "you girls run on ahead, we'll be there in a moment."
Celestia stepped up next to Luna for a moment as they watched the other seven ponies run away into the depths of the castle. Spectrum turned back for a moment and shot Luna a menacing grin, causing her to feel a bit flushed, before galloping away to catch up with the others.
Celestia draped a wing over her sister. "Nervous?" She asked quietly.
"A bit," Luna looked down from her sister's eyes, not wanting to make eye contact with her. "You mean to tell me you don't carry some trepidation about seeing him again?"
"I do, but I'm pretty sure it's not for the same reasons as you. Come on," she said as she nudged Luna forward with her wing. "Let's not keep him waiting."
The sisters made their way through the castle until they reached the throne room. They spotted the golden unicorn with his cloak draped over his shoulders as he made his way around a particularly large diagram that had been drawn into the floor and ringed with what appeared to be large crystal pillars.
Opposite him was another unicorn examining the spell diagram. She had a brilliant red mane that contrasted her grey coat along with crossed black and red quills adorning her flank.
Spike was following Clover around with a clawful of various writing implements. When he spotted them, he reached up and tugged on Clover's cloak to get his attention. When Clover turned his head to the little dragon, he pointed a claw in their direction. Following the claw, his face and shoulders sagged as he saw the ponies that had arrived.
He took a moment to look over to the other unicorn who was also looking over the spell. "Everything looking good on your end, Ret?"
Her red eyes met his green ones and while she didn't say anything, she still gave him a small nod and made a shooing motion with her hoof.
Clover slowly walked towards the group with a very tired look on his face. He caught a couple of dirty looks from Applejack and Rainbow Dash, but he was primarily focused on Celestia and Luna.
While they stood there, Spectrum casually walked past them and right up to Clover. Clover looked the grey unicorn up and down and then seemed to consider the green mane. "Interesting choice," he said.
"Well you weren't using it," he said back. "So you wanna see what I found?"
"Show me," he said. "This better be good."
Spectrum leaned forward and placed his horn against Clover's. A silver glow arced from one horn to the other and Clover's eyes began to glow a soft white. Though, before anyone had a chance to ask what he was doing, the light show was over.
"I see. That certainly changes a few things." He gestured behind him, "help Ret where you can."
Spectrum nodded and then walked past him and up to Ret. Clover watched him just long enough to see him say something to her followed by her giving him a resounding smack across the face that echoed throughout the throne room.
Clover buried his face in a hoof and shook his head before turning back to the girls. He locked eyes with the two alicorns as they ushered in an awkward silence. None of them really knowing what to say to the other after all this time.
Clover was the first to speak. "So... It's been a while," he said nervously as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Yes it has," Celestia agreed, doing her best to stay reserved.
Luna failed in showing such restraint as she ran forward and threw herself at him. Clover's eyes went wide as he found himself pushed back a couple steps as he raised his hooves to catch her. "Clover..." Luna sobbed into their embrace as her tears rolled down her face and into his shaggy brown mane. "Where have you been all this time? I thought I'd never see you again."
Clover relaxed as he leaned into her and nuzzled her in response. Tears finding their way onto his face as he held her. "I'm so sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I didn't know what I should do after all this time and I didn't want to get you involved in my mess."
Everyone else looked on as they embraced, but their attention was focused on something else. When Luna wrapped her hooves around him, Clover's cloak had been pushed to the side. With the garment out of the way, it had allowed for a large set of golden wings to spread out from his back.
"What?!" Pinkie squealed, ruining the tender moment. "He's an alicorn!?"
Luna's ears picked up on the outcry, causing her to slowly open her tear streaked eyes. She momentarily glanced at the wings spread out behind him, but she didn't care. She had him back and that was all that mattered to her.
The moment couldn't last forever as they eventually had to pull themselves away from each other. They spent another moment looking into each other's eyes before finally turning to face the rest of the group. A mixed collection of emotions could be seen on their faces, ranging from shock and admiration to confusion and apprehension. The exception being Celestia, who just gave them a contented smile.
"So Clover," she said as she broke the tension. "I guess this explains how you've lived so long. If you don't mind me asking, when did this all happen?" She asked while gesturing to all of him.
Clover stretched his wings before folding them back to his sides and resettling his cloak over them. When they were once again hidden from view, he turned to face the sun princess. "I got my wings back only a few days ago, there's no way that you and Luna wouldn't have noticed that huge burst of magic when that happened. As for when it really happened, that's a very long and very old story."
"I'd love to hear it sometime," Twilight said excitedly as she stepped up beside her teacher.
Clover gave an amused snort, "I'm sure you would, Twilight. I'm sure you would. Unfortunately that'll have to wait for another time. I'm not quite ready to tell that story just yet." He looked to the two elder alicorns near him, some hesitation still showing on his face. "I've always wondered how I would tell you girls this if this ever came up, but I'm sorry."
The two sisters looked at him in confusion before Luna spoke up, "what exactly do you think you need to apologize for?"
Clover sagged his shoulders, "I made a promise to Starswirl. If I had kept that promise instead of wasting all those years trying to find out where he had disappeared to, things might have gone much differently."