//------------------------------//
// Chapter 40: Soul and Stone 
// Story: Return of the Ancient Mage 
// by Zoshe 
//------------------------------//

They stepped back into the throne room. Two grey unicorns could be seen scrambling about the spell circle. Spectrum was still inspecting the inscriptions on the ground while Ret seemed to be writing in the pages of a book she hadn't had before now.

"I still don't understand why you had me make this," Cadence said as she held out the heart she had been painstakingly carving out of crystal.

"You will in a moment, just make sure you keep holding onto it," he dismissed as he turned to Ret. "How close is he?"

Sometime since they last saw her, Ret had found a pair thick spectacles and several writing quills in the same colors as her cutiemark. She currently had a bunch of them tucked behind an ear as she looked up from whatever she was writing. "He's close," she said. "You should be able to see him from the window soon."

They all walked over to the window and looked out over the Crystal Empire. The storm had gotten much worse than it was when they had gotten off the train. The wind was far stronger than it was before and the snow that filled the landscape was so thick that they couldn't see the streets below them anymore.

"Wooie," whooped Applejack. "That's quite a storm brewing out there."

"You're telling me," Rainbow Dash agreed. "Glad I'm not stuck out there. I don't think any pegasus could survive a storm like that.

"There he is," Clover pointed off in the distance.

Twilight followed the direction he was pointing, but couldn't make out anything in the sea of storm clouds. "I don't see anything," she said.

"Oh, he's there," Clover assured her. "Just wait until he gets closer."

She continued to watch the storm ridden sky, still not sure what it was that she was looking for. The chill from the open window continued to bite into the ponies' fur as the sky dropped its frigid load over the city.

"I see him!" Shouted Rainbow Dash as she pointed in the distance. "Whoa... How is he flying in that?"

A lone spark had begun to make itself visible against the dark backdrop of the storm. Long tendrils of lightning branching outward from the middle were making themselves more and more pronounced as the apparition grew closer.

"Should we be worried?" Asked Applejack as she watched the sky.

"It should be ok," said Clover. "Storm Chaser can deal with some really intense weather and he should also be able to slow down in time."

Clover's confidence in his ally didn't hold out. As the spectacle continued to get closer, Clover began to look increasingly worried as he took a few small steps backwards. The airborne disaster was over the edge of the city at this point and at this distance they could see small wisps of shadow wrapping themselves around the lightning while the whole spectacle seemed to be speeding up.

"Get back from the window!" Clover shouted as he took his own advice and broke into a gallop as he ran away as fast as he could.

Everyone else wasn't far behind him as one by one they all followed behind him. The last one to run was Pinkie Pie only because she took an extra moment to stare. "Ooo, pretty," she said before happily bouncing out of the way.

No sooner had Pinkie vacated her vista, then the window and the surrounding wall imploded as something heavy smashed through it from the other side. Large shards of crystal that used to make up the wall went rolling across the room, hundreds of tiny shards flew through the air, and a cold blast of air washed over all of them from the new portal to the outside.

Celestia had reacted quickly to the destruction, casting a protective bubble around all of them and keeping them safe from the shrapnel that bounced off the shield and now littered the room.

"Good heavens!" Cried Rarity. "What was that all about?!"

"Clover!" A desperate voice called out from within the glittering dust. "Hurry up! I can't hold it much longer!"

Clover quickly stepped around the ponies and jumped through Celestia's shield. He ran through the newly formed crystal miasma and towards the source of the voice.

A few moments later the dust had cleared enough for everyone else to be able to make out what had happened. Clover was currently holding something that resembled the Crystal Heart, except that instead of the pure baby blue that it usually was, this one was pitch black and leaking some kind of thick smoke. As for the pegasus, the journey through the wall had not been kind to him. There were cracks running up and down his legs, half of his face was missing, and as for his wings... They were currently laying in a pile on the ground, glassy facets showing up at the base of each wing where they had snapped off of his body.

"Is that Storm Chaser?" Asked Luna, recognizing some of what was left of the broken mess.

The one remaining eye focused in on her as the crystal monolith turned its head to face her. "Nice to see you again, princess," he said, not seeming to care about the state he was currently in. "I'd stay and chat, but I have a prior engagement." He turned back to Clover and poked a hoof at him. "Don't you dare mess this up," he said to him as the rest of his body turned more translucent. He froze in place as the cracks running through him made a resounding snap and he slowly began to crumble in on himself until all that was left was a pile of broken shards on the ground.

"Don't worry, I won't," Clover bowed to the remains as he clutch the dark heart to his chest.

"Quit gawking and get in the circle!" Came a pained shout from Spectrum.

"Spectrum?" Clover called back. "Are you ok? You sound hurt."

"Shut up and get your flank in the circle! I'm fine!" Spectrum shouted in an even raspier voice.

Instead of trying to question it further, Clover galloped for the circle, almost diving inside once he got there. As soon as he made it inside, the air around the circle slowly began to shimmer as light began to trace and weave through between the pillars, forming a pentagram between them as they did so. Clover looked back out at them while still holding the heart close to him. It was smoking worse than before and the same smoke was now leaking off of him as well as it mixed with the rest of it.

Spectrum laid collapsed at Ret's hooves, the debris from the impact laid scattered around him. While several shards were now sticking out of his undisguised body at weird angles, not a single one had made it past him to the pony he was protecting. 

"Can one of you help him?" Clover pleaded as he visibly restrained himself from doing so. "He's hurt and I can't leave the circle right now."

"Eep," squeaked Fluttershy who was soon at his side the moment she saw he was hurt. "This looks bad," she said as she looked him over. His body was slick with a viscous green blood that was slowly painting the ground around him. He slowly tried to push himself off the ground only to find a yellow hoof soon holding him down in place. "Shh," Fluttershy whispered. "Don't try to move." She looked over to the rest of her friends, "somepony help me. I need bandages and some help removing these shards."

Fluttershy did her best to tend to his wounds. Over the next couple minutes, the others helped her carefully remove the glassy shards and bandage him up as best they could. Spectrum looked up at Clover from his place on the ground, the weak smile curling his lips twitching as he dealt with wave after wave of pain wracking his body from the treatment. "I couldn't let Ret get hurt," he said quietly to the alicorn watching him from inside the circle. "You still need her if you have any chance of finishing this."

Clover bit his lip before turning to face Ret, "How much more time do you need?"

"Hold your horses," Ret said with a smirk. "This isn't exactly easy. Especially since we came all the way here and you didn't let me find a compatible unicorn first."

"What do you mean?" Asked Cadence curiously as she stepped up next to Luna.

Ret looked a bit annoyed as she took her glasses off and glared at them for a moment. "You wanna explain this, Clover?! I'm still trying to narrow in on us and I don't need any distractions right now. Start monologuing or something. I know how much you like hearing yourself talk."

"She's awfully brash, isn't she?" Luna observed. "Where did you find her anyway? I find it hard to believe you just created her out of thin air."

"Like a lot of things, it's a very long story." He looked down at the crystal heart that Cadence had recently hoof-crafted and then looked back to the one that he was holding, completely tainted with darkness. "You wanted to know why I had you make that didn't you?" He gestured to her.

Cadence looked back down to the chunk of crystal having forgot she was holding it for a moment. "I do," she said. "I don't understand what good it's supposed to do. Was there a reason you told me to make it without magic?"

Clover nodded to her, "it has to do with how earth pony magic relates to the unique brand of magic the crystal ponies use. It was one of the things I studied when I first found this city hidden in the snowy wastes. The royal family of the Crystal Empire passed the stewardship of the Crystal Heart on from generation to generation until it finally ended with King Sombra slaying your predecessor and taking the heart for himself." He held out the tainted gemstone in front of him. "Sombra placed part of himself inside this, corrupting it and ultimately destroying its original purpose of protecting the empire."

"But we used it to save the empire once before," said Twilight as she joined the conversation. "How is that possible?"

"My best guess is two things that allowed that to happen," he continued. "One was Celestia and Luna's efforts to banish him to the ice. The empire was most likely banished as well, not because of Sombra placing a curse, but more likely it was from the last of the previous ruler's magic doing her absolute best to protect it. The second thing was that the majority of Sombra's soul was still sealed within me. A seal that has been on the verge of breaking completely for some time now."

"Let me see if I understand something," Cadence said as she looked first to the crystal she was holding and then to the one that Clover was holding. "Are you trying to make this the new Crystal Heart? How is that possible?"

"Strictly speaking it's not possible." He held forth the tainted Crystal Heart. "This one would have to be destroyed first before we could make a new one to reestablish the link between the ruler and the populace. It's possible, but it would either take an absurd amount of magic, so much that it would likely take a chunk out of the city in the process; or we'd have to have the original creator unmake the heart. I think you can see how either option is a problem."

"I think I understand," Twilight said, a confused look still visible on her face. "That still doesn't explain how you plan to do it though," said Twilight. "I thought it said it wasn't possible."

Clover gave a sly grin, "strictly speaking, it's not, but we may have found a workaround." Clover took a moment as he licked his lips, something about the last thing he said felt weird on his own tongue.

"Sorry about that," Ret quickly apologized as she scratched away at the page with her quill while looking particularly proud of herself. "It wasn't easy, but I'm ready when you are. Just don't forget what I told you."

"I haven't forgotten," said Clover as he looked nervously at the ponies surrounding him. "It seems the time for idle conversation has come to an end." He reached up and undid the clasp around his neck. He hesitated for a moment before removing his cloak entirely. His wings rustling as they found themselves free of their constraints. In one swift motion, he threw his cloak free of the circle, allowing them to fully see his figure for the first time. "No matter what happens, don't step inside the circle until I'm finished," Clover said somberly as he repositioned his legs to brace himself against the floor. He wasn't looking forward to this next part.

The air in the room instantly dropped several degrees as Clover stood there. One by one, the lights in the room began to extinguish themselves until the only illumination left was the crystal pillars surrounding the alicorn within the circle. The soft light they emitted slowly became brighter and brighter as the shadows they were casting reached for the edges of the room.

Clover looked like he was going to be sick with the way he started convulsing. A viscous sludge began to leak out from beneath his fur and from deep within his feathers. The muddy substance slowly began to coat his entire body, starting with the ends of his hooves and working their way up. Everything it touched began to lose its golden sheen and only left behind a dusty gray color. The muscles around his neck began to bulge while dark shadows began to creep through and darken his eyes.

With a snap, Clover threw his head back and howled. His cries of agony pierced the veil of shadows as the maelstrom of darkness pushed outward but didn't extend beyond the range of the spell circle. The ever brewing storm continued to fill the magical prison until there was nothing left but a black mass that would occasionally writhe as if it had a life of its own.

The screams were abruptly cut off just as the storm began to calm. The darkness began to rush inward as if it had just been sucked into a vacuum. Over and over it continued to fold in on itself until all that was left was a single pony standing at the center.

Clover stood there, his coat having turned completely grey at this point. He shook out his charcoal black mane as he reached up with a hoof and cracked his neck. He slowly opened his eyes, a purple mist leaking out from between the cracks as blazing green eyes accented by red irises looked out at the gathered ponies.

"Finally," said Clover, his voice far deeper and darker than it was before whatever just happened. "I thought that fool would never drop his guard."

Celestia took a single step forward, her eyes narrowed as she focused on Clover. "I recognize that voice," she said with certainty. "King Sombra."

"Oh look," said the dark alicorn. "Somepony remembers me."