//------------------------------//
// Chapter 39: Final Preparations 
// Story: Return of the Ancient Mage 
// by Zoshe 
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Clover immediately returned to the spell circle he had been working on when everyone else arrived. His two companions looked up at him with a mix of expressions on their faces. Spectrum was looking kind of smug, while the red-headed unicorn was only looking annoyed.

"Finish your talk?" Said Spectrum. "I was just getting to know this fine young lady over here." He said while gesturing to the unicorn who was slowly shifting from annoyed to pissed.

"Is there a reason you're antagonizing Ret?" Clover said. "You know she can turn you inside out if she wants to."

"Can she?" Spectrum looked at him, astonished. "Sweet little thing like thgack!"

The unicorn known as Ret had taken taken the opportunity to land a back hoof into his gut while he was distracted. Spectrum immediately collapsed to the ground and was now holding his gut in pain.

"You know you had that coming," said Clover smugly.

"Yeah," he groaned through a forced smile. "But it was worth it."

Applejack walked over and helped Spectrum up off the ground. "Ah'm getting the feelin y'all don't always git along with each other?"

"Thanks," he said as he got his hooves back under him. "Believe it or not, this is the first time I've actually met her in person. She just doesn't particularly like me since I played a big part in shaping the body she has now."

A couple of them took a closer look at the pony who had stopped examining the spell work on the floor to shoot another dirty look at the changeling. No one was going to dare say it out loud with her watching, but with her long legs and curvaceous form, she certainly had a lot going on for her.

"Wait, darling," said a confused looking Rarity. "When you said you shaped her body, what exactly do you mean by that?"

An annoyed sigh came from Clover. "Storm Chaser, Smokey Vines, and Ret Con are all made of the same stuff. Constituting their bodies was a collected effort from both me and Spectrum. Spectrum actually modeled each of their bodies while we were putting them together."

"How exactly did you make that work?" Twilight asked curiously. "Was it centrificus duplicus combined with modernus pychedelus, or was it..."

"Fettuccine alfredo!" Shouted Pinkie Pie, earning a confused stare from everyone. "What? I thought we were talking about food."

"Enough!" Came the deep yet feminine voice. "All you ponies are doing with your useless prattle is getting in the way of our work."

Twilight felt a shiver run down her spine as she followed the source of the voice. When she found herself looking Ret in the eyes, she felt a coldness in those eyes that defied explanation. "I'm... I'm sorry?"

The grey unicorn slowly sauntered up to her and looked down her nose at Twilight. "We've got a lot of work to do and we don't need any more distractions right now," said Ret as she got right up in Twilight's face. "Why don't you find some out of the way corner for your happy little tea party and leave us out of it."

"That's enough, Ret," said Clover as he went back to scribbling on the ground. "You'll have to forgive her. She's been a bit temperamental today."

Ret huffed as she turned away and went back to what she was working on. Twilight let out a breath she didn't know she was holding once Ret had retreated a safe distance.

"She is right though," continued Clover. "We have a lot of work to do and I want to get it done before Storm Chaser gets back."

"Anything I can do to help?" Twilight's eyes lit up in anticipation.

"Unfortunately, no," said Clover. "What we're doing here involves a lot of integrated spell work that's either forbidden, forgotten, or both." He seemed to get lost in his own thoughts as he fell quiet for a moment. "After what happened to Onyx, I'm hesitant to pass on any knowledge about this kind of magic. Sorry, Twilight. But I'd rather not risk sharing those teachings right now while I'm still cleaning up after my old student."

"Oh," Twilight dropped her head in disappointment. She wanted to help. She knew that's why Whisper had guided her to his side, but what exactly was she supposed to do?

"I'll tell you what, Twilight," he said when he saw her disappointment. Twilight perked up for a moment when he said her name. "I've heard you're rather close with Cadenza. Would you check on her for me? I've got her doing something really important right now even if it isn't as technical as what we're doing here."

"All right," said Twilight, still sounding mildly disappointed. "I'll go find Cadence." And with that, she turned and left the room, her friends close behind her.

Clover stood there for a moment as he watched them leave.

"She does mean well," said Celestia. "Even if she can be a bit enthusiastic at times."

"Indeed," agreed Luna. "She was instrumental in helping us reconnect with the populace on Nightmare Night."

Clover raised an eyebrow at that statement. "You actually went out on Nightmare Night? Knowing what it represents?"

"It seemed the best time to clear up any misconceptions the ponies have formed of me over the years," said Luna. "Even if that night didn't go as smoothly as I would have wished, I did get to see how much the foals enjoy the holiday, though. Speaking of foals, what of young Onyx?"

Clover grew still with the mention of his former pupil's name. "What about him?" He asked.

"Is it yet possible to save him from his fate?" Luna inquired. "He seemed like such a sweet young colt."

"Unfortunately no," Clover said sadly. "When Sombra possessed me, not knowing that I would turn into both his prison and his jailer, Celestia had already destroyed his body." He looked up at Celestia and saw the horror painted on her face. "I'm sorry," he said. "Spectrum showed me what Twilight witnessed of my conflict of that day. I really should've noticed sooner that something wasn't right. That I've been blaming the wrong pony for that tragedy all this time."

Celestia relaxed ever so slightly after hearing Clover apologize to her. "Don't worry about it," she said. "I'm still worried about what else this other alicorn might be doing, especially if she's doing so with my face."

"We'll have time to try and figure this all out once Sombra has been dealt with and there's more time," Clover said as he went back to work.





Twilight only had to look for several minutes before she found out where the pink alicorn of love was hiding. She wasn't anywhere that special, just one of the side rooms of the castle. What was interesting was what she was doing. Cadence was currently sitting hunched over something that Twilight couldn't quite make out. Her regalia was cast off to the side while she ran her hooves over whatever it was she was holding, a light scraping noise accompanying her actions.

"Hi, Cadence," Twilight greeted her.

Cadence made a sudden jump before turning her head to face her. "Oh Twilight," she said as she held a hoof to her chest. "You startled me. I didn't hear you come in."

"I'm sorry," Twilight said. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's quite alright, Twilight," Cadence said with a smile. "I've just been really busy shaping this crystal. I guess I got a little too into it."

Twilight looked at the glassy chunk of crystal that Cadence had in front of her. It had several pieces roughly carved off of it, like someone had done so with really poor tools. Her eyes were then drawn to Cadence's hooves. They were cracked and chipped like she had been doing farm work for a whole week.

"Cadence," Twilight gasped. "Your hooves..."

"Oh this," Cadence looked down at her damaged hooves with a dismissive glance. "I don't mind so much. It's a small price to pay to keep the empire safe." She gave a weak laugh, "this doesn't even begin to compare to how hard it was to keep that shield up around the empire when we first got here."

"But why?" Twilight asked. "What is it that you're making? How's that supposed to keep the empire safe?"

"Come take a look, Twilight," Cadence excitedly beckoned her over. Once Twilight had gotten a bit closer, she went back to scraping her hooves over what was apparently a large chunk of crystal. "See if you can figure out what I'm making," said Cadence as she continued her work, a light tinkling noise accompanying her motions as miniscule shards broke off from the larger piece and fell to the ground.

Twilight winced a bit as she watched, but she didn't interrupt her sister-in-law as she continued to work. Instead she did as Cadence asked and tried to make out what kind of shape was emerging from within the crystal. She couldn't quite figure out what Cadence was making with how rough the shape still was. Twilight stared at it for a long moment when her eyes darted for a moment to Cadence's cutiemark, then it dawned on her.

"Are you making... A heart?" She didn't think she missed her guess. "A heart out of crystal? A crystal heart?"

"I knew it wouldn't take you too long to figure it out," said Cadence giggled. "You've always been so sharp, even as a filly. According to Clover," she continued. "The existing Crystal Heart is beyond repair and has been so ever since the empire's previously ruler died and Sombra took over."

Twilight nodded along with Cadence's words, "Because Sombra left a part of himself within the Crystal Heart."

Cadence gasped at Twilight's words, "where did you hear that?"

"I heard Sombra himself mention it when I saw one of Clover's memories," said Twilight as she saw the confused look she was getting. "It's a long story."

"I can imagine," said Cadence. "We'll have to catch up once everything settles down. Do you think we'll ever get a chance to hang out when the fate of Equestria isn't at stake?"

"I hope so," Twilight sighed. "Recently it's been one disaster after another. I need a break."

As if on cue, the door to the room they were in swung open and a tired looking Clover entered the room. Around him, Twilight could see her friends peeking in through the door. They had decided to let her have some personal time with Cadence.

"Is it ready?" He asked, at which Cadence held out to him what she had been working on. Clover leaned in and examined her handiwork, nodding his approval. "Well done," he said. "This may yet work."