The Fate of Clover

by Kapuchu

Chapter 1 - Unassuming

“Thank you, Princess Luna,” Twilight said, standing next to said princess by the entrance to Star Swirl’s wing in the Canterlot Archives. “I really appreciate you and Princess Celestia giving me permission to go in there.”

Luna smiled down at her sister’s student, her eyes betraying some curiosity and hope of their own. “Tis nothing to thank us for, Twilight. You have proven yourself worthy of our trust.” Her smile changed. It changed to one that was slightly more mischievous. “Proven yourself worthy of entering where no mortal has entered in centuries,” she continued dramatically.

That got the unicorn’s attention. “Centuries? I understood that this part of Star Swirl’s wing is under heavy security and only a select few were ever granted entrance, but centuries?”

Luna nodded. “Yes, and there is reason for that. Reasons you will discover, once you read what is within that library.” Luna’s horn flared to life and a small scroll bound by a golden ribbon with silver lining appeared between them. “Here, take this and open it once you reach the door, You will then be allowed entry.” She turned around and took a few steps, only stopping herself to look back. “Take care, Twilight, and good luck with your search. Mayhaps you will find what happened to Clover the Clever.”
Twilight watched as Princess Luna disappeared around the corner. She glanced at the scroll and probed it with her senses. It was magical, that much she could feel, but nothing else. Even the spells inlaid within it were a mystery to her. Settling for finding out just what was magical about it once she opened it, she turned and trotted into the Star Swirl wing.

A good two minutes later and Twilight found herself in the front of Star Swirl’s wing, a wooden door being the only obstacle between her, and her destination.

It looked just like any old door to anyone looking. If searched with magic, however, the amount of enchantments, wards, and spells weaved into the door and the room beyond was something that even Twilight couldn’t count. “Wow…” she breathed, looking at the door with newfound light, as if it were more than a simple piece of wood.

She shook her head to clear herself of her momentary stupor, taking a step forward as she levitated the scroll out of her saddlebags. With her tongue in her cheek, she untied the ribbon with such care that it seemed more like she was attempting a new spell.
The ribbon fell to the ground, and the scroll unfurled itself, revealing the secrets within. Printed on it was an insanely complex spell circle, a so-called matrix.

Twilight looked between the matrix and the door, waiting for something to happen. Nothing did.
“Maybe,” she murmured and turned the turned scroll around, making the matrix point towards the door. The effect was immediate; the scroll flash brightly and burst into flames. After a few moments of light, the scroll dropped from Twilight’s magical rasp, leaving nothing but ashes i its place.

“What the…?” The unicorn looked around, going wide-eyed as she took in her surroundings. She was no longer in the Star Swirl wing, but now found herself in a small, heptagonal room. Six shelves lined the majority of the six walls from floor to ceiling. Behind her was the seventh wall, and the door. It was no more than it had been before; just a simple piece of wood separating this room from the outside.

On the floor were several stacks of books and scrolls, some shelves having more books on the floor beside them than on them. Above the single, circular, table in the room hovered several eerie blue flames which illuminated the entire room, casting dark shadows on the smooth stone floor. A single old cushion placed by the table allowed whoever entered here a place to sit.
While all of this was interesting, there was one thing, or actually six, which caused her eyes to bog out. On each of the shelves were a plaque, each with a name engraved on it.

Princess Platinum, Commander Hurricane, Private Pansy, Smart Cookie, Chancellor Levelhead --Levelhead? Could it be Puddinghead?-- and Clover the Clever… Oh my. I asked to be given access to books containing information about the founders, but, she glanced around. This looks more like their personal library than anything else. Everything they ever written, anything that holds just a tidbit of information about them… It’s all here I bet.

Her eyes roamed the room greedily, taking in the smells and sights of it. It was old, very old, but kept in surprisingly good condition. "Judging by how long it’s been since these six ponies lived, it’s safe to assume that this room is covered in spells to keep time from affecting its contents too much," Twilight mumbled to herself.

After trotting around the other edge of the room, scanning the bookshelves, she finally stopped in front of the wall dedicated to Clover the Clever. She couldn’t quite blame the lack of content on whoever made this library, as Clover had disappeared at the age of thirty five. She hadn’t lived all that long, so not a lot of books or scrolls could be written about, or by, her. What few there were covered the two upper shelves, a few stray tomes and a small bundle of scrolls, presumably letters, lay spread across the rest of the shelves.

Letting her horn flare to life she grabbed a few of the scrolls and tomes, and carefully levitated them onto the low table, putting each one down with the utmost care.

When she had a compiled a small stack of material, she turned to look one last time at the lower shelves and spotted a small, unassuming book. It had a brown cover with no engravings or anything written on it. It was a plain book seemingly bound with faux leather.

Lighting her horn, Twilight grabbed ahold of the book and lifted it to her face.

“Strange,” she muttered, bringing it closer to inspect it. “It doesn’t feel any different from the others. It looks almost the same as everything else in here, save being smaller… so why does this one seem so different?” She shot a glance towards the table. There was still so much to do that it would take her at least a day or two to read through. The small book found its way to the table as well, and she soon followed. She sat down on the cushion and pulled a large tome in front of her, and started reading.

---

She looks up from the book in front of her, eyes fixating on the figure of a middle aged stallion beside her. The only feature she can make out is a dark grey coat and a vague hints of a face. She doesn’t know why, but it feels like he’s smiling as he his gaze rests gently on her… or at least she thinks he’s looking at her. The blurred face makes any expression difficult to read.
Turning her head to look at the book again, she looks upon a simple spell matrix; a small circle with only a few components written in Arcane, a sort of written language used to explain magic. The few arcane symbols on the page are among the simplest of magical runes, but despite how easy it should be she just can't make her magic work.

After several failed attempts, she looks up at the stallion again and feels words asking for advice flow from her lips unwillingly. She doesn’t want to ask for help, she wants to find this out on her own.

She can feel the stallion smiling at her, inhaling as if he’s about to speak. He pauses and instead turns toward a medium sized hourglass standing on the table not far away. His horn flares to life with a gentle light surrounding it. The hourglass is surrounded in the same aura which then lifts it up and brings it closer to the two of them.

Again he draws in breath to speak, but this time he doesn’t stop. Words flow from his mouth, detailing and describing the intricate functions of magic. He goes on to explain how the flow of magic through ones horn must be guided through the aether and controlled via the ley lines. He then goes on to explain how one must wrap the lines of energy around what one seeks to move, and then move it. He’s about to say more but stops himself and looks down, smiling sheepishly. He starts explaining how magic works again, but in a much simpler and easier to understand way, though he ends up going on a tangent again and bring up the level to the point where she can’t follow anymore.

Briefly apologising he rephrases his entire explanation, saying that looking at the object she wants to move is not enough, but that she needs to both see and feel it with her mind. He tells her to imagine how it looks from all sides at once in her head, then imagine that small threads appear from her horn and that these threads wrap themselves around the object she is thinking of. Then, when she has done that, he tells her that she has to, not imagine, but force it to move. Asking it to move won’t work, she has to tell it to move.

She nods in understanding, sure that she’s got it now, and looks at a quill lying not far away. She stares at it with eyes narrowed in concentration and tries to see every single hair on the feather all at once, imagining every side of it in her mind, and then she imagines those small threads of magic wrapping around the feather and holding tight.
From her peripheral she spots a faint glow of light that is not the stallion’s, and the same light surrounds the quill. Smiling at her accomplishment so far, she tells the quill to move, she tugs at the threads with her mind and watches as it steadily rises into the air, wobbling dangerously. It doesn’t matter that it isn’t steady. She did it.

---

Twilight Sparkle sat up with a start, heart pounding and brow covered in cold sweat. Wide, dilated eyes peer around the room lit with the ethereal blue flames, watching the shadows dance at a tune that only they heard. Placing a hoof on her chest, she breathed in deeply before exhaling and letting her hoof move outwards. Said maneuver was repeated several times before she eventually calmed down enough to look around and not have a panic attack.

Another one of those dreams, she groaned, rubbing the bridge of her muzzle with a hoof. They’ve become more vivid lately. She looked back at the book in front of her, only a few pages from where she started. She sighed and turned a page "I need to continue. Luna entrusted me with finding out what happened to Clover, and I’m going to find out!

She wiped her forehead with her hoof before taking a look down at the book in front of her. She tried to recall what exactly the book was about. She remembered that it had focused around Clover and Star Swirl the Bearded, but the details were lost in a cloud of both drowsiness and irritation at the reoccurring dreams. She seemed to recall something about ‘early’, but what exactly was ‘early’ she couldn’t remember. If looks could kill this book would be burning from the withering glare Twilight shot at it, almost accusing it of being why she had another of those weird dreams. These dreams were some she had had for years, plagued by them most nights of the week; that they were becoming clearer as time passed didn’t make it any better.

“Might be a good idea to see Celestia about it, like Shiny suggested,” she mumbled. “But I need to continue. I can talk to Celestia about it later.”

A page turned and Twilight dove into the tome once more.

Author's Note:

So, here's chapter one!

Apologies everyone if it seems lacking, but I promise you that the stuff happening here is important!

I'm on the planning stage of Chapter 2, about 30% complete, I think. I'll do my best to have the chapter out before new year!

Until then, cheers!

Edit: 06/04 - 2014
Thanks to Taranasaurus for helping me edit this!

Comments

[djthomp]

Lots of tense confusion in this chapter. If she looked around the room and held stuff, she shouldn't also grabs and levitates stuff in the same section of text.

[Kapuchu]

3579551
I'll get that looked at. Sorry

[Raven Flight]

Change in tense aside, this is going to be a lot of fun! Looking forward to moar!

[Kapuchu]

3579551>>3585299
The tense problems should be fixed now.

And yes, I am well aware that the "blurry-face-stallion" part is in present tense. That's deliberate.

[djthomp]

3587470 Ahh, that's much better.

[Kapuchu]

3587488

[Mariacheat-Brony]

I finally got around to read this...

I'm intrigued to say the least.... I wonder what have you got planned for the next