The Encore of Clover the Clever

by Ice Star

Part Three

I no longer cared about what may lay behind me, for what I now saw outshone all the horribly vast landscapes I had seen. It was a castle! Finally, a decent place to rest among all this wildness and wildlands. However, what I saw was a very strange castle and it was that strangeness that made me nervous, as all good ponies of the tribes were taught to avoid anything or anypony that was strange and chase them away if possible. This castle was made out of gleaming crystals as purple as the queen's coat. Three spires rose up above the clouds, chiseled unlike any other structure I had known — the craftsmanship was too advanced to belong to any animals! Not even ponies had anything close to this, yet this horned and winged beast has managed to craft such a thing?

These violet spires were riddled with windows and stretched above the clouds. As we got closer, I could see that some of those cloud-level windows were grand balconies, and I would guess they were for giving speeches if they were not so high or on the night-side of the land. Yet, could such balconies really just be for taking off and entering? I cannot understand why this advanced being would want her palace to be on the night-side in the first place and let in all the toxic bits only the night air can bring. What is there to do at night that would require such a large balcony?

With each flap of Queen Elysium's wings, we neared the palace, where this oddly regal creature dwelled. I made the mistake of looking down to see nothing but water below me! It was so horrifying that I was too scared to scream. My limbs barely moved — save for my head — under the strength of her magic, one I had never felt before. However, I still tensed like I did have something that I might hold onto dearly.

This much water was not possible! How many rivers would one have to stretch for this to exist? The magic required to do this would exceed the capacity of twenty-five mages! Even twenty-five Starswirls. It had to be an illusion, although a rather stomach-churning one.

Everything about this place was just as nerve-wracking. I did not even bother to try and figure out how whatever misrule governed this world permitted so much water to exist in one place as well as allowed a small patch of land to float on its surface. They must have no underground, other than that chasm. From there, the castle rose taller and larger than any building I had ever seen before.

...

I cannot think of just how to properly express the elation I had when my hooves touch the strange gemstone floor of one of the eyries carved into the tallest spire in the castle's middle. This mare has riches beyond anything that can be dreamed of. The queen lands effortlessly but the crystal feels unnatural beneath my hooves. From the looks of this place, where I am sure the air would prove too thin for me if I were still alive, the entire palace was somehow carved out of what must have been a monstrous block of crystal. I cannot find a single sign that multiple crystals were fashioned together at any point.

Elysium started towards the center of this lookout. She spoke no orders, but I saw her magic reveal what couldn't have been a panel, for I saw no hinges. It slid open without a sound, merging into the crystal around it as if it had never been. She gestures to follow down the staircase I see now, which is also made of the same flawlessly cut stone.

I lower my head and obeyed her without a word, as I would any other royal.

...

I was overwhelmed by the interior. Every inch of the walls was carved with scenes of things I did not understand in detail that were frighteningly life-like. More winged and horned monsters, these Alicorns flew across the rippling and glossy surface, and beside them were ponies as if consorting with their kind as if it were normal!

These ponies were like Equestria, in a way. Earth ponies, pegasi, unicorns, and some types that I did not recognize ran and flew about with swords and magic, journeying across vast landscapes and consorting with creatures I knew nothing of. In the background cities constructed like none that were around today rose and in them, ponies of all kinds of trades huddled around vast stores of books and silly-looking trinkets.

I turned away to face the queen. I could not tell what she was feeling but her expression was far from calm. Did she see how I looked at these images?

She silently showed me through more hallways, none of them bore any more of those strange, abnormal markings and strange murals. We had arrived in a large room, or at least I thought it was a large room until I looked up to see that there was no ceiling! I do not how this was possible, but then again nothing here seemed to be right as it should be.

Shelves of more books than I am sure anypony had ever seen lined each floor and stretched up high so that I became dizzy just looking. Scrolls and tomes zoomed everywhere, grasped in magic, the same magic the queen used. How could this many scrolls even exist? How could so many of them be enchanted to do this? What kind of monstrous being would need so many?

None of these sights fazed Elysium, she strolled past all of these sights as if they were something that was not a cause for nervousness. She saw fit to lead me through more winding halls until we came to a balcony that felt too exposed. From here I could see most of her strange land and that the pavilion I stood on floated right in the sky even though it was not a cloud! I nearly fainted but the queen placed a cold forehoof on my withers to steady me.

Standing on the balcony's edge was a small filly with a coat darker than smoke and unshorn fetlocks revealing shiny black hooves like coal. She turned to look over towards me but I could not see her eyes, for they were beneath a shaggy tangled bob the same color as her coat. She had no horn that I could see but her wings were a fearsome shape I did not know how to describe.

In her dark-colored aura, she held a wreath of multi-colored roses which she seemed to like, for she smiled as she levitated more of the colorful flowers from a pile next to her before twisting them into her crown. When she was done, the filly rested it on her head only for it to wither to a circlet of thorns some sizes too big that rested atop her fluffy mane.

"HELLO!" She shouts much like Elysium did earlier, her voice nearly blowing me away.

She did not sound like most children, air-headed and carefree. This strange foal with the voice of a god was too serious in the way she conducted herself despite her innocent activity.

What had I gotten myself into now? I never wanted to go on any adventures or do anything interesting. Founding Equestria was enough.

Author's Note:

[Revised for print 7/11/2023]