Return of the Ancient Mage

by Zoshe

Chapter 42: Exorcism

"What?!" Exclaimed everyone at once.

"All of that was an act?!" Cried Twilight. "But why? Why would you do something like that?"

Clover looked over at Ret, who was only smiling. "Well Ret," he said. "It's your spell."

"Fine..." Ret scoffed. "But only because the purple one looks like she's gonna blow a gasket if I don't give her something to chew on." She looked right at Twilight, who just now realized that she was talking about her. "The corrupted Crystal Heart was Sombra's safeguard, so he'd never break it himself even if it was to pull his own magic back out of it. So I had Clover fill the role of bad guy and then I just tossed around a few... Suggestions."

"Suggestions?!" Twilight's eye started twitching. "But how?... What?..."

"Well..." Clover started.

"I wouldn't try to tell her anything more about it," Ret cut him off. "She's way too stiff to begin to understand this kind of magic. I suggest," she directed back at Twilight. "That she just tries to forget it." Ret snapped back to Clover, "Now quit stalling and move the plot along, you know what's next."

"Alright, fine," he said with some annoyance. "Twist my leg, why don't you?"

"Whatever it takes to get you moving," Ret scowled.

Clover grew quiet as the air around him began to thicken and grow dense with building magic. The already glowing pillars of crystal started to take on greenish hues as indecipherable writing began to appear on their smooth surface. Clover's body, as twisted as it had already become, began to darken further. His features continued to be obscured until he resembled a living shadow.

"What is he doing?!" Shouted Twilight over the hum of magic in the air. The noise being produced was quickly growing into the realm of deafening the longer it went on.

"Something we've been waiting a long time for," Ret offered as she sat down with another one of the cupcakes strewn about the room and watched what was happening inside the circle.

A metallic rattling could be heard breaking through the wall of sound the crystals were giving off. A low thrum began to reverberate through the floor that ran up everyone's hooves and caused the skin beneath their fur to tingle. Bright green lines becoming visible on the living shadow that had become Clover's body.

The darkness bled off of his body until it took on its own shape. Evil eyes that Twilight remembered from her first visit to the empire opened and outlined the shape of its face. She felt its gaze fall on her for just a moment before returning its attention to the pony right below it. Below those eyes, a jagged maw cracked open and with one swift movement, razor sharp teeth came down and dug into Clover's neck.

Clover staggered and buckled under the assault. Rivulets of blood ran down his body from where the demonic creature latched onto him. Several ponies rushed forward to help him after seeing the obvious pain he was in. However, they found themselves colliding with an invisible wall as they were unable to cross the edge of the circle.

"Stay back!" Clover turned his glowing eyes on them even as sweat rolled down his face and mixed with his blood. "I've been expecting some resistance. He doesn't want to make this easy for me."

Hesitantly, they backed away from him, not that they could do much anyway with the shield in place.

Once they were clear, Clover turned his attention inward as magic began to bubble and drip from his horn. A long tendril of magic spiraled off of him as it reached for the edges of the field. The tendril grew thicker and more corded as it passed each of the five crystals. When it finished its circuit, the cord twisted and bent until it took on the shape of a long chain. At the end of that chain was a large, very nasty looking spike that shifted from side to side like a snake getting ready to pounce.

The length slowly worked its way to the ground, where it started to coil in on itself. Clover's body slowly lifted into the air as the thing biting into him began to double its efforts and dug its teeth deeper into his flesh. Blood rained down from his body, turning into mist as it hit the ground and filling the space inside the circle with a crimson fog. Clover seemed to pay no mind to what must surely be unimaginable pain, but instead, he just smiled.

With a crack, the chain shot straight into Clover's chest and he fell limp as the force of it kept him suspended in the air. The beast biting into his neck released its hold as it squirmed and thrashed before slowly turning back into shadow and retreating back inside its host.

When the last of the chain had been pulled inside, Clover limply fell to the ground like a ragdoll. He laid there for almost a minute while a hushed silence fell over the onlookers.

With a start, Clover was sudden pulled upward when the chain made its reappearance as it emerged from his back. It moved far slower than it had been when it went in, as if it was caught on something. Link by link the chain extracted itself until a new form showed itself.

It was thick and oily and ended in long sharp claws. Luna remembered those claws, and she certainly remembered what came out next. The claw expanded as more of it was drawn out of Clover, growing larger with each passing moment, then came a shoulder, and shortly after that, its head.

The fur on its head was as thick and oily as the rest of it, almost to the point of appearing slimy. A dense fog rolled out over the ground as it opened its mouth, and the smell... Somehow the smell had no trouble penetrating the containment field. It was vile and rancid, like something had been chewing on old garbage. A musky scent made it through as well, with all the fragrant grace of a wet dog.

And then the screaming started.

They first thought that the unearthly howl that filled the room was coming from the creature, but when they looked closer, they saw that it was coming from Clover. The creature had slowed in its extraction and was now fighting for every inch that it was losing. However, it seemed that something was happening to Clover. The dark shadow that was crawling across his mane different than what had just covered his body, his golden coat was taking on a brighter sheen that reflected the light, and his wings were stretching themselves outward, becoming longer and more angular as more time passed.

"This isn't good," Ret said as she discarded the half-eaten cupcake and rushed to the edge of the circle while a dense fog rapidly began to build within the field and obscure all the occupants from view. She levitated several quills out from behind her ear and began to rapidly scribble onto the shield that contained them.

Nothing inside the barrier could be seen anymore by this point. However, the sounds... The sounds that came from within caused everyone to pause as the sound of two creatures fighting bounced off the shield and reverberated through the room. There was a few startling moments as one or more bodies directly collided from inside the shield, the shield miraculously still holding despite the ground around it occasionally cracking from the onslaught.

"Almost got it..." Ret screwed her eyes in concentration as she made a few last notes on the barrier in front of her. She had constructed what appeared to be a particularly complicated script in the matter of only a few moments. The words she had etched out seemed to be framing an empty circle, the purpose of which wasn't exactly clear. Ret levitated up her book in front of her and pressed one of the red quills to its pages.

No sooner had she done so, then a body from within the shield directly collided with the center of the diagram. The circle shattered as a body came flying through, just barely clipping Ret's face as the circle immediately closed back up while the script surrounding it disappeared.

The body landed out of reach of the other ponies while the dark fog that wrapped around it began to clear. The transformation they were watching Clover undergo had fully manifested as he stood there, hunched to the ground as he whipped his head back and forth. He gnashed his jagged teeth as the shadowy mane that wavered behind his head blew in the wind, and his slitted eyes seemed to dart back and forth as he took in the other creatures. While all this was going on, his wings had extended fully as the light caught each individual feather, making them appear like belts filled with knives.

Before anyone could stop her, Luna disregarded her own safety as she rushed forward towards the creature that Clover had become. Clover's gaze immediately locked onto her, jagged teeth splitting his jaw just before he leapt at her. They collided in midair, a mass of fur and feathers tumbling to the ground as a cloud of crystalline dust covered them.

When it cleared, Luna had her hooves firmly wrapped around Clover's transformed self while wincing in pain from the sharp teeth she found digging into her shoulder. "What's wrong with him?!" She shouted up through the pain. "Is he still...?"

"No, he's free of Sombra's influence," Ret shook her head, a few small shards breaking free from her face with the motion. "But he's turning into something far worse. Make sure you hold on tight until he calms down." Ret payed them no more mind as she moved her attention elsewhere, like whatever was happening to Clover didn't concern her. "How's Cadence doing?" She asked next.

"Cadence?" Twilight asked aloud. "Why would anything be happening with Cadence?" Twilight shared a look with Cadence, who appeared just as confused as she was while she sat there continuing to hold the new Crystal Heart as it pulsed against her chest.

Cadence looked down and was startled to find Ret standing directly in front of her. The unicorn was squinting her eyes and seemed to approve about something because she smiled and nodded.

"Good," she said. "It looks like the link carried over to the new heart without any more trouble."

"The what?" Cadence sounded confused. What was this mare talking about?

A low throated growl filled the room, drawing everyone's attention back to the shield. The chains holding the beast confined within the circle had broken and the beast itself had grown substantially larger since it had been pulled free of Clover's body. At present, it filled most of the space inside and sparks danced across the barrier as it tried to claw its way out.

"It'll break free in a moment," Ret said to Cadence. "Ready yourself."

"What am I supposed to do?" Asked a panic-stricken Cadence. There was no way she could be expected to stand up to whatever that thing was.

"Oh," said Ret, realizing she hadn't really explained anything to the love princess. "You don't really have to do anything. The hard part's already done. We just need you to act as a conduit."

"A what?" Was all she got to ask, because at that moment the barrier shattered. The beast stood even taller on its four massive legs as it arched its back and howled its rage to all who would hear. It swept its gaze over the ponies in the room. At first, they believe it would go after Clover. However, it seemed to settle on a new target as it leapt towards Cadence and an unconcerned Ret.

"Cadence! Look out!" Twilight shouted but she needn't have worried. It only made it about a dozen paces before it was violently yanked to the ground as a glowing pink collar appeared chained to its neck.

"Right on schedule," Ret said as she lazily looked back at the monster that was ten times her size, not even once seeming afraid if it.

"What did you do?" Cadence said through gritted teeth. Whatever had just happened, a visible strain seemed to be affecting the ruler of the Crystal Empire as her magic spiraled its way down from her horn and was pulled into the new Crystal Heart she still held.

"Clover set a trap and he fell right into it," said Spectrum from his place on the ground where he laid on his side. He weakly looked up at the restrained beast. "You've tormented my master long enough. How's it feel, Sombra? How does it feel to have the entire Crystal Empire turned against you?"

Sombra stopped trying to claw the collar from his neck as he finished speaking. With rage filling his eyes, he turned back to where Clover was being held by Luna and lunged towards them. His leash didn't allow him to get close enough; and as manacles began to appear around his wrists and ankles and dragged him back into the circle before pulling taut into the crystal pillars, it looked like he wasn't going to get another chance.

"So wait... Is that why Clover had Cadence make a new Crystal Heart?" Twilight asked, drawing Ret's attention. "Because you could turn the magic of the whole empire against him?"

Ret gave a weak nod, more crystal falling free of her face with the motion. "That's exactly why we had her make a replacement for the Heart. No pony, or any other creature for that matter, has much of a chance against the combined will of an entire nation."

Twilight, having noticed the damage she took, looked at Ret with concern. "Are you going to be alright?" She asked.

Ret held up a hoof to cover her injured face. "I'm fine," she said. "These bodies are just a little too fragile, that's all."

A light drew their attention back to where Luna held Clover close to her chest. The golden alicorn was slowly shrinking in size as his more monstrous features smoothed themselves out until all that was left was a sleeping pony resting against her chest.

Ret scoffed as she watched them. "Damn it, he's asleep," she said. "I was hoping I'd at least have my chance to give him an earful about how much harder he made this whole process. We wouldn't have needed to make everypony go through this asinine song and dance if he had just found me a compatible unicorn like we originally planned."

That was the last thing she said before her whole body collapsed in on itself, leaving a small red gemstone behind with a single crack running down the length of it.

Comments

[UnamusedWaffle]

I am so utterly confused

[DaGoomba]

I can't help but feel as though these last few chapters are just speed running the story to an ending. Like the pacing has just gone out the window for the sake of completing the story, and the story, in turn, is suffering for it.

[Luckyfanisaac]

A metallic rattling could be heard breaking through the wall of sound the crystals were giving off.

Ret screwed her eyes in concentration as she made a few last notes on the barrier in front of her.

[ponepony]

The length slowly worked its way to the ground, where it started to coil in on itself. Clover's body slowly lifted into the air as the thing biting into him began to double its efforts and dug its teeth deeper into his flesh. Blood rained down from his body, turning into mist as it hit the ground and filling the space inside the circle with a crimson fog. Clover seemed to pay no mind to what must surely be unimaginable pain, but instead, he just smiled.

Well at least he's having fun.

Also what is the red text about?

[Zoshe]

11272808
Give it a minute, it'll make sense in a moment