~Shae~

“Mother! Mother, come look at this!” I gallop down the steps, tripping over my robes. Father has told me they’re several sizes too big, but I insist upon wearing them... This is what I get. Still, my scratched muzzle does nothing to dampen my spirits.

Mother takes a break from her cup of tea and looks my way. “My little mage. What brings you here at such an early hour?”

I haven’t quite mastered levitation magic at this age. I have to use my hooves like some commoner... Oh, forget it. I’m too elated to care. I set an oversized tome onto the dining table and open to the twelfth... no, thirteenth page. I’m not normally one to squeal in glee, but here I go.

“Ahahaha! I finally found her!”

Mother looks over the page, but she can’t seem to figure out what I’m talking about. “Her being who, little mage? Do you speak of this mare?” She taps her hoof on the illustration.

I leap onto the empty seat nearest her and adjust the book so she can see it clearer. “Yes, it’s her. Clover the Clever.”

There she is, captured beautifully by the graphite and stains. She wears white and purple robes of Equestrian royalty, posed on her hind legs with aura emanating from her horn and hooves.

I read the caption aloud. “'Clover the Clever is known by her peers as a true prodigy in the arcane arts. As a former student of Starswirl the Bearded, she has invented forty-two spells, primarily in the black magic and conjuration fields of study. Her most recent accomplishment is the discovery of a difficult yet immensely versatile means of spellcasting, in which a unicorn uses their entire body rather than just their horn.

“Outside the field of magic, Clover is famous for her creation of the Pure Heart, which destroyed the karmic windigos and ensured a future for Equestria. However, she did not stay a part of the six who created this kingdom. She currently wanders the world in search of new magical findings.'”

I read all that without pausing, and when I finish I have to take several breaths.

“You seem to admire this one,” says Mother. “I can see why. She’s obviously achieved much in her lifetime.”

“I should say so.” I can’t take my eyes off of Clover. I rest my cheeks on my hooves, sighing at the sight of her in all of her majesty. “I’ve known about Clover since I was a baby. Now I finally know what she looks like.” I slam a single hoof down. “That’s it, Mother.”

“What is what, love?” Mother takes a nonchalant sip of her tea.

I rub my hooves together and smirk. “Someday I’m going to meet Clover the Clever, and she’s going to teach me everything she knows.”

Mother merely chuckles at that notion and drains the rest of her drink. “Shall I get you a cup too, dear?”

“Yes, please.” My euphoria turns into disappointment, even though the tea is really quite good. Mother must have put in an extra spoonful of honey. “You... don’t think that’s going to happen, do you?”

Mother’s aura tousles my hair. It tickles a bit. “I always encourage optimism, little mage,” she says. “I just don’t want disappointment to come to you, should that vision not come true.”

She does have a point, and I’m not foolish. I understand that even if the incredibly slim odds of me actually meeting Clover the Clever are in my favor, what reason would she have to take me in as a protege? But that only serves to spur me on. I close the tome of mages, gallop to the bookshelf and pick out a basic spell book, sticking my muzzle in that one instead. “In that case, I’ll become the greatest mage in Equestrian history, then Clover will have to notice me.”

That brings a gleam to Mother’s eye. “Now that is something I can foresee.” She stands by my side with a foreleg around my back and other on the first page. “Shall we begin with simple levitation?”

“It’s only because of levitation that I was able to save her.”

It’s time for me to do a recollection on how much my world has become like a twisted nightmare. First of all, I just witnessed my headmaster fall into ashes before he could find any opportunity to defend himself. The one who murdered him is the one I’ve admired and devoted my entire existence to. And yet, Clover the Clever has come down from her broken pedestal, suddenly feeling she has the right to be concerned about me.

I’m lying on a makeshift bed of cushions in the grand hall, where the other students have gathered... or were forced to be gathered. Yes, that’s it. The exits are guarded by Clover’s elementals. I make the unfortunate assumption that, based on the tearful and terrified expressions of my fellow students, they’re all aware of what transpired in the headmaster’s office.

Apparently I was knocked unconscious when Clover caught me during what would have been a fall to my death... After I witnessed her murder Frosthelm in cold blood. The biggest question on my mind is, “Why?”

“Why what, Shae?” Clover asks. She seems completely ignorant of what she’s done to me inside, hell, what she’s done in general.

I’m not sad. I’m not depressed. I’m not mad. I’m not angry. I am livid. “Why? For everything.” I float off the cushions and advance on Clover. “Why are you here? Why have you done this to me? Why did you do this to the entire academy?! Why did you have to kill him?!” I press my hoof up against her chest forcefully. “You tell me that, Clover the Clever!”

Clover’s response to that is a binding spell. Ropes wrap around my legs and force me to the hard ground. It doesn’t hurt too much, but the desperation of the moment makes me cry out anyway. I regain my composure quickly, though. I have to stay strong. It’s what Caro would do. It’s what Frosthlem would want me to do. It’s what Mother knew I could do.

“You could never understand.” I figured Clover would say something like that.

“You’re pathetic!” I scream. “You’re selfish and pathetic! You’re acting on your own desires!”

The other students are silently urging me to stop with my protesting but I couldn’t care less. Clover shakes her head and sighs. “I know you were listening. I told Frosthelm, I’m doing this because it’s for the best. Equestria needs Shokenda Blackwing’s guidance. She knows ponykind can be better than this. You’ve seen the state of the kingdom. I’ve seen it! Out there,” she points to the frosted window, “is nothing but murder, thievery, sickness, war, famine and rape. This academy is the last dose of innocence in Equestria! I will end this war in Shokenda’s favor before any harm can come to it.”

Clover’s logic has enough craters within it to span the length of the moon. Only the tiniest sliver of respect for her remains, and even that’s dwindling fast. “You’ve already done harm! You know what you are?! A hypocritical quim! A concubine to Shokenda's wrath!”

Clover’s new red aura envelops her horn and eyes. "Concubine?!" She teleports to my side and bucks me upside the head with her hind legs. I only grin as the blood drips from my snout.

“Thank you, ma’am. May I have another?”

She steps away, wearing a face of shock and remorse. “Oh, Divines, I... I’m so sorry.” She kneels down. “Shae, listen, please. I’m not proud of what I’ve done, but in order to set things right, I have to take drastic measures.” She presents her black amulet to me. “There was no other way. Frosthelm wouldn’t have been keen on me simply borrowing this if he knew its purpose.”

“No other way...” I spit in Clover’s face, making her drop the sympathetic act. “You could have just left well enough alone. Shokenda is already dead. As soon as Caro returns from Neigh Hrothgar, he’s going to tear her apart.” I give her a deathly glare. “And you along with her.”

I could play the part of the disturbed damsel whose beliefs have been crushed in a matter of moments, but I just can’t. Clover is a malevolent witch, my fellow students are at her mercy, and worst of all...

“How do you think the entire Imperial Legion will take to your attempt on Platinum’s life?”

Everypony in the grand hall lets out gasps and shrieks simultaneously. Apparently Clover left that part of her plan out of the record, and I can guess why. Now all the students have turned on her, screaming words of slander and hatred.

“We trusted you!”

“You should have stayed out of Equestria!”

“Insolent bitch!”

“Get out of our home!”

“Whoops,” I say, giving the most syrupy-sweet grin I can manage, “did I say something I shouldn’t have?”

I receive another buck, this time to my chest. Then to my stomach. I’m laughing all the while, at least until the third buck, which lands squarely in my- “AAAAGH!!” I have to bite my tongue to distract myself from the throbbing pain. Tears begin to form in my eyes.

“Impudence,” is all Clover can say. She walks away, eyes set on the center of the room. It’s only now that I notice the gathering plumes of multi-colored aura swirling together into the early stages of what can only be...

“Is that- RRGH!” The pain between my legs makes it difficult to talk, or focus on anything, for that matter. “That’s a nexus...”

Clover nods and looks back at me. “I’m not surprised you know this spell. It’s fairly complex, but then again, exceeding expectations is your bread and butter, isn’t it?”

At least she’s still somewhat sane to recognize that. “I assume that you’ll be using it to jump to the Rainbow Palace and kill Platinum?”

She nods again. “Only the amulet has granted me enough power to complete this nexus, along with the help of your fellow students.”

When I look about, I can see why many of the students look so sickly. I can see faint traces of their individual auras rising from their bodies and funneling into the nexus. “You’re foul...” I can’t even come up with enough words to describe my disgust.

Clover’s still admiring the amulet. “This will serve well in the battle that is to come. I will not pretend my magic on its own is refined enough to take on a hardened mistress such as Platinum, but this will resolve that problem.”

Given my bindings and the soreness of my entire body, I’m not fit to charge into battle and stop her from doing this. The grim reality of the situation makes itself known. The moment that nexus is formed, and Clover steps through, she’ll be halfway across Equestria, well on her way to clearing the throne for Shokenda’s rule. I, a member of the clan Dragonrein, will be unable to stop her...

Then I notice something incredibly welcome amongst the miserable students. It’s the telltale shimmer of an invisibility spell. There’s only one I know who has that much finesse with stealth magic. Eavesdrop makes absolutely silent hoofsteps towards Clover, who is watching the nexus so intently she can’t be bothered to notice, not that she could. Eavesdrop is too good for her.

The invisibility spell drops as Eavesdrop unsheathes an ebony dagger and makes a thrust at Clover’s back. This is it...

Clover instantly wheels around, her red aura ablaze as she throws a burst of pure energy at Eavesdrop. She’s flung into the air, separated from her dagger. I curse under my breath, clenching my teeth as I watch Clover reach out. She summons a demonic claw that clutches Eavesdrop and slams her into the wall, leaving a crater of bricks. Eavesdrop coughs and falls to the ground in a broken heap.

I can’t help calling out to her. “No!” She was so close, and yet...

Clover merely shrugs that close encounter off and trots past the hacking Eavesdrop. “Frosthelm would have been proud of you.” I can tell Eavesdrop is trying to say something in response but all she can do is wheeze and fall unconscious.

That’s it. I begin my struggle against the ropes. I don’t care if their grip is enchanted. If there’s even the slightest possibility that I can get out of these damn things, I’ll gladly try my luck. I try tilting my head and firing a dispel at the ropes but evidently it’s not powerful enough to cut through. “Ugh... Somepony... Anypony, come on...”

My prayers are answered. Galloping in unison, Sundance and Lancer emerge from the crowd of raging students. Clover stands at the ready for them.

First, Lancer teleports behind Clover and elbows her in the rear, causing her to stumble. Then Sundance fires off a force spell that sends Clover tumbling through the air. She steadies herself with levitation, then in two quick movements lands on solid ground and leaps back into the fray. She calls the claw forth again, this time swiping Lancer away. Lancer stays his ground and fires off blue flames that puncture the claw. He casts another bout of flames at Clover. She sidesteps right into a buck to the head from Sundance. Sundance then scoops up Eavesdrop’s dagger and turns the other way, galloping straight for me.

Clover takes notice of this, but she has other matters to deal with. When Lancer telegraphs his next spell, she seizes the opportunity and catches him with her aura. She shakes him about in the air and slams him face first into the marble. He’s out cold in an instant. “Shit! Lancer!” I cry out.

Sundance is only a few feet away from me with the dagger. No doubt it will be sharp enough to destroy the ropes. That’s the way, you resourceful mare, you...

A blast of lightning from one of the elementals blindsides Sundance and makes her drop instantly. She slides across the ground, twitching when she comes to a stop. “Sunny...” I whisper in remorse. I look back to the unconscious bodies of Lancer and Eavesdrop. They were all so quick to risk their lives, and when I take notice of the dagger right in front of me, I realize it was all to save me. I let a few tears fall.

“It... has to be you...” mutters Sundance. She’s in obvious pain from the shock, still quivering and gasping between words. “You c... You can d-do it, s-sister....”

The dagger is just within my mouth’s reach. I look to it, then back to Sundance. “I know, Sunny.”

Before Clover catches on to what I’m doing, I manage to take the dagger’s handle in my mouth, angle it between the ropes and my belly, and cut upwards. The dagger must have been enchanted to be spell resistant. Whatever the case, I’m finally free.

I wrap myself in my aura and glide to the center of the grand hall, facing down Clover. Her eyes are entirely red at this point, but I’m not scared. If anything, I’m more calm than I’ve ever been in my entire life, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’m easily the angriest mare on the face of the entire world at this point. That last sliver of respect is gone forever.

I stand on my hind legs, reaching my front hooves to the sky. I concentrate with every fiber of my being into summoning a weapon that will bring divine punishment to Clover for the crimes she has committed against me, my friends, the academy and everything a mage should believe in.

"You reap what you sow, the grain that you grow. The lives that you keep, and the deaths that you weep. The reaper cuts through, drags the soul to the Fae. The soul travels freely, born another day."

An ethereal, magenta scythe lands in my hooves. I look to it with awe and a hint of wicked amusement. I spin it around over my head, around my back and then ready myself for battle, with both hooves on the handle and the curved blade pointing upwards.

“Clover the Clever. My name is Shae Sparkle, and I am going to kill you.”

Just watch me, Fauste.

I’ve always preferred scythes above all other bladed weapons because of their unpredictability. Say, for instance, if I make a vertical slash at Clover and she steps away. I can always double back for another slash, but instead I use the momentum to spin the blade around my head and cut at Clover’s neck. The blade of the scythe moves so quickly she barely has time to duck.

Clover isn’t a defenseless idiot, obviously. Just as I suspect, she erects a barrier, and I have to fire off a counter spell to bring it down. The scythe shimmers in my grip. I can’t afford to use too many spells, lest it fade away and I’m left defenseless with no magic to ward Clover off. I envy Rosemary. When it comes to the heat of battle, she only has to worry about not dying. I have to keep my resources in mind whilst staying alive.

I tuck and roll from Clover’s quick beam spell, but that just leads me into a followup. I hiss as my hind leg burns. Clover’s advancing on me fast. I pierce the ground with the tip of the scythe, sending out a shockwave that knocks her away from me. She ricochets off the wall. In mid-leap, she casts a column of white flames on the ground. I have to avert my eyes at their intensity, but Clover sprints through them like they’re tall grass. Her hooves become enveloped in the flames.

I raise my scythe and block her attempted buck to my face. I don’t even want to think about how that white fire could defile my body. Clover presses her legs harder on the blade, causing me to buckle. I take notice of her belly right in front of me. Her armor doesn’t cover her there. I break the clash, spin around and strike her in the gut with the shaft. That sends her back, with the flames dwindling from her hooves.

Now Clover decides to play the trickery card. She teleports to the left, then the right, the left again, right, left. She grows a little closer with each jump and I can’t keep track of her. If only I had Caro’s eyes... Then I realize, I don’t need them. Instead, I charge up my horn and release a pure magic burst. It doesn’t matter where Clover is, it knocks her asunder anyway. But that’s not enough. She teleports again, this time so close I’m practically kissing her. She grabs me by the temples, spins me around and swings her forelegs into my back. I topple over onto my head, then cry out as I receive more blasts of flame to my chest. The fire punctures my robes and singes the hairs of my coat. I press my hoof to my horn, grabbing a dose of ice magic and waving it over the burns. It still stings, though. I swing that hoof at Clover’s face as I leap back onto my hooves. I graze her cheek, leaving her face contorted oddly as frost grips her. She swipes it off.

“Tell me, Shae, do you fancy yourself a killer?” she asks.

My response is to swing the scythe across her face. I leave a gash on her cheek. She merely huffs and leaps into the air. She levitates herself up higher to sit on one of the stone pillars.

“I doubt you have the will to actually do away with me.”

“I’ll take my chances,” I snap. I don’t need to hear this. I’ve made up my mind. I swing the scythe at the pillar and it cuts clean through. Clover just smirks and enjoys the ride down, landing gracefully while the pillar crumbles around her.

She dusts herself off, then examines her hoof cockily, like she’s afraid she chipped something. “So, say you do have the slightest chance of murdering me. What makes you think you wouldn’t regret it later?”

I know this game. “Don’t give me any of that morality bullshit!” I yell. “I know who I am! You killed the headmaster and hurt my friends, and I have to stop you before you hurt anypony else. It’s as simple as that!” My onlooking fellow students rise and cheer for me.

The lighthearted laugh Clover gives makes me want to vomit. "I've met Imperial veterans less hardened than you. I have to be honest, for a young mare, you're quite frightening."

I feel my eyes flash white for a moment. My magical reserves must have just peaked, if only because I’m so unfathomably angry. “You have no idea...” I put everything I can spare into my scythe, making its glow all the more radiant and the blade even larger. My swing misses Clover, but it cuts through the trail of her robes. I’m getting better.

She tenses up at losing some of her cover. What remains of the cloak loses some of its radiance. “Damn,” Clover hisses.

“Enchanted, was it?” I say rather casually while making more swings at Clover. While she does dodge every single one, and blocks my brute charge with a fast ward, she’s growing more exasperated. “What was it, a stamina enhancement? Something that bolsters your magical reserves? Let’s hear it!”

Clover just grunts and teleports away from me. My eyes follow the trail of red to the top of the steps, where she reappears behind her elementals. “I’ve been playing you, Shae. You’re not strong. You’re hardened, yes, but you’re not strong.” She sighs and faces the floor, resting her hoof on her forehead. “Curse this amulet...” She shakes it off like a light hangover. “I had hoped to merely tranquilize you like your rather talented friends. Credit where credit is due, but if you continue your struggle, I can’t guarantee your survival. Don’t make me do this, Shae.”

My grip intensifies on the scythe. I swing it over my shoulder and gallop on three legs. “I welcome it. Destroy what remains of your dignity so I can strike you down without a hint of hesitation.” I kick off the first step and make a grand leap. The lightning elemental raises a shield made of pure electricity. I raise a ward and protect myself from damage upon impact but I’m still thrown away. The ward’s shattering leaves my horn sore, but my scythe still remains. “What’s the point of summoning your drudges if they aren’t even going to fight me?”

As if Clover and I are sharing states of mind, she waves the elementals forward. I’ll call them Ice and Lightning, for the sake of strategy. Ice is ahead of Lightning, summoning a trail of ice shards. Apparently it isn't cold enough in here already. I slide over to dodge the crystals then jump a frozen projectile. Just it grazing my face makes me shiver. While Ice charges the next burst, I get a running start and slide on my back. Ice is large enough for my slide to swing underneath its legs. I cut in a rotation, slicing clean through its hind legs. When I stand and look back, Ice merely crawls on its remaining limbs. If it were a living pony, this would be horrendous, but for an elemental, this is just pathetic.

I make a casual trot around the remains of Ice, but I underestimate it, and it still has its own spells available. Damn you, hubris, now you’ve gotten my legs grafted to the floor. I have to bite my tongue. The ice burns worse than any flames I’ve endured. It’s like my skin itself is disappearing from my senses, hell, my entire body. I can’t move, but I won’t scream. I can’t scream. I’m better than this, but... The pain reaches my mind. Every thought tells me to fall asleep and let nature take care of the pain, but I curse those thoughts out. No, I won’t go black. I won’t end up like... “Mother!”

I finally get a grip and summon a blast of enchanted flames. It melts the ice, but doesn’t burn me in the process. I slam my free hoof into the ground. It hurts, but that’s the whole point. My senses are back. I can feel my leg. I can also feel the tears in my eyes as I stare down Ice. He’s charging up another bout. I won’t give it the chance. I raise my scythe high and bring the shaft down on Ice’s head. Then again. And again. By the time I’m done, Ice is nothing more than shavings.

Now all that’s left before I can obliterate Clover is Lightning, but there’s a complication. Ice was a physical, woundable foe. This thing is made of pure electricity, and if I step too close, I’ll have much more to worry about than my hair standing on end. Luckily, enchanted and summoned weapons should do a decent amount of damage... I curse silently. My scythe up and disappeared while I wasn’t paying attention. Well, if nopony else minds, I’ll wait here to die again!

But of course, I should expect the best from my fellow students. At least ten of them, all in different classes and robes, shakily stand and rush to join me. They’re silent, probably because they’re all scared beyond comprehension, but what amazes me is their audacity to stand despite that fear. I love this school so much.

I raise another ward, this one much larger than before, to defend them all from a scatter shot of electricity. All the bolts fizzle on contact, then I drop the ward. I cast my hoof forward. “Everypony, ready your best water spells.” I check back and forth as their horns come alight. It’s like a rainbow of auras. “And... NOW!” I swing my hoof down.

A lake’s worth of water falls from the ceiling in a disorganized cascade. If Lightning could emote, I’d wager he’d have the most hilarious expression of shock... Heh. Just as the water envelops him, I fire a concentrated blast of ice into the center of the liquid mass. The whole thing becomes a spherical ice sculpture, with Lightning helplessly and motionlessly caught inside.

I feel a little nudge on my leg and look down to notice a little colt. A first year. “He can still get out, though?”

There is that issue. Perhaps if I were to summon another weapon, but that could drain my reserves. Luckily, that problem starts to take care of itself when I hear the sort of battering on the doors that only a mighty earthwalker can deliver. Either Caro has come to the rescue, and I’m going to hug him until he’s gasping for air, or...

The doors fall from their fastening as a vortex of flames comes flying into the grand hall and slices clean through the ice sculpture, rending it in two along with Lightning. The vortex dwindles, revealing another wonderful earthwalker in my life, with her flaming sword slung over her back. So I won’t get to hug Caro, but I will get to kiss Rosemary. Even better. It’s a short kiss, far shorter than I’d like, but I savor every fraction of a second while I can.

While I nestle my head underneath Rosemary’s chin, she waves to the students. That definitely brings them around to braver faces. “You could have told me there’d be another dance, cherry blossoms!” She swings around, still keeping her foreleg wrapped around me. She’s like a new set of barding. “Step back, everypony. Your future headmistress and I will handle the rest.”

Clover has gone from cocky to infuriated in a manner of minutes, and Rosemary’s flurry left a nasty charred gash through her side. She clutches it tenderly, as if she’s trying to hold something in. Her horn and eyes are aglow with red. “She’s trying to heal!” I shout.

I can still teleport, and I exercise that privilege. I reappear just before her and take a page out of her book. In her prime, Clover was able to master a simple yet simultaneously complicated art, using the trace amounts of Fae in her entire body rather than just her horn. I’ve dabbled in doing that more than once but I’ve never stressed my time in mastering it. Now’s as good a time as ever. I concentrate pure magical energy into my forehooves and bring them both down on Clover’s head, forcing her chin down. I follow up with a levitated backflip and a buck to her face. This sends her tumbling against the wall on her back.

“Forcing the elementals to attack made you weak, huh?” I ask, even though I’m sure that’s the answer. Clover responds by engulfing herself in her aura and throwing herself at me. I’m easily able to roll away. Her momentum sends her flying into a bracing Rosemary.

“You know, all these children looked up to you.” Rosemary takes advantage of Clover’s moment of weakness. She punches her clean across the face, splattering the wall with drops of blood. She pins her up against that same wall. “Hay, I didn’t know you for long, but I respected you almost as much as Shae did. You somehow managed to throw that all away in an instant. You should feel proud of yourself.”

I have to admit, Rosemary’s way of punishment is quite brutal. I watch, seizing up ever so slightly as she draws her flaming sword agonizingly slowly across Clover’s neck. It cauterizes as it cuts, but it’s no less painful for Clover. I can see faint tears welling in her ducts.

“Rosemary, I think that’s good enough,” I say. “She’s done.”

Rosemary shoots tragically confused a glare at me. “Are you sure? I heard it myself, she hurt your friends. Worse for me, she nearly killed you. If I hadn’t enchanted my sword and gotten back here in time, you’d probably...”

I touch her shoulder with a comforting hoof. She’s so tense from holding Clover. “She’ll die. Just don’t be cruel. We’re better than her.”

Rosemary glances back and forth, before falling back on me and nodding. “Do you want to do it?”

We’re talking about taking a life as if we’re deciding who should prepare what meal for a lovely dinner. My mind tells me to feel remorse, but I just can’t bring myself to feel anything about this. We have Clover at sword point. It’s a simple answer. “Does it really matter?”

“As you wish, love.” Rosemary grips the handle of her sword tighter. With a single swing, Clover will be left with only part of her neck, choking for breath until her eyes turn into the back of her head. It’s just another part of life, something she had coming to her when she betrayed me and those she inspired.

But she won’t have it. Her amulet shines such a hellish red that Rosemary and I have to avert our eyes and brace from the sheer force of all that power. Through my barely open eyes, I see Clover rushing to me.

I raise my hooves to do... I don’t know, something, but I’m too slow. She locks my forelegs behind me, spins me around, pins me with her entire body and slams both of her hooves into the small of my back. I feel something die inside of me. It’s like my entire frame is begging for a long nap.

With that, Clover silently leaps away from me, bounding down the stairs. A few students try to pounce her but she teleports out of the way. A few even try to intercept her with what little magic they can manage. Clover merely throws them aside.

In all of the chaos, I never noticed that the nexus has fully formed. I have to squint, but I can see the marble buildings of Everfree inside the vortex of auras. Clover gives a quick glance to the students, to Rosemary, and to me. “Feel regret, Shae. When Shokenda takes the throne, you will be known to history as the saboteur of her reign.” With that final insult, she leaps into the nexus and disappears.

“No!” I try to teleport, but not even the slightest wisp of aura comes. My stomach lurches when I realize I can’t feel my Fae. “She bound me! I can’t use any spells!”

Rosemary shoves me forward as she sprints for the nexus. “Best use your legs, then! Go, GO!”

I steal whatever looks I can at the weak and helpless students, especially Sundance, Eavesdrop and Lancer. I’m regretting something alright, and it’s that I won’t be able to help them. Even though part of me is telling me to stop and tend to them, I have a greater task at hoof. Damn you, Clover!

Rosemary’s mighty forelegs reach under my barrel. I’m airborne, if only for a moment, before the aura of the nexus wraps around me. It’s like being in a maelstrom of colors and rays, as if an artist colored a hurricane. I feel like I’m falling, but I can still see Wintercolt Academy right in front of me, with Rosemary lunging through to take my hoof. I reach out to grab her. I want to hold her close as we take the plunge through this chaos into Everfree. We can put an end to this. Bring Clover to her end in the middle of the streets, clean up the mess, then she, Celina and I can get malts together.

The nexus doesn’t allow it. The passage to Wintercolt closes, taking Rosemary from my sight and leaving me alone for the first time in so long. I can’t hear myself scream her name against the vacuum.

I hit the ground running and drift to a stop, or at least I try to. I end up with my face in a marble wall. Compared to what I’ve been through, though, it’s easy to shake off. It’s hard for me to stand, on account of leaping at least a hundred miles in an instant. When my vision falls into place, I can see I’m only on the outskirts of Everfree, nearest a general goods parlor and the diamond moat. If I follow the moat upstream, it should lead me to the Rainbow Palace.

The husky earthwalker at the counter of the parlor looks over to see me. “Bloody hell, you took a nasty spill there. Need a solvent for that?” He points out what must be a new bruise on my muzzle. I shake my head furiously and break into a gallop. “Oi, kid! Where’s the fire?!”

I can’t possibly care about him right now. As the peak of the Rainbow Palace comes into view, I assess the situation.

First of all, I’m alone. No Rosemary to hold me close, no Dragonborn to guard me, and no dashing rogue pegasus to make light of the situation. They’re all far away, and probably far apart from each other at this point.

Second, I’m completely useless without my magic, to the point where I wonder if I should even bother anymore. I’m no good with material weapons. How can I expect to stop Clover the Clever when she has that amulet at her disposal?

Third, there are other ponies at risk here besides Clover. The royal guard is at risk, and presuming Gauntlet has returned from Trottingham, he’ll be willing to throw himself into death’s path to protect Queen Platinum.

However, the one whose life I value more than anything is Celina, for obvious reasons. There are only two known alicorns in existence and one of them is a pure, innocent, beautiful maiden who happens to be my close friend. The few days I spent with her in the palace, helping with her garden, reading royal scripture, or just talking about our lives, it was more than enough time for me to come to love her. If Clover so much as touches Celina... I’ll make her beg for death.

The early morning commute brings my sprint to a simple trot. Unacceptable. I can’t possibly convince everypony that Platinum’s life is in danger, so I settle for stepping through the alleys. They’re definitely a few pegs lower from the radiant glamour of the rest of the city, but I’ll gladly take stepping through trash and trough for a faster journey.

It’s after I leap out of the alley that I accidentally ram into somepony, an old hooded lady at a glance. “I-I- Oh, Fauste, I am so sorry, I-I just ah...” I’m about to get going again, only for the lady to intercept and pull down her hood. I recognize her instantly. Decrepit, mien of senility, with a greying coat and mane. It’s Sacred Rite. “You.”

She’s more or less foaming. “Witch! You nearly killed me! Everypony!” She waves to a group of teenagers further down the path. They’re the only ones here. “I’m being assaulted by an accursed unicorn hag! They’re revolting, I tell ya! I told you all, we should have exterminated them when we had the chance!” The teenagers just shrug her off. Clearly her rants are nothing new here. “You’re all sympathizers with the witches, the lot of ya! I hope the dragons swallow you alive!”

I’m about to leave this one to her nonsense, but she actually grabs ahold of me by the neck and back. “Crone, get off!” I protest. “I can’t deal with you right now!”

She’s grinning. I can see every inch of her mossy teeth. “Oh, no you don’t. I’m going to put a stop to you before you can hurt anypony else with your craft.” How is she going to do that? She’s nothing but bones and skin at this point, how- Oh, shit. She’s pulling a knife out of her cloak. The scar upon my stomach starts tingling again.

I levitate the blade back into- I don’t have any magic. Damn! I settle for the power of words. “You listen to me right now. If you don’t let me go this instant, I won’t be able to reach the queen, and the entire regime falls.”

Sacred Rite settles for smiling with her crooked lips and spinning the knife on her hoof. “Let her die. She’s a witch as well. She doesn’t deserve the throne in the first place.” She examines the blade like it were a gem. “And when she dies, well, I’ll be there to take what’s left. Perhaps the princess and her horn will be worth something special.”

She did not just say that. She did not just threaten Celina. My Celina. “You sick... insolent... repulsive min-”

“Stop in the name of the Queen!” shouts a gruff voice.

It happens in less than an instant. Imperial unicorns appear from nowhere, via teleportation of course, surrounding me and Sacred Rite. They are lead by Gauntlet, who apparently forgot his helmet. He looks far more young and relaxed without it, though. It’s a definite improvement on his white coat and red mane. “Two things are going to happen," he commands. "One. For contempt of the crown and its kin, worship of Dragos, as well as attempted murder of a member of a recognized guild, Sacred Rite, you are under immediate arrest.”

“What-” Rite is instantly bound by enchanted ropes, the same ones that held me, and she’s apprehended by two of the unicorns. “You cannot do this! I am not compliant! I have rights!”

“No, you don’t.” Gauntlet approaches her and gives her a haymaker in the gut. That shuts her up right away. “You tossed what little rights you had in the dustbin the moment you started practicing worship of the forbidden one and threatened my... our beloved princess." He gestures to the apprehenders. "Take her away. No need to be gentle.”

With that, the two soldiers, along with my would-be-murderer, disappear. Three more soldiers remain, alongside Gauntlet. One would think I’d be more terrified and in need of a fierce dose of comfort, but that was hardly a close brush with death after what I’ve been through in the past hour alone.

Gauntlet turns to me with a much less harsh expression. “Now, the second thing. Miss Shae, honored member of Dragonrein, friend to the royal family... What the hell are you doing here?”

Instantly my encounter with Sacred Rite leaves my immediate memory and instead I focus on every instant of my feud with Clover. I spit it out like a bad clump of hay. “Sir Gauntlet, I have reason to believe the queen’s life is in danger!” This is how it always goes in stories. The child tries to warn the authorities of danger and nothing comes of it. I brace myself for the obvious answer.

Gauntlet levitates his gold plated sword to his side. “To arms. We will escort Miss Shae to the castle, she’ll inform Her Majesty of this in presence, and then we shall fortify our defenses should her claim prove reasonable. Come along.” He tilts his head and swings around, and I follow, absolutely appalled.

“Huh? Just like that? No room for doubt?”

“We are at war, Miss Shae. If there is even the slightest possibility that the queen is in danger, she must be informed right away, and your lips are as good as mine. You’re the one with knowledge here, unless you’re pulling our leg.”

“Not in the slightest. I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.” As I say this, I sneak a glance at the newest weapon in my pocket. If matters grow dire, I can at least thank Sacred Rite for being so careless with her knife.

I break into a gallop the moment I see Celina sitting in her garden, though I take a bit of precaution not to step on the flowers. As per usual, she’s wearing the white robe that conceals her wings. I see her pull it tighter over her back as the soldiers approach her, though she’s turned to me with surprised happiness across her face. I embrace her running.

She opens her mouth, possibly to ask why I’m here, but I stop her short. “Celina, it would mean nothing less than the world to me if we could talk, but for now, we just can’t.”

“Why?”

I’m about to answer, but Gauntlet presses his hoof to my withers. Odds are he can put it in calmer words than me, though it’s a bit of a surprise when he takes Celina’s hoof and tenderly kisses it like a gentlecolt. What’s more, she seems to have expected it. Gauntlet returns to his professional state. “If Miss Shae is to be believed, Her Majesty Queen Platinum is in danger, and so are you, Your Highness.”

“What’s going on, Shae?” Celina asks. She’s puzzled, I can tell, but it’s hard for me to answer. I remember a time when she called the potential murderess of the queen ‘Auntie Clover.’ I hate to play this card, the sort of card a mother would play on a child who can’t comprehend grown-up issues, but my hoof is forced.

“Celina, I know you can handle yourself. I mean, you're amazing and beautiful and probably have more power over the Fae than I could ever imagine, but that's exactly why you need to get out of here. Wait for me at the malt shop, or anywhere, and I'll find you. I’ll tell you why later, just please, please,” I push her away from her resting place, “get as far away from here as you can.” She reluctantly starts moving with Gauntlet, who holds her intimately. I call out to them both, “And no matter what happens, do not come back here until I say so!”

Although it’s hushed, I can hear Gauntlet saying, “She plays the part of your mother more than the queen.” That gets a laugh out of Celina that makes me feel brighter despite all this misfortune. Gauntlet turns his head to me. “I'll be back. Go to Her Majesty, Miss Shae. Tell her what you know, and make it quick. We can’t afford to waste time.”

I break into another gallop. I’m surprised I’ve yet to run out of breath. “I’m not the one wasting my time, it’s the rest of the world!”

I move back into the shadow of the castle corridors, letting my instincts carry me to the throne room. I’ve only been there the once but I can remember its location well enough, and I know my instincts aren’t failing me when I pass the portrait of the Late King Hurricane. My destination should be just around the corner, up the stairs and... Yes! I try to force open the double doors with the magic I don’t have, then stomp in frustration. Then I just open the damn things with my hooves.

“Your Majesty!”

She’s sitting on the throne, her entire body slack and her curly mane rather messy, as unqueenly as she’s ever looked. What strikes me above all is that her eyes are shut, and they don’t open at my call. I approach her as cautiously as I can manage, trying not to assume the worst, but this is hard to look at any other way. Was I too late? Did Clover make it silent and painless? I expected some sort of spectacle, something with aura flying about, rubble cascading from the ceiling, but this...

My dread is cast away when the queen snorts and her eyes flutter open. I take a relieved breath as she adjusts herself to sit like royalty should. She wipes her snout. “Goodness me, Shae. Was I asleep for long?”

“I haven’t the foggiest, Your Majesty.” I realize how disrespectful my tone is and bow. “I didn't mean to interfere with the royal nap."

Platinum stretches her hindquarters and removes herself from the throne. "It's quite well, child, you may rise. It happens with age, and the palace is so dreadfully quiet as of late, e'er since the bards left for Wintercolt Academy..." She ponders that thought for a moment. I'm just about to interrupt, but my better judgment keeps me tight lipped. "Something tells me you should be somewhere that isn't here. Am I right?"

"Actually... I come with a warning."

"I see.” She trots to look out the window, at the peaceful city of Everfree. It’s so dissonant from what I’m sure is about to ensue. “Your word is as good as anypony's. Let us hear it."

If I were to explain every last detail of what I experienced at the academy, it would likely be too late by the time I finished. I remember how Tohro stated the truth to her about Discord and Hurricane, plain and simple. “Clover the Clever wants to kill you.”

Platinum snickers and walks towards me. She pats me on the wither, looking jollily off into the distance. It's like her mind is elsewhere. She yawns, still recovering from her catnap, and walks amongst herself some more. I just stand there, incredibly anxious and awkward, until Platinum says, "Tell me something I don't know."

I should probably pick my jaw up from the floor. "You... know? So why are you still here?! No offense, Your Majesty, but if I were you, I’d get out of town! Run for the bloody hills!"

"And, what, leave you to defend yourself with no magic whatsoever?” She laughs aloud, as if this is some sick joke. I can’t exactly get ahold of what she’s thinking, especially when she taps me on the horn. “I can't sense much of the Fae within you. No doubt Clover took advantage of your pressure points in a moment of weakness. She's one of the few who can perform such a feat. I taught her how, actually."

“So, that’s how you know she’s out for blood?” I ask. “Because I have her trace?”

“That’s the start. Most of the rest was assumption, but a correct assumption.” Platinum turns to face her throne. “Clover is a very bright mage, a very powerful one, but she wears her emotions on her sleeves. In recent years, her increasing distance and passive loathing brought about the worst fears in me, to the point where I anticipated the possibility she would try to kill me. I’m not looking forward to countering my old concubine’s attempted assassination.”

"Concubine?"

“Yes, concubine.” Platinum stresses the word. It’s something I’ve never heard to describe Clover before. The queen doesn’t look my way, though. “Surely you heard the rumors? Poor, lonely Princess Platinum, all alone in her luxurious castle as a child. But did you hear? Supposedly she was gifted a beautiful mare, I repeat, concubine, to do with as she pleased, and pleased she was for many years, at least until she met her true soulmate.”

“Gifted?” I ask, looking quizzically at the staring contest between the queen and her throne.

"Yes, before Clover the Clever became a wonderful, mighty artist in the school of magic, she was a gift. A castle servant, a mistress, meant to serve her superiors in exchange for food and bed. She was mine. I owned her. She was nothing more than a tack, a slave, my own personal mare to make love to... No, to fuck whenever I wanted!”

“You pretended to love me!”

The shimmer of an invisibility spell appears near to the throne. Clover the Clever’s red aura make her presence known. She leaps out of her camouflage, eyes boiling with rage. I back away in horror at such anger, but Platinum chuckles, as if she were looking at a puppy rummaging through a dustbin. “What can I say? We unicorns are a perverse lot.”

My eyes keep darting back and forth between Platinum and Clover. The former is incredibly sanguine, despite the latter’s fury staring her down. I beseech the queen. “Please, tell me... Is it true? This matter about love?”

“What love?!” Clover growls, with a voice beyond recognition from her once prim and proper drawl. “She said it herself, I was nothing more than a whore to her!”

“I taught you magic, we read books together, and sometimes we had a little rut on the bed,” Platinum says, raising an eyebrow. “Or the couch, the floor, the bath... Ooh! There was that one time on the dining room table, Father was so mad!"

A single blast from Clover’s horn is all it takes to rend a crater in the wall. That’s merely a warning shot. Clover readies another one. I’m just about to step aside when Platinum forces me onto the ground with levitation.

“Stay here, child.”

Before I can protest, wanting to help however I may, Platinum stands proud and advances on Clover. I, however, am lost and confused. “I don’t understand any of this!” I yell. “What does your relationship have to do with anything?!”

Clover answers as if Platinum were the one asking. “It doesn’t. You just know how deeply you wounded me. You use my instabilities as a weapon.”

Platinum brushes her chin. “If that is true, then why are you here?”

Clover summons an ethereal sword, single edged and black as darkness itself. It has a demonic flare to it, and it’s pressing up against Platinum’s neck, though she still acts as though she hasn’t a care in the world. Clover hisses like a snake. “I do this for Shokenda Blackwing. Her way is just. We share a vision of the future, one where all of ponykind is equal and banded together in might and harmony, the very values we preached beneath the Pure Heart. You tell me, where is that kingdom we were promised, Platinum? I see a lot of bigotry amongst the populous.”

Platinum forces the sword away with a single magically charged hoof. “And what makes you think Shokenda’s rule would be any different? Ponykind is flawed, yes, but in time, they’ll learn to accept others as equals. We’ve already made so much progress. This kingdom wouldn’t be half of what it is-” The sword moves against her neck, shutting her up.

“It’s not good enough!” Clover walks forward, the sword moving with her. The blade presses into Platinum’s skin, drawing the slightest hints of blood. “Shokenda united an entire army for the cause in a mere few months, while it took us decades to get this far. Whatever wisdom she carries, it’s far superior to yours. She’s a greater unicorn that you or I combined!”

Unicorn? It takes me a moment of wracking my brain but I know Shokenda is no unicorn. I thought she was at a time, at least until Caro and Tohro told me of her revealing during the battle of Trottingham. Apparently it’s common knowledge amongst her confidants and soldiers that she is an alicorn. But Caro and I didn’t know until recently. Clover doesn’t seem to be aware in the slightest. If that’s the case, either she doesn’t know Shokenda as well as she claims, or...

“You’ve never even met Shokenda, have you?!” I accuse.

Clover hesitates for only a moment, just long enough for Platinum to pour her aura into a hoof and give her a haymaker, sending her clear across the throne room. She catches herself with levitation and lands safely on her hooves.

“So, that’s it, then,” says Platinum. "My suspicions are confirmed... This is all about us. You weren't there for my wedding. You disappeared for many years, just to bide your time. The reason why is so clear to me. Jealousy, darling. It consumes your very soul. You are jealous that I found somepony to love, and it wasn’t y-”

Clover's horn glows an angry red and Platinum is jerked violently into the air. "Jealousy?!" Clover snaps. "I could only feel jealousy if there were feelings between us!" She places a hoof on Platinum's neck. "But you never really felt anything for me, did you? I had no use for you once you got married." She presses harder. "Tell me, did you use him the same way?" I watch in horror as Clover tosses Platinum across the room and into the opposite wall, forming another crater.

Platinum, despite her obvious pain, acts like little more a flustered schoolfilly. "Hurricane did more than save my life. He was different from the other pegasi, a light in a time of darkness. The night he slipped into my room and embraced me, took me like a wild animal but with the passion of a true lover... I could never have used him. And it tears me apart to know you and I never had what he and I had. Such is the tragic fate of a concubine."

“That’s not the way I see it.” Clover seizes Platinum in her magical grip and brings her in close. "You settled for that spectral maned simpleton only because he was right out of your childish fantasies. I could have recovered from losing you to him, but then you went and used me as a stopgap when your 'true love' hit rock bottom! Then, just when the skies looked brightest, when Equestria rose from the ashes, you ran off and announced your love for him to the entire population, leaving me to wallow! We were supposed to be together. You were supposed to marry me!"

Platinum faces the ground. She seems beyond remorseful, downright pitiable. "Oh, Clover... My dearest, naive Clover...” She faces her old friend, and manages to reach out and touch her cheek. Clover nearly buckles under the sensation, despite its weakness. Platinum’s expression then turns grim. “I am sorry you ever believed that could have happened."

Can somepony truly be that cruel? Toying with a pony’s heart and emotions for decades? That is truly disgusting. But... Clover is the enemy here, right? Her mad rampage cannot be justified by such an excuse.

“Very well, then,” Clover whispers. “This is how it ends. This is where I kill the ghosts of my past...” Her eyes become pure red. “Now, you stoop for me!" With a single swish of her horn, Platinum slams into a stained glass window, the one that depicts Platinum and Hurricane’s royal wedding. With another push, the window shatters and Platinum falls, as does my heart.

Clover’s sick grin makes my stomach churn. I may lose my lunch. Before that, though, I hit the floor so hard I bruise my own legs. I want to scream, but... What good would it do?

Regardless of my weak body telling me to give up, putting aside all cares that I don’t have the Fae with me, I stand to face off against Clover. She turns to me. We stare into each other, each passing moment thickening the air with anger and hatred, emanating from us both in equal quantities.

I open my mouth, ready to make some sort of grave threat on her life for a second time, but when my gaze goes behind Clover and outside the window, my mouth refuses to close. Surrounded by a blindingly bright pink aura, flying on ethereal wings, is Queen Platinum.

Clover faces the radiant threat with awe and rage. Platinum laughs at the look on her face. “I’ve never been one to bow to others. On the other hoof, I wouldn’t mind watching you stoop down.” She flies back into the throne room as Clover erects a ward. She raises her hooves up high, gathering a large quantity of energy, and brings it down on the ground just as her translucent wings give way. The ground before her splits into a fault. This completely shatters Clover’s ward, Platinum’s aura sending her airborne. The queen follows up by leaping and using her still charged hoof, landing it in Clover’s back and sending her flying fast through the double doors, throwing them off their hinges.

“Fauste’s horn!” I shout for what feels like the hundredth time, but I truly mean it. I look to the near godlike queen as her wings return and she rises once again. “Where did you find such power?”

"Hurricane never truly left me." She doesn’t look at me, but she responds. “This is love, Shae. My love for my loyal subjects, my love for Celina, and my love for my husband. This is something Clover will never understand.” That’s her last word before she flies through the entrance. I have to will myself to follow, so amazed I can hardly move my limbs.

I shuffle into the halls, following the trail of pink left behind by Platinum. All the while I’m left to wonder, if she can fly like that, maybe I can too. I’m sure of it. I have love just the same as hers. I have my friends at the academy. I have Caro and Tohro. I have Celina too. And, of course, I now have Rosemary. Someday I’ll be able to fly, I’m sure of it.

Bloody hell, why am I thinking such things? There’s a mortal battle ensuing right before my eyes!

Clover had fallen so far and fast that she tore the floor away as she drifted to a stop, and now she stands in a cloud of dust, looking more like a deranged animal than a pony. Platinum’s wings fade and she hits the ground running, stopping only for a moment to anticipate Clover’s next spell. It’s a rapid spray of plasma. Platinum serpentines the downpour until she’s right next to Clover. They both bow their heads and lock horns, sparks literally flying. Clover recalls her black sword above Platinum and prepares to bring it down on her neck, but the queen notices and steps away, just barely getting nicked on the tip of her horn. She grimaces but quickly snaps back into it, summoning a weapon of her own. This one is a large golden mace, and it’s so large it’s hard to comprehend somepony of Platinum’s age wielding it so lightly. She parries Clover’s next swing, knocking her sword away and bringing the mace into her face. Clover only manages to spit blood before another thrust of the mace falls into her barrel. Sending her toppling through the window. Platinum floats out after her, and I follow suit. I just have to be there if something goes awry.

We’ve landed in Celina’s garden, and Clover’s rough fall has already flattened the petunias. Damn her. Why must she wreck everything precious to me?

Platinum and Clover’s weapons clash furiously, with each impact louder and larger than the last, until the sword and mace are grinding against each other. Rosemary would compare it to a blade on the wheel. Oh, they’re trampling the rosemary flowers too... Wonderful.

The weapon clash ends in both weapons shattering and dissipating, leaving Platinum with pitiful magic reserves. Clover’s amulet grants her the upper hoof in this matter. She uppercuts the weakened queen, then punches her in the chest twice, grabs her by her cloak, swings her around and brings her down, sending petals flying into the air.

Platinum is prone on her stomach, giving Clover an opportune moment. She summons a smaller blade onto her hoof and readies it for the plunge into Platinum’s back.

“Get up!” I scream.

Platinum’s glowing eyes shoot open. She levitates herself out of Clover’s range, and the blade just misses her. She lets out a very unqueenly battle cry and stomps the ground. The whole area starts to tremble, shaking more leaves and petals from the flowers. Then the ground erupts. Jagged, multi-colored crystals form instantaneously around Clover, slashing at her face and body. She has to roll out of the way before she’s nearly impaled, but even then she’s left coated in red with her robes in tatters and her armor cracked. She dizzly regains her composure.

“D-dammit...” She turns and sees Platinum, who also struggles on her hooves before collapsing into a pile of dethorned roses.

“Hurricane...” is all the queen can mutter.

Clover grinds her teeth together and lifts the queen in her magical grip once again. “You played your trump card too early, Your Harlotness.” She recalls that ethereal blade, readying for the kill. This time I doubt Platinum will be able to remove herself from danger’s path. But that’s why I chose to remain instead of running for the malt shop.

Platinum wheezes and closes her eyes. "All I ever wanted was to be with those I loved...” She chokes out a weak cough. “Though I may have followed my lust more than my heart. You suffered for that, and now, look where we are. Look where I am. An old hag with nothing to do but fight this tiresome civil war, hardly able to care for a mare she calls her daughter. I'm wallowing too, Clover. Can you forgive this selfish old pony for her misdeeds?"

Clover pauses, her blade dwindling, but that only lasts for a moment. She shakes her head. “Never.”

I’m about to charge in with one of my new knives in hoof and stop Clover, but then a white hoof stops me, forcing me to put the knife down. I look up and see...

“Celina?! I told you to get out of here!”

“I heard you, Miss Shae, but I refused to listen. I'm truly sorry.” The princess gives a cocky flip of her mane and saunters forward. “I’ve been watching the whole time. I heard many, many disturbing things, some things I’d probably be better off not knowing.” She then points out to Clover. “You’re not the Auntie Clover my mother told me you were.”

Clover shoots Celina an annoyed glare. “Maybe at a time.” She brings Platinum around to her front, holding the ethereal blade to her neck. Platinum is drawing labored breaths. Her elderly body is betraying her. Clover continues. “The me you were told of was nothing more than a naive fool. She’s long gone now. And if I may ask, who the hell are you?!”

“Princess Celina, daughter of Queen Platinum!” Celina’s horn glows a royal gold, and she effortlessly forces Clover away from Platinum, catching them both in her aura. She levitates the queen to our side. Clover, however, is left with her head in the soil.

“How difficult must it be...” She rises from the dirt, which stains the blood on her body. She’s not even bothering to clean herself up.

Celina gives another flip of her mane and reaches for the buckle of her white robe. She looks to me, as if asking my permission. I shake my head, urging her not to do it, but she merely shrugs and undoes the buckle anyway. She wasn’t asking permission, then. She throws her cloak off, spreading her large, beautiful wings for us to see. The petals flying around her only serve to make her even more gorgeous, a significant contrast to the bloodied mess in front of us.

Backing away for a moment, Clover goes from surprised to amused. “Ah, so they do exist. A pony made in Epona and Fauste’s image... But you couldn’t possibly hold a candle to them. This can’t be anything more than a birth defect.” She summons more aura into horn. “Burn for your sins!”

Celina manages to block it with an instantaneous ward. “I haven’t sinned,” she says with gusto. “For years I convinced myself my body was sacrilege, but then a wonderful unicorn came my way, telling me the exact words I needed to hear.”

“Stop talking!” Clover fires a much more furious blast but Celina blocks that too, no worse for wear.

“I know that someday the entire world will see my wings, and they will celebrate when they know they have a mighty alicorn watching over them!”

Clover raises her forelegs and summons her strongest glow yet. “You’re a blasphemous abortion!” Pillars of flame erupt from the earth, torching many flowers in its wake, but Celina still manages to dispel it with no fuss.

Celina just tilts her head and smiles. "That's not very nice, Auntie."

Clover is absolutely seething. I can see her breath between her teeth. She shakes her head, as if in denial this could even be happening. “To hell with this,” she hisses. She disappears in a flash of red.

I look all around us for some trace of her. “Where in the-”

She reappears between me, Celina and Platinum, and lets loose a blast of pure energy that casts me and Platinum away. Celina is the only one who manages to stand her ground, looking to Clover defiantly. She readies another spell but that brief moment of telegraphy is enough for Clover to lock her in a levitational grip, then look to the struggling Platinum.

I watch in frozen horror as Celina squirms against the red aura surrounding her. Her legs go stiff, as if being pulled out against her will, and before long, Celina is stretched between two magical tendrils.

"Stop it!" I shout, trying to light my horn. Still, nothing comes. “STOP IT NOW!”

"Platinum, let this be retribution for what you did to my heart." Clover sneers, her horn glowing a violent red. Celina's body stiffens between the tendrils and her screams begin to echo through the entire garden and into the sky.

I gaze at the horrendous display helplessly. Celina's body begins to strain and split down the middle, her screams escalating with the sickening cracks and rips. Blood spills out in floods, covering the floor. Soon, it is followed by organs. Celina's scream cuts off and her head hangs limp.

I cry out, lunging at Clover. I plow into her side, cutting off her spell. Celina's lifeless halves hits the floor with a sickening thump, but I pay it no further heed as I begin to blindly pummel my hooves into Clover's face. “MURDERER! MONSTER! YOU! HORRENDOUS! BLOODSUCKING! APATHETIC! TRAITOROUS! MONSTER!!”

I draw Sacred Rite’s knife. I raise it high. I bring it to Clover’s stomach.

The blade shatters on impact.

Clover chuckles like a little girl, her hooves crossing over her amulet. “It protects me, Shae Sparkle. You can’t break it. You certainly can’t break me.”

The only who’s broken is me.

She shoves me off. My will has dwindled into nothing. I can’t move. I can’t breathe. I can only feel Clover taking the broken knife and piercing my flesh, tearing my leg wide open. And yet, I don't scream.

I stare at Celina’s halves. They lie in a bed of lilies. I look into her eyes. They’re not moving. They never will again.

Platinum does everything she can to stand as Clover grabs ahold of her, dragging her to the wall. Clover slams the queen’s head against the bricks, then holds the blade to her neck again, this time breaking the skin. She mutters something, and Platinum mutters something back.

Then Clover’s eyes widen. She looks around, then feels for the back of her head. She notices something odd. There’s another knife there. The same knife I used to cut myself free back at the academy. It’s lodged in the back of her skull. She’s bleeding out of her mouth. She falls. She stops moving.

I notice just now that my hoof is out. Because I threw that knife.

Just as I promised, I killed Clover the Clever.

It takes every ounce of strength I can muster to force myself back up, and it takes me quite a long time to do so. I have to lean on the queen for support. She’s holding her neck with her free hoof. No doubt trying to pressurize her cut.

“Well then...” says the queen as she surveys the damage. Many beds of flowers are torn, some all but destroyed. There’s pillars of crystal that need to be cut down. Many walls need new bricks. Clover the Clever is dead in the corner. Celina’s severed halves are bleeding over the lilies. “We... did all we could. We stopped Clover before the damage grew worse.”

I nod, and keep nodding for a while. “Yes, yes we did.”

My gaze keeps going back to Clover’s corpse. I should be happy. I killed her before she could kill anypony else important. I saved the queen from her. I avenged Frosthelm and Celina. Equestria is safe from her madness.

“Good morning, Headmaster. I’m sorry I slept in, I was up all night studying how to conjure familiars. The most I could manage was an ant, but I’m learning.”

I fulfilled my promise. I did the right thing. Clover’s dead because of me. I’m a hero to the crown.

“Whatever is the matter, Headmaster? Is something wrong?”

I said it myself. She reaped what she sowed. She crossed the horizon of morality and I brought her to justice.

“Who is that? Why is everypony gathered here? Let me through, I need to see.”

Rosemary, Sundance, Lancer, Eavesdrop, all the students, they supported my efforts. I did this for them too. They’ll be proud of me.

“Oh Fauste... Who is... No, no, it can’t... Don’t...”

There will be a ceremony. A celebration that the queen lives another day because of my actions. We will mourn Celina, but the pain will ebb, knowing she’s been avenged and the queen is alive.

“Mother... Mother! Please, wake up! You can’t do this! How is this even... You can’t do this to me! What happened?! Don’t leave me, Mother!!”

Death is a natural part of life, Shae. Sometimes it’s best for somepony to die before they can do harm. Our lives are made by the deaths of others, after all. You did the right thing.

“MOTHER!! No... please... Mommy... don’t leave me...”

You did the right thing. You did the right thing. You did the right thing. You... You...

I collapse.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGH!!!!”

Platinum seizes ahold of me and I bury my face into the fur of her robe, with my tears cascading like waterfalls.

“I KILLED CLOVER THE CLEVER! I KILLED CLOVER THE CLEVER! I KILLED-” Platinum presses me even tighter against her. It’s less of an embrace and more of a vice than anything else.

“I know, Shae. I saw. That was brave of you. It couldn’t have been easy.”

I can speak again. “I WORSHIPED HER! I IDOLIZED HER! SHE WAS EVERYTHING TO ME AND I KI-” I’m caught in the stranglehold again.

I’ve already moistened Platinum’s royal garb to the point of ruining it forever, but she doesn’t seem to care in the slightest. When I run out of sobs and all I can do is hyperventilate and shiver, Platinum removes that robe and wraps it around me. She graces my cheeks and gives me a kiss on the forehead. She retrieves a cloth from the robe and dries my tears. “You are strong, Shae Sparkle. Stay warm, and keep your head up. If not for me, for Celina. She is going to need a friend more than ever from now on.”

“From...” I must have thrown my voice out. I can’t do much more than whisper. “From now on..? But... She’s dead... I watched her die...”

Platinum taps me on the withers and silently gestures for me to turn my head. When I do, I see something that very well may make me faint. I can’t afford to lose any more breath. But the entering Imperial soldiers and palace guards are emulating my reaction quite well, looking at the spectacle with awe.

Celina’s two halves are coming together, joined in her signature golden aura. It reminds me of a dragon’s aura, but not nearly as harsh. Her skin merges, her organs repair themselves, and her paling body becomes flush as her blood returns.

The soldiers move in on her, lead by Gauntlet, who kneels down to Celina. “M’lady...” he gasps.

Platinum moves into the fray, casting her hoof out and defending her daughter from accusive eyes. "Nopony touch her. Leave. Now."

Gauntlet looks fit to protest. “Your Majesty-”

Platinum’s eyes flash pink. “Go!”

Gauntlet salutes hastily, waving the soldiers and guards away and following them fast out of the vicinity.

Just as they leave, Celina’s eyes start moving again. She’s alive. Fauste, I don’t know how, I don’t know why, but I can’t possibly care about any of that. She’s alive! I could sing. I could bloody dance if it weren’t for the gash in my leg. But to hell with that. Celina is alive! We can rebuild her garden. We can take a bath together. We can finally go get those malts. Just me and her, and... and...

Celina stares in horror at her closing wounds, making her pain all the more apparent. "What am I...?"

It’s night now.

I don’t know how they managed it, but by some miracle the royal guard managed to remove the crystals from the garden and dispose of them rather efficiently. I can see the remains of the structure getting shipped off in carts from the remains of Celina’s garden. It’s strange. No matter how garish and shattered the garden is, I doubt it compares to the scars in her heart.

Platinum had insisted I come up to Celina’s room to be with her. For what, I haven’t the slightest clue. I’m still euphoric over the idea that she is still alive, that by some means she cheated death. She’s less than happy about it, though. She’s in Platinum’s embrace at the edge of her bed, constantly sobbing. All Platinum can do is brush her flattened pink mane until oblivion. Or at least until Celina’s tears stop. I assume she’s simply run out of tears to shed.

“Celina, I kept the truth from you for too long,” says Platinum.

Celina pulls away from her mother. “The...”

“Yes, the truth. I... think it’s for the best that I let you hear this slowly. I can’t imagine how much pain this will cause you, but you must, absolutely must hear. No matter how you interpret what I am about to tell you, know that I love you, and I will always be your friend and caretaker."

“But... Mother...” Platinum quickly takes Celina’s hooves and stares intently at her, though not in an intimidating way. Celina takes it as a sign of importance and nods weakly.

Platinum inhales slowly before letting it all out. I brace myself for something horrendous. “Celina, I am not your mother. And you are not mortal.”

I’m trying to remain silent but the tiniest hint of a gasp passes my lips. I expect to be ousted from the room for my impudence but Celina and Platinum carry on as if I did nothing. They’re looking at each other in silence.

It’s at least a minute before Celina whispers, “Wh... What?”

Platinum lets a sigh escape before continuing. “How do you remember your last birthday?”

Celina has a faint look of nostalgia. I wish she could keep it. “It was... six, no... seven months ago. Gauntlet gave me a bouquet and you had the royal cooks bake me a large chocolate cake. That’s the day I started my garden.” She then looks as though someone ripped her heart out. I look outside the window at the damage once again.

“Good, good...” Platinum mutters. “Now go back another birthday. Do you remember that one as well?”

Celina nods enthusiastically. “Of course I do! There was-” She cuts herself off. “I remember a...” She draws her hoof to her forehead. “Where is it? Where’s the rest? I can’t remember it. Or anything before that. Mother, what...”

Platinum grimaces at hearing that title. She looks away and says, “You cannot remember because you are less than two years old.”

“Less than two... How could that even...” Celina stands and slowly moves past me to her mirror. She doesn’t pay me any mind, making my heart sink. What sinks it ever more is the utter despair on her face as she looks into her reflection. “It can’t be... I feel like... I know I’ve been here longer. I can’t just be a year old! I remember you! I remember so many years of my life! I remember Gauntlet visiting me here, keeping me safe, I remember so many birthdays! You can’t tell me I-”

“Yes, you think you remember, but actually try to trace any memory from those early years.”

Celina brings her hooves up again. I think it’s actually hurting her to try and remember. “There’s nothing there... It’s just... nothing.”

Platinum nods grimly as Celina takes a seat, with her face as blank and pale as the moon. The queen inhales again and speaks. "You were born on the summer solstice, only a year and some ago, but not from flesh. My... Well, my heart was heavy with grief that morning, for I missed Hurricane more than usual. It came time for the sun to breach the horizon, and the sages were having difficulty raising it, so I lent a helping horn. I prayed to the Divines for a perfect, happy day. Just one bit of kindness for this old mare. That kindness was you. When the sun reached its peak, a single drop of its essence fell upon the central chamber of this very palace. That piece of the sun..." She chokes, likely on tears of sentiment. "It was you. A filly with no name. A legendary alicorn."

Celina doesn’t move, she doesn’t even blink. She looks more deathly now than when she was actually dead.

"An alicorn is often seen as a religious symbol, a deity. Fauste and Epona, for instance. But a living, breathing one had never been seen... and I intended to keep it that way. Alicorns are supposed to be exceptionally powerful, possessing the strength of earthwalkers, the flight of pegasi, and the magic of unicorns. I couldn't very well let that power fall into the hooves of my enemies, but I also couldn't let you go. You were too beautiful. I loved you from the first moment I saw you, and in my grief over losing so many loved ones, I thought I had found happiness once again."

Now Platinum is the one crying. She rests her eyes on a single hoof.

"I'm a selfish old mare. I've hurt you far worse than any of my enemies could, because I neglected to tell you the truth. You are a gift from the Divines, meant to lead this kingdom into an era of prosperity. When the times comes, you will ascend the throne and rule Equestria.”

All Celina can respond with is, "For... forever...?"

"It is a blessing and a curse, child. You are eternal. You can be defeated, but you cannot die."

"Not..." Celina blinks, letting it all sink in. "Then maybe it was for the best that I had no friends..." The broken look she gives me rots me to the core. "I know I’m meant to rule someday, that’s what being a princess means, but... but since... since I'm not real... what does it matter..."

I gallop to her and throw my forelegs around her. She doesn’t return the favor. "Listen to me, Celina. You are as real as anypony else. And the qualities of a great ruler lie within you, I just know it! You don't have to be afraid."

"I am afraid!" Her golden aura shoves me away. "What kind of ruler will I be to watch my subjects die?! To know that I have the unfair advantage of immortality?! No matter what I do... it won't be enough to save them..."

I cannot respond to that. Only Platinum can, through her tears. "Everypony has their time, child. It will be up to you to make their short lives worthwhile. I regret that I won't be alive to see you realize your destiny."

"But... it's not fair..." Celina passes me by again to approach the mare she just found out is not her mother. That revelation alone must make it difficult for her to look at Platinum in the same light. "What if I make a mistake? Put them in danger... I will survive my actions but they..." She hugs Platinum tight, regardless. "I'll be alone... I don't want to be alone..."

Platinum embraces her false daughter, while she and I share an equally solemn gaze. We know that no matter how tragic our lives are, this confession of great sorrow will only be the first of many miserable memories to come for Celina.

“I don’t want to be alone...” she repeats.