Chapters It was the year 1, in the First Age of Equestria. Only 12 months ago, 6 brave ponies had forged their way to find a new land, attempting to escape the Windigos' eternal winter. They had nearly perished on the way, but through the combined efforts of 3 important ponies, the Windigos were repelled, and Equestria was founded.
"For the Earth-pony plants, Clover," Starswirl said, chuckling at Clover's embarassment. Clover sighed in relief, and joined in a laugh with his teacher.
15 years later, the bonds of love and friendship had united Equestria firmly. The command of the pegasi had passed to the newly-dubbed Commander Pansy, while the Earth-ponies still had Puddinghead as their Chancellor. Starswirl was amazingly still alive, prolonging his life indefinitely with a special potion, devised by himself and Clover. Clover, meanwhile, had finished his apprenticeship several years ago. Although he knew that he was nowhere near as proficient with magic as his old master, both were proud of Clover's abilities.
"You have my word, Platinum," Oak said, bowing.
The Canterlot city gates were being observed closely, as a group of 20 unicorns nearby used their horns to slowly lower the sun. The three adventurers were gathered at the closed gates, and several royal guards kept the crowd at bay. Princess Platinum herself set down a bag before Starswirl.
Starswirl the Bearded, Clover the Clever, and Quake the Earthshaker: one of the best teams Equestria could've asked for to stop the chocolate rain. They passed through the Earth-pony lands at the base of the Canterlot Mountain, and soon reached the edge of the Everfree Forest. It had been relatively unexplored so far, as the ponies had been too occupied setting up their homes in the land they already had to bother expanding.
Clover and Starswirl chuckled, before settling down and resting.
Clover was the first to awaken, somewhat groggily. The sun was high in the sky, and the heat of the star had woken him up. However, no sooner had he taken a step than Quake shot up from her own sleep, already on high alert. Before even speaking, she ran around the perimeter of their camp, double-checking their defenses. Once she was satisfied, she turned back to the startled stallion.
"Y-yes, Master," Clover said, nodding without looking at Starswirl. He could only imagine that his old Master had the mother of all mad grins on his face, even though in fact his Master had remained frighteningly stoic throughout the conversation.
After the ponies had taken down camp and travelling, they learned that they were nowhere near as far from the end of the forest as they had thought. In fact, a mere half-hour later, they were bursting from the dark forest into a large green plain.
"Thank you, Master," Clover said. He forced a smile at his Master's speech.
"OOOOWWWW!!!" Discord yelled in rage, kicking the persistent mare off of his leg. "You bit me! Why in the world would you bite me?"
Quake grinned. Salvation. She pulled her sending stone out, and threw it against the ground. Discord reeled outside of the barrier, the telepathic wave having been strong enough to be comparable to somepony screaming in his ear.
Clover's head shot up. It had been faint, barely a trace, but he'd heard the message: "Help me. 82 longitude, 93 latitude. Stone spire."
With that, Clover's horn glowed, and he vanished in a burst of magic.
"Oh, you were hoping for help, were you?" Discord asked, recovered from the telepathy and stalking over to where Quake was standing on the rock. As expected, her injuries were only partially mended.
Clover took off running, but he was careful with his steps, lest he endanger Quake's life further. He could feel her heartbeat slowing down more and more, and hear her breathing become more shallow. He had to hurry.
Starswirl awoke as a loud pop resounded directly beside him in the zebra tent. He fluttered his eyes drowsily, but he became instantly alert when he noticed that it was Clover beside him. He then noticed his passenger. Starswirl immediately helped Clover to lay her down on a bunch of hay.
She turned to the pair of worried unicorns, and made a single gesture which conveyed everything that they had hoped would not be true: she shook her head sadly.
Starswirl and Clover teleported to the base of Canterlot Mountain, with the newly shrouded Quake on Clover's back. Though the zebras had not been able to save her, they had been willing to help them wrap her in exotic cloths, fitting of a brave mare. As the unicorns began the journey up the mountain, neither of them spoke a word. Neither of them cried. They had let their emotions go when they were with the zebras overnight. They were left with a resolve to bring her back home.
Starswirl and Clover delivered the shrouded body to Quake's family, but merely knocked on the door and teleported away. They couldn't bring themselves to see the family's reaction, after what they'd already gone through themselves.
A quill scribbled over the parchments, and Clover sent them. They hoped for good responses.
The unicorn guards were visibly confused as Earth-ponies and pegasi alike began moving into the city. The throne room of the castle hosted a large number of old friends: Commander Pansy, Chancellor Puddinghead, Smart Cookie, Starswirl the Bearded, Clover the Clever, Oak, and Princess Platinum. They sat at a hastily prepared table in the middle of the room.
"Then we keep rowing," Clover said confidently.
It was back to the library for the duo, as they searched spellbooks extensively for any spells which could be of aid. Clover copied down on one scroll any spells they found that would be useful.
The Battle of Canterlot Peak
Clover woke up on the castle walls the next morning. He couldn't quite remember why, until he saw Starswirl looking over the mountain beside him. The pegasi had brought about a thunderstorm on the mountain today, and the wind blew his Master's white beard around, despite the stallion's stoic appearance.
"Yes. Now, we wait."
As detailed in the plans, unicorn guards were set up all along the borders of the teleport lock. Nopony oustide of the Princess, Clover, Starswirl, and the guards were permitted to teleport b the spell. Clover and Starswirl stood at attention together, on a rocky outcropping a few hundred feet above the ground. They, and all other watches, had a scroll to be sent to Captain Swiftblade upon sight of Discord.
"I would be happy to," Oak said. He grinned sadistically.
Starswirl's battle had not been faring nearly as well as Clover hoped. They were but one junction away from the final battle at the peak, and not only had Clover not rejoined him, but the soldiers were falling to Discord's wrath much quicker than was comfortable. Discord didn't seem interested in killing them, though, as his desired target was quite obvious: Starswirl himself.
More silence. It would be unwise to tell his opponent what he was really doing: stalling.
Back in the throne room of the palace, Captain Swiftblade had wisely retreated against a wall. Sparks and flames were shooting around the room. They were both competent teleporters, so attacks rarely landed. Oak was trying to get closer to Clover, but if he got within a few feet Clover would teleport again. So far, the battle was doing very little to either side, despite an enormous amount of collateral damage. Swiftblade could see that they were both getting tired, though. The strenuous casting of spell after spell was taking it's toll on them both. The Princess watched the battle from the other end of the room with a cold, silent gaze.
"I'm afraid my duty is first to my Princess," Swiftblade said. He suddenly lunged at Clover. Clover barely had enough time to recognize the danger and teleport away.
Clover landed just below the peak. He'd made a minor miscalculation in his destination in the chaos of the moment. He heard the sounds of battle above him, and began running quickly up the steps.
