The sun rose, bringing with it a new day for the newly united pony tribes. Roosters crowed, and unicorns, earth ponies and pegasi alike were roused from their beds, naught but a hint of their former animosity remaining.
One unicorn in particular, a youthful and wise mare named Clover the Clever, was already awake, her own insights preventing her from achieving the same slumber her fellow ponies had. She could recall every moment of her precognitive sight, and hastily went about ensuring she had it all written down.
A knock came from the door, followed momentarily by a voice, “Are ya ready yet Clover? Hurricane’s gettin’ impatient, and she looks about ready to knock this door down herself.”
“I’ll be just another moment, Smart Cookie,” Clover called, carefully brushing her golden mane and tail, “Is everypony else ready, or has the commander risen from her deathly slumber at a time that most would call reasonable?”
“Ah don’ know for certain, but if Ah were ta hazard a guess, Ah’d say she hasn’t slept for a few days now. Why?” Smart Cookie responded.
“No reason,” Clover said dismissively, setting her brush down on a table and opening the door wide.
“Well don’t ya look plum fancy there, Clover,” Smart Cookie said, “Ah don’t think Ah’ve seen ya that purdy since we found this place,” her muzzle scrunched adorably and her cheeks puffed slightly, her face looking more like a peach than it normally did, “N-Not that Ah don’t think yer purdy normally, yer just even purdier with yer mane all done up like that, is all.”
Clover smiled, “Thank you, Cookie, it means a great deal to me that you think so. Now,” she continued, stepping out onto the main thoroughfare, “We’d best not keep the commander waiting.”
Though the three tribes had only made peace, if not harmony, with one another a scant few weeks ago, their shared industriousness had allowed them to assemble the beginnings of a city in Equestria. They had elected to settle at the base of the mountain, a behemoth of stone that defied much of what the unicorns knew of natural formations.
“Clover? Clover, ya still in there?” Smart Cookie said, worry beginning to rise in her otherwise reserved tone.
“What-Oh, sorry about that, Cookie. I guess I got lost in my own head again.” Clover replied half-heartedly, stifling a yawn.
“Were it as simple as that, you would not have been standing there, face as blank as a tree, for the past five minutes, my faithful student,” A third voice announced from behind the pair, hoof-falls sounding its owner’s approach.
Clover counted her lucky stars that she knew this was going to happen, turning to face her teacher, a brief flash of confusion passing over his face before settling on understanding.
“How long ago did you see this coming, Clover?” Star Swirl the Bearded asked, his bells jingling slightly in the wind.
“Only yesterday, teacher, but my trek took me further than I have yet been before,” Clover answered solemnly.
“Wait,” Smart Cookie interjected, “What in the wide world are ya’ll talkin’ about?”
“The reason I asked to see everypony, Cookie, but rest assured, I will explain all in a few moments, once the Commander and Princess Platinum cease their argument,” Clover answered, her eyes not darting away from Smart Cookie for a moment.
As if on cue, both Commander Hurricane and Princess Platinum joined the group, arguing about the division of labor in Equestria.
“All I’m saying is that the pegasi can’t be expected to do all the high-up jobs,” Hurricane stated, adjusting her helmet and landing next to Platinum.
“I perfectly understand that, Commander, but unless you have a proposal for how the rest of us would assist the pegasi with those jobs, the clouds are going to remain an exclusively winged domain,” Platinum countered, smiling as Hurricane struggled to think of a response.
“Ah, what, but they, how?” Cookie stammered, bemusement etched across her face.
“My student is simply the best there is at seeing that which has yet to occur,” Star Swirl said solemnly, smirking slightly, “None could hope to best her.”
Announcing herself with an almighty yawn, to the surprise of many present, Chancellor Puddinghead joined the group, Private Pansy trailing behind her.
“And just where have you been, Private?” Hurricane barked, “I told you to bring Puddinghead here ten minutes ago.”
“Sir, the Chancellor is a deeper sleeper than I expected, sir,” Pansy answered quickly, beads of sweat forming on his brow as he saluted his superior.
Hurricane frowned, but acquiesced, “Very well. At ease, Private.”
As Pansy breathed a sigh of relief, Clover took a few moments to rehearse what she would say in her head. It was not complicated, for she knew that only she and her teacher were versed in the arcane lore necessary for a full explanation of the events yet to unfold, but she still did so to ensure she would be understood.
Impatient as ever, Hurricane coughed into the frog of her hoof, “You gonna tell us why we’re here any time soon or what?”
Tactfully ignoring the comment, Clover cleared her throat, “As some of you already know, upon my birth I was bestowed a great gift indeed. The gift of future sight.”
“Ooh, neat, I think I have a box of Planar Chaos around here somewhere,” Chancellor Puddinghead announced delightedly, before rummaging through pockets many didn’t know she had, everypony quietly sidling away from her.
“As I was saying,” Clover continued, unperturbed by the interruption, “This gift allows me to see events that may yet occur.”
“What do ya mean ‘may’?” Smart Cookie asked.
“Very good question, Cookie. For you see, even though I am able to see these events, that does not mean that they will come to pass. This is because the future is not set in stone, and my future sight shows me only the events most likely to happen.”
“Hence why you were able to predict that the Commander and the Princess would arrive arguing,” Star Swirl said.
“I find that difficult to believe,” Hurricane grumped, “What’s there to say that she didn’t just make a lucky guess?”
“Not entirely, Commander, but fortune does appear to play a large part in what I see, and when I see it,” Clover sighed, “Thus bringing me to why I sought to speak with you all today.”
“What’s going on Clover?” Platinum questioned, concern replacing much of her usual haughty tone, “Are the Windigos returning?”
Clover shook her head, “The Windigos no longer possess the strength to harm us.”
“Then what? Flood? Landslide? Another of the Chancellor’s all-night singing parties?” Platinum continued, her voice becoming more panicked by the syllable.
“Hey,” Puddinghead complained, before giggling, “No, you’re right, that party did get out of hoof.”
“Seven days from now, I will no longer walk among the living,” Clover said suddenly, halting any further tangents.
Almost instantly, everything around Clover stopped moving, long enough that she began to wonder if this were still her future sight, slow-rolling her through the day. Had Pansy not begun to cry, Clover would have been convinced that none of this was actually happening.
“Ya,” Cookie breathed, “Yer gonna die?”
“At the end of this week, yes,” Clover nodded.
The days passed swiftly for Clover, her usual workload from Platinum miniscule compared to how much she had been doing in the months past. With the spare time she found herself with, Clover attempted to spend it with those cared about the most.
She went to see Smart Cookie first, but the mare had thrust herself into her work, and barely spoke a word to Clover. The Princess put on a facade of calm, but the few of her attendants that made the journey to Equestria told Clover that Platinum had been crying herself to sleep for the past few days. Star Swirl was eerily quiet, deep in a meditative trance that Clover believed unbreakable. Pansy was training constantly, and nopony had seen Puddinghead for some time. Even Hurricane was otherwise preoccupied, focusing much of her efforts into assembling something reminiscent of the cloud cities the pegasi were famous for.
With her friends and teacher preoccupied with other tasks, Clover walked what few streets they had, turning her focus on the symbol that enveloped her sight whenever she attempted to go beyond her death. Pondering the meaning of the five-taloned bird’s foot, she delved deeper into her own power, forcing it to show more than just the one series of events. It took almost all of her energy to do so, but when she did, her mind began to crumble, the weight of possibility too much to comprehend.
She could see so many futures, each further from her own time than the last. A black unicorn king, smiling as he ruled a race of crystalline ponies, each beaming as bright as the gems that they appeared to be sculpted from. An alabaster unicorn filly, rock grasped in her horn’s aura, bludgeoning another filly with its sharp edge. A tan pegasus, pith helmet upon her head, leaping through the air as she evaded undead foes. A lavender unicorn, standing tall as the wings upon her back unfurled. Another unicorn, this one looking strikingly similar to Clover, mimicking the last. A grey pegasus, pastry hewn of rock tied to her head, calling forth a flying fish, only for it to dissipate into millions of birds. A cream earth pony, leaping between a teal unicorn and a blade of purest void, her scream echoing through nothing as the blade bit into her side. A yellow earth pony filly, grease marring her coat and mane, jumping for joy as her flying machine propelled itself into the sky.
As these futures and more poured into Clover’s head, she could do nothing, not even scream. Her body lifted itself into the air of its own accord, and could she see, the sky would be brighter than it had ever been.
“Clover! Clover!” She could hear her teacher shout, and even if she could be grateful for that sense remaining, there was nothing she could do to react to her teacher’s voice, the flood of information surging through her brain like river rapids.
Just as she felt the last of herself fall away, her mind was whole once again, immediately followed by an explosion of tremendous size, launching her away from the city of the three tribes at great speed, with nary a scream following in her wake.
After some moments in what she presumed to be free-fall, Clover dared to open her eyes, finding herself on a wide-open field. The sky was a peaceful shade of blue, with the occasional fluffy cloud passing over the sun.
“That’s strange,” Clover told herself, squinting to better observe the clouds, “It doesn’t look like those clouds have any pegasi moving them.”
“By the angels, you were right.” A voice said from behind Clover, surprising her for the first time in many years, clanging sounds coming from the same place as the voice.
Clover rounded on the strange voices, and was met by creatures that she had little understanding of. There was two of them, both clad in some kind of sparkling material, explaining the clanging she heard. They stood like a pair of minotaur, but lacked the horns or hooves to be as such. One had a long white mane, while the other’s was short and brown. Based on what she did know of minotaur, Clover assumed that the longhaired one was female, and the other male. Scouring her memory for any indication what they were, Clover could only deduce that they were not of Ungula born.
“What do you think it is, Farzha?” the one with the long mane asked the other, applying a slant to her own stance.
“It looks like some kind of miniature horse,” ‘Farzha’ answered, tapping a hand to his hair-covered chin and circling Clover, “but no horse I’ve ever seen is this brightly colored. Look at the shades of gold that form its coat, or the blonde and red coloration of its mane. By Asha, its eyes are teal. When have you ever seen a horse with teal eyes, Idra?”
“I must admit to never having seen such a horse before,” Idra replied, kneeling before Clover, “Are you sure it is a horse? Horses don’t normally have a protrusion like this jutting from the middle of their heads, that I know for truth.”
As Idra poked at Clover’s horn, Clover snapped out of her stupor, shaking her head vigorously and backing away from the duo.
“I think you scared it, Idra,” Farzha said, stifling a chuckle.
“Or maybe I just don’t appreciate having my personal space invaded by strangers,” Clover responded, surprised at her own bluntness.
Idra and Farzha both jumped back at that, as surprised at Clover as she was of them. The three of them stood, each glancing into the eyes of another in turn, before Clover coughed into her hoof.
“If you don’t mind,” Clover began, “Maybe one of you could tell me where we are?”
“Vithia,” Idra responded, more out of habit than intent, “The kingdom of Vithia.”
“Kingdom?” Clover asked, tilting her head inquisitively, “This place looks little like the Unicorn Kingdom from which I hail.”
To his credit, Farzha didn’t immediately start laughing at Clover’s reaction. “By the angels, Idra, this miniature horse is hilarious! It has the courage to ask us not to touch it, and then it speaks of a kingdom of unicorns!”
Idra rolled her eyes, “Yes, yes, Farzha, the small horse-”
“I prefer pony, actually,” Clover interjected.
“The pony is clearly more intelligent than we thought,” Idra continued, giving Farzha a wallop across the head, “But there’s no need to be rude about it.”
Farzha’s laughter immediately faltered, as he soothed his aching head and sat up, “You’re right, I was just caught unawares by the absurdity of the situation.”
“Okay,” Clover said slowly, “Clearly the two of you are busy, so I’ll just find my way to a city or something and find my way home from there.” And with that, Clover cantered away from the two.
Clover continued thusly for many hours, seeing no sign of any kind of structure. She stopped suddenly and clapped a hoof against her face, realizing she had the means to find civilization the whole time.
Focusing her attention inward, Clover became vaguely aware that her body began flickering and dissipating, but ignored it and redoubled her efforts, finding it strangely difficult to utilise her natural gift.
“Try on a ninety degree angle from reality.” A voice told her, sure of itself.
With that piece of advice, Clover foresaw a great deal of things, about both herself and the world on which she stood. These visions came to her at once, revealing much about Alara, and its kingdoms of Vithia and Jhess and Valeron, culminating in a cataclysmic event that would see the world as it was cease to exist. They also revealed much on her own nature, capping with a single word, one that Clover knew nothing about. Most importantly, Clover felt at this time, this world wasn’t the world on which she had started her journey.
“But this doesn’t make any sense,” Clover complained to herself, opening her eyes and finding herself no longer flickering and fuzzy.
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that, my little pony.” The voice said again, a slight smirk clear in the tone alone.
Had Clover not seen the likely future of this world, of Alara, she would have been surprised to see a dark-skinned man standing beside her. Fortunately, those things had happened, and thusly she was more surprised at how much taller than her he was.
“You’re Teferi,” Clover stated bluntly, her mind still adjusting to the idea of multiple worlds.
Teferi nodded, his smile growing slightly, “And you’re a pastel pony prophet.”
Clover opened her mouth to continue, but found that her brain was too preoccupied elsewhere to do any more than imitate a fish. Once enough of her mind settled from the revelations manyfold, she made another attempt at talking to Teferi.
“What is a Planeswalker?” Clover asked, craning her neck upwards to ensure Teferi knew she was speaking to him.
“Ha, the little pony wants to go straight to business,” Teferi laughed, “Urza would like you, if he actually liked anybody.”
Clover didn’t get why Teferi laughed at this Urza’s apparent disinterest in friend-making, nor why he would be so ill-disposed to the idea, but before she could voice any of these thoughts, Teferi pulled a lotus from thin air.
“A Planeswalker is a god-like mage who can’t die, and has no need for any of the things that mortals need to survive,” Turning the flower in his hand, Teferi placed it on the ground, “Planeswalkers can do very nearly anything, given enough time and mana.”
Studying the lotus intently, Clover attempt to replicate the feeling she felt when Teferi pulled it from the Æther, creating a very different flower instead.
“That looks like Heart’s Desire,” Teferi said, kneeling down to get a better look at the flower.
“You know it?” Clover asked, surprised that Teferi had heard of the rare plant.
“I’ve been to Ungula—that’s what your home plane is called by Planeswalkers—a few times before,” Teferi answered, “I’m surprised you don’t remember me, Clover the Clever.”
Clover thought long and hard to remember anypony resembling Teferi, but could quite pin it down. Then, as if willingly guiding her, sunlight glinted off Teferi’s baldhead, and Clover knew.
“Mirari the Maneless?!” Clover exclaimed, utterly astonished that the teacher Star Swirl had spoken so highly of wasn’t even a pony, and that he was standing right before her eyes.
“Somepony had to teach ol’ Beardy those spells of his,” Teferi grinned, transforming into a pony matching the description that Star Swirl had given many years earlier.
Where a tall, dark-skinned man had once stood, a much shorter unicorn now stood in his stead, head as maneless as the former, yet a short fuchsia tail complimented his blue coat. Had Clover known any gems that were brown in color, she might have compared them to Teferi’s eyes, and the hourglass on his flank was irrefutable, even with the subtle motif it held.
“What’s the matter, Clover?” Teferi—or was it Mirari now?—smiled, “Cat got your tongue?”
Despite the obvious lack of felines attached to the inside of Clover’s mouth, she had yet to comprehend the magnitude of the situation in which she had found herself.
“But,” Clover managed, “You died. I was there!” she exclaimed, recalling the memory with such clarity that it could be claimed to have happened yesterday.
“Oh?” Teferi said, quirking an eyebrow, “I don’t remember that. How did I die?”
“You went into one of the mines,” Clover recalled, “And after you didn’t return several hours later, ponies were sent in to find you. They were never seen again, as were you.”
“Ah, right, I remember that one now. I Planeswalked, urgent business in Tolaria, you see,” Teferi said dismissively, waving his hoof noncommittally.
“Ponies died, damn it. You can’t just shrug that off,” Clover fumed.
“Oh? What about the ponies you left behind when you came here? Do you have any idea how long it’s been since you left Equestria?” Teferi countered.
That made Clover stop. She had been so busy thinking about herself that she hadn’t spared so much as a thought for her friends. She channelled her magic through her horn, before it stopped abruptly.
“That’s not how Planeswalking works, pony or not,” Teferi said, his eyes losing a blue glow that they didn’t have moments ago.
“Then how?” Clover asked, her anger still clear in her incensed tone and her horn continuing to charge, “I need to know.”
Teferi sighed, transforming back into his taller, more clothed form, “That’s not something I can just tell you. It’s something you figure out for yourself.”
Clover groaned, “That’s going to take too long, I need to get back to Equestria now!” she punctuated by stomping a hoof.
“You already know how to do it,” Teferi said cryptically, “You just need to know where to look.”
And with that, Clover was on her own again, groaning loudly up into the sky and grumbling about unhelpful men. Amidst her grumbling, Clover had begun to pace, tracing a neat circle in the grass that surrounded her. Despite his unhelpfulness, Teferi had given Clover something to think about. As thoughts of the ponies back home filled her mind, supplanting the anger and fear that had prior held the reins, Clover was able to formulate a plan.
Turning her energies on her future sight again, she probed it for a way to learn the basics of her newfound universe jumping abilities. Rather than show her what to do, instead she felt herself thrown into the air again, experiencing everything she experienced on her first Planeswalk. When the feelings stopped, bustling noises around her sounded for a second before stopping.
Clover wasn’t sure what to expect when she returned to Equestria, but the statue of her was a surprise. Equally surprising was the hug that Pansy and Cookie gave her, tears streaming down their faces and her own.
“Am,” Clover started, “Am I really back in Equestria?”
“Ya are, ya really are,” Cookie said, wiping the last of her tears from her eyes, “Ah’ll go and get mah little sister and the others, you’ve probably got a lot to tell us about in the few months you’ve been gone.”
As Cookie galloped away, something she said stuck out on Clover’s mind, “Sister?”
“Yeah, I was surprised too when I found out she and Puddinghead are sisters,” Pansy said, tears still streaming from his eyes despite his calm and reserved tone.
“Huh,” Clover vocalized half-heartedly, her mind already planning what to do now that she was back in Equestria.
As Smart Cookie returned with the others, Star Swirl among them, Clover had determined what she wanted to with the power that surged within her soul.
“Equestria is young, younger than any nation I have encountered. I will do whatever it takes to ensure it follows the most fortuitous path.”
Author's Note
Clover the Clever 1U
Legendary Creature — Unicorn Wizard
T: Choose a card type. Target player reveals the top card of his or her library. If that card is of the chosen type, exile Clover the Clever, then return her to the battlefield transformed under her owner’s control.
1/3
Clover, Planar Sage
(U) Planeswalker — Clover
+1: Scry 2.
-2: Target player draws two cards, then discards two cards.
-5: You get an emblem with “At the beginning of each player’s upkeep, look at the top card of that player’s library. You may exile that card.”
3
Story proofread and card designed by FanofMostEverything.
With the release of Magic: Origins only a week away, now seems like the best time to show off another, similar origin story.
