Twilight found herself standing in the middle of a grassy field, wind rushing past her ears as watched the endless expanse of green ripple with the movements of nature.

"Wait a minute," she wondered aloud as her mind was coming up blank. "What was I doing just now?"

When no answer was forthcoming, she started to wander through the field. The smell of the grass mixed with a hint of clover filled her nostrils as she felt the warm sun radiating across her back.

She wandered for what felt like hours despite the sun seeming to remain stationary in its position. When she felt she would soon go mad with the emptiness surrounding her, she saw a figure standing in the field ahead of her.

Twilight broke into a gallop upon seeing the first living soul out here. Rushing through the grass, a couple of dandelions in full bloom broke with her passing, swirling with the movement of the wind to places unknown. She could see the figure more clearly as she drew closer and for some reason she wasn't even surprised to find herself face to face with none other than Clover.

"Twilight," he said to her with a wide smile on his face. "You did it!"

She slowed to a stop in front of him, her confusion evident on her face. "What did I do?"

"The Elements of Harmony of course!" He exclaimed as he rushed forward and scooped her up in a hug and twirled in a circle. "You were right where you needed to be, right when you needed to be there."

She could hear the joy in his voice even as tears ran down his face. "I'm sorry Clover, but I'm a bit lost. What happened? Last thing I knew..." Memories rushed back as she remembered what she was last doing. "The Crystal Empire! Sombra! My friends!" She grew a bit more panicked as she shuffled in place. "I need to get back there! Is everypony alright?!"

Clover set her back on the grass and wiped a few tears from his face, "calm down Twilight. I'm sure your friends are fine. Time doesn't exactly move the same way in here as it does out there," he said with a soft smile. "Only a few moments will have passed by the time you get back."

"Where exactly are we?" Twilight asked as she stepped back from him and looked around at the endless field.

"It's been called many things over the years. The spiritual realm, the astral plane, some would even call it heaven." He explained.

"Wait?! WHAT?!" Her mane started to stick up at odd angles when he named that last place. "Are we dead?!"

Clover let out a hearty laugh, the sound of it rolled over the fields and the very place they stood felt like it laughed with him. "No...no Twilight, we're not dead. I'm actually feeling the most alive I've felt in a long time."

"But I saw you get eaten." She gave him a confused look. "How are you still alive?"

"I've been getting asked that question a lot lately and I suppose some explanations are in order." He slowly walked around her while staring off into the distance. He took a few deep breaths before speaking. "A thousand years ago, I did something that none of the Equestrian nobles thought they'd ever see. I took on a student, a personal disciple."

"Why wouldn't they expect that? Was it because you were a disciple to Starswirl the Bearded?" She asked inquisitively.

"Heh," Clover gave a small chuckle. "I keep forgetting that history has me written that way." He turned to look at Twilight. "I was never his disciple. Don't get me wrong, Starswirl was as brilliant a unicorn as the stories make him out to be. But he was also a close friend of mine, one of the very few I've trusted with my closest secrets." His voice broke a bit as his eyes became a bit teary.

"Are you ok?" Asked a concerned Twilight.

Clover shook his head, "I'll be fine. We're getting off topic though." He shook his head to clear his thoughts.

"Anyway, I found my future student in the Crystal Empire. The first unicorn born to their nation in a hundred years. Young Onyx Shard was a talented young colt, so eager to learn and just as eager to prove himself. However, being the only unicorn in the empire, he didn't have anyone to teach him. I was very excited to find somepony with promise that I felt I could teach without the influence of Equestrian politics."

"Why did that matter?" Twilight gave him a confused look.

"It was no secret to the court that Celestia and I didn't get along. The power that came to her at such an early age left her with quite an ego and a pretty nasty attitude and I really didn't want any student of mine being influenced by her."

Twilight was quick to come to the defense of her teacher, "but Princess Celestia is the most kind and loving pony around, how could she be..."

Clover cut her off, "a thousand years is a long time for a pony to change, Twilight. I didn't care for her then and even if I never look fondly upon her, even I can see how much she's mellowed out over the years."

He took another deep breath, "anyway back to my story. I taught young Onyx many things. Everything from conjuration and abjuration to divination and astrology. He was a very enthusiastic student, eager to prove himself as he devoured every lesson set before him. However there was one topic I absolutely forbid him to learn or even study until I believed he was ready."

Twilight's blood grew cold as she looked at the stern look on his face, "what topic was that?"

"Demonology." He said solemnly.

"Are you crazy?!" Twilight's voice broke as her mane stuck out at odd angles. "Dark magic like that is forbidden for a reason."

"Twilight, you need to understand that Demonology is more than the study of how to summon demons. It's also the study of how to banish them. Are you going to let me finish my story or are you going to keep interrupting?" He looked at her crossly.

Twilight quickly patted down her mane as she collected herself, "sorry."

"Anyway," Clover continued. "As you can probably guess he didn't listen. As such is with the folly of youth, he believed that nothing could hurt him and that he knew better than those older and wiser."

"You mean he..." Twilight sat down on her haunches and held her forelegs to her mouth in horror.

"I'm not sure where he found that tome. When I went back to examine my collection on the subject, not a single book was missing. One day I found him in the middle of a summoning and while normally I would have just scolded him and then proceeded to educate him on his foolishness, the problem came with what he was summoning." Clover said with a distant look on his face. "It wasn't just a simple imp or even a succubus he was calling forth, the latter of which would've made for a very interesting and mutually embarrassing talk," he said with a snicker before getting deadly serious. "It was an elder demon and it wasted no time in possessing its summoner."

"What...what was its name?" Twilight quivered at the turn this story was taking.

"I've just been calling it what it called itself upon possessing my student." Clover narrowed his eyes, "it called itself Sombra."

Twilight let out a deep sigh at the name, "so what happened next?"

"We fought and I used what I knew of demons to break past its defenses. You see, it was only freshly summoned and as such it was still quite weak to spiritual attacks. I had almost succeeded in banishing it and freeing Onyx when Celestia..." He growled out her name. "Attacked Sombra and broke my concentration, causing catastrophic damage to me, Onyx, and Sombra."

"When you say catastrophic damage, what do you mean?" Twilight cocked her head.

"Spiritual damage. Soul damage." Clover explained. "I didn't figure out how bad the damage was until much later when I regained consciousness and the Crystal Empire had already been sealed away. Bits and pieces of all three of us were broken off and scattered, some of the pieces attaching to each of us at random, while others attached to the two artifacts that were closest at the time. The Alicorn Amulet and the Crystal Heart."

Twilight's ears perked up as she put some of the pieces together, "that's why I found you with the amulet that day! You were collecting the pieces."

He nodded, "indeed I was, same as with the Crystal Heart. I probably should've anticipated the amulet would react violently when I dismantled it, however I was fairly certain that the heart was going to temporarily lose its power. The blizzard that followed also served the purpose of getting the citizens to retreat to their homes, something I really needed to see happen before the final act of this drama."

Suddenly they found themselves standing in the shade as a cloud floated overhead. Funny, Twilight hadn't seen a single cloud since she found herself in this place. She tilted her head to the sky to look at it and everything inside of her screamed at how the thing she was seeing was just...wrong.

Clover followed her gaze and answered the unasked question as they looked at the dark cloud that pulsated and shifted with an occasional claw poking out of the edges. "That's Sombra you're looking at."

"What is he doing here?!" Twilight started breaking into a panic.

"You hit the three of us with the Elements of Harmony. The whole time we've been here it's been sorting out our broken souls and putting the pieces back together into their proper forms. Unfortunately, that also includes Sombra." He said with some regret.

"But...Why would the Elements put Sombra back together? Isn't he evil?" Twilight countered.

"He is. In order to restore harmony, all the evil that makes that up that demon first needs to be gathered in one place. However after that, it needs somewhere to go and the magic of harmony isn't capable of breaking into other realms. The elements are powerful, but they're not all-powerful."

"So all three of you will be in back in your natural forms?" Twilight still quivered at the thought of what Sombra really was.

"This is where the really bad news starts," Clover resigned himself. "Demons get stronger the longer they stay summoned and Sombra will have had the benefit of a thousand years to gather strength on top of the power he will have taken from Onyx in payment for his summoning. Not even the Elements can refund the cost of something like that." Clover shook his head in disappointment.

"Please tell me you planned that far ahead..." pleaded Twilight. "We have the Crystal Heart! Surely we can..."

"It won't work. Right now the heart would only be strong enough to clear away the storm outside and even if it could stop him, as long as Sombra stays in this world, he will keep coming back again and again, getting stronger every time until he eventually wins." Clover sighed heavily, his eyes looking far more tired and old than the rest of him did. "Unless we banish him properly, this will never truly end."

A crack of thunder came from the not-cloud above them, making Twilight snap her gaze upward.

"I guess it's time," said Clover as he stepped up to her. "This is going to be asking a lot, but I need you to do something for me."

"Anything." Twilight quickly responded.

Clover leaned forward and placed a hoof against her chest, causing the space between them to glow. That glow stayed with Twilight as Clover broke contact.

"Please keep Onyx safe," he requested somberly. "Sombra will be desperate to get him back and my student has suffered enough."

"I will," Twilight said as she held the light close to her chest.

"A thousand years I have battled against this darkness," reflected Clover as Twilight's vision began to fade.

"It's time I finally end this."

Author's Note

And now you know...the rest of the story.

Day 5 of the finale.
Don't miss tomorrow.