The Misfortune of Clover the Clever

"Bring to a boil and..." Smokey Vines muttered under his breath as he watched the cauldron. The timing for which he had to add the shaved mandragora might've once given him trouble, but he had done this so many times at this point, that he hardly saw the reason to worry. The talking under his breath was just an old habit he'd never been able to break.

"You're doing it again," his mate, Fine Powder, reminded him.

Smokey waited until the pot changed to it's new color before shifting his attention to her. He never once got tired of looking at her, even after all these years. Her violet coat and blue mane always put him at ease, and those eyes, even now he still found himself getting lost in those pink gems that glistened in just the right light. If only he could give her what she truly wanted.

"Is that it?" She asked as she looked over his shoulder, an eager look in her eye.

"No," Smokey said sorrowfully, enjoying the momentary drop in Powder's mood. She looked so crestfallen at his words, and even though he found her beautiful, he still enjoyed teasing her from time to time.

"This is just something for old Sunspot's arthritis. This..." he slid open a nearby drawer and produced a small bottle containing a bright pink liquid. "This is yours."

Powder's eyes lit up and she let out a small squeal before snatching the proffered vial. "Is this it?!"

"Just don't ask what's in it," Smokey laughed along with her. "It probably tastes terrible."

"It can taste like piss for all I care," she said as she continued to get excited. "If it works..."

"It should," he said. "The dragon blood took to the rest of the ingredients far better than I expected."

The look of shock on her face was priceless. "Dragon's blood!?" She exclaimed. "How did you manage that?!"

It had actually been easier than he thought. "A careful mix of dragonsbane and jade put him right to sleep. He'll probably wake up feeling a bit groggy, and he'll have no idea I bled a whole pint out of him while he was out."

Powder narrowed her eyes at him, seeming to decide if she wanted to accept that answer or not. "Okay," she eventually said before returning her star-filled gaze back to the potion she held in her hooves. "When can we try it out?" She bit her lip and shifted uncomfortably as she rubbed her back legs together.

Smokey could understand her eagerness, they had been trying to have a foal for several years now. When it didn't happen naturally, he turned to his craft to find a solution. He had long since lost count of the number of things they had tried to get her to conceive, even one time going as far as to ask a close friend of theirs to do the deed, just in case his seed was actually the problem. Nothing they tried had worked, causing Fine Powder to gradually fall into despair, crying for a child it seemed she would never have.

But he wouldn't give up. He refused to.

He continued his studies, even once going as far as to find a tribe of roaming zebra. There had been tales of the magics they could perform with their brews. They had been a bit wary of him, at first. Until they saw he was a pony of medicine and that his interest was indeed genuine. He only spent a week with them, but in that time he learned more about herbology than he could've in fifty years on his own.

Even that wasn't quite enough. Not until encountering some unicorns fleeing from their home city of Elysium did he finally find the answer he was looking for.

Alchemy.

The coveted craft of the unicorns used for turning one thing into another was supposedly a thing of legends, and all the refugees wanted for the book they carried was a way to make sure no one would be able to follow them. It was kind of ironic. It hadn't even been a year since he met with the zebras and here he was trading a small piece of what they taught him for so much more in return. That had been a year ago, and it had taken half that time before he was finally able to put his new acquisition to use.

Turning his attention back to the present, Powder continued to watch him eagerly. Even though her hopes had been crushed a number of times since this journey began, her faith in him had never once wavered. He would've long since given up the search had it not been for her, and how much he cared for her.

"If you take it now, we should be able to test its efficacy before you go picking the midnight blooms," he said with a smile. "We do still have to make a few deliveries before the sun goes down, but after that, you can have me for the rest of the night."

That was all she needed to hear. Without another word, she broke the seal on the bottle and downed the contents in one swift motion. The look on her face told volumes about the taste, but she kept it down without complaint.

"Oh that is vile," she said once she finished drinking. "You really couldn't do anything about the taste, huh?"

Okay, apparently one complaint.

"Sorry," he chuckled at her reaction. "It was hard enough to figure out how to keep the mixture from being toxic. I didn't want to take any chances by adding something even as simple as honey."

"It's okay," she said as she leaned in for a kiss. He accepted the kiss before completely thinking it through. She hadn't lied, the potion really was disgusting. There was also no doubt in his mind that she knew exactly what she was doing as he watched her skip happily towards the door. "Come on," she said with her face absolutely beaming. "Let's get the ponies their itch cream and wart remover, so you can get to riding me like a proper stallion."

As she accentuated the last bit with a playful flick of her tail, Smokey had to do his best to control himself. There would be plenty of time for that later, after the potion had fully taken effect. With any luck, this would finally be the day he could give her what she wanted, and what he had worked so hard to make happen.

Smokey's home resided on the outskirts of town. Just far enough that they were rarely disturbed, but close enough that ponies could still find him and his potions should they have need of them.

That wasn't to say that many of them actually made their way out there. Earth ponies tended to be farmers, and as such, they were usually very busy. That's why it was usually best to catch them in town after many of them had finished their daily chores. A number of them, or some member of their families, would make their way into town for any number of reasons. Be it relaxing at the tavern, catching up on recent gossip, or just something as simple as wanting to see some friendly faces before they had to get up the next day and do it all again.

It was a simple life, and while there were always those who dreamed of something more, maybe even an adventure to far off lands, no one ever really wandered more than a dozen miles from where they'd been born.

At first, this had created a modicum of tension between Smokey and the others, given the few adventures he'd had, but when they saw how effective his medicines were, they warmed right up to him.

"Here's that cream you wanted," he passed off a small clay container to a pony who'd been dealing with sore hooves. "This should help your pest problem," as he passed a bag of crushed herbs to the peach farmer. "The new foal is teething? I think Powder has something to help with that in her bag. She should be on the other side of the market," he said before sending the new parent off to find her.

He didn't have to be in town very long before ponies came looking for him. He usually dealt with medicines for various aches and pains, or ways to treat sick crops when nothing else the farmers tried had worked, but every once in a while, a real challenge would be presented to him. He wasn't always able to find a solution for these, but he learned so much in the process that he rarely turned them down.

Smokey pulled a small bottle from a hidden pouch in his bag, and presented it to the young filly who watched him eagerly. "Have your mother take two drops of this every night before bed," he spoke calmly and clearly, making sure they were listening, "and let me know if anything changes."

The filly gingerly took the glass vial from him, quickly tucking it away in her own bag before taking off down the road as fast as her legs would carry her. They still hadn't quite figured out what had happened to her mother, whether something had bit her or she had stumbled across a curse of some kind, but the mare now had flowers growing out of her mane. At first, they hadn't regarded the condition as anything more than a curiosity, but then came the migraines, leaving her bedridden most of the time.

"So did you hear the news?" One old pony started after Smokey slipped her a discreet package for a condition she didn't want to talk about in public.

"What news?" He inquired. It wasn't too uncommon to be subjected to the latest gossip while he was in town. Usually, it was little more than small town news. Which farmers were arguing with their neighbors, which youths were getting into trouble, or, as was commonly the favorite topic of older ponies, who was sleeping with who.

She leaned in close and whispered in a conspiratorial tone, "a caravan pulled up to the old fort on the outside of town. Rumor has it that a new unicorn has been put in charge." She waggled her eyebrows slightly. "Some young stud sent from the capital."

It wasn't any big secret that the old abandoned fort on the edge of town had been put to use when the unicorns had taken over most of the pony lands. That had been so long ago, long enough that Smokey wouldn't have been much more than a foal at the time. More than once, Smokey had asked several of the older ponies what life had been like before, but when all he ever got was a disinterested shrug in return, he stopped bothering. It seemed that very few, if any, really cared who was in charge as long as their daily lives carried on the same as they always had.

"Daisy," snickered another old mare, "are you looking for greener pastures again?"

"Not my fault there aren't any real stallions left in town," Daisy called back. "I need to expand my horizons before I become an old mare."

"Too late for that," came a shout from somewhere in the crowd. It wasn't clear who it was that had spoken up, but raucous laughter soon followed. Daisy, conceding defeat, soon joined in.

Smokey liked this town, he really did. Sure, they had their troubles from time to time, but the village always had a warm feel to it and everyone looked out for each other. The older ponies had also been instrumental in helping to keep Powder well grounded while he sought out a cure for her barrenness. With any luck, the newest concoction did the trick, and tonight would be the night they had waited for for so long. They just had to finish the last of their deliveries and get home before it got too dark.

Suddenly, as if summoned by his idle thoughts, a shadow cast over the gathering. The chatter amongst the villagers quickly died as they looked up to see the source of the disturbance. He joined them, turning his gaze skyward just as a figure descended from the sky.