The Misfortune of Clover the Clever

The night was cold, the world was quiet, and Smokey busied himself with finishing the last of his preparations. The castle had already been scouted, and the necessary herbs had been dried and crushed. All that was left to do was to make sure his old smoking pipe was properly cleaned.

Smokey used to be a fairly active smoker, at least until he heard a rumor that it could cause fertility problems. Part of him still believed it be superstitious nonsense. However, everything they had tried to conceive had failed, so he reluctantly gave it up. When he still used his pipe regularly, he had a talent for making the smoke do whatever he wanted, making it much easier to administer various drugs and poisons from a safe distance. Fortunately, it was a skill that didn't seem to get weaker if he didn't practice. He had learned that during the timberwolf outbreak the year before. That had been a scary time...

Smokey tensed up as his thoughts were once again interrupted by the wailing of the infant. A wave of anger coursed through his body every time the foal cried, and he hated himself for it. It wasn't her fault who her birth parents were, but every time he looked at her and that accursed horn on her head, it clawed away at him. It served as a constant reminder of what Star Bright had done to Powder, to the both of them. He couldn't keep living like this. It was nothing short of a miracle he hadn't done something about it sooner. He just hoped that Sunspot would understand what he had to do.

As if summoned by his thoughts, the door to his home picked that moment to open. Smokey whirled around to see who it was, only relaxing when he saw the wizened old face of Sunspot.

"Oh," he said as he went back to cleaning his pipe, "it's just you."

"Hmmm... just me?" Pondered Sunspot. "You make it sound like you were expecting somepony else."

"I keep thinking that bastard is gonna come bursting through the door at any moment and claim his daughter," said Smokey.

"Unlikely," said Sunspot as he sat down next to the crying babe. He scooped her up in his magic and gently began rocking her until the crying stopped. "If he found out, it's more likely he'd look to dispose of her as soon as possible. Even with the low birth rates of unicorns, I can't imagine the rest of the Star family would look too kindly on his indiscretion."

"You talk about them like you know them," he said.

"Once upon a time, I did," recounted Sunspot, regret tinting his voice. "I used to agree with a lot of their philosophies, too." He now held the little filly against his chest, where she was playfully batting at his beard.

"What changed?" Smokey asked. It wasn't often that the old pony talked about his life before coming to live in the village.

Sunspot's eyes became downcast. "There was an accident... a long time ago... one that claimed the life of my son."

"You mean Pyrus, right?" He said. "You mentioned him once before. What happened?"

Sunspot shook his head. "It doesn't matter," he said. "What matters is that I was so wrapped up in my anger, my grief, that I lashed out against his best friend. The Star family had me convinced that he was to blame for everything that happened, but that's a poor excuse. He was the only one to survive the fire that took my son and so many others. I should've been there to support him, even if nopony else would."

Smokey finished the last of his cleaning and tucked his pipe away in his bag. "Sunspot," he said reluctantly. "I have a favor to ask."

"You want me to care for Powder's foal?" Sunspot said without hesitation.

Smokey cocked his head at the older stallion. "How did you know?"

A light smile played out on Sunspot's face. "Give an old pony some credit," he said. "I've been watching you and Powder since you were little. I doubt anything you do would surprise me at this point."

"Are you going to try and stop me?" Smokey's gaze turned dark and the baby started screaming again.

The old pony seemed to mull over his question while he calmed the filly down again. Once he had, he let out a long sigh. "There wouldn't be any point," he finally said. "You've always been a stubborn one once your mind is made up. I will have to leave the village if you go through with it, though. Nothing good can come from them finding Powder's foal."

"Where will you go?" Smokey wondered.

"Not really sure," he said. "Maybe I'll make my way to Pandemonium like you originally planned. I doubt they would ask too many questions, and it'll be easy enough for us to disappear."

"Thank you, Sunspot," he said. "I don't know what I would've done without you." He shouldered his pack and turned away, ready to leave what had been his home for the last time.

"Did you ever decide on a name for her?" Sunspot asked before he could leave.

Smokey paused and dropped his gaze, a sad look in his eye. "No," he said, "I couldn't bring myself to do it."

"Hmmm," pondered Sunspot as he inspected the filly. "She's got Powder's colors, but her eyes, the bright orange makes them look like little embers."

"Is Ember a good name for a unicorn?" Asked Smokey.

"I probably would've used the name myself had Pyrus been born a filly," said Sunspot.

"I see," he said as he opened the door. "One last thing," he said before he stepped outside and out of the only life he'd ever known. "Your son's friend. What was his name?"

Sunspot's eyes went downcast, as if remembering even that much was painful. "Clover," he said. "His name was Clover."

Smokey stood outside the fortress, his presence masked by the surrounding forest. It was more than sufficient cover. Even so, it would only take a single step into the open to alert the soldiers guarding the gate.

He double-checked the position of the moon. Unless he missed his guess, he had about an hour before the next shift. Plenty of time to sneak in unnoticed, and just long enough that the guards on duty would be more than a little tired and less likely to notice anything he did.

He probably could've taken them easily if they were by themselves, but with two of them... Smokey wasn't completely sure the trick he learned from the zebras would work on two unicorns at the same time. Besides, a frontal assault would be sure to raise some kind of alarm. Even if he pretended to be a lost traveler, they would still be on guard enough that his plan wouldn't work anymore. Fortunately, he came prepared.

Smokey rummaged around in his bag until he found the the first of the tricks at his disposal. He unfolded a piece of paper, revealing a fine yellow powder within. Normally, the leaves would be brewed into a tea meant to help relax the mind and soothe aching muscles, similar to chamomile, but in powdered form...

The alchemist pulled out his pipe and readied himself, there would be no turning back after this. About an ounce of the powder found its way into the pipe, followed by the strike of flint. The contents lit up in an instant, the smell of the powerful soporific already filling the air around him. Had he been any other pony, his eyelids would've already started to drop from being so close to the powerful drug, but years of working closely with this and similar substances had made him immune, or at least resistant, to most poisons.

On the contrary, Smokey relished in the scent as he put the pipe to his lips and breathed in the sleeping draft. He drew from the pipe for so long that his cheeks were gradually starting to puff out as he held it all in. The amount he held would likely knock out a minotaur in an instant, but he'd need all of it if he was going to reach the entire distance to the gate.

He exhaled the smoke, making sure to keep it low to the ground. Thin tendrils raced along the ground, guided as they were by his intent. It took the better part of a minute to reach the gate, during which time the poison would've already lost some of its potency. However, it was still more than enough to overtake exhausted guards. They breathed in the smoke, not even once realizing that something was amiss. Already one was starting to sag under the weight of their armor and Smokey's ministrations. Her partner watched in muted confusion as she went down, not even having time to ask what was wrong before going down herself.

Smokey watched with bated breath for another minute to see if anyone on the other side of the gate heard them collapse. The metal armor had made a fair bit of noise as they went down, but to his relief, the gate remained undisturbed.

He left the safety of the trees and raced to the gate. He couldn't afford to waste any time. It would only be so long before the sleeping guards were found and an alarm was raised. He made it without incident and carefully pushed the door open.

He'd seen the inside of the fortress before. Once when he was little and it was still abandoned, and once more when Sergeant Gleam called on his services to help with a number of sick ponies. She never seemed to care that much about the differences between the tribes, and she wasn't the type to turn down help when it was so close by.

Smokey looked around carefully before stepping inside. There didn't appear to be anyone else around, most likely asleep at this hour. He closed the door behind him and turned to venture further inside, when he met the eyes of a stallion who had apparently been blocked from view by the open door.

"Hey what are you..." the stallion started to say.

Regardless of how he hadn't heard the commotion outside, or why he hadn't immediately raised the alarm, Smokey wasn't about to take any chances. He rushed in the direction of the guard, only slowed for a moment when the unicorn's magic touched him. It hadn't been nearly as difficult to brush off the magic of the much weaker unicorn as it had been with Star Bright. The look of shock on the pony's face when he didn't stop only lasted for about a moment before a hoof came up to collide with the side of his face. The guard's head bounced off the stone wall before collapsing to the ground like a sack of bricks.

Smokey quickly took stock of the rest of the entryway, just in case there had been anyone else. When it looked like the coast was clear, he pushed the door back open and shoved the now unconscious guard outside to join his peers. He didn't use any more of the sleeping draft on his latest victim, the poor soldier was just doing his job and giving him anything after receiving a blow like that could turn out to be lethal. He'd just have to hope he stayed asleep long enough for Smokey to find his target.

It was still a race against time, even before that little distraction. Smokey ran up stairs and down corridors, stopping at every intersection, listening for hoofsteps, and otherwise doing everything he could to make sure no one saw him.

He passed by several closed doors, the sounds of snoring clearly audible from beyond each of them. Based on what he remembered, it was likely he was passing by the barracks, the sounds he heard being soldiers resting after a long day. All except the last room, the sounds of grunting and bodies slapping against each other making it very clear what was happening in there. Well... It was the season for that. At least they were distracted.

Much like he apparently was. He hadn't immediately noticed, what with the sound of busy ponies momentarily distracting him, but there were the sound of fresh hoofsteps coming from down the hall, and they were a lot closer than he was comfortable with.

This wasn't a good place to be caught out in the open. Even a small scuffle would most assuredly rouse the curiosity of any of the sleeping ponies, and if he had to deal with the sudden appearance of so many in such a small space, the chances of him coming out on top bordered on the impossible.

Smokey started to panic, eventually diving behind a suit of armor in the hopes that he hadn't come all this way for nothing. He carefully looked out from his hiding place, swallowing hard when he saw it was Sergeant Gleam walking down the corridor.

She kept an even pace as she walked, her armor rattling slightly as she moved, sounding far louder than it should have in the dense silence. Slowly, ever so slowly, Gleam approached Smokey's hiding place, causing the alchemist's heart to race out of control.

He reached into his bag, ready to create some kind of smokescreen if the need arose. He liked the sergeant, he really did. She was probably the second most decent unicorn he ever met, after Sunspot, and he didn't want to have to hurt her.

Just when he though his cover was blown, Gleam suddenly turned to the door where he had just been standing.

"Not again," she let out a long sigh, before hardening her face and slamming the door open with a loud boom.

"Private!" She shouted loud enough that the entire hallway must have heard her. "What do you think you're doing?!"

"Sergeant Gleam!" Came the panicked shouts of a stallion who couldn't have been more than sixteen. "Pri... Private Lily wanted me to show her the new moves we learned at the academy."

"Uh huh," nodded Sergeant Gleam, clearly not convinced. "Is that what you're doing? Impressive technique. Maybe we should have you demonstrate it to the rest of the squad."

What followed was a long reprimand, followed by embarrassed ponies collecting discarded armor, before finally retreating back to their appropriate barracks. The whole time this was going on, Smokey remained tense. He half expected to see a few curious faces poke their noses out from nearby rooms so they could get a better look. They would've been treated to seeing an earth pony hiding just outside the room where a couple officers were being railed on for their midnight tryst. Smokey continued to hold his breath, watching, even as all the rooms remained blessedly closed.

When the excitement had finally died down, and the pounding in his chest was once again under control, Smokey ran down the rest of the hall, reaching the stairs before anything else could go wrong.

He hadn't expected there to be a pair of ponies assigned to guard an individual room. In fact, he was caught so off guard that he almost barreled right into them, blowing his cover in the process.

However, whether it was because he was on edge or because the guards were half asleep after a long, boring night, he managed to collect himself quickly enough before he completely lost the element of surprise. His hooves collided with the stallion, throwing him to the wall and knocking him unconscious before he managed to cast a spell.

He wasn't quite as fortunate with the mare. Smokey found his hooves leaving the ground, carried as he was by the blast of magic. However, luck was on his side. The magic had missed him by bare inches, colliding instead with his bag and incinerating it in the process.

The female guard's eyes went wide with shock at what had just happened, but unfortunately for her, she wasn't able to recollect her wits fast enough. As soon as Smokey's hooves were back on solid ground, he bolted forward and dispatched her as well before she had the chance to raise the alarm.

Smokey only gave himself a brief moment to regather his wits as he looked to the door. In hindsight, he should've expected that someone with the kind of power and connections that Star Bright had would have a guard of their own. Maybe it was just a cultural difference, or maybe it was because earth ponies didn't have any sort of real military of their own. Either way, unless the room they guarded held someone other than the pony he expected, nothing else stood in the way of him and his revenge.

The alchemist slowly pushed open the heavy door, wincing as it creaked on its hinges. When someone didn't call out from the darkness, he almost thought he'd found the wrong room.

However, he was certain he'd seen Star look out from this tower during the late nights he spent scouting this place out. Pushing forward, Smokey searched the dark room. It was hard to make out much of it in the dark, but what he could make out showed that someone of wealth likely lived here.

He made his way past the expensive furniture and trinkets he couldn't begin to guess the purpose of, and finally found a bed with someone sleeping in it. He moved closer to get a better look, heart catching in his chest as his nerves stood on end, and he saw the one he had been searching for.

Star Bright. The one who had brought so much pain to his life and taken Powder's just so he could sate his carnal urges. What made him think he had the right to do what he did? Was it unicorn superiority that did it? No, he'd known enough decent unicorns to know that not to be true. Sunspot was a prime example. His noble status? Possibly. He didn't have enough experience dealing with them to know if Star Bright was the rule or the exception.

Smokey steadied his thoughts, especially the ones that distracted him from his goal. It didn't matter why Star had done what he did. All that mattered was that he had, and hadn't suffered any retribution for what he had done. Well, that changed tonight.

He reached for his bag, only to feel his bare coat where his bag should be. That's right, he realized, it had saved him from that one guard's attack. That had been a little too close, but it now also left him without the deadly poison he planned on using. Maybe it was for the best. He doubted he would've been satisfied with letting the monster die peacefully in his sleep. He hadn't earned that.

Smokey's mind was made up. The alchemist turned assassin picked up one of the stray pillows from the side of the bed, there was no going back for him at this point. He held it over the sleeping pony's head, and then with one swift motion he brought it down with all the weight of a full-grown stallion behind it.

At first, nothing happened. Not for about a minute, anyway. Then he heard the sound of muffled coughs and gasps as the pony he was bent on killing started to struggle. For the next couple moments, Smokey weathered the onslaught as desperate hooves kicked at his chest and his gut. Some if them actually making contact with his face. It was of no matter, for the one doing the kicking was a unicorn, the physically weakest of the tribes. He could kick and scream all he wanted, but no matter what, the one attempting to snuff out his life refused to move.

For a moment, Smokey thought it was all over when Star finally stopped moving, but then the pillow he was using to smother him started to grow hot. It took him far too long to realize what was happening, because the next thing he knew, the pillow had exploded, and Smokey found himself being launched through the nearby bedpost.

Stars filled his eyes as he heard rapid coughing and wheezing from where he had just been. By the time he'd recollected his wits, he found Star Bright looking back at him from across the room.

"You," he pointed an accusatory hoof at him, "what are you... Who do you think you..." He shook his head, having nearly been smothered in his sleep had left his wits muddled. "Guards!" He shouted in the direction of his bedroom door. "Guards!" He shouted again. "Come at once! There's an assassin!"

"They won't answer," said Smokey as he pushed himself back up. There was a chance someone might have heard that explosion. He needed to finished up here, and quick, if he was hoping to make an escape. "And I'm not going to let you get away with what you've done."

"What I've done?" Star looked genuinely confused. "What are you talking about..." The unicorn noble quickly threw up a shield, for at that moment, his assailant was charging him at full gallop.

What he hadn't been counting on was for his attacker to pass straight through it like it wasn't even there. Smokey collided with the unfortunate spellcaster and launched him into the far wall. The shield he passed through only serving to make his coat itch as he was now ready to deal with the unicorn's foul magic.

Star collapsed to the floor in a heap, the impact must've broken something as blood was now clearly visible through his teeth. He took a moment to cough up several globs of the stuff, before turning his attention back to to Smokey. "You..." He spat through crimson teeth. "I remember you now. You're that earth pony who dared to stand against me when I first got here. You should know your place, or do I need to reach that trollop of yours another hard lesson. I heard she lived, after all. What was her name? I believe it was..."

Smokey again charged forward as he allowed the rage he had built up over the last year to finally be sated. His hooves once again connecting with the unicorn, completely burying his face into the now cracked and broken stone.

This time, Star Bright didn't get back up. He just lay there and twitched for a moment until his body and his breath were finally stilled. Smokey stood over the now beaten and broken corpse, his anger still not fully satiated as he gave the body a few extra kicks. It had been over far too quickly. It couldn't have even been five minutes since he first entered the room, but now that it was...

Now that it was, all he felt was empty inside. He had dedicated his life to helping others, and what he had just done went against everything he stood for. Even if Star Bright had been evil, even if he deserved everything he got, that didn't excuse what Smokey had done. He'd have to learn to live with that.

But where did that leave him now? He couldn't return to the village. Too many ponies had seen Smokey's face during this excursion, and they would undoubtedly be looking for him once they found the body of their dead lord.

Smokey looked out from the balcony towards the distant horizon. All he could see was an empty darkness as far as the eye could see. There was nothing for him out there, not anymore. Everything that mattered to him was now gone.

Alarms could be heard coming from the castle beneath him. Someone must've woken up or found the missing guards. If he had wanted to escape, the time to do so had passed.

There wouldn't be any point in letting them capture him. What could they really do to him at this point? All that awaited him was a cold cell where he'd face what passes for Elysium's justice, whether that'd be a swift execution or rotting away in a cell, it didn't matter. His life was over already.

That made the decision easy as he climbed up onto the balcony. He took one last moment to breathe in the cold night air, and look out at the world he'd be leaving behind. A world that had nothing left for him. A world that no longer had his beloved Powder.

Smokey made that last, final step into the inky blackness, and let his own weight carry him down. Down... Down to the hard stone below.