• Published 13th May 2015
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At the Twilight of Harmony - Rammy



The Keeper War has begun. Can the Hourglass Dragon Clan defeat the Nameless One before harmony falls?

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We Are the Same, You and I

36 days since the Nameless One’s escape
10 days since the fall of Traxti City
Afternoon, Near Whitetail Forest.


Sentinel stood there in shock as the dragon pushed through the underbrush and into the open. It can’t be!

He recognized the dragon coming out of the underbrush. The yellow belly scales had become sickly looking and the white seemed off color as well. The scars appeared more prominent and oddly fresher almost as if the dragon had intently reopened them. But there was no doubt this dragon was Quartz. Well, formally Quartz, clearly he had chosen. Not that he cared…

This dragon, by using dark magic like he did, was worthy of the dishonor mark. Frustratingly, he did not have the ability to remove his name, whatever it might be. His Firstclaw, He of Hourglass, might be able given he was the Dragon Keeper and was on the Path of the DragonWrym. Given that only one dragon ever had his name removed that ‘might’ may be stretching it a bit. How did the Elder Council do it!?

“Not what you expected?” The dragon smirked showing off his yellow teeth. “Were you expecting my idol? My hero? My… inspiration?

Sentinel narrowed his eyes at the dragon opting to show anger over his disgust. This dragon worships the Nameless One!? This probably meant that getting a dishonor mark would make the dragon proud and would be a mark of honor to him. Same with the removing of his name… Somehow he was sure nothing would faze this dragon. That made him all the more dangerous of an opponent. He just hoped that the ‘Nameless One’ was merely his idol and hero and not ally.

The dragon seemed to not care for Sentinel’s reaction as he casually took a claw and dug deep into a scar on his right arm cutting his flesh along the entire scar. Sentinel could see a shudder rise up and down the dragon’s spine. A shudder not of pain or disgust but one that was of pleasure. Sentinel could feel a shudder of his own beginning, but he managed to suppress it before it began.

The dragon slowly licked up all of his blood and swished it around his mouth before swallowing. This time Sentinel failed to suppress the shudder. He was a carnivore and liked the taste of blood but enjoying the blood of a self inflicted injury, if one would call it an injury, was a bit much. The dragon seemed to notice Sentinel’s discomfort.

“Oh you want some, don’t you? How rude of me!” The dragon apologized, holding out the very arm he had just cut. When Sentinel made no move he added, “You did say you wanted to taste my blood.”

“When I’m done with you all I’ll taste is ash!” Sentinel roared, sending out a plume of white flame. The dark drake sidestepped the initial attack before he added a dark flame of his own. The white flame of Sentinel and the dark flame of the unknown dragon clashed violently. The dragon backuped as Sentinel suddenly cut through the flames and attempted to slash him. The scarred dragon shot his flame out then ran to the side to try and outflank the white dragon. The white dragon saw this and blocked the attack with the flat edge of his trident tail. A wave of his claw and a large nearby rock was hurtled right at the drake. The drake flew up and out the way before dive bombing at Sentinel. Sentinel inwardly cursed as he didn’t have enough time to prepare for the impact.

Sentinel wheezed as he struggled to regain his breath. He was sure he had a cracked rib. Before he could do anything else he was slammed to the ground then roughly picked up. By what he couldn't tell, yet, with all the dust and smoke obscuring his vision. That and his head was dizzy from all the blows.

Once his head and the air cleared he could see that he was in the grasp of a shadowy dragon claw construct. This along with the wendigo storm and the attack on Hourglass it was clear that this dragon had skills in dragon magic that rivaled even He of Hourglass either that or he was using something to augment it. The final Elder amulets was a possibility. While Sentinel had some skills with dragon magic he was not at He of Hourglass’ level. He would need to be in his alicorn form to have a chance but even then alicorn magic was not as strong as dragon. He needed to find a way to used both at the same time. Right now, however, he needed to escape the bind he was in, hopefully, without revealing his duel forms.

Sentinel wiggled to see what, if any, range of movement he had. Some of his tail was in the grasp of the hand so he couldn't get his trident around enough to do anything but weakly hit the claw construct with the flat edge. None of his paws were free so that severely reduced his dragon magic ability and he could not get enough air to do much more then send a letter with his flame.

“Oh this is soooo sweet…” The scarred dragon commented on Sentinel apparent inability to escape. “I’ll tell you what… Normally I wait until just before killing, “the dragon licked his lips in anticipation.” Because that is when I add them to my hoard. You see, I want the world turn to ashes around one that will be added to my hoard and then, knowing that they have no way of stopping it... then and only then I slowly and deliciously make them scream…”

“I wouldn’t give a lava shit about your name…” Sentinel growled, renewing his struggle to extract himself from the dark claw construct that the dark dragon had trapped him in. He knew that he could probably break through it with alicorn magic but he didn’t want to reveal that just yet.

“Oh, but, I think you do want to know He of Hourglass.” The dark dragon came up behind Sentinel to whisper into his ear. “I think you need to know…” The white and yellow dragon then moved in front of Sentinel. “Because for the simple fact that we are alike… you and I. We are the same on the inside.” The dragon sighed as he circled around Sentinel. “So few are what dragons should be... most I find are lazy, mellow, fat.”

“Dragons fierce and proud!” Damn it! Sentinel cursed as the claw squeezed tighter with the dragon’s anger. He now fought to remain conscious. I will not die! Not to him! “Others should be in constant terror that we might come and steal away their treasures…” The dragon looked at Sentinel and apparently noticed that he was squeezing too tight and he waved a claw. Sentinel resisted the urge to sigh in relief as the claw loosen enough for him to breath again. “Although to be fair I find treasure to be boring. Why such fuss over bedding and tasteless art? The screams those should be music to our ears… That should be what drives a dragon... the blood… the gore... the fear, the delicious fear… the gold and gems are just simple seasonings… and bland at that… and never truly filling.”

Sentinel could feel the hot breathing of the dragon on his neck. “Fear is like good cooking you have taste it to see if it tastes right.”

Will this dragon ever stop talking! I’d tune it out but… Sentinel shuddered as he felt the tongue of the evil dragon licking him. Of all the things that this dragon could do it had to be licking. Licking is a sign of affection between friends or family and him being ‘affectionate’ sicken him. This was more than just that though the slimy, forked dragon tongue scraped across the back of his neck slowly and almost sensuously. Sentinel was glad he hadn't had much to eat recently and that he movement was restricted otherwise he was sure he would have lost his stomach from his revulsion.

“Yours is one I have never tasted before… it’s a fear not of me… that’s too familiar... no… I can't be sure but I think it’s a fear that I am right… not the type of fear I look for… and I don’t want you to fear me… at least not yet…”

“But enough of that… Time for you to know my hoard name…” The dragon leaned in and whispered. “Scktītzithāja Ülietziethi.”

Tortured Screams!? Sentinel felt another wave of nausea nearly overcome him. Of all the sick names for one to have!

“And now, what to do with you…” The dragon started to pace. “I don’t want to kill you but I can’t have you interfering with my hoard building… I could take you home… but I’m going to need a way to suppress your magic...”

I have to get out of this! As much as I hate doing this, but if he won’t release me. Sentinel let his alicorn magic free thus shifting his form. Hmm... I never noticed this before but my alicorn form is slightly less bulky than my dragon form... which means… Sentinel pulled himself out of the dark magic claw.

“An… alicorn!? I… wha...” Sentinel looked over to see the dragon had his jaw wide open a claw raised in question. He couldn't help but grin at the utter shock on the face of his enemy. He took this time to completely extract himself from the claw. The claw shattered just as he managed to get out. Oh, sure... Sentinel rolled his eyes as he flare his wings to land. Now the dragon loses his concentration enough for the claw… ah whatever!

“You...You’re not just any ali.. alicorn you’re... you’re the Alicorn Keeper of Harmony!” The dragon stuttered to the immense enjoyment of Sentinel. His enjoyment turned to confusion as he heard the dragon chuckle. Sentinel stared at the other dragon trying not to become unnerved.

“Oh this… this… is EVEN better!” The dark magic dragon now roared in laughter. “A mere prey animal so disgusted at its own ‘people’ and itself the he becomes the hunter, the predator…”

“You talk too much.” Sentinel snapped as he conjured two swords and swung them at the dragon’s head.

The dragon crouched down to avoid the attack. He continued to chuckle as he blocked the next two with his arms augmented with dark magic. A magic missile came at him which he grabbed casually, added his own magic, and threw it back like a grenade.

Sentinel raised a shield as his attack was flung back at him. The resulting explosion nearly shattered his shield. He dropped the shield and retaliated with his swords again. This time he used four. The dragon eyed the swords carefully. He seem bored as he smacked one them away with a backhand, grabbed the second, evaded the third, and jumped onto the fourth, riding it.

Sentinel nearly lost his concentration at seeing the dragon riding one of his swords. He dismissed the sword that the dragon was wielding before the dragon could corrupted for his own uses. The sword he was ‘surfing’ he flipped. The dragon seemed unfazed by that as he rolled back into a fighting stance without missing a beat after being knocked off.

Sentinel grimaced at the fighting skills… Quartz was a strong fighter and had the potential to outdo even his alicorn self. The addition of magic, and dark magic at that, made him a even match. The fighting was not Quartz’s style… One of the few times Sentinel wished it was still normal for dragons to retain their memories as it would have made it easier...

Sentinel charged at him roaring. As he did he summoned remaining swords. The other dragon seemed to have a similar idea and a mass of dark energy amassed around his hands and coalesced into duel black swords. The swords were twisted with sharp teeth along one edge. The swords of the two met in a clash of sparks. Both back off before resuming their mutual attack. The movements of the dragon and alicorn began to blur as the two attempted to gain advantage over the other. Sparks flew and the clang and scrap of the clashing swords echoing around the field.

It became clear after a short while that the dragon was holding back. This both confused and enraged Sentinel. He himself was not holding back though the events of the last few days had weakened him considerably.


The sun was beginning to set and Sentinel and the dragon both were panting. Sentinel had already dismissed all but one of his swords. The sword was tilted downward as Sentinel struggled to keep it in the air.

“It seems... we are both out of energy... and I can tell your ‘friends’ are approaching... so until next time Alicorn…” The dragon gave a mock salute before he began to back away into the shadows.

Sentinel growled hotly not wanting the dragon to get away. He tried to lunged at the dragon but as his hoof was about to connect the dragon smirked and disappeared in a burst of ash and smoke. He roared angrily as he frantically tried to find the dragon.

The rush of adrenaline left him and all the exhaustion of the past few days and the pain from the fight caught up to him and he collapsed in a heap. The sounds the sick laughter of the dragon echoing in his head as he fell into darkness.

Author's Note:

Quartz is baaaack!:pinkiecrazy::pinkiegasp: And I planned for his return since he debut in DoH

Happy Jamesinor?:flutterrage:

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