//------------------------------//
// Chapter Eight: Goldwing 
// Story: Ruining Harmony 2: Pillars of Harmony 
// by Artaelian 
//------------------------------//

As Applejack had expected, Discord’s portal took her to the Temple of the Sages. Or rather, the collapsed ruin of it. The marble building had fallen in on itself, and what had once been a shining peak on the top of the mountain for all of Irvest to see, now barely stood higher than the plateau that had been made atop the mountain to fit the formerly massive building.
Monks of the temple wandered aimlessly, moving only enough rubble to recover either a body or an injured pony. None paid her any attention as she walked along. The monks never did, they had been failed Sage Students that, rather than return home a disgrace in their minds, vowed to never speak again. They moved through the remainder of their lives as shadows of their former selves. It was, to Applejack, rather sad. They could have become farmers, or other productive citizens of society, and instead chose a life constantly in regret and shame.
 
Standing at the fore of the recovery was a white mare, now greatly aged over sixty years. A pegasus, she still wore gold horseshoes, and gold jewel mounts on her wings. This was the sage Goldwing, who had been a calm and kind sage even sixty years previous, and the youngest of the time, at eighteen. She looked to now be nearing her eighties, and yet she stood, calm and composed despite what had befallen the temple and Irvest.
 
Goldwing turned to Applejack, the only sound of hooves as she approached, the monks had taken their vow of silence serious, not a sound was made even by their hooves.
“Applejack, I had expected one of you to awaken and head here in search of Twilight Sparkle.” Goldwing now even sounded like an old mare. But she smiled anyway.
“You must have a lot of questions, there is a tent set up for me to sleep in, come, I shall have drinks prepared for us and we can talk there.”
 
The tent really was basic, to Applejack’s surprise. She had expected the tent to be a canvas home, but beyond the tent flaps, there was just a crude hay bed and a bell. Goldwing rang this and set it down, sitting on the bed. She watched Applejack expectantly, so, she followed suit, sitting on the ground beside the bed. There was going to be much she would learn.
“I have no doubt by now, Discord told you of what happened sixty years ago, you will have seen all but the memories of Twilight Sparkle, and it is my duty to take you to her chamber, to see them, but in due time.”
The tent opened as a monk silently pushed a tea set, with steam billowing from the teapot. Appleack couldn’t explain how this had been pushed along the ground without making any noise, it defied logic. Goldwing took a cup and the teapot, pouring tea out for herself.
“I know only some of you bothered to learn Irvest’s history when you last walked, sixty years previous, but the situation we face is because of Irvest’s past. Ulysses is not the first to have meddled with time, or the dark powers that once called this land home.”
 
“Equestria as you know it was founded over a thousand years ago, ponies forced from another land by the Windigoes. But Irvest, Irvest was founded and forged in wars the world has never seen the likes of. In the darkest past, when the found countries that were to become Irvest fought, there was a stallion of Eikrya, Akyrun. He lost his family, his wife and child, to war. And so, he vowed to find a way to save them, to rip them from their fates.
And he succeeded, Applejack. He tore them from the moments of death and placed them to the present. But Death does not like his quarry being stolen. Time and again, Akyrun and Death fought for the souls of those Akyrun cared for. Each time Akyrun tore them from the point of death and returned them, more of what made them who they were was ripped from their very souls, until in the end, he returned soulless husks. And it made him enraged, that in the end, Death had won, a tiny piece at a time.”

Applejack found herself enthralled with this. She didn’t have Twilight to ask, but she at least knew, she hadn’t heard this story before. But regardless, the story seemed tragic. She stayed silent, hoping Goldwing would say more.
 
“After many brooding years, Akyrun sought to find a better way, a way to save those he loved from death forever, and perfectly this time. But such a way could never be found. And with how time worked, he could never spend any more time with them, not without destroying the world. His sorrow turned to anger, anger at a world that had cost him so much. And Akyrun found power, power to break time. Discord knows what happened next better than anyone.”
 
If Discord was interested, he didn’t show, leaving Applejack to wonder what he had to do with Akyrun. Sighing, Goldwing shook her head slightly.
“Discord saw the chaos Akyrun could cause as he became a demon, and so, broke him, taking the small and still slightly stable core as a servant to do his bidding. After Discord was brought down by the Equestrian princesses, Akyrun began to pull his fragments back together, and it was a thousand years ago, on the shore of Irvest, that mortals attacked him to save the world. And so, from that war, Irvest united under the leaders of the four countries, who vowed to become like nomads, living for those they served, and having no worldly possessions. A tradition that remained, one sage, for each country of Irvest. Even now, I must find new students to prepare for this life from across Irvest, regardless of the tragedy.”
Slowly, Goldwing stood and trotted off, and Applejack knew there would be nothing else she could learn for today, she didn’t even know where Twilight’s restoration chamber was.
 
At around sunset, a pair of monks approached Applejack, and in silence, led her to one of the few tents unoccupied. A makeshift bed had been set up in it, and she was at least thankful for it, laying down. She spent the rest of the evening watching the sun set below the horizon, though it had a strange aura around it, one of the outcomes of her and her friend’s defeat.
In her dreams, she dreamed of the old days, of working the apple trees with her family, having fun with her friends, all in the days before Ulysses had turned up and destroyed it all with his ambition to become an alicorn.
 
In the morning, she left her tent to find most of the rubble had been cleared away. Standing and observing was Goldwing, her face wrinkled in the look of a mare who was bothered that she was too frail now to help, as her bones could be broken so easily. She heard Applejack approaching and turned around.
“Good morning, Applejack. Did you sleep well?” she asked, the worry in her face gone, if for a brief moment.
“Ah slept like a foal, anything Ah can do ta help?” she asked.
Goldwing shook her head, and returned her attention to the beginnings of the repair work. After a moment, she sighed.
“I sent three Monks out with notices to the countries of Irvest that now lack a representing Sage. They each carry a scroll, which details what will be expected, and that I will personally oversee the training, before I can seek out my successor,” she glanced sideways at Applejack, “I am old, and my student died here because of Ulysses. I must find a new student to train to replace me one day.”
“Ah wanted to say, isn’t the monk thing a bit, troubling?”
“You mean the fact they are so ashamed they make a new personality by sharing it with others who failed? It was  Sage Ground Rock who kept it going, but, perhaps I can convince the new Sages to end it. Some things must change.”
 
They stood in silence for a few minutes, before Goldwing spoke up again.
“I suppose it is time to tell you, of those minutes, when I met Discord, and learnt of your fate.”
Goldwing turned to Applejack, a frail hoof raised which she placed on Applejack’s head. There was a gasp from Applejack, as she witnessed the memories Goldwing had lived through.
 
Goldwing stood besides three other ponies, another pegasi, a unicorn and an earth pony. They were looking at the horizon, toward Equestria. Despite its distance from Irvest, and not being visible, there were signs of the battle, the sky darkened and pulsed. And it spread further and further. Goldwing knew, deep down, things were not going as Sunshine Blaze had expected, and that the end had come.
A final pulse and something changed. There was a feeling rippling through the air like a shockwave, of broken stone and a primal force freed. And the sky changed from red to the old blue colour. At the zennith, the sun and moon parted ways, the moon lowering back to the horizon, and quickly sinking back beneath it. Natural order was being restored.
“This makes no sense,” Ground Rock spoke, rubbing his head, “we could feel Ulysses was winning, but now?”
“I know,” the unicorn spoke up, “he has been temporarily weakened by this primal force. Did Equestria have a way to combat Ulysses that we were not aware of?”
“I doubt it, I spoke with Twilight Sparkle a number of times, Equestria knew almost nothing of Irvest, if anything, they viewed us as barbaric. So they could not have been prepared.” Goldwing replied.
 
They all turned to their left as there was a pop. Before them stood a Draconequis, and the six bodies of the Element bearers, each in a very bad shape.
“There’s no time, we need to save them for my rather hasty plan to work.” the Draconequis stated.
“And why should we listen to you?” Ground Rock asked.
“Oh dear you do so remind me of a captain I once met. Grumpy fellow, all I ever did was try to help him. Story for another time,” the Draconequis waved its paw as if this was to be understood, “but please, if they die, then we all will die. I have just seven days to get my plan into place to buy us time.”

Applejack’s vision returned as Goldwing put her hoof back down, the mare was smiling.
“Come, it is time for you to see where we protected Twilight Sparkle, and how Ulysses managed to get her.”