"Girls."
"Girls."
"Girls!" Fluttershy yelled.
Finally, everyone noticed that they had company. It was Harmony. He looked worse for wear. His rainbow coat had faded to a very sickly pale white. He had visibly thinned with his ribs visible and his eyes were sunken and dark.
"You know, it's hard to sleep with all the laughter." Harmony nodded to Fluttershy in thanks.
"We're sorry. But, darling, you really shouldn't be up." Rarity apologized shocked at the poor look of Harmony.
"I'll be fine. Sleeping is not going to help anymore at this point." Harmony said dismissively. "So, exactly what was causing all this laughter?"
"Spike here thinks that Discord is a Keeper of Harmony" Rainbow replied still giggling. "Like he ever was about harmony."
Rainbow quickly stopped when she saw how serious Harmony looked. Everyone got extremely uncomfortable under the gaze of Harmony. "Discord is a Keeper of Harmony." He flatly stated.
Everyone but Spike went into shock.
“But... but... That’s impossible!” Rarity managed to stutter out.
Twilight at this point decided to stick her head into the room. "What is going on? I can hear you all the way to my bedroom." She glared at Harmony. "Harmony, what are you doing up?"
"Oh, hello Bearer of Magic. Where's Scorpan?" Harmony spoke lightheartedly, clearly ignoring Twilight's annoyance.
"He ordered me out of the lab to get some rest but then I heard all this laughter. Again, what are you doing up?" Twilight gave him a glare not letting him get around not answering.
"Sleep is beyond me at the moment..." Harmony shrugged. "And it appears I got some damage control to do."
"Damage control?" Twilight asked already the wheels turning in her head were trying to figure out what happened.
"Well it seems Spike here is spreading things that are not to be spread about nonchalantly."
Twilight glared at Spike who cowered under her stare. "And what exactly is he spreading?"
"The, and very truthful, fact that Discord is a Keeper of Harmony."
"Well that would explain some things." Twilight said thoughtfully, rubbing her chin with her hoof.
"Wait! You believe him?" Rainbow snapped hotly. "Just like that?"
A glare from both Harmony and Twilight shut Rainbow up again.
“So exactly how could Discord have anythin’ to do with harmony? Also, yah still hav’n’t told us what a ‘Keeper of Harmony’ is.”
“That is a complex, long tale. It deals with a lot of the history of this world, Equestria, and to a lesser extent Spike’s. I will at least attempt to give you the necessary major details.” Harmony coughed a bit, than settled down, for it would be a while before he would be finished and he was still quite weak.
"It's best I start from before my time. To the time of the Elder Races. The world was different back then. Other than it was more harmonious and there was virtually no evil. The world as we know of it is a result of a massive war. The cause of this war was the jealousy of a single being of the Elder Races. When the Younger Races appeared upon this world the Elder Races noticed that they had potential that would one day outshine them. This creature,” Harmony spat clearly disgusted,” This creature is known by the Alicorns as the 'Dark One' did unspeakable horrors against the Younger Races in his jealousy and pride.”
“The Elder Races attempted to stop him but were unable to do so in words so war was declared... In the final days of that war, in desperation, a spell was crafted by twenty skilled magicians from each of the twelve major Elder Races. The result of that spell was the temporary sealing of the 'Dark One' and the Keepers of Harmony."
"From then on the Elder races would slowly fade away as the Younger rose. Even though the 'Dark One' was sealed away the effects of his evil still roamed the world. A Keeper of Harmony was the answer for this. We were to fix the damage to each of the Younger Races under our charge. We also were put in charge of permanently dealing with the 'Dark One.' He was too strong at the time of his sealing to keep him imprisoned forever or to be killed for that matter. Sadly, as the Elder Races faded, his seal would weaken. The Elder races didn't want you to inherit a damaged world so the hope was that by the time that the ‘Dark One’ managed to escape that the harmony of the world would be strong enough to counteract his power, weakening him enough to finish him once and for all."
Harmony started having a coughing fit. Spike quickly ran out of the room and brought back a glass of water.
"Thank you, Spike." Harmony drank some of the water then started again.
"There was to be one Keeper per race, twelve in total. A Keeper is born of magic... a mixture of the essence of their ‘parents’. However, this can only happen when no more of that elder race could be born. For example, ten thousand years ago I was 'born.' This occurred because the final male alicorn, the uncle of Celestia and Luna, was killed. I was formed from him and his mate. She then died protecting us from what killed my ‘father’ as Celestia fled with her younger sister and me."
"That is so sad..." Pinkie Pie said crying, a pool of water around her. The others were struggling not to cry as well.
"Yes, it is. The nature of the spell makes me sterile so there is no way I can continue the alicorn race with either Celestia or Luna. Same goes for Spike.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa…” Rainbow interjected. “How would you know that Spike is uh…” Rainbow stopped the embarrassment too much for her.
“Spike, here, is a Keeper of Harmony..."
"What!!" Everypony but Spike and Twilight exclaimed in shock.
"As I figured." Spike and Twilight said together.
"I did drop enough hints that I'm not surprised you two figured that out.” Harmony shrugged.
“Yah know Ah think that would have been important enough to tell us earlier!” Applejack angrily stated getting tired of Harmony’s concealment of what she saw as important information.
“Exactly!” Rarity agreed.
Harmony rubbed his head trying to dull the screaming pain. “It wasn’t time. It should have not been revealed until after Spike’s Choosing… c'est la vie...”
“Don’t yah go all fancy on us.”
“Applejack! Let him speak!” Twilight now getting irritated at her friends.
“Thank you.” Harmony nodded in thanks to Twilight. “You must understand us Keepers are to restore the harmony to this world as absolution to the Younger races not to continue our races. To reach your potential the Elder races need to move aside to give you room to grow, to make mistakes, to become what the Elder races saw that you could become...."
Harmony paused for a moment lost in his thoughts. Shaking his head to remove the images from his head he wished not to dwell on at that moment. "Nine keepers have come and gone, killed in their duty. Three remain, as you already know Discord and I are two of them. Spike is the last Keeper of Harmony, the Dragon Keeper of Harmony. As such, along with dealing with the 'Dark One' he is also in charge of bringing the dragon races back to a harmonious existence of this world.”
“He is just a baby dragon!” Rarity stated incensed at the implication that Spike would have to deal with such, barbarians, “Why should my little Spikey Wikey get involved in such dangerous matters?”
Spike was a bit miffed at being called a baby but let it slide.
“It’s not your place to decide that.” Harmony so wanted to smack her but he had to continue, “Spike is going to be in dangerous situations no matter how much you want to protect him. Spike's harmony magic is beginning to manifest which is why darkness fell over Equestria and why we fled. The two most dangerous time for a Keeper is when they are 'born' and when they start manifesting the magic of harmony. Spike's biology adds a third time... Hatching. So..."
"Then that would..." Twilight began.
"...Explain why after a long period of rest and peace everything went sideways and that it always seemed to be centered on a backwater of Equestria: Ponyville." Harmony finished for Twilight.
"Anyway, each Keeper tended to represent a part of how harmony works. The traits of harmony that I represent are Generosity, Loyalty, Kindness, Honesty, and Joy... not Laughter."
"That is twice now that yah have said Pinkie was the Bearer of Joy and not Laughter." Applejack interjected." And while Ah on it why you keep usin' titles for us and not our names?"
"Will you let me continue? You are like a bunch of school fillies that are still too immature to know to not interrupt their teacher. Not everything is recorded correctly in history. Sometimes ponies prefer to change it to make history sound better and less ugly than it was. The reason for the change, which I did not approve, was because of Discord. His harmony trait is laughter."
"Why am ah not surprised...Ah nevah laughed at his 'jokes.'" Applejack huffed.
"Laughter is much harder than you think. Pinkie Pie remember how hard it was to befriend Cranky? What makes one laugh, another will not understand. Pinkie Pie you are always trying to make everyone happy not necessarily laugh. That is joy... although laughter can be an element of joy."
Sighing in frustration Harmony decided it was time to explain something that always irritated him.
"I never liked using the term 'Magic' to describe one of the Elements, the one that Twilight wields. To do everything that is required as the Bearer of that Element it requires a lot of strength and resolve so ponies think that strength and resolve is about strong magic ability, although it is generally the rule. However, what it really is about is something a bit harder to put in easy words... one of those five elements can be weak in one area that another would be able to help.”
“The Bearer of Magic is supposed to show the others how relationships with each other lifts everypony up. To show them how that where one is weak in one area that another could help them in that weakness because they are strong in the area of the others weakness... Gah, I'm blabbering…” Harmony facehoofed, ”Uh... its purpose is a focus, a gathering point, for the other elements. It also sort of acts like a glue that hold the rest together.... I don't think you want to be known as the 'Bearer of Glue.'"
Pinkie Pie had to stuff a hoof in her mouth to not laugh. Rainbow, however, could only wheeze. Harmony shook his head in amusement but didn't stop either one.
“Now to answer your second question Bearer of Honesty. From a young age I began to go into the dragon lands to learn the dragon culture. Why that is not for me to talk about, yet. However, it takes a lot of time and patience to learn anything from a dragon.”
”That is if you can find one that was willing to even tolerate you. By tolerate I mean accidentally insulting them... or dishonoring them... over the tiniest thing. It’s a chore just to figure out what title is proper to use just so you can address them right the first time. Those first good impressions make it so much easier to get them to not immediately try and fry you. Given the time I have spent with dragons, I tend to, out of habit, ’speak like a dragon,' hence my usage of titles."
"You don't use one with Discord or Spike..." Twilight countered.
"Spike has neither territory nor hoard. Plus, he's not an adult so different rules apply there. As for Discord, he never follows rules anyway... Gah! Where was I?" Harmony rubbed his aching head for a moment.
"Oh, yes, learning dragon culture! There are tons of ritualistic rules that the dragon races have for nearly every interaction. Nearly all dragons, if they decide to interact with a non dragon, will act as if everyone should know all the rules. So it's sooo easy to dishonor them and when you dishonor them..." Harmony paused for a moment, glazing over for a minute, lost in his thoughts.
"Remember He of Everfree attacking Spike over something as eating a very tiny amount of gems? That was extremely tame for a dragon. That is why there isn't much knowledge on dragon outside the various races."
“This is all fascinating and all but it’s not explaining Discord’s disharmonious actions.” Rarity stated.
"Ever wonder why Equestria is known as a Kingdom but as no ruling King or Queen? Princesses Celestia and Luna are not technically the rulers of Equestria." Harmony asked completely taking the conversation on a different direction.
"If not them, then who?" Twilight asked, confused.
“An’ what does this have to do with Discord?” Applejack snapped getting annoyed.
"It has to do with why Celestia and Luna ‘disposed’ him from his ‘ruling’ of Equestria and being imprisoned stone."
“As to the answer of your question, Bearer of Magic, I am the king of Equestria.”
"What!?!" Everyone yelled in unison.
"Yes, I am the King of Equestria. I won't go into details about how I became King of Equestria, that isn't important... You know, I should give you some of my journals dealing with that...but I digress. I was 'given' the Kingship about four thousand years ago give or take a few centuries.
“It was I that personally crowned Celestia and Luna as Princesses. They rule in my name. When you solved Starswirl's unfinished spell you appeared in the Plane of Harmony. I was the one that had you take all those tests before you were crowned a princess and became an ascended alicorn. The completing of the spell and finding the Crystal Heart both of those were by my direction."
"What about Candace?" Twilight asked.
"Not necessary for you to know her story."
"Now I seemed to have gone down a rabbit trail. However down a trail I need to go on. For as long as I have known him Discord has always had a fascination with ponies. I think maybe it was because I was the only Keeper who would tolerate his antics. This was probably because of my travels to the dragon lands.”
“Wait how is going into the dragons lands have to do with Discord?” Twilight asked her desire to know everything getting in the way of Harmony speaking.
“Do you mind!?!” Harmony nearly yelled.
“Sorry.” Twilight meeped trying to make herself small.
“Going into the Dragon lands was dangerous, and I was out of Equestria for several decades at a time. I usually left Discord in charge until I would return. I would stay in Equestria for a few decades before I would leave again. This pattern went on for about seven hundred years before I would leave for an extended time of nearly six hundred years. After that I would come and go at random intervals."
"Discord was a very popular ruler, at least for the commoners, the self proclaimed ’nobility’ did not and I can think you can all guess why. It was during one of my numerous trips to the dragon lands that something terrible happened. In his grief Discord lost all sense of himself. This occurred about fourteen hundred years ago."
"It took some time but Celestia and Luna were able to send word to me that Discord had gone mad and was causing disharmony. It was then that I revealed the purpose of the Tree of Harmony. They knew of the purpose of the Keepers what they didn't know was I created the Tree to allow ponies to bring harmony to themselves so that they were not dependent on me. I didn't want the harmony of the pony races to ever rely solely on one pony. Harmony is much stronger when those who want it work to achieve it themselves and not from some outside source. So I had them use the Elements against him placing him in stone."
"It wasn't until I had read how the Bearer of Kindness dealt with Smokey that I found a way to pull Discord out of his madness. Of course a bunch of fighting fillies prematurely weaken his prison so he escaped. I needed him to be released by you girls in order to get through his madness. Once I arrived back in Equestria I had Celestia bring him to Ponyville to, hopefully, be brought back to his 'right' mind. It worked. He had, however, to relearn what it meant to have friends and to be a friend again which is why Tirek was able to trick him. My only regret with Discord was that I was not there to help him and that it took me nearly fifteen hundred years to figure out a way to help him."
Harmony stopped, tears running down his muzzle. Fluttershy went up and hugged him gently. After a few moments the sobbing ceased. Taking a few breaths Harmony continued his story.
"Anyway, after Discord was placed in his stone... timeout... Equestria was attacked again. This time it was Luna... Over time she had gotten depressed over her incorrect thinking that she was unneeded, unloved just because ponies slept at night. She said nothing to her sister. If she had I'm sure Celestia would have shown her the error but sadly she did not. As her brooding got worst it opened her up to the influence of a Nightmare. Unfortunately Celestia didn't see the signs before it was too late... She has always had troubles with subtle dangers. The first Changeling invasion is a more recent example of this flaw."
"Celestia had hoped that she could stop Luna using the same method that they both used against Discord. The problem with that is that the Elements are never to be used by one pony, alone. That is why Luna was trapped on the Moon instead of what happened when she returned and you freed her. As for why Discord was placed in stone and not cured by the Elements was that unlike the Nightmare that possessed Luna Discord had his mind broken by tragedy. You can't fix something like that with a quick fix like the harmony 'rainbow.' Even after being freed it took time for Luna to recover from her pain. As did Discord."
"It was the night of Luna's banishment that I returned after a long time on one of my excursions although this time it wasn't the Dragon Lands that I came from. No need to know where you just need to know that I didn't return alone. I returned with Spike's egg. It was then that I trusted Spike to Celestia. As you already know that I had given up my harmony magic by that time. I also had suffered from Pony Magic Wasting Disease further weakening me so I knew that I couldn't muster the amount of raw magic necessary to hatch it."
"I revealed to Celestia that the next Bearer of Magic would be able to hatch Spike and that her mistake with Luna would be fixed by the new Bearers of Harmony. You see by what she did that night her magic now was spread thin by now having to deal with both day and night.”
“What about the elements?” Couldn’t they have been used to hatch Spike?” Twilight asked hoping that this interruption would not get Harmony angry.
“Besides the fact that Celestia could no longer wield them? Harmony magic doesn’t work like that. That is why Celestia had the hatching of Spike's egg as the entrance exam.”
“She also had you knew that you would need to go to Ponyville all those years ago to 'make friends.' What she did the night of Luna banishment was the greatest mistake she has ever made. If she wasn't so repentant for what she did she would have been stripped of more than just being a Bearer."
Harmony raised a hoof to stop Twilight from speaking, "When I had the Princesses use the Elements of Harmony against Discord I did it with careful thought on whether it was the right action or not. Celestia however reacted without thinking which is easy when you are emotionally involved... she disrupted the harmony of Equestria that night almost to the point of no return. You don't just willy-nilly banish the guardian of the Moon that is under the influence of a demon that should have been exorcised. If she had held off Nightmare Moon but a few more hours I would have bore the Elements that Luna once held along with Celestia bearing her own. If she had done that Luna would have been cured that night. Spike also would have been hatched that night. Two ponies wouldn't have suffered for a millennia."
Harmony paused for a moment taking a few cleansing breaths. Muttering mostly to himself but nonetheless heard by all. "So many regrets and lost opportunities..."
"What was the cause of Discord madness... I mean I know you said it was caused by a tragedy but what was it?" Fluttershy asked worried about her friend.
"You will have to ask Discord that."
Rainbow Dash jumped up and was about to gallop out the door to find Discord when Harmony moved in front of the door to block the path out. Harmony shook his head in disappointment. Rainbow unhappily looked straight at Harmony ready to move him forcibly.
"Hold it. I don't think you realize how much you hurt him when you laughed about his Keeper status. He stopped referring to himself as a Keeper because of actions like those that was displayed here tonight. You are going to have to wait until he is ready to tell that tale." He turned to address Fluttershy, "I think as his friend you will know when he is ready. Don't panic about how you will know when he will be ready you will know in your heart when he is ready."
Everyone then hung their heads, ashamed of their actions. Silence crept over the room as Harmony took a look at each pony and dragon in turn. Seeing that they were all in states of sorrowfulness he nodded his approval yawning heavily.
"I'm heading off to bed. Later, Bearer of Magic, I would like to see what you two are up to in the lab." Yawning some more Harmony walked off back into the den leaving the rest to dwell on what Harmony had revealed to them.