//------------------------------// // The Heart of Gold // Story: The Last Keeper of Harmony // by Rammy //------------------------------// The Bearers of Harmony were in a pile around Twilight having all fallen asleep, crying. Harmony sat there debating on what to do. With the shadow demons gone Discord had left to wonder the city lost in his memories. Dawn was approaching when he decided it was time. Closing his eyes he entered into a very familiar realm. "Twilight." Harmony called and the slumped violet alicorn appeared before him. "Harmony?" Twilight answered, barely moving, whispering. "This isn't the Realm of Dreams and I'm pretty sure I'm sleeping." "Yes, you are asleep, and yes this isn't the Dream Realm. We are in the Plane of Harmony." At this Twilight looked around slowly. "That doesn't explain the reason for me being here." Harmony walked up to her and pulled her towards him with his wings. "Twilight I need you to listen to my words carefully. Can you do that?" She nodded, "Good. There was nothing you could have done to stop him." "NO! I cant I will not believe that..." Twilight choked out pulling away from Harmony. "You and Discord both held me back."   Twilight's rage rose. Jumping up she put a hoof in the other’s face, screaming in the Canterlot voice." IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT THAT HE'S GONE!!! IF YOU HADN'T COME THOSE WEEKS AGO... IF YOU HAD LET ME RUN TO HIM LAST NIGHT TO STOP HIM..." Suddenly a bucket of ice cold lemonade was dumped onto Twilight shocking her out of her rage. "Discord. Really?" Harmony sighed, facehoofing. "Sorry Harmony, but she needed it." Discord shrugged trying to not giggle at Twilight growling in anger at him. "While that is true there are better ways... What is done is done."  Harmony pulled Twilight's now shaking, wet head back to face him. He could see her blood shot... defeated eyes. Harmony himself went teary eyed. "Twilight please listen. Even if Discord and I hadn't stopped you Spike would have." Twilight seemed confused at this. "W-W-What do you mean?"  She thought on everything she knew about her little brother. My little brother... "No... No, I refuse to believe that." "Spike is a dragon and a Keeper Twilight. My guess is that between those two he was able to piece it together and without me knowing.” Harmony chuckled at that fact,” Until the last minute I might add. How really doesn't matter anyway. The fact is he knew what the Choosing would do. He. Knew. Exactly What. Would. Happen." "Why would he do it?" Twilight shook her head in disbelief. "No it can't be true he's too much of a gentle dragon to purposely cause us pain. He would have found another way." This is going to be harder than I thought. Harmony drew a deep breath. "There was no other way." Twilight burst back into tears upon hearing this anger flipping to despair. "Twilight please try to control your emotions. If you will let me finish I'm sure that you will feel better but to keep delaying it will only make your pain last longer." And mine. Harmony looked out into the void seeing that his memories from a few hours ago where being played out for which he ignored, for now. He looked down at Twilight softly stroking her mane. "You see, he knew that in order to save you all, to save his friends and family, that he would have cease to be Spike and that all of his memories would be permanently gone and become a new dragon. His sacrifice was exactly within his noble character." Harmony paused for a moment at the look of confusion coming from Twilight. "Twilight I suspect He of Hourglass gave you his Hoard Name when he crouched down to comfort you. I can probably guess what the name is by the two memories he chose to look at that gave him inspiration but I will not attempt it. When and if He of Hourglass wants to he will reveal his name to me. As you saw with Discord this dragon appears to have a different personality than Spike and while he is a gentledragon by dragon terms he is not by pony terms and he will not hesitant to kill even me if I guess his name without his permission. Remember a dragons name is part of his hoard so never reveal it to anyone who doesn't already know. It's actually best to call him He of Hourglass at all times just to be safe." Twilight went into shock her eyes going glassy. Harmony spat. "Ugh... that went sour fast... Twilight. Twilight!" Slowly the life return to her eyes. Seeing that she was still in the Plane of Harmony she blinked, hard. "Huh? What? Oh it's you Harmony." Harmony chewed his lip for a moment, "Sorry about that... Do you remember when I said if you played your cards right that Spike would be your friend?" Twilight slowly nodded. "I was wrong. Spike made sure that he would be your friend after his transformation." Twilight looked at him stupidly completely lost as to what he was referring to. Harmony's horn glowed brightly for a moment and all the memories faded but one. "Here look at the memories that Spike used as inspiration:" A knock could be heard on Spike's door. He jumped slightly quickly grabbing an object in his hands and quickly hiding them in a drawer on his desk. "Come in!" He called out fumbling to close the drawer. The door slowly opened and he gulped slightly seeing that it was Twilight. One look at her face told him that the coming conversation could ruin his plans. Twilight bit her lip and shifted her hoofs a bit in anxiety. "What is going on Twilight?" Spike spoke trying to hide his own fears. "Oh uh nothing" She lied. He knew that she was lying. She was as obvious as Applejack, at for him. "Come on Twi I have been your number one assistant since I was able to hold a quill." Twilight eyed Spike nervously avoiding looking the desk. "What are you hiding?" "Nothing Twi." "Can it, buster. What is it?" Spike sighed deeply and carefully pulled out what he was working on and sheepishly showed it to her keeping his head down. "Are these?" Twilight raised an eyebrow in shock. 'Yes Twi..." Now looking up at Twilight eyes shining, "Spotlight asked my permission months ago. I have been working on these since." "You mean?" She tilted her head. "Yes, I'm making one for both of them... Twilight you should know to trust me by now, even with Rarity." Spike looked hurt at saying this. Twilight pulled the dragon into the tightest hug he had ever been in. "Oh Spike I'm so sorry... You surely have a heart of gold to put Rarity's happiness before you own.." "Twi... Air!" "Um... Rarity?" "Yes my Spikey-wikey?" Rarity asked looked down at Spike. "I have something... Something I wish to give you and Spotlight." Spike sheepishly handed her a small gift wrapped box. Rarity raised an eyebrow wondering what it could be and why it would be for both her and Spotlight. She carefully removing the bow from the box.  Inside the box where the horn rings that Spike had been working on. "Oh Spike" Rarity teared up. Blotting her eyes with a hanky she pulled Spike into a hug, kissed his cheek, and said " You have a heart of gold my little gentle-dragon. Thank you." "A heart of gold..." Harmony softly whispered. Twilight looked at Harmony and could see something deep in his eyes. A weariness of the pain he had seen and could do nothing about. "So do you see?" Twilight sniffed a bit and stared at the memories that were replaying. Sighing in defeat she only spoke a single word. "Yes." "I will let you sleep now Twilight. Just remember Spike loved you and wanted you to live your life, happily. Don't let his sacrifice be in vain. Make sure you become friends with He of Hourglass for he, by giving you his name, has marked you as a precious treasure just as Spike did." Harmony stood just inside the grand entrance of the library. Meeting a new dragon was was an experience and fraught with danger. He had never seen a Choosing or a Hoarding before. And in the span of a single night he was experiencing both for the first time. It was so sacred that when a dragon whelp got to that stage Harmony was never allowed to get within miles of the dragon. He steeled himself then called out "He of Hourglass I come alone as a representative of my charges to ask a boon of you." A voice, clearly of a dragon, responded in kind. "Enter, brother, but do not touch anything. I'm still dealing with the Hoarding." Harmony cautiously entered the main foyer a strange glow could be seen down one of the main halls so he figured to start down that hall first. As he passed an archway and out of the main foyer and into a large circular room he went into shock. Harmony stood in awe at the sight before him. The last time his was here, in the main reference and study hall, the place had an inch of dust everywhere and many of the desks chairs and bookcases that hadn't rotten away were toppled over and broken. Now however the dust had been cleared and all the broken chairs and desks were removed and some of the bookcases were now upright. He could see stacks of books neatly piled around obstructing some of his view. "Wow!" Harmony finally breathed forgetting for a moment his manners. "A dragon’s hoard is always a sight to behold but I have only begun to get this place cleaned up so that I can properly put these books in their place." A growl of annoyance echoed around. Harmony attempted to figure out where the voice was originating so he could find the dragon in the maze of books. "That is true but I didn't expect you to get this much done so fast. Though I'm sure its the Hoarding that drives you to hurry and get it done so you can relax." The dragon grumbled. "Right you are, brother." Harmony rounded another stack of books and finally came upon who he was here to see. "Finally, I found you." The dragon was busy writing something on a roll of parchment on a desk. Harmony noticed that his breed's name sake was lazily flowing off of him casting a flickering light around. Nothing about that was odd except the amount of sparks and maybe their color. Well maybe not the color as he was never ever able to figure out that... But amount was like a river in comparison of other Spark dragons who would would only have two or three sparks flowing off of them at a time. "Of course." The dragon bluntly responded grabbing another book caressing it lovingly before writing down something on a piece of parchment. The dragon turned to see his guest. "Now let me guess, this boon you seek is some time for you and your party to rest and recuperate before taking off for I assume home?" "You are correct to a point, He of Hourglass." "Brother, we are alone, are we not? Call me Golden Heart." "I.." Harmony stammered words caught in his throat. Of all the things, he didn't expect to hear a dragon to give out his name so easily. It just wasn’t done. Golden Heart let out a hearty laugh. "You seem surprised. I'm guessing you never had a dragon give you their Hoard Name so quickly?" "Actually, you are the first dragon to ever give me their Hoard Name and I have on many occasions spent many decades getting to know a single dragon..." "I'm not an ordinary dragon, He of Harmony." Returning to his work he picked up a book and sniffed it like it where a fragrant flower. He wrote again on the parchment before looking up at Harmony again. "I see there is a burning question that you wish to ask. I too am curious. You wonder why I know you. Why I called you my brother when I should have no memories of you. I have a theory..." Golden Heart tapped his muzzle for a moment." But first, contrary to the the memory wipe at the Choosing and the imprinting of the Dragon Heritage Memories which in their very nature should have erased what I'm about to say." Golden Heart eyed the stacks of books around them for a moment before speaking. "I know of your guidance in the Choosing. Any thoughts?" Harmony had an inkling for the reason for his remembrance. "I suspect its has something to do with you being a Keeper." The direction this conversation was going chilled him, "Any guiding a Choosing was taboo. Worthy of death if I recall." "It is." Harmony had to suppress gulping and jumping in fear. A feat of supreme control as he suddenly had a dragon right in his face staring straight into his eyes. The dragon’s emerald eyes bored into Harmony as if he was looking straight into his soul. "But so is being an orphaned or unguarded egg." Harmony was nearly choking on the sulfur coming from the maw of the dragon still holding him in his hard gaze. How would he know? "Uh..." "Really?" Golden Heart back up a bit raising an eyebrow. "How does a Keeper come into being?" Not waiting for an answer the dragon turned around. Harmony breathed again, seeing that Golden Heart had turned back to the pile of books picking up another book.   "I seem to have a similar type of imprinted memories dealing with Keepers of Harmony as I do with the Dragon Heritage Memories. While I don't know everything about you I know of your great achievements..." Golden Heart suddenly growled his eyes went feral. "Enough of this! I need to finish. You may have your boon as long as you stay out of my hoard. Return in three days." Harmony needed not to be told twice and quickly exited the library. As he turned though he thought he saw that Golden Heart's wings were gone. Another oddity to add to the list he supposed.