“Oh buck it.” Harmony cursed throwing the gem he was examining in frustration.
Again he could find nothing wrong with any of the control gems, and none of the power gems were burnt out missing or cracked. He was getting nowhere fast. He wasn’t ready to get Twilight yet. He wasn’t sure how helpful she would be anyway as the machinery was at least a couple centuries ahead of Equestria. For that matter the vortex of energies make the system he was examining only possible here.
There was no manual that he could find. He had checked the secret archives at the council building six times. There wasn’t any record on who built or designed the defense system. A hint had to be somewhere as the machinery was too complex to not have a set of blueprints or a manual.
Harmony sighed heavily. Neither thinking nor staying here was going to help. The only other place that might have some answers would be at the library. It had been a month since the Choosing meaning that it should be safe enough to ask him for help. Not that seeing him the night and three days after were all that safe. He just knew that it was going be one of those days.
Golden Heart narrowed his eyes dangerously, “You need a manual for Hourglass’ defense system… a manual for the defense system!?”
Harmony’s mouth went dry thankfully for he was sure he would have gulped otherwise. He really didn’t want to hear the double phrasing. Something told him that the dragon thought that he had somehow failed in his duty in protecting his hoard. A sore spot for all dragons but Harmony knew there was something deeper than that. Knowing how Spike was like Golden Heart could possibly have similar issues. He had no more time to think on the matter before he saw a claw swipe coming at him.
Harmony quickly jumped back opening his wings in a threatening manner. Golden Heart lunged forward snapping his jaws barely missing the alicorn as he slid to the side.
“It has nothing to do with your inability to protect Hourglass.” Harmony growled through gritted teeth. Come on...Give me an opening...
Golden Heart did not seem to waver at this as he swung his spade tail missing Harmony’s head by inches as he ducked down. The alicorn continued to duck downward transitioning to a roll. As he came out along the dragon’s side he used his magic on the floor causing it to rock. The motion knocked Golden Heart off his two feet and onto four. Harmony took advantage of this and jumped on top of him causing his legs to completely give out.
Harmony magically increased his weight to make it easier to keep the dragon down. Golden Heart stopped struggling momentarily. Harmony took the opportunity to whisper into his ear frills. “It has everything to do with its defenses failing before your arrival. You know as well as I do the significance of Hourglass and there are things here that if found by the wrong people could cause us more problems than we can handle right now. You are my brother, Golden Heart. I wish not to fight you nor would I ever imply your inability to protect your hoard.”
At that Harmony released Golden Heart confident he got his point across. He was kind of glad that the fight was in the library stopping the use of fire. That alone would have lengthen the fight and would most likely increased the chance of collateral damage.
Golden Heart stiffly got up popping a few joints. The dragon eyed Harmony very hard before the feralness of his eyes lessened back to normal. Smoke puffed out as he grumbled angrily. Harmony caught something in his eye before he turned around to clearly sulk on his gem pile. “Very well take a look. If you find something that may be of help let me know so I know which book you are borrowing.”
Interesting… he is treating his hoard like any librarian would. Also...I wonder… Harmony thought trying to get his head around this dragon. He will dwell on this later he had more pressing matter to attend to.
Golden Heart shifted on his pile snapping Harmony out of his train of thought and out of the coming headache. Taking the dragons ‘subtle’ hint as his cue to leave he moved out of the room and back into the main foyer. His answers would be elsewhere in the library. Golden Heart’s “bed” was located in the main reference and study hall. Most of the books in there would be encyclopedic in nature. He need to find the history and nonfiction sections. With any luck he could find clues that he needed.
The problem was there were two other halls and he couldn’t remember which one was the correct direction. Taking a guess that the hall to the right was correct he began down that hall. The hallway was not yet restored or cleaned yet as he could see dust covering everything and the plaster on the wall was chipping off. He walked in silence for a few moments before he got to the end. The doors at the end were half of its hinges. Rotten pieces of the wood littered the floor leaving gaps in the door.
Well he hasn’t gotten to this section… yet. Harmony thought has he stepped through the shattered doors.
He could see that it look very much like it was the last time he was here nearly two hundred years ago and to a lesser extend a month ago in the Golden Heart’s... whatever that would be called… This was going to take time. Time that was running out. He need to get the defense system running again before taking the Bearers back to Equestria.
“Again, nothing!” Harmony was tempted to throw the book he was skimming but knew better. He had been browsing this section of the library for days and was not getting anywhere fast. He was in the history and nonfiction section that much he figured out within moments of entering. That was good and all if it wasn’t for the problem of not knowing exactly how it was organized. It also didn’t help that not all of the bookshelves were intact and with books and scrolls still in place.
“May I make a suggestion?”
Harmony nearly jumped out of his skin at the voice. Turning quickly he saw Golden Heart standing nearby with a bemused look on his scaly snout. “He of Hourglass! I...I did not hear you approach.”
“Obviously.” He crossed his arms.
Harmony was not sure what to make of this. “Am I disturbing you, He of Hourglass?”
Golden Heart facepalmed rubbing the brow of his snout for a moment while correcting, “Golden Heart. He of Harmony. Golden Heart.”
“Of course, Golden Heart.” Harmony had to fight the urge to flatten his ears. This dragon was causing him to revert to equine instincts. He really didn’t want to dwell on the most likely reason for it.
“As for your question, you are not disturbing me. As for my suggestion, I think you should have your Bearer of Magic help you.”
Harmony was taken aback from that suggestion. How would he know that Twilight could be helpful? On that matter it brought him back to the night of the Choosing. He was missing something but he knew not what it could be.
Golden Heart seemed to know what was going through Harmony mind as he continued with a small smile forming,” It’s my business to know what goes on in Hourglass. Your Bearer of Magic seems to have a fascination with books. Every time she explores a ruin she brings out books. Just books. Now I don’t know her occupation but I suspect that she is a teacher, scholar, or a librarian.
“Part time librarian and scholar.” Harmony chuckled slightly blushing.
Golden Heart’s smile only widened at that. “Then she might be of some use to this project.”
Harmony thought for awhile weighing his options, the pro and cons of getting her involved. Seeing nothing wrong with his suggestion and since he was running out of ideas he reluctantly agreed. “Okay, Golden Heart, I will go get her.”
“She was in the northeast residential district last I saw her.” Golden Heart smirked when he caught Harmony’s expression.
Harmony caught himself once he noticed Golden Heart hiding a smile which only seem to increase in reaction. “Uh. Thanks, Golden Heart, that will speed up the search.”
He didn’t need Golden Heart to tell him where she was. Given that she was wearing the Element of Magic it would be easy to latch on to its unique magical signature. But he knew that the dragon needed to feel useful.
Useful… He thought. A tingling sensation went down his spine. Harmony not wanting to give away anything on what he was feeling so he quickly exited the library.
He cast the tracking spell and wait a moment for it to hone in on the Element of Magic’s signature. In a moment he could feel the faint trail coming from the Element. Golden Heart was right she was in the northwest district. Not wanting to deal with the maze of streets and dead ends caused by collapsed buildings and deep sink holes he took off flying.
After rising a few hundred feet into the air he began to head in the direction of the signal. Something ahead caught his eye and he turn a bit to a better view. He shook his head in amusement once he saw that it was a cyan pegusus with a rainbow mane and tail snoozing on a cloud below him. He banked back a bit to avoid waking her with his shadow.
The trail grew stronger as he reached the edge between the step pyramids buildings and the lowly squarish buildings that would have been mostly residential dwellings. At this point he dived downward to land to finish the search from the ground.
At that very moment Twilight was preparing to leave another home. Her search was not very fruitful that day. In the past six buildings she searched all she found was decaying remnants of books that she previously found. She was trying to find books that would help her figure out the languages of the people who once inhabited the city. She was well verse in ancient languages given her long studies on magic but the scripts here must be older or this civilization never traded much with ancient Equestria.
So far though she had discovered up to four distinctive written scripts that could be a language she knew or maybe they were ones not known she wasn’t sure. Discord and Harmony probably could help but both have been MIA for a month now. The library could possibly have what she needed but Harmony’s warning was enough for her to avoid the public library and try and find the answers in private libraries.
She grumbled in frustration before stepping outside and slamming into something. Stumbling backwards she lost her balance and fell onto her haunches.
“Oops, sorry there Bearer of Magic.”
Twilight's head was swimming too much to understand who was speaking but she did managed to squeak out a response,” It’s okay I wasn’t really paying attention.” At that point she shook her head to clear the remaining fuzziness and looked up to see that is was the rainbow alicorn Harmony. “Uh it’s you Harmony…We haven't seen you in nearly a month.”
“Not surprising given that I have been in a bunker trying to find out how shadow demons managed to invade Hourglass.”
“We are in the middle of the ruins of a fallen civilization.” Twilight stated what she thought was obvious.
“Ruins, yes. Fallen civilization, yes. Without defenses to protect its secrets, no. I didn’t just pick Hourglass because of its isolated location. Hourglass has a very sophisticated defense system that should have repelled most of the shadow demons.”
“Oh.”
“Come. He of Hourglass has suggested that I recruit you as fresh eyes and magic to see if you can help me find out why a functioning system failed.”
Harmony lead her back to the center of the city. She stared at the library for a while before Harmony brought her back. He knew what she was thinking but now wasn’t the time for that.
Once he got her attention he warned her not to reveal anything she was about to see. After she agreed he lead her into the council building through a side door. They began walking down a series of hallways and secret doors. She tried to keep track of the route but she got lost after the fifth secret panel.
Harmony raised an eyebrow at seeing Golden Heart standing there waiting. He didn’t think Golden Heart would be that interested in what would amount to be boring troubleshooting. Not only that but how did he find his way into the secret bunker. He inwardly shrugged not really in the best of moods for dwelling on oddities knowing how Twilight dealt with such problems: lists.
“Okay let’s start with the basic gem machinery troubleshooting.”
Harmony rolled his eyes glad that Twilight couldn’t see his expression. Golden Heart could and show off his fangs. Harmony raise an eyebrow at this but said nothing before turning to face Twilight. “Wouldn’t hurt.”
Pulling out a roll of parchment, ink, and a quill from her saddlebag she started writing a list. Harmony rolled his eyes a second time but waited nonetheless. Both keepers waited patiently for the next few minutes as she scribbled and muttered as she went over the list at least three times.
Eying the list a final time she nodded happily. “Okay ready. Let’s begin with the power gems.”
Harmony pulled a large panel underneath the control table revealing an assortment of glowing crystals.
“Wait stop. How did you know those are the power gems?”
“Well besides the fact that I studied this equipment for weeks? I have been to Hourglass many times in the past and don’t think I didn’t take a look at this then.” Having finished his inspection he replaced the panel, “Of course, it was working the last time…”
“No cracks or burnt out gems.”
“Okay, is power reaching the control table?” Twilight checked off cracked power gems and burnout power gems from her list.
Harmony slid under the table and started examining the wires with his magic. Twilight knew this part would take a bit so she turned to take a look at Golden Heart. The loss of Spike was still fresh in her mind but she also knew that he wasn’t completely gone with Golden Heart. The problem was she hardly knew him. Besides the night of the Choosing and the visit three days later she never got a chance to see how much Spike was within him.
Golden Heart seemed to notice that she was watching him instead of Harmony as he spoke,” Ascended One, is there something you need to speak to me about?”
“Uh…” Twilight mumbled not sure what to say or if she could safely speak without flubbing. She started and stopped several times before completely stopping.
From underneath the table came the slightly muffled voice of Harmony, “Bearer of Magic it’s not wise to not answer a dragon when they pose a question.”
Twilight paled visibly which was remarkable as the room they were in was darkened. The only light coming from the soft glow of control gems and the ever flowing sparks from Golden Heart both of which was not adequate to see much. Her blood went cold and she started to shiver. Golden Heart reached out and carefully ran his claws through her mane to try and calm her.
“Please relax. I will not harm you.” He lowered his voice to a whisper and looked around in a exaggerated conspiratorial way, “He of Harmony is just jealous that you are allowed to be more slack in manners than normal.”
“I heard that He of Hourglass.” Harmony chuckled pulling himself out from under the table.
Golden Heart shrugged winking at Twilight who stifled a giggle with her hoof. Harmony facehoofed, groaning. He stood up and dusted himself off waiting for Twilight to calm down.
“Well all the wires are still properly connected. Also there are no short circuits or crossed wires.”
For the next hour Twilight would list a possible problem area and Harmony would check finding everything in working order. While Golden Heart remained calm through it all Harmony only got more frustrated.
Harmony closed another panel before turning to Twilight. His frustrated leaked through as he stated, “Like before I can’t find anything wrong with the equipment.”
“Maybe all it needs is recalibration.”
“Quite possible, but I have no idea how to do that… I…” Harmony was cut off by a very angry, feral growl coming from Golden Heart.
“Uh…” Twilight stammered out noticing the reddening sparks coming off of Golden Heart.
Seeing the signs he whispered softly, “Bearer of Magic something is approaching Hourglass.”
Twilight shook a bit in fear but had the nerve to actually ask the question. “And how would he know?”
“Because, Ascended One, a dragon’s magic can detect when an intruder approaches or breaches the border of its territory.” Golden Heart now responded still growling.
“The rock from before?” Twilight mused looking at Harmony.
Golden Heart had no idea what she was talking about so he assumed that Harmony would understand. Harmony, however, was also lost. Twilight facehoofed.
“Huh?” Harmony finally responded even if he was still lost. Twilight gave him a Really? look. His expression lightened as he suddenly remembered. “Oh, yes, exactly.”
Golden Heart didn’t wait any longer and waltz out of the control room. Harmony ran after him with Twilight taking the rear.
“Bearer of Magic gather the other Bearers I don’t want them wandering around with a possible threat.” Harmony called back as he turned a corner.
“What of Discord?” Twilight asked nearly tripping over some debris in the darkened corridor as the red light from Golden Heart made it difficult to see much.
“One, he can take care of himself. Two he knows the city very well as he grew up here. Three, he is also a Keeper.” Harmony responded while slamming a door ahead open so fast as to bust it off its hinges. Golden Heart didn’t slow down and shoved the broken pieces aside in his rush.
Stepping through Twilight noticed that they were in what appeared to be a back entrance to possibly the council’s main chambers. Golden Heart jumped down from the raised council bench. Cracks formed from where he had landed. Harmony and Twilight followed close behind gliding down using their wings. The dragon pushed opened the ornate doors and rushed through the main lobby.
“Bring them to the Spiral Spire.” Golden Heart commanded as green nearly transparent wings shimmered into existence on his back.
“Why there?” Twilight asked Harmony as Golden Heart had already taken off.
Harmony facehoofed. “Central location, less buildings to be blown up on top of you. Now GO!” With that Harmony flung Twilight into the air with his magic.