Harmony blinked against the brightness. Sometimes he wished that Celestia could turn it down. Not much he could do about it now. He just pushed through his discomfort as he ascended into the sky to head over to see how Garble was doing. Most likely he was still unconscious, but he still needed to check to see if there was any lingering effects from the dark magic.
Along the way he slipped into deep thought. The pilling of one unfixable problem after another was beginning to annoy him. He had no idea how to fix the defenses, no idea how to fix the low amount of allies they had, no idea how long he could hold out with the resurgence of the disease. A dragon could hold off for a while but… but one dragon alone would not be enough... He would help but given the reacceleration of his condition. He was not sure if he could get the necessary help to cure himself and really didn't want to get his hopes up. Unfixable: a word he was beginning to really hate.
The sound of hooves on the pavement awoken him from his musing. He grimaced, angry that he was, again, doing that while flying. A chill climbed up his back. He glanced around making sure no one was around before entering. A dragon, especially a spark dragon, was more then enough to protect Hourglass from most threats and intrusions, at least for the moment. Still, why was it that he felt like he was being watched?
Harmony carefully closed the door behind him. Fluttershy was the only one in the house at the moment. Twilight must have left to get some rest or to fetch something. Knowing her probably a book, or two, or six. Harmony understood the thirst for knowledge but that mare was going to knowledge herself to death one of these days and without Spike to rein her in.
Spike...
“Harmony!” Fluttershy ran right up to him and started, quite rudely, examining Harmony for any injuries. Harmony was taken aback by her. Luckily his surprise masked his souring mood. Last thing he wanted was to get the what’s wrong line of interrogation. He twitched a bit as she went about checking in areas he would rather she didn’t. “We were so worried when you fainted after neutralizing that dark magic. Are you feeling better?”
“Much better thank you Bearer of Kindness.” He was glad she finally stopped her prodding. He wasn’t here for some yearly physical exam. There was a more pressing matter at hand. “How is Garble?”
“His wounds are healing up nicely but he his still unconscious.”
“No surprise there,” He carefully took a look at the sleeping dragon. His breathing slow and steady. All of the bandages seemed clean and the smokiness was no where in sight. He carefully cast a minor spell to check the progress of his healing. ”I doubt he will awake until his wounds are nearly healed. Judging by what I can see it will be in the next day or so. No lingering dark magic I hope?”
“None that Twilight could find.”
At that point the door opened and aTwilight holding a stack of books slowly entered, a worried scowl upon her face.
“Ah, Bearer of Magic, good you are here.” Apparently she was not expecting Harmony as the books she had dropped loudly to the floor. Harmony and Fluttershy slightly cringed at the sound but Garble seemed to not be disturbed so they both relaxed. “You will need to be with Garble at all times with Fluttershy unless I am here from now on. He should awaken in the next few days and I imagine he will lash out in his disorientation...”
“Of.. of course…” Twilight shakily responded.
“What has gotten you shook up? I doubt its just the books.”
“Thhe Spiral Ssspire… its… missing!”
Huh? Harmony blinked for a moment trying to understand what she just said. The Spiral Spire missing!?! Once his brain started to function again he followed Twilight out the door.
“See? I would go investigate myself but I didn’t want to leave Fluttershy alone for too long. I thought at first it just fell over…”
Harmony look off in the direction of where the spire should be. He ignored Twilight ramblings over the the theories of why it could have disappeared. He could plainly see it was still there. It was hidden behind an basic illusion spell. A basic dragon spell from what he could see. No surprised as to why Twilight didn’t see it. She was not familiar with dragon spells. He of Hourglass was playing a dangerous game with her and one that he would lose. The bigger question, however, was why would he mask Spiral Spire?
“…“ Twilight suddenly noticed that Harmony was not only not listening but was heading off in the direction of the missing spire. “Harmony where are you going?” Twilight called out after the now galloping alicorn
“To see He of Hourglass,” Harmony yelled back not slowing done in the least. “Stay with Garble!”
Questions ran through his mind as he ran off toward the center of the ruined city. Garble had yet to waken so he had no news on that front. It could be about the defenses, but he doubted that.
It was possible that Golden Heart was beginning to tire of everyone so close to his hoard and within his territory. Hidden Claw and especially River Guardian never minded it too much. Harmony wouldn’t have allowed them to be within Equestria otherwise. Normally a dragon wouldn’t share a territory with another unless they benefitted from having each other within the same area.
Even though he wasn’t a dragon he did heed their codes. Luckily they were both meat eaters and between the two of them they kept the predators in check. He didn’t think the ponies of Ponyville would want to know that the only reason that Ponyville was allowed to be settled was because two dragons resided in the nearby forest to keep them safe, relatively speaking.
Suddenly he found himself next the the Spiral Spire. Not again! Harmony grumbled. The only consolation was he wasn’t flying this time. It still was dangerous to zone out like that. He put that aside for now as he walked up to the library doors.
“He of Hourglass. I have come as you requested. May I enter?”
“Of course, He of Harmony.” Interesting... he has dropped the don’t touch my hoard part...
Harmony went straight down the center hall and into the center of the dragon’s hoard. “You do realize that you could have gotten the Bearer of Magic. She is quite inquisitive. I’m sure given enough time she would have figured out the truth.”
“I didn’t have an anchor.” Golden Heart merely shrugged.
“Fair enough. So what is it that you need me for?”
“I have questions I wish to be answered.” Golden Heart cross his arms in finality.
Harmony inwardly groaned, seeing that denying him the answers he would be seeking would be folly. He could force him into a Challenge but Golden Heart was a Keeper and a dear friend to him. Hopefully whatever the questions would be he wouldn’t be forced to issue one.
“How do you stand him?”
Harmony blinked. “Well that was somewhat unexpected… You talked to Discord didn’t you?” He realized where this was going and why the dragon wanted to ask him questions. Golden Heart must be wearing out... looks like it will soon be time to leave with the Bearers..., “Its quite a simple answer: with kindness.”
Golden Heart facepalmed which only got Harmony to laugh hard at his failure at letting a very simple, obvious, and to the point answer not get to him.
“So exactly what is your sixth element really suppose to represent?”
The alicorn’s expression fell at that. Well that too was unexpected… Why this question? The first question,sure. He had tried asking Discord first. It was of course odd because dragons usually don’t go through secondary sources for information. A dragon would use a direct approach. He was missing something, some key point for why the round about way.
“I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Discord ended up making whatever you asked him into some elaborate puzzle. He is always doing that…you should listen though, sometimes what he says should be taken seriously. Though I will be honest, it can be hard to recognize when he is speaking gibberish or when he is speaking truth.”
Harmony puffed upward as if to blow a stand of mane away from his eyes. “Sadly, I don’t know what the element represents either...extremely odd I can assure you. I don’t know how much the Keeper or Dragon Heritage memories gave you on ponies (Given the topic most likely Keeper). I will tried to explain how cutie-marks work as best as I can. It will be need if you wish to solved the mystery.”
“How is this ‘Cutie-mark’ tied to the element?”
“Good question. Pony magic, talent, and destiny is tied to their cutie-mark. When a pony discovers his or her talent their cutie-mark manifests. The cutie-mark represents not only their talent but their destiny. Some destinies are not readily known the more complex or abstract the mark is. Their names also tie into what their cutie-mark will be. This is something that we never tell foals about. Revealing that can affect them in ways that can be dangerous… similar but not the same has guiding a dragon’s Hoard Name.”
Harmony could see the question forming on the dragon lips so he raised a hoof to stop him. “I know, I know. How can a pony’s name and a dragon’s Hoard Name be similar? Ponies are almost always named in a way that reflects the pony being named. It can be one or a combination of their talent, destiny, and in some cases their personality… but always tied some way to their cutie-mark. Circular in nature…”
“As I have been told, a dragon chooses a name the reflect their very being, what they value, the thing they treasure. It becomes in a way a destiny. Like a dragon about to Chose pony parents are very careful about naming their foals. The magic of our races require that. No other race has that issue. On that matter, yours and mine names are very similar…”
Golden Heart scoffed at that. “And how would you know that? You can’t speak draconian and wouldn’t understand the meanings that draconian names carry… Unless some other dragon translated then explained it. Which would means you would have stolen from my hoard. You are too honorable to do that.“
“True, true,” Harmony conceded, “I can neither speak nor understand Draconian, but you said it yourself… You knew of my guidance in your Choosing so one can assume that I would have an understanding why you Chose Golden Heart. Plus, I was there along with my bearers and Discord so one can reason that we knew of you at least nominally before your... ‘rebirth’. I am also aware that the word ‘golden’ in equestrian has numerous meanings in draconian.”
“It is interesting we are talking about gold.” Harmony conjured up a projection of his now absent cutie-mark. “This is what my cutie-mark looked like. The reason you can’t see it now has to do with putting my harmony magic into the Elements. Because a cutie-mark is tied to one magically losing one’s magic can cause the mark to disappear.”
“My cutie-mark is quite complex so I’ll break it down a bit.” Harmony removed everything but the golden compass. “The compass has several meanings not only does it mean that I give direction when other need it but also tells of my wandering nature. Compasses (at least working ones) always points in a fix direction. A key you will need to understand in a bit.”
The alicron added five hexagon shaped gems around the edge. “Five of the Elements circle the outside of the compass so you see that I point others to those traits. However the next element is what points to them..”
Golden Heart had a lot to dwell on but he had one last question. One that he thought might give him the insight he needed on Harmony. “What do you hoard?”
Harmony was a bit taken aback by that. He had heard similar questions like that before but he was not expecting to hear it from Golden Heart. “I’m not a dragon, you know that. You also know that non dragons don’t hoard.”
“Wrong. You hoard.” He was going to press the issue to the point of a Challenge if he must. He knew from He of Laughter the time that He of Harmony spent with dragons. One would and could not do that unless they were willing to practice at least some of the culture and follow the dragon codes. There would be no other way he could think of to get dragons to accept him.
“Fine.” Harmony irritably agreed. What is the deal with this line of questioning! Time to gamble to see if I need to Challenge, “Why should I tell you?”
“I need to understand.”
Harmony again was completely taken aback… to understand? Golden Heart never ceased to amaze him. He really shouldn’t be, but still, “Why?”
Golden Heart merely shook his head chuckling in amusement of seeing Harmony stuck.
“You know for a Keeper of Harmony…”
Harmony lost whatever he was really saying as suddenly Golden Heart’s voice shifted to Spike’s and heard, “...you are sure lacking that right now.”
Harmony lost all color in his face his knees buckled then collapsed. He couldn't believe what he just heard. The word that had been haunting him since that night over a month ago echoed within his mind.
Murderer...
“He of Harmony!” What happened? Golden Heart knelt down to get a better look at the alicorn. He lifted up Harmony limp head. His eyes had glazed over. “You are in pain. I can see that…” A sudden realization came over the dragon. He had seen this before, “A pain... I have seen only one other time…”
“… At your Choosing…” Harmony finished for him weakly. His flowing color slowed to a near stand still.
“Yes.” The dragon had a feeling that Harmony would know exactly the pain he was talking about as the alicorn was there when it happened. So he wasn't surprised. Still, he needed to stop the alicorn from blurting out anything else about that night or he might reveal things prior to that accidently or on purpose. “He of Harmony be careful you know what can happen if you try and bring back the dead.”
“I know…” Harmony’s color began to fade ever so slightly but the dragon did not recognize the signs.
I see it now… I get it… that has to be the reason for me giving my name to them both. I’m sure of it. As I had written in my journals I could not let the pain of Twilight Sparkle to continue. A brokenness within her that tore at my very being and by my name it restored her though not completely… The last time I saw her the brokenness was still there but fading. But his pain… his pain is more then my name can fix. If anything his brokenness is increasing… Why? ‘The Alicron Keeper is not in harmony’ the Council said. He of Laughter thinks it has something to do with his sixth Element. But I think its more then that… As Keeper I need to fix this broken harmony but I am at a loss as to what to do.
Golden Heart looked upwards through the nearby window towards the setting sun. Soon the only light would be from his magic sparks. He looked down at the sparks that were flowing off of him. It was like watching sparks that floated away from a fire. The fire that was his magic...
At that moment something else occurred to him. He of Harmony had Magic Wasting Disease… and at the stage he was in… He quickly turned to see that the alicorn was struggling to remain conscious. But under that he could feel that He of Harmony’s mana field was fluctuating.
Oh no you don’t. Not on my watch and not while I still can do something! He couldn't do anything about the fluctuating mana field but the least he could do was stop him from fainting. Golden Heart carefully pinched a spark between two claws. Without a word he held it out for Harmony to see. Harmony stared at the spark, confused. Golden Heart then let go of the spark and it slow drifted unbidden towards the weakening alicorn. On instinct Harmony pulled back from the approaching spark. Golden Heart put a reassuring smile on to ease the alicorn’s concern. At that Harmony relaxed as the spark continued to drift towards him. It came to rest on the tip of his muzzle before disappearing.
Harmony sneezed. He could see Golden Heart was struggling to hold back laughter. Harmony chuckled at the amusing look which set the dragon over the edge and into full blown laughter. Strangely he could tell that the coming fainting caused by the wasting disease had stopped. Apparently Golden Heart had cast a minor healing spell. Not that it would stop the progression but at least it would stop him from fainting.