//------------------------------// // The Trials of Soul Fire // Story: Dragons of Hourglass // by Rammy //------------------------------// “Any luck finding He of Hourglass?” A voice called out in the darkness. I am right here… “No… He just had to disappear right after he Chose…” Come on… “Well, it was the Plane of Harmony… It appears that He of Harmony is beginning to stir. At least I think it’s him, but his fur and horn have changed coloration. Might have something to do with his cutiemark.” I... well, actually, I should probably keep that title… for now. He slowly opened his eyes. The pain from the sudden brightness almost made him want to close them again. All around him was the blurry shapes of his clanmates. A red claw appeared and he took it. “Thank you, Metal Claws.” His voice sounded strange to him. Of course, he never was able to speak before today. Soul Fire blinked a few times to aid in ridding his eyes of its blurriness. When that didn’t work he rubbed his eyes with his foreleg which also felt strange. A glance at his foreleg told him that it was a pony’s leg. His eyes went wide. Okay… remain calm... “Outsider, are you…” Metal Claws stopped when he heard a draconic growl from Soul Fire. This was not like the He of Harmony he knew. “Do not call me that.” Soul Fire snapped up at him showing off his sharp teeth. How dare he… Calm down, he thinks you are Harmonious Knight. “He of Harmony? Are you okay?” Metal Claw’s mate asked. She was also concerned about the odd reaction from him. Soul Fire took a couple of deep breaths trying to stop his head from swimming. “I’m fine MetalEtched Claws.” Both Metal Claws and MetalEtched Claws eyes shrunk to pinpricks. In a flash MetalEtched Claws was in Soul Fire’s face roaring. “I NEVER TOLD YOU MY NAME!!” Oh, buck… buck!?? He could see her readying to unleash her tanish orange flames. No time to figure that out... “Yes, you did. At my Choosing in the Plane of Harmony.” “Wha?” The flames faded away and a look of complete confusion came over not only her face but, from what Soul Fire could see, the entire clan. Eternal Beats slowly walked up to Soul Fire’s alicorn form and listened to his song. He only listen for a second when his eyes widened into saucers and grabbed the alicorn into a hug. “Brother!” Soul Fire laughed as he returned the hug. “Eternal Beats.” Golden DragonHeart curiosity overruled his patience. “Eternal Beats? What did you hear?” Soul Fire nodded his okay when Eternal Beats looked at him in worry. What he heard was not only private but was normally could not be revealed not at all but given the circumstances. “The alicorn is the Secondclaw. The song I heard was … was interesting. Forgive me Soul Fire, the shell melody is just like Harmony’s but the core is different, yet familiar. I can only surmise that its Soul Fire’s... though the whole song is technically his… and he does have the clan melody.” The shell? O, I think I get it now… Good. I was worried I was stuck somehow in this form. Alicorn just doesn’t feel like me at all... Here goes nothing. Soul Fire pushed down on his alicorn magic until he felt it was suppressed enough. He then bound it so that it would not come up until he needed it again. A fierce pain came over his entire body. He grunted as he could feel his mane recede before horns burst out of the sides of his muzzle and top of his head. Sharp claws thrusted out of his hooves as they changed into dragon paws. The hair of his tail melted together and morphed into a dragon’s tail. All over his fur flattened and smoothed out into scales. “That’s much better.” Soul Fire commented as he examined his now scaly foreleg. He made a mental note not to change into an alicorn except when he absolutely needed the alicorn magic. Too painful to switch in his opinion. “What?” “HOW!?” “That is for the Firstclaw to know and only in private. If he wishes he may reveal what I tell him.” Soul Fire could feel his mind becoming fuzzy. “I’m sorry to cut this short, but I need to mediate before I lose control. Come see me in as few days and one at a time if you like.” “Of course, Soul Fire…” Golden DragonHeart stepped out of the way as Soul Fire walked out of the council chambers. Odd he said mediate over hoard… though given the meaning of his name... The sounds of heavy thumping stirred Soul Fire from his mediation. “Metal Claws?” He turned and noted that he was right. He also noticed that MetalEtched Claws was with him. “And your mate MetalEtched Claws. Somehow I figured you would be first.” “Secondclaw I…” “Stop.” Soul Fire interrupted Metal Claw’s coming apology. “I shouldn’t have snapped, and I should have been a bit more careful about revealing that I knew your Hoard name, MetalEtched Claws. There was no way for you to know that I wasn’t Harmonious Knight. I…” Soul Fire felt his hoard change and increase. It can’t increase… unless… “May I suggest you sit down MetalEtched Claws, or better yet lie down.” “Soul Fire?” The dragoness was not really worried as Soul Fire’s choosing was only a couple of days ago. It usually was a month before aftereffects of the choosing like volatile mood swings and the need to hoard nonstop dissipated. Still she wasn’t too sure what Soul Fire was up to. “You need to start a nest.” Soul Fire stated the moment the MetalEtched Claws had laid down next to her mate. “You don’t mean?” She nearly shot up in surprise. Female dragons did produced certain pheromones within hours of it happening but only her mate and herself would have known the smell. It would have started the nesting instinct and from the look that her mate had he was wasn’t being affected by anything. How would Soul Fire know something like that if even Metal Claws or herself didn’t know yet. “Three.” Was all that Soul Fire said. “MetalEtched Claws!” Metal Claws panicked when his mate fainted away. “What did you do to her?” “What is it with males being so oblivious?” Soul Fire snickered when he saw the lost mixed with anger look on Metal Claws face. “You’re going to be a father…” At that Metal Claws also fainted away. Soul Fire resisted the urge to chuckle and silently took off. He knew they needed a bit of alone time once they awoke. Besides, he was getting hungry and a gem or two sounded nice. Soul Fire saw his pink sister dunk into a small home. Might as well say hi. “Legacy Chaser! Fancy meeting you here.” The pink dragoness nearly jumped when she heard Soul Fire. “Soul Fire!” She turned around with a vase in her hands. “You nearly made me drop this vase! Wait, what are you doing? You usually are high up on a building roof mediating.” She put the vase carefully down as she asked another question. “Why do you need to mediate anyway?” “I’m trying to find a spot to meditate that I like… and as for why, I like to mediate.” That and I need to in order to deal with the alicorn magic... among other things. “Thinking about getting some tail action? ‘Cause you know I’m free.” “Nice try…”Soul Fire deadpanned, “but both of us know that I’m not your mate.” “Drats. I was hoping to see some red on those cute white scales of yours…” She looked over her shoulder at him batting her eyes. You want to play hard ball? Fine. I’ll play. Soul Fire grinned wickedly. “What I really was doing was trying to find a special dragoness... Babe.” “Thats nice..” Legacy Chaser absentmindedly agreed as she turned to grab the vase that she had put down easier. 3...2...1... “HEY! You get back here!” Soul Fire laughed ducking around a corner to hide from the angry dragoness. She really needs to learn that if one can’t take it don’t it dish out... “Gotcha!” Legacy Chaser suddenly grabbed Soul Fire’s tail pulling him down with a yelp. Soul Fire smirked as he saw that her face was red with anger. He needed to defuse the situation fast. “Don’t you have some artifacts to catalogue?” “You are so lucky…”  Legacy Chaser sighed, letting go of her anger as she knew he was right. To Soul Fire she seemed a bit down. “even after a year…” She had so much work to do and now that Harmony Chose and was now Soul Fire she lost the vast amount of knowledge he had about the city… She could still get all the information but it would take longer now. Still she was happy for Soul Fire. How could she not be happy for her brother’s choosing? “Then let me lend a claw for an hour or two.” “Why?” She didn’t think he would be that interested in the slow process of cleaning and preserving artifacts. She couldn't have his mind wander like when meditating. “My hoard isn’t exactly easy going…” “I want to help my sister. What other reason should I have?” “You are so lucky your horns make it impossible for me to trace a claw around your ear frills.” Legacy Chaser softly whispered before slyly slinking past him. Soul Fire shuddered. If she keeps this up it will be a long couple of hours… “The sunsets here are always spectacular.” Soul Fire mused as his laid on his side along the edge of a random building in Hourglass letting the remaining sun rays warm his belly scales. His tail lazily swaying from side to side over the edge. The sun had just lowered below the horizon of the mountain city when he could hear the almost imperceptible approach of his brother. “Hello Eternal Beats.” He greeted his clanmate without moving. “Hello, Soul Fire, I hope I’m not disturbing you… It’s I just wanted… that…” Eternal Beats sheepishly chuckled as he attempted to say what he wanted to but was finding it hard to. “Yes, I was once Harmonious Knight.” Soul Fire yawned and stretched before getting up. “That is why you heard his melody when I was in alicorn form, and now you are wondering what my song sounds like as a spark dragon?” Eternal beats blinked a few times as his brain attempted to catch up. “If the song didn’t make me believe that you were once him, you being able to expertly guess what I was wanting would.” Soul Fire chuckled motioning Eternal Beats over. This time Eternal Beats took his time to listen. “The shell melody is gone… but everything else is the same.” “Well that does confirm my suspicions…” Soul Fire commented. Yep he differently was Harmony… and now I really have him as a brother and a clanmate! “Hey brother… I’m having issues mediating and…” “You want me to play my ocarina don’t you?” Eternal Beats gave his clanmate a sly grin, already sitting down letting his tail hang off the edge of the building. “No, you don’t have to go out of your way like that.” Soul Fire chuckled at his brother’s exuberance in hopes of playing a song. “I was wondering if I could mediate in the park near your hoard.” “The birds!” Eternal Beats laughed as he figured out what his brother was after. “Sure, why not? If it helps... Plus, I’m sure some of them would love having a dragon ‘statue’.” “Some of your birds have already played ‘perch on the dragon statue’ with my horns.” Soul Fire grumbled as Eternal Beats laughed. Soul Fire facepalmed when he realized that he walked right into that. “You know… why not? I would love to hear your ocarina.” The sounds of an ocarina drifted across Hourglass long into the night. There he is again… Soul Fire sighed after he saw the black whelp attempting to again hide from him but remain close enough to probably watch him. Soul Fire rolled his eyes as he took off towards Twixt’d. Before Twixt’d could react He of Harmony grabbed him in his claws, flipped him on his tail, regrabbed him by said tail, and flew him upside down high above Hourglass. “Hey! What gives! Let go of me you bucking jerk!” Twixt’d cursed trying to knock himself out of the grip of the dragon. He of Harmony chose to ignore the insult for the moment. Though a part of him wanted to smack him for his crudeness. “Why are you watching me Twixt’d?” “None of your business.” He of Harmony couldn’t help but chuckle as he placed Twixt’d back on the ground before landing himself. “Now, where have I heard that before?” Twixt’d growled threateningly. He was annoyed that he was accosted like he was. He of Harmony smirked before he himself adopted a stern attitude, growling. “I’m the clan’s secondclaw don’t think I don’t have the right to kick you out of Hourglass.” “Fine. I’ll leave. I know when I not wanted. Tell Harmony when you see him that I’ll wait for him at the Oasis.” That caught He of Harmony off guard a bit. Odd… he shouldn’t remember Harmonious Knight… Normally an adults dragon's aura protects any whelps or hatchlings that they know their innocence from the Choosing… could it be because of my magic’s hybrid nature? Though the aura is a recent addition... And he’s still a good twenty years or more from his Choosing… How to deal with this... “Twixt’d…” He of Harmony stopped the whelp with a paw to his shoulder. “I was Knight…” “How did you… know that name!? Only Harmony and I know that name.” He’s not ready for the implication of a Choosing especially the way they are right now… But he’s going to find out about my alicorn form sooner or later and it will be easier to deal with it now then later when it may not be… He of Harmony clenched his teeth. This is going to hurt... Twixt’d’s eyes went wide as he watch the white dragon with rainbow horns morphed into a white alicorn with a purple and green striped horn. He had spiky rainbow mane and tail that moved slowly about. The way his mane and tail moved was almost like it was made of a multicolored fire. There has to be a way to make that less painful! He of Harmony grumbled as finished his transformation. “Knight…?” Twixt’d couldn't believe that the dragon was his brother, but how? And how did the alicorn become a dragon in the first place? “It’s He of Harmony. I don’t like being called by any of my former names and you are dragon so use the He of honorific.” “But I thought you loved being called Knight by me.” He of Harmony rubbed his head his rational mind fading a bit. I got to reign this in and fast... I got to get back to mediating. “Remember when you changed into a whelp? When one becomes an adult dragon they go through changes just like when a hatchling becomes a whelp but it’s all in the mind instead of growing wings. One of those changes is not liking former names. You didn’t like being called Black Ice, your hatchling name, did you?” “No.” “That is the same for me… An adult dragon however can’t stand being called by former names even ones that they loved because names to an adult dragon can’t taken lightly because they have a magical effect…have power.” “What about Medallion? I know it's a nickname and that is what ‘Knight’ was…” “Technically, Medallion is a title not a nickname… though in most cultures it would be considered a nickname... as for why I can’t be called ‘Knight:’ it’s because my name before I Chose was Harmonious Knight.” “Oh… okay… I see now why you were so mushy when I called you that… So, just because you became a literal dragon you felt you needed a new name?” “Felt, no? I really needed a new name... that and a hoard. Outside of those you don’t need to know what else entails becoming an adult.” “That’s what they all say…” Twixt’d grumbled, crossing his arms, “that us chicks, foals, saplings, whatever are too young to understand, or aren't ready to know, or yada yada…” He of Harmony sighed. There was huge difference growing up as those races over a dragon and He of Harmony knew that he had to be careful with him. If he said the wrong thing it could make things worse than help. “I want you to know something. The type of Hoard I have is not typical. My hoard is family, specifically my clan, so it only can grow as the clan grows… With one exception. You.” Twixt’d was a bit troubled at this but couldn’t come up with anything. He of Harmony noticed this so he decided it wouldn’t hurt to elaborate. “We became brothers by verbal agreement. What I’m talking about it… is more… If you continue along the path you began when you were…” “Dragonnapped.” Twixt’d deadpanned. He of Harmony rolled his eyes. “If you become the dragon that I still see in you. Then you will have my blessing to join the clan...” “Why? I have been here a year and Quartermaster hates me, He of Hourglass disapproves of me, He of Music never wants to hang with me and the less I say of Medallion the better… I will never be anything more than a street urchin.” “You think like a whelp…” He of Harmony shook his head. “A true dragon it not measured by this,” He pointed to Twixt’d’s head before pointing to his chest, “but this. Twixt’d, not just any dragon can join. Only those who character reflects the way dragons should be not the way they are now… Every dragon here including you reflect in some way the dragons as they were before the Nameless One’s evil.” “Bah!” Twixt’d bark out a forced laugh. “A street urchin having the character of a good dragon that’s a new one.” “Have faith in yourself and really start applying yourself to learning the Code. First learn to stop interrupting me… Do you know what it means to join the clan?” “Well that is a stupid question as I don’t know. You, or the former you, never went over that.” “He had his reasons…” “He?” Ugh, slip up… “You did say ‘the former me.’” “Oh, right, I did… this is confusing…” “Understandable… When you join this clan we would not be brother via verbal agreement and respect but heart to heart.” “Sounds just like what snooty rich people say to fool someone to accept being ‘adopted’ only to find out it’s so they can look good in the papers...” “No…” He needs to learn to stop thinking everything in the negative… “We would be literally brothers… How do I put this is a way you can understand… we would be unable to think of each other than as brothers or clanmates… our minds would struggle to be able to even causally  form a sentence in our minds that said that ‘we were not brothers’ as a jest. You would have to fight hard to say anything one in the clan wasn’t a sibling. It’s worse for me because family is my hoard and a dragon never wants to damage their own hoard. A dragon and his hoard is magically linked I can’t even in jest come up with the words… I’m aware of the words but it’s impossible for me to link them together.” “Like saying that He of Hourglass isn’t my brother?” “Yes... I heard you said that’s because he isn't you brother, but I couldn’t repeat it for you my mind has already changed it to ‘Twixt’d isn’t He of Hourglass’ brother.’ And we both know that it was not the phrasing of your sentence.” “That doesn’t make sense. How can you not say that line?” Of course it doesn’t your mind is not dragon enough to understand. He of Harmony grumbled to himself. “I just can’t…” “Try.” He of Harmony growled. If this is what he needs to understand then I shall ‘try’. “He of Hourglass isn’t my… … …” He of Harmony blinked. “Uh… what was I trying to say?” “You were trying to say ‘ He of Hourglass isn’t my brother.’” He of Harmony face went red trying to get the words to come. He knew they wouldn't come but he still needed to demonstrate with all his might that he couldn’t. His mind nearly snapped and he stopped before he lashed out. “I CAN’T TWIXT’D! I understand the words you say but I can’t be formed in my mind in that order… I just know that I can’t…” He of Harmony started to talk slow breathes as his rational mind holding by a thread. He would need to mediate and very soon. But first he needed to get Twixt’d to a place of understanding. “I believe you, He of Harmony.” Twixt’d said softly. “What?” He expected that response but not the way he said it. “I said I believe you, He of Harmony.” He of Harmony blinked at this complete turn around. He knew he would get through to him but for Twixt’d to sound like a whelp and not sound like someone who only knew the street that quickly. There was no scowl or smirk on his face hie voice sounded less gruff. And his posture was straighter. “I want what you have but I know I need to learn true dragon respect and dragon code like you said. So, can we get started… like now?” Twixt’d pleaded. “I can not, at least not yet.” Soul Fire shook his head. I have to get myself at a point to function for more than a short while first. “I need a bit more time to recover from my Choosing. Talk with He of Hourglass I’m sure he will teach you... At least until I am ready to do it myself. Besides you are years away you still have time to just be a young dragon without all the responsibilities as an adult.”