//------------------------------// // Debriefing and Orientation // Story: At the Twilight of Harmony // by Rammy //------------------------------// 39 days since the Nameless One’s escape 13 days since the fall of Traxti City Sunset, Hourglass City “Bearer of Magic, Captain of the Hourglass Guard, can I trust you two to keep everypony in line until debriefing tomorrow at 0700? Under no circumstance are any ponies leave the red torched area. Unless they want a fiery death.” “Is he being serious Princess Twilight?” Phoenix Wave whispered to Twilight. Sentinel raised an eyebrow at this but said said nothing. He didn’t expect his captain to completely take every word he said serious, at least not yet. “Dead serious.” Twilight answered. “A dragon defends their hoard with their lives and the city is the collective hoard of the clan.” “Then why the buck are we here?” Phoenix Wave was flabbergasted. How was he suppose to do his job being restricted to outside the city. He needed to have an understanding of the city layout to facilitate troop movements, especially in an emergency, and to properly defend the city and its residents. He could understand dragons being distrusting but trust had to go both ways i this was going to work out. “We can’t be expected to defend a city if we aren’t allowed to be inside the city to assess its weakness and strengths.” “Because they need our help as we need theirs. As for not being inside the city, you do not know the ways of dragons, yet... My guess is that the debriefing tomorrow will answer those questions.” “That is correct.” Sentinel finally spoke up. “Captain,” He turned to face his captain. “I understand your frustrations, but we have to bridge the gap between our species carefully and trust needs to be built on a firm foundation.” Phoenix Wave sighed before nodding his understanding. He really hoped that these dragons would show a bit of mercy. There was no way ponies would understand all the laws of a foreign land especially without being told what those laws are. For now, though, he would make sure his troops remained within the boundaries set up… Shouldn’t be too hard given that it was nighttime and the city was quite large, with no lighting in the streets and everypony’s magic currently not available. He saluted Sentinel before reentering the red torched area. “Sentinel?” “Yes, Bearer of Magic?” “Um, you think… I mean that is…” Twilight rubbed the back of her head. She felt embarrassed that she couldn’t get the words out that she wanted. Sentinel was understanding even if his temper flared up from time to time and would have no issue with granting her request. Sentinel smiled. He knew what she was after and was more than happy to help. “I’ll send He of Hourglass right over.” “Th-Thanks.” Twilight sheepishly thanked the dragon. “We need to talk Soul Fire.” “Debriefing later, brother. Your hoard needs you.” “Fine.“ Golden DragonHeart pointed a claw at Soul Fire. “But don't think that you can hide from this.” Soul Fire nodded his consent and followed him out of the library. He wanted to guard sleep at Eternal Beats’ hoard tonight as his was the more open of the two hoards that were currently without their owners. 14 days since the fall of Traxti City 0700, Hourglass City “Bearer of Magic are you sure you want to be here for this?” Sentinel questioned Twilight again. He knew that ponies, as herbivores, found being around meat made them squeamish. Especially while said meat was being eaten. From what he recalled when he was an alicorn he had accumulated to it and didn’t even react when a dragon decided to eat with him around. “I’m here to help ease the transition...” Twilight stated, keeping her face stoic, but Sentinel could see the unease leaking through. “Which means I need to be here.” “This is going to get messy…” Sentinel reminded her. “Very messy.” Quartermaster added with a chuckle. Sentinel smacked him with the flat edge of his trident to which the red dragon merely shrugged it off. Twilight's facade faltered for just a second as she gulped. “Just remind me again, why you are doing this?” “We are doing this to help acclimate them to what they will encounter Bearer of Magic. We aren’t going to stop being dragons just because there are ponies here. Just be glad we aren’t making this a ‘dinner and a show.’” “That’s scheduled for later.” Quartermaster smacked his lips. He wouldn't mind skipping the dinner part and go straight to the show but his mate was currently back at the forge. Twilight groaned. “Celestia help me.” Sentinel and Quartermaster just chuckled as the Hourglass Guard started to file in with the orange unicorn captain in the lead. Quartermaster eyed the pony with a light scrutiny. His mane look like that of fire and he noticed that his flank was adorned with the image of a phoenix curling into itself. Interesting… Quartermaster mused as the unicorn broke off the rest and joined Sentinel and the pony princess on the raised platform. “Ah, Captain Phoenix Wave,” Sentinel welcomed the captain, “are your ponies ready?” “As ready as possible.” Phoenix Wave huffed. “The lack of magic… is dredging up bad memories for some.” “To be expected, but unlike Tirek the issue here isn’t the lack of magic but a disruption of magic. Which will be worked on. If things go well everypony should have access to their magic before the end of the week.” Sentinel looked out and could see that the ponies were all filled in now and were impatiently waiting. Welcome to the ancient city of Hourglass. Sentinel amplified voice echoed across the gathered ponies. The suddenness startled several ponies and he could hear some muttered cursing throughout the crowd. You are here to help defend the city so the clan can use its full might take on ‘The Nameless One’ and any other dark magic threats on this continent. Sentinel could make out confused murmurs. Most had to do with ‘what threats’ and ‘Nameless One.’ He would have Twilight address that after he was done with the demonstration. Hourglass City does not just dragon hoards… This city is over three hundred thousand years old… At the height of its power there was over five thousand draconequus living here. There are secrets here, that if in the wrong hooves, like, let’s say the Bug Queen Chrysalis, will mean the end of Equestria and the world. Everypony here should know Princess Twilight Sparkle. Twilight stepped forward so that everypony could see her. She is the official ambassador of the Hourglass Clan. She will be teaching you some of the codes that dragons live by. While you are here in this city you are to follow them. I shall give this warning only once: trespassing or thieving from a dragon’s hoard is a capital offense. Equestria may have outlawed the death penalty, but here, it’s not. There are a large metal bird nests near each dragon’s hoard. Sentinel nodded to Twilight and her horn glowed and an image of Twixt’d’s bird nest appeared. One in the orchards near the silos. Another near a band shell in one of the many parks. Quartermaster's forge has one and the final one is near the Hourglass Museum. The last hoard location you need to be aware of does not have that marker but it is located next to the Spiral Spire, the springy tower, in the center of the city. Each of these locations also have wards so you don’t accidentally enter a hoard... Having said all that, the city itself is considered the collective hoard of the clan itself so looting of any buildings is theft and, as mentioned before, will be dealt with harshly. Sentinel ignored the continuing whispers. Captain Phoenix Wave would need to work on that later. Right now it was time for food. He was having trouble controlling his drooling as his hatchmate Quartermaster had brought in two deers for their breakfast/demonstration. I hope all of you listen to your Captain last night about not eating until after this debriefing… breakfast never tastes good the second time around… “Twixt’d wasn’t kidding when he said you were a messy eater…” Metal Claws remarked to Soul Fire as they headed down one of the main boulevards towards the center of the city. “So… when should I expect ponies for armor fitting?” “Not until later this afternoon... Bearer of Magic wants to make sure that they get the basics given your…” Soul Fire paused as he search for a better term but finding none he just went with the first one that had come to mind, “distrusting... nature.” “It’s for good reason.” Metal Claws growled out. He was not worry about his hoard so much as his eggs… “I know Metal Claws. I would be distrusting of strangers in my hoard, my home and near my children. You are just being a loving father… a father that protects his children.” Metal Claws smirked as again his hatchmate was able to pierce through and see what he was thinking. “Ponies are a good people, Metal Claws, and should be given some benefit of doubt as they don’t know nor should we expect them to know our ways… Having said that, for now, I would remain vigilant with the ponies… most of the are quite young and like all younglings have a way of getting into trouble…” “Like Twixt’d going to Equestria with you without telling me or his mother first?” “He’s a whelp and a quasi clanmate…” “He’s still my son…” “And you’re his father. I know. Both of you make me proud… This is where we separate as I need to debrief Golden DragonHeart…” “...Celestia can be such a troll sometimes I swear it was almost as bad as when I was ostracized for my looks... Prince ‘John Colt’ ha!…” Soul Fire suddenly noticed the strange look on Golden DragonHeart’s face. “What?” “You said ‘I was ostracized for my looks’ not ‘he’ was ostracized…” “I uh…” Soul Fire stumbled. He knew exactly what was happening and he wasn’t ready to tell anyone yet. At least it happened with Golden DragonHeart instead of someone else. Golden DragonHeart gave him a hard look. “Soul Fire…” Soul Fire groaned. This could be bad and he had no idea how to proceed. “It’s starting to happen it seems…” “What is?” Golden DragonHeart pushed. “Soul Fire… You are holding back. Why?” “Because the last time I revealed something about how Choosing is supposed to be…” “There is nothing left that can be done now about the loss… I have accepted it…” Soul Fire sighed heavily. He knew there was something that could be done about it, at least for him, as he held in a magic memory lock all of Spike’s memories from hatching to choosing. For every other dragon his firstclaw was right. “Memory reintegration...” “You mean your old alicorn memories are becoming as if they were always yours and not someone else's even though they were always your anyway?” Soul Fire nodded. “In a normal choosing the Dragon Heritage Memories, are added to a dragon’s normal memories in a sudden and violent action. It’s sort of like putting oil and water in a jar and shaking it real hard. It takes time for memories to resettle but because I have so many…” Soul Fire smiled when he saw that Golden DragonHeart was holding the link that was once Harmonious Knight’s. “Yes the link between you and Harmonious Knight is slowly being relinked by being woven into my link. It’s probably too soon see or feel the changes Golden DragonHeart in my and his links yet.” “Why?” Came a  choked whisper almost too soft for anyone to hear. “Golden DragonHeart?” Soul Fire put a claw on his brother's shoulder. “Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?” Soul Fire felt his heart crush at seeing the shimmering tears in his brother's eyes but he still feared the rage that was slowing consuming him. “I told you: fear... Golden DragonHeart your rage condition is worsening and the last time…” Now Soul Fire was struggling to not fall apart completely. He had lost Spike he was not going to lose Golden DragonHeart. “Soul Fire, I am the Dragon Keeper of Harmony I need to know these things… What else about the choosing that may be relevant are you holding back?” “Nothing, at least none that I can think of off claw. A lot about my choosing was abnormal to begin with. He was alicorn, then alicorn, and dragon now I’m fully dragon…” “Yeah… I know…” Golden DragonHeart whispered his reluctant agreement. “...Is this pronoun soup going to get worse?” “‘Pronoun soup!?’ Soul Fire snorted. “That I’m not sure given that I’m the first since the curse to go through memory reintegration. And again, ten thousand years vs less than thirty and being an alicorn…” “Then I think you should inform the entire clan. They are your brothers and sisters. They need to know considering you are bound to slip up.” “Not a problem, Firstclaw.” “Now… I need to know what got you so fearful the other day... it didn’t seem like you at all… It had to be more than just the name…. wasn’t it?” “Yes, it was more than him telling me his name…” ...we are alike… you and I. We are the same on the inside. “Soul Fire tell me everything.” Soul Fire gulped but did as he was told and slowly but surely he relayed everything about the ‘conversation’ between ‘Quartz’ and himself. By the end of the retelling Soul Fire was curled into a tight ball shivering. Golden DragonHeart struggled to contain his rage but for the sake of his friend, his brother, and secondclaw he managed to hold it down. “He, the dragon, is right…” “I know you more then that Soul Fire…” “YOU DON’T KNOW…” Soul Fire roared angrily nearly letting out a plume of flame before he swallowed, hard. “You… you don’t know me…” “I have watched you hunt, Soul Fire.” Soul Fire paled and he attempted to escape but found that he couldn’t. Golden DragonHeart sighed as he figure his secondclaw would try to escape. “I blocked teleportation temporarily...” 6 days since the fall of Traxti City Evening, Hourglass City Golden DragonHeart saw a shadow of a dragon cross the street. when he had looked up to see that it the source of the shadow was Soul Fire. Looks like he is heading to the forest. This was a perfect opportunity to check up on him. He wanted to make sure everything was fine after the panic the other day. He wasn’t too worry about Soul Fire becoming a meat eater, but, nonetheless, he wanted to watch just encase whatever panicked him came back. Golden DragonHeart had been with other clan members when they went hunting. Each dragon had a particular way of hunting. Due to Metal Claws and his mates size they tended to dive bomb from above to take out their prey. Twixt’d liked to stalk his prey before ambushing them. Legacy Chaser seemed to have no preference at all. Soul Fire seemed to be like Twixt’d though but it was too soon to say for sure as this probably being only her third or forth hunt. It was a clean kill the deer did not suffer much as Soul Fire quickly snapped the neck of the animal with a violent shake of his head. What happened next caused all the blood from Golden DragonHeart’s face to drain away. Golden DragonHeart swallowed his bile as he saw Soul Fire take the heart from the deer and squeezed it until it oozed between his claws. Soul Fire then proceeded to lick up the mashed up heart. It was getting too much for him. This was not just eating he was playing with his food and being quite dark about it too. I need to get out of here. He could hear the dragon purred in contentment as he hear the sound of Soul Fire digging through the corpse again. Golden DragonHeart glanced back once more. “Soul Fire… please tell me I’m wrong…” Present “I… I… Why… I don’t understand…” “You don’t think I would check up on you Soul Fire? And.Get. Up.” Golden DragonHeart growled at Soul Fire who was trying to flatten himself on the floor of the library. “I won’t lie when it sicken me a bit, but… I decided to withhold judgment as I thought it might be you struggling over your feral side and you were too embarrassed to tell me.” “There is no struggle... The ‘feral side’ is in harmony with my sentient side...” Golden DragonHeart visibly flinched. He still cared for Soul Fire even if he was beginning to really worry. “What?! How is that possible?” “It has to do with what Harmonious Knight did prior to our choosing. He put himself at the mercy the feral side. And trust me, the feral side was ticked at Harmonious Knight. When Harmonious Knight realized that he had a dragon’s inner fire and that there was a dragon without a name he immediately went looking for that dragon, at the time, the feral side. When he looked at me or actually the feral side...” Pronoun soup more like pronoun puree… Golden DragonHeart thought as Soul Fire struggled to explain what happened just prior to his choosing. Though if I was split into two then put back together I suppose I would struggle to find the right way to explain it without being confused. “He laid down in the dishonored position. In that moment all the rage and hatred left him. Here was the source of all his suffering, pain, and loneliness willing to give up his life… no fighting, no struggle, just acceptance… Do you know what would have happened if I uh he had killed him? A choosing during rage… and we both know what that would have meant…” “So that is why you, uh, him, uh, the feral side, was so trusting of you, of him, I uuhhh!” Golden DragonHeart grumbled, rubbing his head hard trying to ease the now raging headache from the pronoun confusion. “I’m going to need a bottle of aspirin after this…” “Yes…” Soul Fire agreed. “the feral dragon then showed the sentient alicorn that they were the same being… this is important... When I went on my first hunt my feral side took over because my sentient side was unsure… I resisted at first because I was confused… something that as you know happens to any dragon when the feral side takes over for the first time, usually during a growth or mating etc. If I had realized the feeling the first time I would have not resisted. The feral side of me is still me as such will not be treated as an animal or relegated to a corner of my mind. If my feral side wants to come out it will come out without any hindrance...” “Just like Harmonious Knight treated the nameless dragon that was him… even before he found out the truth... that the dragon was a part of him...” “Exactly. When I went hunting a second time right afterwards, trying to figure out my feelings, it happened again. After that I meditated on it… and it clicked both sides liked it. I like the killing, the savagery of it, the thoughts of blood and entrails caught in my teeth…” Soul Fire licked his teeth, drooling hard. He fought hard to keep his focus… as much as he looked forward to fantasizing about the hunt, right now he needed to explain himself and await any punishment he may receive. “Blood to me tastes better than rainbow gems and you know how most dragons go crazy over rainbow gems… On my third hunt, the one you saw, I let ourself go on purpose. My feral side immediately knew what we were doing and took over except now the sentient side didn’t disappear temporarily like normal. It was strange to say the least two minds becoming as one…” Golden DragonHeart was about to speak up when Soul Fire put up a claw. “Please, let me finish…” “Asas cktuses viethojas cktar šo: The thought of killing for the sake of killing or the thought of killing sentient beings for food is appalling and disgusting… which is exactly what Quartz thinks remember?: ’The screams those should be music to our ears… That should be what drives a dragon... the blood… the gore... the fear, the delicious fear…’ What drives me to hunt is ētiens ēst nothing more, nothing less… though, like I said before, blood tastes better than gems…” The moment that Soul Fire spoke in Draconian it sealed it for the Dragon Keeper. Soul Fire was perfectly fine and perfectly in harmony, and there was nothing to fear from his secondclaw’s feral side. What upset him was that his secondclaw as so defensive. “Do you think nothing of me Soul Fire? I am the Dragon Keeper of Harmony. My job is to bring dragons back into harmony… not that I seemed to be doing much... It just seems to happen on it’s own…” Soul Fire knew exactly how that must feel as he spent more time defending ponies harmony then creating it… or at least that what he could gather there was still large patches of memories he was blurry on. There just wasn’t enough time to get to memory walk anything that wasn’t extremely major. Golden DragonHeart pinched the bridge of his brow. “Two of my traits are wisdom and empathy or understanding. Not only that, I am your friend, and furthermore, I am your Firstclaw… When I said I was withholding judgement I was not even thinking about dishonoring you, removing you from my hoard, killing you, or anything bad I was concerned as a friend, a brother, a firstclaw… I see now that there was nothing to fear.” He sighed. “Soul Fire, you are my secondclaw I can’t have you hiding things like this from me… We are a team not just as First and Second Claws but as Keepers.” Soul Fire opened and shut his mouth having nothing to say as his Keeper was right. As a fellow Keeper he should have known better. “But if you were concerned why didn’t you bring this up earlier?” “I wasn’t sure how to bring it up… this wasn’t like telling Legacy Chaser to chill it when her teasing was a bit much for non dragons...” “It’s seems we both…” “Have a lot to learn?” “Yeah…” Both were silent for a while lost in their thoughts. Those thoughts soon went to what it meant to be in the roles that they were in the clan: I need to stop being so worry in coming to him... how can he do his duty or I mine if I don’t? He is a warrior and we are at war. I need to give him the space he needs to be the warrior he needs to be… I should never doubt or check on him any longer... I shouldn’t have had it before… Sure if he was injured, but he wasn’t. I let fear control me and not wisdom…and a firstclaw needs that to lead his clan well. And a firstclaw can not be as wise without the full trust of his secondclaw… I must be trusting... I must be that to be Firstclaw because our strengths and weaknesses complement each other perfectly now all we need is to be... I should be respectful of his position not only has my Keeper but my Firstclaw. I can no longer be the loner like I was for so many years. I need to keep him in the loop... to be his advisor… to be his secondclaw and confident. He’s my Firstclaw and I am his Secondclaw and we need to be… Synchronized. Both thought at the same time.   Soul Fire felt his heart change. He now saw that addressing his firstclaw as anything but Golden DragonHeart (in private of course) and depending on the situation Dragon Keeper or Firstclaw to be nauseating. His other titles like brother, hatchmate(not that he even used that one) or He of Hourglass just no longer seemed right to use… His Firstclaw deserved the highest respect from him and he WILL give it to him no matter what. At the same time as Soul Fire Golden DragonHeart was going through the same thoughts for his secondclaw. He could feel a huge surge in the bond between them. For a moment he was tempted to check Harmonious Knight’s bond but decided against it he just wanted to bask in the warmth of his increasing hoard for a while. There would be time for that later. “Golden DragonHeart, Firstclaw, did we both just mature…” “...in the same code?” Golden DragonHeart finished the Soul Fire’s question. “That we did Soul Fire.” “This is so going to annoy…” Soul Fire started. “Metal Claws?” Golden DragonHeart finished. “Yeah…” Soul Fire facepalmed. For a while neither dragon spoke. Golden DragonHeart idly grabbed a sapphire and sucked on it like a jawbreaker. For the first time ever Soul Fire climbed onto Golden DragonHeart hoard bed and laid down. He was tired and needed to rest but the his mind was still reeling from what he had held back. Shouldn’t be a problem anymore except for the issue of Spike’s memories and his own memories that he was waiting for the right moment as he had promised. He was also aware of at least some of the messed up code but he knew until the curse was lifted that those codes would basically be useless... “Let’s go annoy him.” Golden DragonHeart smirked. “I knew you were going to say that.” Soul Fire groaned but he couldn't help but smile. “Gee, I wonder why…” Golden DragonHeart rolled his eyes.