The Last Keeper of Harmony

by Rammy

Salt

"Scorpan stay safe." Harmony lightly hugged Scorpan.

"I should say the same to you but somehow I know that would be wishful thinking." Scorpan chuckled a bit before releasing the hug and waving them off.

"Single file everypony and stay behind me while we transverse the Salt Flats. With any luck we should be out of them by nightfall." Harmony said taking the lead.

---

Harmony hoofed the sand a bit, leaned down for a moment, then starting moving again taking a slight turn to the right.

"Okay this has been bugging me for hours but what exactly are you doing?" Twilight asked.

"I'm checking for danger." Harmony replied still gazing downwards.

"Rrrright...." Rainbow rolled her eyes hard. She then raise a wing to whisper to Pinkie Pie, "I think his brush with death has made him senile."

"Rainbow!" Twilight admonished her. Harmony did not seem to hear or was in too much concentration to notice.

"What!?" Rainbow shrugged then trotted ahead of Harmony. "He keeps hoofing the ground and randomly changing directions."

Harmony suddenly noticed a shadow crossing in front of him. Sharply snapping his head up he noticed Rainbow trotting ahead. Idiot! Harmony dashed towards her. "Must we do this every time?!?" Harmony grabbed her with his magic lifting her into the air. The others quickly joined them.

"Hey!" Rainbow indignantly complained squirming a bit in the magic grip.

"For once it would be nice that you would listen and trust me. I don't just willy nilly say and do things for no good reason. The lands outside of Equestria are not predictable and 'filly and colt' safe. Most places are more like Everfree where nature takes care of itself. Then of course you have this place..."

"Wait, I hear something." Spike spoke up.

"What is it Spike?" Harmony looked back at the dragon straining to hear something.

"I Dunno. It sounds sort of like glass cracking on a winters morning."

"Like glass cracking? " Harmony quickly shifted the sand beneath him with a hoof. What he saw just below the covering of sand horrified him. "Okay everyone listen carefully and don't panic. We are standing on a desert glass dome. Discord I need you to carefully remove the sand from around us I need to know the extent of the dome."

"Wha' exactly is a desert glass dome?" Applejack asked trying not to gulp from the fear pouring off of Harmony.

Whispering Harmony explained. "A rock formation unique to the Salt Flats. It's a thin layer of a crystalline mineral that it very fragile and usually forms over very deep pits."

Discord was still busy clearing the sand but Harmony decided to go ahead and assess what he had cleared so far. What he saw made his knees buckle so badly that he almost collapsed right there. The dome was massive! From what he could see so far was that it was at least two thousand hoofs across and they where standing right in the middle of it.

"Okay everypony I need you to very slowly spread out and walk slowly forward until I say otherwise." Harmony whispered hoping to spread the weight a bit while they walk off of the dome.

*Crack*

Harmony's ear twitched at the sound. He stopped breathing for a second listening intently for any other sounds.

*Crack*

"RUN!" Harmony screamed taking off at full gallop. He could hear further cracking coming from all around him. Discord was still ahead trying to clear the sand in front of them to find the end of the dome. Come on, come on! Where is the end of this dome!!? He could see visible cracks forming ahead; chunks of ground falling away. "Keep going; don't stop!"

Ahead Discord had finally stopped clearing sand and was pacing; trying to figure out what to do. Harmony was leading the pack closely followed by Applejack and Rainbow; Rarity and Fluttershy in the rear. Discord eyed the ground around them trying not to panic as more and more of the dome's shell fell away.

Just as Harmony got to Discord the ground rumbled loudly and collapsed completely. Rarity had to make a running jump. She huffed a bit scrambling the rest of the way up. Everyone collapsed in exhaustion at finally making it past the dome.

"Where's Fluttershy?" Harmony head was pounding too hard from the adrenaline to know who was talking.

"FLUTTERSHY!" Somepony screamed.

Harmony snapped up at that and looked back in horror. Fluttershy was still out on the dome. She was trapped as the dome in front of her had fallen away. She stumbled backwards trying to get way from the crumbling edge. Harmony shot into the air and flew back to grab her. Harmony managed to grasp her hooves just as the ground beneath her gave way. He grunted heavy under the added weight and carefully flew back to the rest of the group who were instinctively backing away from the edge of the now open pit.

"Are you alright?" Harmony asked checking for any injuries as he gently placed her onto the ground next to Rarity.

"I... I... think so." Fluttershy replied weakly.

Harmony smiled weakly for a moment then his face contorted. Flutttershy didn't like what she saw and cowered a bit. "RAINBOW DASH!" He screamed at the top of his lungs.

All the color from Rainbow flushed out as fear gripped the mare at the look of murderous rage coming off of Harmony. "I have had enough of your arrogance! You are by far the LEAST loyal pony I have met. No, I take that back you are loyal. Loyal only to your own swelled head, pride, and ego! Well enough is enough! You step out of line again I will personally see you in Tartarus." To accent his point he yanked her with his magic over the open pit. "I wonder if you'll learn to fly while you are falling to your doom down a dark pit?"

"Harmony! Stop." Discord snapped.

Harmony moved the shaking mare onto solid ground. Rainbow's only move was to curl up in a ball shivering from pure terror. Harmony shoved his muzzle near her and narrowed his eyes. Rainbow yelped and shut her eyes still shaking. He snorted angrily and pulled back. Turning back to see the rest he could see that besides Discord, Spike, and Twilight everypony was cowering in fear. Spike was wide-eyed with shock while Discord and Twilight looked as angry as Harmony. Harmony filched ever so slightly at the sight. For a few moments no one moved or spoke.

Discord was the first to speak. "Come," putting a reassuring claw on Fluttershy," We should keep moving... the faster we get out of here the better." Everypony slowly followed Discord. Rainbow was being supported by Applejack and Rarity. After a few moment only Harmony and Twilight were left.

"Was that really necessary?"

"Yes. We don't have time for immaturity. You mares are quite old enough to be over this filly type behavior."

"Perhaps, but you didn't have to be so hard on her."

"We have no time to deal with this Twilight! 'Tis time you Bearers learn that this is not some game! War is coming and you need to buck up and quit this charade! The only reason you are even out here is that I'm hoping that by moving us through extremely dangerous country and out of Equestria I can delay his attack on Equestria. I'm trying to make that the initiate attack is in an area that would minimize causalities. Equestria does not know the ways of war and I'm hoping that by the time war reaches them they will be ready. And trust me war will reach them."

"Enough!" Twilight stomped her hoof in anger.

Harmony raised an eyebrow waiting for her to elaborate.

"You need to stop being so secretive! If you had been more open about what dangers we would be facing..."

"It is not your place to question me on what dangers I should and should not reveal." Harmony snapped cutting Twilight off.

"Really? Because if you had I don't think that Rainbow would have ran ahead putting everypony in danger because you weren't upfront about what we are getting into!"

"I forget sometimes how utterly soft the lands of Equestria are. You are been at peace for so long and have had so few threats. I guess I should have remembered that and brought Spike, alone. I could have gotten to Hourglass faster..." Harmony droned sarcastically.

"Leave Spike out of this." Twilight narrowed her eyes dangerously ticked off that Harmony would be so callous about Spike's safety.

"Can't. He is a Keeper of Harmony and such has a destiny that you have no control over. At Spike's Choosing, when he discovers his name, the seal on the 'Dark One's' prison will most assuredly fail. Now I want you to take a guess on which of the three remaining Keepers would he feel the most threaten by?"

Twilight hung her head and softly replied, "Spike."

"Exactly a dragon thinks of themselves above all other races only would another dragon be of any concern.

"Even if he wasn't a Keeper he is a dragon and you would soon be dealing with destruction by dragon worse then the day of his birthday. Remember the rage he had towards me when I showed up? That was because of my inability to show myself fully to him. Now imaged if I never had came to him in his sleep? The grove in the wall at the castle? His frustration over not knowing who he is was meant to be. His instincts would have awoken at the worse possible time and all that frustration would lead to dragon rage. He would have by instinct chosen a name. You think it was scary with his Greed Growth!? Try a dragon choosing a name when enraged?!?

"It leads to Beast Growth: The second magic growth that can happen to dragons. A dragon that goes into that growth will only know rage, pain, and suffering and will..." Harmony shuttered violently nearly retching," sadistically love inflicting it to others. A beast of pure rage and destruction. That would have happened to Spike. Celestia and Luna would have had no choice but to kill him. No fire ruby would save him. There is no turning back from that growth."

Twilight went into shock for a moment then switched to pure rage. Harmony could see that the flames were beginning to form along her mane. "You know what I think? You are no better then what you just described. If you truly did at one time represent the Elements of Harmony you most assuredly have lost sight of it! Where was your Kindness when dealing with Rainbow Dash?"

"Where is your Honesty?"

"That was no message. It was a modified memory spell." Twilight coldly stated.

"Where is your Loyalty?"

"Loss for words, eh?" Discord yelled multicolored smoke pouring out of his ears "Well I have some for you, brother. You are to stop carrying this load alone. You hear me? Quit acting like you the only Keeper!"

"Where is your Generosity? Where is your Joy?"

Muttering mostly to himself but nonetheless heard by all. "So many regrets and lost opportunities..."

Harmony worked hard to maintain a stone like expression while Twilight hammered home each area of weakness but he was starting to fail. Twilight was salting wounds that ran deep. Many of which he did not want to relive. "You done?" He coolly stated narrowing his eyes a bit to match Twilight's.

"With you? Yes. Now if you excuse me I have a friend in which to help." With that Twilight turned tail and trotted in the direction everyone left in.

Harmony just stood there for a bit before collapsing, licking his mental wounds.

Author's Note:

Things are getting tense.

Still need that editor

Comments

[Draconicus the Reaper]

I don't get why did he get so mad at rainbow

[Rammy]

7066362

"Single file everypony and stay behind me while we transverse the Salt Flats. With any luck we should be out of them by nightfall." Harmony said taking the lead.

which she then didn't follow:

Harmony hoofed the sand a bit, leaned down for a moment, then starting moving again taking a slight turn to the right.

"Okay this has been bugging me for hours but what exactly are you doing?" Twilight asked.

"I'm checking for danger." Harmony replied still gazing downwards.

"Rrrright...." Rainbow rolled her eyes hard. She then raise a wing to whisper to Pinkie Pie, "I think his brush with death has made him senile."

"Rainbow!" Twilight admonished her. Harmony did not seem to hear or was in too much concentration to notice.

"What!?" Rainbow shrugged then trotted ahead of Harmony. "He keeps hoofing the ground and randomly changing directions."