The Last Keeper of Harmony

by Rammy

Hourglass

"I take it you are feeling better?" Discord walked up to the two alicorns. Twilight was lightly snoozing against Harmony. Discord looked down at Harmony but he could not see the expression on him. He lowered himself and could see the eyes were glazed over. Sighing heavily he took Twilight gently in his arms and floated her back next to the fire. He looked up after putting a blanket on Twilight who murmured in her sleep and rolled over a bit and saw that Harmony was gone. I take it that you’re not...

---

"What?" Twilight asked Discord as everypony was busy tearing down camp.

"You talked with him last night didn't you?" Discord stated. Twilight nodded slowly not sure if saying anything would be wise. Discord eyed her a bit before crossing his arms a bit and turning away.

After a few more minutes the everypony was ready to head out even Rarity for once was ready. Discord looked down the group and noticed that Twilight was taking the rear looking gloomy. He shook his head in a slight amusement.

The speed was leisurely and after a bit everypony but Discord, Twilight, and Spike were busy talking and sharing interesting tidbits. Spike was too busy thinking about names and never was one to be a part of the girls’ conversations anyway. Twilight was too down to really want to have a conversation. Discord was of course trying to keep his bearings straight.

Spike was the first to see it. He was swiping his brow of sweat from the heat of the day trying to clear his head when something on the horizon caught his eyes. What the... what is that!!? "Uh... Discord." He called out with a single claw pointing in the air.

Discord turned his head around like an owl the spinning it upside down before responding, "Yes Spike?"

Spike had resist the urge to shutter he didn't like it when Owlowiscious did that he sure didn't like it when Discord did it. Somehow he was sure Discord knew that too. "Uh..." Suddenly Spike couldn't think of what to say.

Discord shrugged and his face flashed back to the front of his head.

Only a few minutes later Applejack stop dead in her tracks. Twilight wasn't paying attention so she bumped into her. Twilight was about to apologize before something she saw shocked her into silence.

Applejack was about to say something but as she turned to see what was causing Twilight's jaw to drop. "Please tell me that is a mirage." Applejack blinked heavily before pointing off to the horizon.

Everypony looked off and couldn't believe what they saw either. Just barely visible along the horizon was a mountain. Or at least they thought it was a mountain. The only problem was that it appeared to be upside-down.

"Nope." Discord smirked looking back to savor the various forms of denial and broken brains

"That can't be... it's... it's impossible!" Twilight stammered out the words her eyes twitching ever so slightly.

"And yet there it is."

"But... I... it..." She pointed at the far off upside mountain before dropping her hoof.

"Well as much as I find broken Twilight amusing let’s keep moving."

Everypony just shook off their confusion and just left it as the Untamed Wilds being the Untamed Wilds sort of like Pinkie is just being Pinkie. Applejack had to rope Twilight and drag her along the ground as she continued to stutter nonsense.

---

"I see they have found Hourglass." Harmony rolled over in his throne. Normally he would have enjoyed seeing first time reactions for Hourglass but he was in no mood.

Where is your Loyalty? She had accused as memory came to him unbidden.

A familiar draconequus statue stood before him. A shifting rainbow hoof ran over the fear etched features of the face.

"I'm sorry Discord... I wish it hadn't taken me so long to find a way to end the madness that clouds you."

"You did everything pony possible." Celestia spoke walking up to Harmony and placing a put a hoof his shoulder.

"No I didn't, Celestia. I did not..." He hung his head further in shame walking out of the room without so much another word.

Tears soon stained the floor.

---

"But how!?" Twilight finally had snapped out of her stupor and now was pestering Discord for answers by asking questions a mile a minute. Everypony was giving them as much space as possible. They all knew better to stay away from her when she got that way. Luckily they could see where to go so they didn’t Discord to lead them anymore.

"Ugh really!?" Discord snapped an ice pack onto his head. "Must you need everything to be easily explained in a neat little package with a nice bow?!"

Twilight pouted a bit at that. She did not need everything explained.

Discord groaned the ice pack not helping his headache a bit. "You're the Bearer of Magic take a look at the ley lines."

Twilight grumbled a bit but did as Discord suggested. She took a few cleansing breaths and began the spell to ‘read’ ley lines.

It was going to be difficult to read that far out. True, she had figured how to counteract the chaotic interference back at Scorpan's but that didn't mean she had it mastered to the point of seeing the ley lines that far. The lines out here were always moving erratically and crisscrossing randomly. Stretching out her magic to mountain she nearly gasped. That can’t be right! The ley lines seemed to swirl up or down the mountain like a tornado before falling back towards the ground at the base of the mountain or peak. Twilight groaned getting a headache trying to deal with the contradictory terms. If that didn't do it the sheer amount of ley lines nearly gave her a magic backlash.

"And to think you only seeing half." Discord twiddled his thumbs trying to not let a smirk ruin his nonchalant expression.

"Half!?!" Another one of Twilight's hairs popped out of her mane. Discord saw this and knew her mind went tilt again.

"You are only seeing half of the Hourglass Ley Vortex. The other half is on the other side of the planet. Can't call it an hourglass with only the top half now can we? Of course the other half is made of water and is nigh on impossible to get close to..." Discord almost whispered the last part.

Twilight mouth slipped upward ever so slightly at Discords revelation.

"NO!" Discord nearly screamed waving his arms frantically in protest. Twilight gave him an odd look in return her curiosity only increased. Discord slapped his face with both hands and dragged his face down like a rubber band before letting go allowing his face to snap back to normal. "Sorry Twilight but I would stay away from there. The Chaos Bringer is imprisoned there."

"'Chaos Bringer!?' I thought you..."

Discord instantly stiffened up, his hands clenched in anger. "Never, ever, compare that creature to me. The 'Chaos Bringer' is the title that the draconequus gave what the alicorns call the 'Dark One' that the dragons refer to as the 'Nameless One'."

Twilight paled at that and after gulping a bit and breathing deeply for a few sections before she had the nerve to speak again. "Sorry Discord... I..."

"You didn't know." Discord finished for her. "I suggest strongly you keep that knowledge to yourself. We don't need an idiot like Trixie or a tyrant like Sombra trying to free him."

---

"You know for being a Keeper of Harmony you are sure lacking that right now."

Harmony glided down into a clearing in the forest below. Spike may be not a fully manifested Keeper but in a way Harmony knew that he was right. Even with Discord and him patching things up from Discord's long imprisonment time had changed both of them. It would take some work to get back into harmony with each other again. Landing on the grass he waited patiently.

Discord slid out of the shadows snapping a fruity drink into his hand. "You do know this will blow up in your face." He stated before slipping his drink.

"You have a better suggestion?" Harmony stood in defiance knowing full well what Discord's response would be. Discord lifted a claw in protest but thought better and just let his arm fall. "Thought so."

How right you were Discord. Harmony thought as he stared over the lights on the other thrones.

---

"So is Hourglass a mountain or a city?" Spike for once asked a question trying to figure out why Harmony wanted them to come here.

He could start to feel the pull of very powerful magic. He understood that dragons could detect magic fields. Most ponies had such weak fields that he could barely notice any magic coming from them. Twilight's was quite strong (even more so as an alicorn) and he knew it very well. Sometimes too well as he sometimes had to play guinea-dragon for some of her experiments. But this field seemed to just dwarf even Twilight's field. He could hazard a guess that it could be even stronger then when Twilight had all 4 alicorn magics within her.

"Um, yes and no. Hourglass is also a city on top of the mountain. Or is it the base?" Discord rubbed his temples trying to ease the pain of his headache. "I'm a creature of chaos and even I get headaches trying to get the terms right..."

"Wait I just realized if the mountain is upside-down..." Twilight was taking some notes down now that she could get a better look at the ley lines.

"Yes the 'top' is cold and snowy and the trees that grow on the sides are growing upside-down." Discord answered Twilight's unfinished question. "Looks like we should be in its shadow soon. Right around sundown too."

Discord was right. Just as the sun was beginning to set they could see ground both above them and below. Rainbow was having a bit of trouble dealing with the double ground and had to have help staying upright. Both Twilight's and Rarity's horns were acting up. Sparks would occasionally be seen coming off of their horns at random times. Applejack was having a bit of trouble not sinking into the ground. Pinkie Pie seems to only seem to get more Pinkie. Not something anypony wanted to experience.

"Shouldn't we stop to camp for the night?" Twilight asked "It's getting hard to function with the amount of ley lines in the area."

"Normally, yes. But we really should find..." Discord started to explain.

"What is that buzzing sound?" Spike interrupted.

"Buzzing?" Discord's ear perked up to this. Glancing into the sky he couldn't make out much other than some clouds and the mountain. He was about to ask Spike if he could still hear anything when he saw it: a dark cloud moving in an unusual faction. His blood ran cold. Changelings!

---

Harmony raised a curious muzzle to the screen. He furiously hissed. "Changelings!"

Author's Note:

Yep Hourglass is on top of an upside down mountain... its not like things can't get any stranger..... right?