When Dragons Meet
“How much longer?” Nova whined. His wings were burning from the long distance flight coupled with flying above the Untamed Wilds and its chaotic leyonic magic.
The green dragon of the Everfree Forest snorted fire as his anger reached his limit. “I swear by my claw if you say ‘are we there yet’ or anything like it one more time I will drop this wagon and…”
“He of Everfree,” Harmony turned around, flying backwards. He wanted to make sure the Hidden Claw didn’t misunderstand him, “ignore him. I really don’t want to have to explain a fight to He of Hourglass right now.”
“Then remind me again then why I agreed to come with this hatchling of a whelp!”
“Hey!”
Harmony facehoofed. “Because you are a dragon of your word. Plus, I know you are curious about the first dragon clan since before Discord’s time.”
“Um, Harmony…”
“He of Harmony, whelp.” He of Everfree growled. He knew the whelp knew the proper honorific. The hatchling like behavior was grating enough but the apparent lack of respect was making him reach his limit, again.
“He of Everfree, Nova, can we please stop this!? You two have been figuratively at each others throats for the past two days!” Harmony turned back around to look ahead. He narrowed his eyes and could just make out something on the horizon. “I do believe Nova has spotted our destination.”
“Destination!? Are you saying we are going to that!?”
“An upside down shouldn’t be possible mountain? Yes.”
“wha… bu… e..o….i” Nova lost all control in speaking words or flying as his wings locked up.
Harmony was not surprised with this reaction. He rushed after the now falling whelp. His horn glowed brightly as he caught Nova. Sweat poured from his forehead and the strain as almost too taxing. “NOVA BLAZE!”
“Huh?” Nova shook his head before looking up to see the struggling alicorn.
“Flap. I can’t hold you up indefinitely.”
”Oh… right..” Nova started flapping again so Harmony thankfully ended his spell.
Now that Nova was flying under his own volition again Harmony took the lead. Given the current conditions he figured it would be another couple of hours before they could finally land. Fortunately Nova and He of Everfree were too busy pushing ahead to get on each others nerves. With any luck he hoped it would remain that way. Two days of one of them bickering and the other whining would make even the ever patient Clestai lash out.
Sadly, Harmony’s luck ran out as they approached the rim of the mountain and suddenly saw that something was off. He signaled for everyone to hold. Both dragons grumbled at stopping so close to Hourglass.
“He of Harmony, why are we hovering out here? The city is just ahead.”
Harmony pointed towards the city. “Take a look again at the city, He of Everfree.”
He of Everfree squinted and noticed a strange almost imperceptible shimmering. “Is that a shield?”
“I think so, and if it’s on there will be no way to land either because the the magic cannons will most likely fire as well.”
“Then turn them off.” He of Everfree ordered. He was not in the mood for any delays. The wagon was really starting to get heavy and being so close to Hourglass only made it worse. And the less he thought of the whelp the better.
“I can’t and it shouldn't even be on. The defense system stop working a while back and we have not been able to get it back up. He of Hourglass would have sent a letter… I’ll try contacting him.” Harmony quickly wrote a message and tried to send it off. The massage burned up like normal but instead of heading off to Hourglass it just hovered in front of him. “It seems that the barrier also blocks dragon mail fire.”
A flash of light temporarily blinded everyone. Nova wobbled in his flight from being startled. Harmony and He of Everfree were a bit less affected by it and managed to remain hovering steadily.
Harmony managed to blink away his blindness first. “Discord!? What are you doing here?”
Discord was floating next to a tray with tea and biscuits. He was drinking as if nothing spectacular was going on. “Can’t I just pop in for tea?” He casually dipped his biscotti into his tea.
“He of Laughter enough of your snarky remarks and magic tricks. I may not be able to claw you but I can still burn you.”
“Fine.” Discord snapped the tea away. “First of all let’s get you in the city…”
“And how are you going to do that? The shield is up.”
“Yes, it is... Oddly though I can pass through the soap bubble.” Discord pulled out a giant bubble wand from Nova Blaze’s ear frill who was still trying to figure out what in Tartarus was the mix mashed freak.
“Then GET ON WITH IT!” He of Everfree roared shooting off a stream of flame over Discord’s head close enough to singe a few of his hairs.
Discord swung the bubble wand enveloping all of them into a bubble. With a snap the bubble floated towards the barrier.
“Must he do this! I…”
Harmony interrupted the ranting dragon. He knew It was rude but he was also at the end of his rope. “Yes. His magic can’t follow ‘logic.’”
He of Everfree grumbled but said nothing else as the the bubble floated through the shield. As soon as they went through the bubble and the shield popped out of existence.
“Wha?” Harmony looked about trying to figure out what exactly why the shield disappeared as soon as they passed through.
“Hmm… interesting.” Discord wondered out loud Harmony only response was to nod in agreement.
Harmony shook his head to get rid of his stupor. “Leave the wagon here. I’ll get it later. We need to first properly greet our hosts.”
“They are waiting near the library.” Discord said, leading the way down the boulevard.
“This is like some sort of ghost city.” Nova commented, observing all the half destroyed and dilapidated buildings they passed by.
“It was until recently and it still feels like it with only two dragons and an alicorn occupying a city that could easy hold a couple hundred dragons.”
A thought came to Nova, one that had plagued him for a while. As the moment of reckoning was approaching he couldn’t hold back his nerviness. “Um, Harmony?”
“This again! Whelp, use the ‘He of’ honorific.”
“He of Everfree quit being so antagonistic to my brother.”
“Brother?” He of Everfree eyed Nova for a moment. “Interesting…”
Nova tried to ignore the stare from the elder dragon and began to ask his question again. “Harmony after all I have done do you think…”
“The Dragon Keeper of Harmony is not a typical dragon, Nova. He is actually a bit like you to be honest.” He of Everfree huffed in irritation at that possibility. Harmony sighed, “I said he was a bit like Nova. I never said he has no sense of respect. If he did I would l say he was like Discord which he is not. I would have also not had even suggested for you to help out He of Everfree.”
“You do realize I can hear you.” Discord pouted.
With that silence came over the group as each were left in thought over recent events. Harmony and Discord were both trying to piece together why the shield activated and why it seemed to be affected by Discord. Discord also was thinking about the change in Harmony’s magic. Nova was still a bit nervous about the Dragon Keeper but didn’t want to keep pestering Harmony right then. He of Everfree was trying to wrap his head around Harmony’s revelation about the Dragon Keeper. He knew he would be different then most dragons due to growing up with ponies but he still hoped that it didn’t affected him in the wrong way.
Soon they made it to the library. The group could see a red and orange dragon standing near a purple and green dragon without wings and sparks flowing off of him. He of Everfree was a bit curious as to why the Keeper was wingless. Nova was more curious as to the sparks.
Before anyone could say anything He of Hourglass ran up to Harmony to the complete shock of He of Everfree and annoyance of Quartermaster. “He of Harmony thank the stars you are back and in one piece.”
“He of Hourglass I’m perfectly fine. I...”
He of Hourglass interrupted him by pulling him into a tight hug. Harmony could feel the tension coursing through the body of the dragon. He hugged back giving a reassuring pat on the dragon’s back. As suddenly as he was pulled into the hug it ended and He of Hourglass push him back to peer into his shimmering eyes. For a while He of Hourglass gazed unblinkingly into the eyes of Harmony. Both peered into the hearts of each other. Harmony saw the depths of the care that He of Hourglass had for his own. He of Hourglass saw something that brought tears to him. “The pain, it is gone…”
When they finally separated Harmony couldn't help but laugh at the shocked stare from the He of Everfree. “What were you expecting? Keepers were always known to be strange.”
“Right…” Nova crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. He of Everfree agreed with the whelp although he wasn’t to thrilled with the sarcasm.
“Firstclaw of the Hourglass Clan. I am the dragon of the Everfree Forest.” He of Everfree introduced himself with a slight bob of his head.
He of Hourglass let his gaze move upward. He had forgotten about his guests. “He of Everfree welcome to the City of Hourglass. I am known as He of Hourglass.”
“I am known Quartermaster.” Quartermaster made sure to show off his fangs as he growled out his name.
Quartermaster then eyed Harmony and Discord. He really hated the draconequus. The creature had popped into the city without permission and then He of Hourglass had the audacity to let him stay for a while. So far the creature had been lucky enough to stay out of his sight. To see the outsider again was not helping his mood. He had hoped he would not be returning.
It was then that he noticed the whelp. The white and neon blue whelp tried to put on the look of cool indifference but he could see right through that. He was clearly a scared little hatchling in the body of a whelp.
Though he was no taller than him Nova could tell that this dragonㅡQuartermasterㅡwas a force that could rival his brother Harmony. The other dragon also was much different though he still had a fierce air about him. At least it was much calmer, much like a bubbling creek then the rage of rapids. He couldn’t stop the urge to gulp as Quartermaster kept his glare fixed solely on him.
“I smell the stench of the outsider on you whelp. What makes you think you…”
“You dare call him ‘outsider’!” He of Everfree let his rage boil over. He shoved his head right between Nova and Quartermaster knocking over Nova.
Nova backuped along with Harmony. He shook as he whispered to Harmony. “Is it like this every time when dragons meet?”
“Yes.” Harmony facehoofed and shook his head.
“I expected more from your Secondclaw He of Hourglass. How a Keeper as Firstclaw would allow his clanmate insult a fellow Keeper. Is there no honor here?”
Quartermaster and He of Hourglass eyed each other at that. Both where unsure of how to respond to the accusation. There was no secondclaw of the clan… or if there was but they had yet to figure out who it was. And as much as it riled both to be accused of having no honor to answer would mean revealing that there was a weakness in the clan.
“Why do you let them treat you this way?” He of Everfree turned his head towards Harmony but when Harmony did not immediately answer he went back to Quartermaster. “Such talk is the mark of dragons who are weak.”
Quartermaster was losing his control. While he didn’t care for the outsider much less He of Everfree for defending the pony he did care about the attack on his Firstclaw’s honor.
“Watch it. You are in our territory.” Quartermaster clenched his claws in his anger.
“He of Everfree.”
He of Hourglass was at a lost on how to get the two dragons apart. While he was annoyed at Quartermaster usage of the word ‘outsider’ to describe He of Harmony he had not yet found a way to effectively stop him without resorting to a challenge. True, it would stop it but he wanted them to become friends in a natural way not by forcing it.
“He of Everfree!” All the dragons present turned their attention to the annoyed alicorn. “As much as I’m honored by your willingness to defend my honor, I will fight my own battles.” Harmony slowly closed his eyes to collect himself. “Having said that…” His eyes shot open and a brief visage of a dragon could be seen before he spoke with power. NEVER ACCUSE MY BROTHER OF LACKING HONOR.
Quartermaster and He of Everfree were shocked by Harmony’s ‘draconic’ rage outburst. He of Hourglass swelled in pride at hearing Harmony calling him brother as he was defending him. He was also a bit let down with himself with he indecision on stopping it sooner. Nova Blaze made a mental note not to anger Harmony as he attempted to shrink back.
At that Harmony turned and walked away from the dragons towards the council building. Discord has long disappeared clearly not wanting to be around postering dragons. Harmony wanted to know what he was doing here and figure that the draconequus was most likely there. Hopefully not doing anything to mess up the spell matrix.
Harmony walked in and to his relief the spell matrix was intact. He looked up to see that Discord was floating upside down near the ceiling apparently examining Harmony’s work. “I figured you might wait in here.”
Discord coiled himself right side while tying an anvil to his tail. The added weight cause him to drop like a rock to the floor. Harmony cringed, shutting his eyes from the expected impact. When nothing happened he opened his eyes to see that Discord had snapped the anvil away before it hit the floor and that he was now floating just off the floor. “I would have waited in the Council of Harmony chambers but I’m not sure if He of Hourglass would know that’s where we ran off to.
“Ha! Run for you; walked away for me.” Harmony mocked as payback for nearly being scared to death from Discord’s disappearing anvil.
“Do I want to ask?” The look that Harmony gave him answered his question. “Yeah I didn’t think so.”
At that neither one of them really had anything else to talk about. Discord twiddled his thumbs as time slowly past. Harmony was okay with the silence with so much going on it was nice to have a moment with nothing going on. It, however, got onto Discord’s nerves as he summoned a pink cotton candy cloud which proceeded to rain chocolate rain upside down and into a glass. “Chocolate milk?” Discord offered. Harmony facehoofed.
It was nearly an hour before the sounds of He of Hourglass opening the doors caught both Keepers attention. The dragon keeper look worse for wear. Harmony got up to greet him.
“He of Hourglass! Is everything going well, I hope.”
“For the moment. The whelp you brought seems to like you as he asked to be directed to your house.”
“He probably thought it was best to stay away from both Quartermaster and He of Everfree and must have thought that I would be there.”
“It’s more than that…” He of Hourglass knew there was something off about the whelp. Harmony’s most recent letter did confirm him being orphaned. Judging from his reactions it was clear he was orphaned very young. Hopefully that was why he seemed off. Note to self: talk to He of Harmony about Nova Blaze.
“He has not been around dragons for twenty years and I think the reality was not exactly what he expected...”
“That would explain it…” Well that did confirm to him that the dragon whelp had little to no experience dealing with dragons other than his parents. Still he seemed skittish and he knew that Harmony had at least given him a crash course on the code.
“I hope that Quartermaster and He of Everfree didn’t get into a challenge.”
“No.” He of Hourglass rubbed his forehead in frustration from the memory of the past hour. “He of Everfree has requested to rest in the forest on the edge of the mountain. That should be enough distance between them before He of Everfree leaves.“
“As much as I like all of this ‘dragon’ talk, I’m not here for that.” Discord finally piped up after letting He of Hourglass and Harmony dominate the conversation.
“Sorry, Discord. Go ahead.”
“Something occurred while you were in Ponyville. Your magic… Uh… er…” Discord trailed off as he found himself at a loss for the correct words.
He of Hourglass growled in annoyance. He of Laughter had two days to sort out what he needed to say and now he was stuttering. “He of Laughter, enough. What is it?”
“That’s just it. I’m not sure that’s just it. Something crazy happened to Harmony’s magic.”
“Discord.” Harmony rubbed his forehead trying not to get upset himself. “I have been coughing and vomiting draconic ash… Are you sure it’s not that?”
“No. I’m positive it wasn’t a negative fluctuation but it definitely was a doozy whatever it was.”
“Hm… Let’s go to the Harmony Plane maybe between your and my memories we can figure it out.”
In a flash all three had disappeared from the Hourglass council chambers and appeared in the Plane of Harmony. Harmony quickly took off his cloak. He always felt it was disrespectful to be wearing clothes in the Harmony Plane even though it wasn’t that sacred of a place. He quickly folded it up and put it into his saddlebags.
He of Hourglass noticed something odd about Harmony’s normally shifting colors. “Harmony did you fall into paint?”
“Huh?” Harmony craned his neck to examine himself. He slowly checked himself over but he couldn’t see anything until he saw that a small area on his flank was static. He collapsed from the shock while tears burst from his eyes.
“He of Harmony what is wrong?” He of Hourglass asked. The concern and worry that had lifted off of him came back with a vengeance.
Harmony just kept crying. To see the return of his cutiemark even if only a piece was too much.“‘You will find your joy again.’” That pink mare is freaky… but she is very attuned to joy.
“What is that suppose to mean?” He of Hourglass blinked in confusion. He looked at Discord for an explanation but he only shrugged.
Harmony sniffed a few times before he answered. “You remember my lesson on cutiemarks, He of Hourglass?”
He of Hourglass nodded even though he was still not entirely sure what was going on. “Then what does it mean?”
“Joy.”
“A Blueish…” Discord pulled out an overly large magnifying glass to examine Harmony's cutiemark. “Fireball is joy?!?!
Harmony roughly grabbed the magnifying glass and smashed it. “Yes.” Discord knew better than to examine a cutiemark in that fashion.
“Does that mean...?” Discord massaged his head feeling like he was going to get a headache.
“No.” Harmony shooked his head. “The Joy Harmony Magic is still within the Element that much I’m sure of.”
“But then how can this be? I thought it was impossible for you to get your cutiemark back without taking the Harmony magic back… Also, it’s different than before. Are you sure its not some sort of cutiemark related disease?” Discord snapped a large book with the title Unusual Pony Diseases and preceded to to flip frantically through it.
“I know every disease known to ponykind dealing with cutiemarks. It was part of my the research into finding a cure for Magic Wasting Disease. I’m positive this a real cutiemark and not something like Cutie Pox. Still… I’ll have Scorpan take a look.”
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simple, no creature can give up a part of itself and not have his body/soul want to replace it. that's what is happening to him
as for the ash and dragon visage, he's been around dragons so long Ill bet their magic has been slowly effecting him, and now he's been around it enough he's gonna change into a dragon, or as close as he can get to one
5720511
Interesting theory but in an earlier chapter it was pointed out that the dragon magic was not there during the Magic Wasting Disease treatment which occurred during THKoH which is was 2-3 months before the 'first' ash incident... and I put first in quotes as it has happened before but not without Harmony being around dragon smoke... being that coughing up ash is a smoke inhalation symptom... so is the fainting for that matter... the vomiting is different though...
Something had to have happened between Chaotic Rainbow Fire and Mystery at the Oasis
so the idea of dragon magic slowly effecting him seems a bit off don't you think?
5720557
nope. remember he has been around dragons for hundreds if not thousands of years. if the dragon magic was or would effect a creature it might take that long to show up, and since he is the only creature that has lived that long and been around them almost constantly then it would be logical for the magic to start to effect him over that time. and only now start showing up. remember he was at a Choosing, which by the way it was described released a large amount of dragon magic, that could have been just what was needed to push him over the edge and have the magic start changing him.
5720652
thousands... as for your theory about the Choosing being the 'trigger' maybe yes maybe no.
Would/could being around dragons that long possible have an effect on someone like Harmony? yes. In the way you describe
... not likely
Dragon magic is based on power/strength Alicorn/pony on Order...
ie a pony would use a precise controlled stream of magic get inside a locked door. A dragon magic would destroy the door either way they would get inside. dragon magic is not as precise Harmony made a note of this when GH was using an invisibility spell on himself.
There is a reason for Harmony asking Scorpan if the Dragon magic was overpowering his Alicorn magic when it was found out that he was naturally producing dragon magic. The dragon magic should have overpowered alicorn magic or at least dominate not submissive/equal. Check out the discussion at the end of Chaotic Rainbow Fire...
Dragon magic is higher then alicorn/pony. This means that while dragon can effect alicorn/pony very easily the opposite is not true
... Do dragons ever interact with each other in a way that actually sounds like they do respect each other? We've never seen dragons not actually argue like petty jerks and haven't seen the ones claiming that the others are "disrespectful" act with any amount of respect other than following the code of saying the right name for people.
5720758
Well be frank He of Everfree is cranky... and you would be too after 2 days of lugging a wagon and listening to the whines of a childish whelp.
And it should come to no surprise remember when spike first met the dragons during dragon quest?
What set it off was Quartermaster's use of the term "Outsider"(which can be considered a minor insult) in reference to Harmony which got He of Everfree ticked off.
GH was not being a jerk here so....
And remember it was Harmony that said it was like this "every time" and considering he has had troubles with dragons accepting him right away....
Also most dragons don't interact much outside of the migration...
did nova get his guitar yet, or is it still being manufactured?
5722561
no still being manufactured
5722715 ok, and discord is back, hopefully he doesnt do anything stupid again, like turn quartermasters scales pink lol
5722733
No he isn't going to do *snicker* turn QM pink *snicker*
5722959 XD
How often does Ms. Clestai lash out? In all seriousness though, I'm almost caught up to the current chapter as of 3/16/15 and I still don't know wtf is going on. Is this a sequel to another story?