> The Last Keeper of Harmony
>  by Rammy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"There can only be one princess in Equestria! And that princess will be me!"
"Luna, I will not fight you! You must lower the moon! It is your duty!"
"Luna? I am... Nightmare Moon! I have but one royal duty now: to destroy you!"
"Oh, dear sister. I am sorry, but you have given me no choice but to use these."
"Nooooooo!"







The night was strangely quiet for the forest; never before had the Everfree been so quiet. An oily smoke lingered in the air, a slight hint of arcane magic mixed in. A castle, now in ruins, rose above the tree tops.

A cloaked pony stood for a moment taking this all in. The castle before him, the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, had seen better days. Huge holes littered the walls and roof. Shattered fragments of stained glass windows were scattered along the ground, and once proud statues stood broken. It was clear that a fierce battle had just occurred.

The pony warily moved closer. No guards were around as he nudged a secret entrance open. This does not bode well. He mused, blinking a bit at the sudden darkness that wrapped around its form. He only paused long enough to get used to the dark before moving forward with practiced hooves. After a few moments, the corridor brightened. Ahead, as the hall turned to the left, light poured out. As he got closer, on both sides of the corridor, pony armor on display became visible.

He turned the corner, hooves loudly crushing shattered glass. A hoof lifted up to carefully maneuver around the glass. He took a moment to look up. Outside, past a glassless window, the moon could been seen, rising above the crest of the treetops. A shadow of a unicorn mare could be seen upon its surface. He stared intently at the sight, silently debating on its meaning.

Odd. The pony thought.

He continued to move carefully around the debris. Once he made it halfway down the corridor, he turned to see a door half off its hinges. Sliding through the gap, he entered a grand hall that appeared to be a throne room. Two thrones stood at the end of the hall, and above each one was a formerly gorgeous tapestry, now hanging torn and scorched. Interestingly, only one of the royals was there, and was laid across the wrong throne, no less.

The ears under the cloak twitched slightly, as the sounds of soft sobbing drifted in the air. The sobs were coming from the white alicorn mare with a sun cutie mark, laying across the throne underneath the blue tapestry. Her mane was listless and dull, hanging limply upon her back and shoulders. Her coat matted, cut, and scorched.

He was about to ask what had happened when his hoof brushed up against something hard. Curiosity and concern morphed into rage as he looked down to see six stone orbs. He could feel the dying remains of harmony magic emanating from them. His fury broke out, echoing across the chambers and scaring some birds who were still nearby into a startled flight. 

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE, CELESTIA?!"

"Knight!" Celestia gasped, her head snapping up. She recognized the deep voice. Turning, she saw the cloaked pony, the eyes from within the cloak glowing white in anger and power. She gulped slightly.

Stomping a hoof loudly the stallion that Celestia called 'Knight' angrily retorted, "DON'T YOU 'KNIGHT’ ME! HARMONY HAS BEEN SHATTERED ON YOU AND YOUR SISTER’S WATCH!" He lowered his voice, irritated at the echo drowning out his voice, "Did you forget the safeguards? Or did you decide to not heed my instructions?!"

"But I... I had no choice," Celestia managed to blubber out, ending in a very noticeable squeak.

NO CHOICE!! Knight roared sending a blast of air and mana that shattered what remain of the windows and sent Celestia tumbling back behind the thrones. "NO CHOICE!?"

Why does everything always have to go sideways?  Why must disharmony always occur in Equestria just before I get here? Knight thought to himself, trying to calm his rage. He needed to figure out the reason for the moon's recent course reversal as well as the reason for Celestia's 'choice' and he was positive both were related.

“Where is Luna?” 

At this Celestia burst into tears once again gazing at the blue tapestry above her between bouts of sobs. Knight just stood there impatiently waiting for Celestia to collect herself. Just as he was about to voice his displeasure she began her tale from the moment that she confronted Luna until the current moment. At the end of it Knight could do nothing but shake his head in disappointment. He had expect better of the Princesses of Equestria.

Celestia chewed her lip before asking the question that she feared the answer to. "What can be done about my sister?"

Knight looked towards the moon before returning his gaze back to Celestia. Thoughts swirled in his head as he formulated a response. "Until new bearers are chosen? Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Yes, nothing." Knight growled, annoyed at Celestia's tone. "The elements were taxed beyond their limit and are useless until they have recovered enough to reform and that could take anywhere from a few decades to several centuries."

"Then..."

"If she was infested by a nightmare then yes." A quick flash of light, and a green and purple egg, with a faint shimmering rainbow aura around it, floated carefully towards Celestia. "Take this dragon egg. With it you should find the new Bearer of... what did you call it again? 'Magic’, right, fine."

Oh my dear little brother, I pray that you hatch soon... harmony is needed, and we have lost it again this night. Knight called out silently, watching sadly as Celestia carefully took the egg in her golden aura.

"Guard it and the hatchling with your life. For if it dies, Princess Celestia, I will make your death a long and torturous one. The fate of this world rests on the dragon within."

With a swish of his tail, the stallion silently turned around and disappeared into the shadows, leaving only the echo of of his hooves on the stone floor in his wake.






**A night 1001 Summers Later**







Spike blinked as he watch what he hoped were stars shimmering far above him. There was nothing else he could see in the dark void that surrounded him. He nervously rubbed the spines atop of his head. Where am I? Looking down he could see that there was no ground which — of course — proved to be a mistake. He suddenly felt dizzy, and the void below him though groundless oddly seemed closer, far too close.

Please tell me I'm dreaming, he thought, trying to hold his spinning head.

"Uhh... Luna?... Anypony?" The dragon called out. This place was making him way too nervous. He really hoped that Luna would show up; he again begged silently that he was dreaming.

"Little brother..." a baritone, male voice, barely audible, echoed from all around.

"Hello?" The dragon ignored his continued dizziness and began looking around slowly. He dared not moved from where he was; he wasn’t sure if moving would cause him to fall. He still wasn't even sure if he wasn’t already falling.

"Little brother..." the voice called again, louder.

"Who's there?" Still, Spike found nothing and nopony. This never goes well in comics, he thought, grabbing the spade at the end of his tail, sucking on it.

"Your big brother of course," the voice chuckled slightly.

"But you're not Shining Armor," Spike dropped his tail irritation overriding his easier fear.

Could this be a prank by Discord? But I didn’t think he could enter dreams... can he?

"No, of course not," The agreement only caused the dragon confusion. Was the voice’s no a no to his objection or his thought about this being Discord?

"Then who are you? I thought only Princess Luna could enter dreams," He absentmindedly smoothed his head spines.

"This plane isn't the realm of dreams, but you are asleep..."

"Then where are we?" Spike’s curiosity overtook him as he looked around again to try and see anything.

"This place has many names... but it is known to non-keepers as the Plane of Destiny or Plane of Memories. However to those like us, it's the Plane of Harmony," Seemingly to confirm this, memories of Spike suddenly appeared around him. Spike looked at them in wonder, reaching out a claw to touch one. Just as he was about to make contact, the memories shimmered, and disappeared back into the void.

Spike fell over backwards from the shock, and the voice seemed to find amusement in this, chuckling softly.

The dragon shook his head to bring himself out of his stupor, "Us?...Non-keepers... Plane of Harmony?" All of this was only adding to his confusion.

"All in good time, brother..."

"You're not my brother!" Spike pouted, wanting to find the voice and give it a good haircut, dragon style. "Who are you?"

"It’s not time yet to reveal myself... besides, I don't have the strength to come to you yet..." The last part sounded almost sickly, weak.

"Why are you speaking to me?" He tilted his head, trying to wrap his mind around everything.

"All in good time, my brother. I will explain everything when the time comes... So many questions! You deserve answers, but I see we don't have the time."

"What do you mean, no time?" Spike scratched his head trying to figure out the puzzle to this deflective voice. A tingling feeling of frustration crept up his spine.

Spike

"How did you know my name?" But the voice did not respond, "How did you know my name?"

Spike

"I will be there soon, but I have a warni..."

Spike...

"..ware of The Dar..."

Wake up Spike...

"Huh... wha?" Spike blinked groggily, and realized that he was back in his basket in the library treehouse in Ponyville.

"Spike, you silly dragon, it's time to get up. It's your birthday, remember?" A female voice called out. Spike took a moment longer than usual to recognize that it was Twilight. He sighed.

"Coming Twi’."
> A Size Problem
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


** 15 years after Luna's redemption **


A groove nearly an inch deep bored deep into his mind. It screamed at him, laughing evilly at his plight. If he could he would destroy the groove but he didn’t want to have to re-shelf the library as punishment, again. A tired claw moved slowly across the groove. With his eyes he could see every imperfection, every scratch, every, single, one.

Why am I stuck like this?

As if to answer his silent question Twilight spoke, putting her hoof lightly on his shoulder, "I have gone through every book on dragon biology that I could find from Canterlot, the Crystal Empire, and the Castle of the Two Sisters. I even tried talking to some dragons during the recent dragon migration. Big mistake. No one can seem to explain your lack of growth not even Zecora who helped during your *cough* greed growth. The only theory that I have is that it has something to do with your hatching,” His eyes remained downcast, even after she pulled Spike’s head towards her, “Spike, I will not give up I’m sure the answers are out there, somewhere."

Spike looked up at his sister. "I know Twilight…” Changing the subject, to end the uncomfortable conversation he asked, “Isn't it time for a Council of Friendship?"

Twilight blinked a bit, chewing her lip. It was clear to Spike that her mind debated on whether to keep trying to cheer him up or to let it go for the moment. Spike hoped for letting it go. "Of course, are you coming? Or do you need some time?"

"No, Twilight. I'm coming." Spike followed Twilight still trying to put on a smile.

The morning's council went by unusually slow—or maybe it was fast. Spike had a hard time concentrating on the matters at hand. He could vaguely remember several dealings with conflicts between griffons and ponies on Equestria's frontier. The typical family dispute between Derpy and her husband. There was even a letter from Princess Celestia asking for a consultation from the council on a matter concerning some of the nobles in Canterlot. Spike rarely put forward any input on the issues being discussed and debated. 

Why am I so small?

How can I protect the ones I care for?

How can I be a noble dragon when I'm so small that they all have to protect me?

When they broke for lunch at the park for a light picnic of daisy sandwiches and cider Spike still didn’t feel well. Spike had a small ruby for a treat from Twilight. She had tried giving him a few more gems but Spike only replied that he wasn't very hungry. Spike did feel hungry but something else gnawed at him that was more powerful than a growling stomach. He sat there staring off, clawing his ruby idly.

One by one, the girls eyed each other as they shared a knowing glance. It was clear that they knew that there was something on his mind. Usually he would be more attentive at the meetings. He was usually the one to take notes on the proceedings but Rarity had to take over when he fell behind. He hadn't been that disinterested for years. He loved to help. The final straw for them must be the ruby. He loved gems so much that he had a tendency to eat all his saved gems while making a gem cake leaving none for the cake. 

Rarity was the first to speak. "Spike, are you are right, darling? You have been unusually quiet this morning."

"I'm fine, Rarity," Spike mumbled, not looking up.

"Are you sure Spike?" Rarity pushed further, using her signature poutty face.

"Nothing is wrong!" Spike finally looked up, frustration leaking through his voice.

"Darling, we are only concerned about you. We are all friends here. We just want you to be happy. Please, we want to help." She tried to put a reassuring hoof on his shoulder but Spike only moved away from the gesture.

"You can't help. No one can. No one... no one..." With a puff of smoke Spike got up hastily and ran back to the Palace of Friendship sobbing as he went.

"Let him go girls. I think he just needs some time. I'll try talking to him later," Twilight sighed putting a hoof in front of Rainbow slowing shaking her head. “Not now Rainbow.”





The rays of Celestia's sun was low in the sky when Twilight stood outside a door. She inwardly debated on whether to knock or not her hoof rising and lowering. After a bit of against won and she softly called out. "Spike?"

"Yes, Twilight?" Came the weak voice of Spike.

"It will get better. Don't give up. We will find an answer."

"I know..." His voice trailed off at the end.

“You know that we are all here for you. Every book I've read says that its not good to hold in your emotions. Your friends don't want you to go through this alone. Don't forget that.”

“I know Twi!” Spike suddenly snapped. He cringed a bit before starting again, ”I know Twi… I'm just tired, okay... can't we talk about this tomorrow?”

Twilight again found herself in debate. Warily, she went with not pushing further. "Sure thing. G'night my little brother." She slowly turned around, trotting off to her study.





Spike once again stared into the dark void with stars. He sighed heavily at this and waited patiently. He had gotten used to this happening over the years. He bet ten bits on what the first words would be.

"I'm coming soon," The voice called out.

"This is getting old.” Spike tapped his claws. I owe myself ten bits. He smirked to himself.

After the usual no response, Spike let out condensing, “Hello?” Again, no response. He was not in the mood for this, not tonight. He snorted, flames and smoke coming out of his snout. He was doing that more lately. Twilight didn't know why his flames came out like that when he got angry. They never did before.

“Who are you?" Spike shouted to the voice trying to get it to at least talk.

"Really? My little brother..." 

Spike's anger finally boiled over, "Enough! I'M NOT YOUR BROTHER!!! I AM TIRED OF YOU TALKING IN RIDDLES AND INVADING MY DREAMS!" Spike spewed a torrent of green flames. His eye’s blinked feral-like for a moment. His claws clenched so hard that a bit of blood trickled down his hands.

"Calm yourself, Spike. I will tell you everything..."

"YEAH RIGHT YOU HAVE BEEN SAYING THAT SINCE... since." Spike's voice died a bit at the end. He sat down and wrung his tail a bit, blood smearing his bright scales.

"Your birthday all those years ago?" The voice finished Spike’s sentence.

"Hmph."

"I know you are angry, and you deserved answers. You need to remain harmonious on this plane or we will invite the ‘Dark One’ here. If he finds you too soon you may not live long enough to receive the answers you seek."

"I… I..." 

"You’re frustrated about your size." 

The voice is on a roll tonight. Spike mused. Still he needed to ask, "How did you know??!?"

The voice chuckled, softly. “Really?" Memory after memory played before Spike all of them similar. One was especially sore for him as it showed him snapping at Rarity earlier that day. He cringed a bit really not wanting the reminder.

"Plane of Memories... how could I forget?" He crossed his arms.

"I know why..."

Spike interrupted throwing his arms up in desperation, "Tell me! I need to know." He started running around, begging, trying to find the voice so that he could get his answers. "You keep invading my dreams for years. You never tell me your name. You know I'm having troubles and still you don't tell me what I need to know. What I must know! No more riddles… please.”

Great, now I'm pleading with a disembodied voice! Spike facepalmed at the ridiculousness of his pleading.

"Patience...” The voice went silent for a moment, ”But I will not tell you here...hmmm... It's time, time that I come see you in person..."

"Hello?"

The silence went on for a while before Spike’s vision blurred and faded into black.

Gah, not again!
> The Chaos Capital... Again?!?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"...It's time, time that I come see you in person..."





Spiked yawned heavily, stretched popping a few spines, and peered out to see Celestia's sun smiling back at him through the window.

Wait!?!? Smiling? Spike did a double take before blinking hard a few times. Yep, smiling. He smugly added when he noticed the sun was now sticking out his tongue, or hers, or whatever.

"DISCORD!!!!" There was no mistaking that voice even with the slight distortion that comes from using the Canterlot Royal Voice: Twilight.

CRASH

Spike sighed before opening his bedroom door steeling himself for whatever chaos would greet him on the other side.

Books were flying about except not in a magic aura, usually magenta, but with little feathered wings. Twilight was clearly flustered as her mane in a mess and she sported small cuts all over. She was trying, frantically, to hold on to a book titled War Pony. Apparently the book didn't want to go down without a fight as it snapped open and shut.

Suddenly a book fluttered by Spike a few of its feathers tickled his nose. “Achoo!” Green flames licked out of his open mouth posting the nearest book to Celestia. Opps.

"SPIKE!!" Twilight yelled noticing the aftermath of Spike's sneeze.

"Sorry, Twi. At least I posted it this time." Spike sheepishly replied. He growled in frustration as he attempted to snatch a book out of the air. They kept fluttering just out of his reach almost as if to mock him. He seriously thought of burning them.

Twilight shook her head stifling a giggle, probably, at the dragon’s growing frustrations at being thwarted by flying books. "I know, but maybe it would be best if you try and not catch these... ow..." a book hit the back of her head then flew off, "books..."

"But Twi."

She knew that his whole self esteem was tied in his perceived usefulness but she also didn’t want him to have guilt from posting or Celestia fordid burning her precious books. "I know you want to help but as these books seems to take a pleasure in tickling... I don't think Celestia wants or should be trying to catch these enchanted books." 

Spike hung his head, a single tear dropping to the ground. He hated feeling useless and right now it appear he was useless to Twilight. He was her number one assistant after all and a number one assistant with nothing to do...

She landed next to him and lifted his head to look into Spike's eyes. "Spike while I may not need your help I'm sure there is somepony in this chaos that will need your help. I highly doubt that Discord only enchanted just the library books."

"Okay Twilight," He dejectedly turned to walk out into Ponyville proper.

He had barely walked outside when he could feel and hear rumbling. He looked down to see some rocks bouncing on the ground. Slowly he looked back up. His eyes went wide when he saw what was coming down the lane.

A herd of parasprites with legs was stampeding right towards him. Spike tripped over his tail trying to back up. He barely had time to get back on his feet when the parasprites ran by nearly knocking him over again.

"Gosh darn it! Get back here y'varmints!" Applejack ran after the herd with a small dog barking beside her.

"Hey Applejack!" Spike called out with a claw to the air. When he saw that Applejack hadn't heard him he drop his claw and head. Guess she didn’t hear me.

"Heee. Hee. Hee. Whee!!!!"

Spike snapped up to see Pinkie Pie bouncing in the wake of some odd looking low lying clouds raining what suspiciously looked like chocolate milk.

I don't think I'll ever understand Pinkie Pie... If anypony besides Cheese understood Pinkie we'd all be in a world of hurt... Spike shook his head in amusement at Pinkie being Pinkie.

"Hey, wait up for me!" Spike called out trying to catch up. His short legs, however, made it difficult to keep up. Suddenly both ponies disappeared in a flash.

Uh.... okay… He scratched his head in confusion.

He tried his best but nopony would to listen to him. He wasn't too mad about it as most ponies that he ran into were in either in a state of shock or too panicky to really notice. At a loss as to what else to do he decided to see if he could find Mayor Mare. At least she usually remained calm. Years of public service in a backwoods village that seemed to be a weirdness magnet would do that to a pony. The town square would be the most likely spot to look. 

When he got to the town square he noticed that the town hall was spinning in the air a brown earth mare hanging on to the building for dear life. Wings would be really helpful right about now.

"Strike!... Oh wait, how do you strike with only 6 pins?" Called out a voice,an all too familiar. Once he move his gaze back to the ground he confirmed it was exactly who he thought it was: Discord.

"DISCORD!" Spike roared. The roar sounded a bit off but he was too angry to make note of it.

"Ah, Spike! Glad you could join me. Care to play?" Discord motioned his lion paw to the six ponies now transformed into bowling pins scattered about the town square.

"Discord turn them back now!" Spike yelled, a puff of smoke escaping his nostrils.

"Sure. Why not? No fun without 10 pins..." Discord shrugged.

"Wait.. what?" Spike was not expecting that and dropped his accusatory claw in confusion.

"I am reformed remember?" Discord snapped his tail to prove his point as the pony pins turned back into ponies.

"Yeah... right..." Spike deadpanned, crossing his arms.

"Really, I'm reformed now," A halo appeared above Discord to prove his point.

"Says the self proclaimed 'spirit of chaos and disharmony.'" A thought occurred to Spike before he continued, "Why are you doing this anyway?"

"It's just that I heard that you were troubled about your size or should I say lack of size."

Spike ignored Discord’s invasion of his privacy but rolled his eyes none the less. He knew that there was more going on. There was always something else going on with Discord. 

"Discord get to the point."

"Well you seem to think that you are always underhoof, weak, unable to help, useless..." He checked each off on a list that he had snapped in front of him. A pair of reading glasses perched precariously on the tip of his nose.

Spike swiped his claws at Discord shredding the list.

"Oooh looks like I struck a nerve." He took off his glasses and threw them behind him which promptly turned into a frog and croaked.

Spike only response was to growl menacingly.

"You're so cute when you growl. So baby like..." A baby bonnet appeared on Spike's a head along with a baby pacifier which hung limply around his neck. "Aww I just want to pinch your little checks," Sharp teeth snapped at Discord's outstretched claw. "Hey no need for violence... I'm only trying to help... as a friend"

"A friend!?" Spike snapped.

"A friend doesn't go about making ponies' lives miserable. A friend knows when pranks are going to far and this..." He pointed a claw around Ponyville, "...is too far. And I know that you know that this is too far. Have you not learn anything from the Tirek incursion when you betrayed not only all of Equestria but your friends, especially Fluttershy. Or when you didn't help during the third Changeling invasion? Rarity's wedding..."

"I..." Spike eyed Discord something was off. Discord, for once in his life, was intently paying attention. This was very odd for Discord, to intently listen to any speech especially one like this one. Usually Discord would interrupt with some form of ‘Boooring’, but here he was thoughtfully pulling on his beard. He floated there for a minute before his realized that Spike had stopped speaking.

"How interesting..." Discord commented, clearly to no one particular.

"In... ter... res... ting!?!?" Spike chewed on each syllable trying to contain his confusion, never mind his rising anger.

"Yes—interesting... but enough of about that,” Discord seemed to have snapped back to his usual self. "I do say, my boy, you have passed." He stamped a red A+ on Spike's head.

"Passed?" The hatchling ignored his stinging head.

"Boooooring..." A pillow popped next to Discord's head and he lazily laid his head on it fake snoring.

"Discord..." Spike’s voice icly, a puff of smoke escaped his now clenched jaw.

"Yes, Yes, fine, fine, you passed my little test." Discord held out his eagle claw examining it intently.

Twilight screamed out, "Test!? A test! You did all this as a test?"

"How odd... I do believe I'm having a strange sense of deja-vu." Discord tapped his face in fake bewilderment.

"You should," Twilight stated as Spike calmed a bit. He noted that Twilight seemed to have the situation in hand, for the moment. Discord looked to be lost at her remark.

"Gah! You don't remember the Tatzlwurm? Being stuck at Fluttershy's for a week without your ability to do chaos?"

Discord merely shrugged, "Well... to be honest with you that was a test that I came up with. This one I did not." He pulled out a nail file from Twilight's ear and nonchalantly filed his claw.

"You 'did not’?" Twilight almost looked like she was going to burst into flames. Discord causally pulled out camera which of course tipped Twilight into doing just that. 

"Ooo pretty fireworks!" He cooed taking a few pictures. The flashes blinded everypony.
Twilight calmed down momentarily when Spike put his claws on her shoulder. He whispered into her ear, "I got this, Twi." He spoke louder so all could hear. "What do you mean you didn't come up with this 'test'?" 

"Oppsie, spoilers... well ladies..." Spike gave him a very sharp glare, "... and dragon. I have to go. It's been nice..." He turned to Fluttershy and whispering slightly too loud, "Oh and Flutters I will be there on the nose."

"Arrivederci!" Nearby Discord balloons stuck their tongues out. With a snap of his tail Discord disappeared in a flash leaving a very confused group of ponies and dragon behind.





On a hill overlooking Ponyville near the edge of the Everfree Forest a lone cloaked pony stood watching intently. A slight breeze rustled the leaves in the trees; a few birds chirp contently from the branches. The pony had been standing there watching Discord's chaos for sometime now. So intent in watching that even some of the birds had landed on the ground nearby, pecking at the ground.

The sun, now without a smile, was low to the horizon when he finally stirred. He stretched a bit before he turned toward the ever darkening forest. He debated on whether to go ahead and leave before finally deciding on waiting a bit longer.

"As always your brand of laughter always top notch," He suddenly spoke. 

"I'm too modest to boast," Discord answered popping from out of nowhere in front of the stallion. He eyed the remaining of his handy work for a moment with a slight odd frown on his face.

"You? Modest? Really, Discord?"

A silence passed before them for a few moments before Discord decided to end the, for him at least, awkward silence. "Is that enough H..." A rainbow magic aura clamped down on Discord’s mouth to stop him from speaking.

"Shhh.... that would spoil the surprise."

"But...bbbut you can't break the fourth wall," Discord blubbered, scratching his head.

"Of course not, but I have been around you long enough know how to imitate it."

For the third time in his long life Discord was completely taken aback his jaw, literally, hanging all the way to the ground.

The stallion chuckled at this before he disappeared into the Everfree Forest. Soon Discord could only see darkness as Luna's moon rose into the sky. He stood in a daze for a long time before he shook his head, snapped a claw, and disappeared.
> The Meaning Behind Chaos
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



Dear Princess Celestia,

As you already know Discord has caused chaos in Ponyville, again. While Discord has from time to time played pranks he has not been this destructive in years. Furthermore, something was off about Discord. He implied that somepony else was behind his latest ‘remodel' of Ponyville. The Council of Friendship and I are concerned that this may be a repeat of the Tirek incursion. When we gave up the Elements of Harmony we lost the only known way of keeping Discord inline. I have done some research (after what happened with Tirek) on some other possible magic artifact(s) or magic that could help:  

In my research that I have done I have concluded that the chest "seed" and the magic contained within that created the Friendship Place and allowed us to defeat Tirek seems to be a one time deal. I would consider retrieving the Elements of Harmony but the Tree of Harmony can’t survive without the Elements. We don’t want to trade one problem for another.

Sadly, the Rainbow of Friendship doesn't seem to have the same abilities of the Elements of Harmony. I do find it odd that we traded the power of the Elements for something that seems to be much weaker. I have tried before to discover the secrets of this crystal tree but have been fruitless so far. I will however not stop there must be something hidden within the Palace and preferably to help keep Discord in check if and when this happens again.

On that note, I have considered the Crystal Heart. However, it only works within the Crystal Empire so unless we can trick Discord it's out.

I know this is a long shot, but do you know of any other magic that may reign in Discord? Also any thoughts on who may have made Discord do such a thing? I would think he would have learn from the last time he "helped" somepony.

Yours faithfully,

Twilight Sparkle







Beads of sweat dripped down Spike's face as he picked up another book from a huge pile. The last six books where larger than himself and nearly squashed him with their weight.

I swear that Twilight is getting heavier and heavier books for the library.

"Yoo-hoo... Spppike!"

“Yes, Rarity?" He put the book in its proper spot before turning to greet her. It was always a treat to see her even if he was smelly and disheveled from all the book shelving...

Rarity took one look at him and tsked, "Darling, you look terrible. You really need to take a break before you collapse," She pulled out a lady's tissue with her magic and wiped Spike's face. "There, better." She seemed satisfied with that as she finally eyed the piles of books, "Now, darling, I must insist on helping you."

“But Rarity…” Spike halfheartedly protested.

“I insist,” She stated putting her hoof, so to speak, down.

He still had feelings for the mare but he would do anything to make her happy. It was a good thing that Spotlight was such a good stallion to her otherwise he would have had to resort to... he quickly pushed the darkening thoughts away. He knew that Rarity would disapprove of it if she ever found out that he let his thoughts go down that path.  He kinda of swore off of that too after what happened on his birthday and those jerks...

Soon they had settled into a routine where Spike would read a title of a book then showed Rarity where the book went. She would then put the book away while Spike would grab a different book to carry it to its spot. On the occasion that a book or scroll were too large or heavy they would work together. Before they knew it the sun was low to the ground and the floor was without a single book, scroll, or scrap of parchment.

Spike’s stomach growled loudly. Rarity glared at him before a very unladylike sound came from her. She turned slightly red at the sound. "I do feel a bit peckish don't you? Ponyville is having a citywide dinner picnic in town square. Let’s go get something to eat, shall we?"

He happily nodded in agreement. They walked out of the palace. A good amount of the town was back to normal although there were still puddles of curdled chocolate milk. Both of their noses wrinkled as they passed those puddles. Spike even looked a bit greener than usual. They picked up their pace a bit and after avoiding a flock of fruit shaped birds they made it to town square. Spike and Rarity wandered around the square until they found a group of familiar ponies. They were sitting near the entrance to town hall.

Spike hadn't seen Twilight so frazzled in a long time. She appeared almost as bad as when Spike got the awful 'Inspiration Manifestation’ book for Rarity. "You look awful, Twilight," he commented sitting down next to her while Rarity sat next to a blue stallion with a spotlight for a cutie-mark.

Twilight frowned heavily which caused Spike to smirk. She rolled her eyes. "Fluttershy, Big Mac, you spend the most time with Discord, any thoughts?" 

"Nnope," Big Mac shaked his head slightly.

"Well he was a bit distracted and distant the last time we spoke. Something about not feeling up to our weekly friendship tutoring tea party. Though to be honest he does that from time to time.  I'm sorry." Fluttershy hid in her mane even with the gentle leaning from her husband to encouraged her.

"No need to apologize, Fluttershy. Discord has always been ... difficult to..." Twilight tapped her hoof on her chin trying to come up with the correct word, "understand..."

"The only thing I don't understand his that he made it rain chocolate milk without a single dollop of whipped cream," Pinkie narrowed her eyes in anger, "Not. A. Single. Drop."

"Um, Pinks, didn't you say that last time?" Cheese Sandwich who was sitting next to Pinkie knowingly commented.

"Of course, Cheesie, but that its still know excuse for no whipped cream." Pinkie fake pouted.

Cheese eyed Pinkie evilly, pulled out a can of whipped cream, and covered her completely. To top it off he threw a cherry which landed smartly on Pinkie's head.

"Now we're talking!" Pinkie squealed, slurping up the whipped cream. Everypony laughed at the sight even Pinkie joined in, giggling.

Suddenly, Spike burped up a scroll which caused the mood to sour up. He groaned slightly before breaking the seal.

I wish Princess Celestia would find better way to send letters.

Twilight giggled at Spike's expression then gulped when Spike gave her a look that could outburn his flame, "What does she say?"







My dearest Twilight Sparkle,

I understand your concern over Discord recent “relapse”. I must confess that I knew ahead of time what Discord was going to do because he told me in advance. Yes, yes, I know that is odd behavior for him. Before you go off worrying that Discord "corrupted" me in someway let me explain:

After numerous (and annoyingly I assure you ) false starts he told me that somepony needed him to give a test to Spike. Trust me he really didn't want to do what he did. (He's still somewhat nervous even after all these years.) I tried to get him to reveal the pony that coerced him but he wouldn't reveal who. When pressed all he would say is that Luna and I are needed along with the Council of Friendship in Ponyville in two days time.  

I do have my suspicions on who compelled Discord but I will withhold that until we meet in person. If I'm proven correct we are all in grave danger, but do not fret in the mean time. I'm sure rebuilding Ponyville and reversing Discord's magic will keep you busy until we arrive. Please keep all of this confidential let no one but the Council of Friendship know of this.

Celestia and Luna


> Interrogating Chaos
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spike yawned heavily knowing that it was no use trying to fall asleep. Twilight had been pacing since at least before sunrise. Thinking on it, Spike was sure it was all night. Twilight's pacing had even woken him up and in a middle of a dream no less. He had lived with her nearly all his life and still he couldn't believe she'd work herself up so easily. He yawned again while stretching a bit. Spike got up and walked out into the corridor. Looking both directions he didn’t see the alicorn.

He facepalmed. She must have left the door open again! I have got to remind her to close the council door if she plans on doing that.

He slowly waddled down the hall before turning a corner and climbing down the stairs. At the end of the hall was the suspect door. Yep left it open again.

"Twilight," He poked his head in. He silently hoped that he wouldn't have to raise his voice. "Twilight?" Twilight seemed to ignore him so Spike really did have to raise his volume, "TWILIGHT!"

"What?" Twilight stopped pacing confused for a moment at the dragon's outburst.

"Do I need to send Celestia another letter?" He crossed his arms after closing the door behind him.

"Another letter? .... Yes that's it! Spike take a letter," Twilight commanded still completely obvious to an increasingly irritated dragon tapping his foot.

In a flash, Spike ran up to Twilight and pulled her muzzle down to him so that all she could see were his emerald eyes, his annoyed, emerald eyes. He hissed so softly that Twilight almost didn't hear him. "Two words Twi: Smarty. Pants." 

"I'm doing it again, aren't I?" Twilight blushed, pulling away from Spike.

Spike only gave her the look that said No, really?

She blushed even redder. "Well at least we should be prepared for his antics this time. Let's go over his file to make sure we have the necessary leverage."

Spike shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose his is claws. "I know I'm going to regret this..."





The council doors opened allowing Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to step though. Once inside Twilight cast a soundproofing spell.

"I take it that Discord is going to make his usual 'chaotic' entrance?" Twilight asked noticing a lack of one self proclaimed 'Spirit of Chaos.'

As if to answer a stone statue of Celestia eating cake dropped into the middle of the room. The sudden appearance and accompanying crash made everyone jump slightly, Celestia more from the horror of the statues subject matter. "DISCORD!!" She yelled in the Canterlot Royal Voice. This of course spooked Fluttershy into hiding behind her cutie-marked throne. She softened her voice when she noticed Fluttershy cowering. "Discord this is a serious matter. Please reign in your propensity to doing pranks and such for one simple meeting."

"Very well, Celestia." The statue spoke then flashed and Discord's usual chimera body taking the place of the statue, "I will at least tone it down...a bit."

Celestia glared threateningly at him but Discord seemed to ignore it. Fluttershy slowly stopped shaking and sat back on her throne though she still looked nervously through her mane.

Seeing that everything had calmed down, for the moment, Twilight started, "Well, Discord, are you going to explain what exactly is going on?"

"I'm not allowed to say..." He sheepishly replied, rubbing his hands nervously.

"What!??!" Twilight yelled her left eye twitching slightly. Rainbow looked ready to pounce as she was already flapping in the air.

"Must I repeat everything I say? It gets really boring..." Discord rolled his eyes like dice before commenting mostly to himself. "Rats! Snake eyes again..."

"Oh, Come on!" Rainbow flew straight at him and pushed a hoof into Discord's face. "If you don't start spilling the beans..."

"Come now, Rainbow, no need for violence. We are among friends," He snapped a claw causing Rainbow's hoof to be encased in a pillow, "and as for beans..." His tail snapped and a pile of beans buried Rainbow Dash.

"DISCORD!" Everyone shouted except Rainbow who has too far buried to be yelling anything.

"As I said I made a promise not to say who it was." Discord went through the motions of the Pinkie Promise even smashing a huge cupcake in Pinkie Pie's eye. Pinkie Pie happily slurped up the cupcake.

“Mmm creamy, creamy frosting!” Pinkie giggled.

“Pinkie!” Everypony but Discord facehoofed, or claw in the case of Spike.

"Discord you don't ever make promises without putting in a loophole." Twilight said knowingly shaking her head at Pinkie antics.

"Well, I never.." Discord pouted.

Twilight interrupted Discord's rant, "Spike go into my office and pull out of the Discord cabinet his ‘promises’ file for me.

"Right away Twilight," Spike got up and walked out of the chambers through a side door.

"You have a whole cabinet just for me?" Discord wiped a tear from his eye, "I didn't know you cared so much about me to give me my very own cabinet."

Twilight’s only reaction was to glare. Fluttershy and Applejack took the opportunity to unbury Rainbow. After a moment the pile rumbled and a streak of multicolor light flew straight up causing the entire pile to explode outward.

“Rainbow!” Rarity yelped, barely blocking the explosion with her magic.

“Eeh, ehh, sorry.” Rainbow sheepishly apologized before landing on her throne. Rarity glared at her hotly before quickly removing the now mashed beans from the room.

A door opened which got everyone’s attention. Spike walked back in, closed the door, and handed a file to Twilight with a few more under his arm.

"Ahem… and I quote," Twilight spoke in smug authority.

"Yes, Princess, I'm ready to use my magic for good instead of evil. Most of the time."

"Sound familiar?" Twilight looked at Discord.

"Well yes... but..." Discord objected crossing his arms.

"Twi, try this one." Spike said, handing a different file to Twilight.

Twilight raised an eyebrow, took the file glanced at it, and then smiled wickedly which only caused Discord to uncharacteristically gulp, "I would think you remember saying this:"

"Tirek tricked me into believing that he could offer me something more valuable than friendship."

"How do you know you haven't been tricked like before?" Twilight narrowed her eyes for effect.

"Hmmm...I think that might be a spoiler," He stamped Twilight's forehead in red ink the word ‘spoiler.’

"This isn't some book!" Twilight angrily tried to rub off the ink before it set.

Discord laughed and winked.

"Gah!" Twilight yelled exasperated at Discord's usual riddles and round about way saying anything.

"Discord you need to tell us who it was that got you to do all of this," Fluttershy Stared at Discord. She knew that the Stare wouldn't work but she also knew how much Discord valued their friendship.

"Well.. I... well that is..' Discord stammered, visibly shrinking. Now that they were friends it unnerved him to see her using the Stare on him.

"Quit stalling and tell us who got you to do this," Rainbow snapped, flapping in the air near Discord again forgetting the earlier incident with beans.

"It was me." A mysterious baritone voice responded.
> Harmony Enters
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"It was me." A voice spoke.

Everyone but Celestia, Spike, and Discord gasped as a voice rang out in the council chambers. Spike was the first to respond.

"YOU!" Spike roared; his eyes going feral. His eyes darted to and fro desperate to find where that voice was coming from. He looked like a predator about to pounce on some unsuspecting prey.

When Twilight saw this she got very concerned, “Spike?”

"Calm yourself, brother, I kept my promise." The male voice called out again. This time everypony knew they weren't hearing things and began to look around. Pinkie Pie had somehow managed to slip into a Sherlock Holmes costume and was examining the floor with a magnifying glass.

Twilight had a problem Spike had gone feral. She frantically tried to hold the very ticked off dragon in her magic. It was not easy given a dragons natural resistance to pony magic. Never mind that Spike was wildly trying to claw everything in sight including her.

"Spike, what is he talking about?"  Twilight turning Spike so she could face him properly. One look at him worried her she had not seen his eyes like that since that one day she'd like to forget. "Spike?"

“Calm down.” The voice again called out. Still nopony could discern the source. Celestia and Discord seemed to just calmly sit by apparently content to wait.

Spike seemed to only get more enraged. One of Spike claws even manage to scratched Twilight on the muzzle. Wincing slightly at the pain she yelled out, “Celestia I need help holding him so that I can cast a calming spell on him.”

“Don’t.” The voice said with such authority that Twilight paused for a moment to consider. Celestia, who had gotten up to help Twilight, sat back down.

“Why not and for that matter who are you?” Her curiosity building. Who is this voice?

“Let his dragon fury subside it had been building up too long anyway,” The voice matter of factly spoke.

After a few minutes Spike stopped clawing the air and he sat down, sulking. Fire and smoke pouring out of his nostrils in anger.

“That's better...”

Discord nodded at this then started going around the room pulling paper bags from everyone's ears.  Discord was about to get a paper from behind Luna's ear, "Get back from me, thou foul trickster."

"Very well, Luna, but I will not be responsible for what will happen..." He smiled evilly at this before continuing down the line of ponies.

"What exactly is going on Discord?" Twilight asked as Discord pulled a bag out of Pinkie's nose eliciting a giggle from her.

Discord looked thoughtfully at the Rainbow Dias in the center of the room "Okay, everypony is ready," then almost to himself, "Well, almost everypony"

"Discord who are..." Twilight began but the glowing light coming from Dias stopped her as she stared at it. We didn’t active the Rainbow what is going on here!?

The Dais glowed even brighter. The Rainbow shot out and began spinning around the room. Twilight never seen the Friendship Rainbow do that before and pulled out a notepad and began taking notes. Soon the Rainbow tighten its spinning around the Dais

"Gah! I'm out of practice," The voice called out, this time from within the vortex, "Can somepony please turn this thing down?"

"How?" Twilight asked still taking notes.

"For starters lessen your concern for Spike, and Spike I said CALM DOWN!" The voice yelled the last part. Spike heard this and his eyes went less feral but his anger still showed.

Slowly the Rainbow died out and everyone could see a cloaked figure within the rainbow. Soon the Rainbow dissipated completely given everyone a clear look at the figure. The figure was quite tall. Twilight couldn't be sure but she could at least hazard a guess that the figure stood about the same height as Celestia. The brown cloak that was wrapped around him was tattered and torn but seemed to be enchanted to prevent anyone from see who has inside. For a moment no one spoke. Then a strange rainbow magic aura engulfed the clock and the clock was thrown off.

The figure was a stallion alicorn. Shocking everyone(except oddly Celestia, Discord, and Luna) as they thought the only alicorns were the princesses. He was a touch taller than Celestia so Twilight had guess right. However, it was hard to look at him.  His coat, wings, and horn was all the colors of the rainbow. Normally that wouldn't make it hard but the colors on the coat and wings kept shifting.  His mane was white and chopped in a military cut but his tail was long, jet black, sleek.  The strangest thing, besides the shifting fur color, that everyone noticed was what he was lacking a cutie-mark.  He was too old not to have one. Of course a pony at his age could have lost it if he lost his magic. But it was plain to see that he clearly had magical ability.

"I must say I have always been jealous of your coat Harmony." Discord smirked slightly, "Always brings a bit of chaos whenever you show up.  Although I don't think I want to make my coat like yours... too much work in the morning."

Seeing the green faces only getting greener Harmony sighed deeply, "I suggest that you look at my mane or horn as they are static unlike the rest of my coat. It will make it easier to look at me without getting nauseous..."

Harmony waited patiently for the ponies to collect themselves. After a few minutes the green faded. Harmony opened his mouth to speak when when all Tartarus broke loose as everypony began speaking at once.

“What is the meaning...”

“...oo pretty… 

“...tarnation…“

“Hey, I was speaking…”

"Girls."

“No you weren't…”

“Ooo can we have a party….”

“...Pinkie…”

"Girls."

“Such awful coloration…”

“...high pulluting..”

“Well I never...”

“Who are…”

“...Spike…"

“...dragon…”

"GIRLS!"

"Thank you, Bearer of Kindness." Harmony removed his hoof from his eyes, his headache dissipating. He turned to Spike, "I must say I'm surprised at your silence through all this little brother."

"Why do you keep calling him that?" Twilight asked cutting off Spike. Spike glared hotly at her but refrained from giving a snarky remark.

"I think the answer, Twilight, would be a spoiler and might mess up the pacing." Discord answered before Harmony could even open his mouth.

"Discord's right." Pinkie Pie agreed bouncing.

Everypony stared at Pinkie and Discord. Harmony kept going back between the two. Something was definitely was weird and familiar about the Bearer of Joy, too familiar. Harmony thought on this for a while. He thought on it so long that everyone noticed that he had blanked out. He seemed to have lost all sense of reality. Spike knew that look but as Harmony was not Twilight he was at a loss for how to fix it. Discord, on the other hand, seemed to have an idea as he moved in front of Harmony.

"Hey." Discord spoke waving both arms in front of Harmony's eyes.

"Harmony!" He shouted. Harmony was suddenly dressed as a clown. Discord squeezed his nose with a resounding honk. When that didn't work he pulled Pinkie in front of Harmony with an unnaturally overlong reach, whispered something in her ear, then snapped a megaphone in front of Pinkie.

"HEY, HARMONY!" She yelled the blast of her voice knocking everyone down.  "YOU IN THERE??"

"And.... he's pulling a Twilight." Discord commented after everyone's hearing stopped ringing.   

Spike for once actually agreed with him, which scared him slightly. Discord turned to everyone dressed in a commander uniform. "Well ladies, this may take a bit. Celestia and Luna, I will fill you in with what is going on so you can get back to your girly duties." Luna scowled at this while Celestia giggled. "I think we can do this back at Canterlot." Discord snapped both hands and his tail and in a flash the princesses and Discord were gone.

"Wait, what about us?" Twilight called out annoyed at not getting answers. What was the point of bringing the princess... Twilight stopped right there she just didn't want to deal with that at the moment. Too much information; not enough sense.

"Discord knows what is going on and will be able to fill the princess in on everything. Besides I think that I should explain this to my Bearers, personally." The alicorn finally answered, clearly snapped out of his daze. 

"Your 'Bearers'!?" Rarity spoke with surprise.

"Yes, of course," Harmony stated in a way that made it sound like it should have been obvious. "Although to be fair, I'm here more for Spike then for you."

Nearly everyone went into various from of disbelief. Pinkie Pie had stiffly fallen over so stiff was her body that one could have mistaken her for a mannequin. Applejack and Rarity were eying Harmony with very hard expressions. Fluttershy being timid as she was did nothing but coward behind her mane. Rainbow Dash crossed her hooves in irritation, hovering over her throne. Spike was being held back from attacking him by Twilight's magic so Twilight didn't have much ability to respond. His eyes had gone feral again.

Harmony shook his head at Spike. "Spike, enough. Calm down don't let the fury overtake you again." He turned to Twilight, "I don't think he will calm down with me here just yet. There appears to be more fury built up then I anticipated. When you get him to calm down and stay that way then come to Zecora's home in the Everfree."

"Wait, how do you know Zecora and Spike?" Twilight asked tilting her head slightly. "What exactly is going on!?"

"Zecora is good friend of mine. As for Spike, I have been speaking with him for years."

"Is this true?" Twilight spun Spike around to so that she could look into Spike' eyes and force him to not look at the pony of his anger. Again she asked, "Is this true?"

Spike blinked, his eyes back to normal " ...Yes..."

"Hey! Where'd he go?" Pinkie pouted, "How can I do a welcome to Ponyville Party now?"

Everyone looked around at Pinkie's outburst and found that they were alone.  Harmony had vanished.

Spike facepalmed and groaned. "Not again!"
> Origin of the Keepers
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I'm not one for mistakes, but isn't that form Spike's?" A zebra rhymed as she stared into her cauldron.
 
"Why, Zecora, I do believe you are right... and in only two days?" Harmony answered heading out the carved-out tree home.
 
Once he stepped out the sounds of Zecora's chanting and bubbling cauldron faded and the sounds of the Everfree Forest rose. He stood patiently looking down the most likely path that Spike would be coming down.  
 
Slowly the forms of Twilight and Spike rose out of the mists. Harmony sat down comfortably and waited until they joined him. He stay that way even once Twilight and Spike stood before him.  They eyed each other waiting for anyone to speak up. The silence grew, closing in on all sides just like the forest around them. Harmony seemed content while Spike and Twilight shifted their eyes around. Even after all these years neither were very comfortable in the Everfree.
 
"It's good to see you both Bearer of Magic and my little brother." Both Spike and Twilight jumped a bit at the sound of Harmony’s greeting. "I would have like to have talked inside but as Zecora is currently working on a very sensitive and dangerous potion so we must do it out here." A small explosion and a puff of green smoke poured out of Zecora hut to prove Harmony's point.
 
"We could go to the Castle of The Royal Pony Sisters." Twilight responded, confused. She was really wondering why they had to me out in desolate location. 
 
"I really don't want to taint that place with the tale I'm about to speak." His eyes darkened. Twilight instinctively gulped a little. How could that place get further tainted?
 
"Now, Bearer of Magic, Spike, listen carefully," he eyed her pulling out a quill and parchment. He shook his head slowly. "None of that. This tale is not to be recorded down. I suggest to use your amazing intellect and memorize it in your head as best you can. I will speak of it only once to you and only because of your ascended status." He turned to Spike staring deep in his eyes.  Spike started to squirm a bit under the stare before Harmony spoke again. "Good the built up frustration and anger has left you, for now. I know how we can fix that, brother, but sadly not today."
 
Spike looked annoyed that twice now that Harmony publicly had used 'brother' to refer to him but he didn't have time to respond before Twilight spoke the question. "Why are you calling him 'brother,' and why you keep calling me 'Bearer of Magic' and not Twilight?"
 
Harmony thought for a moment chewing on what was the best way to deflect the question. "Not yet. There is a good reason for me delaying answering and I promise that it will be soon. It would take a bit to answer, and I need to set the groundwork first."
 



 
I pass to you the tale of The Dark One and the Keepers of Harmony.
 
In time memorial, long before the time of Celestia and Luna, even further back before Discord when the world was young there was harmony. The races that inhabited our world are things of legends now only a few of these races, Elder races, remain. You know of two of them personally. One them being the Alicorns. However, things shifted and like a bowl of water disturbed harmony can sometimes be disrupted by change or even lost.
 
The shift, you may ask? The Younger races appeared. They are in a way descended from the Elder races hence the title for them "Younger races." You, Bearer of Magic, are, by blood, a member of the Younger races... the ponies, griffons, minotaurs to name a few. The Younger Races were... raw, unfocused, and not yet in harmony. Like all newborns unsure of their place and curious to the point of accidental self harm. The Elder races decided to guide the younger races for they saw in them a potential greater than themselves if only they were in harmony.  
 
But, there was one… One that thought they should not. His name is forever gone. None remain that remember his real name, and all records were swept clean. He now goes by many ‘Titles’: Dark One, Chaos Bringer, EldersBane... ugh...  The ‘Dark One’ hated the Younger races and their potential. He felt that the Elder races shouldn't being teaching the Younger races anything that they should instead should take everything they could from them. In his pride, he felt that the Elder races were superior and of the Elder races, his own was even greater. To him they should subjugate the younger for they were weak in his eyes and not worthy of this ‘potential’ the others saw in them.  
 
Dark magic, brrr.... it’s what ails the world, and it’s the greatest achievement that this 'creature' created. It was destructive, manipulative, corruptive, disharmonious. It brought great pain to this world so much that they tried to persuade him to stop his experimentations. What they didn't know was he was beyond that. The dark magic had warped him. He only went further into his madness, further corrupting the Younger races and the world. So it was decided that something drastic needed to be done. For the first time the Elder races knew war.  It caused great devastation.
 
In the waning days of the war, in great desperation, as the ‘Dark One’ was winning, quite soundly, the greatest casters of each of the races came together.  They cast a mammoth spell that would imprison the ‘Dark One’. The spell they wove was none that world had seen nor I suspect will ever again. Sadly, they could only seal the ‘Dark One’ away, his power was so great.  As you know when a caster of a spell dies even so does the spell unless there is an anchor that can hold the spell. Enchantments which are spells with anchors can hold spells longer but even those can fade over time it not properly taken care of.  As the Elder Races faded so would the enchantment that held the ‘Dark One’ allowing his influence to seep out. The reason for this is intentional as they knew that it would be impossible to maintain the enchantment forever as not only would it naturally weaken over time the ‘Dark One” would fight against it from within.
 
To nullify this they put something else in the spell one that could destroy his power permanently bit by bit. As an Elder race diminished to the point of leaving this plane a child of that race would be born. But not of ordinary means but by the magic of a spell. The child would be imbued with the magic of harmony a power that would guide the Younger races to the harmony they should have been. They also would permanently seal part of the ‘Dark One's’ power. These beings born of magic to bring back harmony were known as Keepers of Harmony.
 
In rage, as the ‘Dark One’ was being imprisoned, he cursed his own race. Though this act greatly weakened him but he vowed that that as his prison weakened he would also curse the Younger races that each Keeper was charged over. And so he was imprisoned to await final judgment when the power of harmony once again flowed across this world.




 
“Now, I think you are familiar with the curse that came upon the ponies. King Sombra and Queen Chrysalis are the embodiment of that curse. I know that you think that Nightmare Moon was as well except that what took over Luna is known as a Nightmare. Nightmares and Wendigos and examples of abominations that the ‘Dark One’ created to subjugate the Younger races in general. Fear and jealousy are great ways to control a population into submission.
 
"As for the number of keepers... Twelve races took part in the spell so there are twelve in total. There are only three of the twelve left. I being one of them, the eleventh to be exact. I am the Alicorn Keeper of Harmony. My job is to bring harmony to the pony races and seal the ‘Dark One's’ ability to affect them. As for who the other two are, now is not the time to discuss that."  Harmony had now finished and was answering the barrage of questions that Twilight was now asking. Though he was deflecting quite a few of them.  Spike, though, sat there staring off, blankly, oblivious to both alicorns.
 
He is deliberately leaving something out. I know it. It has something to do with me, but what is it?
 
“One of the terms for a police pony is ‘keepers of the peace.’"
 
"So then Keepers of Harmony are..."
 
"Same concept."
 
He looked at me weirdly both when he talked about this 'Dark One' and mentioning that we knew of two elder races but only mentioned one. Of course there is also the unknown third one.
 
"Whoa, whoa, take a few deep breaths, and say that more slowly now."  Harmony shook his head, chuckling at the now increasingly hyper pony.
 
What is he not saying?
> Of Spike and Dragons
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I'm pregnant." Discord chimed happily.

Every pony stared at Discord with varying forms of shock or disgust.

Click.

"What fabulous faces! What poses! You will be the next stars in fashion!" Discord cooed taking a few more pictures while upside down.

"Discord." Harmony lightly chastised trying to not giggle himself. Discord righted himself then settled down near Fluttershy.

"Well I see that the shock of my 'revelation' seems to have worn off." Discord snapped a talon and a chalkboard popped into existence behind Harmony with the words Dragon Biology 101 written at the top. He then snapped out of the room.

Harmony facehoofed before speaking, "I think what is obvious to everyone here is that dragons age differently than ponies do. While ponies live to be between 80 and 150 depending on which of the three they are. Of course this excludes alicorns. Dragons, no matter the breed, have no known upper limit to their lives. Barring illness or battle Spike will live indefinitely."

Given that Twilight had previous studied every book that ponies had on dragons (with help from her friends) no one seemed to be shocked on this revelation. One of the few things that ponies got right was agelessness of dragons. They all had, very tearfully too, already dealt with the knowledge of Spike's life span.

"Now as for stages of growth..." Harmony drew an egg, an image of Spike, one that everyone suspiciously thought looked like Garble, and then finally one of that looked like the red dragon that Fluttershy had Stared into leaving his cave. “Here are drawings depicting the four major…uh stages of a dragon’s life.”

He pointed to the egg drawing. "Dragons lay a single clutch of two to four eggs.  A dragon can only hatch two eggs ever and eggs are usually hatched by the mother... unless, of course, there is more than two then the father helps.’  Harmony noticed a hoof raised but waved it off,” More of that in a bit.”

“Dragon eggs are unlike other animals that when they lay eggs. When the eggs are laid they already fully developed. The egg requires a dragons fire (which is magical in nature) to be hatched. The amount of magic needed is extremely high so it can take quite a bit of time to hatch. Now there is something very interesting about the hatching process. The sex of the hatchling is dependent of the sex of the one hatching.  Because Twilight hatched Spike is male. If it was a male that hatched Spike he would have been female."

Harmony paused for a minute. He could hear stifles of laughter coming from at least one mare. Spike looked like his scales could turn permanently red with the fierceness of his blush.

Harmony coughed in annoyance grabbing everyone’s attention. Even Rainbow, was on the edge of her seat. "I see that you are itching to continue so here we go. When the egg hatches he or she is known as a hatchling" He pointed to the image of Spike. "A dragon stays as a hatching for about three years. That is when they get their wings..."

"Wait!!! Are you saying I was supposed to have my wings, like, over twenty years ago!?!?" Spike interrupted his eyes a bit watery.

"Yes... I'll get to what I think why you're still in the hatchling stage in a bit." Harmony promised as Spike wiped his eyes a bit.

"When a dragon gets wings they are known as 'whelps.'" Harmony chuckled a bit before continuing. "Also when a dragon gets wings they also get their first natural growth spurt..."

"Wait, I thought dragons grew up by greed." Twilight called out like a know-it-all student.

Harmony rubbed his head a bit, a headache forming, before answering, "Yes, and no. There are two magical ways a dragon grows. Spike experienced one of them and is known as Greed Growth which can only occur during the hatchling or whelps stage. The other..." Harmony shuddered violently and stared off for a bit.  

“The other?” Twilight asked unsure if she really wanted the answer.

Seeing that Harmony’s eyes were glazed over, Spike walked up to him and snapped his claws, "Yo! Harmony! Snap out of it!"

Harmony blinked, then blushed which was difficult to see given his constantly changing colors coat. "Sorry about that... I think its best that you don't know what the other magic growth is," he shuddered again, "The 'natural' way one is what I have been explaining for a bit."

"So why did Zecora talk like the greed growth was the only way?" Twilight asked, her curiosity interrupting Harmony again.

"She wasn't. But you try making yourself plainly known by only rhyming. Now the thing about dragon growth spurts is that, even the natural one at the whelp stage, they are technically magic in nature. They grow not only in body but in mind almost instantly. Which I'm sure you noticed during Spike's greed growth. This is not like ponies that slowly grow in body and in maturity slowly... I think Twilight you have noticed that even though Spike is nearly twenty-seven years old he on occasions still acts like a 'baby' dragon?"

Twilight nodded slowly. Spike glared hotly at this. Rainbow had to stile a laugh again.

"The only reason he isn't still acting like a hatchling all the time is the unusually long time his has been in that stage.... and that I have been working on him during his sleep to help him compensate. Now let’s see..."

“Wait what!?! You have been seeing him for years?

“Yes.”

“In his dreams?!”

“Technically, no, but I…”

“Spike, why haven’t you told me this?” She snapped forgetting who was in the room her anger overtaking her,” He could have been a danger and you didn’t think to bring this voice talking to you to me sooner!?!”

Suddenly Twilight head was shifted by magic back to Harmony who had somehow gotten right in her face. She gulped mightily at the look that Harmony was giving him. “I suggest you drop it.” He spoke with such coldness that everyone shivered at the mental drop in temperature.

Harmony demeanor suddenly shifted back to his normal self or as least as much as anyone could guess, "Ah, yes, I was on whelps... A dragon stays as a whelp for about twenty to twenty-five years. The final stage is an adult dragon….”

“Wait. Wait. Stop! Are you saying that not only that I should be in the ’whelp stage’ but should be either an adult or near it by now?” Spike eyes were getting more and more teary as he spoke.

Harmony went over and lifted Spike head so he could see the warmth in his eyes. “Do not fret for the reason I am here is that you are closer to an adult then you think.”

Spike looked deep into those eyes and could see that he was speaking the truth. But as he looked further there was something else. Spike’s mood turned from sad to sour. He is hiding something again…

“Hmm…” Harmony mused for a moment at the change in Spike but let it drop. Turning back to the chalkboard he continued, “Wings are a sign of a dragon becoming a whelp. A name is the sign when a dragon becomes an adult. This name, translated, is known as a Hoard Name. This name has a meaning that is similar to the meaning of a pony's cutie-mark though not completely. Unfortunately it’s not a concept that is easy to explain or understand to a non-dragon."

“That’s it?” Spike huffed,” That’s all that it takes? A name?!?!”

“Yes and no, Spike it’s more complex than that…”

“Seems simple enough. Though I hate the name ‘hoard’…”

The room again turned dark and the temperature dipped dramatically, “No pony takes their cutie marks lightly, nor should you take Hoard Names lightly or despise them. You are a dragon and should have respect for the ways of the dragons even if you are among ponies.”

Harmony paused for a minute to let that sink in. "Now as for growth spurts in this stage...  They have several growth spurts while as young adult though these spurts only make the body grow not the mind unlike those of a whelp or during greed growth. Adult dragon's mind matures like a pony from then on slowly and by experience. The number of spurts and when they occur as far as I have been able to gather vary between dragons."

"Now I skipped a bit here and given Spike’s outburst I think this is now the best time to explain about dragons and names. To a dragon a name is a possession, a representative of who they are. Most dragons have three to four names throughout their lives two are magical in nature the others are not. A dragon's egg name, one of the magical ones, usually signifies what the parents see or want as their destinies. For example, Spike's roughly translates to 'glittering sparks in darkness that brings hope.' Long winded I know but that is typical for an egg name...  While the name is magical in nature it’s not important right now how so I won't go over it.”

Harmony paused for a moment. Twilight wanted take advantage of the lull and ask why it wasn't important but after the last outburst she felt it best to wait even though it was driving her crazy.

“Spike's current name corresponds to a hatchling name. It usually is related to a physical attribute or something that the hatchling does at hatching. A whelps name is sometimes different depending on whether a dragon has it or not usually depends on its liking or disliking its hatchling name and most of the time they don't. Teenage rebellion seems to be the same in all the races...”  

“A Hoard Name is the very first thing a Dragon hoards and before you panic they aren’t grabby like during a greed growth. Dragon aren’t as greedy as you think they are they don’t steal as that is dishonoring and lessen the value of what they stole. Try not to base what you know of dragons by the encounters you have had. Their culture is richer then what you can see. They just don’t show it to just anyone.”

“So they also hoard their culture.” Twilight asked.

“No they don’t… Ugh, now is not the time to learn that. We are dealing with biology not sociology.”

“Equestrian, please.” Rainbow hotly stated confused at the bigger words.

“We are dealing with bodies not with how said bodies interact with bodies,” Harmony rolled his eyes a bit.

Rainbow snickered a bit at this which made both Twilight and Harmony to facehoof.

“As a reminder, once they have that name no greed growth...  Now because Hoard Names are a part of a dragon's hoard it's rare for a dragon to share that name to anyone. Most dragons are known by titles, the location of their hoard, or if you're lucky or have difficulty pronouncing their titles or locations they will allow a ‘nickname.’” The room again went a bit dark as Harmony coldly stated the next part,” NEVER, EVER call a dragon by their previous names. If you are lucky they will ignore you, if not... not good. That I think covers the basics though I had to skip and skim over some things otherwise we'd be here for a lot longer..."

Harmony stretched a bit popping a few joints. "Alright, now I think we should get to something that will be of more interest to Spike here."

"Like what? I have learned more about dragons than ever before. What could be of more interest to me?" Spike snapped up upon hearing his name. His preoccupation lost.

"For example, your 'breed' and your issue with your size." Harmony plainly answered, "First, you are a Spark dragon. If he was female it would be Sparkle, and yes I know the irony of it."

"A what dragon? I have never heard of that kind of dragon." Twilight interrupted, ignoring the snickering Rainbow. Harmony glared at both of them.

"I'm not surprised you haven't heard of a Spark Dragon. With pony's limited knowledge of dragons they are surprisingly aware of nearly every breed. However, even most dragons don't know of Spark Dragons. They are extremely rare and an Elder race much like alicorns. I suspect that besides Spike here they may only be a handful left, if any at all." Harmony pulled something out of his saddle bag. "This is a reference guide on dragons that I wrote many years ago. Try not to drool over it as it’s my only copy. It covers everything I have spoken about plus a bit more as I am only doing an introduction into this."

"And what of my parents?" Spike asked steadying himself mentally for what he was sure to not be a happy answer.

"Dead." Harmony bluntly answered. “How and why I will discuss with you, in private, later. As for your egg it was laid some time before Luna's banishment. I don't remember the exact year... pony reckoning is different from dragons never mind that as a being as long lived as I am years can get a bit blurry.

“How long lived are you?” Twilight asked.

“Not a question you should be asking. However, I am close to ten thousand years old.” Harmony shook his mane a bit,” We are here about Spike not me. Now, as for how Spike’s egg came into the care of Celestia's school that is a story for another time." Spike looked like he was about to interrupt but his mouth wouldn't open due to Harmony keeping it shut with his magic. "Later, I promise."

"I suspect that the one of the reasons that you are stuck in the hatchling stage may have something to do with the method of your hatching. It may be preventing your ability to enter the whelp stage. No dragon that I have known has even been hatched by anything other than dragon fire.” Harmony turned to face Spike staring right at him. Spike squirmed a bit under that gaze but Harmony did not stop, "The other is that you don't know who you are.”

“I’m a dragon though I didn’t know I was a Spark Dragon.” Spike answered a bit miffed at what he thought Harmony was insinuating.

“That is not what I meant. I don't mean knowing yourself here," He put a hoof to Spike's head, "but knowing yourself here," he moved his hoof to Spike's heart. "You are a dragon that acts like a pony. This is in complete conflict with being a dragon. I think somehow you don't want to become like those dragons you met at the Dragon Migration. Yes dragons are beings of raw power but they also of passion, honor, loyalty, and nobility. These traits are in you and are you. But you fear so much becoming like those... 'jerks' I believe is the word you used or like the 'monster' that you became on your birthday... This ‘pony’ part of you is inhibiting your ability to be who you really are. You want to protect those you love but you can't do that as a hatchling. This is a conflict that must be resolved."

Harmony suddenly yawned ever so slightly, "That's enough for today... Spike I need to speak to the Bearers in private for a moment. I suggest you take this time to take a look at the Dragon Reference Guide." He watched silently as Spike excitingly exited the Council Chambers for his room then spoke again, "What I am about to tell you can never leave this room and a Pinkie Promise will not do. I will need a Magic Oath from you all."

"Magic Oath? Never heard of that spell before." Twilight questioned looking a bit flustered. Her talent was magic and to not know such a spell was a bit disheartening.

"It's similar to a tell-the-truth spell but this one will prevent you from spilling what you promise not to say. And before you try to learn, duplicate, reverse magic, or write it down let me make myself clear. This spell if or one like it is used or written down by anypony will get you banished from Equestria at minimum... That includes you Princess Twilight Sparkle."

“What give you the right to order her like that?” Rainbow flew into Harmony’ face threatening him with an outstretched hoof.

Harmony casually used his magic to force her back onto her throne. “You are in no position to ‘threaten’ me over this matter. If the Bearer of Magic does use or record the spell Celestia and Luna will not hesitate to do exactly what I said. Now do you agree or not?”

"Then you should be banished as well for doing it..." Rainbow countered. She put on a smirk on her face knowing that she got him there.

"Nice try, Bearer of Loyalty, but I'm the only exception. Don't believe me? Ask the Princesses."

Twilight gulped slightly. The bearers looked at each other for a moment then in turn nodded. Rainbow was a bit slower at it she was not happy about this alicorn threatening her friends like that.

"Good." Harmony's horn glowed for a moment then died out. "There, done. I also added a sound bubble so we don't have any accidental overhearing."

Harmony breathed a sigh then slowly began. "There was something I left out about the Hoard Name. When Spike finds what his name will be it will imprint him with that name so hard that he will instinctively despise all his previous names."

"That doesn't sound that bad...but didn’t you already say that?" Twilight began before Harmony shook his head slowly silencing her.

"If he was raised by dragons, no... and, yes, I did, but you really should let me finish," Harmony sighed heavily again feeling the headache getting worse. "You remember when I said that outside of greed growth that dragons never hoard until adults and that they begin to hoard at adulthood starting with their name?”

Everypony nodded.

“Good because that is important for the next part as something else that happens when they find their Hoard Name. As you know dragons don't like someone else trying to hoard or steal their hoard..."

"But I don't have a hoard, and I make sure to..." Twilight began to object before getting cut off.

"Please try not to interrupt this is going to be very difficult as it is.” Harmony now had a headache of migraine proportions but he shrugged it off needing to continue,” When a dragon becomes an adult they forget everything from childhood... The only thing left is memories of emotions and their names which is part of their nature. I have no idea how they remember their names... This ‘forgetting’ mechanism protects not only the parents but the newly adult dragon as dragons tend to kill anything that tries to steal their hoard. Dragons also don’t just share hoards either…  So along with the ‘forgetting’ they are driven also to leave the nest to find a hoard..."

Harmony couldn't continue for at that moment Twilight stopped thinking and only reacted. "NO I WILL NOT LOSE HIM!"

"You can't interrupt this process or tell him. You risk not only his life but your own." Harmony stated bluntly. Everypony was in different states of shock or disbelief. Twilight, however, had gone off the deep end and was past the point of hysteria.

"I don't care. There has to be a way. I will find a way even if I have modify a memory spell!" Twilight resolved, hiccuping as her emotions went wild. "I WILL..."

"ENOUGH!" Harmony shouted in the Canterlot Royal Voice. Lowering his voice once he noticed everyone calmed down though Twilight still sobbed. "He. Is. A. Dragon. You know that Bearer of Magic. Quit treating him as a pony. He will die if he remains as he is and the world will plunge into darkness worse than anything you have seen yet. No matter what you try to do his memory will be wiped without anyway of recovery, period.” Harmony eyed everyone for a moment and saw for the moment that he was not going to be interrupted, again. Staring straight at Twilight he spoke again. “While you will lose Spike, if you play your cards AFTER he becomes an adult you might gain him as a friend. A friend for a dragon is a rare thing and they treasure that friendship almost like that friend is part of his hoard."

With that Harmony teleported out of the chambers leaving six very distraught ponies behind.





The starry void again filled Spike's vision.

I must have fallen asleep reading that book.

"Harmony, why am I here?" Spike called out into the void.

"I was going to ask you the same thing." Harmony shimmered into existence near Spike.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Spike crossed his arms while raising a brow.

"Spike I didn't bring you here. You brought me here."

"How?" Spike sputtered a bit slack jawed.

"...I think... well that is... uh..." Harmony stammered trying to come up with something, anything.

"Enough! You are leaving things out. I may not be the Bearer of Honesty but you have always been one to leave something out.” Spike began ranted pointed an accusatory claw at Harmony, “Now, I expect some things to be left out. However, now is not the time to play riddles and ‘read between the lines. Celestia's letter hinted on something grave. I can forgive giving the abridged version when time is of the essence but you never give 'abridged' versions.”

“Well… I... That is…”

“But what you are leaving out I'm sure are the more important aspects of the story." Spike countered Harmony's continuing stammering, tapping his claws on his crossed arms.

"Wisdom and insight..." Harmony whispered almost to himself although Spike heard it clearly with his draconian hearing.

"That's the other thing you do."

"Hmm?" Harmony raised a brow.

"Deflect."

Harmony laughed so hard that soon he was wheezing. Spike on the other hand was getting angrier.

"Easy... brother." He mouthed.

Spike took a few deep cleansing breaths. Mainly he did this to not get angry at the word brother, again, but to calm down from his earlier frustrations. Zecora's breathing exercises works on more than Twilight, it seems.

Harmony looked nonchalantly around while they both calmed down.  After a long and admittedly awkward pause Harmony answered. "Yes, you deserve the unvarnished truth. Given that you can detect that I am hiding the truth even though what I said was so close to the truth. Normally, you shouldn't. You seem to know that what I was saying was slightly... off. That means that its almost time... Spike... I can't give you too much yet as it will put you and your friends in even graver danger then we already are. Well actually it will get more dangerous but too quickly and before you all are ready. I'm trying to minimize that as best as I can. I am sorry, but that's all I can say on the subject. I do promise that I will tell you as much as I can.”

Spike eyed Harmony for a long time before responding. "Very well... If you don't mind I want to dream a bit."

Yeah probably about wings... Harmony chuckled at that. "See you soon, brother."

Spike shimmered and disappeared. Harmony sighed deeply and waited patiently, knowing he was watching.

"You know, Harmony, I’m simply booored of all this Slice-of-Life. When are we getting to adventure? I mean it is tagged as such," came Discord's voice. There was a flash of light and Discord appeared as a constellation of stars.

Harmony blinked, then answered. "If... I understood you correctly, then not much longer.  Spike's harmony abilities are beginning to surface... Which I'm trying to delay, Discord.  They shouldn't be manifesting until he figures out his name. He's old enough to have one but his body is still a hatchling leaving him without dragon magic. His harmony magic won’t work completely until then as his is currently in a disharmonious state."

Discord's expression went suddenly dead serious. Harmony resisted the urge to gulp. It was never a good sign when this happened. "What is it?"

"I think we are running out of time for delaying." Discord shuttered and pointed. In front of them both, they could see what was going on outside of the Plane of Harmony. Dark clouds seemed to be forming on the horizon near Ponyville. Harmony eyes went wide in shock at the sight.

"By all things that buck! Not now! Discord gather the Bearers and Spike and have them meet me near Hidden Claw's cave in the morning. I guess you are getting your adventure 'tag', whatever that is, Discord sooner than I wanted to."
> Crouching Spike, Hidden Claw
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sun had yet to break above the tree tops when everyone gathered near an all too familiar cave in the depths of the Everfree. Fluttershy was attempting to make herself as small as she could behind Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash meanwhile yawned, clearly annoyed about being up so early. Spike and Twilight were the most nervous. They were sure they had been here before and had been chased away from a very angry dragon.

Nearly an hour went by and no sign of Harmony could be found. Discord had forbade them from going anywhere and would not speak on why exactly they were out here. 

“What is taking him so long?” Rainbow spoke repeating the same question she had been stating every minute for the last hour.

“Rainbow must you always be this impatient?” Rarity coolly stated annoyed at the constant moaning.

“Listen you…” Rainbow started but stopped noticing movement coming from the cave.

Harmony walked out of the cave and greeted everyone. "Good morning everyone." Everyone, however, were staring at him as he looked disheveled and his mane looked like it got singed in a fire. The usual white of his mane was grey from ash.

"It won't be good for long," Discord spoke what everyone was thinking. " Please at least tell me he is in a decent mood this morning."

"He is in a great mood, actually. Don't let my mane fool you." Harmony responded shaking his mane a bit to get the soot out.

"Please tell me we are not going in there the last time I was in there the dragon nearly killed me." Spike twisted his claws in worry.

"Well you learned a lesson in not stealing from another dragon's hoard and to ask before eating." Harmony chuckled.

"I don't find that funny, Harmony." Twilight fumed, ready to smack him.  

Rarity seemed to agree with Twilight but she went one step further and actually gave him a good whack. With a humph she turned around and joined Spike and Fluttershy at the back of the group.

"Perhaps..." Harmony spoke not even flinching.

They stood there in silence for a moment as tempers cooled a bit. Harmony's expression suddenly went dark gaining everyone's attention but also giving them all a bad feeling in the pits of their stomachs, "There are some things we need to go over before we enter. One, never show fear to a dragon. So, Bearer of Kindness... GET. OVER. IT. The only dragons that ever consider eating ponies are under the effect of one of the two growths. This dragon will not eat you at all. Your fears that control you will one day get you and those you care for killed. Period."

Fluttershy eeped then cowered even further. Rainbow, however, got angry, no one hurt her friend. 

"Enough! can you see you are hurting Fluttershy?" Rainbow flew up getting right into the face of Harmony readying a hoof to strike him like Rarity.

"Bearer of Loyalty, can it". Harmony angrily responded to Rainbow's get-in-the-face reaction. "As Bearers of Harmony you all have to deal with things that threaten harmony here in Equestria. Some of those threats WILL KILL YOU WITHOUT THOUGHT! Dragons are the least of what could come your way. Take a look at the sky.” Everyone looked at the darkening clouds that were gathering in the sky. “Those ominous clouds that you have been unable to dispel are a sign of what is coming. Buck up."

Harmony began to pace, anger coming off him in waves. "This is not some walk in the park, 'Friendship is Magic' will fix it.  Now while I'm thinking on this,” He stopped for a moment to look at Rarity, ”Bearer of Generosity I don't think I need to remind you that letting your greed take over will get you killed. You got lucky last time with Smokey. If he had been fully awake..." Harmony, Spike, and Rarity all shuttered slightly, a horrified expression upon everyones face.

Harmony soften his expression slightly but a bit of the hardness still remained. "Second, do not talk unless spoken to. If and when you address him address him as He of Everfree. Third, do not try to defend Spike or me from any possible attacks real or otherwise, verbal or physical. Dragons are very honorable and don't attack without reason. Interfering with what you may perceive is an attack is extremely dishonorable and dangerous. Given your past experience with him you do not want to be dishonorable again."

“Past experience? Then it wasn’t my imagination...” Twilight gulped slightly remembering that night vividly.

Spike grabbed his tail and wrung it slightly he didn’t want a repeat of the last time. No amount of gems were worth it,

“I believe you remember this cave Spike and Bearer of Magic? It was here that Spike ran away to and gorged on gems. This was before he found out that he was in the cave of a dragon and that he was eating said dragon’s hoard. You nearly got killed over I might add.”

“Eep.”  Fluttershy squeaked then took cover behind Rarity. 

Harmony dragged her roughly out from behind her. “What did I just say!?”

“To.. ttttoo not… Show…” She barely stuttered out shaking violently.

“...Fear.” Harmony finished for her. Fluttershy gulped heavily leaning on Rarity for support.

"Now I'm going to use a thought linking spell so you can ask questions without speaking out loud. It will also allow you to talk amongst yourselves. Talking to each other is considered rude and dragons have very good hearing." Harmony looked at Fluttershy. Although he could still see fear in her eyes there was also a resolve to protect her friends. "Good. I see you are fighting through your fear. Discord, Bearer of Loyalty, Generosity, stay near her to give her some support."

With that Harmony beckoned them into the cave. They had only barely gotten inside when Harmony stopped. "He of Everfree, we humbly ask for an audience to right a wrong." He called out his voice echoing.

"He of Harmony, you and your charges may enter, but do not touch my hoard." A deep, gravelly voice answered.

Harmony nodded for them to continue. They soon could see a large pile of gems and a very familiar, green, fully adult, dragon standing guard nearby.

"He of Harmony why do you bring that hatchling into my hoard?" The dragon spat glaring at Spike. "He is a dishonor to dragonkind for he is a thief. He should be skinned alive for what his has done."

How barbaric! Rarity spat through the mental link.

Maybe by pony standards. Harmony reasoned. And thanks for remembering to use the thought link.

"He of Everfree, Spike has lived among ponykind all of his life and is not aware of the ways of dragons. He meant no front as he wasn't aware of your hoard being yours."

"Is that so? Then it’s time for his first lesson. Defend yourself!"

"What!" Spike yelped while the same word echoed through the link from the Bearers. Rainbow clearly wanted to defend Spike but remembered the look in Harmony's eyes from when she tried to defend Fluttershy.

He of Everfree roared then opened his maw and a wave of heat poured out. Harmony moved out of the way leaving Spike to receive the full onslaught. Spike responded with fire from his own mouth. The adult’s fire quickly overpowered Spike’s.

What are you doing Spike needs your help! Twilight cried out with approval from Rainbow Dash who had to have Applejack hold her down.

No that would be interfering. Spike dishonored himself when he took those gems and fled. Dragons do not steal from another dragon’s hoard. That alone is bad, but the fact that the Bearer of Magic and an owl helped...  If a dragon desires something from another dragon’s hoard they must fight for the right to take from that hoard. Depending on what the dragon desires and how the defending dragon feels about said 'request' the duel could be to the death. Spike must take whatever punishment that comes his way if he is to restore honor to himself. You are here to learn dragon culture and ways. Not Spike. He will know soon enough the ways of dragons. Do you want to become friends with him or not?

Spike by this point has throwing gems at the older dragon trying to hit his eyes to blind him. He of Everfree only laughed and blocked the assault with his tail. Spikes popped out of his tail in a retaliatory attack. Spike tried to dodge but was hit. A groan escaped his lips as pain coursed through him from being thrown down across the cavern. 

He quickly trying to extract himself from the rubble that surrounded him but the pain was too great. Spike collapsed in defeat.

Spike! Twilight yelled through the link.

Wait. Harmony said putting a hoof out.

At the sight of Spike the green dragon stopped and growled angrily, smoke poured out of this nostrils. He started making clicking and chittering sounds. Harmony responded in kind. Everyone else looked at each other confused on what was going on.

*Remind me again why we are doing this pointless exercise? You have already restored his honor though the right of substitution...  You know as well as I do that the hatchling will gain the Dragon Heritage Memories at the time of his Choosing.*

*Yes, I know, Hidden Claw. You were the one that told me of the details of the changes that a dragon goes through.  We are here so that his clutchmates understand what it means to be dragon so that when it happens it will be easier for them to accept it.*

*Hmph. I still don't understand how a dragon would ever consider ponies as clutchmates...* Hidden Claw growled slightly at that *So are they aware of the memory wipe?*

*Yes, but Spike does not.*

*As it should be.* Hidden Claw shifted to look more proud like, growling threateningly at the unconscious Spike.

Uh, Harmony, what is going on? Please tell me that what I'm hearing is not the changeling language.. Twilight nervously asked.

Nothing you need to worry about, and as for the language its is not the changeling language although it is similar. You can go get Spike now. I can see that he will need help to get up. Harmony answered back.

A flash of lighting and the roll of thunder echoed into the cave stopped everyone.

"Harmony..." Discord suddenly spoke up, concern and fear in his voice and eyes.

Everyone, even Hidden Claw, stared at Discord. Fear rose in all of them. If a dragon was in fear it was never good. 

Harmony turned back to Hidden Claw. "He of Everfree, I fear that we have ran out of time, but we can not flee until we retrieve the Elements of Harmony."

Twilight managed to break through her fear but forgot to mentally speak." We can't do that!! If we remove the Elements from the Tree of Harmony it will die and the plunder vines could take over again."

Harmony looked sympathetically at Twilight. "Bearer of Magic, when you successfully opened that Seed Chest and grew the palace the tree died."
> The Tree of Harmony
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

...the tree died."

"What!?!" Twilight blurted out again forgetting to use the mental link

"Are you telling me, He of Harmony, that your hoard is gone?" Hidden Claw moved his head right up to Harmony's face staring straight into his eyes ignoring Twilight for the moment.

Harmon resisted the urge to blink or turn away lest he offend Hidden Claw. "He of Everfree, ponies don't usually hoard... however the answer is yes... and no."

"Wait, how is that..." Twilight gulped to a stop as Hidden Claw growled at her no longer ignoring her rudeness.

"He of Harmony remind your charges to not speak unless spoken to." He turned back to Harmony to get the answer he seeked.

Harmony turned to Twilight "Bearer of Magic your initial outburst was forgiven but if you continue to do so He of Everfree will shut you up forcibly and I will not stop him... however..."

"There is no 'however,'" He of Everfree growled snapping his jaws at Harmony.

"He of Everfree hear me out." Harmony harden his eyes at Hidden Claw," They are Bearers of the Elements that were imbedded into the tree."

"Are you saying that you trust them with parts of your hoard?" Hidden Claw looked at the ponies, impressed. "Very well, but keep the outbursts at a minimum."

"I suggest... we mm-ove this conver-versation to the tree..." Discord stuttered out.

"And what is wrong with being here at my hoard? Are you so insolent that you feel we'll be safer at his hoard?  You really are a foolish chimera."

"No... no.. He Of Everfree but what is coming may need both you and the Elements to combat." Discord entire body shook out of fear, not of the dragon, but of something else.

"I'm afraid Discord is right." Harmony stated not taking his eyes off of He of Everfree.

"Don't question my ability to protect my hoard." Hidden Claw roughly grabbed Harmony right off the ground then Brought him up so that he could see the dragons fury. "You are lucky that I will have my answers."

Harmony winced at the pain and clicked a few words  *My apologies, oh great dragon of Everfree, but its best that ponies see that is a deadly folly to ever question a dragon's ability to protect his hoard.*

Hidden Claw growled but placed Harmony back on the ground. Blood trickled done Harmony's coat. 

Rarity ran up and checked out the injuries. "Discord. Bandages" Discord snapped some hot pink bandages into Rarity's waiting magic. After a few minutes Rarity smiled and nodded her approval at her handiwork.

Harmony grumbled at the pink bandages but glad his injuries were dressed. I will get you for this later Discord he promised.

Hidden Claw raised an eye at this then blew some smoke. "I tired of this. Lead the way, He of Harmony."

"Of course, He of Everfree." Harmony turned and began to walk out The Bearers and Discord close behind. Spike was on Rarity's back, still passed out due to the pain of his injuries.  Once everyone had left the cave Hidden Claw began his walk out of his cave placing traps and magic barriers to prevent entrance.

After some some time the group got to the stairs that lead down to the cave where the Tree of Harmony grew. Twilight couldn't see that faint glow that always emanated from the cave. This was not good and she feared what she would see once they got into the cave.

Her fears were confirmed once she could see into the cave.  The tree was, as Harmony had said, dead.  The tree was dark many of its crystal leaves where missing.  The only thing that looked lively was the Elements. They looked just as they were the last time she saw them still in there imbedded in the branches and, in the case of the Element of Magic, trunk.

Harmony stared sadly at the tree for a moment then lifted the Elements out of the tree.  "Discord I need the necklaces" Discord snapped an ornate box into existence, a set of six necklaces inside.  Harmony took them and placed an element into each one.  "I'm placing these in the necklaces so that they will not fall off. No tiara for you Bearer of Magic this time." He placed each necklace around the neck of their receptive Bearer.

"Ooooooo, they are so prrrretty!" Pinkie cooed.

"A bit more utilitarian than before but I agree, darling." Rarity agreed.

"Bearer of Joy and Generosity, neither Discord or I are experts on making jewelry and Discord can't just snap into existence nice necklaces they have to be formed without magic. But I'm glad you find them to your liking." Harmony smiled with pride.

"Silly Harmony, I'm the Bearer of Laughter." Pinkie bounced giggling.

"No, you are not…Hmm how to answer this…” Harmony thought for a moment then spoke, “I suppose now is as good as any time to explain why I'm a... ugh... a 'blank flank.'" Harmony spat in disgust at the derogatory term. 

"Bearer of Magic when you first read about the Nightmare Moon you remember the drawing of the Elements of Harmony arranged on a golden compass?" Twilight nodded slightly "That is, or actually, was my cutiemark."

"Wait, then why do you still have magic? A pony losing a cutiemark means they have lost their magic." As she remembered the vampiric Tirek, she shuttered.

"Very good question. I actually only lost one of my magics.  My harmony magic was imbued completely into the Elements. Given that my cutiemark is tied to my destiny of being a Keeper of Harmony and I lost that magic when the cutiemark disappeared. I still posses alicorn magic, however."

"Okay enough of skirtin’ the issue. What in tarnation is He of Everfree talking about when he calls The Tree of Harmony your hoard?" Applejack asked.

Harmony put a hoof to his head slight rubbing to mitigate the coming headache. "Bearer of Honesty... He of Everfree, like all dragons, considers possessions to be part of the owner’s hoard.”

Everyone mouthed an oh but waited for Harmony to continue.

”Back to what I was saying, long ago I was given a crystal tree seed from a fellow Keeper. Ever notice similarities to to the Tree of Harmony and the Friendship Palace to the Crystal Empire? Don't answer.” Harmony stopped Twilight from speaking her thoughts I can’t have her going off scholarly I’m so tired of the headaches that it causes 

“They are similar because they come came from the same place. As for the Elements those are very rare flawless, aged, diamonds.  Crystals from the Empire and gems (especially flawless diamonds) are very good at not only holding, channeling, and expelling magic in massive amounts  but to be enchanted.  That is what I did to the elements. Once I was doneI embedded the elements in the growing tree to protect them."

"Might sorry to ask another question but yah nevah told us what a Keeper of Harmony was."

"I haven't have I? Okay short version as we are low on time..."

Thunder rolled again grabbing everyone's attention. Shortly after that a howling could be heard echoing across the canyon.

"Timberwolves." Hidden Claw growled. He sniffed then added "And living stone..."

"That's our cue. We leave. Now.” Harmony began to run back to the stairs. He called to back to the now angry dragon and spoke out of fear. "Hold our rear, He of Everfree!"

Hidden Claw growled angrily at Harmony. "Remember your place Keeper! The Nameless One's lackeys will rue the day they threaten my forest!"  Hidden Claw few up, roared, and flew towards the howling.

"He has given us a bit of time to flee.  If we are lucky we will draw his forces away, sparing Equestria."

Discord piped up, having taken up the rear grabbing the now fainted Fluttershy in his arms. "And where do we go? I'm all for random but in this case we need a plan."

Harmony thought for a moment and spoke one word: "Hourglass."
> River Guardian
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hourglass? Why did you have to pick that place?" Discord groaned using a foam hand to facepalm his head.

"I..." Harmony began but a series of howls cut him off. "No time, run!"

Harmony spirited off for the stairs; the rest just stood in fear for a moment.  "You heard the pony, RUN!" Discord barked swatting at the frozen ponies.  With a jolt they made for the stairs, Spike still on Rarity's back.  Discord shook his head and mumbled, "I swear he's going to be the death of us all." before he himself took the rear.

Harmony waited until everyone got to the top of the stairs. "It is easy to get lost in the deep Everfree so keep a sharp eye on the pony in front of you and keep especially a good eye on my coat." Everypony nodded in understanding and with that Harmony turned towards the deeper part of the forest and sprinted off at full gallop.

"Oh, dear." Rarity fretted knowing her mane and coat would get ruined at the pace that Harmony had set.

"No time to worry about your looks; just run!" Discord growled. The howling of the timberwolves only accented the truth of his words.

Once everypony caught up to Harmony at the edge of the tree line Twilight's bookish curiosity got the best of her and yelled ahead to Harmony "What and where exactly is Hourglass?"

"Hourglass is the name of the ruined city where Discord was born." Harmony yelled back. "Try and avoid talking... I'll explain more when we have a moment to rest..."

With that no more words were spoken.   They only slowed down to skirt around groves of Poison Joke.  The pace never slowed down even after a few hours after no one had heard a single howl.  The only sound they would hear was the increasing panting as the hours slipped by. Spike was switched from Rarity to Harmony at a small break next to a creek to get a drink and catch their breaths. The flight continued on as the hours slipped into the afternoon.

"Where are we going? This is not the right way to Hourglass..." Discord remarked after eying the position of the sun.

"We need more help slowing down our tail."

"Don't tell me..." Discord panting coming to a sudden realization.

"Yes... River Guardian." Harmony himself panted, ignoring Discord's objection.

"I... Said..." Discord wheezed no long able to protest.

"Harmony, ah don't think we can keep up this pace much longer." Applejack remarked, observing the rest of the group.

Harmony stole a glance back and noticed that what Applejack was saying was true. Both Applejack, whose hard work on the farm made the flight easier, and Rainbow Dash, whose athletic ability was legendary, seemed only slightly winded while the rest were looking like they were going to faint from exhaustion.  "Hence, River Guardian," was his only response turning his head back to the path.

They traveled for another painful thirty minutes before anything changed. Applejack and Rainbow, the only two who had energy to look around could see a slight thinning of the trees. Soon Harmony slowed down to a slow canter and left the trail at an almost imperceptible bend.  After crashing through the trees for a few minutes Harmony and the group tumbled out into a clearing near a cliff. A river could be heard below the cliff.

"We are here." Harmony stopped.  A collected groan and sigh of relief came as the girls collapsed in a bundle. Discord was so tired that he didn't bother conjuring anything and just rested heavily against a nearby tree.  "Spike time to get off." The barely awake hatchling stiffly slid off his back and limped over to the girls. "Rest for a bit everyone... We should be safe for the moment."

Harmony, himself, took a few moments to rest. The normally moving colors of his coat had almost come to a standstill.  After catching his breath he went to stand by the cliff's edge.  He seem to just be staring off into the distance.  No one spoke for nearly an hour. Spike had fallen asleep while the rest, though just as tired, were too on edge to fall asleep.

Harmony had never once moved or uttered a word for that entire hour. When He did everyone nearly jumped. "He comes."

Suddenly a clearly annoyed thin purple dragon with blonde hair and a curly mustache popped above the cliff's edge.

"I do find it rude to not announce that you are here." The dragon spoke crossing his arms.

"I do apologize, He of Everfree River." Harmony bowed without taking his eyes off of the dragon.

"Hmph." He of Everfree River stuck up his nose in disgust. "River Guardian, if you please."

"Please forgive us we have been in flight since early this morning..." Rarity started before River Guardian stared at the very rude interruption coming from the pony pile. Harmony only casually glanced her way, stoic in his looks.

"Do my eyes deceive me? Is that the pony from before that restore my beautiful mushtash?" River Guardian noted eying a very disheveled Rarity looking at him with bags under her eyes and her mane in a mess. " She looks absolutely terrible! Here," He handed a brush to Rarity, "this should help."

"Thanks, darling." She weakly replied, grateful for the brush.

"Now, what exactly is going on that would cause her to look like some tramp?" River Guardian turned his attention back to Harmony. Rarity hotely glared at him but quickly went back to her brushing.

Without missing a beat Harmony deadpanned two words "Nameless One."

A very undragonlike squeak escaped River Guardian at the mention of that ‘name’.  Everypony nearly jumped at it in surprise.  Harmony took a moment to glance at the river below and could see it churning unnaturally. "Well that is not good... not good at all..." Harmony looked back at him at this and noticed that it looked like he was about to do another undragonlike thing with his claws.

"River Guardian I have a boon to ask of you."

"Uh... ?" River Guardian snapped back to his old self." Yes, of course. What is it?"

"Do you still have that river barge?"

"Of course, but I don't see why you needed it." Tilted his head in confusion.

"Oh, I don't need it, but..."  he motioned toward Rarity who was still busy fixing her mane. "Rarity needs it."

"Oh, really?"  River Guardian looked towards Rarity who had now was staring back in a confused state.

"I..." Rarity began but stopped when she saw Harmony nodding his head slightly. She then understood what Harmony was trying to do. "Uh... Yes, I do, we have a long ways to go and I would prefer a way that wouldn't mess up my mane again.  I find running for my life in the Everfree makes keeping up a good appearance a trifle on the hard side."

"Try flying." River Guardian commented, clearly understanding, resting his head on his hands "I would be glad to give you some tips but I have a feeling that you are pressed for time... One moment, I'll be right back." At this he ducked down below the cliff.

"Harmony, where did he run off to?" Rarity asked stepping out toward the cliff edge her mane and coat now looking much better.

"His hoard... we are just above a cavern and one of its entrances."

Discord took this opportunity to interrupt and complain. "Harmony are we going to be stopping by everyone of your dragon 'acquaintances'? Because, I swear, if Smokey makes a cameo I will have some words with a certain writer..."

Harmony ignored the odd threat and sighed "No..."

River Guardian then slide his head back over the cliff nearly causing Rarity to tumble backwards in fright. "I have the barged tied to a tree just down river." Looking at Rarity he smiled wide. "You look much better."

"Why thank you." Rarity handing back the brush with her magic. "Is there anything we can do for you in payment for your kindness?"

River Guardian looked a bit flustered at this tapping his claws nervously "I..."

"Whisper it in my ear." She spoke noticing his embarrassment.

River Guardian complied and moved his long neck to whisper into Rarity's ear. After a few minutes he returned to his previous position patiently waiting for her reply. After a moment Rarity took a deep breath and nodded slowly. River handed her one of his scales and without a moments hesitation she took it and chopped off her tail.  An audible gasped came from the girls and Spike.


> Turbulent Waters
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Harmony so wanted to facehoof but he knew that it would be insulting to River Guardian if he thought so lightly at what Rarity just did.  Of course he just had to have a second cutting to match the other half of his purple mustache! 

River Guardian carefully took the cutting and dived under the cliff again.

“So where exactly is this river barge?” Twilight asked stealing a glance over the cliff.

Harmony pointed to a trail off to the left that seemed to lead to the river below. “Most likely down that trail but we will need to wait until RIver Guardian is back before going.  It’s rude to leave without letting our host know.”

“Indeed.” Rarity nodded in agreement.

River Guardian slid back into view, “Is everyone ready then?”

"Yes we are Come on, everypony, time to go. I'll take the rear."  Discord bowed and began to walk down the trail with the rest following shortly behind. Once everyone started down the trail Harmony sighed heavily and began to follow.  River Guardian glided along next to him.

"He of Harmony..." River Guardian spoke. Leaning in closer he whispered. "Is the hatchling the Dragon Keeper of Harmony?"

Harmony stopped and whispered back, "Yes."

"He is a bit young and what of the memory wipe?" his last two words barely audible.

Harmony began to walk down the trail again before answering "No idea... his abilities are beginning to manifest and he is the correct age for it to occur..."

"What do you mean 'correct age'?" River Guardian paused for a moment staring at Harmony.

"He is twenty-seven." Harmony causally responded.

"Twenty.. seven!?" River Guardian gasped at this covering his mouth in shock. "HOW!?"

"I have a theory. Which I will relate when time is more on our side."

"Very well, He of Harmony, don't disappoint me." River Guardian shook a single claw in disapproval.

Harmony laughed, "I see you still haven't forgotten some of your dragonified pony mannerisms."

"Well I am a bit rusty since the Pony Princesses abandoned that castle... I miss those days." He ran a claw slightly though his hair in embarrassment.

"You would." Harmony shook his head stifling another laugh.

At this Harmony noticed that they had transversed the trail and were standing by the barge. The river barge was utilitarian in looks but very sturdy.  He could see that it had been recently repainted in a light blue hue.  On the side of the engine house the words "U.S.S.Dragonfly" painted in a very flowery script.

Discord put his, and disconnected at that, arms to his hips in mock annoyance.  "’Bout time you got here."

"Can it, Discord,” Harmony shot him a dark look,” and not a word about the name of the barge." 

"You spoil my fun." He pouted, then climbed on board with a captain's hat smartly placed on his head, " I call captain!" He trotted off quickly to the engine house.

"How do you stand that annoyance?" River Guardian quipped blocking a side of his face with a hand.

"Many years of practice." Harmony shook his head. Too many, sometimes.

"Centuries would be more like it," River Guardian commented somewhat to himself tapping a claw on his check in thought.

How close, you are... Harmony inwardly chuckled. Stepping onto the barge he spoke. "River Guardian we must take our leave. Mind you that the timberwolves and cockatrices are in a rampage."

"Thank you for the warning." River Guardian bowed and dove into the river and out of sight. The wave from his dive pushed the barge into the river's current.

Harmony untied the now taut rope with his magic and the barge lurched a bit then started to drift down the river.  He looked around to check up on his charges. Pinkie was on the edge making funny faces with her reflection. Rarity, Spike, and Twilight were laying down together already drifting off to sleep. Applejack was in the engine house helping Discord while Rainbow Dash was laying on top staring up at the clouds. Fluttershy was sleeping against the wall of the engine house. Rest while you can it only gets harder from here. Harmony took this opportunity to get some sleep himself.





Harmony could hear giggling...  For a moment, he was confused as to where the giggling was coming from. Then he remembered.  Slowly opening his eyes he could see the girls laying on a blanket giggling about some story that Harmony was unsure of. "How long have I been out?" he called out groggily.

"Nearly two days." Discord chimed loudly walking up to Harmony from behind. "You have overexerted yourself again."

"Discord now is not the time for that," noticing that the girls were now staring at them silently.

Discord leaned down and harshly whispered. "Harmony for once I get to chew you out. We can't afford you going overboard. Spike has not Chosen yet and as such we are in a very precarious position."

"Don't you think I know that?" Harmony snapped back at him nearly growling. "Now leave me be."

"No." Discord stated defiantly crossing his arms.

"What!?!" Harmony nearly yelled then lowered to a whisper when he noticed that the girls were starting to look worried. "Did I just hear you say no?!?"

"I did, and I will say it again." Discord flatly told him.

Harmony said nothing but glared hotly at him.

"You know what? Enough of this! Council Chambers. Now." Discord grinding his teeth in frustration.

Harmony eyed the girls for a moment and nodded. Discord snapped a claw and Harmony and himself disappeared leaving six very worried and confused ponies behind.

Blinking slowly Harmony saw that they were in a round chamber. It was softly lit with twelve throne like chairs encircling half of the room. Ornate windows showed that the chamber was somewhere in the Plane of Harmony. Nine of the thrones had what appeared to be multicolored fireflies lazily floating above them. Behind him he knew there where was a double door that lead into the Plane of Harmony.

He only had a moment to adjust to the change before Discord lay it on him, hard. "What the buck do you think you are pulling Harmony?"

The alicorn only stood there expressionless letting Discord get into his multicolored muzzle. Discord breathed heavily waiting for a move on Harmony's part. They stood staring at each other, one in anger, the other somewhat smugly. Harmony was the first to flinch lowering his eyes a bit.

"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!"

"Says the one who went crazy and caused disharmony for years in Equestria?!  You have a lot of nerve to say that!  I did fine all those years." Harmony yelled back his coat and mane suddenly going wild.

"That may be so, but you weren't dealing with his return!" Discord pointed at him threateningly.

"Weren't hav-ving to deal with his r-r-return!" Harmony stuttered in rage. "That's horseapples and you know it. You should have been doing your job and maybe..."

"Am I going to always going to have your disapprove over my head for my errors that I've been trying to fix!" Discord butted in not letting Harmony continue the line of his rant.

"I..."

"You know for being a Keeper of Harmony you are sure lacking that right now." a voice spoke.

"How did you get in here?!?" Harmony glared down at the voice seeing Spike near the doors. Discord's only response was to rub his eyes in frustration. Spike seemed to not be perturb by the look the alicorn was giving him.

"No idea." Spike shrugged.

"No idea. NO Idea!! I..." Harmony spouted angrily. Spike could almost swear that if he was Twilight he would be in flames right about now.

"This 'slowing down' is accelerating!" Discord interrupted pulling an ice pack out of thin air and placing it on his throbbing head. A hissing sound could be heard as his pained expression soften slightly.

"Y'ah think!?" Harmony sarcastically snapped back.

"Okay, enough!  What is going on?" Spike growled. Getting no response he continued "What kind of game are you two playing? Him," shoving his thumb claw back in Discord's direction "I could understand. You however... I'm beginning to wonder if there is such thing as a Keeper of Harmony."

Discord put a reassuring paw on Spike's shoulder "Spike, Harmony is a Keeper of Harmony. I'm afraid that you don't know the whole story... What Harmony and I carry is a burden not to be taken lightly nor given to another lightly...'

He was interrupted by an increasingly angry and feral Spike. Harmony moved forward looking into Spike's eyes for a moment "Discord it's not what you think. It's something that I will need to discuss with Spike, privately."

"Very well... But we are not through talking," with a huff Discord left.

Harmony looked off at one of the thrones sadly then spoke softly. "Having troubles finding a name?"

Instantaneously. Spike deflated his anger that had been building up disappeared and in defeat he hung his head, crying.

"Oh, Spike" Harmony pulled the defeated, broken hatchling near him allowing him to cry into his coat. "Just listen okay?"

Spike nodded into Harmony's fur, sniffing.

"I can't solve this for you. I wish you didn't have this burden. No dragon hatchling should have to go through this... I wish The Bearer of Magic could help but we both know she can't. No one can help. This is something you must figure out on your own."

"But we are running out of time we may have lost the timberwolves and cockatrices but that was with the help two adult dragons and yourself. I'm just a helpless 'baby!'"

"You are not as helpless as you think Spike."

"Yes I am! I need to find the right name quickly before... before..." He choked off the rest, unable to speak the horrible thought.

"Hmm.." Spike looked up at Harmony who was looking off into the distance clearly in thought.  His coat had slowed to a melancholy pace.  He slowly turned his head and stared back at Spike. "You remember what I said about the first thing that a dragon hoards?

"Yeah..."

"Well what do you hoard now?"

"But you said that..." Rubbing his spines out of reflex.

"Listen, Spike!" Harmony admonished "You want to protect your friends ... your family, right?  Spike nodded, confused "To protect them from harm?" Spike nodded again even more confused "And what does a dragon protect?" Spike seemed to finally understood and nodded resolutely 

"Well there you go. Choose wisely, Spike." Spike nodded again and drifted off to sleep, exhausted and with that he disappeared.

"Spike, choose wisely..." Harmony spoke again even knowing that Spike was gone. "Choose wisely..."
> At Equestria's End
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Harmony appeared back on the barge nearly jumping because Twilight was nearly standing right on top of him with her horn glowing. At this she tripped somersaulting backwards slamming into Rainbow. 

"What are you doing?" Harmony asked raising a brow.

Twilight pulled herself off of Rainbow "You disappeared along with Discord and Spike."

"Nothing to worry about. Spike is sleeping in a corner of the engine house. As for Discord..." He put a hoof to his chin in thought " Your guess is a good as mine."

"Are you alright?" Harmony looked hard at Fluttershy his coat suddenly deathly still. " That is I... I mean we..."

"... Need not worry." Harmony ended the conversation by walking away then taking flight.

"Well, that stubborn... " Rainbow snorted stomping her hoof. The other girls rolled their eyes stifling giggles.

After a few hours Harmony returned. This time, though, no one dared to talk to him unsure of his possible reaction to questioning.  Seeing Applejack at the controls he called out "Bearer of Honesty this is good enough we need to to walk the rest of the way."

Nodding Applejack spun the wheel and the barge turned leaving the river current and headed towards the shore. It soon ran aground near a large oak.  Harmony got the rope and tied the barge to the oak tree then threw a very large stone into the river. Before anyone could ask he simply stated "The rock is to let River Guardian know that we have left the barge for him to retrieve at his convenience."

Testing the waters Rarity walked up still a bit nervous. "Please tell me we are not going to be running for our lives again. I don't want my mane messed up again."

"I don't think we will be in full flight this time, Bearer of Generosity. We only have a few hours walk until the edge of the forest and then we will be at the border of Equestria and the Badlands."

"Wait. What. Badlands?! We are in the wrong direction for the badlands around Appleloosa which means that you really mean the Desert of Chaos of which Tirek and Scorpan came though when they first visited Equestria. The one that magic is untamed and chaotic." Twilight bit her lip.

"The very one.. my element!" Discord squealed in delight.

"Is anyone else worried that Discord is happy? "Rainbow muttered under her breath to the rest of the girls with a slight nod of agreement from most of them.

Harmony laughed heartily making Rainbow jump a bit, blushing sheepishly. "Actually Discord is only happy to be in a place that is more conductive to his magic. The Badlands are dangerous even to the likes of him. Let's get moving I would like to reach the border before nightfall."

With that Harmony began to lead them along a trail. This part of the forest seem much brighter and friendlier than the other parts of the Everfree.  The pace was slow and steady almost carefree as the girls decided to tell stories to pass the time while Harmony and Discord hardly said anything.  Spike grew tired after a while and Twilight put him on her back so he could rest.

It was late afternoon by the time they had cleared the trees. They walked through grassland for another hour before the grass dried out and the land became dry.  Soon they could see a line of large stones.

"That must be the border." Twilight commented noticing the textbook way of marking a border with boulders.

"Yes that is. Let's stop here a moment as I need to go over some things."  Everyone attention turned to Harmony as he continued, "The land can be disorientating so here are some are the ground rules. For magic users it can do some strange things to your magic so Twilight and Rarity refrain from using magic for a couple days until you can get used the effects of the untamed magic," sliding some horseshoes that Discord produced to Applejack and Pinkie Pie. "This should help you keep your footing. And Rainbow and Fluttershy... well more Rainbow then Fluttershy, under no circumstances are you to fly."

"Fine by me." Fluttershy softly agreed.

"It doesn't look that dangerous. It looks just like the land around Appleloosa." Rainbow commented looking through one of the larger gaps in the boulders.

Harmony turned back to face her then stepped out of the way in an invitation. Rainbow took off in a flash.  Twilight suddenly could feel what Harmony was saying. "Rainbow! Wait!" She called out hoof raised.

But it was too late. Rainbow had crossed the boundary into the Badlands. Suddenly her flying went wild. The only thing Rainbow could think was It's Poison Joke all over again!   Losing control and heading straight back at the group she yelled a warning "Watch out below!"  She crashed upside down muzzle first tearing a trench in the soft earth.

"This is going into my scrapbook." Discord laughed slapping his knees.

"Believe me now?" Harmony eyed Rainbow for a bit before helping her up, "I warned you about the turbulent magic in the Badlands."

"How would that affect my flying?"

"Really?!? Rainbow all ponies use innate magic how else do you think pegasi walk on clouds." Twilight facehoofed.

Rainbow only shrugged.

"Okay one last thing" Harmony stopping the coming arguing by turning to Spike holding out a hoof, "cough it up."

"Cough what up?" Spike asked innocently.

"The anchor that allows you to send letters to Celestia and vise versa"

"I..." Spike blushed heavily.

Harmony leaned down and whispered "Don't worry I wont tell or let anyone see it."

Spike cupped his hands together and puffed a small flame into it.  Concealing the object he handed it over to Harmony who promptly grasped it with his magic then flung it at near mach speed towards the sun.

"Hey!" Spike cried out trying in vain to grasp at the already disappeared object.

"What is the meaning of doing that?" Twilight snapped holding Spike a bit with her magic. She hoped that Spike would not do anything too rash though she herself was thinking of doing something rash.

"Not. Now." Was all Harmony said still staring off at sky.

"Not Now!? I think now is the perfect time..." Twilight argued moving between Harmony and Spike.

Discord interjected repeating Harmony "Not. Now."

"Don't you start." Twilight pulled Discord down to bring his head so she could glare straight into his eyes. Discord squirmed uncomfortably under her gaze.  Even with the seriousness of the situation Rainbow and Pinkie Pie both had their hoofs in their mouth to stop from laughing out loud at Discord.

Pulling them apart Harmony admonished, "Enough!" Turning to address Twilight, "Do you trust Celestia?"

"What kind of a question is that!" she gritted, angry at the insinuation of lack of trust of her admittingly former teacher and mentor.

He only repeated, "Do you trust Celestia?"

Rubbing her head in exasperation she finally answered, "Yes, of course."

"Celestia trusts your care to me. Do you think she would do that if she didn't completely trust me? Especially after having the numerous changeling invasions over the past decade? If you trust Celestia then you should have no trouble with me."

Applejack had had enough and decided now was the time to speak up. "Why? You seem to be hiding a lot of things from us."

"Bearer of Honesty what makes you think that you deserve to know everything? What makes you think you can handle it?"

"An’ why not?"

"Because its not your burden to have... but I think I can finally get around to the question you asked several days ago. I..." Harmony trailed off at the sight of Discord tapping his wrist.

"What? The one about what exactly a Keeper of Harmony is? How is that an excuse for not explaining to us what is going on?"

"Questions, questions." Harmony sighed. Noticing Discord tapping his wrist again more frantically, "Just move. NOW!"

They had barely crossed the border when a loud sonic boom echoed across the landscape. Everyone turned around to look to see a dissipating band of purple along the border in the sky.  Suddenly a second sonic boom could be heard and this time a green band of light flew across the sky also stopping at the border. After a second or two both bands disappeared.

"What was that?" Applejack and Rarity asked in unison.

"Celestia."

"Why would she do that?" Rarity mused admiring the colors it reminding her of a certain dragon.

Rainbow added "It looked almost like a sonic rainboom..."

"She is responding back to what I sent her. Long message short 'Good luck.'"

"Why was it in the colors of my scales?" Spike pipped up interested in why the sonic booms were in the colors of his scales.

"Probably because the message was for you Spike."

"We had better find a place to set up camp night is coming." Discord commented pointing towards the sun low in the sky.

After a moments looking back everyone but Harmony turned to face the desert with Discord leading and urging them on. Harmony only stood for a few moments more, a single tear running down his muzzle.  Turning around he nearly tripped over backwards.  Twilight was standing right in front of him glaring with anger that could melt iron.

"That was no message. It was a modified memory spell." Twilight coldly stated.
> War Council
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"That was no message. It was a modified memory spell." Twilight coldly stated.

"Want to play game with me? Fine." Harmony asked in a sarcastically cheery voice.  

Before she could object flash engulfed both her and Harmony and both disappeared. Noticing the flash everyone besides Discord turned to see that Twilight and Harmony and were no where in sight. Looking at Discord for answers his only response was, "They will be fine. Now let's find that campsite, shall we?

Twilight blinked slowly to clear the bright lights from her eyes. After a few minutes of rubbing her eyes her vision cleared and found that she was no longer in the desert.  In front of her was a ordinate carved wooden double doors very tall and wide. Turning around she saw that she was in a circular cave like chamber.  Twelve thrones were in a semicircle along the far wall a window between each one. It appeared that outside was night time but another look made her think that it actually something else altogether. Nine of the thrones had firefly like lights blinking in and out around them. She look down at the last throne on the right side and saw Harmony sitting on it, angry.

"Where..."  She stared.

"THE COUNCIL OF HARMONY HAS COME TO ORDER. GUEST IS THE HARMONY BEARER OF MAGIC, PRINCESS OF FRIENDSHIP, TWILIGHT SPARKLE." Harmony cut Twilight off with the Canterlot voice.

Now her curiosity was overtaken by anger, "What the buck is going on! Why am I here and for that matter where is here."

Harmony still hot took a deep breath knowing to answer a few questions so they could get back to business. "The Chambers of the Council of Harmony within the Plane of Harmony. I called the council to order to prevent...interruptions."

"You think you can foalnap me and bring me to your council of 'Harmony'?" now screaming  she continued to rant, "Naming everything after yourself. Saying you all about harmony. First you tell us Spike is doomed to forever be gone. You won't warn him or let us warn him! You then have some sort of memory spell casted on the whole of Equestria! An agent, a keeper of Harmony, bah! You are some sort of tyrant! I think you're no better than Tirek, Sombra or Chrysalis."

“Really?!? Really. Celestia: sun. Luna: moon. Applejack: apple farm. Diamond Tiara: wears a diamond tiara!  Pony names usually have something to do with what their special talent will be. I did not choose the name 'Harmony.' I didn't name this chamber, the council, the plane outside, or the Keepers of Harmony! That spell was necessary to prevent problems after the memory wipe. Outside of Celestia and Luna and us no one remembers him and there are no records of Spike now in Equestria."

"Yeah and who gave you that right to do that!? Messing with peoples memories on such a mass scale! Who watches the watchers!" Twilight countered.

"Who watches the watchers! You dare play that card! You dare make that kind of accusation!" Harmony stop for a moment the lights suddenly flickered brightly nearly blinding Twilight for a second. 

Once the lights dimmed and her sight return she could see that Harmony no longer looked angry. He looked defeated, tears flowing from his muzzle. Continuing softly "You see the nine thrones with the firefly lights dancing around them? Those are the 'thrones' of Keepers that died protecting this world!  One of them is personally responsible for saving Celestia's life! We Keepers carry the shame, the failure, and the burden of our respective Elder Races. We are the LASTBORN! A Keeper isn't just chosen! When no more can be born the spell I told you of activates and the magic essence of a pair that race is combined. With that the final child of that elder race is born. No more can come upon this world again, only ascended versions like yourself.” 

“The Keepers of Harmony carry the sin of our ancestors, we carry the absolution of the Elder to the Younger! See the crimes of the Elder Races! We could have stopped it sooner! But we didn't ... we didn't." Harmony hung his head in shame.

Suddenly Twilight found herself seeing one gruesome image after another, all of ponies. Some ponies were being tortured with fire others had their limbs cut, torn and bitten off. Twilight retched violently at this. She then saw the horrors of slave labor, the whippings and beatings.  Mass graves came and went, murders, kidnappings and more. As the images stopped she nearly retched again.

"You saw only a taste of all that horror that befell just the pony races. THAT was caused by a Spark dragon! Spike is the same type of dragon. I have told you the tale of the one who hated the Younger races the one who has no name but only titles? One in which you have heard me use: 'Nameless One.' 

Twilight went pale at this revelation but Harmony kept going "The second magic growth that I hinted at? That I shuttered at? THAT is the type of growth that brought this world the 'Nameless One'." Seeing her paling further he steeled himself to go on. "You do not want Spike succumbing to that growth. Which can happen if you interfere with the Choosing of his name or bring up anything of his 'past life.'

Harmony waited a few minutes while Twilight vomited a second time, worse than the first.  Seeing that she could still handle a bit more he continued. "Your burden is much lighter. Not only that you have your friends you have Celestia, Luna, and Candace.” 

“Do you know why the lights only move lazily with no apparent pattern around the thrones?  It because you never met them. You had to have met them in life to see what they look like. I can only see the outlines of two. One of those died shortly after meeting me to explain my place as the Alicorn Keeper of Harmony when my cutiemark first appeared. I'm not sure of the circumstances of the death other one. The two unoccupied remaining thrones? One is Spike's; the other..." Harmony rubbed his mane nervously. "The other is not important right now..." With that he collapsed on his throne.

Running up to see if Harmony was okay Twilight could see that he was barely conscious. Sweat had matted his fur badly and the coat's color movement had stopped all together.
Whispering almost too softly for Twilight to hear, "You see Twilight I don't want Spike to be alone... He would only have two living Keepers if we survive. I couldn't live with myself if Spike's own sister, his friend, his family could not be there if he needs someone.” 

Harmony coughed violently but continued nonetheless,“It's disharmonious to shatter that bond between you and it already is going to happen. That is opposite of what we do; it's opposite of what you do with the Council of Friendship. I'm trying to find a way to make sure that what will be shattered can be put back together. Sure it won't be the same but the bond can be fixed. That is our jobs: maintain and return harmony.” 

“Do you know why I created the elements all those years ago? I made the Elements to allow the magic of harmony to be used by someone other than myself. Ones that are worthy and would carry on the mission of the Keepers if the pony races ever needed harmony magic if I ever I would die... Council.... dismissed..."  With that he slipped into unconsciousness.

Twilight now understood why he was careful what he did and said. She remembered all of the things that Celestia had told her about Luna's banishment and the years following. Celestia had many regrets about her role in Luna's fall. What made it worse for her was the lack of good friends in which to confide. Twilight now felt guilty that she forgot that burdens carried alone without friends is hard, soul crushing. She saw now that Harmony too didn't have the circle of friends like she did, friends that could carry the burden with him. 

Twilight sat there helpless unsure of what to do when suddenly a familiar voice spoke, "I see He did it again..."
> Around the Campfire
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Okah what's with the torches around the campsite, and why is the fire red?" Applejack asked.

"Because yellow is so boooring." Discord drawing out the last word ignoring the first half of the question.

"No really."

"Because red will make to easier to see if I need to light up the area if we are attacked."

"Attacked!? By what?" Fluttershy now spoke up, nervous.

"Let's hope you don't have to find out. Now if you excuse me I have two ponies to recover." With that he snapped his tail and was gone.

"You know between Harmony and Discord I'm getting annoyed." Rainbow huffed.

“Here, here.” Rarity agreed.

They didn't have time to say anything else when a flash of light appeared near the edge of the campsite and a figure approached. Everyone tensed up a bit before they noticed that it was a very disheveled Twilight walking towards them. Spike ran up to help hold her up.

"What happened? Are you alright, Twi?" Spike asked guiding her to a spot by the fire.

"...Yeah... I just need some sleep." Twilight collapsed. Spike quickly threw a blanket over her and sat next to her. She didn't even want to know why the campfire was red in color. She was too tired from her ordeal to care. Soon she was snoring lightly.

Everypony just watched Twilight for a while concern etched on their faces. Now it was common knowledge that she tended to overexert herself in the midst of doing complex experiments or stressing out by over thinking a simple problem but this was different.  Her eyes had looked haunted like she saw some terrible horror. 

Soon another flash of light appeared outside the campsite near the perimeter torches distracting them from Twilight for a moment. Everyone blinked hard, rubbing their eyes.

"I'll go check it out," Spike picked himself up and walked cautiously outward. After a moment the effects of the flash wore off and his naturally strong night vision could make out Discord and in his arms was an unconscious Harmony. Running now, he nearly tripped over a rock before getting up close to them. "What happened to Harmony?"

Putting Harmony down gently then wrapping a blanket around him Discord sighed heavily "Harmony is trying to get himself killed." Squeezing his hands hard in anger." Spike, you see, Harmony is trying to handle the mantle of The Keepers of Harmony by himself. It was never meant to be that way. Why else do you think that the Elements require the all six current bearers and before them both Celestia and Luna?  Can't have harmony with only oneself...." 

Discord was silent for a few moments then looked down at Spike gazing straight into his eyes "You have something very precious that Harmony never really had. Actually, something that no Keeper has ever had..."

"What is that?"

Discord looked off into the distance "Family... "

Spike swore he saw the glint of a tear fall down Discord face. He looked out trying to see what Discord was seeing but could not see anything of importance. Taking a seat between Discord and Harmony he looked outward into the desert lost in his own thoughts.





"So what do you think?" Applejack asked whispering to avoid waking Twilight.

About what? Rarity asked also whispering.

"This whole affair. Ah mean Harmony is elusive in answers. Spike has been more withdrawn since Harmony entered our lives. Twilight comes back after disappearing with Harmony visibly shaken. Ah just don't trust this Harmony character. Ah don't even need to speak on Discord..."

"Twilight did have horrible bags under her eyes and I think her complexion was paler than normal." Rarity commented mindlessly checking out her coat for mars.

"You would notice that." Rainbow rolled her eyes.

Rarity glared at her but Rainbow appeared to either did not notice or care "I'm also concerned about my Spikey-wikey...You are right he does seem so troubled lately...and I still don't want to believe that Spike has to have some sort of uncouth 'hoard name.' Why would someone who claims to be about harmony would say something so cruel as to say..." Rarity shuttered.

"I do find it weird that he insists that you are the Bearer of Joy not Laughter." Rainbow looked at Pinkie trying to not think on what she knew Rarity left unspoken.

"Yeah that is odd... I'm just sad that he never allowed me to to host a party for him!..." 

Everypony just blinked slowly at this. Speaking a bit louder Pinkie piped up "Ooo! anyone want some marshmallows?"

"Pinkie!" everypony harshly whispered.

"Oopsie." Pinkie blushed.

"What do you think Fluttershy?" Applejack asked Fluttershy.

Fluttershy stood up walk around the fire and stared off in the direction of Discord and Spike. "I trust them."

"Why?" Everpony said in unison.

"I..."Fluttershy squeaked hiding her face behind her mane and crouching down to try and make herself small.

"Darling, relax, you're among friends." Rarity reassured her everypony nodding in agreement." Go on..."

Fluttershy took a depth breath then let it out slowly. "Because no one in his condition would do this much while risking his own life. I don't think you noticed but Harmony is very frail...Remember when Harmony was out for two days?"

Everypony looked at each other then nodded slowly.

"During that whole time Discord was wrought with worry. Harmony could have died because he was overexerting himself."

"How would you know that?"

"Because," turning back to look towards Discord "we are good friends. We talk about a lot of things."





"Mind if I ask you a personal question?"

"Oh yeah? And what is this personal question?"

"Discord, you seem know a lot about the Keepers and seem to be friends with Harmony. How can that be? I mean chaos and harmony it doesn't make a lot of sense. It was Harmony's Elements that put you in stone for so long.”

Discord pulled on his beard a bit before answering "That is both a simple and complex question to answer."

Spike smirked, "Must you always give out knowledge in riddles?."

Discord shrugged, "What can I say?"

Spike slapped his face hard at this. He made a note, again, to stop playing right into Discord's antics.

"You better head off and get some sleep I'll keep watch."

Spike looked at the sleeping Harmony then back at Discord. Though he really wanted to wring the answer out of him Twilight was his biggest concern for the moment. "Okay."  

He walked back to the girls, laid down next to Twilight, and fell fast asleep.  The rest of the girls decided it was time to also get some sleep.  Soon the only thing that could be heard was the crackling of the fire and the soft snoring of one dragon and seven ponies. This left a very world weary Discord, alone in his thoughts, on guard for the dangers of the desert.
> Onward to Oasis
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Wake up, Spike." Twilight shook him slightly.

Spike rolled over mumbling, "Five more minutes..."

"May I?" Discord asked Twilight.

She eyed him suspiciously but nodded consent.

Wiggling his hands in excitement, Discord first popped his knuckles in front than behind. He floated up a bit producing a bucket. He eyed his target then dumped the contents onto Spike.

"What the!" Spike jumped up as soft vanilla soft serve dripped down his scales.

"Oh, shucks, I forgot the cone!" Discord snapped his paw in frustration. "O, well..." he shrugged.

Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash went wild with laughter. Twilight and Rarity both gave them dark looks. However the corners of their mouths strangely struggled to stay down. Spike glared at everyone leaving the worst for Discord. Sighing he quickly licked all the ice cream off.

"Oh, Darling, that is.... ewwwww." Rarity blanched.

Discord sprayed disinfectant from a large arousal can he produced out of a handbag that had, of course, appeared out of nowhere.

"Discord! *cough*" Twilight yelled trying to clear the air around her magic. Instead of blowing the disinfectant away her magic seemed to produce confetti which promptly flew all around them.

"Harmony did warn you." Discord spurted failing at not laughing.

"Don't you dare...." Rarity exclaimed seeing the giant fan Discord had produced. Her objections were too late as Discord flipped a switch blowing the disinfectant, confetti, and sand away which, of course, messed up her coat.

"Okay now that you 'cleared the air'. What are we going to do about Harmony?" Twilight asked miffed at Discord antics in the light of Harmony being unconscious.

"I will carry him, for now. Later I'll put him on a stretcher and two of you girls can take turns. We can't stay in one spot in the desert for too long... it's too risky."

Discord picked up the alicorn keeping him lightly wrapped in the blanket. Cradling him in his arms he gestured for them to follow.

"Twilight remind me to never let Discord to carry me like that." Spike whispered into Twilight’s ear. Twilight only shushed him quietly trying not to giggle.

For days they traveled the endless desert. Discord would begin and end each day with Harmony in his arms. Two of the girls would volunteered to take the stretcher during the afternoon.  A third had to occasionally carry Spike who couldn't go as long as the rest due to his smaller body and legs.  

The terrain changed as they went.  Midway through the second day they started seeing sand dunes and by sunset they were walking over the sand dunes.  A sandstorm blew through during the morning of the third.  Discord tied ropes to everyone and they told them to continue. On the fourth day, with thanks, they noticed that the terrain was becoming more flat again.

Also early on the fourth day of their march Harmony finally stirred enough to whisper. "How... loong... how long this time?"

"Four days." Discord answered keeping his eyes to the horizon.

"Where are we?" He weakly shifted to get a look about.

"A days walk to the Oasis before the Salt Flats." Discord replied.

Harmony whispered even softer. "Good, let’s... let's hope Scorpan is still alive."

"I hope so too, otherwise the next time you will die."

At this, Harmony passed out again. Discord sighed and shifted Harmony to better carry him then continued the long march.

The sun was low in the sky when Rainbow muttered, "I think this dessert is getting to me that is the tenth mirage today alone.”

Discord squinted his eyes, "That is no mirage. That is the Northern Oasis. We will be stopping there to hopefully meet an old friend."

"Please tell me its not another... dragon..." Fluttershy fearfully squeaked.

"I doubt it... If he is still alive Twilight might have an heart attack in excitement..."

"EEEEEEEEE..." Twilight squealed in delight already mentally going over a list. "And who might that be?"

Discord rubbing his brow of sweat in exasperation. "You ponies are going to be the death of me!"

After an hour they had entered a stand of palm trees surrounding a small clear lake. A small stone house stood on the other side of the lake. Though everyone was tired, they were all curious as to who would live so far out in the middle of not only nowhere but in a very dangerous and wild desert.

Discord walked up to the door of the house and knocked loudly.  After a few moments a tall male gargoylish creature opened the door to greet them. He stood on two pawed feet, had bat wings, and a lion like mane.  The mane and fur, though brown, was streaked with grey.

He spoke looking straight at Discord, "Discord??! What are you doing here? I..." he stopped when he noticed Harmony on a stretcher between Rainbow and Applejack.  Gently moving around the ponies he picked up Harmony and walked back towards the open door to the home...

Taking a quick glance through the open door Twilight noticed that the inside of the house was huge.  How is that possible?

"Harmony did tell you about the magic of the Untamed Wilds, did he not?" the gargoyle spoke answering Twilight's unspoken question. Stepping into the house "Well, come on in."

"What am I? A block head?" Discord responded to the slight, reshaping his head into a square.

"You are more likely not to tell them to get some sort of amusement out of it."

“Touche,” Discord grumbled.   

The gargoyle turned to face his guests who he noticed were admiring the grand entrance. A spiral staircase led to a second floor.  Various hallways and corridors went off in all directions. Leading them down a side hallway he spoke to everyone as a whole "By the way my name is Scorpan, and I welcome you to my home."

"Scorpan? By change are you the Scorpan!?" Twilight nearly screamed in delight. Spike and Rainbow Dash rolled their eyes, trying not to laugh.

Scorpan chuckled lightly at Twilight's burst of giddiness, "The one and only. I might relate some stories later, but first let's get Harmony into the den."  Turning around a corner in the hall he opened a door and stepped into a cozy room.  There were a couple of comfy chairs and a couch near a fireplace.

He placed Harmony gently on the couch, covered him up, and then placed a log into the fireplace.  Looking around for a match and finding none he turned to go get one when he saw Spike.

"A dragon hatchling?!?"  Scorpan exclaimed but then added, "That is odd..."

"What is so odd about it?" Twilight piped up, incensed. Spike didn't react having had long given up getting upset over ponies being in shock when seeing him with the girls.

"That he is a hatchling and not a whelp or an adult." Spike lowered his head at this, nearly in tears. Noticing Spike's changed demeanor he quickly added "My apologies, young one, I'm not familiar with curtsies given my hermit ‘status’ for centuries." He thought for a moment then he figured a way to cheer him up, "Why don't you light the log for me?"

Spike nodded and went over to the fireplace and blew his emerald green fire on the log until it was lit.  Scorpan grabbed a few logs from a nearby stack and gently placed them on top of the now burning log.  Without another word he left the den, the Bearers moving to the sides to allow him passage.  

A moment later he returned with a bowl filled with water and a stack of rags.  He pulled a chair closer to Harmony and placed the bowl and rags on the end table.  He took a rag, dunk it gently in the bowl, then wrong it out. He gently dabbed the sweat from Harmony's forehead.

Speaking softly he asked, "How did this happen?"

Discord, with a few interruptions from an excited Twilight, recounted the events of the past few weeks. Scorpan spoke nothing, listening intently.  

It was only after Discord had finished the tale that he spoke.  Turning to face the sleeping alicorn," You foolish alicorn. How can you complete your work if you keep trying to kill yourself." Standing up he turned to look at his other guests. "We should go into another room so we can get to know each other better without disturbing Harmony."

"Can I stay with him?" Spike asked not taking his eyes off of the sleeping alicorn.
Scorpan looked at Spike. Seeing his pained face and knowing that he could not persuade him otherwise "You can. We'll be in the room across the hall if you need anything."

Without another word spoken everyone walked softly out of the room leaving Harmony and Spike alone.
> What Ails
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Has anypony seen Discord?" Twilight asked at an early breakfast the morning after arriving.

"I thought I saw him go outside." Scorpan answered, placing some toast on the table.

"*yawn* Why do yah need to find him?  Yah know him.  Never around when yah need him.  Won't leave when yah don't..."  Applejack yawned taking some toast and apple jelly.  She looked at the jar and was surprised to see that it was an Sweet Apple Acres product. "Scorpan, where'd yah get this?"  

"Harmony brings me treats from Equestria from time to time. I think that was from a place called Sweet Apple.. Sweet Apple..." snapping his claws trying to remember the rest of the name.

"...Acres" Applejack finished for him "It's mah family's farm."

"Oh is it? Well tell me what things besides the obvious do you grow?"

Twilight had heard all this before so she quietly left to go find Discord. She was glad Scorpan knew where he went. She did not want to try to find him in the confusing layout of the house.

Twilight walked out into predawn air. Shivering lightly at the chill in the air, she began to looked around. Given the small size of the Oasis it only took her only a minute to check the lake shore, the trees, and behind the house. He was no where in sight. She was about to go back inside when she noticed that Discord was hovering high over the lake. Though she could not see his face, as he was facing away from her, he looked very troubled.

"I'm a bit surprised to see you out here Discord." She called out.

"You thought I would love being inside with the maze of halls and dead ends? Too much like a poor pony's version of Canterlot Castle." Discord answered without moving, his back still to her.

"Now that you mention it..." Twilight trailed off.  She stood there for a moment trying to remember why she was out here looking for Discord. "Discord? Can we talk?"

Not turning to look at her Discord guessed. "If I was a gambling draconequus I would have made big money on what you are asking." Flipping a coin expertly but still staring off at distance. "You want to know about Harmony's condition don't you?"  

Twilight opened and shut her mouth repeatedly, loss for words.

After an awkward silence Discord finally coughed and began to speak. "So... about what is affecting Harmony. You should know something first." conjuring an illusion of the Tree of Harmony and the Crystal Heart for Twilight to see. " These are examples of artifacts created from a Keeper giving up their harmony magic.  It allows the magic of harmony to be used even if for some reason the Keepers are unable to help.  (I don't think either one of us what to know what would happen if there was no Crystal Heart to stop Sombra.)  From our experience with the Tirek incursion you know what happens when a pony loses their magic.  It is very dangerous to give up your magic even more so for a Keeper given their dangerous lives."  

"Shortly after creating the Tree, Harmony went on one of his... excursions into the dragon lands. He contracted, what is now, a very treatable disease, but at the time had no treatment.  Of course, even if there was a treatment by the time he could have gotten back it would have been too late... The disease is called Pony Magic Wasting Disease...Well, it's not very accurate, any magical race can contract it."

Twilight went into shock. She knew that disease quite well every pony was taught what to look for. She was surprised that she didn’t see the signs in Harmony. Admittedly it was only the early stages that are taught given that nopony had ever reached the advance stage in nearly a millennia..  Of course if Harmony had the advance form she was at a loss on what to do. Still she knew she must try.

"But there has to be something we can do.  Spike is taking his illness hard.  I fear that Spike needs help... and as much as I want to help him... I fear.... I fear..." Twilight started to cry thinking back to something Harmony said. "When a dragon becomes an adult they forget everything from childhood..."

"I would try talking to Scorpan." Discord ignoring Twilight's breakdown over Spike.

"Why him?" Twilight sniffed.

"Really? For such a Starswirl the Bearded fanfilly you should know the part of the legend were Scorpan befriended a young unicorn? I mean, true, its not the most obvious thing but..." Discord then noticed that he was alone. Sighing heavily he again stare off, lost in worry.





Twilight stumbled into the kitchen knocking over some pots and pans.

"Twi wha's th' mattah? Yah tryin' to wake everypony?" Applejack exclaimed, helping her up.

"Sorry, I... I need... to speak ...to Scorpan... about... Harmony." Twilight huffed heavily pulling a pot off of her head.

Scorpan raised an eyebrow, "Well, then let's go to my study.  Applejack, if you or anypony need me, see that cabinet?" Scopran pointed to a plain wooden cabinet secured to a wall on the other side of the kitchen near a dumbwaiter. Above it was a line of small bells. "In that box there is a bunch of strings. Pull the one marked 'Study.'"

Scorpan motioned for Twilight to follow him through a side door. After going through several hallways Scorpan stopped at a door, pulled out a key, unlocked the door, and walked in the now unlocked room. Twilight was suddenly envious. Admittedly it was a small room. But along every wall there was bookshelves that went to the ceiling full of books. From what she could see nearly every book was extremely old and on subjects that she doubt was even in the Canterlot Archives. She never saw a personal collection this large. The library, along with the books, in Ponyville was technically not hers and given her side job as the librarian she never saw the need to have a very large personal archive..

Taking a seat behind a desk, and motioning for her to sit on the cushion in front of the desk, Scorpan began, "So uh... What was your name again?"

"Twilight Sparkle." She absentmindedly sitting on the cushion.

"Thank you, my memory isn't as good in my old age. So, what can help you with concerning Harmony?"

"His illness... I want to do something to help him, but..." Twilight trailed off

“I see.” Scorpan crossed his claws thoughtfully, “Tell me, why should I tell you about it if Harmony himself has not told you?”

“Because Spike cares deeply for Harmony. Spike is going through... uh... changes in his life and I don’t know how to help him as I know very little about dragons.  Harmony seems to be the only one with those answers. I can’t help but worry that his is at deaths door. I would not be a good big sister if I couldn’t find a way to help Spike by helping Harmony.”

“Hmm…..” Scorpan thought but said nothing further. Time seemed to past slowly for Twilight as she waited for a response.  She so desperately wanted to plead further but she couldn't think of anything else that would further her cause.

Suddenly Scorpan started speaking again, "Twilight Sparkle... Twilight Sparkle..." he chewed on Twilight's name. Twilight titled her head in confusion. "Ah! Now I remember why you name was so familiar! You were the one that finished Starswirl's unfinished 'masterpiece.'"

"Um..." Twilight blushed heavily at this.

"You know... " shaking his claw in excitement, "I think you might be able to take another one of his masterpiece to the next level..." Scorpan turned around and began looking through his books. "...although to be fair Harmony and I helped him with this one."

"What? I never knew he had any help with any of his spells, potions, magic studies..."

"Not surprising.” Scorpan cut her off, “Not everything is recorded. But there is there also a lot of your history that was deliberately shrouded in mystery. There are some things Equestria is not yet ready to know..." Scorpan headed off Twilight's indignation. Turning to face Twilight for a moment he say the look on her. "Relax, Celestia is not trying to hide things from ponies for nefarious reasons... don't forget that nopony knew that Nightmare Moon, Luna, was Celestia's sister. Can you imagine how much chaos there would have been if that was common knowledge?  Ponies, by their very nature, panic easily."

"Sadly I know what you mean…” Twilight sighed heavily,” Wait how do you know all this?”

“I may be a hermit but like the apple jam Harmony does keep me informed of what goes on in Equestria as well as a few other lands that you don't need to know about.”

Twilight decided to turn the conversation back to Starswirl eyeing some of Scorpan's books, “So back to this masterpiece of Starswirl that you think I can take further?" 

"Oh, yes, of course. It's Starswirl's treatment for Pony Magic Wasting Disease... never could understand the 'pony' part of it..." Scorpan answered returning to his search through his bookshelves.

"Wait I thought it was too late for Harmony?" Twilight seemed confused. She knew that advance cases were untreatable which is why everypony was taught how to watch for it.

"Maybe, but if anypony can solve a problem that Starswirl couldn't solve I think it would it would be you. I have his notes in a binder... Ah here it is." Scorpan pulled out a binder. It looked like papers were haphazardly stuffed in it. Turning back to see Twilight's excitement, "Here's the deal. There will be breaks to leave the lab for food three times a day.  Also six hours minimum of sleep, in a bed, a night. No exceptions."

Someone is taking a page from Spike. Twilight thought.

Noticing her processing his stipulations he chuckled a bit. "I have had practice with a certain over working pony and I don't mean Harmony." Scopran then pulled his beard, adding  "Although he was almost as bad."

Twilight cringed a bit at Scorpan's knowing look but then nodded, solemnly.

"Good. Follow me we have much work to do."  Scorpan motioned Twilight to follow as he walked out of the study.
> The Many Same Answers
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

For days Spike sat next to Harmony, hoping that he would survive. The only rest from his vigil was when Scorpan and Twilight left the lab to get something to eat or to rest and Scorpan dragging him away leaving either one of the girls or Discord to watch over him.  Most nights Somepony would discover Spike fast asleep and would have to cover him up.

On the fifth day of his vigil Discord caught Spike uttering something unintelligible to Harmony. "Spike you been at this for four days now.  You need to take a break."

"But..." Spike pleaded.

"No buts..." Discord groaned. "Oh, help me. I'm starting to sound like you, scolding Twilight..." seeing that Spike was still unsure of leaving or not he reassured him "Don't worry, I'll watch him and will let you know if anything changes right away."

Spike reluctantly got up, stretched, his joints cracking loudly.  Harmony stirred a bit, groaning softly.  Spike sheepishly froze and after a moment or two Harmony went silent again. Discord silently snapped on a nurses outfit and gently put a thermometer in the sleeping alicorn's mouth.

"Go on." Discord whispered waving with his hands not looking at Spike.

Spike’s stomach growled softly as he left the den he went down the hall and into the kitchen to grab a sandwich and a few gems. After making his sandwich he walked out and decided to eat by the water.

Splashing his feet in the cool water, his mind wandered to another problem that had been plaguing his mind.  This problem had been plaguing him for years and had only recently been partially answered.  The dangers of the past few weeks only made the urgency of solving it more pressing.





"A name is the sign when a dragon becomes an adult. This name, translated, is known as a Hoard Name.  This name has a meaning that is similar to the meaning of a pony's cutie-mark though not completely...

You are a dragon that acts like a pony.  This is in complete conflict with being a dragon...

You want to protect those you love but you can't do that as a hatchling. This is a conflict that must be resolved."





Harmony was right. Even though he would never admit it publicly, as he got older it got harder to behave in a pony fashion. Harmony helped him smooth out some of the rougher edges of being a dragon but he always acted a bit different then most colts.  One of the things about the Hoard Name that made sense that was lately he had the urge to hoard but not in the way on his birthday.

When he had his ‘growth spurt’ on his birthday he wanted everything that he saw.  Everything was things, objects to have. There was no rhythm or reason to it. The more recent... urges.. was different, it was as if there was something specific he needed to hoard but he knew not what. Something, however, that Harmony said to him last seem to touch on this.





"You want to protect your friends ... your family right?  To protect them from harm? And what does a dragon protect?"





Choose wisely, he had said, but he wasn't sure how to do that, yet. How do you pick a name that says he wanted to protect his friends and family without coming off as some sort of brutish dragon that treated ponies with disdain or worst... This of course meant to choosing a name that was less dragon-like and more pony-like. He so wanted more help from Harmony but with him deathly ill that option was out.  Twilight was also out as she knew just as much as he did.

He thought that maybe seeing some happy memories would give him some ideas, and if not it could at least get his mind off of the current events.  That would require getting into the Plane of Harmony which he was unsure how to get in there. The last time he got in there was an accident. There had to be a way of doing it again but this time on purpose.

He closed his eyes and thought back to how he did it before and tried to repeat that. After a bit nothing happened. So he thought harder and his features crunched up from the increase and still nothing happened. It wasn't until he inwardly shouted that he needed advise that something happened. He could feel the air around him cool, the breeze stopped.

Tentatively opening his eyes he found that instead of the Plane of Harmony he had managed to get back to the same place that he discovered Discord and Harmony fighting.

"Okay not where I wanted to go but I guess this will work for now... The only problem is where am I?" Spike wondered out loud his voice echoing slightly.

The Council of Harmony meeting chambers. What is the answer you seek.  What advice do you need? Several voices chanted in unison echoing loudly.

"Ouch." Spike covered his ear from the sudden loud, chanting voices. "Who said that?"

When no one answered he shrugged thinking it was the stress causing him to think he heard voices. Better not tell Twilight that. 
The last time he was here Harmony and Discord were arguing he didn't get much of a chance to figure out where here was. Looking around, he could see twelve white marble thrones in a semi circle. Nine of them had sparks floating around them. Between each one he saw a window and outside he could see what he was sure to be the Plane of Harmony. It looked like he could enter the plane from a set of two very large double doors larger than the ones at Canterlot Castle. However, the sparks seemed to grab his attention. Going up to one of the thrones he tried grabbing one. His claws however seemed to go right through every spark.

"Must be magic." He mused. "Why, though, are they not around three of the thrones?"

The three without have Keepers that are full of life. Came the chant again.

"That figures." Spike rubbing his spines. "Guess that means the chanting voices must be magic too."

It seems to answer questions that I pose which means...

"How does a dragon choose a Hoard Name?" Spike tried to ask the question on his mind.

The answer you seek must come from a dragon.

Spike rubbed his ear frills trying to get the ringing out. "Okay maybe that was a poor question let me try another. What are some examples of Hoard Names?"

The answer you seek must come from a dragon.

"I need more then 'The answer you seek blah. blah, blah.' Uh.. What is the real purpose of a Hoard Name?"

The answer you seek must come from a dragon.

"How is a dragon hoard related to its Hoard Name?"

The answer you seek must come from a dragon.

"I'm beginning to wonder if you know anything about dragons.’ Thinking inwardly he mused. For that matter, anything but the same sentence over and over. “Who should I ask about Hoard Names?"

The answer you seek must come from a dragon.

"I see that you wanted a headache, asking for advice from the Council." Discord leaned down to whisper in a gossipy manner. "The trick is knowing the right question to ask."

Spike just pinched his brow with his claw trying to ease the headache that he was developing. "I'm done playing twenty questions with them.  The only answer I can see to pry out of them is," speaking in a mocking manner, "'The answer you seek must come from a dragon.'"  Suddenly bouncing up and down in anger he shouted, "I am a dragon!"

"Alas, Harmony is the resident dragon expert. I'm more of the chaos expert."

It was at that moment that Spike realized that Discord was, one with him, and two was talking to him. "Wait a minute! Why are you here? Is Harmony okay?"

"He is fine. The problem is that you disappeared. Next time you try coming here at least let me know so you don't get everyone up in hoofs trying to find you.”

"Sorry. I just..."

Discord just waved off Spike's apology.

"Say... " Suddenly Spike had a thought, a most delicious one at that. " I wonder...."

Discord looked down at him initially unsure of what Spike was thinking. Then it hit him. He was such an idiot! Giving a key to Spike like that! He was sure now what the question Spike was going to ask and he didn't want that answered. Before he could stop Spike, however, Spike had already begun to ask the question.

"Hey! Answer this!" yelling in the direction of the lights, "Why would Discord and Harmony know each other and why is a self proclaimed being 'chaos' be allowed in a place that's is all about harmony?"

Yep he asked. Discord silently cursed himself.

The first question is answered by the second. The chant began. The one called Discord is the Chimera Keeper of Harmony.

Spike stared at Discord, then at the council then back at Discord mouth wide open.

Here it comes...

"BWHAAHAHAA!" Spike roared in laughter clutching his already aching sides. "That, that is the funniest thing I've ever heard!"

See this is why I never tell anyone I'm a Keeper. Discord shook his head, his head cupped in his hands.
        
                


> Regrets of the Past
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Girls."
 
"Girls."
 
"Girls!" Fluttershy yelled.
 
Finally, everyone noticed that they had company. It was Harmony. He looked worse for wear. His rainbow coat had faded to a very sickly pale white. He had visibly thinned with his ribs visible and his eyes were sunken and dark.
 
"You know, it's hard to sleep with all the laughter." Harmony nodded to Fluttershy in thanks.
 
"We're sorry. But, darling, you really shouldn't be up." Rarity apologized shocked at the poor look of Harmony.
 
"I'll be fine. Sleeping is not going to help anymore at this point." Harmony said dismissively. "So, exactly what was causing all this laughter?"
 
"Spike here thinks that Discord is a Keeper of Harmony" Rainbow replied still giggling. "Like he ever was about harmony."
 
Rainbow quickly stopped when she saw how serious Harmony looked.  Everyone got extremely uncomfortable under the gaze of Harmony.  "Discord is a Keeper of Harmony." He flatly stated.
 
Everyone but Spike went into shock.
 
“But... but...  That’s impossible!” Rarity managed to stutter out.
 
Twilight at this point decided to stick her head into the room. "What is going on? I can hear you all the way to my bedroom." She glared at Harmony. "Harmony, what are you doing up?"
 
"Oh, hello Bearer of Magic. Where's Scorpan?" Harmony spoke lightheartedly, clearly ignoring Twilight's annoyance.
 
"He ordered me out of the lab to get some rest but then I heard all this laughter. Again, what are you doing up?" Twilight gave him a glare not letting him get around not answering.
 
"Sleep is beyond me at the moment..." Harmony shrugged. "And it appears I got some damage control to do."
 
"Damage control?" Twilight asked already the wheels turning in her head were trying to figure out what happened.
 
"Well it seems Spike here is spreading things that are not to be spread about nonchalantly."
 
Twilight glared at Spike who cowered under her stare. "And what exactly is he spreading?"
 
"The, and very truthful, fact that Discord is a Keeper of Harmony."
 
"Well that would explain some things." Twilight said thoughtfully, rubbing her chin with her hoof.
 
"Wait! You believe him?" Rainbow snapped hotly. "Just like that?"
 
A glare from both Harmony and Twilight shut Rainbow up again.
 
“So exactly how could Discord have anythin’ to do with harmony? Also, yah still hav’n’t told us what a ‘Keeper of Harmony’ is.”
 
“That is a complex, long tale. It deals with a lot of the history of this world, Equestria, and to a lesser extent Spike’s. I will at least attempt to give you the necessary major details.” Harmony coughed a bit, than settled down, for it would be a while before he would be finished and he was still quite weak.
 
"It's best I start from before my time. To the time of the Elder Races. The world was different back then. Other than it was more harmonious and there was virtually no evil. The world as we know of it is a result of a massive war. The cause of this war was the jealousy of a single being of the Elder Races. When the Younger Races appeared upon this world the Elder Races noticed that they had potential that would one day outshine them. This creature,” Harmony spat clearly disgusted,” This creature is known by the Alicorns as the 'Dark One' did unspeakable horrors against the Younger Races in his jealousy and pride.”
 
“The Elder Races attempted to stop him but were unable to do so in words so war was declared... In the final days of that war, in desperation, a spell was crafted by twenty skilled magicians from each of the twelve major Elder Races. The result of that spell was the temporary sealing of the 'Dark One' and the Keepers of Harmony."
 
"From then on the Elder races would slowly fade away as the Younger rose.  Even though the 'Dark One' was sealed away the effects of his evil still roamed the world. A Keeper of Harmony was the answer for this. We were to fix the damage to each of the Younger Races under our charge. We also were put in charge of permanently dealing with the 'Dark One.' He was too strong at the time of his sealing to keep him imprisoned forever or to be killed for that matter. Sadly, as the Elder Races faded, his seal would weaken. The Elder races didn't want you to inherit a damaged world so the hope was that by the time that the ‘Dark One’ managed to escape that the harmony of the world would be strong enough to counteract his power, weakening him enough to finish him once and for all."
 
Harmony started having a coughing fit.  Spike quickly ran out of the room and brought back a glass of water.
 
"Thank you, Spike." Harmony drank some of the water then started again.
 
"There was to be one Keeper per race, twelve in total. A Keeper is born of magic... a mixture of the essence of their ‘parents’. However, this can only happen when no more of that elder race could be born. For example, ten thousand years ago I was 'born.' This occurred because the final male alicorn, the uncle of Celestia and Luna, was killed. I was formed from him and his mate. She then died protecting us from what killed my ‘father’ as Celestia fled with her younger sister and me."
 
"That is so sad..." Pinkie Pie said crying, a pool of water around her. The others were struggling not to cry as well.
 
"Yes, it is. The nature of the spell makes me sterile so there is no way I can continue the alicorn race with either Celestia or Luna. Same goes for Spike.”
 
“Whoa, whoa, whoa…” Rainbow interjected. “How would you know that Spike is uh…” Rainbow stopped the embarrassment too much for her.
 
“Spike, here, is a Keeper of Harmony..."
 
"What!!" Everypony but Spike and Twilight exclaimed in shock.
 
"As I figured." Spike and Twilight said together.
 
"I did drop enough hints that I'm not surprised you two figured that out.” Harmony shrugged.
 
“Yah know Ah think that would have been important enough to tell us earlier!” Applejack angrily stated getting tired of Harmony’s concealment of what she saw as important information.
 
“Exactly!” Rarity agreed.
 
Harmony rubbed his head trying to dull the screaming pain. “It wasn’t time. It should have not been revealed until after Spike’s Choosing… c'est la vie...”
 
“Don’t yah go all fancy on us.”
 
“Applejack! Let him speak!” Twilight now getting irritated at her friends.
 
“Thank you.” Harmony nodded in thanks to Twilight. “You must understand us Keepers are to restore the harmony to this world as absolution to the Younger races not to continue our races. To reach your potential the Elder races need to move aside to give you room to grow, to make mistakes, to become what the Elder races saw that you could become...."
 
Harmony paused for a moment lost in his thoughts. Shaking his head to remove the images from his head he wished not to dwell on at that moment. "Nine keepers have come and gone, killed in their duty. Three remain, as you already know Discord and I are two of them. Spike is the last Keeper of Harmony, the Dragon Keeper of Harmony. As such, along with dealing with the 'Dark One' he is also in charge of bringing the dragon races back to a harmonious existence of this world.”
 
“He is just a baby dragon!” Rarity stated incensed at the implication that Spike would have to deal with such, barbarians, “Why should my little Spikey Wikey get involved in such dangerous matters?”
 
Spike was a bit miffed at being called a baby but let it slide.
 
“It’s not your place to decide that.” Harmony so wanted to smack her but he had to continue, “Spike is going to be in dangerous situations no matter how much you want to protect him. Spike's harmony magic is beginning to manifest which is why darkness fell over Equestria and why we fled. The two most dangerous time for a Keeper is when they are 'born' and when they start manifesting the magic of harmony. Spike's biology adds a third time... Hatching. So..."
 
"Then that would..." Twilight began.
 
"...Explain why after a long period of rest and peace everything went sideways and that it always seemed to be centered on a backwater of Equestria: Ponyville." Harmony finished for Twilight.
 
"Anyway, each Keeper tended to represent a part of how harmony works. The traits of harmony that I represent are Generosity, Loyalty, Kindness, Honesty, and Joy... not Laughter."
 
"That is twice now that yah have said Pinkie was the Bearer of Joy and not Laughter." Applejack interjected." And while Ah on it why you keep usin' titles for us and not our names?"
 
"Will you let me continue? You are like a bunch of school fillies that are still too immature to know to not interrupt their teacher. Not everything is recorded correctly in history. Sometimes ponies prefer to change it to make history sound better and less ugly than it was. The reason for the change, which I did not approve, was because of Discord. His harmony trait is laughter."
 
"Why am ah not surprised...Ah nevah laughed at his 'jokes.'" Applejack huffed.
 
"Laughter is much harder than you think. Pinkie Pie remember how hard it was to befriend Cranky? What makes one laugh, another will not understand. Pinkie Pie you are always trying to make everyone happy not necessarily laugh. That is joy... although laughter can be an element of joy."
 
Sighing in frustration Harmony decided it was time to explain something that always irritated him.
 
"I never liked using the term 'Magic' to describe one of the Elements, the one that Twilight wields. To do everything that is required as the Bearer of that Element it requires a lot of strength and resolve so ponies think that strength and resolve is about strong magic ability, although it is generally the rule. However, what it really is about is something a bit harder to put in easy words... one of those five elements can be weak in one area that another would be able to help.”
 
“The Bearer of Magic is supposed to show the others how relationships with each other lifts everypony up. To show them how that where one is weak in one area that another could help them in that weakness because they are strong in the area of the others weakness... Gah, I'm blabbering…” Harmony facehoofed, ”Uh... its purpose is a focus, a gathering point, for the other elements. It also sort of acts like a glue that hold the rest together.... I don't think you want to be known as the 'Bearer of Glue.'"
 
Pinkie Pie had to stuff a hoof in her mouth to not laugh. Rainbow, however, could only wheeze. Harmony shook his head in amusement but didn't stop either one.
 
“Now to answer your second question Bearer of Honesty. From a young age I began to go into the dragon lands to learn the dragon culture. Why that is not for me to talk about, yet. However, it takes a lot of time and patience to learn anything from a dragon.”
 
”That is if you can find one that was willing to even tolerate you. By tolerate I mean accidentally insulting them... or dishonoring them... over the tiniest thing. It’s a chore just to figure out what title is proper to use just so you can address them right the first time. Those first good impressions make it so much easier to get them to not immediately try and fry you. Given the time I have spent with dragons, I tend to, out of habit, ’speak like a dragon,' hence my usage of titles."
 
"You don't use one with Discord or Spike..." Twilight countered.
 
"Spike has neither territory nor hoard. Plus, he's not an adult so different rules apply there.  As for Discord, he never follows rules anyway...  Gah! Where was I?" Harmony rubbed his aching head for a moment.
 
"Oh, yes, learning dragon culture! There are tons of ritualistic rules that the dragon races have for nearly every interaction. Nearly all dragons, if they decide to interact with a non dragon, will act as if everyone should know all the rules. So it's sooo easy to dishonor them and when you dishonor them..." Harmony paused for a moment, glazing over for a minute, lost in his thoughts.
 
"Remember He of Everfree attacking Spike over something as eating a very tiny amount of gems?  That was extremely tame for a dragon. That is why there isn't much knowledge on dragon outside the various races."
 
“This is all fascinating and all but it’s not explaining Discord’s disharmonious actions.” Rarity stated.
 
"Ever wonder why Equestria is known as a Kingdom but as no ruling King or Queen? Princesses Celestia and Luna are not technically the rulers of Equestria." Harmony asked completely taking the conversation on a different direction.
 
"If not them, then who?" Twilight asked, confused.
 
“An’ what does this have to do with Discord?” Applejack snapped getting annoyed.
 
"It has to do with why Celestia and Luna ‘disposed’ him from his ‘ruling’ of Equestria and being imprisoned stone."
 
“As to the answer of your question, Bearer of Magic, I am the king of Equestria.”
 
"What!?!" Everyone yelled in unison.
 
"Yes, I am the King of Equestria. I won't go into details about how I became King of Equestria, that isn't important... You know, I should give you some of my journals dealing with that...but I digress. I was 'given' the Kingship about four thousand years ago give or take a few centuries.
“It was I that personally crowned Celestia and Luna as Princesses.  They rule in my name. When you solved Starswirl's unfinished spell you appeared in the Plane of Harmony.  I was the one that had you take all those tests before you were crowned a princess and became an ascended alicorn. The completing of the spell and finding the Crystal Heart both of those were by my direction."
 
"What about Candace?" Twilight asked.
 
"Not necessary for you to know her story."
 
"Now I seemed to have gone down a rabbit trail. However down a trail I need to go on. For as long as I have known him Discord has always had a fascination with ponies. I think maybe it was because I was the only Keeper who would tolerate his antics. This was probably because of my travels to the dragon lands.”
 
“Wait how is going into the dragons lands have to do with Discord?” Twilight asked her desire to know everything getting in the way of Harmony speaking.
 
“Do you mind!?!”  Harmony nearly yelled.
 
“Sorry.” Twilight meeped trying to make herself small.
 
“Going into the Dragon lands was dangerous, and I was out of Equestria for several decades at a time. I usually left Discord in charge until I would return. I would stay in Equestria for a few decades before I would leave again. This pattern went on for about seven hundred years before I would leave for an extended time of nearly six hundred years. After that I would come and go at random intervals."
 
"Discord was a very popular ruler, at least for the commoners, the self proclaimed ’nobility’ did not and I can think you can all guess why. It was during one of my numerous trips to the dragon lands that something terrible happened. In his grief Discord lost all sense of himself. This occurred about fourteen hundred years ago."
 
"It took some time but Celestia and Luna were able to send word to me that Discord had gone mad and was causing disharmony. It was then that I revealed the purpose of the Tree of Harmony. They knew of the purpose of the Keepers what they didn't know was I created the Tree to allow ponies to bring harmony to themselves so that they were not dependent on me. I didn't want the harmony of the pony races to ever rely solely on one pony.  Harmony is much stronger when those who want it work to achieve it themselves and not from some outside source. So I had them use the Elements against him placing him in stone."
 
"It wasn't until I had read how the Bearer of Kindness dealt with Smokey that I found a way to pull Discord out of his madness. Of course a bunch of fighting fillies prematurely weaken his prison so he escaped.  I needed him to be released by you girls in order to get through his madness. Once I arrived back in Equestria I had Celestia bring him to Ponyville to, hopefully, be brought back to his 'right' mind.  It worked. He had, however, to relearn what it meant to have friends and to be a friend again which is why Tirek was able to trick him. My only regret with Discord was that I was not there to help him and that it took me nearly fifteen hundred years to figure out a way to help him."
 
Harmony stopped, tears running down his muzzle. Fluttershy went up and hugged him gently. After a few moments the sobbing ceased. Taking a few breaths Harmony continued his story.
 
"Anyway, after Discord was placed in his stone... timeout... Equestria was attacked again. This time it was Luna... Over time she had gotten depressed over her incorrect thinking that she was unneeded, unloved just because ponies slept at night. She said nothing to her sister. If she had I'm sure Celestia would have shown her the error but sadly she did not. As her brooding got worst it opened her up to the influence of a Nightmare. Unfortunately Celestia didn't see the signs before it was too late... She has always had troubles with subtle dangers. The first Changeling invasion is a more recent example of this flaw."
 
"Celestia had hoped that she could stop Luna using the same method that they both used against Discord. The problem with that is that the Elements are never to be used by one pony, alone. That is why Luna was trapped on the Moon instead of what happened when she returned and you freed her. As for why Discord was placed in stone and not cured by the Elements was that unlike the Nightmare that possessed Luna Discord had his mind broken by tragedy. You can't fix something like that with a quick fix like the harmony 'rainbow.' Even after being freed it took time for Luna to recover from her pain. As did Discord."
 
"It was the night of Luna's banishment that I returned after a long time on one of my excursions although this time it wasn't the Dragon Lands that I came from. No need to know where you just need to know that I didn't return alone. I returned with Spike's egg.  It was then that I trusted Spike to Celestia. As you already know that I had given up my harmony magic by that time. I also had suffered from Pony Magic Wasting Disease further weakening me so I knew that I couldn't muster the amount of raw magic necessary to hatch it."
 
"I revealed to Celestia that the next Bearer of Magic would be able to hatch Spike and that her mistake with Luna would be fixed by the new Bearers of Harmony. You see by what she did that night her magic now was spread thin by now having to deal with both day and night.”
 
“What about the elements?” Couldn’t they have been used to hatch Spike?” Twilight asked hoping that this interruption would not get Harmony angry.
 
“Besides the fact that Celestia could no longer wield them?  Harmony magic doesn’t work like that. That is why Celestia had the hatching of Spike's egg as the entrance exam.”
 
“She also had you knew that you would need to go to Ponyville all those years ago to 'make friends.' What she did the night of Luna banishment was the greatest mistake she has ever made. If she wasn't so repentant for what she did she would have been stripped of more than just being a Bearer."
 
Harmony raised a hoof to stop Twilight from speaking, "When I had the Princesses use the Elements of Harmony against Discord I did it with careful thought on whether it was the right action or not. Celestia however reacted without thinking which is easy when you are emotionally involved... she disrupted the harmony of Equestria that night almost to the point of no return. You don't just willy-nilly banish the guardian of the Moon that is under the influence of a demon that should have been exorcised. If she had held off Nightmare Moon but a few more hours I would have bore the Elements that Luna once held along with Celestia bearing her own. If she had done that Luna would have been cured that night. Spike also would have been hatched that night. Two ponies wouldn't have suffered for a millennia."
 
Harmony paused for a moment taking a few cleansing breaths. Muttering mostly to himself but nonetheless heard by all. "So many regrets and lost opportunities..."
 
"What was the cause of Discord madness... I mean I know you said it was caused by a tragedy but what was it?" Fluttershy asked worried about her friend.
 
"You will have to ask Discord that."
 
Rainbow Dash jumped up and was about to gallop out the door to find Discord when Harmony moved in front of the door to block the path out.  Harmony shook his head in disappointment. Rainbow unhappily looked straight at Harmony ready to move him forcibly.
 
"Hold it. I don't think you realize how much you hurt him when you laughed about his Keeper status.  He stopped referring to himself as a Keeper because of actions like those that was displayed here tonight. You are going to have to wait until he is ready to tell that tale." He turned to address Fluttershy, "I think as his friend you will know when he is ready. Don't panic about how you will know when he will be ready you will know in your heart when he is ready."
 
Everyone then hung their heads, ashamed of their actions. Silence crept over the room as Harmony took a look at each pony and dragon in turn. Seeing that they were all in states of sorrowfulness he nodded his approval yawning heavily.
 
"I'm heading off to bed. Later, Bearer of Magic, I would like to see what you two are up to in the lab." Yawning some more Harmony walked off back into the den leaving the rest to dwell on what Harmony had revealed to them.
> Chaotic Rainbow Fire
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So tell me what you have discovered so far." Harmony asked at the others gazed around the laboratory. 

"Well we think we have found a way to mitigate the lack of healthy mana needed to reestablish congruency with your natural mana production there by revitalizing the natural..."

Harmony had stop listening by this point and was looking over the diagrams and equations on the various chalkboards. Everything seems to be in order. A diagram of the Elements of Harmony, Scorpan, and Discord caught his interest. Hmm interesting... I take it that Discord will be used to counter the effects of the local leylonic magic.

"Harmony?" A voice called out.

"Harmony!" The voice this time yelled.

"Huh? What?" Harmony stammered snapping out of his trance.

"Have you even been listening?" Twilight asked gritting her teeth a bit.

"Truthfully? No." Harmony admitted still going over some of the equations. 

Twilight grumbled in irritation at this. "Why do I even bother?"

"Believe or not Bearer of Magic but I can hold my own when it comes to advance theory such as this. I just don't find scholarly droning to be very... how should I put this?" Harmony taped a hoof to his chin thoughtfully, "Stimulating."

Flutershy smiled a bit at this while Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie fell to the floor rolling in laughter. Rarity did her best to stay lady like but couldn't stop herself from giggling a bit. Spike just snorted a bit a puff of smoke escaping his nostrils.

Twilight went into a rage. Suddenly she was in the air her coat had gone white and her mane was flames. After a second of two of this she dropped to the floor returning to her normal colors but with streaks of smoke and ash.

"Whoa, Deja vu." Scorpan muttered.

"What?" Twilight snapped still a bit angry.

"Oh, nothing..." Scorpan said slyly trying to hide his smirk. Whispering to Harmony he added, "She remind you of a certain pony?"

Harmony had to stifle a snort. Luckily Twilight wasn't able to hear it however Spike heard. What is so funny? he thought.

"For us less learned ponies," Scorpan began ignoring the stink eye from Twilight," What Twilight is trying to say is that the old treatment requires a magic user to pull out all of the mana.  Once out of the patient the uncorrupted mana is separated from the bad. The good mana is then restored to the patient there by resetting mana production. This only works if there is still any non corrupted mana left. Harmony, of course, is beyond the point where this would work. As the Elements of Harmony are designed to restore Harmony we have surmised that they should be able to restore Harmony's mana to its correct state."

"The hay an' the what now?" Applejack asked scratching her head.

"Uh.. let's see... It's like having a fish for a pet!" Harmony exclaimed. "When you drain a dirty fish bowl so you can replace the water you clean the bowl before putting water back. This is so that when you put in clean water it doesn't immediately become dirty again. Unless you like defeating the purpose of changing out the water."

"...."  Twilight and Harmony both facehoofed in frustration at Applejack's continuing confusion.  

"You know," Harmony grumbled, "Not worth it right now. You really don't need to know the fine details... Let's just say it cures Magic Wasting Disease and leave it at that before I get a headache."

"An' what does that have tah do with us non magic users?" Applejack retorted.

Gah! Harmony thought of smacking the mare but decided against it.  "You will use the Elements and hit me with the Rainbow."

"Seems easy enough." Rainbow Dash yawned. All the egghead talk on magic was boring her and she was itching for action.

"Not completely. The Elements need to be in perfect balance. You have not been trained on this so when you activate the Rainbow it tends to be a bit lopsided. This usually is not a problem when time is of the essence and you have some crazy villain trying to kill you."

"An' how are we suppose to do that?" Applejack asked rubbing her head in frustration. Magic was never her forte and all this was confusing her to no end. The only conciliation was she was sure Rainbow Dash was even worse off.

"The same way that I told you to lessen your concern for Spike when we first met."

The mares only looked at each other in confusion and or doubt.

"Don't worry I'll guide you." Harmony said reassuringly. Note to self: train the Bearer of Magic on how to do this." Everything seems to be ready to actually do this."

"Well yes but..." Twilight began.

"We are more then ready." Scorpan countered turning on a machine behind him. He then hooked it up to Harmony attaching numerous electrodes to various parts of him. Once done Scorpan took a step back and nodded to Harmony.

"Discord Ready a chaos shield.  Once he has that up everypony but the Bearer of Magic use your Elements."

"How did you..." Twilight started.

"I may have not been paying attention to you but I was reading up on what you wrote."

"Oh." Twilight mouthed.

Discord snapped a claw and a strange, square, bubble encased Harmony and the Bearers. One by one each Element glowed with power then shot out light rings in the shapes of the respective gems straight at Harmony.  A light humming sound filled the laboratory. Harmony nodded in approval as he began to gauge the balance of the Elements.  As he figured there was a bit of lopsidedness nothing that he couldn't fix with a bit of coaching.

"Fluttershy you're a bit too nervous I want you to imagine I'm a sick animal for a bit. Can you do that?"

Fluttershy responded however no one could hear her reply. Harmony could sense that she was at least doing what he had asked and could feel kindness rising to the correct amount. Okay one last adjustment

"Too much joy!" Harmony shouted over the increasingly loud hum.

"Okie dokie lokie." Pinkie Pie scowled in happy concentration her tongue sticking out. She lessened her bouncing and her mane became a bit less poofy.

Gah her joy is like sugar! Harmony had to shake his head a bit. "Okay that is perfect. Maintain that as long as you can. Scorpan are you ready?"

Scorpan nodded trying hard to concentrate under all the noise.

"Bearer of Magic give it your all and don't stop until the Rainbow exhausts itself."

Twilight nodded and her eyes went white with power as a rainbow began to connect between the Bearers. Once the rainbow hit her it went skyward nearly hitting the ceiling before crashing down on Harmony. Scorpan then began his work. He fiddled with some nobs on a machine hooked up to Harmony. Once he was done he could see a tendril of of darken mana slowly appear intermixed with the nearly blinding rainbow light swirling around Harmony. Scorpan reach out with his magic and began pulling on it carefully. Slowly at first then faster the darken mana was pulled from the rainbow light. After it seems like hours there was no more trace of the darken mana.

Scorpan adjusted some nobs on the device. Nodding in satisfaction he turned to carefully monitor the progress of the treatment, "Keep going Twilight!" He yelled out noticing that the Rainbow was beginning to falter.

Twilight only grunted in response beads of sweat dripping down from her coat.  After another half hour the Rainbow began faltering again.

Come on Twi you can do this! Spike crossed his claws.

However Twilight had reached her limit and with that the Rainbow died out dropping her roughly.

"Did it...  Did it work?" Twilight asked breathing heavily, too dizzy to get up.

"Give me a moment." Scorpan replied looking at the readings.

"Well his coat does look better." Rarity commented seeing that Harmony coat had brighten and was again slowly shifting.

"Hhmm..." Scorpan took a look at Harmony gauging his magic aura. "I would say that it has worked. Although it will take a few days to reacquire the higher levels of mana you should have."

"No surprise there, but I'm afraid that we don't have time to dally here any longer then we already have." Harmony taking a look at some of the readings himself.

"It seems safe here...right?" Fluttershy spoke then sheepishly blushed hiding behind her mane again.

Harmony put down the paper he was reading and gave Fluttershy a hard look. "Have you forgotten what I said about the dangers of being a Keeper? I might add that ALL three of us are here? Also Spike's harmony magic is beginning to manifest and like flies to a corpse the minions of the 'Dark One' can smell uncontrolled harmony magic." 

Fluttershy eeped at this trying to further hide behind her mane.

Harmony turned to Twilight, who was brushing herself off, and asked, "Tell me, Bearer of Magic, what happens with a unicorn filly or colt before they learn control?"

"They can have bursts of uncontrolled magic." Twilight responded knowingly now standing up straight.

"Exactly. Spike is having a similar issue. If we get ambushed out here we are in trouble given the chaotic effects this place has on your magic or do we need to have the Bearer of Loyalty give us another demonstration?" Harmony stole a glance at Rainbow who was doing her best Fluttershy impression. "Didn't think so. We still need to get to Hourglass."

"How is that place any safer?" Scorpan looked up from reading to eye Harmony.

"Are you telling me after all these years living here in the middle of the Untamed Wilds you have a problem with Hourglass?"

"A bit." Scorpan shrugged slightly.

"Oh Scorpan..." Harmony facehoofed shaking is head in disbelief. However Spike's overly loud yawn interrupted Harmony. "I think you should all go and rest. We shall move out in the morning."

Twilight open her mouth to object but then thought differently and turned around, "Come on girls, Spike. Let's get some sleep."

The girls and Spike slowly filed out of the room. Twilight picked up Spike and put him on her back. Spike groggily looked back at Harmony. Harmony gave a small smile in return then turned to face Scorpan who writing a few notes next to some of the the readings.

"My boring alarm is ringing so I think I will head out for a snooze myself."  Discord was about to snap his claw but stopped, "Harmony try and get some rest."

"I will Discord." Harmony nodded.

Discord eyed him for a bit, shrugged, then snapped a claw disappearing in his trademark flash.

With everyone gone Harmony sighed. "Scorpan lay it on me.  How well did it really work?"

Scorpan took a deep breath and laid down his quill, "It didn't work. The damage is still there we only regressed the symptoms to an earlier stage... Harmony magic alone won't do it. Your mana, even though you released your harmony magic, has a duel nature to it. My research on this (that I did without Twilight's knowledge) indicates that you would need the original treatment layered on with the new Harmony treatment. Of course with this there is a problem..."

"Most non-Keepers don't need magic to survive... where as all Keepers do." Harmony eyed the equations still on the chalkboard.

"Yes... Yes, as you have told me before. I just hoped that it would fix the damaged mana by while I pulled the bad magic out." Scorpan eyed what Harmony was looking at and dismissively added," All of our equations and readings are correct both Twilight and I went over them a dozen times. You need a transfusion of good mana then have harmony magic used on you to mix and recalibrate it so that it your body has the correct template to begin producing mana again. Then remove the transfused mana once your body has enough mana to survive. "

Harmony's ears twitched ever so slightly. Smiling slightly he motioned slightly at Scorpan. Scorpan made no outward movement but his eyes conveyed understanding. "I take it you didn't tell her about the needing magic to survive part did you?"

"No. It wasn't my place and I secretly hoped that it would work without the necessary drainage of mana..."

"Luckily Twilight didn't find out that it most likely wouldn't work. She may be the Bearer of Magic and know a lot about magic but there are some fields where she lacks understanding," Harmony gazed up at the ceiling lost in though for a moment," As for a magic source, the only one that could work that is readily available, that is of a high enough order, is dragon..." 

"A Dragon? Why not Twilight?"

"She is a bearer of one of my Elements that would cause some issues with the harmony magic."

"Of course it would!" Scorpan threw up his arms in exasperation," I suppose then that would exclude Princesses Celestia and Luna?"

"Even though they are no longer bearers, yes, their magic was effected by being Bearers. I also can't have Princess Candace either because of her connection to the Crystal Heart."

"Crystal Heart? How would she have a connection to a Keeper artifact that is not yours?"

"It matches her talent..." Harmony shrugged.

"What about Discord?"

Harmony just gave him the most obvious Really? look that he could give.

"Ah, right, of course...." Scorpan sheepishly replied hanging his head slightly.

"Given that Spike has yet to choose his name I can not illicit his help. A dragon has no access to his magic until adulthood, minus the letter spell, which always requires an anchor.  But even if he could it would cause... complications."

"Let me guess given a dragon's natural resistance to pony magic would exclude the use of your elements given that they are the pony elements?"

"Most likely." Harmony softly responded gazing now at the floor.

"Great!   Stupid Starswirl's First Law of Magic Order:  'A Higher Order magic easily effects the magics of a lower order. However not always in the reverse.'" Scorpan pinched a claw across his brow in frustration. "What about using Spike harmony magic instead of your Elements?

"Spike's harmony magic is out because he had no real control until they become fully manifest at the Choosing." Harmony countered. "And Discord's harmony magic is not conducive for this application either."

"Which leads us right back the beginning! In order for this to work you must have both normal and harmony magics...  Given the trouble that will surely come we don't have time for a different solution. Gah it seems hopeless!" Scorpan slammed a fist heavily onto the lab table knocking over a few vials, shattering them. "You do realize this wouldn't have been a problem if you hadn't given up your harmony magic?"

"I know..." Harmony signed heavily, " I know..."
> 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. 
> Fear, Pain, Concern
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Where is Harmony?" Discord asked as he saw Twilight approaching them.

"No idea, and right now don't care." Twilight grumbled.

"Good riddance as far as I'm concerned" Rarity agreed.

Discord ears drooped slightly at hearing them bad mouthing Harmony. He so wanted to correct them but for the moment he had to concentrate on getting them out of the Salt Flats safely.

No pony seem to notice as the day went on the grass was beginning to pop up out of the cracked and dry land.

"This is good enough." Discord suddenly declared.

"But the sun is still high." Twilight commented shielding her eyes while eying the sun.

Discord sighed visibly deflating, "Yeah maybe but Flutters and Rainbow need time to rest from their ordeals now that we are out of the Salt Flats."

At that eveypony finally noticed that instead of sand they where standing on grass. The grass wasn't as lush and green as grass from Equestria but after many days of sand they were happy for any type of grass. Unbidden Rainbow collapsed onto the ground. Fluttershy walked up next to her first friend and laid next to her to give what comfort she could.

"How the... what the?" Twilight stuttered clearly confused.

"Welcome to the grasslands! Which outside of Hourglass itself is the safest section of the Untamed Wilds." Discord was wearing a brown vest with a name tag that read




Discord 
Untamed Wilds tour guide




"Somehow I doubt that." Twilight deadpanned recovered from her momentary confusion.

"Good. I hope by now you'd understand not to be complacent."

"You are sounding like Harmony." Twilight accused. Applejack and Rarity seemed to agree nodding their heads.  Pinkie Pie had started to bounce again so it was impossible to see if she was nodding as well. The remaining made no movement to indicate their thoughts on the matter. Discord drooped at that. No one but Fluttershy noticed.





"Um Discord..."

"Yes Fluttershy?"

"Are you alright?"

"Can't get anything past you can I?" Discord remarked noticing that Fluttershy was trying to hide a blush behind her mane. "Did you know that Harmony used to be the kindest pony you could ever find? Even more then Celestia. The harshness of the world and dragons never changed that... until..." Discord trailed off tears watering his eyes.

"It's okay." Fluttershy tried to softly reassure him.

"No, it's not Fluttershy... Harmony..." Discord sniffed a bit," He is in so much pain and everyone close to him suffers because of this. It has harden him. The only one he is soft to is Spike."

"Why?"

"..." Discord's mouth opened and shut a few times before staying shut.

"Its okay if you can't talk about it."

"Thanks Fluttershy..."Discord slowly stroked her mane as he continued to stare off.





The sun was beginning to set before Twilight decided to finally confront Discord. After speaking for a few minutes with Fluttershy Discord had hardly uttered a single word. His gaze was always off to the distance as if looking for someone. Fluttershy keep staring off at him visibly worried. She trotted out to the end of the camp where Discord was setting up the red torches.

"Leave me be Twilight." Discord stated snapping another torch into place.

"No."

"I can snap that necklace off of you so you have nothing to threaten me with." Just to demonstrate he snapped a claw and the necklace was around him instead of her. Her eyes went wide as Discord snapped a paw this time and the necklace was back around her neck.

"Celestia..." Twilight began before being cut off by an eagle claw clamping her muzzle.

"Did no such thing. Harmony was the one to put that spell on the Elements. Which I might add was removed when you returned them to the tree. Now leave me alone."

"No." She was not going to stop until Discord opened up. True, Discord and her never fully got along. Being the receiving end of pranks, riddles, and general chaos all the time made it difficult for her to be good friends with him. Still she felt that she should see what she could do if only to help easy Fluttershy's worry.

Discord grumbled angrily. "Fine! What do you want and make it quick. I have other things I rather be doing then dealing with you."

At that Twilight's anger exploded stomping angrily she nearly yelled, "What is wrong with you!!?"

Discord turned to face Twilight who instantly went from anger to outright terror from the fierce, murderous rage coming off of Discord. His fur (where he had it) was fluffed up and he eyes glowed red in power that was nearly as strong as Tirek's. She could hear the magic crackling in the air around her. "If you were not the Bearer of Magic and adopted sister to a Keeper you would be dead right now by MY hands for what you did to Harmony."

"You wouldn't dare Celestia..." Twilight said trying not to let any fear taint her words.

Discord stuck his face right into hers so all she could see was his glowing red eyes. She visibly paled as the magic around her only got more chaotic and stronger. She couldn't believe it. The amount now rivaled Tirek after absorbing alicorn magic. "You are so lucky Celestia doesn't know about what you did. You tore Harmony to shreds today! The wails of his anguish and complete despair was all I could hear when I checked the Plane of Harmony earlier today. I couldn't, even with my power, dispel it. His will to live is now tied to only one being now: Spike."

Twilight didn't have anything to say her fear so gripped her. Huffed at that Discord spoke further. "I would think you would have gotten it when your little 'chat.' The one that nearly killed Harmony! The life of a Keeper is harsh, brutal, bloody, tragic. Tragedy occurs around us all the time. We are the front lines of the war between Harmony and Dark Magic after all. We suffer from mental anguish and gladly take it so others don't suffer. You only had a taste of it and from what I saw I know you can't handle it."

Discord relaxed a bit and the magic that threaten to engulf her dissipated. "Harmony is trying to spare you from the horrors of what is coming for as long as he can. He kept you in the dark about the numerous dangers of the Untamed Wilds to keep you from fear. I'm extremely surprised that the only life threatening danger we faced so far was earlier today."

"Maybe, but keeping us in complete darkness was not right." Twilight countered finally finding her voice.

"In hindsight not the best of ideas." Discord admitted before he face darken again. "Now leave me alone before I do something that you will dearly regret."

Twilight anger was rising again but complied and joined the rest by the fire that was now blazing.





"You know I can see you." Spike puffed a bit of smoke in irritation. He had been on guard for only an hour when he saw a figure out in the darkness.

"No surprise there..." The figure walked into the light revealing that it was Harmony. "Dragonic sight is quite amazing."

"Why are you here Harmony? You really did a number on Rainbow."

"I'm am here for the same reason I came to Ponyville weeks ago: You."

"Yeah, rrright..." Spike rolled his eyes in an exaggerated fashion to make sure Harmony saw it.

Harmony decided to ignore the dragon's irritation and get to the point by asking him, "How is the name coming along?"

"Uh, okay, I guess." Spike rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. If it was light out he was sure Harmony would have noticed the blush forming on his cheeks.

Harmony rubbed his head for a moment. "That is not what I meant."

"Then quit speaking in riddles! I swear you're worse then Discord!" Spike was not in the mood, not with what had happened earlier.

"One does not learn if one is handed the answers on a silver platter."

"Let me guess," Spike pinched the brow of his snout with his claws," You wrote that."

"No I didn't." Harmony chuckled lightly before coughing, "Will you stop getting me sidetracked!"

"You seem to do that well enough without any help." Spike sarcastically pointed out.

Harmony rolled his eyes, a hint of a smile forming, "Have you come up with any candidates for names yet?"

"Some, but they just don't feel right."

"How so?"

"I duuno, they sound cheesy like some really overly puny superhero name." Spike pawed the ground sheepishly trying to hide his embarrassment.

"Ah, yes the romanticized knight in shiny armor trap."  Harmony deadpanned," It's all great and prefect..." He sounded sad saying the rest, "until the real world crashes down on you."

"It's still something to aspire to be." Spike sighed dreamily ignoring or not noticing the sadness in Harmony's voice.

Harmony thought on that for a while lulling it around in his head to weigh everything. There were both pros and cons to the direction of what Spike was thinking. The more he thought on it the more he realized that is exactly how Spike carried himself. A knight in shinning armor to protect those that he loved; a knight that would sacrificially protect those who can't protect themselves. He could also tell it was more then that. Something that brought warmth to his heart that he had not felt in many years. Fighting back tears that threatened to surface he thought It is a worthy goal Spike. One that I shall proudly point the way for you so that you find the name that exemplifies what is on your heart.

Having made up his mind (knowing that the consequences of further guidance would be worth it) he asked Spike a question. "Have you tried seeing what your 'hoard' has said of you?"

"Huh?" Spike scratched his head then blinked a few times.

Harmony chuckled lightly at Spike' confusion, "A dragons hoard reflects what they value, right?" Spike slowly nodded. "The Hoard Name is related to what they hoard, right?" Spike nodded again. "So the hoard should reflect some aspect of their name."

"So again I ask you..." Harmony suddenly stopped mid sentence frowning.  Spike turned around to see what had stop him. There standing between them and the fire was Twilight glaring.

Without warning Harmony threw him with his magic. "Name. Now." He growled with a venom that nearly rivaled his rant with Rainbow. 

For a moment Spike would have sworn that the growl sounded dragonic but he had a more pressing matter as the ground rose up to meet him. Spike grumbled a bit at the impact. He picked himself up, brushed off some of the sand and dirt, and was about to give a snark remark when he noticed that Harmony was staring intently at him. Spike protest stopped in his throat as he pondered the look Harmony was giving him. After a second Spike shrugged and went back to the fire to work on his name. Twilight, her encounter with Discord earlier forgotten in her anger, however, was not inclined to be as forgiving and slapped him hard with her hoof.

"How dare you throw him like that!" Twilight hissed after she gotten her barrings back.

"He is wavering. He can not waver on this. He must know what his name should be." Harmony calmly stated not giving her the satisfaction of rubbing his sore cheek. He was not really in the best of moods to deal with anyone besides Spike. Twilight was his sister so he swallowed the fighting emotions.

"And how does that give you right to treat him harshly?" Twilight spoke through gritted teeth. Her frustration with the enigmatic pony was fraying the last of her patience.

"On the contrary, I'm treating him with a light touch. A dragon parent would not be as soft as I am. To show weakness is to invite death." Harmony stated as if it should be obvious to her. Easy don't let your emotions dictate what you say.

"Humph." Twilight grimaced then remembered why she walked out here. "What are you doing back anyway? After what you did to Rainbow I was hoping that you wouldn't return."

"Don't want me around? I suppose that is to be expected..." Harmony trailed off for a second looking up at the stars, "Fine. You shall have your wish. Before I go I have one question for you."

"Fine. Ask it."

"Why do you think I'm teaching you the ways of dragons?" Harmony asked still not gazing directly at her.

That was unexpected. It was not a question that Twilight was even remotely thinking he would ask. The only answer she could immediately think of was she wasn't sure. She remembered Harmony saying something about not wanting Spike to be alone. But that wasn't the whole story as dragons where naturally solitary. She was missing something she knew it. Harmony never revealed everything. So there had to be a reason for him to talk to her so extensively over the others. She was also sure it had nothing to do with her alicorn status no matter what Harmony had said. 

He was worse then Celestia! She loved puzzles but even she understood Celestia quirks (as long as she didn't overreact over little things and forget to think logically). A certain incident came to mind and she involuntarily shuttered for a moment before recomposing herself.

Guh! she threw up her mental hooves. This pony was impossible to understand he seemed to waver from one extreme to another. Just when he was starting to make sense he would throw a wrench into her equations. Discord and Pinkie Sense were easier to get then Harmony. Sure she was never able to begin to understand them as they never made sense. At least they were consistent with their inconsistencies...

Harmony interrupted her internal muses with a simple statement. "You have not yet come to terms with your new longevity." Not seeing if he had her attention, which he did, he continued to surmise. "When you found out that you would lose Spike it brought all that forward. All of your fears and trepidations. Even though you knew you'd would lose you friends you could still count on the one constant that never would change: Spike. When that was taken away you lost your firm foundation. You thrive on order. To lose Spike was to lose order in your life."

Harmony stuck a nerve. She wasn't really mad at Harmony just frustrated. She couldn't be angry after what she saw in the council room and Discord's rant. No, he was right, she was a scared little filly afraid of the big unknown. Twilight eyes watered as Harmony walked up to her and took her under his wing. Twilight broke down and sobbed. Without bidding or thinking she leaned against his side.  

"Let it out, Bearer of Magic, let it out." Harmony cooed softly. At least you get to...
> 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!"
> Attack of the Changelings 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Run!!" Discord yelled.

"Yeah but where? We are totally exposed." Twilight exclaimed frantically looking for anyplace for them to escape.

"Head toward the mountain peak. There should be a raise stone platform hugging it." Discord threw a party bomb at the approaching swarm.

"An' how is that suppose to help?" Applejack pulled out her rope.

"Run now, questions later..." Discord snapped pulling the trigger for a party cannon.

As they ran they had to dodge changelings as they slammed into the ground around them with their green magic. It was getting tougher as they went as more and more changeling fell from the sky.

Their luck ran out as a group changeling ground slammed in front of them. They tried going around but more changelings cut them off. Soon they were surrounded. The changelings hissed and snapped at them as they moved towards the group tightening the noose. Suddenly every changeling went quiet. A few changelings moved to the side as a larger and very familiar changeling stepped forward.

"Queen Chrysalis." Twilight hissed angrily.

"Well well well if it isn't the Elements of Harmony, Discord and their pet dragon." Chrysalis sneered.Spike growled at the pet comment but stayed for the moment behind Twilight.

"Count again." A voice called out.

The queen narrowed her eyes then laughed out loud. "Hiding behind your subjects king? Well I never thought you'd be so dishonorable."

"Quit flattering yourself Chrissy." Harmony snickered.

"Grr," Chrysalis growled hoofing the ground. "When I find you I will tear out your vocal cords!"

"I believe the word you seek is if." 

Pinkie whispered conspiratorially to Applejack. "Who is she talking to?"

Harmony laughed. Queen Chrysalis jaw dropped then facehoofed. She had fallen for his tricks again and in front of some of her worst hated enemies. She ground her teeth in anger before barking out. "Just attack them! Take no prisoners!"

"You leave them alone." Spike growled breaking from the group heading straight at the changeling queen.

"Spike!" Twilight called out trying to grab him but was stop by a wall of hissing drones.

"Why you little...  Well don't just hover there get... ouch! Get them!" The Queen screamed trying to shake off the fury of dragon claws and fangs.

The girls backed further together readying various fighting poses with Pinkie Pie readying her party cannon. Just as the first changeling got to them the Elements of Harmony glowed in their respective colors blinding everyone for a moment.  A rainbow shot down from the sky and swirled around them keeping the changelings back.

"Whah is going on?" Applejack yelled in shock.

"I have no idea!" Twilight yelled back.

"Really, Bearers, you must pay attention." Chuckled a familiar voice from the rainbow light.

"Harmony?" Twilight called out trying to see where he was.

"Of course, do you really think I would allow Spike to have all the fun?"

"What about me?" Discord pouted.

"A little..." Spike grunted as Chrysalis tried to squash him under her hoofs. "Help would be nice..."

"Twilight shield. Discord help the girls to the platform. I have a pesky bug to swat." 

The rainbow shot out and hit the changeling queen square on the chin throwing her many feet. The rainbow light died out and in its place was an angry multicolored alicorn. He flared his wings in anger and galloped towards Chrysalis. Unfortunately for Harmony several changelings immediately flew in to protect their fallen queen. Harmony slammed full force into the nearest changeling shattering its chitin into many pieces. It slumped onto the ground in front a now stopped Harmony, dead. 

"Must you always have grand entrances?" Discord quipped snapping his claw to dump an open paint bucket on a changeling that was about to hit Fluttershy.

"You must be rubbing off on me..."Harmony huffed as he bucked a nearby changeling whom tumbled for a bit taking down several changelings in a pile of hooves. Spike finally was able to get up and jumped on a changeling that was trying to attack Harmony from the rear.

"Do a look like an eraser to you?" Discord snapped back swinging an overly large pencil like a baseball bat.

Chrysalis finally managed to get up from the blow she just received. "Get them!" She screamed  Harmony growled as the queen disappeared behind the whirring of drones.

Buck. He cursed inwardly. He was hoping to take out the queen once and for all. She had slipped into the shadows once again. A roar to his right brought him out of his musings.

"A little help..." Spike backed away from a group of changelings clutching his shoulder.

"Let them eatz ze cake!" Discord yelled wearing a very frilly dress. He snapped a triple double layered chocolate cake with a large lit firecracker on top into his lion paw. Taking aim with a thumb he launched it into the group of changelings that were about to pounce Spike. A large explosion rocked the night and a brilliant light blinded everyone for a second. As the light faded all that was left of the group of changelings was piles of chocolate frosting.

"Chocolate! Ouch, Discord." Harmony rammed into a random changeling goring him in the side. The changeling fell over a greenish-clear blood pouring from the wound. Shaking off the blood from his horn he called out to Discord. "I prefer butter-cream myself."

"Creamy, creamy frosting..." Pinkie dreamily drooled a bit failing at noticing anything around her.

If it wasn't for the fact that they were surrounded and that the three keepers where fighting off murderous changelings everypony would have groaned at Pinkie. They, of course, didn't realize that Pinkie being Pinkie was unnerving the changelings a bit. Harmony was hoping for just that. 

He dodged another changeling who was swiftly bucked into Discord's randomness. Spike then climbed onto Harmony to get some height before leaping off at a nearby changeling shredded the chitin armor before the changeling could react.

We need a clear path... Harmony thought as he ducked under the magic attacks from three changelings hovering above him. He retaliated with blasts of his own missing them but scattering the swarm above for a second. He had an maneuver to do that but he only had the power for it once and giving the distance from the platform it wouldn't be enough.

"I think it might be time to roll out the party cannon." Harmony went into a sing-songy voice for the last part hoping Pinkie would get it. With lightning fast reflexes the party mare zipped out of the shield dragging a very large party cannon behind her.

"Pinkie how did you get out of the shield!?!" Twilight's jaw dropped almost losing her concentration for the shield.

"I walked out silly." Pinkie simply stated aiming her cannon. Twilight just shook her head reestablishing her concentration on her spell.

"Less talkie, more confetti." Discord grunted smacking a changeling behind him with a over-sized lollipop.

Over the next hour Harmony, Spike, and Discord fought to keep the changelings away from the shield and Pinkie as Pinkie cleared a path towards the icy peak of the mountain. 

Twilight was sweating heavily as they where so close that that they could finally see the stone platform that hugged the side. It appeared to be obsidian raised a hoof above the ground around at least 600 hooves across and came out at least that much from the ice and rocks of the mountain that jutted into the ground. Sadly it was still a good 500 hooves away.

"I'm out of ammo." Pinkie stated as she put her cannon back into wherever she had pulled it from. She bounced happily back into the shield nearly shocking Twilight again.

"Then allow me to clear the remaining distance." Harmony jumped on top on the shield.

"What ever you are doing do it quick I can't hold the shield much longer." Twilight grunted at the sudden weight of Harmony on top of the shield.

Harmony flapped his wings and hovered slightly above the shield. His horn began to glow and his aura enveloped him completely.

Discord stop fighting snapped himself and Spike into the shield. "What are you doing?!?" He yelled squirming to get out of Discord's grasp.

"Shh!" Discord shush him holding out a tub a popcorn." Popcorn?" Spike just facepalmed but Pinkie Pie squealed stuffing her muzzle into the popcorn tub scattering popcorn around her.

Harmony started to spin horizontally. As he span faster and faster his aura brighten and whiten. After only a few seconds all they could see was a swirling vortex of white. A loud boom suddenly sounded shattering Twilight's shield and knocking everyone off their hooves. Discord's popcorn went flying in all directions. Multicolored light blinded them for a moment. They blinked their eyes to clear out the spots. Everyone then noticed that there was a clear path to the raised stone platform ahead.

Rainbow jaw dropped. "Did he just do a sonic rainboom from a standstill!?!"

Discord just chuckled as he grabbed her as the rest made a mad dash through the now clear path. The changelings just milled about in shock and didn't make a move as they rushed past. They fell into a pile as they step onto the stone platform.

"Where is Harmony?" Spike asked after catching his breath.

"Look." Discord pointed into the sky.

A cone of white light streaked across the sky knocking out masses of changelings that appeared to be in the middle of a chaotic retreat. A rainbow trail following close behind the cone. As everybody watched the cone turned towards them. As it got closer the white cone flickered out and they could see harmony's multicolor coat through the fading light. It was difficult but they could see that he was spinning less and less. Just as they thought he was going to slam into them he stopped spinning and lightly landed on the ground. He horn's glow faded as he fluttered his wings.

"That. Was. So. Awesome!" Rainbow yelled. She then shrunk back when she realized who she was gushing over. She still remembered the incident back in the Salt Flats and she wasn't sure if Harmony was still angry with her. She slunk back out of the group and went to the fire that Spike had just lit.

"What was that?" Twilight asked.

"The Bullet."

"Bullet?" Twilight didn't know what the word meant.

Harmony just waved a hoof dismissively. He stepped up on to the stone slab platform and turned around to gaze out at the retreating changelings. No one spoke as Harmony continued to watch. After a few minutes everyone left Harmony minus Twilight.

"I have never seen her so vicious and blood thirsty before." Twilight said trying to analyze everything that just happened.

"You have stopped all of her invasions into Equestria." Harmony mused.

"Normally she drains ponies of their love not kill. Dead food is worthless to changelings." Twilight countered.

"True, but given how much you have been a thorn in her side and that we are in the Untamed Wilds... " Harmony paused for a moment, "Well...Let's just say that she couldn't pass up the opportunity to do some 'weeding.'"

Twilight could sense that she would no more out of him so she reluctantly turned around and headed back to the center of the platform where the others were resting.

Harmony sighed heavily and stood waiting on the edge of the platform peering out for some unseen sign. His heart ached still for the ponies that he cared for and for the pain that was coming. Pain that he should have never allowed to happen but knew that it had to happen the way that it did. It was times like this that he hated being a Keeper.

"Uh Harmony..." Rainbow slowly walked up to Harmony.

"Yes, Bearer of Loyalty?" Harmony turned to face her. He could see that she was struggling back tears. He allowed his usual frown to soften a bit.

"I'm sorry." Rainbow quickly said before blushing and turning away to try and hide the tears now falling.

"No, it is I that should apologize. I have forgotten the very virtues that I'm supposed to be." Harmony looked back out into the darkness for a moment. "Now I must take my leave. The danger has passed."

"And just where do you think you're going?" Rainbow snapped into action and ran to cut off Harmony. Everyone looked up from what they were doing at the mare's outburst.

"Leaving." Harmony replied as he started walking around Rainbow.

"Oh no you don't. You aren't going..." A flash of light blinded Rainbow for a moment when it cleared she couldn't see Harmony. "...anywhere?!?" She finished, confused for a moment.

Spike facepalmed. Could have told you that would have happened Rainbow Dash.
> Snippets on the Spiral Stairs
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"And how are..." Twilight started before being pick up by Discord and dropped from a few feet in the air over the edge of the platform. 

Twilight was about to protest when she noticed that she didn't fall at all. "Uh... Nevermind." Twilight blinked as she noticed that she was lying on stone stairs.

"What? How? What?" Rainbow stammered, confused.

Not only was Twilight standing on stairs, which weren't there before, but the stairs seem to be floating in the air. The stairs continued around the mountain and out of sight.

Discord just laughed. "Well come on. It will take up to three days to climb."

"Three days!?!" Rarity gasped fidgeting a bit at the thought of how sweaty she would get climbing three days worth of stairs.

"No need to worry as I'm sure you got hearts as strong as horses." Discord rolled his eyes while singing the last part of his sentence.

Everyone groaned, minus Pinkie who giggled. Resigning to the long climb they slowly walked towards the stone stairs.





Twilight's horn stopped glowing. Shaking her head in confusion. Something about these stairs were alluding her so she decided to stop and ask Discord. She had to wait for everyone to pass her as she had been in the front while he had taken the rear. Discord looked up as he approached her, a smirk on his face. "I have been studying these stairs for hours and I don't get how they are here."

Discord was expecting the question but didn't know the answer so he shrugged adding, "I'm not sure. Harmony might know but you will have to wait as he will be meeting us at the top."

"What. Why?" She was sure he would have known and she was not really looking forward to talking with Harmony again.

"One, he is still in emotional pain from your 'attack'. If I recall correctly it was you that wanted him to leave," Discord held up his paw to stop Twilight's coming objection. "Two 'The Bullet' took more out of him then he anticipated. He still as not recovered completely and it may take a while as his body has not had such large reservoirs of mana in a long time. I don't think walking up stairs for three days is a good idea at this time."

Twilight went silent at that. She had other questions but didn't want to push anything at the moment.





"Ee-AAAHAHHHHHH!!!" Rainbow screamed flailing about in her sleeping bag.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Relax. You are not falling out of the sky." Discord shook her to get her attention.

"Uh. right." Rainbow hoped no one could see her blushing. " I knew that."





Twilight was getting edgy and was also tired of the endless stairs. So she let her mind wonder over the events over the pass few weeks. Something kept coming up in her thoughts. She hated when there was something odd that didn't follow logic and couldn't be explained. 

"Discord something has been bugging me for a while." Twilight commented to the dragonequus who looked over at her curiously, "You seem less chaotic then your usual self. You weren't this serious even with the threat of Tirek. I mean you have been a bit chaotic at times but its more subdued... You know what I mean?"

Discord sighed heavily visibly shrinking a bit. "I still hadn't completely recovered from my madness at that time... enough about Tirek though. You are wondering about my recent seriousness?"

Twilight paused for a moment unsure for a second if she really wanted the answer. But her curiosity overcame that and she nodded slowly.

Discord didn't immediately respond seeming to debate himself on wither to speak on it. "Because we are reaching the tipping point Twilight. I have seen what the 'Chaos Bringer' influence did to the world over the years. Do you want to know how?

Twilight gulped a bit but nodded. Discord stopped climbing the stairs for a moment and eyed Twilight. For a while he stood there gazing into her to the point that she was getting very uncomfortable. She so wanted to run ahead and catch up to the rest of the group who had disappeared around a bend than to continue to have the red and yellow eyes bore into her.

Discord finally spoke in a whisper. "Spike is the Last Keeper. I am the First Keeper."

Discord began to climb the stairs again. Speaking louder he explained further, "I know what the wendigos were like. I have seen reanimated corpses of dragons! I have seen weapons that would melt ponies like they were a sugar cube in tea." Discord shuttered violently and lost all of his color, literally. "The early days of the Keepers were much rougher than they are now. By the time that Harmony, the eleventh keeper, came the harmony of the world was much, much stronger so that he had comparatively less work to do then those before him... and yet will ultimately have to deal with the 'Chaos Bringer'."

"When Spike chooses his name the final strands that hold the seal will fail, if they haven't already. I saw the lingering effects of it's power when they were strongest. Imagine what will happen once it is free instead of just a lingering influence."

Twilight stopped her mouth agape. She knew this or at least figured that but it still was a shock to hear it nonetheless.

"Now you see why I've have gotten more serious." Discord lower him self down to gaze into her eyes. "But don't worry too much as I am still my chaotic pranking self... it's just right now..."





Applejack suddenly felt something sticky on her back.  Turn to look back she saw that she was covered in pink and blue frosting.

"Discord!"  Applejack yelled giving Discord an evil eye. Discord shrugged and slyly point at Pinkie Pie who was giggling at Applejack. 

"I got this!" Pinkie Pie quickly cleaned up all the frosting off of Applejack. She then promptly ate the frosting in one gulp.

"Eww..." Rarity gagged.

"Pinkie!!" Applejack shook her head in disbelief at the party mare.

"Creamy, creamy frosting..." Pinkie Pie dreamily drooled.

Everypony ended up laughing at the situation and the stress and tiredness at least for a moment left them.

Discord eyes sparkled at Twilight for a moment his mouth curling to a small smile. Usually Twilight would be a bit leery about him ever having that kind of look but right now it warm her to see that he was trying to act 'normal' to ease her uneasiness.





"Can we talk Twi?"

"Sure. Do you need to hop on to rest as well?" Twilight smiled knowingly. Spike blush a bit before climbing onto her back trying to avoid her wings which was a bit hard given that she was standing on different stairs.

After getting comfortable he sighed a bit before letting her know what was on his mind. "Twilight you need to stop being so hard on Harmony."

"A-and what makes you th-think that?" Twilight tried and failed at not letting her nervousness show.

"Twilight I have lived with you for how long now?" Spike gave Twilight a 'really' look that Twilight couldn't see but she was sure that he was giving it to her nonetheless.

"Twilight he is trying to help. Yes he tends to avoid saying things that in hindsight he should have said. I think he's not used to having to protect others. He's not a loner per say... its almost as if he's a dragon in a pony's body."

"You been raise by ponies how would you even know that?"

"I just do." Twilight turned her head to glare at him and Spike raise his hands waving them slightly in defense. " Hey it's the truth I don't know how but somehow he just acts more dragon-like then pony-like."

"I suppose so."  Twilight stopped absentmindedly to chew on his words.

"Um, Twi, we might want to stay with the group I don't want to test out what would happen to these stairs if we lag too far behind."





"...one hundred and forty-five thousand and twenty-two, one hundred and forty-five thousand and twenty-three, one hundred and forty-five thousand and twenty-four..."

"Pinkie what are you doing?" Rarity was getting very annoyed at the counting and bouncing of Pinkie Pie. A headache was forming further testing her frayed nerves. She wasn't going even think about her mane that was messed up from sweating in the long climb.

"Oh I'm counting how many stairs they are." Pinkie giggled happily.

"Ugh." Rarity grumbled quickening her pace to get away from Pinkie who started counting again.

"One hundred and forty-five thousand and thirty-six, one hundred and forty-five thousand and thirty-seven..."





"AAAHAHHHHHH!!!" Rainbow screamed jumping out of her sleeping bag.

"Again!?" Spike grumbled rubbing the bridge of his brow.

"Please tell me that we will not be out here another night." Rarity turned to Discord irritated herself that her beauty sleep was interrupted by rainbows screaming for second night in a row.

Discord pulled on his beard thoughtfully before answering, "If we keep the same pace we should be at the top...or is it bottom, by very early afternoon."





"Are we there yet?" Rainbow grumbled. 

"No." Applejack deadpanned.

After a few moments Rainbow again asked, "Are we there yet?"

"Rainbow! I swear you're worse then Pinkie's counting!" Rarity spoke up.

"...one hundred and fifty-two thousand, nine hundred and thirty-four..." Pinkie Pie counted

Everypony groaned at this. Discord chuckled lightly. Spike for the moment was sleeping on Twilight and only mumble a bit in reaction.






"Harmony!" Spike yelled seeing Harmony up ahead at the top of the stairs and ascended the stairs between them two by two.

Pulling Spike into a hug Harmony chuckled, "Brother, it's not been that long."

"I know it's just that I..." Spike blushed fiercely.

"I'm not leaving this time."

"You promise?" Spike pulled his head out of Harmony fur to look up at him.

Harmony just laugh and shook his head looking up to the sky. "Spike, brother, I will stay for as long as it takes for you to choose."

"Will you two stop doing that!" Twilight shook her head in disbelief.

Harmony and Spike looked at each other then back at Twilight before bursting into laughter.

"Ugh! What is with this mountain!" Rainbow exclaimed raising her fore legs in exasperation.

"What do you mean?" Harmony looked at Rainbow.

In answer Rainbow pointed off towards the mountain 'base.'  A path made from the same stone that comprised of the stairs and the platform down below weaved into a mass of trees. In the distance a strange spiral like tower could be see over the tree tops.

Harmony and Discord laughed heartily at this. Harmony was the first to speak, "What did you expect bare rock and dirt?"

Rainbow opened and close her mouth unable to come up with a good response. Everypony just laughed at the expense of Rainbow who now only grumbled.
> Darkness Approaches
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Harmony stretched a bit popping a few joints. “Now then, shall we be going?” 

“Sounds good.” Discord piped up not letting anypony have time to object which was going to be Rarity as her mouth was open in protest. 

Discord took the lead followed closely by Harmony. Rarity pouted a bit before taking the rear. As she reluctantly stepped off of the stairs and onto the stone path upon the mountain surface the stairs behind her vanished.

“Eekk!” She nearly fainted from the shock but was quickly brought out by a splash of water coming from a water spigot hovering over her.

“Thank you Discord, the last thing I would want to do is try and rescue a fainted mare falling to her doom off the side of Hourglass.”

Rarity blushed at the double embarrassment. She coughed ladylike and a bit clumsy quickly trotted down the path, “Nothing to worry about. Shall we continue our trek?”

Harmony chuckled slightly and so did a few others but obliged her and followed.

The forest seem like a weird cross between Whitetail Woods and the Everfree forest. Ferns and vines grew wildly across the forest floor but there was no eerie mist and the sun shined brightly through the canopy. The path itself was only slightly overgrown as grass would on occasion peek through cracks. The path’s direction was a sticking point.

“This is as bad as the Salt Flats. Why can’t we just cut through the forest? It doesn’t seem that dangerous.” Rainbow complained.

“Having a death wish again Bearer of Loyalty?” Harmony eyed her carefully.

“Uh… no… “ Rainbow guessed hoping that she wouldn’t get his wrath again.

“Then stay on the path.” Harmony took his eyes off of her and went back to watching the path ahead.

“Harmony can we talk?” Harmony stopped,sighed, and turned to look at Twilight head on. Discord eyed her momentarily but Harmony shook his head. Discord nodded slowly before turning back and rejoining the group.

“Let me guess you got chewed out by both Spike and Discord for the incident at the Salt Flats?”

“How did…”

Harmony waved off the rest of her confusion by stating, “I have ways. Let’s just say I have been monitoring you guys for days. How else do you think I knew about the changelings?”

“You have been spying!?!” Twilight angrily shouted.

“Technically… true.” Harmony admitted, “However, it’s not in the way you are thinking.”

“How can it not be the way I’m thinking?”

“Keeper business.” Harmony replied making Twilight roll her eyes in annoyance.

“Twilight, listen!” Harmony pulled her so her eyes looked right into his. “I am a Keeper of Harmony part of my job is to look for both harmonic and disharmonic elements in places, groups, individuals. You are bearers of my elements. Which makes what you do my business. That kind of requires ‘spying’.”

“I know that may seem like an invasion of privacy but it’s no different than Luna when she goes into dreams. With her she helps her subjects fight nightmares. I help ponies (which are also my subjects as both Keeper and King) fight against disharmony or dark magic. Sometimes it’s subtle like Luna’s dreamwalking other times it’s more direct like when you used the elements on Nightmare Moon and Discord.”

Harmony let go of her allowing her to back up a bit, “Sometimes I have to do things that I don’t like or that may seem painful. Everything I do I try my best for the betterment of my subjects as King and the world as a Keeper of Harmony. Even then I make mistakes, Bearer of Magic. I’m immortal not infallible.”

“I think its safe to say that the stress surrounding Spike has put us both on edge. For my part in it,” Harmony looked downward in shame. “ I’m sorry… Twilight…”

Twilight was a bit shocked she was not expecting him to use her name. “I… I... I’m sorry too... I just…”

“Please, Bearer of Magic.” Harmony went back to using titles again. “No need to start punishing yourself over the past. It’s nearly time I don’t know how much longer but soon. Let’s try and make whatever time Spike has left the best we can… given the circumstances.”

Harmony said nothing further and starting trotting to catch up to the now out of sight group. It didn’t take them long to catch up. Discord took a moment to take a look at both of them. After a moment a smile formed and he went back to regaling some strange story to Fluttershy.

The day was getting long when they came around a corner and the forest opened up revealing the city. They could see the spiral tower as well as large half circled and domed buildings near it. Further out buildings had a step pyramid look before becoming regular squarish buildings. Obelisks were scattered about the city. After a few more minutes they had entered the outskirts.  

They could see now that the city was in ruins. As they walked the streets they had to go around debris lying in the street. Collapsed walls of the buildings was common; many were without roofs. Some buildings had fallen over and forced them to take a different path.

"Welcome to the ancient city of Hourglass." Discord droned on like a bored museum guide. "Once the splendor of the ancient world now lying in ruins." Discord sighed heavily,“ At its peak its glory would have outshined ten Canterlots... now its just a husk…” 

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, Flutters, I am. This place just brings out memories…” Discord’s voice drifted off as the memories came back to him in waves.

Harmony whispered to her. "It is never easy for him to be here."

“Why is that?” Fluttershy asked.

“Because in a single moment every creature in Hourglass but Discord was killed in a catastrophic event. If it wasn't for his harmony magic he too would have been killed.”

"That's awful!"

"It is..." He whispered so softly as to be almost barely hearable. The pain of his own awakening igniting. Shaking his head to relieve himself of the dark thoughts he pointed down a side street. "Come we will camp near the main market square."

Harmony lead them down side streets and alleyways weaving around damaged streets and collapsed buildings. After a bit he stopped in a middle of a narrow street and looked around on one side was a half collapsed wall the other a shallow pit with various debris. On the other side of the pit was a three step pyramid building with part of the lower step missing. Most likely down in the pit.

“This looks good. Let’s set up camp here.” Harmony stated.

Everyone went about various tasks. Spike however went up to Harmony.

“Um, Harmony, now that we arrived at our destination I was wondering if you could tell me a bit about my parents.”

“Tomorrow, Spike. It’s been a long climb and you all need your rest. The story is not the best ’bedtime story’ I don’t want you falling asleep troubled.”

Spike seem disappointed but didn’t object. Silence became think around the two as each were in their own thoughts. Spike was busy thinking about suitable names while Harmony was trying to figure out his next move. 

Getting to Hourglass was the plan. It was always the plan. But like all plans something had thrown a wrench into the gears quickening his timeline. Chaos always had a way of messing up order. But then again without both there could be no real harmony. Chaos and Order working together. Harmony eyed Discord for a moment. He smiled for a moment but then frowned.

Looks like it's almost time... because... "Darkness approaches."  Harmony suddenly spoke eying the lowering sun.

Spike looked up at Harmony questioningly, however, Harmony said nothing more.
> Harmony of Order and Chaos
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Douse the fire!" Discord suddenly yelped interrupting the merry mood.

"W-Why?" Twilight gulped.

"That's why!" Discord pointed out in the shifting darkness. Just beyond the the nearest building was a mass of what looked like shifting darkness blotting out light and obscuring everything around it. Yellow glowing eyes dotted the mass blinking at random intervals.

"Shadow demons!" Harmony harshly whispered as he saw the many glowing yellow eyes. "Or as some like to call them: 'The Pony of Shadows!'"

"You mean it's not an old pony’s tale!?!" Twilight swallowed a rising scream. She could see the masses of darkness and the shifting yellow eyes at the edge of the fire light.

"Myths usually contain a grain of truth, Bearer of Magic. As you are the only one here that has gotten your magic back use focused light based attacks to dispel them. The rest of you stay huddled together." Lighting two touches with his magic he gave one to Applejack and another to Rainbow Dash, "If they get too close use these to force them back. But stay together!"

Discord quickly dumped water onto the fire instantly plunging them into near darkness. The only light came from the two torches and Harmony’s and Twilight's glowing horns. The stars were being blocked out by the increasing mass of darkness quickly approaching.

Discord and Harmony stood in front as the rest backed towards the wall behind them. Twilight pulled Spike next to her. Spike was not happy but said nothing. Rainbow and Applejack stood right behind Twilight and Spike readying their torches. A single demon rush forward nearly reaching Harmony before he shot into nothing with a shot of light from his horn. Discord snapped a bucket onto his lion hand lit glow sticks overflowing from it.

"I don't think I have ever seen this many before." Harmony commented assessing the danger.

"I have." Discord said. Harmony shivered a bit at that.

"What I want to know is how they managed to get into Hourglass."

"No idea Harmony and now is not the time to try and figure that out." Discord responded throwing a glow stick at a shadow demon approaching from the right.

"I suppose not," Harmony surmised, "Then want do you think of our chances then?"

"Will you attack them already!!?!" Rarity shouted in a panic.

"It's actually more effective to attack them from close range." Harmony called back not taking his eyes off of the shadow demons.

Fluttershy eeped and trying to curl herself into a smaller ball. Rarity was trying to sooth her but was shaking in fear herself. Pinkie Pie was trying her best to ignore the shadow demons wishing that if she ignored them then they would disappear. She didn't think giggling at the ghosties would work this time.

For the next hour Harmony and Twilight would shoot beams or orbs of light into the mass of shadow demons while Discord would use various colored glow sticks that exploded in light when they hit the ground or a shadow demon.

As the night went on however, the shadow demons began to push Harmony and Discord back so that they were next to Twilight. Twilight responded by pushing Spike to a more protective spot behind her much to his chagrin. "I can help." He harshly whispered. No one seem to hear him however.

"Eeeeek!" Rarity screeched as Applejack had to whack a shadow demon that was about to hit Twilight from the side.

Fluttershy whimpered as another shadow tried to attack the group this time Rainbow had to drive it back. Spike clenched his fists together as they were slowly losing and it was still many hours to sunrise. There has to be something I can do!

"Harmony at this rate we are not going to make the night." Discord panted a bit as he snapped another glow stick into the mass of shadows.

Harmony gritted his teeth in anger. No. We will make the night! We must!

"Girls ready your elements." Twilight yelled as she dissipated two shadows with a ball of light magic.

"No." Harmony flatly stated as his horn glowed for another attack.

"What do you mean 'no'!?!" Twilight's eyes twitched a bit as this was a perfect time for the elements or at least she thought so.

"Yes, the Elements' attacks are light based, but if you don't get it right you will only make them stronger. If we had more time..." Harmony paused as he blasted a beam of light at a nearby shadow demon. "Discord we are going to need to use the more intrinsic form of harmony magic."

"Ugh, please tell me you're not thinking..."

"Exactly." Harmony answered before Discord could finish his sentence. Discord groaned as he threw a glow stick dispelling another shadow demon that was getting too close. Harmony chuckled a bit before admitting, "If it makes you feel better it has been nearly three thousand years since the last time..."

"The last time!?!? For what?" Twilight began panicking as the shadows drifted closer and closer.

"Ready, Discord?" Harmony asked ignoring Twilight.

In answer Discord only snapped a claw. Music began to play drifting in a breeze that was forming.  

"Where is that music coming from!?!" Twilight asked looking around finally stopping at Pinkie Pie. At the stares of five mares and one dragon Pinkie only shrugged.

Chaos. Discord sang.

Order. Harmony added.

Harmony! They sang together as multicolor light flew out of Harmony and Discord's horns spinning in a vortex around them. The shadow demons approached the light but seemed to stop short.

Twilight groaned, facehoofing. "Tell me they're not..."

Don't you know it?
Can you see it?

Rarity deadpanned, "They are."

"Deja vuie!" Pinkie added, giggling.

The girls just blinked at her before the song drew their attention back to Harmony and Discord. Spike however noticed something odd.

A rainbow in the night
And don't it feel right
As we sing of bonds that bind us?
The lights swirl around us grow
And don't you notice the warmth
That comes with the glow?

The light vortex grew and expanded as Harmony sung.

For you really should see
As things come into focus
That order and chaos
Can be in har-harmony!

It can't be... He thought.

Come, let's see the sun rise
With a cooling breeze
Oh that harmony, it grows]
Shout to the dark that we survived
Filling all hearts to the brim
So don't let it end

The vortex of light grew brighter for a second before coalescing into a bubble.

For you really should see
As things come into focus
That order and chaos
Can be in har-harmony!

The Plane of Harmony!? His jaw dropped at what he was seeing. The Plane of Harmony had somehow been laid over his vision and he could see his memories all around them. Interestedly they were all within the now multicolor bubble of light that was keeping the shadow demons at bay.

For you really should see
As things come into focus
That order and chaos
Can be in har-harmony!

He was really confused. He could feel something strange happening within him. It felt like a pressure upon his chest.  

Don't you know it?
Can you see it?
Order...
Chaos...
Can be in Harmony. (in harmony)

Can be in har-harmony!

Har-harmony!

For you really should see
That order and chaos
Can be in har-harmony!

As the song ended the pressure within his chest rose. His mind began to see clearly what to do and his heart pounded because of what he saw. Fierce determination seemed to grip him as he inwardly agreed to the task. Gently moving Twilight foreleg from around him he stood up and began to walk forward. Somewhere ahead, in the mass of memories, he could see two shining brighter than the others. He needed to see what those memories were.

"Spike?" Twilight noticed that Spike had moved forward and toward what she couldn't see.

Harmony and Discord glanced at each other and nodded. One look at Twilight told them that all of Tartarus was about to break loose. Harmony slyly moved closer to Twilight silently dreading what he was about to have to do.

"Spike!" Twilight yelled trying to get Spike's attention.

Spike made no outward movement to indicate that he heard her.
> The Choosing
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Spike NOOOOO!" Twilight screamed lunging forward.

Harmony and Discord grabbed Twilight. Discord quickly snapped into existence a dampening ring and placed it onto Twilight's horn. Twilight desperately tried to free herself. Sparks flew off her horn as she attempted to use magic while she flailed her wings and hooves about trying to get out of Harmony's and Discords iron grip.

"Spike! NO don't SPPPPIIIIKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" She reached out a hoof that Harmony hastily regrabbed.

Spike now stood at the edge of the barrier. He was looking at two overlaid memories before him.  Harmony managed to sneak a peek at them. He knew exactly which two they were and smiled. Spike nodded to himself. Twilight saw this and redouble her efforts.

"Spike! Please! No. Don't!" She pleaded. "LET ME GO!" She squirmed even harder and started to bite Harmony and Discord who only harden themselves to the pain. "SPIKE!!!!"

Spike finally turned around to look at the screaming mare that he thought of as his sister. Twilight continued to plead and fight. Spike smiled at her then looked at Harmony. In that single moment as both Spike and Harmony locked eyes a single tear rolled down Spike's face. It was then that Harmony knew that he knew. Harmony nodded once in understanding.

Spike turned back to face the onslaught raging just outside the weakening shield. He took a deep breath rose his head and roared something in Draconian into the night sky.

At this Twilight collapsed, defeated. The girls huddled around her.

The air around them suddenly got extremely thick with mana. Harmony was in shock at the amount of mana that the air was carrying and it was all heading straight at Spike.

He took a glance around and was surprised to see that the overlay was still functioning. But something about it was off. He squinted a bit and then saw it. Cracks were forming along the images of Spike's memories. After a second the memories would shatter and dissipated. A single tear filled with all the joy, pride, and sorrow that he could muster fell down his muzzle.

Before long the final two memories that ones that Spike had earlier stared at for a moment in his contemplation, like the others, cracked, shattered and dissipated into nothing.

Spike meanwhile was being covered the an increasing blinding light. Discord put on a pair of sunglasses while Harmony used what little reserves he had left to magically see through the light. The girls could only covered their eyes from the light with their hooves. Sparks of all colors shot out of Spike while his scales and spines deepen richly in color. He began to grow his chubby body becoming lean and sleek and the baby fat being replace by muscle. His tail lashed out stretching long in length. The spade on the end narrowing into a sharper but still dull point.  

As his growth finally ended he stood as tall as Garble and his lackeys and like them he still stood up on two legs. His features, however, seem to maintain a softness to them. His snout though much longer had a roundish end. However, no wings appeared upon his back. Harmony was too enraptured by the sight the transformation to wonder about the lack of wings. With a roar the sparks that surrounded Spike now shot out in all direction shattering the shield and hitting the shadow demons destroying them in puffs of smoke.  

The blinding light faded and the mana that was in the air thinned out. Soon Luna's sky could be seen again and all traces of the shadow demons gone. Discord removed his glasses while Harmony dropped his magic. The girls were still too dazed to move their hooves though. Multicolored sparks continued to lazily drift off of the dragon's scales. The dragon then turned to face the group behind him.

"Brother, where are we?" The dragon asked looking at straight at Harmony.

Harmony only response was to stutter gibberish. The dragon stood there patiently content to wait on him to regather himself.

"I don't think he will be able to respond," Discord groaned rising a bit in the air to distance himself from the girls.  

The dragon reached out and grabbed Discord by the throat shocking everyone including Discord.  "You would do well to remember how to speak when there is a dragon around He of Laughter. You may be a fellow Keeper but I will end you if you continue on being so insolent. I will wait for him to respond." He then released him causing Discord to drop to the ground. Discord coughed a bit rubbing his neck.

At this outburst Twilight knew that Spike was gone and that this dragon would never be like him. She couldn't take it anymore and began to wail once again. The other Bearers couldn't even help her as then too where crying. Pinkie's mane already flat from seeing Spike choose his name somehow got flatter and duller.

"I... this doesn't make any sense..."Harmony finally stammered not understanding why "Spike" called him brother. He brain was still in full tilt and didn't even process that the dragon knew of Discord's "dragon title."

Twilight was still wailing spouting nonsense and crying out to die. The dragon grumbled a bit. He could no longer stand the wailing and looked at Twilight. Instead of anger like when he choked Discord he eyes betrayed the welling of compassion for the broken creature he saw. 

He walked to her then crouched down to be able to see her at eye level. He then took a claw and lifted her head. Staring deep into her watery, blood-shot eyes the dragon remarked, "I can see the pain, confusion, and grief overwhelming your heart ascended one. I can also see that you are the Alicorn Harmony Bearer of Magic. A bearer should not be in this much grief. I will have your true name."

"Twi... light... Sparkle." Twilight sobbed out completely confused on the about face of the dragon's demeanor.

"Well Twilight Sparkle, I can not stand to see one such as you in such a shattered state. It goes against harmony and goes against my name." The dragon's eyed seem to be a pool of warm and care completely transfixing Twilight.

"Your... hic... name?" Twilight hiccuped forgetting another dragon rule.

Lowering his voice so only she could hear he spoke, "Yes Twilight Sparkle for I am Golden Heart. Know this, Twilight Sparkle, that when a dragon gives his name to another he is offering his friendship and that he will protect and care for them as if they were the entirety of the dragon's hoard."

"I... I.." Twilight couldn't continue as a fresh wave of tears gushed out choking the words in her throat.

Golden Heart chuckled a bit then rose to address Harmony again. "He of Harmony, brother, where are we?

"The city ruins of Hourglass." Harmony finally spoke his mind at least a bit more coherent, 
"Forgive me, He of...?"

The dragon looked out eying the ruins for a moment before responding, "Hourglass... He of Hourglass. Now I must take my leave. I can no longer hold back the Hoarding." Golden Heart shifted his weight a bit. Two semi transparent green wings shimmered into existence. He took a few test flaps then took off over flying low over the ruins towards a large building in the distance.

"This is highly unusual to say the least and I thrive on the unusual but this... this... I'm not an expert on dragons like you are Harmony but he shouldn't have remembered you or me."

"Normally no he shouldn't have... I have some theories but I can't confirm any without speaking with him first."

"Where is he headed anyway?"

"If memory serves the Great Library of Hourglass."

"How ironic." Discord deadpanned.
> The Heart of Gold
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Bearers of Harmony were in a pile around Twilight having all fallen asleep, crying. Harmony sat there debating on what to do. With the shadow demons gone Discord had left to wonder the city lost in his memories. Dawn was approaching when he decided it was time. Closing his eyes he entered into a very familiar realm.

"Twilight." Harmony called and the slumped violet alicorn appeared before him.

"Harmony?" Twilight answered, barely moving, whispering. "This isn't the Realm of Dreams and I'm pretty sure I'm sleeping."

"Yes, you are asleep, and yes this isn't the Dream Realm. We are in the Plane of Harmony."

At this Twilight looked around slowly. "That doesn't explain the reason for me being here."

Harmony walked up to her and pulled her towards him with his wings. "Twilight I need you to listen to my words carefully. Can you do that?" She nodded, "Good. There was nothing you could have done to stop him."

"NO! I cant I will not believe that..." Twilight choked out pulling away from Harmony. "You and Discord both held me back."  

Twilight's rage rose. Jumping up she put a hoof in the other’s face, screaming in the Canterlot voice." IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT THAT HE'S GONE!!! IF YOU HADN'T COME THOSE WEEKS AGO... IF YOU HAD LET ME RUN TO HIM LAST NIGHT TO STOP HIM..."

Suddenly a bucket of ice cold lemonade was dumped onto Twilight shocking her out of her rage.

"Discord. Really?" Harmony sighed, facehoofing.

"Sorry Harmony, but she needed it." Discord shrugged trying to not giggle at Twilight growling in anger at him.

"While that is true there are better ways... What is done is done."  Harmony pulled Twilight's now shaking, wet head back to face him. He could see her blood shot... defeated eyes. Harmony himself went teary eyed. "Twilight please listen. Even if Discord and I hadn't stopped you Spike would have."

Twilight seemed confused at this. "W-W-What do you mean?"  She thought on everything she knew about her little brother. My little brother... "No... No, I refuse to believe that."

"Spike is a dragon and a Keeper Twilight. My guess is that between those two he was able to piece it together and without me knowing.” Harmony chuckled at that fact,” Until the last minute I might add. How really doesn't matter anyway. The fact is he knew what the Choosing would do. He. Knew. Exactly What. Would. Happen."

"Why would he do it?" Twilight shook her head in disbelief. "No it can't be true he's too much of a gentle dragon to purposely cause us pain. He would have found another way."

This is going to be harder than I thought. Harmony drew a deep breath. "There was no other way." Twilight burst back into tears upon hearing this anger flipping to despair. "Twilight please try to control your emotions. If you will let me finish I'm sure that you will feel better but to keep delaying it will only make your pain last longer." And mine.

Harmony looked out into the void seeing that his memories from a few hours ago where being played out for which he ignored, for now. He looked down at Twilight softly stroking her mane. "You see, he knew that in order to save you all, to save his friends and family, that he would have cease to be Spike and that all of his memories would be permanently gone and become a new dragon. His sacrifice was exactly within his noble character."

Harmony paused for a moment at the look of confusion coming from Twilight. "Twilight I suspect He of Hourglass gave you his Hoard Name when he crouched down to comfort you. I can probably guess what the name is by the two memories he chose to look at that gave him inspiration but I will not attempt it. When and if He of Hourglass wants to he will reveal his name to me. As you saw with Discord this dragon appears to have a different personality than Spike and while he is a gentledragon by dragon terms he is not by pony terms and he will not hesitant to kill even me if I guess his name without his permission. Remember a dragons name is part of his hoard so never reveal it to anyone who doesn't already know. It's actually best to call him He of Hourglass at all times just to be safe."

Twilight went into shock her eyes going glassy. Harmony spat. "Ugh... that went sour fast... Twilight. Twilight!"

Slowly the life return to her eyes. Seeing that she was still in the Plane of Harmony she blinked, hard. "Huh? What? Oh it's you Harmony."

Harmony chewed his lip for a moment, "Sorry about that... Do you remember when I said if you played your cards right that Spike would be your friend?" Twilight slowly nodded. "I was wrong. Spike made sure that he would be your friend after his transformation."

Twilight looked at him stupidly completely lost as to what he was referring to.

Harmony's horn glowed brightly for a moment and all the memories faded but one. "Here look at the memories that Spike used as inspiration:"





A knock could be heard on Spike's door. He jumped slightly quickly grabbing an object in his hands and quickly hiding them in a drawer on his desk. "Come in!" He called out fumbling to close the drawer. The door slowly opened and he gulped slightly seeing that it was Twilight. One look at her face told him that the coming conversation could ruin his plans.

Twilight bit her lip and shifted her hoofs a bit in anxiety.

"What is going on Twilight?" Spike spoke trying to hide his own fears.

"Oh uh nothing" She lied. He knew that she was lying. She was as obvious as Applejack, at for him.

"Come on Twi I have been your number one assistant since I was able to hold a quill."

Twilight eyed Spike nervously avoiding looking the desk. "What are you hiding?"

"Nothing Twi."

"Can it, buster. What is it?"

Spike sighed deeply and carefully pulled out what he was working on and sheepishly showed it to her keeping his head down.

"Are these?" Twilight raised an eyebrow in shock.

'Yes Twi..." Now looking up at Twilight eyes shining, "Spotlight asked my permission months ago. I have been working on these since."

"You mean?" She tilted her head.

"Yes, I'm making one for both of them... Twilight you should know to trust me by now, even with Rarity." Spike looked hurt at saying this.

Twilight pulled the dragon into the tightest hug he had ever been in. "Oh Spike I'm so sorry... You surely have a heart of gold to put Rarity's happiness before you own.."

"Twi... Air!"





"Um... Rarity?"

"Yes my Spikey-wikey?" Rarity asked looked down at Spike.

"I have something... Something I wish to give you and Spotlight." Spike sheepishly handed her a small gift wrapped box.

Rarity raised an eyebrow wondering what it could be and why it would be for both her and Spotlight. She carefully removing the bow from the box.  Inside the box where the horn rings that Spike had been working on. "Oh Spike" Rarity teared up. Blotting her eyes with a hanky she pulled Spike into a hug, kissed his cheek, and said " You have a heart of gold my little gentle-dragon. Thank you."





"A heart of gold..." Harmony softly whispered.

Twilight looked at Harmony and could see something deep in his eyes. A weariness of the pain he had seen and could do nothing about.

"So do you see?"

Twilight sniffed a bit and stared at the memories that were replaying. Sighing in defeat she only spoke a single word. "Yes."

"I will let you sleep now Twilight. Just remember Spike loved you and wanted you to live your life, happily. Don't let his sacrifice be in vain. Make sure you become friends with He of Hourglass for he, by giving you his name, has marked you as a precious treasure just as Spike did."





Harmony stood just inside the grand entrance of the library. Meeting a new dragon was was an experience and fraught with danger. He had never seen a Choosing or a Hoarding before. And in the span of a single night he was experiencing both for the first time. It was so sacred that when a dragon whelp got to that stage Harmony was never allowed to get within miles of the dragon. He steeled himself then called out "He of Hourglass I come alone as a representative of my charges to ask a boon of you."

A voice, clearly of a dragon, responded in kind. "Enter, brother, but do not touch anything. I'm still dealing with the Hoarding."

Harmony cautiously entered the main foyer a strange glow could be seen down one of the main halls so he figured to start down that hall first. As he passed an archway and out of the main foyer and into a large circular room he went into shock. Harmony stood in awe at the sight before him. The last time his was here, in the main reference and study hall, the place had an inch of dust everywhere and many of the desks chairs and bookcases that hadn't rotten away were toppled over and broken. Now however the dust had been cleared and all the broken chairs and desks were removed and some of the bookcases were now upright. He could see stacks of books neatly piled around obstructing some of his view.

"Wow!" Harmony finally breathed forgetting for a moment his manners.

"A dragon’s hoard is always a sight to behold but I have only begun to get this place cleaned up so that I can properly put these books in their place." A growl of annoyance echoed around. Harmony attempted to figure out where the voice was originating so he could find the dragon in the maze of books.

"That is true but I didn't expect you to get this much done so fast. Though I'm sure its the Hoarding that drives you to hurry and get it done so you can relax."

The dragon grumbled. "Right you are, brother."

Harmony rounded another stack of books and finally came upon who he was here to see. "Finally, I found you."

The dragon was busy writing something on a roll of parchment on a desk. Harmony noticed that his breed's name sake was lazily flowing off of him casting a flickering light around. Nothing about that was odd except the amount of sparks and maybe their color. Well maybe not the color as he was never ever able to figure out that... But amount was like a river in comparison of other Spark dragons who would would only have two or three sparks flowing off of them at a time.

"Of course." The dragon bluntly responded grabbing another book caressing it lovingly before writing down something on a piece of parchment. The dragon turned to see his guest. "Now let me guess, this boon you seek is some time for you and your party to rest and recuperate before taking off for I assume home?"

"You are correct to a point, He of Hourglass."

"Brother, we are alone, are we not? Call me Golden Heart."

"I.." Harmony stammered words caught in his throat. Of all the things, he didn't expect to hear a dragon to give out his name so easily. It just wasn’t done.

Golden Heart let out a hearty laugh. "You seem surprised. I'm guessing you never had a dragon give you their Hoard Name so quickly?"

"Actually, you are the first dragon to ever give me their Hoard Name and I have on many occasions spent many decades getting to know a single dragon..."

"I'm not an ordinary dragon, He of Harmony." Returning to his work he picked up a book and sniffed it like it where a fragrant flower. He wrote again on the parchment before looking up at Harmony again. "I see there is a burning question that you wish to ask. I too am curious. You wonder why I know you. Why I called you my brother when I should have no memories of you. I have a theory..." Golden Heart tapped his muzzle for a moment." But first, contrary to the the memory wipe at the Choosing and the imprinting of the Dragon Heritage Memories which in their very nature should have erased what I'm about to say." Golden Heart eyed the stacks of books around them for a moment before speaking. "I know of your guidance in the Choosing. Any thoughts?"

Harmony had an inkling for the reason for his remembrance. "I suspect its has something to do with you being a Keeper." The direction this conversation was going chilled him, "Any guiding a Choosing was taboo. Worthy of death if I recall."

"It is." Harmony had to suppress gulping and jumping in fear. A feat of supreme control as he suddenly had a dragon right in his face staring straight into his eyes. The dragon’s emerald eyes bored into Harmony as if he was looking straight into his soul. "But so is being an orphaned or unguarded egg."

Harmony was nearly choking on the sulfur coming from the maw of the dragon still holding him in his hard gaze. How would he know? "Uh..."

"Really?" Golden Heart back up a bit raising an eyebrow. "How does a Keeper come into being?" Not waiting for an answer the dragon turned around. Harmony breathed again, seeing that Golden Heart had turned back to the pile of books picking up another book.  

"I seem to have a similar type of imprinted memories dealing with Keepers of Harmony as I do with the Dragon Heritage Memories. While I don't know everything about you I know of your great achievements..." Golden Heart suddenly growled his eyes went feral. "Enough of this! I need to finish. You may have your boon as long as you stay out of my hoard. Return in three days."

Harmony needed not to be told twice and quickly exited the library. As he turned though he thought he saw that Golden Heart's wings were gone. Another oddity to add to the list he supposed.
> Library
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After letting the Bearers know to not wander around and to stay out of the library Harmony wandered the city himself trying to clear his head.

Everything about this dragon was off. He was doing things that he had never heard of a dragon doing and he been around them long enough to know. Sure the knowing of Discord and himself made sense. It was probably something that the Spark dragons added to the spell to mitigate a certain instinctual problem that all dragons have. It still didn't explain the way Golden Heart treated Discord to the way he was treated... His head went sideways for a while so he lay down to easy the sudden dizzy spell.

After waiting for the spell to pass he splashed some cold water on his face from a pump he found.

Okay okay let's go over this again. One, he immediately calls me brother. Dragons only call each other brother under two conditions. First, if they really are brothers which only can occur before the Choosing not after. Second, if they have high respect for the other dragon. It is rare but not unheard of as I have met dragons that called each other brother. I know for a fact it was not after seeing each other for the first time. Of course the first "alone" meeting we have he gives me his Hoard Name! Brother is rare; Hoard Name is rarer still. Of all the dragons that I have met none have given me theirs and of the few that were willing to answer if they had given another their Hoard Name none had.

Two, he didn't kill me for my guidance of the Choosing and I know that he knows that I know of the consequences. This makes having him give me any respect really strange.

Three, he treats me almost like that gang of teenage dragons at the migration treated each other... Like clutchmates. But that makes no sense for an adult to do that... I might have thought it may have something to do with being a fellow Keeper but he tolerates Discord as any dragon would which is barely below murderous rage.

Ugh, it must be a part of the dragon code that I'm not aware of... 

Harmony kept going over everything he knew trying to see if he could find the pieces of the puzzle that he was missing. It was only by the third day that he finally just gave up for the moment. The time for the meeting had arrived and he need to gather his Bearers.

"Harmony you look absolutely nervous." Rarity observed seeing Harmony walk in the dwelling that the girls had been sharing for the past few days.

"We are about to do something that is extremely dangerous..." Harmony shuddered violently as a chill went up his spine. "If any of you slip up..."

"We will not slip up." Twilight stated matter of factually even though inwardly she was just as worried as Harmony.

"Well we had better get going then its not wise to make a dragon wait." Harmony wished he could get the lump in his throat to go away. Twilight's assertion that they wouldn't slip up was not giving him any relief. Harmony took the lead while Discord made sure that Fluttershy didn't try to hide.

They walked down some side streets before turning onto what appeared to be a main boulevard.  The buildings seemed to be in better shape in this part of the city. As they moved along the buildings became bigger and more opulent. 

Soon they were standing in a grand square. The spiral tower from before stood in the center. On opposite sides were two identical looking buildings in the shape of a cone lying halfway into the ground.

“Welcome to the heart of Hourglass. To the north is the Council Building…” Twilight perked up at that. Something about they way he said it made something in the back of her mind twitch but she didn’t have time to think further before Harmony continued,” And to the south our destination for today: The Grand Library.”

If Twilight wasn’t perked by the words “Council Building” she sure was when he said library.

“Okay any questions before we go in?”

“What should we expect?”

“The Hoarding can make a dragon a bit more... irritable… I think… I’m sorry I don’t have much information on this part of a dragon’s life. What I do know that it is odd that this one was so short… Remember to not help or interfere from any possible attacks real or otherwise, verbal or physical that may occur. Do not address him unless he speaks to you first. Fluttershy I know you are scared as this dragon is not Spike but stay strong I will make sure to protect you as will Discord.”

“Hey what about us?.” Rainbow angrily snapped showing off some fighting moves.

Both Harmony and Twilight facehoofed. “Leave the protecting to beings who have a remote chance. This dragon is not a pushover and could easily overpower both Discord and me and I’m an alicorn and he’s a draconequus. You are but merely a pegasus who has yet to get her wings here. Don’t kick a hornet’s nest unless you like to be stung.”

“And these hornets can kill.“ Twilight added.

Harmony activated the mind linking spell but decided to speak this outloud. "Oh before I forget.. Bearer of Magic, try not to drool."

Pinkie and Rainbow stifled a giggle at this. Twilight had to suppress the urge to smack them. Discord looked skyward trying to look innocent but failing.

Harmony sighed took a few cleansing breath before calling out through the main door of the library, “He of Hourglass as requested I and my charges are here. May we enter your domain?”

“You may, but refrain from touching the books.”

“That’s a new one…” Harmony commented to himself before noticing the look on Twilight. “The phrase is usually ‘do not touch my hoard.’ The use of the word ‘refrain’ is not usual either.”

Returning to the thought link he added. Come on let’s not keep him waiting.

Taking the lead Harmony walked into the main foyer. He cautiously entered a the hallway that was straight ahead. Everypony was looking about noticing all the details in the architecture. Murals and intricate carvings of the city hugged the walls. The tile floor seemed to be recently polished.

For an ancient ruin this place is oddly clean. Twilight commented stopping for a second by a mural showing some sort of carnival out in the square outside.
‘
It’s a dragon’s hoard. No dragon would allow his hoard fall into disrepair. Harmony exclaimed while looking around himself. Of course in this case he is restoring it.

Urging them forward they soon made it to the end of the hall where two large ornate door stood closed. Harmony knocked on the doors before slowly nudging them open.

“Welcome.” The dragon greeted them from the center of the round room. The books that had been lying in stacks that last time Harmony was here were now place in bookcases that lined the walls. Everything in here was scrubbed and polished like in the hallway. A very small pile of gems  could be seen next to the standing dragon. The only other thing in the room as a small writing desk behind the gem pile, if you could call it that.

Hmm... Harmony thought. I think I have something that will allow us a bit more time here in Hourglass.

“He of Hourglass you might want this. It is crude but it still should be helpful.” Harmony passed a rolled up scroll in his magic that the dragon quickly catched and unfurled to exam.

Wait, where are his wings? Rainbow eyes went wide her mouth slightly open when she saw that the dragon was missing his wings.

I have no idea he also had no wings when I met him the night of his Choosing… Harmony answered.

Could it possibly be like why he was stuck as a hatchling? Twilight mused.

Possible, but I don’t know… I’ll will endeavor to find that out… carefully. Harmony eyed He of Hourglass who was still studying the scroll that he was given.

I hope it wasn’t a one time thing. I so want a flying dragon buddy. Rainbow pouted.

Why are we stuck on wings!? Applejack facehoofed.

Only an earth pony would think that. Rainbow commented rolling her eyes.

An’ wha’ is that supposed tah mean?!? Applejack angrily shoved her muzzle into Rainbow’s.  Rainbow returned the gesture.

He of Hourglass lowered the scroll he was reading. He looked at the two angry ponies for a moment. Having enough he growled loudly stopping the argument between Applejack and Rainbow and making them along with the other bearers to cower a bit in fear. The dragon glared at them for a second before addressing Harmony, "He of Harmony will you tell your charges not to make it so obvious that you are using a mind linking spell."

"I..." Harmony backed up his ears flattening in fright. Fluttershy nearly fainted but Discord kept his clawed hand on her in such a way to prevent her from doing that.

The dragon soften his features a bit but being a dragon it was hard to see that change. "Easy, brother, I don't expect ponies to understand all the rules of interaction. Next time when you need to do that let me know. I understand you do that to aid them in avoiding 'faux pas.'"

Harmony relaxed but only slightly. Sweat still poured down his muzzle.

"Will you relax already?" He of Hourglass crossed his arms in amusement.

"Sorry He of Hourglass..." Harmony involuntarily tensed up again.

The dragon smirked, then swiped a claw at the over apologetic alicorn striking him square in the cheek, drawing blood.

"Why you smug little..." Rainbow Dash angrily began.

Twilight snapped Rainbow mouth shut before she could speak the insult. Hissing angrily, "Have you forgotten what Harmony said about trying to defend him 'from any possible attacks real or otherwise, verbal or physical'?"

But Rainbow was long gone in anger. Breaking out of Twilight's grip, "Let me at him! I'll teach that smug little mmph-" It took both Twilight and Rarity to hold her down. Pinkie nervously chuckled with both of her front hooves in squirming pegasus' mouth. The dragon just eyed the sight with a slightly raised eyebrow.

"A pony with spunk? You really have some interesting Bearers He of Harmony." He of Hourglass finally spoke smiling brightly. Harmony facehoofed getting a bit of blood on his hoof.

This is getting so out of hand. Harmony thought to himself wiping off the blood onto his fur. He yelled through the link Girls! Control yourselves. NOW!

He of Hourglass roared in laughter at the sight of the obvious scolding from Harmony. Harmony just sheepishly grinned blushing so hard that everypony could see it. He of Hourglass laughter only increased in volume and intensity making him clutch his sides from pain. "Brother you are sure something! You act like some sort of hatchling accidentally fire lettering a love letter." Harmony's coat completely stop moving and turned a deep crimson red.

Everypony at that point joined in on the laughter. Harmony was silently cursing his fur's color.

Are you sure he's not "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" because he sure acts like he is. Discord commented through the mind link too far out of breath to say anything out loud.

Harmony had enough sense through his embarrassment to shoot Discord a look that caused him instantly stop laughing and gulp a bit.

Discord reassured him Don't worry I won't say anything about his past I don't need more bruises to go with the one around my neck.

You would do well to remember, He of Laughter, that he wasn't kidding when he threatened you the night of his Choosing.

Discord involuntarily put a shaking claw to his neck gulping again. He of Hourglass must have figured out what was going on between the two keepers as he growled and walked right up to Discord. "I suggest you listen to whatever He of Harmony is telling you otherwise I might decide to become a carnivore and try out draconequus meat."

Whoa He of Hourglass is not messing around is he? Rainbow spurted out though the link proudly.

He is a dragon remember? They don't mince words. Harmony stifling a laugh at a particular insult that He of Hourglass just gave to Discord.

Then why is he acting so much like uh.... Twilight mused but couldn't finish her sentence a bit sadden by it.

The way he was before? Remember that I said dragons remember only the emotions? Those emotions become the bases for the adult dragon's personality. Now you see why I was so afraid of bringing you all here your emotions in thinking that Spike is within that dragon might overpower your better judgment and get you killed. Having said that you should be proud Bearer of Magic. You raised him well.

At this Twilight burst into tears. Harmony sadly shared her feelings but showed no outward expression other than one of compassion for her loss.

"I... " He of Hourglass stopped his 'colorful' threats at the sound of Twilight crying. Turning to get a better look at her he asked. "What is wrong Ascended One?"

"Sorry, He of Hourglass, I'm just remembering something that is joyously bittersweet." Twilight sniffed wiping her eyes with her hoof. It was the truth even though she so wish to be able to explain it to him fully.

He of Hourglass walk right up to Twilight with the biggest smile that he could produce and picked up Twilight in a loving hug. Harmony's right eye just twitched at the sight. He of Hourglass put her down after a moment then whispered something in her ear. Twilight's only reaction was to nod happily wiping the remaining tears from her eyes.





After a bit the dragon dismissed them. Harmony thanked him as he gathered the Bearers and led them back to their temporary shelter. It was an interesting meeting with the resident dragon. 

Even though things seemed to get out of hand the dragon seem to take it with stride. It bugged him still something was different about this dragon more so than the name would imply. He knew he would have time to figure it out as he was not going to go back until summoned. Given the ways of dragons(even with the unusualness of this one) it could be up to another month or so before then.

"Your role here has ended." Harmony stated once they had arrived back at the shelter.

"What?!" Everypony exclaimed at once.

"War is coming and you will be needed in Equestria."

"But what of He of Hourglass? And what of you?" Twilight asked.

"He of Hourglass will be based here as this is where his hoard is. As for me... Not sure..." Harmony awkwardly chuckled rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "Us Keepers will need to discuss that so I have no idea what role and where I will be. But for now take some time to relax and rest to explore the city. Three days is not enough time to deal with the events of the past few months. I suggest, however, to stay away from the library."

"Why? He of Hourglass is a cool dragon. I was hoping...." Rainbow pouted flying up in the air without noticing.

Suddenly Harmony spoke through a mind link spell. Because you are likely to slip up given the similar personalities between He of Hourglass and Spike. I'm sorry but you need some space before interacting with him. Time to not see him as Spike but as He of Hourglass. Speaking out-loud he added, "It looks to me that you finally found your wings Bearer of Loyalty."





"Bearer of Magic what are you doing out here?"

"Just thinking Harmony." Twilight looked up to Harmony trying to gauge him. If she was having troubles with Spike's "death" she was sure that he was struggling as well.

"Mind if I join you?" Harmony stated smiling warmly down at her.

"Sure take a seat." Twilight returned the smile as she gave him permission to join her next to her.

They sat there for hours admiring the view of the city as the sun began its descent under the mountain causing the sky around the city to produce an array of colors. Twilight was the first to speak.

"You know even though he is gone I think that his spirit is within Golden Heart. I will make sure to stay in frequent contact with him... He... He..." Twilight sniffed a bit but continued, "He would have wanted that. While I will never forget him I know that Golden Heart will be just as strong as a friend and.... (a little brother too.)" She added slyly.

"That's my Bearer of Magic." Harmony said grabbed Twilight with his wings to hug her.
Twilight lightly shoved him in mock disgust. Harmony only laughed. He inwardly agreed with her feelings on Golden Heart but was not going to spoil the moment. For a moment everything was right again.
> Epilogue/Sequel 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Three Keepers sat upon a roof of a building watched the setting of the sun. 

"Beautiful isn't it?" Harmony admiring the shifting colors.

"Enjoy it while it lasts. With the Nameless One now released upon this world for some it will be their last." Golden Heart spoke chilling the air a bit.

"Do you have any ideas on what to we should do?" Harmony asked turning to address Golden Heart.

"I have some but for now I want to think of this sunset before the darkness that will come soon enough." Golden Heart responded still staring out at the sunset.

Silence again overtook them. Only until long after the sun had set that one spoke.

"Sadly the sequel will not have me tagged as a character." Discord quipped

"He of Laughter!" Golden Heart growled, Harmony laughed.





End of Book 1