Harmonia

In one of the outer suburbs of Harmonia, there was a small brick house, lined with a rickety picket fence and surrounded by overgrown shrubs. It was located at the very end of a dead-end street, and looked like a home that should’ve been condemned a very long time ago.

It was the home of Batterhooves, veteran of the Silver Guard and one of the greatest stallions to have faced the monsters of the Dark.

In his backyard, among the overgrown weeds and grasses, the grizzled brown earth pony jumped back with a grunt, ignoring the limp in his back leg. He adjusted the baton he gripped in his teeth, barking out, “Parry! Quickly!”

In front of him, in the middle of a circle of training dummies, was a pegasus with a light grey coat, light blue eyes, and a deep blue mane that was neatly combed to the side. His eyes were narrowed, focused, watching the dummies as they spun on their mechanical axes. Beside him hovered a circular, crystal shield, glowing with a faint white light. This pegasus was Quartz Cloud, second-born of House Sympathy, and trainee under Batterhooves.

One of the dummies spun its wooden weapon towards him. Cloud’s eyes narrowed, and the shield spun around to neatly deflect the blow, held aloft only by Cloud’s will.

He sensed movement behind him, ducking and leaping to the side as his shield swung back, deflecting the blow from the dummy behind him.

“Keep yer focus!” Batterhooves shouted out, slowly advancing towards the pegasus. “A darkbeas’ will rip yer ‘ead off if you slip for even a moment!”

The shield moved like a shimmering blur, deflecting blow after blow from the dummies, all the while Cloud ducked and weaved between the attacks he couldn’t deflect.

“Fashter! Don’ get overwhelmed!”

The shield smashed into one of the dummies, splintering it into pieces.

Batterhooves was close now, the pegasus barely noticing him. “Tha’sh it! Like that!”

Cloud grunted, completely focused on the training. His shield swung around, the bladed edge carving into the wooden dummies.

“Don’ ferget abou’ surprise attacksh!” Batterhooves shouted, charging forth with his baton.

On instinct, Cloud willed the shield in between him and his mentor. The shield flashed with a sudden burst of light and a wave of force exploded from its surface, sending the elder stallion flying backward through the air.

“Fuck!” He cried as he flew, landing heavily and rolling on the ground two metres away.

Cloud’s eyes widened in horror as he realised what he’d done. He ducked under the blow of the next dummy and dismissed the shield, its crystalline surface disintegrating into nothing. He galloped towards the fallen form of his mentor, and cried, “Master Batterhooves! Are you…?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” The grizzled veteran said quickly, shakily standing up. “Been through pleny worse.”

Cloud moved to try and help him up. “Please, forgive me, I was-!”

“Boy, if there ain’t nothin’ broken, then there ain’t nothin’ worth cryin’ over!” Batterhooves told him, waving away the help. “Ah said I’m fine, didn’ I?”

“Alright… if you insist.” Cloud stepped back awkwardly. “Um… I’ll just, resume, then?”

“Nah. Ain’t no point.”

Cloud blinked in confusion. Batterhooves just chuckled, giving him a misshapen grin that bore no small amount of pride.

“Boy, there ain’t a thing left that I can teach you.” He explained.

Cloud stared at him as he processed this. Then, a smile broke out across his face.

Quartz Cloud had always found Batterhooves to be a respectable, although thoroughly strange pony. A head injury late into the old stallion’s career had gotten him dismissed, and left him with a speech impediment and, Cloud suspected, a not insignificant number of personality quirks. Despite all that, he respected the veteran guard for his martial expertise, and he easily trusted the stallion with his life.

“Never understood why the Keepersh go on ‘bout solvin’ problems ‘diplomatically.’” Batterhooves told him later in the evening, as they sat and ate around a barrel fire. “When yer on the borderlan’s, fightin’ off the Dark, you don’ get very far fightin’ a wraith by tryin’ to give it a hug. Gimme a sword or a shield, that’ll sort out any problem.”

Cloud grimaced as he chewed down on the vegetable stew before him. Batterhooves was many things – a four-star chef was not one of them. He forced himself to swallow, then he said, “You’re a well of wisdom, master Batterhooves.”

“Damn right Ah am!” Batterhooves said proudly, chucking some more logs into the steel barrel. “S’ why yer father trusted yer trainin’ to me! The stallion migh’ be an up-imself cunt, and I migh’ be livin’ in a hovel, but I’m worth ten of his so-called soldiers, easy! An’ he knows tha’.”

Cloud chuckled. “Please. Less vulgarity.”

“Eh.” Batterhooves grunted, limping back over to him. “Reminds me, actually. Got a call from yer father this mornin’. Wantin’ to know how yer trainin’ was goin’.”

Cloud’s smile slipped off his face. He sighed, and muttered, “Well, it’s about the only reason he ever calls. What did you tell him?”

“Same thin’ as usual.” Batterhooves said with a shrug. “Told ‘im that you’d exceeded me, or anypony else I’d ever trained. Ah said that the folk ‘round ‘ere loved you, that the Bronzies ‘ere loved workin’ with ya. Told ‘im that even them righteous pricks at the church liked ya. An’ he said that was good, ‘cause Diamondsong had quit.”

Cloud’s eyes shot open, and he choked on the mouthful of soup he had tried to swallow. It took him a moment to recover, and after he had, he looked up at his mentor, who was just looking at him impassively. “Wait, she…?”

“Quit.” Batterhooves repeated bluntly. “Jush left. I asked why, he jush said that it didn’ concern me. Told me that you’d be ascended teh Keeper in three months.”

Cloud stared at him in complete shock. He blinked a couple of times, trying to come to terms with this. “I…?”

“Yer days of bein’ shunted to the side are over.” Batterhooves said with a lopsided smile. “Yer goin’ to the big leaguesh.”

Cloud opened and closed his mouth a couple of times as he began to understand. He slowly stood up, a foolish grin spreading across his face. “I’m… I’m going to be a Keeper?”

“Yep. First stallion Keeper in a while, actually.”

“But… that’s incredible!” Cloud exclaimed, starting to pace around in excitement. “I… I don’t know what to say! This all so sudden, it…”

Something occurred to him, and he slowed down. He looked back at Batterhooves, concerned. “Wait… what about you?”

“…Well…” Batterhooves looked away, shrugging his shoulders. “He didn’ say as much… but I suspect that our arrangement’s come to an end. And I don’t wanna ‘ear you complainin’, or whingin’, or nothin’.” He snapped before Cloud could say anything. “Like Ah said, you don’ need me no more. Yer movin’ up and the world, Ah can’t come wit ya, an’ that’s just fine.”

The old pony looked away for a moment, before adding, “Still… might not kill ya to call once in a while. To show you haven’ forgot ‘bout old Batterhooves.”

Cloud didn’t say anything for a moment, looking away with no small amount of sadness. Then, he looked at his now former mentor, standing straight, evened his gaze and put his right forehood over his chest in a salute. “It’s been an honour training under you, Captain Batterhooves.”

Batterhooves nodded, returning the salute. “As it’sh been to train you.”

Harmonia Central Park was exploding with activity. In the centre of the park upon the grass, the beautifully monochrome Princess Shimmerlight was entertaining a gaggle of young foals, regaling them with stories of Harmonia’s past. On the edge of the park within a fence-enclosed area, teenage ponies stared in awe as Purebloom, Keeper of Innocence, gently pulled a brush through the fur of a large, sleeping grizzly bear. The lime-green earth pony, her violet eyes and shy smile obscured by her long, butter-yellow hair, reassured her audience that the carnivore was her friend and wouldn’t think of hurting them. Eventually, some of the braver ones slowly approached to touch the creature, amazed by its passivity.

In a gazebo not too far from both groups was a gathering of adult ponies, watching their children from afar. A couple of guards, each clad in golden, metal armour, stood to each side of the structure, though everyone knew that their presence was for show. They talked and chatted amongst themselves, discussing what had brought them here, drinking from a communal champagne bowl and dining on platters of light food.

A unicorn stallion approached the gazebo. From afar, he could’ve easily been mistaken for Shimmerlight herself – his coat was a similar silvery white and his neatly combed mane a stark black. He stepped up and walked into the centre of the gazebo. His horn glowed a deep blue, the same blue as his eyes, and at his will, a soft chiming sound came forth and drew everypony’s attention to him.

“Welcome, everypony, to Bardigrand!” He greeted them, his voice young and light. “My name is Mythril Shield. I’m the Constant of the Six Houses. Now, I’m sure that many of you know who I am, and what I do.” He started to pace. “However, there are just as many who are guests within Harmonia. I can see Mister Rockencolt from South Mareland…”

Mythril gestured to an earth pony near the centre of the room, who nodded back politely.

“…And I can see Silvaron from Bleakstone Reach over there.” He added, pointing to a black-feathered gryphon at the back. The avian nodded curtly in acknowledgement.

“So, for the sake of you newcomers, I’ll explain myself.” Mythril said brightly. “You see, the Houses and the Keepers of Harmony have many responsibilities – and not an inconsiderable amount of power within Harmonia. To ensure that things are kept in balance, there are two ponies who exist outside of the Houses and work to keep ponies united. There’s the High Priestess, Lady Aria, who sadly couldn’t be here today. She works to makes sure that the Houses adhere to the divine conduct, as described by the Sun Queen herself.

“Then, there’s the Constant. My job is to coordinate endeavours and resolve disputes between the Houses. I also manage the Keepers, acting as their in-house advisor, confidant, and, whenever necessary, I help them reconcile after arguments or differences.” Mythril smiled. “In short, I ensure that the Houses remain equal in their power.”

“If I may enquire,” One of the guests spoke up. “You bear a striking resemblance to the Princess. Are you also of House Unity?”

“Shimmerlight is my sister, but I am not of House Unity.” Mythril replied. Before the question could come, he explained, “When I was given the title of Constant, I was required, as per tradition, to sever most of my ties to House Unity. It sounds heartless, but it means that I can do my work as Constant with neutrality, and without bias. Speaking of…”

His horn glowed again, and an illusion formed before him. It was the illusion of a tall, silver tower with a lantern-shaped top, not unlike a lighthouse. The base of the tower was elegantly curved, holding up the tip of the tower like a brazier.

“This is a Purity Tower.” Mythril explained. “These magical engines take the magic generated by friendship and community, and they use that magic to protect people against the monsters of the Dark. Smaller Purity Towers simply raise protective barriers to keep out the Dark. This one, however, will do more than that. It’ll actively dispel any nearby creatures of the Dark and prevent any night storms from occurring within… oh, I’d say… five-hundred miles? Even just one of these can cover a major city, plus the surrounding farmland, providing virtual immunity to the Dark.”

He heard the guests murmur amongst themselves, impressed. One of them asked, “And how much will one of these towers cost, exactly?”

“To build and sufficiently enchant this tower? Two-hundred million GP. I’m sure that sounds like a hefty price,” He added as the guests’ murmuring grew louder. “Especially considering that many of you want more than one. But any price is a small price to pay for protection against the Dark. And once one of these things starts going, the maintenance costs are less than negligible. All a Purity Tower needs to run is a single scion of the Houses to be nearby – that’s it. That initial cost is the only cheque you’ll sign… and it’ll be well worth it.”

They weren’t angry. They were curious, even. But they weren’t convinced yet.

“Of course, you could all continue with your current protections.” He said, pacing around the illusion. “You could continue using warding circles, proven time and time again to be unreliable. You could continue with force barriers, which shatter quickly in night storms. You could continue fighting the Dark with blade and bullet…” His face turned serious. “…And I think we all know the costs of that.

He paused briefly to let them think. “I can tell you now that this is the safest, most reliable protection against the Dark on the continent – bar none. You’re not paying for nothing – you’re paying for the knowledge that you’ll never have to fear the Dark again.” He shrugged. “The choice is yours.”

He smiled as he watched they began talking once more, knowing exactly what choice they would make.