Harmony’s Hate

“I hope I’m not being a burden to you. I would be fine just buying something on the way to Ponyville.” Jewel said before taking another bite.

It was about 9:00 AM on a Saturday. Jewel was sitting with his parents at the table eating breakfast, just like they used to until four months before he left. His father made some dandelion sandwiches and porridge.

“Don’t worry about it,” Merryhoof reassured him. “Just enjoy your father’s cooking while you can.”

“Also, Merryhoof, while I still can… I wanted to apologize about what happened back then…”

Four months ago, they had been visited by the guards on patrol duty and were interviewed about the business. The house had been ransacked under the suspicion of salt ownership, but there was no reason for the guard to suspect them.

That was why they believed it to be orchestrated by Heartstrings, a grim reminder that she still controlled them. Jewel had been unable to deal with the stress, which was why he decided to leave for Ponyville in hopes of hiding from her.

That had worried his father greatly. He hadn’t been in a sound state of mind back then because of the circumstances, and he thought it would be better to stay together.

Jewel had said a lot of nasty things to his father, which, in turn, angered Merryhoof. She was always protective of him. She knew what Heartstrings had done to him, but she didn’t know the full story.

She always took her husband’s side. Jewel didn’t blame her, of course; he was but the byproduct of her husband's trauma that he had decided to take under his wing. She had practically been forced to adopt Jewel.

But they still managed to be a functional family, Merryhoof still tried to care for Jewel like for her own son, and she wanted him to succeed in life. She just didn’t understand why Brighthoof would care for a child he had been forced to conceive.

“Let’s leave it in the past, Jewel.” Merryhoof smiled. “We both said some things we didn’t mean back then. And considering what I know now… I think I would do the same.”

“You? Really?” Jewel laughed. “I can’t imagine a world where you would run away from your problems.”

“Before I met your father… I also ran from home.” She said with a solemn expression.

The remark surprised Jewel; she rarely talked about her past. “What made you leave?”

“My parents were quite elitist;, they believed they were above other ponies. I wasn’t allowed to form friendships with anyone they deemed unsuccessful. They owned a major company in Manehattan and wanted me to take over.

“They didn’t care that my cutiemark told me to own a wellness saloon, they just wanted a successor. But I was full of dreams. When I turned 18, I just… left. I managed to earn some money and save it up until I needed it. It was enough to buy tickets and move to Canterlot for a few months.

“I was lucky to meet your grandfather. He offered me a job in this exact saloon, where I learned and improved most of my skills while also getting to know your father.”

She looked at Brighthoof, who was smiling at her. “He may have had some issues, but after working with each other, we somehow fell in love. Still… I didn’t know about his trauma until three years after our marriage.”

“When I suddenly appeared…” Jewel elaborated, to which Merryhoof nodded.

“On the day of his 27th birthday… you came.”

Awkward silence suddenly befell them. No one wanted to talk about that particular part.

“And my grandfather?” Jewel asked.

“Firmhoof moved to Appleloosa soon after our wedding,” Brighthoof answered. “He always loved the aesthetic of that town. He wished to live there for a long time. He left us this saloon.”

“And why didn’t you tell me about him before?”

“We had other problems back then, and you were behind in studies compared to other foals your age. We were focusing on your future.”

Jewel understood. It had been a trying time for him and his parents. Luckily, he was an informational sponge. He learned a lot very quickly, which was the main reason why he managed to succeed in the entrance exam for Canterlot’s Academy of Magic.

“So,” Brighthoof exclaimed, “let’s do a once over of the plan. Your mother and I will check out the Star swirl’s Library Archives to look for any information about this ‘Blackheart’ she told you about, right?”

“Yes,” Jewel agreed. “ And I will return to Ponyville to research Prosperheart. I’ve found out that there are ponies who research his works there.”

“Who would have that kind of money?” Brighthoof asked. “Last time I checked, his books were worth quite a fortune!”

“I don’t know how she got a hold of them, and I’m honestly scared of the answer.”

“Guys,” Merryhoof said, “I think we need to hurry up! We still have the afternoon shift.”

“Isn’t it the weekend?” Jewel asked, intrigued., “Also… shouldn’t you take it easy in your condition?”

“It’s Saturday! We still have the evening shift, so if we want anything to get done, we need to go now,” she retorted. ”Also, I’m a fucking earth-pony! As long as I’m not doing the truly heavy tasks or running like a mad-mare, I’m as capable as any unicorn!”

“Alright, jeez!” Jewel put his hooves up in surrender. “I’m sorry. But you are right, we should get ready.”

Brighthoof looked at both of them, somewhat hurt. “So… no pony wants seconds?”

Jewel knocked on the library’s door.

He went there immediately after reaching Ponyville, knowing Twilight probably still had the book.

“Twilight?” he called. “Are you there? I need to urgently borrow a book!”

Nothing… Maybe she was asleep.

It seemed there was no activity inside, which probably meant she was not there at the moment.

He quickly ran to Sugarcube Corner in hopes of finding Pinkie Pie. Maybe she knew where Twilight was.

He burst through the door, startling the only customer inside and the pony serving him, who unfortunately wasn’t Pinkie.

“Hello, Mrs. Cake,” he said. “Pardon the intrusion, but I’m looking for Pinkie.”

“Oh,” she said, “I think you are a bit late for it, Brom. She and her friends went on an expedition. They left yesterday.”

Expedition? So suddenly?

“Which means Twilight got a mission from Celestia?”

“Yes,” she said while she finished the order and handed it to the colt in front of her. “Two bits, please.”

The colt happily paid for the wares and left Sugarcube Corner.

“Do you know when they will return?”

“I’m sorry, Brom, but I don’t know. You know how Pinkie tends to be; giving a straight answer is very difficult for her.”

“Well… thanks for the help anyway, Mrs. Cake,” Jewel said and left for the library again.

I need to find a way to get to the book.

You could break in!

I don’t think that's a good idea…

It’s an emergency; your life depends on it.

…Fine.

He approached the library’s door again and withdrew the locksmithing tools from his bag; he never left his home without it. He immediately started to work on the lock, but he was interrupted by a sound behind him.

“Ehem…”

Jewel turned around, only to find himself face-to-face with the one pony he had tried to avoid.

“Lyra!” he said, sweating. “How nice to see you. Is there a problem?”

Lyra looked at him up and down. “What are you doing to Twilight’s door?”

Shit!

“Uhm…” He looked at the tools already inside the lock, still held firm by his magic. “Twilight was a bit unsure about her locks and asked me to check it out?”

Saying the sky is green would have a better effect.

Lyra looked unimpressed. “Aha… Weren’t you gone for the entire day yesterday?”

“She asked me on Thursday… two days ago. Before I went,” he lied.

“Brom, what do you need from Twilight?”

Jewel sighed. He knew Twilight wouldn’t be able to help him since she hadn’t really researched the subject. She had read just one book she had borrowed… from Lyra.

You can’t trust her!
Who knows how she got the books.

It’s the only lead I have at this moment; it’s a matter of life and death.

“Alright…” he said. “Listen. I heard that Twilight borrowed a certain book from you, and I wanted to—“

“You finally want to research Anthropology with me?” She interrupted him, completely forgetting about the attempted burglary. “Why didn’t you just ask? I can tell you everything I know! Come with me.”

She basically forced him to follow her to her house, sat him on the dinner table, brought out a collection of six thick books and a spreadsheet, and started a presentation.

All in the span of five minutes.

“So basically, Anthropology is the research of a series of books that said there was an ancient civilization that lived in Equestria hundreds of thousands of years ago, one that we call humans.”

“Lyra—“ Jewel tried to interrupt her.

“Apparently, those humans had no magic for themselves, but they were able to harvest the magic naturally present in the world around them with their technology.”

“Lyra!”

“And their culture! It’s one of the most interesting subjects you could learn! Did you know—“

“Lyra!” Jewel shouted. “I’m sorry to interrupt your fun, but I’m not here to talk about a fictional race. I’m here to find out about the pony who created the whole concept of Anthropology.”

“Prosperheart?” Lyra asked, a bit disappointed. “Why would you want to research that?”

“I—“ Jewel didn’t know what to say. He can’t tell the truth; that would endanger her…

Danger?
By merely talking to her, you have endangered her!

Telling her about my connections to Prosperheart could make her antagonize me.

If you want information, you need to offer some in return.

…Fine!

“Listen, Lyra,” Jewel said. “Prosperheart… is an ancestor of mine, and something happened within my family that forced me to inform myself about my heritage.”

Lyra looked at him as if he had broken into her home. “Is that why your name is Brom? I’ll be honest, when I first heard it, I thought you were just a fan, but now… is your whole family like that?”

“No need to rub it in, Lyra! And no, I chose that name when I moved to Ponyville. It was a spur of the moment decision, and I didn't even think about it when I chose it.”

“Alright, but…”

“Please, Lyra,” Jewel warned her, “it’s very important, and I don’t want to divulge any more private information.”

Lyra seemed to have many more questions, but it looked like she understood it might be a difficult subject for Jewel. It didn’t stop her from asking one more question though.

“Brom…” she started, “what is your name?”

He sighed. He knew he should stop using his alias; it didn’t change anything about his situation four months prior, and it wouldn’t change anything if he told the whole of Ponyville his name.

“Jewel,” he said, defeated. “Just call me Jewel.”

Lyra nodded. “That’s a nice name. What do you want to know about Prosperheart?”

“Mostly what happened after he was caught… Maybe a bit about how he managed to create the biggest scams in Equestrian history.”

“Well,” she started. “It’s not really well known how he managed to popularize Anthropology; it did happen 500 years ago. What historians did manage to discover however, was that the scam had spread through word of mouth. People joined the community and preached its ‘historical evidence’, which was actually fake all along.

“That way, the community actually grew into a whole cult, believing that Celestia was actually aware of the existence of humans and was actively trying to suppress it.”

“But this makes no sense,” Jewel added., “Celestia is one of the oldest beings in Equestria.”

“Because of this mindset the cult enforced,” Lyra continued, “Celestia was unable to take action against the cult without any proof. It would only strengthen their belief if she did.”

“So she needed to prove their beliefs wrong?”

“Exactly!” Lyra said. “But even that was difficult. The cult managed to garner a big enough following, and some ponies were actually paying to become a high-ranking member of the cult. That way, Anthropology managed to be one of the more financially powerful entities in Equestria.”

“How did Celestia stop it?”

“She basically leaked confidential secrets to the public that showed that the leader, Prosperheart, actually fabricated the evidence of the existence of humans. It managed to cripple the faith of the cult enough for her to be able to take action against him without any dire consequences to her rule.

“But still… Prosperheart had already acquired a massive fortune, which wasn’t entirely recovered either. That, of course, had a massive impact on the economy. Back then, they had additional values below bits—they were called bobs—but after that whole ordeal, the value dropped, and they started using bits for everything. The bobs were discontinued.”

“Now I understand why people actually study Anthropology,” Jewel realized. “It taps into different subjects like mob mentality, economy—“

“Don’t forget literature!” she interrupted him. “The books Prosperheart wrote are still considered one of the most influential works of fiction for many reasons. Mainly because of the cult, but it also inspired a lot of other writers when it comes to world-building. I heard a certain culture present in those books inspired A. K. Yearling for the school system in her ‘Harry Hoofer’ series.”

“And what happened to Prosperheart when he was caught?” Jewel asked.

“From what I heard, Celestia sentenced him to 20 years in prison and tried to force him to return all of the money he had earned… but before she managed to make him cooperate, he committed suicide in prison. The money was never found.”

Seems familiar?

He probably already had a successor ready and had left the instructions for the fortune to them. Which means the money was kept by the family and was used for their plans!

But if they had the money,
Using it would put them back in the economic circulation.
The value wouldn’t drop as much as it did!

All of this money is still with the family. It has been inherited. To the public, the money is still gone because the Hearts have been carefully growing their fortune in secret, slow enough for the changes to remain unnoticed. It forced Celestia to mint new coins to replace the stolen ones, and the family had slowly reintroduced the stolen money back into the economy, making them, in turn, drop in value after 500 years. That was not the work of Prosperheart alone, he was just the one who built the foundation for future generations to grow in influence.

You must applaud the amount of cooperation
needed to pull something like that off.

Explains why Heartstrings feels so proud of him in particular… he exploited the flawed economy of Equestria, allowing her to use that fortune for her own operations!

“Thanks, Lyra,” Jewel said. “I think my understanding of Prosperheart and Anthropology evolved.”

“No, problem.” She smiled. “If you need to know anything else about it, just come straight to me, Bro— I mean, Jewel.”

“Have a nice day.” He left her house and went straight to his workshop.

However, he didn’t manage to get to it, because a certain flash of pink caught his eye.

It was Pinkie Pie.

Looks like they came back from the mission…
I should probably go and greet them.

He started following Pinkie, knowing she would probably host a victory party to celebrate.

And it looked like he was right. Pinkie went inside Sugarcube Corner and assembled the things necessary to make a small party. She then proceeded to gallop to Twilight's library, where the rest of her friends probably waited.

He contemplated if he should join. He didn’t consider himself as close to Twilight as the other five. He worried that his presence wouldn’t be appreciated.

Still, they must’ve learned quite a lot on their adventure. It wouldn’t hurt to talk.

He knocked on the door, before opening it to see the whole group about to toast with their cups filled with cider.

“Hi. I hope I’m not intruding,” he said.

“Oh, Brom?” Twilight caught herself before saying his real name. “Is there something you need?”

“Oh… no, Twilight. I just came here to talk and even congratulate you on your quest.”

“How’d you know ‘bout it?” Applejack asked. “Ah thought ya had some awful important business in Canterlot and ya left b’fore us.”

“Oh, yes… Mrs. Cake told me about it. Sorry I wasn’t there to wish you all luck.”

“Oh, don’t you worry, Brom.” Rarity took a small sip of her cider. “And besides, it was a very important test for Twilight. And SHE PASSED,” she sang.

Twilight seemed to be uneasy with Jewel's presence, which he noticed.

“I’m happy for you, Twilight.”

“…Brom, listen, I’m sorry about what happened on Thursday,” Twilight started.

“Don’t be… I was the one who overreacted. You were worried. Even though I didn’t like you snooping around my family history, I appreciate your feelings towards my well-being.”

“Still, I overstepped, and I feel like I should have been more tactful.”

“Okay, hold up!” the raspy voice of Rainbow Dash called above them. “What the hay happened between you two?”

“Uhm… Rainbow?” Fluttershy said softly. “I don’t think we should pry…”

“It’s no big deal,” Jewel reassured them. “Twilight just realized my name is not Brom.”

“WHAT?!” everyone except Twilight —who was too shocked to say anything—shouted.

“Seriously, the last two days couldn’t be more surprising,” Spike said. “Like, first the Crystal Empire reappeared, then King Sombra returned, and now this?”

“Waitwaitwait…” Jewel put his hoof up to interrupt him. “The Crystal Empire? AND SOMBRA?”

He looked at the ponies present. “What on Star Swirl’s beard have you seven been doing?”

“You first!” Pinkie shouted. “What has been happening between you and Twilight? And what is your real name?”

“First and foremost, Pinkie,” Jewel said, “I don’t like when ponies ask too many personal questions. Second, I will explain the situation with Twilight once you tell me about the quest. And third, my name is Jewel.”

Twilight sighed, realizing she wouldn’t win the argument. “Alright… it all started when I got a letter from the Princess right after you left…”