I snapped awake with the words of The Voice still echoing in my mind.

“Remember: Glittery Soul Fire has always been, and will always be, your sister…”

“He’s fading!” Someone yelled out, which got my attention. What is going on?!

I looked over to see the motionless body of Dragon FireWyrm lying on his side, surrounded by most of the members of the clan. Wanderer and Scorpion stood on either side of him, both looked outright worried. Twilight, meanwhile, was standing on his chest, deep in concentration, her horn glowing brightly. Caretaker was next to Dragon FireWyrm’s head, her claws hovering over it and glowing a light blue. I found that a bit odd, as so far, I had not yet seen any visible dragon magic. The only one of the clan I couldn’t see was DragonWyrm Heart, but, considering his size, it was possible that he was on the other side of Dragon FireWyrm’s huge frame.

“I see that. Twilight, redirect three more magijoules from his extremities to his heart!” Caretaker ordered.

Three Magijoules!? That much mana would cause a heartattack! “What the fuck are you doing!?“ I pressed forward, trying to get through the mass of dragon salces to get to Dragon FireWyrm and Twilight, to stop her. “You are going to kill him!”

“Twilight, remove Magic Dowser, now.” Caretaker snapped, as Scorpion and Wanderer closed ranks, preventing me from getting to either Twilight or Dragon FireWyrm.

“Don’t you dare! I…”

“The weapons are out of power.” DragonWyrm Heart’s voice yelled out. Weapons?! Why would they use weapons?

“Damn it…” Caretaker cursed, and that was the last thing I heard before my world momentarily flashed white from a teleportation spell.

I blinked quickly to get the spots out of my eyes, and, as soon as I did, I twirled upon Twilight, furious. Dragon FireWyrm was in trouble and I could help, but I got kicked out of the library right at what seemed to be the most crucial moment. I tried to teleport, but there was a barrier of some type over the library.

“WHAT THE FUCK!?” I roared. “LET ME BACK IN! Dragon FireWyrm NEEDS ME!”

“Dragon FireWyrm is suffering from severe mental strain and a massive influx and loss of mana… As it is, he may still not survive, and if you want him to survive, you need to stand back.” Twilight snapped, shoving a hoof into my chest. I so wished I had claws like Ruby, so I could give her the middle claw. “Now, if you will excuse me, I need to return and help Caretaker.”

Twilight flashed away, leaving me screaming angrily like a possessed banshee and slamming against the now closed library doors. If DragonWyrm Heart thought that a pair of closed doors and a barrier were going to stop me, he was mistaken. Unlike last time, when he slammed me into the den wall, I wasn’t handicapped by a paralyzing spell.

I tried to teleport again, but whatever barrier was upon the library was still there. I scanned it to see if there was some weakness I could exploit. The problem was that it was clearly dragon based. I didn’t know enough about dragon magic yet to figure out its subtleties, so that meant I was going to have to be blunt in trying to bring down the barrier.

I started off by trying to destroy the barrier with a high powered offensive magic beam, hoping it would overwhelm it. Not the most eloquent of ways, but it would have to do, as I didn’t have time to figure out a more subtle and less likely to be counterable approach. Suddenly, I could see and feel a surge of mana building along the barrier. It was clear that a feedback loop was imminent. As I tried to break off my magic beam, I found that I could not. I desperately tried several ways to sever my connection, but all of them failed. Within moments, I was flung back by a massive explosion.

As I came to, I quickly shook myself off to try again, this time with a different approach. A continuous magic beam would most likely activate the feedback loop again, so this time, I decided to try using the feedback loop to my advantage by hopefully tricking it into feedbacking in on itself. I built up a mana surge to the upper limits of my control. I could feel and see my horn heating and sparking up as I did.

Once I was to the point of near loss of control, I unleashed several large orbs of mana at the barrier. As I had hoped, a feedback loop did occur, and a crack formed on the barrier. I was about to use my magic to wedge the crack open, when an arc of mana lightning bolted from the barrier and hit me right in the horn, knocking me back yet again.

“I wouldn't try that again, if I were you.” An amused voice, mostly likely from a dragon, called out from behind me as I worked to get the built up static out of my horn. “DragonWyrm Heart will not take lightly to you entering the Library uninvited, and when the outer doors are closed, the library, and thus his hoard, is closed, unless you are invited in.”

“I have no plans on taking anything from his library, and his ‘hoard’ could fucking burn to the ground for all I care!” I turned to face whomever was bothering me. When I did, I nearly had to turn away. There, standing nearby, was a large brilliant orange blob of a dragon. The only part of him that didn’t cause me a headache were his eyes, which happened to also be the only part that I could distinguish from the rest.

“Magic Dowser! What has gotten into you now?” The voice of Minty echoed out. I looked around, a bit confused as I couldn’t see her anywhere. “Threat of property destruction is not like you.”

The orange dragon blob’s head turned away from me, as if he was looking behind him. I couldn’t be sure. “Minty, do you need help getting down?”

“No, I’m good.”

I stepped to the side of the dragon to see that Minty was making her way down the dragon’s back. Normally, she hated being treated like a dainty flower, although, in this case… “Minty… are you sure…”

“Yeah…” Minty grunted as she continued to make her way down, “just have to take it slow…”

I immediately backed away. It was clear that she didn’t want to be helped in this case, just as I had thought. It didn’t take long before Minty had finished making her way down, and jumped the last few hooves to the cobblestone street.

“Now,” The orange dragon asked once Minty was safely on the ground, “tell me, why are you trying to incur DragonWyrm Heart’s wrath?”

“None of your fucking business.” I sneered. I wasn’t afraid of some random dragon strutting his supposed superiority over me.

“I am Windjammer, Secondclaw of the Southern Isles Clan,” The orange dragon growled, shoving his large snout right into my face. “Our clans are hatchmates to each other, and, if you think I will allow you to try and burn my friend’s priceless hoard to the ground, you have another thing coming! You will be nothing but soup before you have a chance to fire another magic beam! None of my fucking business, ha!”

As I glared death at the orange dragon, I wished I had been born with heat vision so I could melt that smug look of his. Dragon FireWyrm is my brother, and I hurt him. I’m not stupid. I can put two and two together. Dragon FireWyrm pulls me into his dream and then I awaken to him… dying… At that thought, my facade cracked, and I lowered my head in shame. “I went to DragonWyrm Heart to get answers about wyrms and Dragon FireWyrm… he was hurt… somehow… mental strain and mana drain or something… Because he pulled me into a dream so that ‘The Voice’ uh... could manifest in our dream or something like that… my request and I… I… killed him! If I… I killed him… I wanted answers not death!!!”

Minty pulled me into a hug and stopped my ranting dead in its tracks. I sobbed into her shoulder for some time.

“Wait.” I heard Windjammer exclaim in shock over the sounds of my sobbing. “The Voice manifested himself to you?! How?! But… no… You know what, I don’t need to know. ‘That’s impossible’ is par for the course when it comes to DragonWyrms, and even more so for Dragon FireWyrm than DragonWyrm Heart…”

“What exactly are DragonWyrms?” Minty questioned, stroking me as I slowly began to calm down. “I remember DragonWyrm Heart said something about it before, when he was explaining dragon names and titles…”

“They act as a bridge...” I muttered before Windjammer could answer.

“How the hell do you know that?” Windjammer exclaimed in surprise.

“I didn't, I just guessed.” I shrugged, sniffing a bit as I began to feel better enough to pull away from Minty.

The dragon's eyes narrowed. It was clear that he was scrutinizing me. Probably to see if I’m lying or hiding something. Even though I wasn’t lying about the guessing part, I was not interested in explaining how I could have guessed so correctly. A good chunk of the conversation I had with Ruby slash The Voice was private, and I wished to keep even the parts that weren’t private that way, so that I don’t let things slip that were not to be slipped. I suspect that more than just Ruby’s Hoard Name was given to me in confidence, and I don’t know enough about what is acceptable and what is not acceptable to discuss anything with anyone.

“Fair enough.” Windjammer said after a few minutes, much to my relief. “And it does explain why Scorpion handed Minty off to me while in a blind panic... and I get that you feel responsible for whatever happened... But raging against DragonWyrm Heart’s hoard ward is not going to help Dragon FireWyrm. Caretaker is one of the finest dragon physicians since Scorpan the Hermit. If anyone can save Dragon FireWyrm, it’s her, but she won’t be able to while you rage and butt in. Trust the clan, trust Caretaker.”

“As much as I know you don’t want to hear this, Windjammer is right…”

“Et tu Minty?!”

“Dowser…” Minty shook her head. “I know this sounds cold, but a healer needs a cool head when treating a patient, especially when the accuracy and speed of every decision is a matter of life or death. There was a reason I was not allowed to help treat you, that one time when you had severe mana exhaustion.”

I wanted to protest, but the stern look killed it. She was right, as much as I wanted it to be otherwise. I just felt so guilty that Dragon FireWyrm was hurt by me… If I hadn’t been so selfish...so overprotective. Ruby was right; she was old enough, and strong enough, to take care of herself. And instead of being supportive… I...

“I think I’d rather be alone right now.” I muttered, no longer wanting to look Minty in her eyes. “I won’t try and force my way into the library… I’ll just wait out here until… you know…”

Minty looked like she was to object, and almost did, but closed her mouth. She hesitated a moment longer before turning around and slowly walking off, with Windjammer close behind. Once they were out of sight, I collapsed, crying.

“Mag… ….ser”

“...ake up…”

“Huh wha?” I groggily mumbled as I woke up. I think I must have bit my tongue in my sleep, as my mouth had a metallic taste in it. My jaw was also aching a bit, so I wouldn't be surprised if I had been grinding my teeth, as well. I looked around, and realized that I had fallen asleep next to the library’s main doors. I looked up to see that the yellow and pink scaled dragon mate of Wanderer, Caretaker, was looking down at me.

“Good, you are awake.”

“What do you want, Caretaker?” I grumbled before I yawned and stretched. I groaned in pleasure and slight pain, as I could feel and hear my spine popping. Cobblestone was admittedly not the best of bedding material, if my back was any indication.

“I’m here to escort you to the forge.” Caretaker explained as she motioned for me to follow her.

“The forge?” I looked over to see that the library doors were closed, and the wards, as far as I could tell, were still there. I was not terribly surprised about that, but why would she need to escort me to the forge? I needed to get to Dragon FireWyrm, and the last time I saw him, he was in the room down the central hallway.

“The Library is not the best place for Dragon FireWyrm, so we moved him once he was stable, to someplace more suitable.”

“Is… is he? Will… he?” I asked as I quickened to a trot to catch up to Caretaker, who had not waited for me to follow. Why would they have moved him to a forge? I could see moving him to a makeshift infirmary…but a forge? That was not exactly a logical place for an injured anything to be… or maybe it was where he lived, nested, slept, and they put him there to die in familiar surroundings… I shook my head in a feeble attempt to clear my mind. I didn’t want to...

“He’ll recover, though he will be quite weak for a few days.” Caretaker stopped, then stared down at me, a look of sadness on her snout. “Look, I must apologize for having Twilight kick you out of the library, but Dragon FireWyrm was near death from the combined mana drain and the mental strain from keeping The Voice manifested as long as he did. I couldn’t have a panicking pony distracting me while I worked to save him.”

“But… mana exhaustion is usually not remotely fatal…”

“For most who are healthy, mana drain isn’t fatal, unless the drain is explosive or done incorrectly. The exception is dragons; more so for Dragon FireWyrm, because of what he is, or, more accurately, was…”

“You mean being a DragonWyrm?”

“No…” Caretaker paused a moment and looked up, like she was trying to come up with an answer, “something similar, but not the same…”

Okay… Don’t tell me. I sarcastically rolled my eyes as Caretaker resumed walking without explaining anything further.

“It’s not my place to explain what Dragon FireWyrm was…” Caretaker finally said something, after a few moments. Am I that easy to read, or are these dragons mindreaders? “We all have the right to our secrets, afterall…”

Then quit baiting me… I thought bitterly.

“We are here.” Caretaker stopped in front of a building.

The building was long a rectangular box with unremarkable features, besides the standard colorful geometric designs painted on its side and metal etched strip. It reminded me of a warehouse, which I thought was unusual for a forge, as I would have expected a bit more of an airy design. I continued to examine the building a bit more, as I didn’t want to go in and face Dragon FireWyrm just yet, and, as I did so, something above the door caught my attention.

Is that large a metal bird’s nest embedded in the wall above the door? I wondered. That was something of an unexpected flourish. Why a bird’s nest? It didn't seem to fit into the geometric theme of Hourglass.

I turned my attention away from the bird’s nest, and towards the inside. I could see a yellow orange glow coming from what I could only assume was the forge itself. Surprisingly, I didn’t feel any of the heat that I would expect to come from the open doors.

“This is Quartermaster and She of Hourglass’ forge. It was the only place big enough and quiet enough that was set up to be able to house a dragon of Dragon FireWyrm’s size while he is recovering.” Caretaker walked inside, gesturing for me to follow. “Come inside; Quartermaster and She of Hourglass won’t mind. Just don’t touch anything.”

The forge was darker than I thought as we stepped in. Once my eyes adjusted, I could see the regular blacksmithing implements near the lit forge, as well as various miscellaneous odds and ends of who knew what. No Dragon FireWyrm though, but the forge was towards the front, and the building was quite large, so he could be in the back.

“Can you see well enough to move now?” Caretaker questioned after a few moments.

“Yeah, I think so.”

“The metal strips that run along the side of every building are based on designs that She of Hourglass made. You can see stacks of their originals here.” Caretaker explained as we walked further into the forge and towards the back. I could see the glint of the metal siding, even in the low light provided by the forge and open door.

Past all that was a large metal nest, not dissimilar to the one over the forge doors. Well that explains that… As I got to the nest, I realized that I had a problem. Okay, how do I get up? I could teleport up, but I didn’t know how wide the lip of this nest was, nor how deep it was.

Luckily, Caretaker noticed my hesitation, and held out a paw for me to climb onto. As she lifted me up, I could see into the nest itself. The bottom of the nest had a layer of gems and coins, along with Dragon FireWyrm and Ruby. I quickly jumped down off of Caretaker’s paw, as soon as it was safe for me to do so.

Ruby was spooning Dragon FireWyrm, or as much of him as her much slimmer frame could hold. Dragon FireWyrm himself appeared to be sleeping, but, as I got closer, his two toned eyes slowly opened. I knew he was big, but I didn’t realize until now just how big he really was. Each of his eyes alone dwarfed me, and his eyes, like Ruby’s, were smaller and beadier in comparison to other dragons’… probably a wyrm trait of some type. Ruby’s scales had dulled like Dragon FireWyrm’s when she mated and became a wyrm. No dragon that I had seen so far had dulled scales; every dragon had scales that were like polished gems.

Though Dragon FireWyrm appeared quite tired, he did seem happy to see me, as I could hear a rumbling purr coming from him. I don’t know why he was happy to see me; he shouldn’t be so happy. I nearly got him killed because I just couldn’t let go of Ruby...

“I’m sorry… brother…” I gasped out as I started to cry, once again.

The rumbling purr stopped a second, then returned so strong that the gems below the dragons began to tinkle loudly, and I could also feel the vibration through my hooves. I looked up at Dragon FireWyrm, and when my eyes locked with his, something happened that defied all description.

As my eyes locked onto Dragon FireWyrm’s, they sucked me in, and all I could see and feel was the joy in the orbs of fire before me. The joy was the joy of having a loving brother who would do anything for my health and happiness… Nothing could change it, and all the pain and hurt that I had been under was now as ash in a breeze.

What… What just happened? I thought as whatever Dragon FireWyrm just did ended, and he blinked and shifted his gaze away from me.

Unfortunately, I wouldn't get my answer from Dragon FireWyrm, as he fell back into unconsciousness. My mood, which had inexplicably risen when our eyes locked, fell once again, as fresh guilt came over me. Ruby rumbled in concern and started to lick me, to my mild irritation. I knew that she was trying to help, but all I could think was, Why would my sister try to help me, when I keep hurting her mate…my brother…?

It was then that I noticed something on Dragon FireWyrm’s neck, something that I had missed before. There on his neck were three long, deep linear scars that went clear across his neck. At first, I thought that maybe he had received the scars from a fight, but the scars were too clean and long. He had to have been standing still or incapacitated. Someone, or several someones, had tried and failed to kill him...

“Caretaker, how did he get those?”

Caretaker walked over and slowly touched and stroked along the middle scar. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear she was doing it lovingly. Are all dragons sadistic?! “Scars have meaning to dragons, Magic Dowser, either to others, or just to the dragon him or herself… this one… is precious to him and... myself...”

“To become hatchmates, to become siblings with a wyrm...” Caretaker whispered, still caressing the scar, “One has to slit the throat, as if they were trying to kill the wyrm, without…”

As Caretaker admitted this, I seethed in fury. How dare she try and kill my brother, and be pleased about doing it!? “YOU TRIED TO KILL MY BROTHER!?!”

“Magic Dowser, please calm down.” Caretaker flew up and back to get away from me, but I was not going to let her get away that easily, so I teleported up to the lip of the nest.

“CALM DOWN!?” I roared out. “YOU TRIED TO KILL HIM! HOW CAN I BE CALM!? I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!”

I was about to unleash my anger against Caretaker, when my mana was suddenly and painfully cut off. I looked up to see that Dragon FireWyrm had short circuited my magic by touching the end of my horn with the tip of his claw. In shock, I fell on my haunches, a single, unspoken word on my lips. Why?!

Brother, stop. I wanted her. She wanted me. Only way.

“I don’t understand.” I whispered out, confused and hurt. Why would Dragon FireWyrm, my brother, allow someone like her near him, after what she did? And what did he mean by ‘I wanted her. She wanted me’? “Why!?”

“Actions, Magic Dowser, actions.” Caretaker sighed. “Words mean nothing to a wyrm. It’s a ‘Do I really mean what I say?’ kind of thing... The bond between loving siblings is one of complete trust, complete faith, and, if necessary, complete sacrifice...”

“To become hatchmates with a wyrm… Do you know what type of faith and trust between two dragons there has to be to be able to do so? One has to allow someone else to slit your throat, and potentially kill you, while the other has to slit the throat in such a way as to almost kill, but yet not kill. The margin is razor thin... All of this, to become hatchmates. To become literally family, in every sense of the word.”

“But… I... he…”

“Dragons are greedy, Magic Dowser. We hoard what we greed after, and we will always want a bigger, better hoard. Dragon FireWyrm’s hoard is family… the ultimate expression of family is being hatchmates…”

“So then...” I gulped, trying to not intricately hold a hoof to my own throat, “Ruby will have to slash Dragon FireWyrm’s throat, or vice versa?”

“No… Your sister and Dragon FireWyrm’s souls are mixed together, as mates… In essence, they are one spirit in two bodies. Nothing, not even death, can separate their souls. There is no need for them to be hatchmates; how can one be hatchmates with oneself?”

“This is so confusing…” I rubbed my head, trying to ease a building headache. Why can’t anything dragon be simple for once?!

“Would you like me to stay, or would you prefer some time alone?” Caretaker asked after a moment of silence.

I blinked in surprise. That was not a response I would expect from a medic slash nurse slash doctor slash whatever Caretaker was, dealing with a patient suffering from mental and mana exhaustion. Usually, they only allow very short, supervised visits, going by the few times that I suffered from it, most of them stemming from trying to fix or mask my scars. Though, from what I’d seen, it could just mean that dragons were made of sterner stuff. Not sure completely, though, as Ruby had never had that issue, given that she had never used her flame, except accidentally, and she couldn't use magic. “How come you are not pushing me out of here, to give your patient rest?”

“And get between a dragon and his hoard?” Caretaker giggled like I said something amusing, before turning creepily dead serious. “What happened to the dragons that died in the arena would be light in comparison. Besides, having you close will aid in his recovery.”

Fair enough. I thought. You’re the whatever afterall.

Caretaker clapped her paws together and walked out before I even gave her an answer. “I’ll be in the other room, if you need me.” Mindreaders… all of them...

“Dragons and/or your family is weird, brother…” I commented as Caretaker left.

Prey weird. Dragon FireWyrm countered.

I laughed. I suppose that to dragons, ponies would be weird… though, now that I thought about it, ponies thought my family was weird. ‘A dragon as a sister!?’ I lost count of how many ponies had mistaken Ruby for a pet… It got to be so common that I had to learn not to rage about it every time a pony ignorantly (and usually innocently) thought Ruby was a pet, and not a sister.

And Dragon FireWyrm… I would be lying if I said that it wasn’t true that I would have been hesitant about calling Dragon FireWyrm brother, even after he healed my scars. A friend, sure, but not a brother. But then, he never forced Ruby into mating with him. During the entire conversation between him and Ruby, as far as I could tell, he never begged or pleaded. And with the book, and subsequent meeting with The Voice…I’m not an idiot... I am a pony, not a dragon, and, even if I knew everything about dragons, I would never be able to help her as well as a fellow dragon.

Then, to risk life itself, just so that I could get some answers, some peace over the loss of a part of Ruby that, to him, was of little consequence…

“The bond between loving siblings is one of complete trust, complete faith, and, if necessary, complete sacrifice...”

“Actions, Magic Dowser, actions. Words mean nothing to a wyrm.”

“Scars can mean a lot to a dragon.”

“Scars, Magic Dowser, have meaning to dragons, either to others, or to just the dragon him or herself… this one… is precious to him and... myself.”

“Dragon FireWyrm.” I locked eyes with Dragon FireWyrm, mentally forcing my body to relax. “Do it.”

I didn't feel the actual swipe, but I could hear Ruby’s cries of distress, and see a wall of yellow fill my vision, as I lost consciousness from the blood loss.