The sound of hoofsteps echoed through the empty academic hallway, where the great minds of old were staring down at the intruders from the paintings that decorated the walls.

“Where are we heading, Maven?” the old unicorn asked walking alongside his colleague.

“Ponyville, arch chancellor.” The elegant stallion respond dryly.

“A peculiar little town, famous for its Zap Apples if I recall correctly.. but what is he trying to find in there?”

“Not what, but who. Princess Celestia’s student resides there, one that was Keeper’s assistant before his sudden disappearance.”

“If princess will learn about this..”

“She won’t. You worry too much, I have it all under control..” the elegant stallion smirked pushing open the door before them. “Meet our escort.”

The pair of old wrinkled eyes widen at the sight behind the gate, mouth left hanging agape for a moment before the arch chancellor finally uttered.

“A-are you insane..?”

A few rows of armored ponies were standing at attention in the secluded part of academy, saluting them with respect. Their attire decorated with protective wards made for an occasion like this.

The librarian packed last one of his books ready to leave the aula after filling up for one of the missing lecturers. The session had to take place after all that was what the students were paying for, even if its earth pony to teach them. He threw the bags onto his back heading outside, turning off the lights on the way.

The hallway was empty at this hour, with an exception for him and another pony who apparently was waiting for someone. With a slight frown he turned his sight towards the elegant unicorn.

“Maven..” the librarian spoke the name out with irritation.

“Its ‘lord royal auditor Maven’.” the unicorn smiled ignoring his tone.

“Of course, I did not mean to disrespect..”

“Of course..” the elegant stallion faked a chuckle. “Let us walk for a moment, we need to talk.”

“I will not sign the resignation..” Keeper repeated out of habit while resuming his walk towards the library.

“No, no, no.. its not about that.” Maven sighed dramatically. “I already learned that nothing gets through that thick skull of yours. No matter how many times you would get thrown down the stairs, beaten up or poisoned.”

The librarian stopped in his tracks staring down at the unicorn. Over the years when he was a subject to such ‘accidents’ he was already well aware of who was behind it all.. but openly admitting it was a whole different thing, why to drop the charade now?

“I see that I peeked your interest?” the unicorn smirked. “Now you are probably asking yourself what is to stop you from repeating what I just said to the authorities.. but I think you are past trying the law to help you. Because how many times already have you done that and who they did believe?”

“Speak your part and be gone..” Keeper narrowed his eyes continuing the walk.

“Keeper, Keeper.. I hope that you do understand that this is nothing personal, its just business. Think about it this way, like parents of our students do. When you are rich and bought already everything that could make you happy.. what else can you spend your money for?”

The librarian remained silent, his gaze fixed at the door at the end of hallway.

“Prestige, my friend. They have nothing else to buy, so they spend it on their status.. to feel better about themselves, or more likely better than their neighbours. This is what this academy is about.. do you think these rich colts and fillies come here to study? Nah, vast majority of them are here to graduate to let them and their family shine above other ponies..”

“Do you think I care what they came here for?”

“No, I don’t think you do. That’s why I feel a bit sorry for you, being caught in the middle of rich ponies game. They wanted to get rid of you and I was here to make things happen, things like ‘encouraging you’ to leave.”

“Why are you telling me all this?”

“Because recently I have made an interesting discovery.” the elegant unicorn smirked at him once again. “It seems that somepony was trying his best to conceal a strange order in the academic records, that being quite a few boxes of bones from our neighbour Medical University.”

“Interesting.” the librarian respond calmly.

“I think we both know who that was.. and what these bones were used for.” Maven chuckled. “Old runes, eh? Relics of the War of Three Kingdoms.”

“The research are not illegal.”

“No, but they are greatly frowned upon.. it could be a solid reason to kick you out of here.” the elegant unicorn nodded slowly. “..but I think there is a more ‘worthwhile’ solution to this problem.”

“What are you talking about?” the librarian frowned.

“I know that you are working on incantation of Azriel, Keeper. It could be worth a lot of bits to some ponies.. enough even to compensate for all the pleas I receive about removing you from here. Once your research will be complete you will present the results on my desk.”

“And what if I don’t?” the librarian blocked his way.

“Since we already established that your skull is too thick for the ‘art of persuasion’, I guess I will have to shift my focus to your assistant.. what was her name? Ah yes, Twilight Sparkle.”

“You are mad if you think you can try your tricks with princess Celestia’s student..”

“Don’t worry about me, it will look like accident-..”

Maven gasped for breath while the sound of impact still echoed through the empty hallway. The marble wall cracked slightly when the librarian smashed him against it. The elegant unicorn groaned pitifully, held up vertically with a hoof pressing against his throat.

“If anything will happen to her, if she will even sneeze in a weird way.. then I will find you and no force in this world or beyond will be able to stop me.” Keeper spoke through his teeth, all his calmness vanished in a blink of an eye replaced by fury. “I will break you into so many little pieces that they will never be able to put you back together..”

“So.. I take.. it.. as a.. yes..?” the elegant unicorn spoke gasping for air.

Keeper grit his teeth fighting the pain while wearing a mask of smile on the outside. The stallion returned the embrace gently wrapping a hoof around the lavender mare. When she hung on his neck hugging him tightly part of her weight was shifted onto his back for support.. reminding him quite clearly about some of the injuries he sustained there.

“Bleh-.. ow!”

The baby dragon’s soundly disapproval to the sight before him was quickly quelled by an orange mare who bonked him in the back of the head.

“Ah think we are done for today y’all.. lets get ourselves a snack and some rest.” Applejack nodded at her friends, leading the group outside.

“Um, you could come with us if you want, Spike..” Fluttershy asked softly.

“Me? But who will-..” the purple dragon paused taking a moment to realize what their glares are about. “O-oh, gotcha.”

“Come Ditzy! We still have some blueberry muffins left at Sugar Cube Corner!” Pinkie announced cheerfully while bouncing her way outside.

The gray pegasus nodded politely accepting the offer, while she didn’t like crowds after witnessing the scene she couldn’t help it but smile and muffins could only make the day better. The mare gave them one more look before leaving with others.

The lavender unicorn smiled at her friends thankful for their consideration at the time like this, she and the old librarian had a lot of catching up to do.

“I have so much to show you..! I have my own library now! But you already know about that..” the lavender mare beamed at him giggling happily, excited like a little filly on her birthday. “I have my very own collection of Starswirl’s books! Princess Celestia gave them to me as a gift when I moved into Ponyville. Let me show you-..”

Twilight made it as far as next step when the door were slammed open and the group that just left a second ago now rushed back inside. All of them wearing panicked expressions, quickly blocking the door with what was laying around.

“We are mighty sorry for interruptin’, b-but there is a-..” Applejack gulped audibly.

A savage roar shook the entire library, causing the last few books to fell off the shelves joining the already piles on the floor that gathered during their research.

“..a d-dragon..” Fluttershy whimpered from under the table.

“..its big, green and mean..” Spike added shivering.

“Someone must have broken your rune..” Twilight looked up at her old friend.

“How do you..?” the librarian paused but stopped himself from asking, this wasn’t the right time. “..I did not expect it to last forever, the environment would destroy it sooner or later. What exactly is this dragon doing right now?” he asked, his crippled sight wandering towards the window.

“What do you think it is doing?! ..it just flied into Ponyville and tore off a roof from building!” Rainbow Dash growled.

“Something must have happened, it wouldn’t leave its hoard unattended. I assume you were at that cave when it was still trapped.. did you take anything?” Keeper asked looking from one to another.

“Pray tell, why are you all looking at me?” the alabaster unicorn frowned at them.

“Rarity, did you take anything from the cave..?” Twilight asked with raised eyebrow.

“I.. well, I ‘might’ have rescued a sea sapphire tiara from the eternity in that dusty dark cave..” she smiled nervously.

“Perhaps it has more value to this beast than we know.. I need you to get it and bring back here, miss Rarity.” the librarian nodded.

“But.. the dragon?” the alabaster unicorn blinked.

“We will keep it busy.”

“You have a plan?” Twilight asked smiling.

Another roof came off the building torn by the brutal swing, the air filled itself with even more panicked screams of running ponies. The giant beast roared irritated, stomping over to another house with a desire to do the same.

“Hey you! Yeah I’m talking to you!” a raspy feminine voice came from behind.

The dragon frowned, slightly turning his head to find the speaker. Smoke puffed out of his nostrils upon noticing the rainbow mane pegasus, the puny creature wasn’t covering in fear before him.. it was doing “something” else..

“You ca-an’t catch me!” Rainbow Dash stick out tongue at him making silly faces. “Nyah-nyah-nyah-..!”

The insolence! An angry roar shook the town once again when the giant charged after the flying pony. With a quiet yelp the pegasus broke her speed record, soaring not far above the wider streets of Ponyville, choosing ones that could actually fit her pursuer and avoid more destruction on the way.

After a few sharp turns between buildings the exhausting chase finally came to an end. His new prey stopped, her path blocked by a strange light green wall. With a mischievous smirk the dragon reached out for her with razor sharp claws.. a small frown of doubt appeared on draconic face upon noticing that the pegasus is still not trembling..

The rainbow mane pegasus leaned against the ‘wall’ in casual pose, letting out a hearty yawn to annoy the dragon even further. Once the beast was near she only smirked and pointed up.

Unwillingly beast’s sight followed that direction noticing a moment too late how the giant scaled fist is falling down onto him. Like a smith’s hammer landing onto anvil, maybe even with similar ring, the beast’s head bounced on the ground K.O.’d.

“Oh yeah! That’s what you get for messing with Ponyville!” Rainbow Dash grinned. “High hoof Spike! Woah-..!”

“Be careful Spike!” Twilight called from below, catching the rainbow mane pegasus with her magic before she would crash into something. “You don’t know your own strength in this form!”

“Sorry..” the deep menacing voice sounded above their heads.

The massive purple dragon lowered his head, while under the effect of growth spell he was almost twice as big as the dragon that attacked their town. Such advantage provided them with enough force to stop the attacker from wrecking more havoc. Stopping the panic however could take some time, especially when everypony saw another dragon coming into town.

“I’m alright!” Rainbow Dash grinned. “..and that was awesome! Not nearly as awesome as I am.. but still pretty awesome.”

“That was indeed an amazing performance.” the alabaster unicorn complimented them.

“How long will the spell hold?” Twilight asked the old librarian.

“It depends on how much power you have put into it, Twilight. My guess would be an hour.” Keeper stated, teaching her this very spell a bit earlier.

The green wyrm’s eyes were still spinning after the initial blow, once mighty town destroyer was now laying in the dirt before the purple dragon.

“Could you try and wake him up?” the gray stallion turn his head up with the question.

Spike picked up his distant cousin by the neck, shaking up a bit. It took a good moment before the green wyrm opened its eyes, waking up just to see the nightmare before him.

“Why did you attack Ponyville?” Twilight pointed her blaming hoof at the dragon.

“..b-because you stole my hoard..” the recent town destroyer whimpered, his eyes moving between ponies and the purple giant who gripped his neck.

“Oh um.. you could just talk to us and we would return it..” Fluttershy said quietly.

“It-.. it’s a crime to hide such beautiful gem from the world.. but here, have it back..” the alabaster unicorn placed the tiara down on the ground after a dramatic and heartbreaking scene.

“Uh.. and the rest?” the captive dragon blinked.

“I beg your pardon? What do you mean ‘the rest’..?” Rarity blinked.

“You stole all of it..!” he growled irritated.

“You will address lady Rarity with respect, ruffian!” the purple dragon thundered raising his fist.

The mares grimaced at the brutal scene before them.. after which the green dragon was made a bit more cooperative.

“Wait.. what do you mean all of it? Is your whole hoard missing?” Twilight raised an eyebrow.

“..yesh..” the green dragon whimpered pathetically, while in thought counting the broken teeth.

“We didn’t take your whole hoard.. it would take an entire village to move it all in one night..” the lavender mare scratched her head.

“Oh I think I have a good idea who could that be..” Rarity rolled her eyes, earning herself a few puzzled stares.

The sight of two giants leaving their town allowed all ponies to let out a sigh of relief, the crisis has been averted. Now they had to focus on fixing the damage caused by the visit of their dragon neighbour.

The team of elements had the unique chance to ride on the back of mature Spike while escorting the green troublemaker out of the Ponyville. The path led them towards the mountains, to solve mystery of the missing hoard.

Ditzy waved at them, just before the group disappeared from sight upon entering the forest. She was quite happy that they decided to leave her out of the loop, not used to dangerous adventures such as this one.

The gray pegasus dived down landing on the soft grass, nearby the librarian. The stallion too watched the departure with his crippled sight, however it was the injuries that prevented him from even considering such travel.

“I didn’t have the chance to thank you properly for saving my coat, miss Ditzy.” the stallion spoke up noticing her near.

The gray mare smiled in response, lowering her head after a second remembering that he cant even see it.

“I wish I had something that I could offer you for all the kindness you have shown me.” he smiled.

The mare looked at her hooves, nervous by the situation and somewhat glad that he cant see her like this.

“Would consider joining me for a walk, miss Ditzy?” the librarian asked after a brief moment of silence.

Finally the last mining cart was emptied, adding to already ridiculous amounts of treasure that was packed inside the chaotic cave system. They managed to move it all out and just before the previous owner of the riches woke up. The three shady figures took a dive into the piles of treasure that was stacked inside their hideout.

“Gemsss! So many gemss!” the large one called out.

“Now stupid ponies will have to deal with dragon! We outsmart them!” the small overexcited stated.

The leader of diamond dogs, stretched out laying back on the pile of gems enjoying the presence of immerse wealth around him.. with a slight frown he opened one eye seeing the small pebbles falling from the ceiling on the top of his head.

“Told you morons not to dig under columns!” Rover shook his fist at them.

The minions looked up at eachother confused. Soon a strange noise of digging caught up with their ears, getting stronger by the second. Curious of the disturbance they moved their gaze up at the ceiling.

The large green claw finally breached through the surface of rocks, pulling out the rubble and tossing aside. The newly created opening above their heads let some sunlight it, shining at stunned diamond dogs.

“Hi!” the pink mare waved her hoof at them, standing on ledge above.

“Hello.” the largest dog waved back, instantly getting slapped by their leader.

The large dragon head peeked down, blocking the sun. With howls of terror and panic coming from diamond dogs the cave was soon clear of their presence, leaving nothing but the dust behind.. with exception to the piles of treasure overflowing the cavern.

The green wyrm widened the opening and dived down into the cave, hastily pulling out all the stolen treasures hidden there. Pile by pile it was slowly stacking it up on the surface.

“Now.. what do you have to say, mister dragon?” Fluttershy asked with a soft smile.

“Uh.. I’m sorry..?” the green wyrm hazarded with a response that normally wouldn’t leave its maw, his frighten gaze still fixed on Spike however.

The yellow pegasus nodded with appreciation.

“I guess.. it’s the time to say goodbye..” Rarity said holding the sea sapphire tiara.

The alabaster unicorn gently set it down next to the riches that the green dragon already managed to excavate. With pained expression she turned around ready to walk away.

“Rarity..” Twilight said with a soft smile.

“It has to be that way.” the alabaster unicorn nodded with a brave face.

“I don’t think he shares that thought, look.” the lavender mare smiled.

A slight frown of surprise appeared on Rarity’s face, when turned around to see the tiara resting on the palm of giant green claw.

“Oh.. are-.. are you sure?” the alabaster unicorn asked.

The large head nodded, presenting a battered wall of teeth that in rare occasions could be taken for a honest smile.

“Thank you..” Rarity smiled touched by the gesture of generosity.

The green wyrm still smiled despite the sweat gathering on its forehead. The beast’s sight moved back up at the purple dragon who “encouraged” him to do so in the first place. Spike cracked his claws and nodded, in a visual suggestion that this was the right to do.. unless of course someone wanted to risk losing more than just teeth.

“I think we are done here.” Twilight nodded with a smile.

“I don’t know about you..” Spike’s voice thundered above them, yet with every word it got softer and more squeaky. “..but I’m starving-.. hey, what is going on with my voice?”

The purple dragon was covered by the bright light announcing the end of growth spell, with a quiet poof he was back the old baby self. The purple magic quickly caught him midair and gently lowered onto Twilight’s back.

“Just in time I might add..” the lavender mare giggled. “We wouldn’t want to have to feed a mature dragon.”

They all laughed together slowly setting off for Ponyville. Spike however didn’t share their cheerfulness, nervously grinning at the green dragon that towered behind them. Angry, obviously.

“Uh I think it would be better if we ran..” the baby dragon whimpered gently pulling the purple mane.

“Huh?” Twilight blinked.

“Run!” Spike shouted.

“Gah! What the-..”

They all coughed heavily engulfed by thick black smoke, which was deliberately puffed out at them.

“Well someone here has mood swings!” Pinkie Pie frowned bouncing her way through the forest with the group running after her.

The dragon narrowed his eyes, seeing them run. He had to chose between the two, revenge or greed. While following the first one he would risk losing his hoard again.

The green giant scratched his and turned around to collect the rest of the treasure, he still had to get it back to his nest. Besides if it wasn’t for the ponies he wouldn’t be able to recover it in the first place.. perhaps they weren’t so bad. But he will get back on that purple dragon one day..

A soft smile appeared on his face, looking at the surface of the river nearby, he couldn’t see the sunrays reflecting off the surface, the family of fish swimming underneath or even the flowers that decorated it at the shore. But he could remember them, the way these things were when he still could see.

They stopped at the small clearing overlooking Ponyville from the edge of the forest, here they could rest and relax among the wonders of nature. It would be unwise to parade through the town after his “great escape” from the hospital, in small village like this the gossip traveled far and wide. His presence would raise questions now, questions that he shouldn’t answer.

Ditzy shifted slightly in her calm sleep, fixing her position on a strange fuzzy pillow. Wandering away into colorful dreams.

Keeper turned his head slightly, looking at the napping gray mare. After the long night that she spent trying to patch him up it was no surprise that she was exhausted, now simply falling asleep on the spot. He didn’t even blink an eye to protest when she unintentionally cuddled up to his side, allowing her to rest undisturbed.

It was a strange warm feeling after all these years, to be distracted from all the problems in the world once again. Feeling the warm sun on the coat, hearing the humming of the birds and water splashing in the tiny waterfall somewhere nearby.

A part of him was wishing that that he could see more than just her bright energy and shape outlined by magic, wondering how would his old eyes portrait her.

When bird’s song rose an octave too high the mare opened her eyes even so slightly. Being tired and sleepy it took her a moment to recognize the soft gray coat with stripes under her head.

Keeper shoot bolt upright, looking up at the horizon, the calmness suddenly replaced by dread.

“I-I’m sorry..!” she yelped embarrassed, pulling up as well.

“Listen to me.” the librarian looked up at her, his expression dead serious. “There is a book inside one of my bags, they are still at your house. You must take it to Twilight, she will know what to do.” he spoke quickly.

“I.. d-don’t understand..”

“There is no time, they will be here soon. You need to go, miss Ditzy. Before they see you here..”

She opened her mouth to say something, yet not a sound made it out when he placed hoof on her lips, silencing the countless questions that gathered inside her.

“Go, please.. and thank you, for everything.” Keeper nodded slowly.

The gray pegasus blinked hopelessly confused, failing to wrap her thoughts around what is happening. Following the request she spread her wings and took off flying back to the town. She turned her head a bit to look at the stallion before he would disappear once again.. no, not this time. Ditzy took a sharp turn and dived down into the forest instead, watching.

The stallion fixed his gaze at the horizon, now he could see them clearly, like a hungry savage swarm ready to devour. Their life essences and magic shining brightly before his eyes. It had to come to this sooner or later after he crossed Equestria’s borders. The Spellbreakers.