Harmony Through Chaos - Book One: Emberdawn

Chaos.

Chaos exists everywhere, in all things. Despite most culture's best efforts to prevent it, chaos always finds a way. This is the universe's way of maintaining balance; no order without chaos, no chaos without order.

Balance.

Unfortunately for the universe, things don't always end up working how they're supposed to. Sometimes the balance is thrown off, and a third party is required to intervene.

When dealing with this kind of thing on a universal scale, the intervention frequently consists of ripping something from one universe, and dumping it in another. When the intended result is to create chaos, that thing is usually a human. Little explanation is required as to why this is.

Chaos Mages. That's what these human enforcers of chaos have come to be called over the years. In a land where order is complete, and the mere presence of a human is not enough, these Chaos Mages will be granted certain abilities. These abilities can range anywhere from enough telekinesis to move a stone, to the ability to move an entire continent; it all depends on how off balance things are.

On a lovely world called Equus, lies the Kingdom of Equestria. Not long ago, this kingdom somehow found itself the target of a mad God. The duty of this God, known to the inhabitants of Equus as 'Discord', was once to ensure that the world didn't fall into a monotonous order. He went a bit overboard.

With Discord encased in stone, unable to influence the balance of the universe in which he had resided, things quickly calmed down. There were a few instances of the order being disturbed; the invasion of the capital of Equestria by a Changeling Swarm being prominent amongst them. After that, and a couple other outbursts of chaos, life quickly became disgustingly orderly for the citizens of Equus.

An intervention was deemed necessary. From across the dimensional void, a single human was plucked from his life, and dropped into the middle of Equestria. Of course, no one bothered to tell him what was going on.

A few woodland creatures were enjoying the sun in a nearby forest. Suddenly humans. "WHOAAAAHHHHH!" *THUD!* “Ow...” Multiple fuzzy creatures watched in curiosity as a random human appeared in the sky, then quickly became acquainted with the ground. The human shakily stood up and brushed himself off before examining his surroundings.

One prominent landmark quickly caught his attention; a city built onto the side of a mountain. "Waaaaat?" He looked to either side of himself, then said to no one in particular, "Canterlot... I call bullshit."

Once upon a time—Naw... that’s stupid—One fine day—Okay, that’s a lie. It was freaking pouring out—One grey and dreary day, some poor sod named Jackson Florence was not a happy human. You see, Jackson Florence was out of a job. Now you might think, let’s find him a job, what’s he good at? Apparently, Jackson Florence was an expert swordsman and engineer. Because those two things totally go together... right?

Somehow, despite his... varied... skillset, old Jackie couldn’t manage to get a job interview until this lovely day. As such, he found himself trudging through the rain on his way to an office building twelve blocks from his spacious house—Okay, I lied again. He lived in a shitty apartment complex. Seriously, cut the guy a break, will ya’?

Anyways, on his way, Jackson rapidly became soaked. Did he have a coat at least? Of course! He had a badass looking brown duster, that just so happened to not be waterproof. Unfortunately, he didn’t have any form of headwear to be badass along with it, so his shoulder-length dark brown hair was dripping onto his face. Lovely.

Did Jackson’s hair sometimes make him look a bit like a girl from behind? Nooo—okay, maybe a little. The fact that he had a ‘My Little Pony’ cutie mark sewn into the right shoulder of his coat didn’t help either. Luckily, it was of his own design; a combination of Celestia’s, Luna’s, and what most bronies assumed Discord’s would be if he was a pony. Since it wasn’t directly from the show, he felt that it was obscure enough to wear in public, but obvious enough that fellow bronies would recognize him as ‘one of the herd’.

Jackson’s an engineer, that means he’s completed university right? Isn’t he a little old for ‘My Little Pony’? The answer: You’re never too old for ‘My Little Pony’! But yes, he was a bit older than the intended audience of the show. In fact, Jackson was right at that perfect age where he was old enough to take control of his own life, but still young enough that he came up with painfully stupid ideas and couldn’t take something seriously if his life depended on it.

Enough exposition! What’s Jackson doing now!? Well it looks like he’s still walking, little Billy. Oh wait, he just reached his destination. With a disgusted grunt, Jackson shook himself like a dog and thoroughly watered the front foyer of the office building. As she wiped the water from her glasses, the receptionist said, “The job interview is in room two-ten.”

“Thank ye kindly, ma’am!” Jackson responded with a mock salute before skipping to the elevator and taking it up to the second floor. Why let a little water get you down?

The receptionist just shook her head and went back to her newspaper... which had apparently shielded her from the oncoming tide of wet Jackson. “Great...”

Up on floor two, Jackson was happily strolling down the hallway, counting off room numbers as he went. ’Two-oh-five, two-oh-six, two-oh-seven, endless rift through time and space, two-oh-nine—HOLY SHIT! That vending machine says three dollars for a bottle of water! The fuck’s up with that? Ah, room two-ten. Here we are.’

As Jackson stepped through the door, the man inside examined the soaked brony with a raised eyebrow. “Mister Florence, I presume?”

“Please, Call me Jackie.”

“...”

“...”

“May I see your resumé, Mister Florence?”

“Oh, right.” Having been reminded that he did in fact a resumé, Jackson reached into his coat’s inner pocket and pulled out a dripping folder. “Here ya’ go.”

Without moving his head, Jackson’s potential future employer looked down at the folder, which was slowly creating a small puddle in the middle of his desk. The man inhaled deeply through his nose, then slowly released the breath and looked back to Jackson. “So, What makes you think you’re qualified for this position?”

“Well Sir,” Jackson answered with a cocky grin. “I have a university degree in engineering.”

The man facepalmed, and rather violently if I might add. “Mister Florence, this is a law firm.”

“So?”

With a sigh, the man who was most likely not Jackson’s future employer patiently asked, “Could you please take this seriously?”

Jackson chuckled before answering, “But being serious is so boring!”

“...”

“...”

The man who was most definitely not Jackson’s future employer slowly slid the resumé back across the desk, creating a loud squelching noise along the way. “We’ll be in touch, Mister Florence.”

“Cool!” With that exclamation, Jackson stood up and left the room, completely forgetting his resumé to continue seeping its juices onto the desk, utterly alone. As he happily strolled back down the hallway, he noticed something a bit odd. He stopped and turned to face the infinite void to his right. “Huh.”

In all of ten seconds, Jackson made up his mind about how to respond. He walked up to the void, turned around, and fell backwards into it. “Fuck you, universe!” he yelled, double-fingering the empty hall as he fell.

Falling over doesn’t usually hurt that much. Of course, most people don’t usually fall backwards out of dimensional portals that are linked to the second floor of an office building. "WHOAAAAHHHHH!" *THUD!* “Ow...” He removed his face from the ground, and shakily stood up, brushing some imaginary dirt from himself as he did so.

Having just arrived in a new universe, he quickly scanned his surroundings. Left: Grass. Right: Grass. Forwards: Mountain. Up: Canterlot. Back down: Mountain. Back up: Still Canterlot. "Waaaaat?" Left: Grass. Right: Grass. Up: Yep, that’s still Canterlot. “Canterlot... I call bullshit.” He slapped himself. “Nope, nevermind, that hurt.”

Seeing as he was likely the only human ever seen in Equestria, his path was clear. He would need to wander into Canterlot and scare the crap out of everyone present. Then again, this was Equestria; he was out in the middle of nowhere in a land filled with mythical creatures, the majority of which would try to eat him.

He took a cautious step forward. Nothing happened. He took another step. Still nothing. Confident that nothing bad was hiding nearby, he began to walk forwards in earnest. A bird chirped loudly in his ear. He screamed, the bird chirped, and they both bolted in opposite directions. Alerted by his scream, a manticore jumped out of the forest and gave chase. To Jackson that is... he’s not nearly as lucky as that stupid bird.

”NICE KITTY!” The manticore responded by slamming it’s stinger into the ground to Jackson’s immediate right. The human was clearly worried about nothing. Obviously, the manticore was such a ‘nice kitty’ that it intentionally missed right then. It was just trying to get the human to trip so that it could play with him... right?

Well, it was the manticore’s lucky day, because Jackson was smart enough to ignore the first rule of getting chased by a man-eating beast; don’t look behind you. He tripped. Rather than immediately pounce on him, the manticore stayed back and examined it’s prey. See, he was a nice kitty after all!

Jackson stood up and stared down the beast in front of him. It did absolutely nothing. However, during his staring, a glint of gold caught his eye. Apparently some hapless royal guard had encountered this particular manticore and had managed to get his sword stuck in its right side. An incredible plan of pure epicness formed in Jackson’s mind. With a grin, he ran directly at the confused manticore.

With his left hand, he grabbed the hilt of the sword, and used the momentum to swing himself up and onto the manticore’s back. “Yeehaaaw!” He pulled the sword free and stabbed the manticore in the head, felling it with one swift blow.

Alright, I lied again. He ran at it and it pretty much bitch-slapped him into the ground. He noticed Deus Ex Machina Tree sitting in the middle of an empty field a little ways away, and quickly rolled to his feet. He took off for the tree, climbing it just in time. The manticore reached the tree seconds later, and sat down at the bottom of it, glaring up at him. Silly manticore, you have wings! Shhh, don’t tell it!

Jackson caught his breath, then looked down at the manticore. “You know, It would be totally awesome if I could just snap my fingers—” He snapped his fingers for emphasis. “—and light you on fire or something cool like that.” Smoke started trailing up from behind the manticore, causing Jackson to lean slightly to his right in order to see behind it. Its ass was on fire. “Well, shit.”

The manticore noticed this strange occurrence as well, and swiftly started swatting at the flames. Jackson gave a manic smile, then snapped his fingers again. The fire blazed up again in sync, covering part of the manticore’s back and tail. ”FIIIIIRE! HAHAA!” He jumped out of the tree and started snapping his fingers like a madman. “BURN, BITCH! AAAHAHAHAHAHAA!”

After a few minutes, nothing was left of the manticore but ash and a glowing hot sword. Another snap of Jackson’s fingers, and the sword was cool enough to pick up; something which Jackson happily did. “Woah... This sword weighs a ton... And it’s spinning...” The confused human stumbled to his left, tilting his head in the same direction. “No! … Dun’ go upside down!” With one more step, he fell over sideways and cried out, “Sunuvabi—” before passing out on the ground.

Meanwhile, a lone changeling watched with wide eyes as this scene took place. It had absolutely no idea how to proceed. It awkwardly scratched the back of its head before flying off to report to the hive.

Jackson woke with a throbbing headache. “Woah... little too much to drink last night eh? Guess I must have gotten that job.” He sat up on his bed and looked around. He was in a small stone room that was lit with a single bioluminescent lamp. “Wait... No I didn’t, I screwed the universe over and high-tailed it to a new one.”

A changeling opened a wooden door at one end of the room, and stepped inside, carrying with it a sword and sheath. It immediately froze and engaged the human in an impromptu staring contest. After a minute, it threw the sword at him, then scrambled backwards out of the room, slamming the door behind it. It didn’t throw the sword in a ‘Imma throw this thing and hope the pointy end stabs your eye out’ kind of way; It was more, ‘take this and leave me alone!’

Once again, Jackson happily obliged the universe’s request that he take up arms, and attached the sheath to his belt. He swung the sword a couple of times before examining it. It was extremely light, but also extremely sharp. The entire thing seemed to be made out of some form of changeling chitin, which vaguely reminded Jackson of the Falmer swords from Skyrim.

He snapped his fingers, creating a mirror in the air in front of him. He immediately noted that he felt weaker after doing so. ’Maybe the fire-spam yesterday wasn’t such a hot idea.’ He chuckled to himself. ’Get it? Hot? Cause... fire’s... hot? Anyone? No? Okay...’ He struck a pose, and decided that he looked sufficiently badass. ’I just realized that I’m dressed like Malcolm Reynolds...’ With another two snaps of his fingers, he cleaned himself off and dispelled the mirror. He didn’t feel so hot afterwards... Shaddap.

He placed the sword in its sheath, then walked over to the door and opened it. He quite suddenly found himself with his face awkwardly close to that of Queen Chrysalis. “Uh... Hi?”

The Queen blinked twice before rapidly backing up. “Ah. I see you are awake.”

“Yep.”

“...”

“So... Nice weather toda— Weee’re underground...”

“...”

Jackson awkwardly clapped his hand together in front of him. “Uh-huh... Well, this is fun.”

“What are you?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Beg pardon?”

“What is the name of your species?”

“Imma human. At least, I was. Humans can’t do magic, so... the hell if I know.”

“I see.”

“...”

“...”

“Sooo... What’d ya’ bring me here for?”

“One of my drones saw you take down that manticore, and I saw fit to bring you here after you passed out. Something with your... talents... could be a valuable asset.”

“You want me to help you out with something. Are you attacking Canterlot again, cause that idea was bullshit the first time, and it still is.” Chrysalis looked taken aback by the way he was speaking to her. Ignoring that fact, he continued, “you’re damn lucky Luna was asleep for the entire friggin’ thing the first time.”

“Actually... we were intending to attack the town of Dodge City.”

“If it’s a town, how is it a city?”

“... I don’t—”

“I was actually planning to waltz into canterlot and act like Discord, using my snappy powers to fuck their shit up.”

“What?”

“Use my magic to— You know, your language is really hard to swear with. Buck your language! Wait a minute...”

“I think we may be getting off track here...” Chrysalis shifted nervously, clearly unsure how to respond to something that seemed to regard her as an equal; and could in fact potentially be her equal.

“Right, so! That’d be a pretty good distraction while you go and own Dodge City. I don’t really feel comfortable directly harming the ponies.”

“Who would you feel comfortable ‘directly harming’?”

“Uhh... Diamond Dogs, Gryphons, Dragons, Changelings...” He counted off on his fingers as he listed each race.

Chrysalis took a step backwards. “You would harm my hive?” She asked, becoming more nervous by the minute.

“You know you guys don’t really have the best track record, dontcha?” Jackson elaborated with a smirk..

“We had no choice! We were running out of food! We still are!”

“Speaking of food...”

“Yes, yes. We have something for you to eat. But as I was saying—”

“If a food shortage is your only problem, I can solve that easily. Course, doing so might knock me out again, but what the hay! Might as well.” He snapped his fingers, and a glowing baseball-sized orb appeared in mid-air. He snatched it up, then held it out to Chrysalis. ”THIS IS A GLOWY BALL THAT’LL LOVE YOU FOREVER!” With that final expenditure of energy, Jackson once again passed out and fell over; leaving an extremely confused changeling Queen behind.

Jackson woke to another throbbing headache, and opened his eyes to find Chrysalis once again uncomfortably close to his face. “Is this gonna become thing for us?” Chrysalis immediately moved a few meters away as he continued, “there’s this thing called personal space. You’re kind of supposed to stay out of someone else’s. And when you encroach on someone’s personal space while they’re sleeping, it’s generally considered damn creepy.”

“I— I was checking your pulse!”

“Sure ya’ were.” Jackson answered with a wink. ’Flirt with Changeling Queen: Check.’

“What does—NO. That wasn’t— I didn’t— Passing out multiple times from lack of energy isn’t healthy! I was checking if you were alright!”

“I know. I just like screwing with everyone I meet.” He sat up and swung his legs off the bed. “So when’s lunch? I’d say I’m starving but that’d be inconsiderate of your plight. First world problems!”

“What— Oh, nevermind. What does your species eat?” Jackson simply grinned, exposing his canines. “Oh my...” Chrysalis’ eyelids drooped seductively.

“So you like meat-eaters eh? Quite a bit too, if the bedroom eyes are anything to go by.”

Chrysalis’ ‘bedroom eyes’ widened, and she began to blush violently. ”NO!”

Jackson snorted with suppressed laughter, then stood up and walked out of the room. “You’re blushiiing~” After a few seconds, he reentered the room. “I just left so I could tease you on my way out. I actually have no idea where I am, so you’re gonna have to get out here and help me out.”

After taking some time to recover, Chrysalis led Jackson to a large room, where she ordered a drone to get some food. While they waited, Chrysalis began to question the human about himself. “How did you arrive in Equestria? I’ve never seen your kind before.”

With a completely straight face, Jackson answered, “I intentionally fell over backwards through a dimensional rift on the second floor of an office building.”

“You’re... not joking, are you?”

“Nope.”

“So how is it that you seem to know who I am if you’re from another universe?”

“Uh... Pass. That one’s too hard to explain with your current level of technology. You’d have absolutely no idea what I’d be talking about.”

“Do you think you could make more of those orbs? It would only take about fifty of them to permanently sustain my hive.”

“I’ll get’cha some more when I get back.”

“Get back from where?” Chrysalis asked, confused.

“Even though I don’t have to help you with attacking anywhere anymore, I’m still going to waltz into Canterlot and fuck their shit up. I’ll wait till’ tomorrow morning though.”

“But what if they kill you!?”

“Meh. I’ll be fine.”

“Just be careful. The hive cannot afford to lose you.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll be fine, mom.”

The drone that Chrysalis had sent to get food returned with a plate full of bacon balanced between it’s wings. Jackson was beaming. Chrysalis couldn’t help but smile at his enthusiastic reaction. “Before you get started, what do I call you?”

“My name is Jackson Florence. But please, call me Jackie.”

They spent the rest of the day touring the hive before heading to bed with a final warning of, “No creepin’ tonight, Chryssy.”

The next morning—after a significant lack of creepin’—Jackson stood alongside Chrysalis at the entrance of the hive. “Is there any way I could contact you if I need help?” Jackson asked as he was about to leave.

“Yes, actually.” She motioned for a nearby drone. “This drone is one of few with an actual personality, as well as the ability to mimic a biped. She can accompany you and take the appearance of another human.”

The drone promptly turned into a fully clothed human female with a similar appearance to Jackson, who looked confused. “How does she know what a human female looks like?”

“I lied about checking your pulse,” Chrysalis explained with a grin, “I was actually reading your memories.”

“Ha! Sneaky. What was with the questions at lunch then?”

“You woke up before I could get everything.”

“Well I’ll just have to tell you the rest when I get back.” He turned to leave and said, “Come on, what’s-your-name.”

The drone-in-human-form didn’t look amused. “I don’t have a name.”

“That’s bullshit. Come up with one by the time we reach Canterlot or I’m naming you.” With a final wave, he called out, “Seeya Chryssy! And don’t worry; I’ll be back soon!”

Jackson and his unnamed changeling companion then took their first steps towards canterlot, not realizing the significance of their upcoming journey.