Harmony Through Chaos - Book One: Emberdawn

“We never realized at the time how heartless We had been. Perhaps if We hadn’t been so... oblivious, none of it would have happened. We both lost everything because of Our actions...”

“I notice that you tend to fall back into the pluralis maiestatis when you’re distraught. We can have Seth relate this next part if it’s too much for you.”

“No! No, he is... blinded to all but his own perceived reality. We— I want to make sure that you understand why I did it. I want to make sure you know the real story of how I destroyed Equestria.”

“ ... Very well, Diana. You may continue.”

Twilight Sparkle lay shaking on the ground, tears streaming down her face. The smell of burnt hair and flesh was rancid in the air. Despite the overwhelming urge to do so, she couldn’t quite manage a sob. It hurt too much.

His previous awkwardness around the mare forgotten, Phoenix was doing his best to comfort her. Felicia was still glaring at Luna, who was looking at the entire scene with a detached indifference. Even Light Gear and Elisabeth had lost their smiles.

“We need to get moving.”

It was with that simple sentence that Luna managed to completely restart her initial argument with Felica. “What is wrong with you!?” the changeling asked, “Your emotions are going completely haywire! One second you’re pissed off because we’re not leaving Jackie behind, and the next you’re pissed off because we’re taking too long rescuing him! Make up your fucking mind!”

“Don’t you go lecturing Us! Were you not the one who claimed to be following Jackson based solely on your Queen’s orders!?”

“That was then! We’d only known each other for a little under a week! I had just suddenly been stuck with a mythical being who seemed completely unrelatable!”

“And in the short number of days since, he’s suddenly become thy best friend?”

“He’s become my only friend! Back in the hive, you don’t get friends... He showed me friendship when not a single living being on the planet would even consider the thought!” Felicia’s voice suddenly dropped to a much quieter tone as she asked, “Was it really so different for you?”

“Of course! Unlike thou, We already had a friend in that poor mare lying on the ground over there.”

“We have spies everywhere. Do you really think we don’t know that story? You were friends for one night, and you hadn’t even bothered to speak with her since! But Jackie, oh he showed up out of nowhere and literally swept you off your hooves, taking you away on an adventure! It was only inevitable that this would happen, right?”

Luna was suddenly feeling very exposed. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Is it just me, or is this conversation just going in circles? Stop. Lying. To. Yourself.”

“Fine!” Luna suddenly yelled, throwing her front hooves into the air in a motion of resignation, “So We have a little crush on the human!? Big deal!”

“It is a big deal, or you wouldn’t be making this much of an issue about it! You wanna go save your coltfriend, I get it. Just give us a few minutes, and we can go do just that.”

For the first time since she had come to that one terrible realization not too long ago, Luna allowed her façade to slip, and for what was only the latest time in the young alicorn’s long life of constant sadness, a tear rolled down her cheek. “I had no intention of saving him.”

Silence.

Even Twilight was freed from her state of shock, only to be thrust immediately into another. “Not once thus far has one of the prophecies failed to pass. Should we rescue him, Equestria as we know it shall cease,” Luna continued. As many of the others opened their mouths to reproach her, she quickly added, “However, I now realize that option is out of the question.”

It really was amazing how Felicia could so quickly switch tones. It most likely came from the changelings’ natural ability to adapt, but it was surprising nonetheless. “Willing to throw aside your entire country to save him?” she asked, “that sounds like more than a little crush to me.”

“Cease thine aggravations, parasite,” responded Luna, refusing to even look in the changeling’s direction.

“Oh, so we’re resorting to calling each other names now, is that it?”

“Dost you want us to save him or not!?”

“Yes, we dost.

Before their argument could escalate — again — Phoenix grabbed their attention. “Um, Ladies?” They all turned to look at him. Twilight was still in his forelegs, slightly calmer than previously, but it was the sky that currently held his attention. “I get the feeling he doesn’t need our help.”

A storm was brewing. Both literally and metaphorically.

~Five Minutes Earlier~

“Uh... Hi. Jackson. Florence. I’m... Jackson Florence. You already knew that. Heheh... You can call me... Jackson.”

Emperor Wilhelm didn’t stop smiling. “Of course I know who you are!”

“Yeah. Of course. Well, that’s not creepy or anything...”

Emperor Wilhelm continued to smile.

“So... Thanks for killing that douchebag, I guess?”

Emperor Wilhelm continued to smile.

“Well. Uh... You may have noticed,” Jackson started, adopting a conversational tone, “I am currently lying on the ground. I would be... ever so greatful if His Majesty would help me up.” He then flashed the gryphon a nervous, exceptionally fake smile.

“Of course, of course,” came Wilhelm’s response, his eyes widening in false surprise at the realization, “we can’t have such an honored guest lying on the dirty ground, now can we?” He moved to assist his ‘honored guest’, but suddenly paused and frowned. “Except... Moving you to an upright position would enable you to aim your horn in my direction and allow you to attack me with all that energy you’ve been absorbing over the last couple minutes.”

“I— What? Nope, no energy here!” was Jackson’s ever so well-thought-out response.

Wilhelm’s frown deepened. “Jackson, you wound me.” He placed a paw over his heart and tried feigned a hurt expression. He held the pose for a moment before returning his paw to the ground and throwing Jackson a bemused glare. “Really?” he asked, sighing and rubbing his brow, “you are a truly terrible liar.”

“Can I try again?” asked Jackson hopefully.

“No. No, you may not. I am truly sorry that it came to this, but I am going to have to knock you unconscious now.”

“Oh, okay.” A moment later, realization dawned on the human’s face.

“I’ll see you soon.”

“Wait— No— I mean— Not the face!”

Jackson awoke in his human body, faceplanting. “Fuck.”

“Hello again! Long time, no see!” Came a sudden exceptionally friendly voice from outside his view.

Jackson raised his head slightly off the ashen ground. “Adelphus.”

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out.”

Jackson faceplanted once more. “Fuck.”

“Hey! Watch your fucking language, boy!”

Jackson violently and repeatedly faceplanted. It didn’t do a whole lot.

“What’s the matter? Feeling a little down?”

“I just had the crap beaten out of me by a sociopathic gryphon, was rescued from him by the Gryphon Emperor, and then immediately knocked unconscious again. Yeah, Just a little bit,” Jackson explained, rolling onto his back to look at the perpetual eclipse in the burning sky.

“Well that sounds like fun,” Adelphus commented, his smoky form lying down beside Jackson.

“Please get up. You have no idea how creepy it is having a smoke-person lying beside you.”

“Don’t I? My ‘smoke-person’ wife lays beside me in bed all the time. We’ve made tons of little smoky ones.”

“Aww... That’s absolutely horrifying.”

“I was joking. I’m the only one here.”

“Oh that’s good.”

“Not for me, it isn’t. I’ve been stuck here for nearly six thousand years.”

Jackson felt sorry for the... ‘man’. He really did. “Wow... I almost feel sorry for you. Almost.” He did, however, also need to keep up appearances.

“Jee, thanks,” Adelphus responded with an eye-roll. Jackson still wondered how he could relay the impression.

“So anyway, where were you the last time I was unconscious?” Jackson asked, changing the subject.

“I was busy,” came the simple reply.

“Care to elaborate?”

“No.”

“You know I’m going to take your reluctance to mean that you were jerking off to imaginary smoke-women, right?”

“I honestly don’t care.”

“Your own imaginary smoke-woman wouldn’t like the idea of you boning other imaginary smoke-women.”

“Why are you even still here?”

“Ha! The tables have turned, my friend!”

That caused Adelphus to think for a moment before simply spouting another witty comeback as he usually would. “Are we friends?”

This caused Jackson to look at him in confusion. “Of course. I mean, what’s a bit of banter between bros, right?”

For some reason unknown to Jackson, this comment caused Adelphus to laugh. “Jackie, there is so much more going on here than you know, and I’m really starting to wish I could tell you.”

“Well... If you really want to help me out, you could always give me a bit more training, right?” Jackson responded with a thoughtful expression.

Adelphus smiled. It was not a ‘sure, I’ll help you out’ smile, it was more of a ‘All according to plan’ kind of smile. “Anything for a friend.”

“...”

“...”

“Okay, what do you want?”

“I want you to help me get out of here,” Adelphus answered. He thought for a moment before adding, “when you have time, of course.”

“Of course,” Jackson agreed. “That ought to be simple enough.”

“Ha. Funny. Now, let’s begin. The first thing you’ll need to learn is how to access the fullest extent of your abilities. Every word that is about to leave my mouth will sound like complete and utter bullshit, but I need you to bear with me here.”

“You don’t have a mouth,” Jackson answered with a grin.

“I’ll give you that one.” Despite lacking said mouth, Adelphus was quite obviously smiling. “As I was about to say, the first step is to feel for your power inside yourself. It’s a rather abstract concept, but I’m sure it’ll be easy for one such as yourself.”

“Hey, what that supposed to mean?”

“I didn’t mean anything by it. I was merely... insinuating.”

“That’s just as bad. Were you insinuating what I’m insinuating you were insinuating?”

“I’m insinuating that I was insinuating what you were insinuating I was insinuating.”

“...”

“...”

Jackson raised a finger and prepared a comeback, only to realize that he had absolutely no idea what the outcome of that conversation was. “Dammit,” he mumbled, dropping his hand back down to his side.

“I win again. Now get started.”

“Right... ‘Inside myself’... Yep, complete bullshit.”

Wilhelm glanced up at the sky, managing not to betray his nervousness to his soldiers. They had already began setting up camp by the time Jackson was out, and were still going about their duties diligently. Wilhelm chuckled at how oblivious they were to the fact that the most powerful being in existence was unconscious on the ground only mere meters away.

That was what Wilhelm was worried about. His artifact allowed him to teleport at will, but it seemed that activating it in the presence of a Chaos Mage was a mistake. The rift through which they had traveled remained partially opened, leaking void energy into the surrounding landscape and whipping up the beginnings of one heck of a storm.

With storms came lightning, and it was blatantly obvious to Wilhelm what sort of power his new prisoner wielded from the sheer number of times his makeshift lightning rod had been struck thus far. To pass the time, he had begun to look through the sack of Jackson’s belongings. Simply due to its size, Eckard’s sword was the first thing he pulled from the bag. “Well, well... What have we here?” he glanced at Jackson’s prone form. “So you killed Eckard, did you? Unfortunate. You served me well, Eckard, but a warrior you were not. To face a Chaos Mage was suicide.” He held the sword up, examining the way the few sun rays making it through the clouds reflected and refracted off the ruby in the hilt. “Just where I left you.”

He was broken rather suddenly from his reverie as Jackson twitched and mumbled a single word. “Adelphus.”

Wilhelm was once again smiling. “Oh good. That makes things much easier.”

“Holy shit, did I do that!?”

“Well it sure as hell wasn’t me... Ow.”

As Adelphus picked himself up off the ground, Jackson was looking at his hand as though gazing upon a god. Which he had done in the past and taunted, so it’s curious that he would give his own hand such reverence. “That. Was. Awesome!”

“Quite.”

“How did I do that!?” Jackson asked as he started looking at his hand with a constipated expression, presumably concentrating on replicating the effect of firing a gigantic explosive lightning bolt from his hand. Of course lightning bolts can explode, don’t be silly.

“I have no idea what you did, but I would recommend being a bit more careful where you’re aiming in the future. I don’t very much enjoy exploding.”

“Should’ve trained me better then.”

“Fuck you.”

“Right back at’cha,” Jackson responded, holding up his middle finger in Adelphus’ general direction. “And you don’t have fingers.” Adelphus held up one of the amorphous lumps at the end of his arms, formed a ball of smoke on it, then added a single rod at the very top. Jackson frowned. “That doesn’t count.”

Adelphus shook his head and dispelled the smoke. “In any case, you need to be careful. You’ve got more power than you know what to do with now. Due to your... ‘unique’ entrance to Equestria, you were never provided a set amount of magic in the first place, so you just absorb it from your surroundings infinitely. Just like Infernus.”

Jackson perked up again, his latest defeat forgotten. “Does that mean I can do the cool thing with the sword too?”

Adelphus shook his head. “No. It took Infernus a very long time to manage that. When I said that you have more power than you know what to do with, I meant it literally. You have the power, but you lack the knowledge to use it.”

“Oh. Well that sucks,” Jackson said, kicking a small rock.

“If you really want a cool sword, you could always apply your powers to a physical one that you already own.”

Jackson shot Adelphus a confused look and responded, “I was already practicing with that. Shouldn’t you know that?”

“Not so,” Adelphus answered with yet another shake of his head. “I might be badass, but I am neither omniscient, nor omnipresent. I know what I remember and what I see from your eyes when I’m paying attention.”

“Wait... How often do you watch what I’m doing?”

“I don’t appreciate what you’re insinuating.”

“Okay, I’m not starting with that again, but... No creepin’.

“Right. Anyway, what about your guns? I know you’ve taken a liking to them.”

“What about them?”

“Have you ever thought of applying your power to those as well?”

“No...” Jackson mumbled as he scratched his chin thoughtfully.

“You should try it out. The effect would make absolutely no sense, given the laws of physics, but magic.”

Taking Adelphus’ lack of a demonstration as a hint that it was time to go, Jackson asked, “So how do I get out of here?”

“Just will yourself to wake up.”

“Right,” said Jackson with a smile, “shouldn’t be too hard after ‘looking within myself’ for so long.”

“If I may ask, what exactly did you want to know all that for anyway?”

Jackson had been just about ready to try leaving when he realized that he had yet to explain his waking situation. “Well, long story short, the Gryphon Emperor and a bunch of his soldiers captured me and knocked me out, so I’m gonna get myself some payback!”

Adelphus wasn’t impressed. “I know you’re nicer than that. What’s your real reason?”

Now looking slightly embarrassed, Jackson answered, “My friends are still somewhere in the town, and I need the extra firepower to escape so I can help them.”

“That’s just like you,” Adelphus said with a chuckle, “always doing what’s right. I get the feeling that you’re going to learn the hard way that there’s not always a right choice.”

“Huh?”

“Nothing. I’m probably just a pessimist.”

Jackson gave him a skeptical look but decided to let it drop. “‘Kay, well I’m gonna get going now. Seeya’.”

“Before you go, I need to warn you; no matter what, do not—” Jackson disappeared. “ ... Attack... Wilhelm. Shit.”

The opening of Jackson’s eyes coincided with a flash of lightning and a gust of wind. He saw a small cluster of leaves outlined by solid white light as they were blown through the air above him. Seconds later, a low rumble of thunder echoed across the skies. He blinked once, and found himself looking into the face of a certain Emperor. A certain Emperor who was far to close to a certain Chaos Mage’s horn. Emperor Wilhelm was smiling. Then, he was flying. The funny part was, he couldn’t recall having ever flapped his wings.

Jackson stood up and found that his cloth bindings had been replaced by steel. That worked just fine for him. With a bit of concentration, Jackson forced an electrical current to move as if within an artificial solenoid, creating a weak electromagnetic field. He then increased the current and compressed his solenoid to adjust the force of the magnetic field. He repeated the process numerous times until the metal of his shackles was being pushed away from itself in every direction.

Basically, he made his shackles explode.

A couple of gryphons squawked as they were hit by shards of metal, drawing the attention of most others towards them. Jackson made use of this distraction by getting struck by lightning. Naturally, when the flash has cleared, he was human again. How did he do that? I have no idea. Though his little magic trick had returned some of the attention to him, he still had enough time to grab his things.

Fully outfitted once again, Jackson was ready to go looking for his friends. Or at least, he would have been if there weren’t a large quantity of gryphons blocking his way. “Guys, I’m leaving. If you wanna try and stop me, you’d better make peace with your dear and fluffy lord.”

Not a single gryphon moved. Jackson was feeling pretty confident until Wilhelm himself returned from his flight. “And here I thought we were friends... If you intend to get out of here, you’d better run fast.”

“No more running. I aim to misbehave.” With a roar of thunder, they began. Jackson launched a bolt of lightning at Wilhelm, who knocked it aside with one of his wings, causing it to flash-fry one of his subordinates. He then took to the air, hiding above the cloud cover. Meanwhile, Jackson was still left to fight an entire platoon of gryphon soldiers.

Lightning struck the earth in droves, felling gryphons left and right. Each flash reflected off Jackson’s sword as it danced through the air. The gryphons had numbers, but the human had sheer power. And he used it. Blocking an attack with the sword in his right hand, he drew a flintlock with his left and fired it into the chest of his attacker. The shot crackled with electricity and pierced through another three gryphons.

He dropped the pistol and simultaneously pulled another from its holster as he spun around to fire into the face of a gryphon who was attacking from behind. He sidestepped the body as it fell towards him, grabbing that gryphon’s pistol as his body flew past. With another pirouette, the human reverse-gripped his sword into the face of another gryphon and fired his new pistol at another.

He replaced the sword in its sheath as he rolled under another attack, coming upright with a pistol in each hand. He fired a shot from each before dropping them and unsheathing both of his swords. Anticipating an attack from his rear, he turned around just in time to get a face-full of gold feathers.

Jackson’s companions ran through the town at full speed, becoming more worried with each lightning strike. With most of the population in hiding or elsewhere, they met no resistance. They did, however, find a lone female gryphon crying in an alley. While most of the travellers wanted to ignore her and get to Jackson, Elisabeth apparently knew this gryphon. It wasn’t until she started talking that the others recognized her too.

“Gilda?” Elisabeth asked as she cautiously approached, “What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?” came Gilda’s angry reply, “what’s wrong!? What isn’t wrong!? All this time, Rorik’s been playing me! He said we’d take down The Empire together, when he’d actually been working with Wilhelm the entire time!” Her yelling gave way to sobs, and her next words were barely audible over the wind and thunder. “Now the bastard’s dead, and I’m wanted for treason.”

The majority of the group was either conflicted on what to do, or attempting to comfort Gilda. That left only Luna. Luna was young by alicorn standards, but she had been around for more than enough time to see a potential ally when she found one. “Miss Graustein,” she began, “as it just so happens, we too are wanted by Wilhelm. And, like yourself, we would very much like to see him removed from power.”

“So?” asked Gilda with a glare.

“So, I suggest an alliance.”

“Why? I was the one who got you guys into this mess in the first place.”

Luna looked to the others for confirmation that they agreed with her plan. Receiving nothing but nods, she turned her attention back to Gilda. “I believe that if you assist us in retrieving our missing member, we could find it in our hearts to forgive you.”

Gilda thought for a minute, her tears starting to dry. “Deal. But Wilhelm is mine.”

Luna nodded her head in acquiescence. “Agreed.” She knew that the young gryphon had no chance whatsoever of defeating her Emperor, but she chose to keep that information to herself. With that little detour out of the way, they continued onwards to their objective, one more ally in tow.

When they reached the field where the main event was going down, they noticed a distinct lack of gryphons. Further ahead, Jackson was alone against Wilhelm in the middle of the field. Both of them held aggressive postures, but they seemed to be talking at the time. They rushed forwards to save their friend, only Luna holding back. Something wasn’t right, and she could feel it. Sure enough, every single one of her companions simply vanished upon setting hoof on the grass.

Though she knew the danger, Luna had no choice but to follow. With an offensive spell charged at the tip of her horn, she rushed in after the others. She had considered nearly every possibility. There might be dozens of gryphons directly before her, or they could be waiting on either side to ambush her. There might even be a couple hovering above, waiting to divebomb her the moment she stepped inside. The one thing she hadn’t been expecting was all three.

Twilight Sparkle watched in horror as her friends were set upon by gryphons from every side. She barely had time to fire a single stunning spell — which was utterly ineffective — before she too was grabbed and pinned in place. If anything, they had been expecting the poorly trained and outfitted town guard. They weren’t prepared for an entire platoon of The Emperor’s royal guard. That’s assuming, of course, that it even was possible to prepare for that.

She was forced to watch as Luna burst through the invisibility bubble to save them, only to be assaulted on earth and sky by The Empire’s finest. Like Twilight, she had just enough time to launch a single attack. With a flash of cobalt, one of the gryphons had his flesh blasted into nothingness, leaving behind only a bloodied skeleton. Twilight looked away upon seeing this, unable to stomach the violence. She heard the sound of metal hitting flesh, and then nothing.

Jackson shook his head to clear it as he stumbled around, looking for at least one of his swords. Failing at that, he stood and faced Wilhelm with a ball of lightning in each hand. He shook his head once more and blinked a few times, a trickle of blood running from his nose.

Likewise, Wilhelm held no weapon but his own wings, which were now laced with fire. “I told you, Jackson; I’m not your enemy.”

“Tell that to my fucking nose!” The honor of his damaged sniffer restored, he unleashed both hands of lightning at Wilhelm, finally managing to replicate his earlier attack when he was training.

Wilhelm raised both wings to shield his face, allowing the lightning to strike him. When the smoke had cleared, he lowered his wings and smiled. The fire on his feathers had turned cyan, and was laced with small arcs of electricity. “Thank you.” He then flapped his wings forward, unleashing a torrent of wind, fire, and lightning.

Jackson’s eyes widened at the oncoming attack, and he quickly turned around, using his coat to shield himself as best as possible. Obviously, it did very little, as he was sent flying, spasming and engulfed in blue flames. Upon hitting the ground, he shakily rolled to try and put the fire out. Failing at that, he pulled his coat off and threw it aside. When he returned his attention to Wilhelm, the gryphon was once again standing in front of him, smiling.

“How about this,” Wilhelm started, “I believe that I can say a single word, and you will — at least temporarily — refrain from attacking me.”

“Sure, try me,” Jackson answered, spitting a wad of bloodied spit at his feet.

“Adelphus.”

“I’m listening.”

Luna’s eyes widened as she saw where she was being dragged. Before her, Jackson and Wilhelm were... talking over a bit of tea under a gazebo, completely ignoring the storm around them. “Okay,” Jackson was saying, “I refuse to believe that.”

“Why don’t you ask her yourself?” Wilhelm responded, waving a wing at Luna and the rest of them.

Jackson’s eyes widened and he ran over to them. “Oh my God, are you all okay?”

“We’re fine, Jackie,” Luna answered. “You look like you’ve been better yourself. Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I was just having a talk with Wilhelm here.” He opened his mouth to say something else, and then paused. He moved closer to her and lowered her voice, trying not the let the others hear, though it was nearly impossible with how he had to speak over the wind. “Luna,” he continued, “I need to ask you something.”

“Of course, anything.”

“Were you intending to leave me here to die? All because of some prophecy?”

Luna nearly choked as she struggled to think of an answer. “Wh— What? We— How did you know about that?”

Jackson looked at the ground, on the verge of tears. “You just told me.”

“You see now?” Wilhelm asked him, “She doesn’t care about you. Adelphus and I are your real friends here.”

“Yeah,” Jackson said without turning around, “I’m starting to get that now.”

“Jackie,” Luna pleaded, “don’t listen to him. You have no idea how much I care about you.”

Jackson wetted his lips before responding, “I would have believed that once.” He crouched placed a hand on her cheek. “When we had that talk, I thought you might— Well... it doesn’t matter now.” With a sad smile, he let his hand drop and stood up again. “I’ve convinced Wilhelm to let you all go, but I’ll be staying here.” He looked at the others and said, “Goodbye, guys. He started to turn around, but stopped and looked at Felicia. “And don’t you worry. I’ll keep my end of the deal before it’s too late.”

Jackson turned around completely and began to walk back towards Wilhelm. He heard a ruffling of feathers and a muffled yell from behind him, then felt a sudden dull ache in his chest. He looked down, and saw the tip of a dark blue horn piercing the front of his shirt. The storm finally broke, and rain began to fall gently as the sun slowly set once more.

Then there was darkness.

~Twelve Years Later~

The sky was filled with smoke, and only a few rays of sunshine filtered in through a small opening. Lightning flashed overhead, temporarily turning the smoke from reddish to a light cyan. Below, a hill stood overlooking a volcanic wasteland. At the base of the hill, all manner of equines had gathered their armies, supported in small numbers by the dragons who had formerly called the wasteland their home.

Atop the hill, two figures stood. Two humans. Each wore a matching black duster with a sword imprinted on the back; one red, and one cyan. The one with the red sword turned to the other. “Would you do the honors?”

“Gladly,” the one with the cyan sword answered as he stepped forward. He crested the hill in exactly the right place that the sunlight silhouetted him to the armies below. The one with the red sword followed a little ways behind him, just enough that the armies could see him as well. Without raising his voice, the one with the cyan sword somehow projected it across the land as he calmly stated, “I am The Stormbringer.” A flash of lightning and a blast of thunder punctuated his words before he continued, equally as calm, “Fucking. Run.”