Harmony Through Chaos - Book One: Emberdawn

"Every person is like a well-tuned instrument...

“Doctor Faraday! Doctor Faraday, wait!”

“What is it, Samantha!? Can’t you see I’m busy?” the older doctor responded with an impatient tone as he turned around, looking up from the papers in his hands to see the blonde woman running to catch up with him.

She paused for a moment to catch her breath before asking rather vaguely, “Did you catch it?”

“Yes, Samantha,” Faraday responded with a sigh, “I caught it.”

“Isn’t this exciting? This is our first real lead!”

“Yes, but that’s all it is; a lead. I was cross-referencing the information from the others, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense unless we look at it chronologically.”

Samantha seemed to deflate. “So, we’re back to square one then?”

“Oh, not at all. We’ll still need to go through all the recordings, but at least we know what we’re looking for now.” Doctor Faraday had intended to leave the conversation with that, continuing down the hall and resuming his study of the papers he held in his hands.

Samantha hurried along after him, evidently having more to discuss. “So,” she started, “what are we doing with Seth and the others?”

Faraday stopped again and gave her a harsh look. “We’re not killing them, if that’s what you’re suggesting.”

“What?” Samantha responded indignantly, “what makes you think I was going to suggest that?”

Before Faraday had a chance to respond, they were interrupted by a soldier running up to them, nearly knocking a few others over in his haste. As soon as he had collected himself, he stood at attention and threw Samantha a salute. “Ma’am.”

“At ease.”

The soldier relaxed and nodded to Faraday. “Ay-up, Al.”

Faraday just sighed before responding, “Hello, Oliver.” At Samantha's questioning look, he explained, “I spent a while as a civilian contractor with British R&D. Oliver and I were... ‘friends’.”

Before Samantha could comment, Oliver cut in, “Yeah. I’d love to catch up, but we’ve got a bit of a problem. He turned back to Samantha. “Spooks are saying we’ve got some guys mucking about on the perimeter.”

“Shit,” Samantha spat under her breath, “you ran all the way here?”

“Aye, Ma’am. I tried calling, but you never answered.”

“We were in the middle of a session. I had my radio off.” She thought for a moment before asking, “Alright, were they armed?”

“Unknown Ma’am.”

“Okay. We should put the facility on full lockdown immediately. They might not know we’re here, and we don’t want to run the risk. They could have tracked us from the power drain, so we should turn off any unessential systems and—” The lights went out. “Well that was fast.”

“I don’t believe that was us, Ma’am.”

“Yes, I know.” She pulled her revolver from its holster and turned to Faraday, barely able to make out his silhouette in the dark. “You’d best be getting out of here, Doc. Find a safe room with a computer and get to work on tracking down the artifact.”

Faraday didn’t hesitate to obey, and took off down the hall as fast as his aging legs would carry him, trying not to trip on anything in the dark.

A couple of minutes later, the dim red emergency lights lining the hallway had come on, and Samantha had gathered any other armed personnel in the area to her, scavenging assorted objects for use as cover. “Alright, ladies; this is the only way to get to the lower sections of the facility. We hold the line here.”

With an acknowledgement of the order from each of her allies, they set up and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Many of the soldiers were starting to shift around or get distracted, but Samantha ignored them and kept her aim centered on the end of the hall. Something moved; a glint of light off a rifle scope. She fired once, and the man who stepped around the corner was immediately sent flying to the ground, minus one head.

The retort of the large gun being fired immediately drew the attention of both sides, and the hallway was quickly filled by a hail of bullets. Just before she was forced to duck behind cover, Samantha was able to spot the distinctive outline of an AK-9. “Great,” she mumbled to herself as she sat down, “it just had to be Spetsnaz.”

She peeked out and fired three more times, hitting one of the men in the chest and knocking him flat on his back from the impact force alone. She was immediately forced back into cover as the rest switched targets to her.

“By gum,” said Oliver beside her, “this shite went pearshaped fast.”

“Yeah,” was Samantha’s breathless response, “that’s definitely one way to put it.”

Things weren’t looking good. All of the soldiers in the facility were well-trained, but they weren’t prepared to go up against the best their enemies had to offer. One of the men fighting alongside her was originally Spetsnaz. She wondered what he was feeling, being forced to fight those who were once his friends. Curious, she glanced over to him.

Oh.

He was lying in a pool of blood with a jagged hole in his helmet.

Samantha attempted a few more potshots, but was forced back before she could even get a single shot off. The rest of them were in the same position since there weren’t enough of them left to counter the fire coming at them, leaving them to wait for their enemies to run out of ammo.

Unfortunately, the attackers were staggering their reloads so that there were a few of them firing at all times. Now the defenders could only wait for the end. Or maybe they only had to wait until their employer’s ‘benefactor’ arrived. “Hey, bottlecap.” Samantha looked up and saw a man in a black duster standing in the middle of the hall as though oblivious to the bullets that were whizzing past all around him. “Need some help?”

Those monitoring the Spetsnaz radio transmissions were surprised when their words suddenly switched from calmly calling out targets to screams of pure terror. “O Bozhe! Chto on, chto on!? Ahhhhhh! On gorit! O Bozhe, eto ostano—”

Then there was only silence. Silence, and darkness.

Alistair Faraday sat in a dark room, with only the muffled sounds of gunfire to keep him company. He opened a laptop and navigated to a folder marked ‘Project Emberdawn Session Recordings’ and clicked on one of the files inside. A video popped up of a man sitting at a metal table, his head lowered in remembrance. “Silence,” the man began, “silence, darkness, and above all else, an unimaginable pain. It started as a dull ache, but quickly became overwhelming; a burning sensation beyond anything I had ever felt. Pain was good. Pain meant that I was still alive...”

“Your Highness, he’s waking up!”

“Excellent. Complete whatever tests are most urgent, then leave us.”

“As you command, Your Highness.” Jackson blinked open his eyes, wincing at the sudden light. All he could see was light. Probably because some jackwad was shining a magical flashlight in his eyes. “Pupil response appears good.”

“Of course it is,” Jackson commented hoarsely, “I didn’t hit my head, I got stabbed. Learn the difference and then take that light and shove it up your ass.”

Wilhelm smiled. “Good to see you’re still your same colorful self.” He waited for the doctor to complete a few more routine tests, then excused him. “So Jackson,” he started once the doctor was gone, “my friend, how are you feeling? We very nearly lost you a few times.”

“Like shit. I was just literally stabbed in the back, how do you think I’m feeling.”

“I—”

“That was rhetorical. What happened to... Her?”

“We let her go. We let them all go. I would normally have had them all killed, but I felt that you had lost enough for one day.”

“Thanks.”

For once, Wilhelm wasn’t smiling as he sat in a chair beside Jackson’s bed, talons steepled in front of him. “I honestly thought that you would be more upset that I just allowed her to leave after what she did to you.”

“Right,” said Jackson, his face contorting as he tried to settle on a singular emotion, “she did try to kill me.” He frowned. “She actually tried to kill me.” His eyes began to dampen. “Luna betrayed me.” Tears fell freely from his eyes. “She was my friend, and she betrayed me in the worst possible way.” Though his tears continued to fall, Jackson grinned. It was not the good kind of grin. “I’m glad you let her go. Now she’ll get to watch while Equestria burns around her.” He finished with a light giggle.

Meanwhile, Wilhelm had tensed up slightly, a worried expression on his face. “Jackson?”

“Tempest.”

“Pardon?”

Jackson looked up at Wilhelm, still grinning, and still crying. “I am The Stormbringer, and my name is Tempest.” He then proceeded to burst out laughing.

Wilhelm watched on in both fascination and horror. “Perhaps even a bit more colorful...”

It was rare that Twilight Sparkle would even consider speaking out against one of the Princesses, but she had no qualms about voicing her opinion this time. “I cannot believe that you actually did that. He was your friend!”

Celestia silenced her student with a stern look, then turned her attention to her sister. “I for one believe you made the right choice. I know it must have been hard for you, but allowing the prophecy to unfold could only have ended in one way. As it stands, I cannot help but accept some of the responsibility for this tragedy. If I had believed you when you first came to me, this could have been avoided.”

Luna sniffled quietly, looking up at her sister with a small smile. “Please, do not blame yourself. I made the decision on my own, and I am going to have to live with it, one way or another. What I did was wrong,” she said, looking at Twilight, “and it still hurts. I’m not going to pretend that I handled the situation correctly, and I understand if you no langer wish to be my friend now that you have seen how I treat them.”

“Of course I'm still your friend,” Twilight responded, shocked, “None of us are happy with what you did, but we’re not going to abandon you because of it. If anything, you probably need us now more than ever.”

Luna struggled with her emotions for a moment before giving in and lunging forward, wrapping the unicorn in a tight hug. Celestia smiled slightly at the sight and quietly whispered to herself, “You’ve grown up so much, my student. I am so proud of you.”

The situation remained as such for a good few minutes before Luna pulled away and attempted to compose herself. “I apologize for my behaviour just now,” she said as the ruffled her wings and looked at the floor.

“It’s alright,” Twilight answered with a smile, “Everypony needs a hug sometimes.”

There was silence for a few moments as every pony present considered how best to proceed. Luna was the first to break the silence. “Is there any word about what happened to Felicia?”

Twilight shook her head. “No. She’s disappeared without a trace.”

Celestia frowned. “A pity. I would have liked to meet this changeling. It would have been a perfect opportunity to open peace talks with The Hive.”

Luna gave an unprincesslike snort of self-deprecation. “As though they would willingly talk with a nation led in part by the one who murdered their only renewable source of food.”

Twilight and Celestia both looked unhappy about her statement, but before either of them could comment, a harsh beeping noise filled the room. Twilight’s ears perked at the unfamiliar noise. “What is that?”

Luna’s ears flattened, and Celestia furrowed her brow before answering, “That is the sound of a recovered Chaos Artifact that allows Emperor Wilhelm to broadcast an image nationwide. We... acquired one of the receivers for... security reasons.”  With a flash of her horn, Celestia summoned the device to them. The square of golden metal ceased its sound as it lit up, showing an image of Wilhelm himself standing on a balcony of a castle. He appeared to be preparing for a speech.

“People of Gryphus,” he began in a serious tone, “three weeks ago, a small group of Equestrians made an incursion into our borders, which led to the deaths of twenty-seven brave gryphons. The Equestrians were defeated, and sent back to their own land. This will happen again. For too long have we sat quietly while they hoarded their wealth! For too long have we allowed them to tell us what to do! They create treaties, but do not honor them! They threaten us with war if we do not bow before their Godesses!” He spat the last word as though it disgusted him.

He continued, “Now they have taken the lives of our people — one of whom was a good friend of mine — and then returned home without consequence. This ends today! If it’s war they want, then it’s war they’ll get! Down with Equestria!”

The three ponies who were viewing the broadcast could only gape in shock as the crowds cheered in joy. Equestria was now at war for the first time in over one thousand years.

Jackson watched from the shadows as Wilhelm made his speech, a smile slowly growing on his face with each word that came from the gryphon’s beak. When Wilhelm returned to the room, they were both grinning. “And that,” said Jackson, “is how it begins.”