Harmony Through Chaos - Book One: Emberdawn

A human with his arms and legs bound by rope floated beside an alicorn, suspended in a field of dark blue magic. “It’s not that I’m not thankful I don’t have to do any walking, but this is becoming slightly boring. Can I come down now?”

...

“Helloooo!”

...

“C’mon, are you still mad about the thing with the sword? You gotta learn to let things go, man.”

...

“Okay, seriously, I can’t handle this anymore. Either let me down or just kill me now.”

“As much as I’d like to,” the alicorn responded with an annoyed expression, “we can’t kill you. We need you for something.”

“But you don’t know what?”

“I’m sure we’ll figure it out eventually.”

“What if it’s — you know — something I need to be untied for!?”

“Hm... Nah.”

The human looked to the female bat-pony who was next in their little caravan. “What about you? You don’t know anything about humans, right? Get him to let me down and I’ll tell you anything you want to know! Get this, since we can’t fly, we built machines to do it for us!”

The bat-pony looked unintrested. “I’ve seen an airship before. You’ll have to do better than that.”

“Airships? Hah! That’s so last century.” The bat-pony’s ears perked up. “Oh, sorry. Did I forget to mention that our flying machines can go almost seven times the speed of sound!”

Wide eyed, the bat-pony sped up to walk beside the alicorn. “Oi, Nighttime, you’ve gotta let me have him!”

The alicorn flicked his left ear, but didn’t look at her. “It’s Dusk, actually, and I can tell you just as much about jets as he can.”

“Oh I doubt that! You might’ve been to his world, but he lives there! I bet there’s tons of stuff he knows that you don’t!” The alicorn looked like he wanted to give a retort, but forced himself to remain silent. The bat-pony turned her attention back to the human. “Hey, I tried, right? Do I at least get something for effort?”

The human was staring off into the distance. “Actually,” he slowly began, “I have something that’ll convince everyone that I shouldn’t be tied up.”

“Huh?”

“In twenty seconds, I’m going to explode into lightning, you’re going to duck, and then a sword is going to go flying through the air where you’re currently standing.”

“Huh?”

Exactly twenty seconds later, the human unleashed a barrage of lightning from his hands, simultaneously disintegrating the ropes that were holding him, as well as shorting out the unprepared alicorn’s magic. The bat-pony ducked, and an electrified sword flew out of a saddlebag further down the line, impaling the wolf-creature through the head.

Oh yeah, might’ve forgotten to mention that there was a wolf-creature. Oh well. In any case, it’s dead now. Go team.

The alicorn recovered quickly from the feedback and quickly readied himself for battle with the nefarious human.

...

Who was at that point gently helping the bat-pony mare off the ground. “You alright?” he asked as he brushed the coating of sand off her side, “Sorry I couldn’t give you more warning, but...” He let the sentence trail as he gestured to the wolf.

“I’m fine,” the mare answered shakily, “You... saved my life.”

“Aw, don’t mention—” He was interrupted by a kiss on his cheek.

A voice shouted from further down the line, “Hey! I’ve saved your life too!”

The mare quickly gave her response. “Shut up!”

Doing his best to ignore what just transpired, the human looked to the alicorn. “So, still think you need to have me tied up?”

After a couple moments of looking the human over with a calculating gaze, the alicorn shook his head. “Fine, but you’d better not make me regret this. Now let’s get moving, there may be more of those... things... around.”

“Seriously?” The human raised his arms in a wide gesture around them. “I bet I scared any others off with that show. If there’s more of them around here, I’ll eat my hat.” It took a moment for him to realize that everyone had froze and were all now staring at something behind him. He facepalmed and sighed. “Good thing I’m not wearing a hat...”

For a brief moment, Jackson wondered what he had been thinking when he’d told the ponies his goal. Then he remembered, it was something along the lines of, ‘I’m sure they won’t mind.’. On second thought, “Maybe I should have thought this through a little bit better...”

“Yeah, that might have been a good idea.” Jackson nearly tripped as he turned to see Infernus’ smoke form floating along beside him. “But, as they say, hindsight is twenty-twenty.”

Jackson continued to run, bursts of sand flying into the air behind him as it was kicked up by his feet. “How the hell are you here!?”

“Oh, you were knocked out ages ago, I’ve just been keeping your dreamscape like this for kicks.”

With some effort, given the sand, Jackson slowed to a stop and checked behind him. Sure enough, there wasn’t a single pursuer to be found, and the surroundings slowly faded into the now-familiar field. “You’re a dick.”

“Well, I’d like to think that’s because I’m simply a personification of my best trait.”

With a groan, Jackson brought his hands together and slowly dragged them down his face before looking at the sky. “No.”

“Oh come on! You probably would’ve laughed at that the last time we met in person.”

This caused an eyebrow raise of epic proportions. “We’ve met before?”

“Oh, yes. Many times, actually. In fact, we knew each other quite well.”

“Wait...” Jackson’s eyes widened, and Infernus seemed to be grinning as it sank in. “Josh?”

Infernus stared at him for a few moments, dumbstruck. Then, “Who the fuck is Josh!?”

Jackson blinked. “Oh. Well that’s awkward.”

“Awkward doesn’t even begin to describe it, and I’m honestly a little insulted.” He paused for a brief moment in consideration. “Though now that I think about it, I’m not all that surprised.”

“Hey!”

“Is for ponies. In any case, I guess I’ll just keep holding out for the big reveal.”

“Yeah, you do that.” The two continued to stand in place for a minute or so, uncertain as to what to do next.

“So...” Infernus awkwardly started.

“So?”

“You’re taking this pretty well.”

“Taking what pretty well?”

“I mean, you were just knocked unconscious by a group of ponies who probably have every reason to hate your guts.”

“What did I do?” Jackson asked, raising his hands in a half-shrug.

“Well, nothing really, but they don’t know that.”

“They’re ponies— not exactly the ‘murdering a guy in his sleep’ type.”

For some reason, this comment made Infernus a bit mad. “How can you say that after what they did to you!? The ponies are just as bad as the humans you left behind!”

Jackson took a step back, as one generally does when The Flamebringer raises his voice. “Okay, I’m still mad about that, but these guys aren’t even from the same universe!”

“You think it matters what universe they’re from!? They’re all the same. I grew up with everyone looking down at me like they were so much better, and I see the ponies doing the exact same thing to entire species at a time! I helped unite the gryphons under Wilhelm’s banner, and came so close to uniting the entire world before that white bitch threw a star at me!”

“That’s racist.”

Infernus froze, then chuckled as his mind processed the joke. “I’m sorry,” he said with a tired sigh, “I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that.”

Jackson gave him a small smile. “No, you’ve spent a few thousand years on your own, I think you deserve to be allowed to vent a little.”

“Right.”

“You know, if you hate everyone so much, there’s an entire planet back home without any Sun Goddesses to screw things up.”

Wink wink, nudge nudge.

“Ohhhh yeah, I’m completely aware of that. Once I’m out of here, you’ll lead the gryphons against Equestria while I quickly hop on over and conquer Earth so I can grab us some high-tech reinforcements. As you’re leading the final charge against Canterlot, I’ll swoop in on wings of steel and rain fire!”

“That sounds incredibly dramatic.”

“Yes.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“There’s only one problem.”

“There always is.”

“I’m going to need my sword.”

“Ah,” Jackson answered lamely, pointing a finger at his fellow Chaos Mage, “you see, there might be a slight problem with that...”

“There always is.”

“So long story short, a certain member of Equestrian royalty seemed to think that it was somewhere in Gryphus, but saw fit to murder me before we could find it.”

“Strange... if it were literally anywhere in Gryphus, Wilhelm’s spies would know about it. If that were the case, he would have already handed it over to you.”

“Yeah, he didn’t mention a thing.”

“Guess it’s in the hands of destiny then. You’ll wander across it eventually.”

“Destiny? Wouldn’t have pegged you for the superstitious type.”

“Back on Earth? No way. I’d just rely on my magic to make sure shit got done. In Equestria though? The place practically runs on destiny. And since we’re the good guys, that means we’re destined to win, because that’s just how Equestria works.”

“I wish I shared your faith.”

“Well at least have faith in yourself. And speaking of which, I think it’s time you woke up and face those ponies, who — I admit — haven’t actually done anything wrong.”

“What if they knocked me out by hitting me with something and they do it again? If I just keep waking up every time, I might end up with brain damage.”

“Well it’s not as if it could make you any worse.”

“You bitch!” The group of ponies all jumped backwards as their captive human suddenly jolted to a sitting position with a yell. He slowly turned his head to look at them in that creepy fashion that you might expect from a doll in a horror movie. “Oh,” he calmly exclaimed, “I don’t mean any of you. I was talking to the guy in my head.” He attempted to gesture to the aforementioned portion of his body, only to find his arms bound to his body by rope.

Ignis leaned closer to Dusk and whispered to him, “The heck kinda spell did’ya hit ‘im with?”

Somehow overhearing, Jackson interrupted the conversation before the alicorn could give an answer. “Spells. Good. I don’t like getting hit by rocks. It’s painful, and I’ll have you know that I’m highly allergic to pain. Makes me puff up like a blowfish, the whole deal.”

“That sound exciting,” Noctus responded with a grin, “I, for one, vote we go with the rocks next time.”

“And I, for one, welcome my new alicorn overlord. Please, dispense with the spells, and we’ll pretend that the rock option isn’t on the board.”

Dusk just rolled his eyes at the ongoing conflict between his friend and the human. “The rock option isn’t on the board. I’ve got enough problems with my conscience without having stoning a man to death added on. And for the record, I won’t need to knock you out again as long as you behave. Besides, you’re all tied up at the moment. What choice do you even have?”

“Heh,” Jackson chuckled, “nice play on words.” None of the others seemed amused. “So, I guess I’m officially in detention now, eh? Alright, I’ll be good.”

“Thank you.”

“I do have a question though. Where’d you get the rope?”

“We found all our saddlebags just outside door of that building we appeared in,” he answered, gesturing to a nearby pile, “you took off so fast you probably didn’t even have time to spot them.”

“Nope. That brings up another question though. You seen my sword anywhere?”

“This one?” Dusk asked, levitating said sword out of the pile.

“Yep, that’s the one. Mine mind sticking it back in its sheath here?” Jackson asked before rolling over slightly so that the sheath strapped to his side would be easily accessible.

“Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”

“You realize that I wouldn’t even be able to reach it there with my arms tied up like this, right?”

“Doesn’t matter. It’s enchanted, and I’m not about to risk letting you go free when we have no idea what you’re capable of.”

“If it’s any consolation, I don’t know what I’m capable of either. Also, it’s not enchanted.”

“Yes, it really is.”

“Well then I haven’t got a clue what it does, because I haven’t seen that thing do anything special other than look cool.”

“And I’m supposed to just take your word for it why?”

“Because I am a standup individual?” This drew a quiet snort from one of the others who were watching the conversation unfold, but was otherwise denied any form of response.

“I think I’ll be hanging onto it for the time being,” Dusk said, starting to turn away.

“No you won’t.”

Dusk paused. “Yes, I will.”

Jackson narrowed his eyes. “No. You won’t.”

“Whatever,” Dusk answered with a shake of his head.

“Not ‘whatever’, that’s my FUCKING *SWORD*!”

Said sword reacted by releasing a massive blast of electrical energy, sending everyone running for cover, or what little of it there was. Dusk, however, was both standing close beside the sword and holding it in his magic. Taking the path of least resistance, most of the arcane lightning arced straight for him. He unwillingly solidified his magical grip on the sword as one’s muscles might clench upon being tazed. Unable to let go, the alicorn had no choice but to wait for the sword’s charge to deplete. His pegasus side helped for a while, but he eventually let loose a scream of agony and fell to his side, feathers and fur starting to burn.

After a full minute, the impromptu lightning rod that was Dusk Star was finally given a break. The rest of the ponies stared in shock, fear, worry, or some combination thereof. Jackson was of the ‘shock’ category, sitting there wide-eyed. Dusk slowly began to get up, little trails of smoke still drifting up from his extremities. Jackson’s eyes widened further as the enraged stallion began to stumble towards him. “That wasn’t me!”

“That seems unlikely,” Dusk responded, not slowing down, and in the kind of voice one might expect from a guy who'd just been electrocuted. Only with more intense hatred.

“No, I’m serious. I had nothing to do with that! Maybe it was just a really, really bad static shock!” He finished that sentence just as the alicorn arrived in front of him, and also just before getting a violent hoof to the head.

The human fell to the ground on his side with a cry of pain, and a trickle of blood ran down his face from the side of his head. Dusk turned and started walking in a random direction, grabbing Jackson in his magic and dragging him through the sand for a moment before lifting him fully off the ground. He stopped long enough to direct his glare at Verdant, whom he was just passing. “You! Grab that sword and stick it in one of the bags! The rest of you, grab a bag and let’s go!”

Jackson passed Verdant next, and heard the pegasus mumble, “Jeez, ‘alicorn overlord’ is right...”

The others did as ordered and eventually fell into a line behind Dusk, who continued walking in the random direction he had initially started off in. It took a whole two hours of complete silence before Jackson finally recovered. Recovered his humor, that is. He’d been through worse, physically.“It’s not that I’m not thankful I don’t have to do any walking, but this is becoming slightly boring. Can I come down now?”

...

“Helloooo!”

...

“C’mon, are you still mad about the thing with the sword? You gotta learn to let things go, man.”

...

“Okay, seriously, I can’t handle this anymore. Either let me down or just kill me now.”

“As much as I’d like to,” Dusk responded with an annoyed expression, “we can’t kill you. We need you for something.”

“But you don’t know what?”

“I’m sure we’ll figure it out eventually.”

“What if it’s — you know — something I need to be untied for!?”

“Hm... Nah.”

Jackson looked to Violet, who was next in their little caravan. “What about you? You don’t know anything about humans, right? Get him to let me down and I’ll tell you anything you want to know! Get this, since we can’t fly, we built machines to do it for us!”

The bat-pony looked unintrested. “I’ve seen an airship before. You’ll have to do better than that.”

“Airships? Hah! That’s so last century.” The bat-pony’s ears perked up. “Oh, sorry. Did I forget to mention that our flying machines can go almost seven times the speed of sound!”

Wide eyed, Violet sped up to walk beside Dusk. “Oi, Nighttime, you’ve gotta let me have him!”

The alicorn flicked his left ear, but didn’t look at her. “It’s Dusk, actually, and I can tell you just as much about jets as he can.”

“Oh I doubt that! You might’ve been to his world, but he lives there! I bet there’s tons of stuff he knows that you don’t!” Dusk looked like he wanted to give a retort, but forced himself to remain silent. Violet turned her attention back to Jackson. “Hey, I tried, right? Do I at least get something for effort?”

The human was staring off into the distance. “Actually,” he slowly began, “I have something that’ll convince everyone that I shouldn’t be tied up.”

“Huh?”

“In twenty seconds, I’m going to explode into lightning, you’re going to duck, and then a sword is going to go flying through the air where you’re currently standing.”

“Huh?”

Exactly twenty seconds later, he unleashed a barrage of lightning from his hands, simultaneously disintegrating the ropes that were holding him, as well as shorting out the unprepared alicorn’s magic. Violet ducked, and an electrified sword flew out of a saddlebag further down the line, impaling the wolf-creature through the head.

Oh yeah, might’ve forgotten to mention that there was a wolf-creature. Oh well. In any case, it’s dead now. Go team.

Dusk recovered quickly from the feedback and quickly readied himself for battle with the nefarious human.

...

Who was at that point gently helping Violet off the ground. “You alright?” he asked as he brushed the coating of sand off her side, “Sorry I couldn’t give you more warning, but...” He let the sentence trail as he gestured to the wolf.

“I’m fine,” Violet answered shakily, “You... saved my life.”

“Aw, don’t mention—” He was interrupted by a kiss on his cheek.

Verdant shouted from further down the line, “Hey! I’ve saved your life too!”

Violet quickly gave her response. “Shut up!”

Doing his best to ignore what just transpired, Jackson looked to Dusk. “So, still think you need to have me tied up?”

After a couple moments of looking the human over with a calculating gaze, he shook his head. “Fine, but you’d better not make me regret this. Now let’s get moving, there may be more of those... things... around.”

“Seriously?” Jackson raised his arms in a wide gesture around them. “I bet I scared any others off with that show. If there’s more of them around here, I’ll eat my hat.” It took a moment for him to realize that everyone had froze and were all now staring at something behind him. He facepalmed and sighed. “Good thing I’m not wearing a hat...”

The two Light Gears looked at each other for a second and — I don’t know, played a telepathic game of rock, paper, scissors — before one of them spoke. “Maybe they’re fellow sapient beings that are capable of complex speech and reasoning?”

One of the wolves calmly seconded that opinion in a posh british accent.

...

No it didn’t. It’s a rabid wolf-creature from another plane of reality.

Unfortunately, whatever the ‘rabid wolf-creature’ actually said came out as a series of low growls with undertones of two pieces of metal scraping against each other. It was not a pleasant noise. It must have taken offense to the ponies’ distaste, and proceeded to rush forward in an attempt to murder them. Throughout this, Jackson was for some reason still standing with his back to the pack. Dusk and Noctus summoned their weapons, reminding him that he was, in fact, in mortal peril. He turned around just as the wolf was lunging at him, and tried to raise his sword, wincing as it suddenly dawned on him that he dun goofed.

An invisible force flew past, mere inches from his head, the only sign of its existence being a slight breeze as it passed. The wolf turned into dust, and it was really gross. “Oh God!” he yelled, rubbing at his face with the sleeve of his coat, “It got in my mouth!”

The rest of the pack began their approach, seeking revenge for their two fallen brethren. Dusk rolled his eyes, horn still alight from his previous spell.