Harmony Through Chaos - Book One: Emberdawn

A few stray gryphons flew through the moonlight, most with watering eyes, and not just from the smoke. One of the gryphons, a female with amber eyes and fuchsia crest feathers, paused to look back at what had once been her home.

Amid the drifting plumes of smoke from their burning homes, tinged orange by the flames, there stood a single being. His bipedal form was surrounded by the dead bodies of the gryphons she had known for so long.

Those damn ponies had taken everything from her, and now they had brought him here. He called himself Jackson Florence, but the gryphons that survived this day would forever know him by another name.

One of the gryphons ahead called her name, breaking her from her thoughts. "Gilda! Let's go! We can't let him catch us or we're dead, just like them!"

"Yeah, yeah! Jeez Rorik... It's not like the dude's gonna sprout wings and fly up here!"

"He's a Chaos Mage, he can do anything he wants! Now come on, maybe we can find some other survivors in Kleindorf!"

"Yeah, sure!" Her eyes drifted back to her burning home. "Maybe..."

The sky was just beginning to lighten as Luna walked through the ruined gryphon camp, examining the smoldering remains of the families who were unable to escape as their homes burnt down around them. She wasn't really disconcerted by this though; she had seen her fair share of wars.

Likewise, Felicia didn't have any problem with seeing dead things. Changelings were, after all, militaristic by nature. The only effect the scenery had on her was a new respect for her human companion. Phoenix seemed mildly disturbed, but managed to keep his composure because of his scientific view of the world. He rationalized the scenario so that, in his mind, the gryphons were just organisms that hadn't survived the process of natural selection.

Twilight seemed to be handling things the worst. She had faced multiple life-threatening situations in her life, but up until now, she hadn't truly realized that death was something real. Sure she had seen or heard of ponies dying of old age or—in rare cases—in accidents, and she read enough books to understand how things worked, but never before had she been exposed to such violence; it was always just words on a page to her.

Eventually they reached the middle of the camp where Jackson was waiting for them, having apparently finished looting anything valuable from Eckard's tent. This had apparently included weapons, because the human now had a knife-belt around his waist, and twin pistol holsters, which created an 'X' across his chest. He had also picked up a new sword, which—if its quality was anything to go by—must have belonged to Eckard himself.

His new sword was similar to the others, but the steel plates that made up the blade were arranged more symmetrically, giving the impression of overlapping dragon scales. There was also a ruby embedded in the hilt, adding to it's sense of majesty. He held the sword reverse-grip in his left hand. Contrasting this was the sword he held normally in his right hand; the one given to him by Chrysalis, that had been confiscated upon his capture.

Jackson must have just recently acquired his new weapons, because he was still busy practicing with them and hadn’t noticed the others approaching. He stopped what he was doing to examine his two swords. He electrified the sword in his left hand, then looked at the changeling blade in confusion.

“Changeling chitin is an insulator!” Felicia called to him.

He jumped slightly at the sound of her voice, then turned to look at them and said, “Oh, so that’s what it’s made of. Good to know."

While Felicia examined the corpses to admire the kills and Phoenix examined the corpses to check out their pistols, Twilight continued trying not the throw up and Luna went to talk to Jackson. "Jackie? Are you alright?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Those dipshits couldn't even get near me!"

Luna glanced at the others before whispering, "You know what I meant."

Jackson lowered his voice as well and avoided looking directly into her eyes. "Later."

"Very well, but don't think you'll be able to get out of this."

"Fine, mom."

Luna rolled her eyes. "If I don't take care of you, who will? Certainly not yourself, that's obvious."

"Yeesh. Grumpy. I think maybe it's bed time, eh?"

As though the reminder had flipped some metaphorical switch, Luna suddenly became very aware of the fact that she hadn't slept for nearly thirty-six hours. With a yawn, she reluctantly agreed, "I am rather tired. I'll take Twilight Sparkle away from this and try to find an intact tent."

"You wanna sleep in the camp?" Jackson responded with a skeptical expression. "With all the crispy gryphons?"

"I'll admit, it's not exactly pleasant, but we don't have any supplies to make a camp. We were supposed to take a boat from Baltimare, not go trekking through the wilderness in a foreign nation."

"Yeah, I get it. Convenient tents are convenient. Just make sure whichever one you pick isn't occupied. There were a couple gryphons I killed in their sleep as I snuck through earlier."

"I'll be careful. I'm sure Twilight Sparkle wouldn't want to walk in on that."

As she turned to tell Twilight what the plan was, Jackson stopped her with a question. "Why do you call Twilight by her full name, but not me?"

Luna turned back to him and answered, "While she may be a friend, she is still my subject, so I still need to act like a Princess around her. You on the other hoof... You’re just a friend."

"Yeah. You wouldn't wanna rule over me anyways. I’d cause too much trouble. But still, you always have her just call you Luna."

"Yes, and that's already enough to get the nobles riled up. I try not to be as formal when I'm alone with friends, but... It’s hard."

"Must be nice to unwind sometimes after all the politics, or should I say, 'politicians'."

Luna shuddered at the word. "Quite."

"Well, you go ahead and find us someplace to sleep. I need to go explain pistols to the Professor so he'll stop pointing loaded ones at his face." He gestured to where Phoenix seemed determined to commit accidental suicide. "Curiosity killed the colorful flying pony..." He mumbled as he walked off.

Twilight and Luna walked silently through the devastated camp, looking for a tent that would at least provide protection from wind and rain. "Luna?"

"Yes?"

"How are you so calm about this?"

"Elaborate."

"All the... killing. It's not right."

"Twilight Sparkle, you forget yourself. Tell me, what do you think happened to Nightmare Moon?"

Twilight looked puzzled. She probably thought it was some sort of test... "You are Nightmare Moon." She quickly realized what she had just said and panicked. "Wait! I mean— I didn't—"

"It's fine. Just a slip of the tongue. Even if you had said 'were' instead of 'are', you would still be incorrect. Perhaps at some point Nightmare Moon and I were one, but through some means she managed to become a separate entity within my body. So where is she now?"

"I... have no idea."

"She's dead. The Elements Of Harmony killed her."

"What!? But the Elements can't have done that! Killing isn't harmonious, it's evil! Killing is the way of chaos!"

Luna chuckled. "Ironic, isn't it? Harmony through chaos? That's the original motto of the Chaos Mages, you know? Speaking of chaos, what about Discord?"

"We turned him to stone?"

"Yes. And how do you think he feels about that?"

"He's stone. He can't feel anything."

"Once again incorrect. Discord is completely conscious inside there. He probably wishes he were dead."

Twilight stopped walking, looking horrified. "Why are you telling me this?"

After a few more steps, Luna stopped as well and looked back at her. "I don't know what my sister had intended, but she sheltered you for far too long. It's time you learned that this world is not the perfect place you were raised to believe it was. We do our best to keep our little ponies safe now, but things weren't always that way and we can't always control the goings-on of other nations."

"Ponies used to kill each other?"

Luna blinked. "Well I had meant invasions by other countries, but there were a few civil wars as well, yes. I'm sorry I'm being so blunt, but I am simply upset that you're having to learn these things firsthoof."

"I think I understand..."

"Good." Luna closed the distance between them and nuzzled her. "I truly am sorry... Twilight."

Twilight responded with a sad smile. "Thank you, Luna. I think I'll be okay now."

Luna nodded. "Alright. Let Us continue then."

"Luna?"

"Yes?"

"Did you just—"

"Maybe." Luna answered with a grin before walking away. Twilight shook her head and chuckled before running to catch up.

It was nearly afternoon by the time everyone had finally gotten sleeping arrangements completed. The result was Twilight and Phoenix sleeping in the tent's two cots, and Felicia using a hammock that she had made from the fabric of another tent. Luna and Jackson were sleeping on scavenged mattresses on the floor, though Twilight had spent quite a while insisting that a Princess shouldn't have to sleep on the ground. Luna had apparently won that argument.

Everyone was already asleep except for Jackson, who was still slightly hyped up from his earlier adrenaline rush. He was lying there, staring at the nearest wall of the tent, when he heard a quiet scraping noise behind him. He turned over and saw that Luna had moved her mattress to directly beside his, and was now glaring at him. "Damn."

"You thought I'd forgotten, didn't you?"

"Yeah, kind of."

"An alicorn never forgets."

"I thought that was elephants."

"Shut up."

"Well excuuuse me, Princess."

Luna's glare softened. "You are forgiven. Now how do you really feel?"

"'Tell me how you feel.' Well, sure thing, doc'."

Aaand she was glaring again. "Please at least try to take this seriously."

Jackson grinned. "C'mon Luna. You should know by now that I'm anything but serious."

"Yes, I know everything about your little act." Luna answered, rolling her eyes. "Now drop it."

Jackson looked a little bit worried. "What are you talking about?"

"You may have made fun of how I was acting like a psychologist, but I've been around for a few thousand years. This leaves me with the unique position of having taken every university course in existence, including psychology. Jackie, I am a psychologist, and I know very well that you're playing the comedian more for your own benefit than ours."

Jackson dropped his perpetual playful grin. "Fine. I'm serious. What do you want to know?"

"I won't ask why you act like you do. I understand that it's something personal. What I want to know is how you're holding up after your first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth kill."

Jackson gulped. "Nine?"

"Yes."

"I killed nine people..."

"Jackie...?"

Jackson started to shake as he fought to hold back tears. When he failed, Luna quickly wrapped him in a hug, which he did his best to return given he was also trying to bawl his eyes out without waking anyone else. It was embarrassing enough without Felicia finding out.

When he finally calmed down, Luna released him and he said, "Well. I guess that's how I'm holding up. I'd ask if it ever gets any easier, but I've seen that line in enough movies and books to know the answer's 'no'."

Luna frowned. "You're right about that... I can still remember the face of the first pony I killed. He was a blue pegasus. I say blue, but he was grey at the time— One of Discord's. I cut off one of his wings mid-air, and as he fell to the ground I saw his color return as Discord released him. The last thing he saw after being freed was the Goddess of the Moon looking down at him as she sent him to his grave. No, it never gets easier," She allowed herself a sad smile. "but you're already loaded with coping mechanisms, so I'm sure you'll be fine."

"Ha. That I am... so is that all?"

"Yes. We should probably try to get some sleep."

"Uh..." He hesitated. "Thank you." He finally said, reaching over to give Luna another hug. "Good... day?"

Luna shot him a half-cocked smile and slowly nodded. "Yes. ‘Good-day’, Jackie."

"G'day, Lu." Jackson responded before rolling over again to continue staring at his favorite wall. 'Maybe you'll be able to sleep, 'cause I'm not gonna be any time soon...' For some reason I get the feeling that he had trouble stopping himself from saying good-day with an Australian accent...

Despite his prediction, it was only about another hour before sleep took him.

After a fairly awkward moment where Twilight discovered that her Princess had moved to sleep beside Jackson at some point during the day, the group left behind the smell of crispy gryphons at a little after sundown, and continued onwards to... actually, where are they going?

Apparently Jackson was also thinking the same thing, and decided to voice his opinion on the matter. "Am I the only one who's concerned that we're walking aimlessly through a dense jungle!? Where the fuck are we going!?"

Luna sighed before answering, "We're going to Kleindorf."

"Wait... You know where we are?"

"No, but there are quite a few small gryphon villages named Kleindorf, so we're most likely going to run into one of them eventually."

"Why do they name all of them— Wait, Klein— Oh I get it." Jackson's eyes widened in realization, and the expression quickly changed to confusion. "High German? At least Equestria makes a little bit of sense, but why the hell do the Germans live in a jungle?"

"I assume you are trying to relate your own world to ours. You're forgetting that being in direct contact with a star can sometimes affect the environment. The geographical location is likely the same as what you're thinking of." Luna explained.

"So, like, in a few thousand more years the place is gonna cool off?"

"Exactly. In fact, the climate here has been steadily changing for a long time, mostly due to a series of spells that my sister and I placed on the land to help fix things."

Twilight was shocked to say the least. "What!? Most scientists attribute the rapid changes to global warming!" Mind = Blown.

For some reason unbeknownst to the others, this statement caused Jackson to laugh so hard that he tripped. The unanimous reaction was an impressively simultaneous eyebrow raise.

He eventually calmed down, at which point Luna asked, "Are you feeling alright?"

"Shiny, Cap'n." Came Jackson's response, muffled by the ground. Luna rolled her eyes and they continued, leaving Jackson to get up and follow on his own time. "Heeey! Wait for me!"

Meanwhile, some distance away, Gilda and Rorik had made it to Kleindorf. Which one? The one just past the place where the jungle suddenly gave way to normal European environment. How does that work? Magic. I'm pretty sure we went over this already, but for future reference, any unexplained phenomena is magic. Gryphic topography? Magic. Sun smaller than planet? Magic. Pegasi flying on those tiny little chicken wings? Magic.

Okay, we're getting a little off-topic here. Gilda and Rorik, blah blah blah. Made it to Kleindorf, blah blah blah. Don't let the Emperor find out because he's a cultist, blah blah— Wait, what?

"If anyone asks, we know nothing. We can't let the Emperor find out that there's a new Chaos Mage or his little cult will be out in full force." Rorik whispered to his companion.

"You don't say." Came Gilda's bemused reply. "Do I look like an idiot to you? 'Cause sometimes I wonder."

Rorik ignored her question. "Take this," He passed her a bag of coins. "and rent us a room at the inn. I'll look around and see if I can find any other survivors who might've made it here."

"Who died and put you in charge?"

"My dad. Do you have a better plan?"

"No..." As Rorik turned to leave, Gilda called him back. "Hey! Listen, sorry 'bout that 'who died' thing. That uh... wasn't really cool of me." She rubbed the back of her head with one talon and avoided looking him in the eye, embarrassed at having to apologize for something in public.

Rorik gave a curt nod in acceptance of her apology. "It's fine. No one's really going to miss him anyway."

"..."

"..."

"You're still a dweeb."

"I'm just gonna go." With that final, eloquent exchange, the two gryphons parted ways. Gilda had a rather uneventful five-block journey to the inn, garnering only a suspicious glance from a couple guards. Rorik on the other hand, had only a couple minutes of flight time before the gryphon equivalent of Pinkie Pie arrived to make his nightmares real.

"Hey! Hey Rorik! Over here!"

"Oh Gods... Not her..."

"Hey! Listen!"

Rorik slowly turned around, and found his face uncomfortably close to that of another gryphon. He quickly backpedalled before taking a moment to compose himself. "Hello Elisabeth."

"Hi! You smell like fried chicken!"

"That's nice. Hey I've got an idea, why don't you go find Gilda at the inn."

"Gilda's with you!? Yay!" She emphasized her joy by doing a backflip.

"Yeah, 'yay'. You go ahead and I'll be there soon. I've just got something to take care of first."

"Okie doke!"

Rorik watched as the hyperactive gryphon flew off in a perpetual corkscrew with an unamused expression. He sighed and wearily shook his head once she was out of earshot. "This had better be worth it, Wilhelm..."

Jackson was a happy human. The reason? He was finally gonna get to lay his lazy ass down after what in his opinion was far too much walking. They had left the jungle just a few minutes prior, and a small village was slowly coming into view. "Hey look! There's a town up ahead!" He exclaimed.

"Yes Jackie, we see it." Luna responded calmly. Killjoy...

"Oh. Okay." There were a few more minutes, during which the town remained painfully far away, and no one spoke. Except Jackson that is, but that's not really all that surprising to be honest. "Whoo boy! This is some pretty heavy awkward silence we've got going on here. Quick, someone start a conversation!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Or you could do that instead I suppose... Guess it's up to me then... So, Phoenix mah bro, what in the flying fuck were you doing all the way out there?"

The vermilion pegasus looked surprised that he was being addressed, having thought that no one had noticed he was tagging along. Apparently he had yet to spot Twilight at the back of the group, stalking the everliving shit out of his backside. Don't think we didn't notice, you naughty mare, you... "Well, long story short, I came to Gryphus in search of artifacts from the time before what the gryphons call 'The Great Cataclysm'. I spend a lot of time on expeditions because I don’t like the way all of the fillies and colts back home treat me like some sort of celebrity. They treat me like I'm Daring Do." He answered.

Twilight was apparently coherent enough to catch what she thought was a minor error on Phoenix's part, and evidently had no qualms correcting someone she looked up to. "Jackson's not from around here. He doesn't know who Daring Do is." She said, quickening her pace to walk with the rest of them.

Now it was Jackson's turn to do some correcting. "Actually Twilight, I know exactly who Daring Do is. Pegasus adventurer, has cat problems."

Dammit Jackie! You set off Twilight's Bullshit Detector™! "How can you possibly know that? You're from the same species as Lord Infernus, and he was from another universe. Did you think I wouldn't figure it out?"

"No, but I don't know why you're so surprised that I know who Daring Do is. Hell, I even mentioned her when we first met, remember?"

"Vaguely..." She grumbled. "Still, you shouldn't know most of the things you do!"

Jackson Shrugged. "So?"

"So how do you know so much about this universe!?"

"Gypsy magic."

"I— What? You can't just explain everything as magic!"

"It's either magic, or science. Then again, magic is just what we call science we don't understand yet, sooo... Gypsy science?"

"Gypsy science?" Twilight responded incredulously. "Seriously?"

"Yep. I know things because gypsy science."

Twilight's right front hoof violently said hello to her face. Somehow she continued walking with just three legs because science. "You are INTOLERABLE!" She screamed before running ahead.

Phoenix was totally watching her with poorly hidden interest as she did so. Jackson noticed this, and gave the pegasus a nudge to get his attention. "If you two can't keep your eyes off of each other's rear ends, there's gonna be an accident. I can see it now. Running from some bad guys, one of you passes the other; 'ooh! Flanks!' Lol, ded."

"I was not— wait, she was watching my flanks?" His eyes widened when he realized how eager he had sounded when he asked that. "I— I mean, of course she was. I have very well toned flanks."

"I really don't need you to describe your flanks in detail, thank you. I don't want that picture in my head. Alright Jackie... just think about female flanks and it'll go away."

He stared off into space for a few seconds as they walked. Suddenly Felicia spoke up, "Jackie? You're doing it again. I know you like my flanks, but we've already established that I don't swing that way."

"NOPE! That's it. I'm done. No more talking about flanks for anyone! I don't even want to hear the word 'flank' again for a very long time!" They continued in silence for a ways before Luna pulled ahead, swaying her hips suggestively and looking over her shoulder to gauge Jackson's response. Said response was to suddenly freeze. His left eyelid twitched a bit. "I hate you."