Chapter 9: The Nexus
Rainbow Dash's ears dropped the instant the Princess mentioned Discord. Of all the enemies she had ever faced, either as an Element of Harmony or just growing up as a competitive pony, Discord was by far the one that worried her the most. No other enemy had ever got her to do what Discord did with ease: break her word and be disloyal to her friends. Even after they had defeated Discord because Twilight reminded them of their bond, Dash had never fully forgiven herself for being duped so easily.
Twilight, having come to terms with the fact that magic was used to cause those same effects, was more interested in learning the one thing that had eluded her about the entire encounter. The 'HOW' of the magic involved. She was very talented with magic, and could defend against most magic because she was familiar with it, but Discord was able to move around her barriers and defenses with ease, so learning more about it would allow her to protect her friends.
Princess Celestia noticed the looks flash across the two ponies before her, and could understand both reactions. With a warm smile, she began.
"Twilight, as you are aware, with our magic there are rules and laws that must be followed. Magic cannot create something from nothing for example." The Princess explained, gaining a nod from Twilight. She recognized it as the First Law of Magic, according to Starswirl the Bearded. The Princess continued before Twilight could start on one of her famous rants.
"These laws are the basis for what we call 'Order Magic'. It is because we know these laws that we can use and develop our magic into spells and abilities. It's through the use of latent order magics in the world that we draw power, arrange the forces, and cast our spells. However there is another form of magic in the world called 'Chaos Magic'." The Princess explained, taking a seat on the nearby couch. Her two pupils moved to join her, sitting on the floor in front of her as the listened. The image warmed Celestia's heart, reminding her of the days in the castle teaching a rapt Twilight Sparkle the basics of magic.
"Chaos Magic, unfortunately, has always been a mystery to ponykind. The default answer we always come to is that it follows no rules, as you obviously read in that book." The Princess motioned to the copy of Discord Theory on the table. Twilight rapidly shook her head before answering.
"Yes Princess, but like I mentioned in my letter: that doesn't make any sense. Everything has to follow rules if it is controlled and Discord controlled it." Twilight asked. Rainbow, for her part, simply listened as the two conversed. Magic was something she had little knowledge in other than 'horn glow, stuff happens', but even she understood the basics of what Twilight was saying. The Princess seemed to agree with the two of them as she nodded.
"This is true Twilight, which is why I said it was much more complicated in my letter. To say chaos magic doesn't follow rules is honestly an easy way to say we can't understand those rules." Celestia, knowing her student, waited for the expectant reply.
"But just because we don't understand them doesn't mean we shouldn't learn them?! Who would just give up so easily and call themselves an expert?" Twilight hated when people dismissed knowledge but claimed to seek it. Many of the nobles in Canterlot were like that. Claiming to be in search of some great knowledge, but honestly just looking for recognition by their peers without putting in any works. Rainbow ended up being the one to surprise the two other ponies in the room, most likely due to the fact that she was ignoring the parts about magic.
"Twilight, she didn't say don't understand, but 'CAN'T understand'," Rainbow offered. Celestia nodded to Rainbow in confirmation, bringing a smile to Rainbow's face.
"Rainbow Dash is correct, Twilight. Chaos magic isn't something we just never learned the rules for. There are teams of unicorns in Canterlot and other cities to this day who continue to research it, but no breakthroughs have been had since the first time Discord attacked. The reason is simply our minds and bodies are not equipped to understand it." Celestia explained. Rainbow accepted this at face value, deciding no more thought on her part would help. Teams of eggheads were working on it, and it wasn't flying related, so she was out of ideas. Twilight, on the other hand, had her own opinion.
"That still doesn't make sense, Princess. It works and affects us, so we should be able to study it." Twilight hated not understanding a topic. This was what drew her to study so much. She would start out knowing nothing, but learn more and more as she researched. With this, she always felt like she was at zero information, even after a large amount of research.
"We can see it's results, but not how it does them. The basis of our magics are fundamentally different. Let me ask you this, Twilight Sparkle: What is two plus two?" The Princess decided to try a new approach. Twilight had always loved math as much as she had loved magic, and both shared a common thread. The base rules were exact and defined, so perhaps destroying that logic would help her understand.
"Huh...oh...It's four Princess. But what does that have to do with magic?" Twilight answered, confused by the sudden shift in topics.
"Correct. And because we know that, we also are able to prove that two times two is four, four times four is sixteen, and so on. All our math can be proven because we know what two plus two is. Now, what if I told you that two plus two equals three?" The Princess let the impact of such a statement sink into her pupils mind. Twilight's instinct was to refute it, but she had learned to respect the Princess's methods of teaching and gave the ridiculous question a bit more thought.
"Well, I would try to explain how that isn't true, and dive into the basics of mathematics." Twilight finally said, not quite grasping the point of the exercise. Rainbow had at this point rested her head on her front hooves and watched the back and forth, finding herself entertained at Twilight's difficulty to understand the concept. Rainbow didn't understand it at all, but magic wasn't her talent either.
"A noble goal, and the right thing to do for this question, but relate this to our original problem. You know how the very basics of magic works: The two plus two if you will. That is the foundation of order magic. Chaos magic's foundation is different, but uses the similar components. Thus for them, two plus two really is three. It isn't an error in their math, it is a provable truth. In the same ways we prove that it isn't a sum of three, but of four, they would be able to do the opposite, prove it isn't four, but three." The Princess explained, smirking as she could watch Twilight trying to rationalize the concept of two plus two not equaling four. After a moment, Twilight seemed to give up on the task and simply nodded.
"I think I understand. We can't understand the basics of chaos magic because our world doesn't follow it's laws of magic?" Twilight asked, which received a slight nod from the Princess.
"That is close. Our world does follow chaos rules to a degree, after all it exists. However life itself follows order, not chaos. So everything we see, from the grass and birds, to the ponies around us, all live within the rules of order. Chaos can affect them, but they don't live based on it. There almost universal, with one near exception." Celestia explained, bringing them back from the math lecture into magic. Twilight and Rainbow both nodded as Twilight spoke.
"Discord. He is the exception, the Nexus of Chaos you mentioned." Twilight stated more than asked. Both she and Rainbow Dash were a bit shocked at the Princess's response.
"Not at all. Discord is indeed the exception, but he is not a Nexus of Chaos. Discord is a being of chaos, so for him the rules of chaos make complete sense. For him, two and two do indeed equal three. However he has the spark of life our world is based on in him. He has a spark of order within his chaos at a core level. Strip all that he is, and there is a bit of order magic giving him life and existence here. How that works is a topic that has been debated for a thousand years." Celestia explained, watching as her student, or students as it currently was, took this in. She could tell Rainbow Dash was mostly just accepting what was said, but Twilight was analyzing it and trying to fit it together.
"If he is chaos with just a bit of order, would that make studying him valuable for learning the rules of chaos?" Twilight finally answered.
"We have studied him, as best we can while he is stone my student. However little can be learned. Think of the conversations you had with him while he was attacking. Much of what he said sounded like nonsense. When he spoke directly to you it would make sense, but beyond that it was, for lack of a better term, chaos. That is what he is, chaos that CAN exist with order, can observe it and adapt to it. If there was a race of beings who were purely based on chaos magic, then Discord would be more valuable to them as a way of learning about order." Celestia explained as she watched Twilight's eyes for understanding. It took a few minutes, but Twilight finally nodded.
"So he isn't a Nexus of Chaos, but is a Nexus of Order?" Twilight asked, thinking she finally understood what the Princess was saying, but needed to make certain. Celestia smiled widely at her student, again impressed with how fast she picked up new information as she nodded in confirmation. Twilight smiled back, a shared smile the two had when the student gained pride in new knowledge and the teacher gained pride in her student. This moment between mentor and pupil was shattered by their third party.
"So why not just find a Nexus of Chaos? Learn from them?" Rainbow said. It seemed simple to her. Find this nexus, learn how your enemies magic works, and get stronger. Problem solved. The Princess spoke before Twilight had a chance, as she knew Twilight was brilliant, but sometimes not the best of teachers, and Rainbow Dash was not the best of students.
"That is the crux of the issue Rainbow Dash. Discord exists as the Nexus of Order because he is a being of chaos with the spark of life, of order magic, within his core. A Nexus of Chaos would be a being of order with the spark of chaos magic within their core, not the spark of order. In all my years of existence I have never seen a being of chaos without order magic granting them life. So based on that information, a Nexus of Chaos can't exist. Theoretically." The Princess explained, adding the last part as an afterthought. Rainbow, surprisingly, understood what the Princess was saying. Life required order, and a nexus required life. Twilight caught the end of Celestia's explanation however.
"Theoretically? I thought life required order?" She asked, confused as to how it could be theory if it was also fact.
"All life we have ever seen or contacted has been based no order magic. There is no direct law stating order is required for life, but all life has been based on order. Life and order magics relationship isn't one of mutual exclusion, but instead is simply the only way we have ever seen it. Could chaos life exist, sure. But have we ever seen it or seen a way for it to work, not at this point." Princess Celestia responded almost automatically. She had explained this to many ponies over the years as the generally incorrect truth about life and order magic being exclusive had been printed over and over. Twilight clearly had read a lot of the books with this misinformation, but her trust of the Princess was stronger.
"I haven't ever seen such statements, but if you say so I will believe it and refocus my research. But, life without rules, it just seems impossible." Twilight said, the last part more to herself as she started planning in her mind how to research such a topic. Celestia simply shook her head as her best student missed the most important part. The part so many ponies before her had missed.
"Who said life without rules? All I said was chaos life was theoretically possible. Remember, chaos magic has rules just the same as order, we just can't comprehend them." Princess Celestia explained, drawing a surprised look from her student as the final piece fell into place. Twilight understood what the Princess had been trying to explain. Glancing around, she realized most of the books she had on the topic would probably be useless, so she would have to start from scratch, but what a start it would be. To learn even a basic truth of chaos would be a huge benefit to unicorns for years, centuries even!
Celestia smiled at her student as she could tell thoughts of research, experiments, and documentation were flying through her head. Turning her own head from that, the Princess looked at the rather quite student of the two.
"Rainbow Dash, do you have any questions? I know magic isn't something you have ever been interested in, but you have sat through this whole lecture." The Princess asked. The polychromatic pegasus was an exciting part of the lecture for the Princess. This was the first time in centuries anything but a unicorn had really listened to her knowledge of chaos magic. Perhaps an outside view would be useful.
"I think I understood it for the most part, which is shocking I know." Rainbow Dash said, joking at the self deprecating comment before continuing.
"Just a shame we don't have one of the Nexus of Chaos thingies to help." Celestia nodded at Rainbow Dash's comment before responding.
"Ponies have been searching for a Nexus of Chaos for several hundred years, if not more. I'm sure some day we might find one, but sadly it isn't something that just falls out of the sky."
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Swift banked hard around one of the clouds lazily floating through the sky. The weather for the day had called for a slight cloud cover and currently those clouds were giving Swift obstacles to practice his maneuvers with. Part of him wanted to attempt some more complicated stuff he had watched Dash do during her practices, but that wasn't his current focus. Right now, his attention was mostly on his passenger.
"AWESOME! Ponyville is so small from up here!" Scootaloo shouted as the glided in the air. Swift looked back to the young filly currently on his back and smiled. He also made a quick check that the harness he had assembled was holding well. The rope he had found was currently tied around his own waist, looping up in front of his wings. From that, two smaller ropes were attached to a matching harness on Scootaloo, one to the left and one to the right. The connecting ropes were slack right now, but Swift had plans for that.
"This is how all pegasi see the world. And when we get you flying on your own, this is how you can see it too." Swift explained, understanding full well the excitement of being in the air for the first time. When he explained the idea to Scootaloo, she admitted she had never been taken for a flight. If nothing else was a factor, that would have been enough to get Swift to take her up, but her depression about never being able to fly hurt to watch, and Swift knew seeing the world from up here would get her over such worries.
"It's better than I imagined! Thank you, Swift!" Scootaloo leaned forward and hugged Swift from behind, wrapping her little arms around his neck as far as they could go and holding tight. She wasn't able to cut off any breathing, so he simply nodded and leaned his head back in acceptance.
"I have a better surprise." Swift started as he leveled off and slowed down as much as he could without falling from the sky.
"You see how my wings are positioned? The way the are straight, but curled slightly? That is a textbook glide position." Swift explained, using this chance to show her how the wing movements worked in action, rather than in theory. Looking back as he flew straight forward, he saw Scootaloo indeed taking in all the angles and remembering them.
"I left a foot of rope slack on the harness. Stand up and spread your wings like that. Do no flap or try to fly, just match my position." Swift said suddenly. Scootaloo's eyes shot forward to look into his, surprise evident on her face.
"Huh? Why?" She asked, confused.
"Simple. I'm not flapping my wings, but I'm still moving forward, not falling. That shape will create lift and hold you up. Once you have it, I can speed up and you should take off as long as you hold the position." He explained, telling her she had a chance to fly, albeit assisted. Scootaloo nearly screamed in excitement as she threw her wings out. Standing tall on Swifts back, trusting him and the ropes to keep her safe, she attempted to mimic his shape, but jumped when he suddenly flapped his wings.
"Sorry Scoots. We were slowing down to much, had to get some more speed. Keep trying, and remember to keep your wings stiff." He apologized and explained, returning to a glide position. Scootaloo nodded and tried again. Swift let her experiment for a moment as he watched her tweek her wing positions until she got it nearly correct. He could tell by the lessening of the weight on his back that she was getting it.
"You about got it squirt. Notice you feel like you are weighing less?" He asked, noticing her nod without breaking her concentration. A few more moments and she lifted completely off Swifts back a good foot before the ropes became taut.
"Ohmygodohmygod! I'm FLYING!" Scootaloo shouted, holding her wing position nearly perfect. She dropped on the left side for a moment as she shouted, but quickly corrected it before Swift even needed to adjust to stay under her.
"Yes you did Scoots! I told you that you had it in you! No reason to be down!" He shouted, looking back and up at her. She looked down at Swift below her, seeing him, and Ponyville behind him, all below her with nothing but a safety rope between. A tear started to role down her face, but she quickly shook it away, ready to blame the wind. Swift smiled, saying nothing: He would blame the wind too.
"So, want to go faster?" He asked, a mischievous grin on his face. Scootaloo simply grinning in response and nodded.
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Two hours later the two pegasi were lazing on a cloud that was quickly becoming Swift's favorite lounge spot. Swift was catching his breath after pulling Scootaloo around while she practiced steering and banking with her wings. She even had started to attempt flight control via wing flaps rather than just gliding, but that was going to take more ground work. Nonetheless Swift was highly impressed with the young filly. She clearly was a talented flier, if only someone had taken the time to teach her.
That talented young filly was currently laying on top of Swift on the cloud, still tethered to his back by the loose ropes. Taking them off was going to be tricky and she was still trying to talk him into more flying. Swift knew she would love to do so, but her yawns as they landed showed how tired she was from the constant thinking and learning, hence her currently being passed out, cuddling her face into Swifts mane as she slept. Swift couldn't help but smile at the sight, or what he could easily see of it. He had spent many hours watching over the three fillies who called themselves Cutie Mark Crusaders, but Scootaloo had managed to earn a special spot in his heart. She was the only one who couldn't use their natural abilities, and was always upbeat about learning it and had her eyes on a future dream. Needless to say, Swift was determined to make sure she saw that dream.
"She is strong. Soon she will be up here with Dash and I flying fast and doing her stunts." Swift thought aloud as he shifted his head and rested it on a tuft of cloud acting as a pillow. His thoughts shifted with the comment to the other pony he spent a lot of time with. Rainbow Dash was very much like a grown up Scootaloo. Very sure of herself, proud, loyal, and fiercely competitive. As far as Swift could tell, she had every right to be as well.
Swift's thoughts continued to go over the time he and Dash had spent together when a voice finally caught his attention.
"Swift!" Scootaloo said, surprisingly loudly, causing Swift to whip is head around to look at the filly who was currently sitting up on his back.
"Oh yeah? You awake?" He asked, smiling to the filly. Scootaloo gave him a skeptical look as she nodded.
"Yeah, and called your name three times. What were you all lost in thought about?" Scootaloo asked, wondering what kept him preoccupied. Swift shook his head to show nothing was wrong.
"Nothing Scoots. Was just thinking about things." Swift explained, not wanting to bring up Rainbow Dash while tied together with Scootaloo. She was a wonderful pony, but when Dash came up, she tended to go crazy. Swift smirked at the thought, which Scootaloo noticed. The image reminded her of a look Rarity had had when she was talking to Fluttershy the other day while Scootaloo had been visiting Sweetie Bell. The conversation the two had at the time was about Swift actually.
"Were you thinking about Rainbow Dash?" Scootaloo asked, figuring more info could be useful. Swift's eyes locked on Scootaloo, surprised by the random question, plus the lack of fangirl mode she was currently displaying.
"Some of it was, yeah. Aside from you, she is my best friend." Swift said, smiling warmly to the young pegasus. Scootaloo smiled in return before asking more about what she had heard. Rarity had sworn to Fluttershy that by now her plan would have come to work. They then had spoken, or rather Rarity had spoke, at great lengths about what was planned, ending with a comment that she couldn't wait to find out. Perhaps Scootaloo could find out.
"Did you ask her out yet?"
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1193027 It's always time
Though we shall see how it develops lol.
This chapter worried me with the explanation of chaos magic. So much so I had it proofread before I posted to make sure it didn't hurt to read. The end needed a fun hook, and children with their awkward questions are always good for that. Plus I was excited to write the part with Swift and Scootaloo flying through the air.
I wonder how they will find out that Swift is indeed a nexus thingie.
Will they just say "Buck it" And continue to be his friend's? or will they banish him to the moon? or worse, the sun!
Btw. When is the shipping starting!?
Two things could be possible. 1: he was a human and thus has that spark of choas in his core.
or 2: he was born from the Choas energy that Discord released.
or maybe 3.... He's actually Loki in disguise!!
dude that sounds like an explanation of pinkie pie. i find this as an explanation of pinkie because of her abilities like braking the fourth wall, being able to pull things out of nowhere.
I can only imagine swift panicking at scoots sudden question. Such a funny way to end a chapter! XD
based on
Omg made me laugh so hard seeing as swift did just that
4040678
I Facepalmed hard at this i must admit, it's so cliche and it makes me chuckle
You would chaos magic wouldn't make sense simply because it is chaos magic, yes?
So as I understand it, they are saying that it is similar to the carbon and silicon-based life. All life we have ever observed has been carbon-based, and we generally tend to think that carbon is the most important element in relation to life, but silicon could work just as well albeit differently.
I think I am understanding this correctly. And I know I am overthinking something that has no importance whatsoever, but I like overthinking things like this.