Chapter 7: Chaos Magic and Weather Ponies
The next day Swift was awoken by Rainbow while laying on the same cloud as the evening before. She had come to collect him for signups at the Central Weather Control Office, or C.W.C.O. as most ponies shortened it. It was here that Swift would fill out the paperwork placing him under Rainbow Dash as an apprentice weather pony.
The first part of the day after Dash had left to take care of her own duties had Swift sitting in a small class room filling out questionnaires asking him to identify cloud formations, weather patterns, and essay questions on how to cause a cloud to dissipate or summon lightning from dormant clouds. Swift doubted he had ever been so bored in his entire life.
'How dull can they make these questions? Is that the point even? See if you pass out, if not you pass?' Swift thought as he explained how to use his wings to adjust localized air pressure to build a cloud from latent vapors. Luckily he had read a lot of books at Twilight's while grounded and learned most of this, as all Dash had taught him was how to fly and clear and move clouds.
After a two very very very long hours of testing, he was cleared to the next phase where a medical pegasus checked over his wings and chest, explaining that he needed to make sure there were no major heart issues or flight issues that could arise. Especially the heart, given the amount of exercise they would exert, as well as the slim, but possible chance, of lightning strikes. Swift basically had to stand at attention with his wings spread full out for ten minutes while the doctor and a nurse poked, prodded, and listened to his body. Once he was allowed to sit, the doctor asked him two worrying questions:
"So, do you have any medical conditions we should know about? We don't seem to have a file on you so if anything has happened in your past, we need to know. Anything like perhaps what happened to your cutie mark." The doctor asked. It was odd not to have a file, but it happened on occasion, either because a pony was just very healthy, or was from farther north and the files just didn't make it in time, if at all.
Unfortunately, Swift fell under neither of those categories, and the lack of a cutie mark was once again causing him problems.
"Well, other than a bad crash a week or so ago, I'm completely healthy to the best of my knowledge." Swift said, his voice full of confidence.
'It isn't really a lie, I guess. I can't remember ever being ill.' He thought, rationalizing his answer to himself. The doctor accepted it with ease and wrote a few more things down before stamping a large box at the bottom of the paper.
"As for my lack of a cutie mark, I haven't ever had one as far as I know." He added, hoping it was enough of an explanation.
"Hmm. Well missing a cutie mark shouldn't stop you from flying, and the rest sounds good. Take this to the room at the end of the hall and they will get your paperwork set up. Best of luck." The doctor handed a slip of paper with Swifts patient number and a clean bill of health marked on it before moving to the next room for another pegasus who also was looking to be a weather pony.
Once Swift reached the end of the hall, he found a room with a rather large stallion sitting behind a desk, with several filling cabinets behind him. One was marked for Ponyville, the next for Canterlot, then Philadelphia and Manehatten past that.
'Wow, this guy must deal with every weather pony in Equestria at some point.' Swift realized as he sat down and handed the paper to the pegasus in charge, who was holding a hand out. No words were exchanged as the dark brown pegasus started filling out a thick file with information from the medical slip. Swift noticed this pony had no nameplate, and obviously wasn't keen on introductions since Swift had been standing there for a full minute. Swift started getting impatient when the pegasus spoke abruptly.
"City?" It was short, and at the same time unclear.
"Excuse me?" Swift had no clue what this guy meant. The pegasus took a deep breath and looked up at him, his green eyes almost drilling into Swift.
'What a Jerk. Maybe that's his name.' Swift almost laughed at his own thought, but stayed serious.
"What city are you wanting to work weather in?" 'Jerk' asked, bluntly.
"Oh, Ponyville. I thought Rainbow Dash already set stuff up?" Swift answered, and explained a bit. Hopefully that info would speed this up, as Swift was quickly not wanting to deal with this pony any longer than needed. Perhaps this was the real reason Dash bolted when they got here...
"Rainbow Dash huh? You must be the one she is taking as apprentice. Just what we need, another wild pegasus out there. What's your name?" The pony spoke, his gruff attitude getting more and more sour by the minute. Swift's eyes narrowed as this pony insulted his best friend.
"Swift. And I'm not a.." Swift answered, and started to defend Dash but was cut off.
"Swift what?" The pony looked back up at Swift, expected his last name.
"...just Swift." Swift decided to take a page from this ponies book and just be blunt and to the point.
"You have no last name?" Swift mentally rolled his eyes. Of course once he starts to mimic the guy, the brown pony would change everything. When he asked this question, he sounded very confused. When Swift was about to answer, he noticed the receptionist that had been by the door also was looking at him confused.
'Is it odd to have just one name? Fluttershy only has one name....I think...' Swift started thinking through all the pegasi he had met and most all of them indeed had two names, or two word names at least.
"Yeah, long story, but I'm just Swift." Swift finally answered, hoping saying it was a long story would stop further questions on his name. Luckily it seemed that way, as after a pause and skeptical look from this pony, he simply wrote 'Swift' on the file and continued with his questions. Mostly they were about his age (unknown, but he knew Rainbow was right on seventeen, so best use that), height, weight, and career goal. The last one stumped Swift, so to basically ruffle the brown pegasi's feathers he simply answered:
"Not sure, probably just above your position. Yeah, I wouldn't mind being your boss." Swift's smirk probably didn't help, as his opponent gave him a very frustrated look before closing the file.
"Alright smartypants. You are cleared for flight duty. Rainbow Dash is your direct supervisor. She will be training you and reporting on your progress. In six weeks we will re-evaluate you for removal from apprenticeship and being placed along side Rainbow Dash on her team. You're free to go." He finally said, turning to place the file in a cabinet and calling for the next pony. Swift didn't stick around and walked out of the office, which also put him out of the building.
The C.W.C.O. was located in Cloudsdale, just at the edge of town. As he walked out, he spotted Rainbow Dash waiting for him.
"Hey Swift! How did it go? You cleared to fly?" She asked, flying over and landing beside him. Swift's smile told her all she needed to know and she gave him a friendly hug before he could answer.
"I knew you could do it. All your reading and my flying lessons guaranteed it. No problems I assume?" She asked as she released him and the two started flying up and away from Cloudsdale towards Ponyville. The flight only took a couple of hours at the speeds they would go (Dash could do it in half an hour easy, or so she said), so Swift decided to bring up the one hitch he had.
"Well, mostly it was all well, but everyone seemed confused by my name being just Swift. Possibly more so than just my lack of a cutie mark. Is that odd?" Swift asked as they glided through the sky. Dash simply smiled as she realized the issue.
"I'm sure you have read some history at Twilight's, given your constant trips there." Dash started, her voice almost sounding a bit sour at the end Swift noted, but continued listening after nodding that he had read history books.
"So you know before all three pony tribes were merged, the pegasi lands were very militaristic. Families always had names that tended to their jobs or primary traits, and even today, hundreds of years later, our names and jobs tend to line up. Take my name, Rainbow Dash. We were called the Dash family because before the unification my family were messengers for the rulers and military commanders." Dash explained as the banked around a large cloud formation, flipping around one another in nested barrel rolls, a trick they had practiced a couple of times and found they could do with ease. Swift took in what Dash was explaining and considered the pegasi he knew.
"So you were Dash because you were fast and thus used to deliver messages and the likes. What about Fluttershy, she only has one name?" Swift asked as the leveled out yet again. Dash shook her head, indicating Swift wasn't as correct as the thought.
"We call her Fluttershy, and it is indeed her name, but Flutter Shy would have been her name back then. Though now that you mention it, I'm not sure why they had the name of Shy. It certainly fits her though you must admit." She explained, her own thoughts wondering what Fluttershy's family could have been to get a name such as Shy. Swift simply nodded that the name did fit.
"What about that one Wonderbolt you mentioned. Soarin' I think was his name?" Swift was understanding the reasons Dash was explaining, but there seemed to be a lot of loop holes in this logic.
"Oh, Soarin' is just his first name. Though again I don't know his family name. Spitfire however would have been Spit Fire, and again you would have to ask her what her family did. Most pegasi families know where they came from, but it isn't something we tend to share. No real point in it." Dash looped in place for a moment, stretching her back mid-flight while she explained this bit of information. Swift banked hard to the left in a loop perpendicular to Dash's and met up beside her as she leveled out. A grin was on her face as the linked back up, directed directly at Swift.
"Hey hey, well done timing that. We will get you stunt flying in no time at all!" She shouted, excited at the prospect. Swift joined in her excitement, his curiosity at the name issue from earlier sated.
"Well Dash, first things first. Race you to Ponyville. One,Two,Three,GO!" Swift counted fast and took off before Dash registered.
"Hey, that's my trick!" Dash shot off full speed after her best friend.
------------------------------------
"GAH! What is the trick!" Twilight Sparkle slammed her head against the desk she was sitting at studying. She had found this book the day after Swift got out of the hospital and it was fascinating. The whole premise of the book involved Chaos Magic, which apparently was the opposite of the type of magic she had always been taught. The book, 'Discord Theory', explained how her magic, Order Magic, was basically law abiding, and that because ponykind knew those laws, they could control the magic. Chaos Magic however did not follow laws, and was, for lack of a better word, chaotic.
"Everything follows rules, but according to Discord Theory this magic doesn't. How could it be controlled then. How could you even study something you had no basic way of controlling?!" She spoke aloud again, though part of her mind reminded her that the book had stated that it was theory because a stable point of chaos magic, or result of it, had ever been produced. The only known practitioner of it was Discord, hence the name of the entire theory, and clearly he was not someone to ask for help.
"I need to start all over. There has to be a way to isolate this magic." Twilight turned to get another book and jumped when she saw Spike standing by the door, looking at her oddly.
"GOD Spike! You scared me. Why are you just standing there?" She asked, catching her breath. Spike grinned at the fact that he had made her jump. It hadn't been intentional, but even accidental pranks can be fun. Rainbow Dash had taught him as much.
"Sorry Twilight. I was coming to see if you needed anything from the market, but you were talking to yourself and sounded upset. What's wrong?" Spike asked, his mirth at the incident passing as he moved to help Twilight. She did so much for him that the little dragon always took any chance to help her in return. She was as much a Sister or Mother to him as a friend.
Twilight thought about if she should even try explaining it. Had it been anyone else, she would have passed instantly and just redirected to whatever they had arrived for, but Spike had been around so long she knew even if he didn't understand, he might still have some insight she missed.
"Well Spike, this book I'm reading is discussing chaos magic, but it almost seams to contradict itself. It has all these guidelines about stuff chaos magic does and theory on how it works, but then says we can't test or even verify this stuff because chaos magic can't be controlled. How can we know stuff we can't prove, about something we can't control?" She asked, hoping Spike might have some random bit of inspiration. Spike took what Twilight had explained and mulled it over in his head, his eyes locking on the ceiling as he scratched his chin. Twilight recognized the look and knew Spike was giving it all his thought power currently, which meant a lot to the Element of Magic. Finally Spike looked her in the eye and said just one word.
"Celestia."
Twilight shot Spike a look of confusion.
"What? Celestia? Spike, the Princess is an Alicorn, the ultimate form of Order Magic. She can't do anything with chaos magic." Twilight spoke, almost starting to ramble before Spike cut her off.
"No no, I'm not saying she can use chaos magic, but she has been around for thousands of years. She was around even before the author of that book was born. She probably knows something about chaos magic. Maybe a way of controlling it or at least measuring it. Ask her." Spike explained as he pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill. Twilight smiled warmly to the dragon, realizing he was right. Celestia could help her get past this block, so best to send a letter.
"Very well. Spike, take a letter." She began, sharing a smile with the dragon at their customary beginning to these letter writing sessions.
--------------------------------
Dear Princess Celestia,
I apologize for taking so long to send you a letter. Things in Ponyville have been interesting this past week. Nothing bad, but just interesting things.
About a week ago, a strange pegasus crashed into Sweet Apple Acres and was hurt pretty badly. Rainbow Dash and I were brought in to help with his treatment. Rainbow was brought in to see if she could figure out what he was doing to hurt himself (they assumed a failed areal stunt, and Rainbow is the town expert), and with me they wanted help identifying the poor stallion. The odd thing was he has no cutie mark, but is as old as Rainbow or myself. I have never heard of a pony going so long without gaining their cutie mark, and I checked him over for magical spells, and he wasn't enchanted.
After Rainbow and I gave our views on the issue and were about to leave, the pony woke up and revealed he had no memory of who, or even what, he was. After we calmed him down from his understandable panic, we managed to get some further answers, though nothing to help with who he was or why he crashed. After a short discussion he decided to take on the name Swift until he remembers more about himself.
Since then Swift has been helping out around town, and helped me sort new books in the library. At least he helps when he isn't out flying with Rainbow Dash. The two of them have grown close over the week and have become the best of friends. I personally think Rainbow is just happy to have someone as excited for flying around, and Swift is happy to have a friend who can teach him such things. Today he should be in Cloudsdale signing up as a weather pony to work beside Rainbow.
Rarity thinks there is more going on between the two, but the thought of Rainbow in any sort of romantic relationship is laughable at best. She is in love with the spotlight and the sky.
The other thing, specifically the reason I am thinking to write this letter, is a book we got in the library recently. It was an older book from a collection in Manehatten called 'Discord Theory.' The book is facinating, and discusses the existence of chaos magic such as what Discord used during his attacks. I was excited to dive in and learn this new realm of magic.
Only, I can't. Everything the book says is contradictory. Stuff like "chaos magic follows no law" but then says "chaos magic will always do this and that" as well as "chaos magic does x, but we never have studied it as it is impossible." How can any of this make sense. I'm starting to wonder if this book isn't some giant joke and should be filed under fiction. Spike mentioned you might have more information, so I beseech you to help me if you know anything. Especially if I'm right and it is a joke.
That's all the big news here in Ponyville. I hope you are doing well and please tell Princess Luna I hope she is doing well too.
Your Faithful Student,
Twilight Sparkle
----------------------------
A brief plum of green fire and the scroll with Twilight's message was sent.
"There you go Twilight. Now was there anything you wanted from the market?" Spike asked, as he put the quill away and made his way to the front door.
"Just pick up some more hey fries. I know we are out and I enjoy munching on them when studying." Twilight said as she moved back over and opened the book Discord Theory again. Spike simply nodded, the hay fries being the top of his list already, and headed out the door, leaving Twilight alone again.
"Ok, with that done, back to this. There has to be a way to find a nexus of chaos." Twilight knew there must be a way, and she was determined to find it.
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Its kinda funny trying to imagen dash doing that test lol
and I gotta say your pegases naming theory is pretty damn interesing and cool
1133973 Haha yeah I had similar thoughts when writing it. As I was writing the test part my Dash plushy was next to me and I swear I could hear her voice going "GOD I HATE TESTS! Why are for forcing Swift to do that too?!
" lol
As for the pegasi naming stuff, I just noticed it while watching the show that MOST of the pegasi have a name where the second part relates to them strongly (which is obviously intended, but with some ponies the first name worked more, with pegasi, the last was more consistent) and from their this whole part of the world built up.
Thanks for the continued interest and comments. I love when people leave comments here so I can hear from my readers. Glad you are still enjoying the story as well.
I usually skip over amnesia stories, but you've got my interest with this one. Possibly because Swift isn't angsting over it much and is a lot like Dash.
I wonder how they will react when they find out that Swift can use chaos magic.
1144714 Should be by this weekend. I'm currently working on the next chapter
1134028 Thank you for sticking around and I'm glad you are enjoying it. As for Swift not angsting about it, like he said in the first couple of chapters, he can't remember anything, and with nothing taunting him for the past, it isn't something steady on his mind. Plus he likes to live in the moment like our favorite multi chromatic pony
so far this is an interesting story and i think that it is A okay for plushies to talk my lyra one does but she always wants me to hold her with my hands.
Wait... so does that mean Scootaloo's decendants were toilent plungers or something XD
Chaos doesn't have to make sense. In any universe, in any form, not just relating to Discord. It can be both understandable and the opposite at the same time. Chaos is chaotic, and that is the best way to explain it.