Two sparrows descended on one window ledge of the great hall where Lieutenant Ash and the two Princesses were meeting. The stained glass depicting the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony was large with the characters being almost life size. The two sparrows nuzzled one another until a chyanne hoof shooed them away.
" come on get out of here!" said Rainbow Dash in a hushed voice.
" Dashy that was kind of rude!" Said a perky high pitched voice from down below. Rainbow looked down to Pinkie pie.
" Well excuse me, but they have other ledges they can do that on. I'm trying to listen here!” Her forelegs were crossed.
" Really Rainbow Dash you must be more stealthy. We wouldn't want the Lieutenant to see us...by the way, what does he look like?" Rarity said to Rainbowdash. Rainbow Dash was hovering over her two friends in the courtyard just outside the Audience hall. Pinkie was hopping up and down excitedly along side an expectantly smiling Rarity. The window was elevated too far up for Pinkie and Rarity to see into it so Rainbow dash had to relay everything to them.
" Rarity, we're here as the Review committee, I want to see how this guy acts with and without Twilight being around, not how he looks..." Rainbow Dash exclaimed. Rarity was still smiling and expecting Rainbow to answer her question. Rainbow then caved to her request.
" Ugh... He's dark grey with gold eyes and a gold mane and tale. He's in his black armor and he looks tough I guess." said Rainbow.
" Is he handsome?" Rarity prodded. Rainbow Dash then lost her patience.
" What the Hay Rarity? I don't care about that right now!" Rainbow turned back to the window to listen in. Rarity scrunched her nose in disappointment.
Ash was now on all fours at attention awaiting for the next question from either of the Princesses. Twilight managed to make eye contact with Ash, but quickly turned her gaze to a window.
" How was the trip here from Fillydelphia?" Celestia asked. Her posture was slightly more relaxed.
" Your Majesty, the flight was pleasant as we made a few stops on our way here." Ash replied. He was maintaining his professional soldier demeanor.
" You don't have to be so formal Ash, I would rather this meeting be casual. Right Twilight?" Celestia looked at her former pupil who was shocked to hear her name. Twilight nervously giggled and then composed herself as well as she could. She then replied,
" Um, Yes Princess, I wouldn't want my new Royal Guard captain to be nervous! he he!" She ended with another nervous giggle. Her eyes darted from Ash to Celestia. Ash tilted his head in confusion.
" Is it possible she's...nervous? Why?" he thought to himself. Then Ash realised what Twilight had called him. Realising the implications of what that meant, Ash began to tentatively asked,
"Your Highness, with all due respect..." Ash managed to get out before Celestia cleared her throat and stared at Ash. He then corrected himself,
"...I mean, Twilight, did you mean to tell me that I'm being reassigned as head of your personal guard detail?" Twilight only then realised that she had spilled the beans. It wasn't that it was meant to be a secret, but it did seem out of place to tell him like she did.
" Yes Ash, that is exactly what she told you. Congratulations!" Celestia smiled and turned her gaze to Twilight. Twilight wore a sheepish grin.
" Is there something else you would like to say to the Captain Princess Twilight?" Asked Celestia. Twilight thought to herself and decided she did.
" Yes Princess, I do. Captain Ash, As the head of my new Friendship guard, you will be at my side daily. Because of this, I need to be able to trust you. Do you agree?" Ash was listening intently.
" Yes Princess, 100 percent!" Ash replied. A slight smirk appeared from the corner of his mouth. Inwardly though, Ash thought to himself,
“ Is this really happening? Why would she pick me over everypony else who applied for this position. Even Commander Blue wind would have been a better choice; She's an actual Solar guard.” His mind was running various reasons trying to isolate why Twilight had come to this decision.
" Very well Captain, then I trust that we can talk about you more so that I can understand you a little better?" Twilight added. Ashes ears perked.
“ Oh shit, she wants to know more about my personal life…. Not…. good…” Ash could feel his heart begin to race a little. He really didn’t want to tell the princess about certain things.
" As you wish Princess, I'm an open book." Ash sounded almost cocky. Inside he felt very nervous which he struggled to conceal.
( Canterlot four years prior to Twilight's coronation)
"... And that concludes our lessons for today Twilight, do you have any questions?" Celestia asked her prodigy. The day was bright and sunny. The birds were out and about, chirping away the afternoon. Princess Celestia and Twilight were in a classroom set aside for them at the Academy. Twilight occupied the desk front and center and it was covered in scrolls for note taking, an inkwell and several quills; some of them used.
" Oh yes princess, I was wondering, why Tyrus is not considered a classical alchemist?" Twilight asked as her horn glowed with magic, levitating a quill over her parchment. She was ready to scribble down any information the Princess had to offer. Celestia smiled as she always did at her student. Twilight's inquisitive nature never seemed to get old. Celestia replied,
" Many of his experiments implemented new spells that improved the metamorphosis phase of alchemy and many of them were non nature based spells. In short, he did not adhere to the strict rules of classical Alchemy." As Celesta finished her lecture the bell struck 2:00pm. Twilight finished writing what the Princess said, down.
" well looks like that is it Twilight, I better hurry and get to my meeting with the head of agriculture." Celestia chimed.
" Yes Princess, I should be heading off too. Spike's probably hungry." They both giggled at this. Twilight packed her supplies and was out the door but not before she bowed to the Princess. Princess Celestia watched her pupil race out the door.
Cadet major Ash of the Canterlot army academy was out at the training field alone, He was working on learning an offensive spell that was difficult to learn. He set up a plank of wood ten meters from where he was standing and was concentrating his magic. His Horn glowed an orange hue and sweat ran down his face from under his helmet. Every time it ran into his eyes, he would lose focus and the spell wouldn't work.
" Well, well, what do we have here? It's an army mule, in training!" Said a voice from off in the distance as he laughed. Ash rolled his eyes and turned to face three Royal guard cadets trotting up towards him.
" Oh and if it isn't a bunch of Royal Pains who came to grace me with their presence!" Ash retorted. " What do you want Blitz?" Ash directed to the ring leader of the bunch.
" Oh I heard you were trying to learn a new trick, so I came to see you fail!" Blitz taunted. His two friends stood on either side of him mimicking his posture and smile.
" Yep that's right, I'm learning a new spell to fight! What do you all do these days, learn to polish armor or something like that?"Ash retorted. Blitz narrowed his eyes.
" I can kick your flank any day loser! How about I do it now!" Blitz stood on his two hind legs and pounded his right hoof into his left one.
" Oh no! I'm so scared!" Ash said sarcastically " You know what, why don't you go play Royal Guard somewhere else. I have important things to do!"
" You're not worth my time fighting, Blank Flank! Now Hurry up and fail for me!" Blitz scoffed. Ash frowned at Blitz and turned his horn towards the plank of wood. He took careful aim and concentration, Then his Horn began to glow even brighter than before.
Celestia waited a while before she began to trot towards the door to the classroom. Suddenly there was a bright flash of red orange light that appeared from outside and then a loud boom thundered. Celestia spun around to look out the windows to see the training field engulfed in flames. It wsn’t long before her two guards that were posted outside the door rushed into the classroom.
" Princess, are you alright!" One yelled to Celestia.
" Yes, I'm fine, But what happened?" Celestia demanded. The second guard was staring out the window as he said,
" Maybe it's a dragon!" His limbs were quivering. Celestia, realising the situation had become critical, began to shout to her guards,
" We need to go see, Ponies might be hurt!" The two guards nodded their heads in unison and they followed their Princess out the window and were flying with her to the fire. Four cadets were making their way out of the smoke and were greeted with yelling and questions. Ash fell to his knees and was coughing. His Face was black and some of his coat was missing. Into the field came the trainer on duty.
" What happened? Who's responsible for this?" He yelled at the four colts.
" This freak did it! He tried to kill us!" Blitz pointed an accusing hoof at Ash. Ash finished a fit of coughing before he spoke,
“This is my fault sir, I was trying to learn how to cast the inferno spell!” The training officer looked at ash with shock; he didn’t think anypony could cast such a spell, especially such a young and inexperienced cadet.
Many of the Ponies began to fight the fire before it spread. The Canterlot fire dept. began hosing down the field and Ash was taken to the infirmary. Ash was questioned about the fire and to the investigators surprise, he didn't deny his fault in the incident. Because Ash had submitted a request to attempt the spell, he wasn’t completely at fault. The spell was a nature based fire spell and was a lost art. Nopony had ever successfully cast it for centuries so no pony ever thought to supervise him.
Ash was ordered to stay in the infirmary for the night so he could be treated for his smoke inhalation. As the day progressed he had a visit from a very concerned filly. She made her way to his bed. Ash woke up and saw her gold armor.
" What do you Royal pains want?" Ash demanded bitterly. Despite only suffering first degree burns, his face was covered in bandages. Embers worry struck face then turned into a look of annoyance.
" Ash that was pretty rude, and here I was trying to make you feel better with this apple pie." Ash turned to look at her. Balanced on her left wing was a freshly baked, granny smith apple pie.
" Oops, sorry. You know I didn't mean you when I said that?” He said with a smile. Blue Ember frowned at him so Ash tried to dodge the subject.
"So... did you make that pie yourself?" Ash asked. Ember shook her head,
" No sorry, this time I picked it up at the bakery." Ash looked dejected and Ember tilted her head in confusion.
" But I like your apple pies better! Oh well thanks anyways. " Ash said dejectedly while levitating the pie to him. Ember turned to hide her sudden blushing cheeks. It was hard for her to take a compliment from him and not turn into a nervous wreck. Even his smallest complements made her flush red.
" So I heard you've been wanting to be assigned to the 125 battalion in Southern Equestria." She said to change the subject. Ash perked up a bit at this as he was very excited about the prospects of finally getting a real military assignment and a command of his own platoon.
“Yeah I should be heading out a week after graduation for more training!" he said with excitement. However, Ember was not smiling at all. Her back was still facing Ash. In the eight years she had known Ash, she couldn't bring herself to tell him one secret she kept ever since she had met him. However, today was the day she would tell him, otherwise she might not get another chance to spend hearts and hooves day with him. She bit her lip and steeled herself. Then she turned to face him.
" Ash, I have something to tell you!" Ash had a mouth full of pie and he swallowed it as she spoke.
“ What, did you find somepony special for tomorrow?" He playfully asked.
" Well... maybe." She said looking down. To her, it was kind of ironic that he’d bring that up. She knew he was teasing her, especially since he had altogether, given up on trying to get Twilight Sparkle to notice him. She was far to above him anyway.
" Oh is it that orange stallion from that bakery! Oh wait I know! It's that one …." Ember stomped the ground with her right fore hoof in frustration.
" No...Ash will you Shut up for two seconds!" Her piercing blue eyes stared into his, which peered through gaps in the bandages. Ash put his fore hooves up defensively with a sheepish grin.
" Ok, ok who is it?" Ash asked. Ember was lost in her thoughts now. She wasn't sure how to continue from there even though she knew what to say. Ash threw her off so she felt like she couldn't tell him at all. Her face was flushed and her head sunk. With a sigh of frustration she said,
" ….Never mind Ash." She felt as if she was defeated. Ash saw that she was having a lot of emotions and for someone as tough as her to be like that, she had to have something of a doozy on her mind. Ash closed the door and locked it with his magic, then he scooted an empty bed so that it knocked Ember on it and made her sit down.
" No, you're going to tell me now, I'm all ears!" Ash glared at Ember as he waited for her to tell him what was on her mind.
" Ash.. I..don't..." Ember attempted to stave off Ash’s new interest in her problem.
" Say it!" He said, staring her in her eyes. Ember swallowed the lump that was in her throat, yet it didn’t seem to go away. Her heart raced as she was now faced with the prospect of actually getting her confession out. The one thing she couldn’t bring herself to say, yet she dreamed of telling him for years, was now threatening to blurt out of her mouth. Ember took a deep breath and then,
" I …..have a ...crush on ….you!" she said in a shaky voice. Ash dropped the apple pie on his bead. A moment of awkward silence hit the room. The very air was instantly still.
Every fearful thought in Embers mind was firing like a cacophony of mental pandemonium.
Ash stayed silent for a moment, trying to understand what she had just said. His friend, His best friend, just confessed to him. How long did she feel this way, what triggered it, and more importantly, what was he to do now? He sat staring at her with wide eyed shock, his mouth trying to form words. Finally his thoughts came together to form a sentence.
“How… long… did you feel this way?” He finally asked. Ember looked down at the tile.
“ Eight years…” She replied shyly.
“This whole time?” He asked.
“ Yeah.” She said with tears now welling up in her eyes. She could just feel that his rejection was imminent. She was now wanting to gallop out of that room and keep going forever.
“ But… you tried to help me get Twilight’s attention… all those times!” He asked remembering all the schemes she helped him with in trying to get Twilight Sparkle to notice him, which all failed.
“ I really care about you!” She said as if it was a fact as clear as day; as if he should have known. Ash’s eyes grew even wider with shock but then he looked away out the window into the sunset. A moment of silence past yet again. Both friends gazed in their respective areas of the room in deep contemplation.
“ You really care about me?” He asked tentatively as he looked to her. Ember noded still looking to the tile floor. Ash thought for a moment, then, with a smile, he spoke,
“ You should have said something sooner. I thought you were wanting to just be a good friend.” Ember looked up with a look of confusion. Ash smiled even wider at her and added,
“ You know, I really care about you too.” His voice seemed more afraid. The two of them stared into each other's eyes. Embers seemed to let the water works go as her tears flowed down her cheeks.
“ Do you mean…” Ember began to ask, but she was cut off.
“ I’m not sure why I ever chased after anypony else, You’ve been at my side this whole time. You never did anything to me that was mean spirited and to be honest, You’ve only looked cutter the older we’ve gotten. I never said anything because I though you just wanted me to be you’re friend!” Ash blurted out his words in rapid succession. A shocked Ember Could only stand there quivering with emotions. How long she waited to hear these words from her best friend. The only thing she felt like doing now was jumping into his fore legs. It wasn’t long before that became a reality.
Celestia was in her personal chambers looking over cadet records. She found the one she had been looking for and levitated it out of the box with the others. It Read " Cadet Major Ash, Company A" Celestia took a sip of tea from her levitated cup and then sat it down on her desk. She read the record over and took note of the unit he would be assigned to. She noticed that he had requested to be assigned to the army's elite reconnaissance group. From his records Princess Celestia could tell that he was very studious and had a high esprit de corp for the Equestrian army. Also the fact that he had cast a spell that she hadn't seen for over seven centuries drover her to write a letter approving his request into the 125 battalion's RAC (Reconnaissance and Advanced Combat) unit.