From the Ashes: Ember's Story

by Zoljen

Boom

Ember sighed as she flopped onto the couch of her home. Quicktail was due home soon. Turns out during that second round against the Shadowbolts, they brought forth some flying airbase thing. That idea sounded so wrong to her, and yet it was real.

She saw the state Luna was in afterward, whatever else that floating base did be just as absurd. They should have just abandoned the base, let the Shadowbolts have it for their glory. But it seemed Spitfire was adamant about staying, hoping they wouldn't be back again tomorrow.

She sighed and stared at the statues on her mantle. The unicorn statue, standing next to the hippogryph statue. It looked like both statues were defending each other, the hippogryph standing slightly above the unicorn. Her eyes shifted slightly to the side, staring at a pair of cleaned deep blue leg guards that she had put there.

She continued to stare at them, unaware of her surroundings until she heard the door close. She blinked and looked at it, spotting Quicktail already removing his armored clothing. She let out a soft sigh and went back to staring at her mantle and the statues.

“Something wrong dear?” Quicktail asked once he was finally free from his armor and trotting over.

“Why did you want to join the Sky Wings?” Ember asked as she barely glanced at the griffin as he gently climbed onto the couch and snuggled on top of her.

“Well, originally it was to just follow my dad. But after a certain friend proved that even she could defend griffins from harm. I wanted to do the same,” he grinned looking down at her as she looked up at him.

“So, the same reason Talon is currently fighting… To protect.”

“Yeah, basically.” He rested head on hers as she stared at the mantle again, “You're thinking about him again, aren't you?”

Ember nodded slightly, “He said not to worry, but… I can't help it.” She sighed, resting her head on the couch cushion, “I worry for him because those Shadowbolts… nearly won.”

“Yeah, that was a scary sight. Seeing that beam come crashing down over their base and blocked by a blue shield. And that battle before it showed up? That was awesome!” Quicktail grinned, then blinked as Ember was looking up at him, glaring. “What?”

“I was right UNDER that shield!” Ember growled, continuing to glare at him as he squeaked.

“Sorry! I didn't know! But how did you not see it?” Quicktail squeaked as Ember wiggled out from under him, making him flop onto the couch as she stood and took a few steps towards the mantle.

“I was kept in the basement of the Compound. I felt something above when I detected a sudden bit of panic, even that far underground.” She sighed with a faint growl, “And Talon is going to stay, fight them when they probably come back again tomorrow!” She stamped a hoof, turning to glare at the statue. “I don't want to lose him again!”

Quicktail slowly got up and walked over to Ember, draping a wing over her as he felt her shaking. He sighed softly, as she turned and buried her muzzle into his chest.

“I don't…” Ember trailed off, her sobs taking over as Quicktail sat, pulling her closer to him and hugged her.

“He is a soldier, he will continue to fight until he can't move.” Quicktail softly stroked through her mane, looking down at her, “Nothing I can say will help, because it's what I’d do too. Come on, we should get to bed.” He gently tugged on Ember, and she willingly followed him to their bed, where he gently laid her down and joined her.

---

“They brought… WHAT?!” Rime and Crimson exclaimed at the same time as Ember explained what was going on while she was checking up on them. Rime was sitting up, just staring slack-jawed at Ember as she nodded back.

“I was right under it. I wouldn't be surprised if it showed back up today.” Ember sighed, looking down.

“But our home, the Cirrus, was destroyed half a year ago! I know! I saw it happen!” Crimson shook his head, “To have that base back up and firing magic bolts of that size? How…”

Ember glanced at him for a moment, then looked back at Rime, “Your arm is healing nicely, you will still have a limp, but it won't be crippling.” Ember tried to change the subject, “And I noticed that wheeze is gone.”

“Yeah…” Rime muttered, looking down.

“Sorry…” Ember sighed again and turned to Crimson. Ember took a step towards him, then stopped as she felt a hoof land on her, she turned partially back to Rime.

“It's just hard knowing we can't do anything, while everypony else fights.” Rime grinned weakly, “Even a changeling is fighting our battle.”

“Talon is stubborn, and he shouldn't be doing this.”

“Imagine you in his place, if you were the soldier. Would you be doing the same thing?”

Ember blinked, then looked down. She sighed and nodded, “Yes, I would.” She looked up at her, “Thanks.” She walked over to Crimson and looked over his wings, they weren't wrapped up as badly as they were before, but the braces were still in place.

“They don't hurt much anymore, but I'm still effectively ground bound. Aren't I?” Crimson asked, glancing back at his wings.

“Well, for now, you are. But I happen to know somepony who could help you get back in the sky.” Ember chuckled as Crimson visibly brightened up.

“Oh? How?”

“It's a long and complicated process that she could explain better. And she’s already done it once before. Granted, her subjects wings were… far worse than yours.” Ember winced, “Weather factory accident. The wings were pretty bad.”

Crimson cringed, “Ouch…”

“Yea, you still have all your feathers. And it appears it's mostly just the bone that damaged, some of the muscles too but all are fixable.” She paused, looking the wings over with her magic glowing, “Who knows, might not even need that procedure.” Ember shrugged some. “You won't be able to fly and fight as you did before, but the standard flight is still possible.”

Crimson let out a sigh, looking at Rime, “That's good to hear, given I am hearing it from an expert on wings.”

“Don't know what you're talking about Crimson, I don't have any wings,” Ember smirked faintly, looking up at him.

“Well, we can -” He was cut off as the door to their room suddenly opened, a stallion standing there, panting.

“Ember! We need to get these two secured!”

Ember looked at him, shocked. “Why?”

“IT'S BACK!” He yelled before leaving moving onto the next room.

The three just looked at each other, Crimson quickly hopped out of bed as Ember moved over to Rime. Crimson moved to help with Rime as well, as Ember helped her out of the bed.

“Her limp is going to slow her down,” Ember grunted as she had Rime lean on her.

“Then put her on my back, I can carry her,” Crimson stated, as he lowered himself down, Ember nodding in response, her magic starting up as Rime suddenly felt herself get picked up and placed on Crimsons back. “Huh, that's some strong magic you have.”

“Mine is better than Talon’s if you're wondering,” Ember smirked as she led them out the door and into the hallway, turning and heading for the nearest elevator and making sure they followed. As they moved along, they passed by a few windows, which allowed Rime to look out, and see the horrible sight that she was told about moments ago.

“Sweet foal Luna…” She murmured, making Ember glance up to her. “You were right, it's back.”

Crimson stopped and looked out the window as well, Ember doing the same. Her ears going back as she noticed it hover above the Wonderbolt compound.

“What are they doing?” Crimson asked, glancing at Ember who had her face pressed to the window.

“They must be getting the injured out… They should have done that a lot sooner though.” Ember muttered, “get out of there…” she whispered to herself.

“Come on, we need to get some place safe. Let's go Ember!” Crimson reached up and tugged on Ember, “They’ll be fine. If things go south, they will flee.” Ember sighed, pulling herself away from the window.

“You’d better be right, come on!” Ember lead them away from the window and towards one the stairs that led down. They both stopped and stared down them, looking at each other. “Uhh… right…”

“Where would the best way down be?” Crimson glanced at Ember, “Because unless you float her down the whole way, that's a death trap.”

Ember sighed, spinning around and taking a few steps from the stairs. “Elevators are out right now, our best bet would be to hide out in a lounge or back in the room.”

“Then back to the room, and why are the elevators out?” Crimson asked, walking back with Ember to their room.

“Something must have hit them, or maybe all that pink magic in the air is making it go on the fritz. Nopony knows for sure,” Ember shrugged as she led them back. “Had I been thinking, we should've bunkered down in there.”

“You have a lot on your… mind…” Rime trailed off, glancing out the window as they passed it. “What in Tartarus?”

Her question caused both of them to stop and turn, seeing the Shadowbolt fortress hovering directly above the Wonderbolt compound. But something was off, the Wonderbolt compound had changed, it had poles, propellers, and was slowly lifting off the ground! In fact, it was quickly getting air as its smokestacks seemed to be spewing out tons of smoke.

Ember and Crimson turned to directly face the window, staring slack-jawed at the sight before them. The Wonderbolt compound was lifting off! Crimson blinked as he noticed the Shadowbolts fortresses cannon start to glow.

“Uh, Ember, we should move from the window!” He said, taking a step to the side to hide behind the wall. Ember kept her face pressed to the window as she watched the Wonderbolt compound gain air.

“Come on… make it!” She whispered, then closed her eyes as the bright flash of the Shadowbolts cannon fired. She shook her head and opened her eyes, looking back out just in time to see a rolling wall of smoke coming to her direction. “TALON!”

She suddenly grunted as her view shifted from the window to the wall, Crimson having tackled her to the ground just as it shattered and glass going everywhere as dust and soot flew in and clouded the hallway. The three were left coughing as the dust and smoke filled the hallway, having nowhere else to go.

After what seemed like minutes, the smoke settled leaving the trio covered in soot and dust. Crimson was the first to the window, looking back out and only able to see smoke. He sighed and looked back down to Ember, who was still coughing.

“Your welcome,” he stated with a grump, as he slowly picked Rime up. He had set her down when Ember didn't move from the window. Ember shakily got to her hooves, still coughing.

“Thanks,” she wheezed out.

Ember sighed, looking down the hallway and at the glass everywhere. She focused, making a little barrier to push the glass towards the wall and cleared a path towards their room. “You two get some rest in here, I have to go check in and see just how much things are screwed over.”

The pair nodded as they hobbled their way into their room.

Author's Note:

And we see the cannon firing off from the hospitals point of view. The next few days are detailed in Canterlot in Flames. So go give that a read. I do give a few words of caution, that story gets a bit dark and gorey at times. But it is well worth the read and Sylvian does summarize parts of what happens in it. Ember shows up quite a few times in the story as well. But I will try to summarize the parts she's involved with.

Comments

[harts fire]

And so it begins E is left behind as the battle moves off.
but now here is a interesting idea can talon and Ember use hive mind to talk?
this would be a huge help in the long run.

[Zoljen]

7280658
I had thought about that, but they can't. No central hub cuz the queen is dead. Plus Talon was displaced in time thanks to Discord. If the hive mind was a thing, they would have had no trouble finding each other after the fall. But some took nearly two decades to reunite. But a good idea anyway.

[Sylvian]

I forgot about Crimson and Rime xD I may need to poke them in the upcoming chapters of CiF...

Also, awesome story as usual :3

[harts fire]

7280750
a vary good point.