Ash vs. Equestria: School Blaze

by CTVulpin

Ash vs. Friends and Family Day

Twilight Sparkle walked slowly into the garden courtyard of the school, frowning as she read through a checklist of tasks that needed to be completed before the end of the day. A small portion of the list had already been completed, but most of it couldn’t be handled until Chancellor Neighsay arrived to conduct his observation, and a couple new items had been scribbled on at the last minute of the morning’s staff meeting. Twilight was so engrossed in her reading and worrying that she paid no attention to her surroundings until she felt a hoof being planted gently yet insistently against the base of her throat. “Imminent collision warning,” the hoof’s owner said with suppressed humor. “Please remove the obstruction from your vision, Headmare Twilight.”

Twilight lowered her checklist to find herself a mere inch from Ashen Blaze’s face. “Oh, sorry Ash,” Twilight said, backing up a couple steps, “I didn’t see you there… Obviously.”

“I put myself in your path on purpose, actually,” Ash said, stepping aside to show Twilight that he was standing right on the edge of the courtyard’s fountain. “Didn’t think you’d appreciate getting soaked just before the big inspection. Sorry about missing the meeting this morning, by the way.”

“Ah,” Twilight said, standing open-mouthed as her brain took a second to catch up. “Don’t worry about it,” she said. “You already had to reschedule that check-up twice, so… How did it go?”

Ash smiled. “I’ve graduated to lifting things up to about two dozen apples in weight,” he said. “Doc still wants me to hold off on any actual spellwork, but,” he shrugged, “it’s progress. I can’t imagine the staff meeting was all that fun, anyway. I know Rarity had some complaints she wanted to voice, and there was that fight AJ and Starlight had to break up the other day...”

“The girls just needed a bit of a confidence boost,” Twilight said dismissively. “I’ll admit that things are still a bit rough, but we have the EEA guidelines to get us through it.”

“You say that,” Ash said, turning to look at one of the classroom windows across the courtyard, “but I’m seeing faculty morale and student engagement have both been on a pretty consistent decline after the novelty wore off after the first week. Are you sure we should be sticking so strictly to the book?”

Twilight gave Ash a pat on the back and said, “Have some faith in our friends, Ash. They’ll have these problems turned around before we know it.”

“Problems?” a stern voice said from behind the pair. Twilight an Ash whirled to see a thin, light grey unicorn stallion wearing a short-cut, high-collared, wine-purple robe and a red sash held in place by a large gold badge stepping out of a blue portal. Ash took in the newcomer’s appearance quickly before staring in slight awe at the portal as it closed.

“Chancellor Neighsay!” Twilight exclaimed, putting on a forced grin, “You’re here!”

“Yes,” Neighsay said simply, bringing out a clipboard and pencil. “And you seem… unprepared. If there are problems-”

“Problems?” Twilight cut in, starting to visibly sweat, “Ha! Of course not!”

Ash, sensing the state of panic his Headmare and good friend was in, pulled his attention away from trying to study the fading remnant’s of Neighsay’s portal and jumped to Twilight’s defense. “Unless by ‘problems,” he said quickly, “you mean the inevitable little road-bumps we’re still ironing out. After all, we’ve only been operating for two months; it’s not outside the realm of possibility that, say, our students, who we’ve drawn from all quarters, are still learning to get to know one another one another and adjust to the local culture.”

“I suppose not,” Neighsay said noncommittally. “And who would you be?” he asked, leaning closer to look Ash in the eye.

Ash met the Chancellor’s gaze and, without missing a beat, declared confidently, “I am Ashen Blaze, semi-retired leader of the Order-naries and current Professor of Applied Friendship. You might have heard of me.”

“Semi-retired?” Neighsay asked.

Ash tapped his horn and said, “Not on active duty for medical reasons.”

“I see,” Neighsay said, pulling out of Ash’s personal space and making a note on his clipboard. As he did so, Ash exchanged a glance with Twilight. Twilight looked like she’d gotten over her initial panic and gave Ash a grateful nod for his intervention. Ash nodded back, assured that Twilight could handle matters from there, and started to leave when Neighsay asked him another question: “If you’re a teacher here, Mr. Blaze, why are you not teaching a class at the moment? I believe a class period has just started?”

Twilight and Ash exchanged another glance, and Twilight gave Ash a small nod, permitting him to keep talking. “I’m on hall monitor duty today, actually,” Ash said. “Since our faculty is rather small at present and pretty much everypony has additional obligations outside the school-”

“Such as?” Neighsay interrupted.

“Aside from me with my duties as the Princess of Friendship,” Twilight answered, “the faculty includes a full-time Wonderbolt, one of the ponies in charge of the largest apple farm in Equestria, a fashion designer who owns multiple boutiques across the land, an event organizer who is constantly in high demand, and an animal caretaker.” She produced a small packet of papers and floated it over to Neighsay. “It was in my proposal, but here’s the class schedule I put together that allows my teachers to pursue their own careers while also meeting the guidelines.”

Chancellor Neighsay took the packet and flipped through it so quickly Ash wasn’t sure he’d actually read anything in it, but his frown softened ever-so-slightly and he said, “Well, that’s all in order, at the least. Now, I need to observe one of your classes in action.”

“Of course,” Twilight said brightly. “Right this way, Chancellor.” She led Neighsay to one of the courtyard doors, and Ash tagged along a little behind them. Although Twilight seemed to have averted a stress overload, Ash wanted to be ready to help her if something pushed her back to the edge. If Neighsay questioned his presence, Ash would simply claim his hall monitor patrol just happened to be taking him in the same direction as them.

They hadn’t gotten far inside when Rainbow Dash came zooming out of a connecting hallway and came to a quick, hovering stop in front of Twilight. “Rainbow Dash!” Twilight exclaimed, “why aren’t you in class, teaching?”

“Because my students are gone!” Rainbow exclaimed back. Suddenly realizing Twilight wasn’t alone, and that Chancellor Neighsay did not look pleased, Rainbow quickly tried to backpedal. “Gooone somewhere else. Doing a loyalty lesson,” she said, grinning too widely.

“Ok,” Ash cut in loudly, running up to place himself between Rainbow and Neighsay. Grabbing the pegasus’s head and pulling it down to his level, Ash hissed, “Don’t panic; act in control. Trying to fix the problem will go over better than trying to cover it up.” Rainbow nodded as best she could, given Ash’s grip. Looking over his shoulder at Neighsay, Ash smiled reassuringly and said, “I’ll handle this. Rounding up tardy and absent students is the hall monitor’s duty, after all.”

“Indeed it is,” Neighsay said, nodding slightly. “Be quick about it, though. Headmare, the class?”

“Uh,” Twilight said. Ash and Neighsay both gave her a look, and she snapped back into control. “Fluttershy’s Kindness class, then,” she said, setting off at a trot, the Chancellor following her but keeping his eye on Rainbow and Ash until he was fully past them.

“All right, Rainbow,” Ash said once the coast was clear, “please tell me it’s not your entire class that ditched on you.”

“No,” Rainbow said, “but most of it. Sandbar and the five non-pony students.”

“That’s… not the worst,” Ash said, releasing Rainbow’s head so he could rub his chin in thought. “Those six tend to stick together, even if they don’t quite get along yet. Go back to your class, Dash. I’ll handle this.”

“You sure you can do it alone?” Rainbow asked.

“No choice,” Ash said, “unless you want to risk the Chancellor poking his head into your unsupervised classroom as a surprise.”

Rainbow grimaced. “Good point,” she said, and zipped off back the way she’d come.

“Right then,” Ash muttered, walking off in a different direction, “where’d those chitiqul get off to?”

---

Out on the shore of the lake just outside Ponyville, the six truant students lounged and chatted, finding more common ground between each other.

“...and that’s why Griffons breathe fire when we get mad,” Gallus said.

“They do not!” Silverstream gasped. “Wait, do they? No. Really?”

“Griffons just full of… hot air!” Yona declared, which made everyone laugh.

“Heh,” smolder said, “and Yaks are actually good at jokes. How about that.”

“It’s almost a shame to break up this cute bonding moment,” came a voice from behind the group. The students started and turned around to see an ash-grey, fire-maned unicorn glaring down at them from higher on the shore.

“P-professor Ash!” Ocellus gasped. “We’re in trouble now, aren’t we?”

“Most astute,” Ash said, coming closer to the group. “Would some creature please explain why you all aren’t in class right now?”

While her friends “hem’d” and “ha’d”, Smolder stood up, folded her arms defiantly, and declared, “Classes stink!” When Ash didn’t immediately respond beyond raising an eyebrow, the rest of the group took heart and got up to voice their own objections.

“It’s so boring,” Silverstram said. “Every class feels exactly the same.”

“Pony school not teaching anything useful,” Yona added.

“Most of our teachers don’t seem to be enjoying themselves either,” Gallus said. “Just Professor Twilight, really. And maybe you.”

“We just needed a mental health break, you know?” Sandbar said.

Ash nodded thoughtfully, his expression softening. “I see,” he said. “Those are all good points, points that most of your teachers would agree with, and I can appreciate the need to take some time away from it all. But,” his expression hardened again, “you picked the worst possible day to do your little walk-out.”

“We were planning to go back for the Friends and Family Day activities,” Gallus said. “We’re only skipping out on one class. How bad can that be?”

“Friends and Family Day isn’t the issue, little Griffon,” Ash said. “Today is the day when the Equestrian Education Association decides whether or not the school is up to snuff, and they sent Chancellor Neighsay, who looks to be one of the coldest, most unbending stick-in-the-mud bureaucrats I have ever encountered. And that’s saying something. Headmare Twilight is already such a bundle of nerves just with him being around, and I had to run off and search for you six instead of sticking around to help convince the Chancellor to overlook the school’s issues long enough for us to be able to fix them.”

The students exchanged chastened and concerned looks, and the Yona raised a hoof. “If stick-in-mud pony say school stays open, then will teachers make school less boring?” she asked.

“I can’t make a promise I’m not sure I can keep,” Ash said, “but I can promise that once we pass this inspection, your other teachers and I will do our best to convince Twilight to let us loosen things up.” He looked up at the sun’s position and frowned as he calculated the time. “In any case,” he said, “it took me so long to find you chitiqul that-”

“What’d you call us?” Smolder asked, flaring her wings.

“Chitiqul,” Ash replied gently. “It just means ‘children’ where I come from.” Smolder lowered her wings, mollified. “As I was saying,” Ash resumed, “there doesn’t seem much point sending you back now just to catch the last five minutes or so of class. So long as you’re back on campus by the time the activities start, I’ll let you six off with just a verbal warning. Fair?”

“Fair,” the students all said, nodding.

“Good,” Ash said. “Verbal warning: do not skip classes in the future. If you need to miss a class for some reason, inform your teacher, the Guidance Counselor, or Headmare Twilight ahead of time. Further unexcused absences may affect your grades. Now,” he smiled, “make the most of the rest of your mental health break. I’ll see you back at the school.”

As Ash left the lake, the students all heaved sighs of relief. “That could have gone a lot worse,” Gallus said. “When I saw him standing there, I was certain he was going to curse us out while frog-marching us back to the school or something.”

“That,” Smolder agreed, “or blame Ocellus for all of us being out here.”

Ocellus rubbed on front leg against the other. “I think he was trying to ignore me as much possible,” she said. “Not that I mind.” She looked in the direction of the school and laid her ears flat. “Maybe we should just head back now,” she said, “and try to make up for the trouble we’ve caused?”

“Nah,” Smolder said, reclining back on the shore. “We’ve got a teacher’s permission to stay out here until Friends and Family Day starts, and I, for one, intend to make the most of that.”

---

Ash returned to the school at a leisurely pace, since he’d been out truant-hunting for so long that there was almost as little point in him getting back before Friends and Family Day as there was for the students to. When he reached the campus, he saw that a large number of adult ponies had already started gathering for the activities, and then a sight that made him regret his dawdling. Fluttershy was sitting a little way apart from the crowd with a posture that implied despair, an implication that was validated by the presence of Pinkie Pie attempting to simultaneously hug the pegasus and offer her a cupcake.

“What happened?” Ash asked, trotting up to them.

Fluttershy sniffled and looked up at Ash. “Oh,” she moaned, “I may have ruined everything.”

“How so?” Ash asked.

“I...” Fluttershy sniffled again. “I couldn’t get all the way through my lesson. Chancellor Neighsay was observing my class, and even when I wasn’t looking his way I could feel his eyes staring, judging me. I tried my best to muscle though, but I just couldn’t take it. I froze up, and Twilight had to jump in and take over. Now he’s going to deny the school’s accreditation and Twilight’s going to be crushed, and it’s all my fault.”

“Hey now,” Pinkie cut in, “the Chancellor didn’t actually say he wasn’t going to pass the school, did he?” Fluttershy shook her head slowly. “See?” Pinkie said, shoving the cupcake into Ash’s hooves so she could hug Fluttershy properly. “He’s a cranky old pony, but I’m sure that underneath it all he’ll be understanding. I mean, he’s in charge of all the teachers in Equestria, right? He has to know that school things don’t always go perfectly.”

“And I can probably bring him around if he’s not feeling nice,” Ash said, leaning down and holding the cupcake out to Fluttershy. “I think I managed to forge a connection with him as a fellow grouch.” He looked up as he heard the school’s main doors open and saw Neighsay and Twilight walking out, a nervous hitch apparent in the latter’s gait. “In fact,” Ash said, shoving the cupcake into Fluttershy’s grasp, “it looks like it’s already damage-control time. No more worries.” He cantered over to Twilight and Neighsay as Fluttershy sat a little straighter and took a bite out of the cupcake.

Before Ash could say a word, Neighsay fixed him with a hard look and said, “There you are; I was just wondering if you’d found the missing students yet.”

Ash nodded smartly. “It took longer than expected,” he said, “but yes, I found them and told them to get their hindquarters over here.”

“Is that all?” Neighsay asked, frowning.

Ash blinked. “It’s the first offense for each of them,” he said, “and they only missed one class period. That only warrants a verbal warning, doesn’t it?”

“Ordinarily, yes,” the Chancellor said, “but I would’ve administered a somewhat harsher punishment for disrupting normal operations during such a… crucial day.”

Red flag, Ash thought grimly. “I see,” he said, nonchalant. “If I may say so, our good Headmare here has been drilling us in doing things ‘by the book’ since day one, and your suggestion seems not very by-the-book, sir.”

Chancellor Neighsay’s eyes went wide momentarily, and he scratched out something on his clipboard as he schooled his expression back into line. “At least one other pony here knows their business,” he muttered.

So, was that just a test, Neighsay? Ash thought, Or did I actually hit a weak-point?

“Where are the students, Ash?” Twilight asked, looking around the area.

“They should be arriving any second,” Ash replied, looking in the direction of the lake. As Twilight and Neighsay turned to follow his gaze, the six truant students came racing into view. Gallus, Silverstream, and Smolder were flying, while Ocellus had evidently chosen to run alongside Yona and Sandbar rather than take flight as well. “Ah,” Ash said, “right-”

“Invasion!” Chancellor Neighsay yelled. “The school is under attack!”

Ash and Twilight both gave the Chancellor extremely concerned looks. “Uh, Chancellor,” Ash started to say, only to stop when he saw, out of the corner of his eye, Yona step on her own braid and trip. Ash quickly shoved Neighsay and Twilight out of the path of the tumbling Yak, but couldn’t get clear himself. As Yona bowled into him, Ash instinctively latched on and rolled with her for the last couple of feet, ending up partially pinned under her bulk.

“Yona,” Ash groaned, “we’ve talked about careless running.”

“Sorry,” Yona said. The rest of the students rushed over, and Smolder and Gallus lifted Yona off of Ash and put her on her feet.

“Are you ok?” Silverstream asked as she helped Ash get up.

“I’m fine. Nothing broken,” Ash said, mostly on reflex. He then actually checked himself over, ending with making sure his horn’s cast was still intact. “Nothing that wasn’t already broken, that is,” he amended.

“How dare you?” Chancellor Neighsay snapped, approaching the group. “This act of aggression-”

“Aggression?” Ash asked, confused and concerned. “Chancellor, she just tripped. It’s not an... uncommon occurrence.”

Neighsay looked at Ash as if the other unicorn had grown a second head. “Not uncommon?” he asked. “You don’t mean... These are students?”

“Yep,” Ash said.

“Princess Twilight!” Neighsay snapped at the alicorn as she came over to the group, “Is this true?”

“O-of course,” Twilight said, bemused.

By now, the hubbub had attracted the attention of all the ponies in attendance, as well as the leaders and representatives of the five non-pony races. Everyone gathered to watch as Chancellor Neighsay pointed an accusing hoof at Twilight. “You said you were opening this school to protect Equestria!” he shouted, “To defend ponies from dangerous creatures that don’t have our best interests at heart!”

Twilight stood firm, confident in the rightness of her cause. “My school teaches all of us to work together through Friendship,” she said.

Neighsay narrowed his eyes and stepped up challengingly close to Twilight, asking, “and how do you know these creatures won’t take what they’ve learned and use it against us?”

“Come again?” Ash said, stepping up to meet the Chancellor’s glare alongside Twilight. “Use Friendship against us? How?!”

“Ha!” Prince Rutherford shoved his way to the front of the crowd. “Unicorn just trying to sound tough. Just scared because Yak almost flattened him.”

Neighsay pawed at the ground and glared hatefully at the Yak leader. “I will not stand to be spoken to in such a manner by the likes of you,” he said. “Go back to your own kind, all of you outsiders!”

“And why should we do what you say?” Ember asked, stepping up to join the stare-down.

“Please, everyone calm down!” Twilight said. “We’re supposed to be spreading friendship here, not anger. Chancellor, if you-”

“No,” Neighsay said sharply. “I’ve seen enough. You have completely failed to meet the EEA’s standards.”

“W-what?!” Twilight stammered, shrinking back.

“Incompetent teachers,” Neighsay said, “students skipping class-”

“That was just this one time!” Ash countered. “I thought we has an understanding on that, you morag.”

Neighsay glared at Ash and continued, sharply, “Belligerent staff.” Ash’s lips curled, but he held his tongue. “And worst of all,” Neighsay said, turning his attention back to Twilight, “permitting potentially dangerous outsider elements to attend classes with the ponies you claim to be protecting! This school is a travesty.” He turned to face the school building and tapped a hoof to his badge. Blue magic crackled out of the badge like lightning, gathered around Neighsay’s horn, and then shot out toward the doors of the school. Large chains materialized, criss-crossing the doors, and then a large blue seal appeared to lock them in place. “By the authority of the EEA,” Neighsay announced, “I am shutting this school down!”

“No!” Twilight gasped. Neighsay just gave her a dismissive sniff and touched his badge again to summon up a blue portal, which he stepped through.

“Morag,” Ash muttered darkly through gritted teeth. “Skvetchte coward! If he thinks that’s the end-”

“That’s enough, Ash,” Twilight said. “I know you’re just being supportive, but it is over.” She looked around at the crowd, struggling to hold back her tears long enough to say, “Everyp- Every creature, I’m sorry. You should all just… just head back home.” Her voice cracked, and she fled for the privacy of her castle.

Ash watched her go, grappling with his own frustration and disappointment. “You’re wrong, Twilight,” he said in a quiet tone. “It’s not over yet. We just need to get past the shock, and rally.”

Comments

[Bumblebee16]

awesome!