Chapter 1: Desire

One who hopes

One who desires

Can dream of a day

To ignite the fire

Burning deep within

Fueling his heart's desire

Strong but not dire
-Ember

A pegasus with a coat of orange, jet black mane and tail, and a vest of the same absence of color, leaned back in a chair and promptly stretch his forearms until a resounding POP was heard. He slumped his whole body forward in an exaggerated fashion, almost a faint, and his eyes closed, in response to the good feeling the stretch gave him.

He opened his eyes back open, not moving from his position, and looked over the poem he'd just written. Ember tried for a while to incorporate lyrics in one of his musical compositions, but could never find the right words to put together, and at his 73rd attempt, he'd say this was the best he could do. Ember fell in love with techno and electronica music since the day he heard of such a genre and soon, he expressed a want to make the same music. As for the past few years, he's been doing just that.

Eventually, he grew tired of hearing the same sounds over and over, the same cheesy kicks and snares, the same generic synth leads and basslines, and the halfhearted and lackluster melodies. He needed something new, something fresh with a side of variety, so, he set out to the vocal side of the genre. The only problems being the pre-mentioned literacy structure and the lack of a vocalist. He'd tried using the synthetic robotized voice in his music maker's presets but found it to be both inefficient and quiet. Ember had tried to get one of his friends to sing for him, but quickly found out that none of them could actually sing. Well...at least assumed ALL his friends couldn't sing.

He'd avoided asking his closest friend, Cloud Spark, if he could sing. Ember wouldn't admit it if asked, but he'd been having some conflicted feelings about his best friend, some that he wished he hadn't fantasized about, them leaving some sizable but burnt images in his mind including himself and Cloud.

Ember Wing started to blush, still staring at the piece of paper and unmoved from his current position, as he found himself lost in another fantasy. What was wrong with him? Wasn't this wrong? Wasn't this unnatural? These thoughts constantly pelted the pegasus colt as they clashed around in his mind. He could care less right now.

He traced his right forearm up his lower abdomen, mimicking the actions in the fantasy playing out in his mind, until he stopped at his left cheek. He lightly caressed the soft patch, his face mimicking his own in the fantasy, a completely flushed, innocent, and generally cute face. This was unfortunately cut short when Ember heard a knock from the door and a voice calling to him.

He quickly put his hoof down from where it was, accidentally catching it on the end of the desk where the poem was resting. He cried out in pain but quickly shook it off, or at least tried to, and made his way to the bedroom door.

Ember opened his door, only to be greeted with the last pony he wanted to see at the moment, the forsaken Cloud Spark. His eyes went wide and his face instantly flushed a bright red, to which he hoped his friend didn't notice. Ember attempted to clear any suspicion his unicorn friend may have had by saying a "hello" or anything, only to choke on his words as he hacked and coughed up air. Needless to say, his plan didn't go accordingly, eliciting a confused and slightly concerned look on Cloud's face.

"You alright, dude?" Cloud said with a laugh in his voice, trying to play off the subject as a joke than an actual coughing emergency.

"cough Yeah...cough I cough just..." Ember paused to let out his hacking and heaving in order to talk freely and not under the rule of his cough, "...didn't expect you cough to come over today..." he finally sputtered out.

"Yeah, probably would've been better to have called you first" Cloud scratch the back of his neck, looking away and now genuinely feeling bad, if in the slightest. "But I only just got the okay to come over to your house earlier today" he put his hoof down and looked back at his friend.

"Today!?" Ember exclaimed, nearly recovered from his previous coughing fit and his face returning it's natural color, "What like...a few hours ago!?"

Cloud laughed at his friend's incredulity, to which Ember joined in "Yeah, my parents aren't good with planning stuff and usually just make up their minds last minute"

"I've noticed..." The pegasus rose an eyebrow as a sarcastic smug grew across his face. The unicorn promptly laughed in response. Ember loss the sarcastic act and put on a genuine smile. He walked over to his best friend and wrapped a forearm around his neck, Cloud returning the favor. It wasn't an odd thing for the two to do, them sharing a strong and emotional bond only growing stronger by the second, and the two had been accustomed to this sort of contact. Plus, it was probably the closest Ember could get to Cloud without it becoming intimate.

The hug lasted a little too long though, "Uh...Ember?" Cloud patted his friend on the shoulder, slowly inching back to try and break free.

Ember immediately noticed what he was doing and quickly retracted, his face once again flushed but this time a bright red "S-sorry" was all he managed before quickly turning around and letting out an exasperated sigh. He walked away from the door to let his friend in and promptly closed the door behind him, making sure to not make eye contact.

Cloud yawned suddenly before he could catch himself. Ember turned back, "Falling asleep already?" he joked, trying to get his mind off that slip.

Luckily for him, Cloud didn't seem to be bothered by the situation as much as he was and responded, "Sorry dude, don't know where that came from" Cloud's ears perked up as he remembered something, "Oh yeah; dude!" He called to his friend, his attention appearing to be somewhere else, he soon caught his attention though.

"Yeah?" Ember inquired, a slight bit of eagerness in voice.

"I'm staying over for a month" Cloud grinned widely.

Ember's face was indescribable, a mixture of his emotions that tugged at his face. From shock, to eagerness, to realization, back to shock, and now hear at horror. Not that Ember didn't want his best friend over for that long, instead the horror was triggered by a burning emotion in his heart that had been reawakened fully as his heart fluttered.

However a question picked at him, leaving him no choice but to ask the boding question, "Why are you staying so l-long?" he suddenly stuttered at the end, unable to contain his nerves.

"Oh, my parents are outta town for the month on 'business'..." Cloud motioned his fore-hooves as quotations and shot a knowing look to Ember, his face couldn't possibly be any redder, "...and couldn't take me with them"

"B-but..." Ember stuttered again, he cleared his throat in order to make some sense, "What about my dad? I haven't told him anything!"

"No need to worry dude," Cloud raised a hoof to try and calm down his friend, "My parents already set up everything with your father!"

"T-then, why wasn't I told anything about this!?" Ember had started to grow unintentionally angrier at the fact he'd been left in the dust as everything around him was set in motion.

"Yeah..." Cloud put a hoof at the back of his neck again, "...probably should've called you earlier..." he gave a sheepish but apologetic grin towards his friend.

Ember slapped his forehead with his right fore-hoof and slowly dragged it down his face. He gave a shaky, uncertain sigh and looked over to his friend who still had a somewhat sheepish grin plastered on his face. He gave a small smile at his friend's face and gave a final, short sigh and said, "Alright just...let me sort this out with my dad" Ember explained, Cloud gently nodded. He walked over to his phone placed just to the side of his poem. He eyed the poem intently for a moment, thinking of what to do with it, before closing the journal it was written in. He'd admit, no matter how much technology dominated his life, he'd always use his journal for written work. No if only he could actually use anything that was written in it...

Ember directed his attention towards his phone and navigated it to where his father's contact information was and called his phone number. After a few moments of silence, courtesy of Cloud Spark, Ember began to talk with his father about the whole situation.

Cloud, growing bored, reached over to grab a saddlebag Ember hadn't noticed him bring in initially. From it, he brought out a sleek, black laptop and promptly opened it up. He checked back in, seeing as the computer was in sleep mode, and waited for the laptop to run it's regular warm up. He continued to wait for it to completely warm up, however, it seemed to take a longer time than usual. He grew bored of looking at a non-moving wallpaper of the music artist, DJ Cob4lt, and his eyes began to wander around Ember's room.

He really hadn't payed much attention to the interior of his friend's room, this only being his third visit, but when he had looked around, he can't believe he didn't before. Looking around, he found a bunch of different and varied objects lying around his friend's room. From what looked to be a figurine of the famed "Applejack", to an old Neightendo 64. Wow Cloud mentally remarked, That's a relic compared to today's technology! His eyes met with Ember's; he smiled and expressed relief when his friend returned it. He continued to scavenge the room with his eyes, coming across a plushie of another music artist, Probably that new artist "Skilla Typhon" Cloud once again remarked mentally, continuing his search.

When catching nothing of high interest, Cloud turned his gaze back towards Ember, a small, almost unnoticeable blush creeping across his face. He smiled at the sight, albeit nothing especially exciting about a colt talking on the phone with his father while the colt in question sat awkwardly but nonchalantly in an office chair. Cloud saw that Ember had ended the call and he let out an exasperated sigh afterwords. He didn't pay much attention to that though, he marveled more at what he considered to be a "picture perfect pony". Earlier at the doorway, he'd tried to hide his blush and forced himself to break free to get his mind off the colt but now he couldn't help himself.

His eyes soon started to explore his friend's body now, taking in every detail of his best friend. He soon found himself fantasizing about himself and Ember, the blush on his face spreading and deepening in saturation. A sly grin had crossed Cloud's features, thinking about the fantasies coming true, the one with him totally dominating Ember. However, any sly confidence he had before had been completely demolished when he'd briefly crossed the path of Ember's eyes. Cloud's eyes widened and he quickly looked away in embarrassment and shame, the blush on his face now extremely crimson, his heart beating a million times a second.

No, Cloud mentally slapped himself; this wasn't the first time the unicorn fantasized about his friend and himself doing...things but he scolded himself whenever he caught himself doing so. He cursed his crush on his best friend. I mean, come on... he chastised himself, slowly looking up to make sure he wasn't being looked at. Luckily for him, Ember seemed to turn his focus on that Skilla Typhon plushie; Cloud smiled sadly and looked back down, ...what are the odds of us even trying to make something like this work?, Cloud sighed knowingly, his smile never faltering.

"Yeah...okay, thanks dad. Love you" The pegasus looked to have fallen into an awkward position onto an office chair, "No, it's not that, I just wished somepony would've informed me sooner" Ember looked over to Cloud, calmer than before and gave a small smile, "It's alright dad...heh, yeah, next time..." He watched as Cloud took in the surroundings of his room, "Hm? Oh, no, not at all." His attention focused back on the phone with his father, almost forgetting he was there, "Totally fine with that" Ember stretched again, popping his back on the office chair, "Sure, say, when are you coming home?" The orange feathered pony looked back at his friend to which he got an appreciatory smile, one he returned. "Eight? Alright, I'll see you then...Love you...bye"

Ember tapped the "HANG UP" icon on his phone and let out a sigh, albeit over dramatic. He sat there for a while, his eyes shut gently, trying to clear his mind of useless delusions and grandeur. He expressed clear but conceded anger to his father about leaving him in the dark. Apparently, everypony else had none about this for a good 3 weeks before today and Ember wasn't too happy about that. After many apologies and offers to go out to make up for it though, he'd found it in his heart to forgive everything...when and only when his father finally bought that game he's been eyeing. Still, even with forgiveness in place, Ember had felt a foreboding headache coming on and he promptly put a hoof to his head.

To, at the least, get his mind off the inevitable headache, Ember looked towards Cloud to let him know everything cleared up. However, he didn't even have the chance to mutter anything, let alone say coherent words, as Ember realized that his friend wore a sensually inquisitive look on his face, his eyes tracing up and down his own body.

The blush on Ember's face couldn't have be any more redder yet he dare not move, nor take his gaze off Cloud, his eyes practically targeted and locked-on to his friend. His body couldn't move, or at least that's how it felt to Ember. He didn't have a specific or soloed reaction to his friend looking at him like a famous Picoltso art piece, only an expert of the highest level of psychology, however, could tell you that embarrassment played a big role in his emotions.

Then, in what Ember had dreaded, his eyes locked with Cloud's, in what felt like an endless span of time; truly only lasting less than two seconds.

Ember's heart had put in overtime, beating as fast as light can travel. He grabbed a plushie from off the floor to try and make it seem nothing was wrong when he quickly turned away. Whatever Ember thought of in these times somehow made sense in his head but he would completely understand why if somepony told him he was crazy.

He was looking at me, Ember's thoughts swam to and fro, both eagerness and nervousness clashing whenever they crossed paths, He...he was staring at my... Ember put a hoof to his mouth in order to prevent a gasp escaping his lungs. Why was he...? Ember searched for an answer that would be the logical route instead of jumping to conclusions, He was probably joking with me since he knows I'm gay... He would've settled on this answer if he hadn't remembered one specific fact, That look on his face...

Ember quite literally melted in his office chair as something dawned on him, albeit nothing more than wishful thinking and a very slim chance of possibility. He caught himself before Cloud could notice him falling off the chair as his mind soon filled with different fantasies, all involving the two colts.

"Y-you alright dude?" was heard from across the room and Ember immediately realized what he must have looked like.

He spun around in his chair with a strange look on his face, seemingly frozen in place until he spoke, "Yes, doing just fine" Ember's voice mimicked a reporter you'd hear on TV. This wasn't anything strange for the two and both soon erupted into spontaneous laughter. At the least, Ember regained his confidence.

This will definitely be entertaining, Ember thought to himself as the laughing ceased and he gave a genuine smile to his friend.

This is going to be fun, Cloud reassured himself, returning the smile he was offered.