I know what most of you wanted was a sequel. I’m very sorry, but I can’t write one now. I don’t know if I ever will. However, there is one thing I can give you. I can give you Ash Cloud.

There is a lot of information about him that you don’t know. I am proud to say that everything he did had a reason, none of it was random. This is basically a chapter dedicated to explaining Ash, why he did this and that as well as his personality.

It’s probably easier for you to read each chapter separately and then come back to this chapter. Alternatively you can open a new tab and read them both at the same time as this text won’t make a lot of sense if you fail to remember everything that happened.  

Background: Ash is a pegasus born from a pegasus father and earth pony mother. His mother died when he was young, so he barely remembers her. After her death his father started drinking. He wasn’t a bad pony, he was just devastated due to his wife’s death. Even after he lost his job, he still managed to keep up his bad habit thanks to some savings and the life insurance. Sometimes he hit Ash, who was too young and weak to face his father.

Due to this situation Ash often closed himself in his room, reading books he borrowed from the local library. He was also ashamed of his father and this prevented his from finding friends. Of course, the other fillies and colts wanted nothing to do with the son of the alcoholic stallion, who went to school bruised every couple of months. After a particularly bad fight with his father, Ash decided to grab as much money as he could and flee, leaving everything behind except for his mother’s old cloak, one he knew she wore when taking him play at the park during the winter.

Chapter 1

This is probably not obvious, but when Ash tells Twilight he couldn’t find a place to stay he was insincere. The truth is he was short on money so he often had to sleep in the street. He only used money to buy food and the occasional room when he could find a particularly nasty but cheap place. At first he is also very polite because he learned that ponies were more likely to trust somepony that way. Not that he was brought up like this either, he simply read “How to speak like a proper gentlecolt”. Lacking any real friends he frequently read books on how to behave socially. Ash also mentions being nocturnal. In fact, that was more of an acquired habit as he preferred being awake when his father was asleep in order to avoid him.

Chapter 2

In this chapter Twilight mentions being Celestia’s student for the first time. This is important because in spite of never meeting her, Ash has a strong opinion about her. I will explain better when they meet. This is one of the reasons he accepts Twilight’s friendship. Upon calling her a filly he was cut off before he could apologize. Don’t be mistaken, he wasn’t going to apologize because he felt remorse. After living with a violent drunk one learns to apologize over the smallest thing, one of Ash’s favorite tactics to get out of trouble. It always worked with teachers.

The other defensive tactic is lying. He tells her that he was born in Cloudsdale. Since you now know his mother was an earth pony you see how this had to be a lie. After all, there was no reason to tell the truth. He also lies about having a happy foalhood because he is proud and dislikes it when others feel sorry for him.

Chapter 3

In this chapter we finally learn something interesting about Ash. He got mad, but not enough to lose his carefully-crafted speech. He lost his cool and knows that actions always have consequences. Again, no remorse.

It is also revealed to him that Twilight has only a handful of friends, which helped him make his mind. It’s in this chapter he decides to give them a chance instead of fleeing. This is convenient because he has left his cloak (including all of his money in one of the pockets) in the library. Fetching them now could be a problem since Spike would ask questions regarding Twilight.

Again he uses a lie to avoid revealing more about his past. He was most certainly not homeschooled, but he did learn more at home because he spent most of his free time reading. You can still detect from the way he talks about gentlecolts that family bonds aren’t important to him. Guess why.

Chapter 4

This is an important chapter for Ash, because it is the first time he lowers his shields and tries to be genuinely nice. Manual labor was something he would reject but he prefers to avoid conflict above all. There isn’t much to say about this chapter because Ash is actually himself.

Chapter 5

The beginning of this chapter is Ash’s monologue, the first time he lets the reader into his own head. No major revelations there, except that he always concerned himself with his purpose. As you might recall, he doesn’t know the meaning of his own cutie mark.

After the bath we see some failed attempts at humor regarding Twilight’s sexuality. His arrogance is also more visible in this short exchange of words.

The next part is very important. Ash had always seen his father as a bully and used his own hatred for his dad in his attack. In this chapter we also see him fly for the first time. I can’t stress the importance of this enough. This is the first time Ash feels true remorse and forgets his dislike for his own wings (which reminded him of his father) and flies. He repents for his actions and is actually happy when he is forgiven.

Chapter 6

Finally arrives the time when I tell you about Ash’s cutie mark. The story he tells the crusaders is mostly true apart from the fact that his dad didn’t punish him. He locked himself in order to escape his drunken father’s anger. The cutie mark represents his thirst for knowledge. It is true that Ash himself isn’t certain but he isn’t completely clueless.

His encounter with Dash goes horribly simply because he has no interest in physical competition, only intellectual one. Also, he hadn’t flown in a long time so he could never hope to match Dash’s speed. In fact, in his opinion only brutes like his father cared about such trivial things. I must stress that he only proposed the challenge in order to be polite.

And at last he is confronted by Twilight about staying in Ponyville. At this point he honestly doesn’t know what he should do. If things had gone perfectly at the part he would have probably stayed.

Chapter 7

By know you understand Ash a lot better but it’s not over yet. The kiss is most likely the highlight of this chapter and some of you might wonder why he kissed Twilight back. He isn’t in love with her, but new experiences are something he doesn’t often refuse. Instinct played a part as well. He doesn’t want to leave but Twilight left him no other choice.

When Dash assaults him he offers no resistance. Guilt plays only a small role in this. Being used beatings from his father increased his resistance to pain and he also knew Dash was in all probability stronger than he was.

I should shed some light regarding his opinion on Celestia. He always loves the moon, his only companion. That alone was a reason to dislike the ruler who expelled the ponification of the moon and the night, regardless of motive. He also has no respect for somepony just because of status or strength and refuses to bow to Celestia for this reason. He would only bow to somepony who greatly surpassed his intellect. Celestia could, of course, but the topic at hand was far from intellectual. He does feel offended when Celestia patronizes him and for the first time he shows fury. And in this fury he shows his true colors. I won’t claim he was completely honest with himself, but what he strived to be (strong, independent, unemotional…) is quite clear.

Chapter 8

It is easy to notice how differently he acts around Luna, somepony he respects and cares about. Of course he respects the night and the moon, not the actual pony but that isn’t very important. This is another chapter where not much is hidden. Interesting how honest he is when meeting his idol. His last apology to Twilight is also sincere.

There you have it. I shared everything about Ash Cloud, even when he didn’t. He always felt a bit too real for a fictitious character but it helped a lot when writing.