Author Note: Alright, special occasion, note at the top. this is for anyone who hasn't read Knights and Pawns, this is a sequel to it so i strongly recomend that you read that first.

Chapter 1

Catching Up

Twilight made her way to the Terramorph Military Academy meet her colt-friend for lunch. Not only was he a teacher there but he also ran the entire school and to add on to that he still maintained his position as first general, so she didn't get to see him as often as she'd like. As she walked she thought back to two months ago, the first night the two of them shared together, wow was he cold back then. Now that coldness was shown only for the cadets training at the academy. She also remembered the first night they spent 'together', the thought made her blush.

When she passed Sweet Apple Acres she could see the academy, a pristine building with a beautiful garden in front of it. Prince Terra himself grew the garden so it was named 'The Garden of Terra'. The cadets who did their physical training in the garden nicknamed it 'The Garden of Terror', the Staff Sargent in charge of PT was a little be rough on them. Drawing closer she heard the current class going through their exercises and heard a familiar voice driving them forward.

"Move it, move it, move it. You don't get to eat unless you're up that rope in ten seconds flat." Twilight saw the rainbow maned mare in charge and smiled a little stopping as she passed.

"Staff Sargent Dash, go a little gentle on them. At least give them twenty seconds." They shared a little chuckle and Rainbow Dash barked out the change.

"Alright maggots, our special guest here is vouching for you so you get twenty seconds, now climb, climb, climb!" Twilight nodded and saw the looks of appreciation from the cadets before moving on.

She stopped in the middle of the garden and looked at the three sections of the main building forming a 'U' shape around the campus. To the north was Dark Eye Hall, every stealth and scouting class took place there as well as some miscellaneous classes. To the south was Cassidy Hall home of the crafting classes as well as the dormitories. Finally to the west, opposite the entrance was Twilight hall, the fact that her colt-friend named a hall after her was a little embarrassing but she liked the fact it was dedicated primarily to the educational portion, military history, physics, and of course tactics, but it also housed the administration too.

She walked into Twilight Hall, still an odd thing to think about, and stepped into the middle of the foyer where the school crest sat embedded into the floor. Was arranged in an inverted triangle with the 'three keys of the military' making the tips. At the upper left was a sun, which represented clarity, enlightenment, and openness. The upper right contained a crescent moon, representing stealth, calm, and knowledge. The bottom of the triangle was a globe which stood for strength, sturdiness, and direct confrontation. Inside this triangle was the silhouette of a chess king with a hole in it to represent the tactics involved in combat. Finally, the crest was complete with the six symbols filling the hole; a diamond, apple, butterfly, balloon, and rainbow lightning bolt all surrounding a gather set of three stars. This represented the friendship that was needed to complete any good tactic.

Every time Twilight saw that she could only smile, her colt-friend might seem cold and unmoving but inside he was a sentimental softie, probably one of the biggest reasons she loved him so much. Done with her musings she proceeded down the hall to a lecture room and quietly stepped in to watch the last part of the lecture.

"Remember, good tacticians know how to move their troops, great tacticians know how to move their opponent's. That's all for today, go get some lunch and then report to Captain Irons for your unit assignments for tomorrow's war games." The black unicorn stallion packed his things and as the cadets filed out he approached Twilight.

"First General Checkmate." Twilight stood at attention, playing along with the academy lifestyle.

"Miss Sparkle..." his tone was cold until the last of the cadets had left, then he let the act drop. "Honey, I'm glad you could make it."

"No problem," She gave him a small peck on the cheek, "You may want to put the mask back on, we have to pass by more cadets on our way out."

"I know, it's just really hard for me to stay so cold when I'm next to somepony so very warm." She barely choked back a laugh at such a cheesy line.

"Come on Casanova, we still need to meet up with Cass and Fluttershy remember?" he nodded with a slight smile then forced himself back to his perfect poker face. They quickly made their way off campus, Checkmate nodding at each cadet and soldier to salute him as he passed, including Rainbow Dash, appearances must be maintained. When they had left the academy Checkmate released his face and showed his joy of being near his mare-friend.

"So, explain to me again why you have to be so cold towards your cadets. I mean your schools crest even openly declares the value of friendship, so why keep them at a distance?" Twilight asked this question every once and a while but still couldn't wrap her head around it.

"Because," Checkmate smiled as he began reciting the same explanation for the third time, "while the school encourages friendship amongst the cadets the chain of command must be upheld. While at the academy everypony is on military time, during that time we cannot associate as friends but instead only as officer and subordinate. This guarantees that an order will be followed without question, something vital in combat."

"I see." This was one of the things she could do without, he never tried to reword that answer. Letting it drop they continued towards the restaurant carrying a pleasant conversation of recent events. When they arrived Fluttershy and Cassidy were already there having a quiet conversation themselves.

"Captain Irons." Checkmate stopped in front of the table and saluted Cass.

"Genral Checkmate." Cass stood and saluted back. "Sir, permission to drop these bucking formalities, sir."

"Permission granted." The both put their hooves down and the four shared a good laugh before sitting around the table as the waiter came to them.

"Are you ready to order?" he asked.

"Yea, I'll have a Sweet Apple Dumpling." Checkmate loved the apples from Sweet Apple acres.

"garden salad, please." said Twilight.

"I'll have... the... uh... dai..." Fluttesrhy's voice disappeared into a whisper.

"Pardon me miss?"

"She said she would like a daisy sandwich, and I think I'll have an order of dumplings myself."

As the waiter left they continued into a pleasant conversation.

"I'm glad you two could make it." Said Cassidy stifling the last few chuckles.

"Yes, it's been so long since the four of us ate like this." Fluttershy had gotten significantly more comfortable around Checkmate, especially since he lost his cold demeanor. Though she still wouldn't approach him at the academy.

"It has, hasn't it?" Checkmate rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry, I've gotten so tied up in work that if it were for Twilight I would probably starve."

"It's true, just last week he got so busy completing reports he didn't sleep for three days. Finally I had to drag him back to the library and lock the door so he couldn't escape." Again they all shared a chuckle.

"Oh come on, it wasn't that bad." Checkmate protested.

"I'm a little more interested to know how you stopped that hyper speed brain of his from continuing his work from there." Cassidy teased. This caused Twilight to blush and each of the other three had a different reaction when it dawned on them. Checkmate gave a slight grin, Fluttershy joined Twilight in the blushing, and Cass burst out laughing.

"Well, that aside..." Checkmate leaned in a bit to quiet the conversation just enough so the surrounding noise would drown it out. "How are you two doing. I assume you're still trying to keep things quiet."

"Yes," Fluttershy nodded glancing around cautiously, "quiet is good."

"Yea, we've agreed this should stick strictly between our closest friends. Hay, not even Pickin knows."

"Fair enough." Twilight contemplated a joke about this but remembered Checkmate's scar and decided not to, instead she decided to take some revenge. "So Fluttershy, is Cass any good?"

"What do you mean?" Fluttershy may have been a little slow on it but Cassidy knew where this was going and blushed.

"Oh, you don't wanna heard about that." Cassidy tried to change the subject.

"Oh yes I do, I bet you two talk about how we are all the time, so I want to know a little about your... shall we say... skills."

"Actually darling, the extent of our talking has been the fact that we have, they haven't." Fluttershy was still completely lost on the conversation as Twilight looked Cass in the eye, or rather mane since the pegasus hid her cherry red face.

"You're kidding..." Twilight turned to the still confused Fluttershy, "do we have to spell it out for you? Anyway, Fluttershy after lunch could you come back to the library with me?"

"Oh, yea, sure." Finally Fluttershy caught up to the conversation and instantly turned an even deeper red than Cass.

The waiter came by again with their food and placed the plates in front of each of them before quickly disappearing. The conversation continued as they ate.

"Alright," Checkmate chuckled out, "we don't want these to to die from misplaced blood."

"You're right. Anyway, Cass, hows Checky treating you at the academy? Not working you too hard is he?" Even after a month that nickname still induced a blush on Checkmate's face.

"Oh," Cassidy looked back up, part her blush seemingly transferring to Checkmate, "no, no more than what needs to be done. Besides, even if he did I can always count on this adorable mare to reinvigorate me." The rest of Cassidy's blush seemed to jump to Fluttershy and reinvigorate her own.

"Lucky you, I have so much paper work I hardly get to see Twilight." He sighed, a little frustrated at his problem.

"You know, I could come in and organize things for you, make it simpler." Twilight smiled at him and he smiled back.

"That's sweet, but I couldn't ask you to do that."

"Well you're not asking, I'm offering." Checkmate knew he couldn't say no now so he just smiled and nodded.

"Think of it as a work date." Cassidy chimed in to encourage Checkmate.

"Yes, you're right... Oh Fluttershy, I've been meaning to ask, and sorry to bring work into this, but could you get your animal friends to stay out for the Terra Garden? I don't want them to get hurt during sparring practice."

"Oh, of course. I'm sorry." Fluttershy didn't mind at all, he was trying to protect the animals after all.

"It's alright, I just don't want them to be hurt." Checkmate smiled as a voice behind him called all four's attention.

"General Checkmate, sir." Checkmate turned to see one of the cadets saluting him and he instinctively put on his cold mask.

"What is it cadet?" Checkmate still couldn't hide his displeasure at having his meal interupted.

"An urgent message from General Irons has arrived." Checkmate sighed, he was only halfway through his dumplings.

"Alright." He turned to the other three, "Sorry, duty calls."

Twilight nodded her approval and Checkmate left with the cadet. They continued their lunch with some light gossip before they parted ways; Cassidy returning to the academy and Twilight taking Fluttershy to the library. As Cassidy approached the academy she found Cadet Pickin lazing under an apple tree.

"Hey there Pickin, what are you doing out here?" The stallion looked up and smiled.

"Shh, you never saw me here. Staff Sargent Dash thinks I'm in my workshop."

"Oh right, I keep forgetting you get out of PT while your working. So why aren't you working?"

"Are you kidding? Even I need a break from time to time, but anytime the Staff Sargent finds me she tried to 'catch me up'. I can already out do every other cadet." Cassidy chuckled at this.

"True as that may be, this isn't a competition. You're supposed to strive for you peek physical condition. Now either get to work or report to her for PT."

"Too late, it's one now, I'm to report to you for unit assignments." Cassidy shook her head and continued down the road.

"Then come report, you aren't getting out of tomorrow's exercise." Pickin got up and walked beside her. "On a side note, how are your classes going?"

"Which ones?"

"Again, I keep forgetting. How did you convince Checkmate to let you teach and attend at the same time?"

"I didn't. He asked me to. He was a little to impressed by my gift." He shrugged and as they enetered Twilight Hall they noticed Checkmate quietly talking to a Canterlot messenger pony, looking more than a little disturbed.

"Good." Checkmate noticed them and they both knew this was bad, "Even better, just the ponies I need to see. We have a situation..."

Author note: Hey guys, sorry for the delay. Got off track. anyway here is your first chapter of book 2.