The academy life was luckily kinder to her than high school. The first day there they were assigned to their dorm. With her father being the captain of the lunar division and able to pull a few strings, she got a private room. It was small but not much more was needed than a bed, desk and closet. The academy was for both mares and stallions but the dormitories were split and the teachers were very clear about the rules that no one of the opposite gender was allowed in the dormitory. Not even the hall. The only exception there was applied to teachers and hall monitors. Even if your family was visiting, you needed to meet somewhere else not in the dorms.
Silver had chosen to head to the academy a day early so she could unpack and settle in, perhaps explore the grounds a bit more. It could avoid her getting lost and late on the first day. While walking around the academy grounds trying to memorize some places and hallways she stumbled onto the training grounds. It consisted out of track lanes with in the middle an open space where there was the possibility to set up dummies, wrestle, defense training and many more exercises. As her eyes scanned over the area they landed on something. Or well somepony.
A tall and muscular unicorn stallion she had not seen before. He couldn't be a teacher… She met all of them when she came here a few days ago with her father. He must be a student. Perhaps he came early too just like her. His coat was a mossy green, mane a deep coal black. His hoof playing witch the still growing beard on his chin. The thing that stood out most about his were his eyes. A bright and almost enchanting red.
After catching herself staring she shook her head, as she looked up again she noticed him looking over towards her and their eyes locked. Her heart raced and her cheeks warmed up. She had never felt like this before. The stallion gave her a soft and kind smile before approaching her. Giving a polite nod and holding out his hoof he introduced himself to her. "Hello there miss, my name is Gunner" Silver lifted a hoof up expectation to shake his "My name's-" but was caught by surprise as he grabbed hold of her hoof and placed a kiss upon it. Her cheeks now over flown by red and the rest of her face covered with an expression of surprise.
He stood up straight again letting go of her hoof and tilted his head. "Well?" he looked down into her eyes as she stuttered "h-huh?" a soft chuckle echoed through the room as he found her rather cute. Not something you expect to find in this sort of academy. "What is your name?" Silver really wanted to hit herself for completely forgetting to finish her sentence "Silverstar, my name's Silverstar" she quickly said. "Well it's nice to meet you Silverstar. I guess I'll see you tomorrow morning at the introduction." He said while trotting to the door looking back one more time giving a charming smile before exiting the area back into the main building.
She was left behind in the empty space still a bit speechless. A hoof resting on her chest as she felt her heart race. What was this? This feeling… Was she getting sick? Was the stress of a new school getting to her? Or could it be… that she has… a crush. She shook her head in disbelief thinking to herself 'Come on Silver you only just met him you can't have any feelings for him yet' After taking a deep breath and calming herself down silencing her busy mind she went back in the main building.
The next day they were up before the sun was. And indeed she spotted him again at breakfast standing in line while she had already picked a seat. She sat with some girls that were staying in the same hallway of her dormitory and they her begun chatting a bit. Gunnar saw her and smiled giving her a nod before he went to sit with his own roommates. Silver felt her cheeks burn again and looked down at her plate.
The rest of the day went as expected. A very short introduction and then right to work. The training was rough and exhausting even for Silver who had a bit of a head start with the training she did with her father. The teacher and drill sergeants didn't treat her any differently and she was glad about that. She had heard some jealous comments of other mares about her private room. The last think she wanted was to attract too much attention to herself and having high school happen all over again.
They were not given a lot of free time. Since after dinner it was finishing your school work and straight to bed, if you wanted to look at least a little bit alive at breakfast. It almost felt like an eternity but finally it was winter. And that meant. Christmas break! Silver had just packed her bag and stepped out of her dormitories building seeing Gunnar sit on the steps to the stallions dormitory that looked like everybody had already left. Curiosity bubbled up inside her as she stepped over.
"Hey Gunnar, are you not going home for Christmas?" She asked with a soft smile. He looked up from his book and smiled as she greeted her. Shaking his head softly he responded to her question "Nope, My parents wont be home anyway. So what's the use of traveling all the way back." Silver nodded softly understanding. A lot of ponies came from all over equestrian to go to school here. An idea then popped into her head "hey, would you maybe like to join me and my dad? It is Christmas after all. You can't stay behind, alone in that empty building." She offered his expression was one of surprise "really? You mean it?" with a nod and a smile she held out her hoof to him which he gladly accepted.
They spent the whole break together. Building snowponies, exploring Canterlot, buying Christmas presents and so on. Apollo at first kept a very close eye on them not liking a stallion spending this much time with his daughter. But seeing her smile and enjoy herself made him happy as well and so he let them do as they pleased. Within some boundaries of course. Making sure Gunner stayed in the guestroom overnight and Silver in her own room.
Christmas day they had dinner that luckily wasn't burned even with Apollo in charge of the stove. After desert they sat on the couch with their cups of hot chocolate. After exchanging gifts Gunnar seemed to be blushing slightly as he looked up at silver and pulled out a little giftwrapped box. Clearing his throat did the trick to get her attention and her eyes fell onto the box. She smiled softly and thanked him saying he shouldn't have spent money on her. Finally getting the maroon ribbon of the box and tearing the green paper off, she opened the box. A soft gasp escaping her lips as she saw the gold necklace with a little star charm. He helped her put it on and she thanked him about a hundred more times.
6 days later it was new years eve. They stood outside Apollo setting up some firework. Silver telling him to hurry while looking at the clock. Gunnar shifted in his hoofs nervously but played it off to the cold when being asked if he was alright. Finally having gotten the firework right Apollo stepped back with the switch just in time to count down. Silver smiled starting the count down "okay! 10… 9… 8…" Gunner took a deep breath and looked over at the grey coated Pegasus besides him. "7… 6… 5…" Apollo help his hoof at the switch ready to fire. "4… 3… 2…" okay this is it! "1… Happy new year!" Apollo pushed over the switch the firework exploding into a rain of the most beautiful colors. As soon as Silver turned her head to look over at Gunnar she felt the unicorns lips press against hers. Her eyes widened in surprise at first but soon she felt herself melt into the embrace. Sharing her first kiss with him as the night sky was being lit up around them.