• Published 25th Dec 2012
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Balance of the Mind and Body - Swift Blaze



Ever wonder if that Mayan Calendar prediction actually came true? What the world be like if everyone panic? Then come and read the following tale of a human that this happens to.

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Chapter 14: Ready, Fight!

After releasing the clone jutsu in front of Princess Luna, Blaze returned to his sleeping body in the guest room. The merger didn't disturb his sleep, but he did wake up in the pre-dawn hours. As he stretched in bed, he thought, I could get used to this if I wanted to. Have one of me sleep while the other stays up. Twilight would love to do this. I can see it now: she reads a lot more books and doesn't get fatigued from staying up late. Blaze laughed at the idea.

The human got out of bed and made his way to the attached bathroom. He was amazed again by the size of it. The living room at his place on Earth was not as big as this. There were a few different toilet designs and sizes. Must be for the different species that come, he guessed. There was a huge tub with jet nozzles and a big separate shower stall on the opposite side from where he was. Blaze undressed and got into the shower to clean up.

After drying off and taking care of other bathroom tasks, he walked back into the bedroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. He summoned his backpack he left in a corner of the throne room. He then used the jutsu to get a fresh gi, blue with black trim, and some undergarments. Blaze put them on and packed the used ones in the backpack. When he opened the door to head out, there were two Unicorn guards standing on either side.

The human said, "Good morning, gentlecolts. Would you mind directing me to the Royal Guard training grounds?"

"No can do, sir. Those are for the Royal Guard use only," the guard on the left side of the door responded.

"Princess Luna gave me permission not too long ago."

"She gave permission to a red Earth pony in a black outfit, named Swift Blaze," the guard on the right said.

"But, that’s me."

"You’re clearly not a pony," the left one said and the right one nodded to agree.

"Let me prove it then."

Blaze walked to the other side of the hallway. He turned around, placed his hands together, and said, "Shadow Transform Jutsu!" A puff of smoke engulfed his body. Once it dissipated, his pony form was standing there with a smirk on his face.

Both guards, like everypony else, dropped their mouths wide open with a shocked look on their faces, but they quickly regained their composure.The guard to Blaze's left said, "Sorry about that, sir. Didn't know your species could change into other forms.”

The right guard said, “We’ll escort you to the grounds."

They turned and started to walk down the hallway. Blaze changed back and followed them.

As they walked down the hallways, the human was between the two Unicorn guards. He broke the silence when he said, "About before, it’s alright. You couldn’t have known that I can do that. Also, enough with the sirs. You can call me Blaze."

"Ok, Blaze. Could you tell us how you’re able to do that transforming thing you did? We didn’t detect any magic coming from you. Also, is it something that can be taught to a pony?" the one on the right asked.

Blaze replied, "I'm sorry, but ponies won't be able to learn these. As to how I can do it, that is classified. Both Princesses know how I can though. That is why I can walk freely instead of being in the dungeon."

"Can the others of your species do what you can do?" the other one asked.

"My species is called human and no, they cannot do what I do. Before you ask, I’m the only one on your world."

The guard on the right asked, "Then how did you get here?"

"That's classified."

"Are you ever going to answer our questions without saying 'classified'?" the left guard said in an annoyed tone.

"That will all depend on the question you ask," Blaze said with a smile.

They both snorted their noses as they did not like the smart-ass response. The group soon exited the main castle as the sun was starting to rise. They stood there for a bit as they watched the process.

When they moved again, the human asked, "Mind if I ask what your names are? I don't want to be a jerk and keep calling you 'guard'."

The left guard said, "My name is Iron Shield, but you may call me Iron." He had a light gray coat with a dark gray mane. His cutie mark was covered up by the armor he wore.

The right guard said, "You may call me Dead Eye." He had a white coat with red mane. His cutie mark was also covered up by the armor.

"Nice to meet you Iron and Dead Eye,” said Blaze. “You’re actually the first guards that have not tried to attack me."

"We heard a rumor of a strange creature showing off some skills for the Princesses and had badly beat up some guard ponies in the process," said Iron.

"I wouldn't say beat up. Just some joints got dislocated, but no broken bones," the human replied, sheepishly.

"That was you?" Dead Eye asked with a surprised look on his face again.

"I gave them three chances to give up. Plus, they had it somewhat coming to them."

Iron asked, "How in Equestria did you beat two guards at the same time?

Blaze retold the event from yesterday of how he disarmed, removed the armor, and finally disabled the guards. He didn’t go over the exact techniques he used, just how he read their movements to see the openings.

Iron asked, “You managed to do that with your bare hooves? You must have gone through some intense training where ever you come from.”

“One, these are not hooves. These are hands,” the human said as he moved them about. “Two, no I didn’t. I used a non-lethal sword I brought with me from my world. And three, that part is classified.”

Iron Shield facehoofed himself after getting another classified block.

“How can a non-lethal sword be able to destroy armor and weapons?” Dead Eye asked.

“It’s the technique in combo with the material properties of the sword. The outcome would have been different if I used a standard edged weapon.”

“Let me guess before asking the question, you can’t teach these techniques as they are classified.” Iron said.

“Now you’re catching on.”

They finally reached the Royal Guard training grounds. Blaze could see a track, an obstacle course, a target range, and some practice dummies. “You guards have a nice setup to practice and train. I might be coming here more often for my morning exercises,” he said.

“What are your exercise routines that you do?” Dead Eye asked.

“Instead of me explaining it all, how about you two join me in them? You might actually enjoy it.”

“We have been ordered to keep an eye on you, so we might as well. Plus standing around all shift really stiffens up the muscles,” Iron said.

“Wonderful. To begin, we shall do some stretches. I’ll make it easier for you to follow by copying my pony form while my human form takes a jog around the track.”

“How in . . . wait. This is another one of your abilities you can do, correct?” Dead Eye asked.

“They are called jutsu, and you are right on target.”

The human stepped forward a bit and turned around. After a couple hand signs, he said, “Shadow Clone Transform Combo!” A puff of smoke appeared to his right. His pony form was now standing next to the human Blaze.

Iron and Dead Eye did not go all shocked face this time.

“Bye human me. I’ll teach them some good stretches before we go to the next part,” said the pony Blaze.

“Be mindful to not push it. They haven’t done the training we did. Go easy on them,” the human Blaze replied before he started to jog to the track.

Pony Blaze looked to Iron and Dead Eye and said.“Ok then, the first stretch we are going to do is the rear hooves.”

The red Earth pony demonstrated with his body. The Unicorns followed slowly as they eased into it. Blaze heard a couple pops from Iron.

“You weren’t kidding when you said you were stiff,” said Blaze. After a minute, he then said, “Time to switch to the front ones.”

The guards repeated the actions each time as the Earth pony did them. Both of them had fallen at one point or another. After 15 minutes, the three ponies had stretched all the important parts.

Dead Eye to a moment from doing those poses. He then said, “So, if these are basic, what are the ones you've been doing?”

Blaze replied, “Ok, I’ll show you and you can try to copy me. Just don’t blame me if you get injured. The next level is balance control stretches. It helps increase tone on your muscles as you balance yourself on one hoof at a time.”

The Earth pony stood on his back hooves. He then made the bottom of his fore hooves touch each other at chest level. For the next step, Blaze extended one leg to his front while maintaining a balanced posture, and did thirty squats. He repeated the process for the other leg. The Earth pony did a similar stance with his fore hooves, but only for a ten count.

Once done with that, he went back on all hooves and said, “Does anypony care to try?”

“Yeah," - Iron said as he rubbed the back of his head - "thanks, but no thanks. We don’t have that level of balance you demonstrated.”

“I agree. How in Equestria were you able to get your pony body to that?” asked Dead Eye.

Blaze replied, “I’ve been working to that count since I got my pony form. When I first started, I could only do five on the back and one on the front before I fell on my face.”

“So what’s next in your regimen?” Iron asked.

“The next thing is sparring with myself. I don’t have a dummy stand like you have, nor another pony to spar against. Let me get the human Blaze over here.”

The Earth Pony went over to the human and chatted with him. The guards saw the creature put his hands together as before. Seconds later, two puff clouds appeared, revealing another human and pony. Everyone moved to an area where there was a half dozen circles painted on the ground. Blaze’s humans paired up with their pony clones in two of these areas.

“Before you start, mind sharing with us as to why you’re paired up like that?” Dead Eye asked.

A human Blaze replied, “Of course. I’m training both forms of different scenarios. One pony is going to be on the offensive while the other is going to be on the defensive.”

“Would it make better sense to do a pony vs. pony?”

“Good idea, thanks for the suggestion.”

Blaze performed the jutsu and made four more ponies of himself. They paired up and went to two other sparring rings.

A pony Blaze turned to the guards and said, “Would one of you mind starting the matches? The rules are no ki or chakra. First to submit or blackout loses.”

Iron Shield walked into the middle where the matches were, and looked at each pair to see if they were ready. “Ready . . . FIGHT!” he shouted and the matches began.

All of Blaze's clones went at each other, almost like the other was the enemy. After fifteen minutes, a pony in a pony vs. pony match got bucked right in the head and flew across the grounds, then burst into a puff of smoke as he landed.

“That was some hit,” Dead Eye said to the victor.

“He put up a great fight,” - Blaze breathed heavily - “The other just made a slight mistake, which gave me that opening.”

“How can you fight yourself when you know how the other you will fight?” Iron asked.

“It’s true we all have the same knowledge and style, we are just choosing different scenarios to fight and that is the unknown in these fights.” Suddenly a human got a pony into a submission hold. The pony tapped out and disappeared into a puff of smoke, the human dragged his feet as he came over and let gravity help him sit down.

The clone wiped the sweat from his brow as he panted, “Man! That defensive scenario the other chose is very effective. I had to go through several to find out how to beat it. I think I shall release myself so you can review the battle.”

Dead Eye watched the clone as it disappeared, then turned to Blaze, “So, you’re able to learn from all of these matches from both sides?”

The pony Blaze nodded.

“This method is really impressive. You are pretty much getting a week’s worth in one session.”

“While the knowledge is a plus, it comes with a catch. I also get the painful memories they received. I’m grateful it’s only that. If the minus of this jutsu was you get the actual injuries, I would have never learned it.”

Iron asked, “So, if you made an army of you, what would more than likely happen?

Blaze replied, “Let me put it this way. Say I make a thousand of me, my strength and energy will get divided among them. I would be as strong as a kitten as it were. This jutsu was never designed to create an entire army, more for intelligence gathering and secret missions.”

Both nodded at his explanation, then resumed watching the other two fights. Both sides had picked up speed in throwing their fist and hooves, but it was unclear who had the advantage. Suddenly, a cloud of smoke surrounded all the remaining fighters as they all disappeared.

“Blaze, what happen? I lost track of what was going on,” Iron said.

When the Unicorn guards looked at the pony version of Blaze, they saw he had changed back into a human. He said, “It was a draw. Neither side was making headway, so I ended the jutsu. Let’s head back to the castle. All that fighting has given a big appetite.”

“You go ahead. Our shift has ended so we are going to return the barracks. I’m sure you know the way,” Dead Eye said.

“Alright, I shall see you two some other time. If you get some leave coming up, come to Ponyville so we can hang out. I should have my place ready by then.”

As the guards headed to the barracks, Blaze thought about trying the Teleportation Jutsu. It was more about moving at fast speed to one’s destination instead ofwhatever they used in Star Trek. From what he read, the caster needed to visualize the path to the destination instead of the end point itself.

The human performed the hand signs and recalled the path to end up right outside the dining room. Once the jutsu activated, his vision changed from seeing the grounds to the dining room's big doors. Blaze check himself over to see if he lost anything, and was happy with how it performed. Definitely better than a Unicorn’s method, if one wanted to be stealthy.

Blaze then noticed the Unicorn guards on either side of the door. They looked angry as they charged up their horns. He started to run and dodge the beams as the guards gave chase. The human didn’t know what spell they are trying to hit him with, but he knew he wasn’t going to wait and find out. He picked his speed up by channeling chakra to his feet.

As he opened the gap from the two chasing him, Blaze turned the corner and saw that six more Unicorn guards were headed towards him. OH YOU GOT TO BE KIDDING! he shouted in his head. Getting tired of this, the human swapped to ki energy and flew over the inbound squad. He continued to dodge all the beams, with the total now to eight.

As the human flew through the halls, he spotted an open window that led to the outside. He turned and shouted, “See ya suckers!”

Blaze saw the Unicorn guards at the window, still shooting beams at him. As he turned his head forward to fly away, the human saw a dozen Pegasus guards were headed his way from the castle wall.

“WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PONIES!” he yelled at the top of his lungs.

They were still flying at him, without stopping. Blaze decided this had gone on long enough, and he needed to escape. He flew higher into the sky so everypony could see him, then turned around and channeled ki into his hands. He position them on either side of his head with his fingers flared out as he shouted, “SOLAR FLARE!”

A pure white light shone down on everything and everypony, blinding them. Blaze quickly performed the Teleportation Jutsu to appear inside the dining room, this time.

Both Princesses were seated at the table when the human appeared across from them. They were surprised to see him appear like that. As were the staff, as they ran out of the room into the kitchen.

Blaze breathed heavily as he spoke, “Excuse me, Princess Celestia, did you forget to inform your Royal Guards about me ... again?”

“I was going to do that this morning after breakfast. Princess Luna did inform some of the guards when she offered you access to the training grounds. Did something happen?” Princess Celestia asked.

“Oh, nothing happened with Iron Shield and Dead Eye. There was a slight miscommunication as she only told them about my pony form, not the human form. I quickly resolved that by showing I can change into that form. At the training grounds themselves, nothing happened as I was able to get my morning exercise in. It was when I came back, via teleport jutsu. I appeared just outside the doors down there like how I have done now. The Unicorns just started to fire their magic beams at me, so I ran instead of fighting back. Six more came around the corner as I thought I was getting away. I started to fly at this point and flew straight out a window. The eight unicorn guards were still firing at me, but then I saw a dozen Pegasus guards flying towards me.”

“Care to tell us how you escaped capture?” Princess Luna asked.

“Do you recall a bright flash of light that came through those windows?”

They both nodded.

“I performed a ki-based attack called ‘solar flare’ and temporally blinded everypony that was looking at me. I then performed the teleport jutsu to get here.”

The dining room doors burst open and a battalion of both Unicorn and Pegasus guards were flowing in. Blaze started to channel his chakra to defend himself.

“HALT!” said Princess Celestia who used her Canterlot Voice.

All the guards and the human stopped in their tracks.

A Unicorn guard wearing a different colored armor walked in front of the others. He said, “Your Highnesses, pardon us for our intrusion, but we’re here to stop that creature from trying to assassinate you. Please step away from it so we may capture it.”

The white Alicorn replied in her normal voice, “You may stand down. He is our guest.”

“But, Princess Celestia, if that is so, then why did it run away from the guards and why was I not informed yesterday?”

Blaze interrupted the chat and said, “Excuse me, I’m not an ‘it’. My name is Swift Blaze and I’m human.” His tone switched to an angrier one. “The reason why I ran is your guards just started to fire their magic at me without letting me explain. As to why Princess Celestia did not inform you, she was in a private court session till sunset discussing certain things with me.”

“That’s correct, Captain Armor,” said Princess Celestia. She looked at the human with an annoyed look, then looked back at the captain, “I was going to inform you this morning after breakfast. Looks I should have done that before the commotion.”

The captain replied, “But Princess, how can you trust him with the havoc he caused in your castle?”

Blaze interrupted again as he moved over to a chair at the table to sit down, “I didn’t cause havoc. Your guards were shooting beams at me without allowing me to explain why I was there.”

“ENOUGH!” Celestia shouted again. “He’s a guest here and has been staying in Ponyville for the past week. I shall explain more to you later.”

“As you wish, Princess Celestia.” The captain ordered the others back to their posts, and they closed the doors as they left.

Blaze turned his head to the Princesses Celestia. She was giving him a stern look.

“What?” he asked.

“I didn’t appreciate how you talked to Captain Shining Armor. He was only doing his duty, as well as his guards. I realize it’s somewhat my fault for not informing him, but you can’t go running around without a guard escort. You are considered a guest from an outside nation. So, you need an escort everywhere you go.”

Blaze felt sorry for blowing up at the captain, “I am sorry Princess for causing the commotion. Please don’t blame Iron or Dead Eye for leaving me after their shift. I had no idea I was to have an escort. It won’t happen again.” He bowed to her after he spoke.

“Then, after breakfast, let’s fill out those forms so you can be a citizen. We will also schedule you to go through the Royal Guard's basic training next month. Once you complete the training, you won’t need an escort while inside the castle grounds.”

”Sounds like a plan your Highness. If you can summon a waiter, I already know what I would like to have. This morning’s exercise and events gave me a big appetite.”

Celestia rang a bell and a waiter came out of the kitchen. She directed him to the human to get his order, which was a twelve-egg omelet with cheese, onion, and bell pepper; a side of roasted potato chunks; and two tall glasses of orange juice. The waiter headed back to the kitchen, and soon came back with the glasses of OJ. Blaze downed the first drink without taking a breath.

“A little thirsty there, Blaze?” Princess Luna chuckled.

He replied, “Just a little bit, Luna. I did not plan on a playing tag after my exercise routine.”

She started to laugh and he joined her. Soon, Princess Celestia joined in with a chuckle. A few minutes later, the human’s breakfast came out of the kitchen and he dug right into it. Just like the meal last night, the flavors he tasted were better than anything he had. Blaze cleaned the plate of the food and leaned back in the chair.

“Well, I’m stuffed like a turkey on Thanksgiving,” he said.

“Shall we go and take care of that paperwork, then?” Princess Celestia suggested.

The human nodded his head and stood up, but suddenly fell back down into the seat.

Princess Luna asked, “Blaze! Are you alright?”

“Yes, I am. I just realized my legs were a bit more worn out from this morning’s events. Would you mind if I fly to follow you, Princess Celestia?”

She replied, “Not at all. I’m glad it was nothing serious.”

“Well, we- I mean I'm, going to head to bed. Goodbye, Blaze. I can’t wait for the next lesson. Good day, Tia. I will see you this evening,” Princess Luna said. The blue Alicorn got up and started to head to her room.

“Sleep well, Lulu. Don’t let the bed bugs bite,” Princess Celestia said with a smirk. Princess Luna chuckled from the comment, as she recalled what happened last night. “Ready to go to the throne room, Blaze?”

He replied, “Yes, your Highness. The flying will be good for practicing precision control.”

The human channeled his ki to hover out of his chair and follow the white Alicorn.

He tried different flying positions, mostly to see how he needed to direct his energy. Some of them caused him to lose control and descend to the floor. The Princess smirked each time he fell, and at the odd poses he tried as he flew. They finally arrived in the throne room. Inside, Blaze saw a table on one side with a stack of about a hundred pages worth of legal documents.

“Are those the forms I need to legally become a citizen here?” he asked as he pointed to the table.

“Yes, they are,” said Princess Celestia. “I’m sorry we did not get to this yesterday. I don’t think you will be able to make it to Applejack’s award ceremony this afternoon. It takes some almost two days to fill out everything.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I have an ace or two up my sleeve.”

Blaze summoned his backpack to him and began digging through it.

“What are you looking for? I have everything you need to fill the forms out: A few quills, some ink wells...”

“It is another technological advancement that humans created. BEHOLD, THE MIGHTY PEN!” Blaze exclaimed as he pulled it out of the bag.

“How does it work?”

“It’s like a quill, but the ink is stored inside and the tiny metal ball rolls it out as you write.”

“That is quite impressive. I take you are going to use your clones to speed the process up too?”

“Now you are catching on.”

Blaze made two clones and all three went straight to work. One clone read the pages, the second would mark where we had to fill, and the original did the filling in. They made good process with this assembly line. The Princess just watched as Blaze and his clones were not talking, but were in sync while they filled out the forms. After one hour, they finished. The human released the jutsu and reviewed the clones' memories.

Once he was satisfied, Blaze said, “All done, Princess. Every part of that document has been read and filled in correctly. If you would please excuse me, your Highness, I would like to head back to Ponyville and see my friends.”

“Very well, Swift Blaze. I shall review this and see if there are any mistakes. If there are, I will summon you. If not, I shall send you a letter to let you know your citizenship certificate can be picked up at Ponyville City Hall,” said Princess Celestia. “Shall I get you a royal carriage to take you back, or are you going to fly?”

“Neither, I am going to teleport. I’ve gotten down short distances. I have to see what the range of it is. Goodbye, Princess Celestia. I shall see you next month, if not sooner.”

“Goodbye, Blaze. And please try to stay out of trouble with my guards.”

“I will if they don’t harass me.”

Blaze put his hands together in a sign, and visualized a flight path to his destination, back to Ponyville, his new home.

Author's Note:

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. The real world can get very busy.

Enough of that. This story was proof read and edited by: Rubahhitam and Biker Dash.

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