Balance of the Mind and Body

by Swift Blaze

Chapter 3: Do You Want To Play Twenty Questions?

“Everypony may rise. That also includes you, human.” Princess Celestia said.

All the girls were shocked that the Princess knew what species Bob was. Still playing the idiot card, he had to choose his words carefully. “May I be the first to ask the question as to how you know my species?” he asked.

“Where are my manners, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Princess Celestia. This here is my younger sister, Princess Luna." Luna bowed her head, but did not say a word.

"You will have to forgive my sister," Celestia cleared her throat. "She just came back from a long journey and hasn't fully adjusted being back yet. Now, as to your question. You are not the first human to show up in Equestria. I remember that there used to be thousands of your kind in this area. It seems roughly a thousand years have past since I last saw one.”

Woah. Humans used to be here? I need more info about this. “Hmm, that must explain where some of our myths about Pegasus and Unicorns came from. One thing they never mentioned in them is that they had the ability to speak and be understood.”

"HEY!" Rainbow Dash barged into the chat. Her muzzle was directly in front of Bob's face. "What do you mean we can't speak? Explain yourself!"

Rainbow was pulled back by her tail by Applejack. "Now hold it, Rainbow Dash." said the orange earth pony. "I don't think the feller meant any disrespect. Did ya . . . um . . . what's your name again, sugarcube?"

Bob smiled and said, "It's Bob. Also, let me clarify that I'm a guy, dude, bro, or male to whatever you call in your species. That way you can stop referring to me as "it"." He did his best to do the in air quote marks, but no pony understood the gesture. "And Rainbow Dash, I didn't mean anything bad. Myths and legends tend to lose some of the finer details about them. I don't know as I didn't learn to become an historian. Now, what were we talking about?"

Twilight politely said, “Um, excuse me Princess, but I don't recall seeing any notation in my books that described a creature like this. How do you know what, HE, is?”

“Well, Twilight, it has been so long since the last human was here. They have become myths to us as we are to them. As to why they are not in any books, I believe they were lost at some point in history.” said Princess Celestia.

Bob's thoughts began to wonder about that. I have a feeling the Princess is hiding something. She knows more than she is leading on. Mental note, ask the Princess as to why there are no more humans here. The human felt something going off in his head. Kinda like a spider sense, but more like someone is trying to poke into his mind. He looked over to Princess Celestia, her wings had pop opened stiff. Her eyes grew very big as she tried to clear something from her throat. Bob decided to try something, If this is you, Princess Celestia, nod your head. Bob said in his mind.

The white alicorn did a small nod, then looked at the human, Ahem, I was never expecting that type of barrier protection in a mind. Why would someone put that up as a first barrier? She asked in Bob's mind.

Bob replied I didn't place that barrier. It was the God most humans believe in that placed that in my mind. I didn't know what it is. All I was told is that it would help identify who is trying to look into my head. What did you see?

The Princess let out a tiny blush on her cheeks. Well, I can say it is effective. But why would your God want to place that in your head?

He did it to protect myself as well as your kingdom. There are some things in my mind that no one should know about where I come from. I think, it might be possible, for me to allow you pass them by acting as an escort of sorts. Would that be acceptable?

Yes. I believe that should be. I am sorry for trying to read your mind without permission. I should know better than to poke into others’ minds. I only did it as I fear for my subject's safety when a possible old threat comes back.

It is alright, your highness. Bob did a quick look at the other ponies in the room. I think we should get back to answering questions that everypony can hear.

She nods again and they break the link. Bob looked at everypony and asked, “So, who has a question for me?”

Twilight shot her hoof up in the air like she was back in a classroom.

“Yes, Twilight?”

“Can you please tell us a bit about yourself?”

“That would make sense to do that and would answer several questions you all probably have. As you all know now, my species is called human. I am male, age twenty-five, and I come from a world where magic does not exist.” Twilight was about to say something, but Bob stopped her. “Please, Twilight. Let me finish giving my brief history and it will probably answer the questions you are thinking of wanting to ask.”

She nodded and kept her muzzle closed. Bob continued to tell his tale. “The world I am from is called Earth; we are the major species on the planet. As I said before, we don’t have magic. We survive and grew with science and technology. There are so many things that happened over the past century that we now have devices that allow us to store an entire library collection on a single device.”

“I don’t believe it. Nothing like that could ever exist.” Twilight interrupted.

“I can actually prove that right now. I have a device like that in my bag over there." Bob was about to get up, but the pain from his fall was returning. He sat back down, slowly. His head turned towards Princess Celestia. "Um, your highness, would you happen to know of a spell, or something, to heal myself. I kinda had a rough landing when I arrived.” Bob said with a weak smile. “These, um, ponies did their best to heal me with no knowledge about my body structure.”

Celestia smiled and said, “I think I know of a spell that will mend your injuries. Now, hold still, this will either tingle, or cause some pain.”

The human nodded and braced himself. The Princess lowered her horn a bit. It started to emit a yellow glow. Bob could feel something was happening to his body. Different spots were tingling. As he was enjoying it, the sensation was interrupted by a sharp pain in his chest, around his ribs. The human reacted to the pain as he scrunched his face, to avoid screaming. Guess I did have broken ribs. Wish I had some morphine to numb the pain.

Oh, you wanted me to dull your nerves BEFORE I set the bones? My bad. Celestia said in Bob's mind, with a smile on her face.

Is this payback for what ever that barrier is in my head? Bob heard a humming tune in his head. Just before Celestia popped another rib back into place. Again, the pain was intense for a second. But he did not let out a scream from it.

Once everything was healed inside of Bob, the cast on his arm and leg disappeared. He stood slowly in front of the cot. Being stiff as a board for who knows how long, the human did some simple stretches of his limbs, causing some to emit a pop from some of his joints.

Bob was about to move to his back, but the guards still had their spears pointed at him. "If it would also be possible, can you please ask your guards to lower their weapons? They are making me a little nervous thinking they are going to strike me without cause.” He asked the Princess.

She nodded and told them to stand down. They put their weapons away, but some still had the scary look toward the human. Bob headed to his first backpack and pulled out his iPad. He displayed it in his hands as he said, “This is one the latest achievements my people have created. It is a tablet based computer that allows us to access any information we want at the touch of our hand." He then looked towards the purple unicorn, "Twilight, later on, I will show you how to operate it as long as you ask permission to use it.”

She shook her head up and down. Her face was that of excitement as she clapped her front hooves together. Bob barely heard a pony said 'egghead'. He didn't know who, but it came from one of the guards. The human carried the iPad back with him as he sat back on the cot to continue to tell his tale.

“Some of the other things that technology has allowed us to do are create transportation machines that don’t require horses to pull us around. Finally, we have machines that give us the ability to go fast through the air.”

“I’ll believe that when I see it.” said Dash.

Guess its time for a demonstration. From the ponies perspective, Bob started to touch the tablet with those little things at the end of his front hooves. He was tapping them at a quick pace. Once ready, the human turned the device around and show them. “This is one of the many creations that allow us to do that. It is called an airplane and it comes in all sorts of sizes and uses. From small personal ones to ones like this that can transport hundreds of humans or several tons of cargo half the way around the world. We also have another that is used by the government’s military. Those types are only designed to hold one to two humans. But the neat thing about them is the speed they can travel I'm talking about supersonic speeds. I know they could do at least 4 times the speed of sound.”

“NO WAY! I’m the fastest flyer and I barely break the sound barrier once!” Dash shouts out.

“I'm impressed that you can do that without something protecting you. But, seeing we have no way to fly by ourselves, it is these machines that granted us that ability and protect us at the same time." Bob looked around the group as he turned off the screen. "So, who is next with a question?”

Fluttershy quietly asked, “Um, if you don’t mind, can you explain how you got those injuries?”

"I had a feeling this was going to come up. Well, you probably have some scary stories of creatures coming from another world. They come down in a spinning metal disc?" Bob questioned them, hoping for a response.

"I've read about those in comic books!" said Spike. "Some show the aliens have taken ponies so they can probe them. Others are eating the ponies BRAINS!" He said with such enthusiasm. "But I never know what probe means. There are never any panels showing the process."

"Spike!" Twilight said with a stern voice. "I told you that those comics are bad for you. There is nothing educational within them. Plus, some can give you nightmares."

Spike had a sad face from being scolded by Twilight about his comic books again.

After a moment had passed, Bob said, "Well, you can classify me as an alien. But I didn't arrive in a flying device. My method of travel wasn't my choice. Falling from above the clouds to your doom is never fun."

Twilight, with a surprised look, said, “How in Equestria did you manage to survive a fall from that height? Also, how did you even get up there?”

Bob let out a quick chuckle, then said, “Let’s just say, a super being is the cause of me falling from that height. But, also gave me the knowledge and abilities that helped me survive, barely. Now then, how did you find me?”

“I heard a big explosion from the river. Then I saw water flying higher than my apple trees.” said Applejack. “I called out for Rainbow to come with me to check it out.”

Rainbow Dash said with pride in her voice, “I got to the river first.”

“That’s because you used your wings.”

“I’m a Pegasus. It’s only natural for me to fly. I AM the fastest flyer in Equestria.”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “Anyways, when we arrived at the banks of the river, we saw something floating down river."

"I flew over to it and saw you, bruised and bleeding. So, I grabbed your hoof and dragged you to where Applejack was standing."

"Once you were on dry land, I checked if you were breathing. You weren’t. So I raised my fore hooves and stamped hard on your chest."

"You spat water out so high, like a fountain. It was hilarious!"

"You did start breathing again, sugarcube. But you still looked seriously hurt. I had Rainbow Dash fly to fetch Fluttershy while I took you on my back to Twilight’s home/library. I was guessin' one of them could fix ya right up."

"Thanks for the rescue and emergency care that you were able to provide." said Bob, with a smile. "Just a small suggestion for next time," He raised a hand up and left a tiny space between the thumb and index finger. "Please don't stamp on my ribs when trying to get me breathing again. I think I was lucky that you only had fractured them. It could have been worse if you broke one right into my lungs. That will be harder to fix."

"Sorry about that, I sometimes forget my own strength. I can buck all the apples of a tree with one kick. So how did ya manage to save yourself from a fall like that without one of them machine contraptions?"

“I figured that was going to be the next question. Remember when I said that a super being gave me some knowledge to do certain abilities?" Bob looked around and saw all the ponies nodding their heads. “Well, I had to break the water’s surface before hitting it, if I wanted to survive. So I sent a bigger version of this down to create the explosion in the water."

The human had his right index finger pointing up, while the others were in a fist. He concentrated on pulling the energy to his finger to create a pea size energy orb. It took a while, but a small yellow orb was floating above his finger. Bob pulled the energy back in, then took a couple deep breaths from exhaustion.

"I'm still getting the hang of it."

Pinkie quickly said, "Oh! Oh! Oh! What other nifty things can you do?" Her smile was as big as ever as she looked at Bob with her big eyes.

"Well, I haven't tried these yet, but some of them are cool." Bob had a smile on his face as a funny idea popped into his head. “Pinkie, seeing you asked to see one, can you come here and stand next to me?”

She hopped over Rarity and spun herself around in mid air. Every creature waited for the human to do something. In his mind it was thinking, Please, please, please! Let this work the first time! Bob recalled the new knowledge for the skill he wanted to perform. Once ready, the human hands came together in some pattern as he shouted, “Transform!”

A puff of smoke enclosed Bob and Pinkie. When it dissipated a few seconds later, everyone else in the no saw there were two Pinkie Pies and no human. They were surprised by what happened, including Pinkie. Bob mimicked her movements so they looked the same.

“So, who is the real Pinkie?” Spike asked.

They both said, “I am!” in the exact same voice. No one could tell them apart as the voice was another exact match.

Bob decided that the fun was over now. He released the Ninjutsu to return to his original form. “Did everyone enjoy that?” he asked.

“That was very impressive, Bob. Are there others on your planet that can do that?” Princess Celestia asked.

“No, they can’t. The only place humans could think of doing something like that is in their dreams. Now then, I have another question." Bob already knew the answer, but he still had to ask to draw suspicion. "I noticed that all the ponies in the room have a tattoo on your rear ends. Can someone please explain why?”

They all laughed at the human for asking that. Twilight decided to answer this one, “Well, I don’t know what a tattoo is, but what is on everypony's flank is their cutie mark. It symbolized our special talent in what we can do. When we are born, we have a blank flank and we get to enjoy the wonder of discovering what our special talent is as we grow up. Don’t humans have cutie marks?”

“Sorry Twilight, but no human never gets a mysterious mark on their butt. Unless they get so drunk that they forget what they did the night before." Bob said with a laugh. He cleared his throat, then said, "To explain what a tattoo is this. To us, it's a design we choose to place somewhere on our body showing what we love or to look cool. Some may get one tattoo for the experience while some others can get so many, that they cover their entire body. I am one of those people who choose not to get one because it's a little painful process.”

“Then how do you find out what your special talent is?”

“In truth, most humans don’t find out. We educate ourselves to do the jobs we get hired to do. That way we can pay bills and to put food on the table. I would have to guess that most humans don’t like the job they are doing, but like the pay it gives. There are others that do love the job they get hired to do. Finally, there are also some humans that find themselves having a wide range of skills they are good at. I think I am one of those.”

“Why do you think that, darling?” Rarity asked.

“Well, for my job, it involved fixing certain equipment sometimes. Also, being able to find the problem with most small machine types and fix them. Lastly, I'm quick to pick up on learning new skills through visual and hands on exercises.”

“That is really amazing! I am the same way with my magic. I can do so many spells while other unicorns can only do a certain amount based upon their special talent. I too don’t like to show off that I can do that. Plus, I like to use it to protect my friends.” Twilight said.

“Hmm, I want to try and guess your special talents now that I know what those cutie marks stand for. Please don’t hesitate to correct me if I am wrong.” I know I'm going to nail this on the head. This is going to be so much fun. “Let’s see, well Twilight already stated she is good with lots of different magic so that must be what her special talent is."

Bob turned his head to the next pony. "Rarity, based upon you wanting to make clothes for me and those diamonds for a cutie mark. I would have to say you make the precise and beautiful clothing of this land.” Rarity started to shed a tear.

“Now for Applejack, you said you work and own an apple farm. Your own name has the word apple in it. It's very clear that working with apples is strong within you. You must be very proud to produce the best apples that everyone loves.” Applejack started to blush.

“Pinkie Pie, with those balloons and your high amounts energy, you must throw the best parties for any event and make everyone smile.” Pinkie smiled so big, it looked like it was about to come off her face.

“For Rainbow Dash, the Pegasus with a rainbow lightning bolt as a cutie mark, I take it when you do break the sound barrier, a rainbow trail might form behind you. Plus, you are the fastest creature I have ever known.”

“Heck yeah!” Rainbow yells.

“Finally, for you Fluttershy, from what Applejack said about you how well you did to take care of my injuries, I would have to say that your special talent must lie in knowing how to take care of any creature you come across. You have the care creatures like, the ability to heal most injuries they might get, and you maybe be possible to be able to communicate with them on a different level compared to the rest of us. I would like to thank you again for taking care of my injuries when no one else knew anything about me at that time.”

Fluttershy was so moved at the compliment, she came over to Bob and gave him a hug. Everypony awed at this scene. The human started to stroke her mane with his fingers. She said, “You're most welcome, and do come by my place if you need anything.” She then returned to sit back down with everyone else.

Before the next pony could ask a question, they all heard a loud rumble coming from the human. “Sorry about that. I guess my stomach is trying to tell me to go and get some food. Would you mind if we take a break to get some?”

“Not at all.” Twilight said. “Although we should find out what you can eat so we don’t poison you.”

“Yeah, no one likes to get poisoned. From my early school days, I seem to recall that ponies are herbivores. It's where you mostly eat plant type foods, correct?" Twilight and several others nodded their heads in response.

Bob held his hands in front of him. The palms of the hands were facing the ponies and were just barely beyond his chest. He said, calmly, "Now them, please don’t be afraid with what I am about to tell you. Humans do eat certain plants, but we also have teeth designed to eat meat. We're omnivores” All the girl ponies raised their hooves to their mouths in shock. Rarity did her faint thing again onto the couch. The guards raised their weapons at the human with serious looks on their muzzles. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna remained sitting, with no shocked look on their faces. Spike only had a confused look on his.

Bob pushed his hands further away from him as he shouted, “Hold it! Let me make it perfectly clear, I would never eat a pony, a talking creature, or woodland creature that is friendly.” He looked directly at both Princesses to wait for their response.

Princess Celestia told the guards to stand down once again. With everypony calming back down, or regaining conscious again, Bob lowered his arms back to his sides to continue explaining. “I will still need to take in protein to keep my muscle strength up. For that, I do know of other foods that I can eat to reduce the normal meat intake. Even to almost nothing if need be. Some of foods that are high proteins are cheeses, beans, eggs, and peanuts. The other food groups I have no trouble eating. Some of the things humans can’t digest are hay and flowers." He looked at each one as he finished by saying, "Please don't be afraid of me because I can eat meat.”

“Of course not, sugarcube. You just startled us when you said you ate meat. We won’t think anything bad of you for what is natural for humans to do.” Applejack said.

“Um, if you want, if you don’t mind, I could give you some fish I have for the animals I take care of.” Fluttershy said.

“I would appreciate that, and thank you again. Now then, can we head upstairs and grab a bite to eat before I faint from hunger?” asked Bob.

They all nodded and started to walk up the stairs. Spike and Twilight headed into the kitchen to gather some food. Everyone else got comfortable in different places in the library. The guards are still keeping an eye on the human, in case he makes a move. A few minutes later, Twilight and Spike came out. Twilight used her magic to levitate several plates of food.

The one that came to Bob had cut up fruits and veggies on it. On the other plates, there was some type of sandwich with a side of hay. The human took a bite of a fruit. His eyes went wide as he continued to chew down everything on the plate. He thought, I couldn’t believe how fresh and tasty these all are. These tastes like they were just picked less than an hour ago.

Bob quickly finished the meal as everyone else did at the same time. “Thank you for the food. I never had anything that tasted so good like that. Most of the fruits and veggies humans get come from the store. That takes at least a day or two to get there. These taste like they were picked just an hour ago.”

“They were. I got them from the market this afternoon. Good thing, too. I wasn’t expecting any company tonight.” Twilight said.

“Well then, my compliments to you for picking them, and to the farmers for growing such fresh food.” Bob placed his hands on his stomach and said, “Shall we get back to questioning?” Everyone nodded. “Let me go first as I have one for the Princesses. I know about Unicorns and Pegasus from myths and legends, but I never read about a horse type creature with a horn and wings. Can you please enlighten me about yourselves?”

Princess Celestia spoke up, “My sister and I are called Alicorns. As of right now, there are only three in existence in all of Equestria. They are myself, my sister Luna, and our niece, Princess Cadance. The thing that is unique about us, besides having a horn and wings, is that we are immortal.”

“So, that explains how you recognized my species. You were there when they last were here. Let me just say that you and your sister are still as beautiful.” They both blush from the compliment. Bob turned his head to the others and asked, “So, who next has a question?”

Pinkie jumped up from where she was sitting and asked, “What are those things at the end of your hooves? They look like what Spike has, except they are not sharp.”

“Well, first off, these are not hooves, they are called hands. At the end of them are called fingers. They allow us humans to grab things as well as other things. They don’t need to be sharp to do damage. The same goes with my feet.” Bob took one of his shoes and socks to show off. “As you can see the foot also has thing at the end of them. They are called toes. The only thing is they are not as flexible as the fingers on my hands.” He flexed both of them so show what they can do.

Bob had put the sock and shoe back on. Soon after, he let out a big yawn and stretched out his arms. “If it's alright with everypony, I would like to hold off the questions for the time as I am getting exhausted. Would it be possible to explore your town in the morning?”

“I agree on holding the questions back for now. I need to organize all these notes I have taken.” Twilight said. Bob saw a stack about one hundred pages of notes she had taken. “As for the tour, I don’t know how the other ponies will react to you just walking around.”

“In a few days, I will make an announcement of your arrival to the town so you don’t scare anypony. For now, my sister and I need to return to Canterlot to attend to some royal duties. If you would like to contact us at any time, just have Spike send us a letter. I bid you all farewell and look forward to learning more about you.” Princess Celestia said. Everyone bowed to her. She used her magic to teleport her, her sister, and the Royal Guard out of the library in another big bright light.

“I have to get going as well. I have several dress orders due tomorrow and need to get back to them.” said Rarity. She then headed out the library.

“I’ve got to get back to the farm. I have to help Big Mac, my brother, buck the apple trees in the north field.” said Applejack. She too made her way out.

“I have weather duties I need to attend to.” said Rainbow Dash. She flew out the door.

Fluttershy said, “I need to get back to my cottage and take care of the animals. A bear has been complaining of back pains.” She trotted out and closed the door.

Bob looked for Pinkie Pie and couldn’t find here. “Where’s Pinkie?” he asked.

“Probably ran off to take care of a party.” Twilight said.

“But I did not hear her leave. Does she have ninja skills?”

“No. She is just being Pinkie.”

“Well, it looks like you get the honor to show me around in the morning.”

“Wait! You can’t go out there looking as yourself. Why don’t you use that thing you did to change into another pony?”

“It does not work like that. I can’t think of a random pony design out of the blue. I have to use another pony’s look and copy that. Do you have a spell that can change me into a pony, temporarily?”

“I think I do. It will take some time to find the book that might have it. How about you go and lay down in the cot in the basement as I start my search.”

“Sounds good. Good night, Twilight Sparkle. Good night, Spike. See you in the morning.” said Bob. He made his way back down to the basement and crashed onto the cot with a smile on his face.

Bob was awakened by a voice shouting, “Found it!” He crawled out of the cot, stretched, then made his way back to the main floor. Once the human was there, he saw most of the books that were on the shelves were now spread out in various stacks on the floor.

“Spike, would you be a dear and put the books away as I help Bob with this?” said Twilight.

Spike looks frustrated by how big of a mess she can make. Twilight’s eyes were scanning the book in front of her that she was also levitating. “Let’s see, the spell is temporary and will last for two days. It also says that it does not have the control in which pony type they will be turned into. You ready for this?”

Author's Note:

Edited by Izanagi and Biker Dash

Comments

[Biker_Dash]

Keep goin with this rewrite! Looks much better now.

[user123]

Heh, I have a prediction on which pony type he will be.

[Mr_Perlimpinpin]

Sorry but...No, it's waaayyyy more rushed then the first version and I can't make myself good with that so can you give me a link to the original version on Google doc please?

[Autumn breeze24]

The mind reading is fucking stupid even though she is a princess the MIND is a fucking private and SACRED thing and ANY being would be more upset and tell her to stay out of his head or else.

[Even Evil Has Standards]

This is a rewrite?

[unknowncape7377]

iactually slept on a cot once and it was stiff and kinda like a hammoc plus it was able to be set up and taken apart in less than 5 mins

[Kris1324]

I'd like the original link too please