Balance of the Mind and Body

by Swift Blaze

Chapter 8: How much pain can you take?

The sun was setting as the moon rose to take its place. Swift Blaze could see a lot more stars in the sky. Nothing compared to living on Earth with the city lights everywhere. He and Applejack soon came up to a simple wooden fence that went around several hundred acres of apple trees. They passed through the entrance of Sweet Apple Acres and made their way to the house next to the barn.

Before they emerged from the tree cover, Applejack stopped the human and said, "Okay, Blaze, you gonna need to wait here. I have ta tell them about you before they see you. Don't want my brother to attack you and for Granny to scream. My little sis saw you at the ceremony already. I know she'll be overjoyed to meet ya."

"Not a problem. I'm sure your family will accept me with open hooves," he said.

The orange mare left the human by the trees as she went inside. After a few minutes, Blaze saw the front door flew open with a slam. Big Macintosh was charging at the human with an angry face. Oh shit! He means to deal damage, if not, to kill me. the human thought as he prepared for the tackle. The big red stallion made contact with Blaze. Instead of being pinned, the human changed the momentum so the Earth Pony was on the bottom and pinned.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!" Swift Blaze yelled into Big Mac's face.

His face changed to a surprise look from how quickly this creature was able to take him down. Big Macintosh soon started to feel the pain of the reverse tackle. "Sorry for charging at ya. Seeing you, a strange creature, out the window of my home, I completely ignored what my sis were saying. My gut was telling me you were going to cause some trouble." A pain shot through his body. "Ugh, I think something broke," he said.

Blaze replied, "Promise not to move and I will see where it hurts."

The big stallion nodded his head slowly. The human slowly got off him to not cause anymore pain. "Now, I'm going to feel around your body. Tell me when it hurts." he said.

By this time, Applejack came walking up with frustration being expressed. She said, "Why do ya always do this when something is strange to ya? Now ya got yourself injured. And just before applebuck season. What am I going to do with ya?"

"Sorry sis, I'm just overprotective of my family." He clenched in pain. "Right there, mister. Also, there's pain coming from my back."

“Looks like you may have a few bruised ribs. Possibly a dislocated back. If you want, I can try to help realign it. The pain will increase for a sec, but will get better after that,” said Blaze.

With the pain increasing, the stallion said, “Let’s get this over with. What do I need to do to help?”

“Big Macintosh, I just need you bite down on this branch so you don’t chip your teeth. Applejack, can you get me some heavy duty rope?”

Applejack replied, “Sure thing, Blaze. I recon you have done this before?”

“Something similar. But, not to worry, this should ease the pain.”

Applejack didn't like the sound of that. But, with the hospital on the opposite side of town, it would take too long to get proper medical attention. Trusting her new friend, she went to the barn and got the rope. When the orange mare got back, she and the human carefully helped the red stallion to his hooves. Blaze then tied the rope around the upper part his chest, behind his fore hooves. The other end was tossed over a high and sturdy branch.

“Alright big fella, I'm going to lift you several feet off the ground. The pain might increase, but please bear with it as it will lessen when I align your back,” the human said.

Big Macintosh nodded and braced himself for the pain. Blazed pulled the slack out of the rope. He then focused his chakra to his limbs to maintain grip with the rope and the ground. He looked to the stallion and said, "You ready?"

Applejack's brother nodded, then closed his eyes. He was biting down hard on the branch in his mouth. Blaze reached out as far as he can go on the rope. With a mighty pull, the stallion started to dangle off the ground. You could hear wood being crunched on as Big Macintosh felt the surge of pain from his back.

"Hold it together, we are almost at the height needed." Blaze said as he struggled with the rope. It was a big old fashion tug-of-war in lifting the big stallion. The human's feet were digging into the ground with each small step he took backwards. Applejack was just standing there, unsure what or who she could help with. After several agonizing minutes, the height was reached. Blaze looked to the orange mare. "Quickly, tie this end to the tree behind me," he said as he struggled with the weight.

She moved as fast as her body would let her. With a couple spins around the tree and a sturdy knot later, everything was secured.

Blaze released his hold on the rope. Big Macintosh went down a little bit, but was still above the ground. The human was working on catching his breath. He flexed his arms and legs to get rid of the stiffness that built up. The stallion was still biting down on that branch as the pain was slowly increasing in his back. Once Blaze was ready for the next step, he said, “Brace yourself, Mac. There will be a surge of pain for a few seconds." He looked towards the orange mare. " Applejack, please, don't stop me in what I'm about to do. It's the best way.”

“What are ya going ta do with my brother, Blaze?” Applejack asked.

The human didn't answer as he took a couple steps back. He then ran at full speed and jumped onto the lower part of Big Macintosh's back. The stallion gave out a loud scream as Blaze heard a pop in the pony's back.

Applejack ran over and pulled the human off her brother. She tried to get him to respond, but the stallion's eyes were closed. She could hear him breathing, calmly. The pain must have been so bad, it sent him unconscious. She turned to the human laying on the ground. She looked very angry. "What did you do! He's not responding!" she shouted.

Blaze held up his hand with the palm facing her. “Your brother is fine, Applejack. The spinal column in his back was being compressed, causing the pain he was experiencing," he said. He then lowered his arm and moved to a sitting position. "All I did was stretch it back out. For him, being as big as he is, this was the best way I could do it."

Applejack's face switched to a worried look. "Is he going to be alright now?"

"I believe so. He will just need some sleep. Can you get some bandages so I can wrap his rib cage? I want to apply pressure so nothing else moves.”

She nodded and headed back to the house. Blaze untied the rope and lowered the sleeping stallion slowly to the ground. A few minutes later, Applejack came back with the rolls of cloth. The human started to wrap Big Macintosh's ribs while his sister kept him up on his hooves.

Once done, they both helped carry him inside the house. Applejack was in front and led them to his room. They placed him on the bed. Applejack covered him up and closed the door.

Back in the living room, Apple Bloom and Granny Smith were sitting on the couch. Applejack went and sat in a different chair. Blaze stood at the bottom of the stairs. He placed a hand to the back of his head as he said, “Well, not the best way I wanted to introduce myself. Don't know what could have been worse than bringing in an unconscious family member.”

“It wasn’t your fault to begin with. I'm just glad you didn't get hurt yourself, sugarcube. Can ya explain how in Equestria were you able to take my brother down so fast?” Applejack asked.

The human lowered his arm and replied, “Basically, I've learned some martial arts over the years back in my world. One technique uses your opponent’s movement against them. That's what happened, I took his momentum of charging at me and used it to flip him onto his back. Finally, I pinned your brother down to avoid any more conflict.”

“You thought of that in those few seconds before my big bro ran into ya?” Apple Bloom asked with big excited eyes.

“I decided upon a friendly method that was quick and reliable. I didn't want to cause any serious harm if I didn't have to. That's why I learned those different styles, to help in choosing the best way to deal with whatever situation that I might get into. Not to act like a jarhead that attacks first without thinking the best way to do it.”

“Jarhead? You mean they go around with their heads in jars? That’s silly. How in the hay do they eat?” Granny Smith said.

“It's a figure of speech. It means their mind is close to others’ opinions. They're only focused on the objective.”

“Wow, mister! You must be really smart to know all of this. I'm surprised your cutie mark is not something related to fighting,” Apple Bloom said.

“Let me switch to my pony form. That way you can clearly see my cutie mark. Plus, I'll go into more detail about it for you. But first, please don’t be startled by what I'm about to do. I will also explain how I can do this.”

Swift Blaze performed the shadow transformation jutsu into his pony form. Granny Smith started to scream that he was a changeling. The old mare was trying to run, but it was at a snail's pace. Applejack helped calm her down and moved her back to her seat. Apple Bloom remained sitting where she was. The filly was clapping her hooves together in excitement for getting to see the close up transformation.

Blaze explained about the energy source he used to change. He then went on to go over his cutie mark in a little bit more detail than what he said at City Hall. When the stallion finished telling them about himself, all three Earth mares clapped their hooves together.

The stallion was engulfed in a puff of smoke. He released the jutsu and changed back to his human form. “Seeing how I told you quite a bit about me, do you ladies care to introduce yourselves? Or shall I just call you relative of Applejack?” Blaze asked as he sat down in an empty seat.

Granny Smith started out first. She told how her family came to this land, with caused the foundation of Ponyville. Apple Bloom went next. The little filly only said how she was going to school in town and how she helped out on the farm when they allowed her.

After the quick intro, Apple Bloom asked, “So, ya think I might get a cutie mark from learning martial arts from you, mister?”

“Please, call me Blaze. I don’t think martial arts is for you. What I know, the style, would be hard to teach to a different species. Mainly because they are focused on the use of these hands." He brought his hands up again and flexed the fingers. Blaze placed them back on his lap and said, "I was taught to use these to protect myself and my friends, never be an attacker.”

"I really wanted to know what my cutie mark is now! I can't find it if I don't try everything," said the little filly.

Applejack placed a hoof on her sister's back as she said, "Calm yourself, Apple Bloom. You can't force it to reveal itself. Your cutie mark will show when the time is right."

"Then how come Blaze got his so easily?"

Blaze replied, "I didn't. Humans never really find out what they are good at. Some do, but most have to do other jobs they don't like just to make ends meet. I went through many years of training to get to where I'm at. You can't learn this type of skill in just a day." Unless this is the matrix.

The grandfather clock in the corner chimed up and signalled it was ten o'clock.

The human stood up and stretched out his arms. After a big yawn, he said, "Well, it’s getting late. Applejack, can you show me to a bathroom with a shower? I would like to freshen up. Also, I would like to know where I'm going to be sleeping?”

“The bathroom is upstairs. The first door on the left. There are fresh towels hanging in there. For a place for ya to crash for the night, I sorry to say, but there are no rooms available in the house. You can either sleep on the couch here, or there is room in the barn with plenty of hay to sleep on.”

“Thank you for the use of your bathroom. I think I'll take the barn. Don't want to wake everyone up too early. I have been going outside and doing some morning training exercises before breakfast.”

“We are also early risers so we shall see who gets up first. G’night Blaze” Applejack said.

“Good Night Applejack, Apple Bloom, and Granny Smith. Big Macintosh should be taken to the hospital in the morning to make sure everything is back into place,” said Blaze.

The human made his way to the bathroom and closed the door. As he looked at himself in the mirror, he thought, When was the last time I washed this body? Running around each day feels like I haven’t bathed for a week.

Blaze took off his gi off and looked at his cutie mark on his upper arms. The size of it seems to fit perfectly. Just like how they are on a pony's flank. Hmm, I think I'm going to need to have Rarity make the new clothing sleeveless. No point of having a cutie mark and not show it.

With that, the human finished undressing and hopped into the shower. He dried off and started to put the clothes back on. Blaze ripped the sleeves off his top before it went on. It was a little ragged, but his cutie mark was now visible.

Blaze left the house and made his way to the barn. Inside, he found a lantern. There were matches nearby to light it. With a light source, he headed up to the loft where a pile of hay was spread out. Once he made himself as comfortable as he could, the human drifted off to sleep.

Swift Blaze woke up to the empty mind space. As he looked around, the human worked on recalling other jutsu that God has placed in his head. The one he was really looking for was the Shadow Clone. It would help speed up the training by a hundred fold with that many doing it. The other was the element-based jutsu. The only trouble with that is, Blaze didn't know what his chakra was in tune with. None of that really matters as he couldn't locate any of this in his head. Wish I had access to some Ninjutsu scrolls, but where in Equestria am I going to get those! The human grabbed his head in frustration.

Out of the corner of his view, a door appeared in his mind. He cautiously walked over to it. It slowly opened without him touching it. Through it, what he saw was an old style office with a big desk at one end. Blaze walked in and looked around. The door disappeared when he looked behind himself. Well, guess this is God’s doing, but why do I think I've seen this office before?

“You should know, you were just thinking about that show,” the person behind the big chair and desk said.

Blaze said, “Hello God. From your comment, then this is the 3rd Hokage's office.”

The chair spun around. Sitting on it was God, but he looked like Hiruzen Sarutobi, the 3rd Hokage of the leaf village. "So, what are you requesting to learn tonight?"

"I've gotten down most of the basic jutsu, but this might go a little faster if I could make Shadow Clones."

God opened a desk drawer and pulled out a small piece of wood. He tossed it to Blaze. "Break that in half."

Somewhat trusting him, the human did so. Once it broke into two, a powder mist of green rose up and flew into his nose. Blaze choked on it at first, until he could breath safely again. "What the hell! Couldn't you just give me a scroll instead of some strange, crazy, way to shove the knowledge into my head?"

"Excuse me for allowing this old fart to have some laughs. Is there any other questions you have?'

“Yeah, can you tell me what basic elements I am naturally towards? Don’t have any of the special chakra paper to test.”

“I'm surprised you haven't figured it out. Think about what you have done so far,” God said with a big grin.

“Let's see, I can fly, I'm agile and fast, strong enough to beat Big Mac, and I can shoot energy blast.”

“Well, what elements do those lines up with?”

Blaze thought for a moment. Once it clicked, he shouted, “WAIT! ARE YOU SAYING WHAT I THINK YOU ARE SAYING?”

“Correct, my little ninja. You can do Ninjutsu of all five base elements. You will still need to do the actual training with them first. I'll leave you with access to the techniques in your head. I can't keep popping in here each night to help you."

"Thanks, God. Don't know if my mind can handle any more forced knowledge into it."

"Anytime. Oh, I suggest you learn the Water and Earth style first. See you another time.”

With that, the room got engulfed in smoke. The space he was now in was a library with thousands of scrolls. How ancient, wish it was digital. The room disappeared and a computer terminal showed up with a projector. Right, all in my mind. Blaze searched up different advance jutsu he could potentially learn.

He called up his favorite clone style and watched how to do it. This was harder than the other techniques. Not only did he have to use a certain amount of chakra per clone creation, but the amount he can use is divided between him and the clones. With all this math calculations, I don't even know how Naruto even mastered this. Oh yeah, Nine Tales chakra helped boost his. Lucky bastard. Blaze started practicing it until the clone was perfect and not a pile of mush.

After those couple hours, he went back to the terminal and looked at some of the basic Genjutsu and how to release them. These require a lot more mental power as the caster had to create a space in the target's head that would either trap them or reveal secrets. After selecting a few. The human created a dozen three man teams to practice. One would cast, one would be the target, and the last to try and break the technique. This went on for several hours.

Once the clones departed, Blaze was hit with the knowledge they had learned. Being a Genjutsu exercise, it felt like being smacked with a chain mail glove. After shaking that off, he thought about what God said. Why did he want me to learn Water and Earth style jutsu? What do those have that something cool like lightning would give me? The human slapped his forehead when the thought came. WOOD STYLE! I CAN USE THAT TO BUILD MY HOUSE IN NO TIME!

Blaze looked up the Earth style jutsu first and begun learning a few basic moves. Again, hours passed as the clones and he finished up before the sun rose. Satisfied with the practice tonight, he left the training space and finished sleeping the rest of the night.

Author's Note:

Edited by Izanagi and Biker Dash

Comments

[Blade tormentor]

been a while good job keep it up

[Shisarakage]

Flight = Wind. Agililty + Speed = Water. Strength = Earth. Energy Blast = Fire + Lightning.

If'n we're thinkin' this through in th' righ' way, then that's how th' el'mental alignment plays out. O' course, tha' be jus' spec'latin'.

In any case, it's good to see more of this story again.

[Swift Blaze]

6021058 , Ahh, close enough. Not going to get into the nic picky details, but yea. Next chapter revision is in progress.

PINKIE! Put that ink well down.
But I wanna put something funny at that scene.
No, you can't. Well, maybe. Tell me what it is and I'll deside
*whisper whisper*
OH HELL NO! You got that from Deadpool, didn't ya.
Yes in dee dee!
I don't care he breaks the forth wall as much as you do. He is a bad influence. Now I need to burn that thought out my head.
Want me to get the matches?
NO!

[Swift Blaze]

6221327 , Thank you for the comments. I'm getting close to finishing the next chapter for my proof reader and editor to go through it. As for the plush, I know several plush makers on DeviantArt and found one that had one made and was for sale. Glad you like it.