//------------------------------//
// Chapter 40: So, What Did You Learn? 
// Story: Balance of the Mind and Body 
// by Swift Blaze 
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Morning came and Blaze still woke up before the sun. Al did too. They headed outside for morning exercises, starting with a jog. Being in a little colt body made it feel like Blaze went twice the distance with short legs. He could feel the magical weight clothing was still on him, but could not see them. 

The next thing they did were different stretches as the sun was beginning to rise. The pair finished up and headed back inside. Blaze headed upstairs to take a shower before school. Al went to the kitchen and made them breakfast. When the colt came out of his bathroom, he could smell the wonderful aroma of bacon. He cursed that Poison Joke. If he ever sees that plant, it’s toast.

Blaze came downstairs and saw Al made eggs and pancakes. His plate also had bacon. He was enjoying eating the meat right in front of me. “I see you’re liking the meat,” the Earth pony said.

Al replied, “You know it.”

“While I’m off at school, you are going to do some more of the mind-calming exercises. This time, on that.” The colt pointed outside to the back yard. Al looked to see what he was pointing at. Blaze then did an Earth Jutsu and created a nail bed made of stone.

The human turned around and said, “You have to be joking. How can I keep calm with those spikes poking at me.”

“That is the POINT. Being able to stay calm in stressful situations. I’m off to school. Have fun.”

The green colt finished his breakfast and quickly left before Al could make a comeback remark. Just as Blaze was out the door, he slammed into something. The little Earth pony rolled with it until he was stopped by the front yard fence. After shaking the daze away, he saw that he ran into Pinkie Pie.

“Pinkie, what are you doing here?” Blaze asked.

“Silly, I’m going to walk you to school,” replied the pink mare. “Miss. Cheerilee is going to be expecting that.”

“Huh. I did not think of that.”

“You can’t always be smarty pants all the time. Enjoy this time and have fun.”

I smiled at the idea of having fun. “You’re right, Pinkie. I shouldn’t look at this as an illness. More of a vacation from myself. Now I just need for Twilight to not pester me with learning Unicorn magic this week.”

“You don’t worry about Twilight. Your cousin Pinkie Pie can keep her occupied. Oh, here is your saddle bag with your school supplies.”

“Thanks, Pinkie.”

As they were walking through town, toward the school, the colt noticed the pink mare’s tail began to twitch. She quickly held him back as a flower pot fell right in front of Blaze. They both looked up and saw a pony sticking their head out their window.

“Sorry,” The pony said.

Pinkie replied, “It’s alright.”

The pair continued on towards school. As they walked, Blaze asked Pinkie, “How did you know that was going to happen?”

“My tail was twitching and that means my Pinkie sense was telling me something was about to fall,” the pink Earth pony replied.

“Huh, I normally get a gut feeling if something is off. Or I’m hungry.”

“I get stomach growls too! Do you have Blaze sense? Does your body do other things to try and tell you something?”

“Not that I am aware of. Oh! There’s the school. Bye Pinkie! See you later.” Blaze said as he started to run to the school. The colt looked back and saw Pinkie Pie was waving. He stopped and waved back. The pink mare then turned and began to skip back into town. Blaze continued onward to the school. He was wondering what level they’re learning at, compared to the grade levels back on Earth. He will try his best to not be an egghead, much.

As the green colt was getting close, he could see the other kids heading to the school from different locations. Blaze then spotted Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. They had two fillies in front of them. If he had to guess, they were Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. That tacky tiara Diamond wears always gives her away. The Earth pony could barely hear the conversation, but he knew the basics of it. Diamond Tiara was calling them several things, including blank flanks. Those two fillies turned away and laughed as they continued on to school. 

Blaze thought, “Laugh about this.” He performed an Earth jutsu so two small rocks would come up right in front of their forehooves. The result was they tripped and landed on their faces. Diamond Tiara’s tiara went flying into the nearby woods. Those two quickly got up and ran to get it. The CMC were just laughing and continued on toward school.

The green colt followed the trio ponies into the school a few feet back. He walked up to Miss. Cheerilee and said, “Good morning Miss. Cheerilee.”

“Good morning, Rocky. I’ll be starting class soon. I will introduce you and then you can tell everyone something about yourself. In the meantime, how you go and take the empty seat in the back.” Miss. Cheerilee said.

“Thank you again for allowing me to take your class while my parents are in Canterlot taking care of some business.”

“You're most welcome.”

Rocky headed to the back and took his seat. A few minutes later. Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara came walking in. Their perfect manes now had tiny sticks and leaves coming out of it. Diamond Tiara’s Tiara had some mud on it. The way it looked is as if they tried to clean it before coming in. All the kids were laughing. The green colt joined in the laughter too.

“Girls! What happened? Why are you two covered in dirt?” Miss. Cheerilee asked.

“We tripped over a rock and my tiara flew into the woods,” replied Diamond Tiara. “I had to get it and Silver Spoon helped me look for it.”

“Well, I’m glad you found it. Now go take your seats. You can get cleaned up at recess. We have a lot to cover today.” They headed to their desks and sat down. Miss. Cheerilee moved to the front of the class. “Alright class, we have a new student that will be joining us for a while. Say hello to Rocky. Would you like to come up to the front and tell us about yourself?”

He stood up and headed to the front. The green pony turned around and said, “Hello everyone. My name is Rocky. I live in Dodge Junction working on my family’s rock farm. I’m staying here in Ponyville while my parents are taking care of some business in Canterlot. The reason why I’m staying here is that my second cousin lives here. Do you all know Pinkie Pie?”

“We do!”  The three Cutie Mark Crusaders said at the same time. The other kids just nodded their heads.

“Yea, well I am not as bonkers as she. I do like her as a cousin. it’s just some of her stories don’t make any sense. Well, as you can see, I have yet to get my cutie mark. I can feel it has to do with something with rocks. I just haven’t found it yet.”

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were quietly laughing between themselves as the colt walked between them. He then heard Diamond Tiara whisper behind my back, “Blank Flank.” The green Earth pony stomped his back right hoof a little harder as he continued to walk. Rocky channeled some ki into that hit. The result was that Diamond Tiara’s chair broke apart. The class was now laughing at her again. She was looking around at who caused it. The colt was the closest pony, but he didn’t look back as he finished heading to his desk.

“Alright class, settle down. Diamond Tiara, I’ll get a spare chair out of storage at recess,” said Miss. Cheerilee. “For now, you’ll have to stand or sit on the floor. Alright class, take out your notebooks. We are going to work on our math skills.”

A couple of ponies groan at the subject. Blaze liked math, it was one subject he didn’t have a problem with. The green colt looked and saw Diamond Tiara whispering to Silver Spoon. Silver Spoon then passed her chair over to Diamond Tiara. Miss. Cheerilee just got done writing a few equations onto the blackboard.

“Ok class, where we left off, we were working on our multiplication tables. Let’s continue on with the multiplications of 7. What is 7 x 3?”

The class said, “21.”

“Very good. 7 x 5?”

“35.”

“Correct. 7 x 9?”

“63.”

“You all have been practicing. Soon you will be able to solve problems like 13 x 456.”

“5,928,” Rocky said.

“Excuse me?” Miss. Cheerilee asked him directly.

“I think that is the answer. 13 x 456. Yea, it is 5,928.”

Miss. Cheerilee walks to her desk and works the problem out. She looked up and said, “That is correct.”

Snips said, “Wow. How were you able to do that?”

“Growing up on a rock farm, there’s not much to do. So I counted rocks and got good with math.”

“It looks like you won’t have trouble with keeping up. Now let’s continue.”

The class continued with the math lesson and Rocky followed along. After an hour, they finished and moved onto history. The colt was able to keep up from the reading he did while at the Twilight’s library. Once the history lesson was done, Miss. Cheerilee told us it was time for recess. The class cheered and ran out of the door. The green Earth pony followed right behind them.

Once outside, Rocky looked around to see what everyone was playing. Snips and Snails were chasing each other. Several fillies and colts were playing in the jungle gym. Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara were doing their best to clean themselves up with a hose. It was funny to watch them as the hose whipped around like a snake. Then, a pony tapped the colt on his shoulder. He turned around and saw it was Apple Bloom. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were standing behind her.

“Hi there Rocky. My name is Apple Bloom. This is Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo,” the yellow filly said while pointing to her friends. “So, you’re from Dodge Junction? That’s a mighty far to travel.”

“Hello. Yeah, the train ride was rather long. I had to come as my folks did not want me to stay by myself for over a week. They say I’m not a big pony to stay by myself. Luckily, my cousin accepted the offer to watch me while they continued on to Canterlot. I would be just as bored there as I would be at home.”

“What are your parents doing in Canterlot?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Who knows? Probably some business deal.”

“More than likely going to sell the farm as there is no profit in plain old rocks,” Diamond Tiara said.

Rocky replied, “You mean like that cheap knock offs in your fake crown?”

“HAY! These are real diamonds! My dad gave me this crown and I got my cutie mark shortly after. What do you know about gems?”

“Gems are rocks and my family grows them. I can tell the difference between real and fake ones.”

“Maybe your family grows fake ones and sells them as real.”

“I can prove it.” Rocky took the top gem off her tiara.

“GIVE THAT BACK!”

“I will, just let me explain. A diamond is one of the strongest minerals known. The only thing that can break a diamond, besides a dragon’s mouth, is another diamond. If this is real, I should not be able to break it with my hoof.” Before she could stop me, the green Earth pony swung his forehoof down that held the diamond. He concentrated his chakra on that hoof to mimic diamond hardness. When the hoof and diamond hit the ground, the gem shattered into several pieces.

Diamond Tiara teared up and shouted, “You BASTARD! You ruined my TIARA!” She then lunges at the colt, trying to tackle him.

Rocky stepped out of the way. Before she could attack again, he said, “Wait! I would have not done that if I could not fix this. I can get an actual diamond to go up there. Watch.”

She and the other ponies watched. Rocky stomped his forehooves against the ground. The colt had channeled an Earth jutsu to pull a diamond out from the ground. A small piece came out. The green Earth pony then manipulated it to make it look like the other one and placed it back on Diamond Tiara’s tiara. No one would be able to tell the difference.

Diamond Tiara took it off so she could closely inspect it. Silver Spoon joined in the inspection. Once they were satisfied, the tiara went back onto the pink filly’s head. They walked away and both said, “See you later, Blank Flanks!” Rocky then heard Diamond Tiara say in a low voice, “and freak.”

Rocky thought, ”After I just fixed your stupid tiara, you call me a freak? You SPOILED, LITTLE, BRAT!” The colt stomped his hooves again to have rocks come up again to trip them. They did and now realized he was the one who tripped them this morning.

They got up and headed back to the green Earth pony. Diamond Tiara stood in front of his face as she said, “You know what? I think I know the real reason why you’re here while your parents are in Canterlot. They’re looking for a place to dump their little FREAK of a son and never see him again.”

Blaze knew his back story was fake, but just that word, freak, really aggravated him. The colt acted on impulse and emotion after she said it. In a quick movement, he punched Diamond Tiara in the face. She fell to the ground a few feet away. Rocky walked up to her while still angry. She was still awake as she was covering the spot where he hit her. The colt said, “Now see here, one thing I despise is ponies picking on others. I can tolerate ‘Blank Flank’ once in a while. Just one word I will never accept a pony to call another, a freak. You’re wrong about why my parents are in Canterlot. Now prepare yourself for a thrash that you deserve.”

Before the green Earth pony threw another punch, a pony shouted, “ROCKY! STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!” He turned to see who said that. It was from Miss. Cheerilee and she looked angry. The colt stepped away from Diamond Tiara. When Miss. Cheerilee was next to us, she said, “Now, explain yourself!”

“Well, Diamond Tiara came over and was saying some mean things about my family’s farm. I decided to play a small trick and told her the diamonds in her tiara were fakes. They are real, but I wanted to prove they weren’t. You see, I have a rare ability some Earth ponies are born with. I can control rocks and things like that. I was able to shatter that diamond, pull one from the ground and form it back into the one I destroyed. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon walked away and called us Blank Flanks. That did not aggravate me as what Diamond Tiara said in a low voice. She said Freak also. I used my ability to trip them so I could confront her.” At this point, Rocky teared up and got angry again. “She then said why she thinks my parents were in Canterlot, so they can find a place to leave a freak like me with and never see them again. I just lost it and punched her. The rest was a blur as I was enraged.”

“Is this all true?” She asked the other ponies that were there. They all nodded. “Well, I don’t atone for what Diamond Tiara called you, but that does not give you the right to hit here. I’m sorry, but I have to give you detention and will have a talk with Pinkie Pie about this. Now you two, say sorry to each other.”

“I’m sorry for hitting you and saying your tiara was a fake,” Rocky said.

“Um, I’m sorry for calling you a freak,” Diamond Tiara said.

“Alright, now let’s all go inside. I have some magical lotion that will take that bruise away,” Miss. Cheerilee said.

The ponies headed inside. Diamond Tiara got the lotion applied and the bruise went away. Rocky stayed quiet and paid attention to the class as best as he could. Lucky, Miss. Cheerilee did not call on him. The colt looked outside and noticed Pinkie was near the school. Her nose itched a few seconds before she ran for cover under the horseshoe slide. A minute later, a swarm of bees flew by and went to town on a bush at the edge of the school grounds. Rocky just looked back to what Miss. Cheerilee was covering.

Lunchtime came and all the kids headed outside to have their lunch. The green Earth pony didn’t bring one on the account he didn’t know if he had too. Rocky looked in his saddlebag and saw Pinkie Pie did pack him one, nothing but sweets though. The colt wasn’t that very hungry though. 

Blaze’s mind was recalling the recess events. ”Even here, I cannot control my anger when I’m called that name. The problem now is, I’m so powerful, I could have easily hurt the pony. Thinking back to my school days, when I was first called a freak, was only because I was smart and advanced several grades. How can I help it with how quickly I could learn things. That should not make me a freak.” The colt continued to debate in his mind until a pony placed their hoof on his shoulder. He looked up and saw it was Miss. Cheerilee

“Rocky, how come you didn't eat your lunch?” the magenta mare asked.

“Not that very hungry,” the green Earth pony said as he returned my head back down looking at his desk.

“Why’s that?”

“This isn’t the first time I was called, that name. I had a similar incident.”

“Do you want to talk about it? We are the only one in the school. Everyone else is having their lunch outside.”

“I guess. It started at the last school I went to. I’m actually smarter than I looked. So I got advanced in the learning. The other ponies didn’t like it that I was smarter. So, I was beginning to be called a freak. I did my best to ignore it and just focused on my studies. I thought while I was here, I could avoid being called that. Guess I was wrong. I’m sorry for hitting Diamond Tiara. It was just that she broke my last nerve when she also talked about my parents.” The colt began to tear up again.

“Shh. It’s ok. I’ve known she likes to talk like she is better than anyone. I’ll have a talk with her. Seeing she probably still feels that hit you gave her, I think it will sink in this time to not pick on other ponies because they’re different. Now come on and eat your lunch. You are still growing and need to have a good meal.”

“I will need to tell that to my cousin as she packed nothing but sweets for my lunch.” Rocky showed the lunch in his saddlebag.

The mare smirked a bit, but quickly regained herself. “Yes, well, Pinkie Pie pretty much eats nothing but sweets. I hope you’ll be able to get some healthy food in you while you stay with her.”

He nodded. Miss. Cheerilee headed out to call the other kids back in. They came back in and class began again. The green Earth pony was feeling better after the chat with the teacher. He thinks she should know that it’s actually Blaze after helping him. It only seems fair. Once class ended and the other kids left, he made my way to Miss. Cheerilee’s desk.

“Yes, Rocky? You need something?” Miss. Cheerilee asked.

“I think you deserve to know the real truth,” replied the colt. “My name is not Rocky. It is Swift Blaze. Poison Joke turned me into a colt pony and I am stuck like this until Zecora can make the cure for it.” 

“If you really are Blaze, tell me what you said when you talk about your cutie mark.”

“My cutie mark is a symbol called the yin and yang symbol. What it stands for is the belief I have for balance and that can be anything. Want me to continue?”

“I just can’t believe that plant pulled this kind of joke on you. I saw what it did to Twilight and her friends. I think this tops it. So, was everything you said about when you were young, was that fake too?”

“No, it wasn’t. I was called a freak in my school days. Being so smart and advancing in grades, the other kids did not like it. The problem is I did nothing to stop the bullying and name-calling. I just ignored them and focused on my studies. I did make friends that were into the same things I was. That did help while growing up. I guess stuck a kid again and being called a freak brought back all those memories that I could not control my actions. I will make sure I won’t harm any of the kids ever again.”

“I believe you will honor that. Just like you said, being a kid again brought up some bad memories. Now then, you are still going to have to stay here for an hour for hitting Diamond Tiara. After that, you can go home. I’ll let you explain what happened to Pinkie. Don’t worry about your secret. I won’t tell anyone or your classmates. I’m going to finish grading these assignments while you return to your desk and make use of this hour. Maybe even take care of your homework assignments.”

“I will do that. Thank you, Miss. Cheerilee for understanding.” 

Blaze returned to his desk and worked on the homework. It did not take him long as this was elementary school level stuff. Once done, the colt just sat quietly and did some reading about Equestria’s history, the only book that would spike my interest. Once the hour was up, he said goodbye to Miss. Cheerilee and headed home.

Along the way home, Blaze saw Pinkie Pie was skipping through town. She saw him and headed in my direction. “Hi Rocky! How was school today?” She asked.

“Um, it didn’t go the way I thought it would,” the colt replied in a low voice.

Pinkie stopped skipping and walked normally beside him. “What happened?”

He began to tell her about everything that happened and what he told Miss. Cheerilee about my childhood past. Pinkie’s hair was starting to deflate a little while the green Earth pony talked about his past. Once he was done, the pink mare stopped him and pulled the colt into a hug. He embraced it as it felt good. 

She whispered into his ear, “Oh Blaze, I never like it when one of my friends is sad. I’m sorry again to have given you that laced cupcake. I never knew you had a tough childhood and had to relive it again.”

“It’s ok, Pinkie. There’s no way you could have known what that plant would have done. Nor about my childhood past. Having you all my friends and letting me share is helping me by not sealing the emotions back up.”

The pink Earth pony pulled away from the hug and looked at the colt. “I know what can cheer both of us up. Let’s go to Sugarcube Corner and have some Blaze’s Chocolate Drops. I know you like them.”

“How about we have these.” He opened his saddlebag to reveal the uneaten lunch Pinkie packed him.

“You didn’t eat your lunch!”

“Pinkie! This isn’t what a growing colt needs. Fruits and veggies are good for a proper lunch. A small sweet is ok to have too, but the entire lunch can’t be dessert items.”

“I only packed what I normally have for lunch.”

“Pinkie, you have a lot to learn when you are taking care of children. Let’s get some real food as I’m starving.” His stomach growls with the mention of food. They both laughed and smiled after that.

Pinkie Pie’s hair returns to normal. The two headed to a café and had a proper meal. Blaze ate a normal amount for a colt to eat, but he was still very hungry. They ate the sweets afterward that were in his lunch as Pinkie walked the colt back to his house. Blaze said goodbye to her and reminded her he needs a proper lunch for tomorrow. Not heavy on sweets. She replied with her usual OK response and began to skip back to Ponyville.

Once inside, Blaze headed to the backyard to see if Al was working on his calm mind training. The colt found him, still on the spikes, snoring. He didn’t expect him to actually sleep. He believed it was time to wake the human up. The green Earth pony performed an Earth jutsu to make the spikes go away and he fell to the ground, hard.

“OW! What the hell Blaze! You didn’t have to wake me up like that,” Al said.

“Well, I didn’t expect you to actually fall asleep on the spikes,” he replied.

“Yea, I actually slept on something like this when I was in hell. Yours was very comfortable.”

“I guess that mind-calming while in pain was useless.”

“No, it did work. I was able to calm my mind while feeling the pokes. Just a little too good and fell asleep. You think I can have a spike bed in my room?”

Blaze just facehoof himself. He should have known this human would be used to this kind of pain. He was in hell. The colt needed to change his strategy. “I’ll think about it. For now, it's dinner time and I AM STARVING,” he said as his stomach growled, yet again.

“You’re always hungry. Did you not get lunch?”

“Pinkie Pie packed me a lunch with nothing but sweets. Plus, I was not in the mood to eat.”

“That is a first. Why not?”

The green Earth pony began to tell the white hair human about what happened. Al laughed when he got to the part of hitting Diamond Tiara. Blaze just glared at him till he stopped. When the colt explained why he did that and everything else he told Miss. Cheerilee, the human came down and gave him a hug.

“Dude, I never knew your school life was also tough. I’m beginning to think my time in hell was not as bad,” Al said.

“I might have thought I was in hell while at school, you actually were there. Your torment is worse than mine. But look at it this way, I’ll be joining you in the anger management exercises,” Blaze said. His stomach growled again to remind him how hungry he was.

Al broke the hug and said, “Let’s subdue that beast you call a stomach with a big dinner.”

“Let’s go before I go carnivore.”

They both laughed as the two headed to the kitchen. Blaze did his best to help out while he was still in the colt form. Al had the steak again and the Earth pony had a platter of roasted veggies with fresh fruit on the side. The two ate dinner and cleaned up the dishes. They both headed to bed after washing up. As Blaze was falling asleep, he began to think about what happened today. The colt really thought he had had his anger under control since the last outburst in the EverFree Forest. He does hope tomorrow will be better.