//------------------------------// // Chapter 48: Equestria's Got Talent, Part 2 // Story: Balance of the Mind and Body // by Swift Blaze //------------------------------// ---------At Zecora's Hut---------- Blaze appeared just outside of Zecora's hut. Knowing where it saved him the time of walking through the EverFree Forest. He walked up to the door and gave it a quick knock. A few seconds later, Zecora showed up and opened the door. "Ah, my little colt friend, you could not wait for this weekend?" the Zebra asked. "I’m just checking to see if you will have it ready on Saturday. I plan on doing a feat with it at the talent show. Will you have it ready by then?" Blaze asked. "Worry not your little mind. I’ll have it all ready by that time." The colt got slightly mad at that remark. "Hey, I might look little, but I have knowledge of things you can't even comprehend." "You already told me you are a human that I have yet to see. How about you share some of your knowledge over a cup of tea." "Alright, I’ll share with you some things about my world and some of the other things I can do." The mare headed off to get the tea going. The green Earth pony found a stool over by a table and sat down. Zecora came back holding a platter in her mouth with a tea kettle and two cups on it. She placed it on the table and poured the tea into the cups. Blaze grabbed one and to a sip. “Hmm, interesting flavor. A good, sweet flavor with a slightly nutty in it. Reminds me of a tea that came from another country back in my world. I think it was called, Rooibos Tea.” “That’s extraordinary, that’s the name of the plant from my country.” “Interesting. Now then, let me tell my tale about me.” -------Couple hours later-------- Blaze finished his tale and left Zecora’s hut. He decided to walk home as he wanted to see how the Crusaders are doing with their skit. No creatures bothered the colt as he walked out of the EverFree Forest. Once out, he was now on edge of Sweet Apple Acres. He knew the Treehouse was somewhere on the farm, but never actually saw the location. The green Earth pony started his vibration detection technique to find them. After a few minutes, he found an object on wheels moving fast just arriving at the farm. Blaze thought it must have been Scootaloo on her scooter pulling the wagon. As he followed their movements, he sensed a pair of small hooves were following them. He moved quickly and quietly to intercept the mysterious pair. He stuck to the tree limb to avoid having his hooves heard. Blaze arrived at the point where the two should be going through. He felt lucky to have a green coat so he could blend with the leaves. As the colt watched the ground below, he saw the Crusaders were moving along with their supplies. He made note of the direction to catch back up. A few minutes later, he spotted the pair, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. The two fillies that had been a pain to him and any blank flank kid. The colt wondered why those two were following them. He figured they were probably up to no good. The green Earth pony stayed above them and listened for any conversation. They soon arrive at a small clearing. In the center was the Treehouse Apple Bloom had restored. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon stayed on the edge to spy. Blaze was above and listened. “Come on Diamond Tiara, we shouldn’t be doing this. We could get into serious trouble,”  Silver Spoon whispered. “I told you, I want to know what secret that colt Rocky is hiding. He humiliated me and my family. I want something on him so I can blackmail him,” Diamond Tiara whispered in an angry tone. When Blaze heard this, he almost gave himself away. He just wanted to jump down and kick their flanks. He remained steady and continued to listen. “Once we know he’s there, we’ll sneak up and listen in on their conversation,” the pink filly said. Now knowing their plan, the colt teleported out of there and to the Cutie Mark Crusaders Treehouse. He arrived in the attic part of the building. He jumped down to the main level where Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle. He startled them by his entrance. “Holy Smokes! Where in Equestria did you come, Bl . . . mmph!” the orange filly started to say. Before Blaze put a hoof over her mouth. “Shh. We have a couple of spies watching us. Don’t say my real name,” he whispered. Scootaloo nodded as did the others. The green Earth pony took his hoof off her mouth. She wiped it clean before she talked in a quieter voice. “Who would want to spy on us? We’re just normal fillies.” “I’ll give you one guess of the pair that are hiding in the bush. They actually want to spy on me to get some dirt on me to try and blackmail me.” “Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon,” the yellow filly whispered. “Bingo. Diamond wanted this for me getting her in trouble and having her dad pay a hefty fine for bribing those guards.” “But, all of that was because of how she acted to us and other blank flanks. She can’t blame you for that,” the white filly whispered. “I know that, but she wants to get her way.” “Then, how about we go down there and teach her a lesson,” Scootaloo said. “If you’re implying of kicking their flanks, then we would get in trouble for it. I have a better plan.” Blaze began to tell them of the plan. They smiled and had to hold back their laughter. -------Outside the Treehouse------ Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were keeping an eye on the area. They were looking for Rocky to come up and head to the Treehouse. All of a sudden, they heard a voice come from there. “Yawn. Oh, hey Crusaders. When did you get here?” Blaze said while acting tired. “Shoot, he must have gotten here before the other Blank Flanks. Come on. We need to scoot up quickly,” the pink filly said. They moved from their hiding spot to closer to the tree. As they crept up, they listened to the conversation. “Hey Lord Rock, I take it your meeting with Zecora went well?” Apple Bloom asked. “It sure did. The ability enhancement potion will push what I can do to new heights. Just in time for the talent show. Once I win that, I can push my plans forward to take over this land,” the colt said, following up with a burst of evil laughter. All the Crusaders started chanting, “All hail to Lord Rock.” The grey filly was now scared of what she heard. Diamond Tiara was instead excited about this. “This is exactly what I need to make sure he’ll get locked away for a long time. Come on, we need to tell the Royal Guards,” the pink filly said. As they turned around, Silver Spoon stepped onto a twig. Causing it to snap loudly. They stood still, hearing if they heard that. “Lord Rock, I think we have intruders on the premises,” Sweetie Belle said. “I’ll take care of this. ROCK GOLEMS! GO AND FIND THESE INTRUDERS AND BRING THEM TO ME!” the colt shouted. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon started running. As they approached the tree line, Rock figurines were coming out of the ground. They were just bigger than fillies. Each one stood on two stubby legs, their chest and arms were buffed out, and the heads had eye sockets that glowed green. The two fillies screamed and tried to go another way. But, they saw more coming up to block them. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were soon surrounded by a dozen Rock Golems. They were shaking and hugging each other as they were scared of what was going to happen. Two Golems stepped away as Rocky and the Crusaders went and filled the gap. The green Earth pony was in front of the three fillies. He had an evil-looking grin on his face. The grey and pink filly were now shaking even more. “So, it was you two spying on me. Trying to learn my secret plans?” Rocky asked. “We already heard it and won’t let you get away with it. My daddy will come to look for me,” Diamond Tiara shouted. “What are you talking about?” Scootaloo asked. “We heard Rocky talk about a potion and taking over this land. Also how you called him Lord Rock,” Silver Spoon tried to say while shaking scared. The Crusaders and Rocky were laughing. “You must have misheard me. The potion is to improve my singing voice. Lord Rock is going to be my stage name,” the colt replied. “Then, what’s with all of these rock creatures you summoned?” Diamond Tiara asked. “Guess I can give you a sneak preview of what I’m going to do in the talent show. Girls, mind joining them while I get a stage setup?” The Crusaders nodded their heads and moved behind Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. Rocky walked away and the Rock Golems followed. He stomped his hoof and a small rock stage rose up from the ground. He hopped up and turned around. “Now then, I don’t have my music ready or the potion for my voice, so this will be a silent act.” (Blaze and the Rock Golems perform the movements in the video with no music or singing) When they were done, he had the stage and golems go back into the ground. He walked over to the fillies to hear what they thought about it. “So, what did you all think?” the colt asked. The Crusaders were all looking at each other, trying how to word it as best they could. Before they could say anything, Diamond Tiara said, "Of all the things I expected you to do, that’s probably the weirdest thing you could have done. I can't wait to see you get laughed off the stage. Come on Silver Spoon, let's go before we catch his weirdness." Silver Spoon replied, "Nice insult DT." With that, those two got up and left, in a snobby fashion. Once they were out of sight, Apple Bloom first spoke, "Rocky! I thought you were going to teach them a lesson for spying on you! Now they saw what you are going to do for the show and will laugh." "What was with the dancing anyway? I don't know how you are going to incorporate taking a dip to cure yourself of the Poison Joke," Scootaloo said. "Girls, that isn’t what I’m going to be doing. I lied to them by doing something bad. That way, they will show up and expect me to get laughed off the stage," he replied. "It's not?" They all said at the same time. "Nope, I do have my routine planned out for what I think will be good. I just thought that thing together on the spot." "I sure hope we don't get laughed at for our musical number," Sweetie Belle said in a sad tone with her head low to the ground. The green Earth pony placed a hoof under the white Unicorn’s chin and raised her head. "Hey, don't get all sad now. Remember, you three are trying to get your Cutie Marks. So you need to do your best if you want it to happen. You want me to tell you something from my childhood back on Earth?" The Crusaders all nodded. They sat together to hear Blaze's tale. "When I was about ten years old, my school also did a talent show. My mom suggested I take part in it to just have fun. I was also scared of being laughed at." "What did you do for it?" the orange filly asked. "Well, I wasn’t that good at anything that I could easily show off. I decided to try my hand at Karate. I was still a novice at it, but it was the only thing I could show." The yellow filly was all excited as she said, "Oh! I love Karate too! Watch this." She got up and did some karate chops while saying, "KIIIIYYYAAAA!" Apple Bloom was in the moment and did a flying kick, but it was heading straight for Blaze. The colt was able to stop it with his fast reaction time. He stuck a hoof out and concentrated to grab Apple Bloom with his magic. The hoof glowed red. Before she could make contact, her body glowed the same color and forced her to stop in mid-air. "What? How . . . How are you doing this Blaze?" Apple Bloom panicky asked. "One word, magic." "When in Equestria . . . Oh wait, you learned that when you went to see Twilight about the Magic Build Up," Sweetie Belle said. The green Earth pony nodded, then set the yellow Earth pony down, gently. He released the magic hold on her once her hooves touched the ground. Apple Bloom smiled and said, "You’re getting very good at that. It has only been a day since you learned how to use it." Sweetie Belle was frustrated at how easily magic control came to Blaze. "I wish Rarity could start teaching me magic. But she says I’m still too young," she said. "You’ll learn when you’re ready. I had to take a crash course in it as it was causing me great pain in my head. Now then, can I get back to my story?" Blaze asked. Apple Bloom headed back over and sat back down to listen. "Ok, so on the night of the talent show, I was very nervous about making a fool of myself. When it was my turn to go on stage, the stage helpers helped in positioning my props on stage that I was going to use in my performance. I did some simple moves with my hands and legs before I headed to my first prop. What I was going to do was a roundhouse kick through a board that was at my head height. It was being held by a stage helper. When I went to do it, guess what happened?" "You broke the board," Apple Bloom quickly said. Sweetie Belle said, "You missed the board." "You hit the stage helper instead!" Scootaloo shouted. "Sweetie Belle was the closest. I missed the board and fell onto my butt," Blaze answered. "Did the crowd start to laugh?" the white filly asked. "They did. But I didn’t cry or leave the stage. I got back up and tried again. I broke the board on the second try. I then moved on chopping other boards that were supported between blocks. I used my hands and feet and had no issue breaking them." "That must have been a cool sight to see you do that," the orange filly said. "Yes it was, but the lesson from this was if you do get laughed at, know that you tried your best and that’s all that matters. You’re not expected to be perfect the first time you try something. You learn from your mistakes so you can do better the next time. Just like trying out different things to get your Cutie Mark. Go with what you feel you are good at as that may lead to your destiny." "But how did you get so good with your other abilities?” asked the yellow filly. “I would think it would take years to learn all the stuff you are able to do." "You’re right. For a normal human or pony, it would take several years to master the skills. I was able to find a loophole in this. When I enter my mind space, I create several dozen clones of me in my mind to practice them. When one has learned something interesting, it’s shared with the others to improve their methods of practice." “That must be really helpful,” the white Unicorn said. “You have no idea. Well, it is getting late. If I don’t see you tomorrow, I’ll see you on Saturday at the Talent Show.” “Bye Blaze,” All the Crusaders said at the same time. With that, the colt jumped into the air and flew off, heading to his home. It didn’t take him that long to reach his house. The green Earth pony landed in the front yard and headed inside. “Al, I’m home! Have you got dinner done yet? I’m starving!” he shouted. “He stepped out to do some grocery shopping. Your food stash was good for the two of you. Not for an additional six ponies,” Colorful Sparks said from the Living room. The colt walked into the room. He saw Colorful Sparks was reading a book by holding it up with his magic. “What are you reading?” he asked. “Oh, it’s one of the books off that shelf unit over there. How come you have so many books on magic?” “They’re from Twilight Sparkle. She sent them over here in haste when she learned that she was going to teach me magic. She called the amount ‘light reading’.” The blue stallion laughed, then said, “I take it she really wants to teach you everything.” “She chased me all the way to Canterlot. Yea, she’s a little excited. Well, call me when dinner is ready. I’ll be out back, meditating.” The Unicorn nodded. The green Earth pony left the living room and headed to the back of the house. He opened the back door. Outside was his peaceful garden that he made. Nothing was out of place. On the far side of the yard, Blaze saw Fang was practicing some of her fighting her style with her blade. He headed over but kept his distance to avoid her blades. The Zebra mare was really focused on the movements that she didn’t see, nor heard the colt approaching. Blaze said, “How’s it going, Fang?” The mare reacted by swinging her blade at him, stopping dead center of his nose. The green Earth pony remained still, he didn’t move an inch from the spot where he stood. Fang responded, “You know, you shouldn’t sneak up on me while I’m training. I could have killed you.” “I know you would have stopped before striking me. So what’s with the intense training? You would have normally detected me or anyone else approaching you." The Zebra hung her head lower a bit with an angry expression showing. "I ran into a pink mare that totally caught me off guard and was able to dodge my strikes with no problem." "Let me guess, this pink mare's name is Pinkie Pie." Fang nodded. "From what I know about that mare, you don't stand a chance of landing a blow unless she wants it to." Fang raised her head and asked, "Does she always pop out of nowhere like that?" "She’s done even stranger stuff than that. How about you share what happened." "I guess. Maybe you can explain how she is able to do it." -------Earlier that day------- Ponyville Town Square Fang and Colorful Sparks were patrolling through the square, not expecting any trouble in this small town. Ponies were walking around, taking care of what business or errands they had. "Not a bad first assignment. Everything is nice and quiet," Fang said. "I know what you mean. I’ve always liked living here, now I get to help protect it," Colorful Sparks said. "Sorry about ditching you yesterday. My brothers and I had to see an old friend from our homeland. The last time we saw her, we were forced to leave our hometown and come to Equestria." "Not a problem, Al didn't mind helping out. Sorry about having to hear about your family being forced to leave." "I’ve gotten over it. The visit with Zecora was nice and got to have some food from our homeland." "That's good. I have yet to meet this Zecora, but I heard about the commotion that occurred the last time she was here. None of us knew about Zebras. So, when she showed up prior, we all hid in our houses." "She shared what happened. I’m glad she is now accepted to this town." All of a sudden, Colorful Sparks’ helmet went up and a pink mare was standing on his head. "I finally found you!" Pinkie Pie shouted. Fang screamed and swung a hoof with her blade extended out at the mare. Pinkie Pie easily jumped up in the air to avoid the attack. She flipped onto the back of the Zebra and stood on her hind legs. The black mare retracted her blade and was having it pop out of her back where Pinkie was standing. Pinkie was able to move her hooves out the way by dancing around. The blue Unicorn was just laughing at the scene as well as other ponies that saw the commotion. Fang shouted to Colorful Sparks, "Don't just stand there and laugh, GET THIS PONY OFF OF ME!" The stallion eased up on the laughter a bit and said, "Alright Pinkie, I think you have had enough fun messing with Fang. Come on down and introduce yourself." The pink mare said, "Okie Dokie Lokie." With that, she jumped off of Fang and landed on her hooves in front of her. "Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie. I’m SO happy to finally find the latest new friend that has come to Ponyville!" The Zebra mare was confused as to what happened and how this mare was able to dodge her. Her expression was a pissed off look for being made a fool in front of everypony. Colorful Sparks placed a hoof on her teammate and said, "Calm down, Fang. This is just how Pinkie likes to meet new ponies, sometimes. By catching them off guard." Fang just responded, "I never had a pony catch me off guard like that and also managed to dodge my blade so easily. How the buck can she do that!" "Don't try to focus on that. The rest of the ponies in Ponyville, including myself, just accept what she does. You’ll just hurt yourself trying to figure it out. Just ask Twilight Sparkle." "Your brothers were right with how you might react. I just knew my Pinkie Sense would help me in staying safe. That was fun dancing on your back avoiding that blade. I could get my friend, Vinyl Scratch, to put some music to that and we can do that at my next party," the pink Earth pony said. Her eyes went big as she said, "Oh! I need to start planning the Welcome party for all the new ponies and Zebras that have come to Ponyville. This is going to be another GREAT PARTY!" With that, Pinkie bolted away, leaving a smoke silhouette of where she stood. "I think that pink mare is stranger than humans," Fang said. "Don't worry about it. You’ll get used to her methods. She does throw the best parties in Ponyville. Actually, she puts them all on," the blue stallion said. "Come on, we need to get back onto our patrol. Also, next time you see Blaze, I think you might want him to repair that armor of yours. It looks like you just came back from a major battle with all of those cuts in it." The Zebra mare looked back and saw all the holes she made with her blade. “Yea, I would hate to keep on destroying the armor every time I have to use my blade. I wonder if Blaze might have some better idea of armor to prevent that.” “He does think of strange things of different armor for different purposes.” They both started laughing at the thought of some of the ones he could make. They headed off and continued their patrol. ---------Back to the Present--------- Fang brought out her armor from behind a rock and showed it to Blaze. “So, do you think you can repair it?” She asked. The colt walked up to the shredded armor and took a look at it. “Hmm, it should be pretty easy to repair these holes,” he said as he finished looking at the damage. “As for an armor to protect you and still allow your ability blade to pop through, I’m going to have to think about what material would be good.” “Alright. Now then, can you share your knowledge on this Pinkie Pie?” “Just like what Colorful Sparks said, you shouldn’t dwell too hard into it. I don’t even know exactly how she’s defying physics sometimes. Pinkie Pie will sometimes pop from where you least expect her. She’ll pull objects from unknown locations. Finally, the mare has an ability called Pinkie Sense. It allows her to predict very soon events, like falling objects, doors opening, and other things.” “I take that explains how she was able to dodge all my blade strikes.” “I think so. Let me just tell you one to watch out for if you see her. If Pinkie’s tail is twitching, you better head to cover for something is about to fall. Now then, let’s repair this armor.” The mare nodded and placed the armor on the ground. The green Earth pony stood on his hind legs so he could perform some jutsu. He clapped his forehooves together and started to have the shredded parts move back into place and seal together with the others. After a few minutes, the armor was good as new. Fang looked it over to look at the quality of the repair. “I can’t even spot the places where I destroyed it. I think it’s better than when I first got it. Thank you.” “Don’t mention it. Really, don’t blab it out. I don’t want to be the one to repair all the Royal Guard’s armors. They have blacksmiths that can do as good as a job.” “Not a problem.” Just then, Al shouted from the house, “Fang, Blaze, dinner is ready. Come and get it before we eat it all.” The two quickly headed back to the house to get some of the grub. After everyone had their fair share of the food, Blaze headed up to take a shower before heading to bed. The next morning, the colt did his pre-dawn run and returned in time to join Al, Lightning Trails, and Star Dust in the morning exercises. Once done, the human headed to the kitchen to get breakfast going, Blaze headed upstairs to get cleaned up, and Lightning Trails and Star Dust was getting their armor ready to put on after breakfast. Al made veggie omelets for the ponies and he added meat to his. Blaze drooled a bit from smelling it. Lightning Trails laughed when he saw that. He said, “Wow, Blaze, you must be really missing not being able to have meat.” The colt wiped the drool away before he said, “Imagine this, you have a favorite dish that you like. You know you can easily get it but are being denied to have it. Now imagine that feeling for over three weeks. You get how I feel now?” “I think so. I still don’t get how you humans could stand to eat the flesh from another being.” Blaze and Al tried to explain human anatomy and briefly about the history of the human race. “Pretty much, it’s in our DNA to consume meat to gain the protein we need to survive. Yes, there are other sources for it, but that has the highest concentration,” Blaze concluded. “Besides, it’s only been a week, Blaze, since you last had meat. We had dinner with the Princesses and you ate the amount of a football team,” Al quickly added. The green Earth pony slammed his forehooves onto the table and sent a jutsu into it. It created a wooden fist that popped out where Al was sitting. It gave him an uppercut that caused him and his chair to fall backwards. While lying on his back, still sitting in the chair, the human shouted, “I regret NOTHING!” Star Dust turned his head to Blaze and asked, “Why did you do that?” “He ate meat all week and made sure I smelt it. Torturing me knowing I can’t eat that while I’m in a pony body. Besides, he knew it was coming,” the colt replied. He had the fist return back into the table. Al got up and righted his chair before sitting back down on it. “I was expecting him to do it on the second day. He has better control than I thought he would have,” he said. “Blaze, don’t you have to get to school soon?” Lightning Trails asked. “Nope. Miss. Cheerilee has given the class the day off to get ready for the talent show,” he replied. “That’s cool,” said Star Dust. “So, what are you planning on doing?” “That is for me to know and for you to come and see it there. Bye!” With that, Blaze teleported away before they could pester him some more. “Guess he wants to get back to getting whatever he is planning ready,” Al said. The other two just nodded as they finished their breakfast. ------Outside Blaze’s house------- The colt reappeared just outside his door. He was glad he got away before being asked any more questions. He started to wonder what he’s going to do today. He had already planned out what he’s going to do for the talent show. The Crusaders are working on their musical skit. Thinking of what some of the others are possibly doing, the green Earth pony realized what he could do. . . ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! Taking this thought, Blaze flew up into the air and looked for the best cloud to lay on. He found one that was hanging above the town hall. He flew towards it and got comfortable on top of it. Blaze was still amazed at how soft a cloud could feel. So, the colt just relaxed and stared at the clouds above. Not realizing how much time has gone by, the green Earth pong heard his colt name being called out from below. He popped his head through the cloud to see who the pony was. It was Pinkie Pie and she was staring directly at him. Not wanting to fly down from where he is at, Blaze teleported to an alleyway nearby. He walked out to the street, heading towards Pinkie.  Blaze said, “Hi Pinkie, were you looking for me?” Pinkie turned her head towards the colt and said, “Hi Rocky, why were you up there?” “I was just staring at the clouds, letting time go by. What are you up to?” “I’m getting the talent show ready. I was going to have some ponies help me with the stage, but they were just pulled away to take care of an emergency in another town.” “Sorry to hear that. Do you want me to help you with it?” “Absolutely! With many of you, that stage will be done in no time!” “Uh, Pinkie, I can’t use my Shadow Clone technique. The Poison Joke is somehow blocking it.” “Still having one of you will be very helpful.” So, Blaze followed Pinkie to the empty stage that was outside. He followed her instructions on where to put the speakers and the stage lighting. Some of the positionings of them were frustrating as having to move it ever so much back and forth. It reminded him how Pinkie had Rainbow positioned a thunder cloud during prank wars. Once the stage was set, Pinkie Pie thanked Blaze as he flew off back to his nap cloud. He arrived and saw Rainbow Dash had taken it over and was napping. There was no room for him to get on that cloud. So, the colt thought it would be funny to make one of his and place it on top of the blue mare. He made it thick enough so the Pegasus would be able to stand on the cloud she was on, but not be able to poke her head through his. Blaze got comfortable on the chakra cloud and dozed off to sleep as he watched the clouds and other Pegasus go by. About an hour later, he heard a scream from below. “What the? We are not scheduled to have fog! Ugh, why can’t I get rid of it!” Rainbow shouted from within. The green Earth pony positioned himself to move the chakra cloud wherever the mare went. She went flying in every direction above Ponyville. Blaze kept up with her as he sensed her movements in the cloud. They did loop-de-loops, corkscrews, and other air flight maneuvers. From the view of the ponies on the ground, they were seeing a green Earth colt having the time of his life riding on a strange cloud. Rainbow Dash never flew into any of the buildings while doing this. When they were over the EverFree Forest, Blaze decided to end this shenanigan. He stopped the cloud he was maneuvering. The Pegasus bolted out of it into the blue sky. She quickly stopped and floated in the air. "Wow, that was some intense fog. I thought I would never get out of it," she said as the mare wiped some sweat off her forehead. Rainbow Dash turned around to get a look at the fog bank she was in. What she saw was a small cloud and Blaze was on top with a big smirk. Her facial expression went from exhausted, to surprise, then to sheer anger. Rainbow shouted, "What the? YOU! I’M GOING TO GET YOU BLAZE!" "You have to catch me first!" he replied. The colt stood up and went to the edge of the cloud. Using it as a springboard, he dove off and headed into the forest below. Rainbow was on his tail as they weaved through the trees and vines. She was catching up quickly to Blaze in this chase. The green Earth pony rounded a bend up ahead. Just as the blue Pegasus did, she saw him standing there with a hoof as Blaze shouted, "Stop!" The mare put on the brakes and managed to stop an inch away from his hoof. While breathing hard, Rainbow said, "What the BUCK Blaze are you doing? First, trapping me in your strange cloud as I flew around trying to get out of it. Then you had me chase you through this forest. What the BUCK is going on!" "I have something to show you," he softly said. The colt then walked through a thick bush nearby. Rainbow carefully followed. When she emerged, she saw they were in a slightly open area in the forest. There was a nice calm pond as birds and other small creatures were around. Blaze was by the edge on top of a flat rock. He motioned her to come to him. The mare slowly does as she was expecting him to pull another prank. She was now standing next to him. "So what is it you just had to show me?" "Look down there and tell me what you see," Blaze said as he pointed to the water. Rainbow walked to the edge and looked down at the water. "I see my reflection and I look awesome." "Look harder." The blue Pegasus moved her head closer for a better look. She was thinking of what Blaze ment. All she could see was her reflection on the mirror-like surface. Just as she was about to pull her head away, Blaze popped out of the water and pulled her into the pond. Rainbow Dash brought her head back to the surface. She screamed from the sheer sensation of the cool water. The green Earth pony was nearby with just his head above the water. The mare turned her head towards him. You could see the water was steaming off of her. She was really angry. While grinding her teeth, she said, "Give me one reason I should not come over there and kick your flank into the next town." Blaze just smiled and said, "Hakuna Matata." Rainbow Dash's expression switched to very confused. "Eh, what?" "Ha-kun-a Ma-ta-ta. It means don't worry and just be happy." "But that still does not explain why you did all of this." "Tomorrow, during the talent show, I’m going to be changing back to my normal form. I wanted today to be nothing but fun to replace some of the memories back when I was actually a child. Keep the good ones, but get rid of the bad ones. Consider this payback for the Poison Joke laced cupcake." "I did say I was sorry for doing that." "I did accept it, but I didn’t say that I wasn’t going to get you back." "But now everyone in Ponyville will laugh at me for getting trapped in a cloud." "No one saw you in that cloud. All they saw was an Earth colt riding on a cloud, having the time of his life." "Well, I'm glad you got to have fun in your predicament. How did you find this place?" "Found it during my survival training in the EverFree Forest." "We're In The EVERFREE FOREST!" Rainbow said as she bolted out of the water. "We have to get out of here!" "Calm down, Rainbow, we’re perfectly fine. I can sense when a big animal will be approaching. I’m shocked to see that you are scared." The mare calmly floated back down into the water. "I’m not scared. I was worried about your safety. So you actually had to survive in this strange forest?" Blaze told her some of the things he and the others had to do while here. They just floated in the water on their backs during this time. The colt finished it up by saying, "This forest isn’t that different from back home. Except for the strange creatures and plants. Other than that, it kinda reminds me of home." The blue Pegasus shifted her position so she was now floating vertically. "Do you still miss your planet?" Blaze looked down at the water as he pondered the question. He was wondering if he made the right choice of coming here instead of wishing Earth to return to normal and that day never happened. ”Sure, the human race has its many flaws. But for it to end like that, it started to feel like something God should haven’t done.” Something in the colt's mind started to tell him that he made the right choice and this is what he desired. Those other humans that went violent don't deserve a second chance. Blaze started to get a headache as he listened to the voice. When it went away, so did the headache. He shook his head once the pain was gone. "So, you don't miss your world?" Rainbow asked. "What? No, I mean yes. I do miss it sometimes, but I’m happy to have come here. I made great friends, including you." The mare smiled before she started to splash water at Blaze. He retaliated by splashing back. Both were laughing while doing this. Off in the distance somewhere, there was a subtle sound of laughter, sounding somewhat evil.