//------------------------------// // Some Simple Tasks // Story: A blaze rekindled // by RedBlack //------------------------------// *Calming Blaze POV* I stood outside the Ponyville hospital with my mother as I stare at Sweet Apple Acres. Pinkie Pie is camping there for some reason. The last few weeks have been, boring to say the least. Very few things happened and I wasn't allowed to leave without being fully healed. The nurse and the doctor, luckily, didn't have any problems with Drega, who's currently wrapped around me like a scarf, after the first day. Suffice to say, nurse Red Heart fainted. Can't blame her, Drega is actually almost three times my size. Body mass, that is. Staying in the hospital all day for a few weeks must've made me crazy with the way I'm talking to myself. Or was I always like this? Another small thing, it was mentioned in the newspaper about 3 weeks ago that, a robbery had happened in a famous brewery that's been around before the Sun calendar had been implemented. It was also under Sunbutt's name, so I'll keep my mouth shut about this. As we're walking, I see more and more ponies lining up at Sweet Apple Acres. Wait, isn't it cider season right now? I guess that makes sense then. Eh. I didn't really like the taste. Oh, the timberwolf corpses haven't been cleared yet. Standing much less taller than before, was the large pile of wood from before. A faint trace of magic could be felt from it. Wait, this is unfamiliar. It's not from Discord. I stop in my tracks and mother takes notice. "Blaze? What's wrong?" "Nothing's wrong, just noticed something. TWILIGHT!" "WHAT!" She yelled back from the line. "CAN YOU COME OVER HERE!?" "I'M STANDING IN LINE THOUGH" "JUST HAVE SPIKE SAVE YOU A SPOT" She paused for a second, said something and came over. "Honey, what is it?" Mother asked from behind me. "Just wait and see, I found something pretty interesting" "What can I help you with Blaze?" Twilight asked as she stood in front of me. "I want you to help me reach the middle of this wooden mountain" "Uh, why?" "I'm also concerned for your reasoning" mother said from the side. "It'll be fine, just getting something" "Alright then" Twilight said as her horn lit up, lifting half of the wood to the side. Right in the middle of it, stood a heart shaped log, a real heart, that pulsed and was lined with green engravings. "What the?" Twilight marveled at the object whilst mother just looked at me with a concerned look. Looking at it, I placed my hooves and got a firm grip on it before tugging it lightly to get the approximate strength I needed. It moved slightly. After letting out a sigh, I pull it hard, breaking away plenty of branches in the process. It pulsed with life. The engravings shone with its brilliant green color. "This'll do nicely" I say as I store it in mother's saddlebag. "Hey, Blaze? Could I ask you a favor?" Twilight got in my face with a nervous smile. "No, I'm going to use the heart wood to make something" "But you already have the Crystal Cube, why can't you give me this one?" "Because I'm going to use it to make something that'll help me in the present, rather than a research paper that'll help a student write a report on magic theory" "But that research can help advance all things on magic AND everything we know about timberwolf fusions" "Twilight" I say as I grab her face. "It can wait for just one more year okay?" "Fine, but I still want you to attend my lecture about exactly how much this could help" I chuckle at the statement. "No" "So, Blaze, I thought I should ask" mother said as we ate at the table. Twilight and Spike both stare at us in expectation. Mainly Twilight. "Yeah?" I ask back. "How about you finally go to school here?" she asked with a nervous smile. Ah, I already finished school though. "If I take a test to prove that I already know everything they'll teach, can I not go?" "It's not just about the education, I'm more worried about your social life" "I have friends" I instantly realize the problem. "Hun, you have 4 friends your age and you only hang out with one of them, a colt your age should be having more than that" "She's right you know" Twilight interjected. "You were pretty much friendless before coming here, so your argument isn't valid" She froze up at that statement. "Blaze!" Mother scolded me. "Sorry" I weakly apologized. "But seriously mom, I don't need to go to school, I even know more about certain subjects in magic more than Twilight" Spike coughed up his drink. "What!" Twilight yelled in, anger? "Yes? Do you know how to do that mimicry spell I did?" They flinched a bit at the memory. "Well, no" "We're getting off track here, hun, could you at least TRY going to Ponyville school before declining, I'm sure it'll be different than last time" mother said in a kind tone. "No" I simply state as she releases a sigh of defeat. As much as I love her, I don't have the time to learn things I already know. "Fine, you can skip school, but I want you at least let Twilight homeschool you ok?" she said in a hopeful tone. *Sigh* "Fine" I regretted that. After that small talk about school, it's been about 2 months since then. I'm currently packing my suitcase as I read a letter. Apparently, Lu and Sunbutt's niece is having a wedding with one 'Shining Armor'. So me and my mother are staying in the palace for a week. Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. She has only recently ascended to alicornhood, and with a vague power as love in her hooves, she was left pretty defenseless against Nightmare Moon. Well, she has a pretty good life here. During my time off, I've been eating food that specifically builds muscle and have increased my training time in exchange for hanging out with friends. Mother seemed worried, but she left me alone thankfully. Now fully recovered, I recount the events for the past 2 months. Especially the annoyance of having to tell almost the entire town to leave my spot in the woods. I was originally going to deal with whoever leaked it, but I left it alone since the culprits were the CMC. I know I'm biased. That's it, there's no upside to that. There was also some meeting between all the pegasi in Ponyville about a hurricane or something. I slept through most of it. "Are you done honey?" mother asked as she came through the door. "Yeah, I'll just take this with me" I say as I put the crystal cube in my suitcase. "Why that one?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. "I don't know, just, felt like I should" With that, we leave the library as I gaze at my, once again, broken down house. This time, the workers fought about something because the Gaby Gam or something, revealed that one of them was eating the others' lunch, then it became a full on brawl and it resulted in them hitting the support beams. "You know, at this point, I think we should just stay in the library permanently" I say as my face takes a pout. "What makes you say that?" mother asked innocently. "Mom, that house isn't going to get built, we both know that" *Sigh* "Yeah, I guess you're right, it's a good thing I didn't pay for the house yet" I nod in reply as we continue our walk towards the train station. Oh, the Mane 6 and Applejacks' brother are, holding a cake?, along with the Cakes, the owners of Sugarcube Corner. "Oh, Blaze, Delicate could you two help us with this?" Pinkie Pie asked as she quite literally broke reality itself to appear right in front of me. "Sure" mother said casually as she added her magic with Twilights' to a bubble around the four layered cake with tubes in between layers. Oh, I didn't know mother was good enough to mix her magic with others' like that. I was about to help, but I realized that it was now fine. They really struggled with this huh? The Cakes look like they're about to pass out from nervousness. We slowly, but surely approach the train station as I swat away anything that could've gotten in the way. A fly. A pebble. A, scaly rope? "Drega?" I ask as I life the familiar being. He suddenly wakes up as he looks at me. "What're you doing in the middle of town?" He simply hisses something in response as he wraps himself fully around my neck like last time, but he put his head on top of mine and slept. Not really minding it, I continue towards the train station. I can see Canterlot in the distance. As I keep looking though, intuition tells me that something is wrong. This is bad. As I was too focused, I almost bump into Twilight. We seem to have stopped because they couldn't get the cake, the flying pegasi and the magic bubble in at the same time. "Move" I say as I take the cake on my back and enter. Spotting a table with 'The Cakes' written on a card, I place it there and move towards my room, suitcase following behind me. The Friendship Express, weird ass name, is pretty deluxe with its own rooms for sleeping. Sitting on my own bed, I look out the window towards Canterlot as mother walks in the room. Drega and mother both seem slightly concerned at my expression. There was something wrong in Canterlot, but I don't know what. "Are you alright son?" mother asked as she put her hoof on my shoulder. Drega also looked at me with worry. "I'm fine, it's just, something feels slightly wrong whenever I look at Canterlot" "It'll be fine hun, but if you really don't want to, we can skip out on the wedding?" she asked in a reassuring tone. "It's fine, I promise, I'll just, keep it in mind until it ends" She nods in response as I decide to head towards the door. "I'm going to see what this weeks' event is" I tell mother as she chuckles, knowing exactly what I'm talking about as Drega decides to stay in the room. Opening the door, I enter as Donut Joe, a griffon and Mathilda all come in with their own desserts and introductions. A little pre-competition banter later, everypony- everybody? goes towards their rooms. Except for Pinkie Pie, who's sure that the other bakers will ruin the Cake. It's a good thing she's aware, but can she really stay up all night? Eh, nothing much right now. I head back into my room to find mother and Drega intensely looking at each other, two cards in each of their hooves, bits between them and 3 cards were shown. I was out for literally a minute. It was night time. I headed to bed and couldn't sleep, but Drega, who was curled on top of me, seemed to have no trouble. Even with the amount of noises coming from outside our room. Those six were doing something stupid again, making all sorts of ruckus which triggered my already sensitive senses from my bad feeling towards Canterlot. The third pony goes back in towards their room as Pinkie shouted something about a thief. The second pony hadn't gone back though, that's a bit weird. The first pony was Rainbow Dash, only she can outspeed the train enough to go outside. The smell of smoke is a bit more intense than normal. I found where the second pony went then. Pinkie said something about Sunbutt, then fell asleep shortly after with a snore. About 20 seconds later, the second pony went back in their room. Finally, quiet. As I was about to go back to sleep, the smallest of sounds came from the rooftop. 20 hooves landed, so 5 ponies. A few clicking sounds, like a conversation. Changelings? "Fucking tartarus" I cuss to myself as I get up from my bed, leaving Drega who's somehow snoring. Didn't I learn in biology somewhere that snakes don't snore or close their eyes? As I look at the window, I decide to cast a few spells on it. After about 57, that should do it, I step outside of the room. Enchanting the door with more protection and detection spells, I gaze into the main area of the compartment. Pinkie was sleeping while holding on to the table with the cake while standing. The bottom three layers of the cake had bites taken from it. Who eats in huge bites like that? I walk past her and to the next compartment, which wasn't too different. The problem was the fact that it had 3 tables. Tables that had no business being here. I walk past the first two, then keep walking until I reach the third one. Just as I was about to the third one, I turn around and punch it with a heavy right. Green flames burst as the changeling was knocked out with a bruise on his head. Right as the hoof connected, the two other tables charged at me while shedding their disguise as another one drops down from right above me while pointing his hooves at me. As the two are about to reach me, I jump into the air and grab the hooves and swing it down. As they all slam together, the last one rushes in through the window and tries to push me down. Only to slam into me and fall down. "By the hive! What are you made of? Diamond?" it asked with a male voice. Oh, they were sentient. "Just muscles and magic" I say as I slam down into his chest with one hoof, successfully knocking him out. I grab a small piece of wood from the broken window as one of the changelings start rising up. Right as he tried to rush me, I threw the piece of wood, hitting their horn. "GAH!" she yelled as she held her horn. "YOU BASTARD! DON'T YOU KNOW NOPONY HITS THE HORN!" "I really don't give a shit about the rules of a duel" I simply say as I rush towards her with high speeds. Before she could even react, I was right in front of her as she held her hooves up to form a defense. Not feeling it coming, she opens her eyes to see me undoing their silence spell. "What the?" "I could not give a lesser crap about you guys other than Chrysalis, so get the fuck outta here" I say as I approach her. "But do know this, if any of you become a threat, I'll end your life without a second thought" She shudders a bit as she seemed to think about it. "Thank you" she said silently as she transformed into a dragon and took her sibling with her through the window. I sigh wearily as I rub my face. Other me definitely tipped off Chrysalis. With that annoying fact, I reach back to my room and head off to sleep. That wedding is definitely going to be ruined. I might've felt bad for the groom and the bride if I wasn't so annoyed by the oncoming threat, plus sleep deprivation. I wake up suddenly as a sharp scream rang through the train. I shoulder check the door with Drega tightly hanging onto me. "WHAT? WHAT HAPPENED?" I yell as I come into the main area where the desserts were. It was dark for only a second before brightening up again. We went through a tunnel. "What the?" I say as everybody gasps at the scene. The cake was the same as last night, but the other desserts were ruined. "Now I have no idea who do-doned it!" Pinkie said with a defeated tone as the bakers went to check on all of their desserts. "Blaze? I thought you were sleeping?" mother asked as she lifts me up easily. "Uh, I heard a scream and came to check it out" I just say as Drega hissed angrily and went back to sleep, this time around my neck. "Oh, well it's nothing for you to worry about, why didn't you wake up at the first scream by the way?" I blankly stare at her. "There was another one?" She just chuckled at that and hugged me before setting me on the floor. I didn't hear the first scream? "Mom, how loud was the first one?" "Pretty much the same as the last one, is something the matter?" "No, nothing much, I guess I'm a bit tired" "Well, how about you head back to sleep then, it's still a long way before Canterlot" "Yeah, I'll do that" Am I overworking myself? Fuck. I'm still too weak though. *Sigh* How I hate this dilemma. Well, a rest seems to be the best choice. I should prepare myself accordingly for the wedding disaster. With that thought, I head back to my slumber. Which was immediately interrupted by Pinkie Pie and Twilight. "So, Blaze, have YOU seen the culprit?" Pinkie asked as she pushed her face towards mine. "No" I lie by omision. "Then are YOU the-" she was cut off by Twilight dragging her back as Twilight herself came towards me. "No Twi, I did not see anything" I lightly smirk at her. She seemed to pick up on the small clue. "Alright then, what did you hear?" she asked as Pinkie brought out a notebook. "Let's see, two ponies running, then running again, then the sound of the train becoming slightly faster, Pinkie yelling about a thief and one final thud that sounded a bit too loud to be a hoofstep" "I see, thank you" she says as she heads out with Pinkie in tow. I just lie back down and drift off to sleep. The screeching of the train wheels woke me up. As I groggily sit up, mother comes into the train compartment and pulls out her suitcase from under her bed. "We're here honey, time to get off" I just nod as the suitcase follows me with my magic dragging it. The bakers and the Mane 6 took their half eaten desserts with them towards the palace as we follow them. "So, who was the culprit?" I ask mother as I finally wake up fully. "It was Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Rarity" she said with a slightly shocked voice. "I'm still surprised that it turned out to be those three" I guess that was why Rarity had a different mane style all of a sudden. "Welcome sir, ma'am" the guards said with respect, slightly shocking the nine ponies, one donkey and one griffon. "Thank you sirs" mother said gently as we all entered through the main gates. The bakers and the Mane 6 all separated from us at some point and we were led to the guest rooms. It was a very large room with a bed big enough for both of us. "So, wanna look around?" mother asked with an excited smile. I give my own smile. "Sure, why not?"