Blaze trotted lazily through the streets of Ponyville. It was early morning, earlier than he cared for. The only reason why he was even out and about was to get some muffins from Sugar Cube Corner, being as Spike had eaten the last of the muffins by accident, thinking mistakenly that there was another full box in the cupboard that had ended up to be no more than a box with a few remaining scraps of what Blaze could only guess had at one time been donuts. Blaze had volunteered to head down to Sugar Cube Corner to get some more, mostly because he wanted a good breakfast, and a muffin and butter breakfast felt rather incomplete without a muffin.
Blaze took the corner and came within sight of the gingerbread shop, but it wasn’t the shop that raised his spirits, it was who was in front of it. There, sitting around one of the few tables just outside of the shop, were a certain three ponies who he had met the day previous. As he approached the conversation became more understandable.
“Yeah, but I definitely… oh hey, is that the colt I tackled yesterday?” Blaze heard Half Pint’s voice, causing him to smirk.
“Half Pint, as I said before, his name is Blaze Eternal.” Blizzard said rather annoyed at his friend’s lack of politeness. “Hello, Blaze!” He said, turning towards the new arrival.
“Hello all. How’s everypony doing today?” Blaze said as he reached the table. Blaze took the remaining seat, vaguely noticing that he was the only one at the table without some sort of refreshment, as Half Pint had a smoothie, Blizzard had a glass of lemonade, and Amber had a bowl of ice cream.
“I’m pretty good, a tad tired from having to catch a few ponies, but otherwise, I’m fine.” Blizzard remarked with a smile and a glance at his sister, who gave a sheepish grin.
“A bit sore from running around town, but that’ll go away after a day or two.” Half Pint said after taking a sip from his smoothie.
“I got some bruises from the aforementioned falls, but I’ve gone through worse.” Amber said, still acting a bit shy.
“So, Blaze, why not join us, I’ll even get you a drink if you like.” Blizzard said smiling gently, motioning to the seat beside him while the two other ponies at the table nodded happily, each wearing an eager smile.
“Well I’d love to stay and chat for a while, but I need to get some muffins for the library.” Blaze said as he stood up slowly. “And I doubt Twilight will want to wait longer than necessary for food.”
“Yeah, I guess not. Hey, how about after you get the muffins to the library we have some fun.” Half Pint said eagerly.
“Hmm… I guess it could work.” Blaze said, the thought of the closest prearranged meeting happening the next day. “But if we’re going to be able to do anything I better get going. I’ll meet you guys back here as soon as I’m done.” At that the three friends nodded while Blaze went into the shop.
Blaze set the box of muffins on the table while lifting the lid to get a muffin. He might be in a hurry, but he wasn’t one to miss out on breakfast. Blaze quickly levitated a bottle of milk out of the fridge and poured it into cup. He quickly left the kitchen while putting the milk bottle back into the fridge.
“We’re you going so fast you can’t sit down to eat?” Twilight said while taking a muffin for herself. Blaze stopped halfway between the kitchen and the front door. Blaze looked back towards the kitchen, whose door was still open.
“In all honesty, I have no idea, but when I get back I’ll tell you.” Blaze said with a smirk. Twilight shook her head slightly.
“I’m just going guess that this a part of your traveling personality and leave it at that. Go on ahead and have fun doing whatever your planning.” Twilight said while waving a hoof in dismissal. Blaze smiled before nodding and heading out the door while munching his muffin and guzzling his cup of milk. As he stepped of the stairs in front of the library he sent the muffin wrapper and the cup towards the entryway trash can.
As Blaze walked he took the last few bites of muffin and sent a breeze of magic past his muzzle, clearing it of any remaining crumbs. Not wanting to keep the other ponies waiting for too long, Blaze picked his speed up to a trot, then into a full blown gallop. Blaze quickly approached the last corner before he was right in front of Sugar Cube Corner and slid to a stop. He quickly shook the light layer of dust that had settled on his coat. After a few deep breathes, Blaze trotted briskly around the corner and soon arrived at the table where the other three were waiting. Blaze took a seat while nodding to the others.
“Well, I can say one thing; you might have set a new track record for going from here to the library and back.” Half Pint said chuckling to himself. Blizzard gestured to the one open seat at the table. Blaze nodded and quickly took it.
“So, you want something to drink or eat? My offer still stands like before.” Blizzard said, sliding a menu across the table towards Blaze.
“Eh, no thanks. I pretty good for now.” Blaze said, pushing the menu away. He didn’t feel up to eating or drinking anything for a bit after his run, he was having fun keeping his muffin down as it was. “So, what are we planning to do? We have almost the whole day before us. Did anyone come up with any ideas while I was away?” The three other ponies looked at each other, probably hoping that the other would give a suggestion first.
“How about we go down to the swimming hole for a bit?” Amber suggested, “It’s nice this time off year.” Blizzard nodded after a bit while Half Pint…
“Yeah, that’s sound great, let’s do it!” was being his regular jolly self. Blaze stiffened slightly at that suggestion, but he wasn’t about to put his concerns to voice, mostly because he knew it would sound silly, mostly because he had no idea how to phrase it quite yet.
As they walked, Blaze remained more towards the back of the group, both because he didn’t know which way to go to arrive at their desired destination, and because he needed to get his thought together. Blaze noticed that Half Pint was looking somewhere behind him. Blaze looked towards where he thought Half Pint was looking, but saw nothing.
“What are you looking at Half Pint?” Blaze said, returning his gaze to his friend. Half Pint smiled a bit and looked ahead of him. He turned his head so that he could see in front of him and at Blaze.
“Oh, I was just looking at your cutie mark. It looks pretty cool.” Blaze looked back to his right haunch. A whirl of fire that spun into a wheel like structure without the spokes coming from the center adorned his side as it had since the day it found its way to his flank.
“Uh, thanks…” Blaze said, looking back in front of him, just in time to jump over a root of a tree that had invaded the path slightly.
“What’s it for?” Blizzard said, looking back to see it as well. Blaze wasn’t comfortable with this much direct attention. When ponies looked at him on stage they felt far away enough that he was free to act his part.
“I… I’m good at using arcane fire. Eh… spells that can create artificial fire that has the qualities of the real thing.” Blaze said, lighting his horn and creating and swirl of fire that danced around his masterfully, not even affecting his walking speed.
“I’d say you would have to be a bit better than good to have gotten your cutie mark in doing it.” Half Pint said. “I mean, if your talent is so straight forward in saying what your good at, it should mean you’re great at it. Like Twilight is with magic.”
“I guess you could say that…” Blaze said as he made the fire form into a single ball, than he let it dissipate in the gentle breeze, small flickers of flame trailing behind him like marchers in a band following the leader.
“Well, we’re here at any rate.” Blizzard said, showing Blaze the small pond. Blaze watched as Half Pint barreled through Amber and preformed a cannonball into what looked like shallow water. Blaze cocked his head as Half Pint actually sunk beyond the surface. Blaze shrugged as he lay down under a shady tree, dismissing it as the water being deceptive in its small boarders, and actually being rather deep.
Blizzard bobbed up from the water only to have Half Pint shove him back under after a desperate gasp for air. Half Pint suddenly found himself thrown out of the water as Blizzard used his wings to surge upwards. Half Pint shook off the water that clung to his coat, causing the nearby Blaze to shrink back a bit from his soggy acquaintance.
“Never… do that… again!” Blizzard said between gasps as he sunk back in the water. Half Pint shook his head with a smile.
“Some ponies, I tell you, can’t take a joke.” Half Pint said before turning towards Blaze, oblivious to the daggers that Blizzard was starring into his back. “Hey, why don’t you join in the fun? The water’s fine!” Half Pint commented to Blaze, who for the last half hour or so had just been sitting by the water’s edge watching the three friends gallivant around in the water without joining in the fun.
“Well… I… j-just… don’t like…” Blaze trailed off, feeling how silly this was.
“You don’t like what now?” Half Pint asked, placing a hoof to his ear, emphasizing the fact that Blaze was making a rather good attempt of making himself inaudible.
“G-getting… wet.” Blaze said finally. “I-I’m not the swimming type… it… just isn’t me.” Blaze said, feeling his cheeks get hot. He silently thanked the heavens he was already red, thus making it extremely hard to see that he was blushing.
“Well that’s silly. Didn’t you ever play in a puddle as a foal? Didn’t you run through the sprinklers while they were running?” Half Pint said disbelievingly.
“N-no, not really… I just…” Blaze trailed off again, leaving his sentence unfinished.
“”Half Pint, it’s alright, stop badgering him. Some ponies are different than others.” Amber said quietly. “Besides, if he doesn’t want to come into the water, that’s his loss, not yours.” Blaze flinched at that. He felt what Amber was trying to do. She was going to try and get him to go into the water by making him feel bad about being the only one NOT in into getting into the water. Blaze became all the more resolute at this. There was no way he was going to do this; it was too much to ask for so little in return.
Half Pint shrugged and charged back towards the water and dove in, causing Amber to be consumed under a wave. Blaze tensed as he lost sight of Amber, but relaxed as she bobbed back up. He didn’t know too much about these ponies, but Amber seemed inclined to get herself in disastrous situations.
As he watched, Blaze noticed that Blizzard and Half Pint were talking rather calmly, although Half Pint was constantly casting a look towards Blaze, which gave him a bad feeling about what was going to happen. Blizzard trotted out of the water and shook himself off as Half Pint did a backstroke towards Amber. Blizzard sat down beside Blaze calmly.
“Is there a story behind that…” Blaze heard the pegasus say. Blaze cocked his head at the colt, who was giving a questioning glance right back at him. “About not getting wet I mean. I don’t want to pry, it’s just that…”
“You don’t find ponies that are not too keen on getting wet too often.” Blaze finished Blizzard’s sentence.
“Yeah, I mean, Granny Smith wasn’t too eager to get in because she had a painful accident way back when, but she got over that.” Blizzard said cautiously. “So, what’s your reason?” Blaze looked down at the grass in front of him in thought. Blaze finally looked back up, idly noticing Amber and Half Pint talking with Half Pint again casting looks towards him.
“I just never liked it. I know it sounds silly and all, but I just don’t like to get myself wet unless it is a bath.” Blaze said, knowing full well how dumb that sounded.
“Or to save somepony who was in trouble, right?” Blizzard queried.
“Yeah, of course… hey… what do you mean by…?” But Blaze was cut off by a sudden shriek that pierced the crisp afternoon air. Blaze looked towards the source and saw Amber going under the surface. Blaze looked around her and saw nothing indicating she was being attacked, but that didn’t stop him. Blaze shot towards the pool, not even noticing that Half Pint wasn’t in the water anymore.
Blaze jumped into the water and swam over towards the sinking filly. Only to have her completely submerge as he drew close; Blaze took in a deep breath and dove towards the sinking pony. Blaze swam towards the already fading form of Amber. He let out almost all the air from his lungs, allowing him to plunge into the depths faster. He soon reached the bottom and found Amber stuck in some underwater weeds. Blaze reached her and quickly began to undo the knots of grass that clung to her coat and legs, only to feel his body rising again. Blaze pushed himself farther down into the water and continued his frantic unraveling of reeds. His eyes met Amber’s, she seemed calm, far to calm for how low on air she must have been, but as he continued, her eyes shot even farther open as she glanced behind Blaze. Blaze whirled around, but saw nothing, and then he looked at his flank. Already red, orange, and yellow swirls were trailing off into the dark waters; his time was getting short.
Blaze snapped the last reed, and watched as the earth pony filly shot upwards, but he found he couldn’t follow. Bellow him the reeds had latched onto his hind legs. Blaze began to untie the reeds that clung to him, but as he did it seemed more and more were latching on. Blaze felt panic surge through him as his lungs struggled to sap air from the surrounding water. The corners off his vision began to darken as he began to slip father and father.
Suddenly a stream of bubbles burst through the surface. The slowly came to a stop, and revealed Blizzard, using his wings to stay down and he began to untie Blaze. Blaze finally felt the last tendril let him loose. Blaze pushed off the murky soil. He climbed higher and higher, only to slow a short distance below the surface. He didn’t have enough buoyancy without air in his lungs to reach the surface on his own. Blaze flailed his hooves, trying to propel himself higher, only to find he couldn’t even stay aloft. Blaze felt his weight being dragged down again towards the bottom of the pool; then he felt his weight lifted as Blizzard shot upwards bellow him, catching the sinking colt under the forelegs. Blaze felt the water rush pass them and they ascended. Suddenly Blaze felt the water part above him, liberating his lungs from the pressure that had choked him like a mighty serpent.
Blaze felt his hooves touch solid ground. Using his magic quickly, he made the ground in front of him into mud, which wasn’t too hard considering how close it was to the pool. Blaze took a few steps, and then slipped in his muddy concoction. With a quick wisp of magic the mud was redirected from an outward splatter, to a splash that landed on him, covering his coat in a dark brown layer of thick mud. Blaze stood up and looked himself over. As he had hoped, he was completely covered in mud. Suddenly he felt the impact of another pony slamming into him. He half expected it to be Half Pint, but when he looked; he found it was Amber giving him a hug while tears began to wash off the mud from his shoulder.
“Well that is officially the last time I listen to one of your plans, Half Pint.” Blaze heard Blizzard say angrily at the milky white earth pony. “I should have known better than to go along with it.” Blaze looked towards the two.
“Hey, how was I supposed to know he would also get caught in the weeds? I thought he would stay high enough to not get caught in them!” Half Pint said defensively.
“Well why then you find it was so necessary to tie Amber down so much, they both almost drowned because of your half baked plans!” Half Pint was about to reply when Blizzard cut him off again. “And don’t give me the ‘but they didn’t’ routine! They came this close to meeting the grim reaper thanks to you!” Blizzard shouted harshly. Blaze pushed Amber away and began walking towards the two ponies.
“What’s all this about almost drowning us?” Blaze said as he walked up to them. Half Pint seemed smaller than ever, almost as if he was trying to live up to his name.
“I’m sorry, Blaze, I-I didn’t mean any harm.” Half Pint stammered sheepishly, his voice filled with regret.
“Half Pint got the brilliant idea of faking Amber drowning, making it so that you would go in and save her and inadvertently get you into the water. His plan WAS to make it so that when you surfaced we would continue with the day, but it seems that part of the plan fell through.” Blaze’s jaw hung open slightly. “Half Pint, I think you really should just…”
“No.” Blaze cut him off, knowing full well where he would go. Blizzard looked at him in shock, while Half Pint looked up in disbelief, having a sense of where Blaze had diverted the conversation.
“W-what, but he almost got Amber drowned!” Blizzard said in exasperation. “He almost had you drowned trying to save her!”
“Yes, I know this. But I also know that Half Pint only had good intentions, and the only thing he did bad was not take every eventuality into account. I was taught that when a pony is genuinely sorry for his mistakes that he should be forgiven, and the incident forgotten.” Blaze said sternly. “After all, haven’t you made mistakes that should have had you punished in a greater manner than you received?” Blizzard opened his mouth, ready with a reply, but it died on his tongue. “I believe that the thought of almost harming two ponies will be enough punishment for a lifetime. I doubt that he will ever make a mistake like that again when the time comes if it comes.” Blizzard snorted and walked off towards his sister.
“Come on, we’re going home before something else happens that makes me do something everypony will regret.” Blizzard said, passing by his sister. She nodded and started walking beside him. Blaze watched them walk down the path towards the town. Amber looked behind her towards Blaze, a forlorn look etched into her features. She knew, but she wouldn’t tell. Blaze nodded slowly, and then turned back to Half Pint, who was lying down in the grass at Blaze’s hooves. Blaze plopped down beside him, a little distance separating his coat from the pony beside him.
“You… you want to talk about it?” Blaze said slowly. Half Pint sighed, sorrow hanging in the air as thick as the mud that covered Blaze.
“I was so stupid to think that what I did was a good idea.” Half Pint said in a self-berating whimper. Blaze put a hoof on Half Pint, causing the earth pony to flinch.
“I know that you probably carry this for the rest of your life, and that no matter what I do you’ll never fully recover from this. But…, I want you to know that I forgive you.” Blaze looked up towards the hill and saw Blizzard and Amber walk over it and out of sight. “And I think… that Amber does as well.”
Blaze entered the library, as muddy as when he left the pond. He had stayed with Half Pint for a few hours, trying to convince him that he had been forgiven, but he was extremely obstinate that he didn’t deserve it. In the end, the two of them had headed back towards Ponyville. Half Pint had one his way with a few words expressing how he was sure that he wasn’t going to be forgiven by Amber, being as Blaze’s constant insistence had managed to persuade him he was forgiven by one of those three involved.
Blaze levitated a brown bag beside him as he entered the commons of the oak tree after wiping his hooves on the, now brown, welcome mat. He walked up the stairs towards the bathroom, hoping to remove the mud that clung to him before too long.
“Whoa, what happened to you?” Blaze heard Spike say from upstairs. Blaze shook his head as he continued up the stairs.
“Short version, I fell into a mud puddle. Right now I’m hoping to get a bath and get this gunk off.” Blaze said as he reached the top of the stairs. Spike shook his head, and then continued cleaning up the library’s bedroom. Blaze quickly slipped into the bathroom, and after a quick glance around the library, he closed the door and locked it.
Blaze turned on the tub’s faucet and waited for it to fill up as he placed his bag down on the counter. As the tub began to rise high enough, he switched off the faucet and climbed in. Blaze quickly levitated a brush to his side and began the arduous task of removing the caked mud from his coat. As he continued, the water quickly shifted to a dark brown. Blaze finally stepped out of the tub and unplugged the drain, allowing the slough that had once been his bathwater, to flow down the drain. After making sure all of the gunk and grime, after repeated opening and closing of the faucet, had gotten down the drain, Blaze sat down on the mat that lay in front of the tub.
Blaze sat there for a little time before finally looking. Blaze craned his neck and looked at his flank, and as he had expected, where his cutie mark had been, was nothing but a patch of red coat. He was a blank flank once again, no; he was still a blank flank. Blaze levitated the brown bag from the sink and set it down beside him. Blaze stood up and removed the mat from under his hooves and sat back down on the hardwood floor, after placing the mat a little distance away. Blaze opened the bag and removed a small assortment of paint and a brush. Blaze then set about painting the fire whirl back onto his flank, then with a bit of magic, copied it onto his other flank. After a bit of smoothing out, making the paint appear more like it was a cutie mark instead of some painting thrown on his flank, Blaze tossed the used paint container into the trash can and placed the bag on top of them.
Blaze heaved a sigh as he placed the mat back where it belonged. He had painted the mark onto his flank originally to make his father accept him as something more than a part of the act. Blaze suddenly felt a shiver rush down his spine, leaving him breathless and confused. After a few deep breathes, something came to Blaze. It was like remembering something, but… it was different somehow. The ‘memory’ was foggy, like it wasn’t sure if it wanted to reveal itself.
Blaze looked at the bathroom door. It seemed… distant in a way, yet he knew that it was only a few steps away. Blaze shook his head, and when he opened his eyes again it wasn’t bathroom door he was looking at.