Blaze leaned against a tree, taking a drink from his canteen. It had been a busy two weeks, between the training he had with Flint and having fun with his friends. Ever since this arrangement had been solidified he had had an easier time actually feeling happy about staying in town for a bit longer. He had grown stronger over the several training sessions, both in magic and muscle. True, the difference wasn’t a monumental one, but it still was a change from before.
“Well done, Blaze.” Flint said walking up to him from his side of the arena. “I think you finally got a firm hold on the first rule, just remember that anger is as dangerous as any foe you try to use it against.” Blaze nodded, downing the last of the canteen before lowering it into the stream that crawled by the training field. “If you keep up this speed you’ll have all the rules down in a month or so, but you still need to work on your articulation of a real blade.”
“Can I help it when we only use those cheap wooden play things?” Blaze said with a smirk. “It also doesn’t help that I’ve got nothing to practice with back at the library. And speaking of which, if we’re done here for the day I need to head. Twilight went up to Canterlot last evening for a meeting with the other princesses and left me in charge of the library.”
“I think we can call it quits for the day. Just remember to do all of your exercises while you stay in the library.” Blaze nodded, and soon was teleported to the forest’s entrance. It had become the usual way for the training sessions to end, and really it did save time walking through the forest.
Blaze sat down at the library’s main reading table and took out a book that Flint assigned him to read over ten training sessions back. Blaze began reading and writing notes as he began to remove every book from the shelves and began to rotate them in two circles that rotated in opposite direction while each book rotate on its own axis in an alternating pattern, switching from a leftward rotation to a rightward every time Blaze turned a page.
Blaze heard the library door open after he read his fiftieth page and finished his notes on the wedge formation’s efficiency in its designated usage. Blaze cast a look to the door and saw his three friends gawking at the books that flew through the air.
“Is it re-shelving day already?” Half Pint said, trying his best to read each title that floated by in its endless orbit around Blaze.
“No, I’m just practicing a bit of magic.” Blaze said, and with that each book returned to its place, including the military strategy book Blaze had been reading and the notebook that was almost completely filled with notes.
“Well that’s some magic you got there. So, are you free for lunch?” Blizzard said looking away from the books. Blaze glanced over at the clock, and indeed, it was close to lunchtime. Blaze turned this over in his head a few times, and then nodded.
“Yeah, I think I can step out for lunch. Nopony, except you guys, has come in all day, so I think I’m pretty safe.” Blaze said, lifting his saddlebags onto his bags and trotting out the door after his friends. “So where are we headed, Sugar Cube Corner?” Blaze said, already taking the first turn in that direction.
“How about that other restaurant by the pond? What was it called again?” Amber suggested hopefully. Blizzard tapped a hoof to his chin in thought.
“You mean the Biscuit Barn?” Half Pint said, arching an eyebrow.
“No …, that’s the place near the Quill and Sofa; I’m talking about the place near the pond with the mushroom tables and all that. You know the place with the great hay fries?” Amber said, still trying to remember the restaurant’s name.
“Well, I don’t really care what its name is.” Blizzard finally said adamantly. “Do we want to go there or not, that is the really question. Raise your hoof if you want to go to the place by the pond.” Amber raised her hoof eagerly, only to find her hoof was the only one raised. “Alright, raise a hoof if…”
“You want to go to the Biscuit Barn!” Half Pint interjected while lifting his hoof, and again found he was the only one with a hoof raised. “Hey, they got really good biscuits.” Still he was alone.
“Raise a hoof for Sugar Cube Corner.” With that both Blaze and Blizzard raised their hooves. “Alright, the usual place it is then.” With that they headed out for their favorite spot.
The four ponies sat around their table sharing stories while eating, or drinking as the case was, what they had ordered. Suddenly a pink blur dashed up to their table and babbled off some gibberish and charged off again. The four ponies looked at each other with confused expressions until an orange earth pony ran up to them.
“Y’all best get inside lickety-split!” The pony said in a deep southern draw before running after the pink blur. The four ponies looked at each other in new found concern.
“Our house is closest,” Blizzard said, already standing up, “We can hunker down there.” The ponies nodded in agreement, and broke into a gallop to keep up with the speeding pegasus that guided the way. The four stopped at the door to the house as Blizzard began knocking.
“Who is it?” A mare’s voice called out from inside the house.
“It’s me, Mom, we were told that we were supposed to get inside. Half Pint and another friend of ours are here as well.” Blaze heard the sound of locks coming undone before the door finally opened.
“Applejack was here not too long ago telling me to stay inside as well. Hurry now, if any of Twilight’s friends tells us to get inside we better listen.” Amber and Blizzard’s mom said. Soon the four ponies we inside eating some of the sugar cookies that, by what Blaze had been told, were made by their hostess.
“So… Applejack is another friend of Twilight’s? Any others I should be aware of?” Blaze said after downing the last of his milk. “I met Rarity, who else?” Half Pint looked at Blaze with an expression that was something between disbelief and concern.
“There are three others besides Applejack and Rarity that live here in Ponyville. There’s Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash. To be quite honest, I’m surprised you haven’t met them since you’ve been here for almost... what is it, three weeks?” Blizzard replied.
“Two weeks actually. And for the most part I’ve been spending very little time in the library. Usually I’m with you guys or practicing.” Blaze argued.
“Would you like some more milk and cookies, Blaze?” Blaze looked over to Amber’s mom, Red Cross if he had heard right.
“No thank you, ma’am, I’m quite finished. I had a sundae at Sugar Cube Corner before we arrived.” Blaze replied with a smile and a shake of his head. Mrs. Cross smiled and looked over at Half Pint who was greedily munching down on the cookies, sending crumbs all around him.
“Never stopped Half Pint. I’ve got to say, he’s got his grandfather’s appetite, if not more than that.” She commented with a smile, pouring more milk into Half Pint’s glass. After a hard swallow, and a lick of his lips, Half Pint smiled at what probably was his favorite hostess in all of Equestria.
“I can’t help it; you’ve got cookies that could impress my grandma.” Half Pint then chomped down on another of the sugary delights. “Er min ther su tasty!” He said without swallowing, but after an arched eyebrow from Mrs. Cross, he swallowed and corrected. “What I meant to say was I mean they’re so tasty.” He said with a bit of red touching his cheeks. Mrs. Cross nodded and went back to the kitchen with an empty bottle of milk.
Suddenly there was a rumble from outside that sounded almost like a voice shouting Twilight’s name. Blaze quickly rushed to the window and scanned the surrounding area. He could see nothing, and then a streak of purple light zipped through the sky. Blaze squinted as he tried to figure out what was going on, but whatever it was it was too far away.
“What was that?” Blaze said in almost a whisper to nopony in particular. Suddenly there was a flash out of the corner of his eye. He looked and saw Twilight turning her telescope to the field beyond. Blaze looked where it was pointed and saw an orange flash which quickly grew. Blaze looked back to where Twilight had been, but found only purple sparkles of a spell, then nothing. Blaze felt back from the window, blinded by a light that had come from nowhere.
Blaze quickly got back up and looked towards the library, but all he saw was rubble and the burnt partial husk of the now destroyed library. Blaze gawked and stared in shock, but something else caught his attention. A gigantic beam of color slammed downed into the ground before suddenly growing much larger. It lasted for a few seconds, and then dissipated. Blaze suddenly was hauled back from the window while he watched Amber shut and latched it.
“”W-what are you doing? Twilight is out there and I need to make sure she’s safe!” Blaze pleaded as he got back up to his hooves.
“Blaze, listen, there’s no sense in endangering yourself to figure out if she’s alive, just calm down a bit.” Blizzard reasoned while holding Blaze back with his hooves. “She’s smart; she wouldn’t let herself get killed. Plus, how would she feel if you got hurt while trying to make sure she was safe when she was fine the whole time? Just wait until whatever is happening outside to calm down enough for it to be safe to check, but for now just stay here and be safe; for Twilight’s sake.” Blaze began to calm down a bit, but he still desperately wanted to go outside and check on her.
“B-but what if she’s hurt? I have a chance right now to go out there and help her. She might be dying and… and…” Blaze stumbled before Amber put a hoof on his shoulder.
“Calm down, Blaze, she’ll be fine. She has gone through things like this before and has made it out without a scratch.” Blaze looked at her, still feeling the same determination he had before. Blaze knew they were probably right, but he still didn’t feel right about leaving Twilight out there on her own. Blaze lit his horn in a silver aura.
“Then hope that I can do the same.” Blaze stated coolly before teleporting to the library. Blaze blinked several times to get the ciders out of his eyes. This wasn’t his last destination, but it would serve as a stepping stone to get closer. He already he tired from teleporting that far, but now he was going to have to do it again. He quickly lit his horn again and teleported to the Everfree forest. He took several deep breathes, feeling exhausted by the effort of two rather long distance teleportations.
“Flint, come out, I need you now!” Blaze shouted as he charged into the forest. Blaze wasn’t an idiot, even though he was probably charging head long into danger, he wasn’t going to do it without a slight bit of help to tip the scales in his favor. He continued to charge down the path. “Flint, come out, I need you help!”
“I’m not going to help you risk you life, Blaze.” Flint’s voice said, seeming to come from everywhere, most likely some spell or another. Blaze skidded to a halt and looked around a bit.
“I need to make sure she’s alright! I can’t just leave her out there to her fate!” Blaze shouted back at the forest around him.
“She’ll be alright; she has plenty of experience in this type of scenario.” Flint replied. “Go back to where you came from and don’t come out again.” Blaze looked around some more, trying to pinpoint where Flint was, but something wasn’t right. The ground shook beneath his hooves, causing him to run down the path, deeper into the forest. He didn’t know what it was, but he was now further into the forest, making the castle clearing the closer one than the exit to Ponyville, besides the fact he still wanted to find Flint.
Suddenly an orange and black beam sliced through the forest in front of him, making him stop in horror. A trench almost as deep as the Golden Oaks library had been tall now cut through the landscape. Blaze looked for a way around, but no such route seemed to be nearby. He sighed and took a few steps back, then charged towards the gash in the path, only to have another beam cut through the path a small distance away. Blaze attempted to skid to a halt, but hit a small rock, causing him to tumble onto his side and fall into the newly formed trench.
The ground was still hot from whatever had just happened, and Blaze wasn’t inclined to stay on the scorching hot ground for too long, and so got to his hooves and attempted to scramble up the sheer cliffs that now was his prison, but found that their surface was far too slippery to scale. Blaze lit his horn and popped up on the other side of the trench. After a few deep breathes, Blaze looked across the next trench, and attempted to teleport once again, but found he was thoroughly exhausted, by manner of the two longer distance jumps and this last one weighing down on his horn.
Blaze took a few steps from the ledge, and then began to run towards his next obstacle. When he drew close enough, he jumped across, making it with only his front hooves. Blaze pulled himself up with great effort, and then rolled onto his side and over the edge and fully on the other side. Blaze nodded at the trenches before charging off again.
The river had been an easy cross because of a tree that had fallen, because of the tremors, and now spanned the watery gap. As he made it into the clearing, Blaze noticed Twilight, Discord, and her friends entering a cave at the bottom of the trench that separated his side of the cliff from the castle. Blaze looked around and found a stone staircase that went down to the bottom. Blaze quickly galloped over and went down the stair as fast as he could, hoping to catch up with them.
As he approached, a bright light come out of the cave and go up into the sky. He watched, and saw a gigantic centaur blast the light with the orange and black beam. When the beam ended the light had not changed. The beast roared at it, saying something that Blaze couldn’t quite make out. Suddenly, a few colors came out of the light and slam into the centaur, then more, until all of the colors of the rainbow joined together and poured all of its power into the centaur, which began to shrink until it disappeared.
Blaze watched as a wave of light washed over the entire area, and even beyond. As it passed, Blaze felt as if his magical abilities had been returned. Suddenly a rainbow shot out from the ground above the cave and shot towards Ponyville. Blaze lit his horn and teleported back to the forest’s exit. Blaze charged off towards Ponyville, watching as some object floated through the rainbow. Out of nowhere, the ground began to tremble again, but this time, Blaze could see the effects. In the distance, a castle made of crystal began to rise, looking slightly like a tree. Blaze didn’t exactly like its design, but that really didn’t matter.
Blaze began to trot towards Ponyville after a band of rainbow flew from the castle. Blaze tried to remember how many rainbows he had seem this day alone. Suddenly a purple blur shot above him, only to come back around to land beside him.
“Blaze, what are you doing this far from town? You should have been in doors or at least a bit closer to town.” Twilight said as she came up beside him.
“I saw the library was destroyed.” Blaze said, trying to divert the conversation. “Where will you be living now? Will you be going to Canterlot to reign with the other princesses?” Twilight shook her head with a smile.
“No, I actually got my own castle closer to town now.” She replied happily, only to have her smile die out as her mind caught up slowly on the implications.
“So that glass tree house is yours, huh?” Blaze said with a raised eyebrow and a smirk. “I didn’t think that ‘Crystal Empire’ was your choice of interior decorating.” Twilight stifled a laugh.
“You definitely have been spending a bit of time with Rarity, haven’t you?” Twilight asked with a smirk.
“I blame my sense of humor on Half Pint; Rarity might have been teaching me more about fashion choices, she doesn’t have too much of a sense of humor, no offence to her.” Twilight nodded in agreement at this. The two ponies walked side by side in silence for a few moments. “So, I guess I’m moving out then.” Blaze said abruptly.
“You don’t have to leave you know? My house was your house, and now I can say my castle is your castle.” Twilight replied.
“My assertion that I’m not good with fancy or posh stuff still stands. A castle is just that, plush and fancy, no matter how hard crystal might be.” Blaze said, his smirk returning again.
“I guess so, but where will you go? Do you know anypony willing to take you in until the train or carriages are functional?” Twilight questioned.
“I’ve made some friends, I bet one of them will be more than willing to take me in. Besides, if they don’t, I could just get a cardboard box and live in the middle of the road. That isn’t much different than what I used to do with my family.” Twilight chuckled a bit.
“Well, I guess you got things figured out, just remember that my castle’s doors are open to you at all times.” Twilight stated.
“Yeah, I will.” Blaze replied calmly.