The next morning, just before Princess Celestia rose the sun into the sky, a human woke up in the barn at Sweet Apple Acres. Swift Blaze didn't mind this as he had gotten used to it.
He climbed out of the cot slowly as his legs ached a little from yesterday from kicking the trees as an Earth Pony. He stretched out his arm as he let out a big yawn. Blaze grabbed the full white gi and a set of clean undergarments before he made his way to the house. Up in the bathroom, the human cleaned up and got dressed. When he opened the door to the hallway, Applejack was waiting next to the door.
“Morning, Applejack," Blaze said, "Thank you for not barging into the bathroom while I was in there.”
“Morning, Blaze. I did learn my lesson from yesterday,” said Applejack with a little blush on her cheeks.
“This living arrangement won’t be for much longer. I'm planning to work on my house soon.”
The orange mare looked confused as she replied, “When did you schedule time with an engineer to go and build it?”
“I didn’t. I'm going to build it myself. I will need a pony to do the plumbing and electrical for it.”
Not wanting to drag this conversation out further, Applejack said, “Anyway, I’m hopping into the bathroom to clean up. You are going to make some more of me?”
“Only if you really liked eating yourself,” Blaze replied with a grin on his face.
The mare blushed some more as she went in and closed the door. Blaze went to the kitchen to make the same breakfast as before. The others soon came down while Apple Bloom was setting the table. The human made a bigger stack this time. Everyone couldn't get enough of them as they got second and third servings of it.
Granny Smith insisted that the human didn't need to clean up this time. Blaze thanked her and headed outside. In the front yard, the human made four clones that, in turn, transformed into the pony form. He didn't need to tell them what to do as they already knew. They were him of course.
Applejack came out of the house a few minutes later. She walked next to the human and said, “Ya ready, sugarcube?”
“As ready as I'll ever get. Let’s get going before I change my mind and make a run for it.” Blaze jokingly said the last part with a tiny bead of sweat rolling down his face.
Applejack saw the worried look he had. The mare couldn't imagine what's troubling him in the back of his mind. She hoped that he didn't do anything foolish in front of the princess.
They made their way into town to Twilight’s place. As they were getting close, Blaze saw a royal carriage was parked nearby. There were also several guards standing around Golden Oaks Library. The human wondered if these guards will give him a hard time like the last ones. As the pair approached the guards, they stepped out of the way and said nothing.
They entered the library and saw that the others were already here. Even Princess Luna was here. The two royal sisters were sitting on cushions in the middle of a half circle with an empty chair in the middle. The rest of the mane six were evenly divided on either side, with Twilight sitting next to Princess Celestia. Spike was sitting next to Rarity. He didn't register the others that just came in as he stared at the white Unicorn mare.
“Good morning, everyone. I see we are not wasting time in continuing the interrogation,” Blaze said as he sat in the chair.
"What?" Twilight exclaimed. "This isn't anything like that! Now why would . . "
Blaze was snickering with a big smile on his face.
Applejack said, "Don't mind him. He's been Mr. Funny Bones since this morning. Why, he joked about serving me up for breakfast, again."
"WHAT?!" shouted several ponies, except the Royal Princesses.
"What she means is I served up some pancakes that had apples in them," Blaze replied. "They are called 'applejacks' back on my world," he said while doing the air quotes. Getting nothing but nods from the others, the human turned his head towards Twilight and said, "As for what I said earlier, that was just to break the tension in the room."
"Ahh, I see." Twilight wrote down a few notes on the piece of paper next to her, with a couple hundred blank pages sitting behind her.
"Well, I see that those new clothes look amazing on you. I hope you like all the color combinations," said Rarity,
Blaze replied, "They're perfect. I'm more amazed by how quickly you were able making them."
"Once I had the first one done, I had to finish the others. I was in the zone as it were." The white Unicorn mare cleared her throat before she said, "Do your, um, undergarments fit nicely as well?"
Blaze blushed a tiny bit. "Yeah, everything is good."
Princess Celestia cleared her throat before she said, “Well, this is definitely going to be an interesting morning, Blaze. Before we begin, I just wanted to say that I'm glad you accepted to answer some more questions we may have.”
“Not a problem, Your Highness, I figured that was why you may have been personally having been keeping a hidden eye on me. That is, until you don't consider me to be a threat."
"One has to protect thy kingdom and thy subjects," Princess Luna chimed in.
"So true, little sister," said Princess Celestia. "Now then, . . ."
"Um, before we begin," Blaze interrupts, "I don't know if this a good place to say everything. I know you have your Royal Guard around this place, and maybe a few spells in place for privacy. But, I think what you may want answers to, I just feel safer if it's a place that no one would have a way to walk into."
"I assure you, Swift Blaze, the guards have been informed to not allow anypony through that we haven't approved," said Princess Celestia.
"I know, the other thing is," Blaze rubbed his temples on the side of his head with his hands in frustration. "Ugh, I've been trying to think of the best way of telling some things, without being able to show them. But, can't get a better way of doing it."
"What about that flat, rectangular, thingy you showed that image from?" asked Rainbow Dash.
The human dropped his hands to the top of his legs. "It's called a computer tablet, or an iPad. And I've thought of that. The thing is, it doesn't contain everything from my world. It allows you to get access to other data locations, back on Earth." He let out a big sigh. "I wish there was a way you can enter my mind. From there, I can show you my memories and better explain stuff."
"There is a way," said Princess Luna. "We enter the dream realm and we shall connect everypony to your mind, if you allow the connection. We haven't been able to see your dreams at night for some reason."
"Hmm, I'll try to let you in, if everyone is comfortable with trying this."
“I'll agree," said Princess Celestia, "Only if two of my guards may stay inside the library as well as two that will go inside your mind.”
“I don't have a problem with that. I'll also leave myself here to stand watch.”
The white Alicorn Princess nodded and summoned four Unicorn guard ponies into the library with her magic. Blaze did the shadow clone jutsu and another human showed up standing next to him. Twilight, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie were somewhat startled at this. The guards went on the defensive, but Princess Celestia explained what was going on.
Princess Luna said, “Those who are venturing into the dream realm, please form a circle around the human. Lay down on a cushion so you don’t fall over when I cast the spell.”
Those on the floor pillows did so as two guards joined them behind the sitting human. The clone moved to the front door where the other guards were standing at attention. Once everyone was comfortable and ready, the Princess of the Moon's horn lit up as she channeled her magic. Small, rope-like strands emitted from her horn and floated through the air as they connect to their foreheads. Finally, a big strand moved to Blaze's head. Upon contact, they all closed their eyes.
With the group now asleep, the Blaze clone said to the two guards, "This is going to take a while. I'm going to get some stuff from my bag upstairs to amuse myself. Do you want me to get you anything?"
The Unicorn stallion guards remained at attention, standing tall and firm with their eyes looking forward. Neither one said anything.
Clone Blaze thought to himself, Princess Celestia definitely knows how to pick them.
--------Inside Blaze's Mind--------
The human was the first to open his eyes. He looked around and didn't see the others around. He then noticed a floating computer window a few feet away. Blaze walked over to it and saw it said.
Luna party requesting access to mind space.
Below that there were three choices: Full Access, Guided Access, Denied Access.
He selected the middle one. The window disappeared and the group surrounded him in the same location as in the library. The ponies and dragon opened their eyes and saw they were surrounded in a vastness of white.
Blaze said, “Welcome everypony, to the inside of my mind. Watch your step.”
“Your head is pretty empty, Blaze,” Rainbow said.
“That's because this is where I go in my sleep. Here, I can imagine anything I need to help with my training. For example, let’s have a tree sprouting up where you are, Rainbow.”
The ground under the blue Pegasus shook for a few seconds. Then, a huge apple tree grew to full size as it engulfed her in the limbs.
Inside the newly formed tree, the voice of Rainbow Dash said, “Very funny.” She then flew out of the tree and landed next to Rarity. The mare shook her head and body to remove any leaf that may be stuck to her.
"Easy there, Rainbow Dash. I spent two hours this morning beautifying my mane and coat for the Princesses," said Rarity.
"I think you are beautiful. No matter how long it took," said Spike.
"Aww, thank you, Spiky-wiky."
Blaze said, “So, I figure this space would be easier to explain things about me and humans as I can show you things easier instead of trying to get the words to describe it." Blaze looked around to the others. "Who would like to start first?”
“Um, can we go someplace that is more familiar? This place is a little strange, if you don’t mind,” Fluttershy asked.
“Sure, I'll recreate the library from where we once were. Remember, it may seem real, but it's all in my mind, not yours.”
The library appeared around them. Like, a haze that was obscuring their sight. The cushions were arranged differently. They were placed in three rows of four in front of a podium that was next to a projector screen. The human went behind that as the others took a seat. The Royal Guards remained standing on either side of the space.
“Before we continue, I would like to make a request that you do not wander around in my mind. I've managed to let you in, but you can only look at stuff I show you. All of these books and rooms contain nothing."
Blaze looked at Princess Celestia and hoped this telepathic connection was active. He said to her, I'll show you these thoughts later on, Princess, You'll see why I'm keeping them a secret.
The Alicorn nodded as she replied in the connection, I expect you will soon. If you want to gain my trust. The Princess of the Sun then said with her normal voice, “Can you please show us what happened to your world which caused you to come to ours?”
“Wow, the big question right off the bat. Give me a few minutes to gather the displayable items as I'll explain. It will take some time as I need to cover a few things before I can get to my last day on my planet.”
A tablet materialized on the podium. The human tapped away as he gathered pictures and video he could recall from memory the best he could do. Once he was ready, the projector screen lit up as he talked.
Blaze said, “Ok, the first thing I'll need to go over was a prediction a group of humans called Mayans have made."
Various images of humans and their life style showed up on the screen.
"Now, through some mathematical thing they did, they calculated off when my world, planet Earth, was going to end. This prediction was over five thousand years ago in the timeline there.”
The images changed to a monster circle stone tablet. Then, to an artist rendition of the entire planet on fire. A couple of the mares gasped at what they saw.
“Sorry about this image. Most humans didn't believe this would come true. For the next part, I must warn you, I'm about to talk about what humans are like. Please don’t relate me to them as I have different beliefs than most.”
The Princesses and the others nodded their heads before Blaze continued telling his tale.
“Over the many eras of the human race, one thing has been a constant, we like to fight and cause destruction. Most of these conflicts were either about land, money, or power over other humans. Most historians say we need to learn about our past so we don’t repeat them in the time we live. Well, that never happened. We never learned and because of that, we paid the ultimate price.”
The human showed images and short video clips of different battles that he recalled seeing as he was in school. He went over each one and explained what it was about and how the advances in science and technology had resulted in more death and destruction. He even went over the creation of some of the most destructive weapons. Things that could easily destroy towns, cities, or an entire country. Blaze said that a government of a country actually used a device like this, twice. It happened during something in humankind's history called World War II.
"That sounds horrible!" shouted Twilight. "Why would anyone use something to cause mass destruction? Let alone, twice."
"Humans have been speculating what goes on in the minds of these past leaders that drove them to make those decisions. Some say greed. Others, say fear. Finally, it might be because what they believe in," replied Blaze.
The projector screen went dark. The human saw several of the mane six had tears rolling down their face as either one or both fore hooves covered their mouths. Spike was hiding underneath his cushion. The Princesses had a sad expression while the guards were doing their best to maintain their posture and glare face. Only their tail had curled up between their legs.
Blaze walked to the front of the podium, as it shape-shifted into a chair. He sat down and said, “I'm sorry for showing you this. I never wanted to let you know what most humans are like. But, I feel you should know of what became of humans since they were last here.”
Princess Celestia got up from her cushion and walked to the right side of the sitting human. Princess Luna joined her on the opposite side. They both looked at each other for a few seconds before looking down at him.
“I'm glad you showed this to us. Both, my sister and I, are also glad you say that you're not like these humans,” Princess Celestia said.
"Indeed," Princess Luna added.
“The thing is, I am a human. These reactions, they are in my DNA. I could have done these things at any time. I don't because of what I believe, like the balance in the world.”
“If you were like those other humans, then how did you survive the last day on your planet, sugarcube?” Applejack asked.
“Yeah, guess it is time to show you what happened. The day in question was the date the Mayans predicted was going to be the end of the world."
The screen lit up and it showed Swift Blaze's memory from his point of view. He only showed the things related to the violence that he heard on the radio and saw on the television. He skipped the parts of what he packed and anything that he didn't want them to see. There was a low rumble coming from the video before it paused and cut to black.
“What happened next?” Pinkie asked in an excited tone. She had a huge bucket of popcorn in front of her,
"Before I continue, this next part has the final moments on my world that I experienced." Blaze had placed his right hand on his left elbow while the left arm stayed by his side. "You can say that I was very afraid and in shock of what was happening. I don't think there is another moment in any creature's life of being the most scared is when they realize they are about to die."
The human looked at the others as he lowered his right arm back to is side. He continued with, "If you don't want to see it, I'm okay with it. I've created a sound proof room through the red door over there."
After a few seconds of silence, Fluttershy and Rarity got up from their cushions. Before they headed to the door, they made their way to the front. The two ponies went over and gave Blaze a hug. Spike got up and gave the human a bro claw punch.
Looking around the room, Rainbow Dash stayed put as she was proving that she wasn’t afraid of anything. Applejack was next to the mare and took it as a challenge to see who will scream first. Both princesses were staying calm and focused. The Royal Guards remained at attention, but a little sight of fear could be spotted in their eyes. Twilight Sparkle had managed to create seven stacks of note cards of different heights. Pinkie Pie was still eating popcorn, except that the mare now had a tall soda next to her and wore 3-D glasses over her eyes.
Once the red door was closed, Princess Celestia said, "Bob, please continue."
With that, the human started the projector screen back up to where he left off. From the point of view, humans were carrying torches and other odd things in their other hands. The rumbling noise soon revealed an odd looking metal box thing that was going down the road. There was a quick change as the light source in the house was turned off before looking again at what was happening in the street.
The ponies saw the smaller metal part on top of this thing began to rotate to the other side, pointing a metal stick at it. There was a loud bang and the door to the other house was engulfed in a fiery explosion.
Blaze saw the young mares jump in their cushions from that. The Princesses stayed firm and focused on the scene. Both Unicorn Guards had their legs shaking a bit as they tried to stay at attention. Pinkie Pie was now wearing soundproof earmuffs as she watched.
By now in the replay, Bob had run out of the house just as another explosion just went off. The view went black, but the sound was still going. Small bangs in the distance with strange, high whistle noises was being played from the back speakers towards the front at quick intervals. These were then followed by a bigger explosion.
When the picture came back, the ponies were seeing the destruction that happened to the house somehow. Then, there was a clunking sound. Followed by the picture going black again.
Twilight was the first to speak. "Blaze, your home! What happened to it?!" she asked.
"Everything that I owned got blown up from that tank there and by those other humans," he replied. "What just happened was a piece of my house hit me on the head and knocked me out."
"And those other sounds we heard?" Rainbow Dash asked. "They sounded like something moving very fast."
"You are correct. They are the much smaller projectile from what came out of the tank. It came from what those thugs had in their other hands."
"Is there any more in this memory?" Princess Luna asked.
With a heavy sigh, the human said, "Yes."
The playback started back up. It showed debris was being removed that was blocking the view. The ponies saw the humans from before had surrounded him. They had a creepy, evil-looking smile on their faces.
Bob was pleading for his life after being told he had two choices to pick from. After choosing and the thug leader had agreed to the terms, the others started counting down. Blaze looked at how his friends were reacting.
Applejack and Rainbow Dash were holding each other. Twilight scooted closer to Princess Celestia. The Princesses themselves remained firm. The guards’ legs were shaking more than ever. Pinkie Pie had emptied the popcorn bucket and placed it over her head, covering her face so she couldn’t see.
Near the last ten seconds, the only thing showing on the projector screen was the sight of looking down the gun barrel. Where a bullet would soon be exiting, once the hammer drops. Right after the sound of a click, the screen went white.
Rainbow Dash released her grip on the orange Earth mare, once she realized she was doing it. Applejack too composed herself as she adjusted her hat. Below the Royal Guards, a small puddle had formed beneath each of them. Their legs were no longer shaking.
Blaze was sitting in the chair with his head low. He was looking down to his feet. His face was both showing pain and sadness. The human felt two things touch his back. When he looked up, Blaze saw that both Princesses were now next to him. They had placed one of their wings around his back. A smile started to grow on his face.
He soon noticed the other mares and small dragon have formed a half circle in front of him. Each one had a small tear rolling down their face. Blaze's tears turned into tears of joy from seeing these ponies care for him, even though he was a complete stranger to this world.
The human wiped his tears away and said, "Thank you. I'm fine now. That experience is something I wish to never feel for a very long time."
"No, thank you for sharing what happened to you," said Princess Celestia. "I could never imagine the humans I knew would fall so low."
"You still have to realize, these bad ones are the results of power, greed, and corruption. Not all of us go down that path. We choose how we want to live our lives by what we do."
"And it seems thou hath chosen wisely," said Princess Luna. "Can thou continue with the tale?"
Blaze stood up and said, "Sure, give me a sec to gather my memories."
The chair transformed back to a podium. He went behind it as the others returned to their cushions. The Royal Guards had found a mop and a bucket and were cleaning up the mess they had made.
Blaze tapped away at the tablet for the next part, but something was odd. He was getting an "Access Denied" on each segment of memory. Finding it odd, he decided to put this on the back burner to investigate further.
“Well, I first couldn't tell where I was. It was because everything was looking pure white. Out of nowhere, the mighty god that most humans believe in spoke to me. He explained why I survived what just happened. The Mayan calendar prediction was a test to see how humans would react to it. Those who stayed peaceful on that day got another chance at life in a world of their choosing. I chose for a world that is peaceful, never seen war, and not human.”
“And you ended on our world. That is tragic, yet sweet of you to get a second chance, darling,” Rarity said.
“Question, how come you didn't kick those other human flanks with those things you know?” Rainbow asked.
Blaze replied, “That's going to be the next thing I was going to explain. The truth is, my world does not have humans with these abilities. I was never trained in martial arts. I'm what my people called a computer geek, nerd, tech savvy, and sometimes freak for liking things they don’t understand.”
“Then where did you come up with chakra and ki abilities if they never existed on your world?” Twilight asked.
“One thing my kind of people, the geeks and nerds, were into something we called ‘Anime’. What that is are illustration cartoons playing out scenes that we watch, read, and sometimes wrote stories off the series. Actually, I think it would be better to show you where I got the idea from.”
The projector screen started to show scenes from Dragonball Z of different fights and seeing humans flying about. It then switched to clips from Naruto. They all were intrigued in the shows and recognized some of the jutsu Blaze had done.
“Wow! That was amazing!" said Spike. "How come you have not done any of those blasts from your hands?”
“Well, for starters, never had a reason to. Also, I haven't done much practice with it. Finally, as you can see, these techniques are very dangerous. I don't think I would have a need of them. I only chose them so I could gain the power of flight. I mean, besides those who have wings, have any of you dreamed what would it be like to fly?"
The Earth and Unicorn mares shook their heads. Spike nodded his head with excitement. The Unicorn Guards gave a subtle nod with a little blush showing on their faces.
Blaze continued telling his tale, "So, the reason I chose to get the abilities from these shows, besides how cool they are, I didn't know what I would be facing in the next world. I like a little mystery of the unknown and to be a little prepared. I still have to train and practice with them. That's what I've been doing in my sleep most nights.”
“Thank you for telling about the events leading to you arriving here," said Princess Celestia. "I feel sorry that most of your species did not survive your God’s test. I've seen for myself the good in humans turn corrupt for greed and power. That's why they were banished from this world over one thousand years ago."
“Taking a wild guess of my species timeline, that speaking was during the medieval era. Also, roughly that far back in time too. That time was another dark period in human history and where myths about Unicorns and Pegasi came from.”
Princess Luna asked, “Roughly, how many dark periods were there in thy species' history?”
“There are too many to count. We have history books that go over past events that they've been able to piece together from aged documents centuries later. Most have been destroyed in fires, or have been lost."
“Again, I'm sad to hear about that," said the Princess of the Sun." Let's go over another topic I wish to know more of. Would you mind going over the new jutsu you have learned since we last met?”
“Sure thing, Your Highness. The last time I saw you, I explained about shadow transform. In the show, the main character’s popular move is called shadow clone."
Blaze went on and explained how a typical clone jutsu is, from what he had seen from the show. Then onto what makes this one more unique. The human went on by doing a quick demonstration on the intelligence gathering.
He made two clones. One went with Spike, the other with Rainbow Dash. They went two opposite parts of the room and had a whisper chat. The original Blaze explained to the others what they are chatting about, but couldn't go into detail at this time. When they returned, the clones disappeared and Blaze went over the new memories.
"Alright. Rainbow Dash, you told my clone that you have a Wonderbolt's poster that has almost all the signatures from them. You are only missing Spitfire and Soarin. You said that they are very busy with the show themselves, is the reason why. You currently have it framed above your bed, on the ceiling. That way, for each morning, you can look at that when you wake up to increase your determination on joining them. Did I miss anything, Rainbow?"
"You pretty much nailed it," said the blue Pegasus mare. "The only thing you didn't mention was how awesome I am."
"That ain't a secret, sugarcube," said Applejack
"Onto Spike now. You didn't tell me anything. What you did with my clone is he showed you a quick game called, 'Rock, Paper, Scissors'. We played best out of seven. I won three and you won three. The final round became a draw as we kept on doing the same symbol."
"I love playing games!" said Spike. "Can't wait to play it again."
“Impressive, Blaze," said Princess Celestia. "I can see why this is very useful. But, I can also see how an enemy could make an army appear. We wouldn't be prepared for something like that.”
"There is one downside to this," Blaze replied. "Say, one enemy makes a thousand clones of himself. Their power and strength is also divided evenly among them. So, one all powerful foe divided by a thousand, you get an army that would fall from a paper cut."
"Paper cuts are not something to joke about," said Twilight Sparkle. "They really hurt."
“Anyways, for this next part, I will need to explain the basics of it so you can understand the next jutsu. Besides the basic Ninjutsu, the show talks about the ninja being natural to a naturalistic style. Those are earth, fire, wind, water, and lightning. Typically, you are only natural to one. But, with me choosing to also have abilities from the other show, God said I have the capability to learn all of them.”
Almost everyone was shocked to hear this. As Rarity did her fainting scene, Blaze had a couch show up behind her. Pinkie Pie spilled her popcorn. Twilight broke her quill.
Blaze cleared his throat before he said, “Even though I have this, it will take me some time to try and learn the different nature jutsus to a useful capacity. What I've started learning are earth and water style jutsu.
"I've gotten a good experience with that earth one," Applejack said.
Rainbow Dash asked, "How's that?"
"Blaze trapped me so I couldn't move."
The Unicorn Guard started to charge up their horns as they stared angrily at the human.
Blaze held up both hands toward them and shouted, "Hold it! That's not the full story. Please, let me explain."
Princess Celestia looked to her guards and nodded her head. Their horns stopped glowing. They returned to their at-attention pose. The human thanked the Princess. Then, he told the tale of what occurred that day.
Applejack had her head down low because she recalled how stubborn she was acting.
“Applejack, why did you not ask us to help you when your brother got injured? We would have gladly helped, ” said Twilight.
Before the orange mare could reply, Blaze said, “I asked that myself when Big Mac and I went to find her. She went on saying it was Apple family tradition and that she was trying to prove herself to her brother. I realized she wasn’t going to listen to reason, so I immobilized her body so I could do the next jutsu.”
“What jutsu was that?” Pinkie asked while eating from a new bag of popcorn.
“The type is called a Genjutsu. Instead of some physical change to something, this one goes after the mind. I did a weak one that allowed me to implant an illusion into her of what could happen if she did not ask for help and got very exhausted.”
“What was the dreadful illusion that made Applejack realize she should ask for help when something is too big for one pony, Blaze?” Rarity asked from the couch she was on.
“I think Applejack should answer this. She experienced it,” the human suggested.
The Earth pony looked up and glanced at all her friends. She said, "I couldn't tell at first what I was seeing. There was some screen in front of me and I couldn't stop looking at it. I was seeing myself really exhausted, while trying to help my friends. Each thing I was involved with that I promised to help them ended disastrously. I sent Rainbow flying badly when she wanted my help for a stunt. I poisoned a bunch of ponies with bad muffins. Finally, I terrorized all the new baby bunnies to go into a stampede when I was helping Fluttershy.”
“This is so bizarre. I was going to ask you for your help later this week with a stunt to increase my launch speed,” Rainbow said.
“I too was going to ask you to help in making some baked goods at Sugarcube Corner,” Pinkie said.
“I was going to ask, if you don’t mind, to help me gather all the baby bunnies to get a count of them. The way you handle the cows was impressive,” Fluttershy said.
All eyes turned and looked at Swift Blaze. While being a little nervous, he said, “What? How was I supposed to know what Applejack was going to see. I'm still figuring out how all of this works."
The mare gave the human a questioning look as they thought over what he said. He hoped that they will buy it. Who knows what could happen if the real truth comes out, Blaze thought inside his head.
And what truth could this be? another voice in his head said.
Blaze looked to Princess Celestia. Her eyes stared at him, like she was glaring at his soul.
Busted, Blaze thought. He did a big swallow before he replied in his head. It's true, Your Highness. I've been holding some things back from all of you. I was planning on telling you, in private. The fewer that know this would probably be safer for your kingdom. I hope you'll understand why after you hear it.
Only a few seconds went by. But the human felt it was an hour before the Princess responded. Very well. We shall discuss it, after this meeting, she said with a stern voice in the human's head.
Another gulp came from his throat as he now feared what might happen later.
Applejack broke the silence in the room when she said, “That illusion made me realize that I should never have thought to try and do something that big. I have helped my friends with their problems. I should have asked them to help with mine.”
“Ok, Blaze, it looks like you diverted an issue between your friends if you had not stepped in to help Applejack that friendship lesson. I'm glad you controlled yourself to make sure no harm came to your friends. Do hold yourself back in causing harm to my ponies. Unless, you are going to protect them,” Princess Celestia said.
“I do wish to protect your ponies and my friends. That's why I'm continuing to learn these jutsu and ki abilities. In a world where magic exists in everything around us, a single human is at a disadvantage if they want to protect the ones they care for,” the human replied.
Princess Luna said, “We're glad to hear that. Maybe thou should join the Royal Guard. It would be a good way to train in fighting in thy pony form.”
Blaze replied “I'll think about it. I still need some time to figure out my place in your kingdom. There are many other considerations of things I could do here. I could maybe teach your guards some Taijutsu techniques.”
“Tai what now? What the buck is that?” Rainbow asked.
“It's another style of jutsu. While the others I've talked about using chakra, Taijutsu does not require it. You can pretty much classify it as another style of martial arts. The only thing is, I will have to adjust it some for a pony body. Again, that is another possibility I could do here.”
“I would like a demonstration, before I will consider you teaching my guards,” said Princess Celestia.
“But of course, Princess," the human said as he bowed to her. "Now then, let's get back to the jutsu I have learned. The next style that I haven't used in the real world is Water style. Just like the name says, it uses water to make it work.”
“If you have been training to use them in here, can you give us a demonstration?” Twilight asked.
“Not a problem. I'll need to change to a different area. Please, remain seated until the transition has come to a complete stop.”
The surrounding wall became blurry as they moved at imaginable speeds. Once it came to a stop, the ponies saw they were now in an open field with huge boulders, spread out. Next to the human stood a basic water fountain.
"Where in Equestria are we?" asked Rainbow Dash. "I don't recognize any of this."
"That's because this isn't. I'm using an area that is seen often from the Dragonball Z series. This area is good to do some target practice." Blaze stepped to the side and gestured to several boulders that were behind him. "As you can see, I have different rocks of different sizes and properties. I will be doing three different techniques on them. Please, stand back."
The ponies watched as the human turned and faced the rocks ahead. The water from the fountain began to form a long blade. It shot across the space and did a diagonal slicing move on the first target. On the second one, the water stream transformed into a massive hammer. It slammed into a middle rock, causing it to be smashed into hundreds of pieces. Onto the final rock, and the biggest. Blaze had caused the water to change back into a collected pool of water. It launched itself at the boulder, piercing it, and continued going through it. The stream came back from behind the rock and repeated the motion of turning the rock into Swiss cheese, literally.
Once he was done, the human turned back around and faced the others. Some were stunned by the damage was done. Others were amazed of Blaze’s feat.
Spike spoke first as he said, "That, was, AWESOME!"
"You definitely know how to break rocks," said Rainbow Dash. "What else can you do with water?"
"Almost anything can be used for destroying things. It's when you use it to be creative, that's the amazing part," said Blaze.
He put his hands together and did different symbol poses. The fountain water shaped shifted into several dolphins. The human had them fly about around the group, doing different tricks and passing through hoops that were also made of water.
Once Blaze was done, the mares and princesses clapped their fore hooves together. They all had big smiles on their muzzles. The guards remained at attention.
“You are certainly learning some useful jutsu to help protect your friends. I can’t wait to see what you are going to do next,” Princess Celestia said.
“Well, the next one I'm planning on learning, might cause everypony to faint from seeing what I will do with it. It will take some time before I'm ready to show it," said Blaze. He looked to the other and said, "Are there any more questions you would like to ask before Princess Luna ends this?”
Spike quickly said, “Can you show us some ki blast? I just want to see what those can do."
“I figured you wanted to see that when you saw that show. I am going to change the area again to one with things for target practice. Don’t panic over where we go as it is just an illusion.”
Blaze changed their location from the fields to a space environment with meteors in the distance. The guard ponies panicked, trying to hold onto their air for no reason. Everyone else laughed until they realized it was an illusion as the human had told them.
“Now that we had that laugh, I'll try to show some basic blast at the meteors over there. You'll understand why I won’t use these unless there was no other option.”
The ponies stood behind the human as he gathered the energy. A red aura started to appear around his body. Blaze raised his right arm as a red orb formed in front of his hands. He sent several them flying to the space rocks. Each one hit their target and blew them to pieces.
"Hold on," said Rainbow Dash. "These are red. We saw a blue one when you came here. Why is there a color difference?"
"Maybe it has to do the color of his pony form?" said Twilight Sparkle.
"But he is in this form!" the blue Pegasus shouted. "Shouldn't it be that, peach tan color then?"
"I don't know, sugarcube. Only one that would know is Blaze himself," said Applejack. The mare turned towards the human. "Well?"
Blaze rubbed the back of his head as he said, "Um, yeah. I think I know what Rainbow Dash is talking about. I didn't realize at the time that I was using THAT technique. I'm just glad it was as weak as it was. Would of hated showing up and explain why the area was destroyed."
"How much destruction is thou speaking of?" asked Princess Luna.
The human lowered his hand and replied, "Umm, in the show, the main characters could destroy planets." Blaze raised both hands to the ponies and quickly said, "But they had a lot higher energy level! Nothing that I'm no where near."
Princess Celestia raised and eyebrow then waited a few seconds, before she said, "What levels are we talking about?"
"I don't have the device to detect mine. But, I'm guessing mine is around a couple thousand. They had power levels that were several million. They got there from very intense training and being part of a special race from another planet. I will never get to their levels"
"Okay then. Proceed with the demonstration."
Blaze bowed to her, before he turned around and faced the remaining asteroid. The human brought his hands together in front of him. Then, pulled them to his side as a bright blue orb formed in them.
"Ka . . . me . . . ha . . . me . . . ha!" Blaze said as he charged up the energy and released it to the remaining target. Upon contact, it grew big enough to engulf it and the remaining chunks nearby. It dissipated and nothing was left.
All ponies were again shocked at the devastation that they can cause. “Now you see why I won’t be using these unless they were the last resort. If there is nothing else, Princess Luna, can you end the dream share?”
The Princess of the night nodded her head. Her horn lit up and blanketed the area in white.
Back in the real world, everyone woke up from the slumber in the library. Blaze saw his clone was playing a card game with the other guards.
“Do you have any threes?” a guard asked.
The clone and other guard said, “Go fish.”
“I'm shocked you're not playing poker and taking their money," the real Blaze said.
The guards dropped their cards and went back to salute formation, not noticing the ponies were waking up.
“Sorry about that, Your Highness, it was the clone’s idea to play the game while we waited,” one guard said.
"Well, I can see I'm no longer wanted," said the clone.
He got up from the table and walked to the real Blaze. The clone whispered into the other's ear as he passed a full sack and a black, rectangular thing to him. With that, he was engulfed in a puff of smoke and disappeared.
Blaze glanced through the memories to confirm what his clone has told him. He said, "Well, I can see you two were not bored while everyone was asleep."
"What do you know?" asked a guard.
Blaze replied, "That's right. You don't know the specifics of the shadow clone. Well, when the technique is done, their memories are shared with me."
Both guards that had stood watch outside the dream took a big gulp. The second one had a bead of sweat rolling down his face as he said, "We did play a few card games. There's nothing wrong about that."
"Is there anything more you would like to share?"
"What are you getting at, Blaze?" asked Princess Celestia.
"My clone knew if anything were to happen, it would be his word against two Royal Guards. He grabbed a special device from my bag, for insurance."
"What would that be?"
"A video camera."
The first guard said, "We didn't see him lug down any big camera and set it up. Just that black thing he has."
"You see, technology where I'm from doesn't need to big anymore to do the same thing." Blaze pointed to the staircase going up. "Princess Celestia, would you please grab that silver box that is sitting on the stairs over there?"
The white Alicorn lit up her horn and used her magic. Once the object was in front of her, she said, "This is a camera? How do you get the film out?"
The human replied, "The camera is called a GoPro. It doesn't use film wheels. Humans have developed the method to take that out and capture it by, what it's called, digitally. A tiny piece of tech is in there that is acting as memory and placing what it records onto it."
"Then how the hay are you going to be able to watch it?" asked Rainbow Dash.
Blaze looked over and saw Twilight was madly writing down notes on this discussion.
"We're wondering that too. Plus, how was your other self controlling it. You don't have magic," said Princess Luna.
Blaze held up the black rectangle object and said, “With this. It works like that tablet I showed earlier, just smaller. I’m able to remotely control that camera and see what it sees on this screen.”
The human tapped the screen for a few seconds. When he turned it back around, the screen was displaying what was broadcasting from the mini camera. Princess Celestia turned it around to have the lens pointed at her. The screen copied the movement path.
The white Alicorn looked at the two guards that stood watch while they slept. She had a look between pissed off and disappointed. The stallions getting the glare were sweating noticeably. Before they could say or do anything, Princess Celestia said, "Don't move or say anything until I have reviewed this. Also, the anti-teleport barrier is still up."
She turned to Luna and said, "Sister, have you and the other guards watch them."
"But of course," replied the dark blue Alicorn. "We shall make sure of it."
"Blaze, show me what transpired here."
The human nodded. So, with a swipe and a tap, the video playback started.
--------------------------------
It showed the guards standing still while the ponies went into the shared dream state. After a while, the guards were whispering among themselves about something. Blaze's clone had gone to retrieve a book from one of the shelves. He sat in a chair at the far end of the room, opposite from the camera. He placed the book where it was blocking what he could see.
The guards moved about while they looked at the human to see if he noticed. Once they were satisfied, each one used their magic and picked up Rainbow and Fluttershy. These Unicorns made the sleeping Pegasus fly around the room. After a few laps, they gently placed them back down where they were laying. The Royal Guard switched their magic grip onto the two unconscious guards. They manipulated them to dance together in the waltz. After a while, the guards placed the other ones back where they were.
The ponies approached the clone. One guard said, “Hey, human! We have a question to ask ya."
The clone replied, “Hmm? Sorry, I was reading this interesting book on other creatures of this world. Did you want to read it?”
“No. We were wondering if your species ever played poker.”
“Yes, they have. I’m sorry to say though I'm not an expert on it.”
“It’s easy. Just need a deck of cards and some bits to wager. You do have some, correct?” the other guard said.
“Yes, I do," the human said as he lifted a medium size bit sack from his waist. "It was a gift from the Princess.”
They saw how big the bag was and huge grins showed up on their faces.
"Then play a few hands. We'll go easy the first few deals, just so you can get used to it," said the first guard.
"Alright. I could use the bits to get the supplies for the house I'm planning to make."
"Don't dream too early, or you might find yourself with no bits at all," the second guard replied.
They went to a table and set up as the clone went to get the cards. A guard was dealing first and explained the rules as he shuffled the deck with his magic. After a couple hours the guards’ side of the table was empty of bits and the clone had them all.
“Guess today was my lucky day,” the clone said as he shoveled the bits into the bag. “Want to play a game of Go Fish?”
The guards nodded.
-------------------------------
The video clip ended. Princess Celestia looked at Blaze and sent a telepathic message to him, Blaze, why didn't your clone stop them from what they were doing?
Blaze replied in the connection, He could have. But, if he did, he thought the guards would have called ones outside and say that the human was doing that. He would have intervened if it got too far out of control. The other reason is the clone felt that you should deal with them. The camera was going to be proof of whatever actually happened.
Very clever. Did the clone lie about playing poker?
The human smiled as he replied, I was the online poker state champ for two years.
The Princess let out a small chuckle. The white Alicorn regained her composure before she looked at the guilty Royal Guards
“What did these guards do, Princess?” Twilight asked.
“Blaze did capture what these two did and will be punished.” She looked at them and said, “You have been found guilty of conduct unbecoming of a Royal Guard. This also includes what has been shown to me. I won’t go into detail in front of these ponies. But, it will be recorded in your personal files. You will be stripped of your ranks, down to private. Finally, you will be sentence to one year in the dungeons of Canterlot, as set in the Equestrian Code of Military Conduct.”
“But Your Highness, we can explain. You see . . .” a guard started to say.
“ENOUGH!" shouted Princess Celestia in the Royal Canterlot Voice.
After a few seconds, the white Alicorn, at normal voice levels, said, "I thought I could trust you to protect me and my subject. But instead you did this foolish thing. This device has seen everything you did. It’s a good thing the human tricked you in getting all your money. You have shamed the Royal Guard name and what it stands for."
Both guards started to beg the Princess, “Please, Your Highness! We're sorry for what we did. We promise to never do anything like that ever again. Please don’t kick us out of the Royal Guard. We'll do anything!”
Blaze stepped up next to the Princess of the Day and said, "Excuse me, Princess, I don't mean to step in, but I think I might have a better suggestion. Being kicked out and tossed into jail seems to be a little extreme. I mean, no harm came to you, Princess Luna, or anyone else. They were just acting childish. This method won't teach them to do better."
She was thinking upon what the human said. Her reply was, "You do have a point. What do you have in mind, Blaze?"
"They first must agree to this option before I say it. If they back out of it at any time, they will be still kicked out and be sentenced to five years in the dungeons of Canterlot."
"Interesting proposal. I'll consider this option."
Princess Luna looked at the guilty ponies and said, "Time to choose your verdict. Do you want our sister's decreed of punishment? Or, do you want to go with Swift Blaze's mystery option with the added condition of failing?"
They whispered between them quietly for a few minutes. Once they made their mind, the accused Unicorn guards turned toward the Princesses. "We'll choose Blaze's decision," said the first guard.
The second one said, "Yeah, anything is better than dishonorable discharge."
Everypony turned to me to hear what they will be getting.
Blaze smiled and said in a game show voice, "Congratulations! You two colts have won the following. You'll work on Applejack's farm, starting tomorrow, and do it for one year. The mare and her brother, Big Mac, will be your bosses. Your pay will be half of what you would normally get for working there. If at any point she thinks you are not going to cut it, you will go to the dungeon for five years with the discharge."
Before the guards could respond, the human also said,"But wait! There's more. During the time there, you'll wear magic inhibitors the entire time. Basically, you will be Earth ponies with horns the entire time. After completing the time on the farm, you'll go back to magic school and relearn your spells. Finally, once magic school is done, you'll go through basic training, two times. If you pass both times, then and only then, you can return back to your current positions. If at any point you fail or back out, it is straight to the dungeon."
"We would have never agreed to those terms! One year in the dungeon is better than that!" shouted one guard. The other nodded his head.
"Just remember, if you back out, it will be five years," said Blaze. "I choose this so you can actually learn from your mistakes and be better in the future. So, will you continue with my choice? Or, are you going to the dungeons?"
They whisper to each other some more with an angry tone that could be heard. They turned to the Princess of the Sun. The second guard asked, "Do you promise that we'll be allowed back into the Royal Guard if we do what Blaze said?"
Princess Celestia turned to Blaze and said in his mind, You're right. They were acting childish. I do think this will teach them how to better behave. It's a little scary you came up with this in such a short time.
He replied in his mind, Kicking them out and throwing them into the dungeon would cause them to hate you over time. Maybe even do evil deeds if they follow that path. This will get them back on the right path and teach them to not abuse the power they have.
I agree. She turned back to the guards and said, "Yes, you'll be allowed back in. Only when you meet all the points in Blaze's choice."
The guilty guards started to bow repeatedly as they said, "Thank you, Your Highness! We are truly sorry for what we did and thank you for giving us another chance.”
Blaze turned to the orange mare and said, "Ok, Applejack, you have two new workers for you. You know the condition of their employment. When you get back to the farm, just tell my clones you're all set with them and can release the jutsu."
The Earth pony replied, "Why don't you tell them? Aren't ya coming back to the farm?"
"I need Swift Blaze to come with me to Canterlot. It's just to fill out some forms so he can be a true citizen of Equestria," Princess Celestia said.
All the ponies accepted that reasoning.
Blaze said, "Seeing we are done here, Shall we get going?”
“Very well. Goodbye, Twilight Sparkle and her friends. Blaze will return tomorrow morning.”
All the ponies bowed to the Princesses as they started to leave. Before they exited, Princess Luna used her magic to remove the armor from the two temporally suspended guards. Then, she placed a magic inhibitor ring on their horns. Finally, a binding spell so they couldn't come off by any means, except by the Princesses.
Blaze followed them out and joined the Alicorns in the carriage. Soon, the carriage was off and flying back to the castle.