//------------------------------// // Chapter 15: For My First Trick . . . // Story: Balance of the Mind and Body // by Swift Blaze //------------------------------// In the Golden Oaks Library, Twilight Sparkle finished writing the note cards for the speech she will be giving at Applejack’s Award ceremony. Even though she had not known the orange Earth mare for very long, she filled out two hundred note cards, and The Unicorn was stacking them with her magic when Swift Blaze appeared behind her. The human was a bit woozy and accidentally knocked a big book off the table, which slammed loudly as it hit the floor. Twilight screamed and launched all the cards into the air. She shouted, “Spike! How many times have I told you to not scare me when I’m working!” When the mare turned around, instead of seeing her assistant, she saw Blaze standing there. “Twilight, I’m surprised you jumped to blaming Spike. I’m sure he knows when not to bother you,” the human said. “Blaze? When did you get back? And how did you get in here?!” Twilight asked in a panicked state. “Calm down, Twilight. I just got back. As to how, I teleported here.” Now in a calmer state, Twilight said, “I would have recognized if you were teleported by the Princess.” “Princess Celestia did not teleport me here, I did.” “When did you learn how to teleport? Also, how in Equestria could you teleport all the way from Canterlot? Only the Princesses are able to do that.” “I shall answer them in order. Number one, I taught myself that a couple nights ago. Number two, I didn’t know if I could until I tried. Granted, it took a lot of energy and left me a bit lightheadedafterwards. Number three, now you know someone else that can do it.” “Seeing you are in a explaining mood, mind telling me how you were able to get your bag?” “Can I show you instead?” Blaze did a few hand signs. He place his palms on the ground and said, “Ninja Art, Summoning Jutsu!” A puff of smoke appeared in front them. Once dissipated, it revealed the human’s back pack. Twilight’s eye shone with glee of these new skills, “Well, I’m happy you made it back in time for the award ceremony. Pinkie Pie is currently decorating City Hall. I have sent Spike to remind Applejack to come at 3pm.” “Then, I’ll go and help Pinkie with the decorations. See you there,” said Blaze. Twilight replied, “Bye, Blaze.” The human grabbed his bag and placed it back in his room at the library. Afterwards, he headed out to city hall. Blaze soon saw Pinkie Pie in front of the building. The mare was directing ponies on what to do. He went up to her and said in soldier style, "What are your orders, General Pinkie!" Pinkie laughed for a quick second, then said in drill sergeant style, "Blaze! I want you to go and hang the banner flags in front of the building!" "Sir, yes, sir!" he replied.  The human pulled the banners from the box and started to hang with precision at Dash speed. This continued on until all decorations had been put up. Pinkie then started laughing once the others left and it was only her and Blaze. He said to her, "I take it you enjoyed the acting around while we decorated, Pinkie." Pinkie replied, "Oh boy, did I ever! I can't wait for you to help me again with decorating for a party again." "Anytime, Pinkie. Just let me know when and I will be there as quick as a rabbit." "Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie said. The mare then went and hopped to some place. Blaze saw he had some time to kill before the event. As he tried to think of what to do, his stomach started to growl. The human looked around for a place to settle the beast called hunger. He headed over to a cafe and take a seat outside at an empty table. A waitress came over and gave him a menu. The mare said, “Good afternoon sir, may I start you off with something to drink? Maybe an order of hay fries? We make the best.” Blaze replied, “No thank you, on the hay fries. My body can’t really digest some of what you ponies eat. I will take a glass of water.” “OH MY! YOU’RE HIM! THE HUMAN!” She screamed in a happy voice. Blaze looked up from the menu. He saw who the waitress, giggling with joy, was: Lyra Heartstrings. He decided to play ignorant of knowing her, to avoid another possible chase event.  “Umm, excuse me, miss,” he said. “Your reaction is not what I expected from a pony seeing me. Most would run away while others charge at me as they thought I was a threat.” “I saw you at the welcome ceremony. That was an amazing trick you did. None of the ponies, nor I, could tell who was the real Princess.” “Thank you, miss. I’m glad there are some ponies that aren’t afraid of me.” “Please, stop with the miss. It makes me sound old. My name is Lyra Heartstrings. You may call me, Lyra. I'll be back to take the rest of your order.” She went back inside to get his drink. As Blaze was looking over the menu, he thought of how the mare was nice. He did hope she doesn’t bug him every meeting with questions about humans. A short time later, the teal Unicorn came out with a glass of water that was held by her magic. Blaze said, “Thank you, Lyra. I think I’m ready to place my order.” The mare brought out a note pad and quill with her magic. “Ok, so what are you having today?” she asked. “I’ll just have a fresh garden salad with dressing.” “Very good, I’ll bring that out very shortly.” Lyra left to place the order. As the human was waiting, he looked around to see what was going on in town. Blaze saw ponies walking around the nearby shops. Over in another area, merchants were selling their products. Up in the sky, the Pegasi flew about to move clouds around and make some disappear. Over in the park, little fillies and colts were playing.  Blaze did noticed that some ponies were whispering to each other as they look at him. Their were even a few guards nearby were keeping an eye on the human. Probably because he has yet gained their trust. “Here is your salad, Swift Blaze!” said a mare behind him. The human turned around and saw Lyra was there, with his meal. “Thank you. It looks delicious. May I have a fork?” he asked. “But of course! I forgot you don’t eat like us ponies. Be right back.” The mare went inside and came back quickly with the fork. “Here you are.” “Thanks, Lyra,” replied Blaze.  He took the fork from her magical hold. After a couple bites, the human noticed Lyra was still there, giggling to herself. He place the utensil down and looked at the mare with a raised eyebrow. “Um, Swift Blaze, would you mind if I ask you a few questions?” Lyra said with puppy dog eyes. “Call me, Blaze,” said Blaze. “Won’t your boss be mad you are not attending to the other customers?” “I said I was taking my lunch break. So, may I?” “Ok, but realize if I say I’ll not answer that question, please don’t ask why.” A big smile formed on her face. The Unicorn sat down across from the human. She pulled out a scroll now and a quill. She then said, “Oh goody! Is it true that humans eat meat?” “Yes I do, but I won’t eat any ponies, griffins, or dragons, any other talking creature, and creatures Fluttershy take care of.” “How exactly are you able to use each of those fingers?” “I’m not a biologist from my world. So, I don’t have the exact answer to that. Next question.” “Can you tell me about what your world is like?” “No. The reason is because it’s something I promised myself I would not share.” Lyra started to do a pouty face with the big eyes look. Blaze could tell by her eyes how much she wanted him to give in and tell her. Feeling defeated, he said, “Listen, if you really want to know, come to my place next week when you have a couple hours. I will tell you about my planet. I’m going to warn you now, it’s nothing like what you ponies have here.” Lyra said,“Ok! Wait, I thought you didn’t have a house yet, only a piece of land. It takes several weeks to get a house built.” “I have my ways. If you want to see how, come to the hill just outside of town at noon, tomorrow.” The mare nodded and returned back to work. This allowed the human to finish eating his lunch. Once Blaze finish, Lyra returned to the table. He said to her, “Thanks for the meal, how much do I owe?” The Unicorn replied, “Five bits.” “Here’s ten bits. Keep the change. Also, thank you for not being afraid to talk to me. See ya tomorrow.” Before Lyra could respond, Blaze did his teleport jutsu and disappeared. He reappeared back in the library, in front of Spike who was carrying a tall stack of books. The little dragon walked into the tall creature and toppled his stack onto the ground. "What the?” Spike said as he looked at what he ran into. “Blaze, where did you come from?" He bent down and started to stack the books back up, again. The human replied, "Sorry about that. I just got done having lunch at a cafe. Here, let me help you with that." Blaze lowered himself down and joined in. "Thanks. Wait, I didn’t hear you come in from the door. Did you use a new jutsu?" "Yep, a teleportation one." "Oh cool! That can be very useful. Like when you need to get somewhere quickly and don't want to be exhausted when you arrive. Twilight has taken me on a couple teleports. The problem is sometimes it’ll singes my spikes. Are you able to take others with you? What is the furthest you have traveled in one move?" "Whoa, easy there Spike. I can see Twilight's curiosity has rubbed off onto you. For your questions, I have yet to try taking others with me. More than likely, they will need to hold onto me in order for them to come. The furthest I have traveled from is from the castle to here." "What? Even Twilight can't go that far. I only know the Princesses are the only one who can pull it off. This is so amazing! What next, cool move are you going to learn?" "I have something planned for tomorrow. I will practice it tonight some more in my sleep state.” Blaze looked at the clock and saw it’s getting close for the ceremony. Shall we head to City Hall?" "Oh! Can we use your teleport to get there?" "I don't see why not." The human turned and yelled upstairs, "Twilight! Time to head to the ceremony! You want to go with us?" "Be right there! I need to get a box for my note cards," Twilight replied. The mare soon came down with a small box in her magic hold. "I’m ready!" she said with joy. Blaze said, "Just need to do one more thing before we leave." He picked the little dragon up and placed him on Twilight's back. "What are you doing, Blaze?" Twilight asked. "One sec,” the human replied. “Spike can you hold onto a piece of my clothing?" The little guy reached out with his claw and grabbed the bottom of Blaze’s shirt. He had a huge smile on his face. The human said, "Ok, now we’re ready." "Blaze, this is a little awkward to be walking there like this," Twilight said. "Who said about walking there? We don’t need to walk.” The Unicorn’s eye’s opened wide as she realized what is about to happen. Before she could protest, Blaze had put his hands together and said, "Ninja Style! Teleportation Jutsu!" Their vision was blurred during the transition. The group soon arrived just inside City Hall. Spike and Twilight were looking each other over to see if anything was missing. In a panicked state, Twilight said, “My note cards! They’re still at the library!” The mare shoved a fore hoof into one of Blaze’s upper legs. “Now I have to go back and get them.” The human rubbed where he was kicked and said, “Wait a sec, I think I can retrieve them.” He performed some other signs with his hands. A quick puff of smoke later and the box that contained her note cards was revealed in his hands. The Unicorn used her magic to grab it. She opened the lid and was happy to see they were there, in the same order she placed them. The mare closed the box, looked at the human, and said, “You’re lucky none are missing, Blaze. Warn me next time you want to teleport. I could have done it myself and my cards would have come with me.” “Sorry about that, Twilight. I wanted to show you I could do it. It was more to test if I could take others with my jutsu. Turns out, I can, but only by contact. I knew if your cards were going to be left behind, I could use my summoning jutsu to bring them here.” “Well, I can see why you did it. It was kind of nice to experience your jutsu, very safe and silent. Everypony would recognize when teleport magic is used.” “Glad you enjoyed the ride.” The human looked at the little dragon. “What about you, Spike?” He had a big smile on his face as he said, “That was amazing! You’re really getting the hang of this jutsu! I even did not get my spikes singed this time.” “Don’t expect me to use it every time I’m with you. This was just a test. I also wanted to make sure we did not arrive late. You two go on and find a place to watch the ceremony. Need to check with Mayor Mare if she got something for me from the Princess.” “Ok, Blaze, we’ll see you soon.” Twilight said as she headed outside. Spike was still riding on her back. The human made his way to the mayor’s office and knocked on the door. “You may enter,” a voice said from the other side of the door. He did so and made his way in. The mayor was going over some paperwork on her desk. She looked to see who came in. “Oh, Swift Blaze, what can I do for you?” Mayor Mare asked. He replied, “I have a question and a small request for you if are available to hear it.” “It will have to be quick as the award ceremony will be starting soon. What is it you wish to know?” “First, I was wondering if Princess Celestia has sent you the approval for my citizenship in Equestria.” “I’m afraid I have yet to receive any letter from the Princess today.” “Ok, I guess it is too soon as I just filled out the forms this morning. About the request, I know it takes time to get the permits, plans, and contract to build a house. Would it be possible to send a couple ponies with plumbing and electrical wiring to that hill Princess Celestia gave me tomorrow at noon?” Mayor Mare had a confused look on her face. “There’s nothing on the hill. I don’t know what you are planning, but I’ll see what I can do. Do you have bits to pay them for the rush job you wish them to do?” “Yes, I do have bits. The Princess also gave them to me to help until I get a job.” The mayor smiled and said, “That was very generous of Princess Celestia to give you land and money. She must have taken a real liking to you.” She got up from behind her desk and walked around. “Now then, let’s get to the ceremony.” The two left the office and made their way to the stage that was set up outside. Twilight was on stage, stacking her note cards in her magic. Blaze watched from the left side of the crowd as the Unicorn to give her speech, but kept getting interrupted by her friends. Soon, Mayor Mare insisted to wrap things up. She launched all the note cards into the air and walked off furiously.   The mayor walked behind the podium and did her speech. When she called out for Applejack, the entire crowd cheered for her. Blaze looked around for her to walk up, but couldn’t see her anywhere. He couldn’t believe that Earth pony hasn’t shown up. Even after getting her help she is still late. The human decided to help stall as he made his way to the stage. Blaze stood next to the podium and said, “Hi everypony! I know I’m not Applejack, but she informed me she was going to be running late. So, she ask me to do some magic tricks for you.” The ponies whispered among themselves as they wonder what’s going on. Twilight was with her other friends and they were doing the same. “For those who didn’t see me at my welcome party to Ponyville, I’m going to do some repeat abilities. First, I’ll change myself to that of my pony form ” One shadow transform later and the red Earth pony form was now there. A few ponies gasped at this while some others in the middle were cheering. He was happy that some of the townsfolk were warming up to him. “Now then, I said in my introduction I raced a certain blue Pegasus.” Rainbow Dash shouted from the crowd, “And you owe me a rematch later!” Several ponies laughed a little bit. Blaze continued with, “You may be wondering how as I don’t have wings. It’s because of my abilities that allow me to fly another way.” The red stallion started to hover off the stage. He did some simple aerial maneuvers in place he learned from that Pegasus. “Hey, Rainbow, would you care to help me with the next trick?” he said out loud. The mare replied, “Sure thing, Blaze!” She flew from the crowd to where he was above the crowd. “So, what is this next trick you want to perform?” Blaze whispered, “Clone mirror movements.” Her eyes opened wide with a big smile forming on her face. The Earth pony released the shadow transform and did a normal transform jutsu into Rainbow Dash within the puff of smoke. All the ponies were cheering loudly at the sight of them. Blaze mirrored all the flight maneuvers the blue mare was doing. They crossed path so many times, the crowd lost track which one was the original and the other was Swift Blaze. The pair landed on the stage. A Rainbow Dash said, “Aw yeah! That was Awesome!” The other replied, “You know it. I wonder if the crowd can tell which one of us is the original.” “Only one way to find out.” Both turned to the ponies. “So, which one is the human, in disguise-” “-and which one is the one and only Rainbow Dash.” The ponies discussed with their neighbors as the two Pegasi watched. Suddenly, a voice shouted, “I know! I know!” All eyes turned to who said it, Pinkie Pie. The pink pony hopped through the crowd and made her way to the stage. Once there, she said, “It’s obvious who the fake is.” Rainbow Dash on the left said, “Then who is it?” Pinkie pointed to both of them. “Wait a sec,” said Twilight. “How in Equestria can both of them be Swift Blaze?” “That’s easy,” the pink mare replied. “Blaze did that clone thingy during the flight show. The real Rainbow Dash is up in that cloud over there.” Where she pointed to, a blue Pegasus head popped out of the cloud. Rainbow Dash flew down and joined the others. “How could you tell both were fakes and where I was? I thought we pulled the stunt off,” said the mare. Pinkie replied, “Blaze was slightly off on your eye color. I found which cloud you were in because you had a tiny bit of your tail showing out of the cloud. Other than that, I couldn’t tell when he did the switch.” Both fake ponies got covered in smoke. Blaze had returned to his human form. The crowd cheered at the show. Blaze said to Pinkie, “I don’t even want to know how you could tell the slight difference.” He turned to Rainbow Dash and said, “Thanks for helping out. At least we fooled everyone else.” With that, the two mares walked off stage. The human looked around again for Applejack. Still no sign of her. Blaze figured that she must be dealing with those ponies and lost track of time. He couldn’t keep stalling forever. “For my next to final trick, how about I bring the pony of the hour onto the stage,” he said. The human did a couple hand signs, slammed them to the ground, and said, “Ninja Art! Summoning Jutsu!” A puff of smoke appeared that later revealed Applejack. “What in tarnation is going on? I was just on my farm and now I am here,” the orange mare said in a confused state. “Applejack, welcome to your award ceremony,” said Blaze. “You’re here for being a Pony of utmost trustworthiness, reliability, and integrity. The citizens of Ponyville and I wish to award you the Pony of Ponyville Award.” He placed the trophy next to her. All the ponies started to cheer for Applejack and chanted her name. The Earth pony started to blush and walked to the podium to give her thank-you speech. “Thank you kindly for giving me this award. Sorry for running late, new employees at the farm were being a handful,” she said. Blaze interrupted and said, “Applejack, before you finish your speech, I would like to do my last trick so you can have the entire stage.” She nodded and walked to the edge of the stage. The human turned back to the crowd, “Now, for my final trick, seeing I made somepony appear, I will make myself disappear off the stage. See you ponies later. Sim Sim Sala Bim!” The human teleported and disappeared off the stage and appeared behind city hall. The ponyfolk cheered loudly from where he could hear. He was glad they were warming up to him. Blaze hoped soon, that none would be afraid. He then recalled what Applejack said as to why she was late. Maybe they need a refresher to get them straight if they don’t want the alternative. He made a clone and it teleported to the farm. Blaze transformed to his pony form and walked back around. Applejack just finished thanking everypony again. The town was now cheering for her. Mayor Mare walked onto the stage. “Hold on folks, we have a surprise award to give out,” she said. Everyone, including Swift Blaze was wondering what the award is and who it is for. “Now then, it is not really an award per say, but it’s an achievement he rightfully deserves. Would Swift Blaze please come to the stage, if he is still here.” “I’m here,” he shouted as the red stallion made his way through the crowd. The ponies continue to whisper as he got on the stage. “I know you’re all wondering what kind of achievement he has earned as he has only been in Equestria for a week. This afternoon, I received a letter from Princess Celestia declaring that Swift Blaze is now a citizen of Equestria. So, I hereby give you this certificate of citizenship in Equestria.” All the ponies started to cheer once more. Blaze himself had a small tear of joy in one eye and a big smile on his face. The human turned to the crowd and said, “Thank you, Mayor Mare, and thank you ponyfolk for accepting me as a citizen now.” The crowd dissipated back to their normal lives. Twilight and the gang came up to Blaze to give personal congratulations. “Congrats there, Blaze. I knew you were going to get it,” said Twilight. Rarity then said, “I knew you were going to have no issue in getting it, darling.” “That was so awesome how you allowed me to help with your jutsu demonstration! Oh, and congrats on becoming a citizen. I think you are 20% cooler now,” Rainbow Dash said. “It was lovely of the Princess to get you included in the ceremony,” Fluttershy added. “OhnowIhavetothrowyouBecomingACitizenParty! Youareonepopularponytogettohavesomany parties,” Pinkie Pie said at hyper speed. Applejack came along side Blaze. Then, the mare hoof slapped him on the back of the head. “OW! What was that for?” the human asked Applejack. “That was for using that jutsu on me and scaring me half to death.” She then gave him a kiss on the cheek. “And that was for making sure I got to my award ceremony.” Everyone there was shocked at what Applejack did. Blaze rubbed the back of his head as he said, “It was nothing, Applejack. I knew you deserved that award. Plus my gut was telling me that those new employees of yours were giving you a little trouble.” “Oh Shoot! They’re all alone in the apple orchards. I need to get back there right away.” Before the orange mare could run off, the human replied, “It’s ok, Applejack, I sent a clone to keep an eye on them. If you are really concerned, then let’s all go and see if they have been behaving. I’m sure your friends would like to help with the applebucking for the rest of the day.” The ponies and dragon nodded in agreement. “I appreciate it, partner. Let’s get going as they were complaining up a storm about how sore they were. Even you, Blaze, didn’t complain when you helped out.” He replied, “What can I say, I’ve know when to shut up and push through the pain. Like a saying back on Earth, ‘No pain, no gain.” The group started the trip to Sweet Apple Acres, under the afternoon sun. -------- Meanwhile -------- The human clone arrived at Sweet Apple Acres, in their orchards. He looked around as he walked to find where trees have been bucked and the ones that haven’t. He soon found a patch in the east field where a quarter was done. Blaze shifted into his pony form and made his way there. If the guards were not working like they should, they were about to get a rude awakening. As the red stallion approached quietly, he could hear the guards were complaining up a storm. He listened as he moved closer “This sucks, Silver. Why did you convince me to do that to those ponies? Now we have to do this or go to the dungeon for five years,” one guard said. The other guard replied, “If I didn’t suggest it, you would have, Crimson. Just be happy we get to become guards again after this, and at the level we were at. You know we would haven’t been able to get a job after the time in the dungeon. We would be a laughing stock of being the first guards to have been kicked out of the Royal Guard.” “I know, I just wonder where Applejack went. She went to get some more buckets for us and she has not shown up yet.” “Let’s continue knocking the apples out of the trees. This would be a lot easier if we had our magic. I can see why the unicorns hate these rings when we put it on them.” “I think the reason we have them on our horns is because we abused our magic by doing what we did.” Crimson said as he bucked another tree. Several apples fell down and onto his head. “Son of a bitch! I’m going to have a melon-size bruise when we get done with this.” “Quit your complaining. I have been hit by those apples too. How does the Apple family handle this all by themselves? They must be super ponies.” In all his life, Blaze had never heard a pony, nor human, complain so much before. He figured these stallions must come from rich families that pampered them as they were colts. He wondered how in Equestria did they ever make it through basic training. The red stallion came out from behind a nearby buck tree and said in a drill seargent voice, “Why am I hearing talking and not enough sounds of trees being bucked?” “Who in Equestria are you and where did you come from?” Silver asked. “Names Speedy. I’ve been working in the barn packing up the apples. I came here to relieve Applejack as she had a prior engagement to get to,” Blaze said. “Well, Applejack went to get more buckets as we were close to filling these up,” Crimson replied. “Then how come you did not deliver them yourself to the barn when they were filled?” Silver said, “That wasn’t part of the job description.” “Oh really? I believe your job here is to help Applejack here on the farm for a year, not just to buck the trees. Now pick up those buckets and bring them to the farm. We don’t have all day.” They moaned as they each took a bucket. The red stallion picked up two and placed them on his back. “Let’s go Greenies.” The group made their way back to the barn. Blaze was in the lead and the guards were having a hard time keeping up. The human in disguise believed this should help strengthen them better. They got to their destination and dropped off the full buckets and picked up the empty ones to return with. “Applejack did not tell me your names this morning. Mind sharing them, or would you prefer I keep calling you Greenies?” Blaze said on the way back. “My name is Silver Weight and he is Crimson Bristle,” Silver said. “Hello, Silver and Crimson. Now how about yourself and why you joined the Royal Guard?” Crimson replied, “Well, Silver and I grew up together since our families were neighbors. We went to the same schools and enjoyed doing the same things. One thing is we were picked on in magic school as our magic was not as powerful as others. We decided to join the Royal Guard to get respect from the other ponies.” Silver added, “Our families pulled some strings when we signed up. It was so we didn’t have to go through the basic training and went to being Royal Guards. It’s an easy job as we just had to guard the Princess and the country. Nothing ever happens as everything is peaceful. Just break up a few bar fights and catch the occasional thief.” “Sorry to hear about what happen when you were younger,” said Blaze.” But, I’m sorry to say that your reason to join the Royal Guard is a stupid one.” “What do you know?” asked Crimson. “You’re only an Earth pony and work on a farm. Yes, you do grow the food other ponies eat so you get respect that way, but Royal Guards earn more respect.” The red stallion stopped in his tracks and turned around. He replied, “You don’t get respect based upon the position you have. You must earn it like any other pony. It was wrong for your parents to do what they did so you could skip the basic training to be a Royal Guard. If you went through it, maybe then you wouldn’t have done what you did.” Silver stomped his fore hoof and said, “What do you know about being in the Royal Guard? Also, what their basic training is like?” Blaze simply replied, “Well, it’s true I don’t know exactly the Royal Guard do in their training. But, I do know what a military unit will put recruits through. They put them into the basic training to toughen up their spirit and know how to endure pain. The new guards get stronger through it and prove how loyal they are by not quitting. They’re taught combat techniques and the courage to put their lives ahead of their country if it will save it. By skipping these lessons, if you ever experienced battle, and your magic wasn’t working, you would probably run away and leave your other guards to die.” “How dare you talk to us like that!” Crimson shouted as he also stomped a fore hoof. “If our magic was not blocked, we would be teaching you a lesson right now.” “But, your magic is blocked. This only proves my point that you rely on your magic too much. A proper guard would have started fighting me with their hooves.” “How is it you know so much about the military when you are just a farm pony?” Silver asked. “Oh, I only have been working on the farm for a few days to help out. I‘m not related to the Apple family in any way. In fact, I’m not even an Earth pony,” Blaze said with a smile. Both Unicorns were confused as to what the Earth pony just said. Crimson asked, “What are you talking about? Even with this ring on my horn, I can still detect illusion magic. Right now, I don’t sense any on you.” “Then, I shall prove it.” The red stallion was engulfed in smoke as he released the jutsu. Once the smoke cleared away, the guards’ faces went to full fear as they realize who he was. The human just stood there with his arms crossed on his chest as he said, “Hello, boys.” The stallions dropped their empty baskets. Each one went into different begging positions. “Oh, Celestia!” said Silver. “Please don’t send us to the dungeon. We didn’t mean to back talk you.”  Crimson said, “Yeah, we promise we’re working as best we can. It’s just we aren’t use to this lifestyle.”  “We promise to continue to work, without complaint,” Silver added. Blaze said, “Oh, I heard some of the conversation you had before I revealed my pony form. I don’t mind the complaining about how I tricked you to do this, but you will have to earn my respect by not disobeying Applejack when she gives you a task. You are to go above and beyond what she asks you to do. If you see something needs to be done around the farm and you know how, take care of it. Her brother is still recovering from an injury. So, I don’t want her to try to do too much by herself. I know she can easily do more than you two put together. Consider this part of the basic training you seem to have missed. Following orders of your boss without goofing off. Basic training has it far worse and with you rich boys, you would have not lasted a day.” “How is it you know so much of the training? You’re not even from Equestria,” Crimson said. “That’s because back on my world, what your Royal Guard skill and training they go through is the level of police force of mine. Protect the citizens in the town and take care of local disturbances. The military on my world are on a whole other level. I did not go through it myself, but I had friends and family that did and they shared their stories with me.” Silver asked, “Why did you compare the Royal Guard to police on your world?” “Let me answer by asking you a question. When was the last major battle where armies took part in and creatures died on both sides?” “That would probably be the Griffin Wars which were several centuries ago. Well before our time.” “That is why I did the comparison,” said Blaze. “The Royal Guard is great at what they do, but they are not ready for a full-on battle with another nation or major enemy. On my world, there are battles of different nations every week. My nation going against terrorist from two other nations where they would even set traps for anypony to set off and suicide bombers to kill innocent victims.” “I’m sorry to hear that. I don’t know how anypony could live in such a dangerous place,” said Crimson. Silver asked, “How were you able to handle hearing about the deaths of people you may have known?” “I’m sorry, but that is a story for another time. Let’s get back to work.” The guards nodded and picked up their baskets and moved them to the next tree’s in line to be bucked. The human watched and gave a little advice on technique as he waited. On the outskirts of the farm. Applejack lead her friends through the trees. The mare trotted quickly to where she last left the guards. ”Relax, Applejack. They’re not going anywhere. My clone will make sure they’re still working,” said the human. The orange mare replied, “I know, it’s just that I didn’t tell them I left. I do like having some extra hooves to help around the farm, I just think these two never worked hard a day in their life. I think they’re from rich folks in Canterlot by their attitude. Not royalty, but definite upper class.” “I just can’t understand why Princess Celestia agreed with your decision for punishment,” said Rarity. “It’s unheard-of to treat ponies like this. Mind sharing with us as what they did Blaze?” “I’m sorry, but Princess Celestia has ordered me to not to share for the safety of you and for them. All I can say is they didn’t touch, nor harm any of us.” The group finally reached their destination. Everyone saw the stallions were still working hard with Blaze’s clone leaning against a bucked tree. The clone looked at the other human and gave a nod. In a puff of smoke, he disappeared. Blaze closed his eyes as he reviewed the memories. When the human opened his eyes, Applejack was there standing in front of him.  The mare asked, “So, did they behave while I was gone?” “They did, Applejack. You’re doing a fine job teaching them work ethic and they will appreciate it in the end. Shall we go and help out till sunset?” They all nodded and split into groups to tackle the task. With all of them working together, they made quick work on the eastern fields before sunset. All the ponies were exhausted from the work once they finished. Blaze could see Silver and Crimson were about to collapse where they were standing. They human did believe these stallions need this kind of training, if they expect to survive actual Royal Guard training. Blaze turned to his friends and said, “I think we should get Silver and Crimson to bed, before they collapse out here.” The guards nodded as best they could to that idea. Applejack led them to the barn where she had them sleep the night prior. Everyone else followed and waited outside. The orange mare came back out and closed the big door before she turned around to face the others. “Now that the south and east fields have been harvested, I feel better with the working arrangement,” she said. “Where shall we go for dinner?” “Where ever we decide on to go, I’m buying. I will not take no for an answer,” said Blaze. “You all have taken me into your homes and provided food for me. It’s the least I can do to repay.” They accepted this and headed back into town.