A Balance of Fire and Light

by Stolenalicorn

23 A day out

“It's been arranged for us to go to the clinic today so we can get the paperwork out of the way.” James commented after breakfast that morning.

“Ugh, paperwork?” Rainbow Dash moaned, “Do we really have to?”

“I'm afraid so.” James answered with a smirk, “I may know all you girls well, but there's no way I could answer your medical history questions."

“I'd be a bit worried if you could.” Starlight said with a chuckle.

“Of course; there's certain things a mare keeps secret from everypony but her doctor.” Rarity concluded.

“Why do we have to see a doctor?” Applejack asked with a sigh as James collected the used dishes alongside Rarity.

“It's a medical procedure, Applejack, of course we have to see the doctor.” Twilight said with a grin.

“Didn't you get all that stuff from those scans?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Those were over a year ago, and they didn't get everything a doctor would need to know: like your history, any accidents, things like that.”

“Do you think it'll take long?” Applejack asked.

“A couple hours, maybe.” James answered as Rainbow Dash moaned.

“Since there's time, after we're done with that we can go to a beach I found the other day." Applejack suggested.

“Oh, that sounds lovely, Applejack.” Rarity happily said.

“I should make sure Oscar will be okay while we're gone.” Fluttershy quietly said.

“Oscar?” Rarity asked, as she helped clear the table. “Who's Oscar?”

“Oh, he's just the sweetest little animal I met the other day.” Fluttershy explained as she smiled, “I don't understand him quite like the animals at home for some reason, but he's just so cute.”

“I know it's a strange concept to you still,” James said, placing the dishes in a dishwasher alongside the ones Rarity carried. “but wild animals here take care of themselves. In fact, our intervention could even hurt them.”

“Oh, I forgot …” Fluttershy said, deflated.

“Now as this is an artificial environment, the animals here are specifically intended to not be dangerous, so you can play with him, but don't start feeding him or he could become dependent on you.”

“Oh, he just eats nectar from the flowers outside.” Fluttershy said calmly.

“I'd love to meet him when we get back.” Twilight happily said.

“And the beach after?” James asked.

“Oh yeah, we're definitely going to the beach today.” Rainbow Dash said confidently.

***

“What's this, Mihoshi?” A tall Wau man asked as he looked at a projection of the the woman floating above his desk as he held a stack of paper.

“My report.” Mihoshi answered cheerfully.

“I can see that, Mihoshi. But what's the report for? You've not told us about any recent incidents from Earth.”

“From the transport mission I just finished …” Mihoshi paused before scratching her head with one finger. “Oh, wait, that wasn't a mission.”

“I see.” Her commander deadpanned, remembering what her aunt had told him over a week earlier. “Well, we have the report anyway so we'll process and file it.”

“Okey dokie.” Mihoshi happily said as her image vanished.

The Wau man sighed as he looked over the report, a simple sketch of Mishoshi casually doodled on it's cover along with some other doodle he assumed was maybe someone she met with hair as curly as her own. He examined the stack of papers with a measure of curiosity, “This was just an errand. How much could she have to report?”

As he turned around in his chair he flipped through the many pages of the report, not actually looking at any of them. “Well, the guys in filing will have their work cut out for them.” He commented before tossing the report in a small alcove in the wall where it burned away with neither smoke or flame, the ashes vanishing as quickly as the report had.

***

Twilight smiled as she gave the clipboard back to the nurse at the counter, all she had now was to wait for her examination. It was oddly quiet, not that she expected the hospital to be lively, but the few people that were talking were talking in hushed tones.

She held herself back from saying anything to James, not wanting to break any kind of norm that she didn't know about.

It wasn't long before the group was approached, though James was the one approached first. “Sorry sir, I just need to ask a few questions not on the intake papers.” The receptionist asked, bowing slightly.

“Of course, but what do you need to ask me?”

“Since they're from an underdeveloped world, if something were to go wrong we couldn't simply return them. We need to know who would be their legal guardian should something go wrong.”

“Oh, easy, I'll take care of that.” James casually said.

“So wards of New Guardia, then.”

“No, I mean, I personally will take that role.” James corrected.

“Alright then.” The receptionist said before walking away to finish their work at their desk.

Now Twilight felt she had to talk. “So what can go wrong?” Twilight asked quietly.

“Well, this is just a basic level of modification, so not much really.” James began to explain, “The technician who's going to talk with each of you can explain this better, but basically if the modification goes wrong the effects can be as mild as things not being as good as expected. Or if it's catastrophic you could be made invalid, in which case I'll be taking care of you.”

Twilight swallowed hard as she thought about the worst case scenario. “And what are the chances of things going wrong?”

“With this level, the risk is about two percent.”

Twilight breathed easier as she thought. “So only a two percent chance everything going horribly wrong. I guess that's pretty good.”

“Oh, no. Catastrophic failure is only in eight percent of that two percent.” James continued, "If we were to go for more extensive modification the odds would be higher, but basic augmentation is more than enough for our purposes."

As Twilight began to relax, Rainbow Dash dropped in a seat beside James with a relieved sigh, “I am so glad that's over.” She blurted out.

“The paperwork at least.” James commented.

“Yeah, the boring part. At least now it's just talk to the doc and we're done.”

***

Liara sat at her desk, observing a council meeting on the Citadel as another screen observed Aria T'Loak quietly sipping a drink in her private booth in Afterlife.

The meeting was pretty standard, and she soon changed her focus to another monitor as a more interesting meeting began in another universe. Several Cardassians sat at a long table, and over a light meal began to discuss the conditions of colonies in what was once their territory but was now under Klingon control.

As she listened and took notes, her console alerted her to a message coming in from the Galaxy Police. With a tap on the controls a paper report materialized on her desk. It was labeled as a summary of Mihoshi's report.

“Curious,” she muttered to herself, “I wasn't expecting anything from Derek until Friday.”

The report itself was an oddity, but one detail in particular that caught Liara's attention was the mention of a known pirate ship briefly flying alongside Yukinojyo.

“Let's check the chatter.” She mumbled to herself as she cleared her display of it's current observations and brought up multiple images and live audio from the associated pirate's guild. Despite her agreements with Jurai and the Galaxy Police, she never disclosed all of her sources and her ability to listen in on their communication channels. Though she had made it clear as to why she didn't, and had been allowed to continue as she had as long as she kept them up to date with important information.

Sifting through chatter wasn't one of her favorite methods of gathering information, but she knew the value of the phrase “Loose lips sink ships” and often found her most reliable information that way.

As she was about to move the job to someone else, a key term caught her attention and she zeroed in on the particular channel.

***

“Yahoo!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she allowed herself to drop into the ocean from the sky.

“Ooh!” Pinkie exclaimed as she watched a group in the distance. Interested as they pulled out a small perfectly round watermelon. Without a second though she rushed over to the party.

“You weren't kidding when you said you were going to take it easy Applejack.” Twilight said as she watched her friend lounge beneath the umbrella with her hat pulled down over her eyes.

“Eyup.” Was they only answer Applejack gave.

“I absolutely love that we're so near a beach.” Rarity exclaimed as she walked by, most of her body shaded by the large sunhat she wore. “Ooh, right here is perfect.” She suddenly announced as she quickly laid out a large beach towel, laying on it with her hat next to her and wearing a pair of dark sunglasses.

“I absolutely agree.” Starlight said with a smile as she lay nearby, sunning herself alongside Rarity.

“Oh my gosh! This is so amazing!” They heard Pinkie announce as she began to dash across the beach towards her friends.

“What's amazing?” Twilight asked with a smile.

As Pinkie got closer they could see that she had a perfectly round watermelon so perfectly balanced on her head that it didn't even budge when she skidded to a halt, half burying herself in the process.

“Hansuke and his friends just told me about this awesome game they play on the beach!” She added as she jumped out of the ground, leaving the watermelon in place. “And it's super easy too!”

“Should we get Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy back first?” Twilight asked, looking out to the ocean.

Pinkie gasped at the realization that not everyone was there.

“I'll go get them.” James commented as he stood up, leaping high into the air before diving into the ocean.

“Not a bad dive.” Rainbow Dash said with a grin as James surfaced. “Betcha I can do better.”

“Probably,” James sputtered as he just kept his head above water. “But right now Pinkie has something she wants to show us.” James' head dipped beneath the surface briefly before he came back up. “And I need to grab Fluttershy too.”

“Cool, see you on the beach.” Rainbow Dash said as she swam back to shore.

James rose up slightly as he took a breath and soon sank beneath the surface. He began to focus as the water rushed over him, and soon felt the energy of every creature near by. Rainbow Dash was nearly at the shore with the other ponies, Fluttershy was nearer the shore already, but not moving towards the others.

James' feet touched the sandy floor of the ocean and slowly he trudged towards Fluttershy.

Fluttershy watched as the small fish swam around, she was enamored with their lovely colors and wondered if they were baby fish or adults. As she thought, the fish suddenly swam away startled.

It didn't take her long to figure out why as she saw James somehow walking along the ocean floor towards her, something across his eyes glowed slightly.

The moment of surprise over, Fluttershy waved her hoof at him as he practically stood under her.

With a wave back, James pointed towards the beach and put his closed fist on his head. It took Fluttershy a moment to realize what he was asking her and she returned the gesture before turning to the beach. James slightly lifted off the sand and swam alongside her until they were both on dry ground.

Pinkie excitedly pranced as she waited for everyone, the moment Fluttershy and James got close she burst into her explanation. “Okay, so it's super simple:” She began as she bounced, “All we do it we put the watermelon on a towel, put a blindfold on, and smash it with a stick.”

“So like a pinata?” Applejack reasoned.

“Uh-huh!” Pinkie confirmed.

“I never thought about doing that with a watermelon.” Twilight said with a smile.

“Sounds awfully messy.” Rarity said, squeamish.

“Duh,” Pinkie giggled as she rolled her eyes, “that's why we put it on a towel.

“Well, I'm game.” Starlight said.

“Since we've only got one watermelon I think we should each get one try before passing the stick to somepony else.” Twilight reasoned.

“Once I get a swing it will all be over.” Rainbow Dash said.

“That's assuming somepony doesn't do it first.” Applejack said with a smirk.

Rainbow Dash paused as she thought. “Yeah, you're right. And just so everypony has some fun, I'll even go last.”

“Really?” came the astonished question from Applejack. “Ya know what? I'll let you go before me. That way I can show you how it's done.” She added, tauntingly.

“Alright. But don't blame me if you don't get a turn.”

“You know there's a store just a little ways up the street, right?” James cut in. “I can get us more watermelon if we break this one too soon.”

“Just let them have their fun.” Starlight told him with a smile. “Besides, it's a small watermelon, I think we'll need more anyway.”

Before Starlight had even finished talking, the first turn had come. Fluttershy had been pulled over and blindfolded. Carefully she moved forward with the stick in her mouth, and once she thought she was close she brought down the stick. There was a soft thunk as it glanced off the side from Fluttershy's gentle attempt.

“Great going,” Twilight happily said, “you actually hit it.”

“I did?” Fluttershy asked as she used her wing to lift the blindfold, and found the watermelon no worse for her attempt.

“Yeah, maybe next time you can try scratching it a bit too.” Rainbow Dash taunted.

“Alright now,” Rarity said with a smirk, “I believe it's my turn.” With a flourish, she brought out a thin strip of material and used it to cover her eyes, looking more like a veil than a blindfold.

“Hold on there. How do we know you can't see with that?” Applejack asked as she eyed the cloth.

“Please, don't you trust me?” Rarity asked, incredulous.

“I'm just saying, we shouldn't blindfold ourselves.”

“She's probably right …” Twilight began before Pinkie Popped up behind Rarity and put a new blindfold on her. With a quick spin, Pinkie aimed Rarity generally towards the watermelon.

“You didn't say anything about spinning, Pinkie.” Rarity complained.

“Oh, right. I forgot,” Pinkie laughed, “I'm used to normal pinata's.”

The stick, held up by Rarity's magic, came down far to the left of the fruit shortly before the same magic raised the blindfold for her to inspect her attempt.

“Sorry, Rarity.” Twilight said, “I guess it's your turn Pinkie.”

“Nope!” Pinkie said suddenly as she sprung up behind Twilight, blindfolding her and turning her towards the melon. “I got the stick for you.” Pinkie announced.

“Oh, thanks.” Twilight said hesitantly, taking the stick in her mouth before using her magic to lift it in front of her.

She tried to remember where the melon was, and figure out how far she had been turned. “This is actually harder than I was expecting.” She admitted as she swung the stick down, swinging short and hitting the towel in front of the watermelon.

Rainbow Dash smirked as she thought, and flew over to Pinkie to whisper in her ear. Failing to suppress a laugh Pinkie nodded and took the blindfold from Twilight and threw it over to Rainbow Dash.

“Alright, batter up.” Rainbow Dash said as she blindfolded James and pushed him towards the game.

James adjusted his grip on the stick, being careful to not use any trick to sense where the melon was.

Rainbow Dash and Pinkie each rushed to the far side of the towel, taking a corner in their mouths and waited.

James raised the stick, cuing the two ponies to pull the towel towards them and making James miss worse than Twilight had.

Pinkie and Rainbow Dash laughed as James examined the scene. He couldn't help but smirk as he saw the scene.

“We gotcha good.” Pinkie said as she rolled laughing.

“Yeah, you got me.” James conceded, removing the blindfold completely and kneeling down by Starlight. “And I'm sure you'll get this.” He quietly said as he blindfolded her.

“I don't know, if they're going to start moving it around I don't think anypony's going to get it.” She said, taking the stick as she was lead into position.

Starlight was quiet, trying to tell if anyone was going to try to prank her and pull the towel as they had with James. While she couldn't tell if they would, she chose to play it safe and swing out further than she felt would hit. Once she was fairly sure it was safe, she swung the stick. She did hit the melon, but only after hitting the ground and taking all the power out of her swing.

“Well, I'm glad you didn't try pranking me too.” Starlight said, slightly dissatisfied as she removed her blindfold.

“Twice in a row isn't as funny.” Pinkie said as Twilight blindfolded her. Once the blindfold was secure, Pinkie grabbed the stick between her forehooves and awkwardly walked forward on her hind hooves. Swinging high horizontally and completely missing.

“Oops,” Pinkie laughed as she dropped the stick. “Still not a pinata.”

“Alright Rainbow Dash.” Applejack said as Rainbow Dash was blindfolded. “Now to see if yer all talk.”

“Please.” Rainbow Dash said confidently. “This is nothing.”

“You can do it!” Pinkie cheered as James whistled.

With a smirk Rainbow Dash took the stick in her mouth and swung, missing the melon completely. Astonished she started to lift her blindfold as she heard Pinkie laughing once more.

“Come on Pinkie.” Rainbow Dash moaned. “You weren't supposed to prank me with that.”

Pinkie continued laughing as she rolled once more. “I didn't.”

“What?”

“Turnabout's fair play.” Twilight said as she and Rarity smirked.

Rainbow Dash stared blankly for a moment before working to save face. “Well, I would have hit it if it weren't moved. And hey, now Applejack gets a turn.”

“Yeah yeah.” Applejack said smugly, “All I'm seeing is a whole melon that needs to be split open.”

“Well not for long.” Rainbow Dash countered as Starlight blindfolded Applejack.

“Yer darn tootin.” Applejack agreed with a nod.

“Wait! I didn't mean it like that!” Rainbow Dash was quick to say.

“Too late.” Applejack said just before taking the stick and swinging down right on the watermelon, breaking it into many pieces.

Rainbow Dash's face fell as she watched the melon burst open, and huffed, feeling that it should have been her breaking it.

From the wreckage the group collected pieces large enough to snack on, enjoying the prize of their game.

As Pinkie collected a piece she glanced over to the ocean for a moment before racing to it and dunking her piece briefly. With a smile she bit into the piece and savored it.

“What are you doing Pinkie?” Rarity asked as she watched the spectacle.

“Well, we don't have any sea salt here so I got some from the source.” She explained happily.

“Salt on watermelon?” Rainbow Dash asked, visibly bothered.

“Yep.” Pinkie happily said as she took another bite. “It makes it taste better, like with caramel.”

“Really?” Twilight asked, surprised.

“Yeah.” James answered in her place. “If we had a shaker of sea salt I'd do it myself.” James said, finishing his piece. “In fact …” He added, standing up.

“Where are you heading?” Starlight asked.

“Just to the store for some more melon, and I guess a couple other things.”

“Don't take too long!” Rainbow Dash said with a smile. “I need to show everypony I would have done it.”

“Of course.” James said with his half smile as he walked off.

***

The market was oddly quiet with a low pop tune playing over the intercom system, James smiled slightly as he examined the collection of fruit on display. Not just watermelon, but some others he realized they hadn't bought during their earlier shopping excursion.

After collecting a few things he looked up and realized why it had been so quiet, as several people stood a ways back, quietly looking at him surprised. With a quick nod to them he began to walk back towards the check out, stopping briefly as a display caught his attention.

His cart noticeably more full, he then went to pay for his purchase, standing behind another customer.

Just as he looked towards the head of the line there was a tap on his back. “Sorry,” He began as he turned, “I didn't mean to barge …”

“Not at all sir.” A young woman dressed in the store's uniform said as she cut him off with a kind smile. “I just came to let you know that we've opened a register for you to use.”

“You don't need to do anything like that for me.” James commented, feeling as if the eyes of the other customers were turning to him.

The woman's face went from kind to worried as she glanced back to her boss briefly. He tried to covertly signal something to her before she turned back to James, still smiling. “Please sir, we are ready to help you.”

James' tail twitched as the feeling of eyes on him grew. He took a quick breath and let himself fall into his public speaking mindset. Pushing down his stress and forcing himself to smile politely, much as this woman clearly was.

“Of course, forgive me. I simply didn't expect it.” He said with a slight nod as his left arm began to feel cold and ache. He held his breath, focusing on keeping his expression friendly as each imagined stare bore into his back.

The young woman gave a quiet sigh of relief as she led him over to the register.

Before long James was out of the store with his purchase and he let out the breath he had been holding to maintain composure. After breathing slowly for a minute he began to walk back to the beach, he had friends waiting for him.

***

“Oh my.” Fluttershy said as she noticed how dark the sky had gotten, “I didn't realize we'd been here so long.”

“Time flies.” James calmly said as he stared out over the water, Rainbow Dash laying against him as she “chillaxed.”

“But,” he added, “there's still one more thing to do while we're here if everyone wants.”

“Really?” Rainbow Dash asked, excited.

“Yep, right in this bag.” James said as he pulled one of the shop's bags from the corner of the towel and pulling out several fireworks from it.

Pinkie squealed happily as she saw the fireworks and pranced in place.

“Okay, even with the paperwork earlier, today's been awesome.” Rainbow Dash said with a smile as she eyed the bottle rockets.

“You can say that again.” Pinkie said excitedly as she collected several sparklers.

Twilight watched Pinkie happily drawing in the air with the sparklers as she began to feel calm. No matter what was going on in Equestria, right here and now everything was good. For the first time in a long while she felt like things were the way they had been years ago. For one night, life was simple again.

***

Once again James stared out towards the city lights in the distance, however he couldn't let his mind wander this night. As he watched, the lights became fires, and the silence began pressing in on him. The fresh air smelled acrid to him as he took a deep breath, hoping to clear his mind.

With a sigh he walked to the front room and turned on the television, sitting in the center of the couch as he settled in.

“Give me a break will ya?” demanded the beetle creature of his robotic partner.

James shook his head as he brought down the volume and changed the channel.

A feminine creature seemed to be attempting to pull herself away from a similar looking masculine creature as he told her everything was going to be alright.

She looked to him with tears in her eyes, and fell into his tentacles where they embraced and she began to move closer as she looked into his eyes.

James snorted quickly and changed the channel once again.

The Wau behind the desk with a stack of papers in front of her explained the various events going on across the universe in a calm matter-of-fact way. The graphic beside her changed to a picture of Seina and his wives as the story turned to news on the remaining pirate guilds.

James nodded and placed the remote on the table. Crossing his arms and closing his eyes he allowed the words to become jumbled in his head as his mind drifted off. As what remained of his mind worked on understanding what the Wau woman was saying the air began to smell clean once more and soon he forgot about what his mind had told him was on the skyline.

***

Rainbow Dash couldn't help but notice the television on as she flew past to get a glass of water. The alien creature was giving a detailed breakdown of the scheduled weather for the next week as she flew over to investigate.

Just as she started to fly towards the couch to find the remote she heard a growl. Had she not heard it many times before she'd have flown off to find her friends, but she knew the sound well enough.

“Seriously?” She quietly asked herself as she collected a nearby blanket and flew back to the couch.

James half lay half sat on the couch as his head rested on his shoulder, his arms crossed tightly over his chest. He looked anything but peaceful as horror tugged at his ashen face.

“It'll all be fine in the morning.” She quietly said to James as she spread the blanket over him and continued on to the kitchen for her water.