Chapter 29: Royal Guard Training, Part 7

While I was in my mind, in my human form, an unsuspecting visitor entered my mind. I was walking through the hills of Ponyville with Princess Luna showed up.

"Good Evening Blaze. What has got your mind so troubled?" Princess Luna asked.

"Hi Luna. Just a recent event that happened that I am trying to piece together." I said.

"What exactly happened?"

"Me and the other recruits decided to stay at the old castle as it had the best shelter to stay alive from the animals of the forest. We are in the library at the moment and I am still trying to figure out this next part." I could see a worried look show up on her face as I was telling what happened.

"You can tell me Blaze. I know everything about that castle."

"Really? Then I think I have a surprise for you." I changed the space in my mind to that of the library in the old castle. "Follow me and I will show you." As we were walking, I said, "I was planning to have a chat with you and Princess Celestia as to what happened as I don't even have any knowledge of this from the episodes." We finally arrived at the blank wall. "Tell me what you see."

"I see we are standing in front of a wall that does not have a bookcase. That is odd."

"Then you don't know about this." I twisted where the handle was and opened the door. Princess Luna eyes lit up as we did when we discovered this.

"What did you find in there Blaze?"

"The reason you did not see the door is probably because the humans that used to live here created this. So Al and I went down this hallway to another room. Inside had empty bookcases like here, except my body was telling me something was in there, but would not pinpoint it."

"Did you find what draw you in that room?"

"We did and I think I will save that till after our survival exercise. Please don't peak into my mind or with that viewing portal of yours. Just tell Princess Celestia that Al and I need to have a word in closed chambers. The other recruits know what happened, but I don't want to go into the knowledge we have."

"Very well. I do hope you will be able to relax tonight to regain your strength. Take care."

Princess Luna left my mind as quickly as she entered it. I changed the scenery back to the hillside and lay down. What does this all mean?

I woke up the next morning after sunrise. My mind must have hit the snooze button to allow me to sleep longer. I looked and saw the book was still in front of me. I moved a hoof to the top of my head and felt the horn was still there. Guess there is no chance that was a dream now. I looked around and saw the others were busy eating and talking quietly.

"Morning sleepy head. Had a rough night?" Al said as he saw me awake.

I let out a big yawn and then said, "What do you think if this happened to you?"

"Hey, there is no reason to be rude." Star Dust said.

"Sorry. Last night's event just has me filled with so many questions that need answers to. I don't know if I will ever find them."

"It's alright. I was kinda the same way as I was wondering why I was sent to hell. Come on over and have breakfast. We are going to head to another spot to get some more survival training in." Al said.

"Thanks. So what is for breakfast today?"

"You would not believe this, but Cancer found a Zap Apple tree. They were ready to be picked too. I just love it when Sweet Apple Acres brings in the Zap Apple harvest." Colorful Sparks said.

Nice! I can actually go and taste what they are like! I grabbed an apple and take a big bite out of it. Ooooohhhhh Mmmmmmyyyyyyyy! The flavors I was tasting was too hard to describe. Imagine eating pure joy and happiness as it melts in your mouth. We finished eating breakfast and cleaned up before we headed out. I summoned my saddle bag to carry the book in. We left the castle and crossed the bridge back into the EverFree Forest.

Fang was leading us back to the water source so we can refill our thirst. Keeping an eye and hear out for creatures kept my mind focused and off that book. As we wander through the woods, we were able to see some of the friendly creatures that lived there. They scamper in the trees and flew through the forest. They all had a smile on their faces. Pinkie loves when everypony smiles. Now that song is in my head again. A squirrel dropped an acorn and it fell directly onto Al's head. He thought we were under attack and dove for cover. We all laughed as he realized what happened.

We made it to the stream and replenished out thirst. We also filled up the makeshift canteens Cancer and Dragon made to haul the water back to the castle. Al went and dunk himself in the water to cool off. He tried to splash Lightning Trails, but I used my jutsu and had the water move around like a roller coaster and back into Al's face. We all laughed again. Al sent a wave at me as I was laughing with my eyes closed. I got drenched and the laughter is now at me. As I was about to retaliate, a strange order was in the air. Everypony stopped what they were doing and looked for the source. We then heard a long howl.

"Timberwolves!" Lightning Trails shouted as he flew up to get a better view. "I see at least a dozen coming our way! No, two dozen! Will you stop moving so I can get a correct count!"

We all prepared ourselves for the coming attack.

"I have dealt with these before. They are tough to kill as they are made out of wood. Use that to their disadvantage. BURN THEM ALL!" I shouted. We all let out a battle cry. I turned to Al. "Remember that game from that movie in a similar situation?"

"Who is the better killer?" Al said.

"Let's play."

Once they were in sight, we charged at them. Fang had her blade out and was running and slashing like they were made of butter. Cancer and Dragon worked together. Dragon slowed one down and Cancer would speed punch it. They called it the hyper attack and it was lethal. Lightning Trails was charged up and sent his bolts to several of the Timberwolves. They caught on fire and ran into others, causing a chain reaction of fire spreading. Colorful Sparks and Star Dust teamed up to take them on. Star Dust blinded them and Colorful Sparks has his illusions go to town and cut them up.

Al the human on the other hand, was having a fun time. He easily dodges an attack and slid his blades into the side of them. He was cutting off limbs and heads as there was nothing there. He was dancing around them, avoiding all the attacks. I could see his face showed that he was enjoying it. I was also feeling that energy source building inside of him.

I too was having fun. I deactivated the weights to increase my reaction time. I was also sending ki blast like before at them, but I decided to change it up with some fire, earth, wind, and lightning jutsu attacks. Each hit was a death kill and I was racking the kills quickly. Out of nowhere, a Timberwolf was able to get a jump on me and pin me to the ground on my back. Before it could bite me, I shouted, "GET OFF OF ME!" My horn then lit up and sent an energy beam right into its head. The beam ended and there was no more head. I tossed the body off of me and quickly got back up.

Al saw what I did and said, "Remind me not to get you pissed off."

"Totally not me. My horn did it." I said.

We continued to kill them and their bodies were forming a mound in the center of us. Soon they were all dead.

"Well, that was easy." Cancer said.

I facedhoofed. "Cancer, you never say that as it will lead to something worse." I said.

The mound of dead Timberwolves began to shift around and join together. It formed a Mega Timberwolf and this one was bigger than the last one I faced. The others were surprised by what happened. I turned to Cancer and said, "This is why you never say something was easy in a battle. It will lead to something worse."

"Blaze, what should we do?" Star Dust asked.

"In my opinion and how this one's teeth are drooling. I think . . . we should . . . RUN!"

We all started to run away together in the same direction. The Mega Timberwolf was chasing us and was knocking down trees that were in the path. It was keeping up with us as we ran.

"What next should we do Blaze?" Dragon shouted.

"I have not gotten that far in planning. Check back with me later." I said.

"Not later, we need something NOW!" Colorful Sparks said.

"Do any of you have any ideas? I don't have to be the only one to come up with them." Each one said no in their own way. Such support. OH SHIT! IT IS GAINING!

The Mega Timberwolf was starting to catch up to us. We soon had to dodge swipes with its claws. We soon saw daylight through the forest.

"FREEDOM! OH SHIT!" Al said.

The forest opened to a cliff edge we all stopped at the edge and turned around. The Mega Timberwolf slowed down and knew we could not escape.

"Blaze, why don't you teleport us out of here?" Fang asked.

"I would, but my chakra is running low so I won't be able to bring everypony. I am not going to leave any of you behind. We stick together. Now and forever." I said.

Al whispered to me, "Now would be a good time to launch a Kamehameha blast to destroy it."

"I would but it is too big for the level I am at. I would only injure it and anger it more. I need to somehow boost it to make it effective." I replied back in a whisper.

"Have you thought about combining it with some chakra jutsu?"

I facehoofed myself. Why did I not think of that? Probably because it is going to be super dangerous and I have no clue what was going to happen. I turned to Al and said, "That never crossed my mind. The downside is I don't know what will happen if I do."

"If you don't, WE ARE ALL DEAD ANYWAY!"

"Alright. I am going to raise a stone wall to protect you guys. Don't come out till the blast is over."

I stepped forward a few paces. The Mega Timberwolf was looking at me, waiting for me to make a move. I summoned a two foot thick stone wall underneath me. They all ran is huddle low against it. I created a clone to help me out. One of me will do the ki blast and the other will do a chakra jutsu to amplify it. Each began to pull the energy for the attack. The Blazes' were emitting a red aura around each of them. Ki Blaze got into formation and began to do the motion for the Kamehameha blast. The Chakra Blaze was pushing the chakra into a Rasengan sphere between his hooves. Once the energy was at the peak, Chakra Blaze said, "RASENGAN!" and launched the red sphere to the Mega Timberworlf. Just a few seconds before the sphere made contact, Ki Blaze quickly said, KAMEHAMEHA!" and launched the blue beam. He aimed it for the red sphere. The beam made contact with the sphere.

What happened next is hard to explain. The ki beam changed color to purple and multiply in size several times over. The beam also now has a spiral effect being applied to it. It made contact and was pushing the monster creature very hard. It dug its claws into the ground to hold its ground. The new beam was too much for it as it started to consume it. Without warning the creature exploded and the debris fell all over the EverFree Forest.

I collapsed to the top of the wall and the clone disappeared. Al came and picked me off the wall and placed me behind it. I was barely awake as they started to talk to me.

"That was amazing Blaze! Why did you not do that sooner?" Lightning Trails asked.

"With a weak response, I said, "Three things. One, did not think of it. That goes to Al. Two, I did not know what effect would happen if I did. Three, did not want to wipe out the forest to destroy it."

"Rest Blaze. You certainly deserve it." Al said.

"Nighty night." I said as I fell asleep.

When I woke up, I looked around and saw we were in a cave. I was near the fire and mostly everypony was asleep on the other sides. The two that weren't are Fang and Lightning Trails. I saw them standing watch at the mouth of the cave. I got up quietly to join them.

"Hi fellas. What happened while I was out?" I whispered.

"Hey Blaze. Glad to see you are doing better. You were only out for a couple hours." Lightning Trails said.

"Al carried you over his shoulder with no issues. I picked up your saddle bag to make sure we did not leave it behind. After an hour of searching for a new place to stay the night, we came across this cave." Fang said.

"Star Dust went in to make sure nothing was living in here and found nothing. So we moved in and did what you taught us, fire to stay warm and gather food and water to have. Speaking of that, we saved some for you. Care for a bite?"

"Gladly, I am starving." I said.

Lightning Trails brought over several apples and a canteen of water. I ate and drank quickly to subdue my stomach before it would wake the other up.

"That was still an impressive move you did to take care of that creature. I don't know what we would have done if you were not there." Lightning Trails said.

"I am sure somepony would have come up with a better plan. The attack I did was a desperate play as I knew I would not be useful after I released it." I said.

"Well we are glad you are part of the group. I have just never seen that many Timberwolves at once before. Let alone them coming together to become one big one." Fang said.

"I have, but it is rather odd for them to be going around in such big packs. I wonder if something is going on in this forest. I am going back to bed to finish replenishing my strength and energy levels. I can tell I am going to need them when I have to explain about this horn."

"Night Blaze, See you in the morning." Lightning Trails said.

"Goodnight Blaze. I can't wait to hear if Princess Celestia knows anything about that book." Fang said.

"Night you two. Continue to keep an eye out for trouble." I said as I return back to the cave. I lay back down where I was and quickly fell asleep again.

The next morning, I woke up with everypony else. They were happy see I am better now. I now found out that Colorful Sparks did some healing on my body to help speed up the recovery. I thank him for that. We left the cave and started to make our way out of the forest now. Lightning Trails flew up to find where the edge of the forest was.

"Ok, I saw the closest edge was two miles to the east." Lightning Trails said.

"Then let's get moving and out of this deadly forest." Cancer said.

It did not take us long to reach the edge. Once we were out, the bright sun shined directly into our faces. When our eyes finally adjusted, we saw Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Captain Shining Armor, and several other guards were waiting. I quickly hid behind Al so they could not see me yet.

"Congratulations recruits. You all have passed the survival exercise. Rest up for tomorrow will be the final part. Hold on, where is Swift Blaze?" Princess Celestia said.

"I am here Princess. Something unexpected happened while in the forest." I said. I walked out from behind Al to reveal my new look. "Surprise!" I said as I to a ta da stance. Everypony, including the Princesses, just dropped their mouths open. I saw one guard collapse over from shock.

"So this is the surprise you were talking about with Princess Luna when you were meditating. Would you like to explain what happened?"

"I will your highness, but I think this should actually be discussed in closed chambers. Just those on that list that I am referring to should be in attendance."

"Very well, let's all return back to the castle so you all can rest. I will see you and Al in the throne shortly."

Princess Celestia activated her horn and everypony was teleported back to the training grounds. When we arrived, the guards and the Primcesses were not with us. Captain Shining Armor was though.

"Well done recruits. It has been a long time the entire group returned back. So rest up and prepare for tomorrow. You are going to need it." Shining Armor said.

"Would you mind telling us what we will be doing?" Colorful Sparks asked.

"Oh, I did not tell you? You are going to be going into a tournament against the other recruits. You will not be informed who though till the start of the match. Have fun. Swift Blaze and Al, will you please follow me to the throne room so we can get a report of what happened."

"Lead the way." Al said.

Al and I followed Shining Armor to the throne room. Once inside the doors were closed and a magic barrier activated. We finished walking up till we were at the steps before the throne, where Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were waiting.

"Princess Luna informed me you found a secret room that was connected to the library at the old castle. We cleared everything out and made sure nothing was hidden centuries ago." Princess Celestia said.

"I sorry to say but we did find a room. I still don't know why, but my body was drawn to find it. It wasn't until Al came looking for me and some of the others that we found the door." I said.

"It is true your highness. There appears to have been a human magic spell that made it so only human eyes can see it." Al said.

"So what did you find in that room and what caused Blaze now to be a Unicorn?" Shining Armor asked.

"This is where it gets interesting. In the room was more empty bookcases. We look everywhere to find a clue. My body was telling me I had to find something in this room. I gave another look around and noticed four pillars, but they were not in the corners of the room." I said.

"They were arranged in a pentagram with the fifth one missing. We cleared the bookcases out of the way so the room was opened up. Blaze did a jutsu that cleared all the dust out of the room so we can get a better look at everything." Al said.

"I took another look at the pillars and then I was forced with knowledge of what we needed to do. The pillars represent elements of earth, air, water, and fire. We had to somehow show that element on the pillar."

"That is when everything went crazy as Blaze stepped into the center and first cried out pain."

"I think for the rest of it, we should show you what happened from Al's perspective. If everypony agrees."

Everypony nodded. Princess Celestia used her magic to have the memory be displayed in front of each of us. After the memory was done, the displays went away.

"So that is how you changed into a Unicorn. I take you brought the book that appeared on the fifth pillar?" Princess Celestia asked.

"I did. It is in my saddle bag. So far, I have been the only one who can read it, but only the first part has been translated to me to understand." I said.

Princess Luna used her magic to pull the book out and brought the book between her and her sister. I saw their eyes opened up bigger, telling me they know what it is.

"Sister, is this what I think it is?" Princess Luna asked.

"It appears to be so. I thought the humans took this with them when they left. To imagine it was hidden, even from us, till a human was worthy of it." Princess Celestia said.

"Celestia and Luna, can you please tell me what is going on?" I asked.

"Do you know what you have found, Bob?"

"Well, from what I can read from the book, it talks about a human version of the Elements of Harmony. It calls them the Elements of Order."

"That is correct. When the humans were here in Equestria, over a 1,000 years ago. There was a powerful one among them that created these to work with the Elements of Harmony."

"Let me guess. Was this human called Merlin?" Al asked.

"Again, correct. He loved this world as you two do. He worked with Starswirl the Bearded in order to create them. When we were up against Discord, we saw how easily corrupted the humans could get by his chaos powers. That is why the humans left, to escape from Discords influence. It took my sister and I with the Elements of Harmony to just be able to seal him away in stone."

"We know of Discord. We saw the episode where he breaks out." Al blurted out.

I stomp on his foot to stop him from talking.

"DISCORD ESCAPES! YOU MUST TELL ME EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED SO HE NEVER WILL!" Princess Celestia said in her Royal Canterlot Voice.

Glad the magic barrier makes this place sound proof. "Princess, we cannot tell you how it happens. These events have to happen or they will affect ones after that. He is sealed up again by Twilight and her friends with the Elements of Harmony. Please understand where we are coming from. It was going to happen anyway even if we never showed up." I said.

Princess Celestia started to calm down. She took a few deep breaths and then said, "You are right Blaze. I should not mess with the future or I will mess it up further if I tried to prevent something that needs to happen. Thank you"

"You're welcome. Now let's get back to the book before a certain human say more about what he should not."

"I could not help it. That two part episode was great and you know it. I especially like when . . . mmph" All started to say before I stuck my hoof into his mouth. He spat it out and was wiping his mouth out. "Geez Blaze, you did not have to shove the whole hoof into my mouth. Now I got dirt on my tongue."

"Would you rather I stick it up your rear to make you shut up?" I threaten him with. Al remained silent and just continued to clean his mouth out. Princess Luna was giggling a bit after hearing that.

"So getting back to the book. Well it seems you are missing the gems that go on the cover. That might explain why you cannot read the other parts of the book." Princess Celestia said.

"Then how am I suppose to find them if I have no clue where they could be?" I asked.

"From what I remember, they will be the five elements of nature. You know four as they were needed to reveal the book. Just like how you were led to find the book. The other pieces will notify you when you are close to them. If I know Merlin, he as setup challenges to see if you are worthy of them."

"Great. My body will ping when I am close and I have to face a challenge to get them. Anything else I should know?"

"Yes. When you return to Ponyville, have Twilight Sparkle teach you how to use your horn. I will not send her a letter of what happened. But I will expect a letter from her when she finds out about this." Princess Celestia said with a big smile.

Oh you already know how she is going to react. My ears are already hurting. "Of course Celestia. I was already planning on asking her for her help. Speaking of Twilight, it has been two full weeks since I was magically turned into a pony. Shouldn't I have transformed back to my human form by now?"

"Magic is a very tricky thing. The exact length of the spell varies when It was rushed. You will just have to wait for it to end by itself."

"Very well Princess. If you would excuse us, we would like to rest up and get ready for tomorrow."

"Of course. Have fun tomorrow. I look forward to all the matches. Especially the ones with humans."

A guard escorted us back to the training grounds. On the way there, Al and I discussed some things.

"I still find it odd that this is happening. We are getting into something we have no knowledge of. Aren't you afraid of what is to come?" Al asked.

"Not really. Life is a big unknown and none of these ponies think about it. Why should we? I do see where you are coming from, but we can't drastically change the future to try and prevent it. I am not going to act like Twilight when she saw her future self. Worrying about the future caused what happened to her." I said.

"I do see that now. Sorry for blabbing about that episode."

"It's ok. All we can do now is prepare for tomorrow's matches. I just hope i don't change back to a human while in one."

"Why's that? Don't you want your human body back?"

"I do, just last time I changed back, it was very painful."

"How much pain could there be?"

"Imagine this. Your whole body feels it is on fire. Your bones break, stretch and shrink. Fingers and toes have grown from nothing. And this last for at least 15 minutes."

"That really sucks."

"But once I am back in my human form, I can use shadow transform to change back and feel nothing when it happens."

''That must be sweet to have your own pony body like that."

We got back to the training grounds and saw the other were practicing different moves between each other. When they saw us, they all stopped and headed towards us.

"Blaze! Al! What did you find about the book?" Cancer was the first to ask.

"We found out what the book is about and where it came from. That is it so don't ask any questions we don't know the answer to." Al said.

"The book is about the Elements of Order. They were created by a human over 1,000 years ago and work with the Elements of Harmony. We do not know where the gems that go with the book are or exactly how it is supposed to work. We also don't know how I am connected to them and how or why I was changed into a Unicorn." I said.

"How could a human create something as powerful as the Elements of Harmony?" Star Dust asked.

"This occurred during our medieval times were supposed magic use to exist. A wizard was a human that can do magic and this one worked with Starswirl the Bearded. Together they harnessed the elemental properties of nature to create them."

"More questions than answers. I don't know how you deal with it Blaze. Let's get back to training. I want to make sure I stand a chance against any of you." Lightning Trails said.

We headed back to the sparring field and began to teach each other how to handle different situations against different attacks and abilities. We did this till the sun set and the moon rise. We headed to the mess hall and ate our fair share. We returned to the barrack and headed to bed to get plenty of rest. Going to need it for tomorrow.