Chapter 9: Working the Farm

As the sun was setting, I made my way to Fluttershy's Cottage. I knocked on the door to see if she was home. A few minutes later, the door opened up by Fluttershy "Oh Swift Blaze! What brings you here?"

"Hi Fluttershy. I was wondering if I can join you for dinner and have some, uh, fish you said you have for your meat eating friends?" I asked her.

"Of course you can join me. I am glad you are taking up on my offer. I just got done feeding my other animal friends before I have my dinner. If you want, if you don't mind, I could cook the fish for you. Or, if you prefer, you can have it raw."

"I am not a big fan of sushi, which is raw fish. Also you don't have to burden yourself in preparing and cooking the fish. I am just glad you have some on hand so I don't have to go hunting after helping Applejack."

"Ok Blaze, I will show you where I keep the fish. Then I will work on my dinner."

"If you would allow me to, I would like to make you a dish from my world. I can make it vegetarian for you and add fish to mine."

"I would love that. Allow me to show you to the kitchen."

I followed Fluttershy inside her cottage. I saw several animals eating food pellets from their food bowls. Angel was different as she was having a fresh salad. Once in the kitchen, I looked in the pantry to verify the ingredients. Oh good, she does have rice. I can make the stir fry. I looked to see what fish she had caught and it was salmon, my favorite. I began cleaning the fish and start a pot of water to boil the rice. I gathered up carrots, broccoli, zucchini, red bell pepper, pea pods, and onions and chopped them to consistent size to cook evenly. I placed the rice in the boiling water and grabbed two skillets to stir fry the veggies and meat. A little oil went into each and warmed up. The veggies went into one skillet and the salmon went into the other. Fluttershy was watching me cook and smelled of the smells I was creating. I made my own teriyaki sauce and stirred it into both pans. The rice finished cooking so I drained it and place it onto two plates. Veggies finished next and placed them on the plates. Last was my fish and added it to mine. Fluttershy went to the table as I carried the plates over with silverware to eat with. I then went back to the kitchen to get both ourselves a glass of water.

"Dinner is served. Just be careful with the first couple of bites as it is still hot from the cooking, not spicy."

She took a bite after blowing on it to cool down. Her face showed pure happiness. "This is amazing Blaze! I am amazed you don't have a cutie mark in cooking."

"I only taught myself in how to cook the dishes I like to eat. True chefs know how to cook any kind of meal with the ingredients they can get."

"Well thank you for cooking it. I might ask you to come over more so I can see what other dishes from your world you can make."

"I would like that. Once I get my own place, you can come by anytime too if you want to eat more of my cooking."

"That would be lovely."

We finished eating and I helped with cleanup. I said goodbye to Fluttershy as I told her how I am helping on the farm while Big Mac recovers. She informed she will stop by tomorrow to check on him. I left and made my way back to the farm's barn to do some more meditation.

I entered the barn and saw a cot was placed where I was sleeping the night before with a blanket. Guess they want to make sure I get good rest tonight. Next to the cot was a package wrapped up with a fancy bow. I opened it and saw a new Green gi outfit with white trim inside. Underneath were all the undergarments I asked. It was nice of Rarity to deliver my gi to me. Can't wait to see what the other ones are going to look like.

I sat on the cot and enter meditation. I quickly made several shadow clones to practice more on wind and earth style jutsu. I also had a group practice the aerial moves Rainbow had me copy. I am getting months of practice done in a few short hours. Soon I will practice wood style so I can build my house soon. After the couple hours of training in my mind, I exited the meditation and went to sleep on the cot.

Next morning, I woke up at the same time. Instead of going to do my morning training, I decide to put it on hold as I am working on the farm for the next couple days. I went to the farmhouse with the new clothes and quietly entered the house. I headed upstairs to the bathroom to clean up. It wasn't in use so I entered and close the door. I had my gi off and was about to remove the undergarments, when the door opened and Applejack was standing there. "Applejack! Don't you know to knock!" I said as I quickly closed the door in her face.

"Sorry there Blaze, I am just used to being the first one to wake up and use the bathroom. When did you come back last night?"

"Sometime after you ponies went to bed. Sorry for snapping at you. Some of us humans don't like to expose ourselves to strangers. The only time we are truly naked in front of another is when we are children being taken care of by our parents and with a girlfriend when we are going to (cough) make love with them. I shall be out quickly." I quickly finish getting undressed and hopped into the shower. I cleaned up, dried off, and put my new clothes on. They fit nicely. I exited the bathroom and saw Applejack was standing next to the door with a sad look on her face. "It's ok Applejack. You couldn't have known how humans feel seeing ourselves naked in front of others. I am not mad at you. Now cheer up, clean up, and I will get some breakfast going."

"Ok Blaze and I am sorry again for doing that. I've been meaning to get locks on that door. You can see that we ponyfolk don't wear clothes all the time so we are used to seeing everything."

"I understand, now go get cleaned up. I will have a nice breakfast ready."

I headed downstairs as she entered the bathroom. In the kitchen, I started to prepare a special pancake batter that I think they will laugh when they hear the name of it. I started to hear the other getting up and make their way downstairs. Applebloom said, "Morning Mister Blaze, what smells good?

"I am making breakfast this time. Your sister is in the bathroom at the moment. If you would like to help, can you set the table?"

"Right away! Can't wait to taste what you are cooking." She goes and gathers the plates and silverware for the five of us.

Granny Smith and Big Mac came down next helping each other. They said good morning and took a seat at the table. I was making the last batch and Applejack came down and joined the others. I brought over a platter with the special pancakes. Everypony started to take some and taste it.

"YEE-HAW! Those are some mighty tasting pancakes. What do you call them Blaze?" Applejack asked.

"You."

"You? That's a strange thing to call them."

I started to chuckle a bit. "Not 'You' you. Its name is you."

"I don't get where you are getting at partner. Mind just telling what the name is?"

"The name of this dish is called applejacks."

All the ponies started to laugh while Applejack started to blush. I joined in the laughter. We finish breakfast and I helped with the cleanup. I helped Big Mac back to bed and then joined Applejack outside. She was saying goodbye to Applebloom as she was going to school. "Ready to get to work Blaze?"

I repeated the jutsus I did yesterday and we all said, "Ready!"

We continued working the south field and were making good progress. We took breaks when needed and were having fun. By lunch time, half the south field was done. We had PB&J sandwiches for lunch. As we continue working the afternoon, I was sensing a pony was watching me. The other clones detected this also so we kept an eye out without looking suspicious. I finally spotted what was looking at us. It was a small portal very tiny. The size of a camera lens. I picked up an apple and threw at it. It went straight and true and flew into the portal. I heard a faint scream as the portal closed. A letter popped in front of me with the Princess Celestia seal on it.

Dear Swift Blaze,

Good job of detecting that opening and being able to hit it with an apple. It tasted quite good by the way. If you are not busy tomorrow, I was wondering if you are now ready to discuss with me about your last moments on your planet and how you arrived here. I can schedule to be down there so you can tell me and your friends. I do want another time with you in private to discuss about those mental blocks you placed in your mind.

Your Sun Ruler and 'eye' in the sky,

Princess Celestia.

Looks like the time has come for me to tell them the truth about the real me.

Applejack saw one of my human me's stopped working and was holding a scroll. "What's going on Blaze, something from the Princess?"

"Yea, the Princess would like to have another chat with me and ask me a few more questions. She also would like you and the others to be part of it and I agree. There have been some things in the back of my mind I have been working on trying to get the right words together. Would you mind coming with me to it?"

"I don't know. I still have a lot of applebucking to do and with both of us gone, we will fall behind greatly."

"No we won't. Remember I can make shadow clones and they are exactly like me. They will continue to work for us while we do this."

"Alright sugarcube, I will join you. I do have a few more questions based upon what you said. Now let's get back to work. These apples won't buck themselves."

We got back to work and continued working until sunset came. I released most of my clones, except for one and had him inform the others of the meeting at Twilight's library and what it was going to be about. Applejack and I returned to the farmhouse with empty stomachs. Granny Smith and Applebloom were working on dinner so I sat on the couch, more like fell due to feeling the exhaustion from my clones.

This is really working my body on endurance in both human and pony form. With the meeting tomorrow, I don't think I can handle meditation training tonight. Still wonder what they will think of me be a fraud fighter and actually being a computer geek that had no social life back on Earth. There is no way of avoiding it as the Princess requested that be the main topic. I think I will work on teleportation and substitution jutsu so I have an escape route if I need it.

"Dinner is ready everypony!" Applebloom said from the kitchen. I got up and made my way to the table. On the table were the usual apple deserts that are popular. They did have a veggie salad with what I am guessing is an apple style dressing and also a fruit salad. I stuck with the two salads to keep my strength up while everypony else was eating a bit of everything.

My clone showed up during the dinner and informed us the other have been told and will be attending. He also said he picked up a package from Rarity and left it on the cot in the barn. He released the jutsu and his memories merged with mine. Got a slight head rush as I recalled the new memories. "Well, if you ponies will excuse me. I would like to prepare to answer the questions that might come tomorrow."

"How in Equestria are you going to prepare to answer questions you don't even know?" Applejack asked.

"My intuition will guide me to what the Princess and the others will probably be asking." I got up from the table and went to the barn. Inside I saw the package my clone got from Rarity. I opened it up to see what the other gis looked like. I opened the package and pulled out the following color schemes; blue with black trim, red with black trim, full black, full white, green with black trim, and black with white trim. These look amazing. I can't wait to see what she will do for my tux for the gala. I placed them back in the box to keep them clean.

I enter meditation and did a quick practice session on teleportation and substitution jutsu. I spent the next two hours organizing my thoughts and how I am going to show them what I am talking about. There is only so much I can show from my iPad. If they accept it, I can put them in a Genjutsu that allows them to share my mind with them. I will make sure that I am in control of what they will see so they stay away from more personal memories. I fell asleep quickly after exiting the meditation. Going to need all the sleep I can get to handle tomorrow's event.