• Published 5th Sep 2016
  • 29,000 Views, 709 Comments

I am Living Lava? - Shadow of doubt



I myself, am an amateur scientist, so naturally when offered to go on an expedition to take samples from an active volcano I accepted, although falling in and waking up in a new world as a burning horse no less was not what I was expecting.

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Chapter 13 - The Princess

Rose continued to follow the maid, keeping in mind the other times she had encountered Celestia, and she wasn't optimistic about this meeting, especially after what Twilight overheard.

As she walked behind the hurried maid, he noticed that some work ponies were in the process of changing the carpet that she had damaged, most seemed to be unicorns and much unlike what she expected from them they didn't shy away from her, it seems that ponies are starting to get used to her... well, aside from the little foals, but she is is quite sure that anything could scare them at that age.

Rose was interrupted in her musings by the sound of the maid clearing her throat, "We have arrived, the Princess is waiting for you in the throne room," the maid explained, she seemed a little adverse to going into the room, as she moved to the side of the door while the guards opened them.

Rose craned her neck up to see Celestia sitting on her throne with a distraught Twilight hiding in her wings, puffy red eyes, and ruffled feathers tell Rose that her words held more weight then she first assumed.

Celestia herself had eyes of cold steel, she stroke Twilight with her wings absentmindedly while she looked down at Rose before she spoke. "Solar Flare, I have tried to be cordial with you, even provide you a place to live and learn without any expectations of receiving anything in return. Things seemed to have settled down once Twilight started to teach you," Celestia stood from her throne, leaving Twilight behind, as she continued her speech.

"And yet, I find that after but a few weeks you have already managed to make your Teacher, my student and friend cry," Celestia Paused to sigh, casting a quick glance back to Twilight. "What do you have to say for yourself Flare?" Celestia intoned, looking straight into Roses snake-like eyes.

Rose sighed, she was just Tired of dealing with Celestia and her baseless chatter, she looked up to meet Celestia's gaze, taking a step forward on the carpet, purposefully directing her anger to her hooves in order to burn through the carpet, Hearing the sizzle she smiled before answering Celestia's questions.

"First of all, My name is not Solar Flare, I'm unsure why you asked me to create a 'new' name, and I chose that one on a whim, Secondly you did not provide me with a place to live, you sent me to a gilded cage," Rose lectured, as she continued to walk towards the base of the throne. Rose saw that Celestia was going to interrupt her and stomped her hoof down on the bottom stair, shattering it.

"I have not finished speaking, Celestia," Rose shouted, quickly turning her head to look into Twilights eyes she spoke, "Twilight, while I never meant to say it to your face, I'm not sorry for what I said, you need to grow thicker skin, and while Discord may not show it in a way you understand, he is affected by the way you act around him." Rose softened her gaze before she continued. "Twilight, you are not a bad pony, but neither are you perfect, we all have flaws and you need to accept that for whatever reason, you don't like Discord," Rose stopped her tirade before she looked back to Celestia.

"Well, are you planning to actually throw me in a prison this time?" Rose said sarcastically as she looked up to Celestia, In response, she received a sigh.

"No... Rose, I'm sorry for what I've done... for how I've treated you. You remind me of someone I used to know, someone who doesn't have a heart, doesn't know how to love. You can leave now, if you wish." Celestia said in a tired manner, her ears lowered and her back no longer stiff, she turned and sat next to Twilight, who while still disheveled no longer had tears in her eyes.

"That's it?" Rose exclaimed, her tone accusing. "You're just going to send me back to my room, after all that?" Rose continued as her body slowly started to heat up.

Seeing the situation, Celestia quickly corrected herself. "No Rose... you can leave, as in, you may leave and go where ever you wish." Celestia finished as she quickly put her wing on Twilights back.

"Wait, you actually mean I can just go now?" Rose said, the heat that had built up dissipating as fast as it accumulated, Roses face gazed at Celestia in contemplation. "Why?, from what I know of you, this isn't like you," Rose stated with finality.

Twilight ruffled her wings before she spoke up. "No Rose, Celestia isn't like herself when she is with you. Trust me, I've known her for most of my life." Twilight responded, before leaning on Celestia, her eyes still moist yet no longer red.

Before Rose could respond, Celestia flared out a wing, before she spoke. "Please, Rose, let me explain first." Celestia took a breath of air, before she motioned for the guards to leave the room, the guards that were stationed by the sides of the throne room hallway. Once the hallway was clear, and the silence palpable Celestia cleared her throat before she spoke. "I didn't treat you right, I have no excuse for that. It took me a long time to see you like someone else, my sister saw that you were not who I thought you were, she tried to tell me, I didn't listen, not until I saw something that was actual proof, and you showed me, just before... Now that I think about it, there were many instances that she wouldn't do." Celestia Shivered and retracted her wing, before she looked into Roses eye's, looking at something that only she could see.

Rose stood still, in the broken slag of what was once the marble stairs at the bottom of the throne, "Who did you think I was? and, what did I do, that showed you I wasn't them?" Rose asked quietly, feeling ashamed of her actions, as she shuffled her hooves in the puddle of rock.

"For you to understand that, I'll have to tell you what I did, a very long time ago..." Celestia said as she turned her head to look out the stained glass windows, her thought's heavy before she shook her head and looked back at Rose. "I was young, and greaving at the time, and my sister had succumbed to her emotions, and, as an Alicorn, emotions are linked with our magic, heavily, and if we try to repress them too much, they form their own minds, and while they have intelligence, they are born with only the emotions we funneled into them." Celestia took a breath, she gazed into Roses' eyes, before she looked over Roses form, she closed her eyes briefly, letting the afternoon sun, shine down on her face. "Do you understand what I'm telling you, Rose?" She asked, eyes still closed while her ears perked up, eager to hear an answer.

"Vaguely, but I still don't understand how this is relevant to me," Rose huffed before she sat down at the base of the throne. gazing back up to Celestia.

Celestia continued on, accepting her answer. "Luna, my sister, had become someone else, due to my neglect, the only emotions she could feel, Envy, Hate, and Sadness. Luna let herself become Nightmare Moon, and so, we fought, I to keep our citizens safe, and her to finally receive attention, love, and to get her point across. I was young and foolish, I assumed she had been tainted by some evil entity and instead of talking to her, I used the Elements of harmony, my only thought during that time was to banish the evil." Celestia took a breath before embraced twilight as her eyes moistened.

"The elements of harmony, are an interesting magical item, to use them, you must embody the traits they seek to a certain extent, and when in use they try to accomplish what the user wants, they do not know they can only act, and when I tried to banish the evil from my sister, vainly thinking that she was possessed by some strange entity, it banished her instead, as the 'evil' that I wanted to banish, was my sister. Curiously, I'm not sure why when Nightmare Moon was hit with the Elements of Harmony in use by my student, that she was purged of the emotional mask." Celestia continued, opening her eyes to briefly glancing at Twilight.

Rose, took a breath before she looked back to Celestia, Nodding at her to continue. Celestia, nodded before she continued, "After she was banished, and I realized what had happened, I feared, feared that I too would succumb to my own emotions, Starswirl the bearded, my teacher, consoled me, tried to convince me that, in order for me to move on, I was to let my emotions run their course... I didn't listen to him, and in my self-hate, I crafted a spell, a spell designed to absorb emotions I didn't want to feel."

Celestia shivered, as she envisioned something only she had seen."I poured in all of my hate, hate at myself and the world for what had happened, what 'I' let happen, all of my jealousy at what other ponies had, that they could have a happy ignorant life without worry, and, my pride, the pride that kept me blind. Honestly, I should have seen what happened next, especially after the crystal, I was using as storage, started to turn black and burn the surroundings in heat." Celestia stood up, folding her wings to her side as she started to step down from her throne. "After I left the crystal in a remote cave, near a small town called dreemur valley, She 'formed', from that crystal, Solar flare, something that could only feel hatred and jealousy, and because all that hatred was directed at me, and the citizens I so dearly care for, she brought disaster, her jealousy at the lives of simple ponies and in her hate for them, she turned dreemur valley into what is now known as the badlands, she destroyed an entire valley, and turned it into a wasteland." Celestia whipped away a tear with her wing before she was surprised that Twilight had left the throne and embrace her with her wing.

Rose spoke up to fill in the awkward silence that filled the room, "That sounds, pretty bad, so, Solar flare huh, I really picked out a bad nickname didn't I... I'm sorry for burning all those holes in your carpet... I figured out how to stop doing that about an hour or so after our first meeting." Rose apologized, rubbing a hoof to the back of her head.

Celestia in response, let out a small stifled laugh, "It's fine, you were angry with what had happened, and to be honest, I wasn't a very good host." Rose, letting out a small sigh, asked a question that had been bugging her, "So, what happened to Solar flare, and from what I can gather, since I show other emotions than anger and jealousy that's how you figured out that I wasn't her?" Rose questioned Celestia, as she finally reached the top of the throne room stairs to look Celestia directly in the eyes.

"That's correct Rose, I was blinded by anger, so I overlooked the fact that you displayed other emotions, the fact that you told Twilight that we all have our flaws, the pride Solar flare showed, would never admit that she herself had flaws," Celestia stopped speaking to then look back to Rose, her face serious. "I'm sorry about how I treated you, When you leave, please keep your emotions in check, for they hold power over ponies, most don't even realize how much they do." Celestia finished as she turned around to sit back on her throne, Twilight, seeing this broke off her embrace before she looked back to Rose. "I'm not a bad pony? am I Rose?" Twilight asked, in a quiet voice, her wings limp at her sides.

Rose sighed, she hates talking about her opinions on people, "No, No you're not Twilight, you are just a Pony, and all ponies have flaws, and just because you don't like somepony, doesn't make you a bad pony Twilight," Rose finished before she looked back to Celestia, who had taken to sitting down on her throne look at Twilight and Rose, her eyes passive and carrying an untold weight.

"So, how did you get rid of Solar Flare? I mean, you said I look just like her right?" Rose Inquired, unsure if it could be just a coincidence. Celestia, focused her gaze back at Rose before she spoke. "After what happened at Dreemur Valley, it was pretty easy to find her, just follow the heat, she didn't bother to keep her power in check and due to my emotions being drained at the time, I barely had enough to fuel my spells, and I'm unsure how but she was able to break my connection to the sun, I for the first time In a long time, was completely powerless. My teacher, Starswirl ended up having to clean my mess up. He used a spell, designed to destroy her originally, and while it did seem to weaken her, as it shattered her heart crystal, the crystal I used as a focus, though she wasn't destroyed, she managed to reform around the largest shard," Celestia paused to make leave her statement sink in.

Celestia then straightened herself upon her throne, before she cleared her throat again, making sure that Rose and Twilight could hear her. "Using what was left of my current power, I channeled all of my grief, into a final spell that was ultimately cast by Starswirl, it dissipated her form and we sent her heart crystal to a dimension without any magic, to ensure she was powerless. without magic, all she was is a bad memory." Celestia tired from explaining her past, looked into Twilight's eyes, before moving her gaze to Rose. "Don't make my mistakes, and Rose, for all it's worth, I hope you end up finding happiness somewhere, Luna said she saw you dreaming about dragons, so if you'd like, I can arrange for you a trip to the dragon lands?" Celestia said, ruffling her feathers before lighting up her horn.

Rose, stared up at the ceiling lost in thought, she was shocked to find out that, they would likely have believed her if she told them the truth about her origins, although, she was still reluctant to clear that up, especially now that she was told the history of Celestia and the tale of Solar flare... Could she actually be Solar flare?

During Roses' musings, guards walking in through the main doors, and stood back at their posts, Celestia leaned forward towards Twilight and Rose before she whispered. "So Rose? what do you want to do now?"

And for the first time in what seemed like forever, Rose was free.

Author's Note:

Been somewhat busy with a project I've been working on. I hadn't realized how much work it actually needs and I still feel like I need to be working on it more, Writing was an outlet for my imagination whenever I needed to just, create or vent. I always write or create when I have many things going around in my mind, I've never really been much of an expressive person, not particularly sure why and my perspective on things is mostly just ;okay, it just is, there isn't much I can do about it and I'd probably just make a big mess if I tried to butt my head into things that I don't have experience with'.

This is the last chapter of I am Living lava, it was interesting writing it, but when I first created this fiction, there was no end goal in mind, and for now this feels like a decent way to end it, if by popular demand I may make a sequel, I'll try to actually have a plan that time.

I have a new fiction I'm working on, with a plan this time, called What lies beyond the mirror.

I have stopped working on free that griffon, I'm unsure why I never really worked enough to create a genuinely different world the first time around, I think I just wanted to spread information about Release that Witch, but I was too stupid to just make a blog and instead I I just had to create a story that, while it was meant to be inspired and had some actual divergence from the timeline of RTW which was going to be in Chapter 3, the first two chapters just ended up as practical verbatim, the reworked version, while actually different this time leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Either way, I'm still going to be the worst kind of author, one that updates every few months at best and at worst, once every 5+ months. yet, never ever think I'm actually dead, because... six months later I'll rise from my grave just to prove you wrong.

Writing this was a learning experience, and I hope I learned well.

I would like to hear opinions in the comments, keeps me alive that stuff.

Comments ( 88 )

9378880
Chapter 13 is out. hope you like it, and if not, I would love to hear why.

9384804
I hope for that sequel to this story. I love the character that you made with Rose.

Is it too soon to start up the sequel club? Cause this story's been pretty interesting.

I liked this, and would like to have a sequel, it feels unfinished

9384869
he does, for quite a while I might add.

Featured, Jan. 4, 2019

9384855
I'd say it feels that way as in actuality this fiction is only really the first character development arc. Rose finally accepts her Identity, Celestia fully accepts Rose, and now Rose finally is given a choice by Celestia.

Do a part 2, could tell of his adventures outside of the castle.

welp people and i would guess comments alike are rolling in so i am just gonna say please make a sequal! this got much better after those edits, and it was enjoyable!

Huh. I love that origin. It makes a lot of sense for that to happen.

It does seem cut short, though.

If you don't end up making a sequel (I understand the feeling of being burnt out on a story), do I have permission to do a rewrite/continuation of the same concept? Many things might change, but it would be so close to this, it wouldn't be right to do without your permission. Of course, you would be prominently credited as the original author if I did so.

If not, I have plenty of things I need to update, and plenty of new ideas to work on, but I've fallen in love with this one.

yeah doesn't feel like an ending.

Tell me when you post the sequel.

9384913
Words are free my friend, you can shape them as you please. I would personally like it if in the description you add something along the lines of [alternative perspective on I am living lava] but either way it's fine.

9384903
Funny enough, this chapter is unedited, I've been reading a lot of books and I think I've unconsciously picked up some of the techniques they use to write. For good or for worse.

I vote 1 for a sequel if you want to.

9384941
true it seemed rougher at first, editing also just helps you make less mistakes that are minor but stack up

SEQUEL!!!

I vote for a sequel

I would love to read a sequel of the story :twilightsmile:

During Roses' musings, guards walking in through the main doors, and stood back at their posts, Celestia leaned forward towards Twilight and Rose before she whispered. "So Rose? what do you want to do now?"

Take a nap, obviously :moustache:

Sequel

9385346
:rainbowlaugh: love your response to the question Celestia asked Rose


9384941
and i would very much LOVE for this story to have a sequel cause it feels unfinished but if you feel burnt out I would understand if you decided to stop writing.
in any case you feel burnt out i hope you would allow 9384913 to make a remake to this story you wonderfully made

I really liked the overall idea of the story and are excited to see what, if any, ideas you have for the sequel.

9384913
SEQUAL!!!! SEQUAL!!!!
I think you can tell what I want.

Personally , i would love a sequel :pinkiehappy: .

T'was interesting but the end as so many way i think its a bad end *whisper* but a good beginning.
This is one of the best and only daybreaker story (yeah its not ''daybreaker'' but in this AU its close enough)
In a nutshell its half life 2 /20 : its good but where is the ending ?
(For a project , without a path / an end in sight , you did great :twilightsmile:)

9384936
Yep. Definitely going to do that when I do so. And will provide a handy link to this story.

I like this character enough that I don't even care that you didn't have a plan. Please blog about the sequel when you publish it and tag this story so everyone gets a notification. Even if it's years from now, I'll be around, although I hope not to have to wait that long! :derpytongue2: Cheers. :twilightsmile:

Thanks for the chapter!
I hope this gets a sequel!

I look forward to a potential sequel.
Also, this chapter could use some proofreading.

This has been a fantastic story. I vote for a sequel as well.

It ends already? I still don't get enough of Rose's shenanigans!
Please tell me this is an act#1 and you actually plan for act#2. It would be interesting to see Rose's reactions on Ponyville and other places.
Dragonland might be interesting place for Rose. Maybe dragons over there might challenge Rose to the first Dragon-Pony Lava Swimming competition?

Well, I would go treasure hunting in Rose place.

9386320
Yes there will be an act 2. I will try my best to plan out a decent plan. It's time to see the world.

Maybe we can start in the Dragonlands, perhaps a time skip

9384879
I think it feels unfinished to a lot of people because although it does do a decent job of wrapping itself up, it ends on such a gigantic sequel hook that it's pretty easy to mistake it for the story itself not being finished. Since you ARE in fact working on a sequel, I don't see this as a deal-breaker. Just mark down "sequel hooks" as another thing to work on improving in the future.

Speaking of which, I think you've improved a lot as a writer since you began this story! It was pretty frustrating for me at times, and at one point I apparently felt compelled to downvote, but I think I'll remove that downvote now. Just don't stop working at it.

9389632
Thanks for your vote of confidence, I'll try and keep it up and I'll take your advice on making sure that work on sequel hooks.

9389652
Thanks for the response, and I guess I should probably clarify a little. It's not merely the fact that it was a "gigantic sequel hook". It's the fact that it literally ended with "what do you want to do now?" A careful reader will realize what you're doing, but it makes the ending feel sort of abrupt, more like the ending of a chapter inside a book compared to the ending of the whole book, if that makes sense. Or almost like you're setting up a decision in one of those Choose Your Own Adventure stories. Again, the fact that there's (going to be) a sequel makes this problem not as bad as it would be otherwise, but it's still not ideal.

What would I have done differently to avoid this feeling? Well, I am not sure exactly, but maybe if it ended on Rose thinking about the possible answers to that question in a general hopeful, "excited about the future" sort of way. I don't really have much writing experience myself, though, so I'd take my own advice with a grain of salt until you see the result.

9389656
I partially agree. It did offer a conclusion to the story, but with how casual the chapter ended I didn't notice that the story had ended. Only reason I noticed that it's set to completed is because I went back to check after reading the comments. I think it's fine for an author to do this, but the issue is that I, as a reader didn't get the memo that there will be a separate entry so I wouldn't have known to follow the author so I can be notified of the next part of the story.

I think a simple "to be continued in part 2" would have solved this issue.

Just to clarify,I think it's an issue because I wouldn't have noticed that it had endrdifit wasn't fir the comments and I really do enjoy this fic a lot. Sadly,I'm 110% sure it would have taken memonth to notice that this entry had ended. I don't want to miss out on the sequel, but without following theauthoy I would have.

Comment posted by Nilam deleted Jan 8th, 2019

Yes, I'd like a database, please.
SQL (a type of database) is pronounced 'sequel'.

9391167
Ha, I'd make an injection joke, yet I have none.

9392194
Maybe I should change my name to Little Bobby Tables...

I'd make a joke about <vuln> 'Insert Sequel Story;' but I think that it would not be considerate to actually write that on the off chance it actually breaks something, since you never know...

Is there going to be a sequel?:fluttercry:

9462110
I hope to make one, but uni is starting back up early march and my work takes a fair amount of time.

I've got some storyline planned out but not much else.

9462355
Take your time mate!:pinkiehappy:

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