Today I was visited by a very special pony. On the off chance that a fellow elemental is reading this, no, I haven’t gone soft, but… well I dunno. This pony was different.
That morning I was staring through a crack that had formed in the outer wall, pondering that if I wasn’t chained to this infernal prison I could just slip through it and never be seen again by anypony. I was pondering whether I could widen the gap with my bare hooves when a pony I had not met before came in.
She was tall, white-coated, with both wings and a horn. She stood on the far side of the room for a moment, just staring. I stared, too.
How do I describe this in a way that adequately describes what she is? She’s a fire; not literally, not that I could see anyway, but she was… warm. She radiated power in a way that a pony just… can’t. It was almost scary just to have her in the same room with me.
Then she just stepped through the forcefield in the middle of the room like it wasn’t even there.
Bear in mind, the wall is invisible, so it might not have looked impressive to someone who had just happened to see it, but I’ve been slamming myself against that wall for three days now. That thing is as solid as rock; you know what, scratch that; I’d be able to bust through the outer wall of the castle before I could break that forcefield.
And this pony just… no fanfare, no dramatic flash of light, no run up, just walked casually through it.
I panicked. I flattened myself up against the furthest corner of the room I could. She could probably tear this body apart with her teeth if I gave her a reason to. I hoped to the allspark that I hadn’t already.
She stood in the center of my cell, giving me a look I couldn’t read; Not that I’ve had a lot of practice. I curled up into my corner, trying to look as small and submissive as possible. I covered my face so I wouldn’t look into her eyes in case that offended her somehow.
And then she pulled me out and hugged me.
This was surprising for two reasons. The first reason is that I am not accustomed to hugs from… well anyone, really, but particularly not strangers, and particularly particularly not pony strangers. The second reason is that this body, while it contains my flame for the most part, is still hot enough to burn anypony it touches when I’m angry or nervous.
Well, almost anypony. The white alicorn didn’t even seem to notice I was boiling hot enough to turn an ordinary pony’s fur into instant ash.
I just stared over her shoulder for a bit while she held me, so many levels of what going through my head at once I couldn’t articulate anything. I was just… struck dumb.
After a few solid moments or minutes, can’t remember which, she pulled back, keeping her hooves planted on my shoulders and looking into my eyes.
Those eyes…they were deeper than an ocean, it seemed, and filled with a thousand different kinds of light. It’s funny, for all the time I spent staring dumbly into them, I couldn’t tell you what color they were.
“Emerald?” She said.
The hinge that constitutes my jaw was flapping, but no sound came out.
“My former student has given you the name ‘Emerald Flare’, has she not?” she asked again.
I surmised that attempting to make further sound wouldn’t work, so I nodded instead.
The alicorn nodded back, and pulled me into a hug again. “I am so sorry for the circumstances surrounding your arrival here. I know how difficult it must be for one of your kind to be so… limited. Helpless. I’m sorry.”
How did she know that? Had she been reading my journals, too? Who was she?
“H-h-who?” I managed to stammer out.
“A friend.” She said, simply. “As, I hope, one day, Twilight and her friends will be.”
Twilight? Ponies? As Friends? It was almost complete non-sequitur to me at the time. Not really the funny kind.
The white alicorn put me at hoof’s length again to stare me in the face.
“Listen to me, little spark. The path ahead of you is not one you or I would have chosen. It will be a difficult path for you, in particular, but I can say that it can either be the worst thing to ever happen to you… or the best. That will be entirely up to you to decide. Do you understand?”
“N-no.” I stammered, somehow, I was able to gain control of my voice. “H-how can this be the best thing that’s ever happened to me? I’m weak, I’m imprisoned, and I don’t just mean in this room… what is happening right now?”
“I’m charging you with a very important duty.” the alicorn said. “It may be the most important thing you will ever do. Do you understand?”
A few moments of silence followed before I remembered that I should probably reply.
“Yeah. What do you want me to do?”
For the first time, she smiled. It wasn’t even a big smile, just a slight upward curve to the ends of her mouth. I felt like it had triggered a small explosion, somewhere, somehow. I swear, every muscle twitch of this mare radiated power of some sort.
“Make some Friends.” she said.
Before my brain could tie itself in knots over whatever she had just said, the door opened and Twilight came through in a mild panic.
“Princess Celestia!” Twilight said. “You should have told me you were- no, sorry. I just-”
“It’s alright, Princess Twilight.” the white alicorn said with a hint of humor in her voice. “I received your letters and came as quickly as I could manage.”
Princess Celestia, Twilight had said. I knew that name. It was one of the very few pony names that had ever reached the Plane of Fire from the outside. It was held in reverence by many, contempt by a few, and respected by all.
Princess Celestia, wielder of the sun.
Let me say that again.
WIELDER OF THE SUN.
She was here, in my prison cell.
And she had just given me the stupidest mission of all time.
But… WIELDER OF THE SUN.