//------------------------------// // Entry 9: Freedom... sorta. // Story: Bound Elemental // by Kendallonian //------------------------------// Today Twilight authorized me to come out of my room. She’d prepared a significant portion of the castle, my entire floor, by clearing out any and all ‘temptations’ as she put it. I think she spent a good portion of the night making sure everything was perfect; though I didn’t quite expect some of the things she did. The first thing I did, though, when the forcefield dropped, was run. No, not like you’re thinking; I figured I couldn’t escape from the castle; Twilight had probably barricaded every door and stairwell out of the play area with another forcefield and reinforced every wall too; but that probably didn’t stop a mild panic attack from her when I bolted down the hallway as soon as I was sure I was free. She used a mix of flying and teleportation to keep up with me as I made my first circuit around the floor, but soon enough she realized I wasn’t going anywhere in particular, and just sat in one place as I made a few rounds of the floor. For those of you who don’t know, the floor I was kept in was where most of her guest rooms in the castle are, and they’re all connected to a big, round hallway that loops the entire floor. I circled the entire thing four or five times before slowing down to take a break. By that time, I was breathing heavily to feed oxygen to the flames in my chest. “I never thought you’d be an exercise buff.” Twilight said as I panted happily back towards her. “Not exercise, no.” I said. “Going fast. Freedom. Movement. Fire was never meant to stand still.” Twilight seemed to process that for a moment before speaking again. “Come on, I’ve prepared a spot in my second study if you need a rest.” I nodded wearily and followed her to one of the many rooms around the circumference of the hall; To my surprise, I found that not everything had been cleared off this floor; two plush-looking armchairs were situated in the middle of the room, facing each other, a small stack of firewood and a wood-ax between them. “Uh…” a small utterance escaped my mouth-hole as I looked at the extremely flammable-looking objects. “The chairs are enchanted.” Twilight said. “They’re entirely flame-retardant. The firewood is yours.” I’ll be honest, I was kinda disappointed that the chairs weren’t for eating. I did, however, immediately scoop up the firewood from the floor and start choking it down like a seagull. Twilight looked surprised, but didn’t object. It didn’t occur to me until much later that the wood-ax on the floor may have been for chopping this stuff into more manageable chunks. Twilight sat down in one of the chairs; I assume she meant the other for me, so I took it. It was… squishy, I guess. Not that it was underwhelming, quite the opposite; but I find it difficult to describe; in my home plane there’s nothing that squishy. That, coupled with the fact that I’ve only had a solid buttocks for about a week now, meant that every sensation I experienced as I bounced up and down in that chair was new and strange. Mostly, though, I was still shoving long chunks of wood down my throat. “So, how are you feeling?” Twilight asked. I looked away from the chunk of wood I was swallowing whole to gauge Twilight’s expression. I was surprised to find genuine concern behind her eyes. “Much better now, thank you.” I said, soon afterward resuming my swallow. “And… do you think you’d be interested in more?” Twilight asked. “More days where I can just run around the floor as I please? Yes, thank you.” Twilight smiled. “Well, yes, I assumed as much, but what I really meant was, would you be interested in seeing even more of the castle, perhaps even outside?” I stopped eating. I looked her in the eyes again, and swallowed the last big of a chunk of log. There were more pieces in my lap, but I left them for later. “Outside?” I asked incredulously. “You mean, the place with all the buildings with thatched, flammable roofs and entire forests of flammable trees? Outside outside?” Twilight nodded. “I’m not talking about letting you burn everything to the ground, of course. I meant it as a way for you to get all the… the movement and freedom you want, while still keeping everypony and their possessions safe, not to mention allowing you to make friends.” Oh. That was disappointing. I held another chunk of wood above my head in preparation to drop it wholesale into my gullet. “Ah, I dunno how to tell you this, princess, but that’s not a promise I can make.” Gulp. “Why not? You want to get out of here, don’t you?” “Well, yeah, but it’s not a matter of what I want, it’s a matter of willpower; and  I have, like, none. Zilch. Zero. when I get out of here, the world burns.” “It’s also a matter of honesty, I suppose.” Twilight said, thoughtful. I paused for another moment. “Why do you say that?” “Well, you could have said you’d be good and then just started burning everything the instant you were out of my sight.” “Yeah, well maybe I’ve just thought this through a bit further than that.” “Or maybe, dishonesty simply isn’t in your nature.” Twilight said, leaning forward in her chair. I paused for a moment to reflect. “I guess not.” I said. “Lying is hard. Harder than I care to try. Like I said, I have zero willpower.” “Well then, in some ways I very much appreciate your lack of willpower.” I snorted. A brief spurt of smoke and flame escaped my nostrils.”You won’t appreciate it so much when I’m halfway down the countryside, princess.” “Well, in any case, I might be able to help with that, if you’d consent to an experiment.” Suddenly I was nervous. “Ah, are you talking about magic brain surgery? Cuz I don’t like the sound of magic brain surgery.” “No, no. Nothing so involved.” Twilight said quickly, pulling a small package of blank parchment from the ether and offering one to me. “Ooh, another snack?” I asked as I reached for the parchment, but Twilight pulled it back before I could touch it. “Not quite. This is my experiment; I just so happened to accidentally order a few extra boxes of parchment than I normally use this week so I’ve decided to give it to you.” I put on a confused look. “If it’s not a snack, what do you expect me to do with it? Pee on it?” “Nothing. Absolutely nothing.” Twilight said. “Every morning, I’ll place ten sheets of paper in your room. Then, in the evening when I come back, I’ll count how many are left. If you burn them or eat them, that’s fine, we can just continue like we’ve been doing; I’ll let you out to roam this floor once a week at the very least, and if that’s how you want it, then nothing will ever change. But…” Twilight paused for effect. “For every sheet of paper I find whole and undamaged in your room at the end of the day, I’m going to put a mark on your record, and for every one-hundred marks you gain, I’ll expand your privileges.” “Privileges like… more rooms to explore? Less time alone in a tiny room?” I clarified. Twilight nodded. I thought about it for a while. Then a grin began to expand on my face. I began to laugh. Twilight looked confused by my reaction.  “You think it’s silly, don’t you?” she asked. “A little bit, yeah.” I said, struggling to get the words out between chuckles. “Whew. Don’t get me wrong, it sounds nice, but I mostly find it hilarious that you have this much confidence in my ability to resist temptation. I literally just told you I have zero willpower. This… is not gonna work.” Twilight gave a dismissive shrug. “Well, worst case scenario, you get some extra snacks every morning, right?” My laughter was winding down at that point. I noticed a napalm tear had found it’s way onto my face, so I flicked it away with a hoof. “Sure. why not? Just don’t get your hopes up.”