//------------------------------// // Entry 22: Home // Story: Bound Elemental // by Kendallonian //------------------------------// Starlight wrote from canterlot today about a possible solution; A way that we could get me back to my home and out of this armor. My spark leaped inside me when Twilight came in with the letter. “How soon can we try it?” I asked. “Uh- as soon as you’re ready.” Twilight said. “I’m ready now.” I responded. “Are you.. Sure?” Twilight asked. “Pinkie will want-” “I’m sure.” I said. “I don’t want any long, tearful goodbyes. Besides, we don’t even know if this’ll work.” Twilight took a long look at me before saying “Okay”. I think I detected some shakiness in her voice as she did. Then she cleared her throat and went into lecture mode. “So, the armor is designed to keep your essence inside it, but Starlight has been studying a way to open a rift within the armor to allow you to slip through it and directly into the plane of fire.” “That doesn’t sound too complicated. Why didn’t you try that before?” “Well, in theory, you’re right, it’s not too complicated. In practice, the enchantments surrounding the armor are a bit… volatile, when it comes to interacting with other spells. If done incorrectly, the spell could destroy the armor, and by extension you, before you’ve had the chance to properly escape. Maybe think of it like… magical surgery.” “Oh…” I said. I only really knew what surgery was on a theoretical level, but I was pretty sure it sometimes involved ponies dying if the doctor wasn’t paying extremely close attention to what they were doing. “Uh, what are the chances of this ‘surgery’ going wrong?” I asked. “Higher than I’d like.” Twilight responded. “If you want numbers-” “I don’t.” I said quickly. “I’m not good with numbers anyway. Just… tell me the most likely outcome.” “Well, the most likely outcome is that the spell works as intended, but there are a lot of unknowns here; I could never say anything for sure. It could be that everything blows up the moment I start, or it could open a hole in your armor and you’d start bleeding heat, or… nothing.” I nodded gravely. “We don’t have to do this right now.” Twilight said. “We can wait to see if Starlight can find some other way, or you could just-” “No. I’m not gonna… stay.” I said. The last word came out like a burr on my nonexistent tongue. “Why… why not?” Twilight asked. “We could-” “You could do any number of things, but you shouldn’t have to.” I said. “I know you’ve been trying to teach me restraint, and I’m grateful for that, but eventually, on purpose or accidentally, a fire’s gonna start, and I’ll look at it and… I don’t know what I’ll do then. I don’t think I want to find out. You could put a path of metal plates everywhere I go, but you shouldn’t have to. We’ll both be happier if I return to where I came from. And if I die… well, that wouldn’t make much difference to you, now, would it?” Twilight looked at me with a forlorn expression. “I’ve made up my mind.” I said before she could protest. Twilight stood there looking at me sadly for a few moments before responding. “Okay.” She said, her voice cracking. “Lemme just- I need to prepare a few things from the library for a minute.” Twilight turned and walked from the room. I figured a good chunk of her ‘preparing’ had to do with getting her emotions under control before attempting the surgery spell; I didn’t argue. After a few minutes, I was surprised to see Fluttershy come into my room. She didn’t say anything, just sat down quietly near the door. Her somber expression told me Twilight had explained things to her. When Twilight eventually came back, she was much more composed, though her eyes may have been a little puffy. “I thought I told you I didn’t want any goodbyes.” I said to Twilight. “I know. Fluttershy isn’t here to say anything.” Twilight said. “She just wanted to see you before you left.” I took a deep breath, then nodded briefly; once to Twilight, once to Fluttershy. “Are you… ready?” Twilight eventually got around to saying. “Yeah, you can start.” I said. “Well, maybe you should lay down.” Twilight said. “This might be… unpleasant.” I nodded and laid myself down on the ground for what I hoped to be the last time. Twilight’s horn glowed. In an instant, I felt a piercing sensation against my side. I didn’t want to look, since any movement on my part may have disrupted Twilight’s concentration, but I could very clearly feel a drill of magical force weaving it’s way deeper and deeper into me, enlarging a hole in my armor. For a terrifying moment I could feel heat gushing out of the gaping wound, only for Twilight to throw another surge of magic into her horn and contain it again. In another instant, I could feel the disorienting sensation of my perspective shifting; these hooves and head and body slowly ceased to be mine, and began again to simply be wrapped around the true me, the gout of malleable fire inside. I shivered, since I hadn’t felt like that ever since Starlight had first put me in this prison, and it reminded me far too much of lifting the leaden weights of my hooves for the first time. I noted with similar disorientation that my body’s limbs and neck were going limp, as my form was retracting  from my extremities. I was a proper fire elemental again., in the center of a round, metallic space that suddenly seemed much more vast. I experimented a bit with stretching and squashing my form and found that I could move with much, much more freedom, now. I wanted to shout out to Twilight that everything was going great so far, but at the moment I wasn’t in control of any sort of jaw, and I was a little rusty in speaking without it. Instead I did a little dance around my massive shell, hoping that Twilight would see. When I looked out from between the cracks in the armor, however, Twilight’s eyes were closed tightly in concentration, her horn practically blasting magenta light. A small mote of light began expanding in the center of the armor’s cavity. After it expanded a bit, it looked like a miniature sun, which, I soon realized, it was, in that it was also a portal directly into the plane of fire. It was beautiful to finally be able to see it again after all this time; it was even warmer than I remembered. I cautiously approached the spherical portal, not daring to believe that this was finally my chance, but then I dove in. Everything was bright, everything was burning… Everything was connected. All at once I began receiving communications from other elementals, about nothing in particular. My form vibrated in kind, telling everyone how glad I was that I was back. A few confused voiced responded, asking where exactly I had been, and I responded with, more or less, long story. Some voices shrugged and moved on, some leaned in closer to hear a more in-depth explanation. Just as I was about to give it, I felt… a tug. It was something I felt almost on an emotional level, except that it was preventing me from going any further. I was touching the plane of fire, tasting it, but it was like there was a string attached that kept me from pulling away from the portal entirely. What? No… no… NO! I’m so close! I thought. The others picked up on it, confused. I’m… being pulled back! Into the material plane! I said to them. The string that held me was slowly reeling me back through the portal, back into the metal body-prison. I struggled against the forces that were pulling on me, but whatever thread had held me was practically made from steel; it didn’t budge. Eventually I was no longer fighting to break it, but merely trying to delay my backward passage. Guys, don’t forget me! Help! I can’t hold on much- The next thing I knew, I was in my metal body again, laying on my side. Twilight was nearby, breathing heavily, and Fluttershy was holding her hooves over her mouth, a shocked expression coming from her eyes. I was suddenly extremely exhausted; this world was so cold… how had I not noticed that before? I shivered furiously. “I… I’m so sorry, Emerald. I couldn’t… I couldn’t break it…” Twilight said. I’m pretty sure there were tears falling from her eyes, even though I didn’t look at the time; I was too busy staring forlornly at no spot in particular in the far wall. Fluttershy walked over to comfort me. As she reached out her hoof, I spoke up to stop her. “Don’t.” I said. “You’ll burn.” Fluttershy flinched backward. “I’m sorry,” I think I heard her say. I had a thought, but didn’t say it out loud. Not as sorry as I am.