Bound Elemental

by Kendallonian

Entry 18: The Marshmallow Monster Rises

Starlight had lied somewhat regarding the rain. She said it’d be starting late today, but apparently the schedule had been moved up a little; it started at noon.

I was a little unnerved by the pitter-patter of raindrops like acid on the roof, trying to eat their way inside. I’d already survived this once, so I wasn’t cowering on the floor anymore, but I was pacing my room in an effort not to think about it when Twilight came in.

I briefly nodded to acknowledge her presence, but didn’t stop pacing.

One two three four, one two three four, turn, one two three four, one two three four, turn…

“Are you all right, Emerald?” Twilight asked.

“Yep.” I said tersely. I might’ve said more, but I was concentrating on not concentrating on the chill outside, and the wind knocking on my window like a mischievous fey who only needed an invitation to come in and wreak havoc. I was above this. It was just water from the sky.

Nothing but water, for miles in all directions…

I noticed myself shivering, and tried to direct that energy into some more furious pacing, instead. My hooves started clanking loudly as I made my way across the floor.

After a few moments, I heard the shimmer of Twilight taking down my forcefield.

I looked to see what was going on. Even as I did, I felt my anxiety building, telling me to keep moving until I was safe.

“Come on.” Twilight said, leading the way into the hall. I followed, head low from equal parts fear and shame. Eventually we came to a tall, round room that I got the vague impression was in the dead-center of the castle. There was an odd chandelier above our heads that looked like the root system of a large tree, dangling with an assortment of colorful crystals. Underneath it was a round table surrounded with six chairs- scratch that, seven. one was too small to see from the other side.

“Will you be alright if I leave you here for a few minutes?” Twilight asked.

I slipped in-between a couple of the chairs to get a better look at the center of the room. I looked over the table’s smooth surface, then up at the gems shimmering like stars. Above them was the wooden chandelier and the roof; it was so far away I could barely hear the patter of rain.

I nodded quietly, so Twilight left. After a few moments I found myself climbing up onto the table and curling up into a little ball. I wasn’t shivering, though. I was tired, and something about the table below and the gems and roots above made me feel safe.

Afew minutes later, Twilight came back with Pinkie, Starlight, and Fluttershy. Each of them was also carrying saddlebags full of… stuff.

“What’s all this about?” I asked.

“We are having a sleepover.” Twilight declared, “And you shall be the guest of honor.”

“What’s a-” I began before Pinkie’s face suddenly showed up next to mine.

“It’s like a party, but with blankets.” Pinkie whispered conspiratorially before sliding back out of my personal bubble. Soon afterward she ripped off her saddlebags and pulled out a package of squishy, white cylinders.

“I brought S’MORES!” she shouted to any and all ponies in the room.

“Brought some stuffed animals, um, if that’s okay.” Fluttershy said.

“And I brought some materials we can use to start some work on your own kite!” Starlight said with a grin.

I looked, stunned, from one pony to the other. I wasn’t sure what s’mores were, and I was pretty sure what would happen to the stuffed animals the instant they made contact with any part of me, but they were all so… helpful.

“You girls don’t have to… I mean, I don’t really need-”

“We know.” Twilight said. “But we want to. You’re a friend, and this is what friends do. And, if you don’t want to do any one thing, or if you just want us to be here to support you and nothing else, that’s fine, too. We just want you to know we’re here if you need us.”

I bit back any further replies, and smiled cautiously. Well, if she put it like that, how could I refuse?

The night began with Pinkie breaking out her portable gas stove, but apparently it hadn’t seen use in a while and threatened to blow up a couple of times. After a few minutes of Pinkie finagling with the thing, I finally came up with the obvious solution of using myself instead. Pinkie loved that idea, but Twilight needed some convincing.

“What’s so wrong with that?” I asked her.

“I dunno… it just feels like we’re making you work at your own slumber party.” She replied.

“Are you kidding me? This is going to be the most fun I’ve had in weeks!”

Before long, I had four mares huddled off to one side, each holding a marshmallow on a stick over my flowy, flickering mane. Once I figured they had gotten comfortable, I stealthily put a hoof to my nose to plug it, closed my mouth, and blew. With nowhere else to go, the air pressure emerged through my mane, turning it into a geyser of flame for a few seconds. Pinkie and Fluttershy were lucky enough to be on the fringes of the blast, so their marshmallows were only lightly toasted, but Twilight’s marshmallow got the brunt of the blast, turning black and crispy in an instant.

“Ah! Emerald!” Twilight shouted disapprovingly. I think I heard a smile in there, though.

“Now that one is just how I like it.” I said. I reached up my neck and snapped the blackened orb right off the stick with my teeth. I heard a few giggles as I chewed.

“Heeey… wait a minute.” Pinkie said. “What happened to yours, Starlight?” she said as she pointed an accusing hoof at the pink unicorn’s stick. The Marshmallow in question was still extremely white, despite being well within my mane’s blast radius.

Starlight gave a sheepish grin. “Eh-heh, heat-shielding spell. Makes it come out perfectly golden and toasty every time.”

“That is cheating!” I said as I pointed my own accusing hoof, frowning mockingly. Starlight folded her hooves.

“You’re just saying that because you get all the hopelessly burned ones by default,” Starlight countered.

“This is true. I confess.” I said back, no regret in my voice whatsoever. “Approach me if you dare, marshmallows! For ye shall either come back lightly toasted or not at all!”

This earned me some giggles from most of them, and floor-rolling laughter from Pinkie.

After that, I was the monster that was out to get their marshmallows. I’d lie in wait, let them get a few barely-toasted and brown marshmallows past me, and then I’d strike again, reaping the charcoal rewards of another blast from my mane.

Afterwards, Pinkie got me to try a whole s’more, not just the burnt marshmallow part. The consistency wasn’t bad, but have you ever smelled burnt chocolate? I was stinking up the whole place until Fluttershy was able to kick up a stiff breeze and shoo the smog into another room. Thank goodness for pegasi!

I politely declined Fluttershy’s offer of stuffed animals. It was thoughtful of her, but short of waiting for Twilight and Starlight to weave a compex fire-retardant enchantment I didn’t think I’d get any meaningful use out of them before… well… woosh! Ashes. Not to mention if that had happened I might have broken Fluttershy’s heart. Maybe next time, Flutters.

When Starlight brought out the craft supplies, I immediately rummaged through them to find all the biggest pieces and slapped them together. well, the biggest pieces that weren’t particularly flammable, that is. What I built was like the original diamond-shaped kite that Starlight made for me, except a bit bigger, and I attached a couple more sails onto the side to look like wings. Starlight, of course, made sure the thing I was making could actually fly by adding supports into the wings and running a few additional lines onto the structure to keep it stable.

We were just getting into the middle of painting the thing when the yawning started. First it was Fluttershy, then soon afterward Starlight, then Twilight and Pinkie Pie.

“Oh, goodness. Must be getting late.” Twilight said. “I’m never this tired.”

“Oh, come on! It’s barely…” -Pinkie had to stop mid-sentence to yawn. She pulled a cuckoo clock out of her mane to check the time. “...twelve cuckoos!”

At that very moment, Pinkie’s clock let out twelve cuckoos to let us all know it was midnight.

“Well, I don’t know about you girls, but that’s past my bedtime.” Fluttershy said.

“But- we’ve been having so much fun!” I said.

“Well, I’m not sure what elementals do at night, but we ponies need our sleep.” Twilight said, unrolling a few sleeping bags for her and Fluttershy.

Starlight grabbed my attention with another yawn.

“Well, as much as I hate to admit it, I don’t think I can stay awake much longer.” Starlight said. “Although I once see a spell in Twilight's library that might-”

“Magic can’t solve everything, Starlight!” Twilight interrupted from her new position lying down on the floor. “No spellcasting while drowsy!”

Starlight just gave me a shrug and went off to join the others in sleep-land.

“Don’t worry! I’ll stay up with you!” Pinkie said excitedly. “I can stay up AAaaaaall…” -and then she cut herself off with a deep snore, her body limply hanging over one of the chairs surrounding the table.

Eh, flesh-things. They’ve got no resilience.

I dragged my kite over to the other side of the room so I wouldn’t disturb them and finished painting it orange. I still want to put some yellow bits, but I didn’t really trust myself with the finer, artsy details.

It was then that I realized that, not only had the rain stopped, but I had forgotten all about it.

Author's Note:

Midnight is probably a pretty tame bedtime compared to some of you, but I thought it might be a good time for these girls to get to sleep.

Was it a mistake to make Emerald immune to sleepiness? Maybe I could get more dream sequences or dramatic blackouts in if I forgot about it later...

Also, apologies if you were dissapointed because you thought I was talking about Rarity in the title.

Comments

[Isuvyw]

A nice wholesome chapter

[Fireeaters]

11329023
Couldn't they get her close, have the elementals disassemble her, and then put her back together without the anchor to the armor, or something?

[Teraunce]

Nice sleepover and probably a mistake to make him immune to sleepiness. The mind needs some time to rest and he no longer has infinite energy.

[Kendallonian]

11329073
Well one rule I've also tried to establish with the armor is that, while fire can exit the armor, parts of Emerald cannot. That's why losing heat is such a big problem.

Quite a creative solution, though. I might have them try something like that in the future...

[BoltAshera]

Elementals, being entities of pure energy, don't need sleep, food or water. Or even air in the traditional sense. A fire elemental would need fuel and oxygen to maintain its flame if there's not enough magic being fed to it to sustain it, as in emerald's case, but that's it.