Princess Celestia stopped by today.
I was laying on the floor, feeling cold, when I noticed her standing in the doorway.
I immediately closed my eyes; maybe Blaze hadn’t noticed her yet.
“P-Princess,” I said. I could already feel Blaze welling up inside, coming up like vomit. He urged my limbs to move, to strike at one of the ponies that dared to imprison him. I tensed as I resisted.
“Emerald.” Celestia said. “And… Blaze, I presume?”
“Yeah,” I said, grimacing. “Twilight told you, then.”
“I’m so sorry.” Celestia said. “To both of you.”
Blaze’s anger grew and blew past my control; I- He- flung my body at the forcefield and slammed our hooves against it, inches from Celestia’s face. Rather than green, the fire contained within my metal shell glowed ruby red and strained against its bonds, threatening to crack both of us open. A guttural roar erupted from our mouth before our fire sputtered and we collapsed back to the floor in exhaustion. Green prevailed again as I took control.
After a few deep breaths, I said;
“Sorry, princess. I don’t think Blaze is in the mood to talk.”
The princess and I sat in silence for a bit after that. Then, she walked through the forcefield.
I was startled when she did, I had honestly forgotten she could do that, but that surprise was also mixed with fear from my roommate. I couldn’t help but smile a little, inwardly, as I remembered how I had felt the first time she had come in unannounced.
Blaze seized control of a hoof and pushed us a pace away from Celestia before growling at the white alicorn.
“Blaze. Do you know who I am?” Celestia said.
That’s Celestia! The sparking WIELDER OF THE SUN! I shouted to Blaze within our connection. As Blaze came up to take control of our face, it’s expression shifted to a scowl. he said nothing.
“Speak.” Celestia commanded.
“I know who you are, soft one.” Blaze said. “You are the tyrant who has bottled us up like flies and parades us through your skies like a filly with her toys.”
My own anger was kindled, then.
She could kill you! She could snuff you out right this instant and nopony would stop her! I shouted at him. He scowled deeper.
“So, are you here to enact upon me whatever sort of witchcraft has deluded my sister in fire?”
Celestia’s expression shifted almost imperceptibly.
“The changes you detect in your compatriot are of her own making. They are hers to do or undo as she wishes. I would say the same of you.”
Blaze hissed back.
“You have obscured her view of our eternal purpose; all must burn. Perhaps I can help her to remember…”
Blaze then turned inward, toward me, and attacked. He shot tendrils of memories and ideas, trying to cram them inside me, while simultaneously trying to rip away the things I’d experienced here in the castle. I fought back, but mostly, I dodged, weaving around and coiling tight around those parts of myself he wanted to take away.
No! I am me! Stop it! I said.
Get back here, insolent spark! He shouted after me.
Luckily, while he was the larger and more powerful of the two of us, I was faster. Our red and green shades chased each other around in circles within our prison, neither able to truly fight the other except in passing.
“ENOUGH!”
Celestia’s voice ripped through our fight, a blast of golden magical force flinging us into opposite ends of the stomach cavity.
As we glared at each other from across the space, Celestia spoke again.
“Your sister wishes to remain as she is, red spark. The nature of your prison prevents me from destroying one without the other, but If you persist in your assaults against her, I will have no choice but to extinguish you, however entwined your fates may be at the time.”
That actually made me feel a lot better, surprisingly. If Blaze was going to disassemble me and put me back together in his own image… well, I’d rather die at that point. It took me another second to realize that, not too long ago, I hadn’t been all that different from him. Amazing what can happen in just a few weeks, huh?
Then again, maybe Celestia was bluffing. As far as I knew, she’d never even tried to kill an elemental, let alone gone through with it, and that was back when she was practically waging a war.
But, for the record, I think I would ask her to, if it came down to it.
Blaze soon turned his attention back to using the body, which was fine with me, for the moment. I used the time to rest up.
“You have committed crimes against the truest state of matter.” Blaze said as he climbed back up to his feet. “For this you shall-”
Blaze swung a hoof at Celestia’s face. I assume he wanted to end his sentence with ‘pay’ or something like that, but he was soon a bit distracted by the fact that Celestia had blocked his blow, bare-hoofed.
“I see.” Celestia eventually said calmly. “It seems that negotiation is off the table, then.”
Yeah, Celestia! You show ‘im! Get ‘im! I thought briefly before remembering that anything she did to him would probably also happen to me by necessity. Meanwhile, Blaze was gazing in horror at the hoof and fur that refused to burn from his touch.
Celestia pushed his hoof gently back to the floor, then stepped forward to whisper into our ears.
“Know this, Blaze. If I ever suspect that you’ve harmed Emerald in any way, you will have me to answer to, and if I find that you’re guilty, I won’t snuff you like the candle’s flame you are. Instead, I will show you flames so intense, even you would recoil from them.”
Whatever was left of Blaze’s bravado withered instantly. I froze at the thought. I wanted to ask Celestia whether her threat was even possible, but I feared an honest answer more than the uncertainty of not knowing. I think Blaze felt much the same way, since we both kept quiet as Celestia made her exit.
Not sure I like this change in story. I'm still here to support and read tho~
I wonder if Blaze would get their own body, and because they share the same body, I assume Blaze is also feminine, atleast for now or something
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Well the body itself is neutral, and the gender of the Elementals is really a non-issue since their biology doesn't really work that way. (if biology is even the proper term to use here...) I just use 'She' for Emerald and 'He' for blaze cuz that's how the characters seem to me.
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First off, may I just say your profile pic seems strikingly appropriate.
Thank you very much for reading my story. the fact that you care enough about it to let me know when I'm veering off means I've done something right.
maybe you could let me know what's... unpleasant about these new chapters. Like most folks, I'm still learning how to put together a good story.
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Yeah I do the same, so I would just gender assume or something, I also say a gender if I’m either thinking of how they look like, or looks a lot like the other gender or something, but that still makes me wonder what’ll eventually happen to Blaze
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Another thing I wonder is why does it look like when one is talking and/or is fighting for control, and I get the feeling Emerald is Emerald Green and Blaze is Ruby Red for a reason or something
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That'd be this passage:
Nice chapters even if adding Blaze is a very risky move that threatens what you built up. Two souls in one body is a very tricky thing to write, especially when they are polar opposites.
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Ah my bad I meant what would it look like not why, guess there’s gonna be some fan art of that or something
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After writing it a bit, I agree. Very tricky. This is, however, something I wanted to do almost from the time I first came up for the concept for this story. I was just never quite sure how to resolve it...
Big twist! Go for it and I really feel it'll work!
Also just wanted to say, Emerald not being defanged throughout learning to socialise but also having this continual interplay of missing what she's lost, but enjoying what she's gained is great!
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Thanks for the compliment(?) of my pic!
I suppose the thing that I'm most worried about in these recent chapters is the sudden change in scope of the story. It changed pacing from a friendship drama to an existential danger with an unknown new character being the cause. That would have been good for me as a shorter arc, but the way this is portrayed is a sudden and permanent change to the main character. I suppose I'm scared that Emerald is going to change permanently, and that the conflict of the story is escalating too much in too short a time.
I don't want to tell you what to do, of course this is your story and I look forward to whatever you have cooked up, but I would have preferred if the introduction of the second fire elemental was a shorter conflict, where Emerald uses it as a reference of the changes they have gone through and the difference between who they were and are now. Blaze can shake up the story a bit, add some conflict and make a statement about the difference of Emerald from other elementals, but ultimately Blaze could be released back to the plane of fire, given the excuse that it is possible to send Blaze back from the difference in their summoning, either having learned from Emerald, or having taught Emerald more about themself.
I hope this helps in some way, but I'll be along for this ride either way!~
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I mean I can't criticize much. Teraunce the character has his own tulpa/nightmare created from shoving all his draconic instincts (and negativity) in a box. Luckily they've had years to learn to get along by the time my kinda Isekai story featuring them in Equestria starts.