Bound Elemental

by Kendallonian

Entry 27: Cosmic botany 101

Last night I was… tired. Tired from trying to keep Blaze at bay, tired from living on half the fuel I’ve been used to. Tired from not being able to be with my friends.

Emerald… came a voice that was getting distressingly familiar.

I was too tired to yell back at it.

What do you want? I thought back, not really expecting an answer.

You need to come. Come to us…

I could still feel the direction the voices were coming from; I knew that if I got up and looked through the window I’d see the canopy of the everfree forest poking just above the thatched roofs of ponyville.

Tough luck. I replied. I’m grounded.

No more words came, but I felt a continuing tug that eventually just faded into the background. If I’d had control of my jaws at the moment, I might've groaned.

There was a tenuous peace between myself and Blaze for now, if only because Blaze knew that succeeding in consuming me would make some very powerful ponies very, very angry.

That didn’t stop him from trying to break out, of course, but at least I could just ignore him at that point; I personally knew that there was no way for him to succeed, particularly on the half-rations I’d suggested for us both.

So it was that when Starlight came in the morning, Blaze was too tired to strike at her.

On the one hand, I was glad to see her as a friend. On the other…

“You… couldn’t find anything else in the archives?” I asked.

Starlight shook her head.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

I laughed in spite of myself. It was a dry huff with barely any humor behind it.

“It’s not your fault.” I said.

“It is my fault, though. I’m the one who took you here, who was stupid enough-”

“Hey, stop it; you’re many things, Starlight, but stupid isn’t one of them.”

She shook her head, indicating she didn’t believe me.

A few moments of silence followed.

“Starlight, I don’t think I ever said this; not directly, anyway, but… I forgive you. For everything. You can’t blame yourself for what happened to me because there’s no blame to go around. I’m glad I’m here, right now. I’m glad I have you, and Pinkie, and Twilight, and Fluttershy for friends, instead of just… existing.”

Starlight shook her head again.

“You’re telling me all those things you showed me, the flying, the playing, the connection you felt back home, you don’t want any of that back?”

I sighed.

“I… I don’t know.” I said. “All of that, my life before I came here, that’s a part of me. I guess I do want it back, but… What I’ve done with you and Twilight, that’s a part of me now, too. A part of me that I’ll always want to keep, no matter what happens.”

Starlight closed her eyes, and I think I saw a tear fall from her eye.

Blaze had apparently been listening, because I heard some disgust emerge somewhere from within his thoughts.

No one asked you. I thought back.

It was about that time when Twilight burst into the room, looking like her mane had been through a windstorm. She was holding up a few pieces of parchment and had a twitch to her eyes.

“Emerald, when were you going to tell me?” Twilight demanded.

“Uh… tell you what?” I asked.

Twilight slapped the papers onto the floor, revealing… well, I wasn’t really sure. I still can’t read. Her student came to the rescue, however.

“You’ve been reading Emerald’s journals?” Starlight asked.

“Yes,” Twilight said. “And I’ve just now discovered that she’s recorded several instances of hearing some sort of voice calling to her from the everfree!”

“Oh, yeah, that.” I said. “You’re getting to those just now?”

“I’ve had a bit on my plate!” Twilight said defensively. “What with my second coronation coming up soon- but that’s beside the point! Emerald, why didn’t you tell me you were hearing mysterious summons to the everfree?”

“I did tell you, or I told Spike, anyway. He’s the one who wrote it down. Why do you even think this is suddenly so important?”

“Because there’s only one thing in the everfree I can think of that would be reaching out to you like that; the Tree of Harmony!”

“Treehouse of Harmony, name-pending.” Starlight corrected.

“Right, the tree was destroyed a while ago, but that’s beside the point!” Twilight said.

“Riiiight.” I said. “So… what’s this tree… house… thingy you’re talking about? Am I gonna have to burn it down to stop the incessant shouting in my ear?”

“NO!” Twilight and Starlight said simultaneously, suddenly in a panic.

“Um… no.” Twilight said sheepishly once she calmed down. “But you should probably at least go to see what it wants; maybe it wants to help!”

Blaze suddenly erupted from within.

“We need no help from you, soft ones!” He shouted.

Twilight flinched. Starlight rolled her eyes.

Blaze, please let us adults talk for a minute, ‘kay? I said as I squished my way past him to regain control of my mouth. He stubbornly held on to control for a few seconds before relenting.

I gave a short ahem to re-practice using my voice before addressing Twilight again.

“Okay, so there’s a tree-thing that might want to help. How in the world would it do that?”

“I… don’t know. Before it was destroyed, the original tree existed for over a thousand years, and who knows how long Harmony itself existed in different forms before then. Nopony really understands how it works, but it has always been a force for good, that much is clear.”

“Hmm. Maybe it just wants to get rid of me.” I said.

“Emerald!” Twilight scolded.

“What? I’m not part of this world’s natural order; if this tree is a force of… Harmony, did you call it? …Chances are the best thing for it to do would be to get rid of me.”

“Well, maybe that wouldn’t be so bad.” Starlight said hesitantly. “I mean… if the tree was able to send you and Blaze back home…”

“Or it could just kill us, that’d get us out of the way.” I said.

“I… don’t think that’s how the tree works.” Twilight said. “It doesn’t… kill things, to my knowledge. Even Discord, once the antithesis of Harmony, was just turned into stone for a thousand years when he went up against it.”

“Well, okay, I suppose that does improve my chances, but it’s all moot anyway. I can’t go on a fancy vision-quest to get help from the tree because I’ve got a roommate in here that’s going to take every chance he gets to set everything on fire. I can’t leave this room as long as he’s here.”

“We’ll… figure something out.” Twilight said. “Besides, this is more important than that. You want another chance to go home, don’t you?”

I didn’t answer, just stared at the floor.

“Oh, I’m sorry!” Twilight said hastily. “I didn’t mean to say-”

“It’s alright, Twilight.” I interrupted. “The truth is, I don’t know whether I want to be here or there, but if going to this tree thing will keep all of you safe from Blaze… I’ll do it, and I’ll accept whatever cost that comes with it. Just… make sure he doesn’t burn everything down on the way, yeah?”

Comments

[Teraunce]

Yeah Blaze is a terrible roommate. I hope the tree helps split them up.