> I am Living Lava? > by Shadow of doubt > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 1 - The Town - edit by the wind king > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A cool breeze entered my tent, making me shiver as it drained the warmth away from my sleeping body, prompting me to get up. Drowsily I wormed my way further into my sleeping bag as I tried to regain my lost body heat, the motion only serving to wake me faster. Finally, after much grumbling and grousing at the chill that had managed to get through my camp gear to wake me, pulling myself out of the cottony cocoon and contorted my way into my day clothes before I made my way outside into the pre-dawn light, condensation falling off of my tent’s entry flap. I yawned as I looked around the empty camp, listening to the mixed sounds of bird-song and snoring, while I idly scratched my beard before my stomach voiced its displeasure at the early hour and I headed back to my tent to grab myself something to eat. I rummaged through my rucksack for some kind of food, chucking clothes around as I looked for a snack bar of some kind until my fingers brushed against something that felt right and I pulled it out, alongside a crumpled sheet of paper I recognised as the letter I got detailing an opportunity for amateur scientists interested in volcanology. I shoved the letter back into my rucksack before retreating from my tent again, breakfast in hand, and quietly ambling through the sleeping camp to the notice board that Markus had set up, reading through the pinned up schedule to see if there was anything I could do. As it turned out there was, and it even seemed easy enough for me to do on my own. I just had to head up to one of the active flows and grab a few samples. Suit up, grab gear, grab samples, and be back in time for actual breakfast. It’d be a piece of cake. Finishing off the remains of my granola bar, I found a pen and scribbled a note onto the schedule. ‘Gone to get early morning samples from the volcano, meet you guys up there’. ~Mark With that done I grabbed some protective gear, chucked it on, and hefted a sample container, before I headed off to the sample site with a spring in my step, despite the ten or so kilos of gear on my back. I was quite ecstatic I got the trip here, even despite my initial idea of what this expedition would be like being far more luxurious. I had always been interested in lava, magma, and volcano's, something about all that destructive power wrapped up in a completely natural phenomenon, the same friend that had managed to get me a space on this expedition as a junior researcher had jokingly compared me to one of those military nuts who got their jollies from talking about the yields in nuclear bombs. He hadn’t been completely wrong, but at the same time it was a pretty crass comparison considering the depths of my feelings on the matter When I finally reached the lip of the volcano I could see where the magma was pooling, and man it was excessively hot, even with the protective suit, I could feel my sweat already pooling in the heavy suit’s gloves and boots. I Carefully, I edged over the lip of the caldera and made my way towards the closest lava pool, when I neared the edge I popped the lid off of the sample container and scooped up a mug of hot lava, taking as much care as I could seeing as this was ultramafic lava, the sort of stuff that could move faster than I could sprint. Spilling it on my feet would have worse consequences than a mug of coffee for certain. Carefully setting the sample mug into the carrying case I’d brought it up in I set about filling up the other mugs from the different sitting lava pools, grabbing a few of the volcanic rocks for testing. Once done I started to pack up, making sure there was no chance of leakage or loss, but before I could back away from the last pool, I heard an oh-so-familiar someone start yelling at me from the caldera’s lip. “Mark, you god-damn idiot, get back here! You should know to NEVER collect god-damn lava without someone else to make sure you don't fall in or something, I thought I spent more than enough time drilling that into your bloody skull during the briefing!” Marcus’s shout echoed down into the crater, making me twitch in surprise. His normally calm and pleasant voice seething with an anger I’d only heard when one of the cooks had gotten drunk back at the airport and held us up for for the weekend while we had to scrape together his bail money. “I'm not an idiot, Marcus! It's not like I'm going to swim in it. Besides, I got a total of nine samples including rock and lava,” I shouted back as I stood up... only for the rock shelf, I was standing on to crumble, sending me sprawling into one of the standing pools I had been taking samples from. Turns out falling into lava wasn’t all that painful, probably something to do with the fact that my skin literally ignited around me taking the nerve endings with it, but I screamed and thrashed anyway as adrenaline spiked through my remaining body. Each frantic motion somehow pulled me further and further away from the pool’s edge, while a growing rumble mixed with what I thought was Marcus’s shouting. I just couldn’t tell. Everything was getting hazier, and hazier until it all turned black. I think it’s safe to say that my last moments as a human were pretty undignified. A cool breeze brushed against my skin, making me shiver as I tried to worm my way deeper into my sleeping bag, only for my feet to stretch out along the ground, unencumbered by the normal polyester and cotton barrier. “God damn, it's freezing,” I mumbled as I yanked something soft and feathery over my shoulder, sleepily resolving not to try sleeping without some sort of cover again. Who would have thought at the base of an active volcano would be so cold at night?. A few seconds later I started to feel warm once again. “Much better,” I muttered out within a sleep induced high, before the scent of something burning yanked me awake. Lurching to my feet, I tried to force my eyes to respond to the “OPEN” command I was giving them, before a sudden wave of dizziness struck and I collapsed face first into what felt like bare dirt instead of the comforting nylon of my tent. I could feel the panic attack rising as questions started to race through my head and only the continuing dizziness stopped me from running away in a blind panic. Where’s my tent? Where’s my sleeping bag. Where am I? Wha...Alright keep calm, just got to remember how I got here…wait a second. I’m dead. Well, I should be, but I'm alive. I can't be. How can I still feel any sort of heat? Oh please don’t let this be Hell. Finally managing to force my eyes open I could see my environment for the first time, and unless I missed something from ‘Dante’s Inferno’ there are no forests in Hell, so this couldn’t be Hell. Well, besides the fact that everything was burning down around me— that was pretty hellish. “Fuck, oh shit fucking fuck! Alright, um, I just gotta get out of here and call the fire department,” the words came out in a rush as I tried to control my hyperventilating, before I stumbled to my feet and tried to stagger away, only to stumble against my strangely long, legs and fall to the ground again, crashing onto my side with an audible thump. It’s only as I was lying there trying to get my feet back under me that I noticed how little heat I was actually feeling. I had been sweating when I was wearing the insulating suit, and now I was completely naked in the middle of a forest fire., I should have been melting, but it felt like I was relaxing in a spring afternoon. Slowly I started to calm down enough to fully take stock of the situation I was in. Yes, I was stuck in the epicenter of a forest fire, but it strangely wasn’t burning me. Heck, I’d probably hurt myself more when I tripped. It was when I looked down at myself to assess the damage that the true horror of my situation made itself clear. I stared down at my new body, almost in shock. Gone was my skin, now replaced with a jagged layer of what looked like obsidian. The black volcanic glass-like substance brightening to a mix of purples, reds, and oranges around several cracks that ran through my new body, all of which were constantly leaking a thick, ichorous, lava that oozed down my legs and charred the ground around my hooves. A pair of charcoal black wings spread outwards from my sides, chunks of ash and embers falling loose like down feathers as I attempted to move them. My eyes finally landed on my tail which was made out of lashing fire, flickers of flame in the corner of my vision implying I had a matching mane. The sound of a burning branch landing behind me snapped me out of my shock enough to remind me that, despite my, admittedly, rather intimidating and fire-proof new look, I was still in the middle of a raging inferno. I should probably try to fix that, and because I didn’t want to put my new tolerances to the test just yet, that meant trying to find a way to extinguish the fire that was starting to spread. As I looked around at the growing blaze I tried to remember what the best method for dealing with a wildfire was. Building a firebreak? That would take too much time and I was only one strange winged lava horse thing. Building up a backfire? Yes, because the exact thing I wanted at that moment was more fire, you’re a genius Mark. Drenching it? With what? I was in the middle of a goddamned forest fire, in a body I kept on tripping myself with, there was nothing to smother the flames with, and even if there was I doubted I could even use it properly. I had nothing that I could use as I was and I was too stressed to actually think on the spot, so I ended up using the tried and true teenager method. Screaming at the problem until it went away. “Argh, stupid fire, just go out already!” and, Aas if the Gods themselves had heard my plea, they answered by throwing the fire in my face. “Fuck! Sorry, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to insult you,” I pleaded as the inferno turned upon me, ensnaring me within its fiery grasp. My sanity was quite questionable just then, and what happened next only threatened to make it worse. The flames started to pulse as they drew in on me, snaking through the air until they wrapped around my body, pulling tighter and tighter before they started to surge into the cracks that were spread throughout my obsidian skin, and for the first time I actually felt the heat of the fire as it swept its way through my body. I tried to thrash and scream as the heat filled me to the point where I thought I would burst, but even as I opened my mouth more fire surged down my throat, feeling like it was choking me as the world started to turn black, again It was only when I was dumped unceremoniously to the ground, the final flickers of flame disappearing into the scars on my legs or joining my mane that I realized whatever eldritch transformation that had been happening was finally over. Wearily I pushed myself upright and into a sitting position that put me in mind of a dog. “Well, I'm still alive, Thank the sun for that,” I looked around to see the forest charred black, with no flames in sight. I looked down at my body to find my hooves no longer looking like they were covered in lava. They were now pure black, shiny, and polished. The cracks in my skin were no longer leaking lava-like ichor, but were now a hot orange colour. I had been too preoccupied at the time to really take notice, but I remembered having more than the usual number of limbs. Yep, a brief look back confirmed that I had wings on my back. This prompted a serious inventory of my own body parts that came up one glaring flaw that somehow stood out despite all the objectively bigger differences between the body I was in now and the one I was born with “Holy shit, I am definitely female.” What can I say? Sure, I was a fiery winged horse thing now, but a guy has to draw the line somewhere. “I'm just not going to think about that. I already have too much to think about right now.” I shuddered, Man, this place is creepy looking. As I walk..., no I, trotted towards what I assumed was a path through the forest hoping to find someone to tell me what on earth was going on. “This definitely can't be a dream; it's too real. Honestly, it would be stupid to think I was in a dream. I can tell when I am awake. Hmm, I got it! I guess Hinduism was right then… Who knew? Wait... no, then I'd be a baby.” I mumble out trying to keep myself from thinking about my situation. Following a path towards what I hoped to be civilization, one can only be so optimistic. Unknown location “Sister, did you feel that?” Celestia gently floated her teacup down to its saucer before turning to Luna, the dark alicorn’s brows furrowed in concentration as she attempted to hold on to the wave of magic that had crashed through the sisters’’s private dining room “I did, It appears as if a new alicorn has awakened," Celestia furrowed her own brows as she reached out to the wave of primal magic that accompanied an alicorn’s awakening, searching for a familiar magical signature within the aetheric surge. “And I do not recognise this magic from any of the ponies I had thought close to their own ascensions. “Shall I get the scrying orb to find this new alicorn’s location?” Luna asked, shuffling in her seat as the door to their dining room opened to admit a pair of serving staff who escorted a serving trolley between them. “Yes, that would be for the best. We must see if she or he is responsible enough to handle the power they now possess. After dessert, of course,” Celestia responded as the waiters placed a silver covered dome in front of the two sisters. Luna sighed. “Celestia, you really should watch your addition to cake, if this alicorn is not peaceful and goes on a rampage while you are eating cake you shall do the cleaning up, I shall go get the scrying orb,” Luna grumbled as she got out from her seat and walked towards the end of the room. As she did, she heard a giggle come from behind her. “You should really lighten up Lulu, I have a feeling that they will be very similar to us,” Celestia assured. “Yes sister I shall try, I am still new to this 'Peace' thing you are telling me about, I'm still getting the orb though, I'm excited to see who has awakened, perhaps it is that pony with the lazy eyes” Luna responded in a clear tone only for it to devolve into mumble near the end. “As am I, but patience is the greatest tool,” Celestia stated as she lifted the silver dome to reveal a small(ish) slice of chocolate cake and levitated a small spoon to sample to delicacy. Luna said nothing as she left for her room. Back with mark “Huh, now that is neat,” Is the only thing I can say as I look at the rustic old town, particularly the giant crystal tree castle. “Wonder what’s around here.” Looking back, I notice that I made tracks. Not the usual kind either, I had burnt the dirt where I had been standing on. “Now that is cool. I guess this isn’t a common thing since this whole town looks very, very flammable. Probably would look quite beautiful on fire, but not approachable.” I thought as I walked towards the town in the dead of night. “Man, my thoughts are random” My presence alone allowed me to see about ten feet in front of me as I was practically on fire, what with my mane and tail made of flames for some reason. “God damn it! Why did I get here nighttime now I can't find out where I am! Aughh, so annoying,” I shout out towards the town. I can clearly see no one is awake. I then felt something calling to me. It was powerful, extremely so, and it wanted to give me its power. So I accepted it, I mean really if someone said hey wanna be really strong, I would have said yeah so I accepted it. It felt amazing! My mane and tail’s flames brightened tenfold, my obsidian skin started to soften from the heat I was outputting and I noticed my wings suddenly combusted and turned into pure fire. I feel amazing, though I noticed the path I was on started to melt and catch fire! I needed to use this power or seal it somewhere. The only way I could think of would be to give it back to where it came from or just burn the entire town to the ground, which I'd rather not do. Thinking of what to do cost me greatly as the power flowing into me with each second that passed increased doubled, tripled, Quadrupled, my hair, and tail brightening with the rise in power. It took all my willpower, but I managed to force the power back into where it came from, my hair and tail started to dim and calm. My skin hardened back into obsidian and I fell to the ground panting. “Jesus Christ, that was hard,” I cough out. “All right, never accept free power, always a catch,” I mumble to myself, now looking at the ground which was, in fact, molten slag. I felt it again, whispering to me that it wants to be released. It expects me to take that power again. “Hmmm, not now, later when there is not a town nearby” And surprisingly it backed off, must be somewhat sentient. “Well, looks like I have to wait a tad bit, hope I'm not too intimidating,” I mumbled out as I laid down in the decent hole I made. Celestia's Pony of View. “Compliments to the chef, that cake was divine,” I said to my waiter, Honey Butter. “Of course,” she replied as Luna walked through the door with the scrying orb. “Sister, you have-” I was about to mention how she has some left over hay on her muzzle when I felt the whisper of the sun in the back of my mind, which always begged me to let it give me power, suddenly stopped. “This is most confusing. The sun, it has stopped whispering,” I mention to my sister. “Is this not a good thing, sister? I can't stand the whispering of the moon. I envy you,” Luna responded to me. “Do you remember what happens when we take power from the sun or the moon?” I inquired. “Of course, we gain almost unlimited power, only matched by each other or other alicorns,” Luna told me as she sat down placing the orb on the table. “Yes, but what becomes of the whisper?” I ask her. Realization struck her face. “It goes quiet,” she responded. “Exactly. Now if I am to take a guess, I believe somepony else is taking power from the sun,” I responded. “Perhaps it could be the new alicorn?” “Unlikely, Alicorn domains are singular, my own is the moon and yours is the sun respectively. Nopony can encroach on that territory. Nopony but you,” Luna replied. “Yes Lulu, I know, I am going to be cautious about this. It is impossible that a unicorn may have accidentally accessed the sun. But if that happened, they would be guaranteed to die with that much power going through them, as it cannot be held by any normal being.” “’Tis something we know already sister, but now that you have more motivation, shall we find out where this new alicorn lies?” “I suppose I should have shown more enthusiasm. Shall we?” I stood up and moved towards Luna as she charged her horn to cast the scrying spell. The orb then glows a brilliant blue and starts to shimmer to life, an image displaying on the transparent surface. “Oh my, now this is something to be concerned about,” my sister says to me as she levitated the orb over to me, What I see makes my face pale. The figure was a few inches taller than me. But the most frighting thing about her was the fact that she could handle power from the sun and was still doing so, her mane and tail a blinding white edging on blue flames. But as soon as the area she was standing in started to burn away she stopped drawing power from the sun and started to pant and mumble something. Then I began to hear the whispering again but after she whispered something it stopped again, and the power she had absorbed, which was a mere pinch of the sun's real power, began to flow back to the sun. She then collapsed. “This is the most concerning sister. How is she even real? I am almost sure that this is impossible. On a side note, invite Discord to tea when we have time. And please send a letter to Twilight. Advise extreme caution and remember to ask her not to use direct force, as she is unpredictable. She is only to keep us informed of her position and in check until we arrive,” I say to Luna, who stopped scrying. “Of course. I shall be ready to leave soon. Shall I procure my armor?” “Yes, but I shall meet with her first. If she is indeed as hostile as we thought, then we shall have to engage. I want you to prepare a spell to teleport us to the Badlands if it comes to that.” I made sure to put as much authority and urgency into my tone. I turned to the balcony to start the half hour flight to Ponyville. “I shall leave now. I want you to send that letter to inform Twilight of this and after which be ready for battle. Remember, we wish for peace if this thing is in fact not hostile, but I doubt it. If I am however proven wrong, we must keep an eye on her and if she proves herself, perhaps she will be revealed to the public.” “Of course, sister. Go now, I shall tell the servants that we shall be gone for the night. 'Tis it not exciting and if she is not hostile, perhaps then we shall have more company for our eternity.” Luna replies to me as I launch into the air to go to my destination. “I hope so, Luna, I hope so.” > Chapter 2 - The Meeting (Rewrite) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I never really slept well, even before I was turned into a pyromaniac's dream animal, but now it is even harder doubt and confusion are on my mind, Am I dead? Can I go home, why do I melt god damn everything. As such my already tainted sleep was more extended blinking tonight, luckily it was closer to morning than I realized. Standing up from the crater I melted when (what I assume was) the sun and I got buddy-buddy, as I stretched out the stiffness from my joints, I realized that my movement seems perfect, shouldn't I be a stumbling mess? Well you know what they say 'never look a gift HORSE in the mouth' "heh, puns" I mutter out as I start trotting towards the town, this time, however, it seems that it is, in fact, busy, but as I get closer some started falling over and doing weird dance's, well if there doing that, it must be some form of welcome dance, so naturally I copy and lower my front legs down while running... not my best moment. I crash land just in front of a small store selling roses with a smaller horse looking quite confused and still doing that dance- oh ohhh, there bowing, right forgot about horse biology. Once I stand up I notice something really weird. "Holy mother of the sun, your all midgets." Hmmm, Not my best choice of word's "Hey, we aren't midgets, you're just really tall your highness, s-sorry, please don't eat me," the midget horse running the ross stand shouted. "Huh, why would I eat you and what's with all the 'your highness’ talk? I just want to find out where I am." “Well, you’re an a-alicorn. All alicorns are royalty, and well, they don't usually visit my l-little shop. U-um, w-would you like some f-flowers?" "I guess so. Um, can you tell me where I am? And please get up off the ground." “You're i-in Ponyville, Equestria, miss" she responded with less fear in her voice. "here, take these flowers. They're on the house,” she said as she magicked a bouquet of flowers just in front of me. “Well, you gonna take them or not?" “Oh! Right. Let's see here." I move my hooves to squeeze the flowers in front of me. Unfortunately, they caught fire. “Ah! Uh! Um!" I dropped the flowers on reflex and stomped on them to put the fire out. Needless to say, it just made the fire worse. “Tha-that’s not an illusion! You're really on f-fire! Ahhhh!" “Hey, come on. I'm sorry I burnt the flowers, really, I-" "Halt foul creature! You shalt not harm my little ponies!" came a shout from above. As I looked to where the voice was coming from, I could see a new alicorn with a blue coat and a mane of the night sky, who also happened to be covered in armor and wielding a giant war hammer. She did not look happy. "I wasn't hurting he-" I was cut off from my excellent explanation with a hammer to the face. Soon after Mark's face met with the ground, more ponies started to gather to see what commotion was, only to see their princess smash a war hammer into another alicorn's face. “Woo, yay princesses" and "take that, evil doer" the crowd shouted out. “Wait!" called the only pony who actually knew what was happening. “Please Princess, she wasn't hurting me! I was just surprised! That's all, honest!" “My little pony, what is your name?" “Green Rose, your highness." “Green Rose, are you positive that she is not a threat?" “Yes, your highness. She is just confused is all. She didn't know where she is, I screamed because I thought at first that the lava stuff was an illusion, but when she touched my flowers…well you can see the results." she gestured to the small ash pile on the ground. “Agh, my head! It feel's like I was hit was a Warhammer.“ "Ah, yes that is my fault, my apologies I was not thinking clearly, I acted rather harshly, mine name is Luna, princess of the night, nice to make your acquaintance, again my apologies about before, this town happens to be on a magic fault line and for whatever reason, creatures of malicious intent are drawn to such place's," Luna explained while eying me carefully "None the less, please tell us where you are from and why you are here, t'is not every day that a new alicorn arises." Did she really just brush off the fact that she hit me with a BLOODY WAR HAMMER, stay calm, I'm fine it seems this new body can take a beating, that is kinda awesome, but still I can feel that. "Ahem, well I actually don't know you see, I have a rather ah." I am not going to a loony bin, I would hate to see this world's version of one of those *shiver* "Severe, would be the best word for it, yes a rather severe case of amnesia, you see I just kinda woke up not far from here and I was just... drawn to this place I guess? just wanted to know where I am is all." *BANG* Oh why hello again pain my old friend, how's your wife agony, oh currently residing in my face, lovely oh and how is your course the ground, oh really that close already absolutely lovely. “Take that, foul heathen!" shouted another alicorn. This one, though, was larger in stature and possessed a coat of pure white and a mane of a pastel radiance "Tia, why did you do that?" “Sister! Thou should have been paying attention! she would have gone for a sneak attack!" “I deemed her non-hostile. *sigh* Come, we must take her to a hospital, let us make haste to Canterlot." “Well, at least it's easy to take now," Celestia huffed. Canterlot castle hospital. "Sister" "Yes, Luna?" "You do realize that the bed is on fire, right?" "Yes Luna, I do" "Well, are you going to do something about that?" Celestia said nothing as she transferred the knocked out lava alicorn from the flammable recovery bed onto a less flammable stone tile floor. "Next time please think ahead." "Yes lulu" "You know what this-" Luna was cut off by the sound of a groan. — Mark's POV — “Ahh, my head hurts. I mean, how does that even work? I'm pretty sure I'm some form of liquid." “Our weapons neutralize ambient protection magic. Gives them a kick, as they say." “Huh? Wait, where am I?" I sat up and looked around the room I was being held in. The first thing I noticed was that I was on a stone cold floor, then the burning pile of ash next to me along with a few other white beds. I was interrupted in my musings from someone clearing their throat. “Oh. Um, hi?" “Hello, my name is Celestia. I am the ruler of this kingdom along with my sister, Luna." “Greetings, once again" Luna struggled to say in a friendly manner. “Oh well, my name is Mark Rose.” The looks on their faces would imply that they don't seem to believe me." Luna hummed. "such a peculiar name." Luna mused “tell me, what were you doing and what do you plan to do in our kingdom?” "Well, I kinda just woke up in a forest and traveled to that town nearby to see where I was. It's not every day you wake up to find yourself in a forest you know. That's not normal, right?" “No. t'is not a normal occurrence, but I wish to know what you call yourself, not what you think you should be called," Celestia replied, raising her eyebrow. "Mark. Rose. That is the name that I remember and that is the name I shall be called, but if I were to get a nickname I would suggest something like..." Thinking about all the names I have heard of here, which isn’t many, I looked around the room. The white alicorn has a sun mark on her ass. Hmm… ‘Solar,’ a quick look back to the ash pile as it flared up with a few sparks, I gained the idea for the last part of my name. “Flare. Solar Flare." Celestia's face paled a bit at this but keeps a neutral look. “Very well then. Now tell me, what are your intentions, and do you remember anything before waking up?" Luna asked, slightly annoyed. "Well, I haven't decided what to do yet as I have no memory of before I woke up," I lied. I mean, if told them I'm an alien from another world? Another universe? Another dimension? I'm sure they would think I'm crazy. “Say, um. Not that I'm complaining, but you're queens or something, right?” “Princesses.” Celestia corrected. “Yes, those. Don't you have, I don't know, more important things to do than check in on me?" "It is not every day that another of our kind appears and even then it is rare to find one such as you," Celestia replied while giving me a scrutinizing glare. “What, I'm not that weird, am I?" "You are literally on fire and you sweat lava, you don't consider that the least bit strange?" Luna raised her brow as she said this. "No?" “Hm. Well then, you will most likely have a headache from taking a Warhammer to the head, twice. Get some rest, we shall talk again. If you need anything, there is a guard at the door. You are not to leave until you have a clean bill of health. We shall speak again later. For now, I shall leave and send for some fireproof bedding." Celestia then motioned for her sister to follow her out the door. — Celestia’s POV — As I closed the door to the infirmary, I double checked all the containment and heat resistance spell's on the walls, windows, and other exit points to make sure they were in working order. "Well, that's one thing off my mind. Sister, what is your opinion of her?" "She seems to be as I suspected. A blank slate with basic knowledge of speech and interactions. I checked her magic signature and have indeed confirmed our suspicions to be true." "This does not bode well, but perhaps we can harmonize her?" "That plan may only destroy her, Tia. Her entire body is made of dark magic-fuelled emotions, but instead of being mindless anger, frustrations, and grief, it has developed a mind. Tell me, do you know why?" Luna's shifted herself forward, inspecting my body language. “Luna-" "No, you do not try to feed me an excuse, So please, tell me now." Luna cut herself off, too upset to continue. Her mane was disheveled, eyes red as if lemon juice had been poured into them. I sighed before responding. “Please can we talk about this another time, we have much we need to do, I promise. Though, I found, that we share the same magic signature" “Sister, I never thought-" “It's ok Lulu. I am just disappointed in myself." "Tia, it is alright. Come, let us call the chef and drown ourselves in inexpensive chocolates, but I want the truth soon Tia." I sigh as I head after her. “Oh, did you remember to put a bubble of silence around us, Tia?" I just prodded my hoof to a certain spot in the air and in response and a POP sound could be heard. "I am never under-prepared, sister." “True. Very true, Tia." > Chapter 3 - The Rules (Edited) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm roused from my rest by a continuous nudging I moaned and sat up... only to find myself face to face with a pony? Where am I? Oh Ohh Ohh shit that wasn't a dream, Oh great now the pony is giving me a funny look but as I rose to my full height it turned to slight fear... and was that awe? "Umm, Hello" Man my voice is so cool sure it's girly but damn is it cool it has a very slight echo effect. I look around and notice that I now appear to be in a medical room of sorts. "Oh, ah, no need to bow, I'm not royalty or anything, just wondering where I am is all" I mention idly as I look around the room and I can clearly see a few things that just don't make scene like that Pegasus napping on a cloud just outside my window... is he spying on me? "Sorry for poking you miss," said the pure white pony in front of me. "Don't worry about that, what's your name?" I asked it seems that talking to a nurse, well she is dressed like one. "My name is Nurse Redheart I am Canterlot Castle's nurse in charge of you, how is your head feeling" she seemed to want to be somewhere else with the way she was looking back and forth between the door. "I feel fine a little hungry, but fine none the less," I state as I stand up and to get a better look at the place. There is a pile of ash in the corner of the room and to the left of that there is a window with a Pegasus clad in (what I assume to be) gold armor, The floor is definitely polished marble while the walls are clearly painted stone. "Well then my job's done, I am to tell you that the princess will be meeting with you soon for brunch." She said as she stealthily (not really) made her way to the exit. "Oh, and you're not to leave the room," she said as she practically ran out the door. "What, I'm not that scary, am I?" Well, I guess I should wait... ... ... "Yeah... fuck that, I'm gonna look around." I made my way to the door which happened to be open, but something caught my eye a mirror, I didn't notice before was next to the door, I noticed that my 'hair' was now no longer a massive billowing out of control fire like when I arrived but calmer and with a few flicks of fire emitting from the main body occasionally "Damn, that is pretty cool," I think to myself as I make my way out of the room, only to bump into another pony. Well, I would guess horse because of the height. I mean, she is only a few inches shorter than me (not including horns... mine is longer) "Hello, Mark. Come, we have much to discuss over brunch," Celestia ordered. And here I thought I could sneak out and look around. We did not speak at all on our way, she still has an aura of hostility towards me. I, however, do not know why... perhaps it is my good looks? Well, for a horse anyway... I miss my family, what would they say if they saw me now? Sure, we never got along, but they were still there... I mean what the french am I eve- I am brought out of my musings when I bumped into a royal plot hole. Celestia’s, in this case. "Pay attention next time, please. My sister is inside waiting for us, let us not keep her waiting," She still has that odd aura around her, a feeling of hate just emitted from her towards me, but I know not of what I did to deserve this. "Do you have a problem with me, Celestia? Because your actions thus far have given me reason to think as such," damn I love speaking fancy, makes me feel just that tad bit better than who I talk to. Celestia, however, ignores my question/barb and opens the door with her golden magic. Now that I take a look at the place, this castle is quite stunning. I mean, they use gold to decorate the door for Christ sake! it's all hand-made, well... hoof/magic made I guess, but none the less it made the area beautiful and less dull. I think the highlight of my day this far, though, is that I have burned hoof prints directly through the castle carpet, there still smoking and scorched black. Haha, take that, Celestia! That is for hitting me with a goddamn war hammer! I really dislike her. "Are you going to stand there until nightfall or are you going to join us at the table?" Luna stated, looking rather bored but energetic at the same time what with her constantly tapping her back leg to get rid of built-up energy. "Oh, sure, give me a sec," Luna raised her eyebrow at this while Celestia shows indifference as I make my way to the table and sit down. "Now then, you are undoubtedly hungry. We have already ordered waffle shaped pancakes for all of us, they shall here within ten minutes, now then let's get to business -" Before Luna could finish her sentence my pillow burst into flames, might as well make the best of it. I simply stood up turned three times on the spot and sat down once again this time however in place of a nice fluffy pillow is nice warm ash, I honestly don't know why but it feels more comfortable this way. "Must you burn everything you touch?" Celestia's disapproving glare could burn through stone, good thing my skin is obsidian... I think. "In case you haven't noticed, Celestia, I am, in fact, made of lava. Even my goddamn mane and tale are open flames. Even my eyebrows! Seriously, you must be blinder than most bats, even then that's an insult to bats," I show off my fire brows at her, she isn't impressed, But before she could retort Luna cut us off. "Enough of this idle chatter. Mark, you are here to learn what we expect of you. Now, as you may not know this, I suggest you listen. For one we have no clue how you manifested a body for yourself. The fact that you have amnesia is more than likely caused by using large quantities of magic without warning. Only if my sister knew anything about it," Luna explained, towards the end, however, she sent a scolding glare at Celesta. "I have no idea either sister, she truly is a mystery, even to myself," Celestia replied evenly "Anyway, here are the rules that you will follow. Number one, You are not to leave the castle grounds. The staff knows of you but have been sworn to secrecy, Number two, You are not to take power from the sun, As you have practically no experience in containing it, you can't keep your passive power levels in check. Not only that but you could cause extensive damage to the castle itself and attract unwanted attention. Number three is more or less a task you must perform. Celestia has asked her star pupil to teach you how to contain your magic. She will be teleported here once a week for three hours total before going home, I shall teach you basic magic for mundane tasks after or just before night court. No-" *bang* Oh oh god that was hilarious a white dove (I assume) just flew directly at the clear window on the other side of the room hit and slid down with a squicking noise. I couldn't help it I burst out laughing as well as luna, even Celestia giggled a tad bit, For once. "At least you know that the window is clear," I snickered out as luna calmed down "Well yes, whenever we have lunch here Clean Window and the rest of the castle washmare's can go a tad bit overboard," Celestia giggled a tad bit towards the end of her sentence "Verily, do not worry about the birds, they usually fly off unharmed... aside from a minor headache," Luna got up and walked towards a door that led towards a kitchen. "WHAT IS TAKING SO LONG, WE PUT THAT ORDER IN FIFTEEN MINUTES AGO" Luna screamed out in (what I assume is) the royal canterlot voice. Without further prompting castle staff began scurrying around like wildfire shouting could be heard even from where I am seated, most of if not all of the shouting was either to get a move on or sorry princess. "Your pan-waffle madame" A waiter was literally right next to me, how he got here so fast I have no clue, did I jump up five feet high? properly "Jesus, where the hell did you come from?" "My mother, madame," Wow this guy is thick. "Umm... ok then," go way, just go away... finally. "So, basically I'm in a gilded cage," My statement is just that a statement. "Essentially, yes. Once you can control your power then you may leave the castle... Probably," probably was added on when Celestia cleared her throat before sipping some water. "Fine, so what's first?" There is no way in hell I'm going to stay here, not with the glare giver, man she really hates me. Luna nudges her with her magic. "You are to be escorted to a room for the rest of the day until you hear the bells toll, then meet me in the throne room for your first lesson in controlling your flames," Luna responded while she finished off her pan waffles. Guess I should try them, I simply face plant into the plate and get a mouthful of pan waffles, they actually taste nice even if they burn to ash in my mouth, surprisingly it still tastes good, but now the plate has melted, great. "Well, when can I go somewhere without supervision?" Huh, I've made an indent in the marble floor in the shape of my ass, nice, now they know that this is my spot. "Once you do not melt the floor then you shall be free to move around, for now, you shall be escorted to your new room," Luna said while motioning Celestia to follow, while I made to follow her. > Chapter 4 - The Training (quick edit) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Celestia, I thought Luna was going to train me?" I speak out as I close the door with my hoof, slightly singeing the wood and earning a glare from the guard escorting me. "You may leave us, thank you for escorting flare." Celestia chose to ignore my question, preferring to order the guard out of the room. "Yes, Princess." The guard bowed and left quickly opening the door with his hoof, touching the same spot I myself used, he quickly removed his hoof with a curse muttered under his breath before leaving "I.. I must apology Flare, I have not shown proper hospitality whereas luna has in spades, For that I realized that I should make amends, Do you accept?" Celestia said with trouble but from what I could tell it was honest. "Ahh sure, why not." It's not like she killed my cat or something, just some dirty looks really. "Thank you, as a show of promise I shall train you, as I have more experience with pyromancy," Celestia mentioned idly as she moved down from the throne to look me in the eyes, I in turn just wiggled my fire brows at her. "Alright, what's first.?" Honestly, I have no clue what so ever on how to start, for obvious reasons. "before we begin, I shall ask you a simple question when you answer it correctly we shall move on. What is fire." Celestia has that all 'I am holier than thou' look on her face, I detect bullshit, heh well I am a pretty good bullshitting things lets see how I do. "Fire is energy, energy is life, energy is magic, energy is matter, therefore fire is everything and everything is fire, just in a different state." God, I hope those five-minute youtube science videos were right, and I also hope I remember them all. "That was not what I expected but half right, energy is not matter but under the right circumstance it can be, I was expecting a much less scientific answer but since you at least understand the basics we shall move on to the next task, the first thing you must do is calm your mind, was you have done so search for your magic, it has a distinct feeling, so you should be able to find it quite easily." Celestia paced back and forth, as I calm my mind down, now that I think about it why are we even in the throne room, meh I'll as latter. As I clear my thoughts I feel for my magic. There that feeling is what I felt when I arrived, fear, anger, loathing, greed. Wow, I do not think that is what I should have, I mean I think the greed is greed for more power, but I could be wrong. "Um, Celestia?" She seemed very slightly annoyed but resumed her 'normal' look. "Yes, Flare" "I ah think I found it, but are you sure I should try and grab it." I think that's what she wants anyway, but hey I'm not the wizard here. "Yes flare, to put it bluntly just try and grab it and bring it up to your horn, that should teach you channeling." "Well, alright then" I sit down, on the red carpet floor as I constraint on moving my magic to my horn. But in doing so, I let the floodgate open, it keeps going and going, but all of the emotions I ignored and tried not to think about come to the forefront of my mind. Oh god, I- I don't even know how the hell this stuff happened, I mean I was just being stupid, I wanted to impress my friend, Oh- Oh my god I- I can't even remember his name anymore, Am I forgetting anything else? Holy Fucking shit, I'm not even a god damn man anymore, What was the point in dying if I just end up in Magical horse land, As a female HORSE, Just What the Fuck. All of these thoughts pass through my head within a flash, then my horn does... something it looks like its sucking the light out of the room like inky shadows with red flames dotted through the aura of my horn, I feel so powerful right now, My hair is back to its full size, like when I got here, I wondered why it got shorter, Celestia seems to be panicking but I just want more, it- it feels nice actually after all those emotions they just disappeared, I want more, no I need more, The sun, Yes the sun, I call to it, It responds and sends more power, oh Oh~ that feels nice, where am I again, all I see is bright light, Oh God, yes~ The sun keeps giving me more and more, the input increases, suddenly it increases its magnitude by ten fold as a beam of pure fire bursts through the sealing hitting my body like a truck of pleasure if that's even a thing the power I feel right now, is god-like. I'm snapped back into reality when I notice the Celestia has slapped me across the cheek, oh shit the throne room is well let just say, I left a nice ass print this time, OH right, I force the power back down into my body cutting the connection with the sun, I fall over, but I can still feel how the power of the sun is flowing through me. "oh, what happened?" I moan out. "What HAPPENED, WHAT HAPPENED." Celestia seems pissed off. not good. "I look around, my hair is no longer fire, but what I could only assume is plasma, when I look up I can see a VERY big hole through the ceiling, luckily the throne room has no room above it. "It, was an Accident?" Oh god, that was the wrong thing to say. Now that's new, Celestia raised her hoof to her chest and breathed out three times. "Sorry, about that, you are unbelievably lucky, I made sure there was nopony around aside from myself, now tell me exactly what happened, and maybe I will help you rebuild the throne room BY HOOF." "I don't know I just grabbed the magic like you said, I was nervous because it felt angry and just negative than I got kinda lost in the anger and then it kinda got euphoric and well you know the rest." Celestia sighs, "I Guess it is partially my fault, I was training you like a regular unicorn, and not an alicorn of an unbelievable amount of power, nor do you know anything about how magic effects emotions, I shall help you repair this place, but I want you to train with luna, she is better at controlling her emotions, they seem to be directly linked to your magic, where my own has none." Celestia actually seemed to be sorry, like she understood what happened, I guess I judged her wrong. "I'm really sorry, I should have resisted more, I've never experienced magic before, but how can we even repair something like this, I mean look at the place." I know that if this were in my old world, we would just smooth out what's left of the place and start again, but there is magic here so who knows? "You seem to have excess power, so we shall do something that would be quite stupid to do on this scale, but with our combined powers it should be a like trotting through the forest. We shall use a repair spell, it is actually quite ingenious, all that must be done is before the object is destroyed you mark it with magic and then copy this mark onto something, such as this." She held her amulet up, the purple gem necklace thing. "I have the entire city of canter lot marked on this amulet, it remembers the position of all the houses as of three months ago, including the throne room, all I have to do is this." she explains as her horn lights in a golden glow, and suddenly her gem creates a hologram of the original throne room around us, just outlines, golden outlines. "woh, that is cool." "Now this may be hard but I want you to focus on me and slowly channel magic, if you're up for it, and take it slow this time." "Umm, I'd rather not, I don't feel confident" I state, yeah, I don't think I could resist that power in that state again. "hmm, I shall take your point, but there shall be punishment, in the form of training, now let me constraint." Celestia paced around and soon her eyes, turn white and she raises into the air I can see all of the melted gold, stone and marble separating and forming back into the base structure filling the outlines and then from what I could only call reverse fire the banners and in the manner of minutes the throne room looks good as new. "Wow. You are overpowered." That is all I can really say. > Chapter 5 - The Aftermath > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "No, I am not 'overpowered' at all Flare you just know nothing of magic in the slightest, this is but a minor feat for me," Celestia said as she floated down to the floor of the newly remade throne room. I am not that science minded but I always have had an interest and with what happened I must have been close to the core temperature of my old sun, perhaps not the core but decidedly hotter than the surface, in fact, my hair is still made of plasma instead of fire, or perhaps its magic, Much like Celestia said I know little to nothing about magic. "Well, I guess your right, so now what, you're not going to banish me are you?" I honestly have no idea if she will, even though she has been much nicer in the last wait how long were we 'training' from what I could tell it was perhaps ten minutes at most. "No, but you are going to wish that I would, I can't have you running around being controlled by your own magic, so we are going to train you how I was trained, now I am quite hungry from our little session. I am also certain that you must be fairly hungry as well, so we shall go to the dining hall and get some food, I shall get a guard to escort you there while I shall make sure nothing is wrong with the throne room, in case I missed anything," Celestia trotted to a window and lit her horn a within a moment a blue flash came from behind me where a unicorn guard was waiting as I turned my gaze back. "You can teleport, Why not just teleport to meet me now that I think about it." I mean really it would give any army back home the best tactical advantages ever. The guard sigh's before speaking "Teleporting is quite a high demand spell and going into battle tired is not the best course of action." Well, I guess that makes sense, all well, man I really am quite hungry. "Follow me, I shall lead you to the dining hall" I would think the floor would be hot, you know what with me melting the whole damn throne room down than Celestia pulling that 'No no, that didn't happen, try again.' thing, with that much energy it would at least be hot, but no it wasn't. Celestia's Point of View I watch as Flare follows the guard out the room, and once the door closes behind her I slump down on the floor exhausted "Hey, how long were we in there." I hear her voice yelling back to me. "About an hour and a half," I shout back. I care not for appearance as of now, I just wish to rest even with the magical reserve gems I have in my royal accessories I am still drained. I can estimate that I used at least eighty-five percent of my mana including the mana crystals which hold an addition fifty percent of my full reserves. But it was worth it, Flare thinks I have more than enough power to squash her like a bug if I so choose, truth be told I do not. but if she thinks I do well she would keep to the rules until I can safely determine if she is just waiting for an opportunity to strike or genuinely lost, I will not be fooled again. My internal debate was stopped with a polite and quite clearing of the throat. "Sister, were you able to gather enough data?" I inquire to her as I move to a sitting position, turning to face my sister. "Verily Celestia, we have a more educated guess as to the power level of Mark, I have confirmed that you do not have the exact same magic signature but one so similar you can't tell the difference unless it's in use, as you know each magic has its own feel to it, Mark's feels boarder-line like dark magic, but less so, but the actual style of magic is identical to your's sister, also you owe me ten bits, I was in fact, caught in that inferno even from my hiding place." It seems Luna was able to get enough information, although I wish she stopped making me bet all the time all well, no harm no foul. "Yes well it does seem she bought the act, but I can safely say that she is more powerful than you, as she seems to be magic, her body is nothing more than emotions taking shape with magic, but what is odd is that she has a mind, it is unheard of sister," It's just one mystery after enough isn't. I try and stand up, while I am successful I am still very wobbly and unstable "Luna, I must rest, please join Flare in the dining hall, tell her I have to attend some duties or something, ah something along the lines as calming the citizens down after a giant fire beam struck the throne room," Of course I was prepared for the worst and used an illusion spell around the throne room to make it seem as though nothing happened, although as it was a low power illusion if someone were to look hard enough they would have been able to hear and or see through such an illusion. "tell me did the illusion charm keep up the whole time?" I ask while walking back to meet my sister. "It has survived, barely though it be, we must fix it within the week lest it fails. We would not want such a thing as you would not be able to hide your cakes in plain sight." Luna jested. "You have a very poor sense of humor Luna, I only hid cakes here one time, and that was on my birthday two-hundred and three years ago, you should try some new material," I trot over to the door before looking back to my beloved sister. "I am sorry if I seem harsh lately, Flare brings back old memories I rather wish forgotten," I was so ignorant back then, even Starswirl warned me, and I, like a fool, ignored him. "Tia, please talk to me, you promised you would tell me what happened when I was... occupied elsewhere," I-I can't tell her, not yet at least... later "I promise I will, but I am exhausted luna, I have not been on such low magic reserves in a long while, come to my dreams tonight and I will show you, what happened all through years ago." Luna puts her hoof on my withers before speaking again. "You are avoiding this topic Tia, you are running from it, please do not avoid it tonight." I sigh, She was always a sharp one. "I.. I shall try, but I do not want you to think differently of me because of it," She would even Starswirl treated me differently because of my mistake. I do not look back as I gather the rest of my mana and teleport back to my room. > Chapter 6 - The Friend (Unedited) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "About an hour and a half," shouted back Celestia as I moved to the dining room with the guard in tow. "So, see anything interesting Mr..." I trail off, hoping to take my mind off of what just happened. Surely there should be ponies panicking, for god's sake's I just blow up the bloody throne room... Damn, I forgot to sit on the throne. So I can at least get a little revenge at Celly who's keeping me locked up in here... well I guess I can't complain about it too much, free food and shelter not to mention if I hugged anything it will burst into flames or melt. "Sharp, Sharp Sight. And do fairly large flaming alicorn's count? If they don't then I need to get out more," Sharp Sight interjected. as he kept some distance about five feet if I were to guess, oh and he is sweating up a storm. Well, he is right next to me, and my hair is still plasma... How is he not dead, I don't know much about plasma but I know it's damn hot, and if you get close enough it will melt your face off. "Sorry about the heat, I can't really control it," I really need to learn how to control this power, as nice as it is I am kinda getting sick of tasting ash for food, I mean ash tastes a whole heck of a lot better than I thought it would. "I can understand that. There used to be a little filly that ran around here with so much magical pressure it could give somepony a headache if you stayed near her too long," Sharp explained as he directed me to the left. "Magical Pressure?" I am honestly very curious about magic and this sounds a bit like an anime thing. "You don't know what magical pressure is? Celestia should have told you about it, but I guess she must have been teaching you how to access your magic instead?" Sharp looked to me for an answer I only shrugged in response and when I didn't elaborate he let out a sigh. "Well, I guess I should give you the basics, if you noticed the princesses mane and tail, along with your own you can clearly see it is much different, that is because you have so much magic pressure that it's visible, now most pony's can handle around one thousand thaumic units, any more and bad things usually happen. That filly I told you about, well, she would have around one and a half thousand thaumic units and since she didn't know how to lower her thaumic power it could cause a headache in less resistant ponies, Princess Luna and Princess Celestia have been rumored to have thaumic measurements in the hundreds of thousands, if a pony were to experience something like that they would most certainly become unconscious, but I am no magic expert, as you might have noticed I am not wearing a wizard cloak and hat, but this is more or less common knowledge. Don't quote me on that info, though," Sharp seems like a decent pony, and that's a lot to chew on as well, wonder what my thaumic measurement it? "Wow, that's a lot of info, thanks for the chat, nice to see somepony isn't that afraid of me." Sharp beamed back at me as he motioned for me to go into the dining room, damn I hadn't been paying attention to my surroundings, looks like I'm going to get lost a lot. "I will see you around, sharp," I say to him over my back as I walk into the dining room, Luna is already waiting there, I increase my pace as to not keep her waiting on me. "Hey, Luna sorry if you had to wait too long," I explain to her as I sit down on the chair. Didn't think they would be the same furniture here but whatever. "What?" I state as Luna was looking at me with an odd look. "Oh, it's nothing too much its just the fact that you missed the fact that there is an obsidian chair to your left, and the one your on is wooden," she explained. I don't know what she's going- Oh she is right, man I do not take notice of my surroundings. I raise myself from my seat and move to the other chair. I can hear a thunk behind me from the wooden chair collapsing from the fact that it was supporting my ass, which is very very hot. "Sorry about that, I have been in thought a lot, I feel like I'm missing something," Technically not a lie I am missing my family, even though I live on my own I still have a good relationship with my mother, and I can't just go shouting out the fact that I'm an alien in a pony body, I know for a fact that will get me into a crazy house. "Well, I don't know what you are missing, but if you would like I can get you a new guest room," Luna tells me with a smile on her face. As she motions a waiter to her side. "Will it be 'me' proof?" It better well be, I haven't slept on anything soft in such a long time. I watch as she order's her food before she turns to me "The floor will be made of obsidian as it is slightly more heat resistant than marble." she explains to me, but before I can take more of her time with questions she continues on. "What would you like to eat?" In response to that, I give her a deadpan look. "What?" Luna actually looks bewildered at my response. "Luna, what happens when you put something in a fire?" I ask to her as I straighten up on my obsidian chair, honestly, it seems as though it's more like a mini-throne, rather than a chair. "It burn's what is your point here... oh, sorry we did not know about that, truly must be a punishment to endure never tasting food," She honestly does look apologetic. "It's fine, not really sure why but I am a bit irritable right now. But it's not as bad as it seems, really, the ash doesn't taste too bad," Oh wow now she looks like a heartbroken puppy. "It seems like you have a cruel existence, if ash tastes good in your eyes you truly haven't had any other 'food' here have you," It was more a statement then a question and I feel bad for tricking them... Kinda, but I am already in a gilded cage no need to turn that into an actual cage. "Yeah, I haven't had any food at all in my time here," Once again technically not a lie, she looks a little more downtrodden if that's even possible. "We swear to you, Rose, that we - I mean I shall do everything in my power to teach you how to control your flames, so you can taste the majestic form of pancakes and other delicacies of this modern era," Luna celebrates with much enthusiasm. I just got myself into something big, didn't I? *POP* "What in the nine hells is THAT," I shout out, I fall off my Obsidian throne-thing in surprise as what I can only guess is a chimera wearing a raincoat and boots whilst having beach shorts on sudden teleports on the table with a ruby scepter with a toilet on it. "Good Milk day, Luna, Celestia, oh what a wonderful time for milk," he shouts, I think he is confused me with Celestia. "My, my Celestia you look a little different, done a little something to your hair, must be why you called me here. Tea time with me is simply so much more fun than with him," he points to a small ventriloquist doll on his lion paw, an exact copy of him at that. No, wait he has three arms now and the dummy is on the third one. This thing is giving me a headache just watching this. "How dare you Discord, I am much better at tea time than you are-" His dummy which actually talked while he was drinking out of the toilet on his staff was cut off by luna "Enough of your antics discord we did not foresee your arrival so soon, it usually takes at least three weeks before you answer a request. So as much as I... 'Enjoy' your company please come back at a later time," Luna does not like this thing period, he seems a little coo-coo to me but fairly nice. "Why I am hurt lulu, simply hurt. I am not that predictable, I do not take exactly three weeks each time to answer a summons. And you Celly, being naughty again have we, last time you were like this I couldn't wait for the birds to get to my glorious stoned mug, their droppings whilst annoying were a much-needed cool off," He seems smug and, wait Celestia looked like this, what did he mean by cool off, man this Discord guy is really confusing, I mean I did stupid things while I was drunk I did not bath in bird shit to cool off. "Uhh, my name isn't Celly,-" Discord interrupted me before I could continue. "And I thought you didn't like being called Celery, Celestia, really you make me work so hard to get a good nickname, but since I am feeling so generous with all my good deeds done," He points at a window that was not there before with a picture of him in sequence of taking an apple dipping it in hot sauce and then giving it to a random pony, which he then proceeds to laugh his ass off while the pony's mouth froze over, his entire mouth was frozen shut. "Uhh right, but I'm not Celestia my name is Rose." I'm cut off again as he was listing nicknames before he stopped "Got it, your new nickname is now Solar Flare. Wait, you're, not Celestia?" he actually seemed confused for once, the look does no suit him. "I could have sworn I had the right signature," he mumbles "Ohh never mind then, I shall introduce myself," He stops to clear his throat. "I am known as Discord kaos xaos the third from the era of kagubot the dezòd, I am the mighty conqueror of candy island and bringer of chocolate milk and rambutan, and the spirit of chaos himself," this guy is a walking comedy act, I am quite sure he just said chaos in other languages a few times. "Nice to meet you?" Really I am thoroughly freaked out but he seems nice? "Lovely to meet you, my fair lady, now tell me, do you want a chocolate?" I can see luna shaking her head frantically at me pretty much begging me not to eat it. "Sure, I am quite hungry," and I pop the offered chocolate head of discord into my mouth before it hit my mouth though it turned into a blue flower, but is completely eviscerated from the heat of my mouth "Best tasting ash I have ever had since birth," That was not a lie at all, it tasted faintly of apples. "Finally somepony who doesn't hesitate to take something I offer, geez you would think they would be a little nicer don't you think Rose?" Discord floats around my neck, acting the part of an expensive scarf while luna is just glaring at him. Defidentally, not me, at least I hope so. "Well I can't see why they wouldn't like you, I mean your pretty funny, if not confusing but I can't see why ponies shouldn't like you, that blue flower was very tasty," He slithers around my neck breaking the... icicles that had formed on his nose as he jumps into the air for joy. "See lulu, Rose here she gets me, told you it's not a phase I can make friends at the first meeting," Discord turns to me with the happiest look in his eyes. "We are friends are we not Rose?" "Of course we are Discord, I am very much hurt that you even had to ask, unlike someponys I don't judge a based on their tails," his tail was the first thing that came to my mind. The best part was that he laughed at that, although I'm not even sure if what I said classified as humorous. "You and I are going to be the best of friend's I can tell you right now, but alas I was not meant to be here yet, I shall come back tomorrow, like little moony here asked," He pointed at Luna as he disappeared, no pop or bang just gone. "He can't make his mind up on how he teleports can he," I state to Luna. "Yes, and i hate to say this but most of the words that come out of his mouth can not be trusted, but at least you made a friend, he even more-so," she rose from her seat taking her empty dish in her magic at passing it to the waiter, who took the dish as if nothing new happened at all, profession waiter if I do say so myself. "I am going to rest now Rose, sorry if I was not for conversation, he tends to turn my words against me in the most embarrassing ways, you can ask a guard to take you to the guest room when you feel like it, oh and do not bother to wait for Celestia, she has been caught up with calming the citizens down, apparently most ponies saw the throne room exploded or something. Have a good day Rose," Luna turned to exit the room "Oh and take whatever Discord say's with a grain of salt he tends to make things up," She shouts over her shoulder. I sigh as I motion the waiter over and ask for anything edible, I have a lot to think about, that Discord guy was a riot, but from luna's reactions, i think he said something I wasn't meant to know. All well, can't think on an empty stomach after all. > Chapter 7 - The Talk (Unedited - again) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Celestia's point of view Looking around my room, I find myself staring at the small fireplace as the last embers die out, looking above the mantle I can feel tear's in my eyes as I look up at the gift's friends left me from times most ponies won't remember. Sighing to myself I turn my head out to the clear window to watch the world I helped grow. So many ponies that live happy lives, knowing we alicorns keep them safe from harm and pain. Eventually, I find myself gazing out into the stars, fighting the fact that I must sleep and face Luna, tell her what happened all those years ago and when she learns I hope she won't turn away from me. Soon enough the stress from the day made itself known through a large yawn. As I Heading to the bed looking at the small wooden alicorn toy next to my dresser I can feel a small smile grace my tired face as I mumbled under my breath about time and how unfair it can be. I slump down onto the mattress of my bed, too tired to pull the covers on me. I sigh in content as I look down at a valley of green from atop a hill, resting next to a great oak tree with leaves greener than emeralds reflect the moonlight, I see the moon shining especially bright tonight. "T'is beautiful sister," I Luna announced from behind me. I continue to look over the valley, a place forgotten in time. "Yes, it was quite a lovely sight wasn't it," my voice even in the dream realm feels dry and horse. shifting my wings and letting the memory of wet grass override my senses, as I gaze back at the valley full of small houses and if I were to squint I know I would see shadows that resemble ponies moving too and throw, I have had this dream many times. "You promised me an explanation for your hostility toward Rose sister," Luna whispers to me, trying not to break the quiet and scenic atmosphere. I flinch as she settles next to me, using her wing to cover my back. "What is this place sister," Luna's smile lifts my mood as I look into her eyes, her brilliant sapphire eye's. "Dreemur valley, a small village that was founded about twenty-three years after your banishment, I visited here a lot back then," I shift my gaze from Luna's serene face as I look at the sky and a moon that still show's my sister's profile. "You talk as if this place no longer exists?" Luna's question makes my breath short, I knew she would pick up on that, I just thought I would be prepared. "It doesn't exist anymore, my own fault as well. Tell me, even if it pains you, do you know what Nightmare Moon was?" Luna's face darkens even the moon's gentle glow and the small breeze failed to bring light back to her face before she sighs the light returns with small tears in its wake. "Me, my own emotions, She was me with a different mindset, I remember her as though I made all those choices yet I also remember her voice she wasn't me but she was close, but still a cruel creature, born from my own hate and jealousy, in truth not even I know what she truly was but she made herself out to be me, just different." Luna looks away, a small empty chuckle escape her mouth before she continues. "Such a fool I was, tell me what does that have to do with your hostility?" Luna says as she continues to look at the small village going about their business. "T'is really easy to appreciate what we do when I can see happy ponies enjoying their lives, tell me why does this place bring such heartache to you?" "Fear I fear Flare, and I fear for all those ponies that could lose their live's to Flare, to my fear. I was so scared without you, I always had you with me. I thought I could do it, Thought I would be able to send you away and forget about it yet, It still haunts me. When I banished Nightmare Moon and in turn you, I was alone, Starswirl tried to help me, but I was lost in my own sorrow. I was so selfish back then, I didn't know at the time but I wasn't the only one to lose some point close to them," I can feel tear's falling free from my eye's now, I can't hold them back anymore. Looking to Luna for support I lean against her barrel and embrace her wing. "A Long time ago, when I just lost you to Nightmare I founded this town after a dream I had ponies were outside during the night watching the stars and playing games while spending the early mornings resting, It was a nice place somewhere I could relax and let it all go," Looking up at the night sky just to see if it was the same as that night, and indeed it is. "I was scared that I would fall to my own emotions of grief and self-loathing, so I study magic that would remove any chance of that happening. Starswirl was at his last days during the time, he warned me that if I continued it would only end in heartbreak, What a fool I was... am." Dropping my head back down onto the soft grass shivering at the cool feeling on my neck before I huddled closer to Luna. "It was right here that I doomed this place, I took a large crystal designed to hold magic and I ripped out my hate, grief, and jealousy. In doing so I gave it life, it's own mind and before I could fix it, The spell backfired and I became Solar flare." I can feel it now once I uttered those words it was day, there was no transition it just became day and I could already feel my fur burning and mane crackling. Luna only held me tighter while putting her head in the crook of my neck. "Solar flare destroyed this place, all of it if you were to return, you would find the badlands, I was in my mind fighting for control when I fought her. I couldn't see any mind just rage and envy the designer to destroy everything to burn and burn and Break." Hearing my own voice break and change to have an echo effect made me blink, and in that blink, the valley was on fire the hill I was on was burnt nothing but ash remained the great oak that once stood was gone and I was a monster of death and destruction. "I, The only reason I'm sound of mind is because Star Swirl was able to banish the other presence from my mind. But in the process, it latched onto the focus crystal and gained a form of its own, when I came too, I was here, back on this hill with a severely burned Starswirl," Stifling my tears with my hoof, Luna was looking back at me with... Pity? "He told me on that day, the day he died that he shattered the crystal and banished the largest piece to another dimension, a place she can't reform, then with his last breath, he told me how much of a silly mare I had been and that he still loved me. Luna, why didn't he hate me, why aren't you punishing me? please say something! DO SOMETHING!" Instead, Luna only hugged me tighter, wetness fell onto my burning facade. "How can I hate you, you're my sister. I'm always going to be here for you, just as you have always been here for me." Luna, oh how I missed her always so loving, forgiving and generous. "You should have known that even the darkest of shadows has light still burning within and that even the brightest of light still has darkness within. The Anger, Jealousy, and regret came back, didn't it." I could only nod at her words, even after I ripped them out it only dulled them for a time, Starswirl died for nothing. "Sister, you should know Starswirl loved us, would do anything for us so do not feel bad for what he did for you because in doing so, you would just spit on his final gift to you. So do not regret, it will only bring pain, and that pain will only get worse unless you share it with someone you trust, so please let me help you, I am here for you no matter the cost." Luna nuzzled me before letting her wing fall back to her side. "Let me change this dreary place to something better, my treat Tia," Luna said as she stood up and lit her horn before the memory wavered before collapsing into a small town setting during the day, stalls littered the place and foals ran around with candy. "Come, Tia, let's be foal's for one last time, take your mind off of the somber topics, there is fun to be had." A small alicorn filly said with a mane of the softest blue, youth in her eyes and a smile that was just as wide, yet still held the stress of life behind it. Only now did I notice that I was also a foal, surrounded by a fair with my sister, I shouldn't ruin this. > Chapter 8 - The Visit - (Unedited what else is new) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- After returning to the guest room once I had finished lunch I tried to lower the heat of my flames with breathing exercises, they were somewhat successful. Looking at the custom made guest room for myself I find it a little gloomy in my opinion, black floors and walls with black furniture, all made of obsidian no doubt and a few enchanted books that will apparently survive the heat, they did not. With nothing else to occupy my time, my thoughts drifted back to earth, a place only I know about now. I always had a good relationship with my mother even though we're not related by blood, some bonds are always the same. when I was little mom said I was the angriest baby she had ever had, but she taught me well I'm not nearly as emotional as a side effect I tend to have delayed reactions to things that upset me. A knocking sound from my mirror interrupts my meditation, looking into it I can see Discord floating behind me, yet when I looked behind me he wasn't there. Looking back at the mirror revealed that he is indeed just a reflection. "Hello, my dearest bestest most lovely friend, I the great Discord have come to teach you magic, unlike the pretty pony princess I will actually teach you instead of... whatever that was" Discord overly dramatic speech was accompanied by his overly dramatic posing arms and waving fingers creating sparks out of nothing, he even pointed his lion paw at a floating square with Celestia telling me to blow up the throne room. "Sure, I kinda want to stop burning things as well, So where do we start?" I said with cheer and a smile, this is gonna be great If I learn how to control my new powers I'll be able to leave this place, no offence to the hospitality Celestia and Luna have but I wanna see this new world I'm in, and maybe say goodbye to the one I left. "That's a good student, now imagine a clurichaun with only one bottle of wine left, that wine is going to represent your magic," Discord explains, now wearing a teacher's outfit complete with bow tie and hat. "What's a clurichaun?" Sound's like a leprechaun bah, it doesn't matter. Discord's frown was replaced with a grin before he coiled around my shoulder's and neck, looking into my ear with a flashlight he got from... somewhere he shrugged returning to his teacher's desk he poofed out of the void, I also seemed to be at a desk, a smaller one with a book titled "My horn can do that!", Ignoring the antics of the chaos spirit, I focused back to his lesson. "Hmm, well how about this, I want you to close your eyes, no peeking, breath in and out, feel the flow of the flames inside you, and just breath. My only reaction was to nod my head, close my eyes and let out a breath, taking a breather even allowed me to hear hooves on tiles making sounds down the hallways of the guest quarters. Meditation, Well I guess I'll try anything at this point, I used to meditate when I was younger or well forced to meditate but anyway. Breath in and out... ... ... Opening my eyes I find that I no longer have plasma main or tail nor do I have flames my main and tail no longer flow with fire my coat stills seems to be obsidian, yet now I have a pink mane, almost preferred it made of fire, I hate the fact that I have pink bangs in my face, my eyes still seem to have slitted pupils and a fiery red-orange iris. "Wow, all that from some breathing exercises? Really, I mean that's all it took?" I asked Discord, disbelief that it was that simple, he simply nodded before flipping through a book labeled cooking with fire before he stopped at a page ripped it out ate the rest of the book before he tucked the page in his shirt pocket. "I noticed that you have never been relaxed whilst you were here, not even when you slept, I figured that since you're Celestia's little temper problem that I should try and help you relax, can't do everything at once you know. Just slow down and smell the roses," Discord ended his speech with a cheeky smile, huh he really likes to help his friends, getting up from my desk I trot up to him and give him a hug, I know it's not very manly but he really helped me out, it doesn't seem like much but now, I can meet new people.. er ponies without leaving a charred corpse, I might be making a mountain out of a molehill but I don't think a ponies natural magic resistance will protect them from direct contact with me. "Thanks, man, you're a really good friend... but that pun at the end lost you twenty friendship points, you need to try a little harder than that." I may sound really sappy but I think he needs to know that I really appreciate it, even if we haven't known each other that long we kinda just get along. Discord seemed a little shocked at the sudden hug but returned it fully before he shoved a blueberry pie in my face. "Heh should have seen that coming Rose, I will admit however Fluttershy has been a good teacher in helping others, now let's get to the good part, Actual Magic, you don't even know how to levitate yet right?" Discord seems really enthusiastic about helping me now, shaking my head clean of blueberry pie I nod to his question before going back to my seat at my desk. "Now, Levitation can be a powerful spell if used in the correct circumstances, Magic only works if you know it will work, well pony magic anyway, But first we are going to connect you with your magic properly, Celestia got what she wanted with your previous lesson anyway." Discord pulled out a chalkboard put it next him bring up chalk he started drawing a fairly detailed sketch of a ponies side profile, he added a horn and wings indicating it was an alicorn. "Alright first step, clear your mind like you did with your breathing exercise before, but this time I want you to look inside yourself and feel the power you hold, for you, it should feel random and spontaneous much like fire, can you feel it?" Discord questions me, as I close my eyes and focus inward, the first thing I feel is my heart beating, wait, no heart's, I have two hearts that is freaky, then I felt my lungs expanding, It's nice to know even though I'm made of lava and obsidian I still seem to have organs, odd? Just when I was about to give up I felt it, much like the feeling of the sun's power that I can still feel in the back of my mind there was two more, first and most prominent is the fiery feeling one it was suffocating and powerful, It seems to be running in my blood, the second one was calmer but felt extremely hot, hotter than when I had plasma running through me, opening my eyes I could see my horn glowing an eerie orange with blue swirls inside. Once my concentration broke the glow disappeared but I knew I could summon it back if I needed it. Looking to Discord and his jawless expression, a literal jawless expression he ended up picking up his jaw from the desk before he addressed me. "That's very interesting you have two magic pools, very rare, no wonder Celestia is scared of you. This is Brilliant, oh ooh ho I am going to have some FUN with this, Don't be worried about it, It's not unheard of it's just never happened to an Alicorn before, Starswirl the Bearded was a Double, along with Princess Platinum and Sombra, It indicates greatness and potential, all of those ponies have been extremely powerful they even rivaled alicorns." Discord was practical, no scratch that, he was giddy, he was prancing around the room with the biggest grin on his face. "So why do I have two magic pools? I mean I know you said it was fine but is it gonna effect my lessons?" I really hope it isn't some kind of bad omen, I hate it when that happens. "Oh you have nothing to worry about, some ponies are born with two magic pools just makes them more powerful in magic sure they have to train a little harder to tame both so yeah-" Discord cut off when a shiver went through his entire body before he sighed. "Oh phooy, Looks like Celestia found out I'm here, no doubt gonna be annoyed I let myself in unannounced, well you go and try to channel either of your magic pool's I have a tea party to attend ta ta for now." And he turned into a pile of cucumber sandwiches. Huh, I have a lot to think about, I always seem to. > Chapter 9 - The Repressed (Unedited - If you still have eye's at the end? get another chapter free) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "That's it rose, keep the image of the spell matrix in your mind," Luna's encouragement whilst appreciated is quite distracting, after Discord was able to teach me how to access my magic safely and help to control my flames Luna decided to teach me the levitation spell, said to be a very simple spell, I beg to differ. "That's it I am sick of this," I shout out, forgetting the matrix and lesson altogether, my horn show's its protest by shooting a stream of plasma at the apple I was trying to levitate. No longer would that apple defy me, or the three walls behind it. "Sorry about that, I... I just need some time to think, I'll be in the garden," It's always been hard for me to keep calm when I was younger, It got easier as I grew older but right now, I'm almost always angry, even if I don't show it. Turning my head away from the white slag that was the wall and walked out the door, I asked a maid to direct me to the gardens, well the third maid, as the other two ran away, I managed to corner the third. It feels as if all my motivation has been drained out of me, I liked my old life, It was simple, no magic bullshit or angry people, er ponies, It was... nice, and calming. Coming to a stop I thank the maid and sit down in the grass, steam rises from the grass as I sit down, It seems as though I am still hot enough to boil water, even without my flames, closing my eyes I just think... I was so stupid that day, I just wanted to impress the team, I had to go to that damned volcano, and I paid a price, not the one I thought but one worse, at least if I had died I wouldn't have to live with the fact that my family thinks I'm dead. GRaahh, It's just so stupid, I need to break something, I'll go to my room then. As I rose from my spot, the dead grass underneath crackled as I rose, the flames of my mane and tail return with a vengeance, making my way to the castle doors, ignoring the ponies staring, I make my way to my room, on my way I find the guards training barracks, even better, changing my course I enter the guard barracks, the door's locked but I don't care in the least, I just punch the lock with my hoof, I accidentally broke a fifteen foot hole in the wall instead, eh, I'll help fix it later, guards are running around panicking as I walk into the lounge area looking to my left I find a door to the sleeping quarters, walking straight through I find myself surrounded by guards and their spears, half of them aren't even dressed right. "Stop your advance, we have you surrounded, we know not what you wished to achieve here nor do we care, you are under arrest for extensive property damage and disturbing the peace, what say you?" the pony guard rants annoy as it is I would usually listen though, in my state of mind at the moment, I just want to no NEED to break something. Giving him my best glare I announced what I came here for. "Take me to a place where I can break things, or I'll break you, I'm sick and tired of being careful of hiding, You are no threat to me at all, your weapons will melt before they even touch me, even now I'm holding my fire back as to not melt you, now tell me WHERE CAN I BREAK SOMETHING," They seem petrified of me, I hate that look, but I don't care at the moment, one nod to his fellow guards and they fall back, before he addressed me, he tapped his spear twice then turned it sideways before motioning me to follow him. "We can see when we are outmatched, you must realize though that your behavior is unacceptable I'll take you to the training grounds, please try and keep your wits about you though, Celestia informed me that you have a... undesirable history." Figures that Celestia would to her guards about me, but for now I need to let off some steam. Other guards run off somewhere else as I follow the main guard, whom I dubbed 'G1', after about a three-minute trot we arrived at the training yard, he ordered other guards of and stopped what he was doing. "feel free to 'break' the practice dummy's, try and avoid breaking actual ponies, the field is your's for all of ten minutes," G1 say's to me, an annoyed yet reserved tone to his voice as I make my way onto the training field, I hear G1 shout at me again. "This won't be forgotten Flare, remember that Celestia has provided everything you could need, don't overstrain her patience," G1 shouted out with an edge in his voice. I just block him out as I run full tilt at the practice dummy before I knew it I was right in front of the thing, I read my head back and stabbed it with my horn, flicking my head to the side tears the dummy in half. The remains of the dummy burn a bright blue, along with my actual fire. "GRahhh, Stupid FUcking Damn Bitch DIEEE, Mother FUCker DIE," I can't take it anymore I let out that damn anger I hate myself, I fucking left her all alone, she was in pain, I ignored her. Gathering up my magic, I fire it at the steel plated earth pony dummy, A blue beam of death followed shortly after, the steel pony dummy was evaporated, I managed a beam of fire so hot I turned solid metal into gas, I was amazed at this but I couldn't care less at the moment. For a good five minutes I destroyed all in my sight, now all that's left is one steel dummy, the sand pits are now glass, the dirt is scorched black. My heavy breathing is all anyone would hear if the guards had stayed around, they left after I melted the first dummy. "Why can't I just... gRahh," In my anger, I thought back to the magic lesson, It was supposed to be a simple lesson except It had taken two hours and not a damn nudge, I wonder if I could get that beam I used on the apple before, I pictured the spell matrix and surprisingly the steel dummy was coated in a pink aura with blue steaks I picked it up in my magic and then... I slammed it down as fast as I could before slamming it into the wall adjacent to it and then the wall across from that one, and so on and so on, I managed to move it so fast that I could feel wind being generated from it, cracks had formed from the impact points. When I had calmed down I had a rough sphere of metal in my telekinesis, and I actually felt better, a whole lot better. "Oh, ah Hello Celestia, lovely afternoon, nice job with that by the way." She didn't seem impressed with my smile and just sighed before sitting down next to me. "Look, I'm really sorry about the damages I can-" My excuse was cut off from Celestia's wing wrapping around my back before she leaned into me and sighed. "For what it's worth Rose, I'm sorry for treating you wrong, and as a threat. I've been unfairly judgemental to you and for that I'm sorry, you reminded me of a bad part of my past and I was unable to face it without help." Celestia had a few tears in her eyes as she looked into me our heads turned to the left and right accordingly. "Heh, it's fine, I haven't been the nicest here either, I should have tried harder to get to know you, I was kinda almost ready to leave before Luna convinced me to stay here, I assume she helped you with your past?" I asked her, she seemed a little shocked but quickly just rested next to me, he head lying on my mane of flames, who's color had returned to a gentle orange, I guess she's immune to heat or something. "I'll forgive you completely if you overlook my little tantrum here," I offered a half smile even though she couldn't see it, her words will forever ring in my head. "Of course, but you're still cleaning it up, you gave my guards quite the scare." I could feel Celestia's moving on my neck as she spoke. "Oh and I contacted my student here, she had a simular problem as you, but instead of anger and grumpyness she had panic attacks, she has made remarkable progress and I beleive she can help you." Celestia's voice seemed a little tired but at least she means well. I guess I have a psychologist now. > Chapter 10 - The Egghead - (Unedited you're still here? ahhh POCKET SAND) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I stayed with Celestia for another ten minutes before she helped me up. Luna walked into the training area shortly after, It's like she never sleeps. I was interrupted in my musings when a cup of what I assume to be a coffee cup cracks on the ground. "What the BUCK Happened out here? How does one do this, It just that.. the craters," Luna's speech trails of into uninterpretable gibberish and now that I look around, I can't blame her, the entire training yard looks like someone killed the Hulks puppy in front of him. I caused all this... I guess it proves that I need to learn control all the more, the dirt has been scorched black and the sand pits for the obstacle course are nothing more than glass, there is a thin layer of a metal like substance coating the area, although I have no idea what that means. Luna finally calms down and starts ordering the guards to clean the more hazardous debris such as the broken glass near the pedestrian footpath, Once everything seems to be in order she trots over to me. I feel really disappointed now, I let my anger get the better of me, I've have been in control over it for the past nineteen years before this little fiasco, perhaps Celestia's little student might be able to help me, as like Celestia said, her student had stress problems before, and I guess that translates somewhat into anger issues, guess I should stop bottling it up... It's for the best, no one wants to talk to an angry asshole, I know I wouldn't. It took me about two days of work in five hour intervals to get the guards training area back into a somewhat useable field, I couldn't really undo the fact that I glassed the sand in the area but aside from that I was able to find out what that metal coating was, apparently it's the metal I vaporised, It turned into a gas before it cooled on the ground, I didn't even know metal could do that. Now I'm sitting on my new obsidian bed, I can't have pillows as they burst into flames, even if they're enchanted with a heat-resistant charm they last a few minutes before the enchantment fails. Discord visited me after my little outburst, he confessed that he forced the anger I had bottled up to come to the front, said it wasn't healthy... And that I'm also entertaining, I guess he did have my mental health in mind and tried to help in a weird way. But now that I have some time on my hands... Hooves, I find myself looking into a full body mirror I asked the maids to bring to me, what I see disgusts me. I'm some kind of bloody horse, I miss my old body, my old gender it's not fair, I'm not even sure why I thought obtaining samples from that volcano with no one to join me would be a good idea, I barely know where safe places to stand are. Right, I wanted to impress them, for my own ego, heh, I guess I impressed them with my stupidity instead. It's like I'm drifting, the face I see in the mirror isn't my own, but it responds to me. I think I should explore this place, this new world. If I can control my new curse I think I'll go to that Dragonlance place or perhaps griffonstone, Luna keeps going on about them. "Rose" I heard a voice call out to me. "Celestia is ready for your next magic lesson, I did knock by the way." The same voice continued, looking to my left I saw one of the few friendly maid/servant ponies, crescent sky, the head of the maid service, Luna told me that she is used to dealing with ambassadors of other nations so apparently she's fairly used to... Interesting creatures. "Really? That's interesting I had a feeling that Celestia disliked me, perhaps I'm imagining things?" Sometimes I wonder if sarcasm has been invented in this world yet, I really wish I had someone that I actually enjoy being around to teach me magic. "Would Luna be willing to teach me instead, she doesn't have that I'm better than you look on her face." Honestly, the way the maid reacted surprised me immesnsly. That deer in headlights look with a look of utter panic on her face, Truly it was hilarious but I actually needed answers, not a good laugh. "How... How DARE you, Princess Celestia has been gracious enough to host a Demon in her own home and teach said demon how to control their powers. She may have a slight addiction to cake and I can attest that she is not perfect, but at least she doesn't blatantly ignore others lives, she may not like in fact I don't like you at all, but at least she has the certainty to try and befriend a monster like you." The maid ran out of breath and looked exhausted, I guess she does have a point, although now I need to find a new favorite maid. "Alright, you have a point, I'll go," I announced to her. Waiting for a few seconds whilst she gained her bearings I secretly investigated the fact that while she may be uncomfortable in my presence she doesn't have a look of submission on her face. Unlike most ponies around here. "Lead on, I don't think Celestia would like to be kept waiting," I've had enough of waiting around, for now, I'll assume that she either has magic or is just strong-willed. It is kinda refreshing though, being seen as an equal, she may not like me but at least she voices her opinion, unlike the other maids who usually run on sight. "Right, follow, shut up and walk, I've had enough foalsitting today and I get a day off after this. I guess there is a good thing to you being here after all." Crescent said in response to my earlier remark, as she opened the gold inlaid door to the hallway, which to my utter enjoyment still has all of my hoofprints, otherwise known as holes in the carpet, Haha I can't get lost in this place now that I have a clear indication of where I've been. Next step, sit on that throne, sure may get me in trouble but I can't wait to blame the ass print in the golden base on Celestia, teach her to manipulate me... to be safe I'm gonna get discord to help my case if she blames me, knowing him he'll think it's funny. "Crescent Sky, what did you mean I'm good for something, didn't you just say I was mooching off of Celestia's Kindness?" Honestly, it did surprise me that she thought something good of me after what she just told me. "You scaring away the other castle servants may get me stuck with you, but I get to charge double my price while I serve you. aside from that yeah you are a mooch," Crescent Sky's voice was ice cold, she should so become a villain voice actor, with a voice like that she would inspire dread in even the coldest of hearts. "Huh, a good of a reason as any, and for your information, I never wanted to even stay here, Celestia won't let me leave, and from what I saw in the throne room I don't want to find out what she would do. Did you know she can Literally reverse TIME, Insane I know but hey I saw it myself? Damn terrifying." Yeah, I am honestly terrified of Celestia, I don't respect her but I definitely fear her, that amount of power and a temper don't work well for my existence, as I have a healthy habit of pissing people off. "Well, just don't get on her bad side, she is a good pony and has a good heart, you just have a habit of pissing ponies off. Good luck with that by the way, I get to go nowhere I'll get that door. Oh, and if you get bits you are so buying a new carpet." Crescent sky really doesn't like the fact that I clean the carpet on the atomic scale. "Ah, no. Not my fault your carpets don't have plasma resistance. Honestly and you claim to be a good host." My drama voice needs more work, It's really not that good. I miss my old voice... my male voice, Whatever god decided to give me another chance to die in another fit of stupidity, You are the best and worst being ever. I wonder what mother is doing... She will be fine, she's a strong person. "Well here we are, they're in there, now get in their and be quiet, I don't care what you think a good host should do but we don't have the time to fireproof the carpets, little own 'plasma' proof them, whatever that means. I'm going to go collect my paycheck, keep scaring the others away, cya." I did manage to hear what she said as she trotted away, didn't even wait to finish her sentence literally walked away as she was speaking... someone is eager. I use my front left hoof, still glowing a steady orange as I focus on not burning anything if I don't focus it just turns completely white and is comparable to what I assume the temperature of plasma would be. Pushing on the wooden door leaves a hoof-sized dent of burnt wood, still opens the door so... not my problem. "You took your time... rose. I want you to meet my old student, Please introduce yourselves, she is going to teach you magic from now on, I can't take any more time away from the ruling, I trust that she can handle you." Celestia stated, she seems to be warming up to me I guess. I look over to who Celestia was talking about and note that the pony is another alicorn with a purple coat and deep purple-blue mane with a magenta stripe. "Ah, My name is Mark Rose, Ponies call me rose, and for some reason Celestia wanted me to make a nickname, so if you prefer you can also call me Solar Flare. Nice to meet you..." I offer my hoof out to shake her hoof, she looks at me expectantly, oh right hot hooves. putting it down I bow my head a little. "Sorry about that, I would very much like to have my hooves intact. It's nice to meet you Flare. My names Twilight Sparkle, I will be helping you control your magic." Twilight smiled as she spoke as if she was remembering something fond. Huh, so this is Twilight... I thought she would be taller. > Chapter 11 - The Magical (not edited) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "That's good Flare, keep visualizing it," Twilight said, as she kept a respectable distance away from Mark, a notepad and quill held still in her magic as she observed Mark levitating a rock. Normally this would be an easy feat for most unicorns, however, Mark's unusual nature effects even the most basic of magic. Suddenly the rock Mark was levitating cracked, the loud noise reverberating throughout the courtyard. Said courtyard had a few bystanders watching Twilight as she taught magic, they were at the edge of the courtyard. Most were students of Celestia's school for gifted unicorns, most would wonder why they were here but Twilight had gained a very popular status in that social environment as the teachers always remind students and pretty much anypony who will listen, that they taught the Princess Twilight Sparkle, of course though, they only visit if lunch break was in effect, they wouldn't dare ditch a lesson as the school is notoriously strict on punishments. "Another failure," Mark's enthusiasm was initially high but after repeated failures, even the allure of real magic felt dull. Although Mark managed to put most of his identity issues away, he had more or less accepted that as of this moment his body is female, and after convincing himself that being a pony made of magma shouldn't have gender assignments he got over it and decided to focus on the now. "Twilight, how much control do I need to have before you'll deem me safe enough to interact with ponykind?" Mark asked brushing of the layer of dust from her coat while eying some of the snickering unicorn students. "Well, you obviously need more training but you've already made great strides, the fact that the ground around us isn't glass and the fact that dust can even accumulate on your coat is already amazing considering that a week ago you were melting steel that was near you," Twilight recounted leaning to the left in order to see if the students had passed on, Seeing that they were still there, she motioned with her hoof for them to move along, they rolled there eyes before turning to leave chatting on the way. "You shouldn't feel that bad Flare, they are around twenty times your age," Twilight remarked as she eyed the vacating students before focusing back on her own. She is still a little conflicted with Flare being her student, as Flare has an uncanny resemblance to Celestia, in body shape only, she managed to measure Flare's height and was shocked to find that it was the same as Celestia's right down to the millimeter and it didn't just stop at her height almost everything was spot on, the only real difference that she could find was that Flares horn was slightly curved and had an extra five inches, which would indicate a larger mana pool. "You really can't hear them, can you Twilight," Mark said, aside from the obvious abilities he gained with his new body he found that his regular senses had been enhanced by a large degree, so much so that if he were to focus he could hear a heartbeat from sixty meters away. Twilight responded with a nervous laugh, "Well, no, but I'm sure they didn't mean it," Twilight responded after looking at the leaving students. "Anyway, you should take a break, we'll start a new exercise once you've rested up," Twilight said as she fidgeted on the ground before she got up using her wings in the process that ended up blowing dust everywhere. "Ahem," Mark gave her a cold stare before he got up and made his way to the edge of the court, Twilight followed behind a little timidly. "So... What is this new exercise you've thought up?" Mark Questioned, his golden eyes narrowed on Twilight, as he focused on hearing her heart rate. "W-Well, Unicorns, or in your case, Alicorns have a large amount of mana and a domain, For myself, I have an enormous amount of mana for a Unicorn however for an Alicorn side I'm actually a little on the low side. Unfortunately, there isn't a large subject group for tests... But back to the main point, To allow a pony to get a feeling for controlling large amounts of magic they first need to control smaller amounts, basic principles, in order for those that are gifted with large mana pools to learn they must first exhaust themselves." Twilight shuffled her wings a little after she finished speaking the drop in temperature was quite high as they left the training courtyard, every time Mark had failed and crushed a rock he melted the rock or rather pebbles he was levitating into a puddle of goo. Mark stopped in order to process what Twilight dumped on him, it is pretty simple but, He realized he's never really felt magically exhausted before, even after his meltdown. He was still rather confused about how that came about as well, as he when he thought back to what happened he never reacted violently to stress before. "I see, well thanks for the training I'll see you in an hour or two," Mark responded as they reached a side entrance to the castle, the extravagant detail and frivolous use of gold grated on Mark's nerves a little but he couldn't dispute the craftsmanship. Twilight nodded before saying goodbye, another thing that grated Mark's nerves Twilight refused to call him by Rose, Mark doesn't know why ponies have such a hard time saying his other name, Discord calls him rose all the time. Mark turned without saying another word and trotted down the hallway to the guest suite of the castle, at the very least he has his own walkway now, the maids gave him obsidian shoes to ware so he wouldn't burn through anymore carpet, however, they still haven't replaced the carpet so he still has his little footpath of burned carpet to follow back to his room. After an hour of sitting down and relaxing, Mark bored of doing nothing and sick of talking to ponies that hate him, but have to tolerate him at Celestia's behest, decided to see if Discord would be up for a chat. Getting up from his Phoenix down pillow, over to his obsidian dressing table, fit with a reflective polished obsidian slab acting as a mirror, "Discord, Discord, Discord" Mark repeated into the mirror, as that's one way to ask if he can grace people with his presence. Looking around Mark couldn't find anything so, he assumed Discord was busy with something, only to turn around into a grinning face. "Rose, old buddy old pal, what can little old me do for you?" Discord said with a cheshire grin on his face, slithering around Mark before disappearing with a poof only to appear lying down on the Phoenix down pillow. "Hey Discord, can't a friend just call someone else to have a chat?" Mark asked, before walking back to discord, before motioning him to scooch over, before sitting next to him. "How nice, so what can Little old Discord help you with then? a dramatic breakup? Advanced Particle Physics? Pr-" Discord explained each whilst changing his voice and outfit to match his answers, Mark interrupted his tangent before it could go on too long. "Actually, I was just wondering what you were doing. As I've been practicing magic control all week long, and as the last time, I saw you, was when I was introduced to Twilight, I thought it would be good to catch up," Mark said as he turned his head to look at Discord. Mark did a double take when he saw Discords eyes, they were of course replaced with penguins of all things, but that was just Discord being himself. "That's actually, not what I expected, Rose I'm discord, I am unexpected, what you just asked, I never thought I'd hear that," Discord said, his head down a little lower, and the penguins glued to his face slid off before waddling away. "Well, I don't know what Twilight's definition of friendship is, but between you and me, she is a terrible friend, well, from what I've seen," Mark whispered to discord, shifting his firey wings into a more comfortable position. "Whatever do you mean Rose, Princess Twilight is the 'Princess' of Friendship, how could she ever be a terrible friend?" Discord asked Mark, voice laced with sarcasm. Mark turned to face Discord better, "Well, from what I saw when you decided to pop in on our little meeting, she treated you like you were her worst enemy, Now I know she said you used to be a villain and all that but because she and her friends befriended you, you decided to stop doing the villain things." Mark readjusted his posture on his side of the pillow, before continuing. "Look, I'm going to be blunt, she treats you like a chore, like how I would treat someone if I had to be polite to them but really didn't want to be around, Kinda how I think of Celestia, she actively tried to get you to leave and had a scowl on her face the whole time, even said stuff about you when you weren't there," Mark explained, only to find that discord was in his chair in a thinking position. "Well, you make a good point, but Fluttershy is really my friend, I know that. She acts a bit like you, just less... energetic," Discord continued before floating over to Mark. "Here I came over, thinking I'd give you advice, instead, here I am getting it... It's nice having you as a friend, Thank you, Rose, you've given me a lot to think about." Discord said before disappearing, no confetti or sound, he was just gone. "Well, that was... nice, I was hoping to continue our chat, but I guess that was a lot for him," Mark said absentmindedly. Mark got up from his pillow and walked to his door to go back and meet Twilight, he did say he wouldn't be too long. As Mark opened his door with magic, he heard the sound of hooves running down the hall, quickly turning his head out the door, he spotted Twilight running from his door, before disappearing with a pop. "Fuck," Mark exclaimed as he looked into the now empty hallway. > Chapter 12 - The Impression (Unedited as always) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark was conflicted, he meant every word he said, He knew Discord needed to hear it, and it might even do Twilight good to know what she was like, people, at least in his experience don't really know how much of a jerk they can be. If only Celestia would see it that way, knowing her temper she wouldn't. Quickly closing the door to the room, he quickly sat down on his bed, or rather nest. It's really a mix of obsidian and pillows that Luna enchanted to resist heat, making himself comfortable. Mark collected himself... herself, She never got used to that, or rather he could never accept that; Thinking back to the first time he met Twilight he pinned her personality to a T, Frantic, Socially Awkward and a tad insensitive, Oh, she wasn't a monster or anything just not very accepting of things she couldn't comprehend, or that didn't fit in the social norm. Two weeks ago. As usual, mark paced around his room, a cage would be a more apt description but apparently since there weren't bars he wasn't supposed to use that word in 'pleasant' company. Realizing that pacing was just going to slowly melt a grove in the obsidian floor, yeah surprise surprise, he was able to melt obsidian, only after a while though. He was supposed to wait in his room until the new Magic teacher could get here, He was already annoyed by the fact that he had already been fucked around by Celestia, it's like she didn't want him to control his magic, he got one failed magic lesson then poof, nothing. Magic was odd, he knew it was connected to his emotions, Anger seems especially potent, He sure he had some kind of repressed anger but no matter what he just couldn't find out why, he had a great life, never had a particularly bad temper, He knew he didn't have good street smarts or well common sense in general. *Rap* *Tap* *Tap* A knocking came from his door, quickly shouting out to come in he was greeted with the face of a purple pony, she barely came up to his barrel, she let herself in, but left the door open, walking forward he could see wings on her body, as from what discord told him, that meant she was, 'special'. Before he continued his musing she stopped and decided to introduce herself. "Hello, Flair right, My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle. I'm going to be your magic tutor, I expect your undivided attention, I'm busy so I only have enough time for around three hours a week, so I expect you to take notes, and I may give you some homework." Twilight lectured, Mark assumed Celestia had already given her a rundown of what he looked like, most would stare for a while, but Twilight seemed to take no note of that... It was nice. "Well then, I'll be in your care miss Twilight, I'm afraid Celestia wasn't a very apt teacher, Following her instructions I literally destroyed the throne room. Not a pleasant feeling, trust me." Mark was content to ramble away, without noticing Twilight's worsening mood. "Yes, that's very interesting Miss Flair but I'm here to teach you magic, not chat, now let's begin we have already wasted ten minutes. Now first let's make sure you can learn the basic telekinetic hold spell, foals learn this spell at a young age as it's not only used for convenience but a great way to help foal's control the flow, from what Celestia told me of your... situation, you have flow and control problems." Even though Mark paid attention, most of the terms went over his head, he was a simple man before this happened, he planned to go to university and study geology and specialize in volcanology, so while he may have had the ambition to learn, he was out of his depth in this subject. Present Time The lessons have helped, somewhat, Twilight seemed to consider him a friend, Mark doesn't really however, she wasn't the worst, but he just didn't like her personality. Soon he heard a rapping at his door again. It wasn't Twilight's usual pattern, must be a maid Mark assumed. "Come on in, I swear I don't bite, hehe." Mark wasn't a narcist but sometime's, he want's to talk, just to hear his own voice, the slight echo and seductive sound are slightly addictive, almost like a magical attraction, it, however, seemed to have the opposite effect on ponies, apparently, it creeps them out. "Celestia has requested your presence in the throne room Immediately." The maid listed off after opening the door, she didn't even step into the room, Unfortunately, this maid was a new face, all well I at least get to have some fun scaring the new maid. It had never crossed Mark's mind that his habit of scaring maid's contributed to the rumor mill that revolved around him. Mark got up to follow the maid to the throne room, not even bothering to control his flames, they weren't unlike a roaring campfire. Walking behind the maid, he noticed that, unlike the other times he walked these halls, ponies other then maids were here, particularly there seemed to be a school field trip here. The foals energetically followed the teacher, even though Mark wasn't the most emotional person, he did have to admit they were quite adorable, like kittens really. As Mark looked back at the maid, it looked as if she had seen a ghost, she ushered him to follow her quicker, it was, however too late. A scream, that was all it took, the palace staff and some of the magic students may have been used to Mark's presence, unfortunately, the foals hadn't seen anything like Mark before. "A Monster, quick run." a foal, that looked similar to a giraffe shouted and ran into a wall. Mark couldn't help it, he laughed, it was comical, besides he needed a good laugh anyway. "The monster is gonna get us run." A small pudgy foal shouted before running in a random direction, which prompted a panic in the rest. "Why did you start laughing, that was the worst thing you could do, Flair, are you insane?" The maid scolded, huh seemed as if Mark's visage no longer scared the maids. "Hey come on, it was kinda funny, he literally just ran into a wall. Not my fault he thought I was a monster." Mark defended himself, scuffing the carpet with his hoof in shame, he continued. "Well, I didn't mean to scare them, what should I do?" The maid sighed, "Just ignore it, let the guards and teacher deal with it. Celestia is expecting you." The maid continued along the hall. Mark assumed that if Celestia really wanted him that much, she must be absolutly pissed off. Gulping down his fear, he followed the maid, for better or worse. > Chapter 13 - The Princess > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rose continued to follow the maid, keeping in mind the other times she had encountered Celestia, and she wasn't optimistic about this meeting, especially after what Twilight overheard. As she walked behind the hurried maid, he noticed that some work ponies were in the process of changing the carpet that she had damaged, most seemed to be unicorns and much unlike what she expected from them they didn't shy away from her, it seems that ponies are starting to get used to her... well, aside from the little foals, but she is is quite sure that anything could scare them at that age. Rose was interrupted in her musings by the sound of the maid clearing her throat, "We have arrived, the Princess is waiting for you in the throne room," the maid explained, she seemed a little adverse to going into the room, as she moved to the side of the door while the guards opened them. Rose craned her neck up to see Celestia sitting on her throne with a distraught Twilight hiding in her wings, puffy red eyes, and ruffled feathers tell Rose that her words held more weight then she first assumed. Celestia herself had eyes of cold steel, she stroke Twilight with her wings absentmindedly while she looked down at Rose before she spoke. "Solar Flare, I have tried to be cordial with you, even provide you a place to live and learn without any expectations of receiving anything in return. Things seemed to have settled down once Twilight started to teach you," Celestia stood from her throne, leaving Twilight behind, as she continued her speech. "And yet, I find that after but a few weeks you have already managed to make your Teacher, my student and friend cry," Celestia Paused to sigh, casting a quick glance back to Twilight. "What do you have to say for yourself Flare?" Celestia intoned, looking straight into Roses snake-like eyes. Rose sighed, she was just Tired of dealing with Celestia and her baseless chatter, she looked up to meet Celestia's gaze, taking a step forward on the carpet, purposefully directing her anger to her hooves in order to burn through the carpet, Hearing the sizzle she smiled before answering Celestia's questions. "First of all, My name is not Solar Flare, I'm unsure why you asked me to create a 'new' name, and I chose that one on a whim, Secondly you did not provide me with a place to live, you sent me to a gilded cage," Rose lectured, as she continued to walk towards the base of the throne. Rose saw that Celestia was going to interrupt her and stomped her hoof down on the bottom stair, shattering it. "I have not finished speaking, Celestia," Rose shouted, quickly turning her head to look into Twilights eyes she spoke, "Twilight, while I never meant to say it to your face, I'm not sorry for what I said, you need to grow thicker skin, and while Discord may not show it in a way you understand, he is affected by the way you act around him." Rose softened her gaze before she continued. "Twilight, you are not a bad pony, but neither are you perfect, we all have flaws and you need to accept that for whatever reason, you don't like Discord," Rose stopped her tirade before she looked back to Celestia. "Well, are you planning to actually throw me in a prison this time?" Rose said sarcastically as she looked up to Celestia, In response, she received a sigh. "No... Rose, I'm sorry for what I've done... for how I've treated you. You remind me of someone I used to know, someone who doesn't have a heart, doesn't know how to love. You can leave now, if you wish." Celestia said in a tired manner, her ears lowered and her back no longer stiff, she turned and sat next to Twilight, who while still disheveled no longer had tears in her eyes. "That's it?" Rose exclaimed, her tone accusing. "You're just going to send me back to my room, after all that?" Rose continued as her body slowly started to heat up. Seeing the situation, Celestia quickly corrected herself. "No Rose... you can leave, as in, you may leave and go where ever you wish." Celestia finished as she quickly put her wing on Twilights back. "Wait, you actually mean I can just go now?" Rose said, the heat that had built up dissipating as fast as it accumulated, Roses face gazed at Celestia in contemplation. "Why?, from what I know of you, this isn't like you," Rose stated with finality. Twilight ruffled her wings before she spoke up. "No Rose, Celestia isn't like herself when she is with you. Trust me, I've known her for most of my life." Twilight responded, before leaning on Celestia, her eyes still moist yet no longer red. Before Rose could respond, Celestia flared out a wing, before she spoke. "Please, Rose, let me explain first." Celestia took a breath of air, before she motioned for the guards to leave the room, the guards that were stationed by the sides of the throne room hallway. Once the hallway was clear, and the silence palpable Celestia cleared her throat before she spoke. "I didn't treat you right, I have no excuse for that. It took me a long time to see you like someone else, my sister saw that you were not who I thought you were, she tried to tell me, I didn't listen, not until I saw something that was actual proof, and you showed me, just before... Now that I think about it, there were many instances that she wouldn't do." Celestia Shivered and retracted her wing, before she looked into Roses eye's, looking at something that only she could see. Rose stood still, in the broken slag of what was once the marble stairs at the bottom of the throne, "Who did you think I was? and, what did I do, that showed you I wasn't them?" Rose asked quietly, feeling ashamed of her actions, as she shuffled her hooves in the puddle of rock. "For you to understand that, I'll have to tell you what I did, a very long time ago..." Celestia said as she turned her head to look out the stained glass windows, her thought's heavy before she shook her head and looked back at Rose. "I was young, and greaving at the time, and my sister had succumbed to her emotions, and, as an Alicorn, emotions are linked with our magic, heavily, and if we try to repress them too much, they form their own minds, and while they have intelligence, they are born with only the emotions we funneled into them." Celestia took a breath, she gazed into Roses' eyes, before she looked over Roses form, she closed her eyes briefly, letting the afternoon sun, shine down on her face. "Do you understand what I'm telling you, Rose?" She asked, eyes still closed while her ears perked up, eager to hear an answer. "Vaguely, but I still don't understand how this is relevant to me," Rose huffed before she sat down at the base of the throne. gazing back up to Celestia. Celestia continued on, accepting her answer. "Luna, my sister, had become someone else, due to my neglect, the only emotions she could feel, Envy, Hate, and Sadness. Luna let herself become Nightmare Moon, and so, we fought, I to keep our citizens safe, and her to finally receive attention, love, and to get her point across. I was young and foolish, I assumed she had been tainted by some evil entity and instead of talking to her, I used the Elements of harmony, my only thought during that time was to banish the evil." Celestia took a breath before embraced twilight as her eyes moistened. "The elements of harmony, are an interesting magical item, to use them, you must embody the traits they seek to a certain extent, and when in use they try to accomplish what the user wants, they do not know they can only act, and when I tried to banish the evil from my sister, vainly thinking that she was possessed by some strange entity, it banished her instead, as the 'evil' that I wanted to banish, was my sister. Curiously, I'm not sure why when Nightmare Moon was hit with the Elements of Harmony in use by my student, that she was purged of the emotional mask." Celestia continued, opening her eyes to briefly glancing at Twilight. Rose, took a breath before she looked back to Celestia, Nodding at her to continue. Celestia, nodded before she continued, "After she was banished, and I realized what had happened, I feared, feared that I too would succumb to my own emotions, Starswirl the bearded, my teacher, consoled me, tried to convince me that, in order for me to move on, I was to let my emotions run their course... I didn't listen to him, and in my self-hate, I crafted a spell, a spell designed to absorb emotions I didn't want to feel." Celestia shivered, as she envisioned something only she had seen."I poured in all of my hate, hate at myself and the world for what had happened, what 'I' let happen, all of my jealousy at what other ponies had, that they could have a happy ignorant life without worry, and, my pride, the pride that kept me blind. Honestly, I should have seen what happened next, especially after the crystal, I was using as storage, started to turn black and burn the surroundings in heat." Celestia stood up, folding her wings to her side as she started to step down from her throne. "After I left the crystal in a remote cave, near a small town called dreemur valley, She 'formed', from that crystal, Solar flare, something that could only feel hatred and jealousy, and because all that hatred was directed at me, and the citizens I so dearly care for, she brought disaster, her jealousy at the lives of simple ponies and in her hate for them, she turned dreemur valley into what is now known as the badlands, she destroyed an entire valley, and turned it into a wasteland." Celestia whipped away a tear with her wing before she was surprised that Twilight had left the throne and embrace her with her wing. Rose spoke up to fill in the awkward silence that filled the room, "That sounds, pretty bad, so, Solar flare huh, I really picked out a bad nickname didn't I... I'm sorry for burning all those holes in your carpet... I figured out how to stop doing that about an hour or so after our first meeting." Rose apologized, rubbing a hoof to the back of her head. Celestia in response, let out a small stifled laugh, "It's fine, you were angry with what had happened, and to be honest, I wasn't a very good host." Rose, letting out a small sigh, asked a question that had been bugging her, "So, what happened to Solar flare, and from what I can gather, since I show other emotions than anger and jealousy that's how you figured out that I wasn't her?" Rose questioned Celestia, as she finally reached the top of the throne room stairs to look Celestia directly in the eyes. "That's correct Rose, I was blinded by anger, so I overlooked the fact that you displayed other emotions, the fact that you told Twilight that we all have our flaws, the pride Solar flare showed, would never admit that she herself had flaws," Celestia stopped speaking to then look back to Rose, her face serious. "I'm sorry about how I treated you, When you leave, please keep your emotions in check, for they hold power over ponies, most don't even realize how much they do." Celestia finished as she turned around to sit back on her throne, Twilight, seeing this broke off her embrace before she looked back to Rose. "I'm not a bad pony? am I Rose?" Twilight asked, in a quiet voice, her wings limp at her sides. Rose sighed, she hates talking about her opinions on people, "No, No you're not Twilight, you are just a Pony, and all ponies have flaws, and just because you don't like somepony, doesn't make you a bad pony Twilight," Rose finished before she looked back to Celestia, who had taken to sitting down on her throne look at Twilight and Rose, her eyes passive and carrying an untold weight. "So, how did you get rid of Solar Flare? I mean, you said I look just like her right?" Rose Inquired, unsure if it could be just a coincidence. Celestia, focused her gaze back at Rose before she spoke. "After what happened at Dreemur Valley, it was pretty easy to find her, just follow the heat, she didn't bother to keep her power in check and due to my emotions being drained at the time, I barely had enough to fuel my spells, and I'm unsure how but she was able to break my connection to the sun, I for the first time In a long time, was completely powerless. My teacher, Starswirl ended up having to clean my mess up. He used a spell, designed to destroy her originally, and while it did seem to weaken her, as it shattered her heart crystal, the crystal I used as a focus, though she wasn't destroyed, she managed to reform around the largest shard," Celestia paused to make leave her statement sink in. Celestia then straightened herself upon her throne, before she cleared her throat again, making sure that Rose and Twilight could hear her. "Using what was left of my current power, I channeled all of my grief, into a final spell that was ultimately cast by Starswirl, it dissipated her form and we sent her heart crystal to a dimension without any magic, to ensure she was powerless. without magic, all she was is a bad memory." Celestia tired from explaining her past, looked into Twilight's eyes, before moving her gaze to Rose. "Don't make my mistakes, and Rose, for all it's worth, I hope you end up finding happiness somewhere, Luna said she saw you dreaming about dragons, so if you'd like, I can arrange for you a trip to the dragon lands?" Celestia said, ruffling her feathers before lighting up her horn. Rose, stared up at the ceiling lost in thought, she was shocked to find out that, they would likely have believed her if she told them the truth about her origins, although, she was still reluctant to clear that up, especially now that she was told the history of Celestia and the tale of Solar flare... Could she actually be Solar flare? During Roses' musings, guards walking in through the main doors, and stood back at their posts, Celestia leaned forward towards Twilight and Rose before she whispered. "So Rose? what do you want to do now?" And for the first time in what seemed like forever, Rose was free.