{"sf1_id":936884,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Fanfiction - MLP: Tranquiline's Trial by Fire (chapter 1)","author":"Palantean Writer","words":2369,"posted_at":"2015-11-23T20:40:00.000Z","tags":["Female","MLP","Mlp fim","Pony","Theflamesofsorrow","fire","flames"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/936884-fanfiction-mlp-tranquiline-s-trial-by-fire-chapter-1","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/936884","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=936884\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"There are many strange mysteries spread throughout the fabled land of\nEquestria, but few are as strange and enchanting as one from the\nancient past, once forgotten but recently rediscovered by the land's\ndenizens. In ancient times this legend inspired both greed and fear in\nthe any pony who liked an adventure, but as time passed and generations\ncame and went, the legend was forgotten.\nYet some things survived the wear of time, improbable as that may\nseem but not impossible, as we will soon discover. In a cave within a\ncliff near an abandoned lakeside settlement whose inhabitants have\nlong-since moved on to other places, the nest of an ancient species,\nknown today as fire moths, lived undisturbed for countless years. Their\nstone-like bodies are highly flammable, hence their name. Able to use\nthe fire from any nearby sources of flame, they attack in groups by\ndive-bombing the vulnerable hides of intruders. Their unfortunate\nvictims flee the moths' lair with red-hot flesh, and it is almost always\ntheir hindquarters that get the last few hits. All of this is bad\nenough, but the fire moths are doubly dangerous as they are intelligent\nenough to find weaknesses. \nThey originally settled in the lair of a dragon who kept a treasure\nhoard but later moved on or died, leaving his or her treasure behind.\nThis was no accident. This was for camouflage, for their queen is a\ngilded beauty beyond compare and the queen must have somewhere safe to\nhide. \nSince the rediscovery of this legend, many adventurers have tried to\nretrieve the treasure the queen hides in or even the queen herself, but\nnone have been able to leave the cave unharmed.\n xXx\"Oh, really?\" asked Tranquiline in her characteristic gentle voice,\ngrey eyes wide with curiosity and mind spinning with dreams of an\nelusive species to record for science's sake. As she listened to the\nfate of the last adventurer to explore the cave, Tranquiline made plans\non how she would deal with the queen's soldiers. Even if she could not\nfind the queen, the lure of golden treasure was far too strong to allow\nher to just walk away from such a tale.\nThe leader of her study group nodded. \"Yes. The legend of the fire\nmoth queen suggests that she never dies, that she is immortal. We must\ngo and find her if we can. If we can bring her back then we can learn\nwhether she is immortal, and if she is, then she will be a treasure\nindeed. Imagine, young Tranquiline, a new immortal creature! The things\nwe might learn from her. So will you accept this adventure?\"\n\"Of course I will!\" she said, a big smile on her face and a warm\nfeeling of genuine excitement inside at the idea of what she might\ndiscover.\n xXxLater on, with her plans made in detail, the white earth pony visited\nthe Canterlot armoury and asked the smith if he had anything that would\nprotect her from such dangerous insects.\n\"Certainly!\" the smith replied with a beaming smile, clearly pleased\nwith such a big order. \"You came to the right place! In fact, you're\njust in time to try my latest product.\" He led her to the back of his\nworkshop, his charcoal-black tail swishing back and forth and brushing a\ndozen old burn scars on his broad rump. He came to stand beside a piece\nof all-over pony armour. \"This is the top of the line in personal\nprotection against arrows and fire, with only the very finest holes for\nventilation. The moths will be too big to get in.\" He waved one hoof at\nthe legs of the armour. \"The limbs of the armour use flexible thin\nlayers of metal plates to enable mobility, while the main body of the\narmour is made of larger plates to add extra protection and keep the\nvital areas safe, with a comfortable mesh inner layer for prolonged\nusage.\"\nTranquiline had been impressed with the design, but looking at the\ntorso of the armour from the front, she suspected a problem... well, with\nthe back. Perhaps it occurred to her now because she was such a private\npony by nature, but... She cleared her throat. \"What about when nature\ncalls?\" \n\"Of course, madam: with your body being completely covered, you will\nneed a way to deal with that without having to remove the armour, so if\nyou look back here, a hatch has been added to the design.\" He gave her a\nmoment to inspect the rear of the torso. Indeed, there was a hatch over\nthe rear. \"This hatch is failsafe in that it opens only by the tail\nwhile in a crouching position. The tail armour is fixed in place,\nlooping back inside, in order to provide the ultimate in defense against\nintrusion.\"\n\"Are you sure the hatch won't pop open?\" Tranquiline had come to\nCanterlot's armoury to get the best possible product, but she was\nunfamiliar with armour and didn't like the idea of the hatch popping\nopen and exposing her at an inopportune time - either when in company or\nwhen surrounded by fire moths. \"These fire moths have bodies of stone,\nlast I heard tell of them. Do you think the hatch could be damaged and\ncome open that way?\"\n\"I have not seen any reason for such to happen. But why in Equestria\nwould you want to search for the fire moths? Is it truly possible that\nthey're real? The tale seems too strange.\"\nTranquiline smiled. \"I'm fairly sure the fire moths are real. I want\nto study them. If they're not real, I'll at least be able to get\nfunding for my team's other research projects.\" She took one final look\nat the armour and decided that she wanted the best protection and to do\nher best to find the elusive species. \"How much is the armour?\"\n\"That would be seven hundred and fifty bits,\" he told her.\nTranquiline felt herself go whiter than usual, if such a thing was\npossible. That was really going to dip into the study group's coffers!\nShe resolved on the spot to get whatever she could on this adventure.\nShe had to, otherwise the study group wouldn't be able to support\nitself, and would be no more.\n xXxArriving at the entrance to the cave, Tranquiline, now fully encased\nin armour entered cautiously. It had taken her some time to become\naccustomed to the limited visibility that the visor allowed, but if that\nwas to be the cost for her protection then that was how it had to be.\nThe front chamber seemed safe, although she did notice a trail of\nscorching on the ground punctuated with a few twin oval scorches that\nTranquiline could only describe as butt marks. She could picture what\nhad happened: previous treasure hunters had been caught ablaze from\ntheir unfortunate encounters with the fire moths, galloped through, and\nperhaps tried to cool their rumps on the cold stone. She stifled a\ngiggle at the thought of how they must have looked, but then\nstraightened her face. Ponies had been hurt; this was no laughing\nmatter. \n\"It won't happen to me. I came prepared,\" she muttered. Encased in\nher expensive armour and confident in her preparedness, the earth pony\nconvinced herself that she wasn't in any real danger.\nAs Tranquiline entered the hidden chamber, the armour making her legs\nfeel heavy with every step but clinking reassuringly, she came upon a\nmound of gold, lit from a few small holes in the top of the cavern and\nglinting beautifully. It was incredible! \n\"There's more here than a hundred ponies could carry back!\" she\nwhispered to herself in wonder. Here was the answer to her funding\nproblem, the payment that would make the purchase of the armour okay!\nShe whinnied with glee and trotted closer. \nSomething stirred among the coins but at first she didn't notice.\nThe fire moths awoke and took to the wing, aware that their home had\nbeen invaded. At last Tranquiline looked up and saw many small pairs of\nwings flapping fast, trailing little plumes of flame in their wake.\nShe gasped with awe. \"They're beautiful!\" she whispered. \nThen she remembered why they were taking flight and braced herself.\nThe first dive-bombed her shoulder and she heart - and felt - its\ncollision. It wasn't bad in itself but she could tell it would have left\na bruise if she hadn't had the armour. She looked up: there were plenty\nmore where that one had come from, and even that first moth was\nrejoining its comrades for another try. \"Well, now we get to see how\ngood this armour is,\" she told the moths, although she was sure they\ndidn't understand. \"I hope that smith knew what he was doing.\" \nShe lowered her head and squinted, and braced her legs. One and two\nhits turned to three-four-six-twelve and then more than she could keep\ntrack of. They couldn't hit too hard as individuals but having dozens of\nmoths attacking her at once meant she had to brace harder not to get\npushed aside. Each one had its own flame and as they got more active\nthey seemed able to get hotter, burn with bigger flames. They were\nbeautiful and fascinating, but at this moment Tranquiline also believed\nthey were fearsome.\n\"I'm sorry guys, but I have to do what I came here to do.\" She\nreached around to nudge her travel packs open and started hunting for\ngold and gems to load into them. There would be space for that and the\nqueen.\nA few of the gold items in the room weren't coins. Some were statues\nor pieces of jewellery, but without knowing exactly what the queen\nlooked like, Tranquiline was forced to look at every piece carefully to\nmake sure she didn't miss her. She crouched and bent over forward,\npresenting her silver-grey tail and well-protected butt cheeks to the\nswarm. It was true that their combined efforts were making her somewhat\nwarm inside the suit but she had a little ventilation, and ultimately\nshe trusted the quality of the smith's craftsmanship.\nOne piece of gold looked different from the others. Too big to be a\nbrooch, it looked exactly like... \"The fire moth queen!\" Large emerald\neyes shone from a detailed golden face. Wings encrusted with pieces of\ndiamond so tiny they almost looked like frost, or moth dust. Six legs\nof the very finest gold filament. Tranquiline stared at the queen's\nbeauty. \"Oh my. You're even more beautiful than I imagined!\" The\nbiologist picked the queen up in her well-protected hooves. Now she saw\nthat the queen herself was the very greatest treasure to be had here.\n\"Is this how you survived so long?\" she asked the female moth, who\ncrawled over her hooves buzzing her wings restlessly. \"Are you made of\ngold instead of flesh? You're incredible! And your subjects...\" she looked\naround at the steady stream of angry moths, paid fresh attention to the\nglow of heat coming through the still-closed hatch to her butt. Was it\njust her or were some of them skittering around at the base of her tail,\nwhere the hatch locking mechanism was? That made her feel a little\njumpy. \"...they're very loyal. No wonder, for a beauty like you. Come on,\nI'm going to take you back.\"\nBut she didn't have time to say any more as the fire moths finally\ndiscovered the weakness in her armour. Dive-bombing at the hatch, enough\nof them nudged the lock and the hatch fell open - much to Tranquiline's\nhorror. Tranquiline panicked. She felt a chill of horror - and then\nthe first burn.\nIt patted against her rump and the impact wasn't so bad, but the heat\nburned her glute and made her squeak. Dropping the queen, she tried to\nretreat, but more and more of the insects hit her exposed butt cheeks\nand by the time she'd had a couple of dozen of them, re-evaluated the\nidea that the impact wasn't too bad. Each one seemed to ram home the\nheat a little more, making the flesh of her butt more sore even as it\ngot hotter, until eventually she couldn't stand it any more. \nShe galloped away from the queen in the hope that her swarm would let\nup. They didn't. Yelping in pain, Tranquiline bolted for the cave\nentrance, screaming and trying to get her armour off before the glow got\nany worse. But she couldn't run and shed the armour at the same time.\nShe had seen the lake before she'd found the cave so instead she made\nfor it, her butt roasting and super-hot.\nAs she ran, her haunches pumping furiously from both her fear and the\nburning, her breathing became labored and the pain got worse, got sore\nas well as hot. It was like the skin was getting more tender with every\nfew breaths. The wind she created in her gallop made the heat cool\nslightly but she knew that if she stopped, the pain would return.\nBy the time she reached the rim of the ledge outside the cave she was\ntoo far gone to even think of the distance she would have to fall\nbefore hitting the blissfully cool water of the lake. With only a\nsecond's caution, she leaped from the cliff side. She gathered her\narmoured hind legs beneath her so that she'd fall butt-first into the\nwater. \"Ow! Ow! Ow!! Oh please, hurry!\" She couldn't fall fast enough.\nHer butt felt twice the size from the heat and all she wanted was to\nfeel-\nHer hind hooves and ass hit the surface of the water. Her legs didn't\nfeel the cooling but with the hatch still open, the water found its way\nin instantly and soothed her rump. As she gasped and sighed with relief\nand waggled her butt to get more benefit from the cold water, it\nglugged into the spaces of her armour.\nShe swam to shore with difficulty, her legs paddling hard, and lay in\nthe shallows until her butt felt cool enough. And then she went home,\ndejected and scared.\nTO BE CONTINUED..."}