{"sf1_id":938979,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Fanfiction - MLP: Tranquiline's Trial by Fire (chapter 2)","author":"Palantean Writer","words":2171,"posted_at":"2015-11-29T15:36:00.000Z","tags":["Fanfiction","Female","Horse","MLP","Male","Mlp fim","Pony","Theflamesofsorrow","fire","flames"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/938979-fanfiction-mlp-tranquiline-s-trial-by-fire-chapter-2","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/938979","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=938979\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"Tranquiline went home quietly and discretely, deliberately avoiding\nall contact with other ponies. The truth was, she felt embarrassed by\nher failure and more so by the fact that she'd had such an humiliating\ninjury.\nShe had a little moisteuriser at home so when she got home, she\napplied that to her butt, rubbing it and sniffling and moaning as she\ndid. \"Oh stallion, that hurts.\" She eventually used up all of the cream\nand lay on her belly miserably. She looked at the armour, crumpled in a\npile in the corner of her parlour. It was dented and a little tarnished\nwith burns - not severely so, but it definitely wasn't new any more. She\ncrawled up to it and looked at the butt hatch. It could still lock up.\nMaybe if she reinforced it with wire or a padlock of something it\nwouldn't come loose again.\nBut the very worst of it was that she hadn't actually put any\ntreasure into her saddlebags before leaving. \"I don't want to go back,\nbut if I don't then the study group will have to come to an end.\" She\nsighed. \"I have to go, don't I?\"\n xXxShe couldn't afford to take the time for her butt to heal. Her study\ngroup needed her. So the following day with her ass still red and sore,\nshe donned the armour, added a padlock to the butt hatch, and went on\nher way.\nThe climb was arduous but she got there. She knew the way to the\ncavern now and when she got close she began to tip-toe, which was hard\nin armour but she managed not to be too loud. She came into the presence\nof the gold hoard and padded up to the queen again. This time she would\nbe quiet and quick, slip the giant moth into her saddlepack and be on\nher way.\nBut the moths must have been ready for her. As soon as she came\nanywhere near the queen they began to dive-bomb again. She felt the\nfirst three stony pats in fast succession and looked around. \"Not\nagain!\" she whispered and picked up the queen.\nThe moths went beserk. Tranquiline suddenly found herself under such\nan onslaught that she was forced to lower her head and hide under her\nfront hooves. She trusted - once again, only with better reason this\ntime - that the hatch wouldn't open. They might have been able to nudge\nthe mechanism open before but they were only insects - they'd be stumped\nby a padlock! \nThey battered the hatch as if that was the only part they were interested in.\n\"Okay guys, that's fine,\" she muttered, chasing the queen along as\nthe moth marched and flapped about, just out of her reach. \"Do your\nworst.\"\nShe still hadn't caught the queen when she got a sense of misgiving.\nHad those last few hits been too hard? Tranquiline felt pretty warm\ninside the armour but she felt a flash of fresher air on one side of her\nrump. She reached around and her breath hitched. \"No!\"\nThe moths had worked cumulatively to dent the hatch badly enough that\none side now bent upwards. As soon as she took her hoof away they were\ngoing to start crawling in! She looked around in horror: how was she\ngoing to do this, how was she going to escape?\nThere was no way she was going to get the queen now. Even if she just\nturned and left, walking out would mean taking her hoof away from the\ngap in the hatch. \nShe fled.\nThe moths followed, smelling of fire and superheat.\nTranquiline knew the way out so she galloped as hard as she could,\ndesperately trying to outpace the moths. She didn't know how they did it\nbut they caught up to her. \nThey crawled inside, just a few at first but that was bad enough. The\nmoths flew restlessly inside the armour. Maybe she was imagining it,\nbut- No, I'm not imagining it, she realized with panic. They really\nseemed to focus on the part of her that was most injured: her poor,\nglowing rump. They ignited themselves and burned her flesh, battering\nagainst it again and again, ricocheting off the inside of the armour\nover and over again, making Tranquline feel anything but tranquil,\nmaking her burst into most unladylike tears, in fact.\n\"Please! Oh please, oh no - don't do this! Oh please, it's hot!\"\nShe skidded to a halt and clattered into the wall of the cavern just\nbefore she burst from the entrance, and was vaguely aware of the sound\nof rumbling stones right before she launched herself skyward. The water\nwas blue and sparkling below her but she wasn't in it yet. She was aware\nof only one thing though: she needed that water!\nShe pointed her butt downwards, desperate for her glutes to be\ncooled. Even as she fell, the moths inside her armour kept batting away,\nkept inflaming themselves against her skin. She sobbed on the way down\nand wondered at how they were managing to make her butt so intensely hot\nwithout making it char. It wasn't fair - it was like they had a\nsupernatural power!\nShe landed in the water with a triumphant splash. It soaked her\ninside her suit, it banished the moths - and it slapped her butt so hard\nshe screamed. And then it finally banished the heat. She moaned with\npleasure but then realized she was under water and couldn't afford to\nkeep her mouth open like that. She clamped it shut, her eyes bulging,\nand swam for the surface.\nShe broke the surface and gasped in one clean, smoke-free lungful,\nand paddled to the shore again. She rested there as she had before,\nwaving her butt one way and then the other to try and keep the water on\nit cool, but it wasn't as effective as it had been before. To divert\nherself the white pony looked up at the cave entrance.\nIt was full of rocks. \"Oh no,\" she groaned to herself. \"How am I going to get the queen now?\"\nTranquiline, being a naturally studious pony averse to shenanigans or\nhigh-spirited games, had seldom had reason to feel embarrassed in front\nof other ponies, so it was a dubious novelty for her to have to\nstruggle and meet her study group leader's gaze. It was tough - very\ntough - and she could only manage it in fits and bursts before the\nweight of her humiliation made her drop it again.\nThe nurses went about their business but as usual, she could sense\ntheir looks, their smiles, their occasional amused, whispered comments\nto each other. It mainly seemed to be the younger, less experienced\nones, but still.\n\"...yes, so anyway,\" she mumbled, pushing her mane out of her eyes with\none hoof and keeping it there so she could shield her vision from Dusty\nSpine and Parchment, who she wasn't sure was pleased had come to visit,\n\"...the entrance is blocked now so you might need to find another way\nin.\"\n\"How did it get blocked? I don't understand,\" said Parchment in\nhalting confusion as she stood beside Tranquiline's hospital bed. \"You\nsaid you ran out, but..?\"\nTranquiline held her breath before she answered. \"I think I hit a\nloose rock on my way out, one supporting others.\" She hoped neither pony\nwould enquire any further.\n\"Not like you to be clumsy,\" commented Dusty Spine, his hooves coming\nto rest on the edge of the bed as he leant companionably close to her.\nHe seemed in an okay mood considering the destruction of the expensive\nsuit. Oh yes, that had all come to light too. Come to think of it, that\nmight have been why the group leader and his treasurer had come to\nvisit. \nShe hefted her eyes up to meet his and then dropped them again. \"I was in a hurry.\"\nBoth of the visiting ponies paused a moment, aware that this was an\nimportant point. It was Dusty who asked the obvious question: \"What made\nyou hurry?\"\nThe conversation about the cost of the suit was clearly a pleasure\nthey were putting off, at least until her welfare and banal pleasantries\nhad been dealt with. Tranquiline gritted her teeth but that wasn't\nquite enough. Instead she hid her eyes to explain. Blindfolding herself\nlike that didn't help much: without the distraction of sight her hot,\nglowing butt cheeks became all the more obvious in her mind. \nIt pulsed as she explained. She stalled to swallow hard and then\nanswered. \"The queen moth has an army, a swarm of drone moths. The\nlegends are true - they can set themselves alight and attack. They\nattacked... me.\" She grunted out the final word and hoped to Canterlot and\nback that they wouldn't ask any more.\n\"You look okay,\" offered Parchment, stretching forward on her long\nlegs to examine what was visible of Tranquiline's form. \"Your skin's as\nwhite as it's ever been.\"\n\"Not all of it,\" she answered, her hooves sliding down from her eyes\nto her mouth, barely able to allow the words out. She watched\nParchment's graceful, beige legs rather than look her in the face.\nThe two visitors paused again. Eventually Parchment spoke carefully. \"Is that why your... uh, back legs are covered up?\"\nTranquiline felt her face flood crimson and nodded miserably. \nDear Parchment. She was clearly being delicate about the situation\nbut it so obviously wasn't Tranquiline's back legs that were the\nproblem. Not exactly. Her butt glowed so hot that she'd been forced to\ntry and encourage them to cool down by sticking her hooves and hocks out\nfrom under the sheets. The sheet only covered her tail, rump and the\nupper halves of her rear legs. \nIt was entirely obvious what had been burned.\nAnd yet, Parchment seemed eager to try and divert attention away. \"Oh Tranquiline! Your poor tail!\"\n\"My tail's fine,\" mumbled Tranquiline. \nBehind her, a nurse developed a coughing fit and rushed out.\n\"Did they focus on your... well, your rear?\" asked Dusty, clearly\nunconcerned about who he embarrassed. Or maybe he was\npassive-aggressively punishing Tranquiline for the heavy cost she'd\nbrought on the study group.\nTranquiline felt her lips move independently of her, half numb from\nsheer humiliation. \"Basically. Can we talk about something else now,\nplease?\"\nDusty seemed to remember himself. \"Oh, I'm sorry. I just wanted to\nget to the bottom of-\" He grunted as Parchment elbowed him and gave him a\nhard glare. \"Sorry Tranquiline.\"\nParchment tapped her hoof on the hospital floor before taking up the\nconversation. \"We managed to retrieve the suit, but I don't think we can\nuse it. It's too damaged.\"\nThey went silent and Tranquiline wondered what she could say. \"I'm\nsorry,\" she began. It was terrible - the study group was finished,\noverwhelmed by expense, and it was all her fault. \nAnd then she gasped. She had the answer! \"Guys!\" She stretched\nforward to where her possessions sat beside the bed and stretched for\nthem, heedless of the pain of her butt cheeks. \"Bring me my saddlebag!\"\nParchment picked it up with her teeth and placed it in Tranquiline's\nwaiting hooves. The white pony rummaged inside, felt something hard an\nangular, and pulled it out triumphantly. \nThere, in the hollow of her hoof, lay a single but very large - and\nvery rare - diamond. \"I only had time to put one in my bag, but here!\nParchment, this is the answer. We can sell this and make the money back.\nWe can save the study group!\"\nParchment took it and looked at it in wonder. \"Yes, you're right,\"\nshe breathed in wonder. She considered it a moment and then put it on\nthe bedside cabinet before looking sincerely at Tranquiline, who was\nbelatedly trying to pull the bed sheets back over her exposed rear. \"I\nwas dreading telling you that the study group was done for, but I think\nthis is the solution.\" She stopped talking as somepony entered. All\nthree ponies looked around, but only Tranquiline recognised the\nvisitors. \"Oh, hi Twilight Sparkle. And Spike!\"\n\"Hi Tranquiline,\" answered the purple unicorn. \"How are you? I heard you were in hospital. What happened?\"\n\"Oh-\" the white pony answered quickly, desperately trying to think of\na way to divert the conversation away from her glowing butt. \"-you\nknow, it was just an accid-\"\nMeanwhile, Spike picked up the diamond. He said something\nappreciative about it that she didn't quite catch and it was only when\nher brain caught up to what dragons ate that she thought to warn him.\n\"No, Spike!\" she bleated just as he crunched down on the gem.\nHe munched on it and looked inquisitively at her. \"What?\" he asked with his mouth full.\nTranquiline rolled onto her back, covered her face and screamed with\nfrustration - and with agony as the incredibly rough cotton covers\nscratched her butt.\nTHE END.","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/936884-fanfiction-mlp-tranquiline-s-trial-by-fire-chapter-1.json"}