//------------------------------//
// Chapter 7 
// Story: Fields of Fire 
// by Wheller 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 7


'Apple Bloom!' Applejack roared at her as she trotted into the next room. Apple Bloom swallowed hard as she nervously trotted up to Applejack.

'Y...yes Applejack?' Apple Bloom asked, trying to make herself look as innocent as possible. Clearly it doesn't working.

'Ya had no right ta speak ta me like that in front o' my friends!' Applejack snapped, stamping her hoof on the ground, in reference to the way Apple Bloom had talked down to her while at FutureTec. Apple Bloom may have been right, that Applejack, who was both illiterate and uneducated, unlike both her siblings, didn't have any business sense at all, but Applejack was far too stubborn to admit it. She took a step forward towards Apple Bloom, who instinctively cringed; she fell back onto the floor and raised her forelegs above her, shielding herself.

'Yer right! Ah'm sorry!' Apple Bloom cried out quickly. 'Please don't hurt me!'

Applejack recoiled in surprise, a bewildered look forming on her face. 'A... Apple Bloom!' Applejack cried out worriedly. 'Ah'm not gonna hurt ya! I was never gonna hurt ya! Why would ya think that?! Ah'd never ever do anything ta hurt ya!'

'Ah wouldn't be too sure o' that', Apple Bloom muttered to herself.

'Wha?' Applejack asked, she hadn't heard what Apple Bloom said.

'It's... well, ya don' get mad, like real mad, that often Applejack... but when ya do... it's real scary', Apple Bloom said, slowly moving her forelegs away from her head, but not putting them down all the way.

'Oh Apple Bloom', Applejack said, a look of worry forming on her face, she sat down next to the filly, doing her best to not scare her while comforting her at the same time. 'Ah'm sorry, Ah was mad, but tha' don't mean Ah got any right ta terrify ya. Ya may have done some grownin' up lately, what with this whole FutureTec thingy, but Ah'm still bigger an' stronger than ya, and while we're not goin' ta agree on things, heck. We're probably gonna disagree on everything, Ah still love ya Apple Bloom, an' Ah'm never gonna hurt ya'.

Apple Bloom lowered her forelegs to the ground, Applejack smiled at her and raised her forelegs up to give her sister a hug, Apple Bloom flinched, springing up to her hooves, she looked at her sister nervously. 'Ah... Ah... gotta go ta bed! Ah'm tired an' Ah gotta get up early tomorrow!' Apple Bloom cried out as an excuse. 'G'night!' she cried out before galloping away up the stairs.

Applejack was dumbstruck by what just happened. She didn't even realise that it was only about six o'clock and far too early for Apple Bloom to be going to bed.

Something had clearly happened to Apple Bloom while she was gone, Applejack knew that plain as day, and she didn't need to have no fancy education to see that.

…

Vinyl Scratch didn't know what to think of the situation she was in. In fact, she was barely aware of what was going on to begin with. What she did know was that Surprise was kissing her, the entire world seemed to have melted away around her.

Vinyl Scratch was enjoying it. She had never thought of Surprise in a romantic way before, because she always acted like she was a little kid, but, Vinyl Scratch had to admit. Surprise was kissing her, and she liked it.

Vinyl Scratch raised her foreleg and set it on Surprise's shoulder; she stopped being the one subjected to the kiss. She started to kiss back. Surprise's forelegs wrapped around Vinyl Scratch, pulling the unicorn mare closer, Vinyl responded in kind, holding onto the pegasus tightly. They shifted positions on the sofa, Vinyl leaned back on the sofa, allowing Surprise to lay on top of her. Their kiss broke, and Surprise moved her lips to Vinyl's neck, kissing her gently, and then beginning to move slowly down. Vinyl Scratch moaned with pleasure, Surprise knew what she was doing.

Surprise had almost reached her most sensitive spot in between her hind legs when Vinyl Scratch cried out. 'Surprise! Stop!'

Surprise was caught off guard by this and fell back, landing on her arse on Vinyl Scratch's floor.

'Vinyl?' she asked, a worried look forming in her eyes. She was afraid she'd done something wrong.

Vinyl Scratch looked down at Surprise sadly. ‘I... I can’t. I can’t do this’, she said.

‘Why?’ Surprise asked.

Vinyl Scratch looked away, over towards the window, pondering what to say.

‘You... you... don’t... like me, do you?’ Surprise said, tears beginning to form in her eyes.

‘That’s not it, that’s not it at all’, Vinyl Scratch said she looked back towards Surprise; she got off the sofa and sat down on the floor next to surprise, taking her hooves in hers. ‘Surprise, you’re my best friend, you really are, and I care about you deeply, I really do! In this world, you got a new chance at life, and someone in your hooves... deserves only the very very best!’ Vinyl said with a small smile.

Surprise began to smile slightly back at her, Vinyl’s smile, however, faded and she looked back down towards the ground. ‘That isn’t me’, Vinyl added sadly. Surprise’s smile faded.

‘Vinyl...’ Surprise began, but Vinyl was quick to interrupt her.

‘Surprise, you deserve the very best, and it’s not me’, she repeated again. ‘If we do this? I’m just going to hurt you, just like I did to Octavia Auditore, just like I did to Ditzy Doo. I can’t do that, not to you, you mean way too much to me’.

Tears started to stream down Vinyl Scratch’s face, she released her hold on Surprise to wipe them away. Surprise leaned forward and gave her friend a hug. ‘Shh... it’s okay, it’s okay’, she said softly.

‘Hey...’ Vinyl said with a sniffle. ‘That’s my line!’

Surprise said nothing; instead, she continued to hug Vinyl Scratch, gently rubbing her back until she stopped crying. ‘I really mean that much to you?’

‘Yeah’, Vinyl said with a nod. ‘Yeah you do’.

Surprise smiled brightly at her. ‘Well then, let’s not make it complicated! We can just be best friends who occasionally make out! We don’t need to be like... marefriend-marefriend, I mean, what would you say is the biggest cause for you hurting someone you get into a relationship with?’

Vinyl frowned. ‘I get eyes for another pony, and I can’t always help myself...’

‘Exactly, so we shouldn’t worry about it!’ Surprise said. ‘I mean, there might be occasions where I’d want to make out with Pinkie Pie too’.

‘Pinkie Pie is pretty hot’, Vinyl said with a nod.

‘So come on, don’t worry about it too much’, Surprise said with a smile. ‘I love you, and I know you love me too, and that’s all that matters’.

Vinyl Scratch looked at Surprise and raised an eyebrow. ‘When did you get so smart?’

‘I’ve always been smart’, Surprise said with a smile. ‘Most ponies just haven’t been able to notice because I’ve been bat-shit crazy most of my life!’

‘Well I can’t argue with that’, Vinyl said. ‘I’m okay with this if you are Surprise’, Vinyl added with a smile.

Surprise didn’t say anything, however, a small, mischievous grin formed on her face; she spread her wings and pounced on Vinyl Scratch.

Next door, Bon Bon looked up from the magazine that she was reading. Lyra, who was sitting on the sofa practicing her lyre too, stopped and they listened in.

‘Tell me that’s not...’ Bon Bon asked.

‘Oh I think it is’, Lyra added. ‘Just ignore it; Vinyl Scratch has to get tired eventually’.

‘Remind me to speak to somepony at FutureTec about getting that wall soundproofed tomorrow’, Bon Bon said as she went back to her magazine.

‘Will do, love’, Lyra said, and then went back to her lyre.

...

Twilight Sparkle looked at her clock. It was midnight; she’d been asleep for a couple of hours by the time she had woken up from her nightmare. As with most dreams, she had completely forgotten it. That wasn’t out of the ordinary or anything; most ponies were unable to recall dreams. Whatever it was, it had gotten Twilight worked up, but she calmed down enough to be able to go back to sleep, she laid back down on her bed and closed her eyes. Soon enough, she was fast asleep.

...

Twilight opened her eyes. She was in the Tribunal room. Somepony, or something had pulled her back here. ‘Monty?’ she asked.

‘Not quite’, said a voice from behind her. Twilight turned around. The two Other stallions that had Monty’s friends executed were standing behind her, Lucent Crescent and Cirrus Cloudrunner.

‘Have more to gloat about?’ Twilight snapped at them. ‘You clearly got what you wanted already, you want more!?’

‘You think we WANTED that?’ Lucent Crescent snapped back at her.

Cirrus Cloudrunner raised his hoof to quiet his compatriot. ‘We took no pleasure in doing what we did’.

‘Oh so it makes up for the fact that you killed them?’ Twilight said. ‘You’re no better than La Roche!’

‘La Roche is a different matter entirely’, Cirrus Cloudrunner said. ‘And their not dead’.

‘I... what?’ Twilight asked.

‘If you should ever, somehow, find yourself in Cloudsdale, you might just run into them, actually. We just made everyone think we killed them, they’re actually quite lively’, Lucent Crescent said with a grin.

‘Believe it or not, we too, actually think that something needs to be done about the royals in Equestria. Not necessarily as extreme as what Montana Ulan proposes, but something does need to be done’, Cirrus Cloudrunner.

‘So then... why don’t you if that’s what you think?’ Twilight asked in confusion.

‘Because the rest of the Tribunal opposes taking any action in the lower plane wholeheartedly, we’re in the minority; most of the Tribunal belong to a reactionary faction. They pushed for the execution of Tempest and Snowy, we may be co-chairs, but we have only as much say as the two of us’, Lucent Crescent.

‘So then... what happened?’ Twilight asked.

‘Instead of killing them, we descended them’, Cirrus said. ‘They were reincarnated on the lower plane, where they’ll live out their lives in ignorance of their Other heritage’.

‘I see...’ Twilight said.

‘Like we said’, Lucent said. ‘We agree, something needs to be done in Equestria, but the Tribunal is majority rule, and the majority rules that we take no action. Montana Ulan doesn’t like this, the Tribunal has to keep him under their control somehow, and this was the way, he has enough popular support to take a small army of us, go down there, and kill both Princesses in one fell swoop. The Tribunal is afraid of upsetting the balance of power, and thus, will do nothing’.

‘They’ve insured that Montana Ulan won’t do just that, they can’t kill him because he’s too popular, but he won’t try anything else because he doesn’t want anyone else to get hurt because of him’, Cirrus added. ‘Sorry Twilight Sparkle, but unless something changes in the Tribunal, you’re on your own’.

‘Why are you telling me this? I’m just going to forget when I wake up anyway, what’s the point?’ Twilight asked.

‘Because’, Lucent added. ‘We’re not like the Royals. We’re not monsters, we’re just a people that have lost their way, and we’re trying to find it again’.

‘And because, you deserve to know’, Cirrus said. ‘Good luck, Twilight Sparkle, you will need it’.