Fields of Fire

by Wheller

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Rarity sat herself down on the sofa in her home/store front. Stretching herself out to relax for a moment. She too, like the rest of her friends, was exhausted by their trip. Rarity hadn't even bothered to take off her travelling cloak, or do anything with the cheval MAE-28 submachine gun that it hid. Rarity had become accustomed to carrying the weapon on her, and was barely willing to part with it. She had yet to actually use it, but the fact that she had it on her gave her peace of mind.

Rarity's head was swimming with thoughts, most of them about the current state of things, others about how she was going to settle back into her life, IF she was going to settle back into her life. She'd been to Trotterdam, fabulous Trotterdam with all its wonders. She could only imagine what the rest of Europa was like. Fabulous cities like Seine, in the Cheval Fourth Republic, Königsberg in Bundesrepublik Schäferhund, Wien, in the Österungarischereich, Westhall in Welera, and so on and so forth, world cities known for their high culture and high society. Screw Canterlot, screw Equestria, Rarity's place was among the elite in Europa.

There was a knock at the door, Rarity rose her head and looked at it. Who could be calling at this late hour? Then, she thought, that it really wasn't that late, rather, her time abroad messing with her senses. Rarity rose from the sofa and opened the door. Almost surprised to discover who it was. 'Sweetie Belle?' she asked.

'Hi Rarity, I'm just here to bring Opal back from mum and dad's', Sweetie Belle said. Sure enough, sitting on the ground next to her was a carrying crate, containing her cat, Opalescence. Sweetie Belle opened the crate allowing the cat to walk out.

'Oh Opal-wopal! Mummy missed you ever so much!' Rarity exclaimed.

As could be expected, the ill tempered cat ignored Rarity all together, stepping inside and going to do whatever it was that cats did when they were by themselves.

'Thank you for bringing her by Sweetie Belle, I'm so tired I completely forgot!' Rarity cried out.

'No problem!' Sweetie Belle said with a smile.

'Would you like to come in for a while before going back to mum and dad’s?' Rarity asked. 'There is something I want to talk to you about'.

Sweetie Belle cocked her head to the side. 'You know we can't talk about what we did at FutureTec earlier...'

'Oh no. I know, I know!' Rarity said. 'This is another matter entirely'.

'Well, okay', Sweetie Belle said as she stepped inside. Rarity closed the door behind her and trotted back inside into the kitchen, preparing glasses of chocolate milk, one for her, the other for Sweetie Belle. She brought them out and set one in front of Sweetie Belle, adding a straw to it at the last moment. 'Thank you!' Sweetie Belle said with a smile. 'I really like your cloak, by the way'.

'Oh this?' Rarity asked, taking a look back at her royal purple cloak. 'Why thank you! I've gotten so used to wearing it, I forgot it was there completely, it's just something I threw together while sailing for Trotterdam on the Battleship Renault'.

'Battleship?' Sweetie Belle asked.

'Hm?' Rarity said in return, as she took a sip from her chocolate milk. 'Ah, well, that's sort of a long story... if you want to hear it'.

'Sure!' Sweetie Belle said eagerly. Rarity smiled at her and began recounting the details of her trip, sailing to South Island aboard the SS Canterlot, striking an iceberg and the ship sinking, how Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie's quick thinking, along with Pinkie Pie's new found tendency to carry plastic explosives with her at all times had saved them.

'Pinkie Pie is so random', Sweetie Belle commented on that part. Rarity couldn't help but nod in agreement. She recounted how she and her friends had made it to the lifeboats and got separated from the rest of the crew. In the storm, and how she had later learned that the crew of the Canterlot had been picked up by a ship operated by the Empire of the Jaguar. The Brasília. Sweetie Belle stopped her to ask about the Empire of the Jaguar, she didn't know a lot about it. Rarity apologised that she really didn't know either, other than the obvious.

She moved on to Sainte-Hélène, how She and Fluttershy had fallen in with one of the prisoners, a cheval mare by the name of Danielle Voltaire, and how she had tried to use them for escape. Rarity described her heroic save of Fluttershy, after they had discovered the truth about Danielle by bashing her over the head with a rifle. Sweetie Belle was mesmerised with interest in Rarity's story, and was disappointed when it came to an end of reuniting with Twilight on the outskirts of the city of Mün, Bundesrepublik Schäferhund.

'That was a great story!' Sweetie Belle said.

'Oh, it wasn't really anything', Rarity said modestly. 'But... what I wanted to ask you about was this', Rarity added, taking off her cloak and levitating the submachine gun out from it's place on her back, she pulled back on the bolt, ejecting a single round from the submachine gun, she caught the round in her magic, levitating it in front of Sweetie Belle. 'Is there anyone at FutureTec who would be able to make more of these?'

Sweetie Belle took a look at it for a moment, cringing slightly, but quickly focused away from it. 'Maybe?' she said. 'I don't know, FutureTec's ammo presses are set up to make 8x60mm Commonwealth and 12.7x33mm Nephite, if we can't make the ammo, We might be able to talk to one of the nephites into up-gunning your submachine gun to take 12.7x33mm Nephite', Sweetie Belle said.

'Nephites?' Rarity asked.

Sweetie Belle nodded. 'Along with our partnership with the Cultus Mechanius, FutureTec also has a partnership with the Nephites of New Maneaan to produce the weapon designs of Moses Marening'.

Rarity began to notice that Sweetie Belle started to look uncomfortable at the subject. 'Sweetie Belle? Are you all right?' she asked.

'Yeah! Of course! I'm great!' Sweetie Belle said. 'Give me the round and I'll take it to one of our techs'.

Rarity handed it over, and Sweetie Belle took the round and placed it in her bag, wincing slightly as she did. Rarity opened her mouth to ask again, if she was okay, but Sweetie Belle interrupted her.

'It was really nice spending time with you Rarity!' Sweetie Belle said. 'But I should be getting back home, see you tomorrow morning!' Sweetie Belle finished her glass of chocolate milk with one large gulp and quickly trotted out the door.

'What just happened?' Rarity asked herself.

...

Twilight blinked again, and found herself in a new room, this one filled with several ponies sitting behind several desks. She was instantly reminded of her entrance exam at Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. The atmosphere of the room felt exactly like it.

‘This session of the Tribunal is called into order, co-chairs Lucent Crescent and Cirrus Cloudrunner presiding’, said a purple Pegasus pony from behind his desk. Twilight figured that this one was Cirrus Cloudrunner. She looked to the other one, an orange-ish unicorn who had not taken his eyes off her since she had come into the room. Both ponies were highly imposing and powerful in their glances.

‘Twilight Sparkle’, Cirrus Cloudrunner said, looking directly at her. ‘You have been called before the High Tribunal of the Others to speak on the behalf of, Montana Ulan, Snowy Breeze, and Tempest, for their actions in relation to the matter of Pierre La Roche, what do you have to say in the matter?’

‘Um...’ Twilight said, gulping loudly and taking a moment to collect her thoughts. ‘I was raped by Pierre La Roche. Montana Ulan and his compatriot’s actions, while having not prevented my rape, may have saved my life, and for that, I am eternally grateful to them’.

‘So then, you’re life is worth more than Pierre La Roche?’ Lucent Crescent asked. ‘You were hardly an innocent at the time, technically speaking; you still are not innocent of crime at all’.

‘I am aware, but criminal or not, there is never a time where rape is acceptable’, Twilight said with a sigh.

The members of the Tribunal pulled closely for a moment as they discussed the arguments laid before them. Twilight tried to listen in, but she wasn’t able to pick up on anything that they were saying. They spoke to each other for several moments. Twilight looked over to Monty and his friends, the Pegasus mare looked incredibly scared, and the stallion next to her, the one called Tempest did his best to comfort her.

‘The Tribunal has reached a decision’, Lucent Crescent said.

‘Montana Ulan, we have found you and your compatriots to have unjustly meddled in the affairs of the lower plane, and we have determined a punishment for each of you, are you ready to hear the sentence?’ Cirrus Cloudrunner asked.

The question was clearly a rhetorical one, Cirrus Cloudrunner would have told them even if they had said no. Monty gave a simple ‘yes’.

‘Montana Ulan, your punishment... shall be nothing’, Cirrus Cloudrunner said simply.

Twilight smiled, Monty wasn’t going to be punished for it! Monty however, did not look relived, if anything, he looked more worried, Twilight was confused as to why.

‘Snowy Breeze, Tempest, your punishment... shall be execution’, Cirrus Cloudrunner said simply.

Snowy Breeze burst into tears, Tempest held her close. Twilight’s mouth fell open.

‘No!’ Monty cried out. ‘It was my idea! Punish me! Not them!’

‘This is exactly why we are punishing them’, Lucent Crescent said. ‘Maybe that will teach you not to mettle in the affairs of the lower plane without our authorisation’.

Two other Others stepped forward, grabbing hold of Monty and pulling him away. Cirrus Cloudrunner raised a hoof towards Snowy Breeze and Tempest, who had huddled together, each of them shaking with fear. They burst into flame, letting out ear shattering screams as they slowly were removed from existence.

Twilight Sparkle shut her eyes tight from the horrible experience.

She sat up in her bed screaming. The worst part was, she hadn’t the faintest idea what she was screaming about.

Comments

[DreadedCandiru2]

Okay.....Rarity is too cool for the principality, Sweetie Belle is a cheerful little gun runner and Twilight is frightened to death of something she'll never remember. Cool!!!

[Shiboito]

c-c-c-cameo!