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Tranquiline went home quietly and discretely, deliberately avoiding

all contact with other ponies. The truth was, she felt embarrassed by

her failure and more so by the fact that she'd had such an humiliating

injury.

She had a little moisteuriser at home so when she got home, she

applied that to her butt, rubbing it and sniffling and moaning as she

did. "Oh stallion, that hurts." She eventually used up all of the cream

and lay on her belly miserably. She looked at the armour, crumpled in a

pile in the corner of her parlour. It was dented and a little tarnished

with burns - not severely so, but it definitely wasn't new any more. She

crawled up to it and looked at the butt hatch. It could still lock up.

Maybe if she reinforced it with wire or a padlock of something it

wouldn't come loose again.

But the very worst of it was that she hadn't actually put any

treasure into her saddlebags before leaving. "I don't want to go back,

but if I don't then the study group will have to come to an end." She

sighed. "I have to go, don't I?"

 xXxShe couldn't afford to take the time for her butt to heal. Her study

group needed her. So the following day with her ass still red and sore,

she donned the armour, added a padlock to the butt hatch, and went on

her way.

The climb was arduous but she got there. She knew the way to the

cavern now and when she got close she began to tip-toe, which was hard

in armour but she managed not to be too loud. She came into the presence

of the gold hoard and padded up to the queen again. This time she would

be quiet and quick, slip the giant moth into her saddlepack and be on

her way.

But the moths must have been ready for her. As soon as she came

anywhere near the queen they began to dive-bomb again. She felt the

first three stony pats in fast succession and looked around. "Not

again!" she whispered and picked up the queen.

The moths went beserk. Tranquiline suddenly found herself under such

an onslaught that she was forced to lower her head and hide under her

front hooves. She trusted - once again, only with better reason this

time - that the hatch wouldn't open. They might have been able to nudge

the mechanism open before but they were only insects - they'd be stumped

by a padlock!

They battered the hatch as if that was the only part they were interested in.

"Okay guys, that's fine," she muttered, chasing the queen along as

the moth marched and flapped about, just out of her reach. "Do your

worst."

She still hadn't caught the queen when she got a sense of misgiving.

Had those last few hits been too hard? Tranquiline felt pretty warm

inside the armour but she felt a flash of fresher air on one side of her

rump. She reached around and her breath hitched. "No!"

The moths had worked cumulatively to dent the hatch badly enough that

one side now bent upwards. As soon as she took her hoof away they were

going to start crawling in! She looked around in horror: how was she

going to do this, how was she going to escape?

There was no way she was going to get the queen now. Even if she just

turned and left, walking out would mean taking her hoof away from the

gap in the hatch.

She fled.

The moths followed, smelling of fire and superheat.

Tranquiline knew the way out so she galloped as hard as she could,

desperately trying to outpace the moths. She didn't know how they did it

but they caught up to her.

They crawled inside, just a few at first but that was bad enough. The

moths flew restlessly inside the armour. Maybe she was imagining it,

but- No, I'm not imagining it, she realized with panic. They really

seemed to focus on the part of her that was most injured: her poor,

glowing rump. They ignited themselves and burned her flesh, battering

against it again and again, ricocheting off the inside of the armour

over and over again, making Tranquline feel anything but tranquil,

making her burst into most unladylike tears, in fact.

"Please! Oh please, oh no - don't do this! Oh please, it's hot!"

She skidded to a halt and clattered into the wall of the cavern just

before she burst from the entrance, and was vaguely aware of the sound

of rumbling stones right before she launched herself skyward. The water

was blue and sparkling below her but she wasn't in it yet. She was aware

of only one thing though: she needed that water!

She pointed her butt downwards, desperate for her glutes to be

cooled. Even as she fell, the moths inside her armour kept batting away,

kept inflaming themselves against her skin. She sobbed on the way down

and wondered at how they were managing to make her butt so intensely hot

without making it char. It wasn't fair - it was like they had a

supernatural power!

She landed in the water with a triumphant splash. It soaked her

inside her suit, it banished the moths - and it slapped her butt so hard

she screamed. And then it finally banished the heat. She moaned with

pleasure but then realized she was under water and couldn't afford to

keep her mouth open like that. She clamped it shut, her eyes bulging,

and swam for the surface.

She broke the surface and gasped in one clean, smoke-free lungful,

and paddled to the shore again. She rested there as she had before,

waving her butt one way and then the other to try and keep the water on

it cool, but it wasn't as effective as it had been before. To divert

herself the white pony looked up at the cave entrance.

It was full of rocks. "Oh no," she groaned to herself. "How am I going to get the queen now?"

Tranquiline, being a naturally studious pony averse to shenanigans or

high-spirited games, had seldom had reason to feel embarrassed in front

of other ponies, so it was a dubious novelty for her to have to

struggle and meet her study group leader's gaze. It was tough - very

tough - and she could only manage it in fits and bursts before the

weight of her humiliation made her drop it again.

The nurses went about their business but as usual, she could sense

their looks, their smiles, their occasional amused, whispered comments

to each other. It mainly seemed to be the younger, less experienced

ones, but still.

"...yes, so anyway," she mumbled, pushing her mane out of her eyes with

one hoof and keeping it there so she could shield her vision from Dusty

Spine and Parchment, who she wasn't sure was pleased had come to visit,

"...the entrance is blocked now so you might need to find another way

in."

"How did it get blocked? I don't understand," said Parchment in

halting confusion as she stood beside Tranquiline's hospital bed. "You

said you ran out, but..?"

Tranquiline held her breath before she answered. "I think I hit a

loose rock on my way out, one supporting others." She hoped neither pony

would enquire any further.

"Not like you to be clumsy," commented Dusty Spine, his hooves coming

to rest on the edge of the bed as he leant companionably close to her.

He seemed in an okay mood considering the destruction of the expensive

suit. Oh yes, that had all come to light too. Come to think of it, that

might have been why the group leader and his treasurer had come to

visit.

She hefted her eyes up to meet his and then dropped them again. "I was in a hurry."

Both of the visiting ponies paused a moment, aware that this was an

important point. It was Dusty who asked the obvious question: "What made

you hurry?"

The conversation about the cost of the suit was clearly a pleasure

they were putting off, at least until her welfare and banal pleasantries

had been dealt with. Tranquiline gritted her teeth but that wasn't

quite enough. Instead she hid her eyes to explain. Blindfolding herself

like that didn't help much: without the distraction of sight her hot,

glowing butt cheeks became all the more obvious in her mind.

It pulsed as she explained. She stalled to swallow hard and then

answered. "The queen moth has an army, a swarm of drone moths. The

legends are true - they can set themselves alight and attack. They

attacked... me." She grunted out the final word and hoped to Canterlot and

back that they wouldn't ask any more.

"You look okay," offered Parchment, stretching forward on her long

legs to examine what was visible of Tranquiline's form. "Your skin's as

white as it's ever been."

"Not all of it," she answered, her hooves sliding down from her eyes

to her mouth, barely able to allow the words out. She watched

Parchment's graceful, beige legs rather than look her in the face.

The two visitors paused again. Eventually Parchment spoke carefully. "Is that why your... uh, back legs are covered up?"

Tranquiline felt her face flood crimson and nodded miserably.

Dear Parchment. She was clearly being delicate about the situation

but it so obviously wasn't Tranquiline's back legs that were the

problem. Not exactly. Her butt glowed so hot that she'd been forced to

try and encourage them to cool down by sticking her hooves and hocks out

from under the sheets. The sheet only covered her tail, rump and the

upper halves of her rear legs.

It was entirely obvious what had been burned.

And yet, Parchment seemed eager to try and divert attention away. "Oh Tranquiline! Your poor tail!"

"My tail's fine," mumbled Tranquiline.

Behind her, a nurse developed a coughing fit and rushed out.

"Did they focus on your... well, your rear?" asked Dusty, clearly

unconcerned about who he embarrassed. Or maybe he was

passive-aggressively punishing Tranquiline for the heavy cost she'd

brought on the study group.

Tranquiline felt her lips move independently of her, half numb from

sheer humiliation. "Basically. Can we talk about something else now,

please?"

Dusty seemed to remember himself. "Oh, I'm sorry. I just wanted to

get to the bottom of-" He grunted as Parchment elbowed him and gave him a

hard glare. "Sorry Tranquiline."

Parchment tapped her hoof on the hospital floor before taking up the

conversation. "We managed to retrieve the suit, but I don't think we can

use it. It's too damaged."

They went silent and Tranquiline wondered what she could say. "I'm

sorry," she began. It was terrible - the study group was finished,

overwhelmed by expense, and it was all her fault.

And then she gasped. She had the answer! "Guys!" She stretched

forward to where her possessions sat beside the bed and stretched for

them, heedless of the pain of her butt cheeks. "Bring me my saddlebag!"

Parchment picked it up with her teeth and placed it in Tranquiline's

waiting hooves. The white pony rummaged inside, felt something hard an

angular, and pulled it out triumphantly.

There, in the hollow of her hoof, lay a single but very large - and

very rare - diamond. "I only had time to put one in my bag, but here!

Parchment, this is the answer. We can sell this and make the money back.

We can save the study group!"

Parchment took it and looked at it in wonder. "Yes, you're right,"

she breathed in wonder. She considered it a moment and then put it on

the bedside cabinet before looking sincerely at Tranquiline, who was

belatedly trying to pull the bed sheets back over her exposed rear. "I

was dreading telling you that the study group was done for, but I think

this is the solution." She stopped talking as somepony entered. All

three ponies looked around, but only Tranquiline recognised the

visitors. "Oh, hi Twilight Sparkle. And Spike!"

"Hi Tranquiline," answered the purple unicorn. "How are you? I heard you were in hospital. What happened?"

"Oh-" the white pony answered quickly, desperately trying to think of

a way to divert the conversation away from her glowing butt. "-you

know, it was just an accid-"

Meanwhile, Spike picked up the diamond. He said something

appreciative about it that she didn't quite catch and it was only when

her brain caught up to what dragons ate that she thought to warn him.

"No, Spike!" she bleated just as he crunched down on the gem.

He munched on it and looked inquisitively at her. "What?" he asked with his mouth full.

Tranquiline rolled onto her back, covered her face and screamed with

frustration - and with agony as the incredibly rough cotton covers

scratched her butt.

THE END.