Chapter 5 - Rising Storm

Stainless Heart slumped into the crook of the wall of her new home. She shivered in the damp chill, that permeated the stench of the room. She sat in the two streaks of darkness, that survived inside the one windowed room.

The room was shaped like a rhombus. At the two furthest corners, sat a wooden door, opposite a barred window. The other two opposing corners held nothing, save the small exhausted earth pony mare, who chose to reside in its fraudulent comfort and safety.

The moon was high in the night sky, barely visible through the heavy cloud cover. Stainless peeked an eye open. The light was quickly fading from outside. What little light that did shine through the insufferable darkness, only served to remind her of the prison cell she now called her own.

Stainless had been thrown into the cell under the assumption that she was a vandal, and spy. How she obtained the second charge was unbeknownst to her, but it only served to worsen her situation. She was to be brought before Princess Celestia at dawn tomorrow, for her trial. A trial, at which she hoped to clear any misunderstandings.

The moonlight continued to flicker, as it sliced through the musk of the room. Stainless's ears twitched at the sound of a distant rumbling. Her ears twitched again, as four sets of hooves ran past the door to the hallway. A quiet din of ponies shouting, and commotion emanated from outside the window.

Unable to escape to the comforts of sleep, Stainless decided to get up, and find the root of the sudden disturbances. Rising to her hooves, Stainless Heart slinked over to the barred window, to peer outside for the first time since her imprisonment.

The moon's light barely shown through thickening layers of clouds. The sky grew darker, as she looked beyond the walls of Canterlot. Below her window, Stainless saw that there were guards scurrying about, doing various tasks.

The wall of the Canterlot Palace shrouded most of the city that lay beyond its edges. From what little Stainless could see, was burnt and smoldering. The streets were barren of life. Rubble and charred bodies lined the sidewalks. Stainless noticed something seemed off about the bodies. Most of them were burnt, but some had no burns. Those without burns, were stuck with pikes, and swords protruding from their flesh. Some even held arrows in their sides.

Stainless looked back to the sky, to be pelted on the tip of her nose, by what she assumed was a droplet of rain. Her assumption was quickly confirmed, as a streak of light soared down through the sky, burying itself deep into the mountain side. A roar of thunder powered its way through the city, and surrounding countryside.

Two more drops of rain found their way to the windowsill. A flurry of movement from the small yard below her window, caught Stainless's attention.

Three guard ponies were placing large tarps over piles of wood that laid strewn about. Two sets of four guards were pushing around cannons atop the battlements. Large torches were being lit by another guard, illuminating the yards and fortifications.

A large canvas tent was set up against the base of the wall. Inside was a square table, with two chairs, and various crates and torches. On the table sat a large, tan colored paper, with unidentifiable markings written on it.

Rain fell consistently from the ever darkening clouds in the sky. Choosing not to get drenched by the rain, that now fell freely through the window, Stainless slumped away from the window, and slid her body back into the corner of the wall.

Thunder cracked in the sky. Rain cascaded in from outside soaking the already damp floor. A chilling breeze flew in through the window, carrying more rain with it. The chill of the room found itself to be even colder.

Stainless pulled her hind legs up to her chest, wrapping her hooves around them, and resting her head in between her fore hooves. She shivered, trying desperately to ignore the bone chilling wind and rain, as she sighed, preparing herself for a sleepless night. If she was lucky, maybe sleep would be merciful enough to pull her away from reality, to the comfort of her subconscious.

A loud metallic click stirred Stainless from her half asleep state. Her body felt stiff, and her fur was damp. Her body was exhausted from a sleepless night, and the bone chilling wind and rain, that continued throughout the night, did little to help her feel any better.

The wooden door swung open into the cell, as Stainless lifted her head, and forced her eyelids open. The storm had passed sometime in the early morning, and the sun filled the room with warming radiance.

"It's time for your trial, vandal." A guard mare spat from the hallway outside the cell door.

Stainless Heart pushed herself to her hooves, now noticing the tightness in her joints. She took a moment to stretch her legs, only to find a collar being placed around her neck.

A long chain link leash was magically attached to the front of the collar in a deep green aura. The same aura enveloped the chain leash, pulling Stainless out into the hallway.

The guard, now visible to Stainless, was also a unicorn, and apparently her escort to the throne room.

The guard began to travel down the windowless corridor, trudging past numerous other prison cells. All the while tugging Stainless along with her, who stumbled along, eyes barely open. After a while of walking with her eyes closed, Stainless felt the chain begin to pull downward.

Fighting her eyelids open, Stainless barely had time to react, before seeing a spiral staircase in front of her. The staircase spun one and a half times around. Ending at a locked metal door. The guard mare pulled a ring of keys out from under her armor, and slid one of the keys into the lock hole.

Another metallic click echoed up the stairs, as she flicked the key sideways. The guard mare pushed the door open with a hoof. As the door opened, the chain leash was absorbed in a brown magical aura, and pulled Stainless through the doorway, into another hall.

Her new escort was a unicorn stallion guard. He began leading her through a new hallway, towards a small wooden door at the end of the hallway. To Stainless's surprise, this hallway, was completely empty, albeit the two doors at the ends.

The guard dragged her to the opposite end of the hallway, where the other end of the chain, was attached to a metal bracket, to hold Stainless’s chain to the floor, silencing any thoughts of escape.

After what felt like an eternity of waiting, the hallway was lined with prisoners, all in the same collar leash binding as Stainless. Most of the prisoners were stallions, but there were still quite a few mares. Most of them looked utterly horrible. Dirty, wet, bags under their eyes.

"Heh, I probably look the same." Stainless muttered to herself, quiet enough to ensure that nopony heard.

Just as she looked back towards the mysterious wooden door, it swung open in a golden glow, filled by the same golden glow, that dissolved away the chain and collar, freeing Stainless.

"Enter." A voice said from the other side of the door.

Stainless stood, and stepped hesitantly through the door, into the right side of the Canterlot Palace Throne Room. She couldn't put her hoof on it, but something about the room seemed dour, and shouted gloom.

Her hooves clicked on the polished marble floors, echoing through the eerily silent room. She walked over in front of the stairs that led up to the...single throne, upon which sat Princess Celestia.

It felt like the entire world was watching, as Stainless turned to face Celestia. The feeling only worsened, as she noticed Celestia's emotionless expression. Her muscles tightened as Celestia opened her mouth to speak.

"Stainless Heart?"

"Yes, Princess."

"Ahh...good. Do you understand why you were arrested?"

"Umm...actually...no, your highness."

"Sharp Point, reported that you had illegally demolished the interior of a jewellery store, along with stealing confidential documents, pertaining to Equestria's defense. What do you say in your Defense?"

"The problem is, Princess, I never did any of that. There was clearly a fire that overtook the city. As for documents, I never had any documents. I still don't have any documents."

"Well of course you don't have the documents. We confiscated them as soon as you were arrested. As for a fire, I have no knowledge of a fire. Let alone one that could have destroyed the whole city."

"What are...are you serious? The evidence of a fire is blatantly clear to anypony."

"No fire has been reported to me, so if we're done here, we can move on to your verdict."

"Look, Princess, I haven't done anything wrong! Your guard clearly lied to you. I had no documents, and if you would simply look out your window, you can see there HAS been a fire, and upon looking out my prison cell window last night, there were dead bodies in the street! Some even had weapons sticking out of them! Your guards are lying to you."

Celestia's emotionless face, warped into a cold scowl. "You dare have the tenacity to accuse the entirety of the Canterlot Royal Guard, of lying to me, and failing to do their duty?"

Stainless swallowed hard, trying to pick up the shattered prices of her willpower. "Y-y-yes."

Celestia huffed, and frowned. "You can add treason to your list of crimes."

"What?!"

"You heard me you little wench," Celestia growled, "You are charged with vandalism, illegal trafficking of confidential documents, and treason against Equestria. You are hereby sentenced to volunteer labor."

"NO...please!"

"What's that?" Celestia gawked, holding a hoof up to her ear. "Forever you say? Okay, if you wish."

Author's Note

HUZZAH! I finally finished this chapter. It was really difficult towards the beginning, but I got it done. I know in my last chapter, I said that I wasn't going to upload a new chapter until I finished assisting lighting dash 13 with his overhaul of Romance of the Seven Hearts, but I found that I had free time, and I took advantage of it.

As always, I love to know what you all think of how the story is developing, and whatnot. I did try to improve my descriptive vices again, whether I succeeded or not, is completely up to you.

There was very little dialogue, and 'thought' for a reason. The only person that knows why is my proofreader.

Anyways...yada yada yada...

Thanks for reading,
~BattleMaestro~