The Trancer

by Ajaxis

1. In the Desert

The burning sun's position declared early afternoon to the expansive desert. Idle wind grazed the surface of the sand dunes, keeping the smaller particles from settling. The air was not without a vague hint of moisture, Zuri found as she smacked her lips to test the air. Her hooves dug a shallow trail in the sand as she walked, her progress slow. There was no rush—she had just started out, and there would be plenty of time to find the next city before the sun hid beneath the western horizon. Besides, she had always been trained to be careful traversing the smooth surface; one never knew what may be lurking below.

As Zuri walked, she noticed the warm breeze picking up. More grains hit her hooves with more force, and her cloak was beginning to wave and snap about in the breeze. Oddly sudden, even for the time of year. The wind grew stronger, roaring in Zuri's ears as she crouched down, her cloak billowing about her body. With nearly shut eyes, she turned her head to face the wind head on. A sandstorm, coming at her fast, and out of nowhere, now encroaching her. The next dune over was soon obscured, the air thick with sand and dust that could be felt all over, burrowing its way deep into her fur.

The windspeed was ferocious, any humidity in the air swept away by the dry onslaught. No one had warned her about any storms that would block her way, much less threaten to blow the zebra away altogether. The wind stung at her eyes. It was getting a little hard to draw breath. Hunkered down on her dune, Zuri hid her face against the merciless gust, going over the process in her head. It helped calm her racing heart, as she took deep, slow breathes. The words of her wizened teacher echoed in her head. "Take your stance, face the force before you. You've got to mean it, for nature to take notice."

Zuri stood straight, her eyes shut, her body held firm against the sandy gale. A warmth collected at her heart, and with every beat it spread. Using the Gift was the only way to get out of this alive. "Your blood holds your power. Your heart moves your blood, and so you must let it also move your power." The warmth focused on her legs and eyes, and she could feel her fur suddenly lose the grains that had gotten so deep. The wind suddenly didn't seem to hit quite so hard.

With a shout, Zuri reared up and brought her hooves down, and a rumble shook the loose ground beneath her. Sand blew away from her in every direction, the gale disrupted. The air cleared, and Zuri could see again. "The Gift of Sand-Trancing is the greatest you will know. Cherish this present, nurture it. Learn to unite yourself with Palosol the way only a Trancer can!"

The sandstorm was gone, pulled apart by her magic. What remained of it was a weak wind, making the surface of the dessert never settle. Zuri sat down, her cloak resting around her body. She sat at the crest of the dune, cyan eyes happily surveying the quiet expanse. There was little wind, but every so often grains of sand would prickle against her left side and slightly exposed muzzle, while her black hair with a strip of electric blue was kept safe from the unkind desert environment under the cloak.

Something caught the Trancer's eye. A shape in the distant north, on a lower plain of sand than the hill of dunes she sat on now. It moved in a mostly straight line at a constant speed, and a big black line was coming out of it, trailing into the sky. As it drew closer, another appeared, from the east, just like the first. These two shapes were certainly approaching her, but they seemed so distant. In only another minute however, they had drawn much closer, and the beginnings of details could begin to be found. They were big, brown, hulking things, obviosly not an animal of any sort. They were shooting black clouds of smoke into the air, leaving a long trail behind them. A noise came along side the giants, a rumbling, metal growl that sounded like nothing Zuri had ever heard before. She had heard stories, she had been warned of the possibility, but she hadn't expected them to show up so soon. Of all the days, of all places. Why do I find them here?

The two huge vehicles stopped around two hundred feet away from Zuri. Both of the large, red-brown vehicles were occupied by ponies. Even by zebra standards, Zuri’s coloration was peculiar. Her black and grey-blue stripes were hardly ordinary. Given these two facts, she had to be cautious. Ponies were not from the desert, they came from the sky as explorers or invaders, depending on who you asked. Since ponies made a habit of not only intruding upon their land but also calling them savage witch doctors, the Zebras had made themselves much harder to find.

Zuri looked at the caravans, as two stallions opened the doors on the sides, walked towards each other, and began speaking. Other Ponies quickly came out of their respective wagons to converse with each other. There was little sign of civilization for several miles, though Zuri knew of many Zebra boroughs and hamlets hidden beneath large dunes or within clusters of hollowed-out boulders. She cautiously began to inch closer to get within listening distance, so she could determine how long it would take for them to move on and get out of her way. Thankfully, her cloak made her look like a dusty rock from a distance, and the Ponies would hopefully mistake her for a mirage.

Once she was within earshot of the two stallions, she found they sounded very different from a Zebra or a Buffalo. She had been taught the Ponies’ language by one of her elders back in her village, and was able to speak it nearly as fluently as her native tongue. She fancied herself to be a diplomatic speaker, as she often had to settle disputes as a child, and tried to prevent things from getting out of hoof in a civil manner. As a Sand-Trancer, she also knew how to settle disputes in a very uncivil manner, but she didn’t take to harming her friends, and everyone knew everyone in her caste. Maybe, if things got out of hoof now, she would have less of a problem harming ponies than she did zebra.

“We have plenty of food, Mr. Matchlock,” a black stallion with brown eyes and a white mane was saying to the other, “what I’m worried about right now is water supply. We’ve a water purifier on our wagon, but it’s breaking down awful quick.”

“We don’t have one at all.” Matchlock replied, straightening his wide-brimmed hat to keep the sun out of his green eyes and brown face. “We've relied simply on stored stuff. We’ve a mechanic, to keep the wheels turnin’. She could probably have a look, if you’d like.”

“Well, then what would I be givin’ you in return?” The first inquired. “Somethin’ for nothin’ doesn’t exist between caravaners.”

“I get that sudden kindnesses ain’t common out here, Mr. Coalfield.” Matchlock said in an explanatory manner. “Maybe we could travel as one? Strength in numbers, right?”

“I’ll have to ask the missus.” Coalfield said, grinning. He gestured to the long metal rifle barrels that were part of the saddle-mounted firearms currently on his back. Zuri froze, her breath caught in her throat. Guns. They have guns. This had been the one thing that Zuri had been most afraid of, learning about ponies. Their loud, deadly weapons that shot faster than any zebra could avoid. Matchlock blinked at him for a moment, before they both burst out laughing. For what reason, Zuri could not fathom. "Just kidding, Candy Apple, darling! Come say hi to this nice stallion!”

One mare who was off to the side turned her head, and walked over, a filly and a colt to either side. Zuri guessed they were her children. “Candy Apple, this here’s Matchlock, he’s offerin’ to caravan with us.”

Candy Apple peered at Matchlock for a moment, smiled broadly, then spoke in a louder voice. “Howdy! Y’all nice folk?”

“Quite nice, miss.” Matchlock replied bowing his head politely. “We’re willin’ to lend anythin’ you need, so long as you’re willin’ to do the same.”

“They’re nice enough to me!” Candy Apple said, brightly. “You’ve got my vote, hun!” She gave Coalfield a peck on the cheek before walking off, taking her children with her.

Coalfield chuckled, turning his gaze from his departing wife back to Matchlock. “Well, that’s certainly a yes, she’s a better brain for judgin’ Ponies than I.”

“Then it’s a deal.” Matchlock replied, holding out his hoof, which Coalfield struck the base with his own. They nodded, smiling, and it was done with. Zuri was very confused. Were alliances made this quickly by Ponies living in the fabled cities? Just the word of a loud mare followed around by two glassy-eyed toddlers? It looked so efficient, as Matchlock and Coalfield chatted about things she didn’t understand. Now, however, as they turned their backs to walk away, she saw her opportunity to move. She began walking, holding herself very close to the sand, so as to make her look like a ripple across the surface of the dune. Now that no one was present, she could get closer to the side of the nearer caravan. She suddenly saw the filly and colt that had been to either side of Candy Apple, perched on one edge of the wagon, munching on two apples. Their mother was only a few feet away, drawing water from a spigot on the side of the wagon, by pushing her fore-hooves down on a lever and letting it rise up again. Zuri froze in mid-step, one hoof held up. Children were small, but loud. They could notify their elders quickly of any intruders. Zuri wasn’t sure if things were different for Ponies, but defending young from threats was something Zebras took very seriously.

Too late, she realized the colt was already looking at her. He stared at the Zebra, very slowly chewing his mouthful, and she stared back at him with her vibrant greenish-blue eyes, which sparkled in the bright sun, even under the shade of the cloak. The colt held one fore-hoof up, and pointed directly at Zuri, prodding his sister. The filly looked up from her own apple, looked at the Zebra, and gave out a loud shriek. “Monster! Monster!” She screamed again and again, jumped off her perch on the side of the wagon, and ran towards Candy Apple. Her mother turned about, laid eyes on the source of the noise, and then on the source of her daughter’s fright. “Coalfield!” She called loudly, grabbing for the colt and pulling them both away in a tight, protective embrace. “A zebra! There’s a zebra by the wagon!”

Now Zuri knew she was done for. She had seen the gun that Coalfield had shown Matchlock, and felt a shiver of cold fear. For a Sand-Trancer, the only things that posed a real threat were projectiles too fast to catch. Zuri had trained rigorously to deflect arrows, redirect rocks, and catch darts. But Zuri had heard about guns, and she had heard them used when she was very young. She remembered the sound, and that alone was enough to make her tremble. Zuri quickly focused her thoughts, using the fearful rush of adrenaline to her advantage. She leapt into a gallop, the sand curling and shifting beneath her to accelerate her movement. She was able to get past Candy Apple, and was passing the wagon when a thunderous crack split the air, and a thin, shining, pointed object whizzed right in front of her face.

Zuri skidded to a halt, panting, alarmed by the gunshot and the fact that the bullet had almost hit her. “That’s far enough,” came Coalfield’s voice. Zuri did not move, and dared not even look at him. Her legs were shaking beneath her cloak. “Where do you think you’re goin’, zebra?” There was obvious disdain in his voice. “Don’t talk yet. Move closer to me, over to the wagon, slowly.” Zuri obeyed, her head lowered slightly as she walked next to the armed stallion. “Now what’re you doing near my wife and kids? Thinkin’ yourself a master thief?”

“I am not a thief,” Zuri replied quietly, glaring at him. In response, he bopped her on the head with one barrel.

“Sure... Just what you think I wanna hear. Hey, Matchlock! You ever seen a zebra before?” Coalfield asked, using one barrel, much to Zuri’s disquiet, to push back the hood of her cloak. He exclaimed something that Zuri couldn’t translate, as he looked at her ears and neck. To distinguish her as a Sand-Trancer, she wore three little golden rings on either of her ears, and another larger ring of interwoven gold and silver around her neck. Zuri guessed that Coalfield had learned how to recognize one from somewhere.

“Yeah, I’ve seen some Stripeys around.” Matchlock said as he came over towards her, a dark look on his face. “Stars… good thing you caught her, she’s one of them witch types.” He said, looking at her ears and neck as Coalfield had. Zuri winced at the acknowledgment of her profession. Surely, they would shoot her now. For now, they kept talking. “Damn zebras can train themselves to be ‘one with Palosol’ or something stupid like that. Point is, you see one, it wants to kill you.” Zuri might have liked to point out that the whole reason she had been spotted was actually because she was being stupid and forgetting about two small, potential problems, but she wanted to keep what pride she could before they killed her.

“So, stripey, you got a name? Or, what, some special honor among thieves? Say somethin’!” Matchlock snapped, making Zuri jump and stammer, as Coalfield was still aiming directly at her.

“Z-Zuri…” She said quietly. “I am known as Zuri. I swear I did not intend to stea-”

“Don’t bother, witch, we’re giving you a comfy floor, in a cage, wearing cuffs, until we can decide how to get rid of you.” Matchlock interrupted, turning to Coalfield. “Let’s put her in my wagon, my son can get some experience with watching Zebras.” Zuri didn’t like the sound of that.

“You married too?” Coalfield asked, grinning. Matchlock returned the grin.

“My wife’s waiting for me in Paradise City. We were out here on a transport job,” Matchlock explained, as he grabbed Zuri by her cloak and pulled her roughly over towards the wagon to the right. “I’m sure she’d love to meet a stripey witch like you!” He and Coalfield, as well as a few other nearby Ponies who had come to see what was going on, enjoyed a laugh. Zuri didn’t understand what was so funny.

“Hey, kiddo, come look at our new catch!” Matchlock said, pushing Zuri up the steps to the wagon door. Now that Zuri was closer, she saw the wagon was constructed out of a very red-brown metal. A young stallion, with colors similar to his father but of brighter shades, poked his head out to stare at Zuri. He looked hardly above a teenager. The colt sneered at her, and pulled her inside.

She seemed to have just walked into a large storage compartment, full of wide crates and shorter, longer metal containers. What was most notable to her was a very big cage, with the bars spaced just widely enough to allow hooves to reach out.

Matchlock spoke from behind her, apparently directing his son. “Put the Zebra in the cage, and keep an eye on her, Blast-cap, she’s one of them witch-things.”

“You got it, Pa!” said Blast-cap, opening up the cage’s door. He roughly shoved Zuri inside, and slammed the door shut behind her. “Ya want me t’get her hooves too, pa?” Blast-cap asked.

“Good thinking, kiddo!” Matchlock replied. “The cuffs are right next to her. Don’t bother openin’ up the cage again. Use that kinesis spell you’ve been working on.”

Without further warning, Blast-cap turned around, and the horn atop his head lit up with an aura that matched the color of his pale-green eyes. Zuri blinked, watching as two cuffs rose, luminous with the same aura, and secured themselves around her forehooves, restricting her movement significantly. “Don’t bother strugglin’, stripey!” Blast-cap said, as Zuri tried to pull apart the short chain between the two metal rings. “Them’s enchanted steel cuffs. You couldn’t break that even with your crazy brand of magic, though they can block it anyway.” Zuri frowned and sat back, upset with herself for not bringing any weapons with her. She thought she would be able to explain herself to defuse any situation with words, being one of the few zebras who had learned the ponies’ language. She wanted to explore, to see the things the explorers had in their own travels. Apparently, the elders had met with greater success when it came to avoiding capture.

The cage was in good shape, and with her hooves restrained she could not etch out any of the necessary runes to weaken it. Worse still, Blast-cap was sitting there staring at her, chewing on a lump of bread. He must have been one of the unicorns about which the explorers spoke, who did not require runes or incantations. Their magic came as naturally to them as it did to those zebra born with The Gift.

Blast-cap saw the emotion in Zuri’s face, but plainly did not understand what she was feeling. He chuckled. “Don’t look so glum, Stripey. S’not like someone’s taking your virginity. You’re a virgin, aren’t ya? I can see it in your eyes when I say the word. Virgin. Virgin. Ha! See? Ya keep doin’ it. You understand me, yeah?” Zuri didn’t respond. “Hey, I asked you a question, witch. You answer!” he shouted. Zuri nodded slowly at that point, glowering a bit more.

“Fine then. Not many of you zebra folk look like virgins, what with you rutting in and out of your family like rabbits back on Equestria. How inbred can something get before they’re screwing themselves?” Zuri decided he was attempting to get a rise out of her, though perhaps he just liked hearing himself talk. Either way, she was averse to the subject he had chosen. It made her visibly uncomfortable, and so Blast-cap picked up on it easily. He kept talking through the mouthful of bread. Little wet crumbs of it flicked at her with every few words.

“Ya know, I hear there were zebras back on Equestria. I wonder if they’re creeps like you are,” Blast-cap said, sneering at her again. “You certainly look like a creep. Is blue even a normal zebra color?” It was true, Zuri’s coat color was different than most, with her black and pale blue-grey stripes and her black mane and tail, each with a strip of electric blue. Zuri shook her head slowly, eyes not leaving his. “Oh come on. You must know how to talk. Are you just a dumb barbarian? This is why I like it way better in Paradise City. At least there I know that ponies are ruled by the ministers, who answer to the Princesses, and the zebras are under control. Here? It’s just a bunch of dirty crazy stripeys who chant to false gods and obey some nut who’s in control because he’s his mother’s husband’s nephew. Don’t know why the Princesses won’t order you all killed.”

“Why no queens?” Zuri finally said, still looking at him unhappily. The question caught Blast-cap off guard.

“Who?”

“Your ‘Princesses.’ Your leaders. Why are they not queens?” Zuri asked again. “Princess is the wrong title. I know your language. They are ruling over you ponies, why are they not called queens?”

“Because they aren’t.” Blast-cap replied snappishly. “Shut up. I don’t wanna hear you talk anymore, because you don’t understand anything about the Princesses.”

“Except for the fact that there must be someone above them.” Zuri said, shrugging.

“What!?” Blast-cap stood up, angry. “You idiot! Nopony’s ever higher than the Princesses! If this were Equestria you’d be gettin’ beaten for that kind of disrespect…” Now Zuri sneered. One tool she had left was talking, and she was apparently very good at getting on this particular colt’s nerves.

“If nothing goes higher than them, then why are they called Princesses?” Zuri said, getting close to the bars of the cage. “It seems stupid to me.”

“Well of COURSE it seems stupid to you!” Blast-cap shouted at her. “You’re just a dumb zebra! You don’t know anything!”

“I know how to talk.” Zuri said in a mocking tone, still grinning. What she got for a reply that time was a harsh blow to the head. Blast-cap’s magic had picked up a knife, and struck her across the face with the butt of it. The zebra reeled back, blood trickling from her left cheek. She lay on the floor of the cage, stunned, but not unconscious.

“I told you to shut up!” Blast-cap shouted, and spat in her face before walking back, laying back down, and continuing to eat his bread. “Idiot girl, you don’t know when to shut your mouth!” After only a few more seconds, Matchlock called for his son to come upstairs, and Zuri was left alone with the words, “Hey, maybe we’ll sell you to some slavers, they can fix your talking problem right quick.” She slowly sat up, and wiped the spittle and blood from her face. She had been hit before. She had been hit several times in her training, struggling to avoid the fast hooves of her teacher's assistants, and often failing. Still, it was a bit of a shock to be so quickly struck by someone she hardly knew.

Well, this had turned out to be a great first day out abroad, on her own. She was captured by Ponies, treated as a dumb and immoral individual, and apparently to be either sold off or killed. She did not regret leaving her home city of Otoul. She had received the Premier Elder’s encouragement to leave! It was supposed to be an honorary coming-of-age for her to depart, on her own, out into the eastern desert. Yet here Zuri was, thinking of how disappointed the Premier would be, how disappointed her whole family would be. I can’t let myself die here. She decided she would wait for the ponies to lower their guard. It wouldn’t matter if she got revenge or not. She would just leave, and maybe prove to them that not all zebra were monsters.

All at once, the wagon began to move, and to her alarm, something in the wagon started to emit a loud rumble that reverberate through her chest. It was a monotone growl, suffused with the snap of metal against metal. She felt the wagon begin to move forward, and as it sped up the rumble subsided to a much softer thrumming.

———

Matchlock sat at the helm of the great vehicle, in the uppermost, farthest forward compartment. He operated its movement with sliders and dials fitted to move with hooves inserted into them. Matchlock was in a chair, with a panoramic view of the desert around him. Off to the side, the Coalfield’s wagon was turning to follow his. As a caravan captain, it was Matchlock’s job to operate the wagon, maintain the families aboard, and conduct all the dealings aboard and off-board. Now that they had their main supplies for Paradise City, they were on the return route. Coalfield was heading for the City as well, with different cargo, and the mechanic had repaired his ailing purifier. Everything was set.

“Hey, Matchlock, you hear me?” Coalfield’s voice came through a speaker on the dashboard, and Matchlock turned to press the intercom button and indicated that he had heard the other stallion. “Good. Is your son liking your new piece of cargo?”

“I heard some shouting. That Zebra must have a way with words or something,” Matchlock said, grinning. “My kid’s got a head for talking, but a hot temper, so he must have been trying to rile up our ‘passenger’ and the opposite happened. No problem. In a couple of days that creep will be off our wagon and either dangling by a noose or collared up as someone’s plaything. Either way, she’ll be out of our manes.”

“Or maybe put a couple of rounds in her,” Coalfield suggested. “Better to just kill them quickly. It gives them less time to try and do the same to you. Palosol, the great, dusty, dirty, green planet whose local inhabitants want to kill you and eat your children. Why on Equestria did we ever leave Equestria?”

“Hey, I don’t know anythin’ about that kind of thing.” Matchlock stopped him. “Talk to my son about that. He’s been readin’ up on our royal kingdom, and on what we know about Zebra social structure. Basically, from what he’s told me, is that there isn’t one big leader. They’re all just a bunch of different tribes with customs real close to each other, lead by the most intelligent, most ancient Zebra alive. They’ve all got the same feelin’ about Ponies, though: food and target practice.”

“And apparently trophies too. You hear about the lost caravan they found a month back? Pegasi and Unicorns, with their wings n’ horns cut off.” Coalfield pointed out. “Apparently they don’t like how natural magic comes to Ponies. That Trancer we caught? She’s probably the one Zebra around for miles who knows how to make stuff float around and blow up, not that she’d dare show us how she does it.”

“Then thank goodness we didn’t stumble onto a camp of them. My family’s all unicorns, and I lost an aunt and uncle to the Stripeys.” Matchlock said. Coalfield was quiet a moment, then mumbled an old blessing to those who fell by another’s hoof, and Matchlock acknowledged it somberly. “Too bad Celestia’s never been to a colonized planet. If the Princesses knew what happened out here…”

“Then we’d be a mite more happy, wouldn’t we?” Coalfield finished for him. “Sounds like something Paradise City’s mayor would say. Say, you ever been off-world?”

“I’m from off-world.” Matchlock said proudly. “Parents took me from one of them space stations to Palosol when I was a baby. Not sure why we didn’t go to Teraphim instead. More green there.”

“Palosol’s got green! Just a lot of sand west of Paradise City,” Coalfield protested. 


“Oh, I know Palosol has green. I’ve seen it. There’s Everfree-stuff in the lower hemisphere.”

“Bah! Everfree! Palosol’s woods don’t got nothing on Everfree. I don’t see manticores running around.” Coalfield laughed.

“So, how long you expect before we reach Paradise City?” Matchlock asked.

“Another day, if nothin’ goes wrong. We’ll pass through a couple little towns on the way, maybe someplace good to get rid of that Zebra. Maybe they’ll even have a gallows or a slave auction ready to go by the time we reach the first one. I’ll radio ahead, see if anyone’s there.”

“Sounds good, talk later.” Matchlock said, switching the intercom off, and climbing out of the chair, to turn around and face his son. “So, Blast-cap. Did she say anythin’ interestin’?”

“Hardly said anythin’ at all, Pa. She’s dumb, like all them Zebras are.” Blast-cap replied, frowning. “She was blasphemin’ the Princesses! So I hit her, like she deserved, Pa.”

“Attaboy.” Matchlock replied, patting his son on the shoulder. “Maybe she’ll be your first target practice. Your mama and I’ve been talking about getting you a gun…”

“Hey, Matchlock!” Coalfield hailed again, from the intercom. “Here comes our first stop! They’re chattering over the radio about some celebration for the summer. Probably a good place to shove off that Stripey.”

“As good as any. Let’s see what they say.”

Comments

[Topranger96]

This is unique, i like it.