"Dammit! You just HAD to do that!" Tough Love screeched. "My new boytoy is dead... And I'll hafta spend TWICE as much money fixing his innards than just his brain! This is all your fault!"
Zuri, still slowly recovering from Macintosh's heavy blows, had nothing to say. She was defeatedly waiting for Tough Love's cavalry to come bursting through the two doors. With Moondancer and that blue pony still unconscious, they would probably shoot Zuri first, and that was a thought nauseating enough to get her to roll onto her aching stomach.
"At least he got a few punches in." Tough Love's smugness was almost palpable. "You won't have time to get off that floor before you die. ESSUG's gonna come right at you, from all directions. Then you're fu–oh! Right on schedule!" There was a loud bang on the door, and then a couple shouts. Zuri, still somewhat dazed, took a few seconds to register that the words shouted were zebric.
———
"Stand back, Uzul, I'm dropping Feruvuur!" Druva warned, holding up a thin red vial. "This will teach them to meddle with us."
"Not if you incinerate Zuri, too." Uzul said placatingly. "What about the chance that she's right behind that door?"
"If you two could finish your foreign conversation," Rock Polish shouted from around the corner of the hallway, "and blow the door open, it would be most appreciated!"
"Yeah," Rainbow Dash assented. "Why'd you ask us to hide back here anyway, Druva?"
"Because this might burn your feathers off!" Druva shouted back, focusing on Uzul again. "I'm willing to take this chance because I think Zuri should understand that I'm about to throw Feruvuur at the door!" Druva raised her voice, so that it could carry through and, hopefully, reach Zuri's ears before she dropped the vial. "No more questions! Stand back!" Druva loosened the cork, and, taking several steps back, lobbed it at the door.
Zuri, able to hear quite clearly for most of the conversation, slowly began dragging Moondancer into the saferoom, having recovered enough to stand up, mostly. She hesitated when she looked at the blue pony. She didn't know him, but he had proven useful. Damn it all... I'm going soft. She grumbled to herself, as she pulled the stallion into the room by his mane. Just in time, as when she next turned around, a blinding white light threw her against the wall. It was accompanied by a painfully loud roar, and the heat washed over Tough Love's room.
Zuri opened her eyes, to see the office engulfed in flames, and the door melting to metal goo on the floor. The trancer felt a painful burn on her right side, to match the graze of a bullet on the left. She shouted over the roaring, trying to signal her friends that she was still alive, while she made sure her cloak wasn't aflame too.
"What the fuck was that!?" Moondancer screamed, suddenly very much awake. The reason why was that her tail had been on fire for a few seconds, and she was only now smothering it. "Did somepony start firebombing? Zuri, why is Big Macintosh..." She trailed off into a coughing fit. It was getting hard to breathe.
"See? This is why I didn't want you to use it!" Uzul snapped at Druva. "We're going to cook them alive!"
"That's it. You two are never in charge of breaching a door again, if you keep nagging at each other." Rainbow Dash spoke up. "Heads up! I'm coming in!"
A cyan blur shot over the flames, and landed in front of Zuri. She hissed in pain, beating one wing a few times to get rid of a few singed feathers. "Get those two colts up. I'm carrying you out."
"What's going on?" Came a younger, stranger voice. "Why is that room melting?"
"Changeling, go back to the train. This isn't the time." Rock Polish replied.
Zuri tried to wake Macintosh, unsuccessfully. Copic Pen, on the other hoof, was already up and complaining loudly about a large burn on his left flank, that left the sickening smell of cooked flesh in the room, along with the dwindling oxygen supply. Rainbow carried him out first. Rather, she lifted him over the flames and threw him into his secretary chair. Moondancer displayed a little trick, by grabbing Macintosh around the neck and lighting up her horn. In another blink, she was gone, and trying to wake the heavyweight pony on the other side of the flames.
"Alright, hold on tight, Zuri." Rainbow Dash instructed, holding out her forehooves.
"H-hey!" Tough Love shouted again, through the intercom. "You can't just leave like this, burning down my office!" Rainbow Dash was already carrying Zuri over the fire, which felt, to Zuri, as if it were going to cook her alive, like Uzul said. She shut her eyes tight, even as Rainbow Dash landed on the other side, nursing a burn on her foreleg. "You monsters!" Tough Love screamed. "I'll get you back for this! I paid forty THOUSAND bits for the upholstery in there! Bring back my Macintosh!"
"Quick, let's get out before she figures out she's fried." Uzul snapped.
"Not gonna work like that." Copic Pen said through grit teeth as he attempted to move without agitating the burn on his side. "She has an escape chute in there."
"Would have been nice to know that!" Rainbow said, as she took her place next to Big Macintosh. "Is he gonna wake up any time soon? He looks like he's heavy."
"Not a clue." Moondancer shrugged. "What happened to him? Zuri?"
Druva, Moondancer, and Rainbow Dash eyed Zuri inquisitively, who responded quickly. "I knocked him unconscious."
"A sort of little revenge, huh? You know, for knocking you out?" Rainbow smirked at her, and then continued before the Trancer had time to respond. "Nevermind it. Moondancer, think you can levitate him to the train?"
Moondancer blinked, looking up at her horn. "Oh hay, Rainbow. I'm no Twilight Sparkle, but... Yeah, probably." She lighted up her horn, focusing on the still unmoving form of Big Macintosh. Slowly, the big limp stallion rose into the air, Moondancer straining to keep him aloft. "Guh..." She groaned, her horn glowing brightly. "He's a freaking anvil! Let's hurry before I accidentally drop him into a grinder or something..."
Making quick progress, with Moondancer walking right next to Macintosh's floating body, the group returned to the train. The car that had been the center of defense for the Rainboom Riders was decorated with holes, from little bullets to large shells and bolts of plasma. Big Macintosh being the only one capable of operating the train mechanisms, the mercenary group and their tagalong zebras were still trapped in the Rock Pile train station, while Druva began cooking up some new brew with her cauldron on a zap plate in another train car.
Zuri stood by, watching the alchemist work with the strange materials she withdrew from her Vuiol and the plants and fungi she took from first-aid kits and several storage crates. "Took us this long to get back here," Druva was saying, dropping the ground up pieces of root from a flowering plant native to Palosol into the brew. "Now we can't even get out. Tis why I'm making a potion that I'm hoping will wake up Big Macintosh, unlike some crazy smelling salt or whatever that Moondancer mare is stuffing up his poor nose." Zuri noticed there was significant bitterness in her fellow zebra's voice when she mentioned Moondancer.
"Probably trying to get in his better favor." The alchemist continued, beginning to stir the cauldron's contents with a long wooden stick. "She may be a good soldier, but I've seen how she ogles his muscles." She leaned over the cauldron a moment, to look at Zuri closer. "Have you gotten a good look at them? He's built like a berserker."
"He's certainly very big." Zuri agreed, a little confused by her dreamy expression.
"Very big! He's a mountain!" Druva exclaimed, almost excited. "He's defined like the soldier statues in Tabithun. He's gorgeous."
"That's... A little far." Zuri said, her voice getting quieter. She didn't like talking about this kind of thing. It always made her uncomfortable. And furthermore, Druva was comparing some off-planet equine to the statues of the old honored soldiers, Tabithun being a center of military and cultural influence.
"Not far enough, I think. Egzam Drähg Logodo~" Druva sighed dreamily, sitting back a moment while the cauldron brewed. Zuri didn't exactly approve of what she said in their tongue. It was a sort of unclean saying some zebra mares made when gossiping about the objects of their affections. "Like Bradao Glo'Dei, the old story about the gentle golem and the Oun-Drii princess he attracts. How does that passage go? 'Burn me, bury me, or stomp me into the floor, I shall be here, with you, my big friendly giant...'" She sighed. "I always loved that story."
Zuri was incredulous, almost fuming. "You're comparing Bradao Glo'Dei, one of our culture's oldest romances, to an over-muscular alien."
"Well, better him than some other creep we've run into." Druva said, a little miffed at her words. "You have to admit, he's much more courteous than Thunderlane, or that swollen Edrecht back in New Appleloosa. I mean, he apologized for hurting you, and besides..." She leaned over again, smirking. "Rainbow Dash has been with him before, and says he's especially muscular, up close and down bel–"
"Yuck!" Zuri shouted, scrunching her face up as her cheeks turned red. "PLEASE don't finish that sentence! That potion stinks, already, and you're going to make me ill, talking about disgusting things like that."
Druva frowned at her a moment, before touching the hot liquid with a hoof. "Well, the potion's ready, fair lady timid." She teased, scooping some of the liquid into another bottle, and then thrust it at Zuri.
"I thought this was for your crush." Zuri said, warily taking the shaped bottle in her forehooves.
"This is for everyone who got injured. It's a dictamnus brew." Druva explained. "You were burned, and shot. This should heal your wounds quickly."
Zuri eyed the bottle full of cloudy white and pink liquid. Carefully, he brought it to her lips, and took a drink. It was thick and creamy, and got warmer as it travelled from her throat to her stomach. The heat went from her belly to her heart. The sensation was very much like setting up a trance, as it spread to her two wounds. The aching pain was dulled, and eventually vanished. Zuri looked at her sides, watching the burn mark and the graze disappear, and the skin regrow. She smiled, regaining full mobility with her wounds not longer irritating her.
"There, you're welcome." Druva said, with a note of coldness. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go tend to my crush." She took back the bottle, cleaning off the rim and refilling it, corking it shut, carrying it in her teeth to where Big Macintosh was. Zuri thought about following her, but instead felt her tail being given a slight tug. Turning, she found Chrys, staring up at her.
"Are you okay?" Chrys asked, cocking her holed ears. "I heard there were ponies shooting at you and beating you."
"I heard you killed a group of ponies with your magic," Zuri replied, to which Chrys nodded with an unreadable expression. There was not any guilt, Zuri saw easily.
"Is... Is that big red pony going to be okay?" Chrys asked, peering around Zuri's shoulder to look at the far door. "He was asleep. He promised he would come back, though."
"I don't know." Zuri replied, not happy about the subject going back to Big Macintosh. "Maybe you should go check."
"She don't need to," said that now-familiar deep rumble. "Ah'm okay, jus' a little dizzy." Big Macintosh didn't look altogether healthy. His eyes still had a partially glazed over look in them, and he was having a little trouble walking in an entirely straight line. Whatever things Tough Love's collar had done to him, Druva's potion didn't completely reverse. Still, the important thing was he was up and moving, and therefor able to get the train moving.
Chrys smiled excitedly, fluttering over Zuri's head to greet the recovered stallion. She was stopped about halfway through the air when Druva cleared her throat. She was standing close, next to him. Very, very close, Zuri noticed. "He can't do much at the moment. Tis best if he just gets the train controls operational."
"So, uh, do Ah get told what Ah missed?" Macintosh asked, looking at the three of them.
"Rainbow Dash is free, we're still stuck in Rock Pile, and oh yeah, your friend Copic Pen is gonna tag along to Paradise City." Druva rattled off, smiling brightly at him.
"Huh," Macintosh muttered, thinking this over, "and, uh, what about that whole business with the collar n' Tough Love?"
"You should be okay. At any rate, you will be okay until we get to Paradise City, then we should get you some proper medical help."
"Huh, alright." Macintosh said, nodding slowly while he began to walk again. He stumbled, and Druva took it as an opportunity to get even closer.
"Here..." She propped the massive stallion against herself with some difficulty. "You can lean against me."
Receiving a thanks, Druva helped Big Macintosh make his way past Zuri and Chrys, and to the front car.
Zuri went elsewhere, first finding Gustav examining metal crates full of refrigerated goods. He looked up, grinning. "Ach! I've been wanting to talk to you." He said, straightening up and walking over to the zebra, who noticed the Gryphon had a bandage around one hind-leg, and was limping. "I haven't had a chance to say thank you, Zuri," Gustav began. "Now I think you deserve it twice over, for what you've done to get Macintosh back and us back on the path to Paradise City. I also wanted to apologize, specifically, for the last words exchanged between us. I think I look at your kind a bit differently now, now that they've helped me." He held up his hind leg, and peeled off the bandage without so much as a wince. "Look! I was caught by a bullet, and that alchemy-friend of yours healed it within seconds. Much more useful than a first-aid kit, no?"
"Druva is certainly very good with her cauldron." Zuri said, smiling slightly. "Very helpful."
"Reminds me, I want you to take this." He reached back, and withdrew from a pack on his side a large bag, that clinked and jingled as it moved. "This should help you, in Paradise City. I've gotten the impression that you're a responsible kind of mare, so I'm sure you won't waste this on ale or something."
"Ale? I haven't even had zebric ale. I'm not about to go near any drink that is pony made." The Trancer replied, letting a laugh sneak into her voice. She needed the humor, today had been very high tension, with all the bullets flying around. Gustav laughed as well, and stood to the side to let her pass.
Most the other Rainbow Riders were grateful they had their train conductor back. Even Thunderlane, stiff and reluctant, came up to her in one train car and grumbled what Zuri assumed was a thank-you. She wanted to find Rainbow Dash herself, however, to speak with regarding how entering and leaving Paradise City would work. She would normally ask Druva, but Druva seemed more keen on making sure she had Macintosh all to herself.
She walked towards the car with the security officers' bunks in it. Once used by the ESSUG guards who went along with the train, it was now being used by Rainbow Dash and her seconds. The door sliding out of her way, she walked in, and peeked around the bunks on either side of the train car. There wasn't much sign of anyone, as she walked through, until she came upon a sight that made her want to shriek.
Uzul was sitting atop one of the bunks, hooves holding him tightly to Rainbow Dash, and their lips were locked. It took a few moments for Zuri to calm down and realize that they weren't taking it any farther than that, thank the stars, but all the same her face went red. She attempted to interrupt them with a loud clearing of her throat, but it took a few seconds, Rainbow Dash holding up a hoof to signal whoever was watching to wait one more second. Finally, before Zuri had the chance to reach up and pull them apart by their tails, Uzul broke the kiss, gasping like he had come up from deep water. He opened his eyes, looked at Zuri, and jumped.
"Z-zuri!" He squawked, apparently still uncomfortable with his own kin seeing him so passionately mashing mouths. "I didn't think you'd be in here..." He coughed nervously, avoiding her face.
"I wanted to talk to Rainbow Dash," Zuri snapped, a little irritated and trying to will the red off her face. It wasn't working.
"Uh, yeah, um..." Rainbow stammered, caught off guard as well, even though she had a big grin on her face. Then she looked curiously at Zuri. "Hey, why're you all—hang on. You're not jealous of me, are you?"
"Stars, no." Zuri said firmly. Which was true, she wasn't at all desiring Uzul for herself. It was bad enough that Druva, Moondancer, and possibly even Chrys were going after the big red stallion. Zuri felt that one love-polygon was more than enough for one dysfunctional band of adventurers, mercenaries and misfits. "I just don't like you two getting so... Cuddly so fast."
"Cuddly?" Rainbow said, laughing. "That wasn't cuddly, that was a thank-you kiss. Only Uzul gets them though, sorry."
"I feel so left out." Zuri said, her tone drooling sarcasm. "Anyway, I wanted to speak to you in private."
"I think I get your meaning," Uzul said meekly, climbing down from the bunk and moving towards a car door. "I'll just..." He was gone before he finished talking.
Rainbow Dash sighed, fluttered down to Zuri's level, and looked at her. "So, what's up?"
"I was only wondering," Zuri began, still slightly flushed, "about how we are going to get into Paradise City, and what it will be like for us zebras."
"Ah, okay," Rainbow pursed her lips for a moment, rubbing her chin. "Well, the first part's easy. The train'll just head into the station Mac thinks will most likely overlook a bunch of 'slaves' and some technically-unregistered weaponry. Let's not forget the changeling, too. After that, my crew will go looking for a way to head for Filthy Rich, and we'll see if we can help you find some of your kind's merchants. We might need a sum of money, to bribe an official or two, or even buy zebra licenses, or even a ShowMe engraving."
"What is a ShowMe?" Zuri asked.
"It's, um..." She examined her right hoof, pulling off the part of her combat suit covering it, and showing the base of her hoof to Zuri. "I know you don't see anything, but Equestrian citizens get an identification tag magically engraved into their hooves. It allows them to pass through security checkpoints really easily, and helps with access to computer networks, mainframe storages, and data pipelines." Zuri hadn't any idea what on Palosol any of those things were, but did not bother asking. "It would sure help if it wasn't just Mac with a legitimate ShowMe. I could sure use one with decent security clearance, but that costs a lot of money."
"Well, your cook just gave me this." Zuri withdrew the bag jingling full of coins.
"Woah! Where was he hiding this?" Rainbow Dash took the bag, undoing the string holding it shut and looking inside. "Sweet Celestia, there's enough money in here to buy a small house." She looked up at Zuri with a frown. "He probably found this in one of these crates, otherwise he would have probably told me about it sooner. This also means the money is traceable, otherwise ESSUG would have locked it in a mobile vault." She peered into the bag again, and pulled out a shining gold coin. "Well, that's weird. They have no tracing number on either side." She turned it over in her hooves. On one side was a silohuette of a pony with a horn and wings, leaping upwards with a sun and moon on either side of it. On the other side, it had a pair of large curvy numerals, which Zuri couldn't interpret. "Shoot," Rainbow began again, "ten-bit, unmarked gold coins. I know Gustav didn't leave with this much money in his beak. This is practically a small fortune, why would this kind of thing go so underguarded?"
"Maybe they thought it was well-guarded," Zuri offered, "and they weren't expecting us."
"No, this is something fishy, we might be able to use this, but only if I know where Gustav got it. Excuse me." She brushed past Zuri, back towards the door she had entered through. This interaction brought up some subjects Zuri hadn't previously had time to put much thought into. When on Palosol did Uzul become so accepting of ponies? Or was it just this pony, possibly because it was a source of, yuck, potential sexual stimulation? First Uzul, and now Druva and maybe even that bug-pony, which Zuri didn't think much of either, now that she wasn't pressed for time.
A rumbling machine shook the train, and Zuri looked behind her to find the source. Macintosh was operating the controls for some large metal arm, that pulled out the two most bullet-ridden train cars, and replaced them with empty and undamaged cars though apparently used to hold several live animals, given the open cages that filled them. Then, the whole train lurched to the left, apparently switching tracks, as was planned. In a few more minutes of strange whirring and clunking, the train was moving again.
Zuri moved to one of the windows, watching the docking station of the Rock Pile move away to the right, and then beginning to blur as the train picked up speed. The depot disappeared as the train entered another tunnel, lighted by glowing yellow circles every few meters. The Trancer exited the officer bunks, and returned to find the two replacement cars now with Druva and Chrys in them. Druva was showing off her cauldron to the changeling, who was peering into the boiling blue liquid curiously. Zuri could look through the window to the next train car, and see Gustav and Rainbow having a very heated conversation. Uzul was to Zuri's left, gazing out the window. He noticed her, and waved her over.
"I wonder what hurdle we'll have to overcome next." The arbiter said, looking down at his arc bow, which he had removed from his back and rested atop an empty cage. "Rainbow Dash has already told me about what should happen when we get to Paradise City. I wonder how long we'll have..." He trailed off again, not looking at Zuri. It reminded Zuri that she hadn't actually spoken with Uzul since New Dodge Junction, and she had some questions to ask. To start...
"How much affection do you actually feel for Rainbow Dash?"
"Uh," Uzul went red, "w-well, I certainly do like her. She's amusing, attractive, athletic..." Well, he was going through the reasons why he felt affection for her, it was a start. "I want to see where this goes. Maybe I won't come back with you and Druva."
"No?" Zuri asked, a little bemused. She had an idea that Uzul would be hesitant about leaving the new apple of his eye behind, but she didn't much like the idea of leaving a zebra alone to be... Tainted by some multicolor alien.
"Maybe," Uzul repeated himself, his blush was still vibrant. "I do really feel something for her. I've never married, and being an Arbiter... I never had much time to connect with anyone in one place. But with this journey of ours, Rainbow is really... Really something."
"Well, so long as she is 'something', you must be on the right road." Zuri grinned at him.
"Hm, yes. Again, I'm not deciding anything yet. I don't know how much she really cares about me, besides just enjoying the kissing."
"So you think it's alright to cuddle up with an alien?" Zuri asked, narrowing her eyes.
"Would you rather I went at Druva?" Uzul's tone was more guarded.
"Druva has her heart set on the big red pony," Zuri informed him. "I don't understand how she can. He's entirely red, no stripes!"
"Well, Zuri, I don't know if you're the one to talk about coat color." Uzul said, his tone turning more teasing. "You have no white stripes, only blue ones, and your eyes are very very bright."
It was Zuri's turn to feel embarrassed. Stripe color was a touchy subject."At least I HAVE stripes. That red one and Rainbow Dash... They're just one color. And your fillyfriend's mane is... Too many."
Uzul didn't seem too disturbed by the use of the word fillyfriend. Instead, he put a hoof to his chin in thought. "Why so touchy on this subject? Did you have trouble with your own coat color? I think this is what is called being hypocritical."
"I am not hypocritical!" Zuri snapped hotly. "I may have been bullied a little by fellow Oun-Drii who didn't like my stripes, but at least I come from the same planet!"
"Why the sudden shouting?" Uzul asked, wearing a half-grin. Zuri knew he had found one of her more sensitive nerves. "Are you sure you aren't? Or jealous?"
"I am not jealous." Zuri said firmly, stamping her hoof. "Jealous? Of them? Why would I be?"
"They have different coat colors. In fact, every pony has different colors than every other pony. They are all unique, and none is above another because of that." Uzul pointed a hoof at her. "I'm sure you know very well that among our kind, a difference in stripe color is considered openly declaring yourself an abomination, to most." Zuri went red; she hated it when her own kind didn't treat her as an equal just because of her stripes. She had to deal with it since she was born. She didn't see any hypocrisy in acting the same way towards ponies. She thought it fair, and why not? It wasn't like the majority ponies liked her any more than she did them.
"There's... There's nothing wrong with a different stripe color," she said, trying to keep her voice level by quoting her mother's pacifications. "The ponies aren't... They aren't from here! Not the same world. They are the abominations, not me."
"Well, these abominations are doing a pretty good job of risking their lives to keep us all safe, don't you think?" Uzul's tone was guarded again. Maybe he felt protective of Rainbow Dash, given their growing relationship, Zuri mused.
"Haven't I done that too?" Zuri returned, after a moment's hesitation. "I risked trancing in front of witnesses, for our safety. I came back and freed you from that Edrecht and his whore-wife, remember?"
"For which I am most grateful," Uzul replied, sounding even more angry. "You are indeed the main reason we're here, alive, and on the way home. But that isn't my point, Zuri. My point is: don't you think you could be a bit more tolerant of the nicer ponies? At least, those who are actually protecting us? You've already gotten your gratitude, maybe you should show some too. Maybe you don't like how easily Druva and I have found... Partners, and you're all alone, because you're the wrong color."
That was it, before Zuri could think better of it, she had hit Uzul faster than the arbiter could ever prepare for. Then, she watching Uzul stumble to the side, holding his cheek where she had struck him. He looked stunned, and didn't say another word. Halfway between apologetic and furious, Zuri stomped away from him, her face red as a beet.
Calling her out on being xenophobic was one thing, suggesting her reasons for being against aliens originated from being an alien herself was another. She had had enough ridicule for blue stripes from her peers, she didn't need it from someone whom she was beginning to consider a decent friend. Chrys and Druva had noticed the argument, and now came running over to see why Uzul was holding the side of his face, wincing.
"Zuri, did you...?" Druva stared at her.
"I did, what's the problem with that?" Zuri snapped at her, making her draw back. The Trancer was too angry to slow down at the moment. "There isn't anything wrong with that, but there is something wrong with your snuggling up with that big red pony! How come with all of you two's snuggling up to those aliens that zebras still think my stripes make me a... " She stopped herself, and pushed past them all to the door to the previous car, now without occupants.
Zuri crawled behind a set of crates, apparently holding some strong smelling medical salves. She first tried to breathe deeply, like the Dunnur had taught her, when her emotions were gaining too much control, but that didn't help. She wanted to try silent meditation, or even a bit of private trancing as a stress relief, but before she could decide whether to melt something or transfigure a rock to a pretty bird, she felt tears roll down her cheeks, and a whimper building in her choked-up throat. Alone, Zuri began to cry, hiding her head with her mane and cloak hood.
She could easily remember the last time some zebra had stared at her for an extended amount of time, chiefly her blue stripes. She also remembered the last time someone had openly insulted her, without a care for whether they were punished for disparaging an Oun-Drii in public. Then the bullying, the words she learned that were made especially for those zebras whose colors were wrong, and the time she learned that her father had seriously considered burying her alive rather than having a child with discolored stripes, but stopped himself out of pure paternal affection.
It made Zuri more upset than anything that the ponies were all so uniquely colored, and all of them treated one another so much as equals. Even the brutal aliens seemed better in that regard than her own species, Zuri admitted bitterly. Druva and Uzul weren't helping, trying to get with Rainbow Dash and Macintosh and apparently succeeding. How come a zebra would rather be partners with an alien than treat one of their own with kindness? It didn't occur to Zuri that she had found two exceptions to the typical bigoted mindset of most Zebra. Druva and Uzul cared as much about the ponies being different from them as they did her stripe color, but Zuri felt it was some sort of acid-lined insult. They can get along better with them than they can me.
Zuri had been raised to treat outsiders with as much scorn as she received for being discolored. Not every zebra in Otoul thought her a freak, but the majority she met did. Many didn't dare say anothing in front of her or her family, fearful of reprimand for the heinous crime of openly insulting Oun-Drii. But Zuri knew how they felt, even in her small group of friends' eyes, she could see the fear in them, like she was carrying some deadly disease, or touching her would mark you with bad luck. At his worst, Gainu, her father, had called her an insult to Oun-Drii and her ancestor Sara.
The arguments Uzul had brought up reminded her of all that, of the other reason she left home. She needed a break from being harassed every day, and a long seclusion in the deserts or even the Far Marshes sounded like just the thing to take her mind off it all. Instead, she came across ponies, met Druva and Uzul, and was now stuck on a train, crying like a child behind a box full of smelly soaps. She knew exactly what her parents and Premier would say if they saw her right now, as well as the Dunnur. "Not at all how we raised you," was the general idea.
"I am sorry, sorry..." She mumbled to herself, like a mantra, only not at all helping to calm herself down. Muffling herself with her mane, she tried again to regain calm, still to no avail; the tears just wouldn't stop. Blinking some out of her eyes, she saw little flecks of blue, swirling around inside them. She breathed out, even her tears bore the signs of The Gift. It was why she had been given to the Dunnur as a student instead of anyone else. Her blood was so full of it, her heart so strong with it, that he had demanded that she would be his exclusive student. Being the most well known trancer currently alive, he had got her. Right now, she remembered the day she learned she was to learn under the Dunnur with warmth. It was what would disprove what all those bigots said about her, and it almost did, before she left.
Now, Zuri imagined the rumors being spun; maybe they thought she died, her bones picked clean by the harsh desert wind. Or, perhaps, she ran away to be with the ponies to see if they would accept her, like some other discolored zebras were rumored to have done. Maybe, just maybe, they were sending search parties out for her. Zuri managed a weak smile, a comical image of her brother, Agilis, riding along in his Gau-Aer sled, looking for her tail, which poked out of the sand like a drooping flower. Agilis never cared about her coat color, he thought it made her easier to identify, and much easier to find in a crowd of pretty Oun-Drii girls.
"Because I would stand out?" Zuri had asked glumly.
"Yes, of course you'd stand out!" Agilis had insisted, a toothy grin on his face. "Why wouldn't you? The prettiest one always stands out."
"Thank you, big brother, for the vote of confidence..." Zuri mumbled to herself, her voice sounding croaky with the lump of emotion in her throat. She heard the door to the car ahead open up, and hoofsteps draw close.
"Zuri? Druva said you ran in here." Rainbow Dash's voice came through over the crates. "She said you were pretty mad; hit Uzul real hard in the face. He's got a black eye, you know."
"I did do that.." Zuri said, sitting up so Rainbow Dash could see her. She blinked in surprise; Zuri's eyes were puffy and red from the crying. Evidently the mare hadn't ever expected to see this zebra in tears.
"Oh, uh, you were..." She gestured her hoof at Zuri's tear-streaked cheeks. She nodded feebly. Rainbow made an "ah", and sat back on her haunches, pointing with her wing to a spot next to her. "Well, come on, sit here with me."
Zuri tentatively clambered over the soap crates, and next to Rainbow Dash, gradually sitting down and nervously sniffling, wiping away more tears with her cloak hood. She waited for a few moments in silence, breathing shakily, for the pegasus to say something, maybe explain further as to why she had asked Zuri to sit by her. Rainbow took a deep breath, and sighed. "So, wanna talk about it?"
"N-not... not with you..." Zuri replied, wiping her eyes again.
"Oh?" Rainbow asked, eyeing her coolly. "Who, then? You don't seem to wanna talk to Druva, and, well, you just hit Uzul." She made a shrugging motion with her wings. "They seem the most likely, uh, people who you'd want to talk to when you're all..." She gestured to Zuri's red eyes. "Listen, I had a real great group of friends back on Equestria, our home planet. The one who brought us together, her name's Twilight, and she's taught me a few things about reading between the lines. Know what I mean?"
"Not really." Zuri said, blinking at her and sniffling.
"Well, uh, I see you've got a problem, and I want to help," Rainbow explained simply, smiling encouragingly at her. "I did hear a snippet of you shouting, though. Um, something about ponies being aliens?" Zuri looked away from her. "Well, you're right. We are aliens to you, as much as you are to us. It's kinda the definition of the word, in our books." She leaned closer to Zuri, whispering as if to prevent some eavesdropper from hearing. "Not that I read too many dictionaries to begin with, or anything, but!" She straightened up again. "What was that about your own kind, thinking you were a...?" She gestured with her forehooves, encouraging Zuri to expand on her thoughts.
Zuri sighed, and tried to glare at the pegasus even though she still felt like blubbering in a dark corner. She always hated crying, it made her feel nauseous and weak in the legs. "I... I was born with blue stripes, instead of nobagere—um, white. Among my kind, a difference in stripe color is like... Like..." She didn't want to describe it. Describing her constant, irreversible fault to this cheery cyan pony made her feel pathetic.
Rainbow Dash, however, was able to read the look on her face with superb accuracy. "It's like an insult to your family? You have to live with insults and unfair bias and stuff?"
"Yes!" Zuri said, quite nonplussed. "How did you know that?"
"I guessed," Rainbow smirked. "We have trouble like that too. See this thing, on my flank? The rainbow thunderbolt?" She pointed at one flank, where the colorful symbol was quite hard to miss, without her combat suit on. "It's called a cutie mark. Every pony has one, it shows what our special talent is—what we're best at."
Zuri stared at the cutie mark with great interest. "But... Among zebra kind, that's where the family crest is tattooed." She looked to her own flank, where a galactic spiral was etched, surrounded by outward-pointing triangles: the symbol of the Sara family, which Zuri would wear for the rest of her life. "Why would you have a rainbow thunderbolt on your flank? What does that even mean?"
"It means," Rainbow began, puffing her chest out proudly, "I'm the fastest flier on equestria! Or, anyway, it means my special gift is flying faster than most. Everypony gets one once they discover what their special talent is. But before that..." She groaned loudly, her smile lost again, "the stuff the other fillies and colts put you through... The bullying should be illegal. There's hazing incidents where really desperate kids get fooled by bigger ones into doing really stupid stuff, trying to figure out what their talent is. Colts and fillies get themselves killed, or worse." She shivered, ruffling her wings. "Blank-flank, that's the word for a pony who doesn't have their cutie mark yet, and they're usually the center of all the local punks' abuses. I guess, to other zebras, you're like a... A permanent blank flank. They always treat you that way because they think you're lesser than them. Am I right?"
Zuri nodded slowly, her situation was a lot like those "blank-flanks", only it didn't end with gaining a cutie mark. Her eyes occasionally darted to Rainbow's flank to examine the cutie mark. Well, it certainly wouldn't make any sense if that was a family crest, she decided. It would be ridiculed about as badly as Zuri was.
"But, Uzul and Druva don't care much," Rainbow continued, "they don't look like they do, anyway. What did Uzul say to make you hit him, specifically?"
Zuri took a deep breathe, in better control of herself now. "He suggested I was jealous of him and Druva for having affections for ponies because he thought I felt my coat color prevented me from doing anything good for me, while ponies come in ever color of the rainbow!" She frowned again. "All my coat's done is make me an outcast among most zebra."
"Wait, wait, you're Oun-Drii, I know enough about your culture to know that openly insulting Oun-Drii can be punishable by public flogging, or even execution."
"Only if it isn't an Oun-Drii making the insults. The worst ones came from fellow Oun-Drii children who were taught by their parents to treat me like mud."
"Well that's weird," Rainbow said, her tone gaining a cheeky quality. "You're not the color of mud; you're blue. Hey, that's an improvement, I think."
"It may be for you," Zuri snapped bitterly, "you ponies are supposed to be different colors. You don't get jeered at by passersby."
"Ah..." Rainbow said, a look of comprehension dawning on her face. "Listen, you might have heard it from your mom and dad, if they weren't complete jerks or something, but you should learn not to sink to the level of those who insult you. I mean, not ALL us ponies are bad, and, I didn't ever talk a about your color in a bad light, so it isn't really even fair to take it out on me, or even Uzul! Maybe he just let it slip because you were getting on his nerves, and it's not just blue zebras who do that, you know."
Zuri listened to this with a growing regret, now she did feel guilty for hitting Uzul. Maybe he did sincerely feel something for this mare, and however alien she may be, she really wasn't that bad, especially for a pony. Zuri could admit it, she had been feeling jealous of Rainbow and Macintosh gaining affections from zebras. Uzul and Druva were different, they accepted them as readily as they accepted Zuri. Now she felt a little stupid again, for not seeing this sooner, but gave a weak smile.
Rainbow smiled back, seeing she had done well in improving Zuri's mood. "Well, I gotta go see how my coltfriend is doing, with his black eye." She said, fluttering up into the air and towards the train car door. "Maybe you should see it too, and give him an apology, yeah? Apologies always help wounds heal faster, I think that's what Twilight would say." She flew into the next train car, leaving Zuri alone with an improving mood.
She still felt queasy and sniffly from her emotional walls crumbling down before, but at least the zebra was able to wait for it to go away, rather than dealing with it as she cried herself to sleep. Rainbow Dash really wasn't that bad, after all. Zuri hadn't thought they could be that understanding, even if it did make her feel like an idiot for not seeing the error in her thinking earlier.
Upon entering the car with Uzul again, Zuri and him exchanged apologies almost simultaneously, with Rainbow sitting in a corner looking quite pleased with the results of her troubleshooting. Druva approached her as soon as they had both shut their mouths.
"You know, we couldn't see it in the dim light of the cell block in New Dodge Junction," she began, referring to her and Uzul. "But we saw your coat color in the boat, in the morning afterward. We decided it didn't matter too much."
Chrys was buzzing about, apparently in quite a cheery mood, feeling the emotions of the two zebras radiating around her. The changeling explained to Zuri that when others around her were happy, she usually was too. Zuri could see Rainbow in the corner rolling her eyez.
Things were moving along quite well, with Paradise City looming ever closer before the train. Big Macintosh came in and declared they would be arriving within the day, and it was already getting dark, the details of the blurring land becoming a little harder to see with the setting sun. "Well, Ah think we might be sayin' farewells soon." He continued, looking from Zuri to Druva. "And Ah'd like to thank you fer rescuin' me from that Tough Love filly."
"Hey! I had a little something to do with that too!" Moondancer shouted from the far end of the car. "Oh, and let's not forget your blue friend, here..." She pushed Copic Pen towards them, and he waved rather timidly at the growing group.
"I'm just tagging along to get to Paradise City, and apply for a better job somewhere." Copic explained, shrugging. "I mean, it's good to see you again, Mac, and a real honor to meet THE Rainbow Dash, but, uh, the longer I'm not accounted for in Rock Pile, the longer the list of questions'll be when I get to Paradise. So, when did you say we were going to arrive there?"
"End of the day, Copic," Big Macintosh answered, chuckling. "Ya'll got nothin' to worry about, on that front." His gaze travelled to one of the windows, and his smile faded. "Uh oh, we might have to worry about that."
Everyone in the car looked out the left side of the train. In the distance, a strange vehicle could be seen, flying far above the surface. Rainbow Dash pressed her nose against the window, "I can't tell if it's military or not, but that hovercraft couldn't have come from anywhere but the Rock Pile. It's not big enough to be able to fly any farther out that that."
"But, I wonder who's in it?" Druva muttered, trying to peer through the dark, tinted glass of the craft's cockpit. What was most easily visible was the shape: long, and batlike, with thin wings that tapered off, until they met the two propulsion engines on either side, with blue jets firing out the back of them.
"Looks like a local airship, probably a Swallow model, which means it won'f have any mounted weapons." Moondancer continued, as the ship drew closer. "Any guns on it would tear the thing apart with the force of firing, it's too light and thin, but it can carry plenty of stuff. Maybe it's an overweight diplomat they were trying to clone before we bust in and made things too exciting for their poor fluffed up hearts." She grinned sardonically.
"No, I'll bet anything that's Tough Love," Copic said, his tone grim. "She's running off to tattle on us to her dear daddy; I can almost see her blowing a raspberry at us through that tinted window."
"That reminds me," Druva interjected rather loudly. "What IS a raspberry? And how do you blow one?"
Chrys, still brimming with glee after being around so many happy ponies, demonstrated quite eagerly to Druva what Copic meant by raspberry, and it took a minute or two to get her to shut up again, though everyone had a short-lived smile on their face as they watched the hovercraft speed along, past the train and out of sight.
"Well, at least she isn't going to ram into us or anything," Rainbow Dash muttered, looking away from the window, grinning. "But for the moment, we're home free! Paradise City, here we come!" She pumped a hoof in the air, flapping her wings a few times in excitement. "Soon, we'll be getting pay, and you three'll be right on back to your home cities."
"Well, maybe only two." Uzul murmured, sitting next to Rainbow Dash. Zuri noticed two things: She found it fairly easy to begin to accept this possibility, compared to before her talk with Rainbow Dash. Second, she saw that Uzul was getting better about not letting any embarrassment show, but there was still some extra color in his cheeks. Personally, Zuri couldn't wait to see Otoul again. Rainbow Dash blinked in surprise, before an even bigger smile grew on her face, and she hugged Uzul, wings and all, planting another kiss on his cheek.
"Anyway," Rainbow released him and turned back to Zuri. "That bag of money Gustav gave you came from a private sum he was saving to start a business on Thardrim station. Apparently he was doubting ever seeing a 'proper' kitchen again, being 'an accomplice in several crimes with a gang of screwballs,' or something, and thought it would be put to better use by you trying to get back home, than him trying to get through customs again. See, uh, Equestrians aren't allowed to move physical sums of money between planetary establishments." She shrugged, as if she thought the rule deserved as much respect as a foal respected a rule about the number of sweet cakes they could eat before having dinner. "It's a dumb law they passed after some drunken schmuck got his life-savings jettisoned into cold space after offering to have sex with the ship pilot, who was engaged. Anyway, we can use that money to make sure we can bribe anyone we need to."
"Wait, then how did Gustav get it on Palosol in the first place?" Moondancer asked, cocking her head to the side.
Rainbow looked at her with a cold expression, saying simply; "Gilda." Which, apparently, explained it all for the unicorn, who nodded slowly and turned away.
"What is the story with this Gilda person?" Uzul asked, breaking a brief but uncomfortable silence.
"I'll tell it to you later." Rainbow replied, not looking at all like she wanted to.
Zuri left the car, feeling a little nauseated seeing Rainbow and Uzul so cuddly. She could be more tolerant, but Rainbow Dash still wasn't from the same planet, and that was much harder to accept. She was walking towards the front of the train when she heard the clip-clop of someone right behind her. Stopping abruptly, she felt someone bump into her backside, and she turned around, at first a little confused when she could see no one, before looking down and finding Chrys rubbing her forehead on the floor.
"Oh, um, hi," she squeaked, blinking up at her and looking innocent. Zuri knew that expression, however, it was the expression that quite clearly said one had a secret and really didn't want it getting out. "I've been asking Rainbow Dash what they're gonna do about me when we get to the city, and, um," she pawed the floor, looking very unhappy. "She couldn't answer, and... And I'm afraid she's going to try and send me back to the ponies who imprisoned me, so..." She looked up at Zuri again, a big hopeful smile on her face. "C-can I go to your kind instead?"
"What?" Zuri gaped, not expecting this kind of question at all.
"I thought, well, maybe if I went to your zebra kind, no one would try and... Imprison me again." She shivered at the idea. "Your two zebra friends are so nice and understanding, maybe... Maybe I could go with Druva!"
"B-but..." Zuri stammered, struggling to string together polite words. "But you would fit in about as good as..." As I do, except without the protective cover of being Oun-Drii. "You'd stand out, in a crowd."
"No I wouldn't!" Chrys persisted, looking more excited. "See? Listen, I've been watching you and Druva and Uzul move around, and listen to your accents! I can change into you! Watch!" Before Zuri could say anything else, Chrys' horn flashed, and her form suddenly grew larger, and before the light dimmed, Zuri could see an exact duplicate of herself standing in front of her. She gaped, staring at the disguised changeling as she beamed back.
"See? See?" Chrys squeaked excitedly, her voice a perfect mimic of Zuri's. "I can make some changes so I don't look EXACTLY like you, and I can be a zebra!"
"I don't know if that is really a good idea..." Zuri said placatingly. "In my home, they will want to ask questions about where you came from."
"No, no, I already figured that out," Chrys shook her head, which Zuri found even more unsettling. "Druva told me about the zebra-inhabited sections of Paradise City, you can say I'm from there!"
"But you'll need a family name, and crest, and class!" Zuri argued.
"You can teach me all that!" Chrys returned, as if she had expected this.
"But you aren't a zebra...!" Zuri protested: imposters were where she drew the line.
"I'm not, but I could learn to be!" Chrys said, still beaming at Zuri using Zuri's own face. Zuri noticed she didn't have any cloak on, unlike herself. She also noticed the tone in Chrys' voice. At first it was bubbly and eager, now there was a hint of malice, or was she imagining that? Surely someone who just wanted to fit in as badly as Zuri did didn't want to cause harm to the same people she wanted to accept her. All the same, she found herself opening her mouth, and given her reply.
"No," she said firmly.
Chrys', or rather Zuri's, face immediately fell, and in another flash of light she had become herself again. "But why?" She asked, her voice having lost it's happiness, but that single malicious note stayed.
"You aren't a zebra. You can look and act like one, but it's more than that." Zuri said, attempting to keep firmness and gentleness in her voice at the same time. "You weren't born one. Everyone will eventually discover that you're different. We know our own kind too well to accept an outsider."
Chrys stared up at her for several seconds, before turning away and flicking her tail in Zuri's face. "I guess you're right," she murmured darkly, the malicious note growing into an octave. "I am an outsider." And she walked back through the door to the previous car.
Zuri didn't feel great about ruining Chrys' good mood, feeling a sort of kindred spirit in the isolated Changeling, but she knew bringing an imposter into the fold, no matter how convince, would cause an uproar. That, and Zuri was very disturbed by that expression in Chrys' voice. She sounded like she was trying to cover it up, but as their exchange progressed, Zuri was noticing it more and more often. She decided to not think on it further, arriving at the train head. Doing her best not to bump any controls, she pushed herself onto the control panel by her fore-hooves to get a better view outside. It was getting even darker, as the endless train rail seemed to appear out of nowhere in the far distance, and looming closer and closer... Zuri gasped. Gigantic spires towering over the landscape, a great metallic-grey wall all around the base, hundreds of little dots that were hovercraft flying this way and that, a wide skyline, swarming around the bases of the three sky-piercing towers around an even larger one. This must be Paradise City, and stars, it was big.
Massive silhouettes moved across the sky above the central towers, they must be the starships that Zuri had heard rumors about from scouts. They were like the huge statues in the Far Marshes that so many of her kind told stories about. Paradise City itself looked like it matched Otoul in size. Zuri knew to expect something big, but not this big, aboveground.
"Eeeyup, that's Paradise City." Macintosh boomed from behind her, apparently having come in while Zuri was in awe at their looming destination. "Quite a sight, ain't it? Not as big as the cities on Equestria, but Ah'm okay with that. Ain't exactly nice to take another kind's planet, y'know."
"I do know," Zuri replied, not taking her eyes off off of the three towers. They looked like mimicry of Otoul's central tower, only aboveground, and it made her homesick.
Macintosh must have noticed her expression: she could see his reflection in the windshield glass, and guessed he had gazed towards hers. "Yeah, Ah'd feel kinda rotten if Ah saw a bunch'a aliens buildin' their stuff on mah planet too. Hey, maybe when the new princess gets around to surveyin' the other planets she might decide to pull outta you zebras' business."
"New princesses?" Zuri turned to stare at him. "How many do you have? No, don't bother; I don't understand most your words for numbers."
"Uh, well, her name's Twilight Sparkle. She's a friend o' Rainbow Dash, and was crowned just a few years ago. She decided she wanted t'see the rest of the ESSUG planets. Princess Celestia turned it into evaluatin' them, to cool off some less-cheerful members of the public. Her itinerary is all over our news media." Zuri stared at Macintosh blankly, not understanding his last sentence at all. He took a few moments to come up with an alternative. "Err, everypony knows where she's goin', is what it means."
"I see," Zuri muttered, mulling over a question. "Do you know why she wants to visit Palosol?"
"Nah," Macintosh shrugged, shaking his head. "Maybe Celestia wants her to check things out like she says to the reporters. Or... Maybe she's comin' t'see Rainbow Dash, but then she'd make a beeline for Palosol and not stop anywhere else. I guess she may just wanna to learn somethin' firsthoof about the whole interplanetary nation. Must'a been somethin' she saw on the other side of that mirror..." Macintosh trailed off, and did not explain further.
Druva opened the door, walking in with an eager look on her face, which became surprise upon seeing Zuri. "Oh! I wanted, uh, to see Macintosh. I thought he would be alone..." She murmured, a slight smile on her face, though she avoided the Trancer's gaze.
"I understand," Zuri said, forcing a gracious smile as she walked past Macintosh and next to Druva. She couldn't resist, as she leaned in and whispered in Druva's ear. "I understand everything you wanted to do." She enjoyed watching Druva's face turn red and hot, and then left the two alone.
There were many minutes where nothing happened, and Zuri watched the scenery go by. Chrys had passed by to talk to Druva, and Zuri could almost feel the dismal expression on the changeling's face as she trudged by the other way a few minutes later. Had she asked the same thing of Druva as she had Zuri? That seemed the most likely; Zuri couldn't think of any other reason for the alchemist to make Chrys feel sad. She, Uzul, and Macintosh seemed to have gained a liking for the bug, and seemed the least likely to intentionally hurt her feelings.
Zuri decided there wasn't much time to fall back asleep, and things had developed a habit of going terribly amiss any time the zebra closed her eyes. She tried to peek ahead through the window she was closest to, to see how much closer they were to their goal. Unfortunately, all she could see was sandy hills. Well, that was weird, if she looked hard enough into the darkening landscape, she could almost see the shape a lean Gau-Aer sled, gliding across the sand and stirring up a cloud of dust and dry, thin soil. She blinked, and could only see the dust gale the second time she looked. Only a mirage, a wishful thought. Gau-Aer sleds would never go out this far, especially not towards a place like Paradise City, a pony-dominant area, this late in the day. It was too dangerous. Those Palosol-native animals who preferred to hunt by night rose to surface right about now, and most were far too fierce to combat in the dark.
Then, suddenly, a tall hill blocked Zuri's view. They must be getting closer, as when the hill came away, she could see watchtowers, with ponies inside them, watching the train move along the line. The train entered another tunnel, only this one took a long time to pass through, and Zuri could see other passages splitting away from the one they were currently speeding through. The train's speed reduced, and made a rather sharp right turn into another tunnel, and then did it again, this time to the left, a few seconds afterward.
The train was using its large breaks to slow down, now, as was apparent by the low rumbling coming from below Zuri's hooves. With a slight lurch, it stopped, and a loud electric bell sounded somewhere outside, three notes, apparently signaling an arrival.
Moondancer sought Zuri out, and brought her to the middle car, where Rainbow Dash was rounding everyone up. Zuri noticed, with relief, that the assorted mounted weapons the Rainbow Riders had were now lowered, held close to the bodies in a sort of dormant position. "Alright, team!" Rainbow began, silencing any muttered conversations quickly. "And, uh, tagalongs," she nodded her head towards Zuri, who looked back to see that Chrys, Copic, Macintosh, Druva and Uzul had gathered with her at one end of the train car, while Rainbow stood at the doors. "We are here, at Paradise City! We're not going to abandon our little group of tagalongs, well..." She gave the anxious-looking adolescent Changeling a cold look. "So much as make sure they're on their way home, wherever that may be." Another look aimed at Chrys. "Maybe in doing so we might get a little closer to Filthy Rich. We've gotta schedule an appointment to see him, you know." The mercenaries all partook in a rumbling chuckle. "But first things first! We gotta get past the security officer just outside this door, and into a hotel or penthouse. Whichever one costs less money and has less bedbugs. Are we all clear?" Rainbow received a sharp, clean salute from her mercenaries; which she accepted, glowing with pride. Evidently she enjoyed a display of such loyalty. "Right then!" She clapped her forehooves together, a big smile on her face as the pegasus turned about and toggled the doors open. "Ready or not, Paradise City, here we come!"