Chapter 4: Exposure
Safety left his house and shook his head, getting rid of residual drowsiness as he headed towards the small building at the centre of the city that was his office. He nodded, acknowledging the various ponies he passed as he walked through the grass and down the street. Then the alarm rang out.
“ZEEEEEEBRAAAAAAAS!”
He turned towards the cry and yelled, “Battle stations!”
“They have an elephant with them!” came another cry.
“And hogs!” added another panicked scream.
“This is a raid!” yelled Safety. “Countermeasures!”
He rushed to the thorn wall, grew a tree and joined his guards.
This time, the zebras hadn’t bothered to raise a dust cloud. They were clearly there to show off what they could do and their enormous numbers.
Above the army, an elephant holding a glowing feather in his trunk flapped his ears to maintain altitude, even while being held in his magical aura, and pulled the chariot which contained Zaka along. As a loxodont elephant, it could channel magic through the feather and levitate itself in a form of flight.
A line of warthogs in black or red armour was at the head of the army. Those in red fidgeted, jumping from hoof-to-hoof impatiently, they moved at the speed of the zebra army rather than running ahead as they clearly wanted to from the way they would try to speed up and would have to impatiently wait for the rest of the army to catch up.
“Take out the red hogs!” yelled Safety Net. “Now! Before they move!”
A mare threw a spear at the closest red-clad warthog. As soon as she let go of the spear, the air roared as it was torn apart by sudden velocity. The mare was launched from her perch as a cloven hoof connected to a blinding red streak hit her face at supersonic speed The hog, who was mustard under his red armour, twisted through the air and landed back on his hooves. Behind him, the gorge he had ripped out from the earth was on fire. While not at rainboom speeds, it was still fast enough to cause plenty of damage. “Ledz zee ya dry dat agin, poniez,” said the warthog. “Da hogz’ll showz ya wodz wod!”
Safety turned away from his injured subject and snarled, “What’s the meaning of this!?”
The elephant landed and Zaka stepped out. “One would think thoughts of you yonder’s would wearily find an unfortunate flaw in your yammering in which we were ones meant momentously to traitorously be blindingly, doubtfully duped.”
“This is about the figurines,” said Safety as he closed his eyes.
“Indeed it is.” Zaka nodded. Then he raised a hoof and brought it down again.
The ten black-armoured warthogs charged through the wall of thorns, tearing large holes in it as if it was not even present. Five zebras tapped the amulets around their necks and sprouted bat wings. They flew over the wall and dropped gourds which exploded on impact. Ponies ran screaming as buildings and new sections of the walls began to collapse and fire from the explosions spread. Zaka and a team of other zebras dipped their hooves into gourds and struck them against rocks. Their hooves caught fire and they lifted the flaming hooves to faces. They then blew jets of flame into the thorns. Fire spread along the thorns, causing burning piles of branches to collapse into the city. Ponies screamed as they ran out of the way. Another zebra finished pouring an intricate, swirling pattern of differently coloured types of sand and tapped it twice. A whirling vortex of dust rose from the pattern and started ripping pieces of the wall away and tiles from the roofs. The zebras charged into the town though the holes in the wall after the warthogs. The black-clad warthogs smashed their way through walls and trees, sending ponies flying, while red-clad ones searched through the town at blinding speed.
A red stallion breathed in and punched a black-clad warthog in the snout. The ground cracked under the warthogs hooves as the impact travelled through his body, but he brushed it off and simply turned his head and drew a yellow, glowing lance. He then stabbed the ground in front of the stallion. A cage of glowing, yellow bars formed around the pony. “Won’t get me that easily,” snarled the stallion. He smashed his hoof into the ground, cracking it, and the bars began to shudder as the lance loosened in the ground. The hog replaced his lance with a yellow stick and smashed it on the pony’s head in a flash of light and crash of thunder. The pony collapsed to the floor, twitching. He reached a hoof slowly towards the lance, but the warthog smashed him again and he lost consciousness. The warthog then pulled another lance out of his stash.
Safety got up from where he had been flung. “Ignore the hogs!” he cried. “Take down the zebras! We need a decapitation strike!”
A blue mare rushed in from the reserve fighters. “They’ll need all of us,” she thought. “There are so many of them! They have more warriors than we have villagers!” She ran over to the nearest zebra and decked him, knocking him to the ground,unconscious. She then ducked under the hoof of another zebra and tripped him. Her back hoof smashed into his face. She grabbed a third’s hoof with her teeth and flung him aside. Another zebra flung a black pellet below her which sprouted four giant, black tentacles and held her in the air where she struggled.
“We can take them!” yelled a stallion. “We just need to get close! Charge!” He ran forward, leading more ponies in the charge. Another zebra flung a vial towards them. The vial hit the ground and smashed, releasing a wave of bubbling green ooze. “What is this stuff!?” cried the stallion as it flowed as a wave of sludge over their hooves. They tried and failed to lift their hooves out of the sticky concoction.
Light Hoof popped in and out of the striped army, twisting limbs as she went. A zebra stallion tried to hit her with an intricately patterned staff, but she simply disappeared. Another splashed her with green goo. She reappeared right under him and rolled, gluing his own hoof to the ground before disappearing again while leaving the goo behind. A zebra mare rolled her eyes and quickly scratched a pattern into the sand before tapping it twice. Light Hoof felt herself rip away from the shadow and she appeared suddenly within the pattern, bearing a slack jaw and wide eyes. The zebra placed a carved pebble on top of Light Hoof which sprouted a spider web and pinned her to the floor.
Full Plate charged, his body covered in stone. He smashed through the zebra ranks, toppling them over. Another zebra pressed a ball of a blue, dough-like substance against him. He spun and bucked the zebra, knocking him out, but then the dough swelled in a foam that surrounded his body until only his head remained, leaving him immobilised.
Yet another zebra rapidly scratched an orange stone against the ground and slammed it against the steel in the barding of a stallion who had just knocked the heads of two other zebras together. Sparks flew and the stallion collapsed, twitching on the floor.
Another stallion grabbed three more zebras in the branches of a tree he was growing. The next zebra dipped her hoof in a red paste and swept it over another his barding which immediately rusted and fell apart. He was then hit in the side by a black-clad warthog, slid along the ground and into the nearest wall.
Safety charged through the ranks, ducking attacks while making sure each of his swings connected with a head, knocking down his enemies with the club in his mouth. Then a pair of red-clad warthogs zipped past him, ensnaring him in a net and tying it shut.
One stayed while the others quickly captured the rest of the ponies in the cages made by their magical lances.
Zaka and the elephant marched over to Safety.
The elephant played a tune through his trunk and the rope tying the net closed rose, lifting Safety into the air.
“No ground fir irf ponie ta uze,” grunted a hog. “Da zebriez knowz wod deyz doin’.”
“What was hopelessly hidden?” asked Zaka.
“You think I’ll just tell you?” snarled Safety.
“Zaida asked Zembea to talentfully, powerfully persuade,” said Zaka.
A grey zebra stallion with jagged, red stripes walked forward. He spun around and bucked Safety in the side. “Talk and you’ll get to walk,” said Zembea.
“I’ll never talk!” yelled Safety.
“We will see,” snickered Zembea. He dipped his hoof in grey paste and pressed it against Safety’s barrel as Zaka winced. Safety screamed, writhing in his net. When Zembea removed his hoof, a red, blistering, hoof-shaped welt was left behind, sizzling and smoking.
“Even if you hurt me, I won’t talk,” growled Safety through a grimace.
“Perhaps you are one of those chaps,” said Zembea. He walked over to a yellow filly who cowered in her cage and slowly raised his hoof to the gap between the bars.
Zaka narrowed his eyes. “Unafikiri nini unafanga!?”
“King Zaida asked us to make him sing,” replied Zembea with a shrug before returning his hoof to the gap.
“Stop!” yelled Safety. “Okay! I’ll talk! The airship brought a pony! A mare! Named Star Swirl!”
“Where is this mare?” asked Zembea.
Safety hesitated, gritting his teeth together.
Zembea returned his hoof to the cage.
“She’s with the springboks!”
“So, it looks like we have places to go!” Zembea grinned.
“Then there’s potential punishment.” Zaka sighed.
Safety closed his eyes and lowered his head. “Take me,” he whispered.
Gasps rose from the crowd.
“I’ve failed you!” cried Safety. “I should go!”
“Cheer, for you have a volunteer!” Zembea called out. He then turned to Safety and his grin grew. “We need three.”
“I’m going too!” yelled Full Plate.
“And me!” agreed Light Hoof. “We’ve been involved in this since the beginning. We should see it to the end.”
“You’re needed here! I forbid you!” cried Safety.
“Until repairs are done, others are needed more,” replied Light.
“And sorry, Sir, but you can’t order us around anymore. Not since you volunteered as tribute,” added Full.
“I guess then that it’s time to fly!” said Zembea. The elephant stopped his tune and Safety fell to the floor. Zaka walked over to the chariot and pulled out a bag. The warthogs then opened the bag and pulled out red sets of barding, the black-clad ones quickly changing. They then left in red streaks as sonic booms rattled the city. Zaka, Zembea and four other zebras got on the chariot as the elephant picked up a feather. He channelled his magic through the feather and he lifted into the air. They flew off while other zebras began to shackle their new prisoners.
(/)
Star Swirl was torn away from studying her diary by panicked screaming. She raised a puzzled eyebrow and packed the diary back into her saddlebags before leaving the hut.
“I’d suggest lying low,” said Udonga, who had been guarding her door.
There were armed springboks pronking past at high speed.
“Is any of your earth pony magic good for hiding?”
“Closer to the opposite,” said Star Swirl as her head darted around, taking in the chaos.
An orange-striped doe stopped to point an assegai at Star Swirl. “This is all your fault!” she snarled before moving on.
“Is she right?” asked Star Swirl.
“Probably,” replied Udonga. “Come on. I need to hide you.”
“From what?”
“The zebras. They’re attacking. They brought hog warriors with them.”
“Hiding isn’t my thing,” replied Star Swirl. “It was bad enough the first time, but at least I got to do some research here.” She began galloping in the same direction as the antelope.
Udonga pronked up beside her. “What are you doing!?” he cried.
“We’re going towards the problem, right?”
“Yes! Which is more like the opposite direction that we should be going!”
“If it’s probably my fault, then I should probably be the one to fix it!”
“... I don’t see how this is solving the problem. I may be a warrior and not a scholar, but I do have the ability to use logic and the civilian charging towards the powerful army doesn’t really match up with that.”
“Trust me.”
“When have you given me a reason to trust you?!”
They reached the edge of the city where they were blocked by a wall of springbok flanks.
Each springbok was pointing their weapons at a group of pacing warthogs in red armour.
An elephant-pulled chariot flew in as springboks gasped. It landed and zebras climbed out the chariot while the springboks whispered to each other.
Star Swirl’s jaw dropped and she pointed a hoof at the elephant. “What is ...!? How does ...!? Something that big ...!?”
“Loxodont elephant,” Udonga hastily whispered back. “The elephant equivalent of your pegasi. Can focus their magic through a feather to levitate themselves.”
Star Swirl’s eyebrows rose. “Ooh, I have got to find out how that works!”
“Sanibonani, uZaka!” came the voice of Umoya.
Star Swirl turned her head to the right and looked at Umoya towering over her subjects while Zaka responded.
“What are they talking about? I need you to translate, please!” said Star Swirl as she turned back to Udonga.
Udonga sighed. “Queen Umoya gave him a very respectful greeting. He replied that he knows she’s hiding a pony and wants her surrendered. Queen Umoya asked why he believes that. He said that he has Safety’s confession. She asked if that’s enough. He replied that it’s enough to check and if we don’t want to be punished as badly as the ponies were, it would be better to give her up now.”
Star Swirl’s eyes widened. She rose to her hind legs and awkwardly waved her forelegs as she yelled, “I’m here! I surrender!”
A significant portion of the springboks placed hooves against their faces, Umoya and Udonga included.
“You thought that that was a noble sacrifice that would keep us safe, didn’t you?” Udonga mumbled.
The zebras’ eyes shrank back to their original size.
“We’re waiting for you to come over here,” said Zembea.
The springboks parted to make way for Star Swirl as she walked up to Zembea, glancing back at the springboks before turning back to Zembea. She bit her lip nervously and slowly shuffled forward.
Zembea and Zaka knelt down, metal in their hooves.
“Wha-What are you doing!?” asked Star shakily, trying to step backwards.
With an ominous clink, they snapped shackles onto her legs.
Star Swirl breathed in and steeled herself. “ All right. You’ve got what you want, so you’ll leave the others alone, right?”
“It is my regret to inform you that for such a crime, it would take two more for the punishment to fit,” replied Zembea as his grin grew.
Star Swirl performed a startled jump and nearly fell over as she turned to face him and her eyes widened. “Wait, what!?”
“Take me!” yelled Udonga before pronking forward.
“Me too!” came another call and Isihlangu pronked forward. “I’ve got to keep you two out of any more trouble,” she muttered.
Star Swirl’s head rapidly darted between the two springboks. “I-I...”
Udonga and Isihlangu were also shackled and Isihlangu whispered to Star Swirl, “Don’t try breaking the shackles. They’ll zap you!
“I-Wait. Really?” Star Swirl turned to Zembea. “How exactly do these things work?”
Zaka’s eyes narrowed as he examined Star Swirl. “Body isn’t built for farming.” He pointed at her cutie mark. “What would that there terrific talent allow?”
Star Swirl inhaled and lifted her head. “My special talent is ‘understanding and explaining magic’,” Star Swirl replied.
Zaka’s eyes widened. “I hopefully have a perfect placement! Come quickly!”
Star Swirl shot a nervous glance at Udonga who shrugged as well as he could.
The prisoners were led away from the city and towards the mountains. Long grass was replaced with twiggy bushes with thin leaves as they reached the hills. But as much as she wanted to look at the sights, Star Swirl was preoccupied with stealing nervous glances at the zebras weapons and trying to walk while shackled, shivering and confused. A heroic sacrifice should have had an effect! And it should not have even been necessary in the first place!
They climbed a dirt path uphill as the wind slowly increased in intensity and clouds built in the sky. Star Swirl hung her head. Zecora had been right. Coming to Zebrica was a disaster for both herself, and everyone else.
Trees became taller and more common and rain began to fall. Their hooves squelched through the mud and leaf litter and Star Swirl’s mane whipped wildly in the strengthening wind while her shivering intensified. It was bad enough with the fear. The cold only made it worse. Her hat flew off and she grabbed it with her teeth as the skies continued to darken. The forest thickened and branches and ferns swayed in the wind. Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled. Star Swirl shivered and water dripped from her drenched coat.
“Can’t you do something about this?” asked Star Swirl as she turned to her fellow captives.
Udonga raised a hoof as high as it would go. “Sorry. No dancing with these on.”
“You’re going to have to live with it,” added Isihlangu.
A lightning bolt struck a tree and branch fell onto the path ahead of them. The company winced and shuddered before breathing a sigh of relief while Star Swirl fell over in her attempt to hide, kicking in the dirt to try get away from such uncontrollable and destructive power. A zebra pulled her to her hooves but her shivering only intensified. They jumped over the resulting log and continued on as the forest thinned out to rocky grassland. The storm eased to a drizzle and died out as they reached the summit and descended to the sandy plains below. In the distance was an enormous, stone, fortified city surrounded by farmland.
As they approached, Star Swirl took in the sights.
There were zebras everywhere, but that was not all.
Warthogs in black armour supplemented the zebra guards. Earth ponies worked the fields and every tribe of antelope was in view. Rhinoceroses guarded the gates as bellless buffalo were led through. An elephant cow sat in the most awkward position Star Swirl had ever seen while a kudu buck stood next to her. What looked like a large, brown rodent to Star Swirl’s eyes ran over to them. Its pitch black eyes shifted to orange and then red before firing flames into the pit in front of them. The kudu’s horns glowed and the flames roared, growing into an inferno which filled the pit. The elephant got to her feet and walked into the pit, kneading the substance which filled it whilst ignoring the flames. Waterbuck irrigated the fields directly from their horns. A red deer’s antlers shone magnificently as he telekinetically lifted a duiker onto a giraffe’s back. The giraffe’s horns glowed and his neck twisted into the shape of a staircase which the duiker climbed to reach the nearest tower.
“You’re drooling,” said Isihlangu.
Star Swirl shut her mouth. “Sorry.”
They walked through the gates, the rhinoceroses sniffing them as they past.
Zaka pointed at Star Swirl. “Come quickly,” he said, beckoning with a hoof.
He led her away from the others, through the long streets, passing stone buildings, several of which were being extended by various slaves. They walked all the way to the large castle in the centre of the city. The guards saw Zaka and let them through the large doors without hassle.
The interior was opulent with precious metal and fine drapery. Though the walls were decorated not with paintings but with poems in foreign languages. Some were even written in Equestrian. She didn’t have time to read them and they seemed to vary a llot, but she managed to catch some phrases. “The fountain of knowledge provides the greatest of all drinks”, “the word sooths the weary and cuts down the mighty” and “knowledge is the key to the gates of power”. They reached the doors at the end of a corridor which were guarded by two warthogs and four zebras.
One of the zebras bowed his head and entered the room. Moments later he returned and said, “Indeed. He agrees. He’ll see you. You may now enter.”
He swung open the doors and they entered the throne room. The tapestries were worded with golden thread. Red carpet imprinted with runes lay at their feet. The thrones were of gold and wood. One dwarfed the tiny stallion who sat upon it. He was barely larger than Zecora, though he was brown and green. The other was an enormous multitude of colour. This large zebra looked at them curiously.
“I have here a pony pointlessly, hopelessly hidden as pointlessly planned by belligerent, sacrilegious Safety,” announced Zaka. “A seeming scholar of mighty magic, I thought that she should aid in your yonder sacred studies in the thaumic, sanctified study.” He pointed over at the only other door, which was guarded by two zebras.
The king’s face contorted with rage. The same rage that flickered over his companion’s features.
He got to his gigantic hooves and marched over to Zaka, glaring down at him. “Do not anger me! I and Ziro enter there! Only we enter! I will not change that! Her talent does not matter! Assign her elsewhere!”
Zaka cowered, cringing before his king while Star Swirl’s jaw dropped and her eyes widened in shock at what she was witnessing.
Flames leapt from the King’s hooves and heat washed over them, yet Star Swirl’s hooves screamed at her that what she was seeing wasn’t real.
“Put her on research,” the King said after calming down as the flames died away. “The library will suffice. She can farm as well. Let Zuri translate. She can help her to study. She’ll need a zebra.”
Zaka nodded rapidly.
Star Swirl stepped back in fear. This zebra made no sense at all! And the stories of his tyranny were made far more real by seeing his hostile reaction. Still, she was glad that she would get to research in a library and that she would be able to meet Princess Zuri, whom was apparently king to slaves rather than King Zaida if that was how he treated others. But she stared at the door to the study. Why did the King only want himself and this Ziro to enter to the point that he reacted that way? And what were her hooves trying to tell her?