The Trancer

by Ajaxis

15. Flight of the Misfits

Zuri, her dress hung up and makeup hastily washed off, lay in her bed, slipping in and out of restless sleep. What a night this had been, what an emotional rollercoaster. She clutched a pillow to her chest, nuzzling her face into it and finding solace in its downy softness. Two things kept her from proper rest, continuing to eat at her as the minutes ticked by.

Firstly, the kiss with Shade had been, for its duration, fantastic. As soon as Zuri had broken away, however, a gradual feeling of guilt and inexplicable listlessness had crept over her in the subsequent hours. There was no physical passion for him, none that Zuri would admit to herself, anyway. The brief ordeal with Blueblood had served as a powerful longterm turnoff, and she wasn't complaining, no matter how loudly her body voiced the contrary. Currently, she was blaming the terribly timed random influx of emotional susceptibility for her mistakes tonight. Kissing Shade was probably the only good thing that came of it, and that was using the word good in a very lenient sense.

Secondly, there was the matter of Chrys. Rainbow Dash had practically exploded at the sight of her, and Big Macintosh instantly reacted to her reveal by tackling the changeling to the floor. Once Twilight had found out, she had pointedly suggested that Zuri remain in her room for the rest of the night. She could only guess what might have happened or may be happening to Chrys now. She doubted that the changeling had been executed, seeing as Twilight, no matter how angry she became, did not seem like the type of mare who would be capable of sentencing another to death. She did know that Chrys was still in the castle, but no idea where.

She also knew that Shade was looking for her, because he had made to walk towards her when she was trying to cross the main hall in the direction of her room. She had ignored him, and anyone else who looked at her, despite him calling her name—rather loudly, too. Staying in her room for the rest of the night was not a bad idea at all, otherwise the butterflies in her stomach would probably never settle.

There was a sudden rush of wind, which was weird, because there was no window Zuri had opened before curling up in bed. "Enjoying the Gala?" Asked a familiar voice, sounding neutral.

"Go away, Sibulla." Zuri mumbled, not turning around to face her. She didn't want to deal with the spirit envoy right now, or ever.

"I'm enjoying it." Sibulla continued. "Time of my life, actually. Plenty of fine catches out there, one of the greatest being Sir Shade. He's got marvelous lips for kissing, no?"

"I don't want to talk about him with you." Or anything with you, really.

The spirit's voice grew amused. "Then how about that Blueblood fellow? A real charmer, that one, very attractive, very skilled."

Zuri groaned, pulling her pillow over her head. "Stop it."

Sibulla cleared her throat, indicating she wasn't done yet. "Not skilled enough, however. I decided he wasn't worth my time, longterm. He adds too much flair, trying to cover up his lack of creativity. T'was much more fun when I stepped on his balls."

That got Zuri's attention, and she turned around to look at the spirit, finally. "Really?"

Sibulla, still made up and dressed for the Gala, nodded, smiling coolly. "He squealed, like a young filly. You should have seen the look on his face."

She almost wished she had been there, trying to imagine an unsatisfied Sibulla casually stamping a hoof down between Blueblood's haunches. "How did you avoid rebuke?" Zuri asked.

"How do you think? I left him clutching his privates in some sideroom where he thought he'd have me all to himself, and rendered myself intangible. What was probably more fun was watching him waddle out and call out a band of guards to try and hunt me down. Pathetic."

"Sounds fun, alright," Zuri said, turning back around and relaxing onto her pillow again. "Is that all you wanted to talk about? Why are you even here?"

"Well, one easy answer is because I'm bored," Sibulla looked upwards in thought for a moment. "Or, perhaps, it is because I've been sent with yet another message. Or it is because I do happen to retain some sympathetic attribute. Dancir hasn't worked that out of me at all."

Zuri sighed. "Then you're here to give me your pity for my mudding things up with Shade?"

"Mudding up? Ha! You flatter your ability to ruin things. No, I'm here to offer you some consoling thoughts. ...Goodness, that sounds sappy, doesn't it? Just those words, together. Consoling thoughts. Hm. Anyway..." She didn't speak for a moment, and Zuri fancied she was trying to swallow her ego for the moment, before she felt a warm hoof placed on her shoulder. "You need someone to talk to about this, else you'll have no chance of getting over it. Seeing you in such a moment with Shade, reminds me of some of my less enjoyable escapades, when I was much more excitable, also much younger."

Zuri felt Sibulla's breath on the back of her head, and her voice was much softer than before. "How you feel is, unfortunately, completely normal. Your guilt is good—means you're more honorable than a lot of mares with whom married stallions cavort with." She cleared her throat, and was silent for a few moments. Swallowing her ego, alright. "You're depressed, because despite your guilt you still want him, and for reasons that are best left for you to figure out, that makes you feel even worse. Explaining everything for you right now wouldn't be fair, and it takes the fun out of it—and I do mean fun. Relationships can be fun, hard to believe though it may be. Furthermore, Viva Sara has divulged a tidbit of information from her good friend Essebana. Who ever said Ultraviolet's and Shade's engagement would follow through? Madly in love though they may seem to be, nothing is set in stone."

Zuri scowled at the wall, "If that is the case, how does Essebana know what is to happen at all?"

Sibulla chuckled. "Some zebra might consider that sacrilege, what you just said. I only know so much of how her power works, but Essebana does not see the future, but all possible futures. Every possible combination of effects of everyone's chosen course of action. Most often, Essebana only informs others about what will be, rather than what might have been. It's been her habit for a long time, ever since that trouble she had when we were all younger, and she was trying to stop the likely death of a mortal she cared for. Not surefire, but likely. She panicked, and ended up killing him in her attempts to protect him. Stars..."

Sibulla's voice grew distant for a moment. "That was centuries ago, when Viva Sara was alive, and extremely ambitious. Ambitious, ha! You'd hardly ever call her that now. She wanted a name for herself, I believe. Wanted to be famous. Now, do you know anyone else like that?"

She hadn't been lying. Sibulla really was trying to make her feel better, and it was working, a little. "You'll still feel a sour about Shade for some time, I predict." The spirit continued, sounding as if she was wrapping up her point. "But you should know that it won't be guilt that always nags at you. I could tell from how you mashed faces, little Oun-Drii. You needn't say anything to me, but it is unhealthy to lie to yourself." There passed a silence between them, but Zuri could interpret the rest of the spirit's meaning. It's love. Perhaps it's just some small part of you, maybe for no good reason, or any reason at all, but you love him.

"Thank you," Zuri's voice cracked, but with effort she managed to swallow the lump in her throat.

Sibulla chuckled again. "Ah, much better than a kiss, to me. The only reason I'm being kind to you right now is that I had an absolutely fantastic couple of hours with a very eager-to-experiment stallion, which has put me in a very good mood." The warm hoof withdrew. "For your own sense of humor, you may be pleased to note that it was the 'narrow-minded' minister of court." Zuri turned to stare at the spirit, who was shivering, smiling in remembrance, before regaining her composure. "I'll leave you to your thoughts. Pleasant dreams, little Oun-Drii." With a flash of light and a rush of wind, Sibulla vanished.

The spirit envoy was a lot nicer than she had previously thought, however annoying her fixation on sex may be. Maybe her ancestor had decided to chastise Sibulla for losing her temper, or someone else did. Then again, maybe not. Deciding not to dwell on it further, Zuri nuzzled into her soft pillow once more, and gradually drifted off to sleep.

———

"So, what are we going to do with her?" Rainbow Dash asked Twilight, standing right next to her. They gazed through a one-way-window into a dark room, where the soul occupant was a young changeling, looking glum. Cuffs hooked through the holes in her hooves, and had a two foot length of chain between them and where they were welded into the flat metal wall.

"I'm working on that part, Rainbow. I still want to know what Filthy Rich had to do with her. Why couldn't you have held onto him so I could question him myself? Also, you wouldn't have had to negotiate anything or bother with intimidation. I could have just ordered him to set you free from the deal with full payment, you know."

"Yeah yeah, but I wasn't about to ask for royal favors like that. It's abusing my friendship with a young, impressionable princess." The mercenary mare grinned at her teasingly.

Rolling her eyes at her, Twilight refocussed on the most pressing subject. "I'll have to go see him myself, I guess. The poor sod won't know what to do when a princess comes knocking on his door looking to politely interrogate him."

"I wouldn't feel too bad about him," Rainbow Dash intoned. "He's the guy who kept me and my mercs on a diet of low-grade protein packs. Celestia, why do ESSUG grunts put up with that kind of food?"

"Well, nopony else would, is one reason. And the dolt who came up with them was also somehow allowed to mass-produce them, so now we have warehouses full of the garbage. But I'm not too worried about them right now." She sighed, staring hard at the depressed expression on Chrys' face. "I guess... For the moment we ought to just keep her here, bound and without magic."

"You sure? I'd really like it if we sent her off to ESSUG and never heard of her again."

"Rainbow, she's not just any changeling, remember? She's a queen, so she actually has a fully developed sentience and full range of emotions. The only thing stopping me from giving her more welcoming accommodations is that she isn't a pony."

Rainbow glared at her. "Don't need to point that out to me, Twilight. Would it really be that bad, though? She's a parasitic bug that's capable of making more bugs by the thousand."

"Murder is murder," Twilight said, with a very firm returned glare. "And I'm not sanctioning it, ever. How could you even think like that, Rainbow? I remember when you'd have trouble so much as pointing a weapon at somepony else."

"Isn't too hard anymore," she grumbled. "While you're at it, why don't you remember that I'm a hired gun, now, and my mercs have all killed at least one other pony. I've grown plenty since the Wonderbolts left me here in this sandbox. I'm not proud of it, but I'm not tired of it either."

"Well, what about the Wonderbolts, then? You ever plan on going back to them?" Twilight interrogated her.

"Maybe," Rainbow Dash said, sounding noncommittal. "These mercs really needed a decent leader. I guess Moondancer might work as a replacement."

Twilight flared up at her. "Loyalty, Rainbow Dash! Hello, am I even speaking to the same pony? Where's your loyalty?"

"It's right here!" She retorted, sounding harried. "I've got a loyalty to my friends, to Equestria, and the Wonderbolts, but I've also gotten a loyalty to my mercenaries. I can't just leave them twisting in the wind!"

"And what about ESSUG? You've still got a pending application, don't you? Who are you leaving twisting in the wind?"

Rainbow opened her mouth, then closed it again. She was silent for a long time, staring through the glass at the shackled changeling. Her jaw became set, and she looked away. "I'm going to help these mercenaries, but I want to go home, back to the Wonderbolts, back to my friends. I... Just need to decide which to take care of first."

"Decide fast, we can't stay here forever." Twilight responded, eyes going back to Chrys in the dark room. "Then again, neither can she."

———

Early the next morning, Zuri woke from a very explicit dream, involving her, Shade, and depraved acts that could only be thought up by a virgin's subconscious. Shivering, she left her bed in favor of the bathroom, hoping to wash the uncomfortably vivid memory of the dream away with a nice, cold shower. She stayed in there for a full half hour—enjoying the perks of staying in Twilight's castle, before a knock on her door coerced her into cutting it short. With a damp coat and dripping mane that she hastily dabbed at with a towel, Zuri walked over to the door and opened it

Druva walked in, looking anxious, and Ruby Nights after her. "Big Macintosh said Chrys was back, where is she?"

"I don't know," Zuri responded a little stiffly, hello to you too. "Why didn't Macintosh say?"

"He didn't want to, so..." Druva made a prompting gesture with a hoof.

"And what about you avoiding me, then?"

"I talked her out of that," Ruby put in. "Though I would like to know what drove a wedge between you two."

"If you were a zebra..." Druva and Zuri began at the same time, then stopped.

Zuri continued with, "Anyway, I don't know what happened to her exactly, but apparently this castle has a jail, or something similar, which Chrys is now held in. You would really have to ask Rainbow Dash or Twilight, not me. Why come to me first, anyway?"

Neither Druva nor Ruby replied to this right away, and so a silence passed for several seconds. Druva finally broke it with, "well, Macintosh saw you last night, right before you left for your room and... he said you didn't look so good. Like you were sick, red eyes, anxious look..."

"That was because..." She did not really want to discuss it at the moment. How she had left Shade standing there after the kiss... why hadn't Ultraviolet noticed anything, then? Had she just been pretending not to? "I didn't exactly have a good time last night."

"Why?" Druva asked, genuinely concerned.

"Was it Shade?" Ruby asked, genuinely grim.

"No! Well, it was, in part..." Zuri felt her face begin to heat up again. She really wished Ruby would shut up about Shade, then. "I met a colt named Prince Blueblood. Do you recognize that name, Ruby?"

Ruby blanched, her lips tightening into a thin line. "Oh, ooooh, you ran into him." She paused for another moment, looking embarrassed. "I hope you managed to get away from him?"

"With Shade's help, yes," Zuri admitted. "He arrived just as things were getting... I don't want to say any more."

Thankfully neither Ruby nor Druva seemed to want to push her to do that. Instead, Ruby redirected the conversation to a much less uncomfortable topic. "In case it hasn't crossed your mind yet, you're free to go. You, Druva, and Uzul can all go back down to the Striped Shanty, catch a Gau-Aer, and get out of here. That is what your plan was supposed to get you, right?"

Oh, right, they could leave. How could I forget about this so easily? How glaringly anticlimactic it all was? Well, save for the kiss...

"I should start packing," Zuri stated, abruptly, and ushered the other two out of her room. Where she had been despising her solitude before the Gala, now she wanted more and more time with just her wandering thoughts. The Gala, the dancing, the cyborgs, Blueblood, Shade, Chrys, back to Shade... This would make quite a story to tell, that she probably wouldn't be allowed to divulge outside of the family. She eyed the one possession she had gained in this journey that held any value to her: Rarity's dress. It looked as pristine as it always had, yet to Zuri many painful facts accented the glimmer of all of those beautiful cut gems. You're falling in love with a pony and don't even realize it. Idiot girl...

She picked the dress up, trying to ignore the ideas and memories that seemed to be sewn into it.

It's so lovely, think of what Giza or Mother would say if it was just thrown away...

Think, too, of everything else that Gala has made for you: problems.

Temporary problems. This can all be a distant memory, so easily. I can hold onto the best parts of it, by bringing it with me...

Just like Blueblood was going after your best parts?

Zuri, resigned, began folding the lovely gown up, looking around for some sort of bag to put it in. There didn't seem to be anything suitable in the room. Rarity probably had something for transporting dresses. Gathering up her six gold Trancer's earrings, she put them on, tucking the violet pair into her gown, which she then set on her back and exited her room in Twilight's Castle for the last time.

She hadn't been in the hallways long, when she suddenly heard a very loud crash, somewhere below the floor she was on. This was followed by several sets of hooves, shouting, and a strange hissing noise, like water escaping from a high-pressure pipe and hitting concrete. This went on for several minutes, with Zuri walking cautiously in the direction of Rarity's boutique. The high-pitched scream of terror that followed spurred the zebra into a gallop, gown bouncing on her back as she went. The door to Rarity's dressmaking wing was ajar, and upon walking through the threshold, Zuri was astounded by what a collective mess had been made. Rolls of fabrics stretched across the floor, torn papers and equipment for acquiring one's measurements lay broken on top of that. Several chairs and stools had been thrown about, and one of the huge full-body mirrors had a humongous crack right down the center.

The centerpiece to this furnishing-carnage was Rarity sprawled on her back, black metal hooves beating flimsily at the creature trying to strangle her. They were strangling her, in fact. Her senses dulled for a moment by surprise, it took a moment for Zuri to put a name to the face, before running forward. "Chrys, stop!" She shoved against the changeling, managing to get her hooves away from the gasping Rarity's neck. Chrys looked up through her limp mane, which had fallen over her face.

"It's her." Chrys snarled, her expression more wild than Zuri had ever seen. "She's one of them, the elements... The elements will not be used. I won't allow it!"

"What in the world are you talking about?" Zuri asked, trying to figure out what Chrys could be talking about. It didn't help that Rarity wouldn't stop screaming.

"Ch-changeling! There's a changeling here!" She cried, her face frozen in an expression of sheer terror. Chrys responded to this by making a loud hissing noise, wings buzzing, that seemed to scare Rarity into silence.

"She is a problem." The changeling continued, looking angrily from Zuri to the unicorn on the floor. "If she has her element... I won't, I won't. She must die."

"What are you saying? What has gotten into you?" Zuri asked, incredulous. She hadn't thought Chrys would be capable of attacking anyone, even after Rainbow Dash came back looking so battered. Yet here was the proof.

Chrys stared into Zuri's eyes, the only sound was her ragged breathing and Rarity's terror-stricken gasps. "I... I started remembering things in the box they kept me in. Princess Twilight kept me in a box." She said, in a much calmer, softer tone, as if quelled by the memory of her behavior just previous. "I think I know who I'm supposed to be, only born again. It's because of the princesses, no, because of ESSUG..." She trailed off, her expression going distant. Rarity took this time to move far away from her, still trying to calm herself down.

Despite her rapidly changing demeanor, Zuri could look into Chrys' eyes and see a welling fear in them. Fear, restlessness, and panic. The changeling noticed her looking, and her expression grew dark. "No time to explain. She'll be up here soon with guards..." She looked around, made an ah! noise, before dashing for a nearby window, looking out over the noble district.

"Wait!" Zuri called after her, but it was too late. After another crash, Chrys had jumped through the window, spread her wings, and buzzed out of sight.

Rarity heaved a long sigh, slowly rising up to her hooves and massaging her neck. "What... What in Celestia's name was all that about? How come nopony thought to tell me a changeling was in the castle!?"

Before Zuri could come up with an answer, the door banged against the wall again. A quartet of cybernetic castle guards thundered in, weapons at the ready. Zuri had seen them around before, standing statuesque on either side of the entrances to wings within the castle. All of them seemed to become a little more guarded whenever they saw the zebra going about. Despite this, Zuri had never seen anything but their eyes move. Now, everything about these four guards was moving with an unnaturally swift precision. One of them shouted, "where did she go? Where is the changeling?"

Numbly, Rarity and Zuri pointed towards the broken window in unison. Two of the guards ran to it, gazing out into the expansive city below. The other two guards approached the dressmaker and Sand-Trancer with caution in their step and bullets in the chambers. The first one addressed Rarity, "present your ShowMe, now."

The unicorn nodded, held up a black hoof with the bottom pointed towards the guard. His metal eyes glinted, staring hard at the metal appendage for a moment, before nodding. Both he and the guard next to him relaxed a little, but not before rounding on Zuri. "She's real too!" Rarity stepped in. "She pushed the changeling off of me. Speaking of which, why was there a changeling in the castle that no one bothered to tell me about!?"

The guard shrugged. "You would have to consult Her Highness Princess Twilight in order to find out. She knows why the changeling was here, so I assume."

"Believe me, I will," Rarity growled, looking angry. The guards all shared apprehensive looks with one another, before bidding goodbye and stepping out of the room, presumably to continue hunting after Chrys. She turned to Zuri, and tried to replace her anger with an expression of gratitude. "Thanks for showing up when you did. That thing had a grip like a vice. Er, was there a reason you came?"

Zuri looked around, and then picked her dress up off the floor, where it had fallen when she had ran to the unicorn's aid. "I need a traveling bag for this. It's the only thing I'm taking back."

Rarity nodded in slow understanding, and Zuri realized how weird it must be to go from being spontaneously strangled by a changeling to being asked for a bag. After a moment of deliberation, however, all she said was, "you're leaving, then?"

"Yes, I'm leaving today if I can get out of here without any more distractions."

"Right, right..." The unicorn looked around at the state of her boutique, and sighed, running a hoof through her perfectly-kept mane. "I know I brought a few with me... While I figure out where the dressguards got off to in that tussle, I wanted to ask: what did you think of the Gala last night?"

"Eventful!" Zuri said, a little too quickly and a little too upbeat. "Very, very eventful. The dancing was lovely, my favorite part."

"Oh, darling..." Rarity rolled her eyes, apparently happy to get back into the groove of casual chatting while her magic began to reorganize the room around them. "Fine, I'll just say it. And why were you gone from the Gala so early?"

Why does everyone...!? "I wasn't feeling well," she said, not very believably. "The Retanoga was very exhausting. I decided to just sleep for the rest of the night. I left right after Shade, uh, left me on the dancefloor."

"Really, now?" Rarity continued, turning her head to aim skeptical eyes at her. "Funny, I saw you being dragged off by a Prince Blueblood. I take it no one bothered to warn you..."

"He didn't drag me off!" Zuri protested. "I got the wrong idea about him. He was trying to woo me and..." and he did a good job.

"Aannd?" Rarity prompted, now not even looking around any more, just frowning accusingly at her. "You didn't much enjoy the Gala, did you? In fact, it seemed to me that you were much more enjoying Shade's lips last I saw!"

Zuri's chest suddenly began to feel very tight. "H-how did you see that?"

"How do you think? That garden path is just like the one in Canterlot. I was trotting through it wondering where Blueblood had you cornered, and I see that somezebra kissing Lord Shade!"

"That was a mistake." Zuri continued, overriding her. "I hadn't meant to..."

"It's a kiss, Zuri. That's pretty hard to mess up." The unicorn sat back on her haunches, folding her hooves and glaring at her. "And you said you weren't going after him! He's engaged to another mare!"

"I know that, I know that..." Zuri meekly insisted. "I really don't need you to remind me. It was a mistake, I swear. I just..."

"Not attracted to him, hmm?" Rarity asked, a coy smirk growing on her otherwise accusatory expression. "Hypocrisy gets you nowhere."

Zuri bowed her head, face burning. "Please do not tell anyone..."

Rarity's smirk curled wider. "I wouldn't tell a soul, darling. Your secret is safe with me, however rotten it may be to kiss another mare's stallion behind her back..." The smirk devolved into a half-serious frown. "You ought not to make a habit of doing that, in the future, I think." There was a pause, before the dressmaker suddenly heaved a melancholy sigh. "So, this is goodbye, isn't it?"

Zuri nodded, feeling some kind of sadness slowly overriding the residual embarrassment. "This is goodbye, yes."

"Here's you're dressbag, then." Rarity continued, levitating the thin, but long bag over to them and carefully fitting Zuri's dress inside so that it wouldn't wrinkle. "What a way to experience pony culture such as this." The dressmaker shook her head. "I guess this Gala was sort of a disaster for you, as much as it was for us."

Zuri managed a small laugh. "W-well, it wasn't so bad. I..." I did enjoy SOME things... "I wasn't lying when I said I loved the dancing. I... also want to thank you, for the dress..."

"Gah, come here!" Rarity took her up in a very tight hug. "It was wonderful to meet you, despite the strange circumstances, and I need to thank you for saving my life back there. Oh my, I'm sorry, I'm crushing you, aren't I?" The cybernetic hooves pulled away, and Zuri could breath again. "You don't need to worry about that other matter..." She touched a hoof to her own nose with a knowing smile, winking at her. "I do hope we meet again, some day, possibly with you not scrambling to return home."

Zuri nodded in recognition, smiling with a bit more confidence. Rarity beamed back at her for a few moments, before a very funny look came across her face. "Well? Go on, darling! You have somewhere to be, don't you? Don't just be standing here, we already said goodbye and everything!"

"Oh, right..." Zuri took the dress bag and laid it on her back. "Goodbye!" Zuri repeated in an imitation of her upbeat tone, making for the door.

"Good luck!" Rarity called after her.

———

With one goodbye over with, Zuri felt a little happier than she had before, despite the fact that Chrys' sudden violence and escape from the Castle remained annoying in the forefront of her mind. Speaking of escape, here came a very disgruntled Rainbow Dash at a very high velocity. The pegasus stopped just short of flying into Zuri at full tilt, instead floating before her in as pointedly as one can be.

"Hello," Zuri cautioned.

"Hey," Rainbow Dash mumbled. "Guess who broke out of her cage and nearly killed three cyberguards?"

"Chrys," Zuri's tone was confident. This confidence didn't seem to help Rainbow's mood.

"Right first time. Did you help her escape from that boutique?"

"No, I helped Rarity not get strangled by her."

Rainbow's jaw muscles tensed, but she relaxed afterward. "So the guards tell me. You're leaving soon?" She gestured to the dress on Zuri's back.

"This is the only thing I value enough to take home with me," Zuri explained, though she didn't elaborate as to why. The cyan pegasus looked as if she expected her to do so. In fact, it was immediately apparent from the looks Rainbow was giving her that she wanted to know exactly why that dress was so damn important. Or maybe that was residual anger over the whole hiding-Chrys-as-a-zebra-in-front-of-hundreds-of-ponies.

"So, what did he do to you?" Rainbow Dash interrogated.

Zuri blinked at her. "Wait, what? Who did what to me?"

"Don't act like that!" Rainbow persisted, looking even angrier. "I know what happened last night!"

Zuri's pupils became pinpricks. For crying out loud... Who DOESN'T? "I-I didn't..." She tried to recover, but Rainbow Dash interrupted her.

"Zuri, come on, don't be brave like this." She groaned, sounding exasperated. Hang on, brave? What do you mean, brave? "Tell me what that snake Blueblood did to you, don't hide it from me. I need a reason to smash him into the dirt!"

Finally it dawned on Zuri that Rainbow Dash's current anger was not directed at her. Oh, that's what she meant. Well wait, how does she know about that, anyway!? "B-Blueblood didn't do anything to me. He didn't get a chance."

"You sure you want to stick to that story?" Rainbow Dash asked, still suspicious. "It's no use trying to let it bottle up inside you, Zuri, if he did something you don't like to talk about. Twilight can tell you just how bad it is for you to-"

"Blueblood didn't do anything!" Zuri shouted, beyond fed-up with this topic.

"Well then why did you look like you'd been crying when you showed up to help with Filthy Rich?"

"That was because I had been crying," she answered, exasperated. "I had been crying because of..." Her anger immediately lost momentum, and her volume dropped significantly. "I'm not going to tell you."

Rainbow gawked at her, apparently trying to figure out whether to be angry with Zuri or just plain confused.

"I've already told as much as I told Ruby and Druva," Zuri stated firmly. "Now, I'm leaving this castle, and I'm leaving Paradise City. I'm not going to talk about the Gala. I can go home now."

The pegasus nodded wordlessly, landing softly on the floor and standing straight in front of her. "Well then..." Rainbow Dash looked as if she wanted to say more, but drew in a deep breath, and merely said, "thank you for everything, goodbye" before stepping out of her way.

Zuri returned the goodbye, and walked past the pegasus without another word. She picked up her pace. She was starting to become averse to these goodbyes. This proved all the more true when Pinkie Pie showed her pink face again, a million words a second spewing out of her mouth. With her, Zuri didn't even attempt a parting conversation, having never had any real conversation with her at all. Instead she just ran away, and eventually Pinkie eventually stopped chasing after her in favor of barreling into Applejack, who happened to have a list of things the two of them needed to discuss, as ESSUG officials. Fluttershy simply uttered a squeak when Zuri passed by her, and the trancer considered this a decent goodbye.

A worry was creeping into her mind that nearly everyone in the castle might know some details about Zuri's Gala experience. Any and all of these details served as a very uncomfortable reminder about the kiss with Shade, which had thus far elicited an unpredictable reaction from her. The easiest solution was to avoid talking to as many ponies as possible, and should Shade or, even worse, Ultraviolet suddenly appear at the end of a hallway, she would run the other direction with even greater speed.

Zuri rounded a corner and came out near the bottom floor of the entryway. She looked around, yet there didn't seem to be anyone in sight. She would have to locate Druva, however, which would have meant backtracking, save for her suddenly walking through another door with Big Macintosh right next to her.

"Oh, you're all ready to leave, already?" Druva asked, upon noticing her. "I didn't expect you to be here that fast."

"I ran," she panted, out of breath. "I... really don't want to stay here much longer. Homesickness is starting to sink in." What a terrible excuse...

"Don't even want to say goodbye?" Druva frowned at her. "After all we've been through, and you didn't say farewell to Uzul? Macintosh says you haven't yet said anything to him, either."

Right, Uzul was staying here and so was Macintosh, thank goodness. Zuri had been worried that Druva would be taking him along, rather than staying with him, but perhaps his own family came first. "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking very clearly." She tried on her best apologetic smile, though it could very well be taken to mean, get me out of here.

Zuri felt this more so when a sudden influx of ponies from the main staircase filled the room with Twilight and company, plus Uzul, yet Ruby had apparently stepped out already. Rainbow Dash was carrying Zuri's cloak, with a much brighter smile on her face than before. Zuri had underestimated the importance of saying goodbye in pony culture, and found she was to pay dearly for this mistake.

It took another half-hour, several hugs, and the repetition of a promise that if they ever returned before Twilight's ship departed, they would try to make contact again, before Zuri was finally walking away from the castle, with Druva by her side, freshly-cleaned cloak on, dress folded and held to her back underneath the strap of a pair of saddlebags. Miraculously, the topic of the Gala and anything that had happened in it had been skimmed over, in favor of Twilight genuinely thanking the three zebra for being subjected to a touch of pony politics. But still, Zuri and Druva were not yet safe from the rest of the noble district.

"We can head towards that building." Zuri pointed at the clocktower where she and Ruby had infiltrated the district for the first time. "From there, exiting the noble district shouldn't be too hard. I memorized the path Ruby and I took from there."

And so they set out, and had only gone about five meters before another voice stopped them.

"Oh, leaving already?" Here came a smiling Princess Cadence and her significant other, Shining Armor, looking as if they were out on a pleasant stroll.

"Yes, we were." Said Zuri, not very affably.

The look on the princess' face changed to disappointment. "I thought you'd at least stay a little longer. What about that interview with Minister Candid Camera?"

"We don't have the time for it, really," she answered, eyes looking around to make sure that this Minister didn't suddenly appear out of nowhere. "I've got to get back home, and my friend here feels the same way."

"Hm! Very well..." Cadence shared a look with her husband, who then addressed Zuri himself.

"What have you made of our culture, then, Lady Zuri? I hope none of the Guard have given you much trouble."

"They've barely paid me any attention. The real problem lies in the nobles in this City."

Shining Armor laughed, nodding agreement. "I think we've all had mixed experiences dealing with them. Very few are actually worth knowing, here or on Equestria."

Cadence gave a huff. "With this pregnancy, I'm slowly sliding down to their level of narcissism. I've got another two months to contend with, I don't know how you're going to stand it, Shining."

"I won't, but I'm not supposed to, remember?" He grinned at her. "Well, if you've got to leave, Lady Zuri, don't let us keep you."

Cadence stopped him. "Hang on, I want to talk to speak with Zuri regarding something we discussed before. Would your friend mind?"

Druva shook her head, and backed away, smiling. Zuri wished that the alchemist had said the opposite; she knew exactly what Cadence wanted to talk about. Get in line...

Shining Armor waited patiently nearby, while the carrier of his foals approached Zuri, looking into her eyes in the same soul-searching way as she had the night previous. Her smile turned smug. "Aha... Been sharing kisses in the gardens, have you?"

"Right on my face, isn't it?" Zuri mumbled defeatedly.

"Mmhmm. Good on you, now we'll learn how you really feel about him in a few months time."

Zuri blinked at her. "I'm not coming back here in a few months, just to see him. He may be married by then, anyway."

"Never underestimate your heart, it leads to conversations such as this." Cadence's smirk grew very reminiscent of Rarity's. "If you don't truly feel that way, then you won't come back. However, if you do..." She hid a giggle behind clearing her throat. "We'll see."

"Goodbye, Princess Cadence." Zuri said, rather forcefully.

Cadence didn't even bat an eyelid, just smiled in a most kind, innocent way. "Farewell, Lady Zuri. Best of luck to you."

Zuri didn't stay around, taking up a faster pace than usual. Druva trot right along next to her, eyebrows raised. "What was that about?"

"I'll tell you later," she replied. She did not want to spend any more time here. Paradise City was officially attempting to antagonize her at every opportunity, as was further evidenced by the crowd of nobles before them.

Many of them recognized Zuri from the Gala, and tried to say hello. Many more recognized her from the Gala, but quickly turned their heads in the other direction. Breaking out of the other side, Zuri broke into an almost-run, with a questioning Druva barely keeping up. "Well, I could tell these ponies were really starting to get on your nerves but–"

"Don't talk right now, just come on. There are a few ponies that I really don't want to run into right now." Sibulla's "consoling words", she decided, had made it somehow worse.

What made it even more worse was that, as she had predicted, Shade appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Nononono, come ooon! Fate can't hate me that much!

He stepped in her path too quickly for her to avoid him, and she skidded to a halt, Druva next to her. "Zuri!" He exclaimed, surprised and relieved. "Where have you been? I was..."

"No time to talk. I'm leaving. Goodbye." Zuri rattled off, trying to step around him. Once more, he got in her way. Melose, you have the worst timing of anyone I know.

"You can make time for this," Shade continued. "Listen, I know I'm probably being pushy, but I'd rather like to know why you went to kiss me, then ran away as if you were going to cry again."

"You kissed him?" Druva stared at her fellow zebra in shock and amusement.

It was like someone was rapidly spinning the dial upwards on Zuri's body temperature. Desperate, she began to plead with Shade. "No, no, not right now. Not ever. I don't want to talk about it..."

"Well, too bad, because I do!" Shade's tone was getting gradually more irritated. "Come on, Dell Mansa, just tell me."

"You did kiss him!" Druva laughed, her voice raising. "You did! You little sneak! You–" Zuri cut her off, shoving a hoof into the alchemist's mouth.

"Shut up," Zuri growled at her, burning up. "Shut up right now and go stand over there."

Quelled by the trancer's own flaring temper, Druva stepped carefully away to stand by a wall, though she began smacking her lips in a mocking way. Zuri turned to look at Shade again. He seemed surprised by her action, yet still curious, still pushy.

"Listen, you..." Zuri began, then stopped. She racked her brain for what she wanted to say, which was nothing. At the moment she was imagining every course of action Shade might take if she went in for another kiss. It could work to shut him up, too, so they could keep moving. Or it could land her in a world of trouble, however nice it may be. No, that wouldn't work. She steeled herself, then tried to pick out the best words to use. "Look, I-I... You, you, uh, um..."

Well, this wasn't working at all. Her own embarrassment was starting to make Shade more uncomfortable. Yet still he glared at her, expecting something intelligible. "Out with it, already."

Fed up, Zuri threw caution to the wind. "Look, you have terrible timing. No, you have... You have terribly excellent timing, and you're hot, and you caught me feeling especially lonely and you've always been so nice to me and that kiss was amazing and I really don't regret it and I was freaking out and I'm starting to freak out again and that's why I'm rambling and you'rehotandniceandwonderfulandI'mgoingtostoptalkingnow." With effort, she snapped her mouth shut, looking up at Shade as if he were an oncoming train that was not going to stop for her.

The train did stop, however. Shade stared back down at her, as speechless as he had been when their lips parted last night. Melose, how do I keep doing this? The sounds of quiet, upper-class city life filled in the silence between the two of them, like wet mortar. She wished he'd just up and say something. Anything was better than him just staring at her like that.

"It sounds like you've been keeping this to yourself for a while." Shade choked, when it appeared his senses returned to him.

Maintaining her silence, not trusting her mouth, Zuri gave a single nod.

"You, um, really feel that way?" He quirked an eyebrow at her, as if to continue with, what about my fiance?

Zuri nodded again, and lost the confidence to continue looking him in the eye. He said nothing after that, merely stood there.

Druva walked over again when she saw that the talking had ceased. "Well?" She asked, looking at the both of them. "Is that all, or did you want a longer moment alone?"

"No," Shade answered, not taking his eyes away from Zuri just yet. "I got what I asked for. Goodbye, Dell Mansa, Della Non-Ni." And then he walked away, from them, taking a look over his shoulder at Zuri again, as if he were regarding her in a new light.

This new light made Zuri want to curl up and whimper on the pavement for an hour or two. She decided it would be best to do so once they were on their way, especially seeing as Druva looked as if she wanted to keep going. "So was that who you really didn't want to run into?" The alchemist asked, half-smiling.

"Indeed it was," Zuri replied, her voice cracking. "Let's keep moving."

Yes, keep moving. Move far away from everyone and everything here. That sounded perfect. Within a few more minutes, they had reached the clocktower, and happy to finally be on the way out, Zuri showed Druva to the secret doorway at the base of the stairs inside.

"Well, that's great." Druva began, eyeing the slight depression in the wall with suspicion. "So how do we open it?"

Zuri's face fell. "Oh melose, I hadn't thought of that. Ruby used that thing on her hoof to open it. But she's not–yipe!" She and Druva both jumped in surprise as the depression sudden pulled further away from them, and then began sliding into the floor. All on its own, the passage was opening.

No, wait, not on its own. There stood Ruby, pink eyes dim in the low light. "Perfect timing!" Zuri exclaimed, smiling at her. Ruby didn't smile back. In fact, she looked positively depressed at seeing the two of them. Then, the trancer noticed that Ruby was not wearing her signature red cloak over herself. And she was not alone in the tunnel.

With a thundering step and a laughing roar, a huge quadruped charged forward, and knocked both Druva and Zuri onto the floor like bowling pins. Now this was getting hit by a train. She couldn't tell up from down, her chest and head ached and throbbed with her heartbeat. The blow to the head was making her more dizzy and drowsy by the second, and it was with all of her willpower that Zuri kept her eyes open, trying to focus on the wide face hovering over her.

She had seen that face before, in fact. Skote the buffalo grinned at her. "Well well well, little nag. Barxie says hello." Zuri tried to move, to say something, but it was too much to hope for. Within another few seconds, she had sunken into unconsciousness.

———

Her vision was blurry, strange clinking sounds came to her as if she were underwater; muffled and distant, and her mouth was full of something bland and dry. Her middle was still sore, as was her head. It took another few moments for Zuri to register that her cloak and dress were below her, acting like a pillow. It took longer still for her to notice the rope binding her forelegs together, and the same for her hindlegs. The dry, bland thing in her mouth turned out to be a cloth tied around her head, gagging her effectively. Feeling a rush of panic, Zuri pushed herself into an upward sitting position to get an idea of her surroundings.

She was in a very poorly maintained kitchen, just large enough for three ponies to stand in without invading one another's personal space. With the ability to focus her eyes slowly returning to her, she was able to see the source of the clinking noise. There stood a ragged, very young zebra mare, with a large gash on one cheek and a lot of bruising. Not to mention red, irritated rings around her hooves and mouth. She had obviously been bound up too, once.

She wore silver earrings and a silver collar around her neck: a Scal-Re, then. Her dark purple eyes did not look up from her work, which seemed to be futilely washing several plates and glasses. Her dark, rather dirty mane hung around the other side of her head, looking as if it hadn't been seen to in the last week. Wait, Zuri recognized this mare. It was Datroi, Barxie's slave girl. And if Datroi was here, so was he.

Zuri, still weakened from the blow she had received to the head, tried to stand up. She managed to roll onto her side, and that was all she could do. She let out a groan, straining uselessly against her bindings. Datroi let out a quiet sigh, but did not look at her. Instead, she turned around and walked out of the kitchen, leaving Zuri to her scattered thoughts.

Well, first off: Why did Barxie send Skote to come attack her? Had she or Druva inadvertently done something to make him angry? Speaking of which, where was Druva? She felt another wave of panic at this. Skote apparently had quite an active sex drive and a preference for zebra mares. What could they be doing to her? Was she herself next? She strained her ears for the telltale disgusting sounds of coitus, or what she imagined them to be after being so close to Ramrod and Cherry Jubilee, yet the house was oddly quiet, save for hoofsteps, gradually growing closer.

Datroi came into view again, followed by none other than a very upbeat Barxie. Hhe hadn't changed in the slightest since Zuri had last seen him, right down to his body language. He smiled down at her. "Fine morning, Sara dollie!" He greeted her, as if waving over an acquaintance on the street. "And how did you sleep? My staff tried to make it as comfy as could be, as you can see. Not that it mattered much, you were only out for a half hour or so." He lowered his head, tapping a hoof against hers. "Y'know, you must'a got some really interesting ideas into your head, little Dollie. It ain't everyday I get a call from a bigwig to take care of some particularly unruly piece of street trash that they don't want ESSUG to know about. Though I admit, you aren't the first one this has happened to, so, nothin' personal."

Zuri responded to this by glaring at him, wasn't much else she could do anyway. He just smiled back. "And y'know, this bigwig knows how to bargain. Didn't just want us to vanish you in the night, no ma'am. You know any guy you ticked off who wants to bed with you?" Her eyes widened. Yes, she did know: Blueblood, who else? "Well, this is that guy! He even offered us a piece of the action, heh, to which we're all grateful." His affable smile became a sneer, and he patted Datroi's back with a hoof. "Datroi here especially. Little nag must be gettin' sick of handling all the cocks around here, isn't that right, girl?"

The Scal-Re didn't speak, but nodded, looking down at the floor in front of Zuri. "Use your words," Barxie ordered her, more coldly.

"Yes, my lord," she croaked, voice cracking. Her young little voice was obviously rarely used, and she wasn't comfortable with using it. Zuri wondered with morbid curiosity how much her throat must hurt on a regular basis thanks to improper use.

Barxie laughed, "'my lord!' Ha! Ain't that grand, Sara doll? Little slug likes to keep her dignity, well-trained and all." Datroi gave a little wince at his words, something only Zuri noticed. "Well, don't worry about this all, dollie. We're takin' good care of you and your friend until the Bigwig gets here. Another two hours or so, he said."

She tried to say something, trying to shout through the muffling gag. Barxie leaned in closer, perking an ear. "Try that again. How about with a clear mouth?" He removed the cloth from her maw, beckoning her to speak.

"You're making a mistake. This 'Bigwig' isn't–" the cloth was stuffed abruptly in again, preventing her from saying anything further.

"Nnnope, just wanted to hear your voice one last time. Once we're done with you, you'll be right and quiet for our friendly buyer. Just like Datroi, here. Only speak when spoken to, directly." He grinned lasciviously from his slave to Zuri. "I'm sure you'll enjoy talking less in your new position. A little bird tells me this bigwig keeps his toys around for a while—and doesn't like it when they talk back." He sat back on his haunches, folding her forehooves and regarding the bound mare before her.

"Huh, that's a good business. Maybe I'll start selling zebra off to the hungry bigwigs up there. Who knows what kind of perks I could get like that. Rumors are running around that one of the ministers went to bed with an Oun-Drii!" He laughed again. "An Oun-Drii for any pony who wants one. Don't that sound fine, Sara dollie?"

It sounded cruel and barbaric. Giving up nobles—more importantly, your own species—for a profit from prostitution to off-worlders? Zuri squirmed in her bindings again. "Yeah, thought so. Skote and I'll have that mood out of you in twenty minutes, tops. Told you I'd have that cloak off of ya eventually." He coughed, looking around, before frowning at Datroi. "Well, slug? Don't just stand there, get back to work!"

She stepped away wordlessly, returning to the sink. Barxie smiled at Zuri again. "Well, we're not ready for you yet. Skote's off gathering up some friends, for the fun, later. You'll have a good ten minutes to yourself, heh, have fun with 'em."

He left her alone again, and Zuri returned to wriggling against her restraints. What a mess this was, and what a vindictive edrecht Blueblood must be. How much money and resources must this prince have in order to waste them on grabbing hold of a single zebra? Granted, he had resorted to acting through Barxie, who apparently was going to turn it into a business.

Yet Barxie had acted through Skote, who had appeared next to Ruby Nights in the tunnel. Where was Ruby? Had she betrayed them for money? That didn't seem very likely. Barxie, or Skote, then, had come after them, and managed to get ahold of the Shadow Master all on his own. Or maybe not. A behemoth though the buffalo was, Ruby had the smooth agility of a thin whip, and was also very skilled with a knife, if the spontaneous gelding she had bestowed upon the hater stallion was any indication.

There was no way Ruby would have given in so easily, unless some weapon that could fire faster than she moved was aimed at her. She would have spent more time thinking on it, in an attempt to avoid thinking about what was almost inevitably going to happen, had Datroi not suddenly reacquired her attention. The Scal-Re had finished cleaning the dingy china in the sink, and was now walking out of the room through a different doorway. She was perfectly alone again, trapped here with no way out. Then, Zuri blinked.

Oh, Zuri, you idiot! She chided herself. You've been spending too much time amongst ponies. Helloooo! You're alone now! No ponies around to stop you! Nothing holding you back...

How distracted she must have been to forget this. Duh. She wasn't in trouble by any stretch of the word. She was a Sara descendant, a powerful Sand-Trancer. Her cyan eyes began to glow, and her bindings immediately began to unravel themselves. This wasn't melting metal and stopping shells. Simple kinetic manipulation: Zuri didn't even have to try. No caution needed, Zuri didn't have to care about stealth, now. If Barxie or Skote walked in, she would be ready.

She pulled her legs free of the loose tangle of ropes and tugged her cloak on again, leaving the dress bag on the floor for the moment. The cloth gag fell away, and Zuri smacked her lips unhappily, thinking what else it may have been used for. She walked forth, peering through one doorway out of the kitchen. It was a dark, dingy hallway, with five more doors around them. The closest was shut, though the rest were half-open, and one looked as if a buffalo had barged right through it.

Now, the first order of business was to locate Druva, if she was even in this abysmal home. Zuri closed her eyes for a moment, letting her heart's heat travel up to them, illuminating everything in a blue hue. Yes, there were two yellow silhouettes, just behind the closed door. They seemed to be tangled up with one another, and for a moment Zuri thought she was witnessing more sex. Then the equine shape on the bottom gave a great shove, and she could hear a female voice give a grunt of effort. The one on top, obviously male from the bulk of his shape, stumbled away from the first. Could that be Druva, trying to fight off Barxie? Time to find out. Zuri shut off the sight-trance, and shoved hard against the door. It swung open easily, no lock in place.

As she had guessed, there was Druva, backing into a grimy corner of the room and pulling her hindlegs close to her body. Zuri looked at the other occupant, a wiry zebra stallion, eyes blazing. He hesitated, noticing her brightly glowing eyes, long enough for Zuri to recognize his face. Nujog, that right-hoof zebra Barxie had with them several days ago. Zuri flexed her unbridled power, as one would stretch a muscle that remained unmoving for too long, causing her eye-glow to brighten and the air around her body to grow warm immediately. Nujog jumped back, stumbling onto the sheets of the bed in the room in alarm.

As if she were pulling on ropes hooked to everything, Zuri's will threw the bedsheets around him, wrapping him up suddenly in a tight ball, which she threw unkindly against the far wall. Druva let out a breath, stumbling onto trembling hooves. "H-he thought I wouldn't put up a fight, he untied me." She glared at the unmoving bundle of blankets. "Thank the stars you came when you did, he was... Getting excited."

Zuri nodded understanding. "I felt it was time for me to turn the tables on being rescued from being raped. We're getting out of here."

"Glo'Dei above, Zuri, your eyes are like lamps," Druva remarked, sounding as if she were in awe. "That didn't seem so obvious when you tranced before."

"Well, I'm angry now," Zuri explained, turning around and looking out the door again. "And I don't see any ponies for at least a mile around to make me reconsider. Barxie is going to regret trying to do anything to me, and you."

"Well, what about her?" Druva had looked out into the hall as well, and then pointed at Datroi, who had reappeared through another door, holding half of a small cake in her mouth. The cake fell to the floor, as the Scal-Re stared at Zuri with her glowing eyes. Slowly, very slowly, the trancer raised a hoof to her lips, indicating the need for the slave to be quiet. Datroi nodded, legs starting to quiver; she was afraid, very afraid that Zuri was going to hurt her. Nothing could be further from her mind, however. An idea was starting to form in her mind.

"One can assume that you don't like Barxie very much," Zuri whispered. "Do you?"

The slave tentatively shook her head, and then looked around quickly, furtively. A Scal-Re was never to show displeasure with their master. If for some slaves this meant personal shame, for others it meant severe punishment. Shame had probably already been brought on Datroi in ways that Zuri didn't want to think about, so she must only be afraid of getting beaten again, or worse.

"No, of course you don't," Zuri continued, nodding encouragingly. "He is a foul example of zebrakind. Would you want to be free of him?"

Datroi's purple eyes widened, she evidently never thought that would happen. She nodded eagerly, silver earrings waving around.

Zuri smiled, taking on the practiced airs of an authorative Oun-Drii making an important decision. "I am going to get Barxie, for what he's tried to do to us, for what he's done to you. He has betrayed his own species in the most disgusting ways, and as such must be punished. Would you like that?"

The slave looked around fearfully again, and seeing no one else around, nodded once more.

"Good, now... I need to know where Barxie is, and where Skote is. And if he's ever mentioned it, what about a pony with pink eyes and brown braids?"

In that same small, timid voice, Datroi spoke up in flawless zebric. "H-he spends most his time in the main room, dealing with problems in the Striped Shanty whenever zebra come to him. Skote is out looking for males who want to join him when he–" She broke off, bowing her head and gesturing indicatively at Zuri, before resuming in an even more hushed tone. "The thief mare is in this room," she pointed at the door next to her, from which there was no sound. "Barxie used... Used something on her, to make her obey him like..." Like I do, though she isn't Scal-Re. Zuri could read the young slave's face despite her resumed silence.

"That makes sense," Druva put in. "There's no way Ruby would ever support this edrecht turning us into sex slaves."

Zuri nodded agreement. "Exactly what I thought. Do you have any brews that can right the mind, Druva?"

The alchemist whipped out her vuiol, though she didn't look optimistic. "I'd have to know what was used on her in the first place. Otherwise, I could end up poisoning her."

Zuri moved past Datroi, who was looking at her with a sort of reverence, to the indicated door. Ruby was indeed there, laying atop the bed. She looked as if she was merely sleeping, except her eyes were open, and those normally vivid pink irises had gotten much darker, and were completely unfocussed. She was also drooling. She didn't react to Zuri stepping into the room, nor did she react when Druva entered after her and got a big smile on her face. "Oh, perfect!"

"What do you mean, perfect?" Zuri stared at Druva with quirked eyebrows. "She looks brain-dead."

Druva shook her head. "No, exactly. I know which brew does that. Brew of Obedience, yeah. Her irises are darker, she doesn't seem to even see us, that's it. She'd only look normal when her 'master' awakens her, but he'd have full control over her body, then. Funny, this brew is usually used on unsuspecting courtesans, to avoid paying them. Sometimes the 'master' doesn't even bother waking them up, for that."

Zuri looked at Ruby with newly renewed horror. "Oh stars, I hope they haven't..."

Druva patted her on the shoulder reassuringly. "The bedsheets would be messier if they had, don't worry. They haven't touched her yet, maybe because they know who she is? Well, whatever." She pulled open her Vuiol, sticking a hoof inside to rustle trough the dimension-defying contents. "Melose, I don't have anything yet made to help with this. I'll have to start right away, unless we've got to keep moving together..." The alchemist indicated the door. "Best if you took care of Barxie and his ilk while I sort this out."

Zuri nodded, stepped out of the room, and shut the door behind her. She could still hear Druva through it, muttering, "okay, Ruby. Let's see what we can do about your drooling problem."

Once more she stood facing Datroi, who had hardly moved from her spot. Now that Zuri was sure she wasn't going to raise the alarm, she wondered what exactly to do with her. A Scal-Re free of one master would have to go to another, or else be no one's property and either starve to death or become a bandit. Given Datroi's small stature, obvious youth, and meek personality, Zuri doubted the latter option would even occur to her. What were the chances of the slave girl being picked up by someone just as bad as Barxie? Zuri would never have admitted it but she had doubts that any zebra who lived in the shanty would be any kinder to her.

Once more, she had to hit herself for not thinking of it sooner. It was like she was on a roll of losing her common sense at key times. "Datroi, you'll need a new master, after this." Zuri announced to her. No doubt she was probably already thinking along those line. "How would you like to come with me, instead?"

The Scal-Re's ears perked, her whole body straightened, and she seemed rapt upon Zuri as though seeing daylight for the first time. Reverence, indeed. "Oh, would I be allowed, fair lady Trancer?" She inquired, looking hopeful.

Zuri nodded, happy to see her brighten further. "I don't see why not. Lebowa was always prodding me to get a well-behaved Scal-Re. Would you be well behaved?"

Datroi nodded, a smile growing on her face for the first time. "Yes, fair lady! I would do everything you say! But... I am the property of Barxie Gan-Dis Projjo, he owns me."

Zuri was enjoying herself now, taking on full Oun-Drii motions. She put a hoof to her chest, standing taller. "And what if he does? I am Zuri Oun-Drii Sara, my will overrides his a thousand-fold. He is not a true Gan-Dis. No Gan-Dis is so depraved as to think themselves above laws. Did he purchase you?"

Datroi, who's smile had started to diminish again, nodded.

"That purchase will mean nothing within the hour. He will be in no state to be anyone's master. It is my judgement, that you, Datroi...?"

"Datroi Scal-Re Talas, fair lady."

Zuri smiled, wondering how long Datroi must have been waiting to say her full name since becoming Barxie's slave. "That you, Datroi Scal-Re Talas, become my hoofservant, and property of the Sara family. You are free of Barxie and any hold he has over you." And for the finer legal details I'll have to hope grandfather will help me out.

The Scal-Re looked fit to explode with excitement at this. For a zebra in her caste, it was a gift from the spirits to become a servant of Oun-Drii, especially to a family so powerful and so renowned as Zuri's own. "Oh, thank you, my Lady!" Datroi squeaked. She looked nigh moved to tears, now. "I will follow you as I did Barxie, but I haven't ever been so happy!"

"Well, control your happiness, for now. We don't want Barxie to find out he's lost his slave, already, do we?"

"Oh, no, my Lady!" Datroi agreed, and immediately became as quiet as she usually was.

"Go into that room with Druva and the pony mare," Zuri ordered. "Stay with them, Druva can keep you safe."

Now, back to business. The grimy old house was perfectly silent, save for the floorboards, which creaked at every step Zuri took. No one was coming towards her, as she cautioned moving down the row of doors. Lightly pushing each one all the way open, she found each room to be empty. Where, then, had Barxie gone?

There was the slam of a rickety wooden door, and the sound of many sets of hooves moving about in the room just through the hallway. It must be the entryway, and here was the party Skote had brought with him. Five loud, raucous male voices, all speaking in zebric. cautiously, Zuri peeked ever so slightly around the corner. One zebra was Barxie, and one of the Buffalo was Skote, but the other three Zuri did not recognize. They were all grinning, pushing and prodding one another, as if they were off to go watch a Cudonetor, rather than rape two mares. How disappointed they would be, then.

"So, Skote, which one did you want, first?" Rumbled the unfamiliar buffalo, deep-set eyes slowly surveying the room.

"That alchemist nag, once Nujog's done with her. She's got a smart mouth on her, we ought to fix that."

"Well, all we need is an open mouth," remarked Barxie, to which the other four laughed appreciatively. "Abelre knows how to really get to them, make them say our names, right, Ab?"

"Oh yeah," the zebra who was apparently Abelre grinned at the lot of them. "I wanna try at that blue one you were babbling about, Skote. She sounds mighty fine."

Zuri chose this exact moment to stand up straight, remove her hood, and walk confidently into the room. "Yes, I am indeed 'fine'." She cooed, using her best impression of Ultraviolet's perpetual syrupy friendliness. "You boys ought to reconsider speaking so loudly. One never knows who may be listening."

The joviality amongst them died instantly. Barxie stared blankly at Zuri for a few moments, before his face distorted into an expression of rage. "Datroi, you stupid little sacöre!" He shouted, his voice raised so high that his fellows around him folded their ears, stepping away from him.

Zuri couldn't help but laugh, despite the growing desire to break Barxie's neck from long-distance. "It wasn't Datroi that freed me, idiot. I freed myself." As explanation, she flexed her Gift again, eyes glowing bright enough that the five would-be violators' faces all appeared to gain a few degrees of blue.

The zebra stallions in the room, Barxie not included, gave a collective cry of despair. They must have just connected her display of power with the symbol on her cloak's clasp. "Sara descendant! It is the Sara descendant!"

The buffalo next to Skote, with wide eyes, rumbled to speech again. "Y'never said anything about raping a Sara descendant, brother."

"It's cause she isn't one," Skote snarled back. But the fact had already taken effect. Two of the extra zebra ran for the door, but the third was obstructed by a somehow more angry Barxie.

"I don't like doing things myself. You're going to help get this nag under control again, and you'll get first round on her."

The stallion, who didn't look too heartened by this promise, turned again to face Zuri, and bravely stepped forward. Zuri, smirking, moved her willpower in front of her, and the hot air followed suit. For the zebra who just stepped forth, a sudden gale threw him against the back wall with a loud crack. He crumpled to the floor, mouthing swears as the breath had been knocked out of him, as he grasped an obviously broken hindleg.

With a roar very similar to the one he had used right before knocking her down, Skote charged at her. His fellow buffalo went right alongside him. Forward march, to the meatgrinder. Zuri's eyes blazed, and her body temperature skyrocketed. Though she felt herself break into a sweat from effort and overheating, she continued the trance, drawing the heat into her own body, and out of the room. The next time Skote's hooves touched the floor, they stuck there, as did the rest of him, in mid-charge. His limbs had frozen solid, his teeth were chattering almost comically, lips turning blue. The other buffalo stumbled against him, veered off course, and charged right through the wall to the right of Zuri, which happened to send him head-over-hooves into the main street of the striped shanty. He didn't get back up.

Tears began to leak from Skote's eyes from the pain, but they soon froze on his face as well. Zuri pondered letting the frigid-trance go all the way, turning the lascivious buffalo into a giant, fragile block of ice, but her body was burning hot as it was. She thought she felt steam rising from her ears. She'd have to redirect the heat somewhere, or else risk spontaneous combustion on the spot. Great idea. Zuri rounded upon Barxie, and willing the heat energy to go out of her, she reared up and slammed her forehooves down. A wave of searing heat, visible only as blurring air, shot straight for the zebra. His eyes widened.

And then his eyes began to glow. What? WHAT? Come on! COME ON! Barxie's body was trembling, sweat matting his fur as the heat traveled more or less harmlessly into him. He took a deep breath, and then gave a yell of rage. The heat traveled with it, exploding through the room and causing its temperature to shoot back to normal. "That's right, Sara nag!" He snarled at her, eyes aglow with energy. "I'm as much a Sand Trancer as you are! What, you thought some huge odilia like Skote would listen to me if I couldn't freeze his balls off, too?" His eyes went to the still-frozen buffalo, whose legs began to unstiffen and frost dissappearing from his eyes and nose.

Skote, once thawed, fell to the floor, unconscious. Barxie didn't seem to care. "Fine, fuck it. I hate taking care of shit myself, but if you want something done right..." His eyes flashed again.

Zuri moved just in time, jumping backwards, just as the floorboards where she had been standing were suddenly pushed upwards, nails popping out and flying around dangerously. A large piece of concrete foundation burst through the floor, suddenly rounding itself into a ball, and rocketing straight for her head. She ducked, thinking that throwing mere objects was a bit wasteful of energy, until the concrete ball exploded, hitting the nearby wall, into a million pieces of compacted dust and shrapnel. Shielding her face, she stumbled, and her hood was suddenly pulled over her head. Barxie began to gloat, prematurely. "Haha, see? Fuck you, Sara! I can outdo any Sara nag that tries to mess with my world!"

Zuri growled, her own will pulling her hood off again, and conjuring up a roaring flame right in front of her. With another thought, the continuous flame went speeding towards Barxie, a line of fire trailing behind it as the dust in the air lit up. He reacted predictably. Water began to condense very quickly from the air, hundreds of droplets combining into a growing, shifting mass of liquid, which acted as a shield which the fireball struck, and immediately vanished. Before he could drop the wall of water, however, Zuri froze it, turning the mass into a thousand shards of ice. At the same time, her body temperature went up again, and her own body began to sweat in turn.

Barxie pushed the floating shards towards her with another willpower-push, at the same time raising up his forelegs and clapping them together on a particular shard, which broke into what looked like glimmering dust. Tiny particles of frozen water, rubbing against one another. Alarmed, Zuri tried to move the cloud of gradually disintegrating ice pieces, but it was too late.

For a fraction of a second, an arc stretched from Barxie to Zuri, and she was thrown back against the opposite wall, much like her first victim. There was a black circle where the arc had struck her, on her side. It stung so much that Zuri couldn't help a few choices swear words escaping her mouth, as well as a half-contained cry of pain. She couldn't take time to nurse it, she had to stand up before Barxie came too close, and made this just like the melee in a Cudonetor match. A lot of her hair was standing on end with a charge transferred to her from Barxie's friction-inducing ice-cloud.

The oaf was laughing again, stamping a hoof and pointing at her. "You got any idea how DUMB you look, like that? All charged up! You look like a fuzzball! Ha!"

"Very funny," Zuri snapped back. Of course he'd be stupid like that in the middle of a fight. She expected nothing less of him. Her eyes blazed again, and she forced Barxie against the wall. That cut off his laughter right away, his legs kicking at her uselessly. His own eyes focussed on a tray of empty plates set aside. The tray, plates and all, flew at Zuri, breaking her concentration as the cheap china smashed against her, adding several more cuts to the bruises on her body. Barxie was returned to the floor, but Zuri returned him roughly, shoving him into the ground and pulling down some of the ceiling above him. This, he unfortunately noticed, and instead redirected the hunk of roof from him to Zuri, who in turn redirected it at Skote, whom it smashed against, with no apparent effect to the unconscious buffalo whatsoever.

Zuri conjured up another ball of fire, this time throwing it on the floor, letting the flame catch on the wooden panels. Barxie let out a scream of anger, starting to pull up pieces of burning floor to fling in Zuri's direction. Zuri didn't bother with pieces. One whole two-foot-wide section of burning wood tore up, smashing against Barxie unceremoniously. Zuri did this again, trying to control the flames so that the heat and smoke was directed either upwards or towars Barxie. He yelled again, and with eyes bright, he came charging through the growing inferno in the entryway to bash Zuri to the floor. She fell against him, pulling one of his forehooves down to the floor and slamming one of her own down on the middle joint. He yelled, and his trancing will shoved her off. He kicked her in the face, with his good forehoof, which she took advantage of by kicking his hindlegs out from under him, taking him down again. The fire was circling around them, out of control with the two trancers choosing instead to beat each other.

It was just like a Cudonetor, to Zuri, though she had yet the chance to compete in a real one. She and Barxie were getting progressively more battered by one another as they rolled around amidst the blazing room. Somehow, Barxie ended up on top of her, shouting in her face as his hooves closed over her neck.

"You think you can get away with this, nag!? News flash! This is my world! You don't fuck with the system in my world! The Bigwig's gonna show up, and all that'll be left of you is ashes. D'zat make you happy? Huh!? Be dead, fine!"

She couldn't focus a trance with his hooves around her neck like this. Zuri kicked him again and again in the stomach, to no avail. He was starting to cough up blood as a result, but still he would not lift pressure from her throat. Despite the growing sensation of a lack of pressure inside of her, lungs burning from the smoke and now asphyxiation, Zuri was reminded of when another had been nearly choked to death, and stopped by a timely arrival...

Barxie was suddenly off of her, and apparently flying high above her. He was looking around, hooves flailing madly as he tried to discover how he was suddenly able to fly. Zuri, gasping for air amidst the billowing spoke, could see a pair of gossamer wings, buzzing powerfully behind him. Chrys' insect-esque face appeared next to Barxie's, and she hissed like she had in the boutique. Barxie, who had begun to scream, stopped immediately. She carried him out of Zuri's view, which was mostly obscured by smoke and flame, leaving Zuri to manage the fire around her.

Taking one clear breath of air, the remaining trancer forced her will over the fires once again, drawing them into a uniform ring around her. She couldn't have Druva, Datroi and Ruby burnt to a crisp just because she and Barxie had had a major disagreement. With another rear up, she slammed her hooves down again, her will compressing the flames down to nothing around her. The air began to clear, allowing Zuri to assess the damage.

The fire hadn't moved on from the entry room, thank goodness, though the room itself was utterly destroyed. A large part of the cieling was missing, burn marks traveled up the walls, and the majority of the wooden floor had been pulled away to reveal dirt and rocks underneath. She looked around for a sign of Skote, yet there was just a huge lump of charred mass, that smelled of horribly burned meat. Zuri felt a little sick, but did not feel bad at all about the abusive buffalo's death. Datroi may be happy to hear about it.

There was a buzzing noise, and Zuri looked to her right to see Chrys landing atop the scorched debris with an unreadable expression on her face.

Zuri didn't say anything, merely looked at Chrys. It was just as plain that Chrys was not going to speak either, at least, not yet. Finally, the changeling coughed, cleared her throat, and spoke. "You know, I never really got to talk to Filthy Rich, at the Gala." She commented, examining a holed hoof that had a bit of charred wood stuck in one of the pores. "I also didn't get to thank you for stopping me from killing Rarity."

"Why thank me?" Zuri wheezed, trying to stand up despite her beaten condition. "You seemed pretty upset about it at the time, and then you just jumped out a window. What were you going on about in there, anyway?"

"Like I said, I started having visions: visions of a..." She paused, looking as if she had to struggle to find the right word. "...A past life. That's what it was. I wasn't always this small, I was once very tall, very strong..." She examined herself, running a gnarled hoof through her limp mane. "Ponies trembled at my name. I was feared. I was a queen of an army of changelings like me. I was... I was stopped." She furrowed her brow, licking her fangs. "By who, I can't remember. But they made me young again, took away my memories, at least temporarily, so they could use me for terraforming. The Elements of Harmony... They were supposed to be a weapon, something that could control me no matter what I wanted. I ran into Rarity's room without meaning to; I just wanted to escape! Seeing her triggered another memory, of some pink mare..."

Chrys' face faltered, teetered on being full of despair, before sinking into rage. "A pink mare who took everything from me. I wanted to kill her, strangulation was the fastest, quietest, most efficient way to do it. Only, I wasn't strangling that mare, I was strangling Rarity." She stopped again, deep in thought. This allowed Zuri to collect her own.

"So, what are you going to do now? And why did you save Barxie?"

After a moment's further hesitation, Chrys smiled with a hint of bitterness. "Those two things are very closely related. I'm a changeling queen, I need to find love to feed on, and to reproduce. I'll need genes for that, genes from a sentient animal whose body is accustomed to this planet..." She grinned at Zuri, her eyebrows lowering. "It just so happens that however much of a monster Barxie may be, he fits the bill."

"So you're just going to make... baby changelings?" Zuri asked, staring at her. "With him, rather than anyone else?"

Chrys scoffed "Of course not just that. What a stupid way to spend my freedom, just making babies. No, I'm going to create my own livelihood, make my own home. The children I'll produce will help with that. And as for Barxie..." She looked towards the hole in the wall created by the other buffalo, where Barxie lay, looking as if freshly knocked out by a kick from Chrys. "Why bother cultivating some other worthy stallion when I have one that I won't feel guilty about exploiting at all?"

Zuri supposed she could see the logic in that. Kind of. "So you won't be going back to that Equestria, then?" She asked.

"If I do, I won't do it yet," Chrys replied, still looking at Barxie. "He and I are going to have to get to know one another, first. He is going to father my legions, after all." She smiled a very strange smile, one that showed off her pointed teeth. "I'll be looking around for some land to call entirely my own. Might look into some bare spot between Frontier Forest and your zebric cities, if possible. So until we see each other again," Chrys looked at her, her eyes conveying her point: we will see each other again, I'm sure of it. "Take care of yourself, Zuri Oun-Drii Sara. Thanks for everything~"

With that, the changeling Queen's wings buzzed, she flew out of the home, picked up Barxie like a bird of prey carrying a mouse, and flew off. That settled that, then.

———

"You had all the fun without me!" Ruby complained, only slightly wincing with every movement of her head as they walked. "Instead the only thing I remember is Druva sticking that awful brew down my throat. Blechh!"

"Wasn't all that fun for me, you know," Druva argued with a grin. "Kept moving your head this way and that before I even got a drop in you. And you wouldn't stop drooling!"

Zuri laughed along with them, as they went through the far fringes of the Striped Shanty, in the Gau-Aer markets. Magnificent, curvaceous Gau-Aer sleds sat resting in the loose, hot sand, the smallest of them easily five meters long and two meters wide. They were looking for anyone who would take three zebra—one Oun-Drii, one Non-Ni, and the Oun-Drii's Scal-Re—home to Tedus, and then Otoul. Zuri was still very banged up from her fight with Barxie, though Druva had whipped out a healthy amount of Dictamnus brew, which dulled the pain and made healing the cuts, burns, and frazzled hair that much easier.

It was rather hard to get any of the Gau-Aer merchants to listen, considering Zuri's battered appearance and that her voice was a little croaky after inhaling so much smoke, and did not have the ability to use the refined Oun-Drii accent and perfect pronunciation that would make her stand out. The sun was reaching the middle of the sky, their stomachs were each making noises of protest to the neglect they had received.

Finally, the reached the end of the long row of Gau-Aer sleds, where a particularly ornate and yet very dusty sled sat, a wide counter set before it covered with everything from spices and freshly-killed sandspiders to fine jewelry. As was custom, Zuri tapped her hoof three times on the counter. The zebra standing behind it, a rather burly fellow who wore his mane unusually long behind his head, looked up. His snout crumpled in disgust.

"Take your bronze pieces to someone else, half-breed." He grumbled, having a hoof at Zuri as if to shoo her away like a fly. "This sled is only riding home with coffers full of gold."

"We are not looking to buy, we are looking to travel," Zuri said, ignoring his less kind comments. She was sure once she got herself cleaned up and her cloak-clasp properly in view, he would change his tune altogether. "My companion and my Scal-Re wish to return to our home cities, Tedus and Otoul."

The stallion raised his eyebrows, unbelieving. "You mean to say you hail from Tedus or Otoul? Please, how stupid do you think I am? I know a half-breed when I see one."

"She speaks the truth, mister merchant," Druva argued. "I am a fully trained Non-Ni. One cannot recieve training such as that out here."

"No, one can't..." He rubbed his chin with a hoof. "That still does not explain your halfbreed friend. You can't expect anyone to let you through into Otoul, can you? You would be killed."

"I assure I would not," Zuri said, getting irritated. "My bedraggled state is because of a very recent incident, whereas my color... has never gotten in the way of anything like this before. Do you know who I am?"

"A very persistent nag?" The stallion offered, smiling humorlessly.

Zuri began to fume up. "No, you idiot! Do you see my family crest, on my clasp? My name is-"

"Zuri!" Called another voice, from up above. Ruby looked up, and blinked. "Oh, uh, Zuri, I think you have a friend up there."

Looking up, she saw it was more than a friend. From atop the sled, grinning down at them, was none other than Zuri's brother. "Agilis!" Zuri exclaimed in instant recognition. This day was much more eventful than last night. Zuri babbled, so surprised that the words wouldn't come right away. "Wha... what are you doing all the way out here?"

"I could ask you the same question, little sister!" Agilis yelled back, his smile widening. He hopped down from the sled, and immediately pulling Zuri into a tight hug. "Stars, Zuri, mother and father were worried sick! Part of why I'm out here is to make sure you didn't wander this far, which it looks like you did! You never sent word from Nussu, that was where you were headed first, right?"

"It was," Zuri said, heaving the longest sigh she had any recollection of heaving. "It's a long story, I can tell you."

"Hang on a minute," protested the vending stallion, gawping at Zuri and Agilis embracing. "Good Merchant Sara, sir, you mean to say this..." he mumbled something, at which Agilis shot him a look that could kill, and he next spoke in a much smaller voice. "...is your sister?"

"Why, yes, Frogirn, this scipita is my sister." Agilis replied, his tone dangerous. "And for your information, the Oun-Drii laws still apply to thoughtless words uttered in dirty holes such as these. Furthermore, she is a fully trained mansa, capable of squishing that little head of yours flat with just a thought."

"Not really right now," Zuri muttered, holding a hoof to her head. "I did a lot of mans only minutes ago. The fatigue is starting to kick in."

"That's the little sister I know," Agilis grinned at her, before looking at her assembly. "I take it these two want to come back with you?" He gestured at Datroi and Druva. Then, he looked at Ruby, and spoke in her native tongue. "Madame, we don't take ponies back to our home cities, I hope you know."

Ruby smiled a dazzling smile at him, and Zuri knew she didn't imagine Agilis sudden straightening. The thief mare replied in perfect zebric, accented so as to give her a more syrupy, sweet voice. "I surely know that, sir. I'm just here to see my friend off."

"Then, we best be off!" Agilis exclaimed dramatically. "We've got to get you home at once, Zuri, else mother and father will have my head! Come, I know Dunnur wouldn't be happy unless you were exercising regularly. You can rest now, before trading the operation of the sled with Giza."

"Giza's here too?" Zuri asked, excited yet incredulous. "How many family members did mother and father send after me?"

Agilis looked about to answer, before the other merchant zebra cleared his throat importantly. "Pardon me, Good Merchant Sara, Sir, but that is my job, not hers."

Agilis' face fell. "Oh, right..." His face lit up again as if he had thought of a world-changing idea. "Simple solution, then! Forgirn, you're fired."

Zuri hugged Ruby Nights goodbye, she felt it was necessary to give her a farewell that meant something, if she was to give no one else such a thing. "You saved me from violation once, and got me on the road home."

"And you defended me from a megalomaniac zebra who had a thing for prostitution," Ruby countered. Well, Chrys was mostly to thank for getting rid of him permanently. Or as permanent as would matter, she supposed. "No thanks necessary either way, how about? Let's just call it even, otherwise you might end up dragging my ass from a burning building, next."

"Or you mine," Zuri pointed out. Ruby laughed, gave her another hug, and stepped away from the sled. "I'm... I'm sure we'll meet again." Now she was pulling lines straight from Chrys. This was turning into another embarrassing good-bye much too fast.

"Got myself all the way out to the blighted pony towns..." grumbled Agilis' former suboordinate, as he pulled a sack of his belongings away from the sled. "And then I get stuck here because of Oun-Drii laws. Should have kept my mouth shut."

"Don't have to worry about revenge from that poor sod," Druva muttered, smiling. "If he tries to come back you can just tell everyone everything he said to you, and he'll be tortured to death."

Zuri laughed with a strange morbid humor. She almost missed that kind of rule. No one said anything unkind to Oun-Drii, at risk of losing one's life. She wondered what the pony equivalent may consist of.

Giza greeted her little sister with even more enthusiasm than her fraternal twin, taking Zuri and spinning around with her aboard the deck of the huge sled, knocking over several piles of cargo while they were at it.

"I was afraid Agilis would have to go out looking for you in this big city," she said, after she had let go of Zuri. "Which seemed all the harder because, for one thing, not one sled was allowed to come close to the shanty or any part of the city, and for another: I'd have to go in after him to keep him safe. Then, who could we trust with the cargo?"

"Obviously not Forgirn, who knows what he might've tried to make off with if we left the sled alone, ever." Agilis remarked, pulling one last crate underneath the large protective canopy at the back of the sled's deck. "Alright, that's everything. Giza, take us away!"

With another excited look at her younger sibling, Giza skipped towards the sled's bow, standing in a circle of runes. She tensed, let out a breath, and Zuri could feel Giza's trancing magic begin to move the sled. Gently, it raised up a good two inches out of the sand, the large sand-boat vehicle gradually pulling out of dock at the striped Shanty, turning towards the endless expanse of desert. Towards home.