1. In the Desert

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Who?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

———

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2. Out of a Frying Pan

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New Dodge Junction was not too small of a town, but the road running through it made it easier and faster for a wagon to travel through than for it to travel around. Leaving behind Sand Dunes, Matchlock’s and Coalfield’s combined company now wheeled their large caravan vehicles onto dirt and textured pavement. The caravan captains directed the wheels to retract their rough and thorn-like appendages, making the surfaces smooth and more suitable for the paved road.

Matchlock, as he and Coalfield parked their vehicles off to a side of the road to avoid blocking the path, noticed several Ponies already coming out of side streets and buildings to look up at the wagons that had just rumbled into their town. “Look,” he said to Blast-cap as they opened the main door. “We’re the most interesting thing they’ve seen all week.”

It was true. Mothers held their children back as the two caravan captains descended from their respective transports, while young colts looked at them with a sort of admiration. Having a job as a Palosol Caravaner, one had to be a team-leader as well as have a head for technical issues and driving a vehicle on dirt, sand, or through the marshes further southeast. They also had to be able to keep that head and the heads of their passengers when things got rough, due to insufficient rations, attack by Zebras or by raiders, and whatever else they came across. Transporting cargo by aircraft was in some ways safer, but only if the way wasn’t blocked by one stormcloud or another. Palosol’s weather was typically at one extreme or another, especially during the summer and winter. Matchlock, knowing all this, could understand the emotions in the faces of the Ponies looking at him: envy, awe, and worry.

One Pony pushed herself to the front of the crowd, facing Matchlock, and then Coalfield as he navigated to Matchlock and his son. This Pony was a mare, neither young nor old, with a pale off-white coat and cherry-red mane and tail. Matchlock smiled and tipped his hat respectively. “Salutations, ma’am, my name is Matchlock. I assume you’re the mayor of this town?”

“That I am, Mister Caravaner!” She spoke with a loud, heavy twang, but had obviously attempted to refine it to sound more polite and more coherent. “My name’s Cherry Jubilee, and New Dodge Junction is where you’re at! Though, with the antennae stickin’ out the top of your vehicles, I’m assumin’ y’already know that.”

“Yes indeed. Say, we’re just passin’ through, but we were wonderin’ if you could be willin’ to do a favor…” Matchlock began, in a much softer voice. “We’ve got a, well, I don’t mean any alarm, but we’ve got a Zebra locked up in our wagon.” Cherry Jubilee, who had leaned in to listen, suppressed a rightfully alarmed gasp. “And, you can say no, but we were wonderin’ if you had the means to take it off our hands. Maybe throw it out, hang it, sell it as a slave? We’re on a schedule, here, and we were wonderin’ if we could make a fast profit by throwing her to you. Can’t shoot ‘er, Zebra hides can be sold, and we ain’t getting our rope dirty with Zebra scum and curses.”

“One’a them Trancers?” Jubilee asked under her breath. Matchlock nodded. “Well, golly, Mister Matchlock, that’s a sure danger you’ve got ridin’ around with ya. We’d be happy to take it off yer hooves! We’ve a trade comin’ up in a couple of days, maybe someone with enough gall’ll snatch the mongrel right up! To be honest with ya, Mr. Matchlock…” She leaned in. “Death’s too good for ‘em. Better they learn all their lessons by bein’ right where they should be, under our hooves!” She wore a sort of wry grin.

“Ha! You got that right, ma’am!” Matchlock laughed. “Dang dirty stripeys got too many ideas about stations and positions or some garbage.”

“Don’t I know it! Uh, can I see it?” Matchlock nodded, and led her to the front of the wagon, with the crowd following them intently. Cherry Jubilee frowned, and dispersed them with, “Go on, ya’ll have seen ‘em. Me and he got business to discuss, private!”

Manipulating a lock on a larger door on the front of the wagon with magic, Matchlock opened up the storage bay, taking a couple steps back, next to Jubilee. “These Trancer ones are rather touched, and look--weird. This one apparently has a mouth on her, can talk back, and made my son all mad.”

———

Zuri, who had been attempting to get some rest, suddenly awoke to the loud whirring of some creaking mechanism, and then light pouring in. Now properly roused, the Zebra sat up, her cloak hood hanging around her shoulders, letting anyone see her pierced ears and neck-rings, her black, blue-striped hair hanging about her face. The Zebra squinted, looking out toward the light as her eyes adjusted. She saw Matchlock, as well as another mare, who took a step back at her appearance. Zuri, likewise, looked the mare up and down. The peculiar red color of her hair did not surprise her, but it did surprise her how it was curled beautifully and put atop her head in a fashion the Trancer had never seen before. Zuri gave a quiet snort, a sort of huff, assuming that her captivity had changed hooves, and she was one step closer to being shot or sold off.

“You’re right, she is weird-lookin’. What kinda Zebra has blue stripes? Blue!” Jubilee said, walking up to her. “I’m guessin’ those are anti-magic cuffs?” She said, eyeing what confinements the Zebra had.

“That they are. Can’t be too careful with Stripies.” Matchlock nodded, glaring at Zuri. “See this lady, Stripey? She’s gonna be your judge and jury. You know, judge and jury? The things that maintain about half of a working law, somethin’ you freaks don’t–”

“I know what a judge and jury are, Pony. I only see one here, and she looks inadequate.” Zuri said, coldly, looking at him and to Blast-cap with contempt in her vibrantly cyan eyes. So you insult me, I’ll insult you.

Matchlock didn’t appear too affected. “Yeah, sure, whatever. Anyway, Miss Jubilee, you willin’ to take her?” 

“Yes I am! Don’t worry about a thing, Stripey, I make sure every slave sells for a worthy price.” Jubilee said, smiling an odd smile at Zuri. “I’m thinkin’… for you? A good two hundred…”

“Two hundred bits!” Blast-cap exclaimed. “Hay, with that kind of money I could buy two workin’ girls half as pretty as that thing back in Paradise City!”  “Pretty, am I? I thought I was just stupid.” Zuri said, mirroring Jubilee’s smile at Blast-cap, who immediately called her what Zuri assumed was a very dirty, low-grade, despicable thing for Ponies. She didn’t really understand what a “blank-flanking, daddy-cuddling, foal-spouting dirt-witch” was. Jubilee was taken aback at Blast-cap’s language, as displayed by the shocked gasp she gave. Zuri cocked one ear, curious, as she watched Matchlock sternly gave his son a brief, quiet lecture on proper language in front of a lady, especially one in an obvious position of power.

In the meantime, Cherry Jubilee ordered two rather large stallions over, who she directed in unlocking the cage and pulling Zuri out of it in as rough a manner as possible. “Take her to the stables, boys,” she ordered, tapping Zuri on the shoulder. “Tell Ramrod he’s got a new personal count to take.”

Zuri was pushed into a side-room of a large wooden building. The air was musty, and smelled as Zuri expected it to: foul. The floor was dirt, but the inside each of the cells was a scattering hay. Almost every cell was occupied--by Zebras. Several of them were sitting, eyes closed, chanting dissonantly. As the stallions guided and pushed her into a dirty, small cell just big enough for her to pace around in a little circle, she realized that the constant drudging collection of voices was actually a song. She recognized it as a modification on a little song she was taught as an adolescent, originally supposed to be about separating yourself from your parents and trying to be your own person. As she listened now, feeling an approaching sense of melancholy, it sounded more like a wish to be free of a dark pit of captivity. The stallions locked the cell shut, and walked out the same door, locking it behind them as well.

Well, here she was, at the mercy of a redhead mare and this Ramrod. Her parents would order a beating. There were whispers around her, in Zebric accents, about a newcomer. Some of the words were in the Ponies’ language, some were Zebric. An interesting mix. Some younger voices used a combination of both, messily. Zuri guessed that perhaps they had been raised learning a little of both.

There was a tapping to the side, after some of the whispering had died down. Zuri turned to see another Zebra examining her through the iron bars that separated their cells. This one had the usual white and black stripes, and he had amber yellow eyes. Onene silver earring on each ear marked him as an Arbiter, one who went between villages and towns, conducted important meetings, and gave advice on local conflicts. He nodded to her, and greeted her in their own language.

“You are a Sand-Trancer, yes?” he asked. His accent, Zuri was happy to hear, was like hers, instead of like the Ponies’ harsh twangs and screeches. “There are other Trancers here, waiting for death or slavery. I doubt any of them have all the rings, though.”

“They lost them?” Zuri asked, curious.

“They didn’t earn them. The one next to me, he was captured, before training was complete. He was of Tabithun, nearby Otoul. Where do you hail?”

“From Otoul, myself.” Zuri let pride sneak into her voice. “Born, raised, and trained there.” Otoul was a Zebra city, known for its size and wealth.  “Stars above… were you trained by Dunnur? The Dunnur?” he asked, sounding very interested. Zuri nodded, just barely visible, In the dim light.

“I was. The old Dunnur is as wise as many of the rumors make him out to be, but not all of them. I haven’t seen him make a snake spit bubbles.” They shared a tight laugh.

“Ah, yes, I once had the chance to talk with Dunnur. I’d gone to Otoul, tracing down a Zebra who had stolen another’s personal belonging… I forget what it was, a jewel of some sort, though very pretty, I remember that much. I only spoke with him briefly. I never saw him use his training, but I was able to see that he was very wise.” Dunnur was one of the Sand-Trancers who not only had lived to his elder years but was still in good enough shape and with little enough injuries to be considered a fully functioning one. Though most old Trancers were honored for their skill and mind, Dunnur was honored for skill, mind, and continued strength in old age. All three in an Elder were considered to have achieved apotheosis of being. “He actually knew who the offender was. Helped me to find the culprit and return the item.”

“So, what is your name, Sir Arbiter?” Zuri asked the Arbiter.

“You’re the latest addition. You give me your name first. Full name, too, since you’re from Otoul.” Names were important to the Zebra culture. One’s name reflected their family and their position, and sometimes decided whether two meeting Zebras would be friends or enemies, given their respective families’ history.

“Zuri Oun-Drii Sara.” Zuri said, pride sneaking into her voice. The Zebras’ nomenclature was complicated. The first name was given by the parents, and always had an indirect but meaningful translation. The middle names were signs of position in the classes of economy, society, caste, and occupation. The last name was what differentiated families from others in their caste. One Zebra could easily find another with the same first name and class, but the last name would set them apart. Zuri’s first name meant ‘Breaking tedium’, and as such was a relatively uncommon name. Her middle name denoted her as one of the Oun-Drii, the Zebra nobles, as well as a Sand Trancer. The last name, Sara, was that of an ancient magician, Viva Sara, twelve generations old. Zuri would make it thirteen, if she lived through this.

“Heh, I can’t compete with that name. I am called Uzul Fa-un Annos, of Nussu.” Uzul, being an Arbiter, had position too. Uzul literally meant “High rocks”, Fa-un was Arbiter, a couple steps lower than Zuri, but only in matters of social events. When it came to politics, or assizes, the Arbiter was only trumped by the Premier Elder. Finally, Annos was an old name, with neither too much nor too little money. Zebras allowed changes of caste, and Uzul’s family had risen from that of servants. “And, yes, I know your family, Lady Zuri.” The male grinned at her, nodding his head again.

Zuri looked bashful, as Uzul used the appropriate title to address her as. “It seems few Zebras do not know of my family. I wanted to explore Palosol, to receive notoriety for myself, not just because of my family. I got my Premier Elders’ blessing, and now, well, here I am.” She frowned again, taking on a sarcastic tone. “How prestigious, the little Trancer girl captured by Ponies, to be sold. My parents would probably disown me, if they knew I’d gotten stuck like this.”

“Are they really that harsh? I was always told the Sara were quiet and cold, but are they so cold to their children?” Uzul asked, to which Zuri sighed.

“I needed to impress them, more than just becoming a Sand-Trancer, though it brought many smiles among my family when I appeared before them in this.” She gestured widely to her cloak, piercings, and neck adornments. “But I wanted more. So, I got their blessing, and left to explore. Now, I’m not so sure that I should have done anything at all.”

“Hey, maybe you’ll impress them by breaking us out of here?” Another voice called, from behind her. Zuri turned her head, and looked at another Zebra, this one a female, with the archetypical style of mane, put up straight above her head. She had many golden rings around her neck, and she had gold earrings. An alchemist. “Trancer, have you the he—oh, no, it wouldn’t work if you did.” The confidence in the other female’s voice vanished when she saw the cuffs around Zuri’s forelegs. “I’m assuming those cuffs are… what’s the word the Ponies use, in our tongue… ensconced?”

“Enchanted, I think and yes, they are. You a—” 

“I am Druva Non-ni Altra, of Tedus. I am an alchemist, so, I can do nothing without my equipment. You think it a dishonor to your family that you are powerless without your Trancer’s magic? My position is like yours! My equipment was taken from me, all my brews destroyed, and the cauldron I used is probably being used as some… some… Coffee-table in some overweight, smelly pony’s house. All I was trying to do was make enough money for food.”

“They didn’t just capture you outright?” Zuri asked, surprised again.

“Not at all! I was setting up as an apothecary, I had a license that allowed me to live in Paradise city, and I thought I could be successful. How foolish THAT was. I thought Ponies would be kinder, or at least dumb enough to try something that would certainly heal a Zebra, even if I had no idea what it’d do to a Pony. How was I supposed to know some loudmouthed little girl would start vomiting on a simple stomach-settling brew?” Druva smiled, chuckling cruelly. “Now the little brat won’t stop barfing for the next week.”

Zuri thought it odd, but smiled all the same. With her experience with Ponies so far, she concluded that Druva’s little prank, while Zuri would call it rather harsh, was well deserved punishment. Uzul plainly disagreed. “Are you sure that was smart?” he remarked. “Maybe you could have made money, if you gave her a brew that worked.” Zuri noticed Uzul’s tone changing, to a slightly more authoritative one.

“Bah, the girl never paid me in full. I asked for ten bits, she gave me five and threatened to call the… what’s the word they use… the Sheriff if I didn’t let her have it then. So, I cooked up the brew real quick. She got what she payed for, a ‘poorly made’ upset stomach remedy.” Druva sat back, examining one of her hooves. “Pony won’t pay, Pony has a bad day. That was the motto that my mother encouraged. Well, maybe she shouldn’t have. I got chased out of Paradise City, and a bounty was placed on my head. I was able to stow away on a series of little wagons to get this far, before I was caught.” She groaned, rolling her eyes. “That mare, that redhead mare, is a psychopath. She had me beaten by her husband when she discovered me. Then she screamed for half an hour in my face about how dirty I was, and had my head dunked into mud as public entertainment. When I gasped for breath and ended up choking on wet dirt, they cheered. Pfft. And they call us sick.” The alchemist eyed her again. “You said your name was Zuri? Zuri Oun-Drii Sara? So you have…” She looked about her for any Ponies nearby, then spoke in a hushed voice. “The Gift?”

Zuri looked puzzled. Why would Druva need to lower her voice? They weren’t speaking the Ponies’ language. There should be no problem, unless of course Ponies had begun to learn it themselves. Cautious of that threat, instead of a spoken answer, she nodded meaningfully. Druva referred to magical blood, magic not given through runes or sayings, but granted by heritage. Zuri’s family was famous for it. Every Sara child was born with it, though the tradition of becoming a Sand Trancer was more recent. “It was what I was asking before,” Druva explained, “when I heard you were a Trancer. The cuffs make it useless… don’t they?”

Zuri nodded, abysmally holding up her cuffed fore-hooves for Druva to see in the musty, dark light of the stable. “I swore I wouldn’t dare use the gift in the presence of a Pony. I swore on my life, and I intend to keep it.”

Just then, a loud bang of metal made Zuri jump, and everyone immediately fell silent. Zuri looked towards the entrance as it swung open and revealed a black stallion with some obvious weight issues. He had dusty blue eyes, and held in his teeth a clipboard. He bore a dark look on his face as he walked down the steps and to Zuri’s cell. Spitting the clipboard out onto the floor, Zuri was able to see it was nothing like the vague description some scouting Zebras gave of the things. The paper on it wasn’t simply covered with little markings. The markings were moving, cycling, with symbols and marks.

“Name,” the stallion said, not looking up at Zuri, instead drawing markings on the paper. Zuri blinked a few times, before realizing what he meant.

“Zuri,” she answered simply. There was no need for her full name. No Pony would understand its meaning, much less care.

“Age,” the stallion said.

“Um…” Zuri hadn’t bothered to learn the words for numbers that Ponies used. She doubted she would have any use for them. Instead, experimentally, she spoke her age in her native tongue. The stallion hesitated a moment, then wrote the appropriate number down.

“Number of foal bearings?” the stallion asked.

“I am not married,” Zuri responded. The stallion asked his question again, marginally more hardness in his voice. “I am not married,” Zuri repeated, mimicking his increase in displeasure. The stallion asked three more times, before he looked up at her, his impatience obvious in his face.

“Look, you idiot girl. I don’t care if you’ve married or not. I want to know if you’ve ever borne a foal.” Zuri didn’t understand. One did not dare perform coitus unless one was married. That was how her society worked. It was not just how her social class behaved, it was law, and to break it was punishable in multiple ways, ways she didn’t think about for good and sufficient reasons. “Well, have you?”

 “I have not,” Zuri said, with anger in her voice to equal that in his expression.

“If anything, he’s popped out a few foals. It would explain why he’s so grumpy,” Druva muttered in Zebra-tongue. Zuri had to stifle a giggle, and it came out as an obvious humorous snort.

“Shut up!” The stallion shouted, before he continued. “What can you do, besides giggle and growl?”

Zuri grew angry again, showing it on her face. She would not cooperate with him. “Nothing. I am but an idiot girl,” she replied, in a taunting voice.

The stallion sighed, looking back up at her, as if to say ‘alright, have it your way.’ “Then you’ll probably be some lucky rich stallion’s heir’s first rut. I’m done with you.” The stallion took up the board in his mouth, and departed.

“Not smart, Lady Trancer.” Druva said, sitting back against the bars facing Zuri’s cell. “That was the one they call Ramrod. He has a lot of influence over… who purchases us.”

“He is a plump… Edrecht, for lack of a kinder word.” Uzul said. “No one would get away with accusing an Oun-Drii Lady of adultery if I were running things, and certainly not him and his trollop, that one with the red hair and long eyelashes.”

“She and him? Ponies are strange and cruel,” Zuri commented quietly, anger still evident in her bearing and voice.

Fairly soon night fell, leaving Zuri and the other fated zebras in darkness. Zuri heard the crying of young foals. Children… They imprison children. Zuri would take the first opportunity she got, if she ever got these cuffs off, to punish someone. Those Ponies before were scared because I was near their young. I’d love to see the look on their faces when they find out just how much damage I could have done… but I can’t, because I gave the Premier my word. Wonderful, Zuri. Maybe you really are an idiot girl.

“Lady Trancer, are you still awake?” Uzul asked, looking at her with concern.

“I’d rather you did not call me by my title,” Zuri said, glaring at the ground and prodding it with her hoof. “I don’t want it. I left to become a Zebra who wasn’t just identified by her title. Now I’ll be identified as a toy for some undeserving wad of gunk, for sure.”

“It’s what I hold on to.” Uzul said to her, solemn. “I’ve only been locked up for so long, but some here… They have waited for months, for the next Zebra auction, trapped in these cages. I am an Arbiter, and it’s my duty to keep my fellow Zebra content. It was my obligation when I was free, and it remains my obligation now.”

“But what of me? I am a Sand Trancer denied her power. I’ve no runes I can draw, no spells to say. They won’t work with these cuffs.”

“Maybe not, but a Sand Trancer is not just trained to harness the power of Palosol, no?” Uzul became encouraging. “No student of the Dunnur would ever achieve full Trancer status without the ability to strike their enemy down with bare hooves.”

“Fair point,” Zuri replied, with little difference in her voice. “I could probably throttle a few of them, with these metal cuffs, I would happily do so. But how stupid are they? When would they ever give me that kind of chance?”

“Maybe now,” Uzul said, right as the door opened again. Down came Ramrod, with a ring of keys hanging by his right ear. He was followed by three stallions. One of them Zuri recognized with contempt: Matchlock’s son, Blast-cap.

“Sit up, Zebras,” Ramrod barked, and all of the Zebras reluctantly sat up, some children stifling their crying for fear of reprimand. Ramrod walked along the aisle of cells slowly, with Blast-cap next to him. “So, kid, you wanted one of them?”

“Oh yeah. They may be crazy stripe-covered freaks, but that one you got yesterday… I just can’t stop thinkin’ about her,” Blast-cap responded, anxiety and an odd hunger in his voice.

Ramrod gave an amused snort. “Oh kid, you’ve got a pair. A Zebra, no, a Trancer in my bed would make me piss myself, though I admit…” Ramrod walked up to Zuri’s cell, light from a lantern illuminating his face as he leaned in, smiling lecherously at her. “She’s a cutie, alright.”

Zuri stared back at Ramrod a look of you-wouldn’t-dare on her face. Ramrod laughed at this response. “Cutie, but, again, kid, a pair! Uh, you want her in this cell or…”

“No, dammit, I don’t want her in that dirty ol’ cell! I’ll pull her over to the hotel where we’re stayin’. I got my private room.” Blast-cap looked proud of himself, so vibrantly smug. Ramrod kept muttering about a pair, whatever that meant, as he unlocked Zuri’s cell, and the two other stallions pulled her out and slammed her against the opposite wall.

“Now, Stripey, you listen close.” Ramrod pushed her face against the wall with one hoof digging into her cheek. “You try anything outside and you’ll die. I’m guessin’ you don’t wanna die, but hey, maybe you will after tonight.”

“Rammy! Rammy, where are you? Where did that stallion go, I can never keep track…” Cherry Jubilee’s voice rang out from the open door. Ramrod cursed under his breath, and ordered the stallions to take Zuri over to where Blast-cap was staying. Zuri looked behind her as they pushed her past Uzul’s and Druva’s cells. Druva was either asleep or didn’t want to watch. Uzul was watching her go with a sad look on his face.

Once outside, Zuri breathed in deeply. The air inside the stables was musty and sour. Fresh air was a welcome experience. Apparently, Blast-cap was staying with his father and other wagon passengers in the hotel across the way. Zuri couldn’t tell what the sign above the front doors said, as the stallions moved her up a set of stairs leading directly to the second floor. Blast-cap was behind them, grinning up to his ears, a hungry look in his eyes.

Opening the door, and being pushed in, Zuri stumbled into a long hallway with a red and yellow carpet and white walls. Circular lights gleamed at regular two-meter intervals along the walls. There were doors on either side, and Zuri could hear muffled music coming from the lower floor. The little group moved to a door on the far end of the hall. Blast-cap went in first, and Zuri was shoved in afterward. The two stallions stayed right outside the door. Stumbling, Zuri turned around, glaring at Blast-cap’s back as he locked the door. The colt turned around again, grinning at her the same way Ramrod had.

“Take off that stupid cloak. You may have been cavortin’ with every hobble-legged, dirty faced male in your little tribe, stripey, but now it’s time for a real stallion to have at ya.” His gloating tone and clear desire made Zuri dislike him all the more, but she slowly removed her cloak and left it on the floor. “Now get on that bed…” Blast-cap gestured to the large, white-sheeted bed, across the wooden entryway. Under the bed was another carpet as luxurious as the one in the hallway to the one outside. There was a bathroom to her left, and a window on the wall to the right of the bed. Zuri, feigning obedience, walked towards the bed and lay down on it.

Blast-cap grinned again, clambered onto it alongside her, and turned around. “Hey, how about a back massage first, stripey? Better put those hooves through some practice with rubbing, first, and I’ll take the cuffs off when you’re done, heh…”

Zuri saw her opportunity, and took it. “Of course.” She leapt at him with astounding speed, bringing the chain of the cuffs around his neck. “I’ve always wanted to practice this.” There was obvious pleasure in her voice as she said this, and then began to pull, hard. Blast-cap immediately gasped, trying to wrench away from her.

Zuri backed herself up against the back of the bed, dragging Blast-cap with her. “Now… if you want me to let you go, then you give me the key to these cuffs.”

“Aa-ach…!” was all Blast-Cap could say for a moment. Zuri ever so slightly loosened her pull on his neck, while her hind-legs wrapped around his middle to restrain his movement. “D-don’t… don’t kill me! I-I can’t die a virgin!” he gasped, panic-stricken, making Zuri roll her eyes.

“Oh, whatever happened to being a real stallion?” Zuri taunted, giving a hard yank with the cuff chain and making him gag. “Being so obsessed with what’s between your legs… in my village we’d cut it off for that.” While adultery was penalized with a whipping, her threat was no exaggeration. Castration and a beating were the only punishments for rape. “Choking to death is much more honorable than being a gelding, don’t you think?”

“Aw hell... No, I–” She pulled again. “-gachh… I-I’ll give you the key, I’ll give it… here!” His horn lit up and flickered a bit, before a key levitated up to Zuri’s face. Zuri gave a little triumphant cry, and took the handle in her mouth, then quickly unlocked both her hooves from the cuffs.

Blast-Cap fell forward, coughing and gasping for air as he rolled off the bed. Zuri hopped off, and pressed the colt’s face against the floor with a hoof. “Which direction is this… Paradise City your elders blabbed on about?” she demanded. Blast-cap whined something pitiful, and she pressed her hoof down harder. “I asked you a question, Pony. You answer.”

“Gch… East… East of here… we’ve been goin’ straight the whole time, I swear…”

“And how far have you travelled?” she asked, narrowing her eyes, with a dangerous hiss below her words.

Blast-cap grew even more panicked. “Miles! sixteen miles, at least, from where we found you…”

Zuri blinked. She knew what miles meant, but... “I know not of your numerals. Tap with your hoof, how many miles.” Blast-cap, after a moment of confusion, tapped on the floor sixteen times. Zuri hissed a swear word in her native tongue that would make her whole family blush at once, even the more crass of her uncles, and shoved Blast-cap away from her. “Soucha!?” She angrily spat the Zebra word for sixteen. “I cannot travel Soucha as well as the Nittacha I must already!” Nittacha was the word for nineteen, which meant Zuri was thirty-five miles from her home.

“Look, I-I’ve got no idea what those words mean… are those numbers or swears?” Blast-cap said, rather dimly, as he cowered.

“Oh shut up, you perverse cretin. If I hear one more word…”

“Guards! Guards!” Blast-cap suddenly began bleating. “Help! The Stripey’s loose!”

Zuri would have cursed again, but whether she did or not was impossible to tell, as the immediate banging on the door blotted the sound of any oaths being said out. The freed Trancer raised her hoof, and struck Blast-cap on the head precisely between his eyes, knocking him unconscious. Just then, the door burst open, and the two stallions rushed in, going for her. Now that she had no restraints and there was no sign of any weapons around, Zuri gladly confronted them.

One hoof went for her head. She dodged, and struck at the base of the extended leg, causing the stallion to grunt and recoil in surprise at her aim and strength. Zuri dove downward, and knocked away his hind legs with her own, coming back up just as he fell down. She was about to strike his lowered head with her fore-hooves, but the second moved in, landing a blow against the side of her face with his left fore-hoof. Ugh, again?

Recovering quickly, she then grabbed his hoof with both of her forelegs and twisted, counter-clockwise. He squawked comically as he bent with his foreleg, trying to prevent her from breaking it. She pushed to her right, hard, until she heard a loud crunch. The stallion crumpled to the floor, just as the other stood back up again. Before he could do anything, Zuri spun around, and kicked him in the face with one hind leg, sending him down again. She assured herself that they were properly stunned with several rapid kicks to each one’s stomach. One of them threw up after her second kick. A little sickened, Zuri stepped over both the prone, groaning guards and made for the door.

3. The First Plan of Action

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Zuri retrieved her cloak, and fastened it around her neck again, looking back only for a moment to make sure neither Blast-cap nor his guards were moving. Now that her opponents were unconscious, Zuri had no compunctions about using her gift. She sat in the middle of the hallway and closed the door behind her. Closing her eyes, she focused her thoughts, pushed out any unnecessary worries, and focused on her eyes. As she was used to, she felt a warmth billowing from her heart all the way to her face. Opening her eyes again, she now perceived everything through a blue shade. Bodies, awake or asleep, were visible to her no matter where they were.

Zuri aimed her surface-penetrating vision downwards. There were multiple ponies downstairs, some dancing on stage, or drinking at the long counter, a few were snuggling in a corner… She looked around on the level she was on. Blast-cap and his two goons hadn’t moved. There were others on the floor, but none of them were moving towards the hallway. She approached the door through which she had first entered, opened it, and looked out towards the stables. Sure enough, there were shapes of the zebras, most of them asleep. She saw what she assumed was Ramrod heading upstairs, with Cherry Jubilee in her bedroom, lying on her bed in a position much like Zuri had been when Blast-cap was still ordering her around. More than a little repulsed, she shut off her visual magic, though not until after she had seen a pony walking towards the stairs she had been hoping to travel down.

Panicked, Zuri zipped back down the hallway. Sure enough, she could hear the pony as it began to ascend the stairs. Zuri backed up to the staircase that led down to the first floor of the establishment. She hid around the corner, descending a few steps, and waited. The door opened, shut, and then a lock clicked. Zuri cursed her luck, as she put up her hood again. The sound of walking hooves came closer and closer. It was only after a few more steps that Zuri realized this particular pony was stumbling… a lot. Her vision trance lit up the world in a blue hue once more, and she took careful note of this stallion’s unsteady, sluggish gate.

“The mouth which takes in alcohol takes a great risk to their health, and just as importantly, their sense of dignity.” Her mother had spoken those words to her, and she smirked as this came to mind, watching the drunkard stumble by, not unlike how her elder brother had behaved after his first exposure to drink. Zuri waited for him to disappear into a door. He did not notice her at all, though he had to pause to fumble a key into the door’s lock. She cautiously descended further. The music grew louder and more clear. It was strange, for it had a constant, rhythmic thumping, with several instruments plucking and strumming away in a fairly repetitive sequence of chords. Coming down to the base of the steps, she peeked around the corner.

The stairs were located in one corner, to the left of the main doors. There was a stage taking up the right, with big red and yellow curtains drawn back. Mares were dancing atop the stage. They were wearing strange straps and colorful dresses that wrapped around the legs and body in an over-elaborate way. Somehow, the dresses left nothing to the imagination when the dancers struck the correct pose. This made Zuri conclude that ponies had no rules about maintaining chastity, a conclusion strengthened by the fact that most of the predominantly male audience were cheering, whooping, and giving catcalls to the dancers.

Lights wreathed in smoke hung from the ceiling, and fans recirculated the still-smoky air. Most of the ponies present were relaxed onto their hind legs in a sitting position that reminded the Trancer of how the manticore of folklore would sit back. Zuri found this hard to look at. Sure, zebras would sit, but typically by squatting with the aid of a tall cushion or seat. Apparently ponies had a different bone structure, to allow them to rest on their bottoms entirely and not have difficulty standing back up again. One more reason to be envious of the species, Zuri decided. They sat at big, circular wooden tables, bedecked with cards, glasses, chips, ashtrays, and more. Others necked in booths along the wall opposite from Zuri, and even more sat at the bar counter, which began right next to her. She didn’t dare ascend the stairs again, lest that stallion from before happened to be a loud drunk.

The escaped Trancer huddled behind what of the bar counter she could, and flipped her cloak inside out. Most of the wood in the room was a similar shade to the dark red-brown inside her cloak, and Zuri figured it would make her a little harder to see. The zebra slowly peeked around the corner again, eyeing the bartender, who was speaking with two other ponies. She recognized them as Matchlock and Coalfield, the latter without the guns on his back. They were talking about fair weather and the flavor of the drinks they’d been served. Coalfield’s wife came over to join the conversation. She, instead of wearing a turquoise sand-worthy gown, now wore a dress of similar color, with pearls around the base of her neck and as earrings. In short, she was dressed expensively.

As the three stallions shifted their attention raptly to Candy Apple, Zuri made her move. She crept under an unoccupied table to hide in the shadow there as she looked about to make sure she hadn’t attracted attention. After a cautious pause, she moved to another table, and then another, pausing each time to be sure that no one was crying out, “Zebra! Monster!” It would certainly mean her death. Now her Sand Trancer training in remaining undetected was of its greatest use, as she curled and ducked around chairs and tables to avoid passing hooves or the occasional tossed object. There were a lot of tossed objects. It seemed to Zuri that those dancers on stage were riling their audience up instead of satisfying them. Maybe that was the point.

Zuri ducked under another table, closer to the door, but she realized too late that ponies were sitting down all around it. Hind hooves stuck out at her in all directions, as she saw the bases of some dresses and flicking tails. The table chattered and clattered directly above her. Another mistake. I get too confident. She crouched, in the middle of the four legs of the table, waiting for someone to get up from their place. In a last-second thought, she also whipped her tail to her side, holding it to prevent any of them from feeling its touch.

“What on Palo…” came a voice above her, and she became all the more nervous when she realized she had brushed one stallion’s hind hooves with her tail. However, it seemed the stallion had instead mistook her tail for the tail of the mare sitting next to him, and apparently, considered it an intimate gesture. Zuri watched as the stallion’s own hoof got a little too adventurous, resulting in alarmed squeals and shrieks. The mare stood up, the stallion on her other side following, and Zuri bolted through the opening between them.

She heard several insults, a challenge, a hoof striking a face, and then the sound of someone hitting the floor. Zuri looked behind her, to see two stallions wrestling on the floor, getting dangerously close to rolling into her. The zebra moved fast, towards the door, ducking under the swinging doors, out into the cold night and freedom. But where did she go now?

Otoul, her home, thirty five miles away, much to far to get there on her hooves alone. Prior to her capture, she had hoped to run into the Gau-Aer, a merchant class of zebras who used large sand-sleds to transport goods and zebra across the desert. She had been given a map detailing the routes that most these transport carriages took, but now it was useless to her. None of them came this close to pony territory, for fear of revealing the secret of runes to them.

Zuri hid underneath the porch of the saloon she had just exited, and contemplated her situation. Paradise City… The name wasn’t very threatening, but maybe that some pony trick. Druva had said that one could get a license as a zebra, and be allowed to make a living there… or possibly get transport! The chance was minimal, but if she spent much longer in this town, she would surely end up dead or successfully raped. Druva might know how to get back there, and Zuri now thought of the other zebras stuck in the stables. Some of them, for all she knew, could be enemies of her family, or zebras that actually were as bad as ponies made them out to be. Uzul would be helpful, if they came across zebras. Druva apparently had experience dealing with ponies… albeit little, so far as Zuri knew, but an alchemist would always be helpful. Both of them were nice enough, and she knew that neither of their families had a feud with her own. She made her decision.

Zuri crawled out from under the saloon stairs, and began to hesitantly cross the street. The moon lit her progress, instead of a rapist’s conspirator's lantern, as she slunk over towards the town hall and to the stables. She eventually made it to the door, which, to her disappointment, was locked.

Zuri fumbled with the lock for a moment, not knowing how to pick one, and not having the appropriate key. She figured Ramrod would have the key. Curious, she made sure she was completely alone, and her eyes lit up again. Looking up to Cherry Jubilee’s bedroom, she saw two familiar equine forms tangled together. Stars above... eeeww! She quickly looked down, trying to remove the vulgar image from her mind as she extinguished her magical vision once more. I am NOT trying to get a key out of there. Time for the second option…

Zuri focused on the lock with her eyes and mind’s eye. The familiar warmth in her heart spread outward, growing hotter with every second. She focused the heat in her gaze, and the lock gradually began to turn red. In a few seconds, it was sizzling, and quickly losing shape, until it fell off the door entirely, melted into a useless, hot blob of steel on the dirt. Success! I wonder what The Dunnur would say if I told him I melted a lock in only moments… probably something about me not doing it fast enough, and he’d give me a thousand iron balls to practice on, like with the sword.

Pushing that thought aside, she opened the door, walked in, and shut it behind her. Her body was still warm with the magic, and made the dirt she walked on hiss. The zebras woke up again, expecting Ramrod or some other pony who would torment them. Instead, with great surprise, they saw Zuri. She removed her hood, feeling confident that her status as Trancer would be a welcome relief. There were several exclamations, from children and adults. “A Trancer!” “The elders sent…?” “No, it’s the girl from before… she escaped the jailor!” “And the dirty fornicator!” “I heard she was trained by The Dunnur…” “The Dunnur!” “A Dunnur prodigy has come to save us!” And so on and so forth. Zuri tried not to listen too much. She was ordinarily humble, and this sort of praise might make her dangerously overconfident. She did her work quickly, her magic turning the locks on every cell to nothing but hot goo. Parents worriedly hushed their children, in order to avoid arousing suspicion, but their furthered admiration for the fact that Zuri obviously had The Gift, for she was not drawing runes or speaking words, made Zuri blush.

Moving quickly along the line, she eventually came upon Uzul’s and Druva’s cells, both of whom were smiling out of relief and gratitude, as their locks sizzled away. “You escaped that bag of dirt?” Druva asked her, as she came out of the cell alongside Uzul.

“It was not hard, he was stupid. He expected me to give in.”

“Did you kill him?” Druva asked, hopefully. She seemed disappointed when Zuri shook her head.

“He will have a sore neck, and a bruise on his head. His two guards, on the other hoof, will have trouble walking.” This explanation gained her a small cheer, not just from her two acquaintances, but the other zebras.

“What do we do now?” one of them asked. “We cannot hope to return to our homes. We are far away, aren’t we?” Zuri had not thought of that. She told them how far off they were from Otoul alone, and this caused a tumult of despair among her freed kin. Panic began to entrap them. Zuri herself was unsure of what to do to get out of the town alive. Matchlock and his group would surely be on the hunt for her once that snake Blast-cap recovered, and she very much doubted any of the zebras knew how to pilot any wagon she could steal. She mused aloud, “Well, my long-term idea was to go to Paradise City…”

“That’s not bad thinking!” Druva piped up. “The Gau-Aer, they stop at Paradise City every so often—” Zuri’s map said nothing about that, but it was good to know. “—and they’d be more than willing to help refugees. More than that, there are transport vessels, that take zebras if one has the appropriate license.” The Alchemist frowned then, unsure of this possibility. “I’m not entirely sure we’d be able to get one of those for each and every zebra here… So the Gau-Aer would be our best option. Also, I think since I’m supposed to be arrested, I wouldn’t be allowed back in unless...” Druva paused a moment.

Zuri took the opportunity to continue speaking. “We must escape this town, first.” Every zebra in the room fell silent at this ultimatum.

“Well… We have an Arbiter present! Shouldn’t the Arbiter be coming up with an idea?” Druva said, looking at Uzul expectantly.

“I’m trying to,” Uzul retorted. “Stars, Zuri. This escape plan, if it is one, wasn’t really thought through.” Zuri sighed, admitting that, in all honesty, she really had no idea what she was going to do next. “I suspected as much. All the locks are destroyed, so even if we did hide in the cells we would be suspected of trying to escape, probably killed. Does anyone have a good idea for how we can leave this cage?”

“We could leave honorably, commit the suicide ritual,” Druva suggested. General alarm was the response, and Druva became indignant. “What? We have an Alchemist, a Trancer, and an Arbiter, all fully trained, we have everything for the ritual to be proper, and we would leave this place!”

“Allow me to rephrase my question, Alchemist Druva.” Uzul was stern and patient. “Does anyone have a good idea for how we can leave this cage--alive?”

“Um…” A small voice came from someone in the crowd. “There’s a river.”

“What? Speak up, don’t be afraid.” Uzul encouraged. A young filly was guided to the front of the group by her two parents, with a very similar-looking colt right next to her, presumably her brother.

“There’s… a river,” the filly began again. “It’s really close. Our family, we lived next to it, before the ponies took us here…”

“We had boats!” the colt replied.

Their father explained further. “We had three boats, moored on the river. The officials didn’t take them. They just left them there, thinking there would be no use for them. They’re big enough to take everyone here towards Paradise City. That’s the direction the river leads.” This idea received much more positive comments than the last one.

“Fine, sure,” Druva mumbled, sitting back and folding her forelegs in a huffy way. “So much for getting to try out my ritual-poison brews…”

“Don’t be too upset. I’m sure you’ll have another chance,” Zuri said, smiling. “From what I have seen so far, ponies are fantastic for exercising one’s training.”

“Well, either way, I want my cauldron back.”

“Your what?” Uzul asked, bemused.

“My cauldron!” Druva repeated. “If I am to be of any use as an alchemist, I will need my cauldron.”

“Aren’t those especially huge and heavy? How would we carry that around, let alone put it on a boat?” Zuri asked, and Druva sighed.

“As a Trancer, as an Oun-Drii Trancer, you don’t know? I have a Vuiol! Or, I had one.” Druva was referring to a void-sack, an item heavily enchanted and exposed to Alchemical brews. A void-sack could hold more items than seemed physically possible. They usually looked big enough to hold no more than an equine if it curled itself up. To create one, an Alchemist and a Trancer worked in tandem, the Trancer etching runes into the fabric of the sack, and the Alchemist concocting the appropriate brews.

Incantations would be said, and the sack would be left to dry. Depending on what runes were etched, certain items could be placed within the sack, and it would neither grow heavy nor tear. By tracing the shape of the rune with one’s hoof on the surface of the sack, it would spit out the item matching the rune. The trick was that only the items that were associated with the runes drawn into the sack’s fabric were affected this way. If one tried to insert an object into a void-sack for which the sack had no appropriate rune, the item would disintegrate within it. Alchemists usually carried a Vuiol in order to avoid getting bogged down by the weight of a cauldron or multiple potions.

“You had one?” Uzul asked.

“Just like my cauldron. Some pony took it. Maybe they’re using it as a garbage pail.” Druva shivered. “Such misuse of an alchemical item isn’t beyond ponies. I want my cauldron and Vuiol back, or else I’m not going to do much good for you.”

“Do you even know where your cauldron and Vuiol are?” Zuri asked her. “I might be able to find them.”

“All I know is the edrecht jailer took it, to use Uzul’s apt turn of phrase.” Druva said, pointing up towards the ceiling. “You’re a Trancer. Can you see what he’s doing?”

Zuri stuck out her tongue in evident displeasure. “I wish I didn’t. He is... tending to his wife.” There was a general consensus that this was disgusting from every zebra, save for the children, who had to trust that their assorted elders knew what the Trancer meant.

“Then that means he’ll be busy. We can go up there, and see if our things are around. I imagine it’s not just your belongings they took, Druva,” Uzul concluded, smiling at the coherent plan of action.

“Ugh, do I have to? They’re really going at it,” Zuri complained, grimacing.

“I said ‘we’, didn’t I?” Uzul said, stepping towards the metal door leading into the house. “Druva’s coming too. She’ll be able to recognize her Vuiol better than us. Her cauldron as well, even if it’s being used as a flower pot, or coffee table, or a toilet.” Uzul grinned.

“Stop that teasing!” Druva protested. “That cauldron has gotten me through thick and thin. I slept in it once.”

Uzul just smiled, shaking his head as he tapped the door lock. “We will be upstairs. The rest of you stay here. If anyone comes… tackle them as a group, and make as little noise as possible, alright? Zuri, the lock.” Hearing this, Zuri quickly engaged her heat magic, and melted the lock along with about a quarter of the door.Oops.

“Never mind it. We’re escaping, remember?” Druva said, passing through the doorway first, and looking about herself. Uzul came next, and Zuri last. The three of them hurried through a short passageway, with a wood-plank floor. When they opened the door on the opposite side, they entered a spacious living room. They had come out next to an unlit fireplace. The room itself was very well furnished as far as they could see in the dark, with big dark curtains and a sofa . The floor was of wooden boards and the walls were white plaster. Druva commented,

Each of them tried to be as silent as possible as they moved about, but it was obvious that only Zuri had the level of training required to remain completely undetected. Druva knocked over a vase, possibly on purpose, but it didn’t break. On almost every third step, Uzul made the floorboards creak. Thankfully, no one entered and no one sounded any alarm. Zuri looked around the sofa and the two large, cushy seats to either side of it. Experimentally, she sat down in one, and immediately had to clamber out of it before she sunk too deep into the cushion. As she did, she bonked her nose into the coffee table, and immediately pulled away. It was cold, hard, and very textured. With the lack of light, Zuri could not quite make out its shape, but she felt around it with her hooves. ‘Clink-clank’ came the sound of hooves striking metal.

Druva turned around to shush her, before giving a quiet little gasp and skittering over. “Did you find it? Did you find it?” she asked in an excited whisper.

“I think so,” Zuri said. “It feels big and round, and made of metal.” She jumped back a little, when Druva suddenly threw her forelegs around the object to hug it.

“It is my cauldron! Oh, I wish forever the best in life for you and all your ancestors and descendants and twice-removed, somewhat unsettling relatives!” Druva squealed, as she–from what Zuri could make out in the darkness–snuggled her cauldron.

“Not so loud!” Uzul hissed at her. “We still have to find your Vuiol. Without that, the cauldron isn’t going anywhere.”

“Oh, you’re right about that. Only my father could carry my cauldron on his own. The thing is heavier than the anvil owned by the smith who made it.” Druva said, standing back up and taking a breath. “The Jailor probably has it, because I don’t see it down here. We’ll have to go upstairs.”

Zuri groaned. “Don’t look too close at them when you get to the top.”

They began ascending the staircase, to the left of where they had entered from the stables. Druva was aiming a kick at a vase that was placed on a level part of the banister, but Uzul stopped her, reminding her that if the owners of the house died, she could break as much stuff as she wanted. There were noises of obvious intimacy drifting from above. Before there had been a dull thumping, but now, it was enough to make Zuri nauseated. Something about what Blast-cap had tried to do made her feel very uncomfortable about the subject. Uzul didn’t seem too affected, whereas Druva seemed to share Zuri’s current feelings.

The trio of zebras reached the top of the stairs, which opened into a hallway. There was the master bedroom, where two shadows were coiled up in each other. Uzul quickly snuck across to the other side of the doorway, followed by Druva and then Zuri. As quickly as possible, they moved on to the next room over. It was a little parlor, with more cushy seats and a coffee table that was not a cauldron. The one thing that stood out was a coat rack. One of the poles was missing, and at the base of the tall piece of furniture was a fabric sack. Druva immediately snatched it up with her teeth, and nodded to Zuri and Uzul. They could finally get out of here and stop listening to the two ponies mate.

Zuri sped by the open door, then Uzul, but Druva stumbled and fell. Both of her cohorts tensed as the Alchemist scrambled to her feet, and sounds of puzzlement interrupted the sounds of lovemaking.

“Whawazzat?” Cherry Jubilee said, sounding much more shrill than usual. “That sounded like somethin’…”

“Probably nuthin’,” Ramrod’s voice said in a complaining tone. “C’mon… let’s…”

“Oh no you don’t, Ram!” Cherry said brusquely. “You go out there and make sure those zebras are secure and asleep! Then we can go back to it. That new one just looks too smart for her own good.”

Run... Run! The three zebras, quickly but probably not as quietly as they could have, sped down the stairs. They stumbled a few times, but did not fall.

“I’m telling you like I told her, Cherry,” Ramrod said, disgruntled, but his voice was smoother than the one he used with the zebras. “That one’s just an idiot girl. I got someone to show her her place.”

“I’d like to show you idiot,” Zuri mumbled as she bumped into Druva and Uzul. They navigated clumsily through the door, into the passageway, and back out into the stables. The zebras were still there, sitting, looking afraid. They’d heard Cherry’s nag and Ramrod’s mumbling.

 “Back in your cells, back in them, quick!” Uzul ordered, and every zebra in the room did just that. A zebra always obeyed an Arbiter. It was always a matter of life and honor for everyone present when an Arbiter spoke so quickly and urgently, especially with a hint of panic in his voice.

“Stupid zebras, don’t know how to keep it down so me ‘n’ my wife… huh… thought I locked that door,” Ramrod said. His eyes were thankfully unused to the darkness, so he did not see the melted lock, or that a significant part of the door was missing. The jailor stuck his head into the room, glowering at the zebras. “Me ‘n’ my wife were tryin’ to have a little private time,” He began, aloud. “But, one of you made a noise. And that noise upset her sweet lil’ heart, so now I’m down here, instead of up there, givin’ her my love…”

“And his fat rolls,” Druva whispered, still using their native tongue. Zuri suppressed another giggle.

“I don’t know whatcha just said but I’m whippin’ you good for it in the morning,” Ramrod said, glaring in her direction. “So was it you who made that noise? Couldn’t stand the thought of your jailor bedding with somepony else when you never even got a taste?” he mocked, as he neared Druva’s cell.

Druva, obviously displeased, finally spoke in the pony tongue, the first time Zuri had heard her use it. Her accent sounded very much like a pony’s. “No, actually, I was kind of happy. Only some desperate-for-attention moron would want a fat Edrecht like you.”

Ramrod scowled at her through the metal bars. “I know what that word means. Are you aimin’ to get a beatin’, Stripey? I’ll tan your backside, in more ways than one, if I hear another jibe like that come outta your mouth.”

“I wasn’t aiming to get a beating,” Druva said, smiling at him in a peculiar way.

“Oh really? What were ya tryin’ to do?” Ramrod asked, his slightly chubby face sticking in through the bars as he sneered.

“Distract you,” she said simply, before switching to her native tongue. “Zuri, get him!” Druva jumped forward. Ramrod didn’t get out of the way in time, as she pushed against the door of her cage, and shoved him against the wall. Ramrod began to yell angrily and flail his legs about as he tried to get free from between the cell door and the wall. Druva pushed back with all her strength, intending to crush Ramrod. Unfortunately, Ramrod was plainly stronger than the alchemist. He forced the door back, shoving Druva onto the floor, where he stood over her.

“I dunno how you got outta that there cage,” The Jailor husked, lowering his head so his lips were only inches from her left ear, “but when I’m done with you, you won’t be able to–Unh!”

As quickly has Ramrod had gotten on top of Druva, he was no longer there. Zuri had launched out of her cell, and barreled into him, her front hooves making direct contact with his face. The stallion slammed into the wall adjacent the cell, and fell to the floor, dazed. Zuri climbed atop him, and landed a blow to his face, then another. His hooves strained to hit her back, but she batted them aside and continued beating him ruthlessly. Ramrod struggled as best he could, but after Zuri struck him a seventh time, he stopped, and went limp. He had a bloody nose, missing teeth, and one purpling eye. Zuri stepped off, and wiped the blood that had gotten on her hooves on his belly, which she then kicked, for good measure. Ramrod groaned and rolled over, but nothing more.

“I think that means he gives up, the Cuvah.” Druva used the insult meaning Impotent Ruffian as she got up and took another breath.

Uzul came out of his cell, and every other zebra followed suit. “Well, Zuri, I think you do deserve the title ‘Lady Trancer’. You certainly have the magic, and the ability.” The other zebras declared their like-mindedness.

Zuri flushed, but said nothing. Instead, the Trancer moved around to the other side of Ramrod. She grabbed his head with both fore-hooves, and hissed in his face. “You took things from the zebras here. Where did you put them?”

In Ramrod’s dazed, bloodied state, his response was hardly understandable. Zuri slapped his muzzle, and he enunciated more clearly. “There’s… there’s a lock box… on the mantlepiece…”

It took little time to retrieve the lockbox, and Zuri aimed more carefully with her heat magic. Inside, the things of real use were mostly cloaks and travel bags the zebras could wear on their sides and underbellies. None of the other bags were Vuiols, but they were still useful. The cloaks could offer some camouflage and protection against harsh weather. There looked to be a cloak for every zebra present. Evidently, she had arrived too late in the day for Ramrod to remember to relieve Zuri of hers.

The only other items were simple things: mostly children’s toys and bits of food, but no weapons or things with more than sentimental value. All the same, the other zebras were happy to have them back. Druva went, and, almost in celebration, shoved all the items off the improvised coffee table, and brought the Vuiol around it. Zuri was amazed at how the item vanished into the sack, as if it were nothing. She hadn’t seen a Vuiol in use before, so this was a very interesting sight indeed. Druva wrapped the Vuiol around her middle, hiding it beneath her cloak. Uzul inquired after the two foals who had mentioned the river, and asked them which direction the river house was from their current location. The children couldn’t stop arguing over whether it was to the left or the right, so their parents answered his question: the river house was to the Northeast.

Uzul addressed the group again, assuming his Arbiter’s air. “Make haste. Daylight is only so far away, and if the alarm is raised, we won’t ever see it again.” He began moving towards the door, intent on leading the group. “Let us not waste our chance at freedom.”

The zebras quietly gave an expression of assent, as Uzul lead them outside. Zuri took a place near the back of the group alongside Druva, to ensure no one fell behind. They passed through the door, around to the back of the building. The ground there was made of hard, smoothed out dirt. Zuri thought the pavement in the street felt odd, but this felt more like the roads in Otoul, smooth and slightly dusty. She thought the desert was big, but looking out now… Even in the dull moonlight, Zuri could tell that Palosol was much bigger than she had been led to believe. There were hills, in the far distance, followed by mountains that rose so high that the clouds obscured the peak.

Uzul pointed outwards, stopping the group. “There!” he said, and Zuri could see a reflection of the moon, on flowing water. She had seen rivers before, but not like this. Otoul was almost entirely below the desert’s surface, where there were waterfalls, lakes, and other bodies of water that ponies probably never saw in their life aboveground. Zuri was very intrigued to watch the water flow with the moon shining on it.

All of the sudden, she froze, ears flicking. Sand Trancers had to have dauntingly keen senses to achieve full Trancer status, and as such, Zuri overheard movement, a lot of movement, inside Cherry Jubilee’s house. She grew worried. Most likely, that mare would find Ramrod lying there. Should they go back and silence her too? She watched the other ponies sneak along the back wall of the Town Hall. They were so close now.

There was a loud shriek, and Zuri knew Cherry had found her battered husband. “We must go!” she tried to warn the others, but not fast enough.

A different scream, ringing painfully as if it were traveling through a wide metal pipe, suddenly rang out through the whole city. Zuri looked back, seeing a tall wooden pole, standing over all the buildings, with a strange apparatus at the top. It was spinning, and giving out an ear-grating sound. “Alarm!” Druva identified it, and the zebras became overwrought. Lights appeared in all the windows, and the zebras could hear shouting as ponies began to pour out into the street. Some of them had weapons mounted on their backs. Matchlock’s voice was shouting for a doctor, as was Cherry Jubilee. Uzul urged the group onward.

4. One Unknown River

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“Maybe we should have stayed in our cells!” Druva shouted at Zuri as they began to run, without looking back. “At least when they were aiming for our heads, our deaths would have been faster!” Sure enough, loud gunpowder reports rung through the air. Silvery slivers zoomed around Zuri, making her run all the more quickly. Already, she could see some bullets had not missed their mark—one Zebra was already lagging behind, limping, because of a wound in her leg. Another Zebra came along, helping the wounded one along.

A sharp graze against Zuri’s left hind leg made her pace falter for a moment, but as she kept running, she was able to distract herself from the stinging pain with her fear of a more direct shot. Parents held their children on their backs, galloping as desperately as they could away from the town. The armed Ponies came after them, almost matching their speed, as they fired and fired again. The river was so close now. Already, Uzul was leading their group to the right, towards a black shape by the riverside.

Bullets whizzed by their faces, now, as they changed direction, aiming for the boats. The Ponies seemed to realize what they were running towards, and steamed forward. At least when the Ponies ran faster, they shot less accurately. Zuri dared a look behind her. She saw Coalfield, near the front, alongside Matchlock. Cherry Jubilee was riding in a cart, which flew over the surface of the ground. The hovercraft was quickly gaining on them. What terrified Zuri further was the fact that the craft had a mounted gun, which another Pony was operating. Now as the flying cart got within range, the gun fired.

A much louder bang made Zuri jump, and a single round shot through the crowd of running Zebras, landing in front of them and causing a plume of dust and dirt to rise up before them. Another round flew by and knocked a Zebra clear off its feet. The next time Zuri looked back, she saw that that last Zebra to have been hit wasn’t moving. The shells kept firing, and hit the earth with enough force to shake the ground.

“Aim for the blue one! Aim for the blue one!” Cherry Jubilee raged. Zuri, hearing this, only ran all the faster. She could not slow down, or she would die. If she sped up, she might end up in the middle of the crowd of Ponies, and then they might all die from the shell’s impact. Thankfully, she didn’t need to worry too much, as the gunner’s aim wasn’t so precise as to hit more than earth and send Zebras tumbling away. So close… so close.

They were at the river house now, but their numbers had declined. What had been twenty Zebras was now fifteen, and not one of them was without some injury. The children were panting, already exhausted, and even those that were on a mother’s or father’s back were tired from hanging on, tightly, to their rides’ cloaks. They had momentary cover, as they went inside the house.

The attacking group of Ponies stopped. Some of the armed Ponies took positions around the front entrance to the house. Cherry Jubilee’s hovercraft pointed at the door and the adjacent window, the gunner’s cannon aiming straight ahead, ready for another barrage.

“You Zebras thought you could get away, huh?” Cherry shouted at them, obviously furious. “Thought you could get away with beatin’ up my husband and some innocent travelers, in my territory? You’ve got another thing comin’!” All of the armed Ponies cocked their weapons. “Just come out, and surrender, and maybe we’ll still hold some of ya, for a wad of cash. Die with honor! Instead of in a collapsin’ house! I’mma count to three…”

“We’ve got to get to the boats!” Druva urged Uzul in a hushed voice, who was peeking out the backdoor, which lead to the boats. “We don’t have time to check if anyone saw this exit… we have to go!”

“We can’t take the risk. This will be for nothing if we rush when we should wait,” Uzul hissed back at her.

“One…”

Uzul, seeing no-one outside, began ushering the Zebras into the moored, wooden boats. Each of them could take six adults, plus several fillies and colts. The first one filled up quickly. It took some encouragement for the more unsure-of-water Zebras to move out of the house and onto the second boat, since the house seemed safer for the moment.

“Two…”

Two boats were filled, and Uzul, Druva, and Zuri climbed into the last. With no one watching, Uzul instructed Zuri to cut the mooring ropes.

“Two and a half…”

How hungry for money is this mare? Zuri thought, as she focused on the ropes with her eyes, then closed them. The warmth rose, up her chest, to her head, back down, circulating through her body. At the last second, it suddenly turned bitter cold. The ropes went rigid, and then each of them snapped near the knot. Zuri gasped a little. This much Trancing in one day was getting to her. She hadn’t practiced this long, without sleep, for a while. She worried about when she wouldn’t be able to do any more. Would they be safe already, or only moments away from death, desperately needing her abilities? The boats began to drift downstream, to the east.

“Three!” A cacophony of blasts rang out, as every Pony discharged their weapons into the house. It was quickly perforated, with the hovercraft cannon making huge holes. The glass shattered, the door fell off in pieces, as the house was gradually shot up to the point where it couldn’t hold itself together, and fell apart.

Zuri watched all this from her boat, as she tested her grip on the boat with her hooves. It wasn’t slippery, but Zuri disliked how the little vessel wobbled each time she moved. “We should be alright now,” Uzul said, quietly. “It’s dark. The Ponies can’t see anything.”

“No bodies, ma’am!” they heard one Pony shout. Or maybe they can… “They must have gone!”

“Well where in the hell do a bunch of Stripeys go when trapped in some rinky-dink river house!?” Cherry Jubilee shouted back. “They can’t just disappear into thin–… Wait, river…” All the Zebras laid down as much as they could in the boats, to hide their bodies from view. “Which way does this river flow?”

“East, Ma’am. Towards Paradise City.”

“Dear Celestia! Go downstream! Dammit, go downstream!”

Zuri cursed under her breath. A light shone behind them, presumably the hovercraft’s headlights.

“I see ‘em, Mayor Jubilee!”

“Well fire, y’idiot! FIRE!”

Bullets began whizzing again, but none of the Zebras could do a thing about it. The cannon fired, and punched a hole straight through one of the boats. The boat exploded violently, throwing Zebras out of it and into the water or onto the shore. Most of them were already dead from the impact by the time they landed. The second raft was pelted with the most rounds from the other Ponies, and began to sink. Zuri doubted it would matter if the Zebras aboard tried to get out of the compromised vessel, since she could already see spatters of blood.

The boat containing only Zuri, Uzul, and Druva, however, was lighter than the other two rafts, and moved faster. As the river began to narrow, it started to move even faster still.

“After the damn thing, you slowpokes!” Cherry Jubilee screeched, gunning the craft forward, over the water. “No survivors! No survivors!”

This mare is a psychopath, Zuri thought, in the midst of her fright. Just as she thought this, gears began turning in her head. But a madmare can’t be taken seriously. Perhaps, no one would believe her if her vehicle just…?

With this idea, Zuri swallowed her fear of firearms, and sat up straight, looking determined. Cherry Jubilee laughed triumphantly. “There’s the nag!” she howled. “There’s the nag who beat my husband!” Zuri stared at the cannon, the warmth from her heart billowing outward. With the work she had done so far, this was a strain, and Zuri felt the fatigue from all her Trancer magic begin to catch up to her. “Shoot ‘er! Shoot ‘er!” Cherry bellowed.

The gunner fired. The large bullet launched out of the cannon barrel, straight for Zuri’s face. Uzul and Druva began to shout, but then stopped. Cherry’s look of vicious pleasure turned to one of great alarm. The shell had halted, directly in front of Zuri. It was still spinning, still sizzling and red. Zuri was concentrating, with all her might, on the shell. Her eyes were shut tight, her face scrunched up with effort. Beads of sweat travelled down her face, she was beginning to tremble with the strain. Return, she willed it. Return! The projectile stopped spinning, and cooled quickly as it hovered before her face.

Return!

The shell turned around, and, to the sound of Cherry’s horrified scream, it shot straight back through the nose of the craft, tearing a hole as it pushed through and exploded out the other side. The craft’s engine, now broken in half, immediately stopped, and so did the hovercraft, as it plummeted into the water. Cherry Jubilee scrambled out of the hovercraft, as smoke began to billow from it. The gunner was nowhere to be seen. The other Ponies stopped, and gathered around Cherry Jubilee to be sure of her safety as the craft sank beneath the surface.

Zuri fell backward, her energy expended with the last of her magic. As she drifted off to unconsciousness, she noted the clouds overhead had become grey, and heavy with moisture. Just before she closed her eyes, she smiled, hearing Cherry Jubilee’s fading, fretful voice, bordering on a mental breakdown.

“I’m telling ya, you musclebound dolts! The shot came back! She made it come back, and it sunk my craft!”

———

Zuri awoke, yawning, to the gentle bobbing of the boat as it carried them downstream. The sky was still full of clouds, but the sun was beginning to peak over the mountains in the northwest. It was quiet, there was a little breeze, and the air around them was a perfect, cool temperature, thanks to the water. The little wooden boat had been caulked well, since Zuri did not feel wet. She rose slowly. Someone had wrapped her cloak around her body. Druva was partially over the side of the boat, cooling her fore-hooves in the water, while Uzul was looking ahead. With a not-so-inconspicuous yawn, she got the Arbiter’s attention. He turned, and smiled at her.

“You’re awake. Good.” Uzul said, lying down on his stomach before her. “We’re alive, the three of us are, thanks to you.”

“And we’re free,” Druva added, happily. “I haven’t felt water on my hooves for months… I haven’t seen this much water for months! Oh, stars, I probably smell awful right now.”

“More impressive is your Trancer magic,” Uzul continued. “I’ve seen Trancers exert themselves before, but never stop a projectile, moving that fast!”

“It was big,” Zuri said, humbly. “I could see it down the barrel of the cannon. That is how I was able to stop it. I can’t stop the projectiles fired by the weapons on Ponies’ backs. They’re too small, and…” She lowered her head a bit, embarrassed. “They terrify me!”

“Yes, but still!” Uzul persisted in gushing. “I’ve watched Trancers double, no, triple your age get their heads or appendages blasted off by weapons like that, and you just caught it! You have ability well worthy of admiration, Fair Lady Trancer.”

“It was still moving,” Zuri spoke up again, beginning to blush, as she tried to tone down Uzul’s lauding. “It felt like I had been struck by a boulder, and I could see it inching towards my face. And besides…” Another thought struck her, and it felt similar to how the shell had when she ‘caught’ it. “The other Zebras are dead.”

Uzul fell silent, losing his smile. Druva sat back down in the boat at this, looking very unhappy. “That’s not our fault. That’s the Ponies’ fault.” She stamped her right fore-hoof to emphasize. “They had the guns, and they fired. I’m glad you did what you did to Ramrod. He deserved thrice as much a beating for the murders his mad wife committed.”

“We can prepare a proper mourning for them, when we have the resources to do so,” Uzul said. “But for the moment, we have another question, probably more important to our own survival. What now?”

“We go to Paradise City. I thought that was obvious,” Zuri replied.

“No, as in, how do we get there? We can’t just go in by this boat. It goes in the direction of Paradise City, that is what the father said.”

“Oh,” Zuri said, made anxious by this fact. “I’m… not sure. Do we know how far away it is?”

“Farther than the desert.” Druva said. “I came from the desert myself, when I first went there, through the Gau-Aer. They told me it was seventy miles from Drajja, where they picked me up, to Paradise City.”

“Drajja…” Zuri repeated. “That’s… Ten miles from Tedus, twelve from Nussu, and sixteen from Otoul. I was thirty five miles from Otoul back in that blasted town, so…” She groaned. “We have a long way to go, but… we can’t go backways. Even if we did avoid the town, the desert is too harsh an environment for that long a trip. We need food and water.”

“Both of which can be found, the closer we get to Paradise City.” Druva said. “Ponies have started something… they call it… ter-ra-for-ming? They make the world suitable for plants where they normally couldn’t grow, beyond the far marshes. I have a map, I think, in my Vuiol…” She brought the sack out, tracing a rune, and then, with her teeth, she withdrew a rolled up map. “The Gau-Aer provided it for me. It was made by scouts, written in the Ponies’ language, using the Ponies’ geographic symbols, so if it was confiscated, the Ponies wouldn’t think it was a plan for attack. Not one they had to decipher, anyway.”

Druva unrolled the map, and Uzul helped hold it open as the three of them looked at it. It was a rough sketching of the locations of all the Zebra towns, nearby Paradise City, and some of the surrounding cities. “We’re right… here.” Druva said, pointing to a place between New Dodge Junction and what appeared to Zuri to be a cluster of triangles with sticks on their bottoms.

Blast these Ponies’ written language… “What does it say?” Zuri asked, rather bluntly. Both Uzul and Druva looked at her curiously. “I learned to speak their tongue. I didn’t think I would have to bother writing it, too.”

“We’re on this river.” Druva indicated the two lines, drawn close together. Zuri nodded in slow understanding. “We’re going towards this forest. The triangles mean it’s a forest.”

“Oh.” Zuri said simply. Having spent her entire life in the desert, Zuri had only heard of what a forest was. She knew what trees were, since every Zebra had to learn of the Far Marshes, but to her knowledge, trees didn’t look like triangles. “Ponies make stupid maps.”

“This is a Zebra imitation of their style,” Druva reminded her. “But I’ve seen real ones. It’s very accurate, right down to the shape of the letters.”

“The shape of the letters is strange. It’s hard to read,” Uzul commented. “I’m more used to straight, official-looking characters. Ponies have stupid hoofwriting rules.”

“Ponies have stupid customs, in general,” Zuri concluded.

“Can I please remind you two that we’re supposed to be figuring out what to do next?” Druva tried to return to the previous conversation. “The forest will be where this river tapers off and goes underground. We’ll have to get off there, and leave the boats behind. I’m sure we can find food and shelter in a forest. It’s a forest.”

“What makes you so sure?” Zuri asked, sincerely curious.

“It’s a forest,” Druva emphasized. Zuri was still confused, as evidenced by the expression on her face. “Ponies consider forests to have… no, I won’t bother. You’re an Oun-Drii Trancer trained by Dunnur! Not to mention you had the idea to stop a hovercraft’s shell by looking at it instead of the gun. You’ll figure it out when we get there.”

The drifting of the boat was slow. Zuri now hung her head over the side of it, looking at her distorted reflection in the wake of the little raft. So many new things, so many new faces, most of them hostile, and the rest of them either dead or sitting in the boat with her. An old thought came from the back of her mind. What if the Ponies did take Cherry Jubilee’s story seriously? Would they know about her abilities? Had she compromised the secrecy that Trancers swore to keep? What would Dunnur say? What would mother and father say? What would her Premier say? No one was to witness the gift in use, and, technically, no one in their right mind had. Save for that gunner, but he presumably went down with the hovercraft, and therefore wasn’t a problem.

“But what if she spreads the story,” she mumbled, lightly touching the cool river waters with one fore-hoof. It was then that she looked up, and jumped back in shock. The edge of the river had turned a dark brown, and atop the damp soil, was green. Millions of blades of green, shooting out of the ground.

Zuri looked around. As they drifted along, everything gradually turned more green. Flowers stuck out, of every color. Plants that Zuri didn’t recognize from Otoul’s gardens, despite the many signs of life below the desert’s surface, had sprung up, all of vibrant colors, primarily green.

“I think something’s wrong with the ground,” she muttered off-hoofedly. “It’s too fertile.”

“We’re nearing the forest,” the arbiter explained. “Everything would normally be this fertile.”

And indeed, when Zuri looked ahead she saw great, tall, pillars of wood. Green spouted from every angle, leaves, new branches… Flowers grew on the shorter ones, and on the taller ones were little structures, habitats, that squirrels and birds had built. Zuri had only heard of such things, been told stories, and shown pictures. The real thing put her in awe.

“Welcome to Frontier Forest!” Proclaimed a wooden sign, to the left bank of the river. Zuri couldn’t read it, but Druva translated for her.

“NO ZEBRAS ALLOWED.” Said another one, on the opposite side. The message was repeated in Zebric runes. Zuri was disheartened, and concerned. Ponies did know their language. They could write it, and the well-formed letters led her to believe that they could write it well. A little wooden plank was nailed onto the bottom, that said, “Buffalo permitted, in small numbers!” in both languages.

“Buffalo have more rights than we do,” Zuri commented. “They’re fat, smelly, loud, and easy to rile up. Why do the Ponies like them more than us?”

“Probably because the Buffalo are dumber. Easier to control,” Uzul said.

“It’s because we make them jealous. We’re more attractive than them!” muttered Druva, smirking. When both Zuri and Uzul looked at her, she rolled her eyes. “I lived in Paradise City for about a year. I heard a lot of catcalls from males, who treated mares of their own species very differently, much less… whistling and hooting, I suppose. Zebras must be more attractive to them than their own kind.”

Zuri wasn’t so sure about this logic. She could think of multiple reasons why stallions would treat Pony mares one way, and Zebra mares another, but she said nothing. Druva apparently had more experience with Pony culture than she did, so why should she question her?

The trio’s little vessel passed underneath the canopy of the tall tree’s foliage, and Zuri looked about her. This was very much like how the Far Marshes had been described to her by her Elders, only less muddy. Grass and weeds took up the forest floor, with flowers, ferns and shrubs gathering in small bunches, sometimes on their own, sometimes around the trees. Vines sometimes coiled up around the trunks, and onto branches. Hardly anything looked touched by Ponies, Zebras, or Buffalo, who, Zuri was told, usually left a big, noticeable mess.

There were some hints that the forest was occupied by those animals which could be considered individuals. Scratches in tree bark, little spots or patches where grass did not grow, or where greenery was trampled upon, but not in many cases. Given the shade from the canopy above them, it was cooler here, and Zuri pulled up her hood to keep herself warm. She preferred her environment to be warmer, and already missed the desert’s sunny, no-cover-except-for-underground conditions. Eventually, as Druva had predicted, the raft stopped at a collection of large stones at the base of the river. There was no reason to try and take the raft further. Larger rocks beyond blocked the passage of anything but water.

They disembarked. Druva took out her map again, and examined it. “There’s another Pony town, North of here,” she said, “but further along the river is closer to Paradise City. The Gau-Aer make no stops in between, so we have to go the whole distance.”

“We need equipment.” Uzul pointed out. “I’m not expecting there’s going to be a comfy bed of leaves for the whole road ahead, so the Pony town might be our only option for that kind of thing. Who knows? Maybe they’ll be more friendly.”

“I can’t say,” Druva replied. “I only passed through this one. ‘New Appleloosa’ is its name. I had to pay a hefty sum to hide out in a caravan wagon there, but… they did take my money.”

“Which we have none of,” Zuri replied. “At least, I didn’t bring any that was our own currency.”

“Well, my Vuiol had a rune for the Ponies’ coins; bits.” She unwrapped the sack from around her middle again, and traced the appropriate rune for it. She began shaking the sack, hoping for something to come out. “Maybe they… yes!” she said, triumphantly, as several sparkling bits fell onto the forest floor. “This will hardly buy us bedrolls, but it’s a start…”

“And now it’s your loss!” shouted an unfamiliar voice, in the Zebra’s tongue, above them. Each of the Zebra’s heads went up, to see a Pony, perching on a branch. It was male, with black fur, and a white mane that reminded Zuri of the bolts of energy the Dunnur was able to summon from the knives he carried with him. Without further warning, the stallion leaped, and his ebony wings spread outwards. He glided with alarming speed straight for Druva. Druva shouted, and jumped back. The Pegasus wooshed by, catching the Vuiol in his mouth. When Zuri looked where Druva had been standing, the gold coins and the map were also gone. Now, so was the stallion, as he flapped his wings and gradually vanished amongst the trunks of trees. He was laughing as he departed, and shouted. “Next time, read the sign, Zebras!”

Druva looked horror-stricken. “That little… he took my Vuiol! Snake! Rat with wings! Hollow-boned dirt-eater!” Druva screamed after him, raging. “Inconsiderate, thieving, feathery… ODILIA!” At that point, Uzul blushed.

“That’s hardly the kind language to shout in the middle of a hostile-to-zebras forest, especially one that understands our tongue!” he chastised her. The Alchemist whirled, and went on at him.

“Oh, don’t you go on about language. You’re the one who said Edrecht before you even told Zuri, an Oun-Drii Lady, to cover her ears to preserve her pure hearing! That cursed Pony took my Vuiol!”

“I hear worse from my own family,” Zuri put in. “I’ve said worse. And I think I’ve already made it clear I don’t much care for my title, out here.”

“Still, is Odilia the kind of thing we should say that loud?” Uzul persisted. “For all we know he was armed. Or maybe he has partners to back him up.”

“If he’s so brave as to return to an alchemist whom he stole from,” Druva hissed, pounding the ground in fury. “I’ll brew something that’ll sizzle his wings off!”

“You never took your cauldron out of your Vuiol, remember?” Uzul said, condescending. That seemed to be sufficient to shut Druva up for the moment.

“That’s what a Pegasus looks like,” Zuri murmured. “Those wings are an advantage. I’ve only seen them severed off, being examined by my Elders.”

“They’re all egomaniacs,” Druva spat. “All the ones in Paradise City that I met were always brazen and mocking, happily throwing insults from clouds. They can sit on clouds!” She groaned loudly. “I’d like to see Zuri pull the clouds out from under them. Can you do that?” she asked Zuri, hopefully.

“Before yesterday, I had never seen clouds before,” Zuri replied, shrugging. “But that Pegasus has our map, Druva’s equipment, and what little money we have, or… had. We have to go after him.”

“It’s a Pegasus. It leaves no trail, just its laughter. How are you going to go after that?” Uzul said, and the lack of confidence in his voice stung a bit.

“Because I can hear him, still,” Zuri replied. Uzul had completely forgotten about Zuri’s super-sharpened senses.

“Oh, right. Would it still be safe to go after him? You fainted yesterday because you used too much Trancing…”

“I wore myself out. I didn’t give myself rest, and I didn’t go to sleep until I was exhausted,” Zuri explained. “I’m refreshed now, so I can do it, and you can stay here, since neither of you can, um…” She didn’t want to say it.

“Trance?” Druva suggested.

“Well, yes,” Zuri finished, trying to make the situation a positive one. “I know how to move quickly, and I can Trance my legs, and the ground. It will be good practice, if I ever go to the Far Marshes, for dodging trees and other such obstacles at high speeds.”

“Then, well, what are you waiting for?” Uzul urged her. “Just… be careful. We can’t afford to lose the map, the Vuiol, and especially not the Trancer. Go!”

With this said, Zuri nodded, turned around, tucking her hood underneath her cloak. She began running, the warmth in her heart pulsating quickly to her legs. She did not really consider her Tranced gallop a breaking of code. She guessed most Ponies would assume she had very, very fast hooves. The greenery around her began to blur, her heart racing as the energy coursed through her legs, and caused the ground to sort of carry her along, the soil going convex beneath her hooves at just the right moment in every step to give her an extra push.

With every moment, she ran faster and faster, the wind whistling in her ears. Her cloak, held tightly around her body, only provided a slight wind resistance. She slowed down for a moment, listening keenly. Her hooves made little noise as they paced. She had been trained to carefully avoid small objects that made noises, and this helped with her ability to listen for the Pegasus. There was a rhythmic whoosh-whoosh, faint, but persistent. Zuri sped up again, running in the direction of what she had to assume was the flapping of wings. Her hair billowed out behind her, getting messy with gust caused by her acceleration.

I can hear you, she thought, boastfully. Even a flyer leaves a trail… But I leave one that can be seen. And I can be seen, too. As if on cue, she saw a glint of something before her. Spider web? No, too thick. Duck! She dove under the thin cord, instead striking it with her tail as she passed further along. There was a loud clack, and a large, stone weight swooped downward in a swinging motion. Had she hit the tripwire with her body instead, she would have had her face smashed in. Instead, it left a large graze in the dirt, like an ovular dimple.

Traps. There can’t be just one of them. And not just one Pony, either, to lay them, Zuri thought. How do they stop other Ponies from tripping them? Maybe they don’t…

“Now!” came a cry, from in front of her. She looked up, triumphant at first, that she had spotted the Pegasus. He was perching on another branch, and apparently had just shouted a command. She boosted toward him, but suddenly stopped, as she saw two other forms leap from trees on opposite sides of her. Backpedaling just in time, she saw two more Pegasi, a mare and stallion, leap out of their hiding places, yelling at the top of their lungs. With her stopped prematurely, they collided with each other, and fell to the ground.

The one who had stolen Druva’s sack grew exasperated, rolling his eyes. “If you’re gonna do something right, you gotta do it yourself…” He leaped down, facing her down. With his wings outstretched, Zuri saw the appendages had sharp-edged blades mounted on them, which looking well-maintained. If she weren’t trying to keep her promise, she would melt them off his wings. As she imagined the look on this Pegasus’ face when that happened, she smiled absentmindedly, and giggled.

“What’s so funny, Zebra?” he snapped, slowly advancing on her. “I can cut you up so nobody can tell your stripes apart. You think that’s funny?”

Zuri stopped laughing, but her smiled remained. “I think you’d look funny if I yanked out those feathers.” The Pegasus actually took a step back, before realizing he had just given ground, and he took up a more menacing stance. Zuri matched it, all business now.

Why is he hesitating? He thinks he can win, though he’s easily shaken… is he waiting for something? If so, I better move first… Zuri did move first, advancing to the right. He took the bait, lunging right for her. Zuri ducked, and he went straight over her. She shoved upwards, headbutting his underside. He grunted in pain, and stumbled back onto his hooves.

“Ow…” He growled, holding a wing to his belly for a moment. “Sheesh. You got a hard head, freak. Anything else in there ‘cept skull?”

“I’m not the one stupid enough to cross a Sand-Trancer.” Zuri hissed back at him.

This definitely caught him off guard. He knew their language, but he didn’t recognize her status adornments. He tried to recover. “You were dumb enough to ignore the sign. There’s more where I came from.”

Zuri replied with another lunge, this time he tried to mimic her, dodging to the left to avoid her tackle. He was fast, but he was not fast enough to avoid her teeth closing around the tip of his wing. She wrenched her neck to the right, and he yelped. Several dark grey feathers came away in her mouth, which she spat out in one place on the ground. Maybe Druva can make something interesting, using those. “There’s more where those came from too,” she leered.

“Striped nag!” he yelled, coming at her with wings outstretched once more. “No one bites off my feathers!”

Zuri avoided his move again, although she felt his wing brush against one leg. “No one’s thrown an insult at me as uncreative as that one, Odilia.” That made him turn flush; he definitely knew what that word meant. He came in for another tackle. This time, she took it head on, but her hooves wrapped around his head, and pushed down. She drove him, headfirst, into the soil. Zuri thought, with malicious humor, how applicable Druva’s shouting of dirt-eater was right then. He struggled, and she pushed down harder for a moment, then rolled him over and pinned him down. “Where is the sack?”

“What sack?” he spat back at her, sneering. “My sack? Because I can’t give you that one. Gross.”

She struck him in the face, twice. “The sack you took in your mouth. That’s not yours.”

“Heheh… Hell, girl, if you wanted to pin me down in a bed of grass, I guess I didn’t need to grab the bag after all,” he sneered, and she struck him again, causing blood to drip from his nose. “Gah! Nag!” His wings were flailing. She stood on them with her hind hooves, and pinned his forehooves with hers. She was happy they were supposedly alone, save for those two unconscious idiots. The position she was in was a little more than compromising.

“Answer my question, pony, or I’ll tear your wings out!” Zuri shouted at him, losing patience.

“Do that, and my buddies’ll blow your friends’ brains out,” he laughed back, despite his obvious pain.

“That’s a terrible lie,” Zuri said, beginning to spread her hooves further apart, making his wings begin to strain. It was a loud cocking of a gun that made her stop.

Zuri shoved his face into the ground again with one hoof, and looked behind her. There stood Druva and Uzul, staring back with rigid expressions. On either side of them were the Pegasi who had tried to double-time her, now with guns mounted on their backs, the barrels prodding against the two Zebras’ temples.

“...Melose.” Zuri swore, immediately stepping off the stallion.

5. Frontier Forest

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“All they got is these rags,” said the stallion, his rifle barrel holding up Zuri’s cloak to examine her middle. Zuri, responding to this, was doing all she could to avoid trembling in unbridled terror. It was official, firearms terrified her. “This one’s got nothing on her.”

“Check the other two,” the first Pegasus ordered. “One had this sack, maybe that male has something worth nabbing…”

“Nope, nothin’!” said the Mare, holding up Uzul’s cloak and taking as much time as she reasonably could to search him. “Nothin’ that isn’t his equipment, anyway,” she finished smugly.

While Uzul tried to prevent himself from going any redder, the first Pegasus came towards Zuri, frowning.

“Don’t you know how to read your own language, Zeeb?” His face came uncomfortably close to hers. “You’ve got a lot of gall, coming after me, maybe you do want just a lay in the grass…” He smiled lecherously. Zuri was reminded of Blast-cap, and Ramrod. Is every male Pony like this?

“I’ve never even seen grass before today. I do not intend to lay in it, especially not with a pony,” Zuri snapped back. “You all ask for sex too much.”

The stallion's smile vanished. “Yeah, and sometimes we quit asking nicely, you stupid little—”

CRACK.

The noise rang out, and made the three Zebras jump. The Ponies only looked in the direction of the sound, unsurprised. A fourth pony, a unicorn with a blue coat and a purple and grey mane, poked her head out from around a tree. “Thunderlane! Quit with the fondle-frisking, the Boss knows that they’re here.”

The wing-bladed stallion snorted, playing with Druva’s Vuiol in one hoof. “I’m sure she does, Moondancer, tell the boss we’re taking care-”

“Boss wants to see ‘em, Thunder. I wouldn’t bother you with stiffing Zeebies unless she did,” the mare apparently named Moondancer answered. “Come on. She’s expecting us soon than later.”

The other two armed Ponies shoved Druva, Uzul, and Zuri after the unicorn. Moondancer took up the head of the little procession, while Thunderlane took up the rear. They walked for some time, eventually coming upon a clearing, in which there was a rock formation outlining a hole going into the ground. It reminded Zuri of the doors to Otoul, as the four captors brazenly pushed their three captives inside.

The hole lead to a wooden door, behind which there was a hallway. Wood ceiling beams prevented the rocks and soil overhead from falling down, but other than that, it was more or less just hollowed out ground. They were taken down the hall, and into another room, this one with more furnishings.

Another Pegasus sat at the end of a long table. This particular pegasus was more colorful than any other Pony Zuri had seen so far. Her coat was bright cyan and her eyes were magenta, while her mane and tail were every color of the rainbow. She was using her hooves to manipulate a device on the table, a wide, silver disk. An image was being projected out of it.

“So what if we’re violating contracts?” said the rainbow mare, plainly in the midst of a conversation.

“So, we don’t get paid, Ma’am,” the image replied. Zuri realized, as she was guided closer, that it was a Pony’s portrait, being projected as an object.

“We’ll get paid, alright, Dimple Dap. We’re the only law for miles around. New Dodge Junction’s upriver, and New Appleloosa’s already made it clear they want nothing to do with managing the territory that their citizens don’t claim.”

“We won’t be law for much longer if you keep stealing!” the pony, supposedly named Dimple Dap replied.

“It’s called borrowing,” the mare said, smirking. “We take what we need, and we always pay back, if we can.”

“If this keeps up we’ll turn into bandits, and we’ll never get off this rock,” Dimple Dap said, abysmally.

“Don’t lemme hear talk like that, Dimp,” was the reply. “I don’t want you wimping out, we’re closer and closer to our target amount, then we’ll be back in the black, in no time! Listen, I got visitors, talk to you later.”

“Yeah, sure Ma’am. Later.” The hologram vanished, and the mare turned to face Thunderlane’s group, with that same smirk on her face.

“So, Thunder, who’re these?” she asked, eyes looking over Zuri, Uzul and Druva.

“Stripeys, Ma’am.”

“I see that, Thunder. Why’d you nab ‘em?”

“Well, Ma’am, we don’t allow Stripeys. It’s the law,” Thunderlane replied, looking bemused.

“It’s the law put into our contract, Thunder,” she said, standing up. “I don’t technically agree with everything in the contract. Maybe Gilda did, but I’m not Gilda.”

“You’re not a good businessmare, either,” Thunderlane jibed, cracking a grin. The mare’s following strike knocked the grin right off his face.

“Nope, I’m not, I’m easily riled, I’m compulsive, and I stick too close to my friends for my own good. I’m also your boss, so shut it,” she snapped, pushing him aside as he rubbed the red spot on his cheek where she hit him. “You got a name, Zebra?” she asked Uzul first.

“Not one I’d like to share,” Uzul replied.

“Then how about a little about me, first?” the mare said, smiling with an edge of pride in her voice. “To make you more comfortable? I’m Rainbow Dash. I’m a mercenary, I have an ego problem, and I’m a bit of a nag sometimes.”

“Fine,” Uzul said begrudgingly. “I am Uzul. I am an Arbiter, I don’t much like Ponies, and I’m fairly authoritarian. It’s part of my job.”

“I know what Arbiter means, Uzul,” Rainbow Dash said, walking to his right. “So I know you also get things done, take charge in bad situations, eh?”

“I try to,” Uzul nodded.

“Take charge of these two?” she pointed with her wing at Zuri and Druva.

“I have.”

“How long you known ‘em since the first time?” there was a teasing look in Rainbow’s eyes.

“I--what?” Uzul blinked, several times. Rainbow gave a sort of condescending snort.

“Gosh, why’d they ever get with you? You can’t even remember how long you known ‘em. Moondancer, does that sound like a gentlecolt to you?” Rainbow Dash turned to look at the unicorn.

“Um…” Moondancer stumbled on her words. “He’s a Zebra.”

“That’s not what I asked, Moondancer. Does that sound like a gentlecolt?”

“...No, ma’am.”

“I thought not,” Rainbow said, looking proud of her deduction.

“I think you misunderstood me,” Uzul spoke up. “I lead them. I don’t… do whatever you think I do.”

“Well, certainly not a gentlecolt, then!” Rainbow said, that teasing look sparkling in her eyes. “Not even giving ‘em a chance? How many times they thrown themselves at you?”

Druva and Zuri jumped, and said, “None!” almost at the same time. Rainbow turned to give them both a critical look, before cracking a big, toothy smile and bursting into laughter, confusing all three Zebras.

“The look on your faces! The look on all your faces! That was priceless! Ohhh boy, I gotta tell Pinkie about that next time I see her,” Rainbow chortled, wiping a tear away. Another look at each of their faces made her sober up a little. “Sorry, sorry, I couldn’t help running that joke, making you think I think you were all bonking it together.”

Zuri fumed, “Why does everyone think I’ll sleep with the nearest male? I almost strangled one, and I almost tore out that one’s wings!” She pointed at Thunderlane, who took a step back.

“Damn, girl, you don’t tolerate spunky colts much, do ya?” Rainbow said. “What’s your name?”

“Nothing you would actually care to learn,” Zuri replied, scowling. 

“I asked you, didn’t I?” Rainbow Dash asked, smirking at her. “Now go ahead an answer. I don’t bite.”

“Zuri. My name is Zuri.” Rainbow frowned at this response.

“Oh come on. I know your language, I know what an Arbiter is, you think I don’t know what those fancy rings mean?” she pointed to Zuri’s adornments. “Gimme your full name, Trancer.”

Zuri swallowed. This mare actually knew Zebra culture better than any other. She felt a pang of fear, but shook it off. “Zuri Oun-Drii Sara.” She answered, adding. “I hail of Otoul.”

“Shit.” Thunderlane paled. “She’s a Trancer? Boss, you gotta let me…”

“I’m not letting you do a damn thing, Thunder!” Rainbow said forcibly at him. “This gal’s a noble Zebra! You should show some respect.”

Thunderlane balked at her. “Boss, you lost your mind? She’s a freaking–”

“A freaking what? Freaking good–lookin’ Zebra?” Zuri’s face was beet-red. “Where’s the problem? I think I can keep myself away from her long enough, unlike you, apparently.” Rainbow Dash’s tone was condescending, but somehow sardonic. “Now show some respect, Thunder. This gal’s an Oun-Drii! That’s like Prince Blueblood, or Cadence.”

“But Blueblood’s an asshole,” Moondancer interjected.

“Okay, bad example,” Rainbow Dash said, shrugging. “But Cadence! The princess of love, right? Good example?”

“She turned evil and tried to take over the world, once,” One of the other stallions said.

“That was an impostor, you dope,” Moondancer said bluntly. “A Changeling, remember?”

“Okay, okay, shut up, I need to talk to these Zeebs. You can keep catfighting outside, all of you,” Rainbow Dash said, gesturing with a hoof towards the door.

“And leave you here alone?” Thunderlane protested. “With Zebras?”

“With Zebras. Out!” Rainbow shouted her order, and the Ponies immediately obeyed. When the door shut behind them, Rainbow let out a long sigh, her tail flicking. “Alright. Listen, you three. I’ve got nothin’ against Zebras. I really don’t. Where I grew up I was friends with an Alchemist, just like you, there.” She looked at Druva. Druva looked away, untrusting. “Now, can I ask what you’re doing here, in my forest?”

“You can, but we won’t say anything,” Uzul said defensively.

“Fine, fine. You have your secrets, I have mine,” Rainbow said, moving on. “Now listen. I run the mercenary group called the Rainboom Riders.”

“What is a Rainboom?” Zuri interrupted.

“I’ll explain later. It’s better than the old name; Feather Reapers. I, uh, ‘inherited’ this group from a friend of mine, a Gryphon named Gilda.” When Rainbow said friend, there was strain in her voice.

“What is a Gryphon?” Zuri interrupted again.

“A bird-lion-thing,” Rainbow explained simply, looking a little irritated. “Anyway, I’m running this outfit, and I need to get enough money to fuel our ship, to get off this rock.” She took a breath. “And you Zebras can help me out with that.”

“I guess you are offering our freedom if we help you?” Uzul asked.

“You can go free, with all your belongings, if you say no. I’m not that much of a nag, but I’m offering you some resources that’ll increase your chances of survival. Palosol’s full of nasty things to the east of here.”

“Nasty Ponies, you mean,” Druva finally spoke up.

“Well, yeah,” Rainbow shrugged. “Take it or leave it, I’ll make Thunderlane give you back your little bag, whatever use it is to you.”

“That little bag is worth more than you know!” Druva snapped, offended.

“You make bags that are too tiny and too flimsy,” Rainbow commented, grinning. After Druva started gaping at her, she started laughing again. “I’m kidding! I’m kidding! I know what it is, but I don’t think Thunderlane would be so willing to give it back if he knew.”

“How do you know? About us, about my… bag?” Druva interrogated her.

Rainbow held up her fore-hooves, and smiled. “You have your secrets, I have mine.”

“Fair,” Uzul said, and turned to Druva and Zuri.

“What do we do? I don’t think we can trust her,” Zuri spoke, in her native tongue, for whatever good it did for remaining incoherent to the Pony.

“We might be able to. She’s so far been the only Pony who has spoken to us as an equal, or something close to it.”

“Probably a trick. She’ll end up killing us, or giving us to those other Ponies to play with,” Druva said, frowning. “Better to get rid of her. Zuri can throw her around like a toy.”

“I will not Trance in front of Ponies,” Zuri replied, matching Druva’s look. “I would rather try to trust her. If there are more Ponies here than I know how to deal with, it will be a bad idea to try and kill their leader.”

“Why bother keeping your oath?” Druva asked, scowling all the more. “You already broke it. That psychopath mare saw you, as did that one operating the cannon.”

“The other Pony died. The mare didn’t sound like she was convincing anyone that I destroyed the hovercraft with its own weapon,” Zuri argued, and Druva rolled her eyes.

“How do you know she didn’t convince them? You went out cold in a few seconds,” Druva said, getting a bit more snappish. Uzul stopped them.

“We haven’t the time to argue this. Zuri doesn’t have to Trance if she doesn’t want to.”

“I can’t! I would never be forgiven!” Zuri persisted.

“How would your Premier find out, if you never told him?” Druva pursued the issue.

“I wouldn’t dare lie to my Premier Elder,” Zuri hissed, a dangerous look in her cyan eyes. “He is my mother’s father.”

Druva didn’t reply. Uzul made a silent “oh”. Respecting a Premier Elder was one thing. Respecting an elder you were related to was another. When a parent became a Premier in a Zebra society, they held onto their familial relations, but were not the head of the house. That fell to their eldest child and his or her spouse. All the same, Zuri had to treat her grandfather with the utmost respect and honor, as she was obligated to. “I will not Trance before Ponies. That was my oath, I intend to keep it.”

“Hey, uh, if you’re planning mutiny over there,” Rainbow spoke up, smiling awkwardly. “It’s a better idea to keep your voices down. Because… I heard nearly every word you just said.”

“Melose!” Zuri said again, putting a hoof to her head.

“I know what that word means, too!” Rainbow added. “If I had kids I’d tell them to plug their ears and start going ‘lalalala’ every time you came about. You Zebras have swears that’d wither sailors.”

“Are sailors hard to wither?” Uzul asked, cocking his head to one side.

“… Never mind. Are you gonna agree to disagree, or should I look for help elsewhere?”

“Well…” Uzul looked from Zuri, to Druva, to Rainbow Dash. “What would we be doing, anyway, to help you?”

———

“Here are our temporary new recruits, fillies and colts!” Rainbow Dash announced proudly to the assembly of ponies. “And we’re gonna steal ourselves a train!”

Zuri, Druva, and Uzul stood before a group of fifty Ponies, all of them armed, inside a big meeting room to the left of the first room they had been placed in. None of the three Zebras looked particularly comfortable, standing there before so many potential opponents, especially not Zuri. She saw how many of the mercenaries had guns. Some were the thin-barreled saddle mounts that Coalfield had, but some had large, intimidating cannons clamped around their wielder’s bodies. These particular Ponies were all very muscular, and some had appendages or body parts apparently made of metal. It was all Zuri could do to avoid from bolting.

Rainbow Dash had told them her plan. New Appleloosa had a railroad running through it, and the train went back and forth from it to a place simply called The Rock Pile, which was apparently chock-full of food, equipment, and money. Rainbow’s group had a contract with the stallion funding the growth of Frontier Forest, a stallion named, ironically, Filthy Rich. The contract obligated them to protect the forest from tree poachers, Buffalo, Zebras, and whatever else popped up. What this contract did not include was a proper amount of supplies. “Filthy Rich is a cheap-as-hell slime ball,” Rainbow had told them. “He gives us as little rations and gear as possible, and wants us to think we’re under his gun, so he can pay us less and less. We can’t get to Paradise City to give him what for, since it’s too far to run or fly from here, but The Rock Pile is plenty closer. Problem is that we don’t have enough money to go over there by train the legal way. That’s why I aim to steal one, so we can grab all what’s worth anything and get at him, so we can be free.”

“So what do you need us for?” Uzul had asked.

“Specifically I need someone better than my own crew. Gilda spent more money on guns than she did proper training, so I got me a band of misfits. They’re only now turning into something damn decent, with my conditioning. I can’t risk sending them in this early, half of them would shoot off each other’s ears before anything else! However, your little trio includes and Alchemist and a Trancer. An alchemist can make all sorts of fun little brews and potions that’ll be sure to get rid of whatever security the train’s traveling with.” At this, Druva had given a little excited squeal, one that she quickly suppressed and pathetically attempted to disguise as a wheeze. “And Zuri can kick about ten times the amount of butt than anyone in my crew can, and look twenty percent cooler doing it.”

“You’re saying that simply because I almost de-winged that Thunderlane Stallion,” Zuri said, skeptically, although she had been red in the cheeks. “And you don’t like him. You’re using simple flattery.”

“Is the flattery working?” Rainbow had asked her in reply.

“...Yes.” And that was how they had gotten talked into standing up there, in front of a huge amount of well-armed, badly trained Ponies.

“Why did we agree to this?” Druva complained as they looked at the mercenary band. “I feel sick.”

“What, did ya drink one of your own brews?” Rainbow asked with a cheeky grin on her face. “Buck up! Thunderlane, get your feathery ass over here.”

Thunderlane came over, and stood near the three Zebras, scowling. “Where’s that bag you took from this girl, here, Thunder?” Rainbow asked, getting awfully close to Druva. While Druva tried to step back, Thunderlane shrugged. “Don’t know?”

“Nope. I lost it,” Thunderlane said, sneering at Druva, who looked dismayed.

“No, uh, I don’t think you did.” Rainbow sat on her haunches, and folded her forelegs. She looked over at Zuri. “Hey, Zuri, want another go at him?” She pointed a wing at Thunderlane.

“Oh, yes,” Zuri said, taking a few steps towards the Pegasus. Several Ponies in their audience stood up, looking defensive.

“Hey! Sit back down, you dweebs. I’m demonstrating,” Rainbow ordered, and they sat, grumbling something about Zebra-lovers. Zuri smiled at this, and neared Thunderlane, who had a look of panic on his face.

“Aw shit… Rainbow, Rainbow you wouldn’t sic that freak on me, would you? I caught her for you…”

“I don’t like the term you used, Thunder. Freak is kinda mean-sounding,” Rainbow replied, smiling relaxedly.

“Damn, damn! I didn’t lose it, fine, here it is! It’s junk anyway,” Thunder said, reaching into one saddlebag and throwing Druva’s Vuiol to her. Druva caught it in her teeth, wearing one of the most smug grins Zuri had ever observed.

“Can I still go at him?” Zuri asked. Thunderlane paled.

“Eh, later. Hey, Droov, there’s a water pump and a bunch of herbs in the infirmary. It’s on the other side of the hall from here,” Rainbow said, pointing to the door behind them. “Think you can start brewing?”

Druva gave her a look. “If you never call me Droov again, I will make brews that will have the stars bleat for anyone unlucky enough to inhale their fumes.”

“Right! Uh… Moondancer, you go with her, make sure she doesn’t turn this hideout into a mushroom cloud.” The unicorn followed Druva out of the room, closely.

“Do you share your boss’ lack of acknowledgement for personal space?” Druva asked her.

“Yep, especially around Zebras dangerous enough to blow stuff up,” Moondancer replied.

“If that’s the case you should be watching Zuri, not me,” Druva laughed, and then the two of them were gone.

“As for you.” Rainbow said, pulling aside Uzul. “You and I are gonna get intimate…” Uzul went wide-eyed. “With the strategic layout of guards around New Appleloosa’s train station.” Uzul relaxed. “And, uh, everypony?” The crowd straightened respectfully. “Nopony mess with that Zebra.” She pointed at Zuri, speaking with a tone of cryptic warning. “She’s the one who really knows how not to be seen. Unlike some individuals I could mention. Dismissed!”

Rainbow walked up to Zuri as the mercenaries began filing out, most of them giving unsure looks back towards the Zebras. “You can roam freely around this place, just don’t beat anyone up, all right?”

“I will try,” Zuri said, frowning. “If one more Edrecht tries to proposition me, I make no promises.”

“Now that is a fair warning,” Rainbow Dash said, laughing. “Say, uh, you afraid of guns?”

 “Wha–… how did you know?” Zuri asked, ears folding.

Rainbow got a big grin on her face. “Because the entire time you were standing up here, you were sweating bullets! Oh, that’s good. I’ll have to see if Pinkie likes that one.” The Pegasus cleared her throat. “Seriously though, we can set you up with a couple, and see if you prefer being on the sending end rather than the receiving end.”

“No,” Zuri said firmly. “If I really must, I will Trance, which is better than any firearm can do. I’ll just kill all the witnesses.”

“Aw come on!” Rainbow Dash said helpfully. “Surely a rifle would be nice, or an arc bow?”

“Arc bow?” Zuri asked, blinking.

Rainbow nodded, grinning. “Arc bow! I love the things. They fire faster than anything else, just like I fly!”

“Actually, I want a look at that,” Uzul spoke up. “I was never that good with unarmed combat. I had a crossbow at one point. I don’t any more.”

“Oh-ho, well, let me tell you, Sir Arbiter,” Rainbow said, taking Uzul over to another door. “There are a few differences between the two, for instance, one shoots a lot farther than the other.”

“And probably louder, too,” Uzul replied, to which Rainbow Dash laughed as they, too, exited.

Now Zuri was alone in the meeting room. There was nothing for her here, nothing of interest or of her own. Thunderlane was gone, having been one of the first to try and get out, probably because of her. She decided to go to the infirmary, which was fully furnished. The walls, floor and ceiling were white, with a countertop along one wall. Cupboards had been built above and below the counter, and a water tap sat off to one side. There was an examination table in the center, with stirrups and hoists above it, as well as a large lamp for illuminating subjects. Druva was pushing her cauldron under the water tap. Moondancer was staring, gawking at Druva and her cauldron.

Zuri went over to the Unicorn, and tapped her on the shoulder. She hardly responded. “The… the bag… she lifted that out of that bag…” She said, unbelieving as she stared at the cauldron. “How did…?

“Enchantment,” Druva said, rolling her eyes. “Don’t you unicorns do that a lot? We Alchemists and Trancers have to work together to make these Vuiols. You could probably just make it yourself.”

“I never knew any enchantment for putting huge objects into… tiny little sacks.” Moondancer said. “I didn’t know Zebras…” She trailed off, evidently realizing what she was about to say could sound offensive.

“Well, then, obviously you need to get out more,” Druva said, smirking as she filled the cauldron with water. “Don’t you come from another planet, too?”

“A space station,” Moondancer answered.

“A what?” Druva looked up.

“It’s a big building, floats around in orbit around a planet.” Moondancer went on to explain. “

“That sounds dumb. Why live on a space station when you can live on a planet?”

“Parents studied the debris in the atmosphere. Um, do you have any more of those bags?”

“No. This is the only one. I don’t know if Zuri has the skills to help me make another.” Druva looked at the Trancer in question, who shook her head. The art of enchantment crafting was a secret even Dunnur had limited knowledge about. “I also doubt she’d be willing to make one for a Pony. No offense, but we’ve had bad experiences with your kind so far.”

“I’ll bet. You came in from the river that trails from New Dodge Junction, right? That place makes its living off of selling slaves. Not just Zebra slaves, either.” Moondancer gave them both a cryptic expression. “It’s a ‘trading’ town. I’m surprised you got out of there at all. I hear the mayor is absolutely nuts…”

“We learned that rather quickly,” Druva said, snorting as she shut off the water and pushed the guided cauldron back away from the tap.

Zuri frowned. “It was not hard,” she said. “All the locks were…” She paused, having to think of a way to avoid talking about her trancing in front of the Pony. “Easy to break. There was little security in the room where they kept us.”

“That’s probably because they didn’t expect you to put up much of a fight. I’ve visited that place before. They have a whole building, dedicated to holding Zebras. They have another for Ponies and another for Buffalo, even one for Gryphons.”

Zuri went rigid. A building, a whole building full of Zebras, and she had no idea it was there. It was still there. She had only managed on getting twenty Zebras free, out of which only three were alive now. “How… how many Zebras does the building hold? Do you know?”

“More than I can count. The number they display on the tally is written in scientific notation.” Oh, stars preserve them, Zuri thought glumly. That’s a numeric word I do understand. “They file them out every time they plan to auction them off. The ones they keep in the stables they have special plans for, or they’ve gotten orders from the governor in Paradise City to keep an eye on them, or hold them and keep them there for Ramrod’s amusement or his own little prostitution business. Sometimes they get auctioned, sometimes they’re killed, sometimes they go to Paradise City, or Harmony Town.”

“Harmony Town?” Druva looked up. “What do you know about that place?”

“Nothing,” Moondancer sighed. “The only ones who know about it are the ones who can go in or out, neither of which can you do unless you have the right authorization.”

“I hear rumors. It’s full of Zebras and Ponies, living together.”

“I can’t say. Maybe Rainbow Dash knows more, but as far as I know, the name is skin-deep.”

Zuri was sitting back now, looking horrified. She had left behind hundreds and hundreds of Zebras, while most of the ones she had attempted to free were now dead. She almost felt like crying. She couldn’t cry in front of a Pony, though. A show of weakness in a cave network full of well-armed mercenaries did not seem like the best idea. Trying to change the subject to take her mind off of it, she inquired of Druva, “What brews do you plan to make?”

“Oh, I’ve got all sorts of ideas,” Druva said, rubbing her fore-hooves together. “But, um, unicorn?”

“You can call me Moondancer.”

“I’m calling you unicorn. Is there something I can heat my cauldron with? A torch, a fire pit…”

“Here.” Moondancer used her magic to open a cupboard, and a large black circle floated out. It was about one and a half feet in diameter, and hovered two inches off the ground. “Push it onto this. It’s activated by unicorn magic. We call it a zap plate.”

Zuri helped Druva push the wide, heavy cauldron onto the the plate, and stood back. Moondancer’s horn lit up. It glowed the same dull pink color as her eyes. The zap plate gave a little buzz, and Zuri could immediately feel the heat radiating around it. Soon enough, the cauldron was beginning to bubble.

“Perfect!” Druva said, taking out her Vuiol and tracing several runes into it. Reaching in with her muzzle, she withdrew several bottles of herbs and liquids. “As I was saying before, I think I’m going to start with some simple smoke screen brews. Uncork them, spill them on the floor, and you have your own cover.”

“Sounds like your perfect escape method,” Moondancer said, humor and wariness clashing in her expression. “What’s to stop you from dropping those potions and robbing us blind?”

“Running water is one reason,” Druva answered dryly. “Another is that you have lots and lots of guns, and Zuri is terrified of them.” She smiled wryly at Zuri’s resulting scowl, while Moondancer suppressed a chuckle.

“I’ll leave you two alone to talk,” Zuri grumbled, exiting the infirmary and going one room over. It was a long room, with clean walls, floor, and ceiling, all painted butter-yellow. There was an island counter in the middle with a stone top. A faucet and sink were on one end, and on the other was a large black rectangle, with four large white circles in it. It was when a cast-iron pot slammed down on one of these circles that Zuri noticed the other occupant of the room.

Zuri peered at the creature. It was like nothing she had ever seen before. It was a quadruped, but only its hindlegs ended in paws. Its forelegs ended in sharp talons. It had a feathered head and front, with a brown backside, and a long, fuzzy tail that ended in a tuft of hair. It was mumbling a peculiar language. It had slitted eyes and no visible ears, but had a large beak accented with a thin, curly mustache.

“Sacré bleu!” The animal shouted, its tail flicking. It had a peculiar accent, one that growled, turning T-H into Z, some W’s becoming much more like V’s. Almost every vowel sounded as if he was in some stage of ejecting a live snake from his throat. “These foodstuffs will not last another week. With this pathetic refrigeration system… How can Rainbow Dash expect me to… augh!” He gave a loud, almost shrill yell as he turned to see Zuri. “Zebra! Zeb–… oh, wait.” He gave a relieved sigh. “You’re just that Zebra that Rainbow hired, who wanted to beat Thunderlane to paste, Oui?” He inflected Oui like one would as if to say yes in the same context, so Zuri nodded.

“What are you?” Zuri asked in a blunt way, still peering at him.

“I am the chef, can’t you tell?” he answered, straightening the tall white hat atop his head proudly. “Perhaps Rainbow has found an especially stupid group of Zebras to drag into her plot…”

“She dragged in a mutant bird like you,” Zuri shot back. He gasped, holding a talon to his chest as if to say, me? Surely not! “And that isn’t what I meant anyway. What are you? I am a Zebra, so what are you?”

“A Gryphon,” he answered again, looking insulted. “What do I look like to you? I am Gustav Gryphon, renowned chef…” He gestured to the kitchen. “Reduced to a mess cook.”

“I’ve never heard of you,” Zuri remarked, cocking her head to a side.

“That is because you are a Zebra,” he said, holding his beak high. “Of course no low-down Zebra is going to know who I am. Only my kind and Ponies, and cows, too, but they’re astrophobic.” Zuri didn’t know what a cow was, or what astrophobic meant, but nodded all the same. Gustav regarded her for a moment, toying with his mustache in a talon. “Blue isn’t a normal color for Zebras, is it?”

“No,” Zuri said, frowning. She seemed to get that question a lot. “It is a birth defect.”

“Ah. Like an extra leg, or a deformed limb,” he said, grinning, somehow, with his beak. That appendage seemed so expressive. How did that bird manage moving it like that?

“No, it is not,” she replied, frowning further. “Those hinder. My color makes me an individual.”

“I wasn’t attempting to offend,” Gustav said, holding up his talons with an innocent expression on his face. “Blue is my favorite color. Reminds me of the wide open sky.”

“The sky isn’t open,” Zuri said, sounding rather simple. “It’s a sky.”

“It’s a saying, Zebra, a figure of speech.” He gave up explaining after she replied with a shrug. “And for your information, I was not dragged in by Rainbow Dash. I was dragged in by my sister, Gilda, when she told me that we would be going to Thardrim station.”

“What station?” Zuri asked.

“Thadrim is a space station, orbiting the planet Teraphim. It is the closest planet to this one.” He sighed wishfully. “Oh, if only she had been telling the truth… I’d be rolling in money and sleeping in a clean bed under a ceiling of metal, not dirt!”

“A ceiling of metal doesn’t seem very safe,” Zuri commented, looking contemplative. “What if it falls on you while you sleep?”

“Humph! Only a Zebra would ask that,” Gustav chuckled. “Silly girl. The metal is very strong, and bolted and riveted with every other piece! It must survive space, so it cannot just fall apart.”

“Oh.” Zuri only felt dumber as more things were explained to her, before she remembered that while Ponies had their hovercraft and space stations and firearms, she had Trancing. She thought of something Gustav said. “Your sister is Gilda?”

“Yes, she is. Gilda used to be the leader of this mercenary group. Then Rainbow Dash came along and ordered new management.” He began moving other things around. “While my sister wasn’t the best boss, Rainbow Dash has come up with this featherbrained idea to steal from a ESSUG train! It’s suicide.”

“ESSUG?” Zuri cocked her head to a side.

“ESSUG. Equestrian-Solar-System-United-Government. Still run by Princess Celestia and her family.”

“I never heard of the ESSUG. I just thought your Princess Celestia was here.”

“Ha!” Gustav’s laugh was loud and strong. “No. Princess Celestia daren’t leave Equestria. It’s her center of power, and she wouldn’t come to some dirty, sandy, muddy rock like this one, not for any reason.”

“Palosol is beautiful,” Zuri said defensively. “My Elders sing of the beauty of the mountains, the far marshes…”

“Palosol is ugly,” Gustav said, deadpan. “Or rather, Palosol is ugly compared to Equestria. It is either too dry or too humid here. The planet can’t decide on itself.”

Zuri frowned at him again. “And then what is so good about Equestria? Or this… space station you wanted to go to? Space stations sound like metal cages floating above planets.”

“The architecture,” Gustav said, proudly. “Thardrim station is a masterfully built complex. And Equestria’s plant life can be seen from orbit! Palosol has tiny patches of green, and then the ‘far marshes’ your Elders sing about? They are a muddy green-brown, like diarrhea.”

Zuri shouted, stamping her hoof as she came closer to the Gryphon. “How dare you compare the Far Marshes to diarrhea! The Far Marshes are wondrous! Full of sights, smells, things you’ll not see anywhere else. Waterfalls, sheer cliffs, statues built in the old times of legendary rulers and influential thinkers. My race takes most their culture from the far marshes!”

“I… uh, apologize again,” Gustav said, looking very alarmed by her outburst. “I had not been made to think that Zebras had… culture.” Zuri bared her teeth, ready to beat him, and Gustav backpedalled, squawking slightly as he spoke. “Sorry, sorry! Nobody told me! Ponies think nothing of you. To them you’re heathen mongrels…”

“And what are we to you?” Zuri asked with narrowed eyes and thinned patience.

“Striped Ponies,” he got out, a little more calmly. “Living in much more harsh conditions, oui?” There was that word again, apparently standing in for yes.

“Why do you speak so strangely, Gryphon?” Zuri asked him.

“My name is Gustav. And I could ask you the same thing. You stumble around the Pony language like an infant would atop a chessboard, Zebra. Your inflections are off, you overly roll your R’s, I could go on…"

“You growl,” Zuri replied, frowning. “You growl and you spit, and with every syllable you sound as if you are attempting to remove a serpent from your gullet, bird. I would say you have as little experience with this language as I do.”

“At least I don’t have such a short temper,” Gustav said, holding his beak high again. “If this is how you treat everyone you meet, how has Rainbow Dash not bucked your joints until you cry for mercy?”

“Because I would break her first,” Zuri’s tone was turning dangerous again, “and she probably knows that.”

“Actually, I’m learning it just now,” came Rainbow Dash’s voice from the doorway. “And could you argue a little quieter, next time? I never knew Zebras could shout. Uzul hardly talks at all unless I ask him a question!” She looked at Gustav. “Hey, Gus! How’s that lunch coming along?”

“What lunch?” Gustav said, groaning. “Unless you plan to eat the cabinets. They would sustain you longer than these so-called protein packs.” He threw several orange squares onto the countertop. “A fly couldn’t live on these!”

“Hey, maybe that’s why there aren’t any flies around here.” Rainbow Dash smiled her big smile at him. “C’mon, cheer up, Gus! We’re getting you brand new crates of ingredients. We’ll be scarfing down lettuces and eclairs before the week is over! Now start warming up some grub. I know we’re not empty yet.”

“We will be after lunch…,” Gustav mumbled, turning to his work.

“As for you,” Zuri turned to look at Rainbow as the pegasus spoke to her. “You’re joining us in the strat-room. Need your Trancer expertise.”

“I thought I told you—”

“You don’t have to Trance, don’t worry! We’ll just be posing some questions.” Rainbow led her out, and into another door on the opposite side of the wall. This new room was as well-kept as the infirmary, only the theme was grey, black, and blue. There was a long black table jutting from the floor, taking up most of the room, with blue icons and symbols and marks all over its surface. Some even floated over the table, as glowing projections in the air. Zuri looked at it a moment, before figuring out it was a top-down map, similar to Druva’s, only covering a much more centralized area. Uzul was on one side, staring at something atop the large display table, with a furrowed brow.

“This is New Appleloosa!” Rainbow announced to Zuri, as they walked up to the table. She drew a blue circle around the cluster of buildings to the west, as indicated by the compass in the upper-right corner of the table, and the buildings rose as a hologram before them. “And… that’s the train station.” Rainbow brought up one building in particular, a long one with a clock centered above the entrance, and a single rail leading off from it. “New Appleloosa doesn’t care too much about security. One time, the old sheriff decided they could win a battle by throwing pies at the enemy. Pies! And everypony went along with it!”

“The real problem is the train.” Uzul entered, nodding to Zuri and smiling. “It’s got guards everywhere, full of technology that I’m hoping someone in Rainbow’s group knows how to disrupt.” He looked to the pegasus.

Her smile was like a waxing moon, bright and growing. “Disrupt? Hell, if we don’t get to keep this thing we’re ripping out every valuable piece of equipment in it.”

“How do we get on?” Zuri asked.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “We force ourselves onto the boarding platform, get rid of anyone in the way, and carve up the security detail once we’re inside. Only one problem…” She touched something else on the table, and it displayed a small circuit-board, looking like a postcard with wires leading from it. “The train’s equipped with an alert system. If someone sounds the alarm on-board, there will be backup, sent straight from Paradise City. We need to make sure nobody touches an alarm button.”

“What does it look like?” Zuri asked. Rainbow brought up a big circle. She moved a hoof over the table, and the circle turned a very noticeable red with a grey rim, clearly marked with an exclamation point. Zuri leaned closer. “So, don’t let anyone touch this?”

“Or touch it yourself. Apparently there’s a lot of accidents where the buttons are pressed by Ponies backing into them.” She snickered. “Puts a new spin on the whole ‘back your butt up!’ thing that those silly warning posters have.” She began mockingly imitating a low-voiced male. “‘Back your butt up! Put it in reverse! Who KNOWS what could be behind THAT door!’” She snickered, before regaining her serious attitude. “Anyway, Zuri, you’ll be going in first, into the middlemost car. You’re a more capable close-combat fighter than half my dudes. Thunderlane was one of my best, and, well, you can see how good he was at taking you on. Against ESSUG security? He’d have no chance!”

“What chance have I, then?” Zuri asked, narrowing her eyes in suspicion. “Is this just to get rid of me in a clean way?”

“Wha…? No! I already said I have Zebras as friends. My point is, you’ve got… a twenty percent better chance at staying alive. Which is twenty percent MORE than Thunderlane! Big difference.”

Zuri thought it best to drop the subject, as she still could not understand Ponies’ words for numerals. “Where do I go from there?”

“You clear the way of all the security. If any hang back and try to kill you from a distance, try to get them close to windows, so we can shoot ‘em out. You’re supposed to be making headway towards the front car, so you can get rid of the driver before he gets things moving.” Rainbow Dash brought up a cross section of the front car, with its nose low to the ground and the conductor within, with him operating levers seemingly at random. A small simulated equine was silently approaching the train driver. “This is an ideal simulation, mind you.” Rainbow pointed out, as the featureless equine smashed the conductor’s face against the wall of the car, and gently lowered him to the floor, now unconscious. “Think you can handle that?”

Zuri smiled. “It will be the first stallion I knock out who doesn’t make a pass at me first.”

“You’re right.” Rainbow replied, smiling at her. “Maybe it’ll be a mare this time!”

Zuri lost her smile very quickly, turning red. “That’s not funny.” Uzul tried to disguise his initial snort with a cough, but after Zuri turned to frown at him, he devolved into snickering.

“Furthermore, we’re first going to pretend like you’re our slaves.” Rainbow continued. “You don’t have to wear cuffs or collars or some crap like that, but we will be pointing some guns in your general direction. Think you can handle that?” It took Zuri longer than she would have liked to say yes. “Well, good! Also, can you survive a couple insults aimed at you, to make the act convincing?”

“Careful.” Uzul warned, in a cautiously humorous tone. “She usually gives beatings to those who insult her.”

6. The Archetype Train Heist

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“You’re going to get a beating from these ESSUG guys,” Druva said, as she nervously shifted her weight. “I’ve seen them strutting about Paradise City before. They tried to bring me in. They don’t mess around.”

“Neither do we,” said a mercenary, whose trembling legs belied the confidence in his voice. They were in the back of a transport craft, much smaller than a wagon like Matchlock’s. It hovered above the ground, thanks to some Pony technology Zuri couldn’t begin to comprehend, with the trunk bed carrying Druva, Zuri, Uzul, and several mercenaries towards New Appleloosa. The driver was in his seat in front of the cargo hold of the small hovercraft, maneuvering the vehicle quickly towards their goal.

All of the mercenaries were armed to the teeth, especially the big ones. Rainbow Dash had blades on her wings, and a tri-barreled cannon on her left side. She was also wearing a bodysuit, dark grey, with extra padding around the joints and at the bases of her wings. Druva had bandoliers full of multicolored potions she had spent the whole day brewing. Uzul had mounted a curious looking weapon on his back. At first glance Zuri thought it was just a large gun, but further inspection confirmed that it was different. A pack was strapped to Uzul’s back, while the weapon itself was mounted so that it pointed past the right side of the Zebra’s head. That end of it consisted of two long, semicircular tubes, one above another, about an inch apart. They had sharp-looking, tiny little disks on either side of them. There was the low hum of electricity emanating from it. Actually, a lot of the Mercenaries’ weapons were accompanied by that hum. Zuri supposed they had spent more money on weapons than they had supplies. At least they seemed well-armed, and, to Zuri, absolutely terrifying. She was able to wedge herself between Druva and a wall, which would be the best cover from all these guns around her. Uzul looked perplexed by the fear in Zuri’s eyes whenever she looked at him, but then remembered the weapon he had mounted on his back, and nodded to the Trancer in understanding. She did not nod back.

They were past the security checkpoint that lead into town, and now were hovering towards the train platform. Rainbow Dash was with them, a big grin on her face. “Oh boy. Wait’ll they get a load of us! They’ll shit bricks when they see Uzul coming at ‘em with an arc bow.” Zuri rested her head on the floor of the transport, trying to ignore the conversation.

“That doesn’t really look like a bow,” Druva said. “Looks more like one of those magnet things that those fancy scientists had. What kind of gun is that? How does the barrel hold the bullet in? It’s all… opened up.”

“It’s something to do with electricity,” Uzul said, tapping the end of the barrel. “It uses magnets to… what were the words you used, Rainbow Dash?”

“It uses electro-magnets to launch a magnetic slug, looking a lot like a crossbow bolt. That one Uzul has is a model named Velocitas eradico.”

“That’s your old language, isn’t it?” Druva asked her.

“Yeah. Gaitin.* Translates to ‘I, who am speed, eradicate.’” She grinned. “It’s real fitting, you’ll see, once you fire it at a couple Ponies.”

The craft halted with a jerk, making everyone in the hold lurch a bit. Zuri was briefly squished between Druva and the wall, and grunted, struggling to her hooves. “Okay, team, get your acting masks on!” Rainbow instructed. Right then, the three Zebras became the Mercenaries’ ‘slaves’, and were directed out of the vehicle first. They wore their cloaks, to hide their weapons from anyone passing by. Next came the six mercenaries, and finally Rainbow Dash, who spread her wings and hovered above the group.

The train station stood before them, with a staircase leading up to tall double-doors. Zuri and her friends were directed to ascend first, with two Ponies at either side, their weapons pointed threateningly at the Zebras. It took all of Zuri’s extra will to resist trembling like a little child attempting to stare down a furious parent. We’re free, she thought encouragingly. We do this and we are free, that much closer to getting home.

They reached and passed through the doors, Rainbow landing beside the Zebras. The Train Station itself was well guarded. An officer stood at every door, and two stood before the train platform, staring straight ahead. “Tickets please,” a mare wearing half-moon spectacles demanded. Her face bowed down, looking at a piece of electric paper as it displayed current events. She tapped her hoof on her desk expectantly. Rainbow made a fake cough, and the mare looked up, and jumped back at the sight of the three Zebras, before she saw the weapons aimed at them, and then Rainbow looming over her.

“Hey, howzit going?” the Pegasus asked, grinning.

“Y-you need tickets, ma-ma’am,” the mare said, though her eyes flickered warily past Rainbow’s weaponry and clothing.

“We do? Nopony told me that. Hey, Lance!” One mercenary turned his head to look at her. “Did you know we needed tickets?”

“No, ma’am. Nopony told me we need no stinking tickets,” he said, grinning.

Rainbow turned to look at the mare again, and smiled. It was a strange smile, combining with the look on her face to say ‘hey, watch this.’ She then clicked her tongue three times, and every mercenary present suddenly whirled around and focused their aim on one guard or another. The two by the door started, and began moving towards the little group. Rainbow slapped Druva’s back with a wing, and the alchemist withdrew a bottle from her bandolier with her teeth. She drew back, and lobbed it with her jaw at the guards. It struck the ground, and bright green smoke exploded out of it, enveloping the two guards. There was heavy wheezing and gagging, and the guards stumbled out of the cloud. Their tongues had swelled up, and their eyes were crossed unnaturally. Muffled and blinded, they both fell to the ground, writhing. Druva pumped her hoof in the air, giving a triumphant, “Yes!”

“So, lady,” Rainbow said, smiling at the mare trembling behind the desk. “Would you like to have what those gentlecolts had, or should I just knock you out the old fashioned way?"

“N-neither!” she protested, trying to look assertive. “I’ll hit the panic button before you hit me!”

“Really, now?” Rainbow said, chuckling, and turning her gaze to Zuri. “Hey Zuri, draw!”

Though Zuri did not understand the joke, she did understand her cue. In the blink of an eye, she struck the mare with one fore-hoof to the face. She crumpled to the floor, incapacitated, and made no other noise. The mercenary group vaulted over the desk, still watching the guards with careful eyes. A train was just pulling up to the station, gradually grinding to a halt.

“That’s our ride!” Rainbow said, winging over to the platform doors and signaling for her group to follow. Brief gunshots brought out cries of pain from each of the guards, as one or both of their forelegs were hit with a bullet or arrow. Uzul himself was running with Zuri and Druva towards the platform. The sound of the train applying its breaks had concealed the shots fired from anyone onboard, and so Rainbow regained her kind manner as she approached the doors to the middlemost car.

A stallion outfitted in uniform with a cap atop his head stepped out before her, glaring down at her. “This train is for cargo transport, not for passengers. Go back inside, lady. We're unloading.”

Rainbow smiled a convincingly meek smile. “Uh, heh, funny story about that….” She held up her hooves in a shrug, only to grab his head between them, and throw him down onto the floor, smashing his snout onto the platform. “This train is no longer yours!” He came up again, aiming a swing at her. He connected, but she only grunted, and swung to one side. He went to grab for her wing, not seeing the wickedly sharp blade attached to it until it was cutting into his forelegs. He howled in agony, wheedling away and trying to stand on deeply-cut legs. She came in again, slicing him across the face with her wing-blades. He fell down, with his face bruised and bleeding badly. She sighed, rubbing the welt on her face where he hit her.

“Guh. Zuri, get in here and walk in before me. You’re much better at not getting hurt,” Rainbow Dash ordered. Zuri obeyed, and Druva was right along with her. Uzul stayed next to Rainbow Dash. “You two go towards the front car. We and the mercs can start clearing out the back.”

Zuri and Druva moved to the door leading to the next car ahead, and looked through the window. Sure enough, there were Ponies in there, standing around, chatting amidst a number of crates. The door automatically slid open, something that surprised Druva and Zuri, enough for the Ponies inside to notice them, shout a warning, and aim their firearms at them. One of the Ponies approached an alarm button, and neared it with his hoof.

...Then his hoof was not there any more, and Zuri’s ears were ringing. The alarm button was smattered with blood, and the potential whistle-blower was on the floor, convulsing. A metal rod was stuck in the side of his head, crackling with electricity. It crackled a bit more, as it fried the Pony’s brain and head, leaving a very large black spot all around the entry wound.

“What!?” one of the Ponies shouted, not taking any time to check on his dead compatriot and instead choosing to hide behind a stack of boxes. Uzul had fired his arc-bow with precision accuracy, aiming the shot between Druva’s and Zuri’s heads, right for the Pony he had hit. Zuri ducked and dragged the stunned Druva down with her, as Uzul fired again and again, electrically charged bolts leaping over their striped heads and embedding themselves in cargo boxes and cargo guards alike.

Rainbow Dash was cheering him on as he landed at least one bolt in every Pony in the car, and then relaxed. “Damn, Uzul!” she laughed, clapping her hooves. “You’re a deadeye shot! We should set you up with a rifle or something… but later! Zuri and Druva can take care of themselves.” She eyed them. “Riiiight?” They nodded. “Good! Move!”

They moved, stepping over the corpses of Uzul’s targets, as they moved to the next car. This one and the next were unoccupied, filled only with boxes. They continued further, this time coming across two stallions and two mares playing cards over a crate. Zuri crouched low, and Druva followed her example as they crept into the train car, trying to stay low to the ground. Once again, it was Zuri who remained absolutely silent. A few of Druva’s clumsier steps resulted in one or more of the Ponies looking up for a moment, tapping at the crate the card game was being played upon, shrugging, and returning their attention. It was only when Zuri got closer that she heard ragged breathing, and saw little holes at the top of the crate. There was something alive in there, and the Ponies were treating the box as just another piece of lifeless cargo. She wondered what could be within, but had no chance to guess before one mare, a unicorn, looked up and saw her.

“Intruders!” she shouted, and the others immediately turned around. One of them had a gun and another had wing blades, but the mare who had saw them instead lit up her horn, scowling fiercely in concentration.

“Zuri! Help!” came Druva’s cry. Zuri looked back to see Druva being levitated into the air. She flailed helplessly with her hooves, trying to get back to the floor. Before she could turn again, one of the stallions fell upon her, pinning her beneath him.

“Hey! This one looks like that one on the bounty poster!” he yelled to the others. Zuri smacked him in the face with one hoof, but not hard enough. “Ha! Gonna take more than that to get ridda me, girly!” he sneered at her. There was a smashing of glass, and his sneer turned into a dumb, dazed look. He flopped down right on top of Zuri, forcing her to struggle to push him off. Druva had dropped one of her potion bottles on his head from above.

The resulting smoke was purple this time, and Zuri held her breath, shutting her eyes as she dove through it towards the crate, slamming herself against it. The unicorn mare was still right behind it, and shrieked as the large animal-occupied box fell upon her, crushing her. The animal inside emitted a similar cry, the buzz of insectile wings and the stumble of hooves accompanying it. Druva fell from the air as the unicorn’s magic abruptly ceased. She hit the ground and immediately reeled back, holding her breath against the purple fog that was quickly filling the train car.

The other stallion, the one with a weapon, was staring at the purple smoke in alarm, seeing it apparently bloom up from the back of his friend’s head. “Did I just shoot Flinger?” he asked himself aloud. “Maybe Sunflower was right… his head is full of smooaaack!” He gagged as he inhaled the smoke. Zuri watched him with curiosity, as he stumbled around, drooling thick purple saliva. His eyes had gone glassy. It was obviously some intense drug that Druva had brewed, for the express purpose of completely intoxicating its victims. It was obvious the poor stallion could not so much as see straight, as he stumbled around, groaning.

“Lock Latch!” cried the other mare, another pegasus. “Dammit, what did you do to him?” She ran at Zuri, who ducked, and grabbed the mare as she ran by. The Zebra threw her into the wall, knocking her out. Druva crawled under the floating violet fog, to Zuri’s side.

“Quick, let’s go before we inhale any of that stuff,” she said, and they moved on. The conductor and his station at the front of the train were only one car ahead. He was sitting before the control console, singing a tune listlessly, apparently waiting for some sign or message. Zuri had Druva stay by the door with another potion at hoof, as she crept closer and closer to him.

“Ah’ve been workin’ on the railroad…” he sang, obviously bored. “All the live-long day… I’ve been workin’ on the railroad, just to wait for my brain to rot… Eeyup. This is the life.” As Zuri approached him, she realized how big he was. Not fat, but muscular, with a tall neck and big jaw. His voice was deep and low. Everything about this stallion radiated power. His coat was red, and his mane and tail were a dark sandy blond color. He had especially long, unshorn fetlocks.

Zuri approached him slowly, her hooves not making a sound. Once she came within reach, she grabbed either side of his head. Before he had time to make a sound, she threw him at the left wall, smashing his face against it. That was easy. She thought, smiling, before a hindleg shot up, and hit her square in the chest. It threw her against the opposite wall, knocking the wind out of her. She gasped, feeling as if her ribcage had imploded. Somehow, she was still breathing and her heart still beating. A few breaths assured her that nothing was broken, though several bruises made themselves painfully obvious.

“What in the hay was THAT?” came the low voice of the stallion again, as he turned around and stared at her. “Aw, darn…” he said, sighing. “A Zebra? Here? Look, Ah’m awful sorry, ma’am, but Ah can’t let ya knock me ‘round like that.” He neared her, and she immediately moved, skirting to his left side and coming in for another strike. She did hit him, square in the jaw, but it just made his head turn, apparently harmlessly. He kicked her again, making her gasp, eyes bug out, as she slammed against the control console.

“Don’t get me wrong. Ah really don’t like hurtin’ anyone,” he said, in his slow, low drawl. “But if ya’ll make me, Ah will.”

“Druh… druh…” Zuri gasped, the blows to her chest having a terrible effect. Druva did get the message, and lobbed another potion. This one hit the stallions back, and emitted a green sludge.

The enormous stallion stopped in his approach of Zuri, to look at his back. “Uhh… Not that I’m kinda sick of all those red october jokes, but… this ain’t really the time or place for a new coat color,” he remarked, as it oozed around onto his hindlegs. He began nearing Zuri again, but even slower, and slower. “What the hay?” he said, looking at his legs, smattered with the green gunk. It was beginning to solidify, and he could not move. This gave Zuri enough time to recover, and hit him again. She whirled around, aiming a buck at him with her hindlegs. He grunted, and fell on his side, like a statue tipped unceremoniously over.

She neared him, and kicked him twice in the face. It didn’t knock him out, but he was dazed for the moment, long enough for Druva to pour another solidifying potion on him.

“Well, that went well!” Druva said, smiling broadly. Zuri nodded slowly, as she lowered herself to the floor. Stars, her chest hurt. She groaned, clutching at it with her forelegs. Breathing hurt. Holding her head up hurt. But the floor was cool, and solid. Hard, maybe, but still comfortable so long as she had her cloak. They had done it. The train was theirs. Maybe she could just take a nap for the moment. That sounded lovely.

———

“Zuri? Hey, Zuri!” Druva shook her friend vigorously. “Come on, wake up! This isn’t the time for a nap! Oh… Melose.” She let Zuri rest on the floor. She was still breathing, so she couldn’t be dead… yet. Druva looked around. Her eyes came to rest on the former conductor, now a prisoner of the green gunk.

“So,” she said to him, not speaking in Zebric. “Do you work out?” What am I doing? She had nothing else to do, as they waited for the mercenaries. She might as well socialize. If she were going back to Paradise City, she’d need to work on her civil tongue, even on a stallion like this, who may have beaten her friend’s insides to a pulp with just a few hits.

The red stallion looked up at her, confused at her behavior, before replying. “Uh, no. Ah used to, farmin’ apples and stuff, but Ah’m a bit far from home fer that.”

“Yeah,” Druva conceded. “Palosol just doesn’t have the right soil for apple farming.”

“Somepony told me that in a couple o’ years, that Frontier Forest place would be a good place to start.” He said.

 “Really? Didn’t look like that when we were there… um, what’s your name?”

“Big Macintosh,” he replied, looking at her with his emerald eyes.

“I’m Druva, Druva Non-ni Altra,” she said, laying down next to Zuri, and poking at her cheek to see if she’d respond. She did nothing but sigh and roll over like a rag doll. “I’m an alchemist.” She gestured to the glop that was holding him down.

“I’m a conductor, retired apple-farmer.” He sighed. “Probably gonna be a retired conductor after this, too, if y’all let me live.”

“I couldn’t kill you,” Druva said. “I just don’t have the strength left to do it. Maybe if I glazed your face with this soldifying potion…” She shivered. “No, I couldn’t. I’ve never actually killed anyone before, not even a Pony.”

“Has she?” Big Macintosh looked at Zuri when he asked.

“She has. Or, I think she has. She’s at least beaten a lot of Ponies to paste,” Druva said, pulling the unconscious blue Zebra to her side. “She’s usually pretty quiet, and really scary with what she can do, but she’s my friend, I suppose.”

“Friend. Good. A Pony without a friend is never a good thing.” Big Macintosh coughed. “Uh, or a Zebra. Ah don’t think much of the difference, if there is one.”

“I think so,” Druva said, a little miffed. “You’re from a totally different planet.”

“But we’re both Equines,” Macintosh said. “We walk on four legs, we gallop, we have friends, culture, the rest. Maybe the details are different, but the idea’s the same.”

“Like you all being oppressive bigots,” Druva pointed out with venom.

“Do ya see me callin’ you a… what’s the word… a ‘stripey’? Nnnnope. No ma’am. Ah think of y’all as a… distant relative, like a twenty-seventh removed cousin, or somethin’.” He said, looking at her. “Does that make sense?”

Druva wasn’t sure. This stallion apparently thought of Zebras as just a different kind of Pony. It was true, she had noticed so many similarities between her and the Ponies she had been living near in Paradise City. Maybe he had a point. A strong one.

“As Ah was sayin’, Ma’am. Friends are important, one of mah own friends told me that. The best ones look out for ya, stay with ya, protect ya against some twisted kinds of evils. What’s that one done for you?”

“She set me free,” Druva said, without having to think. “I’m more thankful for that than she knows. She let me and every Zebra imprisoned with me go. The rest of them died, but one other, she, and I all stayed alive. A unicorn just held me up, making me float around like a toy, and she went for that one first. She’s done a lot. She even got me my cauldron back.” She patted the outline of the Vuiol wrapped around her body.

“Sounds like some friend,” Big Macintosh said, grinning. “Reminds me an awful lot of a group of friends Ah know. Ah’m sorry Ah hit her so hard, Ah was just defendin’ myself. If Ah could Ah’d rather just let her at the controls. Ah guess you could say that Ah’m a Zebra sympathizer.”

“I doubt it’d help. She hardly knows how to operate anything Ponies make. You should have seen her try and use a toilet. She made such a mess that I was glad the floor was mostly dirt.” She snickered, and he chuckled with her.

“Ya shouldn’t be talkin’ about that kinda thing with some stranger like me,” Big Macintosh said, though he was still grinning. “She might not like it.”

“If she doesn’t she is welcome to wake up and punch me. I’m sure she would, anyway.”

“Well, alright,” Big Macintosh said, before craning his neck, which was still free, and peering at Zuri. “Is blue a normal color?”

“You know, I’ve never asked her about that,” Druva said, looking at her friend’s blue stripes curiously. “Maybe I should, when she comes to.”

“She is still breathin’, right?” Macintosh asked, a look of worry on his big face.

“Yes. I think it would take a lot more than that to kill her. She’s fairly resilient, from what I have seen.”

“Ah, good,” Macintosh said, relaxing. “Ah’d never forgive mahself if Ah killed anypony. Ah know, kinda weird because I was hittin’ her like a train hittin’ a cow, but Ah didn’t wanna kill her.”

“I think I believe you,” Druva said, slightly smiling at him.

Just then, Rainbow Dash and Uzul burst through the car door, and stumbled before they saw Big Macintosh laying glued to the floor. “Druva… what in the world is on this guy? And what happened to Zuri?” Rainbow asked, looking back up at the Zebra.

“Uh… The big one knocked her out, and I glued him to the floor. Not in that order, if that makes sense.” Druva said, looking like a deer caught in the headlights.

“It doesn’t,” Uzul said, his face showing his confusion.

“Wha-hey!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, as she walked around and saw Big Macintosh’s exposed head. “Big Mac!”

“Z’at you, Rainbow Dash?” He asked, blinking up at her.

“Sure is! Still the fastest flier you’ve met, definitely! What are you doing operating an ESSUG train?” Rainbow asked him, smiling enthusiastically.

“Oh… wanted t’explore space. Signed up for ESSUG civilian duty, and, well, they stuck me here.” He shrugged. “Was hopin’ to pipe some money back to the farms on Equestria, but… Ah’m guessin’ you’re puttin’ a stop to that.”

“Well, if I’d known you were here, I’d get you out of the line of fire, first!” Rainbow said, looking a little dismayed. “Shit, Mac, are you okay?”

“Ah’m fine. Head’s a little sore, but ya need to worry about that one over there, if she’s one’a yours.” He nodded towards the unconscious Zuri, who had curled up in her sleep. “She just kinda sat down and closed her eyes. Probably did a number on her chest.”

“Aw hay, Mac, if you had a go at her she might as well be dead. Uh… Druva, you know anything about caring for the ill?” Rainbow asked, adding in an undertone, “‘Cause I don’t.”

“Just that she should just sleep for now, and if she wakes up we should be really grateful,” Druva answered, looking at Zuri with worry.

“Well, in the meantime, DAMN! We got ourselves a friggin’ train! This is so awesome!” Rainbow made a strange face, squishing her cheeks with her hooves. “Hey, Mac, would you like a lift back to Equestria?”

“Sure would. S’been months since Ah saw Smith or Applebloom.”

“Cool! We’re gonna go get the money to maintain our ship. S’why we needed the train, by the way. You can still operate it if you like!”

“Sounds mighty fine to me.” Macintosh smiled. “Who’s that Zebra with the Arc Bow?”

“This is Uzul,” Rainbow said, wrapping a hoof around Uzul’s shoulders. “This guy could hit a fly off of an earmuff from two miles away! Aw man, you should’a seen him, Druva! He was strutting in there, firing bolts this way and that. Every single one’a them hit something important. He’s a natural.”

Uzul was turning red from the gushing. “Oh, come now. I missed sometimes.”

Rainbow ignored him, getting more excited. “And in the car after the one we entered, it was full of Ponies who actually knew how to use cover. I couldn’t hit them worth squat. So I got pissed off, cuz I got a short temper, and charged in! If it weren’t for this guy, right here.” She pointed exaggeratively at Uzul. “I’d be dead, blown to bits! He nailed the guy right between the eyes who got me pinned down. He’s my freaking hero!” Without any more warning, she suddenly grabbed Uzul by the face and kissed him. Uzul went wide-eyed, having no idea how to react. He just sat there, blushing a brilliant red even when Rainbow disconnected her face from his. “And he’s got a damn good kissing mouth too!” she finished with a smug grin.

Druva laughed at this, making a gagging motion with a hoof, just to rub it in. “Ewww! Interspecies relationships! Uzul, don’t do that kinda thing in front of me!” she giggled.

“I wasn’t—” Uzul began, but he cut himself off, bowed his head, and tried to hide his reddened face.

Big Macintosh gave a low laugh. “Don’t be so sour ‘bout it, mister,” he said, grinning. “Ah tried to get that mare to kiss me for years, and you were able to get it done in less than an hour.”

“I wasn’t trying!” Uzul protested, trying to edge away from Rainbow Dash, but she grabbed him again, rubbing her cheek against his.

“Shuddup, Uzul, and just sit there,” she told him. “I’ll radio in the rest of my troops, and Druva, get Mac off the floor. We need him to operate the train.”

“You got it!” Druva said, smiling down at Big Macintosh as she picked another potion from her bandolier, this one simply marked, in Zebric runes, ‘Undo.’ Dribbling this all over the green glop that stuck to his body, she watched as it began to sizzle. The material holding Big Macintosh down gradually wore away, and he was able to stand up.

“Thanks, ma’am.” He said, nodding at her as he stretched. She smiled, and got out of his way as he neared the console again.

And thank you Zuri, for setting me free, Druva thought, reminding herself that she still needed to properly thank the Trancer. She should probably remind Uzul that he should renew his own thanks.

Fairly soon, Rainbow’s mercenaries began arriving en masse, loading onto the train. Rainbow asked them as they arrived, “Have any trouble coming aboard?”

One answered, “Well, there was this one mare who screamed at every one of us, from one corner of the station.” After that, they had apparently ensured that the desk clerk was properly restrained with some tape they found behind one of the doors the guards had been guarding. Some sympathetic mercenaries had tended to the wounds of some of the fallen guards.

Eventually, all fifty of Rainbow Dash’s mercenaries were on board, and Macintosh started the train at a slow pace, gradually picking up speed as they drew away from New Appleloosa, to the east, and towards Paradise City. The mercenaries were jollier than before. They finally would have more supplies, more money, more everything. They could have all that was on this train, and a quick search revealed that it contained a lot. Some crates carried food, and others, weapons. One had a personal flying vehicle, a float-scooter. Rainbow Dash claimed that one, and relocked the crate herself and put it off to the side, saying it would be a gift to “a little squirt of a friend” back on Equestria. The one crate that apparently had a creature inside was unique. Rainbow Dash and her lieutenant, Moondancer, stood, looking at it. Druva and Uzul peered at it as well.

“Do we open it?” Moondancer asked Rainbow, who shrugged. 

“I wanna know what’s in it, first. Is there any label?”

“Not one that we could see,” Druva said, “but we heard yelping and buzzing, and heavy breathing. It could be barely alive, or really scared. Zuri and I didn’t have time to check. In fact, the only thing we did with it was tip it on it’s side, to squish a mare.” The crate was still like that, with the mare still under it. Big Macintosh was selected to move the crate back, which he did with as much ease as one would push open a door. He did it carefully, knowing full well that something was alive in there. The mare underneath it no longer was.

“There’s a label on this side,” Macintosh said. Curiosity directed everyone to gather around that particular side, and look closely at the little paper tab for any clues as to what lay within.

“Says it contains… ‘one adolescent Amorpha Insecarequus Regalis,’” Big Macintosh read aloud.

“That’s Gaitin,” Moondancer said, in slow recognition, then gasped. “That box has a changeling in it!” Macintosh looked up in alarm, and Rainbow Dash gaped. Several nearby ponies all looked around, wide-eyed. Uzul and Druva just stood there, not comprehending. “And not just any changeling,” Moondancer continued. “There’s a Queen in there.”

“A Queen Changeling?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Here? Why in the hell would anyone ship a Changeling, on Palosol of all places!? ‘New! Demonic shapeshifters, half price, free shipping! Return order by mail if not one-hundred-percent satisfied!’” She groaned, and glared at the crate, then looked up at Uzul and Druva. “You know what’s in there? A bug. A really big, really dangerous bug. A changeling can turn into anything it wants, any shape, any animal, doesn’t matter. They feed off of emotions, mostly love, and usually they decide to get involved in a couple, getting rid of one partner or the other, and replacing them. They’re impostors.”

“I’ve never even heard of them,” Druva said, and Uzul nodded in response.

“That’s because they don’t live on Palosol. They’re not native to here! They come from Equestria, and that means someone wanted this Changeling, here, and sent it from Equestria,” Rainbow swore, beginning to pace around. “This changes everything. Anyone who’s powerful and ballsy enough to bag up a changeling, or steal one of their eggs is someone who means serious business. And right now, we’re hi-jacking the train that their serious business is on. They’ll be out for our heads if they find out we’ve got our hooves on this thing! Oh, and it gets even worse. Any normal changeling and this would be a bad situation, but this is a Queen! One that can reproduce like crazy, and she’s bigger, meaner, and smarter than any other one.”

“Then should we kill it?” Moondancer asked her.

“I don’t even know if you can,” Rainbow said, slumping back and rubbing her forehead. “The only other time I saw one, it was shot out of a city by a concentrated shockwave of magic, and it was still howling and yelling as it flew through the air until it got control of itself again. One bright side is…” She looked at the crate again. “This box is way too small for that queen to fit in, no matter how she sat. No, the one in here isn’t matured yet. Which means it might be more vulnerable.”

“Shouldn’t we open it first?” Druva asked. “Make sure it’s not just some poor sod mistaken for a Changeling?”

“You can’t get mistaken for a Changeling,” Rainbow said, rolling her eyes. “They’re pretty distinctive. Slitted eyes, black chitin-skin, fangs, bug wings, hooves with holes in them… And because it’s a queen, this one probably has a mane and tail too, full of holes and sagging as if she’s just found out her fifth birthday party has been ruined by a terrible fire that also killed her dog.” She shivered. “They’re creepy.”

“Sounds to me from your extensive analogy that they’re just really depressed,” Uzul replied, furrowing his brow. “I wish to at least see first, if you’re going to kill her.”

“Actually,” Moondancer spoke up, “since this one is youthful, we might be able to convince her to work with us, especially if she’s never had any real interaction with changelings before. She might have been hatched in captivity.”

“But we don’t know that.” Rainbow persisted. “It could also have been raised by some maniac to be a special-trained killer. Hell, it already had half the requirements to meet that standard when it was born. It’s a freaking shapeshifter!”

“It also sounded pretty freaked out, when Zuri tipped the crate over,” Druva pointed out. “Its voice was a little strange, but it sounded like some early adolescent was stuck in there.”

“That’s how they fool you,” Rainbow continued to doubt. “They can turn into any kind of adolescent they want! It’s probably feeding off your sympathy for it right now!”

“Then I want to look her in the face when I say ‘stop eating my emotions,’” Uzul said, and looked at Big Macintosh. “Will you help me open this?”

Macintosh was quiet for a moment, then replied, “Well, okay, but if the bug won’t listen to reason Ah’m stepping on it.”

“Mac! What are you doing?” Rainbow shouted, looking desperate. “There is a MONSTER inside that box! What if it bites your head off? OooooOOOOoOoOooOooo!” She held her hooves up above her head as she made that ghost-like sound.

“Now you’re just bein’ silly, Rainbow. C’mon, admit it, ya wanna talk to it too,” Macintosh said, chuckling. Rainbow Dash opened her mouth, shut it, opened again, and then turned away shaking her head.

“Fine, fine,” she finally replied. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you!” She made a harumph, and did not turn to look at them.

Uzul and Macintosh found the edges of the crate lid, and began pushing upwards on it. The nails bent and creaked, as the top came away. Inside there was a bed of straw, somewhat tumbled around from all the crate’s motion. On the bed lay an alarming creature, matching Rainbow’s description. It had a shimmery, black body, with dull blue-green mane and tail that looked lifeless and unkempt, somehow full of holes. It had insect-like wings, that twitched occasionally. Its hooves were also full of holes. It had fangs, and cat-like, green eyes that glowed in the lowered light of the crate as it looked up at them. Despite all this, its form still vaguely resembled a Pony’s.

Druva peered in too, and found its shape, however alien, to be feminine, especially since whenever it blinked, long eyelashes swept down, and came up again. The eyelids were a strange, dark, over-saturated turquoise, a similar color to the hair. Druva also noticed the little shape atop the changeling’s head, right before the backward-curving horn atop its head that was, like the hooves, full of holes. The shape was like a crown, with three tubules coming off of it ending in little glowing green bulbs. Obviously irremovable, like some sort of old royal headwear that had been absorbed into the head.

The Changeling stared up at her liberators, hardly making a sound save for when her wings twitched. Her eyes were wet with faint-green tears, which she hurriedly blinked away. She sniffled, and said in a strange, quiet rasp, “What are you going to do to me?”

7. Whence One Came

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"Focus, girl." Dunnur said, in what most thought was encouragement. "Focus, and accept the heat." A younger Zuri's eyes were aglow, as she stared intensely at the wide bowl with rippling water in it. Her body was getting hotter and hotter, yet she was unworried. She had done this before, frequently, gradually taking more and more of the heat into her body, and out of the water. Dunner, wiry and middle-aged, lay on a thin cushion to her left, watching her progress with hidden intent, his silver-grey mane combed down neatly to either side of his head in a fashion adopted by most Elders of Otoul.

Zuri inhaled and exhaled slowly, tense with concentration. The water's rippling was slowing with every second, as the Trancer apprentice gradually sucked out all the heat, making her internal temperature rise. She was sweating by the time the water grew still, and gasping for cool air when the bowl's contents suddenly froze over. Dunnur let out a contemplative hm! and Zuri relaxed a little, still gasping slightly. The filly was tired, as any should be at that age; a young child hardly had the energy a full grown, fully-trained Trancer had. So, it made her all the happier when Dunnur spoke, "Well done, girl. You've shortened the time it took by minutes. It took you seconds, this time. I expect the next attempt to be shorter, if you want to learn The Sight."

"Yes, Sir Teacher." Zuri panted obediently, smiling slightly as she bowed her head in respect. One always was respectful to The Dunner, especially if one was his student.

"Do not, however, think that this separates you from the others, little Sara." He continued, his tone becoming more stern. "Oun-Drii only defines class outside of this room. I know you were arguing with your fellow students yesterday."

"I am sorry, Sir Teacher." Zuri said, flinching at the memory, and began to explain, "They were mocking my parents. I was honor-bound to defend them."

"You are not honor-bound to do anything, little Sara girl." Dunnur's tone was stern, and reprimanding. "You are a mere child, you have no obligations other than to learn. Though as I understand it, you won the argument through words and not force. Is that true?" Zuri nodded slowly, still unsure of Dunnur's intent of bringing this up. "Well I can't very well trust your saying. You're only a child, and children lie, but mine eyes do not." He did not speak, probably expecting her to respond in some way. She did not, save for looking up at him. She was no longer panting, having mostly recovered from the trancing. He was look at her with his analytical expression, his lips pursed in thought. After another moment or two, he let out, "Hm! Well, no reason to stay here longer, girl. Lessons are over, you've strained your gift enough for the day, working on this bowl of water."

"Yes, Sir Teacher. Thank you, Sir Teacher." Zuri said, bowing herself out of Dunnur's tall house, and into the streets of Otoul's Oun-Drii district.

Otoul was a big place, fitting, since it was the seat of economy and culture, though bodies of law—Arbiters and the like—had difficulty passing between cities at this time of year. Samā was the most dangerous season, for those Zebras who lived in Palosol's deserts. One couldn't take a step outside without getting sunburnt and a rash from the sand hitting the side of your body, usually tearing any clothing off. It went on for five thirty-day-long months, until it finally began to settle. Then the Gau-Aer could trade again, the Arbiters could move, Trancers could explore or do the bidding of their elders, Alchemists could recieve their ingredients, etc. It was why the following five-month season was called Midzwei, meaning Returning to normal.

Zuri passed several Zebras on the wide, smooth, but dusty streets of her caste's district. Some waved at her, some others nodded in respect or cordiality. She always thought it was funny. Her fellow filly and colt would always say hello, or at least offer to include her in a game of Seeker-Sneaker, as she walked by. While most Zebras who recognized the bright gold rings around her neck that bore her family's crest showed her a level of politeness that she felt was most fit for boring formal gatherings. So she found it much more satisfying when a pair of Gau-Aer merchants crossing the road jumped a little, seeing the large ring about her neck.

"Stars. They let her scamper about in front of us?" One merchant said to the other. Zuri stopped before them, brushing her mane out of her face to stare up at the two adults.

"Heir of House Sara, if that colt is married off like they planned. Hello, young Oun-Drii Lady, how do you fair?"

"Well and good, Sir and Madam Merchant." Zuri said, adding a little too much ornate inflection in her voice to be wholly taken seriously. She wasn't quite at the age where she realized her status and the amount by which she out-ranked most Zebras. For added effect, she half-mocked a curtsey. "And how fair you during Samā?"

"Her speech is excellent for her apparent age. Forgru was not lying after all." Said one to the other, before she addressed Zuri directly. "Most respectfully, My Lady, how old are you?"

"I am in early pubescence, Madam Merchant." Zuri said without batting an eyelid. "How old are you?" She couldn't help a smile.

"Young and well enough, My Young Lady." She said after a pause, obviously a little taken aback by the child's suddenly froward question. Zuri knew it wasn't polite to ask a grown Zebra that question, but she thought it funny how they responded when she did.

"You best be on your way, My Young Lady." The other Merchant said, smiling slightly behind his partner's back. "Your family best know where you are at most times of day."

Zuri nodded, smiling, as she quickly departed and continued on her way to the tall set of buildings that was the Oun-Drii Sara estate.

———

Zuri awoke feeling only slightly groggy, and found herself on a a softly cushioned bed in one of the train cars. The Zebra pushed her mane out of her face with one hoof, blinking her eyes to acclimate to the light. The light hummed from electric lights all along the train car’s ceiling. It was night outside. There was the constant growl and hum of the train moving along the rail at an alarming speed. She looked around. The bed rested on a large crate, and looked to be much more comfortable than the floor. There were crates all around her, piled up, some draped with cloth, some with weapons or other equipment protruding out of them.

Zuri sat up, and climbed down off of the crate. Her cloak was nearby, but she did not feel that she needed it. She was apparently among friends, if they had taken the time to give her decent bedding. The Trancer moved to look out one window, pressing her nose against the glass pane. It was dark, but the light of the train illuminated flatlands and hills to her. It reminded her of the desert, only with more plants, which were hard to make out. The speed of the train turned them into green blurs.

Zuri turned, and walked to the door. It slid open automatically in front of her. Like before, there was a group of Ponies talking, but instead of firing at her, they waved and smiled, greeting her as warmly as her brother did. She, blinking, attempted a smile, which they received happily. They made way for her as she walked by, and her smile changed to a look of perplexity. The mercenaries had not looked so happy to see her before, especially not when Rainbow Dash announced her importance to the job. Perhaps their opinion of her changed when she proved useful in taking the train. That seemed the most likely.

The next car held more evidence to support this. There were benches on either wall of the car, and bunks mounted on the tall ceiling, likely for the guards to use to rest. Uzul lay on one bench, with Rainbow Dash facing him. Zuri could not see what they were doing. Druva sat nearby, speaking quietly with a most bizarre animal. Black chitin-skin, bug-wings, fangs…

The Changeling noticed Zuri first, and held up a holed hoof, pointing at the Trancer. Another stallion looked up. He was the big red one she had fought, which startled Zuri at first, before she realized Druva was standing up to walk towards her with the red stallion next to her.

“Zuri, you’re awake!” Druva exclaimed excitedly, and ran to briefly embrace her. This surprised Zuri, but she accepted the hug all the same. The large stallion was looking down at her, his face unreadable. The alchemist drew away, still smiling. “I never got to really thank you.”

Zuri was confused. Why all the sudden happiness out of taking down a few ponies? “All I did was help steal a train,” she said, shrugging.

“Not that!” Druva said, shaking her head. “You freed me. You got me out of New Dodge Junction, alive and with all my things.”

Zuri blushed a little. “I was already thanked for that.”

“Uzul did. I didn’t. I was stuck in there longer than him. I had to deal with Ramrod and his minions longer, and you got me out. I never got to thank you properly.”

Zuri smiled, and felt both humbled and gratified at the same time. “It was the right thing to do. And now you’re the closest thing to a friend I have, besides Uzul.”

“Closest? Zuri, have you ever even had any friends? I think I’m the first one.” Druva chuckled. “From how you’ve acted, you’re more used to settling disputes than you are setting up bridges.” Her chuckle turned to a laugh. “I’m a friend to an Oun-Drii Lady! My mother would be proud of my accomplishments, I can tell you. And, uh...” She leaned in to whisper in Zuri’s ear. “Uzul might have more than us for friends now. He and that Pegasus get along like a boat on water. Odd, isn’t it?”

Zuri smirked, both at Druva’s subtle joke and how red Uzul’s cheeks were as his gaze went from Rainbow to her. “Oh, and this is Big Macintosh,” Druva said, gesturing to the red stallion, who nodded to Zuri.

“Ah’m awful sorry Ah hit ya so hard, ma’am,” he began, looking somber. “Ah understand what you were tryin’ to do. Workin’ for Rainbow Dash means ya do some weird things, but, Ah can forgive her for it, and forgive you for carryin’ out her directions.”

“To be clear,” Zuri said, frowning. “I’m not so much working for Rainbow Dash as much as us both benefitting from helping one another, or so I was lead to believe.”

“Well, either way, Ah apologize, and Ah hope it’s accepted,” he finished, smiling shyly at her.

“There’s one other introduction to make, since we’re gonna be on this train for a bit,” Druva said, prodding Big Macintosh out of the way to make way for the insectile equine with holes in her hooves, hair, and wings. “This is Chrys. She is what Rainbow Dash calls a Changeling.”

Chrys was a little shorter than Zuri. Zuri looked down at her in mild confusion and interest. The Changeling looked back at her, a timid expression on her face. “Someone told me you’re the reason I’m free,” she said, quietly, so that her odd voice would not alarm. She got closer, her green, slitted eyes glowing. “Thank you, Zebra. Thank you.” There was meaningful gratitude in the creature’s voice, but Zuri couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something else there too, some other unplaced emotion. Positive, surely, but still hard to read. She shrugged the feeling off. The animal looked so strange, but so happy. Best not to muck up that happiness with suspicion.

Zuri smiled at her, and nodded. “You are welcome,” she said simply. This got a smile out of the Changeling, as she backed shyly away, and took a seat back on one of the benches, giggling quietly and fluttering her wings.

“Hey, Zuri!” Rainbow Dash called, having turned her head and waving her wing in greeting. “Get over here! Got something to say.”

Zuri approached the Pegasus, who was still beside Uzul. Uzul smiled up at her, though he was blushing. Rainbow was wearing a happy grin on her face. “So, Zuri. We’re right on track,” she said, cheerily.

“I can see that,” Zuri nodded.

“I mean that multiple ways. We’re ‘on track’ to Paradise City.” She gestured with a wing to one of the nearest windows. “But I’m also ‘on track’ with someone else.” By way of suggestion, she poked Uzul in the ear with a wing. Uzul winced, his face reddening. “And I’m asking you, since you’re technically the reason he’s here, if you’re gonna have any problem with me snugging up to Uzul here!”

Zuri had to think. It was definitely funny to see Uzul so flustered, but, the actual idea of a Pony with a Zebra… something about it made her itch. Zebras and Ponies were different, so very different. Most Ponies were scumbags. Rainbow Dash, though not a scumbag, seemed eccentric and sometimes over-enthusiastic. Then, something struck her, and she said, “Why are you asking me?”

Rainbow Dash laughed. “You just seem the most against Ponies, just because so much crap has been thrown at you so quickly. I mean, am I wrong?”

“I think Druva experienced worse for longer at their hooves than I did.” Zuri said.

“Yeah, but she already gave me her encouragement. What about you?”

“I…” Zuri heaved a sigh. “I don’t care. Just don’t have sex with him, his caste isn’t supposed to do that unless he’s married. It could dishonor him, his family, and you.”

“Why me?” Rainbow asked, furrowing her brow.

“Because everyone will know you instigated it,” Zuri smiled at her, and she frowned, flicking her tail. It got Uzul to chuckle though, through his brilliant blush.

“Look, we’ll probably be going our separate ways when we reach the city,” Rainbow Dash said, changing the subject. “So I wanted to say—thanks. I know I would have lost Ponies if I sent anyone else in, but you and Uzul, you’re better shots than any of us, and Druva has abilities nopony else does. Gilda literally drove this outfit into the ground because she was such a bad leader, so I was stuck with a bunch of great hardware, but nopony that knew how to use it right. You didn’t even need anything, and you did it so willingly. So, thanks. You’re a good friend to have, I’m sure.” So much gratitude could make a Zebra swell with pride, but Zuri just felt bashful. All the same, she smiled and acknowledged Rainbow’s appreciation.

“Oh,” came Chrys’ voice, and Zuri turned. The Changeling was peering with a wagging tail out the window. She smiled at Zuri as the Trancer came and looked out next to her.

“What is it?” Zuri asked her.

“The world is so large.” Chrys said, smiling slightly. “I never saw anything but the walls of that box. Now I’m free, and… I never knew it would be this big.”

“Neither did I,” Zuri agreed. “I spent almost all of my life underground up until today. I got lost in the sky when I saw it the first time.”

“The sky? You saw the sky?” Chrys looked at her, very excitedly. “What’s it like?”

She sounds like a child, she thought, as she looked at the bug-like animal. I asked the same questions before I ever saw it. “It’s big,” Zuri answered. “Big, and a wonderful blue color. There’s clouds, of all shapes and sizes, and they can look like animals, or tools, or anything, really. It goes on forever, until the next planet, I guess.” She pressed a hoof against the glass. “I don’t think I’ll ever think the underground is anywhere as good as the sky.”

“Because it’s free?” Chrys asked. That had been exactly what Zuri had been thinking. The sky was open and free, just like Chrys was now. Zuri just then realized the amount of freedom she had. She could go anywhere, and the only thing stopping her was Ponies. She could overcome that problem one way or another, as she, Druva and Uzul had so far. She didn’t have to go back to Otoul, or tell her family or her Elder anything. She didn’t have to lie. She didn’t have to go back at all. She could explore as much as she wanted, and that was what she had said she would do. That was exactly what she would do.

Zuri smiled at Chrys, and nodded. “Because it is free.” And now, so am I. “I am free.” Zuri liked the sound of that.

Chrys wandered off, apparently to continue enjoying her new freedom. Zuri, still feeling fatigue, felt it necessary to go back to sleep. Rainbow Dash offered her a bunk on one of the guard's barracks-cars. Fearing the lack of trustworthiness of certain, ahem, members of Rainbow's group, however, Zuri declined. On her way back to the car she had awoken in, Big Macintosh warned her that they would reach the Rock Pile in a few hours, and it would be best if she was awake by then, to hide herself. Hearing this, Druva laughed, and began to explain to Macintosh reasons why, if there was a seizure and searching of the train, that Zuri would probably be something found last, if at all.

The Trancer found the cloth atop the crate not very secure. Someone could easily open the door and fire a gun, or come up from behind and drive a knife into her neck, or worse. She eventually decided that a little alcove between a strapped down box and the wall was a better alternative, and snuggled in there. She used her cloak as a pillow, used to sleeping on hard surfaces. IT had been something she'd done quite often, while studying under Dunnur and attempting to learn at the pace he expected her to. Secure in the knowledge that it would be much harder for anyone to find and bother her, Zuri began to doze. As she did, several thoughts struck her almost at once, as if her mind was getting rid of anything potentially stress-inducing before she actually settled down for restful sleep.

First in her mind was what to do next. They would supposedly reach the rockpile, switch tracks, and go on to Paradise City. From there, She, Uzul, and Druva could find a Gau-Aer, and from them, reach their respective homes. Would it be that easy? Would Rainbow Dash actually let them go? Would some other mercenary decide they should give her trouble? Would helping Rainbow Dash be necessary in helping themselves, or the other way around, and Rainbow Dash would then request help in taking care of this Filthy Rich fellow? And that was just one set of things that could go bad. There was a whole other group of things that could go wrong, too. This ESSUG security Rainbow babbled about could break in at any moment. The Train could derail, or explode, somehow because of Rainbow's carelessness. Because she was too busy snuggling up to Uzul. Should she intervene? Would Uzul decide there was more than just flattery and hushed conversations between him and Rainbow, and would this decision affect their already existing journey at all?

Then came an interesting thought: If she had to play break-up between the two, should she–Ew.–attempt to seduce Uzul, or just talk him out of it? Would he need talking at all? Like most Arbiters, he must not be wholly comfortable with acting so... flightily amorous with this off-worlder. She would just have to see what things were like when light graced the planet again.

———

A younger Zuri approached her family's estate. It was comprised of two main buildings, connecting in bridges and passages. Two guards stood flanking the front doors. They both wore the Sara liveries, and nodded in respect and recognition as Zuri approached them. One of them turned to the door, and whispered three words under their breath to teh door, tracing the shape of a rune etched into the thick, wood-like door. It shimmered briefly, and the doors opened. Zuri walked right in, not jumping at all as the doors slammed shut behind her faster than the eye could follow.

"Agilis!" Zuri called out, and got her voice echoed back to her by the tall stone walls. A few Servants showed themselves briefly, and referred her to the garden (customary to have one for formal occasions for an Oun-Drii home) for Agilis. Agilis was Zuri's second elder brother. He did not have The Gift like she did, but was becoming a skilled Sand Trancer in his own right, though he was focussing more on Rune construction and enchanting. He'd become a Gau-Aer operator, at this rate. "Agilis, where are you? Mother said you couldn't hide from me just because you were drunk anymore!"

Agilis poked his head around a corner, blinking reddened eyes. His coat was grey and black stripes, a typical pair of colors, while his mane and tail were both all black. His eyes were a sparkling amber yellow, thought the whites around the irises were bloodshot. He sighed, "Oh, hi Zuri. Suppose it was impossible for me to hide for longer, hm?" He smiled slightly, walking over to her. He was significantly taller than his younger sister, almost as tall as any adult, but he was still a few years away from that.

"I'm returned from The Dunnur." Zuri began, full of youthful excitement. "He'll teach me All-Seeing, if I can freeze water quick enough."

"Mm?" Agilis perked his ears in interest, sitting back and gently rubbing one temple with a hoof. "Odd. I seem to remember Dunnur not showing me any All-Seeing rune for me to memorize. Much less, displaying the Mans to me." Mans being the term for a spell or ability triggered by Trancing, "Then again, I haven't The Gift, but you do."

Zuri nodded excitedly. "He says it will be my first step into the schools of Trodelei Manse," Zebric for higher Trancing magic, "if I can make water freeze in only a few moments, without his help."

"Hard to get the Dunnur to help, once he knows you can do something yourself. Like me drinking." Agilis groaned and leaned against the wall. "Father let me sample some of his brews. I should have guessed." Agilis' and Zuri's father was a talented Trancer alchemist, focussing his talents primarily on enchanting and creating drinkable concoctions. He had come from a highborn family, as Zuri's mother descended from Sara, where most the trancing talent came from in the family. "I should have guessed he'd give me something tampered with. Did I ever tell you that your brother is an idiot?"

Zuri smiled with childish laughter at her brother's discomfort. "The biggest idiot, besides Lebowa."

"Hey, don't talk about your big sister like that, Zuri!" Agilis chastised her, though the smile on his face betrayed him. "Only the brother standing in front of you, because he says he's an idiot already."

"I am oh-so-sorry, Big Brother." Zuri said, partially joking. "Next time I'll say it to her face, so she can hear it!" The clearing of a throat directed the siblings' attention to a Zebra descending a tall stone staircase. It was Gainu, Zuri's father. He was nearing old age, but the gray hairs were still thin. His eyes were a dull green, his stripes and hair were a snowy white and pitch black, and gleamed with fresh grooming.

"I think you, my daughter, know why that is wrong to say at any time." He said, his tone flat. Zuri immediately sat down, with a bowed head, and adjusted her mane. "You're a smart filly, and you work very hard to prove it. I don't see any reason why you'd want to say anything like that about your eldest sister."

"I'm sorry, father, I didn't mean anything..."

"Don't bother. I know what you mean, girl." Gainu motioned for Agilis to leave, which he did, quickly. He sat down in front of the little blue zebra in before him, holding her shoulders and looking her straight in the eye.

"Lebowa is going to marry into another family, but that is not all she intends to do. Her decision is not stupid, nor is anything else she does. You and she may not get along very well, but that is no reason to start calling her an idiot. By no stretch of the word are any of my children idiots." He sighed, shaking his head. "You are born with the Gift, the thing that will make you great, as great as my Grandfather, and your own mother! Lebowa, however, was not. You should show more respect for your future position, for your birthright. Insulting your sister for wanting something that can never be hers is not the way to do it."

"I am sorry, father." Zuri mumbled, hushed by her father's displeasure.

"I know you're sorry, but you don't have to apologize to me, do you? Wake up!"

"What?" Zuri blinked, as her father began vigorously shaking her.

"Come on, wake up. We need you to wake up, Zuri!" The world began to lose color, and Gainu's voice became higher pitched, more panicked, as Zuri was sucked out of her dream. Or... was it a memory? It didn't matter now. Everything was turning black as pitch. The floor beneath Zuri became a pedestal, as she was thrust up, up, towards a star in the endless black sky. It wasn't a star, but a hole into a white world. As Zuri met it, color came back overwhelmingly fast, as she was thrust once more into consciousness.

8. The Rock Pile

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We need you...

Zuri awoke this time to Druva hovering over her, who immediately sighed relief on seeing her friend's eyes open. "Well? Is she awake yet?" Rainbow Dash was perched on a bench to the left, tapping one hoof anxiously. Recieving Druva's nod, the pegasus immediately fluttered up and over to Zuri, setting upon her with a stern look. "We've got trouble. The cronies at Rock Pile are asking permission to sweep the train for stowaways. Technically, everyone alive here and now is a stowaway, especially that Changeling."

"My name is Chrys!" Chrys' voice came from behind them. Rainbow paid her no mind.

"So, we need to get a plan ready. We need you to pretend you're a slave again, along with Uzul and Druva. We have to dress up as the original guards for the train, and the bug," she nodded towards where Zuri assumed Chrys was, "has to go back into her box, and have it nailed shut."

"I don't like that part." Chrys said on the side.

Ignoring her, Rainbow Dash continued speaking. "You'll have to put these on." She held up a pair of hoof cuffs with a chain connecting them. "They have no enchantment, but they're hard to break. Should be convincing enough. And Druva should get her pair on before we go in!" Rainbow Dash spoke with a suggesting, impatient tone. The clicking of a lock came soon afterward.

"I've got them, I've got them, keep your wings on." Druva reassured her, exasperated. "Come on, let Zuri stand up and come over to us before she has to put these horrible things on." Zuri did sit up, pushing Rainbow away from her so she had room. She'd been moved again, in her sleep. This wasn't good, she wasn't such a heavy sleeper when in Otoul. If this kept happening she could end up in a very bad situation very quickly, and not be able to do anything about it.

Zuri took the cuffs in her teeth by the chain, and walked over to Uzul and Druva, who were sitting on the floor with cuffs on their hooves. All their hooves. Druva saw her looking at this, and clarified, "The idea is to make you in particular look less threatening, if you need less restraints. They won't see anything bad coming, if things go bad."

"Whose idea was that?" Zuri asked. When Druva pointed towards Chrys, the changeling ducked her head, as if expecting some punishment. Whatever the ponies had put Chrys through, they obviously left behind some very interesting scars. Moondancer assigned another unicorn to "stand guard" next to the three Zebras. After several minutes of listening to the train fly across the rail, Rainbow waved a wing at Zuri to get her attention. She pointed out a window, to show that the train was approaching a tall grey building, with long wide tubes coming out of the roof, slowly breathing black smoke into the air. A door opened in front of the train, and Zuri had the impression of being swallowed by the building darkness briefly engulfed everything; they were traveling through a dimly lit tunnel. The train was slowing down now, arriving at a raised platform, leading away to a set of double-doors on either side of the train.

Everything was of metal now. The humming of the train's electrical systems exchanging currents was blotted out by the whirring of grand machines further in the complex. Banging of metal on metal, fans cooling off hot engine parts, the frequent shouting of instructions or information between two ponies, and a voice over the public address system giving announcements and status of the sectors of the facility. "Keep your heads low. Don't say anything, don't make eye contact, and don't kill anyone." Rainbow whispered to them, as a the doors on the sides of the train car opened, and Rainbow exited, followed by her lieutenants: Moondancer and Thunderlane. Big Macintosh walked out right next to her, the tall stallion looking as if he were standing proudly next to the pegasus. They approached a trio of Ponies who had entered through one of the double doors. Zuri didn't look, but instead listened. She didn't need to Trance to hear them; the doors stayed open. Even with the din around them, the words spoken were clear as a bell to her trained ears.

"State your business and cargo, Sir and Ma'am." Said one male's voice.

"Transport to Paradise City, Sir." Big Macintosh answered in his low drawl, without any emotion or inflection. "Ah'm the conductor of this train."

"You have a ShowMe to back that up, big guy?" The same voice asked him.

"Ah do." There was a pause, then a little beeping sound, and another pause afterward.

"Checks out. Alright, you have a full cargo list ready?"

"All on Electric Paper, sir." Macintosh said, though it was harder to understand him than usual. Zuri guessed he had the paper in his mouth.

"Convenient. Say, where you from, big guy?"

"Equestria, sir. Ponyville."

"Your ShowMe says you're a member of the Apple family."

"Yessir."

"How are they doing? You heard from them the past week or so?"

"No sir."

"No? Shame. They've been having some trouble lately. I thought they'd be calling all their relatives back home to talk about it."

"Ain't heard nothin' about it, sir."

"Well, maybe you've heard about the escaped Zebra slaves, from New Dodge Junction, eh?" The voice grew more anxious. No, it wasn't anxiety, Zuri couldn't place it.

"Ah heard somethin' 'bout it, eeyup."

"You have slaves on your train?"

"Sure do."

"Any of them refugees, conductor?"

"Ah sure hope not." Stars, Zuri thought, this stallion is so deadpan, even I can't tell if he is lying!

"Mind if we take a look, conductor? We had a hint they might be travelling this way. Protocol is protocol."

"Nnnope, don't mind at all." There were hoofsteps, and Zuri did her best to look dumb and nonthreatening as they grew louder. Two new ponies walked into the train first, and began looking around. One of them was a yellow-coated, blue-haired stallion, wearing a strange grey coat. What was especially strange were his eyes. The irises were a regular grey-green, but the eye-whites weren't white at all, but hard grey. They glinted and reflected the light like a hard, shined surface, as they focused on Zuri. Zuri didn't make eye contact for more than a few seconds. He advanced towards the three restrained Zebras, gazing down at them with a look of inquisitive examination. There was no arrogance or scorn in his expression, only a sort of curiousity. Those strange eyes of his made him especially unreadable, in the several glances Zuri stole at his face whenever he wasn't looking directly at her. Then, he turned away, and spoke in a hushed voice with his companion, whom Zuri couldn't see clearly.

They spoke for several minutes, with Big Macintosh and Rainbow Dash standing idly by, waiting for the apparent authorities to address them directly. Zuri waited in silence, as the two Ponies passed by her, to go investigate the other cars. More ponies came aboard, advancing through the train in the other direction. Eventually they all returned to their leader, and made their reports: none of them had found anything.

"Everything is clean here." Announced the yellow stallion with the metal eyes, as he looked over a report written quickly by one of his subordinates. "I'm guessing you've a license to carry living cargo, conductor?" He looked up at Macintosh.

"Eeeyup." The immense stallion nodded his head in confirmation, holding up one hoof to show an imprint to the stallion. The pupils of whom turned momentarily blue, before he looked up at the conductor's face again, and cleared his throat respectfully.

"Yeah, ShowMe still checks out. I'm guessing you want to redirect your train?" He asked.

"Eeeyup," Mac said again. "Ah wanna head straight for Paradise City. That, uh, live cargo needs to reach its destination right quick."

"Paradise City I can't allow." The stallion said sternly.

"Why not?" Rainbow blurted.

"Not my decision." The stallion turned a quelling gaze on the mare. "I'm just head of train line security here. If you want to get to Paradise, you gotta talk to the supervisor." He gestured to a door to the left of the train platform with his muzzle. "I can get an escort, if you want one."

"Nah, Ah've been here before, 'n' Ah think Ah know the supervisor." Big Macintosh said, nodding thanks all the same. The security head just nodded, and departed, leaving a guard on the train also with metal eyes to answer any queries Mac or Rainbow Dash came up with. Rainbow was able to detach herself, and approach the zebras again.

"Well, we've really stepped in it now." She began. "Unless we can get out of this depot real fast... We won't ever get out. Mac says he knows the supervisor for this place. I dunno if that will help us, though." She looked back at him, speaking with the security pony. "Mac does a good judge of character, and talks good talk, usually, but not everypony likes the laid-back apple attitude."

"I didn't know there was something not to like." Druva mumbled quietly to Uzul, who nudged her to stay quiet.

"Anyway, we'll be heading for the supervisor's office, and leaving you here. Don't kill anything." Rainbow walked away with those words, leaving the zebras alone again.

———

"So then Jackknife says, 'Holy Luna! That bowling ball, it's my wife!'" Macintosh finished his joke, just as Rainbow Dash approached them again. The two guards who had stood listening barked laughter for a moment, then remembering their duties, quickly fell silent with little smiles.

"Done joking with the metalheads?" Rainbow Dash nudged Mac's shoulder.

"Jus' seein' if they can still laugh. Ah heard somewhere they kick the sense of humor out of ya when ya get implanted." Big Macintosh answered, grinning as he turned towards one of the train doors, and the two ponies departed towards the Supervisor's office.

There was little conversation between them as they walked. In fact, the silence that filled the air around them was very uncomfortable, until Rainbow Dash spoke up.

"You know, that green-eyed one's kinda cute."

"Huh?" Macintosh's step slowed for a moment. "Now Rainbow, don't you be thinkin' about that. Y'already got one wrapped around your hoof tighter than a constrictor."

"Not what I meant, Mac!" Rainbow laughed, making two passersby give them odd looks. "I was mentioning her to you because," she raised and lowered her eyebrows suggestively, "conducting a train can't be the best profession to meet nice mares, am I right?"

"Nah. It ain't." Macintosh muttered, looking ahead. "Rainbow, why're you talking about this? Cheerilee 'n' I—"

"Aren't on the best of terms, and you'd rather settle things one way or the other before daring to try?"

"Well, yeah," Macintosh nodded. "An' no offense to the zebras, but Ah'd rather get with a mare who Ah know came from th'same planet as me."

"Oh, so you'd go for Zecora, instead?"

"Nnnnope. Ah... Ah don't know if Ponies an' zebras can have foals. And if Ah'm gonna go into a longterm thing, I wanna aim for foals, eventually."

"But not marriage?" Rainbow stuck her tongue out at him. "Real smooth, Mac."

"Aw quit it, Rainbow." Macintosh folded his ears. "Yer jus' teasin' me 'cause you want me t'go after that Druva girl."

"Well I'm not as good a matchmaker as Pinkie or Heart Line, but I'm trying!" Rainbow jostled him playfully. He just shook his head and smiled, as they reached a tall door, marked 'ROCK-PILE SUPERVISOR'. Big Macintosh opened it, and allowed Rainbow to enter first, and then followed after her.

The room was small, with a big wooden desk on one end. Sitting behind it was a blue unicorn with a short brown mane with an accent of blue within it. His green eyes looked up from a piece of paper, which he was currently sketching on with a levitated pencil.

"Uh, Mac!" The pony exclaimed, suddenly sitting up straight. "You're... Unexpected."

"So are you, Copic." Big Macintosh said, wearing the first surprised expression Rainbow had seen him with in a while. "That ain't yer chair. That's the secretary’s."

"Uh, heh. About that." Copic Pen rubbed the back of his head, smiling awkwardly as he put the sketch and pencil away. His eyes wandered towards the door to his right, this one marked the same as the doors Rainbow and Macintosh had just passed through. "I was fired."

"What?"

"Well, okay, not fired, but it was on the table." The blue unicorn tapped his forehooves together anxiously. "That millionaire Filthy Rich bought up a bunch of Rock Pile's shares, and thought I wasn't doing my job right. Said I was being too lax with the security around here. I thought it was enough that I got ESSUG Cyberguards! But apparently I'm too nice." He shrugged. "If you're here to ask for a favor, I can't help ya. I just file reports and organize details now."

"Horseapples." Rainbow cursed, slapping her head with a hoof. "So, what, is the new supervisor an asshole or something? You said he thought you were too nice?"

"And, uh, who're you?" Copic frowned thoughtfully at her. "You look familiar but I'm drawing a blank."

"Uh, hello? I'm Rainbow Dash? Equestria-renowned Wonderbolt and bearer of the element of Loyalty?" She struck a hardly humbling pose. "THE Rainbow Dash?"

"I–wha–you?" Copic did three double-takes, between Rainbow Dash and a motivational poster on the right wall, which showed six ponies standing valiantly, facing a horde of dark animals with glowing eyes. The caption was simple: 'Stand for what is right!' One of the ponies was a spitting image of Rainbow Dash. Copic was still mouthing half-words for several seconds before he regained lucidity. "I, uh, wow. Is this some kinda honorary thing, uh, Captain Rainbow Dash?"

"No use using that name here." Rainbow said, smirking. "On Equestria I'm on extended leave-of-absence. On Palosol I'm just a mercenary and a smuggler." She puffed out her chest, still wearing her glistening black combat outfit. "What I need is an insignia."

"I, well, okay," Copic muttered, blinking. "Well, to answer your question from before, yeah, the new Supervisor's a jerk. And she's... Not gonna grant wishes any time soon, I don't think." He looked at the Supervisor's door enviously. "She'll put on a smile for you, probably because of your rank and Mac's occupation, but it's just so you think you're getting somewhere. She's a total na—"

A loud beep sounded over the intercom on Copic's desk, followed by a shrill, young voice. "COPIC PEN! I hear the talking out there. You keeping someone from seeing me again?"

Copic scrambled, and hit the microphone button. "No, Ma'am. They're ready whenever you are." He looked up and mouthed 'nag!' at them.

"Well then what're you waiting for? My door's open! Send 'em in!" The beep sounded again, and the shrill voice did not say anything more.

Copic shrugged at the both of them. "See what I mean?" He whispered. "Better go in, quick, or she'll start again."

The Supervisor's door clicked, and opened before Rainbow as she approached it. This room was bigger, with a large window on the opposite wall showing off a view of the Rock Pile depot, and further off to Palosol's plains and northern mountains. "Welcome to Rock-Pile!" Said a much friendlier version of the voice from before, as a large black chair behind a much wider desk swiveled around to face them.

"I'm Tough Love, Supervisor and head of R&D for Filthy Rich's enterprises." Tough Love was a very young mare, looking hardly old enough to fill the chair she sat in. Nepotism, perhaps? Or maybe Filthy Rich liked his subordinates especially young-looking, or, Rainbow guessed, some combination of the two. It wasn't out of the question; she had heard worse about the millionaire. Still, head of R&D meant one smart cookie, otherwise Filthy Rich's corporation would probably be in the toilet.

Tough Love's color-scheme, her whole office, in fact seemed to be bright purple and pink. Oh boy, Rainbow groaned inwardly as she let her eyes wander, we're dealing with one of those girls. Her mane and tail were an almost gaudy red and violet, with her coat a bubblegum pink. The room was painted to match, or possibly for her to blend in with it like some sort of bizarre, artificial chameleon. The carpet was the only thing with slightly calmer colors: maroon with bright golden swirls embroidered into it. Tough Love noticed Rainbow looking around, but didn't understand the expression on her face. "Like it? My own little home away from home, in the middle of all this drab metal and smoke. I wouldn't dare let any of my workers on this carpet until they went through decontamination, like, four times! My dad needs to pay for some upgrades."

Your dad needs to stop giving you an allowance, girl. Look at this room! Rainbow had to fight not to say what she thought, and just wear a thin smile. Macintosh, with his stony fortitude, did the talking. "That's nice, miss Tough Love, but—"

"Please." Tough Love leaned over her desk provocatively as her deep indigo eyes centered on Mac. "Call me Tough. Just Tough."

Macintosh paused for a moment, looking at her, and continued. "Fine, Tough. See, we're tryin' to get to Paradise City. Mah shipment’s got perishable material on it, and my friend here has business there, with yer father in fact."

"Uh-huh, yeah." Tough Love didn't take her eyes away from him, as one fore-hoof manipulated a touch-screen interface on her desk. "Sounds like a real problem you got... and you've got a celebrity here, too!" She finally looked away from Macintosh to gesture eccentrically at Rainbow Dash. "Quite an honor, miss Dash, to have you here in my office!" Colored like your bedroom, Dash thought. "And might I say you have a fine choice in conductors..." She gestured at Macintosh, who blinked. "But! Passage to Paradise City is restricted, to only those who have to, in a matter of life or death! You two don't look really worried about that."

"Look, Miss Tough Love, we do really have to get there. You father owes me pay, and Macintosh's cargo's going to die if it doesn't get there in time!" Although I kinda wish Chrys would. "Isn't there anything we can do?"

"I can think of a few." Tough Love said coyly, smirking. "But, uh, one thing, Miss Dash." She slammed her hoof down on the touch screen, and a loud siren wailed. Immediately, two security ponies burst through the door behind them, and a third rose up from behind Tough Love's desk. All three of them were pointing automatic weapons at Rainbow Dash's head. "How dumb do you think I am? It's sure an honor, but my daddy told me just who to look out for out here! On Equestria you're Rainbow Dash, world protector and amazing Wonderbolt. Here, you're a thief and a thug, contract open to the highest bidder, and leader of the Rainboom Riddlers!"

"It's Rainboom Riders," Rainbow Dash interjected, her face hard.

"Whatever. I'm supposed to hold you until ESSUG security can get down here and mail you, express, back to Equestria. No telling what's gonna happen there." The three security ponies closed in on Rainbow Dash. One of them, a unicorn, locked cuffs around all her hooves, and another pair bound her wings in the most upright position.

"Shit, let me out of this! I'm not a thug! I'm Rainbow Dash!" She protested, while the guards shoved her out of the room.

Tough Love waved her off, grinning darkly. "Yeah yeah. Say hi to your stripey friends for me!" Macintosh was about to follow, before the door was suddenly replaced with a thick metal barrier, slamming down in front of him. "Ah good. We're all alone now." Tough Love said, in a calm, sultry voice. Macintosh turned to glare at her. "Upupup! Before you try anything..." She tapped her touch screen again, and a circular device dropped from the ceiling. It clamped itself around Macintosh's neck, and just as he brought his hooves up to try and pry it away, he felt a stinging feeling on the right side of his neck.

Mac came to only a couple seconds later. He found he was lying on the floor, feeling exhausted and nauseous. His limbs wouldn’t move, but he could still feel them. The collar was tight around his neck, and Tough Love was smiling over him. She held his head in her lap, and was brushing his mane slowly with a garishly pink hairbrush. Macintosh could see from her the strange sparkle in her eyes as she looked down at him. "I always get whatever I want, Big Macintosh," she cooed, "and right now, you can guess what I want. So tell me..." She put a hoof to his chest to stop his weak struggling. "Do you work out?”

———

Zuri waited in between her two companions, watching two of the guards converse openly. They must think we are too dim to understand them. Oh, the things I could learn from ponies like this... She smiled to herself, not taking her eyes off of them. Then, a hoof pulled on her shoulder, and she turned to find herself face to face with Moondancer. “Come with me, quickly!” The unicorn pushed Zuri alongside Druva and Uzul into another train car, this one further back, and hid them under a breathable tarp in amongst several crates smelling of yeast.

“Rainbow Dash’s com signal just disappeared.” Moondancer informed them, as she undid their hoof-cuffs. “The only place in Rock-Pile that doesn’t have com system coverage is the prison hold, underground. She must have been arrested.”

“Why? Did she kill something?” Druva asked, arching an eyebrow.

“I don’t have any idea. She went into the Supervisor’s office and then her com vanished. She might have just turned it off, but I really doubt she’d be dumb enough not to warn anypony first.”

“What about the big red one?” Zuri asked.

“He’s still in the Supervisor’s office. His com is just a tiny earpiece, not part of a bodysuit, like Rainbow’s is, so I don’t know if he’s still alive.”

“Well, what do we do?” Uzul asked. “We can’t just leave them there, we’re trapped!”

“Well, what else? We have to find some way of getting her and Mac back. Without dying, of course.” Moondancer shrugged, “if you’ve got an idea for how to do that, then please let me know soon, because I don’t.”

Druva checked her bandolier. “I’ve still got plenty of things to drop. How well would smokescreen do against one of those ponies with the shiny eyes?”

“What, the Cyberguards? Everything’s enhanced with them, I don’t know what they can’t see through. They can hear better, move faster, hit harder… The worst part is you can’t even tell what weapons they have until the bullets are already flying, or in some cases, balls of plasma.”

“Then I’m guessing heavy drugs wouldn’t work either?” Druva asked.

“Oh no, these guys get more junk in their systems than most druggies. Or at least, the ones I’ve met do. I know a couple connections right here in the Rock Pile who can get a fix for you.”

“I was thinking of something a bit more… eruptive.” Druva said, grinning as she held up a bottle filled with a cloudy blue liquid.

“Well, what does it do?” Moondancer asked curiously.

“You’ll see.” Druva said, as she peaked out from under the tarp. “And if it has no effect, doesn’t matter. It ignites if it gets too hot, so some weaponfire will set it right off.”

“Well, okay, just don’t kill us with this stuff.” Moondancer cautioned her.

Druva spied the two guards from before, and loosened the bottle’s cork. She flung it towards them, and it bounced on the ground two times before it rolled to their hooves. One guard looked down, and prodded it. The cork had come off on the second bounce, and the blue liquid was now leaking out on the ground.

Zuri peaked out as well, watching as the two guards inhaled the fumes the liquid gave off, and then stared at each other. There were several seconds where she feared that indeed nothing had happened, before she noticed Druva holding a hoof over her nose. She imitated the action, just in time as the liquid began to evaporate, and the two guards breathed deep. One of them wretched off to the side, coughing and gagging. The other guard vomited blue goo all over the floor, his legs buckling as he landed in the mess.

Zuri had to turn away because it was so disgusting, while Druva let out a triumphant cry, still with a hoof over her nose. “Don’t inhale it! It makes you—do exactly what they’re doing. For some time.”

The sound of gagging and groaning was easily audible, and as more guards came to see what the matter was, they too devolved from alarmed curses to vomiting as they came within the vicinity of the dangerous vapors. Zuri couldn’t think of a more stomach-churning way to get the guards incapacitated, but was thankful that it was so effective. The next time she looked out, there were twelve cyberguards all piled up, splattered with blue liquids Zuri didn’t need to guess the origin of, hardly moving. Maybe they’d drowned in their own spew? She decided it wasn’t worth thinking about, as she lead the way to another train car before the smell of regurgitating ponies became too strong.

“That was kind of awesome.” Moondancer said to Druva, as soon as the door shut behind them. “Gross, but still awesome.”

“What can I say?” Druva imitated a prideful smirk. “I excel in making ponies puke. It’s what got me this far from Paradise in the first place.”

“That was the same brew you used on that filly?” Uzul looked surprised. “It couldn't have just affected her.”

“Oh, it didn’t. The two guards she brought with her had blue lining all around their mouths.” Druva giggled. “That’s what you get when you mess with an alchemist: A sore stomach!”

“Well maybe we can get back to the problem at hand,” Moondancer refocused them. “That only takes care of so many of the guards. The train platform’s probably free of them now, but down in the prison block? There’s more than just ponies around there. What can your puking-pastel-batter do against automated turrets?” She looked at Druva expectantly.

“Machines? Melose, I don’t think I have anything that’ll help…” She examined the contents of her bandolier again. “Ungorgus, Duaze, Simoge, Feruvuur… Oh, wait! They aren’t fireproof, are they?”

“Never tried throwing a molotov at them, so, no idea.”

“I don’t have any idea what a molotov is, but I’ve got Feruvuur!” She held up a pair of bottles with yellow contents.

“Wildfire bombs?” Uzul asked. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? Throwing those at someone may also get yourself killed.”

“Oh relax, Uzul.” Druva reassured him. “I’m the Non-ni here. I know how to handle this stuff!”

Zuri was unconvinced. “The Dunnur told me the Non-ni only brewed the Feruvuur. It was given to the Gau-Aer and the Mansa to use.”

“Sh!” Druva put a hoof to her lips. “I’m trying to sound useful!”

Moondancer cracked a smile. “You just made a pack of guards puke blue stuff all over each other. That’s pretty damn useful in my book.”

“Sawtooth, come in. Sawtooth, answer your com, dammit! Where are you?” A shrill voice sounded over the Rock-Pile intercom, which was also hooked into the train while it was stopped there. “Listen to me, you overpaid metalhead, I’m not waiting around for you to decide I’m important! I am your freaking boss, and I can get you thrown into the recycler if you don’t come here RIGHT NOW!”

“Sheesh.” Moondancer rolled her eyes. “She sounds pissed. I think that might be the supervisor. If Big Macintosh had a talk with her, it obviously wasn’t very successful.”

“Well, do we try and get to him first, or Rainbow Dash?” Uzul asked anxiously. “They can’t be–”

“Attention all security personnel. This is Tough Love. We’ve got a pack of forty nine crazed gunponies and three escaped zebras in Rock-Pile. Shoot to kill if stunners don’t work. Get these worms and throw them in with Rainbow Dash, and I’ll give you all a thirty-percent raise.” An alarm sounded after this announcement was finished, and already Zuri could hear shouting and a group running towards them in the distance. She realized with great alarm that it was much closer much sooner than she would have thought. She grew tense, and prepared for a fight.

Relief flooded her thoughts when she discovered it was actually the Rainbow Riders barging through one of the doors, and coming to a stop where Zuri, Druva, Uzul and Moondancer were. A stallion at the head of the band came up to Moondancer, and spoke “Rainbow’s been arrested, hasn’t she?”

“Yep. And we’ve got no conductor.”

“Well, shit. Who’s making the decisions?”

“Technically, me and Thunderlane,” she looked over at the dark grey pegasus, who walked over to join her. “But I’m currently deferring to these three for most of our battle tactics.” She pointed at Druva, Uzul, and Zuri.

“What?” Thunderlane barked. “Why? Aren’t they the reason we’re stuck here?”

“Well, yes; we got you this train.” Druva smiled at him.

“I wasn’t asking you!” Thunderlane shot back. “Moon, we’re the ones with the guns. Let’s make a break for it, try and get to Rainbow Dash–”

“Oh please. You really think you could mount a rescue mission for Rainbow Dash and not pussy out halfway through?” Moondancer said, laughing harshly. “You don’t even like her. Uzul here is a sharpshooter and he like likes her.”

“It hardly being a secret and all,” a bashful Uzul said.

“And furthermore, from what I’ve seen, Druva is a fantastic specialist to have at hoof and Zuri is way more formidable in an enclosed space than any of you are. Tell me I’m wrong.”

“You’re wrong! That zebra nag trembles whenever she sees guns. You see me shaking?”

Zuri scowled at him. “I can trance. If I go alone, and if I kill everything, I can trance. No gun can do what I can.”

“Then maybe you could go after Big Macintosh,” Uzul offered. “He’s closer. Going alone would be less dangerous because, most likely, there’s less security detail between him and us.”

“Actually that’s wrong,” Moondancer corrected him. “If they’re smart, there’ll be plenty of security between him and us. That is, if the Supervisor had it that way, which I have to assume she does, seeing as it’s her office.”

“Tough Love, eh?” Gustav poked his head out of the crowd. Being a gryphon, this was not difficult for him to do, Zuri mused. “That was the name she said, oui? I’ve prepared desserts for her parties before. She’s Filthy Rich’s first daughter.”

“He has more?” Thunderlane groaned. “Luna, and I thought this girl sounded prissy. I can’t wait to meet the rest of them.”

“Oh, plenty more. The stallion is productive, certainly.” Gustav twisted and toyed with his mustache slowly, thoughtfully. “I can guess she’s got your red friend all tied up in lace or something. She struck me as being, well, not too subtle about wrangling up a colt, but she was being groomed to take over the family business. Seeing as he’s almost as big as the train he drives, if she’s able to take him down, well, we have trouble.”

“And more is coming.” Zuri said darkly. “I’ve had just about enough of Ponies getting in the way.”

“Hey, you might as well get used to it, but you shouldn’t take it from a pony like Filthy Rich, or his stupid kids.” Moondancer said. “If you’ll go after Macintosh, I’ll go with you, weaponized.” Why? Was the question Zuri had in her mind to ask, but before she could, Moondancer explained, “it would suck if Tough Love got him all to herself.”

“Interesting reasoning.” Druva commented, frowning at Moondancer. Zuri didn’t understand exactly why, though she had a few guesses. Did Druva want a chance at the big stallion? Again, why? He was big and strong and kindly, certainly, but he was a pony. Not exactly the best choice for a partner, Zuri thought, and she was pretty fed up with most males trying to get at her own hind-quarters anyway. Maybe Druva was more lax about it, seeing as she was a mere Non-ni class and not Oun-drii. She shut off that harmful thinking right away. Zuri knew she shouldn’t think less of Druva just because of a difference in her caste placement. What led to so much conflict in Zebric history was originally petty class-feuds.

“What weapon were you thinking of?” Zuri asked Moondancer, who put a hoof to her chin in thought.

“Something fast-firing, but accurate enough that I won’t hit you when you dive in to settle things with your hooves. Maybe… a riveter.” She nodded her head at one mercenary, who disappeared for a moment before returning with a saddle-mounted cannon, only this one had ten small barrels in a tight circle. “It goes straight through a body, but it tumbles and tears through any cybernetic implant available.”

“Useful.” Uzul commented, saw Zuri nervously eyeing the weapon, continued with; “but only so far as guns go.”

“See what I mean?” Thunderlane persisted. “Look at that look on her face.”

“Look at the look on your own stupid face, Thunderlane, and shut up!” Moondancer snapped. “Celestia above, Rainbow’s right. You should learn when to keep your mouth shut.”

“If you come with me, I will not Trance.” Zuri stated simply. “I will not go against my Elder’s wishes.”

“You’ve already shown you don’t need that Trancing stuff to be dangerous.” Moondancer said. “If you really need to, I’ll cover my eyes or something. It’s not that hard.”

“I’ll go with Uzul to help Rainbow Dash.” Druva said begrudgingly. Zuri could tell she still wanted to go after Macintosh, and apparently getting in his good graces via rescuing him would tip the odds in her favor, rather than Moondancer’s. But still… Since when did we get into competing over a male? Druva’s acting so strangely…

“Fine.” Zuri said, nodded to Moondancer. “I only need a little backup anyway.”

“This is a mistake.” Thunderlane shook his head. “This is a big mistake, Moondancer! We can’t trust them.”

“Apparently so was Rainbow not putting a muzzle on you,” Moondancer shot back. “We don’t have time to discuss this. I’m surprised we haven’t been attacked alread–”

CRACKOW

On cue, bullets began flying at the right side of the train. Someone shouted to duck, which Zuri didn’t need to be told twice. She held her hooves over her head, as little convex bulges formed all over the train wall. One window was shattered, and the projectiles flew right over their heads. She felt Moondancer prodding her side, and looked at the unicorn. She mouthed the words, “follow me,” and took Zuri over to one of the opposite train doors. It opened automatically, and they crawled into the next traincar.

“Shoot, come on, shoot back!” Thunderlane yelled, already cocking his own weapon before he stood up, and aimed through the broken window. When he flexed his wings, it fired the twin cannons on his back. His aim, Zuri noticed before the door shut, wasn’t particularly good, but the spread scored him several hits. Uzul stood next to him, taking more careful aim, and firing his arc bow slowly, but with efficient use of every shot. Zuri didn’t see if anyone else began firing before the door closed, but she did remember to hold a hoof over her nose as they crawled towards the pile of still incapacitated cyberguards. Moondancer wretched a few times, but the most that came was blue phlegm.

They opened the door leading out of the train, and hid behind it as it shut. “I don’t think they saw us moving.” Moondancer said over the loud, constant reports of weapon fire. “We’ve got to hurry before they do!”

Zuri took the lead, creeping along with her cloak tightly bound around her middle, so it restricted movement of her limbs as little as possible. They reached the door that Moondancer pointed out, and passed through. As the unicorn had predicted, there was indeed heavy security on the other side. Rainbow Dash and Macintosh must have passed through it without a hitch. Zuri and Moondancer, on the other hoof, would have trouble.

Twin automated turrets beeped at them from either side of the hall, and moved their barrels into position. Zuri ducked, while Moondancer fired a four-shot burst. The riveter made little noise, without the pop of a combustion weapon or the crack of an energy weapon. Red-hot pins flew through the air, and landed in the body of the left turret, melting the metal and bending the machinery inside. It was unable to turn, but the firing mechanism still worked. Slugs came flying back at them from two directions. Zuri took refuge in a crevice leading to another door, with Moondancer right behind her. The unicorn fired blind, aiming the riveter around the corner in hopes of it hitting something. Sure enough, after a few more bursts of pins, the right turret’s slugs stopped coming. So did the left, but Zuri poking her head around the side discovered that it was conserving ammunition by not firing through a wall. She dove to the other side of the hall, taking the turret’s attention with her. Moondancer took her cue and fired again at the Turret’s exposed barrel, bending and breaking it. It didn’t stop the firing, but the turret turned to focus on the bigger threat. Zuri was able to skirt around it, behind it’s field of vision, and began pushing against the side of it. It tipped over quite easily, having dropped from a compartment in the ceiling rather than having risen out of the ground. It tried to turn around to fire at Zuri, but the Zebra was faster than the motor, and put her hooves down on what of the barrel that wasn’t shot off. As the motor strained to turn the chassis, it burned itself out, and smoke began to rise from the dead machine.

“Well, wasn’t that easy?” Moondancer panted, before going wide in the eyes, and she pointed to Zuri’s side. “You’re hit.”

Zuri turned to see that a shot had grazed her left side, leaving a red gash that, now with dwindling adrenaline, burned like crazy. “Melose…!” She growled, holding a hindleg to her side. “Do you have any bandages or anything?”

“They’re probably being used for the ponies back in the train, if they’re still there.” Moondancer answered, shrugging. “I can go hide in a corner, if you have some sorta trancing thing that’ll heal that.”

“I do, but…” Zuri frowned at her. “I don’t trust you enough for that. It’s not bleeding. I can take it…” She grit her teeth. I hope I can. Let’s get this over with quick. Druva, Uzul, don’t die.

———

Chrys was huddled inside her box, listening to the shouting and loud cracks the weapons gave off. Why did she agree to go back in the box? A stray bullet would easily hit her here; she had no room to dodge. The young Changeling had tried pushing against the roof of the crate she was housed in, but Macintosh had nailed it shut, to make sure it was convincing. He had promised her she would come out of the box. He had promised he’d come to check on her in a little while. He seemed the nicest one to speak to her in a while, like some sort of big brother.

Macintosh, however, had not come back. Neither had anyone in his stead. Had they forgotten about her? Or were they ignoring her intentionally, hoping that she would get shot in the ensuing chaos? The changeling was so scared she wanted to cry. All her life she had been stuck in a box, waiting for the next bit of food so she could continue living her miserable life. Now, surely, she was going to die. She thought that especially, when bullets did start flying at her. Holes appeared throughout the crate’s wall, peppering her with sawdust and splinters. She screamed, and hid her head under her holed hooves, waiting for the stray shot that would claim her life. But it didn’t seem to be one stray shot. A ball of force suddenly picked up the box, and threw it against the opposite train wall. Chrys shrieked, as she was suddenly falling towards the wall, then she was upside down, then right-side up, and then upside down again. The crate’s walls collapsed on top of the trembling changeling, and it took her several seconds to realize that she was no longer trapped inside of it. She took her hooves away from her face, and looked around. Light was everywhere. It wasn’t dark, like when she first came out of the box. Was this daytime? No. There was no sky, but a grey ceiling. She wasn’t dead, then, but free of her wooden confinement.

Standing up on shaky legs, she realized bullets were no longer flying at her. Sure, there was a big hole in the wall, presumably where that ball of force came from. It seemed there was a standstill. Was one side wholly dead? Or were they just out of bullets? There was no angry shouting, no terrifying scream of, “Kill the changeling!” She crept towards the door to the next train car, and peaked through the window. There were the mercenaries, tending to their wounded, loading their weapons, and checking the situation with their superiors, the zebras. Wait, the zebras? Chrys took a step back, as the door before her slid open, and she fluttered over a group of wounded ponies lying on the deck. That black pegasus was talking to Uzul and Druva.

“Okay, we must have got them on the run. I’ve never known cyberguards to ceasefire this long without gloating. How many are wounded?”

“Ten, but two more are dead.” Reported the apparent field medic.

“Melose. That leaves thirty nine of us.” Uzul said.

“Uh, forty, actually,” Druva said, and pointed at Chrys. “If you count her, that is.”

“Her?” Thunderlane turned to glower at Chrys, who shrank back. “What are you doing out of your box, bug?”

“I-it broke,” The changeling said meekly. “Some gun threw it against the wall and it broke.”

“Well great.” Thunderlane said, slapping his forehead with a hoof. “One more meat shield plus Gustav.”

“What if she could help?” Uzul asked, still looking at Chrys. “What can you do, besides change into things?”

“I can—mess with emotions. And I know a few spells.” Spells she had been taught by those ponies. The ponies who wanted her to do… something. They never told her anything, just said how she was a tool.

“Oh come on!” Thunderlane shouted, furious. “I’ll admit, you two are kinda-maybe-sort-of useful in a fight, but that? That thing?” He pointed a hoof at Chrys. “She’s more trouble than she’s worth!”

Uzul ignored him, and asked, “what can your spells do?”

“Break things.” Chrys said. “Ponies taught me how to… throw things around. I don’t know how to describe it.”

“Demonstrate it.” Uzul said, pointed at a crate. “On that.”

“O-okay…” Chrys stared at the crate, her horn emitting a green smoke, as she aimed it at the crate. The crate was lifted up, and as the changeling’s jagged horn sparked, the crate began to bend, and squeeze against itself. There was a moment of nothing happening, before the crate imploded, becoming a violent storm of little particles that Chrys threw at a window, disintegrating it.

“Sheesh. By the time we’re done here there won’t be a train.” Thunderlane muttered. “But without the bug or the stripeys here, things should run a little smoother.” He spoke to Uzul and Druva in an instructive tone, “You two, take the bug and Rock Polish. Go find Rainbow Dash.” He pointed at the mercenary he named, a tall off-white stallion equipped with two saddle-mounted cannons. “Get ready for another round, guys, we’re holding the fort!” Chrys followed Uzul and the selected group out a door, creeping along. While they did, the Arbiter continued to speak to the changeling.

“How often can you do that magic? And how useful is it?”

“The ponies called it swarming.” Chrys answered after a moment. “I’ve never had to stop doing it because I got too tired. They made me practice on a bunch of metal statues.” That was something she had never really thought about. Why was she being taught? And for that matter, when had they taught her? She remembered learning it from the ponies in her captivity, but not exactly how or when. Then again, she had no way of telling time in any box she was put in.

———

Zuri ducked behind an alcove in the wall, as another barrage of plasma spheres flew past her, burning into the walls and the floor. Moondancer, in the same alcove, was firing back fast as she could at the overly equipped cyborg blocking their path. Between them, they had downed four guards, another turret, and this cyborg's partner, and in retaliation, this enhanced pony had pulled out all the stops. He was shouting something about sick and twisted friend-killers by the time Moondancer landed another shot.

"These idiots just don't quit." She said while reloading her riveter. "Could you distract him for a second longer? I know I can get him if my aim's steady."

"I know just what to do." Zuri said, grinning as she leapt out, and shouted, "how about you show me sick and twisted, if you can hit me?" As demonstrated multiple times before, the trancer was very light on her hooves, but the mocking smile was just an act. Just as she expected, the bolts of green and blue energy began flying in her general direction as she ran behind the cover of a door leading to a bunk room. Moondancer peaked around her corner and fired again. The red hot pins flew, a few melted by intercepting plasma bolts, but enough hit their mark to make a difference. The cyborg crumpled to the floor, the life knocked out of him by the sizzling metal rivets embedded into his head at multiple angles. The unicorn smiled and, reloading again, said, "and that's how it's done! I think we're homefree now, the Supervisor's door is right there."

Now with projectiles not flying at them, the zebra and the pony walked past the freshest corpse, and over to the door leading to the supervisor's office. They found a blue unicorn sitting there behind a desk, with his hooves raised up and an earnest expression on his face. "Tough Love is through the door to your left." He whispered, pointing at the supervisor's door. "I don't care if you kill her or just scare her. I'm not going to try and stop you."

"Are you cowardly?" Zuri asked, advancing towards him.

"Sick of the new regime, more like." He sighed, "she took my job and screwed over most honest workers here, and honestly I'd prefer her position over this one. In this one I'm paid to act pathetic towards the brat. Did I mention she also took my friend and an element of harmony hostage?"

"I see your reasoning." Moondancer nudged Zuri's side. "I believe him. Let's move." The mercenary walked to the supervisor's door, and found it locked. This she quickly solved by firing twelve rivets into the door handle, breaking the deadbolt in the process. I have an easier way of doing that, Zuri thought, if only...

"Aha!" Tough Love shouted from behind the door. "Open the door, slowly." Now alerted, Moondancer slowly pushed it open, and Zuri saw from behind her that Tough Love had Big Macintosh limp across her desk. His eyes were glazed over, and a strange metal collar was around his neck. "If you move a muscle towards me without my say, Mac's brain is as good as mud!"

"You're bluffing," Moondancer growled, "didn't you want him to be wrapped around your hoof and still alive?"

"I can do that. I'll just put his brain back together, the way I want it. It'll just cost me a few thousand more bits, so no big deal." She sneered, "and I'll turn him to putty in my hooves if you don't drop that gun and wait for my security to take you away. Better yet, keep your gun on, and I can say you tried to attack me when my guards come bursting in and end you."

"And what if we do attack you?" Zuri asked her with a scowl. "And get our hooves on the money needed to repair his brain? I'm more capable than you think."

"Mm, so you don't care about your fellow zebras, then?" Tough Love said, manipulating something on a touch screen. A display rose in front of her desk, and showed an image of Chrys, Uzul, Druva, and Rock Polish walking down the hallway of the cell block.

Oh no...

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

"Strange," Uzul muttered as he looked around, his arc bow at the ready. "I would have expected more guards, with better equipment."

"Maybe they're preparing for an ambush?" Druva suggested. "There might be more behind the corner."

"What if there aren't any more?" Chrys asked. "Is that really bad?"

"Well, no," Uzul shrugged, "it just doesn't feel–duck!" He said it just in time, as when they did duck, some shimmering object flew over them, and stopped just behind them.

"Well that isn't much of an ambush." Rock Polish chuckled. "Tough Love's getting out of touch—hey!" He shouted, as he was suddenly lifted off the ground by his hindlegs, like some giant claw was dangling him from them. Chrys watched as Uzul and Druva were levitated up the same way, and then she was. She tried controlling herself with her wings, but nothing happened. She then noticed multiple guards coming from both directions, aiming their weapons right at them.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

"Just an antigravity field." Tough Love said, walking around her desk and leaning on the side with Macintosh's head resting on it, petting his mane. "Your buddies'll be stuck floating around like that until I say. Which do you think would be a better death? Being shot before a firing line or being shot down like birds?"

Zuri watched the screen in dismay as Uzul and Druva flailed their hooves, trying to figure out what was going on. Moondancer scowled at Tough Love, her horn sparking.

"Don't you dare throw some spell at me!" Said the supervisor, hovering her hoof over macintosh's collar. "If I even see that horn of yours light up, your conductor is busto, and so are your zebra friends!"

"Well, you're in quite a tangle now, girl. Wonderful job!" Zuri could almost hear Dunnur's sarcastic praise in the background, like he sometimes did whenever she had mucked up trancing and he was in a teasing mood. "Let's review your work so far, eh? You've walked right into this room without a care for the layout, and now lying between you and your goal is yet another pony, threatening you with your fellow zebra floating above the ground and your hope for getting back home the fastest possible way is currently on the desk with a death-collar around his neck. Swell. No help is coming, and if they do come bursting in, your ride home's brain is goo. No resources, and let us not forget the promise you made to the premier elder regarding trancing, hm? Goodness, why did I ever let you graduate my classes? Have you learned nothing?"

"Don't just stand there, you brutes. Either surrender or give me the pleasure of cutting your friends in half." Tough Love snapped, grinning a sadistic grin.

"Ooo." Zuri's vision of Dunnur shook his head from the back of the room. "Sounds like a challenge if I ever heard one. Sad that you cannot anything about it."

Shut up, sir teacher, and let me prove myself. I'm thinking. Zuri had to think fast, or there wouldn't be much left to think over. No trancing, no fighting. She never said anything bad about talking. Oh, Tough Love, I've got you now...

"Why is this room so pink?" Zuri asked aloud.

"What?" Said Tough Love, looking from Moondancer to the zebra.

"What?" Said Moondancer, turning head to look at Zuri with a confused expression.

Zuri kept her eyes on Tough Love's, "this room is so garishly pink. Did you decide to color it this way? It seems very ugly and simple. Isn't your father supposed to be rich?"

"Hey, to hell what you think about what colors I like!" Tough Love snapped, folding her forelegs. "Daddy let me have full control over this dumb factory. I can paint the facility with polka-dots if I wanted to!"

"Your father gives you a bit too much freedom, I think." Zuri commented, grinning. "Why not a nice calm violet, maybe some sort of decoration?"

"Oh, like what, stripey? Shrunken heads and spooky masks?" Tough Love shot at her, holding her nose high.

"I was more thinking a mirror ball, some statuettes, and maybe painting some flowers on vines. Something besides this constant, painful pink. Don't you get enough of it when you look in the mirror, or do you not have one, so you have an excuse to leave that mane how it is?" Zuri may have been a sand trancer, but she was who her friends went to when they were managing their manes and tails for whatever reason. Being Oun-Drii, she had to learn both her trade and stay constant with trends regarding appearance, else her family may receive grief for not keeping their progeny up to date.

"I gotta ask, how does some dumb zebra figure she knows anything about hair care?" Tough love leaned over her desk, resting her chin in her hooves, which she rested on Big Macintosh. "Were you some stylist's slave before you got too brave for your own good?"

Zuri returned with a firm, "no. I stumbled upon ponies and their poorly kept manes just this week. Yours is the latest in a long line of ponies' manes I have critiqued." She found she rather liked how she said that last word. It had been one she'd struggled with translating, but it made her sound more sophisticated, she thought, and it had an effect on Tough Love. She obviously only expected Zuri to know words that had a smaller number of letters.

"And what makes your opinion so special? Because you got your mane to look so nice in this dry heat?" Tough Love tried to sound cruel and uncaring, but Zuri detected the slightest hint of resentment—resentment for what Zuri was suggesting. Wonderful that she takes appearance so seriously as to believe me.

"We zebra can keep our manes in pristine condition in this dry heat. Tis what we prefer, that or the humidity of the far marshes. Your dainty little hooves would probably just chafe when you set them down in the muck there." Tough Love didn't like that last part. Zuri could tell, because the pony was turning red in the cheeks. She continued, "You're rather sad, really. You hide behind all this technology. The collar on your prize's neck, the machine that removes the gravity from under my friend's hooves, makes me wonder why you do nothing with the magic you've been given. Oh, hold on, you're not one of these unicorns, like Moondancer is, are you?" That definitely struck a chord. Tough Love didn't like being a simple earth pony. "How sad. I've heard very demeaning things about earth ponies, as you call yourselves."

"Yeah, and I've heard worse about your whole race, zebra!" Tough Love shouted, with much more quavering in her voice. "I'm not the family-rutting striped oogla-boogla blue freak standing in this office!"

Oh-ho, so she knew how to urk someone too. I'll show you 'oogla-boogla'... "Indeed you are not. Instead, you're the pathetic and plain overcompensating child in this office."

"I'll make you eat those-what in the world..." Tough Love looked down at her screen, suddenly, and Zuri could see why when she looked at the display facing her again. There was a big black cloud, flying around Chrys.

———

"The hell is that thing doing?" One soldier yelled over the sound of rushing wind. "Shoot it!"

Bullets flew at Chrys from all directions, but none made contact. They were all eaten by the swarm she had summoned, turned into metal particles, adding to the size of the mass. Once the weapon fire had a break, she let loose, making sure to keep the swarm from expanding towards Uzul, Druva, or Rock Polish. There was screaming from the soldiers, as they were overwhelmed by the little black insects coming down upon them, like a plague of locusts. The gravity field lifted after the third guard fell, and Uzul, Druva and Rock Polish hit the floor ungracefully. Chrys, regaining control of her wings, fluttered down to land amongst the recovering rescue team.

"That was very well timed." Uzul breathed, wincing as he discovered a few bruises. "And very violent. I see there is little left of our foes."

"I wish I knew how I learned the spell," Chrys said, her horn's light diminishing as the remaining swarm dissipated to nothing. "I only remember using it. It isn't making me tired like I remember, though."

"Whatever it is, it sure is cool!" Druva put in, smiling encouragingly. "It's like some sort of insect-related trancing, isn't it, Uzul?"

Uzul got a sour look on his face. "While I feel that Chrys is a decent ally here, I think it improper to compare trancing to Chrys' swarm magic." While Uzul tried to make it sound as polite as possible, Chrys was still hurt by the root message: She was still an outsider. And of course she would be; she was a changeling, they were zebras. Speaking of which... Chrys took careful note of Druva's and Uzul's figures and mannerisms. It suddenly seemed very important, as they proceeded further down the hallway, towards another door, marked: "interrogation".

"Shh." Uzul said, stopping by the door, and putting an ear to it. After a few moments, his expression brightened. "Rainbow Dash is in there. She's arguing."

———

"No! No, dammit! Why the hell is that little bug there?" Tough Love screamed, banging her hooves against the screen. "Backup! Backup, why aren't you down there?" She stopped, and looked up at Zuri and Moondancer, snarling. "Don't think this is over—I still have your conductor. He's coming with me!" She hit another button, and her desk withdrew into a new doorway on the back wall, which shut directly afterward.

"Shit. Shoulda seen this coming." Moondancer paced towards the wall. "She's in a safe room. Probably lined with armor-walls."

"And I can still hear every word you say!" Tough Love taunted through the intercom. "I've already notified Paradise City with a distress signal. Maybe if you put your guns down now they'll shoot you in the head first, and not the legs!" She shut the com off with deliberate force.

"Now," Moondancer said, turning to frown at Zuri, "we're kind of totally screwed. ESSUG military occupies Paradise in bulk, for just such an occasion. They'll be coming through the windows, the ceiling, the walls, we may as well just stand right here and wait for the tactical nukes to fly through the windows."

"Needn't wait for that." Came the blue pony's voice, just before a blast door sealed off the first doors Zuri and Moondancer had passed through. He looked around at them, and nodded. "I already see more guards coming down the hall. We need time."

"Time for what? We can't do anything to Tough Love while she's in there," Moondancer said.

"I need time," he corrected, his hooves rapidly moving around his console. To circumvent the security programming and bring her out in the open. I got some of the technicians to help build a worm virus. I just have to set it loose on the right system."

Zuri had rarely felt so helpless. Trancing useless, fighting useless, and now her hope was placed in a blue colt who knew how to operate one of the pony devices Zuri couldn't even figure out how to turn on. The only thing to do was wait.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

"So where were you going with these mercenaries?" The interrogator's voice travelled through the door. Rainbow's came much more easily.

"Was coming to visit you guys. I heard you had great customer service here. Turns out: I was wrong."

"Well, sorry to disappoint, miss Dash, but we at ESSUG are more interested in why you're here rather than why you aren't comfortable. Try the hotel down the train line at Paradise. Warm food, cozy beds, cosy butlers AND maids, shady backdoor deals regarding protein packs, it's right up your alley."

"Sounds perfect!"

"We can get you moved there before we ship out, if you tell us what we want."

"Well, I would, believe me, but here's the thing; I'm the element of Loyalty, remember?"

"Hard to forget."

"Well I do hold loyalty to Equestria."

"Then why won't you tell us anything?"

"You didn't let me finish. I am loyal to Equestria, the princesses, my friends, and my crew. I am NOT loyal to ESSUG, for obvious reasons if you've actually read that file you're waving around."

"As a matter of fact I have, and I wanted to talk to you about your application to the interplanetary flotilla."

"Wait, what?"

"Seems to me there was an error on the returned application. Right here, the two boxes checked by the Equestrian admissions officer, whether or not it's approved? The officer might have checked the wrong box when he sent it into the system. So, we've deleted the check already put there."

"I see where this is going." Rainbow's voice was growing guarded and cold.

"Then I don't have to go to the trouble of explaining, now do I?"

"Okay, now we've got to get through this door." Uzul whispered.

"Stand back," Rock Polish warned, as he readied and aimed his cannons right at the door handle. "Screw trying to pick this: breeching!"

Two loud, resounding bangs filled the air, alongside smoke and light, as the door's lock was blasted into pieces. Uzul pushed the now-loose door open, and readied his arc bow.

"The hell was that noise?" The interrogator shouted, turning around in his seat at a table across from Rainbow Dash. Rainbow, seeing her rescue party enter with obvious ferocity, moved quickly, and jumped over the table, delivering a powerful buck to the side of the interrogator's head. He fell to the floor quickly, as Rainbow Dash held up her forehooves, which were locked together with cuffs.

"I couldn't be sure it wasn't a bad idea to do that until I knew reinforcements weren't just a few feet away." She said, flapping her wings in excitement. "Get these damn things off me. Tell me what's happening!"

"Macintosh was being held hostage, last time I checked." Uzul said, being the first one to run over to Rainbow and begin searching the unconscious ESSUG pony for a key. "Zuri and Moondancer went to get him. Druva, Rock Polish, Chrys and I came to get you."

"Thunderlane wanted all the 'freaks' out of the train, huh?" Rainbow asked with a frown, and Uzul nodded the affirmative. "Then why's Rock here?" She looked at the stallion, and he shrugged.

"He ordered it. He was the commanding officer present, after all. Isn't that what loyalty's about, or something?" Rainbow Dash only chuckled, and patted Uzul on the head.

"Good to see you at the head of the procession. Let's go give Zuri and Moon a helping hoof!"

———

"Alright, I think I've almost got it," the blue stallion announced, still working away at his touch screen. Zuri looked around, having been focused on the door and the sparks spitting from the center, drawing a line upwards.

"Better hurry. They're gonna break through any minute."

"The worm's through the system!" He shouted, running into Tough Love's office. "Get away from that door!"

Zuri didn't need to be told twice. She sped right on after him, and Moondancer after her. Moments after they had shut the door behind them, a loud crack signalled that the guards were through the door. There was a large amount of gun fire, before someone shouted, "clear!"

"We don't have much time! Why isn't the safe door open yet?" Moondancer asked hurriedly.

"Just give it a second, will you?" Copic snapped at her. "It'll work. I'm sure it'll work. Number Cruncher wouldn't play this kind of trick on me." They waited in silence, with Zuri having to listen to the steady series of instructions a security officer was giving her subordinates just behind the door. Sure enough, the safe room door did open, and to them was displayed Big Macintosh, standing before them. Tough Love didn't seem to be anywhere in sight.

"Mac, you're alright!" Moondancer said, a large amount of the edge out of her voice. She walked towards him, holding out a hoof. He batted it away, breathing steadily. "The hay? Mac, are you feeling alri-" Macintosh didn't let her finish her sentence, before he knocked her against the wall, and she slumped to the ground.

"Ha-HA!" Tough Love laughed through the intercom. "Didn't ya see that his collar was missing? He doesn't need it no more; it's finished rewriting him. Now he's completely devoted to me!" Zuri stared at Big Macintosh, and he stared back, not moving. His green eyes looked dulled, and glazed over. Tough Love didn't waste any more time. "Go on, Mac. Kill!"

"Yeb'm." He grunted, and began advancing towards Copic Pen.

"Yikes!" Copic yelped, as he narrowly dodged one of the stallion's big hooves, which left a dent in the wall. "Dammit, Mac. I knew you were a sucker for cute ones, but this is ridiculous!" Macintosh didn't respond to his words, simply swinging his hoof around and knocking Copic on the side of the head. He fell to the floor easily, groaning. The big red stallion raised a hoof, about to pound the blue unicorn in the chest.

Zuri took her opportunity, leaping up and delivering a swift kick to the side of Macintosh's own head. He grunted again, and swiveled to meet her, just as she retreated back to a corner of the saferoom. Big Macintosh pawed the ground, lowering his head. Zuri had the good sense to jump to the right as he came charging by, ramming directly into the wall. He seemed dazed for a moment, but recovering quickly. Zuri moved in on him again, striking him twice between the eyes, before he butted her back against a wall. She managed to dodge his next hoof, but not the one after that, receiving a withering blow to her stomach.

The trancer was unable to move for a couple of seconds, while Mac stood over her, ready to strike her again. She, however, recovered much faster than he did, and dove straight for his middle, headbutting him herself right in the chest. While it certainly didn't help the growing headache, Zuri was able to knock him back several feet, and he was dazed enough that he couldn't immediately respond. She used her time while, turning about and bucking him in the face twice. Finally, he fell to the floor, breathing slowly.

"Whaaat?" Tough Love screeched through the intercom. "AGAIN? What stops you!?"

Zuri couldn't think of anything decent to reply with, as she rested for a moment. Her stomach hurt, her chest was bruised, and her head wouldn't stop throbbing. Thankfully, however, she did not spontaneously fall asleep, which means she would be plenty awake when the guards burst in. Oh, great.

9. Wildfire

View Online

"Dammit! You just HAD to do that!" Tough Love screeched. "My new boytoy is dead... And I'll hafta spend TWICE as much money fixing his innards than just his brain! This is all your fault!"

Zuri, still slowly recovering from Macintosh's heavy blows, had nothing to say. She was defeatedly waiting for Tough Love's cavalry to come bursting through the two doors. With Moondancer and that blue pony still unconscious, they would probably shoot Zuri first, and that was a thought nauseating enough to get her to roll onto her aching stomach.

"At least he got a few punches in." Tough Love's smugness was almost palpable. "You won't have time to get off that floor before you die. ESSUG's gonna come right at you, from all directions. Then you're fu–oh! Right on schedule!" There was a loud bang on the door, and then a couple shouts. Zuri, still somewhat dazed, took a few seconds to register that the words shouted were zebric.

———

"Stand back, Uzul, I'm dropping Feruvuur!" Druva warned, holding up a thin red vial. "This will teach them to meddle with us."

"Not if you incinerate Zuri, too." Uzul said placatingly. "What about the chance that she's right behind that door?"

"If you two could finish your foreign conversation," Rock Polish shouted from around the corner of the hallway, "and blow the door open, it would be most appreciated!"

"Yeah," Rainbow Dash assented. "Why'd you ask us to hide back here anyway, Druva?"

"Because this might burn your feathers off!" Druva shouted back, focusing on Uzul again. "I'm willing to take this chance because I think Zuri should understand that I'm about to throw Feruvuur at the door!" Druva raised her voice, so that it could carry through and, hopefully, reach Zuri's ears before she dropped the vial. "No more questions! Stand back!" Druva loosened the cork, and, taking several steps back, lobbed it at the door.

Zuri, able to hear quite clearly for most of the conversation, slowly began dragging Moondancer into the saferoom, having recovered enough to stand up, mostly. She hesitated when she looked at the blue pony. She didn't know him, but he had proven useful. Damn it all... I'm going soft. She grumbled to herself, as she pulled the stallion into the room by his mane. Just in time, as when she next turned around, a blinding white light threw her against the wall. It was accompanied by a painfully loud roar, and the heat washed over Tough Love's room.

Zuri opened her eyes, to see the office engulfed in flames, and the door melting to metal goo on the floor. The trancer felt a painful burn on her right side, to match the graze of a bullet on the left. She shouted over the roaring, trying to signal her friends that she was still alive, while she made sure her cloak wasn't aflame too.

"What the fuck was that!?" Moondancer screamed, suddenly very much awake. The reason why was that her tail had been on fire for a few seconds, and she was only now smothering it. "Did somepony start firebombing? Zuri, why is Big Macintosh..." She trailed off into a coughing fit. It was getting hard to breathe.

"See? This is why I didn't want you to use it!" Uzul snapped at Druva. "We're going to cook them alive!"

"That's it. You two are never in charge of breaching a door again, if you keep nagging at each other." Rainbow Dash spoke up. "Heads up! I'm coming in!"

A cyan blur shot over the flames, and landed in front of Zuri. She hissed in pain, beating one wing a few times to get rid of a few singed feathers. "Get those two colts up. I'm carrying you out."

"What's going on?" Came a younger, stranger voice. "Why is that room melting?"

"Changeling, go back to the train. This isn't the time." Rock Polish replied.

Zuri tried to wake Macintosh, unsuccessfully. Copic Pen, on the other hoof, was already up and complaining loudly about a large burn on his left flank, that left the sickening smell of cooked flesh in the room, along with the dwindling oxygen supply. Rainbow carried him out first. Rather, she lifted him over the flames and threw him into his secretary chair. Moondancer displayed a little trick, by grabbing Macintosh around the neck and lighting up her horn. In another blink, she was gone, and trying to wake the heavyweight pony on the other side of the flames.

"Alright, hold on tight, Zuri." Rainbow Dash instructed, holding out her forehooves.

"H-hey!" Tough Love shouted again, through the intercom. "You can't just leave like this, burning down my office!" Rainbow Dash was already carrying Zuri over the fire, which felt, to Zuri, as if it were going to cook her alive, like Uzul said. She shut her eyes tight, even as Rainbow Dash landed on the other side, nursing a burn on her foreleg. "You monsters!" Tough Love screamed. "I'll get you back for this! I paid forty THOUSAND bits for the upholstery in there! Bring back my Macintosh!"

"Quick, let's get out before she figures out she's fried." Uzul snapped.

"Not gonna work like that." Copic Pen said through grit teeth as he attempted to move without agitating the burn on his side. "She has an escape chute in there."

"Would have been nice to know that!" Rainbow said, as she took her place next to Big Macintosh. "Is he gonna wake up any time soon? He looks like he's heavy."

"Not a clue." Moondancer shrugged. "What happened to him? Zuri?"

Druva, Moondancer, and Rainbow Dash eyed Zuri inquisitively, who responded quickly. "I knocked him unconscious."

"A sort of little revenge, huh? You know, for knocking you out?" Rainbow smirked at her, and then continued before the Trancer had time to respond. "Nevermind it. Moondancer, think you can levitate him to the train?"

Moondancer blinked, looking up at her horn. "Oh hay, Rainbow. I'm no Twilight Sparkle, but... Yeah, probably." She lighted up her horn, focusing on the still unmoving form of Big Macintosh. Slowly, the big limp stallion rose into the air, Moondancer straining to keep him aloft. "Guh..." She groaned, her horn glowing brightly. "He's a freaking anvil! Let's hurry before I accidentally drop him into a grinder or something..."

Making quick progress, with Moondancer walking right next to Macintosh's floating body, the group returned to the train. The car that had been the center of defense for the Rainboom Riders was decorated with holes, from little bullets to large shells and bolts of plasma. Big Macintosh being the only one capable of operating the train mechanisms, the mercenary group and their tagalong zebras were still trapped in the Rock Pile train station, while Druva began cooking up some new brew with her cauldron on a zap plate in another train car.

Zuri stood by, watching the alchemist work with the strange materials she withdrew from her Vuiol and the plants and fungi she took from first-aid kits and several storage crates. "Took us this long to get back here," Druva was saying, dropping the ground up pieces of root from a flowering plant native to Palosol into the brew. "Now we can't even get out. Tis why I'm making a potion that I'm hoping will wake up Big Macintosh, unlike some crazy smelling salt or whatever that Moondancer mare is stuffing up his poor nose." Zuri noticed there was significant bitterness in her fellow zebra's voice when she mentioned Moondancer.

"Probably trying to get in his better favor." The alchemist continued, beginning to stir the cauldron's contents with a long wooden stick. "She may be a good soldier, but I've seen how she ogles his muscles." She leaned over the cauldron a moment, to look at Zuri closer. "Have you gotten a good look at them? He's built like a berserker."

"He's certainly very big." Zuri agreed, a little confused by her dreamy expression.

"Very big! He's a mountain!" Druva exclaimed, almost excited. "He's defined like the soldier statues in Tabithun. He's gorgeous."

"That's... A little far." Zuri said, her voice getting quieter. She didn't like talking about this kind of thing. It always made her uncomfortable. And furthermore, Druva was comparing some off-planet equine to the statues of the old honored soldiers, Tabithun being a center of military and cultural influence.

"Not far enough, I think. Egzam Drähg Logodo~" Druva sighed dreamily, sitting back a moment while the cauldron brewed. Zuri didn't exactly approve of what she said in their tongue. It was a sort of unclean saying some zebra mares made when gossiping about the objects of their affections. "Like Bradao Glo'Dei, the old story about the gentle golem and the Oun-Drii princess he attracts. How does that passage go? 'Burn me, bury me, or stomp me into the floor, I shall be here, with you, my big friendly giant...'" She sighed. "I always loved that story."

Zuri was incredulous, almost fuming. "You're comparing Bradao Glo'Dei, one of our culture's oldest romances, to an over-muscular alien."

"Well, better him than some other creep we've run into." Druva said, a little miffed at her words. "You have to admit, he's much more courteous than Thunderlane, or that swollen Edrecht back in New Appleloosa. I mean, he apologized for hurting you, and besides..." She leaned over again, smirking. "Rainbow Dash has been with him before, and says he's especially muscular, up close and down bel–"

"Yuck!" Zuri shouted, scrunching her face up as her cheeks turned red. "PLEASE don't finish that sentence! That potion stinks, already, and you're going to make me ill, talking about disgusting things like that."

Druva frowned at her a moment, before touching the hot liquid with a hoof. "Well, the potion's ready, fair lady timid." She teased, scooping some of the liquid into another bottle, and then thrust it at Zuri.

"I thought this was for your crush." Zuri said, warily taking the shaped bottle in her forehooves.

"This is for everyone who got injured. It's a dictamnus brew." Druva explained. "You were burned, and shot. This should heal your wounds quickly."

Zuri eyed the bottle full of cloudy white and pink liquid. Carefully, he brought it to her lips, and took a drink. It was thick and creamy, and got warmer as it travelled from her throat to her stomach. The heat went from her belly to her heart. The sensation was very much like setting up a trance, as it spread to her two wounds. The aching pain was dulled, and eventually vanished. Zuri looked at her sides, watching the burn mark and the graze disappear, and the skin regrow. She smiled, regaining full mobility with her wounds not longer irritating her.

"There, you're welcome." Druva said, with a note of coldness. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go tend to my crush." She took back the bottle, cleaning off the rim and refilling it, corking it shut, carrying it in her teeth to where Big Macintosh was. Zuri thought about following her, but instead felt her tail being given a slight tug. Turning, she found Chrys, staring up at her.

"Are you okay?" Chrys asked, cocking her holed ears. "I heard there were ponies shooting at you and beating you."

"I heard you killed a group of ponies with your magic," Zuri replied, to which Chrys nodded with an unreadable expression. There was not any guilt, Zuri saw easily.

"Is... Is that big red pony going to be okay?" Chrys asked, peering around Zuri's shoulder to look at the far door. "He was asleep. He promised he would come back, though."

"I don't know." Zuri replied, not happy about the subject going back to Big Macintosh. "Maybe you should go check."

"She don't need to," said that now-familiar deep rumble. "Ah'm okay, jus' a little dizzy." Big Macintosh didn't look altogether healthy. His eyes still had a partially glazed over look in them, and he was having a little trouble walking in an entirely straight line. Whatever things Tough Love's collar had done to him, Druva's potion didn't completely reverse. Still, the important thing was he was up and moving, and therefor able to get the train moving.

Chrys smiled excitedly, fluttering over Zuri's head to greet the recovered stallion. She was stopped about halfway through the air when Druva cleared her throat. She was standing close, next to him. Very, very close, Zuri noticed. "He can't do much at the moment. Tis best if he just gets the train controls operational."

"So, uh, do Ah get told what Ah missed?" Macintosh asked, looking at the three of them.

"Rainbow Dash is free, we're still stuck in Rock Pile, and oh yeah, your friend Copic Pen is gonna tag along to Paradise City." Druva rattled off, smiling brightly at him.

"Huh," Macintosh muttered, thinking this over, "and, uh, what about that whole business with the collar n' Tough Love?"

"You should be okay. At any rate, you will be okay until we get to Paradise City, then we should get you some proper medical help."

"Huh, alright." Macintosh said, nodding slowly while he began to walk again. He stumbled, and Druva took it as an opportunity to get even closer.

"Here..." She propped the massive stallion against herself with some difficulty. "You can lean against me."

Receiving a thanks, Druva helped Big Macintosh make his way past Zuri and Chrys, and to the front car.

Zuri went elsewhere, first finding Gustav examining metal crates full of refrigerated goods. He looked up, grinning. "Ach! I've been wanting to talk to you." He said, straightening up and walking over to the zebra, who noticed the Gryphon had a bandage around one hind-leg, and was limping. "I haven't had a chance to say thank you, Zuri," Gustav began. "Now I think you deserve it twice over, for what you've done to get Macintosh back and us back on the path to Paradise City. I also wanted to apologize, specifically, for the last words exchanged between us. I think I look at your kind a bit differently now, now that they've helped me." He held up his hind leg, and peeled off the bandage without so much as a wince. "Look! I was caught by a bullet, and that alchemy-friend of yours healed it within seconds. Much more useful than a first-aid kit, no?"

"Druva is certainly very good with her cauldron." Zuri said, smiling slightly. "Very helpful."

"Reminds me, I want you to take this." He reached back, and withdrew from a pack on his side a large bag, that clinked and jingled as it moved. "This should help you, in Paradise City. I've gotten the impression that you're a responsible kind of mare, so I'm sure you won't waste this on ale or something."

"Ale? I haven't even had zebric ale. I'm not about to go near any drink that is pony made." The Trancer replied, letting a laugh sneak into her voice. She needed the humor, today had been very high tension, with all the bullets flying around. Gustav laughed as well, and stood to the side to let her pass.

Most the other Rainbow Riders were grateful they had their train conductor back. Even Thunderlane, stiff and reluctant, came up to her in one train car and grumbled what Zuri assumed was a thank-you. She wanted to find Rainbow Dash herself, however, to speak with regarding how entering and leaving Paradise City would work. She would normally ask Druva, but Druva seemed more keen on making sure she had Macintosh all to herself.

She walked towards the car with the security officers' bunks in it. Once used by the ESSUG guards who went along with the train, it was now being used by Rainbow Dash and her seconds. The door sliding out of her way, she walked in, and peeked around the bunks on either side of the train car. There wasn't much sign of anyone, as she walked through, until she came upon a sight that made her want to shriek.

Uzul was sitting atop one of the bunks, hooves holding him tightly to Rainbow Dash, and their lips were locked. It took a few moments for Zuri to calm down and realize that they weren't taking it any farther than that, thank the stars, but all the same her face went red. She attempted to interrupt them with a loud clearing of her throat, but it took a few seconds, Rainbow Dash holding up a hoof to signal whoever was watching to wait one more second. Finally, before Zuri had the chance to reach up and pull them apart by their tails, Uzul broke the kiss, gasping like he had come up from deep water. He opened his eyes, looked at Zuri, and jumped.

"Z-zuri!" He squawked, apparently still uncomfortable with his own kin seeing him so passionately mashing mouths. "I didn't think you'd be in here..." He coughed nervously, avoiding her face.

"I wanted to talk to Rainbow Dash," Zuri snapped, a little irritated and trying to will the red off her face. It wasn't working.

"Uh, yeah, um..." Rainbow stammered, caught off guard as well, even though she had a big grin on her face. Then she looked curiously at Zuri. "Hey, why're you all—hang on. You're not jealous of me, are you?"

"Stars, no." Zuri said firmly. Which was true, she wasn't at all desiring Uzul for herself. It was bad enough that Druva, Moondancer, and possibly even Chrys were going after the big red stallion. Zuri felt that one love-polygon was more than enough for one dysfunctional band of adventurers, mercenaries and misfits. "I just don't like you two getting so... Cuddly so fast."

"Cuddly?" Rainbow said, laughing. "That wasn't cuddly, that was a thank-you kiss. Only Uzul gets them though, sorry."

"I feel so left out." Zuri said, her tone drooling sarcasm. "Anyway, I wanted to speak to you in private."

"I think I get your meaning," Uzul said meekly, climbing down from the bunk and moving towards a car door. "I'll just..." He was gone before he finished talking.

Rainbow Dash sighed, fluttered down to Zuri's level, and looked at her. "So, what's up?"

"I was only wondering," Zuri began, still slightly flushed, "about how we are going to get into Paradise City, and what it will be like for us zebras."

"Ah, okay," Rainbow pursed her lips for a moment, rubbing her chin. "Well, the first part's easy. The train'll just head into the station Mac thinks will most likely overlook a bunch of 'slaves' and some technically-unregistered weaponry. Let's not forget the changeling, too. After that, my crew will go looking for a way to head for Filthy Rich, and we'll see if we can help you find some of your kind's merchants. We might need a sum of money, to bribe an official or two, or even buy zebra licenses, or even a ShowMe engraving."

"What is a ShowMe?" Zuri asked.

"It's, um..." She examined her right hoof, pulling off the part of her combat suit covering it, and showing the base of her hoof to Zuri. "I know you don't see anything, but Equestrian citizens get an identification tag magically engraved into their hooves. It allows them to pass through security checkpoints really easily, and helps with access to computer networks, mainframe storages, and data pipelines." Zuri hadn't any idea what on Palosol any of those things were, but did not bother asking. "It would sure help if it wasn't just Mac with a legitimate ShowMe. I could sure use one with decent security clearance, but that costs a lot of money."

"Well, your cook just gave me this." Zuri withdrew the bag jingling full of coins.

"Woah! Where was he hiding this?" Rainbow Dash took the bag, undoing the string holding it shut and looking inside. "Sweet Celestia, there's enough money in here to buy a small house." She looked up at Zuri with a frown. "He probably found this in one of these crates, otherwise he would have probably told me about it sooner. This also means the money is traceable, otherwise ESSUG would have locked it in a mobile vault." She peered into the bag again, and pulled out a shining gold coin. "Well, that's weird. They have no tracing number on either side." She turned it over in her hooves. On one side was a silohuette of a pony with a horn and wings, leaping upwards with a sun and moon on either side of it. On the other side, it had a pair of large curvy numerals, which Zuri couldn't interpret. "Shoot," Rainbow began again, "ten-bit, unmarked gold coins. I know Gustav didn't leave with this much money in his beak. This is practically a small fortune, why would this kind of thing go so underguarded?"

"Maybe they thought it was well-guarded," Zuri offered, "and they weren't expecting us."

"No, this is something fishy, we might be able to use this, but only if I know where Gustav got it. Excuse me." She brushed past Zuri, back towards the door she had entered through. This interaction brought up some subjects Zuri hadn't previously had time to put much thought into. When on Palosol did Uzul become so accepting of ponies? Or was it just this pony, possibly because it was a source of, yuck, potential sexual stimulation? First Uzul, and now Druva and maybe even that bug-pony, which Zuri didn't think much of either, now that she wasn't pressed for time.

A rumbling machine shook the train, and Zuri looked behind her to find the source. Macintosh was operating the controls for some large metal arm, that pulled out the two most bullet-ridden train cars, and replaced them with empty and undamaged cars though apparently used to hold several live animals, given the open cages that filled them. Then, the whole train lurched to the left, apparently switching tracks, as was planned. In a few more minutes of strange whirring and clunking, the train was moving again.

Zuri moved to one of the windows, watching the docking station of the Rock Pile move away to the right, and then beginning to blur as the train picked up speed. The depot disappeared as the train entered another tunnel, lighted by glowing yellow circles every few meters. The Trancer exited the officer bunks, and returned to find the two replacement cars now with Druva and Chrys in them. Druva was showing off her cauldron to the changeling, who was peering into the boiling blue liquid curiously. Zuri could look through the window to the next train car, and see Gustav and Rainbow having a very heated conversation. Uzul was to Zuri's left, gazing out the window. He noticed her, and waved her over.

"I wonder what hurdle we'll have to overcome next." The arbiter said, looking down at his arc bow, which he had removed from his back and rested atop an empty cage. "Rainbow Dash has already told me about what should happen when we get to Paradise City. I wonder how long we'll have..." He trailed off again, not looking at Zuri. It reminded Zuri that she hadn't actually spoken with Uzul since New Dodge Junction, and she had some questions to ask. To start...

"How much affection do you actually feel for Rainbow Dash?"

"Uh," Uzul went red, "w-well, I certainly do like her. She's amusing, attractive, athletic..." Well, he was going through the reasons why he felt affection for her, it was a start. "I want to see where this goes. Maybe I won't come back with you and Druva."

"No?" Zuri asked, a little bemused. She had an idea that Uzul would be hesitant about leaving the new apple of his eye behind, but she didn't much like the idea of leaving a zebra alone to be... Tainted by some multicolor alien.

"Maybe," Uzul repeated himself, his blush was still vibrant. "I do really feel something for her. I've never married, and being an Arbiter... I never had much time to connect with anyone in one place. But with this journey of ours, Rainbow is really... Really something."

"Well, so long as she is 'something', you must be on the right road." Zuri grinned at him.

"Hm, yes. Again, I'm not deciding anything yet. I don't know how much she really cares about me, besides just enjoying the kissing."

"So you think it's alright to cuddle up with an alien?" Zuri asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Would you rather I went at Druva?" Uzul's tone was more guarded.

"Druva has her heart set on the big red pony," Zuri informed him. "I don't understand how she can. He's entirely red, no stripes!"

"Well, Zuri, I don't know if you're the one to talk about coat color." Uzul said, his tone turning more teasing. "You have no white stripes, only blue ones, and your eyes are very very bright."

It was Zuri's turn to feel embarrassed. Stripe color was a touchy subject."At least I HAVE stripes. That red one and Rainbow Dash... They're just one color. And your fillyfriend's mane is... Too many."

Uzul didn't seem too disturbed by the use of the word fillyfriend. Instead, he put a hoof to his chin in thought. "Why so touchy on this subject? Did you have trouble with your own coat color? I think this is what is called being hypocritical."

"I am not hypocritical!" Zuri snapped hotly. "I may have been bullied a little by fellow Oun-Drii who didn't like my stripes, but at least I come from the same planet!"

"Why the sudden shouting?" Uzul asked, wearing a half-grin. Zuri knew he had found one of her more sensitive nerves. "Are you sure you aren't? Or jealous?"

"I am not jealous." Zuri said firmly, stamping her hoof. "Jealous? Of them? Why would I be?"

"They have different coat colors. In fact, every pony has different colors than every other pony. They are all unique, and none is above another because of that." Uzul pointed a hoof at her. "I'm sure you know very well that among our kind, a difference in stripe color is considered openly declaring yourself an abomination, to most." Zuri went red; she hated it when her own kind didn't treat her as an equal just because of her stripes. She had to deal with it since she was born. She didn't see any hypocrisy in acting the same way towards ponies. She thought it fair, and why not? It wasn't like the majority ponies liked her any more than she did them.

"There's... There's nothing wrong with a different stripe color," she said, trying to keep her voice level by quoting her mother's pacifications. "The ponies aren't... They aren't from here! Not the same world. They are the abominations, not me."

"Well, these abominations are doing a pretty good job of risking their lives to keep us all safe, don't you think?" Uzul's tone was guarded again. Maybe he felt protective of Rainbow Dash, given their growing relationship, Zuri mused.

"Haven't I done that too?" Zuri returned, after a moment's hesitation. "I risked trancing in front of witnesses, for our safety. I came back and freed you from that Edrecht and his whore-wife, remember?"

"For which I am most grateful," Uzul replied, sounding even more angry. "You are indeed the main reason we're here, alive, and on the way home. But that isn't my point, Zuri. My point is: don't you think you could be a bit more tolerant of the nicer ponies? At least, those who are actually protecting us? You've already gotten your gratitude, maybe you should show some too. Maybe you don't like how easily Druva and I have found... Partners, and you're all alone, because you're the wrong color."

That was it, before Zuri could think better of it, she had hit Uzul faster than the arbiter could ever prepare for. Then, she watching Uzul stumble to the side, holding his cheek where she had struck him. He looked stunned, and didn't say another word. Halfway between apologetic and furious, Zuri stomped away from him, her face red as a beet.

Calling her out on being xenophobic was one thing, suggesting her reasons for being against aliens originated from being an alien herself was another. She had had enough ridicule for blue stripes from her peers, she didn't need it from someone whom she was beginning to consider a decent friend. Chrys and Druva had noticed the argument, and now came running over to see why Uzul was holding the side of his face, wincing.

"Zuri, did you...?" Druva stared at her.

"I did, what's the problem with that?" Zuri snapped at her, making her draw back. The Trancer was too angry to slow down at the moment. "There isn't anything wrong with that, but there is something wrong with your snuggling up with that big red pony! How come with all of you two's snuggling up to those aliens that zebras still think my stripes make me a... " She stopped herself, and pushed past them all to the door to the previous car, now without occupants.

Zuri crawled behind a set of crates, apparently holding some strong smelling medical salves. She first tried to breathe deeply, like the Dunnur had taught her, when her emotions were gaining too much control, but that didn't help. She wanted to try silent meditation, or even a bit of private trancing as a stress relief, but before she could decide whether to melt something or transfigure a rock to a pretty bird, she felt tears roll down her cheeks, and a whimper building in her choked-up throat. Alone, Zuri began to cry, hiding her head with her mane and cloak hood.

She could easily remember the last time some zebra had stared at her for an extended amount of time, chiefly her blue stripes. She also remembered the last time someone had openly insulted her, without a care for whether they were punished for disparaging an Oun-Drii in public. Then the bullying, the words she learned that were made especially for those zebras whose colors were wrong, and the time she learned that her father had seriously considered burying her alive rather than having a child with discolored stripes, but stopped himself out of pure paternal affection.

It made Zuri more upset than anything that the ponies were all so uniquely colored, and all of them treated one another so much as equals. Even the brutal aliens seemed better in that regard than her own species, Zuri admitted bitterly. Druva and Uzul weren't helping, trying to get with Rainbow Dash and Macintosh and apparently succeeding. How come a zebra would rather be partners with an alien than treat one of their own with kindness? It didn't occur to Zuri that she had found two exceptions to the typical bigoted mindset of most Zebra. Druva and Uzul cared as much about the ponies being different from them as they did her stripe color, but Zuri felt it was some sort of acid-lined insult. They can get along better with them than they can me.

Zuri had been raised to treat outsiders with as much scorn as she received for being discolored. Not every zebra in Otoul thought her a freak, but the majority she met did. Many didn't dare say anothing in front of her or her family, fearful of reprimand for the heinous crime of openly insulting Oun-Drii. But Zuri knew how they felt, even in her small group of friends' eyes, she could see the fear in them, like she was carrying some deadly disease, or touching her would mark you with bad luck. At his worst, Gainu, her father, had called her an insult to Oun-Drii and her ancestor Sara.

The arguments Uzul had brought up reminded her of all that, of the other reason she left home. She needed a break from being harassed every day, and a long seclusion in the deserts or even the Far Marshes sounded like just the thing to take her mind off it all. Instead, she came across ponies, met Druva and Uzul, and was now stuck on a train, crying like a child behind a box full of smelly soaps. She knew exactly what her parents and Premier would say if they saw her right now, as well as the Dunnur. "Not at all how we raised you," was the general idea.

"I am sorry, sorry..." She mumbled to herself, like a mantra, only not at all helping to calm herself down. Muffling herself with her mane, she tried again to regain calm, still to no avail; the tears just wouldn't stop. Blinking some out of her eyes, she saw little flecks of blue, swirling around inside them. She breathed out, even her tears bore the signs of The Gift. It was why she had been given to the Dunnur as a student instead of anyone else. Her blood was so full of it, her heart so strong with it, that he had demanded that she would be his exclusive student. Being the most well known trancer currently alive, he had got her. Right now, she remembered the day she learned she was to learn under the Dunnur with warmth. It was what would disprove what all those bigots said about her, and it almost did, before she left.

Now, Zuri imagined the rumors being spun; maybe they thought she died, her bones picked clean by the harsh desert wind. Or, perhaps, she ran away to be with the ponies to see if they would accept her, like some other discolored zebras were rumored to have done. Maybe, just maybe, they were sending search parties out for her. Zuri managed a weak smile, a comical image of her brother, Agilis, riding along in his Gau-Aer sled, looking for her tail, which poked out of the sand like a drooping flower. Agilis never cared about her coat color, he thought it made her easier to identify, and much easier to find in a crowd of pretty Oun-Drii girls.

"Because I would stand out?" Zuri had asked glumly.

"Yes, of course you'd stand out!" Agilis had insisted, a toothy grin on his face. "Why wouldn't you? The prettiest one always stands out."

"Thank you, big brother, for the vote of confidence..." Zuri mumbled to herself, her voice sounding croaky with the lump of emotion in her throat. She heard the door to the car ahead open up, and hoofsteps draw close.

"Zuri? Druva said you ran in here." Rainbow Dash's voice came through over the crates. "She said you were pretty mad; hit Uzul real hard in the face. He's got a black eye, you know."

"I did do that.." Zuri said, sitting up so Rainbow Dash could see her. She blinked in surprise; Zuri's eyes were puffy and red from the crying. Evidently the mare hadn't ever expected to see this zebra in tears.

"Oh, uh, you were..." She gestured her hoof at Zuri's tear-streaked cheeks. She nodded feebly. Rainbow made an "ah", and sat back on her haunches, pointing with her wing to a spot next to her. "Well, come on, sit here with me."

Zuri tentatively clambered over the soap crates, and next to Rainbow Dash, gradually sitting down and nervously sniffling, wiping away more tears with her cloak hood. She waited for a few moments in silence, breathing shakily, for the pegasus to say something, maybe explain further as to why she had asked Zuri to sit by her. Rainbow took a deep breath, and sighed. "So, wanna talk about it?"

"N-not... not with you..." Zuri replied, wiping her eyes again.

"Oh?" Rainbow asked, eyeing her coolly. "Who, then? You don't seem to wanna talk to Druva, and, well, you just hit Uzul." She made a shrugging motion with her wings. "They seem the most likely, uh, people who you'd want to talk to when you're all..." She gestured to Zuri's red eyes. "Listen, I had a real great group of friends back on Equestria, our home planet. The one who brought us together, her name's Twilight, and she's taught me a few things about reading between the lines. Know what I mean?"

"Not really." Zuri said, blinking at her and sniffling.

"Well, uh, I see you've got a problem, and I want to help," Rainbow explained simply, smiling encouragingly at her. "I did hear a snippet of you shouting, though. Um, something about ponies being aliens?" Zuri looked away from her. "Well, you're right. We are aliens to you, as much as you are to us. It's kinda the definition of the word, in our books." She leaned closer to Zuri, whispering as if to prevent some eavesdropper from hearing. "Not that I read too many dictionaries to begin with, or anything, but!" She straightened up again. "What was that about your own kind, thinking you were a...?" She gestured with her forehooves, encouraging Zuri to expand on her thoughts.

Zuri sighed, and tried to glare at the pegasus even though she still felt like blubbering in a dark corner. She always hated crying, it made her feel nauseous and weak in the legs. "I... I was born with blue stripes, instead of nobagere—um, white. Among my kind, a difference in stripe color is like... Like..." She didn't want to describe it. Describing her constant, irreversible fault to this cheery cyan pony made her feel pathetic.

Rainbow Dash, however, was able to read the look on her face with superb accuracy. "It's like an insult to your family? You have to live with insults and unfair bias and stuff?"

"Yes!" Zuri said, quite nonplussed. "How did you know that?"

"I guessed," Rainbow smirked. "We have trouble like that too. See this thing, on my flank? The rainbow thunderbolt?" She pointed at one flank, where the colorful symbol was quite hard to miss, without her combat suit on. "It's called a cutie mark. Every pony has one, it shows what our special talent is—what we're best at."

Zuri stared at the cutie mark with great interest. "But... Among zebra kind, that's where the family crest is tattooed." She looked to her own flank, where a galactic spiral was etched, surrounded by outward-pointing triangles: the symbol of the Sara family, which Zuri would wear for the rest of her life. "Why would you have a rainbow thunderbolt on your flank? What does that even mean?"

"It means," Rainbow began, puffing her chest out proudly, "I'm the fastest flier on equestria! Or, anyway, it means my special gift is flying faster than most. Everypony gets one once they discover what their special talent is. But before that..." She groaned loudly, her smile lost again, "the stuff the other fillies and colts put you through... The bullying should be illegal. There's hazing incidents where really desperate kids get fooled by bigger ones into doing really stupid stuff, trying to figure out what their talent is. Colts and fillies get themselves killed, or worse." She shivered, ruffling her wings. "Blank-flank, that's the word for a pony who doesn't have their cutie mark yet, and they're usually the center of all the local punks' abuses. I guess, to other zebras, you're like a... A permanent blank flank. They always treat you that way because they think you're lesser than them. Am I right?"

Zuri nodded slowly, her situation was a lot like those "blank-flanks", only it didn't end with gaining a cutie mark. Her eyes occasionally darted to Rainbow's flank to examine the cutie mark. Well, it certainly wouldn't make any sense if that was a family crest, she decided. It would be ridiculed about as badly as Zuri was.

"But, Uzul and Druva don't care much," Rainbow continued, "they don't look like they do, anyway. What did Uzul say to make you hit him, specifically?"

Zuri took a deep breathe, in better control of herself now. "He suggested I was jealous of him and Druva for having affections for ponies because he thought I felt my coat color prevented me from doing anything good for me, while ponies come in ever color of the rainbow!" She frowned again. "All my coat's done is make me an outcast among most zebra."

"Wait, wait, you're Oun-Drii, I know enough about your culture to know that openly insulting Oun-Drii can be punishable by public flogging, or even execution."

"Only if it isn't an Oun-Drii making the insults. The worst ones came from fellow Oun-Drii children who were taught by their parents to treat me like mud."

"Well that's weird," Rainbow said, her tone gaining a cheeky quality. "You're not the color of mud; you're blue. Hey, that's an improvement, I think."

"It may be for you," Zuri snapped bitterly, "you ponies are supposed to be different colors. You don't get jeered at by passersby."

"Ah..." Rainbow said, a look of comprehension dawning on her face. "Listen, you might have heard it from your mom and dad, if they weren't complete jerks or something, but you should learn not to sink to the level of those who insult you. I mean, not ALL us ponies are bad, and, I didn't ever talk a about your color in a bad light, so it isn't really even fair to take it out on me, or even Uzul! Maybe he just let it slip because you were getting on his nerves, and it's not just blue zebras who do that, you know."

Zuri listened to this with a growing regret, now she did feel guilty for hitting Uzul. Maybe he did sincerely feel something for this mare, and however alien she may be, she really wasn't that bad, especially for a pony. Zuri could admit it, she had been feeling jealous of Rainbow and Macintosh gaining affections from zebras. Uzul and Druva were different, they accepted them as readily as they accepted Zuri. Now she felt a little stupid again, for not seeing this sooner, but gave a weak smile.

Rainbow smiled back, seeing she had done well in improving Zuri's mood. "Well, I gotta go see how my coltfriend is doing, with his black eye." She said, fluttering up into the air and towards the train car door. "Maybe you should see it too, and give him an apology, yeah? Apologies always help wounds heal faster, I think that's what Twilight would say." She flew into the next train car, leaving Zuri alone with an improving mood.

She still felt queasy and sniffly from her emotional walls crumbling down before, but at least the zebra was able to wait for it to go away, rather than dealing with it as she cried herself to sleep. Rainbow Dash really wasn't that bad, after all. Zuri hadn't thought they could be that understanding, even if it did make her feel like an idiot for not seeing the error in her thinking earlier.

Upon entering the car with Uzul again, Zuri and him exchanged apologies almost simultaneously, with Rainbow sitting in a corner looking quite pleased with the results of her troubleshooting. Druva approached her as soon as they had both shut their mouths.

"You know, we couldn't see it in the dim light of the cell block in New Dodge Junction," she began, referring to her and Uzul. "But we saw your coat color in the boat, in the morning afterward. We decided it didn't matter too much."

Chrys was buzzing about, apparently in quite a cheery mood, feeling the emotions of the two zebras radiating around her. The changeling explained to Zuri that when others around her were happy, she usually was too. Zuri could see Rainbow in the corner rolling her eyez.

Things were moving along quite well, with Paradise City looming ever closer before the train. Big Macintosh came in and declared they would be arriving within the day, and it was already getting dark, the details of the blurring land becoming a little harder to see with the setting sun. "Well, Ah think we might be sayin' farewells soon." He continued, looking from Zuri to Druva. "And Ah'd like to thank you fer rescuin' me from that Tough Love filly."

"Hey! I had a little something to do with that too!" Moondancer shouted from the far end of the car. "Oh, and let's not forget your blue friend, here..." She pushed Copic Pen towards them, and he waved rather timidly at the growing group.

"I'm just tagging along to get to Paradise City, and apply for a better job somewhere." Copic explained, shrugging. "I mean, it's good to see you again, Mac, and a real honor to meet THE Rainbow Dash, but, uh, the longer I'm not accounted for in Rock Pile, the longer the list of questions'll be when I get to Paradise. So, when did you say we were going to arrive there?"

"End of the day, Copic," Big Macintosh answered, chuckling. "Ya'll got nothin' to worry about, on that front." His gaze travelled to one of the windows, and his smile faded. "Uh oh, we might have to worry about that."

Everyone in the car looked out the left side of the train. In the distance, a strange vehicle could be seen, flying far above the surface. Rainbow Dash pressed her nose against the window, "I can't tell if it's military or not, but that hovercraft couldn't have come from anywhere but the Rock Pile. It's not big enough to be able to fly any farther out that that."

"But, I wonder who's in it?" Druva muttered, trying to peer through the dark, tinted glass of the craft's cockpit. What was most easily visible was the shape: long, and batlike, with thin wings that tapered off, until they met the two propulsion engines on either side, with blue jets firing out the back of them.

"Looks like a local airship, probably a Swallow model, which means it won'f have any mounted weapons." Moondancer continued, as the ship drew closer. "Any guns on it would tear the thing apart with the force of firing, it's too light and thin, but it can carry plenty of stuff. Maybe it's an overweight diplomat they were trying to clone before we bust in and made things too exciting for their poor fluffed up hearts." She grinned sardonically.

"No, I'll bet anything that's Tough Love," Copic said, his tone grim. "She's running off to tattle on us to her dear daddy; I can almost see her blowing a raspberry at us through that tinted window."

"That reminds me," Druva interjected rather loudly. "What IS a raspberry? And how do you blow one?"

Chrys, still brimming with glee after being around so many happy ponies, demonstrated quite eagerly to Druva what Copic meant by raspberry, and it took a minute or two to get her to shut up again, though everyone had a short-lived smile on their face as they watched the hovercraft speed along, past the train and out of sight.

"Well, at least she isn't going to ram into us or anything," Rainbow Dash muttered, looking away from the window, grinning. "But for the moment, we're home free! Paradise City, here we come!" She pumped a hoof in the air, flapping her wings a few times in excitement. "Soon, we'll be getting pay, and you three'll be right on back to your home cities."

"Well, maybe only two." Uzul murmured, sitting next to Rainbow Dash. Zuri noticed two things: She found it fairly easy to begin to accept this possibility, compared to before her talk with Rainbow Dash. Second, she saw that Uzul was getting better about not letting any embarrassment show, but there was still some extra color in his cheeks. Personally, Zuri couldn't wait to see Otoul again. Rainbow Dash blinked in surprise, before an even bigger smile grew on her face, and she hugged Uzul, wings and all, planting another kiss on his cheek.

"Anyway," Rainbow released him and turned back to Zuri. "That bag of money Gustav gave you came from a private sum he was saving to start a business on Thardrim station. Apparently he was doubting ever seeing a 'proper' kitchen again, being 'an accomplice in several crimes with a gang of screwballs,' or something, and thought it would be put to better use by you trying to get back home, than him trying to get through customs again. See, uh, Equestrians aren't allowed to move physical sums of money between planetary establishments." She shrugged, as if she thought the rule deserved as much respect as a foal respected a rule about the number of sweet cakes they could eat before having dinner. "It's a dumb law they passed after some drunken schmuck got his life-savings jettisoned into cold space after offering to have sex with the ship pilot, who was engaged. Anyway, we can use that money to make sure we can bribe anyone we need to."

"Wait, then how did Gustav get it on Palosol in the first place?" Moondancer asked, cocking her head to the side.

Rainbow looked at her with a cold expression, saying simply; "Gilda." Which, apparently, explained it all for the unicorn, who nodded slowly and turned away.

"What is the story with this Gilda person?" Uzul asked, breaking a brief but uncomfortable silence.

"I'll tell it to you later." Rainbow replied, not looking at all like she wanted to.

Zuri left the car, feeling a little nauseated seeing Rainbow and Uzul so cuddly. She could be more tolerant, but Rainbow Dash still wasn't from the same planet, and that was much harder to accept. She was walking towards the front of the train when she heard the clip-clop of someone right behind her. Stopping abruptly, she felt someone bump into her backside, and she turned around, at first a little confused when she could see no one, before looking down and finding Chrys rubbing her forehead on the floor.

"Oh, um, hi," she squeaked, blinking up at her and looking innocent. Zuri knew that expression, however, it was the expression that quite clearly said one had a secret and really didn't want it getting out. "I've been asking Rainbow Dash what they're gonna do about me when we get to the city, and, um," she pawed the floor, looking very unhappy. "She couldn't answer, and... And I'm afraid she's going to try and send me back to the ponies who imprisoned me, so..." She looked up at Zuri again, a big hopeful smile on her face. "C-can I go to your kind instead?"

"What?" Zuri gaped, not expecting this kind of question at all.

"I thought, well, maybe if I went to your zebra kind, no one would try and... Imprison me again." She shivered at the idea. "Your two zebra friends are so nice and understanding, maybe... Maybe I could go with Druva!"

"B-but..." Zuri stammered, struggling to string together polite words. "But you would fit in about as good as..." As I do, except without the protective cover of being Oun-Drii. "You'd stand out, in a crowd."

"No I wouldn't!" Chrys persisted, looking more excited. "See? Listen, I've been watching you and Druva and Uzul move around, and listen to your accents! I can change into you! Watch!" Before Zuri could say anything else, Chrys' horn flashed, and her form suddenly grew larger, and before the light dimmed, Zuri could see an exact duplicate of herself standing in front of her. She gaped, staring at the disguised changeling as she beamed back.

"See? See?" Chrys squeaked excitedly, her voice a perfect mimic of Zuri's. "I can make some changes so I don't look EXACTLY like you, and I can be a zebra!"

"I don't know if that is really a good idea..." Zuri said placatingly. "In my home, they will want to ask questions about where you came from."

"No, no, I already figured that out," Chrys shook her head, which Zuri found even more unsettling. "Druva told me about the zebra-inhabited sections of Paradise City, you can say I'm from there!"

"But you'll need a family name, and crest, and class!" Zuri argued.

"You can teach me all that!" Chrys returned, as if she had expected this.

"But you aren't a zebra...!" Zuri protested: imposters were where she drew the line.

"I'm not, but I could learn to be!" Chrys said, still beaming at Zuri using Zuri's own face. Zuri noticed she didn't have any cloak on, unlike herself. She also noticed the tone in Chrys' voice. At first it was bubbly and eager, now there was a hint of malice, or was she imagining that? Surely someone who just wanted to fit in as badly as Zuri did didn't want to cause harm to the same people she wanted to accept her. All the same, she found herself opening her mouth, and given her reply.

"No," she said firmly.

Chrys', or rather Zuri's, face immediately fell, and in another flash of light she had become herself again. "But why?" She asked, her voice having lost it's happiness, but that single malicious note stayed.

"You aren't a zebra. You can look and act like one, but it's more than that." Zuri said, attempting to keep firmness and gentleness in her voice at the same time. "You weren't born one. Everyone will eventually discover that you're different. We know our own kind too well to accept an outsider."

Chrys stared up at her for several seconds, before turning away and flicking her tail in Zuri's face. "I guess you're right," she murmured darkly, the malicious note growing into an octave. "I am an outsider." And she walked back through the door to the previous car.

Zuri didn't feel great about ruining Chrys' good mood, feeling a sort of kindred spirit in the isolated Changeling, but she knew bringing an imposter into the fold, no matter how convince, would cause an uproar. That, and Zuri was very disturbed by that expression in Chrys' voice. She sounded like she was trying to cover it up, but as their exchange progressed, Zuri was noticing it more and more often. She decided to not think on it further, arriving at the train head. Doing her best not to bump any controls, she pushed herself onto the control panel by her fore-hooves to get a better view outside. It was getting even darker, as the endless train rail seemed to appear out of nowhere in the far distance, and looming closer and closer... Zuri gasped. Gigantic spires towering over the landscape, a great metallic-grey wall all around the base, hundreds of little dots that were hovercraft flying this way and that, a wide skyline, swarming around the bases of the three sky-piercing towers around an even larger one. This must be Paradise City, and stars, it was big.

Massive silhouettes moved across the sky above the central towers, they must be the starships that Zuri had heard rumors about from scouts. They were like the huge statues in the Far Marshes that so many of her kind told stories about. Paradise City itself looked like it matched Otoul in size. Zuri knew to expect something big, but not this big, aboveground.

"Eeeyup, that's Paradise City." Macintosh boomed from behind her, apparently having come in while Zuri was in awe at their looming destination. "Quite a sight, ain't it? Not as big as the cities on Equestria, but Ah'm okay with that. Ain't exactly nice to take another kind's planet, y'know."

"I do know," Zuri replied, not taking her eyes off off of the three towers. They looked like mimicry of Otoul's central tower, only aboveground, and it made her homesick.

Macintosh must have noticed her expression: she could see his reflection in the windshield glass, and guessed he had gazed towards hers. "Yeah, Ah'd feel kinda rotten if Ah saw a bunch'a aliens buildin' their stuff on mah planet too. Hey, maybe when the new princess gets around to surveyin' the other planets she might decide to pull outta you zebras' business."

"New princesses?" Zuri turned to stare at him. "How many do you have? No, don't bother; I don't understand most your words for numbers."

"Uh, well, her name's Twilight Sparkle. She's a friend o' Rainbow Dash, and was crowned just a few years ago. She decided she wanted t'see the rest of the ESSUG planets. Princess Celestia turned it into evaluatin' them, to cool off some less-cheerful members of the public. Her itinerary is all over our news media." Zuri stared at Macintosh blankly, not understanding his last sentence at all. He took a few moments to come up with an alternative. "Err, everypony knows where she's goin', is what it means."

"I see," Zuri muttered, mulling over a question. "Do you know why she wants to visit Palosol?"

"Nah," Macintosh shrugged, shaking his head. "Maybe Celestia wants her to check things out like she says to the reporters. Or... Maybe she's comin' t'see Rainbow Dash, but then she'd make a beeline for Palosol and not stop anywhere else. I guess she may just wanna to learn somethin' firsthoof about the whole interplanetary nation. Must'a been somethin' she saw on the other side of that mirror..." Macintosh trailed off, and did not explain further.

Druva opened the door, walking in with an eager look on her face, which became surprise upon seeing Zuri. "Oh! I wanted, uh, to see Macintosh. I thought he would be alone..." She murmured, a slight smile on her face, though she avoided the Trancer's gaze.

"I understand," Zuri said, forcing a gracious smile as she walked past Macintosh and next to Druva. She couldn't resist, as she leaned in and whispered in Druva's ear. "I understand everything you wanted to do." She enjoyed watching Druva's face turn red and hot, and then left the two alone.

There were many minutes where nothing happened, and Zuri watched the scenery go by. Chrys had passed by to talk to Druva, and Zuri could almost feel the dismal expression on the changeling's face as she trudged by the other way a few minutes later. Had she asked the same thing of Druva as she had Zuri? That seemed the most likely; Zuri couldn't think of any other reason for the alchemist to make Chrys feel sad. She, Uzul, and Macintosh seemed to have gained a liking for the bug, and seemed the least likely to intentionally hurt her feelings.

Zuri decided there wasn't much time to fall back asleep, and things had developed a habit of going terribly amiss any time the zebra closed her eyes. She tried to peek ahead through the window she was closest to, to see how much closer they were to their goal. Unfortunately, all she could see was sandy hills. Well, that was weird, if she looked hard enough into the darkening landscape, she could almost see the shape a lean Gau-Aer sled, gliding across the sand and stirring up a cloud of dust and dry, thin soil. She blinked, and could only see the dust gale the second time she looked. Only a mirage, a wishful thought. Gau-Aer sleds would never go out this far, especially not towards a place like Paradise City, a pony-dominant area, this late in the day. It was too dangerous. Those Palosol-native animals who preferred to hunt by night rose to surface right about now, and most were far too fierce to combat in the dark.

Then, suddenly, a tall hill blocked Zuri's view. They must be getting closer, as when the hill came away, she could see watchtowers, with ponies inside them, watching the train move along the line. The train entered another tunnel, only this one took a long time to pass through, and Zuri could see other passages splitting away from the one they were currently speeding through. The train's speed reduced, and made a rather sharp right turn into another tunnel, and then did it again, this time to the left, a few seconds afterward.

The train was using its large breaks to slow down, now, as was apparent by the low rumbling coming from below Zuri's hooves. With a slight lurch, it stopped, and a loud electric bell sounded somewhere outside, three notes, apparently signaling an arrival.

Moondancer sought Zuri out, and brought her to the middle car, where Rainbow Dash was rounding everyone up. Zuri noticed, with relief, that the assorted mounted weapons the Rainbow Riders had were now lowered, held close to the bodies in a sort of dormant position. "Alright, team!" Rainbow began, silencing any muttered conversations quickly. "And, uh, tagalongs," she nodded her head towards Zuri, who looked back to see that Chrys, Copic, Macintosh, Druva and Uzul had gathered with her at one end of the train car, while Rainbow stood at the doors. "We are here, at Paradise City! We're not going to abandon our little group of tagalongs, well..." She gave the anxious-looking adolescent Changeling a cold look. "So much as make sure they're on their way home, wherever that may be." Another look aimed at Chrys. "Maybe in doing so we might get a little closer to Filthy Rich. We've gotta schedule an appointment to see him, you know." The mercenaries all partook in a rumbling chuckle. "But first things first! We gotta get past the security officer just outside this door, and into a hotel or penthouse. Whichever one costs less money and has less bedbugs. Are we all clear?" Rainbow received a sharp, clean salute from her mercenaries; which she accepted, glowing with pride. Evidently she enjoyed a display of such loyalty. "Right then!" She clapped her forehooves together, a big smile on her face as the pegasus turned about and toggled the doors open. "Ready or not, Paradise City, here we come!"

10. Paradise City

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It was the end of the day. As such, the streets were not very crowded, but the sounds of dance clubs, distant conversations, cheering crowds, and public address systems prevented the streets of Lower Paradise District from being quiet. The guard by the train station the Rainbow Riders had stopped in had demanded a ShowMe or a large passage fee. Gustav's bag of money not only covered it, but would have paid for four more fees just like it. Thankfully, they just had to pay one. Moving as a large pack, the mercenaries and their small band of companions exited the little rundown station, to enter into a foggy, also slightly rundown part of town.

It was evident to Zuri, though she'd seen few examples of pony architecture, that this district was meant for those who didn't live in luxury. The pale-red, brick living houses had moss and overgrowth all over them, erupting from the Equestria–native soil in the plant beds around them. The street was filthy, littered with empty bottles, papers, broken toys, and so on and so forth. Yet Zuri could peer over the tops of the dismal buildings to see taller, more extravagant structures, covered with bright lights and huge signs in all directions. Several huge displays seemed to show multiple angles of some pony sport. Another displayed multiple advertisements for something that Druva translated as "Brony Cola", which consisted of a lewdly-clad mare getting dowsed by some dark caffeinated liquid coming from a long glass bottle. Still more showed public announcements, music videos, medication ads, the date and time, progress of Frontier Forest's expansion, and so much information and noise that even from this distance, Zuri was a little overwhelmed.

"Big, isn't it?" Druva said to her as they walked. "It was just as big when I was here. Only, I didn't ever live in this kind of squalor. This is where the slimey and the shady live, I tried to find a decent place that would house zebras, which was almost impossible."

"Slimey and shady seems an understatement." Zuri muttered, watching as a shadowy, red cloaked figure appeared atop one building, before darting out of sight.

"Macintosh, did you have to pick a place so dingy to stop in?" Druva complained to the stallion, getting close to him. He didn't mind her lack of personal space or didn't notice.

"Easier to sneak in this way. This district ain't as well-monitored as anythin' up ahead or up above. Though we might have a lick o' trouble findin' a place that isn't infested—by bedbugs or gangs."

"Gangs? Pffft," Rainbow snorted, grinning at them. "Look at the amount of firepower we have. Gilda didn't COMPLETELY waste all the money."

They walked for some time, before the brick houses acquired signs, and became a degree cleaner. They passed under a series of bridges with fast-moving metal vehicles speeding this way and that. The sounds of the richer parts of the city were growing louder, the lights brighter, the huge neon frames and glowing screens more distinct. To one song throbbing in the background, Zuri realized Rainbow was humming along with the tune, her head bobbing slightly with the powerful bassnotes that, as they got closer to the source of the music, made the ground shake.

"Oh yeah, I know this place!" Rainbow said, grinning widely as they approached a much cleaner, much taller metal building, which was where the loud music was emanating from. "This is probably the best quarters we're going to find down here, and they've soundproofed the rooms! Or anyway, soundproofed them against bassdrops."

"What," Uzul began, "on Palosol is a bass-"

He couldn't finish his sentence, as the song had suddenly raised in pitch, while the volume lowered for only a few seconds. Then, a deep voice bellowed something incoherent, as the bass immediately started up again like a thunderclap, making Zuri leap a foot in the air in shock. She folded her ears down underneath her mane, the notes making her head begin to throb painfully.

"That," Rainbow shouted over the noise to Uzul, "was a bassdrop! Come on, let's go up to the second floor, that's where the lobby is for the inn! I promise it'll be quieter there!" She lead her troop up the rattling stairs, and into a door which shut immediately behind them. Zuri sighed in relief, unfolding her ears when the unnatural pounding of sound suddenly became muffled background noise once more, though still her hooves vibrated slightly.

A white pony sat calmly behind a desk, except it wasn't a pony. It was bald, and had no visible irises. In fact, it's eyes looked like strange spherical versions of the lenses Zuri had seen in pony security cameras. It looked up at Rainbow dash as she approached the counter, and dropped the whole of Gustav's money bag on the top.

"Welcome to the Ultrasonic Inn." The not-pony said in a polite, but strangely distant feminine voice. "How many rooms would you like for your group?"

"Eleven, please!" Rainbow said, smiling down at the blank-faced metallic pony.

"That will be three hundred bits for every night you stay, and another four hundred when you check out. Is this agreeable?"

"That's perfect. Come on, team! Let's divvy up the rooms!" Rainbow said, pushing out the first three hundred and receiving eleven keys.

Rainbow Dash assigned groups of five to each room, not taking into account that some of her band had been shot to death on the train until she started counting the heads. "Well... Hey! More privacy for our tagalongs!" She said with a joking smile, though Zuri heard the strain in her voice, attempting to keep it cheerful. She could tell Rainbow Dash wasn't as cheery as before.

Rainbow tried to assign the groups by gender: she bunked with four other mares, and assigned Thunderlane to bunk with Rock Polish and three other stallions. "Well, good that's it's a cucumberfest." Thunderlane snarked as he passed by Zuri to his room. "Better that than having to bunk with a dirty little stripey. Can you imagine trying to resist that blue one coming onto you, Rock Polish?"

Zuri struggled to hold herself back while Rainbow finished assigning rooms and who would hold the keys. Of course, she was paired with Druva and Chrys, as well as Moondancer and another mare, named Snippet. Snippet was a lightweight mare, who was apparently Thunderlane's marefriend, and would have preferred to bunk with him than anyone else, and shared his feelings about zebras. Zuri found this out quickly, as Snippet not only glowered and sneered at her, but also talked, talked, and talked some more. The Trancer had to wonder what purpose this mare served for the Rainbow Riders. She hadn't noticed if she was a good shot, or a medic, or anything, but Snippet's big mouth answered the unspoken question very quickly.

"I'm a trained corpsmare!" She complained. "I've treated bullet wounds and diseases for the whole mercenary group! And how do I get repaid? I gotta sleep in the same room with a bunch of zebras!"

"Maybe you could learn something from Druva." Moondancer replied, with an astonishing amount of patience in her tone. Zuri had to respect her: Snippet's accent was snooty and tinny, teeth-grindingly irritating. "That zebra knows an awful lot about healing potions, more than she lets on." Druva smiled at Moondancer for the compliment, and kept it up even as Snippet gave a doubtful snort.

"I'm fine with my ESSUG-approved salves and healing magic. Not some hokey-pokey brews." She said haughtily, rolling over in her bed to go to sleep, as Zuri examined the bed she'd gotten. The sheets were soft, but the fabric was smooth, and the sheets were folded in so tightly that it took a few minutes for her to wriggle into it. The sheets were cold, and she could still hear the still-muffled sounds of the music down, two floors below. It was entirely comfortable, but it was better than sleeping on the floor. Zuri felt another pang of homesickness, wishing that she were back in her soft, expansive bed, instead of this rather tight one, that she could only really find comfortable to sleep in if she curled up on her side, hiding her muzzle with her mane.

She didn't understand the digital clock on the wall, but took it from the darkening lights outside the window that it was indeed late. Despite her discomfort, she fell asleep very easily. The events at Rock Pile and the subsequent train ride had left her more drained than she had thought, and she had almost no time to think about them before she was dreaming again.

———

"Body, mind, spirit," The master of ceremonies' powerful voice rang through the Cudonetor arena. "Today, we honor the stars for giving us the power, through the cherished Blackstone, to shape our beloved world! Oun-Drii to Ohg-Re, all are welcome within the halls of Otoul's own Cudonetor!"

"Ba-jal-re! Ba-jal-re!" Chanted the enormous crowd of encircling the center of the huge colosseum, translating simply to: "bring them out!"

"Agilis, get your sister down from there! She could fall!" Xoda Oun-Drii Sara scolded, noticing that her son was helping her youngest daughter, who was very excited, stand atop the balcony balustrade.

"Sorry mother!" Agilis shouted back over the roar of the crowd, pulling Zuri off of the ledge.

"Agiliiiis!" Zuri whined, flailing her little hooves. "I want to see the Mansa come out!"

"Sorry, Zuri: mother said," Agilis apologized, before putting on another of his big smiles. "But she didn't say anything about this!" He took Zuri, who was small enough to curl up and fit in a standard cauldron, and seated her upon his head, his handsomely styled mane had the perk of allowing the little zebra to sit very comfortably atop it.

"So you'd rather wear Zuri like a hat than drop her off a ledge?" Giza teased, looking up at Zuri as she settled right in to Agilis' mane, enjoying her new perch.

"Hush up, twin, you're just jealous you never got to sit on my head!" Agilis laughed, stamping his forehooves in applause as a singular robed zebra entered the big sandy circle in the middle of the arena, waving his hoof in greeting to many a fan.

"There he is! It's Bodlerae!" Zuri squealed, craning her neck to get a better look. Bodlerae Gho-Re Veili was a Sand Trancer who had become a celebrity in playing in almost every Cudonetor competition he could find. It didn't hurt that he was very attractive, and many young zebra girls often clamored to meet him.

"Stars, give me strength." Gainu, Zuri's father, whispered to Xoda from their ornate Oun-Drii chairs. "If one of our daughters marries some self-obsessed oaf like that, I'll poison him myself."

"Shush!" Xoda snapped at him, although was guilty of eyeing Bodlerae herself. "Oooh, but if Lebowa did... Imagine the looks their children might have..."

"And imagine the lack of The Gift." Gainu snapped back, grinning slightly. He got his wife's tail brushing against his face to silence him, that time.

The announcer gave Bodlerae's full name and caste, and then directed the audience's attention to the opposite end of the sandy circle. Out came Kaggu, a trancer known for his relation to the Sara family, although not carrying the strongest strain of the gift himself.

"It's uncle Kaggu!" Agilis said, looking up at the blue-striped filly atop his head. "Aren't you going to cheer for family, too?"

Zuri gave another cheer, this one much less enthusiastic. Uncle Kaggu wasn't her favorite uncle, and besides; what Oun-Drii filly or mare would want to get a kiss from Uncle Kaggu and not Bodlerae?

"I don't think Bodlerae Gho-Re Veili is so bad." Lebowa, the eldest sister, commented from Gainu's right. "Veili certainly isn't a bad name."

"Oh, my dear, I hold nothing against the Veili family," Gainu said, as if scandalized by the idea. "'Tis only that their eldest son is an oaf."

"He's a mighty handsome oaf, then." Lebowa said, sighing gently as she watched him wave up at the Oun-Drii section of the audience. "Though sadly I think Uncle Kaggu may win."

"Yes, how tragic," Xoda's tone was sardonic as she smirked at her eldest. "My brother is going to bury the pretty one under six rods of hot glass."

"Mother, don't say that!" Giza and Lebowa complained at once. Zuri wasn't paying much attention at all: her eyes too rapt upon Bodlerae as he and Kaggu stepped up so that they were a good five meters apart, and bowed to each other. A loud drum beat, lasting only a few seconds, sounded the beginning of the first round.

Immediately, the action began. Bodlerae's and Kaggu's irises glowed bright enough that even Zuri could see the shining light as Bodlerae summoned up a pillar of sandstone, immediately gaining ground and moving himself away from his opponent. Kaggu responded in turn, his mane whipping around his head as harsh winds blew towards the pillar, slicing it cleanly in half, and sending the top sliding down to the sand. Bodlerae leaped high, making Zuri and several other females in the audience gasp, as he kept a platform of sandstone underneath him, using the edges of the wind to glide away slightly before landing on the ground. Kaggu thrust his hindlegs back, and the entirety of the battle circle shifted, eddying to either side of him as he pulled Bodlerae towards him. Bodlerae took advantage of this, galloping across the shifting surface of the sand to meet Kaggu head on. They met, and there was a swift, speedy exchange of blows, movement so fast that it was blurred, and Zuri couldn't tell what exactly happened, but Bodlerae was underneath Kaggu's forehooves, struggling uselessly.

The drum sounded again, and there was a mix of roaring approval and disappointment from either side's supporters. Kaggu stepped off of Bodlerae, and they bowed to each other again. Bodlerae was met mostly with cries of dismay as he walked out of the circle. Upset with Bodlerae being defeated so early in the competition, Zuri stomped her hooves in frustration. "Ow! Be calm, Zuri!" Agilis complained, and his little sister squeaked an embarrassed apology.

Kaggu waved rather awkwardly to his audience, some of whom didn't cheer at all, they just glared. The announcer directed everyone's attention to the door Bodlerae had exited through, from which another cloaked zebra had entered. This one was a yellow-eyed mare that Zuri recognized as Eovi Oun-Drii Bage, who met the ecstatic cheers and slightly brazen catcalls with a brave, brilliant smile.

"Well! Now there's a fine one!" Gainu said, his tone much more cheerful. "Agilis, my son, what do you make of her?"

"I make that someone's let a spirit-temptress onto the field!" Agilis agreed, his gaze not moving from the zebra mare. Giza socked him on one shoulder, making Zuri wobble on her perch as Agilis turned to scowl at his twin sister.

"Gainu, don't tease me like that. Just because I ogle Bodlerae doesn't–"

"Careful, my wife, you almost sound jealous." Gainu said mirthfully.

The drum sounded again after the two competitors bowed, and this time Kaggu started the action. His eyes glowed brightly, and the sand underneath him became a dome, which expanded outward, making Eovi slip downward and lose ground. She made up for it quickly, her own eyes flashing as she tranced the sand beneath her hooves, driving her upwards toward's Kaggu.

"Oh, that's a mistake." Gainu muttered, watching as Kaggu made a sign with his hooves, and the dome suddenly shrank into a tight pillar. Eovi plummeted to the bottom, scrabbling with her tranced hooves and tearing deeply into the solidifying pillar, attempting to destroy the base as Kaggu had before. Before she could do so, the pillar bent like a thin tree trunk, it's top curving and reshaping itself. Zuri shrieked, as the sand formed into a gigantic serpent, with solid rock fangs. Standing atop its head, Kaggu directed the animated sand-snake to strike at Eovi several times, before she brought up a wall of instant flame, and the snake's head was turned to glass, which quickly melted, as the flame wrapped around it. Kaggu had long since retreated, using the rest of the sand-snake's body as a giant whip, attempting to shove Eovi out from behind the sphere of roaring flame she had created.

"Odd, doesn't Kaggu know how to trance the air's water?" Gainu asked Xoda, who nodded.

"Of course he does. Maybe he's waiting for some-oh!" Kaggu's sand-whip had exploded, sending sand grains everywhere, and turning it into glass dust as it flew through the fireball. Eovi shielded her face with her hooves, and Kaggu took the opportunity to leap towards her. There was another swift, indistinct struggle in the settling dust and glass, and when it had cleared, Eovi was standing on three legs, nursing her right foreleg, but keeping her hind ones atop Kaggu's face.

"Oh, come on, brother!" Xoda shouted, and Agilis nodded in slight assent, making Zuri hold on tight to the sides of her brother's head. "Surely he could have defeated a thin little girl like that in basic combat!"

"Ah, but she's lighter, and swifter. Shouldn't you know that, my dear?" Gainu said, the grin evident in his voice. "Seeing as you yourself are rather lightweight."

"Rather lightweight?" Xoda mocked incredulity. "Gainu, love, we'll need to talk after this Cudonetor..."

"Mommy, daddy, shush!" Zuri protested, bouncing atop Agilis' head. "Mizul's coming out! Mizul's coming out!" Mizul was important, seeing as he was the eldest son of the Sara family, and Zuri's eldest brother.

"That's a new one you have, Gainu, Xoda." Came another voice, and Zuri looked away for a moment to see a tall male Zebra, perched upon his own Oun-Drii cushions. Zuri recognized him as Aone Oun-Drii Brikea, with his own pair of children, Tielre and Vaezi, sneering out from around him. Aone's eyes were on Zuri, his look was not kind.

"Yes, she is our youngest." Gainu replied, taking his attention immediately away from Mizul currently sending a wave of ice towards his opponent. "Her name is Zuri."

"Zuri... Breaking Tedium, from the old tongue, correct?" Aone asked, looking from Xoda's eyes to Zuri. "Ah, yes, I see the resemblance. Though, odd that you choose to let her come along in public, free to do whatever she likes, in front of all of Otoul."

"Why shouldn't she?" Xoda asked, her voice dangerous. "She is our daughter, and she bears the gift."

"Hey, Zuri, let's keep watching the match." Agilis said, uncomfortable, and turning his head back towards the fight as Mizul and Eovi locked in the first visible grapple of the day, causing much of the audience to cheer. Zuri, however, turned her head back to look at Aone and her parents again. What was he getting at?

"Well, Xoda, my dear Oun-Drii, I thought you of all zebra would notice first!" Aone chuckled, snide and sardonic. "Your own offspring is blue!" Zuri found Tielre looking at her interestedly, and as soon as she made eyecontact, he sneered, and mouthed some word that must have been bad, as Xoda leapt up, her eyes glowing dangerously.

"You control your little mutt, Aone." She growled, the powerful muscles in her legs tensing and twitching. "I won't let him so much as breathe prejudice onto one of my children."

Aone looked back at Tielre, who feigned innocence. He smirked at Zuri as soon as his father's back was turned. "Leaving false accusations aside, I'm wondering: who in their right mind is going to be teaching a little..." He mumbled something, to which Giza went red, and Xoda fumed up as her husband stood up as well. "...like that how to trance?"

"For your information," Gainu began, attempting to keep his tone level. "We've received an offer of training from The Dunnur. Personally."

Tielre choked, his sister gaped, then scowled at Zuri. Lebowa, Giza, and Xoda all smiled, satisfied with the effect this had on Aone's children. Aone himselfcleared his throat, now sitting a little more rigidly. "I think my son's about to come out..."

Zuri looked back at the match, in amazement, as she saw Mizul standing triumphant over Eovi, whom, as she got up, bent closer with her bow than the others. Mizul bent with her, and they stayed like that for several seconds, before Mizul straightened up instantly, and Zuri could see the red on his face even from this distance. She let out an ecstatic cheer, ignoring a disdainful noise from where Aone's family say, as Mizul stayed in the circle, and was soon joined by another zebra.

"Come on, Daetro!" Tielre and Vaezi cheered simultaneously. Daetro and Mizul bowed, and so began the fourth round of the Cudonetor, which was the longest yet. Zuri watched with familial pride and amazement as her elder brother ducked and blocked every sandwave, fireball, lightning bolt, and transmutation Daetro threw at him, redirecting a few back at him. One bolt was refracted, half of it struck Mizul, and the other rebounded back upon Daetro. There was a shout of alarm as he crumpled to the floor, Mizul only reduced to stumbling and jittering with the energy of the weather-trance. Mizul took the opportunity to approached Daetro's body, and hold a hoof over his head.

Zuri saw the zebra stir, and then leap up at her brother. He had been feinting! Another lightning-fast struggle, and Mizul threw Daetro onto the sand. The whole Sara family let out a joyful cry as Daetro stood up, and bowed low to Mizul, but shook his head as Mizul began to reciprocate, and instead walked away before he could finish.

Zuri, in her excitement, leapt off of her brother's head, and hopped atop the balcony edge. Xoda screamed, Agilis and Giza jumped for Zuri at the same time, but she had already slipped, and could only watch the ground below become closer, as Mizul turned, his smile vanishing, as he saw his littlest sister falling, falling, falling...

———

WHUMP.

Zuri awoke with a jump, bonking her head against the headboard. She cursed several times under her breath as she rubbed the fresh bruise under her mane, untangling herself from the covers to look around. It was official: every time she went to sleep she got into trouble or hurt when she woke up. No one else seemed to be in the inn room with her, but the constant thump-thumping of the music underneath had lowered in volume significantly. She could hear a larger assortment of noises through the open window to her right, which she moved over to and looked out. In the full daylight, Paradise City was impressive. Brick and metal buildings melded well with the humongous towers in the center, which had a commanding, intimidating aura about them.

What really caught Zuri's attention was the humongous glass ceiling, a fair thirty meters above the inn. She hadn't noticed it before in the pale moonlight and neon signs, but the district they were in was completely sectioned off from the upper city. There were roads and buildings up above her, hovercraft speeding this way and that. Another painful reminder of how Otoul separated between the varying castes, each living in different conditions. This thought, combined with the memories of that dream, made her want to return home all the more.

Zuri turned her thoughts onto the contents of the dream, how it had ended abruptly with the fall. Thankfully, however, unlike in the dream, she hadn't plummeted to her death. Mizul had tranced her back to safety, at which point, Zuri remembered embarrassedly, she had bawled for twenty minutes in her mother's embrace. The perk of this was that it was considered punishment enough to almost fall to your demise, so Xoda and Gainu had spared her from anything else. The sour point was that Tielre and his stupid sister had observed her beginning to cry just as they walked out, and she was teased for it the next time she showed her face among her peers. It had turned out the Dunnur was teaching Tielre and some of his other friends who had The Gift, and they took the time to tease her one evening before she got home, both on her color and the validity of being a Sara descendant. Which, of course, lead to a rather bitter, if not childly debate which ended with her out-smarting Tielre and getting him to call his own father an Edrecht in front of his sister, who tattled on him almost instantly.

That was what had lead to the Dunnur calling Zuri out on her verbal talent, and then to her finding Agilis drunk, and getting a brief punishment from Gainu. Zuri was then struck by how strange it was: twice now, her memories had also become dreams, though with some obvious differences. She walked back to her bed, sitting atop it and pondering this for several seconds. These weren't the only times she had dreamt actual past events. Before, it had acted as a very useful reminder that she had forgotten where she'd left her neck rings after a petty row with Giza. Was her subconscious trying to tell her something? If so, why? She really doubted anything about the Cudonetor was coming up in Paradise City. Why would a zebra sport, focussed on two or more trancers with the gift dueling one another ever be of significance in a pony city, one that she would hopefully spend as little time in as she could?

Thinking about it didn't help; the only things that came up were the stories about mischievous or kindly spirits who manipulated a sleeping zebra's dreams to send a message, or possibly the coma often caused by attempting to ingest undiluted Nuvrà: the perfectly pitch-black mineral that Sand Trancers found conducted and amplified their powers. Many zebras believed that the abundant black rock was the cause for the Gift, as evidenced that parents who handled it bore children with the Gift strong in them. The Sara ancestor Zuri was famously descended from had bolstered her growing reputation by finding one of the largest veins of Nuvrà near the city of Abraxis, southwest of Otoul.

"Oh, you're awake." Druva's voice came from the exit, and Zuri turned to see Druva smirking. "You should see to your hair before you leave, by the way."

Zuri raised up a hoof to her mane, which was very unkempt and wild. She sighed, and looked back at Druva. "Where were you, and the others?"

"Breakfast!" Druva said, grinning. "In Pony inns, they serve breakfast until the middle hour of the day. With our group, we have a room set aside to eat in, and it's not just those protein pack."

Zuri's belly rumbled with the idea of food. Since being captured by ponies, Zuri had only eaten the protein packs Gustav had been bemoaning earlier. The thin, filling, but boring slabs of food got increasingly intolerable with every chewy bite. Thankfully, Zuri found she didn't have to take very many bites before she felt like her belly was full of thick mud. "You didn't stir when we tried to wake you, and I guessed you just needed some extra sleep. I also wanted to beat Snippet out the door: these ponies make some delicious breakfast foods. You've got to try some!"

Well, it was better than yellow squares that felt like bricks inside you. Zuri adjusted her hair quickly, using trancing after Druva made sure the door was locked. She then followed Druva down a flight of stairs, into a large dining hall. One whole wall was made entirely out of glass, and displayed the huge, lit up dancefloor to the diners. Several other tenant-ponies gave the two zebra mares a wide berth, and muttered darkly something about foreign hoofservants and dirty errand-sluts. "We're in here," Druva explained, guiding Zuri to a door and leading her into a fairly long private room, with one long dining table and a counter with many different and colorful foods atop it. The mercenaries were already there, eagerly eating their fill and conducting loud, raucous conversation with each other.

Zuri examined the food choices on the counter. Lush greens, little cakes, fresh, warm pastries, and the like. With Druva's coercion, she added a few pastries and a pile of salad onto her plate. She carried the plate in her mouth, and rested it on the table on the left of Uzul, at the end of the table. She found the food, at first tentatively licking at the leaves and nibbling on the pastries, to be very good. It was, however, very filling, and found her plate not at all cleared by the time she was full.

After everyone had finished, Rainbow Dash spoke to Zuri about finding the Gau-Aer. The pegasus explained that there was another district almost entirely occupied by zebra, buffalo, and zebra-pony half-breeds, whom Rainbow referred to as zonies. The whole district was paid for chiefly by Filthy Rich, who apparently took his "pick of the litter" as Rainbow called it, from the district as underpaid factory workers and personal hoofservants, offering them marginally better food and shelter than their dingy homes, which was much cheaper than hiring ponies.

This particular part of Paradise City was called the striped shanty, and was the most likely place to find a zebra of any kind or trade. Though Rainbow gave her clear directions on how to get there and back, she also warned her: it was also the center of a lot of disruption: ponies who made a living doing illicit things also lived there; the rundown houses and security systems almost exclusively on the perimeter of the district allowed for a lot of freedom of movement to the resident outlaws, which were not all ponies, to Zuri's chagrin.

"On the bright side, there aren't any dragons running around." Rainbow said in a cheerful tone. "All you have on Palosol are those giant insect hordes and snakes that live in the deserts."

"They are called Formannecol, and Ophidum" Zuri corrected her.

"I can remember Oun-Drii and mans, but not that. Sorry. One language is enough for me, though Rarity and Fluttershy somehow both know french..." Rainbow trailed off for a moment, before returning to the present. "Anyway! I'm sending some of you out in groups today. Zuri, you're off to the striped shanty, to see if you can gain passage back to your home, with Druva, the changeling, Uzul, and Moondancer."

They all grouped together in one part of the room, Chrys distancing herself from the rest a little, and shooting Zuri a sour look. "Then, I'm going with Copic and Macintosh to the noble district," Rainbow continued. "We'll need to see about Filthy Rich's contracts. I'll take Rock Polish with me for extra defense. Be safe, okay?" She said the last part to Uzul as she passed him, walking to the exit. "Rest of you, I dunno, enjoy yourselves! Just don't get arrested. One jailbreak a week, please!"

"Why did she leave us with Chrys?" Druva asked to Zuri in a whisper. "She doesn't look very happy about it."

"It may have been because I said she couldn't come home with me disguised as a zebra." Zuri answered, as the changeling gave a huff, and sat broodily in one corner as the rest of her group stood about.

"You did? I told her same thing. What was your excuse?"

"She just wouldn't fit in. Zebras would discover her sooner or later, and that is not an excuse, it is a fact."

"That's the same thing I said." Druva replied, and they exchanged between them a mutually grim, worried look, that was eventually directed towards Chrys, who had her back to them.

Aloud, Zuri called to her. "Chrys, let's go. We might be able to find the Gau-Aer quickly."

Chrys made an unhappy noise, but turned around and buzzed along with the rest of them.

"Won't there be a panic, if someone sees Chrys?" Uzul asked, looking concernedly down at the changeling. "No one noticed her before because she was in the middle of a big band of mercenaries, now it's just us..."

"Just you and the bug, I get it." Chrys said, glaring up at him as her eyes flashed, and then she was almost at his eye level. She had assumed mint-green colors, with a harp on her flank, and bright yellow eyes. The cheery colors went out of place with the moody expression on her face and her hunched posture. "I saw this pony in the lobby but she hasn't come downstairs," was her only explanation

"What's her problem, again?" Moondancer asked Zuri.

"She wants a home," Zuri answered.

The group exited the inn, with the disguised Chrys trudging along with them. Zuri took the path as Rainbow had directed her, further down the street, taking several twists and turns, the quality of buildings around them changing with every street. Knowing Zuri couldn't read the pony language, Rainbow had repeated the directions to Uzul and Druva, allowing them to teach her a little about the ponies' written language and numeral system, though by the time they had reached the striped shanty, Zuri still couldn't remember the pony word for thirteen. She pulled her hood over her head, hiding as much of her body as possible.

This district didn't seem to be much better than the one on the far edge of the city that the train had entered through. In fact, it was somehow worse. Zebra families lived in little hovels, tiny shacks built on the sides of larger buildings, occupied by more zebras than Zuri could count. Despite the huge pony city looming all around them, Zuri began to notice the familiarities of a zebric civic. Some families had placed figures and runes on the dingy walls of their homes, symbols for defending against the hostile spirits, bad luck, and enemies. There were statues, painted messily, around which zebra fillies and colts danced and played, the statues hued out of stone, and a few of shaped metal, usually in the shape a tall adult zebra or the shape of an honored guardian spirit.

Then, as she went further in, there were houses more distinct, a little less packed, and there were also tall-ceilinged shacks, this time with the huge, brown-coated Buffalo living inside. Zuri had seen Buffalo before many times. They lived separate from the zebra, but there was little conflict between the two of them, mostly because buffalo often preferred seclusion, in small nomadic packs rather than huge cities. They had their own forms of magic, but used it very little, preferring to rely on their strength and size to accomplish things, rather than the mix of physical and magical strength the zebra honed to the fine art known as sand trancing.

Some of the buffalo watched Zuri and her little group move along, nodding slowly. More and more zebra also took notice, and began speaking amongst each other. A few young ones ran about, spreading the news of newcomers. The striped shanty was not large, but it was very crowded. Zuri could have sworn she saw the flash of that red cloak again, down an alleyway, but that was not where Rainbow Dash's instructions told them to go. She had advised to remain in the open as much as possible. Some buffalo and zebra were honorable, and some were not. Rainbow hadn't known where they would find Gau-Aer when in the shanty, so Uzul decided it would be best to inquire after them.

Zuri made sure that her blue stripes would be hard to see under her cloak, knowing that not all zebras here would be so welcoming to someone with her particular disfiguration as Uzul or Druva. They walked up to a zebra perched on a porch, where the rails of a bannister had broken away. She was watching them come closer as she rubbed a small metal object between her forehooves.

"Pardon me, young miss," Uzul began in the zebric tongue. She wasn't exactly young, but not elderly either. "I was wondering whether you had the Gau-Aer here."

The mare blinked at him. "I haven't them," she answered, putting down the object, which appeared to be some strange toy. "Barxie has them, sir Arbiter. Barxie Gan-Dis Projo."

"Gan-Dis..." Druva repeated. "Is Barxie a governor?"

"No, good Non-Ni." The zebra answered, acknowledging her earrings. "Barxie is no true governor, but he is our leader."

"His name is odd." Druva commented, tilting her head to one side. "Is he a half-breed?"

"I'd be careful, young Non-Ni." Said another zebra, a male, who looked about the mare's age as he sat down next to her. "Barxie does not like rumors like that to be said. You would be wise to go see him next, before dawdling any further, else someone else come up with a fantasy about why you zebras are here. I can smell the homeland on you, and so will he."

"That one, back there, he will want to meet." Said the mare, raising a hoof to point at Zuri directly. "I can see her eyes. Her eyes are bright like that of the Temperenia."

"I doubt very much I am such a one." Zuri replied, flatted though she was. Temperenia, or Stormrunners, were Sand Trancers who had mastered the highest school of trancing: spirit travel, which entailed flight via ethereal wings and, according to legend, manipulation of time and space. Such things were, to Zuri, only myths. Even the Dunnur could not travel through time, much less fly. It was possible Zuri's famed ancestor had achieved it, but she doubted it. Only the spirits could travel through time and between worlds. They were the only true Stormrunners.

"Oh no? Let me get a closer look at you. Might you be a Mansa, lady?" The male asked, and Zuri nodded slowly, not moving her body.

"I would rather keep my face veiled for the moment, I am sorry." Zuri said quietly. "You will only receive my family's crest." This was unavoidable; her family crest was etched into the locket clamp that held her cloak around her neck.

"Stars and stripes..." Mumbled the male, his eyes going wide as they traveled down to her crest. "My fair lady Sara, forgive my bluntness." He bowed low, as did the female.

Zuri did not need this kind of special treatment this soon. "I will not, for that is not bluntness, it is curiosity, which shouldn't be punished. Please, stand up straight," she pleaded.

"Spoken as a true Sara descendant!" Said the mare, as if in awe, as she held her head low and respectful.

"Sara?" Came another voice, making Zuri turn. "Why do you two old ones speak of Sara? ...Glo'dei above, she is! A sara descendant is among us!"

Oh, here we go. Zuri thought, exasperated, as the zebras on either side of the street hissed and whispered to one another with increased excitement.

"Tell Barxie!" One voice shouted. "Someone go to Barxie, tell him of the guest we have!"

"Now you see why I wanted to get away for a little bit." Zuri muttered to Uzul on the side, making sure her face was as hidden as possible. "It is even worse in Otoul."

The group was urged along the dirty street, directed by several eager zebras coming out of the woodwork, pushing them towards one house that was, for the shanty, particularly large and clean. Zuri recognized the runes on the front of the home as standing for master and safeguard. Barxie must be well respected or feared, she guessed.

The door opened before them, and Uzul, Druva, Zuri, and the disguised Chrys, who seemed to be in a better mood with all these excited zebras around her, entered quickly to avoid the crowd. The zebra that was apparently Barxie was lean, almost gaunt, with the typical style of mane altered slightly, so that the ends of his hairs were drooping slightly, giving him a slightly punkish look to go along with the slight smirk on his face. He was flanked by a zebra on one side, and a very burly buffalo on the other.

"Lousy me!" Barxie exclaimed in a strange, slurring accent, at first speaking in the ponies' tongue, with a twang similar to Macintosh's or the colonist ponies. "What am I faced with? Three kin and a yew-knee-corn!" He grinned cockily at the mask Chrys wore, who smiled back at him, unafraid. "You three, uh, valce zerr linagu?"

"Vaurei," Uzul replied, confirming that they, indeed, spoke the zebric tongue. "We were hoping to find Gau-Aer."

"Yes, well, patience is a virtue!" Barxie replied passively to him, his eyes going back to Chrys with a wide smile. "I gotta introduce myself to your little troupe, first! What about this one? What's a pretty, pretty pony like you doin' here, huh?"

"I am a traveller, traveling with them for the moment." Chrys answered without batting an eyelid, wearing her mint-green pony body like it wasn't a second skin, but her only one, flicking her tail absentmindedly.

"You gon' hitch a ride, too?" Barxie asked, his tone and movements full of energy. "A pretty yew-knee-corn puttin' her trust in a bunch'a Gau-Aer, who usually don't see a sweet young thang for a month or sum'at, unless they got a one with 'em? You play a dangerous game, girlie, but yer brave! I like that, especially in a dollie."

He turned his attention to Uzul, still babbling. "And this one! It's been a long time since I seen an Arbiter out here! You don't make many rounds to Paradise, no?"

"Don't see much reason to, no." Uzul replied, a little put off by Barxie's animated behavior.

"Nah, nah, 'course not, but you don't KNOW what slives get away with in my side of town! We could use a couple of you running around, really." Barxie continued, laughing, still carelessly using the pony language like it were a least-favorite toy. He rounded upon Druva, looking her up and down from multiple angles. "Lousy stars, lousy me!" He kept saying, before he finally focused his eyes on hers, ignoring her frown. "A mighty darling dollie you are! Non-ni, and alchemist, I guess, from your goldies?" He pointed at her rings, to which she nodded silently. "Got plenty o' you here, brewin' stuff this way and brewin' stuff thataway... Got little shacks going bang and essence of nausea turnin' the streets blue!"

"Lots of youths, then?" Druva asked, as Zuri thought back to the ponies vomiting blue glop in the Rock Pile. "They like that brew."

"Oh yes. One little kid brought a bag of sweet cakes to my friend Nujog here..." He patted the zebra on the shoulder, who didn't move. "Poor slob was puking all over himself and his dollie every day for the week, right Nujog?"

"Right," Nujog replied in a monotone voice.

"Right I'm right! You alchemists can make nasty stuff, and you may make medicines, but I really remember when one Non-ni gave me a brew that made me break out in hives, where Glo'dei don't shine. And, best for last..."

Zuri took a deep breathe, prepared her temper so that she could take a couple jabs, and waited for Barxie to start on her. "Ooh. We got a mystery mare here. A stranger with no name, a cloaked figure, enemy at the gates, snarky snorty sneak thief? I heard the shouting outside... You're a Sara descendent, yes?" He asked, pressing his muzzle closer to hers than she would have liked. His hooves reached out, and took hold of the clasp on her cloak, pulling it and Zuri closer and examining it deeply. "My my my, you are a Sara, I know your symbol anywhere. The spiral star of Sara, super idolized magician extraordinaire! What does that make you, 'sides scared to show your face?" Barxie looked into her cyan eyes again, his own orange ones glimmering slightly. "Well, there's a time n' place to take off your cloak, which will happen, good lady trancer. I am quite a ladies stallion, as the pony saying goes." He gave her a lecherous smirk, one that made her fume up under her cloak. We need him to get to the Gau-Aer... Only that.

"Sorry to disappoint, girlies, but that'll all have to wait fer later!" He walked back to his position between the zebra and the Buffalo, and focussed on Uzul again. "So, what can I do you for again?"

"We wanted to find Gau-Aer." Uzul repeated, irritated.

"Ahh, well, well..." He began nodding and shaking his head apparently at random. "Well, gee, that's a funny thing. Gau-Aer ain't bein' let in, and a little birdie told me it's because someone don't want no zebra leavin'." He grinned at them again. "Some pony wants to get a gun and bung you up, mister arbiter. I can't do shit until the bigwigs up above decide to let my private nation do trade."

"Melose," Zuri cursed. "Held back by ponies—again."

"Does the mysterious Sara have old business with them pastels up above?" Barxie asked, in a slightly patronizing tone. "Well, you may be able to go up there an' tug on their tails, girlie, but I don't want that comin' back to me." He shook his head exaggeratively, like someone intoxicated. "No ma'am, you'll have to figure that out by your lonesome."

Suddenly, the buffalo next to him rumbled into speech. He had been staring at Zuri's face for some time, and now spoke loudly. "Hey, Barxie, she's not a whole zebra."

"Whazzat, Skote?" Barxie asked, looking from Zuri to the buffalo.

"She is not a whole zebra!" He repeated, and bellowed commandingly at her. "Get that hood off, girl!"

"Now, Skote!" Barxie snapped, and Skote fell silent. The zebra's tone was much more normal, now, less flamboyant, and more clean. "Is that any way to talk to a Sara descendant? I know you romp about with some of the little whores we got toddling around here, but that don't mean you own EVERY zebra girl on Palosol!" He looked back at Zuri inquisitively, grinning at her. "Have a name?"

"Zuri Oun-Drii Sara," Zuri replied, fearlessly.

"Liar," the buffalo boomed. "No sara descendant would romp with a pony. That's a half-breed, I'd know them anywhere!"

"Only because you like bending them over barrels anywhere!" Barxie barked at him, turning back to Zuri. "Oun-Drii, eh? To prove that, you'd have to show me your body, so I may see your crest upon your self, y'know. So, if you don't mind taking off that cloak..."

Zuri knew there were no ponies about. Therefor, should an assumed half-breed be met with contempt, or even violence, she could properly defend herself. Nodding defeatedly, she undid the clasp, and let the cloak fall to the floor. Skote stamped, barking that he was right. Barxie was speechless for several seconds. Zuri turned to she him her flankside, her family crest evident in black on the blue, and Skote fell silent.

"I am not a half-breed. I was born this way, from Xoda Oun-Drii Sara and her husband, Gainu." Zuri said, in the powerful noble tone she had been taught when attempting to command or address a group.

"Oh lousy, lousy me... Skote, you peabrained odilia!" Barxie swore at him, several times, and Zuri was surprised to see the hulking buffalo retreat a little, though Barxie was dwarfed by him in size.

"A thousand apologies, Sara dollie..." Barxie said, turning back to Zuri. "Skote's used to having the mares under him, instead of standing on his face."

"I can see that," Zuri muttered, watching as the buffalo lowered his head, not meeting her eyes.

"But Glo'Dei burn me... I don't see any pure zebra with colors like yours!" Barxie exclaimed, a wide grin on his face. "Well, I wish I could do more for you, Sara dollie, but I'm still tied up by the bigwigs. If I piss 'em off, the cybercops come crackin' down, and they crack down hard."

"Can you at least give us advice on how to get to them, these 'bigwigs'?" Uzul asked him.

"Well, you'd hafta go tug their tails, like I said, but that means gettin' close to them, and the only way THAT'S happening is at one of their big, fancy gatherings. When they're all in their homes, they got guards out the ass on every corner. But their parties are a bit more available to the public. The biggest wig is Filthy Rich, and he's–"

"He's probably the one who doesn't want us to leave." Druva finished, groaning. "Might not have forgiven us for what you did with his daughter, Zuri."

"Oooh, this be a tale I gotta hear!" Barxie exclaimed, leaning in close. "You lead an adventurous life, pretty Oun-Drii?"

"I've had a bit more adventure than I prefer, lately." Zuri replied coldly, taking a few steps back as she quickly refastened her cloak around her form.

"Ah, well, I can try again later." Barxie shrugged. "In the meantime, maybe you three'd like a little taste of home? Datroi!" He looked around, tapping a hoof impatiently. Before too long, another zebra stumbled into view, this one wearing the silver earrings and neckbands appropriate for a Scal-Re, the slave class. Datroi bowed low, not taking her dark violet eyes off the ground at Barxie's feet. "Get my guests some food. All of them. Even give that pretty pony some decent greens."

Datroi gave an obedient nod of the head, and dash out of the room as fast as possible. "That was a Scal-Re." Uzuk muttered, looking at Barxie with wide eyes. "How do you have a professionally conditioned slavegirl, here? How would you get ahold of a Scal-Re in the middle of all the ponies?"

"Gau-Aer, of course." Barxie said, proudly. "The little slug is useful, and always follows orders, like any good Scal-Re."

"One shouldn't abuse their Scal-Re verbally." Zuri mused out loud. "'Tis bad form."

"Do my ears deceive me?" Barxie snarked, another smirk playing on his lips. "An Oun-Drii is commenting to ME on etiquette! Tis bad form, eh? Tis worse form to badmouth an Oun-Drii, which you can be executed for. Well, tis a good thing we don't work by the laws of our good cities in the desert." Barxie got much closer to Zuri than he had before, sneering at her. "This isn't Otoul, little blue-striped Oun-Drii. This is my world, baby, and don't you never talk to me about how I should run my world." His tone had become cold, commanding, and intimidating, but Zuri stood her ground, glaring into his eyes right back at him. Just as soon as his demeanor had changed, it changed again, as he straightened up and smiled at the lot of them. "So! How about that food? Datroi!" He shouted again, and this time Datroi tripped, and almost fell, attempting to balance a platter on her back, as she entered, her legs wobbling as she settled the tray down before Uzul and Zuri.

"Go ahead, eat! We're always willing to show a little kindness, here and there." Barxie grinned, after ordering for Datroi to leave the room.

Not always... Zuri mused, lowering her head to sniff the leaves. She knew this kind, they were from a type of brushwood that grew almost exclusively in Tedus. She had, of course, to check for any poisons or anything in the leaves. After Barxie's little lapse in personality, she decided she would never completely trust the zebra as long as she had to put up with him. If she could, she would also show him just what a big mistake it was to badmouth her.

Still, the leaves smelt of no foul, and Uzul was already gulping some down with a happy look on his face. "It has been a while since I've eaten the food from our side of the world." He commented, smiling. "I loved this Tedus plant, as a child."

"Lucky guess on the slug's part!" Barxie said, chuckling. "You probably had breakfast already, but I thought a little snack would do no harm."

The leaves were not filling, but their flavor was sweet, and encouraged Zuri to eat more than she should, so she stopped, hoping to the stars that Barxie hadn't an alchemist dribbling odorless sleeping potion on every platter of food. When Uzul, Zuri and Druva had stopped, with Chrys having swallowed a very large amount, Barxie shouted for Datroi to come back in, which she did, picking up the tray in her teeh and darting back out. "Well! Now we've shared words and food, the two niceties our culture requires when one visits another in his home." His eyes went to Zuri for a moment. "I think you know what you're looking for, so, you can see yourselves–" There was a sudden loud crash from the doorway Datroi had been flitting in and out of, and Barxie let out a very foul word. "That idiot girl!" He snapped, running through the doorway and dragging a screaming Datroi with him. He began to strike her across the face, but when she wriggled free from his grasp, Skote bashed her to the floor, to let his master continue with the punishment. "Can't. Even. Clean. Dishes!" Barxie shouted, hitting her with every word. "Shut up, you stupid slug! You four can go. I guess I'll see you later when you solve that problem of yours. Stop squirming, slug!"

Zuri was out the door first, for fear of losing her temper and getting on Barxie's bad side. It wouldn't do to have him as an enemy when they needed him to manage the Gau-Aer. A Gan-Dis' job was to make decisions and organize laws, so he had almost much say over her leaving with a Gau-Aer sled as Filthy Rich. The house was still surrounded by zebras, who were attempting to greet the Sara descendant all at once. "Let's get out of here." Uzul muttered, wading through the crowd with Zuri right behind him. The screams of Datroi had been drowned out as soon as the door had shut, but they still rang in Zuri's head. That kind of treatment of Scal-Re should only be necessary when the slave was insulting your family, instead of fumbling with dishes. What had stayed in Zuri's mind most was the words Barxie used: "idiot girl". He was about as bad as Ramrod, but the worst part was that this could be thought of a zebra. It served as a reminder that ponies were not the only source of cruelty Zuri had observed.

———

"Great, just great." Rainbow Dash said, flapping her wings to fly slowly from one side of the room and back. Zuri and company had returned to the inn, to find Rainbow Dash and her own group there as well, discussing the problems they'd had. Uzul proceeded to retell what Barxie had said. "So Filthy Rich now has every exit out of the city walled off. The space docks are closed, Gau-Aer off-limits, train stations condemned, even the security shield has been put up around the whole city! Where's a party cannon when you need one?"

"We're going to have to confront Filthy Rich directly," Uzul concluded.

"That's what we were just complaining about: we can't." Copic Pen replied, apparently exasperated. "The coward has the whole upper district on high alert, with security checkpoints in front of every club and store he goes into. We can't touch his daughters, they're holed up there with him. He's got a guard detail on him, we saw, and there's no way we'd be allowed close enough."

Zuri could think of several things they could do to solve this problem, but almost all of them required trancing. "Is it too much of a risk to try and sneak in on the rooftops, or is there some kind of disguise we can use?" She asked.

"Yeah, it's not a really smart idea," Rainbow Dash explained. "To go sneaking around at night, we'd need permission from the Shrouded Blade: a gang of 'honorable' thieves, who own most the streets at night. They get big money and pardon from ESSUG whenever they patrol the city for them, since anyone doing anything illegal without their permission is going to get themselves hurt. I don't really feel like dealing with any more big half-organized bands of sneaks right now, anyway. I already have my own, complete with temps and love interests!"

"That may be the only choice we have," Rock Polish said grudgingly. "I can't see another way we can really sneak in. I really doubt any unicorn with us could do a sufficient disguise spell."

"What makes you say that?" Moondancer asked, looking insulted.

It was Copic who answered her. "Well, if you were skilled enough for that, you wouldn't be in this line of work, would you?" The mare looked to be thinking on it for a moment, then nodded with conceding agreement.

"Ugh, I guess we do have to work something out with them, don't we?" Rainbow said, landing next to Uzul and snuggling up against him. "Double-ugh: last I heard they liked Zebras as much as we like Filthy Rich right now."

Uzul held a hoof around her, giving her a light affectionate squeeze. "I'm sure we can manage something. We've gotten this far, after all."

"Oh, and triple-ugh, too." Druva interjected. "I think if Zuri has to spend one more minute in Barxie's vicinity, she's going to have to kill something."

Zuri went a little red at the amused grins that cracked on nearly everyone's faces. "Was it that obvious that I didn't like him?"

"Well, I wanted to kick him in his privates until he was a dollie himself. He's annoying to anyone." Druva replied, smiling at her. "It was just obvious on your face, despite how much he may have intentionally ignored it."

"He was that bad, huh?" Rainbow asked, looking at Zuri. "He probably won't be harder to deal with than the Shrouded Blade, though. They're not really annoying, so much as creepy and untrustworthy."

"Do they beat their servants in front of guests?" Zuri's query was with a sardonic tone.

"Not to my knowledge. Barxie did that?"

"Right in front of us," Uzul affirmed, rubbing his cheek against Rainbow Dash's head absentmindedly. "He probably did it entirely to set an example, try and make us take a hint not to mess with him."

"Are you trying to do the same thing, there?" Zuri asked, managing a smile herself as Uzul and Rainbow exchanged an embarrassed look.

Rainbow shifted her position slightly, but didn't really move away from Uzul. "Um, getting back to business, now. I... guess we ought to go see the Shrouded Blade, then, if that's the only thing we can do. I can't think of anything else, so, that's what we're gonna do! We should go as an exclusively pony group, so you three can stay here."

Rainbow Dash chose Rock Polish, Moondancer, and two more well-armed ponies to walk with her, while Zuri relaxed back in her room. It was then that she realized Chrys hadn't come with her, and had not said a word while the others discussed what to do next in the room previous. On a hunch, she moved to the window, and sure enough, as Rainbow's party was departing up one street, there was the minty green mane of the disguised changeling, going another direction. Zuri thought for a second that she could be looking at a pony, and the doppelganger was still inside, until the mare turned her head and looked up at the inn. She wasn't looking at Zuri, but Zuri was looking at her eyes, as they flashed from the yellow of the disguise to green.

"Where is Chrys going?” Zuri questioned Druva, who was laying on her bed and perusing a strange magazine she had picked up in the street.

“She’s not in here? Where do you see her?” The alchemist stood, and walked over to the window next to Zuri.

“She just walked around that corner over there, I wonder what she’s doing.”

“Probably best if someone follows her,” Druva muttered, looking meaningfully at Zuri, who frowned at this. “Well, better you than me! You’re the fully trained sand trancer, remember? You know how to handle yourself even without the mans.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll go.” Zuri sighed, shaking her head as she picked her cloak up from off her bed.

“You’re going after that stupid bug?” Snippet squeaked from her corner of the room, looking very insolent. “I’d just leave her and let the security bots do their job. One less freak to carry around.”

“I wonder what Rainbow would say if we let you wander off without a clue to where you were going.” Druva returned with a glare. “Maybe we should just leave you behind in a bad side of town to see, hm?” Snippet hid her face behind a book, grumbling something incoherent.

“Here, I’ll come with you!” Druva offered, taking and fastening her own cloak on her body. “It will be a good chance to see more of the city, and maybe set things right with Chrys if we catch up to her.”

So the two zebras left the inn room, and descended the outside stairs, both of them feeling a little uncomfortable as the ever-present receptionist android watched them leave. They looked around a moment, before Zuri identified the direction Chrys had gone was to the north.

Hundreds of ponies moved along the street in either direction, most all of them carrying supplies with their own bodies, but many others stood atop longer, flatter hovercraft, made apparently for moving cargo along the street in larger amounts than an equine or two could pull. Zuri could smell the clean, partially clean, and unclean bodies moving around her. Ponies didn't give her a second look, maybe because they thought looking directly at a zebra could cause some terrible fate to befall them. She and Druva got bumped and pushed into more than a few times. She also heard a few words spat in her direction, but they were hardly understandable in the constant din of the busy district, as she waded through the crowds. She caught glimpses of a mint-green mane in between heads, which was how she knew she was still on the right road.

She passed many buildings, gazing up at several in irresistible curiosity. She went directly under several of the humongous signs displaying videos and news programs, one which was blared loudly above everything else, and caused the shifting movement of the ponies in the crowd to slow as their attention was diverted.

"Attention, attention, ponies of Paradise City. The arrival of our beloved Princess Twilight Sparkle is scheduled to be the end of this week. All ESSUG-employed ponies will receive extra vacation time to celebrate. Prepare yourselves well, citizens: our princess will bring four of her honored friends with her, four of the heroes of Equestria! Pay your respects, do your duty, act for your princesses! Act to support the frontier effort, so that they see Palosol at its best!"

The announcement was over, and the ponies all around them picked up their pace again, and Zuri and Druva followed suit. They hadn’t gone much farther, when Druva froze, her eyes going wide. Zuri looked at her companion to ask what was the matter, when she suddenly felt a cold ring against the back of her neck. Her stomach felt very much like lead, just then.

"Move towards the closest alleyway, stripeys," a voice hissed in her ear. "Don't even try that crazy ninja stuff."

Zuri didn't recognize the voice, but did as it told, the end of the gun remaining against the back of her head as she moved between two buildings. No one had seen their predicament, or if they had, they hadn't cared, which Zuri thought was more likely. If there were other zebras in the crowd, they were too harassed by the ponies around them or didn't dare try to help for fear of greater punishment falling upon them. The light from the bright sun was blocked by the tall walls that Zuri was now in between, with the gun barrel bumped against the back of her head.

"Turn around, stripey." The voice ordered, and Zuri turned her head, slowly. An unfamiliar stallion stood there, his coat dark brown, one eye of crimson, one of a paler shade of red, probably half-blind. He was aiming a menacing-looking shotgun right at Zuri’s face, at the sight of which Zuri felt an urge to bolt, but there was nowhere to go.

The three stallions had Druva and her backed against a wall, and now moved closer. He raised up a hoof, quickly, towards Zuri's face. Instinctively she batted it away, but the pony to the pegasus' left grabbed it, and rolled her onto her back. The leader loomed over her, smirking as he held her down with his forehooves atop her chest, his weapon still aiming at her. Fear began to flood through Zuri's body, showing on her face, as the two companions gave a cruel chuckle, as the stallion repositioned himself, and lowered his head.

She struggled and tried to shout, but found her voice muffled, suddenly, by his lips pressed forcibly against hers. Panic was making her heart race, she knew exactly what he was planning to do with his two compatriots. He stared into her face, she could see him enjoying this much more than she was. His lips were squishy, and to an unfamiliar and unwilling partner like Zuri, they made her want to vomit, just as much as the thought of what the pegasus was going to do to her.

He pulled away, and laughed in her face. "Go on, stripey nag!" He snarled at her, his friends holding her hooves to the ground as he stood up straight. "Go on, cry, I know you want to do it! Cry, scream, make my day. None of that trancing bullshit to help you now, huh?" Zuri struggled uselessly against the two stallions holding her down, and they laughed. Her panic and fear had made its way onto her face, as Splint Mail must have seen. He began laughing at her again, and then spat in her face.

"Hey now, Splint Mail ." One of the stallions said in a voice mocking protest. "That ain't right. What would the boss say if she found you spitting in another zebra whore's face?"

Splint Mail let out a bark of laughter. "Whore? Whores get paid, Scattershot. I wouldn't pay this nag if she charged in sperm count." He struck Zuri hard across the face, and then landed the same hoof on her stomach. The zebra cried out in pain, and Splint Mail cut her off with another forced kiss before pulling away, holding Zuri's face roughly between his forehooves. "So, consider this a charity donation, stripey."

Zuri scowled defiantly back at his triumphant grin, trying her hardest to not show anything more than hatred, but Splint Mail's hoof had caught her harshly on the muzzle, which she could feel bleeding. Her belly throbbed with the harsh blow delivered to her, and Zuri scowled through the tears of pain, and fear. It was the fear he must have been after, she knew him seeing it would strengthen him, his superiority over her.

"Ah, shit, Splint, she's bleeding." Said the other stallion besides Scattershot sounding a little disappointed. "That just ruins anything with the mouth."

"Don't be a wuss, Fire Brigade." The leader replied, still smirking down at Zuri's tearful face. "Gotta send a message to that little zebra brain in there."

Zuri tried to say something, but it only came out as a feeble croak, immediately made fun of by the three stallions. "Okay, hold still, nag." The stallion growled, as he placed his forehooves on either side of her head. Zuri focussed every fiber of her being on ignoring the thing between her assailant’s hindlegs, and so let her tears fall more openly. "Don't cry, stripey: I'm gonna show you what you're good for!"

Zuri closed her wet eyes, and tried to be brave. She felt Splint Mail lower his body, press... Everything... Closer.

And then he wasn’t close, and he wasn't on top of her. There was a sudden agonized howling, and Zuri felt herself be slid across the paved ground, suddenly without anyone holding her. She opened her eyes, blinking the tears out of them so she could see clearly. Her nose was bleeding onto the ground, and on the other side of the alleyway lay her would-be violater, gurgling. At first Zuri thought he was choking, but then saw that he was holding his forehooves over his crotch, all of which was covered in blood. A limp, bloody object lay nearby, and Zuri didn't have to look at it to know what it was. Scattershot and Brigade were also close by, one unconscious, the other struggling to stand up with two broken legs.

A figure stood over the stallion, glowering down at him. She held the handle of a long, beautiful, but bloodied knife in her teeth. Zuri rubbed her eyes weakly with a hoof to get rid of the lasting blurriness. It was a pony standing there, a mare, with a pretty, light-brown coat, and smooth dark brown hair held together in a band. She wore a long red, gold-accented cloak, that billowed slightly with the wind through the alley. Her pink eyes were focussed carefully on Splint Mail's pitiful form. She wiped the blood from her shining knife on the pegasus' coat, and then stepped over him.

"Maybe you'll do better as a guard if you’re a eunuch," she growled coldly, kicking Splint Mail in the face to shut him up. “Not even a coin purse on any of you for my trouble! You guys just suck at this kind of thing. If there's one thing I hate, it's a stallion who thinks he can get away with treating a girl like that." She said, more or less to Zuri as she walked up to her. "Did he get at you? It seemed like he was just getting started when I swooped in, you okay?"

Zuri stared confusedly up at her. This mare spoke with a curious, softer accent, similar to how some zebras did when speaking the pony language. She offered a hoof, and Zuri took it, standing up on shaky legs, as the last of her tears fell from her face as she sniffled, attempting to regain full control of her emotion. Finally, she answered her rescuer, "N-no, he just–he just kissed me, and rubbed his thing..." She stopped speaking, as she looked back at the bloody lump next to the huddled form of the neutered stallion. Zuri sat back a moment, tried to take a few deep breaths, and then threw up. It was probably the after effect of all that emotion hitting her at once. Crying did make her nauseous, that plus everything else that had just happened. Getting hit in the stomach, a headache from the punch, the fact that she was almost raped… she retched again.

"Yikes!" The mare shouted, shocked and concerned. “Not okay, then. You’re coming with me. Hate crime hurts, but I’ve rarely known it to cause nausea.” She lowered herself close to the floor, and helped prop Zuri up, more or less carrying her on her back. Druva lay nearby, having been knocked around by one of the stallions before they closed in on Zuri. She was now rolling over, wincing and bearing a bruise on one cheek.

“Oh, great, another mystery rescuer.” Druva mumbled, looking up at the mare helping keep the nauseous Zuri on all four hooves. “What’s the word for the trope used in a bunch pony stories. It means a deity from technology, or something?”

“Deus ex Machina, you mean,” the mare said, grinning down at her. “Can you walk? I’ve got a place not far from here. Your friend is having some trouble keeping her lunch down, though.”

“Melose,” Druva cursed, standing up quickly as she saw Zuri’s tear-streaked, bloody-nosed, queasy face. “Zuri, they didn’t…” She herself looked nauseated at the idea.

Zuri swallowed before answering, “No, they didn’t. Please don’t talk about it.”

“Well, aren’t I such a saint?” Their rescuer said, as she guided them towards one of the shabby little buildings on one side of the street. Her tone suggested she thought saying this was very ironic. “Saving two virgin zebras from violation. I should get paid for this kinda thing, since I’m so good at it.”

“I’m not a virgin,” Druva objected, though went a little red after saying so.

“Well, this one is.” The mare said, gesturing to Zuri, whose slightly greened cheeks had also acquired a hue of red. “I can tell because she barfed when she looked at that poor sod’s… you know, items. I’ve noticed a habit of overreacting to the idea of adultery with your kind.” She pressed her hoof against a metal device on the front door of the building, and it swung open with a reassuring jingle of electric notes, apparently welcoming the mare home.

Druva eased herself into a nearby seat, gently nursing her collection of bruises. Apparently, she had gotten hit a lot of times by a very muscular stallion, but there was no blood. She smirked a little half-heartedly as the mare helped Zuri lie down on a mat, where she could calm her stomach down in peace. “It may be just her; she’s a noble among our kind. Got her first taste of rough treatment only a few days ago.”

“You don’t–” Zuri cut herself off, shaking her head slowly and waiting for the feeling of nausea to ease back down before attempting to speak again. “You don’t know what kind of treatment I’ve had, before coming out of Otoul, Druva. Not all Oun-Drii get to live lives of p–perfect luxury.”

“Oun-Drii, huh?” The mare said, having brought a short wooden bowl over to Zuri, full of steaming liquid. It was a very calm-smelling tea. “Just have a couple sips, should calm you down much like a Non-Ni brew. And where the hell is Star Drift?” She looked around the poorly maintained home, tapping her hoof impatiently. “He’s supposed to be back here by now, after dealing with those nutty mercs over by south-side.”

“Troubles of your own?” Druva asked, a little curious as she drew out a potion from her vuiol, which she had the sense to hide under the table from the red-cloaked mare’s view.

“You don’t know the half of it,” she sighed, sitting down on a slightly dusty pillow. “I’m Ruby, Ruby Nights. I run a band of honorable thieves, maybe you’ve heard of us. We’re kinda,” she gave a snort, “infamous.”

Druva dropped the bottle of dittany she had been holding in her mouth, which hit the table she sat at, and rolled around a little. “Do you mean you’re in the Shrouded Blade?”

“In it? I run the gang!” She said, looking a little offended. “Kept it going and everything for the past three years! Business is booming, but so is competition.”

“You seem very comfortable with telling us who you are.” Zuri managed, feeling a bit better now with the warm tea down her throat. “Wouldn’t the leader of a band of thieves try to keep themselves hidden, maybe never going out from their hideout?”

“Maybe the dumb, fat, lazy ones, yeah.” Ruby Nights replied, smirking back at Zuri. “But I know better than that. Nopony, and no zebra knows who the shadow master is, except those in the Shrouded Blade, and a select-few vendors and officials, for the legal end of our business, so I’ve got nothing to fear. If some whiny noble does happen to notice their wallet is missing, I’ve got my ESSUG friends to back me up! Much better than just prowling around in districts like these, sneaking money off bums and twisting the arms of Gau-Aer.”

“But you were searching those stallions for money back there, weren’t you?” Druva questioned, looking confused.

“Those guys were just haters. The whole CITY is mostly haters. Sometimes they go out in little bands, roughing up zebras, raping the pretty ones, killing the working ones, sometimes they start fires, and burn more than just zebra homes down.”

“To be honest, having met Barxie,” Zuri mumbled, “I think a couple of them need to be burned down.”

“Wait, Barxie?” Ruby looked at her with interest. “How do you know Barxie?”

“I just met him today,” Zuri answered, “we were trying to see if we could leave with the Gau-Aer, but they’re–”

“–Not allowed to enter the city?” Ruby finished, “I was there too, uh, sneaking into his house. Trouble is, I scared the crap out of his servant girl.” She chuckled nervously, “She dropped a plate she was washing, and I think he beat her for it.”

“That was you?” Druva interrogated, leaning over the table.

"Hey, I'm the one who should be saying that." Ruby countered, "I recognized you two from the group of mercs that came in from the train yesterday. Your party just called for a meeting with the shadow master, the leader of the Shrouded Blade, which is me, but they don't get to know that. I sent a decoy, in case your crew was hired to hunt me down. So, when I saw you, I thought it'd be nice to clear things up: Why are you in Paradise City?" The thief mare posed the question much more seriously than anything else she had said, so Zuri and Druva thought it best not to lie. They told her exactly why they were there, and what their current problem was, with Filthy Rich being out of reach.

"My problem too!" Ruby agreed, having sat back in a chair to listen. "That fat fuck ruins my business going to New Appleoosa with this dumb embargo, so, I guess I've got a reason to help you souls out."

"I guess that simplifies things a little," Druva muttered, sighing a bit as the Dictamnous brew she was sipping gradually removed the bruises and shallow cuts from her body. With Zuri's belly calmed down, Druva handed her the bottle, and the trancer too sighed as her nose healed itself more or less instantly, now the remaining blood from the wound dribbling onto the floor, before ceasing.

"Well, great, now Star Drift's got more of a mess to clean up than usual." Ruby muttered, smirking slightly. "And, maybe you could teach my alchemist how to do that, uh, what is your name?"

"Druva Non-Ni Altra," she answered, smiling at Ruby. "I think I might be able to do that."

"So you're a trancer, then?" Ruby turned to look at the trancer, who was standing up a little shakily, but regaining her sense of balance with every second. The mare motioned to Zuri's rings. "A Gau-Aer taught me to recognize them. You're a real sand trancer? I've never met one of them before. Aren't you supposed to be cherished and famous?"

"Funny," Zuri said, also smiling. Dictamnus brew always gave her a happier mood, despite what had happened. And right after almost getting raped, she needed that more than anything. "You meet the one trancer who has the least fame, but the greatest name to live up to."

11. The Second Plan of Action

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Ruby Nights had taken a long, winding path between alleyways, guiding with her Zuri and Druva, both with their raised bruises shrinking away thanks to the dictamnus brew. The two zebras noticed and pointed out to one another several more shady figures they passed, who watched them go by. None of them moved to attack, however, having watched Ruby lead them on. Zuri guessed that these ponies must know who Ruby really was, and knew when to stay out of another's business.

She lead them into another shack, this one with two ponies already in it, and in a better all-around state, with an obvious maintained state of cleanliness and less cracks in the wooden walls. Despite this, however, the ceiling still looked a little close to falling in. One of them was toying with a completely holographic chess game, manipulating pieces on one side of the board. Another pony in the orange-hued hologram responded to every move slowly and thoughtfully. Evidently, this was a game of long-distance chess.

"Winning, Sire?" Ruby asked, walking up to the holographic chessboard and examining the placement of the pieces carefully. Zuri was a little surprised at Ruby referring to this rather grungy colt as Sire, before she realized that it must have been his name.

"Bah, last game was easier, mistress." He responded, shaking his head and moving another piece.

"I'm keeping him on his toes, mistress!" Said the pony in the hologram, waving enthusiastically. "He was better last time, I'm wearing him down quick."

"Well, if anypony could do it..." Ruby chuckled, and then turned to the other occupant of the room. This one was much older, and looked up slowly when Ruby turned to him.

"Ah... Need to get down, shadowmistress?" He said, smiling slightly.

"Yep, and make sure these two go unmolested by the detector."

"Yes ma'am." He said, slowly moving his hooves across a touch-display. A large corridor opened up, on one wall, halfway into the floor. Zuri peered down the revealed hole: it had a large staircase, descending into darkness. Only that as lights flickered on to either side of the way down, she could see the stone floor of the bottom. Ruby again lead the way, going down the stairs first, and followed closely by Druva and Zuri.

"We're in a part of the service tunnels of the sewers," Ruby explained, rubbing her nose slightly and sniffing. It was musty and mildewy, and Druva sneezed twice, the sound echoing around them. "Careful. During security checks this whole place is flooded and then probed by aquatic robots. If you raise the alarm you're dead twice. We're gonna go meet your friends, the nutjob mercs."

"They are not really nutjobs," Druva argued, "just excitable, and very well armed."

"We'll see about that," Ruby Nights muttered, taking a left turn at an intersection, and going further on. They walked mostly in silence, with the thief mare occasionally mumbling something to herself as she examined the tiny markings by every tunnel leading off the the one they were in.

"Fifth north, second left. We're here," Ruby announced, and began leading them up a steeper flight of stairs than the last. It ended with a solid metal wall, which Ruby caused to open into a doorway, again by pressing her hoof against a dimly illuminated circle on the wall.

"Is that a ShowMe?" Zuri asked, out of curiosity as the wall pulled into the left side of the tunnel.

"Yep, took me three weeks to get the money and connections to get a working one." Ruby affirmed, smiling proudly at the seemingly blank underside of her hoof. "Really darn useful, y'know. Now! Let's go see what your pony party wants," Ruby led them out of the tunnel, into another unoccupied shack. This one was in much better shape than either of the previous two: looking as if it had been cleaned the same day. She lead them over to a window, and beckoned them to look outside with a smirk on her face. Rainbow Dash was having a heated argument with a pegasus stallion, their noses almost touching as they barked at each other. Zuri could hear enough through the thin pane of glass to get the general idea: Rainbow Dash was negotiating the fee for the shrouded blade's help.

"I'm not really going drive you and your friends broke," Ruby admitted, as the stallion bellowed the exact opposite statement in Rainbow's face outside. "It's fun having them say that, but no. Though, I will need to get a little something for my trouble. Got to meet expenses~" She said this with a slight sing-song quality, as if quoting a song. "Of course, my stunt double is supposed to keep a level head! I'll have to help Star Drift with that part."

"Listen to me, featherfanny!" The stallion shouted, "there is no way in hell you're going to get our help just because you bat your eyelashes or aim a couple shells at us. We need money, and if you don't got any, then you're outta luck!"

"Who're YOU calling a featherfanny, clouds-for-brains?" Rainbow countered, bristling even more than before. "Your price is way too damn high. Let's negotiate, or I will send a couple'a shells at you!"

"You couldn't hurt the Shrouded Blade if you tried." Star Drift replied, standing tall and looking arrogant.

"Oh yeah? Watch me!"

"Oh, shit." Ruby suddenly ducked, as did Zuri and Druva, as several bullets flew threw the window shattering it.

"Bah, I don't actually live in this dump!" Star Drift said, uncaring. He was obviously unaware that anyone else actually was in the shack. "Go ahead! Perforate the whole house if you like! It won't get you what you want!"

"Then maybe I will!" Rainbow said, mimicking his tone. "Open fire, Riders!"

"Wait!" Zuri shrieked, terrified at the idea of more bullets flying. She raised her hooves and stuck them out the window, attempting to situate herself so she could stick her head out. "Don't shoot!"

When Zuri did get her face through the broken window, she saw that Rainbow and Star Drift were wearing almost the exact same look of shock, their mouths totally agape.

"When the hell did you become a thief, Zuri?" Moondancer squeaked at her, her own alarm showing in her voice.

"More importantly, what are you doing in one of MY hideouts?" Star Drift asked, a little more edge in his voice. Ruby took that moment to open the front door, and fix the stallion with a quelling glare.

"Actually, they're mine," she announced to the rest of them, looking at her group of armed thieves and Rainbow's mercenaries with exasperation. "I'm the shadowmaster. I brought your friends along because they were in trouble."

"The shadowmaster's a girl?" Rainbow said, balking at Ruby. "B-but then what are all those stories about you having a sexual appetite for mares? Or those tabloid TV shows with..."

"Oh, so the shadowmaster can't be a girl or adventurous?" Ruby asked, now fixing her glare on the cyan pegasus. "Jeez, I thought a mare so often accused of being a fillyfooler wouldn't say something so stupid as that. And yes, I know exactly who you are, Rainbow Dash! Don't look so dumbstruck! Why wouldn't I, you're a celebrity, remember?"

"I, well, sometimes I forget. I've been trying to be more humble after all my friends dressed up as a superhero that constantly outdid me. Uh, long story."

"You'll have plenty of time to tell all those little stories, Dash. Even if you got us a million bits, you'd be stuck in this city for a while. Now, get in here! Bring your little party, too, the security bots will be here soon. You fired guns, remember those? They're the things that make loud noises and break shit."

"So, wait, if you don't like staying put in hiding, why do you use decoys if you're going to show your face?" Druva asked.

"Decoys mean I can have more freedom, duh. No more questions like that. I got the mood scared out of me when I thought one of my lieutenants was going to let me get perforated!" She shot another glare at the very somber looking star Drift, who lowered his ears, bowed his head and trudged a little slower into the house. "And anyway, I mainly used one now because it could have been a decent trap. A group of mercs shows up asking for help offering a bunch of money? Almost too good to be true. You could have been hired to get rid of me."

"What convinced you?" Rainbow interrogated, sounding doubtful

"The bigwigs would never employ a band of mercs that made friends with zebras. They're too untrusting. Filthy Rich will send zebras out with parcels or messages, but not with guns and advance payments, so your friends almost getting raped right along my route to this shack pretty much saved your asses. Count your blessings, I guess."

"Raped?" Rainbow turned to stare disbelievingly at Zuri and Druva. "Well, are you two okay?"

"Fine, just fine." Druva replied, before elbowing Zuri. "She threw up, though."

"Don't you recall that I'm Oun-Drii?" Zuri growled at her, her face flushed. "Shouldn't you be treating me with more respect?"

"I thought you didn't like being pampered," Druva smiled cheekily. "Wasn't that why you left?"

"I didn't like being pampered by servants whose eyes betrayed their true feelings," Zuri shot back. "Now I'm receiving the common prejudice just like every other zebra. It's better than being singled out by my own kind."

"I'd just love to hear your assorted explanations for becoming a knot in my mane, ladies," Ruby addressed the whole of Rainbow's group, as well as the two zebras. "But right now I think I'd do better to get you out of sight. Come on."

Ruby and Star Drift lead the procession into the dark caves once again, but this time, Ruby stopped, and opened up a compartment on one wall. She withdrew several black cloth bags, and began thrusting them at each of Rainbow's mercenaries. "Put these over your head. I don't want there to be any chance of you learning how to get to our hideout."

"And why not us?" Zuri asked, as Ruby had given neither her nor Druva a bag.

"Believe it or not, I prefer the company of you zebras to ponies, and I think I can trust you. Maybe I'll explain it to you when I've got fewer headaches around."

They walked in total silence this time, with Ruby walking a little more rigidly, a few of her thieves helping guide the blinded ponies when they changed direction. The tunnels were becoming slightly cleaner, looking more frequently used, and therefor more maintained. Zuri thought this a little stupid: someone looking for a thief in the sewer tunnels would easily be able to track them. They left a very easy-to-follow trail, keeping up the condition of the frequented chambers.

Still, it apparently hadn't done harm to try and keep things a little cleaner, yet. Instead, it made Zuri a little impressed. So far, this was the cleanest pony-occupied area she had seen, besides the inside of the inn they had slept in. It was also impressive because the hint of a rank odor had diminished significantly as the group had walked. Ruby eventually arrived at another door, and opened it with her ShowMe, as before. The door opened, and there was a slight gush of air. A huge atrium-like room loomed before them. There were multiple stories in the huge room, constructed out of assorted metal, wood, and stone, and there were much more ponies than Zuri had expected. They sat at tables, discussing things in a very fast slang. Some of them were playing cards, some exchanging items over rectangular tables with onlookers on all sides, commenting on and offering money for some goods being placed down, a few were even tangled up with one another in far corners.

"Well, here we are." Star Drift and a few other thieves pulled the bags off the mercenaries' heads, allowing them to take in the sight of the atrium. "The rest of you can leave us alone," Ruby continued, pulling Rainbow, Zuri, and Druva aside. "All I need are these three."

Reaching another doorway, Ruby led them into an office-like room, with a large mahogany desk and a chair behind it, upon which the shadowmaster sat. "So, now that we're all alone: what the hell do you want?"

"Help," Rainbow began, "we want help getting into the noble district. We have a score to settle with Filthy Rich. Zuri and Druva want to get home, but can't, because Filthy Rich sort of has a score to settle with us, too."

"Really, now?" Ruby muttered, tapping one hoof on the desk. "That explains a lot. If you're the reason Filthy has shut off most lower-level access to the ways out of Paradise, then it's fitting if you're what gets him to open it all up again. "You know, I had you followed, before. Rather, I followed you around. I seem to remember there being three zebras, not two."

"He's not here at the moment," Rainbow replied, shrugging, "but he's not so sure he wants to go back any more. You see, uh, he and I..."

"Aahhhh, say no more." Ruby said, smirking widely. "You've an exotic special some'pony', miss Dash? Well, maybe there's hope for me yet. And, I also seem to remember, when you came here, that there was a strange looking filly with you. I didn't get a close look before you went inside the inn."

"Oh, right, her..." Rainbow trailed off, apparently mulling over how to address the subject of the changeling. "Well, you see, her name is–"

"Chrys!" Zuri shouted, suddenly, and everyone looked at her. She had just remembered why she had left the inn with Druva in the first place, and why she had been in that alley and had been taken here by Ruby Nights. Chrys was missing. "Melose!"

"Uh, yeah, Zuri, thanks for saying what we were all thinking," Rainbow said, looking a little annoyed.

"No, no, you don't understand... Druva and I left the inn because we saw Chrys walking away in the street. We tried to follow, but that group of odilia showed up, and, um, everything got sidetracked."

Rainbow was saying curses of her own under her breath, while Ruby took this all in. "What's so special about this Chrys girl? Is she in danger? Too young for that part of town?"

"No, she's the danger to that part of town," Rainbow groaned, putting a hoof to her temple. "Chrys is a changeling. We found her in a crate on the train coming here. I knew we should have killed her!"

"She's just a little kid," Druva argued, "she just wanted to fit in."

"That's what she wanted you to think." Rainbow stressed at her, looking exasperated. "I don't care if she was hardly potty trained when we found her. Changelings are too damn smart!"

"Slow down, slow down!" Interjected Ruby, who was looking quite incredulous. "You're telling me there's a changeling running around Paradise City? A live one?"

"Yes, there is." Rainbow affirmed her, sitting back on her haunches and letting her head sink low. "The damn thing's probably off sucking out some poor sod's love for his wife, by now."

"She seemed to get her fill being around us, though," protested Druva, looking indignant. "All of our emotional roller coasters seemed to keep her going."

"I can see where this is going," Ruby said, putting her hooves together on the table. "You three are gonna ask for my help tracking this bug down."

"What? No! We can do that ourselves!" Rainbow Dash looked a little insulted at the idea that she couldn't. "Besides, it's more important that we get out of this city. We don't have the time to worry about Chrys, honestly. Filthy's soldiers are probably scouting around the train right now."

Ruby sighed, and nodded agreement, though Zuri guessed she disliked the idea of losing another business opportunity. "Well, if you're sure you want to drop that, then alright. Now, about getting to Filthy Rich..."

"We're going look for Chrys on our own time," Druva whispered in Zuri's ear. "As soon as we get this Filthy Rich business cleared up, I want to find her."

"There's a couple formal gatherings coming up soon. A few are public, and a few aren't. I guess the biggest one would be the local Grand Galloping Gala."

Rainbow Dash made an exasperated groan. "That lame old excuse for a party? Really? Why’s that being held here?"

"Princess Twilight arrives the day before and stays for the next week," Ruby explained, grinning slightly. “It’s gonna be the end-all be-all welcoming party, and this place is gonna see an influx of bigwigs. So, you can get Filthy Rich, and I can take my payment from all those idiots in nice dresses!”

"I'm not sure if that's a good idea," Rainbow said this with an awkward smile, "last time our group went to the gala, we kind of sabotaged it without even meaning to. Moreover, if I have to wear a dress made by anyone but Rarity, I might have a conniption. Or she would, if she saw me in it."

"Well, it's the only way I can think of. What you really have to do, and at this I'm a natural, is find out whether Filthy will really be there. If so, the gala will be enough of a distraction that you can guide him over to a quiet corner and work him over for what you want. But to do that, you'd need to ask someone who knows his schedule, either because the work for him, or they work, literally, under him." At their looks of confusion, she elaborated what she meant, "I know he frequents The Ropes of Equestria, a gentlestallions' club in that part of town. Your best bet would be to interrogate the, ahem, entertainers in there."

"Well, that sounds easy," Druva joked, "just sneak into the noble district, find this perverted club, get some of the 'entertainers' to spill the beans, then go to a huge party which zebras probably aren't allowed to, and threaten Filthy Rich with our loud, obvious firearms and forbidden trancing magic. Yep, we'll be out of here in no time."

"I know it's a long shot," Ruby's tone was placating. "Even for me this is kind of loopy and overcomplicated, and much more time-sensitive than I prefer. You'll have to wait until the Princess gets here with her entourage, and no one ever said it was going to be easy. But the way I see it, this is your best chance to do it, otherwise Filthy might get ESSUG to come find you on his own, because assaulting a noble is sure to get you bent over a table by those ponies."

"Well, when does this princess get here?" Zuri queried, looking at each of them.

"Tomorrow, actually," Druva answered in zebric. "That announcement said the end of the week, right? For the ponies, the week ends tomorrow."

"Alright then!" Rainbow said, a little anxious. "Just have to wait a couple days, that's all. One for Twilight to get here, another for the gala. We can hold together a couple of days, right? It gives us time to go pester those girls in the club."

"It's best if you go in there at night," Ruby advised them. "That's when all the best ones are working, and Filthy probably knows that, too."

"How do you know that?" Zuri asked, "Aren't gentlestallions' clubs supposed to be for stallions?"

Ruby went a little pink, the same color of her eyes. "I'll say it again: can't the shadowmaster be a girl and adventurous? Now, as for sneaking into the noble district, I know a few tunnels, or by night, I can take Zuri and one pony over the rooftops. If you wear your cloak, Zuri, with your color, the scanners should mistake you for one of my thieves. We'll cover how you'd get into the ball if we actually need to. I know a couple ways."

"You have your secrets and we have ours, right?" Zuri asked, looking at Rainbow, who snorted.

"You already understand it perfectly! Great!" Ruby clapped her hooves together. "That makes this so much easier. Come on, I'll show you a way through the tunnels."

The bags went over the ponies' eyes again, as Ruby instructed them to be taken as close to their inn as possible, before letting them out onto the street and finding their own way. Druva went with them, but Zuri stayed with Ruby, as the mare took her through a long and complicated route of tunnels that went in every possible direction. "We're right here..." She opened another door, and Zuri found that they were no longer on ground level. They were in the middle of what appeared to be a staircase, and ascending to the top, Zuri realized they had exited the tunnels and had come out into a metal clocktower. "The Shrouded Blade dug the way to this tower in the middle of the noble district, in case we needed a quick escape or had things to do such as this." Ruby explained, surveying the street down below. It was much less crowded, there were different smells in fewer amounts, and Zuri got the impression that the noble district was very, very clean. The smooth roads looked spotless from this distance, and Zuri could tell, despite their perch, that every single pony down below was wearing clothing. Very ornate clothing. Neon lights and gigantic signs displayed very fancy-looking products and declared the names of respectable businesses, none of which the trancer could understand. There were gigantic manors, surrounded by gardens and small houses, obviously the living quarters for the servants. Blaring fields of grass full of beautiful blooming plants and trees filled one large area to the right, surrounded by high-end clubs, shops, and even a few very expensive hotels which reached to the sky.

The greatest sight of all, however, was the gigantic castle, moated by a perfectly placid lake, with towers and structures that seemed to be perfectly aligned with one another. It took a moment for Zuri to look down towards the entrance of the castle, where workers in giant pieces of construction equipment were moving things in and out of the castle grounds.

"That's the citadel, where the princess will be staying." Ruby informed her. "I heard that the princess used to live and sleep in a quaint little library, which was hewn into a tree. Now she gets a castle built wherever she goes."

"So the tunnels can cross between any district?" Zuri asked, thinking back to the big glass wall between the district she had been in and the next.

"Not all, but most. The ones that matter, anyway. The sewer tunnels are built wherever there's housing, though some of those poor souls in the striped shanty use a bucket and a big old liquid purifier. That's drinking your own waste water again and again, with the filtering only doing so much every time. If I had the money..." Ruby trailed off, and was talking to herself so quietly that Zuri couldn't hear her. Eventually, she let out a sigh. "I've always felt for the zebra, I can't say why. I just see the position most ponies put them in and want to start a revolt. It really, really sucks, what ponies are doing to this planet. Of course, what can I do about it? I run a band of thieves. I'd help the zebras out but the money would be stolen from them by someone else, or confiscated, or the sorry slobs would waste it on some equestrian product they've been brainwashed into thinking they need."

"I think you're the first pony I've met who actually wants to help, let alone treat us as equals." Zuri mused, when Ruby had finished.

"That? That's just proper Equestrian friendliness at work." Ruby shrugged. "Everypony learned their manners from the same place: the elements of harmony. Y'know Rainbow Dash? She's one of them. She represents loyalty."

"Elements of Harmony?" Zuri repeated.

"Yep. Six elements which channel their power through six ponies who best represent their respective element. They take the form of gaudy jewelry. That's what I could never get in the schoolbooks. Equestria's greatest means of defense takes the form of gaudy jewelry! But anyway, look over here," Ruby pointed towards one large building, with big lit up letters on each side, and an animated figure of a pegasus mare, in a very, very lewd position. Zuri looked away as soon as she saw it. "That's the Ropes of Equestria. Hey, don't be wimp about it! It's just a video picture."

"She's presenting herself." Zuri whimpered, holding her hooves over her eyes. "They put that on top of buildings? That's disgusting."

"Yeah, they do much worse." Ruby grunted, pulling Zuri's hooves away from her eyes. "Just open your eyes and look for a second! I promise it won't taint you and ruin you for all the Oun-Drii colts. Look, there's the main entrance. We'd have to sneak in around the back, where all the employees enter through. We'll look at the job listings, and see which ones have had sessions for Filthy Rich. He goes in there all the time, it can't just be to admire the carpets. I don't mean right now, it's only a little after lunchtime! We'll wait for evening, come on, I'll take you back to the hideout."

Zuri and Ruby made their way down the steps again, and passed back into the service tunnels. They arrived soon enough at the door to the hideout, which slid open before Ruby's hoof could touch it. Another stallion stood before them, and immediately nodded his head. "Shadowmaster, you have a visitor."

Ruby looked very surprised. "What? Who is it this time?"

"The Minister of Defense, ma'am." Answered the stallion, and Ruby let out a long sigh.

"Crap, well, I guess he'd come nosing around eventually, with this shutoff of all ways in and out of the city. Let's go, Zuri. Maybe I can hide you before he–aw, dammit."

As soon as the two mares had walked into the main room of the hideout, a tall, slightly gaunt-looking unicorn stallion noticed them, his crimson eyes brightening. "Oh, good! I found you before you could slink off to your office, Ruby!" He said, as he trotted gaily over to them. "Who's your new friend?" His eyes travelled immediately to Zuri.

"She's no one, Shade." Ruby said, making as if to hide the zebra under her cloak.

"No one, huh? That's the fourth no one I've found you with this month." The stallion looked quite amused at this, grinning at Ruby.

"The names' real popular among unimportant ponies and zebras you shouldn't concern yourself with, Shade!" Ruby replied, suddenly sounding more upbeat. "My business is just that! Mine. So if you'd like to wait a moment while I sent Zuri on her..."

"So, your name's Zuri?" The ebony-black stallion smiled quite charmingly at the trancer. "That can't be all of it, what's your caste, Dell Mansa?"

Zuri went rigid. Ruby was swearing and kicking herself for saying her name, but Zuri rounded on her anyway. "Does every single pony know our language? Maybe I should learn some more pony swear words so you can understand how much this pisses me off." This Shade fellow had just addressed her as Fair Lady Trancer in a perfect zebric accent, complete with proper inflections on mansa and everything.

"Oh, sorry." Ruby hissed back at her, "Hadn't I mentioned? Almost all the bigwigs and bigheads—" she glared at the stallion, "—are fluent in your tongue. It comes with being officials with big egos and bigger balls."

"Oh, Ruby, you wound me!" Shade moaned, holding a hoof over his chest end rolling his eyes exaggeratively. "Your cruel, cruel words break my heart..."

"Bah, you can mend it with a few pretty girls. Why are you here?" Ruby questioned, still looking annoyed.

"But I wanted to learn this nice zebra's–"

"Why are you here, Shade?" Ruby growled through clenched teeth, and the stallion paused a moment before replying.

"About the two-way embargo placed on all travel methods." He said, much more serious than before. "Did you cause that? Is Filthy Rich mad at you?"

"Sweet Celestia! Was he ever not mad at me?" Ruby barked a mirthless laugh. "Which rich prick in the city isn't at least a little miffed that I nicked their favorite bauble or necklace or whatever? If you just came down here to ask stupid questions..."

"I could have received snappy answers over the telecom. I know. I really wanted to ask if you knew why he was doing this. I thought it'd have something to do with the crime in Paradise, so I thought of you! If you're the reason nothing's been shipped in or out, I need to know."

"Right, 'to make your job easier and my life less painful', I think was the reason you said before." Ruby snorted. "I can tell you this: it's not because of me or anything any of my thieves did. I don't know why he's doing it, but I heard it had something to do with one of his daughters. There, officer, may I go now?" Her tone was bitter and sardonic.

The stallion apparently named Shade sighed, and nodded coolly to her. With a frustrated huff and a flick of her tail that brushed it disparagingly against the stallion's face, Ruby trotted briskly towards the office, calling for Zuri to follow, but before she did, Shade stepped in her path. "So, Zuri, do you know who's riled Filthy up?"

"His own children, probably. Goodbye," Zuri retorted, stepping around the stallion and moving with all speed towards Ruby's office.

"I take it you're familiar with them?" He called after her, but received no response.

Ruby was waiting, resting her head on her desk and massaging one temple. "Bleh, sorry you had to deal with that Shade guy, he gets annoying fast."

"He didn't seem so annoying as he did curious," Zuri replied, "but if he's your minister of defense or whoever, I think it best not to tell him anything about me."

"My thoughts exactly. Shade'd want to help, it's in his nature, but given his position, he could hurt everybody involved. And furthermore..." She toggled a switch atop her desk, and a second door slammed shut in front of the first one that guarded the entrance to her office. "The guy sleeps with every mare he can work his charms on. He says he's a new stallion since being married, but I don't believe it. He's never even told me his wife's name."

"You sound rather like a lover scorned," Zuri commented, looking back towards the sealed off doorway.

"Ha! Scorned? No, I was warned about him before I even met him. He may seem like a nice guy, and he may actually want to offer you help, but I'm telling you now, Zuri: trust him as far as you can throw him."

"That's the policy I keep with most ponies, especially those trying to come onto me." She sighed. "Is every pony stallion a pervert?"

Ruby shook her head. "Not every one. You probably just have the misfortune of meeting all the worst examples of our kind in rapid succession."

"Well, what does that make you, or Rainbow Dash?"

"Rainbow's an exception, and me? Zuri, I steal things for a living. I'm not the best example of a nice pony." Ruby touched a disk-shaped device upon the top of the desk, as it had begun flashing. "Sentry, is Shade gone already?"

"Yes ma'am, he left right after you activated the blast door," answered a voice, emanating from the disk.

"Good, that means we can open up again: this room gets really stuffy with that thing in place." Ruby toggled the switch, and the second door retracted back into the ceiling. "You should probably know, he's the one who strikes the deal of when we patrol the streets, and how. The rest of ESSUG's officials here apparently can't stand us, and Shade's particular occupation means that we, technically, fall under his jurisdiction."

"It sounds a little like you don't get along with him," Zuri muttered.

"Oh, sometimes we do, sometimes we don't, I just really don't have time for him to be intervening in anything right now. I'm going to be breaking about ten laws at nightfall, in the company of a zebra. He's going to have to do mountains of paperwork, so, I'd rather he not try and stop us if we warned him beforehoof."

Zuri and Ruby spent a little more time together, as the thief mare explained how she would come find the trancer at nightfall, and that for the moment Zuri should just find something to do that didn't draw attention. The last part Zuri had already thought of, and was planning to ask Uzul and Druva to continued helping her with learning the ponies' written language when she got back to the inn. It would be better to understand some of it before walking into an establishment wherein she would be relying on reading labels to find who she was looking for. She was wondering how Ruby was going to get them in, but assumed that she would be under the disguise of being Ruby's slave, and that Ruby was probably going to claim she was an investor, a potential employee, or something like that. Regardless, Zuri didn't think on it.

Zuri found she wouldn't be able to think on it, because as soon as a pony Ruby had let her out of one of the shacks and waved goodbye, she was immediately set upon by a very strange mare thrusting a note at her. The paper fell to the ground, and the ragged-looking pony dashed off without a word. Zuri thought she saw a glint of green in the mare's eyes, but when she looked around, the mare had vanished entirely.

The trancer looked down at the note, which she unfolded carefully. She hadn't expected to see it written entirely in zebric runes, even the signature at the bottom.

Zuri, it read, please do not try to follow me. You will not find me until I want to be found, which won't be for a while yet. Don't worry, I'm not going to expose you to Filthy Rich or anyone like him, but I decided I would be best off if I found out just what I was doing in that box in that train, on my own. Rainbow wasn't going to help me, and honestly, none of you really were. You were letting me toddle along like a dimwitted infant animal, but I know I can't rely on you or Druva or anyone for real support. I'm not a pony or a zebra, I'm different. I'm off to discover why I'm here on your planet, and how come that when I picked up a piece of paper to write on, I found I knew your written language by heart. Until we meet again, goodbye.

—Chrys

Zuri let out a breath; that explained where Chrys had gone, and she quite believed her when she said she couldn't be found until she wanted to be. Sure, sometimes her disguise lapsed and her eyes flashed green, but other than that, the changeling could blend into any crowd perfectly, and apparently had no shortage of food. This would be an interesting piece of information to pass on to Druva and Uzul.

"So, what's the letter say?"

Zuri jumped, and swiveled around to find herself face-to-face with Shade, again. She drew the letter beneath her cloak and replied, "that's none of your business."

"It probably isn't, yes," Shade agreed, nodding slowly, "but I can be curious, dell mansa. Or, would you rather I call you Zuri?"

"I'd rather you didn't sneak up on me," Zuri taking a step back. "I was recently attacked in an alley such as this."

"Oh, well I'm sorry, dell mansa. I meant no harm," his eyes flitted downward, probably trying to catch sight of where the zebra had hid Chrys' note. "I only wanted to ask where you were staying, if you had a place to stay,"

"I do have one. Might I ask why you're prying so much?"

"Curious, that's all," Shade replied, "sorry for bothering you. May I walk you back to your lodgings?"

Zuri guessed from how Shade had acted so far he wouldn't take no for answer, so, conceding, she let him walk beside her back towards the inn. About halfway there, she had an idea about why he had done this. A lone zebra mare, especially in a pony-dominant crowd, looked vulnerable. Having this tall, black stallion, supposedly in a very high position, walking right along next to her acted as a ward. While she didn't like having to rely on a male pony for this kind of security, she saw the use in it, and wondered if that had been his aim since hearing her say she'd been attacked.

They arrived shortly, and Shade bade her a good day before vanishing into the constantly moving crowd. Zuri ascended to her room, and found Druva and Macintosh in a corner. The big red stallion was whispering smoothly into the zebra's ear, his words making her blush and giggle. Obviously in a fairly tender moment, Druva looked as if she didn't want to be bothered right then. So, Zuri sought Uzul instead, and found him sitting side by side with Rainbow Dash, sharing their lips again. This, the trancer decided, also wasn't worth interrupting. A little frustrated, Zuri left that room as well, and resorted to sitting in the bathroom of her room, trying to ignore Druva's giggling and Macintosh's low, rumbling voice.

At last, Macintosh took his leave of her, and as soon as the door closed behind him, Zuri poked her head out. "Is it safe now, or is he just going to go grab his 'contraceptives'?"

At this, Druva let out a loud cry of laughter, lying on her bed as she did so. "Oh, come on, Zuri! It's just harmless flirting! You could do to have some handsome colt to flirt with."

Zuri sighed, hopping onto her own bed, which she had grown a little accustomed to. "I have plenty of those back in Otoul, and a lot of them don't mind my color." Zuri sighed, "though I did have a chance to be available to Bodlerae's son..."

"Ooooh, very lucky," Druva sounded envious, "what made you pass up that chance?"

They looked at each other and said, in perfect unison: "father," and then proceeded to laugh.

"Ah, yes. Why is it no father wants Bodlerae as an in-law?" Druva said wistfully.

"Maybe because he's as much of an edrecht as they think he is," Zuri said, as her own laughter died down. "I fancied him when I was little, then when I grew up, his son took his place as the object of every mare's affections, right after Bodlerae admitted to having two lovers."

"Well, let's hope 'like father, like son,' doesn't apply there." Druva snickered, "otherwise some poor girl is going to marry him and find out he's got a harem in the attic."

"Well, speaking of unhappy discoveries, I was given this." Zuri decided it was as good a time as any to dampen the mood, and took out Chrys' note. She gave it to Druva, who read it twice over, both times the smile diminishing on her face.

"So she doesn't want us to help, then," Druva sighed, putting the note down. "I really wished we could have. I wanted to help her!"

"She obviously didn't think so," Zuri said, a hard look on her face. "This is mostly my fault. I'm the one who told her she couldn't come with us, first."

"Yes, but then I did the same thing, and she didn't need to ask Rainbow to hear her say no." Druva countered, "I guess we'll just have to wait and see if she turns up before we get out of here. How are we going to get out of here, anyway?"

Zuri explained how she and Ruby were going to enter the Ropes of Equestria, looking for information, but left out anything about Shade. It didn't seem important, then. "It seems like that'll work, if nopony realizes you're just staring at the list of names. Speaking of which, how are you going to understand it?"

"I wanted to have you help me learn their written language. I just need basic symbols, and how they fit together to form names."

"That will take a while, but you did say Ruby was coming to fetch you at nightfall, so we should be able to make some progress."

———

It wasn't easy, but by the time they had finished, Zuri could have written her full name down in the pony's language if she wanted to, and knew how to read several common words that made up most names. Druva made sure she knew how to read Filthy Rich's name, and the organization of most pony timetables. "If that can't help you, I'm sure Ruby can explain some of it to you," Druva finished, just as there was a knock on the door, and upon opening it, in walked Ruby, her hood pulled low over her head.

"Ready to go? Time flies when you're breaking laws, so we can't have any delays."

"As much as I will ever be, let's go."

They walked back down to the streets, then to an alleyway, where Ruby opened up an entrance to the tunnels, this time within a walk-in shed that looked like it hadn't been used for a decade. The thief and the trancer made their way to the tower in the noble district, and this time stayed on street level. The alleyways between these buildings were much thinner, but under a darkening sky, it provided perfect cover as the pair moved between buildings, and Ruby ascended a few fire escapes and gutter pipes to survey the area to make sure they weren't going to run into any security details.

Finally, they arrived at the Ropes of Equestria. The backdoors were open, with light and sound pouring into the dark paved roads of the alleyway, which had widened significantly. With their hoods over their heads, Ruby lead Zuri in a walk that said they belonged here, and anyone to question their presence was a fool.

The first thing that greeting Zuri and Ruby was the heat and noise coming from the backstage. Loud music was pulsating from speakers in every direction, and up a corridor of steps was a huge curtain, in front of which, Zuri guessed, was the main attraction. There was cheering and whooping behind that huge curtain as well, from a crowd made up entirely of male patrons. A few ponies backstage gave them odd looks. Several mares making up their faces on a mirror turned to fix their accented eyes upon the two mares, others watched them as they walked for more than a few seconds, before moving on. There was a heavy mix of perfume in the air, and it made Zuri’s nostrils itch and head ache.

Only one pony stopped their progress. A manager, apparently under the impression that Ruby was surveying their selection of mares to steal for her own business. The thief mare reacted perfectly, instead assuming the personality of a sexually adventurous and well-off mare wanting to “explore the possibilities” by signing up as a dancer and a prostitute. She charmed the manager, who, looking a little young, was obviously excited at the prospect of grabbing hold of such a potentially lucrative mare, not to mention one whom he could have under his control.

He was about to let the pass, when he also noticed Zuri. The look in his eyes was hungry. “Is she your slave?” he asked, looking her up and down.

Ruby flashed Zuri a single, apologetic expression before looking very proud. “That she is! I got her for a bargain, and she serves me very well.”

“Have you considered selling her to a club? She has a fine figure.” The stallion commented, and Zuri’s blood heated up.

“Maybe I will, maybe I won’t~!” Ruby teased. “I think you have enough fine girls here, but there are those who have more,” she fluttered her eyelashes at him, “exotic tastes.”

“A mare who knows stallions like the underside of her hoof.” The stallion said, not entirely in a respectful tone. “She is a mighty pretty one, you’d be able to drive a hard bargain. I’ve got to get along, but, see if you like the accomodations, miss…?”

“Shine,” she answered with no hesitation, in a syrupy sweet voice. “Call me Silver Shine.”

He nodded, and walked away with a little difficulty, given that his hindlegs were stiffer than before. Ruby gave a sly chuckle, and whispered to Zuri. “Stallions: you can have them eating out of a mud pit for you if you bat your eyelashes enough.”

“If things go wrong, can I kick him on the way out?” Zuri asked, to which Ruby just laughed.

They spotted a sign hanging outside the office probably belonging to the manager that had just run off. Zuri began reading the names, one after another, of the private shows scheduled for the night. A lot of them were strange pieces of nonsense, that Zuri was surprised were even pony names, but sure enough, she found Filth Rich just as Ruby had. He was scheduled to be seen later that night by one Glamour Rose, in private showroom two.

"That's where we're headed then. They probably have a back entrance around here to each of the rooms, like over there! That was easy." Ruby lead Zuri over to a door marked "PRIVATE BACKDOORS". Upon turning the door handle, they found it unlocked. Private room two was easy to find, and they could hear someone humming to the tune of the song blaring from the speakers outside. Without any sign of stealth, Ruby shoved the door open. A tall, tan pegasus mare turned around, her wine-red hair hiding half of her face as she spun around on the vertical pole she has hanging from. Her eyes, which matched the color of her hair, widened in alarm.

"Hey, you're not supposed to be in here! You're not even stallions!"

"No kidding," Ruby said, and leapt for her. Zuri watched as the two mares suddenly began wrestling one another, attempting to pin the other down. This Glamour Rose mare was obviously very athletic, as Ruby was having a hard time holding her down.

"Ugh, let me go!" She shouted, and Zuri found it high time to join in. With one swift blow to the face, Glamour Rose was silenced for the moment, gritting her teeth in pain.

"We just want to ask one question, and then we'll let you go." Ruby said, calmly.

"I'm not telling you shit! Let go of me! Security, security!" She began calling out for help again and again, and Zuri struck her in the face again. “Augh! I think you broke my nose!”

“Much worse when you’re getting raped, too,” Zuri growled at her. “Though, given where you’re working, I’m sure you’d like that kind of treatment.”

“Don’t talk to me about treatment, stripey! I’m a professional dancer, not a hooker! Looking for those? They’re upstairs!”

“Well, for the sake of your pretty face, I hope you’re as good at answering questions as you are dancing, huh?” Ruby said. “We want to know about Filthy Rich…”

“What about him? I’m not his wife, dumbass.”

“Does he talk to you?”

“And what if he does?” Glamour sneered at her. “Did you want to shake your flanks at him too?”

“Answer the question, dancer,” Zuri ordered, pressing her hoof down on Glamour’s head

“Ugh, yes, he talks a lot with me. We don’t… we don’t screw, though, I’m too good for that.” She sounded as if she were reassuring herself, rather than the two mares interrogating her.

“Yeah, does he tell you what he’s up to? Where he’s going?”

“It’s stuff about his daughters, stuff about his wife, I don’t remember it half the time! He does like to brag to me about his parties, keeps saying if I cut him a discount he’ll take me to one of ‘em.”

“Does he say which one?” Ruby asked, making sure Glamour’s wings couldn’t push her off.

“He shows me he’s got tickets to the gala and that he wants to ‘share,’ but I know what he really wants. He just wants to get between my haunches. Takin’ a girl to the gala’s the way to do it, though…”

“Then we got what we need.” Ruby replied, and kicked the dancer in the side. She gave a whimper, and did not fight back when Ruby climbed off of her. “Come on, Zuri, we’ve got to get out of here, before security catches us.” The door banged open again, and two burly stallions rushed in. “Oh, fine, great, of course,” Ruby sighed.

“Security! Help! They’re trying to go after a client” Glamour cried out, and Ruby hit her again before avoiding a swinging hoof from one of the stallions. The other ran towards Zuri, yelling like a buffalo. Zuri dodged, and used his momentum against him. The stallion was thrown into the wall, which cracked as his head struck it. He crumpled to the floor, and Ruby meanwhile was having a time apparently crawling around the stallion’s body like a spider. Eventually she ended up straddling his head, her hindlegs around his neck and squeezing tightly. She lurched to the left, and threw him along with her onto the floor, on top of a screaming Glamour after a single spin. The stallion did not get back up, as Ruby unraveled herself from him and straightened up.

Zuri and Ruby ran out onto the backstage, with the mares screaming in alarm as more security ponies rushed at them. They made it out the door, and Ruby began ascending the side of a nearby building with expert speed. Zuri, meanwhile, relied on the streets, using her agility and stamina to outrun the stallions, towards the tower, where most of them had fallen behind or given up the chase. By the time she had ducked into the still-open tunnel entrance, Ruby spontaneously rose out of the shadows and shut the door behind her.

“They’ll probably be putting footage of us all over the city. They had cameras on every corner, and one in that private room. You gotta remember this, it's okay to break the rules a little, so long as it doesn't get out of hoof.” Ruby panted, apparently exhausted by her quick ascension of the buildings. “And it sort of did. We’ll have to be careful.”

“On the bright side,” offered the trancer, “we know he’s going to the gala. That means there’s a point to all this. We have a chance at finishing this.”

“You mean you have a chance,” Ruby corrected her. “Remember? I’m just helping you out a bit more personally than usual. My payment comes in what I’ll be able to pick off the tightasses at the gala.”

Zuri furrowed her brow. “Hang on a second, we need tickets for that, don’t we? Also, didn’t you just say we would have to be careful, because they would have pictures of us all over the city?” Ruby looked at her for a second, and then put a hoof on her shoulder.

“Zuri, I think somepony should introduce you to the wondrous effects of alcohol on a stressed mind.”

12. The Spirits

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"I'm not drinking it, Ruby," Zuri repeated, shaking her head and pushing away the curved glass. "I have never even had any zebric strong drink. I'm not about to try the stuff made by ponies."

"Not even a sip?" Ruby offered, lowering her own glass from her lips. "Come on, Zuri. You've got to try it sooner or later."

"Later, then," Zuri decided, breathing lightly so she didn't have to inhale the fumes of the strong drink.

Ruby sighed, taking Zuri's glass away on the bar counter. "Well, if you won't get drunk with me, I guess you'd better go back to your room, yeah?" Zuri nodded, and stood up off the barstool

The inn had a small bar that was mostly empty, and Ruby had come back with Zuri to get a drink. Zuri had stayed behind to try and learn how the shadowmaster expected them to be allowed into the Gala in the first place. The most sense Ruby had made was when she had memorably said, "in good time and good drink, most good things are revealed, and the rest comes after the hangover. In other words, let me get shitfaced, then let's worry about the next step while I'm holding an icepack to my head."

Since Ruby was the one they were relying upon for the solutions, Zuri supposed she may as well be patient, as she ascended the stairs. She was met halfway by Moondancer, who looked very excited. "What happened?" Zuri asked.

"Rainbow Dash and I were able to get a secure communicator uplink. She's talking with her friend, the princess. She needs to know how the thing with the club went."

The two of them reached the top of the stairs, and entered the room Rainbow was staying in. "...So then just as I'm about to try to explain it to this ESSUG guy, Uzul, Druva and Rock Polish barge in, Crusader-style!" Rainbow was obviously retelling her rescue from the Rock Pile, though Zuri noticed she left out any hint of Chrys.

"Wow, Rainbow, sounds like you've found lots of new friends!" Said a hologram of a purple unicorn mare, looking very impressed. Upon further examination, however, Zuri realized this unicorn also had wings.

"I did listen to some of your lectures after all, Twilight." Rainbow smirked at her. Twilight Sparkle rolled her eyes, though her voice had a laugh in it.

"They aren't lectures, they're morals. I send the lectures to Princess Celestia, remember?"

"I thought you were allowed to leave off the word 'princess', now, seeing as you're one of them!"

"Doesn't mean I have to, does it? Listen, the ship's going to be docking in about seven hours. I ought to get some sleep soon. I think I remember them saying they built me a castle, and I wouldn't want to look like I hadn't slept when I was complementing them on it."

Rainbow laughed, before noticing Zuri had come in, and she beckoned the trancer over. "Before you go, Twilight, this is one of the zebras I was talking about. Her name's Zuri, and she's the reason we're out of that mess at the Rock Pile."

The young alicorn looked at Zuri curiously, without any malice or fear, however. "So, Rainbow tells me you were breaking into a gentlecolt's club, today."

"I was," Zuri answered. If Rainbow thought it alright to tell this mare, then why shouldn't she? "Filthy Rich is indeed going to be at the Gala."

"Aw yeah!" Rainbow said, grinning broadly. "You know what that means, Twilight!"

Twilight let out a slightly exasperated laugh, "yes, I do know. I wonder if Celestia will actually understand this in my report. I'll issue the tickets and permissions in the morning. Let's see how good we can make you out to be, Zuri!"

"Wait, what?" Zuri sputtered a little. What in the stars and spirits did that mean?

"Rainbow Dash can explain, I'm off to bed now. Talk to you tomorrow!" With that, Twilight's holographic image vanished, and Zuri turned to Rainbow Dash.

"What have you been up to?" Zuri got the question out of her mouth first.

"You're gonna love this." Rainbow Dash said proudly. "I told Twilight what we were trying to do. All of it, from getting you home to getting us off Palosol, and Twilight is like a super-genius or something, and some pony who didn't know better put her in a place where she had a lot of power. She's going to be re-writing the laws to allow a special zebric emissary to come to the gala with two friends, so as to 'better appreciate our way of living and hopefully build a bridge between the two species.' We're masking it all as a political move, see? Twilight was already working over the stuff for the Gala, so that it would be more enjoyable for a wider group of ponies, though she has to make sure the nobles are happy, otherwise somepony might dig too deep and figure us out."

Zuri frowned; the plan seemed fairly water tight, but... "Can she really do that? Ruby warned me that I should lay low after going into that club."

"Twilight'll take care of it. A good friend of hers has some serious hold on the media, and they're gonna make sure you appear in a bad light after the gala, hopefully by the time you're out of here. As for me, they can't actually put me in prison, it would render one of Equestria's most important means of defense useless if I was behind bars, and Twilight said she could get my crew pardoned long enough that we could hold audience with a court back on Equestria and sort this all out nice and quick."

Rainbow finally finished her explanation, and Zuri didn't really understand how it could go that smoothly. Then again, she already expected to have to improvise, given her luck so far. "So, we can go to the gala, supposedly," Zuri said, slowly, "when is this happening again? I thought the gala was only a few days from now."

"I already said: Twilight'll take care of it! If she asked to, they would hold the gala on a different planet, and without complaining everypony would follow her there, build her another castle to hold the gala in, get all dressed up and stuff, and be seconds from opening the doors and Twilight could ask them to reschedule and relocate again, and they'd probably all do it with smiles on their faces."

"Your kind would follow your leaders over cliffs, I gather." Zuri mused with a grin.

Rainbow nodded, her lips curving upward as well. "Probably. Though, the one thing Twilight can't easily do is override a noble's or high-elected official's order. That's not rescheduling a celebration, it's questioning the mind of someone in a position of power, and that requires more than some frivolous reason you pull out of your ass. You need proof, so Twilight can't open the city's gates for anyone but herself without going through noble court, which doesn't much like zebras or mercenaries they don't own. So..."

"We still need to get Filthy Rich to let us go, I see."

"Believe me, it was the first thing I asked, and she said she couldn't do it quickly enough before ESSUG got around to dealing with us. They are looking for us, it turns out, but only in Harmony Town and the frontier towns. Twilight's going to keep them off our trail a while longer, and she's going to have the gala be held next week." Rainbow heaved a sigh, and then yawned widely, her wings stretching out. "Bleh, we should both get some sleep. We can nail it all down in the morning, Zuri, a job well done deserves a good rest."

Though Zuri hadn't really been under any extreme pressure with the brief journey to the Ropes of Equestria, the gallop afterward had left her limbs stiff and sore, muscles throbbing dully with the pain of exertion. Druva was already asleep, as were Snippet and Moondancer. Zuri's eyes stopped on the empty bed Chrys had slept in only once, and found that she missed the changeling. Whenever she had been around before, there was always a very slight redirection of the mood, usually enhancing it. Zuri associated this with the strange magic surrounding Chrys, and her affinity for emotion. Having finally been free must have been what she was always so happy about, but ever since being denied a home by Druva and Zuri, her presence and effect on the atmosphere seemed to have ceased to exist.

Returning to the thoughts of sleep, Zuri undid the crest clip on her neck, and placed her cloak down next to her bed, and climbed betwixt the sheets. Her eyes close, and she sighed, letting herself relax as if drifting on a cloud.

"A cloud would be softer than that thing, really."

Zuri's eyes snapped open again, and she sat up, ready to meet the intruder headon. To her great alarm, a lanky zebra mare was resting her head on her hooves, smiling slightly at her. Then, she realized, it couldn't be a zebra. No zebra glowed like that, with such a strange light that billowed off of them like mist.

"Shocked to see me, little Oun-Drii? Hasn't that Dunnur taught you anything useful? I know you recognize my face." The zebra said, looking very amused. "Can you say who I am, little trancer girl?"

Zuri nodded slowly, not taking her eyes off of her as she whispered, "you are Sibulla, the spirit envoy."

"With subtitle and everything, very good!" Sibulla clapped her hooves together. Zuri noticed no one else in the room had woken, and the spirit laughed. "Worry not about the aliens. They will not wake for me, though they would still see me."

"Why have you come?" Zuri asked, a little warily. In the zebric religion, many spirits existed, and their loyalties relied upon mortal frailties, for it was believed that their ancestors had once been mortal. Sibulla was the guardian spirit of messengers and travelers, but was also the lover of Dancir, the spirit of disunion, and so had gained a slightly mischievous personality.

"Why else, little girl? I appear only to deliver messages from and escort others to the plain of the stars. Were you never paying attention during sermons, or were you not beaten enough?"

"I'm sure you know the answer to that already," Zuri replied, a little defensively. Sibulla narrowed her bright yellow eyes, and then gave a short laugh.

"I am a habitual teaser. Dancir has rubbed something off on me, I guess." She rolled onto her back, only that didn't seem to work right, as she now floated along on her back, her head leaning back to gaze at Zuri. "I am here to take you on a little journey, little Oun-Drii girl. A short one, and you will remember it as a dream, but it was real. Will you trust me?" She held out a hoof, expectantly. Sibulla had once been punished for taking zebra to and from the plain of the stars whenever she liked, whether or not her victims wanted to. Her punishment was that she had to humble herself and ask permission to take them to the plain. After the zebra said yes, however, they were completely at her mercy.

Zuri, uneasy but curious, placed her hoof atop Sibulla's, and nodded. "You've got to speak it, little girl."

"I will go with you," Zuri stated, now without worry of waking her bunkmates. The messenger spirit gave a smile, and Zuri suddenly felt as if she were being pulled upwards. She tried to look around, but everything was moving too quickly. She wasn't moving upwards at all, she was stepping between plains of existence, something only a spirit and their passenger could accomplish. The incomprehensible speed made her eyes water and burn, and so she shut them, only reopening when the rushing of wind had settled, and she felt gravity becoming much weaker.

She was in what seemed to be an infinite expanse of stars, standing atop a road of what appeared to be black glass, but Zuri knew better. It was pure, undiluted nuvra, the blackstone, the supposed source of trancing. On Palosol it was very rare to find a blackstone vein anywhere but in the deepest parts of a city. Here, it was everything. The surface of the blackstone did not reflect the stars above, but in fact was thin and pure enough that Zuri could see right through it, and to more stars below. The road glowed slightly wherever she lay a hoof, and the glow diminished when she took her hoof away.

"Come this way," Sibulla ordered, and, not wanting to get lost in this world, which her religion had warned her so much about doing, Zuri followed. There didn't seem to be any other spirit or zebra present, the silence was deafening, untouched save for when Sibulla spoke. The spirit lead the trancer towards a cave, also of blackstone, and from which a rumbling, breathing sound seemed to be emanating. Zuri knew exactly what it was: a gateway to events past. Sibulla stopped short of the cave mouth, and looked down at Zuri. "This is where I leave you: nobody lets me in there."

"Then why am I being allowed?" Zuri queried.

"Maybe you aren't," Sibulla smirked. "Maybe I led you here to be eradicated by the excessive knowledge of all that has been, for the sheer fun of it. Dancir might try that, but his dull sister would just talk him out of it." She sighed, obviously exasperated by that topic, and blowing a lock of her glimmering, perfectly black-and-white hair out of her face. "Goodbye, little trancer girl, maybe you'll make it out again." With that, Sibulla walked away, disappearing into the huge expanse of stars not long after.

Zuri turned, and looked up at the mouth of the cave. As she neared it, the rumbling grew louder, and cold, odorless air blew against her face. Taking a deep breath, the trancer stepped forward, and began to walk into the blackness of the cave. She hadn't gone more than twenty steps, when glowing symbols began to appear all over the walls, illuminating the cave, and helping the zebra progress further. The symbols began to move, to revolve around Zuri as she walked, and soon Zuri perceived that they had become a single ring of shapes all around the cave, marking where she stood. For a moment, Zuri felt fear: maybe Sibulla hadn't been teasing that time, and this was a sort of mark of death, before something fell down upon her, but no such thing happened. The rumble grew louder, without Zuri moving her legs, and she quickly discovered she was being carried deeper into the cave by the ring surrounding her, as if she were standing upon a mobile disk. A light appeared at the end of the cave, and with it appeared the source of the noise.

Another spirit stood at the light's edge, apparently expecting her. The ring halted, and Zuri experimentally stepped off of it, but it would not happen. The ring bulged and elongated to always surround where her hooves touched. "Do not try to exit the protection, young Zuri," The spirit advised. "Walk normally, do not try to step over the ring. It is what protects you from the cave."

Zuri did as she was told, and moved closer to the spirit. "Good, you know who I am? Name me."

"Tambana, guardian of the past." Zuri stated, though she found her voice was meek and hushed, while the male spirit's was large, powerful, almost overwhelming. He stood with his back to the light, so his face was cast in shadow, but his eyes shown like the ring around Zuri.

Tambana nodded and beckoned her closer. "Good, you're probably wondering why you're here, mortal curiosity being what it is."

"I am," Zuri answered, and did not like how her voice still sounded so small.

"Firstly, an explanation of the ring. All good things come to those who wait, after all. It guards you, from the winds of past knowledge, which is that noise." The rumbling seemed to grow louder for moment. "Should you be exposed to it with no protection, your mind would break. All who feel the full, concentrated wind on their bodies gain all the knowledge of the past it carries, but this is too much for any zebra still restrained by their physical form. We spirits have no need for a true, lasting shape, therefor we are not hindered by the mortal brain. Now, as to why you've been brought here..." Tambana looked behind himself.

"Walk with me into the light. The cave is the knowledge, the light is the true event." Obediently, Zuri moved towards the light. It was not blinding, and she soon found it was like no light she had experienced before. There was no tempurature, no adjustment of the eyes, as she was enveloped in white light, and then, was suddenly on a the road she had appeared on. Tambana was beside her, standing stoically, his striped body looking strange, shimmery, almost.

"I was here before," Zuri muttered.

"I know you were: I know everything that has happened, of course." Tambana replied, and then held out a hoof to direct her attention. "Hush, here they come. This is the event as it happened, but you can change it without meaning to. Keep silent, and stand where you are, else they will see you, and the future may change."

Zuri watched where Tambana had pointed. Further down the road, two forms appeared, walking closer and closer. Strange images appeared on either side of the road, and Zuri was shocked to see Rainbow Dash flying around in a world very much unlike Palosol, along with the purple mare she had seen her speaking with before. As the two forms drew closer, the images appeared, and shifted, and a soft voice could be heard. The voice belonged to the larger animal moving towards them, singing gently.

"To see how you might grow, to see what you might do..."

The two forms came close enough, that Zuri could depict their colors. One was the purple mare from the hologram, with no wings, and looking very astonished up at the much larger mare she was walking with. The other mare was much taller than Sibulla had been, with a coat white as snow, and a long, multicolored mane that flowed as if blown by a slow breeze. She was the one singing, often directing the little unicorn's attention to one of the scenes shown on the sides of the road. Zuri hadn't ever thought a pony would be allowed on the plain of the stars, but it had apparently already happened.

They passed by slowly, the mare still singing her song, with Zuri completely baffled. Tambana lowered his head to speak in Zuri's ear. "You recognize that mare, the little one. She is a friend of Rainbow Dash, and here is where she gained her wings. She completed a spell of unity, one that allowed her to, as the larger one called it, 'fulfill her destiny.' In a way, that is the reason you are here, little Zuri. Someone wanted you to see this."

Twilight had stopped, staring up at the white alicorn as she rose into the air, finishing her song, before they both vanished into light, as did the rest of the environment. Zuri found herself at the mouth of the cave again, with Tambana lurking behind her, and yet another spirit standing before her. This one wore a robe, and was a regular zebra's height. Bright, cyan eyes stared into Zuri's own, with curious interest alight in them.

"Sibulla has brought her, Viva, as you asked." Tambana said, nodding and backing into the shadows of the cave, and vanishing without another word. Zuri now knew who this was. She was looking at her ancestor, Viva Sara, who looked amused and, a little perplexed.

"So, you are my granddaughter twelve generations later?" She said aloud, in a voice almost exactly like Zuri's. "I expected you to have not imbibed the Gift so strongly. Essebana led me astray."

Zuri couldn't talk, at a loss for words. If this was but a dream, it was alarmingly creative. "Do they cut tongues out for being rude, still? Is my twelfth-forth granddaughter dumb?"

"N-no, my elder." Zuri squeaked, sounding even more meek and small than before.

"Elder? Do I look your elder to you? My dear, I may have grown old among the living, but spirits have no age. I like to think I look more young than usual, and... Look at you!" She gave a sigh, and came trotting straight towards Zuri. She held Zuri's face in her hooves, like a mother cherishing her child's bright visage. "Young and beautiful, ripe with innocence and power! I can see the gift in you: it burns like the sun does on unguarded flesh."

Zuri didn't move, but managed to speak again. "Why... Why did you bring me here?"

Viva Sara gave a click of the tongue, shaking her head. "And there is the Sara curiosity. That once led me to try and mate with a sandspider, to disprove a rumor, so I caution you against getting too curious." She gave Zuri a gentle pull. "Come, walk with me."

Zuri walked obediently alongside her ancestor, still having a hard time forming words. Viva Sara, however, used the silence to explain herself. "I've been trying to reach your for some time, my dear. I at first tried to reach you through a memory turned dream, but I could not manage before you awoke. Your mind is strong, and doesn't like to be invaded, as I was trying to do. Eventually, I decided to get Sibulla to do it for me. She was more than excited to go fetch you, much more than she must have let on. She hasn't had an excuse to leave the plain for more than a century. Dancir wanted her close for a while, I suppose. I wanted to meet and speak with my youngest descendant for several reasons, but the most important is that those two mares in the past have an important role to play. You're going to meet the purple one soon, but the other you shan't meet before the end of the season, or so Essebana told me." Essebana was the guardian of the future, and fraternal twin to Tambana, much like how Dancir and Hadona were disharmony and harmony, Essebana and Tambana were future and past.

"The little purple one is going to help you—and not in the way Rainbow Dash described to you. She will do more than dance at a gala or rewrite laws, she will help you overcome a nearing conflict, and help you along your path to become a truly memorable trancer. That is what you want, isn't it? To become known for your own achievements and not mine?"

"Yes, it is." Zuri admitted, feeling a little embarrassed to do so. It wasn't exactly polite to prefer to make your own reputation instead of use one your elder had practically prepared for you, centuries in advance. "Why show me what Tambana showed me?" Zuri asked, still confused on that point.

"'Tis a lesson, young Zuri. 'Tis to show you that the zebra and the ponies are more similar than you may think. We share the same afterlife, after all." Viva Sara gestured around her to the unending expanse of the plain of stars. "I have learned much since dying, to nearly match what I learned in life. The greatest thing I learned, however, was that the zebra and the ponies are much closer together than either species realizes. Discolored zebra, my dear, are evidence of that."

"You mean me?" Zuri asked, looking at herself, and feeling suddenly ashamed of appearing as she did to Viva Sara, not looking like a pure zebra.

"Child, why are you downcast?" Her ancestor asked, obviously able to see right through her.

Zuri gave a quiet sigh. In the otherwise perfectly silent environment, it sounded loud. "You must be a little ashamed, that your descendant is discolored."

"Your color? My dear Zuri, your color makes you more beautiful!" Viva Sara stopped in front of her, and suddenly pulling Zuri into an embrace. "Your blue stripes are a sign of your power, of your importance! The blackstone has made you more unique than any other, like my twelfth-forth grandson, your brother said to you: in a crowd, the prettiest Oun-Drii girl stands out. I couldn't be more proud of you, Zuri. I have seen what you'll accomplish, child, and it far outclasses that of your siblings."

"So Essebana has let you see my entire future?" Zuri asked shakily, stirred deeply by Viva's words.

"All of it. I cannot say too much, else he would grow angry with me, but I can tell you that your future is bright and long, and one other thing: a future love is very near."

Zuri's eyes went wide. "B-but why tell me that?"

"Why do you think? Your two companion zebras both have their own relationships unfolding nicely, with you left all alone. You seemed pretty miserable like that, so, I thought you might like some hope!"

"Is it a zebra? Please tell me I end up with a zebra." Zuri pleaded, now very curious. Her ancestor, infuriatingly, shook her head, and laughed.

"I shan't say another word of it! Better to leave you in suspense than let your expectations go too high!"

"But that's so unfair, to lead me on like that!" Zuri protested.

"I'll tell you this: he is kind and good to you, he'll never leave your side for another, and he knows when to let a trained Oun-Drii lady hold her own reigns, but that won't stop him trying to be chivalrous."

Zuri strained to think: had she gotten to know any stallions in Otoul like that? "Don't worry yourself on it!" Viva Sara chastised. "I wanted to give you hope, not give you an excuse to try and guess who it is prematurely! I can see now telling you was wrong. Do not overly think on it, you hear me?"

Zuri obediently nodded, with a disappointed sigh that surprised her. Was that curiosity that made her desperate to learn more, or a lonely heart? Viva Sara offered no explanation, but took a deep breath, looked around, and then smiled at Zuri. "You know, judging from the stars' position, you ought to be getting in bed, no?"

"So soon?" Sibulla's voice came from behind Zuri, making her jump as the spirit stepped into a place next to the two zebras with an amused smirk on her face. "So I see the runes let you pass into the cave unscathed, unlike me." Sibulla said, looking down at Zuri with something like jealousy. "But again, you leave so soon? But you've yet to meet my dear Dancir, or Braxis!" Being the guardian spirit of the dead, and known for being extremely unsettling, Zuri thought not meeting Braxis was a good thing.

"Don't try to scare my twelfth-forth granddaughter, Sibulla," Viva Sara warned. "I'll tell Dancir about you and that Gau-Aer you neglected to mention to him."

Sibulla's hint of a smile vanished, and she turned around, giving a grunt. "Take my hoof, interloper, I'll take you home."

"Just one thing to remember, my dear," Viva Sara continued, "do not forget what I told you about your color. It is as natural to you as it is to breathe. The blackstone bestows its greatest gifts upon very few!" Zuri nodded, promising she would not forget what she had been told, with the agonizingly obscure hints as to what the future held foremost in her mind. She took Sibulla's hoof, and immediately there was a sensation of plummeting.

Zuri hit her bed with a bounce, almost completely silently save for the creak of bedsprings. It was still dark outside the window, and everyone in the inn room was sleeping peacefully. Now out of the plain of stars again, Zuri felt more tired than she had been before, but her mind was racing. She had been allowed to go to the plain of the stars, where zebra had not been recorded visiting for millennia! She doubted anyone would believe her if she told them she had been visited by Sibulla, met her famous ancestor and saw that ponies traversed the plain, she may be branded a heretic for that last part alone.

What stayed in her mind greatest, however, was what her ancestor had told her. Viva Sara was proud of Zuri's color, at some point, Twilight Sparkle would have an incredibly important role to play in her life, greater than she would in helping them escape Paradise City, and finally, she was soon to meet a love! An adolescent part of Zuri's mind gave an excited giggle at this news. She had only been courted for gatherings a few times, but an actual lover was something that lasted more than a single night, wasn't it? The assembly of important and pleasing news kept her giddy even as she laid her head back down to sleep, and she didn't noticed the glowing form of Sibulla, not disappearing to the plain of stars, but instead exiting the room through the window.

———

"Up and at 'em!" Moondancer called loudly, and Zuri woke up almost instantly. "We've got a deadline, you two! Rainbow Dash says we've got to meet the princess on her way down from the docks, where the crowd won't be as big since everyone else is going up there for the big welcoming ceremony!"

Druva stretched as she climbed out of bed, yawning as well. "Bleh, a bit earlier than usual. Not unwelcome though, I wasn't having a very good dream. How did you sleep, Zuri?"

"I slept just fine, and dreamt of good things." Zuri said with a smile.

Druva furrowed her brow, though she smiled as well. "Did you have a midnight catharsis, Zuri? You seem very bright this morning."

"'Tis but a day where I feel happy, Druva." Zuri said as explanation, getting out of bed and attempting to straighten her hair without trancing. Druva shrugged, and also began bettering her appearance. If they were going to be meeting any form of royalty, it would do them good to look their best minus any formal attire.

Before they left, Druva got out her cauldron, and prepared a brew which she shared with all the mares of the mercenaries who would take it, Snippet being one of the exceptions. If rubbed into the mane and tail with water, it smoothened the hairs and improved the sheen, and if rubbed into the coat, made it glisten and flatten evenly. When they had finished applying the potion, Zuri and Druva looked radiant, and Moondancer demanded they share some of the concoction with her. Rainbow, also using some of the potion, brought Big Macintosh, Zuri, Uzul, and Druva with her to meet Twilight separately, while the rest of the mercenaries left to attend the arrival ceremony.

The streets were not as crowded this time around, though the groups around the elevators to the ship docks were dense with ponies squeezing to get in. Rainbow wisely kept her band a little apart from the crowds planning on watching the ceremony from afar. The crowd slowly filed into the crowded docks, remodeled so that a group of ponies could walk across a raised road from one of the docking stations to the main transport elevator, so that they were not smothered by the crowds. Zuri understood that it was to be a festive procession, where the volume would reach astronomical levels even before the princess arrived.

Their group waited from a distance of a few meters from the nearest pony, though not far enough away that they wouldn't be able to watch the starship arrive. They had not brought any weapons, not wanting to cause a disturbance, as the part of town they were now in was much less used to firearms on such blatant display as opposed to where their inn was.

In the bright blue sky of the early Palosol morning, a dot suddenly appeared. The dot became a blot, and then a blurry shape. The starship was coming in at a high speed, gradually slowing down the closer it came to the docking station. Long mechanical arms extended from the holding frame of the station, like a beast widening its jaws to accept a mouthful of food. The shape grew bigger and bigger, until it cast an immense shadow upon the ground. Around six rods in length, the lean, smooth-surfaced spacecraft slowed almost to a halt before the frame, before turning to one side, and lining up the little hooks and rungs on its side with the docking station arms. Magnetized locks swung into place, and the great rumble from the ship's spacefaring engine died down. A tall door on the side of the ship began to slide open, and out walked, to deafening applause, five ponies.

From someplace unseen, a section of horns blew a fanfare, as Princess Twilight Sparkle, head held high and wings unfurled, moved slowly and calmly across the bridge over the sea of cheering ponies. She smiled as she walked, her chestpiece and hoofslippers of bright, golden metal shimmering in the light. She wore a similarly golden crown, with a jewel embedded in the front shaped like the mark on her flanks. Zuri, having seen her before, moved her eyes onto her four very interesting companions. The first was a butter-yellow pegasus, with long, flowing pink hair and green eyes. She wore an interesting suit, with initials on the side too far away for Zuri to make out. She looked rather nervous, but kept her eyes straight ahead, apparently determined to keep moving across the platform. The next was an orange mare, also with green eyes, but blonde hair, braided so that it rested along her back. She also wore a uniform like Fluttershy, but of a dark shade of grey. The next pony did not come walking, but skipping. Here was a mare of total pink, save for her blue irises and sun-yellow suit, with a smile so wide Zuri thought her lips would split at any moment. Her hair was like the clouds, and bounced with every step.

Finally, with cheers as loud as they were for Twilight, came a unicorn mare with a white coat and curling, violet mane, her sapphire eyes lidded, an expression of trained regality upon her face. What made this mare especially interesting, however, was her legs. Zuri had expected them to be as white as her coat, but then thought her legs and hooves were covered by the clothing she had around her middle. As the unicorn passed closer, Zuri discovered this was wrong.

The unicorn's legs were of a dark metal, looking extremely detailed, and almost like someone had engraved ornate images and symbols of great complexity into them. The metal started at the shoulders of the forelegs and the haunches of the hindlegs, and the hooves glistened, of perfect, reflective black. This mare was a cyborg, one of the few Zuri had seen with such smooth, expensive looking mechanical features. The legs moved exactly like real ones, but their perfect sheen made them as unnatural as their dark color on the snow-white mare. Maybe the mare saw Zuri staring, or she thought she had enough eyes on her now, but, she began to do more of a showy strut, tossing her hair with a casual flick of her head, and reveling in the limelight for a minute. This was, obviously, a mare who liked to be watched.

Zuri felt a hoof tap her shoulder, and turned around to find Ruby Nights had come along to see them arrive. She gave Zuri a strained smile, but the trancer could see her blodshot eyes and the exhaustion all over her face. "Have you had a bad night?" Zuri asked, trying to speak over the diminishing din of the huge audience before them.

"What, me? No... It's nothing to worry about." Ruby reassured her. "So, are they through the crowd yet? Can we go meet 'em?"

"Of course!" Said Rainbow Dash. "We're gonna wait at the base of the elevator for them while they finish their march. Twilight's gonna speak to the crowd assembled to tell them about the new schedule and stuff."

And so they moved to the base of the elevator. It appeared as though nopony had the intention of seeing the princess or her entourage for the moment, as they were otherwise alone in the street below the docking bay. They had stopped at the edge of their assigned elevator, Twilight had, and had addressed the ponies above personally. Zuri heard her say how excited she was to be here, how proud she was of her species and the planet for preparing for her arrival so quickly, etc. Finally, they heard the fanfare signalling that Twilight and her group had shut the elevator doors, and were descending. The crowd up above began to disperse, as Zuri could see through the huge glass ceiling that was the floor of the ship docks.

The elevator doors opened, and almost immediately someone within let out a loud shriek, and leapt out of the elevator. Rainbow Dash was suddenly underneath a blur of pink, being hugged tightly. "Aiee! Pinkie Pie!"

"Hi Dashie!" The pink mare on top of her said, still hugging her. "I've never missed you so much before!"

"Pinkie, get off'a her!" Another voice chastised, before turning cheerful and laughing. "It's my job to tackle her!" Rainbow Dash stood up to meet Applejack's rough embrace head on, letting the two ponies shake slightly in place as they hugged and patted one another affectionately on the back.

"Aw, it's so good to see you girls again." Rainbow Dash said, her voice unusually laden with emotion. Two more voices set up cheery giggles, as Twilight and Rarity rushed to hold Rainbow Dash along with Applejack. They all pulled away, Rainbow Dash pushed past them to sweep the other pegasus in a tight embrace that made the mare squeak. "Good to see you too, Fluttershy! And I see you were able to stand in front of all those ponies without a problem!"

"Do you think so?" Zuri had to strain her ears to fully understand the soft voice of the pegasus. "I've really been practicing, and it's really been helping that I have to do a lot of public speaking."

"Fluttershy's been hard at work, Rainbow, trying to come up with proper medical laws for all sentient creatures, not just ponies." Twilight informed them, patting Fluttershy, who had begun blushing, on the back.

"That sounds real impressive!" Rainbow Dash complemented her, "nice job! What have the rest of you been up to?"

"Pinkie and Applejack have been working on proper food circulation on less-provided for colonies, actually." Explained the young alicorn. "Applejack's expanding Sweet Apple onto Palosol, aren't you?"

"Eyup!" Applejack confirmed, nodding her head as she rubbed one leg with a hoof. "I thought you said my brother was supposed to be around–Big Mac!" She ran towards the big red stallion, who had just walked up next to Druva. He let out a breath as the mare collided with his chest, and he wrapped one of his large hooves around his sister in a hug. "I thought they were crazy, sending you out onto a planet ya hardly knew!"

"Ah learned quick enough," Macintosh chuckled. "Better than signin' up fer the army branch, otherwise Ah might never have met these three fine zebras, here." He gestured to Zuri, Druva, and Uzul.

"We've heard all about you from what Rainbow has said." Came Rarity's voice, as the cyborg unicorn approached the three zebra, her eyes alight with interest. "Oh my, darling," Rarity gasped as she set her eyes upon Zuri, one of her dark metal hooves lightly touching her chin. "Has anyone told you that your coat color pattern is simply magnificent?"

"They seem to be doing it more and more often, yes." Zuri answered, though she felt effeminately flattered.

Rarity gave a sigh, admiring Zuri's mane and coat for a moment. "Rainbow, why didn't you send me a picture of these three? I could have had dress plans already sketched for them when I got here!"

"Dress? Ah, right, we are going to that big gala, aren't we?" Uzul spoke, looking at Rainbow Dash for a moment. "It is usually our custom to only wear full formal attire for the most important occasions."

"Well, the gala is important! Boring though it may seem to be for those going there for the wrong reasons." Rarity replied, chuckling nervously after she said it. The rest of Twilight's group and Rainbow Dash responded likewise. "It's the only social gathering where all nobles are invited, and brought together to share news and coordinate on other upcoming events."

"Plus, we're gonna make sure that this gala really is fun, this time around!" Pinkie Pie chirped, bouncing in place. "Not a pony or zebra walking into those big castle doors is gonna be bored, this time! That's a genuine Pinkie Promise!"

"Hey Twilight, where's Spike?" Rainbow asked, looking around.

Twilight Sparkle looked puzzled. "He came before me, didn't I already tell you? He was overseeing the construction of the castle to be sure that we would all be comfortable."

"Then we should get to that castle of yours they built, before the crowds come down here!" Rainbow Dash advised. "And my little group, too."

Twilight Sparkle nodded, scrunching up her face in concentration as her horn lit up. Zuri didn't know what to expect, as a pink light engulfed her, she felt a rushing in all directions, and landed on another metal road with a thud, gasping in alarm, dazed from the sudden repositioning. "Eugh, sorry," Twilight apologized, shaking her head. "I probably should have warned you, uh..."

"Her name's Zuri, remember?" Rainbow Dash said to the alicorn. "And before you ask, Pinkie: no, she can't rhyme like Zecora does."

"Dang it!" The overly pink pony kicked the road with her hoof, frustrated. "And Zecora never let me learn how she did it so well!"

Twilight approached the large gates to the castle, which now loomed proudly over them, and placed a hoof into a circular indentation on the console to the right of it. Around her hoof, the indent glowed turquoise, and the shining, perfectly polished gates began to slide open with a low rumble. This revealed a wide set of stairs, ascending first to a square, with a huge fountain as a centerpiece with statues of ponies standing in the center in various poses. Then, even further up the steps came the main castle, with the tallest tower rising out of it. Everything was of pale stone, with gold and jewels accenting statues, moldings, and the huge symbol that faced them that was etched into the tower, which, Zuri noticed, matched the symbol on Twilight's exposed flanks and the crown she wore exactly.

Suddenly, a strange purple and green animal came stumbling down the stairs. At first, Zuri thought it was another pony, perhaps this Spike which had been mentioned earlier, but as he came closer, Zuri saw the bipedal shape, the lanky body, the serpentine scales, even, as Spike ran forth and took Twilight in a big hug. "Twilight! I was just coming to attend the celebration! I guess I missed it, huh?"

The adolescent dragon's voice was just that: adolescent, and sometimes cracked slightly. He stood a little taller than Twilight, almost able to meet eyes with Macintosh, but not tall enough. His long purple tail was encircled with short, but sharp-looking spikes, and he had long fangs beginning to poke out from his long, serpentine mouth.

"You didn't miss anything too important, Spike." Twilight giggled, and then backed up slightly to get a better look at him. "Have you grown again? I'll need to look up dragon puberty, and make sure that's natural."

"I'm not getting greedy again, Twilight, come on." Spike reassured her, rolling his emerald eyes. "I hardly even need to! Since I was made your right-hoof, almost everypony has to do what I say. Gives me a satisfying feeling of power—which I'm not planning on getting used to, now you're all here!"

"Well, I think a high position suits you," Rarity put in, walking up to Spike, who suddenly straightened, grinning a toothy dragon grin. "It makes you seem not so little any more, Spikey-Wikey."

"You really think so, Rarity?" Spike asked, his voice cracking again at a very inopportune time.

Rarity chuckled, and gave one stroke to his left cheek with her black metal hoof. Spike gave a little sigh of contentment, only interrupted when Rarity withdrew her hoof. "Well, Spike? Are you going to lead us in?"

"Of course, my lady!" Spike replied, and stood dutifully beside her, his tail wagging a little more lively than before. "Everyone, pony and zebra, come along!"

Spike lead them up the steps, past the fountain, towards the castle, with him and Rarity in the lead, and Twilight closeby. Applejack walked up to Zuri, and gave her a nudge. "My big brother says you actually took him down, twice."

Zuri nodded. "I did do that, why?"

"Shoot, that takes a lotta doin'." Applejack gave an appreciative whistle.

Zuri made a shrugging motion in reply. "I only did it because I thought I had to, I hope you know. The first time I didn't know him to be better than any other pony, and the second, well, he was apparently under the control of a maniacal filly."

"Yeah, he told me 'bout that! Daughter of Filthy Rich, right? The one who yer tryin' to get to?"

"Yes."

"I think she might be at the Gala. Might cause problems, but nothin' Twilight shouldn't be able to fix!"

"I'm not omnipotent, Applejack, but I can pull strings," Twilight interjected. "As for whether Tough Love is at the Gala, the only problem that would cause would be if she recognized Rainbow Dash or any of her cohorts, and we weren't able to contradict her if she accused them of assaulting her." She shrugged with her wings. "That isn't what I'm worried about, anyway."

They reached the large double doors, which Spike pulled open without so much as a grunt, probably trying to impress Rarity. Zuri stepped inside, and was reminded of the more showy temples and Oun-Drii homes as she stepped onto the gleaming marble. Alabaster stone made up most of the hall, with bronze, gold, silver and purple filling in all the details, just like the outside. Before them was another grand staircase, this one carpeted, and Rarity gave a slight coo as she stroked the dark carpet with a hoof. Obviously her prosthetic legs allowed her to retain tactile sense. "Oh, this fabric is delightful. I must get some to experiment with! And you, my dear," she looked at Druva, "would look positively svelte in a color like this!"

Druva gave a sheepish smile. "I admit: I don't know what svelte means, good lady unicorn."

Rarity looked more than flattered. "Good lady? Rainbow Dash, I'm liking these friends of yours more and more!"

"It's their custom when they address another of equal caste or higher to do that, when they haven't formally shared names." Ruby Nights, who had been silent up until now, said.

Rarity looked at the thief mare as if she hadn't ever seen her before, and gave a cry. "Oh! My dear, that cloak of yours! May I see it?"

"Now we've got her started," Rainbow Dash said with a snort.

Ruby let Rarity examine her cloak, and was rather surprised to hear the mare sigh. "This gold and red design fits your colors perfectly, darling, but its condition is terrible! Have you been climbing buildings, or something? It's ripped in so many places!"

"I hardly have the time to get it repaired," Ruby said, also a little sheepish as she shot a furtive glance at Zuri. "I'm a busy mare."

"Well! I've got my work cut out for me, then!" Rarity said, with finality, stamping an onyx hoof on the carpet. "I've got to design eight new dresses, because let's be honest, I could do so much better last time, and with the Gala so soon, why waste an opportunity like this? And don't argue, Twilight! Your royal gold fittings are nice, but you'll not want to look nice, you'll want to look stunning!"

"Your eight is... Four after four, correct?" Zuri asked, and was aware of how stupid she sounded asking a question like this.

"Why yes, darling. I'm guessing you never learned our numerals too well? A shame, but understandable. But actually, nine, if I'm making a dress for every mare in here, and then a couple proper suits, for the stallions, of course. And Spike, with your growth spurts setting in, I've got some new ideas, that I'm thinking will make you look more dapper than ever..."

"In case you hadn't noticed, Rarity is a professional dressmaker." Rainbow Dash whispered in Zuri's ear. "And a damn good one, too. She got me and Applejack to wear gowns, and if you knew me as long as those five have, you'd know how big a feat that is."

"I'll take your word for it," Zuri replied, just before Rarity rounded upon her.

"As for you, darling, I'm thinking something to complement your special colors. Maybe something in white and bronze? No, black and violet! Maybe if you're willing, I could do something with those strips of blue in your hair? Ooh, a nice violet dye wouldn't take long, and your mane already looks so perfectly moistened. How do you manage that, in this dry heat? Nevermind, we can cover that later. I need to see how you look with pearls 'round your neck! Spike, PLEASE tell me..."

"I've had the workers fit an entire wing in the east with all the dressmaking supplies and equipment I could find, old and new," Spike said, looking proud of himself, "organized just like Carousel boutique, right down to the extra spools."

Rarity gave an overexcited laugh, sounding like "wha-ha-ha~!" And threw herself onto Spike, planting a kiss right on his cheek. As quickly as she had done this, she pulled away, and recomposed herself with the clearing of her throat, her face pinker than before. "Anyway, darling, if you don't mind, I can repair this, and make a duplicate in the form of a proper ball gown!" She informed Ruby, who looked more than excited at the idea of a free dress. "I already know all my friends' measurements by heart, but I'll need to take you three with me for some preliminary fittings!" She pointed at Zuri, Druva, and Ruby. "I hope this doesn't muddle with your plans, but you can't rush perfection, so I ought to get started now! I'll measure Macintosh and Uzul, next, so you can hang onto him for a little bit longer, Rainbow Dash."

"Who's holding? I'm not holding anypony." Rainbow asked innocently, folding up her wing, which had been wrapped affectionately around Uzul's side.

"Nor are you fooling anypony, Rainbow." Rarity said, almost accusingly. "I overheard you babbling to Twilight about your new stallionfriend."

"Babbling, eh?" Uzul said, grinning at Rainbow Dash. "What were you babbling about me?"

"Just stuff," Rainbow deflected, not looking at him, her face red. "Uh, nice stuff, not anything mean."

"Well, then I want to hear what good there is to say of me!" Uzul persisted, looking like he was enjoying this.

"Rainbow asked me to keep it a secret, Rarity, and I suggest we both respect that." Twilight intervened, looking sympathetically at her friend. "Can you respect that too, Uzul? At least until Rainbow feels comfortable telling it to you?"

"Alright, alright. If she wants to tell me, she can." Uzul said, still with a grin on his face.

"Why Rainbow Dash would feel more comfortable talking about Uzul to Twilight, of all ponies, who's hardly ever dated..." Rarity mumbled, jostling Zuri, Ruby, and Druva towards the eastern wing Spike had pointed out, her black metal hooves clanking rhythmically on the reflective marble floor. "Poor Rainbow's hardly had any experience herself, you know. She pretends like she's been around every corner and experimented with every possible combination, but as far as I can tell, she's only been with a couple of ponies, and one gryphon: Macintosh and Gilda stick out, in my mind."

"Hang on, you mean that Gilda she keeps hinting about? They were a thing?" Druva said, looking bemused. Rarity sighed in an exaggerative way, and nodded.

"The way Rainbow Dash sometimes spoke of her, yes, they were most certainly a thing. I can't for the life of me see what Rainbow saw in her, though. She was a bully, plain and simple, and then she got ahold of these mercenaries..." She sighed and shook her head, her horn glowing a soft blue as she opened up the door to the boutique within the castle. Ruby dove to catch the unicorn, as she swooned as soon as she saw the contents of the dressmaking room.

Fabrics, jewels, and pre-made dress templates lined the walls, with a huge vanity mirror atop a raised platform, with several bare mannequins standing atop it. There was a veil off to the side, behind which Zuri assumed one was supposed to change.

Rarity managed to stand on her prosthetic legs again, and gave a cry of delight. "It's exactly like my boutique back home, only better! I always wanted a rotating carousel presentation, so much easier to view things from different angles, without having to move! ... And where the hay did Spike find that full-body mirror!? Oh, he's spoiled me..." She gave a long, happy sigh, and Ruby tensed in case she fainted again. "Now, time to get to work!" The unicorn announced, stepping into the room, and lighting up her horn to pull over a long tape measure. "I'll do Ruby first, you've already got that lovely cloak that I can mimic the style of."

"What about mine and Druva's?" Zuri asked, tugging a bit on the soft cloth that made up her own traveling cloak. It was in near perfect condition, save for being slightly dusty due to traversing in the desert. Rarity looked back, again as if she hadn't noticed, she put a hoof to her chin, looking suddenly very troubled.

"Ahh, umm, hmm... I thought you'd look better in black, darling, not sandy or wood brown. And, honestly, it looks rather plain..."

"Well, of course I would wear something plain," Zuri answered, bluntly. "I was walking across sand dunes, a few days ago. Why would I wear something worthy of me then?"

"Worthy of you? Dear, maybe we need to explain to you about being humble, like we did with Rainbow Dash." Rarity said, chuckling. "We all dressed up as superheroes, I remember."

"Uh, maybe you haven't heard," Ruby said, a little nervously as she held herself still, Rarity measuring the length of her legs and the dimensions of her body. "Among zebra, Zuri is a noblemare. Like, Princess Cadence level."

Rarity blinked, and then became very flustered. "O-oh, oh, pardon me! You're an Oun-Drii, then? That's your word for it? I'm sorry, I didn't realize..."

"Let it be," Zuri said, placatingly. "I left my home to get away from all the up-tight supplicant zebras that populated it. I wasn't about to expect a pony to behave the same way."

"Your culture and society is almost entirely new to me, other than what little bits of information Twilight's given." Rarity said, as if still apologizing. "But, a zebra noble! This is a pleasure, then, to make a dress for someone in such high standing! I suppose I'll take your measurements next!" She finished writing down Ruby's and then asked Zuri to stand atop the little platform as she held her measuring tape out with magic, jotting down the numbers upon a pad device she had picked up from one of the desks at the entrance to the room.

As she did so, she began to talk once more. "You know, if you're a noble, and what Rainbow says about you is true, our own noble class could learn a thing from you. Um, do you mind removing your cloak?"

Zuri nodded, undid the clasp, let the cloak fall to the floor. Rarity gently wrapped the tape around her middle. "Anyway, according to Rainbow you're a skilled fighter, and aren't one to look for a lot of excessive attention. Our own nobles could take a hint or two there: they have egos the size of moons, and are usually just so uptight, narcissistic, and all around snobbish! They follow along after the even bigger names than themselves like little puppies, liking whatever they like, or at least pretending to, so that they all 'fit in'. Anyone who doesn't enjoy doing the same things and behaving the same, snobbish way is considered so low-class that they're barely above–hm!" She put a hoof to her mouth, apparently preventing herself from saying a foul word. "How do you Oun-Drii normally behave towards one another?"

Zuri looked up at the ceiling in thought for a moment, before looking back down and answering. "We get along, but just as often, we become cutthroat. One family is always after another's property or fame. Some band together, some have been going along in feuds on subjects so trivial I don't think even think they remember why they were fighting in the first place." The trancer gave a shrug. "My family is famous for what one of my ancestors accomplished, but just as many other Oun-Drii want to claim our high reputation for themselves."

"Those edrecht have nothing on the Sara magician!" Druva exclaimed, in the middle of Rarity measuring her. "Do they expect everyone to toddle along after them, like those nobleponies?"

"Changing the subject, a little," said Ruby, interrupting. "Miss Rarity, how many nobles will be at the Gala?"

"Oh, hundreds, darling," Rarity said, wrapping her tape around Druva like she had Zuri. "Hundreds upon hundreds! I expect half of them to have already arrived expecting the Gala to be tomorrow. Twilight's planning sometime next week, so they're all in for a rather nasty surprise. They're coming in from every major colony planet, and Equestria too!" She gave a little gasp, "ooh, the princesses might show up to join in on the fun. Well, maybe. I think Twilight said something about Princess Celestia being unable to control the sun on other planets, which is odd, I don't think the princess has ever gone to any other planet, not to my knowledge. And Luna, well, Luna tried, but had a nervous breakdown as soon as she got to Thardrim station."

"Why?" Ruby asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

"The poor dear couldn't see Equestria's moon. I hear she had a nasty fit when she couldn't find it in the sky around Teraphim. Alright, off the platform, you three!" She pulled up a mannequin, again with magic, as well as a table with a sewing machine mounted on one end. Even as she worked, Rarity tried to keep up the conversation, though she almost always kept her eyes on her work. "Cadence could try, though! She could bring along Shining Armor, and some extra cargo, too, if the rumors are true. Oh! I just had a thought." Rarity looked at Zuri for a moment. "Darling, if we play this right, we might be able to make you the life of the party! An experienced zebra noble getting along with pony nobles would be a step in the right direction for a sense of equality between the two races. I think that might be the main reason Twilight agreed to this idea of Rainbow's. And furthermore, you might have a lot of fun, unlike we did. Conversing with others of similar position should be easy, shouldn't it?"

Zuri wasn't sure how to answer. Rarity seemed to have forgotten that ponies and zebra lived on totally different planets, in totally different cultures and societies. Yet, there was a chance she may be able to get along fairly well with some of these pony nobles, if they were as well-trained as she was in how to behave in a proper way. Then, of course, the concern was how differently the two races defined the word 'proper'. She had a thought, and voiced it without moderation. "Do they dance at this Gala?"

Rarity's sewing machine sputtered to a halt as her magic operating it faltered, and she gave out a raucous snort. Regaining composure, she put her hoof over her mouth to smother her laughter. "W-why, yes, darling, I think they do a bit of dancing. Maybe. Just a bit." Her tone was sarcastic, it made Zuri feel slightly insulted. "Sorry, I'm sorry, it's just... Why? Are you afraid to dance?"

"Stars, no!" Zuri exclaimed, scandalized. An Oun-Drii, afraid to dance? That was like saying a Gau-Aer was afraid to make a profit. "I was wondering how ponies dance. I'm assuming our kinds do it differently in some respects, or all of them."

"Our waltz is a lot like your retaogos, or retamol, Zuri." Ruby informed her, to everyone's surprise.

"How do you know so much about our kind?" Druva asked, as if she had begged to know this before.

"A lot of luck and eavesdropping, mostly!" Ruby responded, looking proud of her secrets.

"But the retamol is usually performed at weddings!" Zuri argued. "'Tis often the bridesmaids' lone dance around the floor. Lone dancing like that shouldn't be taken lightly, at a Gala."

"Performing it to a crowd of nobleponies would certainly gain their admiration, though." Ruby countered, grinning. "Though you would need the accompanying music to fit, wouldn't you?"

"Why not the retaogos?" Druva offered, with a wry grin, "or, if you would perform a lone dance, the retanoga, maybe?"

"Retaogos, well, I never liked it." Zuri replied, shaking her head. "I wasn't bad at it or anything, but," she blushed. "You two know exactly how embarrassing it is!"

"Am I allowed to ask...?" Rarity began.

"It's a little like a formal strip-dance." Ruby answered, and Rarity gave a small squeak, her face turning bright red, while the thief explained further. "It's usually performed in front of a lot of other mares, as a way of bragging that you look the best, that you're more fertile, you're stronger, and you're therefor going to end up with a better stallion and family than any of them."

"You're supposed to practice it in front of your mother, sisters, and any female relatives. It's really uncomfortable, dancing and flaunting yourself in front of your family." Zuri finished the explanation, shaking her head. "I doubt there will be only mares looking at me if I try that. The retanoga, though..." Now there was an idea. Retanoga translated directly to "lady's beauteous dance", and the name was very descriptive of what the choreography displayed. Zuri dreamed that she would first perform the retanoga for that future love, and she was rather unhappy to perform it in front of a crowd of nobleponies, especially because she was good at it. Zuri was a natural with moving her hooves, and retanoga required coordination and leg strength only a trained sand trancer would have, to make it look right. The other thing it needed, however, was a proper gown, otherwise several steps and movements would be impossible.

"How loose can you make my dress?" Zuri asked Rarity, suddenly coming out of her thoughts. "Not so loose that it falls off, but, well, retanoga requires flexibility."

"A lot of it," Druva put in.

Rarity squinted at the numbers she had written for Zuri's size, then at Zuri, and she grinned. "Darling, with a body like yours, it's more of a playful challenge than a problem."

———

"So, let me get this straight, you're going to win the crowds over with a dance?" Rainbow Dash asked Zuri, from her perch atop her bed, as if having not heard her correctly.

"Yes, a very special dance." The zebra answered, looking proud. "One I'm good at, and I had been thinking: if all those nobles are distracted by my dancing, it would be easier to grab hold of Filthy Rich, wouldn't it?"

"It would, but I was hoping you'd be able to help hold him down!" Rainbow protested, making a face like that of a child who hadn't gotten the gift they wanted on their birthday. "Not that he's like Big Macintosh or anything, but, well, it just seems kinda silly for you to be dancing around. All this time you've been beating the crap out of ponies and now you're going to dance for them?"

"I may as well show them how much better at it we are than they." Zuri replied, smirking a little. "Did you expect me to be some serious, stony zebra all the time?"

"Well, yeah Zuri, you did kinda set up that expectation." Rainbow said, shrugging with her wings. "How you acted most of the time, and all, I figured you to be a little like me."

"How so?" Zuri asked, wondering where this had come from.

"Well, like, y'know..." Rainbow Dash seemed to be having a hard time forming the words. "You just acted so angrily at Thunderlane, and you complained about stallions always came at you. A-and then when you first found me and Uzul kissing, how you, uh... I just, figured you to be a tomboy."

"And what," Zuri asked, now without her smile, "is a tomboy?"

"A butch mare! Well, not really butch, just... Uh..." Rainbow Dash struggled to find the right words. "A masculine mare, is all, maybe one that preferred... other mares, y'know."

Zuri's jaw almost hit the floor, and Rainbow winced at the reaction. The zebra took a breath, and said, in a measured tone, "Of all the things I am, I am not a lesbian, and I never have been. When did you decide I was?"

"I just, well... You and Ruby seemed to keep each other company!" Rainbow defended herself, holding up her hooves as if to catch an object Zuri would throw at her. "And, Ruby is definitely a fillyfooler, like, no doubt about it, how she was eyeing you and Druva. I noticed that! But, I guess I made a wrong connection..."

"So because I don't like a bunch of perverted male aliens trying to mate with me, I was jealous of Uzul, and because Ruby Nights and I get along, I'm a lesbian?" Zuri asked, incredulous and angry. "And what does that have to do with my deciding to dance at the Gala?"

"I'm sorry, Zuri, I shouldn't have assumed anything! I just didn't think you'd want to dance in front of ponies, after all we've done." Rainbow shrugged, shaking her head. "It's not what I expected, I guess. I mean, dancing? Really?"

"Yes, really," Zuri said, sighing. "Why is it such a problem? You sound almost disgusted by the idea that I can dance."

"I'm just not one for it," Rainbow Dash said, a little cautiously, as Zuri's tone was still dangerous. "At least tell me you're not going to dance with a pony."

"Of course not! Retanoga is a lone dance, 'tis perfect for showing off to a bunch of aliens." Zuri sat a little straighter, and exchanged her unhappy tone of voice with one of trained regality. "How long does your friend Rarity usually take to finish her dresses?"

"Oh, you'll be waiting for another day," Rainbow said, happy to have the subject change to the unicorn's dressmaking, for once. "Rarity takes her time, works on the details. I can promise you, you won't be diss–" The pegasus stopped in mid-sentence, her eyes looking at something above Zuri's head. Zuri turned to see what had distracted her, and saw a pair of bright green eyes widen, for a split second, and then vanish, through a window on the wall opposite Rainbow's bed. Running to the window, the trancer peered through the glass pane. There was no sign of the spy, but Zuri knew who it was, and so did Rainbow Dash. "That was Chrys."

"I know it was," Zuri said.

"I'm going after her," Rainbow jumped from her bed, taking flight and opening the window, darting out of it before Zuri could say anything more. Zuri was able to marvel at just how fast Rainbow could fly, though where she thought Chrys had gone was a mystery.

———

Rainbow Dash had seen exactly where the changeling had been going. She could see her now, little above a large black spot buzzing high above the buildings of the noble district. The pegasus shot forward, flying towards the escaping changeling like a bullet. Chrys turned around, wide eyed again, as Rainbow flew into her, hitting her square in the middle. The changeling gave out a cry, and lost several feet in altitude before regaining control. Rainbow got the triumphant grin wiped off her face, when she straightened to see that the changeling was now flying at her. They met in midair, and began a fight that, with every subsequent blow, caused them to lose more and more altitude. For the pony, it was actually a losing battle. She had caught Chrys by surprise, and wanted to attempt an interrogation once she got control of the changeling, but now she found that she had greatly underestimated her target.

Chrys fought viciously, with trained precision in every movement that Rainbow had not seen in her before. If she wasn't currently getting beaten by the insect-like equine, she would be wondering where the hay Chrys had learned to fight in midair. Finally, they landed roughly onto the roof of a tall building, and Chrys stood over Rainbow Dash, holding the pegasus' forelegs beneath hers, as those green eyes glared fiercely into the shocked magenta ones.

"The letter to Zuri I wrote was clear: don't follow me," she snarled.

"What letter? Why were you spying on me and Zuri?" Rainbow quizzed her, attempting to struggle free with no luck. Those gnarled hooves didn't look like they held any muscle, how was she being held down by such a thin, underdeveloped changeling?

"She didn't show you?" Chrys' glare became confused. "Why wouldn't...? Must have forgotten. No matter, now you'll ask her about it. My business is my own, now. I just needed to make sure I got all your looks right, one last time."

"What do you mean, our looks?" Rainbow asked, not breaking eyecontact. She was glad she didn't, otherwise she would have been shocked into muteness by the fact that Chrys had assumed Fluttershy's exact form. Calmer emerald eyes glowered at Rainbow's magenta ones.

"You'll see," Fluttershy's voice came from the disguise's throat, though it sounded unnatural with the tones of malice. In another moment, Chrys had retaken her natural shape, and was flying away at a greater speed than Rainbow Dash wanted to follow her. Wherever she had learned to fight, the changeling had left the pegasus with several purple blotches and bruised ribs. Rainbow struggled to her hooves, and set off, back towards the castle, flying much slower than before.

13. Best Intentions

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Zuri sat back, on the floor of Rainbow Dash's room, intimidated by the alicorn looming before her. Twilight Sparkle had seen Rainbow's labored flying out her own window, and had immediately went for the last pony—or in this case zebra—who had been seen talking to her friend. The trancer had some idea of how bad Twilight's reaction to learning about Chrys would be, given every other ponies' reaction to her. So, she was not at all surprised that when she said the word changeling in her explanation, Twilight had acquired a very, very unhappy look on her face. Added to the fact that Twilight Sparkle was actually taller than Zuri, and the alicorn's silent anger had a withering effect on the zebra.

"To make sure I heard correctly," Twilight began slowly, her wings tensing at her sides. "Did you say that a changeling acquaintance of yours was probably the one who attacked Rainbow Dash?"

"Yes I did," Zuri answered quietly. The alicorn before her took a long, deep breath, and brought up a hoof to massage a temple.

"Ugh... I miss the days when it was easier to let out a scream of anger without an entire empire running to see what they could do to help." She growled, her wings flexing restlessly. "Just a good, primal howl, but I can't do that, because those stupid cyberguards would hear it!" She groaned, and beat her head with a hoof, the golden crown atop her head shaking a little. She turned around to direct her anger at Rainbow Dash, not so worried for her health now. "Let me get this straight, Rainbow. You let a changeling queen run around free!?"

"W-wasn't my choice..." Rainbow groaned from the bed. "I wasn't going to deal with all the ponies and zebras who wanted to set her free. She was useful, a couple times."

"You neglected to mention this little tidbit before!" Twilight snapped, this time with more panic in her voice. "When I asked if you had gotten into any trouble, this would have been the kind of thing to tell me about, Rainbow Dash! This is bad, bad, bad, bad bad bad...!" She began pacing back and forth, wings rustling and horn sparking occasionally.

"I don't know how to deal with this. Finding a changeling in a city like this would take an army. An army that'll ask where it came from, and Rainbow Dash... I can only keep you out of ESSUG's clutches for so long! I'm not a goddess!"

"The procession greeting you here didn't clear that up," Rainbow Dash muttered, wincing as Fluttershy, who was tending to her wounds, pressed a wet sponge to a bruise on her side. "Relax, Twilight! We've handled stuff like this before; hundreds of times! What's one changeling on a rebellious streak?"

"One more thing that I'd have to worry about," Twilight reminded her, pointing vehemently to the crown atop her head. "Remember? I'm the only princess on Palosol right now, that means if word gets out there's a changeling running lose, I'm going to have to be the one move all the mountains!" The young princess groaned, and rubbed a temple with a hoof. "Rainbow, I'm sorry, but do you realize how much trouble this is gonna cause? We have to look for her, but not just because she's a changeling. She hurt one of my friends."

"That's just it," Rainbow said, trying to lay on her stomach now that Fluttershy had finished dressing her wounds. "We can't, Twilight. I couldn't keep her down. Why do you think I came back looking like this?" She gestured to herself with her un-bandaged wing. "She can turn into us, Twilight. I mean you, me, all of us. She turned into Fluttershy when she was flying off."

Fluttershy gave a sharp gasp, her hooves going to her mouth. "You don't think she's going to... Hurt somepony, when disguised like me, is she?"

"I never would have thought she'd want to," Zuri answered. "Her only concern when she was with us seemed to be whether or not she was actually going to have a home when we finished in Paradise City."

"Well, that would encourage anyone to do strange things, wouldn't it?" Fluttershy answered, wearing a thoughtful expression. "If I suddenly had no home, I wouldn't know what to do! Then again, I'd know I could rely on my friends to support me for however long I needed it. Evidently, she must not think she has any friends."

"I saw us less close than that, I guess," Zuri muttered, feeling a familiar pang of guilt.

"Why are you bothering to analyze her behavior?" Rainbow asked, irritated. "Don't you remember? She's a changeling! This is what she does!"

"It's what anyone would do, Rainbow Dash, if they were frightened enough." Fluttershy countered, glaring at Rainbow Dash accusingly. Her soft voice somehow conveyed her displeasure as well as the hard look on her face. "I'm sure you'd do some outrageous things, if you were stuck in a corner. Maybe... Become captain of a band of mercenaries, and abandon your client's post in Frontier Forest, and then steal a train, and then rampage through Rock Pile?"

"Hey, Fluttershy, all of that was completely necessary!" Rainbow argued. "I was thrown in a bad spot. I had to figure out how to get out sooner than later, and Filthy Rich and Tough Love weren't exactly helping!"

"And why were you in a bad spot?" Fluttershy interrogated, glaring at her friend. Rainbow's eyes widened, and she edged away from the butter-yellow pegasus on her bed. "Yes, Rainbow, I'm using the stare on you. Now hurry and answer so I don't have to, anymore!"

Rainbow sighed, not taking her eyes away from Fluttershy's. "Fine. I got myself into it because I was stuck on Palosol, and I was bored. Oh, and Gilda showed up. Did anyone tell you that part?"

"Gilda?" Twilight interrupted, her expression going from angry to alarmed. "What was Gilda doing here?"

"Running a band of mercenaries, where do you think I got them from?"

Twilight gave a shake of her head. "This is a story I gotta hear."

Rainbow gave an exasperated look. "It's a story I don't wanna tell."

"Though it is one you said you would tell me about," Zuri reminded her.

Rainbow looked at the three of them, absentmindedly twitching her bandaged wing slightly. "... Fine. I was trying to hold off on it, but fine." She took a deep breath, and began. "I had just arrived at Palosol with the Wonderbolts on tour, still mopey because ESSUG rejected me, and I didn't want to waste my second chance at applying. We did our gig in Paradise City, and the others were already heading back to our tour ship, but I wasn't going so easily. I was applying at the ESSUG office here for a second chance, and they said I'd have to wait eight Equestrian months before I got a call back. So I wandered around still pretty pissed, when up out of nowhere, I see Moondancer running from a pack of thugs." Her tone turned prideful. "Of course, they were no match for me. I had them all on the ground before they could even fire off a shot! I asked Moondancer what she was doing playing with crowds like that, but she was all skittish. Trouble for her was, she also got nervous, and dropped Gilda's name.

"So then I got curious, started looking at public job listings. I found them easily, there was an independent mercenary group called The Featherjocks, and Gilda was the captain of the bunch! I poked around, and ended up getting dragged in by the ears to their 'secret base', which was more of a warehouse with a couple hundred separators to have a difference between bunk rooms and mess halls. Gilda looked like she had woken up on Hearth's Warming when she saw me, and went into a big rant about me crawling back to her after finally realizing my friends were all spineless dweebs, in her own words. I was able to cut her off near the end though, and used some conversational skills I picked up from Twilight here to talk myself into her gang, which it basically was. They were short on jobs, so they had fun doing small time heists on stores, with Gilda in the lead, and terrorizing the locals and changing her group's name every few days to try and hide."

"Why did you want to join her group, again?" Zuri asked, narrowing her eyes.

Rainbow squirmed a little, obviously not happy to admit this part. "Because I was being stupid and had some serious angst going on. I'm not exactly a mental grown-up. Maybe it was residual crazy from the last estrus cycle, I don't know! All I know is, I got in, and then Gilda and I immediately started bitching at each other about how to run a mercenary group. She thought she could go nuts, and still get an income. I said that only happens in the movies, and she came back with the very good argument that she was the one in charge. So, by now you can guess that I missed the Wonderbolt's tour ship. They were on a tight schedule, and couldn't wait more than a day for me. I was busy trying to talk Gilda out of shooting a colt just 'cause he came begging at their door, so I guess I must have had my head on something like the right way. I decided to take things into my own hooves, and out of Gilda's talons." She closer her eyes and took a breath. "It wasn't exactly pretty, but Gilda shouldn't be trusted with any kind of power like that."

"Wait, Rainbow," Twilight spoke up. "Did you kill her?"

"What? No I didn't!" Rainbow argued, looking insulted. She tried to fluff her wings, and winced as it strained the wrappings around one wing. "I mean, I'm not exactly a pacifist, with how many cybercops we had to drop."

"At least you told me about those." Twilight said, looking displeased again. "It's not exactly a good idea to kill a bunch of ESSUG soldiers if you ever wanted to join them. There's also the whole murder thing, y'know, it being immoral and against the law."

"Which is why I didn't kill Gilda! I just showed her who was really boss, and then told her to get lost. So she did, and that's it," Rainbow finished with a shrug. "I haven't heard from her since. So, does that clear things up between me and Chrys, Fluttershy?"

"Was just curious," Fluttershy squeaked, sounding suddenly meek and losing the assertiveness in her voice from before. "Um... Are your bandages fitting right? I might have made them a teeny-tiny bit too tight."

"Nah, nah, there fine..." Rainbow muttered, not looking at her fellow pegasus.

Twilight had begun pacing back and forth across the room, her brow furrowed in an expression of deep thought. "Why would anypony stick a changeling queen on another planet, and then send it over in an ESSUG train? You said you stole it when it was arriving an New Appleloosa, right? The only place nearby is Frontier Forest..." She went silent for a few seconds, her eyes narrowing. "Frontier Forest has ESSUG laboratories working on Terraforming solutions, but that doesn't make any sense, either. What would a bunch of botanists and geologists want with a changeling? Rainbow, on that box she was in, did it have an order form attached?"

"I would have told you if it did, Twilight. The only label on it was the one that said what was in it."

"Hm..." The young princess went quiet again, obviously attempting to put the pieces together in her head. Her wings twitched occasionally, and it was several moments before she spoke again. "This is actually a great excuse to try out the castle's library, assuming Spike's had it properly filled out. Zuri, Fluttershy, you ought to come to, and let Rainbow Das rest."

"Are you sure I didn't miss anything, Rainbow?" Fluttershy asked, eyeing the bandages she had applied to Rainbow's torso. "No other bruised bones, dislocations, anything? Don't be tough, be honest."

Rainbow sighed, obviously used to this kind of treatment from the normally soft-spoken mare. "Really, Fluttershy, I feel better already, everything just aches. Those holed hooves of Chrys' can really scratch."

"Alright..." Fluttershy said, walking away from Rainbow's bedside, and with Zuri and Twilight, out of the bedroom. They were met at the door by Uzul, who looked panicked.

"Is Rainbow Dash alright? Can I see her?" Without waiting for an answer, the arbiter slipped past them, and ran to the bed to see his marefriend.

"Well, so much for rest," Twilight chuckled. "Don't jump on the bed, or anything, Uzul, she's hurt pretty bad."

"Hey! He can jump on the bed all he wants." Rainbow shouted back, and Zuri made sure she was the first down the stairs.

Once again in the main hall, Twilight moved towards another wing of the castle. Zuri, meanwhile, sat upon a nearby marble bench, trying to figure out how Chrys had learned to fight so well, against a mare larger than her. Fluttershy sat down next to her, giving her curious looks for a few moments, before finally opening her mouth. "Twilight tells me you have very interesting animals here, on Palosol."

"Oh? What has she told?" Zuri asked, repressing the urge to ask the question she was thinking: how much do they know?

"Giant spiders, that hide in the sand, and that you eat them." said Fluttershy, nonchalantly. Zuri was surprised; given this mare's meek demeanor, she would have thought that the pegasus would be a bit more alarmed by tales of giant spiders and zebra eating bugs. Both of these things were true: zebra needed a source of several nutrients, and the desert insects usually provided that for them. Sand Spiders happened to be one of the most palatable and easiest to hunt, because they hardly moved. "Twilight said your kind may have evolved to develop a taste for insects, so they could act as a source of sustenance."

"Yes, they are called Akarne: Sand spiders." Zuri answered. "We do eat them. We are not like you ponies: we do not have everything growing outside of our houses. Only so much can grow in the desert cities."

"But don't you have marshlands on this continent, too?" Fluttershy asked, her tone of sheer curiosity.

"We call them the far marshes," Zuri explained. "There they have other plants which can sustain us, but they are called far for a reason. This city is between them and the desert cities." Zuri had always enjoyed eating sand spider—provided it was well cooked. She had expected Fluttershy, being a pony and almost exclusively a plant-eater, to not be very comfortable with this fact, but the pegasus treated it as if it were facts about how one prepared leaves.

Fluttershy must have detected Zuri's surprise at this reaction, and gave a soft chuckle. "You underestimate me, right? A lot of ponies—and I suppose zebras—really underestimate me, because I'm usually very quiet. And I used to be very shy... Though I've gotten over that, plenty! My friends have helped me overcome a lot."

"Then they must be good friends," Zuri replied, now walking idly around a little. "They all strike me as very kind."

"As well we should!" Fluttershy continued, smiling broadly at her. "You helped Rainbow Dash out of a tight spot, however much it may have been her fault in the first place. We always try to look after each other, but when we can't be there, well... It's always nice to have help. And I think it's awful how you've been treated, just awful!"

Zuri gave an appreciative nod at this. "Much of your kind deems it proper behavior towards a supposed lesser species. I only learned so long ago that there are innumerable zebras locked up in buildings to be sold as slaves."

"I know, isn't it terrible?" Fluttershy continued, looking despairing. "Princess Celestia does her best to avoid letting this happen, but there's just too many loopholes in our laws, so slavery is still legal and encouraged, so that ponies spend less money hiring servants."

Zuri sighed, pawing a hoof at the soft castle carpet. "But it isn't just zebra, is it? There are buffalo, though I've hardly seen any."

"Twilight says they apparently live on another continent, mostly, but some of their number remain here. They must have some skill at sailing. Does your kind sail?"

"On water? In a manner of speaking," Zuri held a hoof to her chest. "Sand trancers make their own winds. Our vessels obey us, not nature, though nature often attempts to wrest control."

"What can sand trancers do?" Fluttershy asked, curious. "I only know what Twilight's told me, you know, but I've heard so many awful rumors about what you do. You don't really seem like you eat ponies in stew."

"That is because I have not," Zuri affirmed. "We eat Akarne and Formannecol, but not ponies. Why would any of you think we would?"

"I think it's just come up from old rumors about Equestrian zebra," Fluttershy mused. "A lot of ponies seem think it carries over to Palosol zebra, though they treat you much worse."

"So what does make us different from Equestrian zebra?"

Fluttershy shook her head. "You would have to ask Twilight about that, but I think the main difference is that you're on a different planet." The pegasus turned, suddenly, as a pink blur came bounding towards them, holding a bottle in her mouth. Pinkie Pie bounced towards Zuri, dropping the bottle near her and continuing to bounce as she began to speak.

"HI I'm Pinkie Pie and your friend Druva asked me to bring this to you so you could try it out on yourself to help with learning your special pretty dance for the Gala!" The pink mare chirruped, almost too fast for Zuri to pick up what she was saying. Slowly, she reached for the bottle, only to have it swept up in Pinkie Pie's grasp. "Ah ah ah! You haven't told me your name yet!"

"No one else has given you my name?" She asked.

"Twilight told me your name, silly! But you haven't told me yet!" Pinkie Pie clapped her hovoes and fixed Zuri with an expectant look. "Full name, the whole shebang, come on!"

Zuri stared at the energetic mare for a second before responding, "my name is Zuri Oun-Drii Sara."

"Ooo, Twilight only told me the first part. Why d'you have such a long name? Are you somepony important? Whoopsie, you're not a somepony, you're a somezebra! That's a word now, I'll get Twilight to order it put in all the dictionaries!"

"I think that's the wrong first step in trying to get zebra equal rights, Pinkie," Fluttershy manage to get in.

Pinkie stopped mid-bounce, having been bouncing for the entire time she had been speaking, and stared at Fluttershy as if she had just said something that made no sense. "Equal rights? Well, duh! I was just gonna put the right word in dictionary! Who was talking about equal rights?"

"You were, the whole flight over from Teraphim!" Fluttershy counted, albeit quietly. "Wasn't that part of why you were working with Applejack?"

Pinkie shook her head, tsking at the pegasus. "Aw Flutters, I was just talking about proper wording! She's not a pony, is she?" Fluttershy just sighed, while the pink mare tossed the bottle towards Zuri, who caught the bottle, and held it in her hooves to look at it. It was teardrop-shaped, with a simple cork stuck in the mouth. The liquid within was pure silver, no milky or cloudy aspects to it, it was entirely a reflective metallic silver color. What had Druva decided to make now, and why had she sent this eccentric pink pony with it instead of giving it to Zuri herself? Maybe she was spending time with Big Macintosh again. Maybe Pinkie Pie got progressively more annoying the more time one spent with her, and Druva wanted to kill two birds with one stone. Zuri snapped out of her thoughts when she realized the pink mare was still talking and bouncing in place.

"I wonder what that potion does! Maybe it makes you a really good dancer, or maybe it makes your brain bigger! Do you know what it does? I wanna know what it does! Druva likes to sing like Zecora does when she's making potions, did you know that? She says you're afraid of guns, but that's okay. Guns are big and loud, and really really scary. Is that potion the right color? It's the color of mercury, and mercury is poison that makes you go crazy!"

"Druva wouldn't give me poison for no reason," Zuri muttered, turning the bottle around in her hooves to watch the silver liquid roll inside it. Pulling the stopper out with her teeth, Zuri began sniffing it—but there was no odor. She took an experimental sip, and immediately winced. It was a sour and sharp liquid, that left an awful prickling sensation all over her tongue. "Melose... Maybe she would; this brew is disgusting!"

Pinkie Pie spoke up again. "She said you have to drink all of it, and it should taste that way!"

"But she didn't say what it would do?" Zuri interrogated, glaring at the bottle of offensive liquid. The prickling sensation wouldn't go away.

"Nope! Just said it would help! Though, do you feel crazy at all?" Pinkie stopped bouncing to peer into Zuri's face, getting uncomfortably close to her in the process.

"I'd have to try more..." Zuri replied, unhappily bringing the bottle up to her lips. As quickly as she could, she downed the rest of the foul tasting liquid, and soon regretted her decision. It burned like boiling water going down her throat, and made her feel nauseous by the time she had finished it. "Whatever this brew does, it better be worth that awful ta–" She choked, suddenly, a tingling sensation spreading out from the uncomfortable burning sensation in the pit of her stomach. Her heart began beating much faster, and she realized the tightening sensation on her skin was from her blood vessels coursing faster. Her eyes burned briefly, and a strange feeling, like that of beginning a trance, washed over her whole body. It took a few seconds for Zuri to realize she had collapsed to the floor.

"Yo, Zuri!" Pinkie Pie called from somewhere above her. "Y'alright?"

"Sorry, sorry! Pinkie, let me see her!" Druva's voice came next, and Zuri could feel someone breathing on her face. "Melose... I realized I added too many Daturum leaves just as Pinkie ran out of the kitchen."

"D-daturum?" Zuri burbled, trying to blink the fog out of her vision. Daturum was a plant notable for the chemical properties of its leaves, namely, how it could strengthen trancing ten-fold. An overdose of the substance, however, could leave its user dead, or comatose, as it caused the heart to overwork itself. Another side effect was that the eyes began to glow, reflecting the Gift. Instinctively, Zuri shut her eyes tightly, ignoring the clouds that obscured her vision in favor of keeping her promise to her elder. If Pinkie Pie had seen her eyes light up like lamps...

"Zuri, open your mouth," Druva ordered, and Zuri obeyed. She felt a smooth, bland substance fall into her mouth, and she swallowed it immediately. The prickling pain spreading over her body receded at once, returning to her racing heart, which gradually calmed down. As soon as she was sure her heart wouldn't explode, Zuri sat up, opening her eyes again, to fix a withering glare at Druva.

"Why did you give me Daturum?" She interrogated the alchemist. "What was that potion for?"

"I'm sorry, Zuri," Druva began, looking despairing. "I wanted to give you something that would loosen your muscles and heighten your dexterity. I thought you'd find it useful and relaxing, for the dance!"

"And not tell me that Daturum was even in it, instead sending that blathering pink ball?" Snapped Zuri, to which Pinkie Pie stopped bouncing, looking flabbergasted. "How could something as disgusting and dangerous as that brew be relaxing?"

"If there's a proper amount of each ingredient, it's supposed to calm nerves, even though it's disgusting." Druva said, shrugging. "I'm sorry, I couldn't find anything to make it taste better that wouldn't turn it into poison. It was meant to be a little gift."

Zuri coughed a little, the taste of the potion still lingering in her mouth, giving her the urge to drink something else—something flavorless, preferably. "I can manage the Retanoga without the aid of this potion, though... will it still have effects, after that thick you stuck in my throat?"

Druva sighed, relieved that Zuri apparently had decided to let her anger cool. "That was just a quick tablet I mixed up to counteract the excess Daturum. So, you tell me."

Zuri sat a moment, paying attention less to the others around her and more to the sensations in her own body. It was true, all of her muscles, after the tingling had passed, felt more relaxed than before. "Thank you for trying, all the same," she nodded to Druva, attempting a smile with the bitter flavor stuck to her tongue.

———

Twilight later ordered a group of reporters into the castle. Though they badgered her with questions, she made it clear that she had rescheduled the Grand Galloping Gala to be on wednesday night, next week. Everypony reacted pretty much as she had predicted, and even Rarity was surprised she didn't reschedule it to an earlier date. Later than that, Zuri learned that Twilight had already checked her, Druva, Uzul, and Rainbow Dash out of the inn, and that the mercenaries would go job hunting while their captain was otherwise unavailable.

Twilight gave Zuri, Druva, and Uzul each their own rooms in the castle, and Zuri was thankful for it. For the trancer, this meant time to practice the Retanoga in private. She did not get stage-fright easily, but she was grateful that the date of the Gala had been set later than before; when she began the opening steps of the dance, she found she was very much out of practice.

“Back right step, forward step, sweep, twirl, hind bow…” She mumbled, following every move she had memorized as she spoke them. She went over the dance in her head, how it was supposed to look, how it was supposed to feel as one moved around the dance floor. Her cloak lay upon the bed, so she could move about unhindered. “Rear up, low sweep, little kickstep, melose.” She cursed as she messed up a particular step, treading on her tail and losing her balance. This would take some time. Time that she evidently didn't have, as there was a knock on the door just as Zuri got to her hooves again.

It was Ruby Nights, still red-eyed, who walked into her room without a word, and did not speak until she had sat down and rubbed her temples. "So, I didn't want to say anything in front of everyone else, but someone showed up last night at my door, when I was trying to fall unconscious due to being piss-drunk."

"Who was it?" Zuri asked.

"Shade, again." Ruby replied, giving her an apologetic look. "He's looking into you. He got curious, and he tricked me into saying how you got here."

Zuri blinked. "What? I thought you were good at dealing with him."

"What the hell gave you the impression I could be so good at it while drunk, Zuri? I got myself smashed, and he's got a silver tongue. Be happy I didn't tell him anything about what we're planning! Just... you're going to have to lay low, otherwise he's going to come seeking you out. And he can be annoying."

"I'm sure if I had to, I could avoid him." Zuri remarked. "Why should this worry me?"

"I'm getting to that. Watch yourself around Shade; he's really, really good at getting you to lower your guard, and he's got charm out the ass. He's legally obligated to prevent the exact kind of thing we're going to try, so if he gets a hint that you're at the Gala to do anything other than dance, he has to send ESSUG after you." Ruby fixed Zuri with a very firm stare. "And once ESSUG has gotten on your trail, you're already considered dead."

"So, what reason would I have for even leaving this castle, if that's the case?" Zuri queried.

Ruby's lips curled into a grim smile. "Cabin fever."

And Ruby's reasoning was absolutely correct. At first, Zuri thought she could easily kill time by practicing the Retanoga and trancing in private, and she was right, for the first day and a half. Eventually, however, listlessness began to settle in. The castle was huge, and very well insulated from the outside. While this produced a comfortable atmosphere, it also prevented any sounds from outside from reaching anyone within. Simply put, it was far too quiet for anyone to find comfortable.

Finally, Zuri decided the only option was to wander the large, brightly colored halls of the castle. It was certainly beautiful, but oftentimes reminded Zuri too much of Otoul's Oun-Drii district, and she felt herself become homesick again. She was saved from boredom when she heard a four-beat stamping of metal on stone, and looked behind her to see Rarity, black cybernetic hooves glinting in the sunlight from the large windows, running up to her.

"There you are, darling!" The cyborg unicorn called, smiling brightly. "Your dress is finished. Come on and see!"

Following Rarity back to the large dressmaking wing, Zuri found herself awestruck when she laid eyes on the mannequin standing center stage upon the platform. It was a Zuri was awestruck. Upon the closest mannequin, there was a glittering, onyx-black, violet, and blue gown, with amethyst rings on the ears. Tiny lines of diamonds went down the flank, the fringes of which ended in little beads woven into tight braids of the silky material. Sapphires, and amethysts decorated the front, and Zuri could see that Rarity had worked in her family crest, the Sara Rune, onto the chest-piece. Four black slippers, with the same glimmering quality as the rest of the outfit, were placed on each of the mannequin's hooves.

"Well, how is it, darling?" Rarity prompted. "Please don't hesitate, I hate this sort of suspense."

"It's beautiful," Zuri replied, walking towards it. Rainbow Dash had not been exaggerating; Rarity was a fantastic dressmaker. "How easily will I be able to move in it?"

Rarity looked even more excited. "Try it on, darling! If it's too tight anywhere, just let me know! Here, let me help you slip into it."

Before long, Zuri stood in front of the huge mirror, admiring how the dress fit to her every curve, yet allowed her to move as if she wasn't wearing anything. With some reluctance, she had removed the three tiny golden rings from her ears, replacing them with the amethyst ones, while Rarity had fastened the slippers on her hooves to fit comfortably.

Rarity now stood next to her, also looking in the mirror, one black metal hoof gently running over one of the short sleeves on her forelegs. "Now that is a lady who's going to make an impression!" She said encouragingly, grinning broadly. "Oh, please tell me you like it as much as I do."

Zuri stepped away from her, and experimentally began a few of the more difficult steps of the Retanoga. She spun, stretched her legs, and found that she could exercise the same fluid motion as if she weren't wearing anything. "This is perfect," Zuri announced, bringing a hoof up to admire one of the jewel-bright slippers, feeling a sense of vanity sink in. "How many more dresses have you to make?"

Rarity waved a metal hoof dismissively. "Don't you worry about that, darling. I've been in a much bigger rush than this to make the same amount, and I've had two and a half years' worth more experience since then! All the same, I'd better get to work." Her horn lit up, and she began to draw upon a tablet with a pen, working out another idea.

Zuri sat in her dress, enjoying the feeling of the soft material against her body. Rarity had done a fantastic job with the dress, from the feeling to the level of detail all over it. It was then that Zuri again looked at Rarity's blackmetal legs, and the unicorn noticed. She smiled, and let the tablet and pen hover, while she ran one hoof over another leg. "You know, it's much more polite to ask than to just stare. A lot of ponies don't know that."

"What?" Zuri looked up from the metal legs, to Rarity's calm smile. "It seemed to me when you arrived here that you got extra attention."

Rarity nodded. "These are Palosol ponies I'm talking about. They've been on this planet for three generations, instead of the thousands ponies have spent on Equestria, more used to technology being a servant, rather than a body part." She held up one forehoof, blowing the dust off of the bottom of it. "I helped invent these. Twilight, Princess Luna and I. We made artificial legs, then organs, so on and so forth. In short," she put a hoof to her chest, sitting up a little straighter. "I helped pioneer modern cybernetics and robotics."

"Wow," Zuri said, admiringly. She assumed that was the appropriate response, and Rarity seemed to appreciate it.

"Indeed, wow. Having artificial legs means my body won't expend energy and nutrients on leg muscles, and it's much easier to remain calm, as my adrenaline is rerouted to fuel the electric motors. I'll live longer and stay awake better than anypony without implants. I can also exert about three and a half times more force with my legs, which I learned the hard way, when I almost crushed my sister's spine. But anyway, a lot of ponies on Equestria don't appreciate what I've helped give them. They say my generosity overstepped the boundaries of morality.

"Well, what do you think?"

"Me?" Rarity asked, looking at Zuri as if she hadn't been asked her own opinion before. "I think I did what I do best: give. I gave ponykind the knowledge to create machines that could almost think for themselves. I gave them the power to improve their bodies far beyond anything exercise could accomplish. It's just that a lot of ponies didn't appreciate my gift at all."

There was a short silence, and Zuri looked down at the beautiful dress she wore again. "I'm assuming the price for this is high..."

"Oh, no price for this, darling." Rarity said, smiling widely. "Think of it as a gift! I already said what I do best is give, not sell. It's my element, after all."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Element? I suppose you don't really know about the elements of harmony, do you, being from a completely different culture and all." Rarity sighed, turning one of her hooves one way and another.

"I have been told a little. There are six of them, and Rainbow Dash possesses the element of loyalty, right?"

"Right! My element is, of course, generosity. Pinkie Pie is laughter, Applejack is honesty, Fluttershy is kindness, and Twilight is magic."

"Well, what do they do? I was told they are a means of defense."

Rarity laughed. "Oh, more than that, darling. The elements are the source of all the best parts of ponykind. They are the virtues which we hold the most dear. Beyond that, the elements are also the most important weapons we have. When all six are united, they can exert a magic that none of our princesses fully understand, but the elements have never failed."

"What have they done then? How often have they been used?"

"Not too many times, but their magic is greater than even Celestia's! They've removed the darkness from princess Luna's heart, and turned the god of chaos into stone, for example."

"That is certainly impressive," Zuri commented, nodding slowly.

"Now, darling, going back to the subject of your look..." Rarity said, walking up to her with her eyes on the zebra's hair. "That blue strip in your mane, how would you feel about dyeing it? I was thinking a nice shade of violet, to complement the dress."

Zuri looked back in the mirror, imagining the electric-blue strip were purple. "Yes, that sounds alright."

"Well, good! I've already got the perfect pigment in mind! You should take off the gown first, though, just to avoid getting it splattered."

———

It took very little time, and the dye had no odor, so Zuri was soon admiring the new bright violet strip in her hair, which matched the purple rings and the strips in the dress she wore again. Rarity also offered to style her mane, but Zuri thought this would be better to try the night of the Gala, and so she was saved from a rather intimidating set of brushes, combs, and scissors that the unicorn had presented. She took off the dress, but kept on the amethyst earrings, and let the dye remain in her hair. She liked how it looked, and thought a slight change in style wouldn’t hurt, at least for the Gala, but she would certainly don her trancer’s gold rings as soon as it was over, lest she misplaced them or forgot to before returning to her home and her family. She didn’t expect anyone but Agilis and Giza to really accept the change without having a conniption.

When she came out into the main hall, she was on one of the upper levels, able to look down on the entryway over the guard rail. Zuri would have moved on to her room, but she heard many sets of hooves moving below her. Peering over the side of the balcony, she froze. A group of four expensively dressed ponies had arrived, all looking like they were there for official business. Among them was none other than Shade, the Minister of Defense. He looked up, and his eyes wandered from the decorated ceiling to where Zuri stood, practically paralyzed. His expression of complete and utter surprise would have been funny in any other situation.

The group of ponies was bowing low before Twilight, who stood calmly before them. Two ESSUG guards flanked the group, both of whom were cyborgs. Their legs glinted with metallic sheen, their eye-whites were grey, and they wore large, black coats, one with large gun barrels pointing low to the ground. The one on the right, also the one armed with the heavy weapons, was a mare, with a vibrant crimson pelt, and a short-cut mane and tail of bronze. The other, a stallion, had fur of pale grey, and his black mane and tail were messy, but equally short. In perfect synchronization, both of the ESSUG cyberpolice looked up, almost mechanically, focussing their artificial eyes right on Zuri. Neither of them spoke, but they didn’t take their eyes off of Zuri, either.

One of the ponies, another stallion, looking fairly young, was addressing Twilight in what sounded like a comically exaggerated official’s voice. “Your majesty, it is an honor to welcome you to our humble planet, after all my father has said!” He said, standing up straight after bowing, and taking one of Twilight’s slippered hooves to kiss.

Twilight tittered quietly. “Sir Pants, I’m very pleased you assembled your fellows to greet me. We have much to discuss.” Zuri blinked, did she just call this stallion Sir Pants? Even for a pony, what kind of name was that?

“Indeed we do, your majesty. I have brought with me Lady Candid Camera, Minister of Media, Lord Shade, Minister of Defense, and Lord Brier Patch, Minister of Court.” Each of the ponies bowed low to Twilight as they were introduced. The two ESSUG guards still had not taken their eyes off of Zuri, and it was starting to really unnerve her.

“Come with me, please,” Twilight directed them, motioning with a wing over towards a passageway leading to a meeting room. “We can discuss the Gala in there. I would prefer to start now before the nobles become too upset.”

“I can assure you, your majesty, the nobles are always upset.” The pony referred to as Candid Camera spoke up, they all laughed, as they disappeared one by one through the door that Twilight lead them through. Shade and the guards were the last to leave, and each of them looked at Zuri one more time before exiting.

When was Twilight going to explain to these officials about Zuri and the others? Did they already know? Just how much of a problem was this going to cause, now with Shade knowing where she was? Were there more of these officials coming? Best not to be around to find out. Zuri ran for her room, past a very surprised Druva and doing her best to ignore Pinkie Pie, who, seeing the zebra dash by, decided it was a race.

Slamming her door shut a minute later, Zuri let out a breath, and tried to address things calmly. Maybe Ruby would turn out to be wrong, and Shade wouldn’t tell anyone what he knew. Or maybe he would, and those two ESSUG guards would come bursting in any second, and blow her to bits. She had to tell someone, and luckily, she wouldn’t have to find them. Druva came knocking at her door minutes later, accompanied by Pinkie Pie bouncing around behind her.

“What’s the trouble?” The alchemist asked.

Zuri took a deep breath. “I think I may have botched everything. One of the ministers of the city saw me, and we’ve talked before. He might ask what I’m doing here, in their princess’ castle.”

“Well, what difference does that make?” Druva asked, folding her hooves. “Aren’t you going to be the ‘zebra ambassador’ who was ‘sent’ to the Gala to ‘bring our to species closer together’?”

“If I remember correctly, ambassadors don’t keep company with thieves,” Zuri explained. “He met me when I was with Ruby Nights, and later brought me home after I got Chrys’ letter. He’s going to be suspicious how I suddenly leapt from sleeping in an inn in the middle of a slum to sleeping in a castle.”

“Oh,” was all Druva could say, before Rarity came up to them, smiling as though she had just gotten the perfect birthday present.

“Oh, darlings, you’ll never guess who just arrived!” She chirruped.

Zuri sighed, and replied, “four ministers of Paradise City.”

Rarity had a look of surprise a lot like Shade’s as she stared at Zuri. “Why, that’s exactly right! How did you know that?”

“I walked into the main hall right when they did. One of them saw me, and he knows me from elsewhere.” Zuri looked at her meaningfully.

Rarity cottoned on immediately. “Oh dear... This is going to throw a wrench in the works for sure…”

“Then we should pull it out!” Pinkie interjected. “I mean, duh, if you put a wrench in your work, then you have to pull–”

“Pinkie, please, I’m trying to think,” Rarity refocussed. “Which one knows you, Zuri?”

“Shade, the minister of Defense.”

Rarity’s pupils thinned, and Zuri could have sworn she saw the unicorn’s lips form a very foul word. “Then he’ll be obligated to set ESSUG on you if this isn’t explained quickly. Oh, oh dear, I’ve got to go tell Twilight.”

“Too late!” Druva squeaked, pointing with a hoof towards two ponies that Zuri recognized. Her stomach suddenly felt very heavy. The two ESSUG cybernetic guards that had been with the Ministers were walking purposefully towards the group. Even Pinkie Pie stopped bouncing at the sight of them.

“Zebra, step away from the Element bearers.” The red mare instructed, the two gun barrels on her either side aimed straight for Druva and Zuri. The two zebra stepped quickly away from Pinkie and Rarity, who did not take their eyes off of the two cyberguards. The grey stallion walked forward, glaring down at Zuri.

“You will come with me. The MoD requires your presence.” He said, in a soft, cold voice, before he directed his silver-grey eyes towards Druva. “You will go with my colleague, and if you attempt to resist, you will be killed without further warning. Do you understand?” Druva gave a sheepish nod, moving nervously over to the red mare, who kept her weapons trained on the alchemist.

“Agents, desist!” Pinkie Pie shouted, in a suddenly serious tone. “As bearer of an element of harmony and ESSUG resources representative, I order you to desist.”

“Your authority is overridden by Lord Shade, miss Pie.” Replied the red mare, her voice holding a strange kind of smugness. “We serve the ESSUG MoD of Paradise City.”

Pinkie scowled at her for a few seconds, before shrugging. “Well, it was worth a try.”

With a push of one of those cold, metal hooves, Zuri was taken back towards the main hall. She didn’t dare try to escape, despite this stallion hardly even touching her except to direct her down a hall. His synthetic eyes stared straight ahead, though Zuri kept her eyes on him. Neither of them spoke, and Zuri took the time to look a little closer at his coat.

On the right side, the side she was walking on, the coat he wore bore the ESSUG insignia, as well as a number code, and a name that, with a little difficulty, she could read as Kiloton. Despite her limited knowledge of the ponies’ written language, she knew this must be the stallion’s name, though a strange one, like all pony names. Now that she was closer, she could tell that this stallion did not look healthy. Where there was fur instead of metal, it was obvious the skin underneath was pale, and in some places around the back of his head, veins were visible. If this Kiloton did not appreciate her staring at his head and side, then he didn’t show it.

Finally, Kiloton directed her into a sitting room, where Shade stood, staring out a window at the rest of Paradise City’s noble district. Kiloton exited the room, and the door shut behind him. Shade turned around, fixing Zuri with a very stern stare.

“So, Dell Mansa,” Shade began, his voice calm, though his eyes were alight. “Mind telling me how you got from Ruby’s hideout to Princess Twilight’s private castle?”

“Providence,” Zuri replied. She would cooperate as soon as she knew Shade wasn’t going to have her and her friends executed, or something similar.

Shade’s lips twitched. “Try again.”

“A friend in high places?” Zuri offered, trying her best to sound calm, despite the fact that the knowledge that a heavily armed cyborg stallion was standing just outside the door behind her.

Shade let out a small chuckle this time. “I can be a friend in high places, you know, but only if you’re not doing something illegal.”

Zuri cocked her head to the side, decided to play along. “What defines illegal for you?”

“Well, ESSUG does have a lot of rules. Does this have anything to do with what was in that note?”

“You mean the note that is my business, not yours?” Zuri countered.

Shade gave Zuri another stern look, like an adult reasoning with a child. It made Zuri’s jaw tighten. “Look, Zuri, if I say I want to be your friend, what would I need to do to prove that?”

Zuri shrugged, translating her irritation and fear of the cyborg outside into exaggerated nonchalance. “A number of things, though I’m wondering why I would want you as a friend at all.”

“So I don’t tell ESSUG there’s a zebra hiding in Princess Twilight’s castle, maybe?” Shade said, quite conversationally. “Expose you as a friend to the Shadowmaster? I could do that, if I wanted to. But right now, what I want to know is how you got here, and why you’re here in the first place.”

Zuri scowled at him, still reluctant. "Threats aren't a great way to make friends, you know."

"Oh I know exactly how to make friends, but you have to let me try first, which you..." But Zuri did not pay attention to the rest of what the stallion was saying. Her eyes, instead, focussed on the window behind Shade. Someone was just outside the window, and at first, Zuri thought it was Chrys again, but it wasn't. Sibulla, the spirit envoy, was staring at her through the window. When Zuri met her eyes, the spirit grinned, and opened her mouth. She was mouthing words in zebric. Zäg yiss: Tell him.

Zuri balked at first, eyes wide. Sibulla suddenly vanished, just before Shade turned around to see what she was looking at. The black stallion turned back around, and asked her thus, "What were you staring at?"

"Clouds made a curious shape." Zuri said, quickly, but Shade didn't look like he believed her. She didn't care, and instead took a breath. "I am here because your Princess allows me to be. She is helping me and my friends return home."

Shade looked surprised, but said, "how? Why do you need help?"

"Rainbow Dash and I share a common enemy. Filthy Rich does not want to treat her mercenaries correctly, and has thus far hindered my attempts to get home with his locking off all exits to non-dignitaries."

"Hold on, you know Rainbow Dash?" Shade asked, incredulous.

"I have, at least once, met all the Elements of Harmony, as you call them. I am not here to cause them harm. I just want to go home. This involves going to your Gala."

Shade was already having trouble taking in everything she had suddenly divulged before, but now he looked as if someone had told him he had made his mother pregnant with his father. "What does Ruby have to do with this?"

"She's helped me find out whether Filthy Rich is going."

"Well, no shit he's going!" Shade interrupted, sounding very unsettled. "He's one of the largest names in the colonizing industry! Him going to the resident Gala is as essential as the planets turning! Why do you have to go to the Gala again?"

"With Rainbow Dash and Ruby, to confront Filthy Rich in a situation where he is not surrounded by guards. Rainbow's plan was to scare him into letting us go and to giving her her pay."

"You... Rainbow's..." Shade stammered, still trying to put the pieces of the convoluted scheme together. "Why would... ESSUG is going to... ugh!" He through his forelegs into the air in frustration, before rubbing his eyelids and staring hard at Zuri. "Let me guess, Princess Twilight Sparkle can't lift the blockade in time, and you're the wanted criminal ESSUG has been talking about?"

"Right on the first thing, but how much of a criminal am I?" Zuri asked, happy to have redirected her discomfort and anger into Shade.

"Well, let's see, I've heard a lot of stuff about a wayward zebra recently. Tell me if I got this right: you beat up several Equestrian citizens, blew up a privately-owned hovercraft, wounded several train station guards in New Appleoosa, stole an ESSUG cargo train, wrecked most of the upper Rock Pile depot, infiltrated Paradise City's noble district, attacked a couple of bouncers, a poledancer, and now here you are, in Princess Twilight's castle." Shade finished, all in one breath, and fixed another angry glare on Zuri. "That's definitely enough to make you a criminal even in my books, and I'm pretty lenient, considering."

"Well, then, what now?" Zuri asked, not at all intimidated by the stallion. "Going to arrest me? Send me off with that cyborg?"

Shade sighed, closing his eyes. He remained silent for a while, thinking over the situation. Finally, the stallion spoke again. "You're friends with Rainbow Dash, that makes you a special case... I think. You're not going to he arrested by me, but I want Princess Twilight to explain it. You can go." Shade gestured with a hoof at the door, which unlocked almost instantly. "Let her go, Kiloton." He called out, and the grey stallion waiting outside stepped out of Zuri's way, as she exited the sitting room.

Kiloton stopped Zuri just outside the room. The cyborg stared down at her with his metal eyes. When he finally spoke, it was in a very hushed voice, but still clear and low. "You are not entirely welcome here. As an ESSUG agent, it is my obligation to monitor any suspicious individuals. You fall under that category. You will be watched, and if you make an attempt on anyone's life here, you will die." There was no anger or cruelty in his tone of voice. Zuri was surprised, could this be the one pony she met who was hostile to her only because it was his job? He did not look angry or cruelly smug. There was no sadistic glint in his eyes, like there had been for Blast-Cap, Ramrod, or the stallion who had almost succeeded in taking her innocence. Kiloton was stating a fact, not threatening her. "You had better go," the cyborg said to her, raising his head to watch her walk away. Zuri shivered; she could feel him staring at her as she left, with those unsettling mechanical eyes. Maybe Rarity's work had done more harm than good.

When Zuri returned to her room, she found Sibulla again, lounging on top of her bed. The spirit was smirking, as her glowing amber-yellow eyes looked to the door behind Zuri, which shut itself and locked immediately. Zuri replied to the smirk with an impatient look. "What do you want, and why did you want me to tell Shade what he wanted to know?"

"He's got a nice face, hasn't he, little Oun-Drii?" Sibulla asked, completely ignoring her question. "And other nice things, too, like those well-toned muscles. He also has a strong mind. What he wants, he gets himself. Not just a city official who reached his position with nepotism."

"You didn't answer my question," Zuri retorted, angrily.

"I don't have to answer your questions, you silly, insolent girl." said Sibulla, with as much force, but still grinning. "But you do have to answer mine. Does he not cut an attractive figure?"

Zuri stood a little straighter. Even when lying on her belly, Sibulla was a head taller than her. "I wouldn't know. I don't look at ponies for their attractiveness."

The spirit snorted, her eyes narrowing. "That is a pathetic lie. Why do you disrespect me? Come now, I am the guardian spirit of rebellious adolescents and all their escapades. 'Tis one reason why Dancir had to have me, rather than any other."

"I am no adolescent," Zuri said, still glaring at her. "I am an adult zebra, and the last thing I'm going to do is end up with an alien."

"You're a child," Sibulla responded, her smile thinning for a mere second. "You are hardly beyond your teenage years, little Oun-Drii. You still possess an adolescent's signature naïveté. I guess your famous ancestor didn't have the heart to tell you exactly who you'd end up with."

"Viva Sara," Zuri began, "did not tell me much because she did not want to set my expectations too high."

"Well, you seem to have done that all on your own!" Sibulla laughed. "You still haven't answered my question."

Zuri's face flushed, and she said, after taking as ample a moment as ever to deliberate, "I suppose he is handsome. Shade, I mean."

Sibulla nodded, still chuckling. "It helps he has that musculature, 'tis a fine one. Probably has military background. A shame he didn't get any of those metal implants like that on his guard. I'd like to see what they can do for a stallion's ability to please." Zuri suppressed an urge to wretch.

"Or," Sibulla continued, "maybe he doesn't need any help from machines in that regard. I'll soon find out. I am going to the Gala with him."

"You're what?" Zuri gawked, and the spirit mare laughed.

"Not every day that I get to explore the ever-changing Palosol surface. 'Tis often so boring, watching everything from another plane. Don't worry, I won't mess with your plans to threaten that Filthy Rich pony."

It was Zuri's turn to narrow her eyes. "How do I know that you are not lying?"

"Because," Sibulla snickered, "I have already had many opportunities. I will be appearing to Shade as a gorgeous Oun-Drii lady who happens to know that zebra are a new addition to the Grand Galloping Gala's guest list. That is the change that alicorn girl has to make, after all. Not just you, 'ambassador', but any zebra with the entry fee, to make it look less of a one-time thing." The spirit put a hoof to her chin, the mischievous grin growing wider. "You know, Shade was eyeing you, earlier. He's going to be an awful hoofful, trying to chase after you. What I have planned won't be a long lasting relationship between us."

"Shade has taken to me?" Zuri asked, incredulous, and feeling more than a little uneasy.

"Silly girl! Haven't you ever had males look at you?" Sibulla asked, as if it were a crime to not have been.

"Plenty of times. More recently among these ponies, and apparently not just males." Zuri said, unhappily. "And not all of them were eyeing me because I'm attractive."

"Which you are," Sibulla interrupted.

"But also because of my colored stripes. A lot of zebra don't like those, as I'm sure you know." Zuri continued, her face flushing.

Sibulla laughed again. "You think Shade cares about that? To him, it probably adds to the exotic allure."

"I'd like to think this future lover of mine isn't going to be a pony," Zuri insisted.

"Again, how naïve you are!" Sibulla repeated, rolling her eyes. "Love works in strange and unpredictable ways. I ended up with the original spirit of disunity for a husband. Granted, I'm not very loyal to him, or him to me. How ironic, for me to be the one to tell you this. Who you become infatuated with isn't really your choice! 'Tis an inescapable fate, like an epic prophecy, only usually with more sex involved."

Zuri scrunched up her face in an expression of disgust. "Why does sex have to be the end goal?"

"It doesn't," Sibulla said, matter-of-factly, "but it is certainly a nice perk to having a lover."

"The last thing I'm doing is having sex with a pony before I leave this city." Zuri said, with finality.

Sibulla shook her head, looking piteously at the trancer. "You are not going to be staying here much longer then, are you?"

Groaning loudly, Zuri hid her face in her hooves. How could one of the honored spirits talk so dirtily? Time to refocus the conversation. "Why are you here again?"

"Well, I guess that goes back to your question from earlier." Sibulla stood up to her full height, walking towards Zuri and looking down at her. "I told you to tell Shade everything, because he needs to know. Viva Sara told me so. She is on good terms with the guardian of the future, Essebana, and I am not, so I do not personally know why this matters. You will just have to assume that respecting your elder is good for you. And now..." She sighed, and stretched her legs in a feline manner. "It is high time I left, giving you all this to think about, but one more thing..." Sibulla leaned her head low, whispering in Zuri's ear. "Though I may sleep with him once, Shade is all yours. I've seen his heart, and he really wants a try at winning yours. Probably other parts of you, too. Stallions never change."

Zuri turned a brilliant shade of scarlet, and with a laugh that echoed ominously through the room, Sibulla vanished instantly. The trancer crawled up onto her bed, breathing deeply. That spirit knew exactly where to push her buttons, talking about this future love, obviously trying to push her towards Shade. But she couldn't end up with a pony, especially not one like Shade, rumored to be a philandering brute. Or could she? The idea was terrifying to her. Not only because of what it would mean for her own honor and reputation, but because it seemed very likely that Shade could come calling again with this exact kind of thing in mind.

Well, it wouldn't be the first time a stallion in high standing has gone for your heart, and it doesn't happen very often, she reminded herself. But still, a pony?

...Would it really be that bad to try?

Zuri wanted to vomit. Not from disgust at herself, but out of a sheer desire to get rid of the feeling in her gut. A twisting, knotting sensation, as her mind mulled over the idea, much to her own chagrin. No, it wouldn't be that bad to try. Maybe Shade was not a philanderer, and what if he was the love Viva Sara had spoken of?

Zuri was happy to find a large bowl in her bedroom's connected bathroom. She held it between her hooves as she sat on her bed. The sensation in her stomach was not going away, and thoughts of a potential lover, something that filled the zebra with feminine glee and absolute, nauseating terror, were revolving more and more around Shade.

———

On the next day, three days from the night of the Gala, Shade returned again, with the same quartet as before. Twilight apparently was to have many meetings with the city ministers, forming plans for the near future. The ministers reacted much as could be predicted when the princess informed them that a zebra ambassador would be coming to the Gala: with a great degree of alarm. Shade, on the other hoof, seemed the least surprised, and accepted the idea the soonest.

"And," began the stallion known as Sir Pants, recovering after Twilight told the group of Ministers, "are we going to meet this ambassador, your majesty?"

It was then that Twilight had Zuri come in, wearing a fair degree of makeup, at Rarity's behest. The unicorn had helped her apply faint black lipstick, light mascara, and some form of blush that accepted the stripes on her face. Still wearing the rich violet earrings from Rarity, and the stripe in her hair dyed the same shade, the effect was almost as good as when he wore her dress, Zuri thought. The meeting room was furnished with fine cloth and polished wood, with a lit fireplace on one wall. Twilight sat at on large chair, while the ministers either stood or sat in other chairs.

She gave the group a low curtsy. "I greet you as I would an equal," she addressed the four ministers, three of whom were staring at her in a mix of unease and something similar to curiosity. "My name is Oun-Drii Sara. Among my kind, my family is one of nobles."

"It is an honor to meet you, good lady," Sir Pants greeted her, managing a kind smile in her direction. "I am Fancy Pants the second, Minister of Relations. This is–"

"I was present when you introduced your fellows," Zuri interrupted him, "though you did not see me, I saw you."

This Fancy Pants fellow was evidently very unused to be interrupted, as he stared at Zuri with wide eyes when she spoke so suddenly. Candid Camera took advantage of the silence to speak to Zuri directly. "What is your purpose in coming to Paradise City?"

"I come to see and learn," Zuri lied, promptly. "I wish to see where our cultures intersect, and where they do not."

"A lost cause, then..." mumbled Briar Patch to Shade, though no one else heard it save for Zuri, whose trained auditory sense could pick up even faint whispers. Shade responded by fixing a disapproving glare on Briar Patch. Zuri found this response to be a good thing, however unkind it may have been. The fact that this conversation was happening at all meant that Shade had not divulged the true cause for Zuri being here. He could be trusted after all, with this secret, anyway.

“My my,” remarked Candid Camera, “I’ll want to organize an interview with you, sometime soon. First noble Palosol zebra to come to an Equestrian social gathering! That will make an ideal news story for the season.” 

“I would be glad to,” Zuri said, not lying this time, as she smiled at Candid, who smiled back, without any strain like Fancy Pants’.

“I’m glad you’re all warming to the idea,” Twilight spoke up, smiling at each of them. “Zuri, you did say you would be performing a solitary dance at the Gala?”

“I did,” the zebra in question responded, “the Retanoga, I thought it would be fitting entertainment.”

“You know how to dance?” Briar Patch blurted, and this time received a sharp glare from Twilight. He shrank back a little.

“I am guessing most of your dancing practices are different than ours, but I am a fast learner,” Zuri responded, confidently.

Briar Patch mouthed something Zuri couldn't lipread, and then spoke aloud. “You’d need a proper trainer, or someone to practice with. All of the dances at the Gala are paired. You will need a partner, a date.”

“As Minister of Court, it is Sir Briar Patch’s job to manage, well, this kind of thing.” Twilight explained to Zuri, “you will need to find a partner, Zuri. This is not a law, this is a rigidly upheld tradition. I cannot change something like that.”

Zuri frowned. This plan was getting more and more complicated each day. “Well, that is going to be a problem. I very much doubt many who match my class of your race will want to be my partner.”

“I can go with lady Zuri, as her partner.” Everyone in the room, minister, trancer, and Princess, turned to stare at Shade. “Er, it would work, to avoid a long, arduous process. I’m fluent in zebric, I can help her learn some of the Gala’s formalities the quickest.”

Zuri’s stomach felt like it was full of dense ice. What was Shade thinking? Sibulla may not have just been trying to bother her, after all. Steeling herself, she put on her best brave smile, and nodded gratefully to Shade. “That is very gracious of you, good sir, I accept.”

What am I accepting, exactly, Shade? Your offer to help me escape, or to try and get close to me?

Briar Patch looked like he was having trouble connecting things, much like Shade had a day ago. Twilight clapped her hooves together, obviously trying to lay down the pieces as quickly and smoothly as possible. “Then this works perfectly! Won’t this make a nice story, Candid Camera, with Paradise City’s Minister of Defense taking lady Zuri to the Gala?”

“Oh, most certainly yes!” Candid Camera responded eagerly, “it will be a fun story to write. I’ll make sure the media doesn’t spin it into another love story like the last, Shade.”

Zuri noticed Shade’s whole frame stiffen at this cryptic assurance, but he nodded curtly to the Minister of Media a few moments later. “Thank you, Candid.”

There was a brief moment of silence, before Twilight cleared her throat, “Well, Zuri, I suppose that’s all we’ll need you present for. We’ll need privacy to discuss other matters.”

Zuri nodded and, still with a stomachful of ice, departed the meeting room. So, she was going to the Gala, with Shade. Yet, Rainbow must still be expecting her to help confront Filthy Rich, and persuade him to remove the lock on all transports. On top of this, Chrys was still out and about, and Sibulla… How would she react if she learned Shade was already going with Zuri? She seemed pretty dead set on, yuck, testing him out. This is getting far too complicated. The sooner I am out of this city, the better.

———

Barxie sat back on a dingy chair on the porch of his slum house, slowly drinking a glass filled with a bitter alcohol. Skote the buffalo was also sitting back, enjoying a similar drink, and dealing another hand of cards between him, Barxie, and two other zebra. The head of the Striped Shanty had a thought, and addressed his right-hoof. “So, big guy, still no word on that Sara girl, or her merry band of misfits?”

“Nope, boss,” the buffalo rumbled, eyeing the cards he had dealt himself, and placing a bid. “Nothin’s happening worth shit these days. That big shiny gala means we won’t have to waste ‘lectricity on Wednesday, though.”

“Well, good! Can’t wait, maybe then we’ll get our Gau-Aer shipments back, if those misfits manage anything.” Barxie noticed his own glass getting empty, and clapped his forehooves together loudly. “Datroi, another round!”

Datroi stepped daintily outside and onto the porch, carrying a tray with four glasses of drink on it. She gave each of the card players a drink as quickly as possible, taking great care not to spill anything. As soon as she serve Skote’s, however, the buffalo pushed the glass over. “Go clean that up, slug.” Barxie snapped at her, still focussing on his cards.

Fetching a mostly clean rag, Datroi began mopping up the strong-smelling drink, with her back to Skote. She should have expected the sharp slap on her backside. The Scal-Re shot straight up, but did not dare cry out. Skote could do whatever he wanted, he was Barxie’s friend. The buffalo rumbled with laughter as Datroi quickly walked away.

Inside and alone again, Datroi moved to the house’s abysmal kitchen. A stack of mostly cleaned plates sat in the sink, the paint on the walls was peeling off, and the floor felt dirty and grimy underneath the servant’s hooves. Ignoring this disgusting state of affairs, Datroi moved to the pantry, where faint sobbing could be heard. She opened the wooden door, and looked down at the zebra lying there, on the floor, bound and gagged so as to make as little noise as possible.

The real Datroi’s watery eyes stared in utter uncomprehending terror, up at the carbon copy of herself. The Datroi who had just opened the door sighed, shaking her head at the miserable form of the zebra before her. She wished she didn’t have to do this, but she could sense Datroi’s feelings. She was sensitive and scared easily, and if she let the real one run free, she could ruin everything.

“Datroi!” Barxie’s voice came again from outside. “Idiot! Come pick up this cracked glass, or I’ll let Skote have you again.”

“Datroi” quickly walked outside again, and retrieved the glass. “Just wanted an excuse to come ogle me, didja?” Skote said, his breath stinking of the drink he had just finished. The impostor said nothing in response, though she turned around quickly, for fear of blowing her cover. With her temper threatening to boil over, her eyes had become a constant, emerald green.

14. Retanoga

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The music was slow and serene. How he had managed to get ahold of music so fitting, she did not know. She swayed with him around the open space in perfect rhythm, each of the steps falling into place. The dance was easy, everything was easy. She felt utterly peaceful like this, dancing smoothly along with him. Everything was perfect, right up until his face was suddenly looming toward hers, and her body temperature skyrocketed. Eyes wide, face pink, Zuri tripped, regaining her footing just in time to avoid falling to the floor.

“Easy there!” Shade waved a hoof in the air, and the music halted. “It’s supposed to be a waltz, take it more slowly, otherwise you’re going to stomp on somepony's tail.”

Zuri huffed, standing up straight. “It would work much better if you did not insist on moving so close to me so quickly. T’was startling.”

“Oh, sorry,” Shade snickered, losing his critical look. “Feeling claustrophobic, are we? It’s part of the dance. You’ll have to get used to being that close; ponies do it all the time.”

Zuri rolled her eyes, in hopes of gradually getting rid of her blush. “I am not a pony, remember? It startles me, makes me think you’re going in for an undeserved kiss.”

There was a brief silence, in which Shade stared at her for a few seconds. Then, he grinned an exaggerated grin, mocking lechery, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. Zuri snorted, attempting to muffle her giggling with a hoof. “That’s a look I’ve seen before, on less kind ponies than you.”

“Aha!” Shade cried, throwing a hoof in the air victoriously. “Finally got a compliment out of you! Let’s celebrate by starting again. Don’t worry, no kissing unless I deserve it.” With another wave of his hoof, the waltzing music started up again, and the two began to dance once more in a three-beat rhythm. “But seriously,” He said to her, as he spun her slowly around, “I wouldn’t kiss you unless you asked me to. It would be ungentlestallionly to try and go in for one if you didn’t want one.”

“You should tell that to the oaf who tried to force himself upon me the other day,” Zuri replied, swallowing a little harder than usual as that nauseating memory came back.

"Well, besides that," Shade continued, giving her a meaningful look, "I'm already seeing another mare. We're engaged."

"Really?" Zuri asked. "Ruby Nights said you claimed to already have been married."

"I... May have been exaggerating a little," Shade bowed his head, a nervous smile on his face. "I wanted her to be one of the first mares who didn't see me as a hungry philanderer. Given my... yeah. But it is true! My fiancé's name is Ultraviolet. I'll be taking you as your escort, Ultraviolet is my date."

Well, that was reassuring. Yet this news also gave Zuri a feeling of bitterness, though she couldn't come up with any reason what she wouldn't like about the fact that this stallion had no reason to actually come onto her. No reason that makes sense, anyway.

After some further practice, Zuri bade farewell, still trying to figure out where this bitter feeling was coming from. She exited the practice room set aside for her, and immediately found herself nose-to-nose with Druva, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Ruby Nights.

"You shameless hypocrite!" Druva said, though she was smiling.

"At least we're honest about it!" Rainbow said after her, also smiling.

"You lucky sneak! You got to him before I did!?" Rarity whined.

"I warned you!" Snapped Ruby. "I warned you! But you didn't listen, did you? Nooooo..."

Zuri, exaspersted, shouted back at them, "Shut up!" Momentary silence fell, as all four mares fo. "I'm not going after Shade, alright? I wouldn't dare. He has a fiancé..."

"Haha!" Ruby cried, triumphantly. "He told me he already had a wife! The lying, slimey-"

"He was overexcited, he wants you to think better of him. Her name is Ultraviolet, by the way. Is that a real pony? I'm sure you can check!" Zuri argued, looking expectantly at a gaping Rarity.

"Her and Shade? But... But nopony said anything about them, together."

"So she is real?" Rainbow interrogated her friend. "You being our resident gossip hotline, and all."

Rarity nodded, looking almost proud of the title. "She is indeed! She's an earth pony, lots of money, there was a scandal a while back when she was accused of sleeping with Fancy Pants by his wife, Fleur-De-Lis." She smirked for a moment, and then sighed wistfully. "That lucky girl, Ultraviolet. Shade's a hunk, and he doesn't have, well, these." She held up one of her metal hooves.

"They sound perfect for each other. Two ponies who keep sleeping with other ponies," Ruby put in.

Rarity snorted at this. "Well, Fleur was probably just jealous of Ultraviolet's good looks. You see, they're both cyborgs. Fleur had her front legs replaced, because of a muscle deformity, and then a lot more of her replaced, trying to get with the latest trends. Ultraviolet managed to do the same thing, and look better too, because she's also younger."

"Which Fancy Pants are we talking about, again?" Zuri asked.

"The first, the second's father. They've been married a few years less than their son is old." Rarity smiled a knowing smile. "They obviously had a thing going beforehoof, but they both had enough money to cover the whole thing up. Mostly, to those who don't go digging."

"Blech, that is yet another reason why I am not going after Shade." Zuri grumbled. "Too much sex, not to mention he's a pony."

"What? Don't be silly!" Rarity laughed, dismissively waving a hoof. "He's a very chaste stallion. Being the resident gossip hotline, after all, I can tell you most of those rumors about him are entirely false."

"Weird, because he did come onto me at one point," Ruby piped in, looking very disgruntled by Rarity's denial, who chortled at her in an almost critical way.

"Dear, you may have been misinterpreting his charming personality."

Ruby glared at the unicorn. "I didn't know you could misinterpret a proposition and a yank of the tail." Rarity went pink, blinking bemusedly.

"O-or some of those rumors could be true, I suppose..."

"Yes, some," Ruby snickered, with a sour look. "Well, at any rate, is he a good dancer? More importantly, are you learning quickly?"

"Quickly enough," Zuri affirmed. "The waltz and the foxtrot are what we are focusing on, for the Gala. He is a very good teacher, if a little uncaring about personal space."

Rarity heaved a long, envious sigh. "Ohh... I hope those rumors aren't true. Zuri, dear, if you're not going after him..."

"He is all yours, you're welcome to him," she interrupted dryly. "I am sure I can find someone for myself of my own species, back home."

Ruby Nights grinned broadly. "Aw, not even giving me a chance?" Zuri stared at her for a few seconds, before the thief mare giggled at her look. "What? I thought it was pretty obvious I was a fillyfooler. Would have thought you'd find it flattering, and I'm a shameless flirt."

"Told you..." Rainbow Dash whispered to Zuri from her other side, as the group of mares began to walk down the hall together. The rainbow mare's wing still had a bandage wrapped around it, but she had otherwise recovered unusually quickly, with her bruises and cuts hardly visible now. Druva must have given her some dictamnus as well.

Rainbow Dash raised her voice, speaking to the whole group. "Well, Uzul might be staying with me. I think I managed to convince him, without the use of sex."

"That's fine with me, it is his choice," Zuri replied, coolly.

"You don't have anything wrong with it at all?" Rainbow quizzed her, smirking.

"Not a thing, and the same goes for Druva with that Big Macintosh fellow."

There was a pause, before Druva gave a loud snort. "You are fancying that stallion! Don't want to be a hypocrite, is that it?"

"That's nonsense, he is engaged." Zuri murmured, her face heating up. She was merely enjoying the lessons with Shade, nothing more. It would be useless to try for him any way, even if he wasn't spoken for. She would probably be out of Paradise City by the end of the week. There was no point.

"Well, anyway," Rainbow continued, "I just checked with Moondancer and Thunderlane to make sure the Rainbow Riders don't end up burning down that inn or something equally stupid. According to them, a couple of ESSUG investigators were just walking by the inn when I called. Looked like ponies who meant business, and they might have been looking for us, or maybe that Shadow Master we keep hearing about." She looked meaningfully at Ruby.

"Why ever would they be looking for her?" Ruby mocked innocence, fluttering her eyelashes exaggeratedly. "I hear we didn't actually cause that much of a ruckus at the Ropes of Equestria."

"Why in Celestia's name were you going into a place like that?" Rarity asked, sounding appalled as her gaze when from Zuri to Ruby.

"To look for information regarding Filthy Rich, duh," the thief mare answered.

"Oh, of course, all goes back to him. I didn't know he stooped to that level, though. He was a wife and family!"

"Judging from how Tough Love acted when we met her," Rainbow Dash put in, "it'd explain a lot if her parents aren't very good at constancy. How many children does he have, again?"

"Just two: Tough Love and Diamond Tiara. The second one is an absolute brat. She bullied my little sister when she was still living on Equestria. We were all very happy not to deal with her when Filthy Rich announced he'd be moving to Palosol to oversee his businesses here."

"So he could inflict his daughters upon us, more like." Zuri muttered, gesturing to herself and Druva.

Rarity later excused herself, moving towards the dressmaking wing, saying that she ought to finish her work before the rest of the last three days went by. Ruby Nights detached herself, saying that she was going to follow the example of Rainbow Dash, and check in upon the Shrouded Blade. That left just Rainbow Dash, Druva, and Zuri alone in the expansive corridors of the castle. That was the case until a lanky purple reptile could be seen running towards them.

"Good, I found you three!" Spike stopped before them, catching his breath before continuing. "Twilight found something in her library about the, uh..." He lowered his voice and raised his eyebrows, looking secretive. "The bug problem. Come on!"

Reaching the library was easy, but taking in the sheer size of it was the hard part. After taking a simple path through several corridors, Spike lead them to a pair of large, wooden double doors, which opened to reveal a cavernous expanse. The walls that Zuri could see were lined floor-to-ceiling with shelves and shelves of books. The huge room was lit by giant glass skylights, which sent down frustums of illumination onto the soft carpet underhoof.

The smell of newly printed paper permeated the air, and the doors shut with a thunderous, echoing crash. It was only seconds before Twilight appeared to them, mid-flight near the ceiling, carrying a stack of books by magic, one levitating open before her, and another held betwixt her teeth. She made a noise, and then as if realizing it were there for the first time, she spat out the book in her mouth, choosing to stick it in with the pile floating alongside her. Her wings flapping quickly, the alicorn descended to the floor, landing near the double doors, and next to a table, which she set the collection of books upon.

"It took me a while, because I prefer the old-fashioned books that you can swat shut, but I've discovered something very interesting!" Twilight began, now without a volume muffling her. "Our records show that changelings can only feed off of love. The queen you came across could never have lasted very long in captivity unless someone was giving her affection of some form or another. Judging from how you said she rarely spoke of her time before being set free, I doubt this was the case. Which leads me to believe, seeing where Chrys was going on that train, that she was genetically modified to have the ability to live off another form of sustenance."

"Well, that's great, Twilight." Rainbow Dash interrupted her. "So she can get fat off of cookies now, cool, so what does that have to do with–"

"I'm getting to that! So, that means that Chrys was still being fed, by other emotions or physical foods, while she was being held. If she was the result of gene-modification, it would make a lot more sense if the Frontier Forest labs wanted her, because that's the exact kind of thing they're doing, to allow Equestrian plants to grow on Palosol soil. I then decided to pull rank, so I could examine a couple high-security ESSUG transport invoices." She smiled a sly smile at the three of them. "The train you used to get here was found yesterday. All high-priority cargo was accounted for, save for a crate of extremely valuable experimental terraforming equipment."

Zuri could guess exactly what the equipment was. "Chrys is for terraforming?" Rainbow asked, gawping. "How does that even work? How is a kid of a changeling supposed to be used for molding planets?"

"That's the next mystery," answered Twilight. "There's no further description for what the equipment was, but I bet you it was that changeling. So, there is a genetically altered adolescent Queen, built for terraforming in some way, loose in Paradise City. At least she isn't in Canterlot this time, masquerading as my brother's bride to be."

"At least, you say," said Druva, frowning. "How much of problem does all that make her?"

"Seeing as she beat the snot out of Rainbow Dash? A big one." Twilight's horn gave a little spark, and the chest piece she wore suddenly projected a bright blue hologram from the center jewel. She began drawing something with a shoe-clad hoof in the projection. "I'm going to look at ESSUG patrols and checkpoints, see if I can't shift some of their attention from a certain wayward zebra and onto finding Chrys."

"You're sending ESSUG after her?" Zuri asked, with a little too much alarm in her voice. "From all I have heard, that is going to be a death sentence."

Twilight stared at Zuri for a full ten seconds, and then shut off the hologram projector in her chest piece, to fix a meaningful look on the zebra. "Zuri, a changeling, whether they're a juvenile or an adult, can be a big problem. It's an even bigger problem, because I don't know what she's doing here in the first place. I am Princess Twilight Sparkle, the only ponies who outrank me are Princesses Celestia and Luna, my elder rulers. When it comes to searching for information, there is no wall any ordinary pony can put in my way. Do you understand yet?" She stepped much closer to Zuri, a very hard expression on her face.

"I hold the highest authority possible, but I can't find anything about a changeling being shipped anywhere. Either this is something Celestia or Luna doesn't want me to know about, or it's something ESSUG is doing without permission. So, I have a stake in you getting to Filthy Rich now, too. He's the biggest sponsor for the Frontier Forest terraforming program. This means that, most likely, he was the one paying for whatever they did to Chrys."

"Well, shit," Rainbow remarked, staring at the floor. "It all goes back to Filthy, doesn't it?"

"He does seem to have his hooves in a lot of pies. It makes me wonder what else there is that leads back to him," she sighed, bringing up the hologram to finish her work. "I understand if you feel guilty about her leaving your little group, Zuri, but unless they did a lot of work on her brain, Chrys is just as dangerous as any other changeling. More so, because she probably doesn't need direct love to survive."

"I guess we should have let Ruby help us find her, then," Rainbow said ruefully. "Well, Twilight, is that all you managed to find?"

Twilight nodded, now sitting on her haunches to work with the hologram using both forehooves. "That's all. I need to focus on work now, so..."

"Say no more, Twilight," Rainbow said, taking the lead out the door.

Spike walked with them out of the library, shutting the door behind him. "Huh! It's a good thing she already got most of the reworked laws passed. She spent hours and hours sifting through books in there, didn't so much as blink when I brought her coffee, earlier."

Rainbow Dash laughed. "That's the Twilight Sparkle I know. She'd spend weeks just reading for fun if she had the time. Which she doesn't much, anymore."

The three of them walked in silence, until Rainbow Dash went off to find Uzul. Now just a pair of zebras, Druva sighed, disappointed. "So much for leaving Chrys alone," Druva muttered, walking with Zuri back to their rooms.

Zuri frowned. "Well, if Chrys is as much of a danger as they all say she is, do we zebra really want to have to contend with her on Palosol?"

"But how could someone so small and scrawny looking be that dangerous?" Druva countered.

"You did not see Rainbow Dash when she came back yesterday. She was in a terrible state. Covered in bruises and cuts, one wing fractured."

"Maybe that was different," Druva said, defiantly. "Maybe she was just defending herself. Of course Chrys would hurt Rainbow Dash that much if she thought she would do the same!"

"Perhaps so," Zuri conceded. "I suppose we won't know unless she chooses to show herself again, and feels like explaining herself."

The pair reached Druva's room first, Zuri's being further down the hall, and the trancer bode a quick farewell when she saw Macintosh approaching them. Druva, sounding much giddier than before, invited him into her room as loudly as possible, so that even when Zuri shut her door, and looked at the zebra spirit on her bed, she could still–hang on a second...

Once more, Sibulla was present in her room, much like before, only this time she was average female zebra height, with a bangle on each leg, and her hair brushed elaborately around her face. The spirit also seemed to have much more accented eyes and lips than usual. On top of all of this, she looked very, very angry.

Zuri did not dare speak, for she knew exactly how dangerous an angry spirit could be. Sibulla broke the silence, "you little overeager sacöre..." She hissed the zebric word for slut with increased emphasis, standing up and walking off the bed, to move her glaring face closer to Zuri. "Here I am, all especially made up for a night of fun, and I learn that you haven't even waited for me to get a sample of that Shade fellow before you start pursuing him."

That's what this is about? Come ON! "I haven't started anything like that!"

"No? Not with all that dancing you two have done? He calls it practice. In your eyes, it's much more intimate than that." Her eyes narrowed, and she leaned her head closer to Zuri's, who responded by leaning back. "I see it in you eyes. I hear it from your mind. You are gaining a liking to him, and you didn't even wait for my turn."

"He's going to be married!" Zuri countered, more than a little hotly. "I wouldn't try and seduce a betrothed stallion, that's worse than... Than..."

"Than having a discolored daughter?" Sibulla offered, and Zuri's cheeks went red. "You're a pathetic liar, all the same. I was really looking forward to having fun with him, before you stumbled in."

Zuri scowled, and shot back. "Weren't you the one who said he was all mine?"

Sibulla seemed to swell with an intake of breath, her eyes glowing fiercely. "Stupid girl... Obviously I said that after saying I was going to have fun with him. Instead, you couldn't wait till after the Gala."

"You think I had a choice?" Zuri questioned her, though she knew she was pushing her luck. She had no idea what Sibulla could do to her if she lost her temper, and she did not want to find out. "Those stupid pony rules of etiquette demand that I have a date, and Shade volunteered himself. Couldn't you have, ugh, your fun with him some other night?"

"I didn't just want sex, you silly girl! I wanted a night of fun, socializing, flirting, everything you insipidly spoiled nobles get to have whenever you like. The Gala seems so bright and full of joviality... Dancir never takes me to anything! He is too protective."

"Find someone else to go to the Gala with," Zuri offered, surprised at how juvenile this whole conversation was. "I'm sure there are other ponies who strike your fancy."

"I set my eyes on Shade. Watched him until I knew exactly what kind of mare he'd enjoy the most." She gave a dramatic shake of her head, letting her mane fling smoothly back and forth. "And you ruined all that. Ponies cannot have two dates and an accompaniment. No one does that."

"Well, I'm very sorry, honored spirit," said Zuri, unable to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. "But this is not my fault, so why not go have your night of fun with someone else, rather than yelling at me?"

As soon as Zuri said it, she knew it was a mistake. Sibulla's eyes shined like raging fires, and she next spoke in a high-pitched, grating scream. "Yelling? That was not yelling! This is yelling!" She shrieked, causing the whole room to shudder, and for Zuri's ears to ring. "Arrogant child! Dirty sacöre! You dare speak to me as if I was your equal?"

Zuri did not dare speak further. She stoodthere, fear holding her still. "I could crush you like a bug..." The spirit growled, her voice reverberating around them. "Just glare at you a little more and watch you compress into a bloody lump. I could..." Her gaze seemed to intensify for a second, and Zuri suddenly found it much harder to breathe, before the pressure lifted.

"If it weren't for your family." Sibulla finished, her eyes not glowing so brightly, yet the anger in them still burned. "Viva Sara wouldn't let me kill you. No one lets me do anything! How lucky you are, insolent Oun-Drii."

Zuri breathed heavily, waiting for the spirit to decide whether or not to continue ranting before saying anything. "Lucky indeed," continued the spirit, sounding very bitter. "Fine, I'll leave you and your future love alone. But I'm still going to that Gala, and if you try to do anything else that crosses me, sacöre, I will ignore whatever babble Viva Sara may throw in my direction."

With no more warning, Sibulla vanished, and the trancer heaved another sigh of relief. Honestly, it was as if the entire universe thought she was trying to go for Shade's heart. Would she never get peace from this? Apparently not, as there came a fervent banging on her door. Zuri turned and opened it, and Druva barreled in, knocking the trancer down with her.

"Where are they? Where are they?" Druva asked, standing and looking around the room. "Who was screaming at you, Zuri? It sounded as if they were going to kill you..."

Zuri suddenly found herself in an interesting dilemma. There was no way she could tell a lie that would convince Druva that there had not been someone in her room, she had obviously heard that it was a voice other than Zuri's. Yet, how could the Non-Ni believe her if she said that Sibulla the spirit envoy had been appearing to her, twice carrying a message, and once out of sheer passionate rage? She would think Zuri was crazy, surely.

"Someone was in here," The trancer began, choosing her words carefully. "But I doubt you'd believe me if I told you who."

"What? Come on, Zuri, don't you trust me?"

"It's not a matter of trust." Well, actually, I guess it is. "It's merely that the one who was just in here is... well... very scarcely seen addressing zebra such as me."

"Zebra such as–" Druva gave her a flat look. "Zuri, you're Oun-Drii, what, did a zebra hater suddenly materialize in your room and begin shouting at you? Because, well, minus the sudden materialization part, that's happened to us many times already."

"No, no, I mean..." Zuri sighed, defeated. "Fine, Sibulla, the Spirit Envoy, paid me a visit."

The reaction was just as she had predicted. Druva looked as if she was in shock for a split second, before bursting out laughing. This went on for a few seconds before the zebra gained control of herself again, and then noticed the level expression on Zuri's face. Her raucous smile faded slowly. "Wait, you're serious, aren't you?"

"As serious as ever. Sibulla was here, speaking to me, and she has done this twice before."

Druva stared at Zuri long and hard, before speaking again. "I knew that daturum did something to muddle with your head, ever since you started getting alone with that Shade pony..."

"For the last time, I'm not going after Shade!" Zuri shouted. "Sibulla first visited me the second night we spent in that Inn, long before you tried to give me that potion. It had nothing to do with the daturum."

"Sibulla actually appeared to you? The Sibulla?" Druva said, looking around the room as if she thought to find some clue that could confirm this.

"She was the one screaming. Do we know anyone other than a spirit that could scream loud enough for you to hear it? These walls are thick."

Druva still looked skeptical, but she asked another question. "Why was she upset? Are you allowed to say?"

"She thinks I am going after Shade, and she wanted to go after him first."

"So, Sibulla the Spirit Envoy wants to go after a pony? Zuri, you can't honestly expect me to believe that."

"I know it sounds strange, Druva, but think about it. Think about all the old tales of Sibulla presenting herself to some of the stallions she took to the celestial plane." Zuri continued, fixing the alchemist with as meaningful a look as she could manage.

"When she could get away from her inadequate husband; Dancir?" Druva finished for her, still frowning, though Zuri could see agreement dawning on her face. "But still... Sibulla wanting Shade for herself? I'm the one who is cuddling up with Big Macintosh, as you'd put it, and it still sounds ridiculous."

Zuri frowned, disliking having to further explain this. "She said she wanted to sample him, especially, before I did."

"Why in the world would Sibulla think you'd even want to?" Druva paused for a moment, before smirking with a mix of humor and displeasure at Zuri. "So were we right, or not?"

She had been afraid of this. Perhaps she had misjudged Druva's trust in her as far as the story about Sibulla visiting her, but surely, surely Druva wouldn't believe that Zuri actually went to the plain of the stars! She had no proof, nothing to show her friend that could possibly help to reinforce her story. Lying was the only option. "Sibulla said that Viva Sara had told her I would meet a future love here sometimes soon."

Once more, it was just as Zuri had predicted she would react. The alchemist's smirk lessened, eyebrows raising slowly. "Let me make sure I have this... You are saying that Sibulla has been speaking to you in private regarding a future love referred to by Viva Sara, your legendary ancestor?"

"Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying," Zuri answered.

Druva shook her head, walking slowly out of the bedroom. "The sooner we are out of this city, the better."

———

The last days before the Grand Galloping Gala passed very quickly, Zuri taking lessons from Shade on etiquette and ballroom dancing, while Uzul and Rainbow Dash seemed to grow closer and closer together. Every time the trancer saw one, she saw the other, right next to each other. For whatever reason, she also saw less of Druva, though did catch a glimpse of her around the castle, sharing personal space with Big Macintosh on more than one occasion. She thought she caught pieces of conversation between them, including everything from sweet say-nothings to little comments that, Zuri suspected, had something to do with herself. Druva never said her name, but she could guess from some of the snippets that the topic of conversation was indeed Zuri.

"I think the pressure from all this Gala business is starting to break her down," she vividly remembered Druva saying, when passing the two of them by while they thought they were secluded, together, by a windowsill. "I know it's not from the daturum. She might be having hallucinations."

"Why? What's she told you?" Macintosh asked, concern mixing with furtive discomfort.

Zuri heard Druva let out a sigh. "I... I don't think I can give you any details yet. If she's telling the truth, then telling you is taboo."

"Shouldn't have brought it up, then," said Macintosh.

Though Druva seemed to be doubted her sanity, at least she had the courtesy to keep the contents of Zuri's confession a secret. At this point, overhearing some of these conversations made her wish that she had told Druva that she wanted the laws regarding proper respect for an Oun-Drii upheld, even outside of a zebric society. If anything was breaking her down, it was the feeling of a growing separation from her fellow zebra.

"Go and talk to them, then!" Ruby Nights suggested, after Zuri confided in her, sitting in the zebra's bedroom. It was strange, but she found she was able to speak to the thief mare quite easily. She understood many zebra customs as well as Uzul or Druva did, and it made Zuri wonder how she had learned it so well. Like Ruby had once said, it was easier for her to keep company with zebra, and now Zuri had an idea why. "It isn't like they're glaring daggers at you at every opportunity. Technically they can't refuse to talk with you. It's weird that all three of you seem to have forgotten social custom for treating Oun-Drii properly!"

"How ironic for a pony to be the one to tell me that," Zuri grumbled, "this city is making me yearn for Otoul more and more, but I can't seem to remember how to command respect from either of them."

Ruby pursued the encouraging angle. "So long as you can command respect from the cream of the Equestrian nobility tonight, you can figure out the rest later."

"Shade has been helping me with that," said Zuri, "he's very well-versed–"

"In how to drag a mare into his bed. I don't care if he's married, getting married, or a gelding, I don't think you should spend any more time than you have to alone with him."

Zuri's eyes narrowed, "I'm not giving him a hope of pairing with me, but why are you so against him? Every time you talk about him, you sound more and more like... Like a former lover."

Ruby went her namesake shade of red. "Don't be silly! What experience would you have with mares like that, anyway?" She looked like she wanted to say more, but stopped herself. Zuri could guess what the thief mare wanted to finish with: seeing as you're a virgin Oun-Drii, who only began to interact with our species a week ago?

"Plenty," she lied, attempting to keep up an aloof exterior against Ruby's flustered one. "You say you know so much about our culture, then surely you know how often it is that particularly fickle Oun-Drii leave behind a string of resentful partners. Your noble caste seems so similar to ours—that Glamour Rose probably wasn't the first girl exploited by Filthy Rich."

"You're making a lot of assumptions about the creme of the Equestrian crop, Zuri. Though I admit it's spot on with a few of them, Shade being an example."

Zuri rolled her eyes, fuming up again. "You already gave me your warning, multiple times. If he tries to come onto me, I can take care of myself just fine. He wouldn't dare try anything ever again. I was just observing that you seemed especially against him, for one who learned of his reputation simply through word of mouth—not experience." What experience would you have with stallions like that, hmmm?

Ruby's face went redder. "He's... He's tried to seduce me multiple times in the past, usually when we were getting on good terms. This ruined said terms, usually, because I refuse to be polite to a stallion who thinks he can take advantage of me." She was talking faster than usual. A sign of dishonesty, perhaps? Zuri pursued it.

"Tell me exactly what was said to you by him. You may have misinterpreted his meaning. He might just be a shameless flirt."

"Pretty hard to misinterpret a slimeball grin and a low-brow joke about how he'd like to see me without my cloak on." Ruby continued, sounding angrier than before. "Why do you care so much? You're not chasing after him, again, so you say."

"You never had a fling with him or anything, so you say." Zuri countered.

"Well, fine!" Ruby shouted, stamping her hooves, face red as a beet. "If you're sooo confident in his gentlestallion's manner, why don't you prove it?"

"I already said I–"

"If you stop lying, so will I!" Ruby persisted. "You can tell the others what you like, but I just know you're into him. Did you really think an experienced bisexual wouldn't detect this a mile away?"

Zuri scowled at the floor for several seconds. This mare had just read her like an open book. "Alright," she conceded, "I admit I have been thinking about him. A little. But only because of..." She trailed off. Telling Druva about what Sibulla said was one thing. Telling Ruby Nights, a powerful head in Paradise City's underworld—also not a zebra—was another.

Ruby was too impatient to let her think of a good alternative. "Of what? A prophecy? Some future seer who said you'd find love in the most unlikely of places? Zuri, that's what they ALL say!" She winced at the thief mare's mostly accurate guess. There was an brief, albeit uncomfortable, silence.

"Well, I've stopped lying," prompted Zuri, looking at Ruby with raised eyebrows.

"Yeah yeah," Ruby waved a hoof, rolling her eyes. "I did have a short fling with him, once. I wanted to take things slowly, try something a bit less fast-paced than usual, for my escapades. But..." She paused, as if collecting her thoughts, her gaze now focused downward. "He didn't share the same idea. Thought I really owed him, or something. Next thing I new after a rare shared dinner, his hooves were where they shouldn't be, and we had a small fight about it." She sighed, "neither of us have mentioned it since. It's the first and only mess with a stallion I've gotten myself into where the stallion and I had to keep meeting, for business, and try to act like professionals."

"Professionals? You're a thief," Zuri said.

Ruby glared sharp daggers at her. "There's honor among me and my own, and I try to keep my dignity. You've got no idea how hard it is to stay on top of a thieving guild populated by a large number of males. Shade caught me at a weak point, and when he was groping me, I could look in his eyes and see just how little he thought of me. I couldn't have been the first one to get roped in by him, but I'd be the first to stay out of his bed, though still have to put up with his company. The way he acts towards me now, like you saw, I think that's his way of conveying an apology that he thinks I'll understand, after which I'll finally say to him I forgive him. Maybe he thinks I'll let him in between my legs after that." She scoffed sourly at the idea.

"But he's got no hope. I won't forgive him. I don't forgive objectification. Ever. I don't care if he's changed, is making an effort to change, whatever! If there's one thing I hate, it's a stallion who thinks he can get away with treating a girl like that."

Zuri didn't need the significant look Ruby gave her to remember the first time she had heard the mare say that. Could this be the main reason she had helped the pair of zebras accosted by a small party of haters? Had she thought she'd seen a bit of herself in Zuri, then, and didn't want the same thing to happen, only to get worse? She didn't want to ask, because the shadow mistress seemed pretty angry as it was, and Zuri did not want to push her luck.

"I'm giving you my last warning, before the Gala." The thief mare continued in measured tones. "Be careful about Shade. He's done a lot of mares, and even if he says he's engaged, I wouldn't believe for a second that he would be faithful to her."

"And what if he has changed, as he claims?" Zuri queried, in a cautious voice.

Ruby grinned a cold, sardonic grin. No happiness in it, only sourness. "So you say," she repeated, and left Zuri alone to her thoughts. Said thoughts were as sour and unhappy as Ruby's expression had been. So much for keeping any friends to the end of this convoluted adventure.

The clock on Zuri’s bedroom wall struck six, which was when Rarity had said to come see her in the dressing wing, to start getting ready. It was only a minute-long walk to get there, which Zuri was grateful for. The more time she spent alone, the more time she had to reflect upon her current state of company. It helped that when she got there, she found all five of Rainbow Dash’s—or should she say Twilight’s, or Rarity’s? It was impossible to tell who headed the bunch of them—friends, midway into donning their formal attire for the night. Druva was there too, but she did not look at Zuri. Ruby Nights was nowhere to be seen, either. Once more, Zuri was thankful for the distraction of getting familiar with the complex dress made specifically for her, and Rarity seemed much more talkative than before.

"Oh, I do so hope Pinkie Pie didn't go overboard with reworking the Gala. Now, when we all went before, it didn't live up to any of our expectations whatsoever." She smiled awkwardly at Zuri, as the zebra began to push her hooves into the four black shoes tailored to fit comfortably. "We succeeded in turning it from a dull, grueling party into an absolute disaster. Now you told me that your kind has many different kinds of dances, what sort of parties do you attend?"

Considering the multitude of celebrations and social gatherings Zuri had attended all her life now made her heart ache. Well now, that’s a great distraction, Zuri thought. Instead of just lonely, now I feel homesick, too! "Outside of the festivals and street-parties, which are all open to the public, Oun-Drii have many different kinds of meetings with one another. There is always a celebration of a newborn foal, then the after-party to a wedding. I was present for both of those, though I only remember one.”

“Ah, youngest in your family, then?” Rarity deduced, still smiling as she lit her horn, drawing long lace stockings up each of her black metal legs, before slipping them each into an off-white shoe. “Have any sisters?”

“Two sisters, two brothers. The closest is older than me by six years, as is his fraternal twin.”

“My, a big family!” Said Rarity, double-checking the extremely elaborate coiffure she had inflicted upon herself in the body-length mirror. “I once wished for a lot of siblings, but that changed quickly when Sweetie Belle came along. Her heart is in the right place, but she’s a little too erratic for me to handle for any large amount of time.”

“It doesn’t help,” Applejack’s voice came from a few meters away, where she had mistook the neck of her apple-motif primarily green dress for one of the forehoof sleeves, and was now threatening to pull the dress apart with her head and both forelegs stuck in it. “It doesn’t help that my own sister and Scootaloo plot alongside her to try to find their cutie marks. They make messes faster than Cider season goes by!”

“Oh, Applejack, hold still…” Rarity groaned, interrupting her own preparations to come to her friends aid. “But they manage to look so cute doing it, it’s very hard to be stern with them when they walk in, covered in mud or soot or pinesap, and the only explanation they can come up with is ‘it seemed like a good idea at the time’!”

Zuri chuckled at this. “I know I’ve certainly been a pain to some of my older siblings sometimes. I’m sure they could sympathize with you, in that regard.”

“At the expense of your dignity, I’ll bet!” Rainbow put in, flying over to Zuri with her dress on. It looked like it had been made not only so that it fit the personality and colors of the pony wearing it, but also served as a practical dress for—casual flying? Zuri definitely thought Rainbow Dash, who looked much more at home in that tight-fitting black combat clothing, seemed to find this dress just as fitting to herself. Rarity did her work well.

“Probably,” Zuri agreed, “all sorts of nasty stories about things I must have put in my mouth when I was a foal, maybe how annoying I was asking questions… I’d have to ask them myself.”

“Shoot, how’d you get yer clothes on so quickly, Zuri?” Applejack asked, trotting up to her with her legs going through the proper holes now, her dress seeming much more like it fit her, now that it didn’t look as if the dress had been trying to eat her. So many images of apples… Zuri felt a twinge of hunger, and hoped that the Gala would supply food.

“Practice,” Zuri answered, smiling proudly at the black silk traveling down one foreleg. “And Rarity’s dressmaking abilities, definitely. I've had to wear plenty of dresses before, but this is one of the more comfortable.”

“Nonsense, darling,” she heard Rarity say, and at first thought she was saying that in reply. She turned about, the back of her black grown turning slowly with her, like a sort of liquid cloth. Rarity was in fact hiking up the end of Fluttershy’s forest- and leaf-green cloth, examining the frills closely. “It’s not going to tear if you run, I made sure of it this time.”

“I ruined the last one you made for me because you said the same thing, and I was hunting after all those critters in the Canterlot Gardens…” The trancer expected to look at Fluttershy’s face and see an expression of guilt, to match her tone and volume, but instead she looked quite stern, her brow furrowed. “I told you before that you should have used a backstitch, and you didn’t even change it! If it’s the same thing this time, I won’t wear anything.”

This seemed to be a terrible threat to Rarity, who gasped and held a hoof to her mouth.

“Oh, shit, you weren't kidding,” Rainbow Dash muttered to Twilight, who had in the meanwhile walked up to her side, wearing a long gown of purple and white. “She’s gotten more assertive, but not to the point of going powermad, like last time.”

“Mmhmm. She wouldn't ever have agreed to have been seen at the Gala otherwise, especially not with all this business involving your," Twilight lightly tapped Zuri’s side with a wing, “assorted escapades.”

Rarity looked back, apparently having finished convincing Fluttershy of the strength of her needlework, at the little group of Zuri, Rainbow, Applejack, and Twilight, and frowned. “No no no, you four can’t just sit still like that. Practice moving around! And Zuri, don’t look so stoney, try to relax a little! Surely you can spend some time freely tonight, not just attempting to dance with Shade and pressuring a corrupt businesspony?”

“I think that’s reason enough not to relax,” Zuri replied, though now conscious of how stiff she looked.

"Alright, is that everyone dressed? Go on, in front of the mirror, all of you!" Rarity pulled the group of mares together, all eight of them, in front of the huge body mirror. It was quite an impressive sight, all of them dressed and made up. Even Pinkie Pie, whose dress seemed to be made of pink candy, and equally pink streamers, had a smooth, sleek elegance and beauty to her that her nigh-endless bouncing and broad smile could not diminish. Rarity, however, seemed unsatisfied at the crowd of mares wearing her handiwork. "One is missing... Where's that charming girl in red; Ruby?

"Just showing up," came the mare in question's voice. Ruby Nights walked in from the right, alright dressed, and her outfit completed the color spectrum that was Rarity's dress- ensemble. A copy of Ruby's cloak, made into a flowing dress and cape, billowed about as she walked casually over, avoiding Zuri's eye. "I've got this lovely thing on all myself, Rarity, but I'd like some help with my blush—hard to get it right in this late Samā weather."

"Samā, that's Palosol's hottest season, ain't it?" Applejack put in, and Zuri and Druva simultaneously nodded. "How hot does it usually get? What's the humidity like?"

"You mean for farming? Frontier Forest is the only place on this continent that would let them grow naturally—as close to natural as one can get, considering the forest is the result of terraforming." Twilight informed her.

"Right, right, I guess so. Shoot, I was expecting a bit more room to work with." Applejack sighed, shaking her head. "I guess I'll save the rest of that talk for the business folks out there," she pointed an orange hoof to the large door that lead out of the wing, and into the main castle, where the preparations for the Grand Galloping Gala were already underway.

"You might actually find some land to grow things on Naxav, the continent east of this one," Zuri informed Applejack, while Rarity was still working on Ruby's face. "There are Buffalo who live there, but they shouldn't be too offended. They are very lenient." And it would get you out of zebra territory.

"Buffalo tribes? Shucks..." Applejack cleared her through and put on an awkward smile. "We've dealt with them before—th'six of us. Got kinda out of hoof, and the only reason it didn't end in serious bloodshed was because somepony threw a pie at the buffalo chieftain's face."

"It didn't go as badly as our other excursions out west," Rarity intoned. "Like the last time; Pinkie and I got separated from the rest of the group, and we had to travel home on a small, lever-operated railcar. It cost us a couple days, and a portion of my sanity." She shot an accusing look at Pinkie, who halted bouncing shortly to smile apologetically and shrink back.

"I won't even ask how either of those things ended up happening," said Zuri, her face cracked in a grin.

"Good, I wasn't planning on telling!" Rarity replied, smiling back for a moment. "Okay, we're all decent, we'll be going out there soon, once the doors open! Twilight, shouldn't you be doing something?"

"I didn't forget," Twilight flexed her wings, billowing out the thick, smooth, purple silk on either side of her gown in doing so. "I'm supposed to be greeting every guest at the doors, once they open. See you in a bit!" She turned with a last smile at the group, and exited the wing in the direction of the main hall. Ruby Nights approached Zuri with a meaningful look on her face.

"I still think you're making a mistake about being so much as curious about Shade," she said in a hushed voice, "but I am sorry for earlier. Thought I should say it before things kicked off." She smiled at her. "Plenty of rich pockets around, at the Gala. I couldn't be upset for long with a profit like that to be made. Got to meet expenses, after all~"

"After all," repeated Zuri, smiling back, "you'll not be busy with trying to make a good appearance, while you're here."

The thief mare raised her voice to a normal speaking volume. "Easier to move around without trouble that way. Rarity does fantastic work, but however beautiful this thing is," Ruby looked over her cloak-like dress. "Some of my previous victims might recognize the signature color of mine. I don't really work on my wardrobe much."

"Nor I mine," Zuri agreed, thinking back to the sandy cloak in her room.

"Then we'll have to work on that later!" Rarity said, appearing next to them and causing Zuri to jump. The cyborg unicorn had shown up next to them surprisingly quickly, and was now pushing and prodding them towards the exit door. "Now come on, girls; it's the new and improved Grand Galloping Gala, let's have some fun!"

———

In the time spent by the mares getting ready, the castle had been transformed. Long strings of lights decorated the ceilings, windows accented by flag banners on either side, depicting a stylized sun and moon, with a six-point violet star underneath. The star was similar to the shape Zuri had seen once before, on Twilight Sparkle's flanks. Calm music reverberated clearly throughout the castle, as Zuri found when she drew nearer to the main hall.

Then, into her corridor stepped Shade, mane combed back, wearing a smart grey and white formal suit, which seemed to chiefly cover his front. He wore a boutonniere, made up of roses and—No... He didn't... Blooming hycasi!

Shade's face broke into a blinding smile, and he trotted towards her, the pale yellow and white Palosol-native flowers bouncing slightly with his movements. As he drew closer, he momentarily slowed down, his eyes widening, and Zuri guessed her own appearance in the black, blue and violet gown, complete with made up face and dyed hair, had an effect on him. She smiled courteously, still looking to the blooming hycasi pinned upon his chest.

"Like it?" He asked, not removing his eyes from her.

"Where did you get those?" Zuri hissed suspiciously. "They grow almost exclusively underground. They hardly ever bloom..."

"Being Minister of Defense, I've got a few connections." Shade responded, clearing his throat and finally meeting her gaze. "And... It helps that I know a few things about Palosol myself."

"Ah..." She paused a moment, before continuing. "And what about your fiancé? Has she not come?"

"No, she's come with me. She's my date, and I'm your escort. Ultraviolet is currently waiting for me..." He pointed to the balcony, and lead Zuri over to it. He directed her attention towards the large crowd below. Twilight Sparkle stood at the top of the center stairs, receiving one magnificently dressed guest after another. A crowd stood around the stairs, compose of clumps of guests, and the din of conversation emanated from the many ponies there and in the corridors beyond. So many ponies... And still the music could be heard over the dialogue.

"There she is," Shade pointed with a hoof, towards a mare in one of the larger clumps. Zuri looked, and it was immediately obvious which one was his fiancé. Ultraviolet had a grey–white coat, and a rich, glistening violet mane, probably the reason for her name. Even as the lady Ultraviolet turned around to speak, and Zuri could see the smiling, beautiful face, she could also see the bright, amber-yellow metal eyes, whites and irises all entirely colored, but pupils glimmering with a pitch-like metal sheen. Even more, all her legs glinted from the lights, from the hooves to the shoulders. However, unlike Rarity's onyx–black legs, these were painted only a slight shade darker than the mare's natural pelt color.

Ultraviolet's dress was built around her cybernetics and her long, extremely purple mane. A flowing, mostly purple and silver gown, that matched her hair and coat perfectly, to the point of being an extension of her body. She raised her head, to look up with those metal, amber-yellow eyes, and they focussed upon Zuri, and then Shade. Her expression brightened, and while Zuri thought that the mare was very pretty, for a pony, once more, the metal eyes left a very unsettling feeling in her.

"Ah, she's seen us now," Shade muttered with a grin in his voice. "Let us go down, Dell Mansa, and introduce you." He sidled up next to her, still politely outside of her personal bubble, but close enough that Zuri could touch him easily. ...If she wanted to.

Shade lead her down the flight of side stairs, into the crowds of mares in ball gowns and stallions in suits, many of them wearing a multitude of differently styled hats. "Ultraviolet, dear," Zuri's escort spoke up, when they reached the amber-eyed cyborg mare. "This is Zuri Oun-Drii Sara, noblemare of the zebric people."

"Ah," Ultraviolet's greeting sigh revealed that she had a smooth, buttery, sweet voice, almost unnatural in quality. "All these friends you make on your own time," she walked over, and planted a kiss on Shade's cheek which lasted several seconds. She then turned her attention onto Zuri, by way of setting her metal eyes upon her. "And how do you do, Lady Sara? Shade has told me only a few things. Firstly," she hid a giggle behind a metal hoof, "everything needed to assure me that I was not going to have, ahem, competition."

"I am well, Dell Ultraviolet." Zuri responded, using the terms outlined by her society's standards, to strengthen the idea of her being an ambassador. "Your fiancé has been very kind to me. His skill at teaching ponies' current dancing practices is very good."

"Ha! Another who understands the reasons why I told him 'yes'," Ultraviolet laughed, and the small crowd around them tittered with her. "Pardon me, but what does Dell mean? A zebric word, I assume?"

At last, another pony who didn't know zebric. Zuri's smile became much brighter. "Dell means 'fair lady'. It is customary for Oun-Drii, my caste, to address one another as such, and I extend the gesture to ponies."

"Oh, how kind of you!" Ultraviolet beamed at her, which coaxed a rumble of warm agreement from the ponies around them. What kiss-ups... "So, Zuri, what brings you to Paradise City, at the time of the Gala?"

"I came to experience pony society for myself," Zuri replied, carefully choosing her words, "to bridge the gap between our two cultures. Princess Twilight Sparkle has been most kind in granting me temporary residence here."

Ultraviolet nodded understanding, still smiling brightly at her. The trouble with those metal eyes was that, like every cyborg Zuri met who possessed them, it was suddenly much harder to figure out what the pony was actually thinking. They just seemed so... Blank, most of the time. There was less emotion that could be read in the eyes, which, Zuri supposed, was good for ESSUG soldiers, but made Ultraviolet's warmth seem bittersweet. It didn't help that the grey surrounding the pupil dissolved unnaturally in a gradient pattern to the amber yellow that was obviously her irises. It was only a few seconds after this reflection that Zuri remembered her eyes could still be read perfectly well by anyone paying attention, and repressed the thoughts quickly.

"What a lovely dress you have on, Lady Zuri!" Remarked another noblemare, who looked alarmingly like Cherry Jubilee, save for a white coat and and a brighter shade of red for her hair. Her complementary smile, however, was a bit fixed. "It complements your... exotic color very well!"

Zuri nodded, smiling back at her with what she hoped was more sincere than pointed. "Thank you, Miss Rarity made it specifically for me, as well as the earrings." This caused another rumble of words to run through the group, and Zuri looked around to see envy and admiration on the nobles' faces. Without this outfit, winning these ponies over would be impossible.

"You mean to say you had the Rarity prepare a dress for you, as a part of an ensemble?" Inquired the same mare.

At this, Shade cut in with, "not an ensemble. Rarity made Zuri this dress for her personal use, not for mass production." Oohs and aahs followed, and Ultraviolet's brows rose, her smile still as wide.

"That's a–really! I wonder if I could convince her to do such a thing for myself. She is, after all, the bearer of generosity, ah..." Ultraviolet paused, regarding Zuri with curiosity. "Pardon me, I just realized you may not know what the Elements of Harmony are."

"No no, I had the elements explained to me earlier, I want to know as much of your culture as you will permit." Zuri answered. It was surprising to her that she did not have to draw on reserves of patience to deal with these nobleponies so far. Perhaps this was just because Ultraviolet was the tip of the iceberg. ...Or perhaps she was the base of it.

"Are you the only one of your kind to come to the Gala tonight?" Inquired a rigid-standing noblestallion. The question wasn't out of curiosity, Zuri could tell from the way he said it, and the uncomfortable expression on his face. It was as if her presence inflicted physical pain on him.

"Two companions of mine are around, yes. Most likely you can find one with Rainbow Dash. I can promise, they will want to talk to you as much as you to them." She followed this with a passive aggressive smile, which seemed to make the stallion's pursed mouth tighten even more. He nodded and gave very curt thanks, stepping away from her quickly, and bumping into a mare behind him.

"Oh! Pardon me, sir," said Ruby Nights, as she slipped past the stallion, and flashing him with a dazzling smile. He blinked, and grinned back, not noticing his wallet suddenly ducking underneath Ruby's dress cloak. Only Zuri noticed this, but quickly moved her eyes elsewhere. She certainly wasn't going to get Ruby caught.

Ruby's face brightened at seeing Zuri, then darkened at seeing Shade, and then contorted with surprise at the sight of Ultraviolet right next to him, smiling affably at her.

"Hello there, miss," she purred at Ruby. "I don't believe we've met. I am countess Ultraviolet, and this is my fiancé..."

"Oh..." Ruby said, a little stupidly. "Erm, I am Ruby Nights, and I know your fiancé, in fact." She eyed Shade, regarding him for a moment.

"Do you, now? It seems Shade has a lot of friends I know very little about." Ultraviolet gave him a look, and despite those synthetic eyes, even Zuri could understand the almost humorous, sharpened emotion in them. "I hope to remedy that soon enough."

"Yes, we definitely know each other," Ruby continued, switching between smiling at Ultraviolet and borderline-glaring at her betrothed. "For quite a while. We even sometimes do business, given his occupation."

"Right," Shade mumbled, quelled by the two pairs of eyes set on him at once.

Someone leaned over to whisper something in Ultraviolet's ear, and she cleared her throat. "Pardon me, I've got some matters to settle in private. It was lovely meeting you two!" She beamed again at Zuri and Ruby, before departing. Other nobles who had crowded around them broke off into separate discussions.

"I... Guess I should congratulate you, Shade." Ruby began slowly. "So... Why didn't you ever mention her name, to get me to believe you?"

Shade regained that wide grin of his. "You never asked, now did you?"

Ruby opened her mouth, closed it, opened it again, then held up a hoof. "You are so lucky I'm in a good mood tonight."

Shade and Zuri laughed, for very different reasons. Ruby snorted and walked away, ducking into another group of ponies. "That probably wasn't the best thing to say to her," Zuri remarked, still grinning.

"I speak only the truth!" Shade declared, holding a hoof to his chest. "And nothing but the truth, except in the case of why you're here. Anyway, what do you think of her? Ultraviolet, I mean?"

"She seems very nice to me." Though I can't for the life of me imagine why you chose someone with so much metal replacing flesh.

"She's always that way, which is one reason why I chose her, rather than some other mares who tried dragging me in." Shade's eyes flitted over to a few other mares in the crowds, none of whom looked back.

"Most mares of your caste aren't as kind?"

"Some are, some aren't. A lot of them consider themselves to be worth a lot more than they are, probably because of bad parenting. I would know; I got some of it myself." Shade's lips curved downward in a frown, before he regarded Zuri again. "What are your parents like, are they still alive? Er–sorry, that was really blunt."

Zuri guessed he had reason to be so blunt, if his own parents were not. "It's alright, they are still alive, on that note." At any rate, I hope they are, by the time I get out of here. "I think they raised me well, though I hardly have enough world experience to really tell. You'll notice I'm still pretty young."

Shade shrugged. "Well, not too young. You'd be permitted to drink, here, if you wanted to."

"I don't want to. I've never tasted alcohol, and I'd rather not try it right away."

"Well, alright, I bet if you know Ruby at all she's tried to push it on you at least once."

"It wasn't really pushing, though. More like not-so-subtle suggesting it. Anyway, what are your parents like?"

Zuri could tell Shade didn't want to answer that one. His face set, he took a breath before answering. "Cold, hard to please. Know anyone like that?"

"I know a few, yes." Zuri could think of a lot of them, actually. A lot of Oun-Drii families in Oun-Drii weren't known for their forgiving nature.

"Good, then I don't have to go into too much detail. I'd prefer to instead set you up with a good crowd of nobles to converse with, while I go hunt down Ultraviolet again."

"Leaving me behind? I thought she wanted to be in private."

Shade grinned at her. "She did, but eventually she'll try to seek me out again. I'd rather save her the trouble."

They walked together for a little bit, before they were suddenly set upon by a very pregnant mare, wearing the same sort of regalia as Twilight Sparkle had. The only difference was that this mare was much taller, pink all over, with curled yellow, purple, and pink hair. Next to her walked an equally tall, white unicorn stallion, with a ruffle of blue hair, that looked as if he had just removed a helmet.

"Oh, perfect!" Shade said without a hint of sarcasm. "Zuri, may I introduce you to Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and her spouse, Captain Shining Armor. And, your highness, captain, this is Zuri Oun-Drii Sara, paying a visit to experience pony civilization and high life."

"It is lovely to meet you," Zuri bowed her head respectfully to Cadence, but received but a poorly hidden giggle in response.

"Now that is a story some ponies strutting around here would believe." Chortled the princess, obviously trying to smother her laughter and doing a very bad job of it. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, that was very impolite. Shining, is anyone looking our way? These stupid hormones..." She heaved a sigh, failing to work the smile off her face.

"You're fine, Cadence, just be careful how loud you talk." Her husband reassured her, having difficulty concealing a smile as well. He turned and addressed Zuri, "it is good to meet you, lady Zuri. Twilight told us a little about you, maybe a little too much."

Cadence spoke again, finally beginning to regain control of herself. "I won't let anyone know about that, Shining. I'm more worried I'm going to make a fool of myself."

"A rational fear," Zuri commented, "I'm quite certain I will do the same tonight."

"What, the Retanoga?" Shade questioned.

"No, the Waltz; you are only so good of a teacher." Zuri said, smiling cheekily at him.

Cadence suddenly cleared her throat, looking fascinated at Zuri. "Pardon me, but I was under the impression Sir Shade was already spoken for, or have I read things wrong?"

"You've, um, read things wrong," Shade coughed, sounding embarrassed. "Zuri is not my date, I am escorting her. My date is my fiancé, Ultraviolet."

"I know the name of your fiancé, Sir Shade." Cadence said dryly, smirking at him. Shade coughed again, looking more uncomfortable. "I wonder if you and Shining could keep one another company. I think I shall have a word with Lady Zuri, for just a moment."

Shining Armor looked surprised at this, but apparently picking up on some hidden message, he took Shade aside and delved into conversation with him. On what subject, Zuri could not guess. Her attention was directed towards Cadence, who stared intently at her, and Zuri realized it was a sort of soul-searching gaze.

"I know that look in your eyes," Cadence whispered, grinning a knowing grin. "Your eyes are the window to your heart, and of all ponies, I can see one's heart more clearly than any other can."

Those hormones must be worse than she thought, Zuri mused. "It's no use hiding it, Zuri, I know that look. That is the look of a mare who is gradually falling for a stallion and doesn't even know it yet."

Zuri blinked. "I-what? What are you talking about?"

"I'm the princess of love, Lady Zuri," Cadence explained, speaking with a sort of hushed smugness at confronting Zuri about this. "My special talent is spreading it around, fueling it, strengthening relationships between lonely souls. It just so happens I can pick up on you and Shade as if someone were hitting me over the head with it."

Zuri's eyes widened, face beginning to heat up. Terribly extreme hormones, then. "He's an engaged stallion of another species. I feel like I've said it a thousand times, now!"

"Probably because you have, to yourself, as an excuse." Cadence stood up straight. Infuriatingly, she was nearly as tall as Sibulla. "I've got a practiced eye, Zuri. You could hide your interest in him from me about as well as I could hide my pregnancy from anyone with eyes." She gestured again to her stomach. "Badly."

"I would never pursue it," Zuri protested. "He is—"

"Engaged, yes, but not yet married. What if he and Ultraviolet aren't a good match? I could only tell you that if I spent a while with each of them. Learnt the specifics of their personalities."

"Yet you can supposedly pick up on my attrac–interest?" Zuri shook her head, biting her lower lip at the slip-up.

Cadence's eyes narrowed with amusement. "I can see it in your eyes whenever you look at him. Whether you like it or not, it's there. You're interested, and more than that, perhaps. He most certainly doesn't dislike your physical aspects, but he'd need a wakeup call from Ultraviolet if he were to be yours."

"But I don't want him to be mine!" Zuri argued, trying to keep her voice down. "I've got a number of reasons for it."

"Oh? Let me hear them." Said Cadence, still looking very amused.

"Firstly, he is a pony," Zuri began. "I am a zebra. That is so may differences put together —culture, society, home planet..."

"Though we're from different planets, we're awfully similar, don't you think?" The princess responded, looking as if she were enjoying baiting someone, rather than arguing.

"Secondly," Zuri began more firmly, ignoring her. "His personality would never fit mine. Ruby Nights and I were arguing about him, and in trying to convince me to avoid him she warned me about his objectification of mares in the past."

Cadence's smile grew. "And what if he has changed since that 'past'? What if he's become more worthy a stallion? And think carefully, if she had to convince you, you might have been defending him, then. Why bother doing that if no part of you even marginally liked him?"

Zuri opened her mouth to answer, and closed it again. She wouldn't lie, and telling the truth wasn't going to help her case. "Finally, I am leaving this city very soon. There would be no point in going after him in that short a time!"

"What is there to stop you from coming back?" This time Cadence conveyed genuine curiosity. "Surely it would not be too much of a problem to visit again."

"Paradise City is only a stop on my journey," Zuri responded. "I'm trying to leave, and I have had enough trouble getting to this city just to find a way to go back home. I hate to think what I'd have to go through if this city was my end goal."

Cadence shrugged. "Then maybe it's better to try now than to lose any chance. Maybe I'll start working on that wake-up call... Let's get you meeting ponies while you're still here. I'm sorry for the intrusiveness, it's not just the hormones."

Reluctantly, Zuri allowed herself to be lead over to another crowd of nobles, and she exchanged her name and title with them. She was happy to find that none of them knew anything about zebric culture or even zebric, and, Cadence apparently being extremely sharp in terms of judging character, they were all friendly enough to treat her as an exotic guest. There was Fancy Pants, an aging, fabulously rich socialite whom Zuri deduced was the father of Minister Pants, accompanied by his wife, Fleur-De-Lis. She had the same level of extensive cybernetics applied to her body as Ultraviolet, and though she had done herself up very beautifully—pink mane scrupulously brushed so that it went from the top of her pinkish-white head to the sides, then to the back revealing her metal cyan eyes accented by a near-excess of makeup—it was evident that age was not going to be kind to her. Both of them were very nice (albeit sometimes blatantly insensitive), though their son, also present, had a more fixed smile on his face when he greeted Zuri for the first time that night.

"I think I speak on the behalf of my fellow ministers, when I say you're a welcome addition to the guest list." He said, nodding a bit too much to be believed.

"Then I will thank you all, in turn," Zuri returned, beginning to enjoy herself now that the subject of Shade and her had left the forefront of her mind. "Minister Candid Camera did say she would like an interview, did she not?"

This seemed to intensify the degree of hidden displeasure in Minister Pants' face, much to Zuri's amusement. "Father, I've got business to attend to, pardon me." He declared, before making a hasty exit.

"You've made friends very quickly, lady Zuri!" Observed Fleur-De-Lis. "However did you do so? How do we compare to your, erm, pardon me, Oon-durrie?"

What an amazingly painful mispronunciation. Zuri got some practice keeping her kind, polite smile was genuine-looking as possible. "I see just what I came for, Dell Fleur-De-Lis, which was to discover any similarities between our two cultures."

"What conclusions have you come to, then?" Cadence asked in a very genuine- sounding tone.

"It is amazing," Zuri answered, truthfully, "our two cultures have such alike practices for social gatherings. This Grand Galloping Gala reminds me vividly of some weddings I have visited, or private festival celebrations. Though we often dance more than we speak, at the latter."

This caused Fleur-De-Lis, her husband, and the nobles around them to chuckle. "We'll do plenty of dancing tonight, Lady Zuri, do not worry."

"Come to think of it," began Fancy Pants, "I was under the impression that you would be dancing for us, tonight. A special, completely zebric arrangement."

There was a rumble of interest amongst the nobles, some nodding in assent.

Zuri nodded, "yes, tonight I am to perform the Retanoga, it translates to 'Lady's beauteous dance'. I am also under the impression that I will be performing a waltz with Sir Shade, my escort."

This information caused everyone nearby to suddenly grow much more interested, and emit a strange combination of noises of eager anticipation and, puzzlingly, amusement. Perhaps escort meant something Zuri had certainly not meant. It could also be that certain, less savory parts of Shade's reputation preceded him. "It promises to be quite a night for you, for all of us!" Said Fancy Pants, smiling along with the crowd. "I wonder exactly when that will take place."

Quite suddenly, Shade seemed to appear at Zuri's side. "In another five minutes or so, I'd say." He said, a little curtly, before pulling Zuri away from the group with an equally hasty, "pardon us, sirs, ladies."

"You seem very rushed, are we late for something?" Zuri asked, looking around as Shade guided her closer to the source of the music. A large orchestra, taking up a large part of the much larger room.

"What? Nah, but better to have some time to prepare oneself that doesn't involve talking about what you're going to do. Don't want to spoil too much, either." He grinned at her. "By the way, does that dress of yours allow you to pull off Retanoga?"

"As if it weren't there," Zuri answered. "Will it let us perform the waltz without trouble?"

"As if you knew the waltz by heart," his grin widened. "Which, of course, you don't, but I'm hoping you learned something."

Zuri shrugged, his humor was contagious. "Well, you aren't that bad a teacher, I don't think. Where are we headed?"

"To talk to the conductor, to make sure he understands what he's supposed to be conducting." He pointed to the gaunt unicorn at the head of the orchestra, dressed just like the most conservative of the noblestallions. The Conductor was very friendly, and though Zuri didn't recognize the format of the music Shade showed him, he seemed excited to use it. "Hardly ever get to play a song this extravagant amongst these ponies. The or hestra was surprised to see this on their repertoires for the month." He remarked, grinning at the both of them.

"Allegreatango, at the Gala! And here I was, thinking I'd never conduct something from Karl Flankins' remakes..."

"It's the closest thing I could find that you'd be able to perform the Retanoga with," Shade explained to her. "I hope it isn't too distracting."

Zuri scoffed quietly at him. "I've dealt with sand and fire coming at me from opposite sides, I'm a Sand Trancer, I can handle an orchestra."

"Well, good. You won't have much time to get used to them directing the rhythm, you're supposed to begin the Retanoga in about ten minutes, then the waltz when you finish."

"Where do I begin?" Zuri asked, looking around their crowded vicinity.

"Right over... There." He pointed towards a few groups of chattering ponies clumped together. Out the corner of her eye, Zuri saw the conductor wave a signal to someone in that direction, and suddenly the groups of ponies began stepping away from one another, clearing up plenty of space to perform any lone dance. "I'm to walk with you, while the announcements take place." And he did just this, guiding her towards the open space with a very gentle brushing against the shoulder.

"Fillies and Gentlecolts," began a loud voice, reverberating off the ceiling. Please direct your attention to the in the center of the hall. We are proud to be host to Lady Zuri Un-Dree Sara and her two companions, and as part of tonight's entertainment, Lady Zuri Un-Dree Sara has graciously consented to begin the dancing with a lone dance, one signature to her culture." Well, the pronunciation was even worse, but at least with this announcement Zuri could rely on most nobles greeting her the same way afterward. Shade stepped with her into the large circle, and Zuri looked around at the faces that made it up. There were so many she had never seen before, all their best features carefully cultivated, so many different combinations of colors for hair and fur. Then, there were some she did recognize, as followers of Ultraviolet, Filthy Rich, Fleur-De-Lis... Finally, she started spotting faces she knew by name, who had apparently just recently pushed themselves to the front of the crowd to see.

Yes, there was Druva, standing next to Macintosh as she had predicted, and Druva's encouraging smile seemed lackluster. Then she saw Uzul next to Rainbow Dash, stars, but she looked good in a dress, that crazy rainbow mane of hers somehow made to behave. Then Fluttershy, looking smaller than she really was, probably on purpose. Then Applejack, also next to Macintosh, giving Druva a suspicious look. Ruby Nights, looking quiet and calm, though her eyes were dancing with anticipation. Rarity with those black legs and black gown, beside Twilight and Cadence—between them, even—apparently near-paralyzed with excitement. Pinkie Pie, dressed in candy, looking near-volatile with, well, it was obvious. All of Zuri's acquaintances, and among them, her friends.

Zuri stood in the middle of the huge circle. Shade left her there, only after stopping to whisper in her ear, "you don't need luck, just work it."

This got a smile out of her, as he walked away. The lights dimmed for a moment, then brightened, and Zuri realized they were focussing on her, just like the hundreds of pairs of eyes. Now but for the gift of a backbone do I faint, because it would so fit my streak of luck...

The music began, slow and quiet. Zuri pushed back the sides of her dress, and began the Retanoga. It began with a slow, dramatic spin, letting the dress move with her like liquid. Her hooves clapped upon the cool floor in time with the music. Slowly, she dove, sweeping her legs with her, making as if she could glide above the surface, before straightening up and going into another dance step in one fluid motion. It was easier than breathing, with the music in the background, all her steps suddenly seemed to mold to fit into the rhythm and shape of the song. It sounded at first like the slow waltz music Shade had used for practice, but then changed suddenly with the entrance of a choir, not singing intelligible words, but... Vowels? It didn't

matter, somehow, it fit. Zuri was soon too caught up in the dance to care to look at the orchestra, but the music was perfect for this.

The crowd seemed to be enjoying it too, or at least was very well trained. They were stone silent, but their faces, even those with the cold metal eyes like Ultraviolet's or Fleur's, were alight with awe. Every flowing movement Zuri made was followed by the eyes of the crowd. Zuri felt more and more as if she were completely alone, with the silence around her. Flying in a room with nothing but music for company, what a peaceful thought. If she wasn't so wrapped up in the dance she might have curled up to take a nap right there.

Now, the music was slowly ending, with a new instrument and a lone dramatic singer involved. She fit her stepping rhythm to the instrument, giving all her motions more of a clipped sharpness, though still somehow smooth and round. As the song slowly wound down, with singer and solo instrument concluding their parts in a harmony, Zuri drew herself in, standing straight and still as a statue, and then bowed her head low as the ringing of the last note died in her ears. There was a beautiful, perfect silence for a fraction of a second, before the world came thundering back to Zuri in a storm of applause.

———

"I see you took my advice." Shade said, once he had a hold of Zuri, and the waltzing music began. "Filthy Rich is definitely going to have his mind off of his personal safety after seeing that. I wouldn't be surprised if you got at least twelve requests to dance, Zuri. That was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen."

Zuri went red, smiling more inwardly than she let on. "I'm guessing modesty will get me nowhere."

"It certainly won't. It was amazing, and unique. I've never seen any zebric dancing before, and something introduced like that by someone with your looks," at this he faltered only for a second, seeming as if he he almost wished to take back saying that, before moving on. "It's almost invariably going to be, well, stunning! I'll be the one to say it politely: that dress most definitely fits you. Now, if you could only learn a pony dance..." He chuckled, as she nearly stumbled and fell after a misstep.

"That wasn't my fault, you're making me blush." Zuri defended, feeling said blush begin to heat up her face. "I'm glad you enjoyed it, it was much more exhausting than this slow work."

"Very dreary, isn't it? That Retanoga is probably all the excitement some prissy ponies here can handle for the next six hours or so, given what little action they're used to."

With a smirk, Zuri observed, "I notice you exclude yourself from this group of prissy ponies. Are you trying to impress me?"

He shrugged. "If I haven't done it yet, then yes."

"You impressed me plenty when you agreed to be my escort, thank you. I think I might be getting the hang of this, don't try to distract me."

Shade put on an expression of helplessness. Zuri didn't believe for a second that he couldn't help himself. "Well good, the harpist in this piece is playing her heart out, and it'd be a waste if you couldn't enjoy it properly by falling all over yourself."

She frowned, still red, and retaliated by kicking one of his knees, getting a nice "ow!" out of him. "If I can help it, I won't be the one falling over tonight." She grinned at him.

"Bah, I've been going easy on you," Shade said, just as he spun her in time with the song, and spun she did, two extra times, just like the beginning of her lone dance. It caused her long black and violet gown to spin with her, looking like a vortex of dark silk. She ended the accent by locking forelegs with him for a half-second and then continuing the waltz normally. It won her a few more oohs and aahs from some onlookers, that time. "...Or maybe it's been the other way around. Have you been lying to me about your ability to learn, Dell Mansa?"

"I just feel giddy, pulling that off with everyone watching. Can you blame me?"

Shade looked like he was about to answer, before a stallion suddenly approached them. It turned out to be Fancy Pants, blue mustache twitching occasionally. "Pardon me, may I have this dance? My wife's open, unless someone else got to her first, Shade."

Shade smiled, nodded, and stepped away. "If so, I should give my own some attention. Wedding's coming up soon, after all." He moved amongst the dancing couples, and disappeared from Zuri's view. Fancy Pants took up the lead, and Zuri went right along with it.

"Your lone dance was a spectacle to behold, lady Zuri," he told her, his expression glowing. "I've seen many incredible dances performed by ponies on stage, and that easily matches the best of them. You should be proud of that skill you have with hoofwork."

"Thank you, mister Pants," Zuri answered, anticipating a long night of hearing complements such as this, probably degrading in sensitivity as they came along.

"I also see Lord Shade did a marvelous job teaching you the waltz—I've had to dance with many inexperienced mares in my time." Is that why you left your wife behind in favor of me? "But you're unlike them. You're a natural with your legs. Now, Un-Drii is your caste, correct?"

"Oun-Drii is, yes." Zuri corrected him. Could none of these ponies pronounce it right save for Shade? At least he took the time to say it right, Fancy Pants rattled it off completely the wrong way.

"What about central government? Do you have a monarch? Minister?"

"We have premier elders ruling, those among us wisest, most experienced, elected most ideal for the role of leadership. The only zebric monarchs are those in the far marshes."

"I see," he said, sounding as if he'd been expecting a different answer, but wasn't really impressed or disappointed by what he did hear. "Why no monarchy further out west, in these desert lands?"

"The desert makes it harder for there to be a centralized government, but Otoul, my home, is usually regarded as the center of culture among desert zebra."

"Interesting!" Fancy Pants said, sounding as if he meant it. "And what of the fashion? I understand you acquired this dress of yours from miss Rarity—a good friend of mine! It complements your fascinating colors very well. How does it compare to what you normally where?"

Zuri smiled bashfully, "we Oun-Drii often wear many different kinds of regalia, upon our necks, bodies and legs. There are many kinds of dress cloaks, which one wears to parties and outside in the desert. This dress is something I would wear very rarely, maybe just to keep it in ideal condition."

"Oh, I agree with that. Isn't Rarity a fantastic dressmaker? I once had a chance to offer her all the connections she'd need to become the talk of Canterlot." He smiled ruefully before continuing, "that was just before she lost her legs, and she didn't exactly need to accept my offer then."

"You sound upset about it," Zuri murmured.

"Oh, Lady Zuri, I'm not upset that she denied my offer! She chose to value her friendships above her own gain, something I respect greatly, and it in the end worked wonders for her business. After all, look what she's done for you!"

"Pardon me, may I have this dance?" Came another voice, this time from yet another perfect-white unicorn stallion, only this one had golden-blonde hair, and royal blue eyes.

"Ah, come to meet tonight's special guest, Blueblood?" Fancy Pants said, his grin suddenly very tight.

"Mm, yes, pardon me, Fancy." He said, in an unmistakably arrogant tone. "I want to have my own time with Lady Zuri."

Blueblood turned to her, and she was immediately struck by the aesthetic likeness to Shade, with the exception of color. His hair was combed back, letting her enjoy his eyes and face. Arrogant though he may be, he did not look bad, not at all. Zuri stopped for a moment, glaring at herself inwardly. First Shade and now this one, too? Something must be really wrong with her. Or maybe it was that the ponies in their decadent self-indulgence filled the air with many sexual hormones. Those hormones couldn't be her own.

The stallion flashed her a blinding smile, and bowed. "Hello, Zuri Oun-Drii Sara," Stars above, did he say that right the first time? He did! "I am Prince Blueblood. My, you have a lovely dress on, and your dance, the Retanoga, was absolutely captivating. I am so glad you chose this Gala to come, I decided I must meet you." His smile continued being bright and eager, confident. He took her forehoof and kissed just above the shoe, not taking his eyes off hers. Wait, is this colt actually trying to court me? That's never happened before. At least he's charming.

They began to dance, and she immediately noticed he lead powerfully. He practically carried her around the hall, all the while continuing to complement her, almost excessively. "You dance divinely," he murmured, a little melodramatically, in her ear.

"I'm sorry, but I know that is a lie." She whispered back, fighting to retain some semblance of the blue natural to her cheeks. "I hardly know this dance."

Blueblood frowned. "No? But you've been such a good follower! And again, that Retanoga was a marvelous sight to see."

Zuri fought back the growing urge to beam at him. "Maybe that's just natural talent, as Fancy Pants said. Shade only had a few days to teach me anything."

"In that case your talent lies in being a fast learner, otherwise you'd never have made it this far." Blueblood continued, giving her a very warm grin. "You know, you're the first lady I've met—first Zebric lady too, mind you—who has been so honestly humble. It's a trait you ought to keep."

"Thank you, Your highness, erm, should I refer to you like that? I'm unfamiliar with your customs."

"Just call me Blueblood, lovely Zuri." 'Lovely Zuri'? Someone should give this colt a trophy.

Blueblood seemed concerned for a moment, before laughing a little. "Lady Zuri, you're blushing so brightly! Have I offended?"

Goodness, he only noticed now? She'd been the same shade of beet-red for more than ten minutes. Was it poor eyesight or just chivalry? I like the latter. "I... No, your words are just very, um..." She couldn't find the right word for it.

"Ah, I see. Pardon me, but I feel I ought to give credit where it's due."

Well, she'd found a few decent nobles after all, among these ponies. Maybe even Ruby would have no scruples with this one. The one thing she couldn't put her hoof on was the feeling of familiarity with his name. She was certain she had heard it somewhere before, but wasn't sure where.

"You have such beautiful stripes, lady Zuri." Said Blueblood, his eyes only searching her over once while he said this. Once! Yay, chivalry! "Are you the only zebra with such colorful stripes? It seems so unique..."

"I-I am," Zuri stammered, as he swung her gently around. "I don't get very much appreciation from most zebra. They're used to black and white stripes—eep!" In her continued flushed state, she had tripped over someone's hoof, probably her own, but Blueblood moved faster than she fell, and caught her. It took a few seconds to realize that this catch had gotten

her suddenly very close to him. Chests touching, noses warming one another with breath close. Stars, he's good at this. What a complexion. Blueblood smiled dazzlingly again, letting her stand straight before picking the dance back up.

"Evidently not many of them know what real beauty is." He continued, almost as if nothing had happened. "Among all these ponies you are a singular beauty, Lady Zuri. I could tell from the moment I saw you dance alone, you were worth more than just your stripes."

His words were chosen perfectly. Blueblood had gotten Zuri even more giddy than before. She was surprised to find that she also felt very warm in an area that could be politely referred to as a nether-region. Hello, nether-region. Haven't heard from you in a while. Very charming indeed. A thought snagged her feelings for a moment, reminding her that some of what Blueblood had said had been said by others. But, she argued with herself, no one else said it that way. Except for, say, Shade. Then again, he's off limits, and this Blueblood isn't.

But you're leaving so soon, remember? Waste of time, like you said earlier.

Best to take advantage then, maybe, and follow Cadence's advice? He's just a charming stallion... Besides, it really wouldn't be that bad to try. What's the worse that could happen? It was a tempting proposition, to allow herself to be wooed for tonight. She could do with a good wooing, there had been so few for her. So far, Blueblood seemed to have done marvelous job of it.

Blueblood interrupted her thoughts. "Might we take a short walk out in the gardens, Lady Zuri? I think you could do with some fresh air."

Well, how could she say no to an offer like that? "Yes, I think I'd like that."

"Very well then! Come, I can take you to the gardens." He took her aside from the dancing crowd, and guided her towards a large doorway, where a cool breeze was coming in from outside.

As they went, Zuri noticed several eyes following their progress. She looked around, to see several couples staring at her. No, not her, but Blueblood. What a strange expression on their faces. Was it disgust? They most likely resented him for spending time aside from the dancing with a zebra. The racists, they wouldn't even look at her. Every time she caught someone's eye, they frowned, shook their head, and turned away. It made her annoyed, but not enough to override the other feelings she presently had.

Blueblood showed her to a dark path along the inner castle wall, lined with decorative plants of every color. The only light was from the hundreds of stars, the bright, huge windows on the castle's walls, and the twin moons orbiting Palosol, looking like a pair of eyes watching all the goings on at night. Everything was so peaceful, with small birds twittering in the background, the wind rustling the leaves of the huge assortment of foliage.

"Hardly any clouds tonight," Blueblood said, looking up with her. "I've always this your planet's twin moons, slowly circling one another in their orbit. They look very much like they're having a dance of their own. Though," he looked down at her, grinning. "I honestly think you might be better at it than either of them."

She giggled, though she admitted this wasn't helping her in the fresh air at all. She still felt like her stomach was full of very hormonal butterflies. "I thought you brought me out here so I could use the fresh air."

"Mm, I did, didn't I? Well, I thought it may also be a better atmosphere, Lady Zuri." He continued grinning, though his head turned from one side, slowly, eyes seeming to search their surroundings, before returning to her. Looking at her seemed to make him very, very relaxed. "Even in the moonlight, you are a nonpareil belle. Why are you not spoken for already? Ah, because most zebra dislike your colors?" Zuri nodded mutely. "So unfair of them! Zebra though you may be, I can see you deserve all my attention. And, Lady Zuri, you have my undivided attention." He edged closer. Much closer, actually, in a very short timespan. Oh stars, is he coming in for a kiss? I think he is... Why am I not moving? For whatever reason, Zuri's muscles had stopped responding, and she suddenly felt Blueblood's mouth upon hers.

Well, this was much better than that stallion in the alley. This colt knew how for one thing, and he knew it very well. He kept his lips firm, yet not too firm to make them uncomfortable. It was like sticking her muzzle into a soft pillow, with very warm lips. Unconsciously, Zuri began to lean into the kiss, her eyes already shut, cheeks ruby-red. She couldn't tell which one of them pulled away first, but either way, the kiss broke.

Blueblood smacked his lips once, then flashed her a very warm smile. "My, that's a fine lipstick you have on. ...I'm sorry, have I overstepped, lovely Zuri? Am I too forward?"

"I-I... Well..." Zuri babbled, unable to form complete words. Instead, she shut her mouth, still flushed, and shook her head with a nervous smile.

He grinned, and leaned in again for another. Well, why not? Certainly not unwelcome.

This one was just as good as the last, and Zuri nearly melted, scooting closer so she didn't have to lean into the liplock so much. Stars, he was good at this. Too good, in fact. Now he was pushing a little. A little more now, smiling into the kiss. One of his forehooves had found itself on one of her shoulders. She broke the kiss this time, gasping a little. "P-pardon me, b-but your hooves..."

Said hooves didn't move. Neither did he, though he smirked at her. Now, she saw a certain, familiar look in his blue eyes. "Ahhh, my hooves...?" They were moving again, but not off of her. She had moved very close to him, and now one foreleg slowly trailed down her back, around her middle, and pulled her to his side. "I hope you don't mind a bit of pushiness, Lady Zuri. It comes with my station, as I'm sure you're familiar with."

Zuri blinked. "What?"

"Shh." He kissed her again, and while she had to admit it was very nice, his forehoof didn't remove itself from around her middle. In fact, it was sliding lower, lower still, until she felt a very sharp, very not-nice grope upon her left flank. Alarmed, she pulled away again, this time having to push him away with a hoof on his chest.

"I'd... Really rather you not do that, Prince Blueblood." She murmured, trying to emphasize his position, hopefully reminding him of the chivalrous code he seemed to have upheld earlier.

Blueblood cocked his head to one side, smile not entirely gone from his face. "Why not? Come here, you need to relax a little." The leg wrapped around her middle—no, that wasn't her middle, those were her flanks—tightened slightly, holding her to his side. Another rubbing grope, and Zuri let out a surprised squeak. "Shh, shh, come now. Don't play hard to get with me, Lovely Zuri. I've got to give you the royal treatment, after all." This time he pecked her on the cheek, much less nice. She stared at him in bewilderment. What was he doing? He was doing much better with just the kissing, but even that was pushing it. "What's the trouble, Lady Zuri? You don't look so well at the moment. Do you feel faint?"

"No, no I do not." She said, more firmly, trying and failing to wiggle gently out of his grasp. Ordinarily she'd just squirm away as roughly as possible, but this was the Grand Galloping Gala. More than that, this was the supposed Prince Blueblood. A member of royalty. You didn't hit royalty, especially if you were trying to escape from their city with as little delay as possible.

"I think you look much more pale than before." Blueblood remarked, still holding her very close, his other hoof slowly caressing her chest. She certainly felt pale. Red in the face she may have been, now she was utterly stunned by this sudden turn of events. "Come now, just relax, I'll show you a magnificent night."

"Y-you can't... You can't expect me to lay with you?" She said, her voice ending in a cracked squeak. This was not going the way she had hoped.

Blueblood looked sincerely surprised by this question. "Why, of course! Royal treatment, and all." He winked at her in what he must have thought was an endearing way. "Come, hike up that pretty gown..."

"No!" Zuri squeaked again, this time getting a little more force into her voice. "Prince Blueblood, really, what gave you the idea–"

"Why so coy?" He said, still holding her side to him, though he began to lean again, and simultaneously pushed her towards the soft soil path. "Come on, lovely, let me see more of that blue color of yours." His hoof made a grab for the edge of her dress, and tugged up.

"No! Stop that!" Zuri shouted, shouting loudly now. Not panicked yet, but if nopony came soon... "Get off of me, please!"

"Isn't this what you're used to?" He asked, grinning lasciviously, moving in for another kiss. He managed to stay on her lips for a few seconds, before she gave a hard shove—where was her strength before? His face came away from hers, and he grunted loudly. "What was that for? Touching my chest with your slippers on, and I just had myself groomed!"

"I told you to get off..." She growled, still struggling against him. Why couldn't she get free? Normally she'd have been able to pin him to the floor. It was then that she noticed his horn, glowing brightly. He was restricting all of her movements with that unicorn magic of his.

Blueblood side, and fixed her with one of those stunning smiles of his, but it didn't have the same effect as before. "Now see here, Lady Zuri, this is no way to behave. I'm merely treating you appropriate to your station."

"I am an Oun-Drii noblemare, Prince Blueblood. Is this how you treat your own noblemares? Please get off."

"Why, of course it is!" Blueblood said, as if this was the most obvious thing in the world. "It's a privilege for any noblemare to be called upon by the Prince Blueblood."

"Called upon I am, then." Zuri answered, getting more annoyed—and scared. "Please let me go. Why don't we just go back to the kissing?" She hadn't been expecting somepony this forward to corner her tonight.

For the first time, Blueblood frowned at her. "What? You're denying me? What was that before, then? I had you hot and bothered—I could tell. I could smell the pheromones wafting off of you." Once more, Zuri turned a perfect shade of red. "Aha, see? I can smell it on you now, and you say you don't want me."

"This is too fast for me. I don't want that..." Ugh... No matter how much my body might. What is with my hormones tonight?

Blueblood stared at her for a moment, still not letting her go. "I think you're lying. This is a clever ploy, isn't it? All girls like playing hard to get—they always do with me." Zuri almost shuddered at that. She probably wasn't the only mare who had rebuffed Blueblood's more forward actions, and she doubted any of them had been as lucky with actually repelling him. "Just to make me want you more, is that it? Unable to touch the forbidden fruit, hmm? Only now I am..." One hoof snuck under her dress, and Zuri went absolutely rigid. The hoof had gone straight to where no stallion's hoof had gone before. That was the last straw.

"Don't do that!" She shouted, trying to shove him away, and resorting instead to hit him in the face. He yelled in pain, and his horn lit up. Suddenly her hooves were held to her chest.

"That is not allowed..." Blueblood snarled, any semblance of kindness gone from his face. A few drops of blood came from the thick graze she had given him on one cheek, trailing down to his suit, and he scowled. "And I just got this suit from the tailor. You overexcited nag..."

Zuri continued to struggle. His hoof was still in a very forbidden place. Why didn't he take a hint, the stupid git? "Let me go, you edrecht!"

"Calling names, now, eh?" The unicorn took both forehooves, thank goodness, and shoved her against the ground, using his magic to restrict all her limbs. He then began to push her now slightly dirtied gown out of the way. "That's not part of the royal treatment. I think I'll get you to where you'll tell me what that means."

"I think what you're getting is yourself into a heap of trouble, Blueblood." Came another, very angry voice. Zuri turned her head around, still pressed agains the ground, to see Shade. Her hopes rose considerably, seeing as Shade looked particularly livid.

The sight of the stallion was apparently pleasing to Blueblood. He smiled, and waved a hoof in a motion that was evidently supposed to beckon Shade to him. "Ah, yes, Shade. I've got this nag all ready for myself. Sick of that robot frill yet? Metal's only fun for so long."

Shade did not move. "My fiancé holds my heart." He answered, looking near-pious. "Metal or flesh. Let Zuri go, Blueblood. This is a mistake."

"Bah, don't give me that." Blueblood scoffed. "Come over here, I'll let you have first round. Y'know, I usually took the first round, I think it should be yours at least once before you're married."

Shade stepped closer now, looking much angrier. "Nopony's having rounds, Blueblood. I already said it once, let her go."

Blueblood's smile faltered. "You're serious, aren't you? Want her all to yourself, then? Woo her better than I? She's an easy catch, that won't be hard. She strikes me as desperate for love, after all."

Well, that stung deeply. Zuri hid her face, afraid she might lose composure. "I don't want her to myself, Blueblood. I want her out from under you, now." Blueblood's smile vanished altogether. It seemed he finally understood what Shade was saying. "Make me, why don't you?" Blueblood said, arrogantly childlike. "What, going to hit the Prince like this nag did? I could have you shipped back to Equestria in a box just for trying to push me around."

"While you're looking for a good box to send me back in, look for one for yourself," Shade countered. "My rep may be rotten to some, but I've got friends in high places, and so does Zuri, here. Maybe you'd like to see how Princess Twilight looks when she's mad as all hell. You'd like that, I bet, given how much you ogle her behind her back."

Blueblood blanched—an impressive feet, given his white fur color. Thought it was obvious he wasn't giving up yet. "You'd never dare try that. Suggesting that a prince has an attraction towards his sister-in-royalty? Dirty mind you've got there, Shade. Why not use it more creatively on this zebra nag I've got under me?"

Shade's eyes narrowed. "You'd rather try and face Princess Twilight down, then? I hear her mane catches fire when she's really mad. She's also good friends with that fair Rarity maiden you met a year or two ago..."

Now that must have scared Blueblood. Almost immediately, Zuri felt her legs released from his magic, and he stepped quickly away from her. "This is some kind of reconciliation, is it, Shade? Trying to find 'inner peace' or some hogwash, after all those mares you had? Fine, I'll leave your love affair alone—don't bother denying it, your eyes say it for you, hypocrite. This isn't over, Shade, and not for you either." He glared at Zuri. Zuri glared back, getting to her hooves and beginning to straighten out her dress, just barely holding onto her composure. Nearly raped twice in the same seven days. How did anyone survive the whole thing?

Blueblood growled something unintelligible, and then went back indoors. Shade moved quickly to Zuri's side, helping her stay on her rather unsteady hooves. "Hey, Zuri, feeling okay? Blueblood's not a smooth stallion, really. He's a bit of a... "

"An asshole?" Zuri offered shakily, remembering the dialogue between Moondancer and Rainbow Dash, where she now remembered the name Blueblood from.

Shade blinked, then grinned and nodded. "Yeah, bit of an asshole."

"S-sure, a bit..." Zuri said with as much sarcasm as she could manage. It came out a very sarcastic-sounding whimper. No, stop it. No tears in front of anyone. It was bad enough with Rainbow Dash. Darn it all! I can't see with all this water in my eyes!

"You're not okay, then." Shade observed, moving in to put a hoof around her shoulder. Zuri began to move, thinking of how Blueblood's own hoof had gone first to her shoulder level, then lower, but she stopped. The damn tears kept falling.

She sat there and cried. For how long, she had no clue. Shade held her gently, not making any move, but simply acting as a shoulder to cry on. She rested in his mild embrace, simply waiting until she could regain control of herself.

"I thought he was real," Zuri stammered after a while. "He was so sweet and chivalrous—then turned out to be such an odilia. Why didn't anyone warn me about the slimeball that happened to be a prince?"

"I'm sorry, I should have remembered. That's his gig: he struts about 'till he spies a pretty and gullible loo..." He faltered, looking at the teary-eyed zebra resting her head on his shoulder. "Um... A nice looking mare who happens to be the star of a big show, and then flatters and woos them to where he can get between their haunches. Then he leaves. I know because he got me into trouble doing the same thing. That's... probably how Ruby got such a bad opinion of me. Sometimes he uses some heavy drugs to get the more clever, more resistant girls to give in. He's bragged to me while drunk that he sometimes keeps a mare tied up somewhere for a couple weeks, before using a memory-wipe spell and sending them out somewhere far away from him. You're one of the lucky ones."

"I hardly feel lucky." Zuri said, more like blubbered. "In the same hour I was being danced with, courted, and then downright dry-humped on the dirt road. I feel like an idiot." She spat on the ground, trying to get the residual feeling of Blueblood's mouth off of hers.

"Hey, Blueblood is a misogynistic bastard, but he's really good at dragging mares into his snare. You aren't an idiot, you're just lonely." He squeezed her shoulder gently, hugging her for a moment more. She definitely needed to use a shoulder to cry on, now with the fake wooing over. Thank goodness she hadn't worn much mascara, otherwise she'd have a much bigger mess on her face to clean up than must the dirt...

Lonely? Maybe. No, that was wrong. Who am I kidding, I'm downright miserable. "I'm not an easy catch, am I?" She asked, rather stupidly. Of course he wouldn't be able to answer that. He sighed and shrugged.

"I wouldn't know, but most of what comes out of Blueblood's mouth is either to make you feel butterflies in your stomach or as if you just got slapped in the face."

Zuri sniffed, managed a weak smile. "It's a weird combination of both, at the moment."

"That might be because you got your face smashed right into the dirt, which isn't free of rocks. Hold still, let me see." As gingerly as he could, he held her face with one hoof, examining her right cheek. It did hurt there, actually. She probably had a cut, to match the one she gave Blueblood. "Yeah... That ought to be cleaned. Your tears are starting to dry, how are you feeling now?"

Zuri swallowed, wiping her eyes with a hoof. "Nauseous, mostly. I always do after I have a breakdown like this."

"Not nauseous after nearly getting victimized?" He quirked an eyebrow.

Zuri smiled again, which seemed to please Shade as she spoke. "I guess a bit of that too. He seemed so real... I wanted something that was real, so it was easy for him to... Take advantage." Stars, now wasn't that a humbling experience.

"Well, nopony's alone forever. That goes for zebras, too," he encouraged. "Though maybe you ought to hold out for someone who isn't such a, y'know, asshole."

This time, she laughed, and however croaky it sounded, it was a laugh. "I keep hoping for that." She regarded him for a moment, and then felt a now familiar twinge, in multiple areas. Most of them were around the stomach-and-below area. All higher functions of her brain seemed to shut off for a moment, and before Zuri could stop herself, she kissed Shade full on the lips. Three seconds, a full three seconds of kissing, and then she got a hold of her wits again and pulled away.

Shade looked quite dumbstruck. No, not looked, there was no question about it. That kiss had left him completely and utterly gobsmacked. His mouth was open, no noise came out. Seeing as it was obviously becoming a recurring gag, at this point, Zuri's face was so flushed it was hard to imagine she had was any color besides red.

"I-I..." She began, now with wits returned to her able to realize what a huge mistake she had just made. "I wanted to..." She couldn't do this, especially not with Shade staring agape at her. Without anything else to say, she ran away, leaving Shade there, alone. She ran and ran, until she was inside again. She ran passed a very confused looking series of familiar faces, that she had no time to distinguish from one another. Then a pink blur caught up with her, somehow.

"Wheee~! Are we having a race?" Pinkie Pie chirruped, running alongside her.

Zuri slowed for but a moment, not really looking at Pinkie. "Where are the restrooms? Tell me now."

"Oooooooh, that kinda race!" Said Pinkie. "Over there, door on the left's the mares' stalls. Is it the fruit punch or the...?" Zuri went back to full gallop, her dress somehow flexible enough to allow this. She ran into the bathroom and shut the door behind her, breathing heavily. She seemed to be completely alone.

"Melose," she said aloud, hearing it reverberate around the sterilized white room. She stamped her hoof on the floor work out the emotional energy, shouting, "melose melose melose!"

Zuri went to the large mirror above the sinks, looking herself over. Face looked okay, aside from a red cut on her right cheek, and puffy-tear-stained eyes. The lowest parts of her dress were dirty, a few small tears all over it. She sighed and sat back, contemplating crying again. This is the most horrible night of my entire life. There is no way it could get even worse.

On cue, one of the stall doors behind her banged open, and Zuri looked up in the mirror to see... "Ruby? Why are you wearing Druva's dress?"

Druva blinked, looking as if Zuri were brandishing a gun at her. Then she blinked again, and her pupils suddenly became slits, irises turning emerald green. Her whole body, dress included, seemed to ripple, and change shape quickly. Zuri whirled around, staring in shock at Chrys, standing there in front of her. Only, she'd gotten a little taller.

Any thought of what had just happened flew out of Zuri's mind. All of her brainpower was focussed on trying to figure out how the changeling had gotten here, and moreover... "What happened to the real Ruby, and for that matter, Druva?"

Chrys blinked, then glared at her. It wasn't intimidating at all, merely indignant. "What, just because I put on someone's face means I have to beat them up? Have you been watching pony science-fiction shows? I just... needed a new disguise. My first one was too much of an attention whore, and I'll be damned before I dress up as a noblestallion."

After that, there was a prolonged silence, neither changeling nor zebra speaking, merely staring at one another. Finally, Zuri was able to break the silence. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm..." Chrys paused, wings twitching at her sides. She obviously hadn't expected to have to explain herself to anyone. "I'm still working on figuring out where I came from."

Zuri managed a, "oh, I see. Um... Have you found anything out?"

Chrys regarded her for a moment, probably deciding how much to tell her. "Some things, yes. I wasn't always this small, for instance."

"You were barely taller than a filly when we found you. What have you been eating?"

"It isn't so much food, as an accelerated aging process." The changeling answered, walking closer. "I found out this much: I was being shipped to the Frontier Forest terraforming labs, and I was supposed to reach full changeling maturity by the time I arrived, and then I would age normally. Well, normal for my species, that is."

"And how did you find this out?"

Chrys shifted in place, looking uneasy. "That's... That's the part I'd like not to answer at the moment. I've done a lot, in the time since I left you all behind."

"Well, that much is obvious, so why are you here now—specifically?" Zuri asked, even more curious.

The changeling walked up next to her, staring into the large bathroom mirror. "Give me a second to think of how to say this..." She licked her fangs, brushed a lock of her lifeless green hair out of her face, flicked her tail, and twitched her wings. "I'm looking for a stallion named Filthy Rich. Does that sound familiar?"

"The very same stallion we're looking for, actually." Zuri looked at her through the mirror. "He holds the key to our freedom from this city. What's your excuse?"

He's got a big stake in ESSUG research, which happened to be who held me in a box for such a long time. He sponsored that train's passage to New Appleloosa, and my transport to Frontier Forest. Moreover, he put a lot of money into the research budget spent on me. I want to know why, because I'm fairly certain he's one of the few ponies who actually knows where I came from, and why I was being genetically re-purposed for reshaping planets."

Zuri frowned at all this. "Would you be willing to tell me what that all actually means? What did ESSUG do to you, anyway?"

Chrys frowned as well, probably mulling over how to discuss it again. "I'm not really sure how they did it, but the kind of insect-spawning magic I use isn't some kind of offensive weapon, it's part of a more complex ecosystem stabilizer—a way to keep Frontier Forest the way it is, rather than have it deteriorate back into a barren desert area. From what I've been able to gather, I was supposed to reproduce at Frontier Forest, and with my newly made kin use the swarming magic to fill the forest with insects and microorganisms that couldn't have been shipped between planets conventionally. I know it's hard to understand all this babble, but in short, I'm supposed to be a multipurpose terraforming tool.

"A tool with no methods of control, it seems," Zuri commented.

This got a grin out of Chrys. "There were supposed to be genetic and magical safeguards implanted in me at the Frontier Forest labs. Of course, I never got there. You'd think that would be the first thing they put in, but apparently most of these heavy duty scientists have no common sense. By the way, you seem to believe what I'm saying right off the bat."

"I've already been told that you were being considered terraforming equipment. I've just recently gotten a few friends in high places."

"You mean like that princess who reads a lot? She's visiting."

"Yes! How did you know she-"

"There's a lot of information about her on pony information networks. Apparently she's a complete bookworm. Anyway, if she's that friend, that's a friend I could really use. Maybe you could introduce me."

Zuri winced, and shook her head. "That's not a good idea. She's also friends with Rainbow Dash, whom you beat up rather recently."

"Oh yeah..." There was another silence after that. It was a stroke of pure luck that no one else had walked into the bathroom. Finally, Chrys continued with, "I think I've got a proposition for you. Seeing as we're both trying to tackle Filthy Rich, why don't we work together? It might make things easier."

"Maybe..." Zuri looked her up and down with a significant expression. "You'd need a better disguise first."

"I'm open to suggestions. I can look like anything I can think of, but I'm not really good at thinking up an attention-diverting appearance on the fly." She smiled nervously.

"Hmm," Zuri mumbled, rubbing her chin and looking at Chrys' chitinous body. Stars, she had changed so much, so quickly. Nearly gone was the cheery, childlike creature she had met aboard Macintosh's train. Whenever Chrys looked at her, she could still see that familiar adolescent air about her, but just barely. One difference she noticed right away was that the feeling in Chrys' mannerisms and speech patterns that Zuri couldn't place before was now blatantly obvious. She's hungry, but for what? Some weird changeling form of emotional food? A friend? A home? Unconditional conjugal relations? Though she wasn't sure where that last thought had come from, the subsequent idea hit her like a brick to the head.

"Would you be able to change into me for a second?" Stupid question, Zuri had seen her do it before.

Chrys, as if remembering this, smirked, and was engulfed in green light for a fraction of a second. Zuri stood before Zuri, each in the exact same attire. "Easy."

"Now... Take the blue color out of your stripes all over, hair, body, everything. And make your eyes a different color. Restyle your hair how you like, and take off my dress!"

With a laugh, Chrys made these changes instantly. Now she looked more like any other zebra, with emerald eyes that looked very familiar. Though, she was still a perfect replica of Zuri's body shape. Stars, I should really eat more. I'm thinning, with all this stress and running around.

"So, what next?" Chrys inquired, looking over her zebra form. "I'll need a dress for myself. I'll stand out way too easily without one." She looked herself over again, before her face brightened. "Oh, wait! I've got an idea!" She disappeared in green light again, and reappeared clothed in an extravagant ballgown, using multiple shades of green and silver. "I saw this on the cover of a book somewhere, I think. I wanted an excuse to try it on, and well, here it is. So, who am I supposed to be, if anyone?"

Zuri grinned at this, that same idea was like a constant ray of inspiration from above. "Your name is Sibulla. Sibulla Oun-Drii Dakita. You're a close cousin of mine, and you've always enjoyed going to big parties. It might shock the Gala organizers who had no idea you even existed, but it won't matter in a few days." Well, the Dakita family being closely related to the Sara family was true, anyway.

Chrys looked pensive. "Sibulla... Isn't that one of your sacred spirits?"

While Zuri wondered in dismay how any pony had been able to learn that bit of culture and then was able to insert it in a changeling's mind, she answered coolly, "not very sacred to me, at the moment. She was going to show up at this party anyway."

Letting Chrys unravel that one, Zuri redirected her attention of mending her appearance. The changeling pitched in with her magic to clean dress of dirt and mend the cut on her cheek, and even did a little to help with Zuri's slightly disheveled hair.

Zuri walked to the bathroom door, with "Sibulla" close behind. "Now I left a lot of zebra and ponies out there very confused. Just hold to that story I gave you, improve it if you can think how. Out we go..."

Carefully, two zebras pushed open the door and walked back into the Gala hall. No one seemed to be looking their way at the moment, thank goodness. Zuri took up a trot, and Chrys followed suit, right beside her. "So, do you know what Filthy Rich looks like? I haven't found any picture of him, anywhere." The changeling asked, eyes surveying their surroundings.

"Not really. As far as I know, the plan was for Rainbow Dash to come find me when she'd spotted Filthy Rich, and then we'd back him into a nice, quiet corner."

Chrys' disguised face frowned. "But that would necessitate Rainbow Dash finding you—and, by extension, me."

They walked for a little longer in silence, smiling as politely as possible to anyone who looked their way, though no one approached them. That was until... "Lady Zuri! Oh, Lady Zuri! Might you know what became of my fiance?"

Uh oh... Zuri winced, turning around slowly, and put on a brave face for a smiling, although puzzled-looking Ultraviolet. "I don't think I have, Dell Ultraviolet. Why do you ask?"

"He seems to have completely vanished off the face of Palosol! I can't find him anywhere. I ask you because I saw you departing to the gardens with Prince Blueblood, and Shade following soon after."

"Oh." That one syllable hung in the air for a few seconds as Zuri scrambled to think about what to say. This was hard, because she was simultaneously scramblng to not think about the fact that she had spent the most intimate and enjoyable three seconds with Shade that she had ever spent with him not even fifteen-Stop thinking about it, damn it!

"Well, I didn't see him." She answered with a strained calm. "I left Blueblood in the gardens a while ago, in fact. I realized he wasn't good company." Wait, oops, is it alright to say that about their royalty—to their face?

Ultraviolet's lips curved upwards in a smirk. "Didn't take long, did it? Yes, some of us thought we should intervene on your behalf before Blueblood could drag you off, but if you managed to get away yourself—"

Oh melose, she's making it worse. I am so sorry I kiss your fiance, I really am. He just saved my innocence, his timing was amazing. Blame him! It isn't my fault he's got great timing and a sense of honor, and chivalry, and not to mention really kissable lips... What is wrong with me tonight?

"—we're just sorry you had to face him alone. It can't paint a good picture of our customs."

"Oh no, I don't blame your customs at all, Dell Ultraviolet." Zuri said, completely sincere, seeing as she blamed a particular stallion's natural attractiveness instead.

Ultraviolet smiled gratefully at this assurance. "Mm, well, if you do find him, try to direct him to me, would you? By the way, who is this?" She gestured towards Chrys, who blinked like a creature in the headlight of an oncoming train.

"My name is Sibulla Oun-Drii Dakita," she began, in the perfect imitation of a zebra who had not been speaking with ponies long. "Zuri and I are cousins. Did no one say I was coming?"

"Well, what a surprise! Not even Zuri mentioned you!" Ultraviolet said, bright and friendly as always. "It's so wonderful to meet you, Dell Sibulla. I am Lady Ultraviolet, and what do you make of our Gala?"

"Very big, very... colorful. I am unaccustomed to so many different colors of fur on ponies." Chrys commented without missing a beat, taking on the air of an Oun-Drii lady who was not entirely in her element.

Ultraviolet continued smiling, until something behind the two zebras caught her attention. "Oh, excuse me, I think I've spotted my husband." She darted off, and Zuri began trotting again, Chrys alongside her, in a different direction. The night wore on for several more minutes before she finally spotted their goal. There, finally, was Rainbow Dash, flanked by Big Macintosh and Moondancer. Even better, she was walking straight towards Zuri with an excited look on her face.

"I've found Filthy Rich. Going to pull him over now. Come on!" She hissed, not even noticing Chrys' presence. Well, that's just fine. We don't need distractions now. The same couldn't be said for Macintosh or Moondancer, however, who both eyed the second zebra with curiosity.

Rainbow Dash led them over to a part of the room where there were fewer ponies. However, there was an aging stallion present, with slicked back, graying black hair and a light brown coat. His pale blue eyes were complemented by his light blue tuxedo, which looked freshly pressed and kept meticulously clean. He didn't look particularly threatening. Zuri would say he looked uncomfortable, or anxious. Maybe because there was a lack of a personal guard around him.

Rainbow Dash snuck up until she was right behind the stallion, and with a big grin, she addressed him thus, "good evening, Mr. Filthy. I think we have a contract we need to discuss."

Filthy Rich whirled, eyes widening in alarm, yet somehow his eyebrows kept lowering in an expression of panicked anger. "M-miss Dash! I've had my ponies looking everywhere for you since Rock Pile. Why have you left your post? And more importantly, why have you attacked one of my daughters?"

Rainbow Dash smiled, looking as if she was enjoying this immensely. "Firstly, I've come to complain about the state you've left my mercenaries in with your employ. Secondly, Tough Love was a total brat, you should have named her something different and made her sleep in a room without the color pink in it. Pink bedrooms corrupt minds, you know."

Filthy Rich seemed to swell up in a mix of anger and an attempt to make himself look bigger. "You are hardly the one to be criticizing my parenting skills, Miss Dash, seeing as you couldn't even stay with your mercenaries at Frontier Forest!"

"Whatever are you talking about, Mr. Filthy? I brought my entire company with me. Didn't you notice my lieutenant, standing right next to me? We all have quite a few scores to settle with this contract."

"And why would that be, Miss Dash?" He asked through clenched teeth.

Rainbow brightly continued on. "Well, I guess this contract is like a serious cavity neglected by the dentist. It's slowly gotten worse over time and currently the only cure is to take the tooth out entirely." She fixed her eyes on his. "Come, Mr. Filthy. Let's discuss our business together, elsewhere."

The stallion looked as if he were about to react, but then he looked up, to see everyone Rainbow had brought with her.

"Mr. Rich," Big Macintosh intoned, "it would be a wise decision to do as she tells you."

At this, Filthy Rich snorted, but allowed himself to be led further away from anyone else at the Gala. Rainbow Dash lead her little party into a more secluded hall, turning a corner so that they were out of sight of anyone in the main hall. "So, are you here to knock me around?" Their target asked, sounding much more scared now than he had before. "You wouldn't dare, Miss Dash. Especially not with these zebra present. Think what the news media might make of it."

"Nice try, Filthy, but I already have a large amount of leeway over what the news networks say about me, being an Element of Harmony and..."

"And a friend of Princess Twilight Sparkle, I get it. The advantages of the preferential treatment."

"Mr. Rich, Ah'd ask you to avoid from makin' such ill-spoken comments about the princess while within these walls." Rumbled the big red stallion, looking not at all happy. He didn't have to expand on that thinly-veiled threat. The mere reminder of his presence quelled Filthy Rich considerably.

"Alright, alright, I'll deal," he said, looking at all of their faces with a mix of fear and hatred. The same kind of expression that Zuri had given many different ponies who had been threatening her with an assortment of discomforts. He'll get no sympathy from me. I didn't deserve that treatment, Filthy Rich brought this on himself.

"First off," Rainbow Dash began, sitting back on her haunches in a conversational manner. "I want me and my mercenaries out of this crappy contract you made us sign."

"Fine, that's easy. If you won't pound my face in while I take out my PDA..." He watched them cautiously, Big Macintosh especially, as one hoof reached into a sidepocket on his tuxedo. He withdrew a disk that was exactly the same diameter as his hoof. He placed it on the ground, and the device emitted a holographic image about a foot above itself. He manipulated something with his hooves, Rainbow Dash and Moondancer keeping a close eye on exactly what he was doing, before the device beeped, and the hologram vanished. "Done and done. Now you've got no mealticket." He sneered at them.

"That's next on the agenda." Rainbow Dash continued, grinning wider. "As part of ending the contract, The Rainbow Riders requires a group severance package, exactly equal to our pay from the start of the contract."

Filthy Rich's sneer fell off of his face, replaced with a very black expression. Oh dear, this might take a while.

Only, it didn't take a while. Macintosh just had to flex his excessively well-developed muscles and the coward broke down immediately. He offered no resistance towards Rainbow's third condition: to remove the order of landlock, and allow them to leave the city legally. "It was a pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Filthy!" Rainbow Dash waved him off as he returned unhappy to the Gala, though she held his PDA in her own hooves. "Can't let him undo anything he just did. That would be dishonest business practice."

"That seems almost too easy," Zuri said. "What did you even need anyone besides Macintosh here for? He caved so easily."

"Well, you always have a mix of tough friends and tougher friends together, when you're trying to scare someone into doing something for you. Macintosh happens to count as toughest around here." Rainbow explained with a grin.

"Still though, it seemed so simple. We did so much work, and all Filthy Rich had to do to finish the job was push a few buttons. It just feels anticlimactic."

"Well, it should. Should it have felt properly climactic, that would mean there would be a higher body count. And contrary to what I say and do a lot of the time, I don't care for that, much." Rainbow shrugged. "This was the most ideal way to handle it."

"Well, then, we're in the clear, aren't we?" Zuri changed the subject, feeling upbeat. "Now we can leave Paradise City whenever we want."

Rainbow nodded. "Mmhmm! Right after I handle something else. Don't worry, it's real quick."

"Well, what is it, then?"

"Simple." Rainbow Dash turned to look at the still-disgsuised Chrys. "Who the hell are you?"

Zuri opened her mouth, though her brain lagged behind in coming up with an explanation. Instead, the zebra heaved a sigh, and with a shimmer and flash of green light, Chrys stood there in her natural form.

Rainbow Dash was not amused.

15. Flight of the Misfits

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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.

16. Homeward Bound

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The midday sun shone brightly above Palosol's desert surface, twin moons hanging off towards the east, where Paradise City stood. Now the pony civic was just a large metal-colored growth in the distance, transplanted to the dusty surface. The distant northern mountains were partially visible in the midst of the sands, but the ocean that surrounded the continent could not be seen unless someone traveled so far west that the desert landscape was but a distant memory, replaced with equally huge plains.

Despite the proximity of the sun and the lack of cloud cover over most of the desert, it was not too hot, within the sled's cabins, where Zuri now sat, eyes aglow. She was tending to her wounds via trance, taking an occasional sip from a sweet beverage Datroi had brought her a few minutes previous. On occasion, she stopped sealing up cuts and lowering the swelling on bruises to admire the bare beauty of the sand dunes they passed. It was nearly Samā, yet still the surface was just cool enough for safe Gau-Aer travel. One had to be especially careful going abroad during the hottest season of the Palosol year. When the sands grew searing hot, it came time for the Ophidum to mate.

Ophidum, the humongous, magnificent serpents which swam through sand as an eel would through water, enjoyed mating season only when the weather was scorching hot, perfect for ensuring the survival of their cold-blooded eggs. Not only did this mean a large number of supermassive snakes prowling around near the desert surface, it also meant that mothers bearing eggs had an extra appetite. It just so happened zebra were among the Ophidum's favorite meals, when mating season came around. Ordinarily zebra steered clear of known Ophidum territories in favor of avoiding angering the enormous, intelligent, and often ravenous animals. Likewise, Ophidum families avoided zebra cities in turn, as a stray could be often caught for profit off their huge skins, long scimitar fangs, and venom. Yet, one way or another, one always ran into the other every year.

In the previous year's Samā, she had heard of three different stories about zebra going out on last-minute travel plans, to suddenly vanish without a trace. There were undoubtedly more than just three casualties that year, but those were the only ones anyone bothered to talk about, because it had cost the lower-class portion of Otoul a visit from an Arbiter and Tedus two recently wed Oun-Drii. Though, this latter incident hadn't saddened the residents of their estates. Apparently neither of the Oun-Drii, before or after being married, did anything to help them be popular. Perhaps some Ophidum had a taste for royal pains, or perhaps fate was that much of a vindictive nag, as father would put it.

Thinking back to everything that had transpired in Paradise City, the blue-striped zebra could agree very easily with the latter. She had so much to tell her family about, and so much she wanted to find a way to avoid mentioning altogether. That, unfortunately, brought Shade back into the forefront of her mind, and her body gave an involuntary quiver.

Zuri returned to mending herself, sucking in her breath through clenched teeth as the circle of burnt flesh on her side began to regain its natural color and shape. Hopefully, by the time they reached Otoul, she'd look a bit more normal. This wouldn't be too hard: Druva would be dropped off at Tedus, a much closer goal than the huge capital of the desert cities, so there would be plenty of time to fix herself up.

All of the sudden, the sled began to slow, and there was a faint grinding sound as the vessel depressed into the sands about two inches. They couldn't possibly be at Tedus already; no Gau-Aer sled was that fast, and the view through the ovular window did not resemble any city entrance Zuri had ever seen.There was a knock on the stone door that led out into the cramped central chamber within the sled. Then, it slid open with a quiet rocky grumble, and Agilis' face poked in to grin at her.

"No more just sitting around in here, sister." He chided playfully. "You've got to come help operate the sled, Giza needs a break."

Zuri followed her brother closely up the tight spiral of steps to the deck. She wrapped her cloak tightly about her, to guard against the sun and any stray grains carried by the wind whistling in her ear. There was nothing but sand in every direction for miles. It would be long before they reached any goal. Giza stood tall at the bow of the ship, within the circle of runes. The glow from the markings had diminished, and Zuri could see as she approached that her big sister's shoulders were heaving, head lowered slightly.

"Glo'Dei, the wind is working against us today." Giza wheezed, apparently trying to get her breath back. "That Forgirn oaf hardly did anything useful—aside from help with moving this sled of ours. He had a lot of stamina, in that regard."

Zuri walked up and stood next to her, within the circle, examining the runes that it was comprised of. "Well, I'll be good for something, I guess." She took her breath, positioning her hooves to be parallel with her sister's. The heat from their hearts spread through their bodies in tandem, and the circle of runes lit up again, brighter this time. To Zuri, the body ofthe sled suddenly became her body, that strangely required no muscles to move, just thought. With a soft rumble, the sled rose off of the sand again, and with a gentle coaxing of the sisters' combined willpower, began to accelerate.

"You won't be any burden!" Giza replied to her comment, after a few seconds more of silence. "You are our sister, and you've brought home a free Scal-Re. Where did you get her from, anyway? We'll turn right here, around this rock. Watch me."

Both of them, Zuri after Giza, slowly leaned to the right. Their legs bent almost in synchronization, and the sled bent with them, banking to the right and cutting a smooth curve in the sand as it went. "I acquired her from an unkind master. He did not deserve a Scal-Re trained such as she, so I took her from him for her own sake."

"What, then, became of her former master?" Giza asked.

Zuri imagined Barxie, tied up, with Chrys forcing him to father her children, using his body however she wished. "You... probably wouldn't believe me if I told you, sister."

"No? Fine then. Probably a better idea to keep our minds on this sled, like the Dunnur would want. He still makes me shiver with his disappointed face. He's getting even older than he was when you started with him, and he still scares me sometimes."

"He's getting older," Zuri agreed, smiling as they both bent again to steer the sled around a cluster of jagged rocks. "But not senile. He'd verbally throttle me at even the smallest muckups. Speaking of which, I did not trance before any pony I came across."

Giza nearly turned to stare at her, but didn't, in the case of breaking her concentration on the sled altogether and causing it to tumble into the sands. "How did you manage any sort of mans, in that case? I can't imagine restricting your power that long. You were gone from home for nearly two weeks, I hope you realize."

Zuri sighed inwardly. "I'm very well aware of how long I spent, Giza. Not every part of that big city is full of ponies, though. That shanty we left, for instance, allowed me to get some excellent practice in for the next Cudonetor."

"Really? How?" Giza inquired.

Zuri frowned. "I would really rather talk of it with as much of the family listening at once. I'm sorry."

"No, no! I understand," Giza's voice was unnecessarily sympathetic. "Your first big trek outside of Otoul—on your own. Palosol is much bigger than we often think."

Zuri could imagine what else Giza understood. You need to show off, to the rest of the family. She guessed her sister's thinking. To the rest of zebrakind, more like. Need to remind them all that you are useful, that you're powerful. Every Sara descendant has to.

Well, I am, big sister. I am now the one and only family member who has gone into the pony lands and has come back, more or less unscathed.

There was a stretch of silence, before several little mounds of sand in front of the sled began to shudder violently as the sled drew closer. "Oh, melose," Giza cursed, stamping one hoof on the floor and by extension breaking her concentration. The sled fell into the sand, slowly grinding to a halt. "Double melose!"

"What was that all about?" Came Agilis' voice, as he too came up from below. Zuri turned, seeing Druva and Datroi tentatively come up after him. Her brother continued with, "I know neither of you are that tired. Is there an Ophidum or something ahead of us?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, there is," Giza replied hurriedly, eyes beginning to glow brightly. "Quick, get this sled up again, maybe there's still-"

A suddenly eruption caused sand to fall upon the sled like hail, as a long, wide serpent jumped out before it. Zuri almost cried out in dismay, before noticing that the Ophidum that had revealed itself was in fact an adolescent. This was easy to tell, given that it was small. Well, not really small, but much, much smaller than any Zuri had heard of causing a major problem. Usually described as hundreds of feet long, large enough to gulp down a Gau-Aer sled four times the size of the one Zuri stood on now, this one looked just barely large enough to swallow a diminutive zebra whole. Even so, one Ophidum so young could be a problem, because it meant its mother was probably nearby.

"Gah, just a little one!" Giza sighed in relief and agitation, shaking her head. "Must be looking for food, pretty stupid for it to come up to us. This won't take long."

The young Ophidum writhed around in the sand before them, spitting poison onto the ground and gnashing its wickedly sharp fangs. "Morsels!" It hissed, "Get down from there now, promise I'll make it fast~"

"They can talk, m-my lady?" Datroi squeaked, hiding more or less behind Agilis, who had come up behind his two sisters. The poor girl had probably just heard stories about Ophidum secondhoof, Zuri guessed. Yes, of course they could talk. Usually it took a few years to really have it down, so Zuri was told. Those wisest and largest, therefore, were the oldest, such as the legendary Gibraxin, an Ophidum supposedly so large that no zebra could ever report having seen all of him at once. Many came looking for that immense snake, for a chance at sampling his wisdom (age had made him wise, strong, and incomprehensibly huge, but had reduced his appetite for other intelligent beings, so the stories went) but none for his skin. He was unkillable, eternal, as far as zebra were concerned. Zuri fancied that her journey might have taken her on the path to finding him, eventually. Now, she wasn't so sure she'd be going anywhere for some time.

But this Ophidum was a meager thousandth of Gibraxin's estimated size. His green, brown, and black patterned scales looked pale and raw, freshly grown. Yes, this one was very young indeed, snapping and babbling at them with the carnivoruous arrogance that was apparently common among Ophidum attempting to get at intelligent prey otherwise out of reach. If they could help it, Ophidum never left the sand behind.

"Come down here, morsel," it crooned mockingly at Datroi, probably having heard her with the oval-shaped auditory holes on either side of its head. "Come down, and I'll show how I speak, morsel." It ended this with another snap of its teeth, Datroi didn't look like she would be listening to the young serpent's instructions any time soon.

"Please," GIza sighed, eyes giving a bright flash. Like pulling up a weed by the roots, her trance yanked the over-sized snake out of the sand by its head. It gave a scream of outrage and alarm, its long body indignantly waggling around like a wet noodle.

"Put me down!" It shouted, rather desperately. "Put me down, food! Wait 'till mother comes, you'll be sorry then!"

"Not waiting around for that, foolish thing." Giza replied, holding the young Ophidum in mid-air for a few moments longer, before tossing him far away, eastward. It sailed through the air most un-majestically, before it eventually landed atop a nearby dune. Now with a more dignified movement, it dove beneath the surface, tail wriggling behind it before vanishing moments later.

"We best get move on," Giza murmured, taking up her position alongside Zuri in the rune circle. "The rest of you, back down below deck. We'll have to move quickly if we want to avoid mother's retribution."

Soon afterward, the sled rose upright once more out of the sand, and continued speeding along.

———

There was little else to talk about, so Zuri's and Giza's focus was on keeping the sled moving as fast as possible. Good that it was, given the time. The sun was moving faster than usual: Zuri could have sworn that six hours hadn't passed by so quickly, despite the sky showing that it had. It would be getting dark soon, and that would mean stopping sooner than that, to recuperate, and—a much more unsettling thought—talk to her elder siblings.

The fraternal twins were the closest to Zuri in age, and probably in relations, when compared to the rest of the Sara children this generation. Lebowa had never entirely taken to her youngest sister before she was married, and Mizul had gone off to begin his own family when Zuri was halfway through pubescence, his visits rare, but long.

Despite her feeling closest to Agilis and Giza, Zuri was going to run out of decent excuses as to why she hadn't yet told them any significant details on her misadventure. Was it a misadventure? She got temporarily imprisoned by ponies, fell in with a band of vindictive mercenaries led by a supposedly world-renowned hero, trekked all the way to a huge city where she encountered a thief, a pariah of a leader, two princesses, a friendly cybernetic dressmaker, several unkind nobles, one not-so-unkind...

Well, perhaps it wasn't such a misadventure. She had made friends, made a few more enemies, and met a pony whom she couldn't get out of her head, no matter how hard she wanted to. Sounded awfully similar to how Viva Sara had started out, though being from the mostly impoverished and borderline-totalitarian city of Mavisde probably meant anything was an improvement.

Her thoughts were interrupted by her sister, saying, "turn left again, here." With the Sled leaning to the left, gradually turning around the edge of a long dune, Zuri saw a large shape, about a couple kilometers away. Giza interjected, "Ha! And there is the entrance to Tedus."

It was what at first glance would appear to be a tall mound of sand, though every time Zuri blinked, she could see the shape of the hill shimmer unnaturally. An illusory trance was on the entrance, probably a safeguard against ponies that dared travel this far west. As the sled drew closer, Zuri could make out what it really was The mound of sand became a smooth, edgeless house, then a huge sandstone and metal gateway, with two cloaked figures standing on either side. When the sled was only meters away, two of the figures stepped forth, and Zuri could see the bright shine of one of the figures' eyes. Sand-Trancers made the most effective guards, regardless of whether they relied on runes or the Gift. One method could be set up well in advance as a series of hidden traps, and the other method was so much stronger, that simply the glow of eyes could act as sufficient persuasion not to break the rules. At any rate, not to break the rules in their presence.

The sled gradually decelerated, stopping just short of the two approaching guards. One of them leapt up, and with a flare of sand pushing them up further, they landed on the bow of the deck, directly in front of Zuri and Giza. Two glowing, indigo eyes surveyed both of them, gradually traveling down to the crests upon the clasps of their cloaks. Upon seeing these, the guard bowed low with a practiced air.

"Dell Mansau of Sara's lineage." He began, and Zuri almost gave a happy squee for his fluent zebric and native accent, unchanged by ponies in the slightest. "I, but a humble Gho-Re sentry, welcome you to Tedus."

The sisters exchanged a significant look. Gho-Re, the soldiers, were the product of the rigorous training of Tabithun, the heart of military power among the desert cities. They were strong, fast, extremely physically fit (by extension very easy on the eyes), and most all of them Trancers. Although not conditioned to the extreme degree that private students of the mans were—students under the Dunnur's study, for example—they were all raised up to the same level of skill. One Gho-Re would provide a challenge to Zuri, about as much as Barxie had, she guessed.

Now that she thought of it, where had someone like Barxie gotten any sort of training for the Gift? He had obviously been born and raised in the striped shanty, to be so accustomed to that decrepit way of life underneath ponies, there was no way he would act so... Disgusting if he had been raised in any desert city. Who was running around, teaching the most secret of secrets to zebra who lived close to an alien race? Zuri couldn't think of any zebra who would be that stupid.

"Ah, do you hail from Tabithun, or Tedus?" Giza remarked, smiling beneath her cloak at the Gho-Re.

He nodded, expression showing casual respect. "Tedus is my home, Dell Mansa, here I grew up with my family. But surely, you don't wish to waste your time outside discussing me, do you? 'Tis beginning to grow dark..."

"Time is on our side," Giza answered. "We'll be staying the night, in the sled dock entrance."

"We're here!" Druva shouted, clambering excitedly up onto the deck and running to the bow of the sled. She wore her cloak again, vuiol wrapped around her middle like a sash. "Gah! It's been so long since I've seen those gates, and you, Libbur!" She smiled at the guard, who looked shocked to see her.

"Druva? How... That merchant said you got dropped off at one of the pony towns! How did you manage to get back out?" Libbur asked, a smile gradually growing on his face.

The alchemist gestured to Zuri with a sweeping bow. "With help from this fair lady Trancer, no less. Zuri Oun-Drii Sara rescued me from the pony's cruel slaving practices, and set me on the right road home!"

"You mean to say that while you were gone, you befriended a traveling Sara descendant in pony territory," Libbur remarked, shaking his head in disbelief, and looking at Zuri with a more subdued face. "Is this true, Dell Mansa? You are most kind, thank you for helping my friend!"

Zuri beamed underneath her hood. "T'was what any fellow zebra ought to do. Druva, is this goodbye, then?"

"Right, yes, this part." Druva smirked. "That crowd of Twilight Sparkle's rather put me off extended good-byes, and you've said you feel the same. So, goodbye, Zuri Oun-Drii Sara." She looked as if she were coming in for a hug, but then she blinked. Her eyes flitted to her guard acquaintance, and she instilled a more practiced respectful smile on her face, removing the warmth her expression had before. She bowed low to Zuri, snout to the floor of the deck. "Farewell, Dell Mansa Sara. It was an honor traveling with you."

Of course she would have to act like this. A Non-Ni couldn't just up and hug an Oun-Drii lady in public. That was reserved for family members, and friends of the same caste. It was an abrupt reminder that she was returning to the culture she had known all her life as her own. She wasn't just another zebra anymore: she was Oun-Drii. Where was this when I was in Paradise city?

Druva straightened again, warm smile reappearing. Zuri returned it, nodding to her. "Spirits preserve you, 'til we next meet, De Non-Ni."

The alchemist turned, and hopped gently onto the sand in front of the sled. She walked towards the gates, where another guard approached her and began to converse. Giza spoke once more, "well, I think that's all. Our goal is Otoul, but we are very tired. Zuri, let's just move the sled into the entrance, and then get some sleep."

Moving the sled was simple, though a bit more strenuous on both sisters. Now the sled rested, bow facing outward, with two others underneath a large canopy that connected directly to the opposite side of the city gate. Zuri helped Giza bring up a wide metal fire pit, placing it on the center of the top deck. It was oddly reminiscent of Druva's cauldron, she thought. Giza next brought three large wooden cylinders—an enchanted wood from trees native to the far marshes, thruimbere, literally; firewood—and dropped them into the metal basin.

"Now it's my turn. Not going to let my sisters catch a cold for dinner; you've been trancing all day." Agilis stepped up to the firepit, turning his head to the side to look at the runes engraved in the metal. He muttered a word, rapping his hoof on one of the runes engraved in the side. There as a strange pulling sensation towards the pit for a split second, Zuri recognizing it as a powerful rune's activation. Fire shot up in the center of the pit, a brilliant red-yellow. The flare only lasted a second, but the thruimbere ignited within that second, as it was made to do.

Giza sighed, sitting back and admiring the flames licking around the wood. "Thanks, Agilis, I was just starting to get dizzy." Zuri soon followed her example, massaging the faint, dull aching all over her body as she watched the fire grow.

Agilis smirked, imitating a whiny, overworked voice. "Oh, and I predict you'll both expect me to fetch the raw akarne, too, and get it cooking?" He looked at both of them with a mocking huff.

"Oh, would you please, big brother?" Zuri smiled sweetly at him. He snorted, biting his tongue for a moment.

"Could I get your new Scal-Re to do it?" He asked, looking back at the hole leading down into the sled. "She's not making herself useful, otherwise."

"I was letting her enjoy her freedom from her previous owner, for the moment," Zuri explained, her smile becoming set. "If you had a clue as to what he made that poor girl do..."

Agilis pursed his lips, shifting a little in place. "I have a few guesses, little sister. After all, that was the striped shanty where she came from. Say, you didn't... Run into any of that, did you?"

Zuri lost her smile altogether. "I am going to tell mother and father the finer details of my time away before anyone else."

"Don't bother pushing it, Agilis," Giza advised her twin. "If I couldn't get her to say any more when she was distracted by running the sled, you certainly won't do much better."

"All the same," Agilis continued. "Ought we to invite her up to sit with us? This isn't home's dining room, slaves are allowed to eat within the field of vision of their masters, here. Besides, I'm not letting anyone dribble akarne bits all over the rooms down there. They're still all clean from when I purchased the sled!"

"Very well!" Zuri stood up, brushing past her brother a little pointedly to stick her neck down the hole. "Datroi, come up here, and sit with..." The stumbling clatter of hooves interrupted her. The slave girl came into view moments later, silver earrings bouncing on either side of her face as she looked up wide-eyed to her mistress.

"Y-yes my lady?" Datroi inquired quietly. "What do you wish?"

"I was merely inviting you up here, with us." Zuri continued, "We're going to eat soon, and we'd like you to join us."

"Oh, thank you my lady!" Datroi smiled, nodding as she stepped up and onto the deck. "Shall I get foodstuffs ready, then, my lady?"

Zuri blinked, then reminded herself that the Scal-Re probably had been conditioned to react thus, though without even talking. "No, no, you needn't do anything but sit, and enjoy company with us."

Datroi looked completely nonplussed, staring at her. After a few uncomfortably quiet moments, Agilis moved past them both, going down to fetch food to cook. At this, Datroi snapped out of her numbed state and moved with wobbling legs to sit nearby Giza. Giza smiled brightly at her. "are you a true Scal-Re, as Zuri says you are?" She asked.

"Yes, my lady," Datroi answered meekly, but said nothing more.

Giza continued on, disregarding the slave girl's obvious discomfort. "Then, what city do you hail?"

"Otoul, my lady; I was raised and trained there."

Giza favored Zuri with a grin, still addressing Datroi. "Well, then, you may be happy to know where we're headed next."

She was, indeed. When told of their next destination the Scal-Re looked very much like Druva, eager to give Giza or Zuri or Agilis or even Barxie if he had been there a hug. Of course, she didn't, she must have known it was bad form to do such a thing. Agilis soon returned with several large, uncooked pieces of arthropodal flesh on a thick metal grill. They were devoid of outer skin, just pale white meat. Fresh akarne: sandspider, Zuri's favorite meat, probably purchased that day when still docked in the shanty from another Gau-Aer. Agilis was carefully positioning the grill over the roaring fire, so that the flames easily caressed the bits of meat.

Giza licked her lips at the sight of the flames licking at the sandspider flesh. "Lovely! And what about our greens?"

"Just having me do everything while I'm up, hm?" Their brother snarked, and then went back below-deck, most likely to retrieve the foliage zebra preferred to eat. Already the sweet, rich smell of cooked akarne meat began to waft to Zuri's nostrils, and her belly loudly insisted that when dinner was served, she would take second helpings.

"It's probably been forever since you've had akarne, little sister," Giza commented, smiling at her.

"Ponies make interesting breakfasts, you know." Zuri remarked absentmindedly. "Only a week away, and the food wasn't all that bad, but I have missed zebric food."

Dinner was fast and extremely satisfying, and Zuri went to her room feeling a little heavier than when she had come out of it, not to mention much more tired. She was happy to see that she was alone in her room, no Sibulla in sight. No anyone in sight. She removed her cloak and crawled underneath the bedsheets, nuzzling into the pillow.

Here she was, on her way home, completely alone in bed, no company save for her family, and her new slave, in their own beds in other rooms. Perfectly alone, none of her list of brief, newfound friends so close any more, now miles away. This list included Chrys, not to mention Shade.

Zuri took another hour to fall asleep, brain not wanting to leave away any of those interesting topics. Sure, there was her family, which she was overjoyed to see. But family was not a significant other. Alone once more coincided with a teary-eyed loneliness.

———

Her dreams were many, and varied. she thought there were familiar faces in them, Viva Sara included. She could remember nothing from this dream, however. Unlike the others she had had recently, this dream was no memory. She simply drifted through an immense ocean of what seemed to be onyx-black sand, bright stars staring quizzically down at her from the endless sky.

The sled was already moving when Zuri awoke the next morning. Blearily, she peeked out of the ovular window in her room again, and she blinked. They couldn't have traveled that quickly overnight unless she'd overslept, and given the position of the sun in the sky, she probably had. She could see the shimmering shape of the entrance to their home.

Otoul, the bright and shining center of life in the desert, had an immense pillar-like structure as its main entrance. Entering was easy. The guards within the outer structure allowed the sled to approach the pillar without halting it, and suddenly the window only showed dark sandstone, and then total pitch-black. The huge door in the side of the entrance had opened, to allow the sled entrance, and had closed up again, explaining the sudden darkness. Zuri tranced the lamp in her room to burn a bright blue flame, and she could see the thick bricks of stone moving upward, evidence of their descent.

Zuri felt a sudden surge of giddiness. Finally, she was back home, back in a world that she understood, back to a society that wasn't trying to kill, rape, or otherwise physically harm her. Instead, they restrained themselves to merely thinking about doing so. She ascended to the upper deck of the sled, right when it emerged from the large vertical tunnel, and the sudden flood of sound and light momentarily dulled her senses.

Otoul was just as bright and massive as she had remembered it. The great dome ceiling was so large, that even from where the sled came out, one could not see the end to it. The city was illuminated from wide metal disks, enchanted to generate light. The Gau-Aer markets, placed around the entrance, brought the noise that filled Zuri's ears. She could see, over the tops of the large inns and lower-class housing, the front of the Oun-Drii district. Its expansive, decorated manors provided a gorgeous backdrop.

The sled moved through a wide river of sand, parking itself among other sleds just as large and well-kept, in the middle of the marketplace. Zuri approached Giza, who was busy straightening her cloak and the metal clasp on the front that bore the Sara family crest until she noticed Zuri's approach. "Well, little sister? What's keeping you from running off to go allay our parents' worst fears?"

Zuri cocked her head to a side. "Then you're not coming with me, up to the manor?"

Giza shook her head, chuckling. "No time yet for that. Agilis and I have business to take care of. Contrary to what Lebowa may think, we do keep focus on our trade." Giza made a shooing motion with her hoof, similar to the motion that she used to shoo her little sister away when she was much younger. "Go on, and take your new Scal-Re with you; Agi and I will be home in time for dinner."

Datroi was easy to round up, having just come up from below deck, and being stunned by seeing Otoul again for the first time in what must have been months, or even years. Of course when her mistress addressed her, Datroi immediately straightened and bowed with shaky legs, unable to keep the exhilaration within her. Ensuring that her family crest was easily visible, Zuri kept her hood off of her head, stepped off the sled, and began moving in the direction of the Oun-Drii district, new slave following close behind. She wore her golden Trancer's rings upon her neck and ears once more, and moved with the casual confidence a zebric noblemare as herself would be expected to have. Every zebra she passed slowed their step or stepped away from her, bowing their heads and hesitating to look at her eyes. These two reactions told Zuri who was more surprised at her appearance, and who had seen her elsewhere. No one stopped her, though she drew many eyes as she walked.

Otoul's large Oun-Drii district was closed off from the rest of the city, with only one entrance. Tall, spiked, metal gates were guarded by two trancers that Zuri knew from fillyhood. She approached the gates confidently, but was stopped just before them by one of the guards. The zebra in question had bright green eyes, and long hair pulled behind her head in an elaborate quartet of braids. "Welcome home, Dell Mansa Sara. May I have your permission to drop the formalities?" The guardsmare inquired, smiling widely at her.

Zuri returned the smile, nodding her head in recognition. "Thank you, Guard Zivandi, and I don't see why you should start asking now."

Zivandi jerked her head towards the other guard, who was standing stoically on the left side of the gates. "My captain has assigned a new fellow to stand the gate with me. He's fresh from Tedus, and a tattle-tale like you wouldn't believe."

"Ah, does he have a name?"

"Bivul Gho-Re Bage, so he claims. Does he look like he's the son of the prettiest face to Retaogos into the Cudonetor arena?"

Zuri regarded the other guard's slim, short form. "He does cut a fairly feminine figure."

Zivandi laughed at this, looking behind her at Bivul herself. He merely blinked at her, wondering what the two mares were chuckling about. He did not approach however, but merely shifted uncomfortably in place.

"So, who is this filly you've got with you?" Zuri's friend asked, turning around to examine Datroi, standing beside her mistress and looking meek.

"This is Datroi, my new Scal-Re. I found her in the pony city, in need of a better master than the one she had."

Zivandi's eyes widened, and she shook her head in exasperation. "You brought home a legitimate Scal-Re? What did you get up to in a place like that that gave you a new slave?"

Hastened along by her friend's curiosity, Zuri returned to her old tune of, "I'm telling my parents before anyone else."

Zivandi gave a little snort. She couldn't give a bigger snort, else a certain tattle-tale she had just been complaining about might think she was disparaging Zuri, as opposed to beginning to banter with a friend she'd known for at least half her life. "So you're going to come all the way down here to visit me and tell me of your travels, yes?"

Zuri rolled her eyes, a little exasperated. "I'm going to visit you when you're not on duty, ideally, so I don't get you in trouble."

"What! Getting in trouble is the most exciting part of my day, and you would deny me that. Dell Mansa, I feel betrayed by your judgement. Please, explain: why have you changed so?" Zivandi mocked an indignant, pleading expression.

The blue-striped mare's tone was more serious now, "I've had plenty of trouble for the last week. I think I'll wait another few days before stumbling into anything else."

"Alright, I'll let you in. Welcome home, Zuri, don't forget to visit!" Zivandi stepped aside, running a hoof across a symbol carved into the stone road beneath her. The rune glowed a pale grey-white, and the gates to the Oun-Drii district swung open.

Datroi stuck right by her mistress' side as they walked past the gate threshold, Zivandi's new partner guard watching them go with curious eyes. Zuri knew he was looking at her stripes but she did not do anything. Best not to get rid of him, just to land Zivandi with an even worse co-sentry. Doing such a thing to the stallion would be petty, anyway.

The tall barrier between the rest of the city and the Oun-Drii district muffled the sound easily, in part because of runes and trances set up with the express purpose of keeping things quiet for the residents. Zuri walked coolly down a wide avenue split down the middle by a long mirror-pool, at the banks of which a few young fillies and colts were playing. One parent, both parents, or nursemaid kept a close eye on their respective charges, calling them back when they wandered too far or attempted to jump into the canal. It was a piece of art, how the water only moved when disturbed by hooves, meant to be art, and not a swimming pool. Most Oun-Drii had those in their manors, all of which were connected to this public area. The calming scene was further accented by tall, crooked trees on either side of the road, which only grew thick, circular leaves on the ends of their snaking branches.

The smallest manors came first after the promenade that followed the gates. Zuri had seen them all a dozen times before, none of them as impressive as the larger, more expensive, older buildings that were further into the midst of the district. There was the occasional shop, identified by having their entrances right on the smooth sandstone path and a large pane of glass letting light into them. Zebric runes in extremely large print told what each one was for. High-end smithing, jewelry, bakeries, et cetera. Datroi was in awe, struggling to take in every detail of the progressively more beautiful homes as they left the miniature marketplace behind. Zuri had her eyes on one of the biggest: The Sara estate.

It looked just like she had dreamed it so many days ago. One large structure that made up the manor, connected to a smaller penthouse where the servants slept. As she stepped onto the path that lead to the stairs to the main doors, she took a moment to admire the beautiful windows, the flawless outer walls of stone, the obelisks flanking the entrance, inscribed with zebric blessings upon the house of Sara.

Zuri made her way up the stairs, making sure that Datroi was till behind her, and met the two guards at the double-door entrance to her home. Both guards recognized her at the same time, and seemed shocked to see her again. They both made to move for the rune engraved on the door that would open it, and ended up bonking heads with one another. Zuri suppressed a giggle and instead addressed them, "be still loyal guards. I am capable of opening my own door." Her eyes flashed, and the doors swung open. Both guards made a mumbling apology to one another, a more audible one to their Lady, and then stood straight again, not questioning Datroi's presence or her following Zuri into the main entryway.

The high-ceiling had three large, circular skylights which lit the room, showing Zuri the two curving sandstone staircases, the thick, dark blue carpet that adorned them, and the balcony they led up to. It also showed that no one seemed to be home. The double doors shut behind her with a loud crash, that reverberated through the entry hall like the ringing of a bell. After a few moments of silence, Zuri felt her stomach give a rumble. Agilis and Giza had conveniently forgotten about breakfast. Thanks, you two. I'm sure you're very busy. It was still morning, perhaps the dining table would still have something on it for the youngest member of the family.

She lead the way to the dining room, deciding to introduce Datroi to the servant's lodgings once she had introduced her to her family. Sure enough, she could hear voices coming from the dining room, which became silent as the sound of her hooves hitting the floor reverberated through the long, tall hallway. The long dining table had the remains of a hearty family breakfast still present, five places set, and three more unset. At three of those set places, sat three zebra, all of whom Zuri knew.

Mother, father, and big brother, all blinking at her, momentarily stunned by Zuri's sudden appearance. With hunger pains and anxiety fogging her thoughts, the only thing that Zuri could think to say was, "did you save any for me?"

Her mother got to her first, inflicting a desperate hug upon her youngest daughter. "You're home! Thank the stars, you're back home!" Xoda Oun-Drii Sara pulled back for a moment, to fix her sapphire eyes in a firm stare upon Zuri. "You, young lady, had us all worried nearly to death. Stars, look at you, you've thinned. Have you eaten nothing in your time away?"

"Not nothing..." Zuri's stomach disagreed with another timely growl.

Xoda gave a little sigh. "Or perhaps your brother and sister just neglected to feed you."

Father came next, embracing his youngest with equal warmth and relief. "I suppose it was enough that they brought you back alive and well! You are well, aren't you?" Gainu looked over Zuri with his probing eyes. "Where did you go? What did you eat? You obviously never made it to any Gau-Aer..."

Mizul pushed past his father to nuzzle his little sister affectionately, getting a word in edgewise. "What got to you, then? Rogues? Ophidum? Formannecol?"

Zuri suppressed a prideful grin. "None of those. I was captured by roving ponies, thinking me a thief."

Well that shut everyone up. It had been obvious that they all had questions for her, but now mother, father, and eldest brother just gaped at her. Having stunned them to speechlessness, Zuri decided to continue. "They put me in a cage, and tried to get rid of me in a slaving town..."

Xoda gave a sharp intake of breath. "Now wait just a moment, my dear. It'd be best if we heard this while sitting down, I think. If only Lebowa were here to hear this..." Zuri was sort of glad her eldest sister wasn't there to hear it. Yes, they loved each other, but there was always a rivalry between the youngest and the eldest Sara daughter—Lebowa was born with a strong, intelligent mind and a beautiful body, though without the gift. Zuri was born with a strong mind, discolored body, and carried the gift the strongest out of all her siblings.

They sat down, and Xoda demanded that the servants fetch Zuri something to eat. Before Zuri could stop her, Datroi made off with the other Scal-Re present in the room, intent on appeasing her mistress' empty stomach. While this temporarily let Zuri get away with not explaining the young slave's presence to her elders, it made her wonder just how well Datroi would blend in with the other servants. Pushing this thought aside for the moment, Zuri resumed telling her tale, keeping her parents and eldest brother on the edge of their seats, much to her enjoyment. Editing out any thing to do with her emotional breakdown or the changeling queen set loose on the world, her story went from New Dodge Junction, to the Forest guarded by mercenaries, to the train, to Rockpile, and then to Paradise City.

She went from the grungy slums where Ruby Nights ran her outfit to the aristocratic apex of the civic, deigning even the Grand Galloping Gala, emotional roller coaster though it was, necessary to mention. She left out any mention of Shade, though she did hint at Blueblood's attempt to take her, much to both her parents' dismay and her brother's outrage. She then brought up the striped shanty, and this was where she hesitated on more detail. It was bad enough to speak of how ponies mistreated zebra, but what about zebra mistreating zebra? Zuri had no clue how to gauge her family's reaction to that. She decided to go scant on the more sordid details, just to be safe.

"It was a dirty place, full of zebra and buffalo who couldn't do anything better with themselves." She explained, emphasizing her point with a disgusted expression on her face. "It was governed by an uniquely brutish stallion and his buffalo right-hoof. Surprisingly, he knew how to trance. And trance well. He nearly killed me."

Xoda shook her head in disbelief. "Stars, I cannot imagine any mansa so well trained and experienced living in a place like that. Even though you're still young, Zuri, you're very strong," she paused to enjoy her daughter's blush. "But honed skill can outdo raw power almost any day."

"He definitely had skill," Zuri agreed. "It felt as if the Dunnur had taught him, as well."

Gainu put a hoof to his chin, a playful smile on his face. "Perhaps Dunnur has something he ought to tell us, eh? I bet the old stallion makes frequent trips out to the pony towns, just to teach unkind little colts how to control their abilities better than a Sara descendant, granted one that is just coming of age."

Zuri gave a little huff. She had her gold rings; she was just as much a fully-trained trancer as her mother was, minus the experience and the experimentation. Sure she was still rather young, but she wasn't an adolescent anymore! She was an adult Sara descendant, and and hadn't Viva Sara been her age when she set out on her own?

Food arrived, on one large, shimmering platter piled with sweet native fruits, teardrop-shaped leavened bread, freshly cooked sandspider meat, and leaves of all sorts. Datroi carried this platter ahead of two other servants, and carried herself with pride for what was probably the first time in her life. She set it down before Zuri where she sat, right between Mizul and her mother. The two other servants, sort-of pushing Datroi aside, then gave her a tall, cylindrical cup of water. Tired of talking, Zuri dug in, in the midst of reveling in a mouthful of soft, warm naan when she was interrupted by Mizul putting a hoof on her shoulder, and looking warily at the food.

"You left out saying anything about that Scal-Re who followed you in," he said. "Do we get an explanation about that before we let her serve you breakfast?"

Swallowing first, Zuri answered, "her name is Datroi Scal-Re Talas, and she is my servant. She was originally owned by the brute of a stallion running the striped shanty. I found him undeserving of a Scal-Re, given his vile treatment of her, and so I took her with me. She has no reason to harm me. Is that all correct, Datroi?"

Datroi nodded eagerly. "Yes, my lady!"

Gainu looked pensive. "And so you say she is now your very own servant?"

"You knew her full name, which suggests that you had her sworn unto you," added Xoda, looking amused.

"She is sworn unto me as hoofservant and secondly unto the family, as I expected you'd have wanted, mother," Zuri explained.

Xoda openly laughed. "Well, good that I did! I suppose this saves us the trouble of purchasing one for you. She has her rings, I see, so she must be fully trained. In that case my only request is that you make a point of seeing your Grandfather soon and ensuring that her becoming yours is something you can do—given the situation you were in."

"I don't see why I won't be able to go see him today. I don't have Dunnur's lessons to attend, at least not today, nor anyone else's. I've got to figure out something to do with all this free time."

"I'm sure you'll find something, dear." Xoda assured her. "In fact, why not go see Dunnur as well? I'm sure he'd be as interested as my father would be in hearing about your travels."

"With luck," Mizul put in, "you'll find them together. Recent goings on have gotten them talking with each other."

"Recent goings on? What do you mean?" Zuri queried. What did I miss?

Mizul smiled at her, and sat up straight in his street. "Oh, no one's told her yet, that's not peculiar at all."

"I'll save you the trouble of trying to get it out of your brother," Xoda cut in. "Eat your greens, and plenty of them, dear. Among other things, there's a Cudonetor coming up."

17. Oun-Drii Affairs

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The Cudonetor was an event traditionally held in the largest zebric cities, as it always drew in huge crowds of zebra, which of course encouraged trade and stimulated population growth, two things that were vital for the continuation of zebrakind in the deserts of the continent. Not to mention that they were the most exciting thing many zebra would ever see.

The rules went as follows: two or more trancers were pitted against one another, and given complete freedom to use whatever trances they wanted, just short of giving their opponents a fatal injury. The eventual goal was to incapacitate all opponents currently in the ring, which was normally done in close combat. This was not a rule, but done for practicality; one trancer attempting to neutralize another with the same level of experience via trance was extremely difficult all on its own. The victor of one round would go on to face the next opponent, and so on, usually for twelve rounds per day. Ultimately, the trancer who won the final round would go on to fight in the concluding match, the Cudonevobe, which always took place in Otoul, and the victor would be named the yearly champion—a prestigious title.

Zuri had seen several Cudonetors over the course of her fillyhood, marveling at the strength of the trancers competing, watching them hurl waves of sand and fire, become invisible bring down a large portion of the ceiling, even deafen every competitor (and nearly every spectator in the arena as well) with an explosion of noise. One reason she had decided to become a Sand-Trancer was because of her big brother, Mizul, who had started competing as soon as he earned his golden Trancer's rings. She recognized that he had power and skill, as she was supposed to have, both being Sara descendants. She also recognized, however, that she was the one with discolored stripes, with a little more to prove. And in Zuri's mind, there was no zebra worth proving something to more than her parents, and just as importantly, her grandfather.

Vindulu Ban-Re Sara, Otoul's Premier Elder, tenth-forth Sara descendant, experience seconded only to Dunnur. The same grandfather who had made Zuri promise not to be seen trancing by ponies. This was the zebra who could make father—or anyone, for that matter—cower in his presence. Zuri was told that both of her older brothers and her eldest sister had incurred his wrath, only once each. They had never made the mistake again. Yet, despite this intimidating reputation with his grandchildren, Zuri could never remember a time when Vindulu actually raised his voice at her. Where he would growl at any of her older siblings, he was always more patient with her. Agilis once jokingly chalked this up to Zuri being the youngest, and once mother and father got to adding another member of the family, Vindulu would treat her just the same. But there never was another member to be added. And his abnormal lenience with her persisted to that day.

This persistence was what Zuri was counting on as she walked past a pair of guards and into the Premier chambers. The chambers were an immense complex in the center of the city, around which all else was built and from which the city was governed. There was a gateway to the chambers in every district, allowing anyone with the intent and the permission to enter. Within its largest, most decorated hall, Vindulu sat, and addressed whatever issues came to him, whether they were an impending famine or an upcoming holiday. He cherished the bouts of seclusion his personal hall allowed him, and the intermittent periods wherein he could not find time for himself to ensure that the city around him ran smoothly.

Where does my request of an audience with him fit into all of that? Zuri wondered to herself, as the wide double doors guarding Vindulu's hall slid open, the sound of the thick stone grinding against stone acting as an alarm. Elaborate murals covered the walls to either side of Zuri when she entered, depicted all the major zebric spirits, the Sara magician, a few other old, famous zebra whose names escaped her at the moment. They did not hold the same degree of importance as the aging, more pale-colored zebra standing before her on his own personal raised platform.

Vindulu was peering down at his youngest granddaughter, his wrinkled face furrowed in an expression of great interest. If he was angry or happy, it was impossible to tell. He merely stared at her, before clearing his throat. "Well? You can't expect me to see how you're doing from over there. Come closer!" He beckoned her over with a hoof. "Come, dear girl, let me get a good look at you, my eyesight going and all."

Zuri, a little more carefully, stepped closer still to the platform, hesitating for a moment before climbing onto it. Her grandfather stood not two feet from her. He was still staring at her, deep in thought. What could he be thinking about? Vindulu was often silent for prolonged amounts of time. He'd just sit there, staring at one zebra or another, obviously deeply lost in his own musings. Perhaps he was thinking on the one whom he had his eyes locked on, which made him staring at her all the more unsettling. How much thought could the old stallion put into all that silence. What could be so much better to simply be pensive about, so often?

Finally, he stopped craning his neck, and straightened as much as his old body would allow. He beckoned her to come closer. "Come on, my dear, I don't bite, closer!" Shaking herself free of her unease, Zuri did as he said and closed the distance between her. He took a long, deep breath, letting it out again as he stared into her eyes. "Your face reminds me very much of your grandmother. It's your eyes. You share her bright, blue-as-day eyes." Finally, he smiled at her. "Just as beautiful eyes, too."

Zuri returned the smile, bowing her head a little. "Thank you, grandfather. As you can see, I have returned from my journey."

"Yes, that much is obvious, even to a set of old bones such as I." His smile flickered into a smirk for a moment, and his eyes glinted. "And do you remember the promise you made to me? The very day you left, you came to me, and I had you swear that..."

"'I will not use the gift in front of ponies who have the mind to understand it. My power will not be seen by them, at all. They will know nothing of my potential.'" Zuri recited, with perfect memory.

Vindulu nodded, still grinning. "Oh, something like that. You make it sound much better with that young voice of yours. Speaking is an important thing, enchanting and other practical uses aside, you'll use it to win minds and hearts. But all that comes later." The good humor dropped out of his voice, his expression's glimmer faded a bit. "Well then, have you kept your promise to me?"

He would probably know if she were lying. It was the exact sort of thing that he could pick up on. No wonder he'd been made Premier Elder. "I have kept it, Grandfather." It came out a little less confidently than Zuri would have liked, but she'd managed to say it while looking him in the eye.

Vindulu's pale blue, wizened eyes narrowed, the glint in them like a blade's sheen. It felt like he was trying to probe her mind, read her through her cyan pupils. "You know, you don't keep up as stony an expression as Mizul or Lebowa, nor do you try to distract me with your humor or your stories, like the twins do. You just stand there and quiver, like you're afraid I'm about to give you a beating! Do I look like I am going to be giving any beatings, child?"

Zuri swallowed before answering. "No, grandfather."

"Not just because I'm growing weak. I wouldn't lay a kick upon you if my life depended on it, you know that?"

"I do, grandfather."

Vindulu's expression narrowed again. "Then why do you act so afraid? You've nothing to hide. I believe you when you say you did not use your gift. There were once ways to find out for certain, but I very much doubt Tambana himself would agree to let a zebra of any kind see within his cave of the past. He doesn't just hand that sort of present out."

Zuri found herself swallowing quite a lot. Surely he knew something about that, to bring it up. "I'm sure of that, grandfather."

"Just because I say it, hm? You're still so afraid. Your legs are shaking! Come here, Zuri." He wrapped her in a tight hug. Despite his unusually wiry limbs and old, thin form, it was not uncomfortable. The affection more accommodated for the Premier's aged body. "You have nothing to fear of me, so long as you break none of our laws. I supposed you're still a tad young for that to have really sunk in. It'll take a few more years, I'm sure, but you'll get there."

Zuri managed a real smile now. "Thank you, grandfather."

"Now, there's one more thing," Vindulu pulled away to share the smile with her. "I do hope you're planning to compete in this upcoming Cudonetor!"

"I am, grandfather! 'Tis my first."

"Hmm, the first is always the hardest." His voice took on a sour tone, as if suddenly recalling a mix of good and bad memories long ago. It soon passed, replaced by his affable smile. "I know Giza and Mizul are competing, if they haven't changed their plans. You ought to practice with them and, well, this goes without saying, Dunnur."

"I was going to visit him after you, grandfather. I might as well have something to do every day."

Vindulu laughed in sympathetic understanding. "Then I shan't keep you any longer. I've got business of my own to take care of, anyway."

"But there is one more thing," said Zuri, remembering what her mother had advised her to do. "In my travels, I came upon a Scal-Re in dire need of a new owner."

Vindulu raised his eyebrows, inclining his head. "You swore a Scal-Re unto you? Where did you find them?"

"In a pony city, in a small zebric district. She wears the rings of a fully trained slavegirl."

"In a pony city! Stars, that's odd. Was she without a master when you found her?"

"No, she had one," Zuri grimaced, getting a little sick of having to talk about Barxie again. "He didn't deserve her, and he's as good as dead now."

"Did you kill him?"

"I said as good as dead. I don't know for sure. He isn't in any state to own a Scal-Re now anyway."

"Hm," Vindulu sat back, rubbing his chin in thought. "I'm guessing you came here to be sure you could do this without facing consequences. Stealing a Scal-Re is a good way to face trial. If you really say he did not deserve her, and he is in no state to keep ownership of her now, I believe you, but..." Vindulu straightened a little, his brow furrowed.

"I may have to get rid of her?" Zuri asked, worried.

"Well, no, I don't think..." He sighed. "You may want to be careful who you give details about this Scal-Re to. Bad things could come of wrong words spoken. We Sara descendants have a lot of trouble with naysayers. We have money, power, and rights to things many zebra, many Oun-Drii have sought after, for as long as Viva Sara has been painted on the walls. Your grandmother, after all, faced a group of Oun-Drii intent on ruining us, and gave up her life for her daughter's family—your family. There are others like those Oun-Drii, and they'll come crawling out of the cracks in the walls if they can even smell something that can be turned from word, to rumor, possibly to vilification." His expression was black, and rueful. Zuri stepped back, unsure of how to respond. Vindulu blinked, and sighed again.

"I don't mean to frighten you, I started rambling there, an old soul worrying for his granddaughter's future. Just... Be careful with things like this Scal-Re's background." His old face bent into another kindly smile. "So this is my long winded way of saying, yes, you can keep her."

Zuri beamed at him. "Thank you, grandfather." Vindulu leaned in, looking expectant, and Zuri gave him a kiss on the cheek and a brief, tight hug like she often did when she was only seven, stepping away and departing at a relaxed pace. After Grandfather, Dunnur would be a cinch.

———

Dunnur was a different story than Vindulu. Zuri often thought of her teacher as a parent who showed their love through wanting to see their child improve constantly, yet were also in a profession that they enjoyed, and would therefore put their heart and soul into it. He lived in a smaller section of Otoul's respected Elder district, so it was a short walk from her grandfather's place of work to the Dunnur's humble living space and personal training gym, modeled to be a scaled down version of a Cudonetor ring. Zuri knocked on the right side next to the door, which was actually a veil of wooden and sapphire beads. Dunnur's home was small; a little dome with enough space for a single bedchamber, kitchen, and living room. Connected to this was a much large dome, able to hold a dozen or so zebras combating one another.

There was a short silence, and Zuri knocked again. This time she got a rather angry voice acknowledging her. "Yes yes, patience! Wait a moment, I am schooling!" She heard hoofsteps—surprisingly fast for their age. Dunnur's old, well-used, but still strong voice carried out again as he stamped from what was obviously the larger dome to the small one and making a beeline for the from door. "What could be so important that you can't just be patient and..." He finally stuck his head out of the wall of beads, causing them to rattle together musically. The Dunnur, who had snowy white stripes with grey stripes and milky orange eyes. He squinted at her for a moment, not breaking eye contact. "...have come back. Glo'Dei above, girl, come inside, tell me where you've been." His head disappeared behind the veil of beads, and Zuri followed after him.

Dunnur's home was just how it had been when she was still his student: enough space cleared and few enough fragile objects to allow for a little error without any harm. In this main room was where Zuri had received many of her early lessons, such as when she'd succeeded in freezing water in under a minute. She could even spot the shallow bowl used for that particular lesson, stacked atop a shelf of scrolls. Now it held what was obviously water frozen a moment after something was dunked into it. Zuri's old teacher settled down on a long cushion, and began rubbing his temples.

"I could use the break. The seven I'm training right now, they have no concept of focus. I've got a brand new gout in one of the walls from one of them looking the other way while trying to trance a boulder into segments. They're a lot like you, only, it's good they're stopping and gouts as opposed to burning through my carpets and nearly choking themselves on the fumes. You are, after all, the reason I stopped buying expensive things for my students to practice around."

Zuri swallowed, and smiled awkwardly. "I remember that, sir teacher."

"I'm sure you do," Dunnur continued, straightening up a bit. "Your mind's eye is just as important as the two in your skull. If you let any of them wander, you lose focus, and when you lose focus..." He stopped, and raised an eyebrow at her.

"You lose control," she answered. Yes, of course I remember that. You might as well have branded it onto my leg.

"And losing control of a trance is one of the most interesting ways to get yourself killed," Dunnur continued, nodding. "You rarely made such a mistake after that. Tell me about your journey abroad. I assume with the oath you made to your grandfather, you were just as vigilant. You smell of a fresh bath, I take it you needed one?"

"Oh, desperately!" Zuri said, happy for the topic change. She immediately delved into her story, the same edited version she had given her family. Dunnur only interrupted when she came to her fight with Barxie.

"Now that is interesting." The elder muttered. "Power, skill, and obvious experience. Where do you think he got the knowledge to control his power thus?"

Zuri nodded. "I was asking myself the same question. I can't think of any teacher with a right mind to train an edrecht like that."

"A teacher who is just as much of an edrecht, of course." Dunnur said with a deadpan. "Which, if I am not mistaken, narrows the possibilities quite a lot. Anyone who is willing to let a filthy-minded ruffian like that practice the mans should not be teaching anyone—or living. Now, I know many other teachers that may have the knowledge and skill required to train someone so, but none with either such blind eyes or such a dark heart. At least, if this Barxie, so you call him, was in the pony city, perhaps his former teacher is still there, and therefore far away from here."

Zuri wasn't sure whether to be comforted by this or not. Someone wih the power and knowledge to train Barxie may also be able to gain access to Gau-Aer, and reach the zebra cities with very little trouble.

Dunnur looked towards Zuri with intent in his eyes. "Speaking of teaching the mans, I anticipate someone's told you of the Cudonetor this year. I was expecting you to be a bit more excited."

"I guess it hasn't exactly sunken in yet, and I was just talking with my grandfather about other subjects."

Dunnur quirked an eyebrow. "So you weren't ever thinking on it, eh? Think on it now: this is the first Cudonetor that you will be participating in. This is where you will prove yourself, to all of the desert zebra. Has it sunken in now?"

Zuri wasn't sure what he expected her to do. Jump up and down like a five-year-old, and squeal about how she was going to win? She was a newcomer to the ring, a child, still. She didn't like to admit it but full-on adulthood was still to come for her. She supposed she was excited, but that excitement was quelled by fear: complete failure would immediately lead to disgrace. Sara descendants always lasted at least four rounds, and no less.

"I... Guess I'm a little scared, Sir Teacher."

"Of losing? Everyone loses at one point or another, in the ring. I don't think anyone expects you to win when your own brother and sister are in it as well. They've known more, for longer. Power can help you, so can experience and knowledge. None of you children seemed to have found a good amount of all three."

"Don't think I don't know that, Sir Teacher. I need experience, I have knowledge, and apparently I have power. What I don't have, unlike my elder siblings, is the common zebra's favor."

"Ahhhh," Dunnur's eyes flitted towards Zuri's uniquely striped body. "Demonstration of ability to accommodate for your stripes. Honestly I think the blue will be easier to see in the ring than white."

Zuri winced. "That's partly what I'm afraid of."

"Well, I know for a fact your family gives you plenty speeches about that subject. I'm not touching it. I am here to teach, and ensure you ultimately enter a Cudonevobe and win. You're a Sara descendant, Zuri, it's bound to happen sooner or later."

Zuri wasn't so sure.

———

"Now that is what I call a yarn," Zivandi muttered, sipping the warm, mild tea that Datroi had brought for her. "So few zebra have come back from the pony territories... Who was the one who taught you their language again?"

"Kunravi, the same Gau-Aer who mentored Agilis and Giza," said Zuri. "I wandered into a lot of their lessons when she was teaching them pony language, and so I started picking it up."

The guard leaned forward, curious. "Can you try some for me now? I've never heard it. Say something like... 'My friend Zivandi doesn't obey any rules she doesn't have to.'"

"Well, let's see, um..." Zuri smacked her lips, trying to think of something she could explain easily. She smiled, and spoke in the same mangled accent she and Druva had when in Paradise City. "My friend Zivandi doesn't obey any rules she doesn't have to."

Zivandi blinked, and shook her head. "It sounds so heavy and slow."

"Probably because I was saying it," Zuri spoke in zebric once more. "It's very hard, the sentence structure is the same, but their inflections sound so different, and so varied. It was a miracle I could speak clearly enough to be understood."

"But the friends you made—this Uzul and Druva, they could both speak and read it with ease, it sounds like."

"I at least know that Druva had a lot of experience speaking it. Uzul I'm not so sure about, but still. I relied on them for much of the talking. They taught me pony numbers, and how to read it, which not even Kunravi knew. But I did manage to get by, mostly intact."

"And with a brand new Scal-Re right beside you," Zivandi regarded Datroi, who sat quietly and patiently inna corner of the sitting room they occupied in the Sara estate. "What was her name again?"

"Datroi Talas. She said she came from Otoul, originally."

"Hm..." Zivandi kept her eyes on the slave, who shifted nervously. "I swear I've heard her family name somewhere before. I guess I'll look into it later, uh, and she is yours?"

"She is mine. Grandfather said so with confidence," Zuri decided that was the best option to go with, as opposed to saying that he was hesitant to say it at all.

"You are so lucky to have the Premier Elder as a grandparent. That's like if Gibraxin suddenly popped out of the ground with a gold offering in his jaw, or Sibulla descending from the plain of the stars just to see you!"

Zuri choked a little on her tea, spilling it in the process. Melose. I'll never keep any sort of cover up if I just keep doing that. Datroi move in quickly between the mats they sat upon, wiping up the spilt drink with a thick, absorbent cloth she had at the ready. "Would you like a replacement, my lady?" She asked when she had finished.

"Uh, no, thank you, Datroi," Zuri nodded and smiled awkwardly, clearing her throat.

Zivandi peered at Zuri with curiosity, but must have detected that she said something wrong, because she immediately changed the subject. "So, are you competing in this year's Cudonetor? I sure am, it's the first year for both of us!"

"It's a rite of passage for me, you know that," Zuri sighed, eyeing the spot where her tea had spilled. "I'm looking forward to it, I'm just nervous."

"About losing? Good, so am I. Here's a groundbreaking idea: let's be nervous together and practice! We're at the same skill level, and I'm sure we can find some spot that can do with a good spar-induced makeover."

"And where do you think we should go to practice, Ziv? Dunnur's dojo?"

"Not something so cramped. It was good practice for when we were learning, but now we need to practice, for a real Cudonetor. Dunnur's miniature ring isn't the real one. The floor is solid, there is a ceiling, two things the real ring doesn't have."

Zuri raised an eyebrow: "Well, if you're so keen on keeping to the same state the ring is in, why don't we practice in the ring?"

"Can we?" Zivandi leaned forward with interest. "The idea struck me before but, I didn't ask anyone if anyone else had thought of this. I was betting it was either a popular way to practice or that it was assumed that you knew not to try it."

The Oun-Drii put a hoof to her chin in thought. "Mizul told me once that that was something a lot of competitors do. That way we'd practice in the same space that we would compete in."

"Stars, really? Did your big brother ever say if it was, you know, legal?"

"No... He never mentioned anything about that," Zuri smiled nervously. "How about a little experimentation? If you, as a city guard, don't know anything about it..."

Zivandi frowned a little, but then shrugged. "I can't exactly agree with that logic, but it's worth a shot."

Zuri dispensed Datroi and departed her estate with her friend by her side. The Cudonetor ring stood opposite the Premier chambers, just outside of the Oun-Drii district's walls. From the balconies around her family's manor, Zuri was able to admire the huge circular building from afar and dream about what it may be like to step into the ring to do battle with as many trancers as she could. It all seemed a little less amazing when she knew she would be walking into the ring and competing against other trancers within the year, and would likely be out-shined by her more experienced brother and sister.

Zuri and Zivandi began a stroll towards the ring, passersby bowing their heads and making way for the Oun-Drii and her guard companion as they went along. Zivandi uttered a chuckle. "I should go on walks with you more often. How useful it is to have a zebra by my side who just clears the way with the symbol on her clasp."

"So you say," Zuri replied bashfully. "I'd rather a lot of them didn't keep their eyes on me so long. Are you so sure it's my clasp they notice first, Ziv?"

Zivandi's smile faded. "I wasn't going to mention that." She glared at Zuri with exasperation, bumping against her playfully. "Rite of passage, huh? Come on, Zuri, don't work yourself into another rut about this right after you get back. I need my best friend focusing on the Cudonetor, remember?" The guard jostled her playfully again, and she, rolling her eyes, jostled back.

"You know if I actually hit you, I won't get in trouble for it." Zuri glowered at her, only half-serious.

"Save it for our practice!" Said Zivandi with a laugh. "We shouldn't waste energy fighting with just hooves."

Not long after, the pair finally approached the high walls of the Cudonetor ring. They were both very familiar with the entrance that many Oun-Drii used, but where there would normally be an opening, there was instead a thick, smooth stone slab occupying the space. Both of them pushed at the stone, but it wouldn't budge. "I've never seen this here, before." Zuri remarked. "I have only been down here when a Cudonetor was on, with the rest of my family."

"I guess it's some sort of security," Zuri remarked. "Maybe Mizul was seeing how gullible I was."

"I don't think it'd be very smart to keeping trying to move this rock with so many other zebra around." Zivandi gestured to the shifting crowds about them. One pair of zebra gave them a suspicious glance as they passed by. "Let's find another entrance."

They began walking around the ring, looking for an entrance that didn't have so much traffic all around. It was at least an hour later when they finally found a doorway where there was not a zebra in sight, in the middle of a residential area, with tall, old worker's lodgings flanking the blocked entrance like the walls in a long sandstone hallway. "This will do," Zivandi decided, and looked at Zuri with a smile. "I'll have a go at it, huh?" She stood before the door, and suddenly her eyes began to glow. Her expression was intense, and in a few more seconds she was shaking. The glow from Zivandi's eyes stopped, and she gasped, stumbling. Zuri caught her, and she could feel that her friend was extremely cold.

"M-m-melose!" Stammered the guard, getting back on her own hooves, recovering quickly. "There's definitely a rune there. You can feel it."

"Should I give it a try?" Zuri asked. "You look like you're about to freeze over."

"Yeah, you'd better. Otherwise I might turn the same shade of blue as..." Zivandi stopped the joke when she saw Zuri's look. "Uh, nevermind."

Zuri fixed her eyes on the door, irises beginning to glow immediately. The stone door became illuminated with the hue of her eyes, as it began to vibrate, dust shaking off of it. Heat drained out of Zuri's body like an upturned bottle, and her legs started shivering. There was resistance to the trance, she could feel it. Her power was pouring into the stone, yet it was evident that there was a counteracting trance just sucking it up like a sponge. Zuri's teeth were chattering. Come on, come on... Break already!

Almost on cue with that thought, the stone door crumbled into a pile on the floor, allowing access to a long hallway into the center of the Cudonetor ring. The two of them exchanged a anxious look. It didn't seem like any form of higher authority was coming down upon them right that moment. No one shouted, "hey!" anyway.

After a few experimental steps inside, and finding that the walls did not in fact collapse on them, they struck up a quicker pace, until they found themselves stepping off of smooth stone and onto layers upon layers of sand. The different perspective was, for both of them, very unusual. They were near the edge of a huge ring, filled up to half its height with sand. The ring itself was encircled by rows and rows of seats, that went up another tier, looming over the two zebra like the mouth of an enormous carnivore.

"Well?" Zivandi looked at Zuri expectantly. "Shouldn't we be, you know, doing something? Such as this, maybe?" That was all the warning she gave, before her eyes glowed brilliantly, and a plume of sand shot up between them, right up against Zuri's front and neck. She staggered backwards, reeling for a moment and spitting out sand grains while she glowered at Zivandi, who was laughing.

"I'm guessing we're not bothering with bowing first?" Zuri asked, her own eyes lighting up. She used the same mans; forcing an area of sand upwards and away—only hers was aimed directly beneath Zivandi's right side. She was thrown several feet into the air, spinning counterclockwise with the force of the push, before she landed with a softened thump on the bed of the ring, scrambling to her hooves.

She didn't bother with returning banter, instead summoning up a pillar of sandstone from the floor. The guardsmare kicked the pillar's center, and thick, jagged chunks exploded in the direction of her opponent. Zuri reacted by forcing the chunks into the ground in front her with her will, and she leapt forward, boosting her movement by carrying herself on a moving mound of sand that grew with her movement, smashing right into Zivandi like a crashing wave.

The guardsmare reeled back, returning the blow with a ring of fire, which Zuri had to jump backwards to avoid. The fire rose, and Zuri wondered momentarily if Zivandi had lost control, as she and Barxie had. The flames died, and Zuri saw that Zivandi had shut herself in a vertical tube of thick glass, and was pressing her muzzle against the transparent surface to make faces at her. Zuri snorted, her eyes still aglow. "Mistake!" She called out, her will putting intense pressure on the glass, which began to crack. Zivandi stumbled back, turning around and scrambling over the edge of the other side of the tube. Zuri allowed her enough time to get free, they were friends after all, and the Cudonetor disallowed inflicting severe injury anyway. The tube shattered, falling in on itself a second later, and for good measure, Zuri continued adding pressure, her trance rapidly crushing the glass to dull dust and pushing it deep beneath the surface. Once this was finished, she looked around, wondering whether or not Zivandi was going to take advantage of her distraction of safety.

Sure enough, she did. Zivandi came rushing in, moving twice as fast by shifting the sand around her hooves as she went. A hoof flew at Zuri, but she deflected it, only to find another jabbing into her side. She moved with the blow, curving to the side returning a hoof to Zivandi's throat. She reeled back, and Zuri tackled her into the sand. They began wrestle in the sand, but it was obvious that Zivandi was starting to get more playful about it than competitive, rolling around and yelling exaggeratedly at Zuri about improper behavior within the ring, in a good imitation of Zuri's eldest sister at her most uptight.

After that, it was hard keeping up a practicing demeanor. Laughing, they wrestled on the floor with one another, imitating exaggerated kicks and gestures they had grown up seeing other competitors perform. Zivandi also did an excellent impression of Dunnur whenever he was waxing poetic about moving the sands directly via the mans.

"'Bind yourself to Palosol's surface,'" she recited, pushing herself off the ground with one jet of sand beneath each hoof, hovering about two feet in the air. "'Keep yourself with the grains you touch! Caress the ground as if it were your greatest love, and it will be as gentle in returning the favor.' Because hot sand is so gentle, especially when it gets in where Glo'Dei refuses to shine." She landed again, and made a show of waddling in discomfort and squinting. "'Make love to the desert winds', and they won't sting your sensitive parts so much. Legends say that even stormrunners like to have their eyes full of dust!"

Zuri was in stitches—Dunnur did say things a lot like that, minus the humorous (but very true) additions of her friend. Ziv always did a good job of bringing laughter out of her friend—a good reason why they were friends, anyway. She was always so kind and upbeat with Zuri, so jovial and playful. Given her familiarity with the blue zebra, she was much more open with Zuri than she was with other Oun-Drii. This sometimes lead to serious misunderstandings, but hey, Ziv still had her body intact and had always been a paid guardsmare, so she had always gotten off fairly easy.

"Thank the stars Dunnur isn't here to hear you say all that," Zuri chuckled, sitting up and looking at Zivandi, relaxing in the soft, cool sand of the ring. "He's fine with being teased, so long as you do twice the amount of your daily mans regimen in half the time."

Zivandi sat up as well, nodding a little in thought. "That isn't a bad idea, to get into ideal condition for every match."

Zuri snorted. "Or just to keep in condition for any situation. I could've used some time to warm up before I started melting locks and catching boulders."

The guardsmare laughed and nodded in agreement, then abruptly stopped. Her eyes were focused on something behind Zuri, and whatever it was, it had suddenly robbed Zivandi of her good mood. She stood up quickly, her stance cautious and her expression wary. Zuri could heard a couple sets of hooves moving through the sand towards them, and she guessed it may be a couple of guards, come to see who had broken into the ring. Turning to look revealed no guards, but instead a brother and sister, whom Zuri knew only as being trouble.

Tielre Oun-Drii Brikea, and his sister, Vaezi. As far as Zuri was concerned, Tielre was a bully who often called out Zuri's coloration as a reason for her not being true Oun-Drii, or a Sara descendant of any sort. No one, so long as they weren't either Zuri's or his own parents could stop any of his verbal abuse, and he had learned quickly not to let any of them hear him say anything so unkind. Vaezi was a snotty, excessively obsequious mare, who made a policy of building influential relationships with those in places of authority, so she wouldn't have to work her way up social circles the conventional way. She could just butt herself in, and hide behind bigger zebra than she to look like she belonged. Barxie's use of "slug" was much more applicable to the lackadaisical little nag who huddled close to her big brother.

Now, if Zuri remembered correctly, there was a third member of the current Brikea generation within the same age group—one who wasn't so vile, most notably, and whose name currently escaped her.

Whatever his name was, he wasn't here right now, but his siblings were. They seemed to want to ask the same question she did, only they got to it first. "What are you doing here?" Tielre asked, holding his head high and pursing his lips in distaste, glaring at the Oun-Drii.

"Training, of course," she answered, keeping her tone level and cold.

"For what, the Cudonetor?" Tielre scoffed at the idea. "So you got Granddaddy to let you in, or have you not even tried to apply yet, belthidma?" The slur for birth defect rolled off his tongue so casually, that it seemed he had forgotten the severe implications of the word. Zuri sure didn't, though—she flinched at the insult as she always had, her expression black. Vaezi sneered at her, standing a little straighter next to her brother.

"No, we haven't tried applying, yet," Zuri answered begrudgingly, giving Zivandi a critical look. Next time, one of them would have to remember what preceded getting their hopes up.

"You shouldn't bother," Vaezi put in, imitating her brother's arrogant expression. "The officials wouldn't accept an undisciplined guardsmare and a freak into the Cudonetor. Have you ever heard of a zebra with colored stripes winning, in any year, let alone competing?"

"No, but that doesn't mean I can't be the first." Zuri's voice faltered partway through her retort, as she tried to adjust in response to the two siblings' jeering. "Why do you care?"

"We don't think you should bother wasting the energy, belthidma." Tielre answered, examining one of his hooves in exaggerated gesture of uncaring. "Maybe I ought to say it simpler to be sure you understand—stop playing around in the sand and get out of here. My sister and I came to practice for the Cudonetor we're actually signed up for."

"We were here first!" Zivandi shouted, somehow managing to make the childish assertion sound more mature. Maybe it was all that time in barracks. "You want to train, go somewhere else. Zuri got herself special permission from her grandfather to be here." Zuri resisted the sudden impulse to shoot another glare at Zivandi for the lie. Why not, maybe it'll hold up.

Vaezi's eyes narrowed, and she took a step closer. "Right, so your granddaddy let you break down one of the security doors, then? That sounds like something a premier elder would allow, especially if their own granddaughter is the culprit. Maybe we should let him know in advance..." Her eyes met Tielre's, and they made a few steps towards the same door they had come in.

That was all the incentive they needed. Green and cyan eyes glowed brightly, and a circle of fire surrounded Tielre and Vaezi. Both of them leapt back towards one another, each of them scrambling with their own trancing to disperse the hovering flames. By the time the fire was smothered, Zivandi had taken up a guard's fighting stance, and Zuri had moved several steps around, to cut off their direct exit. Vaezi, though obviously intimidated, took up a stance mockingly similar to the guardsmare's, and Tielre crouched low, his lean muscles tensing. Oh, what a rotten fight this will turn into...

"That's quite enough!" Someone yelled from behind Zuri. She turned, her brain sluggishly working towards recognizing the voice. It didn't work as fast as her eyes did, seeing her big sister fuming behind her, flanked by two city guards. If only it was the nicer big sister, then maybe she wouldn't have that uniquely angry look on her face. No, this one was older, had a more prim mane style, and sharp purple eyes that pierced with the intense intelligence behind them.

Lebowa Oun-Drii Sara strode towards her little sister very quickly, anger on her face and purpose in her gaze. The two city guards stood tall, ordained with their own cloaks that matched the style of Zivandi's, only they wore plates of armor beneath theirs, making them appear larger. "You will desist from this little spar immediately, fellow Oun-Drii, and vacate the premises at once." Her eyes traveled absentmindedly over Zivandi, Tielre and Vaezi. Lebowa being the Premier Commissioner, the Premier Elder's right hoof, evidenced by the low-hanging earrings she wore and a locket containing the written laws of Otoul in runes around her neck, they obeyed immediately. When Zuri began to move, however, Lebowa's hoof held her back. "You, little sister, get to walk with me."

"Of course," Zuri sighed, now able to predict where this would be going. Zivandi waved meekly to her as she passed by, before being urged along by one of the guards. The two Sara sisters walked side by side, last out the door.

"I would think you'd know from the enchantment on the stone that you weren't supposed to go in there." Lebowa began the chastising quite calmly, speaking to Zuri in that condescending tone so native to elder siblings. "There's a rune placed on all the stones that stand in the doorways. When any part of the stone breaks, the rune activates, and the Premiers know immediately. What sort of stupid idea were you and Zivandi doing this time?"

Zuri flinched at the word 'stupid'. Lebowa had perfected saying it in such a way that easily needled her little sister. "It wasn't entirely stupid," she argued. "We figured it would be the best place to practice for the Cudonetor."

"Of course, why else would you be there? Sport, pure sport." Lebowa sounded exasperated by the idea. "Not much else you'd be interested in, the day of your return."

"Hello to you to," Zuri retorted, eyes grumpily downcast.

"I was going to say the same thing to you," Lebowa intoned, keeping her own gaze confidently upward and ahead, carrying her authority with her posture and expression. The Premier Commissioner took every opportunity to radiate her presence, to be sure no one forgot her position. Zuri was oftentimes glad that she had been the one born with the Gift. "You didn't seem to want to stick around home, or Grandfather's chambers, so I was about to give up when that rune came to my attention. Ordinarily only guards come, but Grandfather said he had mentioned the Cudonetor to you, and we came to the same conclusion. I—we suspected you intended to do something much less honorable."

Shocked, Zuri's step faltered, and stopped, her disbelieving glare directed at her big sister. Lebowa took another step, turning her head and raising an eyebrow, her expression unapologetic. "Well? Just because you're family doesn't mean you're excused from suspicion. What I walked in on in the ring didn't seem like a friendly little fight."

"It wasn't," Zuri mumbled, starting to walk again. "You know how I feel about Tielre."

"He does seem to get on your nerves more than most, yes. I couldn't imagine why."

"Oh yes you could," Zuri snapped, her face burning. "I know you've heard him insult me and our family before."

"So insults constitute fighting, now?" Lebowa asked airily. "You aren't nine, Zuri. You're an adult now. Actions have consequences. You're very lucky I came in when I did. Had Zivandi so much as swung a hoof at that scrawny little Brikea girl in there, she would be executed, and you know that. You wouldn't get off free, either. Grandfather may be generous but he can't stretch all the rules in the favor of his descendants. That could get us all in trouble, and you-"

"I know, I know," Zuri growled, glaring at the ground again. "I need to learn this before it's too late. You've said all this before, Lebowa."

Her big sister sighed, still walking at the same pace. "Evidently it needs to be repeated many times, otherwise you wouldn't be breaking into a Cudonetor ring under the impression that the walls were there to keep out those unfit for practicing."

They reached home without seeing Zivandi or the Brikea siblings again, and Zuri was sat down to a similar talk with her parents, only it was more of a gentle lecture. Zuri almost never talked back to her parents, though the urge was painfully high this time around. Lebowa stood all loftily beside them, glaring down at her little sister as if it were her job to try and make Zuri feel small and just brimming with mistakes.

It felt just as rotten as it had when she was younger, and she came off feeling as if she hadn't learned anything new from their "talk". Maybe that was because nothing really new had been said, just a few words had been tweaked by her parents to accommodate for her age. She didn't feel like an adult after talks like that, and the feeling lingered for some time.

She was a little too used to breaking the rules from spending time in the pony territories. Two weeks earlier she would never have let herself and Zivandi act on an idea like that. Now it seemed obvious how stupid and reckless it was, breaking into the ring. Whatever rumors the guardsmare had heard were obviously wrong, and may have been from someone trying to get her in trouble.

"Would you like something to snack on, my lady?" Datroi's young, small voice disrupted Zuri's thoughts, as she lay on her expansive bed in her room.

She gave a slight nod, "something light, please, Datroi." The Scal-Re vanished from sight quickly, and Zuri was left alone again with just her thoughts. Her eyes traveled across the trappings on the wall, several mementos on thick alabaster shelves, ovular dressers decorated with family jewelry and a few products of Zuri's training. A hexagonal pyramid made of crystallized glass, a large candle that never stopped burning a bright blue flame, a pearl necklace held on a little red pedestal... She'd need to find a place to put the dress Rarity made, which for the moment lay upon her bed covers.

Zuri stared up at the illuminating ceiling, wondering how to get rid of this sullen feeling sitting in her stomach. She didn't want to be berated like a little filly. Therefore, don't misbehave. Think a little more clearly next time, and you probably ought to try applying before training for anything. At least when she was traveling with Druva and Uzul she was treated a little more like an adult. Where's a talk with Sibulla when you need it?

———

The rest of the day just sort of drifted away in embittered listlessness, and the next morning began very slow. Zuri rose from her bed, putting on her rings with little energy in her movement. First morning back home from a trip she took on her own, and she already felt sullen again. Lebowa did a fantastic job of casually jabbing at her with her own mistakes, and she always felt those jabs later on.

Of course she knew why her big sister was often so cold to her. At first Zuri liked to think it was out of sheer jealousy. The eldest child of the Sara family in this generation, and she was not born with the Gift. Along came a younger brother with the gift, and then a sister, and then yet another sister, who was thus proclaimed to have the Gift the strongest out of all of them. Of course it'd be directed at the youngest. Zuri knew the envy in her sister's eyes so well, yet there was more than that. Perhaps Lebowa was angry, or doubly critical of Zuri, because of her color. She, the eldest and the brightest, received no trancing magic, yet here was this little discolored zebra, who somehow deserved the Sara family's largest claim to greatness more than she did. Must have been a mistake somewhere.

Lebowa strove to make herself valuable in ways other than being a Trancer or an Alchemist, like her parents or her grandparents before her. She aimed for positions of authority, and always got them. She earned every step up the chain she got; not wanting to seem pitied by mother and father for her lack of the Gift inherent to her lineage.

Tall, lean, and brainy as could be. She reveled in her own mental superiority, and had oftentimes stated that she would marry the stallion who could keep up with her in a conversation for more than an hour. At one big party, she found a stallion which she talked with for upwards of six hours, then spent another fifteen months being courted by him. They married on the last month, apparently very happy with their union and everything it brought them. Assertive, confident, smart, married, powerful, intellectual, knowitall, condescending, overly critical, invasive, unfeeling nag... Zuri could come up with a dozen more descriptors of her sister than anyone else could. Lebowa irked her in ways unique to overbearing big sisters.

Rings once more on her ears and neck, Zuri turned to the arching door that lead out of her room. Descending a flight of curved stairs took her into a wide hallway, where voices could be heard coming from the main hall. Unlike when she had come home, these voices were raised, their conversation clear, and as Zuri approached, she could put names to each of the speakers.

"If they never turned up yesterday, where would they be? Didn't they say anything to either of you prior to their departure?" Vindulu's old, ragged voice was filled with a concern and urgency that Zuri had never heard from him before. Her unhurried trudge picked up to canter. What could have gone wrong now?

"They... They gave no details," Xoda sounded as if she were coming down from a bout of hysterics. Stars, what could have set mother off like that? "They only said they were going out to try to find Zuri and make some trades at regular stops. Then they left on the sled with no one but that Frogirn fellow alongside them. I never trusted that little oaf..."

Realization of what they spoke about hit Zuri akin to Macintosh hitting her in the chest: Agilis and Giza had disappeared. She skidded to a halt in alarm as she realized that she was the last zebra to see either of them—and she had no idea where they might be.

Father's voice rumbled with agreement. "Perhaps we ought to try to find him, then. He might know of their business dealings."

"Um..." Zuri tentatively entered the room, finding her eldest brother, both of her parents and her grandfather huddled close together upon a wide, luxurious settee. "Frogirn stayed behind at the pony cities. I took his place on the sled, on the ride home..."

"You're awake, good..." Vindulu began, beckoning for her to come closer. "Can you remember anything Agilis or Giza might've said about where they'd be going?"

"No; they only told me that they'd come home later, after they took care of some business..." Zuri approached, and was immediately pulled into the all-inclusive embrace.

"Oh, stars..." Xoda's voice cracked, and she sat back on the settee, her face ashen. "S-surely some other Gau-Aer knows of them, knows where they may have gone..."

"Not a hope..." Mizul's tone was somber, eerily similar to that of Vindulu's cool, quiet tone. "I've already been around asking for any clue where they might have gone. All the Gau-Aer who know them say their sled was only in its spot until midday, before vanishing along with them, yet they told no one where they may be going. I'm guessing you don't know, either?" He looked at Zuri hopefully, but all she had for him was an apologetic shake of the head.

Xoda broke down into tears, Gainu holding her and rocking back and forth with her. She probably cried just the same when Zuri didn't show up in any city. A rotten feeling of guilt welled up in the youngest's bosom, quickly squashed, however, by more important things. I can't just shuffle around in self-ridicule. Agilis and Giza are missing! Shouldn't we be doing something about it?

"Why not start searches in other cities?" Zuri asked, trying to take charge without sounding too firm in front of Xoda's sobbing.

"Lebowa is already off starting that." Vindulu informed her, "she and her husband left for Nussu just an hour ago."

Well, that explained her absence. Zuri bit back further thoughts in the same vein; it wasn't the place for them. "So then, what do we do now?"

"Hope to hear good news from Lebowa within another day," answered Mizul, shrugging. "We've already searched for them thoroughly here. All we know is, unless they are hiding from us in the slums, which I doubt, they aren't in Otoul."

"So, sit around and do nothing," Zuri summarized bitterly. "Why? You and I, Mizul, we could-"

"No," Xoda's voice was trembling, but managed to reverberate through the room with its force. "You are staying right here, young lady. I f-forbid you to leave this house, and the same goes for you, Mizul."

Zuri blinked at her red-eyed mother, who was glaring at her despite the tears on her cheeks. "But, why? You let Lebowa go to try and find them. Why should Mizul and I not get to leave?"

"At least I'm aged, mother. I can take care of myself." Mizul muttered, ears folded downwards with indignance.

Zuri flared up at this. "So am I, so can I! I'm plenty old enough to manage trouble."

"Your little stunt yesterday at the Cudonetor ring proves otherwise," Gainu pointed out, giving his daughter a disapproving expression.

"I am not letting another child of mine out of my sight until the rest are back home and safe." Xoda announced with finality. "No buts, no exceptions. You two are staying right here. I can't lose my children. Not again..." Her expression was pleading, as she focused on Zuri again. The youngest could not bear to let her mother look at her like that. Her insolent fury cooled quickly, and shame boiled up in her again, showing as a reddening of her face.

"I'm going to get breakfast." Zuri sniffed and walked away with a pointed gait. She felt her parent's eyes on her as she turned the corner, like burns in her side from a fire.

It wasn't five seconds of walking in the halls before Zuri heard hoofsteps behind her, and then the voice of her big brother.

"I'm sorry, Zuri, I didn't mean to suggest that you weren't of age. I still forget, sometimes..." He sounded truthful, and a little embarrassed about it.

"I suppose it's easy to, then?" Zuri grumbled, her pace slowing. "I don't give many hints to say that I am, in fact, an adult?"

Mizul trotted up next to her, his face gentle but his tone patronizing. "Your birthday was hardly half a year ago, sister. Your behavior and mind don't just become adult the day you become of legal age."

Zuri hung her head, brooding. "It certainly doesn't help if zebra don't ever treat me like an adult, much less a normal zebra..."

Mizul backpedaled a bit. All of her family tread very carefully around that subject. "Well, give a reason for why they should treat you like a normal adult! Breaking into the ring like you did sure isn't one. In fact, it sounds like exactly the sort of thing you'd pull if you still needed to mature a little, rationalize a little better, learn to reign in your friend."

Zuri's face was still burning red. "Maybe so. But what else am I supposed to do? Go on a lone journey and end up getting swept away to the pony cities only to come back safe and sound? Oh, wait, that already happened. I attended a grand gala of the ponies, and stupefied half of them with my Oun-Drii training."

Mizul was surprised at that, but he pushed forward, not letting her change the subject. "That certainly helps, but that's not all. If you want to be treated like an adult, then you ought to impress other zebra with your stories of how well you handled yourself on your journey, and then follow that up with proving what you say, hm?"

"I'll give it a try, when I'm next allowed out of the house," Zuri conceded, looking around the house a little more. "Stars, this feels a lot like being grounded."

Mizul, smirked, nudging her gently. "I often found myself reading and getting much better at more precise trances when grounded. You've already got free time through the roof, and a personal Scal-Re to bring you snacks. Take advantage of that!"

"I know I should try to relax, but I feel useless, just sitting here with Agilis and Giza missing! I want to go out and... I don't know, look for some sort of clue, or do something helpful."

"I understand the feeling of restlessness, but it can't be helped. Grandfather's lackeys already scoured the trade district for information. Nothing there, no one talked. If someone knows something, they aren't sharing, and there's no sign of Agilis or Giza anywhere. You'll just have to wait and see."

———

And wait she did, not having much other choice. Vindulu quickly returned to the chambers of the Elders, as his job warranted persistent attention. Xoda and Gainu remained at home, but mostly to ensure that their youngest and second oldest stayed there too. Zuri spent most of the first day in the manor's gardens, practicing her trancing with causing several flowering plants to lose their barbed leaves, then reattach them. Yet even with how lackadaisical and lazy she tried to look, she caught one of Xoda's hoofmaidens peering at her out of the corner of her eye more than once, and heard a few conversations going on behind her. She didn't bother with listening in or turning around; the exchanges were often short, and hushed, and likely consisted of one servant conveying to another a message to carry to Zuri's parents to let them know that yes, she was still pouting in the garden.

At least they could have let her enjoy the city some more, but Zuri supposed she really lost that privilege when she'd gotten into the Cudonetor ring. This may be for her protection, for her parent's peace of mind, but it also conveniently doubled as a punishment. That was fine. Zuri was trying to be more mature, and she didn't need anyone to tell her that part of that was being responsible for mistakes. She did deserve it—she did something stupid, she'd pay the consequences. In hindsight, the utter stupidity of breaking into a cherished, public structure was plain as day. "How childish I must look, to my parents, to Lebowa," she complained to the bright pink flower before her. "Why is it that coming back to my family suddenly took away any sort of growth I had during my journey? They definitely won't let me into the Cudonetor now..."

She stared at the flower in silence, her expression bitter. Come on, you silly spirit. This would be a fantastic time for you to pop in with your "advice". Something so that I don't just sit here and torment this foliage.

No voice interrupted her thoughts. She was still totally alone, save for the occasional servant clip-clopping by in the most nonchalant way, their careful eyes only on Zuri for half a second before they moved on. Maybe Sibulla was still off cavorting with other pony stallions in that huge, metal and glass city of theirs. As she looked over the artful array of flora, all warm colors and pointed leaves, Paradise City seemed even more far off. Her bored, lidded eyes shimmered as she righted a thick, sprawling cactus arm that had bent, before letting her magic rest. She wondered how Uzul and Rainbow Dash must be doing, and if they were still here, or had taken off in one of those huge, rumbling starships to the ponies' homeworld. She saw herself aboard one of them now, peering out of one of those tall windows on the side, her vision getting lost in a starry expanse.

Zuri snapped awake, finding that she had started to drool on her own mane. She looked around, trying to figure out where she was, only to find that she was still lying on the lounge, in her manor garden, deep within the Oun-Drii district of Otoul. With an exasperated groan, Zuri stood up and pushed aside a startled Scal-Re who had not expected her get up so quickly. She had to have something to occupy her time aside from tormenting plants. She found Datroi inside, and instructed her to find a Guardsmare standing post outside the gate into the Oun-Drii district. I can safely say I learned one thing from Ruby and Rainbow... Breaking the rules a little is just fine, so long as it doesn't get out of hoof.

Stars, what a tall order.