P&S Adventures: Into the wilds! -Closed-

[The Wandering Magus]

Little zebra foals ran up to the caravan with wide curious eyes, pointing and jabbering in some strange melodic language.  Many were quickly pulled back into their mothers' arms, bracelets and ornaments jingling in the arid dust.  As the ponies approached, the smell became overpowering.  There was garbage everywhere, and even the shacks looked like discarded planks of some material or another.  But the main road was tiled neatly with stone, and the perfectly-made carriages that rolled on it paid no heed to the poor.

Ahead loomed the gates of what was presumably "Goldhoof's Town", though it looked like it once was a fully Zebra fortress.  The architecture, at least, was not in the least bit Equestrian, though the guards were bored-looking ponies wearing uniforms which said "EBTC" on the front and "Equestria-Bhairata Trading Company Peacekeeping Officer" on the front.  The swords and spears they held didn't look very welcoming.

From inside the walls drifted the smell of hundreds of thousands of ponies and zebras, and of strange spices.

[Teal Turken]

((Why am I the only one here?! ))

Teal ignores the ponies and goes to the zebras.
Hello? Zebras?

[The Wandering Magus]

((maybe you can PM chirp and some others? ))

The zebras shrank back as the pegasus approached, talking quickly to each other in their strange tongue.

A guard chuckled.  He looked like a mixed-blood, half zebra.  "They say you look like a piece of the sky walking on the ground," he said in thick accented Equestrian.  "Do not worry.  They do not harm ponies during the day.  But ponies should keep valuables close, eh?"  He grinned, his white teeth shining against his dark, sun-tanned coat.

[Teal Turken]

Can they understand me?

[The Wandering Magus]

The half-zebra laughed again.  He seemed to enjoy laughing, even if there was little to laugh about.  "Understand the tongue of the color-fur?  Not these!  Maybe within the city walls, the spice sellers and market-zebras will understand a little.  But I am an outcast, neither pony nor zebra, and so I can learn both tongues, for who will call me traitor?  I am traitor enough already."

He laughed at his own joke.  Some of the merchant ponies glared at him but said nothing as they drove past.

[Teal Turken]

So...they can't ever understand me?
Teal looks at the zebras, he looks at the children and frowns.
He takes out all his flasks of water and offers them to zebras.

[Chirp]

Chirp takes Teal's tail in his mouth and pulls him away from the zebras.
"Hold on, there, sympathist. The zebras are used to the dry climate here, but judging by your cutiemark you're used to being soaked. We've only just started the journey, are you going to give away your supplies already?"

[Teal Turken]

They need it! Look at them! They're starving, thirsty and hot! Teal spits back at Chirp while yanking his tail free.

[The Wandering Magus]

The zebra foals run as he approached, calling to each other in their melodic tongue.  Mothers guarded them and gave worried looks at the Equestrian stranger.

The half-breed laughed.  "You think they trust you, sky-pony?  Too long color-furs have offered goods and demanded things in return.  No, to give as a gift, that does not occur here.  This is Zebraci!  We are traders.  What one gives must return in equal value."

He looked from the horrified pony to the zebras, drawing a long, long breath of desert air.  "And they would not trust me if I told them otherwise.  I am a half-breed!  And I am a guard!  Do you think they would trust either?"  He laughed again, at nothingness.  "I am traitor to both races!  No, no.  They do not trust me.  And ponies do not trust me."  He grinned, showing teeth.  "And do not think they would trust their fellow zebras!  Not the ones who know the color-fur's tongue.  Many traders and merchants you will meet in the city, but they know only the tongue of bits!"  He turned and smirked through the walls, and called out a string of melodious sounds.

((notice that Mr. Half-Breed is slightly on the cynical side of things.  Things might actually be a bit better than he makes it sounds ))

[Teal Turken]

((Magus this RP is causing me too much heartache! I'm sorry but I can't continue if your going to be this grimdark! ))

[The Wandering Magus]

((lemme try ta lighten things up, then.))

As the guard laughed to himself, a full-blood zebra, an elder merchant, from the looks of his robes, strode up with an exasperated expression on his face.  The guard stopped laughing, and the caravans gave the zebra a respectful distance.

"Telling the visitors about all our faults in one day again, Angalia?"

The guard frowned, but bowed.  "I apologize, old Balozi.  My tongue runs before my mind."

The zebra harrumphed, then turned smiling to the visitors.  "Peace be with you, travelers!  Welcome to Zebraci.  Don't mind him, he's always bitter about his background.  He sees too much darkness in the world.  I am Balozi, a merchant by trade, but a teacher among my people.  Please, I would be honored to know your names."

[The Wandering Magus]

((well.  Teal left, and from the sounds of it isn't coming back.  This whole forum seems to have died, or descended into a jumble of jump-ins.  Chirp, and others, if you wish to, please PM me.  I can't, I just can't, run an RP with no players, not alone, and I can't destroy a world for the sake of one player either.  I understand the need for escapism, and I am likewise not exactly a fan of GalvinRoe's worlds.  That is why I choose neither to wear rose nor jade colored glasses.  The worlds I make are not rosey like some of the RPs, but neither are they jaded grimdark worlds Galvin tends to make.  This is a message to all players, and all potential players.  What can I do to encourage you to come back, or to convince you to come back, if anything, beyond simply scrapping the world?))

[GalvinRoe]

Thanks to everyone who participated, it is a shame we were unable to finish the story but I hope you all had fun, while you played .

I'm closing this topic, I hope you guys will join me in some future RPs and perhaps we can actually finish those stories ^.~.