Chapter 2: Who Reins?
A/N: No, I didn't make a grammatical error...read the chapter and you'll understand it's
title...^_^ And these: ~ mean telepathic speech. Okay!
Bulma awoke feeling rested. She sat up and yawned, allowing her eyes to adjust to the
dark room.
She'd been dreaming. She scowled as she struggled to bring the memories of her
subconscious back to the surface of her mind. There'd been...a man. He'd had dark eyes
and dark hair. It was Yamcha, it had to have been him. Because when she ran into his
arms in the dream, he'd felt so familiar. His strong arms taking her up in their grasp as he
kissed her lips with a surreal, passionate emotion. But then he'd turned into a monster. A
horrible monster that was a hundred feet tall with three foot long teeth, red eyes, and
blackish fur. Bulma had run screaming from him, but he'd swiped a huge paw at her and
knocked her down. Then he laughed an evil cackle and stomped away, leaving her to cry
and shout his name out in her desperation.
The woman shuddered. Definitely not a good dream, that much was for sure. Bulma
glanced around at her confines. She started when she realized that she was no longer in
the quarters on the ship, but rather a large bedroom with beautiful decorations. The dark
blue walls were draped in exquisite landscape paintings and had deep purple ribbons
tacked to them. Her eyes swept over onto the covers she was situated under, and she
blushed an angry red when she realized she had a new pair of pajamas on. The material
was like spun water, it swished around at her movements, clung flatteringly to her skin and
flowed freely through her fingers. Despite her awe at the fabric's unique properties, her
normal hot-headedness soon made itself known.
"All right...when I find the perv who put me in this, I'm going to shove a dainty little fist in
his goddamn face!" she growled, throwing back the comforter and raising to stand on the
plush carpet beneath her feet. Bulma's eyes drifted about her, again taking in the lavish
trimmings of the room. Her gaze stopped at the arching door she hadn't noticed before.
"Good, I was beginning to think there was no way out of this stupid place!" she growled
as she stalked towards it. She grabbed the crystal handle and yanked it open, a frown on
her flushed face.
A busy hall filled with various aliens darting to and fro greeted her slanted eyes, causing
their blue depths to widen in mild surprise. A tall orange man with what looked like a
lizard's lower body stopped in his trek to give her an appreciative glance, his eyes
sweeping over her tight gown. Bulma's angry blush returned and she shut the door as
quickly as she had opened it.
"Yeah...you might wanna get dressed before you go out there again." spoke up a voice
from the shadows next to the bed.
"What? Who are you?! Show yourself!" Bulma commanded.
"No need to get loud." grumbled the voice as a slender figure stepped into the light of the
overhead lamp.
It was definitely female. She had dark green eyes and long purple hair with a skin even
whiter than Bulma's. It appeared that she was wearing nothing on, but was instead
covered completely in a pale fur. She would have been basically able to pass as human if it
wasn't for the big, white, horse-like ears set on the top of her head and the light blue star
that adorned her forehead.
"My name's Nrocinu. And you would be?" asked the woman as she bowed.
"I'm Bulma Briefs of planet Earth." replied Bulma, examining the alien. "When I walked
over to the door, there wasn't anyone in this room with me...so where did you come
from?"
"Allow me to show you." offered Nrocinu, grinning as she disappeared like the Cheshire
Cat of Alice in Wonderland. She reappeared next to Bulma, surprising the human.
"Okay...you've answered one question." said Bulma, slowly, after recovering from the
sudden appearance of the other woman so close to her. "But now I'm curious as to what
you are..."
"I'm a Starnicorn. Native of planet Yarnico." answered the alien.
"I've heard of Starnicorns!" exclaimed Bulma. "We used to have your people on my home
planet! Of course, they had a different name, my people called them unicorns."
"Really? Hn...I haven't seen another Starnicorn in it's animal form in all my life." said
Nrocinu sadly.
"Well, neither have I. They were long extinct from my planet by the time I was born. But
Starnicorns were the stuff every little girl fantasized about. With their graceful horse-like
appearance and gentle nature, but I've never heard of them being able to take an upright
form, or being able to teleport for that matter..." mused the Earthling.
"I guess you learn something new every day then!" cheered Nrocinu, her depression lifted.
"If you don't mind my asking, how old are you? I've heard that Starnicorns can live for
centuries."
"I am 325 standard space years. I'm still in my prime!" giggled the woman.
"So...325 is the equivalent of what in human years?"
"Hm...I'm thinking maybe 21 or 22 to your people."
"Wow, you're around my age then!"
"Then you are awfully young to be here." frowned Nrocinu. "Tell me, where were you
before here?"
"I was a slave for a trader. I'd been one for over a year I think...Then some guy named
Qorgin purchased me the other da-"
"Stay away from Qorgin!" interrupted Nrocinu, her eyes going steely, friendly personality
gone.
"Wha-what?" stuttered Bulma, surprised by the alien's sudden outburst.
"Qorgin is out of your league...keep away from him." growled the Starnicorn.
"I never said I had any interest in him!" protested the woman, she could be a bitch too.
"Oh, okay then!" said Nrocinu, smiling again as though nothing had happened. "So what
do you say we get you dressed?"
"Umm...sure..." agreed Bulma slowly, perplexed by the Starnicorn.
"Let's see what Master Juick has picked out for you..." murmured Nrocinu as she shifted
through the clothing in an almost unnoticeable closet near the door. "Ah-ha!"
She pulled out a dark red tie-top dress and held it up to Bulma, frowning as she tried to
decided of it's appropriateness.
"Nope!" she proclaimed cheerily, startling the Earthling.
The Starnicorn continued digging in the wardrobe before emerging again with a white,
off-the-shoulders summer dress decorated with small blue and purple flowers.
"Hmm..." sighed Nrocinu. "I think this will do just fine. Bathroom's that way, you can
shower and change. I'll be out here if you need me, but try to hurry."
Nrocinu threw Bulma the dress and pointed to another door across the room before
disappearing and reappearing on the bed, stretching out comfortably. The Earthling
followed Nrocinu's finger and scampered through the doorway.
"She's an interesting one...I wonder what Juick's got in store for her? Nothing good, I'm
sure." mumbled Nrocinu thoughtfully as she listened to the water turn on and the shower
door close.
* * * * *
Bulma stepped from the stall feeling like a new woman. She modeled nude in front of the
mirror a bit and frowned when she saw how thin she had become from lack of
nourishment. But standing around wet and naked wasn't going to help in that department
at all, so she pulled a towel from the shelf and wrapped it around her head, grabbing a
second to dry her body. After a thorough patting, she pulled on her new garments and
examined herself again. The dress was just like the nightgown, made of a solid-fluid
material...not that that really made any sense. She shrugged the scrutiny off and untangled
her tresses from the cloth on her head, snatching a brush from one of the various drawers
in the vanity and raking it through her hair in jerky motions.
"Can't...get...these...snags...out!" she growled as her thick blue locks continuously became
entangled in the brush's bristles. Her arm tired, she set down the comb and set about
fixing her half-dry hair into a somewhat acceptable ponytail. Satisfied, and aside from
being more than a little conscientious about the dark semi-circles under her eyes, Bulma
exited the bathroom in a radiant glory.
"Whoa...who turned on the flood lights?" moaned Nrocinu when Bulma strode in. "You
are positively glowing!"
She teleported in front of Bulma and carefully looked at her. "Hey!" she exclaimed. "You
look damn good and you're not even wearing any make-up! That's not fair!"
Bulma blushed. "I have a naturally beautiful complexion." she stated with confidence.
"Back home I used to only wear a light powder and lip gloss every day. But I do wish I
could hide these bags..."
"Ah...don't worry about 'em! They're hardly noticeable, believe me, your eyes take away
all attention from facial flaws. Now come on! You took forever in that goddamn shower
so we really need to get going."
Nrocinu grabbed Bulma by the arm, snatched up a pair of white sandals and dragged the
other woman to the door.
"Where are we going?" Bulma asked as she was released when her companion opened the
door.
"Aw no!" groaned the Starnicorn as the traffic outside the room caught her attention. "I
guess we'll just have to do this the hard way..."
Bulma watched with interest as Nrocinu sat down on the floor and closed her eyes,
crossing her arms and legs as she started...purring? She was making a deep guttural noise
that surprised Bulma, the Earthling's large eyes widened even more as Nrocinu's face and
body began to elongate, as her fingers and toes grew together and hardened over into four
diamond hooves. Her purple hair traveled all down her lengthening neck and her nose
gradually disappeared and became a horse's snout. A sudden nub of white sprouted from
her lower back and grew into a bull's tail with a tuft of purple hair on the end. After less
than a minute of what Bulma supposed was meditation, a beautiful unicorn with a
tanzanite (A/N: Tanzanite is a bluish-purple gem, it's very pretty!) horn stood before her
on all fours.
~Hop on.~ came the crystal clear voice in her head, the creature before her bowing to
allow for better access to its back.
"Whoa...you're telepathic!" said the woman.
~Talk about stating the obvious! All Starnicorns are in their animal form, or at least
according to what I know about them. Now get on and quit stalling us! You're just going
to make us even later you know...~
"Sure..." Bulma muttered as she climbed onto the waiting unicorn.
~Good...Now I'd suggest holding on, this isn't exactly going to be a smooth ride.~
Bulma did as she was told, gripping the Starnicorn's mane tightly with her hands and
squeezing her hips into the creature's sides. She thought she detected a slight smirk on the
animal's face before getting her neck whipped back in Nrocinu's sudden start. The
Starnicorn didn't allow for any slow-acceleration, bursting first-off into a full gallop down
the hall, her horn down to ward off any unfortunate alien in her path.
A light laughter filled Bulma's head like small bell chimes, and the human could tell
Nrocinu was enjoying this a lot. The woman could do nothing but shut her eyes against
the strong wind of their speed and hold on for dear life.
A/N: No, I didn't make a grammatical error...read the chapter and you'll understand it's
title...^_^ And these: ~ mean telepathic speech. Okay!
Bulma awoke feeling rested. She sat up and yawned, allowing her eyes to adjust to the
dark room.
She'd been dreaming. She scowled as she struggled to bring the memories of her
subconscious back to the surface of her mind. There'd been...a man. He'd had dark eyes
and dark hair. It was Yamcha, it had to have been him. Because when she ran into his
arms in the dream, he'd felt so familiar. His strong arms taking her up in their grasp as he
kissed her lips with a surreal, passionate emotion. But then he'd turned into a monster. A
horrible monster that was a hundred feet tall with three foot long teeth, red eyes, and
blackish fur. Bulma had run screaming from him, but he'd swiped a huge paw at her and
knocked her down. Then he laughed an evil cackle and stomped away, leaving her to cry
and shout his name out in her desperation.
The woman shuddered. Definitely not a good dream, that much was for sure. Bulma
glanced around at her confines. She started when she realized that she was no longer in
the quarters on the ship, but rather a large bedroom with beautiful decorations. The dark
blue walls were draped in exquisite landscape paintings and had deep purple ribbons
tacked to them. Her eyes swept over onto the covers she was situated under, and she
blushed an angry red when she realized she had a new pair of pajamas on. The material
was like spun water, it swished around at her movements, clung flatteringly to her skin and
flowed freely through her fingers. Despite her awe at the fabric's unique properties, her
normal hot-headedness soon made itself known.
"All right...when I find the perv who put me in this, I'm going to shove a dainty little fist in
his goddamn face!" she growled, throwing back the comforter and raising to stand on the
plush carpet beneath her feet. Bulma's eyes drifted about her, again taking in the lavish
trimmings of the room. Her gaze stopped at the arching door she hadn't noticed before.
"Good, I was beginning to think there was no way out of this stupid place!" she growled
as she stalked towards it. She grabbed the crystal handle and yanked it open, a frown on
her flushed face.
A busy hall filled with various aliens darting to and fro greeted her slanted eyes, causing
their blue depths to widen in mild surprise. A tall orange man with what looked like a
lizard's lower body stopped in his trek to give her an appreciative glance, his eyes
sweeping over her tight gown. Bulma's angry blush returned and she shut the door as
quickly as she had opened it.
"Yeah...you might wanna get dressed before you go out there again." spoke up a voice
from the shadows next to the bed.
"What? Who are you?! Show yourself!" Bulma commanded.
"No need to get loud." grumbled the voice as a slender figure stepped into the light of the
overhead lamp.
It was definitely female. She had dark green eyes and long purple hair with a skin even
whiter than Bulma's. It appeared that she was wearing nothing on, but was instead
covered completely in a pale fur. She would have been basically able to pass as human if it
wasn't for the big, white, horse-like ears set on the top of her head and the light blue star
that adorned her forehead.
"My name's Nrocinu. And you would be?" asked the woman as she bowed.
"I'm Bulma Briefs of planet Earth." replied Bulma, examining the alien. "When I walked
over to the door, there wasn't anyone in this room with me...so where did you come
from?"
"Allow me to show you." offered Nrocinu, grinning as she disappeared like the Cheshire
Cat of Alice in Wonderland. She reappeared next to Bulma, surprising the human.
"Okay...you've answered one question." said Bulma, slowly, after recovering from the
sudden appearance of the other woman so close to her. "But now I'm curious as to what
you are..."
"I'm a Starnicorn. Native of planet Yarnico." answered the alien.
"I've heard of Starnicorns!" exclaimed Bulma. "We used to have your people on my home
planet! Of course, they had a different name, my people called them unicorns."
"Really? Hn...I haven't seen another Starnicorn in it's animal form in all my life." said
Nrocinu sadly.
"Well, neither have I. They were long extinct from my planet by the time I was born. But
Starnicorns were the stuff every little girl fantasized about. With their graceful horse-like
appearance and gentle nature, but I've never heard of them being able to take an upright
form, or being able to teleport for that matter..." mused the Earthling.
"I guess you learn something new every day then!" cheered Nrocinu, her depression lifted.
"If you don't mind my asking, how old are you? I've heard that Starnicorns can live for
centuries."
"I am 325 standard space years. I'm still in my prime!" giggled the woman.
"So...325 is the equivalent of what in human years?"
"Hm...I'm thinking maybe 21 or 22 to your people."
"Wow, you're around my age then!"
"Then you are awfully young to be here." frowned Nrocinu. "Tell me, where were you
before here?"
"I was a slave for a trader. I'd been one for over a year I think...Then some guy named
Qorgin purchased me the other da-"
"Stay away from Qorgin!" interrupted Nrocinu, her eyes going steely, friendly personality
gone.
"Wha-what?" stuttered Bulma, surprised by the alien's sudden outburst.
"Qorgin is out of your league...keep away from him." growled the Starnicorn.
"I never said I had any interest in him!" protested the woman, she could be a bitch too.
"Oh, okay then!" said Nrocinu, smiling again as though nothing had happened. "So what
do you say we get you dressed?"
"Umm...sure..." agreed Bulma slowly, perplexed by the Starnicorn.
"Let's see what Master Juick has picked out for you..." murmured Nrocinu as she shifted
through the clothing in an almost unnoticeable closet near the door. "Ah-ha!"
She pulled out a dark red tie-top dress and held it up to Bulma, frowning as she tried to
decided of it's appropriateness.
"Nope!" she proclaimed cheerily, startling the Earthling.
The Starnicorn continued digging in the wardrobe before emerging again with a white,
off-the-shoulders summer dress decorated with small blue and purple flowers.
"Hmm..." sighed Nrocinu. "I think this will do just fine. Bathroom's that way, you can
shower and change. I'll be out here if you need me, but try to hurry."
Nrocinu threw Bulma the dress and pointed to another door across the room before
disappearing and reappearing on the bed, stretching out comfortably. The Earthling
followed Nrocinu's finger and scampered through the doorway.
"She's an interesting one...I wonder what Juick's got in store for her? Nothing good, I'm
sure." mumbled Nrocinu thoughtfully as she listened to the water turn on and the shower
door close.
* * * * *
Bulma stepped from the stall feeling like a new woman. She modeled nude in front of the
mirror a bit and frowned when she saw how thin she had become from lack of
nourishment. But standing around wet and naked wasn't going to help in that department
at all, so she pulled a towel from the shelf and wrapped it around her head, grabbing a
second to dry her body. After a thorough patting, she pulled on her new garments and
examined herself again. The dress was just like the nightgown, made of a solid-fluid
material...not that that really made any sense. She shrugged the scrutiny off and untangled
her tresses from the cloth on her head, snatching a brush from one of the various drawers
in the vanity and raking it through her hair in jerky motions.
"Can't...get...these...snags...out!" she growled as her thick blue locks continuously became
entangled in the brush's bristles. Her arm tired, she set down the comb and set about
fixing her half-dry hair into a somewhat acceptable ponytail. Satisfied, and aside from
being more than a little conscientious about the dark semi-circles under her eyes, Bulma
exited the bathroom in a radiant glory.
"Whoa...who turned on the flood lights?" moaned Nrocinu when Bulma strode in. "You
are positively glowing!"
She teleported in front of Bulma and carefully looked at her. "Hey!" she exclaimed. "You
look damn good and you're not even wearing any make-up! That's not fair!"
Bulma blushed. "I have a naturally beautiful complexion." she stated with confidence.
"Back home I used to only wear a light powder and lip gloss every day. But I do wish I
could hide these bags..."
"Ah...don't worry about 'em! They're hardly noticeable, believe me, your eyes take away
all attention from facial flaws. Now come on! You took forever in that goddamn shower
so we really need to get going."
Nrocinu grabbed Bulma by the arm, snatched up a pair of white sandals and dragged the
other woman to the door.
"Where are we going?" Bulma asked as she was released when her companion opened the
door.
"Aw no!" groaned the Starnicorn as the traffic outside the room caught her attention. "I
guess we'll just have to do this the hard way..."
Bulma watched with interest as Nrocinu sat down on the floor and closed her eyes,
crossing her arms and legs as she started...purring? She was making a deep guttural noise
that surprised Bulma, the Earthling's large eyes widened even more as Nrocinu's face and
body began to elongate, as her fingers and toes grew together and hardened over into four
diamond hooves. Her purple hair traveled all down her lengthening neck and her nose
gradually disappeared and became a horse's snout. A sudden nub of white sprouted from
her lower back and grew into a bull's tail with a tuft of purple hair on the end. After less
than a minute of what Bulma supposed was meditation, a beautiful unicorn with a
tanzanite (A/N: Tanzanite is a bluish-purple gem, it's very pretty!) horn stood before her
on all fours.
~Hop on.~ came the crystal clear voice in her head, the creature before her bowing to
allow for better access to its back.
"Whoa...you're telepathic!" said the woman.
~Talk about stating the obvious! All Starnicorns are in their animal form, or at least
according to what I know about them. Now get on and quit stalling us! You're just going
to make us even later you know...~
"Sure..." Bulma muttered as she climbed onto the waiting unicorn.
~Good...Now I'd suggest holding on, this isn't exactly going to be a smooth ride.~
Bulma did as she was told, gripping the Starnicorn's mane tightly with her hands and
squeezing her hips into the creature's sides. She thought she detected a slight smirk on the
animal's face before getting her neck whipped back in Nrocinu's sudden start. The
Starnicorn didn't allow for any slow-acceleration, bursting first-off into a full gallop down
the hall, her horn down to ward off any unfortunate alien in her path.
A light laughter filled Bulma's head like small bell chimes, and the human could tell
Nrocinu was enjoying this a lot. The woman could do nothing but shut her eyes against
the strong wind of their speed and hold on for dear life.