Equestrian zebras (Patreon)

A request was made for how zebras lived in Equestria during the war.

There were always difficulties with Zebras wishing to live and work in Equestria.  For the longest time, simply reaching Equestria was almost impossible.  The only two land bridges were the treacherous, rocky land bridge at Shattered Hoof or the frozen polar bridge through the territory of the yaks.  The first group of zebra in Equestria were the Starkatteri, who were conveyed there by the Atoli to attempt to ressurect the Eater of Souls.  That ritual failed, and destroyed the first zebra inhabitants of Equestria.  Later, Nightmare Moon would rise and blot out the sun for days.  Finally, pony xenophobia was not limited to Ponyville, and thus few zebra travelers found welcome in Equestria.  So it was relatively rare that zebras had any desire to leave to the Ponylands.  And since pony / zebra hybrids are sterile, little reason to stay.

However, there were exceptions.  Zecora was one of the first modern zebras to journey to Equestria in an attempt to learn and understand magic, particularly that of alicorns.  Some were refugees or castaways that had washed up on a distant land.  Unlike the ponies she ruled, Zebras had a much closer relationship with Celestia than with ponykind.  Celestia had resided with the Mendi tribe for nearly a century in a dark time after Nightmare Moon's banishment.  A handful of Mendi zebra would occasional make pilgrimages to meet Celestia, particularly sun stripes, but prior to the modern era, there simply wasn't much reason to go to Equestria.

Various technological and trade interests, however, popped up with increased industrialization, particularly between the Propoli, Zencori, Starkatteri, and Orah.  The Propoli's growing need for gemstones drove the resource trade with Equestria, while the events of the mane six drew some curiosity from the Zencori.  Nightmare Moon's return and 'redemption' was of some interest to the cursed tribe, and several found better living conditions in Equestria along with Orah who were often hedged out of opportunities in Zebrinica.

However, in Equestria, with the exception of the Starkatteri, tribal affiliation faded rapidly as racial identity of zebraness supplanted tribal affiliation.  Indeed a generation of zebras born in Equestria had little idea of their tribal roots.  They worked on the fringe of Equestrian society in cities like Manehattan and Bucklyn.  Zebras could never fully assimilate because of their stripes, and thus found greater acceptance on the rapidly evolving 'metropolitan' city life.

'Zebra towns' popped up in various cities across Equestria.  Some had existed for decades before the advent of Nightmare Moon's return, groups clustered together with names like 'Zebratown', 'Stripeville', and 'Glyphmark.'  Life in these ethnic enclaves were safer, but tended to demolish tribal affiliation quickly.

The oldest was the infamous Zebratown of Manehattan.  Almost a thousand lived in a block of the metropolis, and was notorious as a tourist destination that sold 'foreign' knickknacks to pony visitors.  Zebratown was notorious for the many 'spiritual' drugs that were enjoyed in parlor houses.  Zebratown also had a thriving sex trade, and was responsible for many of the zonies also found in the city.  Despite occasional efforts to 'crack down on foreign influences' Zebratown endured.  It satified a itch in the psyche of the city of Manehattan.

Stripeville was a modern zebratown established outside Fillydelphia with a goal of housing zebra workers.  The planned community was heralded and launched with great fanfare... the year before the war began.  By that point there were already several hundred zebras working the factories.  Support for the project collapsed, but by that point the zebras were there.  As the war progressed, Stripeville became increasingly tense, but there was no official means to return zebra citizens to a war enemy.  Increasing suspicion drove violence against the zebra inhabitants, some of whom would become war refugees in Equestria.  A few driven out would eventually seek shelter at Littlehorn.  Following Luna's rise to power, a riot burned most of Stripeville to the ground and over the remaining years zebras would relocate to Glyphmark.

Glyphmark was the only 'officially sanctioned' zebratown in Equestria, but it had it's roots in an older community living beneath the city.  Shadow was a mélange of cast outs, eccentrics, mystics, and criminals that had operated quite literally beneath Canterlot.  Starkatteri mystics in particular peddled dark and spooky wares, and unlike the public bordellos of zebratown, the sex trade of Shadow had a decidedly dark sex cult vibe to appeal to the privileged unicorns of the city, leaning heavily on kink and the taboo.  When Luna took power and riots against zebras broke out all across Equestria, dozens were relocated to the newly christened Glyphmark.

While Glyphmark was technically safer, and did serve its purpose in drawing zebras across Equestria to it, the town was little more than a concentration camp.  Zebras lived in cramped housing under unsympathetic protection.  The non-zebra inhabitants of shadow were replaced with the largest population of zebras, rivalling Manehattan's Zebratown.  Under the intense scrutiny of the soldiers, many of the more illicit trades were stamped out.  The spooky sex cults were limited to informal servicing of military personel.  The only employment were in a few pharmaceutical businesses that had been set up prior to the war and were too critical to be fully abandoned.  Many zebras feared that Luna would someday go full Nightmare Moon and destroy the town.  Most just lived day to day.

Noteworthy were the apocalypse cults that popped up in Glyphmark.  This is due to a notorious Black Book of the Starkatteri.  Brought to Equestria by a madman, it was behind some of the truly dangerous 'dark cults' prior to the war.  As the war progressed, more and more zebras were attracted to these predictions of doom.  However, the cults were eventually broken up by pony officials, and the Black Book seized before being lost to bureaucracy.

Relationships between ponies and zebras were always complex.  Many ponies were outright xenophobic to them.  Other ponies viewed zebras as exotic, and even fetishized them.  Zebras from tribes like the Carnillians were often set back by pony prudishness.  Propoli resented being considered primitive.  Orah were glad to just be 'that zebra'.  The tribe that most enjoyed Equestria and ponies, ironically enough, were the Starkatteri.  Ponies were oblivious and ignorant of their curse, and many were happy to take a loving, or at least lusty, pony partner to bed.

Zony offspring suffered depending usually on how striped they were.  Some zonies were almost indistinguishable from zebras, though might possess wings or a horn.  Zonies who were colored or could hide their stripes tended to integrate with ponies.  Zonies had a higher percentage of intersex births and rarely the opportunity or impulse to correct given the wartime situation.  While a majority were sterile, some could sire or bear children with the help of fertility spells or certain talismans.

Zebra shamanism is almost absent in Equestria, however.  Some shamans speculate that pony magic suppresses most spirits who would be interested in dealing with mortals.  Others that 'the ones who watch' are stronger than 'the ones who speak'.  Pony skepticism also seemed to play a role in keeping zebra shamans from being effective.  There was also the closer proximity to the Eater to consider.  Thus, spiritual guidance was all by absent in most zebra communities.