The Scroll of Exalted Ponies

Speaker had spent all his time since the circle had split up earlier that day on setting up a proper workshop and laboratory. With essence he could recall perfectly what equipment he had used back in Lookshy for medical diagnostics and with his first age memories he could recall what wonders of healing he had used in the ancient times. This would be a worthy way to introduce the solars to creation: He would find a cure for the plague and ensure that all ponies across creation would be able to cure it! The end to plague! Sounded like a good plan.

This mainly meant that Speaker had spent the time making lists of equipment he’d need, sending castle servants off to see if any of it might already exist in the castle. For the things that couldn’t be found he instead requisitioned raw materials at the castle quartermare, or so he would have, if not for the fact that that position had been held by one of the two corrupt elders who had escaped. The new quartermare was a young mare who looked very inexperienced. Taking pity on her Speaker rewrote he requisition forms in simpler terms: “One barrel of sand, one bucketful of tin or things made of tin, one bucketful of iron or things made of iron...” – so far he’d gotten the new quartermare to supply him some of the castle smith’s spare iron and to dispatch servants to gather sand.

When Red came running Speaker had been in the process of using his essence to sift through and cleanse the sand, then melt it down and shape it into clear bulbous glass vials, all in one continuous process. Using his essence the sand picked up no dirt in the process so the resulting vials were surprisingly clear. Glass of such quality would usually cost a fortune and require extensive refining, but Speaker was doing it in minutes. Red came barging in and told Speaker of Shimmer’s dire condition in no uncertain terms.

Speaker dropped everything in shock, shattering the current vial he was forming and a glob of molten glass as he ran out to the courtyard with Red to meet a gory sight.

Shimmer was lying on the ground, twitching and convulsing, intermittently puking up blood and making some decidedly unladylike noises.

“Hold her down! I need to purge her system” Speaker shoulder, jumping at Shimmer and trying to pin her down.

With aid from the dawn caste solar Speaker managed to flush Shimmer’s stomach out, getting rid of the last dark goop that had gotten into her. From a pocket Speaker floated out a vial and took a sample of the dark material: “This is not right…”
Shimmer staggered to her hooves, her caste mark showing as she used her essence to fight the last pangs of queasiness: “I’ve been sick with a lot of weird things – that was not natural… I mean, it was so quick, like it was trying to rip out my stomach”

After telling Speaker what had happened Red wondered: “But why didn’t you get sick with the first bucket of water then? Why aren’t every pony who drinks from the fountains getting sick right away?”

Shimmer looked at the gate leading out to the drawbridge and the square: “Did you get the water from the same fountain both times?”

Red shook her head: “No the other one, its closer to the castle…”

“A two-component mixture… how clever” Speaker mused. Red caught on to what Speaker meant a moment later, but she did wonder how that would work… or why it hit Shimmer so hard and suddenly.

Shimmer suggested that the disease might be reacting to her essence. Floating up a wad of the black good and touching it to her tail, then using a shapeshifting trick to turn her otherwise plain and scrawny looking purple tail into a big curly one the black goo suddenly bubbled up explosively, releasing small dark puffs of greenish smoke. Within second the smoke began to sizzle and sparkle in the air, followed by a rush of strong pine scent.

Quickly turning into her monsterpony bird form, Shimmer quickly looked intensely at the dissipating cloud: “Haha! Amazing, I knew this place was good for something!”

Turning back into her pony form again, her boils this time looking even more bloated and pusfilled – much to Speaker’s horror – Shimmer stated: “This manse, the wood essence is blocking the disease from spreading. This is great! We ca-” Looking at Red and Speaker’s horrified looks Shimmer inquired: “What?”

Speaker wasn’t sure whether to berate Shimmer for using essence when it had just been shown to feed on essence-use, or just rush in and treat her. While Speaker was seemingly paralyzed by this question Red was a little more direct: “Shimmer you idiot, you just spread the disease even more on you – look!”

Shimmer paused for a moment and face-hoof’d as she realized her mistake. Looking up she apologized for her rash actions, but excused them with it seeming like a very good idea at the time – plus it paid off: Now they know at least one of the functions of the manse. Sure, it hurt to walk, and talk, and blink, and breathe, but that was nothing that couldn’t be suppressed or ignored with a bit of essence.

Speaker was less impressed, but took notes none the less. Asking Red to burn the rest of the goo on the ground – and to keep all mortal ponies well away from it until the ashes had been soaked in soapy water – Speaker brought Shimmer down to his medical lab to fix her up.

In the lab Shimmer submitted to Speaker’s treatment, complimenting Speaker on what he’d so far made for his laboratory: “This is nice. Back home diseases aren’t that common. Ponies living scattered out on different islands make it difficult for disease to spread, and if a community dies out from it another tribe usually comes into settle it and repopulate fairly quickly”
Having mentioned repopulation Shimmer got a little randy – but looking like a near-death plague victim was, to put it very mildly, very off-putting to Speaker.

“Oh come on, what are a few boils between lovers?” Shimmer joked as she sauntered up to Speaker, boils oozing ever so slightly as she tried to put on a saucy expression. Speaker was impressed that Shimmer wasn’t feeling under the weather at all, but his arousal was not to be found: “Don’t you feel anything from the disease? I mean, I know the infection came very suddenly – but there should be some discomfort from the boils”

Shimmer said that she canceled out anything like that with a little bit of essence. Speaker worried that she might be fueling the disease that way: “You won’t be feeling so hot if I don’t fix this before the diarrhea kicks in”

“What a lovely thing to say to the mare you love” Shimmer mused as she climbed up on Speaker’s surgical table while Speaker brought to bear what little gear he had made so far.

When the guards on the walls announced the nightfall shift change Speaker and Shimmer finally emerged. All the boils had been drained, cut away and Shimmer had been subjected to a rather intimate series of healing essence injections, although none of them had been as fun as she’d hoped. With her regeneration charms she’d healed the boil wounds and was now, effectively, cured. Speaker was proud of his accomplishment, but noted that he couldn’t possibly do the same for every pony in the city. There were thousands of ponies beyond the castle walls and he wouldn’t be able to help more than five or six a day less he deplete his anima of essence – and that stuff took time to come again.

Shimmer admitted that she’d never understood how an exalted pony could ‘run out’ out essence, something her elders had always warned against, especially if one was in a fight – but Speaker explained it like breath: “If you keep a steady and well-paced trot you can go at it all day without feeling too tired. If you gallop you will tire quickly and run out of breath. You can, over time, train yourself to breathe deeper and endure a faster pace – but that takes time. That’s why you meditate to refine your essence, for it enhances your ‘breath’ if you would, so you can use more charms before depleting the essence that your souls and exaltation respires”

Shimmer nodded, looking impressed: “I love it when you talk egghead”

They met Red out in the courtyard, the martial mare overseeing half a dozen servant ponies scrubbing the cobblestones under flickering torchlight. The bubbly soap water that had been poured out was clouded with black ash. More servants were bringing buckets of water to wash the stuff away to the drains spread around the courtyard.

Red was relieved to see Shimmer ok again. Shimmer said it was nothing: “Having been cut in half makes a little bloody vomit and some boils seem a lot less intimidating”

“Indeed. Say Red, have you seen any of the others?” Speaker wondered, having been in his lab most of the day.

Red said that she had seen Sunrise with Onyx up on the keep’s balcony that overlooked the courtyard after she’d started the fire to burn the ‘sickness goo’ away, but she hadn’t seen Sully or Cash.

“That must be some hard negotiations Cash is doing with that gang” Speaker mused.

The circle withdrew to the castle for dinner. During dinner the circle, minus Cash, discussed with the young Shogun how to use what they had learned about the fountains. Shimmer still wanted to investigate how the stuff in the water got into the wells – because she hadn’t seen anything at the fountains themselves that could explain such dark contamination. Onyx seemed mostly in doubt about whether to allow the ponies of Chung Do to use the fountains anymore – but Speaker said that Onyx could just close one Fountain off. Ponies at arms were dispatched post haste. Dinner continued with a young servant mare playing a flute to soothe everybody’s minds, but it was hard to notice her cheerful tunes considering the circumstances.

Shortly after dinner the alarm bells at the gate rang out. These were the signal that something bad was happening, so the whole castle garrison – along with the circle, minus Cash and Sullen Hoof, rushed out to the courtyard.

Bighoof was up on the ramparts while some of the ponies at arms who had been guarding the fountain investigated: A large sack had been left by the square side of the drawbridge, and no pony had noticed it being dropped off…
“A sack… and the guard first noticed it now?” Red said, sounding unimpressed.

Captain Bighoof came down from the castle wall and excused the confusion, noting that with it getting dark it was hard to spot.

Suddenly a guardspony came rushing over the bridge into the courtyard: “There’s a half-dead pony with a blond mane in the sack!”

A more dead than alive Cash Charmer was quickly brought into the courtyard. His blue silks were gone and he had wounds at his hooves, knees, elbows, neck, shoulders, and several around his hips, most of them still bleeding a little. All in all Cash was covered in blood, some half-dried and crusty, some was fresh. His eyes were swollen and his face was heavily bruised, him bleeding from his mouth. Speaker considering Cash lucky that the poor stallion was unconscious.
“Gods. He’s been ragdolled” Red said, looking terrified.

Speaker, Shimmer and Sunrise didn’t know what the term meant. Red explained, poking Cash at each location as she spoke: “I’ve heard some merc outfits doing it to deserters. You cut a pony’s tendons at the hooves, knees, elbows, the muscles around the neck and shoulder, at your tail, around your hips. Cuts loose all your muscles, so you can’t walk or pick up anything. I… gods they even cut under his tongue”

“Right, let’s go kill them all” Speaker plainly suggested, sounding as calm as if nothing had happened. The circle just looked at him.

“What? If these Water Walkers are this cruel it stands to logic that there’s no reasoning with them. I will not let Chung Do starve while I cure them of plague – in fact, I will probably need them well fed for the cure to work anyway. We’ll have to speak to them in their own language, and if they think this how you treat diplomats then let us respond in kind. We have work to do the best for the greatest number of ponies. If wiping out this gang secures the city’s food supply, so be it – and with this done to Cash, I don’t see why we shouldn’t, for our cause is just and our revenge clearly legitimate” Speaker continued, not understanding why the ponies around him looked so surprised.

Shimmer was the first to speak up, despite being quite a bit surprised to hear Speaker suggest killing someone: “I think that’s a great idea. Let’s go teach these thugs a lesson!”

Sunrise was quick to point out that none of them knew where these water walkers had their hideout, plus Speaker should tend to Cash’s wounds first to prevent any permanent crippling.

“We’ll just look around, and Cash won’t die from these wounds. If this gang is the only party selling rice then every pony in Chung Do who doesn’t live at the castle should know where they’re located” Speaker said, reasoning that it wouldn’t be much of a secret where such ponies operated out of.

Sunrise Glow didn’t agree: “Sure, we’ll just ask the first pony we’ll see and ask them to snitch on their only source of food. Then after we’ve gone to them our informants will probably get a lovely visit from their local gang representative who will repay the kindness five folds over to them and their family”

Red nodded: “True. When I was a merc we always said that snitches get stitches – I don’t think we should expect any pony dependent on the water walkers to tell us where they are”

“But… come on – we have to do something!” Speaker pleaded.

Sunrise calmly walked up to Speaker and gestured at Cash: “All you need to do is tend to Cash’s wounds and heal him. Once he’s up again I am certain that he will lead us to the water walkers. What we need to right now is remain calm. These water walkers are probably already gearing up for a confrontation. It would be foolish to walk into a trap. Once Sullen Hoof returns he can scout them out together with Shimmer, then we make a plan of attack”

Speaker took a deep breath. Part of him wanted to apologize for letting his emotions get the better of him, but another part equally felt that such was perfectly justified. A cart was fetched and Cash Charmer was brought down to Speaker’s lab where Speaker began his bloody work of making sure that Cash could walk and talk again once he woke up.

Shimmer met Speaker a couple of hours later in their quarters, Speaker certain that Cash would wake up at some point before noon the next day.
“And what about the ragdoll cuts?” Shimmer wondered. Speaker assured her that his essence had seen those crippling injuries undone, although it would take some time before they would fully heal.

“Now he won’t just limp from that skewered thigh for a week – he’ll be walking funny for at least two weeks. It will probably also take a few days before he can speak again, but he can always write with a floated quill where he went once he comes to” Speaker said, still looking disappointed that they hadn’t rushed out the gates to deal swift justice.

Shimmer found this side of Speaker intriguing. Speaker didn’t consider it that special: “Ponies who do such things… they’re pure evil. When you’re that cruel you do not deserve to partake in the gift of life”

“You know Speaker, for a pony as dedicated as you to preserving life I was worried that you’d not be able to take life… and while it’s never something that any pony should start to enjoy, then trust when me when I say that a century of experience has taught me that some ponies just cannot be reasoned with” Shimmer said, unbuttoning Speaker’s old lookshyan uniform, now covered in blood spatter, dumping it in a basket for the castle maids to clean.

Speaker turned around and looked at Shimmer with horror in his eyes: “I… no. No pony should ever need to be killed by another pony. Gangs like this, ponies who prey who other ponies, they’re symptoms. Limited resources, unequal distribution of those resources. I want to see creation brought back to what it was in the first age, where there was no need or want that went unsatisfied. The source of this inequality as I see it is a general lack of understanding, a lack of wisdom! I’m sure these water walkers feel that what they’re doing is a reasonable if not short-sighted idea, but they probably don’t understand the level of suffering that they’re submitting the ponies of Chung Do to, or they don’t care because they don’t see the big picture. Ideally I would prefer to see them educated, enlightened and put to good use, but given our own limited resources and numbers that’s not an option. The the fastest and most expedient way to get Chung Do back on track is killing enough of these water walkers to break up the gang and free up the city’s food supply. I’ve thought about this a lot while patching up Cash. I’m certain that he tried to defend himself, because some of his wounds are defensive. The water walkers would have realized that he has powers and I’m sure he would have warned them about that as a bargaining chip – they weren’t swayed by his power, so we can’t use it as leverage for peaceful negotiation”

“You seem to think very highly of this gang. You know them?” Shimmer wondered.

Speaker shrugged, stroking his long beard: “No, but it would make sense. A caper like this requires organization. If they've really taken control of all the warehouses and rice-granaries they know what they’re doing. I can’t imagine dumb luck and sick guards is all that allowed for something like this to go unnoticed and unopposed”

Shimmer nodded but pointed out a hole in Speaker’s logic: “Never attribute to happenstance or fools what you can to malice. Remember that the two elders who kept the shogun in the dark weren't exactly on the level. How do you think the elders managed to sneak out of Chung Do? Didn’t Cash say that they’d also drained part of the treasury? They would have had to store that money somewhere that won’t ask questions. That could mean that the guard was instructed to leave that gang alone, giving them room to expand their territory and ultimately pull this heist”

“I don’t know enough about business or laws to be sure, but I have a very big hunch that the leader of this gang is very sure about what they’re doing – although your point is perfectly valid too. It’s probably a combination of both” Speaker said, climbing up in bed.

Shimmer sauntered up next to Speaker in the bed and gave him a tender kiss: “Alright, enough about the gang. Let’s talk cure for the plague, any ideas? I’m all for sexual healing right now…”

The next day Speaker and Shimmer met a very displeased Cash charmer who now had a limp on all four legs in the main castle dining hall. Breakfast was steam veggies and green tea. Few words were said, especially since Shimmer kept elbowing Speaker whenever he tried to ask about the negotiations.

After breakfast Speaker and Shimmer quickly found themselves summoned to the castle library where they found Red, Sunrise and Cash waiting for them. Cash told them everything, slowly, as he had to write it down on paper – him trying to speak sounding as if he has a turnip stuffed in his mouth.

He had found the water walkers’ main rice shop in the doorway of one of the warehouses they had taken over. It wasn’t hard to find, but it was clearly also set up so that they could simply close the door at a moment’s notice if the city guard came. They nearly closed up when Cash approached – apparently they had been monitoring who came and went from the castle, which incidentally meant that only Sullen Hoof’s true appearance was unknown to them, which would make sneaking up on them somewhat difficult.

“I can shapeshift… trust me, that won’t be an issue” Shimmer noted, but Cash then told her that going in solo against them wasn’t really an option.

“I managed to get myself an audience with their leader. A stallion by the name of Paddle Splash, a boatspony before he formed the gang who used to ferry ponies across the river” Cash scribbled down on another piece of paper.

Red wondered why there’d be a need for that kind of services. Cash quickly scribbled that under normal circumstances the bridge is under guard, and all merchants crossing it have to pay a toll. Basically Paddle Splash was a smuggler.

“The problem is that he has friends. You see, when he refused to give up the rice, or even sell it back to us, I tried to threaten him with our power and abilities. Postured a bit, showed him my moves, my claw-shoes. To my surprise he wasn’t impressed. At least the essence-bond prevented them from stealing those shoes from me” Cash continued.

Red mumbled something about what in creation a gang could have that would make them not fear a display a of magical martial arts.

“I know – that’s what I thought. Paddle Splash called in his daughter after negotiations broke down… and she not only did she bring along her ‘friends’, she’s also godblooded” Cash wrote, sighing heavily at the memories of what came next.

It was well known among ponies in creation that a union of gods and mortal ponies would yield supernaturally gifted foals. These rare godblooded ponies were often feared, for they would inherit some of their divine parentage’s powers. What Cash described made it sound as if Paddle Splash had managed to seduce a water elemental or some other river spirit: “From how Paddle Splash described the aptly named Water Hoof, then he hadn’t exactly expected to get a godblooded foal dumped in his lap three seasons after screwing whatever it was he screwed – but he seemed very happy with the results”
“You mentioned that she brought friends? Other godblooded ponies?” Shimmer wondered.

Cash shook his head ever so slightly, as doing so seemed to hurt him a bit: “No, water elementals. Not sure how to describe them though. They were like boulders of water full of silk with bright white eyes that ‘roll’ around on the ground… or charge you and swallow you up – and then it’s not unlike having fallen into stone-filled river rapids while also drowning. Not fun”
Shimmer noted that she was familiar with a lot of different kinds of water elementals back west, but that specific kind of water elementals was new to her. Sunrise said that she had seen that kind of elementals in Great Forks: “The enforcers often have to break up brawls between them. They’re called River Bulls, and are the sort of elementals that gods of rivers use to generate currents in their waterways. Small living tsunamis, with a temper to match, they can move and manipulate water like nothing else”

“Ok ,a gang with command of a bunch of elementals. That explains at least part of how they were able to take control of the rice-granaries. You said you couldn’t buy the rice back?” Red said, appearing to be thinking about how one kills off spirits.
Nodding, Cash wrote that since the gang had been selling rice to the ponies in the city he had offered to buy the lot of it. Sunrise was surprised to hear this, being impressed that Cash would spend that much money willingly.

“You make it sound like I don’t like spending money. I’m a businesspony. You have to spend money to make money – or in this case I’m buying us a very good reputation which I’m betting will pay off later. I offered them most of the gold and jewelry we’d taken from Denansdor, without saying where the goods were from of course. I don’t know what kind of deal Paddle Splash has set up for the rice, but it’s not to sell it back to the ponies here. I heard from some of the lieutenants that they’re busy stealing carts and bribing what few carpenters and coopers that are left in the city to make more carts and barrels. They’re getting ready to transport the rice out of Chung Do” Cash wrote, the floating quill he manipulated jotting down words at a furious pace.

“We have to stop them!” Speaker stated, getting up from the table. His anger was clearly displayed, with his breath quickened and his lips curled in a furious frown.

Sunrise Glow urged for caution and careful planning: “Hold on Speaker. Can we even fight elementals?”

Speaker gave Sunrise a stern look: “I can’t, but we don’t need to in order to hold back wagons full of rice”

“I have some spirit-slaying charms. Can’t do without them in the west, storm mothers and whatnot” Shimmer noted.

Sunrise wasn’t convinced. She advocated caution: “Speaker, you cannot let your emotions take control of you. I don’t like what they did to Cash either, but we need to plan this out – we need to know what we’re up against”

Taking a deep breath, then sighing slowly, Speaker glared at Sunrise: “If the water walkers know that we have powers – and still did this – then they know that we’ll come after them. If they have any ounce of smarts to their name they’ll be shipping out right now. If the city catches wind that its food supply is gone we’ll have riots. Even if we can somehow quell those then ponies here will starve in two or three days, assuming that they even have food right now. I am not ‘just’ furious at what was done to Cash; if we don’t stop this right now this city is dead and I for one will not let that many ponies suffer on my watch”
“Very well – but I still think that we need more time to prepare” Sunrise Glow noted.

Captain Bighoof was shortly thereafter besieged by requests for armor and equipment. The castle armory was raided and the circle mustered in the courtyard an hour later. Cash’s vanity had prevented him from wearing anything larger than a simple chest plate which he could hide under his new green silk shirt courtesy of former shogun’s private wardrobe. Shimmer wasn’t wearing any armor at all – or clothes for that matter – shapeshifting not working very well with armor or barding. Speaker and Red were decked out in the best lamellar barding from the castle armory, while Sunrise had reluctantly been talked into at least putting a chainmail shirt under her robes, although she wasn’t bringing any weapons, saying that she refused to get blood on her hooves.

“Has any of you seen Sully?” Cash wrote, shifting uncomfortably with his chestplate while floating the paper with his statement around for circle to see. None in the circle had. Speaker said that he didn’t expect Sullen Hoof to reveal himself until he had something to report, or was sure that there was nothing to report. Oh the joys of spycraft.

The circle marched out of the castle in full battle regalia, weapons ready. While Cash couldn’t walk very quickly, then he could easily guide the rest of the circle to the warehouse where he had met Paddle Splash via a map he’d drawn. In the square with the fountains outside of the castle Shimmer shifted into her monsterpony bird form, but this time there were differences to how she usually appeared: Instead of covered in feathers she was covered in a black and purple thorny segmented chitinous shell. Her appearance was like a mix of an elemental dragon, a bird with scales for feathers and a very large monstrous insect. Several of the civilian ponies at the one open fountain in the square turned and ran, screaming as if they had seen a demon – which honestly wasn’t that much of a stretch considering what Shimmer looked like.

However, Shimmer wasn’t done. Digging her huge six-inch talons into the cobblestone her body began to ripple and bulge with a slight silvery shimmer. She began to grow… and minute or so later she was the size of a large bull, four times the size of a pony. Kneeling down the rest of the circle was able to climb up on her back, although Cash complained that her spiky carapace was not very comfortable to sit on.

Shimmer unfolded her now very large wings which were replete with thin scales instead of feathers and slowly took off – flying the circle straight to the warehouse that Cash had mapped out.

Enroute Sunrise Glow spoke fervently of never wavering, never doubting in the righteousness of one’s action. She even paraphrased Speaker, saying that it was for the greater that such villainous ponies were struck down by the heavenly hoof of the lawgivers. Her words only reassured the others in their chosen course, but it was nice to hear anyway.

Over the warehouse Speaker gave out the final instructions: “We need to catch this Paddle Splash or some other high ranking gang member – that’ll give us information on their organization and where they’re taking the rice, but our first priority is stopping the rice transports. So block the doors, smash the wheels and take out any pony hauling, pushing or carrying the rice. Sunrise, you make a hole, we follow through”

With that said the circle nodded – Shimmer emitting a bird-of-prey like shriek – and then Sunrise jumped off and plummeted down to the warehouse roof… which she hit, smashing through it. Shimmer dove down to follower her, crashing through the pony-shaped hole in the roof with an almighty explosion of shattered wooden beams and planks while her passengers took cover under her armored wings.

The moment Shimmer landed the rest of circle leapt out, Sunrise extracting herself from the hole in the ground her impact had buried her in, everyone striking an awesome pose with their weapons out, with the battle-shaped Shimmer as their backdrop.

Too bad there was only a single pony in the warehouse, who seemed to have been in the process of hauling a clay jug full of lamp oil from one end of the building to the other. That one pony was already really scared from the sudden collapse of part of the warehouse roof, the pony having dropped the clay jug and begun to run for the exit, the only sounds to heard in the vast empty warehouse being the sound of hooves on wooden floorboards, the one pony going “Shit shit shit!” and occasional bit of broken wood falling from the hole in the ceiling down on the wooden floor.

“Uhm… I think this is the wrong warehouse” Cash wrote and showed to the others, probably looking a bit embarrassed under his helmet.

Shimmer, with her head alone being the size of a pony, scowled at Cash: “Well so much for the element of surpri- hold on”
Turning around a few times, angling her chitin-scaled bird-head in different directions, Shimmer suddenly cried out “They’re down the street – I can feel elementals down there” and charged through the nearest door out of the warehouse.

The circle followed and sure enough, outside the warehouse that they had crashed into, down the road, were two dozen large wagons being loaded up with sacks and barrels of rice. Around the wagons were several dozen ponies with blue headbands, plus a single stallion up on one of the wagons with a bushy grey beard wearing Cash’s blue silk shirt who was barking orders at the rest of the ponies.

Of course, crashing through a large warehouse door wasn’t a subtle way to make an entrance, so the circle was spotted immediately. Paddle Splash shouted for his crony-ponies to hurry up and haul the rice out while two dozen water walkers armed with blades lashed to their hooves – the most common poor pony’s fighting gear – made for a nice wall of ablative flesh between the circle and the rice wagons.

A young made leapt out from behind that wall of armed water walkers: The godblooded mare Water Hoof. Her mane was like flowing muddy water that sprang from her scalp down her neck and her coat was mottled black and brown. Around her hooves was a thick cloudy mist that sheathed her hooves and lower parts of her legs with a thin cover of white.

The armed water walkers, led by the godblooded mare, charged. The circle charged as well, although Shimmer took off and tried to block the rice wagons with her bulk.

At first Speaker, Red and Cash made easy work of the first few water walkers they traded blows with. Gift cut through flesh with endless ease, Red’s blade even more so, while Cash struck with heavenly enhanced might – sending ponies flying with great speed, many of them impacting on building walls which left bloody smears as they slowly slid dow, if not impaled on something and left hanging.

Speaker noticed that the godblooded mare hadn’t joined the fray… she was holding back, gesturing to unseen allies? It was then that Speaker, Red and Cash all found themselves suddenly caught in spheres of water that had flowed up from the gutters! Speaker instantly activated his elemental immunity charm as enchanted water forced itself down into his lungs, but he was unable to break free! Gift sailed through the water, but couldn’t harm his liquid cage at all! He could only look on in horror as Cash and Red flailed their limbs and weapons around helplessly as they began to drown. Cash even fired a claw from his magic shoes into a nearby warehouse wall, trying to pull himself out of the watery prison, but he didn’t have the strength to counter the water holding him back.

The appearance of the elementals hadn’t gone unnoticed to Shimmer who seconds later came barreling down the street, howling like only an enraged lunar could. Her talons blazed with white silvery light and cut into the spheres of elemental water – but… nothing happened. Shimmer quickly realized that the spheres of water were just that; the elementals controlling the water were elsewhere in hiding. Normally she would simply scan the area with her third eye, looking for the flow of watery essence that controlled the spheres and track that back to the spirits – but Speaker and the circle… what to do!?

Shimmer chose to save the now very unconscious clearly drowning Red and Cash first, snatching them out of the water spheres and throwing them up on the nearest warehouse rooftop. She then turned to get Speaker but was intercepted by the godblooded mare who now seemed to be floating around a magic sledgehammer made of mist. It struck Shimmer’s carapace so hard that it cracked, eliciting a pained shriek from Shimmer.

Twisting around to both grab Speaker and fend off her magical assailant, Shimmer suffered another blow that cracked the carapace around her left forelimb, which severely reduced her ability to fight, since her other forelimb held a sputtering Speaker who was trying to clear his lungs of water. The water might not be drowning him, but it made transitioning to breathing air very bothersome.

Fighting mortals were easy enough, Shimmer had done so many times, but godblooded – especially when you don’t know what their powers are… that’s never easy – not unlike fighting a unicorn for the first time: Did the unicorn know any magical martial arts, sorcery, or was it a freshly exalted unicorn with only a minimum of charms?

Shimmer tried to fly away with Speaker, but the water spheres had moved and were latching on to her legs. Slashing weakly with her broken arm at the water did nothing, and the godblooded was still going at it. Quickly locking her gaze with the godblooded mare Shimmer used a lunar trick to make the mare think that Shimmer about to pull a swift counterattack, a simple illusion, but it made the mare end her onslaught and put up her guard for a moment. This gave Shimmer enough time to free herself from the ensorcelled water binding her legs, letting her lift off and then snatch the onconcious Red and Cash from the rooftop, flying back over the river towards the castle.

“Shimmer!” Speaker suddenly shouted, having finally cleared his airways of water: “…did you see what happened to Sunrise?”