The Scroll of Exalted Ponies

As dusk approached and ponies began filling up Twin Fountain Square, Speaker was unsure how Sunrise could undo her own work – but he had faith that after spending the rest of the day talking with Cash that the young mare was ready to face facts and own up to her actions.

Speaker had spent the time fixing up Sully’s jaw, allowing the night caste pony to speak again – but not chew anything harder than soup or really thin porridge for the next few days – just in time for the circle to lead Sunrise out to address the ponies of Chung Do.

Twin fountain square was filled with ponies, although unlike a few weeks ago when they had been spread out in small makeshift tents, they now all stood perfectly in rank and file as they stared silently at the portcullis in the castle walls. As the portcullis was raised and the circle crossed the draw bridge there was but eerie silence as the population of the city, obedient to a fault, parted to give way for Sunrise and the rest of the circle, minus Shimmer and Sullen Hoof, who had been sent out to search for the lunar.

Speaker retrieved his singing staff from elsewhere and raised a podium of stone for Sunrise to get up on so that all could see her. It was with heavy and hesitant steps that Sunrise ascended to address the city.

“You sure she won’t just order them to grab us and then brain-wash us all?” Speaker quietly said with no small amount of trepidation to Cash.

Cash bowed his head slowly: “Have some faith in my ability to talk to ponies ok? Just like I talked you out of developing a grudge against Shimmer, then I’ve worked my magic on Sunrise just the same – although I will admit that I had to use charms to get through to her…”

Sunrise drew in a deep breath and pulled down her hood, revealing the mutilated remains of her mane and eyes filled with regret. With charms enhancing the volume of her voice, so that all could hear her clearly, Sunrise spoke: “Ponies of Chung Do, I come to you not as a prophet, but as a pony… and as a pony I am as fallible as the rest of you are”

Murmurs spread throughout the crowd, but no pony spoke out.

“I had thought that by giving you my guidance that I would free you all from doubt, from fear, from hesitance. Now I realize my mistake. I have been shown the prison made in my name but without my knowing, and I have seen how any claim of my name forces unquestioning obedience. This is not what I wanted, yet it was the result actions and lack of foresight. To this end I must instruct you all to know that to doubt is not a sin, and neither is fear, for it shows that you care and that you cherish that which you fear losing. It is our love of the things we do not wish to be without, such as your foals, your spouses and even hope, that makes us ponies, that puts us apart from common animals…” Sunrise said, her charms enhancing her voice so it rang out across the square.

“…so what exactly did you take out of her and what did you put in?” Speaker whispered to Cash.

Cash looked up at Sunrise as she turned to face the part of the crowd that had been behind her: “I took a few ideas out of her head and put a few new ones in – nothing drastic, but the mind-clearing charm had only broken the magical bond that made her unable to resist her compulsions to be fearless and whatnot. I took her wish to be fearless out entirely, and replaced it with a little something I picked up from you, that you should acknowledge your emotions and impulses, but not let them rule you”

“Wise words… you know, under different circumstances I think you’d have made a fine doctor” Speaker replied.

Chuckling quietly, Cash shook his head: “Nah, I wouldn’t be able to stomach the blood or the responsibility. Holding the lives of ponies in my hooves? I don’t want that. I’d much rather that they can take care of themselves so I can have fun doing the things I like”

Speaker nodded, accepting that while Cash may be selfish in his motivations, he was at least clear in his desire to aid others in order to help himself.

Sunrise continued speaking for about half an hour, weaving into her words counter-compulsions that put a set of new ideas into the heads of the ponies of Chung Do – and Speaker got the distinct impression that Cash Charmer had coached her on everything she said: “I hail from Great Forks, the city of a thousand temples. There they have a law which is above all others, a law that I should have remembered when I came here, for that law states that the theft of free will is illegal. What I have done to you all has impaired your ability to think properly… and so I would urge you all carefully consider your actions, instead of blindly venturing forth without ever thinking about the consequences of your actions”

Ultimately Sunrise mamaged to de-program the ponies of Chung Do, first removing their compulsion to never waver, then their inability to feel or express fear, and then finally she pointed out – referring to all of her previous statements and observatinos during her oration – that she, as a young pony, was truly fallible, and as such her word could not be considered holy and absolute law.

“Ok, and now we run back to the castle” Cash quickly stated just as Sunrise had finished her oration about not blindly obeying her every word. Speaker didn’t quite catch why this was necessary, but as the counter-compulsion sank into the crowd around the circle the quiet murmurs and whispers of the crowd soon turned into a roar of angry shouts, as the ponies of Chung Do were finally able to express every ounce of their disapproval and rage at having been mentally enslaved…

Cash, Sunrise, Speaker and Red all quickly ran back to the castle where the drawbridge was quickly raised and the portcullis quickly lowered, granting the circle a brief reprieve.

In the courtyard, Sunrise was mortified at the crowd’s reaction – but she none the less seemed to sympathize with them as well. It was clear that she and Cash had discussed the very likely possibility of a hostile reaction upon the ponies of Chung Do finally having their minds freed up, but Sunrise clearly hadn’t expected them to be this furious.

“Right, and now it’s turn” said Cash somewhat drearily, trotting towards the steps up to the battlements above the drawbridge and portcullis.

Following Cash over to the stairs, Speaker asked about what Cash meant: “Your turn to what?”

“Simple. My turn to address the crowd. Can’t have them put Sunrise’s head on a stick, now can we? I mean, what kind of precedent wouldn’t that make?” Cash said in a tone that was just as tired as it was nonchalant.

Speaker watched from the courtyard as Cash walked past a frightened Sunrise on to the battlements.

“My fellow ponies of Chung Do, you all know me, Cash Charmer, so I will broker no lies or honeyed words with you now” Cash began, his voice amplified by charms to so all could hear – just like Sunrise had. On a whim Speaker checked that statement via his truth-telling charm and to his surprise then Cash wasn’t actually lying…

“For the last three days I’ve been imprisoned just like a good number of you, held tight in a pillory over at the old sofa and quill warehouse on Westside. Adding insult to injury I was held not among the other ponies held prisoner there, but I was chained down in the latrine, so that I was up to my nose in shit and piss for the duration…” Cash continued, the crowd quieting down as they found Cash’s sympathetic voice sounding as if it spoke for their plight.

Speaker wasn’t sure he wanted to keep listening, but at the same time he was curious as to what Cash and Sunrise had talked about during the day.

“…and yet I’ve chosen to forgive Sunrise Glow for doing what she did, because she didn’t really intend for any of this to happen” Cash said. The crowd broke out in murmurs and shouts, many again decrying Sunrise and calling for her execution.
Cash took the shouts with a smile: “Allow me to explain, for indeed while Sunrise certainly apologized for her actions and undid her damage, then she failed in one aspect: She didn’t explain why she did it, and I promise you my dear ponies, once you understand the context of her actions you will not hate her – at worst you will feel pity for her, for she is but an adolescent thrust into a world of uncaring politics and cruel monsters”

What followed was a gory retelling of Sunrise’s foalhood misadventures, the loss of her parents, the kidnapping attempts, even a brief mention of the circle’s adventures in Sullen Hoof’s old manse: “…and then we found that in the first we were clearly not afraid to play around casually with death-traps that could maim or butcher a pony in seconds. Sunrise despaired for she was frightened at all of this, and so she used some of the charms she had learned upon exaltation to bind her fears away, so they would no longer trouble her”

Speaker was happy that Cash didn’t mention Denansdor, and so listened on as Cash’s story finally caught up with current events: “When the cure was finally distributed Sunrise Glow, fearing nothing, despaired again – for you my dear ponies were rejoicing, so her council and sermons seemed unnecessary, now that you all seemed busy to get on with your lives and rebuild. She hates this feeling, this not knowing what to do, this about her purpose. This was because you all listened to her freely, indeed you had all begun to thank Celestia for having sent her chosen to save you… and the rest of us stood so proudly and simply continued with our work to rebuild and restore the city. In her youthful foolishness she wished to remain in equal esteem, without having to embarrass herself by asking us what else she might do. This led her to quell those feelings by simply repeating what she had done previously: She locked away her ability to doubt, her ability to waver – and then she found herself lost, for she could no longer stop and consider the consequences of her own actions, no longer doubt the righteousness of her actions”

Hearing the origins of Sunrise’s mind-control on herself gave Speaker a new understanding on her condition. O one hoof it made sense, for indeed many a warlord and general would love the power to see their troops made fearless and unable to hesitate against their orders – but as Cash continued the cruel results of this mindless pursuit of spreading the worship of Celestia became apparent.

“And so I now stand before you urging you all to not hate Sunrise, for her intentions were benign and born of inexperience – and as many of witnessed earlier today, then she has been purged of the binds her mind” Cash wrapped up. With essence sight Speaker could see the strange but subtle flows of essence that Cash was weaving through the crowd of ponies. Cash wasn’t doing as Sunrise had, directly applying mind-control to all who heard him – no, he was influencing the crowd itself.

Cash wasn’t changing the minds of the individual ponies in the crowd, he was changing the crowd’s opinion and behavior as a whole. It reminded Speaker of some of the ‘tricks’ that he’d seen Lookshyan unicorn officers employ on their troops on the eve battle: Individually each soldier might be scared, but if they all had a sense that as a whole their unit was ready for battle then they would stay quiet and follow that unicorn into the fray. Cash was doing something similar, for through the portcullis Speaker could still see angry faces, but now they were tempered by an understanding that as a whole their individual opinion of Sunrise wasn’t representative anymore: Now the ponies in twin fountain square pitied Sunrise for her folly more than they hated her for it.

Cash bid the ponies return to their homes and stepped down from the battlements.

“Well then, that was easy enough” Cash said confidently. Speaker shook his head, at the same time awed and somewhat terrified at Cash’s ability to subtly turn a violent mob into a somewhat content crowd.

The circle returned to the castle for a good night’s sleep.

When morning came Speaker awoke to the sound of the city bustling again. There was the distant sound of blacksmiths pounding iron, carpenters bucking in nails and other noises coming from beyond the castle walls.

As the circle gathered for breakfast, the topic was damage control to counter what remained of Sunrise’s work. A chief topic of this was manes, as Sunrise – now not wearing her hood up – displayed her shamefully badly cut mane for all to see.

“Ok, Sunrise, why the manes?” Sullen Hoof had to ask – he just couldn’t wrap his head around why Sunrise had cut her own mane off, and done such a poor job of it, as well as why she’d bid the rest of the city to do the same. Even the young shogun sat at the table with no mane, it having been shaven off while under Sunrise’s influence.

Sunrise looked up from her bowl of rice and grains, giving Sullen Hoof a regretful look: “I… It just made sense, I wasn’t thinking right”

“Remember what we talked about Sunrise. Don’t just say sorry, explain why you did it” Cash noted.

The adolescent mare sighed: “I had a really pretty mane. Ponies everywhere told me so – it was part of why I had been targeted for foalnapping. I figured that the best way to avoid lusty looks and distractions in life would be no longer look good, so I cut my own mane to be uglier… and later I told everyone to cut off their manes, so no pony would look any better than the rest of them”

“At least it’ll grow back… but really Sunrise, you should let a barber try to salvage what’s left of your mane – you’re a very beautiful mare, you shouldn’t hide it” Speaker said, trying to comfort Sunrise.

There was a clatter at the sound of a dropped spoon. Cash looked like he had gotten an idea: “Her Speaker, couldn’t you and Sully mix up some magic brew to grow everypony’s manes back? A mane-growing potion would be a great thing to sell too… I’m sure there’s a bunch of old balding guild factors who’d love to have the manes of their youth back.

Speaker nodded: “That’s actually not a bad idea… but I have no clue where to even begin. Shimmer had a charm that could grow hair back – and I based the plague cure on my own medical charms – I’ll need her back if you want a mane-growing potion before the next century”

“Right, well – Sunrise, do you know where Shimmer went, or why she’s disappeared?” Cash said, his voice perfectly calm and non-accusatory.

Sunrise slumped forward, nearly faceplanting her breakfast. She hit the table with a loud thunk: “Oh no… I told her to go away, saying that Speaker was still upset at her causing the fire… I… gods… I’m so sorry, I don’t know where she is”

Between Speaker and Cash, having their worst fears regarding what happened to Shimmer confirmed, the mood of the dining room soured. Sunrise added, in between tears, that Shimmer had been incredibly upset when she’d been sent away – and that at the speed she’d left Shimmer could be half-way back to the west by now.

“Damnit. There has to be a way for us to get in touch with her” Cash said frustrated.

Speaker suggested that they seek out a sorcerer to send a magical message – but Cash pointed out that without Shimmer they were in a tough spot for transportation, and conventional travel was somewhat difficult due to the rebel blockades around Chung Do. This all meant that getting to anywhere there might be a sorcerer who’d be willing to sell her services, which Cash added would not be cheap, would be difficult.

“Let’s call that plan B then – but hey, Shimmer said that it was her exaltation’s bond with Speaker that led her to him originally… how about a way to use that to lead us to her?” Sullen Hoof suggested.

Cash quickly caught on to the idea: “That’s perfect – in fact… I think I remember a couple of charms that can do just that”
Over the next couple of days Speaker and Cash spent their time going over what little that remained of the construction effort to finish city, as well as joint meditations on what Cash recalled of what he called the Sun and Moon Method – a way to send a solar’s essence through his link to his lunar mate and then sense in what direction its going, allowing for perfect tracking.

Figuring out the charm wasn’t easy: Speaker, with his essence sight, could help Cash direct his inner essence flows – but finding Cash’s lunar bond tether proved difficult – it wasn’t as strong as Speaker’s – but they ultimately figured it out and then Cash was able to instruct Speaker on what to do to sense the direction of Shimmer. One thing Speaker was a big disappointed over was that the charm only provided a sense of direction, not a measure of distance – because Shimmer felt as if she was somewhere to the north-west, and she was most likely traveling a lot faster than Speaker or Cash could.
“Ok that’s not entirely true…” Cash noted. Speaker peaked an eyebrow.

Cash explained that a charm he’d recently begun to recall quite vividly was one that allowed him to empower any animal he rode in such a way that could ceaselessly gallop at incredible speeds, only limited by how much punishment the body of the beast could handle.

Speaker wasn’t sure if this was that useful: “Cash, we’re ponies – we don’t really ride anything… and what few chariots I’ve seen some unicorns travel by are usually drawn by other ponies”

“Yes, but when we followed that guild caravan to get here the guild wagons were drawn by yeddim – those things are tough as nails – I can’t even imagine how fast something like that could go with this charm” Cash noted.

This mention of speeding yeddim stirred strange memories in Speaker’s mind, but it also helped clarify a few of his first age recollections: “You know, that might just explain how yeddim came into existence… but where are you going to find a yeddim here? To my knowledge there are none, at least not in the yeddim stables I built for future guild caravans”

Cash conceded that getting one might be a little difficult – but there was sure to be other things in or around Chung Do that could work for his charm. The critical element was ultimately just to ensure that they would go faster than Shimmer was – and while Sunrise had told them that Shimmer had flown off in her monster-pony form, then Cash pointed out that to be absolute sure to catch up with her, they would need to move faster than her magic cloud.

“Ok… well… I guess we could send Red and Sully out into the forest we found the magic mushrooms in to find us something big and tough there” Speaker mused. Cash found this to be an excellent idea, as he truly missed having Shimmer around – if for nothing else then as a really handy means of speedy transportation.

Red and Sullen Hoof thus ventured forth into the woods around Chung Do, while Speaker began work on a harness for Cash and himself to strap themselves into. Speaker also began drawing up designs for a yeddim howdah for when Cash would finally get a yeddim… because Cash seemed really intent on trying that new charm of his on a yeddim.

The two solar hunters returned the next day dragging a very big unconscious bear behind them. The looks that the two got as they hauled it to the castle were priceless – especially since they seemed to have taken the bear down with only their hooves – but that was nothing compared to the sight that was Cash racing around the periphery of twin fountain square, strapped on to the back of the quite feral bear that none the less somehow obeyed Cash’s commands as he jerked the reigns.

The plume of dust that trailed the bear and Cash as the sped around the square was as almost as tall as the buildings they were passing by, but ultimately Cash steered the bear into the castle courtyard and slowed it to a halt.

The bizarre sight of Cash, in his heavenly silks, on top of a bear, confused Speaker as to whether he should laugh or shake his head – but Cash cut him off before he could do either: “It’s not fast enough. Shimmer’s cloud went faster than this”

Releasing himself from the bear-saddle, Red quickly leapt in to wrestle the bear down as it began to turn to attack Cash: “So, we don’t need her anymore?”

“Nope, sorry for troubling you – you can do away with it now” Cash idly stated.

With a single buck to the head Red knocked the bear out – again – although this time she called for a buggy to haul the bear out of the city with.

As the bear left their sights, Cash and Speaker discussed what their options were. The local wildlife didn’t seem to have anything sufficient to sustain the speeds needed to catch Shimmer. Cash suggested they made Sunrise send a message in the form of a prayer to a god in Yu-Shan who could then relay that message to the gold faction.

“That’s not a bad idea – but what can they do? Any magic cloud a sidereal sorcerer can conjure will only go as fast as Shimmers. We won’t really be able to catch up with her that way” Speaker noted. Cash frowned.

Speaker shook his head. It really bothered him that Shimmer was out there somewhere, thinking gods knows what about him, all based on a lie that Sunrise had put in her head: “I can’t believe that this Sun and Moon Method is all we can use our bond for. She said that she felt a longing through it – there has to be a way to pull on that enough to make her overcome whatever Sunrise told her… what?”

Cash looked like he had an idea. He looked very much like he had an idea: “Speaker, friend, I think you just solved our problem”

Over the next week Speaker finished the geomantic details that he had been interrupted in working on previously, as well as working with Cash on a charm that supposedly built on the Sun and Moon Method… a charm that, according to Cash would allow them to do more or less exactly what Speaker had described: It would enable them to send telepathic messages to their lunar mates via the connection their bond made.

While difficult to learn, indeed it felt almost impossible to form the delicate essence patterns in his mind and around the soul-spanning bridge relay that he was trying to create, Speaker couldn’t deny the extreme usefulness of such a charm. It could allow for peerless coordination between him and Shimmer during medical procedures, or if Shimmer was scouting a location in the form of a bird she could relay information back in real time.

“No hold on – this charm is one-way… she won’t be able to send thoughts back to you” Cash noted, opening an eye from his meditations.

Speaker shrugged: “I will have to develop such a charm then – two-way is much better than one-way communication. Heck, one of the charms that are pretty much mandatory for Lookshyan unicorns to learn is a charm that allows for general short-ranged telepathy. It’s extremely useful on the battlefield to discreetly send new commands around”

Agreeing that such an improvement to this new charm didn’t sound that bad, Cash sighed as he was growing increasingly frustrated himself with the charm. It seemed impossible to get it to work…

It became evening as Speaker got up from the mats they were sitting on and looked out over the city from the castle balcony: “I’m beginning to suspect that this charm is beyond our ken right now. We would probably need to refine our essence quite a lot before we can make it work – but that you remember such detailed charms from the first that’s quite impressive Cash”

“I think you’re right – damnit” Cash begrudgingly said. All of his plans for how to deal with the rebel nobles and the rest of Creation had hinged on Shimmer’s transportation and communication spells – this truly frustrated him, but as fate would have it then Cash didn’t get very long to frown about the situation as suddenly the loud hoot of a snow-owl interrupted him.
Speaker turned to look at the owl. It was almost comical: Their meditation ended by frustration and now a random animal had hooted at them for no reason what so ever. Cash cracked a smile at the situation. He clearly shouldn’t.

In the blink of an eye the owl had turned into a stunningly beautiful mare with a grand moonsilver spear who pinned Cash against the floor of the balcony, impaling him through his left shoulder so quickly that it took a moment for even Cash to register that he had been hurt.

“You will never learn the Soul-Spanning Bridge Relay technique – swear it!” the mare shouted, an unquestionable feral air about her look, her dark mane streaked with white streaks and grey owl feathers, the fury in her eyes, all of communicating the unspoken message that she could kill both solars in a heartbeak.

Cash was too shocked to know what to say – the sudden attack, the strange demand – and Speaker could at the very least tell that this lunar, who clearly wasn’t Shimmer, meant business.

The light-grey coated mare in moonsilver armor twisted the spear, causing Cash to scream in pain. Speaker was about to reach for Cash to administer his anesthetic charm but the mare somehow used the shaft of her moonsilver spear to swat Speaker’s hoof away, without ever withdrawing the spear from Cash’s shoulder and balcony floor underneath him, as if the shaft had momentarily turned into a flail or nunchago.

Through gritted teeth that Speaker could see before his very eyes grew fangs, the mare screamed: “SWEAR IT!”
This time, through the pain and seemingly imminent prospect of death, Cash feebly nodded: “Ok, I promise”

Clearly not satisfied, the mare smacked Cash over the face with a hoof that grown silver-blue claws, leaving three long and bloody gashes along Cash’s face: “Do it right! Sanctify it!”

It slowly dawned on both Cash and Speaker the implications of the lunars actions… this was Cash’s lunar mate – who clearly had a problem with Cash learning that solar to lunar telepathy charm. In response to this dawning realization, along with the unbelievably painfulfact that his right eye had just been ‘popped’ open by the mare’s moonsilver claws, Cash barely managed to speak under the haze of pain, but still managed to utter: “Wha- no!”

Enfuriated by Cash’s defiance, the mare yanked Cash and her spear off the ground threw him against the castle wall, impaling Cash on the now vertical surface: “You don’t have a choice in this! Do it or I kill you now and wait for your next incarnation!”

At this point Cash was barely conscious, both from the bloodloss, being cut up and now being slammed against the castle wall, but Cash didn’t want to die either, so against his better judgement he feebly raised a hoof and touched his bloodied forehead, his caste mark erupting along with golden streams of essence that formed old realm glyphs that briefly swirled about him…

Before the light from Cash’s castemark had faded the lunar mare was gone in a flutter of wing-beats, shouting “This is your second chance, you will get no more”. Cash collapsed on the balcony, the spear holding him to the castle wall having dissolved nothing as the lunar had shapeshifted. Speaker instantly rushed to Cash to try to save his friend.

Cash’s skull was cracked, he had three deep lacerations across the face and his right eye was ruined – plus his left shoulder was a mess of bone splinters and bloodied meat-sponge. Steeling himself, Speaker quickly administered his anesthetic charm and then went to work, channeling enough essence through his medical charms that he erupted in a bonfire of golden light, lighting up the front of the castle with his anima.

Red and Sullen Hoof appeared moments later with a hoofful of guards in response to the screaming, finding Speaker busy with trying to piece Cash back together. Speaker could offer no explanation for what had just happened.

Suddenly there was a rush of air in the evening wind and a familiar seagul-cry: Shimmer flew in on the balcony, turned from seagull to pony as she landed. She took one look at the situation, sighing in relief that both Cash and Speaker were still alive: “I can tell you what happened: Lilith happened”