The Scroll of Exalted Ponies

In the courtyard, next to Typhon’s heavily ‘reduced’ form, Cash quickly negotiated a very stern albeit surprisingly lenient surrender from the remaining nobles. The other Daimyo wouldn’t be persecuted for their treasonous acts, but they would have to pay the shogun all the taxes they owed him… Tung Ting was particularly displeased about this, but managed to reign himself in after a particularly furious look from Red.

“And will you simply leave the Chung lands to be helmed by a colt with no experience? Or do you still intend to form this council of nobles you spoke of earlier?” Daimyo Fu Lee inquired.

Cash nodded: “That is still an option: We’ve spoken with Daimyo Soaring Blade, he will lead the council”

Looking around, Speaker couldn’t see Soaring Blade or his retinue anywhere… did he even come down into the courtyard?
“Hold on, you’ve spoken with that old fart? Is he even still alive?” Daimyo Fu Me wondered, the mare sounding quite surprised.

A few short questions back and forth revealed that all the nobles, their servants, their advisors, as well as any pony-at-arms in earshot were all quite certain that the aging Daimyo Soaring Blade hadn’t been part of the rebellion, merely staying in his hold – the old Daimyo having supposedly lost his interest in politics almost a decade ago. If nothing else, then they were at least all adamant that Soaring Blade had not set hoof in Birdstone for ages…

The circle quickly huddled together, Cash asking the obvious question: “Sidereal?” The rest of the circle nodded, none of them entirely sure of the consequences of this.

Turning to face the nobles, Cash quickly continued: “Right, well – we may have to work out a few details before forming a proper council, however in the meantime you all owe the lord of Castle Chung quite a lot of back taxes… also, who stands to inherit Crane Lotus’s title and power?”

A terrified young brown-coated stallion in fine clothing was pushed forward from among the nobles. His name was Jade Anemone, the oldest of the now late Daimyo Crane Lotus’ still living sons – and he looked unsurprisingly terrified: “Please don’t kill me”

The circle looked at one another, then at the diminutive young noble before them. They laughed.

A few hours later Cash had masterfully drafted a detailed and surprisingly comprehensive contract that he had the present nobles sign, reaffirming their fealty to the throne of Chung in Chung Do and that they would behave themselves: It was all the usual clauses one might expect an agreement between a king and his nobles to have, plus a few fun clauses on the topic of celestial exalts and their treatment. Daimyo Tung Ting protested that such oaths were usually always sworn in the presence of the lord one swore yourself to, plus it was never committed to writing, then Red simply pointed out: “Well these are strange new times – now sign or we’ll have your heir sign it”

After the nobles had signed document Cash began sanctifying the promise the nobles had made by signing the document: “Do you all swear that you have signed this document in good faith with the intention to uphold the terms you have agreed to?”

The nobles nodded, some reluctantly – but they ultimately all gave a solemn “Yes”

Cash briefly looked at Speaker to see if the lie-detector had said anything.

Speaker nodded, and so Cash flared his caste mark and made the treaty binding in eyes of heaven with a spectacular light show comprised of golden ribbons of ancient sigils encircling the document and the nobles.

While everyone was still ohh’ing and ahh’ing Cash quickly explained what he’d just done meant. The nobles were quite displeased with this, but Cash calmly pointed out that he would know instantly if the nobles broke their renewed and now also heavenly sanctified oaths of fealty – and he would know which one of them it was – and that his flying yeddim could cover well over one and a half thousand miles in a day, so there would be no hiding if needed to track down an offender. Cash graciously made supernaturally swift copies of the treaties for each noble to have fun with.

“Now go home to your castles and count yourselves lucky – I know of few other rulers who’d allow nobles who actually revolted against them to live, but Chung Onyx specifically did not want any more ponies to die, having seen plenty of that in Chung Do already. Oh, and make sure to come visit Castle Chung within the next four months or so – you know, to keep up appearances” Cash commanded.

With whatever hopes of greater power, greater riches or possibly independence that the Daimyos had dashed, the remaining zombie staff that the late Crane Lotus had left behind were quickly rounded up, slain, and given proper burials. After the ceremony Sunrise reported that she could no longer detect the ghosts of the servants at the castle, Speaker confirming this.

Having wrapped up their business in Birdstone, the circle left for Chung Do, Cash with his little treaty, Speaker trying to chew through the legalese of that treaty, Shimmer and Red taunting the husk of Typhon, while Sullen Hoof and Sunrise remained quiet – probably out of disgust or horror of what had been done to Typhon.

Speaker was curious about the paragraphs in the treaty about how the nobles were to treat the celestial exalted in their lands. This included rules that forbid willfully ill treatment, directly or indirectly of such heavenly chosen ponies without a legally warranted cause – and a specification that this treaty most certainly was not one such thing. Cash noted that this prevented the nobles and the ponies they lord over from reporting to the wyld hunt, a necessary clause since he was sure that sending a messenger to Cherak, the headquarters of the wyld hunt, would otherwise be first on the noble’s to-do list once they returned home.

“But will you know if they do that?” Speaker wondered, unsure of the degree of accuracy that Cash’s oath-breaking sense.
Cash nodded slowly, pulling on the reigns of Nah as they came in for a landing in the Castle Chung courtyard: “I’ll only know if a lord willfully did something wrong – I won’t know what – but we can just go ask…”

As the giant yeddim landed graciously on the magically reinforced cobble-painted wooden tiles of the castle courtyard, several ponies came to meet the circle.

Red’s little brother, the young shogun, was first among them, but also Heath Rose: “I predicted that you’d be back early – did you have a fruitful trip?”

Cash tossed the husk of Typhon down from the howdah, Typhon only emitting a hoarse huff as Red caught him and dropped him before the sidereal: “Sure, but we caught a real rotten apple”

Heath Rose looked confused at the horror before her. It was clear that it was a pony, or had been, but who it was wasn’t clear anymore: “Right, uhm… you did send that message about this Soaring Blade fellow as well, what was that about?”
“Another sidereal, for sure” Sullen Hoof noted, jumping down from the Howdah.

Heath Rose didn’t look surprised: “I checked into that – but the convention of deathlords is controlled by the bronze faction, so they wouldn’t say if they had anyone tailing Typhon – now who is this and what did he do to deserve this?”

“That is Typhon, as to what he did – he’s a deathknight, that’s enough justification” Sunrise quickly and grimly stated as she descended on the gangway.

The sidereal raised an eyebrow and bowed down to Typhon: “Oh we are going to have so much fun up in the Forbidding manse of Ivy”

“Oh, and thank you all – catching this guy… even if he can’t really talk anymore, you have no idea how much this will help us – Typhon has been screwing around all over the hundred kingdoms the last year or so, leaving a trail of ponies who died of mysterious illnesses weeks later, convincing kings and nobles to embrace undead labor and of course trying to legitimize his deathlord master’s reign of terror in Thorns” Heath Rose ecstatically stated, bouncing around all over the place in some kind of happy little dance.

Recognizing some of what Heath Rose had told of, Red nodded: “Ya, he’d sold one of the Daimyos on the idea of zombie servants – but he’d been using their ghosts to spy on everyone as well”

“Ya, around deathknights you always have to expect ghosts – always check for them” Heath Rose noted.

After the friendly banter and chit-chat Heath Rose and the young shogun entertained the circle over tea. Heath Rose had apparently clued the young shogun in to her true nature already, or done something similar to make him consider her a trusted advisor. Beyond that Speaker inspected how his geomantic architecture had held up during the day – it had worked flawlessly – and additionally a lot of the ponies of the city came to him and asked about the rebellion, Speaker telling each the good news, although including a warning that the advanced patrols and scouts of the rebel army might not be gone for another few weeks until recall orders had reached all of them. Heath Rose was gone when he got back, having taken Typhon with her.

“Does this mean that we’re done here?” Sullen Hoof idly mused as the circle partook in dinner, enjoying many of the fresh and juicy shoots that the city’s foragers had been collecting for the past few weeks.

Red pointed out that as long as her family ruled the Chung lands her work there was never done. Cash agreed, pointing out that with the friends they had in Chung Do they should be sure to visit regularly, especially since he’d set up the new tax code to give the circle a nice little expense account.

“How big is it?” Sunrise wondered, sounding less curious with regards to what she might be able to buy, but more worried what any sum too large might get wasted on.

Cash shrugged: “It’s flexible, but we’ll have more than enough to live for once the nobles ship in what they owe and the merchant traffic picks up again. In the mean time I’d really like to find a buyer for the rest of the shogunate jewelry we took from Denansdor – if we go to Nexus we could get a king’s ransom for it, especially with my charms”

Frowning, Speaker expressed his dislike of Nexus once more, but Sunrise pointed out an important fact: “Speaker, I understand your trepidation – I know Nexus’s reputation, and I’m familiar with how often Lookshyan forces have to clean up from mercenaries that operate out of Nexus, but such a den of sin would be perfect for making a positive impact in the lives of quite a lot of ponies”

“Hold on, what about Cash’s grand plan, training ponies here to raise an army and retake Denansdor?” Red wondered.
Cash perked up at the mention of plan, smiling at the fact that at least one in the circle had remembered it: “Well, Chung Do will need a lot of time to recover – it lost half its population, so there’s not really enough ponies here to raise any armies. Plus, Speaker said that we’d need to refine our essence even more to properly deal with the miasma – and while sitting around thinking about the sun gleaming off piles of money does like fun, then I would rather go out and do something right now… like sell our shogunate jewelry, get us all filthy rich, and invest that money in something worthwhile that’ll aid us in the future”

Red nodded, Cash adding that the new Chung Do city administration he’d worked on to set up would issue a call for immigrants soon enough: “Plus, if need be then Nexus has quite a lot of slums – if we need to repopulate Chung Do quickly we could just recruit ponies there and fly them over on one of Shimmer’s clouds”

“That’s a great idea!” Speaker exclaimed, thinking how that could probably solve a lot of problems for a lot of poor ponies. Sullen Hoof sounded positive to the idea as well: “It’s been done before – there are always at least a dozen places advertising that they need immigrants in Nexus, trick is usually to get there alive and then survive any local hate against strangers… even moving to another neighborhood in Nexus can get you shanked if a local thinks you’re going to steal his job”

“All the more reason to get them out of Nexus then – I’m sure Cash and Sunrise can talk the ponies of Chung Do into being more welcoming if need be” Speaker mused.

Red gestured with her chopsticks that she had something else to talk about: “So… uhm, since we agree on the Nexus thing, I just had a thought… what if we leave here and a wyld hunts and wrecks the place?”

“It would not be the first time they level a city or village after some ‘foul anathema’ tainted it… that’s at least their usual excuse” Shimmer noted, sounding very much as if she spoke from painful experience.

Speaker nodded: “It would make sense for a wyld hunt to show up here – no matter what. They’d want to purge the city of our influence… and since I rebuilt everything… then that would mean leveling the whole city alright. Hmm… say, Red, did we ever find the hearthstone of the castle manse?”

“I don’t think so, why?” Red said, curious as to Speaker’s apparent solution to her stated problem.

“I think I remember how to… hmmm… how to describe this – it’ll be a device locked into place where the heartstone would usually go – and it’ll suck in and use that power - but instead of a hearthstone it’ll allow a pony to send magical messages to other ponies” Speaker explained, likening the device to something that would cast a spell similar to Shimmer’s messenger spell.

The whole circle agreed that such a device would be exceedingly handy – not just as a device to warn the circle if Chung Do got into trouble again, but other ponies all over Creation could benefit from a thing like that. Speaker wasn’t sure how to react to that: “They were really common in the first age, every city and village had at least one. Also had these little magical bees made of small gears and tiny blue jade shavings, modeled on some of Autochton’s messenger spirits. Not as fast, but even unenlightened ponies could use one with the right tools”

So the circle spent their last few weeks in Chung Do, Speaker creating a device of jade, river pearls and rare heartwood cores that could send magical messages. Cash spent the time wrapping up his work with the city administration, his co-workers there very sad to see him leave for apparently the city administration had never as well as it had while Cash had been there, even with the plague and everything in mind. Cash chalked it all up to good use of charms that ease and speed up the work that went into governance. Red equally managed to train up a very small but dedicated new batch of city guards, Cash swearing them in to serve the law faithfully. Sunrise did her temple thing, saying her goodbyes and giving her blessings to those willing to accept them.

The day before leaving the circle and the young shogun arranged a feast, Cash having taken Nah on a quick flight to Great Forks to buy ‘party favors’ – which apparently so much sweetmeat that Nah could barely haul the load. Sullen Hoof did the cooking, creating a banquit so good that many of the commoner ponies who took part in the feast wept, loudly. Sunrise was even surprised of the numbers of well-wishers who gave her a last farewell at the temple – apparently Cash’s charms had worked quite well, for the ponies there had little to no hard feelings towards her considering what she had done, instead they expressed understanding and sympathy for acts done while scared.

It was the ninth of Ascending Water, the spring and monsoon season in east, when the circle left at speed going south-west, dodging rain and storm-clouds as spirits of water and wind swirled high in the sky.

A few days later the circle was flying down the yellow river at great height as smoke rose in the horizon on the southern bank of the river. At the convergence of the grey river and the yellow river, where the mighty yanaze river formed, distributed over a set of five hills with a maze of canals in between them to transport goods around, with both gleaming first ages towers of strange materials that none knew the name of, as well as endless slums that covered countless acres, was Nexus: the heart of the hundred kingdoms.

Circling the city high above, Sullen Hoof gave the circle an introduction: “So… this is Nexus, the city of a million lice”

Sullen Hoof described each of the five districts of the city from left to right: “Ok, you see the big enclosed harbor pool at the west end of the city? That’s the Nighthammer district, the harbor area and most of the city blocks around it – that was the smoke we saw earlier. The refineries there work nine of out ten lump of iron ore that flows down the rock rivers on guild barges to this place, so pretty much all iron and steel in the east comes from here. Then you have the Nexus district on the big middle hill, where you have big market and little market, and as well as pretty much all the big merchant houses and the council offices – plus the big merchant harbor on the north side towards the yellow river.

“Big market?” Speaker wondered, having figured that Nexus would simply have hundreds if not thousands of market squares.

Cash perked up: “Instead of buying one apple, you can only buy a whole barge-load at a time – think big volume market. Big business – little market is for buying one thing at a time”

Nodding, Sullen Hoof continued: Then you have the hill to the south-east of that, Sentinel hill. The two big towers you see there, the really high ones, the one of the right is the council tower and the other one is the guild tower… the city is ruled from there”

“Ya I never understood that setup – Nexus doesn’t have any king or shogun?” Red asked, having heard many a tall and strange tale of how Nexus supposedly didn’t have any laws either.

Sullen Hoof smirked, the burns covering his face yielding ever so slightly to make the expression: “I’ll get to that. Now, north of Sentinel Hill you have Manehattan. It’s a really expensive place, the mercs at the district gate charge you silver just to get in – but I’ve worked at a lot of restaurants there. Any wealthy merchant worth his salt lives there just to show off. To the east of that there’s the last hill: Bastion, where all the city’s mercs and their nursemaids live”
“Nursemaids?” Red inquired.

Sullen Hoof explained that the ruling council had long ago decreed that no foal born in Nexus could be sold after his second calibration – so the mercenary outfits of Bastion occasionally bought a lot of infant foals to train from the ground up, literally: “They apparently turn into good soldiers, otherwise I doubt they’d bother – it’s a long investment after all”
“That’s disgusting – you don’t buy foals! Not even slaves are traded that young” Shimmer burst out.

Shaking his head, Sullen Hoof merely said that it got much worse: “The last district… you can’t see it from this far away… but once we get closer – south of Bastion, you can see the towers on the inner wall that isolates the district: Firewander District”
“I flew over the place before I found you Speaker, it’s real bad there…” Shimmer noted, sounding none to happy that she hadn’t already fixed the issue.

Cash flew Nah lower towards the city – and soon a rainbow of colors and wyrd lightning rose up against the yeddim, as if the fell hoof a strange god was trying to grab them. Sullen Hoof quickly shouted for Cash to ascend or get away from the city…
“That’s wyldfire. All of the district is saturated in it. Story goes that during the Great Contagion the changelings set off some kind of evil in the middle of the district – and the wildfire still burns today, slowly mutating the ponies who live in the district… and I can tell you: No pony lives there by choice, but it’s the most unwanted and thus cheapest real estate you can find in Nexus. Even the ponies in the undercity are better off than the wretches that slum it out in Firewander” Sullen Hoof elaborated.

Speaker had heard of the wyldfire of Firewander, but he had never known it to be that bad. Looking down at Nexus all he thought was “Wasn’t there somethere something in the first age around here?” – like a great city in the first age, the pillaged ruins upon which Nexus was constructed – a fact that Speaker knew nothing of.

Sullen Hoof continued, explaining how great gates and walls of banded iron encircle Firewander, allowing for reasonably tight control of what leaves – ensuring that no changelings got out – nor any heavily mutated ponies.

“Well that certainly sounds like that something we can earn a little goodwill by fixing” Cash mused, looking at Speaker as if expecting him to come up with a plan to do so in an instant.

Shimmer laughed: “Cash, I heard stories of the wildfire here when I far younger than you were – it’s been here for over seven hundred years – no pony knows what the source of it is, and no pony who’s entered the heart of the flames has ever left there alive, not even that many lunars to my knowledge… there’s something really powerful in there, so don’t get ahead of yourself”

With even Shimmer urging for caution, and Sullen Hoof explaining the Nexus legal system (or lack thereof) the circle began to get the impression that Nexus might be a place where one had to step lightly: “There are no laws in Nexus. No Cash, not like that, things just work differently here. There is the dogma, eight rules that must never be broken unless you want to invoke the wrath of the emissary”

The emissary. Every pony in the circle had heard of this mysterious pony, even Shimmer back in the wast. Always clad in grey robes and wearing a faceless mask of silver, floating above the ground, proclaiming the council of entities latest civilities – the council was the ruling council of the city, and civilities were ‘extra rules’ that were less than then dogma, but still usually enforced by mercs. The dogma were simple enough: 1) No taxes shall be raised, save by the council 2) None shall obstruct trade 3) None shall bring an army into Nexus 4) None shall commit wanton violence 5) No one shall falsely claim the council’s name or sanction, and finally 7) None shall harbor a fugitive from the council’s wrath.

The circle looked at Sullen Hoof with a quiet mix of awe, disbelief and fear. Sullen Hoof had recited the seven rules as if a prisoner with a knife to his throat, forced to recite a memorized series of facts. Sullen Hoof had trembled as he had spoken the dogma…

“Well that’s a load of crap” Shimmer quickly exclaimed. Speaker felt that she was right, but Cash vehemently disagreed: “Oh no it isn’t – the dogma are… beautiful, I mean, they condense what most other rulers write dozens of lawbooks on down to seven basic rules of life”

Sullen Hoof shook his head and put a hoof on Cash’s shoulder, speaking very much as if talking from hard earned and terrible experiences: “Cash, the dogma are shit. They’re made for those with money to enable ruthless exploitation and horrible abuses”

Cash wasn’t convinced – Sullen Hoof said that Cash would learn soon enough: “and to the rest of you: as basic rules of hoof in Nexus: Accept no business proposition before checking with me. Not even street vendors, hell, especially not them. You’re more likely to buy a colored and flavored lump of mashed up paper and glue than a boiled beet on a stick. The dogma do no outlaw fraud, bribery, assassination, theft, blackmail… anything and anyone not contributing to ‘trade’ is fair game for almost anything, so ponies in Nexus aren’t kidding when they say that everything has its price: Here everything must technically be for sale… otherwise it can freely be stolen”

Speaker found all of that quite difficult to accept: “Hold on… assassination is legal? How?”

“It’s business. Money have changed hooves. Arguably it’s a grey area, and guards paid to protect a targeted pony are of course allowed to stop you – because they’re paid to do that. Much of Nexus’s wealthy elite is never seen without a heavy presence of armed mercenaries” Sullen Hoof glumly noted.

Red gestured quizzically, having had a curious thought: “Wait, if mercenaries can be in Nexus, how does that work? You said there was a dogma against brining armies in Nexus, and I’ve heard the stories about what happens when you do…”

Sullen Hoof nodded. The few stories there were of the fate of armies that occupied Nexus were told by many in the hundred kingdoms – for they were all part of the greater stories of the many times the realm had tried to conquer the hundred kingdoms. The stories were all similar: A realm legion would occupy Nexus and often begin to tax its merchants ruthlessly – and the next day all of that army’s senior officers would have been turned inside out, their heads trailing after the Emmisary on a hooked chain… it was often a very long chain. Sullen Hoof explained that the mercenaries were always careful never to have more than four-hundred ponies-at-arms in the city at one time, and to always be gainfully employed within the city, so their presence can be excused as being a part of the whole ‘trade’ deal.

“Nexus doesn’t have a police or official city guard force. Different neighborhoods are patrolled by mercs, with bidding wars often breaking out for the really lucrative guard contracts. There’s also the Nighthammer watch, they number in their thousands, a neighborhood watch for hire, real cheap – but not much more than ponies with clubs” Sullen Hoof explained.

With a hearty laugh, Cash tried to cheer the gloomy mood up: “Oh come, it can’t be all bad. Nexus is the beating heart of the hundred kingdoms! Think of all the fun we can have here!”

“We’re not here to have fun – we’re here to do good” Sunrise admonished.

Cash flew Nah down and landed outside of the city, stabling Nah up at a caravansary similar to the one Nah had originally been bought at about twenty miles from the city gates. Paying for a month’s feed and stable space in advance, the circle walked along the broad and heavily trafficked main trade road leading into the city.

The landscape around Nexus was a mix of wild swamps and muddy rice paddies as far as the eyes could see. Thousands of rice farmer ponies toiled in mud up their haunches, while dozens of guild caravans slowly moved towards or away from the city. Speaker was pretty sure that just within a mile of where the circle was, there were more ponies than there currently were in Chung Do.

It took several hours, but finally the circle got to the huge and wide open gates on the east-facing city wall that cordoned the city off. Two dozen mercenaries in dark blue hoods and thick mail barding with spears were doing something that looked like a mix of customs, immigration control and… shaking down anyone who wanted entrance into the city.

Sullen Hoof explained that the mercs were, by the council of entities, authorized to exact a toll of a ‘reasonable’ amount from anyone seeking entry into Nexus – the exact size of such a toll depended on how wealthy looked… basically you paid what you looked like you could afford to pay.

Cash smiled, retrieving a jewel-encrusted hoof-ring, part of the Denansdor treasure, from elsewhere and approached the mercs with a most confident swagger: “Greetings good gentleponies – Me and my friends seek entry into Nexus. Now, as you can see with my impossibly fine clothing then I am a pony of fine tastes and high income, so have this and try not to spend it all at once…”

Tossing the bejeweled hoof-ring at the mercs, the circle was quickly waved in as the mercs started to fight each other over who got to keep the ring.

Inside of the gate the circle was met by a solid wall of sound and smells. Barkers stood at every corner, advertising for random businesses and services, street vendors selling foods of dubious origins and composition filled the air with greasy scents of fried bits of plants and meat. The many guild caravans, with their towering four or five story guild wagons, pulled by yeddim that were just as tall, left behind myriads of strange smells as their unknown cargo and piles of yeddim shit was moved to equally unknown destinations to be sold. Every building was a mix of wood, stone and mud bricks in countless styles, although the facades of nearly every shop visible was painted in bright colors, often contrasting vividly with their neighbors.

“Ok gang, here’s what we’re going to do – we need a place to stay. I don’t want to stay in another hovel like in Great Forks, no offence Sunrise, but we’re trying to be taken seriously here – and for that we will need a fancy place to live. Sully, where do you suggest we go for that?” Cash quickly said, his eyes drinking in the sight that was Nexus at ground level.

“I know where there are a few manehaten real-estate merchants, but they don’t do business with no-ponies… you’d need to become known by the right ponies to go there – it’d be easier to find a nice townhouse in the Nexus and Sentinel Hill districts” Sullen Hoof mused…

Cash was about to ask in what direction those places were relative to where they were when he noticed that the rest of the circle was looking to their left. South of the circle were seemingly endless slums, and yet they were oddly colorful… the buildings even seemed to shimmer and jostle about a little – no, wait – some of them were actually dancing… with ponies failing out of the windows to their death. Firewander district.

“It didn’t look that bad from up in the air…” Red mused, sounding apprehensive, if not downright scared at the thought of having to fight changelings.

Shimmer shrugged: “It was just as bad last I was here seventy years ago…”

The circle moved on down the enormous square at the entrance into the city. The square was big enough that guild caravans, with their impossibly large yeddim-drawn wagons, could circle around and exit the city again – indeed many were doing so, loading their cargo onto prams down in the canals that ran throughout the city. It was much faster to move large volumes of cargo via the waterways – although some of the channels did go into firewander… wise merchants avoided these.

At the end of the square the beginning of the large inner city wall that separated Firewander from the rest of the city began to loom. Most of the district was already cordoned off via the channel network, but there was one small part of Firewander, nothing more than an area four by eight blocks wide, which still connected directly to the city. Sullen Hoof said that the place was known as Tellnaught, not that he know why, and that it was completely walled off: “Ponies just don’t go in there… I think something really bad happened there once”

Crossing the half-mile wide east canal, where almost all of the goods on prams from the guild caravans were going, the circle found itself marveled by a much fancier part of Nexus: On their right they had the cosmopolitan Manehaten district, famous for its rich denizens patronizing artists, playwrights and fashion designers from all over creation. On their left was Sentinel hill, where dozens of first age towers remained, including the two tallest towers in all of Nexus – the Council Tower, which stood well over a mile high as the highest and most impressive first age building in all of Nexus. It was made of a cream colored stone, replete with arabesques and floral motifs, making it almost seem alive and blooming in the spring sun.

As the circle finished gawking, the circle continued down main street – the almost hundred yard wide road which had so many ponies going back forth, some carried in rickshaws or palanquins, some hauling carts with goods, some being vendors with carts full of snacks for the pony on the go, and others just minding their own business. Sullen Hoof quickly had the circle go down a road into the sentinel hill district, or rather uphill in the district. This led to a curious elevated building that connected to Nexus’s pulley-car system – a strange yet still functioning relic of the first age: Carts made with a jade-steel frame, plated with ancient sheets of wood, hooked on to beams of light emitted by several obelisks dotted throughout the city. The weird but indestructible trams hooked on to these beams of light allowed for frictionless horizontal motion along the beams – but whatever original means of propulsion the things had were long gone. Thus, the carts were pulled around through a system of pulleys attached to the carts and threaded through hoops and hooks attached to the obelisks that emitted the carrier-beams. It wasn’t a perfect system, as Sullen Hoof pointed out that the as the cart approached an obelisk the rope hooked to that obelisk had to be unhooked, or the cart would get stuck… and that rope had to be re-set back into the hook afterwards – and the robes occasionally broke, especially if it had been raining.

“So what’s the point of these things? They’re slow, I mean you say we have ponies pulling ropes at the other end of the tram-line” Cash wondered, disappointed that his dream city of Nexus had such a weird and ineffective thing running.

Sullen Hoof shrugged: “It’s part of a still working first age transport system… I think that’s all the justification the council needs – plus its faster than walking across the city. It allows for tens of thousands of workers to get around to work”

“It’s the remains of a light-rail system. Lookshy had a working one connecting the main city to the Lookshy harbor three hundred years ago, but they couldn’t keep it running – I guess this is one way to get around that, but ya… Cash is right, I think recycling this system for parts would be a better solution unless someone fixes it completely” Speaker mused, looking around at the cart interior. A worn wooden floor covered the bottom of the interior, obscuring any essence machinery that might be underneath, while glowing pods of glass filled with luminescent liquid gave off a light that could barely be seen in the noon-day sun.

Sullen Hoof had the circle disembark in the nexus district, where they sought out a realtor.

After the circle had stopped laughing at the realtor who had pissed herself when Cash had thrown her a hoof-full of shogunate jewelry as payment, Cash bought the circle a very classy townhouse a mere stone-buck from Big Market – a very lucrative location, if one was a merchant dealing in big volume trading. Speaker wasn’t sure what to think, but the house looked nice – and realtor had given the circle directions to nearby furniture dealers, something Shimmer appeared quite keen on having a go at. Maybe it was a mare thing? Either way, then the circle had arrived in Nexus, and none of them had any clue what was in store for them there…