The Scroll of Exalted Ponies

Having settled into Nexus, for better or for worse, the circle spent that evening discussing what they were going to do.
Cash had some oddly reasonable suggestions – at least when it came to what he was to do: He had been graciously permitted by the young shogun on Chung to market the goods and services of the Chung lands, chiefly by spreading the news that the trade routes going through Chung Do were open once more – plus spreading hype of the mane-growing potion that Speaker and Shimmer had managed to teach the citizens of Chung Do to make, plus there was the large number of freshly but highly trained carpenters and other craftsponies in Chung Do that were probably making all kinds of things in anticipation of the returns of regular merchant traffic.

“Well, there’s that – and we need to sell the rest of the jewelry…” Cash noted, scribbling notes on a piece of paper.

Sullen Hoof nodded: “That sounds good, I need to check up on the latest civilities – seriously, they can change a lot, and I’ve been gone from Nexus almost a year. Incidentally, if you plan on doing anything before I can get you all up to speed, then there are plenty of guides you can hire. Just ask around for one, and be prepared to pay in silver up front”

“And how do we know they won’t just take our money and gallop off into a crowd?” Red wondered suspiciously.

Sullen Hoof explained how there were entire guilds of ‘street advisors’ that made their living by staying up to date with the latest civilities and then selling that information – anyone trying to make some quick coin by swindling costumers were usually not just caught, but beaten half to death with their tongue cut out and the wound cauterized brutally with hot coals. Sullen Hoof also added that such a punishment was on the light end of the scale of things in Nexus: Nearly any form of not paying your taxes would result in a very gruesome death, typically something involving your friends or family finding your remains next to a neatly folded pile of one’s skin.

“This place is crazy…” Speaker muttered to himself. He felt a comforting hoof on his shoulder, Shimmer’s: “We can make it better”

Nodding, Speaker expressed that he’d like to do the one thing he couldn’t do back in Chung Do when they had originally arrived: He wanted to open a medical clinic for the poor straight away – and from the sound of it, then putting it in Firewander sounded like a good fit. Shimmer instantly volunteered to assist him on this.

“Well, you still have that un-shaping gun, right?” Sullen Hoof inquired. Speaker nodded, adding that he could use it on himself if need be.

Red was curious of the mercenary outfits that worked in Nexus, being a former mercenary herself, and Sunrise similarly wanted to see if there was a cult of the illuminated in Nexus.

With that the circle adjourned. The next day Cash and Sullen Hoof left to sell jewelry and learn of the ‘laws’ of Nexus. Cash returned first of the two, appearing back at the townhouse several hours later, with saddle-bags straining to hold in all the silver within – under escort from the local mercenary police force.

Speaker, Red, Sunrise and Shimmer, who had all been waiting, curiously quizzed Cash on his experience.

“Ok, this place will take some getting use to, but there is a method to the madness. Sully got me over to the specialty neighborhoods, that’s where a lot of craftsponies cluster together – there we weaseled out what jewelry shops in Manehatten the best of them supply, then went there and well…” Cash unstrapped the saddlebags, the two dropping to the floor with heavy thuds and a clear rattle of quite a lot of coin. Cash smiled oh so much.

Looking into the saddlebags, Red shook her head in disbelief: “Holy crap Cash, just how much money is that?!”

“Enough to buy all the property and all the businesses in this entire neighborhood, and then some! Friends, we will not be lacking for funds any time soon” Cash beamed.

As everyone filled their purses, plus stashing a good hoof-full of coin elsewhere, Cash had Shimmer store the saddlebags full of money elsewhere. Speaker wondered why Cash wouldn’t store it in a – what was those places called, bank? Cash said that Sully had adviced against it: “Sully doesn’t trust the money lenders here. Said that they might just ‘lose’ the record of my deposit, since I’m still not known well enough around here to be taken seriously as a business-pony”
“Ok, but not we have the money we’ll need to open a clinic at least” Speaker noted.

Cash agreed, but said that he was certain that it wouldn’t be that easy: “I might not know the local laws, but I know that the guild has its headquarters here in Nexus. Once they learn of your skills, any of our skills, we’ll have to contend with them – and remember: The guild doesn’t hire exalted ponies, well, not unicorns, because in their experience exalted ponies tend to have greater aspirations than just making money – so if they find you being the best doctor in Nexus, and a solar one at that, I think they’ll be more likely to try to make you close your clinic instead of buying you up”

Frowning, Speaker wasn’t sure what to think. He knew well enough of the stories of the guild’s economic warfare – but why would they object to him wanting to give free healthcare to ponies stuck living in a wyld zone?

As Sullen Hoof returned later that night, quite pleased, he informed the circle of the latest and most crucial council edicts and civilities that they had to be mindful of – but that wasn’t what the circle noticed… because Sullen Hoof had gotten his orichalcum mask back.

“So, you finally got it back” Red noted, nodding in a congratulatory manner.

Sullen Hoof nodded, the golden helmet with its triangular holes for his eyes, nostrils and square mouth-hole looking not menacing – but oddly neutral in its expression: “Yes, but listen – there’s a few civilities you all have to be aware of… and not all of them makes that much sense”

Apparently it was illegal for ponies to consume meals in darkness, punishable by ten strikes of a wooden rod or cane to be carried out by whatever mercenary agency caught the offender, plus a ten silver fine to be paid to the same mercenaries. There was also a civility against dumping corpses in the city canals, against punishable by a fine. There were apparently several Sijaneese barges on the north end of nighthammer that would accept all corpses, no questions asked. Basically most civilities could be summed up as “Mind your own business and don’t complicate the lives of others – or else”, however there were others which made far less sense: You weren’t allowed to eat on any rooftops, and all foals who weighed less than a stone had to wear weights to double their weight if going outside.

“There’s a civility requiring all mothers to weigh down foals foals with rocks if they’re to walk about outside in Nexus” Sullen Hoof bluntly noted. He explained that this was due to the presence of the Karmeus that nested in Firewander. The Karmeus were giant mutant birds of prey with beaks of stone and twisted pony faces inside their mouths… that liked to snatch up ‘soft’ targets, fly up into the sky, then drop them down in order to kill them – and then they’d usually leave the bodies to rot on the top of often inaccessible rooftops in Firewander, since they liked rotten meat. They couldn’t lift up ponies that were too heavy though…

Horrified that such things were allowed to exist in Nexus, Speaker quickly asked why these Karmeus hadn’t simply been hunted to extinction. Shimmer explained: “Those things were here seventy years ago too – I tangled with a few up in the sky above Firewander. They’re scary smart, intelligent in some aspects even, though not in any way that ponies can talk or reason with them… but I never stayed long enough to make a dent in the population. Plus, they’re really big. The biggest ones don’t just grab foals, but adolescents or elderly – Hey Sully, did you check if they still have archers on the Firewander wall to hold off the things from raiding into Sentinel Hill?”
Sullen Hoof nodded.

All of these horrors that Speaker was learning about Nexus were becoming too much. Stepping outside, he quickly joined by Shimmer who had sensed his unease: “If you want that clinic of yours set in Firewander we will probably have to deal with Karmeus”

“But you said they’re intelligent. If they’ve been smart enough to avoid hunters for over seventy years…” Speaker despaired. He couldn’t understand how ponies could live in a city where they had to be neighbors to such horrors.

This was a mystery that needed solving. Going back inside, Speaker declared that he intended to go straight to Firewander, so he could start to set up shop – to which end he asked Cash for an additional sum of money, something he was quickly provided.

“Red, if you don’t have anything planned right now, why not come along – I want to see just how hard it is to hunt these Karmeus while in Firewander” Speaker suggested, his intentions clear as day.

Thus Speaker, Shimmer and Red made their way to Firewander with Sullen Hoof as their guide – disguised as a servant once more, while Sunrise left with Cash to learn about any local chapters of the cult of the illuminated.

Standing outside their townhouse, a somewhat simple but undeniably roomy four story building set in a row of ten identical structures, Speaker briefly wondered just how poor the living conditions in Firewander were compared to nice homes for the wealthy like this one. He quickly found out, as Sullen Hoof took the circle past his place of birth and where he had grown up: The part of the three by four block area known as The Harlotry – an area that specialized in the sex trade, much like how Little Cogging next to Yinhang Square was home to most of the city’s tinkerers and watch-makers.

Now, there were brothels all over Nexus – but like any of the specialist neighborhoods then in the Harlotry all the exotic, unique, high priced and often quite exclusive businesses within such an area had clustered together. Speaker remarked that it was oddly clean, having expected a lot more streetwalkers looking for costumers, but Sullen Hoof explained that just as with any other business then you actually had to get a license to be an independent prostitute, pimp or brothel owner in Nexus – the council of entities were, if nothing else, quite good at taxing the businesses they ruled over. To this end the number of streetwalkers were apparently quite low, since lone streetwalkers often couldn’t pay the license fee, but at the same time it didn’t cost anything to work at a brothel. This had the benefit of keeping the streets somewhat clean – but it wasn’t everywhere that the mercenaries or council officials patrolled and checked licenses, as Sullen Hoof took Speaker, Red and Shimmer down into the undercity.

“Its noon now, so it’s not easy to spot on the surface, especially not this far from nighthammer, but closer to it and especially in the morning and during winter you can see the Poor man’s breath – the poisonous black fog, or if the nighthammer forges are running really hot you’ll get black snow – the ash from the foundries raining down over the half the city… so do not breathe the stuff” Sullen Hoof explained, as he guided his friends down through a hatch into a dark, dank and partially flooded tunnel which he had promised was a much faster way to Firewander… which featured that very telltale black fog that reached up their haunches.

It turned out that the hills that Nexus was built on had been hollowed out – making for a vast underground city of tunnels, collapsed caverns and exceedingly shady dealerships. Nothing that resembled law-enforcement came down into this part of Nexus, making it a haven for anyone on the run from the law – although the feared and famous emissary was well known to stalk the dark halls and underground tenements.

One thing Speaker found odd as the four exalts made their way under Sentinel Hill was an apparent lack of any ponies trying to rob them. Red quickly noted that the four of them probably didn’t look like the usual emaciated workers and paupers that probably lived in the undercity, Sully agreeing and adding that the dogma that states that only the council can tax ponies in Nexus means that any kind of ‘toll’ or similar form of extortion levied by criminals against ponies passing through parts of the city, or at shops and businesses, ran the risk of getting the emmisary’s attention.

“So there’s no crime of that sort, at all?” Speaker said with amazement, his impression of Nexus improving quite a bit.

Sullen Hoof laughed: “No, it’s just far more complicated – and of course someone’s made a business out of it. Like, most homeowners and landlords pay fire-insurance to local gangs or mercs who’ll keep arsonists away. The arsonists are paid by the construction companies to burn down random buildings so they’ll have work in rebuilding whatever burns down. This doesn’t mean that random muggings don’t happen, but that kind of thieves take care to spread out their activities, because if ponies start getting the impression that it’s a toll being taken in order for them to go through an area… then the mugger might just turn inside out”

Speaker wasn’t really sure how to respond to that. It seemed absolutely preposterous: “What about assassins then? Do doctors pay them to hurt ponies so they can drum up work?”

“Nah, assassins get their work the usual shady and discreet ways here – as do bounty hunters and everyone else working like that, of course you’re allowed to hire mercenary bodyguards who’ll try to stop them just the same. As long as whatever violence being done isn’t just random wanton violence… because then you’re in real trouble” Sullen Hoof noted, pushing aside floating debris from an algae-covered staircase cut into stone that led up from the murky tunnel the ponies were in.

Back in the daylight, the exalts quickly concluded that they were in Firewander: The colors around them were strangely vivid, despite most of the buildings around them looking like extremely poorly maintained tenements and other buildings that all looked as if begging to be condemned. Shanties and cobbled-together hovels could be seen on every rooftop, in every alley and in the ruins of collapsed buildings. A thick scent hung in the air, like a strange scent that couldn’t be identified – it freaked Shimmer out quite a lot…

The ponies in Firewander looked and acted quite different from the rest of Nexus. Back in the Nexus district merchants walked everywhere in exceedingly colorful garbs, replete in jewels (Even if Speaker suspected that most of those jewels were fake) to show off their wealth – but in Firewander the ponies wore drab cloaks and hoods in dull grey and brown colors… here you didn’t show yourself. Sullen Hoof said it was to conceal mutations and to make one less appealing to changeling raiders:

“If you look uninteresting they might not take you… so we actually look like we’re looking trouble here” the orichalcum chef noted.

Finding empty storefronts in Firewander turned out to be slightly more challenging than expected: There were far more shops lining the streets than Speaker had expected – and while it didn’t take the four exalts that long to find their first empty storefront, then it was being refurbished for another shop scheduled to open soon. There were street vendors selling iron trinkets everywhere, as well as food vendors – because no matter what, ponies still had to eat… and even if the ponies of Firewander were poor, then there was money to made on them.

It was a bit odd seeing ponies walking around with rusty iron lumps or bundles of nails as some kind of ugly jewelry – but there was a meaning to the madness: It was common knowledge that changelings reacted quite badly to the touch of raw iron. Purified, alloyed and refined metals, such as bronze or steel, had no effect, but the touch of iron upon a changeling or a changeling’s creations wrought of wyld energy and stolen dreams would burn quite violently – so it wasn’t because bundles of rusty nails were any kind of fashion statement: It was for self defense…

Suddenly a brief series of cries and shouts from within a nearby building was drowned out as the entire building collapsed, the ponies in the street quickly scattering – from within the dust-clouds of the ruined building poured forth half a dozen insect-like ponies, their bodies covered not in soft short fur, but black armor-like chitin. On their heads were twisted dagger-like horns with strange gouge-like dents, the marks of iron… and there were similar holes on their legs, where foul mockeries of hooves melded with blades hooks protruded.

The four exalts did not flee – but Shimmer was the first to respond, her century-old hatred of changelings making her react faster than even Red could. In a silvery flash her monster-pony form was ripping at the insect-like ponies, tearing their strange translucent bug wings from their bodies, ignoring their feeble attacks clawing at her bone-feather armor.

By the time Red and the other solars had gotten to where Shimmer was, the lunar was drenched in strangely colorful ichors leaking from eerily hollow corpses: Changelings often simply mimicked the ‘outsides’ of things they saw – they didn’t actually need organs for their wyld-powered assumption-forms to work.

“Well that was quick” Red noted, sounding disappointed in that she didn’t get to kill any of the changelings…

Shimmer looked at the rainbow of colored liquids dripping from her talons, which through her charms appeared almost as living silvery tentacle-claws, as they writhed quite unnaturally: “These things weren’t any challenge – just foragers, meant to haul back captives – still, it’s a good start”

Speaker couldn’t see the ‘good’ in changelings wreaking havoc like this, as he and Sullen Hoof tried to sift through the ruins of the building in case there were any survives buried alive. Shimmer quickly shifted into a swarm of crickets and crawled into the ruin, emitting cricket sounds where-ever she found a pony – even if most of the ones she found were dead and in no state to be shown to the public.

As a small crowd of hooded ponies gathered to help bring the wounded away from the ruined building others began to cheer on the three ponies digging survivors out. With Shimmer spotting survivors it didn’t take long for the ruin to be cleared of both living and dead, after which many ponies – mostly relatives or friends of survivors – personally came up to Speaker as he tended to the injuries of the wounded… and apologized profusely, for they could not pay him for the healing he was doing. Many even shied away from Speaker, refusing treatment on the ground that they could not pay him and that they didn’t want to go into debt over it… more even seemed insulted that Speaker had ‘forced’ his services on others that hadn’t agreed to a price for it. Apparently the idea of charity was somewhat alien in Firewander.

Pulling Sullen Hoof aside for a moment, Speaker inquired: “Say… the council of entities, they don’t have anything against charity around here?”

“There is a civility forbidding you from giving free services or goods to ponies outside of your own family – on the pain of death” Sullen Hoof said apologetically…

Speaker mused over the strange wording of such a civility. Outside of one’s own family, why have that kind of clause in a… oh, right, so mothers don’t have to charge their foals for housing, feeding and raising them: “That can’t be all – Shimmer, go find Cash, ask him if there isn’t a loophole here”

Shimmer quickly left, while Sullen Hoof and Red tried to keep the crowd under control. A few minutes after Shimmer had left a large twenty-five pony squad of mercenaries from the Hooded Executioners, the biggest police-contract merc outfit in Nexus, showed up. Each pony merc wore a dark blue hood and gray armor with blue trim, each wearing worn but well-maintained thick battle-shoes, meant for delivering brutal punches and bucks. They scattered the crowd and interrogated the three solars on what had happened.

Upon showing the remains of the changelings the merc officer in charge unceremoniously threw a small bag of coins at Red, stating that there was a bounty on changelings given by the council, then the mercs left.

“Wait, that’s it? They’re not going to help the wounded?” Speaker said in a mix of confusion and righteous indignation at the mercenaries simply stepping around the wounded building-collapse survivers lying in the street.

Sullen Hoof sighed audibly: “They’ll haul away corpses, but they aren’t paid to be nurses”

Shimmer returned a short while later, smiling from one of her beak to the other: “Cash said he’d found a loophole! Pebbles!”
The three solars all gave the talking seagul an incredulous looks.

Shimmer explained: “Speaker’s singing staff, you can melt stone together that way… well then ponies can pay you with pebbles and rocks, that turned into stone blocks which Cash can sell to construction companies… it’s the closest thing to being able to do anything for free Cash could come up with in five seconds”

Speaker looked at Sullen Hoof for approval. Sullen Hoof looked to the heavens: “Only in Nexus would you have to jump through that kind of hoops... but I don’t see why this shouldn’t work. Just tell ponies that we re-sell ‘stone products’ so they can pay us with rocks. It’s ridiculous, but you get your free clinic”

There were already five ponies who’d been in earshot of the conversation who were trying to hold up small rocks or mouthfuls of pebbles – difficult tasks if your jaw or shoulder was broken. Speaker quickly obliged his waiting costumers.

After having treated the building-collapse victims and seen them off, most of them absolutely ecstatic to have survived and now be whole again, Speaker looked around at the collapsed building: “So… think we could build something there?”

Sullen Hoof ventured off trying to figure out who actually owned the building, while Red scouted the area to see if there were more changelings lurking.

Shimmer and Speaker took a look at the surrounding neighborhood. Apparently this part of Firewander was called Brookside. It wasn’t anything special, with the biggest shops in sight being the one with the big sign that read “We buy rags” and a pawn shop that looked quite imposing with its spiked iron bars lining the shop’s front and door.

“What are we going to use rocks for?” Shimmer wondered, looking at the small pile of stones that Speaker had been given as ‘payment’ for his healing services so far.

Shrugging, Speaker simply smiled: “I have no idea, but it looks like word has already spread” as he pointed towards a family of hooded ponies approaching with a bucket full of rocks.

The family of ponies, a stallion, a mare and three foals all had a host of conditions that Speaker made short work of, most of their ailments stemming from what could only be miserable living conditions: The family was filthy, the youngest of the foals was suffering from malnutrition, the mother looking too emaciated to be able to produce milk, and the stallion had the telltale burns and lung-infections that Sullen Hoof identified as that of a foundry worker from Nighthammer.

“You’ll get a lot of costumers like this” Sullen Hoof noted as the family happily returned from whence they came with their bucket empty of rocks.

Speaker chuckled: “That’s what I hope, now did you find the owner?”

It turned out that the owner of almost all the buildings in the neighborhood was a rich merchant who never ever came to the area. There wasn’t even a local landlord to collect rent, because that would apparently cost more than what could be earned from the wretches that lived and worked in the area.

The circle left Brookside and returned via the undercity to their townhouse in the Nexus District.

“Say, Sully – while I do love being flank-deep in dank swamp water and sewage as much as the next pony – why don’t we just take the overland route like normal ponies, you know, walk on the streets back home?” Red wondered as they pushed through some of the least savory parts of the undercity.

Sullen Hoof chuckled, walking on the walls thanks to his charms: “Do you think that you’d be let into the rest of the city if coming from Firewander? Only the mercs that patrol inside Firewander are let out without question – everyone else have to bribe their way out, and very few can afford that in here”

Speaker found it difficult to be surprised by this, even though it was atrocious. It didn’t help that Shimmer swimming around his haunches in the form of a fish, trying to cheer him up by tickling him with her fins.

Upon returning they found Cash ordering half a dozen servants around the house, guiding the hauler-ponies who were arranging furniture and occasionally signing documents brought by messengers. Smelling like dead shit, the four were quickly ordered into the newly furnished bathroom where servants brought warm water and exotically perfumed soaps.

“I hope Cash still has some money left…” Red wondered as she tried to look out from under her mob of a black and now quite wet mane.

The circle reuniting for dinner, Cash and Sunrise told of their exploits: Apparently Sunrise had actually found another chapter or cell of the cult of the illuminated… but so had the local immaculates.

“From what I was told, the cult had gotten quite popular with a lot of Nexus’ poorer ponies. I couldn’t tell if there had been a solar helping, but the cult was broken up by the immaculates after they supposedly spirited the cult’s monthly payments to their local mercenaries away – without protection they were robbed blind, their temple defaced and burnt to the ground” Sunrise told the circle, sounding not at all pleased – but still quite calm, despite the topic clearly bothering her greatly.
Red was less subtle in her reaction to the story: “Any way we can get back at the immaculates for pulling that?”

“Plenty, but that will require more money – plus you have to be careful not to upset the emissary, I’ve heard stories too – the emissary has apparently already killed a dawn caste solar not that long ago” Cash said, giving Red eyes that wordlessly spoke a multitude of warnings.

It had begun with a dawn caste solar having set up a dojo in the bastion district, offering magical martial arts training to any enlightened pony who could afford it. This had apparently offended the master of the Iron Brotherhood, a former immaculate unicorn pony by the name of Mountain Stomp, who pulled a similar stunt on the solar’s dojo… only it was the dojo’s very first tax payment Mountain Storm had ‘delayed’ to the point that the city administration simply foreclosed on the solar’s dojo and sold the business-space to another shop. Now ponies there made thick cloth for use as padding in armored barding there.
“How does this lead to the emissary killing this solar?” Red wondered.

Cash gave Red a weary look: “Well, how do you think the solar reacted? I was told this story at least four times today by different ponies, since it didn’t happen that long ago, and the solar… well, he confronted Mountain Storm while the unicorn was training his disciples in the middle of Parko Llana, he apparently always makes a big show of his martial arts students. Problem was, the solar attacking Stomp there broke at least seven different civilities, plus those students pay well for that training – so he disrupted trade…”

Red nodded, remembering that dogma well: “And then the emissary showed up?”

“Pretty much. They’re apparently still cleaning up from it, even though its two months since it happened. Apparently a lot of body-parts were buried under the snow, and some of that is still thawing in the park” Cash said, sounding at the same time sad to tell the tale of a solar’s death, but at the same time admiring the guts it would have taken to face a raging dawn caste solar and surviving until the emissary appeared.

Speaker frowned: “Cash, do you think anyone will do the same to my clinic?”

Cash wasn’t sure. To his admittedly limited knowledge, then there weren’t that many good medical services being offered in Firewander. The only thing that worried Cash was what might happen when word got out beyond Firewander: “There will be merchant princes who’ll want to monopolize on the healthcare industry – and that’ll means controlling you, one way or the other. Just be careful and be sure to tell when they start trying to shake you down”

“I’m sure me and Shimmer can fend for ourselves if anyone tries to threaten us” Speaker reassured Cash.

Cash smiled. He’d meant attempts at economic warfare tactics on the clinic, like trying to force exclusive supply deals and charging ridiculous prices through that, as a means to control the clinic or force it to sell itself – but it was clear to Cash that Speaker didn’t get the subtleties of that kind of aggressive business strategies, so he didn’t press the subject. It would probably be easier to undo later once Speaker got himself into some kind of mess.

The next day Cash covered the paperwork and licensing needed to open up a healing house, enabling Speaker to officially set up shop.

“Explain to me again how this makes you my boss?” Speaker inquired, sounding not particularly pleased of the business scheme that Cash had set up.

Walking through Brookside, past empty storefronts and rag vendors, Cash and Speaker momentarily stopped as a wyld ripple in reality raced through the air – like a pulse of mutation. They could both feel it tugging at their very souls – but fortified by their enlightened essence nothing happened to them – the same couldn’t be said of a few hapless mortal ponies caught by the riptide of change, one sprouting a fifth leg right before the two Solars… the five legged pony ran off screaming, stumbling over her legs.

“…I’m only your boss in so far as I’m your business manager. Someone has to sell the stone bricks you’ll make out of the pebbles you’re getting– heck, if I don’t somehow make this crazy scheme turn a profit we might just be in trouble” Cash mused, shaking his head at the prospect of having to visit a place that by simply being in would mutate ponies.

Speaker, at first wanting to call out to the suddenly mutated pony fleeing before them, came to a stark realization that completely made him ignore what Cash had just said. Cash quickly noticed the troubled gaze Speaker had, and inquired.

Taking a hoof to his forehead, Speaker sighed: “There’ll probably be a lot of ponies like that mare there – mutants – but the unshaping gun takes a whole day to recharge”

“You know, normal business practice would have it that rare and desirable services cost a premium…” Cash suggested, giving Speaker a toothy grin.

Giving Cash a most disapproving and unsurprised look, Speaker turned to look at the ruins of the collapsed building from the day before. It had been picked clean of pretty much anything beyond broken rocks and clay bricks, with any timbers or broken bits of furniture having been scavenged as cheap firewood: “No I’ll find a way to get around that – but hey, what place did you buy for the clinic?”

“You’re looking at it” Cash said confidently, facing the rubble.

Taking a deep breath, Speaker opened his mouth as if to Speak – but then he closed it again as a very tired expression crept across his face.

“Alright then, now – what kind of paint do you want for the walls?” Cash grinned.

With the aid of Shimmer again summoning an elemental or two to bring forth sufficient stone, something Cash found endlessly ironic due to the clinic’s future payment model, Speaker was able to use his singing staff to quickly bring forth a very simple and humble, but spacious, four story structure. It was less a clinic and more a hospital – even though the storefront at street level, with its pale blue paint only advertized: “The sun and moon clinic – magical healing services”

It took just under a day to get the place set up – and it didn’t take much longer before curious ponies, attracted by the sign out front explaining the unique payment system.

Inside the clinic, behind a wooden counter, Shimmer stood ready to receive customers – she even had a big pail ready to fill with rocks. For the job of nurse she had tied up her purple dreadlocked mane into a lumpy hair-bun and for once she’d even put on clothes: A very plain off-white nurses uniform, which looked almost like a cheap cut-off kimono. It certainly wasn’t a 7th legion standard nurses uniform

Speaker stood beside Shimmer, occasionally looking around with some trepidation at the waiting room setup around the counter: There were only eight chairs – would that be enough? Glancing back into the ‘treatment room’ where a thick woven reed rug covered most of the floor, Speaker sighed. It was a strange feeling having to run his own business, instead of simply taking orders from Lookshy’s legion command – even if Cash officially headed the business, but Cash had made it quite clear that the clinic was Speaker’s to do with as he saw fit.

The first ponies through the door were three reasonably well-dressed ones, a stallion and two mares, all wearing similar looking grey jackets. They certainly didn’t look like they needed medical assistance – they looked like business-ponies to some extent. Speaker couldn’t tell what kind of business they represented, but he could tell from the bulges around their hooves under their long sleeves that they were all wearing hidden flick-down hoof-blades – a choice weapon among thugs and brigands who weren’t shy of a good knify-hoofy fight.

Oh this was looking to be such a good first day of business.