The Scroll of Exalted Ponies

In the smoky tavern, thinking for a moment, Speaker recalled that last time he heard mention of the Yushoto matriarch. It had been a good while before his retirement almost eight years ago – Yushoto Risotto had been getting increasingly ill over the last several years, but she was also well over two-hundred and fifty years old, making her one of the oldest known unicorns alive in creation… and in old age even unicorns would find their bodies suffering from age-related illnesses, though few unicorns in this day and age ever got to experience that luxury.

“You are right on both accounts I’m afraid. Mistress Risotto is one of the wisest and brightest business-ponies and strategists Lookshy has, but an illness of a sort has taken her… she is bed-ridden and unable to speak – if you could use your powers on her, heal her… it would give you a powerful friend on the general staff, as well as indebt my gens to you greatly” Rice Pudding explained. Speaker quickly noted that old age wasn’t something he ‘cure’ just yet… but Rice Pudding noted: “Oh this isn’t old age – sure, she’s not as strong as strong as she used to, but this isn’t a medical issue… its occult in nature”

This got Speaker’s attention: “Explain”

“It’s a difficult image to show with words – you can best see it using essence sight lenses. Her essence is corrupted somehow” the young unicorn explained, his voice and expression pained at the thought of the leader of his house in such a state.

His brows furled into a deeply serious expression, Speaker asked for how long Risotto had been like that. Rice Pudding could only shrug: “Honestly I don’t know – I don’t even know what caused it – but if you would all come and have a look, and work the miracles I heard you did in Nexus and Chung Do…”

The trip to the northern parts of the residential district, the area where most of Lookshy’s gentes had their large mansions and town houses, proved somewhat tricky to reach since only Speaker and Rice Pudding – being natives of Lookshy – were allowed to leave the fourth ring. Foreigners simply weren’t let into the city beyond the market district and its neighboring districts of agriculture and mercenary barracks.

The solution was for Rice Pudding to pull a few strings, after which two justicars – well armed and armored Lookshyan military police ponies – arrived to escort the circle and Rice Pudding through the city.

“Wow you lot don’t kid around…” Cash blurted out as they all trotted past two large wood and blue stone buildings that seemed to house large markets specializing in the sale of weapons – one market for sales to individuals, and one for bulk sales to armies and large mercenary forces.

It took an hour or so to navigate the city, though most of that was spent at security checkpoints. Rice Pudding noted that if the circle was to stay in the city for longer they should all get visitor’s passes: “and if you can help the matriarch then your passes should be good for the whole city”

The residential district was evidently circular in shape – built around the old city district. The southern parts that the circle and its escorts entered first housed a good part of the city’s poorer population, with five or six story tenements and apartment buildings. They were by no means anything grand, but the aqueducts coming out of the old city supplied running way in copious amounts to public water fountains and baths, and that alone put the place leagues above how most ponies in creation lived. The addition of the odd remnant of first age architecture and infrastructure, such as street-lights set with stoned that would glow brightly at night made this would-be slum into something that not even most nobles throughout creation could match.

Circling around the old city by going through the western part of the district, the circle passed by several parks and very nice compounds marked by flags not of Lookshy. Cash correctly recognized them as ambassadorial residences, including the curious hide-bound cluster of yurts set on a big lawn that was evidently the Marukan ambassador’s ‘house’.

The northern part of the residential district had notably more intact first age features, including a pillar with a glowing sphere of light above it that Speaker figured as still-functioning tether for a light rail system – though it didn’t seem connected to any active light rails.

“Oh that, ya – I think the old light rails failed over three hundred years ago – the sorcerer-technicians back then weren’t able to fix it, first age spare parts and all” Rice Pudding mused, looking very much as if he was a good bit curious at how the rail system would have looked if it was working.

Seeing this, Cash smiled knowingly at Speaker.

Finally at the Yushoto compound, a large walled estate and small castle by all rights, partially built into the northern parts of the outer residential district wall. It was spacious compared to the cramped tenements where the helots lived, but not so much that one could argue that space was wasted: It was clear that every fountain built in and around the place served a purpose, be it as an easily accessible source of drinking water for ponies-at-arms on patrol, or for washing clothes, or fire fighting as part of siege-response. Even the trees that lined the roads in the district were sorts that either bore edible fruits or nuts – it might be pretty, but everything had a use.

At first there was some mild confusion from the guards at the compound – but Rice Pudding once again pulled rank, so to say, though this time it was his social rank within gens Yushoto that paved the way.

“Is he that important to his gens?” Cash quietly and discreetly asked Speaker.

Shrugging, Speaker could only tell his friend what any pony in Lookshy would know: “Unicorns can always pull rank over mortals – but I doubt he’s that high profile here. Respect in Lookshy is something you get from deeds not just having a horn, and he’s a low ranking officer so I doubt he’s had much time to make a name for himself in the legion”

Passing under the gatehouse into the Yushoto compound, Rice Pudding chimed in: “True. I was blessed with my horn barely two months ago. I’m still taking intermediary lessons in warcraft”

“Your humility suits you well. I’ve met unicorns from the Realm while in Great Forks that were far less honest about their abilities” Sunrise said in an almost cheerful tone.

Nodding as he looked ahead in anticipation, Rice Pudding noted: “Well, this isn’t the realm”

Approaching the central structure of the compound, a large palacial residence capped with a large five-tiered pagoda clad in very nice blue-lacquered tiles, the group was met by other ponies – some adult, some still foals – all of them wearing quite stylish civilian-cut military uniforms, something the circle had seen plenty of on their way through the city. Evidently such garbs were the height of fashion in Lookshy.
“Uncle Pudding! Who’s this?” a little filly asked, her mane wild and her flank blank.

The officer smiled: “You can go tell your cousins that it’s another doctor for granny and the good doctor’s friends”

The little filly quickly turned around and filled in her peers, while the more adult scions of gens Yushoto appeared to expect a few more details.

Chit chat ensued, introductions were made, and the whole party moved into the main tea salon, while Speaker was led up to the matriach’s private chambers by Rice Pudding.

Leaving Cash and Sunrise behind to chat with the other Yushoto scions, Speaker finally inquired more candidly into the nature of the matriarch’s ailment: “Is there anything you haven’t told me? Anything not suitable for metic ears?”

“To be honest… I don’t know – I may be blessed by Sextis Jylis and her healing ways, but my skills in medicine are middling, and this is a supernatural ailment if there ever was one – but it’s something also never seen before” Rice Pudding state with no small amount of frustration in his voice as the two walked up their third flight of stairs in a row.

The matriarch’s private quarters were guarded by two guards-ponies in nice lamellar armor emblazoned with the green Yushoto crest of three crossed sticks. They parted way to allow Rice Pudding and Speaker entry just when a unicorn mare came out.

She seemed to instantly recognize Rice Pudding and greeted him in a thick northern accent: “Lamy! Up here to say hi to old-mother? And who is your friend?”

“Riza, this is Bright Machine Speaker – we’ve talked about him, remember?” Pudding motioned, stepping aside to let Riza pass.
Trotting around Pudding and Speaker so they could get into the room, Riza gave Pudding a concerned look: “Lamy, you think this is ok with Boribap?”

Speaker wondered for a moment who Boribap was. Rice Pudding seemed to think it was ok, arguing that he had faith in Speaker’s powers, though he also noted: “…and ultimately I don’t need his permission to try to help, we all agreed on that a long time ago”

Giving Rice Pudding a deep nod Riza acquiesced and stepped away, leaving.

“Ok, so who was that and who is Boribap?” Speaker wondered out loud as the two entered the Matriarch’s private chambers.

The young officer noted that Riza Grot was a northern lost egg – the common term for a dragonblooded pony discovered outside of a unicorn noble house. Such unicorns were often invited to join to the realm, formally adopting lost eggs into their noble houses. Lookshy had similar practices – for both it was a matter of recruiting the most horns to ultimately fight each other or fend off invasion in the case of Lookshy. On the other hoof, Boribap was an older Yushoto unicorn stallion who apparently fancied himself head of the gens while the matriarch was incommunicado – though he wouldn’t become the official patriarch until the day she died or formally retired.

“Oh I know that feeling” Speaker sighed, trying hardto banish painful memories rarely thought of.

Quickly stepping up to the curtains surrounding the matriarch’s large bed, Speaker quickly swiped them aside – if for nothing else then to change the topic. Part of him quickly regretted doing so, another part of him wanted to scream.

The matriarch was a wood aspected unicorn – that much was clear. She had a grass-green mane, though her old age was showing as the tips of her mane were withering, and her coat was clumped together like bark… indeed, her entire body had a very distinct wooden appearance to it.

…it also looked like the matriarch had half-melted and sprouted roots all over her bed, turning into more tree than pony. Sure, you could tell where her legs, hooves, hips, torso and head were… or had been… but she had all but disintegrated and turned into vegetation.

“Ok, I get what you meant now… this is…new, even by first age standards” Speaker very quietly and calmly said, his medical professional self having come to the forefront – and a good doctor should never act surprised to a patient.

His instant diagnosis charm told Speaker of strange and bizarre leaks in Yushoto Risotto’s essence flows – like her body had at some point simply failed to contain the potency of her unicorn powers, making it leak out of her as if she had been lacerated all over. It was clearly through each of these bodily essence vents that the wooden manifestations had… taken root… and made her body mutate into the half-tree half-pony, or… well… mostly-tree, just-bare-pony that Risotto was now.

“Are you certain that she is still… alive, that she hasn’t fully turned into a plant?” Speaker asked quietly but sternly, not wanting Rice Pudding to in any way dodge such a vital question, even if it was an uncomfortable thought.

The young unicorn shrugged and ran a hoof through his green mane. It hung like drap vines from his head in a way that reminded Speaker of Shimmer’s dreadlocks – but these were thinner, more delicate looking: “Sorcererous lenses show that her soul is still in there – so she’s still a pony, just not… well”

Speaker’s own essence sight confirmed this. It also revealed the extent of the constant essence-leaks.

“Very well – I… think I’m going to start with her head. This malady has essence markers of poison, but also disease as well as mutation – has she been exposed to any sources of wyld energy in the last few years?” the Solar healer inquired, finding himself intrigued by the puzzle before him.

Rice Pudding could only give Speaker an apologetic and equally puzzled shrug.

Shaking his head with brows furrowed furiously, Speaker approached Risotto and gently touched what appeared the matriarch’s left forelimb. The thick layer of bark obscured most of the details of her body, but it was still possible to make out the outline of her limbs and chest.

One thing that particularly puzzled Speaker was the lack of any visible means to breathe or eat. Risotto’s head was a gnarled mess of thick cracked bark, barely leaving the outline of an old sleeping mare’s face.
“How do you feed her?”

The young scion of gens Yushoto explained that Risotto was ‘watered’ with thin soups and broths – her bedsheets had incidentally not been changed for years, since she had apparently formed roots going into her mattress and bed – but they kept her and the bed clean via charms.

Hygiene wasn’t an issue Speaker had considered – but it made sense. Wreathing his right forehoof in golden healing essence and channeling it through his medical suplimental charm, Speaker was about to inject his first experimental shot of restorative essence into Risotto when the door to the room burst open.

“Hold it!” thundered the deep and harsh voice of a mare who was clearly used to barking out orders.

Turning around, Speaker saw a rusty-red coated mare about his height, with legs like logs and fury in her eyes. She was clad in bright forest-green armor, the colors of the second Lookshyan field force.

Rice Pudding seemed quite surprised: “Khao Lam, don’t – he’s trying to help”

“I will not let any anathema near grandmother! Get away you monster!” Khao Lam shouted, rearing up into a martial stance – ready to strike with both essence and hoof.

Quickly taking five steps backwards, Speaker bowed graciously and forced a polite smile: “I don’t believe we’ve been introduced”

“Cousin, this is Chuzei Bright Machine Speaker – I’ve told you of him, from the reports out of Nexus remember? Speaker,this is Shozei Yushoto Khao Lam” Rice Pudding quickly stated, looking all sorts of terrified.

Hearing that Speaker held rank, the earth-aspected unicorn mare dropped down on all fours and gave Speaker a distrusting but less aggressive look: “Chuzei? What unit?”

“First field force 3rd Gunzosha 1st medical scale, under the then Kazei Karal Linseed” the old stallion said, purposely trying not to puff out his chest or doing anything else that could be interpreted boastful behavior.

The green-armored unicorn mare stood silently for a moment or two, giving Speaker the same harsh and evaluating look.

“Taimyo Linseed gave him his papers – that should be enough for any of us to trust him. Please, he might be our only hope” Rice Pudding pointed out, pleading for Khao Lamto to just let Speaker continue.

Giving her cousin a very dirty look, Khao Lam sighed: “You know that after the last failure that all doctors and medical procedures for gran have to be cleared with him first”

“This is the healer from Nexus I’ve been telling you about – he’s been undoing wyld mutations there for months, as well as regrowing limbs and all kinds of other magical mysteries. We should at the very least let him try” Rice Pudding pleaded.

The two bickered back and forth a bit more. It was plain to see that Khao Lam wasn’t keen on letting Speaker do anything to her grandmother, though that reluctance seemed to stem more from the failures of the many previous doctors and healers, than Khao Lam’s religious convictions – although they were clearly also a factor here.

Ultimately Khao Lam relented – mainly due to Rice Pudding’s persistence. Still, it was clear to Speaker that he wasn’t going to get that many tries before he would be told to leave, so he chose to blow all the essence he could on his initial examination.

The dimly lit room, with its green embroidered curtains, flared into full daylight as Speaker’s anima was called upon. Bathed ti its bright golden light Speaker’s senses sharpened: His eyes picked up more detail, his hooves felt the texture and softness of the carpets more acutely, and his hearing picked up something very important: A heart beat. A singular heartbeat from Risotto. Plants don’t have heart, ponies do!

This confirmed to Speaker more than enough that there was something worth saving under the massed of knotted wood-cancer. Taking a deep breath and giving his two unicorn one last look to see if they were ok with him beginning – Rice Pudding gave a cautious nod, while Khao Lam gave a more distrustful look.

His anima flaring again, this time to its full totemic form for a brief moment, three parirs of golden wings of light erupting from Speaker’s back along with ancient symbols of wisdom,healing and good health. Firing up nearly all the healing charms he knew of at all.

Gently placing his brightly glowing hoof on Risotto’s forehead – or what had once been it – Speaker gave her everything. Healing charms, mutation-undoing charms. The wooden body fof Risotto burst into golden fire.

At this point all Speaker could do was pray… perhaps to Uvanavu, the god of good health? Perhaps to Celestia, for guidance in his act of healing, that it be as close to perfection as possible?

…moot point – the instant treatment charm had kicked in, as had the order-affirming charm that reverted all mutations.

The distinct sound of old dry wood creaking rang out in waves, as ripples coursed through the bark down through Risotto’s chakras. Now, old dry wood was never known for its flexibility – quite the opposite – so the ripples quickly turned into cracks, through which blood began to spurt at high pressure.

Standing so close to a wooden fountain of blood meant that Speaker got drenched – but at the same time Speaker couldn’t stop smiling. Khao Lam and Rice Pudding in turn looked horrified, but their expressions softened when Speaker reminded them that plants didn’t bleed… and the blood sprays were from Risotto’s tree sap turning back into blood – and again, normal trees didn’t have blood.
The blood fountains eventually subsided as the cracked bark began to slough off in layers.

Using his medical charms every ten or so seconds to keep watch of the developments inside the wooden layers, Speaker was able to guide the by now very curious and equally hopefully unicorns through the magical processes going on inside the matriarch: “Now, I can’t tell if you can feel it – but I can see that she’s starting to stir inside her cocoon here…”

“But didn’t you say she’s asleep?” Khao Lam asked, sounding very worried – likely mainly because she knew that it would be her flanks in a sling if this turned out poorly and it became known that she could have stopped it all.

Carefully running another wash of healing essence through the Matriach’s system to help restart her dormant body and force away any bits of wood that hadn’t let go just yet: “Well, this process is undoubtedly painful to her – even with my anesthetic charm – but not in a way that hurts her – more like that buzzing and stinging feeling you get when you’ve rested on a hoof wrong and it fell asleep. You know, pins and needles until you wiggle it back awake”

A sudden gasp for air as the Matriarch’s airways cleared signaled the final part of the transformation. Speaker again applied his healing charms, closing up the wounds left behind by the most deeply rooted – literally – bits of wood that had grown from and merged with the matriarch’s flesh. Much of her skin was ultimately replaced this way, as was much of the muscles around her legs, though that was actually a good thing in Speaker’s opinion: “At least this way she won’t need nearly as much physical therapy to build up her strength with new strong muscles like this”

With this strength the Matriarch soon began to stir more willfully, not just jostling in her sleep from the discomfort she experienced. Khao Lam and Rice Pudding both had to help hold the matriarch down to keep her from hurting herself as she briefly tried to thrash about.

“I think it’s her new eyes. Look at how the wood over her face is receding – this is probably the first time in a while that she’s experienced light on her face, especially with the new eyes I’ve regenerated into her sockets – it probably feels really weird” Speaker explained, careful floating away loose bits of wood and bark from her face and carefully opening her eyes to see if there were splinters or bits of roots left in the sockets as the eyes fully formed of golden light.

“Those eyes – they look jaundiced” Khao Lam worried.

Speaker nodded: “That’s from being formed by golden light – it should recede in a few moments. Her liver and blood toxicity are at normal levels”

Discussing briefly what blood toxicity meant, the three gave Risotto time to finish her transformation. The whole process had taken about half an hour, leaving the now fully reformed matriarch still partially trapped inside the remains of what was now basically a wooden cocoon. Her face was cleared, as were a few other patches around her waist and legs, but for now Speaker reasoned that they should let the matriarch sleep for now.

“Make sure to have plenty of food ready, as well as milk – she’ll need plenty of milk to finalize her bones, otherwise they will become brittle. No water or wine for at least a week” Speaker ordered, feeling quite pleased with the results, though he was annoyed that he hadn’t been able to figure out exactly what had caused such strange systemic mutations to begin with.

Joining the rest of the circle, Cash quickly figured that the treatment had gone well by judging the looks of the two unicorns accompanying him which prompted him to joke: “So, will it be our weight in jade or just a polite pat on the shoulder?”

“I believe that compensation should be worked out by the matriarch herself – she will hopefully wake up soon enough” Khao Lam proudly declared, noting that until such a time the circle was welcome to stay at the Yushoto compound.

Drinks and snacks were called for and an impromptu celebration for Speaker was started. The other scions of gens Yushoto were summoned from across the city, and Speaker quickly found himself in a strange position that he had only ever been able to dream of back when had been a mere mortal: He was being celebrated by the very unicorns he had spent his life looking up to.

A toast was about to be called when a rather roughed up maid stormed into the tea salon that everyone was assembled in, shouting “She’s awake!”

A stampede of hooves raced up to the matriarch’s quarters, which was strewn with wooden splinters – as if someone had violently burst out of wooden cocoon… and over by a wash-basin which sat embedded in a stone pedestal stood a mare who appeared deceptively young, her coat even appearing as if still soaked amniotic fluids as if just born. Her mane was a tangled mess, as one might expect with years of non-stop bed-hair, but her eyes were sharp and intelligent, if a bit bloodshot: “The fuck are you all looking at?”

Foremost among the ponies that had rushed up to meet the awoken matriarch was the commanding officer of the second field force Taimyo Yushoto Boribap, who’s face seemed to curl up into an impossible caricature of a stallion upon hearing his grandmother swearing like that in front of stranger.

Seizing the moment Cash pushed Speaker forward, whispering “Go check if she’s ok” – stumbling forward, Speaker felt the baleful gaze of a dozen unicorns trained on him as Yushoto Risotto turned to look at him.

“Well you’re new – thought your uniform sure as hell isn’t, and that’s a worn off medical scale insignia imprint on your shoulder… so are you the doctor I can thank for my recovery?” Risotto expertly pointed out, revealing just how sharp her powers of quick observation were.

Nodding, Speaker stepped forth and applied his diagnostic charm: “I am – my name is Bright Machine Speaker, formerly of the first field force 3rd Gunzosha 1st medical scale, retired – and you… seem to be working perfectly – you have a few bruises that are already healing, but other than that nothing seems to be left of your essence-leaks”

“Well I did just take an unholy shit, my piss was thick like pine resin and I feel like I could eat a whole pig, but ya – certainly feel better than last I remember going to sleep” Risotto said, smiling gleefully with her brand new set of perfect teeth.

It was at this point that Baribap loudly intervened – sending Speaker, the rest of the circle and everyone else out, except for a few servants who were through quick military gestures wordlessly told to quickly fetch water that the matriarch might be washed, clothed and briefed on current events: “Out, all of you!”

Going back towards the tea salon, the circle and everyone else quickly found themselves diverted by servants towards the main dining hall: Apparently the matriarch’s hunger fit with having an early dinner.

Well over two hundred mortal and unicorn ponies had arrived from all over Lookshy, all of them part of the gens, to greet the Matriarch.

Speaker was seated close to the Matriarch – not directly next to her – those seats of honor were given to Baribap and Rice Pudding, though Speaker got the spot next to Rice Pudding. The Cash and Sunrise was seated quite far away – next to a few foreign merchants who were in Lookshy at the moment and were on good terms with the Gens. Cash enjoyed this greatly, while Sunrise felt that they were being pushed aside as if they weren’t worthy.

For Speaker all the attention he got, all the questions about his background, what battles he had been in, what things he had fought before retiring, what things he had done after retiring – including another retelling of his exaltation and the events that followed that. He had to take care to use the exact same story he told Taimyo Linseed, because Speaker knew that any deviations, or mentioning things previously not mentioned, would ultimately filter back to Linseed. Upon explaining the circle’s adventures in Chung Do, he got increasingly interrupted and asked questions… apparently there was a thing mentioned that interested the Lookshyans very much:

“Hold on – so you and your circle has fought these necromantic anathema?” Baribap inquired, giving Speaker a doubtful and judging look.
Nodding, Speaker put down his chop-sticks finished chewing on his savory – albeit slightly rubbery – mouthful of mushrooms: “On several occasions. To be honest, then their origin is still a mystery to me – but its something I mean to eventually look into. Most of them seem to be really bad news – but I have met a few who were benign”

“But what do they want? The reports we’re getting show them as murderers, assassins and expert ghost-wranglers – some working for this Deathlord warlord who took Thorns, others seemingly working independently – but ultimately they all leave a trail of corpses” Baribap inquired, sounding very much like a military leader who was frustrated at a lack of intelligence about a potential enemy.

Quickly realizing that to explain everything the circle had learned about the abyssal exalted and the Deathlords would take all evening, which would derail his retelling of his adventures as a Solar, Speaker suggested that him and his circle compile a report or two on the topics and hand it in to the Intelligence Directorate.

“That sounds very nice. If all Solars are as upstanding as you, then I might just have to suggest that the general staff reconsider its official stance on you lot” Matriarch Risotto noted, her mouth full of mushroom.

That got Speaker thinking. What was the general staff’s stance on Solars? Had Lookshy taken a stance on Solars? Was it influenced by what had happened in Nexus? Speaker suddenly felt very worried…

Burping loudly, the matriarch suddenly looked like she just remembered something: “Hold on – the general staff meeting! What’s the time?”
“Six going on seven glass after noon” a young unicorn in Valkhavsen student robes said from further down the table, referring to the one-hour hour-glasses that Lookshyan time-keeping was based on, so it was somewhere between six and seven in the evening.

Standing up very abruptly, the Matriarch swallowed back and straightened out her dress: “Then we need to get going! Speaker, bring your circle, the general staff is to meet at seven glass! Baribap, get your fat rump moving!”

"Mother, please" Baribap groaned as he got up and straightened out his food-stained uniform.