The Tome of Exalted Ponies

The Ivory Pestle stylist eats soup in a way that banishes ghosts, and is unintentionally better at eating soup than everybody else.

…

Like so many other strange sights since leaving home, Shimmer found the endless stretch of land beneath them as they flew eastward on a yeddim amazing. She could see hundreds of miles of endless forests beneath them, only broken up by a sprawl of rivers and streams, each of them flowing into a bigger one, over and over, until they flowed into what she felt was less a river and more a small but very long ocean.

Speaker said that it was the mighty Yanaze river – a river so wide that they couldn’t even see the opposite shore while up in the air – apparently it was nearly a hundred miles wide in some places. After a bit they came to a split in the river, were the yellow river from the east and the grey river from the south merged to form the Yanaze according to Speaker. It was at this meeting of great rivers that Nexus sat, the second most populous city in creation, second only to the imperial city of Canterlot on the Blessed Isle.

Still, seeing a city that great, and being told that there were more ponies on those five hills than there were in all of Wavecrest… hell, probably in all of the west, it made Shimmer’s head spin.

Speaker mainly took notice of the south-eastern portion of Nexus. Even when going past the city at speed, he could see that much of the Firewander district had been cleared out and levelled entirely. Shimmer commented on that: “They’re tearing it all down Lord Bright, why are they destroying their own city?”

“They are demolishing an old slum previously used by poor ponies and mutants – Sully has gone there more than once to invite mercenary captains and entrepreneurs alike to have a cup of tea with him and talk about their treatment of the residents there. The council has put out a general bounty on ponies with mutation, allowing the mercenaries to hunt and clear out most of the now former residents of the district simply by accusing them of being mutants” Cash said, not sounding terribly pleased by the development.

It was with a deep sigh that Speaker regretted having abandoned his hatred of Nexus in exchange for learning sorcery. Oh, he still didn’t like the place, and had developed a growing disdain for the council of entities that ruled the place, along with the truly heartless mercenaries who enforced their will, but he had also grown to understand that they were simply a product of their flawed and short-sighted society. He thus couldn’t fault all of Nexus – but he could still greatly dislike those individuals who would exploit those weaker than them for personal profit.

Continuing east, high above the yellow river, the circle rounded the very circular city-walls of Great Forks. It too was located at the merger of two great rivers, but the real point of interest was on the north shore of the yellow river while Great Forks was set on the south shore.

Shimmer first noticed that Cash had made the yeddim descend, so that it was barely more than a few hundred feet above the waters. This gave her a much better view of the hundreds of ships and barges that traversed the busy waterways.

Flying north for a few miles up along a set of canals, Speaker had Shimmer look ahead: “I give you, Sunhill!”

Between the carefully tended fields, the flowing streams, and the golden pyramid they could see getting nearer in the distance, all Shimmer could say was: “…this seems oddly familiar Lord Bright”

“It should. You helped build most of this, negotiated terms with the field spirits and everything” Speaker noted, as they passed in under a raincloud.

Landing in the Sunhill aviary, which only really had a name in common with the giant one in Lookshy, Shimmer marvelled as dozens of workers that swarmed the two small barns strapped to the side of the yeddim and instantly began unloading the goods from the sunken Denzik barge.

“I want all of it sent to the treasury for evaluation and cataloguing!” Cash commanded, while Speaker stalked off with Shimmer to show her the city, though the heavy rains did make things a bit uninviting.

Oh, there were so many things he wanted to show her! The Sunhill manse, the golden pyramid that gave the city its name and housed its grand magical hospital, as well as the penthouses for whole circle. Or maybe the quarries and mines on the outskirts of the city, which Shimmer originally set up via deals she had brokered with local earth elemental courts? Perhaps the workshops? Maybe check in on Fire Orchid and see what she had been up to?

“Can you show me where I’m supposed to sleep Lord Bright? We’ve been going since last night… and I don’t want to tour the city soaking wet” Shimmer yawned, as more rain clouds drew in overhead.

Well ok then.

It was strange for Shimmer, so many ponies she had never met, yet they all bowed respectfully before her and seemed to treat both her and Speaker like royalty… and she of course didn’t understand a word they said.

Leading the lunar to the Sunhill manse, Speaker was quickly flanked by the chief of medicine and his personal secretary once inside, each having prepared reports for him to read. Accepting the reports and gesturing for everyone to follow along, Speaker in turn dictated a few memos and orders to be sent out, before they reached the elevator platform.

“Here, this will take us up to your penthouse” Speaker said to the tired lunar as she gingerly stepped on.

Shimmer rubbed her eyes: “I don’t even know what a penthouse is Lord Bright”

“I know – language lesson, first thing in the morning – but your bed is in here” Speaker said, leading Shimmer into her outer trophy hall at the entrance to her penthouse.

It was a strange experience for her, though only one of many she had experienced that day, walking into a hall full of stuffed and mounted hunting trophies… and she could even remember killing some of them, yet knowing full well that she had not done so in her current lifetime: “I… wow”

“You’ll get used to it” Speaker said, feeling no small amount of relief that they were both finally back.

The sound of a toilet flushing coming from the bathroom instantly drew the attention of both ponies, even more so as a mare came out from there. Her bright scarlet mane, her stylish but very utilitarian leather and cotton barding and garb, she looked like she knew what she was doing – and Shimmer quickly picked up on how she was looking at Speaker; It was a casual and friendly look, which put the lunar at ease instead of making her raise her defences.

Speaker smirked: “Heath Rose, you old bandit - we have public restrooms for guests”

“I know, but Shimmer’s loo is just so comfy…” Heath Rose said, giving a knowing nod to the lunar.

Seeing the sidereal nod to his lunar mate, Speaker quickly introduced Heath Rose: “…she’s our official contact to the sidereal host, the gold faction, and she’s enough of a permanent fixture here that our guards don’t freak out when she shows up out of nowhere anymore”

Heath Rose perked an eyebrow at how Speaker had spoken to Shimmer: “Sea-tongue? You didn’t have enough time to give her any language lessons? Can’t have that”

Before Speaker could even start to explain why they hadn’t had time, or of what other strange things they had born witness to during their travels, Heath Rose had yanked Shimmer off into an adjacent room. Slightly confused, Speaker shook his head and then trotted over to the door, finding the two mares conversing: “You see, the merchant tongue is a mish-mash of almost every other language in creation, that’s why its word for ocean is the same as in sea-tongue”

Shimmer nodded, replying to Heath Rose in a heavily accented river-tongue: “I see. Still, it’s a lot of words for streams and rivers...”

“How?” Speaker simply had to ask.

Heath Rose smiled as she stalked past Speaker back into Shimmer’s living room: “Solars might be great educators of the masses, but sidereals will always be the best for one-on-one tutoring – now bring her along, the rest of your circle wants to talk, plus I need to brief all of you before she goes to sleep”

Shimmer looked at Speaker, speaking to him in her very recently acquired river-tongue language: “I… she does this a lot, doesn’t she Lord Bright?”

“They all do” Speaker simply said, gesturing for her to follow with eyes that begged forgiveness. Shimmer picked up on the sentiment quickly and nodded, appearing to realize that sleep would not be in the cards for her just yet.

A quick ride on the elevator platform brought the trio of ponies to what seemed to be the peak of the pyramid – or at least the top floor of the manse, to the clearly labelled war room.

To Shimmer, the floor quickly reminded her of a ship’s crows nest: It had windows all around, allowing for a clear view of all of Sunhill – and considering how high up they were, then she could also see quite a lot of the surrounding countryside, forests and farmland. She could even just make out the highest towers and silhouettes of structures from Great Forks to the south.

The floor itself was one large room, held up by four slim stone pillars and the strength of the outer walls. The elevator platform had come up in the middle of the room, and off to the side not far from it was a large set of large tables, and some chest-height shelves loaded with books, tomes, scrolls and stacks of papers. The maps on the tables and the coloured markers on them quickly caught Shimmer’s eyes: This was a room where plans were made.

At one of the tables, the one where Speaker guided her over to, stood several other ponies. They looked… familiar, sort of: A mare in an off-white hooded robe, her hood down, with a striking orange mane was looking at her and the sidereal with… neutral eyes? Shimmer didn’t sense any hostility – but not any friendliness either – from the mare. Next to her was a very handsome stallion, that Cash Charmer fellow who had picked her and Speaker up out in the ocean. Finally, there was a mare dressed in a… red uniform? No wait, it was the same kind as Speaker’s uniform, except it wasn’t all faded. A sunhill military uniform? No, Speaker had said it was a Lookshyan thing.

At the table Speaker nodded to Cash, who quickly looked around the table for nods of approval to start talking. Everyone gave their consent, to which end Cash Charmer started out by saying that he was quite happy to see Shimmer finally back among them: “…and with Heath Rose coming in with you, I suspect we won’t have to continue this in old realm?”

Shimmer nodded happily: “I still don’t really understand how she taught me a language that quickly”

Heath Rose simply smiled – as far as she was concerned, having the gratitude of a member of such a powerful circle was more than enough payment for such services.

With that covered, Cash quickly began the briefing proper, catching both Speaker and Shimmer up the goings on in Sunhill with barely suppressed glee: “Our immediate security situation is quite good. It’ll be months until anyone else in range can start marching armies against us, and the guild is currently in the process of selling our debt to another hopeful and gullible merchant prince – and despite the guild’s leadership trying to hide how much money they’ve wasted on us so far, then we’ve made sure that copies of their ledgers have been spread around widely, making that sale very difficult. I suspect that they’ll switch to just ignoring us and going back to only pretending to officially embargoing us and our merchants in a year or so”

It wasn’t difficult for Shimmer to see the relief on Speaker’s face. Heath Rose Nodded: “Our auguries have it around winter in two years’ time. They won’t bother spending money on fast couriers for this – so it’ll likely drag out a bit”

“What about our current security situation beyond mortal concerns?” Speaker inquired.

Sunrise quickly answered, speaking in a measured tone: “The deathlords are still an issue, of course, but after their last corpse barge, we’ve set up harbour patrols with sniffer dogs. I am still lobbying Yu-Shan for spirits that can sense or detect the undead to be assigned to the city’s security”

The rest of the circle nodded, though Shimmer mainly latched on to the mention of multiple deathlords – but before she could question that, Heath Rose spoke up: “You missed something”

Everyone were of course curious at what the sidereal hinted of. She simply pointed to the nearest window, the driving rain drumming on the glass.

“Did a deathlord flip a weather god?” Cash wondered with a raised eyebrow.

Heath Rose smirked: “Close. It’s the bronze faction’s latest stunt that we’ve uncovered – surprised you haven’t noticed yet. They’re still catching lone solars and wiping their memories, but we’ve detected a circle of solars that the bronze faction is actually protecting – using the same legal loopholes we’re using to keep you lot safe”

Cash frowned: “I would have heard of another established circle – where are they?”

“What few audits we’ve managed to force on them, has revealed that the bronze faction is using a lot of resources to keep news of this circle from reaching you – and from reaching us. But like I said: They’re using the same tricks we used initially. Oh, and circle has claimed territory, so they’ve protected by their mandate of heaven” Heath Rose explained, in a somehow circuitous way.

Shimmer wasn’t quite sure what to think – why was another circle of solars a bad thing? She wasn’t the only one thinking that, as Cash spoke up: “You haven’t gotten to the part where this circle is making it rain cats and dogs here”

“Has the weather been that bad?” Speaker wondered.

Cash nodded: “It’s been raining like this for almost a week. Weather has been a bit screwy for several weeks actually, with a heatwave before this – but this heavy rain is the worst so far – our farms are reporting that they’re barely able to keep their fields from flooding with their drainage canals constantly clogging”

With that established, everyone looked at Heath Rose for a proper explanation. The sidereal obliged: “This circle is… for the lack of a less subtle term… bad. We haven’t been able to get anyone in to spy on them, because the bronze faction helped them file the proper heavenly paperwork to prevent us from doing so – but we know that they’ve been using charms to pray to and summon gods left and right – and once they get the god to show up, they capture the god and torture them into submission, forcing oaths of fealty and blessings on their lands out of them. You getting bad weather is simply eastern weather gods venting their fury on the nearest other solars they can reach…”

“So that’s why all our milk spoiled the other day” a new voice said, that of a stallion, coming from right behind Shimmer, startling the young lunar quite a lot.

Heath Rose nodded to the new strange-looking pony, Shimmer finding his appearance quite odd: He was wearing a white garb that looked quite utilitarian, had a short-cropped tail that was bright pink, had a mottled brown and grey coat where his uniform didn’t cover him, but most strikingly was the orichalcum helmet or mask that completely encased his head, leaving but tiny slits for his eyes and mouth: “Good to finally see you Sully, yes – the gods of milk, gods of weather… only reason your agriculture hasn’t been hit is that this part of the scavenger lands have different gods for that, so the harvest gods that this new circle has brutalized can’t have a go at you – but around their lands every crop is failing, which only drives more ponies into their domain…”

“I take it that you showing up here was to warn us about them, and perhaps request that we politely visit this circle and ask them to stop messing things up for us?” Sunrise Glow asked, her expression having noticeably soured.

Heath Rose sighed deeply: “I can’t ask you to – not without giving the bronze faction an opening to audit me into oblivion – but I can tell you that they exist. It’s their sovereign territory, they can do with it as they see fit due to their mandate of heaven. All I’ve done is tell you that the gods are angry and are venting on you, and that I’ve traced the cause of that to their behaviour”

“Sounds like we need some solid diplomacy – do you know if they have an eclipse caste solar among them? Have these gods been bound by magical oaths?” Cash inquired.

Shrugging, Heath Rose could only reiterate that the gold faction had little to no information about the circle: “We’re barred from sending spies or other agents to them – they’re locked down tighter legally than what we ever did to you, and their heavenly records are similarly guarded. You’ll be going in blind”

While by no means optimal, the circle agreed that it would be most prudent to deal with this sooner rather than later. Cash said that he would order a yeddim loaded for a diplomatic visit, along with enough supplies to last them the trip. Sullen Hoof appreciated this: “Good. I’ll check my tea stores and bring something along, if it comes to that”

Shimmer wasn’t sure, but hearing the stallion speak from within his helmet – his voice somehow not at all obstructed by it – sent the deathliest chills down her spine. It was like hearing a poisoner say that he was going to bring his very worst and most potent of brews – which unbeknownst to her, was exactly the case.

That night Shimmer slept uneasy. Her bed… an actual bed, not just a pile of dried hay or sea-weed to curl up in, it smelled of her – and yet the scent was foreign. It was her old scent, and it was everywhere now that she knew it: “Oh Sage… what have I gotten myself into…”

The next morning the circle assembled once more in the planning room atop the pyramid, Cash announcing that everything was packed and ready. Sunrise had similar news: “I have communed with the gods and asked for a week’s stay in the heavy rains – their demands for what should be done to these solars were brutal. They want blood, lots of it”

“We’ll have to see how well this other circle cooperates. Either way we have a solid excuse to go to war. I’ve checked the reports from our orchards and farms: This heavy rain has been crushing our crops – the next harvest is going to be miniscule” Sullen Hoof added.

Breakfast was light and quick, Shimmer finding the spread of nuts, seed-bars and egg strangely invigorating, her not yet aware of Sully’s magical cooking skills.

Assembling at the aviary on its top level, the circle boarded the howdah on a yeddim that had been loaded with all kinds of things. To Shimmer’s surprise a lot of it was silver: “That… that is a lot of money, isn’t it?”

“We can’t just show up and threaten them – so we’re bringing some bribe money, or ‘investment funds’, whatever they feel most at ease with calling it… can’t be all stick, need a carrot too” Cash said, sounding just a tad too enthusiastic for the Lunar’s taste.

Speaker sat down next to Shimmer on the seats: “I believe what Cash meant to say is that if we can make friends and talk them out of their bad ways, then it’ll be a lot easier – plus it’ll be better in the long run”

Nodding slowly, Shimmer wondered if she should have asked for anything special to be brought along for her to use.

The flight itself took but a couple of hours. The directions that Heath Rose had left behind for the valley where thorough and easy to follow – but enroute the circle agreed not to simply fly all the way there. It thus came to be that the yeddim was pointed towards lands beyond the territory of the new circle.

“We really need a name for this new circle… what’s the name of the valley with their seat of power? Or what was the name of the place before the circle took over? We need to call them something” Cash groaned, as the yeddim approached the ground.

The grass looked withered and dry, despite it being very early autumn and the ground being moist from fresh rains. It was clear that the lands around the new circle’s territory had been struck down by vengeful gods much harder than the lands of Sunhill. As the circle got down from the howdah Sunrise Glow noted that the gods she had communed with had said that the lands they were seeking had previously been ruled by a series of duchies belonging to a noble family called the Pear-blossom dynasty.

“Perfect, then we’ll seek the lands of the pear-blossoms. Did the gods say anything about their relationship to these former rulers? Perhaps we could seek them out and reinstall them if need be” Cash wondered, appearing to enjoy the idea of having another option to resolve the situation.

Sullen Hoof leapt from the howdah in a single smooth jump, up atop a nearby tree as he scouted the surroundings: “Considering how rough these solars are with gods, how gentle do you think they were to the Pear-Blossoms when they seized power?”

“Fair point – but nobles are as nobles do, so there’s bound to be illegitimate offspring somewhere we can prop up. Shouldn’t be difficult to have Heath Rose track down their family tree and any offshoots – either way we can call this new circle the pear-usurpers… or pear-soupers!” Cash asserted confidently, sounding way too happy about the supposedly snappy nickname.

Sullen Hoof jumped from the tree, landing without making a sound: “We’ll let you manage that – now, I could see a border post a few miles from here along. We can’t miss it: The border is right where the grass starts growing again”

Unpacking the goods loaded onto the yeddim into a very nice wooden cart that needed a bit of on-the-ground assembly, Shimmer marvelled as Speaker had the cart put together in absolutely no time, using no tools other than his essence to float parts around and even drive nails and pegs into place. It was just as Speaker had finished the cart that it struck Shimmer that they didn’t actually have anything… or anyone… to pull it: “So… who’s pulling it?”

“Well, I wouldn’t expect you to have any really useful land animal forms yet, so I think Fire Orchid is on cart duty, to put her out in front in case of trouble” Cash casually remarked.

Without objection, Fire Orchid slipped into the cart harness – it certainly looked like she had done that song and dance before. The rest of the circle loaded up on the cart, though Shimmer stayed on the ground, trotting along next to Fire Orchid as they began moving towards the road leading to the border post: “Hi, we haven’t really been introduced yet”

Fire Orchid threw a brief look back at the rest of the circle on the cart, then looked ahead as she answered: “No we have not – not sure we need to either. We apparently both knew each other in a past life… that’s what the others are saying”

“We both… oh, you’re a new reincarnation too” Shimmer said, it dawning on her that Fire Orchid probably felt just as awkward and out of touch as she did, compared to the more longer-lived members of the circle.

The stout crimson-maned mare shook her head: “Sort of… I exalted, what, almost two years ago? But some bad sidereals caught me and made me forget that I had powers… spent the time since then working as a mercenary out further east, killing tribal raiders for coin and somehow not noticing that I had super powers”

Shimmer’s positivity and enthusiasm for bonding with Fire Orchid fell flat on its face when she said that she had been killing tribals for the last few years: “How… how can you say that so casually? I’m a tribal!”

With a shrug, Fire Orchid brushed off Shimmer’s outcry: “The sidereals made me forget… made me forget my family, the values I had been raised to believe in, my honor – I did a lot of things in that period I’m not proud of – but I don’t see why I should feel bad about it, I mean I didn’t have a choice in the matter”

Slowing down to let the cart catch up with her, Shimmer looked up at Speaker as if begging for him to say something to reassure her. Speaker could only shrug and give her an apologetic look: “Fire has been having a lot of trouble catching up with her old life and reconciling that with her stint as a bloodthirsty mercenary…”

“Based on what we were told by her mother when she came to visit, then Fire Orchid had always been a very pious and honourable pony. Having worked as a guild killer has shaken her faith in herself. I have been counselling her on this” Sunrise Glow commented without any emotion in her voice.

If nothing else Shimmer was happy to learn that Fire Orchid wasn’t as bad as she had come to fear – but at the same time… Fire Orchid was a solar, just like the others. Weren’t solars supposed to be above that kind of issues? The idea that solars could have such doubts and problems didn’t feel quite right to Shimmer: As an exalt you were supposed to be stronger than that.

“Border post in sight – everyone, get your game face on” Sullen Hoof called out, his orichalcum mask fading away to reveal a face… but Shimmer knew in her heart of hearts that it wasn’t Sully’s real face: it was an illusion made by the mask, just as Speaker had explained it would do.

That was when Sully’s outfit suddenly made a lot more sense to Shimmer: It was a servant’s outfit, with colors befit of Sunhill livery. Wait, was that why she had been given a matching outfit for the trip? “Lord Bright, am I supposed to act like a servant?”

“That was the idea, right? I thought you’d figured it out earlier” Cash noted.

As they continued towards the stone tower and the wooden gate that blocked passage into the valley, Cash elaborated on the plan to Shimmer. It was rather simple, and since they were visiting another solar territory, they didn’t have to lie all that much: “Me, Speaker, Sunrise and Fire Orchid will be the ‘official delegation’ from Sunhill. You and Sully hide in plain sight, in case of trouble, or if we need you to sneak off to spy on them. If we were sneaking into guild-controlled territory, we’d all need disguises and then we’d pretend to be merchants or something, assuming we’re trying to be subtle”

Shimmer understood the plan, but still found it a bit odd that Fire Orchid was meant to both be a lord, and then also the one hauling the cart… At the mention of this, Cash got a look on his face like deer caught in a bright light at night, after which Shimmer and Sully were quickly made to take over for Fire Orchid. Sullen Hoof threw Shimmer a somewhat disapproving look: “You just had to point that out…”

“Sorry…” Shimmer said, as she pulled the cart along, feeling conflict over having pointed out the flaw in Cash’s plan but then also being admonished for doing so – she had only tried to help! She quickly took over from Fire Orchid, pulling the cart in the form of a western water buffalo.

At the border post, while Cash tried to bend the ears of the guards, the rest of the circle carefully observed the ponies there to see how they behaved. In mere seconds they all spotted obvious signs of mind-control, as the blank looks in the eyes of the guards were a dead give-away, even more so combined with the almost mindless replies from the guards to everything Cash said: “The border to the realm of the Sun Tiger Lords is closed by order of the Sun Tiger Lords”

Cash quickly grew annoyed when his polite requests for entry were repeatedly denied – the guards seemed unable to say anything but that one line.

Shimmer chuckled, then Cash changed his approach: “Well, then it’s good that we are here by the orders of the Sun Tiger Lords. In fact, they said that anyone who prevents us from seeing them are to be dismissed from their service and banished from their lands right this instant!”

It took effort to resist the urge not to face-hoof, because that was so blatantly not true. This only made Shimmer all the more shocked and amazed as the guards quickly opened the gates and let them in.

Sullen Hoof began pulling the cart in through the open gate, and Shimmer quickly helped out as well, but she was clearly distraught at seeing the many guards at the post mindlessly taking off their armor and returning their spears to the armoury as they pulled the cart into the bailey: “Why are they…”

“Cash said that anyone who prevented us is dismissed – they’re just doing as told. Now stop the cart, we need to see what they do next” Sullen Hoof casually remarked, with but a hint of veiled glee in his voice.

The now ex-guards of the post mustered beyond the gate, where the circle had come from, and as the circle looked it was as if a spell had been lifted on them. Cash simply chuckled: “Just as planned”

“Ok, can someone explain what is going on?” Shimmer said, thoroughly confused.

In a sombre tone Sunrise noted that these Sun Tiger Lords were clearly rookies when it came to mind control, and that Cash had exploited that: “If you mind control someone in such a way that they must obey all orders from you, you just have to convince them that you’re giving or relaying orders from them. I made the same mistake once before, that’s where we learned this from”

The implication that Sunrise had mind-controlled ponies like that once before was by no means good, but Cash quickly followed that up by elaborating as he got off the cart: “…and now that they’re dismissed from the service of their lords, as well as banished from their lands, they’re no longer in a position to take orders from those lords, which removes that compulsion from them. We can talk to them now and learn how things are in there”

The ex-guards were understandably confused about what was going on, but they were equally grateful for having their minds freed up. In their owns words they described the compulsion to obey their lords as absolutely irresistible, though even with the compulsion gone only a few of them dared cross the gate back into the valley out of fear that the compulsion might somehow return. Supplies, materials for tents and other tools were quickly collected from the garrison and given to the ex-guards so that they could set up camp outside the gates, while the few guards who had dared cross back into the Pear-Blossom valley helped the circle in every way they could.

Written orders from the commander’s office were revealed, giving Cash a taste of the Sun Tiger Lords’ writing, which he said he could easily copy. The orders did indeed confirm that the borders had been ordered closed. They also said that there wouldn’t be a supply caravan to the post for another month, which meant that it would be a while until anyone would discover what had happened there.

The collaborators also told a grim story of how the rest of the valley looked: “Everyone is like how we were. You can only think what they want you to think… and even if your mind is screaming, your mouth cannot move”

“Take hearth my brave little ponies. We came here because the Sun Tiger Lord’s abuse of the gods, but now we will also labour to free the minds of the ponies here. This cannot stand” Sunrise Glow said, her kind words sweet as honey, her resolve hard like stone.

Cash frowned: “Sunrise you know how difficult it is to clear mind control commands out of large numbers of ponies…”

“No, it’s not. You showed that it isn’t. We just have to convince any pony we meet that they’re no longer in a position to take orders from these solars. I trust that’s within the scope of your powers and creativity” Sunrise chided the well-dressed stallion in an almost playful tone, as if daring the eclipse caste solar to prove her point.

It was with a sigh and a chuckle that Cash said that he simply could not say no to a challenge like that.

As the circle made ready to travel further into the valley, the collaborators began putting their guard armor on again. They would man the border post, not out of any mad compulsion from their dread lords, but to protect their homeland, for they recognized that brigands and thieves would easily be able to exploit their mind-controlled kinsmen. The circle respected this choice.

Inside the valley Sullen Hoof quickly scaled another tree, balancing magically atop its bough on a single leaf, surveying all he could see: “I’m seeing a lot of farms and orchards – and not much else”

“And I’m seeing decent roads. We’ll make good speed here” Cash said, all the while writing up a storm on a series of scrolls he had retrieved from one of the chests on the cart they had brough along.

To Shimmer it was distressing to see Cash’s magical writing. It was beyond fast, his calligraphy brush whirling about at a speed that blurred to the eyes, yet his writing was beautiful enough to make one cry: “What are you writing?”

“Fake orders. It’ll be a lot faster to pass these around than having to talk to everyone we meet. I’m sure they’ll have at least one pony in every village we pass who can read. I’m writing that their village and land has been traded to neighbouring nobles, so they’re no longer to take orders from their Sun Kitten Lords. Should work like what I did to the border guards, without us having to stop and chat everywhere” Cash said, looking intently at his scrolls as his silvery brush whirled around in the air by the power of his essence.

With the scrolls set up, Sully and Shimmer made speed into the valley. The roads were indeed well-kept, and so the circle was able to cross deep into the valley and deliver Cash’s faked orders to several villages as they passed.

“They won’t really think that they’re beholden to a different lord now, will they?” Shimmer wondered out loud.

Sullen Hoof didn’t think so: “Knowing Cash, he added a section in the scroll not to be read until after they’re free from the compulsion, that lets them know it was fake”

“Wont that make the compulsion come back?”

“That’s not how mind control works – trust me, I’ve tried it – once the spell is broken it won’t reappear again without someone to put a new charm upon them” Sullen Hoof noted.

Throwing a brief look back at the cart, then looking back at Sully, Shimmer replied: “You’ve… been through some stuff, haven’t you?”

“You were there too” the disguised solar remarked casually.

By the evening the circle had passed several villages, and they had begun looking for roadside taverns or anywhere else suitable for staying the night. As the sun set, it became clear that accommodations along the particular road they were traveling just weren’t going to appear.

“Pull over here – I’ll have something suitable up in a minute” Speaker said, jumping off the cart next to a large rocky outcropping by the road.

Shimmer looked on as Speaker withdrew his strangely carved jade staff from elsewhere: It was clearly white jade, set with a single band of orichalcum, but it was elegantly carved to appear like gnarled wood. Speaker struck the staff to the stone, lodging it firmly, then retrieved a nearby stick and plucked a single hair from his tail.

Not a tunnel built into a dead volcano on the edge of a desert, nor riding a glass barge across that desert, or the wonders of the depths that Sage had shown her, could match the lunar’s bewilderment as Speaker turned the stick and his tail hair into a bow and began playing the staff as if it was a musical instrument. The stone around him quivered, as if it was water one had tossed a stone into, then it began flowing with the music… and a few minutes later a sizeable villa wrought in stone stood before the circle, complete with stone doors and shutters for the windows.

“I knew I should have brought a proper bed” Cash jokingly complained.