The Tome of Exalted Ponies

The Thousand-Wounds Gear stylist eats all of the soup one spoonful at a time, unstoppably once started. Everyone else around him goes hungry.

…

The gigantic ape that came bounding out of Sperimin was enourmous - easily ten yards tall. It’s moonsilver anima was a dead giveaway: This was Rakshi in her true form, and she looked pissed!

Speaker recognized the Emperor Ox shapeshifting technique, one that enlarges a lunar’s true form to an absolutely massive degree, standing some eight or nine yards tall, even when hunched over as in her giant form. Towering above everything in the battlefield at, even the rail-pillar, the gigantic ape roared and all the fleeing gorillas stopped dead in their tracks.

Oh of course she could rally her troops that way.

Still, this was – more or less – still going according to plan. Now to take down big ugly. Cash and Speaker quickly galloped back to the Sunhill line, what few gorilla troops still engaged quickly falling to the solars attacking their rear.

But the worst was arguably not just Rakshi in her giant monkey form – no, it was that she was not alone. For next to her four enormous horrors manifested, each beyond mortal words, each glowing with baleful green fire or other magical manifestations that marked each clearly as demons of such power that no mortal should ever hope to bear their witness and retain their wits, countenance or courage.

“Where is Sunrise! We need her up front! Demon banishment!” Cash hollered, before seeing Sunrise floating above the Sunhill line on a magically conjured cloud, standing watch.

Swinging a massive limb around, to point an enormous clawed monkey paw at her foes, Rakshi roared: “Get back in formation and attack!”

Quite a few of the gorillas had, instead of getting back in formation, gotten down on their knees to… pray? To nobody’s surprise the apes were worshiping her, loudly chanting “Kong kong kong”, though that ended as Rakshi’s order rolled out over them like thunder, the enormous demon horrors joining the charge just as the first one imploded from Sunrise’s banishment spell.

Rakshi herself glowed with baleful moonlight, extruding two additional pairs of arms, and then each pair of arms began shaping a sorcerous spell, pooling essence and will into glowing spheres of potential and altered reality. Sunrise quickly raised another hoof, projecting a counterspell at one of them.

The explosion from the dozens of motes of tightly wound essence instantly burned all the fur off four of Rakshi’s six arms, as well as causing her to roar in fury, and aim one of the scalded limbs at Sunrise: Her claws erupted from that paw, launching not just as Sunrise, but barraging the entire Sunhill line with five yard-long giant claws as if they were ballista bolts!

Fire Orchid barely had time to order her troops to brace for impact, but it seemed that the troops had already been preparing to brace against the oncoming gorilla army charge – though the giant claws still punched giant holes in the shield wall, as ponies were simply physically thrown back by the mass off the giant claws. Bruised and battered, the troops scrambled to reform the line before the gorillas got to them. Speaker managed to catch one launched claw with his gyroscopic chakrams, holding the disks before him like shields, only to see Sunrise struck up on her magic cloud, which knocked her clean off down to the ground.

“Shimmer, get Sunrise!” Speaker called out, hoping that his lunar mate was keeping tabs on him.

Turned out she was, as a shrill bird cry moments later announced Shimmer’s arrival with Sunrise held in her claws. Sunrise quickly dusted herself off and before saying anything to either Speaker or Shimmer aimed another counterspell at Rakshi, popping a second spell just before it was cast – but Rakshi did manage to unleash the third spell she had been working on, crushing the orb of condensed essence she was shaping and flinging what turned into red strands of essence into the Sunhill army.

Initially nothing happened other than Sunrise was able to refocus onto the charging demons and banish one, but Fire Orchid quickly yelled for the troops to clear away from the spot where the essence had seeped into the ground once she realized what was happening.

That’s when all hell broke loose: Five giant tentacles of glowing red-hot magma erupted, like a volcano eruption given life. The tentacles flailed around wildly, striking ponies left and right, crushing them with both their mass and melting them with their burning heat. Speaker rushed in to parry the mighty blows of the tentacles, flying around to swat them aside while ordering the troops to clear further away from the tentacles and their impressive reach.

As far as Fire Orchid was concerned, the biggest issue of the magma kraken spell as she would later learn it was called, was that it had divided the Sunhill line in two – and it made it rather risky for messengers to run orders down to the split off section, which was quite bad since the gorillas were almost upon them again.

Rakshi seemed content to just watch the carnage unfold and laughing – but the instant she saw the ponies of Sunhill had cleared away from her magma kraken she began shaping three spells again. Sunrise quickly began aiming counterspells at her – but Rakshi was no fool: With a huff thick clouds of iridescent vapor billowed out of her nose and mouth, quickly letting her hide herself completely – though that did give Sunrise reprieve to banish a third demon before she called out.

“I can’t counter a spell I can’t see – Speaker, where do you want me?” Sunrise said in a firm and quick tone, fully understanding that any more magic could wreak havoc upon the Sunhill army.

Speaker threw a glance towards Fire Orchid, who was busy ordering her troops to spread out, so any spell aimed at them would hit fewer targets, then he looked back at Sunrise: “Banish the last big one and go to phase three. Sully should be there quickly, I’ll follow suit”

Nodding, Sunrise guided her cloud down to swoop her up with but a thought, her quickly zipping off towards the gigantic ape, taking her on an intercept course first to the last of the enormous demons that roared at her with six mouths that bled darkness and swallowed light – but each of them closed as she struck it down with a banishment spell. Shimmer looked at Speaker: “Rear is safe for now – you want me to join in?”

“No, but stick around here – help when the gorilla charge reaches us” Speaker said, leaping into the air and flying after Sunrise.

Approaching Rakshi, Speaker found himself in need of his fearlessness charm once he got on the other side of the vapor veil. Standing as tall as a four-story castle, and built just the same with massive muscular limbs, long fangs and just as long claws on each paw – it was hard to tell if this was the warform or true form of the elder lunar, but it really didn’t seem to matter: There was no doubt that Rakshi was incredibly powerful in that form.

The explosion from Sunrise successfully countering another spell blew away most of the vapor, letting everyone see as Rakshi began swinging wildly at the solar on the cloud and the solar with wings of fire flying around her.

Speaker could feel the draft as Rakshi drew a heavy breath once more, but this time no roar came. There was a brief moment as Rakshi seemed perplexed by this lack of sound – for indeed, the roaring din of charging gorilla troops had also disappeared. Rakshi slammed her paws into the ground, again it making no sound, even though Speaker could see the ground quake.

Speaker wasted no time, using the silence caused by Sunrise’s exotic martial arts to fly behind Rakshi and land on her back, at a spot where his anatomical observations had told him that she would have difficulty reaching. Sullen Hoof joined him moments later, leaping in from an unseen location, his cleavers slick with gorilla blood. The two nodded at each other, and quickly began working: Speaker willed forth Homage, his beam-edged gyroscopic chakram, and took a deep breath.

This was phase three: Taking Rakshi down. Part one had been thinning out Sperimin’s forces before any actual fighting began, part two had been straight up fighting against them – each had contained carefully planned elements, most of which had worked surprisingly well up until that point.

Speaker and Sully’s part of phase three involved softening up Rakshi, using their charms and weapons to lower her defences based on what they knew about lunar defensive charms. Of course, they could see that Rakshi hadn’t deployed the bone-armor growing charm… yet… Still, they weren’t going to question good luck.

Sullen Hoof put away his cleavers, readying his hooves, as Speaker struck first with Homage and its edge of pure energy, followed instantly by an application of his aesthetic charm that Rakshi shouldn’t notice she was being cut into. Now, while the beam-edge of the weapon was known to cauterize all wounds, then Speaker had still expected some level of blood from the deep cuts… but it seemed that Rakshi’s giant form came with an incredibly thick and tough hide. Sullen Hoof followed up, carefully punching the gigantic ape repeatedly in a rhythmic fashion that made her flesh ripple and tenderize, leaving it soft and yielding – an artifact of his cooking based martial arts.

Sullen Hoof incidentally gave amazing massages.

Meanwhile, Sunrise and Cash kept Rakshi’s attention locked on them. The two engaging in a very violent, but also very quiet, cat and mouse game.

Sunrise found herself perplexed at how Rakshi was able to keep casting spells, knowing from Sage’s teachings how much one had to strain one’s mind to project enough will and essence to soften and reshape reality for sorcery. This was Rakshi’s seventh spell – there had to be a limit! Examining Rakshi via essence sight, she tried to uncover the elder lunar’s secret, but there was so much essence whirling around the lunar that it was difficult to tell anything apart.

Cash was having similar trouble – but it was more of the ‘avoid being squished’ variety, as Rakshi slammed fist after fist into the ground, each aimed at him. Jumping and dodging left and right, Cash maintained his charms that forced her to focus her attention on him, all the while praying that his ego-shield charm would keep her from hitting him… and if that failed, that he’d at least survive the hit.

Cash learned the very hard way that he could indeed survive such a hit, as Rakshi finally managed to swat him. Sunrise’s essence sight quickly told her that Cash’s soul was still bonded to his body, meaning that Cash was still alive – but he wasn’t getting up again either. This meant that she was next in the firing line, which took no time at all, as Sunrise suddenly found herself trapped in Rakshi’s essence webbing. With no other options, Sunrise used her vocal charms to call upon Crashing Wave – who appeared to have been busy swatting and crushing apes trying to emerge from the southern edge of the jungle. In his form of a giant grab the lunar quickly responded, quickly bounding towards the much bigger Rakshi, his silvery anima blazing. It didn’t take long before the two were locked in a brutal wrestling match, Crashing Wave’s greater knowledge of combat charms aiding him well against Rakshi’s superior brute strength and essence. Despite having six arms Rakshi found the crab surprisingly tough to deal with: She pulled at his legs, but he snapped with claws, plus his entire carapace was replete in serrated spikes, making grabbing onto the crab a very painful and tricky challenge, all the while Sunrise struggled against her bonds. She and Crashing Wave both knew what they were trying to buy time for – and they had to give it their all.

That was when Rakshi exploited her multiple arms to use some kind of charm on Crashing Wave that saw her suddenly grow a bone-spike from her chest right into the crab-form lunar’s primary frontal weak point: the bit between his bottom and top armor plate where his face was located. The crab fell limp in an instant, Rakshi tossing the crab aside and turning back to Sunrise with a cruel and fang-filled grin on her monkey face.

Ok, Crashing Wave was taken out a lot faster than expected. Realizing that the situation was dire, Sunrise used her last available weapon: Her voice. This made Rakshi laugh as the young pony before her began to sing, but it also didn’t pass the elder lunar by that Sunrise’s voice was the ONLY sound she could hear… and its effect on her wasn’t something she could ignore. Indeed, the aria of tranquillity Sunrise was singing made it very difficult for Rakshi to strike at the solar again.

Sunrise smiled, having finally found the limit to Rakshi’s willpower – then she changed her singing to using a strangely discordant tone, one specifically tuned to the ear-plugs that Speaker and Sully had been using.

On Rakshi’s back, Speaker and Sully had pounded and carved their way through an impossible thick and leathery hide. They felt their cotton-stuffed ears vibrate, and recognized the signal. Sullen Hoof looked at Speaker and nodded, then leapt back. Speaker readied both Gift and Homage, and took careful aim. He had to strike true…

Rakshi was struggling to will herself into swatting the singing mare before her like an insolent bug, when she suddenly felt a tiny stinging piercing pain in her lower back. Had someone hit her with a well-aimed arrow? Who cared, it clearly hadn’t hurt her enough to warrant any real attention.

…that was when Rakshi felt her legs give out. What? How?

Sunrise felt the essence webbing holding her fade into nothing as Rakshi desperately tried to pull in as much of her essence to save herself. With Rakshi looking very close to defeated, Sunrise dropped her silencing charm, allowing Rakshi’s desperate wailing howl to ring out across the battlefield.

All of the gorillas fighting ponies – their charge having impacted while Speaker had been in the silence – stopped, freezing in place for a moment. Hundreds of gorillas were cut down during this brief reprieve, but then they turned and ran towards Rakshi, their eyes burning silver.

Speaker and Sully leapt off Rakshi as the apes piled in under her, lifting her up and quickly starting to haul her back to Sperimin. Fire Orchid ordered that her troops give chase, many gorillas cut down as the ponies caught up with them at Rakshi, but the gigantic ape – paralyzed from the waist down – swept her arms around to fend off the ponies, giving her carriers just enough reprieve that they could make it back to the city.

Fire Orchid barked a very loud: “Cease pursuit and stand down!”

While the Sunhill army cheered for their victory and began tending to their wounded, Speaker followed Sunrise’s calls and quickly found her next to a large crater where Cash Charmer was at the bottom, looking battered and broken.

Quickly looking his fellow lord of Sunhill over, Speaker shook his head: “Cash, you’ve once again managed to break pretty much every bone in your body…”

Cash would likely have wanted to defend his actions with a snarky quip, but at that moment he was having enough trouble breathing, on account of having all of his… everything broken.

The wounded among the Sunhill troops were organized so that Speaker could quickly treat them, the army’s own medics – many evidently sourced among volunteers from the Sunhill hospital – having already triaged the wounded quite well. While Speaker was doing that, Shimmer tended to Crashing Wave, who had shrunk back into pony-form, which had revealed the massive wound to his face. Blinded by Rakshi, Crashing Wave needed help walking around, and confessed that he would likely have to sit the rest of this out: “…even with my warform I can’t regenerate eyes that quickly”

Speaker nodded, gesturing for a nearby officer to help the lunar to the rail pillar, that Crashing Wave could be brought to the fortress for a safe recovery.

A few hours later Speaker was satisfied that no other ponies under the Sunhill banner was going to die any time soon. Fire Orchid’s troops were duly impressed, marvelling at their healed wounds and injuries.

Calling up the officers of the army, Fire Orchid quickly issued a new set of orders: “We’re moving up to the city – but keep your shields out in front. Watch the treelines and check for anything being thrown at you. We haven’t seen the apes use bows yes, but with those beefy arms I could easily see them throw spears or large rocks”

The Sunhill army began to reform, with those still too injured to fight being brought back to the fortress. As units began to form up around Fire Orchid, the rest of the circle – sans Cash, who had also been sent back to the fortress – met up with the solar general and spoke of what would come next.

“Do you think that Rakshi can recover from what we did this quickly?” Fire Orchid opened up with, looking intently at Speaker.

Shrugging, Speaker looked at Shimmer: “Depends on what kind of healing and regeneration charms she knows. What do you think?”

“I think she’s favoured charms that help her think over charms to help her fight. She struggled to gain the upper hand against Crashing Wave – and she’s orders of magnitude more powerful than him” Shimmer noted, looking and sounding somewhat uneasy.

Sullen Hoof’s trained eyes instantly saw Shimmer’s discomfort: “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know… but I just thought that she’d be better organized than this. She has a priesthood – but it was one of those big black apes who seemed to be an actual officer, and he didn’t seem all that clever about it” Shimmer mused, sounding very doubt about the situation.

Sully admitted that he hadn’t run his profiling charms during the battle, but based on what he had seen earlier, then he did have a theory: “The gorillas, I think they were bred more to combat and subdue local uprisings – not fight proper armies – and I suspect that she’s set up a kind of caste system based on the different species of monkeys, so the others can’t join in anything outside of their species. But you’re absolutely right, it seems that Sperimin is very poorly organized outside of doing anything that isn’t about pleasing Rakshi”

The real question was of course how to exploit that weakness. Shimmer wished Cash hadn’t been injured…

“I know – but with Rakshi’s spine messed up, she’s not very mobile. She won’t be able to effectively assist her forces when we enter the city, and Speaker said that the university itself was built for ease of access, not to bottleneck attackers” Fire Orchid noted, betting that Rakshi had been returned to some kind of personal sanctum to recover.

Everyone agreed that it would likely be wise to press the advantage – and so the forces of Sunhill closed in on Sperimin.

The myriads of small huts and hovels that surrounded the ancient city made for a very crowded obstacle course that slowed everyone down. All the lesser apes in the city that kept pelting the Sunhill forces with small rocks, poop and bits of wood equally made for a very annoying but not terribly dangerous bit of harassment. The troops up in front cleared the path for those who came after them, toppling crude huts and pushing aside debris and garbage piles.

“Where are the big apes? This place should be rife with them” Fire Orchid wondered, looking everywhere for the thousands of gorillas that Speaker had frightened away using his fear charm.

It was obvious that quite a large force was missing – and the answer to where they were became quite apparent once the Sunhill forced managed to push through the outskirts of Sperimin, reaching the gleaming adamant streets.

Old magic kept the streets perfectly clean, but everything around them – including most of the old structures – had been completely reclaimed by the ravenous eastern jungle and its acidic soil. It made for a stark contrast, but also made it very easy to see down main street to the six-fold campus. It was there that the remainder of Rakshi’s army was, for every gate appeared to have been quickly barricaded, with countless bronze spears poking out, along with just as many eyes peering out.

The Sunhill forces quickly moved to surround the campus, while the circle discussed how to get inside – and what should happen once inside.

“I say we just take them head-on at the biggest gates into the place. I can bash in barricades like that easily – Speaker can do the same. We know these apes break pretty quickly once you cut down the first few dozen, so I doubt we’ll have too much trouble holding the place” Fire Orchid argued, her eyes gleaming with the look of a general who was certain in her strategy could express.

While Speaker saw the logic of Fire Orchid’s strategy, then he had a much simpler solution: “We just need to get inside and invoke the university’s security force. The place had hundreds of magical metal warriors designed to keep the place safe and quiet. If we can get in and do that, the apes will be ejected if they attack us or even stand in our way”

“Even if they just stand in our way? Really?” Shimmer said, finding that to be an oddly specific detail.

Nodding, Speaker said that the solars in charge of designing the place put in a lot of priority safeguards and special treatment systems for solars: “…other celestial exalts also got special treatment, but not as much – and unicorns needed written permission to even attend the colleges”

“Wait, so if we get any of us inside, we can lock Rakshi out of the place?” Sullen Hoof wondered, sounding very much as if he was thinking about simply sneaking inside and whispering a few commands to whatever controlled the university.

Speaker had to explain that doing so likely wouldn’t work: “She has controlled Sperimin for some seven hundred years – there’s no telling what changes she’s made to the place, but the university manse is meant to have a chief librarian who can command the animating intelligence of the manse…”

Sunrise appeared to see what Speaker was getting at: “So we do we tried like in Denansdor? Take control, have the university’s system clear the way for us?”

“Initially – yes – but the top of the central spire, where the tome of three rings is kept, is a separate manse with a separate animating intelligence watching over it. That’s the real thing we need to take control over, and I’ll bet my beard that Rakshi has put her lair up there too, since that’s also where the university’s chief librarian and governor lived” Speaker noted, sounding worried of a standoff.

Sullen Hoof sighed, glancing at the barricaded gates into the university grounds: “Great, and this second manse spirit… how do we take control of that?”

“I… the head of the school of sorcery can, and official edicts from the solar deliberative – that’s the only two authorities it’ll take orders from. Of course, any solar should be able to just ask for access to the books – but if we want to order the keeper to clear out Rakshi, we’ll need to assume complete control” Speaker regaled, faintly recalling the first age bureaucracy that controlled the place.

Shimmer made a disappointed grimace: “Right, we’ll have to look for that inside – but at least we can loot the libraries. There’s bound to be something useful in the other college libraries here”

While probably true, Speaker noted that you couldn’t remove books from the libraries – they were magically guarded – but back in the first age there had been systems in place to quickly craft perfect copies of any book, scroll or memory crystal you wanted to take with you: “…but I don’t think that the librarian gods from back then are still here – we’ll have to find a way to safely work the system ourselves to copy stuff”

Fire Orchid snorted: “Delightful. How about this: I’ll helm the troops out here, keep the ape troops busy and distracted – you lot sneak in and take control of the main university grounds and take control, then figure out if you can wrest control from Rakshi. If we can’t, try to broker a deal with her, or at least get something worthwhile out of the other libraries”

“I want to fetch Cash – this kind of trickery is his specialty, even if he’s still in no shape to fight” Shimmer said, looking back at the Sunhill forces, in the direction of the battlefield and the rail pillar.

Speaker glanced back at the battlefield, trying to spot the rail pillar, but he couldn’t see it: “Fly out and find the nearest spot on the side of the crystal roads here to plot down a pillar – we might end up needing a very quick escape route, depending on what Rakshi is preparing for us inside”

Fire Orchid liked the idea of putting their exit closer to the campus, so she didn’t have to spread out her forces to cover a long exit corridor through the whole city. Shimmer quickly flew off, the sound of her ripping and tearing at a large tree in the distance forming a backdrop to Fire Orchid as she marched part of her troops towards the barricaded gates, to make the apes thinks she was laying siege to the place. Meanwhile Speaker, Sunrise and Sully began to sneak closer to one of the twelve college gates, hiding among Fire Orchid’s troops.

The first gate Fire Orchid came up to was broad, at least ten yards wide, with a hodgepodge mix of torn up timbers and other randomly assembled things piled high to form a barricade, most of it clearly taken or looted from the huts and hovels surrounding the campus. Fire Orchid, along with her personal guard stormed forward at – the gorillas inside the barricade howling in a mix of fear and excitement.

Mid-stride, Fire Orchid sheathed her blade and spun herself around for a mighty buck at the barricade. Speaker recognized the magical martial technique she was using: the pillar breaking blow, a powerful martial charm that let one shatter any inanimate object with ease. Essence coiled around her hooves to impart maximum force, and so the barricade didn’t just shatter – it exploded inwards, sending gorillas flying left and right.

Her troops quickly formed up around her, and gorillas quickly flowed into the gate passage, making for a new frontline. It was to the sounds of clashing spears, roaring apes and howling ponies that Speaker withdrew his singing staff and played up a small door in the outer wall to whatever college building they were up against.

Just as they were about to enter, Shimmer returned with a Cash Charmer who looked a bit worse for wear – but he was up and walking, once he dismounted from her and was brought up to speed. They had arrived via the new rail pillar, which Fire Orchid had ordered fortified by her rear-guard.

Inside the building the five, Speaker, Sully, Shimmer, Cash and Sunrise, found themselves in one of the university’s many libraries. It was a bit of a mixed experience: The place wasn’t thick with dust and cobwebs, but instead it was thick with the stench of piss and monkey excrement, as it seemed that the apes who tried to read in the halls had a very simple approach to relieving themselves while inside. The library shelves had a great mix of clay tablets, tomes, scrolls, various strange and colourful crystals – in all manner of states of decay. Speaker quickly noted that the more important the information was, the more impervious the storage medium had been made.

“You say that – but if the old realm on this shelf is right, then this aisle is for poetry” Shimmer noted, reading a very worn and scratched out sign.

That put them somewhere in the college of the arts, one of the twelve colleges that made up the entirety of the university. Cash suggested they seek out a map or some other common area, so they could make their way to the college of sorcery, if their goal was to have one of them become the head of the college of sorcery.

“No, we should seek out the administrative offices. We need to find out how one becomes a head of the college and chief librarian” Sunrise noted, having given the matter no small amount of thought.

The others agreed that the administrative offices wouldn’t be a bad idea – but none of them had any clue where that would be, especially since Speaker had said that a lot of the university staff back in the first age had been spirits, not ponies. Still, there had been plenty of actual ponies teaching, and the heads of the colleges and the chief librarian had all been ponies, so some kind of administration of the ponies of the place had to have been there somewhere.

Sullen Hoof appeared, saying that the immediate way further into the college was clear: “…but it’ll be difficult to avoid detection once we get into the dormitories and everything around the central spire – its swarming with apes”

And because nothing ever came easy, then it turned out that the old administrative offices were located in a section of the base off the central spire. This meant sneaking through the heart of Rakshi’s ape kingdom. Enroute Sullen Hoof cut down dozens upon dozens, if not hundreds of various apes standing guard. It was chiefly gorillas, but also quite a few orange-furred orangutangs in crudely woven garbs that clearly marked them as some kind of clergy or officials.

What was a little more disturbing, was when the circle came across a trio of orangutangs which seemed to have prepared sorcerous spells. The barrage of magical fire, razor obsidian and other nasty things being conjured and flung at them was one thing – but that these apes had been taught sorcery… this had implications, and not good ones.

“Well shit, so much for being worried that only Rakshi could summon demons” Sullen Hoof said, pushing a dead orangutang off his orichalcum cleaver.

Shimmer stood still with her eyes closed, her ears twitching as she extended her senses out beyond her own body: “I can’t tell if they’re summoning – but after that last patrol managed to scream for help, I’m sensing at least five other groups of orange ones are shaping sorcery in the next hall”

Brushing the last of the magical shrapnel off his torn clothes, Speaker frowned: “I expected the university spirit to be keeping the peace. Where is that bloody thing?”

Sunrise and Cash both looked to shrug, when Shimmer perked up: “It might be close… I think. I’m sensing something that’s following us… and it’s been moving through the walls”

“Sounds like the university spirit! Sunrise, Cash – call it!” Speaker said, a little antsy as he stood ready with his two gyroscopic chakrams held as shields, to parry more blasts of sorcery.

Cash gave Sunrise a polite pat on the shoulder, then drew a deep breath and flashed his caste mark: “Spirit of the six-fold spire! We are solars who wish to study here and check out certain books – attend to us!”

Shimmer spun around and pointed at a spot on the dirty floor. A few seconds later the translucent form of a young filly appeared, one clad in very nice shogunate style clothes. It spoke with the voice of a filly, but in a tone and with a cadence of a much wiser and thoughtful being than that of a young foal: “I am the spirit of the six-fold spire. How may I help you?”

Cash looked to the rest of the circle, who nodded at him, at which he turned to the spirit: “I understand that this university has been without a chief librarian for quite a while. I am here to assume that position for the time being. Do you know the procedure for assuming that position?”

The spirit blinked for a few moments, her eyes glowing from within: “That is correct. To assume the position of chief librarian one must swear the oath of literary guardianship in the main hall of the spire, before at least one college head”

Everyone groaned. Cash quickly followed that up by asking for the procedure for becoming a college head, to which the spirit quickly stated: “To become a college head one must wield the correct staff of office, and attune to it”

“Really? Like the districts in Stygia? Cute” Cash mused, looking around to see if anything remotely staff-like was in sight.

Sunrise noted that there was no doubt implied a great deal of selection to have taken place prior to giving a staff to a new college head. The others agreed, but that of course begged the question of where these staves were. The spirit of the college was asked about this, to which end she noted that the staves for all colleges other than that of sorcery had been missing from Sperimin for a very long time.

“And where is the staff of sorcery then?” Sunrise inquired to the spirit.

Instead of answering with words, the spirit made a gesture towards the floor. The adamant tiles lit up, lighting a path for the circle to follow. While this made it easy to find the way to the college of sorcery, it also meant that the apes along the way knew that something was up. This made surprise attacks and sneaking around very difficult, as the apes were very much so on edge.

It also didn’t help that the college of sorcery was apparently one of the places where the orangutangs all lived, the circle quickly finding itself horribly outnumbered by hundreds of sorcerer-apes blasting at them with all manner of spells. Sure, each ape barely had the essence to shape into being a single spell, but there were hundreds, if not thousands, on the floor, swinging around on the walls, hanging from the ceiling. The university spirit said that the staff of sorcery was somewhere amidst the apes, wielded by one of them – though a clause in the university protocols required that all staff either be spirits or ponies, so the apes couldn’t access the powers afforded by the staff when in Sperimin.

Of course, being told such things while under a heavy barrage of howling fire, screaming ice, blasts of liquid acid and swarms of razor-sharp obsidian butterflies, did not exactly improve the situation – and the circle knew that every second they waited was time for Rakshi to recover.