The Tome of Exalted Ponies

The Swaying Grass Dance stylist only eats soup using his feet instead of his hands and only while listening to music.

…

The next morning Speaker woke up alone in Asina’s bed. At first he feared that he would wake up to a circle of spears – but instead a servant standing silently in the corner perked up as he roused, leaving without saying a word.

A few moments later Asina showed up, fully dressed – though not in an evening gown – but still, her embroidered silks were exquisite: “You’re up, excellent – I’ve had a lovely breakfast table prepared for us”

Washing up and getting dressed, Speaker joined Asina and discovered that Shimmer also sat with them. He wasn’t entirely sure what was most awkward, having slept with someone and having to eat breakfast in front of Shimmer right after, or walking on eggshells because he had no idea if Asina was going to out him and maybe Shimmer as anathema.

“I figured it would be best to bring your servant along” Asina said cheerfully.

Shimmer, still in her servant’s gown, kept switching her gaze between Speaker and their unicorn mare host: “Thank you my lady”

Not much was said beyond that – indeed, Asina seemed oddly hesitant to engage in conversation, mostly just nodding and smiling. It was awkward as all hell, but relatively smooth beyond that.

Leaving, Speaker politely bid goodbye to his host: “Thank you for a most wonderful party Ledaal Asina, and if you ever find yourself in the scavenger lands do come visit. I hear that the cooking in Sunhill is absolutely to die for”

The unicorn mare nodded and smiled, but Shimmer sensed something… else… not fear – but a strange form of respect and admiration?

As the duo made their way to the harbour, to find their ship towards thousand dragons lake, Shimmer simply had to ask: “What in all the beached jellyfish was that all about Lord Bright? …and you totally slept with her, didn’t you?”

“I did – hope you don’t mind – and I think her fear of anathema wasn’t as great as how much she loved hearing someone sticking it to the deathlords”

Shimmer bobbed her head from side to side, appearing to contemplate what Speaker had just said – appearing as if she at least had a basic understanding of what a deathlord was: “Not bad my lord – you think she could be a future ally?”

“I… wait, an ally? Maybe? She very far from Sunhill – not sure she could do much for us – and she doesn’t have many years lefts” Speaker mused, honestly surprised that Shimmer spoke so calmly about the idea of allying with a realm unicorn. The old Shimmer had hated unicorns with a burning passion.

Looking around herself, and making a motion that Speaker remembered from the old Shimmer as a charm that would let her know if anyone were listening in on them, Shimmer suddenly got a much sneakier look on her face: “Alright Lord Bright, listen: While you were telling tall tales to the nobs, I was talking to the servants and staff here – made some friends – and they clued me in on a rebellion that’s brewing here”

“Nobs? Oh nobles – and a rebellion? Well, it wouldn’t be the first time that An-Teng temporarily regained its independence from the realm” Speaker noted, recalling the history lessons he’d learned back in Lookshy about how some two-hundred years ago the realm had recalled its legion garrisoning An-Teng to quell a rebellion elsewhere, resulting in An-Teng overthrowing the defenceless satrap and ruling itself independently for several years until the legion returned and forced the three kings of An-Teng to bend the knee again.

Shimmer didn’t appear to know of this historical precedent, but then it also seemed that the rebellion she’d been clued in on wasn’t really connected to that either: “No Lord Bright, they’re not waiting for the legion here to be recalled this time. There’s a secret cult somewhere here, doing some kind of sun-worship – and they’re looking for a sun-touched champion to lead them in an uprising. They claim to worship the forbidden sun, and seek its salvation”

“Sounds like what you’d expect to hear sun-worship called in a place ruled by the realm for thousands of years. You sure they weren’t just lying to you to set you up?”

The look that the lunar shot back at Speaker was almost offended – almost – but she knew that Speaker had yet to get much of a grasp of what she actually could: “Oh I am certain. I used a charm to enhance the appearance this outfit gave me, convincing them that I really was a disgruntled tribal servant you had bought as a slave up in Wavecrest. This made them very sympathetic to me, started talking all kinds of shit about their masters once they had enough to drink”

“That’s still not a lie-detector charm” Speaker noted, having noticed that Shimmer was leading him to somewhere that most certainly wasn’t the harbor.

Shimmer frowned, clearly unsatisfied that Speaker wasn’t on board with her discovery: “Do you have a lie-detector charm Lord Bright?”

“I do – makes running a city state a lot easier. Now this cult, how about we check it out before leaving?”

The young mare cycled through a lot of different expressions as she revised her schemes with this new information: “Interesting idea, Lord Bright. After they told me of the cult, I tracked down the cultist hideout while in the form of a snake: Its legit and I know where it is now – and there was the scent of many ponies down there, and it seemed shady as hell, a real haven for smugglers, so make sure to use your lie-detector charm there”

“Oh nice. I’ll be sure to do that. If I start saying anything about how this isn’t like back home east, then it’ll be my signal that they’re lying and that we might be in trouble”

The hideout in question turned out to be in the basement level of a warehouse, illuminated via what appeared to be brightly luminescent bugs held in murky glass jars. The warehouse itself was set at the edge of the harbour district, looking quite uninteresting from the outside – with plenty of work crews hauling cargo around, making it easy to get lost in the crowd.

Through secret hoof-signs that Shimmer had been taught the duo was let in, and a cultist wearing a crudely woven sack cloth hood greeted them once they had been ushered inside: “Greetings fellow seekers. Are you here to give aid to the cause?”

“We would like to learn more about the cause first before we give you funds, but I’m sure we can help you” Speaker said quietly, seeing the many closed doors they were passing in the hallway. It was difficult to judge the size of the operation, which was probably by design. Clever.

The two were led into a small room with a table, five chair and two other hood cultists sitting waiting for them. The only source of light were some small candles in wall-set lanterns, casting strong and dancing shadows all over.

Speaker and Shimmer were asked to introduce themselves before the hooded ponies would do the same – and so Speaker spoke freely, to a certain extent, explaining that he was a traveling lord from the scavenger lands who had no sympathies for the realm: “And while I am planning on returning home soon, then I would like to make a donation for your cause, if I find it worthy”

Shimmer took her cue and produced the large purse of silver and cowries from her saddlebags, taking care to nibble it out with her mouth and not reveal her true exalted nature just yet, just as Speaker was careful not to.

The three cultists looked at the bulging purse for a moment, then one of them spoke up: “That… wow… that’ll keep us funded and stocked for months! We truly are blessed!”

“Well, I have been made to understand that you’ve been looking for sun-chosen champions – where I’m from there is an organization known as the cult of the illuminated who have similar goals. I help fund them too” Speaker explained, feeling that now these cultists would probably start explaining things.

Another of the cultists drew back her sack cloth hood – revealing a work-worn face with teeth ground from a sand-rich diet, smiling from ear to ear: “We have heard of them – but the immaculates hunt them eagerly, and the satrap has banned that cult for heresy, while we work hard to remain hidden. No, but now we are doubly blessed! A champion and a big donation like this, all in the same week? Oh, this is amazing”

Wait, had another solar already shown up? Speaker exchanged a curious glance with Shimmer, who nodded.

“We would like to meet this champion. If his leadership of your cause is up to snuff, then I think we can set up some kind of arrangement via the Denzik to funnel money to you somewhat regularly” Speaker said, curious to meet this champion and not at all against the idea of funding a rebellion against the realm if it was competently led.

The unhooded mare looked at her hooded peers who both nodded: “Very well – but we will have to check with our champion to see if he is available. Last I heard he was in deep meditation at one of our secret shrines. If you would wait here, please”

The unhooded and one of the hooded cultists got up and left, leaving just one cultist with the duo. Annoyed that they had been left with a minder, Speaker reached towards the pony across the table in a friendly gesture: “Please, could you tell me your story? How did you get involved in this? How bad is the realm’s oppression and exploitation of the tengese?”

With a sigh the hooded pony cleared his throat, briefly bowing down to draw back his hood. With a split-second motion so fast that Shimmer barely saw it, Speaker reached a bit further and poked the pony, the stallion instantly slumping down onto the table asleep. Shimmer reacted fast enough to catch him, so that the stallion didn’t hit his head: “What did you do to him Lord Bright?”

“Same thing I did to fix your nightmare – I can make a pony fall asleep with but a touch – as far as he’s concerned, he’s dreaming about telling us his story in this very room. The instant we wake him up he shouldn’t even be able to tell the difference – we can talk freely now” Speaker quickly stated.

Shimmer drew a slow breath, considering the ramifications of what Speaker had just said and done: “Alright my lord… but, does this mean that they have another solar here?”

“That’s what it sounds like – and trust me, that’s a rarity. Back east the… the ones I keep telling you about that you keep forgetting, they capture newly exalted solars and rob them of their memories, making them forget that they have powers. We have to warn this one. I know a powerful mental defence charm that can prevent a memory attack from taking hold. I could teach it to him before we move on”

“Oh, that sounds like a good idea Lord Bright” Shimmer noted enthusiastically, recalling how Sage had told her that for Lunars to safely operate in Creation, they had to steal the shapes of other ponies or creatures since shapeshifting into them obscured their true fate, making magical tracking difficult – maybe that was related to what Lord Bright was talking about?

A while later the wicker door jarred, and Speaker quickly flicked a small pebble at the nose of the cultist with them. The cultist snapped to, a little confused and coughing, but saw Speaker and Shimmer looking at him and nodding, so they must have been paying attention to his story. He quickly turned to look at the ponies at the door: “Oh hey, didn’t hear you coming. Did the champion have time for an audience?”

The two hooded cultists who had come in both nodded, though one gestured for calm: “First we must pray at the shrine, then the champion will join us”

Alright. It had certainly been a while since Speaker had sent a proper prayer to Celestia, so why not?

The duo was let led through the maze-like underground complex – it seemed to extend beyond the warehouse they had entered via, with tunnels dug through torn-down sections of basement walls. The tunnels were braced with sturdy and tared timbers which made the place smell smoky, while the glowing bugs in glass jars hanging along the tunnel gave off a fluttering light as they crawled around in their murky jars.

The shrine turned out to be cleverly placed in a surprisingly clean sewer cistern. High above a hole in the ceiling a led to the surface, which let sunlight in – and it seemed set up so that at high noon the sunlight would fall directly on the altar.

Now this was a setup that Speaker had seen before, mainly via hidden cult of the illuminated shrines he’d come across in Nexus and other places in the east – and that familiarity felt good all things concerned.

“We must be quiet here” a cultist whispered, gesturing for the duo to approach the shrine.

The shrine itself was very simple, and was mostly covered in fresh flowers, small pouches with what was probably offerings of fragrant herbs, and other meagre things that the cultists could afford to give away. On a simple and rough stone pedestal was a beautifully carved wooden sun, unpainted. It was humble but to the point – this was sun-worship alright.

The cultist guided the two to kneel at the shrine, and whispered: “Here we pray in silence to the forbidden sun – please join me”

Joining in, the duo gave their quiet prayers – and a minute or so later a pony joined them. Speaker looked up, and saw the pony wrapped in strangely ornate bandages: The flaxen ribbons were adorned with sewn-in squares of what looked like bronze, each square featuring minutely etched old realm glyphs. Whispering, Speaker said “Greetings” but the new strange pony quickly gestured for silence, followed by gestures for Speaker and Shimmer to follow him.

Getting up, the duo followed along into an adjacent chamber. It appeared to be the champion’s private chamber and was surprisingly nice: Nice wooden furniture wrought of bamboo, detailed murals of what appeared to be Tengese ponies fighting unicorns alongside elephants and other jungle animals, and flags and banners that were ostensibly of a Tengese nationalist nature, for they were certainly not Realm banners.

“Forgive me for the late introductions – but we are weary of the realm’s secret police. We have taken great efforts to remain hidden. My name is Bitter Copal, a doctor and alchemist from Adorned with Wisdom as a Sapphire. My bloodline once ruled An-Teng as kings, but now we simply bow our heads and plant rice. We welcome any aid to our cause to free ourselves” the pony stated, all of his face and entire body wrapped in those strange bandages… leaving only eyes that burned with a great pride and passion.

Speaker marvelled at the curios on display, while Shimmer remained silent.

Bitter Copal continued to tell his story, of how he had graduated from the foremost house of learning in An-Teng, a place known as Adorned with Wisdom as a Sapphire. There he had learned the history of his people and his heart had swelled with nationalistic pride, but when he had graduated, he had only been able to find work on an imperial merchant ship under a ship’s surgeon who just wanted someone to cover for his drinking habit: “…then three weeks out at sea we were attacked by lintha pirates. The captain, a unicorn mare from house Nellens, and the marines on board managed to fight off the lintha, but that just left me and the drunkard to triage all the wounded… and in his drunken state the surgeon cost the captain her right foreleg. He managed to blame me, and as punishment the captain cut off my leg with her jade daiklaive”

Listening to the horrible story, Speaker couldn’t help but notice that Bitter Copal’s right forelimb was… not missing – but then again, the stallion was completely covered in what could well be some kind of magical bandages. What else had the angry captain done to Bitter Copal?

“I was then thrown overboard for the sharks to eat, but in my bitter prayers I was heard – for I prayed for the power to give retribution upon the oppressors who exploit and abuse my people!” Bitter Copal said triumphantly, angry tears in his eyes.

Nodding, Speaker could only express his sympathy: “I know the feeling. A young unicorn, barely a summer since his second breath, was about to kill me when I was chosen”

“I knew it! I could feel that there was something familiar about you! I have been praying every day for an ally to help me overthrow the unicorns that oppress us here!” Bitter Copal said, his tears turning into that of joy.

It of course helped – sort of – that his eyes were the only thing not covered by bandages on Bitter Copal.

“Tell me, what caste did you exalt into?” Shimmer wondered.

Bitter Copal nodded, and stood before the duo. Then a third eye on his forehead opened – over his bandages – and as it opened a green and smokeless flame came from the eye.

Speaker stumbled backwards, absolutely horrified: “That… that is not a normal caste-mark!”

Standing more resolute, Shimmer leaned in to observe: “That green fire – that’s… hellfire – demonic flame”

Looking confused at the two, Bitter Copal quickly realized his error – and the error of those before him: “You… you are not a fellow green sun prince?”

Her silver-blue circular caste mark lighting up, Shimmer shrugged: “Of course not, I’m a lunar – and Lord Bright here is a solar”

His eyes widened – unnaturally so – Bitter Copal didn’t quite seem sure if he should angry, haughty or something else. In this moment of internal conflict, Shimmer quickly asked: “So… what’s with the voice in your head?”

Bitter Copal quickly looked at Shimmer, confused: “What? You can hear him too?”

“Raspy voice, sounds like a crab talking above water? Only crabby demon I know of is a tomescu demon – why is it talking in your head and telling you to be very careful right now?” Shimmer said, being very careful to buy Speaker enough time to get his bearings again.

Thoroughly distracted, the green sun prince didn’t quite notice that Speaker had gotten up again – nor that his eyes had flashed golden as he beheld the bandage-covered pony with essence sight: “That’s enough Shimmer”

Shimmer wound down the distraction charm she had been employing, a simple yet profoundly effective charm that made her the centre of attention. It was amazing for making sure others were only paying attention to her, not anything else: “Alright Lord Bright – but he totally has a demon talking in his head… and it’s really scared now”

“Makes sense – I guess – any demon worshiping cult discovering that they have been found by a powerful pony would be afraid – but let’s not jump to conclusions yet, there’s no need for this to turn hostile – Copal here still champions a worthy cause” Speaker said, brushing himself off.

Bitter Copal looked confused at Speaker: “Wait, what?”

Shimmer’s ears twitched all over the place: “…there are demons all over this place Lord Bright, hidden – they sound confused, not sure if they should attack us, or if that would endanger their master here”

Greatly appreciative of Shimmer’s perceptive nature, Speaker nodded: “You’re not the first pony we’ve found who made dark choices in the face of horrible circumstances – and we’ve helped many of the abyssal exalted redeem themselves. Whether tainted by death or demons, then you’re still carrying what was clearly once a solar exaltation, that much I can tell. If you want, we can probably help you purify that and redeem your soul, if you want”

With a deep breath Bitter Copal seemed to calm ever so slightly: “Redeem my soul?”

“I don’t know what kind of spiritual chains your demon masters have put you under, but the deathknights under the deathlords are under a heavy hoof to control them. As a restored solar you would be free to aid your people without any kind of chains on you – and I don’t know if the memory of your people reaches back that far, but An-Teng was once a favoured place among the solar host. The golden lord took his name from us after all” Speaker said, going through everything he knew about abyssals and the spiritual chains they were held in thrall via. A ‘green sun prince’ had to be under some kind of similar control – the demon lords were a lot of things, but they weren’t stupid enough to empower solaroids without some way of controlling them, right?

Taking a moment to centre himself, Bitter Copal reached for chairs and a table. His right forelimb’s bandages came undone, and the limb revealed itself to be a mess of chitin and tentacles that stretched to fetch the furniture: “The ponies of An-Teng have prayed to the golden lord, crying out for justice, since time immemorial. He has never raised his hoof to stop the abuses of the realm on us… his justice never came to us”

“Did… did you get that with your exaltation?” Speaker said, straining to keep his expression polite and calm in the face of such a hideous mutation, even if it seemed very ‘functional’ and utilitarian.

The young green sun prince nodded as he sat down and gestured for the duo to join him: “No, I was ‘repaired’ once I was brought to Malfeas to receive my training and learn the charms for my exaltation, granted this five-fold demon limb. Now, regarding your previous question: Would it surprise you that the Yozi did not initially tell me anything about such there being such chains upon me?”

“Makes sense that they wouldn’t – but you said initially – so what changed?” Shimmer quickly asked.

From a pile of coconuts Bitter Copal drew several over to the table with his arm-tentacles. Then his mutated limb pulsed and retracted into his shoulder socket – emerging a split second later as a giant crab clawed limb covered in thick chitinous armor. He cracked the coconuts very easy with that claw, passing the coconuts to his guests: “I found that the yozis are strangely hidebound – and that makes them oddly easy to manipulate, assuming that you know what buttons to push”

“They are bound by their nature – and to deviate from that hurts them spiritually and on a fundamentally existential level. So, you found one you could trick into talking?” Speaker noted, remembering quite a lot of the trickery and diplomacy that the solar host had employed at the yozis had exploited those aspects of their nature.

Nodding as he took a bite from his coconut – nut and all – Bitter Copal elaborated: “I assume you at least know of the yozi known as She Who Lives In Her Name? She is… very much into having everything be orderly. The nature of this order is something she will gladly elaborate on, for days on end if you aren’t careful. I simply had to ask how me and my peers were to be kept in her perfected order”

Speaker and Shimmer nodded, listening curiously.

“As part of their manipulation of our exaltations, they implanted a demonic urge to go along with it. In my case my urge suits me oddly well: I am to free An-Teng from the Realm and unite it under its royal family, so I’m not really complaining… for it suits my designs quite well”

“Hold on – if that’s your urge, then that’s not your personal goal in all this?! Are you more out for personal vengeance or something?” Shimmer pointed out, wanting to be sure that Speaker didn’t start helping these strange demon-worshiping ponies if their designs were beyond salvation, having been advised to be careful in how she might guide her solar mate to remain on a righteous path.

Bitter Copal smiled as he chewed a mouthful of coconut, but his eyes had begun to tear up angrily, to which end he bitterly replied: “No, for I am a scholar. I graduated from the most prestigious house of learning in An-Teng, Adorned with Wisdom as a Sapphire! Yet, the realm sees the tengese as naught but foolish peasants. Part of that is an intentional shroud to avoid interacting with them, but I want to end that and show all of creation just how clever we are!”

“To prove to the realm and the rest of creation that the Tengese are to be taken serious?” Speaker mused.

With tears in his eyes, Bitter Copal bemoaned the indignities that the tengese had submitted to for untold millennia, even since the usurpation: “We will walk with bowed heads no more”

A deep breath, followed by a kind but serious smile, Speaker found what he heard to be in his liking: “I’m not hearing any lies here – so I think we can still help you out”

“You… you’re serious? You still want to help me?” Bitter Copal said, sounding oddly shocked.

“I see no reason not to. In fact, I see quite a few reasons to – if for nothing else then to make sure that An-Teng doesn’t become another corner of Malfeas in your quest to free your people” Speaker said, sounding both sure of himself but also caring for the plight of the Tengese.

“A corner of Malfeas? No, but with the legions of demons at my command we can sweep An-Teng of realm ponies – right now we’re excavating tunnels and building summoning chambers. Once it’s all set up, we’ll flood the city with demons and overrun the legion garrisoning the coastal forts” Bitter Copal said defiantly, sounding very much as if he had it all figured out.

Speaker was about to say something in response when Shimmer cut him off: “I’m sure your demon masters would love nothing else – but what will your people say? How will you sate the thirst of your bloodhound demons once there are no more realm ponies to bleed dry? How will you handle your firmin demons plucking ponies of the street, to decorate their needle nests with pony corpses? Or when the marotte demons start killing foals left and right when their playing around gets too rough? The realm is only working An-Teng hard, not killing tengese ponies out of natural instinct”

Both Speaker and Bitter Copal looked quite surprised – but the green sun prince’s expression quickly faded into a look of horror as it seemed his thoughts drifted into something along the line of “Yes, my demon army would probably end up doing something like that…”

As both a statespony, military officer and a doctor, Speaker quickly saw where Bitter Copal’s plan had missed its mark: “You said you’re educated as a doctor – right?”

“I also have a degree in alchemy, yes” Bitter Copal said quietly, his eyes distant as it seemed his mind was still reeling.

“Do you have any experience at warcraft? Or statecraft?” Speaker inquired.

The bandage-covered pony dropped his head: “I… that’s why I was looking for allies. I know nothing of statecraft or even running a cult like this, and I was only taught the most basic of military manoeuvring – I was told to rely on the numbers and fury of my demon minions, not much else. I can fashion weapons and equipment easily, but I am the last pony you want leading troops in battle or directing troops as a strategos. The demons would be able to do all that on their own I was told”

“Then it’s not our funding you need, but my expertise in all things military and governance … but I have no plans on staying here – my people back east need me, as much as the Tengese needs you” the solar calmly stated.

Bitter Copal sighed: “If I request aid from my masters or another green sun prince to assist me, both will likely suggest we simply summon a demon army and use that – but I can see what you mean. The plight of my people has to be considered if I am to truly free them! There’s no sense in freeing An-Teng if it is simply put under the hoof of a cruel demon horde which will abuse them even worse… that’s not freedom at all!”

Speaker wanted to say something encouraging – but in that moment Bitter Copal sat up straight, as if possessed, and resolutely said: “No, I must free An-Teng!”

So that’s how the demonic urge worked – lovely.

“Look, at Sunhill we have a great track record of redeemed and purifying deathknights and their abyssal exaltations. I’m sure we can figure something similar out for you – then you will be free of your urge, and you’ll be free to impress upon Creation the greatness of the Tengese”

It was clear that Bitter Copal found the prospect intriguing.

The negotiations continued, more tender coconuts were consumed, and in the end, it seemed that despite having been part of a secret demon worshiping cult for most of his life, then Bitter Copal was actually quite nice once you got to know him. Speaker found a lot of parallels between Copal’s cult, the Seven Stranded Wine, and the Cult of the Illuminated – the biggest difference being that the seven stranded wine wasn’t on the immaculates watchlists, but both cults claimed that a higher power could save you in this life, and it was waiting for exalted champions to help free their people. Of course, it was also worshiping demons to achieve that goal, but still…

By the evening, having long missed their ship, the duo was escorted to a secret entryway to the cult hideout outside of the city. In the cave where they had been let out, Speaker cast his spell to conjure a flying cloud, allowing the duo fly off, all the while Shimmer tried to count the number of oddly attentive insects that she swore was looking at them.

Once they flew off, both of them breathed heavy sighs of relief. Shimmer quickly apologized: “I had no idea… I am so sorry for putting us in such a situation Lord Bright”

“Don’t be – we probably just saved An-Teng from being overrun by demons in the near future” Speaker said as he guided the magical cloud to fly east and fly upwards as quickly as it could.

Shimmer didn’t look entirely convinced: “In the short run maybe – but you heard him: He needs someone who can lead this rebellion as well as organize it properly, without relying on demons – your education charm granted him some basic administrative insight, but it won’t be enough”

“True. I think I know a pony who can help – but it all depends on how far he’s come with restoring Great Forks’ military – either way Bitter Copal said he would hold off on the invasion, focusing more on summoning demons to build him an arsenal to equip an army and train up his cultists” the solar mused, but that would have to wait until they got back home.

“You know a pony? Someone who knows how to raise an army?” Shimmer wondered.

Nodding, Speaker told Shimmer of the redeemed abyssal now known as Lee of the Third Breath, now a solar of the dawn caste, who had fought with them at Deep Rot, who lived in Great Forks.

“I think I’d like to go there one day” Shimmer said.

Speaker said that they would no doubt fly past Great Forks on their way back – but Shimmer quickly corrected him: “No, I meant Deep Rot – you’ve told a lot of stories about it, but I just can’t… I don’t remember anything about it”

“Lytek, the god of exaltation, prunes memories like that before releasing exaltations to find new hosts. You really don’t want to remember how it feels to die – it’s not fun” Speaker noted, his voice taking on a gloomier tone.

Shimmer, sitting down beside Speaker, quickly picked up on the subtle cue in that statement: “You… you remember that, Lord Bright?”

“I do – I had a deal with Lytek. We were close friends in my past life, still are – but trust me, it’s not fun being able to remember locking yourself in your own tomb and laying down to die”

As perceptive as she was, Shimmer instantly felt that she had dug a bit too deep into that topic: “I… sorry Lord Bright – can we change the topic?”

“Gladly. Do you remember what Bitter Copal said about the Golden Lord?” Speaker asked.

Shimmer said that she did – but she wasn’t familiar with that particular god. Speaker explained that even in the first age the golden lord had been the god of An-Teng, but he was also the celestial god of justice. Their conversation continued about that well into the evening as they flew on, right until they covertly landed outside a village set on the shores of the river of queens and took up lodging in a tavern there: “It sounds very out of character for him to let such abuses and injustice go on for so long… I would love to go and have a chat with him about that”

A drunken patron appearing out of nowhere suddenly stumbled over to the duo’s table, knocking over Speaker’s cup of local thin ale: “Ya, the golden bastard hasn’t done shit for us – hell, the pale mare barely ever answers your prayers anymore – the gods are all shit ya hear!”

Other local Tengese were quick to haul off their drunk peer – bowing and apologizing profusely. Shimmer appeared sympathetic, whispering: “No wonder some of them turned to demon worship, if they’re feeling abandoned by their gods”

“The immaculates can have that effect on local gods, forcing them into taking a less active role with the ponies that worship them – a sound thrashing by an immaculate unicorn can make a god very scared to do anything not permitted by immaculates” Speaker noted bitterly, having entertained a lot of divine guests from Great Forks who had told of such stories, many of which asking for his healing powers.

Shimmer shrugged: “The spirits we gave prayers and offerings to back at Five-palms were good at letting their presence be known – we wouldn’t worship them otherwise, Lord Bright - do you think that the immaculates got the better of this golden lord god?”

“It could have happened – but he was a very powerful god, so honestly I don’t see it… plus, the immaculates can’t do anything up in Yu-Shan where he lives”

“Goes to show what you know foreigner – the golden lord has his divine residence up on the pinnacle of mercy, in the fire mountains, everyone knows that” another patron said, garnering quite a few angry glares from the other tengese patrons around her for speaking out of turn.

Ok, so the golden lord had moved from Yu-Shan to creation?

“I guess we could give him a visit – would be on our way home” Speaker said, putting down his ale.