Sunset Shimmer panted heavily as she sprinted through the darkened halls of Canterlot Castle. The pounding of her feet against the flawless polish of just one of thousands of marble floors rang in her ears even as she threw open a door ahead of herself, sealing it again with her magic as soon as she’d passed through it's threshold.
“Stupid!” Sunset berated herself in her mind, absently shoulder-checking a maid that got in her way and not bothering to look back at the sound of the priceless Chineaghs tea set smashing against the wall. “Stupid! Honestly, why would you confront her like that! She’s Princess ‘Raises the Bucking Sun’ Celestia!”
“I didn’t think she’d be so hostile that fast!” another part of her mind chimed in, and Sunset briefly considered the implications of her psyche arguing with itself before focusing on her escape. “I mean really, it's just a puzzle box!”
“A puzzle box from the DARK MAGIC section of the castle’s RESTRICTED VAULTS!” The first voice practically snarled.
“Shut up!” Sunset finally snarled out loud, gasping as the sound of heavy footfalls behind her signalled the guards approaching. Thinking quickly, she ducked into the nearest door and pushed it closed quietly, just catching a glimpse of the golden armour of Celestia’s guard as the squadron stampeded past, their captain barking orders.
Letting out a sigh, Sunset clicked the door fully shut as quietly as she could before backing into the room fully. She took but a moment to look around, taking in the dust-coated tarps and old crates almost absently as she sank to her backside and pulled the source of her troubles from her purse.
It was a simple thing, really. Just a wooden box, just small enough to rest in the palm of her hand as she held it up. Strange designs covered its surfaces, the origins of which Sunset simply could not place, but the six-segmented circle in the top, seemingly split into to sets of three by the parting of the lid.
Shrugging, Sunset began fiddling with the box, more curious to see if she could figure out the puzzle than she was aiming to open it. She could stop, she reasoned, just before opening it. That way nothing would get out, right?
Fingers pressed into segments, panels slid back and forth, and still Sunset struggled with the puzzle box. She tried her magic, but just like when she’d first grabbed it, her magical touch slipped off the box’s surface like water.
Sunset’s eyes widened as the lid seemed to raise slightly, as though releasing pressure from within. Cautiously, Sunset prodded one half of the lid, seeing it shift from her touch. She set the box down and backed away, fear gripping her heart as she realised she had finished the puzzle without thinking. What had she just released? What horrid evil had Celestia felt so strongly about was sealed away in an unassuming little wooden box like this!?
Slowly, the lid of the box pushed open, unfolding in a bisection to reveal a strange, white mask, stylised with red, black, and yellow markings to look almost like a smiling witch. Sunset blinked owlishly at the mask, about to reach out just to see what the big deal was until the object floated out of the box of its own accord.
Sunset stifled a shriek of terror as the mask slowly righted itself, a spectral ‘body’ of purple mist slowly forming from it's back into a somewhat squid-like form, complete with long shadow tendrils for hair and a pair of somewhat thick limbs ending in pointed mitts.
Silence filled the room for what felt like an eternity, during which Sunset could practically feel her heart trying to leap out of her own chest, until finally the ghost moved, seeming to stretch it's incorporeal body as it gave a great, raspy yawn.
“What time is it, mamo?”
Sunset blinked. Reaching up, she rubbed at her ear, sure she had misheard.
“Mamo? Tata?” The ghost spoke, slowly looking around as it seemed to gain it's bearings before heaving a deep, gusty sigh. “No dobra, zapomniałem”
Sunset remained as quiet as she could as the ghost began to move, seemingly muttering to itself in a language she couldn’t quite put her hoof on.
“Where the hell has that suka wybielona słońcem left me now…” the ghost muttered, turning and looking directly at Sunset. The ghost stared at her.
Sunset started back.
“Do diaska…”
“Horsefeathers…”
As they each cursed to themselves under their breaths, both individuals suddenly leapt forwards, talking rapidly at once.
“Now don’t panic, I won’t hurt you-“
“Please don’t start any evil monologues-“
“I just wanna get out of-“
“-here before Celestia finds me and-“
Sunset paused, blinking owlishly. The ghost seemed to do the same, somehow blinking with the large, swirled eye patterns on it's mask.
“You’re running from Celestia too?” They both asked in unison.
“Okay, that’s creepy,” they muttered at the same time.
Sunset frowned. “Apple pie tastes twice as nice with a side of hard cider.”
The ghost stared at her for a moment. “What?”
Sunset sighed in relief. “Finally. One more joined sentence and I might have thought you were trying to possess me!”
“You watch too much sci-if…” the ghost muttered, confusing Sunset before it shook its head. “Never mind. You’re running from Celestia too?”
Sunset flinched. “Yeah, I uh… kinda lost my temper and did something stupid.”
The ghost, to Sunset’s surprise, rolled it's eyes. “Her Royal Cake-Ass’ famous temper, eh?” it - she, Sunset corrected - snarked. Sunset’s face flared red - from shock or anger, she wasn’t sure.
As she opened her mouth to respond, however, distant shouting caused both the Unicorn and the Ghost to freeze.
“One of the maids said she was over here!”
“I’m detecting Dark Magic in the castle, sir!”
“Split up and search every room! Teams of three, Breach and Clear!”
“Yes Sir!”
Sunset paled as she realised they were cornered, with no clear way out. Even her strongest teleportation spell couldn’t carry her far enough-
“Quick, use this!”
Sunset blinked in surprise as a strange object was shoved into her hands, looking not unlike a strange, metallic inset. Slowly she turned the object over in her hands, confusion evident on her face. “Um…”
“Oh for the love of…” the ghost muttered, slapping one of it's tendrils to it's mask. “Just hold it in your hand and say its name to activate it.”
Sunset stared at her. The ghost sighed.
“I suppose this is a good sign…” she sighed again. “Manchurian Musca, quickly!”
As the sound of a door being kicked down nearby rang in her ears, Sunset nodded frantically, eager for a way out. “Manchurian Muska!” She cried, loud as she dared, gasping as the device began glowing in her hand.
In less than a blink, Sunset found that her vision had strangely multiplied at least a dozen-fold, though she quickly recovered from the brief disorientation this caused. As she looked around, she found the room around her had grown substantially… or rather, she had shrank! Absently she registered the buzzing of a set of insectoid wings on her back, and her muzzle was instead replaced by what she could only describe as an elongated insectoid mouth.
“I-I’m a fly!?” Sunset cried out in shock, her voice strangely high-pitched and buzzing.
“Time for that later,” the ghost snapped, beckoning her to follow. “Stick close!”
The ghost then phased through the door, close to the top, and Sunset moved to follow before the door burst open suddenly, making her panic. The stallions that entered were titanically large compared to her current size and could easily squash her under foot if they tried.
“Nothing but dust and flies in here, sir!” One of the guards shouted, and they both backed out of the room. Heated shouting followed as the captain of the squadron began berating the soldiers for letting her get away, but she ignored it as the ghost motioned for her to follow once more.
Slowly but surely, Sunset and the ghost made their way out of the castle through tiny cracks in the walls and squeezing through keyholes. The whole time, Sunset’s mind was reeling. What exactly was this spirit that had been sealed in that puzzle box? And why was Celestia so angry that Sunset had tried - and apparently succeeded - to open it?
“What’s your name?”
Sunset blinked, coming to a stop in the air above the castle statue gardens as the ghost turned to face her once again. She considered greatly, wondering for a moment of giving her name would enter her into some kind of demonic contract with this spirit… before ultimately deciding whatever contract that was must be better than facing Celestia’s wrath.
“Sunset Shimmer,” she answered readily.
The ghost nodded absently, turning to lead them down to a secluded potion of the gardens. “Turn yourself back,” she instructed. “Same way you used it before.”
Sunset nodded, once more stating the object’s name before yelping as she dropped to the ground heavily. The ghost paid her no mind, simply reclaiming the strange device and banishing it to wherever she had called it from before.
“Can you teleport?” The ghost asked.
Sunset nodded, uncertain. “Yes… but not very far,” she offered. “Maybe a block at the most.”
“Don’t worry about that,” the ghost said in dismissal. “If I give you some coordinates and feed my Chi into you, can you teleport us there?”
Sunset tilted her head in confusion. “Chi?”
The ghost sighed. “This was so much easier back when everyone spoke in old terms… magic. My magic power.”
Sunset blinked in understanding. “Oh, right! Um, I could try I guess?”
The ghost shrugged it's appendages. “Good enough,” it mused, summoning a strange lantern into its grip. “Sun Chi Lantern!”
Sunset watched in fascination as green energy flowed from the ghost's spectral body into the lantern, the spirit seeming to lose control of her form the longer it took. When she looked just ready to collapse, she stopped, panting slightly as she handed the lantern to Sunset, not burning with a brilliant green flame.
“Power your spell with that,” the ghost panted tiredly. “You might have to carry my mask too, I can’t hold this form much longer. Sorry about this…”
Before Sunset could ask, the spirit floated over and into her, somehow positioning the mask to sit just above her horn as she felt the spirit’s essence fade. What amazed her the most was the set of precise coordinates that appeared in her mind, as well as the near-crystal clear image of what she could only think of as the Equestrian Badlands.
Shrugging, Sunset charged her spell, the green flame slowly flowing to wrap around and infuse her teal-glowing horn.
“I never got her name…” Sunset mused as the power in her horn built to almost painful levels.
‘It’s Wuya,’ the spirit’s voice spoke in her mind.
Any other day, Sunset might have been freaked out by this. Today, though, she was too exhausted from her running and too focused on her spell to care.
With a bright flash of green-tinted teal, Sunset disappeared from the gardens.
Princess Celestia paced back and forth in front of her throne, a storm of emotions brewing in her mind barely held back by her carefully schooled face. Sunset Shimmer had found the ancient Puzzle Box that held possibly her greatest enemy and threatened to open it… and then fled at the Princess’ own outburst. She cursed herself for not keeping her calm - perhaps she could have talked Sunset down.
Now, amongst the flurry of emotions in her mind, she felt disappointment. In her student, for turning from the path she had laid out. In her guardsponies, for failing to both secure the vault beforehand and now for failing to bring Sunset back.
In herself, for never telling her student the truth…
Above all else, however, she was worried. The pulse of magic that her horn had given off not once, but twice since Sunset’s disappearance, could only mean one thing - the Shen Gong Wu were awakening again. In just the last hour she had detected both the Manchurian Muska and her Sun Chi Lantern within the castle walls, both artefacts that had been sealed within Wuya’s personal chi vault when she was imprisoned. That could only mean one thing.
Wuya was free.
The blinding flash of green-teal magic from the gardens told her just why Wuya had used the Lantern, and that both she and her student were long gone. Celestia heaved a heavy sigh, and turned to begin preparations for what was to come.
Her other student, Twilight Sparkle, may not be ready for this. But Celestia had little choice. The Monks of Harmony ended with her and her student, a secret that the young Twilight had held on to dearly for her entire time under Celestia’s tutelage. Now, it was time to expand their ranks.
With a wave of her hand, Celestia sealed all the doors into her throne room, drawing the curtains on every window at the same time before turning her attention to her throne. With a deep sigh, Celestia did something she thought she wouldn’t have had to for the last thousand-plus years… and twisted the ornament in the shape of her cutie mark atop the throne. The effigy of the sun clicked softly as it settled into place, a quiet rumbling filling the room as the platform her throne sat on overlooking the throne room began to descend into the ground. As it sank further into the ground, descending below the throne room itself, Celestia stepped onto the platform and took a seat on her throne, waiting.
The ground sealed itself above her as soon as the throne itself was clear of the opening, plunging Celestia into darkness until the crystals embedded into the walls of the shaft she was descended began to glow. Lower and lower Celestia travelled, until finally, the platform settled with a soft ‘thud’ and a final groan as the ancient mechanisms protested at their sudden use.
Celestia’s tired eyes took in the large chamber before her. Corridors stretched off to the left and right, curving away out of sight with countless cabinets set into the walls. Directly in front of her, Celestia’s eyes settled on a pedestal holding up a large, bronze-embossed scrolls, two sturdy handles on either side of the container with a clear split down the very center where it would open. Celestia approached the scroll slowly, feeling solemn in her duty.
“You have not led me wrong before,” she muttered quietly, reaching out to gently stroke her hand along the scroll’s length. “You led me to my students, and I failed one of them. That is on me. Please, grant me the knowledge of the others, so I may at least try to fix my mistakes.”
Almost in response to her plee, the scroll lit up with a brilliant golden light. Celestia gasped at the response, slowly reaching down to pull the container open, revealing the mystic parchment within as the magical ink swirled to show her images of whom she needed to find.
“I see…” Celestia murmured to herself. “It seems Destiny has a cruel sense of irony indeed…”
Sunset breathed deeply, slowly going through the motions of what Wuya had taught her. It had been a week since her face-off with Garble, and the adrenaline had soon rushed out of her and allowed the reality to set back in. She had fought a DRAGON! And she’d WON!
Next to her, Smolder let out a grunt of frustration, and Sunset cracked an eye to glance at the orange-scaled dragoness curiously. She was tugging at her Gi again, as Sunset thought. From the word ‘Go’ Smolder had made it clear she didn’t like the idea of wearing a Gi - said that a Dragon’s scales were the only clothes she needed. Sunset just didn’t understand what her problem was - somehow, Wuya had produced a stunning pair of training Gis, coloured a deep purple with black pants, for both of them, and they fit perfectly on Sunset’s form - loose enough to allow free movement but not too loose that she’d be falling out of them at all times.
Wuya had also taken the time to show Sunset how to properly wrap her chest for training. That… was embarrassing, at the time, but after the first sesion where she’d somehow managed to knee herself in the breast? She was very thankful for the knowledge.
They were winding down now, going through the motions of a calming mantra Wuya had taught them to bring their bodies back to a state of rest without cramping up. Wuya had left them to it, claiming she had to check on something, so as Sunset let out her last calming breath she turned to Smolder and asked the question that had been on her mind.
“What is your problem?”
Smolder froze, turning to Sunset and giving her the stink-eye. “What’s that supposed to mean?” the dragon spat.
“I mean with your gi,” Sunset explained, kneeling down to help the dragon fix her clothes. Smolder huffed and looked away. “You’ve been struggling with it since we started today - if it doesn’t fit right, why not ask for a new one?”
Smolder sighed, grumbling for a moment before answering. “I don’t like these… clothes… makes me feel stuck,” she explained. “It’s different for you, you ponies wear clothes all the time. I’m used to just letting my scales hide what I don’t want people to see. It’s… weird.”
Sunset considered for a moment before nodding. “I get that,” she said quietly. “It took me a while to get used to the changes when I first became Celestia’s student. I’m still getting used to this change - though I suppose I’m just… rolling with it, now, since I brought it on myself. Is there anything that I can help with?”
Grumbling again, Smolder glanced over her shoulder at where her wings were folded against her back under the Gi, her tail hanging over the waistband of the pants. “I just wish I could move my wings, or my tail. This hurts…”
Sunset frowned, her horn beginning to glow. “Turn around a sec?” she asked, and Smolder turned around to show her back in confusion. Sunset inspected the Gi for a moment, seeing where Smolder’s wings and tail pushed against the fabric before her horn flashed, creating openings for all three. “How’s that?” she asked, gently helping Smolder push her limbs through the gaps provided.
Smolder blinked, flexing her wings and swishing her tail experimentally before sighing in relief. “Much better,” she said with a smile, turning to Sunset. “Uh… thanks.”
“No problem.”
Before the situation could grow too awkward, Wuya came bursting back into the room, frantic as she looked around. “A Shen Gong Wu has awoken!” she cried, rushing around. “Quickly, we must move!”
“Woah!” Sunset cried as Wuya phased straight through her, turning to find the spirit holding the Sun Chi Lantern over Smolder, the Dragoness looking just as confused as her. “Why all the rush!?”
“If I felt the Wu awakening, then so did Celestia!” Wuya snapped as she funneled her Chi into Smolder, the Dragoness slowly growing in size and flexing as her Gi seemed to grow with her. “She’ll be sending her own agents to recover the Wu before us - we must get there first!”
Blinking slightly, Sunset could only nod, moving to climb onto Smolder’s back as the dragoness grew to stand thrice as large as Sunset herself. They blasted out of the fortress at high speeds, Smolder rising into the air as Wuya settled herself into Sunset once more, the mask again resting above her horn.
“So where are we going, anyway?” Smolder asked.
Sunset flinched as she felt her body react without her consent. “We must head into the area known as the White Tail Woods,” her mouth spoke, but instead of her own voice, it was Wuya’s that came out. “The Fist of Tebigong has awoken, and must be recovered!”
“That’s freaky…” Smolder muttered, shuddering as she turned to fly the group towards the wooded area in question.
“How do you think I feel?” Sunset snapped, glaring up at the mask atop her head. “Don’t do that again!”
As the group touched down in the White Tail Woods, Wuya emerged from within Sunset’s body, reclaiming her Chi from Smolder and causing the Dragoness to shrink down as the spirit’s strength returned.
“So where’s the Wu?” Smolder asked, rolling her shoulder slightly as she looked around.
Wuya looked around herself, seeming to turn randomly before freezing. “This way,” she rasped, pointing towards a seemingly random area and floating off to lead the way.
Shrugging, Sunset and Smolder followed, ducking and weaving through the wooded area before them as Wuya simply phased through whatever obstacles were in her way, seemingly forgetting her student’s inability to do the same. The pair’s eyes widened, however, as they stepped into a large clearing, taking in the sight before them.
In the center of the clearing was a solitary tree. There was nothing special about it, not really, just that it was so far removed from every other tree in the area. And on that tree, hanging from a lone branch, was a bronze-coloured glove in the shape of a closed fist.
Beneath that same tree, a group of six mares were attempting to recover the fist. Each of them stood out like a sore thumb from the rest of the group, as not one matched any of the others. Sunset made sure to take in as many details of each mare as she could.
The first she saw was an orange Earth mare, her long blonde mane and tail both tied back into ponytail styles with red hair ties. She was dressed the most ‘practically’ of the group, almost looking like a stereotype for a farmhand in her blue jeans and flannel shirt. The cowboy boots and large Stetson hat rounded her outfit up in a strange, country-western kind of style.
The second was a unicorn mare with pristine white fur. Sunset had to raise a brow in question at her outfit, the mare looking more like a model than a monk in her dark skirt and light blue satin blouse, her purple mane styled into delicate and meticulous curls.
Sunset had to strain to look at the third, mostly because she didn’t seem capable of sitting still for very long at all. A messy tangle of a bright pink mane matched with the softer pink of her fur almost hurt Sunset’s eyes as much as the chaotic rainbow of colours on her clothes - literally, as the slightly pudgy Earth mare wore a tie-dye shirt under short-legged dungarees with even more rainbows on her long socks, leading down to a pair of mis-matched sneakers in soft blue and yellow.
The two hovering above the group, attempting to hold back some of the larger branches of the tree, were Pegasi. The first seemed very timid, almost afraid to act, with long soft-pink hair covering half of her face and butter-yellow fur covering the rest of her body. A forest green sweater practically drowned her upper body for how large it was, and her legs were wrapped in grey sweats.
The second Pegasus seemed much more boisterous, for how much smaller she was than the other. Short, lithe, but built quite powerfully, she dressed in only what Sunset would hazard to call ‘workout clothes’ purely because she refused to believe the girl was out in her underwear. Dark gray Lycra shorts and sports bra, both detailed with a rainbow stripe down their sides that matched the shock of short, rainbow-coloured hair atop her blue head.
As she turned her attention to the final mare of the group, however, Sunset felt her blood run cold. The lilac-furred Unicorn in the red-and-white Gi seemed to be directing the others, her attention focused solely on the Wu above her head, but Sunset could never forget that deep purple mane with the magenta stripe. This was Celestia’s replacement for her - this was Celestia’s Prodigy. Twilight Sparkle.
Sunset jumped when she felt a claw poking her side, glancing down at Smolder. The dragoness held a claw to her lips and started sneaking around the clearing, keeping just behind the brush as she circled around, and Sunset shook her head to clear it as she moved to follow.
“Can’t you just grab it in your magic or something, Twilight?!” the blue Pegasus asked loudly, grunting from the effort of pulling one of the larger branches back.
“I told you already, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight responded firmly, shaking her head. “The Shen Gong Wu can’t be held by a magical touch. Only the physical can claim them.”
“Well then what’re we waitin’ fer?” the orange Earth mare questioned as she stepped forward, her voice a thick southern drawl. “Let’s buck this beaut’ an’ get’er on home ta the Princess!”
“Now do be careful, Applejack darling,” the white Unicorn cautioned. “You don’t know how it will react if you simply knock it out of the tree. It might go off!”
“Don’t be silly, Rare-Bare!” the pink one giggled, still bouncing around erratically. “If it was that dangerous Twi-Twi would’ve told us already! Right, Twilight? Right, right, RIGHT!?”
“Gah!” Twilight cried, stumbling back as the pink mare leapt right up and shouted in her face excitedly. Sunset clapped a hand to her mouth to suppress her snickering. “Er, I mean… yes, Pinkie Pie, I would have told you if it was that dangerous…” She paused, groaning loudly. “Which I did. Three times. The Fist of Tebigong has the power to cause tremors large enough to level a small town in the wrong hands, that’s why we’re being careful with it.”
Pinkie blinked. “Oh yeah, I remember now!” she giggled. “The Big Boom-Boom Punchy Puncher!”
Sunset had to bite her tongue not to laugh. Especially as Twilight and Wuya groaned at the exact same time. She gasped, however, when the yellow pegasus gasped in fear and released the branches she’d been holding to cover her face in fear, the tree limbs snapping back into place suddenly and sending tremors throughout the plant’s body.
“Fluttershy!” Rainbow cried, releasing her own branch to check on Fluttershy and sending even more tremors through the plant.
Sunset, Smolder, Wuya, and the entire group around the tree held their breath as the branch holding the Fist of Tebigong rattled violently, the Wu sliding inch by inch towards the end before coming to a rest at the very edge.
Twilight let out a sigh of relief as everything seemed to settle down. “Well that was-”
“Again!” Pinkie cried out suddenly, rushing up to bang on the tree trunk rapidly with her fists.
“Pinkie NO!”
The Fist of Tebigong slid off the end of the branch painfully slowly, and time seemed to slow down as it fell towards the ground. On instinct, Twilight’s horn ignited with a violet glow, a similar light surrounding the Wu before it slipped off entirely. Applejack dove to the ground to catch the Fist, but only succeeded in knocking it back into the air. Rainbow dashed to try and intercept, but blew the Wu back on itself from the force of her wingbeats.
“Eep!” Fluttershy yelped, fumbling with the Fist as it bounced between her hands before clutching it close to her chest, eyes wide as she looked around at the others in her group, trembling.
“Good catch, Darling!” Rarity praised, smiling calmly at the trembling Pegasus as Fluttershy drifted down to the ground next to her.
“Good job ‘Shy!” Pinkie cried, making Fluttershy jump from the volume. Rarity quickly took the Fist from her before it could go flying again.
Twilight looked between the group, eyes wide as she began hyperventilating before seeming to take herself through a breathing mantra. On her last exhale, she stepped forward, nodding calmly. “Nice work Fluttershy,” she praised, patting the Pegasus on her shoulder gently. “And Pinkie, please, be more careful!”
Pinkie giggled as she snapped into a salute, sticking her tongue out with a goofy grin. “Can-do, Captain Sparkle!”
Sunset sighed before flinching back as Wuya began grumbling under her breath, looking up at the Spirit in worry. “Um, Wuya?” she asked unsurely.
“Fall back for now,” Wuya said simply. “We’ll have to recover the Fist another time. Let’s just hope they’re not complete idiots with it…”
Sunset panted heavily as she sprinted across the rocky terrain around her, pushing herself to her limits. Smolder flew above her, moving as fast as she could to intercept the two Pegasi before they could catch up to her.
“On your left!” Wuya warned, and Sunset dove to the right as a stone flew past her. The unicorn winced as she realised that the force of that blow could well have dislocated her shoulder.
“Get back here, Sunset!” Twilight cried out, racing after her with a frown on her face. “I always knew you’d be trouble, but betraying Celestia like this? That’s low!”
Sunset ignored her, biting back the retort that rose in her throat to focus on running. The two Earth Ponies had disappeared, and one of them - she couldn’t remember which - had the Fist of Tebigong with them. She had to be careful.
Sunset let out a yelp as something tugged on her ankle, sending her crashing to the ground. At the last second, she tucked her arms up around her head, rolling instead of sliding to minimize any injuries she took.
“Go Twilight!” Rarity called, moving with practiced ease as she threw a number of stones at Sunset. “I’ll hold her off!”
Sunset growled, her horn flaring as she projected a dome shield over herself, surprised as the force of the delicate Unicorn’s attack cracked the forcefield like glass. She grit her teeth when Twilight rushed past her, rolling onto her front to push forward again.
“Sunset!” Wuya hissed, dropping something into Sunset’s hands. Looking down, the Unicorn blinked before slipping the object over her left hand and pointing at Twilight.
“Golden Finger!” she cried, grinning when Twilight froze in place, panicking. She then ducked as another stone flew over her head, growling under her breath. Seizing Twilight in her magic, she threw the lilac Unicorn at her friend and turned to run again.
“There it is!” Wuya pointed out, and Sunset’s eyes locked on the Wu they’d all been racing for - the Silk Spitter, wrapped up in overgrown vines and hanging from the side of a cliff. “Hurry Sunset, go!”
“I’m going, I’m going!” Sunset snapped, pushing herself. As she approached the cliff wall, her horn ignited once more and she leapt, bringing her feet up to land against the sheer face of the cliff before her and sticking fast. Glancing back, she could only smirk at Twilight and Rarity’s shocked faces before rushing up the wall, fighting back the urge to throw up as her brain struggled with the world being on its side.
As she reached the top of the cliff, Sunset grabbed hold of the vines to steady herself, reaching for the Silk Spitter in victory. As she did, however, a flash of pink entered her vision from above, and at the same moment her fingers touched the Shen Gong Wu, so too did a set of pink fingers from above. Looking up, Sunset blinked at Pinkie Pie, who hung upside down over the edge of the cliff like nothing was out of the ordinary, Applejack above her and holding her ankles tight.
“Hiya!” Pinkie greeted casually, giggling at Sunset’s shocked expression. “Uh, I guess we gotta do one of those Hoedown thingies now, right?”
Sunset groaned. “Showdown,” she corrected, nodding. “Yeah. And since you issued the challenge, I guess you choose the game.”
Pinkie beamed, practically vibrating with excitement. “Ooh, I love games!” she cried. “Um, um, um….. what about Spider’s Web! The last person to fall off the web wins!”
Sunset nodded unsurely. “Okay then, my Golden Finger against your Fist of Tebigong, all for the Silk Spitter. Agreed?”
Pinkie nodded happily. “Sounds like fun!” she cried. “Can I start it, please please pleasie-please?!”
Rolling her eyes, Sunset sighed. “Sure, go for it.”
“Yay!” Grinning wide, Pinkie wriggled out of Applejack’s grip above her, grabbing Sunset by the shoulder as she flipped and pulling them both off the cliff as Sunset began screaming. “Xiaolin Showdown!”
Sunset stumbled as the world settled once again, looking around at the arena she had found herself in. She noted idly that the two spectator platforms, for lack of better names, were once again floating above the arena, the magic of the showdown having somehow differentiated between their groups to place Wuya and Smolder on one platform, and Twilight and her friends on the other.
The arena itself was rather dark, surrounded on all sides by large, grey-stone walls with sharp and ragged surfaces and multiple outcroppings. Thick, white strands of what Sunset could only assume were spider’s webbing stretched across a sheer drop into a dark pit, criss-crossing across one another countless times as they covered the pit below.
Sunset stood upon a small stone shelf against the wall, barely enough room to move before it connected to the webbing. Across the pit, Sunset could just make out Pinkie, practically vibrating in excitement.
“Let’s go let’s go let’s go!” Pinkie shouted across the arena, her grin practically splitting her face.
Sunset nodded to herself, adjusting the Golden Finger on her hand before stepping onto the webbing. As one, the two combatants raised their hands, each showing off their respective Wu.
“Gong Yi Tem Pai!”
Without wasting too much time, Sunset leapt forward, racing across the webbing in an attempt to close the distance between her and Pinkie Pie. Silently she thanked her mother’s insistence on taking gymnastics lessons as a girl, providing her with the balance she needed for the challenge before her.
She then cursed her luck that the mare across from her seemed to simply defy physics as she skipped across the webbing without a care in the world, springing from one strand to another as she laughed and giggle-snorted to herself.
“Golden Finger!” Sunset cried, pointing her Wu at Pinkie and freezing the mare in place just as she sprung from yet another web strand. Pinkie blinked, looking around as much as she could in confusion.
“This feels funny!” Pinkie giggled, and Sunset panted as she approached the mare, trying to catch her breath.
“I know,” the Unicorn muttered. “I had it used on me before I could grab it. Now, sorry about this, but I’ll be taking the Wu now.”
Pinke blinked at her. “You will?” she asked, clearly confused. “But you haven’t won?”
Sunset blinked at her owlishly. “Uh… I’m gonna let go of you and you’re gonna fall?” she offered unsurely. “I mean… it's kind of obvious, isn’t it?”
The pink mare let out an exaggerated “OOOOOOH!” in realisation before smiling. “Well okay then! Let me go!”
Blinking unsurely, Sunset released the Golden Finger’s hold on Pinkie Pie and watched as she dropped… only to yelp as the mare grabbed the web above her with her tail and swung back up, landing on the strand behind her with a grin.
“That was fun!” Pinkie proclaimed. “But I think we need to end this party now. Bye-bye, Sunny!” Crouching down, Pinkie sprung high into the air, causing Sunset to panic as the mare flipped end over end in the air before plummeting straight down, arm extended with the Fist of Tebigong readied.
“Fist of Tebigong!”
Sunset cried out in fear as Pinkie shot downwards, striking the webbing with her Wu and sending tremors throughout the arena. Sunset was flung from the webbing violently, screaming as she flipped end over end before plummeting into the pit below.
Sunset let out a cry of discomfort as she landed on her rump, dazed and confused with a distinct lack of weight on her hand. Managing to get her bearings back, she saw Pinkie hopping from one hoof to the other, happily clutching not just the Fist of Tebigong on one hand, but also the Golden Finger on the other, with the Silk Spitter somehow hanging from a hook in the fringe of her mane.
As the others in Pinkie’s group rushed around her to congratulate the mare on her win, Sunset frowned, pushing herself to her feet. She balled her fist, ready to get MUCH more physical if she had to, but paused when Wuya appeared in front of her eyes.
“What do you think you’re doing?” the spirit asked her, an edge in her voice that made Sunset falter.
Taking a deep breath, Sunset steeled herself. “Getting the Wu back,” she replied seriously, moving to step around Wuya only for the spirit to halt her again. “What!?”
“Take your defeat with a bit of dignity, Sunset!” Wuya spat, and Sunset actually had to step back at the venom in the spirit’s words. “Treat your enemies with respect! We may be on opposing sides, but our goals are the same - if these girls manage to best you, act with honour and simply improve yourself for next time!”
Gulping shakily, Sunset nodded, bowing low. “S-Sorry, Sensei!” she cried, eyes shut. “I-I just thought-”
“I know,” Wuya sighed. “I’m sorry for yelling at you. Stand up.”
Sunset did so, noting quietly as Smolder stepped up next to her before sighing. Twilight and her friends were staring at them in shock, clearly unsure of how to handle the situation.
Sunset glanced at Wuya, who motioned towards their opponents expectantly. “Go on then.”
Sighing, Sunset stepped forward, making eye contact with Pinkie Pie before bowing to her. “Congratulations on your victory,” she said sincerely before standing straight again. “It was a well-fought battle, and you came out on top. I hope to face you again in the future.”
Pinkie Pie stared at her for a moment before letting out a sound that Sunset could only really describe as a ‘Squee’, lunging forward and scooping Sunset up in a crush that she could swear crushed her spine in more than one place.
“That was super-de-duper fun, Sunny!” Pinkie beamed, setting Sunset on her feet again. “Don’t be a stranger now, let’s do this again!”
With that, Pinkie turned around and began skipping away, her friends slowly turning to follow her. Twilight remained the longest, looking from Sunset to Wuya in confusion before slowly turning and leaving.
Sighing, Sunset turned back to her teacher. “Can we go home now?” she asked pleadingly. “My everything hurts.”
Author's Note
Making it easier to track, here's the current possessors of the awakened Wu:
Wuya, Sunset, & Smolder:
Manchurian Muska, Sun-Chi Lantern
Celestia & the Mane Six:
Fist of Tebigong, Golden Finger, Silk Spitter
2 - Questions and Questing
Sunset let out a yelp of panic as she reappeared in a flash of teal magic and green flames, tucking her limbs in as she rolled down the red-tinted slope of sand and dried dirt in the middle of the Badlands. Landing in a heap at the bottom of the hill, the Unicorn let out a sigh as she flopped onto her back, noting absently that the ghost’s mask hadn’t dislodged from her head the entire time.
“Great,” she sighed. “Now not only am I an outlaw, I’m an outlaw in the middle of the Badlands, the one place in Equestria I’m not going to get ANY food or water, let alone help!”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” the ghost’s voice spoke in her mind, and a moment later the mask seemed to float up from her head as Wuya’s spectral body reappeared. “Come on, we’ve not got much time to wait around.”
Sunset watched Wuya float off into the desert before groaning. She knew in her mind that she was being led AWAY from the nearest settlement - she remembered off-hand conversations of a small settlement being set up on the edge of the Badlands - but at this point she reasoned she was too far gone to turn back. Celestia surely hated her now, and having released this Ancient Evil that was locked away in Celestia’s vaults, she probably couldn’t escape if she tried.
It was with these thoughts in her mind that Sunset rolled over and pushed herself to her feet, dejectedly trudging along behind Wuya’s ghost. She was at least thankful for the early-morning hours, as Celestia’s slowly rising sun took off the night air’s chill, but not so much as to cook her on her feet. Small blessings, she supposed.
“Hurry up!” Wuya shouted from further ahead, seemingly leading Sunset towards a large plateau - or was it a butte? - in the distance. “We have to get there before the sun’s fully up!”
“Go suck on a wand!” Sunset snapped, though she did pick up her pace slightly. “I’m tired, I’m aching, and I want to go to bed!”
Wuya seemed to roll her eyes in her mask, somehow. “Quit complaining, dziecko,” she said scathingly. “It was your decisions that got you here - you’re lucky I’m trying to help you out.”
Pushing the logistics of a mask rolling it's eyes out of her mind, Sunset frowned. “I didn’t need your help!” she snapped. “I could’ve gotten out of the castle just fine on my own!”
“How?” the spectre asked, her voice already dripping with sarcasm. “Through Starswirl’s old mirror-portal?” At the silence that followed, she turned slowly, staring incredulously at Sunset’s guilty expression. “You were, weren’t you? Przez pustke, I knew you Ponies could be stupid-”
“Hey!”
“-but I didn’t think one of you would be dumb enough to jump through a portal to who knows where!”
Sunset flinched back slightly, wincing as Wuya’s tone grew to ear-piercing levels even as the spectre completely ignored her protests. They paused in their argument, however, as the glare of the sun crossed their eyes.
“Pierdolic,” Wuya spat. “Come on, there’s not much time left.”
“Where are we going, anyway!?” Sunset asked, frantically hurrying to keep up as Wuya’s spiritual body raced along the barren wasteland. When she was ignored, she sighed, simply contenting herself to follow until the spirit rushed up the near-vertical cliff face. “And how am I meant to follow you up there!” She flinched as the Manchurian Muska hit the dirt in front of her, having missed her face by inches. “Gee, thanks…”
Bracing herself for the change, Sunset quickly activated the artifact, using her new insectoid form to fly up the sheer cliff face. With her smaller size, the distance seemed to stretch onwards for miles, leaving Sunset panting for breath by the time she managed to crest the very top of the structure and collapse on the plateau, her body switching back to normal once again. Feeling a wave of nausea wash over her, Sunset quickly pushed to her knees before heaving.
It took her a moment to regain her bearings, but as she did, Sunset looked up, glaring at the back of Wuya’s head angrily. Snatching the artifact from the ground she stormed up to the spirit, spitting the last of the foul taste from her mouth.
“Thanks for nothing!” Sunset spat, throwing the Manchurian Muska at the back of Wuya’s head. She wasn’t surprised when it flew straight through the spirit. “I swear, if I never use that thing again it’ll be too soon!”
Wuya didn’t answer.
“Do you have any idea how it feels to be turned into a Celestia-damned fly and back!?” the unicorn continued. “I just threw up the little bit of food I’d eaten!”
Wuya didn’t answer.
“Stop ignoring me!”
“I’m not ignoring you,” Wuya rasped. “I’m just thinking.”
Sunset sneered, turning to scan the area before them for whatever Wuya was searching for. “Thinking about what?” she spat eventually, kicking a random pebble. “How you've brought us out to the middle of nowhere to die of starvation!?”
Wuya didn’t answer.
Letting out a scream of frustration, Sunset began assaulting the spirit’s ethereal body with thrown rocks and pebbles - some with her magic, some by hand.
“Stupid!” She ranted. “Bucking moron! You’ve killed me, haven’t you, you’ve brought me out here to die just so you can steal my body or something! Well I won’t let you, I’m going back to civili… sa… tion…”
The fuming Unicorn quieted down as her attention was pulled to where all of her thrown debris had landed, in a perfect pile, as though it had hit something and was now leaning up against it. She walked to the side, noting the perfectly squared angle where the debris began standing relative to the ground beneath it.
“What the…”
“Oh!” Wuya cried suddenly, making Sunset jump as the ghost darted to a large boulder off to the side of the plateau. She returned a moment later with a set of keys, slightly dusty but otherwise immaculate. “I remembered where I hid my keys.”
Sunset could only stare, dumbfounded, as the spectre approached seemingly nothing. Wuya spent a moment sorting through the jangling ring in her hand before producing a particularly long, wrought-iron key and pushing it forward, where to Sunset’s amazement it seemed to sink into solid air.
As the key turned, a ripple of magic piled outwards from it, slowly but surely revealing the massive structure of a black-stone castle that seemed to almost grow upwards out of the plateau. As the magic extended outwards and Sunset turned to watch, a path was revealed, leading from the front door to the top of what looked like a long staircase winding down the sheer cliff face.
Sunset rounded on Wuya angrily. “There were STAIRS!?” she shrieked in indignation.
“Well oczywiście,” Wuya shot back in a deadpan, matter-of-fact tone, rolling the eyes in her mask again. “What, did you think I could always fly?”
Sunset sputtered in indignant anger for a moment before letting out a long, tired sigh, deciding to just follow Wuya into the massive fortress-like building instead of giving herself more of a headache. She already felt like the Reaper was on her heels.
Wuya seemed to be looking for something as they crossed the threshold into the… Sunset’s mind labelled it as the ‘lobby’ of the fortress, considering the surprisingly nice and high-end look of everything within. The doors swinging shut behind them barely registered in the Unicorn’s mind. She did, however, jump when Wuya started shouting, her voice echoing around the cavernous lobby.
“Singetail, you useless reptile, where are you!?”
Sunset winced at the volume of Wuya’s voice, shrinking back slightly. She winced further, however, when a very loud, very draconic roar answered Wuya’s outcry.
“W-was that…?” Sunset stammered unsurely.
“That didn’t sound like Singetail…” Wuya muttered, before floating upwards as a small, orange-and-pink blur shot out of one of the fortress’ many side corridors, almost but not quite catching the spirit and instead barelling into Sunset, sending them both crashing to the ground in a tangle of limbs.
“Don’t eat me!” Sunset cried out in a panic, flailing her arms wildly.
“Gah-hey-CUT IT OUT!” the attacker stammered, shouting in frustration as Sunset’s flailing continuously battered her scaled snout. Flaring her small, leathery wings, the orange-scaled dragon flapped away from the unicorn, hovering in the air over her and Wuya. “Who are you guys, huh!?”
As Sunset lay back on the ground, scrambling back away from the dragon in fear, Wuya cleared her non-existent throat. “I am Wuya, Heylin Witch, owner of this place,” she greeted formally. “Pozdrowienia, child of Singetail. Where is your father, if I may ask?”
The dragon glared suspiciously at them both. “How do you know my old man?” she asked, flexing her claws slightly, making Sunset much more nervous than she already was - if that was at all possible.
Wuya glanced back at her and rolled her eyes. “Zrelaksowac sie, Sunset,” the spirit sighed. “This dragon is still a baby, she can’t hurt us.”
“Can’t hurt you maybe!” Sunset spat back. “I’m very much allergic to sharp claws and fire breath!”
“HEY!” the dragon roared again, causing Sunset to flinch back even as Wuya simply turned to look at the angry reptile casually. “Stop ignoring me! I asked, how do you know my old man!?”
Wuya raised her ghostly hands placatingly. “Let’s all calm down, okay? Like I said, I’m Wuya. Your father, Singetail, entered into a Blood Pact with me when I bested him in combat over one thousand years ago. I tasked him with protecting my home until I returned. Where is he?”
The dragon’s eyes seemed to widen in realisation at Wuya’s words as she dropped to the ground, and Sunset noted absently that she would only come up to the Unicorn’s hip at best when standing next to her.
“YOU’RE the Shadowmancer!?” she asked in shock, and Sunset glanced at Wuya in confusion at the title. She’d never heard of a Shadowmancer in her studies… “Pops said we had a sacred duty to serve you, bound by Dragon’s Code!”
Wuya nodded, an act that moved her entire body up and down. “Correct, though at any point he could have challenged me for his freedom. I’d have given it to him too, I hate enslaving others - such a villain thing to do.” She paused, seeming to shudder violently before she continued. “You’ll have to forgive me, I spoke with Singetail about any offspring he may have but I don’t know much about Dragon naming customs - are you Garble or Smolder?”
The dragon spat instantly upon hearing the first name, making Sunset jump as a spark of flame leapt from her tongue to the carpet, where she quickly stomped it out. “Smolder,” she answered finally. “Garble would be my stupid older brother.”
Wuya nodded again. “And where might Garble be?” she asked. “I’d like to give you both the option of challenging the pact - like I said, I won’t keep anyone against their will.”
Sunset grumbled under her breath.
“You can leave at any time, Sunset,” Wuya said simply, shocking the unicorn, though she remained where she sat on the carpeted foyer floor. The spectre simply shrugged, turning back to Smolder. “So, your brother?”
“Garble took off when that weird statue thingy Dad was looking after for you started glowing,” Smolder explained, before making a few vague motions with her claws. “About this big, made of gold, looked like a pointing glove of some kind?”
Wuya sighed. “The Golden Finger, I was afraid of this…” she muttered, shaking her head. “Alright, we need to find your brother and get that Wu back before he hurts somebody - or himself - with it. Something that powerful can’t be left in the wrong hands.
“Wait wait wait,” Sunset interjected, finally standing up. “Golden Finger? Wu? What are you talking about?”
Wuya let out a long, weary sigh. “I guess you should know, if you’re going to stick around with me,” she allowed, turning to Smolder. “What about you? Are you going to challenge me, or would you rather stay with us?”
Smolder just shrugged. “Eh, I’m not one for Dragon tradition personally, but this is a pretty nice place. Be kinda stupid to give it up just ‘cuz you came back, right?”
Wuya nodded in understanding. “In that case, Smolder, daughter of Singetail, I task you with assisting me in my search for the Shen Gong Wu, to seal them away for the protection of Equestria and beyond. Do you accept this task?”
Again, Smolder just shrugged. “For a place to live and food in my belly, sure, why not?” she asked rhetorically, giving a cocky smile. “Mind if I keep dad’s hoard?”
“My hoard,” Wuya corrected idly, her voice carrying something of a cheeky grin, somehow. “But you may protect it as your own, just like your father did, if you want.”
Smolder shrugged again.
“Uh, hello?” Sunset called, waving her hands to gain the other’s attention. “You were gonna tell us about those Shon Gin Woo things?”
Wuya sighed deeply, burying her mask-face in the tendrils of her ghostly hands. “Shen Gong Wu,” she corrected. “They’re incredibly powerful mystic artifacts, capable of any number of things ranging from mundane to destructive. Any one of them could be incredibly dangerous in the wrong hands, or even the right ones, so it's my job to keep them under lock and key.” She paused, glowering out a nearby window at the rising sun. “I had to scatter them when Celestia sealed me in that niewazne przeklete puzzle box, though, so now I have to gather them all up again.”
“Sooo the fact that my cruel, hot-headed, idiot brother has one is… bad, right?” Smolder asked after a moment.
“Very, yes.”
A pregnant silence filled the room as the weight of the situation settled on Smolder and Sunset. Images flashed through their minds of friends and families suffering at the hands or claws of someone holding a mystical artifact the powers of which they could only imagine.
“So?” Wuya asked eventually. “Will you help me?”
“Count on it,” Smolder amswered, determination in her eyes as she slammed a fist into an open palm. “I’ve wanted an excuse to pound on Garble for a while now, anyway.”
Sunset nodded. “I want to help, too,” she said. “I wanted to be Princess one day, and a good Princess does what she can to help her citizens.”
Wuya nodded in satisfaction, before turning to lead them deeper into the palace. “Follow me them,” she said, reaching a spiral staircase that seemed to stretch both up and down further than Sunset or Smolder could see. “Since Garble’s already ‘claimed’ the Golden Finger, I can’t track it down myself. I’m going to have to try and scry his position with something personal to him. Do you have anything like that, Smolder?”
The small dragoness nodded as she flapped her way along, following Wuya as Sunset lagged behind on her hooves. “Garble tried starting his own hoard not too long ago, I know where he keeps his first gemstone. Would that work?”
“Perfect. Sunset, do you have any magical supplies in your bags? I have a feeling some of the better stuff I collected before may have gone bad in my absence.”
Sunset turned slightly as she walked, shrugging her bag off to dig around inside. “I have a few basic brewing ingredients, mostly for health elixers or stamina recuperation tonics. Y’know, in case I had to travel a long way if my plans went south - which they did.”
Wuya nodded. “That’ll do, I’m guessing you’ve got some Nightshade and Wormroot clippings?” At Sunset’s nod, she turned a corner. “Smolder, meet us as soon as you get that gem. Let’s just hope the Spring hasn’t dried up.”
Sunset blinked in confusion as Smolder broke off and Wuya led her into a large, circular room, a basin on a pedestal standing in the exact center with a number of mystic runes and symbols that she didn’t recognise carved into the wooden floor. She watched as Wuya floated around, seemingly inspecting the room before returning to her.
“Looks like everything’s okay,” the spirit said. “You’ll have to do the work for me, I can’t touch anything in this form except the Wu, and even then I can’t use them properly. Go turn that wheel, it should get us some fresh spring water.”
Sunset looked around for a moment before moving to the wheel in question, attempting to turn it with both hands and struggling somewhat with the effort. Huffing in frustration, she wrapped the ancient wheel in her magic and tried again, only getting a groan of protest in return.
“Sunset!”
“I’m trying!” Sunset snapped, glaring at the spirit. “It must be rusted or something!” Turning back to the wheel, Sunset growled in determination, spitting into her hands for better grip. Grabbing the device with both hands and magic, she heaved as hard as she could, letting out a yelp when it began to turn with a squeal of protest and dumped her on her backside.
Looking up, Sunset heard the sound of rushing water above the room before a steady stream began to flow from a faucet she hadn’t seen embedded in the ceiling, allowing the water to fall directly into the basin beneath it. When Wuya signalled her, she rushed to shut the water off, resulting in a basin of crystal clear spring water.
“Good,” Wuya muttered to herself. “Now, we need the Nightshade crushed into a fine powder.” Sunset nodded, pulling the dark-petalled flowers from her bags and crushing them in her magic. “Shred the Wormroot, one centimeter thick.” Again, Sunset followed the instructions, now holding two clumps of ingredients in her magic. “Next we’ll need the gemstone from Smolder, and I’ll have to channel my Chi into the basin.”
Smolder chose that moment to flap her way into the room, looking around in awe. “I’ve never been in here before…” she muttered before shaking her head, holding out an imaculately formed gemstone to Wuya. “Here you go, its Garble’s favourite. An Oceanic Sapphire.”
Wuya nodded, gesturing to the basin. “You’ll have to set it in there once Sunset mixes the other components into the water. Sunset, now please.” Doing as instructed, Sunset gently dumped the Nightshade and Wormroot into the basin and stirred the mixture with her magic, resulting in viscous brown concoction that smelt faintly of rot. “Smolder, the gem.”
Smolder nodded, carefully lowering the Oceanic Sapphire into the mixture, where it sank slowly into the basin farther than should have been possible. Wuya flew rapidly around the room, funneling her flaming green Chi into a number of symbols before focusing a steady stream into the basin itself, causing the mixture to flare up in her green magic, slowly coalescing into a window surrounded by flames.
Panting heavily in exhaustion, Wuya floated herself up to peer into the magical window, Sunset and Smolder at her sides.
The scene laid out before them was that of red rock not unlike the area surrounding Wuya’s palace, baked by the sun and letting off visible waves of heat. Rubble and debris scattered the landscape as laughter reached their ears, and with a quick wave of one of her tendrils, Wuya turned the scrying spell to look at the source. A grouping of dragons in a variety of shapes and sizes greeted their eyes, each of them laughing uproarously as they they whatever they got their claws on at something just out of their sight.
“Those are Garble’s little gang,” Smolder spat, snarling at the image. “Nasty pieces, all of them. That’s Fume,” As she spoke, she began pointing out each of the dragons by name, starting with a tall, thin drake with deep purple scales. “Clump,” she continued, pointing out the shorter, stout brown-scaled dragon. “Backdraft.” A blue-scaled drake with lilac plumage. “And there’s Whip,” she finished, pointing out a wingless teal dragon with a shocking large tail.
Sunset gulped at the image. “That’s a lot of dragons…” she muttered worriedly.
“Don’t worry,” Wuya said casually. “We’ll issue them an official challenge, Dragons are notoriously proud creatures. If Garble refuses, he’ll be seen as a coward. If he accepts, he’ll be honour-bound to follow the rules we set down. Plus, the Showdown magic will disqualify him if he tries to cheat.”
Smolder and Sunset glanced at each other in confusion. “The what?” they asked in unison.
Wuya sighed deeply. “...I’m doing that alot lately…” she mused quietly to herself before turning to the two girls. “A Xiaolin Showdown. Its a mystic challenge between two parties in which you wager a Shen Gong Wu each, or more if you wish to raise the stakes, and the winner of the challenge walks away with everything wagered. If you try to cheat the game, the magic its made of punishes you and you’re issued an automatic loss.”
Sunset blinked. “Wow, that sounds… powerful. And this magic has been around for a long time?”
Wuya shrugged her spectral shoulders. “As long as the Wu have existed. Its their magic that powers the Showdowns.”
Smolder rubbed her chin in thought. “And what’s stopping them from taking the Wu back from them after the challenge is over? By force?” she asked. “My brother’s bound by Dragon Honour, sure, but he’s not exactly a fair player.”
“Then we’ll have to just beat him so bad he can’t come after us,” Wuya pointed out, chuckling sinisterly. She turned, floating out of the room and beckoning the others to follow her. “Of course, I can’t participate in the challenge as a ghost. One of you will have to be my Champion.”
Sunset swallowed the lump that formed in her throat.
Garble laughed wickedly as he pointed the weird statue at another bird, freezing it in place mid-air. The others joined in his laughter as they began throwing whatever they could get their hands on at the helpless animal, and Garble had to wince as Whip whipped a stone at the bird with his tail, a sickening crunch sounding from the animal’s wing.
He didn’t know where his old man had gotten this thing for his hoard, but when it started glowing, Garble just knew he had to have it. And when he figured out how it worked? Well, he could only begin to imagine the kinds of fun he could have with a big golden glove that froze things in place as long as he pointed at them.
“Two o’clock!” Clump shouted, and Garble spun around as a boulder came soaring towards him. Raising the glove-thing, he pointed at the boulder.
“Golden Finger!”
A grin crossed his lips as the boulder froze in place instantly, and Garble ran his tongue over his razor-sharp teeth in thought. He could do anything with this. Nobody could stop him!
“Say boys,” the crimson dragon began, dropping the boulder with a heavy thud that shook the earth as he turned to his friends. “Whadd’ya say we have a little more fun with this thing?”
“What’re you thinking of, Garble?” Fume asked. The perfect wing-drake, Fume was always up to do whatever Garble wanted, and he loved that about his best bro.
“Well, those namby-pamby pony pukes have a lot of gold and jewels, right?” Garble asked, pausing as his friends began nodding and muttering. “Imagine how easy it’d be to just go in and… take it, with this thing on my hand?”
“Uh… wouldn’t that be kinda… rude?” Clump drawled. Garble just rolled his eyes. Clump was a good bit of muscle to have around, but he wasn’t the brightest.
“Well yeah, but what do we care?” Backdraft cut in, flapping into the air above them and sending a rush of wind across the dust-covered ground. “We’re dragons!”
“Exactly,” Garble agreed, grinning. “So let’s stop being such pansies and go get ourselves some gold!”
“I’m afraid that won’t be happening.”
Garble blinked. That wasn’t one of his Dragon Bros. That wasn’t even his stupid, sissy little sister… Turning slowly, Garble took in the trio stood across from him in a mixture of anger, confusion, and curiosity.
His sister was there, of course she was. Smolder was such an annoying little brat, she was always trying to ruin his fun.
Across from Smolder though was, of all things, a Pony! A unicorn, if he remembered which ones had that weird horn thing right. What was she doing out here?
The third figure was the one that confused Garble the most, though. It wasn’t a Dragon, and it wasn’t a Pony either. He wasn’t quite sure what the thing was, but it had a weird floating body and an even weirder, painted face, and he didn’t like it.
“Which one of you losers said that?!” Garble snapped angrily. The Pony looked nervous - so she should be! - and his sister just crossed her arms with a raised brow - spoiled little brat! - as both pointed up at the weird floating… thing…
“That would have been me,” the thing rasped. “I am Wuya. Your father entered into a Pact with me, which now extends to you.”
Garble raised his brow in confusion. “You’re the Shadowmancer the old man used to talk about?” he asked in disbelief before barking out in laughter. “Really!? Wow, that old fart must have been really pathetic if you could beat him!”
The crimson drake watched as his sister and the pony seemed to look to the thing worriedly, even as it shrugged its weird shoulders. “I admit, I’m not exactly in my prime,” it mused. “But yes, I am the Shadowmancer. Now, would you be so kind as to return my property to me?”
Garble blinked. He looked from the thing to the glove on his claw, then back to the… he really had to think of something to call it other than thing. “You want this weird finger thingy back?” he asked, holding it up. “Hmmm… nah, I like it too much. How ‘bout I take it off your hands, eh?”
The thing heaved a sigh. “I’m afraid that’s not an option,” it said. “If you won’t hand it over peacefully… then I will have to challenge you for it.”
Garble stared at the thing. He stared for a good, solid minute, it must have been. Then he looked back at his bros, and began laughing. His bros laughed with him, and slowly their laughter raised until they were all bent over themselves as their bodies shook and their bellies hurt.
“What’s so funny!?” Smolder shouted, and Garble’s laughter died in his throat. “You’re big, strong dragons, right!? You should welcome any challenge with honour and pride!”
“What would you know about being a Dragon?” Garble spat, smirking when Smolder flinched back. “Just ‘cuz you were the old man’s favorite, doesn’t make you any less of a wuss!”
Smolder clenched her fist in anger, and Garble grinned. His face quickly fell into a frown when the thing placed a… tendril… on Smolder’s shoulder, holding her back.
“Not to worry, Smolder,” it said calmly. “I’m sure he won’t turn down a challenge he’s so sure he can win, not in front of his friends. Right, Garble?”
Garble could practically feel his bro’s eyes on his scales as they stared at him. “Of course not!” he barked confidently, a grin on his face. “Anything you can throw at me, I’ll beat you into the dirt!”
He couldn’t be sure, but… Garble was sure the thing’s painted face… grinned at him. “Good, good…” it said cryptically. Spreading its tendrils, it summoned two objects from… somewhere, Garble wasn’t sure. “Now then, which one shall we use? Sunset?”
The unicorn blanched, and Garble grinned cockily. “M-Me!?” she cried. “W-why me!?”
The thing shrugged. “Because Smolder has a personal attachment here and might get distracted.”
Smolder nodded. “Not wrong,” she said simply.
Garble grit his teeth. “So you’re not even gonna fight me yourself!?” he snapped. “You call me the coward!?”
The thing looked to him calmly. “Unfortunately, in my current state I can’t partake in this challenge,” it said simply. “I’m sure you’d be willing to accept Sunset to fight as my Champion, no?”
“You can do it, Garble!” Clump shouted.
“Yeah, nobody can beat Garble!” Fume added.
Garble grit his teeth in frustration. “Shut up!” he snapped, rounding on his bros and snarling at them. When they all quieted down, he turned back to the thing. “Sure, why not!? So what’s the challenge?”
The thing seemed to consider for a moment, before looking to him. “Let’s keep things simple, its my student’s first Showdown,” it said, seeming to ignore the pony as she looked up at it in shock. “How about a nice game of tag?”
Garble couldn’t help it - he burst out in laughter. “TAG!?” he cried. “You challenge me for this awesome magic thing and you want to play tag!?”
“That’s what I said,” the thing said with a nod. “Of course, if you don’t feel like you could win, you’re welcome to forfeit…”
Garble’s blood boiled in an instant. “You’re on!” he shouted. “My glove thing for whatever you wanna put up! Bring it on!”
The thing nodded before turning to the pony. “Sunset, would you like the Manchurian Muska or the Sun Chi Lantern?”
The unicorn looked like she’d lost all her colour; she was that pale. “U-um…” she stammered, slowly reaching out and taking the smaller of the two items. “Th-the lantern probably won’t help me much, right?”
The thing nodded again, sending the lantern-looking thing away again. “Very well. Now, if you could both step forward and declare for a Xiaolin Showdown, that will get us started.”
Garble rolled his eyes, but did as asked. “Whatever,” he spat, holding up the claw wearing his new favourite toy. “Xiaolin Showdown!”
The pony approached him carefully, and he smirked as he saw her shaking in fear. “Xiaolin Sh-Showdown…” she stammered. Garble licked his lips at her.
The thing flew up between them - Garble had to suppress his urge to jump even as the pony yelped in shock. “Gong Yi Tem Pai!”
Those gathered stumbled as the world seemed to shift, lurching with mystic power as the two Shen Gong Wu glowed with a brilliant golden light. Each person there - Dragon, Pony, and Spirit alike - stumbled as the ground beneath them split open.
Garble and his Dragon Gang were thrown back, his friends being separated from him and left on a high, floating platform where they could see everything going on. Garble was left on a giant slab of floating rock, red like the sun and baking hot. It was pleasant under his feet, and Garble grinned.
Smolder and Wuya were raised up on their own spectator’s platform, the dragoness looking around in awe as the spirit simply watched the field beneath them expectantly. Sunset was dumped onto the same field as Garble, left on the opposite corner to the dragon and wincing at the heat of the stone beneath her hooves. She blinked at the outfit she’d been left in - an all-black gi with purple accents, with a hood covering her head and face, just enough space left for her eyes and horn. She felt her hair tied back into a tight ponytail, kept out of her eyes as it cascaded down her back. A quick glance showed her a strange symbol on her back, one she’d never seen before.
“The game is Tag!” Wuya called out from her platform, and Sunset looked up at her in shock. “Each of you has five minutes on a timer, represented by these hourglasses!” As she spoke, two large, stone-crafted hourglasses rose from the ground on both sides - one seemed to have Sunset’s face emblazoned on it, the other Garble’s. “As long as you are It, your Time will drain away! You can tag the other, thus draining their time! First person to run out of time wins!”
Sunset nodded quietly, mentalizing the rules as best as she could.
“You may begin!” Wuya declared suddenly. “Gong Yi Tem Pai!”
Sunset blinked as her hourglass began to drain. “W-wait, I’m It first!?” she cried, looking around. “How is that fair!?”
“You issued the challenge,” Garble chuckled, spreading his wings. “Of course you start off as It. Now come at me!”
Sunset blinked before taking a deep breath, crouching down. After a moment of letting Garble laugh at her - the stones dropped another two counters, thirty seconds of her timer gone - Sunset charged forward, keeping her body low.
The drake was still laughing as she approached, deaf to his friend’s warnings until she lightly tapped his shoulder. “Tag,” she said simply before dashing away. As soon as she did, her timer stopped, and Garble’s began to drain.
Forty seconds gone on my end… Sunset thought to herself as she moved to create distance from the dragon. If I can just keep him off me, I’ll win this… should be easy, I’m smaller than him… She paused in her thoughts as her body… stopped. She couldn’t even feel the floor beneath her hooves.
“Golden Finger!” Garble laughed as he closed in on her. “I can stop you where you stand! You really thought you could just outrun me!?”
Horsefeathers! Sunset cursed internally. Okay, think Sunset, think! How can you get out of this without moving… of course!
Garble cackled as he swiped with his free claw to tag the unicorn… only to blink as his hand passed through open air instead. “What!?” he asked in shock, looking around. He growled, deep and low rumbling in his throat, when Sunset appeared on the other side of the field in a flash of teal magic. “You can’t teleport, that’s cheating!”
“There was no rule against it!” Sunset shot back. “Besides, you can fly! Now come at me, dragon-boy!”
Garble roared in anger, lunging at Sunset in a burst of blinding speed - who vanished with a flash of magic once again. Garble growled in anger, spinning in the air and diving at where he’d seen the unicorn reappear only for her to vanish again. “Stop teleporting!”
“Make me!” Sunset taunted, though the sweat on her brow told Garble she was tiring quickly. “I can go all day!”
“No you can’t!” Garble snarled. “Golden Finger!”
Sunset gasped as she felt her body freeze again, unable to move even a finger as Garble swooped closer. Desperate, she called forth her magic… and found herself lacking. “Wuh… what!?”
“Your magic’s all dried up, little pony!” Garble snarled angrily. “Now, Tag! You’re-”
Garble froze, quite literally, his entire body coming to a half mid-air mere inches away from Sunset’s face. The crimson drake blinked in confusion. “Wha-”
“Time’s up,” Sunset pointed out with a smirk. Garble glanced at the twin hourglasses and blanched - sure enough, the hourglass marked with his face had just dropped the last stone marker.
“N-no…” he stammered, gritting his teeth angrily before snarling as the arena began to reverse its transformation, flashes of light blinding both combatants until finally, everyone stood in their original positions in the unblemished badlands.
Sunset staggered slightly, now holding the Manchurian Muska in one hand and wearing the Golden Finger on the other. The unicorn paled, heaved, then bent over at the knee and hurled her lunch across the ground in front of her.
“There there,” Wuya soothed, gently petting Sunset’s back. “Get it all out. The first Showdown can be pretty rough on people.”
“C-could’ve… warned us…” Sunset muttered, panting heavily.
Wuya nodded. “Yeah, maybe. Hindsight’s always twenty-twenty though, right?”
Garble blinked in shock, slowly getting his bearings back. He looked up, spotting the pony, the thing, and his little sister standing around. The treasure - his treasure - was in the pony’s hand, and that made his blood boil.
“Hey…” the drake muttered, staggering forward. “Hey, give that back…”
Wuya looked up and glared at the drake. “We won the challenge fair and square, Garble,” she said. “Take your loss with a bit of pride.”
“No,” Garble said, snarling angrily. “No, give it back! Its mine, so give it back now!”
“Golden Finger!”
Garble blinked in surprise as his body froze in place. He tried to walk, but couldn’t. He tried to blink, but couldn’t. He managed to glance to the side, spotting Smolder stood there, pointing the treasure at him and snarling.
“Have some self-respect!” the dragoness spat. “Jeez, I know you didn’t like dad much but you could at least follow Dragon Law!”
Garble growled deep in his belly, but the sound died down as the thing appeared, those big, swirling yellow eyes looking deep into his soul.
“Garble, son of Singetail, I release you from the Blood Pact set by your family in dishonour,” the spirit spat angrily. “You are cast out of my home with any treasures you may have within as forfeit. You are not welcome, and you are Disgraced!”
Garble gasped as, somewhere deep within him, something seemed to… break. He wasn’t sure what it was, but it left him feeling empty, hollow… angry. He snarled, struggling against the treasure’s hold as sweat built on his brow.
“Put him down, Smolder,” the spirit said, looking at Garble in disgust before turning and floating away. “We’re leaving.”
Smolder nodded, dropping the arm holding the treasure and turning to follow Wuya, both of them supporting Sunset between them as best they could. Garble dropped to the ground, broken, defeated, and exhausted, panting heavily before he slammed his fist into the ground.
“Get’em, boys!” he shouted angrily, glaring at the retreating figures in hatred. When nothing happened, he turned around… and found himself along, his friends flying away from him. Not escaping, just… leaving him. Even Whip was in the air, being carried by Clump.
Reality set in slowly. Garble had lost. He’d been beaten in a challenge, and disgraced afterwards too. He’d broken Dragon Code because he couldn’t handle that he’d lost.
Anger welled up within the drake. How dare they do this to him! He’d found the treasure, it was his by right! He’d show them, the fake-dragon and the prissy pony and the stupid spirit thing. He’d show them how powerful he was, and he’d make them regret the day they did this to him.
Smolder touched down at the front doors to Wuya’s fortress, setting Sunset down on her hooves before shaking the excess energy flowing through her body off. “Woah! That’s a rush!”
“I know, right?” Sunset asked, chuckling as she reached up to adjust the mast sat atop her head. “Wuya must be pretty powerful.”
“Pretty powerful!?” the dragoness barked out, laughing. “Back in the day, the Shadowmancer was meant to be as strong as your Princess Celestia! The fact that she’s this strong even in her Spirit Form is amazing.”
Sunset blinked, turning that over in her mind even as she followed Smolder into the building and along a number of corridors. Wuya, as strong as Celestia? How could that be possible? Then again, if any of the legends were true, Equestria used to deal with powerful threats all the time in the past.
“So where are we going?” the Unicorn asked finally, pushing the thoughts from her mind as she looked around at the unfamiliar corridors. “I should probably ask Wuya for a map or something…”
“Pops told me about an old Vault before he passed,” Smolder answered casually, turning down another hallway and leading Sunset down a winding set of spiral stairs. “Said he could never get inside, so I’m guessing it's sealed with Wuya’s magic or something. Must be where she kept the dangerous stuff before right?”
Sunset nodded. “That makes sense,” she mused, shuddering as she felt Wuya wake up and remove herself from Sunset’s body. “Okay, that’s gonna get weird if you keep doing it.”
“I shouldn’t have to for much longer,” Wuya yawned. “As soon as I can I’m getting us a different way of moving around. I hope one of the transport Wu activates soon…”
“So that thing you did for me,” Smolder began, glancing over her shoulder and following Wuya’s movements as the spirit floated ahead to take over the lead. “You’re not going to do that again?”
“Not until I can get the proper enchantments in place for a Heylin Shape-Change spell,” Wuya said simply. “But for that I might have to send you into the nearest town to go shopping. You’ve got nothing against ponies, right?”
Smolder shrugged. “Eh, Sunset’s alright. Pretty sure if I can handle her I’ll be fine with any other ponies I meet, right?”
“Hey!” Sunset cried in protest.
“Oh hush,” Wuya muttered, though a chuckle was very poorly hidden under her breath. “She’s got a point. Anyway, we’ll deal with that tomorrow.” She paused, floating before a large stone door set into a wall of red rock, intricate markings etched into the surfaces of both. “We’re here.”
Smolder nodded to herself. “Yeah, this is the door Pops mentioned. Figured it was the right one.”
Sunset gulped nervously. “Wow, that’s uh… that’s certainly a design choice…” she muttered.
Wuya shrugged her ghostly shoulders. “Not my choice, it’s just how my magic works,” she said. “Anyway, let’s get these Wu stored away so we can all go for a nice long nap.”
“Oh yes please,” Sunset sighed. “I’m exhausted.”
Without another word, Wuya turned her full attention to the door, holding her tendrils out as small streams of her fiery-green Chi began to flow from her into the door. One by one the markings in the walls lit up with her Chi, great stone machinations sliding into place out of eyesight before the door slowly but surely creaked open, allowing the trio entry.
“Welcome, my students,” Wuya panted, clearly worn out yet again. “To the Heylin Vault of Shen Gong Wu.”
Sunset and Smolder looked around in awe at the truly massive, circular room they found themselves in. They stood on a wooden walkway that wrapped around the entire chamber, a large hole in the center that granted a grand view of the rest of the vault beneath them. A great stone pillar rose from the depths to the roof above them, supporting the entire structure with wooden beams that stretched from center to outer wall. Twin stairwells to their left and right allowed access to the lower levels.
“How many Shen Gong Wu are there?” Sunset asked breathlessly, her eyes roving every detail she could take in as she leaned on the balcony at the edge of the walkway.
“I have no idea,” Wuya said simply. “I never actually managed to collect them all before I was sealed away in the past, some never even activated. But I know there were more than the original show showed me.”
Smolder paused above the spirit, having chosen to fly around the gigantic chamber and explore while she listened. Confusion etched in her face, she turned to Wuya. “What do you mean, show?”
Wuya just sighed. “Another time,” the spirit answered dismissively. “I’m too tired to explain it all right now. For now, let’s just put the Wu we have away. Sunset, I want you to take the Manchurian Muska down two levels and put it in the right spot. Smolder, the Sun Chi Lantern goes down five levels, can you fly down for me? I’ll handle the Golden Finger.”
The unicorn and the dragoness glanced at each other for a moment before nodding, each accepting their respective packages before making their way down into the vault - Sunset using the stairs as Smolder flew down the central pillar. Wuya made her way to the opposite side of the top floor, setting the Golden Finger into an alcove in the wall labelled with the Wu’s name and watching as the weighted pedestal sank slightly, activating her protective enchantments.
“Good to see they’re still working,” Wuya sighed. “At least that’s one less thing I’ll have to check and fix.”
“Lantern’s secure!” Smolder called as the trio made their way back to the door. Wuya had arrived first, and the small dragon had quickly joined her.
“Did you see Sunset?” Wuya asked, suppressing another yawn.
“Yeah, she’s coming back up now.”
As if on cue, Sunset rounded the bend of the walkway, picking up her pace when she saw the other two waiting for her. “No fair, you two can fly!” she complained before sighing. “The Manchurian Muska’s been put away. I have to say, those enchantments are pretty interesting, do you think I could-”
“Not those ones,” Wuya interrupted, turning and leading the two girls out of the vault, which closed behind them once they’d gotten clear of the doors. The runes quickly lost their light as Wuya moved away from the portal. “You’ll learn how to make them when we get to that lesson. For now, we’ll have to start from the basics.”
Smolder and Sunset shared another glance. “Basics?” Sunset asked curiously. “Lessons? What are you talking about?”
Wuya stopped and looked back at the two passively. “Well if you’re going to be helping me gather the Wu, you can’t very well do it as you are now,” she said simply. “Sunset, you didn’t even use the Manchurian Muska in that last Showdown. Frankly, you’re lucky that your opponent was such a hothead or you would have lost.”
Sunset blushed furiously. “I-I had it under control!” she stammered.
Wuya gave her a flat look. “You were exhausted. Not only did you burn out your magic, you were physically tired too. So we go back to basics. You’re learning martial arts, both of you.”
Smolder blinked. “Wait, me too?” she asked in confusion. “Why me?”
“One apprentice does not a team make,” Wuya said cryptically as she turned away, once more leading them all through her fortress. “While I’m stuck as a spirit, you two will be my Heylin Monks. I’ll teach you everything I know, and hopefully you can help me get my body back so I can help you in return. Now let’s go, it's been over a thousand years and I want my bed.”
Sunset and Smolder looked at each other yet again - and grinned excitedly. This was going to be awesome!
