The Greater Good

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!