Canterlot Academy Trials

After Professor Cayenne made her proposal to Emperor Chang on which students would travel to the Wukong Province, she’d call the students to her office where they could meet with the leader of the primate nation.

First up: Blue Blazes. The dragon peered into the office and stepped in with a confident smile on his face that served to hide his nerves as a few drops of sweat ran down his neck.

“...Uhhh…nice to meet you, sir,” he smiled nervously at the monkey emperor.

“Ah. A dragon,” Chang spoke up with a clap of his hands, “Very good. Your kind are revered where I am from. It is sure to please those in the heavens above as well.”

Blue simply blinked his eyes twice. The thought of being judged not only the leader of a nation, but the gods that the members of that very nation believed in was…very daunting to say the least.

Blue took a seat nearby and idly tapped his foot upon the floor. Lee glanced at him and tried to comfort him.

“Don’t worry,” she said with a soft smile, “As long as you be yourself, you’ll be fine, Mr. Blue.”

“...thanks,” he replied half-heartedly, and still worrying to himself about how this would reflect to Mei.

Next: Dewdrop Mistwalker.

The water-horse earth pony stepped into the room and gleefully shook the hand of Chang.

“Aye! Nice’ta meetcha!” she exclaimed loudly, “I was called in ‘cuz apparently your home is surrounded by water, innit? I think I can help out quite a bit with that!”

“Oh, very good,” Chang replied with a nod and a smile, “A water pony shall be very useful in an event such as this. Our naval forces could use the boost.”

Mistwalker would squeal in delight and sit down next to Blue--who simply awkwardly shrugged his shoulders in response. The dragon didn’t seem to be in much of a mood to talk. Then, the final member of the team for this mission would enter.

Lastly: Thiasus von Solis.

Grimrose’s opponent from the academy’s tournament a while back. A reindeer buck wearing a bright white hood as he trotted into the room.

“Hello. I believe we haven’t formally met,” the buck nodded with a smile, “I am Thiasus von Solis. You’ll have nothing to worry about with my strategy in play.”

“A legendary creature from the north,” Chang mused with wide eyes, “You are among the creatures that deliver presents during the holidays, yes? Your magic will be very useful indeed!”

Thiasus was about to correct him but instead chose to go along with it. “I…sure. But I’m not exactly personally acquainted with the likes of Vixen or Comet. Putting that aside, I’ve heard that this mission will take us to the primate territory, correct?”

“That’s right,” Cayenne called out from her desk, “Your mission is twofold: Find out the source of the Serpent City’s trafficking problem and aid them in dealing with Ms. Lee’s parents.”

“...Hm?” Thiasus muttered as he sat down next to the rest of the group he had been teamed up with, “Seems like a rather odd pair of objectives.”

“Yeah, come to think of it,” Blue sat upright and spoke his mind, “What’s one got to do with the other?”

Chang would then explain his side of the story. “Well this is something that I wasn’t able to discuss with any other party until now. I have reason to believe that they, and other members of the nobility, are causing the very issues that the Serpent City continues to have.”

“Buy why?” Mistwalker asked, “Why would they do that to their own people?”

Thiasus would add, “Also, if you’re the emperor and you’re so sure of this, why can’t you just remove them from power? Isn’t that something you’re capable of doing.”

“A distraction and plausible deniability,” Chang answered both questions in order. “Unless the public knows the true extent of their hateful acts, I won’t be able to take action with a clear conscience unless my people know the truth.”

“I understand,” Thiasus nodded, “Then in that case, we’ll work towards making sure this goes well.”

“I’m with the sleighboy,” Blue mouthed off, earning an eyeroll from the buck, “We get in there, see what the problems are, and bust shit up like it’s no tomorrow.”

“What he said,” Mistwalker added with a smile, “I’m more than ready to help ye however I can.”

Lee sighed and glanced at them with a half-hearted smile. “...thank you all. I really don’t deserve your kindness. I promise to make sure your efforts are properly repaid for all of this.”

“Alrighty,” Cayenne spoke up, “It sounds as if we have a good idea as to what we’re doing here. I’ll be sure to put a few extra teams on standby so that we’ll have some insurance. If everyone’s ready, then you can head out whenever you please.”