Canterlot Academy Trials

Outside…

As soon as Chang left the palace, he looked up to see smoke coming from a nearby building where monkey children could be heard screaming for help.

“...!”

Without thinking, he rushed off to see what he could do to help…

Inside…

“You wish to overthrow me…then prove to me you’re worth my spot in this world, child!”

Bai whipped her arm around and flung her daughter by her wrist, sending Lee into the nearest wall. The young monkey woman sprang off her feet and landed on the floor in front of her mother.

The elder monkey lady revealed that she was wielding a dao--or short sword--underneath her robe, and beckoned her daughter to come at her with an open palm.

Lee would oblige and rush at her mother with her rope dart’s dagger clutched tightly in her hand. Bai would narrowly avoid slash after slash, and suddenly blocked the dagger with her own sword. The two were locked in a struggle once more until a click was heard--

BLAM!

A bullet was fired…from the tip of the sword?!

It shot straight upwards and brought down the lighting fixture that sat above them, forcing Lee to jump backwards.

“...gun weapon?” she muttered.

Bai chuckled and held the dao upwards, showing a hidden trigger located near the hilt of the blade. “...foolish girl. You think the Emperor is the only one with a weapon that can shoot bullets?”

“Grrgh…” Lee grit her teeth, but she wasn’t allowed any time to recover.

BLAM!

Bai fired off another shot from where she stood, forcing Lee to take cover behind the couch. A grand total of 10 shots were fired before Bai had to stop and reload.

“We’ve been experimenting for a while now,” she explained from where she stood, then started to shout. “You would have known that had you decided to stick around and not leave your family…you ungrateful hellspawn! Yunwang will take you!”

Throwing around the name of their lord of the underworld was no small matter. The hatred in her mother’s words caused her heart to ache as she cowered in fear behind the couch.

“Yes…” Bai Se continued, “And then your father and I will have another child. We’ll spend all year taking our sweet time to make one more suited to inherit our place than you. Then we’ll take over this wretched place and put those baby dragons up for sale…”

Lee’s heart ran cold as her eyes shot open. “...w…what did you say?”

Eager to hear herself speak some more, Bai would repeat herself with a smug smile on her face. “You heard me. Those dragons we bought off-shore will fetch us a pretty penny we can use to curry favor until we claim Chang’s throne for--”

CRACK!

Before Lady Bai could react, her daughter had dashed from behind the couched and punched her dead in the face. The blow was so severe that it sent the white-furred monkey through the wall and outside into the garden near the fountain where she took a tumble, rolling for a few meters before landing on her feet.

“Hmph…” she smiled to herself as she used her thumb to flick a bit of blood from her nose. “Shì de--That finally got her attention.”

“...why…” Lee mumbled as she walked through the hole in the wall outside. “...why are you like this?”

The monkey woman scoffed at her daughter and had a devilish smirk on her face. “‘Why?’ My dear, this is how things have always been. You either fall in line or get crushed!”

Meanwhile…

It wasn’t long before Hei Se had awakened from the stupor had had been placed in…

“Ugh…what happened…what’s going on--”

But he had found himself bound in magical chains summoned by Thiasus in the front courtyard of the palace.

“Haha! Another fool that succumbs to my power. Take a seat, old man.”

Blue landed on the ground nearby, followed by Mistwalker forming from a blob of water that had coagulated on the ground.

“Oh yeah, just talk like we ain’t here or nothin’,” the water-mare snarked.

“You’re welcome, ya know,” Blue added, “We pretty much had to combine our fire and water to make toxic steam to put him out in the first place.”

The buck regarded them with a smile, “Ah--you know I meant. You guys are important, of course.”

“Oi!” Mistwalker squealed while glancing around the palace, “Where in lord’s name is the bloody emperor?”

Blue and Thiasus also looked around. They didn’t see any sign of Chang, and before they could even think to retaliate…

CLANK!

Hei Se had broken out of those chains and casually rolled his shoulders, causing the trio to recoil with their jaws open.

“Argh…not bad. Celestial-grade restraints, huh?” he commented as he cricked his neck, “Very cute. Now, who’s first? I haven’t had a good fight in a while.”

“...this is…unprecedented,” Thiasus muttered as he looked through his tome, “How…what…”

“Look nerd, there’s no time for that,” Blue asserted as he cracked his knuckles, “Looks like we’ll have to fight this bastard ourselves.”

Mistwalker stood at the ready with half of her body turning into water, “Aye then. Should be easy enough since we outnumber the munter.”

“Three against one?” the monkey man chuckled as he summoned a guandao--a spear with a curved blade at the end--at his side, twirling it in his right hand. “...this might actually be fair.”