Canterlot Academy Trials

Back in Canterlot…

“So you’ve found the source of that octopus creature, then?” Twilight looked out over Canterlot from a window in the throne room.

“That’s right,” Spike replied, “Our top mages and guards are already working hard on finding the source, but we don’t know exactly when or where they intend to--”

POOF!

Suddenly, they would all see a puff of magical smoke that occurred in the middle of the city. There, several foreign demons could be seen hopping around on both feet with their arms stretched outwards. They also wore hats with paper talismans attached to them, and could be seen jumping around and absorbing the life force of various ponies and creatures not unlike Tirek once did!

“...!” Twilight’s eyes shot wide open, and she immediately turned to Spike, “Tell the Royal Guard to engage in defensive positions! Now!”

With a quick poof, she teleported down to the middle of Canterlot. Several guards could already be seen fighting off the demonic threat imposed on the city. Including--

CLANG!

A blue griffon suddenly jumped in front of Twilight and threw his shield at a demon. It bounced off, causing the demon to dissipate into particles of nothingness and the shield would return to the griffon’s claw as if it were a boomerang.

“We got this, princess. See if you can’t figure out who’s causing this, please?”

Twilight glanced over and replied, “Gallus? Well since you’re here, I guess I don’t have much to worry about.”

“Hey, quit talking about me like I’m not here!” Flash Sentry bemoaned from nearby as he impaled one of the demons with a spear before tossing it away. “But seriously, we got this.”

“Well if you’re certain…” Twilight shut her eyes and used her magic to quickly figure out where the source of the demonic magic was located. “...I’ve found it. Do what you can here while I take care of the ones responsible for this.”

As Twilight teleported away, the rest of the guards would continue to fight back against the demons that had invaded Canterlot.

“Don’t stop ya’ll!” guardspondy Tungsten shouted as he punched another demon into the sky with his gauntlets, “There’s more of ‘em!”

Meanwhile, in the Wukong Province…

Everyone was engaged in a fierce battle against the various palace guards that Hei Se had summoned.

Thiasus managed to keep his distance while firing off spells from his tome, preventing their armored martial artists from getting too close.

Blue had engaged multiple primates carrying weapons with his specialized lance made of fire to split through them with a wall of flame to separate and distract them from being able to reach the rest of his teammates.

Mistwalker had baited several of their firearm users into a trap where she was able to trap them in a floating prison of water before a giant water horse would run them over with the force of a tsunami.

All the while, Bullet was facing off against Hei Se himself. As it turned out, the lord of this palace was practically immune to gunfire which presented a unique challenge for the gunslinging primate.

“Dammit!” Bullet hissed as he fired off a few more shots, and had to leap out of the way of a punch from Hei that tore the ground asunder. “What kinda magical bullshit are you jacked up on?!”

“Oh this is no magic,” Hei replied as he raised his spear once more, “This is pure skill from how hard I’ve worked to get to where I am. Unlike street rats such as yourself who feel as though you can siphon away from our accomplishments,” he growled with a fierce expression.

“Do you seriously still think that?! Even now?!” Bullet yelled from a nearby tree, “Holy cow, I knew you were old but I didn’t think you were senil--!”

BANG!

A gunshot from Hei’s spear was fired. It was so powerful that it took the branches clean off the tree, but Bullet was able to dodge it just in time and leap back down to the ground.

“I’m through listening to your incessant drivel,” Hei continued, “The gods above are ashamed of swine such as yourself.”

“Oh don’t you bring the deities into this,” Bullet folded his arms and narrowed his eyes, “I have on good authority that Ne Zha hates you. Or did you pay off Yanwang to get your way?”

Hei’s expression simply turned into a slow, sinister smile.

To which Bullet reacted with his eyes shooting wide open before he grabbed the bridge of his nose out of frustration. “...this is why the rest of the modern world wants nothing to do with us. Old bastards like you, enforcing your will onto others, thinking you have all the answers.”

“I’m sure your parents did too once,” Hei replied which instantly threw Bullet off-guard, causing the younger primate to stutter.

“...w-wait--you what?!”

Hei took advantage of his opponent’s distracted state and rushed towards Bullet with a blur. With a quick pivot and a spin, he stopped his open palm directly in front of Bullet’s chest before delivering an extremely close range, one-inch punch that instantly caused Bullet to crumple and fall to the ground.

Hei placed his foot on the side of Bullet’s head, pressing down and threatening to crack the latter’s skull against the ground. “...to the depths with you.”

But just before he could properly finish him off…

“Fùqīn! Tíngzhǐ!”

Hei turned around to see his daughter standing before him at the other end of the palace’s path as combat between everyone else took place behind her.

“Hmph.” Hei kicked Bullet away before looking at his daughter. “Háizi. So you’ve decided to come, child.”

“Face me, father,” Lee glared at the elder primate while clutching her rope dart’s dagger in her hand, “I will end our lineage before you can.”