Canterlot Academy Trials

A few days later, at Chang’s palace…

“Thank you all for arriving. Please take your seat and eat.”

The emperor primate had invited Blue, Mistwalker, and Thiasus for a meal in his private banquet hall where he would explain the nature of what he wanted them to do next.

“...I’m terribly sorry for putting this onto you,” Chang continued from his seat as he rested one of his elbows on the table, “But I’m afraid I have no choice but to ask for your further assistance with this matter.”

“You want us to fight with your army and take down an entire city?” Blue asked with his eyes shooting open, “That’s outrageous! I’m in!”

Thiasus shook his head, “What he means is that we’d be happy to help, Emperor Chang.”

“Oi. But we don’t work for free, ya know,” Mist commented from her seat as she sipped from her bowl of soup. “Yer gonna have to up our pay for this.”

Chang chuckled in response. “Of course. I wouldn’t dare force you to do such a thing without compensation. With that being said, however, I would like to introduce you to the captains I will be assigning to your unit.”

Blue silently bit into another pheasant leg as he wondered just who would lead them during this fight. The last thing he wanted was a clash of personalities.

‘Dammit. I hope it’s not a hardass who’s gonna give me a rough time,’ he thought to himself as he downed his glass of tea to hide his concerned frown.

‘Ooh, I can hardly wait!’ thought Mistwalker. The water mare’s mane stood up on end as she sat patiently to see who they would be following with a neutral expression to hide her excitement.

‘Hopefully we can all learn something,’ Thiasus thought to himself with an intrigued grin on his face.

“Jìnrù, shìbīngmen!” Chang called for his soldiers in his native language.

Moments later, two monkey soldiers would enter the room. One male, one female. The male primate had golden fur and wore a black jumpsuit alongside two metallic, cylindrical gauntlets on his wrists.

Meanwhile, the female primate had black fur and wore a deep blue vest adorned with several stars. She had a pair of gloves on her hands that had two Kongese characters on their palms: 突变.

“Biānzi and Tàn Yuánzǐ,” Chang introduced them, then repeated their names in ways that would be easier for them to pronounce. “For you, you may simply refer to them as Ban and Tai.”

“...uh…hi?” Blue spoke up first with a nervous smile on his face. ‘Damn these guys look serious. Makes sense though since we are about to wage a small war after all.’

“How goes it?” Mist casually mouthed off.

“It’s very nice to meet you,” Thiasus smiled through his teeth while shooting a quick glare at the water mare. “I can’t wait to learn from your expertise, Mr. Ban. Ms. Tai.”

But as soon as Ban spoke…

“Why hello, everyone!”

Everyone gasped immediately and recoiled in their seats all while Tai put her palm in her face and shook her head. The sudden outburst from what they originally thought was a hyperserious soldier had caught them off-guard as they exchanged confused glances at each other.

Ban would continue, “We haven’t had foreigners here in a while, so forgive me! I’m a little excited!” Then he laid eyes on Blue and leapt over to him to inspect his scales, “A real life Western dragon no less! That’s amazing!”

“H-hey!” Blue flicked his tail, then tilted his head at the terminology used, “Wait a second, ‘Western’? You mean other dragons live around here?”

“Yes!” Ban would meticulously comb over each of Blue’s scales then rapidly shake the dragon’s claw-hand with both of his own. “I can’t wait to show my daughter that I’ve met a rare breed of dragon!”

Blue was jostled around by the primate’s…enthusiastic nature. It wasn’t until Tai pulled Ban back that Blue would be able to relax.

“Sorry about him,” Tai cleared her throat, “He’s not very used to foreigners. Admittedly, neither am I. But we don’t have time for pleasantries.” Having stepped in front of Ban with her arms behind her back, she would continue--her tone blunt and straightforward which was a stark contrast to her partner’s more eccentric manners. “I’ll need you all to explain to me your strengths and weaknesses when it comes to combat so that I can formulate a strategy for our attack.”

“I see,” Thiasus called out, “We’ll be one of many teams that will be taking on such a task, correct?”

“Precisely,” Tai nodded with a fierce glare in her eyes as she glanced at the guests from the West, “I’ll need you all to work with me, and I’ll work with you. Don’t slow us down, understand?”

“Aye, I got ye,” Mist leaned back in her seat and rolled her eyes. ‘Ye askin’ fer our help. Don’t treat us like we pissed in yer ale.’ In spite of her annoyance, she kept her thoughts to herself for the time being.

“Yes, ma’am,” was all Thiasus had to say.

“Yeah, just…keep him calm, would ya?” Blue muttered in reference to Ban, “I’m not some prop.”

With that, they all finished their meals and would leave the dining hall for the night to have a stay in one of the guest rooms of the palace until further notice.

Meanwhile, down below in one of the dungeons…

Both of Lee’s parents had been subjected to an old torture method in which freezing cold water would drip from buckets above their heads at completely random intervals as they were tied to the chairs they sat in. On its own, this wouldn’t be much of a big deal. However, it was enhanced by the fact that they were locked in pitch-black rooms where they were unable to process time itself. A few hours felt like it lasted days upon days…

At the same time, Lee and Bullet had walked down the steps to the prison chambers together.

“So,” Bullet began, “Have you managed to recover from all of that? Not just physically, but mentally as well?”

“I believe I have,” Lee replied, “As much as I wanted to be with you, I completely neglected my own life in the process.”

“To be fair, I’m an utter wreck in the same regard,” Bullet deprecated himself along with her, “All this time, I’ve still been trying to figure out what to do with myself. I love this place. But I never really had enough time to love myself.”

“...maybe we should hold off on our relationship for a while…” Lee admitted with a shy tone as she rubbed her arm, “...at least until we have our plans for ourselves figured out.”

As much as it hurt Bullet to hear, it was ultimately the right call. Whether they liked it or not, they were still from two different worlds on the social ladder and he knew he wouldn’t be of much use to her when governing an entire region.

‘Yeah I’m far too stupid for that.’