"...you want Uncle to help you do what?"
Jade, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo smiled winsomely up at Uncle as they stood around the new magic circle drawn on the floor of what Uncle had come to think of as the girls' Chi Lab. The center of the circle was the traditional demonic binding sigils, with the trigram representing sky - three solid lines - in the center of the seals. An extra circle was drawn around that, much wider than normal, divided into six segments with...odd symbols inside. Viewed from the door into the room, the 12 o'clock point had a large purple star. Clockwise from there was a violet diamond, a magenta lightning bolt, a pale blue balloon, an orange apple, and a pink butterfly.
"We want your help summoning Hsi Wu from the demon netherrealm," Jade explained simply.
Uncle stared at them, nonplussed. "Uncle stayed out of Sky Demon situation because girls said they had it under control. Focused on preparing for other demons. Was happy to learn girls handled banishing of Sky Demon without help, showed good promise. Now girls want help summoning demon in way without banishment? Why? So Jade can have magic boyfriend?" Hsi Wu would likely be nonplussed as well to discover that the only one who'd met 'Seymour' who was actually deceived was Jackie.
"Hsi's not my boyfriend!" Jade snapped out angrily. "He's just a friend!"
"Pfeh!" Uncle countered dismissively. "Say that after seven hormonal years of magic boy waiting on you hand and foot!"
Jade struggled to suppress her blush as Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and even Tohru burst into giggles. "Uncle!"
"Besides, takes more than summoning circle to bind demon as familiar!" Uncle continued. "If demon doesn't agree, can fight to break free, and Demon Sorcerer very powerful! What makes you think Sky Demon agree?"
"Because he already said he'd agree to be bound in magical servitude to me if I beat him," Jade explained, "just as he intended to bind us in servitude to him if he won, but treat us well since we were friends. And I know he'll keep his word." She crossed her arms and blew up one of her hanging bangs. "Whatever he says, he's more Lawful than Chaotic with how important he considers keeping his personal code."
"Now don't start that again!" all three fillies exclaimed simultaneously, making Jade giggle.
Uncle chuckled softly at the girls' antics, but then returned his expression to stern. "And you trust this demon?" he asked coldly.
Jade shrugged. "He's our friend."
"But-"
"The name and face may have been false, but the friendship was real."
Uncle looked critically at Jade, then turned his face to read the other girls. Finally, he nodded. "Alright. Tohru and I will help you."
"We will?" Tohru asked in surprise, only to wince as Uncle struck his temple. "Ow!"
"You are Chi Apprentice!" Uncle snapped out. "Do not question your teacher!"
Chuckling, Sweetie Belle took charge as she moved to sit on the diamond symbol, which glowed as she settled. "Tohru, sit on the butterfly," she instructed as Apple Bloom moved to the apple and Scootaloo to the lightning bolt, the symbols glowing as they settled. "Uncle, you sit on the balloon-"
"What?" Uncle demanded incredulously. "This is Harmony seal, and balloon is Laughter! Why is Uncle Laughter? Uncle is not funny!"
"Are you kidding, Uncle?" Jade joked as Tohru sat in the butterfly segment, the glow spreading around him. "You're hilarious!"
"Laughter ain't just bein' funny," Apple Bloom pointed out. "It's makin' people smile, and have hope."
"And it never mattered how bad our moods got growing up," Scootaloo added. "You were always able to cheer us up, and keep us moving forward."
"That is just being parent!" Uncle countered dismissively as he took the indicated seat. Inside, however, he was touched at the praise...and surprised that the symbol glowed readily for him.
Once everyone else was seated, Jade sat upon the star. As she did, the entire circle glowed. "Now that we're all seated, none of us can move until the spell is complete," she explained calmly as the fillies passed slips of paper to Uncle and Tohru. "We'll need to chant this spell together, starting when I tilt my head back. When I raise my hands, go silent and let me complete the spell. To bind him to me, I have to represent Magic, and thus complete the spell."
"With how readily you grasp what you are taught, it fits," Uncle murmured softly as he examined the spell.
Sweetie Belle nodded to Apple Bloom and Scootaloo as she charged her magic into the circle. Apple Bloom poured a potion into the center of the circle as Scootaloo buzzed her wings, conjuring a tiny tornado over the potion. The energies mixed, and a storm cloud took shape glowing orange and red, flashing with black lightning.
Jade tilted her head back, and everyone began to chant. "Chūlái de èmó, shìbì héxié...Chūlái de èmó, shìbì héxié...Chūlái de èmó, shìbì héxié..."(1)
Before everyone's eyes, the storm cloud parted into a window, and Hsi Wu appeared on the other side. Stretching out his arms, he slowly clawed his way out and into the circle. Seeing what was happening, he turned to Jade, nodded...and bowed.
Jade lifted her hands, and the others fell silent. "Tōngguò móshù de huì zuò!"(2)
The entire circle blazed with light, and the window - now a portal - closed behind Hsi Wu as the circle collapsed onto his right arm. Symbols appeared on the back of Uncle and Tohru's right hands matching the Harmony symbols they sat on, surrounded by a binding seal. Matching symbols with their Elements appeared on the right forehoofs of each of the fillies. The full circle with Magic marked in the center appeared on the back of Jade's right hand, pulsing with the mark on Hsi Wu's arm.
Hsi Wu stood up, examining the binding. "Not the traditional Familiar binding," he observed idly. "I'm not familiar with this magic style."
"It's not standard, true," Sweetie Belle agreed. "We didn't really want to bind a friend in de facto magical slavery, even if that was what he agreed to. But the Harmony magic from where we're from had another option. It was listed under Reforming Magic."
"Reforming?" Hsi Wu inquired nervously. "That's...not doing anything to my mind, is it?"
"Nothing like that!" Jade spoke up. "See, Harmony is based in Elements that make friendship work. Honestly, Loyalty, Kindness, Generosity, Laughter, and the Magic Spark that brings different people together. The spell we used binds you to the six of us by those Elements."
Scootaloo showed off the symbol on her hoof. "Each of us can compel you to represent the Element we're linked to you by. For example, I can compel you to act on Loyalty. Apple Bloom can compel you by Honesty, like the circle we had you in when we first met."
"And I am Kindness, so I can compel him to be kind?" Tohru asked in surprise, glancing at the symbol on his hand.
"That's where it gets...kinda vague," Apple Bloom allowed. "Kindness, Laughter, and Generosity have a lot of grey area between them as far as what's one and not th' others, with a lotta overlap."
"The important part is mine," Jade concluded, showing the mark there. "Magic. Which in this case means you can't use your magic in a way that goes against the spirit of my desires, not the letter."
"The spirit, and not the letter?" Hsi Wu asked in surprise.
"Yeah," Jade confirmed. "If it were the letter, I could be ordering you around like a slave. By the spirit, it just means you can't use your magic in a way that would harm my cause...which involves keeping your brothers and sisters from conquering the world."
"And otherwise, I have...more or less complete freedom?" Hsi Wu asked in surprise.
"As long as you don't go beyond the range of the binding," Scootaloo corrected. "Which...basically means you have to be in the same city as Jade at all times."
Hsi Wu turned a grin Jade's way. "I see absolutely no problem with that," he purred playfully, causing Jade to develop a flustered blush.
"No funny business until Jade is 18!" Uncle insisted firmly, though any hostility beyond parental protectiveness was gone from his voice. He'd seen that even in the netherrealm that was his prison, Hsi Wu hadn't removed the pendant Jade had given him.
"Uncle, he's not my-"
"I can wait," Hsi Wu interrupted playfully.
"HSI!"
As the others all laughed, Jackie rushed upstairs. "Uncle, I heard a loud burst of magic and-WAAAUGHH!" He leapt back, patting his chest as he caught sight of Hsi Wu. "Uncle, Sky Demon! Quick, cast the banishment spell!"
"After all the work girls went to summon him?" Uncle asked incredulously.
Jackie blinked in confusion. "What?"
"So 'Seymour's gonna wait till you're grown up, right Jade?" Viper asked as she stepped up beside Jackie.
"WHAT?" Jackie screamed out.
"He's not my-"
"He already said he would!" Sweetie piped up teasingly.
"Good on him," Viper complimented happily.
"So Jackie's the only one I fooled?" Hsi Wu groaned as Jade put her face in her hands to hide her embarrassment. "Seriously?"
(1) Come forth demon, bound to Harmony
(2) By Magic's will be done!