Jade slowly stirred, managing to feel the surface she was laying on. It wasn't the stone of the Book Chamber, but much softer. In fact, it felt remarkably like a mattress made of clouds, and was that a pillow her head laid on? Silk sheets over her body? ...she was feeling a lot more silk than she normally did...
She let out a loud groan as she squinted her eyes shut, feeling a serious headache that got worse if the lightest bit of light got in her eyes. Her hand went to her forehead as she winced in pain. "My head..." she groaned out, her thoughts working through the pain unable to process that her voice sounded...off.
Hands were suddenly there, two fingers on each gently massaging her temples to ease her pain. More hands gently wrapped the fingers of one hand around a glass of water, her other around two pills she recognized as aspirin. She quickly popped the pills and drank, then accepted a cup of something that steamed and smelled heavenly. She mumbled thanks as she drank, the flavor both familiar and strange as she sat up and felt the silk sheets slide off her body.
As her eyes opened, she stared at the blue hands with crimson claw-like nails grasping the mug of coffee she'd just drunk from. She blinked a few times as her mind processed what she was seeing. Glancing to the side, she saw three Shadow Khan bowing low to her, waiting for orders. Shifting her arms, she saw the hands holding the coffee move, confirming they were indeed her hands, even if the delicate shape was quite a bit different than what it was when she woke up. Glancing down her body, all the skin she could see was also blue...
...and two definitive points of evidence that her body had drastically altered relative to her awareness since she lost consciousness. Those hadn't even begun to grow in yet, and they certainly wouldn't have been blue...even if she had been hoping they'd be as big as Viper's someday, as they appeared from her angle now.
She started to open her mouth, trying to shape a query or demand for information...and two more Shadow Khan appeared, holding a full length mirror between them. Seeing her reflection, Jade moved to stand up and found herself literally floating out of the bed to stand before the mirror.
Her skin was the same bright blue of the Shadow Khan. Her black hair was long and flowing, long enough that she could easily comb it in such a way to wear only it and still be completely decent. Her body definitely wasn't that of a child anymore, she looked at least 18 if not older. On the back of her right hand was the Harmony Seal...and on the back of her left hand was the mark from the front of the Magic Tome she'd considered tattooing herself from once, but with what looked like a Harmony Seal around it, though not in a configuration she knew. She was overall slim-bodied...except where she was especially curvy. "...wow," she murmured in amazement. "Puberty is going to be kind to me..." Her mind snapped back to what had actually happened. "But the Book-"
A Shadow Khan moved up beside her, holding up a silver platter on which sat her Super Moose wristwatch, a parchment fragment, and her half of the pendant she had made to share with Hsi Wu. It was now on a silver chain as opposed to common thread. Taking the fragment, she read the text written there. And Jade Chan became a wily force in maintaining the Balance, aligned with Good...
"Your Majesty," a voice interrupted her musing, one familiar yet different that caused her to spin. She immediately recognized Captain Black bowing there with eyes closed...even if his skin was blue, and he had a wild mane of silver hair that hung all the way down his back between his large, leathery wings...and he was shirtless.
"What are you doing in here?" she demanded angrily...though oddly she found no urge to cover herself. That felt really strange...
"I have finished my report to Dread Lord Hsi Wu," Captain Black responded readily. "I came to pay my respects to the Queen of the Shadow Khan before my departure." He lifted his head. "Will the Dread Lord have the company of his Mistress today?" he asked teasingly.
"I'm not his Mistress!" Jade snapped back automatically, in much the same tone she always denied Hsi Wu being her boyfriend...and causing Captain Black to chuckle indulgently the same way most adults had reacted to that as he left. She turned her back to the mirror as she went to see what options she had for clothing. Whether she had shame now or not, she was not going to leave her bedchamber naked until she knew what was going on.
While she saw she had a wide selection of outfits, two immediately leapt out at her, one in purple and dark blue and the other in gold. The blue and purple outfit looked like royal robes, but it was cut to show a great deal of cleavage all the way down to just above her belly button, and sheer to be almost but not quite see through as it hung down below her waist with a slit to show her legs if she wanted. "...I can't tell if this is supposed to be Dark Queen or Morticia Addams," she murmured to herself as she pushed it aside to look at the one in gold. "...or Princess or slave girl..." she murmured in wonder as she looked from all sides at what was plainly the 'slave girl' outfit from Return of the Jedi. An impish grin crossed her face, one that looked almost malevolent with her glowing crimson eyes and razor sharp teeth. "Well, if I'm supposed to be his 'Mistress'..."
It didn't take long for Jade to change into her chosen outfit, after which she made a conscious effort to actually walk to the door rather than float, enjoying the way her stride was naturally swaying and seductive, very much how Viper walked around Jackie. Thoughts of them made her think about the fact that this was a different timeline, a different world...but the Harmony Seal was still there. She could get help from Hsi Wu with all of this...once she got this 'Mistress' nonsense sorted out. Opening the door, she climbed the stairs up and found herself exiting out a shadowed alcove into an open chamber at the top of a tower.
As she stepped out, her eyes widened as she caught sight of who she instinctively knew was Hsi Wu...though she'd have doubted it if she didn't see the Harmony Seal on the back of his own right hand. He sprawled on his throne, staring across the tower at a screen that endlessly read out data regarding his kingdom and some distant construction. Rather than the wizened form he'd had before, he was now tall and broad-shouldered, with chiseled, angular features and a body that rippled with muscle and raw, unconstrained power. His hair was long and luxuriant, crowned by his antennae blades. It was as though someone had seamlessly blended a gargoyle with a dark elf. Though Jade didn't know it, having never seen the individual, he bore a striking resemblance to the gargoyle Goliath.
"...Hsi?" she finally managed to gasp out, slowly stepping out from the shadows.
A tension she hadn't noticed left Hsi Wu as a smile graced his face and his entire body relaxed. "At least you don't recognize me like this, Jade-" he started to say, a growling rumble adding a pleasing timbre to his voice, only for his jaw to drop and his eyes pop as he caught sight of her...and the outfit she - as her older relatives would say - wasn't wearing. "...uh..." he continued dumbly.
Jade found a grin crossing her face once again as she sauntered towards Hsi Wu. "Oh, was this not your idea?" she asked teasingly as she ran her hands along her barely clad body. "Cause it certainly looks like it'd be your taste from what I saw of your internet usage."
"I told you I didn't know what those sites were!" Hsi snapped out, his cheeks flushed.
"You say that now," Jade purred, teasingly dragging one nail along his arm and across his chest, "but you didn't seem to mind the way those girls were screaming..."
Hsi's eyes started to widen in panic...only to narrow as a grin suddenly crossed his face. He stood up, towering over Jade as he grinned down at her. "I could make you scream, if you like," he offered, the timbre of his voice shooting straight down her spine.
Jade stepped back rapidly. "Whoa there!" she gasped out, her cheeks flushed. "There's still a twelve year old brain in here, whatever the body looks like."
"Then act like it," Hsi countered teasingly.
All three fillies were falling over each other and laughing as the window closed. "Well, they look like they got their happy ending!" Scootaloo joked gaily.
"Poor Jade!" Sweetie gasped out. "It's going to be rough on her adjusting to all that."
"Entertaining to watch, though!" Apple Bloom joked.
"So...do we really need to change things back?" Scootaloo asked curiously. "Cause...it kinda looks like everybody's getting their happily ever after."
"Ah don't see a reason ta go tryin' ta fix things...yet," Apple Bloom allowed.
"In that case, let's get out there!" Sweetie declared. "Unless we're already out there?" She turned to the Book. No window opened. "Come on!" With that, she turned and galloped towards the edge of the chamber.
"Wait up!" the others called out as they pursued...only to freeze as Sweetie let out a shriek of terror.
Sweetie Belle had started to cross into the area superimposed with a white space...and her body was starting to fade. The part of her still inside the chamber was solid, but her front half was half-transparent. Scootaloo quickly grabbed her by the tail and pulled her back into the chamber, and she returned to normal. All three stared at the precipice in fear.