Jack made his way to the Clubhouse. Despite continuing to deal with the disrespect of his prisoners. He still had a sense of glee. He was going to get the final piece of the puzzle after all. The Reversing Mirror he himself had lost. With no ponies to fight, and Wuya gone. Nothing else stood in his way.
Jack landed just outside the clubhouse and carefully made his way to the door. some of the way up was starting to creak from his weight. and he didn't want to plummet for a third time.
He noticed his note was gone. he smirked. That must have meant they managed to get the mirror....or were waiting inside to tell them they failed. Which then made him nervous.
He opened the door slowly and peered inside, he wasn't about to go in unless he knew he could get out. the door was only just big enough for him to fit if he went in on all fours.
And he saw it. The Reversing Mirror, in the hooves of Scootaloo.
"Hey Jack! I guess you really were coming later..which would be now..I think?...but anyway..later rather than tomorrow morning." Scootaloo smiled and waved to him "Look what we got!" Scootaloo waved her hoof over the mirror.
Jack, without thinking, crawled into the clubhouse. Keeping his eye on the mirror "Woah! You did it!" Jack was impressed as he lifted it up to make sure it was the real deal.
Scootaloo smiled half heartedly "Yeah, we did. But..Jack...can I ask you a question?"
Jack looked towards her, he had his own questions as well. He wanted to know exactly what kind of "sneaky" plan they had come up with. He gave her an awkwardly gentle smile "What is it?"
"Well it's umm...about the mirror actually...It's yours right? Like..It belongs to you?" Scootaloo had to make sure of everything. She wanted clear answers.
"Well yeah, I mean. It's a Shen Gong Wu. You ever heard of something like that before I came along?" Jack, though not sensing where she was getting at, used his lies anyway to merely cover his own tracks.
"Right..I get that. It's just.......how exactly did Twilight and the others end up with it? Now that I give it some thought. Shouldn't it have been with you the entire time?" Scootaloo asked
"...well..yeah..but...umm...you see. After one of my um..fights with Wuya. There was a big blast and I just sort of lost it.But lucky for me it was found, huh? haha, and see. Thanks to you, I got it back! So tha-...mgnh" Jack suddenly felt a twinge of pain. "Tha-n..." Jack couldn't say it in a truly sincere way, despite for some reason...wanting to. "...aha...Well I got it back anyway."
"Oh..That makes sense!...So...You even had us get it back in secret to help us get our cutie marks before Rainbow Dash and the others can beat Wuya themselves?" Scootaloo believed she was getting it now.
"Exactly it! Pretty smart plan huh? haha" Jack laughed nervously, half in relief her line of thinking was making things safe for him. Though, in the back of his head. He was wondering why he cared at all at this point. He had what he needed, he could just force Scootaloo under his command. Yet...he wasn't being as hasty as he normally would.
"Wow Jack! You really are cool!...I'm sorry to say..But I kind of had a little doubt. AppleBloom just seemed like she wasn't trusting you too much anymore after we took the mirror. Glad I can tell her you're a real stand up guy!" She smiled a warming smile at Jack
"Ahh don't worry what she thinks anyway, what's important is what you think...speaking of thinking. How did you girls even get the mirror?" Jack was just wanting to know, he inched up to Scootaloo, looking directly into her eyes.
"Well, I came up with the plan actually" she chuckled "It was pretty good too. I had Applebloom go into the castle asking for her sister.But she had to make sure to divert everyponie's attention. So she had to make a fuss about it.So the plan was to complain about her not being at the farm lately. Then, me and Sweetie Belle went in to look around. Then we spotted it! They just hung it up like a normal mirror, I bet they were thinking nopony would notice. But oh man! Rainbow Dash was there...she was guarding it! She looked so cool...but. I knew I had a job to do. So I had to have Sweetie Belle distract her by saying...ugh...Rarity was cooler...I can't believe I told her to say that...But If I was up there. I’d have gotten pretty distracted...Well umm..anyway. I knew They'd notice if the mirror was taken. So I threw a tarp over it and walked away and told Sweetie Belle I wanted to talk to her."
"Why a tarp? Wouldn't they have noticed you threw a tarp on it and ask why? It would seem suspicious to me at least" Jack asked, confused
"Well...hehe, It was actually a spur of the moment kind of thing actually. I didn't know why I did that...I guess I was hoping it was a sort of "out of sight, out of mind" sorta thing....but then I realized they would have noticed a tarp suddenly being there...covering the mirror."
"So..you were trying to cover the mirror in a tarp and then...Switch the mirror or something? With another mirror under the tarp? So they wouldn't notice?...but then realized there wasn't a tarp in the first place? How did-" Jack was confused, and before he could state how insane that sounded. Scootaloo cut him off.
"Wait! Before you say anything let me finish! Rainbow Dash got sort of distracted by Applebloom's complaining. So she never noticed the tarp. So I thought. Hey, what if we make it HER idea to cover the mirror in a tarp, and somehow already did it? All I had to do is have Sweetie Belle ask her what the tarp was for. Rainbow Dash seemed confused at first, but then she told her that it was guarding something super secret. Never even noticed the tarp was not there before"
Jack smirked "Are you serious? Why would you have the mirror out in the open like that?! and then get confused when a tarp got put on it! How dumb can you be?!"
Scootaloo got agitated with those words, and yelled at him "RAINBOW DASH ISN'T DUMB! SHE...she..I guess she just got a little confused....I even managed to make a switch with a mirror lying around the castle when Applebloom got really loud. Then I gave the signal...and we got out." Scootaloo frowned "And..don't make fun of Rainbow Dash...she's my hero..she was probably just really on edge because of that evil Wuya."
Jack felt a little jealous. He didn't even know why. "what? I thought I was your hero?"
"You are too! you're both my heroes. And if anypony made fun of you, I'd defend your honor too!..I..I just don't want one of my heroes making fun of the other. You gave me the ability to fly Jack....but Rainbow Dash..she has given me a lot of encouragement, and has saved Equestria so many times, and do all this cool stuff. You're both amazing to me....but..I haven't known you too long.The reason I even stayed to meet you is because I want to get to know you more...you know....if you aren't busy. I mean, Wuya isn't gonna do anything right now right?" Scootaloo frowned and looked down, she really wanted to have one on one with Jack to see how he truly was. She was hoping he wouldn't shrug her off.
Jack was somehow touched by this. Someone...wanted to hang out with him, to learn about him, to see is he was up to snuff with expectations. After going through experiences like this with one of his own ex-heroes, Hannibal Bean. And him being a let down. And also Chase Young denying him apprenticeship. He didn't want to waste the opportunity he now had that had been crushed by others.
Jack then rubbed his chin, faking a thinking expression "I dunno...maybe she might..."
Scootaloo looked down, disappointed "oh..ok...I guess you have to get everything ready for the final battle huh?"
"Probably...but, eh. After hearing how you got the mirror. I guess I can hang out with you for awhile" Jack smirked as he reached his hand out and gave her head a scruffyrub "I gotta admit, there were a few faults in that plan. But the fact it was pretty sneaky and all improvised AND still works gets the Jack seal of approval!"
"Wow really?!" Scootaloo's eyes glistened "You thought I did good?"
"Well, It doesn't seem they noticed the mirror is missing yet. So that's good in my book." He gave her a thumbs up "Stick with me Jac-I mean....Scoots! You and me can really go places!"
"Go places? what do you mean by that? "Scootaloo tilted her head, confused
"Well, what I mean is. After it's all over, and you got your cutie marks or whatever. I could use someone at my side, a partner." Jack said
Scootaloo's eyes grew wide, her excitement building "You mean? I could be your partner?! Like, your heroic sidekick?! THAT WOULD BE...ahmm..mm..I mean, that'd be neat. But..like I said. I want to get to know you more." Scootaloo had a sense of caution in her. As much as she was getting wrapped in in all this. She wanted to make sure she wasn't getting ahead of herself.
"Well, go ahead then, ask ole Jack here anything" Jack relaxed his back on the wall "I got an answer for everything you got"
Scootaloo started to think, now that she had his attention enough to get answers. She was wondering what she should actually ask. Then she started to think. where was Jack friends? was he a lone hero? "Ok ok, I got one. Jack, don't you have any friends of your own? I thought a hero like you would have already had like...their own team"
Jack opened his eyes in worry to the question. and thought hard of a good lie "........w-well about that. I got friends...loads of them...but, when I went one on one with Wuya ...Me and Her ended up here, I got separated from the rest. But I can tell you one thing, none of my friends compare to you Scoots.."
"R-really?...wait? why? Don't you like your friends?" Scootaloo was confused as to why he would hold her in that high a regard
"ahh, you know how it is. You become a big hero and suddenly they just wanna hang out because you're famous and stuff. But you Scoots...You can see me for who I really am, I respect that." Jack closed his eyes, putting his right leg over his left and tapping it on the floor. Feeling assured of his recovery.
"W-wow....I'm sorry your friends are like that...I guess they only really liked you for your fame huh?." Scootaloo thought that was not only depressing, but she now hoped that wasn't the only real reason she liked him.
"Yeah, a lot of people are really jerks. Always putting you down in the end. But you're different Scoots. You got your priorities straight. And everytime I see you? you always manage to do something that just wows me. and-" Jack turned over to see Scootaloo frowning "Hey, what's wrong?"
"It's just..what you said. I thought maybe I just liked you because...Well..." she flittered her wings.
"What, because I’m a hero?" Jack guessed right, as Scootaloo nodded
"Eh, the way I see it. The fact you want to get to know me shows me that you wanna know me for me. So don't sweat it. Trust me..I mean it Scoots. You can trust me" Jack only said this out of his own growing delusions. He really began to think there would be no repercussions in this once he conquered the world. He was looking directly in her eyes as he said the final part of his sentence.
"...I trust you Jack." Scootaloo smiled warmly, feeling her doubt wash away "And you can trust me too. As your friend."
Jack felt something in his black heart. like, something returned to it. But he was still too up on his own ways to stop his lying. It wasn't that he was scared to tell her the truth. He just thought, at this point. That gaining her actual friendship would mean she'd join him when the time comes. an enemy of his, Raymundo, had betrayed his own allies once. And yet they still took him back. Friendship was a powerful ally, something he believed he now had.
Scoots began to ask more questions of Jack. Everything from where he came from, to Wuya's origins, to his favorite food. For anything he knew he could tell the truth for. He did, otherwise. He lied through his teeth, Each answer he gave only brought Scootaloo closer to him however.
"...And there was even this one time I saved the world from evil spiders that even Wuya couldn't handle. I tell you, sometimes evil witches can be so dumb sometimes." Jack snickered
Scootaloo giggled "I just can't believe she'd let out something even she couldn't handle. She doesn't sound too smart. Probably why you have all the Shen Gong Wu thingys and she doesn't. But....she has the Alicorn Amulet...What are we going to do about that?" Scootaloo worried
"bah, I wouldn't worry about it too much. You can say, that it's already in my hands" Jack snickered
"Wow! You already have a plan huh? Well, I mean. Of course you do. That's probably why you needed the mirror. It deflects stuff right?" Scootaloo asked in admiration
"Right!" Jack gave Scootaloo's chin a very light tap "See, Genius material, right here baby!"
Scootaloo blushed and looked away, feeling embarrassed of being held in high regard by a hero "Ahh, it was just a guess. since you know. Mirrors reflect stuff."
"But you still figured it out....but hey...how would you like to see how it works?" Jack grinned at her, as he took his monkey staff out of his coat.
"What?! No way! You'd really let me see it in action?!" Scootaloo was getting excited
"ppffft, see it? No, I mean actually use it. Look, if we're going to be hanging out.. Then there's something I really wanna show you. Trust me, it's pretty cool..I just gotta ask. Are you ready to be Jacked?" Jack smirked at her.leaning closer to her
"J-Jacked? w-w-what do you mean? d-does it have to do with the mirror?" Scootaloo was getting nervous. She had no idea what he was thinking.
Jack grabbed the mirror and put it down "put your hoof down on this. and then put your hoof down on this" He then put down a rubber ducky he was keeping in his coat.
"errr..ok.." Scootaloo was really confused now, why the rubber ducky?
Jack gripped his monkey staff and put his other hand on the rubber ducky "Scoots! I challenge you to a Xiaolin Showdown for the Rubber Ducky. My Monkey Staff for for your Reversing Mirror! Your choice of the challenge!"
Scootaloo went wide eyed in shock as everything started to glow "Wh-whats going on?! What did you do?!"
Jack sighed "relax, just challenge me at something. And try not to have a heart attack. things are gonna get pretty crazy in a second."
"some-something? you mean...anything I want?" Scootaloo was still confused, but she wanted to trust Jack. "Like what?"
Jack waved his hand in excitement, getting a tad impatient "Anything, come on! Just name it already!"
Scootaloo went into deep thought. Then..she looked at her helipack, and flittered her wings to hover slightly. Then gave Jack a confident smirk "Flight to the Finish...just uh.. it's a race.."
"You're on!" Jack said as he activated his Helipack
Scootaloo suddenly had her confidence dropped when she realized something "Wait wait...I mean..I just..How can I even race you? Even if I was a match for you...wouldn't somepony see?-WHAAA!"
Suddenly the clubhouse shook as it shot up into the sky, seemingly through different dimensions, until it reached high into a night sky of endless stars. The Clubhouse walls simply fell as they found themselves on a giant beanstalk, surrounded by clouds below and some above. Some of the clouds looking quite volatile with voltage and sparks.
Scootaloo inched backwards in fright. "J-J-JACK!?! WHAT HAPPENED?!?WHERE ARE WE!?" She huddled and hid behind his legs.
Jack found her fright kind of adorable. He leaned down and looked at her. "Scootaloo, relax. It's all part of the showdown...yeesh, that is no way for a future Heylin to act..." Jack then began to think to himself "It's a good thing I don't act like that. It'd be pretty embarrassing"
"B-but Jack..I'm scared. I..I dunno where I am"
Jack gave her a gentle pat. And did his best to explain things to her. the magic of the showdown, the goal of the challenge she herself placed down. Scootaloo just wanted to have a flying race...well..she got what she wished for.
She began to calm down, and looked ahead, seeing a yellow glowing cloud in the distance. "So...this place is just part of a magical showdown thing? One of my own.creation? Nothing bad?"
Jack shook his head "Yeah, simple as that. So...you got it? You think you can handle it?"
Scootaloo stood at the edge of the beanstalk leaf they were on and looked back at Jack, unsure "I dunno...do you really think I have a chance?"
Jack shrugged "Probably not"
Scootaloo frowned "o-oh"
"I-I mean...probably not...unless you put your heart into it..haha" Jack didn't know why, but he felt bad that she felt bad.
"oh..OHH..ok..I..I think I get it...I..I hope" Scootaloo raised her wings.
"Ok..whew..ok..so..umm ready?" Jack started doing stretches
"yeah...Yeah I think so..oh man..I'm really gonna do this! I can't believe it! I was kind of scared to fly super high, but this is mega super high..and..and OH MAN..ITS GONNA BE AWESOME!"
Jack could only smile at her excitement.
"Ok..so, I just gotta say the thing right? that phrase?" Scootaloo readied herself
Jack nodded
"ok" she started flapping gently
They both cried out "Gong Yi Tanpai!"