Jade floated in the air for a few moments more as energy pulsed through the entire temple...until she finally settled down to the floor, landing lightly on her feet as her eyes closed, sealing in the glow. Her hair settled against her last of all, and when she opened her eyes she had to blow a lock away from her face before everyone could see that the glow was gone.
"Did it work?" the monk who performed the ritual asked worriedly. "I've never performed this ritual before, and my teacher never mentioned light shows."
"It worked," Hsi said softly with a wide smile, his eyes flicking from where Jade's pendant had wound up back around her neck...to where Emeraude stood on her shoulder with a wide smile and the hood of her robe pushed back. While Jade's hair went more or less wherever it wanted unless she made an effort to tame it - which she rarely did - Emeraude's was bundled into a neat bun, as she'd worn it when she was older. Hsi walked over to her. "So how does it feel to be the-"
Jade promptly punched him in the solar plexus. "That's for not telling me keeping the promise was for my own good, and for not mentioning Emeraude was your little sister!" she snapped angrily.
Sweetie Belle promptly spat the water she'd just taken into her mouth to calm herself down all over the monk who'd offered it. "She's what?" she gasped out as Apple Bloom and Scootaloo shared chortles.
Hsi coughed a few times as he used his bent over position to make his shift back to human form more natural. "Okay..." he admitted as he rubbed his sternum. "I guess I could have given a few details-" His words were cut off as he looked up by Jade's lips gently touching his own.
Jade pulled back with a soft smile. "That was for keeping it...and everything else." She idly tucked a lock of her hair behind one ear...only for it to rebelliously swing back in front of her face.
"...buh..." Hsi let out, apparently having lost his ability to process for the moment.
Jackie rubbed the back of his head thoughtfully. "So...Jade is the Chosen One...but still Jade?"
"Yeah," Jade confirmed as she shifted awkwardly in her robes. "Hsi, please tell me you brought my regular clothes up the mountain too? I really want to get changed out of these robes before we head back. As comfortable as they are, they are not me-" Green light suddenly flowed over the robes before fading, leaving behind what looked like Jade's normal attire. "...did not know they could do that," she murmured thoughtfully as she plucked at the fabric, feeling the layers even if the material was still Joromungo silk like the robes had been instead of the more mundane fabrics she was used to.
"We should probably do something about the monkeys outside, too," Emeraude indicated, gesturing to the three giant statues - near mountain sized - that Daolong Wong had brought there. "It's really not safe to leave them lying around where anyone can get at them. The seal may require all three magics to open, but someone might get the idea of physically cracking them open."
"Think Valmont could lend us his new bodyguard to move them back?" Jade asked thoughtfully. "She could probably manage it...and even if I do have the power from how much chi is stored inside me as Chosen One to do it myself, I'd be worried about damaging my body if I tried to channel it all at once like that..."
"I'll ask them, Mistress," Hsi offered quickly, drawing a circle in the air to open a communications window.
"I'm not your Mistress," Jade responded immediately, almost automatically.
"So Jade," Viper asked curiously, "how's it feel to have your boyfriend's little sister inside you?"
"GYAK!" Hsi gasped out as he tumbled forward to slam face first into the ground.
"...I hadn't thought about it until you mentioned it, but that's going to be awkward in about seven years..." Jade murmured thoughtfully. She then smirked at Hsi. "Fun in the meantime, though." She then noticed everyone staring. "What?"
"Uh...you didn't say 'he's not my boyfriend' like you usually do," Tohru pointed out thoughtfully.
Jade glanced upward for a time, then looked down at her pendant before smiling warmly at Hsi. "No...I didn't."
Daolong Wong watched calmly as Daolong Wong flew threw the air to splat against a distant mountain, bursting into a flood of tree sap. He sighed as he closed the window into the Earth Realm. "Well, plainly the Monkeys wouldn't have been that much of an advantage elsewhere...and if Uncle has that many Boon Tokens to use against me, eliminating him will need to take precedence over harvesting the fillies, as much as I'd want to make him watch it happen and be powerless to stop me. ...Gan! Retrieve the tree sap! I only have so much of the leavings of the fillies' magic, and it's potency is not to be underutilized."
Nodding, the Dark Warrior vanished. Wong then turned back to the resources he had within the Shadow Realm. In addition to his usual magical ingredients, he had a cauldron full of the tree sap left behind every time Apple Bloom and the others did big magic. While not dryadic sap, it had its own magical properties and proved very useful for a number of magics...especially the crafting of simulacra that could contain magical casting ability without being directly linked to the one they were crafted of. Using them before the sap had kept him off the radar and let him keep functioning even with the entire magical world after him, but they'd been expensive. The tree sap proved a very effective cost saver in that regard.
He had a great many more dark magic resources to utilize, and quite a few stolen artifacts of other forms of magic...but he only had one ally left to call on, and only then only as a last resort. The Shadow Oni were vicious, cruel, and desired the end of Light. That was why all but one was sealed away, and that one in hiding in the depths of the Shadow Realm until the time was right to free his brethren. Wong resided in only the upper layers of the Shadow Realm, which left him safe from the forces of Light. Nothing aligned with light could enter the Realm without being tainted by the Shadows, and anything that was Light would cause vast destruction just from the act of entering...and that would damage the oh-so-precious Balance.
Still, he had one more plot to play before he called on his last ally. He'd left dark traces on the Talismans when they had last been in his possession. Not enough for anyone to detect unless they were looking, but enough for him to track their locations. He would have to craft another simulacra to send first, but once it was ready he knew exactly where they were...and that the one guarding them hadn't adapted sufficiently to the new 'magic' world to know to ask for magical protections for his vault, or his base. On top of that, he'd left a channel open inside the base tied to the Wizard's homestead. While not a channel Wong could use...one door existing made it that much easier to make another.
If he could acquire the powers of the Talismans for himself, that would drastically boost his already formidable abilities. The simulacra that claimed them could match a Class 2 on an even footing. Added to his true body when he called on The Shadows and The Stars? It would take the Triumvirate to stop him.
And if he was able to complete his research? Well, then even those three would be forced to bow to him. And the fillies were the key...