Oh, I come from a land, from a faraway place
where the caravan camels roam
where it's flat and immense, and the heat is intense
It's barbaric, but hey, it's home.
When the wind's from the east, and the sun's from the west
and the sand in the glass is right.
Come on down, stop on, by hop a yo-yo and fly,
to another Miraculous night.
Miraculous nights, like Miraculous days,
more often than not are hotter than hot
in a lot of good ways.
Miraculous nights, 'neath Miraculous moons
A fool off his guard, could fall and fall hard
Out there on the dunes
As the night moved the sands of the desert kingdom of Canterlot, a woman with a body covered in tattoos and gray and white hair shaped like a crest sat by the entrance to an underground temple, contemplating the imminent full moon in the night sky.
“Canterlot” the woman murmured with a smile “City of mystery, enchantment… and the best camembert cheese this side of the world!”
“Master Zecora, what are you doing?” said a small but aged voice behind her.
The woman, Zecora, blinked and turned her head toward the source of her voice.
It was a small green turtle-shaped creature. It had a large head, tiny body, and green eyes with yellow sclerae. Her body had a turtle shell on her back and a small tail. It also has an antenna on its forehead.
“I'm narrating, Wayzz” Zecora responded with a gesture of confidence, while the green creature looked at her in amazement “Every good story deserves one to begin with an explanatory way. Don’t you agree, my dear kwami?".
The kwami, Wayzz, shook his head with a huff.
“I think that so many years as Grand Guardian of the Temple have affected your head, Master Zecora".
"Oh come on, old friend, I've only been the Guardian for a short time... for only 297 years old".
"Precisely".
Zecora sighed, while her eyes sparkled with humor, knowing that her kwami may have the wisdom and knowledge of every magical item in the world, but Wayzz might be too serious for his own good.
“Master Zecora” Wayzz said “Do you really believe that the Chosen One will appear?”
“I don't believe it, Wayzz... I know that person will appear” Zecora said firmly “And I also know that, whatever happens tonight, this person will paves the way for his fate”.
“And why wait for his arrival?” a cold but fascinating voice, blowing like leaves in the wind, said suddenly.
Zecora didn't seem surprised when a mysterious woman appeared seemingly out of nowhere, scattering sand in her wake as she landed.
This woman is wearing an orange jumpsuit with a white section in the front, with an orange sash with black edges at her waist, which dangled like a fox tail. The edges of her neck and the tops of her arms had thin black lines. Her forearms and part of her calves were black, and the soles of her feet were white with an orange fox footprint on each one. On her face, she wore an orange mask with black edges over her magenta eyes, with bright orange headbands, and on top of her head she had fake fox ears. Her hair was long and curly, orange and yellow, with a pair of pigtails on either side of her head. She also carried some sort of orange and white flute on her back.
This woman looked at Zecora with a look she knew very well: hunger, and not what one would normally feel.
Standing up from where she was standing, Zecora bowed to her waist with their hands clasped together, while the bracelet on her right wrist glistened in the moonlight.
“Greetings and good night, young traveler” Zecora greeted, still smiling “Who are you?”
“You can call me... Volpina” the woman said proudly, balancing her flute on her shoulder “And I have come to claim what belongs to me: the treasure of this temple”.
Zecora seemed taken aback by those words.
"Treasure?" she asked “My dear, I assure you that there is no treasure here that can be claimed”.
“Don't play with me, old lady. As a master of illusions, I can see all your deceptions" Volpina growled, waving her hand at the stone arch in front of her "Finally, after so many years of searching, I have found it: the Miraculous Temple".
Once again, Zecora saw that familiar glint of greed and desire in Volpina's eyes, slowly eating her up inside like a steady tide pushing a stone away from the shore. She couldn't help but feel sorry for her.
“And now that I have found it, nothing will stop me from obtaining the Miraculous and fulfilling my greatest wish” Volpina said.
Quickly, Volpina grabbed her flute and pointed the end of it at Zecora's face, who, to her disappointment, had not flinched.
“Not even you , Great Guardian” Volpina threatened “So I suggest you get out of my way and give me what is mine… or face the consequences”.
“I sense a lot of anger in you, young lady” Zecora said calmly “Why do you let all those negative emotions fill you? Maybe I could give you some meditation lessons. I know a little yoga”.
Wayzz flew until he was levitating right in front of Volpina.
“Nothing good will ever come from your greed, sorceress” Wayzz warned “You will only cause pain and suffering to those around you… including yourself”.
“Oh, that's where you're wrong” Volpina said with a malicious smile, which made Zecora think of a fox stalking its prey “Once I have the Miraculous, only those who defy me will suffer, and my reign will be the beginning of a new era”.
Then, his voice turned into a deep growl.
“So don't make me repeat it: step aside”.
Wayzz flinched at his menacing essence, but Zecora simply shrugged.
"Very well. If you want to try it…” Zecora said, as she took a step to the right, gesturing toward the entrance to the Temple, not letting his smile falter.
Volpina's eyebrows furrowed, but she lowered the flute anyway.
“The only thing I want is the Miraculous” Volpina said, whose voice sounded with perverse admonition “The rest of the treasure in the Temple is yours, but the Miraculous… is mine”
Zecora simply watched as Volpina slowly approached the stone arch, making the darkness within the temple hum at her presence, the stones themselves pulsating with magic and engraved runes coming to life with green energy.
Volpina smiled and took a step through the threshold… only to be sent flying back by a glowing green shield of compressed air!
Zecora and Wayzz watched her fly over her head screaming, before crashing onto the sandy ground, rolling over her hands and feet as they dug them into the ground to slow her movement.
When she finally stopped, Volpina's face was red with frustration and her chest heaved and fell heavily as she breathed through clenched teeth.
"You!" She yelled at Zecora “What have you done? I am the Chosen One! You can’t deny me passage!”
“Technically, she can” Wayzz said.
“For a powerful sorceress, it seems that you have overlooked the basic magical runes” Zecora stated flatly “Did you not read the inscription on the stone?”
Growling, Volpina looked towards the stone arch, whose runes glowed brighter than before, as if her attempt to enter had activated them.
But now, Volpina found it much easier to translate them:
Hair as dark as twilight and bright violet eyes,
she hides her heart from another under a hapless appearance.
Because only one with inner courage will pass beyond this door,
to claim the treasure of her love and change her grim fate.
“What kind of joke is this?” Volpina shouted “Old woman, do you think I can’t solve a damn riddle?”
“Actually, I think this should be easy for you. It practically tells you who the Chosen One is" Zecora said with a wide smile, while the dismayed look she gave Volpina was almost hilarious "You could say that this person is... how does the saying say, Wayzz? Oh yes, a diamond in the rough!”
“Are you saying… what someone else is meant to have the Miraculous!?” Volpina shouted, while she showed her teeth like a wild animal “I didn't come here so that my dream would escape from my hands!”
Then, Volpina took a deep breath and stood up defiantly, returning to her sly smile.
“Alright, Guardian, I'll play your little game. If I'm not the Chosen One, then I will find that person" Volpina threatened "And when I do... the Miraculous will be MINE!"
Then, Volpina brought her flute to her lips and played a soft melody, while a ball of orange light appeared at the end of the instrument. Then, the sorceress threw the ball at her feet and a cloud of orange smoke exploded around her.
Zecora watched as the smoke swirled like a tornado, carrying sand and stone with it. Then, with a clap of thunder, it dispersed and disappeared until nothing remained.
Volpina had disappeared.
“I can't believe it. Did you really tell her?" Wayzz said, as he stared at the empty spot where Volpina had been, with his mouth open “Master Zecora, didn't it occur to you that she could find the Chosen One and force him to obtain the Miraculous?”
“I already told you, Wayzz: whatever happens tonight, it will pave the way for the arrival of the Chosen One” Zecora said, brushing the sand off her clothes as she looked up at the bright night sky “Volpina doesn't know it… but she is about to awaken something more powerful than anything she knows”.
At the other end of the desert, Volpina reappeared, as her furious power simmered the sand beneath her feet, turning it to glass. The sorceress reached up and caressed the orange and gold amulet she wore around her neck, carved in the shape of a fox tail.
"Trixx, illusions in!"
Glowing bright orange, and in a flash of light, Volpina's mask and costume disappeared... leaving only a normal girl named Adagio Dazzle, who wore clothes like that of someone of noble rank.
But that was not everything that was left behind.
Another kwami emerged from inside the amulet.
The kwami, named Trixx, was an orange, white and black creature, with a large head, tiny body and purple-green eyes. His body looked like that of a fox, with long ears, a pair of fangs, and a fox tail. And even though his body was mostly orange; his chest, mouth and inside of its ears are white, and his legs and the tips of its ears were black.
Trixx gasped, exhausted from the previous ordeal, before scrunching her face into fury.
“I can't believe it, I just CAN'T BELIEVE IT! We're NEVER going to get that damn Miraculous! Let's just forget about it!" Trixx shouted with a low, hostile screech, before noticing that the fur was falling out of his tail, widening his eyes "Look at this, look at THIS! I'm so angry that I'm shedding my fur!"
"Patience, Trixx, patience..." Adagio ordered her kwami, who floated to rest on her shoulder "Obviously this riddle was just a small detail that I... overlooked".
“Oh, what a surprise! This is incredible… I think I’m going to have a heart attack from the surprise!" Trixx shouted, who didn't seem to believe that "What are we going to do!? We have a BIG problem here, a big-!”
Fed up with the screams, Adagio pressed her index finger on Trixx's small mouth, who screamed like a doll, falling silent on the spot.
"But you're right: hair as dark as twilight... violet eyes... and a heart of gold" Adagio murmured with cold softness, as she sighed and withdrew her finger "Clearly the Great Guardian is looking for a specific candidate to enter the temple…”
Adagio's blood stirred just thinking that she herself had not been considered worthy enough.
“And what is your big plan?” Trixx grumbled, as she rubbed his little snout.
“Well, it's very obvious, Trixx...” Adagio said, as her magenta eyes scanned the dark sand dunes that surrounded her “I have to find this… diamond in the rough”.