The sound of pouring water breaks the moment of silence following the conjoined prayer led by Mulan as bowed heads are raised in tandem around the dark-brown rectangular-shaped mahogany table, closed eyes opening, and hooves—cloven and not—grasped at food items present on the table’s surface.

“Very well done, Jade Princess,” Sun Tzu commended while using her golden prowess to float a teapot and fill her tea cup before servicing everyone else’s, sitting on the light-brown single chair closest to the hallway.

Across from the battle-scarred kirin is Leonard, who’s set down on the adjacent single chair with Sandy and Mulan present on either of the three cushioned sofas going along the table’s lengths on opposite sides.

“It reminds me of the olden days when your father would host all manner of events in Ho Chi Mane.”

Mulan stifles a giggle with a forehoof while holding a stick of bread in the other. “You flatter me, Su-Zu. And thank you for calling me that. It’s…far more appropriate.”

Leonard was becoming most curious about the Jade Princess alias, swallowing the vegetable variety of dumplings he’d been chewing on before claiming the nearby scroll and jade writing tool.

With the stallion’s thoughts jotted down, the appropriate reaction transpires as green texts form above him.

“That’s a question with a yes and no answer, Leonard,” Sandy answered. “Granted, yes, Jade Princess is correct, especially since she’s the Jade Emperor’s daughter. As for the empress bit, well—we all fucking love her!”

“Language, daughter,” Su-Zu scolds with a chilling sideglance, sighing after a moment’s pause. “That colorful tongue of yours proves that you’ve spent way too much time with your father.”

Sandy throws her head back, “Hah!” She joyously cackled, “It was apparently enough for him to bed you, Miss. Art of War,” the dark-orange kir-rabian rests a hoof on her chest, “Evident by yours truly.”

Miss. Art of War deadpans her offspring, raising an eyebrow. “...Shall I bring out a certain bamboo stick to teach you the Art of Child-Rearing? Emphasis on the rear part.”

Sandy’s eyes shot wide open, and she hurriedly sits upright with a forward gaze. “Shutting up.”

“Wise choice, daughter.” Sun sips at her tea. “Very wise.” She sets the teacup down gently and looks over to Leonard.

“My Sandy is correct, however. When one treats other beings with benevolence, justice, and righteousness, and reposes confidence in them, the nation will be united in mind and all will be happy to serve their leader.” Tzu’s red eyes set on the dark-gray kirin to her left, “And that leader is none other than this mare beside me. A pup who I’ve had the pleasure to watch grow into a fine lioness. Your father would’ve been proud, Mulan.”

“Y-you honor me greatly, Su-Zu,” Mulan expressed with reddened cheeks, but a thought causes her vigor to falter, her head lowering in shame.

“But I…don’t deserve it…”

Su-Zu and Sandy share a look with one another, their eyes going back to the now-disturbed Jade Princess.

“Mulan…” Sandy comments somberly.

Leonard knew exactly what was bothering the dark-gray kirin and sympathized with her. Vanquisher of Yin and Yang… He could only imagine how heavy that title must be.

Having absorbed what was said so far, Leonard’s hoof guides his crystalline writing tool against the scroll’s face to, admittedly, try to change the atmosphere. It wasn’t his place to pry on such a thing, and he felt she’d open up about it if and when she was ready.

I like those words, Sun Tzu. They remind me of my brother, Radahn.

“Ah, yes. These two have informed me that your brother is the General of a force called the Redmanes and is a…Equus demigod?”

Leonard neighed proudly, nodding his head repeatedly as words formed over him moments after.

Yup! He’s the strongest demigod in the Lands Between!

Sun chuckles in amusement. “A bold claim. Now, I personally can’t say for sure, but I have a credible source who claims that Selene Sol Invictus is the most powerful pony of our age.”

Leonard cocks his head in confusion.

Selene? Who’s that?

“Are you kidding me?” Sandy injects as Mulan and even Tzu are taken aback by those words. “We might not know much about the ponies’ history and culture, but everyone on the whole planet should know who Selene is.”

I’m sorry, but…I really don’t know who that is.

The trio of kirin simply stared at the stallion with looks that ranged from shock to dumbfoundment. Or, in Su-Zu’s case, unreadable.

“L-Leonard,” Mulan managed. “A-are you not aware of the…Sun and Moon Bearers?”

The crimson-maned equine shakes his head.

This is the first I’ve ever heard of such a thing. Then again, Queen Rennala does have a strong connection to the moon. Oh, and Princess Ranni.

Stunted silence takes hold.

“Buddha’s balls.”

“Sandy.”

“I’m sorry, mother! I-it’s just, this- this is insane! Seriously, Leonard, have you been living under a mound of sand or something? And who in the f—”

Tzu shoots her daughter a glare.

“—Freaking world is Rennala and Ranni?”

Mulan shakes her head to recover from everything she’d just read. “Leonard, those who shoulder the balance of the celestial bodies are essential for the very survival of our world. If even one of them broke that harmony, or, Buddha forbid, tries to claim the heavens for their own, the planet could freeze and burn.”

Sun Tzu nods in agreement. “Sun Wukong is the Sun-Bearer of Qina. And Chang’e, the White Tigress, is our land’s Moon-Bearer.

Now, let me be clear, Leonard. I fear nocreature, but those Bearers…” She leans forward and over the table, “They scare me.”

A shudder goes down Leonard’s spine. He was profoundly blown away by what these Bearers were capable of. In fact, now that he thought about it… The stallion feared what a mindless, raging Radahn would be like…

That would never happen, of course! But…what if he and Radahn never left that beach? What would they have become? Leonard remembered what it felt like—the Scarlet Rot, prodding at his sanity and mind.

“I love my father, Wukong,” the scarred Kirin comments, drawing Leonard out of his thoughts as Mulan and Sandy ate silently. “But if he were ever to be corrupted in any capacity, none of us could stop him. I’d wager even Oolong would fall to his wrath.”

Sun’s words lingered heavily in the air as every passing second felt like years.

Clanking glassware sounds off from Mulan’s direction as she chugged down the remnants of her teacup and set it down, gaining everyone’s attention.

“Sweet, Buddha. Wow. I think all this doom-and-gloom talk deserves a much-needed change of subject. With that in mind,” the Jade Princess envelops a particular vial resting on her side of the table in her green magical grasp and floats it over to the dark-brown stallion, “I want you to drink this.”

Leonard studies the vial set down in front of him, its cork being popped off, courtesy of Mulan.

“It’s water from the Stream of Silence, although I made some adjustments,” she informed. “We originally meant for you to drink it yesterday, but I was short a few ingredients. Have no fear; it’s perfectly safe.”

The stallion quickly jots down a concern on the nearby scroll.

“I’m sure Rain Shine and the Jade Princess have already told you, but the Stream of Silence numbs one’s emotions and renders them speechless,” Sun Tzu answered. “It was made to appease our Nirik transformations, but it has other uses, too.”

“So Mulan figured that maybe, just maybe, and with the right tweaks, it will enable you to speak,” Sandy chimed in. “Come to think of it, what is the main ingredient for this potion, Mulan?”

“Aside from the Stream’s water, it’s a little blue flower called Poison Joke.”

“I’ve…never heard of that.” Sandy shifts her gaze over to her mother, “You ever heard of such a flower, mom?”

Sun’s eyes wander over to the row of pictures depicting her late husband, the kirin’s cheeks going red as she chuckles with closed eyes.

“Your father and I have…experimented with it on occasion.”

Sandy’s eyes shoot wide open, realizing the implications as her features morph into disgust, “Ew. Way too much info.”

“Ignorance is often bliss, my dear.”

“Clearly.”

Mulan giggles at their exchange and looks to Leonard, who hesitates to drink the concoction.

“I swear upon the great Buddha that everything will be fine, Leonard.” She leans sideways and reaches out to set a comforting cloven hoof on the stallion’s shoulder. “Trust me.”

In retrospect, Leonard had no reason to doubt the kirin’s skills as a potion-brewer. He was able to understand their language because of her, after all. And yet…maybe he was better off not knowing what the potion was made of.

Knowing that he’s about to chug down a magic stream and some strange flower would be enough to deter anyone, he reasoned. Still, he had no reason to doubt Mulan, especially after all she’s done for him.

‘Radahn…give me strength,’ he states inwardly, nodding to Mulan and biting down on the potion vial’s neck before consuming its contents.

Mulan and Sandy look on in growing anticipation, Tzu taking on a neutral visage as nothing happens for a time.

Until…

Leonard’s body suddenly glows a bright blue, originating from his stomach and spreading outward, startling the stallion and causing a wide grin to form on Mulan’s muzzle.

“It’s working!” She cried out in excitement, clasping her cloven hooves together as if to say a prayer.

“And that was my first time making it, too.”

“Did you just…?” Sandy asked in suspicion, narrowed black eyes and with raised ears bent towards the dark-gray kirin’s direction. Naturally, Tzu had also heard those whispered words—sighing like a disappointed mother.

The red-maned stallion shoots his head over to Mulan for any and all forms of clarification while the glow emanating from his body grows brighter and brighter.

“Let it do its thing, my friend! This isn’t the first time I’ve used it, you know?”

“Bullshit…” Sandy mutters her doubts.

“For once…I must agree with your choice of words, daughter,” Su-Zu voiced, allowing her daughter’s language to slide just this once.

The food on the table had begun to go cold due to the phenomenon having stolen everyone’s attention and doing away with their appetite for the time being. Finally, the blue light shining off of Leonard starts to dim and recede into the stallion, and the last flickers of light snuff out from within his throat like a blown-out candle.

Leonard rests a forehoof against his chest, raising it up to his neck while patting himself along the way.

“Di-did it-” He paused, a dark-brown hoof coming up to cover his muzzle. “By the Elden Ring…”

Mulan, Sandy, and Tzu’s ears twitch and reach skyward as, at long last, they’d finally heard his voice. It was a rather joyful voice, not exactly on the deeper side of the spectrum but still proper for the stallion sitting in front of them.

And before any of the kirin could speak, Leonard’s face practically explodes with happiness.

“Wow!” He abruptly shouts, causing two of the kirins’ eyes to widen, save for Tzu. “That- this- I mean- just wow! So this is how it feels to talk. The air swirls along the walls of my throat as the words come out and that rumbling sensation. I love it!”

Mulan and Sandy’s mouths dropped halfway through the stallion’s rambling.

“Hoho boy, let me tell you, everything that’s happened to me lately is a lot to proceed, uh, prosess…pro-prokesh, wait, where did the K come from? Uh- DEAL WITH!” He finished with a beaming smile.

Sandy’s head practically fell off her shoulders. “…The fuc- OW!”

“Don’t think this excuses you to use such language, daughter,” Sun lectured, having bonked the top of her daughter’s head with a cloven forehoof.

“W-well,” Mulan began with uncertainty. “Hehe, It’s, uhm…safe to say that it worked. Ehehe…”

“Huh, it’s funny, the words flow so fluently in my head, but when I try to let them out, it’s so hard, you know?” Leonard continued. “I mean, you wouldn’t know because you mares could always talk, unlike me, and- oh! I apologoose, uh, apologeese- no, no, that’s not right, uhm… SORRY! Yeah, yeah, sorry. Look at me going on and on and on and- I’ll just- I’ll just be quiet now.”

The stallion rubs the back of his neck while smiling sheepishly. Mulan tries her best to fight back laughter while Sandy deadpans and becomes admittedly annoyed by his mouth’s newfound prowess, which seems to lack limits and reminds her of a particular kirin and giraffe hybrid.

“Oh, great… Now the trick is getting him to shut up again…”

“Sandy,” Mulan voices her displeasure. “Don’t be rude.”

“Again, I’m sorry,” Leonard entered. “It’s just, words can’t express- I mean, I can express words now, but-”

“We get it,” Sandy monotonously interjects.

“My point!” The stallion happily takes control of the conversation with a raised forelimb. “Is that I’ve spent most of my life without a voice, and now I have-” He suddenly gasps loudly with wide eyes in realization, “I just realized… I can… I can…”

Leonard abruptly raises his head and throws a dark-brown hoof into the air.

“SIIIIIIIIING~”

“NO!” Sandy roars out with a flaring horn, causing a white magical aura to seal his mouth shut. “No, no, no, no!” She emphasized with an appointed hoof. “None of that. No singing, no talking. Got it?”

“Mm-mmm,” he hummed while nodding his head.

“Good.” The kir-rabian hybrid banishes her magical grasp, “Now that we-”

“Quaking announces his arrival~!”

“Ugh!”

“The Earth quaaaakes~!”

“How is it possible to hate and like someone at the same time?!”

“Followed by… A violent explosion~!”

“Oh, come on, Sandy,” Mulan comments with pleasantly closed eyes during the stallion’s lullaby, swaying left to right. “He actually has an amazing singing voice.”

“Shattered Earth and defeated enemies~! Lion, I swear allegiance to you; sacred blood courses in you~!”

“That’s it! I’m done; I’m taking my breakfast to my forge!” Brought to her limit, Sandy seizes her plate, chopsticks, and teacup in her magic and hurriedly makes her way out of the living room.

“Protector of the planet, known as Starscourge~!”

Leonard’s voice becomes somewhat distant as Sandy stands in the hallway just before the home’s circular entrance. She finally lets out a sigh of relief, being mindful of the items floating around in a white aura.

Then, the edges of her muzzle curl upward, followed by a hearty chuckle.

“He’s going to be a pain in my ass.”

In the living room, Sun Tzu studies the stallion across from her, who’d finished his song and basked in the applause of Mulan’s cloven forehooves.

Her ears picked up the sound of the home’s doors opening and being closed shut, signaling her daughter’s departure.

“What a wonderful song, Leonard!” Mulan gleed. “Is it in honor of your brother?”

“It sure is!” Leonard confirmed proudly. “Jerren and the other Redmanes surprised him with it after we returned from our siege of the Royal Capital, Leyndell. Wow, I think I’ve got the hang of talking after that song. Hopefully, anyway.”

“Leyndell? A capital? Hmm… Even with our minimal knowledge of the ponies, I’m fairly certain we’d know of a capital with that name.”

“It’s hard to miss, really. What with the Erdtree and all that.”

“...E-Erd…tree?”

“You haven’t heard of the Erdtree?”

“No… But I do know of the Tree of Buddha.”

“Tree of Buddha?”

“Mhmm. It’s a crystalline tree located in the depths of Ho Chi Mane. Which, sadly…is the domain of Oolong. Legends say that there’s a crystal tree just like it in every nation and that each one has a direct connection to the great Buddha, the creator of all that exists.”

“Amazing… Well, the Erdtree isn’t made of crystals; think of a giant golden tree with branches that almost block out the sky. That said, it does serve a similar purpose. Could they be the same thing?”

“It’s certainly a possibility. As I said, every nation supposedly has one, so ‘Erdtree’ might just be yours, although it does present the possibility of the ponies having two trees instead of one. Fascinating. Simply fascinating! You’ve been nothing but a wonder since your arrival, Leonard.”

“And I finally have the chance to thank you properly for helping me. Seriously, thanks. You’ve all been really nice to me; well, Rain Shine had her moments, but she’s okay. Although…there are the constant looks I get in the village, that includes the ‘Hey, wanna rut me?’ kind. Like those Guan mares. And Flare, especially Flare.”

“Y-yeah, sorry about all of that…”

“Nah, it’s cool. I mean, you’re all at war with this Oolong person, and you’ve already warned me about the whole mare-dominant-populace thing. Really, I’m not holding it against any of you.”

“Thank you, Leonard,” Mulan expressed with a warm and intoxicating smile. “You’re a very understanding person… I… I wasn’t expecting that.”

He shrugged, “Eh, the Lands Between is a pretty harsh place, so one learns to ‘filter things out,’ in a sense.”

As the duo continued to converse, the topic now shifting toward Mulan informing the stallion of any further inquiries of the kirins’ culture being answered at the school grounds, Sun Tzu had been present in the background throughout the entire exchange, motionless and silent.

What Leonard and Mulan failed to realize, however, was that she had enacted powers she’d inherited from Sun Wukong. It was the ability to decipher a being’s truest intentions, to see through any and all lies.

During their earlier conversation regarding the Tree of Buddha and the other trees present within the other nations, Mulan was missing one small yet crucial detail pertaining to them. Each possessed six artifacts…and the virtues one must have to wield them.

And now... Sun Tzu had measured Leonard's worth as a pleased expression crept onto her face.

'A warrior who possesses a pure heart. Hmm... He has that match with Flare Burst later. There's still a few more hours left until then, so maybe I should...'

Flare vs Leonard shall finally take place in the next chapter.

Okay, I feel like some context is needed, as I know some eyebrows must've been raised.

The idea of there being multiple trees actually exists in the IDW comics. The problem, however, is that it was excused by many, myself included, because we were always led to believe that there was only ever one tree. I've taken that concept and added my own spin to it.

You may also be wondering about how the ponies even have a tree, especially since it was the Pillars of Equestria who planted the seed to grow it. But that's just it! A seed. To which I say: guess what tree that seed came from?

And here's Leonard's voice incase the link I added in the chapter doesn't work well:

I'll also be providing voices that I think fit well with some of the other characters, too. I'll post them in future chapters, perhaps in blogs, as well.

Ah, I almost forgot one more thing. That song Leonard sang? It's the English-translated lyrics to Radahn's boss theme: