//------------------------------// // Chapter 4, The Avatar and the Fire Lord // Story: The Elements of Nature Book 3 - 气 (Air) // by Superior-Doc-Fossil //------------------------------// The Elements of Nature Book 3: 气 (Air) Chapter 4, The Avatar and the Fire Lord At the edge of the desert, the group is asleep. In Firebrand’s dream, he sees Roku emerge from behind a small wall of fire. “Firebrand, it's time for you and the other Avatars to learn of my history with Fire Lord Sozin. You need to understand how the war began, if you want to know how to end it.” Roku then shows him an island. “Meet me on my home island on the day of the summer solstice.” In the real world, Fire’ rolls over to his side and says, “Okay, Roku.” ================================================================== In Zuko’s bedroom, he is asleep as well, but he wakes up from the sounds of footsteps. He then rushes to the hall to investigate. He opens the door, and sees a cloaked individual walk down the hall, and disappear. Zuko begins to go after the individual, but is distracted by a scroll lying on the floor. A surprised Zuko picks up the scroll and reads it. “You need to know the story of your ancestor's demise. It'll show your own destiny.” ================================================================== On the outskirts of the Fire Nation, the group is heading for a small remote island. “Are you sure about this?” “No Rainbow. But we should reach Roku’s home soon.” Fire’ said as Agua and Ar bend the clouds to disguise themselves. “Over there.” Pinkie said. “Is that the island you were talking about?” The group then see a lush green island with two pecks. “It is! That's Roku’s home.” The group then land. “There’s nothing here.” Blitz said as Terra walks around a little bite. “Yes there is.” Terra said. “An entire village, hundreds of houses ... all completely buried in ash.” ================================================================== At the Royal Caldera City of the Fire Nation, in a hall, full of paintings of previous Fire Lords, Zuko stands before one of the portraits, as Azula passes by. “It's never too early for a sitting with the court painter, Zuko. Make sure he gets your good side.” “Wait, I need to ask you something.” Zuko said. Azula than stops walking. “What do you remember about our ancestor's history? Fire Lord Sozin?” Azula then sighs. “Ah, Zuko, it's so strange how your mind works.” Fire Lord Sozin began the war, of course. He spent his early years secretly preparing for it. He was as patient as he was clever. He famously waited for the comet, later renamed Sozin's Comet, and use its power to launch his full-scale invasion of the world. In the end, he died a very old and successful stallion.” “But how did he die?” “Didn't you pay any attention in school, Zuko? He died peacefully, in his sleep. He was ancient.” Zuko then stares at her in frustration. ================================================================== Back at Roku’s Island, the group is sitting on a cool flow of lava as Firebrand, Ar, Agua, Blitz and Terra are meditating. ================================================================== Fire,’ Agua, Blitz, Terra and Ar arrive in a part of the Spirit World. They are sitting on a mountain top, surrounded by clouds. “The Spirit World.” Blitz said as they see the Dragon Spirit heading for them, with Roku on his back. ================================================================== In Zuko’s room, he is laying on his back on his bed. He rolls over on his side and stares at the scroll. He picks it up and reads it to himself again. “What does it mean?!” Annoyed, he tosses the scroll aside, as it lands on a lantern. The light from the lantern shines through the parchment, and it reveals a secret message on the scroll. Zuko gasps and grabs the scroll from atop the lantern, and reads the secret message. “The Fire Sages keep the secret history in the Dragon Bone Catacombs.” Zuko then leaves quickly. ================================================================== Later at a dark temple, a Fire Sage walks through a courtyard, and stops over a large medallion fashioned in the shape of a flower in the middle of the courtyard. He crouches low, and inserts a key into the center of the medallion. It begins to open a hidden passage, under the courtyard of the temple. The Sage goes into the passage through the steps. Zuko, who is hiding and waits behind a pillar. When no one is around, Zuko goes to the secret passage, and bends a blast of fire into the medallion. The passage opens, and a spiral staircase is revealed along with a very large secret chamber. Zuko travels through the chamber and down a hall lined with bones of dragons, all lined up along the walls of the hall. He then comes to an ornate door with a metal sculpture of Fire Lord Sozin on it. The chest of the sculpture has a Fire Nation emblem. Zuko places his left front hoof over the emblem, and bends a fire blast. The fire fills the door, and comes out from the statue's eyes, nose and mouth. Zuko enters the room, pulls his cloak from his head, and raises his lantern to look around the dark chamber, and sees that the room is filled with artifacts and various vessels. A large statue of a dragon sits in the middle of the room. Under the dragon's head, Zuko finds Fire Lord Sozin's history. “The final testimony of Fire Lord Sozin.” Zuko read out loud as he picks up the scroll. ================================================================== In the Spirit World, Roku and the Dragon Spirit land near the present Avatars. “Come, Firebrand, Agua, Terra, Blitz and Ar.” The group then climb on the spirit. The Dragon Spirit then flies off. “Where're we going?” Agua asked her past life. “To visit my past. Our shared past.” Roku said. ================================================================== In the room where Zuko is at, he begins reading Sozin’s last Testimony. (key, italics mean its Roku’s memories, bold is present, italics and boldis Zuko reading Sozin’s scroll) “As I feel my life dimming, I can't help but think of a time when everything was so much brighter.” In a lush Fire Nation courtyard in a flashback, two young firebenders are dueling. One is an Alicorn with a white mane and a midnight blue coat with a fireball for a cutie mark. The other is an earth pony with a red mane and a yellow coat with a gold crown for a cutie mark.The young colts, the then Prince Sozin and Roku exchange fire blasts. “I remember my friend.” While they duel, Sozin notices that Roku's hoofs are close to a tree root. Sozin smiles, and using this to his advantage, he steps up his attack to drive Roku back, causing Roku to trip over the root and fall back. As Roku falls, Sozin grabs Roku by the mane to keep him from falling. While he holds him, he raises his hoof as if to fire blast, but instead he lets Roku fall to the ground. ‘Looks like I win again, Roku.’ Sozin then extends a hoof to help Roku to his feet. ‘Are you kidding?’ Roku said as he takes Sozin's hoofs and gets up. ‘The tree root did all the work. Nice one, Sozin.’ “You were friends with Fire Lord Sozin?!” A surprised Agua said to Roku. “Back then, he was just Prince Sozin. And he was my best friend. We were like brothers.” As Roku and Sozin leave the courtyard, a young Fire Nation mare goes by. As she walks past the friends, Roku stares at her and blushes, which Sozin notices. Sozin then nudges Roku. ‘Say something to her.’ He walks after the young mare. He raises his hoof and attempts to greet the mare, who also slightly blushes, but is overcome by embarrassment. He sighs, puts his hoof on his head, and falls down. Sozin sits down next to him and sprinkles blades of grass on Roku's face. “Love is hard when you are young.” Roku said. “You don't have to tell me.” Fire’ said. Roku then places a hoof on Fire’s shoulder. “Don't worry, it gets better. Now come with me.” The group then arrive at a celebration in the courtyard. “We have a party to attend.” “Wait, whose party is it?” Terra asked, now able to see due to being in the Spirit World. “Sozin and I shared many things, including a birthday.” Roku said as a young Roku and Prince Sozin walk down from the stairs. As they walk down the stairs, in the crowd, two young mares are watching, one of whom is the mare whom Roku has a crush on, Ta Min. She looks at Roku, then looks down and blushes. Her friend leans over her shoulder and giggles. Roku notices the mare and blushes while he continues down the stairs. Distracted, Roku falls down the stairs, but Sozin quickly grabs Roku by the hoof. Roku, composes himself, and blushes again from embarrassment, as Sozin laughs at his friend. The crowd then suddenly grows quiet, as a group of Fire Sages enter the courtyard. They walk toward Prince Sozin and Roku, as Sozin hurries down the stairs to meet them. ‘Did something happen to my father?’ He asked. 'No, Prince Sozin. We are not here for you. Roku, do you remember how the royal family found you?’ ‘Yes, they found me on Ember Island in a basket with a note that only had my name 16 years ago.’ The young Roku said. ‘Thats not all the note said.’ ‘Excuse me?’ Roku said, confused. ‘Tell us, do you remember these.’ The Fire Sage then opens a box containing 6 toys. One a turtle (water), one a dragon (fire), a fan (air), a light blue rode with a ball at the end (lightning), a little shovel (earth), and a pure white ball (the sixth element). All six toys look like there around a few thousand years old. ‘Yes. These were my favorite toys when I was little. But why are you bringing these up.’ ‘You see, these are the six Avatar Relics. We place these along with hundreds of others in front of you and other foals around the same age. You chose these exact six. Now, the reason we’re here is to announce the identity of the next Avatar. It is our honor to serve you, Avatar Roku.’ Roku, standing with his jaw dropped, is bewildered. The entire crowd is now all bowing. Sozin, who is still in shock himself, looks around at the crowd, and quickly turns to kneel before Roku. “Soon the day came when my friend Roku had to leave the Fire Nation and face his destiny as the Avatar. He needed to travel the world so he could master the other elements.” In young Roku’s room, he has a dejected look on his face, as Prince Sozin stands near the doorway. ‘Hey, why aren't you packed yet, all-powerful Avatar?’ Sozin asked his friend, getting no response. Sozin then leaps in the room, attempting to prove examples of all the bending disciplines. ‘Come on, show me how it's done with all five kinds of bending.’ ‘I started packing, but then the Fire Sages told me I won't need any worldly possessions anymore.’ Roku said, wiping off the smile from Sozin’s face. ‘Oh.’ Sozin then sits down near Roku. ‘It happened so fast. Everything's going to be different now.’ Sozin then removes his Crown Prince headpiece and gives it to Roku. ‘Here, hope you're at least allowed to have this.’ ‘But this is a royal earth pony artifact. It's supposed to be worn by the Crown Prince.’ ‘I want you to have it.’ As Roku takes the headpiece, cut to a close-up of his top knot, as he slides the pin in. Roku is now smiling, as he and Sozin get up, and bow to each other. ================================================================== In the real world, Spike and Rarity are looking disturbed. They see Terra crouching down in a peculiar way, begins to grunt, and farts. She then smiles with relief. “Do they have bathrooms in the Spirit World?” “As a matter of fact Rarity, they do not.” The Avatars are smiling as... ================================================================== ... They are riding the Dragon Spirit in the Spirit World. Fire’ then notices they are heading for a familiar place. “Hey, we're almost at the original home of the ponies that founded Equestria!” “This was the first stop on my Avatar journey. It was the place where I was trained to master lightningbending and then airbending.” Roku said as they see a line of young ponies of the three most common types. Avatar Roku is at the end of the line. Roku is lightningbending another young unicorn's mane, turning it fizzy, who, irritated, bends it back at Roku. Roku responds by nudging the unicorn with his shoulder. “And where I met a new friend you know very well: Star Swirl.” “No way!” Fire’ said. The Airbenders are now on a grassy ledge. An older Airbender leads the students, and launches off the side of the ledge. The students line up by twos to follow their teacher. Star Swirl and Roku are soaring through the air on their gliders. ‘Hey, Star Swirl, wanna see my new glider trick?’ Roku then flies up and loops twice. Star Swirl then laughs. ‘Check this out!’ He then flips himself over and stands on top of his glider on his hind legs. “Whats he doing?” Agua asked. “Air Surfing?” Blitz said. Star Swirl loses his balance on the glider, but as he falls, Roku catches him on the back of his glider. Roku is unable to control the glider, and both then go down toward the other airbenders who are now back on the grassy ledge. The other students see the falling airbenders, and they panic and try to run. Roku and Star Swirl, flying low, crash, leaving a large cloud of dust. The other ponies are knocked over, and scattered about. Roku's mane is in his face. Star Swirl airbends it back while Roku lifts his head. They both grin widely, and Roku pats Star Swirl on his shoulder. “You were friends with Star Swirl, and I'm both a descendent of his and an Avatar.” “Some friendships are so strong, they can even transcend lifetimes and converge.” Roku said as they fly to Pegasus City at the North Pole. They see two ponies who are standing on a plateau of ice. “After I learned Air and Lightning, I went to Pegasus City, then called the Water Tribe.” Roku is slightly older now as his waterbending master bends a large, water drill from the ocean waters behind him. It thrusts forward, knocking Roku, and a part off of the plateau, into the water. “Waterbending was especially challenging for me. But in time, I mastered it as well.” A young Roku then emerges from the water, and bends an enormous wave of water directly at his master standing on the glacier. The blast completely destroys the glacier, and carries his master all the way back to a Northern Water Tribe building. His master sits up, and shakes his head. Roku is now standing on an ice float, smiling. Roku now moves his front legs in quick motions across his body to bend a large piece of earth he is riding up the side of a mountain. “I then moved on to The Earth Kingdom, now called Geo Firma.” Roku is racing up the slope, as another earthbender catches up to him. The two compete for speed. “My earthbending master, Sud, was uncompromising, stubborn, and blunt...”The two benders then race into thick brush and trees, as they disappear from view. “...and a lifelong friend.” As Sud comes to the finishing point, he quickly brings his landmass to a halt. He thrusts his hoof into the air, cheering for himself. The look on his face changes quickly when he realizes that Roku not only beat him to the top, but he also had enough time to seat himself, and pour them both tea, as Sud smiles at his pupil. They both drink from their teacups. The group then see Roku on a beach, now the same size as Celestia. “What about the sixth element. Didn't you learn that?” Fire’ asked. “No. The sixth element was always elusive to the Avatar, ever since the sixth Avatar died. It was bitter work, learning the known five...” The young Roku then moves his front legs to bend the different elements. He starts by waterbending to the South, then earthbends East, firebends North, airbends West, and finally, lightningbends upward. “...but the results were worth it.” Zuko is still reading Sozin's history in the chamber. His eyes are quivering with each word he reads. “Twelve long years passed before I saw my friend again. When Roku returned, he was a fully realized Avatar, and I had changed as well.” ‘Sozin! Or should I say, Fire Lord!’ Roku said when he enters Fire Lord Sozin’s throne room. ‘Customarily, my subjects bow before greeting me.’ Sozin said as he walks down from his throne. ‘But you're the exception.’ He then smiles and hugs Roku. “After all these years, he was still my best friend.” Roku said to the current Avatars. Later at a wedding ceremony and celebration in a Fire Nation courtyard, many guests attending. Roku is the husband. On the right is Sozin, holding a scroll. “And a few months later, he was my best colt.” “Roku, it's that girl who didn't even know you're alive!” Blitz said as a young Roku lifts the bride's veil with his magic, which is the same color as Luna’s. “Ta Min. I was persistent. When love is real, it finds a way. And being the Avatar doesn't hurt your chances with the mares or stallions, either.” “On wedding days, we look to the future with optimism and joy. I had my own vision for a brighter future.” Roku and Ta Min are receiving and thanking the guest when Sozin walks up to them. ‘Excuse me. May I borrow him for a moment?’ Sozin asked Ta Min. ‘It's not very traditional, but, okay.’ She said. The two friends then walk for the balcony. ‘What's on your mind?’ Roku asked. ‘I've been thinking hard about the state of the world lately.’ ‘Sozin, it is my wedding! Have a cookie, dance with someone, lighten up!’ ‘I know, I know, but just hear me out. Right from the start, I was destined to be Fire Lord. And although we didn't always know it, you were destined to be the Avatar. It's an amazing stroke of fate we know each other so well, isn't it? Together, we could do ... anything.’ ‘Yeah, we could.’ Roku said slightly serious. ‘Our nation is enjoying an unprecedented time of peace and wealth. Our people are happy, and we're so fortunate in so many ways.’ Sozin said. ‘Where are you going with this?’ A concerned Roku said. ‘I've been thinking, we should share this prosperity with the rest of the world. In our hands is the most successful empire in history. It's time we expanded it.’ ‘No! The five bending nations are meant to be just that: five.’ ‘Roku, you haven't even stopped to consider the possibilities.’ ‘There are no possibilities. This is the last I want to hear about this.’ Roku then walks away from the balcony, with an angry expression on his face. “That was my first real test as the Avatar. Unfortunately, it was many years before I learned that Sozin had gone ahead with his plan, despite my warning.” Roku said to the current Avatars. A young Roku is flying over a body of water, as he approaches land he sees an Earth Nation dock, but he also sees an Earth Kingdom fortress with plumes of smoke rising from inside, with the Fire Nation insignia strewn over the original Earth Kingdom symbol, covering it. Roku is shocked by this discovery. Later, Roku burst through the doors of Fire Lord Sozin's throne room. ‘I've seen the colonies, Sozin. How dare you occupy Earth Kingdom territory?!’ ‘How dare you, a citizen of the Fire Nation, address your Fire Lord this way. Your loyalty is to our nation first. Anything less makes you a traitor.’ ‘Don't do this, Sozin. Don't challenge me. It'll only end badly. It's over.’ As Roku turns back and starts to leave, Sozin, full of rage, jumps from his throne and delivers an immensely powerful fire stream. As the flames go out, Roku is nowhere to be seen, and a surprised Sozin looks around. Suddenly, Roku bursts from the ground behind Sozin, revealing that he has burrowed into the ground with earthbending to defend from Sozin's attack. Before Sozin can turn back, Roku delivers a powerful air blast at the Fire Lord, which causes him to slam on the gates of the room. As Sozin falls down, Roku immediately earthbends a pillar of earth that lifts Sozin into the air and pins him by the back of his robes to the ceiling. Avatar Roku then brings his hoofs together in front of his face, and enters the Avatar State. Roku then breaks the pillars of the throne room. Part of the palace is destroyed. Roku then airbends an air spout, and raises himself to Sozin. ‘I'm sparing you, Sozin. I'm letting you go in the name of our past friendship. But I warn you. Even a single step out of line will result in your permanent end.’ Sozin then stares at Roku, his face still full of anger. Suddenly, his expression drops, and he hangs his head in defeat. Roku turns, and rides the cyclone quickly away from Sozin. Severally years later at Roku’s Island. “Sozin and I didn't speak or see each other for 25 years after our battle.” Roku then shows then a small home on the island. “ I spent most of my spare time here, at my home.” Roku and Ta Min are sleeping with 3 foals, no younger than Apple Bloom. Two are Alicorns (Celestia and Luna) and one an earth pony. Suddenly, a loud noise awakes Roku and he springs out from the bed, and looks at the window. He sees large fireballs falling from the sky, and crashing into the island. Roku and his wife and foals flee the room, but as they do so, Roku's headpiece falls to the floor, and is left behind. Roku emerges from the house to find the air filled with smoke and ash. Coughing, Roku and his wife shield their faces. A worried Roku looks at the erupting volcano in the island. ‘Let's go!’ He takes his wife's hoof, and airbends smoke and ash in their way, creating a path. They both run through the path he created. In the town, the townsponies run through the streets to escape the waves of smoke and ash that now pour through the streets. An ash flow completely buries the house. Roku has his face covered, leading his wife, foals, and many townsponies to safety. Ash continues to fall as a swell of lava ooze from the mouth of the volcano. Roku then looks to his wife and the foals on her back. He then let's go of her hoof, and motions her to go on without him. With her leg still outstretched, she looks at him, and runs to safety. "Take Celestia and Luna to Star Swirl!" She heard in her head. "He'll take care of them." Roku telepathically said to his wife. She continues to look back, desperately hoping Roku will grab her hand. Ta Min runs off with the young Celestia and Luna with many of the townsponies. Roku turns to face the advancing smoke, and airbends a hug dome of protection around himself. The townsponies make it to the boats, and they see the air dome. At the Fire Nation palace, Fire Lord Sozin watching the smoke from his balcony. “Roku's island was a hundred miles away. But I could still feel it rumbling and see the black plume of smoke. I had never seen anything like this catastrophe.” Large columns of black smoke billow from the summit of the volcano, as lightning strikes above the volcano and the earth rumbles from the disaster. A landslide is quickly approaching the town, destroying it completely. Roku earthbends a gigantic wall, and rides the wall to meet the falling earth, and stop it. As he succeeds in stopping it, the volcano ejects a massive wave of lava. The flow breaches the wall of earth, causing Roku to flee to the bottom of the summit. He then cuts into the earth using his earthbending, creating a channel to divert the lava into the surrounding ocean, away from the town. “This is amazing, Roku! You're battling a volcano, and you're winning.” Fire’ said as he sees the lava flow into the ocean. “Unfortunately, my success didn't last long. There was no way I could do it all.” Roku is now looking up the top of the volcano. The volcano violently expels another giant wave of lava. Roku flies toward the volcano, and leaps. Roku then blows a powerful blast of air from his mouth at the lava, which cools and hardens, as Roku lands on it. Suddenly, a blast of poisonous gas spouts to his right, he turns and covers his face. He turns to the jet, airbending it away. Suddenly lava appears on his right, which he airbends, and quickly another jet of gases blasts to his left, and he quickly airbends it as well. “Battling the elements was hard enough. I had to do it while I could barely breathe. The poisonous, volcanic gases were overwhelming.” Roku said as lightning crashes around the crater as Fang, Roku’s pet dragon, comes flying in. The summit emits another lava fountain. Fang pulls back, narrowly escaping the blast, and roars. Roku then airbends another jet of gases. ‘It's alright Fang! Get out of here! I'm fine!’ Roku said to his pet. Roku turns his body from side to side, and then enters the Avatar State. With a powerful blow from his hoof, Roku earthbends a tremor through the volcano, breaking out the back side of the crater, which lessens the lava flow. As the lava flows down, the second volcano erupts, as Roku hopelessly drops his head. Sozin, on a blue dragon, then appears. ‘Need some help, old friend?’ ‘Sozin?!’ A surprised Roku said. ‘There's not a moment to waste.’ Sozin said as the two volcanoes continue to erupt. Sozin and Roku ride on the Fire Lord dragon's back to the second volcano. Roku is bending the fire fountain down into the crater. Sozin is balanced on the mouth of the vent, as he cools the lava by absorbing the heat, passing it through himself, and redirects out through his other hoof. The two friends are now controlling the disaster.The townsponies are now a few miles away in the boats, as they see the volcanoes erupting. Ta Min, has an anxious expression on her face as she holds her two Alicorn daughters and earth pony son. Roku and Sozin are on the edge of the crater. Lightning blasts above Sozin, as the earth beneath him becomes unstable. He begins to fall back off the side of the volcano, but Roku quickly earthbends an earth shelf to catch Sozin. Stable again, Sozin looks to Roku for a moment. Suddenly, the earth violently shakes and another surge of ash and rock shoot from the crater, and the two turn to run. ‘Don't breathe the toxic gas.’ As the two run, a jet of toxic gas shoots up directly next to Sozin. Roku quickly airbends it away to protect Sozin. Suddenly gas erupts directly into Roku faces, causing him to be disoriented. He then starts to shake. ‘It's too much.’ Roku lifts his hoof to see it, but his vision is blurred. Overwhelmed by the poisons, Roku falls to his knees. He looks up toward Sozin, and holds out his hoof for help. ‘Please.’ Roku said to his old friend. Sozin then fires a poison dart at Roku, putting in a poison in Roku’s systems. ‘Without you, all my plans are suddenly possible.’ Sozin said in a cold tone. ‘I have a vision for the future, Roku. You see, the dart I ejected you with has a special poison that won’t allow the Avatar Spirit to reincarnate.’ Sozin's dragon then appears. As Roku kneels, Sozin mounts the dragon and flies away. Roku is surrounded by the toxic gas, and behind him a surge of rock and ash flows swiftly toward him. Roku is still coughing, and is unable to get to his feet. Fang appears from the right, and flies above him. Roku looks up toward his loyal dragon. A pyroclastic flow is now rapidly approaching Avatar Roku. With the rock avalanche just moments away from swallowing Roku, Fang flies down, and wraps himself around Roku. The wave of ash and rubble cover the two completely, killing both of them. Some babies cry as the five Avatars see five different babies all being born at the same time. “Huh?” Blitz said. “What the?” Agua said. “Who are ... wait, that's us, isn't it” Fire’ said to Roku, since some of the rooms are very modern like. “Make sense of our past. And you all will bring peace, and restore balance to the world.” Roku said as he slowly disappears. ================================================================== In the Dragon Bones Catacombs, Zuko is still reading. “With Roku gone, and the great comet returning, the timing was perfect to change the world. However, when I called the power of the comet, all benders lost their abilities. I wasted the rest of my life searching in vain for the Elements of Nature. I know their hiding out there somewhere. The Fire Nation's greatest threat ... the Elements of Nature.” Zuko then finishes reading the scroll. “That can't be it! Where's the rest of it?” He then searches the rest of the scroll to find more information. Zuko puts the scroll down and stands up, in frustration. Scene changes to the Fire Nation prison, where Iroh is imprisoned in. Zuko then bursts in, slamming the door to the cell behind him as he enters. “You sent this, didn't you? I found the secret history, which by the way should be renamed history most people already know! The note said that I needed to know about my ancestor's death, but he was still alive in the end.” Iroh then looks up at his nephew. “No, he wasn't.” “What are you talking about?” Zuko asked. “You have more than one ancestor, Zuko. Sozin was your father's ancestor. Your mother's ancestor was Avatar Roku.” Zuko, shocked, asks, “Why are you telling me this?” “Because understanding the struggle between your two ancestors can help you better understand the battle within yourself.” Zuko then sits down, with his head facing down. “Evil and good are always at war inside you, Zuko. It is your nature, your legacy. But, there is a bright side. What happened generations ago can be resolved now, by you. Because of your legacy, you alone can cleanse the sins of our family and the Fire Nation. Born in you, along with all the strife, is the power to restore balance to the world.” Iroh then removes a brick and reaches for a bundle. Iroh then slowly unwraps the bundle while he walks toward Zuko. “This is a royal artifact. It's supposed to be worn by the Crown Prince.” Zuko takes the headdress from Iroh's hoof, and holds the artifact. ================================================================== On the hardened lava wave on Roku’s island, the gang had been sitting while the Avatars tell then what has happened. “You mean, after all Roku and Sozin went through together, even after Roku showed him mercy, Sozin betrayed him like that?” Twilight said in disbelief. “It's like these ponies are born bad.” Rainbow said. “No, that's wrong. I don't think that was the point of what Roku showed me at all.” Fire’ said. “Then what was the point?” Applejack asked. “Roku was just as much Fire Nation as Sozin was, right? If anything, their story proves anyone's capable of great good and great evil.” Fire’ said. “Everypony, even the Fire Lord and the Fire Nation have to be treated like they're worth giving a chance. And I also think it was about friendships.” “Do you really think friendships can last more than one lifetime?” Fluttershy asked. “I don't see why not.” Pinkie said as she takes Fluttershy’s hoof along with Rainbow’s, followed by the others.