//------------------------------// // 2. The Catacombs // Story: The Little Pony Legend: Dawn of the Avatars // by Kozy248 //------------------------------// (Regular POV) The group continued deeper into the ruined tunnels. Soon, they came to a broken bridge, leaving a series of small platforms that stretched into the abyss below. As they approached, Twilight looked around quickly and then said, “It’s getting closer.” She along with the rest of the five headed across the ledges quickly and agilely. As he did, one of the platforms collapsed behind then, leaving a much wider gap to cross. “Y-You go first, Kage,” said Spike, worried “It’s safer for me… safer for me I mean..” “Quiet,” replied Kage, “you’ll give us away!” They then started to leap across the platforms for ourselves. When they reached the spot where the pillar had collapsed during the Mane 6’s crossing, they took to the air and flew across instead. As they landed in the last platform before the far side of the pit, the beast reappeared. It reared up and grabbed the pillar they were standing on. The beast ripped the pillar out of the ground and started swinging it around in an attempt to send Korra and Kage flying. They quickly braced ourselves, grabbing the vines that coated the platform. They did our best to hold on as the beast shook them all over the place. By this point, the beast had become rather annoyed, and as a result rammed the pillar they were holding onto into the wall. Amazingly enough the wall ended up being very weak, and they were pushed through completely unharmed. On the far side of this wall, they move along until they come upon a large cluster of green crystal. As they approached it, the group came up from one of the lower ledges in this chamber. “Everyone, give us a moment to gather our strength,” said Korra. Spike then flew over to the girls to speak with them. “You might want to stand back” said Spike, “this might get weird..” Twilight, of course, ignored him. “It’s fascinating,” she mused, “how you draw strength from these Elements. Benders that master them are truly extraordinary.” “Yeah, you say that now, until one tried to kill us. And by ‘one,’ I mean him,” said Rainbow Dash, pointing at Kage. His only response was to glare at her angrily. “I am aware of Kage’s past,” sighed Twilight, “but the Princesses trust him, and that’s good enough for me.” Kage perked up significantly at that and gave Rainbow Dash a smug grin. Korra then stepped over to the crystal, and placed her hand on its surface. She then turned to look at Kage, who was hesitant. “It’s alright,” Korra said, “go ahead, Kage.” He stepped over and joined her in front of the stone that had the symbol of the yin yang, then he placed his hand on it as well. As he touched the stone, it began to glow, and smaller shards of the stones started orbiting around us. Before our eyes, a vision of a spirit named Wu appeared. He then began to speak to us. ”Korra, as the Avatar, you can wield many abilities that others cannot,” said Wu, ”Now, it is time to awaken those powers within you: Water, Earth, Fire, and Air.” He then turns towards Kage. ”Kage… while most people can master only a single element,” stated Wu, ”your exposure to the dark forces has gifted you with abilities most uncommon: Blood, Metal, Lightning, and Shadows.” “May the elements flow with you.. Use them wisely.” The vision then ended. After this, their magical energy fueled their body but they were interrupted when the strange stony nodules on the walls burst open releasing more of those bug creatures. “Goblins! Be careful!” said Pinkie. Twilight then leapt up onto one of the elevated platforms in the corner of the room, and charged up her horn, ready for battle. They started to fight these goblins now using our full range of powers. Korra started this battle off with waterbending, shooting waves into one group, while Kage whipped up a cyclone of shadows towards another. Just as they cleared out this wave of enemies, another group dropped in on them. Twilight took a moment out of shooting the goblins with arrows to give them some advice. “Don’t let them surround you!” she warned. The battle went on like this for a little while longer, but eventually they cleared the area. They then noticed some thorny vines blocking their path. Following common sense, Korra used fire on the vines, burning them away and opening the path forwards. They moved down the next set of corridors, and soon came to a tall room. In front of them, there was a heavy looking stone sphere holding down a switch. Up one side of the room, there was a series of platforms leading towards the top, and hopefully the surface eventually. Figuring that they would probably need it, Kage picked it up. “Woah!” mumbled Kage, “This thing’s even heavier it looks.” It turned out this was quite an accurate statement, since Kage could not fly while carrying it, not even with Korra helping lift him. They hefted the small boulder up the first few ledges when they came to what seemed at first glance to be a dead end. As supposed to be platforms leading higher, but it appeared they were currently retracted into the wall. It looked like they were stuck… until that is they noticed the unusual device on the wall. It looked like some sort of control for something, and had a picture of a lightning bolt underneath it. Seeing this clue, Kage immediately struck the panel with lightning. When he did this, the gauge on the device started filling up. Once it reached the top, the retracted platforms slid out of the wall, opening the path forwards. They hauled themselves up these newly revealed ledges, and after a few near falls, they reached the top platform, where they found the five waiting for them. They also found a place to deposit the heavy object Kage was carrying. When he set it down on the pressure plate, the door leading forwards slid open. They then moved into the next chamber. It turned out to be a massive chamber, where there were multiple tall platforms spread across the chamber, along with cascading waterfalls, and light streaming in through the ceiling. This last detail gave the group hope that they would soon be out here. “There’s a light up there,” said Korra, “we must be getting close…” Rainbow Dash flew off towards a vine-covered wall, and quickly dashed to the top of the pillar. “Here, this way,” she directed, “this leads to the surface!” They hurried to follow him, timing their ascent up the pillars and jumps across the gaps to avoid having to deal with effects of the restraint bracelets. After jumping, climbing, and gliding our way all around the room, they caught up with them on a ledge high up on the room’s north wall. It was then that the magma beast returned. It reared up from somewhere below, and punched one of the room’s pillars, knocking over and creating a convenient shortcut in case they fell. Twilight and the others quickly dodged away as the beast approached. “Keep going,” shouted Twilight, “We’ll distract it!” They quickly started climbing up the vines towards the next ledge, with Korra knowing the right moment when to dodge. Before long they reached the room’s highest ledge. As they moved along its length, they climbed up onto a large stone block that had been placed up here for some unknown reason. As they reached the top of the block, an image of the beast  punching the block crossed Korra’s mind. “Guys, Quick,” she shouted, “Jump back!” It turned out that her warning came just in time: as they landed back on the solid platform, the beast shattered the block… and promptly got its arm stuck in the wall! The beast, obviously quite annoyed about this, started trying to pull its arm out. As it did, they heard a series of loud cracking sounds and lava started leaking from its arm. It was then the beast’s arm snapped off completely. The beast roared in pain from this, then fell down to the abyss. They then stepped over to examine the remaining portion of the beast’s arm, which was still solidly lodged in the wall. Inside the broken-off end of the arm was a black crystal. Korra was unfamiliar with this type of crystal, At first glance, she mistook it as something from the Crystal Empire. “What is that?” asked Korra, “I’ve never seen one like that before.” “Korra, be careful,” said Kage cautiously. Twilight however knows what the crystal is. “It isn’t natural,” she warned, “That crystal is radiating with dark magic, similar to King Sombra’s. Destroy it quickly!” As we stepped closer, they felt their energy being drained. Kage quickly backed out of its range. “Kage, keep back,” Korra said, “I’ll handle this thing…” She then focused my power, and then blasted the crystal. It shattered, and the path was once again clear. They continued to this chamber’s exit, passing into the next hall, which was generally arc-shaped. They hurried across the hall, entering the doorway on its far side with no difficulties. “We are close to the surface,” said Twilight, “it’s best that we remain unheard…” While he probably meant that warning for all of them, Spike chose to take it personally. “Alright, alright!” said Spike, “I get the message. Sheesh!” They then moved down a short staircase into the next, and hopefully last chamber. Korra took a good look around this area. They were standing on a wide bridge, with a large stone door at the far end. There was a large fan hanging from the ceiling, and a winch mechanism mounted on the wall. This winch was large enough that two of them would have to operate it at the same time. Twilight had apparently worked out the likely to this puzzle. “This fan,” said Twilight, “it must be part of some locking mechanism”. “Honestly,” said Spike, “why not just a lock and key like normal ponies?” “Because Spike,” Kage sighed, “that would be too easy. So much for remaining unheard…” Kage and Korra moved over to use the winch, while Korra watched our backs. It turned out that this was a very good plan, since the moment they started spinning the winch, a small army of goblins attacked them. They kept up with our respective tasks, and Kage took a moment to glance back to see how Korra was holding up. It seemed she was doing just fine: she watched as she leapt into the air, then slammed down, summoning a wave of flames as she did so. Soon enough, we’d brought the fan all the way down to the floor. “Let’s let Rainbow Dash handle this, ” said Kage as he looked at the fan. Korra agreed, as Rainbow Dash stepped forwards. She then began to channel her Airbending through the massive fan. It started to slowly spin until it got faster. In response, the doors slowly began to swing open. “Quick, hurry up and open the door!” shouted Spike impatiently. After a short while, the doors finally finished opening. They started towards the door to leave this place, but they were interrupted by a certain very persistent beast. The beast breathed a jet of flame towards us, and then used its remaining hand to grab Korra. Kage quickly planted his feet and started tugging on the tether that connected the two of them and, with some effort; he managed to pull Korra free. They then took to the skies and flew as quickly as they could towards the exit. “This way! Quickly!” yelled Rainbow Dash, leading them down the exit corridor. As they flew down the passage, the beast  reached in after us, just barely missing us. Instead, it only ended up punching the side of the tunnel in frustration. This caused the passage behind them to collapse, preventing them from going back. However, it didn’t matter at this point, as they were already out. They landed next to the group, taking a moment to catch our breath after that close shave. “What was that thing?!” asked Rarity, voicing the question they all had. “There will be time for that,” said Twilight, “For now, we’ll follow the river.. It will lead them to shelter, where they can rest. And then we’re off the Canterlot, the castle where Lelani and the others will be expecting us.” They then headed down the corridor, which hopefully would lead them out of this ruined place.