*(~)*

Romans 8:28 ~

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

*(~)*

The Earth Queen

The Future Industries airship flew high above the clouds, hovering over the lush green earth bellow. The fateful flying bison Oogie flew just above it. On the platform, on top of the ship, Rarity in her anthro form lounged on a beach chair, with an umbrella, and Spike fanning her with a large japanese fan. The unicorn wore a lovely butter-yellow sunhat with a pale pink ribbon and classy sunglasses, sipping some fruit juice, while Korra, Twilight and Tenzin watched their friends on the lower platform. Asami, Fluttershy and Jinora stood by as they watched Bumi and Kai face one another.

"Light on your feet, Uncle Bumi. Remember, you want to be quick and evasive." Jinora instructed the former commander. The man moved around, his hands up like a boxer before the young airbender boy.

"Don't worry about me, little lady. I've been in a scrap or two you know." he chuckled before the boy, "Ha ha. Oh, you're just a youngster, so I'm gonna go easy on ya. Wouldn't want to hurt a kid …"

Before Bumi could even make a move, Kai slid to the floor, and fired an airbending blast at Bumi's legs, knocking him to the ground. He laid on the ground in pain.

Jinora face palmed herself and shook her head. "Uncle Bumi, you've got to work on your stance changes." she said. Both she and Kai took her uncle by the arms and helped him to his feet. The young girl smiled, "Kai, that was just, really good."

Kai rubbed his head shyly, as Bumi felt his jaw. "Thanks Jinora, you're a great teacher."

Jinora stared at Kai for a second, before turning away, blushing. Korra and Twilight giggled at the sight, it was plain as day that Jinora had an infatuation towards their new airbender. Though they were careful not to let her father know. Tenzin would flip his wig if he found out about the two.

Jinora helped her uncle away, but he brushes her off, before patting his body, looking for something and opened his coat. "Hmm, did I drop my wallet?"

Jinora, looked behind Bumi and began to chuckle as Kai strolled casually past them wishing….with Bumi's wallet in his hand. Bumi turned to look at the young boy, and narrowed his eyes before chasing after him.

Korra and Twilight leaned on the railing, and simply smiled in amusement at the scene. The alicorn took out a book entitled, "History of Ba Sing Se" and flipped through the pages. She stopped at one with an image of the entire city and its vast walls, as well as the Golden palace of the royal family. She had read a lot about the Earth Kingdom Capitol, and now she was finally gonna get the chance to see it for herself.

"It's so exciting to be on a diplomatic mission to Ba Sing Se." said the alicorn.

The Avatar nodded in agreement. "I know. I've always wanted to see the place for myself. I've heard so many stories from Katara about it." she then turned to her mentor, "So tell me, what's the Earth Queen like?" she asked.

Tenzin thought for a moment on what to say, "I've never met her, but I've heard she can be quite ... demanding."

Just then, both Bolin and Pinkie Pie ran to accompany the others, swinging their legs under the railing in excitement. "Bolin, look! There it is!"

"This is it Mako! We made it. This is where Dad grew up. Come here. Look. Look!"

"Okay, calm down, I'm looking." Mako joined his brother and the pink anthro pony who hopped in place, unlike them, he was rather calm but still just as intrigued to see his father's homeland. The three little lizard spirits hovered beside him. It didn't take long for Rarity, Spike, Applejack, Flash Sentry and Rainbow Dash to join them. Rarity held on to her hat, keeping it from being swept away from the breeze.

Right before their eyes, they saw the Outer Wall of Ba Sing Se. It was made entirely out of bricks, pale brown in color and taller than anything the ponies had ever seen. Twilight looked back and forth from the image in her book to the real thing in front of her.

"The Outer Wall. It's bigger than anything I could have imagined." she said, her violet eyes widened in wonder.

Korra's eyes sparkled with the same wonder as well. "I wonder how many airbenders are down there." she said out loud.

"I wonder how the royal palace will look like." Rarity said with a dreamy voice.

The ship flew right over the wall, Korra squinted her eyes from the sun's rays, once she adjusted her vision, she silently gasped; There stood the expansive city beyond. It was larger than anything she could have imagined. Twilight's jaw literally dropped, the land was even bigger in real life than what had been depicted in books. The entire city was green in color, given the green roofs of each house that could be seen, with tall white colored walls, or 'rings', laying out to several major districts. Twilight had read about this, the districts were divided based on economic and social class. Personally, the Alicorn believed this to be very primitive and unnecessary, especially since she is from a land where all are practically treated as equals no matter what status you have.

"Holy guacamole!" said Spike, his green eyes widened at the sight, "This place is huge!"

"No kidding." said Rainbow Dash, "Just imagine how many aribenders we'll find. I wonder if we'll have enough room on the airship."

The airship hovered over the vast city, passing over the Lower Ring. Once above it, Spike's nose crinkled and he gaged in disgust. "P. U.! What's that smell?!"

The others smelled it too, Rarity covered her nose while Applejack took off her hat and covered her mouth and nose with it, hoping to cancel out the stench.

"That would be the Lower Ring of Ba Sing Se." Twilight said while pinching her nostrils to keep from smelling the disgusting aroma. "It's where the lower class of the city live." Looking down, they saw the ring; it looked downright awful, people in ragged clothing walked down the streets, buildings were run down and old, garbage surrounded the streets and alleys, even smoke billowed from several buildings.

"Uhh, it looks terrible." Korra said, recoiling from the smell while Mako and Bolin held their noses.

Bolin looked as if he was about to gag, "Yeah, I can smell it from here. No wonder Dad left."

"How can the Queen let people live this way?" Twilight asked, trying to fan the odder away with her wings, "Celestia would never allow something like this."

"Well, this isn't Equestria." Mako said, though he too agreed with his pony friend. If a true ruler really cared about her subjects, shouldn't she do her best to give them what they needed?

The airship continued to hover over the land and the ponies marveled at the sights before them. Finally, they made it to their true destination; The Inner Wall and into the Middle Ring. Unlike the Lower Ring, the Middle looked clean and well taken cared of. People walked around in lavish green clothing, even sported expensive and shimmering jewelry, consisting of gold, emeralds and rubies."Hello, Middle Ring!" Bolin shouted enthusiastically from the airship.

Rarity's eyes sparkled at the sight. "Look at all of those extravagant clothing! So much inspiration."

Rainbow Dash tapped on her shoulder to grab her attention, "I think you're about to get even more inspired." she said. Rarity followed to where Rainbow Dash was pointing at, her sunglasses slid off a bit, revealing her blue eyes bulged open, her jaw dropping at the sight.

The Royal Palace was certainly the largest building they had seen by far; with it's myriad buildings, gardens, and plazas, it was very nearly a city in itself. The Palace was arranged in a north-south axis which extended beyond its walls to from the central axis of the Upper Ring. Rarity squealed like a fangirl at the sight. Kai was especially impressed.

The airship began its descent, landing with a slight cloud of dust. Korra took the lead, "Come on guys, let's do this." but before they could leave, Rarity rushed up ahead, and stood in their path.

Mako arched and eyebrow and placed one hand on his hip. "What is it now, Rarity?"

"Aren't you girls forgetting something?' she asked the two princesses. They both looked at each other and shrugged, signaling they had no idea what Rarity was referring to. The unicorn groaned in annoyance before levitating their crowns from her bag and placing them on their respective owners' heads. "There, now you're both ready to meet the queen."

A ramp extended from the entrance of the airship as the party exited the airship. They spotted a well-dressed Earth Kingdom man waiting for them. Mako and Flash both stood up straight and cleared their throats before speaking in union, and extended their hands towards their respective princesses.

The man bowed before the alicorns. "Princess Korra, Princess Twilight, Master Tenzin, it is a pleasure to welcome you and your party to the Upper Ring of Ba Sing Se. I'm Grand Secretariat Gun."

Bolin strolled past with Pabu atop his shoulder, followed closely by Naga and Spike. The young man sniffed the air. "Aah, it's got that Upper Ring smell."

"Oh no, the queen hates animals." Gun said, "You'll have to get them out of sight."

"Well, I can just stash Pabu in my shirt," Bolin said, and tilted his head to Naga and Oogi behind him, "these two are going to be a little tougher."

"Well, you don't have any fur so, I suppose that won't be an issue. But, none the less, could you, perhaps, hide yourself as well. If you don't mind."

Spike really didn't like the idea of keeping a low profile, but this guy really looked somewhat desperate to not have any animals in the Queen's sight. The young dragon sighed sadly and lowers his ears.

Korra and Twilight gasped once they saw the three royal alicorns who had just lowered down from the sky to great them.

Twilight and her sister-in-law ran to each other, hugged and did their signature greeting; "Sunshine, sunshine, ladies bugs awake. Clap your hooves and do a little shake!"

Korra was welcomed with open arms by Celestia and Luna. "I had no idea you guys were here."

"We wanted to surprise you." Celestia said. "We've been waiting to have a meeting with the Earth Queen to discus further connections between Equestria and the Earth Kingdom. Lucky for us we finally got a chance to do so at the same day you would arrive."

Mako bowed in respect, and Flash mirrored his action, "Princess Cadance, ma'am."

Gun bowed before the princesses, "Your highnesses, your audience with the queen is scheduled latter this afternoon, afterwords she may speak with Princess Korra and Princess Twilight."

Luna rose her hand, silencing Korra, "Our meeting can wait one more day. We've only just recently arrived. Besides, you have aribenders to find."

"Come with me, hurry, I'll take you to your quarters." said Gun. The gang followed the man, and Pinkie Pie smiled.

As Gun led the party, they all marveled at the sights around them, the palace garden was a stunning plaza filled with the most beautiful flowers they had ever seen. They walked over a bridge, over a lovely river, swimming in the waters were brightly colored koi fish, as well as water lilies on lilly pads. Rarity was breathless.

"Focus Rarity," said Applejack, "We're here to find airbenders, not admire the scenery."

Rainbow Dash looked around, her hands on her hips with a bored expression. "I don't see what the big deal is. Just another city, big whoop."

Rarity was shocked by this reaction, "Wha--gah---big whoop?! What are you blind?! Just look at that--" Rarity stopped her baffling when Rainbow Dash started to laugh, and fist pumped Applejack. Rarity once again fell for their silly little joke. "Why do I always fall for that one?"

As they continued on their way Gun addressed to the princesses and their companions, his tone rounding rather nervous, "Now, when you meet the queen make sure you bow low enough, that's very important, and don't look her in the eye, she can't stand that. If any food is served, don't eat before she eats. Well actually, I have to taste her food first, then she eats, then you can eat. Better yet, just don't eat."

Korra arched and eyebrow at this. "Seems like an awful lot of rules." she said. Even the princesses had to agree.

Gun sighed in exasperation, "Oh, you have no idea. And I'm the one who gets in trouble when people don't follow them, so please, please for my sake try not to upset Her Majesty."

Fluttershy leaned in and whispered to Rainbow Dash, "This Queen sounds really high strung."

"Yeah, no kidding. I haven't even met her yet, and I'm already feeling goosebumps. And not the good kind."

Meanwhile, Kai looked around with a bored expression on his face, his hands behind his head. This whole Queen business was so boring, he was hoping to find some fun once he came to the city, but so far he hadn't found it…or maybe he spoke too soon.

His green eyes slightly widened as an Earth Kingdom citizen walked past, festooned with various items of jewelry which sparkled in the sunlight in the most captivating way. Kai just couldn't resists. With a sly look on his face, he slide away from the group after the citizen.

"Here we are." Gun said as he spread his arms, showing Team Avatar their temporary home. A lovely little apartment building with a yellow roof and extravagant silvery color on the walls, and a lush green grassy filed right outside.

The group entered the house, and Pinkie Pie immediately jumped around, taking in the vast space and lovely scenery while Rainbow Dash flew around the place.

"Now, go in and make yourselves comfortable." Gun said. Spike wasted no time and jumped onto one of the chairs, stretching his arms and legs, and lunged on the chair like a king.

"And keep those animals out of sight in the backyard." Gun commanded. Bolin and Pabu walked off in a huff and Gun began to exit the house, "Princess Korra, Princess Twilight, follow me. We don't want to keep Her Majesty waiting."

Korra and Twilight turned to Celestia, Luna and Cadance, silently asking is they still wished to go first. The princesses nodded while smiling and the two girls followed Gun out, leaving the others behind to enjoy their temporary home.

"This place is magnificent." said Rarity. Pinkie Pie was already sliding down the stair cases that lead to the upper half of the house, while Rainbow Dash zipped back down from the bedroom halls above.

"You guys have got to check out the view from upstairs. You can see everything!"

Korra and Twilight followed Gun down the hallways of the larger than life palace to where the Queen was. The place was filled with extravagant vases, statues and paintings. Korra's eyes shifted to Twilight, "Pretty nervous, hu?" she asked the pony

"A little. You think the Queen will even listen to us? So far, she doesn't sound like the 'cool-headed' type."

"Well, we haven't met her in person yet so, let's give her the benefit of the doubt. If there is anyone who would know about the airbenders in the city, it's her. Besides, between the two of us, I'm sure we'll get her to listen to reason. And if all else fails, we've got a secret weapon."

At last, Gun stopped at the courtyard of the palace, where the Earth Queen stood with her back turned towards them. She was a tall middle aged woman with a strong and stern complexion, her dark hair was styled perfectly into a bun with a fancy green headset on her head, decorated with two flowers and dangling emerald jewels. She wore a long green and gold robe that reached to the tip of her feet. Her fingernails were long and green colored, added with two equally long golden rings on both of her index fingers on both hands. Her eyes were piercing emerald green and her lips were ruby red. She was supervising an extensive renovation project bellow her. Gun stepped forward and bowed before the Queen.

"Your Majesty, may I present Princess Avatar Korra and Princess Twilight Sparkle."

Both girls bowed before the queen, but she did not pay any attention to them, still with her back turned. She opened her mouth and screamed angrily at her servants, making Twilight flinch a bit.

"You're ruining the koi pond. It's completely overshadowed by the topiaries." she shouted at one of her workers, two stood bellow, and both quacked in fear. "Guards, take that buffoon away and get me someone who knows what they're doing!"

Two men wearing Dai Li uniforms grabbed the offending male worker, and escorted him away. The Queen pointed to the second worker, a female. "You, rip everything out and start over."

The young lady earthbended the ground beneath the topiaries and turned it over, leaving fresh ground in its place. The queen sighed bitterly. "I am surrounded by idiots." she finally turned around to face the two princess. While she didn't physically show it, she was quite surprised to see a young woman with brown colored feather wings on her back, tipped in green/blue highlights. The second girl next to her had an unusual purplish skin color, added with animal-like pointed ears, midnight colored hair with purple and pink streaks, as well as a matching tail sticking out from her bum, and two purple wings on her back. Both of them wore stunning crowns of gold and silver, which sparkled in the sunlight, giving them a royal appearance. The queen looked down upon them none the less.

Korra's eyes shifted to the side before looking at the Queen, she really wasn't expecting for her to be this intimidation. Korra wasn't scared per say, but she wasn't entirely sure if this woman would be easy to speak with.

"Um, well yes, your Majesty. And this is my friend, Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria."

The alicorn waved at the queen, smiling kindly. "Nice to meet you, your Highness."

"So, you are the famous pony I've heard so much about. I must say, you don't look much like how others have depicted."

"Well, you see, ever since Harmonic Convergence, most ponies have been able to--"

"I don't care." the queen interrupted, "Let me guess the real reason why you are here; you want something."

"I hardly think you're in a position to ask me for favors after everything the last Avatar did to the Earth Kingdom." the queen turned away briefly, "He and Fire Lord Zuko took advantage of my father's weakness and stole our lands to make their own little empire." she then turned to Korra, looking at her angrily, "The United Republic is Earth Kingdom territory."

"Not that you care, but what's left of my kingdom is falling to ruin. Roving bands of barbarians are raiding villages in the countryside. And now, some of my subjects are refusing to pay their taxes." the queen said as she turned back to face the courtyard.

Korra and Twilight exchanged concerned looks, while the bandit thing did sound serious, they still had a mission to complete. Though they began to wonder just how far they would go with this hot-tempered woman.

The Queen cut Korra off once more as she shouted down into the courtyard. "That topiary is supposed to be an eel swan, not a turtle duck!"

Gun lowered his head in fear, while Korra and Twilight placed their hands on there hips, both looking at the queen in annoyance.

"Hey, has anyone seen Kai?" Jinora asked. She and the rest of the team remained at their temporary home, still awaiting for Korra and Twilight to return. Jinora questioned where her new friend had run off to. Tenzin rose from his chair and called out for the boy,

Pinkie Pie came in from the kitchen, carrying a large assortment of fruits in her arms, "He's not in the kitchen." she said before taking a large happy bite from an apple.

Mako clenched his fists, "I knew that kid was no good. He was just waiting for an opportunity to run away again."

Fluttershy placed a hand on his shoulder, "Now, Mako, please. I think you're being too hard on Kai."

"I understand you're all upset, and you have good reason to be, but he is just a little kid who doesn't know any better. It's just like what happened with Discord. It wasn't easy for him to realize the error of his ways, but once I showed him what it means to be a true friend, he changed."

"Fluttershy is right." Celestia said, "Change does take time, and how can you expect this Kai to change if you don't give him a chance? Even I was willing to give Discord a chance."

"She's right." Bolin said, "And Kai's my new little brother. He's probably lost, and scared."

"He is just a little boy, and he's our responsibility." Tenzin said. "Besides, he's the only airbender we've recruited so far, we can't lose him.

Mako really didn't like the kid, that much as pretty obvious, but he had to admit, Fluttershy and Tenzin did make very good points. Besides, he of all people should know what its like to be a Fixer Upper. People really can change, if given the chance. His friends gave him a lot of chances, now he had to give one to Kai as well.

Flash tapped his shoulder and smiled in reassurance. "Come on Mako, have a heart."

The firebender sighed in defeat and turned to the others. "Fine. Flash, Bolin and I will find him."

"I'm coming too!" said Rarity, rather excitedly. "I mean, you boys might need a 'woman's' help." she proudly flipped her mane.

As the search party headed out, Mako's spirit friends followed them. The latter turned around and rose his hand in front of them. "No! Stay!"

But unfortunately for him, the little spirits all whimpered and looked at him with their big shimmering brown eyes. As much as Mako tried to be firm, the creature's eyes were just too powerful. And besides, these little guys always managed to somehow find some way of tracking him down anyways. He lowered his hand, and hung his head.

The spirits chirped happily and landed on the depressed man's head and shoulders. Bumi swooned at the scene.

Mako didn't say a word. He just turned away and walked out, his so called 'children' remained on him.

Korra and Twilight could have sworn their ears would bleed from the queen's constant shouting and barking orders at her workers like they were animals. This woman was obviously not the ideal queen at all.

"No, to your left. Your other left!" he sighed before turning to the girls, "Do you have these problems with your servants?"

Korra arched an eyebrow, "We don't really have servants." she said, and Twilight spoke to the queen.

"Your Majesty, the reason for our visit is that we're trying to gather all of the new airbenders who are popping up in the Earth Kingdom, and we'd like your help finding the ones in Ba Sing Se."

The Queen looked at them skeptically, "Airbenders in Ba Sing Se. Where did you hear that?"

The Queen pondered for a moment before speaking again. "Hmm. Well, before I even consider helping you, I'll need you both to do something for me."

Korra and Twilight both shared semi surprised looks, "Oh, of course. What is it?" Twilight asked politely.

"I have a vault full of tax money sitting in a town south of here. Barbarians have stolen my past two shipments. Go collect my money and bring it back here."

The princesses did not like the sound of the Queen's voice. It sounded almost sinister and even sneaky. They knew she was not going to cooperate so easily, and didn't really like the idea of charging people for taxes. Twilight had never even heard of such things, Princess Celestia never asked her subjects for money, not ever. This woman was not a true ruler, she was obviously cold and self-centered. But, their goal here was to find airbenders, and even if they didn't want to do this, maybe if they did a good job, then maybe she would loosen up and help them. The girls placed their fists together and bowed, while saying in union.

The Earth Queen indicated to Korra, Twilight and Gun that they should leave, and the latter hurriedly tried to walk the princesses out. However, Korra pushed him away, causing him to fall to the ground. As they walked away Twilight scowled back at the queen, lowering her ears angrily.

Mako and Bolin searched the first half of the city for Kai. Flash Sentry and rarity split up from them in order to cover more ground. Rarity scanned the stores and street corners while Flash watched from above. Mako's eyes scanned the placed for any sighs of the boy. Though, his search would probably be a lot easier if the lizard spirits didn't keep bugging him. Well, two of them were on him, while the other, with the pearl blue wings, was doing its job searching for Kai as well. Mako and Bolin stood near a bridge, and Bolin called out for the boy.

Flash placed one hand on his hip and his free one near his chin, "Hmm, let's see now; I was off looking for an eleven-year-old kid in green cloths, in a city filled with people all wearing green cloths! How do you think it's going?"

The boys then heard humming and saw Rarity walking towards them…carrying four shopping bags. "Hello boys." she said happily. The two narrowed their eyes at her in annoyance. "What?"

Rarity scoffed, looking offended. "Ah! No of course not! I was looking for Kai. I looked at that lovely boutique around the corner, at that shoe store, at that perfume shop, at that stand where this lady was selling the most fabulous earth kingdom earrings, and--"

"What made you think Kai would be in any of those places?" Flash asked, with a hint of sarcasm.

Rarity lowered her ears. "Okay fine, I went shopping. But, come on! We're at the Earth Kingdom capitol of the world, excuse me for trying to make the most out of this trip."

The boys rolled their eyes. Then, the lizard spirit with the pale blue wings began tugging on Mako's scarf, grabbing his attention.

The little spirit chirped and using its tail, pointed to something in front of them. They spotted a man, who's robes were suddenly blown upwards by a powerful breeze. The man shrieked in shock, and when the wind died down, he lowered his robe, his hat falling off in the process. The friends then spotted a certain young boy walk up to the man, picking up his hat.

"Here, sir, let me help you." Kai began to help the upper class man in fixing his messed up clothing.

Unbeknownst to the man, while Kai was helping him arrange his cloths, he had managed to slickly take the man's wallet from his pocket. The man smiled graciously at Kai before walking away.

Mako's anger flared when he saw Kai place the man's wallet into his bag, behind his belt. He had nearly forgotten how horrible a sight it was to see a young boy steal at such a young age. Him giving Kai a second chance was not going to be as easy as he believed.

The new airbender turned around and spotted the firebender, his brother, Flash and Rarity. He grinned widely with a salute and slid away.

The friends began chasing after the boy, with Bolin close behind. Out of all of them, he was the least angry at Kai.

Kai wasn't worried in the slightest, he had outrun many punks before, but he was not prepared for two ponies. Mako, Flash and Rarity chased Kai down the streets of Ba Sing Se, bypassing a rickshaw.

The young boy turned into a corner, with the firebender and unicorn behind him. Flash flapped his wings and flew ahead. Kai slide underneath a rickshaw, but both Mako and Rarity jumped up to the side of the wall and over the rickshaw. Rarity had mastered many fighting styles while in her pony form from Korra, and she learned how to adapt them into her new anthro from as well. She was as fast and agile as Mako, even with the shopping bags in her hands. Kai did a barrel roll to evade the two and ran off down an alleyway.

As they chased the boy, Bolin squeezed in between two rickshaws, carrying a few people in them, all looking at the boy in either confusion or surprise. "Excuse me, coming through. Pardon me. Carry on."

Kai was gaining the upper hand, until he was stopped by Flash Sentry who landed in front of him. "No where else to run, kid."

But Kai wasn't scared. Before Flash could grab him, Kai blew the pegasus away up into the sky and ran off. Flash wobbled a bit in mid air before regaining his balance. He saw the boy running ahead with his friends behind him.

At a monorail station in Ba Sing Se, Kai ran up the stairs to get away from Mako and the others. He managed to get into one part of the monorail while Mako and Rarity both got into another. As Kai bricked across the monorail, he bumped into the firbender. The boy saw their angry expressions, both with drops of sweat on their foreheads from the running, which mirrored the sweat in Kai's brow. He smiled nervously.

"What are you doing running around robbing people?" Mako said sternly. Rarity mirrored his expression and Flash Sentry walked up from behind them, narrowing his eyes at Kai.

"I was just practicing my airbending." the boy said, still wearing his large grin.

Rarity leaned in closer to him, her beautiful blue eyes starring daggers at him. "You should be ashamed of yourself! Because of you, I had to run. And sweat!!"

Mako took the boy from the shirt and began dragging him away. "Let's go. You're in big trouble."

But Kai snatched back his top off Mako and airbended at the friends, including Bolin and Mako's spirits towards the other side of the train. In the process, Rarity was forced to release her shopping bags. Everyone sitting on the monorail looked stunned at the friends who had just been literally blown away. Kai placed on his top and ran out of the monorail. The friends got up and tried to get off the monorail, but it was too late. Once Mako reached the door, it automatically closed.

"Hey!" The firebender banged his hand against it, from the window of the door, he saw Kai smiling arrogantly and waving at the group as the train started to move, signaling it was leaving the station. Rarity was fuming mad as she too banged on the door in a futile attempt to escape.

"Oooooh, you were lucky this time Kai but mark my words, I will get you for this!! And you owe me a new pair of sandals!!!"

Mako then turned to Bolin, glaring at him in annoyance. "Your little brother, huh?"

They heard the train conductor speak. "Designated express line to the lower ring. Next up, Poh Kong Station."

Rarity's eyes snapped open wide, "What?! No, no, no, no, no we can't go to the lower ring. I can't go to the lower ring! You saw how horrible it was!" the unicorn pressed her hands on the window, sadly looking down as the Upper Ring passed before her eyes, "And my new shoes. My new Earth kingdom fabrics. Gone!" she hung her head and sobbed sadly…and loudly.

Flash calmly took a seat next to the windows. "Now Kai's out there just looking for new people to swindle." said the pegasus.

Mako sighed and took a seat next to Flash, crossing his arms. "Once the train stops we'll find the next one back to the Upper Ring."

Bolin noticed that Rarity had stopped sobbing and was now just hanging her head, her long swept to the side bang hid her face from Bolin's eye of view. "Um, Rarity…are you, okay?"

The unicorn didn't even look at him, but but instead clenched her fists, her trembling shaking as she spoke. "I had seven designer Earth Kingdom fabrics. Five new pairs of Earth Kingdom sandals with golden trims. And one new pair of designer golden phoenix earrings!!" she slammed her palms hard on the door and looked up at the earthbender, her once beautiful elegant big eyes were now sharp, with shrunken angry pupils, and her teeth grinding. "And on top of that, I was just bested by a little boy! So, Boly, darling, I am in a very, very delicate state right now, so if you please….don't…TEST ME!!!!!!"

Everyone on the monorail scooted away from the angry anthro unicorn, her nostrils flaring, her hands half clenched, even Mako and Flash were terrified. Mako's spirits were hiding within his jacket and fearfully peaked out. Rarity was breathing heavily, still glaring at Bolin, who simply stood there blinking. He then smiled widely.

The train ride lasted for exactly half an hour, Bolin past the time by playing with the lizard spirits while Mako and Flash were both chatting. Rarity sat cross-legged, her hands on her lap, her eyes closed, silently meditating in her own way. It really helped her clam her nerves. Finally, the train arrived at Poh Kong Station, making a hard brake. After the monorail stopped, everyone pushed Mako, Bolin, Flash and Rarity out of the monorail.

"We still need to find Kai." Flash reminded her. The unicorn sighed in disappointment and crossed her arms. The group walked towards the train that would lead to the upper ring. As they tried to barge through they were forcibly blocked by the ticket master.

"We can pay, hold on." Bolin said as he and Mako both reached into their pockets, searching for money, when they realized. "Where's my money?"

Flash and Rarity began searching for their pockets for the extra bits they had in there pockets. "Don't' worry guys." Flash assured them, "I know I've got some…wait, where are my bits?"

"And where are mine?" Rarity asked, "Not to mention, where are those extra gems I brought?" her eyes widened in realization, and then she grinned her teeth in anger. "Kai!"

Bolin looked at her in disbelief, "No, Kai wouldn't." but judging by the looks he got from his brother and pony friends, he realized it was futile to deny the truth. "Aww man!"

Rarity cleared her throat and gently brushed the boys aside. "Excuse me, gentlemen, I've got this." she dusted her pale purple pants and the light blue ruffled half skirt around her waits, and smiled at the conductor, batting her eyes with her hands clapped together near her heart and spoke in a sweet voice, while lowering her ears in a cute manner.

"Kind sir, I understand you are simply honoring your position as a hard working man of this fine city, and I for one, respect you for it. But as you can plainly see, me and my companions have been victims of a horrible, horrible fate. Someone stole all of our money and left us stranded here and our friends and family must be oh so worried."

She then surprised Mako by pulling on his jacket a few feet closer to her and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"This young man right here is far away from his one true love. They had only recently gotten back together after a terrible fight, and now they're doing their very best to try and maintain that burning flame that is their love!"

Without even taking her puppy eyes away from the ticket master, Rarity effortlessly shoved Mako away. Clearly, Korra's physical strength had rubbed off on her.

"So, please, could you find it in your heart to let us in? So we can be reunited with our families, and so this poor, pathetic, sad lonely little man--"

"--Can have a second chance at love?" she batted her big blue eyes, pouted her blue colored lips, her hands clapped together close to her tilted head, and lowered ears, whimpering like a puppy dog, with Mako's lizard spirits mimicking her actions for extra help. The man looked at them for a few seconds before answering….

"No. Now beat it." the man's stern expression changed into one of fear as Rarity pulled him by the collar, her eyes flaring.

"Now you listen here mister, I was blasted away by a little boy, lost all of my shopping bags, and all of my money to that same boy and now I'm stuck in the Lower Class Ring! I am at the end of my rope here, so if you know what's good for you---!"

"Okay! Cool it, lady!" Mako and Flash quickly grabbed Rarity by the arms and pulled her away from the man. She struggled in their grip.

"Get that pony maniac out of here, before things get ugly." said the ticket master.

While trying to hold on to Rarity, Mako looked to the other side, spotting two men wearing matching sun-hats and long dark green robes with the green colored Earth Nation emblem imprinted on them. They were the Dai Li agents. Mako had read about them, and so he knew they did not want to get on their bad side. Once Rarity cooled down, the boys released her and they walked away from the Ticket Master, and out of the train station.

Once the train left Poh Kong station, The friends looked on in disappointment at the messed up lower ring street. While the people didn't look so upset, the place was no Upper Ring. The buildings were old, the streets were paid with trash, and if they didn't know any better, they could have sworn they could smell month old eegs.

"The bad news is we're stuck here." Bolin said, putting a hand on his brother's shoulder. "The good news is we can go the bathroom wherever we want." he said with a grin, but the emotion was not shared by the rest.

The group walked along the streets, Rarity felt so out of place here, it was obvious that she never liked anything filthy or lower class, but what choice did she have? She and the others were stuck, thanks to Kai. Even the mere mention of his name made her blood boil. She was sweet and welcoming towards him and this was how he repaid them? She swore she would make sure he would be punished for this. Granted she had no idea how since she's never had to punish any young boys before, she never had to really punish Sweetie Belle, who was in a lot of ways an angel, and she was almost certain you couldn't just spray him with a water bottle like a cat. She figured she would cross that bridge once she got to it.

"Well, it's not so bad." Flash said, in hopes to lighten up the mood. "Look, there's a cute little black cat." he squatted down and coed at the creature next to an old shoe box. "Hey, little kitty, who's a cute little fella?"

Mako squatted down also, arching his eyebrow before looking at the creature in disgust. "Um, Flash…that's a rat."

The pegasus quickly jumped up in fear, as the creature scurried across them, and Rarity shrieked. "AH!! I hate this place!! That's it, I'm calling Korra!" the unicorn prepared to activate her Element of Harmony to contact her Avatar, but Mako quickly stopped her.

"No! No, no, no! If the others find out we lost Kai, they'll freak out. The last thing we need is to worry them. Not to mention, you have any idea how bad this will look to the Princesses?"

"Well what are we suppose to do? Any longer we stay here is another moment where Kai could be out there causing trouble. And besides, if they don't see us back soon, then they will have a reason to worry."

"Okay, calm down everyone." Flash said, "Why don't we let Rarity call Rainbow Dash to fly down here and hand us some money so we can catch a train back to the Upper Ring."

Korra could sense someone was calling out for her. She walked to the open window of her room and closed her eyes, speaking telepathically.

The Element of Generosity shimmered on Rarity's chest as they heard Korra's voice. "Korra! Thank Celestia! Yes it's me."

"What do you mean you lost him?" Korra asked, she didn't sound upset, simply worried and curious.

"I mean; he gave us the slip and now we're stranded in the lower ring, so could you be a dear and SEND HELP?!?!"

Before Korra could answer, all of a sudden, she fell into silence, her eyes were wide open, as if she were in some kind of trance. Rarity tapped on her Element, arching an eyebrow in curiosity. "Korra? You still there?" suddenly, Rarity's body became stiff, her eyes hazed and distant. Korra began to speak in a haunting rhyme, while Rarity spoke her words, in perfect sync despite the distance.

The boys looked at one another, silently asking what the heck was happening. Korra woke up from her dream-like state and shook her head, as Rarity did the ram. Both girls rubbed their heads, they felt as if they had just been on a crazy ride. "Wow, that was very strange. What happened?" she asked into the Element on her chest. Korra was equally confused.

"I have no idea. But, I think maybe you guys should stick around the Lower Ring for a while."

"I can't explain why but, I have a feeling you guys might find something there." she gasped and smiled at the realization, "Maybe you'll find some airbenders!"

"Okay, you guys try and find any signs of new airbenders. If you haven't found any by tomorrow, I'll sent Rainbow Dash to you immediately. Got it?"

"Wait!" Rarity exclaimed frantically, "You want me to stay here in this rat infested place?!"

"Rarity, calm down." Korra began instructing the unicorn to do her breathing exercise. "Breath in…breath out." Rarity followed her orders, and she slowly started to calm down. "Okay, listen to me, I know you're upset, but think of it as a selfless sacrifice. You're one of the toughest ponies I know, I'm sure you can handle a little bit of dirt for a while for the sake of the world. I have complete faith in you."

Rarity was deeply touched by her friend's words, and she really did want to help rebuild the air nation, since it meant so much to her and Tenzin. She decided to suck it up and tolerate this. "Very well. For the good of the Air Nation and the world, I will tolerate being in this filthy, messy, greasy, run-down place."

"Love you, too." both Mako and Rarity said in union before glaring at one another as the Element dissolved into her chest.

Flash came in between them and groaned, "Oy, Girls, girls you're both pretty, can we move now?"

Night had fallen, and the group of friends walked all around the city. They noticed that a few people had left the streets and were returning home, a sure sign that it was latter than they had anticipated.

"So, where are we suppose to stay for the night?" Flash asked, his feet already aching. Mako then spotted a nearby garbage pile and lead his friends there. Rarity however, stopped on her tracks and shook her head.

"Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no, absolutely not! I am a lady and I will not sleep near…." she shuddered as she said the last word, "Garbage."

But the boys had already began to make themselves comfortable around the pile, and Flash morphed back into his anthro form, pulling on an empty cardboard box to make into his bed.

"Rarity, we don't have any money to stay anywhere." Mako said, "and compared to the rest of the city, this is actually the cleanest trash pile there is."

But the unicorn refused to sleep there. "Hmp! I refuse to rest my head on something so unsanitary."

Knowing Rarity was not going to budge, Mako began to ponder on a way to suite her needs. Then, to his luck, he spotted a cyan colored blanket, which surprisingly was still clean, probably the cleanest thing around there. No doubt it was tossed aside not to long ago. Mako took the blanket and placed it in a side away from the trash bags. Rarity saw the neatly arranged blanket and Mako politely gestured to her to sleep there. The unicorn examined it for a moment before smiling sincerely. It was the cleanest thing there, and it was thoughtful of Mako to think about her needs. No wonder she always liked him dating Korra. The unicorn morphed back into her pony form and made herself comfortable before laying down on the blanket. Mako, in a loving brotherly manner, covered the lower half of her body with half of the blanket.

Bolin and Flash both laid down, covering their faces with a newspaper while Mako found a spot to sleep. Though it was near the garbage cans, he sucked it up and tried his best to get some sleep in hopes of finding any new airbenders the next day. His little spirit friends rested on his head and shoulders, he was way too tired to even try and swat them away.

"Hey, Mako." The firebender turned his gaze to Flash Sentry, "Is this how you and Bolin always used to sleep before moving into the pro-bending arena?"

Mako lowered his gaze sadly at the memory, "Yeah. I almost forgot what it was like." unbeknownst to them, Rarity was listening to their conversation. "But, things are better now." Mako said, with a sweet smile on his face, "Life may have been hard before, but I'm lucky to have found Korra, and all of you. Now I have a real family again."

"Thanks for making me a part of it." Flash said. "After my folks died, I never thought I would find a place where I belonged either."

This revelation caused Bolin to sit up straight, "Wait, I thought you lived with your mom?" he asked, "And your dad passed when you were a foul."

"He did. My mom…passed away four years ago." the pegasus pony lowered his ears sadly. Rarity lifted up her head, looking at him sadly. "I never told you because…well, I guess it slipped my mind." he then felt Bolin ruffle his blue hair.

Indeed, loosing his mother was pretty hard for Flash, but he was very grateful to have found such wonderful friends to call his family, and a pony to love. He rested his head as he and Bolin both attempted to sleep. Mako smiled before laying his head, but to his surprise, he saw Rarity drag the clean blanket and rested beside him.

"I suppose one night sleeping in garbage won't be such a bad thing." she said with a smile. Mako smiled in return at her selfless gesture. She was willing to sleep right beside a garbage can, in gratitude for his politeness. It was then he remembered what the last thing Korra had said;

He wondered what role this played in their search for the airbenders. Before long, he and his friends all drifted off to sleep.

The next day, Korra, Asami, Twilight, Rainbow, and Applejack were ridding on the Future Industries airship, with Asami as the pilot, leaving the Earth Kingdom Royal Palace.

Applejack turned to Korra, "You sure the five of can handle collecting the tax money? We could have brought Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie."

"Fluttershy didn't want to come, remember?" Korra stated, "She hates the idea of collecting money from people, and Pinkie Pie is great support for the others. Especially Jinora."

"Besides, there are royal guards waiting at the vault." Twilight said as she walked near Asami, overlooking the tone bellow through the window. "I doubt anything will happen. I think Her Majesty just likes ordering us around."

"Let me check up on them." Korra said. She opened up her arm as a ray came out, revealing a levitating image of Rarity's Element of Generosity.

The boys and ponies slowly woke up, Mako felt his back ache due to his sleeping position. He had his head resting on a pile of boxes next to the trash, with his arm as a pillow, while Rarity slept comfortably beside him. The unicorn yawned and woke up, stretching her legs and shaking a bit of the dust from her body. Bolin and Flash were both covered by a newspaper and too woke up. Bolin yawned and sat up, his neck hurting.

"Ohh man, aww I slipped a disc sleeping here. It's been awhile since we spent the night in a trash pile." he then reached for something poking his back, only to take out an empty crumpled up metal can. "It's about how I remembered."

Mako stood up, the little spirits resting on his shoulder flew up as he rose. "I bet everyone's freaking out that we've been gone all night." he felt that one little spirit was still sleeping on his head, and he woke it up by brushing him off.

Flash stretched his legs and his wings. "Oh, man. You know, that wasn't as bad as I thought it would be."

Then, Rarity's Element manifested on her chest, a voice was heard. "Rarity, Mako, Bolin, Flash? Are you guys alright?"

"And see if you have any luck finding Kai. Everyone's really worried, especially Jinora."

Mako's eyes widened in surprise by this, "Seriously? I thought she'd be over him by now."

"Nothing, I just think it's silly how a sweet and smart kid like her would ever be interested in a scrawny little troublemaker like Kai."

Korra and Twilight both exchanged annoyed expressions over Mako's overprotectiveness. "Focus, Mom."

Mako crossed his arm in annoyance at her sarcastic remark. Twilight then leaned in closer to the Element. "Hey, Flash. You okay?."

Mako spoke though the Element, "We'll let you know once we find Kai or other airbenders."

With that, the Element disappeared, and Rarity lowered her ears sadly, before morphing into her anthro form, followed by Flash.

"I'm worried about Kai," Bolin said worriedly, "he's just a little kid out there on his own. He's probably really scared."

At the ring of the small bell, a waiter came through the door, pulling a silvery cart with a solid gold dinner plate and a golden lid on the top. The room was decorated in the most extravagant green fabrics, and a large king sized bed where a certain little street-urchin laid, happily waiting his meal. With the money he stole from Mako and Bolin, as well as the golden bits and jewels from Rarity and Flash, Kai managed to get himself the best room in a fancy expensive inn, complete with room service.

"Your breakfast, Master Fong." the waiter lifted up the lid, revealing a hot steaming meal, fit for a king. Kai flicked a gold coin to the waiter.

"Keep the change." he said with the upmost confidence. Once the waiter left the room, Kai went back to lounging on his bed. "I love Ba Sing Se."

"I hate Ba Sing Se!" Rarity was once again fuming with anger. She and the boys were walking down a street of the Lower Ring, and to be honest, the scenery did not improve the more they explored it. "I'll never understand how you humans managed to get anywhere fast enough on just two legs. I can't take it anymore!"

"Rarity, we've only been walking for seven minutes." Mako stated. His little spirits hovering beside him, rather than over his head for once.

"It feels like twelve. My feet are killing me." she immediately morphed into her pony form, "Ah! Much better."

The friends were then startled by a loud grumbling sound. Bolin patted his empty stomach. "Fwoo, I'm getting really hungry." his large grin appeared on his face when he spotted a fruit stand and smiled at his brother. "Haah, we might have to hustle up a little breakfast with the old, fruit stand scam."

Mako remembered the scam all too well. He and Bolin would pull it all the time just to survive the harsh streets of Republic City. He never liked it then, and her certainly didn't like it now. But before he could protest Bolin happily dragged his big brother towards the stand, with their pony friends close behind.

"Come on. You remember how it goes, I push you into the stand, you scream. I pretend to faint."

"I don't want any part of it. Besides, look at this fruit." Mako said. He took a good look at the fruit before them; why would they need to steal this…better question would be, who would they want to steal it? The fruit was old, bruised and moldy with flies buzzing around it. Rarity morphed back into her anthro form to take a good look at the fruit and she felt she would pass out from the horrible scene before her.

The trio of spirit lizards sniffed the fruit. The two with the pink and blue wings chirped in disgust, while the one with pale green wings attempted to take a bite, only to be smacked in the head by the one with blue wings. Even Flash was repulsed by the food, "No kidding. Nobody would want to steal this."

Then, a young man rose from under the stand. "Hey, you trying to steal my fruit?" he asked in a threatening manner. The man looked around the same age as the brothers, give or take a year or so younger. Like most Earth Kingdom folk his eyes were emerald green and his hair pitch black. He wore a green headband with yellow outlines, had thick eyebrows similar to Bolin, in fact his face was almost in similar proportion to the young earthbender and a skin tone to match. He wore a green sleeveless shirt exposing his toned muscles, showcasing he worked out, as well as dark baggy pants and sandals, though they could not be seen due to the stand covering his lower torso.

Flash arched an eyebrow at him. "No, I just said we don't want any of this rotten fruit."

The young man's widened for a moment in surprise. "Oh, you're too good for my fruit?" he leaned over and rested his hand on a stack of apple,s several of which collapsed into mush under the pressure. "This is the best fruit on the block."

Mako was very confused as to why this guy was so decisive about his obviously bad merchandise. "So you want me to steal?"

"Just try me, buddy." the man showed the group his fist and kissed his bicep. "Go ahead."

Bolin leaned in closer to his brother, "I'm confused. Are we stealing the fruit or not?"

"I knew it. Thieves!" when the team turned around to escape, the man jumped out of his stand and tackled the two brothers, while Flash managed to pull Rarity by the shoulders away from the impact. Both ponies looked at their friends pressed down on the ground, the fruit vendor on top of them, refusing to let them escape. Before Rarity could stop them, a voice called out.

Mako and Bolin looked up to see a man with a grey hair styled with upward edges, a green-yellow headband, thick grey eyebrows, emerald eyes and a few whiskers on his upper lip and chin. He was carrying a basket of fresh red apples. He looked down at the boys in curiosity.

"Dad, these fruit thieves are insulting our fruit." the young fruit vendor said, still on top of the brothers. The boy's father looked closer at the firebender and earthbender, his eyes scanning their facial appearances. Rarity came forward, in hopes of reasoning with the man.

For a brief moment, everyone was silent. Flash and Rarity were both dumbfounded at the fact that this man, who they never met before, somehow knew the two bending brothers.

"How do you know our names?" Mako asked, curious as to who this man was and what he knew. Bolin managed to sustain himself with his elbows as he spoke.

The boys' opened their eyes wider in shock. "Who's San?" Flash asked. Mako was still a bit taken aback by this revelation that the mysterious stranger knew of their past.

The man smiled as he spoke to his son, "Tu, you'll never believe who these guys are. They're your cousins! My brother San's kids."

Rarity dropped her jaw and Flash simply covered up his mouth in complete and utter shock. This man was Mako and Bolin's uncle?! And the guy on top of them was their cousin?! That would only mean that…

The dragon entered the Northern Water Tribe along with Zuko and Tonraq, riding on its back. Queen Leilani flew beside them. She often preferred to remain in her pony form for most of the time. Zuko's dragon roared as it landed, and the two men jumped off its back. They, along with the beautiful alicorn, walked into the Northern Water Tribe Palace, where they spotted both Desna and Eska slouching on their thrones. Boredom was evident on their expressions. Their eyes slightly opened up at the sight of the three royals. They both rose from their seats.

"Lord Zuko, Uncle, Queen Leilani, this is a surprise." Desna said. While they were now in good terms with Korra and the rest of her party, that did not change their monotone demeanors.

"Finally something exciting happens. Ruling the tribe is so tedious." Eska said bitterly.

"Then you should enjoy this." Leilani said, before smiling, "We need to check on a secret ice prison in the western tundra."

Chow, Mako and Bolin's uncle led them and their friends to his home, which was really an apartment among others in one of the buildings of the Lower Ring. It didn't look extravagant of corse, but it was in much better shape than most things they have seen in the city.

"You're too kind, Miss Rarity. And please, just call me Chow." the man turned to smile at his long lost nephews. The man was beside himself with joy. "Your father sent us a letter years ago with your names, but that was the last we heard from him. Then we saw your pictures in the sports magazine with your bending team, and Bolin, we love those Nuktuk movers. They're hilarious!"

Bolin looked downward, feeling somewhat insulted, "Yeah, they're not really comedies, but uh …"

Their cousin Tu, however, tried his best to act aloof and uninterested, and making himself look cooler than he really was. "Yeah, I could probably be a pro-bender or an actor if I lived in a mansion in Republic City like you guys. You don't know what it's like on the streets. You got to be tough." he flexed his muscles as he said the last part.

"Oh, Mako and I grew up on the streets." Bolin said, "We were homeless, then we were kinda in a gang, then we lived in a gym ... " without warning, Chow took both boys by the front of their shirts and dragged them into his home and shoved them further inside.

The boys were even more surprised to see a whole room filled with people; young, old, tall, short, slim and toned, all kinds. Like all natives of the Earth Kingdom, they all wore green clothing, had matching green eyes as well as pitch black hair. Some had medium skin tones while others were slightly tan. At the sight of the two brothers, everyone smiled with joy.

Mako could not believe his eyes; he actually did have relatives in Ba Sing Se…and a lot to boot! The moment he walked into the room, he suddenly felt a sensation he had never felt in so long, a sensation which, after so long, felt almost foreign to him. Noticing his shocked expression, Flash snapped him out of it but slapping a hand on his shoulder. "Would you look at that. You found your family after all."

Then, an elderly short woman walked forward. Her eyes were bright and filled with such warmth and love. She looked upon the two boys and felt her eyes would water.

Chow walked over to the woman, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Boys, this is your grandmother, Yin."

"Aw, it is so wonderful to meet my long lost grandchildren." Yin spread her arms wide and hugged the two brothers in a warm embrace. Both boys had never felt a hug like this before. It felt so warm…and safe.

"And these are their friends; Rarity and Flash Sentry." Chow introduced the anthro ponies to the elderly woman. Both bowed in respect.

"It's an honor to meet you." Rarity said kindly. Yin looked at the two with a skeptical look. "Is something wrong?"

Out of nowhere, Yin tugged on Flash's ear. The pegasus winced in pain. "Ow! Hey!"

"Well, we're ponies actually." Rarity stated, "We're just in anthro form, that's why we look this way."

"Oh! Ponies? I've heard so much about you. How wonderful." even though Yin as happy to finally be meeting these ponies, she was still tugging hard on Flash's ear.

Flash rubbed his sore ear, for an elderly woman she sure had a lot of strength. "Ow. Having my hear pulled by a grandma. I feel like part of the family already."

"Where is San and your mother?" Yin asked her grandsons. However, at the mention of their parents, the two boys looked at one another in confusion and surprise.

"Wait, you mean you don't know?" Bolin asked, realizing his entirely family was oblivious to the events that happened to their parents. Knowing Bolin didn't have the heart to say it, Mako broke the tragic news to the elderly woman.

"I'm sorry, they were killed when we were little." he said, his voice coded with sadness and regret.

No words could heal a broken heart, they say. Well, that is very much true. Tears welled up in Yin's eyes upon hearing the news. She never could have imagined anything more horrible. Her baby boy…gone. Rarity and Flash lowered their ears in sadness, the poor old woman was heart broken. But then, Yin's spirits were lifted up a bit when the trio of spirits flew up to her and wiped away her tears with their tails. Yin was surprised to see such creatures, and even more touched by their sympathy.

"They're your great-grandkids!" Bolin said enthusiastically, while everyone looked at them skeptically as one of the spirits landed on Mako's head, making him scowl.

Gun bowed before the Queen, who sat on her throne, looking smug and arrogant as ever. "Your Majesty, the Princesses of Equestria wish to speak with you."

The Queen had not forgotten about the alicorn princesses. They had asked a few days previous to request a meeting with her to discus how to unify the Earth Kingdom and Equestria. But in all honesty, she was not interested in the slightest.

The three alicorns bowed in respect, and Celestia spoke first. "Thank you for meeting with us. As you may well know, ever since Harmonic Convergence, our home world is now connected with yours. Since we have already created alliances with the citizens of Republic City and the Southern Water Tribe, we hope to discuss the further with you as well, about creating stronger ties between humans and ponies in the Earth Kingdom. We hope to expand the unity between out kind and usher in a new era of harmony and friendship."

The Queen arched an eyebrow. "I see. Well, I have heard a great deal about your pony kind, and I must say I am quite impressed."

Celestia wasn't entirely sure by what the Queen was referring to when she said that. Her smile looked pretty devious in her opinion. "I hear your unicorns can create magic, and pegasus ponies can manipulate the weather, am I correct?"

"Well yes, though more so in our world actually. Here they can only control a little bit and only if completely necessary."

"Well, many unicorns can do wondrous things with magic, and some of their abilities are based on their special talents. A unicorn's abilities are quite unique for each one."

The Queen stroked her chin in thought, "Hmm…very well then. Perhaps we can arrange a trade of some kind."

"Most of my servants are idiotic imbeciles. They can't manage to do even the simplest of things right. But, if you would allow some of your pony subjects to serve me here, then I may allow their presence in my city, so long as they agree to my terms."

The princesses did not like the sound of this at all. "What kind of terms?" Luna asked, visibly scowling at the Queen.

"They must remain in Anthro form twenty-four seven, and once they decide to stay in the city, they must swear to obey only me and my laws. And those who work directly for me, must never speak unless spoken to. And in return, I can offer you whatever you wish; gold, extravagant silk, gourmet meals--"

Celestia rose her hand to silence the queen. Her pinkish eyes burning with anger as her wing rose open. "How dare you? We came here to arrange a healthy alliance between our homes and you come out speaking of our subjects as if they were inferior objects!"

Cadance stepped forward, stomping her foot before the queen, fuming with anger. "And how can you sit there, treating your people the same way? You are their Queen, it is your duty to care for their well being, not be a dictator! They do not serve you, you serve them!"

"You are nothing but a cold, heartless, bitter woman who does not deserve to wear your crown!" Luna snapped, she didn't even care if this attitude was not befitting of a princess. What this woman was doing was unacceptable, cruel and just plain wrong and she needed to be taught a lesson. "You truly are a disgrace to your name!"

The Queen's eye bulged open, fuming with anger as she rose, her long elegant robes bellowing as she stood up. "This meeting is over! If you do not agree to my words then you can leave at once!!"

The three princesses stormed out of the room, slamming the giant doors in the process. The Queen had never felt more humiliated in her life. How dare they yell at her and say she was not fit to be Queen. She was royal, she wore a crown, she sat on a throne, that made her better than others, and that was that.

Celestia had never felt more angry in her life. The words the Queen said were simply awful, she wanted to badly to throw a fire blast at her head. "The nerve of that woman!"

The Future Industries Airship finally landed in a village in the desert, and Korra, Asami, Applejack, Twilight and Rainbow Dash exited the craft, approaching a building where the tax money was stored. Korra looked around aimlessly, seeing the villagers hide their faces away, closing their doors shut as well as their windows as if they were afraid of something. The Avatar was getting a very bad vibe.

"Me neither." said Rainbow Dash as she observed the frightened people, "Let's hurry up and get out of here."

Once they approached the building, a Royal Earth Kingdom guard opened the door, seeing the girls and anthro ponies before him.

Korra pointed her thumb towards the aircraft, "Go ahead and load it on the airship."

The Royal guards loading large sacks of gold on a wagon, the tax money into the airship. Suddenly, a red light appeared in the sky, zooming upwards like a fireworks. The Royal Earth Kingdom guards looked up in surprise, so did Korra and the rest of the girls. They heard the sound of motors running, and four motorcycles jumped up a ramp, while two more accompanied a large truck that approached near the airship. The men ridding on the vehicles all wore very rough and dirty looking clothing, eminent of any motorcycle gang, and were carrying weapons such as katanas, spears, clubs and other various weapons. The Royal guards were completely terrified by these men that they ran away, screaming in fear. Dropping the sack of gold as they did.

The truck and motorcycles came in closer towards the girls, who all took their stances, ready to fight them. They heard the sleazy men cry out to them.

The girls maintained their ground as a large, muscular man in skeleton-like face paint as well as green streaks across his dark beard, while half of it was shaved with just one single strand of green hair at the top of his head, tied into a ponytail at the back. He was shirtless with over the shoulder armor, added with a bone necklace and earrings on his ear. He scowled at the girls.

Rainbow Dash spread her wings and stomped her foot pony style, while Applejack and Twilight Sparkle stood by Korra and Asami, ready to fight.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but we are taking this gold back to Ba Sing Se." Korra said fearlessly. There was no way these guys were intimidating in the slightest. The big bulky man simply scoffed at this.

The man attacked Korra with a punch and a kick, but the girl quickly evaded the attack. Applejack jumped in an earthbended him to the left, subsequently earthbending two motorcyclists, throwing them up in the air. Other motorcyclists tried to retreat but Korra earthbended all them before they could. One motorcycle charged towards Rainbow Dash. She smiled cockily and jumped up, doing a high flying kick at the one wielding a club in hand. Wrapping her legs around his waist she flung him off of his bike and tossed him to the ground. Another motorcyclist charged towards the heiress, but Rainbow Dash blasted him away from her with an intense fire attack, knocking him right off his bike.

Another motorcyclist picked up one of the sack of gold with his spear, his buddy driving the vehicle, but Twilight Sparkle shot a powerful magical blast, knocking them off of their ride. Asami charged to another motorcycle with two more riders. The one from behind threw a spear her way, but Asami evaded it with a backflip. While in mid air above the two motorcyclists, Asami stunned them both with her electric glove.

The leader of the gang got back up and attacked Korra, attempting to kick her, but Korra managed to evade each and every one of his attempts with ease before earthbending a rock from the ground, which knocked him right on his back. Once the fight was over, Rainbow Dash landed, swiping her tail and cracking her knuckles.

Terrified, the barbarians started to hitch back on their rides, as their leader cried out, "Retreat, retreat!"

Rainbow smiled proudly as the barbarians all rode away from the scene, leaving behind a cloud of brown smoke. The leader cried out from the truck, waving his fist, "You're on the wrong side of this fight, Avatar. That gold belongs to the people, not the Queen."

As the truck and barbarians rode off, Korra was left there standing, pondering at what he had just said. "Why do I get the feeling that he's right?" she asked her friends.

The large prison doors were opened by two members of the Order of the White Lotus, who both stood straight as the twin chiefs, along with their Uncle, Lord Zuko and Alicorn Queen entered. A terrible blizzard ragged on outside. The doors closed and the group walked in further.

"Why didn't anyone tell us we had a secret prison we could have been throwing people in?" Eska asked.

"I'd like to put my tailor in here." said Desna, "He never gets my cuffs right. They're so ... crease-y."

They arched fenced gate which then opened as they walked towards it. It was an elevator which led downward to an icy prison. As the elevator continued downward, Leilani, who had remained quiet for most of the time, shivered slightly from the growing cold.

"We built this place secretly with your father to hold a special prisoner." Zuko explained. "She's a powerful firebender named P'Li who can create explosions with her mind. Ironically, I hired a guy with a similar ability to kill the Avatar myself once ... Didn't work."

"Don't feel bad." Eska said, monotone and unfeeling as ever. "I tried to kill Korra after she ruined my wedding. It happens."

Tonraq arched an eyebrow at his niece, he was never found of her attitude, or the fact she nearly killed his daughter. Even Leilani felt awkward being around this teen.

The doors of the elevator lifted open and the group walked out. They were very down bellow the prison, in an icy tundra, so sold you could see your breath every time you exhaled oxygen. It was surrounded by large, piercing cold walls, icicles hanging from the sides, so slippery no one could climb up it.

Leilani lowered her head slightly, narrowing her eyes. "That's what they thought about the other three prisons. "

They stood before a bridge, which retracted and they all stepped on it. The bridge extended towards a prison, completely covered in shier ice, with fierce cold icy metallic bars, as well as a circular bared opening in the center of a door. They descended from the bridge once they reached the prison. From the darkness, they could the smoke of her breath and heard a feminine voice shivering from the cold.

"There must be something exciting going on. No one interesting has visited me for thirteen years."

Rarity was in her pony form, allowing a couple of Mako and Bolin's younger girl cousin to braid her tail and brush her mane. Rarity always loved spending time with little children…especially if they showered her with compliments. "Aww, you're too sweet!"

Flash Sentry, on the other hand, was persuaded to play race with a young boy. The kid would sit in a box with Flash pulling him around the room like a sled dog. While it was kind of fun the first few times, it quickly grew tiresome. If only he could say the same for the boy, who kept on shouting;

The poor pegasus obeyed his command, he certainly didn't want to hurt the kid's feelings. He passed by Rarity, crying out; "Wanna trade?"

Bolin happily ate the food his family had prepared, he never got a chance to experience a real family dinner. Well he did, but never with blood relatives, not that he didn't love his non-blood family any less of course.

"This is so great! We never had a family before. Now we've got one, two, five, five ... eleven ... a big family! Yeah!"

Mako heard chirping and saw the pink winged lizard and green winged lizard fighting over a piece of broccoli on the table. "Hey! You two, quit fighting." he said sternly, and the two spirits obeyed him.

"Wow, you sound just like your father whenever our younger cousins would fight like that." Chow said.

"Oh, he always had big dreams. He couldn't wait to get out and see the world. Your grandfather thought it was ridiculous. He wanted San to stay home and work the fruit stand. But San was determined to leave, and they had a huge fight. And that was the last time they ever spoke." Chow felt a wave of guilt when he noticed the heartbroken expression on Yin's face. "Oh, um ... sorry, Mom."

But Yin then smiled to her two grandsons and rose from the table. "Come with me. I have something to show you."

As Bolin and Mako followed her, the firebender was stopped on his tracks when he saw an extremely tired Flash Sentry stop and pant, his tongue sticking out like a tired dog, his wings practically on the floor.

"Take it easy there, Flash." Mako said as he walked pass him following his grandmother, and his little spirit trio followed him.

Yin led the boys to a room upstairs. She sat on a sofa with Bolin standing on her right, and Mako on her left. On her lap she held an old wooden box. She opened it to reveal a bunch of papers and pictures, most likely from her younger days and of the family.

"This is the only letter we ever got from San. He says he married a beautiful girl from the Fire Nation, and had two wonderful sons." she tapped on the sofa, signaling the boys to sit next to her. "He sent this picture of you all on his birthday."

Mako felt his breath caught on his throat. It was a moment in time he would always remember in his mind, and now there it was, right before his eyes. It was a photo of his younger self, a little three-year-old Bolin who really wasn't looking at the camera, sitting on their father's lap.

Their father bared a close resemblance to his younger son, though the image was grey, Mako remembered his emerald green eyes, always bright with energy and humor. He remembered his laugh, his joy. Bolin definitely took after him. Like Bolin, San had strong thick eyebrows and his hair was styled in a similar fashion, with a thick two piece mustache on his upper lip. And like Bolin said, he was indeed wearing Mako's signature scarf. He sat on a chair with Bolin, while their mother stood next to them, her hands on a well behaved Mako's shoulders. Their mother truly was a stunning sight; her long sharp but feminine face rivaled that of even Asami, her long raven locks styled into an elegant, but still rather rebellious way, with strands sticking out, framing her face. She had much thinner, more feminine versions of Mako's eyebrows, and she wore an elegant gown with a shawl. The memory of when that photo took place replayed in his head;

…………………..

Bolin ran down from San's lap, ready to play with his toys. Mako rolled his eyes. "Bolin, you're always such a goofball."

"Enough boys. Mako, don't have to be so serious all the time. Have some fun once in a while."

"Your mother's right, son. You should enjoy what you have before you lose it. That's something I taught your mother."

The woman scoffed and playfully ruffled her husband's hair. Mako arched an eyebrow at this, he loved his parents loved each other with no end, but he never could get why they could be so different and still be so perfect together. Mako was taken by surprise when his father ruffled his hair.

"Maybe someday you'll meet a girl just as wonderful one day. Feisty, just like your mom."

"Yeah right, like I would ever like a girl like that. They're too much trouble."

"Except you of course, mom." Mako would never forget the warmth of his mother's kiss on his cheek.

"Always be good, sweetheart. Always be a good big brother. Never stop being my strong little man."

"I know you will. But also promise me this: when life hands you something wonderful, go for it. Live life to the fullest, because sometimes, when you least expect it, and if you open your eyes….you'll find some real magic."

Mako wasn't really interested in magic or that kind of stuff. But for his mom, Mako would do anything.

……………………..

And he did complete his promise. However, the very last one did take him a bit longer. His mother was right, he did find magic, and a wonderful girl to love. His heart sank, if only they were here to see the man he had become.

"I'm so sad that I never got to meet your mother," Yin said. "but you have her eyes." she said to Mako, making his heart swell up even more. It was true, a lot of people use to say he did have his mother's eyes. "I know from looking at you two that she must have been a wonderful bride for my boy." Bolin sniffed and wiped away a tear. He really missed his parents like crazy. How he wished they had not died.

Mako looked downcast, then he remembered the words that Korra had said through Rarity;

He looked at the red scarf around his neck, the last thing he had to his father. He thought it was what he needed to be closer to his parents, but then he realized that he had known his parents for eight years, while Yin had known San his whole life. She saw his first step, heard his first word, gave him his first hug, his first birthday, his first motherly advice. Despite his hard life, he did manage to find happiness.

While he would always love his father, he no longer had to keep his scarf just to know he once existed. The evidence was right beside him, and even downstairs all eating happily together. His family had grown, and he couldn't be happier. He only wished Yin had gotten to see San and met their mother one last time. Without a shred of doubt or regret, he pulled his scarf away from his neck.

He draped the fabric around his grandmother's neck. Her baby boy's scarf, it still smelled like him, even after all these years. Mako felt so wonderful when she smiled, it was like returning a piece of her soul back to her. It felt wonderful. Even without the scarf, he didn't feel empty without it…not anymore.

Yin embraced her grandsons, happy to have them in her life. The trio of spirits joined in the hug as well, and this time, Mako did not get upset or annoyed with them. This time…he smiled.

"Oh, and one more thing." Yin stood up from the sofa and kneeled down, sticking her hand underneath and pulling out a large rectangular box. She dusted the top a bit and opened it, revealing an old but still working guitar. "This was also your father's. He used to love music."

"I remember that!" Bolin said happily, "Dad used to have his own guitar back in Republic City while mom sang us to sleep every night."

"When San and his father fought, he was so upset and left in such a hurry he forgot to bring this with him." she took the instrument from it's case and placed it on Mako's lap. "I'm sure he would want you to have it."

Mako was speechless. The guitar may have been old, but it was still a very healthy looking instrument. He swung the sash over his shoulder and played a few strings.

Mako sat at a corner of the room, his entire family excitedly waiting for him to play them a lovely song from their beloved San's guitar. Mako knew the perfect song to play. One that reflected everything of his life.

He strung the strings as soft music filled the room, earning happy smiles from all, including the ponies and spirits. Mako opened his mouth to sing.

As he sang that one part, he smiled warmly at his brother and pony friends. Rarity wiped away her tears with Bolin's rolled up sleeve.

As he sang, everyone clapped their hands to the soft beat, while singing harmony.

Mako strum the guitar as the song came to a close. Everyone stood up and clapped for their Mako, Rarity and Flash stomped their hooves and Yin embraced her grandson in a warm hug. He didn't even stop the trio of spirits from hugging him either.

Back at the Royal Palace, Korra and Twilight stood before the Queen, with Gun by their side. "Your Majesty. The Avatar has returned with the tax payments." he said with a bow.

Korra stepped forward and spoke to the queen, "So now, Your Majesty, if I could start meeting some of the airbenders here in the city."

"The Dai Li thoroughly searched the city, but it seems your reports were incorrect. There are no airbenders in Ba Sing Se. So, you can gather your little band and be on your way tomorrow."

Korra could not believe it, and neither could Twilight. After all that, this woman had the nerve to say she did not have any information about airbenders in her city?! There was no way their reports could have been wrong, especially when Korra had that, I guess you would call vision, that there were airbenders here. Thought, she was not entirely sure if it meant that, but she did know that there were indeed airbenders in Ba Sing Se. But before Korra could say anything, Twilight beat her to the punch.

"Are you kidding me?! You make us do your dirty work extorting your own citizens for your stupid palaces and topiaries and then you just want to send us away?"

"We're not going anywhere until we find some airbenders!" Korra shouted angrily at the queen, "We know there are some here!"

The queen did not say anything about their outburst, she should have known they would have been as unreasonable and disrespectful as the three before them.

Korra, Twilight and Gun started to walk away, but Korra turned back and pointing at the Earth Queen, inadvertently knocking Gun down.

"This isn't over! I'm going to find the airbenders!" she yelled before she and Twilight both stormed off.

After his song, Mako placed a little side plate for the trio of spirits to chow down. "Here you go, guys." for the first time, he was actually enjoying their company. He was even surprised to find that these spirits could actually eat like normal folk, he didn't even know that was possible.

"You know, San would've been so proud of you guys!" Chow said, "Traveling the world with the Avatar? He would've loved that!"

"Not to mention, she and Mako are an item." Tu said, "I'm still having trouble believing that."

"Well, believe it." Mako said with complete confidence. "Though I will admit, we didn't exactly get off on the right foot when we first met. But now, I can say without a shred of doubt, that she's the one for me."

All of his female relatives swooned. How romantic to know their cousin was with the Avatar.

"Speaking of, we really should get back and meet up with the Avatar and our friends at the Upper Ring." Rarity said to the crowed, "We're supposed to be helping her find airbenders in Ba Sing Se."

To her surprise, everyone in the room, minus her, Flash, Bolin and Mako, gasped in fear and shock. "What? What did I say?" she asked in confusion.

"One of our neighbors started airbending about a week ago." Chow explained. "A couple days later, two Dai Li agents come out of nowhere and snatch him up. No one's seen him since."

"They say the Earth Queen is locking all the airbenders up somewhere, and using them for experiments." Tu informed them, speaking in a rather dramatic and omnibus manner. Yin stood up from her spot.

"Tu! Don't talk like that about Her Majesty!" she turned around and blew a kiss at a portrait of the Queen on the wall, before bowing her head. "Long may she reign."

This new information about the airbenders didn't sound too good at all. Now it was more crucial than ever that they informed Korra about this.

The four friends got up from the table and began to leave. Bolin grabbed a stack of buns before leaving.

That night, in the streets of the Upper Ring, a nobleman was walking, minding his own business, when a sudden gush of air knocked his hat to the ground. A young boy picked up the hat and offered it back to the man.

Kai was on a role today. He got to see Ba Sing Se, give those two bending brothers and Anthro ponies the slip, got to eat like royalty, and he now had enough money to get him through another night at another fancy in. Yep, today was a great day.

Kai turned a corner and walked down a dark alley, holding a bag of gold, with a sly smile on his face. But then, the boy got the sinking feeling he wasn't alone. His eye widened, he turned around, seeing a Dai Li agent standing at the end of the alley. Beads of sweat dripped from his forehead, as Kai turned back around, only to be stopped by andanother Dai Li agent blocking the path back. He ran to the right and out of view, as both Dai agents fired rock gloves to stop Kai from climbing over a door and escaping, trapping him in mid air before pinning him against the wall.

As Kai struggled in their grip, his bag of gold fell to the ground. "I didn't do anything! I'm with the Avatar." but the Dai Li agents did not listen. Kai's heart beat fast as they drew in closer towards him.

Kai was harshly throne into a dark room, now wearing a different attire, a ragged old sleeveless brown shirt with dark up the knee pants, and was now barefoot. He glared at the two agents who had thrown him in. Kai sensed that there were more people behind him, and he was right. There were other people, all wearing the same ragged cloths as him, all with very weak and hopeless expressions on their faces. One of the Dai Li started to speak,

"Welcome to Her Majesty's army, First Airbending Regiment. From now, you live to fight for the Earth Queen."

Kai watched in horror as the door closed right before him. Because of his foolishness, and selfishness, he was trapped. Trapped, scared, and with no idea what was to become of him.

The Little Pony Legend 3: The Great Change

by MaggiesHeartLove

The Earth Queen