The Little Pony Legend 3: The Great Change

by MaggiesHeartLove

Long Live the Queen

In a building in the midst of the desert, a group of people walked towards an Earth Kingdom airship. There were soldiers posted outside, and one was pushing the dolly Korra was on. She struggled to break free from her strait jacket, but to no avail. She tried to use her magic to break it, but the metal from the headband was too thick for her magic to fully work. She could make something glow but that was about it, she couldn't control it completely. The same went for Twilight, who continued to morph back and forth from her pony and anthro form, trying to break from her bindings, but she still had her muzzle and the metal shackle for her horn, which prevented her from properly performing magic. The guard finally snapped.
"Quit it, pony! On all fours!"
The alicorn grunted and reluctantly did as she was told, reverting back into her pony form. Rainbow Dash, also muzzled and in pony form, walked beside her, "Don't be so hard on yourself. It didn't work for me either."
The two ponies, as well as a pony Flash Sentry, a handcuffed Asami, and a muzzled Spike walked towards the airship, their heads bowed down. The spirit trio chirped sadly in a cage. Korra tried her best to reason with the men.
"You have to let us out! The Earth Queen is in danger from a group of terrorists calling themselves the Red Lotus." she turned her attention to the captain as she was pushed up the ramp leading into the airship. "I talked to one of them in the Spirit World yesterday. He's insane!"
The Captain looked on indifferently with a toothpick between his lips. A middle-aged man with grey hairs, spectacles and mustache wearing a captain's hat with the Earth Kingdom's emblem on it, as well as an Earth Kingdom styled captain's uniform.
"Screaming about terrorists in the Spirit World? You're the one who sounds insane." he turned and walked inside his ship and the hatch closed. The engine turned on, and the airship began to fly, heading towards Ba Sing Se.

A young guard, who looked to be around is mid to early twenties, placed Korra's trolly on a secure area of a large metal cell. He tied up the Ponies chains to a railing, but he tied them up so badly that they could barely move, their heads were positioned upwards. Korra caught his attention.
"Hey! If you're going to tie them up, can you at least do it right? Look at them."
The guard had to admit, the ponies did look pretty uncomfortable. Korra spoke to him in a sweet toned voice, "You wouldn't leave them like this, would you?" her beautiful cerulean eyes sparkled as she looked at the young guard in a hopeful way. He had to admit, how could he say no to a face like that? Or how could he be so heartless with these little ponies?
"Well, I guess it wouldn't be fair." he arranged the chains in a proper manner, which was much more tolerable than the way they were before. Korra smiled graciously underneath her muzzle.
"Thank you." Korra smiled underneath the mask. Rarity's charming lessons really payed off.
The guard then began tying Asami to the floor. Following Korra's example, the heiress spoke in a sweet manner, "Do I have to be chained to the floor the whole way? It's going to be so uncomfortable."
"Sorry Ma'am, I'm under orders. And I'm not doing anymore favors."
"Can't you just chain me to that railing?" she said while looking at the railing on the wall. "I mean, where am I gonna go? Please?"
Once again, the young man fell victim to charm, innocence, and beauty. Asami pouted her rose red lips and her light green eyes shimmered. "Well, as long as you're chained up, I guess it doesn't make a difference." the man chained Asami to the railing just like she asked and she thanked him kindly.
"Thank you, Sir."
"Can we have ... some water?" Twilight asked hopefully. However, the guard was not doing them any more favors.
"No water. We're also not going to bring you any rocks or fire, so don't ask. I guess there's air, but there's nothing we can do about that. We're not opening your compartment 'til we reach Ba Sing Se." with that, he walked out the door, leaving the friends in their cell.
"I hoped Mako or Bolin would have shown up to save us by now." Flash said sadly.
"Yeah, me too." said Rainbow Dash, "I wonder if they're okay."
San, Mika and Ali chirped sadly, and Korra shared in their sadness. "I know kids. I miss daddy, too."
Spike was already getting frantic, rocking back and forth in a fiddle position. "This isn't happening. This isn't happening. This isn't happening. This isn't happening." ever since he was locked up with Korra after Tarlokk captured them, he had developed a phobia of being trapped within metallic places.
Twilight tried to reason with him, "Spike, calm down. I'm sure we can figure a way out of here if we just focus."
"Focus? Focus?! We're trapped inside a cage! A cold. Small. Metal. Cage!"
"It's actually not that small." said Rainbow Dash, but that did not help the little dragon.
"I can feel it. The walls. Closing in around me. The cold. Cold. Cold. METAL!! GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!!" he inhaled a huge amount of air…before passing out and snoring on the floor. Asami arced an eyebrow in confusion and worry.
"Uh…is he okay?"
"He'll be fine." said Twilight dryly. "His little dragon body can only take so much anxiety."

"And honestly, I don't understand why you can't clean up this truck of yours, there's dust and dirt everywhere! Just because you're criminals it doesn't mean you should behave like savages. And another thing, what is with your wardrobe? I mean, it's not all bad but they could use a good washing--"
Why did they even take the white one? Ghazan and Ming-Hua were tasked with keeping a tied up Mako, Bolin, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie from the back of the truck, which was being driven by Zaheer. The lavabender had his index fingers deep within his ears, trying the best he could to cancel out the annoying nagging of the white anthro unicorn. Ever since she came to it was none stop whining, nagging, talking, complaining, it was a nightmare. Even Mako was beginning to wish Ming-Hua had knocked him harder in the head.
"Oh, my I am really thirsty, can I have some water?"
Poor Ming-Hua couldn't even cover her ears, even her water arms wouldn't do her any good. "For pete sakes, will you just shut up! All this time it's constant whining and--"
"Whining? I am not whining. I am complaining. Do you want to hear whining?"
"Oh, no." this just wasn't Mako's day. Why did he and Bolin need to be tied up with her? He could literally feel his ears ringing when Rarity's voice became high pitched and started 'whining'.
"Ah! This rope is too tight! It's gonna shave, can't you loosen it. Oh! It hurts and it's so nasty! Why didn't you clean it first, it's going to leave a stain! The rode is to bumpy! Why do I have to be here?!"
This was all Ghazan could take, he covered his ears and screamed in agony. "AH! Make it stop!"
"But I thought you wanted whining!"
"AH!"
Applejack then spoke to the man. She was tied up with Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. "If you think holdin' us hostage will give you some leverage against the Avatar, you're gonna be very disappointed." said the country pony. Ming-Hua sighed bitterly.
"Can't we just enjoy our time together in silence?"
"And why did you need Korra alive back in Zaofu?" Mako asked, "You had her paralyzed. Why didn't you just take her out when you had the chance?"
"And how come you aren't interested in any of us?" asked Rarity, "I mean, we are the Avatar's bonded ponies, so why keep us out of the loop?"
Ghazan crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes as he answered. "Look, all you need to know is that the world is about to change, for the better. And about you ponies, the plans we have for the Avatar have nothing to do with you. Once she's out of the picture, so will you."
Rarity snarled and growled at the man. Bolin then began speaking to the criminals in a casual manner, "So you guys were like locked up for fifteen years, huh? It must've been like crazy boring."
"Actually, it was only thirteen years. But it felt like thirty." said Ghazan.
"I mean, what did you do with all that time? Did you sing songs, work on crafts?"
"Not a lot of craft supplies in a volcanic prison cell." said Ming-Hua.
"And I must've renamed the constellations about a thousand times." said Ghazan. "When it rained, that was a big event."
Ming-Hua sighed bitterly, "I would've killed for some rain. Mostly I just made up stories about the guards: who was having trouble with his girlfriend; which one secretly wished he'd become a pastry chef."
Bolin smiled at the idea, "Ooh okay, that sounds like fun. Let me try that on you guys." he first tried with Ghazan. "You were raised by an older sister, your mustache grew in when you were ten and I'm sensing - just sensing - an unspoken attraction between you two."
Ming-Hua and Ghazan glanced at each other briefly before Ming-Hua turned away, glaring. Ghazan actually found Bolin humorous.
"Two out of three. Not bad."
Pinkie Pie then began jumping, while still tied up next to Applejack and Fluttershy, "Ooh, ooh! Let me try!" she pouted her lips in thought as she began pondering n what to say.
"…..You guys are an ancient secret society known as the Red Lotus who separated from the White Lotus after the thousand year war and you guys wanted to kidnap Korra when she was little so you could be her elemental masters and she would one day release Vaatu just like Unalaq planed, who was once a member of the Red Lotus but betrayed you and let you end up in jail and now you want Korra for I don't know what so you can take down world leaders and bring chaos into the world!" *SQUEE!*
Ghazan had his mouth wide open and Ming-Hua was utterly speechless. Both looked over at Bolin, hoping for an answer as to how she knew about all of this. The young man simply shrugged his shoulders.
"Yeah, I could never figure her out either."
Mako glanced at his brother and the pink pony, "Bolin, Pinkie Pie, would you stop making friends with the bad guys?"
"Sorry!" they both replied in union. Zaheer spoke from the driver's seat.
"Ghazan, gag them. We're almost there." he said as the truck entered Ba Sing Se's main gate.

The airship flew above Si Wong Desert, inside their prison, Korra was still struggling against her restraints in an attempt to break free but to no avail. "We have to find a way to get out of this prison before we get to the Earth Queen." said the Avatar.
"Don't worry, I have a plan." said Asami. "These airships the Cabbage Corp sold to the Earth Kingdom are way cheaper than the ones Future Industries built."
As she spoke, Rainbow Dash and Twilight once again attempted to break free of the railing, which then, to their surprise, it began to be pulled right out of the wall almost easily.
"Wow. You were right, Sami." said the rainbow pony.
"Keep pulling" Asami instructed. She stood against the wall and struggled, pulling off the railing with almost zero effort. She jumped to bring her hands in front before throwing the railing to catch it upright. "Now that's just shoddy workmanship."
Following her example, Flash, Rainbow and Twilight all worked together to pull the railing, which broke off in an instant. The ponies high hoofed one another as Spike jolted awake.
"Hu? Wha? What I miss?"
Asami walked over to Korra, but she couldn't find how to unlock her friend. "There's no way I can get these locks off." she looked over to the ponies, who dragged the chains across the floor, their muzzles still chained to it. Asami squatted down and realized the locks were just about the same as Korra's. "No dice. I need the keys." she looked down at the floor, smiling with delight before prying a panel open with the railing. "Give me five minutes, then start yelling for help." she said before crawling down the panel, with Korra, Twilight, Rainbow and Flash looking down at the opening. Flash waved with his hoof.
"Okay. We'll just wait here…like dogs." he said the last part pretty bitterly.

Back at the royal palace of Ba Sing Se, the Queen, Hou-Ting, was sitting on her throne, impatiently waiting for the Avatar to arrive. One of her royal florists arrived with a basket of new rare looking flowers she had never seen before. The young woman bowed before the queen.
"Your Majesty, we have recently uncovered these new rare flowers in the palace gardens." the woman showed the queen the flowers and she was immediately repulsed by them. They were not green, or yellow or red. But blue.
Blue? What horrid flower could be blue?!
Hou-Ting swatted the basket away, one small blue flower landed on her lap, before falling to the floor as she stood up, angrily glaring and shouting at the florist.
"How dare you bring these weeds into my palace! You know I hate blue!! Guards!" at her command, a couple of Dai Li agents arrived. "Take her to prison for her disrespect!" the Dai Li obeyed her orders and took the poor woman away. Hou-Tu saw one of the flowers, took in into her hands and crumpled it. Gun arrived just in time to clean up the mess with a broom. "When is the Princess Avatar scheduled for delivery?" the queen asked as she once again sat on her throne.
"The airship already left Fort Bosco and should be arriving in a few hours." Gun replied.
"Excellent. Bring it to me as soon as it lands."
"Yes, Your Majesty. But first there are some ... people here who captured a few of the Princess Avatar's friends. They would like to present them to you personally."
"You know I don't meet with bounty hunters."
"And of course I told them that. But they say they have some information that might interest you; about the location of your stolen airbenders."
"Really?" the queen smiled at this, "Fine, send them in."
The main doors opened and in walked the Red Lotus. Ming-Hua wore a long sleeved shirt, hiding her lack of upper limbs. The criminals threw the tied up and gagged group of friends into the floor before her Majesty.
"Ah, yes, I remember this bunch. We'll find an acceptable home for you in prison with the rest of the dissidents." her eyes turned to the so called 'bounty hunters' before her. They certainly fit the part; strange-looking, rugged, and with expressions that looked ruthless and cunning. She didn't like them one bit, however if they knew anything about her airbenders, she was willing to look past their disgusting appearances.
"Now, I'm told you have some information for me. I hope this isn't just some ruse to increase your bounty."
Zaheer stepped forward and spook to the queen in a polite and respectful tone. "We don't want any bounty, Your Majesty. You can consider these two boys and ponies a "thank you" gift for simply taking the time to talk to us."
Hou-Ting smiled at their respect. She simply adored being treated like the queen she was. "How very magnanimous. So, where are my airbenders?"
"I'd be happy to tell you, once you hand the Princess Avatar over to me."
And there it was, just like a bounty hunter to turn the tables. They promise something, but only for a price. This angered Hou-Ting.
"Who told you that we have the Avatar?!"
"How I know is not important. But if I found out, others will too. And that could put you in a difficult position."
"Is that so?" the queen asked suspiciously.
"Your Majesty, imprisoning the Avatar will cause the other nations to turn against you and demand her freedom. Before long, we'd be in the midst of a sticky international incident. If you let me take her today, no one need ever know she was here, and you can get your airbenders back without interference. We both win."
"And what do you plan to do with the Avatar should I see fit to grant your request."
"All I can say is: I have business with her. But she won't be bothering you again. I can assure you of that."
Mako and Bolin and the rest of the ponies all glanced at each other with worried looks. Once thing was certain, they were not going to allow these monsters to capture Korra.
Hou-Ting took some time to consider this, tapping her long fingernails on the arm of her throne. This man's words were very well thought out, and he made some very valid points. She honestly didn't really care about what he or his companions would do with the Avatar, just as long as she did not disrupt her good name (if she had one) and she wanted justice for the stealing of her airbenders. The Queen sat up straight and smiled as she made her final decision.
"I find these terms agreeable. Gun, escort them to the antechamber until the Avatar's arrival." Gun escorted the Red Lotus out of the throne room and the Queen's gaze turned to the tied up group of friends. "Send them to the dungeon."
Two Dai Li agents opened the floor beneath the two brothers and ponies, leaving them to drop into the unknown. Once they were gone, the Hou-Ting continued to tap her nails on her throne. Suddenly, her once stern and heartless expression…began to soften.
She looked down at the corner of her eye, seeing just one little blue petal of the flower she had destroyed. She picked it up and she could feel her eyes start to water. Her mother use to love the color blue. She said it was a color of change, chance and beauty.
Believe it or not, Hou-Ting wasn't always a cold hearted she-beast. She was once a loving young child who adored her parents more than anything. Including her father's pet bear, Basco. However, as the years passed, and things in the world became more and more serious, her father slowly shifted from his kind-hearted self, into a more stern and disciplined man. Not exactly heartless, but not exactly open either. She could never pinpoint how or when precisely it began to happen, but all she could recall was that it took affect not long after her mother had passed.
Her happy days had passed. All she ever wanted was for her father to remember the love he felt, but he had turned stone cold towards her. In time, Hou-Ting realized that love didn't get you anywhere. All she ever did was love and look where that had gotten her; her mother passed, her father was distant. She was alone. All she had were teachers and tutors who were as stern and distant as her father. After he died, Hou-Ting made a solemn vow…
To keep her heart closed and to be nothing more than the Queen and nothing else.
She even sent Bosco away into the wild, starting the rumor that she had eaten him to gain respect. While her father was a stern ruler, people still managed to get away with a few things without his knowing. He placed his people first and his family second. And so, Hou-Ting decided to be a true Queen, on who was respected and ruled the city the way she saw fit.
But even so, there are times in which she would gaze at something blue, and recall those happy moments.
Which were now, nothing more…
Than a memory.

As the airship flew above the desert, the young guard, Arik, stood by the door of the cell where Korra and her friends were kept. Suddenly, he heard the Avatar screaming.
"Guards! Get in here! Something happened to my friend. She needs help!"
Arik opened the hatch, scanning the room but found no sign of the second human girl. "Where is she?" from behind, Arik was knocked out. Asami smiled in triumph as she stole the keys from his belt. She opened the door and waved the keys around her finger.
Rainbow Dash clapped her hooves happily, "Asami, I love you!"
With the keys, she freed the ponies and they shook off their muzzles, Asami assisted Twilight in removing the metallic container on her horn and on their wings. She then used the keys to free Korra from the straitjacket while Korra removed the muzzle and metallic headband. Twilight levitated the keys to free Spike as well as San, Mika and Ali, who flew out and happily greeted their mommy.
The ponies morphed into their anthro form and Flash congratulated Asami for her quick thinking, "Nice work." he said before he and the ponies changed into their anthro forms, "Now let's take control of the ship."

On the cockpit of the airship, the captain lounged on a chair while another man stirred the airship. However, their peace and quiet was interrupted when Korra barged in with her metalbending. The co-pilot ran up, but was knocked against the steering wheel by an air blast, he rammed into the controls and was knocked out cold, causing the airship to lose control. The Captain spoke into the radio, calling for help as the siren sounded off,
"Mayday! Mayday! The Avatar has escaped. We're going down in quadrant four of the Si Wong Desert."
The co-pilot regained consciousness and charged at Korra, before being knocked against the captain when Rainbow Dash flew up and kicked the man in the gut. Both men were knocked out. Asami ran up to the steering wheel while Flash inspected the controls, which were pretty banged up.
"I think you might have been a little over-aggressive with these guys." Asami said, "The controls are busted."
Flash picked up the radio phone which has broken into two. "Also, they broke the radio."
Korra apologized, "Sorry, but it's not my fault this airship's a hunk of junk."
"Hang on to something!" Asami exclaimed as the airship went down. Spike instinctively jumped onto Asami and held her tightly, while screaming in terror.
"We're gonna die!!!"
The friends held on for their dear lives as the ship crashed landed hard onto a sand dune in the middle of the desert. All was silent for a moment, until the friends took a moment to realize they were all still alive. They simultaneously sighed in relief while Spike slid off of Asami's shoulders.
Asami opened up the hatchet and they all walked out of the airship from the roof. "Well. They say any landing you could walk away from is a good landing." said the heiress, followed by Rainbow Dash who flew upwards, as did Flash and Twilight. The friends stared out into the vastness of the desert. "But, given our location, I'm not so sure about that."
The sandy planes went on for miles. There was not a single sign or civilization or even water. It was all a big dusty, golden yellow sea of nothingness. Spike was the last to climb up, with some help from the spirits. He took in a deep breath of fresh air, "Oh, sweet Celestia! Oxygen!"
The ship itself was in pretty bad shape, the propellers were banged up pretty badly from the impact. It sure didn't look like this ship would be airborne any time soon. But one can hope.
Rainbow Dash nudged Asami in the arm, "You're the engineer. What do you think? Can we get it flying again?"
"It doesn't look good. Even if Korra metalbends the propellers back into shape, we have to dig this whole thing out of the sand."
Korra then smiled at the heiress cockily, "Are you forgetting something?" she pointed to the glowing star on her forehead. Asami giggled at her absent-minded ness.
"Oh, yeah."
However, Twilight was skeptical on this. "Korra, are you sure our magic can fix this?"
"Why not? You once fixed Asami's biplane before Harmonic Convergence."
"Yeah but that wasn't made of metal so it was easy. I'm not sure if we can be able to fix this, even with your conjuring magic."
"Well, first time for everything." Korra said optimistically. Then, the rest of the crew climbed out of the airship, "Is everyone all right?" Korra asked with concern.
"Like you care." Arik said bitterly.
One of his companions, Kong looked at him with concern. "What the heck happened?"
"She said her friend needed help, then they knocked me out!" Arik backed away in fear when Rainbow Dash flew up and was all up on his face, glaring and poking his chest with her finger.
"Hey! You're the one who locked us in jail, muzzled us like a bunch of animals and placed the Princess Avatar in a strait jacket! Did you really think that wouldn't tick us off?"
Korra pulled Rainbow Dash away by the tail and apologized to the men, "Look, I'm sorry. But I couldn't let you take me to the Earth Queen as a captive. There are dangerous forces at work that you don't know anything about."
"More dangerous than being stranded in the desert?" Kong asked.
"YES!!"
Kong flinched when Korra, Rainbow, Twilight, Spike, Asami and Flash all responded in unison. The Captain was the last to climb out. "Don't worry, Kong. I've radioed Ba Sing Se before we went down. We just need to sit tight. Somebody will be here to rescue us."
"I'm not waiting around for that." said Flash Sentry.
"Me neither." Korra agreed, "We need to get out of here now."
Twilight Sparkle stepped forward, "If we all work together, we might be able to get the ship up and running."
"Not likely." Kong said, "I just tunneled out the engine room. It's like a sandbox in there."
"This ship isn't going anywhere." said the Captain before turning to Korra and the others, "And neither are you. You're prisoners and it's our duty to transport you to the Earth Queen." the Captain took a step back when San, Mika and Ali all flew up to his face, hissing in anger for the way he talked to Korra. And for having them trapped in a cage. Korra smiled confidently at the Captain.
"You realized I'm the Avatar, right? As well as a half Alicorn Princess and one of the Seven Elements of Harmony, two of them who just so happen to be standing right here."
Rainbow Dash stood proudly beside her, "In other words, you don't want to fight us."
Ali, San and Mika huffed as they flew away from the Captain…and after Mika flicked him cheek with her tail. "I'm afraid you aren't giving us much of a choice." the captain said as he rubbed where the spirit had hit him. "We have our orders."
At the corner of her eye, Asami suddenly noticed something moving across the sand dune in the distance. She shield her eyes with her palm as she tried to make out what she saw. "Wait, did that sand dune just move?"
"It was probably just a mirage." said the Captain, "The desert will play tricks on you."
However, this did not convince Asami for the sand dune moved again. Spike leaned against the railings and his eyes widened in horror. "I don't know what you've been putting in your coffee but that's no mirage!"
The others looked ahead and they too saw the sand dune move, almost as if something was actually swimming in the surface sand. "I heard that since all the spirits came back, this desert has been haunted by them." Kong said.
Korra rolled her eyes, "Oh right, I guess that's my fault too."
Twilight Sparkle, took in a deep breath, and spoke to the crew in a strong but soft voice. "Look, everyone, I understand you are all frustrated and we're sorry for causing you trouble. But while we can't change what happened before we can change what happens now."
"She's right." Korra said, joining in the speech, "Me and Princess Twilight's magic alone probably won't be enough to fix the ship. So, answer me this: Do you want to help us get this thing up and running, or do you want to wait around and meet that thing?" she pointed her finger towards the moving sand dune. It was a no brainer.
"We want to fix the ship." Kong said without hesitation before turning to the Captain, "Right, Cap?" The other crew members nodded in agreement.
Spike jumped up and rose his claw up, "I wanna live!"
Realizing he could not deny the wishes of not just the Avatar, but two royal princesses, he relinquished his pride.
"Let's get to work."
"Everybody stand back." they obeyed Korra orders and stood behind her as she prepared herself and bended a large air spout at the sand dune.

A guard patrolled the prison cells, knocking on the bars with a baton. As he walked past Mako and Bolin's cell, he hit Bolin who was leaning against the bars, causing him to grunt in annoyance. Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy and Applejack were in the cell next to them on their left. Mako turned to his brother,
"We have to find a way out of here before Zaheer gets his hands on Korra."
"Take me with you." said a prisoner on the left cell next to the boys, pulling out a mirror to reflect his face to the cell. "I haven't seen my wife and five kids for four years."
Fluttershy gasped in horror at this. "Four years?! That's terrible!"
"The first few months were great. I can finally get some sleep, but, now I really miss them." the man sad sadly. Fluttershy clenched her fists in anger, how dare that queen treat people like this.
"Oh, I swear if I ever see that horrible mean queen again, I am gonna--!"
Her angry ranting was interrupted when all of a sudden she and the others heard…monkey chatter?
Applejack arced an eyebrow in confusion, "Uh…anybody else hear a monkey?"
Pinkie Pie jumped to the bars, jumping up and down excitedly, "Ooh, ooh! Where, where's the monkey?!"
Mako followed the noise, surprised to realize it was coming from the cell right in front of him. It was a young woman wearing clean Earth Kingdom robes and she didn't look hungry or tired or worn like the rest of the prisoners, a sure sign she had just recently been thrown in jail just like them. Mako looked at her curiously.
"Um, hello?"
The woman opened her mouth, only instead of actual words, all he heard was monkey chatter. She covered her mouth once more, still confused as to how and why this happened to her. Mako and Bolin looked at one another with confused looks and turned to their animal expert.
"Fluttershy, can you translate?" Mako asked. Fluttershy nodded to the woman and she began speaking to the pony in her monkey language. Fluttershy payed close attention as to what she was saying.
"She said she has no idea how this happened to her." the woman chattered one more time, "She was picking flowers when she found some beautiful blue ones to give to the queen. The queen hatted them and sent the poor woman to jail." the pony's anger returned, "That horrible, no-good, she-beast!!"
Nearly, every prisoner backed away from her rage, even though they were safely behind their own bars. Applejack petted Fluttershy's head to calm her down. "Down, girl."
Mako pondered what Fluttershy had said about the woman. "Did she say she saw a blue flower?"
The others ponies' eyes widened in shock and they all responded at the same time; "Poison Joke!"
The woman repeated the same in her monkey chatter.
"Don't worry, it's not dangerous." Mako assured her, "We know someone who can make a cure for you."
"But we need to get out of here first, darling." Rarity stated.
"Right. Applejack, can you metalbend the bars?"
"I don't know. I'm not all that good." the country pony confessed.
"You have to try! For Korra."
Applejack took in a deep breath and dawned a face of determination. "Alright. Here we go." she stood a few feet back and rose her hands up before her. She did as Su instructed; she focused on the fragments of earth within the metal. She grunted as she attempted to metalbend at the bars. However, despite her efforts, all she could do was bend them a small bit, not even wide enough to break out. The country pony sighed and got on her knees in defeat. "Sorry, guys. That's all I got. You know I'm not as good as Korra. I'm more natural earth, not this."
But Mako refused to give up. "That's okay, A.J, at least you tried." the young man then turned to his brother, placing his hands on his shoulders. "Bolin, this is up to you. I know you can metalbend."
"You can metalbend?" asked the next door prisoner.
"No." Bolin replied as he sat up, along with his brother.
"Yes you can. I believe in you." Mako encouraged.
"I believe in you too, Bolin." said the prisoner. The rest of the ponies agreed from their cell.
"So do, I" said Rarity.
"And me." said Applejack
"We all believe in you, Bolin." Fluttershy said sweetly. Pinkie Pie threw confetti inside the cell and blew on a party horn, cheering for her friend.
"Go Bolin!"
But sadly, the earthbender himself did not agree with their encouragement. "I appreciate that, guys, and fellow ... prisoner man. But I've been trying and trying and trying and I've never been able to do it. Not even a little."
Applejack spoke to Bolin through the bars, "Look, suguarcube, I may not be able to get us out of here but I am sure as rain that you can. You've got it in your blood."
"She's right." said Mako, "You've always had the ability deep down. You just haven't had the motivation. But this is your time! Get us out of here to save Korra. You can do it!"
Pinkie Pie waved her fist, rallying the other prisoners, chanting, "Bolin! Bolin!"
The rest of the ponies as well as Mako joined in, pretty soon everyone in the prison cheered on for the young man.
"Bolin! Bolin! Bolin! Bolin!"
Maybe they were right, Bolin thought. Maybe this was his time to shine. His brother and friends certainly believed so. With his newfound confidence, Bolin readied himself and took a stance.
"You're right. Okay, here I go. Metalbending! Now!" he stretched out his arms just like Applejack did, grunting as he concentrated. The Mares crossed their fingers, well Fluttershy was bitting on her nails nervously. Bolin kept on trying, screaming at the top of his lungs while spreading his arms wide to bend the bars!
Which did not happen.
With teary eyes, Bolin sunk onto the floor in despair. "I can't metalbend."
The other prisoners moaned sadly as did the ponies who hung their heads and lowered their ears in hopelessness, while Applejack face palmed herself. With their hopes diminished, the prisoners returned to their previous activities. Mako and Bolin's next door prisoner asked them, "Hey, you guys didn't happen to bring any toilet paper, do you?"
Applejack leaned against the bars, crossing her arms. "So what now?"
Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie both sat on the prison bed, unsure on what to say next. Even Pinkie Pie was saddened. But then, Rarity remembered something. Her ears perked up and she gasped, screaming out happily,
"I've got it!"
Her loud scream captured the attention of every prisoner, and she blushed in embarrassment before regaining her composure. "We may not be able to metalbend our way out, but thankfully, those knuckled-headed guards didn't bother to confiscate my water skin." the unicorn bended the water from the pouch.
Applejack arched an eyebrow, "No offense Rarity, but how is water goin' to get us out of here?"
"Patience, my dear Applejack. When water is turned into ice it can pierce through almost anything, especially when manipulated by the most skilled of waterbenders. With the right amount of water and strength, I can use the ice to cut through the metal bars and split them them apart."
"That's actually a pretty good plan." Mako exclaimed happily. "How'd you come up with that?"
"Well, I did learn from Korra herself. Not to mention a few moves from Kya."
"But how long will that take?" Applejack asked.
"Only one way to find out." the unicorn positioned herself, bending her water and, with all of her might, sliced the water through the bars, creating a visible cut straight threw them. While it still wasn't enough to cut them completely, it was a step up.
"Alright, Rarity! Keep it up."

Lin was driving her jeep across the bumpy desert path, looking for any signs of the Avatar and her friends. To her luck, she noticed some jeep track marks up ahead through a collection of rocks. She reversed and drove up to an abandoned jeep on the other side of the rocky pathway. In the distance, she saw the Misty Palms Oasis. Lin approached the empty jeep, inspecting the insides for clues. The woman screamed in fear when a large white beast leaped up from behind the vehicle, growling aggressively. But, once she took a good look at the human, Naga calmed down and smiled while happily running around her. Lin flinched when the polar bear dog licked her face with her wet tongue. Lin never was much of a pet person.
"First, you scare the life out of me, now you want to lick me." she said sarcastically, before Naga licked her face once more. The Fire Ferret Pabu emerged from the jeep and crawled on Lin's body. Lin managed to grab Pabu by the neck and put him on top of Naga. She took a few treats from her pocket and gave them to the animals, who chewed on them happily.
"Here, chew on this and leave me alone." Lin approached her jeep and picked up the radio phone. "Tonraq, can you read me?"
The chief responded from the other end, "Yes, we copy."
"I've found Korra's jeep, but the kids aren't here. Meet me at the Misty Palms Oasis."

In the Si Wong Desert, Twilight used her magic to straightened at least the most part of the rudder of the ship. Asami welded the rest of the rudder. While the two worked together, Twilight decided to past the time with some small talk.
"So…how are things going with Bolin, hu?"
The heiress briefly stopped what she was doing and lifted up her welding mask, revealing her annoyed glare. "I don't want to talk about it." The exit hatch opened and Korra and Kong walked out. Asami spotted them, "How's it looking in there?"
"I just airbent all the sand out of the engine room." Korra said, "I think it's clean."
"Hasn't been this clean since it floated off the showroom floor." said Kong.
Korra spread her wings and flew up to her friends, the Spirit trio remained at her side. "How's it going up here?"
Twilight tapped on the rudder, testing it's stability, "Well, she's still pretty banged up, but I think she might be able to limp out of the desert. Kong, you want to see if you can get the engine started?"
"Aye aye, Princess!" Kong saluted and walked back into the airship. Soon, the propellers began to spin, much to the joy of the others. Arik rose his hands into the air in victory,
"All right!"
"See, I told you we'd do it." Rainbow said proudly. Twilight couldn't agree more.
"You see? There isn't anything we can't accomplish if we work together." said the princess. However, their victory was short lived when the sand beneath their feet began to rumble. Flash Sentry did not like the look of this.
"Um, I may not be indigenous to this world but, I'm pretty sure sand isn't suppose to do that!" he said worriedly.
The sand rose up and the crew fell back when a large creature came shooting right out of the sand. It looked like a giant brown-colored shark bigger than three bisons combined! The creature jumped from beneath the surface and grabbed the airship into its mouth, snapping it into two.
Korra, Asami, Spike, Flash, Twilight and Rainbow looked on in fear before running away with the crew, narrowly missing the sandshark's dive, causing the doomed airship to sink below.
"That's no spirit." Korra stated as the sandshark dove deeper into the sand, leaving behind the now damaged ship. Everyone stood up when the dust subsided. "I think it's gone for now."
"Wait, where's that Kong guy?" Rainbow asked. They spotted the man at the helms of the ship surrounded by the rest of the damaged remains of the airship. Though he was unharmed, he was paralyzed with fear. "Oh, there he is."
"Kong, are you all right?" Arik asked as they approached the man.
Flash and Rainbow hovered around the damages, the ship was completely torn apart, completely beyond repairs. Not even a conjuring spell could fix this, the ship was far too big for Twilight and Korra to fix alone. Magic may be useful but it does have its limits, especially for a half alicorn.
The two pegasus anthro ponies landed before the crew. "The shark is gone, but so are our chances of getting out of here." Flash stated sadly.
"What are we going to do?" Arik asked, "All of our supplies were on the ship. We've got no food, no water."
Captain tried to put the boy at ease, "Easy, Arik. Another ship is on the way. We just need to hold our position for a few hours."
"We might not have a few hours." Asami said.
"She's right," said the now uneasy little dragon, "We're stuck in the middle of the desert with a giant sand shark on the lose! Oh, no! What if he likes dragon scales? Or chicken wings? Oh, that won't end well."
"How far are we from the edge of the desert?" Korra asked the captain.
"Too far to walk, if that's what you're thinking."
Poor sad Arik slumped to the floor in despair. "We can't just wait around for that thing to pick us off one by one."
"You'll do as you're told, Airman. Now get a hold of yourself!"
Asami examined the mess around them. Seeing all of these broken ship pieces covered in the sand gave the young heiress a killer idea. "Maybe we can still build something to get us all out of here."
"How?" Twilight asked curiously as she took looked around the remains.
Captain spoke sarcastically, "You want to make some wings out of scrap metal and flap real hard?"
In a desperate attempt not to get eaten, Spike found two stacks of metal and started using them as wings and started flapping, which didn't even get him one small inch off the ground. Even he knew this was impractical, but he was desperate.
"No, but we might have enough material to construct a makeshift sand-sailer. Like the sandbenders use to get around." Asami instructed, "All we need is a sail and some kind of sled to attach it to."
Rainbow Dash flew upwards, doing a happy air flip. "Great thinking! That's why she's the boss of a company."
"It's worth a try." said Korra
The Captain turned to the rest of the crew, giving the orders. "Gather every piece of metal you can find. We'll give that sandy beast a run for his money yet."
Twilight turned to Flash and Rainbow, "Rainbow, Flash go and help the crew in finding all the pieces we need."
"You got it, Twi!" Rainbow saluted her, along with Flash.
"Spike, we're going to need your help too."
The dragon smiled with glee, "Anything to keep us from turning into an all you can eat buffet."

The Red Lotus gang took advantage of the luxurious royal lifestyle as they waited in the royal chamber. Ming-Hua sat on a chair in the corner of the room while Ghazan stood with crossed arms leaning against the wall. P'Li was lounging on a sofa while drinking a glass of green liquid while Zaheer sat on the corner of the sofa. His patience was wearing thin. A Dai Li agent walked past the door, alerting the Red Lotus.
"Looks like he's in hurry." said Zaheer and he stood up from the sofa, "Wait here."
Zaheer left the chamber and, after noticing no one was around, stalked the Dai Li agent in silence, following him as he walked towards the throne room. As the agent opened the throne door, Zaheer leaped up against the wall with his airbending, entering the throne room via the ceiling lattice. The Dai Li agent approached the queen with a bow.
"Your Majesty, we received a distress signal from the airship carrying the prisoners. We believed the ship crashed in the Si Wong desert and the Avatar may have escaped."
Hou-Ting did not like this news one bit. Not one bit at all. "This is outrageous! Send another airship to retrieve the Avatar immediately."
"It's already on its way, Your Majesty."
Once he had the info he needed, Zaheer left the throne room inconspicuously and returned to his chambers, explaining what he had heard to his friends. This unexpected turn of events did not suite well with their plans.
"What are we going to do now?" Ming-Hua asked
"There's no way we can track her down in the desert before the queen gets to her." said Ghazan, who was now sitting on the sofa next to P'Li.
"You really think we'd be lucky enough to capture her again?" the combustion woman asked, "She'll be long gone by the time they arrive."
Zaheer remained as calm as always, for he had another trick up his sleeve. "It doesn't matter. We're through chasing her. It's time to make her come to us."

The Queen was startled when the throne room doors were bursted open by a powerful wind, curtesy of Zaheer. He and the rest of the Red Lotus barged right into the room. The Queen was insulted by this disrespect. Gun backed away in fear as Hou-Ting stood up from her throne, glaring at the group.
"What is this riff-raff doing in my throne room unannounced?"
Zaheer stepped forward and briefly bowed, "Apologies, Your Majesty. But I couldn't help overhearing that the Avatar won't be joining us today."
"The Avatar is still in my custody. However, eavesdropping on royal conversations will land you in a cell right next to those boys and ponies you brought in. Now, if you value your freedom, you'll tell me where the airbenders are right now!"
"That wasn't the deal."
"I will not bandy words with bounty hunters!" the queen rose her hand, pointing her long green fingernail at the group, "Seize these hoodlums and throw them in prison until they decide to show proper respect for the crown."
The Dai Li agents surrounded the Red Lotus and P'Li fired a combustion beam to the floor, knocking off a group of agents. Three Dai Li agents fired rock gloves at Ghazan, who easily redirected them back to the agents, knocking them down. A Dai Li agent attacked Zaheer with an earthbending attack from below, though he was able to leap up to avoid the attack and countered it with an air blast. Another Dai Li agent attacked him from the pillar, only to be knocked against it by Zaheer's airbending. The third agent ran up to Zaheer, only to be thrown away and frozen against a pillar by Ming-Hua. Gun, noticing the battle, was terrified of this violence. He was a secretary not a warrior. And so, like the coward he was, he ran away, much to Hou-Ting's annoyance and anger.
"Gun! Get in back here and lay down your life for your queen, you coward!" she then noticed Zaheer walking forward and followed suit. "You wouldn't dare attack a queen."
Zaheer leaped up to the throne, standing at the very top of it, overshadowing the queen herself. "Maybe I forgot to mention something to you. I don't believe in queens."
Zaheer began to move his arms in swift movements, and suddenly Hou-Ting felt something move within her, and her breathing became thin. She could not breath normally. Then, to her horror, the very air was pulled right out of her lungs as Zaheer continued to move his arms. He was actually airbending the air right out of her!
Using the air, he trapped the queen's head in a vacuum sphere, leaving her gasping and collapsed onto the floor. She couldn't breath at all and her eyes became bloodshot, she couldn't feel anything inside of her. Her whole life flashed before her eyes. As she suffocated, Zaheer spoke, not showing even the tiniest hint of remorse for what he was doing.
"You think freedom is something you can give or take on a whim? To your people, freedom is just as essential as air, and without it there is no life. There is only ... darkness."
As he said the last part, he stopped his bending, removing the air vacuum as Hou-Ting reached out for it in hopes of having her oxygen back. But then, as if by a miracle, it did!
The queen felt new air returning to her lungs, much to her and Zaheer's surprise, though his was less than happy.
"What?" this could not be happening, she was suppose to be dead. But that was when things became even stranger.
The Queen's ears began to grow, changing from human-like to a roundish shape. Long whiskers grew on her face, and a long slim tail with a bushy end grew from her back. The queen screamed in horror at the transformation when her body began to shrink. In a puff of blue smoke, the queen disappeared, leaving behind her headset and robes. Zaheer was at a lost fro words, this must have been the work of magic. But how? He noticed a little bump move around the robes and out came a small little field mouse with green eyes. She opened her mouth, surprised to hear only a squeak come out. Hou-Ting could not believe it.
She had been turned into a mouse!
Terrified, the little creature ran away from Zaheer, P'Li, Ghazan and Ming-Hua jumped away in terror as the now queen mouse ran out the door, squeaking as she did. They had never seen anything like this before. Zaheer was now furious, the Avatar must have done something, he didn't know how or why, but she had stopped him from killing the Queen! His hatred for her grew even more.
"Should we go after her?" asked Ghazan unsurely for he did not entirely know how to handle this kind of situation. Despite his anger, Zaheer remained calm.
"No. She is of no threat now."

The Red Lotus then traveled to a radio control tower, walking into the control room, startling the radio operator.
"Hey! You can't be in here!"
"No need for alarm." Zaheer said kindly, "I just need to make an announcement to the entire city. How do I do that?"
"Who do you think you are?" the operator asked. he then screamed in terror when Ming-Hua grabbed him with her water tentacle.
"He's the man who just took down the Earth Queen. You want to be next?!"
Zaheer placed a hand on her shoulder, speaking in a calm tone. "Ming-Hua, please. We're here to help citizens like him, not hurt them." he turned to the radio operator. "Now, can you help me?"
Not wanting to die young, the operator nodded before Ming-Hua roughly threw him to the seat. He set the controls and bowed to Zaheer, who took the seat and began speaking through the microphone.
"Attention citizens of Ba Sing Se. I have an important announcement to make."
As Zaheer delivered his message, all of Ba Sing Se was listening to their readies, including Mako and Bolin's family who listened in disbelief.
"Moments ago, the Earth Queen was brought down by the hands of revolutionaries, including myself."
All of Mako and Bolin's family was shocked by this, especially Yin. Meanwhile, Mako, Bolin and the ponies could hear Zaheer's broadcast from their jail cells. The news of this frightened the ponies. Fluttershy felt sick to her stomach.
"I'm not going to tell you my name, because my identity is not important. I'm not here to take over the Earth Kingdom. I think you've had enough of leaders telling you what to do. It's time for you to find your own path. No longer will you be oppressed by tyrants. From now on, you are free! I deliver Ba Sing Se be into the hands of the people!"
Ghazan was currently standing before the Inner Wall. He readied himself and punched the floor, melting it into lava. Soon, the Inner Wall began to melt. With a stomp, the wall fell and collapsed at the seems. Bystanders braced themselves from the collapsing wall, running away from the impact. But once the dust cleared up, their screams turned into cheers of joy. The Queen was gone and they no longer had to be afraid anymore. Ghazan looked on in satisfaction as the people made their way out.
While this newfound freedom may have seemed wonderful, they did not know at the time that sometimes a little too much freedom…
Comes with a dire price.

In the prison, cellmates were beginning to riot in joy at the news of the Queen's fall. Fluttershy was at a lost for words, sure she couldn't' stand the queen's cruelty but even she would have never had done such a heartless thing and take her life. Pinkie Pie sat on the side of the bed consoling her friend while Rarity continued to slice through the bars, for which she had been doing for quite some time now. Her arms were tired and was sweating but she did manage to make a great amount of damage to the bars, but it still wasn't enough. Finally, her juices had all been used up and she collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. Applejack stood beside her for support.
"I'm sorry. I don't think I can do anymore."
"That's okay, Rarity. You did your best." Applejack then turned to Mako, "How's it goin' on your end?"
"Pretty much the same." Mako replied, he managed to melt off only a section of the bar, shaking his wrist with the the strain before resuming. "We have to get out of here. Zaheer came here to take out the Earth Queen, and now Korra is next."
The next door prisoner spoke to them again via mirror, "You know that guy? He's my hero!"
"Shut up!"
This was bad, the Queen was dead, Ba Sing Se was going crazy and the friends were still strapped inside.
"Applejack, Bolin you guys have to metalbend us out of here. C'mon! I know you can do it! This is your time!"
"You said before "was my time"." Bolin said rather sadly.
"I know I did, but now it's really your time."
Rarity stood up and wiped the sweat from her forehead, "Mako's right, you two are our only hope. Maybe if you worked together you might achieve something."
Applejack pondered at this, maybe if she and Bolin did work together then they could accomplish something. The country pony turned to her fellow earthbender, "It's worth a try. Come on Bolin. Let's do it!"
Bolin agreed with his friend, maybe some extra help was what he needed. Both Bolin and Applejack readied themselves and attempted to metalbend again, moving their arms and throwing a single punch simultaneously.
At the same time, all of the prison doors opened up and without wasting a second, the prisoners all ran out, cheering with joy. However, the only prison cells that remind closed where that of the brothers and ponies. Bolin could not believe his eyes.
"Applejack, did you see that? We did it! I mean, not for us, but we metalbent all the other cells open!"
Applejack pinched the bridge of her nose while Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie groaned bitterly, even Mako had his palm on his face. "Hate to break it to you suguarcube but I don't think that was us."
And sadly, she was right. The Red Lotus leader approached them and the friends readied themselves to attack, though they were all quickly neutralized by an air blast from Zaheer and were all pushed to the back of their jail cells.
"Listen to me. I'm going to set you free, but I want to talk to you first. I have a message that I need you to take to Princess Korra."
The word sounded like poison in his mouth.

Arik welded the finishing touches to the sand-sailer. By working together, the team managed to construct their very own sand-sailer. Rainbow Dash made extra sure that the sails were tight enough on the poles. Meanwhile, Spike, now wearing an Arabian sun garnet on his head (don't ask where he got it) and was keeping a look out for the sad shark. Once Arik was done, Asami examined their work.
"She ain't pretty, but I think she'll do the job." said the heiress. Spike jumped in shock when he caught a glimpse of something moving in the sand. As well as a dorsal fin sticking out. The dragon screamed,
"No time for a test run because that thing's coming back!"
"Let's move!"
Obeying Korra's command, everyone boarded onto the sand-sailer. Korra readied herself and bended a large gust of air, moving the sand-sailer. Asami stood at the helm as the beast approached them, closing in fast.
"That thing's getting closer!" Rainbow exclaimed. The beast then jumped out of the sand, its mouth wide open revealing its large sharp teeth, ready to take a bite, but missed before making another unsuccessful attempt as Asami stirred the sand-sailer to the side. Korra added another extra boost to her airbending, with the use of her wings, and the sand-sailer went faster, away from the beast. For a moment, there was no sign of it.
"I think he's gone." Flash said, "We did it!"
Then, the sandshark emerged from beneath the sand-sailer, causing it to flew up into the air as it prepared to devour it. Flash narrowed his eyes in annoyance.
"Never mind."
The beast's mouth opened wide, ready for its meal, however, something amazing happened at the very last minute. Seeing his friends in danger, Spike found his courage and unleashed a powerful green fire blast from his mouth, directing it straight into the mouth of the shark, which backed the sand-sailer away as the shark dove back into the sand, pushing the sand-sailer from beneath with a large sand wave. Everybody smiled proudly at the little dragon.
"Spike, that was incredible!" Korra said proudly.
"I though you were scared of that sandshark." Twilight said with a knowing smirk and the young dragon simply shrugged his shoulders,
"What can I say, I have my moments."

Later on the day, Korra slowly stopped her airbending as the sand-sailer made its way to the Misty Palms Oasis. They parked the vehicle next to onlooking sandbenders before the sail and mast broke off right before their eyes.
"You want to buy a slightly used sand-sailer?" Asami asked the group before stepping onto the dock as the last of the group. Spike got on his knees and began kissing the ground.
"Oh, sweet solid ground! I missed you!"
"Thanks, Asami." The captain said graciously, "You got a good head on your shoulders."
Asami was surprised when Rainbow Dash wrapped her arm around her shoulder, "Yep, that's our girl! Cool under pressure."
Korra and Twilight both turned to the captain, looking at him with regret. "I'm sorry for getting us stranded out there." said the Avatar, "I didn't mean for that to happen."
However, to her surprise, the Captain genuinely smiled, "You know, whatever the conflict between you and the queen is, I'm sure it's above my pay grade."
Twilight's ears perked up in surprise, "So, you're not mad?"
"Nah. In fact, being lost in the desert, nearly getting eaten alive was actually the highly of my year. You Princesses are alright."
Korra and Twilight blushed at the compliment, "Awww."
Rainbow intervened, "You think maybe you could mention that when you get back to Ba Sing Se?"
"Rainbow Dash!"
"What?"
The Captain shook Korra's hand with his right, which was revealed to actually be a hook. "You've got a tough job. Good luck, Princess Avatar." he said with a bow.
Arik then pointed towards something, "Captain, have we been in the desert for too long? Or is that really a dragon over there?"
The crew turned to see an incredibly large red colored dragon on the ground, while two camels tied to a tree avoided it, shivering in fear. The Captain just arched an eyebrow.
"Ugh, let's go get a drink."
As they walked away, Spike scoffed in annoyance, "Seriously? They notice that dragon? Wait, what is a dragon doing here anyways?"
Flash shook his head and rubbed his temples, "Maybe we have gotten too much sun."
San, Mika and Ali grabbed Korra's attention by chirping excitedly, and the Avatar and alicorn were both startled when Korra's beloved polar-bear dog pounced atop of her, licking her face. The two princesses smiled at Naga's affection.
"Easy, girl. Did you think we weren't coming back to you?" Korra snuggled Naga affectionately and Twilight hugged her head while the spirits chirped happily to see their animal friend.

The friends entered the cantina, where they saw Lin, Tonraq and Zuko at the far end. Alongside them was also Princess Celestia and Queen Leilani, and even Princess Luna, who had followed Lin this whole time. Korra and Twilight smiled as they approached them.
Twilight; "Celestia, Luna, Leilani."
Korra; "What are you all doing here?"
"Korra, girls, you're safe." Tonraq stood up and embraced his daughter as well as the two mare ponies Twilight and Rainbow, whom he had come to view as his own daughters as well.
"Yeah, we made it out of the desert. Thanks to Asami." Korra stated and Tonraq nodded in appreciation to the non-bender.
"You should have seen her out there!" said Rainbow Dash, "She was so awesome!" but then, her's and Twilight's attention turned to an elderly man in fire nation attire who sat at the table next to the alicorn princesses. Tonraq introduced Korra to the man,
"Do you remember Lord Zuko?"
The former fire lord smiled kindly at the the Avatar. "I met you when you were a very young girl. It's good to see you again, Princess Avatar Korra."
Korra smiled in return. "It's good to see you, Lord Zuko."
At the mention of his name, both Twilight and Rainbow Dash began to shake in excitement.
"Wait, he's--"
"Really? The Lord Zuko? I've read all about you!" Twilight exclaimed excitedly.
"Me too!" Rainbow exclaimed just as excitedly.
Zuko smiled at the two ponies, "And I have heard a great deal about you two as well. Let me guess, Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle, correct?"
The two girls squealed with delight, "He knows our names!"
Zuko turned to the male pegasus, "You must be Flash Sentry."
Flash saluted the man, "Yes sir! Uh, Lord. Sir Lord."
Last but not least, Spike approached the man, his eyes widened, he too had heard about Lord Zuko and his connection with dragons. Meeting him was like a dream come true for Spike. His mouth was open, but no words came out. To ease his nervousness, Zuko squatted down to his level, "And you must be the brave dragon, Spike. It is an honor to meet you."
Spike lost consciousness and fainted from the excitement, much to Zuko's surprise. Asami carried the little dragon in her arms. "Sorry, he can only take so such excitement."
After being silent for a while, Lin spoke to the friends in annoyance. "Thanks for ditching me back at Zaofu."
Korra looked at her nervously, "Yeah, sorry about that. But, how did you all find us?"
"I am a detective, you know."
Twilight turned to the other alicorns, "I thought you returned to Equestria, Leilani."
"I did, but once I heard about the attack on Zaofu I quickly came back. I wanted to make sure you were all alright." she said the last sentence while placing a hand on her youngest daughter.
"Did you find Mako and Bolin?" Asami asked.
"Some people at the inn saw them captured by Zaheer's crew. "Lin said. We don't know where they are."
"Did you hear about the Earth Queen?" Tonraq asked, earning a curios look from his daughter.
"What about her?"
Their heads all turned when a voice spoke through the cantina's radio. "Once again, the Earth Queen's reign has come to an abrupt and violent end. Ba Sing Se has descended into chaos. Rioters and looters have overrun the palace."
Korra already knew what this meant. "The Red Lotus."
"What's that?"
"The name of the group that's been trying to capture me and just took out the Earth Queen. I'm afraid this is only the beginning, Dad."