//------------------------------//
// A cry for help 
// Story: The Little Pony Legend: Rainbow Rocks 
// by MaggiesHeartLove 
//------------------------------//


A cry for help


In the magical land of Equestria, Ponyvile mainly, stood a beautiful palace made out of crystal trees with a large four inch star on the top. The castle was adorned with multi-colored beads around the branches. Inside the palace, Princess Twilight Sparkle was done rearranging the bed for which her friend Korra would now be sleeping in. The two girls would share the room and be living like sisters.
Royal sisters.
"There you go. What do you think?" Twilight gestured to Korra's side of the room, which was decorated to look more Water Tribe themed, added with her own nightstand and pictures of her friends and family. The bed was white and blue with various aquatic-like images on the covers. 
"I know it's a lot more…well, more than what you're used to, but--"
"It's perfect." Korra said with a smile. "Besides, I've been living in the Southern Water Tribe palace for the past six months, so I don't think I'll have a problem adjusting." 
The girls then heard two familiar voices coming from downstairs.
"Careful, Bolin."
"I got it! I got it."
The two princesses headed down the stairs and into the throne room, which had seven thrones. Two for both Korra and Twilight and five more for the rest of The Mane Six. The ponies were in the throne room, cleaning up the place an helping Korra packing her things.
Ever since the event with Zaheer and latter on Tirek, which was what kind of caused the castle to appear in the first place, Korra had decided that maybe a change of living arrangements could be what she needed. She wasn't leaving her home permanently, especially since the six inch star on the center of the floor of the throne room could double as a portal for her to travel in between worlds, it really wasn't an issue. And Ponyvile was pretty close to the main portal, which connected Equestria and the human world, mainly leading to Republic City, so Korra's friends and family could visit her no problem. Korra felt a change was needed, but the last thing she wanted was to be separated from her friends. Deep down, she knew that was not going to help her with her…situation. 
Twilight was doing much better now as well, though she too was haunted by flashbacks of what happened. Zaheer's comrades, Ghazan and Ming-Hua had beaten her up pretty badly before poisoning Korra, and due to her connection with the Avatar, she too could feel the sting of the substance. 
But surprisingly, Twilight learned something from the experience. She got to experience just how strong and how terrible evil is and how much it can damage a person not just physically…but mentally as well. She knew she would never see the world the same way ever again. However, once they opened the chest and defeated Tirek with the Rainbow Power, Twilight also realized that just as darkness was powerful, so was the Magic of Friendship. The more evil there would be, the more that magic would be needed, and no matter what, even if it may not be right away, it will prevail. She tried constantly to remind herself of that. But, at the farthest part of her mind, she wondered if that reality would last or not. Believe it or not, the same thing was going through Korra's head too. Thought more so with Twilight. 
For now, the alicorn was just happy that her human friend would be rooming in with her and Spike. Maybe this way living in a castle wouldn't feel so…weird.
Rarity and Asami Sato, one of Korra's friends, a rich an beautiful young heiress and owner of her own company, Future Industries, were both polishing the thrones while the brothers helped with the move. One of them was taller with spiky black hair and amber eyes. His name was Mako, Korra's boyfriend. The second boy was a bit shorter with black hair styled to the back and had green eyes. This was Bolin, Mako's younger brother. Another pegasus pony assisted the boys. He was the pony version of Flash Sentry, and Twilight's boyfriend. Applejack and Fluttershy helped with the boxes as well, mainly in rearranging the place. Spike read a comic book while sitting on his throne next to Twilight's. Korra's polar bear dog Naga was also going to be staying. She laid on the ground, relaxing in her new home. And Pinkie Pie was…blowing balloons.
Three children wearing matching orange clothing assisted as well. They were Ikki, Jinora and Meelo, three airbenders who looked up to Korra like a big sister. Korra used her magic to levitate the boxes both Mako and Bolin were carrying.
"I've got this, guys." she levitated the boxes up to her room. "Thanks again for helping we with the move."
Bolin stretched and flexed his muscles, "Not worries, it was our pleasure." his expression then changed to one of sadness, "But, you sure you want to leave Republic City? It won't be the same without you."
"I'm not leaving for good, I'm just moving into a new place. Oh!" the Avatar got a surprise hug attack from the airbender children.
"But we're going to miss having you around." said Ikki.
"Yeah!" Meelo agreed.
Korra lovingly petted their head. "I'm going to miss being at the temple too, but I honestly feel that this change might be good for me. Besides, you can visit anytime you want and I'll come to the temple as often as I can. I won't be that far. It'll be as if I never left."
"But they're right, it will take some getting used to." said Mako, as a trio of little lizard-like spirits with dragonfly wings flew around him and Korra. Their names were Mika, Ali, and San. These little guys were found, unintentionally, by Mako, who eventually grew found of them…eventually. They viewed Mako and Korra like their parents. 
"And the kids will definitely miss you."
Korra giggled as the spirits nuzzled there faces against her cheek. "Aww, well they're welcome to stay here with me whenever they like. How about, I get them on weekends?"
"Sounds good."
Twilight couldn't help but laugh at the scene. It was both adorable and funny. The doors opened once again, and in walked a grey colored stallion wearing a gray/blue delivery man's uniform, pulling a wagon stock pilled with books from the Canterlot Library. 
"Excuse me, Princess. Where do you want all these books from Princess Celestia?"
"The library." Twilight said. 
Korra then pointed towards the direction of the library. "Third door on the left."
"Even this one that's glowin' and vibratin'?"
Everyone's eyes shifted to a book that stood at the very top of the pile, which was indeed glowing bright and vibrating. Twilight levitated the book downwards, which had an image of Celestia's cutie mark on the cover, and began flipping through the pages. She landed on the final page, which was the only last one that had words written on it. Her eyes widened in surprise. 
Bolin looked at the book curiously, "That's new."
"What is it, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked. 
"It looks like a message to Princess Celestia from my friends at Canterlot High."
The humans in the room were surprised to hear this. "Canterlot High?" Asami asked.
Bolin began speaking fast, "You mean that place where Twilight went into through a magical mirror which was really a portal that opens once every thirty moons to get back the crown that was stolen from this unicorn, former student to Princess Celestia, and once you were there you met human counterparts of your pony friends, including Flash, and Spike got turned into a dog and then Sunset turned into this evil monster but you and your human friends stopped her with the magic of friendship?"
The room was silent as they all looked at him with surprised, shocked and weirded out expressions. 
"What? Didn't she tell us that story?"
Korra gently took the book from Twilight and red the message herself. "It is from them. From Sunset Shimmer to be exact."
"Isn't she the one who stole Twilight's crown in the first place?" Mako asked, "And planed to take over Equestria with an army of zombie teenagers? Which really doesn't make all that much sense when you think about."
"But Twilight did say she changed."
Flash approached Twilight asking, "How did she manage to send you a message?" 
"I have no idea, but it... sounds like they need help."


(~)


Korra's finger scanned the books on the shelf top until she found the one she was looking for. "Where is it? There it is!" 
She took the Prophesy Book, the one written by Queen Leilani as well as the one handed to them by The Tree of Harmony, and flew down to the round table where her friends were gathered and opened the book, flipping through the pages as Twilight explained, 
"The way Sunset Shimmer described them, I think these new girls sound an awful lot like... the sirens."
Bolin gasped rather dramatically and Pinkie Pie jumped into his arms in a Scooby-Doo style. "Not the sirens!" they both exclaimed in terror. Pinkie Pie then stretched out in closer to Asami, whispering loudly, "I don't actually know what that is!"
Korra flipped through the pages, landing on the picture she was searching for and Twilight began narrating, "Many years ago, when Equestria was still very young, there lived these three magical creatures known as the sirens, who roamed the sees charming ponies with their music." 
Jinora leaned forward to look at the picture of the sirens. They were these horse-like beings with fins on their hooves and near their ears, as well as long elegant transparent large fins across their spines that gave the impression of hair, as well as long beautiful fish-like tails and red pendents on their chests.
"They're beautiful." said the young girl in awe. But Korra frowned.
"Yeah, they are. But also incredibly dangerous." she flipped the page, landing on another image of the sirens, who now looked far more sinister than in their previous page as Korra continued the narration. 
"While their music was indeed very powerful, in order to maintain it, they had to feed on the negativity and distrust of others. The more of this negative energy they consumed, the stronger their voices became, and the farther they could spread their dark magic."
Fluttershy began to shake in fear, "I don't think I like this story very much."
Meelo appeared behind her, also shaking, "Me neither."
Korra continued her narration. "In fact, they took advantage of the disharmony among the three divided pony tribes during the blizzard of the windigos. But once they were driven off, they needed a new source of energy. They came across the portal, not too long after the rebel ponies did, and traveled into the human world. For years, they wandered the continent, taking advantage of the negative emotions from the humans and spirits long before Wan separated Vaatu and Raava. Because of the lack of magic in our world, the sirens could not absorb it as quickly as they could in Equestria. But the spiritual energy from the spirits none the less gave them the amount of power they needed. Once Wan closed the portals and returned the spirits to their realm, the sirens already had the amount of power they needed. With their hypnotic voices, they caused a rift between humans and ponies, and the two species were soon drawn into an all out war."
The room grew silent for a second before Korra continued, as the others listened attentively, both concerned and rather frightened by this ancient tale.
"But Wan, White and Leilani weren't having it. Together, they used their combined magic and Raava's light energy to defeat the sirens, rendering them powerless. They requested the help of a very talented unicorn wizard, Starswirl the Bearded, to find a way to imprison the sirens. He created a magic mirror and banished them into another land, distant from ours. The siren's defeat played a part in Wan, White and Leilani's decision to temporarily close the portals between the two worlds, in order to prevent any threat from Equestria from crossing over to the human world again."
Once the tale came to a close, Asami spoke, "So, that world Starswirl banished them to must be where Canterlot High is."
"But if Star Swirl sent them there ages ago how come they're just surfacin' now?" Applejack asked.  
"I don't know." said Twilight, "But if my hunch is right and it is the sirens who have come to Canterlot High, this spell they've cast is just the beginning." 
"So what are we going to do?" Asami asked.
"My friends need me. I have to get back to them." Twilight attempted to leave towards the mirror portal, which was moved from the Crystal Empire to Twilight's castle. But Rainbow Dash flew ahead and landed in front of her
"I hate to burst your bubble, Twilight, but the connection between their world and Equestria will still be totally cut off for a super long time."
Pinkie Pie appeared in between them unexpectedly. "Okay, first of all, if there was bubble-blowing going on, why wasn't I told about it?! And secondly, if the connection is totally cut off, how was Sunset Shimmer able to get a message to Twilight?"
Twilight thought about this for a second before gasping in realization with a wide smile. "Pinkie, you're a genius!"
Pinkie Pie smiled proudly as Twilight galloped away excitedly. "Yeah, I get that a lot." she turned to Rainbow Dash, grabbing her by the neck, and her eyes nearly bulging out of her head. "Now about those bubbles…"
The alicorn princess returned a few seconds latter, happily levitating some gadgets and gizmos, long electric cords, and various other scientific gadgets and began to place them all together around the portal mirror. The others watched in anticipation and curiosity at what the alicorn was doing. Once she was done, the mirror was surrounded by wires, and other electronic items hardwired into the mirror. It was like Twilight had created her own science lab in only a short amount of time.  
The princess stood back proudly at her work. "…And the interval between the two points is defined as the square root of the sum of the squares of the separation between the points along three spatial dimensions."
However, sometimes Twily forgot that not all of her friends understand her science speak. They all looked at her with either confused or skeptical looks. Spike was the first to say, "Say what now?"
Jinora shook her head, "Yeah, even I can't translate that."
Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes, "Duh! She's gonna take the magic in here" she pointed towards the book where Sunset sent the message, "and put it in there." she gestured to the mirror, "That'll make the portal open up so that whenever she wants to, she can go from here to there." she pointed to the book before doing a cartwheel in front of the mirror, and continued going back and forth from both objects, "There to here. Here to there. Here there! Here there! Here—"
Mako pinched the bridge of his nose, "We get the idea!"
Pinkie stopped, still smiling. 
"Now to see if it actually works." Twilight said as she levitated the book and placed it on the very top of the generator and the sun symbol began to glow bright, sending magenta colored electric charges to the metal antennas which coursed all the way down, through the cords and everywhere before reaching at the very top of the mirror, which then began to glow brightly and a magenta colored swirling vortex appeared within the glass. The portal was now up and running.
Everyone all gasped in awe at the accomplishment, even Mako. "Magic and science. Now I know I've seen everything."
Korra slowly approached the mirror. She had heard stories about it from her pony friends, but she never would have imagined she would get the chance to see it before her very eyes. As she looked into the vortex, she suddenly felt a strange sensation and all of a sudden, a image appeared in her mind. More like images.
She saw a girl with red and yellow hair, unleashing a powerful flame, three girls she never met before cackling evilly before their eyes glowed red. Korra gasped as she backed away in shock.
"Korra, you okay?" Flash asked with concern. 
The Avatar took in slow deep breaths before turning to Twilight. "I'm going with you."
"You sure?" she asked.
"Yes. The sirens won't know who I am and if it was an alicorn and Avatar that defeated them once, it can happen again."
The alicorn knew that once Korra set her mind on something, there was only so much one could do to change it. She smiled and nodded in agreement. "All right."
"Hold up!" Bolin raised his hand, "Quick question; when a pony goes into that world, she becomes human. But Korra is already human, with a few pony traits. So, if she goes into the portal, what exactly will she turn into?"
They had not thought about that. Korra was still human, even though her half alicorn blood granted her wings and magic from a star on her forehead, substituting a unicorn's horn, if she did go through the portal, would she be the same creature she was now, or something else? Would she turn into a different animal like Spike when he went into the portal? There really wasn't much time to figure that out.
"It doesn't really matter. There are people who need help, and I have a strong feeling I need to be there too. I know it may sound a bit arrogant and maybe I'm not a hundred percent yet, but--" 
Mako stopped her by placing a hand on her shoulder, "We understand. You do what you gotta do. But please be careful."
Korra smiled and hugged her boyfriend. "Thanks."
"Don't suppose we could join you this time around?" Applejack asked. 
"Better not." said Twilight, "It could make things pretty confusing if Canterlot High all of a sudden had two of all of you."
The Ponies all looked at one another before nodding in agreement. 
"But I still get to go, right?" Spike asked, "There isn't another one of me at Canterlot High. And you never know if you might need your trusty assistant."
Twilight and Korra both nodded in agreement, "Mm-hmm."
Spike jumped up with glee, "Yes!"
Twilight Sparkle approached her boyfriend, who shyly scratched the back of his neck, "Sooo, I heard that there's another me in that world, so, just to be clear--"
Twilight silenced him by raising her hoof, "You don't have to worry. I already know who my Flash Sentry is." 
The stallion sighed in relief, "Oh, well good then."
Twilight kissed his cheek, making him blush. "We won't be gone long."
Both Korra and Twilight were surrounded by a loving embrace from all of their friends. "And don't forget to dress well." said Rarity once they all released. But Pinkie Pie was still hugging Twilight. She squeed once she let go. Korra and Twilight both lined up in front of the mirror and turned to the dragon.
"Ready, Spike?
Spike cracked his knuckles, blew and squeaked his claws. "Ready!"
The trio took their stances and Korra mumbled to herself, "Please don't turn me into a cat. Please don't turn me into a cat."
With fierce determination, the three ran into the portal, which glowed brightly once they entered. The others remained watching the portal with worried expressions. 
"Think they'll bring some souvenirs?" Bolin asked, earning annoyed glances from pretty much everyone. "What?"


(~)


Back in Canterlot High, Rarity was painting Fluttershy's nails, Sunset Shimmer was reading some of her old letters to Celestia while Rainbow continued kicking her soccer ball. Pinkie and Applejack were playing cards on top of the pedestal beside the stone horse. Sort of, A.J was playing go fish while Pinkie Pie, was just playing around with the cards.
They had been waiting for a long time, almost an hour, but so far there had been no sign of Twilight responding to Sunset's message. Rainbow sighed hopelessly, "I'm starting to think she's not coming."
Suddenly, a side of the pedestal began to glow brightly, and three figures came shooting out screaming. One of the figures was a familiar violet color, the second purple and green and the third…they had never seen the third one before. Once the three figures landed on the ground, the girls exclaimed happily, 
"Twilight!"
The now human alicorn princess rubbed her head and smiled at her friends. "I'm back." 
Unlike before, Twilight no longer wore the sweet innocent school girl outfit she from the first time she came to this world. Her new outfit consisted of a light violet shirt with a light purple and white stripe right across the stomach, a small sleeveless purple jacket with white outlines, a blue belt with a star buckle with an opened up skirt matching her vest with her star cutie mark on both sides and a light purple skirt underneath along with purple/blue slim pants and long magenta boots with pink on the top and toe and angle and a star in front of them. 
Looking up she noticed a hand, offering to help her up. It was Sunset Shimmer. She did not change physically at all, but what was new about her was that her face no longer contained an aura of greed and pride, but humility and kindness. Twilight knew Sunset had changed, but it was kind of strange and almost alien to see her so different. She none the less accepted the hand and Sunset helped her stand up. However, she then noticed Twilight's left arm…she had a flame-like burn mark. It was very odd to see that. What could have happened to her?
Before she could ask questions, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash all rushed to hug their old friend, while Sunset stood aside with a forced smile. 
They stopped hugging when they heard a groan and a young girl, slightly fuller than most of them, she looked more like a college student than a high school student. She had long brown hair, styled down into a low ponytail, similar to Applejack only longer, and two pieces tied with blue bands that framed both sides of her face. A light blue streak decorated the left side and her eyes were baby blue in color. As she stood up they noticed she wore a light blue shirt with her cutie mark emblem and a sleeveless jean jacket with white outlines and dark blue pants and brown boots that had a white outline at the top. She wore long fingerless gloves that reached up to her elbows. But what was very peculiar, was that she had a pair of pony ears on her head, tan just like her skin. Twilight rushed to help her friend and so did Spike, who had turned back into a dog.
Korra felt very woozy from the impact. It was the first time she had traveled through a portal. "Wow. That was a rush."
The girls all looked at this new girl with strange looks, and once Korra took a good look at them, she couldn't believe her eyes. They looked just like the ponies. Right down to their eyes and hair. Korra slowly approached them, wearing a stunned look on her face. 
"Rainbow? Rarity? Fluttershy? I can't believe it."
However, the girls looked at this new stranger very skeptically. "How do you know our names?" Fluttershy asked.
Realizing the tension, and awkwardness, Twilight decided to introduce them. "Korra, these are my Cantelot High friends. Girls, this is my friend and co-princess, Korra." 
The Avatar waved at the group. "Hi. Sorry to scare you, it's just you all remind me so much of my friends from back home." 
Applejack shook Korra's hand, greeting her. "Well, it's mighty nice to meet ya, Korra." 
Pretty soon, the girls were all getting acquainted with their new friend.
Rarity; "Oh, I love your hair!"
Fluttershy; "It's very nice to meet you."
Rainbow; "You play sports, you look like the sporty type."
Pinkie; "Are you a pony too?"
"Well, no actually I was already a human." Korra responded.
"Oh, then how do you explain those pony ears?"
"What?!" Korra touched her ears, which were indeed in pony form. Apparently, when she entered through the portal, the magic switched around her pony features, from wings to ears. In a strange way, it kind of made sense. Ponies turned into humans when they crossover, and since Korra was both a human and a pony there was only so much that could change about her.
"Well, at least I didn't turn into a cat." her eyes shifted to the one girl who did not introduce herself, but stood shyly away from the rest, glinting tightly to a book. Korra smiled as she approached her. "You must be Sunset Shimmer." she allowed the former bully to shake her hand. "Nice to finally meet you."
Sunset was hesitant at first but smiled and shook her hand.
"We're so glad you came back." said Pinkie Pie, "And to meet a new friend."
"Me too." said Twilight with a smile, before it turned into a frown. "And I've got some bad news about those new girls."
Their once giddy happiness had now shifted to worry.


(~)