The Little Pony Legend: A Kingdom of Friendship

by MaggiesHeartLove

The Great Divide 2

"Does everyanimal have their copy of Wuthering Hooves?" Fluttershy asked her beloved animal group. Today, in her cosy little cottage, Fluttershy was holding a book club with her animal friends. Thankfully, each and everyone of them had a copy of the book she asked. They enjoyed these events just as much as she did.
"Hooray! I love Furry Friends Book Club!" she opened the first page, ready to begin. "Now, let's discuss the theme of nature as it applies to Hoofcliff's love."
But just as she was about to say her own thoughts about the subject, Fluttershy suddenly noticed strange flashes of light coming from inside the cottage, followed by a ringing sound.
"Did somebody leave a light on?" she asked. She felt Angel tap her shoulder before pointing at her cutie mark, which was glowing and ringing.
"Oh, it's me." Fluttershy said before getting back to her book…two seconds latter and she realized the reality of the situation. "Oh! It's me!"
Her Cutie Mark was glowing, which could only mean one thing; The Cutie Map was summoning her. The emblem of her mark suddenly emerged from her flank and flew around the room before it flew out the window, no doubt heading to Twilight's castle. Fluttershy instinctively followed it, whatever the map was calling her to she knew she had to answer it. She flew out the window behind the mark, but stopped midway to turn around and address to her book club.
"We'll continue this discussion when I get back!" she said quickly before leaving the animals to discuss other topics about the book. They just couldn't wait to talk more about the rest of the story.
Fluttershy followed the floating mark of three pink butterflies, bypassing various ponies, stands and bystanders, maneuvering them as best as she could.
"Oops, sorry about that. Coming through. Sorry, I'm being summoned!"
After some time, the mark finally made it to Twilight's castle, which phased right through the door. Fluttershy landed softly at the front and before she could knock or even reach the handle the doors themselves glowed magenta and an excitable alicorn princess appeared.
"You're here!" Twilight took Fluttershy by the shoulders before magically teleporting them both inside. "Isn't this exciting?!" Twilight spun around, revealing to Fluttershy her glowing and ringing cutie mark.
"Oh! You were called, too!"
"Not just her!" another voice called out right before Korra teleported herself before Fluttershy, showing the cutie mark on her cheek also glowing also.
"Oh, thank goodness. I feel so much better going with a friend. Or two."
"We were about to come and get you, but we then we got a little distracted." Korra explained as she opened up the doors that led to the throne room, and Fluttershy was left in awe.
"Oh."
The entire room was shrouded in neatly organized stacks of books, each one on top of the other, along with several charts on the wall. But what was even more interesting was that the books were all from Korra's world, with the same chinese styled writing and exotic book covers.
"They're all Jinora's." Korra stated, "She was kind enough to let us borrow them for research."
"Wait, you helped with the research too?" Fluttershy asked, being caught by surprise.
"I know, but once we tell you where we're going you'll know why!"
"We've done everything to the T!" said Twilight, teleporting herself in front of a chalkboard, "Testing out potential friendship problems." she teleported herself back, this time levitating a large book. "Diversifying my solution portfolio."
"And I did some history research on where we're going." Korra explained, flying up to one of the piles to pick up a book from the very top.
"Ever since the map called us?" Fluttershy asked in surprise, "But that happened five minutes ago."
"I know!" Twilight exclaimed excitedly, "But I wanna be one hundred percent prepared! I mean, I know we're the Princesses of Friendship and all, but we never know what kind of problem we'll run into. How will we know the right way to solve a specific friendship problem?"
"We'll do what we always do." Korra said. "Work together and keep our eyes on the prize."
Fluttershy was already getting excited to be helping somebody somewhere. "Oh, I'm so lucky I'm being sent with you. Speaking of which, where are we going?"
"For once, it's not in Equestria!" Twilight pointed towards the map, which for once wasn't showing a map of Equestria, but of the human world! To be more specific, the Earth Kingdom and a specific region where they had yet to have constructed a train track so Kuvira and her team couldn't travel there as of yet.
"They call it, The Smokey Mountains!"
"Oh, I've never been there before."
"Not many have. There isn't much information on them. All we could find was this." Korra explained as she demonstrated an image of the place in a book that Jinora had given her. "The Smokey Mountains harbor the most beautiful valley in all of the Earth Kingdom between its two majestic mountain peaks. It's so sacred that most don't even dare to construct buildings or railroad tracks nearby. Which would explain why Kuvira or the Earth Queen haven't been there yet. It also says that hardly anybody has visited in a long time."
Fluttershy studied the image of the book. The scenery was just as Korra described; two mountain peeks mirroring the other, each shrouded in trees and divided by a single small lake. Fluttershy was taken awe by the beauty.
"That's gorgeous. And where there's nature, there's a ton of animal friends!"
Twilight hugged the book tightly, "I can't wait to get started! I'm a little nervous since that's all we could find. I usually like to be a bit more prepared."
"You seem pretty prepared to me." Fluttershy said, her gaze turning back to all the books they had read in order to find the limited information. The pegasus pony spotted three sets of bags, one with a butterfly image, one with a star and one with a heart shaped Raava symbol, each representing the girls' individual cutie marks. "Are those for us?"
Korra adjusted her own backpack, "Yep! I've prepared our things. Snacks, books, blankets, books."
"You said "books" twice."
"There are a lot of books." Korra said right before handing Fluttershy her backpack, which was even heavier than she expected. At moments like these she was happy she had worked out more and gained some muscle from her past adventures, however she was still not as amazonian strong like her alicorn friends.
She didn't know what adventures awaited them, but one thing was certain, whatever it was, they would solve it together.

The girls headed to Air Temple Island, where Opal was kind enough to lend them her new sky bison, Juicy, for their journey. Juicy was a sweet and loving bison, but she did have a bit of a snot problem. Even if she did gross Opal out at first she had come to adore the young bison, who was quite big for her age.
"Thanks for lending us Juicy, Opal." Korra thanked her friend, "I promise we'll bring her back safely." the Avatar received an unexpected token of affection from the bison when she licked her face, covering her upper torso in saliva.
"Awww, she likes you!" Opal said between giggles.
"Ehe, how sweet." Korra bended the drool off of her body while Fluttershy mounted on the bison, happy to get the heavy backpack off of her back for the moment. Twilight landed onto the saddle, unable to contain her excitement.
"What do ya think our friendship problem's gonna be?" she asked.
"I don't know." Fluttershy said with a sigh once the backpack was off, "But I'm sure we'll figure it out."
Korra flew up and took the reigns that were tied to the bison's horns. She called out, "Yip, yip!" and the beast flew off into the air as Opal waved goodbye from down bellow.
"Do you think it'll be a problem about lying?" Twilight asked.
"I don't know." Korra replied, "We'll find out when we get there."
"You're right."
And so, they're journey began. It would be a several days long journey to the Smokey Mountains but with Juicy being a particularly fast bison, they would probably get there two days less than supposed. The girls marveled at the beauty of the Earth Kingdom down bellow, Korra having been to several of the locations during her visits to Kuvira and the Earth Queen was especially entranced. The beauty of nature never ceased to amaze her. She was an outside kind of gal after all.
As they got closer and closer to their destination, Twilight began bombarding them with more questions to their mystery mission. "Ooh! Could it be about when two friends just randomly decide to do something together, but they forget to invite the third friend, and the third friend feels left out?"
"I don't know." Korra answered sincerely, but in reality she just wanted the princess to calm the heck down or else she would go flying off the saddle, which at this point was a strong possibility.
At long last, they arrived. Juicy landed on a soft plate of grass, the area was surrounded by beautiful lush pine trees. Twilight jumped off of the bison birds, reading the map in her hands, trying to pinpoint the route they would need to take to get to the mountains.
Korra and Fluttershy petted Juicy's head in gratitude for the safe trip. "Okay, Juicy. You wait here and we'll bring you some delicious fruit when we get back." Korra said while rubbing the bison's chin, making her groan happily.
"Or where one friend tells another friend's secret after they asked them not to?" Twilight asked, still excited about their assignment.
Fluttershy exhaled oxygen once she placed the heavy backpack on her back. "We'll know very, very soon. Since we're almost there."
From here on out, the three girls took to the skies on their own, with Twilight and Korra both reading the map to make sure they were going in the right direction. They heard Fluttershy groaning, already getting tired of the heavy luggage.
"Here. Lemme get that." Twilight levitated the backpack off of Fluttershy and Korra carried it instead.
Fluttershy sighed in relief, "Thank you."
"Sorry I've been a little skiddly-bopty-boo. I just can't believe this is finally happening!"
Korra suddenly heard something coming from behind and instinctively took both girls by the shoulder, forcing them downwards to avoid something that was aiming directly at them. They had reached the Smokey Mountains, and just as the book said there were two mountain tops mirroring the others, but it didn't look identical to the picture. One hill still had fresh looking crops and trees, but not a forest like in the picture. The second hilltop didn't have any trees, along with dying brown colored grass and tree stumps all around it. The wood having been used to construct the compound-styled household at the very top of the hill.
"Whoa!" the three maneuvered yet another impact which came from the hilltop with the simple farm-looking house on the hilltop with the growing garden around it. They were throwing pumpkins, for some strange reason.
"What in Equestria is happening?" Korra asked in confusion and shook.
"It's nothing like Jinora's book said it would be!" Fluttershy said, horrified at what they had placed themselves into.
Twilight's ears lowered in fear, rubbing her fists together nervously. "Oh, boy. I'm feeling very unprepared. Where do we even start?"
Upon hearing another firing sound, the girls ducked and avoid getting hit by yet another orange vegetable.
"Maybe by figuring out where the flying pumpkins are coming from?" Korra suggested.
The three flew down towards the first hilltop, doing their best not to get hit again by the pumpkins. Upon arriving the first thing they encountered was an elderly woman with medium skintone, curly gray hair, dipped with pale brown coloring, bushy eyebrows, a mole on the lower right half of her chin, and a pair of buck tee sticking out from her upper lip. She wore traditional earth kingdom clothing along with various other folks, who the girls could assume were her relatives.
They all shared many similar attributes, dark hair, green to brown eyes and mediume skin tones, with only only several slightly tanned. A sharing trait were the bushy eyebrows. Each relative had a very 'country' vibe to their clothing, wearing shirts with rolled up sleeves, clear indication of outside workers, straw-hats, overalls, sandals--some were even barefoot--and even wearing kitchen utensils as their headsets. The ones who were earthbenders had constructed their own catapult, using pumpkins as ammo, which was pretty odd in the girls' opinion. The elderly woman, who was plump and of advantage height, appeared to be the ringleader of this little country circus.
"Ready… Aim... Fire!" upon her command, her male relatives shot the pumpkins all the way towards the second hilltop, hiding directly at the wooden compound.
Korra suddenly felt somebody collied with her leg. She looked down and saw a young boy, roughly Meelo's age, looking up at her. Unlike the rest of the family, his eyebrows weren't as bushy and his eyes were a stunning emerald green and was carrying a smaller pumpkin.
"Sorry, Ma'am." the little boy apologized politely, making Korra smile and squat down to ruffle his hair. He was such an adorable little one.
"No problem, little buddy."
"Say, are you the Princess Avatar?"
"Yep, that's me. And this is Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy." she said, introducing her friends.
"Nice to meet you." the young boy greeted, speaking in what sounded like a very light southern accent, which wasn't very surprising. There have been several folks in the earth kingdom to have an accent similar to that of Applejack in her family, the known swamp benders were one example.
"Nice to meet you. My name is--"
"Akio! Where are them pumpkins?!" the elderly woman called out to the boy, who's name was Akio, making him rush towards her.
"Coming, Mamaw!" he shouted in reply and ran up to give her the extra ammo.
If this was truly the friendship problem they needed to solve, it certainly wouldn't be easy. Korra approached the woman first, politely intervening in…whatever it was they were doing.
"Um, hi. Hello. Excuse us, but what are you doing?"
"We're pumpkinin' our neighbors!" the woman answered, pointing at the opposing house on the hill.
The girls shared skeptical looks before Fluttershy spoke. "Yes, but, um, why are you... "pumpkining" your neighbors?"
"Well, because the Guans are just plain rotten! Hey, wait a tick. Who are you three?! You're not spies for the Guans, are ya?" the woman began interrogating the young ladies, her right eye increasing in size in an intimidating fashion as she leaned in forward to inspect them more closely, which only made the girls feel uncomfortable.
"Mamaw, I doubt they're spies." a young voice called out. The voice belonged to a young boy, around fourteen-years-of age with spiky brown hair, medium skin and stunning chocolate brown eyes wearing a simple plaided shirt with a brown vest, ragged shorts, sandals and his sleeves rolled up. Several freckles were sprinkled around his nose.
"Besides, they've got wings on their backs. Don't you know who they are?" the young boy addressed his entire family, to which practically none of them knew who these strangers were. "They're them magical pony creatures! Look at their tails and ears."
"Technically, I'm only half pony." Korra corrected, "I have the wings, magic and cutie mark but no ears or tail. Although, my hair can be mistaken for a tail from a certain angle I guess, and the star on my forehead substitutes for a unicorn horn, but I can understand the confusion."
"We are Twilight Sparkle and Avatar Korra, the Princesses of Friendship. And we're here to solve your friendship problem."
"I'm Fluttershy, and... um... I'm here, too."
"The name's Kiwa Han. But the family just calls me Mamaw, and this here's my eldest grandson, Daichi. Pleased to meet ya, but you're wastin' your time. We don't have a friendship problem. We have... a Guan problem."
"And there's absolutely no friendship there." said one of her older grandchildren.
"How come?" Korra asked, "I mean, what did the Guans do to to make you so mad at them?"
"Oh, they done so many things. Why, just today, they shot ice daggers at our harvestin' fields. See, the Guans also got waterbenders in their family so they shot them ice daggers and punctured our beautiful fruit. If that ain't criminal, I don't know what is!"
Fluttershy's ears perked up when she heard what sounded like squeaking. She spun around and saw one of the Hans place another pumpkin into their rock catapult, but were unaware of the white mice living inside.
"Chao, don't!" Little Akio protested, trying to get the mice out of the pumpkin, but his elder relative didn't listen, his mind was dead set on getting back at the Guans.
"Oh, no!" thinking fast, Fluttershy swiped the pumpkin with an empty one and took the innocent mice to safety. The young boy, Akio thanked her and had them safely run away from the scene.
Twilight then levitated her solution portfolio and read several pages. "Twilight, what are you doing?" Korra asked.
"What does it look like? I'm trying to solve a friendship problem."
"Not to question your strategic expertise Twi, but don't you think--"
"I got it!" the alicorn princess closed the book, smiling confidently, "We're gonna talk with these Guans and hear their side of the story. Once we have all the facts, we can put an end to this using reason and rationale."
"Wow, she's smart!" said little Akio.
"That's why she's the princess." said Fluttershy.
"In the meantime, could you please call off the pumpkining?" Twilight asked them politely.
Mamaw really never really liked the idea of giving the Guans an easy time, but this was royalty and she did ask nicely. Mamaw was anything is not reasonable, especially when her teenage grandson was on the princess's side on this.
"Oh, alright."
"Thanks." Twilight crossed her arms and smiled smugly at her fellow princess, "You were saying."
Korra rolled her eyes, "Okay, you win. Praise the scriptures of the Solution Portfolio for it knows all!" the Avatar waved her arms up to the heavens while speaking in a dramatic tone, which made Twilight roll her eyes.
"Ha, ha. Very funny." she replied sarcastically, leaving Korra with a cocky smile of her own.

The three girls arrived upon the Guan's compound-like house. The architecture brought back some unpleasant memories for Korra. Nonetheless, she knocked on the door and waited patiently for a reply.
"State your business!" a masculine, and country sounding voice, called out tom above the fence of the compound wooden home.
One of the guans, a middle sized man with messy uneven cut brown hair, gray eyes, brown skin and a bit of scruff on his chin. Beside him was a woman, similar in appearance and facial features, most likely a sister or cousin, sharing a similar uneven cut hairstyle while wearing a bandana over her head. Her eyes were green, unlike her male counterpart, her skin was much lighter brown shade.
"Don't even bother." she said, speaking in a rough country voice, "They're probably spies for the Hans."
Her male companion took a good look at the girls down bellow them, particularly their wings and colorful appearances. "Hey, wait! You're Equestrian girls, aint ya? We don't get a lot of Equestrians around these here parts."
"Technically, I'm half Equestrian." Korra called out from bellow, "Just clarifying."
"I'm Twilight Sparkle, and this is Avatar Korra. We're The Princesses of Friendship."
"And I'm Fluttershy."
"Princess Avatar?" the male Guan asked in surprise, "When did that happen?"
"I'm guessin' when them magical glowing lights in the sky appeared and we got them pony ears and wings for about an hour or so." his female counterpart clarified.
"Oh, yeah. A-A-And how did the Hans come by a princess spy?"
"We are not spies!" Korra stated, "Why does everybody assume we're spies?" she asked her friends just as the two front wooden gates unlocked and opened, revealing a sanctuary within, entirely made out of wood just like the outside.
A middle aged man with brushy black beard and mustache, and unibrow, emerged from the entrance, wearing a really tall hat that contrasted with his short stature. He wore no shirt and instead wore old and worn overalls with a fair of boots. Despite his stature and age, he still looked pretty fit and muscular.
"Because we don't get a lot of visitors. I'm Big Daddy Guan, but folks just call me Big Daddy. You caught us at a weird time. We're in the middle of a giant feud with our... Terrible neighbors!"
Big Daddy's loud scream echoed from across the distance between the two hills. For a little guy he most certainly had some chops to spare. Korra, Twilight and Fluttershy had to cover their ears and literally felt the ground slightly shake due to his outburst.
Twilight rapidly shook her head to get the hearing back in her ears. "Well, actually, that's why we're here – to solve your problem with the Hans."
"So you're here to help us get rid of 'em." Big Daddy concluded, receiving an immediate round of applauds, whopping and hollering from the rest of the Guan family clan.
Just like the Hans, they all shared similar family traits. Primarily gray, to brown to blue eye colors, medium to fully brown skin, black to brown hair and all with powerfully strong builds and wearing similar country inspired clothing like their neighbors, only theirs were consisting of blue, white and a few aquamarine and light green colors, and even a few grays. Unlike the Hans who were sandals or were barefoot, the Guans wore hiking boots.
"No! That's not what I meant at all!" Twilight corrected, trying to clear up the misunderstanding, but the Guans did not like the real meaning behind her words one bit.
"Well, if you ain't fer us, you're agin' us." Big Daddy narrowed his eyes at the trio. So far, things didn't seem to be going so well for the girls. These Hans and Guans were not easy fortune cookies to crack.
"Big Daddy, please!" a young girl, around the same age as Daichi with light brown skin, dark blue ocean eyes and dark hair styled into a high ponytail with messy bangs, wearing a simple pale blue shirt, navy shorts and hiking boots.
"Talisha, how many times have I told you not to back talk your granddad while he's talkin' to folk!"
"Show some respect, they're the Princesses after all."
"Princesses or not, if they ain't here to help take down the Hans, they got no service being here."
Korra step forward, using her assertiveness to her advantage, "Hold on! We are not on anybody's side. We're here to help you become friends again."
"Well, that's gon' be hard. I don't believe we've ever been friends with the Hans family!"
"But you could be!" Twilight said, already growing concerned with how this could end up. "They're just really upset you ruined their garden."
"Wait a hog-wogglin' minute! We only did that because the Hans pulled the pin out of our wagon wheel!"
Big Daddy pointed to the said wagon, which was indeed missing one wheel. It stood wobbling before falling and breaking to pieces. "A whole week's worth of food rollin' down the mountain." Big Daddy removed his large hat, placing it near his chest, "Us Guans are mighty fine builders, but we don't know the first thing about farming'. We have to travel a ways away to buy our food."
Big Daddy placed his hat back on and showed the three girls all of the squashed pumpkins that the Hans had thrown at the Guans. Apparently, they had been doing this way longer before the girls even arrived.
"Now, we'll be stuck eatin' the pumpkins the Hans launched at us. Pumpkin bread, pumpkin soup, pumpkin paella, pumpkin pie, pumpkin frittatas... Actually, that all sounds pretty good. But it'll get old!"
"How long have you been fighting the Hans, exactly?" Korra asked.
"As long as I can remember. For five generations, and countin'."
"Five generations?!" for Korra, hearing about feuds and wars wasn't anything new, but it was still shocking to see just how long a war could go on if the two parties didn't try to communicate with one another. Something was telling her this wasn't just about the fruits and wagons.
Twilight pulled her portfolio from her back once again in an attempt to find a solution to their problem. While Twilight was turning the pages of the portfolio, Fluttershy and Korra took sight of the Guans, gathering all of the squashed pumpkin remains the Hans had thrown at them. Placing them into bags, barrels and cauldrons to make the pumpkin soup Big Daddy just said. This would be their primary food for a long time it seemed.
As sad as it was, Fluttershy spotted and even more depressing sight. A little creature, rodent in species, covered with a coat of coarse, dark brown fur with a pink tail and white markings around its eyes alongside triangular and erect ears and a long nose, similar to that of an elephant. This was known as an Elephant rat, indigenous to the Earth Kingdom. The poor little thing gazed at a single piece of pumpkin on the ground, almost in a hypnotic state and reached over to grab it, only to have the only bit of food be brushed aside by a broom.
Feeling sympathy for the little creature, Fluttershy found another slice of pumpkin and happily gave it to the hungry little one. She smiled at the creature, who thanked her with a squeak.
Twilight found one piece of advice from her pages that could be of help. "Have you tried meeting at a neutral location, talking about your problems, and really listening to each other?"
Big Daddy Guan gasped at the very idea. "What?! No! They'd sooner launch their dinners at us than listen to us."
"Well, they'll listen to me. I'm an impartial third party."
Korra placed her hand on her friend's shoulder before gently leading her away from the other Guans to talk. "Twilight, sweetie, this isn't the same as when Meelo and Ikki fought over the same piece of cake, these guys have been feuding for generations. I don't think simply saying "fighting is bad" is going to be enough. Remember the Civil War incident last year?"
"Yes, I remember." Twilight replied calmly, "But, they were an all mighty nation with military weapons and a bloodthirsty manipulating dictator pulling the strings. And at least we knew the reason why they were fighting…" her eyes snapped open realizing what she just said, "No offense."
Korra shrugged, "None taken."
"My point is, we still don't know the real reason why they've been fighting for so long, so I'm just going to cool down the fire for a while until we can find a rational and peaceful solution to this problem."
Spreading her wings open, Twilight flew upwards, stopping right in between the two opposing mountains. Her horn glowed brightly and a small little sparkle landed on her throat. Once she opened her voice, it was magically amplified to sound as if she were using a microphone. Since she didn't have the booming voice Korra possessed, and it would probably be too aggressive for the situation, she used a more neutral approach.
"Attention, Hans and Guans! I'm not on anybody's side, but I can see you're both wasting time and resources on being mean to each other. But me and my friends are here to help, so until we can resolve whatever bad blood has come between you two let us cease this senseless fighting for the time being so we can all move on to a better future as true neighbors. Thank you for your cooperation!"
With a satisfied smile, Twilight landed before her two friends, wiping her hands on a job well done. "Phase one, complete. Now we just have to figure out what caused this feud in the first place so we can help the two families be friends again."
The princess smiled optimistically…right before she felt something wet and squishy hit the back of her head. Wiping it off with her hand, she felt it was a slice of tomato. Her ears perked upwards in aware when she heard the found of firing from afar and her eyes widened with worry.
"Or not…"
The entire Guan clan took in cover when a swam of red fresh tomatoes fell all around their home, heads and already squashed pumpkins. The three girls shielded themselves and ran from the impacting red produce. Korra spotted the young girl, Talisha, accompanied by a young boy with skin like hers, identical colored hair and gray colored eyes, most likely her younger brother due to their resemblance in facial features. The two gestured to the three girls to enter one of their indoor tool sheds and the trio happily accepted their offer.
Once safe inside, Twilight got down on all four limbs, despite the fact that she was still in her anthro form, and shook the splattered red tomatoes from her body and wings like a wet dog before getting back on two legs again. She ripped apart a page from her portfolio and tossed it aside. "So much for potential friendship solution number twenty-eight."
Korra wiped away the tomato from her face and hair and smiled at their two saviors. "Thanks for the assist."
"No problem, Princess."
"Talisha, right?"
"Yep. And this here's my little brother, Hitoshi." Talisha introduced her little brother, who hid behind her leg. He looked around the same age as Akio, and just as adorable.
Korra squatted down to the child's level, a habit she often made when around children due to her desire to make them feel even to her, regardless of her age and height.
"Hi, Hitoshi. I'm Korra."
The little boy simply gave her a very shy wave. "He's a little shy." his sister said while ruffling his hair. Korra could already tell they were close. She also took notice of the little wooden toy he had in his hand.
"Did you make that yourself?" she asked kindly, addressing to the remarkably detailed toy with a head, body and even a stick sword in its hand. With some paint it could look like an actual toy from a store. Hitoshi nodded his head in reply. "Wow, you have a lot of talent." the princess said in a warm tone, making the little boy blush and smile bashfully.
"We're really sorry you had to come in such a bad time." Talisha said sadly.
"Why are your families so mean to each other?" Fluttershy asked.
"We don't know. Big Daddy just said they did a horrible injustice to us many years ago, but he never said what it was. I guess it's too horrible to talk about."
But Korra had a different theory. "Talisha, is there anything valuable your family possesses? Like, a family heirloom or something that the Hans might be interested in or vice versa?"
"No, us Guans don't have many material things. Nothing the Hans would want to steal and they certainly don't have anything we want."
This was getting stranger by the minute. The two families were feuding for apparently nothing. There was no treasure that was of valuable to them, they didn't have any family heirlooms that meant something, everything in both of their homes were very non material and simplistic, so what would they have to gain from one another? Not to mention the whole purpose of this feud still remained a mystery. Just what where they fighting about?
"I guess we should find out why the Hans are launching tomatoes now." Fluttershy suggested, which was probably the best idea.

Back with the Hans, the family were tossing tomatoes into their rock catapults. Daichi and Aiko assisted their relatives in loading the ammo, but the two were not as enthusiastic about this as the rest of their family. The two young boys sadly sighed as they unpleasantly tossed the red fruits into the catapult, indicating they just wanted to get this over with and be done.
"One at a time, Daichi." his Mamaw said, not noticing her grandson's disinterest in the whole feud. "If you smoosh them tomaters in the catapult, they won't break on the Guans."
"What are you doing?" Twilight asked once she, Fluttershy and Korra landed in front of the elderly woman. "I asked you to stop fighting."
"Oh, is that what you were hollerin' about? We thought the Guans rubbed ya the wrong way. So we tomatered them for ya. My mistake." Mamaw tossed aside one of the tomatoes she had ready for the Guans and called out to the rest of her family, "Stop the tomater catapults!"
Her family obeyed her command and for a moment all was silent. But that silence didn't last long. The three girls heard the sound of something flying throughout the air. Their eyes widened when they saw it was water balloons aiming directly at the Hans' mountainside. The balloons were filled with mud and dirt and even something that looked like water but didn't smell like it. It made some of the Hans want to vomit.
The entire Han clan ran from the impact, which only increased Mamaw's anger towards her neighbors. "Reload the tomater catapults! We're gonna paint their mountaintop red!"
The girls maneuvered the impact of the balloons and created magical umbrellas to shield themselves. Korra spotted Daichi shielding his little brother from the impact and Korra called out to them, "Over here!" the two brothers rushed to her side, being protected by the impacts.
"Thanks, Princess." Daichi said in gratitude.
"Don't mention it."
"Well, that plan didn't work. I was so sure it would." Twilight said.
Fluttershy spotted a poor tortuous trying to stay clear of the impacts, but his slow movements were't helping him, especially not the fast moving Hans who didn't even take notice of the poor creature, who sadly fell on his back and now couldn't get himself back up again. Fluttershy gasped and quickly helped the little creature back up.
"It was a good plan." she said while lifting up a bush for the tortuous to hide under, "We need to think of another one. And soon. This fight is really affecting the animals around here." she said, with the tortuous moving so slowly, she gently shoved him into his new hiding place.
"You know, this reminds me a lot of one of the stories Katara used to tell me when I was little."
"I don't think now's the time to take a stroll down memory lane." said Twilight.
"No, you don't get it. When she was young, Katara and her friends encountered two feuding tribes while crossing the Great Divide. The Zhang and the Gan Jin were at war with each other for years, just like the Hans and the Guans."
"Did they know what they were fighting about too?"
"Technically, yes and no. They both had their own versions as to how the feud started but till this day nobody really knows how it actually began. But Avatar Aang managed to settle their differences and they've been living in harmony ever since."
"Okay, sweet story, so how did Aang stop the fighting?"
Korra cringed at the memory of how the story ended, "Eh…he kind fabricated his own version of how the feud started to make it seem like it was all a big misunderstanding."
Twilight blinked twice in disbelief, "Okay, any other ideas that don't involve deceiving people?"
"Find the root of the problem and work from there?"
"Ooh, good plan! And number thirty one on my portfolio." Korra rolled her eyes while Twilight addressed to the two young boys beside them, "Daichi, Akio, do you have any idea as to what started all of this?"
Akio shook his head, "Not really. Only Mamaw knows."
The girls took the boy's advice and walked over to Mamaw, who was placing more tomatoes into the catapult for her earthbending relatives to launch at their neighbors, all while keeping the shields up and protecting the two boys.
"Pardon us, Mamaw, but do you remember what started this whole feud in the first place?" Twilight asked.
"They know what they did."

"They know what they did!"
That wasn't a very helpful answer Twilight nor Korra were expecting to hear from Big Daddy. A little more information would have been nice.
"I'm starting to think neither of you know what either of you have done." Twilight stated, her annoyance and impatience slowly starting to take form.
"Sure, we do. Them Hans did us a grave injustice some time ago for some reason."
"Hear, hear!" the entire Guan clan, minus Talisha and Hitoshi, cheered in agreement. Korra blew a raspberry in disappointment while Twilight tore off another piece of paper from her portfolio and crumpled it.
"Okay, backup plan to the backup plan. Maybe we can find some common ground that you can bond over. What do you do when you're not fighting?"
"That's easy. Gettin' ready to fight."

"What do you hope to get out of fighting?" Fluttershy asked Mamaw, who assisted her relatives in shooting more of their crops, this time watermelons, at the Guans.
"The satisfaction of winnin'!"

"Of winning what?" Korra asked Big Daddy, while he hammered a nail into a piece of wood and Twilight took notes.
"The fight, of course! To prove our family is the best!"

"The best at what?" Fluttershy asked Mamaw, who was still launching fruits and vegetables at the Guans with her family.
"Winnin'! Haven't you been listenin'?!"
By this point, Twilight had an assortment of paper notes floating around her, surrounded by her magical magenta aura, taking in each and every new detail they could learn about the Hans and the Guans, but so far they found nothing of any real use.
"So the only thing they have in common is that they both want to win a fight, and neither of them know what it's over. How can we end this feud if we don't know what it's about?" Twilight sunk down to the floor, dropping all of her research in the process and covering her face with her arms over her knees.
"Eh, it's the Great Divide all over again!" Korra groaned in frustration, alongside her friend. Even she was stumped on how to fix this.
Just when it seemed all hope was lost, she spotted the two grandsons sneaking off while their family was too busy shooting their only food source at their neighbors. Korra arched an eyebrow in suspicion.
"Wait a minute. What are they up to?"
Hearing her say this made Twilight and Fluttershy notice the two boys sneaking off as well. The boys carefully made their way down the mountain top with the girls following close behind. Once they reached the very bottom, the boys made it to what little was left of the once beautiful forest. The girls hid behind a large boulder and observed the two boys. Daichi earthbended a boulder from the ground, revealing a small hole. The two jumped inside before the boulder covered the space.
Curiosity increased for the girls as they flew out of their hiding place to inspect the boulder the boys had just used to escape. "How do we follow them now?" Fluttershy asked.
Korra squatted down and placed her hand onto the ground. She had never tried Lin and Suyin's seismic sense before now, but she had to find out where these boys were heading. What if they were running away to avoid the feud? Granted, it would be understandable, but running away from their family wouldn't be right. With her star glowing brightly, as well as her palm, Korra could see through the earth and spotted the two boys. They were walking down a tunnel, no doubt constructed by by them in order to walk through. Daichi stopped and moved a boulder from above their heads. The eldest grandson reached out his hand, which was grabbed by a second hand, tan in skin tone and no doubt feminine.
Korra opened her eyes and gasped. "I don't believe it!"
"What did you see?" Twilight asked, wondering how her first attempt at the seismic sense worked out.
"Come on!" without a second thought, Korra flew upwards with her two friends following close behind. Mamaw saw the girls flying away, much to her confusion, until another realization stroked her.
"Anybody seen Daichi and Akio?" she asked, one of her relatives shook his head, along with the rest of the family. "Boys? Where are ya? Boys?!"
When nobody answered, the elderly woman began to grow concerned. "Where could they have gone?" she wondered…just before her eyes darted towards the compound house on the hill.
"Guans…"

Korra followed to where the underground tunnel led to, bypassing various cut down tress and dead plants surrounding the area. Not only that, but they even spotted several animals scavenging for any remains of food they could find, but sadly their efforts were in vain.
"Oh, those poor things." Fluttershy's heart broke for each and every one of them. She followed Korra to where the underground tunnel had led to, finding a specific little area, where only very few tress still managed to grow. It was a hidden space, set several feet away from the mouton tops, and enough room for a small child to hide in. Korra told the other two to be silent as they hid behind the tress to see where the boys had gone.
What they saw left them nearly speechless.
Daichi and Akio were perfectly fine and happy…with Talisha and Hitoshi! The two youngest children from the Han clan with the two youngest from the Guan clan, actually getting along together. Hitoshi and Akio played with Hitoshi's one and only action figure and Akio even made one out of his earthbending for them to play with. The youngest Guan boy even allowed his friend to borrow his little wooden soldier's stick sword.
Talisha and Daichi unraveled a sack with fresh food from the Hans' garden for the hungry creatures of the forest. The two teens looked rather comfortable with one another, even so much as blushing when they accidentally had their hands touch while reaching for the same tomato to give to a little skunk squirrel.
"I don't believe it." Twilight said in awe, "Two Hans and two Guans getting along."
Ever so gently, Korra stepped out of her hiding place, making her presence known to the children. The four of them gasped, fearing she would get angry at them.
"Princess Korra! We can explain, honest!" Daichi pleaded, but stopped when Korra rose up her hand to calm him.
"It's okay, I'm not mad."
"You're not?"
"No. Why would I be mad at a group of friends getting along?"
Fluttershy and Twilight marveled at the little safe haven the children had created for them. The grass was slightly healthier, the trees were healthy enough to keep the land creatures with a home and place to store food, even a lovely little wooden home for the creatures whenever it rained, but even so they still needed a lot more care and attention, even for just four young children.
"This place is lovely." said Fluttershy.
"As close as it can get." Talisha said sadly, "The four of us stumbled upon this place together one day, and after seeing all the animals so hungry we had to do something."
"So I made the underground tunnel for me and Akio to meet Talisha and Hitoshi here in secret."
"And Daichi was kind enough to bring food for the little guys and for me and my brother."
"And Talisha used her construction skills to build the animals a home." said Daichi, making the girl blush.
"We hate our families fighting just as much as you guys." said Talisha, "But nobody will listen to us. They all think we're just a bunch of kids who don't understand. But how can we be a part of a fight that brings nothing but misery?"
Fluttershy noticed the furry little animals around her legs. "Hey, little fellas." she said kindly as she squatted down to greet the little critters, who already liked their new friend. Suddenly, the group was startled when a loud rumbling sound was heard what sounded like loud rumbling.
"What was that?" Twilight asked in surprise. One of the ferrets rubbed his little stomach with his paw.
"There's hardly enough food here for them." Akio said sadly, "Since our family either eats what we have or use it on the Guans."
Fluttershy placed her hands over her heart, feeling as if it would break. "Oh, you poor things!" the creatures moved closer to her, hugging her lower torso and a cold chill caused the anthro pegasus to shiver as she held them close for warmth. "Oh, brrr, and you're freezing! I'm gonna take you all home with me and get you all hot cocoas. How do you feel about book clubs?"
"I don't get it." Twilight said, looking around the depressing sight before her, "This was supposed to be the most beautiful valley in all of the Earth Kingdom. What happened?"
"It's always been like this." Daichi said sadly, while carrying a baby turtle duck in his arms, "Ever since we were little, the valley's been one big battle field."
Korra lovingly stroked the little turtle duck's chin, "And these innocent little guys are caught right in the middle of it."
"Maybe this is it." Twilight suggested, "If you kids can get alone with each other, maybe your families can learn to get along too."
"If only it were that simple." said Talisha, "They're still clinging on to a past nobody even remembers. Even if we make things right, they're just gonna fight again."
One of the sun squirrels jumped onto Fluttershy's ear, chittering in its own language while the pegasus listened attentively. "What's that? Oh! Uh-huh... Twilight! Korra! They know what happened here!"
"What?"
But before Fluttershy could explain further, the group heard what sounded like a horn blowing into the distance, followed by the roaring sound of battle cries not too far from where they were.
Talisha gasped, "Oh no! Our families!"

The entire Hans clan marched down the hilltop at the very same time the Guans did. Each group carrying their own weapons, pitchforks, shovels for the non-benders while the benders would have the earth itself at their disposal. The Guans had their waterbenders, hammers, wood and mallets at their disposal. At the very end of their respected hills, the two families faced one another. Many would question how they assembled an army in such a short amount of time, but these two clans lived on two hilltops with not that many material possessions aside from essentials and have been dying for an opportunity to overthrow the other for decades, so there was that.
"Alright, Guans! Where are my grandsons?! I know you took them!"
"What?! We didn't take your grandsons, you took my granddaughter and grandson!"
"We did no such thing! You're nothin' but a dirty lier!" Mamaw shouted, with her entire family shouting angrily at the Guans in agreement
"If anybody's the lier, it's you!" Big Daddy shouted with his entire family shouting alongside him.
"You've got three seconds to hand them over, or we end this…permanently!"
"Not until you admit you took my grandbabies!!"
"Why on earth would we do that? We didn't do anythin' wrong!"
"What're you talkin' about?! You done so many things wrong!"
"Not as many as you!" that was the final straw. This feud ended here and now, once and for all, there would be a winner no matter what the cost.
"Hans clan, attack!"
"Guans, attack!"
And so it finally happened. After so many years of fighting from afar, the two clans were now head in head, battling it out for possession of the mountains, and for who was the better family. Today they would settle the horrible injustice made upon them, even if they didn't remember what it was there was no way they would go unheard.
Korra, Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy hovered over the destroyed forest, carrying the children in their arms, until they spotted the two clans battling it out. Fists, rocks, vegetables, fruits, wood and all sorts of things went flying about. Guans jumped on top of Hans, Hans pulling the Guans' hair, fists punches left and right, kicks and hurling rocks and ice bullets all around with no apparent end in sight. And worst of all, any ounce of plant life that still remained, no matter how small, was crushed underneath their feet and rubble.
The trio landed the children safely down to the ground and Twilight Sparkle flew upwards to stop the madness.
"Stop! You have to listen to me!" she shouted, in her desperate attempt to make them listen to reason, but they were all too fueled up in their own pride to hear her voice. The moment a tomato hit her in the face, Twilight knew that the time to be rational was over. It was time for the big guns.
"Everybody freeze!"
Her voice echoed across from across the entire valley and a powerful beam of magic emerged from her horn, expanding into a giant glowing spear before vanishing in the blink of an eye. Once the light had disappeared, both families found themselves frozen in place. Their bodies surrounded by a glowing magenta aura while their eyes kept on moving, as well as their facial expressions. Each one remained in their frozen position while Twilight slowly lowered down, taking in slow deep breaths. Freezing people in place was indeed a powerful spell, but she had managed to do so. Her horn stopped glowing, smoke emitting from it once she rested on her knees, and her hands on the ground. Korra rushed to her side, with the children in tow, much to their grandparents' amazement.
"Talisha! Hitoshi! What are you two doing with those Hans boys?!"
"Big Daddy, this has to stop!" Talisha exclaimed, no longer feeling ashamed to speak up to her stubborn grandfather.
"Boys, what did them Guans do to you?"
"Mamaw, the Guans didn't kidnap us." Daichi said, standing up to his grandmother, "We left out of our own choice. And don't you dare talk trash about Talisha! She's my friend!"
"What?!"
"Talisha, what is the meaning of this?!" Big Daddy demanded to know.
"I can explain." Fluttershy flew upwards into the sky for both clans to hear her speak the words of Truth. Her normally soft voice had increased in volume for all to hear. "Before you keep fighting, there is something you should know!" with the skunk squirrel on her shoulder, Fluttershy began telling them how this silly feud really got started.
"Long ago, there were two best friends; Chang Han and Wei Guan. When they found the valley between the Smokey Mountains, they knew it was something special. So they made a promise to each other to protect and preserve the valley for all its adorable furry inhabitants. But they disagreed on how to go about it. Chang wanted to start by planting crops so that everybody would have something to eat. But Wei thought it would be better to start by building a shelter to protect them against the cold and wind. The two men were unable to come to an understanding, so Wei went ahead and built a shelter anyway, exactly where Chang was gonna start his farm! Chang was upset, so he tore down Wei's shelter so he could plant his crops! They kept fighting back and forth, until it turned into a feud! The valley suffered from the constant destruction, until finally the Hans and Guans moved to separate mountains. Even then, the valley and all the animals in it continued to be caught in the crossfire."
Once the story came to an end, both families fell into silence and finally took a moment to look around them. The pony girl was right, their ancestor's stubborn pride had caused the destruction of this once beautiful valley. All the animals looked so skinny they might as well be flesh and bones. The trees were all gone and the grass was dry, crumpled and brown in color. This land was dying more and more with each passing year, and they were selfishly unaware of it.
"Is this really true?" Mamaw asked, the guilt already growing inside her heart.
"It is, Mamaw." Akio said while holding a hungry looking rabbit in his arms. "Don't you see? By fighting each other, you're destroying the very thing that brought us all here in the first place!"
Korra placed her hands on the shoulders of the fourteen-year-old children, who in turn placed their hands upon their younger siblings. The Princess Avatar spoke up to the families, "Not only that, but you even tried to enforce your own prejudice pride onto your children. If these kids can learn to work together to preserve what's left of this land then why can't you?"
Fluttershy lowered down, with all of the animals of the family surrounding her. "So it's time you both put your differences aside and come together! If not for yourselves, then for the sake of these cute and cuddly guys!"
As Fluttershy hugged the innocent creatures, Mamaw and Big Daddy started to see the error of their ways. This feud was destroying everything, how could they continue on like this? And worse, their own children didn't want this, how could they have been so selfish?
"Aw, shucks, we never meant to hurt you little critters. Or you kids." Big Daddy said sadly.
For the first time ever, Mamaw agreed with him. "Yeah, we're sorry!"
"We forgive you, Mamaw." Aiko said sweetly, "Can you ever forgive us for running away?"
"Of course we do."
"And we forgive you too, Big Daddy." said Talisha, making both of their respected grandparents smile.
Twilight, Korra and Fluttershy linked their arms, smiling happily at the two families finally learning their lesson, and rekindling their bond with their children. Even the animals accepted their apology.
"Uh, princess? You can unfreeze us now."
"Oh, right!" Twilight was so caught up in the moment she nearly forgot her spell was still active. With a wave of her hand, and a glow of her horn, the entire clans unfroze, lowering their weapons and started shakings hands, hugging and patting one another on the back, ready to leave the past behind them for good.
Mamaw and Big Daddy hugged their respected grandchildren before turning towards one another. Big Daddy took off his hat as a sign of apology. "Mamaw Han, we promise we won't fight you no more."
"Us too, except we promise not to fight you. I suppose it doesn't matter who's right. We're both wrong."
"That's one thing we can agree on."
To seal their newfound friendship, both grandparents spit on their hands and shook on it. The gesture, regardless of what it meant, made the three girls cringe in disgust. Never the less, the two clans were in celebration. Hats were thrown into the air, as were their weapons, a sign that there would be no more fighting. The animals chirped, squeaked and squacked with delight, knowing that their home would flourish once more with the Hans and Guans' assistance. They were more than happy to share the land so long as they worked together from now on.
Hitoshi and Akio also spit on their hands and shook on it, happy to realize they no longer needed to hide their friendship anymore. As for Daichi, well he received an unexpected hug from Talisha…followed by a sweet kiss on the cheek, making the young boy blush. Well, it was a start.
Twilight magically teleported herself to the two grandparents and hugged them both, "This is wonderful! I am so proud of you two!"
"Aw, thanks, princess." Mamaw said in gratitude, "Though I would just like to point out that I was the, uh, first to admit I was wrong." she smiled smugly at Big Daddy, igniting his competitive side once more.
"That may be, but I promised not to fight first. That counts for more!"
"Oh, yeah?!"
Just before they would go at it again, the creatures all started to chatter angrily at them, followed by some very disapproving glares from their grandchildren, Fluttershy, the Princesses and the rest of their clans.
Mamaw raised her hands in surrender, "Oh, all right. We don't have to speak animal to know what y'all are sayin'. Truce?"
"Truce." Big Daddy said with a smile. And this time, he meant it.

A new day had begun, and a new chapter in the story of the Guan and Han families. The Guans helped the Hans create stronger and even better houses than the ones they had before, and perfect shelters for the animals that lived there. Gardens were made, new crops were planted, the trees started to show signs of growing back, flowers were blooming and even the construction of a new fountain made made, with pure fresh clean water the Guan waterbenders made sure to keep fresh for everyone, human and animals alike. The fountain itself even had two statues, in honor of the two men who founded this place, both shaking hands. Chang's statues was actually a bush, cut out in his likeness, while Wei's statue was made out of cement as a reminder that regardless of what they were good at, only when they worked together did they create something beautiful.
"Woo-hoo!" Big Daddy cheered at the sight of the new fountain, "Ain't that a pretty sight?"
"Sure is!" Mamaw said in agreement. The two elderly grandparents thanked their new friends for everything they had done. "Thanks for teachin' us that friendship is so much better than winnin' a silly argument."
The girls were then nearly tackled to the ground when the four children hugged them tightly. "We couldn't have done it without you guys." Daichi said with a happiest smile he ever gave.
Korra noticed little Hitoshi handing her and her friends a few gifts. The girls nearly teared up when they noticed they were wooden dolls, made into their likeness. They were more like figurines shaped in their likeness.
"Thank you." the little boy finally said. The first time they heard him speak. Korra hugged the little boy in return and the happy united families went on to start their new lives as real neighbors.
The girls happily waved goodbye to their new friends until they felt a sudden tingle on their cheeks. They noticed the others Cutie Mark was ringing and glowing, a sure sign their work was completed. And with flying colors!
Fluttershy cheered, "Yay! I told you we'd figure it out."
"We did, and we didn't need my friendship portfolio to do it." Twilight said right before zapping the thing to who knows where. "We just needed each other."
The three girls celebrated with a group hug, not only happy that they solved the problem, but as always, they did so together. And each one using their own special talents, just like the Hans and the Guans.
"So, what do you think will happen next?" Twilight asked once the hug ended and she levitated their respected backpacks, "We've all been called by the map now."
Fluttershy strained when her backpack was mounted onto her back, "Oof! I'm sure we'll find out when we get home…" seeing her struggle, Korra took the backpack for herself to carry as they followed Twilight back to Juicy so they could go back home.
"What if it summons all of us to another place? Or another pony we weren't expecting? What if it wants us to solve other kinds of problems, like quantum physics, or why the apple doesn't fall far from the tree?"
All Korra could do was roll her eyes with a smile and Fluttershy giggled. "I wonder what she'll think when I tell her I made the whole story up."
"Wait, you what?!"
"Kidding! Just kidding!"
Korra sighed in relief, "Oh, thank goodness. Never make that joke again."