• Published 1st Jun 2014
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The Little Pony Legend. - MaggiesHeartLove



Twilight Sparkle and her friends travel to a whole new world unlike anything they had ever seen and meet a surprising new friend....Avatar Korra!

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A Destined Bond/ Welcome to Republic City

All rights go to their respected owners. LoK belongs to Bryke and Nickelodeon and MLP: FiM belongs to Lauren Faust and Hasbro. This is a purely fan-made and non profitable. Songs are parodies of various songs as well, which I also do not own.

*(~)*


Ephesians 2:8 ~

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.

*(~)*

………………………………..

Earth.

Fire.

Air.

Water.

For centuries, the Avatar has been the only one who could master all four elements.

And bring balance to the world.

But one young Avatar, defied her destiny and changed her world forever.

You know the Legend….

Do you want to know the truth?

…………………….

MaggiesHeartLove presents:

The Little Pony Legend

There are countless worlds among the stars. Each with its own environment, inhabitants and cultures. At first glance they may seem as different as night and day and they may literally be worlds apart, but they all share one sky.

One destiny. One future. One soul.

Our story begins on the land of Equestria. A beautiful world filled with vibrant colors, Equestria was home to many creatures that we would think only existed in the pages of mythology or in the fairytales we tell our children. Courageous gryphons, fierce dragons, majestic phoenixes and arrogant minotaurs all roamed this mystical world alongside animals that we would see right in our backyards. But our focus will not be on any of these creatures.

A true utopia, Equestria was mostly inhabited by creatures, more commonly known as ponies. The strong Earth Ponies who tended the fields, the graceful Pegasi who marshaled the weather and the majestic unicorns with their mysterious powers all lived in peace and harmony and knew almost nothing of prejudice, famine, poverty or hatred.

Who ruled over this paradise you may ask? She was none other than the good and wise Princess Celestia.

Celestia was what the ponies would call, an alicorn. Gifted with immense power and lifespans bordering on immortality, alicorns served as the protectors of Equestria.

Beautiful, kind, just and wise, Celestia ruled Equestria for over a thousand years, along with her younger sister Princess Luna. Both were tasked with the raising of both the sun and moon respectively. They were loved by their subjects and did everything in their power to protect their little ponies from those who would do them harm.

Whenever Celestia's own power wasn't enough to drive away any threats to her home, she would call upon the powers of the six mystical gems known as the Elements of Harmony. No one knew exactly just how these all -powerful gems or their point of origin, the Tree of Harmony, came into existence. All anypony knew was that these gems held the sheer power of a single trait of the ideal that all Equines held dear to their hearts: Friendship.

Honesty

Kindness

Laughter

Generosity

Loyalty

Magic

These were the traits of friendship that each of the Elements of Harmony represented. Princess Celestia wielded these Elements to vanquish the forces of darkness that threatened her people.

But then, like the changing of the season, the time came for the Elements of Harmony to accept a new bearer.

Or should I say…bearers..

(~)

In the kingdom of Equestria, deep in the bowels of the Everfree Forest, down in an underground cavern near the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, there was an enormous tree made entirely from pale blue crystal with marks of a sun, moon and a six-pointed star on the trunk.

The Tree of Harmony.

Normally, this tree would emit a glow that rival the beauty and intensity of ten thousand gems.

But now…

The tree's glow had faded, its crystal form now as dull as a slab of slate. No longer did it emit an aura of warmth and peace. But the worst part…where the pitch black vines, with pale blue thorns oozing muck and grime, ensnaring the Tree of Harmony as pythons would their prey.

It was a terrible sight to behold. Especially to the seven beings in the cavern.

The smallest of the seven was a baby dragon, with purple scales, a pale green underbelly, green spikes running down his back and emerald green eyes with black slits for pupils. The remaining six beings in the cavern were pony mares. And they were none other than the current wielders of the Elements of Harmony.

There was an earth pony with apple-green eyes, pale freckles adorning her cheeks, a bright orange coat, a blond mane and tail tied off at the ends with red bands, wearing a brown stetson hat and had a mark of three red apples emblazoned on her flank. This was Applejack a local apple farmer and a steadfast friend. Around her neck was a golden necklace with an orange zircon shaped as an apple laid within it. The Element of Honesty.

Next was a pegasus with greenish-blue eyes, a butter-yellow coat, a pale pink mane and tail almost reaching the ground with a mark of three pink and blue butterflies on her flank. Her name was Fluttershy; a caretaker of animals and both the shyest and sweetest pony you'd ever meet. On her neck was a golden necklace identical to Applejack's, only with a pink spinel shaped as a butterfly laid within. The Element of Kindness.

Then there was an earth pony with bright blue eyes, a pale pink coat, a hot pink mane and tail done in bouncy curls with a mark of three blue and yellow party balloons on her flank. She was Pinkie Pie; resident party pony, hyper, able to do things that couldn't be explained no matter how hard one tried (anyone who did ended up with a massive headache) and downright unforgettable. She also wore a golden necklace, this time with a bright blue sapphire shaped as a party balloon. The Element of Laughter.

Next, was a stunning unicorn with deep blue eyes outlined with black mascara and blue eye shadow, a pristine white coat, an impeccably styled dark purple mane and tail with a trio of blue diamonds on her flank. She was Rarity; a classy up and coming fashion designer and the most charitable pony anypony had ever seen. She too wore a golden necklace, this time with a purple amethyst shaped as a diamond. The Element of Generosity.

With them, a pegasus with rose-red eyes, a cyan-blue coat, a windswept rainbow-colored mane and tail with a mark of a cloud shooting out a rainbow-colored lightning bolt. Her name was Rainbow Dash; self-proclaimed fastest flier in all of Equestria (aside from alicorns), self-confident, brash and with an ego the size of the moon itself. But one would be hard pressed to find a mare that would be more ready to stand up for her friends than her. Her golden necklace held a red ruby shaped as lightning bolt. The Element of Loyalty.

And last but certainly not least, was the last mare. An alicorn with deep purple eyes, a lavender-purple coat, a neatly brushed dark purple mane and tail with streaks of amethysts and magenta running through both with a mark of a six-pointed magenta star with a white star behind it and five smaller white stars surrounding it. Her name was Twilight Sparkle; a former unicorn turned alicorn and princess by her former mentor, Princess Celestia herself. Studious, intelligent, caring, loyal and extremely gifted in magic, Twilight was the very glue that held their group together. Instead of a necklace like her friends, she wore a pale gold tiara, from which laid a stunning magenta amethyst in the shape of a six-pointed star. The Element of Magic, the most mysterious and powerful of the Elements of Harmony and the conduit that the other elements channeled their power through.

They'd come seeking the Tree of Harmony in the hopes of finding a solution to the crisis plaguing Equestria and their home village of Ponyville. Both the sun and moon were in the sky at the same time, causing a simultaneous day and night; spiky black clouds that even the pegasus weather team couldn't control were warping the weather; the same black vines that currently ensnared the Tree of Harmony were entrapping the village and interfering with the horns of the unicorns and the spells that they cast; and worst of all, Princess Celestia and her younger sister Princess Luna had both disappeared without a trace.

Twilight stepped forward, taking in the sight of the once bright magical Tree, ensnared in the grip of the grizzly vines, while her friends watched anxiously. Even the usually hyper and loud Pinkie Pie stayed absolutely silent through this.

The young princess bravely approached the tree and flew up, flying closer to the six-pointed star on the trunk, which resembled her cutie mark. Reaching her hoof for it, one of the vines reached out and entangled itself on her hoof, forcing her to back away with a cry and shoot a magenta blast from her horn to free herself. The vines retreated and covered the six-pointed star.

Time was running out and Twilight through hard. What could be done to save the tree?

Then, she began to remember something she had witnessed in a vision of the past, when Celestia and Luna had come to retrieve the Elements of Harmony from the Tree in order to fight the draconequus Discord, who had been on a rampage of chaos over a thousand years ago. Something Celestia told Luna as she removed the elements:

"Even without these elements, the Tree of Harmony will possess a powerful magic. As long as that magic remains, it will continue to control and contain all that grows here."

Twilight looked at the branches of the tree, where the Elements originally stood. Her eyes then narrowed in determined realization. She knew what had to be done. She flew back down in front of her friends and spoke with determined authority.

"I know how we can save the tree." Her face slightly fell in sadness for what she had to say next: "We have to give it the Elements of Harmony."

All of Twilight's friends froze in shock. Give up the Elements? Equestria's most important means of defense? They had NEVER expected such an idea to come from Twilight of all ponies!

Rainbow Dash voiced out what they were all thinking as she flew forward and landed in front of Twilight, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. How are we suppose to protect Equestria?" she asked.

Rarity stepped forward, somewhat composed despite her shock, and continued for Rainbow Dash, "How are we meant to rain Discord in if we can't use the Elements to turn him back to stone?"

Applejack stepped forward next, with a worried look on her face, as she placed a hoof on her own element, "Twilight…The Elements of Harmony…they're what keep us connected no matter what."

Twilight could sense the sadness within them all. The Elements were the very things that made them friends. But Twilight knew that there was more to it than that.

"You're right about one thing, Applejack, the Elements of Harmony did bring us together. But it isn't the Elements that will keep us connected….it's our friendship. And that's more important and more powerful than any magic." The ponies all smiled warmly at Twilight's words. She then placed her hoof on Applejack's shoulder, causing the farmer to look up at her.

"My new role in Equestria may mean that I have to take on new responsibilities, and our friendships may be tested. But it will never,ever, be broken.

Everypony's smile widened even further as Twilight's words resounded in their minds. She was right. Even if the Elements had been what brought them all together, they didn't need them to maintain their friendship. During all of their past adventures and struggles they had gone through together, their friendship had only gotten stronger to the point where nothing could ever tear them apart.

"There's no time to lose." Twilight flapped her wings and flew upwards, "Everypony ready?"

The decision was unanimous. "Ready!"

The group all watched with heavy hearts as Twilight took their Elements into her magenta aura out of their necklaces and levitated them up to encircle her. It was hard for them to let the elements go, but it was for the good of Equestria. She then took out her Element from her crown and joined it with the others. The Elements then started to circle Twilight at high speed, appearing as a rainbow ring around her.

All of a sudden, as if sensing a possible threat, the vines around the tree shot towards Twilight, wrapping around her before she could even react! The others gasped in worry for their friend as she struggled against the vines, the Elements of Harmony floated around her, still caught in her magical aura.

The vines reached towards the Elements and wrapped around them. Thinking quickly, Twilight levitated them out of the vines' grip and shot them towards the Tree of Harmony. Each Element fit into a slot at the end of each branch, the Element of Magic fitting into the six-pointed star in the trunk, just as the vines completely covered Twilight. As Spike and rest of the Mane Six watched in fear for their friend, slots in the tree each closed in on the Elements, which had started to glow.

With the Elements returned, the Tree of Harmony suddenly emitted a bright glow that rivaled the intensity of a thousand suns and destroyed the vines surrounding it, freeing Twilight in the process. A rainbow-colored shock wave that spread outward all the way to Ponyville and beyond, destroying the dark vines in its path.

Discord was enjoying a yummy fruit drink while wearing a hawaiian shirt and sunglasses while lounging on one of the vines like a hammock. Being a spirit of chaos and mischief he had actually enjoyed the havoc the vines brought. As the shock wave passed, the vine he had been resting on disintegrated and he fell to the ground in a loud thumb. He looked around in shock and sadly slumped once he realized the vines were all gone.

"Oh, poo."

The light diminished and right before them, the once gray tree was now back to its original breathtaking crystal form. Spike and the Mane Six all gasped in astonishment at the sight of the restored Tree of Harmony, once again emitting an aura of warmth and comfort, as Twilight flew down to join them. Twilight then noticed something that had escaped their attention earlier: two clumps of the dark vines on either sides of the tree began to glow with rainbow colors, destroying them and revealing the missing rulers of Equestria themselves!

The one on the right was a stunning alicorn mare with lavender-purple eyes, a snow-white coat, a mane the colors of a pale rainbow with pale blinks of light sparkling within it with a tail to match that both rippled in a nonexistent breeze with a mark of a blazing sun on her flank. She wore a golden tiara embedded with a diamond-shaped amethyst with a necklace and ornate horseshoes to match, signifying a royal status. This was Celestia, the Princess of the Sun.

The other being on the left was also an alicorn mare, her beauty rivaling that of Celestia's. She had teal-blue eyes touched up with pale blue eye shadow, a dark blue coat, a sapphire-blue mane outlined in purple that sparkled with stardust to resemble a night sky that also rippled in a nonexistent breeze with a tail to match, a dark blue blotch with a silver crescent moon adored her flank. She wore a plain black tiara, a black necklace with a crescent moon matching the one on her flank and ornate silver horseshoes signified a royal status. This was Luna, Celestia's younger sister and the Princess of the Night.

Both princesses smiled warmly and stepped forward toward the group of friends. Ecstatic that her fellow princesses were safe and sound, Twilight galloped toward the two elder alicorns and embraced them. The two royal sisters towered over Twilight as they happily returned her greeting. Celestia then spoke with her strong and kind voice that echoed throughout the cavern.

"I know it was hard to give up the Elements of Harmony." said the princess of the sun "It took great courage to relinquish them." the others smiled at the reunion, relieved that the princesses and Equestria were saved.

Twilight continued to embrace her fellow alicorns with a huge smile of relief. Then, her eyes sparkled, all of a sudden, the Tree of Harmony's glow began to intensify. Everyone turned to look at the tree as rainbow colored beams of light trailing from the Elements on the tree's branches surged towards the Element of Magic. The beams connected into a single ray that flowed through the symbols of the sun and the moon, and continued down the trunk and into one of the roots that laid above ground.

To everyone's shock, two enormous tulip flowers sprouted from the root, their petals closed. Twilight stepped forward and slowly touched one of the flowers with her hoof. A bright light shined from within the petals, causing Twilight to shield her eyes. The petals opened to reveal a crystal chest with seven keyholes. Twilight stared in awe at the chest, as Celestia and Luna came beside her to take a closer look.

"What's inside it? How am I supposed to open it?" she asked as the royal sisters stared at the chest with thoughtful expressions mixed with confusion. They had never seen anything like this before.

"Seven locks, seven keys." Princess Luna observed. Both Luna and Twilight turned to Celestia for her input, but the older sister was just as uncertain as they were.

It was then that Spike spoke. "What's in that other flower?" Everyone's eyes turned toward the second tulip. Spike had a valid point, what could be within its petals? There was only one way to find out.

Twilight slowly approached the plant and raised up her hoof towards it. She once again shielded her eyes as the flower began to glow and open its petals. Once the light diminished, laying on the open flower was….

"A book?"

Twilight looked at the object curiously. Celestia approached and levitated the book in her pale golden aura. It was deep brown inlaid with gold and a blue heart gem was embedded in the center of the cover, surrounded by strange symbols around the corners. The symbols looked as if they were made with swift and elegant strokes of an ink brush. The princess arched her eyebrow.

"I've never seen markings like these before." she said. Celestia used her magic to try and open the book, but to her and everyone's surprise, she could not. "I can't seem to open it."

"How?" Twilight asked, "There's no lock or anything".

Indeed, the book had no lock or any bindings of the sort on it to prevent them from opening it. It was as if the pages were glued together. Princess Luna looked curiously at the mysterious book, "What do you think it's for?" the moon princess asked.

"I'm not sure. But something tells me, you can figure it out, Twilight." Celestia levitated the book to Twilight who took it with her own aura. "I do not know what this means, nor where the keys are, but I do know that it is a mystery you will not be solving alone."

Twilight and her friends all smiled at one another. Whatever this book meant, whatever mystery it holds, once thing was certain….she and her friends would figure it out together, just like they always do.

(~)

Meanwhile, a pair of eyes opened up, revealing two beautiful electric blue orbs. They belonged to a young girl, about seventeen years old, with dark-brown hair that flowed down to her shoulder blades and a dark complexion wearing a white sleeveless shirt and baggy pale blue pajama pants. She was physically fit and beautiful all at once. This was Korra of the Southern Water Tribe.

The young girl rubbed her head as she sat up from her bed, "Whoa. That was weird." she said. A large white beast, that laid on the floor beside her, softly growled. It looked like a cross between a polar bear and a large dog with large brown eyes that looked upon her mistress with concern. The large polar-bear dog whined and licked the teenager's face.

"I'm fine girl." she replied while petting her friend. "I just need some fresh air." Korra then got up from bed and put on a blue parka trimmed with white and a pair of brown boots.

Exiting her room, she was greeted with the sight of the White Lotus compound she had spent the majority of her childhood in. Several buildings and towers made up the compound and it was all within a tall, solid walk with only one set of gates that made the entrance. There was a large area in the middle where she practiced her abilities.

Surrounded by the ice and snow tundra that was typical of the South Pole, Korra had been protected and sheltered within the compound ever since she was four years old, by the Order of the White Lotus.

This society was one that included members of all four nations, dedicated to seeking philosophy, beauty and truth. But their main duty, one they took seriously above all others, was identifying and protecting the most important figure of their world: The Avatar; master of all four elements and the bridge between the physical and spirit worlds, until his or her training was completed.

Why was Korra being protected by the White Lotus? Why had they done so ever since she was a young child? Simple: she was the new Avatar.

That's right.

Korra was training to be the next Avatar. Normally, the Avatar wouldn't be informed of their identity until they had turned sixteen. But Korra was special. She started bending three of the four elements all at once at the tender age of four. Her parents had contacted the White Lotus, who were dumbfounded at the sight of a rambunctious toddler water, earth and firebending all at the same time. As a result, the White Lotus had taken Korra from her parents and placed her within the compound so she would be protected while she trained. Personally, she believed the idea of being stuck here was pretty stupid.

While her parents had been able to visit her, Korra had had an isolated childhood living in the compound. The only other ones who lived there were her bending masters, the White Lotus guards and her polar-bear dog, Naga. She had almost zero contact with people her own age and almost no real friends.

While Korra was proud of being the Avatar, she still longed for the day she would be able to leave the compound without any guards trailing her every move. She wanted the chance to make true friends for the first time in her life.

All this went through Korra's mind as she walked under the moonlight. She was so lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice that someone was coming up behind her.

"Lovely night for a stroll, isn't it Korra?"

Korra let out a startled gasp as she spun around, but relaxed once she recognized the woman who had spoken. It was her waterbending master, Katara of the Southern Water Tribe. Her white hair was pulled back into a bun at the nape of her neck with her signature hair loops starting from her forehead and ending at her bun. Her tanned complexion had faded a bit with her age, but her deep blue eyes still sparkled as they had done in her youth and her smile still held the same kindness that she was famous for.

She was a living legend. At the age of fourteen, she had fought alongside the previous Avatar, and Air Nomad named Aang, taught him waterbending and helped end the Hundred-Year War between the Fire nation and the other nations. She had later married Avatar Aang and helped him and her other friends found the United Republic of Nations; a land where benders and non-benders from all four nations could live together in peace. Katara had lived with Aang and their three children in the capital of this new land, Republic City. The couple had lived many happy years together.

But sadly, seventeen years ago, Aang passed away at the age of sixty-six. Korra had been born the day afterwards. When the White Lotus discovered Korra and built the compound, Katara moved back to the land of her birth to once train the Avatar in the art of waterbending. Aside from Naga and her parents, Katara was the only one at the compound whom she considered a real friend. Korra smiled at her old master.

"Master Katara, you startled me."

Katara just smiled at the young Avatar. "Sorry about that. I was just wondering why you were up at this late hour. Your firebending test is only days away and with all the practicing you've been doing, I figured you needed the rest."

Korra's smiled faltered at that. "Well, I woke up a few minutes ago and I couldn't go back to sleep. I figured some fresh air would help."

Katara quickly became concerned, "What's wrong Korra? Did you have a nightmare?"

Korra just shook her head, "No, it wasn't a nightmare. Just a really strange dream. I can't remember most of it."

Katara thought for a moment. "What can you remember?"

Korra took a few moments to search her memory for what she remembered about her dream, "Well, I remember seeing a cavern with flowers along the walls, and there was this tree at the end of it."

"Flowers and a tree? In a cavern?" Katara asked, somewhat confused. Normally trees nor flowers grew in a place where the sun couldn't reach them.

"I know it sounds weird but they didn't look like ordinary plants," Korra answered. "The flowers seemed to give off this…slight glow. But they had nothing on the tree."

"How was that?" asked Katara. Her former student's dream sounded very interesting.

"It looked like it was made from…" Korra paused for a moment. "You won't think I'm crazy, will you?"

"Of course not."

"Okay. The tree looked like it was made completely out of pale-blue crystal."

"Crystal?"

"Yeah. It had different colored gemstones in its branches and one in its center. And I saw two…well, I guess I could call them creatures. I've never even heard of anything like them."

"Creatures?" Now Korra definitely had Katara's undivided attention. "What were they like? How many were there?"

"Two. Both mammals. They were very colorful and their manes seemed to blow in the wind even though they were underground. They were very long sharp horns on their foreheads, and they both had massive wings on their backs. Then a third one came rushing towards them and hugged them, like they hadn't seen each other in years. The third one was just like the other two, only way smaller and its mane wasn't blowing. That's about all I can remember. The rest is kind of a blur." Korra watched as Katara considered what she had told her.

"I've never heard of such creatures," Katara said after a few moments. "Perhaps they were some sort of spirits?"

Korra thought about it then shook her head. "No. I don't think they were spirits." Korra answered with a thoughtful frown. "I know it sounds crazy, but they felt so…real. Like I was seeing something that was happening somewhere else."

"Well that's not entirely unheard of." Katara stated with a smile. "Some people have been known to see certain things in their dreams. Memories of their pasts, someone else's past, sometimes even premonitions of the future. This has been especially true for the Avatar. I know Aang sometimes had visions such as this, even when he was awake."

Korra supposed that made sense. After all, the Avatar was the bridge between the physical and spirit realms. For all she knew, the spirits could've been behind the visions. "So, you think this could've been one of those visions?" Korra asked.

Katara nodded. "It's possible that you were watching something that was indeed occurring somewhere else."

"But I've never even heard about the creatures I saw and I'm pretty sure there isn't such a thing as trees made out of crystal. It didn't even look like something you'd see anywhere in this world." That caught Katara's attention.

"How so?" she asked. Korra took another moment to consider.

"Like I said, I don't remember much about the dream, but I do remember that the cavern and the creatures were way more colorful than what you'd usually see. They were so vibrant and I couldn't make out any finer details. I couldn't even make out the feathers on their wings. It was like I was looking at a painting."

"That does sound a little strange." Katara agreed. "It would appear you have quite the mystery on your hands. But I know that if anyone would be able to figure it out, it'd be you Korra."

Korra smiled at Katara. This was why she liked her so much. She was always sweet and supportive. Katara was more like a grandmother to Korra alongside being her teacher.

"Now off to bed with you. Like I said before: your firebending test is in a few days. You'll need all the rest and practice you can get if you want to be prepared." Katara mock-commanded with a smile. Korra then bowed in respect.

"Yes, Master Katara. Thank you for listening." she said with a smile before heading back to her room, Katara watching her with a smile still on her face. She had known Korra the entire time she had been at the compound and had done her best to be there for her. Katara knew that there was something special about the young spirited Avatar. Something that set her apart from any of the past Avatars. Even Aang.

At the time, she had no idea how true that really was…

(~)

Korra returned to her room and walked towards the open window, looking up at the bright moon, "I wonder what it's like. Out there in the world. Especially Republic City. Right, Naga?"

The beast let out another soft, but happy growl, in agreement.

"Yeah. Maybe we'll get to see it one day." she sighed dreamily as she placed her right elbow on the window's edge and rested her head on her right hand. "One day, once I become a fully-realize Avatar. No one will be able to tell me what to do, where I can't go. I might even be able to make some real friends. That would be a dream come true." Korra sighed dreamingly, gazing up at the moon above her head, her eyes shimmering at the sight with dim lit colors before releasing a yawn, her sleep finally catching up to her.

"Well, we better get back to sleep, my firebending test is only a few days away. Gotta get up early if I wanna practice and ace it! Not that there is even the slightest chance that I won't." she said rather smugly before going to bed.

(~)

Welcome to Republic City / A Destined Bond

About a week had passed since the incident with the Plunderseeds. The damages had been repaired and the Summer Sun Celebration had gone off without a hitch with Princess Twilight performing her own version of a sonic rainboom as the princesses lowered and raised their respective celestial objects in the sky. The crowd of ponies cheered for the third princess, who smiled with glee.

Meanwhile, Avatar Korra, wearing red body armor that covered her upper torso and matching helmet, emerged from an incoming flame, jumped up and quickly kicked two more fire blasts from her feet toward a man wearing the same armor as she was. Despite the man's attempt to shield himself from the incoming attack he was still sent flying up into the air and crashed landed to the ground.

Once Korra landed, two more men, also wearing the same uniforms, simultaneously shot streams of fire at the young woman. The day of her firebending test has finally arrived and young Korra was at the top of her game.

The three firebenders shot a simultaneous fire blast, engulfing the female Avatar. With a confident grin, she dissipated the fire by moving her hands in a graceful, circular motion before taking a fighting stance.

"Is that all you got?" she taunted playfully. This girl was always confident in her skills, much like a certain rainbow-haired pegasus.

As the fight endured, five members of the White Lotus, as well as Katara, the woman with whom Korra had spoken with the night she had that mysterious dream, stood underneath a wooden platform with a roof over them, studying Korra's fighting and silently criticizing her choices. They all wore white and blue robes, minus one who wore a red one, a sure sign his native element was fire.

They watched unfazed as Korra send one of her opponents flying all the way up the roof where the White Lotus and Katara stood underneath of. The man slid down, unconscious, leaving a trail of smoke. Katara was very impressed by her student's skills.

"She's strong."

"She lacks restraint." said the White Lotus leader in dismay.

While it was true that Korra had some very raw talent, her patience and spirituality left much to be desired. But, even though she was hotheaded and fierce in battle, one could not deny that Korra also had a natural grace and elegance when she bended, even when fighting roughly. She moved swiftly with acrobatic ease, dodging various attacks in the blink of an eye or flinching, her brown locks bellowing against the wind like waves in the water. Her grace and determination rivaled that of a certain unicorn.

Korra ran straight into the fire blast aimed at her, parting it with her hand, and pushed the man's arms apart. Using him as step-up she propelled herself up into the air. For a brief moment, Korra felt like she was flying right before kicking a fire arc in the bender's direction, followed by showering him with a powerful fire stream as she descended. The man was thrown backwards, where he sagged down and slowly fell on his back with a light groan, his body smoking lightly from the intense fire.

The young victor rose her hands up in triumph, "Woohoo!" however, the White Lotus members did not seem amused. Korra none the less, smiled and laughed joyfully as she approached them. "Hey, why all the doom and gloom, people?" she asked as she removed her helmet, allowing her long brown hair, separated into three pieces, one on her head and two framing both sides of her round but naturally beautiful face. Her electric blue eyes carried a sense of wonder, beauty and adventure. Nearly identical to the eyes of a certain pink pony.

"We should be celebrating! Three elements down, one to go!"

The firebending White Lotus member arched an eyebrow, "You're getting ahead of yourself as usual, Korra. We haven't decided if you passed your firebending test yet."

The fiery young woman pouted in annoyance, noticing a strand of hair over her eyes and blew it back into place.

"Ever since you were a little girl, you've excelled at the physical side of bending, but completely ignored the spiritual side. The Avatar must master both."

Korra knew this was coming. She had always been so good with the other elements, but being all 'spiritual' and all of that was always very hard for her to grasp. "I haven't ignored it, it just doesn't come as easy to me." she said, slightly bowing her head before smiling, "But that's why I should start training with Tenzin immediately. He's Mister Spiritual."

The White Lotus Elders slightly moved forward to address Katara, "Do you believe she's ready, Master Katara?"

Korra crossed her fingers, eagerly awaiting for a positive response from her waterbending master. Her heart leaped for joy when the woman smiled. "Yes. If anyone can teach her what she needs to learn, it's Tenzin."

Korra's eyes shifted to the rest of the White Lotus members, her eyes shimmering with hope. Finally, the leader made his decision. "Very well, Korra. It's time for you to begin your airbending training."

This was it! Korra was finally going to become a full pledged Avatar. All of her years of training and studying were about to pay off. She, quite literally, jumped for joy and spun around, clenching her fist up in victory once she landed.

"Yes! Finally!"

In her excitement, she briefly forgot that the elders were still watching her, some of them looked at her with dismay. Korra cleared her throat, clapped her hands together and bowed in respect.

"I mean, thank you all for believing in me." she said in a much more dignified tone, but there was no hiding the smile on her face. She gave them an innocent smile as she slowly walked away from the elders. Once she was farther away, she up and ran from the grounds, unable to contain herself any longer. Her smile grew wider and her heart was pounding hard against her chest, savoring the adrenaline rush as she left the training grounds.

Katara smiled proudly. Korra was never one to stray from showing how she felt. She was firmly open and honest as she was hard working. Much like a certain orange country pony.

"I'm not so sure she's that ready." said one of the members.

"Have more faith in her." Katara said confidently, "One day, she will surprise all of us."

"Of course she will. She is the Avatar after all."

Katara simply chuckled and shook her head, "You may have eyes, but you don't see very well."

(~)

Korra dashed down the stairs towards the stables and opened the gate, "Naga, you should have seen it!" Her beloved polar-bear dog pricked her ears upon hearing her mistress's voice, waggling her tail before getting up to meet her. "I kicked some firebender butt, and I passed!" she cuddled Naga's head, scratching behind her ear. "Tenzin will be here in a few days. I can't wait!" she laughed gleefully when Naga licked her face.

Much like a certain yellow pegasus, Korra had a natural way with animals, big or small.

After placing the saddle on her back, Korra jumped onto Naga and rode her outside towards the large thick gate that surrounded the compound. Korra called out to the White Lotus Sentry who stood at the watch tower. The sentry was leaning against the railing, napping. Korra cupped her hands together and called out to the man.

"Hey, Howl!"

The man jolted up when he heard the young woman shout his name, loosing his balance and falling flat on his face. Korra winced when she heard the collision from down bellow. Howl managed to straightened himself up, readjusted his helmet and looked down. "Oh, Avatar Korra. What is it?"

"I'm just taking Naga out for a stroll. Mind opening the gates?" Howl, however, looked down with a look of uncertainty. Korra knew exactly what he was asking as she crossed her arms in annoyance. She sighed irritably, "Don't worry, we're not going far."

Despite his uncertainty, Howl decided to comply. As the large doors opened up, the rays of the sun shined through and Korra smiled broadly at the wide open space before her. Nothing made her happier than to go out and be free and wild. But even though she was out, two sentries eyed her from atop a nearby mountain as she rode Naga over the large snow covered plains of the her icy homeland.

"Naga, go!" the beast obeyed and picked up speed, "That a girl. Go! Go! Go!"

The polar-bear dog ran faster and faster, the snow hitting against her paws and Korra's hair swaying like rapid ocean waves. One of the few benefits that came with living in a compound was the location. Sure it consisted of mainly snow, but there was so much space for her and her companion to roam she could stay out there for hours. Korra let out a happy "Woohoo!!' raising her hand upwards into the sky as Naga picked up even more speed, panting happily with her tongue sticking out.

As they ran across the icy plains, the white beast came to a sudden halt, surprising the rider. Korra's eyes shifted forward and spotted a group of teenage hunters, all startled by the sight of the polar-bear dog. Korra calmed the beast down, "Easy girl." she petted Naga's head and smiled to the young hunters, "Sorry about that."

The hunters were all male and around Korra's age. They all wore native water tribe parkas with white fur and blue coloring, each carrying a spear in their hands. One of them tapped their apparent leader's shoulder, "Dude, that's the Avatar!"

"Whoa!"

The boys were very surprised to see the Avatar before them. Korra never really had a chance to mingle with teenagers, and so she was a bit surprised by their reaction. She would have expected this from anyone else outside of the south pole, but nearly everybody knew her. She visited the city village a few times with her parents and she was good terms with many of the town folk. One of the boys spoke in a slight whisper to their leader, who was still looking at Korra in awe.

"Ask her."

"What if she says 'no'?"

"Just do it."

Korra slightly tilted her head at them, the gesture making her look all the more adorable as the leader took two steps forward and asked awkwardly, "Um, we were wondering if you'd like to go hunting with us. You know, if that's okay with you, being the Avatar and all."

Korra's face lit up, "Sure! Sounds like fun!"

"Avatar Korra!" Sadly, her happiness faded when she turned her head and saw two sentries approach her, "You should be back at the compound."

"But I was just--"

"You know you shouldn't wander off too far. Our orders were to bring you back. Now come along."

"I was only--"

"Now!"

Korra growled in frustration before turning to the young hunters, looking dejected, "Sorry, guys. Maybe some other time." she yanked on Naga's reigns and turned away from the group.

"I told you guys we shouldn't have asked." said the leader.

"Guess The Avatar's just too busy for friends."

Hearing their words brought even more sadness to Korra's heart. Why couldn't she make friends just as easily as other kids could?

(~)

After the celebration had concluded, Spike and the Mane Six returned to Ponyville, each returning to their normal routines. Except for Twilight that is. Alongside running the Golden Oak Library (also her and Spike's home), the young princess was putting all her research skills into figuring out how to open the mysterious book that had come from the Tree of Harmony. Twilight had secluded herself in the library and hadn't ventured out since their return to Ponyville.

The young princess was looking endlessly in all of her books for anything relating to the mystery book and box but found nothing of help. She grunted as she slammed yet another book and levitated it back onto the shelf. Spike was out running some errands so Twilight was alone in the house.

"Why can't things ever be easy?" she asked herself as she walked out onto the balcony. So many question circled around in her head. She couldn't help but feel that the mysterious book contained something very important.

So important that she couldn't stop thinking about it. She lost sleep over the dang thing. She didn't know if it was just her natural curiosity, or her alicorn instincts telling her what she needed to do.

"What does it mean? What am I missing? Eh! Nopony said being a princess was easy, but they sure didn't say it would be this hard!" she sighed as she rested her head against the railing of the balcony, looking out into the distance of Ponyville.

As much as she knew she could count on her friends, she still wished there was somepony out there who understood what it meant to feel having the world on your shoulders. Since Twilight became an alicorn, she felt a high pressure on herself.

She knew she could always talk to Celestia, Luna or her sister-in-law Cadance about it, but it still didn't feel different. Luna and Celestia had each other while Cadance was always so calm and collected, but Twilight was always restless. She was always curious, she always had to learn and know more. It was this trait that made it so hard for her. She wanted to know what she was suppose to do and she didn't want to feel unsure about it because she didn't want to make a mistake.

"I wish there was somepony out there who understood what it's like." She was started to believe she may not find anyone who would and even if she did…

Where would she be?

(~)

The following day, Korra and Katara awaited outside of the compound. It was late in the afternoon and they knew Tenzin would be arriving any minute now.

Tenzin was Katara and Aang's youngest son, and the only one to have inherited his father's airbending roots. Korra's face lit up when she saw a large furry beast soaring across the sky. It was a creature with two curved horns, four legs on both sides of its boy and a long flat tail that flapped against the wind as it flew. It had long thick light brown fur and arrow-like marking on its head that stretched out across its body down to its tail. On its back was a saddle, containing a few people. This was Tenzin and his family and their creature was called a sky bison.

As the bison neared its descend, Korra ran up, looking excitedly. Ever since she was little she always wondered what it would be like to fly.

"Are we there yet? Are we there yet! Are we there yet? It looks like we're here. Ooh, please tell me we're here!" a very talkative voice was heard from the beast's head. The voice belonged to Tenzin's youngest daughter, Ikki.

The bison finally landed and the tall man holding the reigns sighed in relief an annoyance. "Yes, Ikki, as I've been telling you for the last fifteen minutes, we are..." he breathed a sight of relief, "...finally, here."

Tenzin was a tall man, dressed in long orange, red and yellow robes. He was about forty years of age, with a pale complexion; a blue arrow on his head, blue eyes and a dark pointed beard. On his head was a young boy, perching his shoulders and gnawing on his head…for reasons unexplained.

This was Meelo, the youngest of Tenzin's children and only son. He was five-years-old, bald with blue eyes identical to his father's.

Ikki, the second child at seven, had even darker hair styled up in two bunds at the sides of her head, covered with yellow caps and grey eyes.

He also had his eldest daughter by ten, Jinora. She was a lovely young girl with short brown hair pulled up in a single bun on the side of her head and dark-brown eyes. All three shared their father's pale complexion.

The two sisters excitedly jumped off the bison, riding off its tail on air scooters. Like their father, they were airbenders. Tenzin descended from his bison, as his mother walked up to him. Meelo was still on his shoulders, pulling his father's ears while he held his right arm in front of his chest to greet Katara.

"Hello, Mother. I can't tell you how happy I am to see you." he said in a serious but still loving tone as his two daughters pulled up onto his sides and Meelo was still pulling his ears. "Please, help me." Tenzin pleaded, making Katara laugh warmly as she took Meelo off of her son's shoulders and into her arms.

"Unhand me, strange woman!" Meelo demanded, waving his limbs frantically as Katara held him.

"That's your grandmother, Meelo."

Meelo pushed off of Katara's hands and somersaulted above her head, landing on the ground behind her before dashing away. Katara smiled smiled lovingly at her two granddaughters.

"It's so good to see all of you."

Jinora approached her grandmother, smiling just as lovingly. She always admired her Katara for everything she had done in her past, and for being the best grandmother in the whole world.

"Gran Gran, I've been reading all about your old adventures." Katara chuckled lightly, Jinora loved to read and dream of adventures. She was very bright for her age. "I've been dying to ask you: What happened to Zuko's mom?"

"Well, Jinora, it's an incredible tale!"

But before she could continue, her younger granddaughter, Ikki, jumped up in front of her and started to bombard her with questions. Ikki was the…spirited one of the bunch.

"Gran Gran, you look old. How old are you? And why is it so cold in the South Pole?" as she asked, she jumped up and down, clapping her hands, while Jinora stood beside her with an annoyed look on her face as her sister kept asking questions, so fast their grandmother couldn't answer. "Can we make a campfire, and all hurled around it, and tell scary stories, and make snowmen?---"

As she continued her rambling Tenzin noticed his wife struggling to get down from the bison. Pema was a beautiful woman with pale skin, bright green eyes and brown hair styled into a low short ponytail. She wore long red and yellow robes and had one hand over her swollen stomach, a sure sign that she was expecting a child. Unlike her husband and children, Pema was not an airbender, but was what some would call an Air Acolyte: A person who had dedicated their lives to the Air Nomad ways. Tenzin walked over to assist.

"Pema, let me help you. Careful now, careful."

"Stop doting on me. I'm not helpless, I'm just pregnant." Pema may be kind but she was also a force to be reckoned with. She happily hugged her mother-in-law who placed her hand gently over the stomach.

"The baby's strong. I see another airbender in your future."

Pema's face became slightly unhappy upon the news, "All I want is one child like me, a nice non-bender, who doesn't blast wind in my face every five seconds."

"Mommy, look!"

Pema darted an irritated look at Meelo when he called her. He was covered completely in snow, before blasting it off of himself with his aribending.

"I'm a snowbender!"

The snow landed on Pema's head and shoulders. She shook her head rapidly to remove it, leaving her hair a mess. "Were Tenzin and his siblings this crazy when they were kids?" she asked Katara.

"Kya and Bumi certainly were, but Tenzin has always been…rather serious."

Tenzin pouted as well, "Mother, please." the airbender then, finally, noticed the second person standing behind his mother, who was openly giggling at the sight of the excitable children. She flashed the man the most innocent smile anyone could imagine while calmly waiting with her hands behind her back.

"Korra?"

Tenzin could not believe that this young woman was the little Avatar he had seen time and time before. She had grown up so much. Korra happily ran up to her new bending master and he placed his hands on his new student's shoulders, while his children ran past them.

"Look at you, so big and strong. You've grown into quite the young Avatar."

"Master Tenzin, I'm so glad you're here. I can't wait to get started."

But Tenzin's once happy expression shifted to one of uncertainty. "Yes, well…"

"You're going to have to tell her sooner or latter." said Pema.

"Tell me what?" Korra asked curiously.

Katara looked at her son with sadness in her eyes, "You're not staying, are you?"

Tenzin sighed, "I'm afraid not. We're only visiting for the night. Then I have to return to Republic City."

Korra was devastated by this news. She was so excited to learn more about airbending and now her mentor was saying he couldn't teach her. She couldn't allow this.

"But…No, you're supposed to move here. You're supposed to teach me." she said, still not completely understanding why this was happening.

"I'm sorry, Korra. Your airbending training is going to have to wait."

Korra slowly backed away from him, "This isn't fair!"

"Please, try to understand--" But before he could explain the rest, Korra had already ran off in tears. "Korra!"

The young Avatar was truly devastated. She ran all the way to her room, slamming the door in frustration and slid down, hugging her knees and sighing sadly.

This truly wasn't fair. Why couldn't anyone understand that she only wanted to learn, to better herself, to be a good Avatar. She had so much potential and yet in the compound she felt like her potential was wasted. She knew she had the world on her shoulders, but how was she suppose to do what they said she must do if they kept treating her like a child?

"Why can't anyone understand?" she asked, primarily to herself. Who would understand what it was like to want to know more, to want to expand, but feel so restrained.

At the exact same time, Twilight Sparkle suddenly saw the book beside her vibrate. "Hu?" she quickly approached it, but it still would not open. The mystery behind this object inspired her even more. She had to unravel the truth behind this.

But how?

(~)

"So, how long until you're ready to teach me airbending? A week? A month?" Korra asked. She, Tenzin and the White Lotus leader sat on a table, eating dinner. She still wouldn't let the topic drop.

"It could be much longer." Tenzin said, which did not reassure the young Avatar.

"I don't understand." Korra said in disappointment, "Why are you making me wait?"

"I have responsibilities to Republic City. I am one of its leaders, and the situation there is very unstable right now."

"But you also have a responsibility to teach me." Korra said defiantly, "Believe me, I'd be happy to find another airbending master, but you're the only one." she looked away sadly, "We're stuck with each other."

"I wish there were another way."

Then, almost like a bolt of lightning, it hit her. Korra flashed her dazzling smile as she spoke, "Wait, there is! If you can't stay here, then I'll go back to Republic City with you! It's perfect!"

But the WL leader angrily banged his hand on the table, shaking the utensils as he did, "Absolutely not! The city is far too dangerous. Avatar Aang tasked us with keeping you safe while you mastered the four elements."

"I get that, but I don't think keeping me locked up in this compound like a prisoner is what he had in mind. Besides, how am I supposed to be the Avatar and handle my responsibilities if you never let me? I can't be treated like some child you want to keep away from the world."

Tenzin tried to reason with her, "I know this is difficult to accept, but it's not the right time for you to come to the city."

"But--"

"No more protests!" the leader said firmly, "The decision is final!"

Korra simply shook her head and turned away from the two, "Whatever." she abruptly got up and left the room, slamming the door shut behind her. The two men sighed.

"What are we going to do with her?" said the leader, "Can't she see we are only trying to protect her?"

"I understand your concern." Tenzin said, "Korra has always had a…defiant spirit."

"And that's the problem. She needs to learn discipline, but she just can't get it through her head. Sometimes it's like training a wild ostrich-horse."

"But ostrich-horses can be tamed with patience and time."

"What about those that don't? Their strength can only get them so far."

The room fell into silence and Korra, with her ear pressed against the door, narrowed her eyes at the two men on the other side. She couldn't believe that they were complaining about her independent spirit, when Katara always said it was one of the most wonderful and special things about her.

The Avatar was now more determined than ever to prove them both wrong.

Before she would leave, she heard a loud scream coming from inside. She dashed right in, seeing the WL leader trying to shoo a white rat away from the table. An arctic mouse scurried across the table, clearly searching for food. Tenzin tried to reason with the man, who had a terrible phobia of rodents. As an airbender, Tenzin respected all living things. Without thinking twice, Korra snatched the creature from the table, keeping it safe in her arms as the man calmed down.

"Korra, put that creature down!"

But Korra, as always, was defiant towards authority, "Will you relax, it's just a little mouse." she said, the creature squeaked in her hands.

"You don't know where it's been!" the man shouted, making Korra groan in annoyance before walking out the door. The WL leader finally calmed down. "I can't stand rodents!"

Once out of harm's way, Korra kneeled down beside a hole in the wall, gently allowing the little mouse to land in front of it. The creature's nose twitched while looking up at its savior, who smiled warmly before taking something from her pocket. Without anyone knowing, Korra had snuck some food for the creature to eat.

"Don't take it personally. The old timer doesn't get out much." Korra lightly chuckled. The mouse squeaked in gratitude, "You're welcome. At least one of us should be satisfied tonight." she winked before walking away, leaving the mouse to stash its new food to eat in peace inside her home. Unbeknownst to Korra, somebody else was watching the scene, smiling proudly at her pupil.

(~)

The next day, Tenzin and his family left the south pole, leaving Katara saddened to see them go. From the rim of a cliff, Korra sat perched atop of Naga as the bison flew past them. As Korra looked on over to the horizon, her heart spoke to her. It was telling her to go. To leave. It was time for her to break out, to explore the world.

She couldn't explain it if she tried, but this feeling, this sensation was too powerful for her to ignore. She was tired of the snow. She was tired of living in a kingdom of isolation. She was tired of being the 'good girl' she always had to be.

She couldn't hold it back anymore. Her choice was made.

(~)

That night, Korra came running into the stables, waking Naga up. She place her index finger near her lips to shush the beast and began mounting the saddle onto Naga's back.

"Nice night for an escape, isn't it?"

Korra flinched and turned around to see Katara standing before her. The young woman couldn't lie to her. She never really was a good liar to begin with.

"I have to leave." she said with sadness in her voice, "I have to find my own path as the Avatar."

Instead of being upset or hurt that she would leave her grandmother-like figure behind, Katara smiled contently, "I know you do." she said in an understanding tone.

Korra's expression changed from sad to grateful.

"Aang's time has passed. My brother and many of my friends are gone. It's time for you and your generation to take over the responsibility of keeping peace and balance in the world." the woman moved forward and placed her right hand on the young woman's shoulder, "And I think you're going to be a great Avatar. You have the greatest weapon anyone can posses."

"Don't you mean weapons?" Korra asked, referring to the elements she could bend.

"No…I mean what's in here." Katara placed her hand over Korra's heart, and the latter looked at her teacher curiously. "What you have in here is stronger than you know. Never loose sight of that."

Korra understood what Katara was trying to say. "Thank you." she said before hugging her mentor one last time, taking in all the love and motherly warmth that came with the embrace. Katara shed a single tear.

"Goodbye Korra." They released and Korra mounted onto Naga. "And Korra." the elderly woman said, getting Korra's attention. She smiled, "Show them just what a wild ostrich-horse can really do." Katara winked, earning a crooked smile from the Avatar.

(~)

Before she would go off on a ship to Republic City, Korra made a stop at her parents' house. The two people who loved and supported her her whole life. They were sad to see their baby girl leave, but they knew it was time for her to live her own life.

"Mom, Dad. I'll miss you."

"We love you so much." said her mother.

With a heavy heart, Korra climbed onto Naga, casted one last look at her beloved mother and father, and lead the polar-bear dog away, riding off into the night.

Without anyone looking, the two managed to sneak into the cargo hold of the ship that was leaving for Republic City. Once inside, the ship took off, sailing into the starry night sky. Naga laid behind some crates while Korra rested against her side, her arms behind her head, looking content. This was the adventure she had always dreamed of.

"I can't believe this is really happening! I wonder what the city will be like." she sat up, resting her hands on her side, "I might get to see a pro-bending match, or ride on a satomobile, bust a few criminals." she gasped in awe, "I can finally make some real friends!" she turned her head to see Naga's reaction, but the beast was already sound asleep. Korra pouted, "I can see you're as excited as I am." she said sarcastically.

Korra hugged her legs as more thoughts about Republic City formed in her mind. She couldn't wait to see what this world was like. What being free was like. Korra looked at her surroundings, Naga was asleep and nobody could hear her.

With a sneaky smile, Korra stood up as she opened her mouth.

Ever since she was little, Korra loved to sing. Sometimes, she would just make a song right on the spot. It was a very rare and unusual gift she possessed, one she held secret. She only sang to herself, but now, she wanted to sing about how excited she was for her new adventure. Korra walked around the room, letting her mind drift off as her clear, deep yet soulful voice was heard.

(Parody of Journey to the Past from Anastasia.)

Heart, don't fail me now

Courage, don't desert me

Don't turn back, now that we're here

People always say; life is full of choices

But so few would even dare

To see how the road can seem so long

How the world can seem so vast

Courage, see me through

Heart, I'm trusting you

Cause my journey…

Has begun

Without a care in the world, Korra spun and danced by herself, letting all of her feelings show. She was letting the real her shine, her real heart be heard, even if it was just to herself.

Somewhere down this road

I know someone's waiting

Years of dreams, just can't be wrong

Arms will open wide

I'll be free and welcomed

Finally a place, where I can fly!

Well, starting here, my life begins

Starting now, I'm learning fast

Courage, see me through

Heart, I'm trusting you

Now my journey…

Has begun!

Naga eventually woke up to see her master dancing happily like a child around the room. Korra slowed down, and so did her song.

Home, Love, Friendship

Just some of the things I've always dreamed of

Someone, who understands

A place where I feel I can belong!

One step at a time

One hope, then another

Who knows where this road may go!

Finally, play my part

On to make my future

Things my heart still needs to know!

Yes, let this be a sign

Let this road be mine

Let it lead me to my fate

Courage, see me through

Heart, I'm trusting you

To bring me home…

At last!

As the ship sailed away into the night, Korra dreamed of the adventures that awaited her in this Strange New World.

(~)

After having been secluded from them for a while, the five friends went to visit Twilight. "I wonder if Twilight's had any luck with that book." said Applejack.

"The poor dear has been working on that thing for the past week." said Rarity with concern.

"Hey, if anypony can figure it out, it's Twilight" Rainbow Dash said confidently. The pegasus knocked on the door of Twilight's library before opening and she and the others entered. "Hey, Twilight. How's 'unlocking the mystery book' coming…" she trailed off as she saw the state the interior was in "...along?"

To their surprise, the girls saw that the entire place had books scattered all over the floor and the ones on the shelf were organized in the sloppiest manner. Needless to say the whole place was a mess. This really worried the five mares. Twilight was the most meticulous and organized pony they knew.

They all spotted Twilight in the very center of the room, struggling to open the mysterious book. She was so frustrated and desperate to open it, she had to resort to brute force. She even started biting down hard on the thing, much to the shock of her fiends.

Spike walked up to them with an exhausted look on his face, "Thank Celestia you guys are here! She's been at that book all night. She's totally distrusting my dragon beauty sleep!" the sleepy dragon pointed at the dark bags under his eyes.

"Any luck on figuring out what that book is for?" Applejack asked the alicorn princess, who was still biting on the book. She didn't even make a dent or leave a tooth mark anywhere.

"No! It wont even open!!" The country pony flinched a bit at Twilight's loud and angry response.

"I've tried every spell I know of, every spell and method I could find! And NOTHING'S WORKED!!!" Everypony backed away slightly from the irritated alicorn. Twilight had quite a temper when she got worked up enough. She looked ready to burst into flames. She actually had once before when trying to figure out Pinkie Pie's "Pinkie Sense" with no success. Everyone agreed that Twilight could scare off a full-grown dragon when her temper flared.

Finally, Twilight's frustration hit its breaking point. She groaned loudly and threw the book with all of her might.

"This is impossible!!"

The book made contact with the wall and fell to the floor and Twilight began walking away from it, seemingly giving up. Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks when all of her friends gasped in awe, making Twilight turn around. She also gasped at what she saw.

The heart of the center of the book started to glow brightly in the most mesmerizing way and the light seemed to intensify and expand in size, with rainbow colors reflecting off of the walls in the most beautiful pattern.

"Ohhhhhhh. Sparkly!" said Pinkie Pie in awe.

Then, to their immense surprise, the book finally opened up! Twilight smiled gleeful. At last they could discover what this book meant! As Twilight approached the now opened book, it's pages suddenly came to life and started to flip around on their own before stopping in a specific page. Twilight's smile suddenly faded once she saw what was on the pages.

"Well, what does it say?" Spike asked, as Twilight continued flipping through the pages with her horn's magic. They waited with bated breath as Twilight scanned the book.

"Nothing." she finally said.

"Say what now?" Rainbow asked in disbelief.

"There's nothing here. Nothing!" Twilight began frustratingly flipping the pages with her magic but continued to find nothing. "No words, no pictures no--" she suddenly stopped flipping once she found that there WAS something in the book. "Look at this." Twilight said as she pointed to a page.

The others gathered around her and they all looked down at a strange picture. They saw something that looked kind of like a white kite thing with long tentacles and blue symbols on its chest. Next to it appeared a strange two legged creature with its hooves raised up. Only its 'hooves' had what Twilight had long learned to call "fingers". Surrounding the creature were six other gems in bright rainbow colors. The mares recognized the gemstones immediately.

"Aren't those the Elements of Harmony?" Rarity asked.

"Yes," said Twilight, "and If I'm not mistaken…that's a human." she pointed her hoof to the silhouette of the human in the picture, "One of the creatures I met when I was in the other world after Sunset Shimmer stole my crown."

Just then, the pages flipped rapidly once more at their own will, and magically, new words began to appear on a blank page, making the others gasp in awe. The words didn't look like anything they had ever seen. In fact, the letters themselves didn't look like they were from this world. They looked so elegant and identical to the symbols found in the corners of the book's cover.

"Wow. What kind writing is that?" asked Spike in awe once the writing manifested itself fully on the page. What they didn't know at the time was that it was chinese writing.

Twilight looked curiously at the strange words on the page, and to her surprise, she could understand what they said. "I…don't know. But, I can read it. It looks like some kind of spell."

"Well, read what it says." Rainbow Dash insisted, "Maybe it can show us what this book is all about."

The five ponies and Spike listened closely as Twilight read the words out-loud;

"When the time is right

Underneath the same light

A bond will ignite

At very first sight."

The others all waited anxiously for something to occur and…. nothing. No spark, no zap, no strange creatures coming out of nowhere. Nothing. All the ponies looked around the room, all wearing skeptical looks on their faces, curious as to why nothing was happening.

Twilight arched an eyebrow at the book, "Hm. Nothing's happeni--AHHH!" she and the rest of her friends screamed once the book unleashed a powerful blast from its pages. It was so powerful that it forced the ponies and dragon up against the library's walls. The book began to float in mid air, its pages glowing stronger and strong before it landed safely on the ground, but it's powerful glow and energy only intensified.

"I think it did work!" Rainbow Dash shouted, while still shielding her eyes from the intense light, as did the others.

Something began to emerge from the book's pages. It came out looking like some sort of twister, but with rainbow colors spinning rapidly with no end in sight. The twister grew larger and large in size, blowing away all the books in its path and flipping the ponies' manes rapidly. It was unlike anything the girls had ever seen! Twilight looked down at her hooves, and felt the twister pulling her towards it. The other ponies felt this too. They all tried their very best to run away and fight the force, but to no avail. They even tried holding on to anything they could grab, but it was no use, the force was just too strong. The girls screamed as they were all sucked into the mysterious vortex, one by one

Unwilling to let them go, Spike quickly grabbed hold of Twilight's tail and went into the twister with them as a result. Through the vortex they went, screaming down a deep howl with rainbow colors swirling all around. It was a beautiful sight but the ponies were all too frightened to admire its beauty.

"AAAAAHHHHH!"

"WHAT'S HAPPENING?!" Fluttershy asked in complete fear as she fell deeper deeper.

"I DON'T KNOW!!" Rarity cried out, equally scared. The girl picked up more speed, their destination as complete mystery. Ahead of them was what appeared to be some kind of liquid portal. The friends all huddled together, preparing themselves for the impact that never came. They all went through the portal, perfectly in tact, and the portal itself rippled like it was made out of water.

For a moment, the group felt like they were floating in an endless space surrounded by sparkles that made it look like the nighttime sky. It didn't look like anything they had ever seen in Equestria. Their manes and tales floated above their heads as if they were underwater. Suddenly, the girls and little dragon felt something attach to their bodies. They noticed various sparkles that floated around them began to fly up and attach themselves to their bodies. Twilight felt one sparkle get stuck to her chest. She touched it with her hoof, studying it curiously.

"Wha--what is this?"

The sparkles came at them one by one and slowly at first, but they quickly multiplied and accelerated, now attaching to each of them like flies around rotten food. They all tried to shake the strange sparkles off of their bodies, but they appeared to sink into their skin, expanding in size and covering their entire bodies.

"Hey, get it off!" Rainbow Dash tried to shake the sparkles off, but it was in vain. Before long, their bodies were all covered in sparkles from the tip of their noses to the very last hair of their tails. Their now completely covered bodies started to glow brightly like the sun and the could feel themselves changing somehow. Something was happening but they didn't know what it was. The six ponies and little dragon all merged together into a sparkling glowing orb before flying at top speed like a shooting star. The friends could feel the speed accelerate as they all screamed and braced for the impact that awaited them.

"WOAHHHHHHHH!!!!"

A loud thump was heard. The vortex disappeared, the sparkles dimmed, and the group fell into silence.

Everything went dark.

Hearing metal-like sounds caused Korra to wake up. She rubbed her eyes and pushed her sleeping companion's paw.

"Naga, we're here!"

(~)

"Uhhhhh…" Twilight groaned as she slowly opened her eyes. Everything looked blurry at first but then her vision cleared up. As she looked at her surroundings, she found herself in what appeared to be an alley. She shook her head and got back on her hooves. She still felt a bit dizzy from the ride and she wobbled as she stood up.

"Uh….where am I?" she asked. This didn't look like anyplace she had ever seen in Equestria. The colors were all brownish and earthly-like, and there were trash cans and trash on both sides of the alley around her which would only indicate this was some kind of dirty street. However, when Twilight smelled the air, she recognized a certain salty aroma. The unmistakable scent of the ocean.

"Okay, you freaky book, where did you bring us?" Twilight asked before accidentally stepping on a puddle of water. Once removing her hoof she gazed at her reflection.

Her eyes widened at what she had seen…

She was still physically a pony but her appearance looked somewhat different than before. She examined her new features, she could see every single detail of her feathers, her head was slightly smaller than how it used to be. The perfect proportion for her pony body, and her eyes looked different as well. They were the same shape but they still looked somewhat distinct compared to how they once looked. They were a bit smaller, her eyelashes were thicker and smaller, and she could see actual fur on her body and ears.

"W--What happened to me?"

"Twilight?"

She turned around to see Spike rubbing his head as he tried to get himself back up. He was still a dragon and the same height he always was, but he still looked different than before. His limbs were thinner and more proportioned for his body and his scales were more defined.

"Spike!"

Twilight then heard her other friends groan. All around her, each one woke up, all sporting a new makeover just like herself. One by one, they rubbed their heads and shook their bodies to get the dust off. "Oh, my head." said Rainbow Dash right before looking at her wings, "Wow! What happened to my wings?!"

"Forget your wings, look at your body!" said Applejack, pointing at her friend's new design.

"Me?! Look at yours!!"

Applejack studied her body as well, shocked to see what had happened. Rarity examined her new form as well, but she wasn't entirely sure if she looked alright, she feared she looked awful. "Be honest, how do I look?" she asked worriedly.

Pinkie Pie studied her from head to hoof, "Like Rarity, only your head looks a teeny, tiny bit smaller compared to your body."

"What?!" The unicorn looked down a nearby puddle and sighed in relief, "Oh, what a relief, I don't look too strange. And still fabulous." she said while flipping her mane.

"What is this place?" Fluttershy asked while looking around the alley and shaking in fear.

"That's the last load boys."

"AHHH!" The girls slightly jumped in fear at the sound of two masculine voices. Turning around they saw a clear opening at the very end of the alley, the sun shining overhead. The ponies all looked a tad nervous to go on ahead, this was a strange new world after all. Seeing their uneasiness, Twilight took in a deep breath and walked on first. But not before she gulped nervously. The others then bravely followed and walked out of the alley, shielding their eyes from the sun's light. Once they were out in the open, they all gasped at what they saw before them:

Humans. Actual humans, working at what appeared to be some form of docks with large ships at the harbor. In the background was a large city with massive buildings as far as the eye could see, surrounded by a snow-capped mountain range. The girls had never seen anything like it before: the land was composed of more earthy colors and was not as rainbow colored compared to Equestria, but none the less, the land they saw was breathtaking all the same.

"Wow!" was all they could say. Rainbow Dash pointed her hooves to the strange beings with two legs, long bodies and small noses.

"Are those-"

"Humans." Twilight finished. "But, they look different than what I remembered. I don't even think it's the same world I went into last time."

"So I reckon this means you have absolutely no idea where we are?" Applejack asked.

Twilight shook her head, "Sorry, but I get this strange feeling that the book brought us here for a reason. Maybe we can get some answers from somewhere else. Follow me."

The ponies and Spike followed Twilight as they walked past the people working, all while trying their best to be inconspicuous. Just how would these humans react to seeing these magical ponies?

"Thanks for the ride!"

A feminine voice shouted out, at the very same moment a large blur of white came running right past the group of friends. It looked like a large white beast with what appeared to be someone riding on its back. The ponies couldn't get a good look at whoever it was, and they all suddenly felt a strange sensation overwhelm them, but it was brief and it went away as fast as it came.

"Try not to draw too much attention." Twilight instructed her friends, "These humans might never have seen a pony before. So stay toge--Ump!" Twilight stopped in her tracks and rubbed her nose when she bumped into something…or someone.

A middle aged man carrying a heavy box turned around and spotted the ponies. He arched a gray colored eyebrow and the group of friends remained perfectly still, while maintaining nervous smiles in hopes he wouldn't freak out or harm them. Twilight spoke through her teeth while maintaining her smile that revealed her teeth, "Don't move, maybe he won't hurt us."

To their surprise, the man placed his box down, smiled and squatted down to their level. "Why, hello, there.” he said kindly, “Strange little critters, aren't you? Hey Shoe, take a look at this."

Another man came over and also squatted down to the ponies level. Like his companion, he too smiles. "Well, I'll be. Where did you come from little ones?"

Pinkie Pie smiled happily to the nice man. They certainly didn't look intimidating, and were friendly enough to kindly ask where they were from. "We're from Ponyvile, I'm Pinkie Pie. It's very nice to--"

However, unbeknownst to her, all Shoe could hear was the sound of 'neighing' coming from her mouth. The words she spoke were deaf in his ears.

"So, we were wondering if maybe you could tell us where we are." Pinkie asked, smiling as she awaited for his reply. To her surprise, the man simply chuckled.

"Awwww, did you see that?"

"It's almost as if it understood you." his friend replied. "Aren't they simply adorable?"

The ponies all looked at the men skeptically. It was like they didn't hear a single thing Pinkie Pie just said, but why couldn't they? And why were they talking to them as if they were…pets? Shoe reached for his pocket and pulled something that looked like a rounded white fluffy pastry that rested on his hand and offered it to Pinkie Pie.

"Here you go, little cutie. Have a dumpling."

Applejack looked at the object suspiciously, "Careful, Pinkie." she warned her friend. Pinkie sniffed the dumpling like a dog before smiling and licked the treat with her tongue, happily eating it.

"Mmmmm! Dee-licious!"

"We better get back to work." said Shoe as before ruffling Pinkie's mane, "See you around little ones." Once he stood up and left with his companion, the six ponies and dragon looked on in confusion. At least they wouldn't have to fear about getting caught or anything, but that still didn't make that interaction awkward.

"Well, they sure were...friendly like." said Applejack with uncertainty.

"Once you get past the smell of fish, they were quite delightful." Rarity said, "But, why couldn't they hear what Pinkie Pie said?"

"I don't know. Let's just keep moving." Twilight said, taking the lead once more, "There's gotta be someone who can help us out."

As they continued their way around the docks, hoping to find some clue as to what could return them home, Spike spotted something from the corner of his eye. He ran up to the railings, where they could see the vast ocean overhead, but it wasn't the ocean Spike was pointing at.

"Hey, look at that!"

The girls all stopped to look in the direction Spike was pointing towards. Out in the open ocean stood a large sauté on an island right in front of the city. It was as tall as any one of the buildings in the city and depicted a tall man with a bald head and arrow tattoos while holding a staff with designs that looked like swirls of air. He looked so brave and heroic.

"Wow!" said Rainbow, gazing at the remarkable detail and heroism that came from looking at the stoned man.

"I wonder who he is." said Fluttershy.

"He must be pretty important to have a statue like that." Spike theorized. Twilight marveled at the statue of the unknown human. There was something about his eyes, something that almost seemed familiar, even though she had never seen him before. It was then that the princess had an idea.

"Maybe he's the ruler here. I'll bet he can help us."

"One question: how are we supposed to find him?" asked the blue pegasus pony, "We don't know the first thing about this place."

"We'll ask somebody." the princess answered with optimism. "How hard can it be?"

"You sure these so called humans will help us?" Rainbow asked.

"You got any other ideas?"

The pegasus remained quiet.

(~)

And so they continued their journey in this new land. As they traveled through the city, they were amazed at all of the different people walking all around them. They were all very diverse in how they looked and how they dressed. It was as if they were from different places and had gathered together in one city.

But they weren't just amazed at the people; they saw these strange machines with wheels passing all around honking and screeching. One of them honked so loud, Fluttershy shrieked and clung on to Rainbow Dash for protection. The girls kept themselves on the sidewalk away from the strange things to avoid becoming roadkill.

"This place just gets weirder and weirder." said Applejack, feeling very uneasy in being such a large city. She hadn't been in one in so long, so she was pretty rustic to the situation.

"Everypony, stay close." Twilight instructed as they continued their way among the large crowds of humans. Twilight attempted to call out to some of the humans passing them by, "Um, excuse me, could you--?" but nobody answered her. She attempted again, but she went complexly unnoticed. "We're looking for--" a human walked right past her, completely oblivious to her presence.

Fed up with this, Rainbow Dash flew up to the person who ignored her friend, who was actually a middle aged woman. "Hey, human, my friend was talking to you!"

"AH! Get away you flying rat!" the woman screamed and ran off in fear at the strange creature in front of her. Rainbow Dash crossed her hooves and narrowed her eyes.

"Hu! Well, nice meeting you too, lady!"

(~)

Meanwhile, Korra and Naga made it to a beautiful park. It was wide with a variety of plant-life, a small bridge and benches for people to sit on. There also rested a lake, filled with fish, which Naga managed to catch with her mouth. Korra had a few fish on sticks around her and used her firebending to cook them. Since they didn't bring any money to pay for their meal, they had to find their own food. However, the roasted fish was mostly for Naga, since she favored them this way. Korra, on the other hand, had managed to grab some fruits from a nearby tree, which had freshly picked apples and even a few berries. Korra fired the fish again before blowing on it and tossed it at Naga, who caught it in her mouth.

Ever since she was young, Korra had never been too found of eating fish. Or any other meat really. She was a vegetarian by nature, which she wasn't entirely bothered by, but it was rather strange that, even when she tasted meat for the first time, it didn't sit well with her. While she was never one to eat meat, she was perfectly fine cooking it for her carnivorous friend. She tossed the fish into the air and laughed as Naga caught it with her mouth. Korra breathed on an apple to shine it and bite onto it until she noticed a man eying her from a bush nearby with a crazy grin on his face. Korra gasped at the sight of him. She had never seen a homeless man before, but she had heard about them from Katara. The man emerged from the bush, he wore some pretty old looking clothes and a dirty, bushy beard but seemed friendly enough.

"Uh, say, think I can get one of them tasty-smelling fishes?" he asked.

Korra looked at him with uncertainty, but then felt sympathy for him. He didn't seem like the kind to have money to buy his own food, regarding his ragged old cloths dirty beard and lack of footwear. She figured it wouldn't hurt to share her meal, in fact it might do the poor man some good.

"Oh, uh, yeah, sure. Go right ahead."

The strange hobo-man waggled up to Korra with big, weird steps, snatching a fish on a stick, and squatted down. He devoured the fish like a starving animal. Korra was right, the poor man probably hadn't eaten a decent meal in a long time. "So, do you…live in that bush?" she asked him awkwardly while pointing at said bush. She hoped she wasn't being offensive. Surprisingly, the man was eccentrically kind towards her.

"Yes, presently that is what I call home. Took me a while to procure a bush that beauteous." he said proudly at the clean-looking bush, which literally sparkled in the light. "This park is quite popular with all the vagabonds."

"So there are a lot of you out here?" Korra was rather surprised by this revelation, "I thought everyone in the this city was "living it up"."

Korra arched her eyebrows when the man suddenly chuckled, "Hey, you've got a lot to learn, newcomer. Welcome to Republic City."

This was not what Korra had expected. Apparently her expectations about this new land were a tad too high. There were actual homeless folks living in this place? Tenzin was right, the city was in trouble. Korra spun her head around when she heard a whistle and a man shouting a few yards away from her. He was a park security guard, and by the looks of it he did not look too happy.

"Hey, you! Stop! You can't fish here!"

"You best skedaddle, little lady!" the kind-hearted vagabond said with a smile, completely unfazed by the guard and dove head first into the bush while Korra whistled on her finger, calling for Naga. She hoisted herself onto the polar-bear dog's back and rode away. The guard ran after them, but quickly stopped, resting his hands on his knees and panting heavily while the vagabond waved farewell to Korra from his bush, smiling widely.

It sure was nice to meet new friends.

(~)

The Mane Six and Spike walked along the park, still trying to ask for help, but no matter how many people they asked, nobody would talk to the girls. Instead they said things like; "Ew, go away!" or, "How cute!" or "Mommy can I have one?".

So far, they didn't seem to be getting anywhere. Every human they encountered either ignored them or dismissed their very existence before going back about their business. It would seem that nearly everybody in this city had their head stuck in their own little worlds, nearly oblivious to everybody else around them.

"Are you tired of living under the tyranny of benders? Then join the Equalists!" a voice called out, causing the ponies and little dragon to rush and hide behind a bush as they watched whoever was shouting.

They spotted a man, talking through a red and yellow megaphone, while standing on top of a wooden table. A poster of a man in a strange-looking mask stood behind him and a crowd of twelve people had gathered to listen to his speech. Twilight's eyes then shifted to something else in the audience. A human, female, riding on a large white beast. She had brown skin with dark brown hair styled into three pieces that looked like ponytails and her eyes were a stunning shade of blue that seemed to shimmer in the daylight. However, Twilight appeared to be the first one to notice her. There was something strange about this human, but she couldn't quite put her hoof on it. She seemed to stand out amongst the other humans. Her thoughts returned to the man on the table, apparently protesting something with great passion. He was a rather skinny man wearing a long coat and a funny looking hat and had grayish colored sideburns.

"For too long, the bending elite of this city have forced nonebenders to live as lower class citizens." he spoke, grabbing the crowd's attention.

"What's he talking about?" Rainbow asked, right before Rarity shushed her.

"Join Amon, and together we will tear down the bending establishment!"

"What are you talking about?" The protester, as well as everybody else and the Mane Six, turned their attention to the human girl with the blue eyes, who spoke against him, "Bending is the coolest thing in the world."

The protester rubbed his chin, unimpressed with her response. "Oh yeah? Let me guess: you're a bender."

"Yeah, I am." the woman replied, rather arrogantly, placing her hands on her hips.

"Then I bet you'd just love to knock me off this platform with some waterbending, huh?"

"I'm seriously thinking about it." she replied in annoyance while crossing her arms.

"This is what's wrong with this city!" the protester said to the gathered crowd, "Benders like this girl only use her power to oppress us!"

The Mane Six watched the scene with uncertainty as the crowd began booing and trash talking to the young girl. For some reason, despite her remark, the ponies felt a bit of sympathy for her. The young woman shook her head in dismay, "What? I'm not oppressing anyone! You're…you're oppressing yourself!"

"That didn't even make sense!" a random man yelled while the girl pulled on the reigns of the saddle she sat on, which in turn commanded her large white beast to walk away from the crowd before they began throwing actual trash at the two. With the humans distracted, the ponies emerged from their hiding spot and Rainbow Dash looked on as the girl left on her animal companion.

"I kind of like her." the pegasus said, voicing out her thoughts on this stranger's character. Twilight had to agree this girl certain was different. But even more so, as she looked on she felt something tug inside of herself.

"Let's follow her." Twilight said, right before taking the lead and running towards the direction to where the girl was heading. The rest of the group followed their friend, also curious as to who this human girl was and why did they somehow feel compelled to go towards her. Unfortunately, a large crowd of people walked on by, blocking their path and the white beast ran ahead. Once the group made their way out of the crowd, they saw that the beast was gone.

And so was the girl.

(~)

Korra now walked alongside Naga on a street, everybody was minding their own business, not paying any attention to her. Her suspicion about her expectations were too high were slowly being proven right. It most certainly wasn't the spectacular place she had dreamed of as a child. It seemed almost…bleak. She couldn't quite place her finger on it at first, but she could definitely tell that there was something missing. She just didn't know what it was.

After a few more hours of walking around the city, she realized she wasn't going to find her destination any time soon unless she asked for help. She spotted a young man and an elderly woman sitting in front of a shop. The woman moved her arm a bit, which in turn caused her drink to fall from the table, nearly spilling.

Thankfully, Korra managed to catch the cup and bended the liquid back in before it could hit the floor and kindly returned it to the woman. "Why, thank you, miss."

"No problem." the Avatar said with a smile.

"You're not from around here, are you?" the woman asked, noticing the younger woman's clothing and giant pet. "We don't see a lot of polar bear dogs here in the city."

"No, we just arrived, and I think we're lost. Do you know how to get to Air Temple Island from here?"

"Just head down this street." the woman replied, pointing her finger towards the street in front of her. Suddenly, her eyes widened in horror when a red and expensive-looking satomobile turned down the street, heading towards a second shop nearby. The woman and her companion quickly got up in fear. "You should get moving, young lady. It isn't safe!"

Korra looked at her with confusion before turning her head towards the vehicle. What was she so afraid of?

The doors of the car opened and out came three sleazy looking men; one was a dark skin complexion, similar to Korra's, with pale blue eyes wearing a top hat, gloves and snazzy clothing consisting mainly of blue and white colors, depicting he was of water tribe descendent.

The second was a slightly shorter pale skinned man with sleek black hair, mustache and wore black clothing with a red scarf and his eyes were the color of amber. An obvious firebender.

The last one was the tallest, and bulkier of the bunch, he wore green clothes, his skin was light tan, head was shaved and his eyes were clear green. He was clearly an earthbender.

Korra could clearly tell by their cocky grins that they were not the friendly types. The three men approached another man in front of a shop, who was cleaning a phonograph with a white rag. The man with the top hat approached the shop keeper, frightening him while speaking in a voice that oozed with charisma and arrogance. The really bad kind.

"Mr. Chung, please tell me you have my money, or else I can't guarantee I can protect your fine establishment." from behind him, one of his companions lit a flame in his left hand while grinning maliciously.

The poor Mr. Chung trembled with fear, "I'm sorry, business has been slow. Please, take one of my phonographs." he said and offered him the phonograph he was just cleaning.

Without even taking his hands out of his pockets, the firebender smacked the object out of the chop keeper's hands with his foot in a half moon spinning fire kick, burning the object into rubbish. Chung jumped back to avoid getting burned himself, shaking in fear.

"My friends here is not a music lover." the leader said, shaking his head while speaking in a sarcastic manner. "Give me the money, or else--"

"Or else what, hoodlum?"

The three men then turned around when they heard a voice speaking to them and were astonished to see that the voice belonged to a young woman, standing before them with her hands on her hips, smiling confidently.

The firebender arched an eyebrow, "Hey, who's the dame?"

Korra scoffed in disgust at his remark, while the earthbender rubbed his chin, studying her appearance and smiled. "I don't know. But she's kinda cute." the leader roughly elbowed him and the earthbender rubbed his arm, "Ow! What? What I say?"

"Step away from the shop and none of you will get hurt." Korra said, ignoring their idiocy and speaking with much power in her voice.

The three men looked at one another questioningly for a second before bursting out in laughter. The leader addressed to the girl, "Since you're obviously fresh off the boat, let me explain a couple things. You're in Triple Threat Triad territory, and we're about to put you in the hospital."

"You're the ones who are gonna need a hospital." Korra said confidently, smashing her fist into her palm. "And for your sake, I hope there's one nearby."

"Who do you think you are, princess?"

"Why don't you come and find out?" Korra knew she was going to enjoy this…a lot.

(~)

After a long walk along the sidewalk, the team finally decided to stop near what appeared to be some kind of noodle shop. "Anypony else think this is a lost cause?" Rainbow asked, lowering down to rest her wings.

"It's almost like they don't even know we're talking to them." said Spike.

"Maybe they don't speak pony." Applejack theorized.

"Then how are we ever going to get home?" Rarity asked, "The streets are far too hard on my hooves, those monstrosities on wheels keep releasing the most horrid smell and nobody even says 'excuse me'! How many times does a pony have to get her tail stepped on?" Rarity whined, showing her now dirty tail.

Twilight had to agree, things weren't looking so good for any of them. But she refused to give up. There had to be somebody who knew who that mysterious man depicted on the statue was. She spotted a man and woman sitting around a table nearby and amped up more courage to walk up and speak to them. Hopefully, with them in one place, it would be easier to speak to them. She just hoped they would understand her.

"Excuse me? Hi, my name is Princess Twilight Sparkle and I was hoping if--" Twilight never got to finish her question, on account of she was too busy pressing her ears close to her head in an attempt to block out the woman's screaming.

"AAH! What is that thing?! Get it away, it could have fleas!!"

The alicorn princess stepped away from the screaming woman when a nearby man, wearing what appeared to be some kind of metallic armor came running towards here. "Ma'am, what's wrong?" the man asked once he arrived.

"That creature! Get it away!"

He spotted the alicorn, who slowly backed away farther while the man slowly approached her, trying not to frighten her any more than she already was. "All right, whatever you are, come here, I won't hurt you." just as he was about to reach out and grab her, Twilight quickly galloped away.

"Change of plans girls! RUN!"

The ponies followed her orders and started running from the armor wearing man as fast as they could, bypassing all kinds of people. "Well, that didn't work!" Rarity voiced out as she galloped as fast as her legs could carry her. Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew in the air, while Applejack got Spike onto her back, still galloping ahead. The group turned around a street corner, bypassing another random human, who in then collided with the one who was chasing them, knocking them both down to the ground.

The group of friends continued to run.

(~)

The people nearby watched in amazement was Korra managed to single handily defeat not one, not two, but three gangsters in no more the span of a five minutes. She was so fast, agile and quick on her feet that the men didn't even see her coming. She had knocked the waterbender against his car, launched the earthbender into the sky and landing with a flop. She even deflected the firebender's fire by holding his two small flames in her palms and grabbing his hands. He screamed in fright. With all of her strength, Korra threw the man through the window of a radio shop, smashing the glass and most likely half of the merchandise inside. The firebender laid in defeat. Korra slowly walked up to him, chuckling arrogantly and smiling haughtily.

"Got an idea about who I am now, chumps?"

The firebender had the strength to raise only one finger, "You…are one…crazy dame." he said with a groan.

"And don't call me dame!"

Suddenly, Korra heard what sounded like screaming. Or more so, shrieking from a teenage girl. She turned her head around to see where the voice was coming from.

"Oh, no!" Twilight's eyes widened when she saw who was in her path. She tried to stop in mid air, but it was too late.

In the blink of an eye, the alicorn rammed right into the Avatar, slamming into her stomach and knocking her down. The pony flew backwards off of the human and slid across the ground a few feet away from the woman, who rolled down on the ground due to the impact. The two groaned in pain as they tried to stand up. Twilight's friends rushed to her side to check on her, bypassing Korra, who rubbed her head.

"Twilight!" Spike cried out as he helped her up. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I think so." the princess replied after shaking her body to remove the city dust off of her body. She released a light gasp when she heard the human before her groan and sit upright while rubbing her head, cringing in pain.

"Ow! What the heck was…hu?"

After sitting upright, the young Avatar took a good look at the creature that rammed into her. Once she did, Twilight released a small gasp as the rest of the ponies looked at Korra. Really, really look at her.

The Avatar and ponies locked eyes for the very first time, and at that moment something strange happened…

Korra had never seen such creatures before. They were so strange looking, but at the same time…the most adorable things she had ever seen in her entire life. Their cute little noses, upward ears that lowered and twitched in the most adorable way, their colorful coats, lovely hairstyles and their eyes--their eyes were so big and full of emotion. They were beautiful.

Unlike the rest of the humans the ponies have seen today, this girl carried something different. She didn't look cold or behave cruelly like the previous ones did. Not only that, but for a human, she was quite beautiful. She had a strong build but her face gave out a sense of innocence and kindness. Her big blue eyes sparkled like gemstones that really intrigued Rarity.

As their gazes remained locked on one another, beautiful colors shimmered and danced in their eyes. The girls felt an instant warm sensation inside them, and Korra began to smile kindly at the creatures, a gesture they one by one returned. They didn't feel fear or confusion, and neither did Korra. They felt they could trust each other. It was as if an invisible thread was tugging at their hearts and tying them together.

It was then, when the words from the spell Twilight had read from the mysterious book echoed in her mind.

When the time is right

Underneath the same light

A bond will ignite

At very first sight

Spike looked on in confusion and waved a claw in front of Twilight's face, trying to get her attention, but her eyes, along with the others, were still locked on Korra and vice versa.

The sound of an engine running snapped Korra back and she turned her head to see the satomobile pull over at the damaged radio shop and the firebender jumped out of the broken window onto the street and ran after the car in a stumbling fashion. The earthbender gangster extended the part of the earth where he was standing, causing him to fly inside the car with a yelp. Korra quickly got up and ran toward them.

"I can't let them get away!" she exclaimed, getting the ponies' attention. Spotting the men driving away in the strange machine, and judging by the tone of the girl's voice, these men were most certainly no friends of hers. Twilight saw at the speed they were going, and seeing one of the wheels of the machine, teleported one of them off. The man lost control and drove it right into a store, crashing the window, and the car.

Korra could not believe what she had just witnessed as Twilight slowly descended, looking just as surprised as the Avatar and the rest of her friends. "Twilight, what did you just do?" Rarity asked in disbelief.

"I-I don't know! I just knew she really wanted to stop them so…I did." it was very strange. It was almost as if Twilight had just read this human girl's desire and reacted to it, not by force, but by her own free will. She wanted to help, so she did.

Korra and Naga approached the men, looking on in disbelief by what had happened. The men were not hurt, but they were dazed from the impact. Korra noticed the colorful creatures approach her. Her eyes landed on the purple one.

"Did…Did you do that?"

Before Twilight could answer, sirens went off overhead, frightening the ponies and little dragon. The group looked up into the sky to where the sound was coming from, a large shadow looming over them. Above their heads was a massive airship hovering over the city street. An amplified voice rang out for the airship.

"POLICE! FREEZE WHERE YOU ARE!!"

"What in tarnation?!" shouted Applejack.

The sides of the airship opened to reveal several humans within, all clad in metal armor, identical to that of the man who tried to capture Twilight earlier. Simultaneously they all jumped out of the airship and, to Spike and the ponies' shock, metal cables shot out from their wrists, anchoring in several surrounding buildings, allowing the armored humans to land safely. Korra recognized them for what they were, having heard the tales from her waterbending teacher.

"Cool! Metalbenders!"

The metalbenders retracted the cables back into slots on their arms once they landed in front of the young woman and her new companions. The mares had no idea what was happening, all they knew was that these, 'metalbenders' as the girl called them were apparently the law enforcement of this land, but they were somewhat scary none the less. As an act of instinct, the Mane Six and Spike all ran towards Korra, hiding behind her legs. Normally, they wouldn't cower before anything, not the changelings, not a chimera, not even Discord, but these humans were unlike anything they had ever faced, and they couldn't get in trouble with the police here.

Korra then gestured with a smile toward a damaged car where the three shady-looking men had come out groaning. "I caught the bad guys for you officers." she announced proudly. The thugs looked up in shock upon seeing the officers.

"Arrest them!!" The other three officers shot out their cables, which wrapped around each criminal. "Take them to the station," the first officer commanded.

"Yes, Captain Saikhan." one cop saluted as he and his fellow officers led the thugs away. Captain Saikhan turned to Korra and pointed at her accusingly. "You're under arrest too."

Korra gasped as did the ponies. "What do you mean I'm under arrest?!" she pointed to the criminals being taken away, "Those are the bad guys over there! They were threatening an innocent civilian and smashing up a shop!"

"From the look of things, you smashed up more than that." Saikhan gestured towards all the damages Korra had caused on the area while taking down the three men. Korra had to admit, she did kind of made a pretty big mess. As a good a bender as she was, she was still pretty reckless when it came to it.

"You're coming with us, young lady."

The captain took out his extension cord to try and restrained her but Korra managed to grab the cable, her arm trembling with the effort to keep it still. "Wait, you-you can't arrest me, let me explain!"

"You can explain yourself all you like down at headquarters."

The ponies watched in horror as the man tried to take Korra hostage. He reeled in his cables and attempted to take Korra again. Acting fast, Rainbow Dash swooped in, taking the cables by her mouth and yanked on it, causing the cop to trip forward, and the pony used all of her strength to sling the officer into the large hole in the store. Korra looked at the creature in awe. For a little one, she certainly had muscle.

The officer groaned as he sat upright, narrowing his eyes. "Take those things to animal control!" her ordered.

Korra instinctively stood between the cops and the ponies, shielding them with her body. Her eye narrowing at the men. "Leave them alone!" she exclaimed bravely before lunging herself forward at the same time the cops did, ready to battle. The ponies watched in amazement as Korra quickly did a backflip, dodging the metalbenders' attacks with incredible ease. This girl had fast reflexes, they thought. Their eyes widened even more when they saw a familiar white beast of what appeared to be a cross between a white bear and a dog running towards them and knocked the metalbenders over while Korra magically rose some rocks from the ground to knock more cops away from her and the ponies and quickly hoisted only Naga.

"Hop on!" she called out, gesturing the creatures to get on the beast. The ponies didn't waste a second and complied. With Rarity levitating Spike, she, Pinkie Pie and Applejack leaped onto the saddle, while Twilight, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash flew beside them. As Naga ran, Applejack spun her head around to see the police officers in hot pursuit.

"Can you make this thing go any faster?" Applejack asked the Avatar.

"Yeah but I--" Korra shook her head in disbelief, "Wait, you can talk?!"

"You can understand us?!" Rainbow asked as she flew beside her.

"Of course I can undesta--AH!" Korra screamed when her top ponytail was suddenly pulled back. One of the metalbenders had grabbed her hair with his metal cords as Naga ran over a bridge. In an effort to break free, Korra raised up her arms and waterbeded the water from a river upwards in order to freeze it over the bridge they were running on and the metalbender landed face first into the frozen water, forcing the cord to release Korra's hair. The ponies could not believe what they had just seen.

"How did you do that?!" Twilight asked in disbelief.

Korra simply smiled, "You guys aren't from around here, are ya?"

"You could say that."

"In that case, hang on!"

"What does she mean by-Whoa!" Rarity's question was cut short when Naga accelerated her speed and leap from building to building. The ponies and dragon screamed in horror once they realized that the creature was, once again, about to jump once more…and onto a moving train!

Spike screamed the most, "AAAAHHHH!" as they braced themselves for impact. To their amazement, and relief, they managed to land safely on the very top of the train. The ponies, dragon and Avatar sighed in relief, Korra leaned forward, having held on tighter for her life during the jump and adjusted herself up. Only to see the white creature with a single horn and three diamond tattoo on her flank holding her waist, shaking from the excitement. "Please tell me this isn't your normal daily routine." she said.

Korra chuckled, "Why, too wild for you?"

"Little bit, though I've had crazier days."

Just then, the group noticed a giant shadow hover over them, blocking out the sun, and looked upwards to see the airship above them once more. "Who are they?" Fluttershy asked Korra, while flying by her side.

"Let's just say, they don't particularly like me at the moment. Hold on. Again."

Korra pulled Naga reigns, ordering her to jump off of the train and onto another building nearby. The winged ponies followed her as the beast flew in mid air. But before Naga could land, metal cords descended from above and tangled the girls bodies, the pegasus ponies had their wings tangled in the cords and the earth ponies were tied up along with Korra. They all struggled in the grip but soon gave up as they were all carried off, hanging down from the airship.

(~)

The ponies screamed once they were, quite literally, thrown into a pet cage at the animal shelter. "And stay there you flea infested freaks!" the cop said as he slammed the cage door shut, locking it. The ponies got up and shook themselves clean once he left.

"HUH! That was extremely rude!" Rarity said, shaking the dust off of her body.

Rainbow Dash growled in anger and started kicking the bars with her hooves. "Hey, you can't keep us in here! Do you hear me?! I'm talking to you--" But despite Rainbow's rantings, all the cop could hear was "neigh, neigh, neigh, neigh!"

The officer slammed the cage with his foot, causing Rainbow Dash to flinch. "Shut it, freak!" he shouted, making Rainbow Dash, reluctantly, land back on the floor before he left the room.

"He couldn't hear a word I said."

"This truly is a strange land." Rarity said as she dusted the remaining dirt off of her mane and tail.

This didn't look good. They were lost in a strange land, with no idea how to get home, and now they were trapped in a cage like wild animals. But regardless of the situation, Spike knew that Twilight would come up with a solution. She always did.

"What do we do now, Twilight?" Spike asked his friend. But the princess didn't reply. She was gazing up at the open window of the room, which was their only source of light at the moment. Her mind drifted back to the human girl that saved them.

She didn't understand why but, the moment they met, Twilight felt…something. She didn't quite know how to explain it, but it was almost as if she was drawn to the human. Like there was some kind of invisible thread connecting them. She could feel her heart, her spirit, her soul. Granted, she didn't automatically know every little thing about her yet. She didn't know her name, her interests, her goals, her dreams, even where she was from, but judging from what she had gathered from their first meeting, she already had a pretty basic idea on what kind of person she was;

Brave.

Fun.

Caring.

Smart.

Unique.

Fearless.

Special.

But there was something else deep in there as well…something Twilight felt she could relate with. But what?

"Uh, Twilight?" Spike asked once again, getting her attention.

"Who was she?" the alicorn finally said. More so to herself than anybody else.

"Who? You mean that crazy girl who helped us escape?"

"Yeah. And she's not crazy, Spike. She's just… spirited. I can't explain it but…I fell like…I know her."

Spike looked at Twilight as if she were crazy, "How can you say you know her? You just met."

"Still. When I looked into her eyes I felt something. Remember what the book said? “When the time is right, underneath the same light, a bond will ignite at very first sight.” And the picture?"

"You think she was the human we saw in the book?" asked Rainbow.

"I have no doubt. Maybe that's exactly what the spell was for. We were meant to find her. I know it!"

Applejack nodded in agreement, "Yeah. I felt something back there too. I can definitely tell she's got a good heart considering she helped us out there."

Fluttershy agreed, "Oh, no doubt about that."

"Not to mention fabulous!" Rarity added, "Did you see that hair style? Simple, yet modern and stylish, and those eyes! Oh, they were like two perfectly polished ocean sapphires! If I had a jewel in that color I would never take it off!"

"Sure, she was pretty, but she was also fierce!" Rainbow said excitedly, "Did you see the way she kicked those jerks butts?"

Pinkie Pie jumped happily, "WOAH! She really was supper!"

"So, how are we going to find her?" Spike asked.

"We don't." Twilight replied. "She'll find us and get us out of here."

"Can't you just use magic to zap us out?" Rainbow suggested.

"Even if I did cast a spell, the humans are already confused about us as it is. If we start using magic we'll only be scaring them, and then they'll never want to help us if they don't even understand a word we're saying. She's the only one we can trust here. The best thing we can do now is wait for her to get us out."

"But what if she doesn't?" Spike asked.

"She will. I know it."

(~)

Meanwhile, at police headquarters in one of the interrogation rooms, the young girl, her wrists bound by handcuffs, sat dejectedly as a very intimidating female officer read out loud the charges against her. She was tall; middle-aged with short, wavy gray hair stopping at the base of her neck; a pale complexion with two slash scars on the right side of her face and grass-green eyes.

"Let's see. Multiple counts of destruction of private and city property, not to mention evading arrest…" Korra flinched as the woman slammed the clipboard on the table while glaring at the young Avatar. "You're in a whole mess of trouble, young lady." she said angrily.

"But there were some thugs threatening a helpless shopkeeper, and I had--"

"Can it!" the woman aggressively interrupted Korra, "You should have called the police and stayed out of the way."

"But I couldn't just sit by and do nothing." said Korra, "It's my duty to help people. See, I'm the Avatar."

The gray haired woman simply crossed her arms, completely unimpressed by this news. "Oh, I am well aware of who you are. And your Avatar title might impress some people, but not me."

Korra was quite surprised at this. Dumbfounded would be a more accurate term. She would think her title as the Avatar would give her some respect. Granted, she wasn't expecting a parade or anything like that (too flashy for her taste), but some form of recognition.

"All right, fine. Then I want to talk to whoever's in charge." Korra reapplied decidedly.

"You're looking at her, princess. I'm Chief Beifong." said the woman as she took her seat, facing the young girl. Korra knew she had heard that name before.

"Wait, Beifong? Lin Beifong? You're Toph's daughter!" Korra said excitedly.

"What of it?" Lin asked, somewhat angrily.

"Well then, why are you treating me like a criminal? Avatar Aang and your mother were friends. They saved the world together."

"That's all ancient history. And it's got diddly-squat to do with the mess you're in right now. You can't just waltz in here and dole out vigilante justice like you own the place!"

"Okay, I made a mistake, I'm sorry. Isn't there some way we can put this behind us and start over?" Korra asked sweetly as she gave Lin an innocent smile. But the Chief was not buying it.

"Nice try, princess."

"And could you please stop calling me that? I'm no princess."

"Could have fooled me with your little sweet and innocent act."

Just then, a metalbending cop opened a peephole in the metal of the wall, catching the women's' attention, "Chief, Councilmen Tenzin is here."

Lin sighed in annoyance, "Let him in." she said, rather disinterested. The last thing she needed was to deal with this guy.

As Lin stood up from her chair, she noticed something odd about the girl. Suddenly, Korra's eyes appeared to be…shimmering. Shimmering with specks of rainbow-like colors unlike anything Lin had ever seen before. It looked far too pretty to be a mere trick of the light. Lin was broken from her thoughts when the wall in front of Korra slid aside to form a door. The tall air nomad walked in and looked at Korra in dismay. He was not expecting to find her here, and especially like this.

"Tenzin, sorry…I got a little sidetracked on my way to see you." Korra said in a more upbeat tone, in hopes of charming him. No dice. Tenzin just gave her a mild glare, then turned and smiled at the chief.

"Lin, you are looking radiant as usual."

"Cut the garbage, Tenzin." Lin replied aggressively, "Why is the Avatar in Republic City? I thought you were suppose to be moving down the south pole to train her."

"My relocation has been delayed." he said before lowering his gaze on Korra, "The Avatar, on the other hand, will be heading back to the south pole immediately, where she will stay put."

The young Avatar looked at him with guilt. He was the whole reason why she came to the city. To learn airbending and complete her Avatar training. Now it looks like she really did need to wait.

Bummer…

"If you would be so kind as to drop the charges against Korra, I will take full responsibility for today's regrettable events and cover all the damages."

Lin glanced over at Korra before sighing in defeat. As much as she hated letting prisoners go without a consequence, she couldn't exactly have the Avatar arrested. What would that look for her? Besides, the sooner she was out of the city the better. With a rise of her hand, she released Korra from her metal cuffs.

"Fine. Get her out of my city."

Tenzin bowed in respect, "Always a pleasure, Lin. Let's go, Korra."

As he and Korra walked out, Lin made an 'I'm watching you' gesture at Korra with her index and pinkie fingers. The young girl angrily mimicked her gesture as she walked out behind Tenzin. But once they stepped out, Korra stopped on her tracks.

"Wait, what about those creatures?" she asked.

Tenzin looked at her curiously, "What creatures?"

"You mean those colorful ones with the wings and weird markings?" said Lin, having heard what they said.

"Yeah. I'm not leaving without them."

"Korra, what is going on?" Tenzin asked.

The Avatar turned to face the chief, "Where did you send them?" she asked, almost demandingly.

"I had them sent to the pound. They seemed to be just as much trouble as you."

"Please, let me see them." Korra said pleadingly, "I have to make sure they're okay."

Lin once again noticed Korra's eyes shimmered in such a beautiful yet almost otherworldly way as she spoke about the creatures. She turned her head away, trying to avoid seeing those lights.

"Alright fine! Just stop doing that!" she said as she walked ahead leading the way, Korra looked at her confused as she and Tenzin followed.

"Stop doing what?" Korra asked.

(~)

Back at the pound, the ponies laid on the ground of their cage with nothing to do but wait. Rainbow Dash was so bored she began playing with one of her feathers. Pinkie Pie was…well…

"I demand my rights! Do you hear me people?!?!"

...screaming her head off…

"You didn't even arrest us right!! You're supposed to say 'You have the right to remain silent.' Nobody said we had the right to remain silent!!"

The others were getting a splitting headache from Pinkie's shouting. Rarity was the first to crack, "Pinkie Pie! You DO have the right to remain silent! What you lack is the capacity."

"And they can't understand us, remember?" Twilight pointed out. Pinkie Pie then slumped down, realizing her friends were right.

But just when all hope seemed lost, their ears perked up at the sound of a door opening. A tall woman with gray short hair and wearing metallic-like clothing with two scars on her face, followed by a bald man wearing orange clothing and an arrow on his head. Last, the human girl from before entered, making the ponies smile with glee once they saw her. The feeling was mutual as Korra ran towards the ponies, trapped in the cage, squatting down to their level. Twilight reached out her hoof to touch her hand.

"It's you! I'd knew you'd come." Twilight exclaimed happily.

Korra smiled at the alicorn. Never in her life had she seen such beautiful creatures. "Don't worry, everything's gonna be alright." she promised.

Pinkie Pie grabbed hold of the bars and began shaking them like a crazy prisoner, "Are we getting out of here? Please tell me you're getting us out of here, I can't stand being locked up!!"

Korra chuckled at the pink pony's overly dramatic plea, "Okay, okay calm down there, Pinkie."

The pony quickly calmed down and arched an eyebrow at her. "How did you know my name?"

"I didn't. I just called you that because you're pink."

The pony relaxed and released the bars, reverting back to her happy-go-lucky state. "Actually, my name is Pinkemina Dian Pie. But everypony calls me Pinkie Pie!"

Korra couldn't help but giggle. This creature was so adorable and funny in every aspect. "Well, it's very nice to meet you, Pinkie Pie." she stood up, unlocked the caged door and opened it, allowing the ponies to step out one by one.

"Thanks. So, what's your name?" Twilight asked.

"I'm Korra."

"Korra? What a pretty name." said the alicorn.

"Thanks. What's yours?"

"Twilight Sparkle."

Korra was amazed, even her name was as amazing as she was. "Wow. That sounds beautiful."

Twilight blushed, "Thank you."

"And what about all of you?" she asked the other ponies.

"My name's Rainbow Dash." the pegasus flew quickly around Korra's body, demonstrating her remarkable speed. "Emphasis onDash!"

"Sweet!"

The two gave each other a hoof/fist pump. Korra knew this little blue rainbow whirlwind was a kindred spirit.

"I'm Rarity, it's a pleasure to meet you. And, may I just say, you have the most stunning blue eyes I have ever seen!"

Korra smiled and blushed at the compliment. While this creature did look very sophisticated and girly, she could tell that underneath, this stylish and elegant girl had a sassy and fiery side…just like herself.

"Why, thank you. Nobody's ever said anything like that to me before. And, may I just say, you have the most gorgeous hair I've ever seen."

Rarity flipped her mane proudly, "Thank you! I love yours too." Rarity knew this human was not very girly like herself, but she adored her tribal, with a dash of modernization, sense of style. Just looking at her made the unicorn feel inspired.

The country pony smiled at the Avatar, "I'm Applejack, but you can call me AJ", she winked while tipping her hat. Korra could tell this one was dedicated and hardworking. And she liked that.

Fluttershy walked up and bashfully introduced herself. "Hello, Korra. I'm…uh… Fluttershy." she was so quiet, almost no one could hear her.

"Sorry?"

"It's Fluttershy.", the pony repeated while hiding behind her long mane.

Pitying her shy friend, Twilight stepped up. "This is Fluttershy. Sorry about that, she normally gets like this when she meets new people."

Korra felt her heart instantly melt at the sight of her. "Awww! Aren't you just the cutest little thing!", she kneeled down and gently petted her head, making Fluttershy blush.

"And my name's Spike, and I'm a ferocious, fire-breathing dragon!" he said proudly, placing his hand on his hip.

Korra's eyes widened, "Wow! A real life dragon?! That's amazing! Hardly anyone gets to see real dragons!" Spike stood there proudly while Korra looked at him curiously, taping her chin with her index finger. "Hu, I thought you would be bigger."

"Hey! I'm travel size!"

"Well, It's very nice to meet you all."

From the corner of the room, Lin and Tenzin observed the Avatar actually having a conversation with the mysterious creatures. The two adults looked at her as if she were out of her mind, for all they could hear were animals sounds and growls coming from the scaly one. Lin turned to Tenzin, "Does she normally do this?" she asked.

"No, this is strange even for Korra." Tenzin responded right before clearing his throat and addressing towards the teenager, "Uhhh, Korra. What are you doing?"

"What does it look like? We're talking." the Avatar said casually.

Lin arched an eyebrow in disbelief, "You mean, you can understand what they're saying?"

"Of course I can, don't you?"

"It's all gibberish to me." Lin said with a frown.

"All I hear are growls and "neigh" sounds." said Tenzin.

Rarity took it as an insult, "Hmp! I don't sound anything like that!"

"Rarity, I don't think anyone else here can hear us. Only Korra can." said Twilight.

"So, can you explain to me what you guys were doing in Republic City?" Korra asked.

"We tried to find the guy who they made a statue out of." Twilight explained.

"You mean Avatar Aang? Well, you kind of already found him."

Ponies look at her curiously, "Hu?"

"Let me explain..."

(~)

After a while, Korra explained to her new friends everything they needed to know. At least the basics. She explained that she was the Avatar, about what she was meant to do, a little bit about Aang and her world: about benders, spirits and the four nations, even a bit of the thousand year war that Aang ended. She also explained why she came to Republic City and the ponies in return explained where they were from, about Equestria and the magic, the Elements of Harmony, the book and why they can't get back home. They awaited in the lobby of the pound, waiting for Tenzin.

"So, let me get this straight. You can control the four elements of nature?" asked Twilight with interest.

"And that it's your destiny to protect the world just like your past lives did?" Spike asked.

Korra smiled proudly, "That's right."

"And people around here can control the elements too?" asked Rarity.

"Well, not everybody, and the ones who do can only bend one element."

Rainbow Dash flew near her, "And you traveled all the way from the south pole to learn airbending here from Tenzin, a.k.a, your past life's son?"

"Pretty much."

"Wow…Awesome!"

"And you guys really come from another world with magic and stuff?"

"Yep!"

Korra looked at Twilight, "And you're a real princess?"

"Only recently coronated, but yeah."

"And there are two other princesses who are responsible for rising both the sun and moon in your world?"

Applejack smiled proudly, "Ya darn tootin'!"

"And you all used to posses these magical artifacts called the Elements of Harmony that helped protect your world but you had to give them up in order to restore balance and you got transported here by reading a spell from a mysterious book which also has a weird picture you believe has something to do with me?" Korra asked all of this rather quickly.

"Pretty much!" said Pinkie.

Twilight kept on explaining, "We don't know much about the book or why it brought us here, but I have a feeling we'll find the answers...in you."

This caught Korra completely by surprise, "Me? What can I do?"

"I have no idea. I just have a feeling if we stick with you we'll find our way back home. You said so yourself, you're the bridge between your physical world and the spirit world. Maybe with your Avatar powers or something you can help us get back to Equestria."

The other ponies and Spike all nodded in agreement. As sweet as these ponies were, Korra was having a hard time seeing how she would be of any importance to them.

"Riiiiiiiiight. I think you don't really understand how things work here. First of all: I'm not magic, there is no magic in this world. Second: I'm not a full fledged Avatar, yet. I'm still training, I've yet to grasp the whole spiritual stuff, which third of all, has always been a huge problem for me. I want to help you, really, but I don't think I can."

"Yes you can." Twilight assured, "I know this has been a crazy day for you, it's been for us too. And things may not be making much sense right now, but one thing does make sense to me: We found you for a reason." Twilight looked up at the Avatar's eyes, almost as if she could see something that no one else could, "And you feel that too, don't you?" she asked, thought it was hinted in her voice that she kind of already knew the answer. Korra turned her gaze away, it was like this pony could see right through her. But while the ponies believed in her, she didn't.

"I'm sorry. But I'm not the one you need."

"Yes, you are." Twilight assured with a supportive smile.

"No, I'm not." Korra protested.

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are." Twilight's smile was now replaced with an annoyed look. The ponies and Spike's glances moved back and forth between the two girls.

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

As the two went back and forth, Twilight was slowly losing her patience, and so was Korra.

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"No. I'm. Not!"

"Yes. You. Are!"

Twilight stomped her hoof down hard on the ground in a righteous fury, only to shriek and back away when a magenta colored flame suddenly emerged from the ground. The rest of the ponies backed away quickly and Korra managed to diminish the flame by stomping her foot into it repetitively.

"Okay, okay breath! Take a step back before you burn down the place." Korra said.

"How do you keep doing that?!" Spike asked, trying to calm the princess down.

"Wait. You've…never done that before?" Korra asked in curiosity.

"No. My magic's never acted like this! I feel like a fire cracker is going off inside of me."

Korra looked down at the alicorn in curiosity. Something about her powers seemed strangely familiar to her judging by her immediate reaction. The Avatar broke from her train of thought when Tenzin finally walked in and once again saw Korra speaking with the ponies.

"Are they all accounted for?"

"Yeah. Girls this is Tenzin. Tenzin meet Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Spike."

Tenzin arched an eyebrow at the creature before him. He still didn't fully believe they could actually talk like him or anybody else, but Korra was able to communicate with them in some mysterious way. He still didn't quite understand her interest in them, but he still complied.

"Uh…please to meet you?"

The ponies all grinned nervously, they were so unsure on how to respond since he couldn't understand them. That and the man looked a bit scary with his serious face and pointy beard. "Well, at least you'll have new friends to accompany you back to the south." the air nomad said to the teenager.

"Tenzin, please don't send me back home." Korra pleaded, not wanting to have all of her efforts go in vain.

"You deliberately disobeyed me and the order of the White Lotus."

While they were speaking, the ponies all looked at each other and then over at Korra with concern while lowering their ears.

"Katara agreed with me that I should come. She said my destiny is in Republic City."

"Don't bring my mother into this!" Tenzin's face was literally red at this point. But Korra stood her ground.

"Look, I can't wait any longer to finish my training. Being cupped up and hidden away from the world isn't helping me become a better Avatar. I saw a lot of the city today and it's totally out of whack. I understand now why you need to stay. Republic city does need you…but it needs me too." She looked down at the girls, who smiled proudly at her. Even though she still wasn't certain if she was indeed the one who could help them, she still couldn't leave them alone, not after all they had been through.

"And these girls need me."

Twilight smiled proudly at her new friend while Tenzin tried to say something in contrast as to what Korra had just said, but realized that he really didn't have anything else to say. What could he say, she made a pretty solid point, and she sounded so mature in her statement. So determined, so…compassionate even. It was a quality his father and even mother possessed. He was drawing a blank now.

"Is this your polar bear dog, miss?"

Korra, Tenzin, Spike and the ponies noticed a police officer holding Naga by a leash. The large beast happily licked the man's face and hair, and her saliva styled it into an upstanding swirl. Needless to say, the man was not amused. Fluttershy flew excitedly towards Naga.

"Aww, who's this cutie?"

"That's Naga, my polar bear-dog. Naga, meet Fluttershy."

Fluttershy had never seen such a large and more adorable creature before. "Oh, she's sooooo cute!" Naga licked Fluttershy's face, and she giggled in response. She was already making new friends.

(~)

On the boat heading back to Air Temple Island, Tenzin looked up sorrowfully at the statue of his late father, Avatar Aang, and his heart slowly weeped. Deep down inside, he knew that Korra was right. She was the Avatar and she had responsibilities. As he turned his head to see Korra and her new strangely colorful companions staring at the city, it's nighttime lights giving it a bright golden glow, he began to wonder; was it possible that he was wrong and Korra was right?

Korra sighted in disappointment as the city grew farther, and farther away. Spike sighed along with her as he leaned on the railing of the boat. Korra looked at the girls with guilt in her eyes, "I'm sorry, you guys."

"That's okay, Korra.", said Rainbow Dash as placed her hoof on her shoulder.

"I'm still not entirely sure if I'm the one you need to help you." the Avatar said sadly.

"Well we think you are." Rarity said confidently, "You have something special, I just know it."

Korra could see the hope and confidence they all had in her. But she herself, still looked unsure. Her eyes shifted towards the purple princess beside her. Her front hooves laid over the lower part of the railing of the boat. Korra could tell how disappointed she felt, and that in return made her feel sad. So much for a new adventure.

"You know what it is, don't you?" Twilight asked, getting Korra's attention. "That fire thing I did?"

"I think so." Korra replied, "If I'm not mistaken, I'd say you somehow required firebending."

The pony's eyes widened, "Me? Firebending? But-but how? How is that even possible?!"

"Your guess is as good as mine. I've seen fire power before, and you definitely got it. Although, I will admit, I've never seen magenta colored flames before."

Twilight gave a soft giggle while trying to process all of this. "Wow. And I thought being a princess would be the strangest thing to have happened to me."

"What's that like?" Korra asked, "Being a princess, I mean."

To her surprise, Twilight looked away, her ears lowered, and her expression looked tense and unsure, "I don't really know yet." she answered truthfully before looking up at Korra with a reassuring smile, "It's funny, I have all this power and responsibility, but I haven't really done much with it so far."

Korra blinked in surprise as she looked at the pony, before slowly cracking an understanding smile, "I think I can relate." she said, which in return, got Twilight's attention. "All my life, people have told me that I have a big responsibility as the Avatar. A legacy to uphold, but I haven't had a chance to really prove it. On top of that I've never had any real friends." she was startled when Naga growled a bit, "Except you, Naga." she corrected, putting the giant beast at ease. "I've never even been outside of the South Pole before."

"So, you're in new uncharted territory with no idea what comes next, been training and studying for years, have the biggest responsibility placed on you and nothing to show for it, and you've never had more than just one friend in your whole entire life?"

"Nailed it!" Korra said with a snap of her fingers, her eyes still on the city. "Not the most glamorous life for an Avatar, is it?"

"No. Hasn't been that glamourous for me either. Guess we're on the same boat. No pun intended."

The two shared a laugh. Korra never knew she would meet somebody who would understand what she had gone through and what she was going through. Maybe she and this pony had more in common than she thought.

Once they reached the harbor at Air temple island, where a larger ship had docked, White Lotus sentries stood by, waiting for Korra to get on board. She sadly bowed her head and sighed as she prepared to leave. Just then, two air gliders came swooping down, it was Tenzin's children; Jinora, Ikki and Meelo.

"Korra!" the children happily cheered and the young woman welcomed the three in a warm group hug. The ponies smiled at the sweet scene. They were right about Korra being a good-hearted person.

"Are you going to live with us on the island?" Ikki asked excitedly.

Korra squatted down and looked at them all sadly, "No, I'm sorry, Ikki. I have to go home now."

The kids sight in disappointed to hear this, "Awwww."

Korra lifted up Ikki's chin and smiled, "But can you guys do me a favor?" she turned her head to the ponies, "I want you to take care of these guys for me."

The ponies and Spike smiled at the children while Pinkie Pie waved excitedly. Jinora, the eldest arched an eyebrow, "What are they?" she asked. She had never seen such creatures before.

"They're called ponies." said Korra.

Twilight walked over to Jinora, of course she knew the young girl wouldn't answer back, but she nonetheless said, "Hi there."

To her surprise, the airbender girl gasped, "They can talk?! But how is that possible?"

"Wait, you can understand us?" Twilight asked, completely dumbfounded.

"Yeah!"

Ikki jumped excitedly, "Me too. They are sooooo cute!" she quickly hugged Pinkie Pie.

"I like her!" said the pink pony, returning the embrace.

Spike had his jaw dropped in shock, "I don't believe this."

Korra couldn't believe either it. The kids could understand the ponies just like she could. Even Tenzin was surprised by this, even his own children were saying they could speak. Maybe there was something to these creatures. They sure seemed very intelligent and they bonded with Korra practically at the drop of a hat. Could there be something he wasn't seeing?

Rainbow Dash flew near Korra and hugged her arm, "Korra, you can't just leave." the pegasus looked at the Avatar with puppy dog eyes. Korra sadly removed the pegasus from her arm.

"Look, Tenzin is the most spiritual person I know. He might have a better chance at helping you find your way home. Besides, I highly doubt the White Lotus will let me keep you guys after what happened today, and even if they did, you'll wound up stuck in that compound too and you might never get back home. Just because I get punished doesn't mean you have to. You'll be safer here on the island with Tenzin. I'm really sorry."

The ponies and Spike lowered their ears in disappointment as Korra turned to the White Lotus sentries waiting for her. She looked over her shoulder to see the ponies with tears beginning to form in their eyes. They had all only just met, and yet the very idea of being apart already felt painful. It was strange, even for Korra, but it almost felt like she was leaving a piece of herself behind. Maybe going home would be best, it hadn't been a week and already she was feeling rather confused by all of this craziness. Korra sighed as she walked towards the boat with Naga at her side. But the ponies were not about to let her go.

"WAIT!"

Korra stopped on her tracks and spun around to see the ponies and even Spike all running towards her. She didn't waste time to kneel down and hug them tightly in her arms.

"We don't care if you can't get us home!" cried Pinkie Pie.

"We don't want you to leave!" said Fluttershy.

Twilight looked at Korra with determined, and teary eyes, "If you go, we go."

"Twilight, girls you don't have to, really."

"Hey, we owe you." said Rainbow Dash, "You risked your own behind to help us escape from those posers."

"Not to mention you got us out of that nasty old prison." said Applejack.

"Most unpleasant decor, by the way." Rarity added.

"But if you all stay with me, you might never get back to Equestria." said Korra.

Twilight looked up at the Avatar, "I may not know exactly why the book brought us here or how we can get back, but at this point...I really don't care about that."

Korra blinked in surprise, "You don't?"

"No. Equestria can survive without us for a while, but we won't be able to survive without you here. We need you."

Rarity agreed, "She's right. We have no idea how this realm works or anything about its customs. And we want to get to know you a lot more than we do now." she said with a smile.

"I may not entirely know what's going on, but I want to stay with you too." said Spike as he gave the Avatar a thumbs up.

"We're your friends, Korra. And friends stick together."

Korra was surprised by her words. "You…you think we're friends?"

Twilight nodded her head which filled Korra's heart with joy. It seems this day wasn't all bad, because she had already made seven new friends. "Thank you. Alright, you can come with me. Besides, somebody's got to teach you how to use that new fire power of yours, Twilight. Who better for the job than me?"

The ponies giggled before embracing their new friend in a group hug. Korra was a bit startled at first but returned the gestures. Two of the sentries looked on in surprise when one of their own started to tear up at watching the beautiful scene before them.

This moment was enough to convince Tenzin. He inhaled the soft ocean night air before walking over to the young Avatar. "Korra, wait."

Korra stood up to face Tenzin, with Twilight still being carried in her arms. The airbender bowed his head before speaking, "I have done my best to guide Republic City towards the dream my father had for it, but you're right. It's fallen out of balance since he passed. I thought I should put off your training in order to uphold his legacy." he placed his hand on her shoulder, surprising the girl, "But you are his legacy. You may stay and train airbending here with me. Republic City needs it's Avatar once again."

Korra and the ponies all grinned and gasped happily at the news. Rainbow Dash flapped her wings excitedly, "Alright!"

"And, I suppose it's alright if your new friends stay with you as well." Tenzin added, "Perhaps in time you will find a way to send them back from where they came."

The ponies and Spike all jumped for joy, and Korra could barely contain her happiness. She was finally going to be a full pledged Avatar!

"Yes! Thank you! You're the best!" Korra thanked her new mentor.

Tenzin's kids also cheered happily that the fact Korra and the ponies were now going to stay with them. Korra lifted both the children and ponies up effortlessly into a big group hug, and even lifted Tenzin as well, making him join in. Naga joined in the hug as well by nuzzling against Korra's back.

Tenzin sighed to himself as he continued being hugged by the powerfully strong Avatar. What he had gotten itself into?

Once Korra released them she happily turned to the ponies, "Well, until we can find a way to get you guys back to Equestria, this is where you'll all be staying. You can all room in with me!" the Avatar said excitedly and the ponies cheered in response.

"Yeah!"

Ikki hugged Pinkie Pie once again, "This is going to be so much fun!"

But Tenzin quickly shook his head while raising his hand, "Oh, no. I'm sorry Korra but animals sleep outside."

"ANIMALS?!"

"We are not animals!" said Twilight, being deeply offended by the comment.

"How dare you!" said Rarity, equally offended.

"Come on Tenzin, they won't be any trouble." Korra pleaded. "Look at them, how can you say 'no' to those sweet adorable faces?"

Ponies and Spike all gave Tenzin wide eyes, lowered ears and pouty lips.

"Like this; NO!"

The ponies and dragon all grunted at his response. Just because Tenzin agreed to let them stay, didn't mean he had to like it.

(~)

Latter that night, Pema had arranged Korra's new room, big enough for Naga and the ponies to room in. Korra sat at the foot of her bed, still unable to believe this was happening. She was no longer in that compound anymore. She was out. She was out in the world. She was free.

"Republic city is beautiful at night" said Fluttershy as she admired the bight lights from the room's window.

"It sure is." Rarity agreed as she too looked at the beautiful sight.

"I'm sorry if the process of getting you guys home might take a while longer." said Korra.

"Don't sweat it." Twilight replied, "Besides, I have a feeling we're gonna grow to like it here."

"Well, I'll do whatever I can to help you girls get home. Even if I still have no clue how we're going to do it. None the less, you have my word." the Avatar promised, the ponies all smiled knowing that she was being sincere.

"Thanks, Korra."

"This may sound strange but…when I first saw you I--I felt as if I've already known you guys."

"Yeah, me too."

Pinkie jumped up, "Me too!"

"So did I." said Fluttershy.

"I as well." said Rarity.

"Me too." said Applejack.

"And me." added Rainbow Dash.

"Weird right?" asked Spike.

Korra and ponies simply laughed together. Applejack then lowered her hat as a sign of a promise to the Avatar, "I may not know what's waiting for us, but whatever it is, we'll be by your side all the way Korra."

Twilight smiled confidently, "Count on it!"

Spike agreed, "Yeah."

Korra graciously smiled at them, "Thanks you guys."

Then all of the sudden, Korra heard music fill the air and Twilight started to hum,

(Parody of Big Brother Best Friend Forever)

Twilight;

This place is so different and so incredibly new

From everything I use to say I knew

Korra looked on at the alicorn skeptically. She was actually...singing. Out loud and straight out of the blue. She didn’t think anybody else did this but her. "Um, Twi?"

Twilight;

We tried to run and hide

Cause we were trying to find

Some way to help us get back home.

"Is she really singing?" Korra asked Spike.

"Yep!"

Korra was very surprised by this. She thought she was the only one who liked to sing spontaneously at times.

Twilight;

But now we've found someone to care for

And now we feel we're almost there

Soon, the rest of the ponies joined in the singing. Korra found herself enjoying this.

Ponies,

We found a new best friend forever.

No matter what is out there we will face it all together

Twilight,

You'll learn how to take flight

Ponies,

With your airbending

Twilight,

And you can show us how to fight

Ponies,

We can face it all together

Twilight,

We'll share our hopes, we'll share our dreams.

Our meeting must have been destiny, it seems

Ponies,

We found a new best friend forever.

No matter what is out there we will face it all together

Korra felt the rhythm in her heart and opened her mouth to sing along as well.

Korra;

And if we end up far away

In my heart you'll always stay.

I found a brand new best friend…

Forever

Ponies,

Forever

Korra,

And we will face anything…

Together

They all knew this was true. They would face anything…

Together.

(~)

The next day, at Republic City hall, a large cheering crowd gathered to see their newest Avatar announce her arrival. The ponies were all sitting near Naga, wearing leashes around their necks, watching their new friend as Lin stood beside them, making sure they didn't cause any more trouble. Lin noticed at the corner of her eye, the pink pony with puffy hair and tail happily wave at her. But the chief simply grunted and turned her gaze away, the little pony sadly backed away.

Korra stood before a podium, feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the attention and flashing cameras. She took in a deep breath, cleared her throat and spoke into the microphone.

"Hello? I'm Korra. Your new Avatar."

"YAY!" Pinkie Pie cheered from the sidelines, not caring how loud she was. A whole bunch of reporters and journalists started asking her questions.

"Does this mean you've moved to Republic City?"

"Were you trying to send a message to the Triads yesterday?"

"Will you be fighting crime or the Anti-Bending revolution, or both?"

"Will you be working with Chief Beifong and the police?"

Korra looked at them, confused by all the questions. She wasn't sure how to give them the answers they wanted to hear without sounding lame. "Uh…yes, I am definitely here to stay, but honestly I--I don't exactly have a plan yet. See, I'm still in training but--OW!"

Korra's top ponytail was suddenly tugged by an invisible force. She looked over to the ponies and saw Twilight's horn slightly glowing, having used her magic to yank on her hair to get her attention. The alicorn smiled encouragingly at the Avatar as she and the ponies all embraced each other in a group hug. Korra smiled for this was exactly the kind of sign she needed to know what to say next. She turned to the public, now with more confidence.

"Look, all I know is Avatar Aang meant for this city to be the center of peace and balance in the world. And I believe we can make that dream a reality." The ponies all smiled proudly at Korra's wise and inspirational words. "I look forward to serving you. I'm so happy to be here. Thank you, Republic City!" she said through the microphone. Cameras flashed taking pictures of the new avatar. One reporter among the crowd asked another question,

"Avatar Korra, I heard that you rescued these strangely colored looking creatures yesterday. What exactly are they? And are they dangerous?"

Korra looked nervously at the ponies, she wasn't sure what to say. She knew she couldn't tell them the truth about where they were from. She then noticed Twilight taking a deep breath and releasing it, the same method Princess Cadence taught her. The alicorn smiled and Korra did the same breathing thing as Twilight and to her surprise, it calmed her right down, enough for her to come up with the perfect answer.

"No ,they are not dangerous. They are called ponies and they have been living in hiding from civilization for centuries. They only make themselves known to the Avatar. I assure you, they are perfectly harmless. A little feisty, but harmless none the less."

Tenzin walked over next to Korra and spoke to the press.. "Alright that's enough questions for today." with that done Korra returned to the ponies.

"You were great out there." said Twilight with a wink, "Way to handle pressure."

"Thank you for showing me that breathing thing. I gotta remember that next time I get nervous."

"Glad I could help."

Korra kneeled down to their level, "So how do guys like Republic City so far?"

"Love the place. Hate the leash." said Rainbow Dash in annoyance. "Why do we even have to wear them? I don't see you with a chain around your neck?

"Sorry Rainbow, but Lin and Tenzin will only let you go out as long as I have you guys on these stupid leashes. It's not much fun for me either."

"I can see why." Rarity said, "These are a crime against fashion!"

"Can't you just tell them we don't need em?" Twilight asked.

"Don't worry, I'll see to it this doesn't last long. Oh, and there is one thing I need you girls to do for me."

"Anything, darling." said Rarity.

"I need you and Twilight to keep your magic to a minimum when you're in public, okay?"

"How come?" asked Twilight.

"People in this world are not used to seeing magical glowing horns and things floating around. Or magenta colored flames. I don't want anybody to get the wrong idea and take you girls away."

They all had to agree with Korra on that. Humans in this world did not understand Equestria and it's magic, and others tend to fear things they don't understand. They all nodded in agreement, "Alright, we understand."

Spike gave her a claws up, "Whatever you say, Avatar!" he said, until one of Naga's hairs fell on his nose, which began to twitch, "A---a---a---ACHO!" he sneezed a small patch of green fire but Korra quickly firebended and shrunk it making it disappear in her hands before anyone else could see it. Spike was baffled by what he saw.

"Wow! Can you show me how to do that?"

"Gladly, you cute little dragon."

Korra scratched his chin and Spike sighs dreamily. As she scratched his chin, Korra's eyes sparkled in the light, reflecting a rainbow-like shine. Twilight was the only one who noticed this. She may not know much about this new world they were in but she was sure about one thing….Korra was indeed a very special friend.

And they were about to find out just how special she truly was.

(~)

In another part of the deepest and darkest part of the city, stood a tall man wearing a full face mask and hood over his head. He looked down at the recent newspaper article about the Avatar now in Republic City. His sinister eyes locked on the photo of the smiling young girl and her new little creatures beside her. The man's eyes squinted as he noticed something off with the photograph: the Avatar's eyes appeared to have what looked like tiny little sparkles, and even though the paper was grey, her eyes had specks of bright colors. He even saw them in the eyes of the creatures. He didn't quite understand why he was seeing this, but something inside was telling him that girl new Avatar was going to be a real interference in his plans.

Author's Note:

I would like to thank Atea1793 for helping me with the intro of the first chapter, and for adding the scene of Korra and Katara. Thanks a million.

Also, a heads up: the rest of the chapters are older, and I've been recently updating the chapters I already have on my FanFiction page, so if you compare them the two have a few differences, but my FanFiction one is the most recently updated. So, if you are interested, here is a link to my second account. I may sooner or latter post them on my DeviantArt page as well. On my profile page I've got ALL of the updated chapters up and ready.https://www.fanfiction.net/u/5396591/MaggiesHeartLove