The Comet, Part 2
Cadence raced away from Omashu, unsure where she was going, only knowing that she had to get away from what was coming. Before long, everyone she knew and cared about would be embroiled in a massive conflict that could tear the world apart, and one or more of those she cared for most would die because of it. And no matter how far she ran, she couldn't escape that it was all her fault.
Maybe if she'd kept her mouth shut, or done what she was supposed to and captured her Uncle for the Agni Kai, it wouldn't have ended in death. Zuko was a very skilled bender, and his new skills might have been enough to tip the scales. If he demonstrated enough of them in the fight, especially in response to Ozai's lightning, maybe the battle could have ended without death or doubts of Zuko's abilities.
Maybe, maybe, maybe...that word raced through her mind, showing every possibility of what could have been, what might have been, what should have been. And each time she raced through these thoughts, her mind returned to what the Sun Warrior Chief had said. She was not of this world. She did not belong here.
She come to a halt somewhere between Omashu and Ba Sing Se. Looking around, she found herself in the middle of a field of red clay, red as blood. Staring out at it, her mind's eye filled it with bodies of those who would likely die this day...because of her. The clay was red with the blood of those who fell because of the war...and would fall because she had let the war continue because she didn't want to risk losing those she cared for.
She could feel the approach of the comet. It would begin its passage soon, and already the fire stirred inside her at its approach, its burning power seeping into her magic and through her magic into the water, earth, and air of her spirit. She could feel the power pulling her apart, and she desperately clenched down on the power so she didn't lose control. Seeing yet more evidence that this world had no natural place for her, she sank to her belly and burst into tears.
Deep in the prison of Ba Sing Se, a certain prisoner felt the approach of the Comet. As the flames power began to fill her, her broken chakras overflowed, spilling out of the proper pathways and into every cell of her body, filling her with power and agony beyond anything anyone had ever known. Unlike what most would have done in such a situation...she embraced both pain and power, as mad laughter filled the prison...
...just before it exploded.
Aang stared down at the rocky pinnacles that marked the western shore of the continent, the closest land point between the Earth Kingdoms and the Fire Nation. This would be where Ozai would make his move if he did so, where the fate of the world would be decided.
Sokka had come up with a clever plan to deal with the assault. If Ozai came, then it would be timed to the start of the Comet's passage, when he would have the maximum amount of time to scorch the land. As such, atop each and every rock pillar was a Firebender to counter the fires of Ozai's men, along with an Earthbender to keep them stabilized. Waterbenders were positioned near the shore, to keep flames from spreading too far. Sokka, Suki, Toph, and Katara were aboard a War Balloon controlled by the Mechanist, ready to attack the incoming fleet from the air.
Aang himself stood on Appa's back, high above the battlefield. He had one single objective in this battle. While everyone else would do all they could to prevent Ozai's fleet from making its way inland. Aang, however, was to take down Ozai hard as fast as possible. Once Ozai was out of the fight - especially if it was very visible when it happened - his troops would surrender. Aang was told in no uncertain terms that he would have to set aside his distaste at the idea and - if necessary - take Ozai down permanently.
It had been rather hard for Aang to face even the idea of setting out to kill someone. It went against everything he'd ever been taught, both as an Air Nomad and as the Avatar. He was supposed to protect and respect life, not destroy it. But after some soul searching, he'd taken a look at the Accords of Omashu, the peace treaty signed to end the Hundred Year War.
While the exact articles were somewhat convoluted as far as exactly how it would all happen, the message was clear. The Four Nations - or what was left of them, at any rate - would bond together, combining skills and resources with the express purpose of creating a brighter future for everyone. Developing new technologies for a healthier world civilization, where even distance would not separate anyone anymore...
As he read through the Accords, he could see in his mind's eye the glorious future of which they spoke. A future of peace, prosperity, and joy...this was what he was here to protect. As the Avatar, as an Air Nomad, as a human being...he had to do whatever it took to protect that bright future, and bring everyone together in love and peace. And if the sacrifice required to make that world a reality was his own innocence...then so be it.
The Comet approached. The fleet was in sight, with Ozai right at the front, madness in his eyes as his fire raged in his veins. Aang locked eyes with his opponent despite the distance, and knew the time was now. If he was to protect everyone he cared about, he could hold nothing back.
Closing his eyes, he let go of his attachments, let go of his fears and worries...let go of his own sense of self and right and wrong. He embraced the knowledge of what he had to do, and the certainty that he was capable of it.
The Avatar opened his glowing eyes and leapt from the back of his Animal Companion, diving down to the battle that would determine the fate of the world, the Elements swarming to his call.
As the Comet became visible in the sky, Cadence looked up from her tears to stare at the blazing sign. "All I've done...did it just make everything worse?" she whimpered. "Would the world have been better off...without me?"
"Well I certainly think so."
Cadence gasped, knowing that voice all too well. She spun to face the one person she never expected to see again. "Azula?"
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So Cadence's not a Love Spirit?
Reads the last part of the chapter Oh f
k! That is not a good thing, not a damn bloody good thing at all! 
Ready...FIGHT!
...Sooo, I have a feeling that Cadance is going to die and Equestria is the afterlife in this reality. Then Iroh follows Cadance shortly afterwords due to his grief...
Or maybe I'm just coming up with crackpot theories at this point, who knows?
I'm so far on the edge of my seat, the chair is irrelevant at this point. Curse you, cliffhanger! CURSE YOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!
Saw that one coming, the moment I read about the part in the prison. Cady, it's time to open that cute can of whoop-flank you've got inside you.
too
Another enjoyable chapter. Good job.
7009178
The effect the damaged chakras have on how all that fire inside her works will be the driving force of the next chapter...along with the explanation of the explosion.
Crap, and here I thought she was down and out. Looks like Cadence shall fight Azula in Zuko's place...
7009127 Same here on that first part.
Guess the comet made Azula... Burst into laughter and madness.
Pretty sure Cadance has the worst... Reddition of the possible outcome so far.
Cadence can clay she made things worse but how she forgets the good she brought too.
Even though Ozai was but a mere blimp Aang could see him clear as day.
One thing I kinda wish would happen is that something (I dunno what, maybe the comets passing) would clean Azula's mind of her madness (and take away her memories of the time she was affected by it). So you have this 6 or 7 year old girl in a 16 year olds body wondering where her mum and dad are and why everyone is older. I think that would just be a really cool way of redeeming Azula (because NO ONE is unredeemable!)
I'm imagining it kind of like what happened to Garion in Queen of Sorcery when his blood is cleaned of the drugs.
I type something in a comment relating to Mai and Zuko's relationship, I refresh, and then it turns out this story updates soon after... I guess you're welcome, guys; thanks to causality, this is now the next story to come about.
*Insert mock surprise at her ability to care and feel guilt here.*
Or maybe, life would run through Tatsurou logic, and what you professed to be possible earlier would've happened "just because" (which translates out to a logical reason Tatsurou would've contemplated for a while).
Odd, I could've sworn there was some sort of place that was noted for being some sort of battleground, and the environs were red, not for the blood of the fallen, but for the fires of the victorious... or something like that, I forget.
...
....
..... Motivations aside, this is going to be one. Kickass. Fight.
Wait, wasn't there supposed to be some sort of thing where Aang figured out what he had to do through the Avatar equivalent of the World Turtle?
F14m3rz, I'd like you to say it with me
}
Alternate Universe!!
}
{Tasturou:
... What?
{Tatsurou:
CURSE YOU IMAGINATIIIIIIiiiooonn... eh, whatever,
Hmmm... No comment.
But in all seriousness, this is gonna be an AWESOME confrontation.
Cadence: The anomaly who should not be, but proceeds to be, regardless.
Azula: The defamed princess who was denied at every turn by said anomaly!
Of course, it'll all be short-lived because Deus Ex Probably-Iroh will show up, be like "No, Cadence, Azula's just messed up; there's nothing more to her character, backstory, or modus operandi at all!", and then Cadence'll probably take care of her permanently. And then by the time the chapter's over, the reader will be like "Wow, this was awesome!"... but over time, they might realize that Azula's role in this was simply to be an obstacle to overcome, without anything of particular significance to be gleamed by her actions taken in the story at all...
But in the meantime, it's gonna be AWESOME!!!!!!
7009332 you're too much like pinkie pie. And that fact alone scares me!
7009079 This has been addressed repeatedly already. Cadence is not a spirit of any kind beyond being the Princess of Love. There are similarities between her and the Spirits of the Avatar: The Last Airbender world, but she is still a physical bound entity... usually. Astral Projection is cheating.
Like all of the other ponies from the stories Tatsurou writes, Cadence is simply displaced. Her age, both physical and mental, is reset to zero when displaced, and she's thrown backwards in time as many years as was erased. Her memories aren't erased, just suppressed. Once she closes the loop with her physical age she'll remember her time in Equestria and return to it, either through her own actions or a convenient plot device.
So no, she's not a spirit. She is commonly mistaken as one in the story, but she's not.
7009463 I thought she wasn't.
Azula you motherf@#$ing b@#$%. Don't you dare f@#$ing use your psychomanipulation on Cadence when she's at her weakest.
Wait, where's the rest? Seriously, where's the rest?.........Hello?
Where's the rest?!
WHERE'S THE REST?!
7009216 Azula becomes a fire pony?
Cady this scorch earth even was bound to happen. I wish someone from from the un altered universe could comfort her.
Hey, Why not Rava the light Spirit.
7009216 Why do I get a hunch that this is a case of the candle burning its brightest just before it snuffs out. Azula's firebending may be literally burning her alive in a sense soon, if it hasn't started already.
Did Aang visit that guru to master the avatar state already? Also did toph develop metal bending or was that circumvented? And what about Katara and blood bending?
7009772
The first two already happened at the points they did in canon. The third did not.
Whoa wait, WHAT?!
What? What's going on here?!
Azula is back.
Smart.
Good luck, Aang. Question, did the whole Sea Lion Turtle thing happen?
Aang...
Here we go.
The battle begins. Avatar vs Phoenix King.
Fantastic, as if things needed to become worse.
7009967
The Lion Turtle thing did not happen.
Energy Bending was never introduced.
7009972
Oh. Oh dear. Welp, sh*t's gonna go down, if you'll pardon my French.
Welp, things are getting rather... heated up
if you ask me~
HAHA!
Nice work.
7009228
I hate you. Like, a lot.
7009590
Fail. You have to use the URL not the share link.
7009747
...what?
7009772
BLOOD bending!?
7009972
ENERGY bending!?
Why have I never hard of these types of bending!?
7010069
Dude....have you even watched the third season?
7010106
I barely watched Avatar and what I did see was the damnable reruns. I could never catch a new episode. So, maybe?
7010118 go to kissanime or kisscartoon. One of those two sites will have it, and you can watch the whole series for free. And it's a safe site.
7010137
Merçi mademoiselle.
Well, that's not good. Aang versus Ozai without the ace of energy bending in his pocket, and Cadance all alone versus a powered up, even more crazy Azula.
7009228
Jeez...
I didn't realise you were such a sansation.
*Queue pain
7009972 Um, Isn't Lightning considered Energy Bending?
7010485 Nope it is not
7010309 still no anon in the future though.
7010069 The reason the Avatar exists is becuase the Spirit of light and good ended up being merged with a human. That human was the first to master all 4 bendings and when he died his bond to Rava allowed him to be reborn.
My personal opinion, Cadance is about to undergo some catharsis.
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Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
7010791
Why are you telling me this?
7010309 For both you and the rest that worry about Aang... I can't understand why. Avatar vs Phoenix King happens in the canon, Ozai loses HARD. Indeed if not for the deux ex that is energy bending and Aang's outright refusal to kill, Ozai would be DEAD. The Awakened Avatar curb stomps the ever loving shit out of Ozai in minutes, and most of that time was Aang 'powering up' and Ozai 'running for his life'. It was only PRIOR to Ozai's Nice Job Fixing It Villain moment that he even had a chance at winning, and Aang STILL nearly killed him, thanks to being able to redirect lightning. Once more, Aang's refusal to kill saves Ozai from death. The Phoenix King promptly abuses this moment of mercy, nearly killing Aang, only to fix Aang's damaged chakra allowing Aang to become the Awakened Avatar. Indeed that is an injury this version of Aang never suffered, and thus as we read this Aang goes full Awakened Avatar at the start. This is basically a fire magic powered Bruce Lee vs a minor reality warper who can control EVERYTHING, including fire. WHO ALSO KNOWS KUNG FU. Yes Bruce is a super badass wielding the raw fury of the sun, but this fight is hopelessly one-sided. The only chance Ozai has is Aang still refusing to kill him, or one hell of a deus ex.
7009332 I've tried REALLY hard to not call you on this for several chapters, but I'm done doing that. You're coming off like an idiot. You're confusing pragmatism and practicality with sociopathy and psychosis. Cadence's more 'ruthless' moments are PERFECTLY REASONABLE. Mai was an elite enemy agent, a TRAINED ASSASSIN handpicked by an ACTUAL PSYCHOPATH, to murder Cadence's cousin, Zuko. Cadence not being prepared to eliminate Mai by any means necessary wouldn't just be stupid, but also potentially suicidal and completely OUT OF CHARACTER. Remember that she was raised by a MASTER TACTICIAN AND STRATEGIST. That's exactly WHY she comes off like a talented, but very young, Chessmaster. Because SHE IS ONE. Iroh was planning to be 'The Man Behind The Man' to Ozai, believing both in Sozen's dream AND in the ideals of the White Lotus. Iroh has ALWAYS been a Chessmaster. It wasn't until his son's death that Iroh lost faith in everything, a faith that Cadence's presence restored.
Is Azula completely beyond redemption? No. But Azual has ALWAYS been BROKEN. Something that Cadence could feel even as a small filly. Azula has been unstable the entire time, and frankly been far more of a monster than Ozia has ever been. (In this story). Ozai is far more deserving of redemption because Ozia's biggest crime is True Faith. He honestly and devoutly believes he was working for a better world. While canon Ozai may have only wanted power, this version of Ozia has shown to be far deeper and at times even questioning of his own actions, like when he challenged Zuko after the latter's questioning of a general. However Azula, both canon and in this story, has only ever wanted power. She's been completely and utterly without empathy for anyone. Indeed she even lies to Ozai just to remove Zuko as a potential threat to her rise to power, and when her current lover Zhao dies Azula replaces him immediately. Her only complaint is that the replacement wasn't as young/good looking/good in bed, as Zhao was. His loss as a person had no impact or value to her, only what he provided her did.
So yes, KILL the complete monster Cadence, she is NOT any deeper, she's an emotionally and mentally broken monster now, which is what she's always been. Personally I hope there IS a deus ex that spares Ozai because he's shown far more reason to be spared. However given Aang's apparent commitment to ending Ozai's threat, the former Fire Lord looks pretty fucking screwed, as I pointed out above. A loss that is even more painful, when you consider that the only reason it will likely happen is because of the corrupted version of Firebending that Ozai was taught.He is a victim of With Great Power Comes Great Insanity. And while Azula is also a victim of that, Ozia has NOT shown himself to be a completely heartless monster only concerned with his own power. Meanwhile Azula has never had a moment, in story or in canon, that shows her to care for anything other than power.
7011949 You know... it's funny. I was perfectly prepared to talk to you as though you were a fellow human being... but it looks like that won't be the case.
First off, if you haven't gotten it into your head by now, I suppose I shall have to spell it out for you: I A-M B-E-I-N-G I-R-O-N-I-C F-O-R H-U-M-O-R. If I really had any recent problems with Cadence, don't you think I would've gone into greater detail by now (or perhaps just say "No comment" like I did for the last chapter)? Besides, like I've stated multiple times, it isn't that she prepared in the first place, it was that she was prepared in broad daylight... with people around... while Zuko still has a thing for Mai (who's only skilled because she got bored, not because she's a trained assassin). My concern lies in the fact that the only person she talked to about this was someone who ISN'T a tactician and strategist.
Secondly, Ozai... yeah, what of it?
Lastly, Azula... responding to you on this issue would be an effort in futility and a waste of time I could spend doing important things, like writing an essay for my American National Government class. It is clear that you don't grasp the full extent of Azula's character, nor will you ever, due to the simple fact that you never once mentioned her dynamic with her mother. Recognizing that, I abstain from continuing this line of dialogue. Feel free to continue on with your monologue, however, as I'm sure many people will enjoy reading it.
Adorable vs. Insane
Dang, two fights I really want to see, Ozai vs Aang and Cadence vs Azula. Though I would not be upset if Cadence is on her last hoof, Azula is going for a killing blow, and then Papa Wolf Iroh just blasts her away while yelling, "GET AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER!!!". I do hope Ozai lives, he had some nice scenes in the early chapters and I think once the comet has passed he might be able to start over with Iroh's guidance and help. Azula, I think she's a ticking time bomb that will go off soon, hopefully not taking Cadence out in a fiery explosion.
7009229 That... would be an interesting fic to read, especially if she has the typical little girl reaction to Ponies and wants to spend all her time brushing Cadence's mane. But remember, in the second chapter she was a very evil little kid already. Might not work out as well as we think.
7009668 Maybe that's where Twilight learned her Rapidash mode???
7012412 True. But she would be sane again, and without Ozai egging her onward with the fire bending training and stuff she could (that is a large could though) turn out alright. And besides, she probably just needs someone that won't put up with any of her high and mighty act.
7012412 TIS CONFIRMED! AZULA IS TWILIGHT VELVET!