The Little Pony Legend: A New Beginning

by MaggiesHeartLove

Nogitsune Attack

Nogitsune Attack!

Starlight's head was throbbing, her body felt cold against the rocky floor. Her eyes blinked, unable to tell if they were opened or closed. Her vision stabilized and she could see the sharp formations of the rising stalagmites from both the floor and ceiling. A soft green glow illuminated the cave, as did the equally glowing substance that was still stuck to her coat.

She groaned and staggered as she stood up, her body slowly morphing back into her anthro form. Her fingers brushed the surface of her horn and a familiar slimy material made its way to her surface of her thumb. She gasped and backed away in fear, swatting the goop away, only to feel something wet and furry behind her. Starlight leaped into the air, landing on her feet and immediately took a fighting stance once she saw a black covered creature in the shadows with piercing glowing green eyes.

The beast stepped forward, revealing its sickly black and insect-like appearance. Its fangs glistened in the glowing lights while the torn up insect-like wings flapped rapidly, creating a buzzing sound. The same sound could be heard all around. Starlight's heart pounded hard against her chest, turning around entirely to see more and more of the creatures, some even attached to large green cocoons that dripped with the same substance that was now stuck to her horn.

In the cocoons she saw the unconscious faces of the Equestrian Queens and their mother. Her friends, husband, and the Crystal Empire Royal family, all hanging upside down just as they had many years ago.

Starlight trembled, shaking her head. "No… it's… this is impossible!" before she could proceed to find any sort of explanation to any of this, another pair of green eyes appeared behind her.

The anthro airbending unicorn froze in fear.

(~)

The smell of steaming jasmine tea never ceased to loose its heavenly aroma. Aiwei knew just how to prepare the perfect cup of tea, while adding the perfect balance of cinnamon in top. He poured one cup for each of the children, currently sitting around the table in front of Iroh's old spirit tea shop. Aiwei's scorpion-spider companion rested beside him, also sipping some tea, holding the cup with her large claw rather lady-like.

Aiwei handed the cup to Iris, who nodded her head in gratitude. "Thank you, Aiwei."

Akari licked her lips after taking her sip. "Mmm! You never disappoint with the cinnamon."

"That's exactly what Master Iroh used to say."

"So, what happened to Iroh anyway?" Nori asked. "Wasn't he living in the Spirit World?"

"He was. But, after his mission here was complete, he finally left this world and returned home to his family." Aiwei bowed his head in respect, closing his eyes and placing one hand over his heart. "May he rest in peace." he said. Aiwei then reopened his eyes. "Since then, I was left in charge of tending to his tea shop. It's become quite popular with the people of the city as well. This location is by far the safest in the spirit world." he then smiled at the children. "I remember the family picnics you all used to have right here."

The serene moment was ruined when Hiro and Chi began stuffing their faces with spirit cake. Frosting got onto the side of their mouths, which made the rest of the team stare in either disgust or disappointment. Aiwei only chuckled. "Yep. Exactly like I remember it."

Iris gently placed the teacup back on the table. "I'm sorry Aiwei, but I'm afraid we're not here on a social visit."

Aiwei's expressing dropped, his eyes falling to his own cup. "I'm assuming this is about your parents, is it?"

"How did you know about that?" Iris asked.

"Word has spread very quickly in the spirit world. Many have been trying to locate them, but unfortunately they have all been unsuccessful. I'm terribly sorry."

"It's okay. We already have a lead as to where they are."

"You do?"

"Yeah!" Iris nodded, while Mai and Gallant had to swat the cakes away from Chi and Hiro from the background, whipping the frosting from their faces with their sleeves. "They're in the Dark Spirit Realm."

Aiwei gasped in horror. "The Dark Spirit Realm? But, how did you figure that out?"

"It's kind of a long story." Iris said, tugging on the edges of her father's scarf wrapped around her neck and shoulders.

"We kind of got zapped by the Tree of Harmony, became the New Elements of Harmony, activated the Friendship Map for the first time in years, and that's where it showed us where our parents are." Akari said, saying all of it rather quickly without needing to catch her breath. "Also, almost all of us got new powers."

Aiwei blinked in bewilderment, his eyes shifting to Mai, who was rubbing her temples. "Yeah, I thought the same thing." she said to the earthbender.

"Do Asami and Bolin know you're here?" he asked, arching an eyebrow at them all. The children all cringed, shifted their eyes back and forth, and or fiddled with either their fingers, hair or cloths. It didn't take a genius to figure out the answer. Mainly because they weren't doing a very good job at hiding it. "Children, you do realize that nobody can go into the Dark Sprit Realm unless you're--"

"Unless you're the Avatar or either one of the Elements of Harmony. Yeah, we know." Iris finished for him. "That's kind of another thing that's happened recently." Iris bit her bottom lip before saying, "I'm the Avatar."

Aiwei's jaw literally dropped, his eyes shifted to the others. Chi, who was sucking his fingers for any remaining frosting, caught his glance. "What? You working at a spirit tea shop with a spider scorpion which you use for transportation is considered normally, but the Avatar thing being hereditary now is what baffles you?" Chi scoffed, "Get with the times, Aiwei."

"It happened after Iris broke the Twilight Blade." Akari said. "But, she had no memory of the event and her powers haven't show up again until just yesterday."

"And last night when we visited the tree that's when we got there powers." Gallant said.

"What kind of powers are you talking about?" Aiwei asked.

To demonstrate, Mai sat up from her chai and approached Aiwei. He gripped his chair and yelped in alarm when Mai, very effortlessly managed to lift up his chair by one leg, with him still on top of it. Gently, she lowered him down. Nori next demonstrated by extending her hand forward, which created another pearl force field, knocking Mai down once again, with Aiwei narrowly dodging it.

"Sorry!"

"And check this out!" Chi then demonstrated her incredible speed by spinning around the teashop for a few tries then zooming all the way to the mountain top of Hai-Riyo peak and then back again… now covered in dragon bird feathers. "Great news, Goldie's now a daddy!" she said before flowing the feathers off of her hair. "Rambunctious little tykes."

"Gallant here can talk to animals." Hiro said.

"And Hiro can blow stuff up. Hence, the gloves." Gallant pointed at his friend's gloved hands.

"It's a lot cooler than it sounds."

"Afterwards, the Map showed us the location to the Dark Spirit Realm." Iris explained. "Right after we all sat on the thrones. It's still connected to them, so it has to be where they are."

Aiwei stroked his beard, which had grown longer over the years. "So, you believe, that by being the Elements of Harmony, you will be able to access the gateway to the Dark Spirit Realm and rescue Korra and the others?"

"That was the primary plan, yes."

"You all agreed to this?" he said, eying the other children.

"Kind of hard to argue when a magical tree blasts you with a rainbow beam." Gallant said.

"And a magical map." Nori said after taking a sip of her tea.

"I see." Aiwei ponded, intertwining his fingers together and resting his chin on them. "Do you even know where to reach the Dark Realm? The spirit world is very vast, and no two locations lead in the same direction."

"That's what we're hoping you could tell us." Iris said. "You know the Spirit World better than anyone, so--"

"You want me to point you in the right direction, right?"

"Uh… yes?" Iris and Akari shared a look of concern. Aiwei's original welcoming and warm demeanor had shifted into a calculative and almost stoic man. They could almost see the gears turning in his brain.

"And, how are you so confident I won't just alert Bolin and Asami about all of this?" he said, frightening the children, with Chi noisily sipping on her drink, while still looking just as worried none the less. "If whoever has taken your family is indeed residing in the Dark Realm, then who's to say they will not be anticipating your arrival?"

"Asami kind of already said that." Akari said.

"Then you are fully aware of the consequences of this rather reckless, dangerous and, dare I say, suicidal mission. Plus, I can only imagine the kind punishment your parents will inflict on you once they find out." he pointed at the Sato siblings.

Hiro gulped. "Oh, no. Mom's gonna make us listen to that boring LKT story again!" the young earthbender whined, covering his face in despair, while Mai let out a terrified scream.

Aiwei rose from his chair, sighing. Given his expression, Iris had a sinking feeling he had made up his mind. "Aiwei, please--"

"I'm sorry, Iris. My mind is made up. You kids will return home and come clean to Mr and Mrs Sato." Aiwei said to the worried children…. only to pull out a rolled up piece of paper from behind him and unfolded it on the table. "Right after you retrieve the others and bring them back home."

Iris gasped happily, as did Akari, Chi, Nori, Gallant and Hiro, while Mai shook her head in disbelief. "Former Red Lotus bad dude say what now?"

"Iroh taught me a lot of things during his time here. He taught me how to make a heavenly cup of tea, different styles of playing Pai Sho, but most of all, he showed me that when destiny has the stars aligned in a specific pattern… you shouldn't try to disrupt that pattern, but rather let it point you in the right direction."

"Is this a common trend for you old folk?" Akari asked, but with a smile. "Trolling us kids?"

"Not exactly. But it is fun." Aiwei gave a wink. "Besides, I know Iris would never lie about something as important such as this." he said, placing a hand on her shoulder. Iris smiled in gratitude. Aiwei then turned his attention to the map before them, which only showed one aspect of the Spirit World. With a wave of his hand, the image shifted to reveal a specific pattern which led to their desired destination.

"The spirit world in incredibly vast. Constantly changing and shifting. Not every path leads in the same direction. What was once a pattern a few months ago, may change over time. This world is restless, and thus can never truly stay still. This spirit map was given to me by Wan Shi Tong in order to get around the land. Unlike your mother, who has long since mastered the ability to located these new patterns whenever they occur, no ordinary human or pony can get around without one." he traced his fingers across the surface. "Follow this path towards the Dark Realm. At this point, it's the only rout that will lead to it. If you loose course or even the map it will be incredibly difficult to find your way back to the same pathway."

He rolled up the map and handed it to Iris. She bowed in gratitude. "Thank you, Aiwei."

"But, don't you have shortcuts to various locations around this area?" Chi asked.

"Short cuts, yes. They won't lead you directly to where you need to go, but I believe I can give you all a head start." Aiwei led the children towards a tree which wasn't there before, but randomly sprouted from the ground up when Aiwei stomped his foot on the soft grass. The side of the tree immediately opened, revealing a dark hole.

"So, we just go in there?" Iris asked.

"Yes. Oh, before you go." Aiwei had his benevolent spirit companion hand him an extra bag for the children. "Have some caves for the road."

"Thanks."

Akari poked her head into it, taking notice that her hair was being dragged, almost as if she were in a downwards position rather than standing up. She reeled back and her hair fell back into place. With a mischievous grin she took a few steps back and then ran towards the entrance, diving head first and diving forward, which looked more like she were going downwards.

"Woohoo! Come on, guys!" her voice echoed from the outside. Iris gripped her father's scarf before diving in as well. It really felt like she were doing a nose dive into the ocean. As a gifted swimmer, this was a treat.

"This is awesome!"

Gallant pulled up his sleeves and dove right in as well. "Here I come, Mom and Dad!" his voice echoed as he fell.

"Cannon Ball!" Chi rolled herself up and jumped onto the hole, with Hiro close behind.

"Earthbending Ball!" he shouted, his voice fading the further he went down.

Nori bowed to Aiwei. "Thank you for your hospitality, and for the delicious tea. You know, I have a few recipes in mind, maybe some time we can swap ideas?"

Aiwei gave a light chuckle. "I would like that very much." Nori then dove into the hole with Mai following afterwards. Aiwei poked his head, cupping his mouth with his hands, "Good luck! And stay together!"

(~)

The tunnel was surprisingly long, with nothing but tree bark and leafs all around. The children all fell nose first, seeing a blinding light at the very end of the tunnel. Akari and Iris shared knowing smirks and spread open their wings, accelerating their speed, soaring right to the other side, hovering over a vast area of beach sand. Chi came zooming out first, flooring right beside them.

"That was so much fun! We have got to do that again!"

More screaming came and Gallant came spiraling out, only to be caught by Akari, bridal style. Even with her being only a head shorter than him, she managed to hold him rather effortlessly.

Gallant, as usual, blushed not only at Akari's incredible strength, but also at how close she was. "Uh, nice catch." he said before levitating himself into the air.

Hiro came next, being caught by Chi, waving his fists in the air, still fired up from the adrenaline rush. Nori came out next, only for Mai to crash into her and the two were caught by Iris and Akari, respectively.

"So, where are we?" Mai asked once they were all safely back on the ground. The light gold sand already sprinkled on the tips of her ankle boots.

Nori gasped with delight upon seeing the vast body of water before them. It rivaled even Yue Bay in size, with the waters as crystal clear as the purest diamond. In the far distance resided an island surrounded by brown colored greens.

The merpony let out a delighted squeal, which nearly blew off everyone's ears, despite their desperate attempt to cover them up. Nori normally had a harmonious voice, but her pipes were so strong they could literally break glass. They were solid and good, but still piercing none the less. A true vocal weapon if they had ever seen one.

Nori dropped her backpack and dove right into the water, changing her legs into a fish tail at will and splashed around for a bit. "This water feels amazing!" she said, floating on her back. "It feels like a day at the spa."

"Hey, I remember this place!" Chi said, then stroked her chin. "I wonder if…" she floated to behind a large mountain rock from which they had came out of moment ago. "Yes! It's still here!"

"What's still here?" Gallant asked as they followed Chi. Nori emerged from the waters, back on her legs, and followed the rest to behind the rock. Chi hovered around an old, wrecked boat made entirely our of wood, rope and vines and an old sail.

"This was the boat Nova and I used to sail towards that island." she pointed directly to said island.

Iris pulled out the map Aiwei gave them and spotted the vast fresh water ocean as the starting point, while everything else before fades away. She smiled. "That's exactly where we need to go!" Iris pointed her finger to the island on the ocean. "Once we get to this island we just follow the pathway on the map and we'll be at the Dark Realm before we know it.."

"Wouldn't it be a lot faster if we just teleported?" Mai suggested, "I mean, look at that distance, it'll take us all day to reach it."

"Sorry, Mai, but this area of the spirit world has its rules too." Chi explained. "The only way to get to that island is to cross the ocean. Besides, Nova tried that long ago, didn't work. Why else do you think we build this boat?"

Akari inspected the old boat, tugging gently at the torn up sail. "Doesn't look like it's in the best shape." she said.

"Well, then it's a good thing I brought my Nori mini sowing kit!" Nori said, pulling the said kit from her backpack.

"Uh, where did that come from?" Gallant asked in surprise.

"Rarity gave it to me as a birthday present. No more kelp made scarfs for this fish-mare." Nori said with great pride. She politely shoved Akari to the side and inspected the sail. After a while, the sail was up and ready again, looking brand new, while also using strong powerful kept to tie the broken pieces of the boat together.

Nori proudly dusted her hands, admiring her work. "Who says you can't sail in style?"

"It looks great, Nori!" Iris said with delight.

"Yeah. Would have been five minutes faster if you hadn't stitched on those added details." Mai said, referring to the added pearl and shell symbols onto the sail, which had indeed taken up a bit extra time.

Nori simply shrugged, "Like I said; Sail in Style."

With the sail now restored to its original glory, they were now ready to hit the water. Mai pushed the newly constructed boat onto the water, her hands emitting a faint glow. Within seconds, and with surprisingly very little effort, the young Sato girl managed to push the boat right into the water.

She quickly mounted onto the boat, with Chi at the helm, taking control. She changed her cloths to resemble that of a female pirate. "Alright, ya land dwellers, time to set sail for adventure! Arg! Gallant, hit us with some wind, boyo!"

"Sure thing, and don't call me "boyo"." Gallant unleashed a powerful gust of wind, which lightly rocked the boat, indicating it was strong enough to push them forward. Iris gripped the side of the boat while still holding onto her father's scarf. Akari saw this and gave her friend's hand a gentle squeeze.

"We're going to get them back, Iris."

"I just hope they're still alright."

As the boat sailed away across the spirit ocean, one little spirit, shaped like some kind aquatic reptilian watched the group from beneath the waves. He swam at top speed towards a small rock before transporting himself into a brown colored forest setting, then a rocky terrain, before arriving at what appeared to be an underground cave. Its aquatic features changed to resemble more that of a normal lizard, except its scales were black with red tints and yellow claws, along with quilled spikes on its back, making him resemble a porcupine of some kind. Once it arrived at the opening of a green glowing room, it changed back into one of the changeling wolves.

(~)

"Are we there yet?" Hiro groaned.

"Halfway." Gallant replied, keeping close attention to the distance between them while Chi still stirred. Hiro groaned once again, being bored out of his mind.

While the boat sailed across the ocean, Nori was splashing in the waves with her current fish tail, while Mai sat on the far end of the boat, inspecting her Geo-Slate with Iris sitting beside her. She gazed at her reflection in the water. Reaching out her hand, Iris tried to see if she could bend the water at her command. Her brows furrowed and twitched in her attempted to manipulate the waters. For a moment, it seemed as if she was finally able to do so, only to become disappointed once she saw it was Nori who had just bursted out from the water.

Iris groaned in disappointment. "Relax, you'll get the hang of it." Mai said, her eyes still on the Geo-Slate, though from the corner of her eye she could clearly tell what Iris was trying to attempt.

Akari, who was right behind Mai, whipped her from the back of the head with her tail. Mai rubbed her head, only to see Akari narrowing her eyes at her. Mai then turned her full attention to her cousin, who looked dejected.

Mai decided to place her Geo-Slate back into her backpack and turn her full attention to her obviously distressed cousin. "I'm sorry. I know you're worried about your parents." she said with genuine sympathy.

Nori emerged from the water, pulling herself only the boat and sat beside the two, her long fins dipping the surface of the water. "What's wrong, Starfish?"

Iris was silent for a moment before finally sharing her thoughts. "If I can't even control my Avatar powers how am I going to fight whatever it was that kidnapped our family? I can't even make a small bubble of water levitate." she groaned and face palmed herself.

"Hey, nobody expected you to know the four elements in one day." Akari said in reassurance.

"My mom was able to bend three of the elements when she saw five."

"Yeah, well, you're not your mom."

"In a way, I kind of am."

"Noooooo, because your Avatar powers were inherited from your mom, you'd be here if you were reincarnated, which you're not." Akari squatted down, scooting over next to her best friend. "Look, Iris, I've read all there is to know about the Avatar, just as much as you have. You and I both know that not every story was the same. I mean, Avatar Aang certainly couldn't bend the four elements when he was five. Even Avatar Rokku didn't find out till he was sixteen."

"Yeah, but none of them were tied to the Equestrian magic within them." Iris pointed out. "My mom was the one exception because of the prophesy."

"True, but you're also another exception." Mai said. "Korra was the last Avatar of the old cycle, but you're the first of the new cycle. It wouldn't be too far fetched to think your story would be different."

Akari gently removed a stray hair from Iris's face and smiled compassionately. "It's going to be okay. Our parents have already written their story, now it's time for us to write ours."

Iris finally smiled. "Thanks, you guys."

"And, if you'd like, Mai and I can teach you some firebending."

"Totally!" Mai agreed. "And Nori can teach you waterbending."

"And Hiro can teach you earthbending while Gallant can teach you airbending." Nori said. "You've already got four elemental teachers right here!" she said, extending her arms wide, only for another one of her shield-like pearls to suddenly burst from her hand and narrowly miss Gallant's head. The unicorn immediately ducked the incoming pearl which came flying in like a frisbee, which landed onto the water in a splash.

Gallant shot Nori an angry glare and the merpony blushed from embarrassment. "Sorry! Sorry, sorry! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Gallant replied, inspecting his hair, only to see a very small cuff of it gently fall in front of him. "I…needed a haircut, anyways."

"Uh, maybe you guys should hold off on practicing your new powers until we get to shore, okay?" Chi suggested, inspecting to see if hair was the only thing Gallant had lost. Those flat pearls looked incredibly lethal.

"I'm sorry, Gallant. I didn't mean to." Nori apologized once more as she magically willed her tail to transform back into legs and walked back onto the boat. "I still don't know how to control it."

"It's okay. None of us do." Mai said, looking down at her hands.

"Was it like this for Sunset's Canterlot High friends?" Iris asked.

Chi let out a laugh at the memory. "From what she told me, yes. But, things did get better. She said the trick was to not dismiss them, but to embrace them. We were given these powers for a reason, and when the times times, so long as we stick together, we'll figure it out."

"You have no idea on how this works, do you?" Hiro said, narrowing his eyes at her.

"Not a clue. Maybe if Sunset were here she'd give us some pointers." Chi sighed sadly, while still steering the ship. "She's probably gonna burn my wolf tail right off when she finds out I left home."

"I think we should be more concerned about what dangers we'll face here in the spirit world." Gallant said, while still inspecting his hair and giving the sail and extra boost of wind. "I'm pretty sure not all spirits are buddy-buddy of the Avatar."

"Eh, don't worry too much about that now, Gallant Steed." Chi said, "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Right now, just enjoy the smooth sailing." right after the words left her mouth, her eyes widened in alarm when an arrow suddenly came shooting right in front of her face and landed onto the wooden surface of the boat.

"Huh?"

Everyone else heard the swishing sound the arrow made, and stared at the weapon in alarm. Chi was the first to remove it. Her eyes narrowed once she took a good look at it.

"Oh, no."

"What? What is it?" Akari asked.

"Nogitsune."

"Nogi-what-now?"

"Spirit bandits." Chi replied, tossing the arrow into the ocean. "I recognize their craftsmanship anywhere. Nova tangled with them once."

"What was that you said about not being worried?" Gallant said, folding his arms. Often times, he hated being proven right.

Everyone turned their attention towards the ocean behind them, where a large white cloud of mist suddenly formed on the water's surface. The outline of what appeared to be rocks suddenly began to born. Standing on the rocks were three little creatures, short in stature, with long bushy tails, split into three parts. Their faces were entirely white with red and black markings, resembling foxes, but their stubby arms and small baby-like hands looked very human like. The masks became more visible as the fog cleared, with their ears being entirely furry and large, probably more so than their heads, which flipped as they cocked their heads like curious little pups, letting out such cute little squeaky sounds.

Iris only stared in confusion before smiling. "They're…kind of cute." she said, to which even Nori, Mai and Gallant agreed with. However, Chi only narrowed her eyes in annoyance at the creatures.

"Wait for it." said the wisp.

The little fox creatures then quickly drew new symbols on their faces, giving them a far more angry and war-like appearance as well as extra warrior-styled face paints on their masks and pulled out incredibly shaper weapons such as tiny axes, spears and knifes from their backs. Their fur stood on end, which completely disrupted their original "cute" factor.

Iris and the others now flinched and cringed at the sight. Chi folded her arms. "Told you."

The mist dispersed, revealing that what they were standing on were not rocks, but rather instead a boat…a very, very, very large boat, made out entirely out of other boats, with various sails outstretching from its sides, and with large palm trees and various other exotic plants decorating it and various little areas that could resemble houses. Basically, it looked like some kind of large colony. The little fox-like spirits began banging on drums, while other jumped up and down doing a war-like chant. At the very top stood the apparent leader of the Nogitsune, wearing a rather large headset, consisting of animal tusks and various sharp teeth adorning his necklace. His spear was larger than the others which he pointed downwards to the children.

"Hang onto something!" Chi exclaimed as he pulled hard on the rope, opening the fail to its full form. "Gallant, give me more wind!"

The two complied and blasted a powerful gust of air at the sail, causing it to go at full speed. Everyone else had to hold onto either the side, or each other as the boat bumped into several small waves, nearly tilting it.

Unfortunately for them, the Nigotsune had multiple sails, which enabled them to go just as fast, if not more so. The airbending power still wasn't enough.

"They're getting closer!" Hiro shouted.

Akari acted quick and unleashed a fiery blue blast at the boat, which strike the side, and several Nigotsune jumped out of the way. Iris and Gallant assisted as well in sending multiple magical blasts at the ships, which many attacks they managed to deflect thanks to the powerful crystal shields they carried. One of Iris's blasts strike the shield, which was deflected and sent the blast coming right at them.

"Look out!" Nori leaped into Iris's defense, outreaching her hands, creating a large peal shield which deflected the blast in return, which came at top speed, knocking several of the Nigotsune off the boat and into the water.

Nori has her eyes closed shut the entire time until she carefully opened them, surprised to see the pearl shield before her until it disappeared. The merpony smiled with victorious delight.

"Ha! Take that you doll sized rodents!"

Unfortunately, the Nigotsune outnumbered them greatly, and to make maters worse, not only were they gaining up on them, but they started shooting arrows at them again, this time with rope attached as a mean to pull them towards their even large ship.

More arrows came their way, attaching to the side of the boat. Nori, Mai and Hiro worked on pulling them out while Gallant continued adding more air to the sails in a desperate attempt to make them go faster. Iris and Akari continued to strike where there would be no shields, but the creatures were as prepared as Rarity was for a quick outfit change during a party emergency.

The arrows themselves proved to be very strong, in which even the kids struggled to yank them out, even the athletically built Hiro. The only one who had the most luck was Mai, due to her new super strength, but when she yanked hard onto the arrow, finally pulling it out, the impact caused the ship to slightly turn to either side.

"Sorry!" said the young firebender. She really didn't know her own strength anymore.

Things got even more complicated when the sails of the Nigotsune spread out…and was split into three separate boats, with the central one being the largest of them all.

"Their boat is turning into more boats!" Nori shouted.

The Nigotsune then began sledding down the ropes attached to the arrows, along with their shields to deflect the incoming blasts from Akari and Iris, and Chi simultaneously tried to steer the boat. Akari began shooting fire blasts, which were also deflected by the shields.

Hiro finally managed to yank one of the arrows out, then stared at it analytically as he gripped it in his still gloved hand. With a bright and devilish smile, Hiro removed his glove and gripped the arrow with his now bare hand. Just as he had hoped, the arrow itself started to glow intensely.

"Heads up!" he called out and let go of the arrow, allowing it to catapult right back to the Nigotsune on the rope of it. The arrow glowed even brighter, much to the horror of the little spirits. The arrow, and the rope itself, exploded in a great big green cloud with yellow hues and the Nigotsune fell into the water.

"Hiro, you're a genius!" Iris said proudly as she managed to finally pry her respected arrow from the side of the boat and tossed it to Hiro, who grabbed it with his ungloved hand. He touched it before letting it go right away, having the same results as before when the arrow and rap exploded, leaving the Nigotsune in the dust, and all wet.

"Mai, pull on as many arrows as you can!" Iris said. "Nori, use your shields to balance the boat!"

The two friends nodded in agreement. Nori created the pearls around the ship to keep it in balance. Mai managed to yank each and every one of the ropes with ease and handed them all to Hiro. With only one touch, he was able to make the arrows and rope blow up, which shocked and horrified the Nigotsune.

"Yes!" Hiro shouted, throwing his fists into the air…only to get knocked behind the head by some small stone. "Ow!"

Turning around, one Nigotsune managed to jump onto the ship, aiming his weapon at them. Chi then got an idea. "Akari, take the wheel!"

The alicorn complied and a blur of blue came swooping by, taking the little Nigotsune with her, before zooming all around one of the boats, taking away their spears, hatchets, shields and arrows in the amount of time it took them to blink. The same blur came zooming towards the second one, doing the exact same thing, before reaching the central boat and taking all the weapons, which were each simultaneously tossed onto the water to be sunken down to the bottom.

The blue blur, revealed to be Chi, stood before the Nigotsune chief, who aimed his spear at her…only to find he didn't have it anymore.

"Looking for this?" Chi said, smiling cockily before zipping away and returning back to the others. "The floor is yours, Petals!" she said with a bow to Iris before returning back to the wheel, and Iris and Akari happily unleashed their power onto the boats, and now with them free Gallant was able to make the boat speed faster than before. The team suddenly lost balance when the ship began to stir in another direction.

"Chi?"

"It's not me!" the unicorn replied, trying desperately to turn the ship around. Nori then noticed something under the water. She boldly dove downwards, her legs turning into a tail once more and saw a Nigotsune having speared the downward side of the boat with an arrow, and a rope connecting to main ship. Seeing this, Nori immediately swam towards the little fox spirit and waked him with her tail before attempting to yank the arrow off.

"Where is Nori?" Gallant asked as he searched the waters, while the others tried to fend off more of the incoming arrows coming their way. Iris and Akari both dove into the water and spotted the merpony attempting to yank the arrow out of the boat, seeing this, Akari pulled out a knife from her back pocket and used it to cut the rope, disconnecting their attachment to the boat. More Nigotsune came their way. Apparently they could swim as well.

Akari's horn and Iris's star symbol glowed brightly, engulfing their bodies in a shimmering aura, which allowed them to breath under water. Akari's knife grew in size, becoming a sword. The three swam towards the army, with Akari slicing them away, and Iris using the amount of magical energy beams she could master.

Nori used her waterbending to manipulate the current around them and sent them flying upwards from the surface and onto the boats, groaning in pain, and surprising the others on the boat.

As Akari sliced at each of the spirits, knocking away their weapons with her sword, one managed to pierce into her arm, causing her to cry out in pain.

"Akari!" Iris exclaimed, seeing the arrow piercing her best friend's arm. Blood came out, merging with the waters. Seeing the blood ignited something within Iris.

Her eyes began to glow a bright shimmering white, which frightened the little Nigotsune to their core. Outreaching her arms, Iris managed to manipulate the current in a way far more powerful than even Nori could master.

The same glow could be seen from the surface of the water by the boat, and the Nigotsune on their boats ceased their attempts to capture them, when an incredibly massive wave came spewing out, carrying all of the shipwrecked Nigotsune on it. They screamed in terror as the wave came crashing down onto the boat, all three of them, engulfing them all in the monster sized waters. The aftermath was the now destroyed boat, torn to pieces, with weapons and all floating about in the water, and little Nigotsunes spiting the salt water out.

The rest of the group stared in awe, as Akari and Nori surfaced. The waters continued to glow and Iris came shooting out with glowing eyes and wings. The Nigotsunes were now trembling in terror at the sight. With what little remained of their boats, the little spirits jumped onto the nearest pieces of wood and used their tails as propellors to speed themselves away from the scene.

Iris slowly descended, her eyes and wings ceased their glowing and she struggled to keep her balance. She rubbed her head, feeling as if her brain would pop right out of her scull. Nori helped Akari back to the boat, removing the arrow from her now bleeding arm.

Once Iris regained her composure she rushed to her friend's side. "Akari! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. It's just a scratch." Akari reassured her, wiping away some of the salt water from her face. Iris quickly used her healing magic to fix the cut right up in a matter of seconds.

"How did you do that?" Gallant asked Iris as he crunched down beside Akari, handing her a rack to dry her face with.

"I…I don't know. I guess I just really, really hate blood." Iris said. Even she herself wasn't entirely certain exactly how she was able to active the Avatar state so easily just now.

The boat then collided with something, stopping on its tracks. The others smiled with relief, for they had finally made it to their destination.

(~)

Asami gently opened the door a creek before pushing it all the way. The figure on the bed was still sound asleep from the looks of it but the body stirred under the sheets.

"Iris? You awake?" Asami asked quietly, to which the sound of a low moan was heard. Judging from the sound of it, the princess was still pretty upset. Both Asami and Bolin entered the room and the woman sat on the corner of the bed.

"Iris, we understand why you're upset, but it's not that we don't believe in you or the others, we do. You are an incredibly talented, smart and generous young girl, and you are going to grow up to be a wonderful Avatar, and as surprising as it may be, I think it's wonderful that the Elements of Harmony now live on with you and your friends."

"We believe that you are capable of such great things." Bolin said, placing a hand on Asami's shoulder. "And we want you to get the chance to do just that. That's why we can't risk you kids going. We don't want to lose you too."

The princess did not reply but still stirred, no doubt trying to give them the silent treatment. They were about to head out to save the rest of the family, they didn't want to leave things unresolved with their niece.

Asami reached out to give her a light tap on the shoulder "Iris? Iris, please talk to--Gah!" both parents reeled back in surprise when the orca wolf sat upright, giving Asami a big wet kiss. "Akhlut?"

"Where's Iris?" Bolin asked, but he didn't have to think too long to find the answer. "Oh… no."

"Akari?" Asami hurried to the pink alicorn's guest bedroom and pulled off the sheet, only to find Timber Spruce laying on the bed.

"Gallant?" Bolin did the same thing to Gallant's bed, only to find a pile of books stacked together to resemble a body.

"Mai?" Asami yanked her daughter's bed sheets, only to find pillows and a basketball wearing a black wig.

"Hiro?" when Bolin removed the covers of his son's bed, all he saw was dirty laundry, and a bunch of empty candy wrappers spread out, not even trying to give the illusion that there was a human body under there. The only hint was the small mountain of dirty socks that only slightly resembled his head.

Bolin face palmed. "Oh, come on! That's not even convincing!"

Asami ran into the room, seeing her son's empty, and very filthy, bed. "They're all gone!"

"Okay, okay, let's not panic." Bolin said, trying to clam down his already frantic wife. Though, in reality, he was getting even more frantic than she was. "I mean, maybe they're just at Sunset's place with Chi."

The sound of doors bursting open and exhausted panting, along with the tapping sound of heels against the cold floor were heard. The couple ran down the stairs and saw an already out of breath Sunset Shimmer standing before them.

"Please tell me Chi's with you!"

"She who?" Bolin asked, only to earn a glare from Sunset Shimmer. He slapped his forehead. "Oh, Chi! So sorry, they just sound so similar, it's an honest mistake, but that's not important right now! The kids are gone too!"

"I was afraid you'd say that."

Asami groaned in frustration. "How did they even sneak out? I had White Lotus Sentries posted everywhere around the estate! Not to mention our state of the art magic-tech security system!"

"You mean the one that was just emitting smoke?" Sunset Shimmer said, pointing her thumb to the still open wide doors.

The trio were next seen right beside the disabled alarm system, which no doubt was done so the kids could escape without alerting anyone.

Both Asami and Bolin knew exactly who the culprit was. "Mai." they said simultaneously right before another wire flew right off and landed on the ground.

"I got to hand it to her, our baby girl's got some serious skills." Bolin said, folding his arms.

"She's her grandfather's granddaughter alright." Asami said.

"What do we do?" Sunset said, already looking anxious, and understandably so. "They could be anywhere in the spirit world by now, and there's no way we can track them down."

"Actually, there might be." Asami said. "We already know where they're going. But, in oder to get there they're going to need a spirit map. And there's only one place we know where you can get them."

Bolin nodded. "Aiwei."

(~)

Once everyone was safely on shore, leaving the boat beside several trees, Akari rubbed the shoulder from which the spear had pierced her. Thankfully, it was already healed up, but still a bit itchy.

Hiro couldn't stop jumping up and down with excitement. "Wow! I can't believe we just did that! I mean, you saw that too right? Mai with her super strength, Nori with her pearl shield things, me with my explosions--" at the mention of the word, Hiro's hand brushed off the surface of a palm tree, to which he immediately backed away from and flinched in terror, as did the rest of his friends. After a few short seconds, the group realized that the palm tree had not exploded.

"Huh. I guess it doesn't work on living organisms." Gallant theorized, while hiding behind Akari, his hand touching her shoulder. Upon realizing the close contact, Gallant quickly let go, blushing in embarrassment.

"But, seriously, Iris that thing you did with the wave was phenomenal!" Akari said, practically bouncing with joy, which made Iris blush.

Chi then popped from behind the two alicorns. "For real! One minute you're just blasting magical blasts, next thing you're all PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWER!!!" She said, making her voice boom and echo for effect. Her voice then reverted back to its normal self. "That was just--"

"Awesome?" Akari finished, expecting her to say it, only for Chi to shake her head.

"No… Mind-Blowing! Seriously, I thought I would literally explode by how incredible and jaw-droopingly epic that was! No seriously, wisps can literally explode from high overdose of adrenaline. Don't worry, we always get ourselves back together. Again, literally."

Iris looked down at her hands still feeling overwhelmed, frozen and trembling from what she did. "I never knew I was capable of doing that." she said. She studied her fingers, which slowly began to stabilize from the excitable trembles. "I wonder if…" the young alicorn snapped her fingers once, only to tilt her head in surprise and tried once more. She then tried throwing a punch into the air directly at a tree, but nothing happened. She tried again, only to have a simple magical blast come out. Iris groaned for that was not what she had in mind.

"Iris, what are you doing?" Mai asked in confusion.

"Trying to firebend." Iris replied, staring down at her hands in confusion. "How exactly is this Avatar stuff supposed to work?"

"Take it easy." Akari said, gently lowering Iris's hands. "Firebending is pretty hard to master. But, for now, let's practice somewhere where there is very minimal chance of starting of forest fire."

"Yeah, we've already got one walking dynamite maker with us." Gallant said, pointing a thumb at Hiro.

"Relax Gallant, I think I'm getting the hand of--" Hiro leaned against a nearby boulder…which then exploded into tiny pebbles in a patch of green and yellow smoke. Iris and Akari shielded the rest of the group.

Hiro blinked twice before blushing in embarrassment. "Yeah, okay you may have a point. Uh, anybody got gloves?" he asked. Mai happily handed him back the ones he wore to cover his hands, to which he wasted no time in doing so.

"Iris, why don't you tell us where to next before somebody here looses a limb." Chi suggested.

"Good idea." Iris said and reached into her backpack for the map. Her violet eyes widened once she realized it was not present. "Oh, no." she whispered. She pulled the backpack right off of her back and started rummaging through it like a maniac. "No, no, no, no, no!"

"What is it?" Akari asked.

"The map, it's not--" Iris did manage to pull something out of her backpack. Only, it wasn't the map, but a piece of the spears from the Nogitsune. Her eyes furrowed in anger. "Pesky little sea pirates! They took the map!"

The rest of the kids gasped in horror. "How will we get back?" Nori asked.

"I have no idea!"

Nori was already starting to feel her heart rate rising. "No, no, no, no, no! I am too young to spend the rest of my life in the spirit world! Iris, can't you talk to one of the past Avatars or something!"

"How do you suppose she does that?" Akari said.

"I don't know. Meditate or something."

"Everybody, chill." Mai said, surprisingly calm. "It's going to be okay."

"Oh, no. Mai's already loosing it. That's it, we're doomed. We're dead, just dig a grave for all of us, we're dead!"

"We're not dead." Mai then pulled out her fully finished geo-slate from her bag. She switched on the device, hich was very slick and flat, with the Future Industries Logo on it, and traces of small geodes incorporated into the sides, as it looked on the geo-phones. The screen switched on, with a spinning F.I logo before switching into camera mode. Mai tapped onto the scree and in a few seconds a fully digital image of the spirit map appeared.

The rest of the children stared in awe. "How did you did that?" Nori asked, visibly invested, squeezing a bit near Gallant and Chi to get a better look.

"I took a picture of the map before the Nogitsune attacked." Mai explained. "The map is made out of spiritual energy, and the geodes used to power up the Geo-Slate come from Equestria, it can detect the magical energies of the spirit realm. If I just scan the pathways…." after some tinkering, Mai snapped her fingers with glee. "Bingo!"

A series of paths began to form, but one specific path, radiating with a vibrant aura, manifested in a form identical to that of the spirit map Aiwei handed them.

"What did you do?" Nori asked.

"I noticed that certain areas of the spirit world seem to be giving out a more fervid intensity in a specific pattern."

"Cool!" Hiro said. "What does that mean?"

"It means, nobody's dying tonight. See? I told you."

"Mai, you're a genius!" Iris wrapped her arms around her cousin's neck, smiling proudly.

Once the hug ended, Mai flipped her hair with pride. "Yeah, I know."

"Come on, guys. We're burning daylight."

(~)

P'Li, Zaheer and Kuvira had finally arrived at the entrance to the Spirit Portal, accompanied by Varrick and Trixie. They, along with Sunset Shimmer, Asami and Bolin were all suited up and ready to venture into the other side. Ali, Mika and San were also present, helping Sunset with her utility belt, which even she was surprised she was having trouble placing around her hips.

"Uh, Sunny, did you gain any weight?" Mika asked, trying to sound as polite as she possibly could.

"No. Let me just…" Sunset finished adjusting the belt, which now fit perfectly. "There we go, much better."

"Everybody all set?" Bolin asked the others.

Kuvira nodded. "Yes. Let's go get those kids and our friends out of that dark and horrid place."

"Are you sure I can't come with you guys?" Trixie asked.

"I'm sorry, Trix." Sunset said, "But that geode will only allow seven people to go through the gateway and into the Dark Realm. Also, and don't take this the wrong way, you're not very experienced to handle whatever the Spirit World's got going."

"But--"

"I'm afraid she's right, Trixie." P'Li said, placing her hand on her shoulder. "Believe me, I know what you're capable of, but it's best you sit this one out. Believe me, the spirit world can be far more chaotic than a changeling hive if you don't know where you're heading."

"And you really trust your ex-boyfriend to tag along for this?" Trixie said, pointing her thumb to behind her, where Zaheer stood. Not even bothering to be subtle about it.

"You're one to talk Miss I-enslaved-an-entire-town-with-a-soul-sucking-amulet-because-I-had-a-petty-jealousy-towards-Twilight-Sparkle." Varrick pointed out with folded arms.

"Well, at least I didn't attempt to kidnap the president just so I could make a quick buck off of a civil war!"

"Exactly! We're all guilty of something, what makes you think this guy's any different?"

"You know I'm standing right here, right?" Zaheer said, folding his arms while standing in between the two.

"Whatever." Trixie's tone softened as she spoke to P'Li. "Just promise you'll be safe, and bring Starlight and the others back home as soon as you can."

"We will." the two shared a quick hug while Asami and Bolin turned to Varrick.

"Varrick, if anything happens, contact us immediately." Bolin said. "Tell Iroh to have the united forces ready for any potential attack while we're gone."

"Who do you assume there would be an attack?"

"We still don't know who's behind all of this. And with the Equestrian leaders and Elements gone, there's no telling who will show up."

Varrick gave them a salute. "You have my word as an Honorary Member of the Apple Family!" he said… then pulled a cowboy hat from his back and placed it on his head, while still keeping that saluting pose.

The rest of the adults and spirit siblings gathered together and stood before the portal. "We're coming for ya, little sis!" San exclaimed as he and his sisters flew into the portal first, followed by the others, leaving Trixie and Varrick to only watch in concern.

(~)

It didn't take very long for Asami and Sunset Shimmer to go all Mama-Bear when they arrived at Iroh's teashop and were already interrogating Aiwei. The man remained, surprisingly calm even with Asami and Sunset both gripping him by the collar and lifting him from his chair. His feet were still on the ground, seeing as they didn't have the same amount of amazon strength as Korra did, but their grip was still incredibly strong none the less.

"Alright old man, talk! Where did you send our kids? Why didn't you try and stop them? What were you thinking?!" Asami demanded to know

"Should we stop them?" Ali asked Bolin, who stood by, completely unfazed at his wife's aggressive behavior while sipping on a pink colored liquid from a glass cup.

He shrugged. "Eh, they've got this."

"Mrs. Sato, I assure you, I did not let the children leave without warning them of the potential dangers that lied ahead."

"You better have a good explanation as to why you think letting a group of teenagers go to the Dark Realm without ant protection was even remotely a good idea!" Sunset Shimmer said, gritting through her teeth.

"Well, when you place it that way it does sound… rather bad."

"That's because it is really bad!!" they both exclaimed in anger

Aiwei managed to grip their respected wrists and pry both woman and pony right off of him. "Believe me, I understand your frustration and you have every right to feel so. But, you also need to understand. Your children have been chosen to become new bearer of the most powerful artifacts there are. Think about it. Iris discovers her powers a short while ago. Then, the Tree of Harmony bestows these powers upon the children, and the map recognized them enough to reveal the location of the other Elements. You of all people should know what happens when you try to fight against destiny."

The rest of the adults's eyes softened at the man's words. "You did not fail them. They disobeyed you, yes, and I'm more than confident you will find a fitting punishment for them later. But right now… you need to trust them. Trust in the Magic they carry with them. After all, isn't it the same magic that save us all more than once?"

"Wow." San said, eyes blinking. "You are one wise and noble tea shop keeper."

"I think I understand, old friend." Zaheer said, in a way, voicing out what the others were thinking of. "But, I'm afraid we can't just let them go at this alone."

"They won't be alone." Aiwei said. "They will have each other. But, if you still feel the need to follow them." with a tap of his foot, the ground began to shake softly, and the tree with the large hole from before rose upwards once again.

"There is your shortcut."

(~)

Comments

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

I'm calling it right now, Sunset's pregnant!

[MLPMekarm]

8307134
geeee. ya think?