Surprise Visitors
The sun had set a couple hours ago over the Jasmine Dragon. Currently, there were no patrons in the tea shop, so Iroh was preparing to close up. He dusted off a few tables and made his way to the front doors, taking a moment to breathe in the cold, night air.
He looked out into the sky. It was impossible to see the Void in the dark of night, a fact he was grateful for. Whenever it was day, people would glance at it nervously. All it had taken was one of the astrologers to notice it and word had spread all through Ba Sing Se about the strange, tiny Void in the sky. Iroh had wisely said nothing about what he knew. There was no need to cause panic; let them think it was some cosmic event, like a comet, and not an end of the world scenario.
He had faith in Toph and the plucky alicorn princess. They seemed like admirable heroes ready for the task ahead of them.
Turning, he prepared to lock up.
“Hey! You’re not gonna lock out an old friend, are you, Iroh?”
With a smile, Iroh gestured to the open doors. “Never in my lifetime have I done such a thing. Come on in, young one.”
The “young one” in question was a tall woman with an orange, midriff-bearing outfit suitable for gymnastical movement. Her smooth, chestnut hair was done up in a decidedly long braid, and a permanent bubbly grin was plastered on her face. With childlike glee, she dashed into the Jasmine Dragon and took a seat at the counter.
“Only your finest brew, teamaster!”
“No less for an old friend…” Iroh chuckled, pouring some tea he’d had simmering for himself to enjoy after closing time. “Ty Lee, what brings you to the Earth Kingdom these days? And without your Kyoshi uniform?”
“I’m on vacation!” Ty Lee shouted, throwing her fists into the air. “I’ve been running around seeing the sights and taking in the world! You have nooo idea how much fun I’ve been having!”
“Any souvenirs?” Iroh asked.
“Uh, well, not yet, but I’m hoping to get some soon!” She leaped up onto the counter with the agility of a cat, throwing her arms wide. “How about I start here? Surely you have some legendary Iroh tea house thingamabobs!”
Iroh chuckled, leaning against the counter. “Ty Lee, why are you really here?”
“Heh… saw right through me, did you?” She crouched down, entering a frog-like posture. “You always had a way with reading people.”
Iroh slowly sipped his tea. “I’m not so perfect. I made a rather large mistake with a kindhearted brute just a few days ago. It turned out that, while he was most certainly a precious soul, he likely sought to hurt some friends of mine. I have faith they will prevail, but… well, it is a reminder of my own weakness.” He smiled softly. “We should be thankful for those little reminders, lest we become haughty.”
“...Right.”
“You still haven’t told me why you’re really here.”
“Oh, all right.” Ty Lee laid down on the counter, hanging her legs over the edge and kicking them back and forth. “Toph’s run off and her ‘students’ are getting antsy. So antsy that they were threatening to hunt her down themselves! So… I promised to track her down so she’d have a friendly face to talk to rather than a face she wanted to flatten under a boulder.”
Iroh nodded. “I suspected as much when she arrived… She lacks patience. I had been hoping to bring her around, but I was interrupted. She’s currently on a quest to save all worlds.”
“...Excuse me, what.”
Iroh chuckled. “I am an old fool, thinking you can keep a secret… but how can I not tell you?”
“My lips are sealed, Iroh, Ty Lee promise!” She blinked repeatedly, grinning. “...For what it’s worth, anyway!”
Iroh sat back. “Well, that Void in the sky is going to try and eat everything that exists, in this world and, apparently, in all others. Toph and some otherworldly friends are exploring our world, looking for some artifact that will help them stop this attack on reality.” He examined his tea, brow furrowing. “While it is a noble quest, I suspect Toph jumped on it so she wouldn’t have to think about where she was running to.”
“Who cares?” Ty Lee said. “This is about the… the end of the world! We can put her students on hold, we’ve gotta find this artifact thingy!”
“We? My dear, they left many, many days ago. We are not on their journey.”
“Oh. Well. Uh…” Ty Lee scratched her head. “What can we do, then?”
“Sit. Enjoy life, and perhaps a little bit of tea.”
“Uuuuuuugh.” She fell onto her back and kicked her legs into the air as if she were lifting some invisible unicycle. “You know I can’t do that!”
Iroh let out a deep belly laugh. “I know all too well.”
Ty Lee jumped up, crossing her arms. “What’s that supposed to mean?” She flung an arm wide, likely intending to let out some silly quip, but instead she knocked down a curtain in the back, revealing a set of red double doors.
She looked to it, grin widening.
“Ty Lee…”
She kicked the doors in, emerging in Flipside.
“Ty Lee!” Iroh ran after her, jumping through the doors. “We do not know what the other world holds!”
“That’s why I’m exploring!” Ty Lee said, dancing to and fro, across the top platform of Flipside. “Wow, eight spots… Do you think these will hold other doors? I think they will!” She clapped her hands excitedly. “Other worlds, Iroh! I wonder which one leads to the Spirit World?”
“Ty Lee, please, we do not know what this place is…”
“I don’t have a shadow! That’s… so weird!” She played around with her feet, trying to cast a shadow and failing utterly. She was quickly distracted by the object in the center of the platform. “Oooh!” Ty Lee jumped into the elevator. “I wonder what this does…”
Against his better judgment, Iroh ran in after her. To her shock and his expectation, the doors closed and they began to descend.
Ty Lee’s jaw dropped when the elevator showed them all of Flipside. The buildings, the spires, all suspended on nothing into the endless cream expanse. “Woah…”
Even Iroh had to admit, this was impressive. Not as large as Ba Sing Se, of course, but it was certainly an impressive city. With no people, he noted grimly.
The elevator deposited them in the room with the Light Prognosticus.
>> Ah back at last! I was wondering—wait, you aren’t Twilight. Or Tippi. <<
Iroh bowed deeply. “I am very sorry for trespassing, wall spirit. I just needed to get this young lady home…”
>> No, no, it’s no issue. I was getting lonely anyway. I am Merlon. <<
“Wow… a real wall spirit!” Ty Lee clapped her hands.
>> I am a computer program. <<
“I have no idea what that is!”
>> Of course not. Think… of me as a machine that is able to think for itself. <<
Ty Lee blinked. “Uh…”
>> Wall spirit. Wall spirit works fine. It’s not accurate, but it’ll work fine. <<
“Sure.” Ty Lee rubbed the back of her head.
>> Do either of you, by chance, know Tippi and Twilight? <<
“No idea,” Ty Lee shrugged, lowering her face to examine the Light Prognosticus closely. She began by sniffing it.
“They are traveling with one of my close friends, Toph Beifong, in search of our world’s Pure Heart,” Iroh explained. “They have not returned yet, and I believe there are entities from the Count of yours seeking to impede them.”
>> As expected. They will prevail. They must, or all hope is lost. <<
“Yeah, so…” Ty Lee pushed her face into Merlon’s screen. “How do we help from here?”
>> At the moment, all we can do is wait. And study the Light Prognosticus for possible prophecies. <<
“Are you sure there’s nothing? Like… there’s a whole big empty city out there!” Ty Lee spread her arms wide in an extravagant motion.
>> Flipside has never been populated beyond the initial arrivals. There is nothing out there. <<
“Do you know that?”
>> No, I suppose not. <<
“Great!” Ty Lee clapped her hands. “Then it’s decided, I’m going to explore this city!”
>> If that is your wish, the elevator can take you to the abandoned levels. I do not expect to find much. <<
“Yes! You won’t regret this!” She jumped into the elevator, descending shortly thereafter.
Iroh shrugged. “Youth.”
>> Indeed. <<
Iroh leaned toward the Light Prognosticus. “May I?”
>> By all means. I don’t believe I caught your name? <<
“Iroh,” he said as he opened the Light Prognosticus to the first page.
Stats
Page generated in 0.026 seconds
Total duration
947 users online
1,198,781 hits today, 1,822,946 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Cool!
More elder mentor figures can't hurt, as long as they don't start talking over one another.
And Ty Lee... Well, we'll see where that goes. If nothing else, she may be good for morale.
God, I hope Iroh sticks around to help Twi and the gang as an advice giver.
I have held the opinion that Ty Lee is best girl since I first binged A:TLA and I have not changed it since. This chapter has cemented my will to hold that opinion further.
Uh... Iroh? Do you not remember the last comet that passed by your planet? Cosmic events are kinda a big deal around here...
Considering one of Toph's students is named "The Dark One"... yeah, wouldn't want to tick them off.
And Merlon runs into the unfortunate issue of having to describe computer programs to a pre-information age society. This was never a problem when he was a wizard with a cool mustaches and and Star Point around his neck... (I still want that Star Point, it's 1/100th of a level up gimme gimme gimme)
Aw, c'mon Merlon! Flipside is full of all sorts of goodies! There's a bar, an arcade, a weird hall full of stained glass windows, the Pit, an entire mirror dark side town, a ton of stuff!
Well, Flipside is certainly brighter now that there are some actual people here! Naturally, Iroh makes any place he's in better by default, and Ty Lee is cool too. I wonder what sort of neat things she'll find poking around...
Tsungi Horn added to Flipside BGM
Now something different, yet similar.
If Flipside's always been uninhabited...why was it built? Who built it? What's the point of a huge city with no people?
I'm a bit confused by Flipside being uninhabited in this. Granted, I'm also confused at Merlon being a wall computer. Even going with the idea of each world being a different crossover, no reason for Flipside to not be inhabited.
10969273
Character Overload was actually the largest reason for this decision. With every world comes recurring characters that have their own arcs, motivations, and flow to add to the story. Making Flipside uninhabited provides more opportunities for said characters to interact and achieve said arcs, while also allowing a new lore and history to be painted that isn't just a beat-for-beat retelling of the story.
-GM, master of hearts.