“You must never give into despair. Allow yourself to slip down that road, and you surrender to your lowest instincts. In the darkest times, hope is something you give yourself. That is the meaning of inner strength.”
– Uncle Iroh, “Avatar the Last Airbender.”
I’ve been searching all over to try and find them. Most recently, I’d been sneaking around the Well of Shade.. Or at least the ruins of it. I had heard the creatures speaking in their strange language of some interesting discovery in the deepest chambers of the ruins. I decided that it would be the better part of valor to follow them.
I tracked the dark creatures deep into the mountain. I noticed that they were carrying some sort of ornately decorated chest.
“We’re here,” said one of the dark creatures, as they stepped into a chamber.
In the center of the chamber, surrounded by crumbled stone, was a massive blue crystal. Within, there were three figures.
One was a female humanoid alicorn with tan skin, black hair and is wearing blue clothing. She also has a pair of tan wings with rainbow-colored feathers at the tips.
The other was a male with tan skin as well as black hair, with blue streaks on it. He also wears blue clothing though it’s darker, and has a blue pendant around his neck. Like the female alicorn, this male was also humanoid.
The final figure was a small purple dragon with green scales and wings behind his back. Even through the crystal, I could tell that they were the ones I’d been searching for!
“Break it,” commanded the leader.
One of lesser dark creatures stepped towards the crystal and bashed it with its mace. Suddenly cracks started to radiate across the crystal, and light started to pour forth from the crystal. On top of that, voices were heard echoing around the chamber.
“Korra, stop!”
“I… I can’t..”
The cracks widened, and the light got brighter.
“Get close to me, now!”
The crystal blew itself apart, and the dark creatures shielded themselves until the dust settled. As it did, the three were revealed to be lying on the ground, unconscious.
“Shackle them!” said the leader.
The dark creatures went past the small unconscious dragon and headed to the other two. They set the chest down and opened the lid, revealing a pair of what looked like purple, crystalline serpents. They removed the serpents from the chest and had the other dark creatures lift up the unconscious pair, placing the crystal snakes against their wrists. The crystal serpents sprang to life and coiled around their wrists forming into bracelets. They then dragged the two away.
I moved out of my hiding spot, carefully checking to make sure it was safe, and picked up the dragon, Spike, who was just waking up.
“Who are you?” he asked, “where’s Korra? What’s going on?”
“Shh..,” I whispered.
I then set out to follow the dark creatures who had taken them.
‘Ugh.. Where am I..?’ I thought.
“Hey.. Korra.. Wake up..” whispered Kage.
I did so, and then slowly got to my feet. I checked quickly, and I didn’t recognize my location. We were on a platform suspended over what appeared to a pool of magma. We were positioned next to a large stone disc. It had what looked like some sort of attachment point on top, but there were no chains connected to it.
I looked over to Kage.. It seemed that he had grown a bit since I had used my powers to protect us during that.. Disastrous event.
‘How long have we been out?’ I thought.
“Kage, what happened?” I said, feeling a little woozy, “Where are we?”
“I have no idea.. It was all a blur,” said Kage.
“Yeah,” I groaned holding my head with my hand, “Me too. My head’s throbbing.”
“Shh! Hold on..” said Kage, “I don’t think that was your head. I hear it too…”
I listened carefully, and heard the sound of large drums being played somewhere nearby. This only compounded the pounding headache, which I did in fact have.
“What is that?” I asked hesitantly.
All around us, torches at the edges of the chamber started to light up.
“Spike, is that you?” I asked, trying to look for him.
“I don’t think so,” Kage replied.
More torches lit up revealing some sort of insectoid creatures. I didn’t know what they were, but they definitely weren’t allies of ours.
“You know for once, I wish it was him,” snarked Kage as he looks around.
The creatures seemed to be cackling maliciously.. Or possibly cheering? I couldn’t tell.. Either way, I didn’t like it.
“What are they doing?” I asked, sounding worried.
“I don’t know, but let’s not stick around to find out,” Kage said, “Come on.”
“Yeah, let’s get out of here,” I said getting up.
We started to move towards where we could see another platform directly ahead of us. Suddenly, I felt something pulling me back, like I was on a leash. Kage apparently thought it was me or doing it as he paused to complain about it.
“Ugh..!” groaned Kage, “Now what..?”
We then noticed our new bracelets.. Or should I say shackles. They resembled purple, coiled, crystalline serpents. And extending from these collars were arcing ropes of energy, which was traveling back to the stone disc, and looping through the attachment point on top.
“Oh,” we both groaned simultaneously, “This can’t be good..”
We realized there wasn’t anything we could do for a moment: we were trapped!
Another group of these creatures arrived, along with a larger one that was probably some sort of leader. It started speaking in a language I was sure I was unfamiliar with, yet somehow I could understand it clearly.
“They’re awake,” said the enemy leader, “don’t let them escape!”
A large number of the dark, reptilian creatures dived into the ground where they we standing, and then burst out of the ground next to us. We started to fight them off. We were still out of elemental energy and magic, so we used basic melee combat to defeat them. They we actually pretty weak, and each one fell after only a few hits, of course, the sword I was wielding helped as well. After several waves, I noticed that our foes were backing off… but why?
“Why are those things running away?” I asked, and then felt the ground starting to shake, “Uh oh…”
Suddenly from the magma pool below, a massive fiery beast bursts forth. It raised one of its huge fists and slammed it down onto our platform while roaring, causing a crack to open up. The fracture ran from the edge platform right through the stone disc we were chained to. The stone disc now looked weakened enough to break with some effort. We noticed this as well.
“We have to break this thing,” said Kage, “It’s holding us down!”
We rushed up to the stone disc and started bashing it, but it was slow going…that is, until the golem slammed it fist into the disc, intent on smashing us flat. We quickly dodged out of the way, and watched as the golem’s fist completely shattered the stone disc. We were now free from that thing, though we were still chained to each other.
We rushed towards the beast, but we quickly discovered just how awkward it was to move while chained together. I fought with punches and slashes with my sword, while Kage attempts to slice it with his claws. After several minutes of constantly attacking and dodging, our foe showed no signs of weakening.
“Ugh! This chain is slowing us down!” said Kage, frustrated. “We can’t fight it!”
“Then we’ll have to move in unison!” replied Korra, “Follow my lead!”
“Why should you lead?” said Kage, skeptically.
Before this argument could go any further, they heard the magma beast readying itself for another attack.
“Look out!” Korra shouted.
They quickly spread their wings and took to the air in unison, deftly avoiding the golem’s fist as it smashed down on the platform.
“Okay,” conceded Kage, “I changed my mind.. You lead.”
Korra rolled her eyes as they flew further away from the golem, and watched as it became increasingly annoyed at our continual dodging. It was at this point that A new figure had entered the chamber: it was a pony wearing a purple cloak. Behind them were five more ponies, who were all wearing cloaks as well.
The pony’s horn swiftly glowed and fired a beam of magic straight at the golem. It was a very well placed shot, and went straight into the beast’s eye. From where the arrow hit, a cloud of purple smoke started emerging. It tried to punch at the pony, but seeing as it was now partially blinded, the beast’s punch went wide, and the pony dodged with ease.
Instead, the only thing the punch hit was one of the rooms support columns, knocking it over right on top of the golem’s other hand. Then one of the other ponies flew over and landed a punch on the beast. The beast reared back in pain and shook its injured hand while submerged back into the magma pool, looking embarrassed. They noticed that the column had fallen in such a way that it formed a convenient bridge to the ledge where our mysterious saviors were standing.
With the chaos of the battle now over, we returned to the platform where we started. We then looked over at the ponies, who revealed themselves to be the Elements of Harmony. It was around this time that Spike showed up, flying over from where they were standing.
“Korra!” said Spike happily, “you’re alive!”
“Spike! It’s good to see you too!” replied Korra, hugging him. “Are you okay?”
“Eh,” Spike shrugged, “a little stiff, but I’m good.”
Korra couldn’t help but chuckle a little at that, but Kage interrupted.
“Hey, um, this reunion is really touching and all,” he said, annoyed, “but shouldn’t we be going? Unless, you want to wait for that thing to return...”
Spike nodded and looked around, uncomfortably. Meanwhile Korra and Kage were more focused on the ponies.
“Who are they?” asked Kage.
“I don’t know,” said Spike, “all they said was ‘Shhh.’”
“I like them already.” Kage said with a smirk.
The three climbed up onto the fallen pillar, and headed over to speak with our apparent allies. Korra’s eyes widened as the horned pony removed her hood, revealing her face.
“Wait.. Is that-?”
“Korra! Kage! Spike!” said the purple pony in surprise, “Are you alright? Anything broken?”
“Twilight! Everyone!” Korra beamed as she ran over to the group and hugged her. The rest of the Mane 6 smiled at seeing their lost friend once more. Kage groaned internally after realizing who they were. “We’re shaken a little, but not too badly… thank you Twilight.”
Twilight returned to hug and sighed in relief. “You’re welcome. I am so grateful that you are alive,”she said, “I feared that we might be too late..”
“Wait,” said Korra, sounding astonished, “have you been tracking us?”
“Yes, I used my magic to detect your auras. It’s been far too long, guys,” said Twilight, as we started to head towards the exit.
“When you didn’t return to the temple,” she explained, “the elder queen, Lelani, sent us to find you. That was almost five years ago.”
“Wait, what? Five years?!” said Korra, sounding just as shocked as Spike was feeling. Kage simply raised an eyebrow at this. “But.. But that’s impossible!”
“Yes. I’m sure this news comes as quite a shock,” said Rarity, “But as much we love to talk darling, this is probably not the place to do so.”
As if to punctuate this statement, a section of the ceiling fell, blocking us from returning to the previous chamber.
“Come on!” yelled Rainbow Dash, as everyone escaped down a passage.
The group continued deeper into the ruined tunnels. Soon, they came to a broken bridge, leaving a series of small platforms that stretched into the abyss below. As they approached, Twilight looked around quickly and then said, “It’s getting closer.”
She along with the rest of the five headed across the ledges quickly and agilely. As he did, one of the platforms collapsed behind then, leaving a much wider gap to cross.
“Y-You go first, Kage,” said Spike, worried “It’s safer for me… safer for me I mean..”
“Quiet,” replied Kage, “you’ll give us away!”
They then started to leap across the platforms for ourselves. When they reached the spot where the pillar had collapsed during the Mane 6’s crossing, they took to the air and flew across instead. As they landed in the last platform before the far side of the pit, the beast reappeared. It reared up and grabbed the pillar they were standing on. The beast ripped the pillar out of the ground and started swinging it around in an attempt to send Korra and Kage flying. They quickly braced ourselves, grabbing the vines that coated the platform. They did our best to hold on as the beast shook them all over the place.
By this point, the beast had become rather annoyed, and as a result rammed the pillar they were holding onto into the wall. Amazingly enough the wall ended up being very weak, and they were pushed through completely unharmed.
On the far side of this wall, they move along until they come upon a large cluster of green crystal. As they approached it, the group came up from one of the lower ledges in this chamber.
“Everyone, give us a moment to gather our strength,” said Korra.
Spike then flew over to the girls to speak with them.
“You might want to stand back” said Spike, “this might get weird..”
Twilight, of course, ignored him. “It’s fascinating,” she mused, “how you draw strength from these Elements. Benders that master them are truly extraordinary.”
“Yeah, you say that now, until one tried to kill us. And by ‘one,’ I mean him,” said Rainbow Dash, pointing at Kage. His only response was to glare at her angrily.
“I am aware of Kage’s past,” sighed Twilight, “but the Princesses trust him, and that’s good enough for me.” Kage perked up significantly at that and gave Rainbow Dash a smug grin.
Korra then stepped over to the crystal, and placed her hand on its surface. She then turned to look at Kage, who was hesitant.
“It’s alright,” Korra said, “go ahead, Kage.”
He stepped over and joined her in front of the stone that had the symbol of the yin yang, then he placed his hand on it as well.
As he touched the stone, it began to glow, and smaller shards of the stones started orbiting around us. Before our eyes, a vision of a spirit named Wu appeared. He then began to speak to us.
”Korra, as the Avatar, you can wield many abilities that others cannot,” said Wu, ”Now, it is time to awaken those powers within you: Water, Earth, Fire, and Air.”
He then turns towards Kage. ”Kage… while most people can master only a single element,” stated Wu, ”your exposure to the dark forces has gifted you with abilities most uncommon: Blood, Metal, Lightning, and Shadows.”
“May the elements flow with you.. Use them wisely.” The vision then ended.
After this, their magical energy fueled their body but they were interrupted when the strange stony nodules on the walls burst open releasing more of those bug creatures.
“Goblins! Be careful!” said Pinkie. Twilight then leapt up onto one of the elevated platforms in the corner of the room, and charged up her horn, ready for battle. They started to fight these goblins now using our full range of powers. Korra started this battle off with waterbending, shooting waves into one group, while Kage whipped up a cyclone of shadows towards another. Just as they cleared out this wave of enemies, another group dropped in on them. Twilight took a moment out of shooting the goblins with arrows to give them some advice.
“Don’t let them surround you!” she warned.
The battle went on like this for a little while longer, but eventually they cleared the area. They then noticed some thorny vines blocking their path. Following common sense, Korra used fire on the vines, burning them away and opening the path forwards.
They moved down the next set of corridors, and soon came to a tall room. In front of them, there was a heavy looking stone sphere holding down a switch. Up one side of the room, there was a series of platforms leading towards the top, and hopefully the surface eventually. Figuring that they would probably need it, Kage picked it up.
“Woah!” mumbled Kage, “This thing’s even heavier it looks.”
It turned out this was quite an accurate statement, since Kage could not fly while carrying it, not even with Korra helping lift him. They hefted the small boulder up the first few ledges when they came to what seemed at first glance to be a dead end.
As supposed to be platforms leading higher, but it appeared they were currently retracted into the wall. It looked like they were stuck… until that is they noticed the unusual device on the wall. It looked like some sort of control for something, and had a picture of a lightning bolt underneath it. Seeing this clue, Kage immediately struck the panel with lightning. When he did this, the gauge on the device started filling up. Once it reached the top, the retracted platforms slid out of the wall, opening the path forwards. They hauled themselves up these newly revealed ledges, and after a few near falls, they reached the top platform, where they found the five waiting for them. They also found a place to deposit the heavy object Kage was carrying. When he set it down on the pressure plate, the door leading forwards slid open.
They then moved into the next chamber. It turned out to be a massive chamber, where there were multiple tall platforms spread across the chamber, along with cascading waterfalls, and light streaming in through the ceiling. This last detail gave the group hope that they would soon be out here.
“There’s a light up there,” said Korra, “we must be getting close…”
Rainbow Dash flew off towards a vine-covered wall, and quickly dashed to the top of the pillar.
“Here, this way,” she directed, “this leads to the surface!”
They hurried to follow him, timing their ascent up the pillars and jumps across the gaps to avoid having to deal with effects of the restraint bracelets. After jumping, climbing, and gliding our way all around the room, they caught up with them on a ledge high up on the room’s north wall. It was then that the magma beast returned.
It reared up from somewhere below, and punched one of the room’s pillars, knocking over and creating a convenient shortcut in case they fell. Twilight and the others quickly dodged away as the beast approached.
“Keep going,” shouted Twilight, “We’ll distract it!”
They quickly started climbing up the vines towards the next ledge, with Korra knowing the right moment when to dodge. Before long they reached the room’s highest ledge. As they moved along its length, they climbed up onto a large stone block that had been placed up here for some unknown reason. As they reached the top of the block, an image of the beast punching the block crossed Korra’s mind.
“Guys, Quick,” she shouted, “Jump back!”
It turned out that her warning came just in time: as they landed back on the solid platform, the beast shattered the block… and promptly got its arm stuck in the wall! The beast, obviously quite annoyed about this, started trying to pull its arm out. As it did, they heard a series of loud cracking sounds and lava started leaking from its arm. It was then the beast’s arm snapped off completely. The beast roared in pain from this, then fell down to the abyss.
They then stepped over to examine the remaining portion of the beast’s arm, which was still solidly lodged in the wall. Inside the broken-off end of the arm was a black crystal. Korra was unfamiliar with this type of crystal, At first glance, she mistook it as something from the Crystal Empire.
“What is that?” asked Korra, “I’ve never seen one like that before.”
“Korra, be careful,” said Kage cautiously.
Twilight however knows what the crystal is. “It isn’t natural,” she warned, “That crystal is radiating with dark magic, similar to King Sombra’s. Destroy it quickly!”
As we stepped closer, they felt their energy being drained. Kage quickly backed out of its range.
“Kage, keep back,” Korra said, “I’ll handle this thing…”
She then focused my power, and then blasted the crystal. It shattered, and the path was once again clear. They continued to this chamber’s exit, passing into the next hall, which was generally arc-shaped. They hurried across the hall, entering the doorway on its far side with no difficulties.
“We are close to the surface,” said Twilight, “it’s best that we remain unheard…”
While he probably meant that warning for all of them, Spike chose to take it personally.
“Alright, alright!” said Spike, “I get the message. Sheesh!”
They then moved down a short staircase into the next, and hopefully last chamber. Korra took a good look around this area. They were standing on a wide bridge, with a large stone door at the far end. There was a large fan hanging from the ceiling, and a winch mechanism mounted on the wall. This winch was large enough that two of them would have to operate it at the same time. Twilight had apparently worked out the likely to this puzzle.
“This fan,” said Twilight, “it must be part of some locking mechanism”.
“Honestly,” said Spike, “why not just a lock and key like normal ponies?”
“Because Spike,” Kage sighed, “that would be too easy. So much for remaining unheard…”
Kage and Korra moved over to use the winch, while Korra watched our backs. It turned out that this was a very good plan, since the moment they started spinning the winch, a small army of goblins attacked them. They kept up with our respective tasks, and Kage took a moment to glance back to see how Korra was holding up. It seemed she was doing just fine: she watched as she leapt into the air, then slammed down, summoning a wave of flames as she did so. Soon enough, we’d brought the fan all the way down to the floor.
“Let’s let Rainbow Dash handle this, ” said Kage as he looked at the fan.
Korra agreed, as Rainbow Dash stepped forwards. She then began to channel her Airbending through the massive fan. It started to slowly spin until it got faster. In response, the doors slowly began to swing open.
“Quick, hurry up and open the door!” shouted Spike impatiently.
After a short while, the doors finally finished opening. They started towards the door to leave this place, but they were interrupted by a certain very persistent beast.
The beast breathed a jet of flame towards us, and then used its remaining hand to grab Korra. Kage quickly planted his feet and started tugging on the tether that connected the two of them and, with some effort; he managed to pull Korra free. They then took to the skies and flew as quickly as they could towards the exit.
“This way! Quickly!” yelled Rainbow Dash, leading them down the exit corridor.
As they flew down the passage, the beast reached in after us, just barely missing us. Instead, it only ended up punching the side of the tunnel in frustration. This caused the passage behind them to collapse, preventing them from going back. However, it didn’t matter at this point, as they were already out.
They landed next to the group, taking a moment to catch our breath after that close shave.
“What was that thing?!” asked Rarity, voicing the question they all had.
“There will be time for that,” said Twilight, “For now, we’ll follow the river.. It will lead them to shelter, where they can rest. And then we’re off the Canterlot, the castle where Lelani and the others will be expecting us.”
They then headed down the corridor, which hopefully would lead them out of this ruined place.