The Fire Within

Chapters

Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7

Prologue

There he was, the boy who would lose it all. Sitting on his knees, in front of the council of his nation, in front of the people that represented his kingdom. A fire burning in his eyes, just as it had burnt in many other soldiers of his country.

He would not have it. He would not have this nonsense, the people of the 41st division were recruits. Newbies who had not had the training, the necessary skill to face off against the benders of the Earth Kingdom.

They would be crushed, only used as a form of distraction. It was despicable, foolish even to throw away their lives for such a cause as progress in a war.

He would not have it. And he certainly did not care at the time that he had disrespected a general of the Fire Nation. In his eyes he deserved it.

He had declared he was not afraid. He had told his father he would face this general for his nation’s honor as prince of the Fire Nation.

And so there he was. Sitting on his knees, confidence radiating from his body, his conscience clear of any concern or doubt. For he knew that he understood what he had done.

And oh was he wrong.

His eyes faced the crowd, the crowd before him that would witness his grand match and how he would teach this opponent a lesson. A lesson on how to respect their soldiers, not to throw away precious life like trash.

The gong sounded. Zuko stood.

It is time.

Rising to his feet, taking up his position as he spun in place to face his opponent Zuko was ready. Ready to destroy and utterly humiliate this person that dared to throw away precious life. He would show his father here and now just how much he had taken the nation into account when he had so illy spoken out of turn during the meeting.

Oh yes, he would show his father indeed.

The cloth that bore the Fire Nation’s symbol on it slowly fell off Zuko’s shoulders as he now faced his opponent, watching the person step on to the platform before him. The lights making it slightly hard to see who was coming towards him.

But as soon as he had been able to gain a clear vision of who it was he was facing, Zuko’s blood ran cold.

“F-Father?” he whispered in shock.

That was right. The opponent he would be facing, the opponent he had disrespected and would be dueling with in the Agni Kai was none other than Fire Lord Ozai. His father. His king, the nation’s ruler.

Something clicked in the young prince's head.

It all made sense now. Why his father had been so furious at him for speaking out of turn upon confronting him on the matter. He recalled the way the flames burnt when his father had yelled at him, scolded him for being so disrespectful to the leading general that had planned out the mission of the 41st division’s suicide challenge.

Then it hit Zuko like a rock had just been launched into his skull. The person he had disrespected wasn’t the general. It was his own father.

Zuko’s mind began to race. I didn’t mean it.

“Please father, I only had the nation’s best interest at heart.” I was only trying to protect our own. “I’m sorry I spoke out of turn!” he averted his gaze to the ground.

Forgive me.

The sound of his father’s footsteps only increased, with each step. Every step cold, calculating, echoing throughout the entire arena despite there being an entire audience there to witness the fight.

Father please, Zuko kneeled down his heart heavy, fear for the man he both respected and loved working it’s way into every pore, every ounce, every part of his very being.

Then he heard it. The coldness in his father’s voice. The same coldness that he’d use whenever facing an enemy. And not the same one he’d use when talking to his son. “You will fight for your honor!” the Fire Lord stated not slowing down, not speeding up as he strode towards the boy who now kneeled just looking down on him, with a coldness Zuko had never seen his father show towards him.

I beg of you mercy! “I meant you no disrespect” Zuko implored his forehead touching the ground before raising it to look upon his father. “I am your loyal son!”

The man before him said nothing. He simply continued to approach the frightened boy. “Rise and fight Prince Zuko” Ozai said with finality.

Father please, “I won’t fight you” Zuko stated firmly, despite the fear that pervaded through his body. He bowed his head, the footsteps not stopping. He could hear them, coming closer and closer and closer.

Then the echo of his father’s footsteps stopped. Zuko’s body tensed. He could sense his father right before him. He could feel the animosity, the anger...the rage emanating from his father.

It was then that Zuko realized, the person before him was not his father, but a king. A king who had been disrespected by a subject. And was here to deliver retribution.

Zuko’s eyes stung, tears beginning to stream down his face as he could feel his fathe- no his king’s icy glare upon him.

Then Ozai spoke. “You will learn respect and suffering, and suffering will be your teacher” the king’s voice boomed throughout the arena coldly.

Zuko rose his head, staring into the cold eyes that showed him no love now, just fury. The tears flowed like a river down a steady current, Zuko’s lips twitched in fear, his teeth gritted as his father took a step back, and raised his right fist.

Zuko gritted his teeth, faintly catching the glimpse of his sister and uncle in the crowd. His uncle looked away, his sister...she smirked.

Zuko’s eyes immediately turned back to his father who now stared down at him ready to deliver the blow.

“Every ruler, must suffer the consequences of their actions Zuko” Ozai whispered to his subject, not his son. “And you...are no different.”

The Fire Lord brought his fist down upon Zuko’s face, flames erupting onto the boy’s left eye, over his ear, scalding and burning him with a seething fury as his tears continued to stream down his face, more so as the pain firmly gripped his body.

Zuko screamed, a scream filled with pain. A scream filled with anger. A scream of him losing his honor, a scream that shook the very arena itself with his cry as more tears erupted from his good eye, and failed to do so with his left.

Father!!!!! he internally screamed as he continued to yell into the heavens from the pain of his eye.

It was too much to bare, the burnt flesh throbbed in agony, making Zuko wince even further as his father watched him fall to the ground clutching his face.

His father turned his back to him and began leaving the platform. With the Agni Kai over, the king had nothing else to say to his son.

Zuko lay there in agony, watching and hearing the voices of his true comrades coming to his side.

The last thing he remembered was his father’s words: “You have lost your right as Prince and your honor.”

Zuko awoke in the tea shop he had established with his uncle in Ba Sing Se.

The boy with a scar, sweating heavily from his dream. This was the third time in a row he had had such a dream. He hadn’t slept much the previous night as well and his patience was starting to run very very thin.

“Zuko?” he turned on his futon to see his uncle staring at him as he lay on his back. “What’s wrong my nephew?”

Zuko sighed. “It’s...nothing uncle.”

Iroh sat up in his seat staring at his nephew with observative eyes that shined a brilliance far beyond any man.

“Zuko, I am your uncle. Lying will not work, I know you too well.”

The boy grit his teeth, rising from his futon before moving to the other room and changing. Once done he stepped out, moving towards the main room where tables and a register had been set for customers. His uncle sat there sipping tea now fully awake.

At first the man smiled at his nephew upon seeing him, but then noticed the look in his eye as the boy took his swords and strapped them on.

“Zuko” Iroh rose. “Where are you going?”

“Out.”

“Zuko-”

“Uncle” he said firmly. “I can’t waste time here. I need to find the Avatar and-”

Iroh held his hand up for silence. Zuko stopped allowing his hair to fall on his face before brushing it back as he stared at his uncle.

“You should have let me finish” Iroh said sliding a hand into the sleeve of his robe before he withdrew a scroll. “Take this” he said offering it to Zuko.

He stared at it. “Why?”

Iroh said nothing, simply staring at his nephew before a small smile graced his face. “Just take it and you will see.”

Zuko took the scroll and unrolled it on a nearby table. He stared at it for a few seconds, taking in the geographical structers and layouts of the large empire.

“It’s a map of Ba Sing Se...what is this for?”

Iroh moved over to his nephew and from the counter withdrew a quill marking a certain spot on the map of Ba Sing Se with an X.

“Go to this person. She will be able to help you with what you need help with most.”

Zuko looked at his uncle with a cocked brow, then glanced back at the map perfectly displaying the layout of Ba Sing Se. His eyes scanned it all, taking in every building as he ignored the three rings of each part of the city. Finally after spending a few minutes of descent scanning Zuko’s eyes rested on the X his uncle had marked for him to go to.

“This is in the middle ring...near the restaurant I went to with Jin, why would you want me to go there?” Zuko asked his attention now turned back to his uncle.

Iroh said nothing but merely smiled. “I have heard rumors that there is a very interesting person who lives near the restaurant. They say that he has the ability to help guide you on the path that will bring you some inner peace. And seeing as you have not slept in the past few days” Iroh gently placed his hand on Zuko’s shoulder.

“I heavily suggest you go there.”

Zuko looked back at the map, contemplating this. Was this worth my time? Isn’t this just a silly old rumor that uncle heard floating around the streets?

But then again there was a chance it was possible, a part of him argued. Why not take the chance, get yourself one step closer to recapturing the Avatar after you let him escape when you rescued him those few months before.

Zuko’s expression grew stern. He mulled the thought over for a few seconds before, spinning on his heel and walking back into the room.

Iroh poured another cup of tea as he waited for his nephew to return with his decision. It took a few minutes but the young fugitive returned, with him donned his cloak.

“Uncle. Are you sure that if I go to this person he will be able to help me find the Avatar?”

“I don’t think the Avatar is what you are seeking but-”

“Uncle, can he find me the Avatar. Yes or no?” he asked with a slight bit of anger and desperation in his voice.

Iroh’s smile slowly faded as he looked into his nephew’s eyes, then passing over the scar on Zuko’s face. He sighed heavily, a breath full of sadness and sympathy.

Iroh nodded slowly, “I suppose yes. If that is what you truly desire Zuko. Then this person could possibly lead you in that direction. And though it may be a rumor I heavily suggest you at least try. Alright?”

Zuko nodded. Hugging his uncle before he wrapped the cloak around him and made his way towards the door, before stepping out into the crowded streets of Ba Sing Se the boy looked back at his uncle one more time, before smiling.

“Uncle” Iroh looked up. “Thanks for the help.” With that Zuko stepped out of the tea shop and closed the door behind him.

“Finally” he whispered with determination. “I can capture the Avatar and regain my rightful place in the Fire Nation” he said firmly wrapping a hand on the hilt of one of his words. “I can finally put this all to an end.”

Zuko now sat in silence in the train of one of the many earthbending transportation lines. It had taken him a few minutes to make his way through the large crowd of Earth Kingdom civilians before he had been able to actually reach the Monorail Train Station. And even then the exiled prince had, had to help a young woman find her child who’d gotten lost in the station.

He smiled silently to himself as he recalled the somewhat touching moment when he watched the weeping boy run into his mother’s arms.

It reminded him of his own mother. A mother he hadn’t seen in such a long time. Zuko’s smile faded, pushing those sad thoughts away the boy rose as he heard one of the benders announce they had descended at the Middle Ring Rail Station.

Rising Zuko exited the station with the rest of the other citizens making his way out of the station before looking around for any signs of the restaurant, if he could find the restaurant then he could ask around and see if he could find the home of this person that had been only a rumor.

He hoped that this wasn’t just another silly rumor but actual truth. At least then he had not wasted his time coming all the way out here.

Zuko began moving around, looking for any signs of the restaurant for what felt most likely like hours.

Time passed and so did the day. Eventually the exiled prince had begun to grow a bit frustrated having spent his entire day searching, not being able to recall a single detail about the restaurant Jin had taken him to.

“Urgh!” he grunted with frustration staring at the map. He had looked around this exact spot several times where it said the restaurant was and had not once come across it!

“How hard is this stupid thing to find!” he yelled throwing the map to the ground. The boy looked around the street angrily trying to locate the restaurant its location nowhere near where Zuko now stood.

It was then someone bumped into him.

“I’m sorry” the girl said, walking by with her friends. Zuko watched the group of friends quickly scurry by glancing in the direction behind him.

He turned his attention to where the girls had looked back. There surrounded by a group of men was someone fully covered in a cloak, the only thing visible being the person’s eyes.

Zuko’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t have time for this, he needed to find that restaurant and find that person. The prince turned his back to the men and the being about to be mugged, but upon hearing the leader of the bandits talk the boy turned his attention back to them.

“Well? Are you going to give us whatever you have in that bag back there or what?” the leader said with a stupid smirk, reaching over and yanking the hood of the person down.

“Oh!” all the bandits said in delight. “A girl” the leader said. “Well missy if you won’t give us what’s in your bag” he said advancing towards the dull look the young girl gave him. “Maybe you can give us something else in return” he said with a sultry tone to his voice.

The bandit leader moved his hand towards the girl’s winter collar, fingers wriggling in a perverted manner. But all stopped when he felt a heavy pressure on his shoulder.

He looked behind him, only to be greeted by the eyes of Zuko.

“What do you want kid?” the leader asked with a touch of annoyance.

Zuko stared at the bandit leader looking him over. The guy was dressed in what looked to be rags, but were most likely stolen clothes, his group of peers not any different.

The bandit repeated his question louder after smacking Zuko’s hand off his shoulder. This got the former prince’s attention.

“I suggest you leave that girl alone” he warned with a calmness that he had learned to use from his earlier days of royalty.

The man and his gang members snickered now leaving the girl they had surrounded as she approached Zuko and stood behind him, the same dull expression on her face as she took a few steps back to watch what would unravel.

“And what if we don’t?” one of the bandits asked getting in Zuko’s personal space. To add insult to injury he spat an inch away from the boy’s foot.

That was all Zuko needed to start the fight. With grace and skill the boy flipped the bandit that dared to spit at him and then slammed his foot into the guy’s gut the moment he landed on the ground knocking him out along with the air in his lungs.

The bandit leader jumped back and attempted to strike Zuko with an earth bent rock, but the Zuko cleanly cleaved the thing in half the moment it was sent at him with a drawn blade.

Without his eyes turning in the girl’s direction Zuko kept his eyes focused on his opponents before saying “Stay behind me.” The girl merely nodded.

Zuko quickly flipped out of the way as a rock jutted out at him, attempting to either knock him to the ground or impale him, no sooner had he landed did he rush straight into the middle of the group throwing the sword in his right hand into the air and temporarily distracting the bandits as it glinted on the sunlight, before he struck his palm and elbow into the sides then stomachs of two bandits, falling them with ease.

The leader slammed his foot on the ground, a slab of giant rock jutting out which he slide across the ground towards Zuko, the other two band members doing the same.

With three miniature walls of rock sliding in his direction Zuko waited for the right moment and launched into the sky as he caught his falling blade then watched the small walls collide and explode into dust and debris, before he landed and used the small dusty state as cover.

“Find him! And get the girl!” the leader called to the four remaining members of his troops.

He soon found out that wouldn’t be happening, as the sound of blows were being exchanged in the cover of the dusty haze.

When the air had cleared and the haze was gone Zuko stood over the unconscious or groaning bodies of the leader’s men. The leader gulped, slammed his foot on the ground ready to make a move but stopped dead when Zuko with one quick movement held the tip of his blade the bandit’s throat.

“Leave” Zuko ordered. “And if I ever see you again, you won’t be getting off that easily. Understand?”

The bandit nodded, slowly backing up before running off down the street his men soon following after him.

Zuko sheathed his blade and turned around, only to be slightly surprised by the girl now standing directly in front of him. Her dull expression still there, not changing in the slightest. For a while the two simply stared at each other in silence before Zuko offered a very weak smile and took a step back, only for the girl to take a step forward towards him.

“Um...Yes, anyway I have to go. I’ve got someone I need to find” he said sidestepping the girl and walking past her, only for him to stop when the girl who looked about his age grabbed his cloak and tugged on it.

He stopped and looked at her with a questioning look and slight air of annoyance. ‘What do you want?”

The girl waved her hand to follow her up the street as she moved past him. Zuko looked up at the sky, the sun was starting to set.

He sighed. He’d already wasted enough time for searching for this dumb restaurant. Taking a detour wouldn’t hurt him now anymore than the time he’d already wasted.

He looked at the girl and nodded. “Lead the way.”

Zuko now followed the strange girl through the streets, taking a few turns and even seeing a few shops close before the two finally came to a stop in front of a small cabin a few lights on clearly shown through the windows.

“What is this?” Zuko asked trying to keep his anger under control.

The girl remaining laconic, simply pointed at the cabin’s front door before she walked up the wooden steps and went inside, standing by the doorway and waiting for the former prince to follow.

Zuko did as such, though with great annoyance clearly displaced on his face.

Walking into the lamp lit room Zuko looked around, only to see the hand of the girl wave him into another part of the room.

Once in the room Zuko turned his attention towards the man the girl stood next to, his seat facing Zuko, the fireplace crackling lightly.

The old man had tattoos all over his body, some that seemed to hold a language Zuko was incapable of understanding, along with strange symbols on the back of his hands and arms that seemed to have a somewhat light green glow to them.

As Zuko studied this man in silence, he noticed the man did the same with him, despite the fact that his eyes were completely closed. Silence transcended between the two before the man spoke in a voice that seemed to have a slight echo to it.

“You are Fire Lord Zuko. Correct?” the man said silently.

Zuko’s eyes narrowed as his attention now became fully alert on the being before him. “I am Prince Zuko.”

The old man chuckled the girl beside him still remaining silent, though her light blue eyes seemed to be piercing Zuko with a stare that he had not thought the inexpressive girl was capable of using.

“I see, it hasn’t happened yet” the old man said stroking his beard.

Zuko now looked away from the girl and focused his attention back to the man. “What are you talking about old man?” he asked with a bit of harshness. If the girl had brought him to this person said to be capable of leading him towards that which he desired, then this man better not be a crazy fool or things would burn in this room before he left.

“Do not bother child” the man said noticing the look of anger in Zuko’s eyes. “You cannot do much to harm my humble home. Now” the man said slowly getting up with the help of the girl.

“Thank you Zatavi” he said to the girl who merely nodded in response. “Come here young prince, let me lay my eyes on you.”

Zuko hesitated, though his desire to end this shameful punishment and regain that which he sorely desired weighed in on him. So he stepped forward to the man. The man who was actually a few inches taller than Zuko looked at his face, his eyes still shut, before a gentle smile crossed the old man’s face.

“What?” Zuko asked easily hiding any sense of concern in his voice.

“Nothing child” the old man said placing his hand on Zuko’s shoulder. “I just see that you have quite the bright fire that burns within you. Now then” he said getting on a face-to-face level. “Let me see what I can do to help you.”

Instantly the lamp in the room turned off, leaving the room barely visible with just a few spots of moonlight now breaking through a nearby window with firelight aiding to brighten the room if just a bit.. Zuko prepared to grab one of his twin sword blades but was stopped when the old man, added pressure on his shoulder and whispered “Don’t.”

The old man opened his eyes, every tattoo on his body glowing faintly with a green then yellow light. His eyes illuminating the very same bright yellow light as he stared at Zuko.

“Now child” the old man said. “Tell me what it is you desire. And I will tell you how to achieve it.”

Zuko merely stared in awe. He had never personally encountered a spirit before, but he had heard stories from his uncle on his own journeys after the once resilient general had lost his only son and traveled all over the world to gain some closure.

“You’re a spirit” Zuko said in surprise. The old spirit merely smiled, his white hair flowing freely, despite the lack of wind. “Indeed I am Fire Lord Zuko” he said with a smile. “Now tell me what it is you want.”

Zuko merely stared in awe at the spirit who waited patiently for the boy to reply. Quickly Zuko shook his head, clearing himself of his stupor before speaking.

"I want you to grant me the power to find the Avatar and his friends. Help me capture him and regain my honor. That is my wish.”

The spirit frowned. “I am sorry Zuko, but I cannot do that.”

A flash of anger radiated through the former prince, his fist shaking with fury before he breathed in deeply and calmed himself. Recalling his uncle’s words on how his anger blinded him.

“Why is that?”

“Because it is not what you truly desire. And you have yet to realize that” the spirit said sadly.

What?! “Spirit I have told you my wish!: Zuko said firmly. “You posses the ability to guide those down the path of which they most desire and this is what I desire! Now tell me how to achieve it! Grant me the opportunity to prove I can regain what I desire most!”

“What you desire most is something that I cannot just guide you to achieve. But something you must find on your own.”

Zuko’s rage was starting to return. He turned around practically knocking the hand of the spirit off his shoulder before he sent a blast of fire from his fist creating a large burning hole in the wall behind him.

“Spirit” he said after he had calmed. “I have spent an entire day, without rest, without food to ask you to show me what to do. I refuse to leave till you have helped me.”

Zatavi moved towards Zuko in an attempt to get him to listen to reason but the old spirit raised his hand for her to stop.

“Fire Lord Zuko-”

“Do not call me that!” Zuko shouted, with a glare. “I am not the Fire Lord! I can’t be yet, not till I’ve redeemed myself of this scar!”

The spirit remained silent for a few seconds before he resumed his seat, his glowing eyes still fixed on the former prince.

“Zuko” he began. “You have been through much heartache, much rejection, and are no doubt confused. I’m sure you recall what the young Avatar offered you when you had saved him from being captured by Captain Zhao do you not?”

Aang’s voice reverberated in Zuko’s head. “If things were different, do you think...we could have been friends?” Zuko clutched his head in pain, his breath heavy from the thoughts being forced back into his mind.

“I see” the spirit said. “Come I will grant you your wish. I will send you to a land that will prepare you for your future journey and endeavours to capture the young Avatar” he said holding out his hand. “I will send you to Equestria.”

It took a few seconds for Zuko to rise once more, the pain in his head now disappearing. “Equestria?” he asked the strange foreign name rolling off his tongue.

The spirit nodded. “The people there will teach you how to work towards what it is you truly desire. Are you ready?” the old spirit asked, the symbols and tattoos on his body now pulsating and glowing blue.

Zuko stared at the hand, his confidence rising as he thought about the new challenges he’d face and the people he’d meet in this land called Equestria. He nodded, and took the hand of the older spirit.

“I wish you luck Fire Lord Zuko, for you will surely need it to mend the injuries your heart has taken. Good luck.”

The two shook, and then Zuko could slowly feel his consciousness fading out of existence as a small grin spread across his face.

“Heh, I don’t need luck. I’ve got will that’s all I’ve ever had to keep me going. And that’s all I’ll ever need.”

Darkness surrounded the former prince’s vision as he felt his very essence being transported into a whole new world entirely.

The last thing Zuko recalled was someone telling him: “Welcome to Ponyville.”

Spike was now making his way through the streets of Ponyville by himself. It had been a long, boring uneventful day but it was time he head home after helping Rarity with her work and gathering Twilight's list of supplies.

"Okay let's see" he said to himself pulling out the checklist in his backpack. "I've got 28 quills" he said checking the list as he dropped the heavy bag on the ground. "I've got a bunch more parchment paper" he said checking that off the list. "I've got-"

A loud scream pierced that sunny afternoon. And unsurprisingly to Spike it was Rose, one of the flower mares who had made such a raucous noise. Spike rolled his eyes as the mare held her face with her hands breathing heavily, her chest expanding underneath her shirt as she took in heavy gulps of air.

"EVERYPONY RUN!" she yelled.

Spike was tempted to ask why, but simply ignored it as he continued going over the things on his list. Luckily his nagging straight-man was quelled when someone from within the crowd moved towards the hyperventilating mare and asked her why.

"There's a monster coming this way that's why!" she yelled.

"A monster? Really Rose? Really?" Spike asked finally looking over his list. "How many times have we had a 'monster' here only for it to be a pony or other creature from another nation hm?"

"Well this time I'm serious!" the mare exclaimed. "Just look!" she said pointing behind her in the direction of the Everfree Forest.

And so there they stood. The overexaggerative mare and several other ponies along with Spike stood waiting to see this 'monster' that the flower mare had so vehemently described as the seconds passed. A couple more seconds passed and Spike had just finished checking his checklist and was now packing up to leave.

"So where's that monster you mentioned?" Spike asked with a sly grin. Rose frowned in annoyance and was about to say something till they heard a noise coming from the bushes.

Birds scattered into the sky over the forest as the noise grew closer and closer so did the concern that overcame Spike as the sound grew louder. Then quietly suddenly, everything went silent.

Spike who was now biting his claw, fully rose to his feet and looked up at the mare with a small grin. "HA!" he said with confidence he was clearly faking. "That must have been just another-"

A roar of fire erupted out of the forest as a boy came tumbling out swords drawn and a look of rage on his face that only intensified by his scar. Chaos immediately ensued in a matter of seconds with everypony rushing to their homes leaving Spike by himself with the strange being who now has attention fully focused on whatever it was he was fighting.

Soon enough the being came running up the dirt road after hearing something move within the forest's entrance, rushing past the baby drake who was to overcome by fear to move except follow the strange being's movement with his eyes.

The next thing Spike knew, he could smell the stench of horrible breath. Spike slowly turned his head forward only to be hit full in the face with putrid breath and fall on his butt. The dragon waved a claw over his face to clear the air of the horrible stench, before opening his eyes.

"Oh no" he whispered.

Oh yes, standing before him was a timberwolf. And at this exact moment Spike was asking himself how he kept getting himself into these things.

"Hey!" both dragon and timberwolf turned their attention to the being behind them. "Back off!" the boy sent a small wave of fire into the air away from both the dragon and timberwolf, but enough to frighten and anger the wolf.

"That's right you pile of twigs, come here" he taunted the creature now leaving Spike and focusing it's attention on the boy with the scar who taunted it with his swords. The two circled each other for a few seconds, gaining a few curious eyes from the ponies that now hid in their households while Spike continued to watch from his seat on the ground.

The timberwolf launched itself at the boy, only managing to lay a scratch on the boy's clothes alone while also scratching his stomach. The boy winced in pain but still managed to avoid most of the injury. Sending one of his swords into the nature wolf's back the timberwolf howled into the sky with pain. The boy then used his heel and kicked his sword off the timberwolf knocking him to the ground.

Timby over there, as Zuko had now nicknamed it quickly rose to it's feet and tackled Zuko to the ground, the boy managed to keep it's teeth off him by using both swords as a brace between him and the snapping creature's neck.

With some effort Zuko managed to get his feet under the timberwolf and kick him off of him to the other side, the timberwolf landed with a thud, Spike scrambling out of the way also as the beast landed near him.

Zuko took a step forward but winced. He looked down and could see his leg had a slash on it. The boy's eyes burnt with rage. The timberwolf moved to charge Zuko again, but Zuko managed to spin despite the pain in his leg and send a flame that frightened the beast.

It backed up with a new rage.

Zuko however now fell on one knee tired, hungry and sore. He used his swords to keep him steady as he looked up at the beast through his bangs, his eyes still daring the beast to attack him. And it did.

But before either could land a blow a jet of green flames flew directly in front of the timber wolf burning it's paw and causing it howl and hiss in pain before it retreated away, looking around for the source that had injured it.

Spike took a step forward, now blocking the beast from Zuko who stared at the dragon that was no taller than his waist in shock. This little guy used a flame that strong? he thought weakly, his consciousness slipping as he lost more blood.

Spike now glared at the timberwolf, snorting smoke, daring him to come any closer. The timberwolf growled lowly but took the sign. It new when it had been bested. Limping quickly back into the confines of Everfree Forest Spike waited till the creature was completely gone, before turning his attention to the injured being behind him, worry filling his eyes.

"Hey sir, you're gonna be alright" he said. "Can somepony come out here and help me!" the drake called. The baby dragon saw the eyes of several ponies from different buildings but none dared come out while this thing that had just protected him was still here. Spike growled and shot glares at each window, watching them all disappear.

Zuko was starting to slip. He was too sore having landed in that forest upon his arrival here and having to fight off more than one of those things he had faced. Now his injuries were starting to catch up to him.

"Sir are you new here?" Spike asked helping the boy who was trying to now stand on his injured leg. Zuko fell only to be caught by Spike, his sword falling from his grasp.

Is he talking to me? Zuko thought when he saw the concerned dragon's lips moving. Ugh, it doesn't matter I'm tired. Zuko shut his eyes.

Spike grew worried now using his backpack as a cushion of sorts to carry the strange being as he trudged his way towards Rarity's place which was the closest. The former prince's swords wrapped tightly in his tail as he made his way there. "Don't worry sir, I'll get you to safety. And seeing as you're new here and this probably isn't the best time. Welcome to Ponyville" drake said with a nervous chuckle.

Zuko's groan was the only response he got.

The dragon nodded, moving faster as he headed towards Rarity's. "Right, medical help first, introductions later."

Spike spent the rest of his time carrying the injured Zuko towards Rarity's place in silence, hoping the strange alien wouldn't die on him as the Boutique came into view.

The drake cast another nervous look as the alien on his back before he knocked on the door with his foot. "I just hope you'll be alright."

Author's Note

Here it is my first ATLA crossover. I wanted to do something with Zuko and his past since he in my opinion out of all the characters in the show has a past that is aside from Aang's at least is the most long lasting. So here it is. enjoy.

Chapter 1

Spike, Spike The Dragon

The door shut with a loud slam as the mare helped Spike drag the boy into her working space and onto her fainting chair. Zuko groaned in agony as he was dragged on the ground all the way to the couch.

The two worked together to toss him on the couch and with a thud the human landed on the couch before remaining absolutely still.

Rarity turned on Spike with a look of both fear and concern in her eyes. “Spike!” she whispered as she began quickly moving towards the stairs and up to her room. “What happened! Why did you bring- drag this, this- whatever he is in here?” Rarity said her voice almost reaching a shout, from above.

Spike said nothing as he kept his claws over Zuko’s injured leg. Till he heard the clattering of materials falling on the floor just above his head. “You were the only one closest to us! I had no choice!” he stated. “Rarity can we hurry it up please! I don’t think you want to get his blood on your carpet!”

A scream from upstairs followed by the sound of hooves clicking against the floor was all Spike heard before the posh mare came running into the room with gauze and antiseptic suspended in her magic.

Rarity had a stern look on her face as she walked in before sitting next to Spike and the unconscious being that now bled all over her rug. “Hold this” she said levitating the gauze towards him. Spike shook his head. “I’ve got my claws kinda full here Rari.”

Rarity looked over to Spike’s claws and now saw how the dragon was applying pressure around the slash marks to minimize the amount of bleeding. The mare couldn’t help but feel a tug on her heart at the baby drake’s bravity.

With her stern expression diminishing and her previous surprise, anger and annoyance by the appearance of this boy slowly fading Rarity opened the bottle of hydrogen peroxide, before turning her attention towards one of the draws across the room.

Opening it with her magic three large puff cotton balls floated towards her as she instructed Spike to move back and then get something from her room to give their new friend something to bite down on.

“This is going to hurt him, a lot. And I’d rather not have ponies coming to my boutique and asking me why screaming is coming from my room” she said before pouring some of the antiseptic on the puff balls and taking one in her hand.

Spike nodded, dropping Zuko’s swords in a corner of the large room, then removing his backpack before he rushed up the stairs looking for the small plank Rarity used to help her get clean cuts in her pieces.

As Spike began his search thoughts raced through his mind. Who was that? How come he could shoot flames out of his hands like he was using magic?! And what happened to him for him to get that scar?

Spike stopped, his eye catching the object Rarity had described laying on the table right in front of him. The drake had been so absorbed in his thoughts and concerns that he hadn’t even noticed.

A yell pierced through the boutique. Spike flinched, panicked then grabbed the object before he rushed downstairs, with insane speeds immediately beside the mare.

Rarity, the mare who was usually always fixated on maintaining a clean stature, now didn’t seem to care that her fingers were gaining a small dab of red on them. The mare’s attention was focused on the wound as she applied the product once more to the surface of the mark, running it across the wound which only made Zuko grunt in pain.

“Spike!” Rarity said dragging the concerned dragon out of his stupor. It took a second for Spike to retain his senses when he saw the look of pain on Zuko’s face. He nodded, and immediately opened Zuko’s mouth with a claw.

Shoving the flat small plank in Zuko’s mouth. The drake closed it shut on the object, nodding to Rarity as she prepared to apply the soaked cotton on Zuko once more.

“Spike you can get down. I’ll make sure he keeps biting down on it till I’m done cleaning his wound.”

Spike shook his head. “I can’t do that Rarity. I’ll keep my eye on him and make sure he continues biting down. When you’re done I’ll back up” Spike instructed.

Rarity looked at Spike in surprise. The dragon rarely argued that much unless it was serious, but given the fact that he had dragged this person back to the confines of her wonderful abode it was probably not that much of a surprise that he was taking this so seriously.

Rarity nodded. “Alright Spike.”

The two continued to work in silence. Spike doing his best to make sure the alien didn’t spit the plank out of his mouth and Rarity using her hands to keep him from squirming as he applied the medicine. It took fifteen minutes for the two to be able to finally get the bleeding to stop. And by then the human was already tired out.

Rarity wrapped the gauze around Zuko’s leg, before sighing at the stains on her rug and hands. Spike sighed as well, just glad the ordeal was over and this person that had saved him was alright now.

“Spike” Rarity said making the dragon lift his head up. “Where did you meet this strange fellow?” she asked, with a small smile as she gathered all the remnants of their work and threw it all in the trash.

“Meet?” Spike asked the mare who now sat beside him as the two stared at the sleeping being. “Oh uh, right I didn’t meet him per say more like he ran into me and then saved my life” Spike stated.

“Oh” Rarity said somewhat surprised. “Well I’m glad you’re alright then” she said with a smile.

Spike simply nodded turning his attention back to the boy in front of them. Rarity did the same.

For a long while the two said nothing to each other, till eventually Rarity rose from her seat on the ground, carrying the ruined rug with her in her magic. “I’ll be back okay Spikey?” she said. The dragon nodded, as Rarity turned around. Oblivious to the small smile she gave the concerned dragon who watched the boy dutifully like a loyal friend.

“That’s my Spike” she whispered to herself before heading up the stairs to take a bath and maybe do something about her now new red colored rug.

Spike turned his head to see Rarity’s hooves disappear along with the tip of her styled tail as she climbed the stairs to her room. Once gone Spike turned his attention back to the boy in front of him.

Spike’s brow now narrowed at the boy as he looked at some of the other scratches the boy had received most likely from his other fights. They had done their best to bandage up the being almost using up all the gauze in the process, but thankfully now the bleeding had stopped greatly. With any luck he would be able to rest easy now, at least till he was able to go and get Twilight here after the being awoke so they could get him to the hospital then.

A thought popped into Spike’s mind as he got up to his feet and moved over to examine the scar on Zuko’s upper left face.

He frowned. The scar may be old, but this being must have received it probably at an earlier age, that must have been a nightmare. He could only imagine the pain, the agony and whatever else he had endured to receive such a scar in the first place. It made the dragon feel bad for this being greatly.

I wonder what he did, to get this. Is he some kind of criminal or something? Spike thought sitting back down and staring at the boy.

Seconds passed in silence as Spike simply listened to Zuko’s steady breathing. That was a good sign, he’d calmed down quite a bit now.

As Spike watched Zuko rest he began to recall how that timberwolf had attacked him. How this guy had basically fought to grab the beast’s attention and then fight him off pretty well before he intervened.

Spike frowned once more. He had just recalled Applejack’s near death experience by the hands of a timberwolf. Three to be exact.

It sent a shiver up his spine now that he thought about how she could have ended up this exact same way. This guy did just look like them, well minus the coat, the hooves, the ears, the muzzle and the somewhat small eyes and scar. But it still disturbed the dragon how this could be Applejack instead of whoever this was.

He sighed. Back then it was only by luck that he’d been able to save Applejack, when he threw that stone into the timberwolf’s mouth he honestly hadn’t expected much to happen. Luckily he’d been wrong.

The timberwolf he saw today though, he probably would’ve continued to attack them. The beast hadn’t even ran away when this guy shot fire at him till he had to burn off the thing’s paw. Who know’s what would have happened if the timberwolves they had fought had been that resilient?

The young drake shook his head, clearing his mind of such thoughts. I shouldn’t think like that. He’ll be fine. AJ’s fine. They’re all fine, there’s nothing to worry about.

Spike’s fears weren’t quelled though. That small attack had opened his eyes greatly.

For the past two years ever since he’d come to Ponyville with Twilight and became friends with all the element bearers, he’d learned to gradually grow used to the crazy amounts of danger they’d been thrown into. Especially since Twilight became a princess and the whole thing with Starlight Glimmer ended.

But this time he’d been alone when it happened. All the other times Spike had been with his friends, when they fought Discord. When they fought Sombra, when they even watched Twilight face off against Tirek he’d been there. They all were there to provide support and help.

Even with Starlight Glimmer, Spike had been there with Twilight and Twilight with him. But this time, he’d been alone.

Spike looked at the slumbering human with a sad realization coming to him.

If it hadn’t been for this guy right here. I’d have died he thought sadly. I didn’t even get the courage to use my flame till I saw that timberwolf back up when he sent that blast.

He sighed once more, his shoulders slumping over. An assistant who can’t even assist himself huh?

Spike shook his head, knocking the thought out of his mind. No! he told himself looking up at the exiled prince.

“I just need to work on my weak points, that’s all!” he said hitting his chest with his claw and a proud nod.

But that short moment of bravado died quickly as Spike quickly realized he had no idea how to do that.

Where was he even supposed to start? He couldn’t use magic. He was to small to be allowed an actual weapon to practice with, and not to mention Twilight and the others would freak out if he even asked or tried.

He snorted, an annoyed snort. How am I expected to get better if they tell me no? I can't be a kid forever he thought with a annoyed frown.

A shuffle in the cushions caught his attention, making his ear twitch as he looked at the being who now moved in his seat to readjust himself. It looked like he would be waking up soon.

Then it hit Spike.

That’s it! he thought clamping his fist over his hand with a brilliant idea. “I’ll ask this guy!” he said aloud.

Zuko’s eyes shot open.

For a second the exiled prince thought he would feel everything that defined pained but found he felt nothing. Looking down he saw his shirt gone, his body bandaged, his leg healed and the slash line gone.

What the- he turned his head and his eyes widened as he stared at the creature before him. Instantly reaching for his swords to prepare or defense only to find them gone. He looked down to his belt seeing the scabbards gone, his eyes quickly scanning the room he could see his swords leaning against the wall near a shelf full of clothes.

Zuko’s eyes narrowed as he looked down at the young dragon, not being able to remember anything that really happened. All of it being a blur save for one thing he could recall being said to him.

“This is Ponyville?” he asked the dragon.

Spike nodded, a look of fear yet a look of happiness on his face as he smiled nervously at the human.

“Um how are you feeling?” Spike asked the scarred man as he stretched his body.

Zuko looked down on him with a slightly surprised look on his face. “Fine” he said exasperation in his voice.

“Good” Spike said watching the human sit back down and stare at him.

The two said nothing for a few minutes till Rarity came back in a towel wrapped around her body as she dried her mane with the towel in her hands. “So Spike how’s our-” she froze seeing him awake.

Zuko merely stared with a surprised look on his face, Spike simply stared.

Rarity immediately realizing her blunder with a blush smiled at the two male’s before her horn glowed and drew one of the tablecloth she had folded and threw it over the two’s faces.

By the time the two had removed the cloth off their faces the mare’s hooves could be heard quickly scurrying up the stairs.

Zuko shook his head, still slightly confused by what he had seen. Turning his attention back to the dragon he immediately recalled who it was.

“You’re the dragon that helped me aren’t you?” he asked.

Spike nodded.

Zuko remained silent.

For a few more seconds the two merely stared at each other without saying a word before Zuko broke the stagnant silence. “What’s your name?”

Spike smiled a bit starting to feel that maybe he and this being might be able to form a connection of sorts.

“I’m Spike. Spike the Dragon and I think you and I uh-”

“Zuko.”

“Zuko, are going to be good friends.” The dragon said with a warm smile.

Zuko simply stared in silence before getting up and moving to regain his weapons. I don’t need friends. I need to find a way to regain my honor.

Chapter 2

Mane 6

Spike now paced the front door of Rarity’s Boutique. It had been at least an hour since Zuko had awoken and after they had gotten him a salad to eat, the young drake and Rarity left him alone in the Boutique to get the others. Rarity still hadn’t returned yet, but Spike had been able to get Pinkie Pie. Applejack, and Twilight.

Now all they needed was Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Rarity herself, before they would go back inside and meet their new friend, or at least the drake hoped he was their friend. He didn’t really seem to say much when he offered his friendship earlier, heck to Spike it looked like he almost found it to be a nuisance.

“Spike” Twilight said grabbing the baby dragon’s attention. Spike looked up a worried look on his face.

“Why exactly are we standing outside Rarity’s boutique and not going in to meet this new fella you mentioned?” AJ asked.

“Because, I don’t think we should all go at different times. All of us going in together at once would be better” Spike explained as he continued to pace in front of Rarity’s door.

“And why exactly are you so concerned about us not going in right now?” Twilight asked.

“Because, this guy doesn’t look like the type who enjoys getting multiple visitors!” he said with some annoyance.

“Oh c’mon Spike aren’t you being a bit overexaggerative?” Pinkie said with a smile as she moved towards the door. “I’m sure this guy won’t be mad or anything if we just go and see what he’s doing, besides I have to thank him for saving you” she said as she moved towards the door.

Spike however wasn’t so willingly about to let his friend get in over her head like she usually did whenever someone new came to Ponyville, so running behind Pinkie the dragon grabbed her puffy tail and pulled, yanking her back and away from the door.

Pinkie looked back at Spike slightly surprised before she saw the serious look in his eye that said “Don’t.”

Puffing her cheeks out in a pouty manner she mumbled “Fine” before turning around and standing beside Twilight and AJ. Spike nodded feeling a bit better and more content that they’d listened to him.

“So what’s this pony like?” Applejack asked as she fixed her stetson. “You said he helped save you from a timberwolf and all and even got hurt protecting ya, a pony like that’s gotta be mighty kind to risk his life for a complete stranger, right?”

Spike nodded. Now that he actually thought about it Zuko had risked his life for him, when he clearly didn’t need to. So yeah, in the drake’s eyes the boy with the scar seemed like a pretty cool guy, so he told them so.

“Well that’s good to hear. I can’t wait to throw him a Welcome to Ponyville and Thank You for Saving Spike Party!!” Pinkie said bouncing in bubbly glee.

“How bout we get to see what this pony was doing out in the Everfree Forest first before we get down to throwing parties, okay?” Twilight asked.

Pinkie nodded, but remained energetic.

“So when’s Rarity supposed to get here?” AJ asked after a few seconds of silence.

“We’re here!” they turned to hear Rarity’s voice call as she made her way with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash towards the others.

“Sorry it took so long, but Fluttershy had trouble waking this one up” she said pointing a thumb in Dash’s direction.

“Hey!” the pegasus in the blue shirt and jeans exclaimed defensively. “I like my afternoon naps. Now can we meet this guy already so I can get back to sleep.”

“Rainbow Dash simmer down” Applejack stated, the cyan pegasus merely huffed. “Alright Spike we’re all here, go ahead and introduce us to your friend.”

Spike nodded, turning towards Rarity’s door and opening it.

The group found Zuko meditating in silence.

Patience.

One of the things uncle said I really need to work on if I ever plan on capturing the Avatar. And since I’m alone now’s the best time for me to be working on it.

Zuko took slow and steady breathes. His heart rate relaxing to a steady beat with every breath he took. The confusion, the frustration he felt upon being attacked by those beasts when he arrived here all fading away. And the brief moment of excitement he felt upon finally beginning his journey to discover the correct path he needed to take in order to regain redemption receding to nothing.

Zuko’s eyebrow raised when he heard the door creak open. He did his best not to scowl and lash out at the group who he’d been able to hear the entire time he had meditated. On several occasions he had nearly opened the door and ordered them to be quiet but thought better of it, considering one of the voices had saved him and nursed him back to health.

The very least he could do was try his best not to lash out in blinding fury.

So there he sat. On Rarity’s fainting couch, his hands on his crossed legs, his swords beside him with his eyes closed, and the only thing that wasn’t on him right now was the tattered remains of his shirt, which Rarity had said she would fix for him.

The clicking of hooves on the ground was what made the human slowly open one eye and look in the direction of the door. There he saw five other mares next to the drake and poshly dressed unicorn that had helped him.

“Zuko, I’d like you to meet my friends. This is Princess Twilight Sparkle” Rarity said pointing to the lavender alicorn in the buttoned blue shirt and purple jeans. “She’s Equestria’s newest princess” the unicorn said with a smug smile.

Twilight blushed, Zuko merely nodded his head in her direction before the mare moved on to the next equine.

“This is Applejack, she and her family are in charge of Sweet Apple Acres, one of Ponyville’s finest food manufacturers.” The orange mare in shorts and white shirt nodded her head in Zuko’s direction.

“Howdy?”

Zuko once again said nothing but merely stared and nodded. Rarity this time obviously looked a bit worried by the lack of enthusiasm the human displayed.

She moved on.

“This is Fluttershy, our animal caretaker. She takes care of most of the animals in the forest.”

At this Zuko scowled. Getting up and staring at Fluttershy, the mare actually cringed back by the glare she received from him.

“Hold on now what’s goin’ on?” Applejack said stepping in front of the yellow pegasus.

Zuko pointed to the only bandaged part of his body: his abdomen. “You’re telling me that she’s in charge of the pets in the forest?” he questioned.

Everyone nodded.

“Then why wasn’t she making sure the things that attacked me in the forest were fed?! I nearly died in there twice when I got to that forest, solely because those things were hungry and looking for a meal!”

“Hold on!” Rainbow Dash said floating up to the exiled prince. “Fluttershy’s in charge of our normal forest animals. She’s not in charge of the Everfree Forest, so back” she prodded his chest with a finger. “Off!” she said jabbing him with it.

Zuko’s scowl only grew as the cyan pegasus continued to keep her finger firmly poked into his bare chest, both glaring at each other menacingly.

“Okay” Twilight said, her horn glowing and wrapping around the athlete firmly yanking her away from Zuko who now looked ready to kill. “I think we should all calm down and relax okay? Okay” she said with a nervous smile.

It took a few seconds but eventually the burning tension in the air calmed and Zuko sighed. He looked up at the yellow pegasus to see her ears were wilted and a sad expression in her eye, Dash and AJ comforting her, both rubbing her shoulders for support.

The cyan pegasus shot Zuko a glare, Zuko shot one back, before he turned his attention to the yellow pegasus and dramatically sighed once more.

“Look I’m sorry I lost my temper, I'm just a bit antsy because I just got here and then I got attacked and all. It’s not your fault I just lost my nerve, I apologize.”

Fluttershy nodded, a small smile of acceptance crossing her face showing she understood. “I-It’s fine. I guess I’d be mad also if I just came to a new town and got attacked by scary animals.”

“Well then, now that that’s settled” Rarity said wrapping the human’s shirt in her magic. “I’m going to go work on fixing up his shirt. In the meantime Zuko please wear this” she said handing him a blood red shirt, with yellow stripes on the sleeves.

Zuko stared at it like this wasn’t something he’d wear, but upon glancing over to Rarity and seeing her expectant look he put it on with reluctance.

“Ohh” she cooed. “Fits you perfectly. Right then, I’m off girls and Rainbow Dash please don’t fight with our guest it’s uncouth to do so to a visitor” she stated before walking off to her work space.

Zuko’s eyes quickly glanced over to the rainbow maned girl who merely grumbled in silent anger before shooting him another glare. AJ cleared her throat grabbing everyone’s attention.

“So, misunderstandings aside Zuko what are you? And where exactly are ya from? Not everyday we get a visitor of your caliber in our town.”

Zuko turned his attention to the orange mare and sat up contemplating what he should say. His desire to quickly get through this journey so he could return home would only go faster if he told them the truth. But that didn’t mean he’d need to tell them everything or his true cause for coming here.

“First of all” he said after a few seconds of pensive thought. “I’m a human. I come a far off nation. A great and powerful nation, and certain events have led me to leave my home and journey out here. I have a mission to fulfill.”

“Oh! Oh! Like a spy or secret agent!??!” Pinkie said suddenly appearing in front of the human, leaning in rather too close for comfort.

“I uh, suppose if you want to put it that way” he replied gently pushing the bubblegum colored girl back.

“And what exactly is the name of this great nation that we’ve never heard of” Rainbow Dash said curtly.

Zuko’s glare, made Twilight and Fluttershy who were both sitting beside her, elbow the girl in the ribs rather roughly.

“Don’t mind her. She gets cranky when she doesn’t get her afternoon nap” Twilight said with a dismissive chuckle, ignoring the look Dash shot at her. “Please continue, we’re all interested in hearing where you’re from.”

He nodded, taking his swords and stuffing them in his belt, Zuko continued. “Where I am from is a land of power, courage, and a strong will that burns like the uncontrollable flames of a fire.”

“Interesting” Twilight said obviously intrigued. “I’ve never heard of a place like this before. What’s it called?”

“The Fire Nation” Zuko responded with a smile that beamed with a brilliance he hadn’t been able to make in quite sometime.

“Oh, sounds mysterious” Fluttershy said. “Why’s it called that?”

“Well it’s obvious!” Spike replied with a grin before Zuko could respond. “They obviously can control fire, so they named it the Fire Nation.”

All five mares gave their dragon friend a doubtful stare. “C’mon Spike, when you said he used fire to protect you and face off against a timberwolf I let it slide because I thought you were joking, but really you’re taking this whole thing a bit too far” Twilight stated with a frown.

“I am not lying” Spike stated firmly, turning his attention to Zuko. “Dude, c’mon help me out here. Show them I’m not lying.”

Zuko raised a brow with some confusion. True he had used bending to fend off the timberwolf and the others he had faced in the forest but the fact that these creatures knew nothing of bending in general told him that he really was in a completely different world altogether.

Looking back at Spike who now held pleading puppy dog eyes he sighed and got up from his seat. “Before I use my bending what is the dominant form of protection that you all use here?” he asked, not really referring to a specific mare but any of them really.

“Protection?” Fluttershy asked.

“I mean like Rarity, her horn glows and she’s able to lift multiple things up. Is that some form of telekinesis or something?”

Everyone in the room completely froze. Rainbow Dash who’d been glaring at the boy the entire time even looked surprised at the question he’d just thrown at them all. It was Spike who moved forward and waved his claw close to Zuko, signaling for him to come closer.

Once the exiled prince did so, Spike whispered: “Uh Zuko, I don’t know where you’re from. But in our world we use magic. You know, spells and all that jazz so uh yeah.”

Oh he thought, looking up at the rest of the mares, Zuko could see they were still staring at him.

Now feeling embarrassed, slightly irritated that he’d just trapped himself in this situation, and wondering when Rarity would get his shirt finished Zuko quickly looked around the room and at the others trying to figure out what exactly he could use to change the topic.

Then he saw it.

Pinkie Pie’s cutie mark, when she shifted in her seat.

It was one of the things he’d noticed first when the group of humanoid horse like beings walked in. How all their clothings had holes large enough to display a image of sorts on their rumps. Zuko thought it was just a fashion sense of sorts that some had, much like how in his nation there were few who had tattooed the Fire Nation’s symbol on their bodies, or greatly valued their battle scars.

But upon recalling how Rarity’s had been different when she had came to check on him earlier the boy now could no longer contain his curiosity as he looked up at the pink mare who simply smiled at him brightly.

“Yeeeess Zukey?” the pink mare sang with a dumb grin.

Zukey? he thought with some annoyance. “First of all, don’t call me ‘Zukey’ second. What are those things on your...ahem, your sides, you know” he said struggling to find the right word so he wouldn’t sound like a pervert. “Your, flanks, why do all of you have those tattoos?”

Instantly each mare looked down to the spots indicated and looked a little surprised once more. However Spike reminding them that Zuko wasn’t around from here cleared up their aghast states immediately.

Pinkie hopped up onto her hooves and practically flew over to Zuko’s side, landing in the seat next to him with a loud plop into the cushions before she wrapped her arm around him, and pulled him back down into the couch. “You see these- what did you say they were again?”

“Tattoos?” Zuko said trying to peel the mare’s strong arm away from him.

“These tattoos are, our cutie marks.” The pained expression on Zuko’s face was not lost on the others.

“What’s wrong?” Fluttershy asked. “Is Pinkie hugging you too hard, she tends to do that when she’s excited.”

Zuko shook his head. “That’s not it, it’s just the name of those marks are.” His face contorted into one of disappoint and slight disgust. “So...bizarre.”

“What cutie marks?” AJ asked, this time Zuko did his best to hide the mental wound the word put on his ears.

“Anyway” he said changing the topic and finally managing to pry Pinkie’s strong arm off his shoulders. “What do they symbolize. Are they for different forms of social standing? Do you have a hierarchy of sorts here even in this small town?”

“Well no, nothing like that” Spike explained then looked up at Twilight to continue.

“Cutie marks are more of what define what our interest is in life. What we want to do with our lives and onward. They appear when we find what is that interests us most and then it’s our job to build upon and expound on that interest to form our own path.”

At this Zuko gave them his full attention. “Show me” he said firmly.

The sudden look of intensity in his eyes stunned the five mares and dragon till Rarity walked back in with Zuko’s shirt looking good as new.

“What’s going on?” she asked as she moved towards the boy and Pinkie who sat next to him. “Something happen while I was away?”

“No, nothing like that sugar. Just finding out that your friend here doesn’t know a lot about our world here, guess it’s expected since it doesn’t seem like he’s from around here.”

“Hm, well it looks like we’ve got quite some explaining to do don’t we?” she said with a smile as Zuko switched shirts. Once he was done Rarity’s horn glowed and with the glow came a mirror that she held up to Zuko.

“What do you think?” she asked.

Zuko stood up and stared at his figure. Hm he thought with genuine interest. The shirt’s design had been completely changed from the normal red and gray style that was common with a few locals of the Fire empire, and had been changed to a blood red color that stopped at the shoulders. Black covering as the shoulder pads, with faint hints of grey. And at Zuko’s chest was the Fire Nation symbol in all it’s glory displayed in gold.

“Well?” he heard Rarity’s voice ask with some concern now. He looked up at the designer to see she was really worried now. Most likely because she thought he didn’t like the design, but in all honesty this was probably one of the best things he’d worn since him and his uncle became fugitives.

“It’s...really good” he said dismissively as he looked at his reflection then looked away. “Thanks, I appreciate it.”

Rarity and the others smiled. “Thank you darling, now let’s see what we can do about those ruined rags you call pants.”

Wait what? Zuko thought his face clearly expressing confoundment. But the young ruler didn’t have time to react. The next thing he knew, were strong yet slim pink arms wrap around his body from behind.

He glanced back to see Pinkie smiling at him innocently. Looking up at the rest of the mares he could see Fluttershy had lifted a wing up to cover her face, the tips of her ears turning red. Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Twilight had all averted their gaze, awkwardness clearly expressed on their faces.

Spike had simply just tilted his head to stare at the ground. Zuko was able to catch the faint words that came out of the drake’s mouth before he felt his travelling pants get ripped off him and replaced with other clothes.

“Sorry bout this Zuko, but when Rarity gets into the mood. There’s no stopping her.”

The next few minutes consisted of Zuko frantically struggling to keep his pants on as Rarity kept explaining to him that nothing bad was going to happen, she simply wanted to fix his ruined pants, despite the only thing wrong with them was the rather small claw marks that had been made by the timberwolf.

That however didn’t seem to stop Rarity.

Never before had Zuko ever experienced a woman, or rather in her case a mare so fervently have the desire to fix his clothes. Aside from his mother, but that only brought up sad feelings, right now he wasn’t feeling sad.

He was feeling disturbed.

After what took more than half an hour of struggling, and with Pinkie’s help the posh fashion designer was finally able to rip off the prince’s clothing and give him a replacement till she was done fixing (and completely altering his pants).

When Rarity left Zuko ordered all the mares, especially Pinkie not to say a single word to him till he regained his clothing. They all agreed, not a single one arguing.

Spike having enough smarts not to say a word simply sat beside his new friend in silence, the clock above the door ticking in consecutive rhythm as they heard Rarity get to work along with her humming.

Minutes soon passed as Zuko and the others waited in silence. Zuko obstinately refusing to look at any of the others, Pinkie especially for not trying to help him when he was being manhandled.

If Rainbow Dash cared, she obviously didn’t show it, as the only thing she did was every now and then cast a glance at the boy’s scar something which she’d noticed immediately, but had decided not to ask on.

Pinkie however, who was now itching for a reason to talk to Zuko once more decided to bring this issue up.

“So Zuko, what’s with that scar on your face?” the mare asked rather bluntly.

If there were ever a time where the sun had died and the world froze over. That exact moment. That exact time, was when it happened.

Zuko snapped his attention in Pinkie’s direction, the anger in his eyes. The hostility and belligerence his body language gave, immediately wiped away any smile or nervous smile the bubbly mare had into a slightly frightened one.

“What did you say?” he intoned, every word however dripping with venom.

“I-I uh” she stammered. “I was just-” four hands appeared in front of the mare’s muzzle and firmly clamped it shut.

Rainbow Dash floated over in front of her friend blocking the party planner’s view of Zuko’s fiery glare as sweat began to form on her own brow.

“Pinkie” Dash whispered harshly through grit teeth. “Shut UP!”

Applejack, Fluttershy and Twilight were now flashing somewhat warm smiles, that clearly displayed the levels of nervousness each mare felt under the human's glare.

“She was saying that your scar looks good on you!” Fluttershy stated kindly.

And for a second it looked like her words had worked. Zuko’s angered expression had calmed, his shoulders no longer tensed, and his body no longer conveyed the message of murder.

Then again that only lasted one second.

Getting up, his breath growing heavy as he fixed his gaze on the ground, all five mares and the dragon watched with growing anxiety as he walked towards them, passed, then opened Rarity’s door before slamming it behind him.

Three seconds passed before all five mares and the dragon exchanged quick worried looks then quickly scrambled out of their seats and rushed outside. Spike being the first to open the door and rush out, immediately backed up and held his friends back from moving any further as they all emerged from the door. Rarity oblivious to all that was happening outside her front door.

At this point in time, the previous ponies that had all fled during the attack were now moving and bustling about on the streets of Ponyville, only did a few stop to stare at Zuko and his scar, as he breathed heavily his eyes still fixed on the ground.

Twilight spoke next, but cautiously so as not to anger him any further. “Z-Zuko are you alright?”

A snort of smoke, escaped his nose and rose into the air.

“M-Maybe not” the young alicorn said in a lower tone.

“I’m sorry if I offended you in anyway” Fluttershy squeaked “I was only trying to make things better.”

“Yeah and Pinkie’s sorry to! Aren’t you Pinkie?” Dash said nudging her friend roughly. The pink mare winced nodding with the same shared nervous smile as the rest of her friends.

A few more seconds passed. Zuko said nothing, his breathing now less heavy than before. Now he’d drawn a few other eyes in his direction, but all of which were ignored.

Taking in a deep breath Zuko looked up into the sky and breathed out a fiery smoke, that cascaded into the air.

Spike and the rest of the group along with any nearby coughing in the process.

“Well at least we know you weren’t lying about the fire thing Spike” Applejack said in between coughs once the air had cleared.

Zuko maintained his distance from the others, shooting a glare at some of the civilians that had been staring at him after his display of smoke works, those ponies scurried off to their homes or whatever business they wanted to attend to. It wasn’t until Rarity’s voice called that she was done did the group head back inside, giving Zuko as much space as possible to enter.

Pinkie whispered to Spike as they followed Zuko from a distance into the boutique, “Why did he get so mad when I asked about his scar?”

Spike shrugged, watching Zuko take his seat once more as Rarity came downstairs with Zuko’s new pants.

“I don’t know Pinkie” he said watching Zuko with curious eyes. “I really don’t know.”

“So!” Rarity said clapping her hands together with a pleasant smile. “What did I miss?”

The five mares and dragon shifted uncomfortably, Zuko had changed into his new pants and now kept his eyes closed not bothering to look at anyone with his arms crossed.

“Um...not much Rare” Rainbow Dash replied.

“Are you sure? Pinkie?” she asked the mare who had wilted ears now and didn’t really try looking at Zuko’s direction as Rarity had taken a seat beside him.

“No” she muttered. “Nothing really.”

Silence.

“Hm” Rarity said with watchful eyes on her friends. “I see” she said standing. “Well then I’ll just-”

Spike’s eyes widened. “Rarity, your cutie mark!” he said pointing to it. The unicorn glanced down to the three diamonds on her flank, Zuko’s eyes now opening as well.

“Not just hers” he said, pointing to the others. “All of their marks are glowing.”

Each mare looked at her own cutie mark to see all six mare’s were indeed being summoned by the Cutie Map.

Spike rose from his seat as he rushed to quickly open the door, watching his friends get up as well. “Let’s go see what it is this time.”

They all nodded, and in doing so the images of all six mares marks flew into the air heading towards Twilight’s castle. Zuko now stood, ready to follow the others as they all began exiting Rarity’s boutique.

“What’s going on?” he said asking Twilight.

“It’s our cutie marks, whenever they glow like that it means there’s a friendship problem that needs to be solved.”

“A friendship problem?” Zuko asked clearly baffled, by this absurdity.

All six and dragon nodded in unison. “We’re heading to my castle to see what’s the problem right now. This is the first time in a long time that all six of us are being summoned at the same time.”

“Hm. I see” Zuko said placing his swords on his back now. “Lead the way.”

Chapter 3

Fillydelphia

Zuko wasn’t sure what to think of at this exact moment. When he’d been sent to this world, he had expected it to be full of other...humans, bender's of different types even. But since he ended up here in this world of anthropomorphic beings he’d simply just have to get used to certain things and expect anything to happen.

He hadn’t expected Twilight’s castle.

Granted the palace was nowhere near as large as the Fire Nation’s Royal Palace. There was something else about it that just seemed to catch Zuko’s eyes.

If there were ever a strange yet more beautiful castle in the whole world, Twilight’s castle took that award. It was...almost breathtaking. Made not out of iron or steel like his palace or the Fire Nation’s capital, this was made of pure crystal.

Crystals that glistened beautifully in the sun as he, the six other mares and the dragon made their way inside the castle, climbed the stairs and entered the common room.

It was quite the sight he had to admit. But there was no way he would ever show such an expression of utter amazement in front of these seven. So he simply wiped away any trace of utter confoundment, and followed them as they all took their seats in designated crystalline chairs.

Chairs, Zuko noted, that had each mare’s tattoo on it- as he would now be calling them since the words “cutie mark” simply did not sound right to him.

Standing in the back and watching, Zuko saw each chair light up at the base of its tattoo, then shoot a ray of light out at the center of where the chairs had gathered.

He cocked a brow at what was happening.

In a matter of seconds though, the whole room began to shake as crystals began to shoot out around each chair and gather at the center of the space. Before Zuko could ask what was going on, all seven crystals met at the center of the room, collided and created a table made out of a light blue crystal structure.

Zuko merely stared with slightly wide eyes at what he had just seen. “...Was that a form of earth bending?” he asked skeptically, moving towards them.

Twilight stared at him with a confused look, while the pink mare known as Pinkie Pie merely giggled before responding “There’s no earthbending here silly. That was us just activating the Cutie Map’s mechanism is all.”

Zuko simply looked at the map, looked at the chairs then nodded. I guess I’ll have to pay extra attention now that I’m in a weird world like this.

The map instantly turned on and in a matter of seconds the six tattoos that were on each mare’s rumps glowed and their images flew off each mare’s side, floating towards the map.

Zuko moved towards the map that now displayed all of Equestria. He studied it with silence ignoring the floating symbols as each one moved to a designated place, before a voice broke his careful observation.

“Oh my” Fluttershy said to Zuko’s left. “It looks like we’re supposed to head to Tall Tale Town, Applejack, Dash.”

“Sure looks like it” said the orange one in the buttoned white shirt and stetson. “Looks like Pinkie Pie, Twilight and Rarity are supposed to head to Fillydelphia.”

Twilight’s sudden squeal made Zuko cover his ears, then glare at her in annoyance.

“Heh, heh. Sorry. I’m just glad I get to go to Fillydelphia” she said with an apologetic smile to Zuko.

“What’s so great about Fillydelphia?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Isn’t it just another metropolitan city?”

“Wha- What’s at?! WHAT’S SO GREAT ABOUT FILLYDELPHIA?!” she asked clearly exasperated.

Rarity stared at Twilight with a look that asked “Was that really necessary”, Twilight however didn’t seem to pay any mind as she quickly got up and moved over to a shelf of books. Grabbing one she quickly made her way back to Zuko and the others.

Throwing the book down on the table and with her magic flipping to a page, she opened a spot that said “Fillydelphia.”

“Oh no” Spike groaned.

Zuko looked at him, then asked “What?”

“She’s about to go on her lecture spree again” Spike explained. “This may take a while.”

Twilight shot her assistant a look before beginning her lengthy long, possibly unnecessary lecture since they would be going to the city to begin with. “Fillydelphia is not just any city, but a city, one of the first cities in Equestria, that has dragon and pony cohesion. Ponies and dragons living together!” she said with a grin.

Zuko looked at Spike with a raised brow. “Wasn’t that long now was it?”

Spike grinned sheepishly, then turned his attention to Twilight his ears slightly twitching when he heard “Ponies and dragons living together.”

Jumping up from his seat Spike hopped onto the map and looked down at Fillydelphia with excitement in his eyes. “Ponies and other dragons live together in harmony?” he said with glee. “So that means I’m really not the only dragon that knows how to coexist with ponies” he said clapping his hands together.

“Now hold on there” Applejack said. Twilight and Spike looked at her, both sharing the same excited look.

“Ah’ve delivered to Fillydelphia a few times, and while there are dragons and ponies living in the city. There’s more of a slight division between those that live with dragons, and those that don’t” she said with a slight frown.

Both alicorn and dragon’s ears fell slightly, but the excitement on their faces didn’t fade completely. “Well then that’s what I’m here for right?” Twilight said with a confident smile, her ears perking up again.

“Yeah Applejack don’t worry, with Twilight here we should be able to solve the whole schism between both parties no problem.”

AJ smiled, “Ah know ya can sugar. It’s just you guys should be a bit careful. I haven’t gone there recently in a long time. But my brother Big Mac has said that some things have changed in the past year or so.”

“Don’t worry dear. I’m sure things will go fine...eventually” Rarity said with a small smile.

“So when do we leave?” Zuko asked.

A awkward silence almost instantly fell on the room. Zuko stared silently waiting. None of them said anything, Rarity smiled at him with an understanding look one he simply ignored. He wasn’t going to understand anything unless words were used. So he continued to look from mare to mare waiting.

Finally Rainbow Dash spoke, “Look scar boy I-”

The glare in Zuko’s eyes cut her off. His arms now moved up and crossed over his chest just in front of the fire symbol, his glare not fading.

“Do not call me that ever again. If you want to keep those wings of yours I suggest you stop calling me names and answer my question. When. Do. We. Leave?” he said in a slightly calm tone.

Spike coughed awkwardly and took a step forward, slightly stepping on the holographic image of Ponyville in the process.

“Look uh Zuko, the Cutie Map doesn’t really call for uh, um” Spike glanced at Twilight with a look that screamed: “Explain this to him!

Twilight cleared her throat, her horn glowing and picking up the book on the table placing it back on its shelf. Once done she turned her attention to Zuko who’s less steel gaze was staring at her.

She flinched slightly, the look of determination yet pain in his eyes slightly throwing her off what she was about to say. Rarity luckily was the one who saved them all from anymore awkwardness.

“Zuko, darling. You see the Cutie Map only calls for well us and us alone to go on these friendship missions. We would take you but it’s just- I don’t know it’s complicated” she said. “But you understand don’t you?”

Zuko said nothing. His eyes now moving to scan the others.

Pinkie Pie smiled sheepishly and waved, his eyes passed over her to Fluttershy who merely hid behind her mane and offered the same kind smile in return. Moving on to Applejack, the mare merely shrugged with a blank expression, one corner of her lips curved upward, the rest a straight line.

Then to Twilight, who’s wings twitched slightly behind her, she seemed slightly uncomfortable by all of this, especially the growing tension since he had not responded to Rarity’s question yet.

He didn’t bother to look at Rainbow Dash, better judgement told him not to. Glancing over at Spike who was now moving around the map trying not to step on countries Zuko waited for the baby drake to stop.

Spike did, but only after nearly a minute had passed. He looked up at Zuko, stopped his tap dancing on the magical map, jumped down and stared. “Do you uh want to say something?”

“What do you think?” Zuko said.

“What do you mean?”

“About this. Your friends leaving you alone all the time to go on these ‘missions’. Have they ever taken you once since they started going on these -he paused- ‘friendship missions’?”

Spike frowned. “No” he said honestly.

Zuko looked back at the mares. Allowing a second of silence to pass before he spoke. “I’m going” he declared.

“But you don’t understand the Map” Twilight started only to be cut off with Zuko looking at her.

“I. Don’t. Care. I didn’t come all this way just to be stopped by some magic map. Especially one that works in ways you guys yourselves don’t seem to fully understand. The map may have picked you to take on this mission, but that doesn’t mean it can stop me from going.”

The flap of wings as Rainbow Dash hovered into the air and floated in front of Zuko, made the banished prince raise a quizzical brow.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Stopping you.”

Zuko stared, then shook his head. “You’re not stopping me.”

“Yes, yes I am. You’re not coming with us. We just met you, I don’t see why we should allow a complete stranger to come with us, especially one who seems to flip a lid so easily” she said with her own glare.

“Oh yeah?” Zuko said slightly surprised with the irony at this. Taking a step forward his face inches from the pegasus, own he let a sly smile cross his face as he stared her at her with a less harsh glare. “I’d like to see you try and stop me.”

“Alright alright everypony and body cool down” Rarity said separating the two with her magic.

“Yeah let’s just take it easy now. Alright?” AJ said, loosening the grip on her lasso.

Zuko, backed away from the pegasus and turned his back to the others leaving the room. “Where are you going?” Spike called.

Zuko didn’t reply.

“Zuko! Zuko wait!” Pinkie called.

He didn’t, he closed the common room doors behind him and simply stayed a good few feet away from it.

With a frustrated sigh, Zuko placed both hands on his waist, looked up at the ceiling, then sighed once more. A second later, he punched the air letting a stream of fire leave his fist.

“Rainbow Dash what the hay was that about?!” Applejack asked the pegasus.

“What do you mean what was that about? I’m just making sure we don’t let some stranger, one we don’t even know enough on a mission that’s supposed to help Equestria. We don’t know anything about this guy and we met him like an hour ago. Now we’re just supposed to let him come with one of us on a friendship mission when we’ve never even let Spike here come once?!”

“Well he does have a point” Fluttershy said.

All eyes turned on her and she slightly cringed, but once silence ensued and the others waited for her to continue the mare spoke.

“We don’t really know everything about this Map, and it doesn’t really make much sense if you think about it refusing to let him go just because the Map didn’t mention him.”

“Yeah!” Pinkie said. “Plus if you guys are going to Fillydelphia, a place where dragons and ponies intermingle then why not take Spike? He is a dragon after all. Maybe taking Spike could help?”

Spike looked up at Twilight hopefully. “Please Twilight, please!” he said sliding to her side on his knees. “This could be my chance to meet dragons that are actually just as civil as I am! Remember my trip to Dragon Mountain? That was a disaster, but this could be different!”

Twilight bit her lip. Zuko did have a point. They generally didn’t know much about the map except that it gave them missions. But could taking one, maybe two more members and adding them to their party change that much?

“Twilight think about this” Rainbow Dash said. “We don’t know anything about him. Plus he gets really defensive if you say anything about the scar. Who knows what’ll happen at Fillydelphia!”

“I say we give him a chance” Rarity said with a flip of her mane. “Besides, even if we said no I don’t think Zuko would just nod his head and say “okay”. He’d probably just follow us anyway. So I say let him come.”

Twilight glanced over to Applejack and Fluttershy, “What about you two?”

Applejack shrugged. “I say let him come. Can’t be that big of a difference will it. Plus it’s not like he said he’d help right? If that’s his purpose we can just talk to him.”

“Fluttershy?”

The pegasus smiled, “I don’t have a problem with Zuko coming.”

Twilight, remained silent for a few seconds before looking back at Spike who was still on his knees practically begging with his hands clasped together in plea.

She sighed. “Alright, he can come.”

“Twilight!” Dash began, Twilight merely raised a hand to stop her.

“Dash, I get you’re worried but if we’re going to be friends with him, we have to at least put some trust in him” she explained with a smile.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and sighed, sitting back in her seat.

Rarity spoke up after a few seconds of silence. “Besides, he did have a right to be mad at you earlier. Whatever gave him that scar’s a personal matter, and you calling him ‘scar boy’ was quite uncouth.”

“It slipped out!” she protested.

“Well then make sure it doesn’t slip out again” Rarity chided.

Dash huffed, blowing her mane out of her face. “Right, fine” she said. “Let’s go get him.”

“I think I’ll go get him” Spike said getting back on to his feet.

Twilight nodded, then looked at the others. “Alright girls, get your things. We’ll meet at the train and part ways afterwards.”

“Wait a second!” Pinkie said.

Everyone stopped including Spike who was about to reach for the door handle.

“What’s wrong Pinkie?” Fluttershy asked.

“Which group does he go with?”

“I think we should let him decide that” Rarity said, nodding back to Spike who had turned his attention back to the door handle.

Spike opened the door and peeked outside the common room. He had expected to see Zuko possibly leaning against the wall but instead, there was no Zuko. But there was one small scorch mark against one of the crystals.

“Guys?” Spike called back after a few seconds of searching.

“What’s up Spike?” Twilight asked from her seat.

“Zuko’s uh...Zuko’s not here.”

Steady breaths. A practice Uncle Iroh had taught him whenever he felt like he was about to lose it.

Zuko now sat outside just a few feet away from Twilight’s front door, taking in steady breaths. His brows slightly furrowed though as he heard a commotion coming from within the castle. Yells most likely from the others on who knows what.

The sound of doors being thrown wide open rather abruptly though, then the sudden feeling of someone on his back surprised the prince as he jumped up, reaching to draw his blades only to freeze when he looked down and saw pink arms.

“Pinkie Pie” he said with a sigh.

“Correct!” the mare said loudly in his ear, Zuko winced, Pinkie noticed this and released her grip on him. The others coming out of Twilight’s castle as well.

Backing up and releasing his grip on his weapons Zuko stared at them as they all came outside towards him.

“Have you decided?” he asked, not that he really cared. He would still have gone regardless.

“We have” Twilight nodded, ignoring Rainbow Dash’s extended huff. “You can come with us, well whichever group you decide to go with. Pinkie, Rarity, Spike and I are headed to Fillydelphia in a few minutes once we’ve packed and are ready. Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash are going to Tall Tale Town.

“We might leave at different times but, I don’t think it’ll matter much since we’re going on almost opposite ends of Equestria.”

Zuko nodded, not saying anything else since that was all he really wanted to know. There was an awkward silence between him and the six girls before Spike broke it.

“So...packing?”

“Right, right packing. Twilight, Spike, Pinkie, possibly Zuko, I’ll see you four in a bit” turning to Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Applejack the white unicorn exchanged brief hugs with her three other friends before they all said goodbye and went their separate ways to prepare.

Fluttershy saying she had to make sure the critters were fed properly and had enough food in case this turned out to be a longer trip. Rainbow Dash heading back up to Cloudsdale as soon as Rarity, her, AJ and Fluttershy had said their goodbyes to the rest of the group.

Zuko noted the pegasus didn’t look at him when she said her goodbye, then again he could say for a fact he didn’t care. Her nickname for him earlier still left a bad impression of her in his mind.

“So” Twilight said drawing his attention towards her. “Which group are you going with?”

“I’ll come with you three to Fillydelphia” he said as they began heading back into the castle.

Twilight nodded with a smile. “I can’t wait to go. The chance to find a whole different culture and any other co-cultures in it, is going to be fascinating” she said with joy.

Zuko glanced down at Spike and whispered. “Is she always like this?”

“Which this are you talking about. She’s got multiple” Spike said as the followed Twilight through the common room, through a door and towards the rooms.

“Nerdy, would be the best way to describe it.”

Spike snorted. “She’s always, like this.”

Hooves stopping and sudden movement made them look up at their guide who was now standing in front of her door with slightly red cheeks. “I am not nerdy.”

Spike merely smiled apologetically and said “We know Twilight we’re just messing around.”

Zuko shrugged, but upon seeing her scowl he nodded smiling also. “You’re not nerdy.”

She smiled, calming down before opening the door for him and Spike to enter. “At least not much” Zuko muttered.

Location: Fillydelphia; ???

In a building, a rather large tower slightly separated from the rest of town. Was a unicorn. This unicorn stared outside the window of a luxurious office in silence contemplating things.

The sound of a door creaking made the unicorn’s ear twitch slightly as he continued to stare outside the streets of the city, watching ponies of all three races going back home or heading back to work after a long day’s work.

“Saber Tooth sir? It’s about the meeting with one of the leading ponies against dragons staying in our town. She wants to talk to you, she’s waiting down stairs.”

The fiery orange unicorn grinned, a pleasant idea coming to mind. If all went as planned he’d be able to gain the dragon’s trust well enough that they’d be willing to help him with his own plans.

“Urgent, please tell her to wait” he said to his secretary. “I’ll be there in a few minutes” the stallion said looking over his shoulder.

Urgent nodded and gently shut the mayor’s door.

Saber Tooth grinned. “Soon enough I’ll show you how far one can get, with enough power and influence, you’ll see just how better it is to use one’s strength to the fullest. Celestia.”

Chapter 4

Meeting the Town

The train shook as Zuko stared out to the horizon. Currently the former prince was heading to Fillydelphia to help Twilight, Pinkie, and Rarity with the help of Spike solve the schism between the town’s inhabitants.

Upon reading up on recent information, Fillydelphia had been divided between the dragons and the equines for quite some time now. Dragons stayed on their side, the ponies never ventured on the dragons. And if either side did cross the line there would always be a fight of some sort.

Things would get serious enough to the point where the mayor had to intervene at times and settle the disputes only for more to rise in the following month or two weeks.

In all honesty Zuko didn’t fully understand why the dragons weren’t more respected. Back home, dragons were revered. Greatly respected creatures till his grandfather made a horrible sport of hunting and slaying them for the simple portrayal of one’s power.

And since dragons were the original firebenders, Zuko could not fathom why such powerful creatures that had it all would be willing to cope with...these ponies.

Do not misunderstand. Zuko appreciated their help. He appreciated the fact that Rarity and Spike had saved him. But as for the others, well Zuko could say for a fact he didn’t care that much about them.

His mission was the only reason he was in this world to begin with. That was the only thing that really mattered. Zuko was only joining right now because he felt traveling with the group could help him find some peace or meaning that would guide him down the path he desired.

“So Zuko!” Pinkie’s voice said. “How do you do that whole fire shooting thingy?”

Zuko looked at the pink mare, then noticed that Twilight, Rarity and Spike were all looking at him with curious eyes.

“Actually I’m interested in knowing how you do that also. You’re not a unicorn,” Twilight said leaning forward and getting slightly too close to Zuko’s face for comfort. Her eyes quickly scanning Zuko’s face, before she leaned back and looked over the rest of his body. “And I don’t believe you know how to use magic since I can’t really sense any from you.”

“Do you have gadgets around that you use to shoot fire or something?” Pinkie asked, suddenly grabbing Zuko’s hands and looking at them.

“Uh, no I- I don’t where I’m from we- Can you tell her to stop?” Zuko said now trying to fight off Pinkie’s attempt to lift his shirt up.

“Uh, Pinkie. Down girl” Spike said gently patting the mare’s hand.

Pinkie Pie pouted before slowly releasing her grip on Zuko’s shirt. But when she noticed the annoyed look on Zuko’s face the mare smiled apologetically before patting his lap and slithering back to her own seat.

“Well then, now that Pinkie’s done examining our friend, Zuko dear would you being kind enough to tell us the real reason you’re able to use fire without magic?” Rarity asked with a smile.

Zuko nodded, before extending on open palm. “Watch carefully.” The other four huddled around Zuko, scooting in closer and leaning in further to get a good view at his open palm. For a few seconds nothing happened. Twilight glanced up to Zuko and saw his eyes were focused solely on his palm. Then suddenly the area around his hand began to grow warm, then rise in temperature until finally.

A flame hovered above his hand. All three mares gasped, Spike stared at the flame with childish interest.

“Whoa” he said clearly breath taken by the former prince’s ability. “How did you say you were able to do that again?”

Zuko couldn’t help but smile faintly at Spike’s interest. The other mares seemed to be just as interested as the young drake as well.

“What I’m doing is called Firebending. Firebending is one of the four bending arts, and as my uncle once told me, it is the element of power.” As Zuko said this he allowed the flame to grow bigger, the train making it wobble just a bit.

“Wouldn’t that be dangerous if the train catches on fire though?” Twilight asked now noticing how bad this could get.

“Don’t worry about that. I’ve got it under control, besides if that does happen I can bend all the fire out the window” Zuko said dimming the size of his flame.

“So does this mean you can absorb fire as well?” Pinkie asked, a few neat tricks popping into her head with what she could do with Zuko’s pyrokinesis ability.

“Absorb, no. Firebenders can control fire, that’s it. We can’t absorb it. Bending is tied in with a bender’s emotions. Much like fire, the flame can grow brighter, stronger, and much more powerful depending on one’s emotions. The most powerful one for us firebenders is...anger.”

“Why anger?” Rarity asked. “There could always be other emotions that work for fire” she said thoughtfully.

“Like?” Zuko asked a little perplexed. Anger was a powerful emotion. It was what fueled him each and every day to regain what he had lost. It was what made his father so powerful, made it so that his father, the Fire Lord, would and could remain in power as long as he had now.

It was what had fueled his people for years. Anger, pride, and a strong desire to never lose or in some cases fear. Azula had the second one down pretty good. It was probably what made her such a lethal firebender. She held her skill above others and knew she could face against all.

“A-hem!” came Rarity’s voice. Zuko looked up at her, and noticed she had a look that said “are you done?”, he’d been lost in his own thoughts briefly and must have missed what she said.

“Sorry...I got distracted” he said sitting up straight and looking at her.

“Obviously. May I continue?” she asked with a raised brow and extended lower lip, only adding to the sassy expression on her face.

Zuko nodded. “Delightful” she said. “Now as I was saying, you say that your type of bending, I’m assuming there are others, yes?”

Zuko nodded once more. “Aside from my own there is Earth, Water, and Air bending.”

Twilight had begun taking notes. “Can they all generate their own elements like you can?”

“Firebending is the only element that can be made spontaneously, all the other elements require theirs to be there for use. Airbending is exempted since air is all around us though.”

“Hm, I see” Twilight said nodding her head as she wrote down what Zuko was saying.

“As I was saying” Rarity said, sounding extremely tired of being ignored. “You say that your type of bending is strongest when used in rage correct? Well I think that’s not necessarily true. Fire” she said taking the hand Zuko was using to show the flame, “is uncontrollable. It burns everything in it’s path, and can only be stopped or quelled by water. Sure, it is dangerous, sure it is unpredictable, but it can also be described as determined. A fire that pushes on, carving a way as it burns through all obstacles can in my opinion” she smiled a bit at Zuko before her eyes glanced back into the flame “can only be seen as determined, courageous, and bold.”

Silence filled the train car, a few eyes had turned in the small group of five’s direction as they had been drawn to the light that was emitting around Zuko. A few even got pulled into what Rarity was saying before clapping a bit at her philosophy.

The unicorn blushed a bit, releasing Zuko’s hand in the process and leaning her back against her own seat. “Yes well, that’s just my opinion of course” she said with a slight clear of her throat. Pinkie Pie hugged her now bashful friend with a grin on her face.

“Who’d have thought Rarity had such high insights in anything but fashion” the pink mare said with a giggle.

“Well I do have my moments” she said playfully nudging Pinkie with her arm.

“And it was a good one to” Twilight said with a grin as she finished writing down what Rarity had said.

Zuko remained silent, staring at the flame he still had in his hand. Spike looked up at him and noticed the slightly lost look in Zuko’s eyes. A gentle poke from the drake drew Zuko’s attention towards him, as the girls began to talk.

“What’s wrong?” Spike asked his smile that had been erected from Rarity’s words fading into the comforts of worry.

“It’s...” Zuko looked back at the flame still in his hand before he let the fire die. “It’s...nothing...nothing at all.”

Pinkie Pie noticed the confused look on Zuko’s face and instantly broke away from the conversation she was having with Twilight and Rarity about using Zuko’s abilities for a party later on at some point.

The two were currently trying to talk her out of it. They weren’t having such luck.

“Hey Zuko” the party planner said gaining his attention. Zuko looked up at the mare to see a wide grin on her face. In all honesty it felt bizarre, why she was smiling at him when he felt so confused right now was beyond him. Maybe she can’t read the mood.

On the other hand that speculation was quite the opposite. Pinkie was smiling at Zuko because she could tell he was feeling a little confused by Rarity’s statement on how firebending could be used for determination, and not just wrath, anger or out of pride or fear.

“Hey Zuko, could you tell us a bit more about the Fire Nation?” Pinkie asked, her smile still live.

Zuko hesitated. Talking about home was something he rarely did. Then again he didn’t need to tell them anything relating to himself, he could just explain the past. Besides, he looked out the window, this ride looks like it’ll take a while.

“Alright” Zuko said his eyes still looking out at the horizon. “I’ll tell you about the Fire Nation. About my home.”

“Along time ago...fire was given to us by the guardians of the elements; lion turtles. From what old scrolls said, before we ever had the ability to bend, people were just normal. In our world, where I am from there is no magic, there is no balance between magic and life. There is just people and spirits. My uncle Iroh who was a general, he told me that after he left the army he went on a journey and learned a lot about Spirits. How it was because of spirits in the first place that any of us benders have the abilities we now posses.”

“So benders didn’t exist from the beginning?” Spike asked. “They were made?”

Zuko nodded. “Yes. But the arts that came with bending were created in later years to come. Just like firebending was learned from the element that represented it best so were the other elements. Firebending was learned from the dragon” Zuko said looking at Spike. “It was one of the reasons I was surprised to see you.”

“Why’s that?” Twilight asked. “Aren’t dragons still present where you’re from?”

Zuko said nothing. His expression had grown dark, tired almost, before he spoke again. “No...where I am from there are no more dragons. They were all killed.”

Spike’s ears wilted, his eyes widening in shock. “By what? By who?” his voice shaking with shock and what lay underneath that most likely represented fury.

Zuko’s eyes were closed, he could not look at Spike. This was a dragon, and the very fact that his grandfather’s own desire for power, to show one’s strength had caused the very extinction of Spike’s race on his world made the young prince want to shudder. But he did not. Steeling his nerves Zuko said nothing for awhile as the train wobbled a bit when they made their turn. A conductor’s voice soon came bellowing in through the intercoms: “Fillydelphia will be arriving soon in the next half an hour. Passengers prepare if you are leaving the train at this next stop, and we hope you had a safe ride.” The comm silenced instantly, with an electrical beep and whir in the air before silence once again ruled the train cart.

“Continue if you will Zuko” Rarity said silently, rubbing Spike’s back in an attempt to quell the perturbed dragon.

“Firebending is the element of power, the Fire Nation derives pride in offense. I know I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again. It’s something that is drilled into every Fire Nation civilian. Whether they are part of the military, an official, a student or other, everyone under the Fire Nation is taught offense is key to winning a battle. In order to teach them how great our nation is. How powerful it is and how it rules above all others. Each element aside from my own has it’s own philosophy. It’s own meaning, it’s own way. Different methods of using jing, different styles to display the power of the arts, and different methods to use their bending against others that either are an advantage or disadvantage to that particular bending style.

“The Fire Nation takes pride in using power, force to muscle through whatever challenge is held against us. Strategies are always there, but without the right power, strength, or will strategies are worthless. It’s why we always use the sun to our advantage.”

“The sun?” Pinkie asked, looking at the ball of fire that shined down above, rays of light passing through the clouds.

“The sun is a firebenders strongest source of power” Zuko said, once again allowing a fire to ignite this time above his index finger. “It’s one of the many reasons why we won the wars we waged against the other nations” he said staring at the flame, memories of his time learning of the past coming back to him in waves like a dam that had been too weak to hold back the flow of a river or lake.

“Wars you waged?” Twilight said with a frown creasing her lips.

Zuko merely nodded silently, his eyes still on the flame. “How else does one expand their hold, their power and assimilate more under their will? The Royal Family waged many wars...Fire Lord Sozin, said to be the greatest general and ruler of the Fire Nation, was one who waged many. Some reports in history say that it was his way of trying to make the world a better place. By offering the power of such a great nation he hoped to give other nations the chance to understand the power that was protecting them, in the end however it only brought about many wars and divisions. Countless lives were lost, innocents slaughtered and their blood forever sullying our nation’s ground, all in the pursuit of power. Further dividing the four nations.” A chuckle escaped Zuko’s lips as he felt the train slowly come to a stop at Fillydelphia’s station. “My uncle Iroh used to say a lot when I was a kid, after he lost his son in a war, after I lost my cousin, he would often comment how with these words: “The Fire Nation has lost it’s true meaning of bending. It replaces the real meaning of the arts with selfish thoughts and greed. Using anger, rage, fury, hostility, and anything related to the word ‘hatred’ to breed power. And this can only bring about problems.” I suppose in a way Uncle Iroh was right...anyway...that’s enough of a history lesson for now, we’ve reached our destination” the train lurched forward a bit, steam screaming from its engines and the smoke box as it came to a stop.

“Destination: Fillydelphia! Passengers for this stop please exit the cart, said the unicorn as he trotted through the train car. The doors opened and passengers began leaving the room one by one. Eventually Zuko and the others were the ones left waiting to leave the car as ponies filed out.

Once there was a clear opening Zuko wordlessly rose from his seat, not bothering to look at the slightly disturbed, surprised, or conflicted expressions of the mares and dragon as he exited. It wasn’t until he was standing outside, in the station did he turn his attention back to the others.

“Are you coming or not?” he turned around not waiting for a reply, and made his way into the station. Retelling the past of his home country had left a bad taste in his mouth if that was even possible.

Right now he just wanted to meet the town and get this over with.

Spike was...unsure of how to feel. Currently the ponies of this city were giving him and Zuko looks, ever since they’d left the train station and walked into the city. It was both unsettling and confusing.

That wasn’t the only thing that had him disturbed, Zuko’s story of his home country’s past had also shaken the baby dragon a little bit. He personally had nothing to fear from Zuko. The guy seemed alright, when you didn’t rub him the wrong way or ask about his scar. But the fact that people like Zuko, people that had his ability to bend and control fire, were able to kill dragons. It...scared him.

Dragons were immune to fire, most if not all dragons were and are. Granted he didn’t know about Zuko’s dragons, but it was the only thing that made sense. Besides, they didn’t have magic. For ponies it was understandable. There were three tribes; earth ponies, they had super strength. Could crush bones, move mountains even if they set their mind to it- then again that might just be his own exaggeration.

Then there was, pegasi; they could control the weather, could fly. Their emotions were tied in well with the world around them. The clouds could bend to their will depending on how they felt, causing it to rain when they were sad. Or grow dark and pour like savage nimbus clouds when upset.

Finally there were unicorns, Spike thought as he followed the others towards the Fillydelphia police station. Unicorns could use the very essence of magic itself to do their bidding. They could do thousands of things that a earth pony or pegasi couldn’t do as easily or as quickly. So in conclusion Spike could understand a pony taking on a dragon and possibly doing some damage. Maybe even serious if the moment counted for it.

But Zuko, Spike thought looking up at his friend as they moved by some of the ponies that gave him nervous looks by his mere presence, the guy looks tough but I just don’t think he could take on a fully grown dragon like he says his people did. And if they did... he shivered, placing an arm around himself for protection... “That’s just horrible” he said with a slightly irked frown.

“Spike!” Pinkie Pie called to the drake, her muzzle inches from his maw.

Jumping slightly at the call of his name Spike looked around frantically to see they had entered a room. His eyes moved around to see they were in an office of sorts. Pinkie Pie was staring at him as were the others.

“Spike, we’ve been trying to get your attention for the past couple of seconds what’s been bothering you?” Twilight asked her voice slightly hinting at concern.

“Spike” Zuko’s voice said calling the dragon’s attention to look up a bit. Zuko was staring at Spike silently, observing him. Studying his slightly nervous facial expression and the slight twitch at the corner at the young drake’s mouth.

“Are you alright?”

Spike said nothing at first. His thoughts had been so absorbed in the whole dragon extinction thing that he hadn’t noticed they were now in the chief police officer’s office. “I’m uh, I’m fine sorry. Just got lost in thought.”

Twilight’s eyes along with Pinkie and the others remained on Spike for a few seconds before the chief cleared his throat. “I believe you had a reason for bringing this dragon and whatever he is to my office Princess?” the unicorn asked.

Twilight’s expression hardened then turned to the stallion in his seat. “That dragon is Spike, my friend and brother, and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t insult him. Ever. And this is Zuko another friend of mine, the reason we’re here is because we were informed that there was a problem here so we’ve come to fix it.”

The stallion stared at the princess silently, he moved a hand up to scratch his rather noticeable orange sideburns before he looked at the rest of the group. “Alright your majesty. Since you and your friends here have saved the Equestria more than a few times I’ll be willing to let ya in on our problem.”

“By The Book!” the stallion called in the room adjacent to them. “We gotta show the princess here and her little friends around town. Let’s get moving partner.”

The gold stallion got up, moved to the door that said deputy and knocked on it, a second later, a light green unicorn with a white mane and large stache came out of the room. “Right then, Princess, Rarity, Spike, and Pinkie. We’ll show you around town. Maybe your dragon friend over there can talk some sense into the blasted dragons that harbor half our town so we can finally get some sleep. Hard Case let’s go.”

With that both officers were given space to exit the office. Rarity patted Spike on the back gently reassuring him that their issue with dragons was something he shouldn’t dwell on and they’d solve this problem soon enough. Once the two officers had left the room everyone else save for Zuko and Spike followed after them so they could get to the bottom of this.

Just as Spike was about to make his way and leave the room he noticed Zuko wasn’t moving yet. “Hey Zuko, you coming?”

Zuko’s eyes remained locked on Spike. “When I told you that dragons were wiped out on my world, you were thinking about it weren’t you?”

Spike didn’t say anything, feeling a loss of words at the current moment.

“You don’t believe me do you?” Zuko asked, now moving past Spike as they both made their way towards the corridor where the girls and two officers were heading down.

Spike bit his lip, he didn’t respond immediately but that alone was enough to answer Zuko’s question. “Well in all honesty, no...I can’t say I believe you.”

“Good” Zuko replied. “Don’t. Pretend everything I said was just a story” he said his pace quickening a bit. “It’s better that way...no need to dwell on the past. I just need to do what I came here to do, and that’s it.”

Spike stopped following and watched Zuko increase the distance between him as the young prince made it closer to the group now heading outside the police department. Picking up the pace once more after a second of silence Spike couldn’t help but wonder, just what about Zuko made him sound like he wanted no one near him.

“Just what happened to you to make you act so cold?”

Chapter 5

Not All of Us Are Willing to Forget

Pinkie Pie had done a lot of traveling since becoming a bearer of the element of laughter, and in all her travels the only place that gave off the same bad vibe it had before they got there, was the Griffon Kingdom. Currently that is how the party planner saw Fillydelphia, dull, bereft of much joy, and most of all...bitter and full of hatred.

Proven mainly with the looks that were tossed at Spike.

Even with Police Chief Hard Case and his partner By The Book with them every pony that saw Spike gave him a sardonic look that frankly made the mare feel a bit upset with the town. Spike himself, Pinkie noticed, was beginning to feel like he had made the worst choice possible in deciding to join in this particular adventure.

Possibly the worst choice he had ever made. And there were quite a few good reasons why.

If that wasn’t bad enough the pink mare also took note of how the other ponies of this fairly large city, split in two, kept staring at Zuko and much to the three mare’s horror, it wasn’t just Zuko they were looking at, but also his scar!

His. Scar! Pinkie mentally screamed in terror. She’d crossed the line twice with him on the subject of the boy’s scar, and judging from the past they had been informed about on their train ride to the metropolitan city Pinkie wondered if Zuko had been a soldier that got attacked during training or something even worse that popped into her head.

What if he was hit because he failed in doing something! Pinkie thought, starting to show signs of extreme nervousness as she followed beside Twilight, right behind Hard Case and By The Book. Rarity had maintained some distance in order to reassure Spike everything would be alright, but from Pinkie’s perspective, it wasn’t doing much to reassure him.

Especially not after they crossed a busy street and somepony actually threw a bottle of water at the poor drake as they passed by in their carriage.

It had been a miracle in itself that the earth pony who threw said bottle didn’t get chased down by Zuko, when he saw that happen. The former prince had merely watched the pony in his carriage get drawn away before quite suddenly unsheathing one of his blades and throwing it like a dagger into the back of the carriage.

There was a loud scream, where the taxi pony driving the car looked back and visibly buckled over in fear. Zuko’s blade had sunk deep into the carriage and had he been aiming a few more inches to the right, certainly would have killed that earth stallion.

Hard Case and By The Book said nothing. Hard Case himself seemed actually amused by the human’s ferocity, and everyone simply watched as Zuko retrieved his sword with one firm tug from behind the carriage’s back and re-sheathed his weapon. The earth stallion, a navy blue earth pony with a yellow mane , and two gold coins for a cutie mark, merely whimpered, his hands shaking. When the party planner and the others had caught up with Zuko, who had decided to reveal himself as the attacker, the boy with the scar was merely giving the noble in front of him a hard look. It wasn’t until they passed him by and noticed he wasn’t following did Rarity have to call his name to get Zuko’s attention.

Zuko wordlessly moved away from the carriage, back to the others and never once looked back at the terrified driver and his client as they quickly left that side of town.

It was infuriating yes, Pinkie herself had nearly sent herself flying in that passenger’s direction and by jove she surely would have found this pony with the help of her Pinkie senses, but By The Book reassured everyone he knew who it was that threw the bottle and would make sure punishment would be given for hitting one of the citizens of Equestria that had played a role in saving their world many times over.

But throwing your sword? Sheesh, I would have flipped his carriage and beaten driver and client with ice cubes till they apologized to Spike! the pink mare thought as she sent a scowl in the direction they had come from.

Minutes passed and no one said anything. The more wood and cement based building were slowly fading into the distance as both ponies, dragon and human all made their way slowly into the separate part of town.

At this point, there were no more ponies. In fact, there was nothing at all. Just a cobblestone pavement that led about half a mile down town, away from Fillydelphia’s more populated section of ponies, and towards a more distant, almost cold looking part of town.

Not to far away from the part of town they were now entering, was an old statue that stood 8 feet tall, and should be in better condition than it currently was in.

This statue was broken. It had been battered by the elements, disgraced by the graffiti that ran along it, burnt viciously, fractured in some place and at the same time, partially melted at the bottom where the figures stood and posed, left alone in between the two separated cities, that clearly hated each other just from telling how badly this statue had been dealt with.

Long forgotten, left to fade away in the dust. Bits and pieces of its debris were carried into the air and off the dusty pavement ground.

From what Twilight and the others could tell, the ponies and...dragon? That were a part of this statue, were mostly female. The males either being younger, or just foals.

What was probably the most interesting thing about the statue, was the manner in which these ponies posed. Five adult mares, three in the center, two on either side, held firm and defiant looks. Their attire slightly tattered, scratches and marks had been made on them were still clearly visible, all in a representation in the struggles they had endured.

The foals which were two on either side of the mares at the end, stood tall; earth ponies on the right, young unicorns on the left. They two looked defiant. Standing high on their hooves, the colts that stood beside the adult pegasus mare who’s wing slightly hovered over the young ones, had their arms crossed in an attempt to look brave. And Rarity had to admit, they did look brave, even if it was hard to clearly see them with the scorch marks that ruined the copper like color of the statue.

The three mares in the center, two kneeling; earth pony mares were looking up at an adversary the current observers of the present had no way of seeing. Their eyes narrowed, a scowl on their face, their ruined clothing that gave off a bit more skin than was necessary gave them a fierce look that Rarity had to admit gave her a few ideas for her next line. The unicorn mare in the center who had as many scratches and as many marks as her allies, her mane a mess. A line going right over her left eye, gave a truculent look that stared right at the entire group who had now completely moved to stare at it. Yet despite a few parts of this statue being a complete wreck, some parts even appearing cracked all five mares (and yes even the foals) gave looks of hardened will, and stubbornness that promised misfortune and trouble for their enemies.

Twilight who had detached herself from the group earlier upon seeing the statue as they passed, couldn’t help but smile. These mares were strong. They had braved many dangers in their journey’s and come a long way. They truly did deserve the title “Heroes.”

“Guys look!” Pinkie Pie pointed out, her blue eyes mesmerized by the figure that towered over the mares.

And everyone did look.

Even Zuko, who had gained some interest by simply studying the well crafted expressions of each mare, in this forever motionless relic that symbolized their struggles in life.

Towering upon the group of equines, was a dragon. A female dragon. This dragon guarded her fellow allies, with a tail wrapped protectively around the entire group. Sadly, Rarity had noticed that tail had been cracked and broken cleanly off the slightly melted part of the area where the foals were just barely managing to balance on.

Regardless, the dragon that stood tall above her team, her friends. Had her wings spread, menacing, angry, just daring those foolish enough to challenge her and her comrades. This dragon did not look friendly. In fact much to Spike’s strange interest, she looked quite frankly. Like a dragon.

Her arms were behind her friends, her wings were spread wide, her head pointed just above the lead mare of the group who stood weakly at the center. Casting a slight shadow over the entire team. And what was probably the most striking feature out of this female dragon. Were her eyes. They were no longer the size of friendly warm pupils, that invited conversation; like Twilight’s and the others.

These were the eyes of an angry dragon. Reptilian in nature as they became nothing more but slits of fury and a passionate sense of hatred and betrayal radiating out of them. Something Spike could see quite clearly carved into this perpetual symbolism of endurance and freedom.

For a while no one said anything. Everyone simply just stared at the statue that had been here for years.

It was Twilight who spoke first after she moved forward to touch the relic. “How long has it been here?” Twilight asked.

“Probably since this town was founded. The beginning it seems?” Rarity said with a slight smile at the young pegasus filly trying to give her toughest look.

Hard Case and By The Book said nothing. The two officers only moved towards dragon territory when it was necessary. The statue labelled “Heroes” though barely readable, had been here for quite sometime. Not much attention had been given to it obviously since it was so old and practically in the middle of two towns that hated each other. The only times anything had been done about it, was when the police force got a report that there had been acts of vandalism around this area. Aside from that, this was the first time both officers were genuinely taking a look at the statue.

The schism between dragon and pony, was far more rooted than they had imagined.

And it was about time they got to the bottom of what was going on around here.

“Let’s go” Zuko said after a few more seconds of silence and staring. “I want to know a bit more about this city.”

Rarity, fashionista, and a mare who had done a lot of changing since becoming the element of generosity, was having trouble suppressing her fashion instinct.

The group had passed through the gates that stated “Dragon City”, and made their way through a rather surprisingly abandoned part of this rural area. The color scheme of some of these buildings, was having a negative effect on the element of generosity.

Oh, don’t even get me started on those! Rarity thought with a faint look of disgust in her eyes, as she compared the the cream colors of some houses and the mismatched black colors of a few ceilings, some other buildings looking a little on the crispy side. Some of these homes were even deteriorating as they passed. It was just vile!

The fashionista didn’t stop her scrutiny till Hard Case stopped everyone dead in their tracks with a raised hand.

“We’re here” Hard Case said.

“Here where?” Rarity asked slightly confused as she looked back at the old and now that she actually looked at it, abandoned one or two homes just up behind them.

“Dragon City” By The Book replied as he motioned towards the pillars just a few feet ahead of them.

“But we just passed the entrance to Dragon City. It says so back there” Pinkie said, a look of confusion coming over her and the others.

“Yer, right. We did pass the entrance. The entrance to Old Dragon City” Hard Case stated.

“Old?” Rarity asked, her lips curling into a look of disgust as she compared those same cream colors to the drab, dull outlook this part of town was giving her.

“Old.” By The Book stated. “Just up ahead, past those pillars is New Dragon City.”

“What happened to Old Dragon City?” Spike asked.

“It got burnt down” Hard Case replied bluntly, his accent making his statement even more cold as he spoke. “This is where we stop. Yer going to have to go on ahead without us.”

Zuko and the others looked down the pathway that lead to the real dragon city. There was an awkward silence as both officers merely began making their way back towards their headquarters. Back to pony territory.

Finally when the silence had been drawn out long enough Zuko asked, “Why?”

Hard Case stopped, and so did By The Book. The amber unicorn, chief of the Filydelphia Police Force glanced at his partner, then turned around and gave Zuko a simply answer before walking away.

“Because some of us aren’t as forgiving as the rest. Especially the dragons.”

Casting a “it’s not you, it’s us” look at Spike, the chief and his partner walked away, neither looking back. Zuko and the others were left standing by the pillars in silence watching both officers slowly grow in distance till eventually the fire prince turned his head towards the pillars that held the real town.

“Let’s go. It’s time we found out what’s been going on here.” And with that said, bender, dragon, and equines made their way into the city’s entrance.

Author's Note

FINALLY! This chapter, has been ruminated, rewritten in different areas, and seriously thought over multiple times. At one point I nearly thought of deleting chapter 4 and redoing it because of this chapter but after some thought, I decided to make this a filler chapter

Lemme know if I made any mistakes, if I missed any. In the meantime enjoy.

Chapter 6

Pyre

Five minutes. That’s all it took for everything to go sour. Five measly minutes and now marked for the second time Zuko could hear a roar from one of the teenage dragons that had confronted them and him upon their arrival in this secluded part of Fillydelphia.

Back when Zuko was younger, his uncle Iroh often told him dragons were wise yet dangerous creatures. Ones that would offer their help to you forever if you were able prove to them just how worthy of it you were. And then there were other dragons that were easily angered, would destroy anything and everything in their sight, and could be just as merciless as the Fire Nation when they felt threatened or crossed.

Sadly, Zuko and his traveling companions had had the unfortunate chance of meeting the latter.

A jet of flames shot at them but only did minimal damage against Twilight’s force field.

Spike, the poor brave kid had tried to talk some sense into his own species, but now lay unconscious in Rarity’s lap, a large mark on his cheek showing where one of the dragons had smacked him, whether unintentional or not, with their tail.

Rarity was currently fanning Spike with a hand, casting worried glances at her friend who was still unconscious and had been so for the past five minutes they were being pinned down.

Pinkie Pie was now pacing fervently, doing everything in her control to listen to what Twilight had said and try her best not to go all Pinkie on the dragons that had so irregardlessly hit her friend.

And that’s how everything started. When Spike got hit.

There had been a moment where after Spike had gotten smacked and sent a good four inches into the air, everybody froze.

Zuko froze, Spike twitched in mid air doing a small cartwheel as gravity did it’s job and brought him down. Twilight’s eyes widened greatly, her bangs being lifted up in the process as she watched almost in slow motion the stinging pain in Spike’s eyes. Rarity gasped and placed a hand to her chest, shocked and disgusted by such atrocious behavior.

And Pinkie. Pinkie’s hair deflated when Spike finally landed on the ground with a groan, holding his face, before twitching one more time and passing out.

One of the teenage dragons who hadn’t even noticed Spike because he was so tall didn’t even take not of the 5 foot tall kid on the ground now passed out.

The dragons of Dragon City and the ponies (and Zuko) stared at each other for a long time. Spike’s friends more looking at his unconscious form than the dragons.

A few seconds of stony silence passed on the mortar streets that lead down to the town’s main hall where more residences could be found. But before one of the dragons could repeat his previous question of why these ponies and that minotaur or whatever it was, were here, another teenage dragon tapped the leader’s shoulder and whispered something in his ear.

“I did what?” the dragon said with a cocked brow.

The female dragon beside him merely pointed six inches down, northwest. There was Spike laying on the ground.

For a while everyone was staring at Spike. And for a while Spike just lay there unconscious with his tongue sticking out in a comedic manner that no one really wanted to address right now.

Then all of a sudden Pinkie screamed. A scream that pierced the heavens itself, and thoroughly shocked Zuko by its suddenness that he nearly stumbled and fell.

“YOU!” she snarled at the dragon, taking a step forward her eyes narrowed and for a second to the others it looked like her eyes were radiating fire. “YOU HURT SPIKE!” she yelled with a stomp of her hoof.

All four teenage dragons looked at each other in confusion, the one female of the group who was actually smart enough to understand what was going on shook her head and directed her friends attention to the unconscious drake.

“Ohh” the four males said in unison slowly.

They shrugged. “He shouldn’t have been standing in the way.”

“Wha- How dare you?!” Rarity stated her horn glowing and levitating Spike towards her. “He was just trying to calm you down you uncouth barbarians!”

The dragon who’s red spikes covered a part of his left eye shrugged. “Like Crusher said, he shouldn’t have been in the way. We would’ve noticed him if he weren’t such a pipsqueak.”

“Why you” Twilight began, her horn beginning to glow out of anger. Zuko also quite surprised out how disrespectful these dragons were also began to scowl in their direction.

Just as he was about to open his mouth and speak, something...unexpected happen.

A pink and blue blur soared by him and the others right in the dragons direction. And in a matter of seconds everyone heard the sound of a cannon firing.

The dragon titled Crusher, stared with indifference as Pinkie came charging at full speed, sitting atop her party cannon that she had somehow managed to pull out of thin air. Her allies still looking shocked by her sudden take of action didn’t notice the confident grin on her face as she rushed on, her cannon pointed directly at Crusher; the dragon that hit Spike.

Crusher looked to his companions with a raised brow and cocky smile, all of them laughing and grinning. “What’s she trying to pull with that little thing?” one of the dragons behind him asked between laughs.

“AHEM!” Pinkie said loudly. Crusher looked down at her and grinned.

Pinkie was also smiling. She patted her trusty party cannon for good measure as the six foot seven inch tall dragon knelt down and brought his face right in the line of fire.

“And what do you plan on doing with that little play thing? Huh Element of Laughter?” The dragon said with a snicker.

Pinkie didn’t say anything. She merely kept her smile, tugged on the string and watched as her cannon fired a roaring blast of red powder into the dragon’s face, completely engulfing it in the process.

A second later the dragon lifted his head up from the red powder, and blinked. His comrades blinked also.

“Um Pinkie I think you should get back” Twilight advised, her horn beginning to glow.

But Pinkie didn’t budge. “Wait for it.” Was the only response anyone got out of her as she watched with expectant eyes as the dragon's nostrils flared, then snorted out a cloud of smoke mixed with the red powder.

“HA!” Crusher said with a grin. “That did nothing! What was that supposed to be a-” he froze mid sentence.

Everyone froze after he froze. Crusher’s eye twitched, his nostrils flared once more and then all of a sudden he fell to the ground in front of Pinkie with a loud thud. His breathing slow, but everything else steady.

For a good minute, no one said a single word as all eyes were slowly drawn to Pinkie smiling warmly at the unconscious dragon in front of her. Normally Pinkie’s smiles were warm, friendly, and cute. But even Zuko had to admit, given the current situation they were in, this had just gotten just a smidgen dark.

“What did you do to him?” Zuko found himself saying with the dragon’s friends.

“Hm?” Pinkie said as if now realizing there were others with her. “Oh! I just used some powder I had Zecora help me make for a prank I had originally planned on using it to get rid of a bunch of pesky animals that had been bothering Fluttershy’s critter friends when we got back from this mission is all” Pinkie said with a smile.

Zuko’s eyes narrowed at that statement. “Pinkie, what was in that powder.”

But that was soon proven to be unnecessary after Pinkie’s next sentence.

“Just sleeping powder” she said sweetly. “Zecora told me to be careful in the amount of doses I use because this one paralyzes the nerves in the body during sleep and makes it difficult for someone to move their muscles more fluently than usual.”

Zuko had started rubbing a temple at this point. “So what you’re saying is, you made a paralyzing substance and just shot a load of it into a dragon’s face.”

Pinkie nodded glad Zuko understood what she was saying, “Yup yup yup! It’s what he gets for hurting Spike like that and then behaving so crudely” she said with a cross of her arms.

“Pinkie” Twilight said with concern.

“Yes?”

“Behind you” Rarity said quietly.

Slowly turning Pinkie came face to face with one of Crusher’s friends. She smiled sheepishly and the dragons smiled in unison.

“Hey Twilight” Zuko said as he pulled out his swords, slowly inching towards Pinkie.

“Yes” she said with a slight nervous twitch of her tail.

“You can cast shields with your magic right?”

Twilight caught on instantly to what he was saying.

And ever since that force field had been cast, they hadn’t moved since. So here they were currently pinned down by four dragons and a unconscious one lying on the sidelines.

Pinkie kept pacing, doing her best to stay calm. Torn between her concerns for Spike and how angry she was with the dragons and how she had just caused a fight that just possibly could have been avoided.

Zuko kept his eyes on the female circling them above and then switched to the three males breathing either flames or swinging their tails into Twilight's shield. They were getting pushed back in the worst possible way.

Every hit caused the shield to shake and that in turn caused Twilight to wince. The amount of effort and concentration she was using to keep the shield stable and prevent it from breaking like glass was putting a strain on her, and she wasn’t sure how long she would last.

A tail from Spark the dragon with spikes covering his eye slammed right into the forcefield, a hit that would have proven to be fatal to Zuko had Twilight’s shield not held.

But it didn’t last long. A second after Spark moved his tail after making contact, a crack formed on the shield and began to spread.

“Twilight” Zuko heard behind him.

A glance over his shoulder and he saw Pinkie helping a seriously drained looking Twilight stand while Rarity supported a slowly waking Spike who now held his slightly swollen cheek just around the jawline.

“Your little magic won’t help you when your alicorn friend loses concentration” the female called from above. “And when it breaks you’re going to regret crossing into dragon territory. Ponies haven’t been allowed to cross this side for years and you just broke our number one rule.”

“We don’t want to fight we just want to talk” Zuko called, but his words were drowned when the force field was struck with another deafening blow that caused multiple cracks to form.

“It’s breaking, we’re almost through!” One of the dragons called with glee.

Zuko scowled. This place world was more trouble than the Avatar. His arrival here had resulted him getting attacked by animals by the likes of which he’d never even seen before. Then his scar berated, followed by the disapproving eyes of these ponies. Now he was about to fight dragons.

Dragons who he wasn’t even sure if his firebending would even do anything against, but when he looked over his shoulder and saw how Twilight was straining to keep her concentration the prince let out a groan before closing his eyes and exhaling to calm himself.

“Rarity” he called taking a position. “When the shield breaks use that moment to teleport yourself and the others out of here.”

“What?! But Zuko, dear what about you? We can’t just leave you especially since you haven’t fully healed since your last incident with the timberwolves.”

Another loud crack traveled through Twilight’s force field, causing her to wince with a slight yelp of pain.

“There’s no time just get ready!” He shouted before turning his attention back to the dragons.

Rarity frowned, and looked at Spike who was still too woozy to stand on his own. She looked at Pinkie to help in a protest but the pink mare understood what Zuko was saying and said “Rarity he’ll be fine. He can control fire for pete’s sake, and I don’t think Twilight’s magic is going to hold any longer.” And exactly on cue just as she said this, a giant piece of mana tumbled off the shield and crashed to the ground before dispersing into smaller particles.

“I can do it, Zuko you don’t need to do this” Twilight protested but was cut off as her concentration began slipping. Exhaustion beginning to take it’s toll she strained herself to maintain the force field, and for a second the cracks subsided as more strikes were delivered but ultimately it did nothing as her horn began to grow warm.

Then finally just as Zuko predicted the force field shattered.

Mana rained down upon them as Twilight’s concentration shattered and the dragons seeing their opportunity descended to confront their trespassers.

But before the dragons could land, Zuko took a deep breath exhaled, then leapt forward thrusting both his blades forward and shooting flames from the tips of either blade.

The jets of flames as he had guessed were ineffective, but they did prove effective in something else he had hoped for.

Shock.

All four dragons stalled. Spectra the female dragon had a slack jaw just as her companions did. The flames had done nothing, dragons were fireproof Zuko noted. But it was the fact he resembled a ‘minotaur’ and had been able to shoot flames from swords nonetheless that had taken them off guard.

Pinkie, Twilight, and Rarity all stopped movement as well, still mesmerized by how Zuko was able to do it, forgetting they were in danger for a brief second.

Zuko glanced back and caught sight of the others checking to see they were still there. They were, and that alone caused the pit of anger in him to burn like a furnace.

“Leave!” He shouted as he spun towards them.

Rarity snapped out of her trance and recalled their situation, propping Spike up with her shoulder she looked up just in time to see Spectra snap out of her shocked state of mind and rush towards them, but she didn’t make it far when a burst of flames came out of Zuko’s hand in her direction once again slightly stunning her with how he did it.

Taking the opportunity Zuko had given them, Rarity’s horn glowed, her aura encompassed her and the others except Zuko then in a flash of light they were gone.

Zuko glanced to their spot and down the road to make sure they were truly gone. When he saw they were he simply slid the blades he had been holding into their sheaths and relaxed his fighting position.

If they were gone then that’s all that mattered. He reasoned.

A minute passed and soon he heard the flap of wings, before a gentle thud on the ground. Opening his eyes he stared at Spectra then glanced over to the other three teenage dragons that were helping their lout of a friend that had attacked Spike inches away from her.

Spectra who now studied Zuko said nothing for a long time while her friends behind her kept trying to wake Crusher up, Zuko in turn didn’t say anything either.

Both were experiencing their first times right now. Zuko seeing a intelligent dragon aside from Spike, and Spectra meeting her first human.

After a full minute had passed Spectra glanced back to the others and noticed how they were having trouble, but curiosity had a stronger hold on her than anything else.

“How did you do that?” She asked.

“Do what?” Zuko retorted. He knew what she was prying at, but he wouldn’t say. Twilight and the others still didn’t have a full understanding of how his bending worked, just the basics. But considering these dragons were a good two feet taller than him, and he had none of his trained pets to help him travel staying silent was the best option he had.

Fire won’t work on me either if I’m was careful, but physical attacks -he took a step back as Spectra took a step towards him interest in her eyes- those could do serious damage.

“You know what I’m talking about you, you--” she paused now being able to take a clear look at him. “What are you?”

“Human” Zuko replied simply. “And it looks like out of your friends you’re the smart one.” Spectra smirked at the statement, taking it as a compliment.

“Thanks, but you still haven’t answered my question. How’d you do it. Those flames. You’re not a dragon and I’ve studied magic under Pyre, you’re not using any. Those were natural flames, real ones not the ones unicorns conjure up with their magic. So I’m asking you again” she stated taking another step closer, which Zuko only replicated by taking one back.

“How’d you do it?” She asked again.

“Hey Spectra we gotta get Crusher back to town he’s not waking up!” Spark called. Beside him two of his friends were smacking Crusher’s face repeatedly to no avail.

Spectra sighed and turned to reply. “One second!” She looked back at Zuko with a small smile.

“You and your friends have guts. I always thought half the things said about the elements of harmony were a load of hogwash till the Tirek incident and it seems they've proved me wrong again. But since we can’t play anymore, I’m going to have to get my answer quickly.”

Zuko’s good eye narrowed. “How do you plan on doing that?”

“Like this”, taking in a deep breath Spectra just barely opened her mouth and breathed. A rush of blue flames came out and for a second Zuko froze.

Azula he thought as the flames grew closer. Quickly snapping out of his trance as he felt the heat getting closer, Zuko took a stance once more. Both palms faced the flame and when it was close enough he quickly stepped forward and bended it behind him, parting the flames in the middle.

When the flames were parted and the smoke cleared Spectra still stood there, watching him in awe.

“Interesting” she said with a grin. “Hey guys leave Crusher for a sec and come here. I want to test something.” Her eyes never once leaving where Zuko stood.

Spark, Ray, and Magma came forward. Ray dropping Crusher who groaned when his head connected with the ground and Magma’s tail smacked him right in the face for good measure.

“What’s up?” Spark asked.

Spectra pointed at Zuko. “This guy can control fire. I wanna test how good he’s at it. Help me with an experiment will ya?”

All three male dragons grinned. If this was a way to get payback for their friend while not meaning to, they would take it.

“Sure” the moss green dragon, Magma said. “Surround him.”

Zuko’s eyes widened. Without wasting a second, he turned and took tail. But given the dragon’s size and speed, they surrounded him within a matter of seconds.

“Don’t worry” Spectra said still smiling wickedly. “This won’t hurt a bit.”

Out of the frying pan and into the oven isn’t that right uncle? Zuko mused sarcastically as he found himself quite literally the center of attention.

Spectra, Magma, Spark and Ray had him on all sides and Zuko was beginning to find some understanding in why the ponies of this town didn’t like dragons. So far these ones had been a thorn in his side.

“Ready guys?” Spectra asked.

“Ready” the other three called in unison with delight. “Remember we’re not trying to kill him” Spectra added as an afterthought, a statement which caught her friends of guard.

She noticed but ignored it. “3, 2, 1” all took in a deep breath ready to release a stream of fire upon Zuko that he was sure he wouldn’t be able to completely fend off without getting burned.

For a split second the image of his father flashed into his mind, his scar began to tingle in strange sensations and then in an instant it was gone as a shadow flew over them.

All four dragons stopped their pursuit as they looked to the skies and noticed the dot hovering above them that was slowly coming closer.

In an instant Spectra’s eyes widened when she realized who it was approaching them and from Zuko’s perspective the other three knew who it was also.

Quickly making a line and standing behind their fallen comrade who had stopped moaning quite some time ago the four stood just like the soldiers of his home had back in the Fire Nation had, staunchly.

Looking up as well Zuko saw him.

A silver dragon, 9 feet tall wearing a cloak and jeans emerged, huge in both size and the power he radiated as he descended. When the large dragon with spikes and beard as white as snow landed, Zuko knew right then and there if he tried to fight this one, he would most certainly meet his end.

The silver dragon with eyes as red as fire itself looked at the young ones frowned, then shook his head. “Children, what have I told you about coming out here to the town’s outskirts? You know I have told you and the other whelps of this generation many times to not come out here have I not?” The dragon said gently.

Spectra and the others bowed their head and kneeled. “Apologies Elder. We....we saw this...’human’ and his friends, ponies trespassing on dragon territory and decided to intervene.”

The silver dragon who now noticed Zuko looked at him and saw the mark, the prince’s scar and frowned.

Zuko noticing this backed up and unable to fight it any longer, scowled.

The silver dragon said nothing to Zuko’s scowl, already understanding the situation just judging from the unconscious dragon on the ground.

After a few seconds of awkward silence and staring the silver dragon looked at Spectra and spoke. “Who were these ponies Spectral Bliss?”

Spectra cringed when her full name was used. The tone of the elder was still gentle but there was a hint of authority to it that Zuko had not forgotten in his own father’s voice back when he was a child, nor the one he had used often when he still had a ship.

“There was a party planner, a fashionista, a younger drake with them possibly around the age of 10 and a young alicorn sir.”

A loud sigh came from the elder. “You attacked the elemental bearer of harmony magic. Oh little ones” he morosely said, shaking his head with disappointment. “Take Crusher back to town and see to it he is care for. I will remain with our guest.”

“Yes but Elder there is something you must know about-” Spark began only for the silver dragon to raise a questioning brow at the dragon.

“Ah er...nothing Elder. We will leave” Spectra said casting one more glance at Zuko before her and the other picked up Crusher and took off back towards town.

Zuko was left alone with the silver dragon now giving him his full attention.

“Forgive them boy. They are still children, if they did harm to you in anyway” the dragon began only for Zuko to raise a hand in silence. One the elder respected.

“Crusher knocked out one of my friends. It was unintentional, but Pinkie didn’t take it too well.”

The dragon cocked a brow and actually let out a smile. “The element of laughter did that to Crusher? Hm...interesting. I suppose I should be glad Crusher did not insight her true wrath yes?” He said with a friendly smile.

Zuko did not smile back, he merely agreed with a slightly awkward glance back in the direction he and the others had came.

The dragon followed his gaze. “You worry for your friends?” He asked.

The question threw Zuko off guard. “Friends?” Zuko repeated the word as if it were foreign.

“Yes” he said with his smile returning. “Friends. Surely a brave warrior like you must have them?” He asked but when Zuko said nothing and continued to stare with a different look in his eyes the dragon ceased any further statements on the matter.

Once again awkwardness settled.

“Ah yes, forgive me. My name is Pyre. I am the remaining Elder of this town” he stated with as light bow.

Zuko nodded and bowed as well. “I’m Zuko, thank you for coming when you did. It wouldn’t have ended well if you had.”

“I’m sure. It would have been quite bad for the young ones if they ended up putting you in a tight spot, isn’t that right young prince?”

Zuko’s eyes slightly widened at the statement and his throat suddenly felt dry. “I...I- I’m not a prince.”

“You may say that but the way you carry yourself says otherwise Prince Zuko. Why do you reject your title Prin-”

“Please” Zuko said loudly. “Please. Just call me Zuko, I haven’t earned that title back yet.”

Pyre went silent for a moment at this statement before speaking again. “I see. Apologies Zuko. Now then, your friends are not too far away. From here I can see them off in the distance. Come we can get them and I will escort you to the town’s center where we may talk. I’m sure you and your friends have come here for a reason, especially if the Princess of Harmony has joined you on your journey.”

Zuko nodded. “Thank you Elder” he said with a bow. “I’d appreciate it if you can shed some light on what’s going on around here.”

Pyre nodded and led the way back towards the others. As Zuko followed behind the large dragon he couldn’t help but wonder, How did he know?

Author's Note

Been awhile but I finally got something down. Gonna start updating this a bit more over the next few days.

Enjoy.

Chapter 7

Emotions, Are Powerful. Far More Than You Can Even Imagine.

“I see. So that is the reason you have come here” Pyre said thoughtfully.

Twilight nodded. “Yes, while we were coming here we happened to gain quite a bit of attention. Mainly because of well...Spike” Twilight said gently running her fingertips through her number one assistances spikes.

Spike had fallen asleep shortly after arriving and was now using Twilight’s own lap as a pillow.

Zuko sat not too far away from the others, looking at both Spike then Pyre.

Dragons, the thought came to him. Few existed around the outskirts of the Fire Nation many many years ago. Dating back to his own grandfather Sozin, there had been an abundant amount. But as the military rank of the fire nation grew more and more commanders began making it a feat of courage to test themselves in an attempt to see just how strong they could be.

To think dragons as strong as this one were ones our own soldiers fought, Zuko thought.

“Well then, I suppose you have some questions then for me is it not Sir Zuko?” the older dragon’s voice asked catching Zuko’s attention and pulling him away from his thoughts, Zuko looked up at Pyre for a brief second momentarily lost and unable to pick up where he had left off in the conversation.

Pyre waited patiently for the creature that greatly resembled a minotaur to get back on track.

A few seconds passed before the question actually registered within Zuko’s head. Blinking with a slight start he turned to look at the others only to see they were waiting for him to speak now.

Right, Zuko thought wearily. “Yes I do actually. But instead of asking you a multitude of questions I’ll just stick to one. Why do the dragons and ponies in this town hate each other?”

Pyre went silent, but judging from Zuko’s determined stare it seemed the boy wouldn’t be leaving his home without an answer. And so with that Pyre rose from his own large seat, and moved around his guests to a window just adjacent from them.

For a few seconds he didn’t say anything. The silence brought an eery feeling to the room they were in. Covered in gold from ceiling to walls, to the diamond gems that made up the floor beneath them, ones Rarity had almost squealed over but managed to compose herself when Twilight, Pinkie and Zuko gave her a look to keep quiet.

“Is that your only question...” Pyre paused as if he wanted to add something else but thought better of it and remained silent.

Zuko nodded his head solemnly and glanced over to the others, everyone aside from Pinkie (and Spike) who had lost herself in some of the walls decorative colors, nodded.

“Yes, that is the only question we ask answered.”

Pyre glanced over his shoulder at the boy and then the Ponyvillians. It was brief but for a second Zuko thought he saw a sad smile.

“Well then,” Pyre began as he moved away from the window and back to his own seat. “Sit tight then, because before I begin the history of this town, I have a question to ask you all myself.”

Zuko’s brows knitted together in slight agitation. He didn’t have time for this but seeing as this dragon was several times his size and much more stronger than him, he saw no point to argue. A wise decision indeed as the agitation Zuko radiated was not lost on Pyre, simply glanced over.

“Oh! If we’re doing questions can I ask when’s your birthday?” Pinkie asked, raising a hand.

“Pinkie” Twilight began but the pink mare was already on a roll. “Also, how did you get those green gems to match the gold like that? It looks so hypnotic almost. And before you ask a question can the others ask questions also- OH! Should I get popcorn?! Popcorn would be great right about now, I think-”

Pyre raised a claw for silence and much to everyone’s surprise Pinkie quieted down almost instantly.

The older dragon smiled at the element of Laughter. “Thank you, young one. Now” he said turning his gaze back to the entire group.

“My question is this. What do you think, is strongest trait a sentient being possesses, aside from being able to feel love and anger? Once you have answered me this I will begin my tale.”

Twilight’s muzzle scrunched up in thought. “But” she began, pausing as her brows knitted in thought. “But- there’s so many choices. There’s sadness, joy, passion, there are just too many to pick from. What if we get it wrong?”

“I only require your honest opinion. The answer does not need to be correct.”

At this Twilight seemed to calm just a bit.

“Then....my answer would be the ability to make strong bonds; Compatibility.” Twilight

Pyre nodded and looked at Rarity. “Oh me? Well um, I suppose my answer would be, compassion? Without it I wouldn’t be where I am today.”

Again Pyre nodded and looked at Pinkie. “And you miss?”

Pinkie giggled. “Well it’s obvious, Joy! Making people smile is the best trait anyone could ever have!” she said with a little bounce.

A smile formed on Pyre’s maw at that sentence and he nodded his head in agreement. “I agree.” Turning his head to Zuko he stared at him and asked him as he had the others. “And what do you think Zuko? What do you think the strongest trait a sentient being can possess is?”

Zuko said nothing, as he sat on his knees his gaze now fixed on the older dragon. The question now working its way in his head.

He could feel it. Eyes on him. Just like back then, just like that day. A slight stinging sensation began to pass through that scar, but Zuko merely ignored it.

“Zuko” Pyre’s voice called out to him, and the boy snapped out of his daze. He had been staring Pyre in the eye this entire time and only blinked once in the past minute.

“Your answer, Zuko?”

Again Zuko paused. But they did not wait long as he cleared his throat and spoke. “Fear.”

“I see” Pyre said nodding his head in interest. “May I ask why you chose that one in particular.”

“You didn’t ask the others why they picked theirs so why me?” he said in a calm tone but it was obvious his anger had spiked.

“Simply curious is all” Pyre responded calmly.

Zuko’s hand tightened briefly before he released his constricting grip. He sighed. “Fear. Fear can blind you, destroy ideals or opinions you hold of others or yourself and break you. It can blind you to other emotions as well, spreading throughout your body like poison, almost like-”

“Like a fire...isn’t that what you were going to say?” Pyre asked. Zuko’s silence was answer enough.

“I see. Thank you all for your answer. Now then, I will tell you the correct answer that only one of you had right.”

Everyone looked up at the dragon as he leaned back in his seat and spoke. “The answer....for the strongest emotion a being can possess aside from love and anger, is indeed: Fear.”

“Do not misunderstand” Pyre stated under Twilight’s confusion. “Compatibility, being able to form bonds are a strong trait one can have. For without bonds, ponies, dragons and all other creatures alike are lost. Without a bond people become confused, when there is no one to support them or aid them in dire situations. They detach themselves from society or others, become dejected or even erratic and break down as time continues till there is nothing left of what once was.

“Miss Rarity you said compassion. This is also true. Compassion is a powerful trait one can have and since you are the Element of Generosity, I understand why you say this. Without compassion when others are in need they will find no light that offered them that moment of kindness in their darkest hours.

“And Miss Pie, joy was also a correct answer. With joy one can see the light beyond the dark. Those that are joyous, optimistic such as yourself are able to bring light in the gloomiest of moments when no one can see it is there or just beyond their reach. It is the joyful ones that help us out the most when we see that there is only darkness ahead.”

“But, if all our answers are correct then why is Fear the correct one.” Rarity asked with some confusion, but a slight sneeze from Spike drew her attention.

“Because I asked you for the strongest trait. Not the best traits, but the one that has the most impact on an individual. Fear, is strong, just like love is powerful and can breach walls and level nations as it has in the past, fear is something often underestimated and overestimated at the same time.

“Yes love is a powerful emotion. With it you can do anything, hence I am not surprised Princess Cadence has been doing so well in ruling her Empire as of late, but if you look back in the past what did the previous ruler use?”

Twilight’s ears dropped a bit at the recall of Sombra. It had been almost two years since then and she’d almost forgotten about what happened back then. “He...he used fear.”

“Yes, and look at what he was able to accomplish. I am not praising him young princess” Pyre said to Twilight’s somewhat confused and shocked look. “I am simply saying look at what he was able to do.

“After he overthrew the last ruler of the Crystal Empire, Pristine Spirit, Sombra had deemed unworthy to rule their home since all were still freezing due to the cursed winter storm that surrounded the Crystal Empire at the time, Sombra began dabbling in dark magic. Ask yourself why.”

“Because he was a uncouth lout” Rarity stated frankly. “He enslaved his own citizens and made them harvest crystals for him to fill his obsession for gems.”

“Ah that’s what history says” Pyre stated as he leaned further back in his seat. “But is that actually what happened?”

All three ponies now stared at each other confused before looking at Pyre skeptically. “What are you saying Mr?” Pinkie asked, her eyes narrowed.

“I’m saying that with fear, Sombra did a lot for his people, even though he didn’t go about it the right way he managed much. Yes he did harvest Crystals. Yes he did enslave his own kind, but by becoming a sovereign to them, he minimized much. Past reports on crime in the empire while Sombra was under rule showed that crime was gone, because they were afraid to do it. Fearing the punishment Sombra himself would give them. Fear is a powerful emotion, it clouds your better judgement, it confuses you, perturbs you and makes you think in a way you wouldn’t think of normally.

“And this is how fear relates to this city’s history. Dating back to 300 years ago, when I was but an adult and not as old as I am now.

“300 years ago, before Ponyville would be found a century later, Fillydelphia was being constructed. The name Fillydelphia came from a group of mares that decided to build this place as a city for the lost, weak and forgotten.

“300 years ago, times were not as peaceful as they are now. Back then many problems were being faced. The Crown was in a constant power struggle with the seven nobles that had aided the princess in keeping Equestria stable since the moon walker was banished.

“And even then times were still rough. With power struggles, pirates, slaves, and fights between not only a few of the races but different species Equestria and Equus itself wasn’t looking too good.

“Months went by with no change, with nothing knew happening, and some dragons as it were for the most part some were getting tired of being pushed out into the wilderness to fend for their young and families and so a discussion was made between the Crown, the leaders of Fillydelphia’s sorority and the Dragon Lord.”

Both Twilight and Rarity’s ears perked up instantly. “Ah” Pyre said thoughtfully. “You’ve met the Dragon Lord haven’t you?”

“Er, yes. Yes we have. Actually” Twilight smiled at the sleeping Spike. “Spike here was the dragon lord for a few seconds before he gave up his throne to a dragon he believed would be a better ruler.”

Pyre’s eyes widened slightly before resuming their normal position. “I see.” Pyre said deep in thought. “He must be the wisest drake I’ve met yet. And at such an age also” Pyre said his reptilian eyes now fixed on Spike.

Silence transpired for a bit before he coughed rather loudly to clear his throat, Spike shifted in his unconscious slumber from the cough, groaning at the noise.

“As I was saying. Times were rough. With the princess struggling to keep up the liberal system she had built and making sure she could maintain power, my best friend at the time, Imperius, brought me as his advisor to the meeting.

“Now Imperius, was a strong dragon. He’d inherited the right as Dragon Lord from his father, beaten every other dragon including his younger sister, to gain the right as the next dragon lord and with it he made sure he made some decent changes to most of the Dragon ways. He did well at being only the young age of 300, and I was proud of him. But, as you know with every monarch there will be times where the subjects do not agree.

“And as such, my friend underwent quite a bit of pressure as it is” the older dragon said sadly. “Ruling dragons is not easy. As you may have experienced young princess and friends, Dragons are stubborn. We are stubborn and do not take no for an answer, my friend sought to change that if only a little, but as it was he was still a new ruler and while most dragons gave him the respect he deserved and rightly earned there were still others that disagreed with his actions.”

“Much like how the nobles thought they should be running Equestria” Twilight said in response.

“Exactly” Pyre replied.

“So the day of the meeting my friend told me of his plan. Dragons and ponies were creatures who had not gotten along for a long time now. Even after Equestria was founded we never were on good terms, and though his father never tried to change that Imperius wanted to do something to better the relationship so long as the ponies did not break their traditions.

“And for the most part I agreed with him, his younger sister, Igna also agreed with him. It was a smart choice and when he wanted to go through it we encouraged him since we all knew that with Equestria’s current status, the Crown would not want a war with us.

“And so the day of the diplomatic discussion came. I went as my friend’s advisor and Celestia brought her own advisor with her. I believe his name at the time was....Turner? Or something of the sort relating to time, anyway once the leaders met our discussion began.

“Wages were made and declined, few accepted but not a plenty. Ideas exchanged, possible solutions to problems were discussed. Our meeting lasted well through the afternoon and fairly into the following day, to the point that Princess Celestia herself had to leave between intervals to lower the sun and raise the moon.

“Then finally Imperius who had begun to lose his patience...snapped.” Pyre sighed. “He had been ruling for at least a year and a half at that point. The pressure must have got to him, in dragon years he was an adult but all the work load was getting to him. Heck it even got to the former Dragon Lord sometimes till finally, well...Imperius snapped.”

“Oh my...he didn’t. He didn’t try to attack the Princess did he?” Rarity asked with concern.

“That would be a major no-no.” Pinkie said with a frown.

“Oh no, no of course not. He did lose his temper, but he did not resolve to attacking. When the Princess returned from raising the sun that following morning, 13 hours into our discussion, he demanded a fair chance to offer a solution that would aid the residents of the constructing Fillydelphia, and his own kind as well.”

Twilight’s ears perked up once again as her mouth began to drop in awe. “You mean...he proposed dragons and ponies live together?”

Pyre nodded. “It was something that interested your Princess greatly. However the leaders of Fillydelphia didn’t seem to be as pleased with the idea. They told the Princess that the city they were building was meant for the weak and the harsh lived. They were trying to recruit the mares that had been sold as slaves or any other slaves that had managed to escape and make it far enough to Equestria’s borders. At the very least they could be providing a home for them.

“It was a noble cause, looking back at it. Those four mares were brave. I had heard rumors of their stories and how they came to be free. One was badly scarred along the arms. Received a flogging everyday if she didn’t obey her superiors or comply with a wish that I would not speak of even to this day.

“Another captured by pirates. Her name was Cheerish Honesty.” Pyre expression grew grave as he recalled this particular mare. “There was nothing cheerful about her demeanor. Not after I later came to hear her story months after the meeting.”

“Please” Rarity’s somewhat pained voice cut in. “Do skip over the details, if it wouldn’t be a bother.”

“I intended to” Pyre nodded agreeingly. “These four mares were against the ideas of having dragons in the town they were building, and well you know stereotypes. Word gets around after a few hundred years, rumors evolve into terrible drabble, and then there’s nothing but lies spreading around with only bits and pieces of the truth. The four leaders of FIllydelphia sadly to say, but still rightfully so due to their own separate pasts, threw these rumors in the Dragon Lord’s face, blatantly I might add. And....” Pyre trailed off.

The older dragon didn’t say anything for awhile. In fact to Pinkie it didn’t look like he wanted to go any further just based on the great wrinkles his forehead made with that heavy frown.

“And what?” Pinkie asked gently.

Pyre didn’t reply just yet. He allowed his back to fully lean against his seat as he glanced back at the others ran a claw over his mouth, then turned his attention towards the window leading outdoors to the rest of civilization.

“That day...I promise you on life. Never before had I seen Imperius so angry in his entire life. If there were ever a time I would see him so angry it would be three times, and this was the first. His features didn’t show it, but-....” Pyre swallowed as if a lump had formed in his throat. He did not speak for a few minutes as if to compose himself.

“But what?” Zuko pressed. He could tell this was difficult, but if he wanted to continue what he came here to do he needed answers and one way or another he would get them.

“But what?” Zuko asked again, more emphasis this time when Pyre refused to speak.

When Pyre looked back at the group everypony went silent. A calmness yet sadness they had not seen before draped itself over the old dragon’s face as he ran a claw through his spikes then down to his white beard. “But his eyes” he said in a low voice.

“His eyes burned like Tartarus itself had unleashed it's greatest horrors upon the world.” Pyre said looking outside once more.

“Imperius said nothing towards the rumors, but it was sometime before he spoke. Celestia’s advisor scolded the mare’s heavily, for their accusations but Imperius merely brushed them off as if they were nothing, but I knew him. I knew him like a brother, and I knew how he really felt about it.

“You see, dragons have always been creatures that were feared for not their stubbornness, greed or power but for their ferocity. Many times Imperius had tried to incorporate dragons into a society outside of Equestria, only for them to return with the same statement: “They’ couldn’t live there because of the rumors. Or every time they moved through a town it felt like they were being judged", so Equestria had been my friend’s last card.”

Twilight placed a hand over her own muzzle when she heard this. “So when he heard those rumors then” she whispered in a voice of fear and pain.

“He...began to doubt the ponies right then didn’t he?” Rarity asked.

Pyre nodded. “The moment those rumors left their mouths.”

“Eventually we were able to reach a conclusion. The dragons would help the mares build their city and in exchange both species could live together. If any trouble were brought it would be settled by the leaders of each town respectively. And so after 15 hours of discussion our meeting finally came to a close.”

A slight chuckle escaped Pyre’s lips as he had just recalled something in the past.

“What? What’s so funny?” Zuko asked.

“Oh it’s. It’s nothing” Pyre said dismissively.

“Now now” Pinkie said trying to lighten the mood a bit. “I’m sure we could all use a laugh after such a...” she smiled sheepishly. “Big revelation, c’mon tell us. Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease-”

Rarity covered her mouth. Glancing at Pyre with a small smile, she said “You don’t have to tell us.”

Pyre thought about it, and after a measly second he shrugged. “I suppose it will relate to the question and answer I asked of you from before I began.”

“Later that day as we returned home to where Igna and most of the dragons that cared were waiting, I asked Imperius a question.”

“Which was?” Zuko asked.

A nostalgic smile crossed Pyre’s face. “I asked him if he was alright.”

Pinkie’s expectancy at the punchline faded almost instantly. Her ears drooped and she stared with confusion and a bit of sadness. “I, uh, don’t get it” she said and was about to say more till Twilight’s strained, hush voice, said “PINKIE!”

Pyre chuckled at this. It reminded him of the times of when he was a youth. The times him, Imperius and Igna had all been close.

“What did he say?” Rarity asked once the old dragon was done laughing.

“He told me: “I’m fine. It was just rumors and I didn’t need to worry about him so much.”” The nostalgic smile faded, into a prim thin lined curve at the end of his lips. “That was what he said but I-...I knew my friend was disturbed by their words.”

“Even on that day when we returned and he greeted the waiting dragons, and whelps with a smile I knew. I knew that deep down he was-”

“Angry?” Twilight cut in, gently running her hand through Spike’s own spikes, as a form to comfort her adoptive brother but herself as well.

“Disgusted?” Rarity quipped with uncertainty.

“Leaking with fury the size of the sun!?” Pinkie contributed.

Her friends looked at her. “What?” she said confusion in her voice.

“No, nothing it’s just. That was an interesting analogy” Rarity said with a small smile, one which Pinkie returned.

Zuko’s sigh made the three mares grow silent. He was giving them a look that told them to stop talking. Right. Now.

Turning his attention back to Pyre the former prince said, “Please continue.”

Pyre nodded. “On that day, his sister came to me. Igna asked me why her brother was acting strange but I. I didn’t have a reply. I couldn’t tell her about the rumors. It was and still is in this part of town a sensitive topic, one no one brings up. So I said I was unsure, perhaps under the weather but now that I look back it was a mistake.

“He wasn’t angry. He wasn’t disgusted with the mares, nor was he furious. He was in fact scared....he was afraid unlike his father he’d fail at leading dragons to a peaceful life for as long as he reigned and I think the fear of failing, was what drove him most.

“No, it was fear itself that pushed him so far. As I said and as I’m sure you all have experienced in some point in your life. Our emotions are strong, and with strong emotions there can be different outcomes. Ones where we do good or bad depending on the situation we are in.

“My friend made mistakes, but it was allowing his fear to consume him that was his biggest mistake of all.

“And so young ones before I continue. Before I tell you the rest of this town’s history I want you to remember one thing.”

Everyone went silent as Pyre paused to lick his dry lips.

“Emotions are, powerful.

"Anger, Happiness, Fear, Lust, all of these and our traits and attitudes are influenced by one another. So never forget this; your emotions can influence you, just as Sombra let fear influence those he controlled, never forget or underestimate that. That if you allow your emotions to control you they can blind you and lead you down a path you never intended to travel in the first place, now. Do you understand?”

The group went silent as this powerful message was spoken. For Zuko it was even more so than he could imagine.

“Do you understand?” Pyre asked once more when none responded.

Pinkie was the first to respond, and for the first time Zuko had ever met her she sounded serious. “Yes.”

Twilight followed. “Yes, I-I, I understand.”

“I believe I do as well” Rarity said last.

“And you Zuko?” Pyre said his eyes now focused on the former prince. “Do you understand?”

Zuko’s throat went dry, he swallowed some of his own saliva and allowed his voice to work its way back to strength before he spoke.

“Yes. I understand, emotions can be a weapon. Play with them and you aren’t the only one that gets hurt. Let them play with you and you can hurt others” he finished and as he finished a thought popped into Zuko’s head.

This almost sounds like something Uncle would say.

“Good” Pyre’s voice said as he rose from his seat towards the kitchen. “If you’ll excuse me I’m parched. I’ll get a drink, you’re welcome to ask for any if you want. I’ll be back shortly.”

And with that the old dragon who now seemed wiser than when Zuko first met him, rose and disappeared into the kitchen.

When he returned he would be back to continue the story. The story of why the dragons and ponies of this city hated each other so much, and maybe then, Zuko could finally move on in helping these four with their duty so that he could get back to what he truly came here for.

His true purpose.

Author's Note

This chapter has been on my mind for months now, I just never was able to figure out what or how I wanted to start it. But as luck would have it, I've recently begun watching a show my friends suggested I check and actually one of my college buddies got me and a few others interested in. You may have heard of it, it's called Doctor Who.

Quite good really, didn't start from the very beginning and I'm on Season Four right now but that's beside the point. Last night I watched one episode titled "Midnight", and honestly, it's by far the greatest episode with some of the best writing and acting I've seen.

There was something else that really caught my attention. It was they way fear seemed to act upon each character aside from The Doctor himself, and that's when it hit me. The key component I was missing for this chapter was a drive.

You see, I'm not one who likes cliches, having stayed with a little bro who likes rewatching things I tend to get tired of something quite easily so cliches are obviously not something I like to stick to for too long once I notice them or once the surprise starts to fade I lose interest, that's what I tend to not do with my stories. I like making each one unique, whether good or bad and add a twist that draws a reader in much like I have been drawn into books that catch my own attention, so it was through that very episode that I became inspired to write up this 7th chapter.

And it's a good thing also, I was beginning to wonder if I'd ever get inspiration to write something up for this.

As always enjoy, the hiatus is going to be off this and most of my unfinished stories as I plan on updating weekly from now on till I begin summer classes. Till then as always:

Enjoy.