Applejack and Rarity were walking down the road towards Sweet Apple Acres, their travelling bags in tow, when they heard the distinct sound of a tree being bucked.

WHOMP! tok-tok toktoktoktok…

“Ah’d know that sound anywhere!” Applejack exclaimed. She took a deep breath before hollering into the orchard that she and Rarity were walking next to. “Hey Big Macintosh! Where are y’all?”

There was a pause, before the heavy clump of Big Macintosh’s hooves was heard ahead and slightly to the left of the two mares. The stallion in question emerged from the rows and looked towards them.

“Applejack. Rarity. Welcome home,” he greeted the two mares in his normal understated way.

“Have y’all seen the fillies ‘round here Mac? Rares wants to pick up Sweetie Belle and get on home.”

“Nnnope. Them fillies went to town a while ago. Lookin’ fer Miss Lyra ah suspect.”

“Lyra?!” Rarity shouted in horror. “Sweet Celestia, she’ll give the fillies even crazier ideas than they normally have!”

“You know her?” Applejack looked slightly nervous at Rarity’s reaction to the news.

“Yes, she’s constantly going on about mythical creatures and has been trying to emulate some of them.” Rarity shuddered at a memory. “She commissioned some odd pieces of clothing from me a few times, gloves for claws and things like that.”

Applejack studied the fashionista for a few seconds, before shrugging out of her saddlebags. “Mac, can you take mah bags back to tha house and git tha shampoo? Ah don’t need ta be Pinkie to sense tree sap in our future…”

“Eeyup!”

A door opened to reveal a tan earth pony with a grey mane, a pair of yellow rimmed glasses perched delicately on her nose.

“Good afternoon, I’m looking for a Vinyl Scratch,” she greeted the unicorn that answered the door.

“That’s me.” Vinyl blinked wearily at the pony before her. “Can I help you?”

“Yes, dear. I am Mayor Mare, I’m here to ask you a couple of questions I’ve been told you would be able to assist me with.”

“Sure. C’mon in. Hope you don’t mind talking over coffee. Haven’t got much sleep last few days.” Vinyl stepped back to allow the mayor entry, using her magic to close the door behind her before she turned to slump towards the kitchen.

The mayor smiled apologetically. “Oh dear. I won’t trouble you for too long then. Just a few questions and then I will let you rest again.”

“Sure.” Vinyl flicked on the stove and set the kettle on it to boil while she sat down. “So what d’ya wanna know?”

Mayor Mare sunk much more gracefully into a seat across from the DJ. “I have it on good authority that you came across the creature that we are calling a human this morning. I was wondering if you would be good enough to tell me a bit about where you found him and your impression of him.”

“Huh? Oh, no problem. I found Iroh in the shed behind Matilda’s place…” Vinyl began.

“... excuse me, but, ‘Iroh’”? Mayor Mare interrupted for a moment.

Vinyl grinned lazily, “Everypony’s gotta have a name don’t they? The human’s name is Iroh. Anyway he’s cool. He’s like an old dude, drinks a lotta tea from that magic teapot of his I bet.” Vinyl quickly held up a hoof, forestalling the question she could already see forming on the Mayor’s face.

“Yes, Magic. Teapot. He puts in cold water and leaves and pours out hot tea, no glow or nothin’ just cold water one moment, hot water the next.”

“Very well, magic teapot.” The mayor nodded to Vinyl. “Anything else? Anything to give us a clue as to what he wants, where he’s from?”

“Uh…” Vinyl tilted her head back in thought. “He seemed a bit obsessed with bending stuff, told me I was bending air or something like that. I don’t even know how the dude knew I was a DJ.”

The mayor looked carefully at the DJ before her. “Anything else? I was told you came galloping through town like something scared you.”

“HA!” Vinyl Scratch barked out a laugh. “I wasn’t scared of anything, I was just late for keeping a promise to Bonny.”

“Very well.” Mayor Mare nodded primly. “Thank you for your assistance, Miss Scratch. I will see myself out, it seems I have much to do today.”

“S’all good.” Vinyl stood at the same time as the mayor, “Don’t be a stranger, yeah? And come by some time to meet Octy. She needs more friends and I think she might like you.”

The elder mare smiled kindly as she left, “Thank you, I will keep that in mind.”

Zecora turned in her seat to decisively place her cup on the bench next to her. “Now that I have told you my simple tale, would you tell me of the lands from which you hail?”

Iroh smiled grimly. “Of course, though if what I suspect is true, that I have somehow crossed the barrier between worlds again, most of what I have to say will be of little use other than to satisfy your curiosity.”

Zecora jerked her head towards Iroh, her eyes widening rapidly. “You have travelled to another world? Pray tell me how, my curiosity is greatly unfurled.”

Iroh’s smile rapidly turned into a pained grimace. “That, my dear, is a long story, and one that is best held off until I tell you about my homeland. I suspect, that information will confirm or reject my suspicions better than anything else.”

At the zebra’s nod of assent, he carried on. “I do not have the fine control to create detailed imagery as you do, but I will do my best, if only to assist in my descriptions. Failing that, would you have some parchment or paper and some charcoal? I am no artist, but a drawn image might be better than one created from flames.”

“Charcoal I have in qualities both brown and black, but of parchment and paper, I have a distinct lack.”

“Very well then,” Iroh allowed, “it looks like I get to practice my art in an entirely new way.”

Realizing his own pun, Iroh chuckled lightly as he continued, igniting a ball of fire in first one hand and then the other. “I hail from the largest isle in the Flame Archipelago, known as Capital Island. I was born and raised in the city, most imaginatively named Capital City. Collectively, the archipelago and its inhabitants are known as the Fire Nation.”

The flames arched between the orbs hovering above Iroh’s hands, attempting to form an image. Iroh frowned as the flames flickered and would not stay in place long enough to display an image of his home.

Zecora watched the dance of the flames between the orbs curiously, waiting to see what the old man before her was trying to do, until they guttered out suddenly, causing her to look back at Iroh.

“My apologies,” Iroh rubbed the back of his head, “it seems I simply do not have the skill set to mimic your wonderful dust illusions. I hope you don’t mind if I instead use only the canvas of words to paint you an image.”

Zecora leaned back on her chair, relaxing into a more comfortable position for listening rather than watching. “Do not worry about painting with fire, we can draw later if your words do not inspire.”

Iroh nodded his assent as he carried on. “To the North of the archipelago lies the mountainous island which houses at its pinnacle the Western Air Temple, and far to the South-East, another small island chain which is the home of the Southern Air Temple.”

Waving his hand lower, this time without the flames to try to illustrate the map he saw in his head, Iroh carried on. “To the South of the Southern Air Temple lie the freezing arctic lands of the Southern Water Tribes.”

At this, Iroh shuddered visibly, “I was in that area once, and the chill down there was incredible, I felt I was frozen to the bone for weeks after. For a fire bender, this is not a comfortable feeling. As you might well imagine.”

Zecora laughed appreciatively. “To leave such an impression the cold must be most grim, to send such as you there must be like teaching a gryphon to swim!”

Iroh was confused. “A gryphon? What in the world is that?”

“I promise biology class later, if we do geography now.” Zecora chided, “I will teach what I can then, of anything from parasprite to cow.”

On hearing Zecora’s tone, Iroh immediately sat up with his feet pressed together and held between his hands, his back ramrod straight. “Yes, Miss Zecora.” He said in his best schoolboy tone of voice, before throwing his head back in laughter, joined half a second later by Zecora.

“Oh dear,” Zecora said between gasps for breath a minute later, “be it between towns, nations or worlds most strange; it seems the relationship of teacher to the student shall never change.”

“So it seems, my dear, so it seems. Now where was I? Oh yes. Encompassing the vast majority of the world to the North and East of all those lands, is the massive continent that is primarily populated by the Earth Kingdom. the South-East corner of the continent has the Eastern Air Temple, while the Northern Air Temple sits atop a mountain on its northernmost edge.”

Iroh perked up as he finished his brief description. “Finally, there is a second frozen land to the north of that where the Northern Water Tribe makes its home.”

“Let me see if I remember this right, and affix your lands in my mind’s sight.” Zecora reached for her dust again, blowing out a low cloud and smoothing down the top so she could work with it piece by piece.

“Let’s start with the biggest, this Earth Kingdom land. Upon biggest land mass, does it now stand.” Part of the flattened smoke raised under Zecora’s guidance, showing a roughly circular shape.

Getting the idea, Iroh half stood, resting his weight on his knees, rather than on his whole leg. “Flatten the land across here.” he indicated, pointing along a line that cut off a porting along the bottom left side of the circle.

“Now a large bay here, on the right, but leave only this portion open to the sea.”

“Two lakes here, with a thin strip of land separating them. And finally raise a large circle here,” he indicated an area using his hands, “This is where the great walled city of Ba Sing Se is.”

“And now the water tribes, both high and low. What shapes are their lands, do you know?”

“Roughly oval if I recall correctly, the North tribe here, and the South tribe all the way down here. While we are at it, some streaky islands starting here,” Iroh indicated a spot not far from the large bay on the large continent, “and ending about here.” At this he pointed to a spot above and to the right of the southern island.

“Last but not least,” Iroh said with a grin, “A chain of islands starting about here, and growing larger until here, and then a much larger island, here.”

Iroh and Zecora sat back to observe their collaborative cartography. It was rough, incredibly so, but at least gave an impression of what the lands looked like.

Zecora looked up from studying their makeshift map. “I looked at these shapes and I can say with little fear, that wherever you are from, it is most certainly not here.”

Stepping to the side so she was clear of their work, Zecora withdrew a second hoofful of powder and shaped a second image.

A long, snaking continent formed before Iroh’s eyes, another smaller continent rose in the Southeast corner. Finally several large islands formed in the Northwest, one of them incongruously separated from the map and started floating a couple of inches above the plane of the map.

“Here is the world as we know it, from mountain to shore. From Zebrica to Vaporia, and the Ibex Empire to Boardor.”

This map was significantly more detailed than the one Iroh had dictated, and his eyes darted across the map, looking for a familiar landmark – any familiar landmark.

“This... This looks nothing like any map I am familiar with. Given that my arrival in these lands is unexplained, also that I somehow moved from here,” Iroh indicate a spot on his own map, just below the Western lake on the main continent, “to here… uhh, my apologies, but where exactly are we?”

“You see this peninsula, here in the middle? Go about a hoofspan above to solve your riddle. At least now we know one thing for certain to start, your most recent journey has set you worlds apart.”

“That it has, that it has indeed…” Iroh’s worried frown deepened.

“I will have to meditate on this in the morning. With any luck I will be able to contact the spirit world and get some advice from there.”

At this, Iroh clapped his hands together in an effort to dispel his sour mood, making Zecora jump slightly at the noise. “In the meantime, seeing as you have explained some of your native abilities, I see it as only fair that I should do the same.”

“As you can probably guess from having watched me, I am a practitioner of the Fire Bending Style. Fire is considered to be the element of passion, destruction, and power; it is the element most heavily influenced by the emotions of its user. Of the four main styles, fire benders are known to be the most aggressive, although we practice some of the greatest self control.”

Iroh sighed as he realized he would have to broach a difficult topic in this discussion, and so decided to get it over with sooner, rather than later.

“Our natural neighbors, both geographically and spiritually, were the air benders. From what we know of them today, every one of them was capable of bending, something none of the other 3 great nations could claim. They lived austere lives in their four great temples, moving between each according to their progress in learning their ways.

“The air benders were the only nation that used its abilities in a primarily defensive way, and the only people who used no lethal moves in combat at all. Their methods leaned heavily towards evasion and speed, they used, almost exclusively, circular motions in their techniques, never coming at a problem in a straight line.”

Zecora caught the sadness in Iroh’s voice as well as the tense he spoke of the air benders in. “You speak of air benders with such guilt, pray tell, why does their tale make you wilt?”

“The short version is that almost a hundred years ago, the Air Nomads were all but wiped out in a war. As far as I am aware, there is a single air bender left alive today, and he is nothing more than a boy. The long version I suspect will have to wait as the reasons for their death involves information I have yet to give you.” Iroh evaded as best he could, hoping to push back the shameful and gory details until absolutely necessary.

It still disgusted Iroh to think of the pain and death inflicted by his own people.

Meanwhile, a pair of mares approached the house set within the tree. One of the mares' ears twitched as she heard the sound of voices coming from within.

“Who’s that with Zecora?” wondered Bonbon, “Sounds like a stallion, but I don’t recognise the voice.”

“I have no idea,” grumbled Lyra, “I just want to get rid of this stupid headache, then get back to town. Can we just get the potion and leave Zecora to her coltfriend?”

Bonbon giggled lightly at her friend as she approached the door and knocked.

The sound of a chair’s legs scraping was heard shortly before the resident zebra opened her door.

“My, my, I am so popular today. May I ask what brings you two mares out this way?”

Bonbon smiled awkwardly at Zecora. “I hope you don’t mind, we were wondering if you could sell us a potion or two for headaches? Please?”

“All this way for such a simple remedy? Very well. Come and I shall cure what ails you mentally.” Zecora backed away from her door and retrieved a small cauldron on her way to the fireplace.

Iroh sat and watched placidly as the new arrivals entered the room, one looking around curiously while the other had her eyes mostly closed, her nose scrunched in discomfort, evidently the one who needed the headache cure.

“Strange, I thought I heard you talking to somepony when we got here…” the alert pony half muttered. Zecora glanced at Iroh who winked back before schooling his features and sitting as still as he could.

“You do know that nosiness is a disgrace,” Zecora chided Bonbon, “but as you can plainly see, you are the only ponies in this place.”

“Hard to tell with all of these masks around sometimes.” Bonbon groused before she spotted something new in the room.

“What about this?” she asked, reaching a hoof towards Iroh’s head, “I’ve never seen a statue like this one before, where did you get it?”

“Oh, she just picked me up in the woods…” Iroh rumbled from his place next to Bonbon, her hoof pressed against his ear.

“Really? Must have been a really lucky…. AAAAAHHH!!” Bonbon shrieked and stumbled backwards as she realized the ‘statue’ she had been prodding her was the one who answered, and not Zecora.

There was a moment of silence.

Bonbon scooted backwards, her hung mouth open in surprise and her forehoof shook as she pointed it at Iroh.

Zecora turned her head to peer over her shoulder and away from the water she had just set to heat over a small fire pit, one corner of her mouth rising in a smirk of amusement.

Iroh smiled widely as he tilted his head toward the surprised earth pony, a chuckle beginning to bubble forth.

Lyra swung her head painfully to face the direction of the scream that had come from Bonbon, her eyes landed on Iroh for the first time and widened as she realized just who and what was sitting right in front of her.

[Insert Evil Cliffhanger Laugh™ here….]

Author's Notes:

Thanks to Avatar of Madness for his editing skills.

Equestria map used for reference was the map developed for the unpublished fic Where the World Ends by nasco.

next chapter is already more than halfway done, off to the editor, for those experiencing cliff hanger rage...