Amoros was still watching Cloud Shroud and Fluttershy above Celestia and Luna’s palace in Canterlot, impressed by how far both of them had come along. As Fluttershy was heading towards Rainbow Dash’s house, believing Cloud would have returned there to retire for a rest by now, she remained unaware of the fact that Cloud was flying to the same destination, worried about Rainbow’s well being from how the Windigos had described their test to him.
“The Windigos surely wouldn’t think twice about putting someone’s life in jeopardy…” he thought nervously to himself, recalling what the Windigos said about saving one’s life and one’s soul at the same time. “They literally meant rescuing someone dear to me from death, I can feel it! This new power welling inside of me, I know I was given it for a reason...to save!”
The purple aura surrounding the fire in Cloud’s soul grew even larger as Cloud felt a strange sensation in the lower part of his body. He could no longer feel his back legs…
“Huh?” he said as he stopped flying, turning around to inspect himself in confusion. “What the-?!”
Cloud was shocked to find that there was nothing behind him besides...a tail of shadow.
“How in…” he thought in astonishment before he realized something. “Wait a second…”
Cloud looked down at his upper body curiously...and by his will, it became shadow as well, along with his neck and head. Remembering the meditation he had done before he met Amoros, where he accepted that he was part cloud, he then transformed his body into a dark cloud of smoke like Sombra.
“I’ve learned how to utilize Sombra’s power…” he thought in amazement. “By my will to save someone I love...this is exactly what I need to do to reform him!”
King Sombra, being able to sense Cloud’s breakthrough, gasped in shock.
“Sombra?” a perplexed Twilight asked, still at the courthouse with him.
“I’m sorry Twilight, but there’s something I must do…” Sombra answered ominously before he turned to smoke and flew away.
“First, Twilight triggered that memory…” Sombra recalled the events filling him with discomfort in his mind. “Then, the book. And now, I’m getting premonitions of Cloud discovering how to voluntarily harness my power...there’s no way this bad feeling I’ve been getting is just a hunch. I can’t take this slow anymore, I have to act now! For my sake and his!”
Amoros saw Sombra hovering towards Celestia and Luna’s palace, slipping through the walls undetected and blending with the shadows on the ground as he headed towards Luna’s room, and snickered to himself.
“Oh dear…” he gleefully remarked. “It appears history is going to repeat itself…you think what you’ve recalculated since then will save you this time, but you don’t know my other secrets...you don’t know enough about me, the demon, or Cloud...”
Once again, the third eye on the three-eyed lizard’s forehead glowed ominously...
Luna was mulling over what she and Celestia had done to Discord guiltily in her bed before Sombra slipped under her door and materialized in his corporeal form before her, surprising her.
“Sombra?!” Luna exclaimed in astonishment. “What in Equestria have you come here for?”
“The book.” Sombra answered bluntly. “Not the one Discord had. I want the book you should have given me that day…”
“What do you want with it?” Luna asked indignantly, knowing what he was referring to. “You no longer have a real body, you know that book can not make you immortal now.”
“It’s not for me…” Sombra answered solemnly. “It’s for him…”
“...Do you mean...Cloud?” Luna guessed, feeling perplexed. “But...that doesn’t change the issue. He doesn’t have a physical body present in Equestria, his form here is assumed by magical energy.”
“Don’t patronize me by presuming I’m unaware of the situation.” an annoyed Sombra retorted. “It’s his physical body in the human world I dread the fate of. That demon is grooming Cloud to be his vessel. Do you know what it will mean if we don’t act now?”
An image of Belohzhero’s body frozen in ice flashed through Luna’s mind, causing her to revile in horror.
“By the heavens, no…” she said fearfully.
“Yes.” Sombra confirmed her worries. “It will mean the return of Beelzebub…the birth of a new Belohzhero...”
Meanwhile…
Rainbow Dash had returned home after giving up on trying to find Cloud outside. Exhausted, she hoped that he had come back to her place. However, once she entered her house through the front door, she saw not Cloud, but Billy, Hoops, and Score sitting on the couch and watching television, images of ponies playing buckball displayed on the screen.
“What are you three still doing here?” Rainbow asked curiously.
“We were just looking for the sports channel!” Billy hastily exclaimed.
“Watching!” Hoops muttered, correcting his friend while giving him a nudge.
Score held up a Daring Do book and shook his head, meaning to tell Dash they weren’t reading anything while she was gone.
“Right…” Rainbow said suspiciously before going to her bedroom, knowing that something was up.
The trio of pegasi gulped, worried.
“Maybe I should’ve been flipping…” Billy thought nervously in reconsideration as he looked at the TV remote before Rainbow Dash came back.
“Well, what do we have here?” Rainbow remarked indignantly at what she discovered in her bedroom.
The trio of pegasi grew even more worried as an angry Rainbow came out with the issue of Playmare she had hidden under her pillow in hoof. She turned off the TV with the nearby remote and hovered in front of the pegasi, staring them down.
“You were in my room looking at my private magazines, weren’t you?” she told them with a stern glare.
“What makes you think that?” Hoops asked calmly, trying to stay composed.
“The fact that there’s GREASE ON THESE PAGES!” she shouted angrily as she opened the issue and showed them black marks where a pony would leave their print as they turned the page.
“Um...well...maybe it’s your grease!” Billy exclaimed, making a desperate lie on the fly.
Hoops and Score covered their mouths with their hooves in a vain attempt at muffling their laughter over how wrong that sounded.
“Oh, so that’s FUNNY to you, isn’t it?!” Rainbow yelled scornfully.
Hoops and Score jolted in response, ceasing their laughter and shaking their heads.
Unbeknownst to them all, Fluttershy had arrived at Rainbow’s house and was about to knock on her door before she overheard Rainbow’s venting.
“I for one fail to see the humor in this!” Rainbow continued her rebuke. “Excuse me for taking my right to privacy seriously!”
This struck a nerve with Fluttershy, who instantly recalled what Rainbow had the trio of pegasi do to Cloud. She was growing ever more frustrated at how it seemed Rainbow was only getting worse since the incident that had her question her faith in her longtime friend...
“Look, we’re sorry about the magazine.” an abashed Hoops said remorsefully as he and his friends got off the couch and headed for the door. “We’ll get you a new one right now…”
“Awww, how noble of you.” Rainbow replied facetiously, far more upset about her privacy being disgraced and viewing their apology as insincere. “I’m so touched, I’m going to let you KEEP THE OLD ONE!”
With that cry, she threw the magazine at them just as they were opening the door, and to the disbelief of them all, the magazine ended up hitting Fluttershy right in the face. The four paused in silence, staring blankly at the unsuspecting yellow pegasus, before Rainbow, who recalled how displeased Fluttershy had been with her lately, finally said in regret…
“Oh, horsefeathers…”
Once the magazine finally slid off Fluttershy’s face, revealing a most grisly, admonishing frown, countenance that Rainbow would have once never expected to see from any creature, let alone one of her closest friends. She also once never expected to feel so cold, the chills running through her blood and bones as Fluttershy bluntly uttered the words…
“Rainbow Dash, what are you doing with your life?”
“...I’m sorry?” Rainbow fearfully replied with a nervous grin.
“I’m sorry for what I’ve done?” the once obsessively apologetic Fluttershy retorted. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand? I’m sorry, what? Clarification is the least you can give me, though it admittedly means little when I have so much reason to doubt the sincerity of your words.”
“You don’t trust me anymore?” a hurt Rainbow remarked sadly. “But we’ve been friends for like, forever!”
“That doesn’t change the fact that you’re not the mare I once knew.” Fluttershy rebuked her. “The Rainbow Dash I knew was stubborn and thought highly of herself, but she always put her friends first. The Rainbow Dash I see now is a blackmailer, a sleaze, and a hypocrite! It’s okay for you to spy on Cloud and collect blackmail on him, but the moment your pals look at your filthy trash, it’s the end of Equestria as we know it! You’re PATHETIC!”
Rainbow Dash’s eyes began to water as the trio of pegasi gave her sympathetic glances.
“You’re right, Fluttershy…” she said despondently with tears coming from her eyes. “This is shameful...I’ve never been this terrible before...that must be why Cloud Shroud disappeared from me...because who wants to be around an awful pony like me…”
Fluttershy pitied Rainbow despite her anger towards her and calmed down. However, Rainbow could still feel that dreadful chill running through her...and it only grew worse as a familiar face approached them. Bewildered and upset, she began to think…
“How did things get like this? It all started with Cloud...but he’s not a bad guy, I know that for sure now. But ever since he’s been in my house, I’ve felt this unsettling cold breeze...and now I’m feeling it from one of my best friends who would never hate me no matter how angry I made her...wait...hate...cold…”
This triggered a memory in Rainbow’s head, leading her to a mind-blowing conclusion…
“For a split-second, I thought I could see a Windigo…” she remembered Billy saying.
The word, “Windigo”, then echoed through her mind repeatedly before she finally made the connection…
“Rainbow!” Cloud exclaimed hurriedly once he finally arrived at her house. “There’s something I need to tell you now! I know it’s going to sound crazy, but-”
“You talk to Windigos.” Rainbow finally uttered in realization of the truth, shocking Cloud, the trio of pegasi, and Fluttershy. An especially flabbergasted Fluttershy, who never suspected a thing, turned to Cloud slowly with her face twisted in fear and asked…
“Is that true?”
“...Yes.” Cloud answered solemnly. “That’s right. The Windigos took me from my home and used me to do their work for them.”
“What...what kind of work?” a convulsing Fluttershy asked timidly.
“I don’t understand it fully myself…” Cloud replied, frustrated by his lack of knowledge in this stressful situation. “It started out with them telling me they just wanted to be understood, but now, it seems their true intentions are much more sinister. I’m worried now that they’re going to put you in danger!”
“Ha ha ha…” an invisible Aeros laughed to himself in thought, appearing behind Rainbow Dash. “It’s too late to warn them...we anticipated this…”
“GAH!” Rainbow cried in agitation, shivering as the cold chill inside of her worsened. “What is up with this cold?! Ugh...huh? My wings…”
Rainbow attempted to flap her wings and found she couldn’t do so at her usual pace.
“Why are my wings feeling so stiff?” she asked in confusion. “They can handle worse than a little cold!”
“Hey, my wings are feeling funny too!” Fluttershy exclaimed nervously, looking behind her curiously as she tried to flap them, but could only do so at a pace so sluggish, she wouldn’t even be able to fly. “What’s happ-”
Fluttershy paused mid-sentence and gasped in shock once she saw Aeros make himself visible behind her.
“What’s up?” he asked in a taunting tone of voice.
An aghast Fluttershy completely froze before she shrieked…
“AAAAAIIIIIEEEEE!!!”
She jumped back in terror, and overwhelmed with fear, she couldn’t stop herself from walking back too far and stumbling over the edge of the cloud Rainbow Dash’s house resided over. The sight of this shocked everyone watching to the core, save a smirking Aeros. The passing of time slowed to a halt in Cloud’s head as he realized in thought…
“My hunch wasn’t wrong...this is the test...I have to save Fluttershy with the power I’ve gained!”
“FLUTTERSHY, NO!” Rainbow Dash yelled at the top of her lungs as she immediately rushed to try and save her friend right as she was falling.
“RAINBOW DASH, WAIT!” Cloud Shroud cried as he instinctively turned himself to shadow and flew right behind Rainbow.
Rainbow tried to grab Fluttershy before she fell, but unable to fly at her usual speed, she couldn’t catch Fluttershy in mid-air as she slipped. Just as she was jumping down to fly and catch her friend before she hit the ground, Cloud wrapped his shadow form around Rainbow’s waist. The trio of pegasi, knowing that if Rainbow couldn’t catch Fluttershy, no pony could, panicked and rushed into the house to call the emergency line. If Fluttershy couldn’t be saved, the least they could do was alert everypony of the Windigos returning to avoid future casualties…
But they believed in Rainbow, even as Rainbow began to doubt herself...
Rainbow flew as fast as she could to catch Fluttershy, but the passing of time began to slow in her head as well when she came to a mortifying realization...
She couldn’t catch Fluttershy. She was flapping her wings so hard she could feel the strain in her muscles, but Fluttershy wasn’t getting any closer in her line of vision.
“WWWWWHHHHHYYYYY?!” Rainbow screamed harder than her lungs could take and began to cry. “WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?! WHY DO I SSSUUUCCCKKK?!”
“RAINBOW, CALM DOWN!” Cloud cried in an attempt to placate her.
“HOW CAN I?!” Rainbow shrieked. “MY FRIEND IS GOING TO DIE BECAUSE I’M WORTHLESS!”
“YOU THINKING THAT IS EXACTLY WHY YOU’RE FALLING BEHIND!” Cloud yelled back. “NO ONE IS WORTHLESS! THIS IS ALL JUST A TEST! A TEST OF WILL, THAT’S WHY THE WINDIGOS DID THIS! YOU ONLY FAIL IF YOU HAVE NO WILL TO TRY!”
“But I’m trying as hard as I can!” Rainbow argued, still crying. “How am I supposed to be calm and strong in a hopeless situation like this?!”
“Do you truly believe that if Fluttershy dies, your friendship with her ends?” Cloud replied solemnly. “Look into her eyes. Do those look like the eyes of someone who would die hating you? Do they look like the eyes of someone who has abandoned hope?”
This prompted Rainbow to look into Fluttershy’s eyes...and see not a hint of malice in them, even after what she had said. Fluttershy, despite being so afraid...smiled. Rainbow was puzzled by how Fluttershy could possibly be positive at a time like this before it hit her…
“Even when Fluttershy was mad at me, she wanted to believe in me...and now that I’m doing my best to save her, she’s happy that she was right to have hope in me!”
As she proclaimed this jubilantly, Cloud smiled confidently as both Rainbow’s fire and his fire burned with a new passion. Sensing this, Aeros’ pretentious smirk slowly faded.
“He’ll pass…” he realized, speechless.
*FFFWWWOOOMMM*
With the fire rising in them both, Cloud and Rainbow knew what they had to do to save Fluttershy.
“If I can’t catch her doing my Sonic Rainboom…” Rainbow said enthusiastically. “Then I’ll just have to come up with a new move!”
Watching Cloud move in his shadow form to Rainbow’s front hooves, Aeros became even more stunned.
“They’re actually going to prove me wrong about friendship…” Aeros told himself, flabbergasted.
What happened next confirmed to him that the fight Rainbow and Cloud had really was just a part of friendship as Rainbow did what she did next...
*WAPOW*
In the swiftest of motions, Rainbow did a somersault kick that launched Cloud in the form of a shadow ball towards Fluttershy at the speed of sound. Fluttershy gasped as his form abruptly expanded when he reached her, enveloping her entire body. Before she knew it, Fluttershy was on a dark cloud, which moved down autonomously to bring her safely to the grassy surface, where she got off the cloud and onto the ground. Looking above, she saw Rainbow beaming with glee as she triumphantly declared…
“I call it, the Flash Rain Kick!”
“Rainbow Dash…” an awestruck Fluttershy said. “That was beyond incredible!”
“What do you expect from an incredible pony like me?” Rainbow Dash proclaimed. “I would never fail to pull something amazing off to save a friend, I just needed some pony to remind me of the kind of mare I am!”
Fluttershy saw Rainbow staring at the cloud that had levitated her down with admiration.
“Wait, is that cloud…” Fluttershy prepared to ask as she turned around and looked at it too. Before she could finish her sentence, it hovered down to the ground and manifested into Cloud Shroud in his pony form.
“Yes, it’s me.” Cloud told her happily. “I can willfully turn my body into cloud and shadow now, thanks to my will being tempered by my experiences with the Windigos and King Sombra.”
“Those monsters…” Fluttershy replied in disbelief. “...made you stronger? You mean that if you hadn’t been engaging with them...I’d be dead?”
“I wouldn’t say that…” Cloud answered optimistically. “Because they’re not monsters. No one can say for sure what is good or evil, and while the Windigos don’t believe in good and evil, there’s no way they can deny the power of believing we have good inside of us after this. We call that power...”
Cloud said this with the warmest smile he had smiled yet as he looked up and saw what Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash could not...Aero and Aera holding out their forelegs as if they were trying to catch someone, the same they held out their forelegs when he had fallen from his apartment balcony.
“Faith.” he finished, content.
Aeros saw his comrades as well, and finally knew for certain what Amoros had really meant when he talked of providing a safety net…
“He meant that he would work through their hearts…” he realized in thought. “This faith Cloud had was the same faith Amoros poured into their hearts. So even if my comrades had rescued Fluttershy, it would have proven the power of Cloud’s ideals of love and friendship……..”
*sniff* *sob*
And for the first time in his existence as a Windigo, Aeros shed tears. For the philosophy that had always driven his hate-filled soul to be so misguided about friendship was proven to be wrong without any room for doubt. Aero and Aera noticed him weeping and were shocked.
“Aeros?!” they exclaimed in disbelief as they moved towards him. “You’ve never cried before!”
“Don’t mind me…” he told them sorrowfully. “Let’s just talk to Amoros about what we’re going to do next...I need him more than ever right now…”
“Alright then…” they replied dejectedly, feeling very uncertain.
The Windigos then vanished, teleporting to where their master was…
Amoros was still outside of Celestia and Luna’s palace, watching what Luna and Sombra were doing inside Luna’s bedroom from the window with intense interest. Luna was lighting candles while Sombra was drawing the same symbol Discord had drawn to bring him back on the floor.
“That’s right…” he said amusedly. “Keep falling into his trap…”
The Windigos appeared adjacent to where he was floating, and he immediately sensed their presence.
“No need for a report.” he told his surprised subjects. “Cloud passed with flying colors.”
“Huh?” his subjects reacted in bewilderment. “You were that sure of him?”
“How could I not be?” Amoros answered cheerfully. “I’m more familiar with his fire than you are…”
“...Really?” the even more confused Windigos replied. “Even though we’ve been with him longer? Are you actually...”
“No, that is not one of my secrets.” Amoros denied what his intuition told him they were thinking. “I am only a god of love, not the god of love. I am not omniscient, nor omnipresent. I am simply a counterpart of a demon of hate.”
Amoros then chuckled to himself as he watched Luna give a pair of guards, who were standing just outside her partially open bedroom door with their vision of Sombra and the ritual occluded by the princess, orders before she immediately shut the door.
“What...what is going on?” the Windigos asked nervously.
“Nothing you have to fear.” Amoros replied in a tone that seemed reassuring, but had the adverse effect on them, worrying them more. “You trust in my fire, correct?”
*FWOOM*
The Windigos could feel the fire inside of Amoros growing, having a soothing effect on them that put them in a hypnotic trance. They wanted to come closer to their god…
“Yes, of course we trust you…” they answered in a mesmerized tone, feeling as if they were becoming one with their god. “After all, you’re…..*GASP*”
The Windigos soon blacked out, losing consciousness. However, before this, they had remembered everything...
Everything that happened that day...