The first thing Cloud could discern, as he was beginning to fall back to consciousness, was that he felt as if he was floating in midair. His eyes were still closed so he couldn't see what was going on, but, he didn't need to. Cloud felt a hand touching his forehead.
"Mother?" He asked groggily.
"Again? Why is everyone calling me their mother lately?" The figure lifted their hand off of Cloud.
"I guess they most be fond of you." Another voice said.
"This one a little too big to adopt." The female voice joked.
"Tough luck, friend. Sounds like you don't have a place here." The male voice spoke sincerely.
Cloud wondered to himself.
“Am I in a dream?”
Suddenly, Cloud felt like he had gone into freefall. He didn't panic, he didn't even flinch. The freefall didn't last long as the mercenary came to slow stop. Eyes still closed, he didn't notice a wolf had walked up and inspected him. Then, it was gone as soon as it arrived.
Cloud finally decided to open his eyes. When he did, the first thing he noticed were several hands laying on his torso. Then came the sound of trickling water. As he got his bearings and his mind set back into reality, he realized he was back at the run-down church where he and the Main 7 had confronted Kadaj. Not only that, he lay in the pool of water that was created earlier surrounded by several children. Cloud looked amongst the kids as well as the crowd that had gathered around the outskirts of the body of water. Then one of the kids spoke.
"It's like she said. Wait here and Cloud will come back."
Cloud didn't know what to say. He was still too stunned to really conjure up an answer.
"Welcome back." A voice said.
Cloud turned to see Marlene along with his friends standing by the side of the water, smiling at him. Pinkie was the first to really show her relief. She practically tackled Cloud with a hug.
"I'm so happy you're okay. We thought we lost you." The party mare cried.
"Even though we had faith that you would return. Ya still gave us quite the scare, Cloud." Applejack said.
"I'm back." Cloud said simply.
"Still don't have a way with words." Rainbow chuckled.
Applejack and Twilight both gave the pegasus a scornful look. Rainbow winced.
"Sorry." She said.
"There are still children with the stigma." Red XIII pointed to Denzel.
"Yeah." Cloud slowly walked up the water's edge where Denzel stood.
Pinkie hopped off of Cloud and landed back with her friends, giving Denzel a good pat on the back. It was clear to the others that the boy was nervous, however. Tifa came up to him.
"Hey, let's get you fixed up." She said softly.
"There's nothing to be afraid of." Fluttershy encouraged, putting a hoof on Denzel's shoulder.
Cloud reached his hand out to him.
"Come on. I'm here." Cloud assured.
Denzel was still a bit hesitant. Who could blame him. The last time he came into contact with mysterious water it brainwashed him.
"It's okay." Tifa said calmly.
"Go on, sugarcube." Applejack encouraged.
Denzel relaxed himself and walked up to the edge. Cloud took him by the sides of his torso and hoisted him into the water. The two looked at each other. Calmness came over then both. Cloud then scooped up a handful of water and held it over Denzel's head. The others watched in anticipation. Cloud drizzled the water on the boy's head. Denzel held his hands up, shielding his eyes from the water. He looked down at his reflection in the water and realized, with wide eyes, the infection on his forehead was gone. He looked up to Cloud who nodded, confirming what he was seeing was real. Denzel looked back at the others with the biggest smile ever, laughing joyfully.
The crowd erupted into celebration as other infected people hopped into the curing waters.
"It worked, it worked!" Tifa shouted happily.
"Wahoo!" Pinkie cannonballed into the water.
"Pinkie, you're not infected!" Twilight called out.
"Yeah, but the water's great. C'mon, hop in." Pinkie said.
"Last one in is a rotten egg." Cid said jokingly.
"Thanks, but, no thanks." Rarity said under her breath.
She was still put off by her ruined mane. That didn't matter, though. Children hopped around in the water, excited as can be. Cloud watch the infected people enter the water with happiness and content as the crowd cheered. Then, his eyes fell upon a familiar figure standing over two crouching children. Cloud's eyes widened.
The figure was obviously female. She had braided, brown hair and wore a red vest with a long, pink skirt. She walked over to the church's entrance where a male figure was standing against the doorframe, arms crossed. He had black, spiky hair and wore a black, sleeveless sweater and two metal, shoulder plates. Cloud knew who those two more than anyone; Aerith and Zach.
Aerith looked over at Cloud.
"You see. Everything's alright." She said warmly.
She turned as Zach waved his hand goodbye. The two figures walked out of the church and disappeared within the blinding sunlight.
Cloud took a second to comprehend what he saw. A smile formed on his face.
"I know. I'm not alone. Not anymore." He thought to himself.
"Hey, Cloud. What are you looking at?" Rainbow waved her front hoof in front of Cloud's eyes.
Cloud immediately snapped out of his thoughts.
"Hmm, just some old friends." He replied.
The blue pegasus turned to see where Cloud was looking at, but she didn't see anyone. She was obviously confused, but she shrugged, not wanting to spoil Cloud's moment.
"Okay...then." She said to herself.
Twilight watched the people enjoying themselves in the pool. They once were infected with the Geostigma, but now the came out cured and clean.
"It's great to see the Geostigma finally get eradicated." Twilight said happily.
"Yeah." Cloud said. "Hey, Twilight?"
"Yeah, Cloud." Twilight said
"Thank you for your help. You and your friends helped me understand that being with others is what helps win the battle." Cloud said.
"Aw, your welcome, Cloud." Twilight said softly.
"Ain't nothin to it." Applejack said.
"That's what were here for, darling." Rarity conceded.
"Yeah, now you have your other friends to be by your side." Pinkie pulled the two friend groups into a massive hug.
"Help, I can't breath." Rainbow sputtered.
"I'm not really much of a hugger." Cid said awkwardly.
"So much for personal space." Barret rolled his eyes.
"Pinkie!" Rarity snapped.
Pinkie let go and the hug was dropped.
"What? What better way to bring two groups together and closer than ever than with a hug." The sugar-loving mare giggled.
"How about something simple. Like a high-five." Barret held his open hand out.
Spike saw the opportunity and high-fived the militant leader.
"Sweet." He said happily.
Vincent chuckled in amusement.
"But, seriously. We appreciate the thanks, Cloud. It means a lot to us." The alicorn said.
Cloud nodded.
"I'm glad this ended nicely." Fluttershy added.
"So, now that that gang is taken care of and the Geostigma has a cure, does that mean the mission is over?" Rainbow wondered.
No sooner had she asked that question, Twilight, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow, and Applejack's cutie marks began to glow and Spike's scales began to glow too. A portal formed right behind them. Their mission was complete.
"What in the name of..." Cid trailed off.
"Welp, there's ya answer, Dash." Applejack remarked.
"Wait, you mean you can't stay here?" Tifa asked.
"Yeah, it seems that it's time to head back home." Twilight said wistfully.
"So, Vincent was right. You came here to help us." Yuffie concluded.
"Yep, it's what we do as the Elements of Harmony." Rainbow said coolly.
"Well, I hope you all can come back soon." Tifa said. "It's nice having a bit of color in our lives. Metaphorically and literally."
"It was the most fun we've had ever!" Pinkie bounced around excitedly.
"Fun wouldn't be the best way I'd describe it." Rarity winced, remembering the nightmarish fight they had with Sephiroth.
"Keep yourselves safe." Cloud said
"We will. Alright, girls. Let's go back home." Twilight said.
Rarity was the first to enter seeing how she was itching to get back home. Denzel hugged Fluttershy, who hugged him back.
"Aw, I hope the best for you, sweetie." Fluttershy cooed.
Denzel nodded and waved goodbye as the cream-yellow pegasus walked through the portal. Rainbow gave Cid a fist/hoof bump before taking her leave.
Pinkie, Applejack, and Spike followed after her, leaving only Twilight.
"I hope things will get better for you, Cloud." Twilight said.
"They will." Cloud replied.
The purple alicorn smiled, gave one last hug to the blond mercenary, and walked through the portal.
Cloud had a warm smile on his face. After what seemed like forever, he had finally broken out of his shell. He would never be alone again.
Back at the Castle of Friendship, a portal opened up from the Cutie Map. One by one, the Main 7 jumped out and landed on the floor. Some landed perfectly, others not so much.
"Oof!" Rainbow yelped as a certain pink mare landed on top of her.
"That was fun." Pinkie giggled.
"Pinkie, get off me!" The rainbow-maned pegasus wheezed helplessly.
Pinkie hopped off Rainbow and helped her up.
"Sorry, Dashie." Pinkie chuckled, embarrassed.
"It's fine. Just, please don't do that again." Rainbow said.
"Well, now that we're back home, there's somethin ah need to talk to you about, Twi." Applejack said.
"What is it, Applejack?" Asked Twilight.
"You remember the conversation we had right before we went on the friendship mission and met Cloud?" Applejack asked.
Twilight had to give the question some thought, but she was able to recall that Applejack had brought up the problem of not telling others about their dimensional adventures.
"Oh, yeah. You said you had concerns about that." Twilight said.
Applejack nodded contently.
"Don't get me wrong, Twi. Ah understand yer concerns of some ponies takin things the wrong way. But, I hate leavin mah family in the dark on mah whereabouts." Applejack explained.
"I understand, Applejack." The alicorn said. "And you're right, it's not right to do that. Your family deserves to know where you are. That goes for all of us.
"Yeah." Pinkie agreed. "Besides, it's fun talking to other ponies about all of our fun adventures." The pink mare raised her front hooves high to emphasize her point.
"Then it's settled. We can tell our friends and families about our adventures." Twilight said. "I'm hoping it won’t lead to anything bad. Who knows, maybe they might learn something out of it, too."
"Thank you, Twilight." The farm pony smiled warmly.
"Aw, yeah. I can't wait to tell Scootaloo about this." Rainbow said excitedly.
"Well, I'm glad we got home safely." Rarity said. "Now I ca-"
She stopped herself when she remembered something. She had completely forgotten about the chocolate mousse cake she had left at the abandoned picnic before the friendship mission. Her left eye twitched.
"Um, Rarity. Are you okay?" Fluttershy asked in concern.
The pristine unicorn didn't answered. Instead, she bolted out of the room and galloped for the exit.
"My mousse cake I left behind. Oh, I hope nopony's taken it." Rarity shrieked dramatically.
The others watched through the doorway as their friend scrambled out of the castle. Rainbow busted out laughing. Applejack shook her head.
"And ah thought Pinkie would react that way with a cake." She joked.
"So did I." Pinkie added.
The others shared a good laugh out of that.
Over the next couple days, the Main 7 all conversed with close friends and family about their wild friendship missions. There was quite a bit of shock to be sure, it was nowhere near as bad as Twilight had originally feared. In fact, some ponies like Rainbow's number one fan, Scootaloo, begged for more stories from the blue pegasus. Most went on with their day which was relieving for the young alicorn.
As for Rarity, she found her mousse cake had been almost completely eaten. The others chalked it up to some foals deciding to take it for themselves. Rarity, being her dramatic self, grieved over the loss over a perfectly made cake she worked so hard on. There was always next time, though.
About a week after the adventure with Cloud, The Main 7 were enjoying themselves in the same picnic spot. They had decided to continue with their picnic considering how abruptly it ended last time. Rarity did end up making another mousse cake, but she did not let this one out of her sights. Rainbow was flying around, enjoying the slight breeze Applejack and Fluttershy were discussing their day and Pinkie was munching on the food she had brought along. Twilight sat on the picnic blanket with Spike napping against her side. She gazed through the bright fields and houses of Ponyville. It definitely looked and felt much brighter than in Cloud's home world, but, to her, it didn't matter. Cloud had opened up and found the great things of being with others. She smiled thinking of how much he changed.
"Cloud, wherever you are, just know we'll be there for you in spirit," Twilight thought to herself.
Though, just to herself, she hoped the next adventure won't be as perilous and violent as the last one. Maybe Twilight will be right. Don't you think?
The End.
Tara Strong - Twilight Sparkle
Cathy Weseluck - Spike
Ashleigh Ball - Rainbow Dash & Applejack
Andrea Libman - Pinkie Pie & Fluttershy
Tabitha St. Germain - Rarity
Kelly Sheridan - Starlight Glimmer
Steve Burton - Cloud Strife
Rachael Leigh Cook - Tifa Lockheart
Steve Staley - Kadaj
Dave Wittenberg - Yazoo
Fred Tatasciore - Loz
Wally Wingert - Rufus Shinra
Quinton Flynn - Reno
Crispin Freeman - Rude
Steve Blum - Vincent Valentine
Beau Billingslea - Barret Wallace
Chris Edgerly - Cid Highwind
Christy Carlson Romano - Yuffie Kisaragi
Greg Ellis - Cait Sith
Liam O'Brien - Red XIII
Grace Rolek - Marlene
Benjamin Bryan - Denzel
Mena Suvari - Aerith Gainsborough
Rick Gomez - Zach
George Newbern - Sephiroth