Morgoth, smouldering and twitching, plummeted from the sky like a bird with its wings clipped. Despite the nearly blinding pain that coursed through him, he refused to allow himself to cry out. He struck the ground with a dull thud, jarring his bones. There was a sharp pain in his back and Morgoth grunted as something snapped.
He lay on the ground unmoving for a time, letting the pain wash over him as he attempted to regain his senses. He heard the sound of something alighting on the grass next to him, but he paid it no mind, the throbbing pain wracking his body holding his full attention.
“Oh man, that’s the third time today.” he heard Rainbow remark as she fretted over his battered form, trying to help him to his feet. “Are you alright? You need me to take you to the hospital?”
Fighting through the pain, Morgoth forced his body to stand. “Nay, Rainbow. I have been dealt graver wounds than these. I am well.”
He heard a gasp from Rainbow, drawing his attention. She stared in shock at his side and he followed her gaze to his left wing, bent at an unnatural angle and dangling uselessly from his side. It appeared to have been dislocated when he landed on it. With a grunt he grabbed the useless appendage in his hoof and with a sharp jerk and a pop, snapped the joint back into place.
He gingerly gave the wing a few experimental flaps and was pleased to see it was back in working order. He looked up to see Rainbow looking at him in undisguised awe.
“Dude, h-how did you... Oh! Magic wings, right, forgot all about that!”
Morgoth grunted and flared his wings experimentally. “Shall we continue with thy cloud bucking lessons?”
“Uh, I’m thinking that maybe we should cool it with the cloud bucking for a bit. Seems like every time you touch a cloud you get struck by lightning.”
Morgoth looked over himself, noting that his once pristine white coat was now mostly grey with soot from lightning strikes. “It is of little consequence, I think. I wish to return to our lessons with all haste.”
Rainbow rubbed her chin with a hoof. “I dunno, you can’t seem to go more than two clouds without getting blasted out of the sky. I think we’re gonna need to call in some professional help here.”
“Those words instill a fear in me beyond thy imagining, Rainbow.” Morgoth deadpanned.
“Don’t worry, Shady! I know just the pony who can help you with your little lightning problem.”
“Then let us proceed with all haste! The sooner we remedy this problem the sooner we may return to our lessons.” he declared.
“Jeez, you love learning so much it’s almost scary. You sure you’re not related to Twi?” Rainbow joked as they set off towards town, cantering along at an unhurried pace to better accommodate Morgoth’s injuries.
Morgoth glared fiercely at Rainbow which only resulted in the cyan pegasus bursting out into a fit of laughter. “Sorry, sorry, I’m not calling you an egghead or anything. You just seem really into these lessons. It’s kinda funny to see somepony other than Twilight so into learning.”
“The sooner my business is concluded here the sooner I might set about finding a way home.” Morgoth said absently.
Rainbow winced a little. “Ouch.”
Too late Morgoth realized his mistake, and when he did he sighed in frustration. “My apologies. T’was not my intention to cause offence, Lady Rainbow. I am simply...” He struggled to find a word appropriate for what he was feeling.
“Homesick?” Rainbow offered.
Morgoth turned the word over in his head for a moment. “For lack of a better word, I suppose that is an apt description. I find myself yearning to return to Arda. It has been so long since I last laid eyes upon that land.”
“Don’t worry, I know what you mean. And also don’t worry about the other thing, no offense taken. You think I’d get as far along in life as I have by getting offended at every little thing?” she said.
“Truly thou dost not appear to be one so easily incensed by words of affront to thy self.” Morgoth remarked.
“Nope. I used to get teased all the time back in Flight School. Know what I did?” Rainbow said.
“Slaughtered them for their impudence?” Morgoth offered.
Rainbow paused mid-story and stared at Morgoth, an eyebrow quirked. Morgoth sighed. “I jest, Rainbow.”
“Oh! I knew that.” she declared. “But anyways, like I was saying. I got teased a lot when I was little, but instead of getting offended, I just challenged them to something, then totally crushed them at whatever it was. It’s a lot harder to make fun of somepony who just completely whooped your flank in a race than most ponies would think. So, I guess what I’m getting at here is this. Don’t get mad, just show them that you’re better than they are. And make sure everypony else is watching when you do.”
“I have difficulty imagining how any might have the nerve to slight one as accomplished as thee.” Morgoth said, sarcasm once more dripping from his voice. Sarcasm which went utterly missed by Rainbow Dash.
“You’d think so, right? But, oh man, I gotta tell you this one. It was a while ago at Flight School, there were these three bullies teasing Fluttershy, and I didn’t like that one bit, so I told them to just buck off. Except, ya know, not in those words since I was like nine years old at the time.”
“It is only with great difficulty that I might bring to mind images of thee appearing as any manner of innocent.” Morgoth remarked, earning him a flick on the nose from Rainbow’s tail. With some pride he noted that he was getting better at suppressing his killing urges.
“Anyways, they started teasing me instead, so I decided to challenge them to a race. You know what I ended up doing? I did a Sonic Rainboom in the middle of that race and shut everypony right the buck up!”
“Forgive me, but I find myself unfamiliar with... Sonic Rainbooms.” Morgoth said, the words feeling utterly alien to his mouth.
“Well, I’m not exactly sure of the science behind it, I know Twilight explained it to me once, but I kinda zoned out. Anyways, it’s something to do with breaking the sound barrier so hard that I break the light spectrum too. Or something. Like I said, I wasn’t paying attention. But I’m the only pegasus who can do that, and the first time I did it I wasn’t even into double digits, so that just about shut everypony right up.” Rainbow said, holding her head high as she related the story to Morgoth.
“Hah! A most excellent tale. I too found my own pride challenged by another once long ago. There was one that dared challenge me in the sight of all those that would follow me. Horrible were the curses he spat upon my pride and great was the indignity he heaped upon me as he issued his challenge. It could be said that my say in this matter had been taken from me, as not to heed his challenge would have been to lose face before nigh all of Arda.”
“Wow. This guy sounds like he was pretty full of himself.” Rainbow remarked.
Morgoth nodded in agreement. “T’is wisdom that thou speaketh. My options few, I agreed to his contest, and for a while it seemed I would be bested. But fortune was with me and I defeated the impudent fool that day. Long were any who spoke against me silent after I so bested him.”
“Nice!” Rainbow exclaimed, clapping him on the back.
Finding it strange that the pony’s action did not stir any anger in him, Morgoth put a smile on his face and laughed. “No better feeling exists in all Ea than triumphing over one’s foes and silencing those that would speak out against thee.”
“You know Shady, I like you.” Rainbow said finally. “You’re easy to talk to. And you’re a lot like me. You know there’s nothing wrong with being a little awesome and taking pride in it. Any of these conversations I’ve had with you over the past few weeks, if I’d had them with Twilight or the others, Pinkie aside, they’d probably have told me that I was being arrogant. I mean, I know what being arrogant is like, I got a little crazy not too long ago, but there’s nothing wrong with being a little proud of yourself.”
“And why should it be different?” Morgoth agreed. “In what manner does constant humility serve us? In my mind humility is the worse of the two, especially when one is overly so.”
“Yeah, being modest can be just as bad.” Rainbow added. “Like when I compliment Rarity on how awesome her newest dress looks she’ll just go and play it down like it’s no big thing when it’s probably gonna end up being the next fashion craze and she knows it. It’s like complimenting yourself is wrong, so ponies are modest so that others compliment them instead. Way I see it, if modesty is just a way to get compliments out of others, why not just stick with recognizing how awesome I am and leave it at that? Cuts out the middle man and saves me time I could use for flying. I don’t need everypony else to tell me how awesome I am. Though don’t get me wrong, it never hurts to hear it.” she added.
Morgoth was quickly forced to revise his opinions of the cyan pegasus. While he’d originally been expecting his time with her to be torturous, he’d quickly come to realize that this would likely be the most enjoyable time he would spend on Equestria. Or at least it would be the time he hated the least. Perhaps he could even put off killing her, he hated the pink one far more anyways. In his mind Morgoth shuffled a few names around, moving Rainbow Dash’s from the first spot to the end. She was entertaining, she would die last.
“Oh wow, are we already here?” Rainbow remarked as the two entered Ponyville. “Jeez, time sure does fly when you’re having fun, huh?”
Morgoth was shocked at the passage of time too, having actually been interested in what the rainbow pony had to say, the time seemed to pass at double its normal rate and it was with a tinge of mild regret that he let conversation fall away. Then with annoyance replacing his regret, he noticed that his constant exposure to her was causing him to regard her as something approaching an equal. He found that he hated her for being so easily likeable to him, and for a moment he wondered if he truly had been lying when he’d said she was his friend.
“Thou made mention of one who might remedy my issues with lightning strikes, to whom were thou referring?” Morgoth inquired, attempting to pull himself from the thoughts invading his mind.
Rainbow smirked, which sent a shiver down Morgoth’s spine. “Your number one fan, of course!” she said. Seeing the uncomprehending look on his face she sighed. “Ditzy Do, you blockhead.”
Morgoth quirked an eyebrow. “Forgive me, but I find it difficult to see how she might be of any assistance with this problem.”
“Ditzy actually had the same problem as you not too long ago. Actually... it might have been worse. She kinda blew up town hall with all the lightning strikes. But she got better at dealing with it, so she’ll probably be able to help you.” Rainbow surmised.
Morgoth remained unconvinced. The grey pegasus was markedly useless, her only redeeming action thus far was her providing him with a delicious alternative to the hated cupcakes. Though he supposed that was worthy of at least marginal recognition, she’d no doubt greatly increased his quality of living by introducing him to the pastries known as muffins.
“If I might inquire, to where might we be headed?” Morgoth asked.
“The post office.” Rainbow explained. “Ditzy should be done for the day about now so I’m hoping we can catch her as she leaves.” Morgoth grunted in response and continued to walk beside Rainbow in silence.
The Ponyville post office came into view shortly and it appeared that fortune smiled upon their endeavors, as just as they approached it a familiar blond pony trotted out the door humming happily to herself as she left for home.
“Hey Ditzy!” Rainbow called, catching the pony’s attention. Ditzy turned, catching sight of them, and trotted over, a radiant smile on her face.
“Hey guys!” she greeted them. “Haven’t seen you two in a few days. You guys wanna hang out?”
“Actually we’re wondering if you can solve a problem for us.” Rainbow said.
Ditzy look absolutely thrilled at the words, her wings flaring in excitement. “Really? You need my help with something?” she asked with barely contained glee.
“You betcha. Shady here’s been having some trouble with cloud bucking. He keeps getting electrocuted. Since you seem to have gotten over your problem with lightning we were thinking that maybe you could give him a hand and teach him how to... well, you know, not get struck by lightning.”
Ditzy snapped a hoof to her forehead in salute wearing the most adorably serious expression on her face, made all the sillier by her mismatching eyes. “I won’t let you down, Rainbow Dash!”
Morgoth felt immediately justified in any doubts he held for the grey one’s capabilities. “Lady Ditzy, feel not obligated to render me aid. The pastries thou hast so kindly gifted me with were a most adequate repayment for my help.” he said, hoping dearly that she would agree.
“Oh don’t worry, I don’t wanna do it because I feel like I owe you, I wanna do it because I’m your friend!” Ditzy replied cheerily.
“Don’t mind him, Ditzy, he’s just new to having friends. He only had one friend back where he comes from so he doesn’t really know much about friendship.” Rainbow explained.
“Oh my gosh!” Ditzy said, shocked. “I’ll have to help you make some friends then!” She was practically bouncing on the spot in excitement, causing a great deal of apprehension to build in the wayward Vala.
“Well, actually, hey Shady, how long’s it been since the last time we saw Twilight?” Rainbow asked.
“Three days by my reckoning.” Morgoth replied.
“Well then before we do anything we need to see Twilight and have her renew your flight spell.” Rainbow said.
“Ah, yes. The spell had nearly slipped my mind. I thank thee for thy keen mind, else my lessons this day would be unpleasant indeed.” Morgoth said with a grateful dip of his head.
With their course of action laid out for them the three pegasi took to the air and made for Twilight’s library. The trio arrived quickly, the trip taking slightly under a minute on wing. The three approached the great tree where Twilight made her home and Rainbow gave the door a few quick raps.
“Hey Twi, it’s Rainbow! We need to you cast that wing spell on Shady again!” she announced as she knocked.
Within a few moments the door was opened by Twilight’s assistant, Spike. “Hey guys,” he greeted them, “Twilight’s just getting out of the shower now, she’ll be right down.”
“Thanks Spike.” Rainbow said, pausing to ruffle the blunt, green spines on Spike’s head as she walked in. Morgoth nodded a greeting to Spike and Ditzy gave a wave as she lazily glided in behind them.
“I’ll go get you guys some snacks while you wait for Twilight.” Spike said, hurrying from the lobby into the kitchen.
“The dragon is a gracious host.” Morgoth remarked.
“Yeah, Spike’s great. Twilight’s lucky to have him as an assistant.” Rainbow replied.
“It still seems a strange thing to me to have such a creature for a familiar.” Morgoth said. “On Arda dragons were not nearly so kind.”
“Yeah, Spike’s not exactly your average dragon.” Rainbow said. “He’s kind of an anomaly here too, most dragons are jerks.”
Spike soon scampered back into the room carrying a tray laden with tea and cookies. “Here you go, guys. I made a fresh batch of cookies earlier today, hope you guys like them!”
“Thou hast my most humble thanks for thy hospitality, noble dragon.” Morgoth said, taking a cookie to appear polite.
“Yeah, these are great, Spike, thanks!” said Rainbow through a mouthful of cookies.
“Thank you!” Ditzy said as she nibbled a cookie.
“It’s no problem, I love baking anyways.” Spike said.
“I find myself curious.” Morgoth said. “What manner of dragon art thou? I have never seen thy likeness amongst the dragons of Arda.” Truthfully the subject was intriguing to him, as he was responsible for the creation of the dragons back upon Arda.
“I actually have no idea.” Spike said a little awkwardly. “I was given to Twilight as an egg, but other than that nopony really knows anything about where I’m from. All I know is that I’m not like other dragons at all.”
“As Lady Rainbow mentioned. By her reckoning thou art of a far kinder breed than thy kin.” he said.
“Oh yeah, I met up with some dragons a while ago to see what they were all like, but they’re all just a bunch of jerks.” Spike said. “So you’ve got dragons where you’re from?”
“Aye, but they are cruel and when not burning or ravaging the land they are content to sleep the ages away upon their hoard of riches.” he explained.
“Yeah, that sounds a lot like our dragons.” Rainbow remarked.
“Were they big?” Spike asked.
“Aye, they were.” Morgoth said, remembering his creations fondly. “The greatest of which was named Ancalagon the Black, and he was a great ally of mine. He was the largest of the winged dragons, such that even at a great distance he would cast the land in shadow.”
“Wow.” Spike said, awe coloring his voice. “He must have been huge!”
“It is a sad tale, he passed from the living world shortly before I myself left Arda. But it was a glorious passing, and when he fell from the sky his body shattered three mountains.” Morgoth said, remembering the event vividly.
“He BROKE three whole mountains?” Rainbow asked incredulously. “I can’t even imagine a dragon that size!”
“I know! I- hurk!” Spike’s eyes widened and his cheeks puffed out, then after a second he let out a belch of green fire which materialized into a scroll.
Before any of the assembled could react the scroll was seized by a lavender aura of magic and levitated over to Twilight as she trotted down a nearby staircase. “Afternoon everypony.” she said distractedly as she unfurled and read the scroll.
“Hey Twi.” Rainbow greeted her. “Just dropped by to see if you could recast that wing spell on Shady.”
Twilight hummed as she read the letter, then surprisingly held it out to Rainbow. “Not a problem. And it looks like this is for you.”
“For me?” she asked curiously. “What could the princess want with me?”
“The Allfather only knows.” Morgoth muttered as Rainbow snatched the scroll and began to read.
“Hmm, rogue storm front coming in from the Everfree.” Rainbow muttered as she read. “Looks like it’s gonna be one hay of a storm, guess I’ve got some work to do. Ditzy? You’re in charge of Shadowfax’s lessons until I’m done taking care of this.”
Once again, brimming with barely contained glee at the prospect of being given such responsibility, Ditzy saluted. “You can count on me, Rainbow! But are you sure you don’t need any help with that?”
“Nah, don’t worry about it, Weather Patrol should be able to handle it no problem. Might call for volunteers if it gets a little out of hoof, but I think we should be able to take care of this front. For the moment you just help Shadowfax get his little lightning issue under control.”
While the two pegasi conversed Twilight was busy casting her spell on Shadowfax. “There you go, good as new!” she said upon it’s completion. “Just remember, three days and it’ll wear off.”
“My thanks to thee, Lady Sparkle, until again we meet in three days time. Shall we away, Ditzy?” he asked trotting for the door. The ecstatic pegasus wasted no time shooting out right after him, leaving Rainbow and Twilight alone.
“Are you gonna be alright, Dash?” Twilight asked, concern lacing her voice. “If it’s enough to worry the princess it must be serious.”
Rainbow sighed. “Yeah, it’ll be tough, but we should be able to handle it. I’m just sorry Shadowfax can’t come along, I could really use a pony that tough in this storm.”
“Sounds like you’re really taking a shine to him.” Twilight observed.
“It takes a tough pony to get blasted out of the sky three times in a row and then get up ready for more, he’s one tough cookie. He even dislocated his left wing the last time he fell, but he just snapped it right back into place and carried on. I thought he was some kind of super pony before I remembered his wings were magic.” Rainbow said with a laugh. Twilight didn’t laugh.
“Rainbow,” Twilight started, her eyes wide with concern. “Shadowfax’s wings might have been given to him by magic, but for as long as he has them they’re real, made out of flesh and muscle and bone.”
“But... when Rarity’s wings burned up that time in Cloudsdale she didn’t feel it at all!” Rainbow countered disbelieving.
“That’s because those weren’t real, they were made out of sunlight and dewdrops and gossamer, there weren’t any nerves.” Twilight explained.
“So you’re saying Shadowfax actually felt that? He just popped a dislocated wing back into place without a thought and he felt it?”
“He must have, those wings are completely real.” Twilight confirmed.
“Holy hay.” Rainbow muttered. “Well, that colt just earned a whole new level of respect from me. But anyways, I’m off. Gotta go get that storm under control. Stupid Everfree and its stupid weather.” she added under her breath.
“Be careful!” Twilight warned. “If it’s worrying the princess you shouldn’t take it lightly!”
“Yeah, yeah.” Rainbow said dismissively. “I’m sure it’s nothing I can’t handle.”
Two soot blackened ponies stood in a field just outside of Ponyville, both panting and tired.
“Okay!” Ditzy chirped, singed and smoking, her blond mane frazzled and sticking out in spikes as befitting a victim of multiple lightning strikes. “I think that should about cover everything not to do when cloud bucking!” A lingering crackle of lightning surged through her, making her wince, yet her ever present smile didn’t falter in the least.
Morgoth was impressed. Few were the instances where he had encountered mortals who could endure such torment, let alone endure it and then emerge smiling. He himself was faring little better than the grey pegasus, having just practiced with her everything one should avoid doing whilst clearing clouds. He was surprised at how many seemingly inane actions could coax lightning from seemingly placid clouds.
“Lady Ditzy, by my count no fewer than four hours have past since my lessons under thee hath begun, during which time thou hast been struck by lightning ceaselessly. How art thou still standing?” Morgoth asked.
“Oh it’s not that bad.” she said, waving him off. “I used to do this all the time, so I’m probably just used to it.”
Her response answered few of his questions and gave rise to even more. How this creature had held onto life for as long as she did was utterly beyond Morgoth, surely any other creature would have been long dead in her place.
Before Morgoth could form a reply something very fast and trailing a rainbow streak across the sky crashed into the ground next to them at full speed. A part of Morgoth held its breath, hoping the cyan irritant killed herself in the collision. Another, more cynical part of him knew that he would never be so lucky.
“Ditzy, Shady! Thank Celestia I found you guys!’” she stammered, panic coloring her voice.
“Still thyself, Rainbow.” Morgoth said, placating the panicking mare. “What has thee in such straits?”
“Remember that storm Celestia warned me about that I was taking care of earlier?” she asked.
“Yeah.” Ditzy said. “You said it wouldn’t be any trouble for you, right?”
“I believe that I see what path this discussion takes.” Morgoth remarked.
“We’ve done everything we can think of!” Rainbow distressed. “But the storm’s growing and even starting to form funnel clouds in places, we just can’t cut it apart fast enough. If it keeps going at this rate it’ll probably hit Ponyville. We’re calling for any able bodied pegasus to lend a hoof, you guys up for this?”
Morgoth dipped his head. “I place myself at thy command, Rainbow.”
Ditzy saluted. “What he said, Rainbow!”
“Are you guys absolutely sure? This is serious, if we don’t stop this thing Ponyville could be in some real trouble. I need everypony to be ready to give way more than their all in this, can I count on you guys?”
“In all matters am I sworn to serve thee in thy endeavors, Rainbow Dash. My services are thine.” Morgoth said.
“And my axe!” Ditzy added enthusiastically.
“Good to hear, let’s get going. We don’t have a whole lot of time before this storm hits the town.” Rainbow said, taking off and leading the way towards the Everfree.
Having been training on the north side of town, the furthest point in town from the Everfree to the south, the travel time was greatly lengthened, nearly five minutes passing before the trio arrived at the edge of the Everfree. There they beheld a great, black storm front in the distance, ranging for miles in either direction. In truth it looked as though Morgoth had but to reach out to touch it such was its size, though it was fully five miles within the boundary of the forest. It appeared as a wall of solid black, towering thunderheads soaring up into the sky as dark skyscrapers, and already the telltale points of funnel clouds were beginning to poke down from the base of the clouds.
“It’s crazy in there.” Rainbow said over the roar of the wind. “Just look at that mess.”
The group watched as a chunk of cloud the size of a city block was carved from the black mass by the near invisible dots of pegasi Weather Patrol teams. Within moments it was set upon by over a hundred ponies carving and bucking the clouds into nonexistence. It was over in under a minute, the mass of cloud disintegrating before their eyes into nothingness. But in that same amount of time the storm front grew, replacing the lost cloud mass in the time it took the weather ponies to tear it apart.
“It’s growing even as we take it apart.” Rainbow explained. “We just can’t carve it up fast enough, the best we can do is stunt its growth, we need more ponies if we’re gonna take this thing down to size. And that’s were you guys come in. You’re gonna help us take this thing apart. Work from the top down with the other teams, and by Celestia’s flank, do not get anywhere near the base, you could get caught in a funnel cloud, and if that happens you’re done for. Understood?”
“Thy commands hath been noted, Rainbow.” Morgoth replied.
“You got it, Rainbow Dash!” Derpy chirped with her characteristic unwavering enthusiasm.
“Then fall in behind me and try to keep up.” Rainbow said, speeding off in a multicolored streak.
The trio of pegasi joined the others and set once more upon the storm front. Morgoth’s previous training with Ditzy proved to be invaluable and as a result he managed to avoid any mishaps. He did as was taught, not applying too much friction to the clouds lest he coax the electric wrath from the thunderheads.
Working beside Rainbow and Ditzy, the three and their fellow pegasi worked for hours to subdue the great storm as it moved slowly and inexorably towards the town of Ponyville which was becoming larger and larger in the distance.
Morgoth hung back as the group he worked with carved up the fleeting remains of a particularly dark cluster of clouds, panting as he struggled to catch his breath, silently raging at the infuriating limitations of his mortal body. He caught the gaze of Ditzy as she bucked the last clump of their most recent section out of existence and gave her a nod of approval. Ditzy beamed at the perceived praise and in an obvious attempt to impress him further redoubled her efforts. But in her desire to impress she dove into the roiling storm too eagerly and too deep where the clouds were densest, cutting out far more than she could handle. Her first strike against the mass of angry blackness was sloppy in her excitement, and the cloud immediately disgorged a bolt of lightning.
Ditzy seized up as the lightning coursed through her, her muscles locking in place. With her wings frozen upon her back she instantly began to plummet through the storm, bouncing off angry black thunderheads as she fell through the sky. Morgoth’s eyes widened as it happened, a pang of panic surging through him.
No! If that idiot pegasus got herself killed then he’d be down a friend and then he’d have to go to the trouble of having to make another one to make up for her! That was unacceptable! The more friends he had, the faster he was sure he could get through his trial, and them perishing on him would not be allowed. It was far too great of an inconvenience to him for them to die.
In but a second he locked eyes with Rainbow, who’d seen the whole thing, and her eyes widened too, sensing his intentions. Before she could give voice to a single word of opposition Morgoth dove into the clouds after the idiot mare. Punching through clouds in his hasty attempt to save her from certain doom, he hardly noticed that he was beginning to near the cloud base and, consequently, the bulk of the funnel clouds.
Slowly, ever so slowly, and yet sickeningly quickly, another, monstrous funnel cloud began to form, utterly eclipsing all previous ones in its unstoppable journey to the ground. And Ditzy had the misfortune to fall right through the center. She managed to right herself as she fell out into the open air, but by the time she’d regained her bearings the walls of the funnel cloud had passed her and crashed into the ground with all the force of an angry god. The wind in the newly birthed cyclone then proceeded to toss her about like a child would a toy, threatening to rip her from the air with every passing second. In her panic she fought against the winds, but to no avail, achieving little more than a slightly less than stable position near the very center of the funnel.
At that moment Morgoth broke through the cloud base only to gaze in horror at the immense tornado surrounding him. He spotted Ditzy struggling against the wind with all her might a little over a hundred yards below him, and without giving himself time to second guess a hastily formed plan, he dove after her. He dove straight down, flying with all his might directly at her as the wind ripped at him, threatening to throw him off course. The moment before he collided with Ditzy he snapped his wings open and corkscrewed through the air, latching his front hooves around Ditzy and shooting off towards the wall of the tornado while maintaining the momentum of his dive.
The wind was strong, but Morgoth managed to reach the edge, and he and Ditzy punched through the skin of the cyclone, the grey mare tumbling out into the comparatively calmer air. Morgoth, however, lost momentum as he threw Ditzy outwards and was grabbed up in the tornado once more, though he fought against it with every ounce of his godly might. It was to no avail though, and he felt himself being dragged inexorably backwards and into the funnel. He locked his gaze with Ditzy’s horrified eyes, and in that moment realized she wished to help him. He decided it would be prudent to put a stop to such thoughts, lest she seek to enter the cyclone once more. He looked to her and bellowed a single string of words over the roaring winds.
“FLY YOU FOOL!”
And then he was consumed by the storm.