Cloudsdale... a city high in the heavens of Equestria, where the sun shines the brightest, weather is managed, and many pegasi consider home. Now, it had been reduced to something much less beautiful. Where once there were fluffy white clouds, now they were gray and rumbled, as if preparing to storm. The once vivid rainbows now looked sickly and dark, as if they were formed from a thick syrup. The entire place reeked of ozone, and everywhere she looked, there were pegasi in stone. Amaterasu took a tentative step forward, and suddenly felt herself falling through the cloud. For a moment, her long, long life flashed before her eyes... then she felt as if she were on solid ground again.
"Whoa, Ammy, that was terrifying! Dark atmosphere, pony statues, that weird prophecy, now us almost dying as soon as we get here?! Man, I think my heart almost gave way!" When the poncle calmed down enough, he notices her breastplate glowing. "Hey, I think that thing you got is what's keeping us up here! Pretty nifty."
'Nifty' wasn't the first word Ammy would use, but at least they weren't about to crash to the ground below. Ammy takes a few more tentative steps, before she was comfortable enough to walk out fully onto the cloud. They were firm, yet had a bit bounce to them.
"Well, we better get looking for the factory that half-baked prophet was talking about. But... what's a factory?" Neither of them knew exactly what that meant, but it sounded a bit like a building. Looking around, some of the clouds did in fact look like buildings. Ammy pointed this out with her hoof. "You think one of these clouds could be that Rainbow Factory thing that the prophet was talking about?
It seemed like the most likely possibility, considering everything was clouds. The problem was that there was no way to actually discern any one cloud building from another that well. They just looked like... well... a bunch of clouds! Figuring things might make more sense if they actually got a look around, Ammy and Issun began their investigation. As they traveled through the cloudy pathways, they ran into more than a few imps, as well as some new foes: cloudy beasts that took to hiding in the cloud-ground and springing up, and seemed to enjoy shooting lightning bolts. Luckily, they weren't much trouble, since they had the weird tendency to laugh before attacking.
For hours, the two searched for this supposed "Rainbow Factory," with little fortune. The sun slowly ebbed down in the sky, and Ammy felt herself getting drowsy. She was ready for a nap. "Yo, furball, I think we should call it a day. I can't keep my eyes open any longer." Issun collapses in her fur, and tiny snores are soon heard. Ammy, too, soon falls to the fluffy ground, and begins to dream....
~~~~~~~~~~
"It is good to see you, Amaterasu." whispered a voice, so familiar, yet such a distant memory. It was the voice she had heard so frequently as of late, the voice which seemed to possess the Elements of Harmony and gave her new brush techniques. "So, you still do not know who I am? ...I will admit, I am disheartened, but I understand. Just as your memories of your recent adventures were sealed when you came to this place, so too, were your memories of the old times sealed... your memories of us, sealed. Even your voice, your sweet, soothing voice, was sealed so long ago. But, soon, all will be revealed."
Amaterasu looked around desperately in the darkness that was her dream for the source of the voice. A faint light glowed in the distance, and she began to run to it, tears streaming down her face. Why did she feel so close to this voice? Why did it feel like her heart was breaking, listening to it? She had to find out. She needed to find out. Finally, she found the source. It was a faint image of a crescent moon, blue light shimmering around it. The feeling of warmth grew within her, as did the sadness of not knowing who this symbol represented.
"Oh, dear Amaterasu... know, that once the Elements are restored, so too, shall I be free to help you. But... so too, shall he be free. He, who you know as I, but whom sadly is not as close. He, like we, was brought here. He too, has replaced another, and shall consume the world if not dealt with. Sadly... he, too, is locked away by the seal on the elements. This message I bring to you now, so that you know that to save this world, you must bring into it an evil far greater than what you've faced as of late. An evil from your distant past...."
As the words left it, Amaterasu felt herself being pulled away, pulled back into consciousness. She struggled, wanting to know more that this strange one knew, this strange one she loved, who she couldn't remember. It was as if waking was tearing her in half. Tears ran down her face as she reached for the symbol, trying to make sense of it all. Before she woke, she heard three final words:
"I love you..."
~~~~~~~~~~
Ammy awoke to Issun frantically hopping on her nose. "Ammy! Look, look!" He pointed, and as Ammy blinked open her drowsy, tear-riddled eyes, she saw what had excited him so. Somehow, while they both slept, they had changed positions. They now sat before a large building. It was quite unlike the others, the clouds making up its structure stone-like in appearance. Amaterasu walked towards it, knocking on it, and indeed it felt as if it were made of stone as the ground was. "This HAS to be the Rainbow Factory! This is where that pony we're looking for is at!"
Not far from their position was a door, made strangely enough, from metal. It seemed weird, metal on a cloud. Still, in this land of ponies, such a thing wasn't too unbelievable. As she approached, Amaterasu felt a sense of dread deep within her being. This place... it radiated evil. Whatever was inside, it wouldn't be pleasant. Still, they needed to do this. She had to protect this place, even if it wasn't the home she knew. After all, it seemed that it was the evil she DID know, that has caused it such pain. With those thoughts in mind, she threw caution to the wind, and burst through the doors to the awaiting darkness that filled the Rainbow Factory...