Windigo Whisperer

by Misty Shadow

Truth is Stranger Than Fiction

Princess Luna, King Sombra, Amoros, and Neighsay were all sitting around a table in the evidence room, figuring out what they were going to do.

“The biggest question at hand here is how to present this information to the public.” Luna addressed her biggest concern.

“Indeed.” Neighsay concurred, turning to Amoros. “Though I fully trust your guidance, my lord, what do you intend for us to do if the release of this information triggers the public to rise in revolt? How shall the media give their coverage of my declassification? Especially considering what we’d have to release about that corporation…”

“There is no need to worry.” Amoros said to abate their fears. “The reveal of one company’s corruption will not destroy the public’s trust in the news overnight, and even if the news is relayed to them by a shady reporter, they’ll be more inclined to believe we had good intentions in time, though they most certainly will not be pleased at first. Revolutions take risk after all, and so long as the public believes that the wrongdoers in government have been punished, there is nothing to fear.”

“What are you suggesting?” Sombra asked with his usual suspicion. “Do I count as one of those wrongdoers?”

“Do remember that the story the media is selling to the public right now is that you have been reformed by the power of love.” Amoros rebutted. “Throwing you under the bus so abruptly wouldn’t work, especially when I need both you and Cloud for my plans. Once we’re done with this meeting, I want you going straight with him to help him and my, or should I say, his disciples battle against the storm.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Sombra retorted facetiously, rolling his eyes, disgruntled over the fact that he now had to help the Windigos he was once ordered to stop.

Amoros then turned to Luna, who appeared somber, kneeling her head.

“What say you, Luna?” he asked her.

“…I believe it is I who should take the fall for everything.” she answered solemnly. “I am responsible for what happened to Sombra. It is I alone, who should-”

Before she could finish, she was interrupted by the door to the evidence room abruptly opening and closing and a familiar figure entering.

“That, I will not allow, younger sister.” the figure, revealed to be Princess Celestia, interjected sternly. “I told you once, and I will tell you again, stop blaming yourself for what happened to Sombra. It is the responsibility of us both.”

“Fancy you say that upon intruding in my area of work…” Luna made a snappy comeback. “What brought you here anyway?”

“Have you even seen the weather outside?” Celestia retorted. “I was simply brooding at my window over what happened to Discord, when all of a sudden, I saw dark clouds moving in a strange pattern across the sky. Ponies say that the air outside has been abnormally humid…and the pegasi in charge of controlling the weather, they say that these clouds they have tried to clear haven’t been dissipating into mist upon being kicked…they’ve been bursting into flames!”

This startled everyone in the room, except Amoros.

“For real?!” Neighsay exclaimed in shock.

“Fiery clouds…” Amoros said, musing to himself. “Beelzebub’s influence must be driving the Windigos to create a cumulonimbus with their flames of hate. This will, in turn, create a lightning storm like no other…one of lightning and fire. We have no time to waste! Celestia, Luna, cease your bickering and compromise with each other at once!”

The two sisters looked in each other’s eyes, and understanding the gravity of the situation, their frustration turned to tranquility.

“Sister…” Celestia told Luna calmly. “I know you feel a strong sense of responsibility because you want to be more like me…you think if you shoulder more responsibility like me, you’ll ensure that you’ll never become Nightmare Moon again. But the truth is, our roles could’ve been so easily reversed. My hooves are no more stained than yours. We both knew what we were doing when we made those pacts. We both lied to Twilight Sparkle. We both bent the truth for all of our subjects. What happened to Sombra was because of my mistake too, and it’s not only him or Discord, but all of Equestria that has suffered because of our misconduct. So please…let me share the burden with you.”

“Luna…” Amoros chimed in. “You must also not forget that I am to blame as well for allowing my evil half to manipulate me. With him working through me, I manipulated you. I am prepared to bear a punishment for my misdeeds as well once all of this is over, but I will not do it alone. Right now, we are all in this together.”

Celestia and Luna were moved by his words, while Neighsay was puzzled and Sombra struggled not to snicker.

“I understand now…” Luna said, reconsidering her thoughts from before. “Very well. I shall allow you to carry the burden with me, Sister.”

“With that settled, I believe the first thing we should do is call Twilight here and confess everything we have done to her.” Celestia proposed. “After all, we both gave her that test we knew might have been too much for her…and it turned out to be so.”

“What does Amoros mean, “not do it alone”?” Neighsay mused over his words in his thoughts. “Is he going to ask me to help him make amends for his actions? Maybe not, but I’ve always had this strange feeling that we’ve always had some kind of connection…”

“Oh, Amoros…” Sombra thought amusedly. “Such pitiful acting, as always. From the look of things now though, I am pleasantly surprised by how well this situation is going for me. If you are truly dedicated to your act of “being punished” while Celestia and Luna take the fall for everything you did, my plan will surely succeed…”

Amoros, having a premonition of what was going through Sombra’s mind, sighed.

“He still doesn’t understand yet why his plan will backfire…” Amoros said in his mind with a tone of pity. “He believes that Cloud is his ace in the hole, but Beelzebub has thought two steps ahead…”

Noticing Amoros’ sigh, Sombra’s amusement turned to concern as he recalled the bad feeling he felt earlier upon the revelation of Belohzhero’s death and began pondering…

“Have I been played for a fool this whole time?”

Slightly later, Celestia and Luna were standing in their throne room, waiting for Twilight to arrive after they had sent out a courier for her. Soon, Twilight arrived, entering the throne room while looking rather stressed. Her hair was unkempt, and the look in her eyes was a frantic one.

“Are you okay, Twilight?” Celestia asked, immediately noticing her former student’s agitation.

“Great, JUST GREAT!” Twilight exclaimed sarcastically, gritting her teeth while making an unsettlingly wide grin. “I am not in the least bit exhausted from being harassed by the media all day, not even after they followed me all the way here from the courthouse for their evening news exclusive! HA HA HA HA HA!”

“Oh Twilight, we can’t apologize enough…” Luna empathized with her, feeling great remorse for what her and her sister had done, remorse her sister shared.

“No, no!” Twilight interjected, this time being sincere. “It’s not your fault the press in this nation is CRAZY!”

“…..” Celestia and Luna’s remorse grew even more as they both shared guilty glances with each other.

“…Why have you gone quiet?” Twilight asked with concern. “And why did you call me here in the first place?”

“…Twilight…” Celestia answered, her face contorting with anguish. “We have a confession to make…a huge confession…”

“Is this about Sombra?” Twilight asked, instantly recalling Celestia and Luna’s odd behavior on the night of her coronation.

“Sombra has something to do with it…” Celestia admitted. “But it’s not just about him. It’s not just about any pony in particular…it’s about a lie. A big web of lies that must finally unravel…”

“…I have to admit that I don’t like where this is going.” Twilight replied, feeling very nervous as she naturally convulsed, pulling her right front leg back. “I’ve had a rough day…”

“We’ve all had one…” Luna chimed in. “I am sorry Twilight, but if we do not tell you this now, we are certain to see many, many more rough days ahead…”

“I’m listening…” Twilight begrudgingly responded.

“Twilight…” Celestia began. “Do you know how this whole mess with Sombra returning and the press giving biased coverage of it started? Do you know why Discord showed up and took the blame for your alleged crimes?”

“No, I’ve had no idea…” a distressed Twilight answered.

“It’s because of us.” Luna told Twilight bluntly, shocking her. “We ordered Discord to bring Sombra back once more and had Sombra enter Cloud’s soul. We sent PNN a message ahead of time telling them to play along with whatever strange occurrences would take place in Equestria until further notice. It was part of a test to see how you would handle the next step you must take to assume your new role as ruler of Equestria…and since you failed, we had to have Discord sacrifice himself for your sake.”

“Tell me you’re joking…” Twilight retorted, flabbergasted. “You’d never give me a test like that! What in Equestria is this next step you speak of?!”

“We indeed gave you a test.” Celestia insisted. “And there is indeed an extra step one must take before becoming an official ruler of Equestria. It is not enough to become an alicorn. Alicorns, contrary to misconception, are not immortal. The extra step is that they must pass a test to prove that they are worthy of becoming immortal. They must show that they possess a fire strong enough to suppress the demon they must enter a pact with. That is how Luna and I became immortal.”

“DEMON?!” Twilight cried, her heart racing now. “Demons aren’t REAL! They’re just made up to scare ponies for bedtime tales!”

“They are, indeed, very real, Twilight.” Luna told her solemnly. “Two thousand years ago, the atrocities committed by the most heinous demon Equestria has ever seen bathed Equestria in terrible snow and took the lives of many. That demon’s name is Belohzhero, and ever since he was banished, the Equestrian government has done everything in its power to stop a demon like him from ever rising again.”

“How come I never knew about this?!” Twilight demanded to know, feeling shocked and scared.

“Because I, the one who oversees the preservation of Equestrian history, kept the story a secret from the general public.” Celestia explained. “They only know the stories of demons as legends because we do not want them to live in fear of the demons. The masses must believe that they are safe, that we are doing all we can to protect them. Unfortunately, however, we will not be able to keep every pony safe any longer. The Windigos have returned again, and this time, with the help of a demon, they are creating a storm like no other…”

“Is Belohzhero the demon helping them?” Twilight inquired, attempting to regain composure.

“No,” answered Luna, “he is reportedly dead, according to Amoros.”

“Who’s Amoros?” Twilight asked.

“Amoros is a reformed Windigo and the true leader of the Equestrian government.” Luna explained, further surprising Twilight. “He is the good counterpart to the demon influencing the Windigos creating the coming storm, Beelzebub. We only learned this fact about him very recently…thus the good we have tried to do for so long in Amoros’ name…has bred evil in the very roots of Equestria’s foundation.”

This revelation brought a tear to Twilight’s eye.

“This is all so unbelievable…” Twilight told them, feeling sad but also relieved. “But I’m just so glad that through it all, you only had good intentions.”

“Yes,” replied an unphased Luna, “but that fact is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. I attempted to make Sombra immortal by having him make a pact with Beelzebub, and now he’s both dead and cursed for eternity.”

“Wait, WHAT?!” Twilight cried, immediately seeing how this completely contradicted what she was made to believe prior. “But I thought Discord…”

“Discord’s will inspiring you is indeed what dispelled Sombra that time.” Celestia confirmed. “But the reason for his death is because of a grave mistake both my sister and I made long ago. Sombra used to be the good ruler of the Crystal Empire, who fell in love with Luna and sought to marry her. But I forced Luna to refuse his proposal, for I thought the inevitable death of a lover bound to mortality would only bring her pain. In rebellion, the two turned to dark magic, and Sombra was killed by Beelzebub in a failed ritual. This is the real reason why he has been turned to shadow, not because of my sister and I overthrowing him. We are sorry to have misled you.”

“Why couldn’t you tell me the truth?” Twilight asked, feeling hurt. “Why did you have to obfuscate so much from me and the public? How involved is the media in covering things like this up?”

“Reporters both good and bad exist in Equestria, I assure you.” Luna replied with a nod. “And upon investigation of the corporation that owns PNN, I can most definitely say that Fax First is one of the bad ones, if not the worst.”

Luna then used her magic to make a compilation of documents appear and levitated them towards Twilight for her to read. As Twilight looked through them, she gasped.

“THIS…?!” Twilight reacted in shock, reviling with disgust. “HOW COULD HE HAVE…”

“We wanted to get this out as soon as my intel team found out.” Luna interjected, disgruntled. “But with so much going on in Equestria lately with Sombra returning at the time when he was hostile and then those three villains stirring up the hate in Equestria to the point where the Windigos returned, it simply wasn’t the right time. We first needed to counteract…by showing the public Sombra could change. We also hoped that the Windigos could change, but alas, Amoros was only able to get to three of them.”

“So the reason you sent PNN that order was to play them against themselves.” Twilight inferred. “But why Sombra and the Windigos in particular? Equestria’s safety is threatened all the time.”

“The public fears most what they don’t understand.” Celestia explained. “Sombra and the Windigos are veiled in more mystery than any well-known threat in Equestrian history. In order for Beelzebub’s influence to be completely purged from Equestria, we must first make the general public understand Sombra and the hate of the Windigos. Right now, I believe the best way for us to do this is by having you explain to the masses what Sombra and Cloud Shroud are doing to combat the storm created by the Windigos’ hate fueled by Beelzebub’s influence. For now, we must go aid them too.”

“And…” Twilight replied curiously. “What are they doing?”

“Facing hell together.” Celestia answered with full sincerity. “That is the true meaning of the magic of friendship, where its power truly comes from. The unity of strong wills.”

“The unity of strong wills…!” Twilight exclaimed in thought, her mind finally processing why all this insanity had been allowed to transpire.

“I arrogantly thought I knew all there was to know about friendship…” she said in her mind regretfully as she looked out a window in the throne room to see a familiar, large, dark cloud in the distance. “But the reality is that I’ve still only scratched the surface…”

*FWOOM*

Cloud, in the form of that large, dark cloud Twilight was staring at, could feel the power of his fire growing even greater as he was meditating in preparation. Both the trio of Windigos and King Sombra were inside of his soul, using their powers to enhance his fire. In turn, Cloud’s form of a cloud began to expand, growing larger under the strange pattern of dark clouds covering more and more of the sky.

“Such power…” Sombra said, marveling at what he and the Windigos had done together to make Cloud’s fire stronger. “Twilight was right…there truly is more to friendship than I believed…”

“Our sentiments exactly.” Aero, Aera, and Aeros concurred. “We once wanted to redefine friendship, but now that we have regained our memories and can see what we must do clearly, we realize that what we always knew about friendship deep down was never too much different from what the ponies of Equestria always knew deep down. Even the humans would know it if they were to recall what they have forgotten. Not just the magic of willpower, but what makes that willpower most effective…”

“…I need your opinion on something.” Sombra requested after a self-reflecting pause. “About Beelzebub.”

“What’s that?” the trio replied.

“Do you think I’m falling into his trap?” Sombra asked.

“What do you mean?” the three asked in turn.

Cloud, overhearing the conversation inside of him, listened with great interest.

“I, like you, have begun to reconsider what I initially wanted to do.” Sombra explained. “My original plan was to have Cloud become immortal through the Book of Life in my stead, thus inspiring all of Equestria to become immortal through the Book of the Dead. With their weak fires, the demons would so easily be able to control them, as would I. I wanted to rule Equestria with Twilight Sparkle as my puppet, presiding over a land subjugated by demons, the creatures of the shadows…but do you think that’s what Beelzebub wants too?”

“Oh, absolutely.” the astonished Windigos answered blankly, astonishing both Cloud and Sombra in turn. “You’ll thank yourself for eternity for coming clean when you had the chance, for so long as you continue to do evil, Beelzebub will be able to manipulate you no matter how weak his state is. If you truly wish to rebel against him, you should fully commit yourself to purifying your heart of evil.”

“That wouldn’t mean following Amoros, right?” Sombra asked skeptically. “After all, you should know now that he’s really…”

“No.” the trio replied. “We mean for you to devote yourself to the path of good. We realize now that Amoros was only a symbol of good…created by a pony’s will.”

Cloud shuddered with anticipation, having a strong premonition of who that pony was…

“What?!” Sombra exclaimed in shock. “But isn’t Belohzhero-”

“Belohzhero is only a product of his distorted will.” the trio interjected, explaining. “That is why he has perished so abruptly…because the good in him wishes to be punished, while the bad in him selfishly believes he deserves to be resurrected in a superior vessel…”

“I should’ve known…” Cloud told himself in frustration as he looked up at the growing cumulonimbus. “Beelzebub wants my body…that’s why he manipulated the Windigos to create this storm…to kill me…”

*ZAP* *CRACKLE* *BOOM*

The sound of thunder echoed as Celestia and Luna showed up to help control the storm.

“That’s right.” Beelzebub said sinisterly to him in thought from the shadows. “But it’s not just them I used. You created this storm too. Your hate has been poured into these clouds, and the sword you shall fall on is both mine and yours. For we are two of a kind, and only we know our hate will never go away…”

He snickered as Cloud turned his attention to Celestia and Luna attempting to blast the dark clouds away with their magic, only for more to form.

“Can you see why rebelling against me is futile?” Beelzebub continued gaslighting him.

A disturbed Cloud sensed something eerily familiar about the clouds forming the cumulonimbus…

“This sensation…” he remarked in thought. “I felt this back at the weather factory…and when Amoros first told me about the storm…”

“Knowing what they went through also means knowing their pain…” Amoros’ words echoed through his mind, as little did Cloud know, Amoros was watching him from afar with a serious glare…

Cloud then began to feel an eerily familiar sense of agitation as more words echoed through his mind…the cries of the Windigos…cries only comprehensible to him…

“Belohzhero’s will shall torture us forever…why did we ever exist…why will no pony share our pain? We must create this storm…our only outlet is to spread our suffering to the ponies through weather phenomena…these clouds were instilled with a flame we were called to fuel with our own flames…we must make the ponies understand by using what the only one who would ever understand us gave us…”

And then something mortifying dawned on Cloud…

“It truly was no coincidence that I got that job at the weather factory…” he realized in shock as the image of the bottled water used to produce clouds that he held flashed through his mind. “I helped create this storm through my work at the weather factory. It’s not just Beelzebub’s influence bringing them here…it’s mine.”

The guilt of this realization made Cloud angry…and caused his fire to grow. But he wasn’t just guilty…he was also becoming more determined, to Beelzebub’s frustration.

“Nice try.” he told off the demon. “But you won’t trick me again. You can’t lead me astray off the path towards knowing my fire anymore!”

Beelzebub growled and relented, leaving Cloud’s mind and shifting his focus to Cloud’s human body.

“This isn’t over…” he said ominously. “When that storm does you in, then, I shall finally have you…”

“I see now…” Cloud told himself with resolve. “My hell is not working a menial job I hate. My hell would have been continuing to live a lie forever…living oblivious to the fact of how much others have had to suffer!”

Sombra and the trio of Windigos watched Cloud’s fire burn brighter from inside of his soul, backing away in awe.

“It’s coming…” Sombra remarked. “He’s already passed the next trial…”

“I’m going to take all the Windigos’ hatred…” Cloud thought sincerely. “I’m going to find out what they went through in the true hell!”

Cloud’s body of cloud expanded further as the cumulonimbus began to tighten its focus, preparing a thunderbolt. They knew Cloud was using his electricity-nullifying body to defend Equestria from the storm, and they had a way to get around his natural defense…

“And he’s already prepared for the next one…” Sombra said, awestruck.

“What’s next?” the trio of Windigos asked, confounded. “What’s going on? What are these trials?”

“Divine tests one must undergo in order to obtain eternal life.” Sombra explained. “Cloud has completed the first two, knowing himself and conquering his hell, and now he must conquer the hell of others and know the consequences of difficult choices before he knows his fire.”

“…Cloud did say something like that…” the three recalled. “Where did you hear this though?”

“The Book of Life.” Sombra answered. “I already told you, it was how I intended to make him immortal so that he could live in Equestria forever as my eternal vessel.”

“But Sombra…” the trio replied. “That’s only a legend. The Book of Life is not actually intended to make anyone immortal on this earthly plane…it’s intended to grant the soul eternal life in paradise…”

“What?!” Sombra exclaimed in shock. “How do you know?!”

“The god of love told us…” they explained.

“Then Cloud…” Sombra said in horror. “HE…HE’LL ACTUALLY…”

“Die.” Cloud said blankly as he looked up at the growing cumulonimbus tightening its focus on him. “That is no ordinary thunderbolt they are preparing. It’s a thunderbolt imbued with magical fire. When it strikes me, I will not just absorb the electricity, I will also absorb the Windigos’ flames of hate, which will consume my cloud body, causing it to evaporate into steam.”

“CLOUD, NO!” Sombra cried. “I WON’T LET YOU DIE!”

“Then concentrate all of your energy into fueling my fire.” Cloud replied solemnly. “Because their flames of hate won’t be cooling any time soon…not with what’s happening now…”

The Windigos’ hate was indeed growing stronger like Cloud had said, for below, Twilight Sparkle was finally speaking to a crowd of ponies and guards that had been gathered in the courtyard of the palace. The ponies were to be escorted indoors by the guards on lookout once the storm had grown too heavy. Little did they know, it already had…

*CRACK* *POW*

A crackling flash of thunder was heard over the courtyard as the ponies in the crowd all had baffled expressions and grisly frowns on their faces. Twilight had told them everything Celestia and Luna had shared with her about the government’s true nature, a false dual monarchy that was secretly operated by the counterpart of a demon. Unsurprisingly, the public was not thrilled, thrown into a state of frustration and confusion, feelings shared by the pegasi controlling the weather above. Among those pegasi were Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Billy, Hoops, and Score.

“I knew Discord was set up!” an upset Fluttershy cried. “How could they?!”

One exception among the displeased crowd were the two reporters from PNN, Fax First and Fair Press. Both were smiling with glee just thinking of how much they could benefit from this situation.

“Truly shocking!” Fax exclaimed, doing his usual schtick. “How could any pony ever imagine the untold history of their government being so sordid?!”

“I can.” Twilight interjected bluntly, having waited for him to chime in so that she could blindside him at the perfect time. “Because I’ve seen the untold history of something worse…an evil corporation called Warmer Time.”

Simply hearing the name uttered caused Fax’s blithe grin to twist into a fearful frown as the crowd began to glare at him suspiciously.

“You…you shouldn’t make claims like that you can’t support…” he rebutted in denial, sweating. “Even a princess isn’t above the law, we can sue for defamation…”

“Oh, I can support my claims all right!” Twilight exclaimed with righteous indignation, making the documents Luna had shown her appear with her magic. “A thorough investigation of PNN’s parent company has revealed it to be guilty of extortion, invasion of privacy, and blackmail of private citizens! No one spoke up about it because you, Fax First, have a long history of intimidating ponies into doing what you tell them! And I have with me a list of every single one you coerced using the most underhanded tactics imaginable!”

“YOU’RE LYING!” Fax yelled in desperation. “THERE’S NO WAY!”

“YOU WANNA BET?!” Twilight yelled back as she pulled out a document with her magic and began reading off of it. “First on the list, Cloud Chaser!”

A purple pegasus with a light blue mane and tail who had been part of the storm control had her attention caught by this.

“You threatened to write an article rumoring how she used steroids to cheat her way into training for the Wonderbolts if she wouldn’t do an interview!”

Cloud Chaser growled angrily.

“Next on the list is Hoops Dunkington!” Twilight continued. “He was tried and found innocent for possession of unlawful substances, you threatened to dig up an old story about it that would make him look guilty and broadcast it live if his family didn’t pay you hush money!”

Hoops also growled angrily, as Fax could feel the pressure mounting on him from the crowd around him and the crowd above.

“Next is…Fair Press?” Twilight reacted with bemusement, even as just hearing that name horrified both Fax and Fair Press. “That name sounds familiar. It says that before she was hired, you offered her-”

“SSSTTTOOOPPP!” Fax shrieked, finally breaking down and falling to the ground. “I YIELD! I ADMIT IT! I’M A FAILURE OF A REPORTER! I’VE COMMITTED CRIMINAL OFFENSES! I’LL TURN MYSELF IN, JUST PLEASE STOP!”

“Gladly.” Twilight said, suddenly smiling and teleporting the documents back to where they belonged with magic. “I only wanted you to confess, as Celestia and Luna have. The royal guard will take you into custody shortly. That is all I have to say on the matter of the declassified information.”

Fax First was apprehended by two royal guards, but this anticlimactic turn did not satiate the crowd.

“Wait, that’s it?” they asked, puzzled as they began muttering to themselves. “What about Celestia and Luna?”

“Rest assured ponies of Equestria, all will face justice for their misdeeds.” Twilight explained. “It is just that with a terrible storm on its way, our safety takes full priority. King Sombra and his reformation guide, Cloud Shroud, are doing everything in their power to face the storm and protect us with Celestia, Luna, and all the pegasi helping them. All we ask from you is to trust us as we unite together and prevail through the power of friendship!”

Unfortunately, this did not quell the public’s unrest, as they began squabbling among themselves and complaining in disbelief.

“You have to be kidding!” one pony hollered.

“With what we know now about our government and our media, you expect us to trust you just like that?!” another cried indignantly.

“We trusted in something so unbelievable as Sombra being reformed because it was on the news!” another pony exclaimed. “Now that we know what you and the media were hiding, we just have to believe that he’s trying to protect us?! Shove it! We don’t trust you!”

As the ponies continued their cries of protest, Twilight’s heart sank. She had never felt hate like this before from the ponies, never felt such an air of contempt and distrust. This was nothing like when the Windigos returned…

*HOWL*

…and now that they had returned again, things would never be the same. That haunting, familiar howl prompted the crowd to cease their bickering and look up in terror at how big the cumulonimbus they had made had grown. A feeling of helplessness overwhelmed them as they witnessed the Windigos becoming visible, circling around what the pegasi and the princesses could not stop, all above a large, dark cloud.

“Now that they know your hate…” Beelzebub said sinisterly. “It is time they know the pain you felt…WHEN YOU DIED.”

The ponies shrieked at the sight of the Windigos, and panicking, frantically rushed to the nearest shelter with the guards on lookout accompanying them. Twilight used her magic to cast a shield on the palace, but feared that far more than just the palace and the ponies there were in danger…

“Run and hide all you want, fools.” Beelzebub mocked them. “For no matter what defenses you have, once the lightning bolt from that cumulonimbus strikes any part of Equestria, it will spark a firestorm that shall spread all throughout the nation. Ponies all over shall be consumed by our flames of hate and perish…that is, unless…”

Unless…

In that moment, everyone knew in their heart what would transpire next. Rainbow Dash recalled Cloud’s words…

“I’ll be back before you know it.”

…before she looked down and realized that the cloud below the cumulonimbus…was her friend. Before the lightning bolt came down, Rainbow cried as she said…

“I’m going to kick you in the flank so hard when I see you again…”

*CRACK* *ZAP* *KABOOM*

The lightning bolt finally came down and zapped Cloud Shroud, leading him to suffer the fate he had resigned himself too. Absorbing the electricity in his body, it created a storm of fire in his body that caused all the water inside of him to be evaporated into steam. All that remained of his body was shadow that began to fade…

“Cloud…” Sombra, Aero, Aera, and Aeros said dejectedly inside his soul. “Forgive us…we couldn’t save you…”

“It’s not your fault.” Cloud said to comfort them. “This was always my fate. Now go. You can not come with me to the true hell…”

All of them bowed their heads in understanding and vanished, leaving his soul. Appearing in the sky above Equestria, they watched despondently as the last bit of shadow left from Cloud’s body dissipated into the air. The cumulonimbus dissipated as well, the Windigos’ wrath being satisfied, but Cloud Shroud was gone…

Amoros, who had been watching as well, sighed as he disappeared…

“We truly are two of a kind…” he said ominously.

“CCCCCLLLLLOOOOOUUUUUDDDDD!” Rainbow shouted to the skies as hard as she could, crying profusely as Fluttershy and the trio of pegasi attempted to console her. Celestia, Luna, Sombra, and the three Windigos all looked upon them sadly, feeling guilty. They wanted to ease Rainbow’s pain by telling her Cloud was in a better place…but they knew the truth was that Cloud’s will would determine what kind of place he’d be in…

Where Cloud was, he was staring inside of a familiar fire, surrounded by darkness. Having seen the truth of what really happened the night Belohzhero was born, what Amoros’ disciples now remembered, he knew why he was where he was…

“So this is what hell truly is.” he told himself, having now passed the third trial, knowing the hell of others. “The unity of dark wills.”

Taking the Windigos’ hate inside of himself had allowed him to see what truly happened to them that night inside of his fire…

The true story was finally unfolding…

Author's Note:

Hope you liked that pre-finale chapter, because I fully intend to blow your minds with the finale.