1. The Coatl

THE RAINFOREST, THE SEVEN DESERTS

Above a lush canopy of green trees dripping with dew, a cloud in the shape of a monumentous steppe pyramid rose in the sky, a throne of white atop its highest platform. From this throne, the great waterfall was visible where the clouds stopped one by one to fill up with rain and turn dark. They did so at twice the normal rate now, speeding off to all corners of the world. Some of them filled with Arctic wind, turning the rain inside to hail and snow before taking flight.

Mozenrath sat upon the cloudy throne, running his fingers over the square gold amulet that allowed him to direct all these meteorological patterns. Resting on the arm of the throne under his right hand was a leather-bound codex that listed all the types of weather possible to make; it was turned to a page describing destructive lightning.

"I got my sun and my destructive winds back in a single day," Mozenrath said with a smile. "I think this more than makes up for what I lost way back when. Controlling the world's weather is a pretty nice setup."

Jafar stood at the side of his throne dutifully, looking out upon the rainforest and the clouds that filled with dangerous precipiation. "Flashy as it may be," he admitted, "your mastery of the weather is certainly impressive."

Mozenrath held back from smiling ever more earnestly, instead saying, "I know."

From below, a dark shape rose. Out of the corner of his eye, Mozenrath glimpsed the rising, winged shadow. "The thunder bird again?" he sighed, turning to look. To his surprise, the creature that alit beside his throne was not a bird. It was a large, charcoal-gray snake, nearly twenty feet long and proportionately thick, with a mane of dark hair falling from the back of its head and a pair of wings with scaly feathers spreading from its back.

"And you are?" Mozenrath sighed.

"Allow me to introduce myself, senor," the snake said in a rich, deep voice. "I am Malcho, the rightful keeper of the weather of the world."

"Really?" Jafar was suspicious. "I had thought that was the thunder bird."

"She stole the amulet from me most ungraciously," Malcho replied. "Her ways were inhibited…unimaginative. Your mastery of the weather is most admirable, and if you would return to me the amulet that is rightfully mine, I can continue in your legacy."

"I don't think so," Mozenrath replied curtly. "Did you really think it would just be that easy? Fly right up to the lord of the world and ask for the amulet back? Please. Take your smooth talk somewhere else before I blast you with an Arctic wind."

"Not to interrupt your most fascinating conversation," Jafar said, "but it appears the brats have found our location."

"WHAT?" Mozenrath stood and walked to the edge of the topmost cloud steppe. He saw two distant blue dots, unmistakable, flying toward the rainforest quickly.

"I suggest you find a way to stop them before they reach this throne," Jafar advised. "Lest the Elements of Harmony best you."

Mozenrath watched the Carpet and the Genie-jet fly closer and closer, thinking over his options. The last thing he wanted to do was waste one of his precious remaining wishes. At last, he turned to Malcho. "I've decided you can have the amulet," he said, "on one condition."

"Yes? Yes?" Malcho leaned forward excitedly.

"You use it to get rid of them," Mozenrath commanded. "Also, the book stays with me."

"Of course, senor!" Malcho agreed.

Mozenrath removed the golden amulet from around his neck and tossed it at Malcho; it fell neatly around Malcho's neck. "I shall not disappoint you!" the feathered snake cried before taking flight.

"Are you sure that was wise?" Jafar asked.

"He doesn't get to keep it," Mozenrath explained. "He'll just have to figure that out the hard way after he gets rid of our pest problem. Besides, I doubt he has the entire canon of weather spells memorized." He returned to his seat and patted the book protectively.

Xerxes, hovering nearby, watched Malcho fly away in dismay. "Hate Malcho."

"Don't worry," Mozenrath sighed. "He's not going to replace you."

At that, Xerxes' guard relaxed, as that had been his exact worry.

"Now," Mozenrath resolved, "when we have the amulet returned, where should we strike next? Snow in the Sahara? Melting the Frozen North? A hurricane over Getzistan? Choices, choices…"

---

"There it is," Iago pointed out. "The rainforest that makes all the world's weather. And boy, is it cooking up the storm of the century!"

"The waterfall probably does make things easier," Rainbow Dash pointed out. "Back home, we have to funnel the water up ourselves with a cyclone."

"Hey, Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie said, pointing ahead. "Somebody else that leaves rainbows like you!"

A grayish figure was headed toward the Carpet and the Genie-jet quite quickly, leaving a rainbow in its wake.

"That's not Thundra," Aladdin realized in horror.

"No," Iago clarified, "THAT'S MALCHO WEARING THUNDRA'S AMULET!"

Twilight began, "Who's Mal – "

By that time, the feathered snake had reached the Carpet and the Genie-jet in the air. He spread his wings wide. "You will not survive the wrath of Malcho!" he boomed. Dark clouds gathered around him, and many-branched forks of lightning shot out at the Carpet and the Genie-jet. The Carpet was hit, its rear threads ignited, and it shot straight downward. The Genie-jet took a blast of electricity that shocked everyone aboard before falling out of the sky as well; everyone plummeted down through the tree canopy and out of Malcho's sight.

"FLUTTERSHY!" Rainbow Dash cried. "Help me out!" She leapt from the Genie-jet, grabbing onto one of his wings and spreading her own wings, causing a hard drag against the air. Fluttershy clambered out of her own seat, spreading her wings for the first time through the sleeves Rarity had provided. She took the Genie-jet's other wing and dragged as well, causing him to come to a halt just before all crashed into the ground.

In the meantime, Twilight created a forcefield of purple around the Carpet, slowing its descent enough that it could touch the ground without any harm coming to Aladdin, Jasmine, or Twilight. Twilight pointed at the flames, and a small blast of ice shot onto the burning, causing the fires to fizzle out.

"Everypony okay?" Applejack asked.

"I think so," Aladdin answered.

"What WAS that thing?" Rainbow Dash inquired.

"Malcho," Aladdin explained. "An old enemy."

"He used to control the weather before Thundra did," Iago continued, "and lemme tell ya, the results weren't much better than when Mozenrath got ahold of that amulet. He's been tryin' to get it back ever since!"

"He and Mozenrath must be in an alliance," Jasmine deduced. "Why else would he give him the amulet?"

A crackling in the branches above alerted everyone to Malcho's descent through the tree canopy far above to look for them. Aladdin beckoned for the others to follow before setting off at a run.

Some distance into the forest, the group stopped, certain that they'd lost Malcho temporarily. "He's…a coatl," Twilight panted.

"A what now?" Applejack asked.

"A feathered snake," Twilight clarified. "They can be fire elementals, water elementals, or even gods. That's the first coatl I've ever seen in real life!"

"That's nice," Iago snapped. "I'll be so glad to know the exact name of the thing that's trying to kill us right before he zaps us into extra-crispy ten-piece meals!"

A gasp emitted from the forest somewhere to the left. Everyone turned to see what was approaching, and Rainbow Dash drew both her swords in preparation for the arrival of another monster.

A great green bird, one twice Iago's size, winged her way through the forest. She wore a great headdress of gold topped with green feathers. "Thundra!" Iago cried.

"I knew I heard your voice, my little giblet!" Thundra rushed to embrace Iago in her wings, striking an interesting figure with her larger height. "Things are muy terrible!" The pair settled onto a branch where they could hold each other without having to worry about flight. "Ever since that villano Mozenrath appeared in the rainforest, my precious weather has been nothing but destruction!"

Iago stepped back out of the embrace. "You got nothin' to worry about, sweet-beak," he assured Thundra. "I have come to defend the rainforest!"

"Ahem?" Twilight raised her eyebrow.

"With my backup team, of course," Iago amended. Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Where is Mozenrath, anyway?" Aladdin asked.

"He has been sitting atop the throne on the highest cloud," Thundra explained. "My amulet and the weather book vanished from me, and somehow they fell into his hands!"

"That's because he wished to be lord of the world," Jasmine told Thundra. "Including the rainforest."

"And he doesn't have the amulet anymore!" Pinkie added. "He gave it to that big mean old Malcho!"

"NO!" Thundra placed a wing over her chest in shock. "Not Malcho! He will certainly bring ruin upon the rainforest!"

"Speaking of which," the Genie said, pointing upward, "HERE HE COMES!"

"I will find you all, little parásitos!" Malcho vowed, crashing through the tree canopy. "Ahh…I see you have met Thundra! You may all die together!"

"NO!" Twilight yelled, pointing up at Malcho with both hands and firing small blasts of ice. As they hit Malcho's skin, the coatl flinched.

"What are you DOING?" Rainbow Dash yelled. "That's not gonna help anything!"

The Genie transformed into a large race car with two humanoid arms up front; he used these arms to scoop Aladdin, Jasmine, Abu, Iago, the Carpet, Fluttershy, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, Rarity, Applejack, and Thundra onto the seats. "On your mark…" he said, "get set…DRIVE FOR YOUR LIVES!" He sped off into the forest.

Rarity gathered the Carpet into her arms. "You poor thing!" she gushed. "You've been all but burned away! We simply must repair you!"

After losing Malcho yet again, the Genie stopped beneath the dense canopy that almost blocked out all light completely. He transformed into a humanoid once more. "I'm not sure how much longer I can keep this up!" he admitted.

Abu squeaked in fear, clinging to Fluttershy's arm. "It's okay," Fluttershy said, stroking Abu's head with the opposite hand. "We'll think of something…" She didn't feel quite convinced of that herself.

"You know what that thing is," Applejack told Twilight. "How do we get rid of it?"

"Coatls can be associated with a lot of elements," Twilight said, "but they're all firey at the core from sharing the sun's heat. They've been that way ever since Xiuhcoatl, the turquoise serpent. If you add that to the fact that all reptiles are cold-blooded, that means that they're very sensitive to ice! That's why I tried to blast it with a blizzard earlier!"

"That was supposed to be a blizzard?" Iago smacked his forehead with his wing. "That was a SNO-CONE!"

"Well, excuse me," Twilight snapped, "but I've never had to make a spell that big before! I've never had this much trouble with my magic before, and I can't help it if the only things I can even do right are reflection and telekinesis!"

"It's all right," Rarity reassured her. "This is the first time you've had to use your magic against powers like what we've seen. Just because your magic isn't very strong against what can be found in this world doesn't mean – "

"Magic is my element!" Twilight insisted. "It's supposed to be the thing I'm better at than anything else! How am I supposed to be the Element of Magic if I can't even do good magic?"

"You stopped us from crashing," Jasmine reminded her.

"And you do have a point about Malcho and ice," the Genie added. "First time we faced him, we got him to chill out with the Arctic wind before sending him to the Frozen North!" He cracked his knuckles. "One Genie-powered blizzard should make a popsicle outta that snake!"

"He is muy powerful," Thundra reminded the Genie. "You are only semi-phenomenally, nearly cosmically powerful! He could break through your ice in an instant! The only thing that could possibly stop him is the Arctic wind! If only my book of weather were not in the hands of that Mozenrath, and my amulet not taken by Malcho, I could freeze him!"

"Wait," Rainbow Dash said. "Just to see if I've got this…all you need is the book Mozenrath has and the amulet, and you could have the weather back in control again?"

"Si," Thundra confirmed.

"No problem," Rainbow Dash said with a wave of her hand.

"What do you mean, no problem?" Thundra said worriedly.

"I can get that amulet off that snake," Rainbow Dash said confidently. "All he needs is a taste of his own medicine!"

"And the book?" Thundra asked.

"I have a plan for that too," Rainbow Dash admitted. "Of course, I'm gonna need Twilight's help for that. You in, Twilight?"

"If I could even do a decent spell at all, I would be," Twilight grumbled.

"You said yourself you could do tele-whatsit! Moving stuff!" Rainbow Dash reminded her. "You just need to move the book out of Mozenrath's hands and into yours! Come on, you can do this. I've seen you move entire orchards' worth of apples off their trees!"

"I…can probably do that," Twilight relented. "But I'd need to be able to see it."

"And that's where Fluttershy comes in," Rainbow Dash concluded.

"But what of Mozenrath?" Thundra asked. "Once Malcho is defeated, we will still have to face his evil magic!"

"When we teamed up with the Elements of Harmony, he and that djinni of his flew the coop," said Rainbow Dash. "They know they can't beat us!"

"And that's why he gave the amulet to Malcho!" Iago realized. "To get rid of you six! And you know what that means…"

"We can beat him really easily?" Pinkie suggested.

"I was going to say that ditching you six would mean the rest of us could get away from Malcho," Iago admitted, "but I like your version too."

"While you're all hatching your death-defying stunts," Rarity said, "I'd like to figure out a way to repair the poor Carpet. I think I can tell what sort of weave he's made of…now, if only I had magical thread…"

The Genie waved his hand, and a gigantic spool of blue and gold thread appeared in his palm. "You mean THIS magical thread?"

"PERFECT!" Rarity cried.

The Genie transformed into an old woman sitting in a rocking chair, attaching knitting needles to the blue thread. "Now, most people would use a provisional cast-on," he said in a high-pitched voice, "but I just think the thumb method holds together so much more nicely! Don't you? Oh, here, don't forget your knitting needles, dearie!" He handed a second pair of needles to Rarity, who took them up with earnest.

"All right," Rainbow Dash said, beckoning Thundra, Twilight, and Fluttershy into a circle. "Here's what we're gonna do."

---

"You cannot run forever," Malcho muttered, floating over the canopy. "Soon, I will find you, and you can avoid the wrath of Malcho no longer!"

"Hey, featherbrain!" Rainbow Dash called out, rising from the trees. "Betcha can't catch me!"

"What's this?" Malcho regarded Rainbow Dash. "You have flown directly into your doom!"

"I don't think so," Rainbow Dash teased. "Man, are you slow! Your rainbows aren't even as cool as mine!"

"I am fast enough to catch you!" Malcho retorted.

"Oh yeah?" Rainbow Dash challenged. "Wanna bet?" She took off directly upward at one of her highest speeds. "CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, SLOWPOKE!" she yelled down to Malcho.

Malcho, already offended that one of his targets was flying away from him so quickly, gave chase.

Rainbow Dash ducked down toward the waterfall, where the rain clouds moved out, filled with fresh precipitation. "Let's see if I still have the old Rainbow Dash touch," she muttered, kicking each cloud as she passed it. Lightning emitted from each cloud she kicked, shooting toward Malcho; the coatl had to slow down to dodge each bolt.

"Yeah," Rainbow Dash giggled, "I still got it!" She sped up; Malcho pursued, and the two rainbows raced through the sky.

"What is he DOING?" Mozenrath yelled from his place upon the cloudy throne.

"I believe he is having trouble capturing one of the Elements," Jafar observed. "However, this means they have split up…which lessens the threat towards us."

As Mozenrath and Jafar watched Malcho chase Rainbow Dash round and round the sky, Fluttershy winged her way up to the top steppe, away from where their sights were turned. She carried Twilight by the underarms, though not without difficulty, as Fluttershy lacked upper body strength. Unable to hold her friend anymore, she dropped Twilight on the cloud. "Sorry," she whispered.

"I can take it from here," Twilight whispered back. Fluttershy nodded, ducking back down. Twilight crept closer to the cloudy throne; the book lay on the arm of the great white chair. Mozenrath's right hand lay protectively over it, but loosely. Twilight knew that if she worked fast, she could capture the book before Mozenrath had time to secure it.

"Are you sure you're a feathered snake?" Rainbow Dash taunted Malcho, beginning her climb high into the air. "You're more like a feathered snail!"

"I will not tolerate insults!" Malcho roared, following Rainbow Dash straight upward, clouds gathering at his sides.

Twilight extended her hand; the codex glowed with a bright pink aura. In one whiplike motion, she snapped her hand backward, and the codex flew out from under Mozenrath's hand and toward her. Startled, Mozenrath turned to see Twilight standing on his cloud. "YOU!" he cried.

"Me," Twilight said, catching the book and clutching it to her chest.

"The so-called Element of Magic," Mozenrath said, standing; by now, Jafar's attention was also upon Twilight. "I've been told you're some sort of famous hero. I must admit, after hearing about you, I find that move with the book a little underhanded."

"It wasn't yours to begin with," Twilight retorted.

"It isn't yours either." Mozenrath flung a sphere of blue energy at Twilight. In a panic, Twilight immediately cast the reflection spell she knew she could trust, and the sphere ricocheted back at Mozenrath, who ducked it. His eyes widened. "Impressive counterspell!" he nearly laughed. "And here I was beginning to think you only dressed the part."

"You're not so bad at this yourself," Twilight said, knowing she had to keep Mozenrath and Jafar's interest held until Rainbow Dash completed her gambit. "Your methods are a bit destructive for my taste, but of all the things I could say about you, I couldn't say you were a lousy sorcerer."

"I appreciate it," Mozenrath countered, trying a different tactic; he made a beckoning motion with his hand, and the book, surrounded with a blue aura, wrenched itself out of Twilight's grip and floated back toward him. "Now, if you'd just give me back that book, I could show you what I can REALLY do. Up until now, I've only been getting warmed up."

Twilight cast her hand out; the book's aura took on a curious purple mixture of the blue and pink auras before the pink took over and the book floated back toward her. "Sorry," she said, "but I'll have to shut you down before the second act." She clutched the book tightly once more.

Rainbow Dash had flown so high that the thinning atmosphere began to make her dizzy. It was time to pull off the final phase of the plan. She'd assured everyone else that she could still do her signature trick even in this new body, but she wasn't quite sure of that herself. Now she would find out.

Malcho caught up to her. "Now you will DIE!" he roared.

"I don't think so!" Rainbow Dash began her descent, speeding downward on a path toward the steppe pyramid. The air around her began to push back, the pressure increasing along with her speed. That was good. Malcho dove as well, following her – equally good.

Mozenrath couldn't quite comprehend that he'd run into someone whose telekinetic pull was stronger than his own. "Well, that's interesting," he finally said. "What do they call you, anyway?"

"Twilight Sparkle," Twilight answered.

"ENOUGH OF THIS FLIRTING!" Jafar roared, stepping in between Mozenrath and Twilight.

"We weren't flirting," Twilight and Mozenrath argued in synchrony.

"Surrender the book," Jafar threatened, "or pay the consequences!" He raised his staff, sending a bolt of red lightning toward Twilight – something he'd been unbidden to do, but felt the need to destroy the young witch outweighed.

Twilight summoned another reflection; the pink aura shattered immediately upon contact with Jafar's spell, and the red lightning grazed Twilight's arm, causing her to yelp in pain.

"Not so powerful against a genie, now," Jafar taunted, "are we?" He lifted his staff once more.

The air around Rainbow Dash was now at its max pressure. She knew it was going to work. All it needed was the final push. She pumped her wings, throwing herself into the descent, until the BOOM.

The rainbow and the sonic boom at once: the Sonic Rainboom. Rainbow Dash's favorite stunt sent a rainbow-colored shockwave through the air that blasted Malcho with intense pressure, sending him spinning head over tail down toward the trees. The boom reached all the way to the steppe pyramid, knocking both Mozenrath and Jafar over and pinning them to the cloudy floor. Twilight also toppled, clutching the book tightly to her chest. Rainbow Dash, careening on the extra speed granted her by the boom, soared over the cloudy pyramid and scooped Twilight up bridal-style, having more than enough muscle to carry her easily.

Jafar and Mozenrath scrambled to their feet. "WHAT JUST HAPPENED?" Mozenrath fumed.

"Rainbow…go boom?" Xerxes offered.

"I was caught off guard!" Jafar huffed defensively.

Malcho crashed through the canopy of the trees, hitting the forest floor with a thump and going unconscious. Thundra winged her way to him, plucking the amulet from around his neck and placing it over her own. Rainbow Dash sailed down to the ground nearby, setting Twilight down; Twilight handed the book over to Thundra.

"Graçias, mi amigas!" Thundra said, taking the book into her wings. "Now, Malcho, what in this book would give you the chills?"

Malcho, completely unconscious, didn't answer. Thundra waved her wing over his prone form, and a blast of icy wind assaulted him, freezing him in a block of ice.

"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash pumped her fist in the air. "We did it!"

Thundra flew up to the top of the steppe pyramid alone, staring at Jafar and Mozenrath. "This rainforest no longer belongs to your tyranny," she growled; dark clouds gathered around her.

"NO!" Mozenrath cried. "I MADE THE WISH! THAT AMULET IS MINE!"

"Learn to cut your losses, boy!" Jafar scolded before sweeping his staff to form another portal; the pair was again gone.

The clouds slowed down. Fewer thunderclouds formed. Far away, in the Seven Deserts proper, the clouds cleared away to form a path for the sun; icy winds subsided, and rain ceased.

Thundra flew back down to the ground, where Rainbow Dash and Twilight had rejoined the main group. "What was that you did in the air?" she asked Rainbow Dash.

"Oh, that?" Rainbow Dash bragged. "Just a little hometown specialty I like to call the Sonic Rainboom."

"You did wonderfully!" Jasmine congratulated.

"I actually don't think I could have done it better myself," Aladdin admitted. "I mean, of course I could have done it, but it would've taken me a lot longer to figure out."

"It's finished!" Rarity cried, holding up the repaired Carpet. The Carpet leapt from her grasp and did a little dance on the ground, using his tassels as feet.

"Great!" Aladdin replied. "Now we can go catch up with Mozenrath and Jafar wherever they struck next!"

"I'll be looking forward to it," Twilight said, clenching her fists. "That Mozenrath is…SOMETHING for sure."

"Somethin' special, huh?" Applejack said with a wink.

"Oh, he's special, all right," Twilight said before realizing what Applejack meant. "Wait, NO! Not like that!" She felt the blood rise to her cheeks. "I've just never had to face down another powerful sorcerer before. My telekinesis is stronger than his, you know. Even he was impressed."

"So he likes you too!" Pinkie deduced.

"Nooooooo," Twilight groaned. "We're enemies, okay? He's my first actual mortal enemy!" She thought that over. "Hmm…that is kind of cool. I have a real archnemesis!"

"You are not staying?" Thundra asked Iago disappointedly.

"Lo siento, baby," Iago replied, "but this world is still in danger, and as long as there is corruption, I'll need to be around to triumph over it."

"Excuse me?" Aladdin interrupted.

"With my trusty backup team, of course," Iago amended.

"Adios, giblet," Thundra said, planting a gentle kiss upon Iago's beak – a strange sight for the six Equestrians, who had never thought it possible for two birds to kiss. "I shall await your return!"

"I'll be back eventually," Iago promised. "You know, as soon as the world isn't under impending doom and all."

"In the meantime," Thundra said thoughtfully, "perhaps I should practice this…'Sonic Rainboom'."

"It ain't as easy as it looks," Rainbow Dash warned.

"You see?" Fluttershy told Abu. "Everything turned out all right."

Abu squeaked his approval.

The Genie became a jet once more, and everyone boarded either the Genie-jet or the carpet. The two crafts lifted into the air, and everyone waved a goodbye to Thundra as they took off.

"Where do we go now?" Jasmine asked.

"I don't know," Aladdin admitted. "But I have a feeling we'll find out soon. Those two can't get far without having to show off, after all."

With that, they soared back in the direction of the Seven Deserts proper.

---

Chapter 7:

· In the realm of this canon, there are many kingdoms. There are six I want to visit on the quest to chase Mozenrath off all the thrones; the rainforest is #1.

· Malcho, who is based on Quetzalcoatl, used to hold the weather amulet a long time ago. He had a reign of tyranny. Thundra took it from him and used it to control the weather responsibly. This is canon. Also, they both speak with Spanish accents, and the verbal tic of mixing Spanish with English is canon. Between that and the fact that Malcho is a feathered serpent, I'm pretty sure the rainforest is in South America.

· "Coatl" is actually just Nahuatl for "snake". However, there are a lot of feathered snakes of all varieties in Nahuatl lore. I'm using "coatl" to describe them in the same way that most people use "kitsune" to describe nine-tailed trickster foxes, even though "kitsune" is just Japanese for "fox". Also, the weakness to ice is something I made up, though Xiuhcoatl is an actual myth and the inspiration for my giving coatls a weakness to ice.

· Twilight's magical weakness is indeed foreshadowing…however, it's proven in canon that telekinesis is her strength, ESPECIALLY in episode 4, where she literally does clean an orchard of apples.

· The Genie can't freeze Malcho because I needed to do the complicated plot.

· The Sonic Rainboom is one of the stunts that Rainbow Dash can pull off in canon, albeit with difficulty, and it does create an explosion of rainbow in the sky. Sonic booms DO create pressure fields – I looked this up – so I don't think it unreasonable that a sonic rainboom could knock over anyone that was unlucky to get hit with the shockwave. I also took the liberty of making RD more easily able to perform the Rainboom because she's done it a lot in canon by now.