The darkness within the area was almost overwhelming for the three women trying to find their way through the dark hallways of Deep Cloudsdale, as they dubbed it. Feeling their way down on the wall with their hands, they at last adjusted their eyes to the very little light given to them in order to see a large torch in the center of a room they were headed to. Using Spike's fire, they set the torch alight, allowing them to see a bit.

"So far, nothing really all that interesting..." Rainbow shrugged "Just an old and abandoned old hallway."

"You said old twice" Twilight noted, causing Rainbow to grumble a bit "Anyway, it's not that bad. I mean, some of the architecture is absolutely fantastic..." she rubbed her hands along some of the curvy patters on the hallway entrances.

"But... anything beyond here is... really dark..." Fluttershy nervously said.

"Shy, it'll be fine" Rainbow assured "Nothing down here but dust and rocks."

"Or maybe just rocks" Twilight said, looking further down some of the hallways "It looks like a few of the hallways collapsed upon themselves when the city fell. It might be a little tricky to progress any further."

"Or just downright impossible" Rainbow mentioned.

"Or yeah, just impossible..." Twilight sighed "But there's still gotta be one way down. I mean, remember when Wind Fury and Discord were talking about those two surviving Dragoons from Rainbow's squad? They said they were searching for the wind crystal."

"Heh... Won't they be surprised when the find out no one's there to tell them a job well done" Rainbow smirked.

"I-If I may?" Fluttershy shyly spoke up, gaining the attention of her two friends "Surely the Dragoons came this way, r-right? Maybe we can follow their footsteps... you know, if you want to of course."

"That actually might be a good idea, Fluttershy" Twilight nodded "But I'm not sure how we'll be able to do that without the proper skills. We would first need a scan spell, and unfortunately none of us here is a Black Mage, so already we can rule out that. Even if there was a Black Mage among us, we'd still have to use Geomancers to look for vibrations in the ground to follow, and then-"

"Or we could just follow those footsteps there" Rainbow pointed at the black footprints that matched her armor foot near perfectly "Stupid army, remember?"

"Oh... right..." Twilight chuckled a bit "But how will we follow the tracks without a source of light?"

"Twilight, please" Rainbow smirked before pulling out her spear and thrusting it upward. As soon as she pulled it down, there was now a fairly large slug glowing a soft blue on the tip, which at first surprised Twilight. But the more she looked at it, the more she grew interested in the species.

"Whoa!" she smiled "A type of cave slug that glows in caves? How did we not notice that before?"

"I dunno. Maybe because we were too busy talking rather than getting things done" Rainbow commented, causing Twilight to groan "Now c'mon, let's go and find that crystal of yours and all that jazz."

"Right, of course" Twilight nodded before continuing on with her friend into one of the hallways the footprints lead into "Come on, Fluttershy! There's no time to lose!"

"C-Coming!" Fluttershy quickly spoke, rushing towards her partners.

As the three continued down the hallway with their glowing slug as a guide, Twilight simply would not shut-up about their source of light. Quite frankly, it had begun to get on Rainbow's nerves. Surprisingly though, it seemed to also annoy Fluttershy, though not quite to the extent of Rainbow's annoyance.

"...perhaps the slug uses bioluminescence to generate light in its body?" Twilight rambled on "No, the light would have gone out if it died... Maybe its feces glow, and it simply covers itself with-"

"Oh my god, Twilight" Rainbow reached her peak "Shut! Up! No one cares!"

"...if you want to, of course..." Fluttershy quietly added on, being kind as always.

"But, this is fascinating stuff!" Twilight brought up her argument "It's important to learn the standards of biology."

"Well, I'm 22, and I never went to school and I turned out fine" Rainbow scoffed "Wanna know why I never went to school? Because, gasp, I have a vagina."

"Okay, now I'm starting to not regret felling Cloudsdale" Twilight mentioned "Don't get me wrong; I'm still sad that I had a hand in killing all those people, but notice I didn't used the word 'Innocent' in there..."

"Shit... Slug's starting to go out..." Rainbow stopped, along with the others, as she noticed their slug beginning to dim on them "Fluttershy, anyway to, I dunno, um... Make that not happen?"

"Oh, I-I'm not sure if I can do that, but-"

(Music Stop)

"F-F-F-F-Fluttershy..." a female voice twitched a bit in the darkness. The trio immediately began looking around for the voice's source, and assumed it was in the shadows. The more Twilight thought about it however, the more she began to remember just what that voice was. Finally, it hit her.

"The shadowy woman!" she exclaimed.

"What?" Rainbow wondered "So Cloudsdale wasn't the only place, huh?"

"W-What do y-you want?!" Fluttershy shouted in fear.

"Wait! Wait..." Twilight urged her friends "I know what this is... And I have a feeling it knows me. So, come on out! Reveal yourself! I'm not losing to you or letting you escape this time!"

As Twilight said that, something slowly stepped out from the darkness. She was right; it was the very same creature she saw a while ago. But something was different about it. Its head had been donned by long, wavy hair that flowed as if made by magic. The hair itself was blue with what seemed like stars in it. The shadow looked at Twilight and tilted its head.

"You..." the shadow said curiously "...no... you Twilight, yes?"

"Um... Yes. Yes I am" Twilight nodded, trying to understand the shadow.

"Clo... Clo..." the shadow hunched over and grabbed its face with its hands "No! You Clo... Clo... GAH!"

"Is it... frustrated?" Fluttershy wondered.

"Som... bra... yes, Sombra..." the shadow revealed its white mouth again, this time in a smiling position. Hearing this one name placed fear in the hearts of the trio. Rainbow Dash pointed her spear right at the shadow, whilst Twilight went to grab her book. However, the shadow stopped them by speaking once again.

"Langu... hard..." it said "I... back... better? Yes, better..." its smile faded away before it faded back into the darkness, away from the eyes of the trio "Danger... ahead... blood spilled... an uneasy... soul..."

"Hey, get back here!" Rainbow shouted, but to unfortunately no avail.

"Blood spilled? An uneasy soul?" Twilight rubbed her chin at the puzzle "I got nothing. That doesn't make any sense, and even if it did, I need another clue to piece it together. Blood spilled... hmm..."

"Oh, don't worry about it, Twilight" Fluttershy came over and tried to comfort her friend "That mean shadow person can't say weird things to us anymore..."

"Weird or not, what it said could very well be extremely important to us" Twilight brought up "It could be a hint on how to get the wind crystal back, or how to defeat Sombra, or... Oh, any number of things!"

"Twi, relax" Rainbow, now giving her other friend a nickname, tried to calm her down "Why don't we just sit down and talk about this calmly and rationally..."

"Do my ears decisive me?" Twilight smirked "Or did Rainbow Dash, THE Rainbow Dash, actually tell someone else to talk about something calmly and rationally?"

"What? I can't be calm every once in a while?" Rainbow scoffed "Does my personality have to be 24/7 asshole?"

"Well, no, but-"

"Then let's forget this ever happened and just sit down, relax, and talk..."

"I..." Twilight was about to retaliate, but in the end decided not to "...okay."

"Good" Rainbow smiled "Now, why don't we begin with-" the slug's light suddenly went out, causing Fluttershy to whimper "Shit. Well, all the ghosts of this place were put to rest, so at least we don't have to worry about that, right?"

"Um... T-Twilight?" Fluttershy asked "Do you m-mind if you stop touching my leg?"

"Fluttershy, I'm over here" Twilight confusingly stated, a few feet away from her.

"And I'm over here" Rainbow said, she too a few feet away from her.

"Then if you're not touching my leg, and if Twilight isn't touching my leg..." Fluttershy nervously put two and two together "Th-Then... what's... oh dear..."

"Spike, a small burst of light, please?" Twilight asked her Bahamut. He replied with the usual noise he made and spat out a fireball that stayed long enough for the trio to see what was holding onto Fluttershy. As soon as the White Mage did, she screamed in terror. It was a skeleton with some Dragoon armor on its shoulders and chest connected to a blue, transfigured tentacle of some sorts with a yellow eye that darted around the place. Reacting quickly, Fluttershy whacked it with her staff until it let go of her and slithered away.

"Holy crap!" Rainbow Dash shouted, the light now gone from the hallway "What the hell was that thing?!"

"T-Twilight, I'm scared..." Fluttershy nervously cried.

"It's okay, Fluttershy..." Twilight assured, to engrossed in the tentacle to remember where her friend was to try and comfort her "Its gone now, so we have nothing to worry about."

"Eugh... Take this thing off..." Rainbow muttered to herself as she removed the glowing slug from her spear's blade "Anyway, light or not, we have to continue downwards to try and find the crystal and that... thing again."

"W-Why that th-thing again?!" Fluttershy had begun to freak-out.

"Things that aggressive don't just wait underneath a city and strike when most opportune" Rainbow pointed out, showing her slightly more intelligent side "Something tells me it was created when the crystal lost its power or something, took the crystal and is now using it as a means to power whatever dark, evil things it has in mind!"

The ground suddenly began to shake, warning the trio of an oncoming disaster about to unfold.

"Looks like we have to hurry" Twilight pointed out "Whatever that thing is seems to be messing around with Cloudsdale, and I'm sure the survivors of the fall wouldn't like their home tampered with."

"B-But how on earth are w-we supposed to f-find the c-creature?" Fluttershy stuttered, clearly still shaken up about having her leg grabbed by a pile of bones reanimated by a blue tentacle.

"Maybe that might help?" Rainbow noticed a faint blue slime beginning to glow on the ground where the blue tentacle had touched it "Wherever that goes must lead to our culprit."

"Again it amazes me on how we managed to miss that" Twilight just laughed by this point "Right, let's go then!"

"M-Must we?" Fluttershy wondered.

"We need a healer, Shy" Rainbow said "You don't even have to fight it, just help us."

"Well... M-Maybe I do want t-to fight it..." Fluttershy spoke nervously, remembering her vow when she met with Twilight "B-But... That th-thing... it..."

"...looked like it killed that Dragoon" Rainbow brought up, finishing Fluttershy's sentence "Might be one of the same Dragoons that were on my team, maybe not."

"Either way, if that thing has the ability to absorb and partially reanimate dead beings, I shudder to think what else it could do" Twilight sighed before she began following the trail down into the depths of the city "Well, we aren't going to stop it by just standing here, now will we? C'mon, girls!"

"Right behind you, Twi!" Rainbow smirked, following the trail herself.

"O-Oh... okay..." Fluttershy soon followed close behind.

(Music Stop)

The trail had unfortunately ended still in the darkness. The tentacle must have lifted itself off the ground to avoid being found, meaning it was either very lucky or very smart. Twilight had begun to become very concerned by this thought. What if it was intelligent? What manner of being were they dealing with here?

Cloudsdale shook once again. Whatever it was, it had the power to move a felled flying city. Who knew what else it had the power to do? The more and more she thought about it however, the more she realized Rainbow Dash was right. There was no way something this actively aggressive would just be emerging now and not the moment the city came crashing down. It must have been created by the wind crystal. Or worse; something else.

"Without a trail, I can't see shit" Rainbow stated "But I think you two already knew that. So, now what?"

"I... I don't know..." Twilight groaned "Maybe something, I... GAH!! I got nothing!"

"Twilight, I-I'm sure that everything will eventually come back to-" Fluttershy was about to finish her sentence before a loud, booming voice interrupted her.

(Music Stop)

"Who enters my realm?!" the voice said "Of course... You... We will not let you ruin our plans again!"

"That voice..." Twilight's eyes widened.

"It can't be..." Rainbow Dash realized.

"W-Wind F-F-Fury?!" Fluttershy shrunk down and tried her best to hide herself behind her staff.

"You are correct, in a way!" the voice boomed once again "To you, we were once the man known as Wind Fury! With Sombra's aid and Wind Fury's blood, we were able to be created!"

The wall in front of the trio of women crumbled and revealed another room behind it. It was large and spherical, with several holes supposedly leading to different parts of the underground. Blocking off all the holes were large blue tentacles like the one that grabbed Fluttershy's legs. Each had yellow eyes looking around aimlessly, and each had several skeletons intertwined within them, seemingly moving on their own accord. Connected to the tentacles was a giant mass of blue muscles, with a giant gaping mouth and a yellow eyeball inside it, staring right at the three women. In its chest was none other than the dead wind crystal, now a complete dull gray. The three stepped out onto the platform in front of the beast.

"And I thought Cloudsdale's justice system was ugly..." Rainbow Dash said to herself.

"Who- What are you?!" Twilight shouted at the creature.

"We are the reincarnation of hate left by Wind Fury" the creature spoke without moving its mouth "By the power granted to us by the King of Darkness, Sombra, we have been revived to spread terror upon the world! We are Justice, bringer of law and order throughout the world!"

"So Sombra did this... Could this be what the shadow woman was talking about when it mentioned an uneasy soul?" Twilight muttered to herself before facing the creature, apparently calling itself Justice, yet again "Whatever you're planning, you can stop right now! We've trekked long and hard to get as far as we are right now, and we're not letting some eldritch abomination get in our way!"

"We care not of your attempts to stop us!" Justice growled "We only care for judgement to be handed down upon the world! All will bow down to our godly strength and power!"

"How dare you..." Fluttershy clenched her fists together before she yelled at Justice with all her might "How DARE you?! You think you can just go around bossing everyone around because you think you're better than them?! Well you can't! People shouldn't be be judged lawfully because you said so! There should be a reason why they're being punished! What you're doing is wrong, and I will defeat you before you lay a single tentacle on the innocent people!"

"Holy shit, Fluttershy" Rainbow Dash laughed, surprised as to hearing such a speech from her normally shy friend "That was awesome! You just pumped me the hell up for this battle!" she whipped out her spear and pointed it right at Justice "Shy's right, but if you'll allow me to add my own little message to that, it's finally time to send you to hell for good this time, Wind!"

"Never again will you terrorize the people of Cloudsdale ever again!" Twilight pulled out her book before realizing her mistake "Dammit, I said that twice... Never mind! You're still going down, Wind Fury!"

(Stop Music)

"You wish to try and defeat us?!" Justice let out a low laugh before closing its mouth, protecting its eye "Your chances are low, but we will give you the death you so desire if you truly want it!"

With a growl, it removed the tentacles from their holes and prepared to attack the trio. All of its eyeballs were fixated on them as they slowly turned red with anger. The skeletons on the blue mass began getting restless, trying to grab the three women despite being out of range.

Rainbow started first, jumping up into the air and readying herself to attack one of the tentacles. Fluttershy then attempted to try a spell she hadn't tried before yet. It was a tricky spell to pull off, the only reason she hadn't done it previously, but now was as good a time as ever to try it. Finally, her focusing had done her good and she pulled the spell off without a hitch.

"Protect!" she called out, a translucent orange barrier appearing in front of Twilight.

"Thanks, Fluttershy" Twilight nodded, knowing from a book that particular white magic spell was hard to activate "Now, let me try a summon I've been dying to try for a while now!"

She too began chanting something to summon a new creature to the field. As she was doing so, Justice bent down and attempted to inflict damage upon her. As it did, he bounced right back due to the power of the protect spell cast on her. Eventually, Twilight finally finished her summon.

"Summon! Remora Lv.1!" she called out, causing another summon circle to appear in front of her feet. Dozens of golden piranhas, known as Remoras, then swarmed out, going straight for Justice and clamping down on it with their teeth, sending a paralyzing agent into its body, stunning it. The Remoras soon faded away along with the summon circle.

"Take this!" Rainbow finally plummeted down onto one of Justice's tentacles, stabbing it right in the eye and causing it to retract into the main body. She then bounced back and joined her team to start another round again.

"Crescent Moon!" she shouted, hitting each and every target with a wide sweep of her spear.

"Spike, do your stuff!" Twilight grinned as she let her pet climb off her body at fire a flame at another one of the tendrils, forcing it to retract back into its body.

"Fluttershy, I just got an idea" Rainbow looked at her friend "This thing is technically undead, right? Try casting Cure on all of the tentacles! Maybe that'll take it out faster?"

"I-I'll try..." Fluttershy nodded shyly, as if her big speech had never happened earlier. She closed her eyes and began chanting her spell. At the most inopportune time, Justice broke free of its paralysis and swept one of its remaining tentacles across the platform the three were standing on, forcing them to the side and trapping them underneath the tendril.

"Enough!" Justice growled, readying another tentacle to smash their heads in and kill them "We grow tired of this pointless battle! It is time to end it! The one known as Wind Fury has been looking forward to this moment for a long time!"

"I agree this battle should end" Rainbow grinned "But it won't be you ending it! Fluttershy, now!"

"Cure!" Fluttershy called out, sending the healing magic right at the creature's remaining tentacles, wiping all of them out in one go and causing them to, of course, retract back into the main body. The trio climbed back onto their platform just in time to see Justice's mouth open up, revealing its weak spot of an eye.

"Time to end this!" Twilight dashed forward "Just die already you son of a BITCH!!" she threw her royal dagger right at the creature's eye, stabbing it dead in the pupil and causing the beast to let out a cry of agony. Finally, its body had turned to stone, which eventually turned into dust that disintegrated into a large pile, leaving the wind crystal and dagger on top of it.

"We... We did it?" Fluttershy wondered before her shy face turned into one of relief "At last... We never have to deal with him ever again..."

"You can say that again" Rainbow sighed with a smile "Man, feels like something really damn heavy was just lifted off my chest. It's a good feeling, y'know?"

(Music Stop)

"Wait, what's happening with Justice's remains?" Twilight asked as she noticed some of the dust being absorbed into the crystal as she went to go and get her dagger "Its all going into the wind crystal!"

"Whoa, really?!" Rainbow's eyes widened, soon seeing exactly what Twilight was talking about. The crystal had begun floating in the air, taking in all the dust and regaining its green color.

Finally, once all the dust had been absorbed, it shone with a brilliant green light, causing the sudden change to force the three to cover their eyes. Once they adjusted to the light, they looked back and gasped. Before them stood a woman with red skin, orange eyes and short brown hair. She wore Dragoon armor with the exception of the helmet to reveal herself. She wore a cocky grin on her face.

"Hey, what's going on?" she said causally before she looked around the room "Wait... If I'm here... Oh crap! One of you guys must be- Oh, okay, I get it now. But holy... CRAP! Being stuffed in that crystal for so long gives your bones shit!"

"Um... Who are you, exactly?" Rainbow wondered.

"Me? You mean you don't know me?" the woman scoffed as she stretched her arms "Bitch, please. I'm commander Hurricane, the warrior of wind! Y'know, one of the vestals that sacrificed themselves to become the guardian crystals?"

"Y-You..." Twilight was just about to have a nerd-breakdown "Warrior... wind... crystal... Oooooooh!!! This is so exciting! I have so many questions! Are you an ancestor of Rainbow Dash, this woman here? How did you defeat Sombra? Are your other friends trapped in crystals as well? Is your- MMPPHHH!"

"Sorry about her" Rainbow chuckled awkwardly as she held Twilight's mouth closed "She's a bit of a nerd. Anyway, dude, its been about 10,000 years since you were last around! Everyone thinks you're a fairy tale now."

"That would explain a few things..." Hurricane nodded curiously, looking right at Twilight "Well, anyway, if I'm here that means that I have to pass my knowledge unto one of you or something. Y'know, make one of you the next wind vestal. Don't worry, you won't turn into a crystal or anything. You'll just be the next person with the heart of the crystal inside you."

"That sounds really sappy" Rainbow laughed, releasing herself from Twilight who had now shut herself up.

"Hahaha! I like you!" Hurricane laughed with her "Y'know what? I think you might actually be the next vestal or whatever! Alrighty then, time to do the passing of power or something."

She clapped her hands together and, starting from her feet, began transferring herself into her successor's body.

"Wait, will we ever see you again?" Rainbow wondered.

"Well, since I'm already dead and transferring literally my entire being into you, I would have to think no" Hurricane shrugged, making everyone slightly saddened "But tell you what? My guess is that should you ever need me in a desperate time, I'll come rushing in to help you damsels in distress."

"Yeah, whatever" Rainbow playfully rolled her eyes just as Hurricane finished putting her soul into her successor's body. Rainbow then clutched her heart and smiled.

(Music Stop)

As soon as the moment was over, the city had begun shaking again.

"I think now that the wind crystal is back," Fluttershy began "the wind has finally returned. Cloudsdale is starting to rise from the ground again."

"We should probably go before this place caves in on us" Twilight suggested.

"Good idea" Rainbow nodded "C'mon girls, let's get a move on! Follow that slime trail!"

The three darted out of the room in a flash, leaving the wind crystal to lay shining in the depths of Cloudsdale for all eternity. Perhaps, though, this was for the better. It was too dangerous for the crystal to return to its original area for many reasons. It would be safer under the guard of the city.

After the heroes got out of the caverns and the prison, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash flew Twilight back down onto the surface where they watched Cloudsdale return to its original state up in the sky. They would probably never return there for its dystopian justice system and the fact Twilight didn't have wings, but they were glad they at least resolved everything.

"So its over then, huh?" Rainbow Dash wondered.

"No, Sombra has been reawakened, which means him and his army are going for the other crystals as well" Twilight reminded her team "But you guys have stuck with me thick and thin, and I thank you for that. Together, we'll be able to defeat Sombra, I just know it! And who knows; maybe we might get a few new friends along the way?"

"What happens now though?" Fluttershy asked.

"Now we follow the leader, I guess" Rainbow shrugged, looking over at Twilight.

"I guess we go back and report our findings to Princess Celestia, and-"

"The P-P-Princess?" Fluttershy nervously said.

"You mean that the person who sent you to do all this was the princess of Equestria?" Rainbow had a huge smile on her face "That is just awesome! I can't wait to meet with her!"

"Well, we won't be meeting with her anytime soon if we just stand around here doing nothing" Twilight chuckled before she and her friends began walking back to Ponyville "Oh, you'll love her. She may look all beautiful and regal, but deep down I think she's just a kid inside. She knows what we're like."

Unbeknownst to the team, they were being watched from the shadows of the forest. Not by Discord and not even by the shadow woman, but someone else. They quickly vanished into the darkness before they were spotted.

Author's Notes:

And so ends the first arc of the story, which I shall deem the "Wind Arc". Honestly, I think I could end the story here and people would be happy. You know I wouldn't, but I could.

Wow, over 40 likes already? It's only been a week! Thank you all so much for your continued support, and I can't wait to continue this story again! Though, I noticed that you all...

IGNORED THE LAST AN

...because I can see no one else has followed Timeline. Please follow him! He has done so much for me and this story that I owe every word to him. Timeline, thank you!

Be sure to Like, Comment, Favourite and Follow, and until then, dream on everyone!