Scootaloo attempted to attack Tartarus while he was laughing, but was quickly interrupted by his hand, which had picked her up by the tail. She began to struggle as he brought her close to his face, as if inspecting the filly.

“You have some kind of nerve, trying to attack me. Don’t you know I am everything a weak specimen like you should fear?” Tartarus said, blowing in her face with a black cloud, causing her to fall asleep in almost a second.

He put Scootaloo back down, next to Sweetie Belle and Applebloom.

“What in tarnation did you do?!” Applebloom asked, looking frightened at their new enemy.

“Do not worry. I merely put her in a slumber. She will awaken in a few minutes. I do have standards, after all.” Tartarus explained, creating a makeshift throne from his power and sitting down, crossing his legs.

Shadow Rain looked at him and slowly said “M-My liege, perhaps this isn’t the best course of action. I understand you want to rule Equestria, but you are scaring these younglings.”

“It is the perfect course of action! Do you question my methods?!” Tartarus asked, looking at Shadow Rain in irritation.

“N-No. I am sorry.” He muttered and bowed.

“You shouldn’t be thinking you’re all tough because our sisters and their friends will be looking for us. When they do, you’ll be very sorry!” Sweetie Belle said, smiling confidently at Tartarus.

He laughed loudly, making it echo across the Everfree Forest.

“I guess that’ll be interesting, won’t it?” he said, putting his left hand under his chin.

-----

Rarity, Applejack, and Twilight heard the laugh and looked around, wondering where it came from.

“Am I crazy, or did you hear that too?” Applejack said.

Twilight nodded and wondered if it was Eternal Rain again. Maybe he escaped from his bandages and retreated back to the forest, but she wouldn’t want to mention it to either one of them because it was just a guess.

“Let’s see… If I were Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, or Applebloom, where would I go to earn my cutie mark?” Twilight mumbled to herself, getting only one solution.

“The Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters!” she practically yelled, making the three of them gallop to save the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

-----

Gadget trotted around Ponyville, seeing almost everypony gathering around the tent of Eternal Rain. Even The Mayor was there, trying to get their attention from her podium.

“Okay! Everypony settle down! I know you are all excited to see Eternal Rain’s recovery, but you all have to be patient! Nurse Redheart is busy taking off his bandages.” The Mayor said.

Gadget slowly pushed through the crowd to get a good view of Eternal Rain. His white body, wings, and horn shined slightly from the sunlight, his blue and white mane was curly, almost in the shape of puffy clouds, and his eyes were yellow. His cutie mark was reverted back to its old puffy, heart shaped cloud symbol.

Eternal Rain looked at all the ponies, looking at him in awe and he smiled, blushing.

“Hello. T-This is a surprise.” Eternal Rain spoke, moving past the small crowd, but catching a glimpse of Gadget Rust and stopping.

“You… I’ve seen you…” Eternal Rain muttered, getting a good look at him.

Gadget backed away slowly, worried about what might happen. Gadget didn’t expect Eternal Rain to smile at him and bow towards him, still feeling sore from lying in bed for a long time.

“I wanted to thank you. Without you and your kind friends, I would have still been controlled by my negative emotions.” Eternal Rain said, standing up straight and slightly groaning in the process.

Gadget didn’t know what to say and he bowed back, a little shy towards him.

“Now… Where is Twilight Sparkle? If it wasn’t for her talking to me in my dreams, I surely would have been in an eternal slumber. I need to offer my thanks.” Eternal Rain said, looking among the crowd to see if he can spot Twilight, but he couldn't.

“O-Oh um… Twilight went to the Everfree Forest with Applejack and Rarity. They went to look for Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. I-I don’t know why they were so concerned…” Gadget explained, averting eye contact towards him.

Suddenly, Eternal Rain’s eyes widened in shock.

“They went where?! By Celestia, they are in great danger! Don’t they know that my other side is still in there?!? I must hurry!” he said in a panic, ready to gallop, but he grunted from the soreness of the previous fight he had.

“Eternal Rain, you shouldn’t try and be heroic. You need to relax for a while before attempting something like this!” the Mayor warned.

“I-I can’t just let them get hurt!” he argued, but deep down, he knew she was right. However, he had to solve the problem himself.

“W-Well… We could tell Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie about this. Maybe the E-Elements of Harmony would come in handy.” Gadget suggested, to which Eternal Rain looked at him and thought for a moment.

“No. We shouldn’t risk that kind of power towards him. It would be the first thing he would want. I’m sorry, but regardless of my condition, I’m going to fight him.” Eternal Rain said, opening his wings slowly and flapping them with slight trouble. He smiled slightly at the ponies looking up at him.

“It’s just a little irritation.” He assured, flying up into the sky and heading into the Everfree Forest to look for Shadow Rain.

-----

Tartarus looked visibly bored and he sighed.

“This bores me. I need something to entertain me.” Tartarus said, looking to see Scootaloo wake up slowly and look around in a daze.

“Wha- What’s going on?” Scootaloo said in a tired tone, but she quickly got up on her hooves in surprise and immediately remembered where they were.

“Hmm… That took shorter than expected. Nevertheless, you three shall entertain me.” He said, using his magic to make black clouds cover their hooves. He snapped his fingers and slowly, the black clouds started to move their hooves, making them perform a choreographed dance.

“Hey! Stop it!” Sweetie Belle demanded.

“This isn’t funny at all!” Applebloom yelled.

“Be quiet! At least one of us is having fun.” He said, laughing to himself, making them continue their dance.

Shadow Rain watched in the shadows, wanting to make him stop, but he couldn’t gain the courage to do so. He looked outside of the castle to see Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack, feeling a sense of hope from within, which was odd to him.

“W-What’s happening to me?” Shadow Rain thought.

As the three ponies approached the entrance, Tartarus noticed them; stopping his magic on the young fillies and standing up out of his throne, making it disappear.

“What is this? Where are the other three?” Tartarus asked walking towards them and stepping over his prisoners.

“We’re here to get our sisters back!” Applejack said, getting ready to fight.

“You’re not going to hold my Sweetie Belle and her friends in prison anymore!” Rarity stated with determination in her voice.

Tartarus crossed his arms and tilted his head.

“Do you really think you can beat me? Don’t make me laugh again.” He said.

Twilight squinted at him and asked “What are you?”

Tartarus smiled at the question and turned around, opening his arms.

“I am Tartarus! The embodiment of evil and darkness!” he said in a boasting voice.

Twilight looked at Applejack and Rarity, getting the same idea that she had.

“Wow. You must be very powerful. Please tell me what you can do.” Twilight said, signalling the both of them to sneak around Tartarus as he was distracted and get the fillies away from danger.

“I’m surprised you don’t fear me. You see, I can create and control anything with my magic. I, for example, created the negative side of Eternal Rain years ago, thanks to his stubbornness and jealousy.” He bragged, looking at the sky, remembering that moment.

Rarity and Applejack slowly and quietly beckoned their sisters and Scootaloo to sneak away from Tartarus and get out of the castle by following them.

“So that was you? Amazing! You really did a good job.” Twilight said with fake awe, but he didn’t notice she was just pretending.

“Well, you are very kind. I am the strongest being in all of Equestria after all.” Tartarus said, turning back to face Twilight and giving the perfect moment for the fillies to sneak away.

Suddenly, Tartarus sensed a familiar presence.

“Wait a minute… You brought him here, didn’t you? You think you can fool me?” he asked, looking behind himself to see Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, Rarity, and Applejack gallop away out of the other end of the ruins.

“What are you talking about?” Twilight asked; a bit confused about who he was talking about.

Then, with a great thud and rumble of thunder, Eternal Rain landed in front of Twilight, looking at Tartarus, then at Shadow Rain.

“I had a feeling you would be here with your master.” Eternal Rain said, making eye contact with Shadow Rain.

“So… You are still connected to Shadow Rain.” Tartarus guessed, crossing his arms in disappointment yet again.

“It’s a blessing in disguise, if that’s what you would call it. Now I’m back and ready to defeat you.” Eternal Rain said, his horn starting to glow.

Tartarus looked at Shadow Rain, whose horn was also glowing. He looked visibly flabbergasted and clenched his fists.

“No… Not like this! I will return one day and when I do, you will all cower in fear!” he yelled, charging up an orb of energy in his left hand, but was quickly interrupted by two beams colliding into him. As he took the attack, light shined out from inside his body and almost in a flash, he disappeared, but resulted in Shadow rain disappearing as well.

Eternal Rain slowly sat down, feeling exhausted from using his magic. Twilight looked at him and wondered why they disappeared so quickly and why Shadow Rain would go away as well, even though he helped him fight Tartarus.

“I guess wherever that monster goes, my dark side is deemed to follow against its will.” Eternal Rain assumed, looking sympathetic before slowly getting back up.

“Well… I guess that’s it. He’s gone for now and Scootaloo, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle are okay. At least it didn’t get worse than it already was.” Twilight concluded, to which he nodded.

“We should leave this place before I depart. I’m starting to feel a little better after using my magic for good.” He said, laughing a little to himself.

-----

Gadget slowly approached the Everfree Forest, trying to get over his fear.

“I-It’s okay… It’s just a forest.” Gadget kept telling himself, slowly lifting a hoof to step inside it.

As he was about to, he noticed the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Applejack, and Rarity galloping towards them and stopping right next to him, looking back to see if Twilight made it out okay.

“W-What happened in there?” Gadget asked, a little confused about what was happening.

“Well, Applejack, Twilight, and I went inside the Everfree Forest to rescue our sisters and Scootaloo. Then we saw this monster and Eternal Rain’s evil side. We saved them while they were distracted and we ran away when it looked at us.” Rarity attempted to explain.

Gadget heard hooves in the distance and out of the shadows, Twilight and Eternal Rain emerged, unscathed.

-----

“Twilight, are you okay?!” Applejack asked as they all clopped away from the Everfree Forest together and headed back to Ponyville.

“Yeah, I’m okay. Thanks to Eternal Rain and his other half. If it wasn’t for them, I would have been in serious trouble.” Twilight said, smiling in relief.

“I hope nothing bad like that happens again.” Sweetie Belle said. Applebloom and Scootaloo nodded in agreement.

“I’m sure one day, my other half and his master will return. When they do, we’ll be more than ready. For now, I have to return to my duties as the watcher of the skies and clouds.” Eternal Rain said, looking up at the sky and opening his wings. They stopped and all looked up at him.

“Until we meet again!” he said, flying up into the air and vanishing into a cluster of white clouds.

“Wow… He’s so cool, but not as cool as Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo said.

“We should really head back to Ponyville and tell everypony we’re okay, instead of standing here.” Twilight suggested, causing them all to trot to Ponyville.

Next Chapter: Chapter 10: More Than Meets The Eye Estimated time remaining: 32 Minutes