Starfleet Magic Movie: How the Finch stopped Hearths Warming

Chapters

Act 1: First Hearths Warming
Act 2: New and Old feelings
Act 3: Frieda: Queen of Winter
Act 4: Bitter Briefing
Act 5: What is Right?
Act 6: Cold towards each other
Act 7: I Hate Hearths Warming
Act 8: Fight the Cold
Final Act: Continuing Forward

Act 1: First Hearths Warming

Author's Note

Over 10 thumbs down in just a few hours and already added to the ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING and several other hate groups... and you mercilessly thumbed down my comments, and my legit fan's comment!

...FOR ONLY ONE CHAPTER!!

You people are pathetically petty, and you wonder why I do what I do; it's cuz of people like you spreading the hate and forcing people TO hate.

Act 1: First Hearths Warming

ACT ONE

Hearths Warming: an Equestrian holiday…

…A time of year when ponies and other creatures would gather together with loved ones and friends, and wish each other peace and joy.

This tradition was still celebrated in the new world of United Equestria, where the Equestrians and the Space Ponies

Even still, others took time to remember those who were no longer with them…

Commander Lightning Dawn especially did, as he stood in the New Canterlot memorial grounds.

There had paid his respects to his lost parents, but also to the memorial monument of Twilight Sparkle.

He just stood there in the snow, looking down at the grave with a rather downed look on his face.

“Hi, Twilight…” he said to the stone. “I’m here again, like I always come every year. I’ll bet you knew I was coming.”

He didn’t really expect an answer as he just looked down at the stone with a perfect carving of Twilight in it.

The pony commander sighed, “I’ll never forget the very first time this holiday came into my life. I learned so much from you then, and you learned much yourself.

…I remember like it was yesterday.”

He flashed back to five years ago…

The Great War had long since passed, and United Equestria had been formed after the destruction of the planets Equestria and Unicornicopia.

The Equestrians and the Space Ponies were all learning to live together in peace and harmony, while at the same time, many Equestrians, including Twilight Sparkle and her friends decided to join up with Starfleet, to train to be better prepared for any new threat that would dare come to cause trouble to their world.

Of course, even in United Equestria, the holiday traditions still came by.

It was Mid-December, and New Canterlot was all white with snow on the ground and many ponies were busy decorating and preparing for the arrival of Hearths Warming…

Hanging bright lights on fixtures and rooftops…

Wrapping presents…

Some were hard at work, helping shoppers find those special gifts.

Rarity was especially hard at work, knitting mittens, sewing dresses, and much more as her mind just exploded with ideas for the holiday seasons.

Some dresses were pure white as the snow, others were silver and blue like the snowy night skies, and others were red and green.

“I must say,” she boasted to herself “I’ve never dreamed of getting this much done like this.”

She referred to that this was her first-ever Hearths Warming since becoming a humanoid pony. This meant her body was a new shape, and therefore, all the outfits she made had to be fitting to go with her customers and their news bodies too.

…Still, with her new hands combined with her magic, she was able to go through twice as much work than ever-- once she got used to her hands and how new everything was.

Pinkie Pie and Applejack worked together to bake loads of cakes, pies and other goodies for Christmas parties.

Still, as new cadets to Starfleet, they were to remain on schedule as well-- keep up with their training, their schooling, as well.

The only one who didn’t enter the academy was Spike. He didn’t feel he had what it took yet, but he still remained a trusted ally, especially when helping Twilight with her studies and training for the future ahead, especially ever since her alicorn wings were destroyed, and she was now a Unicorn once again.

Of course, with Hearths Warming season, their royal majesties, Grand Ruler Celesto, and his wife of six months, Queen Celestia, did allow the ponies to take breaks from it all, and just enjoy the time of year and have some fun…

…and it was a perfect day to go ice-skating.

The lake in New Canterlot was much wider than ever since the new world was formed, and this made room for many more skaters, or those who wanted to play hockey.

“Here I come…!” shouted Rainbow, and she zoomed past her friends leaving a bright rainbow trail behind, nearly knocking some of her friends down…

…The space ponies of course were more than ready for it.

Buddy leapt up high dodging her, while Starla pirouetted out of the way.

“Wow! Cool moves.” said Pinkie “I’d like to try that.” And she leapt up high doing half a spin in mid-air, before suddenly stopping, “…Uh-oh!” and she began to fall towards ice, but Applejack sped right in and caught her. “Easy there, sugar-cube… I think you need a bit more training for that stuff.”

Buddy and Starla skated up to their friends, and Pinkie hated to admit out of jealousy, “You guys make it look so easy.”

Starla chuckled, “We train to fight in any sort of terrain. The only problem is we’ve trained for many, many years. You’ve all just started.”

Buddy agreed, “But don’t worry, you’ll get it soon. We’ll even give you some pointers.”

Applejack and Pinkie were delighted, and Rainbow joined them.

Starla and Buddy showed the correct stance, and how to position their bodies to leap up and make perfect landings.

While the skating continued, Artie was more preoccupied in his ice-sculpting.

He had made beautiful carvings of snow-ponies, a large yeti, and even a snowy volcano erupting, but easily, his best and favorite was a large heart with a big star in the middle.

“Oh, it’s so pretty.” commented Fluttershy.

Artie nodded and explained, “The Heart represents the Equestrians, and the star is for the Space Ponies. Both of them together is my way of showing how happy I am that we’ve joined together.”

Rhymey felt the same way as he gazed at the shiny sculpture…

“It really is a symbol of heart,
to commemorate our new world’s start.”

Fluttershy couldn’t help but ask, “How did you all live on Unicornicopia without Hearths Warming?”

“Not just Hearths Warmings,” replied Artie. “There was no Hearts and Hooves Day, No Summer sun Celebration… not even any Winter Wrap-up-- since we didn’t have winters anyway.”

Fluttershy looked hurt for the others, unable to imagine a life with no such holidays or celebrations.

Rhymey explained,

“To us space ponies, the holidays were unknown,
for they are traditions not of our own.

Grand Ruler had never explained these things,
And never showed us the joy is brings.

Perhaps it was because they brought him pain.
It reminded him of his old life again.

Missing his home, and Celestia too,
I’m sure it would make him feel real blue.”

Artie hung his head low, feeling sorry for his majesty and how all those centuries must had felt.

Fluttershy almost felt like shedding a tear.

“We still had celebrations.” said Artie. “We didn’t have holidays, but we had feasts, and families would gather for parties and reunions, and we all just got along with one another to celebrate being alive, and to the fall of every enemy Starfleet vanquished.”

Now Fluttershy felt better, and happier and prouder to have such wonderful new friends in her life to share the joys and wonders of Hearths Warming.

Twilight and Spike were making snow angels on the ground. Twilight’s looked pretty good, but Spike, due to his pudgy and pint size, looked more like a little blob, which made him sigh.

“Oh, don’t feel bad Spike.” Twilight said, and she used her magic to shove more snow in and out of places to straighten the angel out to make it look better.

“Gee, thanks, Twilight…” said Spike “…Although, did you have to make it look like a pony angel instead of a dragon?”

Twilight fully realized her little error, and she gave a nervous smile while rubbing the back of her head.

“Why don’t you make one, Rarity?”

Rarity nearly gasped in shock. “And ruin my expensive, one-of-a-kind, designer parka? I think not. Why just even the slightest speck of snow would--” she stopped when suddenly a big snowball came from out of nowhere and hit her in the side.

Twilight and Spike gasped, and Rarity slowly gawked down at the wet spot on her parka. Her eyes were wide and quivering as she looked ready to scream.

Then she and the others heard the sounds of laughing, coming from Dyno and Myte.

“Bullseye, I got her…” cheered Dyno.

“Ole!” chuckled Myte.

“YOU!!” shouted Rarity, and she angrily used her magic to gather up more snow into a huge ball and threw it at the twins, which they dodged easily.

“GRRR!!” growled Rarity, and she made more balls and began to throw them swiftly, to which the twins kept dodging, and then hit her with a couple more balls, which actually made her crack a naughty smile. “Just you wait until I get you two…!”

“Come and get us, Chica.” taunted Myte.

“I knew this would break her out and have fun.” whispered Dyno.

No longer caring about her clothes, Rarity really got into the fun of the snowball fight, prompting Twilight and Spike to join the fun too.

“Hey, where are Lightning and Krysta?” asked Spike “They’re missing having all the fun.”

“I saw them in the field.” said Twilight “Lightning was still training harder than ever, and Krysta wanted to keep him company.”

Captain Lightning Dawn was hard in training…

He would practice his stance and his fighter moves-- punching and kicking the air.

He ran through deep snow to build up more endurance, and improve his ground speed, and then he had Krysta use her magic to chuck endless amounts of snowballs at him to improve his dodging.

“Okay, Lightning, get ready for the big one!” called Krysta.

“Bring it!” he called back.

Krysta used her magic to form the biggest barrage of snowballs, enough to amount to a small avalanche, and Lightning looked ready to take them all on…

…But when Krysta tried to launch them, the balls did not move for they had been contained in a large light barrier.

The barrier had been cast by Grand Ruler Celesto, who descended upon the field with his wife, Queen Celestia.

Lightning and Krysta immediately bowed to their majesties.

“I thought I gave you time off, Lightning?” asked Grand Ruler.

Lightning shook his head, “I never take time off from training, Master.”

Celestia sighed, “That’s very noble of you Lightning, and I understand how you feel about it, but you really should take time to enjoy yourself. It’s your first Hearths Warming after all.”

“She’s got a point, Lightning.” said Krysta. “I wouldn’t mind joining in on all the fun myself.”

Lightning stared down at the ground, and he couldn’t deny, and he agreed to go on.

He bowed again to their majesties, and then he and Krysta flew off.

Celestia held her husband’s hand and rested her head on his strong shoulder, which made him feel warm.

“You’ve trained him well.” she commented.

Her husband nodded, “But I think he’s a little down inside. This sort of holiday may be bringing him a little emotional trauma.”

It was moments like this that made him feel rather guilty and ashamed for never having revealed the Equestrian holidays to his own people while they lived on Unicornicopia.

“But you know…” said Celestia “It’s your first Hearths Warming in a long time.”

He gazed back at her smiling, loving face. “How I missed these times.”

He and his wife shared a deep embrace in those open fields…

…While unbeknownst to them, or to anyone at all… someone was watching from way up in the clouds.

A large, female creature, wearing a white robe and hood, staring down at all the holiday cheer and the happiness going on; making her snicker deeply and wickedly, and around her neck, worn on a white string, shined a snowy, silver amulet in the shape of a Windigo.

“Soon, Hearths Warming will be no more.”

Act 2: New and Old feelings

ACT TWO

“Well, look who decided to join in the fun.” Applejack teased as Lightning and Krysta arrived.

“Hope, we’re not too late?” asked Lightning.

A stray snowball began to fly towards him from behind-- thrown by Buddy-- but he could feel it coming and he ducked down causing the ball to miss and hit Twilight in the face instead.

“Oh!” groaned Pinkie.

Twilight angrily brushed off her face and scooped up more snow in her hands to return fire, and before long, all the friends were having fun in another snowball fight.

The afternoon was over before anyone realized, and the team headed back to the palace.

“My Brother and his wife promised to come and visit from the New Crystal Empire.” said Twilight. “I can’t wait to see them.”

Lightning and Starla walked together.

“I’m so glad you decided to join us.” she said.

“You know me…” replied Lightning. “Besides, I’m still sort of getting used to this whole Hearths Warming thing.”

“We all are.” said Buddy. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m starting to like all this.”

Some of the other Space Ponies agreed.

“I’m glad you do.” said Twilight “There’s so much we want to show you all, and so much we want to learn from you as well.”

“And you will, in time,” said Lightning. “But in the meantime, you ladies need to keep up with your training if you want to earn your commissions into Starfleet.”

Faces began to turn grim.

“Aw, do we have to?” groaned Pinkie.

“Yes, you do, Pinkie Pie.” replied Buddy. “We all have to keep up our training, so that way we can be ready for when the next great evil comes along.”

Rainbow acted cocky as ever, “Ah, I’m not too worried. We took out Titan and Super Nightmare Moon, and now we’re stronger than ever. Just LET the next evil come for us; we’ll show them.”

Many of the others were not impressed with her boasting.

“Rainbow… Don’t push your luck.” cautioned Artie. “Yes, we did defeat the enemies together, and we helped save both our races from annihilation…

…But we just BARELY got out of it.”

Applejack agreed with him, “We haven’t a clue of knowing what’s out there, especially now that we know most of these bad guys come from Outer Space.”

Rarity and Fluttershy felt shivers run down their spines; remembering how horrible it was when Equestria was enslaved by the evil, and they and all their friends were whipped and pushed about in hard labour.

The most frightening thing of all was when the planet began to break up and explode.

Fluttershy was shaking so nervously, that she lost her balance and began to fall over, only for Rhymey to catch her.

“Thanks.” she said with rather loving smile.

He blushed nervously, and helped her stand.

“Look, let’s not fret about all this right now.” suggested Twilight. “It’s the holidays, and we want to have a good one here. So let’s smile and get it brighter.”

Everyone agreed and promised to try.

“I’m glad to hear of that…” said Princess Luna as she came down the hallway. “As it so happens, we could use extra hooves-- excuse me-- hands… to help out with the decorating.”

Spike leapt for joy. “Awesome. Sure beats training.”

Krysta looked at him funny. “What do you mean? You don’t train with us?

“Yeah… but it’s better than spending hours watching you train while I do nothing.”

Everyone brushed it off and agreed to help out.

New Canterlot Palace was a tad larger and wider than what it used to be since it was reformed. Now it had a few extra floors, more corridors, and more rooms than ever; which made it necessary to have more helpers and a larger staff to help out around the place.

So, everyone set to work, decorating, prepping, and singing a song while they were at it.

[Twilight]

Something about this time of year coming round
Feelings of the joy and light is where we’re bound.

[Starla]

It’s all so strange and new to us, we’ve never felt before
But as we learn, we’ll discover that it’s just so much more.

[EVERYONE]

Put up the tree and point it tall,
Hang up hollies in the hall,
Wrap the presents, wrap ‘em tight,
Feel the warmth come from the light.

[Males]

With all the old and new coming into view
It’s a whole new world before our eyes.

[Ladies]

And every smile and gift make our spirits lift
to a whole new life full of surprise.

[EVERYONE]

Hearths Warming is coming…
And the tunes we keep on humming…
will sparkle like the snow in the skies

Bake the goodies nice and hot,
Give and share your loving lot.
Show your willing and the thrilling
Hearths Warming you’ve got.

By the end of the song, the friends had reached the end of their decorating supplies, but there was still much more to do around the entire palace.

“Ay-Ay-Ay! We could be at this all night.” said Dyno.

Myte sighed. “Well, we better go get more stuff then.”

“I know where there’s plenty.” said Twilight “We keep loads of decorations in the main storage rooms…” she paused “…Oh… in the lower, sub levels of the palace.”

“Well, let’s get going.” said Lightning.

With that, everyone headed for the hallways, for the nearest elevators.

Twilight began to wonder, “Shining Armor and Princess Cadance should have been here by now. I hope nothing’s wrong.”

While in the Palace Laboratories, Professor Brain, now head of the department, and chief of scientific advisors, was hard at work preparing his own special Hearths Warming presentation.

He had been working on it ever since the winter began, he hardly ever was seen taking breaks except to eat, and sleep… within his private workshop.

“Ahh… Satisfactory.” he said to himself. “…Most Satisfactory. I believe this should work.

Oh, what a Hearths Warming surprise this shall be.”

As he continued to work, there was a knock at the workshop door, in spite of the “Do Not Disturb” sign hung outside.

“Oh… gracious!” groaned Brain as he made his way over and heard one of his assistants-- a unicorn mare-- call to him. “Professor... Professor Brain? Are you there?”

Brain stood right at the door and answered without opening it, “Of course I am here! I gave orders that I was not to be disturbed unless of an emergency.”

The worker called to him, “This may very well be, Sir. You better come take a look.”

Brain sighed, but he exited the lab and followed the mare to her station where she and her colleagues were monitoring weather patterns on their computers.

There was a stranger occurrence forming outside of New Canterlot and slowly spreading not only towards the town, but expanding out across the planet.

“Strange… Most strange…” remarked Brain as he read over the findings. “Pressure: dropping… Abnormal cold fronts… strong gales?”

Even the other scientists and workers knew this couldn’t be a trick of nature since the weather was also tightly controlled thanks to the Pegasi and the Starfleet technologies.

“Alert their majesties at once.” ordered Brain.

“Yes, sir.” Replied the worker as she dashed off, leaving Brain still puzzled yet concerned, “…I fear something dreadful may the cause of this.”

The friends had made it to the storage area were some of the palace staff were already sorting and going through boxes and taking them back to the upper levels.

The friends were admitting all the many beautiful decorations and stuff-- things for Hearts and Hooves Day, the Summer Sun Celebration; Twilight and the Equestrians found some things used from the Canterlot Royal Wedding and even Twilight’s coronation as Princess of Friendship… which happened just before The Great War.

“These are all so beautiful.” remarked Artie.

Rarity agreed as her eyes practically glistened with sparkles at all the beautiful fabrics of curtains, tablecloths, long tulle streamers from weddings.

“This is practically heaven to me.” she exclaimed as she hugged a drape close to her. “Oh! Such memories….such exquisiteness… such ideas…!”

“Eeyup, we’ve lost her.” teased Applejack.

Rhymey held up a gorgeous centerpiece of a small Hearths Warming Tree.

“With things like these, there is no doubt,
This will really help the holiday stand out.”

“They’re stunning,” agreed Buddy as he admired fake flowers. “I wonder if I can grow some of these in the Spring.”

Suddenly, “WEE!!” Pinkie popped out from a box with a puff on confetti, surprising him into falling back hard onto stack of boxes that toppled all over him, covering him in Holly Wreaths.

Some of the others couldn’t help but chuckle, while Buddy was barely amused.

As they helped him clean up, Lightning was at another end of the clutter sorting through some things, but he had a rather silent look about him.

Twilight didn’t like the looks of this and she whispered to Starla and Krysta, “Is he alright?”

Starla looked over at him and shook her head, “I think all this holiday, and celebration stuff is bringing back bad memories for him.”

Twilight felt sorry for Lightning, she already knew his story; about his home planet, Harmonious, blowing up when he was five, and how his family was lost too.

She also remembered that Starla was an orphan too.

“Oh, I’m so, sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up.”

Starla smiled and raised her hand. “It’s okay. We all have our sad times. Some scars can take a very long time to heal, and there are some that just never heal and stay with you for life.”

Such a concept always made Twilight’s blood run cold.

“Hey, look what I found.” chirped Krysta as she pulled something up from a box, and the two mares thought of having some fun with Lightning.

Starla softly approached him. “Are you okay? You seem awfully quiet.”

Lightning gave her a small glare. He knew what she was thinking. “Is it that obvious?”

Now it was her turn to give him a look.

“I’m okay.” said Lightning. “I admit, I’m feeling a bit down because of my family and all, but I’m trying to enjoy things.”

She smiled at him and then rolled her eyes up overhead. “Hey, look at that.”

Lightning looked up and saw something floating above his head.

“Looks like you’re standing under the mistletoe.” cooed Starla.

Lightning felt his pulse starting to race. “Uh… meaning…?”

She leaned in and whispered to him, “…You’re supposed to kiss me.”

His cheeks went bright red!

Even though by this time, since they had started dated, he had kissed her many times before, but it still tickled him inside, especially knowing the others were all watching; especially Twilight who was deliberately using her magic to float the mistletoe above his head.

The others all looked on, practically telling him to go for it and Starla had already leaned in with her eyes shut, and her lips slightly pursed.

Relenting happily, Lightning softly placed his arms around Starla’s waist, slowly bringing her close to him as he moved his face towards hers.

The gang all watched with great glee, some of the Equestrians were squeaking softly with delight.

…Lightning’s lips just barely touched Starla’s, when the warning alarms sounded; startling them both causing them to bonk muzzles hard.

“Oh!”

“Ow!”

“What’s that?” asked Applejack.

“It’s the red alert!” replied Lightning “Let’s get upstairs!” and everyone dashed out of the room like speeding comets.

Act 3: Frieda: Queen of Winter

ACT THREE

Their royal majesties were looking most disturbed by magical images they were viewing when the gang practically barged into the throne room, nearly running down the guards at the doors.

“What’s happening?” asked Lightning.

Grand Ruler pointed at the images, “See for yourselves. This all just happened a few moments ago.”

What the gang saw then made them gasp in shock…

The snow was falling heavier, and the winds were more crispy and chillier as it got colder, but that wasn’t the worst of it.

Ponies outside, that got caught in the storm, were seen no longer feeling joyful, or caring and sharing, but rather were now acting cold and hostile towards others-- knocking presents out of their hands, smashing their own Hearths Warming decorations to pieces, some were even stealing from carts and stores, and others began to brawl in the streets forcing the guards and the Starfleet sentries to try and break it all up…

…Then again, even some of the guards and the sentries began to act in the same way.

“That’s just awful.” whimpered Fluttershy.

“What’s with everyone?” asked Buddy. “Just an hour ago there was happiness galore.”

Twilight observed everyone’s behavior, and how some went from really nice and happy, to really hostile and nasty. “It’s like they’re under some kind of spell.”

“They must be.” said Celestia. “Sensors have indicated trace amounts of evil magic within the snow itself. It can and will spread all over anyone touched by it, and we found what the cause of it is.”

She used her magic to freeze the magic images, and then zoom in at the clouds overhead, and Twilight and the Equestrians could see a distinctive creature in the clouds.

“It’s a Windigo.” cried Spike.

Lightning and the Space Ponies had studied about the Windigos, and their connections to the myth of Hearths Warmin, but this was the first time they had actually seen any.

“Those are the chilling spirits that feed off of the fighting and hate of others.” said Dyno.

“Si, and they more hate they feed on, they grow stronger, which makes the weather colder and more savage.” added Myte.

“This is horrible.” cried Fluttershy “If everyone keeps acting like this, what will happen to Hearths Warming?”

Celestia shook her head in dismay, “I fear there may not even be a Hearths Warming.”

Pinkie gasped. “N-N-N-No Hearths Warming?!!”

Everyone began to realize the seriousness…

Without the good feelings of caring, sharing, giving, and light, Hearths Warming couldn’t possibly function properly.

Rhymey then asked their majesties…

“Can’t something be done to stop all this hate?
Is there no spell that will make everything great?”

Twilight’s head perked up. “The Fire of Friendship… Just like in the story of Hearths Warming. The great pony leaders of each tribe came together, to solve out their issues and--” she stopped when she noted the Space Ponies glaring at her with disapproving expressions.

“I don’t think it’s that simple this time.” said Lightning. “The Windigos are the ones spreading the hate.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense.” added Krysta. “Windigos only feed off hate and fighting. They don’t create it and spread it.”

“Maybe not.” replied Grand Ruler “…Which can only suggest that the Windigos, themselves, are not the main cause of all this.

…Captain Lightning.”

Lightning stood tall and firm, “Sir?”

“You and the Space Ponies will investigate at once.”

The other Space Ponies agreed by saluting.

“Hey, what about us?” sneered Rainbow.

“Yeah, you can’t leave us out of this!” added Pinkie.

Grand Ruler cleared his throat, “… You ladies will be accompanying them.”

The Equestrian ponies all blinked once in shock.

Some of the Space Ponies were astounded, but none as deeply as Lightning and Twilight.

“Wait, they can’t come with us.” said Starla “They’re not even commissioned to the force yet, and they’re still beginners in their training.”

Rainbow’s features hardened. “What are you saying; that we don’t have what it takes?!”

“We’ve had plenty of our shares of adventures before.” insisted Rarity.

“But you’ve hardly had any adventures like we have.” protested Buddy, “And even with what training you’ve done, you’ve all got a long way to go.”

“We’re still willing to help.” balk Applejack. “We know more about the Windigos than you guys ever will.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” growled Artie.

Protests went back and forth, until Lightning shouted, “ATEN-TION!!” and everyone else froze where they were.

“We were given our orders, and that’s final!”

Twilight agreed, “Besides, you don’t see me and Lightning bickering over who’s better than who, or who should be doing what. We’re just wasting time while that blizzard is affecting more being out there.”

Their majesties were very proud of their students, and the other ponies all felt silly for acting like fools.

“But wait…” said Spike “If we go out there, won’t we be affected by the blizzard too?”

“No, we won’t,” said Lightning. “Our battle suits and their heating units should protect us. As for the air, we’ll just use oxygen masks.”

“Well that’s dandy, but what about the rest of us?” asked Applejack. “We can’t use those super suits like you have.”

Twilight stepped forth chuckling, “Leave that to me.”

“…To us.” Added Celestia as she and her husband stood behind Twilight.

All three of them combined their magic together, shrouding all the Equestrians in a magical, sparkling light.

“Hee-Hee-Hee… it tickles.” laughed Pinkie.

“What is this?” wondered Fluttershy.

When the light had faded, Grand Ruler explained, “This spell will provide you all with shielding against the cursed snow and from the cold, but be warned: it will not protect you from the air itself, so you’ll have to wear masks and eyewear.”

“Also…” Celestia added “We only gave you enough power to last a few hours, as the spell wears off, you’ll start feeling cold, and that’s when you’ll know to turn back.”

While the Equestrians didn’t feel any different, nor did anything unusual show on them, they put their faith in their majesties and in Twilight; it was her spell after all.

With all this, it was time to bundle up and head out.

“We’ll be staying here to find some way to counteract the blizzard,” said Grand Ruler. “…But it shall be up to all of you to find out what the cause of it is and stop it.

Good luck, My Brave Ponies.”

The ponies all bowed in respect, and Lightning and the Space Ponies all stood in a line, “STARFLEET MAGIC!!” and they transformed-- donning their battle armor and visors; one-by-one calling out their respective force.

Lightning: “Power of Believing!”

Starla: “Power of Space!”

Buddy: “Power of Flora!”

Artie: “Power of Art!”

Rhymey: “Power of Wind!”

Dyno & Myte: “Power of Fire!”

The Equestrians were still very impressed by it all, especially Rainbow as she commented “I got to get me one those.”

Soon, with the Equestrians bundled up, and wearing masks and snow-goggles… they were off.

All the Space Ponies did the flying, carrying an Equestrian on their back since most of them could not fly, and those that couldn’t keep up as fast.

“WHOA!!!” groaned Twilight as she held onto Lightning tightly. She had flown before with her own wings, but never this fast before.

Spike looked green in the face as he gripped onto Starla.

Even Rainbow couldn’t believe the speed as she held on tightly. “I think I’m going to blow!!” she groaned.

They reached their destination in almost no time at all. The Space Ponies let their riders off of them, and the poor Equestrians felt pretty dizzy.

“You all okay?” Lightning had to ask.

“Ugh… we’ll live!” groaned Rainbow.

Pinkie turned down and actually barfed into the snow on the ground.

“Don’t worry,” said Starla “You’ll all get the feel of it if you keep up your training.”

The girls managed to snap themselves out of it quickly, because for now there was a mission to deal with.

The main location of the storm seemed to be far from New Canterlot, in the open countryside far from any town or village.

It was much darker here than back home, even for the night, forcing the Starfleet Ponies to use their visors infrared to help them see. The goggles which the Equestrians wore were magically enhanced by their majesties to help them see clearly too.

The cold didn’t bother anyone at all, and Krysta used her own magic to shroud herself in a small barrier, but the falling snow and the billowing winds were almost unbearable to watch or feel.

“I’ve never seen it storm like this before.” said Spike. He was barely able to hold his ground in the strong gales.

“Look up there!” cried Krysta.

Everyone looked up and saw many Windigos soaring around, with their cold eyes glowing and the storm worsened.

“Try a few warning shots.” suggested Lightning.

“What?” wailed Pinkie, “But they’re just spirits. You can’t hit a spirit with a blast.”

“No, Pinkie…” sighed Twilight “Maybe we can distract them. It may break up the storm a bit, and maybe even make whoever’s really behind all this come forth.”

“Ohh… right…” said Pinkie.

Lightning rolled his eyes and sighed, but then he ordered the Starfleet points to prepare to fire.

“Twilight… Rarity… would you do the honors too?” he asked offering them both a place in the line.

The ladies saluted and took their places at the end of the line.

“Ready…!” shouted Lightning, and everyone’s horns began to glow “…Fire!”

Everyone began to fire small pulse blasts up into the air, straight for the Windigos.

Suddenly, from out of nowhere, the blasts were intercepted by bright and freezing beams, actually solidifying the energy in balls of ice that shot straight to the ground and shattered.

The ponies couldn’t believe their eyes.

“…Nice try, you bunglers,” hissed a sinister voice. “But it will take much more than simple fire power to freeze my plans to destroy Hearths Warming.”

…Destroy Hearths Warming?

Some of the ponies already felt sick to their stomachs to hear such a plot, and then they saw who said it coming out into the open.

The white-robbed creature floated down on a dark, magical snow cloud.

Faces on the ponies hardened, while a few looked nervous.

“Who are you?” Lightning demanded. “Identify yourself!”

The creature snickered, but then lifted up her wing to pull back her hood; revealing herself to be a silvery white finch, with a short, yellow beak, and cold blue eyes. She also actually had long flowing white hair that fluttered in the breeze and sparkled like the snowflakes.

“The name is Frieda… or more appropriately: I am Queen of the Windigos; thanks to this…” she showed the amulet on the string that she wore.

“What is that?” wondered Spike.

“I’ve never seen anything like it.” said Twilight

The space ponies hadn’t the foggiest either.

“Now why doesn’t that surprise me?” mocked Frieda. “Not many know of the Winter Amulet, it was given to me by the Windigos.

I continue to feed them with so much of my hate and anger, and they help grant me the power I need to destroy Hearths Warming.”

The gang could already feel this Frieda character was no less of a sicko.

“But why…?” asked Fluttershy “Why would you want to destroy Hearths Warming?”

Frieda only chuckled and balked, “Why not?! It’ll spare me of watching any more of the cheer, and joy, and silly nonsense, and thanks the amulet, the Windigos are now roaming about; empowering my Cursed Blizzard, spreading hate and anger to everyone.

Soon, there will be no more Hearths Warming. Everyone will be too mean and nasty to really care or notice.”

The ponies were growing angrier.

Lightning had heard enough already and stepped forth. “This is your only chance. Surrender willingly and call off your storm, otherwise we’ll have no choice but to take you by force.”

As expected, Frieda refused to surrendered, and softly touched the amulet showing she meant business.

“Okay then…!” sneered Lightning. “Let’s take her!”

The others all agreed and were ready to charge, when Frieda called “…Just a minute!” and her amulet began to glow.

“What’s she doing?” cried Krysta.

Suddenly, two enormous blocks of ice appeared, and what Twilight saw made her gasp in terror. “It can’t be…!”

There, encased in the ice blocks. “Shining Armor…! Princess Cadance!”

“She’s frozen them solid!” cried Buddy.

“That explains why they were so late in coming.” added Applejack.

“Hey, you feathered freak! What’s the big idea in capturing Twilight’s relatives?”

Frieda didn’t answer, and she didn’t have to. Twilight was able to figure it out for herself. “She captured them so they couldn’t try to fight back.”

She remembered how their love was strong enough to at least drive away the Changelings at the Royal Canterlot Wedding, and that Cadance’s magic was powerful enough to remove certain kinds of brainwashing.

Frieda flicked her hair with her wing and gave an evil smirk.

Twilight was trembling furiously. “Give them back, right now!”

Lightning could feel Twilight’s emotions starting to get to her. “Hold your tongue!” he sneered softly at her.”

Frieda snickered at Twilight. “You want them? Then come and get them… if you dare?”

Twilight was furious by this point.

“Stay where you are,” ordered Lightning, and he motioned to the all the others “…All of you; don’t anyone make a move.”

The Space Ponies agreed instantly, having the same idea he did, but the Equestrians couldn’t feel to contain themselves.

“She’s got our friends-- Twilight’s relatives!” said Rarity.

“We’ve got to save them!” wailed Pinkie.

“I said “Don’t move…!” growled Lightning.

Rainbow was trembling and gnashing her teeth, feeling Lightning was crazy.

Applejack was sweating angrily yet nervously.

Fluttershy, she swallowed hard…

…But it was Twilight that finally snapped, and with a loud roar, she began to gallop forth.

“Twilight!!” shouted Lightning, and he quickly zipped over and scooped her up and out of the way… just in time… as a huge blast of ice came zooming in from above and would had frozen them both had Lightning not acted in time.

“It’s a trap!” shouted Starla.

They all suddenly found themselves surrounded by herds of Windigos, all looking ready to brawl.

“Look out!!” shouted Krysta.

With her magic amulet glowing, Frieda fiercely thrust her wing outward and ordered her army, “ATTACK!”

The evil creatures began to fly about ready to unleash more ice beams, forcing the Space ponies to scatter about and grab the Equestrians to pull them out of harms ways.

“We’ve got to get the girls out of here!” shouted Dyno.

“Si,” agreed Myte “Krysta, can you teleport them away?”

Krysta kept zipping up and down and all around to avoid getting hit. “I can’t get close enough for a clear shot!”

She tried to conjure up her double-reflector portals to absorb the blasts and sent them back, but mush to her and everyone else’s total shock, the portals were frozen upon being blasted, and they fell hard to the ground and shattered.

“I don’t believe this!” shouted Rarity. “The ice power is too much for any of our magic to work.”

One of the blasts came straight at Starla.

“PULSAR LASER”

Her blast intercepted the ice-beam, but got frozen in the process.

“Just like before!” she cried.

Frieda laughed, “The more hate I feed to the Windigos, the stronger their powers become.”

“Well, then…” said Artie. “Let’s try a fire attack!”

The twins agreed and they joined hands.

“Keep behind us, Applejack.” cautioned Dyno.

“Oh, boy!” groaned Applejack.

The twins powered up and unleashed their power, “BOOM-BOOM FIREBALLS!”

“PAINT BOMBS” Artie launched his explosive gunk-balls.

The powerful flames and the resulting explosions seemed to work, driving the ice attacks away, but everyone knew it would be no use in attacking the Windigos directly.

The evil creatures continued to swarm and fire their ice-beams at the fighters.

“These guys fight as strongly as we do.
The more hate they feed, the stronger they’ll be too.” said Rhymey.

Rainbow dodged another ice beam, and then she could see Frieda down below form where she was flying. “We’ve got to stop her controlling these frozen freaks!” and she suddenly realized “The Amulet… I’m going for it!”

“Rainbow, wait!!” shouted Lightning, but Rainbow had already zoomed towards Frieda, and it looked as if she was going to grab for the amulet, but upon getting too close to her… the amulet glowed; zapping Rainbow and encasing in solid ice on the spot.

“Oh, no!” cried Twilight.

Everyone else looked and gawked in terror at what had happened.

“She’s been frozen!” whimpered Fluttershy.

“Ha! Fools!” shouted Frieda “You think controlling the Windigos is the only power I possess. I am the Queen of Winter… try to attack me, and you’ll get a chill out of it! Even your precious protective spells won’t be enough to save you.”

She began to fire more ice beams out at the fighters, forcing everyone to dodge.

“Wow! Whoa!” Pinkie cried as she dodged the blows, but then was frozen herself.

“Pinkie!” shouted Artie “Hang on, I’ll get you out!”

He grabbed his staff, and took a swing to shatter the ice, only for one of the Windigos to freeze it right in his hand. “ARGH!!” he groaned, and then he shot again, and frozen.

“No!! Artie!” shouted Lightning.

“Looks like things are beginning to cool down.” shouted Frieda, and she aimed a shot at Rarity next, making her scream in fight.

“NOOO…!!” Spike shouted as he leapt up and tackled her out of the way, and just barely missing the shot himself, causing the blast to ricochet off a large rock and strike the twins, Artie, and Pinkie.

“No!” Fluttershy, and in her distraction, a beam of ice was coming straight for her too, but Rhymey quickly sped in, scooped her up and leapt out of the way.

Frieda kept laughing and cackling as this was most enjoyable to her.

Then suddenly, she began to shiver a little herself. “Oh, no! Not now!” she groaned. She actually began to look a paler as she herself was starting to freeze…

…Which Twilight and Lightning both noticed.

“I’ve got to get out of here!” Frieda grumbled, and she hopped up onto her magic cloud and began to rise up high into the freezing sky, taking all her frozen prisoners with her.

“No! Wait!” shouted Twilight as she galloped forth and readied her magic to try one last time to save her friends, but her magic did nothing and froze every shot she made.

Rarity begged and yelled at the Space Ponies. “Don’t just stand there, do something! Don’t let her get away!”

“We can’t!” snapped Buddy, and he motioned at all the Windigos surrounding Frieda. Any attempt to try and go after her would likely result in the rest of them being frozen.

All any of them could do was look up angrily, even a bit tearfully as their friends vanished with the evil finch up into one giant and very dark cloud-- most likely where her hideout was.

Applejack let out an angry growl as she kicked the snow hard.

Fluttershy and Rarity’s tears began to fall at the loss of some of their friends, but the tears froze almost instantly as the winds continued to pick up and the snow fell harder.

“The storm’s getting worse!” shouted Lightning “…Krysta, teleport us to the palace, quick.”

“I’ll try!” yelled Krysta.

Twilight continued to look up at the cloud where Frieda had vanished from, until she and the others were all teleported off by Krysta’s magic.

While in her hideout, Frieda sat upon an icy throne, just relaxing calmly. “That was too close.” she said to herself. “As good as my power is, it isn’t without its drawbacks.

I must not let Starfleet figure this out!”

She then remembered all the prisoners she had captured, and began to feel. “This may be the perfect chance I need to round up the rest of them and complete my plot.

Then nothing will be able to stop me from turning all beings cold-hearted, and destroyed Hearths Warming forever!”

Act 4: Bitter Briefing

ACT FOUR

The palace was shrouded in a powerful barrier conjured by Grand Ruler Celesto and Queen Celestia, to keep the Cursed Blizzard from seeping in.

They also had cast this magic worldwide, shrouding every building, every home, every shelter with the same protection, and had issued orders that everyone was to remain inside until further notice.

As for others who were already affected by the storm’s curse… by order of their majesties, they were captured by Starfleet officers-- imprisoned within holding spheres, and brought to the palace so that they could be de-cursed.

Lightning, Twilight, and the remainder of the team were waiting to see all three of their majesties in the main briefing room.

They all waited outside in the hall.

Fluttershy was weeping softly for the loss of her friends, and Rhymey comforted her, but felt just as bad himself.

Rarity not only felt worried about the lost friends, but she also felt horrible for all the ponies that were under lockdown, or kept imprisoned in the spheres. “It seems so barbaric to do such a thing.”

Applejack disagreed, “It’s the only way to keep the hate from spreading, and so nobody gets hurt.”

Rhymey looked up and nodded,

“Sometimes it’s the only thing to do
We don’t like it any more than you do.

I still hope we can get the others back,
And save Hearths Warming from this attack.”

“So do I.” peeped Flutterhy.

Lightning sat near Twilight, but he didn’t look at her as he was deeply infuriated.

“I told you not to do anything!” he scolded. “If you had just kept still, I could have zipped over to Frieda and taken the amulet from her.

You ruined everything.”

Twilight did not take very kindly. “How I was supposed to know you had that plan, you didn’t tell me. I had to do something, and what if your plan didn’t work?”

“Silence!” snapped Lightning. “We will see what their majesties have to say about your insubordination.”

Twilight was quivering with rage, and looked ready to belt someone.

“I suggest you not.” Starla whispered to her.

Twilight cringed softly trying to contain herself.

She had never seen Lightning act this seriously before, when just earlier that day he seemed reasonable and trying to have fun.

Then again, these were serious times now, and there was no room for mistakes.

She was starting to feel Lightning’s scolding get to her. Maybe she hadn’t done the right thing.

Spike hated seeing Twilight when she was like this. “Gee, Lightning really read into her.”

“I can’t blame him,” said Krysta. “She was given strict orders.”

Spike gave her a hard stare. “Don’t you go wailing on my friend too!”

“Why shouldn’t I? You’re the one who questioning the Captain’s rightful and justifiable scorning.”

The two growled angrily at each other.

“Stop it, both of you!” snapped Buddy. “Things are bad enough as they are. We’re not going to get anywhere by bickering with each other.”

Everyone fell totally silent, except when Applejack softly cleared her throat.

Just then, a royal guard came out from the room. “Their majesties are ready for you.”

Twilight felt her nerves wrecking inside, fearing their majesties would probably be just as displeased as Lightning…

…And they were when they heard the hold story.

Grand Ruler spoke deeply to Twilight, “Gross insubordination is a serious very offense, Twilight Sparkle.”

“Yes sir.” Twilight said in a downhearted voice.

Celestia sighed in disappointment. “We understand how you must have felt for your brother, and Princess Cadance-- I understand especially, but you still behaved very recklessly.”

Now Twilight really felt upset.

“However…” said Grand Ruler “In spite of all this, it cannot be denied that we’ve learned a lot about Frieda, and the power she possesses, and it is possible for us to retrieve the rest of the team.

Therefore, there shall be no charges… this time.”

Twilight was astounded, but Lightning’s features had not changed. He didn’t even show concern that Twilight was let off the hook and immediately asked. “Is there any way we can get our friends back?”

“There is.” answered Princess Luna, and she unfolded a map of New Canterlot and the surrounding area, including where the battle took place. “Sensors have detected the Cursed Blizzard seems to be the coldest and the strongest from this area.”

“Exactly as we thought.” said Lightning. “Frieda must have her hideout somewhere in the clouds.”

“I know exactly where…” said Luna, and with a magic pen, she drew on a small area of the map, and the image of a large ice-palace appeared.

“Whoa! Check it out.” cried Spike.

“It’s incredible!” agreed Rarity.

Luna greed it was rather astounding. “It was discovered by agents assisting the lockdown in New Cloudsdale. There can be no doubt; this is our enemy’s base of operations.”

“Well, that’s a good thing,” said Applejack “But how do we get to it? I assume it ain’t that easy.”

“Indeed not.” replied Grand Ruler “The Cursed Blizzard emitted from palace itself; shrouding it like a force-field. Because the storm is the strongest from there, there is a very good chance that you would become infected if you tried to pass through it, even with magical shielding.”

Rhymey had to agreed,

“There must be a way to get through there,
Without being affected by the freezing air.”

Twilight’s ears twitched at the sound of the word “Freezing.”

“…That could work.”

“What could?” asked Fluttershy.

Twilight explained, “We encase ourselves in ice, and we launch ourselves straight at the palace. The curse won’t affect us if we’re already frozen, and then the spell wears off after we get there.

Once we’re through the storm, we can enter the ice palace.”

Many of the others weren’t too crazy about such an idea.

“You want us to actually freeze ourselves in solid ice?” asked Buddy.

Rarity shivered, “I understand how desperate we are, but does that not rather-- pardon the pun--chilling?”

Lightning was rather astounded that she came up with such a plan, and the more he thought about it, he agreed. “…It just may work.”

Twilight looked at him in a strange way; that he actually agreed with her after he had just scolded her?

It didn’t last too long as Lightning pointed out, “…But then there is still the matter of storming the palace itself. We have no idea what dangers lurk inside, and then there’s Frieda herself.”

Their majesties agreed, having heard about Frieda’s intentions to freeze all hearts and destroy Hearths Warming. She had to be stopped, no matter what, or Hearths Warming would be in greater danger than ever.

Twilight interjected, “Maybe she’s having a friendship problem.”

Every eye in the room was suddenly fixated on her.

“She’s trying to destroy Hearths Warming,” Twilight continued “And nobody does something like this without a reason. Maybe we can try and reason with her, and she’ll give up willingly.”

Everyone began to feel it was possible, but the Space Ponies were rather skeptical.

“It still doesn’t change the fact that she’s committed crimes.” said Starla. “Even if we can win her over somehow, which I doubt, we still have to arrest her.”

Celestia and Luna both held their heads down a bit at such an idea.

“You mean just up and contain her?” asked Spike.

Krysta nodded, “The law is the law. If you break it, you pay it.”

“I’m afraid she’s right.” agreed Grand Ruler.

Now the Equestrians were starting to feel worried and hurt.

“So you’ll just toss her in jail?!” wailed Rarity.

“Nobody said anything about that!” snapped Grand Ruler. “If Frieda is truly willing to be reasoned with and see the error of her ways, it’s possible that we may be able to help rehabilitate her.”

“Well that’s good to hear.” said Applejack. “But… uh… just asking: What if we can’t, and what if it gets way worse?”

Grand Ruler clenched his fist and shut his eyes tight. “I really hope it won’t have to come to that, but if it does… and only if it must be done…”

Celestia held her hand over her mouth in soft horror, as did the Equestrians, while the Space Ponies seemed equally remorseful.

“You… you don’t mean?!” cried Fluttershy.

With a heavy heart, Lightning said it for all to hear, “…We destroy her.”

Stomachs gave turns, especially Twilight.

There was nothing more to say after that on the subject, and no protests would be tolerated.

It was very late, and their majesties suggested the fighters rest.

“We shall begin at dawn. We’ll have a much better chance in the daylight.” said Grand Ruler.

Celestia agreed to that, but she hoped all the others were okay, wherever they were.

Meanwhile, within the icy dungeons…

All of Frieda’s prisoners were thrown into a large holding area, still frozen in solid ice…

…Until, the blocks of the Space Ponies began to crack as the ice emitted steam; actually starting to melt softly.

Suddenly, the ponies burst out from the ice blocks.

Artie and the twins groaned as they shook themselves awake. Their suits had fully powered down, and all three of them felt pretty chilly, but they managed to fully come to their senses.

“You guys okay?” asked Artie.

“Si, I think do.” replied Dyno.

Myte began to shiver. “¿Qué esta pasando?” *What’s happening?* Where are we? It’s even colder here than before.

…WHOA!!” he and his friends began to find the floor very slippery, since it, like practically everything in the palace was made of ice.

With a few taps on their energizers, the soles on their boots transformed to rough surfaces so they wouldn’t slide.

Artie suddenly remembered the battle, and he turned round to see, “…The others!”

The four Equestrians were still encased in ice.

The twins gasped.

“Let’s get them out.” cried Dyno.

“I’m with you, meng.” replied Myte.

The three men simply gave each block of ice huge punches, shattering them to pieces and releasing the Equestrians.

Rainbow and Pinkie rubbed their eyes; and Pinkie, in a usual fashion, cracked every bone in her body to see if she was fine.

“Ah… Ah…. Ah-Choo!!” she sneezed.

Rainbow still felt a bit cold. “W-W-W-What’s happening?” she asked.

The guys realized that the ladies were only still conscious because of special spell cast on them before the battle, but now it was gone and they had no special heating units in their outfits like they did.

Worse than that, Cadance and Shining Armor were both unconscious, having been frozen for much longer than any the others had.

The twins scooped up the unconscious ponies and felt their wrists and necks-- Starfleet officers were trained in reading vital signs, even without their visors.

“Well… WELL…!” yelled Pinkie. Her voice echoed along the chamber making things shake softly.

“They’re still alive,” said Dyno “But we’ve got to warm them up.”

“That won’t be easy.” said Myte “It’s plenty chilly in here, even for our heating units, and there’s no place to build a fire either.”

“We’d dare not even if we could.” said Artie. “Look around… everything seems to be made of ice.”

The others all looked around, and concluded they were in some sort of dungeon.

“What is this place?” wondered Pinkie.

“Whatever it is,” said Rainbow “…I don’t like it, and I’m outta’ here!”

Luckily, she could see a large ice door at the end of the chamber, and she readied to take a running crash at it.

“Rainbow, No!” Artie snapped as he held her back, “That’s not a good idea. We don’t know how thick that ice is.”

Curious, Pinkie marched up to the door and tapped it with her fist. Then she furiously wailed and pounded on it until she puffed and panted. “Yeah… it’s pretty thick.”

Suddenly, Shining Armor and Cadance began to stir.

“They’re waking up?” exclaimed Dyno.

“But they haven’t been warmed up yet.” Myte pointed out.

The two ponies snapped their eyes wide open, but they were glowing with a freezing blue color.

The others backed away.

“Uh… nice contacts…?” Pinkie joked nervously.

The two royals hissed wickedly.

“Join us!” said Cadance.

“Let your heart grow cold.” added Shining Armor.

“They’re brainwashed!” cried Rainbow.

“It’s Frieda!” grumbled Artie.

Then he and others could hear Frieda’s wicked voice, “That’s right… and guess who else is now invited to my End of Hearths Warming party?”

Everyone’s eyes widened.

Cadance and Shining Armor began to move in closer towards the ponies like zombies.

“We better capture them.” suggested Artie.

Pinkie and Rainbow were initially appalled.

“You mean just attack them and lock them in balls?” wailed Rainbow.

“That’s even colder than this room!” added Pinkie.

“What choice do we have?” asked Dyno.

“If we don’t, they’ll attack us.” sneered Myte.

The girls understood and stood behind their friends.

The three men stood ready to activate their energizers, but surprisingly… Cadance and Shining Armor were not only possessed by the ice powers, but possessed them as well, and they both let out a series of blasts freezing the alicorn’s horns, as well as their hands over their energizers preventing them from activating them.

“Ah! Oh, no!” cried Dyno.

“We’ve got to break loose!” added Myte…

…But there was no time to make much of a move as the two royals had unleashed actual blizzardy winds from their mouths, exactly like the Cursed Blizzard outside the palace, which enveloped the ponies.

Frieda saw everything through her amulet, and snickered. “Excellent… now all that remains is for the others to get here.” She paused as she sat back on her icy throne. “Hearths Warming is as good as doomed.”

She then used the amulet to look down into the world below her storm; all the ponies were tucked safely away inside and protected by the outer barriers.

“Their fools if they think that will stop me. No one defies the Queen of Winter.”

She raised the amulet up and looked deeply into it, catching her reflection in all angles. “I hope it won’t have to come to my doing that… but anything is worth it if it means the end of all this cheery nonsense and sickening joy.”

Act 5: What is Right?

ACT FIVE

Lightning tossed and turned, unable to sleep too well, but not simply for worrying about the others and tomorrow’s plan, but he was still thinking about Twilight and how she messed everything up.

Krysta sat up in her little bed on the table next to his. “You’re really mad at her, huh?”

“Sure.” grumbled Lightning. “Ah, heck, No… I’m not really angry, just worried. I can’t stop thinking about the way she acted.”

He got out of bed and walked over to the window to look outside.

The storm was still billowing hard, but at least the streets were deserted so there weren’t any crabby ponies causing scenes or breaking things, but he still felt bad for them all being locked up.

Krysta fluttered up to Lightning, and even though she, herself, was mad at Twilight for defying orders, she actually took pity on her. “She is learning, and she couldn’t help herself.”

“I understand all that,” grumbled Lightning, “But it’s still no excuse. She very nearly jeopardized us all. As captain I’m supposed to be responsible for all those assigned to me, and if they fall out of line…!”

He sighed while hanging his head low. “I get that she has her own experiences, but she has to understand that they won’t always help her. These are new times for her and everyone else.

I just hope and pray she doesn’t try something like this tomorrow either, or everything will be ruined. That means Hearths Warming will be destroyed, and our friends… who knows what will become of them, or this entire planet.”

He wasn’t trying to say he didn’t want Twilight to come on the mission. He wanted her to learn well, and he wanted her to understand what it meant to be a fighter, but this meant no room for mistakes or being undisciplined.

“…I just want to know if I can trust her.”

Krysta could only shake her head.

Meanwhile, Twilight was having the same thoughts too.

She sat up in bed staring down at her bed covers. “Sometimes I just don’t get Lightning. It’s almost like he doesn’t believe in the power of friendship.”

Spike sat up in his little basket bed. “I don’t think that’s true, Twilight. Otherwise he wouldn’t have friends, or he wouldn’t be willing to try and have fun like he did.”

Twilight didn’t feel any better, especially with the thought of the mission the next day, worrying about her friends, and the sake of Hearths Warming too.

“How did it all come to this?” she wondered. “Ever since The Great War, the power of friendship… it just feels like its fading.

Don’t get me wrong, Lightning’s a great friend, and so are the others, but… then, they just turn around and get so… serious, it’s like they immediately assume friendship is useless.”

“Well, they did come from a world of war and constant struggle to fight evil, every day of their lives.” said Spike. “I’m pretty sure they’ve had their shares of times when friendship wasn’t enough.”

Twilight especially thought of Lightning’s birth planet, Harmonious, and how such a blissful and peaceful world of love and friendship was utterly shattered.

Twilight sighed. “I guess I’m still just learning about all this new stuff and I have to admit… I will have to face times when friendship won’t really be good enough.

…But in the end I just want us all to get along, and I want things to work out for everyone.”

She got up and walked over to the window, looking out at the storm.

Then both she and Lightning seemed to start singing a soft song.

[Twilight]

It seems like times are hard,
and a lot’s on my mind
It’s seems all I’ve known
is leaving behind.
It’s Hearths Warming,
and things don’t seem bright.
I want to do something,
and I want to do it right.

[Lightning]

I come from a world that is different,
and things were not always the best
There were battles and chaos and we all did fight,
without ever so much of a rest
Now here we are with these new friends,
and I care for them with all my might
I know they mean well, but…
But how can I tell if what they do is right.

Both Lightning and Twilight looked up through the storm, actually imagining they could see through it at all the glistening stars at night, and both making the same wish.

[Both]

Oh, holy stars…
Help me do what’s right,
Show me the way to go
Hearths Warming, here my say
Guide me with all the might,
Let the way come forth to show…
…What is right.

As the song faded, and the two ponies snapped back into reality, they were both still unable to sleep.

Instead, they both marched out of their suites, and they both met up in the hallway, each with the same idea in mind.

“We need to talk.” they both agreed, and they did, right through the night.

The next morning, it still seemed rather dark because of the blizzard still billowing.

Lightning, Twilight, and the rest of the team reported to their majesties for final preparations.

Lightning and Twilight still looked grumpy with each other, especially hinting by how exhausted they looked.

“This is bad,” Starla whispered to others. “What are their majesties going to say?”

“They can’t possibly be willing to let them both go on the mission like this.” agreed Applejack.

Much to everyone else’s surprise, when their majesties came in to greet everyone, Grand Ruler’s first comment was, “Good, you’re all here and ready.”

The other friends wondered if he or Celestia noticed Lightning and Twilight still seemingly visibly cross with one another.

Lightning and Twilight looked at one another, and then snuffed and turned away.

“We have some good news.” said Celestia “It is possible for us-- that is Celesto and I-- to remove the brainwashing, and get all the affected ponies back to normal.”

“Really?” peeped Fluttershy.

“That is a good relief to hear.” agreed Rarity, but Grand Ruler shook his head, “No, not quite… it isn’t as easy as you think.

The Cursed Blizzard must be dispelled first. Until it is, the spell will have no effect. That makes it all the more reason for you all to find Frieda and put an end to her plans before things get worse.”

The team all blinked once in concern, and Rhymy asked…

“What do you mean by “Get Worse?”
Is there something to this horrible curse?”

“I think I see what it is…” said Buddy as he pointed outside, motioning that it hadn’t stopped snowing at all, and the snow was beginning to pile up deeply; so deep… that it already reached the stoops of people’s homes outside.

The magic barriers protected the homes and buildings themselves from the outside magic, and collateral damages, but not from something like this!

“Oh, all those poor ponies and their families!” cried Fluttershy.

“I’ve seen my share of blizzards, but this one sure bites the apple hard.” said Applejack.

Grand Ruler nodded in agreement. “Celestia and I must remain behind in order to get the spell ready to vanquish all this, but as I said: it will not work unless the storm is shut off from the source.”

Lightning and Twilight both looked determined to ensure that would happen, but they still didn’t even look at one another, and even if they did, they did so with the deepest of scorn.

Spike and Krysta didn’t like it one bit, having slept through the night and not hearing them have their little talk, which seemed to end in hostility.

This was further confirmed as the team marched down the hallway to the royal labs for final outfitting and preparations.

Lightning slammed his hand against the wall right before Twilight; stopping her dead where she was and look right at him.

“Let’s get one thing straight, recruit,” he said severely “If you screw up on this mission, or if you put even one toe out of line… if we’re lucky enough to come back in one piece, you’ll be spending Hearths Warming in a cell, understood?”

Twilight hesitated.

“…Understood?!”

Quivering angrily, but keeping her cool, Twilight replied. “Yes… sir…”

Then they both walked into the lab, but all the others were becoming appalled by how harshly Lightning was behaving.

“Lightning, don’t you think you’re going over the top with this?” asked Starla, but Lightning merely held up his hand, “Now don’t you start too, Lieutenant.”

Starla nearly winced in shock, and Lightning said straight to the others, “…That goes for the rest of you. Now let’s get ready.”

Even the other Space Ponies wanted to give Lightning a scolding, but that would only make them look just as bad, even declare mutiny which was a serious offense!

“I don’t get it.” whispered Buddy. “If Lightning’s so steamed and distrustful of Twilight, why is he letting her come on the mission?”

“You heard their majesties, they were clear
Their orders were she comes, not stay here.” replied Rhymey.

The Equestrians knew better than to question royal orders, but they, too, did not like where Lightning and Twilight’s attitudes were going, but there was no time to worry about that.

Once in the lab, Professor Brain and his workers had the team line up in front of a large panel as the team was sprayed with a special formula.

“What gives with this?” asked Applejack.

Rarity groaned as she held her nostrils, “It’s positively rancid.” she felt like she was about to throw up.

“It may smell putrid…” explained Brain “But this formula shall ensure you safety for your journey, for it shall keep you conscious and stable while you are frozen.

We wouldn’t watch you all catching a chill now.”

The scent of the formula was already beginning to fade away and it didn’t smell so hard and bad now.

Next, their majesties came in and repeated the heat-shielding spell which would keep everyone warmer in the ice-palace.

Once this was done, it was time for the Space Ponies to transform.

“STARFLEET MAGIC!!”

“Wow! I love watching this!” exclaimed Spike as he watched the transformations.

Once the ponies were transformed, and Twilight and her friends were outfitted with extra special parkas and snow-goggles, it was time for launch.

All the ponies were loaded into large ejection tubes. Spike rode with Twilight, and Krysta with Lightning.

“Are you all ready?” asked Celestia “We’re about to freeze you, and then you will be launched in a perfect trajectory to the ice-palace. After which, you will be on your own.”

“We’re ready.” said Lightning.

“We won’t fail you.” added Twilight.

Lightning grunted softly at Twilight’s cockiness, which earned him a roll of her eyes, much to the dismay of the others, but still their majesties acted as if nothing was wrong.

Fluttershy tried to speak up about the obvious dysfunction, when suddenly their majesties combined their powers together with the machinery in the tubes, and in a big blast, everyone was frozen in solid ice-blocks, which were enchanted to shatter in a few minutes.

“Launch, now!” ordered Grand Ruler.

The workers agreed, and in no time at all…

…One of the tower turrets swung open on a large hinge revealing a large cannon extending outward.

POW!! The cannon fried all at once, sending all their ice blocks high up into the sky.

“Good Luck, My Brave Ponies.” prayed Grand Ruler.

Celestia bowed her head, sharing in her husband’s prayer.

Act 6: Cold towards each other

ACT SIX

The ice blocks soared clear through the Cursed Blizzard, keeping the fighters unaffected as promised.

The blocks then approached their destination, and crashed on a large pad of strong and solid ice.

Just mere seconds after the crash, the blocks magically shattered as they were enchanted to do, and the fighters all rose to their feet.

“Everyone alright?” asked Lightning.

The others all looked themselves all over, and the Space Ponies visors read all vital signs were normal.

“Everything seems fine.” replied Starla, but then she looked up. “Wow!”

There, before everyone was Frieda’s ice-palace-- a large castle literally made of ice, with towers and battlements.

High above, the Windigos soared all around, as if they were loaning their magic to keep the castle strong and sturdy.

The castle itself was magically floating on a magical storm cloud from which the Cursed Blizzard was generating from, yet the air around the castle itself was clear; not a speck of snow or strong winds.

“Well, here we are.” whimpered Fluttershy.

Rhymey then held her hand to try and perk her up.

“Stay strong, and don’t give into fear.
We must keep tough now that we’re here.”

Lightning agreed, and he could see… far at the end of an ice bridge was the large main gates to the castle.

He scanned the area with his visor and could detect nothing suspicious. No traps, no invisible magical fields. He even looked up where the Windgos were soaring round the castle, and not even moving or noticing the impending intrusion.

“I suppose we should enter now?” asked Rarity.

“Yeah, but how?” asked Spike. “Look at that door. It’s solid ice. It doesn’t even have any handles.”

“He’s right.” said Buddy, and he scanned the door with his visor. “I can’t see any way to open it.”

Applejack then asked Twilight and Krysta, “Can’t you two just teleport us inside?”

Twilight and Krysta shook their heads. “The walls are too thick.” said Twilight, and Krysta added “Even if we could, there’s no telling where we’d wind up.

We don’t know what it’s like inside there.”

Suddenly, there was a great big rumble, and everything began to shake.

“What’s happening?” asked Starla.

“Look…” cried Twilight.

The great big gates began to slide up, up, and open wide revealing a dark and sinister entry into the castle.

“I guess we’re being invited in?” suggested Spike.

Lightning clenched his fists. He could still detect nothing with his visor, but that didn’t make it safe to enter.

Even Twilight wasn’t convinced to just barge in.

Her horn began to glow.

“What are you doing?” asked Lightning.

Twilight didn’t answer, and she merely cast a small orb of light which floated in past the doors, illuminating the hallway. The light was very bright thanks to the solid, reflective surface of the ice…

…And still there was nothing to menacing or dangerous inside.

“It doesn’t look too bad. I think we should head in.” suggested Twilight.

“No!” snapped Lightning. “It could still be a trap. Frieda must know we’re here, or why else would the door just open for us. We can’t risk entry.”

Twilight’s features hardened. “And how do you intend to save our friends if we don’t?”

Lightning glared squarely and sternly at her, “Twilight Sparkle, so help me… I’m going to downsize you!”

Starla stepped in before he could say anything else. “Stop it, both of you!! We don’t have time to fight like this!”

“She’s right!” snapped Applejack. “We got to work together on this if we’re going to save our friends and Hearths Warming!”

Suddenly, without warning, the bridge just bolted upright forming a step slide, causing everyone to fall in through the gate.

Everyone screamed and yelled as they slide down the slippery ice floor, and finding it impossible to stop.

“Quick!” Lightning shouted to the space ponies, and his friends complied, holding onto each of the Equestrians, and furiously flipped their wings downward, thereby applying breaks that slowed them down… stopping everyone before skidding too far and falling off of the path, which lead to a deep and misty pit.

Spike was trembling fretfully. “I like slides… but that was terrifying.”

“Too terrifying!” peeped Fluttershy.

“At least we’re inside now.” said Krysta.

Then came the sound of a familiar snicker. “…Yes, you are.”

Lightning’s features hardened. “Frieda!”

Frieda’s voice snickered. “It’s not often I have guests for the holidays. Then again, I never liked the holidays; all the more reason for me to wipe it out.”

The team were appalled more than ever with her smug tone.

“But how, and why?” asked Twilight “Why would you want to ruin Hearths Warming for everyone?”

Frieda only taunted her. “If you’re that desperate to know… come and find me, and maybe I’ll explain.”

The space ponies tried to scan for the soundwaves of the voice hoping to pinpoint which way to go, but the readings were everywhere. The voice seemed to magically call from all directions.

“Try to scan for other life signs.” said Lightning.

That didn’t help either. Just like before, the readings were all over the place.

Just then, the chamber magically lit up, revealing a single pathway, leading a clearing with three tunnel entrances.

“Now which way should we go?” asked Fluttershy.

“We’ll split up.” replied Lightning, “It’s the only and best chance we have.”

“We can’t.” protested Twilight. “We should stick together.”

“I’m with Twilight on that one.” agreed Applejack.

“M-M-Me too.” said Fluttershy “If we stay together we can look out for one another.”

Lightning looked as if he was about to blow his top.

The Space Ponies were more with Lightning.

“I say we split up too.” agreed Buddy.

Rhymey nodded…

“If we do that we’ll cover more ground,
And explore the castle all around.

It’s the only way to find our friends,
Who knows where each tunnel ends?”

“So I guess that’s it then?” Starla asked while looking at Lightning.

Lightning nodded and divided up the teams.

“Starla, Krysta, Twilight, with me…

Buddy, Spike, Rarity…

Rhymey, Applejack, and Fluttershy.”

Twilight would have protested, but Lightning gave her a small scowl, telling her there would be no arguments.

So the teams split up, heading down one of each tunnel.

Frieda saw the whole thing through her amulet and was chuckling with evil glee. “Perfect, they’ve separated. Now it’ll be so much easier.”

…Time to play a little Freeze Tag.”

Behind her stood all the other ponies; now her brainwashed slaves.

“You all know what to do. Go get them.”

The slaves bowed and headed off.

Frieda then waved her wing over the amulet. “Meanwhile, I still have much to do.”

The Windigos flew in swarms towards the lands below.

“Go, my subjects. Intensify the storm, freeze hearts everywhere, until everyone is too crabby and cold to care.”

She began to growl and snarl as she sat on her throne, and the amulet magically fed her raging hatred to the army of Windigos, which empowered them to continue carrying out her evil will.

“I hate Hearths Warming!” she grumbled to herself. “I will destroy it! That’s a promise!”

In one of the tunnels, Lightning walked up ahead with the other ladies behind him.

Twilight heaved a brave sigh, and marched up to Lightning.

“What are you doing?” asked Starla.

“Oh, no, this can’t be good.” muttered Krysta.

Twilight cleared her throat softly, and asked in a slightly annoyed voice, “Permission to speak, Captain?”

Lightning didn’t stop walking or even turn to face, but he answered, “…Granted.”

Twilight seemed to put much thought into what she had to say.

“I know we have our orders, but I’m still thinking maybe it would help to try to reason with Frieda and win her over.”

Lightning only sighed, “Recruit, for the last time: we’re here to arrest her and put an end to her plans and nothing more.”

“But sir, I--” was all Twilight could seem to get out before Lightning cut in, “Don’t mention it again, and as Captain I’m making that an order.”

Twilight growled softly, and Lightning continued to lecture her, “What you must understand is that these are more dangerous times, and your notions of friends, admirable as they are, will not suffice in a situation like this.”

Twilight hated to talk out of ranks, but she had to let out what needed to be said. “I guess you really don’t believe in Hearths Warming do you?”

“Huh?”

Starla and Krysta stiffened.

“Uh… Twilight…” said Krysta, she tried to caution her not to continue, but Twilight did anyway.

“You care more about fighting and winning, and you take pride in belittling those who are in-differed to you.”

Lightning seemed most heart struck by that remark; Starla and Krysta did as well.

“Okay, that’s the last straw!” sneered Starla, and she marched straight up and stuck her hands out.

“Stand down, Starla.” said Lightning.

“No!” she balked at him. “I hate to break rank, but the both of you need to stop this right now.”

“I agree.” added Krysta. “You two have been at each other’s throats since yesterday, and frankly, we’re all getting sick of it.”

Lightning and Twilight both looked annoyed equally with each other, and the others telling them both how to behave.

“Is everyone in my unit going to stop and question me like this?” Lightning asked. “Why can no one understand; I’m just doing what needs to be done.”

“More like you’re only thinking about yourself!” snapped Starla. “Twilight and her friends are just learning how to be fighters like us, but we can’t go around treating them like they’re clueless foals!”

Lightning growled.

“And you, Twilight…” balked Krysta. “You have to realize that friendship, divine as it is… sometimes it just has to take a backseat when you’re up against the kind of foes we face.”

Twilight rolled her eyes to stare down at the ground.

While in one of the other tunnels…

Buddy, Spike and Rarity walked slowly down the cold path, emerging in a chamber where the ice was so solid and slick, it practically served as a house of mirrors; casting their reflections in so many angles.

“Whoa! That’s tough on the eyes.” said Buddy.

Rarity felt different, much different. Her eyes were practically glistening as she could see her reflection from so many directions.

“Oh, my…” she remarked as she flicked her mane and flicked her parka. Why she even tipped her goggles striking a fashionable pose. “I never realized how scintillating the ice can make one appear.”

Spike has to agreed, the way he could see her from so many angles made him float in the air with cute little hearts around him.

Buddy sighed in annoyance, but then he looked and thought he saw another reflection zooming about.

“It’s a trap!” he cried.

Spike and Rarity gasped, and at that split second, a magical beam was launched into chamber, bouncing and ricocheting off the ice.

“Look out!!” shouted Spike.

Buddy swerved and dodged the beam as it came at him each time, and Spike ducked down in a small niche, but Rarity wasn’t so lucky.

She was able to dodge thanks to what little training she had, but in the end, she got hit and she screamed as she was frozen in ice.

“Rarity!!” Spike shouted, and in his panic for his crush, he had leap out from the hole.

“Spike!” hollered Buddy, and before he could do anything, three more ice beams were fired and bounced off the walls.

Spike was frozen almost instantly when one of the beams hit him, leaving Buddy to dodge the remaining two.

He didn’t dare fire his own magic beams, for fear they would bounce off the walls too.

“Wait a minute!” he said to himself, and he had an idea to use a different kind of power.

“LEAF SWARM”

He unleashed his razor leaves, which were able to intercept the blasts and stop them without bouncing off the walls since they were not forms of energy.

“Ha!” he shouted with glee, only to then be blasted at by more beams coming into the room. Where are these coming from?!” he bellowed, and then he was frozen after being hit from behind.

At the exact same time all that happened.

The third team were dashing down a slippery hallway as a whole bunch of icy traps trying to get at them.

Icicles shooting through the walls like bullets forcing everyone to run or fly fast and careful not slip, even with their special soles…

Large ice spikes launching out in attempt to spear them…

Even huge, spiked panels smashing towards them from the sides and out of the walls…

Rhymey, and Applejack sped through the obstacles on foot, while Fluttershy rushed right through them in flight, leaving a trail of fretful tears behind her while yelping, “I hate this place! I hate this place!! I hate this place!!!”

…At least her speed was improving.

Suddenly, the trio emerged in a large chamber, which then sealed up with a huge block of ice.

“I think we just stumbled into a trap.” whimpered Applejack.

Her fear was confirmed when two Windigos came flying in through the walls.

“I hate it when I’m right!” groaned Applejack.

Rhymey growled and drew out his weapon…

“WARD SWORD”

The Windigos hissed and sneered at him.

“Rhymey, they’re spirits!” cried Fluttershy. “You can’t beat them with a sword!”

Rhymey just stood tall and fierce, and the tip of his blade shimmered.

The Windigos then fired their ice beams towards the trio, and Rhymey leapt up high, and actually sliced through the beams with his sword, without the weapon being frozen.

The mares were astounded… so much that they nearly forgot to watch out for more beams being fired, and Rhymey couldn’t counter them all at once.

So they began to leap and fly about, dodging every attack. However, unlike the mirror chamber, every missed beam that struck the floor or the walls, large icebergs formed, leaving less and less space to move to.

Suddenly, both Applejack and Fluttershy were separated on either side of the chamber, and each of the Windigos fired their beams at them.

“DRILL QUILL” Rhymey unleashed his sharp feathers to intercept the beams just in time, sparing the ladies.

“Whoo-wee!” sighed Applejack.

Fluttershy gazed up at Rhymey, rather lovingly for saving her again, and he gazed back at her.

Suddenly, the Windigos fired more beams, forcing Rhymey to slash and block at them more, but the more beams that missed him and the ladies, the less space there was to move about, and eventually they were all hit and were frozen too.

All the friends had frozen at the same time, and their echoes seemed to rattle along the castle walls.

Lightning and the others all looked up and out in deep horrors.

“That doesn’t sound good.” said Krysta.

Lightning clenched his fists and pointed forth shouting, “Let’s go!”

Rather than run down the hall, he, Starla and Krysta flew above the icy floor, while Twilight levitated herself with her magic above the floor too, making it easier and faster to zoom down the hall…

Making their way up a winding, icy stairwell, and emerging in yet another large room and there she was, sitting on her icy throne in the back, and surrounded by Windigos.

“Frieda!” Lightning sneered at the snickering finch.

Act 7: I Hate Hearths Warming

ACT SEVEN

Frieda snickered at the sight of the four remaining teammates. “You sure took your sweet time in getting here, and just when things were starting to get colder.”

Lightning didn’t want to waste any time and readied himself to rush at her.

“I wouldn’t do that!” snapped Frieda, and she motioned to all around her, at all the frozen blocks containing all the others inside.

“Oh, no!” cried Starla.

“Oh, yes.” hissed Frieda. “One move out of either of you, and I’ll destroy them.”

Lightning quivered with anger. “You monster! You’re even colder than the winter you cast.”

Frieda took that as a compliment. “Yes… yes, I am, and proud to be, then again, it is justified.”

The fighters confused. “How is destroying Hearths Warming and turning people against one-another justified?” asked Krysta.

Frieda then looked cross, and finally decided to come clean-- exactly what Lightning and Twilight were hoping for.

“Hearths Warming was always a big disappointment!

My family and I were always on the move-- always going from place to place. So I never really made any friends, or was often too busy to play or have time to myself.

We were also always at each other’s throats.

My father would always yell and boss us all around, even when nothing was wrong or he had no reason to be mad; he just up and gave us all a hard time.

Yelling at us…

Scolding us for doing things he didn’t like…

Complaining that he was always perfect and we were nothing compared to him…

If he didn’t feel like celebrating Hearths Warming, then no one was allowed to, and even if we did celebrate, it was always a letdown; we would only receive useless things, like old tin-cans, broken wooden crates, or old dirty rags.

And don’t even get me started on dinners-- old seeds, slimy worms, and rotted berries! Ugh!!

Not like you ponies-- with your jolly friendships, your warm love, and your precious gifts of giving and heartfelt cheer. Even creatures that didn’t celebrate Hearths Warming and had their own holidays had it so much better than I ever did, with equally jolly times, and warmth of love and care!

…It disgusted me! Why should all of you have all the fun and warmth, and I get none of it?!

My mother always obeyed the orders of my father, like a great coward, and weakly let him have his wicked ways with us.

Finally, after enough years of rage and jealousy, I sought to do something about this.

Fortunately for me, my family was killed in The Great War.

During Equestria’s enslavement, my mother died in slavery due to her meek and spineless nature, and my mother tried to make his escape and was captured and executed as a warning to other slaves!

Part of me was thrilled, seeing those losers bite the dust for being overbearing, or simply too spineless to deserve to keep going!

Yet, even after the war was won, and the world renewed, I could see all the celebrations, which meant, I knew, that Hearths Warming would eventually return.

…The very holiday that was the bane of my existence! Just the thought of it returning and all the cheer and joy that I never got to experience; I just couldn’t take it!

It was then I decided that since I could never make my Hearths Warming any better, I would make everyone else’s holiday worse; even destroy the entire holiday itself.

But how to do this was the main issue.

I searched all over the planet for a way to grant me the power I needed, and my travels took me to the mountains of the New Frozen North.

It was there that I stumbled upon the camp of an elderly pony, who shared my distaste of Hearths Warming as well.

He had already passed away either from old age or prolonged exposure to the cold, but he had uncovered a great treasure with the instructions written in his log.”

Frieda then paused and held up her amulet and explained what she had learned from the old pony’s log.

“This was forged before Equestria was unified; it was created by a band of unicorns that had hoped to use its powers to gain control of the Windigos and force them away…

…But the Windigos themselves had seized the amulet and cursed it with their own powers to worsen the winter, and destroyed the very unicorns that originally created it.

When the Fires of Friendship were used to drive the Wingidos away, the amulet was lost, and not a soul living knew of its existence…

…Until many centuries later.

The explorer I met… according to his journal, he, too, had scavenged the lands in search of a way to destroy Hearths Warming, and his hate attracted the attention of the Windigos whom presented him with the amulet, ensuring him it would grant the power he needed.

The pony had passed on, but fortunately I stumbled upon his camp and inherited the amulet for myself.”

She paused and chuckled, “And now… here I sit; the executor of Hearths Warming and ruler of all winter… and I love every bit about it.”

Lightning and Starla kept their visors on her, and the polygraph scan showed she was telling the truth and not trying to make up some sob story.

He and the others felt a just a little sorry for her. Now it made her actions understandable, but still not excusable.

“Face it…” Frieda thundered “…Hearths Warming is no more!”

Twilight stepped forward, “Enough, Frieda…!”

“Twilight, don’t!” snapped Starla.

“Get back here, recruit!” ordered Lightning, but Twilight wouldn’t budge.

“Frieda, please listen to me.” begged Twilight. “It’s awful that you had to grow up the way you did, and I’m sorry you had to.”

Frieda didn’t seem the least bit moved.

“…But it doesn’t have to be like this. You don’t have to destroy Hearths Warming, or make everyone else miserable.

…Why not join us instead?”

“Huh?” said Frieda, with her eyes wide.

The other three friends looked on with astonishment.

Twilight continued, “I can help you, Frieda. We can all help you. You can share Hearths Warming with us all, and finally experience the joys it brings, and maybe even more. You could try making friends, and start a new life without all the cold and harshness.”

Frieda began to tremble with nerves.

“Give it up, Twilight. It’s not working!” called Krysta.

“Stand aside right now!” ordered Lightning.

“No!” snapped Twilight. “I know I can reach out to her, and make her see friendship in a new way.”

“The only thing you’re doing is making yourself an easier target for her!” balked Starla.

Twilight growled at the others, and the Windigos’ eyes began to glowing as they absorbed the small bits of the hate.

This made Frieda laugh, “You know, I could almost watch this all day-- you fighting amongst yourselves only further empowers me and ensures the fall of Hearths Warming.

Even now, my Cursed Blizzard will force your entire planet to feel as cold and as spiteful as I felt every day.”

Twilight could see by this point Frieda would not see reason. Her heart was obviously colder and darker than she thought, mainly due to the fact that she never experienced friendship or happiness before in her life.

“Frieda, please…!”

But Frieda fired a small ice-beam from the amulet straight for her, forcing Starla to yank her out of the way just in time.

“You just don’t get it, do you?” she hissed.

Still unable to move to try and free the others from the ice blocks, the fighters remained quite still-- exactly as Lightning wanted.

“We just have to stall her for a little longer.” He thought as he kept eyeing at the blocks.

He got as he wished when Frieda was suddenly bathed in spotlight and began to sing her disgust of the holiday.

I guess I just see what you do
In this waste of space you call Hearths Warming
Now with this Amulet, and the power that I get
The world will face my icy warning.

I don’t need this stuff you call “Friendship”
It’s useless no matter what you say,
You ask me to be nice? I’d rather stick with ice,
To make the world all go my icy way!

Oh, I hate Hearths Warming
That yucky Hearths Warming
Now it’s no more, thanks to me
Oh, I hate Hearths Warming
Now Frieda is storming
I’m as icy and as cold as I can be!

Her song was as chilling and as wicked as she was, but still the friends made not a move towards her, for fear of her harming the prisoners, and Lightning kept thinking to himself, “…Any second now. Come on…!”

The jolly times are done, they have fallen
Deep within my freezing spell
Friendship is a waste, and it gives me a bad taste,
So I’ll freeze it… just as well.

‘Cause, I hate Hearths Warming
That stupid Hearths Warming
Now it’s no more, thanks to me
Oh, I hate Hearths Warming
Now Frieda is storming
I’m as icy and as cold as I can be!

I hate Hearths Warming
Now Frieda is storming
I’m as icy and as cold as I… can… BE!!!

Frieda laughed wickedly as the Windigos hailed to her…

…But suddenly…

The ice blocks all burst and the Space Ponies were freed thanks to their suits’ heating units.

“What?!” snapped Frieda, and then the Equestrians were free as well thanks to the special spell that was cast upon them, and in an instant, the Space Ponies fired magical beams from their horns shattering the remaining ice blocks and releasing the prisoners.

“They’re free!” cried Krysta.

Starla and Twilight gawked with glee, and Lightning smirked. “I knew if we stalled her long enough the ice would shatter.”

Frieda only snickered wickedly.

“Uh… why doesn’t she seem worried?” asked Krysta.

“And why is the gang still standing near her?” added Twilight.

That’s when the gang’s eyes began to give off that cold, blue glow again.

Starla and Lightning’s visors went crazy with alert warnings.

“Whoa!” cried Starla “Evil energy readings are all-time high!”

“What have you done to them?!” Lightning yelled at Frieda.

Frieda glared at the fighters. “Observe the coldness in their eyes, and the hatred they are giving. They work for me now, and soon the rest of you will as Hearths Warming freezes to its doom.”

She laughed maniacally as the brainwashed ponies snarled and growled as they looked ready to fight.

“We can we do?” asked Twilight. “We can’t just fight them.”

“We may not have a choice.” said Starla.

She was proven right when Shining Armor unleashed an ice beam straight at the group, forcing them all to dodge.

“Brother!” cried Twilight. She was almost near tears at the thought of what just happened, but all the brainwashed ponies growled like zombies as they continued to march forth.

Lightning could hardly believe the Space Ponies were under such a spell.

Lightning looked over at Starla, and she nodded at him.

“STAR BOW”

She gripped her mighty weapon and looked ready to fire at the brainwashed friends.

“No!! You can’t!” shouted Twilight.

“Relax!” snapped Starla, and she showed Twilight how she set her bow from “Destroy” to “Heal.”

“One shot and it should undo the brainwashing.” explained Starla “But I’ll still need to get a clean opening.”

There was no way out of it; they would have to fight, and Twilight still seemed as if she couldn’t do it; not to her friends!

Lightning spoke severely to Twilight. “You will fight them, and that’s an order! It’s your obligation and duty as a Starfleet recruit to do so when in danger.”

Twilight looked at him furiously as if he was acting heartless for the well-being and safety of all their dear friends.

Lightning, Starla and Krysta stood ready, as did their brainwashed friends, with Frieda hollering, “Let’s get ready to RUMBLE!!”

Act 8: Fight the Cold

ACT EIGHT

The Cursed Blizzard was worsening, and the snow was piling up higher than ever.

All over the planet, temperatures were dropping rapidly. Even the dragons in the New Badlands were beginning to feel the chill.

Luckily, help was soon on the way…

Starfleet sentries, enchanted with the resistant spell came to help escort the dragons to safety, away from the storm as they had done for ponies and other creatures all over-- keeping them safe within their homes, schools, and other buildings.

Others were using flame-throwers, or their own magic to melt the rising snows to keep it from burying homes.

Captain Emerald Shaina of the royal guards reported to their majesties, “We cannot keep the snow under control this way. It won’t be long before we’re all buried up again.”

“Keep at it as long as you can.” said Grand Ruler.

Shaina bowed, “Yes sire.” and then she rushed off to assist in the work again.

Grand Ruler then turned to Celestia and Luna.

“It’s time to put that little plan we had into operation.”

The ladies agreed with him, and then Celestia and her husband both looked out and up into the sky worrying about Lightning, Twilight, and the rest of the team.

“Come on, Lightning!” Grand Ruler prayed.

Celestia prayed too, “You can do this, Twilight.”

“Attack…!” Frieda shouted, and the brainwashed friends all charged forth.

Lightning and his team all scattered about.

Lightning landed down before Buddy, Artie and Rhymey. “I hate to do this to you fellas, but I have no choice.”

He then rushed forth at them, and the men unleashed ice beams at him, which he avoided by swerving, ducking, and leaping over as he kept on coming, plowing right through them in a huge crash.

The men went sailing in the air, but they all landed on their feet, seemingly unharmed, and they drew out their weapons ready to go at him for more.

Lightning felt really upset that he didn’t have a standard weapon or any magic of his own to capture with, but the least he could do was continue to hold his friends down so Starla could try and help them.

Spike glared angrily at Twilight.

“Spike, you’ve got to snap out of this!” she called to him, but Spike only opened his mouth and launched an ice-beam at her, forcing her to put a magical wall of light, which froze instantly, much to her shock.

Rarity and Pinkie began galloping towards her, forcing Twilight to leap up high. She then tried to cast a spell on the mares and hold them in place, but Rainbow Dash soared in and froze the magic beam, canceling the spell.

“Rats!” sneered Twilight.

Applejack and Fluttershy went straight at Krysta, but she, being tiny and very fast zipped here, there and everyone around. Krysta taunted, “You got to be quick if you want to catch me.”

That’s when two ice-beams flew towards her, which she barely dodged.

The blasts were fired by Dyno and Myte, and they didn’t have to join hands to increase the power.

“Guys!” Starla cried at them.

The twins snarled at her and looked ready for more.

Starla then held up her bow ready to shoot at them to capture them. “I’m sorry guys, but I have to do this!”

Suddenly, she felt someone creeping up from behind-- Shining Armor, he fired his ice-beam, forcing her to jump up into the air to avoid the shot, only then for Cadance to bash into her head first, knocking the bow out of her hand.

“My bow…!”

She tried to reach for it, only for Frieda to shoot at the bow, freeze it solid onto the wall.

She snickered and taunted, “All this hate and fighting only makes me stronger, remember… and with that, it only keeps your friends under my curse.”

The brainwashed friends-- their eyes were glowing brighter and colder than ever!

Lightning growled angrily, and he looked over at Frieda’s amulet-- the very source of all the power happening.

“Somehow, we’ve got to get hold of that amulet and destroy it, but with all the others blocking our way, and the Windigos on guard as well, we can’t get a clear shot!”

Twilight was thinking the exact same thing as he was. “Our only chance is if our plan works out.”

She looked over at Lightning, and he nodded back at her, which Starla and Krysta noted.

“Get them!” Frieda shouted to her army, and the brainwashed fighters all charged forth together.

Cadance took a swing with her fist, and Twilight caught it in her hands and gripped on tightly.

“Cadance, I know you’re in there! You’ve got to let us help you!”

Her sister-in-law only snarled and gave her a huge flying-kick in the stomach, sending her skidding along the ice and into a wall.

Twilight wasn’t really hurt-- thanks to her training making her a bit tougher.

Then she was picked up from behind by her brother, Shining Armor and held hostage, and the other three fighters were too caught up to rush over and help her.

“Freeze her!” ordered Frieda “The sooner she’s under my control, the sooner the others will follow.”

Twilight couldn’t break free, and she didn’t have to. She waited right for the last second when Cadance was ready to fire the ice-beam.

Once it was fired, she teleported in a puff of smoke out of the way causing Cadance to freeze her husband instead.

“Ah!” cried Frieda.

Cadance actually gasped in shock at what she had just done.

Twilight reappeared in a vacant area of the room, only then to be confronted by Spike, Rarity, and Pinkie, and she wouldn’t be able to teleport to safety this time… not on her own…

But Krysta was ready, and used her magic to warp Twilight to her location just as the friends fired their ice-beams; hitting the walls causing a large ice-berg to bulge out and hit them all hard.

Lightning face Buddy, Artie, and Rhymey. The trio of men all charged for him with their weapons ready.

…Lightning stood ready as well.

Buddy flicked his whip to lasso Lightning, but he caught it in his hand and gave it a huge yank, knocking Buddy into the others.

He felt very remorseful in doing so, but he knew it had to be done.

Starla felt the same as she faced several Equestrians.

Applejack and Fluttershy rushed for her and readied to unleash their ice-beams.

“Not this time!” sneered Starla “STAR SHOWER” and she threw her star clusters at the ladies, intercepting the beams, freezing all the stars and causing them to drop like stones.

“PULSAR LASER”

She fired her powerful beam right past the ladies, but it wasn’t they she was aiming for…!

The beam hit the ice on the wall, freeing her bow and allowing her to zip across and grasp it… just in time to whirl round to see Rainbow zooming up on her hard, forcing her to block Rainbow’s approach with her bow.

Fluttering hard in the air, Starla kept her feet off the ground so she would not slide, and forced Rainbow back hard intro Dyno and Myte.

“You useless twerps!” thundered Frieda, and she furiously held up the amulet making it glow brightly. “More power! More Hate! More Fighting!!”

The brainwashed ponies were glowing brightly with the cold light, and Shining Armor was magically freed from his ice block.

Lightning’s visor showed that power levels were increasing, and the temperature was dropping making him and the others shiver a little.

“Yes! More… More…!” thundered Frieda, but she herself gasped and was starting to shiver as she seemed to grow paler. “Have to… give… more!!”

Lightning and Twilight could see it was starting to work.

“What’s happening to her?” asked Krysta.

Lightning called to her, “The more she uses her power, the colder she gets. That’s why she backed out the last time.”

Krysta and Starla began to grin with glee, catching onto the idea.

“We’ve got to keep going.” said Twilight.

So the fight continued, and while the friends were still forced to fend off against their brainwashed friends, Frieda was still forced to pour on more power from the amulet to keep them under her spell.

Frieda continued to shiver, and then she called up to the Windigos overhead, “What are you just hovering around for? Get in there!”

The Windigos obeyed her, and floated in towards the battle.

“Uh, oh!” cried Lightning.

The three ladies looked up and saw the angry spirits coming in as well.

“I’ll freeze you all in one blast!” shouted Frieda. Then she groaned while trying to supress the increasing cold taking over her, and unlike before she refused to back down this time, refusing to let the fighters escape!

Lightning then signaled to all three of the ladies to “…Get ready!” their chance was fast -approaching, but for the moment, they continued to fend off against their brainwashed friends.

Suddenly they found themselves surrounded from all sides by all the brainwashed friends—all their snarling, freezing friends, slowly creeping forth ready to freeze the fighters.

“Uh, any ideas now?” asked Krysta.

“Everyone, please, listen to me!” Twilight called, still desperate to try and reach for them deep within.

“Give it up, Twilight, their hearts are frozen!” said Starla.

The Windigos hovered overhead and looked ready to fire their ice beams.

“Now!” shouted Lightning, and Krysta teleported everyone out of the way just as the ice-beams fired encasing all the friends in ice, while the fighters reappeared in the wide open space, completely unharmed.

“No!!” shouted Frieda. Infuriated with this outrage, she held up the amulet, “I’ll summon all the Windigos that I have!”

That’s what she tried to do, but no other Windigos appeared.

“What’s going on?!” wailed Frieda. “Where are my Windigos?!!”

As if that weren’t enough, the Windigos already in the chamber and around the palace-- their eyes gave a quick flash, and their heads perked up.

All at once, they flew off, passing through the walls and abandoning their posts.

“What’s?! Where are you going?!!” bellowed Frieda. “Get back here at once! I command you…!!”

The Windigos acted as if they couldn’t hear her, because they were being drawn towards something greater than she could give them.

“It’s no use, Frieda.” called Lightning. “You forget, the Windigos feed off hate; vast amounts of hate-- they’re practically drawn to it.”

Twilight gave a smirked, “And that’s exactly what we planned would happen.”

Frieda, even Starla and Krysta were confused.

Far, away, ponies and other creatures were actually outside of their homes and standing in the Cursed Blizzard, which indeed froze their hearts and cursed them with hate.

They were all gathered into one massive area where they were being mean and nasty and breaking up Hearths Warming decorations and displays, and even arguing with each other, and yet the authorities were doing nothing to stop them, but they were keeping close tabs on them in case things got really out of hand.

Their majesties and the authorities were still protected from the storm, and using their powers as best they could to keep the temperatures slightly at bay so no one would catch a chill.

“I can’t believe we’re letting our subjects do this.” said Princess Luna.

“Neither can I,” agreed Celestia “…But it should work.”

Grand Ruler looked up and all around at the sky. “Look!” he suddenly cried out “The Windigos are coming.”

Indeed, Frieda’s entire flock of followers were arriving on the scene; having been drawn towards the vast and massive amounts of hate and fighting and were now ready to feed on it all, meaning they were no longer by Frieda’s side.

“It’s working!” cried Luna “The hate we have assembled is drawing the Windigos away. This was a wonderful plan.”

Grand Ruler smirked, “You can thank Lightning Dawn and Twilight Sparkle for this. It was their plan after all.”

Celestia smiled proudly.

Frieda was in complete shock. “You…!!” she thundered at Lightning and Twilight. “You planned this from the very beginning!!”

Lightning and Twilight stood side by side and nodded proudly at one another, which astounded Starla and Krysta.

“They were never angry at each other all along.” said Krysta.

It also explained why their majesties never tried to break the two up, or discipline them more harshly.

“I’ll be a daughter of a space-gun.” muttered Starla as she gazed at Lightning from behind.

Frieda was most annoyed and outraged, as well as cold and shivering from all the power she had poured into the battle.

“I’ve c-c-c-come too… far… to g-g-g-give up now!!”

By this time she had grown so incredibly insane, and determined to take out her enemies. “…It looks like I have no other choice.” and in a huge fit of rage, she raised the amulet up high, and slammed it to the ground shattering it to pieces!

A very bright light flashed, forcing even Lightning and Starla to cover their eyes. Followed by the castle starting to quake, and the walls began to crack!

“What has she done now?!” wailed Krysta.

“I think we’re about to find out!” said Starla.

Frieda laughed loud and wickedly. “You are about to suffer the amulet’s greatest and deadliest power yet!!”

Final Act: Continuing Forward

FINAL ACT

The Windigos all suddenly began glowing brightly, and they suddenly began to flail and go crazy in the skies as the Cursed Blizzard seemed to subside softly.

“What’s happening now?” asked Luna.

She got her answer as the Windigos began to fly in furious circles high into the air, absorbing the Cursed Blizzard, forming a massive, freezing vortex.

Even the affected ponies on the ground couldn’t ignore this, and began to run in panic, until Grand Ruler whistled loudly for everyone to hear for miles.

Then, using his royal alicorn voice, he instructed all creatures. “Get inside the nearest building you can find!”

The winds were starting to pick up violently as the vortex continued to grow.

“What is that?!” asked Lightning.

Frieda only laughed. “Behold the instrument of ultimate freezing destruction! This vortex will cause the temperatures to drop so massively low, the entire planet will freeze, and everyone will perish!”

The fighters’ stomachs gave nasty turns.

“You can’t do that!” wailed Krysta “You’ll destroy yourself along with everything else!”

“Exactly!” hissed Frieda. Her face had such a psychotic impression that she looked freaky. “Don’t you see? Hearths Warming can’t be celebrated… if everyone is DEAD!!”

The ice palace was starting to cave in and break up and collapse under the strain.

“Look out!” Twilight shouted as large ice shards and blocks came crashing down.

Lightning leapt up high and he punched and kicked as many bits of ice as he could, knocking them away, or shattering them to pieces.

“STARLIGHT ARROW” Starla fired her magic arrows shattering even more pieces.

Twilight and Krysta used their powers to grab large blocks and bat off more chunks of falling ice.

Soon, the entire palace collapsed and was blown away in the winds, leaving only behind the flat ice floor of the throne room with everyone still standing on it, and Frieda laughing her loudest and evilest laugh ever as the vortex overhead grew larger and began to work its evil…

…Sucking up all the snow from the ground and in the air, and then spitting it back out again even colder than ever, causing the temperature to start falling rapidly.

“Starla!!” hollered Lightning “Can you… try and capture… Frieda…?!!”

Starla’s visor was able to see through the storm clearly so she could get Frieda in her sights, but the winds and snow were so strong she could hardly keep steady.

“I think I’ve got a shot!” she said, and she fired her arrow, which got sucked up into the vortex because of its light weight. “No!!”

“Frieda… Please, stop this!” Twilight shouted through the billowing winds. “You don’t have to do this! We can’t change your past, but we can help you build a better future; a better life! Just trust me!”

Frieda only glared at her through the storm, still completely unmoved, and not caring anymore by this point.

“So long suckers!!” she shouted as she threw off her robe, and spread out her large wings. She began to fly, up, up, and up into the vortex!

“Frieda!!” shouted Twilight.

“Frieda… Don’t…!!” called Lightning.

Frieda only laughed as she vanished towards her doom. “YOU’LL ALL BE JOINING ME SHORTLY ANYWAY!! YOU FOOLS…!!!

Then she was gone, vanished in a flash of bright light.

Twilight could not believe she really did that, nor could any of the others, but they had no time to grieve about; the vortex was getting strong.

“We’ve got to stop that thing somehow!” shouted Krysta.

Everyone could already feel the vortex’s pull starting to drag them in.

Lightning clenched his fists and looked up to the center of the vortex. “There’s only one chance!”

He shut his eyes tight, focusing with all his might on what he was fighting for-- His home, his friends new and old, and especially for Hearths Warming; a new holiday he was pleased to have in his life to share and celebrate with those he loved!

This caused his golden horn to glow brightly in a golden light.

“That glow!” cried Starla.

Twilight gazed in awe at the sight of it. “…The Uniforce.” she muttered under her breath. “…The most powerful magical force in the known universe. It even puts the Elements of Harmony to shame!”

Glowing brighter than ever, Lightning recited the magical chant…

“I summon forth a mystic power
To aid me in this darkest hour
Casting now upon my foe
I now unleash… this magical glow…!”

He leapt up high into the air as he could go…

“UNIFORCE”

POW!! He unleashed the massive force in towards the center of the vortex.

So hot, and so massively powerful, the cold was unable to freeze or block this magic!

The light flew straight into the center, causing it the glow brighter and brighter, until… KAPOW… a major explosion blasted out, causing the vortex to heat up and collapse on itself, and the Windigos began to fade away.

“Uhn…!” Lightning groaned as he fell to his knees towards the floor.

“Lightning!” Starla cried as she and Twilight dashed over and caught him; holding him up as he was completely exhausted from using his power.

The vortex continued to collapse and explode, causing the last of the castle base to break up and collapse.

“We’ve got to get out of here!” shouted Starla.

Twilight agreed, and then turned back to all the other friends whom were still frozen in ice. “We’ve got to get the others.”

“Come on, let’s go!” shouted Krysta. She and the ponies used their magic to levitate several ice blocks each while Starla still held the weakened Lightning in her arms as she and the others all soared through the clouds just as the lasts of the palace disintegrating into the dying vortex.

Once the friends landed safely in the snowy field below, Lightning slowly began to regain a little strength to open his eyes again.

“…What’s… happening?” he asked in a low voice, but his vision cleared to see all three ladies smiling at him.

“Welcome back.” said Twilight.

Starla was relieved that he was alright.

“Hey look!” cried Krysta pointing up at the sky.

The Cursed Blizzard was starting to breakup. The snow stopped falling, and the winds calmed down as it got brighter and brighter with the sunlight breaking through, causing the temperatures to stabilize to normal winter levels.

“We did it!” cried Starla.

Twilight grinned widely, and then she spotted something else soaring across the sky. “Look up there!” she called to the others.

The others looked up and could see Grand Ruler Celesto and Queen Celestia, soaring across the sky hand-in-hand. As they passed, they were casting the special spell they had promised-- sprinkling it like magical sparkles.

This magic not only reversed the effects the storm had brought on-- snapping ponies out of their hateful state-- it also thawed out all the frozen friends and removed their brainwashing as well.

The friends began to awaken.

“Where are we?” asked Buddy.

“Did I suddenly fall asleep?” added Fluttershy.

Spike rubbed his eyes and could see the others ahead of him.

“Twilight?”

Twilight ran up to him and hugged him warmly. “Spike! Thank goodness you and others are safe.”

It all came back to everyone.

“I remember now…!” said Rarity. “We were going through Frieda’s castle and--” she stopped and gasped hard.

“That freezing freak captured us!” growled Applejack.

Cadance and Shining Armor came to their senses.

“Twily?”

Smiles grew wide as the three relatives all came together in a huge group hug.

“I’m so glad you guys are back.” cried Twilight.

“We’re glad to be back too.” said Cadance, but then she and her husband sneezed loudly, and they shivered and sniveled badly.

They had caught terrible colds from being encased in ice for so long, and without proper protection and resistance.

“W-W-W-We were on our way to v-v-v-visit New Canterlot,” shivered Cadance. “Then Frieda… she c-c-c-caught us… and fr-fr-froze us…”

Shining Armor snivelled again. “S-S-S-Speaking of which… W-W-W-Where is she? I’ve got a score to settle with her!”

Twilight then looked sad and downhearted, and she remembered Frieda’s last act in sacrificing herself to the vortex; believing her victory was assured.

It almost even looked as if she was deliberately running away; still not willing to accept Twilight’s offer of friendship.

“She had a chance to get help and turn her life around, but she chose to destroy herself.” she sighed heavily. “I thought I could make her do the right thing.”

Lightning, finally having strength enough to at least stand, walked to her and put his hand on her shoulder. “Twilight… we can’t make others choose what’s right, and we can’t change their minds of what they feel is right. All we can do set an example and hope that it inspires them to change.”

Twilight silently agreed.

Frieda had never known friendship or joy her entire life, so it was natural she wouldn’t understand it, trust it, and given her icy nature she wouldn’t want much to do with it.

Not to mention Frieda did cause massive trouble, including attempted genocide on the planet, which would subject her to charges and trial, and then only possibly receiving psychiatric help.

…It wasn’t important now.

“Let’s go home.” said Lightning.

Two days later, all the messes had been cleared up and Hearths Warming was back on schedule.

Ponies and other creatures were happier than ever, many of them going over the top with caring and sharing as their way of making up for the horrid they had behaved while cursed… despite it not truly being their own fault.

Of course, Cadance and Shining Armor still had the shivers and sniffles, but nothing serious, and they were still determined to join friends and family for a well-needed holiday.

Their majesties were so very proud of everyone, that they held a little private gala, complete with a really fancy meal. Cadance and Shining Armor attended the party, but with their feet soaked in hot water basins and wrapped in blankets.

“You sure you two wouldn’t rather be in bed resting?” asked Rainbow.

“Forget it.” said Shining Armor. “No one wants to spend the holidays in bed.”

Cadance agreed. “Besides, we’re feeling much better alrea-- Ah… Ah… AH-CHOO…!!”

Her husband then blew his nose loudly, which made the other party-goers chuckle.

Grand Ruler then cleared this throat and raised a glass of sparkling cider in his hand. “I’d like to propose a toast.”

Everyone hushed up and raised their glasses.

“I would like to express my deepest felicitations to you all.” He motioned at his wife and sister-in-law too. “The crisis is now averted thanks to the friendship, bravery, and teamwork.”

He then looked at Lightning and Twilight, but Celesti was the one who spoke, “We especially are pleased with the effort and cunning the two of you showed. You have not helped to save the world from a terrible fate, but you also managed to work out your differences, and learned from each other.”

Lightning and Twilight looked at one another and nodded proudly, and the others smiled at them.

Princess Luna then raised her glass and declared, “To the very first Hearths Warming of United Equestria. May the light bless us… everyone.”

Everyone raised their glasses and sipped the cider.

After that, Pinkie hollered, “Now… LET’S PARTY!!”

Everyone began to cheer, eat, dance, talk, or just hang around.

Lightning then approached Twilight as she stood by the window looking out at the night sky, and all plain snow just falling and glistening in the air.

“…You still thinking about Frieda?” he asked.

Twilight couldn’t hide it from him, and she nodded softly. “I know I have to accept that, sometimes, friendship just won’t do-- especially if some creatures continue to refuse it.”

Lightning sighed softly, but he told her. “You’ll come across that many times as you continue to train, and when you earn you’re commission, you’ll have to face stuff like this every single day.

…But you don’t have to like it.”

She looked at him and he continued to tell her, “Sometimes I wish there were more peaceful ways to handle situations. Then maybe there would be better peace in the universe, but it is what it is, and we have to do what we must.

That’s why I have a gift for you.”

He held out a tiny box… kind of like what you would put a ring in for proposing. Inside was in fact an honorary bronze medal, of a star with a hart shaped in the middle.

“Lightning…” she said unable to believe her eyes.

“I had Artie make it. I want you to have it not for anything promotional, but rather as a symbol of thanks, not just for your bravery, but for being a good friend, even though I was a little hard on you.

When you and I came up with the idea to pretend to be angry with one another, you showed me you have great potential to be a good fighter, and more importantly than that, I’m still glad we have what we can share… especially this holiday.

Happy Hearths Warming, Twilight Sparkle.”

She accepted the medal happily.

First they saluted to each other professionally, but then they grinned at each other and shared a warm hug, which melted everyone’s hearts and brought some of them to tears.

Then it was back to the party, where everyone danced to a wild and rockin’ holiday theme song.

Lightning and Starla danced together and showed off wicked moves, and when they were finished, Starla giggled at him.

“What?” he asked.

Blushing softly, Starla pointed up above his head, where mistletoe was hanging.

Lightning’s cheeks went bright red, especially with everyone watching with anxiety, which gave Starla her opening to take him in her arms and dip him back. She cooed softly at him, “Happy Hearths Warming, Captain…” and then captured his lips with hers, forcing Lightning to wrap his arms around her as the gang all cheered loudly, especially Twilight.

It was a great Hearths Warming for everyone.

…The memories then faded back to the present day, with Lightning still gazing down sadly at Twilight’s memorial grave.

“I miss you so much, Twilight.” he said softly “We all miss you.”

Then he laid a few simple white roses on the stone and stood up onto his feet; just standing there as it snowed around him.

Soft footsteps approached him, that of his wife, Starla Shine, and she held their infant son in her arms. “We should go.” she said to him. “We can’t have the baby in the cold like this.”

Little Shining Light gave a soft murmur as he stirred in his mother’s arms.

Lightning agreed, and he turned back to look at the grave once more, before heading off with his wife and son.

Hearths Warming was a time for joy, and to celebrate the gift of caring and sharing…

…But it was okay to take a little time to think about others, and even feel a little sad.

Life would go on.

Author's Note

Even though this song is supposed to be a happy one. The way it's played and the way I'm singing it...

...*Sighs*