After getting back together with the others we made our way to the lobby of the theater after making sure we hadn't forgotten to grab anything we had taken with us where the Crusaders, Bic Mac, and Granny Smith were waiting for us. When we joined up with them all of them, mostly the Crusaders, talked about how great the play was and how everyone did an amazing job playing their parts. At first the Crusaders were a little confused that I wasn't in the play because they never saw me onstage before I told them I had been up in the catwalk and was the one who was moving all of the background props and scenes. While they were amazed that I was the one moving the set pieces, we were soon reminded by Twilight that we needed to hurry back to the train station before the snow storm happened, prompting us to make our way out of the theater and out onto the streets of Canterlot.

In the short time since I had closed the window to us exiting the theater snow had begun falling from the dark clouds that filled the night sky above us. As we made our way through the streets, I noticed how there was hardly anyone outside as the amount of snow falling began to steadily increase as a light blanket of snow began to cover the ground. Even if there was hardly anyone outside, the lights shining through the windows of the shops and buildings we passed alongside some of the decorative lights that were put up made for quite an enchanting sight as the lights seemed to glow brighter as it began to get dark. This caused me as well as some of the others to slow down a bit to admire everything only for one of the others to redirect our focus to getting to the train station.

By the time we got to the train station several minutes later the snowfall was getting to the point where it was starting to get hard to see as the snow was falling at a rapid pace as the wind began to pick up. To say that we were relieved when we finally got to the train station was an understatement as it would have been easier to run with a blindfold on with how dense the snowfall was.

"Last train to Ponyville! I repeat, last train to Ponyville!" An earth pony stallion who I assumed was the conductor was yelling out.

"Wait! We're here, don't leave!" Twilight yelled out as we approached the conductor.

"Then all of you need to hop on quickly. All of you have your tickets, right?" The conductor asked, to which all of us pulled out a ticket for the trip back to Ponyville in response. The girls, Spike, and myself had made sure to get a ticket earlier today during our intermission so that we wouldn't have to worry about forgetting it when it was time for us to head back. I assumed the Crusaders, Big Mac, and Granny Smith had gotten theirs before earlier in the day, possibly when they themselves had gotten to Canterlot.

"I'll take that as a yes then. Now get on! I wasn't aware that the snow was going to be coming down this hard so we need to get moving before it gets any worse." The conductor said as he made his way towards the engine.

The rest of us entered an train car that was empty, meaning that we all had the car to ourselves. Soon, everyone had gotten seated close to each other in different groups with the members of the Apple family sitting together in one group with Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo sitting together right across from them, Twilight, Spike, and myself sat together on the seat right behind Rarity and Sweetie Belle, and Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie sat on the seat right behind Applejack and Apple Bloom. As soon as all of us had gotten settled into our spots, we felt the train car lurch forward as the train was began to leave Canterlot. As the train began to move, some of us looked out the window as the train left the station, though we could hardly see anything out the windows due to the snowfall.

Right after the train left everyone in the car began to talk to one another to pass the time. Applejack and the rest of her family talking about what they would probably have to do back at Sweet Apple Acres once the snowstorm passed, though Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were talking about some ideas they had to get their cutie marks that appeared to be inspired by the play, Rarity and Twilight were both reading a book they brought, and Rainbow Dash and Spike were staring out the window.

While I was tempted to get out Drago Wing's book to read through it some more, I instead decided to try and see if I could do anything else with my Magic Spheres. More or less to see if I was able to do anything new ever since I gained the ability to use them and also to see if I had grown stronger as well. As such, I created a small Magic sphere that was the size of a tennis ball and began messing with it. From making it grow bigger and smaller to trying see if I could move it around like my gloves. This went on for a while with me not really learning anything new besides the fact that I could now make Magic Spheres that I made grow bigger and smaller, even if it had the potential to be useful, I was kind of hoping for something new.

"Woah! What is that Null?"

I turned to see that Apple Bloom had come over to me and was looking at the Magic Sphere floating above my hand. She was soon joined by Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo who were curious as to what Apple Bloom was talking about.

"Yeah, what is that? Wait, is that something involving what you told us about how anypony can use magic?!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

"What are you talking about? Not everypony can use magic. While it has been confirmed that pegasi and earth ponies use magic passively, they aren't able perform magic at the same level as a unicorn or even an alicorn. Though I guess some species are able to conduct rituals that do involve magic, but even then those are extremely complex." Twilight said.

"Null told us that everpony is able to use magic by utilizing the... What was it? The "Four Matters"? Yeah, that!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed.

"Girls, that sounds like somethin' y'all came up with while trying to get your cutie marks." Applejack said as she appeared to become interested in the conversation.

"But it's true! Null told us about how the Four Matters work during our field trip to Canterlot, and how else do you explain what he's doing?" Scootaloo asked as she pointed at the Magic Sphere.

"What did he say about using magic?" Rarity asked as she peaked over her seat to look at us.

"Yeah! If he's saying that anypony can use magic, I would be able to make parties 10, no, 100 times more fun!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

At this point, almost everyone in the train car was looking at me for an explanation as to what I was talking about. I honestly wasn't expecting to talk about my magic knowledge with the others as I didn't think the CMC would talk about it in front of them. As such, I was nervous as I didn't want to reveal too much to them which could risk them finding out that I haven't been telling them everything.

"Seriously, this is a little bit silly. Whatever these "Four Matters" are, they don't exist. I've researched almost every single method there is to performing magic, and there is nothing like that involved with any of them. What do you think of this Rainbow Dash?" Twilight asked Rainbow Dash who was still looking out the window. "Rainbow Dash?"

"Huh? Sorry, what where you talking about?" Rainbow Dash said as she turned her attention away from the window towards Twilight.

"I was asking you about what you think about Null saying that everypony can use magic using whatever the "Four Matters" are." Twilight said slightly annoyed.

"Really? So you mean I can cast magic like you? Cool." Rainbow Dash answered, though something wasn't right as I felt a little bit of worry coming from her.

"Rainbow Dash, is something up?" I asked as Twilight groaned at Rainbow's response.

"Yeah, you've just been staring out the window ever since we left Canterlot." Spike said as he stood up in his seat to look at Rainbow Dash.

"I guess? Ok, so here's the thing. I was assigned to the team that was to help put together tonight's snowstorm, right? All of us essentially went over everything we needed and then some to make sure that it would go exactly as planned. But, the thing that's bothering me as that we were preparing for a snowstorm way lighter than this. I don't know if somepony accidentally gathered a lot more snow clouds than what was needed and it was overlooked, but something just doesn't feel right about this."

"Yeah, now that you mention it, didn't the conductor say he wasn't expecting the snowstorm to be this bad?" Rarity asked.

Everyone stopped to think about this for a bit, though I was just happy to have been able to steer this conversation away from my magic. Though, I also couldn't help but think back to what had happened back at the theater, and that ominous roar that I thought I had heard. While It could have probably just have been the wind howling, I had this weird feeling that it was something else entirely. However, our discussion was cut short as the train began to slow down.

Looking out the window, it turns out that the snowfall wasn't as bad here as it was compared to the snowfall in Canterlot, even if it still was coming down a little bit fast. I saw that we were beginning to arrive in Ponyville as we began to pull into the train station.

"We can talk more about everything tomorrow. For now, I think maybe we should just get back before the snowing gets worse." Twilight said with everyone agreeing with her.

As soon as the train stopped and that we had made sure that everyone had gotten what they had brought with them, all of us got off the train one by one until all of us were on the train platform. After exchanging a few goodnights with one another, everyone began to head back to their homes with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo going with the Apple Bloom and the others back to Sweet Apple Acres so they could have a sleepover. Thankfully, Fluttershy and I didn't have too much trouble getting back to her cottage as we were still able to see the path out of town just fine. Though at times Fluttershy had to briefly fly over some patches of ice that had formed on the path in order to avoid slipping. As soon as we got back to the cottage, Fluttershy had me help her feed some of the animals who we hadn't fed before we left for Canterlot while also giving some of the animals blankets to help stay warm. While we did manage to get all of the animals fed, we were cutting it extremely close as the snowfall was starting to get worse as by the time we had gotten back inside the cottage for the last time tonight, it had started to become difficult to see through the snow.

"I honestly thought we wouldn't have been able to feed everyone before the snowfall got this bad." I said as Fluttershy and I got back inside her cottage.

"Hmhm. I do hope that they don't get too cold tonight." Fluttershy said.

"Yeah, but what Rainbow Dash said is still bothering me." I said as I thought back to what she had said on the train.

"What do you mean?" Fluttershy asked curiously.

"Well, she talked about how this snowstorm should not have been this intense. That, and I swear I saw something back in Canterlot before we left the theater." I said.

"What did you see?" Fluttershy asked.

"I honestly don't know. I thought I heard something howling, but it was probably just the wind. But the thing is, I think I saw something moving in the clouds, but I couldn't tell exactly what it was. All I saw were the clouds shifting in a certain area as though something was moving through them." I said.

"Really? That doesn't sound too good." Fluttershy said as I began to feel her getting nervous.

"Well, it might actually just be nothing. After all, it was starting to get dark so my eyes could have been playing tricks on me." I said in an attempt to calm her down, which thankfully it seemed to work.

"Hopefully. Oh, that reminds me, would you mind telling me more about what the Crusaders were talking about anypony being able to use magic?" Fluttershy asked.

"Well... um..." I stammered as I wasn't expecting her to bring this up. "Well.. you see. The thing is..."

"Oh. Is it something you don't want to talk about?" Fluttershy said as she seemed to pick up on me struggling to come up with an excuse to not talk about it.

"Well... yeah. I don't really want to talk about it. It was just something the Crusaders brought up on our way back to Ponyville when they were asking as to why I was able to levitate and it just sort of went on from there." I said.

"I understand. You can tell me and the others when you feel like you want to." Fluttershy said.

"Thank you." I said, glad that Fluttershy was the Element of Kindness. If it was anyone else, they probably would have tried to force me to talk about it with Applejack being the Element of Honesty and apparently being able to tell when someone was lying, Pinkie being the way she was probably would have guessed and gotten it correctly, and Twilight probably would have just drilled me with questions or have me undergo more tests. Though at least she suspected that the Four Matters were made up.

"Now then, we should head to bed for tonight, and hopefully this snowstorm will have passed when we wake up tomorrow. Good night, and happy Hearth's Warming to you Null." Fluttershy said as she began to head up to her room.

"Night, and happy Hearth's Warming to you as well." I said.

After she headed up the steps I went over to the couch only to pause for a second as I looked at the one blanket I used to bundle up while sleeping. Considering that it was probably going to be even more cold than usual, I looked around for a bit until I managed to find two more blankets to use to help me keep warm. Once I found them, I went over to the couch and bundled up with the three blankets as best as I could before turning my head towards the window and watched the snow falling outside. All the while I still kept thinking about what I thought I saw and heard back in Canterlot as I my eyes began to become heavy as I drifted off to sleep.

Why is it so cold.

Those were the words I thought to myself as I had woken up in the middle of the night. Even though I was wrapped up in three layers of blankets, I felt myself shivering at how cold it was. After laying on the couch for a few more minutes and decided that I probably wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep, I unwrapped myself from the blanket cocoon I had made to see if a window was somehow left opened as that could have been the only reason as to why it was freezing. I first checked the window right beside the couch only to find that it was still closed. Though it looks like the snowstorm had gotten worse while I was asleep, as the only thing that could be seen outside of the window was a white haze. Continuing on I checked the other windows in the living room and the ones in the dining room and kitchen only to find that they were also closed.

Finally, I decided to head up to the second floor which consisted of a hallway with a few doors and windows lining the walls and a few picture frames that were hung on the walls. Checking the bathroom located in the hallway, I found that the window there was empty as well as the ones in the hallway before moving on. I didn't really need to check the next two doors as they were mostly just storage closets that held either cleaning supplies or items used to help treat animals. Reaching the end of the hallway, I opened the door to Fluttershy's room and peaked inside. Her room gave off a somewhat cozy feeling with there being a single bed situated in the middle of the wall right across from me with a nightstand to the left of it and a small chest right in front of it. To the right of it was a stone fireplace, though judging from the smoldering wood the fire had been out for a while and there was a door on the opposite wall that led to her personal bathroom. Finally, other than a few birdhouses hanging from the ceiling, there were three windows: one to the right of Fluttershy's bed and two on either side of the fireplace.

Looking inside, I saw that none of the windows were open, though I did notice that Fluttershy appeared to be shivering in her bed while she was sleeping. Closing the door quietly to avoid waking her up, I went back down to the living room somewhat confused. Even if all of the windows were shut, it was still freezing inside the cottage, either meaning that there must be a hole somewhere that was allowing a draft to blow through, or it was just that cold outside. Deciding I should just try and go back to sleep, I went back over to the couch to wrap back up, only to notice that the pile of blankets that I left appeared to be shivering.

"What the?" I said as I floated over to the blankets. Slowly, I began to lift up one of the blankets, only to find a small white ball of fur shivering underneath all of the blankets.

"Oh, it's just you Angel." I said.

The bunny in question turned back to look at me with a small glare before grabbing the blanket I was holding with one of his paws and yanking it back down over him.

"Angel, seriously? I know it's cold, but I need to wrap up as well." I said in response to the blanket hogging bunny.

Angel just poked his head out from the blankets and continued to glare at me as though he didn't care. I was about to start talking again, only for me and Angel to hear something that stopped me from saying anything and startled Angel to the point his glare was replaced with a terrified expression.

An all to familiar roar that seemed to echo inside the house, just like the one I heard back in Canterlot.

"You heard that too, right?" I asked Angel with the bunny nodding in confirmation.

Heading over to one of the windows that faced the path from the cottage to the split to the Everfree Forest and Ponyville, I tried my best to see if I could spot anything. At first, I couldn't see anything, but I began to see something strange as I began to squint. It appeared that the wind and snow seemed to be swirling around far down the path as though a small tornado had formed. I heard the roar again, and it sounded like it came directly from where the wind and snow was swirling.

I decided that I needed to investigate just what exactly was going on, even if it meant going out in probably 0 degree weather.

"Angel, I need you to do something for me." I said as I turned towards Angel. "I need you to go to Fluttershy's room and try and keep both her and yourself as warm as possible. I'm going out there to try and see just what is causing the snowstorm to be this bad."

Angel looked at me as though I was crazy before he shrugged and grabbed all of the blankets on the couch with his paws and proceeded to drag them up the stairs with him. Turning to the door, I mentally prepared myself for the cold as I grabbed the door knob and opened the door which was immediately flung open due to the wind. Grabbing the door handle on the opposite side, I struggled a bit before I finally managed to fight back against the wind and closed the door shut.

Turns out, compared to how cold it was inside the cottage, it was somehow even colder out here to the point I felt like I would turn into a block of ice in seconds. Putting a hand in front of my eyes to help block the wind and snow, I squinted to try and find the swirling winds that I saw earlier. Eventually, I managed to find it far down the path, possibly at the crossroads between here, the Everfree Forest, and Ponyville. Slowly floating towards it and fighting against the wind, I found myself almost being blown away by sudden surges of wind as I concentrated on making it to the crossroads. It also didn't help that the my scarf kept hitting me in the face multiple times.

What felt like hours to me but was probably just a couple minutes later, I finally managed to arrive at the small tornado of snow. Thankfully as I was getting closer, it became easier to see it through the haze, making it harder for me to lose sight of it. The tornado itself seemed to surround the crossroad itself as it was big enough to be several meters wide. Looking at it, I once again heard that eerie roar once more, and it definitely sounded like it was coming from inside the tornado, though it also sounded like it was coming from above as well. Meaning that if I wanted to find out what was causing this, I either needed to fly up and into the tornado, or find a way to go through the wind. While the first option seemed like a safe bet, I would probably just be tossed away by the wind before I could even make it to the top. Which meant the second option.

Looking at the tornado, I tried to see if there was anyway that I could somehow break through the wind. Curious, I decided to try and reach my hand out to see if I could easily pass through it. It worked, if only for a second before I felt as though I was pressing against a wall that was hidden by the wind, prompting me to pull my hand back out. I then tried my second option: ramming it. I floated back a couple of feet before I charged straight for the wind as fast as I could which yielded a somewhat better result as I felt myself pushing against the wall of wind before I felt myself being launched back and into the snow. Somewhat annoyed, I dusted the snow off before going with the third option: just firing a Magic Sphere. Charging up a small one in my hand, I fired it at the tornado expecting it to just be swept up by the wind, only for something interesting to happen.

The Magic Sphere appeared to part the wind and the wall made by it, making it seem like I had just punched a small hole within the tornado before it sealed back up again. Trying again, I fired a slightly bigger one this time and was meant with the same results, though with a bigger hole this time. Confident that this was the answer, I knew what I had to do. I began to charge up a Magic Sphere for a little bit and, through a little bit of concentration, managed to create a Magic Sphere just like the one that ended the fight against Spike. Aiming it carefully, I fired it at the tornado before immediately rushing after it as the Magic Sphere created a hole big enough for me to fit through that I practically dove through before it managed to close up as I entered the tornado.

After landing quiet roughly onto the snowy ground I got back up and dusted some of the snow off of myself before I looked around as I found myself in the eye of the tornado. The eye was bigger than what I had thought it would be as it was probably 40 or so meters in diameter with the split of the path being right in the middle, the wind inside of the eye was a lot calmer than outside of the tornado and was more akin to a strong breeze, and there wasn't any snow at all as in there was no snow on the ground leaving the grass and path exposed and there wasn't any snow falling from the sky. While looking around, I heard the roar once again directly above me which prompted me to look up. Flying in circles high above me was something that was shrouded in dark gray clouds that were constantly emitting snow that was sucked up into the tornado as the creature flew. Judging from this and that the roaring was coming from this, it was clear that whatever this thing was what was making the snowstorm this bad, and I had to stop it.

"Hey!" I yelled out towards the thing to get its attention, though it didn't seem to notice as it kept flying.

"Hello?!" I yelled again, once again not getting any sign that the thing had noticed me yelling, which meant only one thing to do to get its attention.

Charging up a Magic Sphere in my hand, I paid attention to how fast the thing was flying as I waited for my chance to present itself. After a couple of more seconds, that chance appeared.

"I SAID HEY!" I yelled as I launched the Magic Sphere skywards.

The Magic Sphere rushed quickly towards the thing covered in clouds, though my goal wasn't to hit it, just to gain its attention. Which I managed to do as the Magic Sphere flew past the mass of clouds prompting it to halt its flying as it appeared to have been startled. I saw that it began to look around for a bit before it looked down as it saw me in the middle of the crossroads and upon seeing me dove down towards the ground before the mass of clouds hit the ground causing a rush of air to assault me as I did my best not to be flung back out of the tornado. As the wind died down, I watched as the clouds began to peel off and floated towards the tornado and were sucked up into its winds as what was being covered by the clouds was slowly revealed.

The thing was that of a spectral looking horse that was entirely pale blue in color, though it did give off a faint white glow. While it did have two long front legs that had small wisps of clouds surrounding its hooves, it didn't have any back legs to speak of as the back half of its body trailed off as it flowed behind it in an invisible breeze like Celestia and Luna's manes. It's mane was also like this as well with it flowing in a similar manner as literal clouds of cold air seemed to be emitted from it. Then there were its eyes, which were glowing white and had no pupils or irises to speak of. Lastly, it was HUGE. Easily bigger than Celestia as it glared at me while it was towering over me.

Looking at it as it continued glaring back at me, I couldn't help but feel as though I should know what this thing was. It definitely looked familiar, but I was struggling to remember where I had seen something like this. Eventually, I suppose it was because of the constant cold air coming from it and the fact that it seemed somewhat spiritual, I remembered what this thing was and where I had seen it before.

The thing in front of me was a windigo, and there were two reasons as to why I recognized it. The first reason was because of the Hearth's Warming play back in Canterlot. The second reason was that I had read about them. During the first couple of weeks since I arrived here I mostly read books that talked about Equestria in order to learn more about this world. One of those books went over some of the more rare and mythical creatures that called Equestria home, one of these creatures being the windigos. I remember reading that windigos apparently fed off of negative emotions in a similar way that I converted negative emotions into energy and that their control over wind and snow were was immense. It stated how they were mindless creatures driven only by their hunger for conflict and an intense desire to freeze everything solid.

That's why I was shocked when it started talking.

"What peasant dares to interrupt me while I am creating the perfect storm?" The windigo said. Its voice was somewhat loud and had some force to it, though it also sounded male and had a posh accent to it.

"I'm sorry, what?" I said as I wasn't expecting the windigo to talk.

"Hmph. Does thou not even have the knowledge to grasp the meaning of my words? A true peasant indeed." The windigo continued.

"What, no. I do. I just wasn't expecting you to talk is all." I said.

"I should feel insulted at thy assumptions. Even more so that you are not quaking in fear in my presence! Why are thou not quaking?!" The windigo exclaimed.

"Well... you're not really the scariest thing I've seen." I said as I thought back to my experiences with Discord and Kirby. "Anyways, backing up, what do you mean you're creating the 'perfect storm'?"

"Thou art curious? Why it is simple: I have experienced a great tragedy and the world must know my pain!" The windigo exclaimed.

"What tragedy?" I asked.

"That is for me to know and thou to never find out. Now I have a question for thou. What are thou doing here in the middle of my storm and interrupting my work on my masterpiece?" The windigo asked.

"Well, since I know that the thing causing this storm is actually intelligent and not a mindless creature, you need to stop." I said.

The windigo then burst into a small bit of laughter as it took in what I had said. "Hahaha. And why should I? Like I hath already explained, the world deserves to suffer like I have!"

"Seriously, if you keep this up, you could end up causing a lot of people and animals to get severely sick, or even die from hypothermia if you keep causing this storm!" I yelled.

"And why should I care? I don't know or care about a single one of these ponies or animals here, so thou hast no reason as to why I should stop." The windigo explained.

I couldn't help but think about just how much this windigo was making my nonexistent blood boil. I have had a lot of people wear me in the past that were almost just like him, those that only wanted power for themselves and hardly cared about those beneath them. I had made absolutely sure that they received a horrible end after I possessed them and ensured that they would never be able to get back to where they were before. As for the windigo, I know had one good reason as to why it should stop.

"I do have on reason." I said.

"Oh? And what wouldst thoust reason be?" The windigo said.

"You either stop making this storm, or I will personally make you." I said as I glared at the windigo.

"Really? Thou thinks that thou can make me stop. Why, thou is an even bigger idiot then I-" The windigo started to say, only for me to launch a Magic Sphere right at its face. It obviously did a little bit of damage as the windigo wasn't expecting me to attack it so suddenly.

The windigo staggered back a bit due to the unexpected attack before looking at me with shock. "Thou... thou wouldst dare strike me?!" The windigo yelled as I felt its anger rise.

"There's going to be more of that if you don't stop." I said as I charged up another Magic Sphere in my hand.

"Thou isn't a peasant... thou is a scoundrel that deserves to be put to death! I shall freeze thou and keep thou as an ice sculpture after my art is complete!" The windigo said as the wind began to pick up around it.

"Not unless I take you down first." I said.

The windigo let out a roar before it flew past me and to the middle of the storm's eye where it glared at me with intense hatred. I answered back with a glare of my own as I charged up another Magic Sphere in my other hand. For a few seconds, there was nothing but the sound of the wind blowing around is as both of us dared the other to make the first move. Deciding that I should be the one top start the fight, I rushed forward, ready to take the windigo down.

Spirit of Ice and Snow
Windigo

I began by firing both Magic Spheres while rushing forward though the windigo sidestepped both of the spheres easily before rearing its head to its side before flinging it forward, causing a concentrated blast of cold wind to shoot towards me. I quickly jumped over it before firing off another Magic Sphere and managed to land a direct hit on the windigo's side as it attempted to sidestep again only to be a little too late. It once again fired off another blast of cold wind that I jumped over again, though this time it immediately reared its front hooves up after firing the blast before slamming them back down onto the ground creating a shockwave of wind that I wasn't expecting resulting in me getting hit by it and being launched back quite far before I hit the ground. Getting back up, I couldn't help but shiver due to how cold the wind was.

"Is that really all thou has? Thou are a fool to think thou can win against me." The windigo taunted as I got back up.

I didn't answer as I went back to rushing towards it with the windigo scoffing in response before firing another blast of wind followed by another shockwave. Thankfully, I was prepared this time and dodged to the side of the blast of wind before jumping over the shockwave while charging another Magic Sphere before firing it. I managed to hit the windigo as it was trying to launch another blast of wind so it didn't see the projectile coming as it was hit and staggered back. I took this opportunity and fired off another few Magic Spheres with a couple managing to hit the windigo before it dodged out of the way of the others. This repeated at least twice more before the windigo did something unexpected. After being staggered once again and dodging out of the way of the Magic Spheres, I watched as icy wind began to surround the windigo before it let out a roar as the wind peeled off of its body and formed a small tornado of ice and snow that began to slowly approach me. While that didn't seem like an issue at first, I soon discovered that the tornado was actually tracking me as when I tried to move away from it the tornado changed directions so that it would keep moving towards me.

"This is really starting to get tiresome. Regardless, this should surely aid in finishing thou off." The windigo said before it sent another blast of wind at me. I managed to avoid it by dodging to side but I immediately had to dodge again as I almost ended up going into the small tornado chasing me.

From then on the fight started to get a little harder as even though the windigo was mostly repeating the same attacks from earlier, I had to be careful or else I would wind up running into the tornado. This unfortunately caused me to get hit a few more times as I was too focused on dodging the tornado before noticing too late a blast of air or a shockwave coming right for me. Eventually, finally getting tired of the tornado, I remembered what my Magic Spheres did to the wall of the tornado before I charged up a large Magic Sphere and the fired it at the tornado chasing me and managed to successfully destroy it.

"Impossible! The winds of mine own work are flawless! Flawless I say!" The windigo shouted in response to me destroying its mini tornado.

"I guess they're not as flawless as you think if I managed to get in here." I said.

"Thou, thou has cheated! There is no way that a mere peasant is capable of destroying my art! Cheated! Cheated! Cheated!!!" The windigo yelled as it began stomping its front hooves down onto the ground repeatedly as it kept accusing me of cheating while throwing what I assumed was a tantrum.

Taking my chance while the windigo was distracted, I began charging up a Magic Sphere between my hands, letting it grow as big as it could. When I felt that it couldn't grow any bigger, I launched it towards the windigo, landing a direct hit on its face which resulted in it slumping down, obviously not expecting me to attack during its tantrum. Following up on this, I continued launching Magic Sphere after Magic Sphere at it to capitalize on the opportunity. Finally, I charged up another big Magic Sphere in my hand before rushing towards the windigo and swung my hand upward, slamming the Magic Sphere right into its jaw. This had the effect of launching the windigo upward a little bit before it fell back down onto its back.

"Thou, thou has chea- ack!" The windigo said before it looked up as I was floating right in front of its face with another charged up Magic Sphere ready to blast it again.

"I'm not going to ask this again. Stop making this tornado and this storm, or else." I said.

"Thou, thou wants me to stop this tornado?" The windigo asked.

"Yes." I responded.

The windigo seemed to think this over for a few moments before letting out an annoyed huff. "Fine, I will."

I slowly floated away from the windigo's head as it slowly got back up on its hooves while giving me annoyed glare. I didn't need to feel its emotions to know that it was pissed at me managing to get the upper hand and winning the fight, but I couldn't help but feel something besides anger at the moment. The windigo reared up its head before letting out a loud roar. After a couple of seconds, I witnessed the winds making up the tornado slowly begin to slow before dissipating entirely, letting me see everything outside the tornado was covered in a blanket of snow that was roughly a foot or so thick. In addition, the harsh winds I had to brave in order to reach the tornado had also greatly died down with snow flakes slowly falling out of the sky.

"Alright, now just get rid of the rest of the storm." I said while I looked around, only to feel myself launched several feet away and into the snow as a freezing blast of air hit me while my back was turned.

"HA! Thou honestly believed I would take orders from a peasant?! I think not! I shall continue to let the world know my suffering, though this time I think I will move everything to that small town over there. That will do quite nicely."

I barely had enough time to look up from the snow before seeing the windigo surround itself once more in clouds before taking off into the sky and towards Ponyville. While I slowly brought myself out of the snow and dusted off my outfit once again, I heard the windigo roar once more and saw as another small tornado appeared in the middle of Ponyville. While the winds here at the crossroads hadn't kicked back up again, I could tell that even from a distance the winds in Ponyville had grown turbulent. Looking back towards Fluttershy's cottage and seeing in the distance that it seemed to be ok, albeit covered in a thick layer of snow, I steeled myself and began floating my way towards Ponyville as fast as I could.

To say I was mad was an understatement, as I felt that if my anger was made manifest it would begin melting away the snow I was floating over. I was mentally slapping myself in the face for not realizing that the other thing I was feeling in the windigo was just a small amount of deception. I guess it had been so long since I have been around anyone that had been actively trying to deceive those around them that I forgot what feeling deception was like. I suppose compared to Applejack who was capable of telling when someone was lying, I could only tell when someone was lying if they were actively trying to maliciously deceive their target. Hanging around ponies who weren't actively trying to maliciously deceive someone for half a year tend to really throw off one's lie detector. That and being stuck on a dragon's head for a few centuries who also didn't lie tend to do that.

I couldn't help but stop and float in place for a bit as I began thinking a little deeply. I've been in Equestria for half a year now with what I was considering true freedom as I am not sealed within the Master Crown or possessing someone with there eventually being a chance that I would lose possession and be stuck within the crown again. In a body of my own no less, even if it was a copy of Magolor's. Speaking of which, I can't help but still wonder what happened to him. Who knows where he is and what he's doing?

...

I shook my body to clear my mind as those thoughts could be saved for later. At the moment, I had a windigo I needed to stop from turning Ponyville into a glacier. I went back to rushing towards Ponyville as I slowly began to feel the wind picking up speed. When I eventually reached Ponyville's outskirts, the wind was back to how it was when I had exited Fluttershy's cottage, thankfully I had braced myself already for the winds so I wouldn't go flying.

Oh and holding on to the end of my scarf with my hand would definitely stop it from slapping me in the face continuously.

I slowly began making my way through town while keeping my eyes on the tornado so I wouldn't lose track of it in the storm. It was a little difficult making it through the various streets as random surges of wind blasted down the streets, threatening to blow me out of town. Thankfully, I could tell when the surges were about to happen as the wind began to get a lot louder right before a surge happened. This gave me enough time to either duck behind a stray wagon or barrel that had miraculously not been blown away by the wind. If there wasn't any of those around ducking into a nearby alley or between some of the houses also helped as well.

It took some time, but I eventually made myself to the new tornado that the windigo had started up which it had decided to create right in front of the Golden Oaks Library. I watched as the tree's leaves were dangerously rustling, though were surprisingly not being torn off by the tornado right in front of it. I could also see that a small glow coming from one of the upper windows of the library, probably coming from a candle or something that Twilight forgot to put out before heading to bed.

Slowly and steadily making my way towards the tornado, I had to duck behind more barrels and wagons as the surges of wind started to become more frequent. I actually got caught up in a couple of them as I didn't get to cover in time before a surge shot out of the tornado and launched me a fair distance away. Eventually, I managed to reach a wagon right next to the tornado that had somehow not been blown away by being right next to it. Figuring that I would have to repeat what I had to do last time to enter the tornado's eye, I began charging up a large Magic Sphere while waiting for a chance in between wind surges to fire and dash into the hole it would make. Once I was confident a surge wouldn't randomly happen, I quickly shot the Magic Sphere while making a mad dash towards the tornado. The Magic Sphere struck the tornado and created I hole that I dove towards, only for it to immediately close up and a wind surge to launch me several feet away and behind a wagon. The snow barely cushioned the impact from the force of the surge.

"Ow. I guess it really doesn't want me getting in again. I barely had enough time to get through the hole I punched." I said as I waited behind the barrel. I once again slowly made my way back towards the wagon right beside the tornado and began to do some testing by launching one large Magic Sphere at a time. The results were the same as the hole almost immediately closed after it was formed.

I was starting to get frustrated, but then I thought of something that could work. It would be pretty draining, but it was worth a shot. Charging up a large Magic Sphere in my hand, I waited until it could no longer get any bigger before charging up another one in my hand and letting it charge as well as I was now holding two large Magic Spheres in my hand. I felt my own mana reserves within my mana pool greatly drain from the effort, but thankfully it wouldn't take long for the mana to regenerate itself.

"Well, here goes nothing." I said.

When I was positive there wasn't going to be another surge, I rushed forward and immediately tossed a Magic Sphere at the wall, watching as it opened up a hole. Immediately after, I dove towards the hole while launching the second sphere as it rushed towards the hole and into the hole as it prevented it from closing. I made it through the hole right as it closed and found myself in the eye of the storm. Looking around, I saw that there were wagons and barrels scattered about the ground that probably got caught in the middle when the windigo when it created the tornado. Speaking of which, I looked up and saw the windigo flying above me as it kept the tornado going.

I didn't waste any pleasantries as I immediately launched a Magic Sphere at the windigo, watching as it crashed into the windigo causing it to fall out of the air and crash into the ground as the clouds surrounding it dissipated revealing that it had fallen on its side. It slowly began to get back up as it eyes seemed to glow more fiercely.

"Who dares- HOW?! How did thou get through my wind?!" The windigo practically screamed at me.

"I gave you a chance earlier to stop this storm, and considering you shot me while my back was turned and proceeded to create another storm in the middle of town, it only make sense I come to make due on what I promised earlier." I said while giving the windigo the sharpest glare I could. Unfortunately, I probably wasn't that intimidating.

"I obviously wasn't going to listen to a lowly peasant such as thou. Thou has no power over me." The windigo said smugly.

"Considering I easily knocked you down earlier, I would beg to differ you spoiled brat." I responded.

"Brat?! BRAT?!" The windigo yelled. I immediately felt its anger shot up as it appeared to have pushed a particularly sensitive button.

"Considering that really childish tantrum you threw earlier, I wouldn't be surprised if you weren't one. How old are you? 4?" I said as I decided to keep pushing that button to see if I could get what it was wired to explode.

"You... you... YOU WORTHLESS SCUM!!!"

And there was the explosion.

"I will freeze your body, turn you into a sculpture, and then shatter it so that I will never have to see your horrendous face again!!!" The windigo yelled as its anger practically exploded as wind began to surround its body.

The fight started once again as the windigo flung its head towards me and launched a blast of wind before immediately slamming its front hooves on the ground and creating a shockwave. I was able to move aside from the blast quickly before floating over the shockwave before launching a Magic Sphere at the windigo. Unfortunately, it seemed to have predicted this as the windigo sidestepped out of the way before launching two more blasts of air at me. I dodged the first one but barely managed to avoid the second one as I felt the blast rush right above my head, barely missing me.

This continued on for a bit before the windigo decided to make things more annoying as the wind around its body peeled off of it, creating not one but two mini tornados that slowly began to approach me. Not wasting any time I charged up a large Magic Sphere and launched it towards one of the mini tornados and watched as it was destroyed. Unfortunately, this allowed the windigo to get a hit in as a shockwave launched me into the air before I fell right back onto the ground. I couldn't waste any time as I got back up again and charged up another large Magic Sphere and launched it at the remaining mini tornado that had been only a couple of feet away, destroying it.

"I will launch the broken remans of thou's statue into the farthest corners of this world!" The windigo yelled as the wind around its body began to swirl around it violently.

It took me a second to realize what it was doing as I heard the wind began to get louder. Taking action as quick as I could, I dove behind one of the wagons right before a massive surge of wind shot out of the windigo in all directions. If I hadn't been behind cover, I would of surely been blasted into or out of the tornado. Peeking around the wagon, I saw that the surge appeared to have slightly drained the windigo was slumped forward and was panting. Its eyes kept darting around in what I was assume was it seeing if I had been launched outside of the tornado. After waiting a bit, the windigo eventually seemed to assume that I had been flung out of the tornado by the surge as it began to catch its breath.

"HA! It was only a matter of time before thou fell to my might! After I finish up this storm I will search for thou's frozen body and smash it to pieces." The windigo exclaimed as clouds began to slowly surround its body. Before it had a chance to take off back into the air, I charged up two large Magic Spheres and launched them at the windigo right as it was about to fly back up. The spheres crashed right into it, breaking its focus and greatly dazing it as the clouds around it scattered and were sucked up into the tornado.

"Oh you wish!" I yelled as I rushed out of my hiding spot, firing more Magic Spheres at the windigo with all of them finding their mark.

I once again reached the windigo and performed the same little trick as last time with me charging up a Large Magic Sphere before slamming it right into the windigo's jaw. Though it appeared it was slightly more prepared this time as while its head jerked upwards from the hit, the rest of its body didn't flip like last time. I only had a second to look up at its eyes as it felt the windigo's anger spike before seeing it flick its head downward as a blast of wind slammed me into the ground. As I bounced back up from the force, I watched the windigo rear its head to the side before launching another blast of wind directly at me, launching me back as I hit a barrel. Due to the force of the blast I actually shattered it and continued straight through it before I hit a wagon and dropped down onto the ground.

I was definitely hurting from that as I felt the backside of my body hurting. Compared to being burnt by Spikezilla, it wasn't too painful, but enough to know that I was probably going to be sore for a while. I slowly brought myself back up as my levitation was a little bit shaky as I tried to regain my sense of balance. Looking over to the windigo, it was in pretty rough shape as well as it was panting heavily again.

"Thou is a cockroach that keeps showing up at the most annoying of times! And I possess the pesticide to get rid of you!" The windigo yelled as once again it began charging up another massive surge of wind. I quickly dove behind the wagon I hit and began charging up two more big Magic Spheres right as the windigo released the surge.

As soon as the surge ended I popped right back out of cover and flung the spheres towards the windigo. It tried to dodge them, but it was obviously extremely winded as one still hit it right in its face while the other hit its side. Its front legs buckled as it began breathing quite heavily. I began rushing towards it again, a large Magic Sphere in my hand before it did something I wasn't expecting. It let out a loud roar as it raised its front hooves which were quickly covered in a thick layer of frost before slamming both of its hooves down onto the ground. Expecting a shockwave, I immediately floated as high as I could to avoid it, only for my eyes to widen in shock as there wasn't a shockwave. Instead, glowing spots of icy blue light with wind swirling around them appeared in front of the windigo and all around the inside of the tornado. Thinking quickly, I launched my Magic Sphere at the windigo, only for large icicles to shoot out of the glowing spots with the one in front of the windigo blocking my Magic Sphere. I was surprised to see that instead of being shattered, the icicle only had a few small cracks from where the Magic Sphere hit it.

"I... I have had quite enough of thou ruining my masterpiece. If thou won't stop following me, then I will simply flee to somewhere that thou would be an even bigger fool to follow me. A place where I can finish my work with no interuptions!" The windigo exclaimed as it heavily panted. It then slowly stood back up while still panting before it reared its head up to the sky and released a roar, once again causing the tornado around us to die down and eventually disappear, revealing that the winds had calmed down and everything was covered in a blanket of snow a foot tall.

After the tornado completely died down, I could only watch as clouds once again surrounded the windigo as it took off into the sky from behind the icicle and began to circle around for a bit. After a couple of seconds of circling, it eventually took off with it eventually disappearing from sight. I slowly began to catch my breath as I looked over at the icicle that blocked the powered up Magic Sphere. I was trying to wrap my head around how it could have blocked the blow before I heard a familiar voice call out to me.

"Null? Is that you? What just happened, where's that giant tornado from earlier, and why are you surrounded by a bunch of icicles?"

Looking over towards the library, I watched as Spike who was wearing the scarf and gloves he had gotten for his birthday slowly yet surely make his way through the snow towards me. Deciding to make it a little easier on him, I floated towards him before we were right in front of each other.

"Spike? What are you doing up this late?" I asked.

"I was too excited to sleep for Hearth's Warming so I've just been staying up reading comics. Then that tornado appeared out of nowhere and everything got colder somehow. I went to check on Twilight and saw she was freezing so I covered her with as many blankets as I could." Spike said before I interrupted.

"Why didn't you wake her up?" I asked.

"I woke her up early one time by accident and she was extremely cranky. Trust me, a cranky Twilight is almost as bad as "Want It Need It" Twilight. Anyways, I kept watch on the tornado before I saw it dispersing and rushed to get out here, though it did take a bit to open the door with all of the snow though. Anyways, like I was asking, why are you out here?"

It took me a bit, but I explained to Spike what exactly I've been doing since I woke up in the middle of the night. From me waking up shivering, going inside the first tornado and meeting the windigo, the windigo and I fighting, it taking off and creating another tornado in Ponyville, and finally me fighting the windigo again and it taking off. I also explained how the icicles were created by the windigo and how they easily withstood being hit by a large Magic Sphere.

"Wait, hold on. You went into a tornado?"

"Yes."

"Found out a windigo was behind this storm and fought it?

"Yep."

"Managed to win against it the first time but it was a sore loser and created the tornado earlier. In which you then went into and fought it until it fled?"

"Sounds about right."

Spike took a few seconds to think over everything before taking in a deep breath and exhaling. "Null, I may not be Applejack, but even I can tell that is probably the most ridiculous lie I have ever heard. Windigos haven't been seen in thousands of years, why would one randomly show up and cause a storm?"

"First off, yes, it does sound farfetched but it is true. Secondly, all it said was that it had suffered some sort of "tragedy" and that it wanted to share its suffering." I responded.

"Seriously Null, there wasn't a windigo and it certainly didn't cause that torna-" Spike said before he was interrupted by a familiar roar coming from the direction of the Everfree.

Quickly looking at each other, we sped off towards the edge of town, though I had to pick up Spike as he was struggling to get through the snow. I simply held onto his claws with my hands as he dangled below me roughly a half foot above the snow as I floated as fast I could. Thankfully, he wasn't as heavy as I thought he would be. We eventually reached the edge of town with me setting down Spike and saw that another tornado had appeared this time, though it appeared to be deep within the Everfree Forest.

"Well, I when it said that it was going to find someplace I wouldn't follow it into, I was not expecting it to be the Everfree. Seriously, I barely encounter any trouble going in there from time to time." I said.

"Ok, that roar sounding right before a tornado appeared is purely coincidental and it was not made by a windigo." Spike argued.

"Didn't that same roar sound off right before the one in front of the library appear?" I countered.

"We can discuss this later!" Spike said as I could feel a little bit of frustration growing within him. "But that tornado being in the Everfree is bad!"

"Why? It's just the Everfree, and who knows, maybe the windigo might end up freezing some of the more dangerous flora and fauna in there." I said.

"Null, don't you remember? Zecora lives in the Everfree!" Spike exclaimed.

It took me a moment to process what Spike had said before I slapped myself in the face. Of course even when the windigo tries to create a storm someplace I wouldn't follow it, it still somehow creates one near the only zebra not bothered by living in the Everfree. If I showed up again, it was probably going to come down to another hard fight, and considering it took me a bit more effort to break into the tornado last time, it was going to be a lot harder to break in this time to get to the windigo. Not wasting any time, I grabbed Spike's claws and began floating the two of us as fast as I could into the Everfree.

"Null, what are you doing?!" Spike exclaimed.

"Going to see if the windigo is willing to not make another storm tonight. If not, well I might have to fight it again." I said.

"There is no windigo!!!" Spike exclaimed.

As we entered the Everfree, I was pleasantly surprised to see that while the winds were still decently strong, it wasn't bad to the point where I was fighting against them. In addition, the forest canopy of the Everfree prevented a lot of the snow from floating down onto the ground and creating a thick blanket of snow, allowing me to set down Spike so that he could walk. Despite it being well into the dead of night, possibly even really early morning, everything was quite as there was no other sound other than the wind and Spike walking along the path. I could definitely tell it was going to be a bit before we got to the tornado, so I thought it would do well for us to talk about some thing to past the time. Plus, I was curious about a couple things and Spike could definitely do with something to keep his mind distracted. I could feel a small amount of fear coming from him as even though he was denying a windigo was causing this storm, he could definitely tell something was off considering how he seemed to keep listening for anything that could jump out of the foliage yet everything was still pretty quite.

"So..." I said to break the silence. "How has that whole crush on Rarity been going?"

"What? Oh... that. The thing is, after the whole "Spikezilla" incident, Rarity and I talked about me having a crush on her. She talked about how it was really sweet, but she also sort of explained that it wouldn't really work." Spike said as I could feel a little bit of sadness from him.

"Really?" I said.

"Yeah. It was mostly along the lines of how she was a lot older than me and how I would probably end up living a lot longer than her as I'm a dragon. I've already had the whole talk about that when I was younger, but I guess I really didn't think about it." Spike continued.

I actually remember reading about a dragon's lifespan in Drago Wing's book. Supposedly dragons can live hundreds to thousands of years depending on what sort of life they have. According to the book the current Dragon Lord, which was apparently a sort of ruler over the dragons, has lived pretty much lived well over a millennium, becoming the Dragon Lord right after Nightmare Moon was banished to the moon. I couldn't help but feel bad for Spike, as much as I wanted to talk to him that living for centuries isn't as bad as it sounds, barring the time I spent on Landia's head, I couldn't really get into it and risk revealing something.

"But, even then, I guess she helped me sort of get over it. She said that there was probably a good chance I could probably still find somepony or somecreature to love. And we're still friends afterwards, unlike some of those really awful breakups and rejections I sometimes saw back in Canterlot."

"Really? How bad?" I asked.

"Worst I've probably seen was when a stallion walked into day court and proclaimed his undying love to Celestia. She refused, but he kept coming back almost every day court afterwards spouting nonsense about them being soulmates and what not. Missed a day court where he came in and didn't see him again. Want to know why?" Spike said as I saw a smirk form on his face.

"Why?" I asked, indulging his request.

"Turns out that he came in that day and proclaimed that unless he and Celestia were wed, he threatened he would shut down Celestia's School for Gifted Foals using his own "connections". Considering how important that school is to Celestia, you can understand that she got really mad. From what I heard, he was thrown out of the castle and Celestia ordained that if he ever set foot in day court again or threatened to take down her school, then he would be stripped of everything that made him a noble. Afterwards apparently he claimed that he would go up north to try and find something that would surely woo the princess into marrying him. Last I've heard of him was that he apparently did leave Canterlot, but he hasn't been heard of again. I'd tell you his name, but unfortunately it's been a couple of years since that whole ordeal and I can't really remember it." Spike said.

I was honestly stunned. From the brief encounter I had with Celestia after the "Want It Need It" incident, she genuinely seemed somewhat like the calm and collected type, and sort of like a mother figure to Twilight. To hear that she actually threatened to strip a noble of his status after making a threat he probably couldn't follow up sort of shone a new light on her. However, I did have one question on my mind.

"School for Gifted Foals? I thought Twilight said it was the School for Gifted Unicorns?" I asked. Shortly after the field trip to Canterlot and getting to know the Crusaders a little more, I was curious as to how the girls got their cutie marks. So I asked them and was surprised that Rainbow Dash performing her first sonic rainboom as a filly lead to all of the girls getting their cutie marks. Twilight explained that shortly after she got hers is when Celestia took her up as her personal student and she was allowed to attend the School for Gifted Unicorns.

"Oh right, you wouldn't know about this. Celestia sent a letter to Twilight the other day how she finally got managed to convince the school board to allow all foals to attend the school so that they can further develop their talents. She explained that was why she planned on changing the school's name. That reminds me, you never did explain about that "Four Matters" thing back on the train." Spike said.

That caught me off guard as I was hoping Spike would have forgotten about that whole thing. And unfortunately, we weren't close to the tornado yet nor was there anything really interesting around us so I couldn't easily direct the conversation away from my magic. I was trapped between either not wanting to talk about my magic which could raise Spike's suspicion about me not wanting to talk about it, or I tell Spike and risk him finding out a lot more than I'm letting on. Either outcome was definitely not in my favor.

"Um... well... you see the thing is..." I said as I rambled on.

"Null, come on. It's not like your hiding anything serious from me and the others right?" Spike said jokingly.

"Oh, yeah. Definitely not." I said while giving a nervous chuckle.

"Ok, I was joking about that. Are you really hiding something crazy from us?" Spike said as he began getting a little serious.

I was backed into a corner, and unfortunately Spike had eliminated the option of me just saying that I didn't want to talk about it. Which left the other option. Hopefully if I told Spike he wouldn't get too curious and keep prying. Well, here goes.

"Ok, I will admit, there is something that I don't want to talk about with you all. It's, something I really don't want to talk about with you all as it's very personal. Yes, I know how my magic works, I told the Crusaders and everyone else on the fieldtrip because I assumed that if they told their parents or whatnot that they would just chalk it up to them having an overactive imagination and would ignore it. The reason I've been allowing Twilight to test out my magic even though I know how it works is that, well, my situation is weird. I honestly didn't know how much my magic is affected by my situation and the tests allow me to figure out more about how my magic currently works." I said as I began explaining some things while still doing my best to hide my past. From there, I also gave Spike the same speech about how magic utilizing the Four Matters work as the one I told the foals on the field trip. During everything, Spike just listened to every word while we continued down the path.

"So, your saying that everyone can use magic by utilizing those Matters? And the only reason you haven't told Twilight is because your still figuring out how your magic is currently working due to your situation which you don't want to talk about?" Spike asked after I finished.

"Yes. That, and from what I've seen, my kind of magic is a lot more powerful than the kind normally used by ponies. I've seen my kind of magic used by those who desired to become mad tyrants and rule over others with an iron fist, only to be brought down by their own hubris and lust for power. There were some who used it for good, a lot who used it for good, but it was only a matter of time before someone showed up wanting to rule over everything. Spike, I'm begging you, please don't tell Twilight and the others about this." I said as I pleaded to Spike.

Spike seemed to mull it over a bit before eventually answering. "Fine, I won't. On two conditions."

"What conditions?" I asked.

"First, you have to Pinkie Promise that you will tell the girls about this eventually. Or else I will immediately tell them everything you just told me. Deal?" Spike asked.

"Ugh... Deal. And the second condition?" I asked as I begrudgingly accepted the deal. As Spike said, if I didn't, he would just turn around and immediately tell the girls which would ultimately lead to me having to reveal everything.

"When you get comfortable enough with your magic, I want to be included when you teach the Crusaders." Spike said.

"Wait what? Why?" I asked in surprise.

"You explained during that whole spiel about how the Crusaders wanted to learn magic from you. I want to be taught as well when you teach them. That, and I sort of have been feeling left out when the girls are taking on some of the big threats. They took on Nightmare Moon, Discord, and a bunch of smaller threats together. I want to be able to help them and not be left behind like I can't take care of myself." Spike explained.

I mulled it over a bit. The main reason I turned down the Crusaders' request was because my magic was still incredibly weak. Now that I had it back, I was still learning how it worked in detail, that and I still needed to try and find the shards of the crown to get some answers about those dreams. I eventually decided.

"Ok, it's a deal. But I can't guarantee it." I said.

"Now make a Pinkie Promise." Spike said.

"And how do I do that?" I questioned.

"Just say "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." while doing this." Spike said as he took a claw and drew out an x on his heart before holding his palm open and making a motion of sticking something in his eye. "And if you break a Pinkie Promise, you will regret it."

"Forever!"

My eyes widened as I quickly looked around as I swore I heard Pinkie Pie just now. "Did you just hear-" I began to say before I was cut off.

"I thought you would have learned living in Ponyville for half a year to not question Pinkie Pie. Twilight went crazy once trying to. Now, make the promise." Spike said.

"Alright, alright. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." I said as I recited what Spike had said and performed the same motions he did. I guess this meant that I was pretty much bound to this deal, meaning I had to tell the girls some things eventually. Not everything, as I still didn't want to tell them about my time in the Master Crown. "Let's get a move on. We're close to the tornado."

We were actually. A couple of minutes after our conversation, we eventually found the tress around us slowly becoming less and less dense before we came to a giant opening in the trees. Going through it, we found ourselves in a large clear area where the tornado was going strongly as well as the wind since there weren't any trees blocking it. Looking towards the sides of the tornado, I could make out what appeared to be some sort of ravine running behind the tornado. On the other side, I was surprised to see brick walls and towers laid into and on the side of the walls. Unfortunately, that was all I could see as the tornado prevented me from seeing everything else that it was blocking.

"Alright, now for the difficult part. Blasting a hole into the side and confronting the windigo. Hopefully one last time." I said as I began approaching the tornado.

"Null, seriously, a windigo is not causing this." Spike said. "And what do you mean blast a hole into the side?"

"Well, the previous two times, I launched a large Magic Sphere into the tornado to punch a hole into it which I then dove through to get to the eye. It took firing two in succession for the second time, and it's possible this one's going to be even harder." I said. Testing to see if I was right, I charged up two large Magic Sphere and launched them at the tornado, only for them to simply slam into the side and dissipate as the icy wind resisted the attack. "Yeah. I guess it incorporated whatever it did with those icicles into the tornado so I can't break through."

I couldn't help but start thinking deeply about the whole icicle thing. Those icicles had to have been made with extremely strong ice magic considering my Magic Sphere only cracked it when it hit it. It was obvious by now that windigos had mastery over ice and wind, probably a natural affinity those elements. How else could this one create tornadoes likes this one so effortlessly and toss wind and ice magic like they were nothing. The only real way to break through barriers of ice magic was with a powerful blast of magic or by using a spell strong against ice or wind magic. In this case a fire spell would probably be the best way, but I'm not able to use fire magic. Spike could but that was mostly his fire breath which was probably too weak to even damage the...

My eyes widened as I thought of something. Something so simple and effective that it would work perfectly.

"Spike, come here!" I shouted. "I know how to break through the tornado."

"How?" Spike asked as he came over to me.

"Spike, when I start charging up a Magic Sphere, I want you to breathe fire onto it." I said.

"Why would you want me to... Oh. OH!" Spike exclaimed as he realized what I was thinking about. "Do you think it will work?"

"Hopefully. Now, start fire breathing!" I exclaimed.

As I began charging up a large Magic Sphere, Spike began breathing fire onto the orb of dark element magic. The result was the green flames of his breath mixing with the crackling red energy of the Magic Sphere as it slowly began growing bigger and bigger. When it got as big as it could and Spike stopped his fire breath, the middle of the sphere was filled by blazing green light as red sparks could be seen mixing inside of the sphere with the flames. Meanwhile, green flames danced along the red edges of the sphere, making it look like a miniature red and green sun.

"Woah." Spike said in awe.

"Alright Spike," I said as I held the burning Magic Sphere in one hand and hefted him onto my back with the other. Surprised by this, he quickly grabbed onto my ears while doing his best to wrap his legs around me. "You better hold on tight. Once a launch this I'm diving through, and whatever happens I need you to hold on to me, ok?"

I could feel a little bit of nervousness and fear as Spike looked from me to the tornado in front of us and then back at me. He took a deep breath as I felt he was steeling himself for what was about to happen. "Ok."

"Alright. Then hold on tight!" I yelled as I charged towards the tornado as Spike held on for dear life as I felt his claws dig into me. Even though the claws were over my outfit, they still stung a little bit as Spike held on.

Right as I reached the edge of the tornado I threw the Magic Sphere at the tornado and watched as it punched straight through it, leaving a massive hole in the tornado. Not wasting any time, I dove through the hole with Spike yelling as he held on. We safely made it into the eye of the storm with seconds to spare as the hole began closing right after we made it through. Interestingly enough, the Magic Sphere also punched a hole through the other side of the tornado as well as another hole was closing up. Looking around I saw that only a couple of boulders were strewn about the inside of the tornado which could be useful if the windigo decided to do that massive wind surge again. I felt a light tapping at the top of my body as Spike was trying to get my attention.

"Null, what is that?" Spike said as he pointed up.

Looking up, I saw he was looking at the windigo who was surrounded by clouds as it circled high above us. However, I saw as it looked down and saw its eyes widen even from down here.

"HOW?!!" The windigo yelled out as it began descending.

"That Spike," I said as the windigo made it down to the ground as the clouds around it dispersed, leaving the very exasperated, yet from what I could also tell very angry, windigo leering at us. "Would be the windigo I kept telling you about."

I looked up and saw Spike's mouth hanging open as he was without a doubt shocked at what he was seeing. "Ok, I take it back. You were telling the truth about the windigo." Spike said.

"How has thou broken through some of my best work yet?! It should be impossible! Outlandish even! And thou has even brought another peasant to disgrace my presence?!" The windigo exclaimed as he noticed Spike hanging onto me.

"Peasant?" Spike asked.

"I don't know about that one. I suppose he only sees others as lesser than him which is why he calls others peasants." I said.

"Peasant doesn't really apply to me and Twilight considering we grew up in Canterlot. Mom is an editor for some writer who she won't tell us about and dad's a very successful historian. Both of them individually make a lot of bits, and throw in the fact Twilight was taught under Celestia herself, and we're pretty high up there in Canterlot's society. Not enough to be nobles, mind you, but our family is pretty well off." Spike explained.

"Wow, yeah I can definitely see that." I said.

"Are, are thou both ignoring me? And why isn't the other peasant shivering in fear? Shiver I say!" The windigo exclaimed.

"Spike, you nervous?" I asked.

"Eh, I was originally when I first saw the windigo come down, but considering how it's acting like an everyday spoiled noble, I'm not really that intimidated." Spike said.

"WHY YOU LITTLE!" The windigo shouted out as it flung a blast of wind towards us.

I reacted as fast as I could as I dodged out of the way of the blast as Spike yelled a bit at the sudden attack. The windigo was practically seething as I felt its anger reach a boiling point as it began to glare at us like it was trying to burn a hole through us while it aggressively pawed at the ground with its hoof. It wasn't messing around anymore, so neither should we.

"Alright Spike, like I said, just hang on to me no matter what. I'll focus on dodging its attacks while you just focus on breathing fire on Magic Spheres that I'm charging up, ok?" I asked.

"I... I can't believe we're about to fight a windigo." Spike said as I could feel him getting nervous. "You swear that you won't let me get hit?"

"I promise." I said.

"Ok, let's do this then." Spike said as he gripped onto me a little tighter.

I nodded in agreement as I formed Magic Spheres in both of my hands before charging at the windigo. I launched both of them right as the windigo launched a blast of wind at me with one Magic Sphere colliding with the blast causing both of them to disperse before the other one rushed towards the windigo. It sidestepped the second one before it launched a shockwave of wind at us that I floated over before having to dodge two more blasts of wind. I fired a couple more Magic Spheres, this time deciding to feint it a little bit as I shot a Magic Sphere to the right causing the windigo to dodge to the left, right into another Magic Sphere I launched immediately after the first one. We watched as wind began to surround the windigo before it let out a roar as three mini tornadoes were created and slowly began approaching us.

"Yeah, no. I'm not dealing with that. Spike!" I said as I held my hand up while charging up a Magic Sphere.

Spike immediately complied by breathing flames onto the Magic Sphere while I was charging it. After I was done charging, I began moving around so the tornadoes would follow me until they were all lined up perfectly. All the while, I had a few more close calls with being hit by wind blasts and shockwaves. When they were all lined up with the windigo behind the last one, I fired the Magic Sphere and watched as it tore through the first one, then the second, and finally the third one before hitting the windigo and creating a small explosion of dark magic and green fire. When the smoke dispersed, the windigo could be seen slumped forwards as it had been stunned by the attack. Taking the initiative, I began firing Magic Spheres as quickly as I could with Spike also deciding to join in by burning the windigo with his fire breath. After a couple of seconds, the windigo released a loud roar as it regained its focus as wind began swirling around it with it getting louder by the second.

"Null, what is it doing?" Spike asked.

"Duck and cover!" I yelled out as I dove behind a nearby boulder as quickly as I could. Spike simply did his best by pressing himself against me to make himself a smaller target.

The windigo let out a loud roar as a massive surge of wind swept across the field. I watched as a couple of smaller boulders were blasted out of the tornado due to the sheer force of the wind that hit them. Thankfully, the one I ducked behind was big enough to withstand the surge.

"Holy Celestia, we would have been blasted out if that hit us." Spike said.

"Yeah, but now, we can- ack!" I had started to say as I floated out from behind the boulder only to be hit straight in the face by a blast of wind with the blast also slightly hitting Spike.. The windigo had been prepared and launched a blast right as we came out from behind cover. Since Spike obviously wasn't prepared, I felt Spike lose his grip on me as I was flung a few feet away while Spike simply fell down back behind the boulder we used for cover.

"Null!" Spike yelled out.

"I'm coming, hold on!" I yelled back. I began to float towards before I saw clouds gather around the windigo.

"I shall force thou out of my masterpiece, BY ANY MEANS NECCESSARY!" The windigo yelled as it was completely covered in clouds and began rushing towards me. I quickly dove out of the way as the windigo rushed past me and into the tornado were it followed the winds upward before leaping out above me. I quickly dove out of the way again as the windigo slammed down where I was, creating a large shockwave of wind that slammed into me and Spike, pushing me further away and slamming Spike into the side of the boulder. "But first, I shall teach thou a lesson for ignoring my presence!"

I watched as the windigo began charging up a blast of wind and was aiming straight for Spike. "Spike, move!"

Spike looked up and saw the windigo charging up the blast before taking off right after the windigo fired the blast as it hit right were Spike was before. It continued firing blast after blast while Spike was doing his best to avoid the blasts before diving right behind one of the boulders that hadn't been blow away. As the windigo began to make its way closer to Spike I made the quick decision of charging two big Magic Spheres before floating above the windigo and slamming both of them onto its back, forcing the windigo onto the ground. I quickly made my way to where Spike was and saw him curled up behind the boulder.

"Spike!" I yelled as I grabbed onto him and set him on my back where he held on once again.

"Null, that was way too close! You said you wouldn't let me get hit!" Spike exclaimed.

"I wasn't expecting it to be ready right when we popped out. Speaking of which, I need your fire again." I said as I began charging another Magic Sphere with Spike breathing his flames on it. When it was done charging, I rushed out from behind the boulder and immediately fired it towards the windigo as it launched a blast of wind at us. The Magic Sphere broke through the blast and hit the windigo right in the middle of its face and creating another small explosion. When the smoke cleared, the windigo was staggered it once again.

I rushed towards it before my eyes widen with surprise as the windigo almost immediately recovered from being staggered as it let out another roar as glowing icy spots of wind appeared around the eye of the storm. In addition, it began covering itself in clouds once more.

"Get, out, of, my, SIGHT!" The windigo yelled as it charged toward us.

I quickly dodged out of the way while doing my best to avoid the glowing spots on the ground as the windigo rode the winds up again and leapt into the air above me. I quickly made my way out from under it while floating as high as I could as the windigo came down and slammed its hooves into the ground launching the shockwave of clouds as icicles shot out of the glowing spots. The windigo had landed right where there were a bunch of the icicles around it, almost blocking it on all sides as it was slumped over and was panting extremely hard.

"Spike, it's now or never!" I said as I began charging up two large Magic Spheres. Spike immediately began fire breathing on both of them and it took no time at all before both spheres were completely charged and lit with green flames. "Don't mess with Ponyville you brat!"

I launched both spheres at once and watched as both of them shattered through every icicle they went through before breaking through a couple surrounding the windigo and slamming right into it, creating twin explosions of red and black sparkles and green flame. I floated back to the ground as we both waited for the smoke to clear and reveal the outcome of the attack. When it did, the windigo, was laying down on the ground, its body covered in scorch marks as it was heavily breathing.

"Did, did we win?" Spike asked.

"I..." We both looked on as the windigo was struggling to pick itself back up with both of its front legs heavily shaking. "I... will not accept being defeated by peasants. Peasants who are destroying my work."

The windigo slowly rose up once again, though it was hunched over and breathing heavily as its front legs wobbled, struggling to hold the it up. "I swear, I will freeze both of thou solid, shatter thou into tiny pieces, and throw you into the the depths of-"

"ZEALOUS SUNCHASER, I SWEAR TO CELESTIA'S FAT FLANK!"

All of us froze as a loud voice sounded out from above us. Looking up, my eyes widened as something shrouded in clouds slowly descended from the sky and eventually reached the ground. The clouds floated away, revealing another windigo. The new one looked almost exactly the same as the one we were already dealing with, except this one was pale green in color instead of the pale blue the first one was. There were also small streaks of pink and blue in its mane as it flowed behind the windigo's head. Its voice, if the same one from earlier belonged to this one, was feminine and had a somewhat authoritative tone to it.

"I swear we turn our backs for one moment and you just up and leave without saying a word and I find you creating a storm close to a settlement? What you were thinking?!" The new windigo yelled.

"But, but I have been dealt a great injustice and the world needed to know my misery." The first windigo said.

The new windigo simply put one of its front hooves in on its face as a loud groan escaped from it. "Zealous Sunchaser, I swear if this is because I turned down you asking me out to a date after you kept asking me over and over again..."

"Zealous Sunchaser... Why does that name sound familiar?" Spike said.

Spike saying his thoughts out loud caused the new windigo to look over at us with its eyes wide.

"Um, hi." I said as I did a small wave.

"How's it going?" Spike said as he also waved.

The new windigo looked back towards the first as I felt its frustration skyrocket. "Zealous, why is there a dragon and whatever that floating thing is that is obviously sentient inside of this tornado? Also why are you burnt?"

"They, they attacked me for simply making my art. And I felt that I needed to protect myself and-" The first windigo said before the new one put a hoof out to silence it.

"Zealous, change out of your Storm Maker form this instant." The new windigo said.

"But-"

"NOW!"

The first windigo simply hung its head as pure white clouds appeared out of thin air and began swirling around it for a bit as I watched the windigo become smaller and smaller. When the clouds dispersed, in the windigo's place was a unicorn stallion with a sky blue coat, icy blue eyes, a pure white mane and tail that were both done up in a similar style as the ones I saw some Canterlot nobles having, and a cloud under the sun with the cloud being covered in gold coins as his cutie mark. However, the stallion had a faint white glow around him and seemed slightly faded as I could sort of see straight though him if I looked hard enough. Finally, small white clouds flowed off both of his hooves, the back end of his mane, and the end of his tail.

"No way! Null, it's him! The stallion I told you about who tried to constantly woo Celestia and threatened to close down her school! That other windigo reminded me of his name! But, how is he a windigo?" Spike said as he pointed at the windigo who was revealed to be Zealous Sunchaser.

"Is that so?" The new windigo asked as it overheard Spike. Meanwhile, Zealous was shaking a bit as the new windigo just learned of this information. "Zealous, I want you to head back to Snowrise as I will deal with you when I get back. Is that understood?"

"B-but-"

"Is that understood? Or so help me when I get back and you aren't there I will personally drag you to the elders and have them personally deal with you." The new windigo repeated, though this time she sounded slightly more threatening.

"Y-yes." Zealous stated as he kept shaking as I felt his fear skyrocket at the mention of whoever these "elders" were.

"Then go." The new windigo ordered.

Zealous looked one more time over at us before back to the new windigo and nervously gulping. Gray clouds surrounded Zealous before he took off into the air and out of the tornado through the top to wherever Snowrise was. After he was gone, the new windigo let out a loud roar as the tornado around us died down before completely dispersing. In addition, the skies above us began to slightly clear as a lot of the storm clouds began to disperse, revealing the night sky above us with the moon shining its light down on everything. Since the tornado was now gone, I could see that only a think blanket of snow covered the ground as well as some of the boulders that were thrown out of the eye were strewn about the open area we were in. In addition, I could now see what the tornado had been blocking when we entered the clearing, which was a wooden rope bridge connected from one end of the chasm to the other, and on the other side was what appeared to be the rest of what was part of the walls and towers as it appeared to be massive ruins of some kind.

"Now then. I suppose I will have to apologize for Zealous' actions. While Zealous is among the weaker end of us windigos, he can still be a hooful to deal with." The new windigo said as my attention was drawn back to it as clouds appeared and swirled around it as the windigo became smaller and smaller. When the clouds dispersed in the new windigo's place was a pegasus mare with a seafoam green coat, bright yellow eyes, a somewhat messy mane and tail that started off as neon pink but changed to neon blue towards the end, and an aurora wrapped around a silver trident as her cutie mark. Like Zealous, she had a soft white glow to her as her body was barely see through as small white clouds flowed off her hooves, the ends of her mane and tail, and the tips of the feathers on her wings.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Aurora Borealis, former captain of the Solar Guard." The new windigo said as she introduced herself, though her voice was now a lot calmer as I felt a lot of her frustration fade away.

"No way. I know you. Shining would not stop talking about you when he wanted to join the royal guard. He would talk nonstop about how you easily you were able to take down powerful monsters left and right. He claimed that you slew a hydra with only one stroke of your trident, and how you took down a rampaging ursa major with one strike to the head." Spike said in awe as he let go of me and stood on the ground. "But, how are you here? You went missing, what? 10 or so years ago? No one ever heard of you again after you went missing taking on some sort of ice beast up north."

"Yeah, I remember that. The thing is, I did manage to kill the thing, but it landed a pretty bad blow on me and broke my wing. I was out in the middle of nowhere and after wandering around the vast snowscape in a horrible snowstrom for a couple of hours, I... died of hypothermia." Aurora said.

"Died? Then how are you here?" I asked.

"Yeah! And how are both you and that Zealous stallion both windigos?" Spike asked.

"Let me ask, what do you both know about windigos?" Aurora asked.

"That they feed on hatred and create deadly snowstorms wherever they go." Spike said.

"That they inadvertently led to the founding of Equestria." I said.

"Well, sort of right. More so for the floating thing than you. The thing is, windigos are spirits. More specifically, they are the spirits of ponies who have died in snowstorms and other wind related accidents who don't want to move on to the afterlife. The same rings true for the windigos behind the whole Heart's Warming tale. They were just ponies who died out in snowstorms who bonded together over many things, including how much they didn't like the leaders of their respective tribes. So they decided to get back at them by constantly creating a horrible blizzard until they settled their differences. Which thankfully they did. After they set aside their differences and founded Equestria, the windigos eventually decided to just live out their afterlife away from ponykind while still keeping an eye on them from afar. Nowadays, they still do just that while offering up a place for new windigos to stay in Snowrise and some of the the other windigo civilizations around Equestria." Aurora explained.

"So windigos are the spirits of ponies that died in wind based natural disasters and accidents? Then how did Zealous Sunchaser become one?" Spike asked.

"I was there when he croaked actually. He had an entourage of ponies he hired to find and dig something up to give Celestia and they all quit because they got tired of dealing with how much of a brat he was. He then proceeded to try and find something himself, only for him to immediately get lost in a snowstorm and be buried under a literal pile of snow as he froze to death. I was the one who brought him to Snowrise, though I often find myself thinking it would have saved us a lot of trouble if I hadn't." Aurora explained. "Though that whole thing of him trying to shut down Celestia's school is something he never told us. I'll be personally seeing about that when I get back."

"You seem to have some sort of connection with Celestia, considering what you said about her flank when you first arrived. Mind telling us about that?" I asked.

"Oh yeah. Me and Celestia were actually good friends back in the day. She's surprisingly a lightweight when it comes to alcohol, though she can down cake like it's nothing. Let me guess, she still uses a lot of her personal funds to buy mountains of cakes?" Aurora asked.

"Yep." Spike replied.

"Nice. Anyways, we also tended to talk a lot about some of the goings on in our lives while I trained. It's good to see that she has her sister back so she can talk to somepony about things since I've kicked the bucket." Aurora said as I could feel a little bit of sadness coming from her as she seemed to long for the past before it disappeared. "Anyways, mind if I ask you two exactly what sort of damage Zealous has caused. I need to know what exactly I'm punishing him for."

Spike and I explained everything that had been happening, from the first time I witnessed who I assume was Zealous back up in Canterlot after the play to me fighting him multiple times. Spike also joined in to fill in on some of the details as well.

"Wow. In all honesty, I'm impressed. Like I said, even though Zealous is more on the weaker side when it comes to how powerful he is as a windigo, us windigos are still a force to be reckoned with. The fact that in my opinion you gave him a run for his money and then some shows just how skilled you two are." Aurora said.

"Thanks. Though Null did more of the fighting than me." Spike said.

"Hey, you helped out a ton. I probably wouldn't have been able to even get in the last time without your help." I said.

"Either way, I'm impressed. As a sign of good faith and a sort of apology and thank you for dealing with Zealous, I would like both of you to have this." Aurora said as she held out her hoof as clouds began to condense in her hoof before forming what appeared to be two small charms. These charms were both looked like keychains as they dangled from a little loop on small chains with the charm at the end being some sort of horn that was made out of light blue wood and had a silver tip at the part where you blow into it and a silver rim at where the sound echoed out from.

"What are these?" Spike asked.

"Special charms to show that you have gained the approval of a windigo. Just focus your will on these and the horns will grow and shrink at will. If you ever want to visit a windigo settlement, just grow these horns and blow into them and they will allow you to access the nearest settlement. If you're ever up north, blow one of these and I would be happy to come down and give you a tour of Snowrise. Now then, I hope you two have a nice Heart's Warming, and thank you for the full run own of everything Zealous did. I need to go back and handle him properly. Hope to see you again." Aurora said as she was surrounded by clouds and took off into the sky, heading back to wherever Snowrise was to the north.

"That was not something I thought I would ever experience. Either way, this is probably the best Hearth's Warming I've ever had! Not only are windigos still around, but we fought one and won. And not only that, we gained the approval of a former captain of the Solar Guard and can visit windigos whenever we want! What do you think Null?" Spike asked.

I was about to respond, only for my gaze to turn back to the ruins across the chasm. From what I could gather from looks alone, they had definitely been there for a long time. A lot of cracks and damage could be seen on the walls from old age, and who knew what else was inside. Then, I felt it. Something was calling out to me, not verbally or anything, but something I felt that only I could sense. Something familiar. Something like-

"Hey, Equis to Null? Do you hear me?" Spike said as he waved a claw in front of my face, snapping me out of my trance.

"Huh? Sorry Spike, um, what exactly are those ruins over there?" I asked as I pointed towards the ruins across the chasm.

"That? That's the old Castle of the Two Sisters. It's where Celestia and Luna ruled Equestria back in the day before Luna became Nightmare Moon. I can ask Twilight to show you around if you want since she goes there from time to time to look around and whatnot. But... *yawn*... I feel like we should head back. I'm definitely starting to feel tired." Spike said.

"Yeah, we should. Also, we probably shouldn't tell the girls about this or they might freak out. Maybe eventually, but probably not after they wake up." I said.

"Good point. Alright, let's head back." Spike said as he began following the path back to Ponyville.

I began to follow Spike, but not before looking back at the Castle of the Two Sisters and into the entrance of the ruins as I felt it calling out to me again. As much as I was tempted to immediately rush in and look around, I wasn't in the best of shape. I've been hit hard by Zealous while fighting and I could definitely tell I was going to be sore for a couple of days. As I turned back around to follow Spike, I figured I could just come back by myself once I'm better since I now knew the way here. After all...

It wasn't like that piece of the Master Crown was going anywhere anytime soon.

Author's Note

Sorry it took me so long to upload this chapter. I unfortunately hit a massive block that lasted for a long while and on top of classes and everything I just couldn't find the time to write. But, I'm happy to say that I am now back in the groove and you can definitely expect me to start posting more chapters now. I mainly wanted to use this chapter for a little bit of world building with the windigos and sort of make Spike have a slightly bigger role in this story. I feel like Spike just isn't really given the limelight in the show outside of a few episodes dedicated to him, so this is my way of giving him a slightly more bigger impact in the story. Anyways, once again, sorry for not posting a chapter in over a year. In the meantime, I'm going to work on the next two chapters of Pokemon: Sunset's Insurgence before coming back to this one. All I'll say is that the next chapter is going to be quite important. See you all then.

P.S.: Zealous Sunchaser as a windigo has had his boss bio added to the blog post for all bosses in the story. Go check it out if you're interested.