A Crown's Atonement For Their Misdeeds

by UnknownOrigin

Rating: teen
Tags: Crossover, Kirby, Princess Celestia, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Main 6, Princess Luna, Comedy, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Other, Adventure
Length: 105774

The consciousness that resides within the Master Crown from the Kirby series, along with the pieces of said crown, are sent to Equestria after drifting through the in-between of dimensions.

(Warning: This story contains spoilers for the story of Kirby's Return to Dreamland, more specifically, Kirby's Return to Dreamland Deluxe as it also contains spoilers for the Magolor Epilogue.)

(This story was inspired by the story C-R-O-W-N-E-D S-O-U-L written by Mordy. This story does use a few elements and small events from said story, but other than that, everything else is my own work. I hope you enjoy!)

The Master Crown. An artifact of the Ancients that is said to give one limitless power, at the cost of the wearer's own mind and soul potentially being corrupted by its own influence. However, no one in today's time would expect said influence to be an actual conscious being that had been sealed within the crown thousands of years ago. That being said, what happens to this being after the crown has been shattered into pieces once more, and by its most recent wearer no less? It and the broken pieces of the Master Crown eventually drift through dimensions and into Equestria. What will a being who had been trapped for a few millennium find in this strange and colorful new world? Revenge? Anger? Peace? Or new friends who just want to help it? Who knows. Only time will tell.

Published 2023-03-22 03:00:01 UTC
Last updated 2024-09-26 04:10:02 UTC

Prologue: Drifting Through Dimensions

Dark.

That was all I could think about after my most recent body had been destroyed. This thought was brought up mostly due to the fact that, at the moment, that was all I could see. Just pure darkness, as though I was looking straight into the mouth of a giant black hole. However, after what felt like a few hours of seeing and both feeling nothing, I slowly noticed that the blanket of blackness obscuring my vision was slowly brightening. Eventually, the darkness that had once plagued my vision slowly brightened to the point where I was able to make out my surroundings.

An endless sea of stars twinkling from thousands of light years away, strange crystalline objects floating in and out of my vision and various floating land masses drifting through this endless expanse as though they were floating islands made for a peculiar sight that would instill both curiosity and awe in those that would gaze upon this strange yet beautiful sight.

Other than that, I could also vaguely make out what I could best describe as mirages of various landmarks also floating around the endless expanse. Some of these being a strange tree with spinning leaves that would bring to mind a propeller, a pyramid surrounded by ruins within what appeared to be a desert, a beach surrounded by vibrant blue water, glaciers covered in pure white snow, a tower surrounded by floating islands and clouds, a rundown city that appeared to be made completely of metal, and a towering volcano surrounded by fiery wastelands.

As I kept drifting through this endless expanse, my mind began to function properly as I realized a few things:

The golden pieces of the Master Crown that had served as my prison all these millennium were floating around me.

Said pieces, instead of drifting away, were staying close to me, as though the pieces themselves were refusing to leave my side.

I knew where I was. That "was" being the in-between of dimensions. Also commonly referred to as "Another Dimension", as that was sort of what the in-between of dimensions was when broken down. A dimension between dimensions that one would need to traverse in order to gain access to or simply travel to another dimension.

I was drifting through the in-between and had no control over where I was going.

The fourth realization didn't really matter to me, at the moment that is. For the most part, I was content with going wherever the strange currents of the in-between took me. It allowed me to instead focus on events that had just happened recently.

The first being that I had been removed from the head of that hydra Landia after it was defeated by, if I remembered correctly, a pink walking and talking sphere that appeared to be able to suck up anything the hydra threw at it, an orange sphere similar to the pink one but didn't have a mouth, was wearing a blue bandanna, and wielded a spear, a giant blue penguin dressed in some sort of red robe who wielded a hammer, and a blue sphere that was also very similar to the first except that it had wings, wore a mask, and wielded a golden sword. After they defeated Landia I simply fell off of the head of the main head after she had split into four separate, smaller, drakes.

The second was that a strange creature in a blue and white robe that bore a gear design picked me up and placed me on their head, using the power of the Master Crown to take a lot more intimidating form. I was somewhat excited when this happened as I hadn't had anyone new wear me in a long time. That, as well as sensing that this creature also held a great amount of magical power within them, making me excited for what I could possibly do if I managed to take over this individual. Anyways, they talked about how they had deceived the individuals who took down Landia and planned on using my power to take over the universe, before opening up a portal to a star-shaped planet and going through it.

Pretty much the next while was spent with me on this creature's head as we traversed the in-between, with me slowly gaining access to the knowledge and memories that this being held as well as me trying to take control, but was met with some resistance.

Eventually, however, the individuals showed up again and were on the backs of the drakes that once made up Landia. After summoning a giant ship from a portal that I had learned was called the Lor Starcutter thanks to the memories of the being I was being worn by, who I also learned was named Magolor, the individuals with Landia's help began to fight it. A little while later and the Lor Starcutter had been defeated by the individuals, who I would learn that the pink sphere was named Kirby and that Magolor seemed to know quite a bit about him, Bandanna Waddle Dee or just Bandanna Dee as he wanted to be called by, King Dedede who ruled over a part of the land on the planet Magolor was heading towards, and Meta Knight that, while somewhat mysterious, seemed to be quite the experienced swordfighter. Magolor flew off after seeing the ship go down, and the others pursued him.

Eventually, Magolor managed to take down the drakes, causing their riders to be sent plummeting towards a small nearby planetoid. Seeing this, I could sense that Magolor wanted to get some revenge for having the Lor Starcutter be sent crashing to who knows where. As such, he too flew towards the planetoid and summoned a portal to the star-shaped planet we had been heading towards, before beginning to the fight. I myself was also excited, to the point where the crown itself began to wiggle a bit on Magolor's head, not that he seemed to notice. After fighting a while with Kirby and his friends I could sense that Magolor was beginning to struggle as he grew weaker and weaker, before eventually succumbing to Kirby bringing down a giant sword onto him and pretty much defeat him.

This moment of defeat gave me the exact chance I needed to take over Magolor entirely.

Taking over his body, it began to change itself as I he was under my control, making his previous form look like a cute animal compared to the monstrous form I took as I now controlled Magolor.

I decided right there and then that Kirby and his friends were a threat that I needed to take down if I wanted to keep my control over this new body as they were looking at me with faces of both terror and anger as I assumed they sort of knew what was going on. As such, I made sure to immediately use a spell that Magolor had used to rid Kirby of any abilities he currently had, which at the moment, meant making sure that Kirby wouldn't simply try taking me down with a giant sword. After that, the fight began.

To put it simply, I was having the most fun I had ever had in the many millennium that I had been within the crown. Sure, there were some beings that I did have fun controlling once they had succumbed to my influence, but this took the cake. I was using powerful spell after powerful spell to keep Kirby and his friends on their toes. Flinging spheres of concentrated magic at them, summoning and juggling various creatures to just toss at them, firing giant beams of dark energy, using portals to ram into them at high speeds, creating giant spikes from nowhere to try and pierce them, manipulating the space around them and making it so they would get hurt if they even walked into said zones, creating black holes, and even using my own versions of abilities that Kirby had used to take down Magolor.

However, in the end, I lost. I got so caught up with using all of those powerful spells and abilities that I began to get cocky. That cockiness led to me underestimating Kirby and the others, leading me to ultimately being defeated by them.

The end result was me rapidly losing control over Magolor's body as I was sealed back within the crown and Magolor's body returned to normal. After that, the crown shattered, and both Magolor and myself, along with the small pieces of the Master Crown, disappeared. I thought that both of us had ceased to exist, but it seems both of our fates had not been sealed just yet. Instead, both of us drifted deep, and I mean deep, into an abyss within the in-between of dimensions. It took me a bit to regain my own consciousness, when I did, I found myself as simply a black and purple cloud of gas surrounded by the shards of the crown (much like the form I am currently in now). I soon realized that the crown shattering may have been my best chance yet at gaining my own form. So, I began my mission to claim a new, and powerful, body that I didn't need to worry about me losing control of.

Everything just sort of fell into place after that. I found that I was still able to manipulate the minds of nearby creatures to do my bidding. As such, I commanded them to find me a source of great power that I could use once I got a new body. I was genuinely surprised that this sort of power turned out to be slices of some kind of fruit. Regardless, I ordered the creatures to gather these slices and bring them to me. I was not expecting, however, for Magolor himself to defeat my minions and take the slices of the fruit himself. I suppose he was also trying to regain his powers, given that his outfit was now ragged and was also pale white and gray in color.

After seeing him defeat one of my minions and taking the fruit slice they had gathered for the third time, I immediately hatched a plan. I would follow Magolor and have him collect the fruit slices for me. After which, I would take them for myself and use them for my new body. The plan worked perfectly. After collecting the fourth fruit slice my minions managed to procure, I followed him back to where he was keeping the other slices. I found myself at a strange, ruined altar, with four other slices hovering above a central pedestal. Once the last slice Magolor had obtained floated towards the others, they fused together to create a giant crystalline apple. I flew into action.

Once Magolor had gotten to the altar, before he could take the fruit, I flew in and took it right in front of him by taking my own improvised form of the leader of hostile creatures that roamed the in-between known as sphere doomers. I decided that, before I took off with the fruit, I would roughen up Magolor a bit so that he wouldn't be able to follow me and take the fruit back for himself. That decision would prove to be my downfall, as he used his regained spells and abilities and eventually defeated me. After the form I had taken fizzled out, all that was left was a small amount of the gas that made up my current form and the small shards of the Master Crown. In that moment, I was feeling both surprise and anger as I weakly floated around the apple, surprised that Magolor had managed to regain so much power so quickly, and angry at the fact that he managed to defeat me. Eventually, I decided I had had enough. Using what little energy I had, I used my power combined with the little amount that was stored within the small shards of the crown to take control of the apple, and use it to create myself a new body, right then and there. Doing so caused a bright light to emit from the apple, blinding both me and Magolor.

When the light faded, I had found myself in the air above what appeared to be some sort of city that, for some reason, felt familiar to me. The sky above me, however, was a different story, as it seemed the entire sky had been lit aflame. Decently sized fireballs were falling from the sky and landing in various locations within the city. I could care less, as I spotted Magolor standing on what appeared to be the altar from earlier, albeit somewhat destroyed as I had knocked down its walls when we had fought. Slowly, I descended. As I did, Magolor eventually took notice of me and began to back up a little at the sight of my new form. Letting out a scream filled with anger and rage, the fight had begun.

Throughout the whole fight, I was both putting all of my strength into every attack so that I could take out Magolor as fast as I could, as well as observing what I could do so I would have a grasp of the abilities I had in this form. From creating portals to cause spiky roots to shoot out from them, launching explosive crystal apples, shooting out seeds that caused smaller yet longer roots to rise out of the ground, firing the leaves from my branches to try and cut Magolor, summoning creatures that lurked within the in-between of dimensions, firing lasers that caused the ground to erupt from under my target, to even just teleporting high into the air in an attempt to slam my body onto Magolor. However, all the while, Magolor was managing to land some hits on me throughout the fight.

Eventually, he managed to deal a great amount of damage to me to the point that I could not ignore the pain any longer. I was too focused on that pain to notice Magolor grabbing a nearby sword. And by the time that I had noticed, I was too late. Magolor had pumped so much of his magic into the sword that it was nearly identical to the giant sword Kirby had used to defeat him with. I held out my arms to stop him from using that sword to end me. At first, I was confident I was winning as the sword was beginning to be pushed back. However, in a near instant, the sword began to inch closer and closer to me, in response, I began bringing my arms closer together to try and fight back. However, in the end I lost. Magolor managed cut straight through my body, causing me to lose consciousness shortly after.

And now, I'm pretty much caught up to where I am currently: back to being a cloud of gas surrounded by the shards of what was once my prison, floating through the endless expanse that is the in-between of dimensions. No set direction, just drifting and being moved by an unseen force that I am unable to fight against. With nothing else to do, I decided on doing one of the few things I could do at the moment: taking a nap and seeing where I ended up after I had woken up. As such, I drifted off into sleep, my vision being once again greeted by the blanket of nothingness that was darkness.

I woke up.

Not because of me naturally waking up, but because I began to feel a small force begin to pull me in a certain direction. A feeling that had showed up out of nowhere that it was enough to rouse me from my slumber. Taking a quick look around, I immediately found the source of what was pulling me in a new direction: a dimensional portal. This one however, was quite different than the ones I had become used to. This was because instead of it being shaped like a star, this one was shaped more like a swirling vortex. That, and a rainbow of colors could be seen swirling around said vortex. As I inched closer and closer to the portal, I saw with a mix of panic and confusion as the shards of the crown began to float away from my gaseous form and quickly be sucked up by the vortex. As I got closer, more and more shards began to be sucked away from my body into the vortex until there was nothing left of the Master Crown near me. Soon, I felt myself being pulled faster and faster towards the vortex, and, as I found myself just on the edge, I thought to myself:

"Let's see what fate has in store me for me."

And with that thought, I was sucked into the interdimensional portal, taking me to wherever it ended up.

Author's Note

Pretty much the prologue is to explain how our protagonist here ends up in Equestria, as well as being a recap for the ending of Return to Dreamland as well as what happens in the Magolor Epilogue of Return to Dreamland Deluxe. That, as well as Magolor Soul being the boss that Kirby and his friends have to defeat in order to save Magolor.

Like I said, spoilers for things from both games.

You might also be confused when our protagonist says that they were worn by certain individuals. To put it simply, after being trapped within the Master Crown for thousands of years, our protagonist essentially began to associate the crown as being their own body. As such, they will often say things such as being worn by an individual.

Chapter 1: Chaos in a Colorful New World

As I found myself traveling through the dimensional vortex that I had been sucked through, all I could say that the word that best described what I went through as my gaseous form tumbled about was this: painful. It felt as though every nonexistent nerve of my form was on fire, all the bright colors quickly passing over my vision hurt my mind trying to process all of them, and that this experience seemed to drag on for quite some time.

After what felt like hours of me traveling through dimensions, I felt my mind begin to shut down due to the sensory overload I was experiencing. Eventually, this led to my vision slowly going dark. Before I blacked out, however, I saw what appeared to be a bright white light that I could only hope was the end of my trip through this brightly colored vortex of agony.

After some unknown amount of time, I found myself finally waking up as my mind was rebooting from the forced shutdown it had to go through due to it not being able to handle everything that had happened in that vortex. As my vision slowly returned to me, I found my vision being greeted with lush grass and dense foliage as I was facing the ground. I slowly began to look up and took in more of my surroundings. There were trees as far as the eye could see with their barks coming in various shades of brown, magenta, and even blue, there were also large and dense bushes that seemed to be scattered about here and there. Finally, despite the various streams of sunlight peeking through the canopy of the trees, it was hard to make out anything more than maybe 15 feet away from me as it was also fairly dark.

I also began to notice something as my mind finally began to catch up and was able to process my situation: I was on the ground, and I could physically feel the grass I was on.

That shouldn't have been right. In my gaseous form I was always constantly floating, meaning that I never once touched the ground. That, and I wasn't also able to physically feel myself touching anything while in that state. I noticed a nearby puddle of water on the ground and tried to float towards it, only to quickly find out I wasn't able to. My form refused to rise up into the air as I found myself still on the ground. So, I attempted to try and hop over to it, with said attempt surprisingly being met with success. I found that I was able to jump maybe about three or so feet into the air without having to put too much effort into hopping and found that each hop allowed me to travel about two feet in any direction with a similar level of effort. Eventually, I had made it to the puddle and stared into my reflection to see what was going on with my body. Turns out, I had transformed into something entirely different.

My general shape was that of a simple sphere like that of Kirby, albeit with no limbs to speak of. Said sphere seemed to be made up of a sort of black and dark gray sludge, giving my body a sort of oily and greasy appearance. Next up were my eyes, which were two simple ovals that were pure white in color, almost to the point where they seemed to naturally glow. Finally, I felt as though I had some sort of mouth, to which I opened wide. Instead of having any sort of black abyss or tongue or anything that could have resembled the mouth of a normal living creature, what greeted me instead was what I quickly realized was an eye with its iris being that of a piercing red staring right back at me. Seeing this immediately sent a shiver through my body as the eye itself seemed to gaze into my own soul. Needless to say, I quickly shut my creepy third eye after I was done looking at it for a bit. Looking over the rest of my new body, I found nothing else that seemed to strike me as interesting or important before turning back to the trees that were in the area before going over these new developments.

So, I'm no longer in the gaseous state that I was in earlier before that interdimensional vortex pulled me through. That being said, that vortex was definitely different than the ones I was familiar with, and I mean a lot different. Maybe it had something to do with me having this new body? Next, it also sucked away the pieces of the Master Crown that were floating with me. And seeing how I don't see any of said pieces nearby and that I was dragged along with them, that means that they are somewhere else within this dimension. Honestly, I am somewhat glad that I am no longer near the broken remains of the artifact that had acted as my own personal prison for those few millennia that I was trapped within it. Last but not least, I felt incredibly weak. I could tell that this new form that I was in was barely managing to hold itself together, and that I could also not feel any ounce of magic or power within my body as though I had been drained of every last ounce of both.

After going over everything for a few moments, I realized I needed to do something. Judging from how dense the foliage was and how naturally dark this forest seemed to be, there were definitely going to be some dangerous creatures lurking about that may look at me and see me as their next meal. With that in mind, I chose a direction that didn't seem to have a lot of foliage and began hoping that way as my current plan at the moment was to simply find a way out of this forest.

I want to say that after a good hour of hopping through the woods I had managed to find a few interesting things before I finally had managed to find what appeared to be a dirt road in the middle of the forest. These included what appeared to be crocodiles made out of stone that resided in a river I had passed, a bog where I could see a five-headed hydra lurking about (I definitely made sure that it wouldn't notice me), and even what appeared to be rabbits with antlers that seemed to make their homes in fallen trees or simple burrows. I also occasionally heard howling coming from various directions, but thankfully they weren't too loud meaning that the sources of said howling weren’t all that close.

Upon seeing the dirt road, I was somewhat happy that I no longer had to deal with whatever else this forest seemed to contain. Sticking close to the road, I chose a random direction and began following the road to see where it ended up. Thankfully, I can say that nothing weird or crazy happened to me as I was hoping that the direction I was heading would lead me out of the forest. No, instead, something weird and crazy happened once I managed to get close to what I suspected was the edge of the forest.

It had maybe been about fifteen minutes of following the road before a strange cloud appeared overhead. And by strange, I meant that it was pink and that it seemed the cloud was raining some sort of brown liquid. Normally, I wouldn't question this as it was possible that was the way clouds worked in this world, so I shrugged it off. That was, until I passed under the cloud and felt the liquid upon my body. I wanted to try and drink the liquid as I was somewhat thirsty after traveling for quite some time but didn't really know what to do as my mouth had been replaced with a third eye. I quickly found out that my mouth being replaced didn't matter, as when the liquid rained down upon the area of where my mouth was, I found that my skin seemed to absorb the liquid right into my body, allowing me to essentially drink, and I suspected also to eat, anything without needing to open my mouth. When I absorbed the liquid, I was immediately confused by its taste. The reason being that the liquid tasted like chocolate milk.

Ok, that definitely couldn't be right. Chocolate milk by itself wasn't a liquid that one could naturally find in the wilderness, it was a processed drink that needed to be physically made. The fact that it was just raining from a cloud further made no sense. Actually, looking more closely at the pink cloud above me, it seemed to be made of something different than what clouds were normally made of. Was this cloud made of, cotton candy? Ok, no. Something weird was definitely going on here. Seeing that the pink cloud came from farther down the road, I quickened my pace and continued back down the path in hopes of finding just what was going on.

Eventually I had managed to finally make it to the end of the forest as I saw a clearing up ahead, readying myself for what awaited outside this forest. In all honesty, I was expecting possibly grassy hills that seemed to go beyond the horizon or a village right next to the entrance of the forest. What I saw was possibly a nearby village in the distance, however it and everything else around it made no sense at all. Instead of grassy hills, the hills had different colored patchwork designs that seemed to change with every hill. The dirt road I was on eventually took on a more checkered design as it got closer to the town with what appeared to be soap bubbles eventually appearing on the road as well. Giant towers of playing cards could be seen here and there, being as big as some of the houses I could see. Random chunks of land could be seen floating in midair, with a lot of chunks having houses on them as well. Finally, it appeared that a giant version of the cloud I had encountered earlier covered the entirety of the village, with chocolate milk raining from it as well. Before I could even question things any further, day turned immediately into night as it suddenly got a lot darker.

What sort of world have I ended up in? Just earlier I had to go through in what was my opinion, a somewhat creepy forest filled with creatures I haven't really seen before, and now what I am currently witnessing happen in front of me can be best described as chaos given a physical form. If I'm being honest, I would turn around and go back down the road into the forest and see what the opposite end of the road offered. Unfortunately, I needed to learn where the vortex had put me so I would have a better idea of what kind of place this world was and see what I can do from there. So, with a heavy sigh, I began my trek towards the town in the distance to try and get some answers. Though I would probably avoid traveling on the road, just in case.

I was glad I made the decision to avoid taking the road the rest of the way to the town. From the looks of it alone, I probably would have slipped and slid multiple times just by being on the road. What made me even more proud of my decision was that I saw a few more weird things slide past me as I bounced beside the road. These were mainly just rabbits who had extremely long legs flailing about as they slid past and what could be best described as buffaloes dressed up in ballet attire. Other than that, I eventually made it to the town.

As I entered town, I found it to have suddenly turned back to daytime, and the chocolate milk rain falling from the giant pink cloud high above me seemed to have stopped, allowing me to take in more of the random things going on at the moment. Aside from what I saw earlier, the ground itself seemed to have a blue checkered pattern going for as far as I could see and there were a few trees with what appeared to be giant birds sitting in them, causing some of the branches to bend due to how heavy the birds might have been. I also think I managed to find the residents of this town, albeit they were all running around or hiding in panic and fear at everything going on. These residents appeared to be what I assumed were possibly ponies that had a variety of different things about them. These things were that they all had different colored manes and coats, as well as their manes being styled in different ways too, some of them had horns on the top of their heads, others had feathered wings on the sides of their bodies, while some had neither the wings or horns and just looked like regular ponies. Finally, and the thing that caught my attention the most, was that every single one that I saw seemed to have some kind of marking on both sides of their flank, with each pony having a different kind of marking. Unfortunately, they were either too far away or were moving too quickly for me to get a good look.

In the meantime, however, I realized that I might be able to possibly take advantage of the chaos happening around me with the ponies freaking out as well. Essentially, while I was still inside the Master Crown, I had found that I had the ability to absorb the negative emotions and feelings of the person who was wearing me and convert said emotions and feelings into energy that I could use for myself. I would then use the newfound energy to further push my influence onto my wearer, allowing me to take control of them faster than I could normally. This ability also wasn't just limited to my wearer, as it was also affected by the negative emotions and feelings of anyone around the crown as well. Said negative emotions and feelings including things such as anger, rage, hatred, sadness, greed, jealousy, envy, and in this case, fear. So, using my ability, I began to feed off and absorb the fear that the ponies were giving off. By doing this, I immediately began to feel more energized as I felt the fear being converted into energy within my body. I could also feel that my form was becoming slightly more stable, meaning that I wouldn't have to worry about me melting into a pile of goo anytime soon.

And so, I continued exploring the town while absorbing the fear and panic off of its residents and further boosting my energy and further stabilizing my form. Throughout my exploration, I found a few other weird things that were mostly happening to the townsfolk. I saw one pony seemingly walk upside down while in midair, another floating in midair and making raspberry noises with her mouth, and one that was running away from a stampede of the long-legged rabbits I saw earlier.

Eventually, I turned a corner and had to stop myself as I saw a creature that I could only describe as being a combination of different animal parts put together as it had the head of a pony, two mismatched horns on the top of its head, a long and slender body covered in brown fur, the talon of some sort of bird that acted as its left arm, a lion's paws that acted as his right arm, a bird wing and a bat wing on its back, a red and scaly tale, and mismatched legs: its left being cloven while the right leg was green and may have been that of a dragon's. It appeared to be talking to something or someone, but I was too far away to tell. I decided to move closer as I was curious what was going on. Eventually, I managed to sneak into a nearby alleyway between two houses and managed to get a better view and was now able to clearly hear its voice, a somewhat smooth male voice that had a sort of deceptive undertone to it. He was talking to what appeared to be a group of five ponies, two of them had horns, one had wings, while the other two were the kind that had neither, and what appeared to be a purple reptile of some kind with green spikes and was walking on two legs. Another thing I noticed is that every one of them, save for one of the horned ones who had a purple coat and mane and tail that had a magenta stripe going down the middle of both, were all gray in color. Finally, every single one of the gray ponies and the reptile were wearing a golden necklace with different colored gemstones set in the center of them while the purple one was wearing a tiara with a magenta gem in it.

"Discord! I've figured out your lame riddle. You're in for it now!" said the purple one.

The creature made up of different animal parts, who I assumed was Discord, replied "I certainly am. You've clearly outdueled me, and now it's time to meet my fate." Discord summoned a pair of sunglasses and put them over his eyes. "I'm prepared to be defeated now, ladies." Discord said before summoning a red target that hung from his neck. "Fire when ready!"

"Formation, now!" said the purple one.

All of the gray ponies simply replied with a simple "Eh."

"Rainbow Dash, get over here." the purple one said towards the purple and green reptile. Said reptile began to slowly walk over to the others before lining up with them. "Alright, let's get this over with."

What happened next was that a bright white light seemed to start being emitted by everyone in the line as the gemstones on each of the necklaces and crown began to glow a unique color, minus the one worn by the reptile. Eventually, only the ponies began to rise up from the ground as the purple pony opened her eyes, revealing them to be glowing pure white. I saw Discord pull down his sunglasses to see what would happen, with I myself also watching closely. Eventually, the light around them began to flicker rapidly, before disappearing entirely with the ponies falling back to the ground.

"Ugh, what happened? Why didn't it work?" asked the purple one.

What followed was the ponies arguing with one another about various things before the reptile approached the purple one. "Sorry, Twilight. I guess I'd better get back upstairs and clean up the library. Good luck with all this–" He was interrupted as the gray pony with wings tripped him as he began walking towards what I could best describe as a literal treehouse, as in a house within a tree.

I could hear the gray one with wings say "Oops. Sorry Rainbow Crash." before letting out a chuckle.

"Bravo, ponies, bravo!" Discord said as he began to clap. " Harmony in Equestria is officially dead. Discord rules, Celestia drools."

I jumped a bit as the sounds of laughing suddenly appeared from nowhere, quickly looking around, I quickly found that the source of the laughter wasn't visible. Judging from this and what Discord had done earlier when he summoned the sunglasses and target, I began to suspect that he was the reason the town was the way it was.

"Well Twilight, I would like to stick around and chat, but I have some chaos that I've been dying to spread for a long time. Toodles!" Discord said as he disappeared in a flash of light.

After he disappeared, the arguing resumed between the ponies, as all of them began to accuse one another for why what they had tried to perform earlier failed. This continued on for a little bit longer before, one by one, they all began to leave, saying things such as how everyone in the group was lame and weren't great friends.

"Fine! Leave! I don't need you guys either!" Twilight yelled out. As she said this, I began to notice that her body began to turn gray. "With friends like you, who need enemies?" She finished, and I watched as a tear rolled down her cheek as she finished turning completely gray. Even from my hiding spot, I could tell that, where the tear hit the ground, the shape of a heart broken two had appeared.

I'll admit, the negative emotions coming from the group after Discord left was like an all-you-can-eat buffet that I simply couldn't pass up. I managed to get a lot of energy just simply from them arguing, to the point where I felt my body take on a more solid shape. But, when I saw the pony called Twilight shed that tear, I was somewhat surprised that I couldn't help but feel bad for her. From what I could gather, it seemed like her and the others were great friends, but for some reason, they were all fighting with each other as though they were enemies. I could only suspect that Discord was possibly the one responsible for the group lashing out at each other. I was pulled out of my train of thought as I began to see Twilight begin to walk away. I could have just left her be and continue with exploring the town, but some part of me was telling me to follow her. Whether it was curiosity or me just suddenly caring about others all of a sudden, I eventually decided I would keep my distance as I began to follow Twilight while making sure that I wouldn't be seen by her.

From what I could tell, Twilight was just moving around with no clear purpose as her head was hung low. She also seemed to not pay any attention to all of the crazy things happening around her. From what I could feel from her, she was experiencing an intense amount of sadness. Regardless, I made sure to follow her closely, albeit I would often have to wait for her to move a little bit farther so that I could quickly get to another hiding spot without being seen. Eventually, however, Discord showed back up again, seemingly laughing at something he had just done before eventually calming down enough to form a proper sentence.

"Oh, my stomach! Twilight, you've got to see what I just did." Discord pointed over in a random direction. Looking to what he was trying to point out, I saw what appeared to be a giant pepper shaker shaking pepper onto the pony underneath it. Eventually, they sneezed, causing all of the nearby buildings around them to fall over as though they were cardboard cutouts. "It's priceless. Hahahaha." Discord's laughing eventually stopped as he saw that Twilight was hardly even paying attention as her head was still hung low. "Come now, Twilight Sparkle. You've got to get into the spirit of things! After all, this is your new home."

Twilight raised her head and seemed to look around at all of the chaos happening across town. "Not anymore..." She replied sadly before making her way back to the treehouse I saw earlier and entered it. As she did, Discord let out a triumphant "Yes!" before performing some sort of victory dance that consisted of clones of himself appearing out of nowhere and doing various dances as fireworks went off that spelled out "Discord Wins! Princesses Drool." in the middle of the sky.

As I looked back towards the treehouse, I couldn't help but wonder what would happen now. From what I could tell, the thing that Twilight and the other gray ponies had tried to perform may have been the only way to stop Discord and end what was going on around here. But since it failed and Twilight seemed to have fallen under the effects of the spell Discord had put her under, there was possibly no chance of that ever happening, which meant that he was free to do whatever he pleased.

"Oh, don't think I haven't noticed you following us."

I immediately froze as a voice had just spoken from behind me. Slowly turning around, I looked up to be greeted by Discord leaning down to where his face was uncomfortably close to mine. My mind immediately screamed at me to run away, to react to him, or do something, but my body seemed to have frozen up as I just sat there staring back at him. I had never felt more powerless in that moment than in any other moment of my life. Discord reached down and picked me up with his hands before bringing myself eye level to him at his full height.

"I noticed you were following me and Sparkles ever since we started having our little walk and talk. You are, by the way, not as good at sneaking around as you think you are." So he had noticed me following them. Great. "However, I have never seen something with as much concentrated dark energy as yourself in all of life of mischief and chaos. So tell me, what exactly are you, as I myself am quite curious as to what you may be?" I stayed quiet, mostly out of fear, and mostly because of the fact that I wasn't sure if I was even able to speak. "Not a talker, eh? Whatever. I'll find out what you are soon enough. Until then..." He held me in one hand as he snapped his fingers in the other, summoning what appeared to be basketball goals as he and his clones were now wearing either red or blue jerseys, with one clone even wearing a black and white striped shirt and hat with a whistle around his neck. "How about we play a little game to celebrate my victory over the Elements and Princess Sunbutt? I saw how you were bouncing around earlier, so you can be the ball."

What followed next was Discord and his clones bouncing me around like a ball all over the field with them either tossing me to another clone or dribbling me as they moved. Every once in a while, a clone would either throw me into one of the basketball goals and either make the goal or not, while other times I would simply be dunked into a goal if a clone that had me was close enough. This continued on for a long time, as each time I was dunked into the goal or just thrown into it I would cause me to painfully land on the ground as I was disoriented from being bounced and tossed around so much. Each goal they had scored also caused me to further become more and more angry as this being easily tossed me around as though I was just some sort of toy to him.

I had had enough.

As soon as what I assumed to be the original Discord, given that his tee was the only one that said "#1 Entity of Chaos" on the front, tossed me towards a goal a short distance away from him, I made my move. Instead of going straight through the hoop, I was able to position myself so that I would be able to simply bounce off of the rim of the hoop and onto the backboard of the goal. After doing this, I launched myself from the backboard as hard as I could and rapidly flew towards the real Discord. The sound of me hitting his face as the force of the launch carried me a little bit away from him filled me with joy. Discord was on the ground with what looked to be birds flying around his head and chirping while all the other clones looked between him and me in shock. Eventually, Discord managed to shake off the dizziness as the birds flew away and looked at me in shock which eventually turned into a look of annoyance.

"Well, this is quite funny. You really think that you would be able to take down the lord of chaos by simply just hitting me in the face? And even after I let you join in on our little game? Don't you all think that's funny?" The clones simply shook their heads in disagreement, one even tried throwing a tomato at me saying that the joke was terrible. "If you didn't want to play, that's fine. I can simply find another way to make you useful to me. Maybe this time, however, as a stress ball!" Discord lunged at me immediately, trying to grab me. Thankfully, I was saved by the fact that my body was still covered in sludge, making it so that the action of him trying to grab me caused me to slip out of his hands. When I landed back on the ground, I began to hop away as fast as I could as I could feel Discord's anger begin to rise as he began to chase me.

What followed next was the next few hours being spent with me hopping for my life as Discord began to chase me around the town, doing my best to make sure that he wouldn't catch me as I knew it would be painful if he did. I bounced off of walls to try and quickly outmaneuver him, slid through giant houses of cards which forced him to run around them as to not topple them, and even rode on the backs of the long-legged rabbits to gain some distance. Needless to say, I was having fun while messing with Discord, as every time I managed to get farther away from him his anger would further rise, giving me even more energy to keep going. Unfortunately, my fun had to end. I looked back while jumping through another house of cards to see if he was still chasing me, only to realize that he wasn't behind me. I then felt myself being painfully grabbed by sharp talons as I realized what had just happened. Discord teleported in front of me so that he could easily catch me.

"Well," Discord started while panting a bit. "you've now had your fun while sending me on this wild chase. But, unfortunately for you, your fun stops here." He had to stop to catch his breath. "I think I deserve a nice rest with a drink and think about what I should do next. You'll be there of course, as you will definitely serve as a nice stress ball. And I definitely have a lot of it after what you just put me through." He snapped his fingers, and I found myself held tightly in one of his hands as we were now in a different part of town. One more finger snap from Discord, and a throne appeared behind. Sitting down on it, he summoned a glass of chocolate milk before squeezing me painfully.

The next while was spent with Discord occasionally giving me a painful squeeze while seemingly looking over all the work he has done. No matter what I tried, I couldn't get away as he definitely made sure I wouldn't slip out of his hands. I began to wonder if this is what my life would be like from now on, stuck as the plaything of a being who could make anything he wanted happen with just a snap of his fingers. I began to lose hope as I thought that this was my punishment for everything I had done. Taking over anyone who wore me and causing chaos and destruction wherever I went simply because I was sealed within the Master Crown because... because... Wait. Why was I sealed within the Master Crown? Surely I would remember the cause of my imprisonment within that cursed artifact. But, maybe it was reasonable that I did forget. After all, I was trapped within the crown for many millennia, so it would have been natural that I forgot as I only focused on controlling those that wore me so that I would be somewhat free.

"Ah, chaos is a wonderful thing." Discord said as he began drinking from the glass of chocolate milk. "Not as wonderful as friendship." a voice called out. Discord began to cough due to suddenly choking on his drink as I looked and saw a sight I definitely wasn't expecting to witness.

There was Twilight and her friends who were no longer gray and once again were all wearing the necklaces and crown I had seen them wear earlier. Albeit this time, there was another winged pony wearing the necklaces I had seen the reptile wear. Besides Twilight, the other horned pony had a white coat and a purple mane and tail that seemed to twirl a bit towards their ends, one of the one with wings had a light yellow coat with a with a long pastel pink mane and tail, the new winged one had a cyan coat with their mane and tail being that of a literal rainbow, one of the normal ponies had a pink coat with a puffy pink mane and tail, and the other normal one had an orange coat with blond mane and tail and was also wearing a stetson hat.

"Really? This again? You ponies should have learned by now that I have won and that you all can't do anything about it!" Discord exclaimed.

"We'll see about that. The power of friendship prevails no matter what, we'll turn you back to stone and make sure that you won't break out ever again!" Twilight said back to Discord. In response, I saw Discord get an annoyed look on his face as he began to once again squeeze me. The pain of which caused me to once again try to wiggle out of his grip, in which my efforts were met with failure once more. It seems however, the yellow winged pony seemed to have noticed me struggle and was looking at me with concern.

"Ugh, gag. Fine, go ahead. Try and use your little Elements. Just make it quick. I'm missing some excellent chaos here." Discord said as he stood up while tossing away his drink.

"All right, ladies, let's show him what friendship can do! Everyone, line up!" Twilight said as everyone began to get into formation.

Once again, their necklaces began to glow different colors as a white light began to be emitted from them. Slowly yet surely, all of them began to rise into the air as Twilight opened her eyes once more, revealing them to be glowing the same pure white as before. This time, instead of the light blinking out and them falling back to the ground, beams of different colored lights that matched the gemstones embedded within their jewelry began to rapidly fire at Discord, each one hitting him causing him to stumble back in pain.

"What the?! There's no way! How are the elements working again?! I made it so you all would be separated! Done! Finished! Caput!" Discord began to say as he began to back away from the ponies.

"Because, the power of friendship will always bring us back together, no matter what you try to do. And with it, you are finished!" Twilight responded.

What happened next was that a giant rainbow-colored shockwave was sent out from the ponies as a giant wave of rainbow energy rose up before crashing down on both me and Discord. This resulted in Discord rapidly beginning to turn to stone. As for me, I began to once again feel as though every single nerve within my body was on fire. It felt as though my entire being was being ripped apart by the power washing over me and Discord. It felt all too similar to what I was going through when I was tumbling through the vortex that led me into this world. I don't know when, but Discord had let go of me as I fell to the ground and quickly rolled as fast as I could away from him. Eventually, the rainbow wave of energy stopped as Discord, now turned into a stone statue with his expression of that of pure terror, fell onto the ground as a bright light seemed to envelop everything around me as everything began to turn back to normal. The pink clouds evaporated into nothingness, the legs of the bunnies shortened back to a reasonable length, houses of cards turned back into actual houses, and the floating pieces of land returned to the ground where they had been ripped out of.

I was hardly able to focus as the pain I was going through was too much for me to handle. The pain was much worse than when Discord had used me as his stress ball, much worse than what I had experienced traveling through that interdimensional portal, and much worse than when my body had been cut in two by Magolor. Eventually, that pain began to dull as I realized I was blacking out for what may have been the second time today as my vision began to steadily grow darker. Before it went completely dark however, the faces of Twilight and her friends entered my sight as they were all wearing expressions of curiosity and confusion about what I could only assume was me rolling towards them after Discord had let me go. I finally felt my eyes close completely as I passed out, welcoming the blanket of darkness once again.

Author's Note

Ok, so I may have went a little bit overboard with this chapter compared to the prologue in terms of just how long it is compared to it. I don't really think that chapters going over some of the less major events of the series won't be as long, but the big ones such as this and a few other chapters will definitely be on the longer side of things.

But yeah, I liked the idea of the protagonist absorbing the negative emotions and feelings of the wearer of the Master Crown and anyone nearby and thought it was an interesting concept. I have also a lot of ideas on how to utilize it later on in the story as well, so I'm excited for when those parts come along.

Regardless, the next few chapters won't be as crazy as this one, hopefully. Things are going to be calming down as Ponyville begins to recover from Discord's chaos. What will our protagonist discover when they wake up? Who knows!

Chapter 2: Waking Up to New Developments

I'm going to be honest, if passing out more than once a day is going to be what happens to me while I'm in this world, I'm probably going to get sick of it real fast. Especially if what causes me to pass out is extremely painful. I don't know how long it's been since I blacked out after succumbing to the pain that resulted from me being hit by that rainbow wave of energy that came from Twilight and her friends, but I eventually felt myself slowly waking up.

As I began to wake up, I noticed that there was some sort of blue cloth covering my body and obscuring my vision. While the cloth was very soft against my body, I had to remove it if I wanted to see where I was. This didn't prove to be too hard as I simply began rolling out from under it. However, this resulted in me falling to the floor from what I assumed to be some sort of platform. The fall only hurt a little bit, as I still felt somewhat sore all over from the pain I went through. Eventually, I managed to get my bearings and began looking around to see where I currently was.

It appeared to be some sort of library, as various shelves could be seen in the walls of the room and every shelf seemed to have been crammed with a variety of books and scrolls. What I had fallen from was not a platform, rather a table that was situated in the middle of the room. There were various windows situated in various parts of the room, and judging from the soft orange light peeking through them, I assumed that it was currently evening. This proved to be true as a clock could be seen high up on one of the walls showing that it was about 7:00 P.M. at the moment. Other than that, there was a staircase nearby that seemed to lead somewhere higher up, although I couldn't see as to where from my current position on the floor. Nearby was also what appeared to be a couch that was closer to one of the walls with a coffee table in front of it and two chairs facing the table as well. There was an entrance nearby said staircase that seemed to lead to some sort of kitchen, as I could spot a stove from the opening. Finally, there were two doors on opposite sides of the library. One seemed to lead outside judging from the mat in front of it, while the other was just a simple door that sat on the opposite wall of the first one.

I could only assume that possibly Twilight and her friends brought me here, considering that they were the last things I saw before I blacked out. If that was the case, then why aren't they here? I would have assumed at least one of them would be here to possibly keep an eye on me as they might have considered me as dangerous or something since I was seen with Discord. Regardless, I assumed that I might as well explore a bit more since it may be a while before they came back.

I decided to start with the books on the shelves as I may be able to get some information as to where I have ended up. Starting with one of the lower shelves, I started with viewing the titles of each book. Some of them weren't really that interesting, such as "Brewing the Perfect Cup of Tea Within 5 Minutes or Less", "A Ponies Guidebook to Different Cloud Formations", and even "Slumber 101: All You Ever Wanted to Know About Slumber Parties But Were Afraid to Ask.". That last one sounded a little ridiculous in my opinion. Eventually, however, I saw some books that caught my eye such as "The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide", "Thornhoof's Brief History of Canterlot", and one simply called "History of Equestria". For the first one, I definitely remember Discord mentioning something about "Elements" multiple times, especially when talking to Twilight and her friends. As for the other two, they seemed to be locations within this world, maybe one of those names was where I was currently located? Moving on, I kept looking around at some of the lower shelves within the library and unfortunately found nothing else that seemed interesting. Before I could check the higher shelves, I began to hear voices coming from right outside the door. Eventually, the door opened as Twilight and her friends entered the library.

"I have to say darlings, that party may have been among the best that I have ever attended. Don't you think so Fluttershy dear?" The white horned pony asked.

The one I assumed was Fluttershy, the yellow winged one, replied "I really did enjoy it a bit. I'm at least happy the animals in the garden seemed to have forgiven me since the gala." It was somewhat hard to hear her, as her voice was a little bit quiet compared to the others.

"In my opinion, we deserved it after kicking Discord's butt!" The blue winged one with rainbow hair exclaimed.

"Yeah! We were all 'pew pew' and Discord was like 'Oh no!' and everything was great and that party was also great! I do wish those cotton candy clouds stayed around though." The pink one answered energetically.

"I agree with all of you. It was definitely tough, but I'm glad we managed to stop Discord before he managed to spread his chaos over all of Equestria. However, I am somewhat curious about the thing that rolled up to us after Discord was turned to stone. It definitely seemed like the Elements of Harmony affected it somehow, but it didn't disappear with the rest of the things Discord created. I'm hoping to do a few tests on it once it wakes up." Twilight said, I assumed she was talking about me, and she also talked about the "Elements" or "Elements of Harmony'” as I assumed they were called. Maybe they had something to do with the jewelry that had those gems embedded within them, as I noticed they were no longer wearing them.

"Ah'm sure you'll figure it out, Twi. Ah'll admit, ah am curious about it myself." The orange one with the stetson hat said. She seemed to have a southern accent, though thankfully it wasn't too hard to understand her.

"Yeah, especially now that it's woken up." the pink one said.

Every single pony in that room seemed to stop talking and stare at Pinkie as I saw she was now pointing at me. Their gazes followed her outstretched limb towards my direction and stared at me as I also stared back at them. It was quiet for a few moments as we stared back and forth before Twilight spoke up.

"Huh, I guess it is." she said as she began walking up to me. "I thought it would have still been asleep when we got back, but I guess not."

"I'm happy that it seems to be ok. It looked like it was in pain with Discord squeezing it." Fluttershy said.

"I'm glad as well Fluttershy. I'm grateful that it doesn't seem to be too injured. Though..." Rarity started as she began to walk around me a bit. "I must say, all this black and gray doesn't really make it look too friendly. If not, it definitely isn't the most colorful of things I've seen."

"I could care less, as long as it doesn't try to wreck Ponyville while we're not looking, I'm fine with it." The rainbow haired one said, seemingly lazing about while flying in the air.

"Well, I could at least use some help with trying to figure out what this thing is. Spike, come down here!" Twilight yelled in the direction of where the stairs led. A few moments later, the purple and green reptile that I saw with the others walked down the steps.

"Coming Twilight." the reptile, who I now knew as Spike, said as he reached the bottom of the stairs. So it turns out that someone was here when I woke up, it just looks like he didn't decide to come down when I woke up. "Woah! It looks like the thing you brought back is awake. What is it?"

"That's what I'm hoping to find out, Spike." Twilight said. "I'm going to need you and the other's help if we want to find that out."

"You know I'm not really into all that egghead stuff. But I guess I'll stick around and help out." The rainbow haired one replied, floating back down to the ground.

"Thanks Rainbow, I appreciate it. Now then..." Twilight said as I saw a sort of pink aura cover her horn. Around the library, several books were covered in the same aura as they began to fly off of the shelves and onto the table I had been sleeping on earlier, with the blanket that had covered me also being covered in the same aura and was moved to the nearby couch. "Let's see if we can figure out what this thing is."

It had been about an hour later since the group had begun trying to figure out what I was. Throughout said hour, they scoured multiple different books that began to pile up as the hour went on. I also learned the names of Twilight's other friends as well during that time frame. The winged one with rainbow hair was called Rainbow Dash, the white horned was named Rarity, the pink energetic one was called Pinkie Pie, and the orange one with the stetson hat was Applejack. From time to time the group thought that they had maybe found out what I was and held a book right beside me, only to eventually go back to looking as I looked nothing like the things they were comparing me to. In all honesty, I was somewhat enjoying watching them struggle to figure out what I was, as I highly doubted that beings from other dimensions appearing in this world was something that occurred regularly.

"How? How have we not found anything that could even hint as to what this thing could even be? We've checked 'Flora and Fauna of the Everfree', 'Creatures and Curios Beyond Equestria', we've even checked 'History of Equestria' and have found nothing! Is it a new species of animal? A magic experiment gone wrong? Just what are you?!" Twilight exclaimed, her face getting uncomfortably close to mine to where I had to hop back a bit.

"Maybe it's an alien from outer space?" Spike suggested.

"Yeah! It came down here on a giant flying ship to try and make peace with us. Only to be secretly plotting to steal the resources of this planet and replace everything with metal!" Pinkie exclaimed. Ok, she's somewhat close, but that other part about me turning this place into metal just sounded a bit ridiculous to me.

"Ah have to admit Pinkie, even for you that's a little bit far-fetched. Ah highly doubt this thing would have ah spaceship somewhere nearby." Applejack replies. She looks at the clock on the wall that now reads 8:30 P.M. before turning back to the others. "Actually girls, Ah should probably start heading back to tha farm. Ah gotta wake up early as we plan on sellin’ a lot ah apples tomorrow."

Twilight looks to the clock before sighing and looking back at the others. "I guess you're right. I still feel like we should keep searching until we find something, but you girls probably have plans tomorrow anyway."

"Before we leave, can we give it a name? It feels a little weird just calling it an it." Fluttershy asked.

"Gotta agree with Shy on this one. That way, we'll at least be able to call it something until we find out what it is." Rainbow Dash said.

"Oh, maybe something like 'Noir' since it's only black and gray?" Rarity said. Not bad, but definitely didn't feel like going by that.

"How about 'Gooey'? Ya know, since it's all covered in that goo?" Applejack chimed in. Definitely not that one.

"How about 'Inky'? Kinda like the direction Aj's goin in." Rainbow said.

"We don't even know if that goo is a part of it you two." Twilight said.

"I know! How about 'Zero' since it's got no bright colors?" Pinkie joined in. That name struck a chord with me for some reason, but I couldn't explain why. Regardless, that was definitely going to be a no.

The girls continued offering up names left and right, only to be shot down by the others either disagreeing or offering a new name instead. While some of them were good, none of them felt right to me. I sort of wanted a name that would resonate with me and represent who I was, something that was not a part of this world and currently had no powers to speak of. Something that showed that I was that my form was sort of that of a blank slate, ready to be molded and colored by the things this world had to offer. Something along the lines of nothing. Something like...

"Null."

All at once, everyone in the room stopped talking. It was as though something had startled them, something unexpected that they hadn't seen coming. I soon found the eyes of everyone looking at me, staring at me as though I had just done something crazy. It took me a moment to realize...

I was the one who had said that name.

"What did you just say?" Twilight asked, staring at me with a look of disbelief.

"I, want to be called Null, if that's okay with you all." I responded. I don't know when or how, but I had somehow gained the ability to talk. Crazy thing was, I didn't feel my mouth move at all. It was like the sound had come out from where my mouth was located and was able to be heard clearly without me even needing to move my mouth. My voice, I realized it sounded somewhat similar to Magolor's. Somewhat high-pitched, but not too high to the point to where it would be annoying to listen to, and the tone was somewhat soft as well.

"YOU CAN TALK?!" Was the question shouted by literally everyone in the room. I wouldn't have been surprised if anyone outside of the library heard it as well and wondered what was going on in here.

I felt myself grimacing as the sound of everyone's voices combined left a faint ringing in my hearing. "Ow, not so loud. I was able to hear you all perfectly without everyone needing to yell." I said, slowly feeling the ringing die down.

"You have been able to talk this whole time, and you didn't feel like you needed to tell us?!" Twilight exclaimed, once more getting up close and personal with her face.

"Well, um, I..." I stuttered, slowly backing away from the mare with the crazed look in her eye.

"Twilight, calm down. You're scaring the poor thing." Fluttershy said. She slowly approached me before lifting me up in her hooves, allowing us to face each other at eye level. "Now, what were you trying to say?"

"I want to be called Null, if it isn't too much to ask." I answered back.

"Ok then. It's nice to meet you Null. My name is Fluttershy. Twilight there didn't mean to scare you." She said, introducing herself. Not that it was really needed.

"It's fine I guess. You also don't really need to introduce yourselves. I know that you're Fluttershy, the one with the hat is Applejack, the pink one is Pinkie Pie, the one with purple hair is Rarity, the one flying around is Rainbow Dash, and I already know Twilight." I responded back.

"Ok, um, how do you know all our names?" Rainbow Dash questioned, giving me a questioning look.

"I heard you guys call each other by your names earlier." I said.

"Oh. Nevermind then." She said, stopping the look she was giving me.

"Well, now that I know you can talk, I would like for you to answer a few questions for me and for me to do a few tests, if you wouldn't mind, uh, Null." Twilight asked while her horn was once again covered by a pink aura as a notebook and pencil appeared in a flash of pink light. It was somewhat similar to what Discord had done, though the way she did it felt more natural somehow.

"I don't think he wants to. Oh, um, you don't mind being called a he, do you." Fluttershy asked me nervously.

"I don't mind." I responded. Being referred to as a male felt right somehow.

"Well, anyways, it is getting late, and I do have to get home to feed the others. I feel like maybe we should all be here for when you ask him questions." Fluttershy continued.

"Well, but I, but." Twilight began to stammer.

"Ah'm gonna have ta agree on Fluttershy on this one, Twi. It is getting pretty late, and Ah feel like this is something that everyone should be here for." Applejack said.

Twilight let out a defeated sigh. "Fine, we'll wait until tomorrow before we test or ask anything. I want Null to stay here in the library, however." Twilight said.

"Actually, can I stay with Fluttershy tonight. No offense, but I kind of feel like you would try and experiment on me while I'm sleeping." I said.

Twilight’s mouth fell open as I felt like I called her bluff. After being stared at by the others for a bit, she eventually let up. "Ok. You can stay with Fluttershy tonight. Fluttershy, make sure he's brought back here in the morning."

"Ok Twilight." She moved me up over her head switching from using her hooves to using her wings as she placed me onto her back. "Oops." she said, as some of the goo covering my body was now on her wings and hooves.

"Wait, actually..." Twilight started as her aura glowed once more as a vial appeared in the same aura. Slowly, she used the vial to collect up the goo from Fluttershy's wings and hooves until there was none left, with the goo itself filling the vial up to it almost being full before placing a cork on the top. "At least I can possibly see what this goo is. Alright, night everyone." Twilight said as she took the vial and went through the door opposite to the entrance. I could only see stairs leading down to what appeared to be a basement.

Everyone began to file out of the library, saying goodnight to each other as everyone went their separate ways, with me going with Fluttershy to where she stayed. As we exited the library it was unfortunately a little too dark for me to make out my surroundings, that and I didn't think to look at the library itself until we had gotten too far away from it to where I could only see the windows, which were emitting a soft golden light. I could at least tell that I was still in the town that I had arrived in after leaving that forest earlier, as the buildings seem to have a familiar architecture. We eventually made our way out of the town and down a familiar dirt road that led to the forest. Right as we were getting close enough to its entrance with me wondering if Fluttershy lived in that forest, she instead took a path that linked up with the road that seemed to go around the edge.

After trekking along this path for a little while longer, we eventually came up to what I assumed was Fluttershy's house, though it was more like a cottage. The path that we were on seemed to go over what appeared to be a dirt bridge, with a small creek flowing under it. Pass that was the actual cottage itself, with the roof seemingly being made out of grass or moss with how green it was as a multitude of birdhouses were either on poles nearby the cottage or were situated on the walls and roof of the cottage. I could also see a small path splitting from the one that led to the cottage to what I could guess was a flower garden based on the variety of different types of flowers that could be seen.

After crossing the dirt bridge and making it up to the cottage, Fluttershy opened the door as the both of us went inside. I had to admit, the inside of her house did have a somewhat homely feeling to it. From what I could assume was the living room where we had just entered into, there was a fireplace built into the wall on one side of the room, a couch and a chair were next to a nearby coffee table on the opposite side of the wall from where the entrance was, there were a set of stairs that led up to the second floor on the left, and an entry way that led to what I assumed was both a dining room and a kitchen judging from the table and chairs that I could see from here. One thing that caught my eye were the various small staircases scattered around the room, leading from the floor and onto surfaces that were higher up, as well as more birdhouses. Oh, and the white rabbit that was in the middle of the room, thumping one of its legs while giving Fluttershy a look of annoyance.

"Oh, I'm so sorry Angel. Twilight needed some help back at the library after we got back from the party. Don't worry though, I'll get you and the others their dinner in a bit. I just need to set Null down first." Fluttershy said to the rabbit. As she began heading to the entryway, I managed to get a glance at Angel, who seemed to be glaring at me for some reason. I could maybe only guess that he was irritated because he assumed I was the reason that Fluttershy had gotten home late.

Turns out I was right about the next room leading to a dining room and kitchen, as I could now clearly see a stove and an oven situated on one of the walls of the room. After setting me down on the table with her wings, she went to a sink that was also next to the oven and stove to wash the sludge that I had left behind after she put me down. As she was washing them, Angel hopped up onto the table right beside me, and continued glaring at me.

"So... I guess Fluttershy is an animal person, err, pony?" I asked Angel.

He seemed a bit surprised that I could talk before resuming with glaring at me. After a bit, he went to the opposite side of the table and sat in what appeared to be a highchair that would allow Angel to easily eat at the table.

"Guess you're not much of a talker, then?" I said somewhat jokingly.

Before this moment could get any more awkward, Fluttershy came up next to Angel and laid down a plate of carrots right in front of him. His eyes seemed to light up at that as he picked one up with his paw and began to eat one. Meanwhile, Fluttershy came up to me and placed a bowl of salad right in front of me.

"I'm sorry Null. I don't really know what you are able to eat, so I made this for you. Um, are you even able to eat?" Fluttershy asked nervously.

Well, time to see if my theory from earlier today is true.

I went up to the bowl of salad and used my body to tip the bowl's contents towards me. As the leafy greens touched where my mouth was, my theory was proven true as the leaves seemed to pass through my skin as a chewing sound could be heard coming from my body as I ate the salad. After the last bit of the salad was gone, I tilted the bowl back to where I was before and looked at the happy yet surprised expression on Fluttershy's face while Angel's was that of pure surprise.

"Well, it's good to know that you can eat at least. Now that you're done how about we get you cleaned up a bit?" Fluttershy said, picking me up with her hooves and flying the both of us back to the living room. After setting me down on the floor, she picked up a nearby wooden tub and washcloth before heading back to the kitchen. A minute later, she returned with the wooden tub that appeared to be filled with soapy water and set it down right beside me. After that, she picked me up and set me into the tub.

The next good while was spent with mostly just Fluttershy scrubbing my body and washing off all the sludge that was covering my body. Initially, I was somewhat afraid that my whole body was still made up of the sludge, but it appeared that it had stabilized enough to where I actually had a solid form underneath all of the gunk that covered it. Over time, the once clear and soapy water eventually turned a dark gray as Fluttershy had managed to scrub me clean.

The bath eventually finished, with Fluttershy taking me out of the tub and drying me off with a towel before setting me on the nearby couch. "Ok Null. I need to go give the others their dinner. You stay here until then, ok?" Fluttershy asked me.

I gave a simple "Alright." to answer her as she went back out the front door, with Angel giving me one last glance before following her. This gave me the opportunity to process everything that had happened to me on my first day in this new world. I found myself in a new form, exited a creepy forest only to run into Discord and the chaos he was causing, witnessed Discord turn into stone because of Twilight and her friends using some sort of rainbow magic that also greatly hurt me, learned that I could talk, and was now staying in a cottage with Fluttershy and a bunny that seemed to have a grudge against me. Yeah, talk about a crazy introduction to being brought into an unknown dimension.

Some time later, Fluttershy walked back into the cottage and walked over to a nearby pile of blankets before taking one and wrapping me up with it.

"Goodnight Null. I'll see you in the morning." Fluttershy said before turning the lights off and went up the stairs to where I assumed she slept.

As I settled in, I could only think about what a strange twist of fate this was. Me, a being who was sealed within the Master Crown for reasons I can't seem to remember why and would take over my wearers and cause chaos, had ended up drifting into this strange and colorful world after I had been defeated by the last being who had worn me. I could only assume that the shards that once made up the Master Crown had ended up somewhere else in this world, but I was honestly fine with the possibility of not seeing those shards again. One thought drifted into my eyes as I began to succumb to the comforting embrace of sleep:

Maybe it won't be so bad staying here.

Do you really have to go?

I have to, honey. The others said that they had made a breakthrough and they want me back at the lab asap.

But it's literally 2 in the morning. Can't it wait until the sun has actually risen?

I wish that it could. But you know how important this project is. If we get this right, no one will ever have to ever worry about any threats or alien invaders that we might have to face in the future.

I know. Just, be safe on your way there.

I will. I love you, honey.

I love you too, dear.

Huh. That was a weird dream.

That was the only thing I could think about as I woke up. I did have dreams, yes, but none were as odd as that one. For starters, it was only those two voices that I heard. A male voice talking about how he needed to go somewhere, and a female one asking the male one why he had to go. It also felt different than the dream I normally had, though I couldn't pin down as to why that was. In any case, looks like I needed to get up from this couch. I slowly began to wiggle myself out of the blanket wrap Fluttershy had put me in the night before, and hopped down from the couch. As I did that, I could hear someone coming down the stairs and turned to look to see Fluttershy coming down with what I could best describe as bed hair (bed mane?) as some of her hair was sticking out in some places.

"Good morning Fluttershy." I said to her as she reached the floor. This resulted in her jumping a bit and wildly looking around before realizing it was me and letting out a breath.

"Oh, good morning Null. I forgot that you were staying here, so you scared me a bit..." She trailed off as she was looking at me weirdly. "Um, Null. When did you grow ears?"

"Ears? What are you talking about?" I questioned.

"Um, well..." She began, before heading back up the stairs. A few moments later, she brought back what appeared to be a tall rectangular mirror and placed it in front of me. "Maybe you should have a look?"

I stared into my reflection in the mirror and, sure enough, I had ears on the top of my head! They were triangular in shape, somewhat cat-like in appearance, and were also the same color as my body. I never really got a chance to look at myself after Fluttershy gave me that bath last night, but my body was still that of a simple sphere with the color of my body being somewhere between a very dark gray and black. I kept staring into my reflection as I began to slowly come to a realization, my body was slowly transforming to become somewhat similar to Magolor. I don't know why this was the case, maybe it was because he was the last sentient being that I had possessed before the crown was shattered in two, or maybe it was because something else entirely. Regardless, I was probably going to have to accept the fact that I was going to end up looking like him.

"Yeah, this is definitely new to me. Maybe they showed up while I was sleeping?" I said.

"Maybe we should tell Twilight about this. She did say that I needed to bring you back to the library. Oh! And I also need to run a few errands while I'm in town, too." Fluttershy said.

"Yeah, I guess so." I responded.

"Ok, I just need to freshen up a bit and get everyone their breakfast. Once that's done, we can head over to Twilight's." Fluttershy said as she began to go back up the stairs, taking the mirror with her.

It had maybe taken about 30 or so minutes for Fluttershy to brush her mane so that it was back to normal and her coming in and out of the house taking various types of food outside such as a bag of seed and even a couple of fish. This made me question just what types of animals lived around Fluttershy's cottage, as it was obvious she was quite the lover of animals. Eventually, she came back in one last and headed back up the stairs and came back down with what appeared to have saddlebags on her sides filled with various things. I jumped onto her back, and we made our way outside and towards town. Though, if one thing’s for certain, the area around Fluttershy's cottage was a lot more active during the day, as I could see various animals such as rabbits, different kinds of birds, and even spotted a bear roaming around.

It took some time, but we eventually made it back to town. Now that it was somewhat early in the morning, there were a lot more ponies walking around who were doing various things. It was kind of amazing that they were carrying on with their lives even though the town was in such a state of chaos the day before. As we were walking, a few ponies glanced in our direction, some would only just look at us once before resuming with their business, while others seemed to stare at us for a bit longer. I could only assume that they were staring at me, as I was something the residents of this town had never seen before. Fluttershy also seemed to notice as well, as she would often pick up the pace when she noticed ponies staring at me, possibly thinking that they were staring at her. I could feel the nervousness coming from her and decided to try and ease her mind by asking some questions I've had for a while.

"So Fluttershy, where are we exactly? I don't think I ever caught the name of this place." I asked.

"Well, this is mostly the town square that we are in. That building over there is the town hall." Fluttershy said, gesturing to a tall circular building in the area we were currently in. Two different balconies located at what I could assume were the separate floors of the building split it into three different sections.

"That's not really what I meant. I meant the name of this town." I said.

"Oh. Well, this town is Ponyville, and it's been around for quite a while. Applejack’s grandmother was actually involved with Ponyville's founding, from what I've heard." Fluttershy responded.

"Ponyville." I said, testing the name myself. In my opinion, the name was a little bit too on the nose as it made it somewhat obvious as to what sort of beings lived here. "Ok. Follow-up question, why is it that some of the ponies here have wings while others have horns and others don't have either?"

"You mean you don't know about the three different kinds of ponies?" Fluttershy asked, with me giving a simple "No." as my answer, somewhat confused as to what she meant.

"I'm not really the best when it comes to explaining the differences between the three different kinds of ponies, but I can at least tell you that a pony with wings is a pegasus and that they are able to fly, a pony with a horn is a unicorn and they are able to use magic, and ponies that don't have a horn or wings are earth ponies who are quite strong. Twilight can tell you more about the differences between the three in detail." Fluttershy explained.

"So, since you have wings, that makes you a pegasus, correct?" I asked.

"Hmhm. Oh, looks like we're here." Fluttershy said.

In front of me was a very familiar sight, the house that was built into the tree that I saw yesterday was a few feet away from us. So, that essentially meant that Twilight lived in a treehouse. Good to know if I ever needed to find her for anything. Fluttershy went up to the door and knocked a few times before Spike opened the door.

"Oh! Morning Fluttershy. Everyone else is here, we're just waiting for Twilight to come up from the basement. She's, well, she's been down there all night as far as I can tell. I went down there to give her breakfast, but she seemed too focused so I just left it on a table nearby." Spike said.

Twilight's been testing on the sludge from my body all night?! I have to admit, that makes me both impressed and worried at the same time. Impressed as she must have a lot of willpower not to fall asleep in the middle of researching something. Worried as I could only think of what she would have done if I had stayed here for the night. As Fluttershy carried me in, we were greeted by all of the others of the group either sitting on the couch or chairs around the table or were sitting around the table on cushions from what I could assume came from the pile I saw. She eventually made her way over to one of the chairs as I hopped down from her back and onto the table. Everyone seemed to immediately notice my new ears.

"Since when did the ball grow ears?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I don't know, they appeared overnight and Null doesn't know when they appeared either." Fluttershy said.

"Either way, I think he looks so much cuter than when he was just a gooey sphere. Now, he's a sphere with little ears!" Pinkie Pie said.

"Well, I think they add a little more character to his appearance. Don't you think so, girls?" Rarity said.

"Ah'll agree with ya there Rarity. But Ah find it weird that Null even grew them in the first place." Applejack replied.

This continued on for a bit longer, some of them agreeing that me growing ears in the middle of the night was strange while the others thought I looked cuter with them. I was more so with the first group, as even I wanted to know how these things appeared. Eventually, the conversation was cut short as the door leading to what I assumed was the basement swung open, with Twilight coming out with a stack of papers being held in her aura. She also looked to be somewhat of a mess as well, as there were heavy bags under her eyes and her mane was also sticking out in various places.

"Good, everyone's here." Twilight began, glancing towards us. "Thank you for also bringing Null, Fluttershy."

"Oh, you're welcome, Twilight. Did you manage to find anything out from the goo?" Fluttershy asked.

"That's the thing. I stayed up all night testing on it, and I've found that nothing seems to react with it! I've tried lighting it on fire to see if it would change or catch flame, which it didn't, I've tried freezing it to see if that did anything, that also didn't work, and I've even tried to see if it would react to my magic. Nothing has worked!" Twilight exclaimed, sounding incredibly defeated while pacing about the room.

"Well, we do know one thing." Pinkie said.

"And what's that, Pinkie?" Twilight asked.

"He's definitely cute with his new ears!"

Twilight immediately stopped her pacing as the papers she were holding immediately fell to the floor.

"His what?!" Twilight yelled, racing over to where I was. Her question was answered as she looked at the new appendages on my head. "When did, how did, WHAT?!"

"Twilight, I'm also wondering the same thing you are. I don't even know when or how these things even appeared. All I know is that they just showed up while I was sleeping. Right Fluttershy?" I asked.

"It's true, Twilight. When I tucked him in before I went to sleep, he didn't have those ears. When I came back down in the morning, they had appeared on his head. Null didn't even know what I was talking about before I showed him his reflection.

Twilight sat on the floor in obvious defeat. She had obviously done a lot to try and find out what the sludge from my body was made of, only to find nothing. And this new revelation about me having ears seemed to have broken her. After a solid minute, she stood back up.

"Ugh, I'm too tired for this. Sure, all that testing ended in failure, but maybe I can find out something if you answer some questions for me Null." Twilight said as a clipboard and a pencil appeared in a flash of pink light.

Alright, it was time for the questioning. I had deliberated over this last night as I knew it was coming, and I eventually decided that I would tell the truth, just not the whole truth. A part of me didn't really want to tell these ponies that I had been sealed within an artifact of immense power and would take over the minds and bodies of those that would wear me and that I had come from another dimension. I felt like this would cause them to fire that wave of rainbow energy that they used on Discord that turned him to stone. While I wanted to know why it didn't turn me into stone and instead caused me immense pain, I didn't want to risk it.

"First, where did you come from?" Twilight began.

"I woke up in that giant creepy forest near town. After which, I wandered about for a bit before I saw Ponyville and headed straight towards it." I said. Best to start with my first moments in this world.

"You mean the Everfree Forest?" Twilight asked.

"I guess." I answered. Ok, so I had at least learned that the forest I had ended up in was the Everfree Forest. Good to know.

"Ok. Next, are you able to do anything besides just talking and bouncing?" Twilight continued, the pencil writing on the clipboard in midair.

"Well, I can eat and drink without having a mouth. Any food or drink just simply passes through the skin of my face and I'm able to consume it." I answered. Twilight looked over to Fluttershy who nodded her head to confirm this.

"Weird, but ok. Lastly, do you have any connection to Discord or even to Princess Celestia and Luna by any chance." Twilight said.

"I'm definitely not associated with Discord. Though I did hear him mention the name Celestia, but other than that, I don't know who those last two are." I responded.

I think my answer accidentally pushed one of Twilight's personal buttons, as she stared at me with a shocked expression before launching into a tangent.

"What?! How do you not know who Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are?! Both of them have ruled over all of Equestria for thousands of years. They are able to raise and lower the sun and the moon, allowing the passage of day and night to occur! How could you not know them?!" Twilight exclaimed.

Ok, that was a lot to take in, but I at least managed to learn a few things from what Twilight had just said. First off, I have now heard both Discord and Twilight say the word Equestria, and given the way that Twilight had said the word in this context, I could assume that Equestria was either the continent or kingdom I was currently located in. The second, was that it was obvious that whoever Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were, they were extremely powerful. By my basic knowledge of how planets worked, I knew that planets rotated around the body of a sun in a circular orbit while moons were also the same except that they orbited nearby planets. The fact that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were able to move the sun and the moon themselves could only leave me to imagine just what these two were capable of.

As Twilight continued on with her rant, I noticed Applejack look at the clock on the wall before she started to get up.

"Sorry Twi, as much as I would like to stick around and listen to Null answer more of your questions, Ah gotta head back to tha farm. Big Mac's working tha stand today, and Ah'm sure he's waiting on me to start bringing him some apples we bucked earlier." Applejack said as she started to head towards the door.

"I have to go as well darling. I need to open the boutique soon and I need to finish some orders that are almost finished." Rarity added as she began to leave as well.

"I gotta go too! I promised Mr. and Mrs. Cake that I'd help them at Sugarcube Corner today. Speaking of, I need to be there in five minutes. See ya Twilight!" Pinkie said as she took off out the door.

"I need to go too. The Wonderbolt tryouts are a few months away, and I need to be in top shape for when they come around. So I've got to go practice." Rainbow Dash said as she headed out the door.

Twilight looked like she was about to argue with them to try and convince them to stay, but she seemed to think better about it as she sighed in defeat. "Alright, you girls can go. But I need you girls to come back here tonight so we can discuss what we need to do with Null!" Twilight yelled out.

This was met with the girls either giving nods or saying that they would be back later. Eventually, it was just me, Fluttershy, Spike, and Twilight left in the room. I'm not gonna lie, that last bit about them deciding what to do with me did make me a little bit nervous. However, that was going to have to wait until later.

"Spike, I'm going to need you to go into town to pick up a few things. I used a lot of things while testing the goo that came from Null, and I'm also pretty sure we are out of a couple of things in the kitchen." Twilight said.

"You can count on me Twilight!" Spike said while giving a salute.

"Thanks Spike. As for me, I think I'm going to go sleep for a while. I'm exhausted and I'm definitely going to need my energy to look over Null's answers." Twilight said as a bag of what I assumed were coins as I could hear them jingling appeared and floated towards Spike, allowing him to grab it. After that, Twilight headed up the stairs and headed to where I assumed was where she slept. Now, it was just us three.

"I should start going too. I need to run a few errands as well and I also need to deliver the girls some medicine for their pets. Do you mind coming with me, Null?" Fluttershy asked.

"Not at all. Actually..." I began as an idea began to form. If I was going to be within this world, I might as well get a lay of the land so I would know what this town would have to offer. I might also be able to learn a few things as well if both Spike and Fluttershy were with me. They seemed to know a fair bit about this town, so they could provide me with some insight. "Spike, do you want to come with us? That way, we can get both of your errands done at the same time, and you guys can give me a tour of Ponyville as well as you both seem to know this town quite a bit." I asked.

Spike seemed to think this over for a bit, before finally saying "Well, it does get a bit boring having no one around while I run errands for Twilight. It would definitely be a nice change of pace. What about you Fluttershy?"

"Oh, I suppose I'm fine with that." Fluttershy answered.

"Alright then. Now, where should we go first?" I asked.

This was followed by everyone's stomach growling as I suppose no one had had breakfast yet. Mine also seemed to growl, which resulted in my body slightly shaking a bit as well.

"Maybe we can start with Sugarcube Corner?" Spike questioned.

"That's fine, I can also deliver medicine to Pinkie while we're there too." Fluttershy said.

And with all of us agreeing on our first destination, we exited Twilight's house to start accomplishing the errands that Fluttershy and Spike had to do while I was tagging along, wondering how the day would plan out and what I could learn from these two as they would give me a tour of Ponyville.

Author's Note

So yeah, maybe chapters being this long will be a normal thing. Not really a big deal to me, I'm having a lot of fun writing these chapters. Originally, this chapter was going to be a lot longer, but some things didn't save properly and I was unfortunately forced to shorten this chapter as I lost a whole bunch of progress that I figured could go into the next chapter.

Anyways, yeah, Null is going to be our protagonist for this story. I kind of struggled with coming up with his name for a bit, but I eventually came up with one that felt sort of right for him.

The next chapter will essentially be Null exploring and seeing what Ponyville is like and learning a little bit more on how the inhabitants of Equestria work. As well as getting into a few shenanigans with the others. Until next time!

Chapter 3: A Tour of the Town

The tour began as soon as we left Twilight's house, with Spike having us stop immediately outside of the door.

"Alright Null, our first sight of the tour is me and Twilight's home: the Golden Oak Library. This is where Twilight and I have stayed ever since we first arrived in Ponyville all those months ago, with it also serving as Ponyville's local library, as anyone is able to come in and check out any books they need." Spike said.

Now that I was able to take a look at the building, I had to say, the idea of a library within a tree was somewhat of a clever and unique idea. It must have also taken an extremely long time for the tree that made up the main structure of the building to grow to this size, and judging by the leaves and greenery that still adorned the branches, it showed that the tree itself was still in perfect health.

"Quick question. How long has the library been around?" I asked.

"Its been around for quite some time, as it was here when I first moved to Ponyville. I would check out various books about the local animals so that I would be able to properly take care of them." Fluttershy answered.

That at least somewhat answered my question. This also lead me to safely assume that both Twilight and Spike managed and ran the library at the moment, given how I never saw anyone else managing the library. That, and if the room that you entered into upon getting in the library held the only books within the library, then it would definitely not need a lot of people, or ponies I guess, to manage.

"Anyways, let's continue with your tour Null. Our next stop: Sugarcube Corner. I really hope they have those muffins I like." Spike said as he began to head off, with Fluttershy and me following close behind him.

As we continued walking through Ponyville, I was able to notice a few of the ponies that we had passed stopped what they were doing to glance at us, though I assumed the reason why was still the same as last time. To be fair, I probably was something no one in this world had ever seen before and that I was also somewhat out of place with everything around me being vibrant and colorful while I was somewhat the opposite, making me stand out a little more. I also noticed that the stares that people were giving me seemed to make Fluttershy somewhat nervous, as I assumed she thought that those stares were meant for her. Spike on the other hand didn't seem to notice them as we kept walking towards out destination. I decided to take this time to ask a question that has been on my mind ever since I saw the residents of Ponyville for the first time.

"So, can someone explain to me what those on everyone's flanks are about? I've noticed them for a while now, and I kind of want to know what they are." I asked.

"Oh. Those marks are known as cutie marks." Fluttershy answered.

"Cutie marks?" I asked.

"Yep. Essentially, a cutie mark represents what sort of special talent a pony has, whether it be that they are good at building things, being very good at playing a certain instrument, or just being good at performing a certain task, cutie marks represent who a pony is." Spike said.

"So they represent what sort of special talent a pony has? Interesting. But what about those that don't have a cutie mark? I saw that a few ponies, mostly the younger ones, don't have one." I asked.

"Well, that's the thing. A pony's cutie mark appears as soon as that pony has found out what their special talent is. A pony usually finds their special talent when they're still young, so that's why you'll see that even though some of the younger ponies may have one, others don't." Spike explained.

"What if a pony isn't able to find their special talent? Does that essentially mean that they won't have a cutie mark for their entire life?" I asked.

"It's like I said, ponies usually find their special talents when they're young, so it's not often you see an older pony without a cutie mark. From what Twilight has told me, there have been some cases where a pony wasn't able to find their special talent until they were much older, though the oldest that a pony has gone without getting their cutie mark was about until they were 40 years old. Turns out their special talent was, ironically, being patient, as they're cutie mark was that of a ticking grandfather clock." Spike said.

So it is possible for ponies to potentially go their whole lives without ever getting their cutie mark. And from what Spike had said, getting a cutie mark involves a pony finding out what they're special talent is, and once they have found what that talent is, their cutie mark appears. That begs another question, what happens if a pony finds out they are talented in two things? Do they get a second cutie mark? Do they get a second one but it replaces the original? Does the original cutie mark stay and they don't get a second one?

Wow, I'm definitely getting ahead of myself here. Alright, let's calm down and shift our focus to something else.

"Hey Fluttershy, what does your cutie mark represent? I'm guessing it has something to do with animals, since it's just three butterflies?" I asked.

"Well, I guess you are kind of right. My cutie mark represent my kindness to others and my willingness to take care of animals." Fluttershy answered.

That actually made a lot of sense. Fluttershy has been nothing but kind to me ever since I woke up in Twilight's house and has even taken care of. Even though I was from another dimension, she was willing to show me kindness and allowed me to stay with her last night. That part about her also taking care of animals was also somewhat obvious as well, as she literally had a multitude of bird house both inside and outside of her house.

"Alright, looks like we're here! Null, welcome to Sugarcube Corner." Spike said.

I looked over to see Spike gesturing towards what was one of the weirder things I have seen in this world. It appeared to be a house made out of gingerbread, though I assume that was not actually the case, and also had what appeared to be a frosting like design non the roof of the building. Sticking out of the roof appeared to be a tower-like structure that had the appearance of a cake, with three candles at the top of the roof completing the look. Judging by the delicious aroma I was smelling coming from the building, I could only assume that this was some kind of bakery.

"If you're ever in the mood for a delicious pastry or a sweet treat, then the Sugarcube Corner is your answer. It acts as Ponyville's local bakery, and they make some of the best delicious treats around." Spike said. "They make stuff such as cakes and cookies to even ice cream and candy."

Well, looks like I was right about this place being a bakery. The fact that it also acted as a sort of ice cream parlor and candy store combined would definitely make it quite appealing for anyone wanting to sate their sweet tooth. I also remember Pinkie Pie saying that she had to work here today, so maybe we would run into her.

We made our way over to Sugarcube Corner and entered the doorway into what I assumed was the sort of main lobby/dining area. Scattered across the room were a number of tables and chairs that I assumed were for ponies to eat what they had bought. Across from the entrance on the other side of the room was a display filled with various types of pastries and sweets with a counter right next to it where I assumed was where patrons would pay and order something. Along the left wall of the room from where we had entered, there was a simple wooden staircase that led to what I assumed were the upper floors of the bakery. Finally, there was a sort of wall divider that separated the counter from the kitchen, with the divider having a large sort of viewing window that allowed patrons to view the kitchen with there also being a sort of swinging door that led into said kitchen. The kitchen itself was filled with a large number of ovens and stoves, as well as a fridge and even an ice-cream machine in the back.

The three of us made our way to the counter towards the back, where Spike hit a bell that was set on the counter that I assumed was for notifying anyone working in the kitchen that there were customers waiting.

"One moment, I'll be with you shortly." I heard a female voice call out.

A couple of seconds later, and the swinging door that led to the kitchen opened as an earth pony walked out of it and was carrying a tray of cookies on her back. The earth pony had a light blue coat and her mane and tail were a mix of pink and light pink and was styled in a way that made it looked like it was swirling ice-cream or frosting. Her cutie mark was that of three cupcakes with pink frosting and a red cherry on top.

"Fluttershy. Spike. It's good to see you two. What can I get for you both." The earth pony said as she set the tray on top of the display.

"We're doing great Mrs. Cake. Can I get a peanut butter muffin?" Spike said.

"Of course. And what about you Fluttershy?" the earth pony, who I now knew as Mrs. Cake, said.

"Oh, umm, can I get a strawberry muffin please? Do you want something too, Null?" Fluttershy said.

I hopped off of Fluttershy's back to get a closer look at the various sweets and pastries within the display. As I did, Mrs. Cake noticed me and looked somewhat surprised at my sudden appearance.

"Oh! I wasn't expecting for you to have brought one of your animal friends Fluttershy. Though I must say, I don't think I've seen anything like it before. Is there anything you want, little one?" Mrs. Cake asked me.

I looked at the various pastries and sweets within the display, each one offering a different option of what I could have. A lot of them looked really good too, such as chocolate chip muffins, donuts with a variety of frostings and sprinkles, and even croissants that looked as though they were fresh out of the oven. Eventually, I saw something that I was sure to like.

"Can I have one of those cookies with frosting on them?" I asked.

Mrs. Cake once again wore an expression of being surprised as I assumed she wasn't expecting me to actually talk. She quickly regained her composure and answered. "Certainly. Will that be all from you three?"

All of us gave a quick "Yes." to let her know we had decided on what we wanted. After which, Mrs. Cake picked up three small paper bags and began putting each of the things we ordered into each separate bag. After she had finished, she gave each of us a bag, Spike grabbing the one containing his muffin, while Fluttershy sat both bags that contained her muffin and my cookie onto her back.

"Alright. That will be 11 bits in total." Mrs. Cake said.

Fluttershy opened one of her saddlebags and pulled out what a small purse, before opening it and placing 11 of what appeared to be gold coins on the counter which Mrs. Cake took. After that, all of us headed towards a nearby table and sat down with the treats that we had ordered. Thankfully, Fluttershy opened the bag containing my cookie and sat it down in front of me so that I wouldn't have to struggle opening it. All of us began to eat what we had order, with Fluttershy and Spike eating their muffins while I ate my cookie. In all honesty, it was possibly the best thing I have had in a very long time. While I was able to eat things once I took over whoever wore me while I was trapped within the Master Crown, a lot of the time the things I ate were pretty dull and flavorless. As such, this cookie was as if I had just woken up from the greatest nap ever. The cookie itself was somewhat chewy and had a sweet taste to it, allowing that sweet taste to last while I ate it. The frosting was possibly the best part, as it was both rich and sweet, allowing the flavor of it to really improve the overall sweetness the cookie already had.

"Null, are you ok? You're crying." Fluttershy said.

"Huh?" I said as I blinked a few times. Turns out what he was saying was true, as I could feel small tears rolling down from my eyes. It was definitely a weird feeling, as I don't think I've ever cried before. I have seen people cry when I was trapped within the Master Crown, but that was mostly because they were sad or upset about something. However, I wasn't really sad at the moment, quite the opposite actually, I was happy. Happy that I was able to taste something like this, something that didn't taste dull or bland, something that actually tasted good. "Sorry. I just haven't tasted anything this good before, so I guess I just started crying because of how good it tasted." I said.

"Yeah. Sugarcube Corner has possibly the best sweets in all of Equestria. Maybe even the entire world! I know I love everything here, especially these peanut butter muffins." Spike said as he finished his muffin.

After we had all finished eating our food, we all got up from the table and headed back to the counter, with me hopping back onto Fluttershy's back.

"Excuse me, Mrs. Cake? Is Pinkie Pie here?" Fluttershy asked.

"Not at the moment. She's currently delivering a few things for us, and we aren't able to leave Sugarcube Corner as we also need to finish making a few things." Mrs. Cake answered.

"Oh, ok. Could you possibly give this to Pinkie once she get back?" Fluttershy said as she pulled a white paper bag out of her saddle bag. "It has Gummy's medicine in it. Pinkie talked about how Gummy had a sore throat, and I was able to get this together for him. It should help ease the pain and cure his sore throat in a couple of days"

"Of course. I'll give it to her as soon as she gets back." Mrs. Cake said as she took the bag.

"Thank you Mrs. Cake." Fluttershy said as all three of us headed for the door.

Before we left, however, I quickly turned around from my spot on Fluttershy back and said "Thank you for the cookie Mrs. Cake! It was the greatest thing I've had in a long time!" Before the door closed, I caught a glimpse of Mrs. Cake with a smile on her face as she gave me a small wave.

As we were now outside, we once again began heading towards a certain direction. I took this moment to ask "So, where are we heading next?"

"I believe our next stop is where Rarity is, at the Carousel Boutique." Fluttershy said.

As we headed towards the Carousel Boutique, I once again took the time to ask a few more questions that I had on my mind. These questions somewhat involving the gold coins Fluttershy had used to pay for the food we had gotten earlier.

"Fluttershy, what were those gold coins you used to pay for everything we got earlier?" I asked.

"Well, those were bits. They're Equestria national currency, meaning that they can be used to buy anything in Equestria. Well, almost anything. I have heard of places that don't really use bits as a form of currency, rather that they will use things such as gemstones and even crops." Fluttershy answered.

"If you want a closer look at one Null, you can look at this one." Spike said as he pulled out a bit from the bag Twilight had given him and held it up to me.

For the most part, the bit was that of a simple gold coin, quite small and was shining a bit in the sunlight. However, the imprint on the side of the bit that was facing me appeared to be that of a sun while the imprint on the other side of the bit was that of a crescent moon. I recalled that Twilight had talked about how both of the princesses of Equetria were able to raise and lower both the sun and moon, so maybe the imprints I was seeing on the bit were representing the princesses and their powers over the passage of day and night? After I was done looking at the bit, Spike put it back in the bag, allowing me to ask another question.

"So what kind of pet does Pinkie have? I guess it must be something soft if it has the name Gummy." I said.

"Oh no, Gummy is actually an alligator." Fluttershy said.

"What?" I said. I couldn't have heard that correctly, right? Pinkie owned an alligator as a pet. Wasn't that extremely dangerous? Having an apex predator of rivers that could easily tear through one's flesh as a pet sounded way to dangerous and didn't really sound like something a pony as pink and cheerful as Pinkie Pie would have as a pet. Maybe something like a small and energetic dog or a parrot, but not an alligator. "Are you telling me that Pinkie Pie's pet is that of an alligator that could easily eat or injury someone if they made it mad? And its name is Gummy?"

"Not at all! Gummy isn't harmful in the slightest. The reason Pinkie named it Gummy is that it's still a baby, and it doesn't have any teeth at all." Fluttershy said.

That only made me question things a little bit more, but I was a little bit relieved to hear that Pinkie, while owning a dangerous predator, didn't have something as pet that could easily eat someone.

"Hey, we made it!" Spike said, prompting me pull away from my thoughts and look ahead at the building in front of us. "Null, this here is the Carousel Boutique. This is were ponies can come to and pay get outfits made by Rarity herself for any occasion, whether it be a formal gettogether, a wedding, or even something for everyday wear, Rarity makes sure that the outfits she make will fit the occasion and will allow the wearer to look good as well."

The building in front of us had a sort of dollhouse like appearance to it. The structure of the building itself was somewhat tower-like, similar to the town hall Fluttershy had pointed out earlier today. The ground level of the building itself had windows right next to the front door, showing off various outfits worn by what appeared to be the pony equivalent of a mannequin. The structured continued until there was a part that I assumed was how the boutique had gotten its name, with multiple poles surrounding one of the upper floors that had pony-shaped statues within the poles, giving off the appearance that a carousel had been placed right on top of the boutique.

We began making our way to the front door and entered the building itself. The ground floor appeared to be that of the actual boutique itself. The first thing I noticed were the multiple pony mannequins that were spread out in the room, all of them wearing a variety of different outfits. Over towards one of the walls was that of a small stage surrounded by mirrors, with a small door nearby leading to what I assumed to be a dressing room. Also nearby the stage was that of a row of three wooden tubs that were each situated in front of a mirror. The last two things I saw were a set of stairs leading up to what I assumed were the upper floors of the boutique and a small entryway were I could hear what appeared to be the sounds of someone using a sewing machine.

"Null, could you go tell Rarity that I've dropped off Opal's medicine upstairs? It sounds like Rarity is in her sewing room over there." Fluttershy said, pointing her hoof towards the entryway I saw earlier.

"Sure." I said as I hopped off her back and began hopping towards the sounds of sewing. I made my way through the entryway and found what I assumed to be a sort of workshop. Here and there were more pony mannequins that were wearing outfits, though some of them gave off the feeling that the outfits displayed on them were incomplete. There were also some shelves lined across one of the walls that held various rolls of fabrics and balls of different colored yarn. Towards one end of the room was a somewhat large workbench that had a variety of measuring tools and papers on them. Finally, right next to the workbench, was Rarity currently using the sewing machine on what appeared to be some sort of dress.

"And, done! Cheerilee will surely be happy to have this dress for her family get together." Rarity said as I saw a her horn was covered in a light blue aura. The dress she was working on was soon covered in the same aura and began levitating towards one of the mannequins, before the outfit itself was soon fitted onto the mannequin. She soon turned around and jumped a little as she saw me in the entryway. "Ah, I wasn't expecting to see you Null. Would you mind telling me why you're here?"

"Fluttershy and Spike are essentially showing me around Ponyville while both of them run their errands. Speaking of, Fluttershy wanted me to tell you that she put Opal's medicine upstairs." I said.

"That's good to hear. Poor Opal hasn't been feeling to good as of late, so hopefully the medicine Fluttershy brought should help her feel better." Rarity said.

I hopped over to her while looking at all of the mannequins wearing outfits around me. "A lot of these outfits look really good. Did you really make all of these yourself?" I asked.

"Why, thank you dear. Yes. I made all of these outfits from scratch myself. I find that making outfits for others was something I enjoyed doing greatly. As such, I opened the Carousel Boutique a few years ago. One day, I hope of achieving my dream of opening my own boutique in Canterlot. As such, I'm using every outfit I make as inspiration to make everything I make even better." Rarity said.

So she wanted to open her own boutique in Canterlot? Judging from the name, it may have been a bigger town or city than that of Ponyville. Maybe it was the capital of Equestria? Regardless, as she was talking about her making outfits, an idea formed in my head. If I was going to end up looking like Magolor, why not play into it a little bit.

"Hey Rarity? Can I ask you something?" I asked.

"Hm? What would you like to ask me darling?" Rarity said.

"Could you possibly help me make an outfit for myself?" I asked.

"Well this is sudden. Why would you want an outfit?" Rarity said.

"Well, seeing how good you are at making all of these outfits, I guessed it wouldn't hurt if you helped me design and make one. If anything, you may be able to get some inspiration from the design as well." I said.

Rarity put a hoof to her chin and appeared deep in thought. "Hmm. You could be onto something. I have made outfits for both ponies and small pets before, but maybe designing and making an outfit for something like you could give me some new ideas for anything I could make in the future. Ok, I'll be happy to help make an outfit for you Null."

"Alright, thanks Rarity. Now then, where should we start?" I asked.

The next good while was spent with the both of us discussing how the outfit would look. Thankfully, I knew what I wanted it to look like, and Rarity was able to get the design down perfectly. After that, another good while was spent with Rarity taking measurements of various parts of my body so she could get the measurements of certain things right. Fluttershy and Spike both came in to see if the both of us were ok, though I told them that it may take a little while until we were done. Spike said he was simply going to get some of the things Twilight needed for him and left the boutique. Fluttershy stayed behind, with me assuming that she was waiting for me to be done. Eventually, everything had been completed. All that was left was for Rarity to make the outfit.

"I must say Null. This really is something unique. It was quite fun as well making something for you. Though I must ask, do you really want these things as well. No offense, but it doesn't look like you would be able to use them." Rarity said as she pointed to a specific thing about the outfit.

"Yep, I'm positive about it. Thanks again for helping me with this Rarity." I said.

"Of course dear. It shouldn't really take me long to actually make this. I'll have it done by tonight and give it you at Twilight's." Rarity said.

"Alright, see you then." I said as I bounced back towards the entrance to the boutique, where Fluttershy and Spike were waiting for me.

"I know you said it was going to take a while for you to get done, but I wasn't expecting you all to take over 3 hours! What were you helping Rarity make?" Spike said.

"I'll explain later." I said as I hopped onto Fluttershy's back. "Anyways, where to next?" I asked.

Our next destination was supposedly our last, with all of us heading towards the edge of town. It honestly took a good bit, but eventually we managed to get there. Eventually, we made it to what appeared to be the edge of a farm, as there was a white picket fence surrounding a large acre. However I was not expecting the sight beyond the fence. There were apples trees as far as the eye could see. All of them bearing bright red apples that seemed to shine in the sunlight. While I was in awe at the sheer number of apple tree, the apples themselves brought back the memories of me making the creatures of the in-between gather up those slices of that crystalline apple and me eventually being defeated by Magolor. I guess this caused me to look at the apple trees for a long time, as Fluttershy took notice of me gazing out at all the tress.

"Null, are you ok?" Fluttershy asked. "You've been looking at those trees for a while now."

"Oh, uh, yeah. I'm fine. I've just never seen this many apple trees at once before." I said.

"Well, that's Sweet Apple Acres for you. This is where Applejack and her family live. They take all of the apples on those trees and sell them in a variety of ways. From apple baked goods, apple flavored drinks, to even just selling the apples themselves, the Apple family has made a lot of money over the years." Spike said.

We continued with following along the fence before reaching the entrance of the farm itself, with me being able to see a barn in the distance along with a farmhouse not to far away as well. All of us were heading towards the farmhouse where Applejack could be seen coming out from the acres of trees.

"Fluttershy, Spike, Null! It's good to see ya. I guess you're here to deliver Winona's medicine, then?" Applejack called out to us.

"Hmhm, it's right here." Fluttershy said as she took out the last paper bag and handed it to Applejack.

"Apprectiate it, sugarcube. Winona injured her leg a little while ago, so she hasn't been able to help chase off any critters. Speakin' of, recently we've noticed a few apples missin' from some of the baskets we lay out. It's a good chance that an animal's stealin' them, but I have reasons to believe that somepony, or someponies, have been stealin' them." Applejack said

"What makes you say that?" I asked.

"Mostly that there were hoofprints around some of the baskets. I can only guess it may be just a few kids judging from the sizes, but still, when I get my hands on them..." Applejack said as she began shaking her hoof.

Meanwhile, while she was talking, I noticed a pair of small ponies trying to sneak behind her towards the fence, each carrying a basket of apples on their back. One was that of a chubby unicorn colt who had a aquamarine coat and a somewhat spike orange mane and tail and whose cutie mark appeared to be a pair of scissors. The other one was the exact opposite, a tall lanky unicorn colt who had golden colored coat and an aquamarine mane and tail that weren't as wild as the first one and whose cutie mark was that of a snail.

"Uh, Applejack? I think you might want to look behind you." I said.

Applejack immediately turned around and spotted the two ponies trying to sneak away. "What the?! Snips? Snails? You two get over here right now!" Applejack said as she began running towards the two colts.

The two colts, upon seeing Applejack running towards them, dropped the apples they were carrying and began running deeper into the acres of apple trees, with Applejack following them. Without really thinking, I hopped off of Fluttershy's back and began hopping towards them as well.

"Null? What are you doing?" Fluttershy said.

"I'll be back! I'm gonna help Applejack catch those two!" I said as began hopping into the acres of apple trees.

Even though I was hopping as fast as I could, I was still having trouble keeping up with Applejack and the two colts. Multiple times they took a sharp turn around an apple tree in the hopes of trying to lose us, only for the both of us to turn the same tree and keep chasing them. However, this wouldn't last much longer as they turned around another apple tree, only for us to not see them anywhere once we turned around at it as well.

"Dangit! We lost them!" Applejack said as she stomped her hoof towards the ground.

"They looked like they were only kids, so they couldn't have gotten far." I said.

"Ah know. They must have taken another turn before we got here. If only we had some way to track em'." Applejack said in frustration.

Track them? Maybe Applejack was onto something there. Considering how scared those two looked while we were chasing them, I could safely assume that both of them were both very scared at the moment. Scared that we would either find them or catch them. In other words, they were fearful of getting caught, and I could use that fear to find them. I began to focus, trying to feel the fear they were giving off and using it to pinpoint where they were. It took a bit, but I eventually managed to feel the fear they were emitting.

"Applejack, they're over that way." I said, using my ears to try and point the direction I had felt their fear coming from.

"Really? Are ya sure?" Applejack asked.

"I'm positive." I said.

"Alright then, lead the way Null." Applejack said as I hopped onto her back, before both of us took off in the direction I had pointed to.

"Keep going straight, and turn to the right, here!" I said as I felt the direction of the negative emotion shifting a bit. Applejack obliged, with her turning right as well. This kept going for a little bit longer, with me telling Applejack what direction we needed to go in when I felt the direction of the fear shift and her following my directions. Eventually, I could feel us getting closer and closer as I felt the amount of fear being emitted grow, filling me with energy as we followed a trail only I could sense. Eventually, we lucked out as we saw the two colts running ahead of us towards the white fence that surrounded the farm. As they looked back, I felt their fear skyrocket as they saw that we were slowly gaining on them and then proceeded to pick up the pace. I knew that if the reached the fence, there was a good chance that we wouldn't catch them. However, there was maybe one thing we could do that would allow us to catch them.

"Applejack, throw me!" I said.

"What are ya talking about?" Applejack said.

"Throw me towards them. We won't be able to catch up to them before they reach the fence, but I can get them if you throw me." I said.

Applejack seemed to think this over, before eventually nodding and saying "Alright! Let's do this!"

Applejack stopped running and held me in one of her hooves. While I was expecting her to throw me in the direction of the colts, I was not expecting for her to toss me into the air. As I started descending, I saw Applejack, turn around and lean forward on her front legs and rearing her back ones. As I got level with her, her back legs shot out as she bucked me towards the colts, sending me flying towards them at great speeds. I was somewhat disoriented as that buck had hurt a lot, but I was able to quickly regain my senses as I rocketed towards the colts. I noticed that I began drifting towards one of the tress, but this was what I had been hoping for.

Essentially, I had thought back to when I was running away from Discord the day before, and remembered how I was able to bounce off of surfaces at high speeds to evade him. I intended to use that here. I positioned myself, and as I hit the tree, I bounced off of it and towards the next one. This resulted in me going even faster than before. I continued to bounce from tree to tree, with each bounce seeing a great increase to my speed. Eventually, I had caught up to the colts and, with one last bounce, crashed into them and sent them flying into a nearby tree. Soon after, Applejack caught up to me and took in the sight of the two colts lying against the tree.

"Ah'll admit, when you told me to throw ya, I was not expectin' ya to bounce off those trees like that. Ya were possibly going as fast as Rainbow Dash." Applejack said.

"Yeah, I wasn't expecting you to buck me either. Though I think that was maybe the best move, I don't think I would have caught them that fast otherwise." I said.

We both turned to look at the two colts, and judging from the fact that they were groaning and weren't making an attempt to get up, I think I had knocked them out by accident.

"Maybe I overdid it a bit." I said.

"They'll be fine. I should have known it was these two from the start, though. Ah'll make sure both of their parents hear about this." Applejack said.

"Who are these two, anyway?" I asked.

"Snips and Snails. They're partners in crime that have recently been gettin' into all sorts of trouble and mischief around Ponyville. Ah think it all started when they accidentally brought an ursa minor into Ponyville when they heard the stories of a certain showmare and wanted to see if she could beat it in a fight." Applejack said.

I was about to ask what an ursa minor was, before I saw Fluttershy and Spike running up to us on the other side of the fence.

"Finally we found you! Are you guys ok? You both took off after those two and we tried to follow you but ended up getting lost in all the trees." Spike said.

"Both of us are fine. Those two on the other hand..." I said as I looked back to the colts who I now knew as Snips and Snails. "They might be out for a while."

"Null was the one who caught em. If it wasn't for him thinking on tha spot, they would've gotten away and probably be back in Ponyville by now." Applejack said.

"Really? Oh Null, you aren't hurt or anything, are you?" Fluttershy asked.

"Nothing to serious. Though that buck did sting a bit, but I don't really feel it anymore." I said.

Fluttershy had a look of worry and began to feel fearful as she looked over to Applejack.

"Well, he told me to throw him saying that he would be able to catch em' if I did, so I sorta acted on instinct and bucked him. Ya should have seen him, though. He was bouncin' from tree to tree as if he was made of rubber." Applejack said.

"Fluttershy, really, I'm fine." I said.

Fluttershy looked back at me, and slowly I could feel the fear that she had for me disappear as her worried look was replaced with that of a soft smile.

"Any who, Ah should probably get these two to their parents. I'm certain they're gonna get quite the earful when they hear what these two have been up to." Applejack said.

"Oh, ok. I suppose we'll see you later at Twilight's then?" Fluttershy said.

"Of course. Ah'll see ya three then." Applejack said.

After that, I hopped back onto Fluttershy's back as we made our way back to town. Eventually, Spike said that he was heading back to Twilight's and told us that he would see us later before he headed back into town. Meanwhile Fluttershy, having gotten everything she needed to do in town done, led both of us back to her house where we would spend the rest of the day. During that time, I was able to see a little bit more of what was around Fluttershy's house. Behind her house was that of a small flower garden like the one I saw when I first got here, there was a chicken coop where there were a few chickens strolling about, and there were even a few birdhouses and birdbaths here and there as well. Eventually, the sun slowly began to descend on the horizon as the moon began ascending as well, signifying that it was now time for us to head over to Twilight's, and find out what the girls would decide to do with me.

We eventually made it to Twilight's house, were we found Twilight and Spike sitting on the couch with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie sitting in the nearby chairs. Fluttershy and I made our way over as she grabbed a cushion from the nearby stack and sat it down for her to sit on while I hopped onto the table. As I did, Applejack entered the library as well and joined all of us as well.

"Sorry Ah'm a little late. We had a lot more apples today than normal, so we had to store a bunch of em' in the barn." Applejack said.

"It's fine, Applejack, we're mostly just waiting on Rarity at this point. Though, she is running a little late" Twilight said.

"Yeah! She's usually one of the earliest of us when it comes to meetings like this. She's probably doing her makeup or something." Pinkie Pie said.

"Either way, we still need to discuss what we need to do about Null." Twilight said. "My idea is that maybe we should message Princess Celestia about him and see if she knows what he might be."

"I say we should keep a close eye on him. We still don't know if he works for Discord or something and wants to try and free him." Rainbow Dash added.

"I know! Maybe we could keep him around and go on dangerous and magical adventures together, like climbing a giant plant that connects multiple floating islands together and fight an evil queen who is keeping the people living on these islands captive." Pinkie Pie said.

Everyone turned to look at Pinkie Pie as she said that, only for her to shrug and say "What? It would definitely be fun."

Everyone continued contributing their ideas, from Twilight suggesting that I should be sent to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, Rainbow Dash saying that one of the girls should have have me stay with them so they can keep a close eye on me, to Pinkie still suggesting that we all go on adventures together. Eventually, the discussion came to a halt as the library door opened and Rarity stepped inside with a bag being held within her aura floating beside her.

"I do apologize for being late girls. I was just finishing up the, Null! There you are." Rarity said as she quickly came over to me. "I finished the outfit just earlier. It was quite enjoyable making what we created, and I have some new ideas that I can use in the future. Hold still, let me put it on you."

The bag she was holding was set down on the table before as pieces of the outfit Rarity and I made came flying out of the bag. I felt myself also being lifted up into the air as Rarity's aura surrounded me and the pieces of clothing floated around me. The next few moments were that of a blur as Rarity quickly put the clothes onto my body, with each piece of clothing sliding onto each part of my small body perfectly. Eventually, Rarity set me back down onto the table and took out a mirror.

"Oh, it came out perfectly. Here, take a look yourself." Rarity said as she floated the mirror in front of me.

The outfit I was wearing was exactly as Rarity and I designed it to be. The upper part of body was that of a sort of white hood that covered that had a small window in the front that allowed me to see, with the ears also being covered as well by places in the hood that allowed my ears to slide in perfectly. The hood itself was also attached to a sort of white cape that extended to the bottom of my body, with the bottom of the outside having a black solid line extend from one side of the cape to the other. The tips of the ear parts were red in color, and were separated from the rest of the hood by a silver ring. The bottom half of my body, and by extension my hidden third eye, were covered by a sort of red cloth that softly stuck to my body. Lastly was that of a scarf that wrapped around my body and sort of separated the hood and bottom part of the outfit. The scarf had a checkered patter to it, with the design being that of red and black squares that ran along the entirety of the scarf. The end of the scarf, which also extended to the bottom of the cape part of the hood, had tassels on the end that alternated between red and black. However, there was one thing that was missing that would complete the look, which Rarity took out of the bag.

"I still have to ask, do you really think these gloves are necessary? I made them exactly as how they were designed, but I still don't understand why you would want them." Rarity said as she set the gloves in front of me. The gloves themselves were somewhat like mittens, with there being a place for a thumb and a large part of the mitten allowing one to slip their fingers into it. The gloves themselves were somewhat gray in color, similar to the rings separating the red and white on my hood.

Now, here is where I wanted to see if my idea would work.

Over the day I had been somewhat feeding off of the nervousness Fluttershy had been giving off when we were traveling around Ponyville. As I did, I slowly felt myself becoming a stronger bit by bit, until I began to feel something building up within me that I knew all to well. I couldn't use it just yet because there wasn't enough of it, but all I had to do was wait for it to build up enough to the point where I could safely use it. And that moment came when Applejack and I were chasing those two colts. The fear they were giving off was just enough for the energy building up within me to finally reach a point to where I could safely use it. It was time for me to use that energy. To use the magic that I had building up throughout the day.

Tapping into the magic within me, I began to focus my will on the two gloves that were in front of me. I soon felt a connection as, slowly, I could feel as though imaginary hands were putting on the gloves as I began to feel the smooth wood of the table as I began to feel what the gloves were touching, as though they were my own disembodied hands. Slowly, the gloves began to rise from where they had been sat down and floated over to my sides. I brought them in front of me so that I could properly see them and began to flex them, happy to see that they were functioning properly. I looked up from my new hands and saw that everyone within the library had their mouths open in shock. Twilight on the other hand, was looking at me as though I had broken the laws of physics.

"Wha, but, how, huh, WHAT?!" Twilight yelled out.

"Null, I certainly must say, when you requested that you wanted these gloves made along with the outfit, I most certainly was not expecting this." Rarity said.

"How are you doing that Null?" Fluttershy asked.

"I would definitely like to know! First there was that weird sludge covering you that I couldn't find anything out about, then you show us that you can talk, and now those gloves are moving as though they are a part of your body! What are you going to do next? Start levitating yourself?" Twilight asked as she began pacing around while trying to process everything.

I was willing to answer that question. I found that levitating and controlling these gloves hardly required any of the magic that I had stored within me. So, maybe levitating myself would be something that I could also do. If anything, I could move around places without having to bounce or hop. Slowly, I once again began drawing from the magic within myself and began concentrating on my own body. I found that after I began to levitate those gloves and use them as my own hands, what I was doing currently was much easier. Slowly, I felt myself begin to rise a couple of inches off the table and was now floating in midair. I began to float towards Twilight and began tapping on her to get her attention.

"Null is currently floating right now, isn't he?" Twilight asked, not turning around.

"Yep." Rainbow Dash said.

Twilight looked back at me and saw me floating right beside her before saying "You know what? I'm gonna stop questioning what you can do until we figure out what to do. Spike! Take a letter."

Spike pulled out a quill pen and a piece of paper as Twilight began speaking.

Dear Princess Celestia,
This letter is to inform you about the being that we discovered after defeating Discord.
At the moment, we have not been able to discover much about it, although we have learned that it is able to speak, allowing us to converse with it.
Because of this, we have been able to decide on a name for it, with it wanting to be called Null as well as wanting to be referred to as a male.
Other than that, Null has shown himself to be capable of levitating a pair of gloves and himself, allowing him to float around in the air.
We hope to know what we should in terms of what we should do with Null.
From your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle

After Twilight finished with the letter Spike rolled up the piece of paper before holding it up to his face. Before I could wonder what he was doing, he blew out green flames from his mouth that seemed to burn away the paper and transform it into a sort of green light that flowed out of one of the windows of the library.

"That, sort of seems like a waste of paper. Why did you burn it instead of having it delivered?" I asked.

"The details on how it works are a little bit complicated for me, but essentially I'm able to send letters to the pony being addressed on the letter by breathing my flames onto it. The flames transform it into light that is sent towards the recipient, and the letter reforms itself from the light, allowing the person its addressed to to read it." Spike said, before he burped as flames came out of his mouth and formed into another rolled up piece of paper. "And that happens when a letter addressed to Twilight is sent. She sure wrote back quickly."

"What does it say Twilight?" Fluttershy said.

"Let's see, it says..." Twilight began as she read the letter out loud.

Dear Twilight,
I am as curious as you are about the being that you have found.
Sadly, neither Luna or I know what this creature may be from the information you have provided us.
As much as I would like you all to bring the being here to Canterlot so that we may see it with our own eyes, I am afraid that I am horribly busy at the moment.
As such, I request that you and the other Elements of Harmony watch over this creature and report to me anything new you may find.
Signed,
Princess Celestia

So, I guessed this meant that I was staying here with the others. I was somewhat relieved, in a sense. I was worried that they would have possibly decided to use that wave of rainbow magic on me like they used on Discord, either turning me to stone or doing something worse. Regardless, now that I knew I was staying here, I guess I could see what sort of things this world had to offer. So far, I had already experienced things that I didn't think I ever would during my time trapped within the Master Crown. However, there was no doubt about it that the shards of the crown were scattered around this world. For me personally, I kind of hopped I would never see the shards of my prison ever again. For the first time in thousands of years, I wasn't imprisoned within the Master Crown and had a body that didn't belong to the person that was wearing me that I didn't take over. From what had happened so far as well, I was able to use magic as well. Maybe, overtime, I could also be able to use powerful magic later on? Either way, I think I was going to enjoy the time I spent in this world.

Author's Note

Man this took a while to get done. I had intended to release this chapter sooner, but I needed to iron out a few things so that it would be ready to be put out. For those wondering what Null's outfit looks like in more detail, I combined Magolor's design in the Kirby Clash games with Magolor's color scheme of his EX fight in both of the Return to Dreamland games. His design in the Kirby Clash games is essentially this:

Other than that, nothing big is going to happen for the next couple of chapters as we see how Null interacts with what goes on in Ponyville and the shenanigans that the Main 6 get up to, as well as getting used to life in Ponyville. Until next time!

Chapter 4: Lesson Zero

In the end, it was ultimately decided that I would stay with Fluttershy at her house, given that I had stayed the night there previously and that Twilight had said that she would be able keep an eye on me and tell her and the others about any new developments that occurred with me. As such, we left Twilight's house a little while later and got back to Fluttershy's house, had a small dinner where I once again had a salad that Fluttershy prepared for me, and then both of us headed to bed, with Fluttershy allowing me to sleep on the couch again. This time, she got me a pillow and a blanket that I could use to sleep with. I managed to fall asleep quite easily, however, that strange dream that I had the previous night didn't occur again, or any other dreams that were similar to it. I was still somewhat curious about that dream, because it was somewhat different than the dreams I was used to. When I was still trapped within the Master Crown, I often slept in order to pass the time if nothing interesting was really happening to the person that was wearing me or because I wasn't being worn by anyone at all. I still did have dreams while I slept, but none were quite like the one I had yesterday.

Anyways, for the next few days, I pretty much got used to my new life living in Ponyville. I would often assist Fluttershy with any errands she would have, or just wander around Ponyville myself to get to know a little bit more about the town. I did manage to find a few more things that I didn't see in the tour Fluttershy and Spike gave me, such as a small schoolhouse where I saw a bunch of foals go to attend whatever they taught there, a day spa that I often saw Rarity go to, I also made sure to once again thank her for making my new outfit, a train station that was somewhat close to Twilight's home, and a variety of different stores that sold a variety of different wares. I had to admit, the residents of this town got used to things pretty quickly, as ponies would begin to stop staring at me as I wandered around town and would even begin to wave at me from time to time, well the ones I had interacted with in those next few days.

However, a large amount of the time I spent was within the library. Mostly for two reasons. The first being that Twilight wanted me to run a few tests and experiments for her so she would be able to find out more about me. These really were just basic examinations such as how I was able to levitate off the ground, how I controlled the gloves that acted as my newfound hands, and a few other small things. She wasn't able to learn much, but at least she was able to entertain the second reason I spent my time at the library. The second reason being that of just researching and learning about this world. Like I said, Twilight entertained this by answering a few questions of my own, and I was also able to learn a lot by going through the many books that lined the shelves of her home.

The first thing I learned about was something I had been hearing since the first day I arrived here: the Elements of Harmony. Through reading some of the various books and scrolls and with Twilight helping to explain some things I didn't really understand, here is what I learned about them:

The Elements of Harmony were the gemstones embedded within the golden jewelry I had seen Twilight and her friends wear when they took on Discord. Twilight was willing to show me a photo of the group wearing their elements after an event called the "Summer Sun Celebration".

The Elements themselves have been around for thousands of years, as Twilight stated that they have been used by both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna many times.

The Elements of Harmony were known as possibly the most powerful magical artifacts known in the history of this world. They were essentially a source of immense positive energy and magic that were used to restore balance in the world when something, or someone, was threatening to disrupt the peace and balance of the world itself. Each element represented supposedly a certain "element of friendship", and would only activate if the user of an element possessed the corresponding trait that matched that of the element. The effects the Elements had when used were often unpredictable, though the result of using them on an individual was often nonlethal or was a form of banishment or imprisonment, such as Discord being turned to stone.

Learning these things also shed some light as to what happened to me when I was hit by the magic of the Elements of Harmony. I remember Discord saying that I had a high amount of concentrated dark energy within me, so it was possible that when I was hit by the magic from the Elements of Harmony, which were a source of positive energy and magic, the dark energy within me reacted negatively to the magic of the Elements, resulting in me being in immense pain. It could have been something else, but Twilight did say that the effects of the Elements were unpredictable.

I was also able to learn more about the three different races of ponies as well. First off where the unicorns, who were the only race of ponies that were able to use magic. The way they used magic was essentially by using their horn to channel the high amounts of magical energy within their body, and using their knowledge of various spells that they could learn and use, were then able to cast spells. Telekinesis, which was where I had saw various objects floating around being covered by various auras that also surrounded the horn of a unicorn, was a pretty basic spell that unicorns were able to use. Next up were the pegasi, who were able to manipulate the weather and were also the only race of ponies that could naturally walk on clouds. I found it kind of bizarre that the weather in this world was being controlled and handled by ponies, and that the it wasn't an unpredictable force of nature that you essentially had to be ready for anything it threw at you. Lastly were the earth ponies. While they didn't have any unique bells and whistles compared to the other three races, they made up for it with two things: their immense natural strength, and how they were able to feel and connect with the earth they walked on. One race of ponies that wasn't really talked about in the books I read that Twilight told me about were the alicorns. Supposedly, alicorns were the strongest of all of the races, as they had access to every single thing that made the other races so unique such and were able to do them better, the ability to use magic, wings that allowed them to fly, and even immense strength. Twilight also told me that the only alicorns she knew about were Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, which also explained as to how they were able to move the sun and the moon.

Regardless, the days went by as I continued to stay in Ponyville and learned more new things about this world.

Today was just pretty much the same as any other normal day, with me in the library once again. I decided that I wanted to start to learn more about the history and legends of Equestria as to take a sort of break from what I was researching lately. However, the book that I wanted to read in question, the one that was simply titled "History of Equestria", was nowhere to be found on the lower floors. Heading up the stairs of the library and into Twilight and Spike's bedroom/personal quarters, as Twilight allowed me to come up here to browse some of the books she kept up here, I eventually reached the room and saw Twilight and Spike with possibly one of the longest lists I have ever seen in my entire existence.

"Hey, Twilight? Do you know where the book "History of Equestria" is?" I asked.

"Oh, hey Null! Yes, it's just over there." Twilight said as she pointed to one of the shelves in her room. "I had to take it from downstairs earlier as I needed to reference something. You can go ahead and take it."

"Thanks." I said as I went over to the shelf and pulled out the book I was looking for.

"Anyways, that's almost everything Spike." Twilight said.

I looked back to see Spike as he began to read off something from the bottom of the list. "'Triple-check checklist to make sure we didn't miss anything when we double checked the checklist.' Uh... check. Ugh..." Spike groaned as he held one of his claws in the other.

"I've been holding that quill so long, I've got a claw cramp! At least we don't have anything to report to Princess Celestia this week... I don't think I could write another word!" Spike said as he began to massage his wrist.

I saw Twilight stop dead in her tracks as I began to sense some anxiety start to rise from her as she began to look worried. "We haven't sent a letter to Princess Celestia this week?!" She asked.

"No. Why, is that a bad thing?" Spike asked.

"Bad? BAD? Of course it's bad!" Twilight exclaimed. "I'm supposed to send Princess Celestia a letter every week, telling her about a lesson I've learned about friendship! Not every other week, not every ten days, every... single... week! Ohh... Where's the calendar? Where is it?!"

"Where it always is?" Spike said as he went over to a nearby table and picked up the calendar he and Twilight were talking about.

"When did we send the last letter?" Twilight asked.

"I think it was last Tuesday." Spike said.

"And today is?" Twilight asked.

"Tuesday." Spike answered.

I felt Twilight's anxiety skyrocket as she began to pace around the room. "Oh this is bad! If I don't send Princess Celestia a letter by sundown, I'll be tardy!"

What?

Spike also seemed to share my confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Tardy, Spike! I'll have been late to turn in a letter to her! How could I let this happen, I usually don't let things like this happen!" Twilight said as she resumed pacing around the room. "Oh, I've never been late with an assignment! What will she think of me if I fail to send her a letter on time?"

"Twilight, I've personally never met Princess Celestia myself and have only heard about her through you and the others, but from what you all have told me, I don't think she would mind if you didn't get to send her a letter on time." I said.

"Null, this is the ruler of Equestria we are talking about! The pony who allowed me to study directly under her and expects the best of me! What if she thinks I'm not taking my studies on friendship seriously?" Twilight responded.

"Twilight, I highly doubt that-" I started.

"What if she makes me come back to Canterlot to make me prove that I've been taking them seriously by giving me a test." Twilight says before she gasps. "What if I don't pass?!"

"Well, why wouldn't you pass-" Spike began to say in what I assumed was an attempt to calm Twilight down.

"She's my teacher. Do you know what teachers do to students who don't pass? They send them back a grade! But she won't just send me back a grade, she'll send me back to... magic kindergarten." Twilight said. She then began to look off towards one of the walls with what I could only describe as a thousand yard stare as I assumed she was imagining something that involved whatever this "magic kindergarten" was.

Spike went up to Twilight and began to snap in front of her face to snap her out of her imagination. "Twilight? Twilight!"

Twilight shook her head a bit and started blinking a few times as she was brought back to reality. "Wha, huh?"

"Twilight, in my personal opinion, that doesn't sound like anything that Celestia would do to you. You just said that you were Celestia's personal student, and you've proven that to be true with how much you've taught me about the things I wanted to know about. And from what the others have told me as well, you are probably the greatest magic user they have ever known. I highly doubt Celestia would send you back to this "magic kindergarten" just because of one missed letter. You need to calm down and stop worrying." I said in my own attempt to reassure her.

She began to calm down as I felt her anxiety begin to go away. "You know what? Both of you are right." Twilight said as she had a confident look on her face. "I have no reason to worry, because I'm going to solve a friend's problem and send a letter to Princess Celestia before sundown!"

Well, at least we managed to calm her down from her recent mental breakdown. I had also hoped that we would have succeeded in taking Twilight's mind off of sending that letter, but it looks like we failed.

Twilight turned to the both of us. "So... do any of you two have any problems, troubles, conundrums, or any other sort of issues that I, as a good friend, could help you solve?"

Both Spike and I looked at each other for a couple of seconds before both of us responded with a simple "No."

Twilight sighed as she began to walk towards the stairs. "Well then, it looks like I'm going to have to find somepony who does."

After she left, the two of us looked at each other before letting out some sighs of our own.

"This isn't going to end well, is it?" Spike asked.

"Probably not. Do you mind if I take this book back to Fluttershy's with me? I think I'm gonna read it some more later." I asked.

"Sure, go ahead! I'll see you at the picnic later then?" Spike asked.

"Oh yeah, I forgot that was today. I'll definitely be there." I said as I headed down the stairs myself and began heading back to Fluttershy's cottage.

It took a bit longer to get to the outskirts of town, mostly because there were an alarming amount of carts that had been toppled over that blocked my usual route to Fluttershy's house, but the route I took lead me floating alongside the outskirts of Sweet Apple Acres. Eventually, I began to hear the sounds of things breaking and looked over to see Rainbow Dash flying through and tearing down what appeared to be an old and run down barn. Nearby, Applejack was wearing a helmet as she she watched Rainbow Dash from a distance within a nearby ditch. Deciding to see what was going on, I floated over the fence and made my way towards Applejack.

"Hey Applejack. What's going on with Rainbow Dash destroying that barn?" I asked.

"Hey Null. That barn's been in shambles for as long as Ah can remember. It's been taking up a good amount of space, so Ah got Rainbow to help tear it down so we can maybe put something there. Possibly a new one, as Granny's been wantin' a new one for a while. Speakin' of which, you might want to put these on and take cover." Applejack said as she handed me a pair of clear work glasses.

I put them on and joined Applejack in watching Rainbow Dash tear down the barn. I had to say, it was kind of fun and interesting to watch, with Rainbow Dash crashing into the roof or the walls at high speeds and making holes as she tore through the barn. She also kicked and punched through some of the various support beams within the barn as well. I also soon began to understand why we were both wearing our protective equipment and hiding in the ditch, as occasionally, various pieces of wood or metal came flying out from the barn, with a few even landing in the ditch even though we were a fair distance away. This continued on for a little while longer until I heard a familiar voice call out.

"Rainbow Dash! Stop!"

The next moment Rainbow Dash's tail was held in a purple aura as Twilight appeared in a flash of pink light and began to talk to Rainbow Dash. "Listen, Rainbow. I know you're upset with Applejack, but don't worry, whatever it is that has come between you two, I'm sure that I, as a good friend, can help you resolve your problems."

"What are you talking about?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Oh, Rainbow Dash, you don't have to hide your feelings from me! I can tell you two must've had a terrible fight." Twilight said as she levitated Rainbow Dash to a nearby bench and sat her down on it as a pair of glasses appeared on her face and a notebook held within her aura floated right next to her. "Now then, why don't you tell me all about your issues with Applejack."

Rainbow Dash looked up at Twilight and answered "I don't have any issues with Applejack."

"You don't? But then why were you destroying that barn?" Twilight asked.

"Because she asked me to. Right Applejack? Oh hey Null, I'm guessing you came here to see me in action?" Rainbow Dash said as she looked over into the ditch Applejack and I were currently in.

"Not really. I just came to see what was going on here. Anyways, yeah, Applejack told me that she hired Rainbow Dash to help tear down that barn." I said.

"That's right. Now get back to it R.D." Applejack said.

Rainbow Dash gave a salute before she took off from the bench and began to fly high into the sky. "You might want to take this and take cover." Applejack said as she held out another pair of the work glasses she gave me. Twilight hopped into the ditch with us and put on the glasses as we all looked up to see Rainbow Dash continue her ascent before stopping high above the barn. She then began to rapidly descend at high speeds as she began to yell. Right before she hit the barn however, was something that I was not expecting at all.

A bright flash of rainbow light was released from Rainbow's body. What followed as she hit the barn was a giant rainbow colored shockwave that expanded out from its origin. As Rainbow Dash also hit the barn, a large rainbow colored dust cloud rose from the ground as a large amount of debris flew away from where the barn had previously been. Unfortunately, some of the debris landed in the ditch that me and the others had taken cover in and piled on top of us. Thankfully, it wasn't to heavy as all of us managed to emerge from it with no problem with Applejack having a large grin on her face, a few strands of Twilight's mane were sticking out here and there, and me being wide-eyed at what I had just witnessed.

I saw Twilight sigh as she began to pick herself up out of the rubble and took off the glasses she was wearing and began to leave. Shortly after, Rainbow Dash came flying into the ditch and gave a high-five to Applejack. Shaking myself out of the shock of what I had just witnessed, I turned to face the other two.

"What the heck was that just now?" I questioned.

"What? Me just taking down that barn like it was nothing?" Rainbow Dash said.

"No. I mean that whole thing where that rainbow shockwave spread out right before you hit the barn." I asked.

"Oh, that? That was just me pulling off one of the easiest sonic rainbooms yet." Rainbow Dash answered.

"A sonic rainboom?" I asked, wanting to learn more.

"Yep. Rainbow here essentially flies so fast that she breaks both the sound and light barrier at the same time." Applejack explained.

"You're fast enough to break the light barrier?!" I exclaimed.

"Yep. The first time I pulled it off was when I was still pretty young. Up until then, ponies thought that it was just an old mare's tale. But I managed to pull it off, and I've been able to pull it off much easier now than when I was able to back then. It's also how I earned my cutie mark." Rainbow Dash explained as she pointed to her cutie mark. Her cutie mark was that of a white cloud with a bolt of lightning coming out from below it. However, the color of the lightning bolt itself was that of a rainbow.

"Huh, that's actually kind of a cool story. Anyways, I should probably start heading back to Fluttershy's to clean off all of this dust." I said as I began to wipe some of the dust off of my clothes.

"Alright then. See ya at the picnic then." Applejack said as she began to pull herself out of the rubble.

"See ya." I waved back as I began to head back towards the fence and floated over it as I once again began the trek back to Fluttershy's house. Thankfully, it didn't take long for me to reach the dirt road that led to her cottage as I followed it to her house. However, once I got there, I heard a loud roar come from the back of the house. Curious as to what was going on, I made my way to the back of the cottage and saw Fluttershy standing right in front of a bear that was towering over her.

What happened next shook me to the very core of my being. Fluttershy slid under the bear before flying up behind it and kicking it in the back, sending it toppling forward on its stomach. Then, she pulled up hard on one of the bear's back legas as the bear itself began to slam one if its arms on the ground while letting out what I could guess was a roar of pain. After hearing a small snap coming from the leg, Fluttershy did the same thing to the other leg. Once she had finished with the seco0nd one, she jumped onto the bear's back and began to rapidly stomp onto its back, with the bear issuing more cries of pain. Finally, and this was the thing that shocked me the most, Fluttershy grabbed a hold of the bear's neck and snapped it hard to the side, issuing a loud crack as she let go of the bear and it fell back down to the ground as she slowly landed on its back once again.

I can't believe what I had just witnessed. Fluttershy, the pony who was allowing me to stay with her, a pony who said that her cutie mark represented her kindness to animals, just took down a bear and may have even killed it. I began to panic as I held my hands to the side of my head and began to process what had just happened and tried to prevent myself from freaking out before I heard more growling coming from the bear. However, these didn't sound like growls of pain, they sounded like growls of comfort. I looked back over to see Fluttershy seemingly massaging her hooves on the back of the bear's shoulders as it had a content smile on its face.

"You should have some to me earlier. You were carrying so much stress and tension in your shoulders." Fluttershy said as the bear once again let out a growl of comfort. She then looked over to me floating by the side of the cottage. "Oh, good to see you Null. How did, um, actually, is something wrong? You look worried."

"What? Um, yeah. I'm fine, I just got back." I said.

"That's good. Can you come in and help me finish getting everything we will need for the picnic?" Fluttershy said as she flew off of the bear and began heading towards the back door.

"Uh, sure." I said as I began following her.

Note to self: don't make Fluttershy angry.

After that whole crazy thing with me witnessing Fluttershy wrestle a bear and win to just simply give it a massage, we spent the next bit of time getting together a small picnic basket filled with sandwiches that we made for the others. Once that was done, we left the cottage and made our way back towards Ponyville, albeit a little ways away from the town itself. The reason being was that the picnic was being set up in a small park right outside of Ponyville. We eventually made it there were everyone else was waiting on a red and white checkerboard picnic blanket. We, almost everyone, as Twilight and Spike were nowhere to be found. Deciding to go ahead and get everything set up, all of us began to get out what we had brought onto the blanket.

"Oh no, please don't tell me I forgot to bring the plates." I looked over and saw Rarity was digging through the picnic basket she brought. "I did. I totally forgot them. Of all the worst things that could happen, this is THE, WORST, POSSIBLE, THING!" Rarity said. After which, a couch covered in Rarity's aura suddenly slid towards her from who knows where as she fell onto it and began to cry. "Why? Oh why?"

She eventually stopped crying as she looked over at all of us staring at her.

"Rarity, was that really necessary?" I asked.

"Well, you don't expect me to just lay on the grass, do you?" Rarity said.

I did my best to simply shrug as I turned back to the picnic basket Fluttershy and I had brought. However, as I turned back to it, I was met with Twilight's face just inches from my own.

"Agh!" I yelled as I fell back onto the blanket.

Twilight, for lack of a better word, was not looking too good at the moment. Her mane was sticking out at various places, her eyes were wide and her pupils had shrunken to the size of pinpricks, and, the creepiest thing about the whole thing, was that she one of the widest and creepiest smiles I had ever seen. Actually, scratch that, second creepiest smile. The whole thing I did where I smiled and had my red eye gazing through that smile to make it look like it was glaring while I had taken control of Magolor was something I feel like would give those that looked at it nightmares. Regardless, all of us just stared back and forth at Twilight before Applejack decided to break the tension.

"You alright, hun?"

"No! I am not alright, if I don't turn in a letter to Princess Celestia on time, I'll be tardy!" Twilight exclaimed.

Everyone looked at each other with looks of confusion as I mentally groaned. "Twilight's afraid that if she doesn't send in a friendship report to Princess Celestia every week, then Princess Celestia will send her to 'magic kindergarten' or something like that." I explained to the others. "But seriously, Twilight. I thought we talked about this back at the library, I'm positive that Princess Celestia won't be upset just because you weren't able to send one simple letter to her on time." I said as I turned back to Twilight.

"And like I explained to you Null, with me being Princess Celestia's personal student, I need to make sure that I do the best that I can to make sure that I meet her expectations. Now, can you all please help me find somepony with a problem I can fix before sundown?!" Twilight exclaimed.

"I'm gonna have to agree with Null on this sugarcube. Ah think you're just worrying over nothing and gettin' yourself all worked up. Come sit down with us and stop sweatin' the small stuff so we can enjoy this picnic together." Applejack said.

One of Twilight's eyes began to twitch before she let out a loud groan before storming off away from us. All of us looked at each other with looks of concern and worry.

"I've never seen Twilight so upset before, do you think she'll be ok?"

"I'll say, what a drama queen." Rarity said as I looked at her with a deadpanned look. "Well, relatively speaking."

I sighed as I got up from the blanket. "You guys stay here, I'll make sure Twilight doesn't do anything crazy." I said as I began floating towards the direction Twilight headed in.

"Twilight? Twilight? Oh come on where did you go?"

It had been a few minutes since I left the others to look for Twilight, and I was having no luck. I asked some of the nearby ponies if the have seen her, which while some of them did and pointed me in the direction they last saw her, I wasn't able to find any sort of evidence that showed that she had been there. I was starting to get antsy as well, Pinkie had supposedly brought some icing cookies from Sugarcube Corner, and I was dying to get one. I was staring to think that I should head back to the others, before I heard Twilight's voice coming from nearby. Picking up the pace, I eventually found Twilight standing in front of a group of fillies. One was that of an earth pony who had a somewhat yellow coat, had red hair that was styled somewhat similarly to that of Applejack, and was wearing a giant bow. One of the others was a unicorn with a white coat and had a somewhat curly main that was a mix of pastel pink and purple. Finally, the last one was a pegasus with an orange coat and somewhat messy mane that was purple in color.

The one with the bow as the first to speak up. "Oh, hi, Twilight. How's it goi-" She began before she was cut off by Twilight.

"Great. Just great. You three look like you're doing great too! Looks like three good friends who obviously don't need the help of another good friend." She said before a pony shaped doll appeared in a flash of pink that was held in Twilight's aura. The doll itself was somewhat ragged, with it having patches here and there and one of its button eyes was close to coming off. "This is Smarty Pants. She was mine when I was your age, and now I want to give her to you!"

The pegasus was the one who spoke up next. "She's... uh... great."

"Yeah, great." The one with the bow said.

"I really like her... mane?" Said the unicorn.

I could sense the sarcasm all the way from here.

"She even comes with her own notebook and quill, for when you want to pretend that she's doing her homework!" Twilight said as she also held a small notepad and quill in her aura.

I began to feel the fear of the three fillies slowly began to rise as they backed away from Twilight a little.

"Yeah, that's, great." The pegasus said.

"Hmhm, I totally agree." The one with the bow said.

"Yeah, I definitely like her... mane?" The unicorn repeated, clearly not knowing what to say.

"I just hope the fact that there are three of you and only one of her doesn't become a problem! I'd hate to cause a rift between such good friends. So..." Twilight said as she levitated the doll towards the fillies. "Who wants to play with her first?"

The three fillies looked at each other before the one with the bow spoke up. "Uh... You should play with her first, Sweetie Belle. Y'know, 'cause you like her mane so much." The one with the bow said as she began to back away.

The unicorn, who I now knew as Sweetie Belle, backed away as well. "Nonononononono. I think Scootaloo should get to play with her first."

The pegasus, who I assumed was Scootaloo, said "I'd love to, but, um, you take her, Apple Bloom." as she went behind who I assumed was Apple Bloom and began to push her forward.

What followed next was the three fillies pushing one another towards the doll Twilight was holding in an attempt to get away from it. Meanwhile, I began to feel Twilight's fear and anxiety begin to rise as she began to look panicked, before she clapped her hooves together as her already wide smile appeared to grow even wider. I took this as my cue to stop things before they got worse. As fast as I could, I floated towards the group and, in one swift motion, grabbed the doll out of Twilight's aura and floated away from the four of them before turning back to face Twilight.

"Ok, Twilight, I think you're starting to go overboard with wanting to send that letter." I said.

"Null, I have told you and the others multiple times, I need to send that letter or Princess Celestia will think I'm not worthy of being her student!" Twilight yelled out.

"And we have told you that Princess Celestia probably won't do that, you're just overreacting." I said.

"And how do you know that? Before you said it yourself that you never knew who the princesses were, but I do. Now give me the doll so I can fix a friendship problem!" Twilight said.

I looked at the doll in my hands and then back to Twilight. She was obviously going extremely overboard with wanting to send that letter, going so far as to what I assumed was having three friends trying to fight over a doll that they obviously didn't want. I could also sense the desperation and anger coming from Twilight as well, and while those emotions were giving me energy, it was worrying me to see her like this. Holding the doll closer to me, I gave Twilight the best glare I could give.

"Sorry Twilight. I'm not letting you have this doll."

"Null. Give. Me. The. Doll." Twilight said as I began to feel her anger begin to rise even further. I held the doll closer in response.

"I said give it!"

What happened next was that Twilight's horn was covered in a pink aura as a beam surrounded by pink hearts was fired from her horn and was shot towards the doll. Reacting as fast as I could, I did the only thing I thought about doing, which was raising the doll above my body. However, this would prove to be a horrendous mistake, as the beam hit me instead. The force of the beam sent me flying back as I dropped the doll, causing me to fall to the ground.

"Oh no. What have I done?" Twilight said as I felt her anger was quickly replaced with fear.

I slowly hovered back off the ground to see hearts similar to the ones surrounding the beam flow into me. I was expecting something to happen, but I didn't feel anything other than a dull pain from where the beam had hit me. "Um... was something supposed to happen?" I asked.

"Oh, I want him." I looked over to see the pegasus looking at me. Slowly, her eyes were filled with hearts as she began to slowly walk over to me.

"He looks so cute." I looked over to the one with the bow as her eyes were also beginning to fill with hearts.

"His outfit is adorable!" I looked over to see that the unicorn was also undergoing the effects that the other two were experiencing.

As I looked between all three of them, I slowly felt one emotion emanating from them that started to make me worry: desire. All at once the three fillies tried to pounce on me all at once, only for me to float a few feet in the air as they began to try and jump at me.

"Twilight, what did you just do to me?!" I asked.

"I was trying to cast a spell on Smarty Pants, but you moved her out of the way and so the spell was cast on you instead." Twilight quickly explained.

"And what spell did you cast on me?" I asked.

"It's a 'want it need it' spell. Whoever looks at the thing that has had the spell cast on it will become obsessed with it. Only the caster will be the only one immune to its effects." Twilight explained.

"Well can you dispel it?" I asked.

"I should be able to. Just give me a second." Twilight said as her horn was covered in her aura.

However, as she began to try and dispel it, I saw a pegasus walking nearby that looked over at us to see what was going on. Because of this, they immediately fell under the effects of the want it need it spell as hearts began to fill her eyes as well. She began to fly into the air and tried to grab me, forcing me to float back to the ground. I looked between he three ponies that were eyeing me as I began to dread what would happen if they caught me.

"Twilight?!" I yelled out.

"Almost done." Twilight responded.

It was there and then that the three ponies began to charge at me, all wanting to get their hooves on me. I did the only thing that I could think of in that moment: I ran. I began floating as fast as I could to outrun my pursuers as I weaved around trees and floated over bushes. While I was running, more ponies that were attending the park saw me and would the fall under the effects of the spell. This would result in the group that was chasing me to grow from four pursuers into about 12 in a matter of minutes. Not paying attention, I eventually stumbled upon a group of about 20 ponies who all turned to look at me, resulting in my pursuers growing to a group over 30 ponies. I kept trying to do my best to outrun them, with me finding myself back at the picnic were the other girls are. As I tried to run away from them, I accidentally ran straight into one of my pursuers.

"I got him!" The pony who had me said before another one yanked me out of their grip. "No, he's mine!" What followed next was everyone that was chasing me to keep pulling me out of another's grasp, only for another pony to pull me out of their grasp. This continued for a bit until I found myself under a giant dog pile of ponies who were out to take me. It was painful, as I was constantly yanked and pulled quite painfully from another grasp, with a lot of the times with my ears being the thing that was grabbed and pulled.

Was this how I was going to end. Was this what fate had in store for me for how I was to perish. I thought I died when Kirby and his friends defeated me and the Master Crown shattered into pieces, I thought I had definitely died when Magolor sliced me in two with the giant sword he was wielding. I definitely was not expecting to go out because of over 30 ponies who were bloodthirsty at getting me. After what finally felt like several hours of me being pulled, yanked, and even bit because some ponies tried to grab me with their mouth. A bright light separated the dog pile I was caught under as every single pony was sent flying onto the ground. It also seemed as though that lied somehow dispelled the want it need it spell as no one had hearts in their eyes anymore. Shortly after, all of the ponies began to leave, some of them having looks of confusion as to why they were here.

"Twilight Sparkle!" A loud voice from overhead called out, prompting me to look up. What I saw astounded me. Flying above me and all of the other ponies, surrounded by a glowing white aura, was possibly the tallest pony I have ever seen. Her coat was that of a pure white, with her mane and tail being that of pink, blue, and green, that both also seemed to flow even though there was no wind. Her cutie mark was that of a yellow and orange sun, and she was wearing a tiara and some sort of necklace around her neck. However, what caught my eye the most was that she had both a set of wings and a long horn protruding from her head. This could only mean that the pony flying above me was that of an alicorn. She eventually turned to face Twilight directly.

"Meet me in the library." She said as she began flying towards the direction of the library.

I slowly floated over to the others a Twilight let out a sad sigh. "Well, goodbye everyone. If you want to visit, I'll be in magic kindergarten, back in Canterlot." She said as she began walking towards the library with her head down.

"This definitely doesn't sound good." Fluttershy said.

"Yeah, if she gets sent back to Canterlot, then..." Rainbow Dash started.

"Then we're never going to see Twilight again!" Pinkie Pie yelled.

"C'mon girls, we need to go talk to the two of them. Now!" Applejack said as they all began to start running.

"Wait, can someone carry me? I am in a lot of pain at the moment." I said weakly as I struggled not to fall to the ground. All of those ponies pulling and yanking me caused me a surprising amount of pain.

I was soon covered in Rarity's aura as she carefully levitated me onto her back. "Thanks Rarity."

"You're welcome darling." She said. After that I held on as she caught up with the others as everyone made a mad dash towards Twilight's house.

It didn't take us long at all to get to Twilight's house with how fast everyone was going. Eventually, we made it there and Rainbow Dash kicked the door open and rolled in as everyone else went in as well, seeing Twilight and the alicorn supposedly talking to each other before we barged in.

"Wait!" Rainbow Dash called out.

"You can't punish her!" Pinkie Pie said.

"It wasn't her fault!" Applejack said.

"I'm listening." said the alicorn.

"Please, your Highness. We all saw that Twilight was upset." Fluttershy said. Wait, did she say "your Highness"?

"But we thought that the thing she was worrying about wasn't worth worrying about." Rainbow Dash continued.

"That's why when she ran off and was all worked up, only one of us went to see if she was ok." Applejack said. The alicorn raised one of her eyebrows at this.

"Please don't take her away from us just because we were too insensitive to help her." Fluttershy said.

The alicorn looked over everyone for a brief moment before she began to talk. "It seems as though all of you have learned a valuable lesson today." Everyone nodded their heads at this.

She seemed to take another moment before saying "Very well. I'll forget Twilight's punishment on one condition."

"And that is..." Rainbow ash began to say.

"From this day forth, I would like all of you to report to me your findings on the magic of friendship when, and only when, you happen to discover them." the alicorn said.

Everyone began to cheer at this revelation, as it looked as though Twilight wasn't going back to Canterlot. As everyone began to calm down, Twilight perked up and turned to the alicorn.

"Princess Celestia, now that you're here, would you mind giving me your opinion on Null here?" Twilight said. I found myself being covered by Twilight's aura as I was levitated in front of the alicorn. Now that I was up close to her, she was definitely one of the tallest being I have ever met, possibly as tall as Landia when she was still one. I wonder how she's doing now that she doesn't have the Master Crown, and by extension, me, to guard over anymore?

The alicorn looked me over for a bit before she smiled. "So, you must be the one that Twilight has been talking to me about for the last few days. It's a pleasure to meet you, Null. My name is Celestia." She said as she held out a hoof.

Wait, the alicorn standing before me was one of the rulers of Equestria, as in, Princess Celestia? I thought back to when Twilight was talking about who the Princesses were and what they were capable of, and how she later explained that they are both a part of the most powerful race of ponies to ever exist. Judging by what I saw them do earlier, I can safely say that Twilight was currently backing up what she was saying. I held out one of my hands and shook her hoof. "Uh, likewise."

"So, Twilight has told me what you are capable of, such as levitation, telekinesis, eating without a mouth as well as a few other things. She also has told me that you came from the Everfree Forest, correct?" Celestia asked.

I was still going to stick with the plan of not telling anyone in this the whole truth, definitely so with one of the rulers of this kingdom. If what I saw earlier was only a small fragment of what she could do, then I definitely wasn't going to tell her that I was sealed within a crown for thousands of years and took over the minds and bodies of those that wore me. "That's right." I said.

Celestia stared at me for a bit longer. "Do you mind if I do something real quick? It won't take very long." Celestia asked.

"Oh, um, sure. Go right ahead."

Celestia nodded at my confirmation as the tip of her horn was enveloped with a golden light. She then moved her head so that her horn was right above the top of my body before she eventually touched her horn on my body directly. This caused a shiver to run across my body as I felt some sort of energy run through me, even though this energy somehow had a warm feeling to it. A short time later, Celestia lifted her head back up as the glow faded, her face filled with confusion and interest.

"Hmm, this is quite interesting. Null, you have a large quantity of magic held within you, and I can sense that you are using said magic to allow you to levitate and control those gloves." Celestia said as she motioned towards me. "However, I also sense a great amount of dark energy coming from you. While it isn't much, it is still enough to warrant my interest."

"That could explain something we saw when we defeated Discord." Twilight said as everyone looked at her. "When we used the Elements of Harmony on Discord, the magic of the Elements also struck Null as well. They didn't seem to do much other than cause him to pass out shortly after. He did look like he was in a lot of pain though..."

It was true. I felt as though my entire being was being burned in its entirety. "Discord did mention that he could sense a lot of dark energy coming from me. I didn't really know what he meant at the time." I said. Another half truth, as I did know why I was emitting dark energy. I'm pretty sure it was due to my abilities to absorb negative emotions and convert them into energy that I could then use as magic as well. I also used my abilities to also corrupt and take over the minds and bodies of those that wore me as well, meaning that those abilities themselves were probably somewhat dark in nature.

"Null, can you promise me something?" Celestia said. "Even though I can sense the darkness within you, the bearers of the Elements have told me that you have not done anything to harm either them or any of the other ponies under my rule. Can you swear to me that you won't bring harm to any of my subjects."

I took a bit of time to think about this, as in my current state, I wasn't really in any position to argue with someone who could literally move the sun. That, and I didn't really have the power to even harm anyone, other than those two kids I helped Applejack catch. Regardless, I decided to agree. "Princess Celestia, you have my word that I won't bring harm to any of the ponies under your rule unless it is deemed necessary." I said as I gave a salute.

Celestia smiled at this gesture. "Thank you Null. It was nice getting to meet you, even after everything I assumed you went through earlier. Now then, I must be off. All of you keep in contact with me, and I will let you know if I request your assistance." Celestia said, as her horn was covered in a golden aura once more and she disappeared in a flash of bright light.

The rest of the night was spent with the girls sending a letter to Celestia explaining what they have learned today, mostly about how they need to help each other out with their worries and take them more seriously. After that was said and done, all of us began to head back to our separate homes as night was beginning to fall. One quick bath and meal after Fluttershy and I got back to her cottage, and I was tucked into the couch, ready to sleep. However, I still had a few things floating around in my mind. The first was that I genuinely felt like I would have been killed if Celestia hadn't stepped in to stop everything and dispel the want it need it spell Twilight cast on me. I had never felt so weak within my existence, well, other than when I was in that gaseous form trying to make myself a new body. I was able to float and control my makeshift hands that Rarity made me, but that was it. I wasn't able to cast spells or anything that would allow me to protect myself, meaning that I was forced to run if I was faced with any sort of threat. I could only hope that I would be able to accumulate enough energy to start casting offensive or defensive spells. The other thing I though about was, now that I had met Princess Celestia, I suppose it was only a matter of time before I met this Princess Luna. Regardless, I felt my eyes begin to feel heavy, as I slowly fell asleep, wondering what other crazy things would happen to me here.

Author's Note

This one took longer than I anticipated. But yeah, Null's first meeting with Celestia goes somewhat well, with Null still not telling the whole truth to avoid revealing who and what he was. In the end, he really has no choice but to go along with the deal Celestia offered him, as what else can you really do when you are facing a being capable of moving the literal sun and moon. By the way, I forgot to mention that I will only be using pictures for certain things, mainly using them for when Null visits a new area. There will be some other uses for them, but that won't be for a bit. Anyways, see you all in the next chapter!

Chapter 5: Luna Eclipsed

After the incident with Twilight accidentally using "Want it Need it" on me, nothing really happened for the next long while. Twilight stopped freaking out about sending Celestia letters every week, and we resumed with her having me undergo various types of testing. Now that she knew about me using magic to allow myself and my gloves to levitate, she began running various types of magical tests to see if I was able to cast any spells. Unfortunately for both of us, said tests always ended in failure. First, she wanted to see if I was able to levitate anything besides my body and hands by placing various objects in front of me to see if I could make them float. I was unable to make anything she sat in front of me float, from the simplest book to the lightest quill. She then tried to see if I could possibly teleport, explaining that it was a simple spell that unicorns learned early on in their lives. I myself knew the basics of teleportation, as I often teleported when I was in control of the thing or person I possessed when I was still sealed within the Master Crown. Unfortunately, it seems as though that in my current state, I wasn't able to perform basic teleportation. All of my attempts resulted in me still being in the same spot, regardless of how much I focused. Lastly, she tried to see if I could create magical shields, she explained that this was a spell unicorns were often taught later in life. This test ended the same way as the others, with me not being able to create a simple shield. Similar to teleportation, I also knew how shield spells worked thanks to Magolor as he was able to conjure up shields that only extremely powerful attacks could break. Both of us were somewhat upset that I wasn't able to cast any spells, with me trying to cheer Twilight up by saying that my magic probably wasn't strong enough to use these types of spells. It appeared to wok a little, as our tests went back to being somewhat normal. Though, it was at time like these that made me miss having limitless power when I was sealed within the Master Crown, with me only being able to use said power after I took over the beings that wore me.

Nonetheless, as the days came and went, so too did the current season as we were now in what I presumed was the middle of autumn. The leaves on the trees slowly began changing from various shades of green to various shades of orange, yellow, and red. The temperature also began to grow a little bit colder as well, making me thankful for my scarf as the slightly chilly weather didn't bother me much. It was also during this time that I noticed the residents of Ponyville seemed a lot more cheerful and excited as they began to slowly decorate Ponyville with various kinds of decorations such as carved pumpkins, rubber bats and fake spider webs, and even various stalls and tents were starting to be set up. Curious as to what was going on, I decided to ask Spike about these developments during a trip to the library.

"Hey Spike? Do you know why ponies are setting up decorations and stalls? Is there a big even happening soon or something?" I asked.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I guess you wouldn't really know about this. Everyone's getting everything together for Nightmare Night!" the young dragon exclaimed.

"Nightmare Night?" I asked.

"Yeah! Nightmare Night is where everyone is able to dress up with costumes and have fun doing various activities one night every year. It's also a time of being scared and having fun being scared. The best part though, is that you can get a ton of candy by going to other ponies' homes!" Spike says with excitement.

"I guess that at least explains why everyone's putting up all of the decorations. And you said that it's a time for ponies to be scared and have fun being scared?" I asked.

"Yep. Like I said, Nightmare Night's one of the scariest times of the year. I plan on getting as much candy as I can!" Spike said.

A time where ponies are able to have fun and be scared and enjoy it? If ponies are getting scared then some of them may give off some fear that I can absorb to get stronger. I guess it wouldn't hurt to participate, I would be having fun while converting the fear the ponies around me are feeling into magic that I can use to become stronger. It was pretty much a win-win situation.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to join in." I said. "I guess I'll need a costume if I plan on enjoying everything Nightmare Night has to offer."

As such, after I left the library after a few small tests that Twilight had me do, I made my way to the Carousel Boutique to find Rarity. When I arrived, I found Rarity working on a costume in her workshop.

"Hey Rarity." I said to let her know I was here.

"Hello Null, it's good to see you. I'm sorry, but I can't really talk right now. Nightmare Night is one of the busiest times of the year for me as a lot of ponies tend to give me orders to make costumes. Thankfully, it doesn't seem that there are as many as last year, I ran out of a lot of materials before I was almost done." Rarity said while she was busy sewing.

"Oh, that's ok. I can come by later." I said.

"No, it's fine. What would you like to talk about dear?" Rarity asked.

"I was hoping you could maybe help me make myself a costume. I just heard about Nightmare Night, and I kind of want to join in." I said.

I saw Rarity begin to think over what I had just said, before turning to me and saying "Hmm, I suppose I could help you with making a costume. It was quite fun making your outfit, so I wouldn't mind making something else. Let me finish this real quick, and then we can talk about how you want your costume to look, ok?"

I agreed and waited for her to finish with the costume she was currently working on. It didn't take too long to finish either, so, once again, I found myself right beside Rarity as we began to design my costume. It took some trial and error because both of us had some trouble trying to figure out what sort of costume I wanted. Rarity wanted the costume to be somewhat cutesy in design, but I didn't really want that. I wanted the costume to have a sort of interesting theme about it, one that would make it stand out. Eventually, we both managed to agree on a design that worked perfectly, and Rarity said she would have the costume finished and delivered by the morning of Nightmare Night. And with that, I headed back to Fluttershy's house as I was now looking forward to Nightmare Night.

And so, the day of Nightmare Night arrived. I was pretty excited as I couldn't wait to go out and enjoy tonight, especially if the costume Rarity and I made had turned out perfectly. The box containing my costume arrived earlier today, and I opened it to make sure everything for the costume was in the box, which it was. Eventually, the sun began to dip below the horizon as the moon slowly moved up into the sky as day slowly turned to night, with me taking this as my cue to go put on my costume. Thankfully, Fluttershy allowed me to use her bathroom as long as I wanted so that I could properly put on my costume. Taking the box in with me and shutting the door, I took everything out of the box and once again made sure that everything that Rarity and I had made for this outfit was inside, before I began putting on my costume. It took a few minutes, but I was able to get everything on easily as I stared into my reflection in the mirror after I had finished putting everything on.

First off, the costume already had a similar design to my normal outfit, with the hood and cape and everything. However, that was were a lot of the similarities ended. First off was the hood, with the the main part being completely red instead of white that stopped at the silver rings around my ears, with the tips of the ear part of the hood being black. Instead of a scarf, a black cloth with a brown belt that had a silver buckle wrapped around my body. Attached to this belt was a small clip where a small bottle with a cork was held within a sort of holster, the bottle being filled with water. The cape itself was also completely black, with there being two silver buttons at the front so that it gave my cape the appearance of a sort of coat. A silver line ran across the bottom of the cape, with small silver lines running towards the top of the cape and disappearing under the cloth. The cape also had small pockets that were held shut by silver clips, with there also being holsters at these sides that also held bottles, though these had a somewhat rectangular shape, were empty, and were corked by a star shaped cork. Finally were two things, the first being the cloth on the bottom half of my body was red, but the front had a silver gear design on it. The opening of the hood also had a similar gear design lining the edge of the hood. The last thing was that a small silver chain hung from the end of the right ear part of the hood, with there being a small silver gear attached to the end of it.

After giving myself one last look over in the mirror, I was happy to find that the costume came out perfectly. Everything Rarity and I had designed, from the bottles and corks that I was sure she had trouble getting, to even the little chain hanging from the right ear of my hood, was exactly as how we made them to look. I would have to make sure to greatly thank her when I got to Ponyville.

Seeing as how I was finished putting on my costume, I left the bathroom and made my way back down the stairs where Fluttershy was waiting for me.

"Oh my, I love your costume Null. If you could remind me, what was it that you wanted to be again?" Fluttershy asked.

"I guess I kind of wanted the costume to resemble a sort of alchemist, though I decided to go with the gear design to make it a little more unique. Anyways, are you ready to head into town?" I asked.

Fluttershy's smile disappeared and was instead replaced with a small frown as she looked away from me. I could also begin to feel a small amount of sadness rise within her as well.

"I'm sorry Null. But, um, the thing is..." Fluttershy began saying, however she began to trail off as she got quite. After giving her a few seconds, I decided to ask what she meant.

"Is what?" I asked.

"The thing is, I don't really like Nightmare Night." Fluttershy admitted.

Now that right there sort of shocked me. Fluttershy, the mare I saw wrestle with a bear and win, was scared of other ponies wearing costumes and fake decorations being put up? Though, actually, living with Fluttershy these past few weeks has taught me that, even though she was quite caring and even brave when taking care of animals, she was somewhat skittish. Once, when I came back from the library one day, I found Fluttershy hiding under a blanket from a small spider that had managed to get inside.

"I don't like all of the scary costumes that some ponies wear, and I also don't like the decorations that are put up. Because of this, I usually stay here and wait until Nightmare Night is over. I'm sorry that I can't join you Null. I do hope you enjoy your first Nightmare Night, though." Fluttershy said.

"It's ok. I'll come back once I'm done having fun in town, you just stay here and do what you usually do on Nightmare Night." I said as I began to head out the door where a small pillowcase that Fluttershy was lending me sat next to the door. "I'll try to bring you back some candy as well."

"Thank you. I would appreciate that." Fluttershy said.

After grabbing the pillowcase and headed out the door, I made my way down the road under the light of the full moon. A few minutes later, and I eventually made it to Ponyville where it looked like the activities and fun were underway. I saw a few booths here and there selling various sweets, small attractions such as bobbing for apples and a game were you launched a pumpkin with a catapult at a target (I would have to try that one later), and everyone was dressed up in various costumes as I also saw small foals going around and getting candy.

Eventually, I made my way to the library as I hoped to join Spike and Twilight if they decided to go around town. I knocked on the door before Spike opened it and greeted me, already in his costume. His costume was that of a dragon costume, which I thought was a little redundant considering he was a dragon, but it looks like it was well made so I decided not to bring it up. The main part of the costume was a dark purple, with the underbelly being a bright green. There were spikes on the back and tail that were dark green, and it also had two horns at the top with there also being yellow eyes that had slited pupils.

"Hey Null! Glad you could make it! Nice, uh, potion brewer costume?" Spike said.

"You're pretty close, and thank you, I'm happy that it turned out so well." I said. "I assume we're waiting for Twilight?"

"Yeah. She's been up there for a while now. She needs to hurry up, I want to go and get some candy." Spike said, after which we both began to hear what sounded like the jingling of bells. Both of us turned to look at the stairs as Twilight slowly made her way down and reached us as she began to walk around, showing off her costume

Twilight's costume was pretty elaborate, as she was wearing a long cloak and somewhat pointy hat. The cloak itself had a somewhat constellation theme to it, as there were yellow stars and crescent moons on it, with the edges of the cloak having small golden bells. The hat also had a similar theme and design as the cloak, with there being a bell hanging from the tip of the hat. Finally, Twilight was wearing a fake beard that hung a couple of inches below her chin.

"Um, are you that one grandpa from the Ponyville Retirement Village?" Spike asked.

Twilight stopped walking around a turned towards the both of us. "What? No, I'm Star Swirl the Bearded." She said.

Spike gave a blank stare as I gave Twilight a look of confusion as the name did sound somewhat familiar, though I could not place why.

"One of the greatest spellcasters of pony history?" Twilight asked.

Both of us continued our looks, though I feel like I was on the verge of remembering where I heard that name.

"Spike, did you even read that book I gave you about obscure unicorn history?" Twilight asked, as it finally clicked for me. I remember were I heard the name Star Swirl the Bearded before, as I read it in one of the history books here in the library. More specifically, one Twilight brought out during our tests involving my magic. Essentially, from what I could gather, Star Swirl was a brilliant spellcaster who created a lot of powerful and useful spells that are often used today. He was quite well known during his time, but the book said that Star Swirl mysteriously disappeared one day without a trace. Some speculated he died of old age as he was somewhat old, others suspected that he went off on some sort of quest in the hopes of discovering new types of magic and spells, and there were a bunch of other theories as well. Regardless, he was considered a well respected figure in history.

"Well, um..." Spike began before knocking could be heard coming from the door. "I should probably go get that."

Spike took off for the door as Twilight let out a small sigh as she turned to me.

"Anyways, it's good to see you too, Null. I like your alchemist costume. I do like the gear theme you have for it." Twilight said.

"Thanks, I'm glad everyone like it." I said.

Spike eventually walked back to us. "Twilight, we have some trick-or-treaters at the door."

"Alright. Let's get them some candy and then we can head out, ok?" Twilight said. A bowl filled with a variety of different candy was held in Twilight's aura as we made our way to the door, where three fillies were dressed in various costumes as an old mare stood behind them. The mare in question had a light green coat, a white mane and tail that were both styled in a bun, a cutie mark that appeared to be some sort of pie, and an orange handkerchief around her neck that had apples on it. I recognized her as Granny Smith, who was Applejack's grandmother and, from what I remembered from Fluttershy, apparently was involved with Ponyville's founding. I've only seen her around Sweet Apple Acres every now and then when I visited, but I never had the chance to interact with her personally.

"Happy Nightmare Night everypony, I like all of your costumes. Happy Nightmare Night to you as well, Granny Smith." Twilight said.

"I should have been asleep five hours ago." Granny Smith replied.

As Twilight levitated the bowl in front of her, a small earth pony colt wriggled his way between two of the fillies and made made his way through before slightly tripping and getting back up. He had a white coat that had various light brown spots scattered about, and had a brown mane with a short tail. He was also wearing a pirate outfit, as he was wearing a red bandanna, some sort of black shirt, and an eyepatch with a skull on it covering his right eye. He also had a small toy sword in his mouth.

"Pipsqueak the pirate, at your service." The colt said as he introduced himself. "It's my very first Nightmare Night."

"Since you moved here from Trottingham?" Twilight asked.

"Nope, my very first Nightmare Night ever!" Pipsqueak responded.

Before Twilight could hand out the candy, Pinkie Pie suddenly appeared out of nowhere wearing a chicken costume, clucking a bit before she began talking.

"Enough chitchat! Time is candy!"

"Uh, Pinkie? Not to be rude or anything, but aren't you a little too old to be doing something like this." I asked.

"Too old for free candy?" Pinkie said before she began clucking a little more. "Never."

Sensing a little bit of annoyance from Twilight as she rolled her eye, she handed everyone, including me as well as she levitated a small piece of chocolate into my bag, a piece of candy and put it in their bags. Twilight moved her cloak around a bit so the bells would jingle, catching Pinkie's attention.

"Do you like it?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah! Great costume, Twilight, you make a fantastic weirdo clown!" Pinkie said before she began to walk off, only to come back and rapidly peck at the candy in the bowl before taking off. I had to hold back a laugh as I found the comment to be a little funny.

"A clown? Look at the borders on these robes. These were hoof-stitched!" Twilight said as she held up the end of her cloak.

"Don't think about it too much Twilight. Let's just go and have some fun!" I said as I began heading towards the main area with Spike close behind me. I saw Twilight roll her eyes again, albeit with a small smile, as she walked to catch up with us as we began heading out into town.

Before we decided to head towards the festivities and attractions that were set up, we decided that we would go around and get some candy. This was done via trick-or-treating, as we would knock on ponies' doors and they would give us a piece of candy. The candy we got was quite varied, from small pieces of candy corn, lollipops, to even chocolate bars. Eventually, once we had finished, we headed towards the festivities that were set up around the middle of town. Spike was struggling a bit to hold the basket he brought as it was overflowing with candy, while my pillowcase still had a bit to go before it became to heavy. All around us were ponies dressed up in different outfits, from different animals, characters from history and folklore that I learned about while going through Equestria's history, to even demons and angels. Though, all around me, I could sense small amounts of fear from the ponies as they jumped whenever one of their friends jumped out to scare them or they were scared from the fake decorations. Anyways, I could feel myself slowly becoming energized by just being here, and I was also excited to see what sort of attractions were set up around here. As we walked around, Twilight began to talk about how she was surprised no one knew who Star Swirl was, as the ponies who gave us candy also incorrectly guessed who her costume was based off of.

"Star Swirl the Bearded is only the most important and powerful sorcerer of the pre-classical era. He created more than two hundred spells, and he even has a shelf in the Canterlot library named after him. Maybe I should start up a pony group to teach ponies about history, I bet everypony would love it! Wouldn't you both?"

"I guess I would be interested. I am enjoying learning about the various myths and legends about Equestria, so I suppose it would be fun learning more about its history." I said.

"Thank you Null." Twilight said before she stopped, causing Spike to bump into her and drop his basket, causing a lot of the candy held within it to fall out. "Hey look, we're here already! Should we get something to eat?"

Twilight turned to both of us as Spike burped due to the candy he was eating. Twilight, for possibly the third time tonight, gave an eye roll as I sensed her being annoyed once again. Pretty soon, Pinkie Pie showed up once again as she held a bag filled to the brim with candy.

"Twilight, Null! Look at all this candy we got! Ah! Can you believe it?" Pinkie said before she began to once again rapidly peck at the candy in the bag before continuing. "Anyways, we just went to Cheerilee's house, and got a bunch of goodies from there. Didn't we, Pip?"

"Sure did!" Pipsqueak replied.

Pinkie Pie then began to talk more about the various houses her and the others visited and what kinds of candy they got from there. While she was talking, I began to notice a black cloud with what appeared to be a rainbow tail sticking out from behind it slowly move towards us and right above Pinkie. I saw Rainbow Dash in some sort of costume as she raised her hooves up, before bringing them back down onto the cloud. The result was a loud bolt of lightning striking the ground nearby as Pinkie let out a loud squawk as she and all of the foals took off in various directions. I began to hear laughing as I looked back up to see Rainbow Dash cackling like crazy. Her outfit appeared to be some sort of black and purple jumpsuit with yellow lightning bolts on it. She wore goggles over her eyes as well, with the rims being purple and the lens being the same yellow as the lightning bolts on her outfit.

"Rainbow Dash, that wasn't very nice." Twilight said to the still cackling pegasus. It took a bit, but eventually, Rainbow Dash was able to calm down enough to where she was able to talk.

"Lighten up, old-timer. This is the best night of the year for pranks! And besides, everypony likes being scared." Rainbow Dash said.

"Look what you did to Spike!" Twilight said as she pointed to Spike, who was currently choking on some of the candy he was eating.

"It's all in good fun." Rainbow Dash said before she turned and seemed to spot something nearby. "Oh! There's another group over there!" She then flew to the side of the cloud, and then began to push it towards who I assumed were her next victims.

We both looked back at Spike as he seemed to not be choking anymore, though it looked like he was incredibly drained. Seeing this, Twilight levitated Spike onto her back as we continued on. Not without hearing another thunderbolt go off nearby that was followed by more screams.

We eventually made it to what appeared to be an attraction for bobbing apples, as there was a large wooden tub filled with a light green liquid with apples floating within it. Applejack seemed to be the one who was running this attraction as she stood right next to it. Her costume appeared to be that of some sort of scarecrow, as she was wearing a sort of straw and patchwork outfit that had straw coming out of it in places, and instead of her normal hat, was wearing a straw one with a sunflower on the side.

"Happy Nightmare Night Applejack!" Twilight called out.

"Howdy you three! Nice costumes. With that beard, Twilight, Ah reckon you're some sorta country music singer. And Null, you like you're about to brew some kind a potion or somethin'." Applejack responded.

Twilight let out an annoyed grunt as I couldn't stop myself from chuckling as Spike also laughed as well. She turned to both of us and gave us an annoyed glare before turning back to Applejack as she began talking.

"While y'all are here, ya' feel like bobbin' for some apples?"

"I would, but unfortunately I can't." I said.

"Oh, right. Forgot about that whole thing where ya' don't have a mouth and can eat through you're skin. Honestly, that there is a little weird and creepy on its own." Applejack said.

While I did agree with her, I still had my other eye I hadn't shown anyone since I got here. That alone would probably freak out some of the residents and may even give them nightmares as well. It sure did freak me out when I first saw it and stared into it. Before I could dwell any further on it, I began to hear cheering and applauding coming from nearby. Looking over, I saw a crowd had gathered in front of a small stage where Ponyville's mayor, who I learned whose name was literally Mayor Mare, was dressed up in some sort of clown costume as she looked like she was about to address everyone. Curious as to what was happening, all of us joined in with the crowd.

"Thank you, everypony. And welcome to the Nightmare Night festival!" Mayor Mare exclaimed. This was met by more cheering coming from the ponies around us.

"Now, all the little ponies who have been out collecting sweets should follow our friend Zecora to hear the legend of... Nightmare Mooooon!" Mayor Mare continued before she began to laugh maniacally.

"Spooky voice might work better if she wasn't dressed like that." Spike said.

"Couldn't agree with you anymore on that." I said.

Turning our attention back to the stage, Mayor Mare raised her hoof and pointed towards one edge of the stage, where a greenish mist began to accumulate. Eventually, a figure walked out of the mist, revealing herself to be a zebra whose hair was let down and was covered in spiders, had golden rings around her neck as well as dangling on her ears, and wore a black cloak as well. I also heard about Zecora from Twilight when I asked her if anyone lived in the Everfree forest out of curiosity, with her telling me about Zecora. Supposedly, she lived in a sort of tree similar to Twilight, albeit on a much smaller scale, and brewed various concoctions that were often used as medicine to cure the effects caused by the various flora and fauna of the Everfree Forest. I was kind of surprised I never ran into her when I first arrived here, as Twilight also said the road to her house connected to the main road that ran through the Everfree. Though, if there was one thing that Twilight said about Zecora that was unique, was that she tended to rhyme a lot.

"Follow me, and very soon, you will all hear the tale, of Nightmare Moon." Zecora said as she began walking towards the Everfree Forest with the rest of us, mostly the various foals that were here, along with Pinkie Pie, following behind her. I myself was kind of curious about Nightmare Moon, as I had only just gotten to her chapter in the book Twilight let me borrow from the library about the various myths and legends of Equestria.

After a few minutes of walking, we eventually made it to the entrance of the Everfree Forest. For me, this would be the first time since I arrived here where I would be willingly going back into the forest. I wasn't really too keen on exploring it, as I was still a little bit creeped out by it even after I have gotten out of it. It didn't really help that I also both read and heard about the dangerous creatures that lived here, from powerful manticores that were possibly one of the apex predators of the forest, cockatrices that were able to turn creatures into stone, to even creatures such as timberwolves. The last of those three I found the most intriguing, as the book I read about them stated that timberwolves were the souls of canine animals that would wander around the forests they died in and would possess a tree that was close to where they died. This allowed them to keep on living, and also allowed them to reconstruct their bodies easily if they were taken down.

Anyways, we didn't really travel too deep into the Everfree Forest, as about maybe 5 or so minutes of traveling, we followed a road that split off of the main one that led to a big clearing. In the middle of said clearing, however, was a giant statue of a pony rearing up on its hind legs. As we got closer to the statue, I was able to make out a few features. These were that the statue seemed to be that of an alicorn as it had both wings and a large horn similar to that of Celestia's, the alicorn seemed to be wearing some sort of armor, and that the mane and tail of the alicorn seemed to have a similar flowing effect to Celestia's own mane and tail, albeit it wasn't moving due to it being made of stone. As we reached the statue, Zecora began to talk.

"Listen close, my little dears, I'll tell you where you got your fears of Nightmare Night, so dark and scary." She began as she held a pile of green dust and blew on it, scattering it and creating a greenish mist similar to the one she stepped out of back at the stage. "Of Nightmare Moon, who makes you wary."

The mist then rose up into the sky, creating a lifelike copy of the alicorn the statue was based off of. Looking down at us, it dove towards us and, upon hitting the ground, caused more of the green mist to surround us.

"Every year, we put on a disguise. To save ourselves, from her searching eyes." Zecora said, as I looked as an apparition of piercing white eyes and a mouth full of sharp teeth appeared behind a few foals. Noticing this, the foals began screaming as they ran away.

"But Nightmare Moon wants just one thing: to gobble up ponies in one quick swing!" Zecora continued, shortly followed by two more screams. Looking over, it appears that Pinkie Pie and Pipsqueak accidentally backed into each other and also startled each other.

Zecora then tossed more of the green dust into the air, allowing it to form a dense cloud of green mist. "Hungrily, she soars the sky. If she sees nopony, she passes by. So if she comes and all is clear, Equestria is safe another year!" While Zecora was saying this, the apparition of Nightmare Moon popped out of the mist and appeared to be searching for something. After looking around a little bit longer, the apparition flew up before its form dispersed back into the mist that also began to fade away.

"Uh, Miss Zecora..." I heard Pipsqueak say as he was right in front of Zecora. "If we wear costumes to hide from Nightmare Moon so she won't gobble us up, how come we still need to give her some of our candy?"

"A perfect question, my little friend." Zecora began as she pulled out more of the dust. "For Nightmare Moon you must not offend." As she finished, she once again blew the dust into the air, causing the apparition of Nightmare Moon to appear once more.

"Fill up her belly with a treat or two, so she won't return to come eat you!" Zecora said. This was followed by the apparition to lunge forward at the group with its mouth open, revealing its sharp teeth once more. It then bit down on us as it dispersed, causing the foals and Pinkie Pie to scream in terror.

"Quick! Everypony, dump some candy and get out of here!" Pinkie shouted as she began to dump some of her candy in front of the statue and was shortly followed by the foals doing the same thing.

I was somewhat enjoying what was happening, as the fear everyone was giving off was giving me a lot of energy. I was also somewhat intrigued by the mist Zecora was using to create those apparitions and was somehow even controlling them. Even though she wasn't a unicorn, was it possible that she was able to use magic? If not, then Twilight wasn't kidding about her being skilled in brewing potions and other things. However, this train of though wouldn't last much longer, as lightning suddenly began to strike. At first, I though Rainbow Dash had followed us in hopes of scaring everyone after the whole show explaining the story of Nightmare Moon, but a quick look up into the sky immediately proved that to be false. The wind began to rapidly pink up as I saw clouds begin to condense together and block out the night sky, only allowing the moon to remain visible. Then, a bright flash of light came from the moon itself as a silhouette of something in the sky began to rapidly descend. As it got closer, I was able to make out what appeared to be what I first assumed to be pegasi pulling some sort of carriage, only for me to be proven wrong as the ponies had bat wings instead of normal feathered wings that pegasi had. They were also wearing a mix of silver and black armor as well. There was also a hooded figure riding the carriage as well, though I wasn't able to get a good look as the carriage took off in the direction of Ponyville.

"It's Nightmare Moon! Everpony run!" Pinkie said as her and everyone, except Twilight, Spike, and I, took off running back towards Ponyville.

I turned towards Twilight, who had a look of concern on her face. "That doesn't look good. It looks like that carriage was heading for Ponyville." I said.

"Yeah. Come on, if we hurry we can catch up to it." Twilight said as she began running back towards the dirt trail as she levitated Spike onto her back. I began following her shortly after, as we ran, or floated in my case, as fast as we could back to Ponyville. It didn't take us long to catch up with the others as we made it back to Ponyville, with them screaming and panicking, causing the nearby residents to turn and look at them in confusion. However, their attention would then shift to the carriage overhead as it flew over Ponyville. Eventually, it reached where the area where the stage was from earlier, before coming to a halt and floated in the sky. As the three of us made it to where the carriage had stopped, we watched as the hooded figure riding the carriage hopped off and landed on the ground, causing a few nearby ponies to back away in fear. Once on the ground, the figure slowly removed the hood hiding their face, revealing them to be what I assumed was a unicorn, though one with a somewhat long horn. As they did this, I watched as all of the ponies around us slowly crouched down in what I assumed was them kneeling out of fear. I heard a gasp from next to me, and saw Twilight looking at the unicorn in awe.

"Princess Luna?!" Twilight said.

Wait, this was Princess Luna?! Celestia's sister who ruled along side her and was the one responsible for raising and lowering the moon?! Needless to say, I quickly turned back to the unicorn with my interest now being caught by her. I watched as Luna slowly began walking forward, and as she did, I saw the robe she was wearing transform into a swarm of bats that flew away as she spread out her wings as I was able to get a good look at her. Her fur and wings were dark blue in color, and her mane and tail were blue in color and also seemed to flow even though there was no wind. It was also similar to that of Celestia's as it had an ethereal look to it. Her cutie mark was that of what appeared to be a black cloud that I assumed to represent the night sky as there was a crescent moon in the middle of this cloud. She wore a black tiara and black regalia similar to that of Celestia, albeit in the middle of Luna's regalia was a crescent moon that was similar to her cutie mark. I watched as Luna approached one of the kneeling ponies who, upon seeing that she was in front of them, quickly covered their head in their front legs as I felt the ponies fear greatly rise. Seeing this, I saw Luna smile before she raised one of her front legs and began to talk. If there was one thing I could say about Luna's voice, it was this: loud and powerful. To the point where I had to cover my ears due to the sheer volume of the voice and struggled a bit not to be sent flying by the force of her voice.

"Citizens of Ponyville! We have graced your village with our presence, so that you might behold the real Princess of the Night! A creature of nightmares no longer, but instead, a pony who desires your love and admiration! Together, we shall change this dreadful celebration, into a bright and glorious feast!" Luna said, before thunder struck behind her, making her even more intimidating. I once again looked around as I expected to see Rainbow Dash nearby on her cloud and had just caused that bolt of lightning to strike. Unfortunately, I was proven wrong once more as I didn't see her.

I saw Pinkie Pie stand up nearby as she began to talk. "Did you hear that everypony? Nightmare Moon says she's gonna feast on us all! Everypony run!" Pinkie said as she and the foals near her began screaming and running off. This seemed to cause a chain reaction, as suddenly, literally everyone here got up and began running off in different directions as I felt everyone's fear skyrocket.

"What?" I heard Luna say as her voice was no longer as loud and forceful as it was earlier. "No, children, no! You no longer have reason to fear us! Screams of delight is what your princess desires, not screams of terror!" She said before turning to Mayor Mare and pointing a hoof at her. "Madame Mayor, thy Princess of the Night hath arrived."

Mayor Mare responded by gasping and then covering her face with her hooves in fear. Luna then proceeded to do the same thing with another pony next to Mayor Mare, only to get the exact same result. "What is the matter with you? Don't you see that we are nothing to fear?" Luna said. She once again began pointing to nearby ponies, and the result was the exact same: every time she pointed to a pony, they would gasp in fear and then cover their faces. I began to sense some annoyance coming from Luna as she huffed and continued speaking. "Very well then. Be that way. We won't even bother with the traditional royal farewell."

After saying this, I watched as Luna slowly began to walk away back towards the Everfree Forest. Once everyone made sure she was gone, the ponies around us slowly began to rise back up off of the ground and began to nervously talk about what had just occurred.

"I'm gonna go talk to her." Twilight said as she began to back towards where we had just come from, only for Spike to grab her cloak.

"You can't talk to her! She's Nightmare Moon!" Spike said as I felt the fear within him slowly grow.

"No, she's not." Twilight said as she pulled her cloak out of Spike's grip with her aura and resumed walking. "I saw the Elements of Harmony change her back to good. But it looks like she's having some trouble adjusting after being gone for a thousand years."

"Mind if I join you? Because I need some context as to what's going on." I asked.

"Of course. Come on Null, I think I know where she went. Stay here Spike, we'll be right back" Twilight said as she levitated me onto her back and we made our way back into the Everfree Forest.

Along the way, Twilight essentially gave me an abridged version of the legend of Nightmare Moon and how it related to Princess Luna. Turns out, after ruling over Equestria for such a long time with her sister, Luna slowly became jealous as no one seemed to appreciate or enjoy the hard work she put into making the night sky. As such, one day, Luna refused to lower the moon to allow Celestia to raise the sun as she wanted Equestria to experience a never-ending night, however, this jealousy transformed Luna into Nightmare Moon, the alicorn that was featured on the statue that I had seen earlier. This led to Celestia and Nightmare Moon fighting against each other, before Celestia used the Elements of Harmony to banish Nightmare Moon to the moon. Fast-forward a thousand years later, and Nightmare Moon was able to escape her banishment and kidnapped Celestia, once again plunging the world into an endless night. Twilight and the others then set out to find the Elements of Harmony and stop her, which they did. This resulted in Nightmare Moon turning back into Princess Luna who regretted everything she did, and was forgiven. After that, no one had heard or seen Luna for a long time. That is, until today.

As Twilight finished explaining everything to me, we arrived back at the clearing of the statue of Nightmare Moon and found Luna laying down in front of it while looking at the statue. I hopped down from Twilight's back as we approached her, with me sensing a little bit of sadness coming from Luna as I assumed she didn't like to be reminded of her past. I saw her head raise up in alarm as Twilight accidentally stepped on a stick, alerting Luna to our presence as she stood up and turned around to face us.

"Princess Luna? Hi, my name is-" Twilight began before she was interrupted by Luna.

"Star Swirl the Bearded. Commendable costume, thou even got the bells right." Luna said as she slowly approached us before looking at me. "And I assume thou is some sort of alchemist, judging by the many bottles thou has on thyself."

"Um, thanks. I had some help making this, and I'm quite proud of it." I said.

Twilight began to talk once again as she seemed deligthed. "Finally, somepony who gets my costume! Anyways, we just came to welcome you to our celebration! My actual name is-"

"Twilight Sparkle, and the being who my sister claims to be called Null." Luna began, before swapping to the loud voice she had used earlier as she began to slowly fly off the ground as clouds once again covered the sky as rough winds appeared once more. "Twilight Sparkle, it was thou who unleashed the powers of harmony upon us and took away our dark powers!"

"And that was a good thing, right?" Twilight questioned nervously.

"But of course." Luna began as she once again swapped back to a normal volume and everything also went back to normal. "We could not be happier. Was that not clear?" She asked.

"Kind of sounds like you were just yelling at her." I said.

Once again, Luna's volume went back to being loud. I questioned for a moment how her voice was not hoarse after doing all of this yelling. "But this is the traditional royal Canterlot voice! It is tradition to speak using the royal 'we', and to use this much volume when addressing our subjects!"

"That might sort of explain why everyone was scared of you when you showed up. If anyone as intimidating as you showed up somewhere and started yelling as loud as that, then yeah, the residents are probably going to fear you." I said.

"Then, how do we fix this?" Luna asked.

"How about just simply lowering your volume while talking?" Twilight suggested.

"We have been locked away for a thousand years. We are... not sure we can." Luna admitted sheepishly, as her volume returned to normal.

"We may know somepony who can help. Follow us." Twilight said as she began to walk back out of the clearing. Luna looked at me with a questioning look, though I simply did my best to shrug, kind of hard with not having shoulders, and the both of us followed Twilight out of the Everfree Forest and along the dirt path leading to Fluttershy's house. Eventually, the three of us made it to the lttle dirt bridge right in front of her cottage.

"Don't worry Princess Luna, Fluttershy can give you some great pointers. She's delicate and demure with the sweetest little voice." Twilight said as we approached the door.

"Um, actually Twilight. This may not be a good idea." I said.

"Why's that Null?" Twilight asked as she knocked on the door.

Coming from behind the door, Fluttershy's voice rang out and was the loudest I have ever heard Fluttershy speak. "Go away! No candy here! Visitors not welcome on Nightmare Night!"

After Fluttershy's yelling stopped, Twilight looked at me to explain what had just happened. "I tried to have Fluttershy join me for Nightmare Night earlier, but she said she's never really enjoyed it. As such, she told me that she was going to stay inside until Nightmare Night ends." I said.

"If that's the case, could you get Fluttershy to come out here? Even if for a few seconds?" Twilight asked me.

"I'll try, I guess." I said as I approached the door and knocked on it. "Fluttershy! It's me, Null and Twilight. We sort of need your help for something real quick!"

I heard a faint click as the door was now unlocked and opened a tiny bit. I saw Fluttershy peek out of the opening of the door filled with fear, though I felt her fear slowly disappear as she saw me and Twilight. "Oh, Null, Twilight. It's nice to see you two." Fluttershy said as she opened the door all the way and was now able to see Luna. "Nightmare Moon?!" Fluttershy yelled out as she slammed the door as I felt her fear return once more.

Twilight let out a nervous laugh as she turned to Luna. "Wait right here." I watched as Twilight opened the door and went inside before the sounds of various things being knocked into were heard before Twilight came back out, pushing Fluttershy in front of her.

"Fluttershy, you remember Princess Luna, don't you?" Twilight asked.

"Um, yes." Fluttershy said as I felt her fear was skyrocketing quickly.

Luna then began to speak loudly once again. "Twilight Sparkle hath spoken of the sweetness of thy voice. We ask thou teachest to us to speak as thou speakest."

Fluttershy let out a quiet "Ok." as she began to shrink away as her fear continued to rise. If I didn't do something, Fluttershy was probably going to lock herself in her house again.

"Fluttershy, everything's going to be fine." I reassured her as I went up to her. "I'll be right by you, ok?"

Fluttershy gave a small nod as my attempt to calm her down seemed to have worked a little as I felt her fear diminish a small amount. The next small bit was spent with Luna trying multiple times to find an appropriate volume for her voice, with the her volume slowly decreasing after every attempt. Eventually, Luna's voice was now at a normal volume as I felt Fluttershy's fear gradually fade away, not completely, but enough to where she wasn't going to bolt away in the next second.

"And... how about now?" Luna said as her voice was now a lot quieter than before and was at a somewhat normal volume.

"Sounds a lot better than before. What do you two think?" I asked Fluttershy and Twilight.

"It's, a lot better than before." Fluttershy responded sheepishly.

"I think it's perfect. Well done Princess Luna." Twilight said.

"I thank thee dear Fluttershy!" Luna said as her voice once again risked blowing out my eardrums. She then grabbed Fluttershy in her own aura, which was dark blue in coloration, and hugged her a little too hard as I saw Fluttershy have the wind knocked out of her. "Our normal speaking voice shall surely win us the hearts of thy fellow villagers!"

"You're, welcome." Fluttershy responded weakly.

It was at this moment that I heard a squawk from further down the path to Fluttershy's house, and saw Pinkie and the foals from earlier with her, looking towards Luna and Fluttershy with fear. "Ah! Nightmare Moon's stolen Fluttershy's voice so she can't scream when she gobbles her up! Everpony run!" Pinkie said as she and the foals ran back down the path.

"Nay children, wait!" Luna said before realizing she was still speaking loudly, before lowering her volume and trying again. "I mean, nay, children, wait."

"Dangit Pinkie." I said, somewhat annoyed. "Look's like we're going to need to find another way for ponies to not be intimidated by you."

"Don't worry you two. It's time for Plan B." Twilight said as she began walking back towards Ponyville. Before we followed her, however, Luna and I brought Fluttershy back inside the house and set her on the couch as she had passed out from earlier. Seeing how I didn't really need my pillowcase full of candy at the moment, I set it down beside the couch as well before the two of us ran back outside to catch up with Twilight.

We eventually made it back to Ponyville. More specifically, the area where all of the attractions of Nightmare Night were. As we passed everyone, they once again knelt down out of fear or tried to quickly move away from us as we approacjed. Upon noticing this, Luna let out a sad sigh.

"It is of no use you two. They have never liked us and they never shall."

"My friend Applejack is one of the most likable ponies around. I'm sure she'll have some ideas on how to help you fit in." Twilight said as we approached Applejack's attraction and watched as she saved Pipsqueak from falling into he tub before setting him on the ground. She then turned towards us as she heard us coming, and upon noticing Luna, quickly knelt in fear as we approached.

"Hey Applejack. We were hoping that you could maybe give Princess Luna here some advice on how to fit in. You know, to show that no one needs to be scared around her?" I asked.

"Really, 'fit in'?" Applejack asked, to which I gave a nod to. "Ah suppose ah can try and help y'all." Applejack said as she stood back up. "Well, fittin' in is pretty easy. All you gotta do is have the right attitude. Loosen up a bit, be positive, play a few games, have some fun." Applejack said as she led us towards what appeared to be a giant web set up between two pole with a basket of fake spiders nearby.

"Fun? What is this 'fun' thou speakest of?" Luna asked as she picked up one of the fake spiders. "Pray tell, what purpose do these serve?"

The pony who I assumed was running the attraction spoke up while kneeling down on the floor. "Try to land the sp-sp-spiders on the web."

We turned back to the net and watched Luna as she began to prepare to throw the spider she was holding. She then tossed the spider towards the net, only for it to land on the ground a few inches in front of it. Looking back towards us we all gave her our support as Twilight and Applejack cheered her on while I gave a thumbs up, which Luna probably didn't understand. She then turned back towards the net with another spider in her hoof and tossed it, the spider this time successfully landing in the middle of the web.

"Ha! Your princess enjoys this 'fun'! In what other ways may we experience it?" Luna asked.

Seeing this as an opportunity to try out the attraction I saw earlier, I led the three of us to the catapults that were launching pumpkins at targets. The pony running the attraction, who also knelt down in fear upon seeing Luna, explained that the way it worked was that you loaded up the pumpkins into the catapult and you needed to try and fire the pumpkins at the targets. Excited, I quickly loaded up a pumpkin into a nearby catapult before adjusting it to make sure that it would hit the target. Once I made sure I was confident on where it was aiming, I pulled the lever on the side of the catapult and watched as it sailed through the air and hit the target directly on the bulls eye. After that, it was Luna's turn as she levitated a pumpkin into her catapult and began adjusting it. Once she was confident that her catapult was lined up the way she wanted it, she pulled the lever and we all watched as the pumpkin sailed through the air and also hit the target on the bulls eye.

"Ha ha! The fun has been doubled!" Luna said in triumph. After which, the small crowd that had been gathering around us cheered as I saw they were finally warming up to her.

"Why don't you try bobbin' for apples? We got the best apples in Equestria here princess." Applejack asked.

"We would like that. And, I ask that thou call us... me... Luna, fair Applejack." Luna said before she turned towards the crowd around us. "Hear me, villagers! All of you may call me Luna!"

It looks like Luna had successfully managed to get everyone here in Ponyville to warm up to her. I could hardly feel any fear coming from the ponies around me as they all began to talk happily about Luna. However, all except one. Curious, I looked over and saw Luna was the one who I felt the fear coming from as she was looking towards something. Curious as to what it was, I followed her gaze and saw Pipsqueak, who had once again tried to bob for some apples, fall into the tub. Acting quickly, Luna immediately teleported to Pipsqueak and lifted him out of the tub by grabbing the back of his shirt with her teeth. That's when everything started to go wrong as I heard Pinkie and looked over to her as she was talking.

"Hey, has anypony seen Pip? We lost him the last time we had to run from–" Pinkie then let out another terrified squawk as she saw Luna holding Pipsqueak with her mouth.

"Pinkie, wait! It's not what it looks like-" I started to say before Pinkie screamed and interrupted me.

"Nightmare Moon is gobbling Pipsqueak! Everypony run!" Pinkie said as the foals that were with her also began to scream before they all began running in different directions. Noticing this, Luna set down Pipsqueak who ran off as she was now concerned.

"Tis a lie! Thy backside is whole and ungobbled, thou ungrateful whelp!" Luna said, once again, with lightning striking behind her. At this point I wasn't even going to try and see if Rainbow Dash was here as she probably wasn't. However, this unfortunately caused Luna to go back to being a little intimidating, as the crowd began to step away from her. Seeing this, I felt Luna begin to panic as she began to try and compose herself before turning back to the crowd.

"Fair villagers, please do not back away. Let us join together in... fun!" Luna then picked up a nearby spider that had come from the spider toss game and tossed it over to the crowd, who looked at it a bit awkwardly. "Not enough fun for you? What say you to this?!"

What followed next was Luna charging up magic in her horn before firing a beam at the plush spider. After the beam struck it and the light faded away, it was revealed that somehow, the spider had turned into that of a real one that quickly began scuttling about. This caused everyone nearby to begin to panic and scream as they backed away from the spider. Unfortunately, this wouldn't prove effective as Luna shot another beam towards a basket filled with more of the fake spiders and turned them real. Everything descended into chaos after this as everyone began panicking and running around to avoid the spiders. Some were not lucky as the spiders crawled onto some of the ponies, causing them to freak out even more. All throughout the area, ponies were running into each other, trampling some of the decorations, and even knocking into some of the attractions. All the while, Luna was panicking as well, trying to calm down everyone around us.

"Please, do not run away!" A pony crashed into a barrel of apples, spilling them all over the ground.

"As your princess, we command you!" Two ponies crashed into each other as another ran into a stand. Poles that were set up around the place were falling down as ponies climbed them to avoid the spiders. I began to feel Luna's anger begin to rise as the chaos around us continued.

Luna raised her hoof to the sky and, as lightning struck behind her, went back to her loud and booming voice. "Be still!"

Everyone around us stopped and turned towards Luna as I felt the fear within them begin to rise. Slowly, all of them began to kneel down out of fear once again.

"Luna, calm down! We worked together to fix the screaming, remember?" I said before Luna turned to look at me and I jumped back a little. Her eyes were now shining with an ethereal white light as her mane rose up behind her and the amount of power she was giving off was causing me to shudder.

"We shall not, Null! We must use the traditional royal Canterlot voice for what we are about to say." Luna said as she began to rise into the air as the wind picked up as clouds began to swirl in the sky like before, only leaving the moon visible. "Since you choose to fear your princess rather than love her, and dishonor her with this insulting celebration, we decree that Nightmare Night shall be canceled! Forever!" This was followed by more thunder striking as the ponies around us began to rapidly talk about what Luna had just announced. Then Luna flew off towards the Everfree Forest, leaving everyone around to process what had just happened.

Applejack let out a sad sigh as she began to speak. "Shoot. We had everything goin' our way. Luna was happy, everypony in town was happy. Now, look at 'em."

I didn't need to feel negative emotions to know that everyone was upset at what had happened. Several ponies were consoling others as possibly their favorite night of the year had been ruined for them. The foals were especially upset, as several of them were crying and saying that they were looking forward next year. I myself was kind of disappointed, I had been looking forward to this day for a while now, and it was ending with the possibility of it never being allowed to be held ever again. I needed to fix this.

"Twilight, Applejack." I said as the two ponies in question turned to me. "I'm gonna go talk to Luna and see if I can convince her to allow Nightmare Night to keep happening. If that fails, start helping ponies fix the decorations that were knocked over, as if this is the last Nightmare Night, make sure that it ends on a good note. If I do succeed, make sure Pinkie doesn't cause everyone to freak out again if I bring Luna back."

They both nodded to me as we went our separate ways. Twilight and Applejack going around while helping to restore the decorations and attractions that were messed up in the chaos, while I made my way to where I saw Luna fly towards. I had a pretty good idea as to where she went to.

Looks like I was right.

It didn't take me long to make it back to the Nightmare Moon statue, considering I had now walked the path that led to it twice now. When I arrived, I found Luna sitting down on a nearby boulder that was at the edge of the clearing, a little bit away from the entrance to the clearing. She was directly facing the statue, so she didn't notice me coming to her until I spoke up.

"You ok Luna?" I asked.

Luna jumped a bit as she turned and found me right by her. Sighing, I could feel the sadness she was feeling as she began speaking. "While I thank thee for thy concern, though I am afraid that I am not doing well."

I hovered over to her and sat myself down on an empty space next to where Luna was sitting. Well, it was more like me floating my body down onto the the surface of the rock. "You wanna talk about it?"

She looked over to me and sighed once more. "I suppose. You see, I have been staying within the castle for a few months now. Ever since dear Twilight and her friends freed me from the form that I took all those years ago..." Luna said as she pointed towards the statue. "I have been hoping to stay away from my subjects for the time being. I wasn't too sure as to what they thought of me, even after all this time. My sister kept insisting that I go out and interact with my subjects, but I insisted that I stay within the castle. That is, until today. Celestia told me that I needed to go out tonight and have fun with my subjects, insisting that I would enjoy the festivities here in Ponyville. However, it seems as though everypony is still afraid of me. It certainly doesn't help that they constantly remind me of the part of my past that I wish to forget."

I could sort of see that. Back in the day, before I was placed on Landia's head so that she could guard me, everyone both feared and wanted the power of the Master Crown. Countless times someone would place me on their heads and use me for purposes both good and evil, only for me to take over in the end and wreak havoc on my surroundings. I guess it sort of came with the territory of being a part of a powerful and cursed artifact of infinite power.

"I guess I can sort of understand that." I said as Luna turned to me. "You were hoping to see that, after all of this time, that everyone would accept you as who you were, and not just as some being that terrified everyone in the past. Um... No offense." I quickly said as Luna began to glare at me on that last part.

"None taken." She said as I continued.

"Regardless, you see everyone there in Ponyville celebrating your past as a sort of celebration and not just them celebrating who you are now. I guess it doesn't help that this today is supposed to be a day where everyone can have fun being scared... Wait a second."

The realization hit me so hard and fast it was as though a brick had been thrown at me. The same realization was also part of the reason I was so excited to celebrate Nightmare Night as well. I thought back to what Rainbow Dash had said earlier when she was scaring everyone with that cloud.

"Lighten up, old-timer. This is the best night of the year for pranks! And besides, everypony likes being scared."

Everyone likes being scared.

"That's it!" I said as I hopped down from where I was sitting with Luna looking at me curiously.

"What is?" Luna said as I turned back around at look at her.

"Nightmare Night is a day where evereryone comes together to celebrate sure. But it's also a night where everyone has fun scaring others and being scared. They weren't truly terrified of you, they were having fun being scared by you!" I said.

"That, does not make any sense. How is me scaring my subjects considered 'fun'?" Luna said as she looked to be even more confused.

"I'll explain more while were heading to Ponyville. I have a plan, but it's going to involve both of us, and you bringing back your past a little bit." I said, waving Luna to come with me. Deciding that she had no other choice, she hopped down from the rock she was sitting on as we headed back to Ponyville.

It was about time that I saw what my third eye was capable of. And if it was anything like when I first looked into it, then this should go perfectly.

Once we got back to Ponyville and met up with Twilight, she told that she had the same revelation I had when she found Pinkie and tried to stop her from freaking out. She apparently did this by making a literal candy trail into an alley where she cornered Pinkie and talked to her. Nevertheless, I told Twilight and Luna about my plan and Twilight thought it was a pretty good idea. However, Luna still remained somewhat skeptical about the whole thing. After going over the plan, it was agreed that Luna and I would head back to the Nightmare Moon statue while Twilight and Applejack would lead the foals to us so that we could carry out our part of the plan. About roughly thirty minutes later, and Luna and I were in position.

It had taken a bit of force, most of the work being done by Luna, but we had managed to move the alicorn part of the statue into the nearby foliage, leaving only the base of the statue. Luna then stood up onto the platform and managed to cast an illusion that would make it seem as though the statue was still there, while Luna was within the illusion, ready to play her part of the plan. I myself was hiding to the side of the statue a little bit into the forest. By taking off my costume, I was able to effectively blend in with the darkness the trees provided. Now, all we had to do was wait.

Thankfully we didn't have to wait long, as Twilight, Applejack, and a lot of foals that had been here earlier were walking into the clearing. Eventually, they made it in front of the statue and began placing candy down in front of it, possibly as their way of saying goodbye to this holiday. Pipsqueak was the last of the group to place down some candy as he walked forward and placed possible have of his bag onto the growing pile of candy.

"Goodbye, Nightmare Night. Forever." Pipsqueak said sadly as he began to turn away. However, he immediately stopped as the wind in the clearing picked up immensely as Luna's loud voice echoed around everyone.

"Citizens of Ponyville! You were wise to bring this candy to me. I am pleased with your offering. So pleased that I may just eat it... instead of eating you!" The illusion of the statue faded away as, in its place, was Luna disguising herself to be that of the actual Nightmare Moon. Looking exactly like the statue, the illusion's fur was black in coloration, with its mane and tail being the same as Luna's. It was wearing some sort of light blue armor that covered its body, and the illusion had sharp fangs as its eyes were glowing white. With Luna making herself known, I felt the fear of everyone in the group, except Twilight and Luna, begin to rapidly rise as Luna continued with the next part.

"However, I feel as though you shouldn't be let off that easy, as you celebrate and make a mockery of me on this fearful of nights. As such, I feel as though I should leave you all to the mercy of my most feared and vicious creation." Luna said.

Now, it was my turn. Quickly rustling some of the bushes and leaves nearby me by rolling through them, I managed to drag everyone's attention away from Luna as they looked over in my direction as I could feel their fear continue to build. Once I made sure to close my eyes to make sure as to not give away as to who I was, I slowly began floating up a few feet off of the ground until I was level with some of the lowest branches of the trees, thanking that my body was perfectly camouflaged with the darkness around me.

Then, I opened my third eye.

The reaction was immediate. I felt the fear and anxiety of almost everyone within the clearing rise to the point that I almost thought they were going to have a heart attack. I simply assumed that, from their point of view, there was only a massive red eye peering at them from the forest that they could only assume belonged to some sort of unspeakable horror that lurked within the darkness. After what was possibly roughly ten seconds of nothing but deafening silence, the wind howled through the air. This seemed to snap everyone out of their fear induced paralysis as they all started screaming like crazy and ran out of the clearing, leaving only Luna, Twilight, and myself. Once everyone was out of sight, the illusion faded as Luna was now standing in its place, spitting out a pair of fake fangs she had to wear as Twilight walked up to her. As fast as I could, I quickly put back on my costume as soon as the last ponies were out of sight, and joined them as well.

"Twilight Sparkle, Null, I do not think that what we had just done was the right thing to do." Luna said as she still was questionable about the plan.

"I'm sure it did, just give it a few seconds. Regardless, how did you do that Null? It was only an eye staring at us from the darkness, but I felt like my heart was going to stop." Twilight said as she looked at me.

Thinking fast as I didn't want to reveal my third eye, at least not yet, I said the first logical thing that came to my mind. "Um, you see, all it was was just me making a cardboard eye and using glow in the dark paint to allow it to be easily seen. The rest was done by everyone's imagination as their mind raced as to what sort of creature they could come up with that would have an eye like that. And with me rustling all of that foliage, they could only assume it was something big."

"Well, regardless, I still don't think your plan worked." Luna said.

"Just give it a couple of more seconds." I said.

"A couple of... Hm?" Luna said as she looked down and saw Pipsqueak lightly tugging on her mane.

"Um... Princess Luna. I know there's not gonna be any more Nightmare Nights, but do you suppose maybe you could come back next year and scare us again anyway?" Pipsqueak asked Luna.

" Art thou saying that thou... likest me to scare you?" Luna asked.

"Hmhm. It's fun. Scary, but definitely fun!" Pipsqueak said while nodding.

"It... is?" Luna said.

"Yeah! Nightmare Night is my favorite night of the year!" Pipsqueak said.

"Well then, I suppose we will just have to..." Luna began as she swapped back to being loud. "Bring Nightmare Night back!"

Pipsqueak was pushed away a few feet due to the force of Luna's voice, though he had stars in his eyes nonetheless. "Whoa! You're my favorite princess ever! Hey everyone! She said yes!" Pipsqueak said as he ran back to the group of foals who had also came back.

"See? In the end, it was all about having fun while being scared. Even if you made a somewhat awkward first impression, I can confidently say that you have at least one fan who supports you." I said while looking at Luna.

Luna looked towards the foals all talking happily among themselves and what they might want to be the next Nightmare Night. As they did, I saw a smile form as Luna looked happily at her subjects.

The rest of the night was filled with fun and festivities as Twilight and Applejack had managed to help set up and fix everything that was knocked over and ruined during the chaos from earlier. Everyone was having fun enjoying the night while it was still going as everyone, including Luna, were enjoying everything that tonight offered. Luna also took some time to scare a couple of ponies here and there, whether it be placing a fake spider on someone's head or jumping out of the tub used for bobbing apples to scare anyone who put attempted to get an apple. She was also given the pile of sweets that the foals had put in front of the Nightmare Night statue that we put back up after our plan had been carried out. She was definitely happy about all of the candy she now had.

I myself, managed to get some revenge on my own. I once again took off my costume once I saw Rainbow Dash scaring people with her thundercloud and then quickly floated into the cloud with Rainbow Dash being unaware of my presence. Right as she was about to hit the cloud and scare Twilight, Spike, and Luna who were just under us, I quickly poked my face out of the cloud and opened my third eye. Immediately upon seeing it, Rainbow Dash stopped dead in her tracks as we stared at each other for a few seconds, before she screamed for her life and flew back to town. Popping back out of the cloud, I turned back towards the group on the ground as we all began laughing at what I had just pulled.

Eventually, once it started to get late, everyone began heading back home to either tuck in the foals for bed or to simply relax for the rest of the night. Making it back to Fluttershy's house, I found that she had woken up sometime after I had left, with her leaving a note on the couch saying that she simply went to bed a little bit early. Feeling tired myself, I took off my costume and exchanged it for my normal outfit as I settled in myself as I went over everything that happened tonight. Thanks to the fear everyone had given off tonight, I felt the magic within me greatly increase. While not enough to use anything other than levitation, I could tell that I was definitely close to being able to use something new. I had met Princess Luna who was just someone who felt out of touch with the current time. It was nice to get to know her a little, and I felt like we definitely established some trust between each other.

Finally, there was my third eye. The theories I had as to what my third eye was capable had been proven earlier tonight. To put it simply, any living thing that looked into it would succumb to immense feelings of fear and anxiety, stopping whatever they were doing once they began looking into it. This meant a few things, mainly that if I ever needed to get energy quickly, all I would have to do was simply open my eye and the fear that was given off by those who looked into it would allow me to absorb it and convert it into energy. Unfortunately, I couldn't really just go around and have everyone around me look into it. I did promise Celestia that I wouldn't harm anyone, and I guess forcing ponies to look into my eye could potentially cause me to harm them mentally.

Anyways, I guess I now had a way to sort of defend myself if I ever found myself being threatened by anything or anyone. And all it would take was me just simply opening my third eye.

Author's Note

Sorry this chapter took somewhat longer than usual to come out. I have been busy the past couple of days with a few things, and unfortunately, like last time, a part of the chapter didn't save correctly. Thankfully, it wasn't as much as last time, so it was an easy fix. But yeah, Null finally encounters the second of the two rulers of Equestria, and they sort of get along decently. I also tried to find a decent picture of the Nightmare Night statue and the clearing, but unfortunately, I couldn't find one for the life of me. Regardless, Null finally uses his third eye after all this time. I tried to allude to what it was able to do back when it was first revealed, essentially causing those who look into it to be filled with an immense amount of dread and fear, and felt that this was a good chapter to see it being used. Also, fun fact: Null's costume is actually based off of a steampunk design Magolor has as part of the Kirby's Dreamy Gear collection. Here's the design I based the costume on:

Anyways, the next chapter won't be as late as this one, and I'm kind of excited to write it. It will be somewhat different than this one and the previous one, but I'm hoping to do some world building with it. See you all in the next chapter.

Chapter 6: Field Trip to Canterlot

Over the course of the next while, a few interesting things happened here and there, but nothing too major that would warrant anything dangerous. The first thing was some sort of event known as the "Sisterhooves Social", where teams of sisters from around Ponyville would team up together to win a competition. During this, apparently Rarity and her little sister Sweetie Belle, who I remembered as one of the fillies back during the "Want It Need It" incident, apparently got into some sort of fight which caused Sweetie Belle to try and participate in the Sisterhooves Social with Applejack. To make amends with her, Rarity apparently disguised herself as Applejack and swapped places with her halfway during the event so that the two would compete together. In the end, while they didn't win, the both of them did manage to make up with each other at the end.

After that was another event involving another of the three fillies, Applejack's sister Apple Bloom. From what I heard, Apple Bloom, along with her friends, were obsessed with getting their cutie marks and, in desperation, went to Zecora to see if she could help. The help Zecora gave, sort of worked. It involved some sort of plant called the "Heart's Desire" which allowed those that drank an elixir made from it to have their innermost desires come true. Apple Bloom drank it, and the next day, had a cutie mark. But, this would quickly escalate from being something good into something chaotic, as Apple Bloom's body began to be slowly covered by cutie marks as she began doing the various things that each cutie mark represented. I think I even saw her once lifting a 1,000 pound weight in the middle of town, which did unnerve me a bit. Thankfully it was quickly solved and Applebloom apparently learned a lesson about being patient.

The most recent thing was something I did not expect to end up becoming as crazy as it did: Rainbow Dash getting a pet. Rainbow Dash saw as everyone except her had a pet and decided that she wanted one. Now, this could have been probably as simple as Rainbow going to a pet store or going to Fluttershy to help with finding one, right? Well, kind of. Rainbow Dash did go to Fluttershy for help, but it ended up with Rainbow having a lot of different animals race with her through a dangerous gorge that obviously wasn't safe for either her or the animals. And while Rainbow Dash did get injured, she was saved by a turtle that carried her to the finish line, with said turtle being the pet Rainbow Dash chose to be her own. She named him Tank, and even got some help from Twilight so that Tank could fly around with her via a propeller attached to his shell.

Anyways, today was nothing really special as everything was somewhat peaceful. I was currently just going around town to see if anything interesting was going on as I had gotten a little bit bored earlier and wanted to take a break from being in the library for the past long while. I was currently in the middle of the market and had floated on top of a nearby roof, sitting down and watching all of the residents of Ponyville do their shopping. It was kind of relaxing, in a way. The weather was also somewhat peaceful as well considering it was currently the latter end of autumn. The temperature was pretty warm as a slight breeze blew through Ponyville that combined together caused me to become a little bit sleepy. As I was just about to close my eyes and take a nap, I noticed a specific pony walking through the market as I felt a lot of anxiety coming from her.

I recognized the mare, as I had seen her and even talked to her on a few occasions. Her name was Cheerilee, an earth pon with a raspberry coat and a pink and white mane and tail, with her cutie mark being that of three flowers. She worked at the schoolhouse here in Ponyville and taught the younger foals. She was known, as her name suggested, to be quite cheerful and kind. So I was somewhat confused as to why she was so anxious about something. Curious, I floated down from my perch and approached her.

"Good afternoon Cheerilee." I said as I approached her.

"Oh, why good afternoon to you too Null. It's nice to see you." She responded back.

"Nice to see you too. Is everything alright, I've never really seen you be this upset before?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm afraid that I'm currently in a sort of dilemma at the moment. You see, I'm suppose to take my class on a small trip to Canterlot tomorrow as a sort of reward for how well everpony has been doing recently. But, I'm afraid I might have to cancel it." Cheerilee said.

"And why's that?" I asked.

"Well, a chaperone that had volunteered was supposed to come along on the field trip with us. But, I just heard that they wouldn't be able to make it as they had caught a fever that might last for the next few days. And considering how big Canterlot is, I'm not really comfortable with me being the only adult to supervise the students and have one of them wander off without me knowing. I don't know what to do, everypony has been looking forward to this trip for a while now, and I don't really have the heart to tell them that it's been canceled last minute." Cheerilee said as she let out a sad sigh.

This caught my interest. So far, ever since I arrived in this world, I've only really ever been around Ponyville and have only slightly gone into the Everfree Forest. I've read up on Canterlot as well, and from what I've read about it, it was apparently Equestria's capital as a lot of nobles and high ranking members of society lived there. Not to mention that both Celestia and Luna both ruled from Canterlot as well. To put it simply, I was kind of interested to go there, and I could kill two birds with one stone at the same time with the idea that was currently forming in my head.

"Hey Cheerilee. Is it possible for me to stand in as a chaperone?" I asked.

"What? You mean, you want to help watch over the students with me while we're in Canterlot?" Cheerilee asked.

"Pretty much. The thing is, I've sort of been interested in visiting for a while now. And it's not like I've got anything important going on for the next while, so I'm fine with helping out." I said.

I felt myself being yanked as Cheerilee hugged me as the anxiety I had felt from her had disappeared. "Oh, thank you Null! You don't know how much you made my day, and possibly the students' as well."

"No problem." I said as the hug began to get painful. "Could you, maybe put me down now?"

"Oops. Sorry about that." Cheerilee said as she let go of me. "Since you will be helping with chaperoning, all you need to know is that you have to be at the train station by about 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, as it takes roughly an hour for the train to arrive at Canterlot from here. After that, we will mostly just go around Canterlot and do a few things that the city has to offer."

"Really? You don't need me to come to the schoolhouse or anything?" I asked.

"Not really. The plan with the original chaperone was to meet them at the train station anyway. Now then, I must get going. I have a field trip to finalize after all." Cheerilee said.

We both said goodbye to each other as she went in the direction of what I assumed where the schoolhouse was. With nothing better to do I resumed going around town, though a few things did happen involving Rainbow Dash. Mostly her rescuing a filly from a well, saving a baby in a runaway stroller, and just saving a few ponies in general. Though I think this was feeding her ego a little bit too much, as she began boasting about how great she was. Later, a sort of event was held as she continued boasting about how great she was as she gave out autographs and took pictures with a lot of foals that had become her fans. Regardless, after it was all said and done, I headed back to Fluttershy's house and told her what I would be doing tomorrow. She was surprisingly ok with this, as she said that her and the others were going to be busy tomorrow as well. I decided to not ask too many questions as I tucked in for the night and got everything ready for the trip tomorrow.

"Are you sure you have everything you need?" Fluttershy asked.

It was about 7:30 in the morning as Fluttershy and I were currently in the living room. I had gotten together a small knapsack that I had put together the previous night that was filled with a few things for the trip. Said things mostly included a few bottles of water, the book about the legends of Equestria that Twilight was still letting me borrow as I was almost finished with it, and a map of Canterlot that Twilight had given me when I told her about what I was doing today. The knapsack itself was tied around my body and hung down from my back as my scarf laid over it.

"Yep. I got everything right here." I said.

"Ok, but take this just in case you need to get something in Canterlot." Fluttershy said as she handed me a small bag that made a slight jingling sound as she handed it to me.

"Fluttershy, you don't really need to give me these." I said.

"Take it just in case." Fluttershy insisted.

"Ok then." I said as I put the bag into my hood. I found that for small things like this bag fit inside the hood of my outfit, allowing me to store them quite easily. Anyways, I suppose it was better to have something and not need to use it than needing to use something but not have it.

"Now then, you be careful while in Canterlot. And make sure to stay with Cheerilee just in case you get lost." Fluttershy said.

"Don't worry, I will." I said as I began to head out the door. "I'll see you when I get back."

Fluttershy gave me a soft smile as I exited her house and began making my way to the train station. Considering how it was on the opposite side of town, I needed to make sure I had plenty of time to get there, otherwise I would miss the train. Thankfully, it was an easy trek through Ponyville as I begin to see the residents walking about as they started their everyday lives. Some time later, and I had finally managed to make it to the train station with a few minutes to spare before Cheerilee and her students got here. The train station itself was not really all that big, as it was only really just a platform that allowed those riding the train to easily get on or off. The actual ticket counter was connected to a small building that was located right next to the platform as well, though there currently wasn't anyone there at the moment. I decided to sit on a nearby bench and wait for the others to show up. Thankfully, this didn't take long as a few short minutes later, I spotted Cheerilee and roughly a dozen students following her, a few of which I immediately recognized. These being that of Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Pipsqueak who were apparently talking to one another about something. Though, two faces that I was definitely not expecting to see were that of Snips and Snails, the two unicorns hanging towards the back of the group. Other than those six, the rest of the students were walking with Cheerilee included that of a pink earth pony filly that appeared to wear a tiara on her head with her cutie mark also being that of a tiara, a gray earth pony filly wearing light blue glasses whose cutie mark appeared to be some sort of spoon, a brown earth pony colt wearing a propeller hat, a small pegasus colt with a cream colored coat, an earth pony filly with a red curly mane and tail who was wearing purple glasses and whose cutie mark appeared to be that of two candy canes making a heart, and a lilac unicorn filly with a blonde mane and tail. As they got closer, I got up from the bench I was on and made my way towards them. As I approached, a lot of the foals looked up and watched as I approached them, though Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Pipsqueak seemed to recognize me as the others just simply stared at me in curiosity. It also seems as though Snips and Snails didn't recognize me either.

"Ah, Null! It's good to see you. Once again, I am so happy that you were able to volunteer to help chaperone for this trip." Cheerilee said as she greeted me.

"Chaperone? Ms. Cheerilee, I thought you said that Dinky Doo's mom was going to be our chaperone?" The brown earth pony colt said.

"Mommy wasn't able to. She got sick a couple of days ago and that she wasn't going to get better in time for the trip. It's also why mommy hasn't been able to deliver any mail recently as well. I also thought that we weren't going to be able to go because of this." The lilac unicorn filly, who I guessed was Dinky Doo, said.

"You are both right, Button Mash, Dinky Doo. While Ditzy Doo wasn't well enough to help chaperone, Null here volunteered to chaperone in her stead." Cheerilee said.

"Really? How's an egg like that going to help keep an eye on all of us?" The earth pony wearing the tiara said.

Egg? I guess all of the white of my outfit made me look like one, but if it was supposed to be an insult or something it didn't really work.

"You leave him alone Diamond Tiara. If it wasn't for Null, then we wouldn't have Nightmare Night." Sweetie Belle said, which was followed by Scootaloo and Apple Bloom saying "Yeah!". Looks like the word about me helping and saving Nightmare Night had gotten around fast.

"And why should we listen to a couple of blank flanks like you all?" Diamond Tiara said.

This immediately seemed to strike a nerve with the four of them except for Pipsqueak, as I sensed a little bit of sadness come from them as they looked towards their flanks. Knowing how those three were obsessed with getting their cutie marks, I could tell this upset them quite a bit.

"Now everypony, let's not start fighting, ok? Besides, the train is just now arriving." Cheerilee said as she got between the the foals.

True to what Cheerilee had said, I heard a train whistle blow as I turned and looked to see the train coming down the tracks. The main engine of the train itself was pink in color and seemed to have a sort of heart theme to it. Behind it were a few cars that stretched behind it. Once it reached the platform, the doors that were in between the spaces of the cars opened as their passengers slowly got out and got onto the platform.

"Alright, everypony on the train. We don't want to be left behind now, do we?" Cheerilee said as all of us made our way towards the train. Cheerilee explained how the school board agreed to pay for this trip, mostly including that of a few things that we were supposed to do in Canterlot as well as paying for everyone's tickets. We then entered a car that was somewhat close to the front, and I had to say, it definitely looked comfortable. Multiple cushioned seats lined the sides of the car, with each pair of seats facing each other having a window right beside them, allowing the car's passengers to view the passing landscape. It appeared that we had the whole car to ourselves, as everyone made their way to different seats and began to get cozy for when the train began to head to Canterlot. I was about to sit in an empty seat before I saw Scootaloo waving to me as she was sitting with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. Deciding to sit down next to the three fillies, I made my way over to them and sat right beside the window as they sat across from me.

"So, do you girls need something?" I asked.

"Well, we want to know about the thing that saved Nightmare Night!" Scootaloo said.

"Yeah, and we were curious about ya as well ever since we first saw ya take that doll from Twilight." Apple Bloom said.

"Hmhm. My sister says that you showed up when Discord was causing trouble for everyone, and that you came from the Everfree Forest. Is this really true?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Well, I guess I did come from there." I said. It definitely seemed as though these three fillies had a lot of questions for me, so I suppose it wouldn't hurt to answer them.

"What's it like? Ah've only been as far as Zecora's house, but even then it was quite scary." Apple Bloom said.

"Don't forget about that time we ran into that cockatrice." Scootaloo said.

"Don't remind me. If Fluttershy hadn't found us and stared it down, we would have been turned to stone." Sweetie Belle said.

I remember reading about a cockatrice. It was apparently a creature with the head of a chicken that had a somewhat reptilian body whose gaze could turn those that looked into it to stone. Once again, I had even more reasons as to not make Fluttershy mad. As we kept talking about various things, I felt the cabin we were in lurch forward as the train began to move. Looking out the window, I saw the landscape outside slowly begin to pass us as we made our way towards Canterlot. At least with me talking with these three, the trip might pass by quickly.

"Wait, so you haven't been around the Everfree Forest that much?" Sweetie Belle said.

"Not really. All I remember was waking up in a small clearing within the woods and just wandering around before I made it to Ponyville." I said.

It had roughly been about an hour since we left the train station, and the four of us have been talking the whole time. Well, mostly the three fillies in front of me. They explained how they established a small group known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders that appeared to be only made up of the three of them and that they essentially talked about how they were doing various things to try and get their cutie marks, and they listed off a bunch of stuff they have already tried. From simple things such as baking and and drawing to even putting on a play that they said turned out somewhat decently. I myself kept to my usual thing of not telling the whole truth when explaining how I ended up in the Everfree Forest. It was just as simple as me saying that I just woke up there, and they believed me. They did try to ask if I was anywhere before ending up in the Everfree, to which I simply said that it wasn't really a place all that interesting. A total lie, of course, as I assumed they would have been amazed by everything outside of this world. For me however, while I was interested in some of the things floating in the in-between of dimensions after finding that altar, a lot of my time was spent on Halcandra surrounded by nothing but fiery wastelands and volcanoes that Landia would visit every now and then. Though, there were the rare times that Landia would visit a locale on Halcandra known as Egg Engines, which was pretty much a rundown and abandoned city filled to the brim with technological marvels.

"Hey look! Canterlot's comin' into view!" Apple Bloom said as she pointed towards the window.

Hearing this, I decided to look out the window for the first time ever since we left the train station back in Ponyville. And to put it simply, Canterlot was a sight to behold.

Canterlot itself was able to be easily seen towards the outskirts of Ponyville that was around the train station. From there, it simply looked to be a city that had been built on the side of one of the mountains that were near Ponyville. Up close, however, was a different story. Multiple towers lined the edges of the city and were built into the side of the mountain. In addition, I could see a small wall that surrounded Canterlot as well that I could only assume was to protect the city in times of need or invasion considering it was also the capital of Equestria. Towards the far side of Canterlot was what I could only assume was the castle were Celestia and Luna ruled from, considering the sheer size of the structure and how more ornately decorated it appeared to be.

Eventually, the train passed through an opening within the wall as we arrived at the train station for Canterlot. The train began to slow down and soon came to a stop right by the platform. As it did, Cheerilee got up and told everyone to get up as well as we followed her out of the car and onto the platform, where the streets of Canterlot greeted us.

"Alright everypony, we have a few places we are going to be visiting for today. Also, please don't wander off, like I've said, Canterlot is a huge place, and none of us want to get lost here by ourselves, right?" Cheerilee said. This was met by a few "Yes ma'am." coming from some of the group. "Alright, then. Our first stop is the Canterlot Museum of History, which is..." Cheerilee as I assumed she was trying to remember where it was. Thankfully, I had the map I brought with me. I quickly pulled the knapsack off of me and opened it slightly as I dug around in it before pulling out the map, after which I gave it a quick look and found where we needed to go.

"Looks like it's that way." I said as I pointed down a nearby street.

"Ah, thank you Null. Now then, everypony stay close." Cheerilee said as I put my knapsack back on.

And with that, we began making our way towards the museum, with me helping to lead the way every now and then as I had the map. I had to say, Canterlot was definitely giving off a feeling of nobility by just simply looking at the various buildings and ponied walking around. The buildings had a somewhat fancier design compared to the ones back in Ponyville, and almost everyone that appeared to be a resident here was wearing some sort of expensive looking outfit or piece of jewelry. Though, one thing I definitely noticed was how almost everyone we passed was walking with their heads held extremely high in the air with some of them even having their eyes closed. It was a wonder how none of them bumped into anyone or anything as they walked about. At least this was somewhat of a positive thing, as not once did any of the ponies we passed by give me a second look to stare at me.

We eventually made it to the museum, a large marble building with marble columns by the entrance, giving it a sort of "old" feeling to it. Inside, there were various exhibits within the museum itself, ranging from paintings made by famous painters, pottery and relics from places in Equestria's past, to things that were from only about a century or two ago. After we went around the museum for a bit, I saw a specific exhibit that caught my eye that was apparently called the "Magical Relics Wing". Curious, I separated from the group and went down the hall and looked at the various things things that were being displayed. Though, most of the things were portraits or paintings of magical artifacts. Some of the things featured in said portraits or paintings were a bow that could apparently cause it's user to never miss a shot, a hammer that could shake the earth around it and was wielded by a feared earth pony warmonger, and a necklace that allowed those that wore it to turn invisible. The actual relics that were displayed were just a variety of helms, armors, and weapons used by the warriors of magic wielding kingdoms and tribes of ancient Equestria. I was about to leave, only for me to feel an immense amount of power coming from a nearby display case. Going over to it, I saw what appeared to be a black amulet of sorts, with the front having a red diamond shaped gemstone set within a grey upside down triangle, with the top of it depicting what appeared to be a gray alicorn as the head had red eyes and a horn as there were a set of wings on the side.

I got closer to it and saw a plaque right in front of the display case. Curious as to what this thing was, I began to read what was written on the plaque.

"Let's see here, apparently this thing is called the 'Alicorn Amulet'. 'The Alicorn Amulet is often regarded as an artifact of both immense power and great evil. When worn, the amulet itself grants its wearer enough magical strength to rival that of the alicorn princesses themselves. Found in an abandoned cave in the frozen north, the unicorn who discovered this relic immediately put it on and wrought chaos and destruction upon the unicorn's own hometown. The pony in question appeared to be targeting certain individuals as they repeatedly went after these individuals and inflicted them with a myriad of negative spells that greatly harmed the individuals. Over time, the unicorn became more and more sadistic as they continued causing destruction, before both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna stepped in and defeated the unicorn and removed the amulet from their possession and took it back here to Canterlot and watched over it personally. About 20 years ago, Princess Celestia herself decided to donate the Alicorn Amulet here as to serve as one of the many exhibits here in the Canterlot Museum.'"

Wow, talk about a severe case of deja vu. A powerful artifact that would grant its wearer immense magical strength while slowly corrupting their mind? Yeah, that sounded way to similar to the Master Crown, even if I was the thing that was corrupting the wearer's mind to try and posses them. I'll admit, I was extremely tempted to take the amulet and see what would happen if I wore it, but I thought better of it. There were probably a lot of security measures in place that would prevent the amulet from being easily stolen, and considering how I had only one way to defend myself, I wasn't going to risk stealing it. As I began to head back out of the exhibit to meet back up with the group, I turned to look back at the amulet. I couldn't help but feel nostalgic about all of the power I used to have back when I had managed to possess those that wore me back in the day, compared to how little magic I had now. Turning back around, I eventually made my way back to the group, who were waiting at the entrance for me.

"Ms. Cheerilee, Null's right there!" Pipsqueak said to notify Cheerilee that I was back.

"Thank you Pipsqueak. Where were you anyway Null? I looked back and got a little bit worried seeing as you weren't with us." Cheerilee said.

"Sorry, something caught my eye and I couldn't help but investigate." I said.

"That's alright, just make sure to notify somepony if you do go off somewhere. Anyways, our next stop is simply the gardens right by the castle. And don't worry about needing to get the map out, Null. I remember the way to get there quite well." Cheerilee said.

And with that, we left the museum as we began making our way towards the castle.

While it did take us a little bit longer to get to the castle compared to when were heading to the museum, Cheerilee was right in saying that she did know the way to the gardens. As we got closer to the castle, I began seeing what I assumed were the guards of the castle, as they wore mostly golden armor and helmets and were also holding a spear as they patrolled or kept watch over the castle and the surrounding area. As we passed them, a few of them watched us as we continued on our way to the gardens, though without me noticing how their gaze seemed to linger on me before they returned to their duties. They didn't show it, but I could definitely tell they were more interested in me than they were with the others. Pretty soon, we made it to what appeared to be a massive wall of bushes behind a tall fence before we reached an entrance that led through the fence and bushes. As we went through it, I could only assumed that we had arrived at our destination.

All around us were various flower beds spread out here and there, with also the occasional hedge sculpture depicting various animals or even what I assumed were meant to be the guards, as they also had flowers on them that helped to give color to the armor. Besides that, there were also a lot of marble statues depicting various ponies and creatures that lined a path that led through the gardens. Towards the far end of the garden was what I could assume was a giant hedge maze, the entrance to said maze being decorated with more flowers and small flags that stuck out from the top of the shrubbery that made up the walls.

"Alright everypony, feel free to go around and enjoy the garden. I know we weren't able to be here very long last time, but today you all will have more time to truly enjoy what these gardens have to offer. Now remember, everpony must be back here within roughly two hours so that we can go and get something to eat. Oh, and if you go into the maze, make sure to have a buddy with you!" Cheerilee said.

And with that, all of the foals began to head off in different groups towards different parts of the garden with some of them just wandering around while a few of them immediately going into the maze, mainly that of the members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders along with Pipsqueak. Deciding that I also wanted to try the maze and that I could get out easily if I ever got lost by floating over the walls, I made my way to its entrance. I always had a sort of rule of thumb when it came to getting to the end of mazes, and that was simply picking a wall and sticking to it. Though, I decided to see what the layout of the maze was like, so I floated a little bit above the wall and looked at the maze in its entirety. It was circular in shape, with there appearing to be six circular areas lining the edges of the maze, while there was one big circular area in the middle. Seeing as the entrance was probably also the exit, I could only assume the end of the maze was the area in the middle. Floating back down, I decided to start by going right and stuck to the wall on my left as I began traversing the maze. Every time there was a fork in the path I kept to the wall, even if the wall turned down another path. Eventually, I made it to the first of the circular clearings.

Within the clearing were small little ponds that had statues coming out of them on the left and right sides of where I had entered. In the middle was a bed red flowers with a statue of a dragon in the middle of the bed as well. Continuing on through another entrance on the other side of the clearing, I continued through the maze before arriving at another clearing.

This one was similar to the first, except this one had orange flowers instead and the statue in the middle depicted what I assumed was a yak, which were bovine like in appearance but had shaggy fur that helped to keep them warm in the cold climates they tended to live in.

Moving on, I got to the third clearing which had yellow flowers this time, with the statue depicting a griffon, a creature with the body of a lion and the head of an eagle. From what I've read, the griffins were somewhat prideful in nature and often coveted treasures, though I had remembering reading about how something happened to the griffins that caused their society to slowly become worse and worse over time.

Continuing further brought me to the fourth clearing which had flowers with green petals this time. The statue in the middle depicted what appeared to be a deer. Though this deer seemed to be wearing some sort of regalia that was similar to Celestia's and Luna's, possibly signifying this deer was some sort of ruler. This was also the first time that I have heard of deer potentially being a species similar to that of ponies or other sentient creatures that had established a sort of society.

Moving on further into the maze, I came across the fifth clearing. This one had blue flowers this time, though the statue depicted something I had never seen before. Or, should I say statues. Scattered across the podium on small poles that connected them to the podium itself were small statues that seemed to depict something similar to ponies, except with much thinner bodies and also what appeared to be wings akin to that of an insects. The wings themselves seemed to be made of clear plastic with intricate designs in them.

Deciding to move on, I eventually came across the last of the clearings as I assumed I was close to the entrance were I had started. This one featured purple flowers in the bed in the middle, with the statue depicting something I thankfully knew about. Appearing like a large bipedal dog with large hands an wearing a collar of some kind, I recognized this as a diamond dog. Supposedly, they were a species of canines that preferred to live underground and liked collecting gemstones. They were also apparently very hardy and had great night vision, considering they spent almost their entire life underground.

Seeing how I made it to all of the clearings that surrounded the edge of the maze, I floated up above the walls once again to see where I was in the maze. As it turns out, I appeared to have just gone in a counterclockwise circle around the maze from the entrance, as I could see the entrance nearby. Looking back towards the middle, I looked closer at the clearing and saw there were three entrances with archways at he tops leading into it from the maze. I looked around for a bit and eventually saw a path that would lead me straight to it. So, when I floated back down, I made my way through the exit of the clearing I was currently in and followed the path that I had mapped out in my mind. Thankfully, it was only just a few simple turns here and there as I made my way through. Eventually, I stumbled upon a path that had white flowers lining the bottom of the walls. Thankfully, this was the exact part of the route I had planned out and began to go down it. As I continued on, the flowers seemed to slowly get more and more abundant as they began to cover more and more of the walls. What I could only assume what had been a few minutes, I came across one of the archways that led into the center of the maze as I entered the clearing.

Compared to the others in the maze, this one was obviously much larger and a lot more decorated. Lining the edges of the clearing and between each of the entrances were two different colors of flowers that started at one end of the entrance before stopping halfway as it joined with another color of flower. They also appeared to represent a rainbow, as the red and orange flowers were in between two entrances, the yellow and green ones between the one that touched the orange flowers and another one, and the blue and purple ones between the entrances that were beside both the red and green flowers. The dirt paths also joined in the middle and surrounded one last statue as the path circled around the podium said statue was on. I couldn't help but feel a sense of familiarity as I looked at the statue from the side, so I moved closer to it and went to the front of it.

I couldn't help but stop and stare in both slight fear and shock.

The statue was that of Discord himself, more specifically, Discord when he was recently turned to stone all that time ago as he had the same terrified expression I saw him wear as he was turned to stone before I blacked out from being hit with the magic of the Elements of Harmony. Ever since that day, I did sort of wonder what happened to Discord after he turned into the a stone statue. Was the statue thrown into some sort of high security vault? Was it smashed to tiny pieces by someone so that he wouldn't be able to come back? Turns out, he was here the whole time, placed in the middle of this hedge maze right beside the castle where I assumed the princesses often came and checked on him. Thinking back on this, I couldn't help but begin talking out loud as I reminisced about my first day arriving here in this world.

"So, this is where you ended up, huh?" I said, not really expecting Discord to respond or anything. "It feels weird, thinking that only a little while ago, I had arrived here in this world. In a form that I was not familiar with but had some similarities to a few things I've seen back in the in-between. I had ended up in a forest that everyone I've met was somewhat scared of and just hopped right out of it. Me discovering that weird cloud and following it to find you causing all of that chaos in Ponyville. Also questioning just where I had ended up. And then, I stumbled upon you with Twilight and her friends that had been corrupted, and I couldn't help but feel bad for them. Normally, I wouldn't care about stuff like that when I was still stuck in the Master Crown, but I suppose that, when I had finally gotten out of it, I couldn't help but focus on other things. And then you found me following you and Twilight and then proceeded to use me as a basketball. Heh, I still remember the look on your face when I bounced right into you.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is, you are actually one of the few beings in a long time to make me genuinely feel powerless. Sure, there were those that stood up to me once I possessed those that wore me, but you were the first thing I encountered after losing all of my power and you treated me as though I was just a simple plaything. Sure, I was somewhat happy that you had gotten your comeuppance and was once again turned back into this statue, but that's kind of your own fault for being cocky and thinking you had still one. Though, I suppose you gave me a reality check that I needed to really solidify into my mind that I'm not as powerful as I once was. Sure, I'm slowly getting back my powers and am really close to being able to do, well something. I don't know what that something is just yet. But that's the thing, I am getting stronger. Maybe if you break out again anytime soon, I'll be strong enough to actual defend myself against you. Maybe I'll even win, who knows?"

I looked up into the sky and saw that the sun had gone down a lot compared to when I entered the maze.

"Well, I should probably head back. I don't know why, but I feel like I just needed to reflect on everything. Well, see ya." I said as I began floating above the walls. Before I headed back to the entrance, I looked back at the Discord and did a double take before rubbing my eyes to make sure what I was seeing things. There he was, still turned to stone with the same terrified expression. I began to float above the maze as I couldn't help but think that it may have been just a trick of the light or something.

Because I swear I saw Discord smirking at me.

Once I got back, the rest of the field trip went quite smoothly. We left the statue garden and went to get some food at apparently at a well known donut shop known as "Joe's Donuts" which was run by a unicorn that whose name was also Joe. They weren't kidding when they said the donuts were good, as I had a simple chocolate donut and it was almost as good as Sugarcube Corner's icing cookies. Fluttershy was also right in giving me the bag of bits as well, as everyone in the group had to pay for their own. After that, we visited a few other things such as the opera house, which almost everyone in the group except for Cheerilee, Sweetie Belle, Diamond Tiara, the gray earth pony that was with her who I learned was named Silver Spoon, and myself feel asleep. Though I was pretty close. After that all we did was just go around some of the stores as everyone bought things such as snow globes and even small chunks of crystals that apparently came from the tunnels within the mountain itself, I bought myself a multicolored one as a souvenir and put it in my knapsack. Finally, we began to head back to the train station as the sun was beginning to set and boarded the train as we waited for it to start heading back to Ponyville. All around the cabin, everyone was talking about how they enjoyed today and how they couldn't wait to show their families back home what they got. Cheerilee on the other hand, looked to be exhausted and immediately fell asleep as soon as she sat down.

"Man, today was awesome! I'm still happy that we managed to get back to the center of that maze in record time. Still, did anyone else feel creeped out by that statue's new appearance after Discord was turned back into stone?" Scootaloo said.

"Hmhm. Sure gave me the creeps." Apple Bloom responded.

"I did enjoy that opera though. It was really entertaining." Sweetie Belle said.

"Entertainin'? I fell asleep five minutes into the thing!" Apple Bloom responded.

"Well, I still think these goggles I got look cool. Maybe Rainbow Dash will think so as well!" Scootaloo said.

"I guess. Hey Null? What did you think of Canterlot?" Sweetie Belle asked me.

"Well, I guess no one was kidding when they said the place was that big. It also definitely gave off the feeling that it was a place of nobles seeing the way everyone was dressed up and how we were close to the castle." I said.

"Yeah, the statue garden sure was pretty." Apple Bloom said. "Speakin' of, how are you able to float like that? We saw ya floatin' above the walls of the maze every now and then."

"Oh, that? It's just me using magic." I said, considering it wouldn't hurt telling them.

"You can use magic?!" All three of them shouted.

"Calm down! Yes, I can. It's not much, but I am able to levitate myself and these gloves."

"What's this about using magic?"

I looked over and saw Dinky Doo and Button Mash looking at us by leaning above the back of the girl's seats.

"Yeah! Null here can use magic." Apple Bloom said.

"But, aren't unicorns the only ones able to use magic?" Button Mash asked.

"Well, I suppose the magic I use is different than the kind unicorns use." I said.

"How is it different than the kind ponies use?"

Turns out I was starting to accumulate a crowd, as to the right of us were the earth pony filly with red curly hair and glasses who I learned was named Twist, Pipsqueak, and Snips and Snails.

"Well, you see..." I began before being cut off.

"Please. You can't possibly be able to use magic. Like those blank flanks said, only unicorns are able to use magic." Snips and Snails moved over to let Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon join in on the conversation. "You're probably just lying to make yourself seem more cool than what an egg like you can already be like."

The three sitting in front of me were about to retort before I put my hand out to stop them. "Well, you all are free to listen to what I have to say. You can just simply walk away if you don't want to hear it."

It was though I had slapped Diamond Tiara in the face as she began to stutter a bit. Eventually, she decided to sit down on the floor as Silver Spoon joined her, seemingly wanting to hear what I had to say.

"Alright then. Everyone may want to get comfy, this will take a while." I said. This was followed by those standing beside the seats either sit on the floor, in Snips' and Snail's cases, as Twist joined Button Mash and Dinky by leaning over the back of the seat while Pipsqueak sat beside Scootaloo. Seeing as everyone was ready and that it possibly wouldn't hurt to tell them how magic worked outside of this world, also considering how the way I used magic was also not of this world even though I was able to use magic, I began my explanation.

"Now, allow me to explain. To put it simply: everything, from the smallest butterfly to the mightiest dragon, is able to interact with magic in many ways, shapes, and forms. This is primarily because that every living thing, both plants and animals, has access to magic. This is because that, deep within the soul every living thing, lies what is known as a mana pool. This mana pool is what allows magic users to both have access to and use magic. The size of one's mana pool mainly involves a few things, such as whether their species is proficient in magic or because of the strength of one's own will. There are a lot of factors essentially when it comes to the size of a mana pool. However, not everyone has complete access to their mana pool immediately. This mostly boils down to, once again, what species a being is. Species that are proficient in magic have a lot of or complete access to their mana pool, while those that may not use magic at all are completely sealed off from their mana pools. Though, there are a few ways to allow a being whose species doesn't have access to magic to gain access to magic. This is mostly done through direct contact with magic or using a magical artifact for a long while." I said.

"Question." Apple Bloom said.

"Go ahead."

"If you say that everpony has access to magic, then why aren't earth ponies and pegasi able to use it."

"That is quite easy to explain. This is because not everyone has complete access to their mana pool immediately. This mostly boils down to, once again, what species a being is. Species that are proficient in magic have a lot of or complete access to their mana pool, while those that may not use magic at all are completely sealed off from their mana pools. Though, there are a few ways to allow a being whose species doesn't have access to magic to gain access to magic. This is mostly done through direct contact with magic or using a magical artifact for a long while. In cases such as earth ponies and pegasi, you all don't have complete access to your mana pools, but it seems as though you are using magic at such a small amount that you aren't able to tell."

"How so?" Scootaloo said.

"Well, let's start with earth ponies. Apparently, you all are able to essentially sense the ground beneath you and are physically stronger than the other races. I believe that this is because you are using magic passively, and like I said, at an immensely small amount. Using magic, you are able to feel what the earth below you needs, and are able to become, like I said, physically stronger than the other races. Pegasi, while similar in certain regards, are different. More so, you all use magic to sense changes in the air around you, such as slight changes in temperature or the air currents flowing around you. Think of those things as essentially a sixth sense."

"Well, you said that you are able to use magic yourself along with those that aren't able to, so how do those that can't use magic efficiently use magic?" Diamond Tiara said.

"Simple. By using the Four Matters." I said.

"The Four What?" Dinky Doo asked.

"The Four Matters are essentially both a part of one's own being, what helps make up the universe and keep it stable, and how one uses magic."

"I'm afraid you lost me there." Pipsqueak said.

"Well, I suppose it would be easier going over how each matter allows one to cast magic.

"The first is Heart Matter. Heart Matter is mainly comprised of positive emotions, and is what assists in the use of controlling magic and casting spells. Positive emotions help control the magic you're casting, and even is mainly used when casting certain elemental spells.

"Next is Dream Matter. Dream Matter is the idea of what kind of spell you want to cast and is also what helps you channel magic as well. Besides, you can't really use any magic if you don't know what kind of magic you want to cast.

"The third of the Four Matters is Soul Matter. Soul Matter for the most part refers to one's own soul as well as one's own willpower as well. It is also directly linked to your mana pool as well. As such, Soul Matter is essentially the power to cast magic. The stronger one's soul is and the bigger one's mana pool is as well, the more powerful the magic used by a being is.

"Lastly, is Dark Matter. Dark Matter is the opposite of Heart Matter, yet it works in a similar way to it as well. While Heart Matter refers to positive emotions, Dark Matter refers to negative emotions. This doesn't necessarily mean that magic using Dark Matter is evil, mind you, just that it is a little more wild compared to magic that doesn't use Dark Matter. Dark Matter is once again similar to that of Heart Matter as it assists in using certain elements of magic."

I stopped to allow everyone to take in what I had just explain. It was quite for maybe a couple of minutes before Sweetie Belle spoke up.

"So, these Four Matters are what allows those who aren't able to use magic all that well to use it?"

"Yep, though using the Four Matters isn't necessarily limited to only those that can't use magic all that well. I'm pretty sure unicorns can use it as well."

"Neat. Also, you mentioned something about different elements of magic while talking about both Heart Matter and Dark Matter. What do you mean by that?"

"Well, the elements of magic refer to what kind of magic is being used. There are many different elements of magic, and every single one of them interacts with each other in unique ways. Some elements are also able to be channeled into a weapon. Channeling itself is a somewhat complex topic, so just think of it as infusing a weapon with an element to allow it to deal more damage against those weak to a certain element. The most common elements of magic are..." I said as I began to list off the nine most common elements of magic.

"Fire. The element of fire is pretty self-explanatory, as it involves anything that has to due with using fire or burning something. These include launching fireballs, creating small flames, or even causing something to catch on fire. When a weapon is infused with the element of fire, it is considered a "Sizzle" weapon.

"Water. Similar to fire, this one is also quite self-explanatory. The element of water involves a variety of things that has to do with water itself. These include creating balls of pressurized water, creating waves of water that crash into enemies, and even breathing underwater. When water is channeled into a weapon, it is considered a "Splash" weapon.

"Ice. A lot of beings tend to either confuse water and ice magic with each other, or consider them the same thing. The latter of these two being incorrect, as the element of ice works quite differently than that of water. Ice magic involves things such as creating objects out of ice to even surrounding oneself with a freezing aura that causes those who touch it to be immediately covered in a thick layer of ice. Weapons that are channeling the element of ice are considered "Blizzard" weapons.

"Electricity. The electric element, or sometimes referred to as the thunder element, is a lot more wild and unpredictable compared to a lot of the other elements. This is because this element involves anything having to do with electricity as a whole. From creating balls of electricity, generating a electric charge by yourself, to even summoning bolts of lightning. Weapons infused with electricity are known as "Zap" weapons.

"Wind. Somewhat similar to the electric element in terms of how wild it can be, though the element itself is a lot calmer compared to it, the element of wind involves anything having to do with manipulating the air around you in various ways. Some examples include creating strong gusts of wind and even using wind itself to levitate and move objects. A weapon infused with the element of wind is considered a "Bluster" weapon.

"Earth. The element of earth involves using the ground around you and manipulating it to your own will, allowing you to use it in a variety of ways. However, this is mostly limited to throwing chunks of rock at things, creating objects out of the ground around you like the element of ice, or just causing minor earthquakes that causes the ground around you to violently shake, allowing you to throw foes off balance. Unfortunately, the element itself isn't able to be channeled into a weapon. Sure, you can make it so rocks and things coat a weapon, but the way it works is a lot different than channeling. It would be best to say that earth is more of a reactant element, as it interacts with a lot of other elements in unique ways.

"Light. Remember how I said Heart Matter assists in the use of certain elements? The element of light is one of those elements. Unfortunately, the element itself is somewhat double-edged in nature, as it has really high highs, but also really low lows. Said lows include creating balls of light to provide a source of light or just simply brightening a dark room. The highs however, are really good. Let's just say that being able to summon pillars of pure light isn't something to be taken, well, lightly. Light is also unique as it interacts with all of the other elements in a weird way, as when combined with another element, that element becomes a sort of "light" version of that element, being both that element and the element of light at the same time. Weapons channeling the element of light are considered "Shining" weapons.

"Darkness. Remember how I also said that Dark Matter is essentially the opposite of Heart Matter? Well the element of darkness is essentially the Dark Matter equivalent of light magic, down to it also having low lows and high highs. Said lows are simply just creating clouds of darkness to just simply temporarily blinding someone by making them see nothing but darkness. The highs on the other hand include launching balls of solidified darkness, moving through shadows and making your own body into a shadow that lets you avoid enemy attacks among other things. Dark magic is also similar to light magic as it can also be combined with other elements to make "dark" versions of elements. Weapons channeling the element of darkness are simply known as "Dark" weapons.

"Neutral. Neutral is, an odd element, to put it simply. It isn't able to be channeled into weapons, for a start, and that it does not interact with any other element in any way, shape, or form. Also, its greatest weakness is also its greatest strength. Nothing is able to be resistant or weak against the neutral element. I like to think of it as a somewhat comfortable element, as you can rely on it no matter what you are going against. Also, a lot of powerful spells are neutral element as well, which is why they are considered to be quite powerful.

"And that is all of the most common elements. Now, does anyone have any questions?" I asked.

"Well... I do." Silver Spoon said as she raised her hoof.

"Yes?"

"You said that one of the elements is that of darkness, and that it uses Dark Matter in order to be used. Doesn't that make it evil?" Silver Spoon asked.

"Yeah! Are you implying that what is essentially evil magic is good to use?" Diamond Tiara said.

"Well, to answer both of your questions, no. Yes, dark element spells and magic do require Dark Matter in order to be used, but that doesn't necessarily make it evil. Magic is only considered "evil" by how it is used. Though, I will admit that the element of darkness is often associated with acts of evil. But, this can be the case for any element of magic. If someone uses the element of darkness for good, is it still considered evil? What about the element of light, which is often associated with being good. If someone uses light magic for evil intentions, is it still considered good?" I said.

This prompted everyone around me to immediately become quite and think over what I had just said. During my time trapped within the Master Crown, there were many different magic users who used me for different purposes. A user of the element of darkness simply wanted the power to help their family who were being mistreated, I liked that one a lot so I decided not to try and take over. Though I was taken from him by a user of light magic who was doing horrible things and claimed that he was doing it because some imaginary deity told him to. I made sure to immediately do everything I could to posses him as fast as I could. Though, as I looked out the window and saw e were coming up on Ponyville soon, I decided to go over one last topic.

"One last thing I want to go over are elemental affinities." I said.

"Elemental affinities? What are those?" Dink Doo asked.

"Well, they are essentially what element of magic a being is able to use quite well. This is most often influenced by a magic user's species, though it can also be effected by how a being grows up. For instance, a dragon would have a natural elemental affinity for fire and an earth pony I would naturally assume would have an affinity for earth. But, let's say that a dragon grew up in the cold north and learned how to harness the cold temperatures, then they would have an affinity for ice magic. Or an earth pony that grows up someplace high up and windy to the point where they are as familiar with the wind as a pegasus is, then that earth pony would develop an affinity for wind magic." I said.

"Cool!" Scootaloo said "Hey, since you know all of this stuff, can you teach us how to use that magic?"

This prompted everyone to also agree with her, asking if I could teach them magic.

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I have to decline." I said.

"What?! Why?" Apple Bloom asked.

"While I do know a lot about this magic, yes, I'm just not as strong as I once was. Don't get me wrong, I would love to teach you all how to properly utilize the Four Matters and see what elements you all excel in, it's just that I don't think I would be able to properly teach you if I don't even have the strength that I used to have."

"How come?" Button Mash asked.

"Let's just say that I lost a lot of my power, and that I'm slowly trying to regain it." I said as the train finally reached the station.

Once the train lurched to a stop, Cheerilee woke up and walked over to us.

"Well now, you all seem to be discussing something. Mind if I ask what it is?" Cheerilee asked.

"We're discussing how Null can use magic and what he knows about magic!" Pipsqueak said.

"That's nice. Now, everpony make their way off of the train, and I hope you all enjoyed the trip."

We did as we were told, as we all headed out of the car and got onto the train platform. After that, everyone began heading back to where they lived and head to bed, as the moon was now making its way into the night sky. Cheerilee pulled me aside to once again thank me for helping with this trip and keeping the foals entertained on the ride home, to which I told her it was no problem. We eventually parted ways as I headed back to Fluttershy's house. When I got there, Fluttershy herself was still up, though it looked like she was just about to head to bed.

"Hey, I'm back." I said.

"Oh, thank goodness. I was worried you wouldn't be back until much later. How was the trip?" Fluttershy asked.

"It was good I guess. A can definitely say I enjoyed it." I said as I removed my knapsack before pulling out the bag of bits Fluttershy gave me and held it out to her. "I guess you were right about me needing these. I only spent a couple, so you can have it back."

Fluttershy shook her head and pushed the bag back to me. "No, you can keep it. Think of it as me saying thank you for helping me out recently. I truly appreciate it."

I had recently been helping out Fluttershy with taking care of the animals around here as well as delivering medicine for the pets owned by the residents of Ponyville. "Are you sure?" I asked.

Fluttershy gave a nod as she began to head upstairs. "I do. Have a good night, Null."

"Night, and thanks for the money." I said as she went out of view. Deciding to get myself ready for bed, I empted the knapsack of the remains of what I had brought and put some of them on the table next to the couch, with the crystal I had gotten shimmering in the moonlight. Wrapping myself up in a blanket, I thought back to what I told the foals on the train. I definitely would have loved to teach them everything I knew, but I just couldn't at the moment. It was rare moments like these that I sort of missed being trapped within the Master Crown. As when I possessed someone, I at least had an immense amount of power that I could use, even if it was often only for a little while. Now, even though I was close to being able to do something, all I can do is simply levitate myself and the gloves Rarity made me. I thought more about this as I slowly drifted off to sleep.

Author's Note

And, done! Like I said, this chapter was mainly for world building and I kind of also wanted to go over in detail what sort of magic Null uses. His magic follows the rules of magic within the Kirby series as a whole, and it looks like a lot of the foals, especially the CMC, want to learn more about it. Unfortunately, like Null said, he doesn't really feel like he could properly teach them. Its also one of the few times Null actually misses his time spent within the Master Crown. For those of you who may still be confused about certain things, don't worry. I'll try and post something that goes over in somewhat more detail about how the magic works, and even update it as the story goes along so you all can use it as a sort of reference guide.

Unfortunately, I'm positive that the next chapter is going to come out a little late as I'm going to be busy for the next while. I'll try and upload on a somewhat normal schedule, but it may at the very least come out in one and a half to two weeks.

Besides that, I am also really excited for the next chapter, and have been for a long while. Let's just say that I'm going to be able to use the pictures for the other purpose I mentioned a couple of chapters ago. Also, keep an eye out for text that may look a little different. You may want to click on it.

Chapter 7: Secret of My Excess

So, turns out something crazy happened in Ponyville while I was in Canterlot. Apparently, in order to help knock Rainbow Dash's ego down some, the girls decided to become their own superhero that would outshine Rainbow. This resulted with the girls taking turns acting as the "Mysterious Mare Do Well". How they did this is by taking turns saving ponies around town while disguised as Mare Do Well in various different ways. Applejack helped stop a runaway cart, Pinkie Pie saved some construction workers at a crumbling construction site by using what she referred to as her "Pinkie Sense". When I asked what she meant by this she simply said her body reacts to what might happen in the future in weird in unique ways. When I decided to ask Twilight about it for more clarification, she simply said to not worry about it and also to not think about it too hard or I would end up with a headache. The end result was me just thinking of it as some sort of sixth sense Pinkie had that also went along with her weirdness, as I have seen her do some weird things ever since I began staying here. Anyways, after the construction site Twilight fixed a dam that had breached using her magic, and Fluttershy simply flew by Rainbow Dash after Twilight fixed the damn to make it seem like Mare Do Well had it all. Oh, and Rarity helped out by making the outfit. In the end, Rainbow Dash learned a pretty decent lesson in humility and not letting others who do better than her get to her head.

The next few days came and went with nothing really happening in that time as everything pretty much slowed back down as a sort of calm settled over Ponyville. It was also during this time that the temperature began to drop even further as it began to change from being late fall to early winter. As such, the leaves on the trees began to further fall off until the branches were the only things left and a lot of animals around Fluttershy's house began to go into hibernation, with Fluttershy having me assist in making sure the animals were comfortable and had everything they needed to sleep through the winter.

One thing I did try to do as the seasons began to change was trying to see if I could possibly absorb any more negative emotions as to try and have enough power to use what I felt like I was on the verge of being able to do. Unfortunately, any attempts at this were meant with failure as there wasn't really anyone around that were giving off any immense negative emotions. I guess this was kind of a good thing, I suppose, as it meant the citizens of Ponyville were quite happy at the moment. Still, I really hope I'll be able to gain enough power to use what I'm on the verge of being able to do soon.

"I still kind of find it a little bit funny." I said.

"What do you find funny?" Fluttershy asked

"That Spike, who is a dragon and breathes fire, has his birthday during one of the coldest times of the year." I said.

Fluttershy and I were currently making our way towards Twilight's house as we Twilight herself told us and the others that Spike's birthday, or hatch day as her and Spike sometimes referred to it as, was happening today. Thankfully, she told us this about three days ago so we would have the time to find and get Spike a gift. Fluttershy was walking beside me with a purple box with a pink ribbon on her back containing her present while I held mine in my hands right in front of me that had been put in a red box with a black ribbon.

"Either way, I do hope Spike likes my gift." Fluttershy said. Fluttershy and I had gone shopping roughly two days ago to get Spike his present, which mostly involved with me going around the different stores in Ponyville trying to think of what kind of gift I should get him. In the end, I managed to find a scarf for him that was being sold by a seasonal store in town that I thought he would probably need in the upcoming weeks as it would continue to get colder, using the bits that Fluttershy let me keep to pay for it. The scarf itself was simply light blue in color and had white snowflakes on it that made it seem that they were flowing through the sky. Fluttershy on the other hand managed to find a claw filing kit that she thought Spike would appreciate which included a nail file and some lotion that was said to help strengthen scales when applied.

We eventually made it to the library and went inside to find the Spike and Twilight along with the rest of the girls who were holding their gifts. Pinkie, however, was currently throwing around confetti and cheering as the I assumed she was excited to celebrate Spike's birthday. Spike, upon seeing all of the gifts we had brought for him, looked to be a little bit surprised.

"Are all of those, for me?" Spike asked.

"You bet they are, birthday boy." Applejack said as she gave her gift to Spike and held onto it.

Fluttershy went up to him and said "Happy Birthday Spike." before setting her gift on top of Applejack's.

"Here you go Spike, and Happy Birthday." Rarity said as she increased the height of the present stack by putting her gift on top of Fluttershy's.

"Happy Birthday dude." Rainbow Dash said, as she flew over Spike and set her present, which was simply a dumbbell with a yellow ribbon on it, on top. This would unfortunately result in Spike losing his balance and falling to the floor as all of the presents in the stack fell down as well. Thankfully, none of the presents seemed to have been damaged from the fall.

Slightly chuckling to myself, I went over and set my present in front of him. "Happy Birthday Spike. I hope you like what we got you."

"Thanks Null. I just wasn't expecting this many gifts." Spike said with a somewhat curious look.

"Well, don't you know you get presents for your birthday?" Rainbow Dash questioned.

"I mean, yeah. Its just that this is my first birthday in Ponyville. I usually just get a present from Twilight... which is usually just a book." Spike said.

I looked over at the mare in question and saw her holding a blue book wrapped in a gold ribbon in her aura as she was walking down the stairs. Hearing this, she looked back at the book and then hid it behind her as she had a look of embarrassment.

"Speaking of presents..." Rarity began saying as she levitated what appeared to be a cape with a purple collar with the actual cape part being pink. "This is from my new line of taffeta capes, and I plan on making one for each of you!"

Holding up the cape issued everyone to get a closer look at it and compliment how good it looked with some of the others also saying how they liked its design.

"I've been inspired by the generosity of my little Spikey-wikey, who gave me this beautiful fire ruby..." Rarity said as she touched her hoof to what appeared to be a red heart shaped gemstone that had been fixed into what appeared to be a gold band that wrapped around Rarity's neck. Though, I couldn't help but feel an odd warmth coming from the gemstone even though I was maybe a couple of feet away from Rarity. "It was one of the kindest acts I have ever experienced. And I am ever grateful to him for gifting me this gem."

This was followed by Spike slightly blushing at scratching the back of his head at the compliment. After that, the party began really pick up as everyone began to do various activities that had been set up or just enjoying some of the cupcakes that Pinkie had brought. Though, it wasn't long before Spike began to unwrap the presents everyone got him. Rarity had made him some mittens that would help him fight off the cold, the book Twilight had gotten him was apparently one filled with ancient legends involving dragons, Spike wasn't able to hold up the dumbbell Rainbow had gotten him for very long, but appreciated it nonetheless, and Applejack had gotten him a blanket that he seemed to be extremely happy about. When he got to Fluttershy's gift, he looked ecstatic as he talked about how his scales were feeling a little bit rough lately, and he also liked the scarf I got him as well.

"Applejack, I can't thank you enough for this great blanket. I really needed a new one." Spike said as he thanked Applejack once again for the blanket while hugging her.

"C'mon, Spike, you already thanked me fifteen times. I'm startin' to get a little embarrassed." Applejack said as she began to pry Spike off of her as he was probably begging to hug a little too tight.

"I know I keep thanking you guys, but I'm just so grateful." Spike said as he smiled. "I wish this party could last forever." This was followed by the sound of a balloon popping causing everyone to look towards the source of the sound. The source being that of Pinkie who had been hopping on a balloon earlier, though it appeared said balloon had popped as she now sat on the floor.

"Well duh!" Pinkie said as she came over to Spike. "The party can't last forever because you have to go to Sugarcube Corner because the Cakes said the have a special surprise for you because it's your birthday!"

"Really?! No way!" Spike said as he began to rush towards the door.

"I said the party couldn't last forever, but it doesn't need to end right now!" Pinkie exclaimed. This would go to be left unanswered as Spike had already left by the time she finished.

"Don't worry, I'll meet him at Sugarcube Corner and make sure he gets back safe. I'll be back soon." I said as I went to the door and left to go after him.

It took a little bit of time to get to Sugarcube Corner, but I eventually got there pretty quickly. Unfortunately, when I got there, Spike was nowhere to be seen. I asked Mrs. Cake if Spike had already arrived or had yet to get here, with her saying he just left a couple of minutes ago with the cupcake her and Mr. Cake had prepared for him. Thanking her for telling me, I went back out and continued my search. It didn't take long at all, as after looking around for about a minute, I managed to find Spike sitting on the ground holding what appeared to be a cupcake with blue frosting, except that there were also small blue gemstones poking out of the frosting as well. Thankfully when reading about the various creatures that existed in this world, I knew that dragons often ate gemstones as a sort of treat, meaning that the sight of the cupcake didn't really make me question why Spike got that sort of cupcake to eat. Anyways, nearby was Cheerilee who was also sitting on the ground with a dazed expression as a variety of different fruits laid on the ground around the two of them. Seeing how there was also a brown paper bag next to Cheerilee, I immediately figured out what happened. As such, I began heading over to the two of them to see if they were fine.

"You two ok?" I asked.

"I'm fine." Spike said as he turned to Cheerilee. "Sorry about that Cheerilee, I wasn't really paying attention."

"That's ok Spike. Though I have to ask, what's got you so excited?" Cheerilee said.

Spike looked around at the various fruits and then back at the cupcake he was holding. After a couple of seconds, he simply shrugged and ate the entire cupcake in one bite. before he began picking up some of the fruit and putting them in the bag with me joining him shortly after.

"Pinkie told me I should come see the Cakes as they had made me a cupcake for my birthday. I guess I got a little bit excited about it so I didn't notice you in front of me." Spike said.

"Well, happy birthday, Spike! I wish I had something to give you." Cheerilee said as I assumed she began thinking of giving him a gift before saying "Oh! You can have this" and pulled out a white fedora with a red feather out of her bag and placed it on Spike's head.

"Really? Are you sure I can have this?" Spike asked.

"Of course! Everypony should get gifts on their birthday! Have a great birthday Spike!" Cheerilee said as she picked up the paper bag and began walking off. After which, the two of us began to walk back to the library with Spike having a big smile.

"It sure was nice for Cheerilee to give you that hat. Though, from how much you're smiling, I guess it's safe to say you're having a good birthday." I said.

"Yep! I'm getting all these nice gifts from everypony. You and everypony else got me some great gifts, the Cakes gave me that cupcake, and Cheerilee gave me this hat!" Spike said as he flicked up the fedora as it was beginning to cover his face a little bit. "Hmm, I wonder..."

"What do you wonder Spike?" I asked as I turned to look at him, only to find that he was gone. "Wait, Spike? Where did you go?"

I looked around before spotting Spike talking to earth pony colt who was holding a yellow and blue ball. After talking for a bit, the colt gave the ball to Spike before Spike began heading back to me.

"Spike, what did you do?" I asked.

"Oh, I just told him it was my birthday and if I could have his ball and he gave it to me!" Spike said as he held up the ball.

"Spike, that's not really how birthdays work." I said.

"What do you mean by that?" Spike asked.

"Well, you don't go up to someone and say it's your birthday and ask them to give you something." I said as we resumed walking.

"But, Cheerilee and that colt gave me stuff." Spike said.

"Well, I think Cheerilee didn't really have a gift prepared for you so she just gifted you something she had on her. The colt, however, you just simply asked for him to give you that ball. Do you understand?" I asked as I turned back to look at Spike only to find that he had once again disappeared. Looking around, I found Spike talking to a yellow earth pony mare who was carrying baskets of flowers. I saw Spike make a sort of grabbing gesture and slapped my face for not keeping an eye on him.

"For the love of... Spike get back over here!" I said as I went over to him. He kept making a grabbing motion towards her flowers before I got behind him and grabbed him before lifting him over my head.

"Sorry about that. I don't know what's gotten into him." I said to the mare.

"Uh, no problem. Happy Birthday Spike!" the mare said as she walked off.

I put Spike back down and went in front of him so I could easily keep my eye on him. "Spike, what was I just saying?! Seriously, you need to snap out of it, you're not like this normally." I said.

Spike shook his head a few times before pulling off the fedora and looking at it before looking back at me. "Sorry Null. I don't know what's gotten into me. I'm gonna go give this ball back as well as give Cheerilee her hat back, can you go tell the others back at the library?"

I sighed as I began questioning whether or not I should accompany him. On the one hand, I've had plenty of experiences with dragons and knew that when it came to anything shiny or pretty, they tend to get quite greedy. On the other hand, I wasn't sensing any greed coming from Spike, so I just had to assume that he had snapped out of whatever he was doing earlier. In the end, I decided to give in.

"Sure, just make sure you come straight back to the library, ok? Otherwise Twilight might panic about where you went." I said.

"Ok, see you later then." Spike said as we parted ways, with me making sure he was heading off to find Cheerilee. Once he got out of sight, I went back to the library and told Twilight about what happened.

"Wait, Spike was demanding gifts from other ponies?" Twilight asked.

"Well, it only really began happening after Cheerilee. He essentially told them that it was his birthday and asked them for a gift. At the moment, he should be giving the things he got back, so he should be back shortly." I said.

"I'll have to talk to Spike about this later." Twilight said.

"Also, do you mind if I stay here for the night? I'm trying to find out more about something, so I was hoping to see if there were any books about what I'm trying to learn about."

"Sure. You can sleep on the couch down here. I'll make sure to get you a blanket and a pillow as well." Twilight said.

"Thanks Twilight." I said. Shortly after Spike returned and said that he had returned everything he had gotten. Satisfied with his answer, the party resumed for a couple of more hours before it began to get late as the other girls began going back home. Before she left, I told Fluttershy that I would be spending the night here with her saying that she was ok with that. Once she left, Twilight came back down from upstairs carrying a blanket and a pillow in her aura and set them on one of the couches.

"Alright, these should be fine for you while you stay over tonight. Spike's already in bed, and if you need me, I'll be in my room as well. Might I ask, what are you trying to find out more about?" Twilight asked.

"I guess just what kind of magical artifacts are in Equestria." I said.

"And why's that?" Twilight asked.

"Remember how I went to Canterlot with Cheerilee and her class?" I asked with Twilight nodding in response. "Well, when we went to the museum, I stumbled upon something called the 'Alicorn Amulet' which was being displayed in one of the wings. Ever since then I guess I've been sort of curious as to what kinds of magical artifacts are in Equestria if something that can make one's own magic equivalent to that of one of the princesses' exists." I said.

"Yeah, I heard about that as well. Apparently it was a recent donation as well. When I asked Celestia about it after she donated it, she said that she felt it would be better to have it in a museum where people can learn about the damage it has caused and not do the same thing than have it simply collecting dust under her care." Twilight said.

I guess I could see her reasoning behind that. No one really cared about the destruction the Master Crown could cause as they only cared about using its power to carry out their own personal wants and needs. And while there were the few wearers here and there that used its power for good, almost everyone that wore me used said power for their own selfish desires, whether it be revenge, wanting to rule over everyone, or just destroying everything in sight. Regardless, in the end, either I would end up taking control and wreaking havoc, or I would end up being taken by someone else who also wanted the crown.

"Null, is something wrong?" Twilight asked.

I quickly blinked a few times as I processed what Twilight had asked. "What?"

"You look like you were really focusing on something. Is something on your mind?" Twilight asked.

I guess I must have been focusing a little bit too much on my past, which resulted in what I assumed was me intently looking at nothing particular. "It's nothing to worry about." I said.

"If your sure." Twilight said as she looked up at the clock. Looking up at it as well, I noticed it was starting to get really late. "Well then, I suppose I should be getting to bed. Have a nice night Null."

"You too Twilight." I said as Twilight went up the staircase and into her and Spike's room to retire for the night. "Now then..." I said as I looked at the various shelves filled with books and scrolls. "Let's see what I can find."

The next couple of hours were spent with me scouring some of the various books in the library that mentioned or focused on magical artifacts. Ever since I learned that something as powerful as the Alicorn Amulet existed, my curiosity about what sort of other artifacts existed in this world had reached a point to where I could no longer ignore it. I skimmed through multiple books trying to find out about anything that talked about or proved the existence of a magical artifacts. However, I ended up hitting a couple of roadblocks here and there. The first being that a lot of the artifacts I read about had either been lost to time or had been destroyed long ago, or some texts talking about how the claims of the existence of some artifacts had proven to be false. Though, this didn't mean that I found nothing. I found multiple books saying that the existence of magical mirrors that could transport those that walked into it to other worlds existed. A book or two mentioned how there existed some books that contained worlds of their own within their pages, allowing those who read said books to enter the world the book contained. And some book referenced a set of rings that possessed some sort of curse that, while separated, didn't really do much. But when brought together, they were capable of bringing about events that would devastate the ecosystem around the rings.

As the hours ticked by I slowly began to feel myself become progressively more tired as I continued to find out more about the artifacts this world held. Eventually, feeling that I could no longer stay awake anymore to continue, I began to put back the books and scrolls that I had gotten out during my research and slowly drifted to the couch. Wrapping myself in the blanket that Twilight provided me, I began to drift off to sleep.

I watched as Landia, who had split herself into four separate dragons using the power of the Master Crown, carried the now damaged body of the overseer of Egg Engines. Normally, the body of the Metal General was somewhat streamlined in appearance. Its body had an aerodynamic shape to it, allowing it to easily move quickly, the top of its body was covered in blue plating with the bottom having white plating instead. When it was active, its eyes shone a piercing yellow, as though it was actively analyzing anything that stood before it. In most cases, that was true. Its left arm ended in a white metal hand while its right arm was instead of a blue projectile launcher that could fire energy shots, mines, to even rockets a few times its size. Finally, towards the back, were a few thrusters that allowed it to fly swiftly through the air as though it wasn't made up of heavy metal and even rush forward at high speeds while on the ground.

However, as it was now, it was a miracle that its body was still intact. Several tears in the metal were visible on both the plating on its body and both of its arms. One of its eyes were cracked and neither were glowing as it was currently not on. A large chunk of its right arm was missing, the main launcher part of the arm being severely damaged. And almost all of the thrusters on its back had been bent or torn off.

Needless to say, Metal General was possibly no longer going to be turned back on for a very long time.

We eventually reached the far reaches of Halcandra, an area simply known as Dangerous Dinner. Dangerous Dinner was that of a fiery wasteland as river of lava flowed endlessly on the surface and the volcanoes scattered about constantly released dark smoke into the sky. However, none of these places was where we were heading. Instead, we were heading straight for the side of the biggest volcano in Dangerous Dinner. We skimmed the side of the volcano until we reached the entrance to a small tunnel that was hidden from the ground by a few rocky spires that were in front of the entrances. Landia quickly flew through the tunnel the entrance led to, and after a small amount of time, we reached a large domelike room that was illuminated by different colored crystals that lined the walls. And in the middle of said room, was a massive pile of various trinkets and shiny gems that Landia had found over the many years that I had been stuck on her head.

Slowly, she drifted down to one side of the pile and placed the Metal General beside the pile before her four separate parts fused back together into the four headed dragon. I could feel the sadness coming from Landia as she nuzzled all four of her heads against the now broken body of the Metal General. Over the many long years I have been stuck on Landia's head, I had been with Landia when she first discovered the Metal General, who had wandered to this very volcano that Landia considered to be her territory. The two clashed for a while before the two of them eventually stopped due to Landia becoming exhausted and Metal General running low on energy. Metal General fled, and the next day, Landia managed to find it back in its own territory in Egg Engines. Though this time, instead of fighting each other, they had developed a sort of bond of respect towards one another. As such, the two of them would often visit one another to keep each other company.

It was kind of a special bond they had going, but most bonds can't last forever. When Landia and I saw the ship that had appeared the last time once again carrying the mage that had attempted to take me, Landia thought it wouldn't be too much of a problem to shoot it down. Neither of us were expecting the mage to bring reinforcements.

The four groups of friends made their way through Egg Engines and had wandered directly in front of Metal General, who seeing them as intruders, attacked them. They easily fought against him and won the fight even when he brought out a giant robot that he had been working on for some time now. Upon hearing that Metal General had been defeated, Landia rushed to Egg Engines and, seeing the nearly destroyed state that he was in, knew that it would not be coming back for a long time. And so, she decided to take it to her personal horde as one of her most prized treasures.

After many minutes of nuzzling the decommissioned robot, the both of us knew that it was only a matter of time before the four friends found Landia and challenged her to take me from her. Knowing this she flew back out of the cave and towards the top of the volcano where a stone landscape sat within a lake of fire and waited for the friends to appear. Some hours later, and they eventually did. Seeing this, Landia flew up from where she had perched herself and flew towards the four friends. And with her releasing a roar filled with sadness and rage, she started the fight. Little did either of us know, that this fight would change the lives of everyone here: the four friends, the four headed dragon, the mage who was hiding behind the lip of the volcano and was watching the fight, and myself.

I slowly opened my eyes as I began to wake up as it also took me a few seconds to remember that I had stayed over at Twilight's last night as I almost panicked upon seeing that I wasn't in Fluttershy's house. I began to think back to the dream I had last night, as I haven't had a dream since the first night I had arrived in this world. Even now, that dream didn't really make much sense to me. This time, however, the dream was about the moments leading up to Landia losing possession of me due to her being defeated by Kirby and his friends, only for Magolor to immediately wear me moments later. I guess the moments with Spike trying to take things from ponies yesterday somehow triggered that memory.

Though, I couldn't help but wonder, how were they doing? I suppose Kirby and his friends went back to Popstar after defeating me while I was controlling Magolor and I could also guess that maybe Landia, who I also assumed was now still separated into four smaller dragons, had managed to get back to Halcandra somehow. Magolor, on the other hand, I wasn't entirely sure of. Did he somehow find a way out of the dimensional abyss the both of us found ourselves in and went to Popstar after defeating me? Or did he travel to another dimension entirely? Those questions lingered in my mind as I got up from the couch and folded up the blanket Twilight had allowed me to use and grabbed both it and the pillow. However, right as I was about to go up the stairs to return them, I stopped as I heard a small commotion happening upstairs. Not only that, I began to feel a large amount of a certain emotion that I was entirely too familiar with. Said emotion was the same of almost every single being who wanted the Master Crown for their own use:

Greed.

I began to quickly make my way up the stairs as fast as I could and reached the door to Twilight and Spike's room. Opening it, I made my way inside and stopped to process the scene that was playing out in front of me. First was Twilight, who was looking worriedly at Spike while flipping through a book held in her aura. Spike, however, was the reason I was trying to process what was going on. Spike was no longer the baby dragon I was used to seeing, instead, he was as tall as Twilight and had a somewhat lanky body as he was currently trying to pull off a familiar fedora that was stuck to his head. Not only that, I could tell that he was the source of the greed I had felt downstairs as it almost emanated from him in a steady pulse. I set the pillow and blanket down by the door and approached the two of them.

"Ok, can someone tell me what is going on?" I asked.

Twilight looked to me with a panicked expression on her face. "I don't know! I just woke up earlier and found Spike sleeping underneath a pile of junk, only to see that he now looks like this!" Twilight said as she gestured to Spike.

"What pile of junk?" I asked, to which Twilight pointed towards the area above us where her and Spike's beds were. Floating up, I immediately saw what Twilight was talking about. Set right beside a small pet bed was a pile of various things including a few books, a wooden basket, some flowers, some of the gifts Spike had gotten yesterday, and a familiar ball. Seeing this, I floated back down and faced Spike.

"Spike?" I asked.

"Um, yes?" Spike said.

"Why is it that some of the things you tried to or did take from ponies yesterday are in that pile?" I asked.

"Wait, what?! Spike, what did you do last night? I didn't see any of this yesterday when we went to bed." Twilight asked.

"I went to... went to..." Spike trailed off as he began to look at Twilight as the greed I was feeling from him began to slowly rise.

"Spike!" Twilight yelled, snapping Spike out of his daze. "Where did you go last night?"

"Oh, um... I don't remember." Spike said before he spotted a nearby globe as I felt his greed begin to rise again. "Hey, can I have that globe? You're not using it, right?"

"Huh?" Twilights asked as Spike grabbed the globe and ran up to the pile by his bed and placed it on top of it before grabbing a book off of Twilight's bed.

"What about this book?" Spike asked before Twilight teleported on top of the globe and grabbed it in her aura and tried to pull it away, only for Spike to try and pull it back. This continued for a couple of seconds before Twilight successfully pulled the book away from him.

"Spike, I'm worried about you. Usually you're not this grabby." Twilight said.

"Yeah, something's definitely not right. You acted similarly yesterday, but now it looks like whatever's going on has gotten worse." I said as I floated up to them.

"Well my arms aren't usually this long either." Spike said, though halfway through the sentence his voice dropped, causing him to slap his claws over his mouth. "What's happening to me?"

I looked at Twilight as she looked back to me before both of us nodded in a silent understanding. "Maybe we should get you to the hospital and see if they can figure out what's going on." I said.

"Are you sure?" Spike asked.

"We're positive." Twilight said.

And with that, the three of us made our way out of the library and quickly made out way towards Ponyville's hospital, hoping for at least some small clue as to what was happening. The hospital had a somewhat welcoming appearance. It was three stories tall with the outside walls being somewhat beige in coloration as pink windows on every floor lined the walls as well. The roof itself was brown and slated, with two chimneys poking out of the top as well.

As we sat in one of the rooms waiting for a doctor to arrive, I noticed Spike began to try and grab one of the depressors that were in a cup. Seeing this, I went up and smacked his hand so that he would stop. Almost immediately after I did, the doctor, a brown earth pony with a poofy orange mane and tail, walked in.

"Well now, what seems to be the problem?" The doctor asked.

"This is Spike." Twilight said as I slapped his hand again as I noticed he attempted to take a tongue depressor again. "And something's wrong with him." I slapped his hand again. "He used to be half this size! And he keeps trying to take things that aren't," I slapped his hand one more time before taking the cup and moving it away from him. "his!"

"All right then, let's just have a look see, shall we?" The doctor said as he approached Spike. "Widdle guy not feewing too good? Who's a brave widdle boy, huh? Who's a brave one?" The doctor began seeing in an almost childlike voice as he began examining Spike. As he knocked on one of Spike's knees to test his reflexes, Spike breathed out a steady stream of green fire from his mouth that blew right into the doctor's face. As it settled down, the doctor face was burnt and his mane was slightly charred.

"So? What do you think, doctor?" Twilight asked.

"Well, I think I know what the problem is." The doctor said as the three of us looked at him expectantly. "He's a dragon!"

The our hopeful looks gave way to ones of unamusement as he stated the obvious.

"Well, I don't think that's the problem. Spike's always been a dragon, Twilight here told me she was there when he hatched." I said.

"Oh. Well, that would explain it. Listen, I don't know anything about dragons, I only know about baby ponies. Maybe you should try a vet."

"Really, that's the best you can give us?" I asked.

"Don't know what to tell you. Hopefully they are able to figure out what's wrong with whatever's going on with your dragon here." The doctor said.

Twilight sighed as she sat up from the chair she was sitting in. "Okay, thank you doctor." We then left the hospital and slowly made our way towards the central part of Ponyville, where the pet clinic was supposedly set up.

The pet clinic was set up in the central part of Ponyville, close to that of the town hall. The building itself was a simple one story building with the outside walls being light blue with multiple windows lining the front. It also turned out that this place also doubled as a pet spa, as multiple ponies within the waiting room had brought there pets either to be examined or be cleaned and taken care for. After setting up a quick appointment, it took about 10 or so minutes before we were taken to an examination room where an earth pony mare with yellow fur and a blue and white mane wearing a white collard shirt waited for us and had us set Spike up on the examination table. After which, she began to closely look at Spike to see if anything was wrong.

"Hm, well, I'm flummoxed. You bring me a dog, I've got it diagnosed in seconds. Snake even faster, but... to be honest," The vet said before turning to the both of us. " I've never seen a real live dragon before."

"Seriously? Are you sure you aren't able to figure out what's causing Spike to be like this?" I asked.

"Nope. With how little documented information there is about dragons, let alone information about keeping dragons as pets, I'm afraid I can't help ya." The vet said.

Spike snorted in annoyance as I could feel all of us were annoyed at not getting any answers as to what was causing this. However, I watched as Spike's attention shifted to a dog treat the vet held in her hoof with a jar of dog treats being held in her other hoof.

"Now, who's a good boy? Who's a good boy?" The vet said as he waved the dog treat, causing Spike to begin panting like a dog. "Now, sit."

Spike sat on the table as the vet tossed a treat towards him, to which he ate in one bite. However, his attention soon turned to that of a bowl filled with various sweets and in one swift motion, grabbed the bowl. I slapped myself in the face for not noticing the bowl earlier.

"Thanks anyway. Come on Spike." Twilight said with a sigh as Spike got off of the table and followed us as we left the vet. We walked for a bit until we reached the plaza around the town hall, all of us somewhat annoyed as we weren't able to find out anything. Spike, on the other hand, seemed to be somewhat happy with himself as he began eating some of the sweets out of the bowl.

"I don't know where else to got to. I was at least hoping that the vet would be able to figure out what is going on with Spike." Twilight said as she looked at Spike.

In all honestly, so was I. We had gone to places that would seem to be obvious in providing us with solutions, only for them to come up with nothing. It also didn't help that I've been having this weird feeling that I was forgetting something ever since we left the hospital after seeing Spike trying to take those tongue depressors. While Twilight didn't really have any ideas on to where to go to, I had already thought of two ponies we could possibly go to that might help us in this situation.

"Hey, Twilight?" I said, getting Twilight's attention as she turned to me. "There's still two ponies we have yet to go to that might be able to help us."

"Yeah?" Twilight said expectantly.

"Why don't we go to Fluttershy and Zecora and see if they have any answers. Fluttershy's pretty much knows everything about animals, and I bet Zecora's an expert on stuff like things such as this." I said.

It took a few seconds for Twilight to process this before it was her turn to smack herself in the face. "Of course! How could I not think of them? Alright, here's what we're going to do..." Twilight said as she turned to me. "I'll take Spike to Zecora and see if she's able to figure anything out. I want you to got to Fluttershy and see if she has any answers, things she knows off the top of her head, a book, anything! Once we're done, we meet up back at the library and see if we found anything."

"Sounds like a plan." I said.

"Alright then. Spike!" Twilight said, getting Spike's attention.

"Yeah?"

"Come with me. We're going to Zecora's." Twilight said as she levitated Spike in her aura as the both of us began heading to the Everfree Forest before splitting up where the path split, Twilight and Spike going directly into the forest while I quickly made my way to Fluttershy's cottage. Upon getting there, I quickly entered and began calling out for Fluttershy.

"Fluttershy? Are you here, I need your help?" I said. This was shortly followed by Fluttershy coming out of the kitchen with Angel following right behind her with an annoyed look on his face.

"Null? What's going on? Has something bad happened?" Fluttershy asked.

"Kinda. Something weird is happening with Spike, and we haven't been able to figure out what is going on." I said.

"What's happening with Spike?" Fluttershy asked.

I explained the weird things that have been going on with Spike, from the way he acted yesterday trying to take things from the residents of Ponyville, how Twilight and I found him this morning and had seemingly undergone some sort of growth spurt in the night, and how he has been trying to take anything he could get his claws on.

"My, that is strange. But, I also feel like I've read about that somewhere." Fluttershy said as she put a hoof to her chin. "Oh! I remember, wait here one second." Fluttershy then dashed up the stairs with Angel and I turning to look at each other with Angel simply giving an eyeroll before going back to the kitchen. I could only assume that I had barged in right when Fluttershy was about to feed him his lunch. A minute or so later, and Fluttershy came back down carrying a book with one of her wings.

"All of the things you said sound almost exactly as what the author of this book wrote." Fluttershy said as she handed the book to me. It was a somewhat large book with a maroon cover with the title of said book being "Drago Wing's Guide and Journal to Raising Dragons". A picture on the front of the cover showed who I assumed was the author: a tall unicorn stallion with rust colored fur and a messy green mane and tail whose cutie mark appeared to be that of a book clenched in a dragon's claw. Right next to the author was what I could assume could be a teenage dragon, considering the fact that Spike was a baby dragon, who barely reached the unicorn's head and had light blue scales covering its body, a white underbelly, orange spines, and had wings on its back.

"This book was the published journal of Drago Wing, an alchemist who wrote down his experiences with raising a dragon and also included information on how to properly raise and take care of a dragon of your own. I like to read it sometimes before I go to sleep." Fluttershy said. "I think it's possible that Drago Wing wrote down something that might help."

"Thanks Fluttershy. This is better than nothing." I said.

"No problem. If you need me, I'll just be in the kitchen getting Angel his lunch." Fluttershy said as she went into the kitchen.

I opened the book and began to skim through the contents. Most of what was contained in the book included things such as making sure to properly file a dragon's nails or making sure to pluck any overgrown scales or they will cause skin irritation. Some other things included some basic information about dragons, which was helpful considering the information I found on dragons while going through the many books in the Golden Oak Library was quite limited. These included how there were many different kinds of dragons, how they had different elemental breaths that all had magical properties, how they were quite resistant to certain elements such as fire, and much more. Just as I was about to give up, I stumbled upon a chapter that caught my eye. Carefully, I began reading through the chapter as to not miss any details.

Dragons and Hoarding

At a certain point in a dragon's youth, a dragon will begin to develop urges to begin hoarding anything they see that they consider interesting, shiny, or important to them in emotional value. This is quite common, as it is in a dragon's nature to hoard treasures, whether it be gold and jewels to magical artifacts. Make sure to keep these urges in check, as ignoring them and not handling them properly can lead to a dragon to develop more of these urges and can also lead to some side effects. Said side effects range from developing a possessive personality, growth spurts, and on rare occasions, intense growth spurts. Back when my dragon Sael began developing a hoarding problem, I was unfortunately slow to catch on to what was happening and before I knew it, he had grown roughly twice my size! Thankfully, by calming him down and talking to him, Sael reverted back to normal and no longer developed any hoarding problems.

I stared at the chapter intensely. More specifically, at the phrase "it is in a dragon's nature to hoard treasures". It was in a dragon's nature to hoard. For the second time today, I slapped myself in the face.

"How could I have forgotten something as obvious as that?!" I yelled, hearing Fluttershy squeak from the other room as I had startled her. How could I have forgotten the fact that it was literally in a dragon's nature to hoard?! I was stuck on the head of a four headed dragon for roughly more than 1,000 years who also had a giant hoard in a cave within the volcano she considered to be her home for crying out loud! Slowly calming down, I began to think back to the dream I had last night, about the moments leading up to the fight between Landia and Kirby and his friends, how she had taken the broken down Metal General to her hoard. Was that dream some sort of sign? Regardless, I realized that I needed to find Twilight and Spike and tell them what I found.

"Umm, Null..." Fluttershy said as she peaked out from the entryway to the kitchen. "Is everything all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I said.

"Are you sure? You sounded mad about something." Fluttershy asked.

I slightly winced at that, not meaning to actually yell out my frustration. "It's nothing to worry about. But, I did manage to find out what's happening to Spike. I need to go find Twilight, I'll be back later!" I said as I bolted for the door, not before giving Fluttershy back the book.

"Let me know if you manage to fix what's happening to Spike!" Fluttershy called out as I left the cottage and made my way down the dirt path. Eventually I made it back to the main path where I saw Twilight running out of the woods with a worried expression on her face as I could feel her anxiety going through the roof. Seeing me, her horn was covered in her aura as I felt myself being lifted off of the ground and onto Twilight's back as we began to head to Ponyville.

"Twilight, I managed to figure on what's going on with Spike! Fluttershy had this book that was written by a unicorn who raised a dragon and said that Spike's maturing to the point to where he is starting to experience urges to hoard literally everything he sees!" I yelled out.

"Zecora said the same thing. And that if we don't stop Spike from hoarding, he'll keep growing and eventually become a monster!" Twilight said.

A realization slowly struck me as I looked around, not seeing Spike anywhere nearby. "Wait, Twilight? Where's Spike?" I asked.

"He took everything in Zecora's hut and I can only assume that he came back here!" Twilight said as we were entering the main part of Ponyville. We eventually stopped and I had to hold on as to not get thrown off as we heard screaming coming from nearby. Making our way to its source, we found Spike trying to take Scootaloo's scooter, with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle trying to help prevent Spike from taking it.

"Spike want!" Spike yelled as he pulled on the scooter.

"You're not getting my scooter!" Scootaloo yelled out as she pulled on the scooter.

"Spike said he wants!" Spike yelled as he pulled on the scooter again.

"If we don't do something, Spike's going to take the scooter and probably run off." Twilight said as he panic began to rise.

I began looking around to see if there was anything we could use to distract Spike, before laying my eyes on a nearby broom. "Twilight, the broom!" I yelled out as I directed Twilight's attention to the broom. She then smirked before the broom was surrounded in her aura and flew over towards Spike and began to wave it, getting Spike's attention.

"Hey, Spike! Check out this amazing broom!" Twilight said.

"Spike want!" Spike said as he hissed.

"C'mon, big boy! Come get this incredible broom!" Twilight said as she began running, causing the broom to float after us.

"Spike want!" Spike yelled as I felt him begin to get angry.

We looked over and, to both Twilight's and my horror, saw Spike grow bigger in size before chasing after us. This caused Twilight to pick up the pace as we began to rapidly make our way to the library. We easily ran through the door, however, Spike tried to follow us in only to get stuck. But, when he saw Twilight waving the broom again, he lurched forward and got unstuck as he began to charge at us. I hopped off and got out of the way as Twilight stood in front of a door leading to a room filled with shelves lined with books. And as Spike began to rapidly approach her, she dove out of the way at the last second with the broom as Spike barreled into the room. Acting fast, I quickly shut the door as Twilight pressed against it.

"Nice job with the broom." I said.

"Thanks. Now we just need to-" Twilight was interrupted as Spike began to pound on the door, prompting the both of us to hold it back to make sure he wouldn't break out. After a few seconds, Spike stopped pounding on the door as everything began to get quiet. And unfortunately, I began to come upon a horrible realization.

"Twilight?" I asked.

"Yeah?"

"Did we just lock Spike in a room filled to the brim with books that he can easily get his claws on and hoard?"

Twilight immediately registered what I had said and opened the door, where we found Spike laying over a giant pile of books that he had taken off of the shelves.

"Seriously Spike? I just reshelved this room." Twilight said with an unamused look as she levitated Spike off of the pile and then levitated said pile to us before closing the door again with a swift kick. I then immediately felt Spike's anger flare up before a crash could be heard coming from his room before I could no longer feel his anger.

"That, can't be good." I said.

We slowly opened the door and found that Spike was no longer in the room. Instead, a Spike shape hole was in the wall on the opposite side of the door. As we rushed towards it, we saw Spike running off towards in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. We both looked at each other with looks of worry before we booked it out of the library and made our way towards Sweet Apple Acres ourselves.

As we got closer and closer to Sweet Apple Acres, we began to see that a lot of the tress we were passing while running along the fence were missing any apples that they may have had growing on them, and more importantly, had no leaves on them whatsoever. We eventually spotted Applejack looking at the trees in confusion, so we jumped the fence and made our way over to her.

"Applejack!" I yelled out, prompting Applejack to look over at us as we got to her.

"Twilight? Null? What are you two doin' here?" Applejack asked.

"Applejack, we need your help. Spike's running wild and we need to lasso him!" Twilight said.

A couple of seconds passed as Applejack said nothing, before she began to lightly chuckle before eventually laughing. It took her a few seconds, but she eventually calmed down and placed a hoof on Twilight.

"Twilight, oh that's a good one. Sweet little Spike, running wild? That's the funniest thing Ah've heard all day." Applejack said.

"Applejack, we're being serious." I said. Soon after, we began to hear loud stomping before Spike ran past us, holding a giant pile of both leaves and apples that he had taken from the trees around the farm. Once he was gone, I turned back to see Applejack with wide eyes at what she had just witnessed. A serious expression then appeared on her face as she looked towards Twilight.

"Twilight, get my rope." Applejack said.

Twilight disappeared in a flash of light before reappearing moments later holding one end of a long piece of rope in her mouth. Applejack the grabbed the other end of the rope with her mouth and then the three of us took off after Spike. We began to get closer and closer to Spike as he could be seen taking his time picking up any stray apples on the ground and placing them on the pile he was holding before continuing. As we caught up to him, Twilight and Applejack jumped forward, hoping to tie up Spike. Unfortunately, it was at this moment that Spike chose to pick up an apple that was on the ground, resulting in both Twilight and Applejack jumping over him and getting the rope snagged on the trunk of a tree. The force of their jump resulted in them wrapping around each other before the ended up being tied to the tree. Spike simply looked at the two of them after grabbing the apple, roared at them, and took off once again. Getting to them, I began chuckling a bit as they gave me looks of annoyance before I began to try and untie them. As I was, I heard someone flying right behind me and stopped to see that Rainbow Dash had gotten here and appeared to be trying to hold in a laugh, before ultimately failing as she fell on the ground laughing.

"No way! Don't tell me, you two tied yourselves up?" Rainbow Dash said in-between laughs.

"Help us get out of here!" Applejack said, before a loud scream could be heard.

"What was that?" Twilight asked as the scream could be heard again, though this time I recognized its owner.

"That's Fluttershy! Spike must have gone to her house!" I said.

With Rainbow Dash's help, we were quickly able to untie Applejack and Twilight and then quickly made our way towards Fluttershy's house. As we got there, we saw that Spike had definitely come here as giant footprints could be seen leading up to her house as I felt fear coming from behind the cottage. Making our way around, I managed to find Fluttershy hiding up in one of the taller trees that were around her house, surrounded by a bunch of squirrels.

"Fluttershy! Are you ok?" I asked.

"No, not really." Fluttershy nervously said.

"What happened here?" Twilight said.

"After Null had left earlier and I gave Angel his lunch, I was helping my squirrel friends with a dance step and all of a sudden, a giant, rampaging dragon stormed through and then pulled my chicken coop out of the ground, filled it with apples and leaves, and then went towards Ponyville. Wait, was that rampaging dragon Spike?" Fluttershy asked.

"Yeah. After I left he underwent a growth spurt just like the book said." I said. This was then followed by another scream coming from the direction of Ponyville.

"That sounded like Pinkie Pie!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"Then what are we waitin for? We need to go!" Applejack said as she began running off towards Ponyville. All of us, including Fluttershy as she flew down from the tree, followed Applejack as we made our way towards Ponyville and reached Sugarcube Corner and went in. Inside, we found Spike on one side of the main room holding onto the chicken coop he stole from Fluttershy's house and was trying his best to avoid cakes that were being thrown at him by Pinkie Pie, who was standing on top of a nearby shelf.

"Pinkie Pie! Stop giving him cake!" Twilight yelled out.

Pinkie turned and looked down at us from her perch. "I'm not giving him cake, I'm assaulting him with cake!" Pinkie said as she threw more cake at Spike. However, Spike was able to catch one of the cakes Pinkie threw at him and put it inside the chicken coop. "How dare you take the cake!" Pinkie yelled out.

It was then I began to feel Spike's anger rise once more as he let out a loud roar, causing the whole building to shake as well as causing Pinkie Pie to fall from her perch. We all fearfully watched as Spike began to rapidly grow, before his head crashed through the roof of Sugarcube Corner as he had now grown to be what I assumed was the size of an adult dragon. Roaring once more, he climbed out of Sugarcube Corner and began wreaking havoc.

"This, definitely isn't good." I said, stating the obvious.

"Yeah, he's completely out of control. We need to follow him before we lose track of him!" Twilight said as she ran out of the now demolished bakery, with us following closely behind. As we tried following Spike, we saw how he had reduced a lot of buildings to rubble during his rampage. We unfortunately lost sight of him multiple times, but Rainbow Dash was able to point out where he was by flying above and leading us to him. At some point, Spike had ripped off the water tank off of a nearby water tower, and was now using it to carry anything he could grab. But, things turned from bad to worse as we had lost him yet again and had to spend some time looking for him before Rainbow Dash pointed out he was close to the town hall. As we arrived, we saw Spike who was now holding Rarity using his tail coiled around her, and appeared to be wearing the cape she showed everyone yesterday.

"Rarity!" Fluttershy yelled.

"Don't worry, we'll save you! Come on Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash yelled as she took off towards Spike with Fluttershy in tow.

We watched as Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy each got on one side of Spike's head, each one of them right next to one of his ears. Rainbow Dash was trying to demand Spike to put Rarity down, while Fluttershy was doing the same, albeit more politely. Sensing his annoyance, Spike began to use his tail to try and hit the two pegasi, resulting in rarity screaming for her life. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy tried their best to avoid Spike's tail, but it was Rarity's cape that got them, as the cape draped over the two of them and ripped off, causing the both of them to fall into a nearby river that ran through part of the plaza. We went over to see if they were ok.

"Are you two ok?" Applejack asked.

"We're fine." Rainbow Dash said before something grabbed her attention and she pointed behind us. "Look! It's the Wonderbolts!"

We turned and saw the stunt team that Rainbow Dash worshipped flying over us and towards Spike. It appeared that only a few members had come to help, as there were only three pegasi flying in formation. Beside all of them wearing blue jumpsuits with a lightning design to them and goggles, the only difference between them was that one of them had a slicked back orange mane and tail as well as yellow fur and wings , one had a similar mane and tail style as the first but it was yellow and had white fur and wings, while the last one also had white fur and wings but had a blue mane and tail that were puffy. They began to fly around Spike who quickly took notice of them. One of them came in and it him square in the chest while another stomped down on his head before the all regrouped and charged at him at once. However, they wouldn't have the chance to hit him, as Spike began to breathe in before letting loose a massive green fire breath that hit the three Wonderbolts, resulting in them crash landing nearby as they were covered in scorch marks. Worried, all of the girls rushed towards them to see if they were ok with me lagging behind. I then watched as Spike picked up some nearby rubble in one of his claws and then threw it directly at us.

"Scatter!" I yelled out. Hearing me, the girls turned and watched as the rubble was flying towards us, and all of us dove out of the way, resulting in the rubble thankfully hitting no one. However, I found myself alone as the girls had all dived towards the direction of the Wonderbolts while I had dove in the opposite direction. Spike, seeing me separated from the others, picked up more rubble as he looked at me with a predatory glare.

"Spike, please. It's me, Null. Whatever you're thinking, please don't-" I was cut off as Spike threw the rubble towards me.

No matter how hard I could try, I wasn't able to move my body. It was if everything had slowed down, as I watched as the rubble slowly made its way towards me. I could faintly hear the others calling out to me, yelling at me to move out of the way, but it was though they were just barely audible whispers. As I watched the rubble threatening to bury me, I could only watch fearfully as my life flashed before my eyes. My time here in this world, from me entering that vortex to just yesterday, me fighting against Magolor, me fighting Kirby and his friends while I was controlling Magolor, my time spent being stuck on Landia's head, and all of those that wanted to use me for my power. Was this how I was going to go out? When I had finally escaped the Master Crown and had somewhat found a place where I had friends for the first time that I could remember, only for me to perish by the hand of a friend that had been corrupted by greed.

Was this how I wanted to go?

No.

I refused to go out like this.

I refused to simply float here and watch as my demise slowly crept closer and closer to me.

I, the influence of the Master Crown that had corrupted and possessed those that sought to use my power for their own selfish goals and then wrought destruction until I had been removed from my wearer, refused to go out like this!

As if by pure instinct, I felt my body go into autopilot and I watched as I slowly put both of the gloves that acted as my makeshift hands were placed right in front of me, palms open and faced towards the incoming rubble. I felt as I began to tap into my mana pool that had grown during the past few hours as magic began to flow directly into my hands and gather right in front of them. As it did, a glowing pink hexagon with various symbols lining it appeared right in front of my hands as the magic began to concentrate. Slowly, a small red orb appeared right in front of the hexagon and began to gradually get bigger. As it reached the size of a basketball, the orb was red on the edges and gradually turned transparent as it reached the middle. However, a small spark of electricity could be seen in the middle of the orb, with various streaks of electricity branching out towards the edges as red sparks danced along the outside of the orb. Feeling the orb could no longer get any bigger, I fired it.

As time seemed to no longer be slowed down, the orb rocketed towards the rubble at high speeds before striking it, causing the rubble to scatter into harmless debris. Looking towards Spike, I saw as he now had a look of shock as I had shot the rubble he threw at me right out of the air with Rarity also sharing a shocked look as her mouth was hanging open. Actually, everyone was wearing shocked looks as when I turned to look at the others, they were all staring at me with their jaws dropped.

"Null, what did you just, how did you just..." Twilight stammered.

I looked at both of my hands as what I had just done finally seemed to catch up with me. Once again going by pure instinct, I tapped into my mana pool once more and began drawing from it. However this time, instead of a pink hexagon appearing, the orbs appeared in my hands and steadily grew until they were about the half size of the one I had shot earlier as I wasn't intending to fire these ones. I watched as the electricity within the orbs danced along the inside and touched the edges as I began to come to the realization that I had just cast my first offensive spell, one that I had used almost constantly during my fight with Kirby and his friends. Even though I could feel that these orbs weren't necessarily strong, I was ecstatic as I was now able to use Magic Spheres.

Before I could answer Twilight, Spike let a loud roar as he got over what I had just done, snapping us all out of our surprise as we had bigger things to worry about with me also losing focus and causing the Magic Spheres in my hands to disspate. Seeing how talking to him hadn't worked, there was only one thing we were able to do.

"Twilight!" I yelled out with her turning towards me as I called out her name. "You and the others need to get everyone out of here or Spike will just keep attacking everyone he sees."

"But what about Spike and Rarity?!" Twilight yelled back.

"I'll try and get Rarity away from Spike. As for Spike himself..." I said as I turned back towards Spike. "I think I'm going to have to fight him."

"What?!" Everyone yelled out.

"Dude, you can't fight him! Look what he did to them!" Rainbow Dash said as she pointed to the three Wonderbolts that had been hit by Spike's fire breath.

"Yeah! And he might try and flatten you like a pancake if you get too close!" Pinkie exclaimed.

The girls continued to voice their concerns before Applejack said something that caused all of them to be quite.

"Well, Ah think he should be fine."

"What are you talking about?" Twilight asked.

"Well, Null did help me catch Snips and Snails when they were taking my apples." Applejack said.

"That's right. I was there when he helped her as well." Fluttershy said.

"Hmhm. And we did a mighty fine job at that. Ah don't think we would have caught em' if Null didn't tell me to buck him towards em'." Applejack stated. "Ah think we should trust him on this. Ah definitely do."

"Thanks Applejack." I said. "If I can just wear out Spike, I think there's a chance I can calm him down."

The others began to talk with each other for a bit, before deciding to come to an agreement.

"Alright, just be careful, ok?" Twilight asked.

"And please don't hurt him too much." Fluttershy said.

"Yeah! Go kick Spikezilla's butt!" Pinkie Pie said, prompting us to look at her with confused looks. "What? It's like you're facing some big bad boss. It feels right to call him something menacing like Spikezilla."

"Regardless, you all won't worry. I'll be fine." I said, reassuring the girls.

And with that, the girls split up. Telling everyone that was still in the plaza to get away, or in the case of Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash, carrying the three burnt Wonderbolts away so that they could be treated for their burns and any other injuries they sustained when they crashed. Once there was no one left in the plaza, I turned towards Spike and Rarity.

"Alright Spike." I said as I held my hands to my sides and began to tap into my mana pool. Spike on the other hand began to glare at me as he sensed I was about to fight him, with Rarity watching us nervously while still being held tight with Spike's tail.

"It's on!"

Baby Dragon Corrupted by Greed
Spikezilla

Our fight began as I began to rapidly float towards Spike as Magic Spheres began to form in my hands. Seeing this, Spike began picking up large chunks of rubble in his claws before throwing them at me. However, they were quickly shot down out of the air as I fired the Magic Spheres at them. One thing I definitely noticed was that when I launched the Magic Spheres, the same pink hexagon from earlier appeared between my hand and the orb of concentrated magic, leading me to believe that they only appeared when I was attacking using spells as they didn't appear earlier when I summoned the two Magic Spheres to examine.

Despite seeing how the first few chunks of rubble failed to hit me, Spike kept up the pressure by grabbing larger chunks of rubble at throwing them. While launching Magic Spheres at these chunks didn't destroy them, they did however knock them off course, causing them to hit the ground beside me as I kept going.

As I got close to Spike, he decided to just stop throwing rubble at me and instead got on all fours and raised his tail up high.

"Null! Watch out!" Rarity yelled as Spike swung his tail horizontally, causing her to scream. Seeing this, I quickly did my best to float over the tail sweep with it just barely missing me as I got out of the way in time.

As Spike began to turn back around to face me as he noticed his tail sweep didn't work, I launched a Magic Sphere while his back was turned resulting in the Magic Sphere striking his back. While it didn't seem to do much, I did notice Spike wince a little bit, meaning that I was doing some damage to him.

Finally becoming more offensive, I watched as Spike got back onto his hind legs and tried to slash at me using his claws. Thankfully, the slashes were somewhat slow, so I was able to get out of the way before launching two more Magic Sphere, one for each arm. After striking both arms, Spike winced some more as he shook his claws in what I assumed was an attempt to shake off the pain. Taking this brief opportunity, I floated closer towards his face and fired a Magic Sphere directly into his face. It seems that Spike wasn't expecting this, as he covered his claws over his face while backing away.

As he uncovered his face as he moved a decent way away from me, I watched as he began to glare at me before green flames began to dance around his closed mouth. Realizing what he was about to do, I quickly floated down to the ground as Spike let out a massive stream of fire right where I had been moments ago. Seeing how I dodged it, he immediately began to try and backhand me with one of his claws. Unfortunately, I had been too focused on avoiding the flames to notice the giant claw before it was too late, resulting in me being launched a decent ways back before hitting the ground.

Groaning a bit as I had to endure the pain, I immediately rolled out of the way as Spike let out another stream of fire from his mouth and kept moving as he moved his head with me, allowing the fire breath to follow right behind me. Thinking quickly, I floated back up again and fired multiple Magic Spheres at Spike's side. This seemed to do the trick, as Spike stopped breathing fire as he couldn't ignore the pain the Magic Spheres had caused.

I once again took this opportunity and floated right in front of Spike and launched two Magic Spheres once more at his face, with him once again covering his face and moving back to get away from me, however I didn't need to feel his anger to know that he was extremely mad as his glare was downright murderous.

That's when he began mixing things up as I assumed he was starting to get desperate.

He once again got on all four as fire began to dance along his mouth. But before I could even think of dodging what I assumed was him trying to breathe fire at me, he began to once again perform a tail spin that I hovered over easily, only this time he kept going as he also began to breathe fire as well. This resulted in him becoming a spinning wheel of fire that I had to constantly hover over to avoid his attacks. Though he would begin to aim both his tail and fire breath upwards, resulting in me needing to avoid both while in midair. He then pushed himself off the ground while still spinning and landed on his hind legs, stretching his arms and claws out. Continuing to spin, he then raised his head up and released a large green fireball that slowly began to rise before exploding. From the explosion, multiple green fireballs began to rain down all around us. I did my best to avoid them, but I got hit a couple of times, resulting in me getting burnt as my outfit also started to have scorch marks appear on them as well.

However, it seems that Spike's desperate move caused him to exhaust himself, as after he finished spinning and all the fireballs were gone, he proceeded to sit down while he had a dazed look in his eyes. Aiming to end this fight, I quickly floated in front of Spike and began to charge a Magic Sphere, pushing all I could as I felt my mana pool being rapidly drained. The result was a Magic Sphere that, while still the same size, was no longer transparent in the middle. Instead, it was dark to the point where you wouldn't be able to see through it at all, with the red color of the Magic Sphere being more vibrant as more electricity danced along the inside of the Magic Sphere as well. And then, in one quick motion, I fired the Magic Sphere right at Spike's stomach.

The result was Spike letting out a massive roar that continued on for multiple seconds, before his upper body slumped forward and his head hit the ground. His tail followed soon after, also crashing to the ground and releasing its grip on Rarity, who tumbled a bit after being let go. Recovering from her tumble, she saw me and made her way over.

"Null, are you ok?" Rarity asked.

"I'm fine, just a little-" I began to say before before I was interrupted by Rarity gasping.

"Oh my gosh! What has he done to your outfit?!" Rarity said as she looked at the various scorch marks as some parts of my outfit were still smoldering from where I was unable to avoid all of the fireballs. The end of my scarf had also burned away as well.

"This will not do. Null, I'm going to need your outfit so I can fix it later. But first..." Rarity said as she began to make her way over to Spike head. Following her, I watched as she stood right in front of Spike who I began to notice was still conscious, though he was barely on the verge of passing out. He let out a weak roar as he glared at the both of us.

"Oh, be quiet. You've got nothing to be proud of. You steal everypony's things, terrorize the town, and use me as a weapon against my own friends! Which, as horrible as it is, I can almost understand because you're a dragon and all. But this!" Rarity exclaimed as she ripped off her torn cloak, holding it in her aura. "This is a crime against fashion!"

"Umm, Rarity? I don't mean to interrupt you, but this dragon is actually-" I began, only to be cut off once again.

"Hold on one moment darling. I'm almost done. Anyways..." Rarity said, only to stop as she noticed Spike staring at her. Or, more specifically, what she was still wearing, as Rarity was still wearing the fire ruby around her neck. Realizing this, Rarity placed a hoof over the ruby while glaring at Spike.

"Oh no. You are not getting this gemstone! This was given to me by my dear friend Spikey-wikey, the kindest, sweetest, most generous dragon ever. And it is too precious to me to give to a greedy old beast like you!" Rarity said, however, it looked as though Spike wasn't listening as he appeared to be lost in thought. After a few seconds of nothing, we all watched as Spike slowly began moving one of his arms and placed a claw on his left cheek. Then, all of a sudden, the fire ruby began to emit a soft red glow as I began to feel an intense warmth from it. It then flew out of the gold band and floated right in front of us.

"Uh, Rarity, what's going on?" I asked.

However, Rarity wouldn't be able to answer as the fire ruby let loose a stream of red fire from it onto Spike. We watched as the flames crawled over Spike before covering his body completely before the flames changed from red to green. Finally, the flames seemed to shrink down as Spike's body got smaller and smaller, before reaching the same size of what he was normally. Then, the flames dissipated, revealing Spike laying on the ground who had turned back to normal. With the last of the flames gone as well, the fire ruby began to stop glowing before falling to the ground.

"Spike?!" Rarity yelled out in surprise.

"As I was trying to say earlier, Spike was the dragon that was rampaging around town earlier. But I'm wondering just what did the fire ruby do and how did it turn Spike back to normal?" I asked.

Rarity seemed to think his over before her face lit up in realization. "I think I know what just happened. I've heard tales of fire rubies possessing fire like properties, hence the name "fire ruby", but that they also have some sort of healing effect that is able to get rid of most afflictions. But, the only way that this healing effect can happen is if..." Rarity said trailing off.

"Is if what?" I asked.

"Is if the afflicted has strong emotions for the one possessing the fire ruby." Rarity finished.

Our conversation was stopped short as we began to hear groaning. Turning to the source, we saw Spike slowly rising up to his feet while holding his head in one of his claws. Rushing over, I caught Spike tight as he was about to fall over.

"Null? Rarity? Ugh, what happened? And why does it feel like a ball was thrown at my face multiple times?" Spike asked.

"I'll explain later. Just know that you sort of went a little crazy with hoarding things." I said.

Spike slowly looked around, seeing the destruction he had caused both before and during our fight before turning to Rarity. He seemed to struggle a bit as I felt him becoming nervous before he took a deep breath and seemed to calm down.

"Rarity, I sort of need to tell you something." Spike began. "The thing is, I've sort of always had a crush on-" Spike was interrupted by Rarity placing her hoof in front of his mouth.

"It's fine, I sort of just found out. May I at least ask how long?" Rarity asked.

"Ever since Twilight and I first arrived here in Ponyville." Spike sheepishly said.

Before we could continue, we all saw the other running up to us with looks of relief. Twilight ran over to Spike and the two hugged each other while Fluttershy came over to me and kept asking me if I was ok as she saw the scorch marks with me telling her I was ok. They explained how they had managed to evacuate everyone within the area and had managed to treat the three Wonderbolts of their injuries before taking them to the hospital. After which, they explained how they rushed over here as they no longer heard the sounds of fighting. After the two of them finished hugging, Twilight approached me.

"Now that Spike is back to normal, I believe all of us still have one thing on our minds." Twilight said, getting everyone's attention. "Null, just what was that orb you fired at that debris?!"

"Yeah. All of us thought you were a goner." Rainbow Dash said.

"Well..." I said. "All I was thinking about was how much I didn't want to get hit by that rubble, and then my body acted all on its own. And then I just fired a Magic Sphere."

"Magic Sphere? That's what those orbs you kept firing at Spike were?" Rarity asked.

"Wait, is that why my face hurts?" Spike asked.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I was sort of forced to fight you so that I could calm you down." I said.

"Regardless, I'm thinking back to what Princess Celestia said about you and how you had a large amount of magic within you. I've seen orbs of pure magic before, but none like these before. And definitely not ones that were able to destroy chunks rubble like that." Twilight said.

"Anywho, I think all of us need some rest, especially these three here." Applejack said gesturing to me, Spike, and Rarity. "These two were fightin' each other and don't look like they're doin' too good, and Rarity's been swung around a lot."

"I agree. I've had a little too much excitement for today. Before I go, may I have your clothes Null? I at least want to fix them as thanks for saving me." Rarity said.

"Sure. Go ahead." I said as I took off my outfit as she held it in her aura. I also gave her my gloves as well as they also had burn marks as well. After that, I made my way over to Fluttershy and floated down onto her back. Everyone decided that we would meet back up later after everyone had gotten some rest while Twilight levitated the tank of the water tower that Spike had set down earlier before we fought and set off to give back everything Spike took during his rampage before the rest of us headed our separate ways. The moment we got back to the cottage and I covered myself up on the couch, after Fluttershy gave me a bath as I smelled like ash and smoke, I gave away to my exhaustion and swiftly fell asleep.

Odd, this was new.

This was the third dream I have had since coming here, but I wasn't expecting for it to happen so soon. I vaguely remember myself closing my eyes and falling asleep on the couch at Fluttershy house, only for the next moment to open my eyes and find myself in an endless expanse of darkness. Another thing I quickly noticed was that I was wearing my outfit, with said outfit appearing as though my fight with Spike had never happened. While I was trying to figure out what was going on, the darkness around me slowly began to brighten before quickly becoming that of a blinding white, forcing me to cover my eyes at the sudden change in brightness. As it died down, I slowly removed my hand from my eyes as I found that my surroundings had completely changed.

I appeared to be in some sort of viewing/observation area, as there were multiple computer terminals lining the walls to my left and right that were displaying random bits of information that I wasn't able to make out. The wall behind me was bare, except for two glass windows that were separated by what appeared to be a metal door of some kind. Lastly, the wall opposite of the door was that of a large window that appeared to look down into some room as there were also multiple rows of chairs that people could sit in that were facing the window as well. Before I could investigate the change of scenery, shadowy concentrations of smoke began to appear throughout the room before they slowly began shifting into humanoid shapes that appeared to be doing various things. Some were observing the computer terminals, others appeared to be conversing with one another, and some appeared to be sitting down in one of the chairs. However, there was one shadowy figure that caught my attention as this one appeared to be more detailed than the others, even if said details were as black and smoky as the figure was. This one appeared be somewhat portly in shape and looked to be wearing some sort of suit and was holding a cane in his right hand. The figure was standing in front of the large window while tapping one of his feet.

I swear, if he isn't here in the next two minutes I'll be docking his pay.

I was startled by the voice that had just appeared. It sounded both deep and raspy as it reverberated throughout the entire room with no visible source. Moments later, I heard the door to the room slide open and watched as a shadowy figure rushed into the room and towards the one in front of the window. This one also had more detail, even more so than the one in front of the window. It was wearing a lab coat that extended a bit past its knees, was wearing boots of some kind, had somewhat scruffy hair on the top of its head, and some sort of lanyard around its neck holding onto some sort of card. Lastly, where its eyes were glowing white as though they were small lights.

Sorry sir, I'm here. I would have been earlier, but you did sort of call me at literally 2 in the morning.

Wait, I recognized that voice. That voice was the same one that I heard in the first dream that was talking to someone about leaving. The voice sounded male and somewhat mature, but had a slight mischievous edge to it. I could only put two and two together as I assumed that the figure that rushed in was the owner of the voice I heard both just now and in the first dream. After talking, the figure holding the can turned around to face the one in the lab coat, who I also saw had the same glowing white eyes as the figure with the coat.

Well, I assumed the head researcher of this whole thing would have at least been able to get here as quick as he possibly could so that he could know what's going on. Do I need to remind you who is funding this whole thing?

The figure in the lab coat seemed to slump a little bit before scratching the back of their head.

No, you don't Mr. Corpalki.

The figure with the cane, who I assumed was whoever this Mr. Corpalki was, appeared to have a smug grin.

That's right. Now then, all that these tech heads could tell me was that the device was undergoing a, what was it, a "magic overflow"?

Mr. Corpalki gestured towards the glass wall with the figure in the lab coat walking up to it and looked down through the glass.

It's nothing too serious to warrant any worry. I actually knew that something like this was going to happen. It just needs some time to adjust to the large amounts of magic being pumped into it, overtime this issue will fix itself.

Seriously? That's it? All these tech heads said that it was a major deal! And what about those weird colorful lights floating around it?

To be fair, a lot of the others don't really have a lot of experience in how magic works. I'll probably need to remind them what they should consider "bad" or "dangerous" when it comes to this project. As for those lights, that just simply raw magic from the overflow. It's not really all that dangerous by itself, but we should probably put some magic absorption crystals in there to clean it up.

During their conversation, I slowly made my way closer and closer to Mr. Corpalki and the figure in the coat to the point where I was just behind them. With some curiosity, I stuck my hand out to touch the figure in the coat, only for my hand to pass through it as though the figure was made of smoke.

And you're positive this project of your will work? Remember what will happen if I find out you've just been wasting my money.

I'm positive that Project Crown will work. It has to. And when it does...

The figure in the coat clenched one of its hands.

It will ensure that we will never have to worry about any more disasters that befalls us. Not wars. Not alien creatures from another world. And especially not the planet dying.

As the figure finished, I slowly floated towards the glass window to see just what they were talking about. And when I looked down through the glass, I felt my eyes widen at what I was seeing. The glass allowed those looking through it to view a large circular chamber with a metal door leading into it. However, what caught my attention was within the middle of the chamber.

Sat upon a large metal pedestal with multiple monitors sticking out of said pedestal, was the Master Crown. However, it looked a lot different than the Master Crown I knew. While it was still the same in terms of shape, circular with triangular points on the top with four spikes sticking out of the front with a gemstone embedded above the spikes, that was where the similarities ended. Instead of being gold in color, it was metallic gray in color. And the gemstone was pink instead of blue. Lastly, multiple wires could be seen sticking out of the crown with some sort of colorful light flowing through the wires. All around the chamber were small orbs or various colors, almost exactly the same colors as what was flowing through the wires. Before I could figure out just what was going on, a bright flash was released from the Master Crown as everything around me faded away into the light.

"Ahh!" I yelled out as I found myself falling from the couch and landed on the floor. Thankfully, the impact didn't hurt due to the low height of the couch. Still, as my mind began to catch up to what was happening, I couldn't help but think back to what I had seen in my dream. The weird lab I was in, those two figures, one of which I concluded was in my first dream, and most importantly, what was going on with the Master Crown. It didn't really make much sense, as I think I would have remembered me being hooked up to some glowing wires in some sort of lab. And I especially don't remember the Master Crown looking like that. All of this wasn't really making much sense, but it also felt too real for it to have been a dream.

Looking out the window, I watched as the sun was a decent way into the sky, signaling that it was till early morning. However, I couldn't really appreciate the sight as I thought back to what happened before I arrived in Equestria, how the shards of the Master Crown flew into that colorful vortex before I myself was sucked into it as well. As I did, the urge to solve this mystery as to what that dream was all about and the questions kept getting stronger and stronger. And then I realized something.

If I wanted to find out what was going on and how the Master Crown related to this...

I was going to have to find the shards of the Master Crown.

Author's Note

So, sorry about the long wait. I greatly underestimated just how busy I was, and with a lot of personal stuff happening as well I didn't really have much time to work on this chapter. But, here it is, and the longest chapter yet.

What I was eluding in the previous chapter was the first boss fight of this tory, with there being many more to come. I will try to provide pictures for each boss as best as I can, but know that each boss comes with its own theme that I have chosen to represent it. All you have to do to listen is just simply click on the name of the boss.

Also, remember how I based Null's design on Magolor's Ex design? Well that wasn't the only thing I based off of it. Which leads us to how Null will be learning magic. While I can't spoil much for future chapters, just know that as Null grows stronger he will gain access to moves similar to the ones Magolor can use in both Star Allies and the Magolor Epilogue.

Lastly, two things. One, I put out a blog post a few weeks back going into more detail as to how the various elements of magic work in this series. While I haven't put all of them down, just know that when a new element of magic pops up, and it will, I will add it to the post so that you all will be able to understand how it works. And two, I will also be putting out a similar post that goes over all of the bosses within this series. Mind you, not all of them right away, but as new bosses make their appearances I will add them to the post alongside when they appeared, the music used for that boss, and even a bio for them. Do note that the bios will be as though they are being read from Null's pov.

Anyways, things will calm down for a little while as Null tries to wrap his head around these new developments. See you all in the next chapter!

Chapter 8: Hearth’s Warming Eve

The next few days went by pretty quickly as Ponyville began to settle down from Spike's rampage. During that time, everything that Spike had taken was returned back to their rightful owners, many of the buildings and other structures that had been damaged both during the rampage and the fight between me and Spike were repaired and looked good as new, and Spike also apologized profusely for everything he had done. During the course of those days, I was almost always thinking back to that dream, going over everything that I had seen in it and trying to make some sense from it. In addition, I couldn't help but wonder just where the shards of the Master Crown had ended up. The shards had been sucked up into the vortex along with me, so surely that meant they were here in this world as well. As for the thought of finding the shards, I was having somewhat mixed emotions. On the one hand, I felt that I would be able to solve the questions the dream had left me with if I had found the shards. On the other hand, I wasn't too thrilled on finding the pieces of the artifact that I had been sealed within for thousands of years. Regardless, I continued to struggle with these thoughts as I was hoping a clue or hint as to where even a single shard had ended up would show up.

The day after Spike's rampage, Rarity had asked for all of us to come by the Carousel Boutique as she apparently had something for all of us. Said thing being the cloaks that Rarity had finished making for the girls as it also appeared she had easily managed to fix her the previous day. Twilight's was blue in color, had what I assumed was fake white fur around the collar and also lined the end of the cloak, and also had yellow tassels dangling from the collar. Pinkie's was a lighter shade of blue and also had white fur around the collar and end of the cloak, though her's had a pink heart that appeared to act as a clip to keep the cloak together. Fluttershy's was a slightly lighter shade of blue than Pinkie's, had what appeared to be white silk lining the bottom, a white ribbon wrapped arund the collar, and had a hood with a daisy attached to it. Rainbow Dash's was blue and had a pale yellow flame design at the bottom with a similar red lame design around the neck and had a gold star on the front. Lastly was Applejack's, which had a brown leather design to it with a lighter patch of brown around the neck, a green collar with a golden trim, and lastly a gold pendant with red metal in the center with black cords hanging from it that also seemed to act as a clip similar to the heart on Pinkie's.

While Rarity said she was still working on me and Spike's cloaks and that it would possibly take her a long time to finish them, she was happy to present me with my outfit which had been completely fixed overnight with there being no indications that it had been torn and burned during the fight with Spikezilla. To say the least, I was quite happy for having my normal outfit back as I was considering wearing my Nightmare Night costume until it was fixed.

As the days passed the temperature kept getting colder and colder as it was obvious that winter was now upon us. The sight of snow as it fell down upon Ponyville every now and again was a welcome sight considering just how long I had spent on Landia's head, with Halcandra being a place that was too hot for there to even be rain. One thing I did begin to notice however, was that similarly to Nightmare Night, ponies around Ponyville began decorating the town with various decoration which ranged from fake candy canes, plastic snowflakes that hung from windows, and even trees that had been decorated with a variety of ornaments which could be seen from windows. Though, there was a lot of decorations that seemed to revolve around what appeared to be some sort of fiery pink heart. I could only assume that another holiday the ponies of Equestria celebrated was on the horizon. It was also during those days that Twilight had me undergo even more tests as I was now able to create Magic Spheres.

Thankfully, both of us were able to learn some things about how exactly they worked, Twilight more than me as I had some experience using them. We found that the Magic Spheres, while still considered somewhat weak, still packed a powerful punch considering how only a couple of them were able to take down Spike. They were also somewhat conductive, by this I mean that the Magic Spheres were able to be infused with many different elements such as fire, water, and even electricity, gaining various properties depending on what element the spheres absorbed. I myself decided to see if I could find out anything else about the Magic Spheres in my own free time, and I did manage to find out a few things myself. Mainly, that the Magic Spheres I were using were a dark element spell, which made since considering that I had been getting stronger by absorbing negative emotions so it also made since that dark matter was involved in its use. It also explained why the Magic Spheres were able to absorb different elements, as dark variations of other elemental spells existed. Other than that, I found that by allowing the Magic Sphere to build up magic it was able to become stronger as I decided to fire off a charged Magic Sphere at a small boulder I found when I decided to go back into the Everfree Forest to see if I could find a place were I could practice in secret. Needless to say, the boulder shattered into small pieces of stone when the Magic Sphere struck it. In the end, I somehow wound up back at the clearing I found myself in when I first woke up here in Equestria, and since it was a decent ways away from both Ponyville and the path that winds through the Everfree, I ultimately decided I would use this clearing as my own personal training ground where I could further look into and practice my magic.

Roughly about two weeks or so after Spike's rampage, Twilight had gotten a letter from Celestia saying that all of us have been chosen to participate in a pageant involving something called "Hearth's Warming", and that the play would be held tomorrow night in Canterlot. Upon hearing this, Twilight and the others became absolutely ecstatic about the news and before I could even ask what this play was even about and what Hearth's Warming Eve even was, everyone had rushed home to get ready for the next the next day. I ultimately decided that with how excited the girls seemed, I probably wasn't going to get an answer out of them and decided to get together a few things myself. This involved me using the same knapsack I used back when I went to Canterlot the first time on the field trip and filling it with almost the exact same things, except the book I had this time was "Drago Wing's Guide and Journal to Raising Dragons" which Fluttershy had let me read just in case I would end up having to deal with any dragons anytime in the future. Also, I managed to find a lot more interesting things now that I had the time to properly read it. Early the next day, all of us, including Spike who had also been chosen to help with the play, arrived at the train station where there was a train for Canterlot already waiting. Quickly getting our tickets and hoping on the train, the train lurched forward only a minute or two after we had all settled down in our seats as we began to head for Canterlot. Seeing how cold it was and that it was also beginning to lightly snow, the girls had decided to wear the cloaks they had gotten from Rarity to help keep them warm. Seeing how everyone was now calm and that we had a while until we got to Canterlot, I decided it was now a good time to ask a question I've had since yesterday.

"So, what is Hearth's Warming?" I asked.

"Hearth's Warming is one of the best times of the year!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

"Yep, it's a time about family comin' together..." Applejack started.

"Enjoying all of the wonderful decorations..." Rarity continued.

"All of the presents you get..." Rainbow Dash followed up.

"Enjoying the time spent with others..." Fluttershy said.

"And about all of the delicious and yummy treats!" Pinkie Pie finished.

"But, most importantly, it's about celebrating the founding of Equestria!" Twilight said.

"The founding of Equestria? How was Equestria founded?" I asked. During my time going through all of the books in the Golden Oak Library, the exact details about how Equestria was founded were never really explained thoroughly. Though, more often then not, almost everything talked about how Equestria officially was established as a kingdom when Celestia and Luna became its princesses.

"I actually think it might be best if you pay attention to the play, as it does go over the events of Equestria's founding." Twilight said.

"Really?" I asked.

"I agree with you there, Twi." Rainbow Dash said. "You'd probably spend hours going into what happened in exact detail."

"Hey." Twilight said with an annoyed look. I couldn't help but chuckle as now that I've spent a while with the group, it wasn't hard to see Twilight doing that exactly. And while I do like having the exact details for something so I could understand it better, it was probably for the best. My train of thought was interrupted as Pinkie pointed out the window.

"Hey everypony, look!" Pinkie said. We all turned our attention out the windows of the cabin and saw Canterlot slowly coming into view as the train got closer to its destination. The girls obviously seemed excited, as they began opening the windows of the cabin and slightly leaned out of them to get a better look.

"We're getting closer!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Yeah, I can hardly wait." Rainbow Dash replied.

"I'm so excited, I feel like shouting! Woohoo!" Fluttershy said, with her shouting somewhat softly at the end.

"Oh, I do hope I look festive enough! If not, well I at least brought this with me." Rarity said as she levitated a bag she had brought with her and opened it before levitating what appeared a hat that looked a lot like the decorated trees I kept seeing in Ponyville.

"When did you make that?" I asked.

"Since last month. Pinkie was the one who gave me the idea for it, actually." Rarity said while gesturing to Pinkie.

"Yeah! Thankfully, I was able to make another tree cake after the first one landed on my head." Pinkie said.

"How did a tree cake even land on your head in the first place?" I asked.

"Let's just say don't leave cakes on a board that's hanging over a counter and that your pet alligator can easily step on on and cause whatever's on said board to go flying." Pinkie replied.

I took a few seconds to process what Pinkie had said as it sounded something straight out of a comedy routine. "Ok then." I said as the train arrived at Canterlot and began to slow to a stop. After which, all of us began gathering everything we had brought and exited the train, finding that the streets of Canterlot were even more decorated than the streets of Ponyville. Almost every shop we passed by had a poster in the window claiming that they were having a "Hearth's Warming Sale" and that everything was a certain percent off. The streets were lined with decorated trees with ornaments of different shapes and colors hanging from their branches, and giant fake candy canes could be found at every street corner.

"Oh, isn't Canterlot wonderful this time of year?" Twilight said as we made our way through the streets.

"Yeah, I wish it was Hearth's Warming Eve every day." Rainbow Dash replied, though what she had said piqued my interest.

"Hearth's Warming Eve? I thought you said it was Hearth's Warming?" I asked.

"Well, yes. But Hearth's Warming is tomorrow, so the day before is known as Hearth's Warming Eve." Applejack answered.

I was about to reply, only to spot a familiar group of fillies standing around a fake candy cane, with a familiar orange pegasus filly struggling to pull away her tongue which was stuck to the fake treat.

"Uh, you guys go on ahead. I'll catch up." I said.

"Are you sure? You won't get lost trying to find the theater?" Fluttershy asked.

"I'll be fine. I brought the map of Canterlot with me." I said.

"Alrighty then, see ya at the theater Null." Applejack said as her and the others began heading off towards the theater while I made my way towards the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were doing their best to help Scootaloo pull her tongue off of the candy cane, but it was obvious that they were failing.

"Hey girls. Is everything ok?" I asked.

The three fillies looked towards me as I approached them, all of them looking at me with hopeful expressions.

"Not really. Scootaloo bet Apple Bloom 5 bits that she could lick the candy cane and not get her tongue stuck." Sweetie Belle said.

"And then I said that it was too cold and that she would get stuck. Then she did it anyway saying that it would work." Apple Bloom said.

"I though ih would work." Scootaloo said, though she was currently having trouble speaking due to her tongue being stuck.

"Calm down, I know how to fix this." I said.

"You do?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Yep. Just watch." I said as I pulled out a bottle of water from my knapsack. I then hovered over to where Scootaloo tongue was stuck to the candy cane, unscrewed the lid and poured water on her tongue. "Alright Scootaloo, now try pulling again." Scootaloo did as I said and began pulling away from the candy cane, with her tongue successfully getting unstuck after she pulled a couple of times.

"Woah, that was amazing! Thanks Null!" Scootaloo said.

"Yeah, how did ya do that?" Apple Bloom asked.

"All the water does is just remove the frost that's keeping the tongue stuck. Anyways, what are you three doing here in Canterlot?" I asked.

"Mah family comes to Canterlot every year to see the Hearth's Warming pageant, and Granny Smith let me bring Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo as well so we could watch it together!" Apple Bloom exclaimed.

"Yeah! When I heard Rainbow Dash was acting in it, I knew I couldn't miss it!" Scootaloo said.

"Hmhm. Though we sort of got separated when Scotaloo got her tongue stuck." Sweetie Belle said.

"I still think it would have worked. Maybe I wasn't being fast enough?" Scootallo said.

"Lucky for you girls..." I said as I pulled out the map of Canterlot "I have this."

"You still have that map? The field trip was a while ago." Sweetie Belle said.

"Yep. It's just until I learn my way around Canterlot, which may take a while since I'm in Ponyville almost all of the time." I said.

"Well then, what are we waitin' for? Lead the way Null!" Apple Bloom exclaimed.

"Alright, let's see..." I said while taking a quick look at the map. After a little bit of looking around and seeing shops around us that were listed on the map, it turns out we were just a couple streets away from the theater. Taking one last look at the map, I was able to mentally trace a path that would take us quickly to the theater. "Good news. We're actually really close. Its just this way."

Folding up the map but not putting it away just in case I would need to look at it again, I began heading down a nearby street with the CMC following right behind me. As the map showed it only took us roughly 10 or so minutes before we arrived at the theater. The building itself was quite grand, with it being maybe two stories tall. The walls of the theater started out at brick towards the bottom, but changed to purple after the brick was roughly as tall as the fillies following me. Multiple posters in glass cases could be seen lining the front of the theater showcasing various plays that were being performed. Finally, a giant white sign above the doors leading inside read "Tonight: Hearth's Warming Eve Pageant" in large black letters. Going inside we found ourselves in a small lobby with a vendor selling various sweets and popcorn on our left while there were doors towards the back that appeared to lead to the different stages where the plays would be held. Thankfully, there were signs above each one that showed what play was being held in each room, and upon finding the one for the Hearth's Warming play, we entered and found ourselves in a decently sized auditorium that was quite empty except for Granny Smith and tall red stallion beside her with a scruffy orange mane and tail whose cutie mark was that of a green apple cut in half who I knew as both Apple Bloom and Applejack's brother: Big Macintosh, or as he is often known as: Big Mac. He was apparently as strong as Applejack was but was also a stallion of few words, as when Applejack first introduced me to him a while back he would usually say a single word or two as a response. Seeing them, the three fillies accompanying me gave me a quick goodbye before heading towards the two members of the Apple family. Judging by the small amount of worry I had been feeling coming from the both of them, I assumed that they were relieved to see the three of them safe and sound.

I then immediately caught something out of the corner of my eye, and look towards the stage to see Pinkie waving at me from behind the curtain. Seeing how I noticed her, she then motioned for me to come to her as she disappeared behind the curtain. Not wanting to keep her waiting for to long, I floated up onto the stage and went behind the curtain to find a lot of different ponies going about reading from what I assumed was the script of the play as some ponies appeared to be practicing their lines. Looking around, I managed to find the others standing around what appeared to be makeup booths and floated towards them. Fluttershy was the first to notice me besides Pinkie as she seemed to sigh in relief.

"Thank goodness, I was afraid you had gotten lost." Fluttershy said.

"Good to see you didn't get lost." Spike said.

"Yeah, just what caused you to head off exactly?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"The Crusaders were having a little bit of trouble. Apparently Scootaloo bet her tongue wouldn't get stuck if she tried to lick one of those giant candy canes." I said.

"And did she win?" Rainbow Dash asked expectantly.

"No. I had to help get her tongue unstuck and then helped them get here." I said.

"Whatever, I bet she looked cool even if her tongue was stuck." Rainbow Dash said.

"Null? I'm looking for somepony named Null?"

Hearing someone call out my name, I looked back towards the curtain and saw a beige unicorn stallion with a scruffy black mane and tail whose cutie mark was that of what appeared to be a script with what appeared to be movie film wrapping around it. He was also holding multiple scripts in a gray aura.

"Um, that would be me!" I said, calling out to the stallion while raising a hand in the air. Looking over, the stallion saw me and came over to us.

"Wow, when Princess Celestia said to look out for a ball wearing a scarf with floating hands I thought she was kidding. I guess not." The stallion said. "Anyways, my name's Play Write, and I'm here to give you your script."

Play Write then levitated one of the many scripts in his aura towards me which I grabbed. The front page read "Hearth's Warming Eve Pageant" with my name right below the title.

"Ok, so what is it that I'll be doing?" I asked.

"You'll be helping out with the lighting and set pieces for the play. Mostly those up there." Play Write said as he pointed up towards a series of catwalks. There also appeared to be various set pieces made out of wood that hung in the air while attached to lengths of rope. "There's a little mechanism up there that allows you to raise and lower those pieces. Princess Celestia mentioned how you are able to levitate, so I assumed it would be best for somepony like you to handle everything up there without the risk of injury due to you falling off."

"Oh, ok." I said. I was kind of disappointed that I didn't have an actual part in the play, but I couldn't really argue with Play Write's logic.

"Hey, don't worry about it. Operating the technical stuff of a play is just as important as the actors. You help out by making sure everything needed for a scene is there and that the mood is correct for a scene by making sure the lighting is correct. Also, that script there is a little special compared to the others." Play Write said.

"It is?" Twilight asked.

"Yep. That script contains exactly what set pieces and what lighting is needed for every scene. Along with a few other useful notes." Play Write said.

Curious, I flipped through a couple of pages and saw that he was right. Right next to what scene was happening was a list detailing what set pieces and what kind of light was needed for that scene. There were also a few notes such as bringing down or bringing up pieces after someone said this or changing the light when something happens.

"Also, you don't need to worry about the mechanism up there being to complex to understand. Right next to all of those buttons and levers are labels saying what they control, whether it be moving a set piece down or just changing the lights. We had it implemented a couple months back and it's been a lot easier to manage the plays. Speaking of..." Play Write began before turning back to the crowd. "Alright everypony, places! We only have a few hours to rehearse, so let's make sure we get this right."

With that, everyone began rushing about to make sure they had what they needed, whether it be scripts, props, or just the costume they would be wearing. Play Write also headed off to assist with making sure everyone had what they needed.

"Well, he was a nice fellow." Applejack said.

"I'll say. I am sorry that you won't be able to perform with us Null, but I trust that you will be able to handle all of that technical stuff." Rarity said.

"Thanks Rarity. I should probably get up there and see what I have to work with." I said.

"No problem, if you ever need us, we'll be right below you." Rarity said.

As Rarity and the others began to get some of the things they needed for the rehearsal, I floated up towards the catwalk and managed to find the mechanism Play Write was talking about. Located on a decently sized platform that overlooked the stage, it was pretty much a console with multiple different levers and buttons that each had a label right beside them. Now that I was up here, I was able to see more of the set pieces that I would be working with ranging from a sun, clouds, and most importantly, a fiery pink heart which I had been seeing for the past few days. Other than that, there was a row of lights set up right beside the platform I was on as well as two rows that lined the left and right side of the stage. Looking at the console, there was a switch that would allow me to control either individual rows of lights or all of them at once, with there being buttons that I assumed would change the color of the lights. Finally, there were levers that were labeled with what set piece they controlled. Curious, I slightly pulled down a lever that was labeled "sun". As I did, the fake sun began to slowly lower down towards the stage before I pulled the lever back up, causing it to rise back into its original position. Now that I have gotten acquainted with what I'll be controlling throughout the play, I placed my script on a flat part of the console so that I would be able to easily read through it. As I did, I heard Play Write speaking from the front of the stage, ready to get the rehearsal underway.

"Alright, is everpony ready? Narrator?"

Spike came out from behind the curtain dressed in a somewhat fancy purple outfit with a white frilled collar and was wearing a purple hat that had a large orange feather attached to it. He gave a thumbs up with one claw while the other held his version of the script.

"Ready!" Spike said with enthusiasm.

"Good. Pegasi?" Play Write called out.

A collection of three pegasi walked out from behind the curtain wearing togas while wearing wreaths on their head. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy came out as well, with Rainbow wearing a costume that consisted of black armor with a yellow lightning bolt at the front and a gold and black helmet that had a black mohawk while Fluttershy's costume was similar to Rainbow's, however it was black and silver while the helmet was more hat like and had a pink mohawk at the top.

"Ready to go!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"Um, I'm ready." Fluttershy said nervously.

"Ok. Unicorns?" Play Write called out once more.

A collection of three unicorns walked out from behind the curtain and wore costumes that were more medieval in design. Twilight and Rarity walked out wearing vastly different costumes. Rarity was wearing a purple and white cape that had what I assumed were fake purple gemstones embedded in the collar while wearing a silver crown that also had fake purple gemstones in it. Twilight on the other hand wore a worn out brown cloak and hood with a pale yellow rope tied around her neck.

"Ready as I'll ever be." Rarity said.

"Same here." Twilight said.

"Excellent. Earth ponies?" Play Write called out again.

Coming from behind the stage were three earth ponies wearing what could be best described as worn out clothes stitched together with rags and also wore hoods similar to Twilight's. Lastly, both Pinkie Pie and Applejack emerged from behind the curtain wearing outfits that were a little similar to Spike's. Applejack wore a brown outfit that had yellow puffy shoulders that also had a white collar while wearing a slightly pointy brown hat with a white feather being held on it with a yellow band that wrapped around it. Pinkie's had a similar color scheme except her's was more yellow and had a pink bow tied where her tail would be, had a frilly collar like Spike that was a light cream color, and wore a hat with a yellow rim and what oddly appeared to be a bowl of chocolate pudding at the center.

"Ready here!" Pinkie Pie said.

"Ah'm ready as well." Applejack said.

"Wonderful! Lastly, are you ready up there Null?" Play Write called out. In response, I gave him a thumbs up of my own.

"All set!" I exclaimed.

"Alright then! Now then everpony, let's make sure this goes off without a hitch. Without further ado, let's start the rehearsal!"

The next several hours were spent with us rehearsing the play roughly three times with small breaks in-between. Even if there were a few small hiccups here and there either in the form of someone forgetting their lines or during one instance were I accidentally lowered down some fake clouds and hit Rainbow Dash because I thought a scene transition was happening, everything went extremely well. Really, a lot of the mistakes made were in the first rehearsal and by the third rehearsal we were able to get through the entire play without a single mistake occurring. Everyone got used to their roles very quickly, and I was able to handle the controls for the set pieces with ease. Twilight was also right as the play went into a good amount of detail about the founding of Equestria, as I would watch and listen to the rehearsals while waiting for my cues to help set the next scene. As the hours ticked by, so too did the sun as it moved across the sky and eventually settled over the horizon as it was now only a couple of hours or so until Luna raised the moon.

After our final rehearsal, everyone was allowed to go out into Canterlot to relax or have an early dinner before the play started. After gathering around, Twilight and the rest of us decided to just get something small as we could eat after the play. And that small thing happened to be Joe's Donuts, who was happy to see all of us back. As all of us got a donut and enjoyed our time before the play began, I was somewhat surprised to learn that Twilight and Spike were regulars here back when they lived here in Canterlot and had been coming here since the first year the shop had been open. Right before we left to head back to the theater, Joe, seeing how I was friends with the others, told me to ask them about what happened the night of an even called the "Grand Galloping Gala" as he assured me I would probably get a laugh out of the story. I decided I would ask them about it on the train ride back to Ponyville as a way to pass time.

When we got back to the theater we found it was absolutely packed with ponies ready to see the play. Granny Smith, Big Mac, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders had left during the rehearsals as I assumed they left to have some fun in Canterlot before the play, could now be seen in the front row with Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo in the front while Granny Smith and Big Mac were behind them as they had a perfect view of what would be happening on stage. Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and myself made sure to say hi to them before all of us went backstage to prepare. We all joined back together at the makeup booths as everyone around us was doing some final preparations for the play, either by making sure they had their costumes in perfect condition or just going over their lines. I myself was looking through my own script as Play Write had told me I would be allowed to have mine with me while I was up in the catwalks. I couldn't help but look up from my script as the others began to talk.

"I can't believe that Princess Celestia chose us to put on the most important play of the season! Do you guys know what an honor this is? For all of us?" Twilight exclaimed as Rarity, who was dressed up in her costume, was applying some blush onto Twilight's cheeks.

"Oh, I wish she hadn't honored me quite so much..." Fluttershy said as I began to feel her anxiety slowly building. "I can't go onstage! I don't want everypony looking at me!" Fluttershy then dove head first into a box filled with various fabrics and tinsel as her stage fright was starting to rise. Seeing this, Fluttershy was wrapped in Rarity's aura as she was levitated towards a chair in front of a makeup booth.

"Fluttershy, darling, there's nothing to feel nervous about." Rarity said as she tried to calm Fluttershy down while applying a little bit of makeup to her.

"Rarity's right. We rehearsed the play a few times today, and every time we did everyone did better and better to the point where I'm positive you'll do great out there." I said trying to reassure Flutershy myself.

"Really?" Fluttershy asked.

"Of course. Besides, all across Equestria ponies are preparing their own pageants for Hearth's Warming Eve in their own towns. It's tradition." Rarity said.

"So you're saying they'll be too busy to come to our play?" Fluttershy asked as her anxiety began to fade away.

"Well, no. We're in the Canterlot pageant, the biggest, most important production in all of Equestria. A lot of ponies will come to watch us." Rarity said.

"A lot?" Fluttershy asked as I began to feel her anxiety rise again.

"Hundreds." Rarity said.

"Hundreds?" Fluttershy asked as she began to become even more anxious.

"Um, Rarity? You might not want to-" I began before I was cut off by Rarity as she gasped in excitement.

"Maybe even thousands!"

Unfortunately, that assumption caused Fluttershy's anxiety to skyrocket as she dove back into the box from earlier. I gave a slightly deadpanned stare at Rarity had made Fluttershy even more nervous.

"Oops. Sorry about that." Rarity said as she rubbed the back of her leg. She would be interrupted as cold gust of air blew right by us and messed up Rarity's hair.

"Oh, my hair!" Rarity exclaimed while she tried to fix it. "Applejack? Be a dear and shut those windows, will you?"

Looking over, Applejack began to walk over to the window to close it, before she was interrupted as Rainbow Dash was looking in a nearby mirror and seemed to be cheering for herself.

"Aaah! Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash! Aaaah! Thank you, thank you!" Rainbow Dash said as she seemed to be waving to an invisible crowd.

"It's a reenactment of the founding of Equestria. It's not the 'Rainbow Dash Show'." Applejack said while giving Rainbow Dash an annoyed eyeroll.

Rainbow Dash turned to look at Applejack as I felt her becoming somewhat irritated. "Well it should be the 'Rainbow Dash Show'! I'm the star!"

Started to get somewhat annoyed at the situation, I set down my script and began to make my way to the window before Twilight walked in front of me and started to try and pull Fluttershy out of the box she was in.

"Fluttershy, you've got to come out of there!" Twilight yelled as she was struggling to pull her out. It was at this moment that Spike arrived.

"Curtain in two minutes!" Spike said, though it appeared that everyone was ignoring him.

It was at this moment that the situation began to get somewhat hectic as Pinkie Pie began to try and help Twilight by pulling on her head only for her help to cause Twilight to begin to lose focus. Meanwhile another gust blew through the window and messed up Rarity's hair again, causing her to fix it once more. All the while Rainbow Dash and Applejack were still arguing about the play. Starting to get even more annoyed, I decided to calm down the situation the only way I knew how at the moment. After charging up a small Magic Sphere in my hand, I slammed it onto the ground which resulted in a loud bang that distracted everyone, which unfortunately caused Twilight to be pulled into the box with Fluttershy.

"Alright everyone, Spike just said the play starts in two minutes. So stop fighting and finish getting ready. Or else." I said menacingly as I charged another Magic Sphere in my hand to imply what the "else" was. Thankfully, the message got across as everyone began to rush to finish putting on their costumes and apply their makeup as I dismissed the Magic Sphere and went over to the window and closed it before floating back over to Spike.

"Was that really necessary?" Spike asked.

"Unfortunately yes. I don't think they would have been ready for the play otherwise. Now, let's go put on a play." I said with confidence before I floated up to the catwalk and towards the console. Setting my script onto the console and began to dim the lights to signal that the play was starting.

As the lights dimmed everyone in the audience began to quiet down so that they could focus on the play. As they did, I immediately began setting the scene, which really only involved lowering a set piece of a fire place down onto the stage that had a small fire lit within. Looking down, I saw Spike with his back turned against the closed curtain and looked up at me and gave me a simple thumbs up, showing that he was ready. Giving my own thumbs up back, I hit the button that was responsible for opening and closing the curtains and turned one of the spotlights towards the fireplace, illuminating both Spike and the fireplace. As the curtains were now fully out of the way, the play began as Spike turned towards the audience and began to speak in an accent.

"Once upon a time, long before the peaceful rule of Celestia, and before ponies discovered our beautiful land of Equestria, ponies did not know harmony. It was a strange and dark time. A time when ponies were torn apart... by hatred!" Spike said, with the audience gasping at the end.

"I know. Can you believe it?" Spike said, though he leaned towards the audience while speaking normally before he straightened back up and resumed talking with the accent.

"During this frightful age, each of the three tribes, the pegasi, the unicorns, and the earth ponies-" as he listed each race three members of said races entered the spotlight with me bringing down a set piece to accompany them whle I pued the fireplace back up: a few clouds behind the pegasi who were flying, a small hill on which the earth ponies stood on, and a cliff which the unicorns stood on top of. "cared not for what befell the other tribes, but only for their own welfare. In those troubled times, as now, the pegasi were the stewards of the weather. But they demanded something in return: food that could only be grown by the Earth ponies."

The pegasi floated down towards the earth ponies and held out their hooves, to which the earth ponies pulled out a bundle of fake fruits and vegetables and handed them to the pegasi. After which the pegsi flew up and began to push up the fake clouds, with me also pulling them up to make it seem like they were removing them.

"The unicorns demanded the same, in return for magically bringing forth day and night." At this the earth ponies brought out more fake crops to which the unicorns levitated towards them before they pointed their horns upwards with me bringing down the fake sun to signify them bringing about the day. After which, the ponies got onto the stage and off of the set pieces, which I quickly brought up, and stood together in the own groups while Spike continued to talk.

"And so, mistrust between the tribes festered until, one fateful day, it came to a boil. And what prompted the ponies to clash? 'Twas a mysterious blizzard that overtook the land, and toppled the tribes' precarious peace." At this, I hit a button simply labeled "Blizzard" and watched as white confetti drifted down from the rafters as stagehands (stageponies?) who were out of sight brought out fans that allowed the confetti to be blown about.

"The normally industrious Earth ponies were unable to farm their land and began to freeze." The earth ponies brought out what appeared to be dead crops and grass while looking at them with sorrow.

"The home of the pegasi fared no better as they began to grow hungry." The pegasi just simply held their stomachs while giving pained looks.

"And the unicorns were freezing and hungry, as even the unicorns' magic was powerless against the storm." The unicorns simply began shivering while holding their robes closer to them.

"Each tribe blamed the others for their suffering, and the angrier everypony grew, the worse the blizzard became. And so it was decided that a grand summit would be held to figure out a way to cope with the blizzard as each tribe sent their leaders." As the ponies walked off the stage I pulled down a lever labeled "Banners" while hitting the "Blizzard" button again to stop the blizzard and watched as three banners representing each tribe were lowered. The banner representing the pegasi was blue and featured a light blue pegasus whose wings were flared upwards with the flag also having light blue stars on it, the banner representing the earth ponies was split into four different sections and showcased a field of crops on a sunny day, while the banner representing the unicorns was similar to that of the pegasi's except it showed a white unicorn with a purple mane, was purple instead of blue, and had yellow diamonds instead of stars. As the banners were lowered, more stageponies brought out a table and set it down in the middle of the stage before they also walked off.

"Daughter of the unicorn king, Princess Platinum." A small fanfare was played as Rarity walked onstage.

"Ruler of the pegasi, Commander Hurricane." Another fanfare played as Rainbow Dash walked onstage.

"And lastly, leader of the earth ponies, Chancellor Puddinghead." A fanfare played by kazoos sounded off as Pinkie walked onstage.

"Perhaps the three tribes could finally settle their differences, and agree on a way to get through this disaster." Spike said as the three of them walked to the table and stood underneath their respective banners. They then took off their headwear and set it on the table before staring at each other for a few seconds before they began to argue, all of them talking over one another before they began to quiet down as Rainbow Dash began to talk.

"All I wanna know is why the Earth ponies are hogging all the food!" Rainbow Dash yelled out.

"Us?! We're not hogging all the food, you are!" Pinkie Pie said before her serious expression turned to a happy smile. "Oh, wait, you're right. It's us. Well, it's only 'cause you mean old pegasusususes are making it snow like crazy!"

"For the hundredth time, it's not us! We're not making it snow! It must be the unicorns! They're doing it with their freaky magic!" Rainbow Dash said as she pointed at Rarity who gasped at the accusation.

"How dare you! Unlike you pegasi ruffians, we unicorns would never stoop to such a thing! Hmph!" Rarity said.

"Well, if you non-earths aren't gonna stop using your weirdo powers to freeze us all, then I'm just plum out of ideas." Pinkie said as she crossed her hooves.

"What a shocker. An earth pony with no ideas." Rainbow Dash said.

"Commander Hurricane, please cease with the insults!" Rarity said.

"You're not the boss of me, your royal snootiness!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"I beg your pardon?! I am a princess! I won't be spoken to that way!" Rarity said as she put her crown back onto her head and began to walk off.

"Well, I'm leaving first!" Rainbow Dash said.

"No, I'm first!" Pinkie said. This went on for a few more seconds before they all left the stage at the same time.

"And the blizzard raged on. In the end, the summit of the tribes did not turn out as well as hoped, and the three leaders returned home to lick their wounds... and basically complain." Spike said as I brought the clouds back down along with various kinds of marble architecture. As I did Rainbow Dash got back onto the stage as Fluttershy walked onstage as well.

"Attention!" Shouted Rainbow Dash, causing Fluttershy to jump a little bit before holding her hoof to her head to salute. After a few seconds, Rainbow Dash let out an annoyed huff.

"Aren't you curious about how it went?"

"Oh, uh, Commander Hurricane, sir! How did it go, sir?" Fluttershy said as she put her hoof back down.

"Horribly! Those other tribe leaders are so disrespectful! Don't they realize that we are a mighty tribe of warriors, and should not be crossed? We have got to break ranks with those weak foals!" Rainbow Dash said.

"And how will we do that, sir?" Fluttershy asked.

Rainbow Dash put a hoof up to her chin before giving a confident nod. "Well, us pegasi don't need earth ponies and unicorns, we should find our own land and claim it in the name of all pegasi!" After which, Rainbow Dash walked offstage shortly followed by Fluttershy. After they left, I swapped out the scenery so there was a backdrop of what appeared to be the throne room of a castle. After which, Twilight walked onstage and stood at the center before Rarity walked onstage as well.

"Clover the Clever! I need you!" Rarity called out.

"Yes, your Majesty. Did the other pony tribes see reason as I predicted?" Twilight asked as she approached Rarity.

"Those other tribes are impossible! I, for one, can no longer bear to be anywhere near those lowly creatures. The unicorns are noble and majestic, and we will no longer consort with the likes of them!" Rarity said.

"How so your Majesty?" Twilight asked.

"Simple, by claiming our own land so we can live away from those pesky pegasi and dirty earth ponies. Surely we can figure out how to manage what the other tribes can do." Rarity said. After which, the two of them exited the stage as I once again changed the backdrop to that of a cabin while also lowering down the fireplace prop. After which, Applejack walked onstage and looked towards backstage, only for Pinkie to come down the chimney before walking up to Applejack. Thankfully this was a part of the script or I would have slightly panicked. I also asked Play Write earlier why this was in the play, with him answering that it was to help get across Chancellor Puddinghead's personality and way of thinking.

"Wouldn't it have been easier to use the door, Chancellor?" Applejack asked.

"Maybe for you, Smart Cookie. But I am a chancellor. I was elected because I know how to think outside the box. Which means..." Pinkie said as she stuck her head back in the chimney. "I can also think inside the chimney. Can you think inside a chimney?"

"Uh..."

"I didn't think so." Pinkie said as she got her head out of the chimney, causing Applejack to groan.

"Oh my gosh, hold on to your hooves! I am just about to be brilliant!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"That'd be a first." Applejack said under her breath, though still loud enough for the audience to hear.

"I have decided that the Earth ponies are gonna go it alone!" Pinkie said confidently.

"Aw, so you mean the other tribes didn't come around? Shoot... Ah' really thought we could get through to 'em if we-" Applejack said before being cut off by Pinkie.

"Don't worry about them. We're the ones with all the food, right?" Pinkie said.

"Actually, we're all out." Applejack responded.

"Fine, then we'll have to go somewhere new where we can grow some new food. And with me as our fearless leader, what could go wrong?" Pinkie said as her and Applejack walked offstage. After which, Spike began to speak once more.

"And so, with the desire to find a new land to call their own, the three leaders of each tribe and their closest associates set out in hopes of discovering and creating their own kingdoms. Along the way, each leader encountered various obstacles in their search, but eventually, they all arrived in a new and wondrous land. Nopony had ever seen paradise before." Spike said, prompting me to pull down one of the more major set pieces. After bringing down a backdrop of a sky filled with clouds, I also brought down a mountain set piece that also had fields in front of it. To the right of the stage I brought down a cliff similar to that of the on earlier in the play, except it had various fake gemstones on it. Lastly, a few stageponies brought out a small hill before rushing off. After which, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew in and stood on a platform that one of the fake clouds had.

"This is the new land we've been searching for!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"What a view... I can see my future house from here." Fluttershy said.

"I proclaim this new land to be..." Rainbow Dash said as she planted down a flag onto the platform that had the pegasi banner on it. "Pegasopolis!"

Soon after, Rarity and Twilight entered the scene as they were on the cliff.

"I've never seen such jewels! This ruby is dazzling. This whole land is dazzling. I'm double dazzled!" Rarity said as she let out a squeal. " In the name of the unicorns, I hereby dub this land..." Rarity said as she placed a flag with the unicorn's banner on it onto the cliff. "Unicornia!"

Finally, Pinkie Pie and Applejack entered the scene and stood on the small hill at the center of the stage.

"The air! The trees! The dirt! This dirt is the dirtiest dirt in the whole dirt world!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"And fertile, too. Perfect for growing food." Applejack said.

"In the name of the Earth ponies, I think I'm gonna call this new place, uh, Dirtville!" Pinkie said as she took off her hat and placed it upside down onto the hill.

"How about 'Earth'?" Applejack suggested.

"Earth! Congratulations to me for thinking of it." Pinkie said as a flag with the earth pony banner rose up out of the hat she placed down.

"We found our new home!" Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie exclaimed before they all realized the others were there and looked at each other with expressions of surprise, which gave way to expressions of rage.

"I planted my flag first!" Rainbow Dash yelled out.

"Did not!" Rarity said.

"Did too!" Rainbow Dash argued.

"I planted mine earlier than first." Pinkie said.

"All of you riffraff are trespassing in Unicornia!" Rarity said after letting out a small huff.

"The name is Pegasopolis!" Rainbow Dash argued.

"Earth!" Pinkie yelled out. This continued for a bit longer, with each of them yelling out the name of what was suppossed to be their new kingdom before Rainbow Dash broke the loop.

"I say we fight for the land. May the best pony win!" It was at this moment that I once again had to hit the "Blizzard" button once more, causing fake snow to begin to fall.

"That's barbaric. Clover the Clever, throw that brute into the dungeon!" Rarity said as Twilight was covered in Rarity's aura and held in front of her.

"What dungeon? Look, perhaps if we all calmed down..." Twilight suggested.

"I agree. Let's all calm down." Applejack said.

" I vote for calm." Fluttershy said.

"I'll have you court martialed for insubordination Private! We settle this on the battlefield!" Rainbow Dash said before she was hit in the face with a snowball. This caused Rarity to laugh before she was also struck in the face with a snowball, resulting in Rainbow Dash laughing.

"Who dares throw a snowball at royalty?!" Rarity exclaimed.

"Wait a minute..." Pinkie said before she looked at the snow that was falling. "Where'd all this snow come from anyway?" This caused the others to look around in confusion before Rainbow Dash had a look of dread and realization.

"Oh no. Not again." Rainbow Dash said. At this, I closed the curtains so me and the stageponies could help set up the next scene. Meanwhile, Spike continued to narrate.

"And so the paradise that the ponies had found was soon lost, buried beneath a thick blanket of snow and hard feelings. Instead of beautiful, it was blizzardy. Instead of wonderful, it was wintry! Instead of spectacular, it was snowtacular! Instead of–"

"We get it, move on!" A member of the audience yelled out as Spike was starting to get a little off track. After giving off a nervous chuckle, Spike resumed.

"Everypony was forced to seek shelter. They searched high and low, but the only shelter for miles was a cold and desolate cave. And, of course, the three tribes had to share it, and nopony was too happy about that." At this, I opened the curtains to show that the backdrop now showed an entrance to the outside of an icy cave as various fake rocks and stalagmites littered the ground. Currently huddled in the middle were the the others, the leaders having annoyed expressions while the others had somewhat awkward and nervous expressions.

"Please, Commander Hothead." Rarity said.

"It's Commander Hurricane." Rainbow Dash responded with an annoyed tone.

"Please, Commander, could you just stand back and give me my royal space?" Rarity asked.

"You mean like this, your highness?" Rainbow Dash said as she stepped closer to Rarity.

"Indeed not! You see this invisible line?" Rarity said as she tried to point out a line which resulted in Rainbow Dash rolling her eyes.

"Private, outline our territory for everypony to see." Rainbow Dash said, with Fluttershy drawing a line using a marker that could easily be cleaned. "See this real, non-invisible line? No unicorns or Earth ponies are allowed to cross it! This is the sovereign territory of Pegasopolis!"

"Clover the Clever?" Rarity said.

"Uh, Smart Cookie?" Pinkie asked.

"I know, I know." Applejack responded as her, Twilight, and Fluttershy all used markers to outline their races territory. However, as Fluttershy drew her line around a rock, Rainbow Dash rushed over to her.

"What are you doing? Don't go around the rock, go over it! I'm not giving up an inch of territory to the enemy!" Rainbow Dash said, only for the rock to be dragged over to Rarity as it was held in her aura.

"This rock is clearly on the Unicornia side of the cave, and it belongs to us!" Rarity said before whispering to Twilight under her breath. "Who knows? There could be jewels inside."

"I claim this rock for Pegasopolis!" Rainbow Dash said as she flew over and grabbed the rock.

"Unhand that rock this instant, you scoundrel!" Rarity said as she smacked the rock out of Rainbow Dash's hooves.

"Oh, look, you found my rock. I've been looking for it everywhere." Pinkie said before she grabbed the rock and went over to Applejack.

"Hey! You invaded our territory!" Rainbow Dash yelled out.

"Finders keepers, losers weepers!" Pinkie said in a mocking tone. That seemed to be the last straw as Rainbow Dash and Rarity began to chase each other around as they tried to get the rock, all the while they continued to argue. It was also at this moment that I once again hit the "Blizzard" button, causing it to begin snowing once more. Only this time, I also began setting things up for the finale as I switched one of the spotlights to a light blue color and began to aim it at the entrance to the cave on the backdrop.

"Look, everypony! The entrance, it's freezing over!" Twilight pointed out as the light covered the entrance.

"Great. Now there's no way out! We're trapped!" Rainbow Dash said.

"You two deserve this horrible fate. You've done nothing but argue and fight with each other!" Rarity said.

"You've been fighting too, your Highness." Rainbow Dash said.

"Yeah! Worse! I haven't been fighting nearly as much as you!" Pinkie argued. It was also at this moment that I switched the colors of more of the spotlights and began to shine them at the three arguing leaders.

"How ridiculous! A unicorn never stoops to fighting!" Rarity said.

"That's just 'cause you wimpy unicorns know you'd never win!" Rainbow Dash said as the light began to shine on her. "Earth ponies are numbskulls!"

"Pegasi are brutes!" Rarity said as a light approached her.

"Unicorns are snobs!" Pinkie said as one last light approached her.

As all three light shone onto the three of them, the others let out gasps and sad sighs as their leaders were (in a sense) frozen. They then looked up and saw as pegasus actors who had been covered in light blue body paint and wore light blue cloth entered onstage and began to circle above them. As they did, they let out a scream and got closer to each other.

"W-W-What is that, thing?" Fluttershy fearfully asked.

"They must be, windigos!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Windigos?" Both Applejack and Fluttershy asked.

"My mentor Star Swirl the Bearded taught me about them. They're winter spirits that feed off fighting and hatred. The more hate the spirit feels, the colder things become!" Twilight explained.

"Then, this is our fault. We three tribes, we brought this blizzard to our home by fightin' and not trustin' each other. Now it's destroyin' this land, too." Applejack said dejectedly. It was also at this cue that I began changing the color of more lights and began to slowly move them towards the three of them.

"And now our bodies will become as cold as our hearts, all because we were foolish enough to hate." Twilight said.

"Well, I don't hate you." Fluttershy began to say. "I actually hate Commander Hurricane a lot more than I hate you guys." This resulted in both Twilight and Applejack slightly giggling at Fluttershy's remark.

"Actually, I don't really hate her, I just really, really, really dislike her." Fluttershy continued, causing Twilight and Applejack to transition from giggling to laughing. As they did, the lights began to shine on them, indicating that they were beginning to freeze.

"Well, I don't hate you guys either." Applejack said.

"Nor do I." Twilight said.

"No matter what our differences, we're all ponies." Applejack finished as the lights completely shone on them. After waiting a few seconds, I began to rapidly press buttons to begin the finale of the play, starting by shutting off the blizzard before lowering the the prop of the fiery heart. After which, I immediately turned off the lights shining on Twilight, Applejack, and Fluttershy with Twilight casting a spell on the heart to make it glow a bright pink. As she did, the pegasi flew offstage, signaling that the windigos had run off and also causing the three mares to look up at the heart.

"What was that?" Fluttershy asked.

"I didn't know unicorns could do that." Applejack said in amazement.

"I didn't either. Nothing like this has ever happened before. But I know it couldn't have been just me. It came from all three of us, joined together, in friendship." Twilight said as the three of them wrapped their front legs around each other. During which I immediately began to move the light shining on Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie away from them to show they were thawing as Spike began narrating for the final part of the play.

"All through the night, the three ponies kept the fire of friendship alive by telling stories to one another and by singing songs, which of course became the winter carols that we all still sing today. Eventually, the warmth of the fire and singing and laughing reached the leaders, and their bodies began to thaw. And it even began to melt their hearts." Spike said as I closed the curtains again as the stageponies and myself began to set up the scene from before the events of the cave. Once everything was in place, I opened the curtains one final time to reveal all of the girls standing on the hill.

"The three leaders agreed to share the beautiful land, and live in harmony ever afterwards. And together, they named their new land..." Spike said as Rainbow Dash placed down a flag pole on which a light blue banner with white stars that had Celestia and Luna flying around each other with the sun and moon in-between them.

"Equestria!" Shouted the girls, causing the audience to cheer as the performance ended.

For the next while, everyone began singing what I assumed was some one of the many carols that were sung during Hearth's Warming. I myself decided to watch from above as everyone seemed to be having fun singing, also because I didn't know a single word of any of the songs. Eventually, as the last carol ended, I floated down to the stage as everyone who assisted and performed in the play came onstage as well before we all gave a bow to the audience who cheered and threw things such as flowers onto the stage. After that, all of us headed backstage once again to get out of costume as the audience members began to leave, with the eight of us grouped back up at the makeup booths with all of us discussing how well the play went.

"We should be so honored that Princess Celestia chose us! She must really think we exemplify what good friends are!" Twilight said.

"I agree. All of us did pretty well if I do say so myself." Spike added.

"Hmhm. Ah' was more impressed with how Null was able to operate all of that stuff so easily. Ah' went up there earlier and all of those buttons and levers made my head spin." Applejack said.

"Honestly, once I figured out how all of those levers and buttons worked, it felt like second nature operating everything up there." I said. However, before I could continue, a cold breeze flew through the back as we all looked over to see that the window from earlier was open again.

"Null, didn't you close that window?" Rarity asked.

"Yeah, maybe someone opened it after we left. I'll just go close it again." I said as I made my way towards the window. However, right as I was about to close it, I froze as I heard what appeared to be an eerie roar that was carried along with the wind as well as a slight feeling of dread as it felt as though the room had gotten a lot colder. Looking out, all I could see were the streets of Canterlot as clouds began to form in the sky.

"Hey Null! Once you close that window we need to get back to Ponyville. A snowstorm is scheduled to happen pretty soon." Twilight said.

"Sure, just give me a second." I said as I looked back out the window for a bit before closing it. As I joined back up with the others, I couldn't help but think about that roar I heard, as well as I'm pretty sure I saw something flying through the clouds overhead.

Author's Note

Sorry this chapter took so long to come out. Other than the fact I was on vacation with my family, I struggled a lot with how I wanted this chapter to be worded. I definitely wanted to do the Hearths Warming play as viewed by the audience (or someone who was helping with setting up the set) but I kinda struggled here and there. Regardless, I think I'm somewhat happy with how this turned out.

Other than that, I have another reason why this chapter took a little long to come out. And it's because I am currently working on a second story. No this does not mean this one will stopped being worked on, it's just that I kinda want to branch out a bit and test out an idea I've had for a story for a while. Mostly involving a franchise that I adore, but more importantly, a certain piece of it. I'm not spoiling anything just yet, just know that Chapter 1 of the new story is almost done and once the second or third is done I'll be putting out the story for you all to read if you're interested in it.

One last thing, I kind of want to be more engaging with you all a little bit more, so feel free to leave any questions or comments that you may have. Anything from helping me fix some mistakes (I tend to miss a thing here or there and try my best to fix it) or just something you want more clarification on. I'll do my best to answer.

Anyways, with the Hearths Warming play being a big success and a snowstorm happening right before Hearths Warming, Null will get to experience Hearths Warming in its full glory in the next chapter. See you all then.

Chapter 9: A Frozen Hearth's Warming

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.