Pete Powell in Equestria

“An iceberg?” Pete looked at the princesses incredulously while standing in the middle of the cathedral-esque throne room of Canterlot castle. Only an hour ago he had been snuggled up with Stellar Glow and Rainbow Dash in bed, certain ideas being tossed between the group, when Twilight had come over. Her hooves pounding on the front door could have woke the dead. Instead she got a mildly irritated Pete Powell. The unicorn whisked him and Rainbow away to Canterlot, urgent Princess Celestia summons. Threat to Equestria that calls for the action princess and human turned Aspect summons.

“It's the middle of Summer, Pete,” Twilight rolled her eyes.

“Ice moves in the ocean, I've seen it.”

“And we have observed it growing in size, despite reaching warmer waters,” Celestia countered. “In fact, our scouts have reported the ocean around the iceberg is reaching freezing temperatures itself.”

“Okay, that's a problem.” Pete leaned back on his heels and crossed his arms. “What're we gonna do about it?”

“Investigate?” Twilight suggested, with a healthy dollop of sarcasm.

“No pony we have sent has been able to get inside of the iceberg, but we sense a magic within,” Luna elaborated, shooting a look at her sister for being so cryptic. For all of Celestia's strategies being direct was never an option.

“So, simple go to floating hunk of ice, get inside, neutralize whatever is causing it?” Pete offered skeptically.

“As long as neutralize doesn't mean what you did to Tirek,” Celestia gave Pete a stern look while the Mane Six around him paled visibly at the reminder. “I don't want to replace the carpets again because they're drenched in centaur blood. Or any blood.”

“Hey, hey!” Pete pointed at Celestia, “I asked if I could handle that my way. You agreed.”

“We didn't exactly have any alternatives at the time.”

“Not that I shall complain,” Luna added to her sister's statement with a sideways glance.

Celestia sighed in defeat, “Just try not to end up killing anyone, Pete. I do try to be understanding of your new situation but it is hard to keep the citizens in line when you do things like drag corpses of villains through the streets to prove you killed them.”

Pete's face turned red and he coughed nervously. “That, well, that was less me and more the other me.”

“You lost control?” Celestia's eyes bulged ever so slightly.

“Is that why you deflected that energy blast that ended up destroying the library?!” Twilight's eyes were almost as wide as her mentor's and her jaw was dangerously close to floor levels.

“A little,” he admitted with a frown. “I'm working on it. This is hard, okay? I mean, this is damn hard. Trying to balance having a raving sociopath for a co pilot in exchange for power? I can think of a few dozen better ideas but this is the one I've got.”

Tensions seemed to break with that line. The royal sisters were well aware of the parallels between Pete's changes and their own histories. At the very least Pete's efforts had been directed towards criminals and dangerous creatures in the Everfree. Travel from Ponyville had never been safer than after Pete began hunting in the Everfree and putting dents in the chimera and timber wolf populations. He was trying to find helpful outlets for his new need for anger and violence, which was better than their failed attempts to stave off corrupting outside influences.

Celestia explained that this mission would have a different method of travel. Due to the iceberg's distance from land taking a train was simply not viable, and approaching by boat would be too dangerous. The seven were to be taken to the iceberg by sky, in a chariot much like Celestia's own, and the team of pegasi would be on stand by outside of the anomaly for when they left. Of course getting into the thing was left to the two most magically capable members of the group. Melting was the plan.

They were soon escorted to an area behind the castle, each given a heavy coat, which Pete refused, and ushered into the chariot. It was less cramped than Pete expected, but space was still at a premium. The ponies did their best to give him room as the team of pegasi took off, barely jostling the group as they looked out the windows. Even by air it would take nearly an hour to reach the coast, and well over that to reach the iceberg itself. Pinkie and Applejack put their coats on early, and Pete figured Rainbow and Fluttershy would be last. Pegasi had a natural resistance to cold after all. He briefly wondered if that applied to Twilight now that she had wings as well.

Twilight had taken quite well to being a princess, though the new castle still bothered her. Pete felt a degree of responsibility for that considering it had been him that fought Tirek. He had resigned himself to being entirely entwined in this timeline and was no longer afraid to confront villains by himself. In fact he'd had another plan for that weekend before Celestia's summons but princess orders took priority over disrupting the timeline. Especially another event that didn't occur in the series he remembered. Significant differences in the timeline had already happened, including himself and Eclipse, and the universe hadn't imploded yet. He figured that was a good enough sign to start meddling in his own ways.

“Pinkie, please!” Rarity shouted and shielded herself with a foreleg as the pink pony next to her wiggled in discomfort.

“I'm sorry, but this thing is seriously cramped!” Pinkie scrunched her nose and tried again to get settled in the seat. The inside of the carriage was quite ornate, and comfortable, but fitting six ponies and a human was rough. Even with the group split between two seats on either side of the carriage. Pete was sat next to Rainbow and across from Twilight, with the two bickering mares on his bench and on the opposite side.

Pete shook his head and put his hand on the handle to the carriage. Twilight and Rainbow opened their mouths to stop him, but he simply rolled his eyes. The door was flung open, wind whipped the inside of the carriage, causing the girls to squeal and shout as Pete threw himself from the carriage and into the sky below. Twilight closed the door with her magic and the group huddled around the window, watching their friend plummet several hundred feet into a cloud they were passing over. A barely audible roar parted the cloud and Pete shot upwards into the air in his Aspect form, wings spread wide. He kept pace with the carriage and pointed at the Elements of Harmony, laughing at their worried expression.

Seconds later the door was thrust open again, Twilight exasperatedly closing it again, the disregard for pressure among the fliers of the group was getting to her. Rainbow Dash flew out and tackled her lover in the air, swatting at his shoulder several times with her hoof and berating him.

“What in Celestia's name were you thinking?” she shouted as he rolled in the air.

“That I'm tired of sitting in that cramped carriage, and I can fly now,” Pete grinned at Rainbow, a strangely toothy grin in his new draconic form.

RD tried to argue with him, but realization slowly crossed her face. He could fly. He wanted to fly and now he could, and so could she. Her eyes went wide and bright as his grin turned into an unabashed smile. Within seconds the two were zipping around the sky, around the carriage, flying in front of the leads, back behind the carriage, racing each other, pushing their limits. Rainbow was faster by a long shot. Pete had more weight to carry and was still new to the whole idea. Tirek had clipped him a few times even after Scales had taken control of their shared form because of his inexperience.

The couple weren't thinking about that, they were focused on the fact that Pete could now do something he had dreamed of. Something he'd wanted to for decades. The fact it was something he could share with Rainbow Dash factored in somewhat, but he'd wanted to fly before he met her. It had been something he wanted to do on his own, and to a degree it had been what attracted him to Rainbow Dash, along with her confidence and strength. He shared all of those traits now and wondered if perhaps the empathy link the ponies and he shared were part of that.

Out of the corner of his eye Pete saw Rainbow dive down and then back up towards him. Her speed knocked him upright in the sky and she grinned as she leaned in and kissed him. Rainbow Dash wasn't afraid of Pete's new form. In the back of her mind she even admitted she was attracted to it, but it was something that separated her from her friends and most ponies. Scales would never admit it but he liked the idea of having ponies around, at least he enjoyed himself from where Pete sat. It was a unique set up between them all, including Stellar Glow, but they made it work. They were a different sort, from different backgrounds, with their own problems. Each of them were strange: Rainbow for being interested in a human at all, Stellar Glow for her size, and Pete for being a human and Aspect. In a sense they were a herd of misfits.

Pete and Rainbow flew the rest of the way to the iceberg, greatly enjoying each other's company in their newly shared obsession. The pegasi team brought the carriage down on the uneven surface of the ice and the Elements of Harmony hopped out, all wearing their coats, with Rainbow climbing back into the carriage for a moment to get hers. Twilight spoke to the lead of the team, told him about her signal for pick up, and watched them fly off with their ride. Pete stood, unaffected by the cold in his Aspect form and felt the sudden weight of the mission. This was the first time since becoming an Aspect, since he was officially expected to help the Elements of Harmony, that they had a job together. Rainbow Dash, his herdmate, would be in serious danger and it would be his job to watch out for them all. He let out a resolute breath and approached Twilight.

“So, time to start melting?”

Twilight nodded, “Straight down appears to be our only option though.” She teleported around the edge of the berg and then back to Pete, and shook her head. “There's no ledge we could stand on, and it would be problematic getting those of us that can't fly into any hole we make on the side.

Pete cocked his head and then picked up Applejack and Pinkie Pie, one mare under each arm. “You're saying I can't do this?” He set the two down as AJ began kicking, ineffectively but clearly agitated at suddenly being lifted.

“Point taken.” Twilight blushed and flew over the edge, followed shortly by Pete.

The pair pointed their magic casting limbs, Pete's claw and Twilight's horn, and began blasting the side of the ice. It was slow and methodical, trying to make sure the ice above didn't crack or melt. Surprisingly progress was uncomplicated, and after a few minutes the two melted their way into some kind of inner chamber. As he'd demonstrated before, Pete flew up and grabbed the two earth ponies, escorting them to the impromptu entrance that had just been made, while the pegasi flew down and Rarity teleported herself.

Inside of the iceberg was somehow even colder than outside. Several of the mares pulled their hoods up as they explored the strange room. The walls were perfectly sculpted and smooth, and there appeared to be holes that led to more rooms.

“Someone built this,” Twilight muttered as she looked into the next room. “There is no way something like this formed naturally. These are doorways,” she pointed at the other holes in the ice that seemed to lead into other rooms, “like this iceberg is a … ship of some kind.”

Wordlessly Pete extended his claw and channeled magic, a spell he'd learned from the Night Guard to seek magic. Twilight was right, someone inside of the iceberg was casting magic, a slow and steady spell. The kind that might be used to continuously chill the area and create ice. He alerted the group and led them through one of the openings into another room.

The floor of the new room was completely flat and the sky outside was almost visible through the sheet of ice above them. If someone had been in the room when they landed their presence was already known. They could have easily been seen through the ice. It was unsettling to Pete. He should have looked down as soon as they landed. He should have known.

A sudden chill swept the room and the ponies gasped as various ethereal shades poured from the walls. Horse shaped and ghost like there was only one thing they could have been. Windigos. The group formed up in a circle, the magically inclined channeling to fight, when one burst from the ground below them causing them to scatter.

Anger building in him, Pete lashed out at the windigos, clipping a couple but barely harming them, if at all. Twilight and Rarity however were more successful in pushing them off. After a few minutes however the windigos seemed to form around Pete. They swirled around him, the air becoming colder and colder as they gathered. That was when he remembered the entire story of Hearths Warming. Windigos fed on hate and anger, the same things his Aspect form fed off of. The angrier he got the stronger the spirits became too. With a growl he dove through the apparitions and slid towards the Mane Six.

“Why does everything in this world exist to screw me?” he complained as he relaxed and shed his Aspect form, returning to a human. A very cold human with little clothing.

Twilight tapped the human with a spell, one that seemed to quickly warm him up from the inside, and the windigos began to disperse. The group caught their breath and huddled close.

“I guess that's my fault,” Pete confessed, wrapping his arms around himself. “Windigos feed off hate and all that, right?”

“Yeah,” Applejack nodded, “And that's what your dragon thing likes, right?”

Pete nodded, “Guess they saw me as a free meal.”

“What are they doing here?” Twilight pondered with a head scratch. “Windigos haven't been seen for thousands of years.”

“Well, we're in an iceberg headed for the coast of Equestria. I'm guessing they've got some kind of plan to invade?” Pete shrugged, “It doesn't matter, does it? We're here to stop them.”

“Knowing their plans would help with that, darling,” Rarity pointed out, between chattering teeth.

“Can anypony speak windigo?” Pete shrugged, and watched the group glance at Fluttershy.

The yellow pegasus retreated into her hood, leaving just a snout. “No.”

“Well, I guess the only thing to do is go forward and see who's casting that spell.” Twilight sighed and turned, half marching into the next room. The rest followed suit, but their progress was quickly stopped.

Halfway through another flat room a spell was released. Pete was unprepared, as were the others, and they soon found themselves half frozen in ice. The ponies were engulfed to their flanks and shoulders while Pete was trapped to his waist. Grunts of struggle were met with no success in freeing themselves, and even Twilight's magic couldn't break the ice. No other choice, Pete flexed his body and roared, but his Aspect form failed to break the ice. With a groan he changed back into his human shape and blinked at the predicament. Apparently the ice that held them was strong. After a minute of struggling a mare stepped out from the far side of the room.

She was a mix of whites and blues, like the iceberg that surrounded them. A deep blue mane and tail with a white coat that trailed into light blue tips. Everything was long, her mane half hid her light blue eyes, her tail almost dragged on the snowy floor below her, and even her coat was untrimmed. It was an odd sight for everyone. Most mares kept themselves trimmed at least, which raised the question of how long this one had been inside of the iceberg. As well as why she was there.

“Just as father predicted,” she said soft and monotonously.

“Who are you?” Twilight looked bewildered at the unicorn before them, who slowly walked around, taking a strange interest in Pete.

“My name is Gale,” she replied, her tone remaining flat. “This iceberg is my home.”

“And your father?” Pete asked, watching their captor circle him.

“Him too, yes.” Gale nodded and looked at the mares. “You are the Elements of Harmony, correct? Celestia's personal strike force.”

“You're right we are,” Rainbow Dash shouted and started tugging at the ice around her again. “So if you know what's good for you you'll let us go!”

Gale shook her head, her horn lighting up and causing the ice to start moving up along her victims. “My father gave me clear instructions to eliminate any intruders.”

Twilight lifted her head and swallowed, watching the ice crawl up her chest. “What's his plan?”

The ice suddenly stopped and Gale turned around, slowly walking back in front to face Twilight. She stood for a moment and stared at the purple unicorn, unflinching.

“He didn't say I couldn't explain... Very well,” she nodded, “I shall tell you. My Father plans on freezing Equestria, and I am his key to that.”

“How?” Pete asked, keeping his hands above the ice, even after it had stopped moving.

“I am half windigo,” Gale replied simply. “The windigos' weakness is the fires of friendship. Being spirits they are particularly weak to such things. I, however, am solid. A pony and a windigo together. A product of my Father and one of the windigos that inhabit this iceberg.”

With a breath the icy mare turned transparent, her eyes became glowing orbs, her body wispy and ethereal like the other windigo. She demonstrated her heritage, chilling the very air with her presence as she passed through several members of the group causing them to shiver. Afterwards she landed in front of Twilight again and returned to her corporeal form.

“So you're kind of like me,” Pete said as the ice around them twitched upwards. It stopped once more and Gale came around to his side.

“What do you mean?”

“I'm like that too. I've got a spirit that lives in me. An Aspect. It's like a dragon thing.”

The ice around Pete slowly melted and Gale stood back. “Show me.” Her voice remained monotone but there was an edge of a command. Pete nodded and roared into his Aspect self, growing and feeling the scales cover his body. The wings behind him unfurling, and the pent up rage calling forth several windigos to swirl around him. This time he ignored them.

Gale stared, wonder filled her eyes. She could feel the same thing the windigos could, as well as sense the spirit that inhabited the human. Like before she paced around him, examining every angle of his new shape before stopping in front of him.

“It is a shame that I must kill you.” She didn't sound any different, but Pete took the line at face value.

“Why is your father doing this? Why does he want to freeze Equestria?”

Gale paused again, thinking about what he father had told her to do. He hadn't said anything about keeping their plan a secret, so she relented.

“Long ago my father was married to a normal mare. She was an adept at ice magic much like he was. He claims their lives were bound together in ice. However their work kept them away from home for months at a time. She never saw Equestria in winter. Never saw natural snowfall or Hearths Warming.”

Gale looked at the group who were all paying rapt attention to her story. “She died one year away from home, having never seen that time of year. So my Father has vowed to bury Equestria in snow, in her memory.”

“In honor of his deceased wife he's going to kill thousands more?” Pete was in disbelief. “That's insane.”

Gale once more paused and thought. “I do not think he intends to kill anypony, except those that would interfere with his wish.”

“But that's what he's going to do,” Twilight said, trying to look at Gale, “Thousands if not more will freeze to death. Mares and stallions, just like his wife, will die.”

She blinked and turned around. Clearly she had never thought on her father's plan. No one had ever questioned it, Pete reasoned. She was born in this block of ice, alone with a raving lunatic. It wasn't that she couldn't understand or that she was brainwashed, she had simply never known anything else. No one had ever challenged the validity of the idea. It was ridiculous of course, but the receding ice around the six ponies proved his theory.

“I will speak to my father,” Gale said, turning back to them. “I am sure he does not intend what you say. And when he explains himself I will finish with you.”

“If he doesn't intend for anypony to die then I am sure we can come to some kind of peaceful resolution,” Twilight responded.

Gale led them further into the iceberg, Pete remained in his Aspect form despite the swirling windigo around him. In this form he was immune to magic, even Gale's trap wouldn't stop him. If something were to go wrong with her father he would be ready. A neutral expression remained on his face, however, to keep his thoughts his own. Having a good poker face was a must in negotiations regardless of world or context.

Deep inside the iceberg, down under the ocean as the group could see through the walls, was a room much different from the others. There were two beds, a bookshelf, and books. In the middle of the room was another unicorn, old and gray in places, frail as well. Pete almost felt sorry for the stallion. His isolation couldn't have helped his grief over his wife. Perhaps that had contributed to his delusions.

He turned and his old face contorted into rage at the sight of the Elements being led by his daughter. Shakily he stood and took a few steps towards them. With a spark of his horn the passage behind them sealed with a slam. Ice rose up and trapped them in the room with the old man. Rainbow and Applejack readied themselves, but Gale stuck out a foreleg to stop them.

“I have a question, father.” Gale stepped towards the old pony. “Did you know that in freezing Equestria we will kill many ponies?”

He blinked and shook his head. “Have you gone daft, girl?” His voice was rough and low despite his age. “Of course I knew!”

The half windigo blinked and tilted her head, “But why would you cause such pain? Mother's passing was hard on you. Why would you inflict that suffering on others?”

The old stallion smacked his daughter with a forehoof, her head snapping to the side. “You dare to question me?”

Slowly Gale brought her head back to its normal position. “You have never hit me before.”

“That's because you always did what you were told before! I didn't create you to ask questions. I made you to lead an army.”

“I am your daughter,” she replied, “Not a soldier.”

He shook his head. “You were whatever I needed you to be.” With another glow of his horn, the old stallion pulled Gale towards him by her neck and stared at the others. “Now I have a hostage, so I know you won't try anything.”

His demands were cut short as a pain rippled through his side. Gale had become a windigo again and was phasing through her father. The duration she spent passing through him displayed the terrifying power of the windigos. She did not pass quickly through his form but slowly, agonizingly so. Unlike the rapid flitting through the mares, which had left them only cold, ice was building up around the old stallion. He opened his mouth in horror as his body began to freeze from contact with the now subzero pony. Any screams he may have had were frozen along with the rest of him. The group stood, paralyzed at the sight as Gale returned to her pony self and looked almost sadly at her father.

“You were right,” she said, still looking at him. “I should have asked him sooner. I was blinded by his talk of family.”

Pete turned back into a human, the threat neutralized, and the windigos around him scattered. He stepped forward and knelt down, putting a hand on Gale's cold back.

“I wasn't family to him. I was a pawn.”

“It'll be okay. We all make mistakes. It's what we do to fix them that matters.” Pete patted the mare's back as he spoke.

A rumbling got the eight's attention and they looked around at the ice surrounding them. The floor shuddered and cracked, and with it went Gale's father. For the first time since meeting them, and the first time in her life, Gale expressed an emotion. A mix of shock and sadness as the frozen form of her father cracked and then shattered into pieces. The icy pony shook for a second and then stopped, closing her mouth and her eyes returning to their previous emotionless state. Behind her the Mane six blanched and looked away, Twilight becoming especially pale.

Without a word Gale turned and used her magic to open the door. She moved through the group and into the tunnel that connected to the previous rooms before turning back to them.

“We have to leave.”

There wasn't time for words as the group ran through the crumbling iceberg. Pete realized that the windigos inside had vanished. They had left when he and Gale's father had stopped producing hate. The iceberg was collapsing because he turned back into a human. In his own way he had contributed to the death of the stallion behind them. Ahead of the group was Gale who felt her own share of blame for what had happened, but as she said they had to leave.

They reached the hole in the side they had made and once more Pete roared into his other form, grabbing the earth ponies and flying them up to the top of the iceberg. Surprisingly the carriage was waiting for them. The lead pegasus grinned and shouted as they approached.

“We saw this thing start sinking and figured you might not have time to launch that signal.”

“Thanks!” Twilight responded, as she pulled the door open and ushered everypony inside. Five mares.

“Where's Gale?” Pete looked behind him but saw no one. With a groan he channeled magic and teleported into their makeshift entrance where Gale stood looking out at the rising sea and the sun on the horizon. “We gotta go!”

“It is right I die here. With my home, and father.”

Pete groaned and grabbed the mare, looking her in the eyes. “No, it's not. This place is not a home, and he was a terrible father. It was a prison and he was your warden. You're free now.”

Gale stood quiet as she processed this concept. “What will I do?”

“I don't know,” Pete replied honestly, “But you'll never know if you don't try. What you did here wasn't living, and if you give up before you try living who knows what you could have done.”

“You seem to be familiar with this.”

“Yeah, I guess you could say I was in a similar situation once upon a time.”

Gale looked down and then back to Pete's eyes. “What did you do?”

He chuckled and stood up, “Obviously I chose to live, didn't I? That's how I got here.”

She nodded in response and the two teleported to the top of the iceberg, Gale climbing into the carriage along with Pete who once more reverted his form. Twilight was the last one in and moments later the pegasi team took off, lifting the carriage into the sky as the iceberg below them crumbled and sank. The group, excluding Gale, let out a collective sigh as the carriage made its way towards Canterlot. The day had been rather full and the sun was setting outside. Pete noticed something about the mare beside him that called his attention away from the window. It seemed that Gale produced an aura of cold. Of course they were all chilly, they had spent a whole day inside of an iceberg, but the chill around the mare was different.

“Yes,” she explained when he asked, “Being part windigo I emit a radius of cold at all times. No matter the temperature.”

“Well that'll be handy,” Rainbow chuckled, “It's the middle of summer back home. You're like a living air conditioner.”

“That's rude, Dash,” Pete chided.

“What is an air conditioner?” Gale looked at the group, confused.

Pete opened his mouth and then closed and shook his head slowly. “I'm guessing there's a lot of stuff you aren't going to know.”

Twilight tapped her hoof to her chin and then grinned. “Well then, Pete, as the princess of friendship I order you to be friends with Gale and help her adjust to life as a normal pony.”

“Seriously?” He laughed and gently patted the icy mare on the back again. “Easy. Probably more fun than anything else.”

Gale looked up at him and tilted her head slightly. “You think it would be fun being friends with me?”

Pete shrugged and grinned, “Yeah. I mean, I've always liked cold weather anyway.”

Briefly, for only a moment, Gale smiled and giggled before returning to her usual blank expression. The mares in the carriage looked at each other and smiled. Terrible things had happened that day. At some point they would have to address them, but for now it was time to unwind as best they could. After all, they had rescued a new friend and stopped a threat to Equestria. It might not have happened in the best possible way but it was still a success.

It was late in the evening when the group returned to Canterlot. Twilight and Pete were summoned to the throne room while the other ponies were escorted to sleeping quarters since the last train for the day had departed before their arrival. Once before the princesses, Twilight began to explain what they had found in the iceberg. Celestia and Luna were shocked to hear about a pony/windigo hybrid, but more so how a normal unicorn came to hold such sway over the creatures.

“Perhaps we should speak to this Gale ourselves,” Luna suggested, looking at her sister.

“I don't think that would be the best option.” Pete uncrossed his arms, having stood through Twilight's accurate retelling of their adventure. “She's seen the error of her ways. I know it seems rather flat, but no one was ever there to question her father. I don't think he controlled the windigos so much as they just followed his hate. Something about him, he just despised other ponies. That's what caused the whole big freeze thing all that time ago, right?”

Celestia looked at the ceiling of the throne room in thought. A unicorn separated from the empathy link wasn't uncommon. Any pony could, that was how some of Equestria's greatest enemies arose. They were always on the look out for ponies that slipped through the cracks like that, but it was impossible to help them all. There simply weren't enough resources or ponies. Twilight was the first of what Celestia hoped would be many ponies that would become more aware of those that could be saved.

“Besides,” Pete chuckled, “Princess Twilight told me to be friends with Gale, and I'm not sure letting very intimidating alicorns interrogate your friends is what those do.”

The royal sisters looked at each other, and then at Twilight who blushed sheepishly.

“I guess I forgot to mention that part.”

Luna smiled and sat back, looking at her sister. “Well, we can hardly object to that, can we?”

Celestia gave the younger alicorn a blank stare that conveyed exactly how she felt about the situation. She wasn't above reforming ponies that did wrong, but she did like to ask them questions before turning them loose. Trixie had been quite valuable in helping to locate the origins of the alicorn amulet after all.

“Listen, I know you two want to know all there is to know about this guy. I kind of do too, but I think it might be better for us to approach this more delicately than tossing her into isolation for the night and then blasting her with questions.” Pete shrugged, “I mean, she did change her attitude as soon as we offered and alternative. She's not bad, she just doesn't know any different.”

“And what does your Aspect think about being delicate?” Celestia raised an eyebrow. Rough measures were Pete's specialty any more. If he was suggesting a softer course of action it would do her well to listen.

Pete responded with a groan. “Don't remind me. I'm going to have to do some hunting tonight. He's been screaming in my head since Gale let me loose.”

The Princess of the Night leaned forward in interest, “But you did not give in?”

“I couldn't with the Elements all trapped in ice.”

There was a moment of silence. Even Twilight looked nervously around the room, her eyes darting between the elder alicorns. It was Celestia that spoke in the end.

“Then we shall leave it in your hands, Pete Powell. If Gale says anything of interest, report it to us immediately.”

Pete grinned and gave a half salute, more out of irony than anything else since he wasn't officially a member of the Equestrian military any more. Assuming it had been settled, he turned and made his way out of the throne room with the city outside the castle being his destination. He would hunt criminals that night instead of beasts, something he did infrequently that was strangely welcome by Luna's new guard captain. Wisp was less level headed than Pete had been in the job, but she was more stable than Pete was in his Aspect state. It was a give and take that the guard simply had to deal with.

Twilight remained behind and looked at her teacher. “Do you think it's a good idea? Letting Pete be friends with a pony that used to be bad?”

“Do you know why you asked him to do this?” Celestia asked in turn.

“I'm not sure,” Twilight began to pace slowly. “Something about it just seemed right.”

“They are quite similar, young Twilight,” Luna said, watching the door Pete had just exited through. “Both had isolated themselves, and both had to learn our ways.”

Celestia nodded and smiled at her student, “You picked up on that instinctively. Without having to think through all of the connections you saw that Pete could help her. And maybe she'll give Pete a lesson in friendship along the way.”

Twilight stopped and blushed again, returning her mentor's smile.

“We both agreed you should be in the position you are in, Twilight.” Luna joined in the smiling, “Don't question your own judgment so quickly.”

The purple alicorn responded with a bow and excused herself from the room. Shortly after, Celestia excused herself leaving Luna alone to ponder her own choices. She could only hope that her sister, and Twilight, were right. That Pete would help this new pony find her own way and that they wouldn't anchor each other back into their shells. After a moment she laughed at her own brooding thoughts. Pete had helped her with her own issues. There was nothing to worry about with him any more. Somewhere along the line he had matured into a decent being. She just had to believe in him, despite his rough spots. That was one of the important things in friendship after all.