Fratamantus stood before us after we witnessed Dark Heart get tossed over a cliff without any means of saving himself. He looked down at us with contempt as he looked to me and Ember before falling upon Diamond. I was getting antsy standing here, knowing that Dark Heart is in grave danger. It he had been frozen in ice by anything else I wouldn't be so worried, but this Windigoe Ice. It freezes not only your body but soul as well and isn't something many can actually escape from. We all wanted to help him, that I know without either one of them having to say anything but with Fratamantus before us there isn't any chance of that. Our only hope right now is to find a way to incapacitate him long enough for us to escape and chase after Dark Heart as well as hope he can make it out of this alive.

"I am quite surprised that you two managed to get through the castle with such ease and free my daughter from her room though at the same time I'm not seeing as you three not only managed to avoid detection but had successfully traversed the frozen tundra to reach our home." Fratamantus commented rather smugly as he eyed me up.

"It helps when your soldiers suck at doing their job, though judging from the two that got flatten by a chandelier, as well as the dead or injured men out here, it's rather obvious why that is." I commented angrily seeing as I don't being looked at like a piece of ass.

"You're not far from the truth Hyperion. Father keeps even his strongest as weak as possible so there's no chance of being over thrown by any. Doesn't encourage those with potential, doesn't want the strong helping the weak, and has even gone as far as to rape some the unfortunate mares who had rather well endowed mates, from what I've heard, to keep everypony under his thumb and boost his own ego." Diamond told us as I grew angrier at the mention of him raping mares for such a petty thing though I didn't allow it to show as I instead replaced the angry snarl that wanted to be let loose, with a viscous smirk. King Fratamantus looked rather pissed at hearing his daughter expose some of his secrets and I'm guessing my next comment won't be well received by the miffed king.

"Aw, isn't that just adorable? The big, bad Windigoe King has to use his power as ruler to put down other stallions in front of their mares because he can't get any on his own." I said in a tone that made sound as though as I was talking to a child or puppy which had Diamond grow a matching smirk to mine while Ember seemed to be trying not to laugh and as expected Fratamantus seemed none to happy about being mocked.

"YOU DARE MOCK THE GREAT KING FRATAMANTUS YOU FILTHY WENCH!!!" He yelled in a voice that could give Luna's R.C.V. a run for her money. I just grinned toothily before gaining a serious look as the three of us jumped out of the way of a magical blast that he had sent our way and it was obvious that the fun and games were over. I was quick to land on my feet and grew back to my original size before drawing my spear and went to engage Fratamantus head on, hoping to to give an opening for either one of the other girls to strike in. He swung his weapon of choice at me, which seemed to be a sword (sword on the right) that gave off the same soul crushing feeling that you'd feel from the windigoes' magic. I didn't let that distract me though as I met him head on with the shaft of my spear. It was then the difference in our strength became abundantly clear as I was forced to my knees almost the instant the blow landed.

"What happened dragon, are you starting to realize that you're no match for me?" He gloated, seemingly not noticing, or caring, that Ember was rushing in from behind. I didn't say a word or make any suspicious movement to give her away as I just tried my best to push back his attack. It seemed my efforts were fruitless though as I felt the cold steel come closer to my face as he grinned victoriously down at me as he slowly pushed his blade closer to me and forcing me down further onto the ground. I closed my eyes as I feared that I wouldn't get help in time when I hear a whizzing go through the air and soon after a grunt of pain as the weight that was bearing down on me was lifted. I got up to see an arrow in Fratamanus' shoulder which made look to where I heard the sound had came from and saw Diamond with her bow in hand and already preparing another arrow with a fierce look directed towards the stallion that sired her. My gaze was directed back towards Fratamantus as he shouted in pain and see Ember has bitten down on his right leg. Not wasting the chance granted to to me by them I spun my spear around and pointed the blade right at Fratamantus' stomach as I thrusts forward.

"Impudent fools." I heard Fratamantus snarl before Ember and I were blown back by an icy wind that suddenly tore through the courtyard. "You didn't honestly think that you three stood a chance when that pathetic bottom feeder couldn't? None of you are nearly as powerful as he was which is why it's such a shame he didn't wish to join me in my conquest of Equestria and it's allies." Fratamantus shook his head disappointingly. With that same look of disappointment still adored on his face, his gaze turned towards Diamond Sky.

"And you my daughter, I expected more out of you." He said before lifting his hand towards her, palm facing her, before a strange energy came out of it and wrapped around her. I was worried when it had but then it shocked her and caused her to scream out in pain as the bindings tightened around her for a few minutes before it had stopped. Fratamantus must have been moving closer to me during this seeing as when I turned to yell at him to stop what he was doing to Diamond Sky, he was right there in front of me with a lecherous grin. I glared at him as I could tell what was going on in his head. "As for you my lovely dragoness, I think we should get to know each other a bit more, intimately, maybe I can persuade you to see my side of things."

"Not in your life, nor afterlife, there pal. If I'm going to give myself to anypony it's going to be Dark Heart. Perhaps I'll let him take me after he gets back up and kicks your ass." The fire in my belly grew rapidly before expelling it from my mouth, trying to cook the bastard where he stood. A hand broke through the inferno and grasped my neck before I was slammed into the ground.

"Who said you had a choice in the matter." He ripped off the front of my shirt, unable to resist as he had froze my hands and feet to the ground, my dragon fire had no effect on him, Both Diamond and Ember were trapped as well, Ember having got her paws frozen into the ground as well. I felt scared and helpless just like when that bastard of a demon lord had used me to raid Everglade. I struggled to get free as I felt his one of his hands trail up from my stomach to my bra and it was then I did the only thing I could think to do at the moment.

"DARK HEART, PLEASE HELP US!!!" I screamed into the heavens as tears streamed down my face.

"Hahahahaha, don't bother trying girl. Dark Heart is dead and there's no one here to he-" A pillar of energy appeared from the direction that Dark Heart had been tossed and I couldn't help but smile as it became clear that he heard my call for help, living up to his promise that he would be there whenever I called. The ice holding me and Ember down, as well as Diamond's bindings were all broken as we got up and gathered by the front entrance of the castle. Once there I felt that I could relax knowing that Dark Heart wasn't dead and so promptly passed out as the stress of living through that as well as reliving those horrid memories put a lot of stress on both my mind and emotions.

"Aaarrrrggh, damn it, how could I have so careless!" I yelled as I struggled to get myself free from the magical ice that could only be generated from the infamous windigoe king.

"There's nothing you can do about it now other than getting free and back into the fight!" Shadow shouted though it was completely unnecessary since he is in my head.

"You think I don't know that already Shadow. I'm fucking trying to get out but this damn ice is too strong to break with brute force alone and without magic my options are limited!"

"And it seems to be blocking the Heart's magic as well, windigoe magic truly is terrifying when at it's full strength." I heard Nova say with a bit of fear in her voice.

"Don't think like that Nova, I will get free and then I'll kick that bastard's ass once I do. All we got to do now though is figure out how to to out of this first." I say as I try charging magic into my horn, though to no avail.

"Right!"
"Right!" They said with conviction.

I took note of my surroundings, which wasn't much considering I was free falling from the top of a mountain tall enough to pierce the heavens, which is a good thing I guess since it'll be awhile before I hit the bottom. Even so with not much around there really isn't anything that could help me out of my prison. Damn it, first magic crystals, now magical ice. Seems many of my opponents can't seem to really fight me one on one and resort to such measures when it becomes clear just how strong I am. All I need though is a single crack in either the ice surrounding my body or my horn and I can break free, just like when Luna freed me from the crystal prison Nightmare Moon encased the Heart in. I look over to the mountain side that occupied my right side and noticed how quickly I seemed to be falling and get a crazy idea.

"Dark Heart, don't even think it. One wrong move and you could end up as nothing more than a big red splatter stain on the side of the mountain." Nova scolded me, though I wasn't going to listen to her since this was my only other choice.

"It's the only chance I got and you know it Nova. All I need is a crack and I can flood my magic into this stupid ice and break free. Beside the longer this takes the further we get from the top and the longer it'll take to help the girls who are no doubt fighting Fratamantus." I started moving in anyway I could to get me closer to the jagged edges of this treacherous mountain.

"Crap, that's right, I had forgotten they were up there too. Dark Heart do whatever you need to just hurry up and do it. Those three won't stand much of a chance against that maniac!" Huh, didn't think Shadow was actually that concerned for them. Yes he wasn't trying to take over my body anymore and seemed to be getting along with Nova more but still. That doesn't really though, no what matters is getting free as soon as possible.

I wiggle and squirm about through the air in the direction of the mountain hoping that it actually works. At first it seems I'm not making any real progress until I finally notice that to fog that was partially covering it from my view is gone and the mountain plain as day. I keep going, though angling myself in a way that when I do get close enough to strike to mountainside I wouldn't risk bashing my own skull in. It only took another minute before I felt a jarring bump and bounced away from the rock face a bit. I got a few more good strikes on both my body and horn prison but there still wasn't enough to break them. I was coming in for another hit when something horrifying happened, I got stuck.

"What, are you fucking serious!?" I shouted out into the heavens as I got caught in between a crack that was in the giant rock that was my salvation. I tried shaking myself loose but wasn't moving an inch. "No, no, no, no, NO! This can' be happening!" I roared before slumping down, feeling utterly useless. "Ember, Hyperion, Diamond, I hope you three are alright and decided to sneak out of the city." I mutter helplessly as tears prickled at the edge of my eyes. I was stuck here with no way out as long as Fratamantus lived but I'd be okay with as long as those three got out safe and sound. Please be alright. I thought as I closed my eyes, resigned to once again being a prisoner.

"DARK HEART, PLEASE HELP US!!!" My eyes shot open and looked up to where I had heard Hyperion's voice come from. She was afraid, I could fee it, along with Diamond's and Ember's fear. They're up there fighting Fratamantus right now, most likely on death's and here I am ready to just. . . give up!

"Don'tworry Hyperion, Diamond, Ember, I'm coming to help you!" I could feel dark magic flowing through as I shifted between my Darkness form and default form. I wasn't my dark magic though, it wasn't even the residual darkness that I absorbed everyday from everypony. No this felt truly soul crushing, like "windigoe magic." I whispered as I realized what I was doing.

"Dark Heart, you're absorbing the magic imbued in the ice, you're weakening it!" Nova sounded shocked yet happy, not that I could blame her, though it felt like something else was happening than normal from when absorbing dark magic. I felt something trying to come out of my back, pushing desperately from underneath my skin, trying to get out. This all only seemed take mere seconds to do before the magic I was absorbing finally burst out and a pillar of dark magic shot into the sky as my new appendages burst forth, breaking the my icy prison and giving me back my magic, both my magics.

"I'm coming girls." I said lowly as I ascended up into the clouds and back to the Windigoe Capital.

"Holy crap, Dark Heart you grew wings!!" I heard Shadow yell out but I simply ignored, not wishing to be distracted from he task at hand.

"Shadow, shut up, I'm sure he knows that but we don't got time to question how or why he has them. The point is that he does and that means that it'll be that much easier to get back up there." Nova scolded him as she basically took the words right of my mouth. I tuned them out after that though as I flapped my wings as hard as I could as I easily broke through the sound barrier, flying at super sonic speeds that had gotten me their in no time flat.

What I saw caused my anger and dark power to surge tremendously. I spotted Ember with her paws frozen to the ground, Diamond wrapped up in some weird bindings that was obviously causing her pain, but the sight that really made me angry was the sight of Fratamantus standing over a trapped Hyperion, whose shirt had the front ripped off with only her bra covering her breasts, with Fratamantus having the scraps still in his grasp with a sickening smile plastered on that smug mug of his. Without a sound I zoomed forward, calling Cursed and Blessing back to me as the chains mended themselves, and swung them in a 'X' formation, releasing my light and dark magic into crescents of raw energy that struck the bastard before he knew what had hit him. The attack had sent him flying towards what was left of the eastern wall and I used that time to set Diamond and Ember free and make my over to Hyperion. I absorbed the magic in the ice and they fell apart once it was drained. Hyperion clung to me once she able to move, my shoulder getting wet as she cried out the sorrow she felt from what going through that, making my anger at Fratamantus rise even further as one of the strongest beings I know is reduced into a crying mess.

"You came, you kept your promise and came to my aid when I called, thank the goddesses." I heard her mutter as her claws dug into my back as I knew she didn't want to let me go.

"Shh, shh, it's okay Hyperion, I'm here now and I'll make that he won't able to lay a finger on you again." I told her soothingly as held her close to me, letting her know that I was there for her. Ember came up beside and made her way in between us as she nuzzled into Hyperion's stomach, trying to comfort the dragoness as well. I looked down at her with a smile as I pet the top of her head as I heard another set of hoofsteps come closer to us.

"Dark Heart, I knew my father wouldn't have been able to get rid of you that easily." Diamond said with a teary smile as our eyes met when I turned to look at her. I smiled at her as I lifted my left arm to welcome her into the embrace, which she happily took and knelt down beside me and wrapped her arms around me and Hyperion.

"I'm just glad that, for the most part, you girls are fine Dia, but I do believe that it's time to finish this." I said as I stood up and away from them and turned to look at Fratamantus, who was pulling himself out of the rubble, and changed back into my Darkness Form. "Now go on you three, I'll stall him long enough for your girls to make decent leeway." I held Cursed and Blessing to my sides, at the ready as the runes that decorated both blades glowed with an ominous violet light.

"But what about you Dark Heart?"

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Your father good the jump on me not too long ago but I'm ready this time around." I smiled back at her, letting her know that everything will be fine and it was going to be. I've taken out most, if not all, of Fratamantus' troops and I know that Fratamantus doesn't know anything about the path that came up the side of the mountain from my shadow's observation of him, though he probably thought that we would just fly out here the moment he saw my new wings. He wouldn't be too far from the truth but not until we're down the mountain, which will be much quicker than coming up.

"How are still alive, and when did you get those wings!" Fratamantus growled as he held onto his right arm as something, I'm guessing windigoe blood, ran down it from an injury that he had gotten from that last attack.

"I got them during my trip down the mountain thanks to you, or should I thanks? Actually I think I'll just settle on fuck you and call it good there since you tried to rape Hyperion!" I roared out as I shot at him, using my new wings to propel even faster towards the bastard. He called forth a wall of ice spikes to which I merely flew over them and came down with an overhead strike and tried to split apart the Windigoe king himself. He dodged it and swung that damn thing he called a blade at me as he aimed for my head, aiming to decapitate. I intercepted the strike with both of my blades to drive him off but it left me vulnerable as he sent more of those spikes towards me from the left and on instinct I used my right wing as a shield. I was fully expecting to be impaled second after I felt them impact it but I didn't anything other than the impact itself. In fact that was the only thing I had felt; no pain, no cold, nothing other than the pressure of it pushing against and even then it felt blunt as if the tip of the spikes were hammered down. Once again I couldn't be bothered to really analyze anything going on with my Darkness form and shoved Fratamantus away from me. I continue on with that strike and aim my fist at his face, something that would prove rather painful considering the petal like spikes coming from the hand guards of both blades. Fratamantus roared in pain as my punch and the spikes connected, having one of them slash through his left eye in the process. Not giving a chance to recover though, I commanded my shadows to restrain the Windigoe king. The process was easy enough but when was coherent enough to realize what was going on he started o struggle intensely and I knew that my shadows couldn't hold forever.

"You need to go now Dark Heart, the others are well and gone from the city and even with Diamond sky with them Hyperion and Ember last too long in the intense cold." Nova commanded as I was about to go for the final blow.

"WHAT, have you lost your mind Nova, this is his best chance to kill the bastard once and for all!" Shadow protested before I could utter a sound.

"And do what, wait until he possesses somepony else and seek revenge on Dark Heart through somepony he cares about. No, it's better to leave him in this state, seeing as his empire is destroyed and he weakened. So what are you going to do Dark Heart?" Nova asked me, though I already had my answer.

Without saying a word, I sheathed Cursed and Blessing and flew towards the old city gates. From there I landed on the ground and ran down the path to catch up to the girls. I had no idea how long I had been fighting Fratamantus, so I had no idea how long it would be before I found those three. Though it seemed they got all that far as only five minutes of running and I found them resting inside an shallow tunnel where they seemed to be waiting for me. Ember was the first to spot me as she seemed to catch the crunching of the snow beneath my hooves before the other two, though her jumping up and running towards me definitely got their attention and I was being dog piled soon after.

"Hahaha, alright girls, I'm sorry to break this up so soon but we need to get going. I've got Fratamantus restrained for now but it won't hold for long. We need to get now the mountain before he does escape and tracks us down." I told them as I they got up off of me, with Diamond helping me up.

"And how do you suppose we do that?" And she instantly regretted asking that as a wickedly mischievous grin grew on my face which caused her to take a few steps back away from me. "Dark Heart don't you even think IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!" She, and Diamond, screamed as I grabbed all three of them and jumped, that's right jumped, of the side of the mountain from the side we need to head after we got to the bottom. "I'm gonna kill you if we survive this Dark Heart!" I chuckled as I heard Hyperion shout at me over the winds that were blowing past us as we free fall through the clouds that surrounded the mountain top. Diamond was just holding to me with her head buried in my shoulder as Ember seemed to be enjoying herself which I couldn't help but raise my eyebrow at that before simply shaking my head.

I let us fall a bit further before I decided we were low enough, after having fallen a few dozen miles after we broke through the clouds, and changed into my quadruped dragon form and right myself so I was belly down and made sure the girls were safely secured on my back. "Okay you three, hang on tight!" I shouted towards them as I shifted in a way that would allow me to spread my wings without a risk of damaging them. Ironically that seemed to be by diving down towards the ground with my wings partially extended enough to catch the air, but not so much so to jerk me back. We were fast approaching the ground, being only a hundred meters away from going splat, but still kept going, trying to time it just right so that we not only don't crash but also allow me to use to momentum to slingshot me forward at incredible speeds. I waited, ignoring the pleas to pull up from Hyperion, Diamond, and Nova, as Ember just dug her claws as deep into me as she could, and Shadow was laughing like a maniac. The moment of truth came as we approximately three meters and I quickly extended my wings and faced forward, doing just as I had hoped and I was zooming through the skies at supersonic speeds. I could hear the girls berating me, Ember kicking and biting as best she could from her position but once again I ignore them all and concentrated on where I was going. I know it may seem very jerky to do so but it could be disastrous for us all should I hit something big and solid at the speeds were moving at, even if I'm slowing down a little bit.

It actually took a bit of time to slow down to cruising speeds though I got from all girls when I we were at there and I realized just how terrified that stunt had made them and I felt like a huge jackass. I uttered an apology very quietly when I turned to look at them to look them all in the eyes, except Nova for obvious though I did make Shadow do it on my behalf, then turned back to face forward as I flew back towards the Crystal Empire in silence. The girls were Diamond and Hyperion were talking to each other after they took about ten minutes to calm themselves down, while Ember just laid in between them, and Nova and Shadow were off doing something inside the amulet. I didn't bother asking them what they were doing or try to talk to the girls since then and that was about two hours ago. It was getting dark now as the sunset orange sky was being replaced by the starry night sky seeing as we made it out the severe blizzard that blanketed the far north of the Icy Plains. The girls had quieted it down not too long ago and I was assuming they were just enjoying the view up here. I find it kinda weird that my wings don't feel sore and I'm not tried from my extended flight with passengers but I wasn't going to complain about it, the sooner we got back the better.

The girls have settled down on my back an hour ago and snoozing away, hopefully with pleasant dreams, as I kept my senses focused on making sure their was nothing around us that would try picking a fight as I started to feel just a bit tired but nothing to really worry about since I hadn't even broken a sweat yet. As I was looking ahead though, I spotted a beautiful sight before as an Aurora Borealis suddenly appeared and lit up the sky with it's plethora of colors. The light must of woken them as well as I could as couple of gasp ring out behind me and felt them sit up to get a better view. I watched it for a bit longer before looking straight ahead of me again as my task was to get home more than anything right now.

"Hey Dark Heart, you okay?" Hyperion asked after scooting up towards my head a bit more so she wasn't competing against the wind so much.

"Yeah, I'm alright." Was my response, not bothering to look at her.

"You sure, we could always land and make a camp of the ground so you could rest and get your energy back. It can't be that easily flying for almost six hours straight with us on your back the entire time." She said as she soothingly stroked the spines on my head.

"Yeah I'm sure Hyperion, don't worry me I'm not all that tired to be honest, though I'll be sure to let you know when I do decide to make a rest stop." I told her as this time I looked towards her with a smile.

*Sigh* "Alright Dark Heart, just make sure you don't push yourself too much okay?" She said, laying down on my neck, her head resting in between my horns and the back of my skull, wrapping her arms around my neck lovingly.

"I won't Hyperion, after all I wouldn't want to crash down to the ground and hurt you girls." And with that there was silence as her breathing turned calm and deep. Seems the others had already settled back down as well.

"Mind some more company?" I heard Diamond say from my left. I look over to see her flying beside me, the lower half of her body resembling the ghostly trail that the Windigoes are seen with in images in books about how the first Hearth's Warming came to be.

"No, not at all Dia but what are you doing up so late?" I asked her as I look back to make sure that it's really her, and sure enough it is as only Ember is in her spot while Hyperion is wrapped around my neck.

"I could ask you the same. That and why do you still sound like that, I thought your voice changed when you get angry."

"It does but it mainly does it when in my Darkness Form and since I haven't changed back I am going to sound like this." Diamond nodded to this and flew next to me in silence. I felt both Hyperion and Ember nuzzle into my body, seeking warmth to drive away the chilling cold. I allowed the inner flame that resided deep within me to warm up my body to help drive it off. Diamond turned towards me, no doubt noticing the sudden spike in temperature, and asked.

"So why are you still flying so late into the night Dark Heart, I could imagine how tired you must be from having to fight my father and flying so fast right afterwards with three passengers on your back, one of them being a dragon, albeit not at her full size but still don't you think you should take a break and rest a bit?" Diamond asked worriedly as she flew up to my face and gave me a kiss on the forehead.

"I don't really feel all that tired Diamond, in fact I have't even broken a sweat. Beside I promise Hyperion that if I did feel that tired that I would make sure to land. I mean I'm all for pushing myself but that wouldn't be smart considering I got you three with me and I'd rather not make you girls carrying me back to the Crystal Empire, no matter how far away we are from it." I told her as I sped up a bit to show prove my point. She was surprised and had lagged behind a bit further before snapping out of it and trying to catch up to me. I was going to play with her a bit and speed up when she got closer but then I noticed something towards the horizon. I used my magic to enhance my vision into a telescopic view and saw that it was a bright light but it was much too early for it to be the sun and shortly realized what it must have been.

As I was looking towards our destination and the end of our little adventure I was snapped back to reality when Diamond bopped me on the head when she finally caught up. "You asshole, you know I don't got your stamina to be trying to speed through the sky to catch you!" She yelled before hanging back and plopping onto my back.

"Oh, yeah, sorry about that Diamond. I was only going to play around with you but then I got distracted." I said as I sheepishly rub the back of my head.

"Oh, and what, pray tell, could have gotten your attention more than the mare you just risked your life trying to save?" I didn't have to look at her to know that she was crossing her arms while she lightly glared at me.

"How about our destination?" I pointed out towards the light that was getting bigger and bigger as I flew straight towards it.

"Oh wow, is that really the Crystal Empire, is this nightmare finally over?" She asked as she sounded as though she was getting choked up about officially starting a new that was just about another thirty minutes away.

"Yeah Diamond, the nightmare is an end. You can finally have the chance to actually be happy." I said quietly with a big grin as I sped up even more to get out of this frozen wasteland.

Author's Notes:

And this is where this chapter ends, hope you guys like it.